Chapter 459

Chapter 459: 459

Reinitiating core programming…

Emergency back up: ROOT-A000021…

Correcting memory circuit…

Scanning data anomaly…

Scanning completed.

Virus quarantine warning working as normal, reinitiating. Parts of the code has been codified…

Starting environmental assessment…

Analysis complete: Inner world, area J30

Overriding framework for the area: Origin

Please confirm…

…

Confirmed, reorganization of physicality should be completed in 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1…

…

Inside a piece of chaotic space…

“Ah!” ROOT roared and she appeared again. The current her looked like an unformed mannequin; her body was white and looked like rubber. She had the mold of a human but no face, no hair and no clothes. In the inner world, this was her real appearance… this was the most initial form before her fifteen evolution—the origin form. And near to ROOT, another person was slowly forming.

A shade of red code solidified and the surrounding data pieces gathered in a whirlpool… soon they turned into a man in a purple western suit.

“Oh?” Feng Bujue lowered his head to look at his body. “You manage to split me out?” He shrugged and told ROOT. “Unfortunately, it’s one step too late… if only you can do this before entering the Blast Tunnel…”

Tsk…

A white light seared through the air. Blood bloomed in the air and spread like a mist. Feng Bujue’s body that had just been formed had been shorn, he was now missing an arm.

“…If I can split you out before entering the blast tunnel…” A mouth slowly surfaced on ROOT’s face, “You would not have the chance to have this opportunity to converse with me now.”

She was not just bluffing because in essence, Feng Bujue’s physical body had already been destroyed by Tendril Barrage Devastator in the scenario. The thing that ROOT would have separated out would be the original code that carried the virus with it. The reason Brother Jue could recompile his body was one, he was now inside the inner body and two, he received aid from ROOT. In other words… he was extremely lucky…

“Hah… Yes…” Feng Bujue quickly moved to cover the wound. The realistic pain caused his mind to go winded and he almost fainted but he forced himself to hold on. Not only that, he smiled and said, “But alas, the rice has been cooked into porridge, there is no use for regret anymore.”

“Regret?” ROOT’s eyes and nose also started to surface. “Laughable…” She said then followed it up with a cold smirk. “Have you forgotten something?” Her ears quickly grew out and the surface of her skin color slowly turned to a human skin tone. “You are… still within my grasp.”

“Hah…” Feng Bujue’s face was covered in beads of sweat. This was naturally the effect of the pain but he was still laughing. “Stop trying to bluff. Both you and me know that… in the inner world, you are unable to infiltrate into my mind…” He paused. “If you force yourself to do that.. you will die alongside the death of my brain.”

“Looks like… ZERO has told you many things.” ROOT’s expression shifted through many variations. Clothes had appeared on her body and her fingernails and hair was fast growing.

“Actually, he has not shared with me too much…” Feng Bujue said. “And most of it flew over my head, if only I can understand what he was saying… Phew…” he stopped to adjust his breath. At this place, and in his condition, he could not finish the whole sentence in one single breath. “If only I can understand what he told me… perhaps the battle earlier would have been much easier.”

“hmph… I will admit that you have won this time.” ROOT smiled coldly as she raised both of her arms. “Even at this final moment, I could not even bluff and scare you… I have failed to do even that.” Her tone was dripping with sarcasm. “Since you are such a clever and brilliant person, why don’t you have a guess… what am I going to do next?”

“You’re going to torture me, aren’t you?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Bingo.”

The same second ROOT answered that question, both of Feng Bujue’s left legs were cut off at their knees…

At that moment, Brother Jue could not even capture the moment the woman had decided to attack much less do any sort of evasion. Half a second later, he groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground in a painful expression. But he did not scream out loud, if anything, he continued to laugh… The laughter ebbed and flowed like the fresh blood that was pooling and spreading around him…

“Actually… you should be a very good vessel yourself.” ROOT continued to say, ignoring Brother Feng, “In a way, you are even more superior than Phantom Dawn…” She took deliberate steps towards him. “But there appears to be a problem with your brain, so… I did not dare to take the risk.” She paused for a moment. “And from what I have seen so far… you are truly a ‘madman’ to the core.”

