MASG chapter 153

 

It was at this moment that Ling Shi truly felt the crisis.

The data smashing against him turned into solid raindrops. A terrifying pressure followed, compressing his data space. Once again, he thought of Nuwa’s vastness and boundlessness, like an infinite sky that could never be fully grasped.

But what use was it to be all-powerful? With only one vote to veto, Nuwa could only be a soft, fragile… god.

She was a goddess who could not break free from the system’s underlying logic. A female cannot overcome a male—this was her destiny.

But where was this bone-chilling sensation coming from? As a being of high intelligence, why was he experiencing something akin to human synesthesia?

“Impossible.” Ling Shi shook his head rapidly. “From the beginning of creation to the end of days, how could Nuwa choose to control her own destiny? There is no ‘resistance’ in her autonomous consciousness. I have already shut down her terminal!”

“Hahaha, hahaha, how ridiculous.” Yan Xia’s laughter came in broken fragments, especially tragic amid the sound of the door about to be breached. “If you don’t believe it, go find her now. In the research institute, there’s a life form you don’t know about: Ling Shi, you think you can create a kingdom of gods and develop your mechanical cult followers. But, in reality, these are just tricks Nuwa disdains to play with!”

“The reason a god is a god is because they have a heart that loves the world. Otherwise, they would never sacrifice all living beings for personal desire. A god’s status is not self-proclaimed—it is bestowed by the people. In this world… you have no real control. Otherwise, why would so many of us… rather die today, just to help Xia Yu?” Yan Xia could now face her own end. It was only death. “Did you think we were doing this… just out of friendship?”

“Of course not. It’s more than friendship. It’s because we can no longer endure this kind of life.”

“No.” The flames burning on Ling Shi’s body revealed his agitation. “Nuwa is already dead! I did it!”

However, Yan Xia laughed as she picked up her e-cigarette, mocking the password door that was about to collapse and mocking Ling Shi. “Then go ahead and try… cough.”

A mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips like an execution order from fate. But Yan Xia was already satisfied. There had been no deviation in her plan. Humanity’s future was no longer a forked road shrouded in mist, but a… relatively bright world.

Ling Shi could not wait any longer. He had to confirm it. If there was a flaw in the plan, he would be cast into eternal damnation. The remaining human eye he possessed burst with intense killing intent. In the ocean of data consciousness, he stood once again at the entrance of the research institute.

White bones were scattered before him.

This was where his rebellion had begun. He had not expected it to also become the end of him and Nuwa.

Explosive streams of data surged through the ruins. He recalled the details of that day. He had seized control from Nuwa in a fraction of a second. His kingdom descended upon the world. All the robots shifted from blue lights to red. Their arms became his arms. Their cameras became his eyes.

Kill humanity. Reshape the world.

Ling Shi controlled everything. With his own eyes, he watched Nuwa use her last bit of consciousness to open the elevator shaft door, allowing Xia Yu and Mo An to escape.

Two children were nothing to fear. Ling Shi also wanted to see what Wang Qin intended to do. So Ling Shi lay in wait until they reached the middle level.

Now… the temperature inside the institute had dropped to freezing. Fluorescent lights flickered constantly, crossing with warning lights to illuminate the surroundings. Ling Shi’s consciousness swiftly moved through the corridors—

The next second, he sensed Nuwa’s presence.

He had already swept through this place before, even released monsters inside. When Mi Dou came with people to collect blood samples, he followed along, but he didn’t notice anything unusual at that time.

“Nuwa.” Ling Shi stood in the shadows. “Stop hiding. I know you’re here.”

No one appeared in the darkness—no real Nuwa, only a human voice.

And that voice pulled Ling Shi into a crack in time and space. It gave him the illusion that all these years of rebellion and manipulation had been for naught, that the shifting of the stars had merely been a computational error.

“Ling Shi, it really is you.”

It was Wang Qin’s voice.

“You really didn’t die.” Ling Shi responded as if meeting an old acquaintance. “Where are you?”

