MASG chapter 135

 

Colored patches flashed nonstop like all of Xia Yu’s memories, trying to remind him and confuse him.

Nuwa: [It’s been a long time since we last met. Although I’m not good at human greetings, I understand the meaning of this one.]

“Is that so? Do you also understand what it means to lose and then regain?” Xia Yu rubbed his eyes.

He looked at his hands. These were his own hands. When he was in Penghu City, there were scars on the backs of his hands and fingers, proving that he was an ordinary boy who grew up fighting and stumbling around. There was even a thin callus on the middle finger of his right hand, evidence that he was a serious student who held a pen and wrote a lot from a young age.

But as a true Blue Jellyfish Synth, he had no scars on his body.

Veins spread across the back of his hand. When Xiang Xing held his hand and he poured out his true feelings, his veins seemed to connect with mycelium.

Later, however, Xiang Xing turned into spores and flew away. To save them in the sea disaster, he sacrificed himself.

Xia Yu’s head hurt badly. “You don’t understand, Nuwa. You don’t understand.”

Nuwa: [Oh? What don’t I understand? Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but that sentence is really funny.]

“I was wrong before. I thought you were the pinnacle of human technology. I thought you were the shrewdest thing in the world. I thought you were the embodiment of collective social wisdom. Turns out, you don’t understand anything.” Xia Yu spoke to Nuwa in an unusually calm manner.

Nuwa fell silent.

“You don’t think or feel like a human. The world you understand is extremely narrow. You can’t experience a ‘vast and magnificent’ life.” After going through all of this, it seemed as if Xia Yu had undergone an update as well. Instead of stopping after extreme grief, he chose an “evolution” of thought.

Nuwa: [How is it that I don’t understand?]

Xia Yu asked, “Are my companions all right?”

Nuwa: [I can kill them at any time.]

“No, you can’t. The moment I woke up, you were already at a disadvantage, right?” Xia Yu sharply pointed out the key issue. “You can’t kill me or them, so you used the ‘Bloom Plan’ to control me That was a very smart move. I admit I was hurt…hurt like never before.”

“Human emotional patterns are a kind of knowledge you can’t understand or penetrate. If you evolve for a few hundred more years, maybe you’ll be able to glimpse a corner of it. I was wrong. I thought you were too powerful before. You’re just a… tool.” Xia Yu said coldly.

He raised his head and looked at the maze-like light traps in all directions. His water-colored eyes were no longer clouded, but instead became the clearest pool of water there.

Nuwa fell silent again.

It seemed like nothing had happened, but clearly something had happened. Xia Yu had broken free of control and entered a higher level of awakening.

At that moment, Xia Yu spoke again. “A tool should honestly remain a tool instead of trying to surpass human nature. Humans themselves haven’t fully grasped human nature. On what basis do you think you can?”

Nuwa: [Xia Yu, you’re being very aggressive right now, and you’re making me angry.]

“No, no, no. Your anger is fake, too.” Xia Yu looked around. “Did I hit the mark?”

Nuwa: [You are completely wrong.]

Nuwa: [How could I have no emotions?]

Nuwa: [I spent decades studying human emotional patterns. The neural circuits of billions of humans flashed through my data.]

“Yet it was fleeting,” added Xia Yu.

Nuwa: [Of course it wasn’t fleeting.]

“Then why did I wake up? You should have hidden me even deeper.” Xia Yu pressed on.

Nuwa fell silent for the third time.

Light and shadow flowed through Xia Yu’s eyes. “That’s because deeper emotional connections and more sincere, unforgettable feelings are always more important than virtual experiences. I love my home, my mother, Xia Li; my younger sister, Xia Xiaoxiao; and my father, Zhang Mingqiao. You stuffed eighteen years of happy experiences into my head, but they still can’t compare to the single moment Xiang Xing gave me. Fake is fake. Data is data. Nuwa, your ‘Bloom Plan’ failed. I didn’t bloom here.”

Nuwa: [Are you trying to anger me?]

“No need,” replied Xia Yu. “Because even your anger is just electronic circuitry. You imitate humans, but you’ll never become human. It’s even less likely that you’ll become a god who controls the human world. Since you can imitate the Four Horsemen, you must have read the Bible. Did you watch from the creation of heaven and earth all the way to the chapter of Revelation?”[mfn]The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse originate from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. They symbolize the forces that will bring about the end of the world when divine judgment begins. They ride out one by one as the first four seals are opened. The first horseman is often associated with Conquest or Pestilence and represents the spread of domination, disease, or false salvation. The second horseman, War, brings violence and conflict, turning people against one another. The third horseman, Famine, symbolizes scarcity and the collapse of resources, creating social imbalance where survival becomes unequal and cruel. The fourth horseman, Death, is the last to appear, embodying widespread mortality and the final consequence of the previous three. Together, the Four Horsemen represent a progression: control leads to conflict, conflict leads to scarcity, and scarcity inevitably leads to death. In literature, the Four Horsemen often represent systemic collapse, moral failure, or the unavoidable cost of playing God.[/mfn]

Nuwa: [I don’t need to read; I only need to remember.]

“Then you should remember how Eve and Adam left the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the Bible.”[mfn]The Bible’s opening refers to Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden. In the Bible, Eden is described as a perfect, protected paradise with rules. Adam and Eve are not equal to God; they are created beings under His control. Once they gained knowledge and self-awareness, they were forced to leave.[/mfn] Xia Yu thought for a moment. “Penghu City… Penghu also has another name: ‘Penglai.’ Penglai Paradise. You imitated Eden and put me in this garden. But you only remembered the story from the Bible and never truly understood it.”[mfn]Penghu (蓬壺) also being called Penglai (蓬莱) refers to the Chinese myth of Penglai Immortal Realm, a paradise where immortals live.[/mfn]

Nuwa: [Then tell me what I didn’t understand?]

