Chapter 3: The Deadly Cycle - C Language Cultivation

Lin Xun shared the situation with Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiegou. Zhao Jiegou was bewildered: "A Turbo C interface above our heads? That's such an ancient relic!" Wang Anquan was even more confused: "The problem isn't its age. Why are you having such hallucinations?" As he spoke, he looked up: "There's nothing there." Lin Xun fixed his gaze on the interface: "It really is Turbo C, and it's in high definition." He asked, "Luo, which department should I consult?" Luo Shen replied, "I've already registered you at the psychiatric department." Wang Anquan burst into laughter: "A day trip to the psych ward, Lin Algorithm." Zhao Jiegou's tone turned formal, like a broadcaster for an educational channel: "Xun God, a person whose illnesses are as unique as he is." The Jetta drove towards the nearest hospital. Inside the consultation room sat a middle-aged doctor in a white coat, kindly asking: "What's the matter?" Lin Xun replied, "I've been experiencing hallucinations." Halfway through his explanation, the doctor furrowed his brow, scrutinizing Lin Xun: "How old are you? Twenty?" Lin Xun responded, "Twenty-four." "Still quite young, and you look young too," the doctor said, typing on the keyboard to record information. "What do you do? Still studying?" "I'm not studying anymore, I'm a programmer." "A programmer..." the doctor's demeanor turned cautious: "Programmers do tend to have issues. Do the hallucinations have any specific content?" Lin Xun looked at the blank interface above the doctor's head: "I see a... projection-like, program input interface over everyone’s head." The doctor's typing paused, his expression serious: "Is it clear?" "Very clear." "Any auditory hallucinations?" "None." "Any other hallucinations?" "Never." "Any history of mental illness?" "None." "How long has this been happening?" "Since this morning." "You seem quite clear-headed," the doctor said, turning to Wang Anquan, who was accompanying, "Does he normally behave oddly?" Wang Anquan said, "No, he just programs at the computer all day." "How about his mental state?" "He's quite spirited." "What's his personality like, is he prone to extremes?" Lin Xun thought, am I really that kind of person? But he heard Wang Anquan say, "Kind of." Lin Xun: "?" Doctor also: "Hmm?" inquired with curiosity. Wang Anquan scratched his head: "He’s a little... quite competitive. For example, if he can’t write a program, he keeps at it until it’s done. If someone else finishes it before him, he gets upset." The doctor said, "That can be understood." He turned back to Lin Xun and asked, "When these hallucinations occurred, had you experienced any emotional shock?" Lin Xun replied, "I met my... idol today, might have been a bit excited." "Tch." The doctor handed him a questionnaire: "Let’s do an evaluation first." Lin Xun proceeded to fill out over two hundred evaluation questions. The doctor glanced at the results: "Your personality is quite positive. However, you do seem slightly obsessive, a bit like a mini-lemon." Lin Xun: "..." So, he was a little sour about the Lions today? "Mentally, there's nothing wrong." The doctor advised, "It's not psychological; I suggest visiting neurology for an MRI." Lin Xun was then sent off to the neurology department. Afterwards, like a pinball, he bounced from neurology to ophthalmology. The final conclusion was that there was no problem anywhere, and he was advised to have a good sleep at home. After all this running around, it was already dark outside. Once back, Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiegou collapsed on the sofa laughing, saying even Lin Algorithm could have a programmer’s burnout day. Lin Xun ignored them, grabbed a cup of cold water from the fridge, and took a few gulps. Wang Anquan went over to grab his cup: “You’re drinking after a burnout!” Then handed him a thermos with goji berries soaking inside. Lin Xun, under their watchful eyes, finished the goji-infused water, then told them: "I really don’t like hot or sweet things." Wang Anquan retorted: "Shut up, you lost three million today, no right to speak." Lin Xun: "..." He was ushered off to bed. The doctor said there wasn’t any substantial problem, so he wasn't too worried, thinking perhaps he was indeed burned out from programming and would be fine after a good sleep. The overall framework for "Luo Shen" was already established. He pondered the optimization algorithm for a while, scribbled on some scrap paper, and then prepared to sleep. Before sleeping, he recalled today’s happenings at the Silver River and felt a bit excited. Thus, he picked up his phone, opened Weibo, and navigated to Dong Jun’s page via special following. Dong Jun's ID was simple, just: Silver River-Dong Jun. His profile picture was stark, white background with grey text, extremely minimalist, with a pair of seemingly random numbers, reminiscent of a code. Dong Jun didn’t seem to utilize social networks. This account had only posted one Weibo a decade ago, before Silver River was established—back then, Dong Jun was just a teenager of seventeen or eighteen. The Weibo read: "Lo asked me why I look at the stars. I think the Silver River and code are the same thing, that's an answer too." The post had hundreds of thousands of comments, impossible to scroll through all. Some were like sightseeing tours: “Respect to Dong God, glax is the best language in the world.” Some were screaming: “Aaaaaaaah Dong Jun!” Others were somewhat creepy: “Teenage Dong Jun heeheeheeheehee.” And a small portion were envious: “Who’s Lo? I’m dead.” Such envious sentiments were understandable. After all, the idol had only one post, and in this significant, sole Weibo, another name was mentioned. Therefore, some speculated that this was Dong Jun's closest friend, while others guessed it was his first love—opinions diverged widely. Lin Xun had no interest in