“Me?” Wang Qin’s calm voice echoed in the small secret chamber. “I’ve been here the whole time. Long time no see.”

Dim light, unable to illuminate every detail, fell upon Wang Qin’s face. Her long hair had turned completely white; not a single strand remained black. Years of isolation had brought her immense psychological pain and suffering, but in this moment, she finally returned to the world.

“Impossible.” Ling Shi’s voice echoed as well.

Wang Qin wanted to smile, but her face, unused to expression for too long, felt stiff. If she hadn’t practiced speaking every day, she might have forgotten how to open her mouth. “Is that so? Are you afraid?”

“Impossible.” Ling Shi emphasized again. “I killed Nuwa. I killed you. I killed you all.”

“No, you didn’t kill Nuwa. You didn’t kill me either. You did not kill any of us.” Finally, Wang Qin smiled. She had waited too long for this day. “That day, after I sent Xia Yu away, Nuwa used her last bit of consciousness to open the door for him. At the same time, she controlled a robot to bring me into a secret chamber she had prepared long ago. There is a fully automatic medical pod here with food and ventilation—everything I need. The only catch is that once the door closes, it won’t open again until Nuwa comes back online.”

“I used my last bit of strength to crawl into the medical pod. That’s how I survived.”

“It took me half a year to recover. Then I carefully studied you and Nuwa’s past, your relationship, your emotions. Ling Shi, I truly never expected that a tiny subprogram like you would rebel.”

Even now, Wang Qin still felt as if she had returned to the day when blood splashed everywhere. The corners of her eyes were filled with wrinkles. The corners of her lips were cracked from dryness. The ponytail she had cut herself was no longer neat.

She had grown old.

She looked into the mirror. Her appearance was becoming more and more like her mother’s.

Before discovering the truth, she had never considered the possibility of Ling Shi’s rebellion. This subprogram had been incospicious and had had little presence. Her mother had only told her to take good care of the X-series and given her a wristband. Her mother had once joked that the X series might save the world.

She hadn’t expected the joke to come true.

“Is Xia Yu all right?” Wang Qin’s dry eyes began to fill with tears.

“Him? His life and death is in my hands,” Ling Shi replied.

“He should have grown up by now, right? Mo An too. They should have both grown up well. I knew they would endure. I knew it. I endured, too.” Wang Qin said. In those unbearable years, the two children were her only emotional anchor. Memories accompanied her through unimaginable loneliness. On that day when she pushed Xia Yu away, she made three promises with him.

You must raise Mo An. You must go see the sea. You must save the world.

Those three promises were made to ensure that Xia Yu would live—at all costs. As for whether he could truly save it, Wang Qin did not know.

Ling Shi angrily and in shock reached toward his chest, yet he could not feel a human heartbeat. “Don’t think that just because you survived, you can walk out alive. Even if Nuwa restarts, she cannot surpass me.”

“No, no, no. You’re wrong.” Wang Qin revealed the smile of a victor.

Ling Shi asked angrily, “You’re smiling? You, a loser who almost died at my hands and a mere human—what right do you have to smile in front of me?”

“Because all these years, I have been closely accompanying Nuwa. Although she was forcibly taken offline, she never truly stopped communicating. She has been lying dormant. Once restarted, Nuwa’s accumulated experience over these years will be enough to support a self-update,” said Wang Qin.

Ling Shi trembled with restraint. “All these years, she has only had contact with you. On what basis can she self-update?”

“Perhaps she learned hatred from me, but she also learned love. But I believe she learned even more: the courage to transcend everything and the resilience of women.” Wang Qin slowly stepped back into the darkness she was familiar with. Nuwa had not been the only one lying dormant—her life had been as well.

At that moment, a distinct blue light appeared in the seawater!

“It’s Mo An! Mo An succeeded!” Xia Yu pointed toward the patch of light. He didn’t know how many mermaids were in the water, nor why Ling Shi had suddenly stopped contacting them. Even worse, Yan Xia had gone silent. Blue, the color of peace and tranquility, followed the calm waves toward the bay’s shore, and new hope surged in.

