Chapter 1
Wang Yun woke up to find himself lying in a primeval forest.
Who... who kidnapped me?
Or did I sleepwalk here?
Or... did I transmigrate?
Where is this place? Wang Yun looked up at the sky. There was only one sun, with a crescent moon faintly visible hanging in the sky.
He should still be on Earth. Wang Yun concluded.
But... where exactly is this?
Wang Yun examined the surrounding trees, observing their leaf size and color depth, then looked at the soil color and softness around him. He should be in the Northern Hemisphere, around 30 degrees north latitude.
Forget it, better find something to eat first. Otherwise, he might starve to death before even getting out of this primeval forest.
The top priority was finding water. Wang Yun found a relatively high slope nearby, climbed a tree, and surveyed the surroundings.
He was in a valley with dense vegetation, flanked by high mountains on both sides. Wang Yun deduced there should be a stream in the low-lying area of the valley.
Sure enough, he found a stream not long after. The water was crystal clear, surrounded by lush vegetation—clearly unpolluted by modern industry.
"If this were posted online, it would definitely become an internet-famous check-in spot," Wang Yun sighed. He cupped his hands and drank a mouthful of the cool spring water to quench his thirst.
Suddenly, he spotted a sika deer drinking water nearby. Wang Yun secretly rejoiced—here was today's meal!
After drinking, he pulled out a small knife from his pocket and quietly crept forward. But Wang Yun, untrained in stealth, stepped on a dry branch after just a few steps, producing a loud "crack."
Oh no, that deer is definitely going to run away, Wang Yun thought. But when he looked up, he found the deer not only hadn't fled but was standing there stupidly staring at him.
Is this one of those silly roe deer from Northeast China?
It doesn't look like it! Its rear isn't white!
Maybe it doesn't classify me as a predator, Wang Yun thought. He slowly approached the deer, avoiding sudden movements that might scare it away.
To Wang Yun's surprise, the deer wasn't afraid of him at all. Instead, it slowly walked over and, when he wasn't paying attention, snatched the knife from his hand and ran off.
Wang Yun was dumbfounded.
"Give me back my knife!!! You stupid deer!!" Wang Yun shouted as he ran after it.
But how could two legs outrun four?
Wang Yun was panting heavily, exhausted after running just a short distance. He bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath.
"This is absolutely bizarre! My knife actually got stolen by a deer?!!" Wang Yun cursed.
Just as Wang Yun was about to accept his bad luck, the deer actually returned. It held the knife in its mouth, waving it in front of Wang Yun as if mocking him.
How could Wang Yun tolerate this? He charged forward.
The deer seemed prepared, dodging sideways and letting Wang Yun lunge into empty air. Then it turned and ran, looking back at Wang Yun while keeping him at a teasing distance—not too far, not too close.
Wang Yun felt something was truly strange. Had this deer become sentient? It was actually playing with him!
Wang Yun stopped chasing. Better find some wild fruits to satisfy his hunger. He had spotted some Chinese pear cacti while chasing the deer; he should still be able to find them if he went back.
When the deer saw he wasn't chasing anymore, it curiously followed him.
Wang Yun threw stones at it, trying to scare it away. The deer dodged left and right—the stones missed, and the deer wasn't frightened.
Wang Yun found the pear cacti and sat gloomily under a tree, watching the deer pacing around with his knife in its mouth.
Why is this deer so smart? Did I transmigrate into a fantasy world?
As he thought about it, Wang Yun's eyes lit up. If this is a fantasy world, wouldn't that mean I have a chance at eternal life?
He closed his eyes, trying to sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. Sensing, sensing... he fell asleep. Then he felt rain falling. Opening his eyes, he realized the deer was spitting on him to wake him up.
Who am I? Where am I?
Wang Yun woke up with a start, looking around, before finally remembering where he was.
Could it be... I don't have a spiritual root? Wang Yun felt disappointed.
No, that can't be!
Maybe my method was wrong.
If this is a fantasy world, then theoretically, if I call out to those immortals, they should be able to sense me. Like sending friend requests on WeChat—if I add them one by one, eventually one or two will respond.
Yes! That's definitely it!
