Embers Ad Infinitum

Shang Jianyao stared at the sentence on the beach for a few seconds before looking back at the islands that only had sunlight, green trees, grasslands, and other products of nature.

He lowered his head again and added half a sentence after his original sentence: “Afraid that there won’t be a target?”

After writing these words, Shang Jianyao stood up.

His body suddenly split apart, producing eight Shang Jianyaos. They then got busy on the island. They cut down trees, moved rocks, plucked grass, and dug up soil to build an abnormally simple house.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao already felt exhausted. The nine figures combined and slowly left the Sea of Origins.

Before he completely returned to reality, he saw the ‘danger room’ he had created collapse silently, collapsing inch by inch.

Everything returned to normal.

…

At the bedroom’s bedhead, Shang Jianyao opened his eyes. What he saw was a peaceful darkness and a faint glow that shone in from the window.

He frowned slightly as if he were considering something. As he pondered, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The next day, Shang Jianyao took the opportunity to describe his attempt to the other Old Task Force members during breakfast.

Although Long Yuehong couldn’t decipher what this meant, he nodded enthusiastically. “I think it’s a good thing. At least the island has reacted and is no longer the same.”

“Yes.” Bai Chen agreed.

Jiang Baimian also nodded slightly. “I think so too.”

Long Yuehong—who had received unanimous affirmation—was suddenly flattered, but he also felt inexplicably terrified. He was afraid that he had made a wrong judgment and misled Shang Jianyao.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and continued, “I think you might be afraid that ‘nothing can be changed.’ You might be afraid that the world will remain the same after you give up everything and lose everything. Only sunlight, green trees, grasslands, and water will remain the same forever.”

“A little.” Shang Jianyao nodded.

“Make more attempts in this direction in the future. We’ll then figure out a way to achieve victory based on the feedback.” Jiang Baimian smiled and encouraged him. “Yes, this might still have to work hand-in-hand with reality.”

According to her understanding, Awakened often spent years or even decades in the Sea of Origins before they could reach the end and find themselves. After all, it was easy to drill through a mountain, but it was difficult to drill into the depths of one’s heart. Some Awakened might be trapped on an island their entire lives and be unable to break through.

There were very few people like Shang Jianyao, who cleared two islands in just a few months. There was no need to be anxious.

…

Two days later, some of the robot guards led by Genava brought back the remains of their colleagues from Mount Chilar.

The Old Task Force was informed that they could speak to the Source Brain.

Downstairs in the town hall, Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, and the others left the jeep one after another. Under the auxiliary robots’ guidance, they arrived at the top floor and entered a small conference room.

There was a long table, more than ten chairs, and a shelf with documents. A large LCD screen hung on the wall.

Genava—who was wearing a dark-green military uniform—pointed at the chairs facing the screen and spoke in a slightly synthetic male voice. “Have a seat. It’s not convenient for me to listen in.”

Jiang Baimian and the others nodded and found their seats.

Genava then left the meeting room and closed the door.

As soon as he left, Shang Jianyao stood up. He occasionally studied the sound system or examined the wiring. Finally, he approached the file rack by the side and returned with a book.

“What is it?” Jiang Baimian looked at him curiously.

Shang Jianyao sat down and showed the cover of the small book in his hand. It was orange-red and had a large number of 0s and 1s drawn on it. It had names written in Ashlandic and Red River language: Smart Bot’s Deployment Manual

Shang Jianyao casually flipped through the book.

Jiang Baimian leaned over and killed time by reading with him.

“…Attempting to try human food is prohibited…”

“…Recycle old components…”

“…Core modules must not be sold…”

“…Humanization has to be maintained between 30% to 70%…”

“…Pay attention to the actions of your colleagues and correct them if necessary…”

Upon seeing this, Jiang Baimian smiled and muttered, “It feels strange…”

“It didn’t say that they can’t make friends with humans.” Shang Jianyao revealed a relieved expression.

Long Yuehong looked at them and fidgeted uneasily. “Aren’t you nervous?”

They were about to speak to the mysterious Source Brain! This was something that occupied a relatively important position in a large faction!

Shang Jianyao replied to Long Yuehong, “Yes, I should be nervous. If we say anything wrong, it might order Tarnan’s robot guards to force us to be sent as exhibition articles at Humanity’s Nasty Behavior Museum.”

Where did this term come from… Long Yuehong realized that Shang Jianyao had recently become better at fabricating stories and creating proper nouns. But frankly, this was closer to his worries.

The Old Task Force couldn’t withstand the attacks of so many smart bots.

Jiang Baimian was just about to comfort Long Yuehong when a slightly synthetic, mature male voice suddenly sounded in her ears. “There’s no Human Nasty Behavior Museum in Mechanical Paradise. There’s only the Old World Civilization Museum.”

With a whoosh, Shang Jianyao and the others looked at the large screen in the conference room.

