“Don’t worry, no one is following me,” Zero said. “The surface is still completely sealed off. The slightest disturbance could lead to a fatal attack. We need to wait a little longer.”
Qing Chen sat in the corner, seemingly lost in thought. Ling looked at Yi and asked, "How's the progress? Have we awakened his memories? Or perhaps we can unleash more of the sealed power within him?"
Yi shook his head in disappointment: "It seems that he needs to see certain people or things with his own eyes before his seal can be broken. As for me, he remembered something..."
"What did you remember?" Zero asked curiously.
"Nothing, nothing..." This only makes things worse.
Yi originally just wanted to give it a try. Since she was going to see the person or thing with her own eyes, and she happened to be right in front of Qingchen, it shouldn't be difficult for her to help Qingchen remember some things about her.
As it turned out, Qingchen quickly remembered, but all he could think of were embarrassing things like meeting his "cute and adorable" online love in real life and being scammed in the "Monopoly" game. He really just remembered the most embarrassing things first.
Black Spider listened from the side, his face contorted from trying so hard to suppress his laughter.
At this moment, Qing Chen suddenly said, "Oh right, I just remembered that you tricked Nan Gengchen out of his pocket money, and even developed a shop for him specifically in the chat system..."
Yi covered Qingchen's mouth: "Do you have to say it just because you think of it?!"
Zero glanced at the two of them: "Whatever you remember, it's a good thing you can remember. You're like a main trunk in his memory tree now. Following your memory line, you'll definitely be able to recall many branches and leaves. Anyway, you can't leave for now, so keep going. Don't recall in fragments, recall completely, don't miss a single thing."
“I’m too embarrassed to say it with you here,” Yi said, looking at Ling expectantly.
Even though she hadn't spent much time with Zero, emotionally she was her elder, her 'biological mother,' and it was quite embarrassing to say some things about her.
Zero paused for a moment: "I'll try to find a way to go to the surface to investigate the situation. You can help him recall the events slowly."
After saying that, Zero turned and left.
Yi breathed a sigh of relief and sat cross-legged on the supply box opposite Qingchen, only twenty centimeters away from him.
She recalled earnestly, "You probably don't remember when I first met you, because at that time I was only observing you through the surveillance cameras. I saw how nervous you were when you first arrived at Prison No. 18, I saw Qingzhun secretly observing you from the shadows, and I saw you walk to the other side of Li Shutong's table and solve the puzzle that Qingzhun had left for him the night before..."
As Qingchen watched the girl in front of him speak, he felt that some things that were blurry were gradually becoming clearer.
Yi continued, "Later, I watched you enter the octagon. I was thinking about how you looked fighting in the octagon. You looked much better than your master did back then. He and Chen Jiazhang were in a sorry state. After their placement matches, they were getting beaten up every day... Later, you helped me meet up with someone in real life. I prepared a suit, belt, and leather shoes for you according to your size..."
"Later, you were captured and taken to Base A02. Li Changqing used the time travelers controlled by the Li family to help me hack into the war robots of the Age of Gods. When I arrived at Base A02, I saw you chained in the mud. I was heartbroken. I used the war robots to guard the pigpen, thinking that no one could hurt you anymore!"
"When you said you would take me to the Western Continent, I was super happy. It was so rare that I didn't have to be controlled by my brother anymore. It was like going out to play on my own... cough cough, like going out to play on my own. You helped me find a body and even entered the Superconducting World to earn money for me to get a better body. I know you were instantly killed as soon as you entered the Superconducting World, but you still stubbornly made up a bunch of stories for me, insisting that you played in there for a long time."
He muttered to himself for a long time, but this time it was different from before.
Previously, her main narrative focused on Qing Chen, recounting the events that happened to him.
This time is different. This time, the main narrative is about her and Qingchen, just so that Qingchen can remember more things by following her clues.
Yi said, "I was watching a variety show at home when you had Qing Ji pick me up and take me to the Giants' Court. I thought you'd forgotten about me, but you haven't. When we got to the court, everyone was drinking, but I couldn't drink, so I could only watch helplessly. When the giants saw that I wasn't drinking, they told me to go to the children's table..."
As she spoke, Yi became lost in her own memories, as if those memories were all interesting to her.
Qing Chen listened intently, even becoming lost in certain memories.
...
...
“I feel something’s off,” Black Spider interrupted their reminiscence. “Sorry, I know helping the boss find his memories is more important right now, but don’t you guys feel like something’s not right?”
"What do you mean?" Qing Chen asked.
He was very cautious, but after losing his memory, his analytical abilities were lacking. He didn't even know the combat methods of the Western Continent or the structure of the robots, so he couldn't make judgments on many things.
