Chapter 124 Choice
Raging flames ignited in all directions of the industrial park, and deafening explosions continued. Even at a distance of more than ten kilometers, the sound was still loud, shattering the glass along the way and bringing up a piece of shattered crystal.

As the offensive against the industrial park began, great panic continued to spread in the city of Anyan. People were running around in the streets in fear, looking at the night sky that was about to burn red. From time to time, sweeping air currents came, setting off car alarms.

It’s 2042, and people have lived in a stable world for so long that the so-called war seems so far away to them, like a story that only happens in another world.

Tonight, the beautiful fairy tale world and the cruel reality overlap, highlighting all the edges and corners clearly.

The screaming continued.

The blockade by the Supervisory Bureau only restricted the areas around the industrial park, but other areas of Anyan City were completely out of reach. As panic spread, the city was gradually spiraling out of control.

The police came out in droves, trying to maintain order, with red and blue lights flashing alternately.

People drove their cars anxiously, carrying their families to escape from this troubled place, but their vehicles were stuck on the viaduct, with shrill honking sounds and flashing taillights forming a sea of ​​light.

Countless posts are pouring out in the online world, constantly driving public opinion to ferment. A terrifying storm is rising and intensifying both in reality and on the Internet.

And in that industrial park, reality seemed to be dragged into another dimension full of blasphemy by some evil force, sliding uncontrollably into chaos and madness.

The sea of ​​fire roared and rolled, outlining the tall figures into dark silhouettes. They were still fighting, swinging high-speed chain swords, or pouring dense ammunition at the enemy.

The armored giant had his head cut off and fell to the ground helplessly. The sound of his fall was like a long sigh, carrying an inexplicable sadness.

In the clash between the giants, Zhou Si’s figure seemed particularly small. He trudged through the sea of ​​fire with difficulty, braving the rain of bullets coming from nowhere.

The war is no longer confined to the industrial park. The immortal launched a swarm of suicide drones, and the positions of the Supervisory Bureau left behind outside the industrial park were hit. Many vehicles were on fire, and the wounded covered their bleeding wounds and let out low gasps.

In the industrial park, Zhou Si lost contact with the outside world. He had no idea what the situation was like outside, and he had no time to worry about them.

Zhou Si picked up a piece of armor that had fallen from somewhere, used it as a shield, blocked it in front of him, and ran as fast as he could.

The flames burned his clothes, and the charred fabric mixed with the melted bionic coating, like rough scars. Sporadic bullets fell on the shield, splashing heavy sparks.

After running in the sea of ​​fire for an unknown amount of time, Zhou Si finally rushed out of this burning hell. The hot evening breeze blew in his face, and then a bright light shone on Zhou Si, as if he was illuminated by beams of holy light.

Zhou Si threw away the heavy shield, and his visual system filtered out layers of glare, presenting the Shenwei Building, which looked like a crystal tower, in front of Zhou Si.

He has arrived.

Like a miracle, Zhou Si ran blindly and actually crossed the crossed fire network, crossed the most intense battle zone in the industrial park, and successfully arrived under the Shenwei Building.

But at this moment, Zhou Si did not feel relaxed at all. Coming to the Shenwei Building did not mean the end of the war. On the contrary, it was just the beginning.

A shrill buzzing sound lingered overhead. Zhou Si looked up and saw a large and dense swarm of drones hovering right above him.

The immortal mobilized tens of thousands of drones in the industrial park. They were densely packed, covering the sky and the sun. The flashing lights blended together, as if they had turned into a real Milky Way, rippling around the Shenwei Building and emitting a bright halo.

Zhou Si believed that the immortal must be looking at him at this moment. As long as he thought about it, these drones would swoop down like birds.

He might be able to chop down a few, but soon he would be blown to pieces by this endless attack.

No chance of winning.

But the strange thing was that these drones had no intention of attacking Zhou Si. They just hovered quietly in the air, only from time to time they would be divided into different batches and fly towards other areas of the industrial park, then causing another series of explosions.

“Are you inviting me?”

Zhou Si muttered to himself, and then he took a step forward and walked towards the Shenwei Building under the gaze of drones in the sky.

Zhou Si did not encounter any obstacles along the way. Even the incarnation bodies standing under the Shenwei Building seemed to tacitly ignore his existence. Even when Zhou Si passed by, they were still firing at a certain direction in the night sky.

When Zhou Si entered the Shenwei Building and the electronic gate opened automatically, he even laughed inexplicably.

In the last second, Zhou Si was still struggling on the fierce battlefield, but in the next second, he came to the company to punch in for work like an ordinary office worker.

“Welcome back, Mr. Zhou Si.”

An illusory light fell beside Zhou Si, and Xiao Hua’s holographic image appeared out of thin air, smiling and greeting Zhou Si.

Zhou Si looked at Chen Huahan’s image, and at this moment the sense of absurdity in his heart reached its maximum.

