MASG chapter 77

 

The upstairs laboratory was very different from what they had imagined.

The prison castle was unlike any building in Qingyao City. Logically, the laboratory inside should also lean toward something primitive. Of course, Xia Yu understood that it wouldn’t be primitive to the level of technology from hundreds of years ago. He’d heard that, back then, humans had to wash test tubes themselves and cultivate molds, but they still wouldn’t survive easily.

Now, professional robots handle all that. Humans only need to contribute their intelligence to achieve standard experimental results. However, the level of technology before him clearly exceeded his imagination. The simplest décor paired with the most advanced equipment was so strange it was creepy.

“It’s here.” Mi Dou pointed at the hidden door on the wall. “Actually, it was Xiang Xing who discovered it.”

“How did you find it?” Xia Yu asked.

Xiang Xing looked at his hands. The white mycelium was still floating in his palms. “I released the mycelium to see what bacteria were nearby. Then, I found the hidden door in the wall. Mi Dou is strong and smashed the stone door open directly.”

“Good teamwork, you two.” Mo An turned on his flashlight and shined it into the depths of the hidden doorway. “Doudou, have you been in there already?”

Mi Dou turned on his flashlight and, with lingering fear, said, “I went in. Actually, I shouldn’t have been so curious. I should have notified everyone before going in, but I made a huge discovery inside. There’s an extremely advanced machine. I’ve never seen anything this advanced, not even in my mom’s office, and it’s extremely new.”

“All right, let’s go take another look.” Mo An brightened his light and looked back. “I’ll lead. Everyone, follow me. Uh… Xia Yu.”

“Mm?” Xia Yu was examining the various test tubes on the table.

There were glass tubes of all lengths, as well as a variety of reagents and liquids that he couldn’t identify. He couldn’t imagine what kind of experiments had once been conducted on Frozen Island, nor did he want to guess what these reagents had been extracted from. The moment he thought too deeply about it, the waves in his heart stirred the pain in his brain. He feared these were toxins drawn from his little sister’s body.

What did those people do to her?

Had they extracted things from her venom glands? They definitely wouldn’t have given her anesthesia because genetically modified people with jellyfish genes can’t feel pain. That made the surgery even more unscrupulous.

“Xia Yu? Xia Yu.”

A voice firmly pulled him back to reality. Xia Yu lifted his confused face. Mo An waved a hand in front of him. With each blink of his long lashes, he seemed to convey emotion. Even before Mo An spoke, Xia Yu sensed his worry.

“Follow me. It’ll be fine.” Mo An straightened up deliberately, showing off his tall, strong upper body. A stunningly beautiful fishtail symbolizes a male fish’s breeding ability, and strong arms represent a male fish’s ability to build a nest. Now, he had it all.

Xi Ban and 107 exchanged looks again. Here we go. The male fish is starting again.

“Okay.” Xia Yu didn’t notice Mo An showing off his reproductive value. He just felt Mo An’s strength become his backbone. “Let’s go.”

“Come. I’ll take you inside.” Mo An twisted the flashlight again and slowly walked into the hidden door while scanning the environment.

Behind the door was a passageway over ten meters long. Since Mi Dou had walked through it before, the overlapping spiderwebs on the walls had already been torn away. The brief darkness smelled dusty, pulling them back dozens of years. Yet the sudden openness returned them to the present moment. The contrast appeared again.

In the center of the dark room stood a five-to-six-meter-tall metal device, as though it were the core of Frozen Island—the irreplaceable gear in a machine. Its lights were still on and flashing nonstop, tempting people to approach and touch it. Several boxes made of special materials were beside it, containing dull-colored fragments tossed messily inside.

The room was bright enough, so Mo An turned off his flashlight and went over to inspect them. For safety, he touched the fragments while wearing gloves. After confirming this, he said, “Don’t worry. The fragments are dead. There won’t be any electronic corruption around here.”

“What is this thing?” Silver Fang asked, covering firepower with the red laser dot that scanned every corner. “I’ve seen all kinds of weapons from Yan Xia, but not one like this.”

“Advanced,” Xia Yu said, addressing the part that had been bothering him. “Jingwei, Jingwei, Ling Shi, are you here?”

Jingwei: [I’m here. Ling Shi has gone offline temporarily to avoid Nuwa’s pursuit. I also sense a strong crisis. Please point your wristband at the device. I’ll take a look.]

Xia Yu removed his wristband and aimed the small screen toward the front.

Jingwei: [Begin scanning… power sufficient… detecting sensor device… detecting login terminal… beginning analysis.]

