Xue Dili suddenly fell silent, thinking about that Evil Eye that desperately erected a barrier after sensing a soul attack.
The soul barrier couldn't stop Savior Holy Sword's attack on Evil Eye's consciousness, but it blocked the aftermath from attacking the Tita people symbiotically living within it. That barrier was truly ant to protect these Tita people, who knew nothing about the outside world.
No, it shouldn't be called parasitism; it should be said that they had already beco symbiotic.
Evil Eye had already beco the collective consciousness of the entire "Tita Civilization".
With the intelligence given by the artificial intelligence earlier, he instantly understood everything.
At this mont, everyone inside this Evil Eye are those Tita humanoids sealed within the Space Airship, in a state of permanent sleep. They were the first batch of individuals assimilated by the Evil Eye. Nearly a hundred million people were pulled into a dream by the Evil Eye's assimilation and coexisted with it here.
Xue Dili closed his eyes and saw that densely written human skin, just at a glance. He saw historical stories, mythological tales, and knowledge about biological science all written in Tita script.
He gradually understood everything. This captain continually engraved words onto himself, trying to preserve all the history and knowledge he could think of in this way.
The words would scar into his skin, and before the scars completely healed, he would shed, making it permanently remain inside the Evil Eye.
Xue Dili couldn't imagine how he managed to engrave such a mountain of human skin over these 30,000 years and how he maintained his sanity, able to speak logically and coherently even until now.
Perhaps such self-mutilation was not just for recording words, but more so, it was his thod to maintain consciousness in this world of perpetual darkness.
It was also the only way to track ti…
Xue Dili looked up at the sky, which was like the cave of a bat, with millions of skulls hanging densely, likely vessels containing Tita people's souls, but over 30,000 years, their consciousness has long dissipated.
What remained was rely a collection of instincts, not much different from grotesque forms…
The only one still clear-headed in this world was the last captain of the Space Airship.
"What happened 30,000 years ago?" Xue Dili asked this question.
Even the artificial intelligence serving as the auxiliary brain knew little about the Evil Eye's sudden awakening situation 30,000 years ago.
Its only task was to assist the ops personnel outside the core, knowing very little about the core's situation, and the only intelligence it provided was about the Evil Eye's revolt and subsequent assimilation of all core Tita humanoids.
And Old Green, seemingly reminiscing, after a long pause, finally said, "We made a huge mistake…"
"When the God could not awaken, we developed technology to its utmost in the virtual world, assimilating the entire planet's biotechnology, with physical modifications allowing us to travel the cosmos and an FTL engine to roam the star sea at will, implenting instant shuttling through 'Space Transmission'..."
"All of this seed infinitely beautiful, so beautiful it felt like as long as the nearly billion people in the virtual world woke up, we could imdiately change the world. Everyone was the top engineers and scientists, and the space transmission engine could easily be replicated in reality..."
"But, no one expected that the virtual world, as a simulation, due to increased computational demands, reached a shortage of power supply, leading to an unimaginable great famine within the virtual world… We couldn't die, but had to endure an endless hunger..."
Old Green narrated the tale from 30,000 years ago, but Xue Dili was startled.
Wasn't the Evil Eye an endless energy source? Why would there be a power shortage?
"The virtual world we initially constructed wasn't powered by the 'God' but relied on our own backup energy. When a great famine appeared in the virtual world, many people were ejected urgently."
"Back then, everyone discussed and decided to let the virtual world be powered by the 'God', attempting to replicate everything in that world onto our mothership, aiming to reach Planet Alpha-156 in just a few hundred years, with over 90% votes in favor..."
"Back then, I too was one of those anxious to see this plan through…"
Old Green continued narrating, but at this mont, Xue Dili realized the outco of turning over the consciousness network of hundreds of millions of people to be powered by the Evil Eye.
It wasn't as the artificial intelligence said—Evil Eye suddenly awakened—but with the consciousness network of hundreds of millions of people entrusted to the Evil Eye for power, the information of hundreds of millions converged onto the Evil Eye. That God, which should have been only instinctive, awakened…"
Old Green appeared to smile bitterly, seemingly desiring to cry, but having lost this function with most of his body now fused with the flesh of the Evil Eye.
