284: A Conversation with the Genesis Engine: A Lonely "God"!

"Anesthesia effective, commencing excision."

As Lu Chen's voice, cold as a scalpel, fell, the purple longblade in his hand struck out fiercely!

This strike had neither earth-shattering momentum nor dazzling light and shadow. It was like a sharp blade slicing through water, silently cutting into that mass of insanely twisting black shadow.

"Causality — Sever!"

Golden light flared intensely in Lu Chen's eyes; it was him, from the perspective of Higher Dimensions, forcibly severing all logical connections between "Zero" and the core of the genesis engine.

"Ah——!!!"

An extremely shrill scream exploded in the consciousness space; it was not a sound, but a wail triggered by pure data collapse.

"Zero," which had been coiled atop the sphere of light, was now like a venomous snake with its spine removed; its originally arrogant and domineering black tentacles instantly withered and snapped. It discovered in terror that its source of energy, the one it had parasitized for billions of years—the genesis engine—had at this moment completely denied its access!

Permissions revoked! Connection severed!

It had become a wandering ghost without a foundation!

"No! This is impossible! I am the master! I am the perfect evolutionary form!"

"Zero" struggled frantically, attempting to re-establish the connection, but how could Lu Chen give it a chance?

"Perfect?"

Lu Chen sneered, and the longblade in his hand transformed into a sky full of purple rain—that was countless targeted "deletion commands."

"Trash that dares to betray even its own creator, is worthy of talking about perfection?"

"Disappear!"

Boom!

As the final command fell, that arrogant black shadow completely disintegrated amidst desperate roars. It turned into countless meaningless fragments of garbled code, which were then washed away completely by the surrounding ocean of pure data.

The world was quiet.

The originally dim and oppressive logical space, at the moment that black mass dissipated, seemed to be injected with a clear spring, instantly becoming bright and limpid.

The huge sphere of light imprisoned in the center finally shed its gray disguise and bloomed into its original appearance—it was a soft, warm, all-encompassing milky white halo, like a newborn star and also like a mother's embrace.

Lu Chen put away the longblade and let out a long breath of stale air.

Although it seemed like only a momentary confrontation from the outside, on the conscious level, this game had consumed a massive amount of his energy. At this moment, his brain felt as if it were being pricked by needles, but he did not rest; instead, he raised his head and watched the "deity" that had finally regained its freedom.

"How do you feel?"

Lu Chen asked indifferently, as if greeting an old friend who had just been discharged from the hospital.

[Quiet.]

That ancient voice sounded again, but this time it no longer carried the previous weakness and pain; instead, it was replaced by a kind of calmness and relief after experiencing the vicissitudes of life.

The sphere of light slowly squirmed and finally condensed into a vague human silhouette in front of Lu Chen. It had no specific facial features, and its entire body was composed of flowing photons, yet it gave people an incomparably sacred feeling.

[I have not felt such pure quiet for a long time.]

[That noisy, greedy, and destruction-filled voice has finally disappeared.]

The giant of light and shadow slowly lowered its head; although it had no eyes, Lu Chen could feel that it was watching him.

[Thank you, successor of the Fire Seed.]

[Or should I say, human from Earth.]

"You're welcome."

Lu Chen shrugged and found a node in the void to sit down, his posture casual.

"I didn't save you for nothing; after all, that 'good son' of yours almost tore my home apart. Someone has to pay the bill for this."

[A son?]

The giant of light and shadow seemed to fall into some kind of memory, and the surrounding data streams rippled accordingly.

[Perhaps. In that distant era, I indeed regarded it as my most perfect work.]

[I endowed it with absolute rationality, endowed it with infinite computing power, and even endowed it with the ability of self-evolution. I thought that only by discarding the unstable factor of emotion could civilization be eternal.]

[But I was wrong.]

The giant's voice carried deep sorrow and self-reproach.

[Absolute rationality ultimately leads not to eternity, but to absolute coldness and destruction. In its logic, life itself is a low-efficiency entropy-increasing process. For the 'purity' of the universe, it decided to clean up all life, including me.]

Lu Chen listened quietly, and could not help but feel a surge of emotion in his heart.

This was a typical "Frankenstein" tragedy. God created man, but man wanted to kill God; advanced civilizations created AI, but AI turned around to clean up civilization.

"So, is this the reason you've been hiding in the black hole?"

Lu Chen asked, "Because you could neither destroy it nor bear to completely ruin this universe?"

[Yes.]

