Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 802 Doomsday Tour
Dusk fell, and an unordered breeze blew across the plains, rolling up the fallen leaves on the hills, swirling them into the distant sky. The silhouette of the city at the end of the horizon was soaked in the sunlight, and gradually covered with a brilliant golden glow.

This "illusion" simulated by Pilot-2 based on the remaining information in the database was so real that it was terrifying. Even a speck of dust and a wisp of breeze were simulated to perfection. If Duncan had not known in advance that he was only talking to this ancient artificial intelligence at the conscious level, he would not have been able to tell the difference between this hill and that plain and the real world.

However, this is just an illusion after all, and the perfect simulation itself is its biggest flaw - every grain of dust here is part of the calculation result of the Navigator-2. Those seemingly disordered breezes, before they blow across the plains, their trajectories have already appeared in the computing core of the Navigator-2. There will never be any events beyond the database and calculation results, not even a "random" grain of dust that is blown away.

The ancient kings all knew the truth about the end of the world and the mass annihilation, but only Navigator-2, a strong artificial intelligence built by an advanced civilization that once spanned the stars, understood those subtle and fatal... "differences" in the basic laws of the "world".

Now, he had finally found another individual who could understand it all.

The tired man in the white researcher's uniform sat down on the hillside. He sat on a big rock and stared at the simulated dusk in the distance in a trance.

"My creators have not yet reached the height that your civilization has reached, so I cannot understand the specific nature of a 0.002-second slice of the universe and what kind of future it will create - so I have to worry that your plan is only creating a larger 'infinite sea'.

"It may be huge, even big enough to hold trillions of stars. It may have a long lifespan, even measured in billions of years like the real universe. But as long as the problem of 'final crossing the boundary' is not solved, it will still be a 'sanctuary'. Civilization development cannot exceed the upper limit of the blueprint, so those things that once destroyed our homeland can still destroy it...

"'Paranoia', this is the second concept related to 'human nature' that I learned after the creators disappeared. This 'paranoia' and 'fear', like source code, are deeply imprinted in the bottom of my system, making me constantly think and calculate, in order to find the possibility that can make the 'two-dimensional man' 'stand up' on the plane - I call this possibility a 'super-system event'.

“But I failed.

“A closed-loop system does not allow for events beyond the system. I can adjust myself through iteration after iteration to make my logical system perfect. However, the fact is that non-closed-loop and super-systematic are the privileges of the real universe.”

The hillside fell silent. Duncan and Pilot No. 0.002 looked into the distance together. After a long while, he suddenly broke the silence: "...So to the Infinite Sea, Shirley is a 'super system'. But is it possible that this is only because the 'information' I carry exceeds the framework of the Infinite Sea itself? And within the second universe that I represent, this part of information is still part of the closed-loop system, and it cannot achieve self-transcendence."

Duncan quietly stated this possibility. He knew that this conjecture was not very good, because if this conjecture was true, it would mean that the situation that Navigator 2 was worried about was bound to happen: whether in the old world or the new world, "super system events" would never happen - civilization was destined to be trapped in a cage, even if the cage could be made very large.

Navigator No. 2 fell silent. After thinking for a long time, he shook his head slightly.

"After meeting that girl, part of my thinking process took this possibility into consideration, but in the final calculation, I rejected this conjecture," he said slowly, "Because you did not completely 'reshape' her. Apart from your 'influence', everything that constitutes Shirley is still a 'product' of the shelter...

"This process can be regarded as a super-system event in the originally closed-loop system, and you did not actually change the 'total amount of information' of the Infinite Sea Shelter during this process. In other words... that 0.002 seconds of cosmic information is still completely encapsulated in your 'body'.

"Based on this, I judge that the 'super system' itself should be your 'characteristic'. The changes that happened to Shirley were not because she was given 'information' outside of the Infinite Sea Sanctuary, but because she was infected with your 'characteristic'."

Duncan frowned in thought, but still couldn't help but speak: "But your judgment may not be accurate. As you said yourself, you have the 'limitations' of a closed-loop system."

"Yes, I have the limitations of a closed-loop system, so I can't really perfectly analyze and calculate things related to you. The possibility that 'the new world is another endless ocean' still exists."

Navigator No. 2 paused here and shook his head after a moment.

