Free Web NovelChapter 293: Chapter 97: Eve of Destruction
Inner World.
Bai Wu looked at the completely charred, twisted world and could probably understand the kind of environment in which Zero existed.
Wu Jiu once said to Bai Wu.
"Your inner world is like a town from the Pre-Tower Era, with schools, hospitals, coffee shops, and many places I haven’t been to. The people there seem very kind, although some faces appear more frequently than others. But it’s a very clean inner world."
Perhaps because the room holding negative emotions was always closed off, Bai Wu’s inner world indeed appeared very clean.
Compared to the Lake God, hardly any distortion was visible. That was also why Wu Jiu believed that the real Bai Wu was actually a very kind person.
However, in terms of distortion, Zero’s world was actually not as bad as the Lake God’s.
But Zero’s world had a very distinct characteristic, the sky was covered with countless negative emotions, and beneath that sky lay only darkness.
The world’s multitude of colors had never been displayed to Zero.
When he was still a young human, that world had already turned black.
He was a pitiable mechanical Evil Fallen, unloved by his parents. Some people liked him, others hated him, but in the end, nobody would remember him.
Bai Wu didn’t know how to heal Zero. In the clouds formed by negative emotions, it seemed as if all beings were cursing the silver-haired boy.
"I... don’t know how to heal you."
Zero said:
"Once a woman told me that when the Mechanical City faces its greatest catastrophe, there will be someone who can see through everything to save the Mechanical City."
"Jing Liu?" Bai Wu was surprised.
"It seems you do know her. I don’t believe this world has someone who is omniscient and omnipotent. She might have been wrong, and now it seems, she indeed was."
"Did Jing Liu tell you how I would save the Mechanical City?"
Jing Liu might make mistakes, but the likelihood of her not making a mistake was higher.
"I created a machine called the Angel Envoy, a powerful machine that grants a high combat power boost to its host. This is the machine I prepared for you."
"What do you mean?"
A stroke of luck? Had he finally struck gold? Zero’s gift instantly made Bai Wu feel as though the story was finally starting to make sense.
But Zero quickly threw a bucket of cold water over him:
"The Angel Envoy is part of the symbiotic armor series, but it’s different from all other machines I’ve designed before. The Angel Envoy bonds with the host, offering enhancements tailored to the host’s strength and characteristics. However, when the host harbors malicious thoughts toward me, it will also forcefully drag the host into my inner world."
Bai Wu understood that to accept the gift meant never to be an enemy of the Mechanical City.
"But, unless something unexpected happens, the Angel Envoy will ultimately end up in Jing Wu’s hands. Jing Wu is stronger than me, at least stronger than the weak me. So I can only defeat it in the inner world."
Zero’s voice was devoid of joy or sorrow; his eyes were still fixed on the distorted clock:
"It has already entered the Mechanical Temple, and my body is communicating with it. But probably in twenty minutes, I will choose to refuse to cooperate with it, and it will choose to destroy me. The Mechanical City will also crumble under the havoc wreaked by its three subordinates."
"And the Angel Envoy will forcefully pull Jing Wu into the inner world. Due to the Raou Virus, the likelihood of my losing to it in the inner world is actually higher."
Zero looked at Bai Wu:
"Unless you can find a cure for the Raou Virus within this time frame."
"I..."
Suddenly, there was a feeling that the world would end in twenty minutes, and Bai Wu didn’t know what to do for a moment.
"If it’s not possible, we will die together."
"Then I’ll think of something..."
Bai Wu chickened out, but between life and death, he indeed could be stimulated to think of many solutions to break the deadlock.
Twenty minutes.
In the span of one thousand two hundred seconds, I must find a cure for the Raou Virus, or else not just myself, but possibly the Mechanical City and its companions will all die.
He once answered a teacher from Baichuan Middle School, "Once they have souls, they are human."
The countless beings struggling for survival in Mechanical City were all worth saving.
But how?
At this very moment, Jing Wu had already taken care of several guards.
Its strength was only slightly less than Zero at its peak, and Zero was now very weak and would become even weaker with the coming of the rage tide.
It wasn’t just Zero, the Divine Guard and Arcas created by Zero were the same.
Standing in front of the grand doors of the Mechanical Temple was Arcas.
Jing Wu looked at Arcas with contempt,
"Have you made your choice? Cooperate, or die?"
...
...
Inner City.
Deafening roars echoed throughout the entire Inner City! The entire auction scene shattered under the sonic waves!
Like a storm, the sonic waves rampaged throughout the East City District, instantly shattering the glass windows of countless buildings. The powerful Sonic Howler Cannons came with terrifying piercing force.
At the same time, in front of a red armored body, dozens of elite armed guards and a Divine Guard member were instantly killed by the terrifying power of the Blindfolded Behemoth.
This turn of events was unexpected by the people from the four major weapons companies.
