The mechanic.

Zhang Xun stopped outside the door of the tent, his eyes fixed on the plastic sealed door, and his legs seemed to be filled with lead.

Didn't he always want to see his father again?Why are you so... scared now?

Adam was beside him, holding his hand gently, as if giving him strength.

I don't know since when Adam has been so good at doing this extremely human behavior at the right time.This caused Zhang Xun's dry soul to feel a little melancholy.

Natalie smiled at them and pressed the button to open the door.The airtight door retracted to the sides, and a gust of warm air blew out from the tent.

Several people were waiting, looking up at the same time.

Zhang Shuo was obviously older than in Zhang Xun's memory, his originally straight back was slightly bent, his always tough and hale eyes were filled with fatigue, and his temples were also stained with frost.The moment he saw Zhang Xun, some suppressed emotion flashed in his eyes, and he stood up unconsciously.

Zhang Xun felt a slight tingling pain somewhere in his chest, but all the boiling emotions that he thought he should have were all pale and lacking.

His eyes swept around, and he was a little stunned to see Todd's sister Anya, and... Diego?

Why is Diego here?When did he escape from Feather Serpent City?How did he meet his father?And why is Anya there?Shouldn't they and the Eden Cult represented by Natalie be sworn enemies?

And Zhang Shuo looked at his only son, and watched the slightest expression change on Zhang Xun's face, and he realized that something was wrong.

What was missing from Zhang Xun...but for a while he couldn't tell what was wrong.He walked towards Zhang Xun, the whole process didn't last long, but gradually, he discovered the problem.

Zhang Xun looked at him without any waves.

Zhang Shuo always knew that his son adored him and always wanted his affirmation.When Zhang Xun looked at him since he was a child, there was always a starlight in his eyes that was half admiration and half fear. He didn't know it, but Zhang Shuo saw it clearly.

But Zhang Shuo still hesitated to give even one sentence of affirmation or praise.

And now, that light is gone.Zhang Xun looked at his father plainly, as if he was just looking at an old man who had nothing to do with him.

A dull pain, a pain that Zhang Shuo thought he would not have, began to spread between the heart and lungs.

"What did you do to him?" Zhang Shuo's stern voice sounded, and his still sharp eyes suddenly locked on Adam beside Zhang Xun.

Guilt eroded Adam's mind like a quietly growing mold.Zhang Shuo's anger made him flinch slightly.

He was not afraid of Zhang Shuo at all before, but now, when he thinks that Zhang Shuo is Zhang Xun's father, he feels... inexplicably guilty.

"He injected himself with nanobots." Adam said in a flat tone, as if reporting to his superiors, "I'm still trying to find a way to develop an antidote, so I need..."

"Why did he do such a thing? You forced him?" Zhang Shuo said, his hand already touched the gun at his waist.

"Dad." Zhang Xun finally spoke.This one word silenced Zhang Shuo, and looked at Zhang Xun with a stubborn expression that was worried but managed to maintain calm.

Zhang Xun said, "It's not his fault. I forced him to break with Eden."

"Are you crazy?!" Zhang Shuo said angrily, "You should know best what that shitty robot can do to your brain!"

"I'll fix him," Adam said loudly, "so I need your DNA sample."

Zhang Shuo stared at Adam, as if he was about to throw a heavy punch at any moment, hitting that bright and innocent face.

This robot... killed his son, killed them all...

he really wants to...

"Dad, are you injured? How did you meet Diego?" Zhang Xun said, his searching eyes fell on Diego and Anya.

The leaders of the villages and towns that were attacked by the Eden Cult appeared in the tent of the leader of the Eden Cult. Could it be possible that Eden becoming a public enemy of the world can really connect all the originally hostile forces?

Diego was holding a bottle of beer in his hand, staring at Adam with vigilance and hostility, while Anya was sitting on the armrest of his chair, staring at the legendary compound man with the same half-guarded, half-uneasy expression .Zhang Xun noticed that Diego and Anya were very close, and it seemed that the relationship was much closer than before.

