Chapter 224 - 91: Truth Serum and Broad-mouthed Bottle

Chapter 224: Chapter 91: Truth Serum and Broad-mouthed Bottle

Yu Xian hadn’t fully processed Wen Xiao’s message when Senior Sister Yiyi sent another one:

"Human memory and cognition are, in essence, a vast network of neurons and specific connection patterns of electrochemical signals between synapses."

The senior sister stated her hypothesis:

"This current connection mode feels like it’s linking everyone’s neural networks together, creating something like a ’shared synaptic pool.’"

"Like... a distributed subconscious database?" Wen Xiao asked.

"Or a biological computer made up of human brains." Yu Xian took a deep breath, having thought of a very serious problem:

"Have you guys ever considered the privacy and security issues of this shared dreamscape? If the ’server’ can rummage through your memories to generate a book, could it also find your bank PIN? Or other secrets you don’t want anyone to know?"

Yu Xian sensed the huge hidden dangers behind this technology:

If a person’s subconscious and memories could be searched by this unknown "server" as easily as reaching into a pocket to grab something, would personal privacy even exist in the connected Dream Net?

Yang Yiyi quickly replied:

"However, based on the test results so far, this kind of access seems to be passive. It doesn’t appear to specifically target and browse through someone’s unrelated private memories."

Seeing the words "passive" and "specifically target" on the screen, Yu Xian’s brow didn’t relax. Instead, it furrowed even deeper.

His fingers flew across the screen as he typed:

"But don’t forget, Senior Sister, if its rules are as Wen Xiao guessed—to find data and memories with a ’sufficiently high match’ to complete the blueprint’s construction..."

Yu Xian paused, his mind playing out a possibility that sent a chill down his spine, and continued typing:

"Suppose in the next connection test, I modify a dream script. I set a very specific command in it: ’Generate a piece of paper on the table with Wen Xiao’s deepest secret written on it.’ What would happen then?"

After he sent the message, the group chat instantly fell silent.

Yu Xian continued to type, his heart pounding with fear the deeper he thought about it:

"Because that command is extremely exclusive and specific. In other words, besides Wen Xiao’s own memory bank, it’s impossible for any other visitor’s mind to contain matching data or memories. So, wouldn’t the Dream Net just march right in, forcibly extract her private information, and manifest it on that piece of paper?"

Seeing that the other two weren’t saying anything, Yu Xian continued his deduction:

"In other words, if someone maliciously exploited this mechanism and set up a script, a scene, or an audio trap designed specifically to bait someone... couldn’t they use this method to effortlessly obtain any information from that person’s subconscious and memory?"

Bank PINs, business secrets, embarrassing pasts, even the deepest fears and vulnerabilities.

Following this logic, as long as the script was written cleverly enough, no secret could remain hidden.

Stealing privacy would be as easy as reading an open book.

"But... how does the Dream Net determine whose information is more ’accurate’ or has a higher ’match’?" Wen Xiao finally came back online, raising a new question:

"If two ’visitors’’ memory banks both contain accurate information about a certain event, whose memory will it choose for the construction?"

Yu Xian’s fingers, poised over the screen, paused. He couldn’t answer that question either and could only reply:

"Based on the information we have now, its specific judgment mechanism is still unclear. But ’phishing attacks’ against the subconscious, or in other words, hacking the brain’s memory bank, is definitely feasible."

"True. If that’s really the case, then this becomes an indefensible ’Truth Serum,’" Yang Yiyi added. "In a waking state, a person’s prefrontal cortex builds a solid psychological defense. You might not get a password out of them even with severe torture. But in the Dream Net, that line of defense is wide open."

"And the most dangerous part is, the victim might not even realize their memories have been extracted. If this technology falls into the hands of someone with malicious intent, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Looking at their replies, Yu Xian took a deep breath. The excitement he had felt from their successful remote connection was now completely gone.

In its place was a deep apprehension toward this unknown system and this method of thought plunder.

He recalled how, that afternoon in his apartment, he had compared this unknown connection mechanism to "fire" as first seen by primitive humans.

Before this, they had been immersed in the awe and shock of this epoch-making technology, like primitive humans enjoying the warmth and light of a flame.

But tonight, this flame, whose principles they didn’t understand at all, had finally revealed its ferocious fangs in the darkness.

The slightest carelessness, a step too close, and it would scorch their skin, or even burn them until not even bones remained.

Back in the dorm, Zhang Yang and Li Boxue had returned. They were chatting about what new viral audio clips had dropped in the Rabbit Hole, how many points their devices had mined today, and a long convoy of military trucks they saw off-campus, heading to an unknown destination.

Yu Xian collected himself, trying to find a way to break the deadlock. A moment later, he typed his thoughts into the group chat:

"However, if we look at it from another angle, maybe things aren’t so bad."