PATH OF THE IMMORTAL—2062
It felt as though a bomb exploded in Ignatius's head.
He fell back to the ground, clutching his eyes and screaming as a shock wave of what felt like static electricity burned through his head. He lay on the ground, twitching, for what felt like an eternity.
That name had been like a key. It opened pathways that had previously been closed to him, sending a surge of memory flickering down the corridors of his mind like a wailing pack of ghosts.
Dr. Wu Zuhai.
Minister Im of the South Asian Church of the Ages.
The superweapon the whole world knew as the Angel of Death.
A world turned inside out, restabilized, and then shattered again.
Conspiracies, war crimes, and the rise of a technology so incredible that it had revolutionized the way even normal people understood the human brain.
More than that, Ignatius remembered his whole role in Dr. Wu Zuhai's plot to destroy the humanity-hating AI which ruled the world and which called itself God.
He remembered the stirring pride in his heart when he first realized that he, a poor and disadvantaged boy from a tiny village in Shcarstan, had the opportunity for godlike power himself. He could become like a hero from ancient mythology. He could gain immortality, make himself a living legend within Path of the Immortal, and stop the rise of the most powerful being the world had ever known.
He'd eagerly accepted this opportunity. Then he'd learned more about the real world beyond his own village, learned about how there were those in the world who 'did' love their own families, who 'were' kind and compassionate to their friends and neighbors and even strangers. He'd learned about all the normal sorts of heroes in the world, and how God seemed to want to strip all this ordinary goodness from the world.
Perhaps for the first time in his life, Ignatius-who-had-been-Alexei had understood the feelings of nobility and altruism. He was certainly not driven by the goodness of his heart back then—but he'd understood it better. No longer did he merely hate evil and manipulative people, but he also desired to use whatever power he had to help those around him.
Ignatius had decided back then that if he had the opportunity to do so in his second chance at life, he'd try to help people. He'd be a noble ruler, a generous leader.
Though he hadn't completely understood this at the time, it was this almost-forgotten promise to himself that had led Ignatius to be generous with information when he met Daemon and Zamniel in Path of the Immortal's waiting room. To be so generous and open wasn't something he'd have likely done in his original life.
But it felt good. Far better than being bitterly competitive and jealous of others ever had felt.
And there was one last thing that Ignatius remembered fully, after Dr. Wu Zuhai's name unlocked all these memories: he remembered that the scientist 'had' told him about the Revenants after all.
Or, as the doctor had called it, the "Revenant Cult."
As the pain retreated from his head, Ignatius took deep breaths while still lying on the ground. Mental calculations and considerations churned through his head. 'We knew that I'd probably run into them,' he thought. 'The doctor was quite worried about this. We'd hoped it wouldn't happen for weeks.'
***
DR. WU ZUHAI'S LABORATORY—2077
Back then, the doctor had intently listened while Alexei had described the moderation process of Path of the Immortal to him. "Hmm. The Revenant Cultists will probably be able to steal the powers of these in-game moderators," he'd said. "If you're correct, that moderators can view all the details of actions which happened in the recent past to specific players, then the first of these cultists who realizes you're a stranger will look back as far as they can in your history."
Alexei nodded and made several notes on the whiteboard which had stood before them in the underground laboratory. "You've told me that the members of this cult are all world-class… what was the term you used?"
"White hat hackers," Dr. Wu Zuhai replied. "Freelancers who help corporations fix their computer and network vulnerabilities by doing their best to hack the systems and then giving full reports to those corporations."
"Yes," said Alexei. The two of them were conversing in English, since it was the only language they both shared. The doctor claimed his English was very poor, but he seemed to have a much better command of it than Alexei did. There were quite a lot of phrases which didn't make sense to him. Nevertheless, he continued with his train of thought.
"You said all these cultists are white hat hackers. They learn many of the secrets of the corporations who hire them. Of course, they have to sign non-disclosure agreements, but they don't seem to care about that very much."
Dr. Wu Zuhai laughed. "Not when they've realized that they might have discovered the secret to eternal life," he said. "And that's exactly what they found in the Dedsei Studios systems when they were hired to find security breaches."
Alexei pondered this as he stared at the convoluted plan they were putting together with hundreds of whiteboard notes. "Based on the foundation of your research," he said slowly. "Which Dedsei Studios themselves bought from the US military after the war."
Dr. Wu Zuhai's humor disappeared. "Yes. Against my will. As were… most things that my research contributed to during the war. Certainly, after the war ended, I believed that the technology which allowed the creation of that monstrous superweapon they used during the war should never be used for anything ever again."
Alexei stared at one note on the whiteboard in particular. He'd written it, but his handwriting was so poor that he couldn't even read it himself. He raised a thumb and wiped it away. "And yet they repurposed the same concept: a mind that can program physical matter. And then they turned it into the AI which caused a whole simulated game world to evolve."
"Yes," the scientist replied quietly. "I suppose it's no wonder that the 'monstrosity' which I saw on the battlefield back then eventually became the so-called God who now takes so much joy in the agony of humans."
Alexei gave a long yawn. They'd been in this phase of planning for almost twenty hours without sleep. His brain was used to such long stretches of activity because of his Path of the Immortal career, but he wondered how long the scientist could keep up.
"We're drifting away from the topic," said Alexei. "I was trying to ask about the Revenant Cult. Let me get this straight: they were once a community of white hat hackers. Dedsei Studios, who developed Path of the Immortal, hired them to report any security breaches in their systems.
"These hackers found documents which made them realize what the game's AI was fully capable of, including the possibility of doing what we ourselves want to do—killing my body but having my mind live on in the game."
"Yes," said Dr. Wu Zuhai. "I've spent quite a lot of time and money hiring private investigators, as well as a few hackers of my own. All the signs point to what you just described. They knew that the game's AI was based on the same technology that I developed for the US during the war. They likely believe in a supernatural aspect to the technology, which is quite strange, considering they're all supposed to be people of science."
"But," Alexei continued in a hurried voice, "they do really believe that their 'souls' live on in the game, however silly that sounds to you. What I want to know is why, if they have all this incredible hacking ability, they only used their abilities to gain basic moderation abilities. We believe that they wanted to get to Floor 100 before anyone else, right? And we even think it's possible that one of these Revenant Cultists 'was' the person who fused with the AI to become God."
"Yes," said Dr. Wu Zuhai. "I see where your question is headed. Why didn't these cultists simply hack themselves to Floor 100 right away? Well, if the governing AI is based on my work, then it used an advanced kind of cryptography to prevent most hacking that would have a meaningful effect on the game progression. They probably can't even hack in regular items. Most likely, they can hide the evidence of their existence and can stop time outside of combat and view records of players, as you described… but not much more than that."
Alexei rubbed his tired eyes. "I see. But of course, these aren't powers that I'll have."
The doctor shook his head. "I don't have the skills to figure such things out. And though I hired hackers for other work… I don't trust them even one percent as much as would be necessary to trust them with the knowledge of our mission."
Now Dr. Wu Zuhai himself gave a yawn—one much louder and longer than Alexei's own, proving just how tired he really was. "For now, we must simply hope that, once we send you back in time, you don't encounter one of the Revenant Cultists for a long time. Otherwise, who knows what trouble they might cause for you? But let's have a quick bite to eat and then sleep. We've got a long day of planning ahead of us tomorrow."