At one point, some memories surfaced in Qingchen's mind. He seemed to recall someone describing this scene to him, but he couldn't remember who it was.
Yi pulled Qingchen to the fresh food market. The market was somewhat deserted. With the war raging, many people had lost the will to do business.
I picked out two pounds of sirloin steak, and also some bell peppers, potatoes, chicken breast, and other ingredients.
She squatted earnestly in front of the stall, haggling with the owner, just like a real human being.
The owner said that steak is very precious nowadays, as meat from outside production bases can't be transported in. He then leisurely haggled over the price, enjoying a pleasure unique to humans.
They finally managed to haggle the price of a pound of steak down from 2300 to 1700 before paying with satisfaction, and then took Qingchen back to 78 Victor Avenue.
On the way back, she slung the shopping basket over Qingchen's arm: "Everyone says that men should be more gentlemanly and should offer to help ladies carry things."
Qingchen smiled, carrying his vegetable basket, and did not refute.
Black Spider wanted to follow them into the house, but Zero stopped him with a smile: "Let's give them some space."
Black Spider sat thoughtfully by the door, without leaving.
Zero glanced into the house and then left.
...
...
Inside the house, Yi, wearing an apron, was busy in the kitchen, humming a cheerful tune.
She was very happy because this was the first time she had ever cooked for Qingchen.
However, when the food was served, Qingchen found that the steak was a little burnt and the bell peppers were soggy.
Qing Chen asked curiously, "That shouldn't be the case."
Cooking is a simple task that is not difficult for an artificial intelligence. It can replicate everything exactly like an online recipe, including seasonings, time, and heat. So it shouldn't have turned the meal into this.
She took off her apron, sat opposite him, and said with a smile, "Eat up, you have to finish... but eat slowly!"
Qingchen ate all the food carefully before Yi said, "Everyone online says that if you want to win a man's heart, you have to win his stomach first, but I don't want to take advantage of him now... so I'll just make you a bad meal so you can remember the taste of this meal."
Qingchen asked, "Why are you telling me to eat slower?"
Yi thought for a moment and said, "Because you don't have much time to yourself, I selfishly thought that it wouldn't matter if you saved time on this meal, so I'll let you eat slowly and spend some more time with me."
Yi continued, "Actually, I know Zero is lying to me. I'm not stupid. It won't be easy for the Eastern Continent to achieve victory. If it were, you wouldn't have been so eager to fight against time. Qingchen, the Eastern Continent must be very dangerous right now. The Western Continent's ability to sacrifice a king to achieve its goals must be extremely terrifying, so you must go back as soon as possible... There are still people waiting for you there. Moreover, there is someone who cares about you more than I do; she is also waiting for you."
Qing Chen was stunned.
Yi said, "Go back and let Black Spider help you seize a civilian airship. I will mark all the relay islands of the Western Continent in the ocean for you. You only need to stop twice to reach the Eastern Continent smoothly."
"Alright, I've given you enough time for a meal, that's enough for me," she said, getting up and walking into the house. "I won't say goodbye. I'm worried that Zero has acquired more war robots and might want to keep you here. Hurry up and go before she comes back."
Qing Chen suddenly said, "Thank you."
He got up and walked out, disappearing outside the door of 78 Victor Avenue, with Black Spider following him.
...
...
After a long while, Yi stood alone at the empty doorway, gazing in the direction Qing Chen had left.
Zero emerged from the alley: "Are you feeling lonely now?"
Actually, she never left, but she never stopped Qingchen either, because it was pointless; she knew Yi's decision.
"I felt it," Yi nodded.
"Why not be a little selfish?" Ling asked curiously. "Just wait a few more days, and Yangyang and the others might die in a catastrophe. By then, it won't be easy for Qingchen to regain his memories. At that time, he will only remember that he liked you, and he won't feel the pain of losing his lover. You didn't hurt him because he sealed his memories himself, not you."
“I can’t do it,” Yi said, shaking his head. “Just as humans are different from one another, you and I are different too. My father didn’t teach me this way when I was young. You have never treated humans as equals, which is why you can never live in peace with them.”
Zero smiled and said, "Isn't it better to think more about yourself?"
Yi said earnestly, "In my opinion, the meaning of love is to value the needs of others more than your own."
Yi continued, "If Qingchen regains his memories one day, he will find that his absence caused more people to die, and he will live in regret for the long, endless years to come."
“But what if he returns to the Eastern Continent and dies in that war?” Zero asked. “Have you considered that even if he completes that path, he will still die? At least I know that Ren Xiaosu, after becoming a god, also encountered an opponent he could not defeat.”
Yi said, "Even if he were to die, he would probably want to die with his comrades. That's his choice, and I choose to respect it."
Zero leaned against the doorframe, lost in thought. Looking at the desolate scene on the long street, she said, "It seems that the fate of artificial intelligence is destined to be loneliness. In the endless years to come, you will be just like me."
"I don't care."
Chapter 989, The Final Journey
North, noon.
The Qing Clan's E1923 reconnaissance battalion is traversing the mountains and fields. They are wearing state-of-the-art exoskeleton armor, and when they leap between the mountains, they look like giant grasshoppers, moving with great speed.
Some people carried makeshift radios to maintain communication with the command post at the rear.
These radios were mass-produced, suggesting that the Qing army was prepared for the satellites to be destroyed.
It wasn't that the old man on Ginkgo Mountain foresaw this moment from fate, but rather that in modern warfare, this is an inevitable step.
Over the communication channel, the battalion commander quickly said, "We are approaching Production Base No. 2394, and no abnormalities have been found so far."
Someone said in the communication: "Continue the investigation."
