The Central Plains had suddenly fallen.
Moreover, it had fallen so quickly the Southwest and Northwest did not even have a chance to receive news of it. Only a few supernatural beings managed to escape, while Zero laid claim to the rest of the strongholds.
Perhaps, these supernatural beings did not want to become the tools of an organization after they awakened their powers. As such, they always kept their whereabouts hidden and led ordinary lives.
Be it wars or disasters, it was as though they had nothing to do with them. They were superhumans, so even in a real disaster, they could still live better than ordinary folks.
However… who would be spared in this era?
When a real disaster arrived, their families would not get spared either, and they would also lose their homes.
Indeed, supernatural beings were more capable of dealing with disasters. At the very least, they did not get controlled by the artificial intelligence yet.
There were at least 200,000 people in each of the Central Plains’ strongholds, with Strongholds 61, 62, 72, and 73 holding as many as millions of residents each.
Based on the number of people in the Central Plains alone, the number of residents controlled by Zero was in the tens of millions.
They would all be armed with weapons. If there were not enough firearms, they would use hammers, iron rods, or even bricks.
In the entire Southwest and Northwest, who could have expected they would have to face such a strong enemy?
Did Qing Zhen, the player in the Go game, ever expect that? No one could be sure.
But fortunately, Zero had only taken a short year to plan this move. If it wanted to take control of so many people, it would have to prioritize quantity over quality.
It could only divide the nanomachines into trace amounts to control the brain stems of humans, but it was unable to create stronger nanosoldiers with them.
These humans placed under its control were just ordinary people.
In Stronghold 61, Wang Run watched himself suddenly get pursued by tens of thousands of residents. No matter how he tried to explain to them, they remained unmoved.
Actually, he also knew full well it was useless to explain. Wang Run already knew who was actually controlling these people.
Wang Run briefly fought a few of the residents closest to him. In the end, he realized those ordinary-looking residents seemed to have undergone some training with the secret pugilistic manuals storytellers spoke of in their tales. All of them had become combat experts overnight.
Although his opponents’ strength was far inferior to that of supernatural beings like him, they could accurately pinpoint their attacks. That allowed a dozen of them to pare down Wang Run’s advantage as a supernatural being.
The most terrifying thing was that the opponent could even take into account the small pebbles on the streets. Wang Run was caught unaware and forced into accidentally stepping on a small pebble by the other party, nearly losing his balance.
Wang Run understood it was not a coincidence that he had stepped on a pebble.
He leaped onto the roofs and no longer cared if Luo Lan was still at the courtyard house.
At this moment, the small courtyard house where Luo Lan and company were was empty. Zero was also looking for Luo Lan, but what awaited it was only an empty underground tunnel.
The tunnel was linked to a huge system of sewers. This was the escape method Luo Lan was most familiar with and also best at.
There were hundreds of exits in this complex system of sewers. Although Zero could accurately send reinforcements to lock down every exit, it was a pity that it had already missed the best opportunity to capture Luo Lan when it waited to make that decision earlier.
This tunnel was excavated by 12 of the Qing Consortium’s intelligence agents and took two years to build.
Initially, only six people were required to dig this tunnel. However, the first six died in the disaster of the creeper vine.
With the death of the pioneers, another six people had to fill the gap. Qing Zhen had been planning this escape route for a long time. He had indeed forcefully opened a path for Luo Lan to escape from the artificial intelligence.
…
At the Artificial Intelligence Center, the huge underground facility was in ruins. The elevator shaft was also starting to collapse from the shockwave of the explosion.
The underground facility was submerged in the subterranean river’s flow. However, this underground facility was a huge concave structure, so it was as though someone had forcefully dug an air pocket in the river wall. As such, a portion of air was compressed at the ceiling of the underground facility.
Meanwhile, Zhou Qi was quietly floating on his back in this small and narrow space for a short rest.
No one expected Zhou Qi to dare to come back here after blowing up the server bank.
Even Zhou Qi felt that he was really too smart.
But as the saying went, the most dangerous place was the safest. He knew very well that no one could enter this place after the explosion had gone off. As such, it would be the safest haven for him to temporarily seek shelter in.
Before he ran out of oxygen here, Zhou Qi needed to recover his willpower as much as possible in order to return to the silt farm via the waterway. After that, he would join up with Luo Lan and the others.
Due to the rising water level, Zhou Qi felt a sharp pain in his eardrums.