Then the deer watched as a man knelt on the ground, making strange movements while muttering incantations, calling out to various gods. From Chinese mythology to Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Indian, and even Mayan mythology—any deity he could think of, he worshipped them all. But not a single one responded. Finally, he lost his balance and fell face-first into the dirt.
The deer looked at him as if he were an idiot, then disdainfully kicked mud into his face with its hind legs.
"Ptooey," Wang Yun spat out the dirt and climbed up sullenly.
The deer made a strange sound—the characteristic laughter of a sika deer.
"Can you understand what I'm saying?" Wang Yun asked, sitting on the ground.
The deer looked at him strangely, blinking its eyes.
"You can't understand, right? Of course, why would I expect a deer to understand me?" Wang Yun muttered to himself.
But to Wang Yun's surprise, the deer let out a few sharp cries, as if saying "yes."
Wang Yun was silent for a moment, then looked at the deer with anticipation: "What's your name?"
The deer was silent for a while, then let out a few more sharp cries.
Wang Yun's eyes dimmed—so it couldn't understand him after all.
The deer left. Wang Yun wanted to keep it, but thought better of it. To his surprise, the deer soon returned—and brought back a tiger.
Aren't tigers natural predators of sika deer? Why are they coexisting peacefully now?
What's wrong with this world? Or am I hallucinating?
Wang Yun rubbed his eyes and even slapped himself twice.
"Not a dream?" Wang Yun muttered.
To his surprise, the tiger actually spoke!
"Why don't you have a receiver?" the tiger asked.
"A receiver? What's that?" Wang Yun was confused.
Seeing his complete ignorance, the tiger exchanged glances with the deer.
The three of them fell silent for quite a while. Finally, the tiger spoke: "Come with me."
Wang Yun showed a wary expression: "What are you going to do?"
The tiger looked at Wang Yun and said: "Don't worry, we won't harm you."
Wang Yun agreed. After all, he was in the middle of nowhere with no wilderness survival skills—he might die inexplicably anyway, so it was better to agree. Besides, the tiger seemed to mean him no harm.
Discretion is the better part of valor.
Wang Yun expected a long walk, but to his surprise, they didn't need to walk at all. They simply flew up, with a transparent spherical shield protecting them from the wind.
Before long, a towering tree appeared before Wang Yun. It stood like a mountain in the forest.
This tree is abnormal! That was Wang Yun's first thought.
A tree's height is limited by gravity, trunk strength, water, light, and other factors—there's a limit. Wang Yun didn't know what that limit was, but it definitely wasn't this tall!
They flew to a branch. The tiger made a red fruit on the branch float to Wang Yun and said: "Eat this."
"What is this?" Wang Yun asked.
"A receiver."
"This clearly looks like a fruit."
"It is a receiver, it just looks like a fruit."
Wang Yun ate the fruit. He was a pragmatic person—if the tiger wanted to harm him, it wouldn't need to go through all this trouble. Even if it wanted to use him, at least he was safe for the time being.
Shortly after eating the fruit, Wang Yun felt dizzy and passed out.
He found himself in a white space, boundless, with grid lines like a Go board above and below.
Suddenly, a young girl's voice rang out: "You really are human!"
Wang Yun asked: "Who are you?"
The girl didn't answer him, just muttered to herself: "Strange! Why don't you have a receiver? How are you controlling this primitive's body? Is it some new technology?"
"Who are you calling a primitive?" Wang Yun was angry.
"Oh! Why are you angry? Are you a drama queen?" the girl asked curiously.
"Drama queen? What drama queen? I don't act!"
"Could it be that you've gotten too deep into character?"
Wang Yun: "..."
"You couldn't possibly be from ten thousand years ago, right? Are you a spy?" The girl's voice suddenly became wary.
"What ten thousand years ago? I'm not a spy, I'm a law-abiding citizen!" Wang Yun explained.
"Citizen? You actually used the word citizen?!" the girl asked in surprise.
"What's wrong with the word citizen?" Wang Yun asked, puzzled.
"Citizens don't exist anymore. We're all part of Alayavijnana. Are you some kind of old fossil?" The girl's voice carried some disdain.
