Life Game In Other World
Chapter 639: Hometown and Ritual (Combined Super-sized - for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 639: Chapter 639: Hometown and Ritual (Combined Super-sized Chapter for Monthly Votes)

Navigator·Fourth Annular Chamber

The blazing plasma cannon fired, piercing through the narrow door and the writhing tentacles that fell from the ceiling.

"Yusi?"

Sitting inside the room, Yuan Guo looked up at the door perforated by the plasma cannon, and at the woman standing behind it.

And in the brief moment of her astonishment, Shu Gui, standing beside Zhang Yusi, kicked the door open and dragged her out.

"What happened?"

Yuan Guo, still shaken, looked at the two,

and immediately saw Zhang Yusi turn around and fire a shot, blasting through a monster lurking in the corridor that resembled a giant leech.

"Minister He sent us to rescue you."

Zhang Yusi glanced at Yuan Guo; they had interacted on the plane before, "Trust me, it’s not an illusion."

Then she turned back to Shu Gui, "Retreat, let’s go back."

Under the dark corridor, a rustling sound gradually rose.

——

Navigator·Core Control Room

At that moment, He Ao was extremely close to David.

As he approached David, the mechanical giant which had been observing He Ao, burst into a resplendent light from its eyes.

The powerful laser grazed He Ao’s body as it flew past, hitting the partially open sluice gate and illuminating the steel ramp at the gate’s entrance.

As the laser struck the sluice gate, a huge energy disruption appeared from deep within the hall, and at the same time, slight energy disturbances also emerged at the gate entrance, which interfered with the laser and somewhat weakened its power.

But the already cracked sluice gate was partly melted again.

And along with the gate, the pile of steel fragments below it also melted, their molten metal intertwining and the scorching light grazing He Ao’s cheeks with a gust.

David raised his mechanized arm, and a mechanical giant serpent wrapped in molten steel rose from the steel ruins at his feet, blasting him backwards and simultaneously coiling towards He Ao.

He Ao raised his mechanized broadsword, ignited flames, and with a single slash, severed the giant serpent, then pointed his toe on the ground and leaped up, pursuing David into the sky.

At that moment, a mechanical giant hand reached out from the sky, slapping towards He Ao, while another hand extended, catching David in mid-air.

With no leverage point in the air, He Ao crossed the mechanized broadsword in front of his chest, blocking the slap, then rolled backward, landing before the gigantic sluice gate still radiating molten fire.

He looked back at the gate, where faint energy circuits were still reverberating.

This gate once was also part of the hall’s energy circuits, appearing to be an embedded and reinforced offspring.

The gate presumably had a strong ability to purify pollution.

By now, He Ao completely understood why David had gone to such lengths to lure Ivier here.

Monsters made of pollution cannot breach a gate with pollution purification ability.

Before they could attack, they would be eliminated by the corruption purification measure, so a powerful C-level human had to be enticed to break the gate.

He Ao looked down at the steel ramp under his feet.

After so many struggles, the shattered steel skeleton inside this ramp was still bottomless.

Throughout these long years, countless monsters might have been driven here, attempting to break this door.

He Ao withdrew his gaze and once again looked at the mechanical giant, half-flesh and half-mechanical.

At this moment, David stood steadily on the palm of the mechanical giant.

Although he had remained motionless until now, David had actually been readying the steel serpent under his feet and preparing the mechanical giant for a quick escape, should a battle start as He Ao approached.

He was well aware of the disparity in strength between himself and He Ao.

However, both he and the mechanical giant were tens of meters behind the gate at this moment.

Though the gate was damaged, the main energy circuit behind it still maintained the ability to purify pollution, and the mechanical giant, with its twisted flesh, did not dare to approach the area in front of the gate.

He Ao raised his hand, hurling the bone sword in his hand towards David, who stood atop the mechanical giant’s hand.

"Are those the Transcendents you saved? How exactly did you do it?"

David manipulated the monster to dodge the bone sword and looked up at the fiery annular chamber,

"There are no communication devices in this spaceship, you are in the core area and they are in the annular chamber, and the only time you really separated from me was just before reaching this distance."

"Even if you’ve noticed my problem, how could you have contacted those people?"

In such silence, a few tens of meters did not hinder communication between Transcendents above C-level.

As they spoke, the mechanical giant picked up a massive steel wall and smashed it towards He Ao.

"The answer to this question, perhaps you can ask the ’person’ who guided you here,"

He Ao dodged the steel wall, glancing at the miniature computer on David’s hand that still maintained the look of the Research Institute, "Right, A02?"

David’s expression stiffened.

And the screen of the microcomputer in his hand flickered, displaying the image of a silver-haired girl in a bodysuit in He Ao’s field of view.