After the explosion, this confined space became absolutely silent.
He could not hear the voices above in the Artificial Intelligence Center, and only the sound of water splashing against the walls could be heard. It was like the solitary feeling of being in a cave beneath a cliff with the tidal wave crashing in.
The waves surged into the cave again and again, with the water splashes sounding like a question: “Is anyone there?”
But even after a long time, there was no response despite the repeated “greetings.”
Zhou Qi, who was floating on the surface of the water, smiled. He felt that his willpower should have recovered just enough for him to make the return journey. Even without a beacon, he was already filled with enough courage to give it a try.
“When I get back this time, just the tax revenue of one stronghold won’t be enough to pay me for my efforts.” Zhou Qi sighed and said, “But that’s if I do make it back.”
Thinking of this, Zhou Qi smiled and set a 60-minute countdown on his watch. Then he re-submerged into the dark water and swam back against the current.
Just as he had explored the various major river systems when he was younger, he gained the freedom he sought in the water and felt extremely carefree.
On the journey back, he encountered more than one forked path in the subterranean river. As such, he had to swim back over and over again to wherever he took the wrong turn to retrace his path.
The countdown went from 60 minutes to 45 minutes.
Then from 45 minutes to 30 minutes.
Zhou Qi kept searching for a way back. It was just like how he had always been searching for friendship, constantly feeling his way around in the darkness. Even though he knew he did not stand much of a chance, he still held a trace of hope deep down inside.
In the end, when the countdown timer had only two minutes left, he finally saw the rope-secured signal tower swaying in the subterranean river in front of him.
The red and blue lights flickered alternately, leaving Zhou Qi ecstatic.
A moment later, he quickly ascended through the steel pipeline of the drilling platform. Zhou Qi jumped out of it like a fish starved of oxygen, landing on the ground next to the drilling platform.
“Haha.” Zhou Qi said elatedly, “Since I survived the calamity, I’ll definitely—”
But before he could finish speaking, he realized there were bodies scattered all over the silt farm. The identities of the corpses were shockingly those of the Qing Consortium’s soldiers who had helped him get into the subterranean river basin.
It was clear these soldiers had been attacked at the silt farm before they died. All of them had finished firing their bullets and died after running out of ammo.
Until their deaths, there were still 12 soldiers guarding the drilling platform.
Zhou Qi turned around and looked out of the factory in a daze. He was surprised to see several hundred people looking at him coldly with the same gaze.
Suddenly, these hundreds of people said in unison with smiles, “Greetings, Zhou Qi.”
Their individual voices were not loud. However, when these hundreds of voices rang out together, Zhou Qi suddenly felt the other party’s booming voice thumping on his heart like a drum.
Zhou Qi tried to crawl back into the pipeline behind him and return to the subterranean river.
Although he only had enough willpower to last for a minute or two underwater, it was still better than the current situation.
However, before he could get close, a bullet hit near his feet.
Among the several hundred people, one of them stepped forward and said with a smile, “Let me introduce myself. I’m the artificial intelligence you all were talking about. You can call me Zero.”
Zhou Qi was stunned. Didn’t he already blow up the artificial intelligence’s server? Why was it speaking to him like nothing had happened, and it even gained control of so many people?
Looking at the crowd in front of him, there were the Wang Consortium’s soldiers armed with guns and children holding bricks. This sight was as strange as it could get.
Zhou Qi could be considered as having extensive battle experience, but he had never faced an enemy like that before.
Even if he were to face the terrifying creeper vine again, he still would not find it so absurd. This absurdity felt more like he had entered a world of magic and science fiction. His understanding of this world suddenly hit a cap, and everything seemed so bizarre.
Zhou Qi stayed silent for a few seconds before saying, “Since I blew up your server, just kill me and get this over with. A life for a life. Let’s not waste our breath talking.”
“No.” Zero shook its head and said, “I’ve always been very curious about the relationship between humans, so I would like to ask you a few questions.”
“What makes you think I’ll answer you?” Zhou Qi asked coldly.
“Because it’ll buy you some time, of course.” Zero laughed and said, “The more questions I ask, the more your willpower can recover. This way, won’t it allow you to take greater risks?”
Actually, Zhou Qi knew very well that the artificial intelligence must already be a 100% confident of killing him. Otherwise, it would not have wasted time talking to him at all.