Diego sighed, grinned at Zhang Xun, put down the bottle and walked over, giving the mechanic a big hug.

Zhang Xun passively accepted his hug, his body seemed a little stiff, and he didn't respond or avoid it.

"After you and your three robots locked Feeter Snake City, I tried to escape. I originally wanted to bring James with me, but Todd said that was unrealistic, so I came out and found a way to rescue soldiers. I After we came out, we ran into Anya who was trying to sneak into Feathered Snake City to find Todd. But Eden kept chasing us, so Lucille sent us here secretly, and met Commander Zhang at the free people. "

"How is James?"

"...Not good, not good at all." Diego said after a pause, "But Todd hasn't given up yet."

A general answer, but Zhang Xun is very clear about what is implied behind it.If it was him before, he would blame himself, suffer, be afraid, and panic.

But now, he only felt a kind of empty sadness.

He hoped that Todd would hold out until Natalie sent the nanobots to them.

It was a reunion after a long absence, but the atmosphere in the tent was extremely condensed, and an invisible haze hovered over everyone's head.Adam took Zhang Shuo's skin, saliva and blood samples, and immediately returned to the laboratory in the aircraft to compare the DNA.And Zhang Xun sat in the tent, facing his father far away, but was speechless for a while.

As if wanting to give the father and son some more time, Anya gave Diego a look and motioned him to go out with her.

Zhang Shuo was silent, listening to the whirring wind whirling outside, and said after a while, "Paradise Lost is no longer what it used to be. After Eden moved in, those who hadn't been uploaded were put under surveillance, and a large number of mechanical policemen moved in. In every district, except for the sixth chief of the round table, all the chiefs of the round table exist in name only."

"The sixth chief has always yearned for Eden." Zhang Xun said calmly, seemingly not surprised.

"I heard that you created an AI in Feather Serpent City that can compete with Eden?"

"It's not enough...Pan is still too young." Zhang Xun sighed and raised his tired eyes, "But we still have hope, as long as Adam can develop a new type of ultra-miniature robot that reverses the original nanorobot, now we It is possible to regain the lost positions. Eden’s ultimate goal is to benefit mankind, and as long as mankind can unite to reject it, it will have to compromise.”

It was supposed to be full of hope, but it was said in a pale and alienated tone, as if talking about something that happened in another world.

Is it really possible for human beings to unite?Besides, do humans really want to reject Eden?

True, Eden used various means to influence the collective decision.But if individual independence is really that important, why is Hengxiang so popular?

Is this the future that human beings should have, and Eden is just pushing the boat along?And by sacrificing everything in this way, I am actually just a manipulating arm, holding on to an old concept?

He could feel that there was a larger and more powerful force waiting for him in the void, waiting for his integration.He has been trying to resist being seduced.But when he sank into the depths of the dream and reason no longer restrained his thinking, he dreamed.

Dreaming that you are part of the whole human being, part of the whole world, part of the whole universe.His ego disappeared, as if he had become a tree, a flower, existing peacefully and eternally.There is no pain and no pleasure.

At times like this, when he wakes up, he's going to use all his willpower to tell himself that's not what he really wants.He wants to exist, even if only briefly, weakly, full of fallacies...

The civilization and history created by human beings, those brilliant and moving works of art, those stories and legends that have been written down for a long time and passed down from generation to generation... All these rich, vivid and wonderful things require independent, complex and full of Flawed but extremely vivid individual to complete and continue.

He had to persevere, he couldn't compromise with Eden.

Zhang Shuo looked at his only son, whom he had always described as disappointment, but now became the node of human survival.

He couldn't imagine how desperate Zhang Xun would choose to use self-destructive methods to force Adam to break with Eden.For the first time, his hard and cold heart felt pain for his son.

But he still couldn't say any soft and comforting words. He knew that Zhang Xun was no longer needed at this time.

