The attention of the whale pod was drawn to these beautiful creatures, each beginning to chase their chosen jellyfish.
The initially unified swimming formation started to disperse, with each whale choosing a different direction.
As time passed, the glow of the jellyfish became increasingly bright, eventually reaching a dazzling level.
The intense light shielded the whales’ perception, preventing them from sensing the location of their companions.
The collective swimming completely collapsed, and each whale was lost in the illusion it pursued.
Subsequently, an ancient and enormous world tree appeared in the imagery.
Its roots were deeply embedded in the earth, extending to the core, drawing nutrients from the deepest layers of the ground.
These roots represented a stable foundation, traditional values, and collective faith.
But strange transformations began to occur.
Among the branches and leaves of the tree, countless mirrors suddenly emerged.
Each mirror reflected a different dream realm:
Some were illusions of power, others the temptation of wealth, some the ocean of knowledge, and others the paradise of pure joy.
These mirror-dreams spread rapidly like a virus, with more and more leaves being replaced by mirrors.
And when the tree began to "observe" these false beauties, its roots underwent dreadful changes.
Originally drawing real nutrients, the roots began to attempt to extract "nutrients" from the illusory mirrored world.
But the false cannot provide true nourishment, and the roots started to decay.
The final image showed countless beams of light converging like rivers, forming a brilliant river of light.
This river represented unified willpower, centralized strength, and collective goals.
All the rays flowed in the same direction.
But when this river of light reached a certain spot, it miraculously split apart.
The originally unified river suddenly divided into countless tiny tributaries, each flowing in a different direction.
Some tributaries meandered, like paths of exploration;
Some rushed swiftly, like the journey of adventure;
Some flowed quietly, like a stream of contemplation;
Others appeared and vanished, like traces of dreams...
When the four images fully manifested, Ron began to interpret using his knowledge and intuition.
Combining his previous understanding of the Vital Civilization, these symbolic images began to reveal deeper meanings:
"The hive imagery..."
He muttered to himself, gradually infiltrating his understanding:
"Steel represents the extreme rationality and discipline of the Vital People, flesh symbolizes their biological essence. The mechanical behavior of the worker bees is a depiction of their collective consciousness."
"And that colorful crack..."
Ron smiled slightly:
"Represents the need to introduce ’irrational’ elements.
Their collective consciousness, though efficient, lacks change and innovation.
If sufficient appealing ’irrational’ stimuli can be provided..."
"The imagery of the whale pod is more direct."
He continued his analysis:
"The disintegration of collective behavior is caused by the temptation of individuals pursuing different goals, with the glow of jellyfish representing something appealing enough to divert collective attention."
"And this temptation must be diverse, because each whale chases a different jellyfish."
The image of the ancient tree led Ron to think of the fundamental characteristics of the Vital Civilization:
"The rotting of the roots suggests the need to fundamentally shake their spiritual foundation, the mirror dreams symbolize the temptation of virtual worlds."
"If they can become addicted to false spiritual experiences, it would gradually weaken their ability to perceive reality."
The final image of the river of light highlighted a specific implementation strategy:
"The division of the unified light into tributaries signifies the need to provide diverse paths of choice."
"Not using a single virtual world, but constructing multiple different types of virtual environments to satisfy the personalized needs of different Vital People."
"The mirror ocean represents endless virtual possibilities..."
When all the clues were integrated, Ron finally arrived at a complete solution:
"Exploit the Spiritual World’s scarcity of the Vital Civilization!"
He stood up excitedly, his eyes burning with the fire of wisdom:
"Their collective consciousness is strong, but it also means that individuals lack independent spiritual experiences. They have never experienced true personalized entertainment and spiritual fulfillment!"
This was a brilliant discovery.
The Vital People pursued efficiency and unity, but this extreme collectivism also led to a barren spiritual world.
Their brains, although highly developed, were primarily used for information processing and collective coordination, and seldom for individual imagination, creation, and entertainment.
"Through virtual world technology, unprecedented spiritual experiences can be provided to them."
Ron began to conceive a specific implementation plan:
"Based on my improved Abyss simulation device, construct a large-scale online virtual environment."
"Leverage the Vital People’s inherent hunger for novel experiences to design highly attractive virtual content."
"Start with simple entertainment, gradually providing more complex and personalized experiences."
"Design different virtual world branches for Vital People with different personality inclinations..."
Cassandra, listening to Ron’s analysis, also became increasingly excited.
The brilliance of this plan lay in not directly confronting the military might of the Vital People, but infiltrating on a cultural and spiritual level.
If successful, it could even lead the Vital People to voluntarily abandon resistance and embrace the virtual world.
"This idea... indeed has feasibility."
"The collective consciousness of the Vital People pursues efficiency, but it also suppresses individuality. If their repressed individual needs can be released..."
"But how exactly should it be implemented?"