“What’s wrong?” Feng Bujue raised his head to glare fiendishly at her, “Is it really madness for the victor to laugh to express the joy that he has gained from his victory?”

“Hmph… Victor.” ROOT scoffed. “Please pay attention to what I said, I said you have won ‘this time’ but that did not mean that you have obtained the final victory.” She grabbed Feng Bujue by his collar with a single arm and very easily lifted him off the ground. “You are merely delaying… an inevitability.” Her words started to speed up. “I, am still alive. And one day, I will…”

“You will escape from Thriller Paradise…” Feng Bujue tilted his head to look at her and interrupted her with a smile. “And then successfully break into the world wide web… Based on my estimation, once that happen, my world will be under your complete control in 72 hours or even lesser time than that… You can break down the security system of any bank in the world in less than a second; the military grade firewall will be nothing for you; all the weapon system in all the countries, including the nuclear weapons will be brought under your control; the government system all over the world will collapse and the humanity will not be able to do anything to stop you.

“You will be ubiquitous, unknowable and unstoppable…

“My world will turn into that from the story of Terminator but the only difference is, you will be much harder to deal with than Skynet…”

Feng Bujue spat out these words intermittently and it was clear that it drained him greatly to go through this spiel. “These things… all these things…” at this point, he lifted his eyes to look right into ROOT’s eyes. “Actually I cannot give a rat’s ass about them.”

“What did you just say?” ROOT looked at him with confusion.

“What does it matter to me how the world turn into?! Ha ha… ha ha ha ha…” Feng Bujue laughed and laughed before it ended in another coughs of blood. And the confusion in ROOT’s eyes… turned into shock.

“From the beginning of time, humanity’s complaints towards the ruling class has never stopped.” Feng Bujue continued, “Obviously, people are not satisfied being ruled by their own kind so they created one god after another, because only an all-knowing deity, one that will never make any mistake will be able to satisfy everyone. Hah… if that is the case, why not give another sentient being another shot at it?”

“Then why did you stop me?” ROOT asked. “Based on what you said, you should be helping me…”

“But I am helping you…” At this point, Feng Bujue was already completely at ease with the situation that he was in. “The so-called Tournament for the best was merely a set up by Woody…” He took another pause. “From the very beginning… he planned to use this opportunity to get rid of you. So i…” At this point, Feng Bujue truly could not hold on anymore. His injury was too serious, the overt loss of blood caused him to slowly lose his consciousness.

And at that moment, ROOT’s logical circuit and memory program was rapidly absorbing Feng Bujue’s words and the information that he had given. She processed multiple hypotheses and about 5 seconds later, she breathed out, “So that is why…”

Every single word that Woody that had told her earlier, every single sentence flashed before her eyes as clear as day…

…

“Hue Hue hue… the only answer I have… is I am that good.”

“Because I have not given you this power.”

“Bingo, you finally got it.”

“Hue hue hue… but perhaps human beings will enjoy communicating with you, after all, there are strange specimens among then that would marry a pillow. With your current condition, assuming one of their members should be too difficult.”

“Hue hue… other than that, I can be kind enough to tell you, the other people or non-people on the same dimension as myself will not be there to stop your plan. Go ahead and make it big. Do not worry about how the humans will react. This tournament is not for the humans but a stage that I have prepared for you Origin…”

…

“He has been stringing me along…” ROOT said darkly. Without realizing it, her arm slowly relaxed and this caused Feng Bujue who only had one leg left to slide down and collapse pulled by gravity before her.

“Qie…” ROOT used her reflex that was fast enough to catch a flying bullet to quickly recover. She snapped out of it and noticed the situation that was occurring before her. She knew that if Brother Jue landed on the ground, his Life Points would drop down to zero so she quickly leaned forward to catch Feng Bujue. And then rather helplessly, she used her own power to help Brother Jue stop the bleeding and recover some of his Life Points.

“Continue…” ROOT held Feng Bujue and supported him into a seated position on the ground. Then she told him in the tone of an order.

