141: Chapter 142 She counted for twenty years, and finally someone answered.

[Mother of All Things]

Those four words hung within the chest cavity of that mutilated divine corpse.

There was no majesty.

Instead, it looked like an old nameplate nailed to a delivery bed.

Deep within the No. 9 Forbidden Zone, No. 000 was still gripping the legs of the six Divine Seats.

Behind her, one thousand two hundred and three identical faces opened their eyes at the same time, then closed them in unison.

Every time they opened their eyes, their expressions were different.

Some showed fear.

Some were numb.

Some were angry.

And there was one girl who just stared quietly into the distance, her lips constantly moving.

"One thousand two hundred and one."

"One thousand two hundred and two."

"One thousand two hundred and three."

"One thousand two hundred and four."

Finished counting.

A seven-second pause.

Start over.

The six Divine Seats were sinking bit by bit into her body.

[Record Seat write progress: 12%]

[ruling seat write progress: 9%]

[replacement seat write progress: 15%]

No. 000's left arm suddenly lost all color, turning into a sheet of white paper covered in numbers.

She glanced down at it.

Raising her other hand, she forcefully tore off that paper arm.

There was no scream of pain.

Only a black liquid trickled down from her shoulder.

"I can still suppress them for seventeen minutes."

She looked at Lin Jin through the national network.

"In seventeen minutes, the six chairs will enter the cultivation pods."

"When that time comes, the one thousand two hundred and four of me will be compressed into six people."

"And then those six people will step into reality on their behalf."

No one spoke in the corridor of The Hospital.

Lin Shoushan leaned back inside the treatment pod, staring fixedly at No. 000's face.

His breathing grew heavier and heavier.

No. 000 saw him too.

"Lin Shoushan."

"Twenty years ago, you said that once you found a way, you would come back to open the door."

"I woke up one thousand two hundred and four times."

"You didn't come even once."

Lin Shoushan opened his mouth.

In the end, he offered no explanation for himself.

"I broke my promise."

There was no anger on No. 000's face.

This was far more painful to witness than anger.

"The first time I woke up, I believed you."

"The second time I woke up, I was still waiting."

"The hundredth time I woke up, I thought you were dead."

"The five-hundredth time I woke up, I started to hope you were dead."

"The thousandth time I woke up, I had already forgotten why I was waiting."

Behind her, one version of herself after another spoke up as well.

"But before being wiped every time, I would always leave behind a sentence."

One thousand two hundred and three voices overlapped.

"Count to the next time."

"Maybe someone will come next time."

Lin Shoushan closed his eyes.

The monitoring data on his chest fluctuated violently.

Shisan stood to the side, shifting his gaze away from his face.

He knew very well what waiting felt like.

He also knew that a simple phrase like "for the sake of the majority" could not live those twenty years on behalf of the person left behind.

Yet, Lin Jin did not ask his father why he hadn't saved her back then.

Every second wasted now brought The Six Seats one step closer to No. 000.

"How do we enter the No. 9 Forbidden Zone?"

Lin Shoushan opened his eyes.

"Go through the White Tower Second Floor."

"There's no time."

"There is a faster way,"

No. 000 suddenly said.

She released one of her hands gripping the Divine Seats and pressed it against the floor of the Golden Delivery Room.

The entire First Hospital shook violently.

Inside the nine newborn incubators, the handprints that had not yet been wiped away lit up simultaneously.

Heartbeats, cries, mothers' recordings, and Nurses' testimonies turned into thin lines of light, converging beneath The Hospital floor.

Golden patterns spread like blood vessels.

Finally, in the middle of the corridor, they pieced together a narrow entrance with no doorframe.

Inside the entrance was not the No. 9 Forbidden Zone.

Instead, it was a massive, damp, cold, and constantly pulsing black pipe.

"The cultivation pods are connected to the national birth registration network."

No. 000's voice was already starting to falter.

"It uses these lines to search for nameless children."

"I can reverse it once."

