Phantasmal Genesis

Zhang Shan Hai had spoken ambiguously the entire time, going along the flow of the man’s words, but now, he had taken the lead.

“Do you know the grading rubric of this test?” Zhang Shan Hai leaned on his chair and spoke softly.

The man was stunned by his question, “Isn’t the grading based on the law?”

In his memory, the routine moral test’s grading was based on each person’s law-abidingness in their daily lives!

There was a strange smile on Zhang Shan Hai’s face as he wriggled his finger.

“Law? The grading is based on the law, but the grader themselves……” He stopped speaking halfway and started to smile at the confused man.

His smile confused the man even more, but the man could understand the hidden meaning of his words.

“The grader? But ever since the routine morality test was established a few centuries ago, the grading has always been done by AI!”

Zhang Shan Hai’s pupils shrunk, and he subtly looked at his right corner, hiding his reaction.

The routine morality test was established a few centuries ago……AI……

Did I……

Did I get caught?

Zhang Shan Hai started doubting, there weren’t even computers a hundred years ago, much less AI. But this man was talking about a test that had ran for centuries, and it was graded by AI.

This……

Zhang Shan Hai tried his best to hide his confusion and calm himself.

“Don’t kid me, AI from a few centuries ago? It was actually all done by people in the backend!” He shook his head in an unconcerned manner.

“……”

The man’s face was full of wrinkles as he spoke stiffly, “……are you fucking kidding me? Do you even know how many people there are in the Human Federation? If it was human labour……”

“No!”

Suddenly, the man roared as his flustered gaze landed on Zhang Shan Hai, he had realised something.

“You’re from this time period!”

And after he roared, the man stared at Zhang Shan Hai in disbelief as he mumbled softly to himself, “I’m doomed……I’m doomed……”

Zhang Shan Hai was stunned by his sudden change in demeanour, and Ren Yu Yan, who had been seated beside him the entire time quickly asked, “This time period? What do you mean by this time period!? Unless……you’re not from this time period!?”

The man stopped talking, he sat there in a daze, occasionally sighing or grabbing at his face, he was lost.

Ren Yu Yan’s brows were furrowed, and he looked towards Zhang Shan Hai and shook his head.

“This guy might have paranoia.”

People diagnosed with paranoia were stuck in their imaginary worlds, they lived hazily and their consciousness was blurred.

This was close to a person that was falling asleep imagining all kinds of impossible things, it was fictitious but very real to them, and these fairy tale images would appear in their minds constantly.

Zhang Shan Hai reluctantly nodded his head, it was a sloppy guess, but……

“More than a dozen people with paranoia stuck in the same setting?”

He couldn’t be sure, paranoia was understandable, but more than a dozen people with paranoia were all stuck in the same imaginary setting……

The chances of this happening were close to zero.

“Ka.”

Before Ren Yu Yan could explain himself, the door to the interrogation room was opened by the older policeman. He took a look inside the room and walked over to Zhang Shan Hai, “Four more people came, they’re all the same, here to turn themselves in.”

Ren Yu Yan wanted to explain, but after hearing what he had to say, he closed his mouth.

“This……is there almost 20 people now?”

Zhang Shan Hai’s brows were furrowed uncontrollably as a headache started to appear. Rubbing his temples, he opened his mouth to ask, it was unclear whether or not he was asking Ren Yu Yan or himself.

“This is paranoia too?”

Ren Yu Yan looked at the man whose face was completely white, “Lock him up first, by himself, and bring in one of those people who turned themselves in.”

This man was already aware that they were different from them, and if this man were locked up with the others, he would eventually tell all of them and ruin their plans.

It didn’t take long for this man to be taken away.

Yet another strong and tall-looking man was brought in, this was something Zhang Shan Hai had noticed. Everyone who was here to turn themselves in had strong physiques, regardless of their gender.

Zhang Shan Hai’s mind was in a mess, he needed to reorganise himself and he decided to hand this person over to Ren Yu Yan.

After recording his particulars, this man unsurprisingly said, “I’ve committed a crime, arrest me.”

“You’re guilty?” Ren Yu Yan asked.

“Right.”

“You’ve committed a crime and now you’re here to turn yourself in? Why not try escaping? What if you could run away?”

Before he could even finish his sentence.

Not only was the man bewildered, but even Zhang Shan Hai had also turned to look at the expressionless Ren Yu Yan with a raised brow.

Was he instigating a criminal to go on the run?!

“It’s only right to turn myself in if I’ve committed a crime! Why do you even have to ask why!? Isn’t this the basic courtesy a citizen should have?” The man’s words seemed very fake, it was as if he was reading off a script rather than speaking from his heart, it felt as though he was playing a game.

Ren Yu Yan nodded in agreeance and spoke sincerely, “Alright, since you’ve turned yourself in, we have decided that you did not commit a crime, you can leave.”

“Eh???”

The man thought that something had gone wrong in this test scenario, how could this man go off script like that? Turning yourself in meant that you weren’t guilty? Then what was the point of laws?

“No, no, I’ve turned myself in, you should arrest me!” The man shook his head strongly and tried to correct him.

“Why?”

Ren Yu Yan looked at him strangely as he spoke with admiration, “The act of turning yourself in has shown me your sincerity, this is something that everyone should learn from you as an example. If everyone were like you, we wouldn’t even need laws, would we? So why should we catch you? Are you upset that we’re letting you go?”

“……”

The man was completely speechless as he stared at Ren Yu Yan, was this policeman actually a madman disguised as one?

“Wait wait wait wait……I feel a bit dizzy.”

“I don’t want you to let me go, I feel like I’m guilty and I’ve committed an unforgivable crime, please lock me up!” The man looked pleadingly at Ren Yu Yan, who was still smiling at him professionally.

This man was the devil! He just wanted to end this test quickly, how could he have met such a strange weirdo like this?

“No, this is against the rules, you’ve turned yourself in so we can’t arrest you.” Ren Yu Yan shook his head.

“Rule? What rule?”

Faced with the man’s question, Ren Yu Yan smiled, “The rules of the routine morality test.”

“Eh.” This time, the man was stunned.”

“There was a rule like this? How have I never heard of it?”

Zhang Shan Hai was watching the entire time, and he was now aware of what Ren Yu Yan was trying to do. He quickly cooperated, “Unless, you’re saying that you’ve memorised all the rules of the test?”