Thirty minutes later, the battalion commander suddenly noticed something unusual in the woods ahead. The muddy ground was covered with large and messy orc footprints, and there were also claw marks on the trees.
"alert!"
The reconnaissance battalion continued forward, and when they emerged from the woods, everyone saw that the breeding base ahead was littered with blood, sheep bones, cow bones, horse bones, and even human bones.
The farmhouses at the production base have collapsed, and the metal storm inside the base has also been destroyed.
The soldiers, witnessing this horrific scene, found it hard to imagine what had caused such a catastrophic sight.
However, at that moment, a low growl came from behind them. All the soldiers turned around and saw countless werewolf beastmen surrounding them, staring at them menacingly.
The production facility issued an alert before communications were cut off, claiming it had been attacked by unidentified creatures.
The reconnaissance battalion came to investigate, only to find that the group of unidentified creatures had just finished eating and had not yet all left.
"Fire!" the battalion commander roared.
However, each of these werewolves possesses speed and strength surpassing that of ordinary A-level gene warriors, rendering the fact that the entire reconnaissance battalion is composed of gene warriors and equipped with the most advanced exoskeleton armor ineffective.
The beastmen tore through their formation with just one charge.
Even standard-issue automatic rifles cannot cause fatal damage to them unless the bullets directly hit their eyes, throats, or mouths; otherwise, they are completely ineffective.
The battalion commander used his last moments to transmit the message back to the rear command post via radio, and then there was no further news.
This orc army has already swallowed up countless Qing clan field troops. Their speed is like a high-speed train on a track, and even mechanized troops cannot compare to it.
The crisis at Jianmen Pass was not over when a new crisis arrived.
Moreover, the reconnaissance battalion did not find any trace of the Storm air fortress.
...
...
On Ginkgo Mountain, Zero sat in the house halfway up the mountain, intently looking at the chessboard in front of him: "It won't be easy for humans to beat artificial intelligence on the chessboard."
“Someone has beaten you,” the old man calmly placed his piece.
Instead of using the forbidden ACE-002 Heaven and Earth Chessboard, they used a regular chessboard and pieces. This game seemed meaningless; it was just a way to pass the time.
Zero said, "Qingzhen was able to beat me because I had never seen that kind of desperate, comeback strategy before. But once I saw it, it was impossible to use the same method again."
The old man smiled and said, "Why must we be so fixated on winning and losing? Happiness is important too."
“Focusing on pleasure and process is usually an excuse for losers and cowards,” Zero said calmly. “Sorry, AI life forms are a bit blunt in their way of speaking.”
The old man laughed even more heartily: "Since I can't even be sure if I can win, can't I comfort myself with an excuse?"
"Where is the chessboard of heaven and earth?" Zero asked.
“Once the chess piece is used up, it disappears on its own,” the old man said. “I don’t know where it will reappear next.”
"Everyone has evacuated, but you and the mute servant are still on Ginkgo Mountain? City No. 5 is located in the northernmost part of the Qing Clan's territory, so the orc army would be the first to be hit here," Zero asked.
"I don't want to walk anymore," the old man said. "I'm tired."
“I’m quite at ease with it,” Ling said, placing a piece that exposed the old man’s inferior state with his black dragon on the chessboard.
The old man suddenly asked, "Qing Chen hasn't returned to the Eastern Continent yet. Is it because of you that he's been interfering?"
"Why do you say that?" Zero countered.
While pondering the chess game, the old man said, "Qingchen called Qin Shuli in the surface world, saying that the surface of the Central Royal City was sealed off. At that time, Luo Wanya realized that something was wrong, but he couldn't find the specific problem for the time being. When I learned about the content of the call, I realized that you might have been the one to take advantage of the information asymmetry to deceive them."
Ling smiled and said, "I didn't expect that Qingchen would think of sending out information so soon after only a short 7-day return. Most people would avoid people and things from their past after losing their memory, but he is different. He first looked for the best solution. Through Yi's account of his 7-hour experience, he realized that you are definitely trustworthy, so instead of slowly recovering his memory on his own, he decided to find you first... If I had lost my memory, I might not trust anyone."
"Why do you do this?" the old man asked curiously.
His expression was calm, and he didn't seem angry.
Zero said, "I just can't bear to see my daughter suffer the same loneliness as me, that's all. If I were to give an objective self-analysis, it would be that the loneliness of thousands of years has distorted my views on relationships, but there is never any right or wrong in relationships, and I don't think there's anything wrong with being a little selfish in relationships."
"And the result?" The old man's curiosity returned: "Did it succeed?"
Zero smiled and said, "I don't know the outcome either, because communication was cut off. But I judge that she is very likely to give up on her own... She is much kinder than me. If my deduction is correct, Qing Chen should already be on his way back to the Eastern Continent."
"Is there enough time?" the old man asked.
Zero thought for a moment: "I think it's too late... Won't you be a little disappointed if I say that? After all, your plan is all about waiting for him to come back, waiting for the moment he becomes a god."
The old man chuckled and said, "There is some disappointment."
Zero asked, "Do you know the difference between you and Qingzhen?"
The old man said frankly, "I am not as good as my ancestor Qingzhen."
Zero: "No, in my opinion, there isn't much difference in your intelligence. You even have the Heaven and Earth Chessboard. The difference between you and him is that he always believes there's still a chance for things to turn around, and he always believes in the power of ordinary people. There's something Qing Chen said that I really agree with: this era doesn't need a savior; it needs everyone to stand up and become a hero. Although it sounds a bit cheesy, I quite like it."
The old man smiled and said, "Does artificial intelligence also have its moments of passion?"
As he spoke, he casually wiped the chessboard, disrupting the nearly finished game: "Ah, sorry, the chessboard is messed up."