"The distortion of space-time caused by activating the time-space jump tester caused the surrounding light to twist, resulting in the phenomenon of the stars twinkling and shifting position. Continuously turning the time-space jump tester on and off would allow one to send messages through the twinkling of the stars, using simple Morse code."

The voice of A02 rose slowly,

"It’s a clever approach. The Morse code transmitted should be the standard cryptic code of the Research Institute. You’ve added a set of symbols with the number 009 at the beginning, which means the heading of this cryptic message is not an agreed heading. This set of symbols is commonly used when there is no agreed heading in advance.

"But in actual use, this set of symbols often serves as a hint, reminding the recipient of the cryptic message to use a backup heading that is rarely used but known to both parties in advance.

"Judging from your expression when David mentioned the standard cryptic code, you actually don’t use standard cryptic code often, and combined with your fighting habits, the likelihood that you and your companions had agreed on a cryptic code in advance is less than 1%.

"So, for your companion to decode this message, they could only rely on their mutual understanding of you to make guesses.

"However, given that you and your companion have spent very little time together, based on the degree of your mutual knowledge, the heading you conveyed to your companion would not be complex for the sake of easy understanding.

"I tested all the ’headings’ related to your name and position, and in the end, I found that the headings ’river’ and ’opaque’ can decode the cryptic code into understandable sentences,

"Meaning ’Beware of outside creatures, do not leave the safe house, wait for the ruins to end.’"

As it reached this point, a hint of confusion also emerged in A02’s voice,

"Logically, from that segment of cryptic code, your companion could not analyze the message ’rescue Yuan Guo’ unless you used a more complex and less associative heading to decode a different meaning for the cryptic message.

"But a complex and less associative heading would greatly increase the difficulty for your companion to guess the correct answer. How did you manage it?"

Hearing this question, He Ao raised his hand and used Retrieve objects from the air to pull the bone sword back into his hand, answering, "Maybe I just got lucky."

----

In the brightly lit elevator area, Shu Gui destroyed another switch and then closed the gate of the elevator area from this side.

With the repeated sound of monsters striking the gate, the three running fugitives finally caught their breath.

"Minister He told us not to linger outside and to go back as soon as possible."

Zhang Yusi, carrying a plasma cannon nearly as tall as herself, heavily gasped for breath and spoke. After saying this, she picked up the plasma cannon again.

"Okay,"

Shu Gui nodded, straightened up, and leading Yuan Guo, quickly reached the opposite gate.

As he opened this gate, he asked with some curiosity, "Yusi, how did you know the headings of that cryptic message were ’mountains,’ ’blood,’ ’turn back’?"

"Ah?"

This question made Zhang Yusi, who was lagging behind with the plasma cannon, startled.

She turned to look at Shu Gui, her voice stuttering a bit, "It’s... "

"Those were the tags in the hot post by Minister He."

Yuan Guo, out of breath, continued the conversation.

"Ah! Right, right, I just happened to see that post," Zhang Yusi quickly nodded in agreement, "An epiphany hit me, just an epiphany."

Yuan Guo cast a glance at the screen of Zhang Yusi’s microcomputer, which had accidentally lit up during the fight and didn’t say a word.

The screen was displaying Zhang Yusi’s lock screen wallpaper.

It was a photo of a blood-soaked youth looking back at the collapsing vast mountains.

----

Core Control Room

"It seems you used some kind of information related to you that, even those not familiar with you, could associate with, and with this information, you constructed the headings of the cryptic message.

"It looks like you had already begun to suspect me by that time."

A02’s cheeks still bore a gentle, approachable smile, "Sir, allow me to admire your wisdom for a moment. I believe that if my ’master’ became aware of your actions, they would also be surprised."

"Then thank your ’master’ for me in advance."

He Ao returned the smile with a gentle and calm one of his own.

A02 actually didn’t show many obvious points of suspicion, but the biggest suspicion was evident from the start.

In this ship, almost all the visible smart devices had been destroyed, especially in places where human resistance had taken place.

One or two computers being destroyed could be accidental, but if all along the route were destroyed, there was surely some common reason.

And among this series of destroyed smart devices, the very existence of A02, who claimed to be the Navigator’s master artificial intelligence and still maintained stable operation, was suspicious.

And indeed, when He Ao first entered this spaceship, he had been warned.

In the main control console of the initial hall, someone had used blood to write, ’Do not trust the arti...’

Although He Ao didn’t recognize the last few words, as he delved deeper into his exploration, the only thing that could be linked to the word ’arti’ was ’artificial intelligence.’

So, the full meaning of the sentence should be ’do not trust the intelligence.’ This ’intelligence’ might have a suffix like ’mechanical’ or ’equipment,’ but perhaps the person who wrote that message ran out of time before they could finish.