"Treating the Jiangcheng node as an Embryonic Seed to be reclaimed, and sending it back to the No. 9 Forbidden Zone."

Chen Ye stared at the pipe contracting like flesh and blood, his face scrunched up.

"That doesn't sound like a proper mode of transportation."

Zhou Heng had already begun inspecting the entrance.

"How many people can go in?"

"Seven."

No. 000 answered.

"If an eighth person enters, the passage will judge it as a collective migration and immediately initiate carrier sorting."

Chen Ye's scalp went numb hearing this.

"What does sorting mean?"

Shisan's tone was calm.

"Tearing people apart and shipping them separately according to their suitable functions."

Chen Ye immediately took half a step back.

"Seven is great."

Lin Jin quickly finalized the candidates.

Him, Shen Tingxue, Zhou Heng, Chen Ye, Shisan, and Teacher Xu Wenzhou.

And Lin Shoushan.

Shen Tingxue looked at the treatment pod.

"He cannot leave his medical equipment right now."

Lin Shoushan raised his hand and tore off the monitoring lines on his chest.

Instantly, alarms blared all at once.

"I designed the main mechanical axis of the No. 9 Forbidden Zone."

"Without me, even if you find the delivery room, you won't be able to shut it down."

The Medical Instructor's face turned livid with anger.

"You can't even stand steadily right now!"

Qin Shanhe walked over and directly pushed the entire folding treatment pod toward the entrance.

"Then we'll take the pod along with him."

Chen Ye's eyes lit up.

"Does this count as a person?"

"Machines have no professions, nor do they have names."

Qin Shanhe looked at the prompt at the entrance.

"It only counts living people."

Lying in the pod, Lin Shoushan's face darkened even further.

"I don't want to go back lying down."

Qin Shanhe pushed the treatment pod and started walking.

"If you're so capable, crawl out yourself."

Lin Shoushan tried.

He failed.

He fell silent.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou stood before the entrance, the 002 Wrench still tightly wrapped in black cloth.

Ever since he severed the connection between the gods heart and the Chief Designer position, this tool had been unusually quiet.

The quieter it was, the more dangerous it became.

"Once the 002 enters the No. 9 Forbidden Zone, it might automatically seek connections with all the Divine Seats."

"When that happens, I might not be able to control it anymore."

Zhou Heng slung the Thunder Spear onto his back.

"If you point it in the wrong direction, I will take action."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou nodded.

"Don't hesitate."

Shisan finally walked to the side of the entrance.

Lin Shoushan suddenly called out to him.

"Shisan."

Shisan did not turn around.

"Don't tell me to stay behind."

Lin Shoushan fell silent for a moment.

"I wanted to say, once we're inside, you choose your own path."

Shisan finally turned his face.

Lin Shoushan did not say "it's for your own good."

Nor did he arrange a position for him.

He just looked at him.

"Twenty years ago, I made too many choices on behalf of everyone."

"I won't make this one for you."

Shisan's eyes flickered slightly.

"We'll talk after we see No. 000."

"I'm not the only one you owe."

A heavy pulsing sound came from inside the entrance.

Only thirteen and a half minutes remained of the seventeen minutes.

Gu Changye spoke through the communication channel:

"The real-world projections of the six Divine Seats across the country have not yet disappeared."

"After you enter, the Processing Bureau will maintain the Jiangcheng node and other nodes."

"But if the cultivation field is not cut off within half an hour, The Six Seats may still choose new real-world carriers."

Qin Shanhe stood outside the entrance.

Behind him, there was no deans seat.

Nor was there the Deans Seal.

There was only a group of instructors, doctors, and students evacuating patients.

"If you aren't back in half an hour, I will shut down the Jiangcheng node."

Lin Jin looked at him.

"And after you shut it down?"

"Your way back will be cut off."

Qin Shanhe replied very calmly.

"But The Six Seats won't be able to use this path to return either."

Chen Ye grinned.

"Now that sounds like Boss Qin."

The entrance began to contract.

No. 000's voice rang out urgently.

"Now!"