There is a fierce battlefield hundreds of meters away, but here it is calm and peaceful. Two completely different styles and worlds are so absurdly mixed together.

Zhou Si was too lazy to think about these things.

The Shenwei Building, which is usually bustling day and night, now seems much quieter. Zhou Si didn’t see anyone along the way. It is empty and lifeless.

Zhou Si asked casually, “Xiaohua, where are the others?”

“Most of the staff have been evacuated to the underground facilities.”

Zhou Si was slightly surprised when he heard Xiao Hua’s answer. Rather than the fact that the staff had evacuated, he was more surprised that Xiao Hua would actually answer his question seriously.

Logically speaking, the Immortal should have taken charge of everything in the Shenwei Building by now…

Zhou Si’s eyes turned cold, and his voice was filled with murderous intent, “Shangxian, don’t you think that using this image is a blasphemy to her?”

The smile on Xiaohua’s face froze, and then her face began to break and distort, like a malfunctioning image, collapsing into a strange ball of light.

“I’ll wait for you upstairs, Zhou Si.”

After a burst of teasing and shrill laughter, the ball of light went out, and only Zhou Si was left.

Suddenly, the light sources in the building went out one by one, and a huge darkness swallowed up Zhou Si. After a moment of silence, lights came on one after another, as if deliberately guiding Zhou Si, pointing the way.

Zhou Si stood there, looked at the darkness around him, and then looked towards the end of the light. There was an elevator. The elevator had just landed from a high floor. The elevator door slowly opened and never closed.

Zhou Si’s sigh was heard in the silence.

This time Zhou Si did not refuse. He followed the guidance of the light and stepped into the elevator. Then the elevator door closed and the floor number displayed above his head changed rapidly, finally stopping at a familiar number.

Zhou Si’s mind became inexplicably heavy. He knew very well what was on this floor… Zhou Si was on this floor, his real body.

The elevator door opened, and what came into view was still darkness, with lights guiding the road. Obviously, the immortal did not want Zhou Si to waste his time and energy on useless things. The immortal had already set the theme of tonight for him in advance.

At first, Zhou Si was a little nervous, but gradually, his heart calmed down, like a pool of stagnant water in winter, frozen into solid ice.

When he reached the end of the light, just as Zhou Si had expected, a familiar door was waiting for him. Zhou Si remembered the layout of the courtyard behind the door very clearly.

Opposite the door was the container where his remains were stored. On both sides were complex life-support equipment and a clothes hanger filled with Zhou Si’s white coats.

Zhou Si can no longer wear his favorite white coat, but his avatar body can still be worn. Like an obsession, it stays stubbornly in the room, even though it is so out of tune with everything in the environment.

On the left is an observation room. On weekdays, the medical team is on standby there, and there are some medical tests, etc.

Zhou Si pushed open the door, and the scene inside was just as he had imagined. His ugly and broken body was floating quietly in the container, and the faint blue light sprinkled down, illuminating the onlookers under the container.

He looked at the remains in the container carefully as if he was appreciating a work of art. I could faintly hear him saying something that sounded like evaluation or praise.

Zhou Si took a few steps forward and deliberately made a loud noise to alert the other party of his arrival.

This is a very redundant action. Human habits still remain in the incarnation body. Even until now, Zhou Si still has many such “bad habits”.

The other person turned his head, revealing a face that was not the Zuo Zhi or Chen Wen Ge that Zhou Si was familiar with, but just a cold metal face, filled with indifference and coldness.

“Exalted Immortal.”

Zhou Si nodded slightly to him and greeted him politely.

“Doctor Zhou… Doctor Zhou.”

The immortal thought about it for a while, and finally he decided to call Zhou Si “Doctor Zhou”.

After they greeted each other, they fell into a strange silence. Even though he had imagined it countless times before, when Zhou Si really faced the immortal, he still felt a sense of oppression in his chest, an inexplicable feeling.

Even though Zhou Si had told Dong Yuan and himself in a tough attitude that the other party was an immortal, an extremely dangerous madman, a terrifying existence that must be killed.

But Zhou Si couldn’t help but think that the immortal had the shadow of Chen Wen Ge, and was the last echo of the person he regarded as his teacher in this world.

Zhou Si was the first to speak, “What did he look like when he died?”

“Very hopeless…”

The immortal thought for a moment and added, “But this despair does not come from death, but from recognizing the reality.”

“What kind of reality?”

“It’s reality. Cold, hard, objective reality that can’t be questioned.”

The immortal looked straight into Zhou Si’s eyes, his mechanical eyes looking into another pair of mechanical eyes. There was no soul under the window, only active data and flashing characters.

“The so-called soul does not exist, and humans do not have divine uniqueness. In the final analysis, they are just a pile of carbon flesh, synapses, and electrical signals.”

He expounded the truth with cold ruthlessness.