Jingwei: [Analysis complete. This is an AI login device. If my decompression package has no issues, it can help you enter the world of artificial intelligence—in other words… our world.]

“You?” Mi Dou leaned over and touched it. “You, Ling Shi, Nuwa? Or is this some other artificial intelligence world?”

Jingwei: [Correct understanding. This is a login device. If Nuwa is willing, you could log into her information cocoon. I never thought I would encounter a real login device. In my decompressed file pack, the login device has always been considered ‘nonexistent.’]

“Then what about these fragments? Are they providing power to the login device?” Xia Yu guessed.

Jingwei: [I’m not sure about that, but let us provide a hypothesis…]

Mo An couldn’t help laughing. “You’re making hypotheses now.”

Jingwei: [The more I develop, the more I become like a human. Of course I would have hypotheses. Hypothetically, if the eco-electricity in the fragments can power the login device, then that would explain why the device still has sufficient energy. Eco-electricity doesn’t drain easily, and it’s very durable. Think of Power Plant No. 3—those huge power storage towers can only consume eco-electricity.]

“But what about the polluted water? Was it created using eco-electricity?” Xi Ban walked toward the machine and tapped it with his finger. “Maybe…if we try logging in, we can solve this mystery.”

Jingwei: [I would welcome you entering my world—the realm of artificial intelligence. Here, you can enjoy everything I have to offer, and I believe we can achieve deeper communication and understanding. However, I cannot guarantee that my realm is currently completely safe. Nuwa’s steps are drawing closer. Once we connect and log in, I worry your bodies may not withstand it.]

Jingwei: [According to documents I decompressed, each login causes irreversible physical damage. Unless the body is strong enough, it could result in sudden death or immediate brain death.]

Jingwei: [What’s even more terrifying is that, as the two worlds become highly connected, you will be pulled into a mental dimension closely aligned with reality. There, every signal you receive will be analyzed and absorbed by your body, resulting in a 100% real effect. If you are injured in my realm, you will have the same wound in real life. This is an adventure that surpasses reality.]

“Then this is practically tailor-made for me.” Xia Yu smiled after listening.

This time, it wasn’t a bitter smile, but a genuine one—like a flower bud suddenly deciding to bloom. He suddenly discovered the secret of this world—there were too many dangers destined for him alone. Whether or not this login device was tailor-made, its appearance here was already unrealistic.

All right then. Come on. He relaxed completely. Xia Yu placed the wristband on the machine. “What do we do now?”

Seeing him smile made Mo An even more nervous than if he had cried. “What are you going to do?”

“Meet Jingwei and find out what the artificial intelligence wants to do in the real world.” Xia Yu pointed at his own head. “I’m a freak who can’t die from brain death. I’m a super-strong gene composite. They’ve already experimented on me. As long as my body doesn’t die, no organ inside this body can’t be reactivated. If I go into brain death, don’t be scared. Just wait ten minutes, and my brain cells will divide and regenerate.”

“When did you undergo that kind of experiment?” Mo An grabbed his arm.

“Before you… were even born?” Xia Yu tilted his head. “If you don’t believe me, ask Jingwei.”

Jingwei: [This… according to the surgical documents I’ve found, it is true. Xia Yu, if you want to enter, hurry. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out. Nuwa is getting closer.]

“Wait, wait!” Mo An grabbed Xia Yu’s hands again. His heart felt like it was being hammered by a giant stone. It took him ten seconds to realize—Xia Yu had died from brain death when Mo An was still an unconscious fish egg?

“There’s no time. This might be our last chance to fight Nuwa.” Suddenly, Xia Yu’s fingers twitched. He was afraid too—a fear deeper than tidal waves—but he was someone who had died and come back during the apocalypse.

“I don’t trust it. I’m going with you!” This was Mo An’s last chance to stop him. “I—”

“I’ll go with him. Mo An, you stay.” This time, Xiang Xing, who hadn’t spoken much, stepped forward. He frowned slightly as if recalling something; his thoughts rearranged themselves like the mycelium in his body. “My body can regenerate and recover too, though much slower than Xia Yu’s.”

“You can’t go. It’s dangerous. Brain death isn’t something to joke about.” Xia Yu didn’t want to bring anyone in.

“No, you’re wrong. Did you forget that I’m just a mushroom?” Xiang Xing moved closer to Xia Yu and pointed at his temple. “I don’t even have a brain. Every cell in my body is a muscle cell with consciousness. If you put me under a microscope, you’ll see that my ‘brain cells’ and skin cells look exactly the same.”

“You…” Xia Yu almost forgot about that. This one wasn’t afraid of death either because he couldn’t die.