delving into his idol's personal life; he just enjoyed the satisfaction of praising him after understanding a piece of his code. What to praise this time? Everything deserving has been praised. Suddenly, a stroke of genius hit him, and he commented: “Idol is really handsome!” The comment got swallowed up in the vast sea of other remarks, but Lin Xun felt content. He turned off his phone and closed his eyes. The next moment, he opened his eyes wide! It was as if he had been startled, took a few deep breaths, and slowly closed his eyes again. His consciousness seemed to immerse him in another world, and with eyes closed, a gigantic blue screen surfaced before him—a C language input interface. He sat on a swivel chair, trying to reach out and touch the blue screen. The instant his finger touched the light, mechanical sounds echoed from all directions: "System loading." "Card loading." "Turbo C platform activated." "Decision tree activated." "Task activated." "Newbie guide task started." "Task objective: Channel energy into the body." "Task reward: Sect territory expansion, spiritual power increased by 10." "Task progress: 0." Lin Xun: "?" His mind filled with question marks. At that moment, he noticed a glow to his right, and when he looked, there was a golden floating scroll, inscribed with the task objective, rewards, and progress previously recited by the mechanical voice. Channel energy? Sect territory? He could comprehend these terms individually, but how did it tie back to C language? After cautiously examining the scroll, Lin Xun began to survey the surroundings. The space was black, with silver star-like points floating in the air. They rose from the ground, floating upward, illuminating the area. Upon closer inspection, he found that some of these points were the numbers 1 and 0... Ahead stood the C language interface, the task was on the right, nothing on the left, and - a tree stood behind him. Approaching the tree, he found it to be an image, a flat one. The roots shimmered in silver, growing dimmer as they climbed, transitioning into a trunk where a letter 'C' emerged, beyond which the tree merely had a dim outline. A commonplace letter C wouldn't typically imply much, but in conjunction with the C language interface, it became deeply intriguing. C language is a language, a special kind of programming language. Programming languages are divided into high-level and low-level. Low-level language is machine language—for instance, machine language composed entirely of binary sequences, assembly language composed of mnemonics, acting directly on machines. High-level languages are people's languages, where code is written in high-level syntax, then translated by a compiler into machine language to perform actions on the machine. However, C language is different. While it is a high-level language with its syntax, it can manipulate machine processes, such as controlling memory. Hence, it's sometimes referred to as a "mid-level language," bridging low-level and high-level languages. “The roots might represent machine language, or machines," Lin Xun mused. "The trunk and branches could represent users, placing C language between the roots and trunk. If the language interface allows me to unlock further, it might offer mastery over C#, Python, and perhaps even lower-level languages. But what’s the purpose of this?" Involuntarily, he shifted his gaze from the anachronistic task scroll to the program input interface. Since there was a compiler available, it seemed natural for Lin Xun to... program. For a programmer, it was as simple as drinking cold water. C language, right? He knew it quite well. But how would he input the code? Lin Xun raised his hands, hovering them in mid-air. Silver light flowed, and in the next moment, a snow-white keyboard materialized beneath his fingers! With a keyboard in place, Lin Xun felt much more at ease. For a programmer to have a keyboard was akin to a math student having a warehouse full of scrap paper—it was comforting and filled him with a sense of security. He began to type code smoothly. The string of code he typed was the first demonstration program commonly employed by all renowned programming language textbooks. Subsequent programmers adopted the same habit; when faced with an unfamiliar programming environment, they instinctively input this program to troubleshoot. He started with a preprocessor directive to ensure the compiler recognized the subsequent statements: `#include <stdio.h>` Then called the main function: `int main()` This was followed by an opening curly brace `{`, under which he wrote the function body. The purpose of this program was to output a single phrase, so he used the statement: `printf("Hello, world!");` Finally, he included: `return 0;` to indicate the main function ended normally, enclosing it with a closing curly brace `}`. And that completed the program. He executed it, and the screen switched to a pure black interface displaying two words. Hello, world. —The first phrase ever uttered by a computer to humanity. To his right, there was a sudden flash of light. Lin Xun turned to see the task progress shoot to one hundred percent. The mechanical voice rang out once more: "Newbie guide task complete. Entering Qi Refining stage. Sect territory is expanding. Spiritual power +10." Was it really that simple? While Lin Xun pondered, the mechanical voice spoke again. "Main quest activated." "Task objective: Unblock energy meridians and complete Foundation Establishment." "Task reward: Sect funding +50, Spiritual power +30." "Task progress: 0." Faced with the compiler interface, Lin Xun ran through basic operations of C language in his mind, eager to proceed. —If this was how the game worked, then he certainly wasn’t sleepy anymore. Forget Foundation Establishment, even transcending tribulations seemed without difficulty. He was curious to see what this sect territory and sect funding really entailed.