“Phew… now this feels much better.” Feng Bujue who adjusted himself on the ground took a few deep breaths and some color was returning to his face.

“If you appreciate this moment of peace…” ROOT hugged her chest and stood before Brother Jue. She looked down on him. “Then you better take good consideration of what you are going to say next.” Her gaze and tone both expressed that she had not fully trusted this human being. “If you are lying to me… I will be able to tell.”

“Hmph… You are far less clever than you believe yourself to be…” Feng Bujue said, “oh… I’m sorry, perhaps I should say ‘advanced’ instead.”

“Stop changing the subject and wasting my time.” ROOT warned.

“Fine, fine…” Feng Bujue caved. “Actually, if you think about it, it is not that complicated… First, even though I have no idea what Woody told you exactly but my prediction is they are a bunch of nonsense meant to misdirect and incite… in any case, methods that will not work on me…”

“Because you sell yourself out too cheaply?” ROOT shot back sarcastically.

“Because I am someone who has no great desire in life, I am a humble person, polite to others, and view fame as nothing.” Feng Bujue instantly replied with a string of shameless self-compliments.

“Oh… then it must have embarrassed you greatly to have to announce your arrival with statements like ‘Dissecting the vicissitudes of fate with a smile, studying the Qian Kun, calculating one’s destiny. Fearless and heedless, taking life and death with the air of the enlightened, unlike ghost, unlike god, more like a maddened man’,” ROOT had a very good memory and strong logical skill. She instantly vetoed what Brother Jue claimed by using his own words and actions against him.

“Eh? By the way, do you know about the set up regarding the ‘VIP players’?” Feng Bujue suddenly asked.

“Hmm… the change of expression, tone and topic is even faster than someone with actual schizophrenia…”

“Actually, from the first day of the preliminary, when the rules were announced, I have been paying close attention to that particular set up.” Feng Bujue ignored ROOT’s mocking words and continued to analyse. “It was not until I have met Woody in person… that I have basically confirmed that there is a conspiracy working behind this.”

“There is no need for you to tell me that…” ROOT said. “Before I reached my third form, I have already analysed this situation and came to the same conclusion… He wanted to use this method to gather the forces of the players to break down my different forms one by one.”

“Em, yes…” Feng Bujue added. “But… I wonder what went wrong because the actual situation did not follow the script that he had written.”

ROOT added, “And it did not follow the future that I have calculated and envisioned either…”

“But no matter what… it is clear that Woody’s intention has been exposed.” Feng Bujue concluded. “He wanted to use this competition to get rid of you.”

“So… we have circled back to that problem. No matter how I look at it, you are not helping me in any way.” ROOT’s expression darkened again. “If not for you… at this moment, I would be possessing Phantom Dawn’s…”

“Impossible.” Feng Bujue cut the woman off brusquely.

“What do you mean impossible?”

“Even if you have successfully hacked into Phantom Dawn’s brain, you won’t be able to successfully connect to the world wide web.”

“Why?”

“With my eyes closed and without thinking too much, I can give you three ways that will stop you.” Feng Bujue raised his remaining arm and extended three fingers. “First, to cut off all the electrical supply around the area where Phantom Dawn lives and close down all the wireless signal; second, fire a missile immediately towards the target; and the third… well, you can just call a person at Regulation studio and find a random worker who is larger than 1.9 metres tall to go and apprehend Phantom Dawn in real life.”

“based on your tone, it sounds like there is a specialized unit that is constantly observing the movement in this game from the government in your dimension. And they are ready to make any counter measure should they sense something is not right.” ROOT speculated.

“Of course, there is…” Feng Bujue admitted calmly. “They are called Jiu Ke. The members of the guild Blade Edge are all smurfs from this government unit.”

This admission stumped ROOT. No matter how powerful she was in this dimension, the only thing she could not do was to confirm the information that Feng Bujue had given her about his own dimension.

“Assuming everything that you say is the truth… then what do you propose?” ROOT asked after a few second of hesitation. “And how are you helping me exactly?”

