Night’s Nomenclature

Chapter 988: Clues

In the northern wilderness of the Qing Family, the Storm Air Fortress was like a black island, suspended in a sea of clouds.

The moonlight illuminated the white clouds flowing beside the island, like sea waves lapping against solid rock.

The tall Storm Duke, draped in a black robe, stood silently at the edge of the top deck of the Air Fortress, watching the scene below.

Wei Cheng's troops had converted a new batch of werewolf Gene Soldiers and expanded them into the Beast Army.

This new batch of beast soldiers quickly found the strongest orc warrior in the group and issued a provocative roar.

The Beast Army's habits were no different from those of a wolf pack. New wolves forcibly joining the pack had to challenge the wolf king; success meant kingship, failure meant death.

The wolf king was over three meters tall, covered in scars, and had already faced countless rounds of challenges. It seemed that every batch of beast soldiers brought in would produce a challenger. Only after the wolf king conquered the newly joined beast soldiers could they be controlled by the Forbidden Artifact, the Queen Ant.

At this moment, the strongest of the new beast soldiers came before the wolf king. All the beast soldiers crawled away on all fours, clearing a dueling arena.

The challenger instinctively rushed towards the wolf king, but no matter how hard it tried, all its attacks and claws were avoided by the wolf king, who seemed to Prophet its moves.

It lunged to bite the wolf king's neck, but the wolf king simply stepped back and grabbed its hand with one hand. With a slight exertion, the wolf king crushed the challenger's hand. Not satisfied, the wolf king grabbed the challenger's other arm and tore it in half. The wolf king roared towards the Air Fortress in the sea of clouds, pounding its strong chest with its palm, just like a real werewolf in movies, no longer resembling a human.

However, on its back, a white worm extended hundreds of tentacles, piercing into its spine, locking it firmly in place. The worm's mental control kept it under control. The wolf pack was special; its king would change over time. Once a new victor emerged, the Queen Ant would need to re-select a host because the previous one was no longer the king.

For the sake of stability, the old king had even sacrificed a Fate Weaver, injecting A-Class Gene Medicine to ensure that this controlled Fate Weaver beast soldier would always be victorious.

This wolf king was not only taller than other beast soldiers, but also possessed the ability to anticipate enemy moves in its combat instincts, making it impossible to lose.

The Storm Duke didn't look at it; instead, he looked up into the distance, towards the direction of Sword Gate Pass.

In truth, he had no feelings for the old king. Born into such a family, emotions were a useless thing.

The old king chose him to inherit everything not because he was the most beloved, but because only he could continue the Fate Weaver family in the new era.

Sometimes he wondered if the Fate Weaver family, this massive group, was itself a massive intelligent being, and they, the Fate Weavers, were merely cells of this intelligent being. The purpose of these cells was to keep the creature called "family" alive. Whether the cells themselves survived was unimportant.

Who the cells were was also unimportant. The Storm Duke had two fathers. The first raped his biological mother and, after his birth, allowed him to suffer discrimination in Storm City.

The second was his real father, who gave birth to him only for the future of the family. He had only ever felt human warmth from one person, in that dim room with only him and Ling, where he learned so much and felt so much warmth.

But all of that was now gone.

Losing interest, the Storm Duke turned around and returned to the fortress, sitting in the high command seat, and said coldly, "Has the satellite been destroyed?"

A marquis replied, "Your Majesty, the missile has entered the designated orbit and will precisely strike the East Continent satellite chain. It is expected to complete the strike in 11 minutes and 21 seconds, but our satellites may also be destroyed.

In modern all-out war, satellites are the primary strategic target.

Once the satellites are destroyed, communication will revert to the most ancient radio age, and everyone will become blind.

West Continent has long been prepared for this, and their tactics are designed for this moment."

The Storm Duke said coldly, "Continue forward. We must reach our target combat location within seven days and wipe out all enemy forces. On the main battlefield, War Robot clusters will break through the enemy's final defenses, allowing us to capture the last authority of East Continent."

Before his departure, the old king had used the last of his life's light to activate the final God's perspective. Seven days was the limit of this blitzkrieg, not a day later.

Just as God used seven days to create the world, the seventh day would be the day of divine revelation.

The Storm Duke left the command room. As he passed a certain dark room, he stopped. Two War Robots stood guard at the door, forbidding anyone except him from approaching.

He was silent for a moment, then continued forward, ultimately not entering that room.

Below the Air Fortress, the beast soldiers were advancing madly on all fours, causing the earth to tremble.

Underground in the Royal Capital.

In the dim safe house, Qing Chen, Black Widow, and Yi waited with bated breath. As time passed, they finally heard the slow sound of running water outside.

Knock, knock, knock, someone knocked on the safe house door. "I am Ling, open the door."

The safe house door opened, and Ling dragged her broken body in. Her left hand was gone, leaving only a bare wrist and exposed wires.

Because the hydraulic transmission system was damaged, the transmission fluid leaked, causing her entire left arm to be unable to move.

Ling said calmly, "Don't worry, it's just one of my many clones, and it doesn't have pain sensors."

Black Widow frowned and asked, "What happened? Were you ambushed while scouting? Will it lead the enemy here?"

"Don't worry, no one is following me," Ling said. "The surface is still completely blockaded. The slightest disturbance will attract a fatal blow. We need to wait a little longer."

Qing Chen sat in the corner, lost in thought. Ling looked at Yi. "How is the progress? Have you awakened his memories? Or released more of the power sealed within him?"

Yi looked down. "But I don't want to do that. How is that different from taking advantage of someone's vulnerability?"

