pdf-ebookys Chapter 316 The Master of the Source of Memories
Chapter 316 The Master of the Source of Memories
Light seeped through the curtains, illuminating the gaps, and the dim, empty study echoed with the sounds of tapping, sometimes crisp, sometimes hesitant, with only the computer screen on the desk providing constant illumination.
"Yusaku?" Yukiko Kudo pushed open the door and came to the figure illuminated by the screen, gently placing her hands on his shoulders. "It's almost dawn, it's about time to rest as agreed."
After typing the last few keywords, Yusaku Kudo slowly peeled his hands, which were stuck to the keyboard, away: "Sorry, Yukiko. I just suddenly had some very crucial inspiration, and I just can't put it down..."
"Alright, alright, do you think I don't know you like this? So what's this time you're writing about, which case is it a case request, or is it a world-renowned mystery masterpiece?"
"...Please keep my inspiration a secret before I get it."
"what?"
"My muse, it's time to consult you~" With a teasing smile, Yusaku Kudo removed his glasses, which were reflecting a bright white light, rubbed his sore and dry eyes, and closed them to ask for advice:
"Hey, Yukiko. When you get a role, what do you usually do to portray the character well?"
“You’re asking a rather broad question.” Yukiko’s light blue eyes moved upward as she examined the spines of the few new books on the wooden shelf. “As an actor, the best way to portray a character well is to thoroughly and repeatedly read the script.”
First, you need to understand the character's basic traits, historical background, and personal experiences; after sketching out a general outline, you need to study carefully, familiarize yourself with the character's language and psychological activities, and figure out their personality and values; then, put yourself in the role with your emotions, rehearse and adjust as you go, and if there are any parts you don't understand, talk to the director and screenwriter... something like that?
"The second question is, if a reality show introduces a new actor, why does the director choose to replace one of the guests instead of creating a new role?"
Yukiko Kudo raised an eyebrow: "There are too many possibilities. What factors can be added or subtracted?"
"The former guest was capable and performed well, and the new actor continued to play his character. There were no policy factors interfering, and the production team had no cost concerns. My focus is on why the director 'insisted' on replacing the former guest, and why he didn't replace him with someone else."
"Hiss, then it's probably not a normal actor replacement."
Yukiko Kudo sighed, cupping her face in her hands: "Just as you said, the former guest is excellent in every way. Unless he poses a great risk to public opinion, replacing him is the only way to stop the damage in time. But what is more likely in the industry is that the new actor is at odds with him and has a powerful background. The director judges that the former guest will harm the interests of the show on set, that his self-expression will become a red line that triggers instability, or that the production team needs to gain controversy because of this."
"That's true..."
Lost in thought, Yusaku Kudo instinctively turned back to his computer, opened a document, and continued taking notes.
Yukiko Kudo couldn't stand being kept in suspense any longer, and hurriedly squeezed in front of the screen: "Wait! Yusaku, you still haven't told me what you're investigating... What is this network of characters?"
"It's a family tree of our father's relatives that I asked my brother to collect."
“So many people! I’ve hardly ever seen any of them.” Yukiko’s gaze lingered on the branches of the Bloodline Tree. “What are you collecting these for?”
Instead of answering directly, Yusaku Kudo changed the subject: "Do you remember the international official characterization of the Noah's Ark incident?"
"An AI incident where the program crashed due to a bug in the emotion module, right? Although it wasn't officially announced, you heard about it from a friend:"
The international leadership did not take the Noah's Ark out of control incident too seriously; they attributed the accident more to a program malfunction caused by "Hiroki's father inserting a hard drive containing a virus into the central control system." Noah's Ark was used as a reference for the development of AI intelligence and as a failed attempt to simulate human emotions through AI.
As for the so-called Ark organization, it was as if it had never been mentioned, and no information about it could be obtained.
“That’s right.” Opening the encrypted hard drive, Kudo Yusaku opened the full screen recording of the game outside of his game, which he had saved through connections. “At least from this modified recording, that’s certainly the case.” But as those who experienced the game firsthand, they all knew that wasn’t the case.