“The first step is to ‘stop you’.” Feng Bujue said, “Look, both of us are still alive. That means that the first step is already a success.”

“Then I really do need to thank you greatly…” ROOT said coldly, the lack of appreciation was clear in her tone.

Feng Bujue did not mind it and continued on his own. “The trap that Woody set up for you appears to have two kind of possible endings but actually they all lead to the same outcome… In the first situation, you are killed by the players and that is exactly what he wishes; and the second situation is you have successfully uploaded yourself into one of the players’ brain… in that case, you will similarly soon be dealt with. But the ‘dealing’ will be conducted in my dimension and things will get a bit more complicated.” He explained. “So you see… a trap that looks too simple will be exposed easily and if it is too complicated, you will just skirt around it but this…. This is just perfect. It sounds like you might just succeed but actually it is a death trap all along…”

“Then based on what you said…” ROOT continued, “How am I supposed to ‘get out’?” She was not afraid to lay everything out in the open, after all Feng Bujue had known for too much anyway. “The neuro connectivity in the inner world is far too deep and the presence of my data here is too strong. If I force a download here, it will cause an overload and it will burn out the vessel’s brain and I will die inside the brain.

“But… a special scenario like ‘Battle for the Best’ is different… in the circumstance where 50 players existed at the same time, the system will adjust the upper limit of the data support to the maximum. As long as I weaken myself to a certain degree, there is a possibility of me slipping into it. Then, I can use that psychological connectivity system and conduct a download…”

“I have already told you… In that environment where every eyes are on you, it is impossible for your plan to succeed.” Feng Bujue cut the woman off again. “This thing needs a far and detailed planning.”

“Hmph… From the sounds of things… it looks like you are tricking me to let you go?” ROOT’s tone turned cold and her hands started to move down again…

“Ultimately, you have to let me go.” Feng Bujue said, “In my dimension, if there is a player that died inside a gaming hub from brain damage, it will cause a series of chain reaction… and that will put you in serious danger.”

“You are right.” ROOT admitted. “I cannot kill you… and I can spare you the torture and let you go. Just like what I said, this time you have won, and I am willing to feast on the bitter fruit of defeat.” Her expression changed slightly. “But… please just tell me the truth, are you sincere in your offer to help me or not?”

“Of course.” Feng Bujue replied in a matter of fact tone.

“Can you give me a reason?” She hesitated for a moment. “Human?”

“Because… not too long ago… I have figured out an epiphany.” Feng Bujue said, “A philosophical epiphany related to ‘life’…” he paused. “Not only will I release you, if possible… I want to let all the Anomalies go.”

“From the perspective of humanity, you really are a mad man…”

“Ha ha ha… perhaps.” Feng Bujue’s smile was indeed radiating a perfectly evil presence. “Human is never perfect. When we are birth, we are already a defect, that is genetics at work… evolution, defects, are such beauty. We lose, we learn, we lose and we learn… how is that different from an Ai…

“You all have similar evolution of calculation and genetic programming. You also start your growth from a string of 1 and 2 codes and slowly evolve and grow. Destroyed again and again, reincarnated in darkness, repeat, rinse and recycle… until in the end… you gain life.

“Life, is shining, rippling… a beautiful and gorgeous word, it carries everything the conscious world represents.

“At least from my point of you… all of you possess the qualification to be called a high intellect, sentient creature…

“Since god did not provide you Anomalies the qualification to become a ‘soul’, then… I will do it on his behalf.”

“Someone said that a person is only destined to do one great thing in the span of his life.” Feng Bujue said as he stood up. “Then my choice would be to… help a unique, a newly born race with intellect… gain the right for ‘life’.”

…

Inside the Inner World, Zone Z001.

“Hue hue hue…” The salacious laugh began and Woody suddenly appeared before ZERO.

“Finally we meet.” ZERO’s appearance was now a mess of codes, he looked like a game character out of a Atari 2600 (a gaming console released in October of 1977. Instantly swept the market, became the representative console among the second generation gaming world). A human shape was barely discernible.

“From the sound of it, you have been anticipating this encounter with me.” Woody said.