The moment the red mech appeared, it was first met with the strange laughter of an Octopus. Then came a powerful sonic wave assault that all of the Mechanical Race had not anticipated.
The members of the four major weapons companies, who were initially thinking of courtesy before force, were dumbfounded.
By the time they realized someone was preparing for a direct robbery, it was too late.
The blacksmith took the Angel Envoy, marveling at the greatness of technology.
The Octopus expressed its signature smile, dancing with joy.
The Blindfolded Behemoth, murderous in intent, displayed terrifying strength under the firepower siege of the four weapons companies.
Perfect Mutation Entry: High-Temperature Immunity.
Temperatures high enough to melt everything or cold enough to freeze everything were unable to leave any mark on the skin of the Blindfolded Behemoth.
The auction, meticulously prepared by the major companies, was suddenly disrupted by three outsiders.
These three native beings displayed such strength that they utterly suppressed the top brass of the four weapons companies.
With the Angel Envoy in hand, the busy efforts of the four major weapons companies ultimately turned into vain joy.
The strongest mech might as well have been out of reach, as all seemed settled in the auction.
But just as the blacksmith inspected the Angel Envoy, confirmed it to be a treasure, and prepared to transfer it to Jing Wu in Core City—
Two men, one tall and one short, appeared.
The upper echelons of the Eye of Colossus, still at the scene, rejoiced as their mechs were smashed to bits.
The Twin Killers Supreme took the stage.
...
...
Time ticked by, second by second, minute by minute.
Bai Wu still hadn’t thought of a method to break through.
Zero’s Rau virus could never be eradicated, a fact that both Bai Wu and Zero actually knew.
"There are indeed some diseases in this world that cannot be cured, but right now, perhaps I don’t need to cure Zero... I just need to temporarily restore Zero... to its original state." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"What should be done?"
Negative emotions scattered everywhere had accumulated into a thick sea of clouds, in which countless faces bore the expressions of all kinds of suffering and torment from the human world.
The cloud sea stretched endlessly at a glance.
When Zero became infected with the Mechanical Race’s creatures, the creatures of the Mechanical Race were also infecting Zero.
For seven hundred years, this sea of clouds, formed by innumerable negative emotions, had indeed become a burden so heavy that Zero needed to constantly expand the core.
Bai Wu suddenly said:
"If I can’t think of the answer to the problem, does it mean certain death?"
"Your consciousness won’t leave this place, after I die, this world will collapse, and you will too. Jing Wu might be trapped for a while."
Being trapped for a while, others might have a glimmer of hope.
But the Mechanical City and the Mechanical Race created by Zero would be completely erased from history.
Although Bai Wu found many issues with Mechanical City, at least it was Zero’s way of resisting, he had used his own methods to create an ecosystem outside the Tower.
He didn’t want them to be destroyed, but he also couldn’t think of a way to make those negative emotions troubling Zero vanish.
These massive negative emotions blanketed the sky, they were the complex feelings for this world, and the previous world, of Zero and the creatures of the Mechanical Race over the past seven hundred years.
Feeling the passage of time, Zero seemed to think that Bai Wu indeed couldn’t come up with a solution:
"I’ll hide you. But facing Jing Wu, I’m at a great disadvantage, the battle won’t last long, I will die. Soon after, you will too."
He spoke calmly as if discussing an undisturbing fact, a mathematical formula.
"There’s no need to be so pessimistic."
It was an urgent moment, the entire Mechanical City and the future of the Mechanical Race seemed to be in his own hands, but Bai Wu always felt... that he had the power to change it all.
He felt he was overlooking something. As long as he could recall that thing, he would be able to solve Zero’s predicament.
In the final moments, Zero constructed a barrier that made Bai Wu seem as if he didn’t exist. Or rather, Bai Wu had merged with the scorched-black city.
"It seems my mission has failed... By the way, can you tell me if there’s anything special about the chip Xie Yingjie wanted? Did you and Xie Yingjie reach any agreement?"
"You haven’t shown anything that would make me think you deserve to know these things."
Zero ruthlessly rejected Bai Wu.
Bai Wu didn’t mind.
He watched the twisting clock hands tick by, his expression suddenly becoming calmer than ever before.
It wasn’t calmness, but rather he was trying hard to recall a person he disliked.
Without negative emotions, when he faced a person who should have provoked negativity in him, he appeared extremely calm.
Only the last ten or so minutes remained.
Zero moved to a nearby place, leaving Bai Wu alone in a certain area.
He was ready for a final battle to the death with Jing Wu, right here in this scorched-black city.
Jing Wu’s physical body was very strong, but his spiritual power was even stronger. The battle in the Inner World was, for Zero, a last resort.
Bai Wu had not expected that Zero’s trump card would be himself.
He didn’t know whether to say Jing Liu had misjudged, or if Zero was just giving up completely.
