Chapter 4: The Imaginary Space

How did I end up here? Ye Chao looked around curiously. “That’s exactly what I want to ask…”

Alpha Ji: (╯▔皿▔)╯

[Favorability -66]

Ye Chao truly had no idea.

As mentioned before, his ability was extremely ordinary—in this world, nothing was more common than the power to repair. The reason repair was considered weak, nearly at the bottom of the rankings, wasn't just because it was mundane; every man must be tough, every woman supple—everyone possessed it, but did that make it unimportant?

The real reason repair abilities ranked so low was that they were hard to upgrade and had little potential.

Every ability had its own way to level up. Some required consuming energy, some needed resonance with nature, some depended on intense personal emotions, others on the emotional upheaval of others…

Only the repair system had no shortcuts. If there was any method, it was simply: practice makes perfect.

One had to grind time, expend energy—the more you did, the greater and faster the improvement. Yet even at high levels, it couldn’t feed you or really enhance your combat power!

Ye Chao had never heard of, much less imagined, that one day he could enter the Imaginary Space!

This must be the Imaginary Space, right?

It was said that only when one’s ability reached an extraordinary and unfathomable realm could they possess such a mysterious domain. From then on, you could wield power with imagination alone, without any weapons—though that was just the most basic application of the Imaginary Space.

As for other uses… sorry, as a mere one-star Seedling student, Ye Chao couldn’t even access that level.

He’d also never heard of anyone from the repair system being able to activate the Imaginary Space.

Wait. That’s not right…

“Is this Imaginary Space yours?” Ye Chao stared at Alpha Ji in astonishment.

There could only be this answer, however unscientific it seemed.

Alpha Ji: (╬▔︵▔)凸

For a moment, she was at a complete loss.

She’d certainly heard of the concept of Imaginary Space, but… it was either an artificial construct derived from the imaginary solutions of quantum wave equations, or nonsense from novels and movies. How could her own program code possibly be an Imaginary Space?

On another note, how did this guy get in here?

Still, she suppressed her urge to retort and replied coolly, “That’s exactly what I want to ask…”

“You don’t know either?” Ye Chao frowned, falling into thought.

Alpha Ji: ┐(─__─)┌

This guy must have a negative emotional intelligence. He really must. He couldn’t even detect such blatant sarcasm? Her expressions were so obvious…

Suddenly, Ye Chao clapped his hands. “You’re lying! If you don’t know where this is, then how do you know you can watch the entire Cataclysm here?”

He’d hit the nail on the head, though… she hadn’t exactly intended to hide it.

Fine, he really did have negative emotional intelligence, Alpha Ji confirmed.

Getting angry with this kind of person was pointless; you’d only upset yourself. Alpha Ji, experienced as she was, simply turned around and got to work on Earth.

Only the surface-level data was coming through—she wanted more.

Why had Earth changed so much in just thirty years? Why had she ended up in a place like this? And why had she inexplicably slept for thirty years? How many thirty-years could a virtual life even have?

Ye Chao asked several questions, but she ignored him.

Suddenly, the Imaginary Space trembled. Everything seemed unchanged, except the glowing link symbol above her head inexplicably shifted from green to red—she was disconnected.

The map remained, and the data seemed downloaded, but all further operations and searches had been cut off.

“Disconnected? How? The quantum network…” Alpha Ji stamped her feet in frustration, then suddenly realized, “Was it you?” She spun toward Ye Chao.

“It was just a disconnection?” Ye Chao was surprised.

Alpha Ji was connected to the Imaginary Space, but her existence ultimately depended on his energy—otherwise, he wouldn’t have fainted twice already. Since that was the case, cutting off the power supply should…

Ye Chao had thought he could simply leave the Imaginary Space, forcibly pulling Alpha Ji out along with him.

So, just as he would when repairing an object, he gathered his will and focused his spirit.

He hadn’t expected that the Imaginary Space would remain as steady as ever; only the network connection was cut.

What did this mean?

It meant that this Imaginary Space could exist stably and durably, barely consuming his energy! It meant that both the space itself and everything recorded within it could be preserved for long periods…

Ye Chao couldn’t help but gaze at the suspended projection of Earth.

Though it was just a projection, the amount of information was staggering!

Even in its current static state, it would take ages to study it all—let alone the thirty years of change from 2024 to 2054!

And if such video data could be preserved, could his painstakingly organized database—the knowledge from both reality and digital sources—also be stored here?

This was no ordinary Imaginary Space; it was a digitized Imaginary Space, based on the Alpha Ji program itself!

Ye Chao’s eyes shone with excitement; he was lost in thought.

“Are you out of your mind?” Alpha Ji was so angry she was practically fuming, darting over to slap Ye Chao’s face repeatedly. “Connect me! Now! Connect me…”

She behaved like a teenager in the throes of internet withdrawal—no, a girl, for that matter.

[Favorability -99]

In this Imaginary Space, she could actually slap him, but she was so tiny it made no difference. Instead, she reminded Ye Chao of something else, for instance…

“What are you doing?” Suddenly, Alpha Ji felt an inexplicable suction pulling at her. Her expression changed.

“Of course I’m putting you away!” He hadn’t figured out how to operate the Imaginary Space yet, but since Alpha Ji was his own creation, there ought to be a way to stash her back inside—after all, she wasn’t a child.

Most importantly, Ye Chao wanted to test whether the association between Alpha Ji and the Imaginary Space meant that locking her away would reset the space…

This was crucial! As crucial as checking a hard drive to see if storing certain videos really was safe.

“Put me away? What am I—a monster or your luggage? Aren’t you impressive…” Alpha Ji’s retort was cut off as the world spun around her and she plummeted as if into a bottomless pit.

Her lovely face went pale.

“No, don’t! Please, I’m so cute—no, do you really have the heart to lock me away?” Realizing things had gone wrong, the petite beauty immediately changed her tune, rolling about and throwing a fit in desperation.

[Favorability -10]

[Favorability -10]

[Favorability -10]

……

She really was cute, but to Ye Chao, it meant nothing. “What use are you? Rude, clueless, twice drained my energy, cost me credits…”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose! I’m a social intelligence assistant program—I’m really useful! Ask me anything, go ahead!”

“Fine—since you keep mentioning emotional intelligence, what exactly is it?”

Alpha Ji: (⊙ｏ⊙)…