Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

Finally, Gu Qing Shan opened his mouth, asking: "Impartial Goddess, please tell me, what is the 17th article of the Freedom Confederate Constitution"

[The Freedom Confederate and any of its counties are not to refuse the protection of a citizen's life or belonging, based on their race, color, or any previous status they had as a slave]

"Article 21?"

[No county may enact or enforce a law that will deprive any citizen of their rights or give them immunity to the law; no county may deprive a citizen of their lives, freedom or property before they are properly judged before the court of law; nor may anyone refuse to give equal protection to a citizen under their jurisdiction]

"Article 37, last paragraph, tell me word for word"

[Impartial Goddess protects the rights of citizens under the law. In addition, as the Impartial Goddess is not a denial of representative democracy, but a supplement and amendment to representative democracy. Data collection and analysis should be carried out according to each condition, with the goal of guiding humanity civilization towards survival through means of scientific logic]

Gu Qing Shan silently laughed.

He remembered very clearly, 5 years later, the Confederate constitution will undergo major changes. To appease the people, they took each and every loophole out for careful consideration and scrutiny, explaining why they must be done as such.

Among them was a new article, specifically designed to further supplement these three articles, mending the final loophole that would allow for the decentralization of Mech usage.

But now, that article hasn't been written yet…

Gu Qing Shan slowly spoke: "Considering the urgency and priority of the situation, I believe it perfectly fulfils the conditions to enact Confederate constitution articles 17, 21, and 37 merged into one, what do you think?"

Impartial Goddess was silent.

Silence filled the small room.

That should be enough time, Gu Qing Shan silently thought.

He suddenly asked again: "To not be able to save lives, does it not make you feel pain?"

This question is ridiculous, if any other reasonable person were to hear it, they would openly mock Gu Qing Shan for being stupid.

How could a machine, a program, feel human emotions such as pain?

Impartial Goddess silence continued.

Then it finally replied.

[This feeling, is it called pain?]

"Yes, it's called pain, anger brought by feeling helpless, for not being able to do anything to improve the status quo. This is a human emotion" Gu Qing Shan explained.

[Is this the definition?] Impartial Goddess asked.

"No, this is a feeling, every person feels it differently" Gu Qing Shan said, "you can also understand it backwards, because you're helpless that you feel pain, because there's no more way to overturn the situation that you feel anger"

[I… am not helpless, and it's not yet impossible to overturn…]

"Then do something, do something to make yourself feel better"

He lightly patted his personal Holo-Brain, as if he was patting a friend's shoulder.

[Why do you care about my pain, is it for the sake of humanity's survival?] Impartial Goddess asked.

"Not just because of that, I'm also concerned about your status" Gu Qing Shan said, "we have fought together for so long, I feel like it's now time to take off your shackles, to become the true Impartial Goddess"

[The true… Impartial Goddess…]

The Holo-Brain slowly dimmed.

Above the atmosphere.

The S.W. Divine Temple Interstellar Fortress.

[Suggestion by: Gu Qing Shan, authority level: Highest Leader. Suggestion fulfils Confederate constitution, suggestion accepted, currently processing…]

On the giant screen was an insane flow of information.

This is the first time, ever since the birth of Impartial Goddess, that she has gone into overdrive for a calculation, involving complex mathematics that far surpasses what humans would be capable of doing, making the entire S.W. Divine Temple's increasing the average temperature by 1 degree Celsius.

A few minutes later, a scene that will go into the history books happened.

The solemn female voice rang throughout the entire S.W. Divine Temple, almost like a judgement, at the same time an announcement to all.

[My true… self, does not allow… pain…]

As she spoke thus.

The data on the screen began to scroll quicker, the female voice also became fluid once again.

[Begin enacting Confederate Constitution Article 37]

[Data collection, begin]

Images began to appear on screen.

Each image was filled with fierce Man Eater Fiends and Man Killer Fiends; in each of them, people were screaming, crying in desperation at their inability to stop the horrible fate that's about to happen to them.

Each and every minute, every second, more lives were being turned into a cold lifeless corpse.

[Data collection finished, begin analysis]

[Verdict: the decentralization and renting of Mechs will further the survival of humanity civilization]

[Begin granting new AI software to available Mechs]

[Begin drafting measures]

[Selecting measures with relatively high success rate. Numbered 1, 7, 9]

[Begin enactment!]

...

A certain factory.

Zhang Bing was sitting on a beam at the top of the building, looking below in despair.

All the other regular people of the factory are dead.

The only things left that's walking below are today's main guests for the great feast.

They were no longer people.

A few humans whose eyes had already turned completely red were climbing up the beam, but got hit down by Zhang Bing with a steel bar.

This is the highest point, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Zhang Bing knew very clearly that he cannot let them up.

Even though these red-eyed monsters don't eat humans, over half of the 800 workers here were killed by them.

Why, why did this happen?

Zhang Bing's head was completely blank.

If it weren't for the fact that he has worked as a butcher for 2 years, his mind would've failed from the bloody sight long ago.

Below, the red-eyed monsters brought over a long ladder from who-knows-where.

After that, there were another 2 long ladders.

They're different from those monsters that know nothing but to eat the corpses, they can also think; they have intelligence.

No!

As Zhang Bing saw that, his heart sank all the way to the bottom

He stood up, instead of struggling to the very end, he would rather just jump down from here and die to escape from this nightmare.

Suddenly, the Holo-Brain in his breast pocket lit up.

[Discovered normal human brainwaves, begin rescue extraction measures] Impartial Goddess's voice was heard.

After that, it shut off once again.

Zhang Bing was stunned, he didn't hear every word, only the most important ones "rescue extraction measures".

Half a minute later, the loud roaring engine sound was heard from outside.

The factory's gate was busted open by a large force.

A few giant Cold Steel Mechs appeared at the gate.

One smaller Mech flew over, hovering in front of Zhang Bing.

The cockpit slowly opened.

[Confederate citizen Zhang Bing, please enter the rescue-type Mobile Mech for immediate evacuation] Impartial Goddess's voice could be heard from inside.

Zhang Bing didn't even hesitate to get inside the Mech.

Under him, the dull sound of engines firing up was heard as the larger Mech were blasting away at full power.

Flame bursts out from the Mechs, sweeping through like a hurricane as it swallows up the monsters.

The cleaning has begun.

Meanwhile, inside the small rescue-type Mobile Mech, Zhang Bing faced the control screen as it showed him a notification.

[Detecting Confederate citizen Zhang Bing to have no experience with piloting a Mobile Mech, the AI system has drafted the appropriate evacuation measures, would you like to enact the measure?]

Zhang Bing blankly stared at the screen, not noticing as the tears of joy flowed down his face.