206: Chapter 207 Who can prove Mother is dead? First, prove she isn't your mother.

"Who will prove—"

"That the Mother is already dead?"

The white-gold gate hung in the deepest part of the No. 9 Forbidden Zone.

The three lines of text on the gate were like three blades.

[Confirmable party: Independent Remnant of the God Head]

[Confirmable party: Executioner of the First Blade]

[Confirmable party: Current holder of the gods heart]

Yu Xing stood before the memory bank, her face pale to the point of transparency.

Behind her, 1,204 memories of waking up and being wiped clean hung like rows of lamps, swaying gently in the darkness.

Lin Shoushan lay in the treatment pod, the monitoring lines screaming with alarms.

When the words "Executioner of the First Blade" lit up, the old wound on his chest split open again, and blood slowly seeped through the bandages.

In the heart pump chamber, the gods heart was locked by multi-location asynchronous buffer valves, yet it was still beating slowly.

Thump.

Thump.

Every beat felt like it was asking:

Is she really dead?

In the Main Control Room, no one spoke immediately.

Because this was no ordinary procedure.

If Yu Xing confirmed it, she would be dragged back to the position of "Remnant of the God Head."

If Lin Shoushan confirmed it, he would be branded as a "Matricide."

If the gods heart confirmed it, the heart would have to make contact with the Mother of All Things' remains again.

And the God Head only needed one of them to step forward.

It could rewrite the isolation process into an acknowledgement of kinship, a confession of guilt, and an identification of the corpse.

Cheng Du saw through it at once, his voice chilling.

"This is a death certificate trap."

"Once the confirming party signs, their identity will be taken by it."

"The brain remnant turns back, the blade wielder confesses to murder, the gods heart returns to the corpse."

"Whether it's dead or not, I don't know, but it will drag the three of you back first."

Yu Xing raised her head and looked at that gate.

"But if we don't confirm, the remains cannot be isolated."

"The god's body will continue to collapse, and the underlying network will be severed sooner or later."

Lin Shoushan lifted his hand with difficulty, wanting to touch the glass of the treatment pod.

"I can..."

"You cannot."

Lin Jin interrupted him.

His voice was not loud, but it carried heavy pressure.

Lin Shoushan looked at him.

"I delivered the first blade back then."

"That doesn't mean you should sign yourself into it today."

Lin Jin gripped the new tool, his eyes fixed on the white-gold gate.

"It asks who will prove the Mother is dead."

"The first step is wrong."

Chen Ye was stunned.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Jin looked up and said word by word:

"Prove whose mother she is first."

The golden light on the white-gold gate stalled for an instant.

The God Head's voice slowly pressed down.

"Mother of All Things."

"Source of Careers."

"Mother of All Living Things."

Lin Jin sneered.

"She created the Career System."

"Provided the initial templates."

"Gave the naming interface."

"That's called a source."

"Not a mother."

Yu Xing's eyes trembled.

Lin Jin continued:

"The title of mother requires a relationship."

"It requires care, response, boundaries, and a reaffirmation by the child after they grow up."

"You birthed everyone from the Career System interface, then used careers to bind them back."

"That's not called a mother."

"That's called personifying system source code."

Chen Ye opened his mouth.

"That sounds pretty harsh."

Thirteen said coldly:

"But accurate."

The white-gold gate vibrated violently.

The three lines of "Confirmable party" on the gate suddenly extended golden threads, winding toward Yu Xing, Lin Shoushan, and the heart pump chamber.

[Relationship confirmation in progress]

[God Head Remnant should return to Mother designation]

[Executioner of the First Blade should confirm the fact of matricide]

[gods heart should return to Mother's remains]

The memory lamps behind Yu Xing lit up simultaneously.

In those memories, before countless wipes, she had heard the same sentence.

"Child, come home."

That sentence had once felt like the only tenderness when she first woke up.

It also felt like the deepest chain.

Her body swayed.

Shen Qingshuang stepped forward but did not touch her.

She knew she had no right to stand in for Yu Xing.

Yu Xing closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her voice was very soft.

"I can confirm one thing."

The white-gold gate suddenly lit up.

[Statement from Independent Remnant of the God Head]

Yu Xing looked up.

"I am not her brain."

"I once came from her God Head organization."

"I was also used as a career personality template."

"But I have woken up 1,204 times."

"Every time I wake up, it is not to continue being her."

"I am Yu Xing."

Luo Wensheng recorded it immediately.

Ye Guizhou stamped it:

[Source relationship received]

[Does not constitute personal ownership]

He Zhibai added:

[Source debt shall not be converted into personality reclamation rights]

The first golden thread on the white-gold gate broke in half.