He could open the file a thousand times with his eyes closed and still find it and set the screen to a fixed time – the scene of Yusaku Kudo's first appearance as Detective Lestrade in "Haruya Kuromon".
"If we consider Noah's Ark as the director, this video is the finished product after being beautified and edited by the director. From this, we can draw the first conclusion: the flow of time in the game is faster than in reality, so fast that Noah's Ark can perform comprehensive logical improvement, editing, remodeling and dubbing of the content after the global calculation is completed, and make everyone wake up at the same time after the final screening."
"Before the game's release, I was invited to witness the development of the Cocoon program. The game pod uses a head-mounted EEG sensor and various electrode sensors to read and write brain nerve signals, but only to the surface nerve activities that can mobilize muscles."
The computer progress bar moved and stopped before a system message: "[Based on everyone's memory, I've slightly adjusted the character appearances of the NPCs in the game...]"
"But memory is different. The brain's memory storage is complex and cumbersome. Different memories are stored in different brain regions. In theory, the cocoon program helmet can only recognize intention signals, not the memory itself."
No matter how advanced Noah's Ark's programming was, it couldn't overcome the hardware limitations of sensors.
Yukiko immediately realized the logical flaw and pointed incredulously at a face among the background figures: "But that girl named Ai did see her parents, and you also saw some distant relatives among the NPCs! How do you explain that?"
"Hehehe... Yes! That's the key!"
Yusaku Kudo whirled around abruptly, his clothes swirling with a loud crash, the movement so forceful it knocked the mouse over! Before Yukiko could even gasp, she was swept into a cigar-scented embrace, and they danced together, waltzing towards the closed French windows, towards the faint glimmer of light—
"Huh?! Yusaku, what's with this all of a sudden?"
Her shoulder pressed against his warm chest, Yukiko glanced shyly around, unsure of the reason for her husband's excitement. Her hand on his shoulder trembled slightly with uncontrollable giggles, the fabric tickling against him. Overwhelmed by her emotions, she laughed even more heartily than her husband, lightly punching his chest between laughs.
"Seriously, just tell me the answer already!"
Yusaku Kudo dodged backward, removed the shattered mask of the Dark Baron, held it up to his face, and spoke in a high-pitched tone like that of a Western aristocrat.
“Yukiko, this is why I asked you a series of questions—” Then she suddenly whispered, “In the game of Shadow of London, why did Noah’s Ark have to replace Haruka Kuromon?”
"Noah's Ark, this advanced artificial intelligence is lying! It could have easily borrowed the image of any child present who Conan and the others were unfamiliar with, but it chose Kuromon Haruya, who was easier to expose... I pondered for a long time why he deliberately replaced her, but I couldn't find a precise purpose."
"But what if he didn't intend to fill the vacancy, but rather 'had to fill someone's vacancy'?"
Yes, that's it, that makes sense.
The relatives appearing in the game weren't just Yusaku Kudo's, but also Haruya Kuromon's! Comparing the faces in the game to the family tree, besides the overlapping ones he recognized, there were also some unfamiliar NPC faces that matched. Connecting the appearing characters and mapping them to the family tree led to a startling discovery—at the center of the bird's nest with the black lines was Aunt Michi Kuroba, Haruya Kuromon's adoptive mother.
"Noah's Ark's words are not all lies. The NPC images are not based on each individual, but they do come from the memories of someone among us. The memories stored in the hippocampus cannot be read, but they can be used like hypnotherapy to guide 'a certain' player to interact and actively output and collect information through the construction of fictional scenarios."
"That is to say!"
He stretched out his left arm with all his might towards the tightly closed curtains and yanked them open sharply—
"Shh!"
A burning, blood-red sun hangs high on the sea.
The yellow dwarf star, defying the darkness, rose slowly like the smoke of a day of execution, swallowing the tranquil night sky and the sea. The ocean trembled in the distorted light, the stars, the villa, and Kudo Yusaku's hand, gripping her shoulder tightly, trembled with excitement.
"During the game, Haruya Kuromon himself did not fall asleep, but was unconsciously read."
He's the one who recognizes hundreds of faces, he's the server that builds the characters, and he's also the prototype for the adapted scripts!