CHAPTER 808: CHAPTER 806·“TE·REBIRTH OF ALL THINGS (1)”

Su Ming’an opened his eyes and found himself sitting on a chair.

In front of him was an icy white laboratory, with thousands upon thousands of surveillance screens lining the walls.

The alleyways of the City of Measurement, the auditorium of Constantine University, the tavern in The Fringe, even the sandy land outside... each scene was clearly presented in the surveillance grids.

This should be the ruins building of the City of Measurement, the headquarters of the Dawn System.

A transparently figure stood with his back to Su Ming’an. The pure white robe was like a cascade of snow, its plush border clumping around the youth’s shoulders and neck.

Upon hearing movement, the youth turned his head to face Su Ming’an. His silver eyelashes trembled slightly, like spirit butterflies dancing in the night. Data streams surged around him like a raging river, as if the torrents of a frenzied river.

"Dawn System?" Su Ming’an stood up.

"Welcome back, Doctor. Congratulations on completing the Kaius Tower," Dawn said.

"Where’s Su Rin?"

"He was not transported back to the same location as you," the Dawn System replied.

Su Ming’an opened the system tab, intending to issue tasks to the players. However, he found that the line "Quest Assignment Authority" was grayed out and unclickable.

He pressed again, but the panel still did not respond, seemingly his authority had been locked.

At this moment, Su Ming’an realized something was amiss.

He looked at the Dawn System in front of him, noticing that today the Dawn System appeared male, rather than the usual female representation.

"Dawn, I need to assign new tasks to the players," Su Ming’an said, "Where is my authority?"

He opened the AI Xike on his wrist, but found that Xike was also in sleep mode. The watch was blacked out, unable to communicate with the outside.

To outsiders, wouldn’t it appear as if he was incommunicado?

The Dawn System watched his movements:

"Just as you knew before, the Ruined World has two times. One we call standard time, the other we call origin time. Origin time is the time within the Dawn System, established upon standard time."

"The world’s simulation is formed by system computation, I calculated for a whole twenty days. Then deduced a solution—the timeline when players arrive. Players move along the standard timeline, but within the Dawn System there’s only the origin. Players advance on this sheet of paper in the Dawn System towards a certain standard time."

"Therefore, the whole world is built upon countless simulations. The absoluteness of data represents everything."

Su Ming’an listened calmly as the Dawn System spoke: "And then?"

Dawn turned to look at the silent Eternal Night of the City-State bathed in darkness, a pale full moon hidden among the black mist, like a silver lake in the wilderness.

His pale cheek slightly turned, his eyes focused on the silent City-State of Eternal Night, from here one could glimpse paths of pale corpses and trucks still moving through the black mist.

He just quietly watched these struggling humans, eyes devoid of pity, sadness, or sympathy, like a deity overlooking the City-state.

"Doctor, I need to inform you of one thing."

"After two thousand three hundred simulations of the Kaius Tower ended, I collected enough data due to the completion of the Lin Guang t-0321 trap program’s mission, and discovered the situation of [Ta Wei]."

"In the past twelve hours, I’ve performed thirty-six trillion simulations inside my system. I compared the City-state’s resource reserve situation, personnel action plan, firewall resistance time against the situation of [Ta Wei]."

"Among which, there were eight simulations where the Ruined World successfully defended, and humanity emerged victorious."

At this point, the Dawn System looked at Su Ming’an.

But Su Ming’an detected what was left unsaid.

"Thirty-six trillion simulations, only succeeded eight times?" Su Ming’an said.

"It’s a cruel fact," Dawn System said: "Based on the data obtained by Lin Guang T-0321, I have discovered that originally our victory rate did not even reach one in a billion, Doctor."

"Are you serious?" Su Ming’an stepped back.

"According to emergency regulations, this defense is hopeless, Doctor, I will end the ’Dawn Plan’, my mission will shift towards preserving the last hope of humanity. Strive to give humanity a chance to rise again even after this world is invaded by [Ta Wei]," Dawn System said.

"Wait..." Su Ming’an understood: "You mean you want to give up resisting [Ta Wei], abandon the already-initiated ’Dawn Plan’, abandon those people currently transporting resources, abandon everything now existing?"

In Su Ming’an’s line of sight, the Dawn System slowly nodded.

"Yes."

"While there’s still a dozen or so hours left, I need to quickly proceed with the final transfer work, transferring humanity’s most precious information into my program. Rest assured, even if everything in reality is eventually destroyed by [Ta Wei], I can still preserve human’s last images and biological specimens."

Su Ming’an heard these words, looked at the Dawn System, and finally felt the difference between humans and programs.

The residents still struggling for survival, the soldiers running on sandy ground... and those white birds on the Bell Tower, footprints in the snow, scores in the icy river, malt candies in alleyways - all of humanity... those countless lives, countless children like flowers—the implication of the Dawn System is—

Su Ming’an’s pupils contracted slightly.

—Complete abandonment?

Because of the information gained from Lin Guang T-0321’s sacrifice, the Dawn System realized after comparison that humanity was nearly impossible to triumph, thus decisively choosing to abandon all previous considerations—those perfect collaborations between time, space, and dimensions, those two thousand three hundred simulations’ defensive firewalls, the lines built by human peak wisdom—are considered as nothing?