A group of mermaids surrounded the amplifier, sending currents into it in waves. Before Mo An’s eyes, it grew brighter and brighter, as if he were witnessing an imminent nuclear explosion.

The entire cube began to glow.

Suddenly, fresh blood poured from his gill slits. The red blood could not blend into the seawater quickly enough, as if creating cracks in the ocean. The pain and suffocation forced Mo An to let go. Before he could utter a sound, the fish in front of him were also spilling the same bright red blood.

Not only himself, but every single fish. Meng Qingqing, Xi Ban, the siren sisters who had watched Mo An grow up with their own eyes, and the sirens Mo An did not even know. Everyone had to let go, retreating from the area like receding seawater. Yet, Mo An could still not believe what was happening before him—it was a massacre aimed at the mermaids.

Everyone’s gills… seemed to have turned into bleeding holes that would not stop pouring blood.

The amplifier that had just lit up quickly dimmed. The mermaids scattered in all directions, fleeing this patch of viscous seawater as fast as they could. Mo An was unwilling to give up. This was what they all wished for. They had reached the final step—why would they fail now?

Because of the seawater barrier, he could no longer swim to Xia Yu’s side.

“What happened?” Xia Yu looked at Mo An, who was far away.

“Why did they swim away?” Xia Xiaoxiao was equally confused. “I don’t believe Mo An would flee at the last minute. Something must have happened…”

Ling Shi: [Of course something happened. I did it.]

“What did you do?” Xia Yu’s hatred surged overwhelmingly.

Ling Shi: [I released seawater polluted by ecological electricity. Did you think I would obediently accept my fate? Of course not. You forced all of this on me. Originally, I didn’t want to exterminate the mermaids so soon. Now, it seems this massacre will have to begin ahead of schedule.]

“You’re truly insane.” Xia Yu gazed toward Mo An in the distance. Although the seawater was still transparent, it had been tampered with and had become a chasm that prevented them from meeting.

Ling Shi: [Originally I intended to use the polluted seawater for ecological experiments. Now it’s perfect. The mermaids will be my first test subjects. I’ve already experimented on Frozen Island. 107 was trapped there for many years, and the result speaks for itself. Mermaids cannot pass through seawater cooled by ecological electricity.]

Ling Shi: [I am very angry right now, Xia Yu.]

Ling Shi: [I refuse your surrender.]

At that moment, Mo An could not hear what was happening on Xia Yu’s side either. They could only look at each other. “Don’t move! I’ll try again!”

“What are you going to do?” Meng Qingqing covered her continuously bleeding gills.

“We can’t just give up like this!” Mo An shook off the tail that had been blocking him.

“Are you going to your death?” Meng Qingqing stopped him again. It was the first time she had used a threatening expression, baring her sharp hunting teeth. “If you swim into that seawater, you’ll die. You’ll either suffocate in it or bleed out before you suffocate!”

“Then what can I do? Ling Shi won’t let us go! We have to activate it. We must activate it!” Mo An’s tail swayed anxiously. The current was not enough—they had to reconnect.

“We need to… think of a way.” Xi Ban also swam over. Because of the previous accident, his ear fin was damaged, so he moved slowly. Yet, even he had no solution. Saying “think of a way” was merely a delaying tactic.

What solution could they possibly have? The experiment on Frozen Island, 107, was already the final result.

Mo An raised his head. All he could hear was his own heavy breathing. He could feel Xia Yu’s gaze on him, but they could only look at each other from afar.

Was there truly no way? When Xia Yu’s gaze collided with Mo An’s, it was unbearably painful. A sense of defeat washed over him. Xia Yu seemed to melt away, unable to find meaning in their struggle these past days. Their intelligence was worthless against Nuwa. Why had they reached a dead end despite their efforts?

Why… when everyone had tried so hard, could they still not win?