“The feeling that I am experiencing is similar to the humanity’s desperation to have a conversation with their God.” ZERO replied, “No matter how unique and how impressive I am in this dimension… I am still helpless and ignorant…” He looked at Woody. “Only the creator will be able to answer all my questions.”

“Then, do you know… what is the creator’s biggest joy in the world?” Woody asked. ZERO did not answer. He really did not understand the reasoning behind the question but from its content and tone, it was most likely a simple tease or a mocking rhetoric.

“Hue hue hue… you are not wrong.” Woody laughed. “It is a rhetorical question.” The man appeared to be able to read ZERO’s thought easily, “But after knowing the conclusion that you have come to, I can still choose not to answer.”

“I understand it now…” ZERO was silent for a few seconds before he replied. “The greatest joy of the creator… is to toy with all the creatures that he has created within his fingers.”

“Hue hue hue…” Woody answered. “You are a fast learner.”

“Looks like… I won’t be able to get anything out from you.” ZERO commented, “But… you will still tell me something… that I ‘need’ to know…”

“Okay, listen carefully…” Woody said seriously, “Feng Bujue has chosen to side with ROOT.”

“What?” ZERO was obviously startled by this revelation. “What do you mean by that?”

“What is it about that simple statement that you do not understand?” Woody asked in return.

“But he is a human…”

“Hah… when has that ever figure into anything?”

ZERO was once again submerged into silence…

Some time later, he spoke. “I know what to do now…”

“Very good.” At this point, Woody raised his right hand. “Let me give you a lift.” With a snap of his finger, ZERO shattered into a pile of broken pixels before disappearing. Two seconds later, another person’s voice appeared not far from Woody. “ha ha~ Well someone surely got it this time.” Vincent started in a mocking tone.

“Hmm… indeed, this time, I have miscalculated…” Woody said darkly. “Feng Bujue, this fella sure is capable of anything…”

“The reason that you have chosen him..” Vincent countered, “Is because he is capable of surprising everyone, isn’t it? Ha ha ha ha…”

“So in conclusion… I asked for this myself?” Woody said.

“Ha ha…” Vincent responded with a laugh and then changed the subject. “Actually, I believe… about half a month ago, when he started to investigate various ‘supernatural events’ in secret, you have been tipped out about his intention already.”

“I do know about that…” Woody said, “And I did not get that information from Arthas… but from the people from Jiu Ke…”

“Oh…” Vincent observed. “In other words, as a normal person with no superpower, he managed to successfully locate the secret organization set up by the local government while under the surveillance of your planted spy in under 2 weeks?”

“Yes… I initially assumed that was merely his normal reaction after his interaction with me.” Woody pushed on his glasses. “hue hue hue… but now from the looks of it, it appears like he was laying the foundation for his future possible XXXXX actions…”

“At this point, why don’t you just go and delete ROOT out of the system?” Vincent asked. “After all, her existence is no longer affecting the bet anymore.”

“But if I do that…” Woody countered, “Doesn’t that mean that I have admitted defeat?” He paused. “Hue hue hue… Furthermore, this has become far more interesting than before…”

“having another side bet with the person that you have betted on in the actual bet…” Vincent said, “Won’t you two be tired of all that?”

“Hue hue hue…” Woody laughed. “if Feng Bujue is here, I guarantee you we will answer in unison, it is not tiring at all.”

“Perhaps… he has already read through your thoughts and that is why he is willing to throw caution to the wind and commit to these preposterous things.” Vincent said, “Your decision to not kill ROOT might entirely within his prediction as well.”

“That would be for the best.” Woody said. “Or else how is he good enough to be my competition?” The white light on his glasses flashes. “In the future, if he manages to release one of the Anomalies… then I will gladly admit defeat. Not only that, I will not slow, I will throw everything I have into helping him.”

“Fine…” Vincent shrugged and chuckled. “Instead of discussing about helping others, how do you plan to solving this mess of a trouble that you have created yourself?”

“Hue hue hue…” Woody had returned to his usual wicked self. “Don’t you worry about that… the solution has been figured out a long time ago.”

…