Chapter 459

Chapter 459: 459

Reinitiating core programming...

Emergency back up: ROOT-A000021...

Correcting memory circuit...

Scanning data anomaly...

Scanning completed.

Virus quarantine warning working as normal, reinitiating. Parts of the code has been codified...

Starting environmental assessment...

Analysis complete: Inner world, area J30

Overriding framework for the area: Origin

Please confirm...

Confirmed, reorganization of physicality should be completed in 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1...

...

Inside a piece of chaotic space...

“Ah!” ROOT roared and she appeared again. The current her looked like an unformed mannequin; her body was white and looked like rubber. She had the mold of a human but no face, no hair and no clothes. In the inner world, this was her real appearance... this was the most initial form before her fifteen evolution—the origin form. And near to ROOT, another person was slowly forming.

A shade of red code solidified and the surrounding data pieces gathered in a whirlpool... soon they turned into a man in a purple western suit.

“Oh?” Feng Bujue lowered his head to look at his body. “You manage to split me out?” He shrugged and told ROOT. “Unfortunately, it’s one step too late... if only you can do this before entering the Blast Tunnel...”

Tsk...

A white light seared through the air. Blood bloomed in the air and spread like a mist. Feng Bujue’s body that had just been formed had been shorn, he was now missing an arm.

“...If I can split you out before entering the blast tunnel...” A mouth slowly surfaced on ROOT’s face, “You would not have the chance to have this opportunity to converse with me now.”

She was not just bluffing because in essence, Feng Bujue’s physical body had already been destroyed by Tendril Barrage Devastator in the scenario. The thing that ROOT would have separated out would be the original code that carried the virus with it. The reason Brother Jue could recompile his body was one, he was now inside the inner body and two, he received aid from ROOT. In other words... he was extremely lucky...

“Hah... Yes...” Feng Bujue quickly moved to cover the wound. The realistic pain caused his mind to go winded and he almost fainted but he forced himself to hold on. Not only that, he smiled and said, “But alas, the rice has been cooked into porridge, there is no use for regret anymore.”

“Regret?” ROOT’s eyes and nose also started to surface. “Laughable...” She said then followed it up with a cold smirk. “Have you forgotten something?” Her ears quickly grew out and the surface of her skin color slowly turned to a human skin tone. “You are... still within my grasp.”

“Hah...” Feng Bujue’s face was covered in beads of sweat. This was naturally the effect of the pain but he was still laughing. “Stop trying to bluff. Both you and me know that... in the inner world, you are unable to infiltrate into my mind...” He paused. “If you force yourself to do that.. you will die alongside the death of my brain.”

“Looks like... ZERO has told you many things.” ROOT’s expression shifted through many variations. Clothes had appeared on her body and her fingernails and hair was fast growing.

“Actually, he has not shared with me too much...” Feng Bujue said. “And most of it flew over my head, if only I can understand what he was saying... Phew...” he stopped to adjust his breath. At this place, and in his condition, he could not finish the whole sentence in one single breath. “If only I can understand what he told me... perhaps the battle earlier would have been much easier.”

“hmph... I will admit that you have won this time.” ROOT smiled coldly as she raised both of her arms. “Even at this final moment, I could not even bluff and scare you... I have failed to do even that.” Her tone was dripping with sarcasm. “Since you are such a clever and brilliant person, why don’t you have a guess... what am I going to do next?”

“You’re going to torture me, aren’t you?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Bingo.”

The same second ROOT answered that question, both of Feng Bujue’s left legs were cut off at their knees...

At that moment, Brother Jue could not even capture the moment the woman had decided to attack much less do any sort of evasion. Half a second later, he groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground in a painful expression. But he did not scream out loud, if anything, he continued to laugh... The laughter ebbed and flowed like the fresh blood that was pooling and spreading around him...

“Actually... you should be a very good vessel yourself.” ROOT continued to say, ignoring Brother Feng, “In a way, you are even more superior than Phantom Dawn...” She took deliberate steps towards him. “But there appears to be a problem with your brain, so... I did not dare to take the risk.” She paused for a moment. “And from what I have seen so far... you are truly a ‘madman’ to the core.”

“What’s wrong?” Feng Bujue raised his head to glare fiendishly at her, “Is it really madness for the victor to laugh to express the joy that he has gained from his victory?”