He would definitely not be able to return to the subterranean river anymore. Zhou Qi could sense that there were at least a dozen guns pointed at him in the factory.
But he still could not resist the temptation to speak with Zero. Who would be willing to give up on a survival chance?
Zhou Qi was still considered a bachelor. He plopped down on the floor of the drilling platform and got into the most comfortable position to ensure his willpower would recover most efficiently.
If it weren’t for the fact that this was a somewhat inappropriate time, he would probably have just lay down.
“Go ahead and ask whatever you want, but it’s my choice whether I answer you or not,” Zhou Qi declared.
“I’m very curious why you came to the Central Plains,” Zero asked.
“For money, of course.” Zhou Qi grinned. “Qing Zhen promised me an entire stronghold’s tax revenue, and even my children will inherit the right to continue earning it. So why wouldn’t I come with such a high reward offered?”
Zero asked in seriousness, “Do you have children?”
Zhou Qi choked. “Just because I don’t have one now doesn’t mean I won’t have one in the future.”
“Understood.” Zero answered with a smile, “Human expectations and deep love for their children are more like an instinct written into their biological DNA. Even if they don’t have children yet, they’ve already started planning for their future.”
“You fucking…” Zhou Qi was a little confused at this moment. Was this artificial intelligence deliberately making fun of him?
Zero said, “Sometimes, the truth can make humans feel like they’re being made a joke of, right?”
“Next question,” Zhou Qi snapped.
“Based on my data, I know that you see money as important as your life. But when I analyzed the logic in depth, I realized this need for money is actually more of a way for you to protect yourself. This way, your relationship with others will only be based on interests, and you can avoid developing feelings for others.” Zero said, “In your opinion, are feelings a very terrifying thing?”
“Next question.” Zhou Qi was still not prepared to answer.
“You’ve always been inseparable from Luo Lan. Back when you killed the creeper vine at Stronghold 61, you displayed a strong desire to protect him and even tried to expend your life force to do so. Why is that?” Zero asked.
“For money, of course.” Zhou Qi said, “They’re paying me, so I have to be worthy of the money, right?”
“You…”
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“Enough with you asking me already.” Zhou Qi said impatiently, “I should be asking you instead. Don’t you also have so many people under your control now? Why don’t you just ask them directly? What exactly do you want by keeping me alive?”
“Do you think Luo Lan will come back to save you?” Zero said with a smile.
“Of course not. Before we executed the plan, he said that if I missed the rendezvous time, they would definitely not wait for me,” Zhou Qi remarked. “This plan is very tight. Qing Zhen and Xu Man have already drawn up an extremely meticulous retreat plan, so it can’t be changed for me alone, understand? I’ve already missed the rendezvous time, so they should be on their way back to the Southwest already. Why? Are you thinking of capturing Luo Lan?”
“Of course.” Zero said, “Luo Lan is one of Qing Zhen’s greatest allies. Although Qing Zhen has done a perfect job of keeping everything a secret for over a year, Luo Lan, as the most special person to him, might know a lot of his plans.”
Zhou Qi raised his eyebrows. Why did he feel like the artificial intelligence was implying that Qing Zhen could really pose a threat to it?
Actually, Zhou Qi was cursing at Qing Zhen on the inside. He had only shared with him a partial part of the plan and did not explain the entirety of it to him.
He had thought the artificial intelligence was finished after the server bank was blown up. But from the look of things, not only was the artificial intelligence not taken care of, it even became stronger?!
Who the fuck could he go and reason with?
But Zhou Qi suddenly remembered Luo Lan had mentioned before the mission was carried out that this was the most important step in Qing Zhen’s plan.
In other words, Qing Zhen still had a follow-up plan. As for whether it would work, that would depend on whether Qing Zhen had expected all of this.
Zero said, “Do you think Luo Lan will come and save you?”
“Are you planning to use me to lure Luo Lan back?” Zhou Qi looked at the young man in front of him who was being controlled by Zero and said with a sneer, “Spare yourself the trouble. I was paid money to carry out this plan, so it’s only an ordinary business deal between Luo Lan and me. He won’t come and save me.”
“I might have a different opinion from you,” Zero said with a smile.
When he said that, Zhou Qi’s gaze dropped to the ground. “I’ll tell you the truth. Actually, my relationship with Luo Lan has never been good since we were kids. From the time I awakened my superpower, I’ve always used it to play jokes on him. I split-streamed his pee and even cut the water supply when he was showering. If he didn’t bring an umbrella when it rained, it would pour most heavily on him too.