“Fine. Time is limited. Xiang Xing and I will enter the artificial intelligence world. The rest of you stay outside and wait.” Xia Yu pulled his hand free from Mo An’s grip. “Don’t worry. We’ll be quick.”

“But…” Mo An’s palm hurt for a moment when they lost contact. It felt like something had scraped across his heart.

“Don’t worry,” Xia Yu said decisively. “Wait for me to come back. Don’t run around.”

Jingwei: [I am ready. Once you connect to the device, I will open the login window for you.]

Xia Yu pulled Xiang Xing to sit on the chairs in front of the device. He took a deep breath. “Start.”

“Wait—” Mo An’s attempt to stop him didn’t even make it out. The two chairs in front of them suddenly lifted into the air. Liquid-like metal extended forward, backward, left, and right, wrapping around them like feathers. Clearly, it was trying to enclose the chairs. Free from gravity, the metal fully wrapped the chairs within two seconds, turning them into objects inside the login pod. The rippling pod door looked like a breathing cell, half real and half unreal.

It was so bright.

Xia Yu and Xiang Xing were stabbed by the light so intensely that they couldn’t open their eyes. A force tugged at their skin and nerves, stretching them back and forth. It was massive and brutal, not caring whether a human body could withstand such tearing. Their skin, bones, and nerves felt as if they might be pulled apart. Xia Yu suspected that his soul had already been yanked out and his body left behind. He was undergoing a complete mechanical ascension.

During this process, he suddenly missed someone.

Mo An’s face appeared before him—sometimes worried, sometimes anxious, sometimes angry, sometimes laughing openly like a child, his eyes shining brightly. When both handsomeness and refinement exist on the same face, every expression looks good. Xia Yu didn’t understand why he kept thinking about Mo An, thinking so hard that a chilly emptiness formed in his chest—a hollow named “Mo An.”

When he opened his eyes again, the blinding light had become warm sunlight.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

The sound of waves.

Xia Yu adapted to his surroundings. When the sea breeze brushed against his cheek, he shivered as if he had been electrocuted. It was a real wind. It reminded him of the sea breeze from his childhood—wet and gentle with a hint of salt—and he inhaled deeply. The beach before him was unlike any he had ever seen. The lighthouse near Talos had only black reefs, not white beaches.

“Did we enter?” Xia Yu asked.

He looked around, but he didn’t see Jingwei. “Jingwei? Jingwei, where are you? Can you hear me?”

Jingwei: [I’m fine. Your landing point deviated slightly from the location I set. I’m at the pole of the entire AI world. If you can, come find me.]

Xia Yu didn’t have a wristband on his wrist, but he could hear Jingwei’s familiar voice right beside his ear, as if a young girl were whispering next to him. Xia Yu took a few steps forward to confirm that his body functioned exactly the same as in the external world. A few seconds later, Xiang Xing, who had landed elsewhere, came running from the other side of the coastline.

He thought Xia Yu hadn’t arrived yet and searched everywhere. “Great… whew, I’m exhausted. I thought your entry process malfunctioned. I think I landed ten minutes earlier than you.”

“Ten minutes? That long?” Xia Yu asked Jingwei.

Jingwei: [It was indeed that long. The calmer your thoughts are during entry, the easier the process is. You must have thought of something that stirred your emotions and slowed your entry. I call this phenomenon ‘external resistance.’]

Xiang Xing bent down to check Xia Yu for injuries. Then he asked, “What were you thinking about? Were you afraid?”

“I…I might have been thinking about something else.” Xia Yu didn’t want to admit that he’d been thinking about Mo An. Thinking of him for just a moment delayed the entry by ten minutes. “Jingwei, send us your coordinates. We’ll come find you.”

Jingwei: [Okay, I’ll set up a fast passage first. Welcome to my world. I don’t know why, but I have a very strong feeling that you’re Xia Yu. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.]

“I feel the same.” Xia Yu understood deeply. Jingwei’s existence had filled his life, yet no one had ever told him why.

As he said that, the sun in the sky was suddenly pushed down, as if by a hand, and set instantly. At the same time, a crescent moon rose, and the beach was covered with faint silver light. The sea glittered like sponge foam, and a bay city opened its gates to them. A straight, flower-lined boulevard extended before them.

Glowing blue arrows shimmered on the road, pointing the way.

“All right, let’s go find her.” Xia Yu and Xiang Xing looked at each other and stepped forward at the same time.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Silver Fang’s safety alarm went off.

“There’s something alive outside. I’ll check,” he said cautiously. “You all stay here and protect Xia Yu and Xiang Xing.”