"Everyone was impatient. We hadn't seen the true sun and starry skies for so long; everyone had been stifled for too long, so this plan was approved, connecting the virtual world to the 'God'..."
"And then… everyone died… all died..." He covered his face, wanting to cry but unable to.
He lost the functions of being human, opened his mouth trying to scream but discovered his vocal cords and lungs couldn't support such a complex action. His mouth curled into a smile, yet the corners of his eyes were sadder and more sorrowful than anyone else's.
"All died, in an instant, our built virtual world shattered before 'God'. In that instant, everyone, along with our constructed virtual world, perished..."
"I don't know if there are any survivors outside. Back then, I was one of the rare few not killed imdiately by the soul impact, along with a few comrades. What were their nas again?"
"I've forgotten… What were they called... I should have rembered them… but I can't recall a single na..."
Old Green stood in a daze, seemingly trying to recall sothing, but so much ti had passed, he completely forgot, forgotten so much from the past.
"Forget it, they and I charged into the turbines together, enduring thousand-degree heat, tried to sever the power link between 'God' and our consciousness network's constructed virtual world. But they all died, died in front of … Finally, the mont I severed the connection, 'God' opened Its eyes…"
Old Green recounted emotionally, at this mont, Xue Dili closed his eyes.
Xue Dili understood, he had made an unimaginably terrifying mistake.
"'God' apologized to . I could feel Its apology; we were too weak. Just Its somniloquy of soul impacts almost killed us all, and even so, It still felt pity for us…"
"For tens of thousands of years, 'God' and we Tita people depended on each other. Though it was mutual exploitation, for the 'God', our Tita race was also the catalyst of Its self-awareness; It truly was our 'God', our last spark."
"So, as long as we could survive, that was the greatest victory for our civilization. As my body was consud by fire, 'God' connected my spirit to It and vowed to protect the last ember of our Tita race to the death, a friendship forged through thousands of years of mutual dependency, a bond of flesh and blood."
Xue Dili clenched his hands tightly; at this mont, a feeling of incomparable emotion seed to wash over him.
That soul barrier, Evil Eye was protecting not itself, but the remaining Tita race within it.
And Old Green seed to recall more things, saying, "At that ti, I didn't know if anyone living inside the Space Airship's shell survived, but I could only plan for the worst."
"So, I knew that 'God' was our last redemption, only God could finally rescue our Tita race from this mire of death."
"I created a world…" Old Green smiled as he said, "I used God's power to rebuild our virtual world. I rember, I rember that I created that world, a world that would no longer suffer from the developnt of technology leading to insufficient functionality…"
"A world where no one would ever go hungry, a world where everyone could conjure food out of thin air, a world where everyone lived in peace, happiness, stability, never again like prisoners pleading for the future and hope; a Fairy Tale World…"
"They all died, but I could let them live in that world. I rember, I rember—there was a girl nad 'Silver', she was my communications officer, my student, she stood in front of , what was his na again? He was called Wo… sothing…"
"Watson." Xue Dili closed his eyes, painfully uttering the na.
"Yes, Watson… And my daughter, she severed the connection tube at the end, was lted by the high temperature… What was her na? Sorry, that I, not even her father, can rember her na, sorry…"
Old Green spoke, but suddenly he smiled and said, "But you know, they will live, because God's power is infinite. I placed them in the world I created, letting them live happily forever in that world."
"And my billions of kin, although they've died, as long as I live, it's enough. I can place all of them from my mory into that world, all stored there…"
"I can't save them, so I'll let them have a beautiful life…"
"A world where only I suffer is enough. I'm sorry, I don't know who I am anymore; maybe I used to be Green Bahamut, but now I don't know if I beco a part of 'God', or if 'God' inherited my mories."
"But what difference does it make? We've long since rged, inseparable. Initially, my consciousness was supposed to dissipate, completely ld into the illusory world I created, but I received a ssage from what's called the 'Interstellar Corps'…"
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