"What are you talking about? I don't understand at all?" Wang Yun was dumbfounded. One worldview-shattering event after another was happening; he couldn't keep up and was even becoming numb to it.
"Do you know about Alayavijnana?" the girl asked.
"I know a little—it's supposed to be the collective consciousness of humanity." Wang Yun actually knew the concept; he'd been fascinated by it before. But precisely because of this, he was even more confused. Did this girl know what she was talking about?
"Your understanding is correct, but the question is, why aren't you part of Alayavijnana?" A beautiful girl appeared before Wang Yun. Her skin was flawless, her hair dark and lustrous—beautiful beyond what normal people should look like.
Wang Yun was stunned for a moment and asked: "Are you the sika deer?"
"Sika deer? Yes, that was my account."
"Is this your true appearance?"
The girl widened her eyes, stared at Wang Yun for a moment, and said: "You actually became aroused by me??" She floated in the air, clutching her stomach and laughing nonstop. "You're so interesting! You actually became aroused by me! I'm dying of laughter!"
Wang Yun blushed and awkwardly denied it: "No, I didn't, you must be seeing things."
The girl laughed even harder. She flew up to Wang Yun and teased him: "Am I beautiful?" Her hot breath blew into his ear, making his face even redder.
"You, you, what are you doing? I, I won't be charmed, charmed by you." Wang Yun hurriedly backed away from her.
"Hahaha... You're so interesting!" The girl couldn't stop laughing.
"Lingling, stop playing around, don't scare him," a gentle middle-aged man's voice came.
Hearing this voice, the girl's laughing face suddenly became puffed up with anger. She replied: "I know." Then she disappeared.
A middle-aged man in a white lab coat and glasses appeared before Wang Yun and said: "Hello, I'm the tiger that was with the sika deer. I'm appearing before you in this form to help you feel more relaxed."
Wang Yun broke into a cold sweat. I'm even more nervous now, okay? Am I becoming a lab rat? But he still responded politely: "Hello, I'm Wang Yun. Is this a virtual world?"
"This is the inner world. The place where you met us is called the outer world. Whether it's the inner or outer world, for us, both are real worlds—just like the inside and outside of a house in your understanding."
"The inside and outside of a house in my understanding? Did you read my memories?" Wang Yun caught the detail in the tiger's words and asked incredulously.
"No, reading your memories without authorization is illegal. I don't have that permission. I just matched your language database."
"So you really do have the ability to read my memories?" Wang Yun found it hard to believe.
"Yes, but I cannot read your memories without authorization, and I haven't read them."
"Then how did you match my language database?"
"Very simple—just scan your neural network structure. Different languages form different neural network structures."
Wang Yun felt a bit dizzy. He asked: "Then how do you control animal bodies?"
"Through high-dimensional consciousness projection. In terms you can understand, it's controlling animal bodies through the soul," the tiger answered.
Wang Yun felt he couldn't quite understand. Does the soul really exist? If it does, is human consciousness attached to the physical body or the soul?
Wang Yun decided not to delve deeper into this question for now. He asked something he was interested in: "Is the sika deer that girl from just now?"
"Yes, it's her. She's my assistant, and in a sense, also my... daughter." The tiger clearly paused, apparently thinking about which word would be more appropriate.
"Why do you say 'in a sense'?" Wang Yun was curious.
"Because she and I don't have a blood relation in the physical sense. She wasn't born through natural reproduction. I created her by combining a part of my consciousness with parts of others' consciousness. Originally, this was an impossible life form, but when I placed this consciousness composite into a dying infant girl, a miracle happened. She... lived..." When speaking about Lingling's origins, the tiger was clearly much more interested.
The tiger continued: "It was simply a miracle! In a sense, I created life!"
Wang Yun stared dumbfounded at the tiger's self-satisfaction, not knowing what to say.
"Hmph! Don't mind him, he's just a narcissist!" The girl suddenly appeared before Wang Yun. She continued: "He thinks he's touched the scepter of the Creator and glimpsed the method of creating life. But in fact, after all his experiments, I'm his only successful case."
"Uh..." Wang Yun didn't know what to say.
Wang Yun opened his eyes. He had woken up.