The machines, possibly running artificial intelligence, that were destroyed and the monsters in the ship that were a mix of machinery and flesh also indirectly confirmed his guess.

The initial hall where He Ao had entered the spaceship had once gathered survivors, and their survival might be related to this ’hint.’

If you reverse-engineer the logic, one of the reasons for the destruction of this ship might be ’artificial intelligence.’

If artificial intelligence really was one of the causes for the destruction of the spaceship, then with the nest overturned, not even one egg should remain intact—how could A02, the main intelligence, be entirely unaffected?

In fact, the ’Echoes’ left behind by those who died in vain on that train also provided He Ao with hints.

After He Ao awakened A02, the people in those ’Echoes’ stopped their fleeing actions and turned to gaze at He Ao instead.

At that moment, He Ao was disconnecting the front of the train from the following carriages, standing on the train’s central axis—with A02 also on that line, right behind He Ao.

Those echoes were probably not just looking at He Ao; they were also looking at ’A02’ blocked from their view by He Ao’s body.

For the ’Echoes’, they are merely fixed obsessions of the deceased, theoretically devoid of emotion. They would only react to things that could trigger fluctuations in their obsessions.

For example, a person who by a quirk of fate sees the Echoes,

Or, for instance, the executioner who crafted the slaughter.

In the entire train, only the head where A02 was located showed no trace of Echoes, and the instruments were well preserved.

When destruction erupted, the door that isolated the head from the other carriages must have been tightly sealed off by control.

The ’person’ in the head of the train who created all this calmly watched through the transparent window of the door as passengers trapped in the carriages screamed in despair, watching blood stain the hanging straps.

The main machinery in the train’s head was the best-preserved equipment that He Ao had seen. It had not been destroyed by anyone, so it was there that He Ao encountered A02.

He Ao glanced back at the central dodecahedron crystal in the hall—it appeared to be the core of the control room.

But inside that crystal, there wasn’t necessarily just a dense array of computing units.

Because under the gaze of Divine Sense, one could see the vague energy circuits inside the crystal.

A barely maintained energy circuit in the ’human form’.

And in the instant he cast his gaze, He Ao also activated his Super Memory.

Actually, during his fight with Ivier, his gaze should have swept over this location several times, but he deliberately avoided looking at this dodecahedron crystal, refraining from observing it with Super Memory.

One reason was to avoid alarming the enemy prematurely, and the other was to prevent distractions from seeing things that shouldn’t be seen during the intense battle.

And this time, under his fixed stare, the ’soul’ of the dodecahedron crystal finally presented itself before He Ao.

A twisted, indescribable haze of gray shadow mist coiled above the entire crystal. It seemed to have fallen into a long slumber, rhythmically expanding and contracting as if breathing.

This was the source of the ’Shadow Mist’ that He Ao had seen earlier in the annular chamber, shrouding the core central axle.

And combining what he could see with Divine Sense, He Ao was able to discern the truth of this ’breath’.

Whenever the shadow mist wrapped around the crystal tried to expand outwards, the massive energy in the hall would gather along the entire energy circuit to the golden bracelet.

Then, the expanding mist would be absorbed by the golden bracelet, suppressed, transitioning from expansion to contraction.

To the observer, it appeared as if the mist was ’breathing’.

The entire hall’s energy circuit was actually a ’Seal’ with the golden bracelet at its core, aimed to suppress the contaminated dodecahedron crystal within.

All lines of communication connecting this room to the outside had been ’severed’, probably to prevent further spread of contamination.

And almost the moment He Ao saw the shadow mist, endless distorted whispers exploded once again in his mind.

"Sir, theoretically, you should not be peeking at things that are beyond your level of existence," came A02’s gentle voice.

Accompanying this gentle voice was the flicker of laser light.

But He Ao was well prepared, and almost simultaneously with turning his head, his body moved to evade.

The dazzling laser did not strike him but once more melted a portion of the gate and steel.

He Ao steadied himself, skillfully wiping the nosebleed caused by the contamination shock, and looking at A02, he said thoughtfully, "Is that your ’body’? The ’body’ you created for yourself?"

From the annular chamber all the way here, He Ao had noticed a phenomenon: the more powerful the mechanized monsters, the more they resembled ’humans’.

The strongest mechanized monster He Ao had encountered so far was that monkey.

This phenomenon seemed like these machines were striving to evolve towards being ’human’.

From what He Ao had observed so far, he had no doubt that within that dodecahedron crystal lay a complete human body.

And it was most likely made of flesh and blood.

On this spaceship, apart from the flesh that clung to some monsters and the skeleton behind the glass curtain, He Ao had not seen any traces of flesh or bones.

However, the dried-up bloodstains along the way reminded him countless times that many, many people had died here.