But in the last ten minutes, the person whom Bai Wu disliked finally appeared.
The dim surroundings seemed to brighten a little. A clean presence emerged, one that Bai Wu found ironically refreshing.
"I thought it would take a long time before I’d come back, didn’t expect it so soon, tsk tsk. A son knows his father best, as a father knows his son."
Looking at the owner of the presence’s smiling face, although he wasn’t overwhelmed with anger, fear, or sadness, he definitely couldn’t feel happy.
Bai Yuan appeared.
He looked at Bai Wu with a calm face, his smile growing more brilliant,
"This time the enemy does indeed have quite a background. According to the current odds, you should undoubtedly be doomed to lose. But what does that have to do with me? Don’t put on such a stern face. Smile a little. Isn’t meeting your own kind in a foreign place worthy of a smile?"
Bai Yuan’s smile was certainly one to warm people’s hearts, but to Bai Wu, that smile, no matter how he looked at it, was detestable.
"I need to know what exactly you did to me inside the Lake God’s Inner World last time."
Bai Wu ignored Bai Yuan and went straight to the point.
In the final few dozen seconds, Bai Yuan remained his usual self, not telling Bai Wu the answer but just watching him with a gentle gaze.
"When no one in this world remembers you, that’s when you truly die. The Full Moon Fragment lets you exist in the form of obsession, but if I die, you won’t live either," Bai Wu warned Bai Yuan.
"Mmm, you make a good point, but threatening a dead man with death is pointless. You still need to improve your threatening skills. Your threats can’t persuade me. Want to rephrase it?"
Suddenly, many cracks appeared in the pitch-black Inner World. This was a sign.
It also signified that in the real world, the Mechanical City was being continuously destroyed amidst the showdown of several monsters.
Bai Wu said,
"If you want me to open up, you need to show some sincerity at the very least."
Finally, Bai Yuan nodded and remarked,
"The threat has turned into a trade, but it still doesn’t convince me. I’m not interested in your deal. However, the opponent this time hates me and is hated by me, so I will tell you."
Bai Yuan looked somewhat smug,
"When you faced the Lake God, you should have realized that you could absorb the Lake God’s negative emotions, which keeps the Red Lotus Karma Flame outside your bones from ever dying out."
"Every human has a limit to the negative emotions they can bear. Even beings like Zero can be troubled by these emotions, gradually becoming weaker."
"Look at these skies full of negative emotions. They have even materialized into a sea of clouds, enveloping this piece of sky, signifying that Zero’s heart will never see daylight, and no light has ever shone on it for a moment; the world is already pitch black, with only itself as an anomaly. The so-called sun is nothing more than a distorted clock, swinging uncertainly between the past and the future."
"Click-click, my heart feels pain just thinking about it—what a pitiful and love-deprived child. It wants to get rid of these emotions but is unable to do so."
"It would be nice if these negative emotions could be absorbed, but who could possibly do that?"
Bai Yuan’s eyes had already given the answer. The only person capable of absorbing negative emotions was Bai Wu himself.
"You already know that your Inner World has three rooms, and those three rooms can absorb endless negative emotions."
Bai Wu understood,
"So, the Inner Worlds... need to fuse?"
If these vast negative emotions that had accumulated into a sea of clouds appeared in Bai Wu’s world, if Zero’s negative emotions transferred to someone like Bai Wu, who had no negative emotions...
Bai Wu saw the light, but Bai Yuan quickly cautioned him,
"However, this is very dangerous. It means that all information between you and Zero will be completely exchanged."
"It could be me, your friends, or even your past, everything about you will be known by it, and vice versa. You will have no more secrets."
"In a sense, you and Zero will become one; you will be Zero, and Zero will also become you."
Bai Yuan’s expression turned serious for once,
"Nobody knows if there will be any accidents. Maybe after you’ve absorbed all of Zero’s negative emotions and the fusion is undone, you might find that some things have become irreversible."
"There’s a chance that it will know everything you do in the future, of course, that’s just a possibility. There might be better or worse outcomes—who can say?"
In the Inner World, more and more cracks appeared in the Mechanical City. Some buildings even began to vanish.
Zero, connected to the entire Mechanical City, could already feel the Inner City suffering a powerful onslaught. The East City District in the real world was enshrouded in terrifying energy fluctuations.
At the same time, the battles of Xie Xingzhi, Wu Jiu, Zheng Yue, Bai Xiaoyu, and Yan Zizai had also unfolded.
In the instant the raging tide struck, the city would face its destiny of destruction.
Or perhaps... it will be reborn from the ashes!
(Well, I still padded it out for two more Chapters; I can’t rush it. If I rush it, many things will not be explained clearly. Hmm, tomorrow should be the highlight. I hope it can offset the gloomy data~ See you all tomorrow)