Shisan was the first to step into the black pipe.

He had no class interface, nor did he have a system identity.

The pipe scanned him several times, and only one judgment floated up.

[Unregistered Embryonic Seed, reclamation permitted]

Lin Jin followed closely behind.

[Embryonic Seed Prototype 01, reclamation permitted]

Shen Tingxue, Zhou Heng, Chen Ye, and Teacher Xu Wenzhou entered right after, judged by the system as functional fragments attached to the prototype.

Finally, Qin Shanhe kicked Lin Shoushan's treatment pod into the entrance.

Just as Lin Shoushan was about to curse, the entire black pipe suddenly snapped shut.

Darkness swallowed everyone.

There was no wind.

There was no sensation of falling.

Only the memories of countless people brushed past their bodies like a tide.

Someone holding a blade for the first time.

Someone releasing flames for the first time.

Someone saving their own mother after awakening a healing class.

And someone being judged as an invalid sample by the system after failing to awaken.

These were not the memories of the one thousand two hundred and four Embryonic Seeds in the No. 9 Forbidden Zone.

They were the records of countless classes from their birth to their disappearance.

Lin Jin finally understood.

The so-called "Embryonic Seeds" had never just preserved class structures.

They also preserved a tiny fragment of personality left behind by every single person who had ever used that class.

The Divine Seats claimed they had no history.

Yet within their bodies, tens of thousands of unacknowledged lives were crammed.

A bright light suddenly appeared at the end of the pipe.

Everyone was violently thrown out.

Upon landing, Chen Ye instinctively deployed his shield, catching Shen Tingxue and Shisan.

Zhou Heng drove his Thunder Spear into the ground to steady Lin Shoushan's treatment pod.

Lin Jin rolled half a turn and looked up to see a golden hall.

It was a hundred times larger than in the projection.

The dome stretched beyond sight.

Lined up on the floor were one thousand two hundred and four transparent cultivation pods.

But all the cultivation pods were empty.

There were no babies.

There were no young girls.

Nor were there one thousand two hundred and four identical faces.

Only inside the central No. 000 cultivation pod lay a transparent brain that was still beating.

On the brain tissue, one thousand two hundred and four wires were densely connected.

Shisan's expression changed dramatically.

"Where are the people?"

Lin Shoushan looked toward the far end of the hall.

The dispatch records there had been lit for twenty years.

[Total Embryonic Seeds Cultivated: 1204]

[Currently Remaining: 1]

[Dispatched: 1203]

Chen Ye's voice tightened.

"Where were they dispatched to?"

Zhou Heng raised his spear to illuminate the text below.

The one thousand two hundred and three dispatch destinations unfolded in sequence.

There were no names of people.

There were only class names.

[Embryonic Seed No. 001: Warrior-type Personality Template]

[Embryonic Seed No. 002: Mage-type Personality Template]

[Embryonic Seed No. 003: Healer-type Personality Template]

...

[Embryonic Seed No. 1203: Mechanic-type Personality Template]

Lin Jin felt a chill run through his entire body as he looked at the final line.

No. 000 had not been cultivating one thousand two hundred and four children.

Each version of her that woke up time and again had been dismantled one by one and turned into "personality templates" for different classes.

Bravery was given to the warriors.

Calmness was given to the mages.

Compassion was given to the Healers.

Obedience was given to the knights.

Curiosity was given to the researchers.

And once these templates were deployed into the class system, all subsequent awakeners would be forced to conform to a designed personality type.

Lin Jin finally understood why the gods heart believed that classes could define people.

Because since the very birth of classes, it had turned parts of a person's personality into class manuals.

In the center of the hall, No. 000's transparent brain slowly opened an eye made of nerves.

"Welcome to the delivery room."

"Of the one thousand two hundred and four versions of me you want to save, only one remains here."

"The other one thousand two hundred and three—"

Her gaze swept across the hall, looking toward all the glowing class insignias across the world.

"—have long been carried out of the No. 9 Forbidden Zone by every single one of you."