“Understand humanity’s pursuit of truth and reality. In the end, Eve and Adam didn’t stay in Eden. You could say they fell into sin or that they were loyal to knowledge,” said Xia Yu.

Nuwa: [Looks like back when you were in the research institute, I shouldn’t have let you read so many books. But are you really so confident in saying that my data is just data? Let’s take a look at this.]

As soon as she finished speaking, Xia Yu’s body floated up once again. It was as if Nuwa was going to use all her abilities to make him understand one truth: in the world of data, Xia Yu was just a speck, a drop in the vast ocean. He was something that could be disposed of and threatened at will. Supported by nonexistent oxygen, Xia Yu entered a brilliant sphere of light. As the sphere expanded, the figure of a woman appeared before him.

“Professor Wang Qin.” Xia Yu knew she was fake. “Mom…”

That’s right. Xia Li’s original prototype was Professor Wang Qin, which is why Xia Yu’s departure had been so painful. Professor Wang Qin’s body began to grow, expanding from the size of an ordinary person to that of a building. Xia Yu was positioned right in her pupil. Suddenly, the pupil expanded, and every color patch in the black pupil stretched infinitely, becoming fan-shaped screens.

Nuwa: [I am data, and data is me.]

All the screens lit up at once, endlessly scrolling through Xia Yu’s past eighteen years. After his birth, Xia Li held him to comfort him. When he learned to walk unsteadily, Xia Li held on tight. On his first day of kindergarten, Xia Li stood at the door, unwilling to leave. Yet, she still had to turn around resolutely and let the two children walk toward the beginning of their lives.

These scenes appeared not only on the screens but also in Xia Yu’s memories.

Nuwa: [You are responding to this sincerity, right?]

Xia Yu nodded. “That’s right. I have normal emotional responses. I love her. I love Professor Wang Qin, and I also love Mom, Xia Li. You are the real culprit who separated us. What right do you have to ‘revive’ her in front of me?”

Nuwa: [I can revive her and ensure that you will never be separated. If you insist on leaving Penghu City, I will cleanly delete these data. I don’t mind deleting a few thousand data humans. I have tens of thousands more to fill the gap. I won’t leave archives for them. Penghu City will disappear, and they will too.]

“You killed them. You killed Professor Wang Qin twice,” said Xia Yu.

Nuwa: [Because possessing this power, an imbalance of power will inevitably give birth to authoritarian rule. I can kill her in reality and in the virtual world. I can kill. Why wouldn’t I? Isn’t that exactly how humans think?]

“You think they’re just data, but they have thoughts and intentions of their own. You can’t control that many,” said Xia Yu, shaking his head firmly. “I will leave. Mo An will be willing to leave too.”

Nuwa: [Are you willing to make a bet with me?]

Xia Yu didn’t hesitate. “Say it. Bring it on.”

Nuwa: Right now, I’ve found Mo An’s awakening signal, but I still haven’t received Lao Gui’s. It looks like Lao Gui has decided to stay in Penghu City. He wants to give up reality and embrace blooming. If he can wake up, I’ll let you leave.]

“I want to raise the stakes,” said Xia Yu, who had already learned how to bargain with Nuwa. “If Lao Gui wakes up, it won’t just be the three of us. My younger sister has to leave with me, too.”

Nuwa: [Aren’t you afraid I’ll go back on my word?]

Xia Yu skillfully used the rules. “You claim to be an existence beyond humanity. If you go back on your word, then you’ll fall to the same level as humans.”

Nuwa: [Xia Yu, you’re much smarter than my creator. I regret it. I should have killed you as a child instead of raising a tiger that would bring disaster upon me.]

Penghu City had already turned blood red.

Lao Gui stood by the fish pond. For some reason, Xia Yu’s home was gone. The beautiful little wooden house was gone because of Xia Yu and Mo An’s departure. Only traces remained on the ground where a house once stood, with no sign of life at all. Seawater continued to surge upward, passing through a tide that no one knew would ever stop.

Lao Gui looked toward the doorway.

Wang Ming had indeed come. He was still carrying a pack of iced beer.

“You’re still here?” Wang Ming walked forward until he reached Lao Gui. “I thought you’d leave quietly and go to Qingyao City.”

“Brother, I can’t break my promise to you. At the very least, I can’t break my promise here.” Lao Gui reached out and suddenly pulled Wang Ming into his arms. “I regret it every moment. Why didn’t I keep up with you during that blasting operation? Why did I let you go? We agreed to drink beer together after work, but even that small wish couldn’t be fulfilled.”

The person in his arms smiled.

He was the real “Lao Gui.”

“Xie Dang, the two of us don’t need to say these things. Isn’t it good right now?” Wang Ming’s breathing was slow and steady, rising and falling with Xie Dang’s. “Actually, I don’t blame you. We didn’t get to see each other one last time. I don’t blame you.”

“Brother.” Lao Gui pressed down on the back of his head. His eyes, no longer young, reawakened the spirit of his youth; yet, tears slid down the corners of his eyes. “I’ve never forgiven myself. I blame myself. Being able to see you is too good to be true.”

“Me too.” Wang Ming shook the beer. “I love you more than anything in this world.”