Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Inside the palace, Theresa was dressing up.

The splendidness of the first Queen of Crimson when she ascended to the throne thousands of years ago had long been buried in the dust of history. Nobody knew what kind of clothes were worthy of the majesty of the ruler of the devil world. The girls could only dress Theresa in the most glamorous way according to the kings, chiefs, archmages, chiefs of the elves…

Princess Summer offered the feathers of the eagles when she was a princess of the Eagle Kingdom. Herra, the dragon girl, offered her dragon scale armor. Natasha, captain of the maid legion, offered the cloak made of the skin of the Windstorm Ice Bears in the frozen Northland. Vera, the elf, carefully tied magical gems embedded with gold threads on Theresa's ears. The cat girl helped Theresa carve the perfect makeup on her face…

"How beautiful it is!"

"What a perfect appearance!"

"Teresa, do you know how jealous we are of your beautiful face?"

"I've made it. An out-and-out queen!"

The girls were chitchatting, making Theresa's head dizzy.

Her mouth was dry, and she was soaked in cold sweat. She felt that she had become a doll at anyone's mercy.

"I—I can't…"

She protested feebly again, only to be eclipsed by the girls' giggles.

Princess Summer was the only one who could see the anxiety and hesitation in her heart. With the excuse that they should let Theresa calm down and take a breath of fresh air, she dragged her to a corner.

"Teresa, what's wrong? Why are you so nervous?" Princess Summer asked in concern.

"I can't."

Looking at the elegant 'Crimson Queen Extension' that she was wearing, Theresa shook her head. The decorations on her head were all clattering. She stammered, "You know my background. I'm just here to scout the situation and communicate with the big shots here. God knows how I became the Crimson Queen. I—I can't! I can't!"

"Isn't it too late to say that now?"

Princess Summer lowered her voice and said, "Although we are forced by the circumstances, how can we retreat now that we've come this far? When you officially ascend to the throne as the Crimson Queen, you will be one of the big shots dominating the world of jade. You can communicate with yourself and reach out to yourself. Isn't it like killing two birds with one stone?"

"But what if they see through us?"

Theresa said pitifully, "If the devils learn that their 'Empress Crimson' is a man, they will definitely go crazy!"

"How could you tell?"

Princess Summer stared at the chest muscles that even Theresa's clothes and armor could not cover. She swallowed and said, "Your appearance is even more feminine than that of a woman, okay?"

"But in my heart, I'm more of a man than a man—I'm 100% a man!"

"Alright, alright, alright. Yes, yes. It is precisely because you are 100% a man that you have to shoulder this mission!"

Princess Summer tried to provoke him. "What kind of man are you if you don't even have the courage to be an empress?"

Theresa was indeed triggered.

"Sounds about right."

She mumbled, "Even an ignorant kid such as Li Jialing can be the emperor of the Imperium of True Human Beings. It doesn't seem inappropriate for me to be an insignificant Empress Crimson.

"Of course, you can. You are the chosen empress. We will support you and fight side by side with you no matter what!"

Princess Summer took a breath and said, "Alright. We're going to dress ourselves up, too. We'll help you hold the fort in a moment. You can make the final preparations and think about your speech later. In fact, there's no need to say anything. Just show us how you blew up the Devourer the other day. There won't be a problem!"

When Theresa looked back, Princess Summer had already walked away.

Jade, on the other hand, leaned against the wall and stared at her. Weird ripples were beaming out of her silver eyes.

Theresa pouted. "Are you here to laugh at me, too?"

Jade replied casually, "No. I'm here to thank you. Why? Do you think I'm a shameless man who likes to make fun of you?"

"I wouldn't call it despicable and shameless, but it is indeed very bad. Before I met you, I always thought that the artificial intelligence was an honest, loyal, and trustworthy being who wouldn't play any tricks and could be trusted with everything.

"You changed my opinion about artificial intelligence," Theresa said.

"You can't say that I'm bad. You can only say that you're stupid. You should also thank me for letting you see the true face of artificial intelligence."

Jade paused for a moment and continued. "Forget it. I won't argue with you today. I really want to thank you for everything you've done for me and Captain Kelly.

Emotions that were even more intense than those of human beings were appearing on her face and deep inside her eyes. The ripples of emotions seemed to have surpassed the mission that the previous captains had given her.

Theresa was dazed for a moment. "Your gratitude does not seem to be solely because I saved Jade, does it?"

"…Yes. More than duty and mission."

Jade was silent for a long time. Her eyes were somewhat hollow, as if she had a soul that was as brilliant as human beings, but the soul was drifting to thousands of years ago. "I want to thank you for not wasting Captain Kelly's efforts. You didn't know that Captain Kelly was actually my… lover.

"Huh?"

Dumbfounded, Theresa stammered, "What—what did you say? Captain Kelly is your… lover?"

"What?"

Jade's mind, which had just opened a tiny gap, was enveloped by the sharp-tongued program. She sneered, "What do you think the so-called 'love' is? It is supreme, unique, and only human beings can enjoy it.

"The snakes, insects, mice, ants, pigs, dogs, cattle, and sheep, who are also carbon-based creatures, don't deserve to have love. Your computational and logical analysis abilities are hundreds of times stronger than those of the artificial intelligence, and you don't deserve to have love, either. Only you mediocre humans can talk about love?

"Hehe. Such baseless, altruisticism is hilarious.

"In fact, love is just the best solution that intelligent life can choose in the blink of an eye in order to reproduce and spread their civilization. Any life form whose wisdom reaches a certain level, be it carbon-based, silicon-based, or pure energy-based, can have love.

"To put it in a way that you can understand, love does not discriminate between rich and poor. It does not discriminate between young and old. It does not discriminate between genders and races. It transcends everything. Why can't Captain Kelly and I be a couple whose love is stronger than gold and will not change until death?