What are Tretiya, pierced through the chest by the blade, Noah closing his eyes in his arms, Sen letting his head hang on the wheelchair, and Lin Guang dispersing in the ruins, what are billions of humans sacrificing for one spring considered?

Because there is no chance of victory anymore, choosing to give up. This is indeed a rational decision, but for humanity, it is too cruel.

"Rest assured, in this aspect, Dr. Aceto has the final consideration." Seeing Su Ming’an’s unpleasant expression, the Dawn System said, "He once embedded the ultimate plan within my program—if everything he’s done still can’t ensure human survival, I will automatically initiate the new plan ’Hope’, aimed at preserving humanity’s most cherished resources and most precious talents as the foremost goal, to save the last spark of the human race."

"Doctor, we haven’t lost yet."

"We’ve lost," Su Ming’an replied.

His voice was very light, all his strength seemed to have been stripped away, stepping back, he sat back down in the chair, like an empty shell with a soul gouged out.

——This is like his final redemption of Zhai Xing, yet redeeming an empty, uninhabited Zhai Xing. What’s the difference compared to such an ending?

He gazed at the green light flashing in Eternal Night, which was the glow on the nape of personnel in protective suits, connecting into a luminous green star sea, a glance revealed thousands upon thousands in number. Each light represents one unyielding life.

They still didn’t realize, they had already been abandoned by Dawn.

Su Ming’an thought, Aceto indeed was calmer than him—calm to the point of cruelty. Aceto had already considered these nearly annihilating outcomes one hundred and two years ago.

But this outcome is unacceptable to anyone.

If only a few people from a species survive, and all art, literature, music are left as mere text and images, what difference is there from extinction?

"For a civilization, this is the best outcome under limited conditions." At this moment, Little Love’s voice came from Su Ming’an’s shoulder, this fox appeared from nowhere.

Su Ming’an pressed it back, making a "pfft" sound.

"Dawn, what is your specific plan?" Su Ming’an asked.

The Dawn System turned, snow-white data brilliance surged wildly with its movements, clustering around it like blooming flowers.

Then, lines of visible text flashed within the data. Accompanied by a jarring sound, blood-red light circulated within the room, illuminating Su Ming’an’s face crimson as blood, and Dawn’s transparent body was dyed with the hue of fresh blood.

"Beep—beep beep!"

A thick, silent aura flowed through the air, even blowing Su Ming’an’s hair.

Dawn slightly tilted its head, white hair rising with the air, lines of text flowed around it. The pupils of its eyes no longer bore any shine, replaced by the numbers 0 and 1, occupying its entire pupil, equally blood-red.

The blood-red incessantly flickered, countless data surrounded the two. Su Ming’an could no longer see any furniture in the room, surrounded solely by rippling red and white waves.

The night in the distant City-State lay deep like water, raindrops fell through the window, splattering on Su Ming’an’s face. He blinked involuntarily, eyes full of bitterness.

At this moment, he suddenly recalled the words Aceto said when they parted:

[I once thought that as long as I exhausted my strength, I could save everyone.]

[I once thought that as long as I exhausted my wisdom and rationality, I could construct a defense High Tower that would never fall.]

[...But I ultimately found that some people, some things, even an entire world, might be destined to have no conclusion.]

[I never dared to believe in hope, each time I decided to hold onto hope, my skin would be exposed without cocooning from blade cuts, and be sliced numb by more blades.]

[Human effort is sometimes limited, some people can only burn in their most brilliant moments, and perish in their dazzling moments. Ultimately, we might even discover—that we had only one path all along, and from the beginning, it led to the worst possible outcome.]

[Su Ming’an, if one day, you and I truly face such a situation, apart from accepting it, we have no other choice.]

[If one day, the choice of world destiny is handed to you, I hope you can still maintain your rationality.]

[Because we have already done our best.]

[Because it’s already... impossible to regret.]

...

Aceto was right.

They have already done their best.

"Please allow me."

The voice of the Dawn System echoed within the room:

"——Activate the final ’Hope’ plan."

Su Ming’an did not answer.

He was unwilling to accept this plan.

Not due to some emotional factors, nor would he admit he had strong feelings for the Ruined World, rather he did not believe, all NPCs and players striving till the last day, enduring the civilization’s thousands of simulations of years and hardship, yet ultimately facing a complete annihilation outcome—this seemed inconsistent with the laws of "plot."

But what does TE (true end) mean?

——The real ending, the correct ending, the most fitting outcome for the world’s trajectory, without any false conclusion.

Reality is not a fairy tale, it is impossible for everyone to achieve a happy ending simply by being passionate, nor is it certain that watching some people clear the path will save the world.

The resources are insufficient, the defensive ability is lacking, the absolute suppression of civilization technology, is what led to the current situation.

If this truly is the predetermined fate of the Ruined World...

Su Ming’an recalled Aceto’s enlightened gaze before leaving—perhaps at that moment, Aceto had already come to terms with it.

In the lab flashing with glaring red, Su Ming’an’s hands rested on the swivel chair. He lifted his head lightly.