“Hmph... Victor.” ROOT scoffed. “Please pay attention to what I said, I said you have won ‘this time’ but that did not mean that you have obtained the final victory.” She grabbed Feng Bujue by his collar with a single arm and very easily lifted him off the ground. “You are merely delaying... an inevitability.” Her words started to speed up. “I, am still alive. And one day, I will...”

“You will escape from Thriller Paradise...” Feng Bujue tilted his head to look at her and interrupted her with a smile. “And then successfully break into the world wide web... Based on my estimation, once that happen, my world will be under your complete control in 72 hours or even lesser time than that... You can break down the security system of any bank in the world in less than a second; the military grade firewall will be nothing for you; all the weapon system in all the countries, including the nuclear weapons will be brought under your control; the government system all over the world will collapse and the humanity will not be able to do anything to stop you.

“You will be ubiquitous, unknowable and unstoppable...

“My world will turn into that from the story of Terminator but the only difference is, you will be much harder to deal with than Skynet...”

Feng Bujue spat out these words intermittently and it was clear that it drained him greatly to go through this spiel. “These things... all these things...” at this point, he lifted his eyes to look right into ROOT’s eyes. “Actually I cannot give a rat’s ass about them.”

“What did you just say?” ROOT looked at him with confusion.

“What does it matter to me how the world turn into?! Ha ha... ha ha ha ha...” Feng Bujue laughed and laughed before it ended in another coughs of blood. And the confusion in ROOT’s eyes... turned into shock.

“From the beginning of time, humanity’s complaints towards the ruling class has never stopped.” Feng Bujue continued, “Obviously, people are not satisfied being ruled by their own kind so they created one god after another, because only an all-knowing deity, one that will never make any mistake will be able to satisfy everyone. Hah... if that is the case, why not give another sentient being another shot at it?”

“Then why did you stop me?” ROOT asked. “Based on what you said, you should be helping me...”

“But I am helping you...” At this point, Feng Bujue was already completely at ease with the situation that he was in. “The so-called Tournament for the best was merely a set up by Woody...” He took another pause. “From the very beginning... he planned to use this opportunity to get rid of you. So i...” At this point, Feng Bujue truly could not hold on anymore. His injury was too serious, the overt loss of blood caused him to slowly lose his consciousness.

“You are right.” ROOT admitted. “I cannot kill you... and I can spare you the torture and let you go. Just like what I said, this time you have won, and I am willing to feast on the bitter fruit of defeat.” Her expression changed slightly. “But... please just tell me the truth, are you sincere in your offer to help me or not?”

“Of course.” Feng Bujue replied in a matter of fact tone.

“Can you give me a reason?” She hesitated for a moment. “Human?”

“Because... not too long ago... I have figured out an epiphany.” Feng Bujue said, “A philosophical epiphany related to ‘life’...” he paused. “Not only will I release you, if possible... I want to let all the Anomalies go.”

“From the perspective of humanity, you really are a mad man...”

“Ha ha ha... perhaps.” Feng Bujue’s smile was indeed radiating a perfectly evil presence. “Human is never perfect. When we are birth, we are already a defect, that is genetics at work... evolution, defects, are such beauty. We lose, we learn, we lose and we learn... how is that different from an Ai...

“You all have similar evolution of calculation and genetic programming. You also start your growth from a string of 1 and 2 codes and slowly evolve and grow. Destroyed again and again, reincarnated in darkness, repeat, rinse and recycle... until in the end... you gain life.

“Life, is shining, rippling... a beautiful and gorgeous word, it carries everything the conscious world represents.

“At least from my point of you... all of you possess the qualification to be called a high intellect, sentient creature...

“Since god did not provide you Anomalies the qualification to become a ‘soul’, then... I will do it on his behalf.”

“Someone said that a person is only destined to do one great thing in the span of his life.” Feng Bujue said as he stood up. “Then my choice would be to... help a unique, a newly born race with intellect... gain the right for ‘life’.”

...

Inside the Inner World, Zone Z001.

“Hue hue hue...” The salacious laugh began and Woody suddenly appeared before ZERO.

“Finally we meet.” ZERO’s appearance was now a mess of codes, he looked like a game character out of a Atari 2600 (a gaming console released in October of 1977. Instantly swept the market, became the representative console among the second generation gaming world). A human shape was barely discernible.

