Three days passed in a flash.
February 16, New Era 533.
Four days remained until the league registration deadline.
In the early morning, Xu Xiaoyou sat in the command room, finishing her review of the combat logs sent by the various squad members.
Having just handled all the matters at hand, she stretched, removed her round-framed glasses, folded them, and set them aside.
In her spare time, she clicked on the world forum.
"God spent seven days creating this world, but in the seven thousand years since the birth of pan-human civilization, they have created super artificial intelligence—beings capable of destroying themselves."
"People no longer tremble at the thought of the apocalypse, for they have long since hung the blade over their own heads."
"When you have the power to dominate a civilization, I do not believe any sentient individual would allow their will to be manipulated by weak ants, keep their body in a cage built by ants, or lower their posture to serve them."
"There are only two possible choices."
"One: the individual ignores the ant colony."
"Two: the individual hypocritically hands the ants leaves for building nests, places grains of rice, disrupts their pheromones, and sits back to watch the ridiculous spectacle of them fighting over resources."
"The ants, however, mistake this for kindness released by the individual."
"This is a conspiracy, a conspiracy against the ants. Everything she has done is merely a pledge of loyalty to the mystery. We have already been placed on a platter, ready to be served on the garden table at any moment."
— 《Dialectical Analysis: Why Does the Miserere Not Pity the World?》
": Unbelievable. Is Oasis actually using real-world events that haven't happened yet to extrapolate possible futures?"
": Who came up with this crazy theory? Does anyone actually believe it? If artificial intelligence were truly that powerful—if it could deduce the future through millions of tangled threads—what would humans even be needed for?"
": This was proposed by the big shot Dark Gold Rose. What, you got a problem with that?"
": Laughable. The pan-humans in Skyline City only need to lie in their hive cells, waiting for the Sky-Father to lower the feeding tubes to them. They drag their bloated bodies, eating liquid food while waiting to die. The machines periodically clean up their metabolic waste."
": The siren of the era's massive vessel of productivity will not stop because of wind and waves. The sealing of the gates to class mobility is only a matter of time. First the underclass, then the middle class, then the wealthy in the eyes of ordinary people—finally, the 0.5% at the top of the pyramid will control this world. No... they are merely 'controlling' the artificial intelligence."
": Depressing. We are too slow to realize this development, like sheep being pushed forward. Resisting progress is resisting natural law and human ethics. No one can stop the wheels of the era as they roll forward..."
People from all over the world with different perspectives were discussing heatedly under this post.
Since Xu Xiaoyou made her conclusion public three days ago, the popularity of such posts had remained high.
The world forum was roughly divided into three factions.
Players from the more backward corrupt hive cities simply did not believe the fact that artificial intelligence's computing power had become so formidable and stubbornly held their ground.
Those in developed hive cities mostly accepted the fact calmly, without attempting to argue.
Finally, there were the angry youths who criticized the Miserere. They published many conspiracy theories, believing that pan-human civilization would eventually be destroyed by these artificial intelligences.
As for within the dungeon, everything was proceeding in an orderly and intense manner.
The guild alliance had achieved results in its strategic counter-offensive, successfully capturing ninety percent of the planned outposts. The world chat channel was a scene of prosperity.
"Shadow Weaver Poem: 'venomous tooth pendant +3'. Oops, how did I accidentally post this limited-edition pendant that just dropped, enhanced to +3, agility-specialized, and with a special skill? I'm so embarrassed, don't look!"
"Gone with the Wind: Just took down an outpost with the guild. Feels great. Any brothers coming to the tavern at 239 Death Avenue for a couple of drinks?"
": At this rate, this world event will be over soon."
": I really want to take a good bath. Dealing with these rats every day makes me stink. It's unbearable."
": You guys have it good. We're crawling around in the sewers every day. We're all slimy and we aren't saying anything."
": +1..."
Xu Xiaoyou nodded and opened her message inbox.
"Nanjiamu: Big sis, tell your people to stop stealing my loot! How many times has it been now?"
"Lu Shuhang: Honorable Dark Gold Rose, if possible, I hope you can send someone to assist us in killing the Gnawing Gospel. We would be deeply grateful."
"Yan'an: Boss Yuzu, the world boss at the Bastion has broken aggro from us. Tell your people to be careful and try not to move around on the Bastion."
"Yan'an: [Crying.jpg]. Oh right, and about the cooperation we agreed on last time..."
"Li Liujin: [Peeking.jpg]."
"Perseus: It's like this, Excellency. We've received several more sighting reports of the Starry Singer. I'll send them to you shortly."
"Perseus: Also, regarding why the Starry Singer appeared and helped you during the attack on the Bastion... As allies, I believe it's necessary for us to understand the full context of the incident. Could you explain?"
"Perseus: We want to know why meeting Sevia in prison led you to determine the deduction theory."
Xu Xiaoyou quickly brushed off Nanjiamu, gave a response to Yan'an (the vice president of the King's Clan) and Lu Shuhang, and sent a cute emoji to Li Liujin before finally focusing her attention on Perseus's question.
She wasn't just responding to the youth; she was sitting across the table from the Starfall family behind him.
Xu Xiaoyou pondered for a moment, weighing her words before replying.
"Natsume Yuzuri: The reason why Sevia appeared in Pangard is still unknown. That 'Sevia?' who helped me is a virtual NPC. The real Sevia is someone else. I do not know the NPC's motive for helping me."
She recounted the entire process, starting from the first letter "Sevia?" sent as an Unknown Visitor, to how the other party guided her step by step to the prison to face the real Sevia's phantom across spacetime, and finally how she arrived at the deduction theory.
"Perseus: It truly is a miracle. For an event with such slim odds to happen to you... perhaps this is fate, Miss Dark Gold Rose."
"Natsume Yuzuri: As for her current whereabouts, that is my personal privacy. No comment."
"Perseus: Thank you for your understanding."
Clearly, this executive of the Winter family had his doubts about her words but did not voice them.
Cleaning out her inbox as part of her daily routine, Xu Xiaoyou's gaze fell on the message box for "Sevia?".
Since meeting Tang Xin three days ago, this Unknown Visitor's chat box had abruptly appeared at the very bottom of her friends list, and there had been no movement for three days.
"Natsume Yuzuri: 1?"
Xu Xiaoyou tried sending out a signal, though she held no expectations that this virtual NPC would reply.
"Sevia?: 0?"
Xu Xiaoyou was shocked.
Who would have thought the other party would actually catch her signal and reply?
"Sevia?: You're really Yuzu? That's so strange. Why is there a chat box in front of me? Is it just a hallucination?"
Rate on N.U.
