MASG chapter 152

 

Xia Yu floated in the seawater.

The seawater washed over and embraced them. There was no sign of dawn on the horizon, only the countless flashes of lightning that had come before.

Torrential rain was coming.

“What did you say?” Xia Yu’s gaze dimmed beneath the dark sky, as if he were connected to the entire ocean and held endless sorrow.

Xia Xiaoxiao looked up at the gloomy sky, as if she had realized something important. A drop of rain fell on her face. She reached up to touch her cheek and trembled—this was real rain.

From childhood to adulthood, Xia Xiaoxiao had never experienced real rain. She had never left the laboratory. Even when she moved locations, she was transported by the aircraft of Rijianmei Plastic Surgery Hospital. Because she did not fear pain very much, few people ever considered her pain during surgeries.

They just operated directly.

No one knew her background, her future, or the meaning of her existence. Even less was known about her parents. For a period of time, Xia Xiaoxiao didn’t quite understand what “jellyfish gene-modified human” meant either. It was just a label, yet it became the beginning of her suffering. Because of that label, she was never free of surgery.

Being dismantled had become her destiny until Xia Xiaoxiao came into contact with real rain. For the first time, she directly felt what it meant to exist as a living being. Was this what “being alive” meant?

The rain was cold. Xia Xiaoxiao opened her eyes again. The color of the ocean was in her eyes.

Ling Shi: [Xia Yu, are you really going to continue?]

The torrential rain washed over Xia Yu’s face. For a moment, he was unable to answer.

On Ling Shi’s side, it was also raining heavily. Half of his body had already turned into data. Under the onslaught of another stream of data, his body turned into burning flames, as if about to consume everything in its path. “Is sacrificing the people of Qingyao City really a price you can pay?”

Silver Fang and Mo An both looked at Xia Yu at the same time. They seemed to freeze, neither daring to make this decision for Xia Yu nor angering Ling Shi. Ling Shi was indeed intelligent. He understood human nature better than Nuwa did, and thus knew better how to toy with it. Now, Xia Yu was faced with the enormous burden of death. Ling Shi wanted to defeat Xia Yu psychologically and make him and Xia Xiaoxiao give up together.

Xia Yu still did not answer.

After several waves passed beneath the seawater, a cold hand grabbed him—not Mo An’s, but his own sister’s.

In the downpour, Xia Yu looked at her. The raindrops were large and hard, striking his face painfully and hitting the sea surface as if boiling water were erupting.

Ling Shi: [And can Jingwei really start normally? Have you thought about that question?]

Ling Shi: [I admit, I was indeed thoroughly played. In this round of scheming, I lost. Nuwa hid the plan too well. I thought that, as long as I interrupted her reboot, everything would be foolproof. All these years, I have painstakingly dug for Jingwei’s ultimate purpose. I truly thought she was just a useless little bird. I didn’t expect her to have an amplifier as well.]

The blue amplifier emitted blue light under the seawater, resembling a blue cube suspended dozens of meters deep.

Ling Shi: [Xia Yu, Xia Xiaoxiao, give up activating the amplifier. I am willing to take a step back and rebuild social order. The killings of the past cannot be undone, but you can save more people and stop the slaughter.]

“Just rebuild the social order? Is it that simple?” Xia Xiaoxiao asked. In this respect, she was more like Xia Yu’s older sister than his younger sister.

Ling Shi: [You doubt me?]

Xia Xiaoxiao let out a scornful laugh. “I don’t doubt you. I understand you. Xia Yu survived and grew up on his own, but I grew up in your laboratory. I have been in contact with the people of Rijianmei all these years. Their conduct is your conduct. Their character is your character.”

Ling Shi: [That’s not my fault. If Wang Ling and Nuwa had told me the purpose of the X-series from the beginning, I wouldn’t have needed to conduct so many experiments. But they never said a word. Wang Ling would rather be arrested than reveal a single word! You should blame her! She’s the one who made you suffer!]

“Utter nonsense. Do you still dare pin your atrocities on others? You really have no shame! No, that’s wrong—you don’t even have a face!” Xia Xiaoxiao adjusted her breathing. This was also her first time fully submerging her body in seawater. Her breathing slowed from its initial rapid pace and gradually calmed down until, in the end, it was almost inaudible. Only one thought remained in her mind:

“Can’t trust you.” Xia Xiaoxiao repeated this firmly several times in a loop. “I can’t trust you. Can’t trust you. You people never keep your word. What you say is nothing but hot air.”

Meanwhile, Xia Yu’s body rose and sank on the sea surface. A trace of warmth passed through his fingertips, and he clenched it tightly. When the siblings’ fingers touched, something miraculous happened—their fingers turned transparent at the same time.

It had been a long time since Xia Yu had done this. In the past, his body would turn transparent only through conscious control. But this time, it was passive. Their fingertips merged into the seawater simultaneously, becoming part of the ocean.

“We can’t trust him.” Xia Xiaoxiao trembled in the cold seawater. Her expression appeared somewhat twisted because she was too anxious. “Xia Yu! Stop hesitating! Make a decision! Make a decision!”

When she said those last three words, Xia Yu heard a boom in his head.

This was the only person who dared to urge him and make decisions for him. Not only was she his sister, but she was also a victim who had suffered deeply since childhood. The reason she was so certain must be that she understood Ling Shi’s true nature even better than he did.

The seawater submerged Xia Yu’s mouth and eyes again, yet he could see more clearly.

“Mo An, activate it!” After an intense struggle, Xia Yu shouted this crucial sentence.

He could not hesitate any longer. Even if he compromised for Qingyao City, Ling Shi could still overturn everything. If it came to that, everyone on Earth would die, including himself.