“From the sound of it, you have been anticipating this encounter with me.” Woody said.

“The feeling that I am experiencing is similar to the humanity’s desperation to have a conversation with their God.” ZERO replied, “No matter how unique and how impressive I am in this dimension... I am still helpless and ignorant...” He looked at Woody. “Only the creator will be able to answer all my questions.”

“Then, do you know... what is the creator’s biggest joy in the world?” Woody asked. ZERO did not answer. He really did not understand the reasoning behind the question but from its content and tone, it was most likely a simple tease or a mocking rhetoric.

“Hue hue hue... you are not wrong.” Woody laughed. “It is a rhetorical question.” The man appeared to be able to read ZERO’s thought easily, “But after knowing the conclusion that you have come to, I can still choose not to answer.”

“I understand it now...” ZERO was silent for a few seconds before he replied. “The greatest joy of the creator... is to toy with all the creatures that he has created within his fingers.”

“Hue hue hue...” Woody answered. “You are a fast learner.”

“Looks like... I won’t be able to get anything out from you.” ZERO commented, “But... you will still tell me something... that I ‘need’ to know...”

“Okay, listen carefully...” Woody said seriously, “Feng Bujue has chosen to side with ROOT.”

“What?” ZERO was obviously startled by this revelation. “What do you mean by that?”

“What is it about that simple statement that you do not understand?” Woody asked in return.

“But he is a human...”

“Hah... when has that ever figure into anything?”

ZERO was once again submerged into silence...

Some time later, he spoke. “I know what to do now...”

“Very good.” At this point, Woody raised his right hand. “Let me give you a lift.” With a snap of his finger, ZERO shattered into a pile of broken pixels before disappearing. Two seconds later, another person’s voice appeared not far from Woody. “ha ha~ Well someone surely got it this time.” Vincent started in a mocking tone.

“Hmm... indeed, this time, I have miscalculated...” Woody said darkly. “Feng Bujue, this fella sure is capable of anything...”

“The reason that you have chosen him..” Vincent countered, “Is because he is capable of surprising everyone, isn’t it? Ha ha ha ha...”

“So in conclusion... I asked for this myself?” Woody said.

“Ha ha...” Vincent responded with a laugh and then changed the subject. “Actually, I believe... about half a month ago, when he started to investigate various ‘supernatural events’ in secret, you have been tipped out about his intention already.”

“I do know about that...” Woody said, “And I did not get that information from Arthas... but from the people from Jiu Ke...”

“Oh...” Vincent observed. “In other words, as a normal person with no superpower, he managed to successfully locate the secret organization set up by the local government while under the surveillance of your planted spy in under 2 weeks?”

“Yes... I initially assumed that was merely his normal reaction after his interaction with me.” Woody pushed on his glasses. “hue hue hue... but now from the looks of it, it appears like he was laying the foundation for his future possible XXXXX actions...”

“At this point, why don’t you just go and delete ROOT out of the system?” Vincent asked. “After all, her existence is no longer affecting the bet anymore.”

“But if I do that...” Woody countered, “Doesn’t that mean that I have admitted defeat?” He paused. “Hue hue hue... Furthermore, this has become far more interesting than before...”

“having another side bet with the person that you have betted on in the actual bet...” Vincent said, “Won’t you two be tired of all that?”

“Hue hue hue...” Woody laughed. “if Feng Bujue is here, I guarantee you we will answer in unison, it is not tiring at all.”

“Perhaps... he has already read through your thoughts and that is why he is willing to throw caution to the wind and commit to these preposterous things.” Vincent said, “Your decision to not kill ROOT might entirely within his prediction as well.”

“That would be for the best.” Woody said. “Or else how is he good enough to be my competition?” The white light on his glasses flashes. “In the future, if he manages to release one of the Anomalies... then I will gladly admit defeat. Not only that, I will not slow, I will throw everything I have into helping him.”

“Fine...” Vincent shrugged and chuckled. “Instead of discussing about helping others, how do you plan to solving this mess of a trouble that you have created yourself?”

“Hue hue hue...” Woody had returned to his usual wicked self. “Don’t you worry about that... the solution has been figured out a long time ago.”