But it didn't break completely.

Because the God Head was still clinging to the term "brain remnant."

Lin Jin looked at Teacher Xu Wenzhou.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou had already raised work order no. 002.

Lin Jin used the new tool to press down on that definition line.

[Independent Remnant of the God Head = God Head]

"Cut the equals sign."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou brought the blade down.

Snap!

The definition was severed.

New gray-white text appeared on top.

[Those who were sources for the God Head organization may serve as source witnesses, but may not be reduced to God Head organs.]

The golden light on Yu Xing faded by a fraction.

She finally stood firm.

Next, the white-gold gate turned to Lin Shoushan.

[Executioner of the First Blade]

[Please confirm the death of the Mother]

The old wound on Lin Shoushan's chest split deeper suddenly.

The alarm from the treatment pod became piercingly shrill.

The God Head's voice became gentle.

"You cut down the gods heart with the first blade."

"You have seen the complete me."

"You know when I died."

"You should also admit that you killed the Mother."

Lin Shoushan closed his eyes.

That blade from twenty years ago felt like it was back in his hand.

The god handed him the blade personally.

The god's blood was warm.

She said: Cut.

He said: It will hurt.

She said: If the system continues, I will turn all children into tools.

That blade was not murder.

But for the twenty years since, every day felt like a sin.

He propped himself up in the treatment pod, his voice weak but clear.

"I confirm."

Lin Jin's pupils shrank.

Lin Shoushan looked at him and said slowly:

"I confirm that I executed the first blade separation back then."

The golden light of the white-gold gate paused instantly.

Lin Shoushan continued:

"I do not confirm that she is my mother."

"Nor do I confirm that the careerists of the world are her children."

"Even less do I confirm that the first blade equals matricide."

"The first blade was a maintenance termination step proposed by the complete Mother of All Things herself at the time."

"The subsequent twenty years of delay, tampering, and burial are the faults."

Luo Wensheng wrote it down without missing a word.

Ye Guizhou stamped it:

[Execution fact received]

[Does not constitute a confession of matricide]

He Zhibai added:

[Responsibilities for the first blade, subsequent delays, The Six Seats' tampering, and the Mother-end self-destruction are to be separated and shall not be merged]

Teacher Xu Wenzhou and Lin Jin looked at the second definition line simultaneously.

[Executioner of the First Blade = Matricide Confirmer]

The new tool jammed.

work order no. 002 fell.

Snap!

The second golden thread broke.

The old wound on Lin Shoushan's chest stopped splitting.

He collapsed back into the treatment pod, his face deathly pale, but he smiled at Lin Jin.

"This time... I didn't shove the blade into your hands."

Lin Jin gritted his teeth.

"Stop talking."

The white-gold gate finally turned to the heart pump chamber.

The gods heart was still beating.

Thump.

Thump.

The last line on the gate was blindingly bright.

[Current holder of the gods heart]

[Please confirm the death of the Mother]

Everyone was silent for a moment.

The gods heart was not a person.

But it was the core organ cut from the Mother of All Things.

It was still beating.

If confirming death required "heart stopped," then they couldn't confirm it.

But if they let the heart return to the corpse to confirm it, the isolation of the remains would turn into a resurrection of the god's body.

Cheng Du's voice was tight.

"We cannot connect the heart back."

Lin Jin stared at the pressure chart of the heart pump chamber.

"And we can't pretend it's not beating."

Fang Ning suddenly connected to the communication.

"Medically speaking, confirming death doesn't just look at the heartbeat."

Everyone looked at the screen.

She was standing at the First Hospital Nurse station, with the monitor still lit up behind her.

"Having a heartbeat does not mean a person is still there."

"Not having a heartbeat doesn't mean you can just say someone is gone."

"You have to look at brain function, circulation, reflexes, irreversibility, ethical procedures, and witness testimony."

She paused, her voice tight.

"But this thing is not an ordinary person."

"So we cannot use a single indicator."

Lin Jin's eyes lit up.

"Multi-indicator death confirmation."

Cheng Du immediately adjusted the status of the god's body.

[God Head core: Personality function disintegrating]

[gods heart: Beating independently, isolated by temporary valves]

[God lung: Sealed]

[God throat: Inactive]

[God eye: Withdrawn]

[God hand: Lost tool reclamation rights]

[God's body main circulation: Not restored]

[Mother reclamation function: Failed]

[System burial relationship: Disconnected]

Lin Jin looked at these indicators.