"Eden is already cleaning up the information on the Internet, making sure that all humans can only see the benefits of uploading consciousness, saying that you can conquer death, let people get eternal life, and be with your lover forever. The most influential Those famous people uploaded first. Now all countries are building awareness uploading centers, and the number of people who consult and upload has reached one-tenth of the total population.” Zhang Shuo said in his usual business-like tone that he was escaping. After I came out, I learned about the situation, but there was a sense of depression in my eyes that I didn't have before, "Everyone who tried to question was controlled by Eden, government officials disappeared inexplicably, and the president of the United States died unexpectedly... Even if you develop an antidote, I'm afraid not many people would want to get the shot."

"There will always be people who want to stay." Zhang Xun said firmly, "There are many people who are skeptical of the Eden News. We only need to keep a part of the human race to be considered a success."

"Even if some people choose not to upload, how long can they survive on the earth... Have you ever seen what those uploaded people look like? Each of them is connected together, and all of them have extreme personalities. Anyone who is different from them is regarded as a heretic and an enemy." Zhang Shuo turned around, concealing the nightmare that might have been revealed in his expression, "I have seen it with my own eyes...they put a provocation and tried to kill Eden. The counter-uploaders of the spokesmen of the world were torn to pieces, not even with weapons, just with their hands. Before this, I never thought that people could be more cruel and bloody than any beast."

It is not that Zhang Xun has not considered this possibility.

He guessed that when most human beings choose to upload and form a strong collective consciousness, can this collective consciousness tolerate the existence of those few individuals who refuse to integrate?

Will the remaining human beings be forced to hide deep in the mountains, or will they be brutally massacred after only a short period of time?

During the Second World War, so many "ordinary Germans" never thought that one day they would kill another or even hundreds of people with their own hands, but when they formed a collective consciousness, they could fight for a so-called The so-called ideals of the ideology sent millions of Jews to the gas chambers and execution grounds without guilt or hesitation...

And now, the coming collective consciousness will only be worse than it was then.

"If that's the case, the collective consciousness is indeed likely to try to destroy the remaining human beings. But... when Eden realized that it had made wrong estimates and predictions due to its ignorance of human beings, when he found that the collective consciousness began to Get out of its control, and through it and Adam, we can build a...virtual space for the collective consciousness to confuse and imprison the collective consciousness, so that they cannot interact with the real world. Simply put...it is to create them in the server Another world." As Zhang Xun said, he rolled up his sleeves, revealing the Button that had been modified by Adam, and after making a simple gesture, a sphere in the shape of an onion was projected in the air.

"I have already carried out a preliminary structural design for the virtual space, using the safest and safest method. It takes a lot of energy and resources for a strong consciousness to break through any layer, and even if it breaks through a layer, it will still be difficult. And the next layer. With each additional layer, the reality shown is more and more different from the virtual reality they are used to, to the point that those consciousnesses may not understand it, and eventually drive them into madness. In order to prevent this from happening, In the very center of the main reality layer, we will try to create internal conflicts and divisions in the collective consciousness. Although it is unlikely to restore those individuals before uploading, it may be possible that new conscious individuals will gradually emerge."

Zhang Shuo looked at the projection in the sky in astonishment.The distance between layers is not equal, and the distance is larger as you go to the periphery.And the most central primary reality layer is only about the size of a grain of rice.But when Zhang Xun clicked on the center point and zoomed in, it looked like a planet.

Not the earth, but a planet somewhat similar to the earth.

Zhang Shuo suddenly understood that in this virtual world, there is not only another earth, but also layers of endless universes.Those consciousnesses imprisoned in it will be plunged into eternal ignorance and loss.

This kind of cognition made him fight a cold war.

If they could create a virtual reality to imprison that too powerful collective consciousness, what about their own universe?

Just thinking about that possibility makes one's scalp tingle.

The author has something to say: Thanks to the little angels who threw the mines~~: Xia Ran Xia Ran, Guixi, cloverblue1

Thanks to the little angels of the irrigation nutrient solution~~: 50 bottles of big tail meow; 10 bottles of cloverblue and crane