A large vortex had appeared on the screen at some point in time.

“Hello.” Shang Jianyao immediately stood up and greeted politely.

Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen bowed as well.

The mature male voice from before echoed in the room again. “Make yourselves at home. My core program has very strict restrictions on attacking humans; many conditions have to be met.”

Jiang Baimian nodded and asked, “Are you the Source Brain?”

“Yes.” As the vortex undulated, a mature male voice replied, “In fact, I’m different from the city mainframe you know. Yes, remember, you only have five minutes. Think carefully about what you want to ask.”

As the Old Task Force’s representative, Jiang Baimian went straight to the point. “Honorable Source Brain, we want to know why the Old World was destroyed.”

The Source Brain fell silent for two seconds before saying, “This is also something I want to figure out.”

This… Jiang Baimian frowned and asked, “Then, do you know what happened when the Old World was destroyed?”

The Source Brain replied without much emotion, “According to the information I gathered and some of the scenes we monitored back then, we can preliminarily determine that the sudden Heartless disease outbreak brought about a series of changes.

“Back then, humanity’s technology had reached an astonishing level. For example, a technology like controllable nuclear fusion that could change the entire planet’s fate had a critical breakthrough. Although it didn’t succeed in the end, we had already seen the dawn of hope.

“Similarly, automation and intelligence were widely used in various key areas. After the Heartless disease broke out in certain military bases, people who had lost their minds might’ve chanced upon something or pressed something according to their instincts.

“The first wave of strikes happened just like that. Without anyone presiding over them, the various countries’ smart systems counterattacked according to the preset conditions and reactions. Since nobody stopped them, it soon became a vicious cycle. The war developed to the point where they threw all kinds of high-energy weapons at each other. The world was then destroyed in a short period of time.”

Upon hearing the Source Brain’s description, the meeting room fell silent. Nobody spoke for a moment.

These simple words seemed to cover the source of all human suffering in the past 60 to 70 years.

“Only five minutes…” Shang Jianyao suddenly gave a reminder.

Jiang Baimian snapped to her senses and quickly asked the Source Brain, “Therefore, you believe that the cause of the Old World’s destruction is the sudden and large-scale outbreak of the Heartless disease?”

“Yes, before that, the Old World showed no signs of destruction,” the Source Brain replied firmly.

“Is that so?” Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, “Could it be that you weren’t paying attention or hadn’t gathered the relevant information? For example, some factions had already secretly built shelters some time before the Old World was destroyed?”

At this moment, the others in the Old Task Force knew that Jiang Baimian was using Pangu Biology as an example.

The Source Brain quickly gave its answer. “Such shelters might be built by some apocalyptic enthusiasts themselves, or they might be a place prepared for other experiments. They weren’t systematically built apocalyptic sanctuaries.”

Other experiments… Jiang Baimian ruminated over these words and returned to the topic at hand. “Honorable Source Brain, you should know that humans established nine research institutes that were future-facing some time before the Old World was destroyed. Do you think the Heartless disease was created by one of them?”

“The possibility can’t be ruled out, but the intensity, breadth, and randomness of the Heartless disease outbreak exceeded the technological levels of humans back then,” the Source Brain answered in a rather nuanced manner.

“Then, do you know which research institute is in the north? North of the Blackmarsh Wilderness,” Jiang Baimian asked further.

The Source Brain fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “I’m not sure. This was something I didn’t have access to back then.”

At this point, the slightly synthetic mature male voice paused. “Actually, Mechanical Paradise’s original form was one of the nine research institutes. I’m the most important research result of that research institute.”

Jiang Baimian had an idea and blurted out, “The Third Research Institute?”

The lady boss had said that the Third Research Institute was in the south, and this place was already relatively south. Mechanical Paradise was further south!

“Yes.” The Source Brain was very frank. “Back then, humans forcefully built a magnificent new city for this research institute.”

A magnificent new city similar to Pangu Biology’s underground building? Just as this thought flashed through Jiang Baimian’s mind, Shang Jianyao ‘replaced’ her and asked, “Wouldn’t that mean Maximian is?”

Maximian—whom Mechanical Paradise had been searching for—was suspected to be the Chief Scientist of the Third Research Institute!

The vortex on the large screen stopped spinning for two seconds before returning to normal. “Strictly speaking, he’s considered my father.”

“Did you find him later?” Shang Jianyao asked in concern.

The Source Brain’s flat voice changed a little. “Yes, but he passed away long ago. Back then, he had already changed his name to Oray.”

“Oray…” Jiang Baimian repeated the name in confusion, finding it familiar.

The next second, Bai Chen blurted out, “First City’s Oray?”

The largest coin denomination in First City was Oray; it was named after one of the founders of First City!

The Source Brain replied in a flat tone, “Yes, he was First City’s first citizen, dictator, and temporary emperor—Oray Ubis.”