“The world is just like this, cruel, empty, and absurd. Any living thing is just marching towards destruction.”

Zhou Si lowered his head in silence and stroked his burnt face, with a lingering sadness in his movements.

“and then?”

“There is no more, Doctor Zhou. This is the end,” the immortal sighed, “It is also called… the end.”

The two fell into a strange silence again.

To be honest, this was indeed a very wonderful scene. Zhou Si finally caught up with the immortal, but he just stood there. There was no verbal sparring or swordplay. He was just simply having some inexplicable conversations with the immortal.

“So what do you want to do, Immortal?”

After a while, Zhou Si asked again intermittently, “Break the restrictions and become the so-called God of Data? But since you have already understood the nothingness of the world, what is the meaning of becoming the God of Data for you?”

It is unclear whether Zhou Si really thought so, or whether he was using the immortal’s words to fight against him.

He asked, “On a macroscopic time scale, there is actually no difference between dying now and dying hundreds of millions of years from now, you know.”

“Of course I know. That’s why the ancient sages often said that you have to give meaning to nothingness yourself. Therefore, I am looking for some meaning – through you.”

The immortal suddenly raised his hands, and two electromagnetic pistols appeared in his hands, and the indicator lights turned to a dangerous red.

Zhou Si alertly assumed an attacking stance, his arms split apart, and sharp narrow blades popped out from his palms, like a warrior holding two swords.

“Haha.”

The immortal laughed contemptuously. He pointed one gun at the container behind him, aiming at the real Zhou Si, aiming at his head, and the other gun pointed at the other corner of the room.

Zhou Si looked at the other corner of the room. Just like a drama, the lights came on and the door opened.

An incarnation body walked in, escorting a familiar figure. She was still struggling, but facing the steel body, all her actions seemed so futile.

Zhou Si looked at Ruan Linrui at the end of the gun and shook his head in disbelief.

“Ruan Linrui… No, why are you here?”

Ruan Linrui lowered her head, like a child who had made a mistake, and said nothing. The immortal looked at the two of them with amusement and explained for her.

“Doctor Zhou, she really loves you.”

The immortal sighed from the bottom of her heart, “Although Zhou Si, whom she truly loved, has long disappeared, you are the closest thing to the figure in her memory after all.”

“When she sensed the danger, she rushed here immediately and tried to take you away.”

The immortal glanced at the other end of the gun. That was Zhou Si in the container, the real Zhou Si.

Zhou Si scolded, “What exactly do you want to do?”

“I just want to see your decision.” The immortal put his index finger on the trigger, and his disturbing smile became even more intense. “So… are you ready? Doctor Zhou.”

Zhou Si looked at Ruan Linrui nervously, then looked at himself in the container.

He tried to calm himself down, clear his mind, and make the wisest decision, but the immortal did not intend to give Zhou Si any time to prepare, or any unnecessary thinking.

“Doctor Zhou, being overly rational is not a good thing. It will only make you weigh the pros and cons and choose the best solution among countless choices.”

The immortal spoke eloquently in a loud voice, “But sometimes, the optimal solution is often not what you really want. It just conforms to the current pros and cons.”

“Therefore, the choice made instinctively without the slightest hesitation is the truest desire of human hearts!
Even though that is not a wise choice.”

The immortal laughed wildly and pulled the trigger.

“Let’s choose!”

The two gunshots almost overlapped, becoming a single sharp tone.

Ruan Linrui’s eyes were filled with tears, and she looked at the figure blocking her way in confusion.

He was so tall and strong that the bullet lodged in his chest merely scratched the metal, creating a fleeting spark.

But he was so fragile. The bullet shattered the container and penetrated his ugly face and head. The brain tissue mixed with blood floated in the solution and spread into a large bloodstain.

“No…no no no, Zhou Si!”

Ruan Linrui screamed in despair as she watched the headless corpse slowly sink.

Zhou Si is dead.

The thick blood made the solution turbid until it completely engulfed the corpse and dragged it into a pool of blood, making its outline no longer distinguishable.

Pain and despair gripped Ruan Linrui’s throat. The intense feeling of suffocation made her faint and she almost fainted to the ground.

“It’s okay…it’s okay.”

In this moment of grief, a familiar voice sounded, constantly comforting Ruan Linrui.

Ruan Linrui stood there in a daze. Only then did she shift her gaze from the broken container to look at the steel body blocking her way.

With Zhou Si’s death, the iron body did not fall down.

He still stands there, like a rough monument covered with scars of wind erosion.

The man turned his head, his burnt face blurred.

His voice gradually became trembling and he kept repeating it.

“It will be fine.”

He seemed to be comforting Ruan Linrui, but also seemed to be comforting himself.

A crazy laugh came from behind, and the immortal walked out of the room while laughing.

The noise surged like a raging tide, and everything was displaced.

(End of this chapter)