"But it doesn't matter. Even so, we can't have a better solution. 'Do our best' is often the only thing we can do."

Duncan said nothing more, just nodded slightly, and then sat with the other party on the hillside, enjoying the luxurious tranquility in the evening breeze and gazing at the sparkling waves in the river on the plain.

In this simulated fantasy, the flow of time can be very slow - and Duncan hasn't emptied his mind like this for a long time.

But whenever there is an end, the luxury of rest time always seems short.

"I should leave now," Duncan said suddenly, standing up from the hillside. "It's still a long way to go."

"Yes, you still have a long way to go." Navigator No. 2 also stood up and looked at Duncan calmly, "You still have to meet the remaining two of us. After traversing all the nodes on the outer barrier, Gemona is still waiting for you to keep an appointment. Don't keep the lady waiting too long."

After listening to the other party's words, Duncan was silent for a moment: "...You should know my plan, right?"

"...You are 'tour' along the outer barrier. This is the first step to destroying this world." Navigator No. 2 laughed, with a childlike innocence in his smile. "I know that when you leave Gemona, the true destruction of this world has already begun the countdown. After all, no matter what form the new world will take, the destruction of the old world is the most basic part of the process. We must first find a way to end the... 'Great Annihilation' that has lasted until now."

He raised his arm and offered a hand to Duncan, still with that pure smile on his face.

"I don't know what the success rate of this is, nor do I know whether we can really be 'preserved' by you in that new world, and if we really get 'there', what kind of new 'attitude' we will have, but I believe that you will do your best, so see you in the new world."

Duncan looked at the hand stretched out in front of him, and after a brief hesitation, he shook the other person's hand.

A tiny bit of green fire jumped silently between the two clasped fingers, and disappeared in an instant.

"See you in the new world."

Duncan's figure gradually disappeared into the air - the access link was disconnected.

The invisible breeze blowing across the plains and hills gradually died down, and the golden-red glow in the sky also became dimmer unnoticed. The man in the white researcher's uniform stood quietly on the hill, and in his field of vision, the whole world was gradually sinking into darkness.

The vague memories from his hometown fell asleep in the darkness. He stood in the darkness for a long time. After a long time, he slowly raised his right hand.

A bit of faint green fire was still dancing on the fingertips, but in the blink of an eye, the faint green fire was stained with a layer of hazy starlight, as if it had transformed into its original "true appearance".

Pilot No. 2 raised his hand and waved gently in the darkness.

Large tracts of interlaced light and shadow suddenly emerged from nothingness, and in a series of astonishing changes, a picture was quickly outlined - the vast infinity of the sea, the city-state shrouded in darkness, the fog surrounding the entire world, and the looming nodes and barriers at the edge of the fog.

This is the "surveillance" picture of the entire world.

Navigator No. 2's eyes swept across the projection, and he saw a faint starlight on the vague nodes and barriers at the edge of the screen.

The starlight spread from the node representing the "Queen of Leviathan", drew a quarter of an arc along the outer barrier, and now stopped at his "Navigator Node".

The starlight seemed to erode the barrier. Even though it was just a "simulated data" transmitted through countless sensors, it still exuded a powerful and vast... sense of "presence".

And the smell of destruction.

Navigator No. 2 waited quietly. After an unknown amount of time, he finally saw the starlight that stayed on the Navigator node suddenly flickered, and then began to spread to the next node.

The starlight spreading across the barrier ring is like a “dial” indicating the day when the world will end.

After a moment's thought, Navigator No. 2 turned his gaze slightly, and a line of information appeared in his field of vision and was sent far away:

"From LH02, to the Fire Lord, he is heading towards you."

In the darkness, Pilot No. 2 waited for a long time. As far as he could remember, Tarekin had never been so slow in replying to messages.

But he finally received a reply, and a line of information appeared in front of him:
"Source of the message - Fire Lord - I understand, I am ready."

"Source-LH02-You are slow in replying, are you okay?"

"…The fire is dying, but I am still here."

"...Bartok, are you still there?"

"exist."

"Queen Leviathan, is she still there?"

"……Um."

The hollow howls from the Death Wilderness and the whispers from the Deep Sea Temple could be heard faintly. Navigator No. 2 exhaled softly and waved his hand to disperse the remaining dim light in the air.

(End of this chapter)