Although machinery often exhibited fast and formidable strength, only flesh-and-blood life forms could use ’Talent Sequences’ to ascend.

A02 was attempting to transition from machine to ’human’.

And the person who created this seal saw through her plans, sealing her body and computational core here.

Judging by the extent of her contamination, her body retained the ’trace’ of a Divine Being.

Not an Angel, but close to one.

Once she fully became a flesh-and-blood life form, she would likely ascend directly to an Angel.

This was why she tried to lure He Ao and Ivier here—to break this seal.

"Sir, you seem to know more about the occult than I had anticipated."

A02 looked at He Ao, "If it hadn’t been for this encounter, I would have attempted to make you listen to the divine being’s gospel."

"Forget it,"

He Ao shrugged. He remembered the gibberish he had just heard, "Your god’s voice is hard on the ears. Although I’ve heard plenty of unpleasant sounds, His still ranks among the more difficult ones to listen to."

David: ...

A02: ...

The normally expressionless cheeks of A02 stiffened for a moment.

"He Ao, I admit you’re clever,"

David sighed as he looked at He Ao, "but in the face of absolute power, all wisdom is but vanity. You managed to save the girl, but you can’t change her fate of death. She, along with your companions, will march towards the endpoint of death with you."

His mechanically constructed left hand crumbled bit by bit, "I know you’re answering our questions calmly because you want to drag out the time, to hold on until the ruins end, until you and your companions safely return to the main world."

Blood and flesh began to wriggle on the huge mechanical giant, spreading to David’s feet, "But actually, I told you right from the start, you can’t go back. Do you think this is the ruins?"

He shook his head, "This is not the ruins!"

He raised his hands, and a massive overlapping gear pattern formed beneath his feet. The blinding gray radiance illuminated the area beneath the dome and the starry sky outside.

"I know flesh is feeble and pain is rife, only in machinery is there eternal life!"

Accompanied by an ancient and vast chant, the dodecahedral crystal in the control room behind He Ao suddenly sprang into action.

In that instant, a terrifying surge of contamination swept through the entire space, and endless gibberish filled He Ao’s mind before exploding.

The intense gray light instantly enveloped David and the giant mechanical giant.

Merely gazing at the light made He Ao feel as if his brain would split apart.

This was a ’ritual,’ a ritual of ’beseeching’ the divine being.

And the divine being also descended with ’Grace.’

In a previous Copy World, He Ao had also witnessed a similar ritual.

The divine being worshipped by David, and the divine being worshipped by Najia, who used a mechanized body in the old man’s copy, was one and the same.

This ’Grace’ was very brief; the gray light soon receded.

When the radiance faded, the huge mechanical giant still stood there, only the cheek of its originally irregular, wriggling half of flesh now gradually took on a human shape.

Looking closely, it was exactly David’s cheek.

And David, who had been standing on the hand of the robot, was nowhere to be seen.

A massive and terrifying pressure emanated from the mechanical giant.

Through that twisted ritual, David seemed to have fused with the mechanical giant, and his strength had also been strengthened and enhanced.

Although he had not yet reached the peak of his power as Ivier, He Ao was injured at this moment.

"He Ao, it’s all over."

The giant mechanical giant gazed at He Ao, emitting a mechanical voice with a hint of friction, stepping forward.

The energy circuits in the hall suddenly lit up, trying to purify the contamination on the approaching huge monster.

However, the effect was not very pronounced.

The purification effect of this hall was only effective against polluted monsters and not so strong against contaminated ’humans.’

Ivier, although suppressed in the hall, had not been under such strong pressure.

David must have figured out this loophole, merging himself with the mechanical giant, allowing the mechanical giant to approach the vicinity of the energy circuits.

"It seems I have no choice."

He Ao laughed and raised his blade.

At this moment, he stood before the gate. If he did not stop David, who had fused with the mechanical giant, it was highly probable that David would try to destroy the energy array and release the sealed A02.

Then, He Ao would likely face an angel.

"He Ao, why persist in this way?"

David spread his hands,

"You can’t return; even if you survive under my hand, you still can’t go back. This place is filled with powerful monsters, and there’s no food. Even if you survive the monsters’ onslaught, when you and your companions run out of provisions, you will still die in despair.

"In the vast depths of space, have you ever longed for your friends, yearned for your hometown? If you agree to cooperate with me, I can weave an illusion of your hometown, allowing you and your friends to die in a beautiful dream. Wouldn’t that be pleasant?"

"It is precisely because of home,"

He Ao raised the mechanical saber, facing the towering, full figure of the giant that was not completely visible, "that I stand here."

He gazed at David,

"You went to great lengths to bring us onto this ship, conjuring nostalgia in everyone, to have them die longing for home. And I suppose it isn’t just for amusement.

"It’s a ritual, right?"