"It's not that she doesn't have organ activity."

"It's that the Mother system functions have already died."

Yu Xing added:

"The God Head no longer has a complete personality."

"Only reclamation protocols and self-destruct protocols remain."

Lin Shoushan said in a low voice from the treatment pod:

"The gods heart still has residual activity, but it does not possess the right to redefine all careerists."

Cheng Du added:

"The god's body main circulation is broken, and the system foundation has been decoupled."

Fang Ning wrote:

[Object of death confirmation: The overall function of the Mother of All Things as a Mother reclamation system]

[Does not include independent residual personality, isolated organ activity, or the National Class Transfer System supported from the bottom]

Ye Guizhou stamped it:

[Confirmation scope received]

[Must not be expanded]

He Zhibai wrote heavily:

[Confirming death does not equal forgetting the source, does not equal pardoning responsibility, does not equal requiring burial]

Luo Wensheng added the final sentence:

[Confirming death is not acknowledging the Mother.]

Lin Jin pressed this confirmation process between work order no. 001 and work order no. 002.

The white-gold gate vibrated crazily.

The God Head emitted a sharp noise.

"Mother is not dead."

"Mother is still beating."

"Mother is still watching."

"Mother is still waiting for her children to come home."

Lin Jin looked up.

"Then let her respond."

He looked at Fang Ning.

Fang Ning understood immediately and opened the multi-location echo nodes.

Do not ask "Are you the Mother?"

Do not ask "Do you love your children?"

Just ask one simplest question.

[Can the Mother of All Things currently establish a boundary response with the independent human system without occupying, reclaiming, naming, or requiring burial?]

The question was sent into the God Head, the gods heart, the god's body remnants, and the remains isolation gate.

The whole city went quiet.

Hai City, Beiyuan, Nanling, and Qinghe County also went quiet.

Everyone waited for a response.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

The gods heart beat twice.

The God Head core flickered a few times.

A vague voice came from deep within the god's body remains.

"Come home."

Only these two words.

No boundaries.

No "without occupying."

No "without reclaiming."

No acknowledging independence.

Fang Ning said in a low voice:

"No valid response."

Yu Xing closed her eyes.

"Mother personality function has irreversibly disintegrated."

Lin Shoushan's voice was hoarse:

"After many years of failure in the first blade separation goal, the residual protocol no longer possesses the original will of the Mother of All Things."

Cheng Du gritted his teeth:

"The god's body main circulation cannot be restored, the remains must be isolated."

Lin Jin raised the new tool, pointing at the white-gold gate.

"Confirmed by multiple parties."

"The Mother of All Things as a Mother reclamation system—"

"Dead."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou raised work order no. 002, slashing at the last golden thread.

[Death confirmation = Acknowledging Mother and burial]

The new tool pressed down.

Black iron fell.

Snap!

The white-gold gate opened with a boom.

Behind the gate was not a delivery room.

Nor was it a grave.

It was a huge, empty, cold-white chamber without a crib, without an umbilical cord, and without a god's throne.

New text slowly lit up on the chamber door.

[Temporary isolation chamber for the remains of the Mother of All Things]

[Death confirmation: Established]

[Burial relationship: Invalid]

[National Class Transfer System foundation: Supported from multiple locations]

The collapsing god's body of the Mother of All Things was imported into the chamber bit by bit by The 72 Stations.

The god's bones, god's lungs, god's throat, god's eyes, and the broken right hand, like a huge mountain of remains, were sealed into the cold-white space.

No one knelt.

No one called her Mother.

And no one cheered.

Yu Xing just looked at the gate and said softly:

"Can I not go see her in the future?"

Lin Jin said:

"You can."

Lin Shoushan closed his eyes, his eyes a little wet.

He didn't know if it was pain, or finally admitting that some things should really end.

The chamber door began to close.

But just as the last inch of the gap was about to close, the gods heart suddenly beat violently once.

Thump!

The temporary mechanical valve in the heart pump chamber was shaken open a tiny gap.

A drop of golden god's blood seeped out from the tip of the heart, not flowing toward the remains chamber.

Instead, it fell toward Lin Jin's new tool.

[Remains isolation complete]

[God's body function dead]

[Residual organ processing pending]

[gods heart request: Continued existence as non-Mother identity]

Everyone was stunned.

Cheng Du's face changed drastically.

"It doesn't want to resurrect the god's body."

"It wants to live on its own."

That drop of god's blood hovered at the tip of the new tool, slowly forming a line of text.

[I don't want to be a mother anymore.]

[I want to know, can I be something else?]