"How do you feel?"
The sensation of being mentally pulled rose again. After saying goodbye to 'Theresa', Yǔ's vision quickly went black again. Within a few seconds, he regained the sensation of lying in a metal box.
The restraint device automatically popped open. He took off his helmet, held his head, and slowly sat up, leaning against the metal inner wall. As soon as his vision focused, he saw Cocolia's somewhat worried expression.
He gently exhaled, a smile quickly appearing on his face. He looked at Cocolia and the few people behind her, including Seele, and said: "Don't worry, there's no problem."
Then, he curiously raised his hands, looked at them in front of him, clenching and unclenching his fingers, and marveled: "It's truly incredible. Inside, I could barely distinguish between virtual and reality."
"Can't distinguish?"
Unexpectedly, Dr. Tesla, who heard his muttering, frowned slightly. After exchanging glances with Dr. Einstein, she whispered: "It seems the simulation fidelity is set too high. I think it's necessary to lower it a bit."
"Hmm."
If people can't distinguish between virtual and reality, that's a very dangerous thing. This must be taken seriously. For example, the pain sensation can only be adjusted to 50% precisely to deal with such situations.
She took a step forward, stood beside Cocolia, and asked him: "Besides that, did you experience any problems during the trial?"
"Problems? Let me think."
Rubbing his chin in thought for a moment, he said with some hesitation: "Because the trial time was relatively short, I only found two noticeable perceptual problems. One was an occasional but quite noticeable lag, and the other was that my sense of taste would occasionally be abnormal. I took a bite of ice cream in there, and it ended up scalding me."
"Is that so."
While recording on the tablet in her hand, Tesla said: "The lag is because we're not using the most advanced communication system; that technology is currently in Shencheng Technology's hands, but we'll finalize a cooperation soon, so it's not a big problem. As for the taste, it might be an issue with the program responsible for the relevant neurons. I'll troubleshoot it later."
Seeing Yǔ being pulled up by several girls, surrounded like a star among them, Tesla impatiently waved them away: "Since the test is done, hurry up and leave. The messy-haired one and I are waiting to do experiments."
"When's the next test?" Yǔ asked. He and 'Theresa' had agreed to play together next time.
"In a week. Your phone will notify you then."
"Alrighty~"
The group left the laboratory in a grand procession. Seele, Bronya, and Kaguya finally couldn't hold back their curiosity and crowded around him, asking questions one after another. Yǔ didn't feel annoyed and responded patiently and meticulously.
Cocolia walked behind the children, and seeing them laughing and getting along, a smile also graced her lips, feeling in a good mood.
After a while, seeing that her daughters' curiosity was mostly satisfied, she walked over and asked: "Xiaoyu, do you know who the person from Destiny who participated in the test with you was?"
"That, it was Ther..."
His open mouth suddenly paused. He stopped and looked at Cocolia, asking: "Regarding Headmaster Theresa of Saint Freya, does she have a sister or relative who looks very similar to her?"
Initially, when he saw those eyes, he had already had some suspicions, but the appearance in the virtual world could be adjusted freely, and coupled with the fact that she didn't deny it when he called her Theresa, he temporarily suppressed this doubt.
However, during the subsequent playtime, the obvious contradictions in 'Theresa' only deepened his suspicions.
Despite being a Headmaster in her forties, she acted like a naive little girl, maintaining freshness and curiosity towards everything in the world. That adorable and innocent demeanor was impossible to fake, especially the surprised and happy expression in 'Theresa's' eyes every time they went to a new place. Honestly, she was nowhere near mature.
"Hmm?"
Frowning in thought for a moment, Cocolia seemed to recall something and replied with some uncertainty: "Now that you mention it, I think I have some impression. Welt mentioned it by chance once. Otto actually has two granddaughters. One is Theresa, and the other seems to have been frail and sickly since birth, spending years confined to a sickbed. Are you talking about that child?"
There really is one!!
"Do you know her name?"
"Hmm, I've forgotten the exact name, but I remember it seemed to have the characters 'Luna' in it? What, did you meet her?"
"...If nothing unexpected happened."
Recalling Luna's appearance, like she was exploring the world for the first time, when they played together, he wondered how this child could have such a miserable life in the real world. It seemed there was another reason to look forward to the next test.
"With current medical conditions, is there no way to cure that girl named Luna?"
Beside him, Seele asked curiously.
"It can be cured, but the process is quite troublesome, involving a secret of Destiny."
Looking around to make sure no one was there, Cocolia randomly chose an office, pulled them inside, and then tightly closed the door.
"What's wrong?"
Cocolia pressed her hands towards the confused children, motioning for everyone to sit down.
"I had originally planned to tell you about this later, but since it's come up today, I'll just tell you now."
"What is it?"
"It's about that secret of Destiny."
Pausing, Cocolia's lips curved into a smile. After making eye contact with each of the children, she asked: "Do you know who the current leader of Destiny is?"
"Otto."
They were quite familiar with the world's three major technology companies.
"Then do you know how old he is?"
"..."
"Don't you feel that he still looks very young even now?"
"..."
At this, everyone immediately began to ponder. It seemed that, indeed, as long as they could remember, Otto had always looked the same.
"Let me tell you, when I was little, Otto still looked like this."
"How is that possible?!"
People age; this is a natural law that no one can defy.
"Is he a robot?" Bronya hypothesized.
"No."
Shaking her head, Cocolia didn't hide it any longer and directly told them: "It's Destiny's gene technology."
"No one knows how long Otto has lived. It is rumored that his and his wife's 'eternal youth' originated from an accident, and relying on this currently uninvestigable accident, Destiny developed a large number of gene technologies. Nowadays, with their technology, extending a person's lifespan by hundreds of years is no problem at all. However, because of the heavy burden on the body, that girl named Luna has had to regulate her body from childhood until now, even being older than you."
"Ah?!!!"
As if very satisfied with the four children's shocked reactions, Cocolia continued with a smile: "Of course, on one hand, it might cause social chaos, and on the other hand, because the cost is too high, this technology has never been made public."
"Not just Destiny's people, but also Welt, Dr. Einstein, and Dr. Tesla from Anti-Entropy—they have all undergone Destiny's gene adjustments. Otherwise, how could they still look so young at their age? Dr. Mebius from Shencheng Technology even took this technology to the next level, but it was banned due to its high danger."
"...Then ordinary people just..."
Hearing this, Cocolia chuckled, looking at Seele's conflicted face: "You might not know, plus the state's deliberate concealment, but if you actually investigate, you'll find that people's average lifespan has been rising somewhat unnaturally over the past decade or so."
"Eh?"
Understanding something, the sudden impact left everyone speechless. After a long while, Bronya finally looked up and asked: "Then what about you, Mama Cocolia?"
"Me? I haven't yet. After all, I haven't been in Anti-Entropy for long, and I haven't had time to go through it. This virtual technology was actually a breakthrough by Anti-Entropy, but hogging it is the most taboo thing, so we're co-developing it through technology exchange and some gene adjustment slots."
Pausing, Cocolia continued: "I've already reserved spots for you with the portion of slots I have."
"!!!"