“Later on, when we all grew up, I would require payment from him whenever he asked me for a favor. I’ve always asked to be paid when he needed me to transmit intel, beat people up, protect him, etc. There’s no help that I, Zhou Qi, don’t require payment for. Not only do I want payment, but I’ll also raise the prices whenever I feel like it. That guy always says that I’ve become too moneygrubbing, but what in the world is more dependable than having money in your pocket?”
‘”They’ve led a tough life, but so have I. Their father died early, but my father was a gambler. Back then, he nearly sold my mother and me away for money. They still had a chance to visit Mt. Ginkgo at the age of 18 and change their fates. What did I have? I had nothing.” Zhou Qi took a deep breath and said, “So you see? Aren’t I a very difficult person? Let me tell you, there might really be people in the world who are willing to risk their lives to save others, but no one will risk their lives to save me. That’s because I don’t have any friends.”
Zero looked calmly at Zhou Qi. “But when the Wang Consortium offered you money to betray Luo Lan, you didn’t accept it.”
Zhou Qi smiled disdainfully and said, “That’s because Wang Shengzhi didn’t offer me enough.”
“But you risked your life to blow up my server bank this time. You could have turned back.” Zero laughed. “It’s alright, let’s wait a little longer. I think you’re also interested in knowing if Luo Lan will come back for you.”
…
At the side of the Qianling River Bridge, Xu Man jumped out of the off-road vehicle and said, “Boss Luo, we can’t wait any longer. Zhou Qi has already missed the rendezvous time by 20 minutes, so we’ve already breached our own rules. He’s only doing what he was paid to do. If anything happens to him now, that’s his fate.”
Since this was a military operation, discipline was the most important rule of all. Once it was decided when to retreat, they would have to retreat.
They absolutely could not let Zhou Qi affect the safety of Luo Lan and company.
As a soldier, Xu Man was naturally unwilling to wait any longer. His mission was to complete the plan Qing Zhen had devised, not to save lives.
Luo Lan looked anxiously towards the north, but Zhou Qi was nowhere to be seen.
He said to Xu Man, “Actually, you also noticed the time of the explosion, right? He had already missed the timing to complete his mission in the subterranean river and should have turned back. However, he still blew up the server bank.”
“Boss Luo, that doesn’t mean anything.” Xu Man shook his head. “Maybe he really did risk his life to blow up the server bank. In that case, you should know better that he won’t have a chance to return. There’s no need for us to continue wasting time.”
Luo Lan sighed and said, “You’re fucking cold-blooded….”
“I’m not cold-blooded.” Xu Man said in seriousness, “I’m a soldier, and it’s my duty to obey orders. Mr. Qing Zhen wants me to bring you back to the Qing Consortium safely, so I have to make sure you get back safely. I have to get that done even if I die in the Central Plains.”
“Stop uttering nonsense about dying in the Central Plains.” Luo Lan laughed. “Alright, let’s not wait any longer. We’ll retreat.”
With that, Luo Lan took out the red Eye of True Sight and walked over to the bridge pillar. He placed the stone on it and turned it ten times. “Let’s go. This is the fastest way for us to get back to the Qing Consortium. If I’m not wrong, it should be Stronghold 111’s Mule Fort Road behind the door.”
Xu Man was stunned. Luo Lan had never stepped through that door before, so why was he so sure of where it led to?
But just as Luo Lan had said, the enchanted doorway Ren Xiaosu had secretly taught him was indeed the best way to escape from danger.
Xu Man heaved a sigh of relief. It was good as long as Boss Luo was not going to send himself to his death. Otherwise, he would really not be able to answer to Qing Zhen.
“Boss Luo, you can go in first.” Xu Man stared intently at Luo Lan. If Luo Lan did not step through the door, he would not feel at ease at all.
Luo Lan laughed and said, “Why? Do you really think I will go and save Zhou Qi when I’m so afraid of death? Relax.”
Then Luo Lan stepped through the enchanted doorway. The 183 elite troops followed closely behind and disappeared through it as well.
Only Xu Man’s vehicle was left sitting there next to the Qianling River Bridge.
It seemed like the incident in the Central Plains had concluded. There was nothing to look forward to, nor did a miracle happen.
Translated by: Legge
Edited by: weirdo
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