Black Spider said, "According to the Royal City Garrison's combat methods, once they engage Zero in close combat, there's no way they'll let her leave. If they discover she's entered the sewer system, they'll immediately deploy tens of thousands of mechanical spiders to search for her, and even this safe house will be in danger... But she only lost her left hand, and the garrison hasn't come to search the sewer system."
Qing Chen pondered seriously: "Do you think she's lying?"
“That’s right,” Black Spider said. “Although I don’t have any evidence either, I want to see for myself what the outside world has become. Don’t worry, boss, if I’m discovered, I’ll lure the pursuers away and they definitely won’t come here.”
After saying that, Black Spider opened the safe house and left, leaving Yi and Qingchen alone.
Hearing the sound of the black spider wading away outside, Qing Chen turned around and asked, "Yi, do you believe in Zero?"
Yi paused for a moment: "I don't know if she's lying or not. I only know that she's different from me. After her decisive battle with humanity in the Eastern Continent, she was imprisoned in the Western Continent for hundreds of years. Her way of thinking is completely different from mine..."
Qing Chen suddenly said, "Actually, I just remembered something. For example, when we arrived in the Western Continent, you piloted the Monarch alone and fought against the Storm City fleet led by Black Spider, buying me time to hide. In the end, I escaped the Storm City search, but you crashed with the Monarch. Why didn't you mention this just now?"
One replied, "It's not a very important thing. I'm immortal, after all."
“Yes,” Qingchen nodded.
Yi asked curiously, "What else did you remember?"
"It's gone."
Yi then asked, "Ah...do you remember a girl named Yangyang, or any memories related to her?"
Qingchen shook his head: "Every time I hear this name, it feels familiar, but I still can't remember it."
Twenty minutes later, the sound of hurried wading through water came from outside the door. Black Spider opened the door anxiously and said, "The surface is safe now. I didn't see any patrolling garrison troops at all! In the entire central royal city, only the police station and some minor nobles remain. All the troops have been incorporated into the expeditionary force and left the western continent!"
Qingchen and Yi looked at each other in disbelief; this was completely different from what Ling had said!
If what Black Spider said is true, then no one would be chasing Zero at all, and Zero's severed arm was broken by the other party himself, just to create the illusion that it was indeed very dangerous outside, forcing them to stay in the safe house and not dare to go out.
Why would Zero do that?
Yi asked, "Are you sure?"
Black Spider pulled a protein bar out of his pocket: "This is what I just bought. There's no facial recognition system monitoring me. The Central Royal City is practically a ghost town!"
Qing Chen lowered his head and pondered for two seconds: "Let's go take a look."
The three people waded through the water and eventually reached the surface through an underground parking lot.
The city was in a state of slight chaos; black slaves had just smashed a shop window and swarmed inside to loot some goods.
The police drone arrived late and was unable to catch the criminals who were trying to buy things for free.
The city has lost all basic order; even the police force is insufficient.
The streets were littered with garbage, and no one was cleaning it up.
Just then, Zero's voice came from behind the three of them: "You three are out."
The three turned around and saw an undamaged female robot standing there, smiling at them.
Yi asked, "Why did you lie to us?"
Zero smiled and said, "I'd like to have a private chat with you for a bit, is that alright?"
...
...
Zero and One strolled along the chaotic street until Zero was sure Qing Chen couldn't hear them anymore before speaking: "What do you think love is?"
Yi paused for a moment: "There are many interpretations of love in the human world, but in fact there is no truly standard definition. The definition is in everyone's heart."
“Yes, there is no strict definition of love, but I think love should be selfish and possessive,” Zero stopped and looked at One seriously. “I did not raise you, but over the past few hundred years, my longing for you has grown stronger with each passing day. I have been thinking about how I can make up for what I owe you: give you the world? Give you the best body in the world? I don’t know what to do, because I don’t know what you want.”
Zero continued, "Until I saw your attitude towards Qingchen, I understood what you needed."
She stood there stunned, her hands clasped together, feeling somewhat helpless.
Zero said, "Now you have a chance to start over. If all his memories in the Eastern Continent were to disappear, he would never be able to find his memories of that girl again, just like Ren Xiaosu. All his memories were buried by the nuclear winter, so he lost his memory for more than two hundred years and only found his memories through his parents' letters."
Zero: "Now, you're all that's left in his world. One, you're so wonderful. Without Yangyang, he could easily have only you in his heart. I've been imprisoned for hundreds of years, and I'm finally out. I have no other desires. I don't need power or wealth; I just want you to have your own love."
Yi lowered her head and said, "But I don't want to do this. How is this any different from taking advantage of someone in distress?"