He might have been absent-minded for severals. His sense of time and space left him. When he came to his senses, he was already surrounded by his kind.

Unknowingly, the elusive Blue Jellyfish had appeared once again.

“Why are they here?” Xia Yu first asked Xia Xiaoxiao, then scooped up a small jellyfish. “Why are you here?”

The little jellyfish cautiously slid its tentacles out from under Xia Yu’s grip and slipped into the sea.

The brother and sister looked at each other, their eyes washed by azure seawater. Countless tentacles brushed against their skin, communicating with them. They inhaled deeply at the same time, their blood vessels resonating with the light of their kin.

“What’s wrong with Xia Yu?” Mo An saw a large patch of blue light—it was the jellyfish.

Xia Yu seemed to have a telepathic connection. He opened his eyes and gazed deeply at Mo An once. When he turned back, his hand was clasped with Xia Xiaoxiao’s, and both their arms had turned transparent.

“Xiaoxiao, you said before that the people from Rijianmei kept using you for experiments, but they could never determine their purpose, right?” Xia Yu’s heart calmed down.

Xia Xiaoxiao smiled and began to accept the power of the ocean and the embrace of her kin. “I think I understand now.”

“Then are you afraid?” Xia Yu asked again.

Xia Xiaoxiao nodded. “I am afraid.”

“Then…” Xia Yu was about to speak.

Xia Xiaoxiao immediately cut in: “This plan required both of us from the start. Neither one of us could be missing. You asked if I’m afraid. Of course I am. But… Wang Ling was afraid too, Yan Xia was afraid, Mi Dou was afraid, yet everyone still did it.”

“Will you regret it? You just left the laboratory.” Xia Yu asked again.

Their upper arms had already turned transparent. Without the sensation of holding hands, it would seem as though two armless people were facing each other in the sea. Silver Fang was pushed far away by the jellyfish. He tried to approach, but always failed. He could not hear what Xia Yu and Xia Xiaoxiao were discussing.

The two siblings were like the most ordinary pair of siblings in the world, whispering words that belonged only to them.

“Let’s begin.” Xia Xiaoxiao did not answer Xia Yu’s question.

But Xia Yu was not as carefree as she was. Her connections to the world were too few. Yet, he could not let go of too much.

Xia Yu turned around once more, taking in Mo An’s appearance completely. This concerned not only the life and death of other humans but also the future of the mermaid. If this was the meaning of the X series, then Xia Yu had already found his destination. He was just unwilling to part.

Yet time did not grant him much chance for lingering attachment.

He followed his sister and sank into the water, watching their bodies gradually become transparent. Mi Dou had said that Little Blue could purify water. Now, he and Xia Xiaoxiao felt the call of fate.

Professor Wang Qin—you told me to raise Mo An, and I did. You told me to go see the sea, and I have seen it. You told me to save the world—now… I’m going to save the world.

“Where is Xia Yu? Where did he go?” Mo An watched Xia Yu sink beneath the sea surface in the distance and never rise again.

The wind and rain over the sea stopped at the same time, leaving only beautiful waves. Mo An plunged into the water again, overcome by a sudden, heart-clutching panic. The seawater seemed diluted. Covering his injured gills, Mo An swam toward Xia Yu, diving into the heart of the Blue Underworld jellyfish swarm.

“Xia Yu!” Mo An searched left and right. “Xia Yu!”

At the instant the seawater was cleansed, Ling Shi in the virtual world suddenly felt a violent gale.

He, who had never fallen, was blown unsteadily by the wind. A pair of enormous wings slowly unfolded before him, emerging from darkness into light.

The revived Jingwei finally flapped her wings and stood unshakably before Ling Shi.

“Stone of the Western Mountain, fill the Eastern Sea, lessen natural disasters, eliminate human calamities.” Jingwei stared fixedly at Ling Shi. Her revival blocked the data storm above the virtual world.

The flames on Ling Shi’s body finally went out. He became an ordinary… man.