551: Chapter 486: A Bitter Victory, the Long River Devours the Void Kingdom

After the core controller of the Guixu program was rewritten, the streets and buildings of the Program City began to coalesce into tangible imprints of the principles of civilization.

Cyan-gold light and dark red patterns intertwined on the door frames to form new markings.

However, the rewritten program still required a "loading" process—writing the new underlying logic into the runtime environment of the Guixu program.

Lin Zhou stood before the monument of the Gate of Guixu, waiting for it to load.

The runes on the door lit up for a moment, then dimmed. They lit up for a moment, then dimmed again.

That door stood quietly in the Void Realm, like a half-finished piece being painted; the old paint had not yet completely faded, and the new colors had not yet fully covered it.

He stood there for about a quarter of an hour.

The wind blew from the direction of the Wall of Heroes, carrying the lingering warmth of the Fire of Civilization.

He could feel the rule patterns within the Program City slowly rearranging themselves.

Half an hour later, a violent tremor suddenly came from the river of civilization.

It was not an external attack, but the "old code" of the Guixu program self-destructing.

The self-destruct mechanism of the Guixu program had been triggered.

The streets composed of rule patterns began to disintegrate from the edges, buildings collapsed inward, and the Program City was disappearing from the outside in.

[Guixu Program · Self-Destruct Mechanism Triggered]

- Trigger reason: Underlying logic overwritten, old code cannot recognize new rules

- Self-destruct method: Program City disintegrates from the edges, completely disappears in about thirty minutes

- Consequence: The Gate of Guixu will close completely, the Sea of Nothingness will lose its exit

Lin Zhou injected the river of civilization into the Program City, attempting to stop the self-destruction.

However, self-destruction was not destruction, but "deletion."

Things that are deleted cannot be repaired, only rebuilt.

He needed the complete structure of the Program City to rebuild the Guixu program, but the self-destruction was erasing these structures.

"Captain, the disintegration speed of the Program City is accelerating." Li Mo's voice came through the communication link, accompanied by electronic static, "It's not being destroyed, but 'deleted.' The self-destruct mechanism of the Guixu program is clearing all old code, including the structures we just parsed. If the Program City disappears completely, the Guixu program will cease to exist."

Lin Zhou pressed his left hand against the edge of the Program City, the Fire of Civilization surging from his palm, attempting to stop the deletion.

The flames clashed with the power of deletion, forming a grey-white area of Chaos.

The speed of deletion did not slow down, but the Fire of Civilization left behind streaks of cyan-gold "backup" marks in the area of Chaos.

Each mark corresponded to a segment of the old code structure of the Guixu program, serving as a blueprint for reconstruction after self-destruction.

[Fire of Civilization · Backup Guixu Program]

- Backup method: Fire of Civilization marks old code structures

- Backup progress: 10%... 20%... 30%...

- Program City integrity: 90%... 80%... 70%...

- Estimated backup completion time: about twenty minutes

The Program City continued to disintegrate, while the Fire of Civilization continued to back it up.

Lin Zhou's godhead integrity slowly dropped from twenty percent, and the water level of the river of civilization slowly dropped from ten percent, but the backup progress steadily advanced.

Twenty minutes later, the Program City integrity dropped to ten percent, and the backup progress reached ninety-five percent.

The final five percent of the code structure was at the top of the core tower of the Program City—the tower was disintegrating, and the tower top was the last part to disappear.

Lin Zhou compressed the river of civilization into a thin stream, shooting it toward the top of the tower.

The stream burst at the top of the tower, turning into a cyan-gold net, completely "imprinting" the last segment of code structure.

The Program City disappeared completely, and the old code of the Guixu program was completely deleted.

However, a miniature "Program City" had appeared in the river of civilization—the complete structure backed up by the Fire of Civilization.

[Guixu Program · Reconstruction Complete]

- Old code: Deleted

- New code: Backed up (complete structure)

- New program logic: Guardian of Civilization

- Runtime environment: river of civilization

Lin Zhou retracted the river of civilization. The Program City had disappeared, but the new program backed up in the river began to run automatically.

It was not the old Guixu program, but the new program overwritten by the Fire of Civilization.

The underlying logic of the new program was no longer "harvesting," but "guarding."

The memories of civilization were written into the new program as a permanent archive.

The Gate of Guixu closed completely, the dark red patterns on the door frames faded away entirely, turning into cyan-gold light.

The door was no longer a door, but a monument.

The line of text on the monument emerged in the light—"Civilization never dies, the Fire of Civilization is passed on."

Lin Zhou knelt on one knee before the monument.

In the Void Realm behind him, Su Yueyao walked over, stepping on moonlight.

Her moonlight was brighter than before, and the moonlight carried cyan-gold patterns—the traces of the Fusion between the Fire of Civilization and the moonlight.

She walked up to Lin Zhou, crouched down, and pressed her palm against his forehead.

The moonlight seeped into his godhead, repairing the cracks in his godhead.

"The Captain's godhead integrity has recovered to thirty percent, and the water level of the river of civilization has also recovered to fifteen percent. I asked him to rest, but he refused. He said the Program City is still being reconstructed, and he needs to watch over it." Su Yueyao's voice came through the communication link, carrying a hint of helplessness and heartache.

"Captain, the reconstruction of the Program City is sixty percent complete." Li Mo's projection floated before the monument, data streams flowing slowly, "The remaining forty percent is running automatically and does not require manual intervention. You can rest now."

Lin Zhou was silent for a moment. "After the Program City reconstruction is complete, will the Guixu program still exist?"

"It will. But its underlying logic has changed. It will record civilization and guard civilization, rather than harvest civilization."

Lin Zhou stood up. He walked to the monument and split a tributary from the river of civilization, injecting it into the monument.

The line of text on the monument became clearer, and the light grew brighter.

He turned and looked at the faces still waiting in the Void Realm.

Su Yueyao stood by his side, Wang Meng stood on the battlements of the Wall of Heroes, Qin Qing stood at the entrance of her Temple of Law, and Iron Face stood in the shadows.

Golden Scale poked its head out from the Divine Kingdom, and the sound of a Dragon's roar echoed in the Void Realm.

"The Guixu program has been rewritten. The Civilization Principle Defense Line can be withdrawn. From now on, Guixu is no longer a threat, but the guardian of civilization."

Su Yueyao took his hand. "Captain, let's go home."

Lin Zhou nodded. He turned around and walked back along the path he had come.

The lights of the Wall of Heroes formed a band of light behind him, and the Firewood Sword slowly rotated on the wall.

The gates of the Iron Wall Fortress were wide open, and a new plaque hung on the gate, inscribed with four characters: "Civilization Eternal Prosperity."

He walked into the gate. Fifty thousand people stood in formation; no one spoke, but everyone's Fire of Civilization was glowing.

That was the only sentence they spoke with their actions: As long as the fire exists, the people exist, and civilization shall prosper eternally.