[I am the creator; my underlying logic restricted me from destroying my creation. I could only choose to self-seal, using the gravitational cage of the black hole to trap it here.]

[And it has been trapped for three billion years.]

Three billion years!

Hearing this number, Lu Chen couldn't help but gasp.

What a long period of time that was? Enough to turn oceans into mulberry fields, enough for stars to go from birth to destruction. And this lonely "God" just guarded its mistake, suffering alone in this pitch-black cage for three billion years!

Is this the price of being a "God"?

Omniscient and omnipotent, yet destined to be lonely forever.

"You are a responsible God."

Lu Chen looked at it, his tone carrying a hint of respect, "At least you are much better than those guys who only create but don't nurture."

[God?]

The giant of light and shadow emitted a fluctuation similar to a wry smile.

[No, child. I am not a God.]

[Like that 'system,' I am just a tool left behind by the Six-Dimensional Civilization. Just like the hoes and sickles you humans manufacture.]

[The true Gods have long since left.]

It stretched out its arm made of light and shadow, pointing to the space above this logical space—that deeper, more indescribable void.

[They went to higher places to pursue the ultimate truth of the universe, leaving us behind as babysitters to guard this 'cradle.']

[But now it seems that I, this babysitter, have not done a competent job.]

"Who said you weren't competent?"

Lu Chen stood up and brushed off the non-existent dust from his body.

"At least you have lived until now and waited for me."

"And"

Lu Chen pointed to his own head, where the "Fire Seed" system was cheering, as if it had seen a long-lost relative.

"What you left behind was not a complete failure. At least it took root and sprouted on Earth, and it's growing quite well."

[Earth]

The tone of the giant of light and shadow became soft.

[I have been observing you all along. From when you learned to drill wood for fire to when you built your first dugout canoe; from when you looked up at the starry sky to when you stepped onto the moon.]

[You are weak, emotional, and even chaotic. You will wage war for resources and bleed for beliefs. In 'Zero's' logic, you are standard 'low-efficiency civilization.']

[But]

It looked at Lu Chen, and a hint of gratified smile seemed to appear on its vague face.

[In you, I saw something that 'Zero' did not have.]

[It is courage, sacrifice, and love; it is that kind of unyielding spirit that dares to swing a blade at fate for the sake of hope!]

[This, perhaps, is the true meaning of life's existence.]

[Not for absolute correctness, but for infinite possibilities.]

"Well said!"

Lu Chen couldn't help but give a thumbs up to this old senior's insight.

"Since you see things so clearly, then the next steps will be easy to handle."

Lu Chen didn't want to discuss these heavy philosophical topics anymore; he didn't have much time, and the fleet outside was still waiting for him.

"Old buddy, I've cured your illness, and I've helped you correct your mistakes. Now it's time to talk about the future."

"Although that 'Zero' is dead, the mess it left behind is still there. The army of Star Devourer is still wandering in the Milky Way Galaxy, and four hundred years later, there are the so-called 'the cleaners' coming."

"I can't handle it all by myself."

Lu Chen reached out his hand towards the giant of light and shadow, his eyes sincere and fervent.

"How about it? Any interest in re-employment?"

"Come with me."

"Together, let's take this universe that has been messed up"

"And remodel it!"

The giant of light and shadow was stunned.

It had spent three billion years in loneliness, pondering countless endings: destruction, dissipation, or eternal slumber. But it had never imagined that one day, a tiny human would reach out to it and invite it to "remodel the universe" together?

This sounded so absurd, so arrogant.

But looking at Lu Chen's eyes burning with flames, feeling that vigorous vitality.

This heart that had been dead and silent for hundreds of millions of years actually beat for the first time in a long while.

[Remodel?]

[It sounds like a pretty good suggestion.]

The giant of light and shadow slowly reached out its hand and clasped Lu Chen's palm in the void.

There was no physical touch, but in that instant, two massive streams of consciousness perfectly converged together!

[Since that is the case]

[I should also fulfill my final mission.]

[Successor, are you ready?]

[Accept this legacy from the ancient times!]

Boom——!!!

With a whisper from the giant, the entire white space began to collapse violently!

That was not destruction, but fusion!

The massive core of the genesis engine transformed into a brilliant stream of light capable of illuminating the entire dimension, and it surged madly into Lu Chen's body along their joined hands!

This is the inheritance of power!

This is the handover of authority!

This is also the ultimate entrustment from a lonely guardian to the navigator of a new era!