Ling looked at the once-prosperous street and said, "As you said, I do like Ren Xiaosu. For this, I have endured hundreds of years of loneliness. Happiness cannot be shared, sadness is uncomforted. I can only watch him and Yang Xiaojin love each other, and then stay alone in the darkness, a virtual realm."

Ling: "I thought that turning myself into an old woman in the virtual world would allow me to gradually forget the emotions of my youth like a human, but for artificial intelligence, life is almost eternal, and memory is eternal. So, once that loneliness forms, it will also be eternal."

Ling: "So, don't selflessly give away your feelings. Qing Chen's life will be as eternal as yours. He is the most suitable person to accompany you. Use this last time to make him never forget you. Be selfish, because you have no idea what hundreds or thousands of years of loneliness means."

Yi was silent. She didn't expect Ling to do all this just to let her have Qing Chen.

After a thousand years, Ling, who had almost destroyed the world, only wanted her daughter to have her own feelings while guarding a corner of the Southwest in East Continent, disregarding so many people's sacrifices.

Perhaps she still did not regard humans as friends and firmly believed that there was always an indelible divide between artificial intelligence civilization and human civilization.

Yi asked blankly, "If he doesn't go back, many more people will die..."

Ling said patiently, "Now that global communications are cut off, even if you want to contact the East Continent Qing Family, you can't. The only Airships left here are civilian-grade and are not enough to cross the Forbidden Sea. You might as well try to get along with him in this city for two days, and then we'll make a decision. If you decide you still want to take him back, I won't stop you and will help you find a way to cross the Forbidden Sea."

Yi sent a signal using the communication system built into her body, but the East and West Continent satellites had all been destroyed. As Ling said, communications were cut off.

"Moreover, the situation in East Continent is not that dangerous. Before communications were cut off, I received news that East Continent won the battle of Sword Gate Pass, and Roosevelt International's king died in that battle as well..." Ling smiled. "Now the Guardians' Union has successfully withdrawn behind Sword Gate Pass, the royal Air Fortress is scrapped, and East Continent may not need Qing Chen."

Yi said in surprise, "Really?"

The satellites were destroyed after that battle, so Ling received real information but concealed some things. She did not mention that over ten thousand War Robots were about to awaken in the barrier, she did not mention that the Storm was approaching the southwest with over ten thousand orc soldiers, and she did not mention that Shendai Yunluo had gone blind.

In a situation of completely unequal information, she needed Yi to stay in the Royal Capital with Qing Chen until Qing Chen completely forgot Yang Yang and fell in love with Yi.

Or that those memory points belonging to Yang Yang would all disappear from this world.

They returned to Qing Chen. Ling said with a smile, "There is no good way to return to East Continent for the time being. Why don't you live at 78 Victor Avenue first? After communications are restored, have Qing Ji use Shadow Gate to pick you up as soon as possible."

Qing Chen asked, "Why are you telling me to eat slowly?"

Yi thought for a moment and said, "Because the time you belong to me alone is not much. So, I'm selfishly thinking that it won't matter if you save the time of this meal, so I'll let you eat slowly and stay with me a little longer."

Yi continued, "Actually, I know Ling is lying to me. I'm not stupid. It's not that easy for East Continent to win. If it were easy, you wouldn't always be racing against time. Qing Chen, East Continent must be very dangerous now. The goal that West Continent can achieve by sacrificing a king must be very terrifying, so you must go back as soon as possible. Moreover, there is someone who must care about you more than I do, and she is waiting for you…"

Qing Chen was stunned…

Yi said, "Go back. Let Black Widow cooperate with you to seize a civilian Airship. I will give you all the relay islands of West Continent in the ocean. You need to stop twice to reach East Continent smoothly. Okay, I've given you a meal's worth of time, so I can say I've been fair to myself."

With that, she got up and walked into the house. "I won't say goodbye to you. I'm worried that Ling has mastered more War Robots and will want to keep you here. Take advantage of the fact that she hasn't returned yet and leave quickly."

Qing Chen suddenly said, "Thank you."

He got up and walked out, disappearing outside the door of 78 Victor Avenue. Black Widow left with him.

After a long time, Yi stood alone in the empty doorway, looking in the direction where Qing Chen had left.

Ling walked out of the alley and said, "Do you feel the loneliness now?"

In fact, she had never left, but she had not stopped Qing Chen because it was meaningless. She knew Yi's decision.

"I feel it," Yi nodded.

"Why not be a little selfish?" Ling asked curiously, "You only need to wait a few more days, and Yang Yang and others may die in a catastrophe. At that time, it will not be easy for Qing Chen to regain his memory. At that time, he will only remember that he likes you and will not have the pain of losing his lover. You have not hurt him, because the memory was sealed by himself, not by you."

"I can't do it," Yi shook her head and said, "Just like humans are different from humans, I am also different from you. My father's education to me since I was a child was not like this. You have never regarded humans as companions who can be treated equally. That is why you can never coexist peacefully with humans."

Ling smiled and said, "Isn't it good to think more about yourself?"

Yi said seriously, "In my opinion, the meaning of love is to value the needs of others more than your own."

Yi continued, "If one day Qing Chen recovers his memory, he will find that more people died because of his absence. In the long, endless years to come, he will live in regret."

"But what if he goes back to East Continent and dies in that war?" Ling asked, "Have you ever thought that even if he completes that path, he will still die. At least I know that after Ren Xiaosu became a god, he also encountered opponents he couldn't solve."

Yi said, "Even if he dies, he should want to die with his companions, that is his choice."

Ling leaned against the door frame thoughtfully. She looked at the desolate scene on the long street and said, "The destiny of artificial intelligence seems destined to be loneliness. In the endless years to come, you will be like me."

"I don't care…"