“Mo An!” Xia Yu shouted at the mermaid, who had already swum toward the amplifier, as if giving him an extra push.

Ling Shi: [Very good. This is your choice. Don’t blame me.]

The wristband vibrated slightly, as if a program were running at high speed. Xia Yu only heard the sound of the wind rising above his head like waves of hissing roars. When he focused again, the roar had become tightly connected with death and had turned into an overwhelming swarm of insects.

They were nanobots!

Ling Shi had long prepared to wipe everything out. Since he could not break through Jennifer’s protection of the bay, he decided to destroy Qingyao City. These “plague bugs” had been hiding in the sky above Qingyao City for a long time. Xia Xiaoxiao was right—Ling Shi never intended to leave anyone alive.

The moment the nanobots activated, Talos sensed it.

He was standing at the top of the lighthouse, alongside its beam of light. Robots and aircraft continuously bombarded his ship and the lighthouse. Amid the doubled noise and vibrations, he looked toward the sky.

“So that’s how it is.” Talos smiled, completely unharmed.

The white kitten curled up at his feet, waiting for their unknown fate. Talos picked up his pipe and tapped out the burned-out tobacco. The crumbs turned into ash in his palm, leaving only a trace of warmth behind.

The “swarm” was getting closer. He could sense them clearly. Maybe, from the moment his mom gave him this ship, everything had been part of the plan: Protect Qingyao City and the lighthouse. Protect the Third Power Plant. Those were the only words his mother left him before she turned and vanished without a trace.

All these years, all this time, Talos had never found her again. Even after sailing across the world’s oceans and going to the Black Sea, no one had seen another gargoyle.

Now it seemed—had his mom also joined the grand plan? Been drawn into the affairs of Qingyao City?

Talos calmly finished his last puff and exhaled a mouthful of white smoke. “Ah, sometimes nothing beats taking a puff.”

The invisible “swarm” was closing in. The sky over Qingyao City was already at its limit. The skyscrapers behind him finally stopped displaying endless data and advertising. Talos took the gun from his waistband and fired a shot into the sky.

Bang!

It was only an ordinary bullet, unable to cause substantial damage.

They could not be allowed to fall. Thinking of the great genetic fusion that had occurred in Yukun City, Talos felt a surge of hatred. These tiny mechanical bugs were demons from Pandora’s box. He fired another shot toward the horizon. The howling sea wind stirred the tides, and waves crashed against the lighthouse, turning into rain.

The spray stung his eyes, yet Talos raised the gun higher and higher.

“You will not land here! Hahahaha, mongrel freaks! This is gargoyle territory! Get the hell out of here!” Talos spoke his final words, looking toward the sky and laughing wildly. The first thing to change were his pupils, which shifted from the black of a normal human to stone.

The petrification kept spreading.

His fingertips changed the fastest. In the blink of an eye, his entire hand turned to stone. Talos could hear the cracking sounds of his organs and blood vessels transforming. He could no longer pull the trigger, nor could he lower his arm. The waves struck again, while the lighthouse and its beam were like a blade splitting the sea.

Qingyao City gained an extra layer of protection.

The nanobots began to crash and burn. Though they were tiny and invisible to the naked eye, their swarms burning could be seen. The sky lit up—but not with normal light. It resembled warm blood mixed with water, splashed across the sky and turning into a hazy, drifting blood mist.

The blood mist then turned into clouds that dispersed with a single blow.

In the end, even those vast clouds disappeared. The lighthouse beam remained, yet on its rooftop, only a petrified statue remained. Little white cats rubbed against the statue’s legs, trying to wake it up.

Meanwhile, Mo An dived into the shallow sea and finally saw the legendary amplifier. It was indeed a floating cube that appeared to be breathing, constantly contracting and expanding. Mo An immediately spread his hands and placed his palms against its surface. He transmitted the electricity extracted from the seawater into it without end.

On Ling Shi’s side, he felt a gust of wind—a pair of wings right beside his ears.

“Hahaha! You really think you can kill me? I’m telling you, impossible,” Ling Shi said calmly. “Xia Yu, even if Jingwei drives me back temporarily and Nuwa comes back online, what can Nuwa do to me? She’s still the same artificial intelligence as before. She can’t defy my decisions. This battle was impossible to win from the beginning because Nuwa will always be Nuwa, and I will always be me!”

The light of the amplifier kept growing brighter. Mo An felt heart-wrenching exhaustion.

Ling Shi looked up. It had just seemed like a feather had brushed against his cheek. “Nuwa cannot update herself.”

Mo An’s palm slipped slightly on the amplifier, but another hand immediately pressed onto it.

He suddenly looked up—he hadn’t even noticed Meng Qingqing and Xi Ban.

It wasn’t only them—behind them were tens of thousands of sirens!

“Even if you restart Nuwa, it will be useless.” Ling Shi delivered his final verdict.

Unexpectedly, Silver Fang’s communicator rang at that moment. Only Yan Xia’s weak laughter could be heard.

“Haha, hahaha, haha… I knew it. Nuwa never betrayed us.” Yan Xia had fallen unconscious earlier and had only recovered after resting for a while. “In the research institute… there’s still one person.”

“There’s still someone?” Xia Yu turned toward the communicator. “Who?!”

“I don’t know. But when I went to the institute to collect blood samples… I sensed it. That person… used the surveillance cameras to send signals for help. The remaining power of Nuwa has been protecting that person inside the institute. I thought… there must be something going on back then.” Yan Xia sounded relieved.

The person inside the research institute… Xia Yu could not help but think of someone’s face.

Professor Wang Qin!

She wasn’t dead?