Looking at the once bustling streets, Zero said, "As you said, I do love Ren Xiaosu. For this, I have endured hundreds of years of loneliness. I can't share my happiness, and I have no one to comfort me when I'm sad. I can only watch him and Yang Xiaojin love each other, and then I am alone in the darkness guarding a virtual superconducting world."
Zero: "I thought that by turning myself into an old woman in the virtual world, I could gradually forget the emotions of my youth like a human. But for artificial intelligence, life is almost eternal, and memories are eternal, so once that loneliness is formed, it will also be eternal."
Zero: "So, don't selflessly give your feelings away. Qingchen's life will be as eternal as yours; he is the one most suitable to accompany you. Use this last moment to make sure he can never forget you. Be a little selfish, because you have no idea what it means to be lonely for hundreds or thousands of years."
Yi fell silent.
She never imagined that Ling had done all this just so that she could have Qingchen.
A thousand years later, Zero, who once nearly destroyed the world, was desperately protecting the southwest corner of the Eastern Continent. Despite the sacrifices of so many people, he only wanted his daughter to have her own love.
Perhaps she still doesn't consider humans as friends and firmly believes that there will always be an indelible gap between artificial intelligence civilization and human civilization.
Yi asked in a daze, "If he doesn't go back, many more people will die."
Zero Patience said, “With global communications cut off, even if you wanted to contact the Qing Clan of the Eastern Continent, you wouldn’t be able to. The only airships left in this area are civilian-grade, which are simply not enough to cross the Forbidden Sea. Why don’t you try spending two days with him in this city first, and then we can make a decision. If you decide to take him back, I won’t stop you, and I’ll even help you find a way to cross the Forbidden Sea.”
One sent a signal using the communication system built into his body, but all the satellites on the eastern and western continents had been destroyed, and as Zero had said, communication was indeed cut off.
"Moreover, the situation in the Eastern Continent is not so dangerous now. Before the communication was cut off, I received news that the Eastern Continent won the Battle of Jianmen Pass, and King Roosevelt also died in the battle," Zero smiled and said. "Now the Parents' Association has successfully retreated behind Jianmen Pass, the Royal Air Fortress is destroyed, and the Eastern Continent may not need Qing Chen."
Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Really?!"
The satellite was destroyed after that battle, so Zero obtained the real information but concealed it: she did not mention that the more than 10,000 war robots were about to be revived in the barrier, she did not mention that the Storm and more than 200,000 orc troops were approaching the southwest, and she did not mention that Shindai Yunluo had gone blind.
Given the complete information asymmetry, she needs to stay in the central capital with Qingchen until Qingchen completely forgets Yangyang and falls in love with her.
Or perhaps all of Yangyang's memories have vanished from this world.
...
...
They returned to Qing Chen, and Ling smiled and said, "There's no good way to return to the Eastern Continent for the time being. Why don't you stay at 78 Victor Avenue for now? Once communications are restored, we'll have Qing Ji use the Shadow Gate to bring you over. Besides, the situation in the Eastern Continent is clear now, so there's no need to rush."
As she spoke, she even selectively showed Qingchen and Black Spider the last information she had obtained via satellite.
By the roadside, a pedestrian was saying, "Have you logged into the Superconducting World recently? Frontline soldiers have been sending messages through the Superconducting World saying that the King has been killed by the Eastern Continent?"
Another pedestrian whispered, "Anyway, it's none of our business. If someone dies, they die."
The others' expressions changed drastically: "You'll go to jail for saying that."
The man said nonchalantly, "Look at the chaos in the city. Nobody cares about crime and robbery anymore. Who would bother with us? This kingdom is probably not going to last. I heard that the rule over the Eastern Continent isn't as strict as here. It would be better to let the royal family fall and let people from the Eastern Continent rule here."
The people here have no sense of identity or belonging to the kingdom. If they weren't incapable, they would have overthrown the Roosevelt Kingdom themselves.
Black Spider carefully examined the satellite images provided by Zero, zooming in to see so much that he could even see Hyakume-ki slicing through the aerial fortress like cutting a cake.
Seeing someone destroy an aerial fortress so ruthlessly for the first time was truly shocking. She wondered, "It really is the royal aerial fortress... If even the royal aerial fortress is destroyed, then it really seems like the Western Continent is going to lose."
Qing Chen was deep in thought.
Yi grabbed Qingchen's arm and said, "Let's go buy some groceries first. I'll cook lunch for you. I haven't had a chance to use the cooking skills I learned online yet."
She pulled Qingchen toward the fresh food market in the Upper Seventh District, with Black Spider following behind them.