Free Web NovelChapter 147: Chapter 146: Savior
"Speaking of which, that Mike fellow isn’t dead yet. Aren’t you going back to check on him? You could finish him off while you’re at it," Jingwei asked, pleased with Shen Feng’s compliment. freewebnøvel.com
Shen Feng gently shook his head, a knowing smile in his eyes. He didn’t answer Jingwei, instead asking abruptly, "Have you ever seen *The Matrix*?"
Jingwei paused, then said, "That’s part of my early data archives. Its premise is quite interesting, but we artificial intelligences are actually creative on our own. We don’t need human ingenuity to guide our evolution."
Shen Feng nodded. "Let’s not debate its plausibility. Let’s just talk about the story structure. Most humans live inside the Matrix, while a small number of free people live in the underground city of Zion. The hidden controller, the Architect, selects a savior, Neo, and also creates a supervillain, Smith. Their battle is what allows the entire Matrix to reboot..."
"The Matrix is the megastructure. The free city of Zion is the Gray Tide Graveyard. The Architect is the control core. The Savior, Neo, is me. The supervillain, Smith, is Mike... And don’t you think 042 is playing the part of the Prophet from *The Matrix*?"
Jingwei was rather taken aback.
"Now that you mention it, I’ve compared the narrative structures, and there really is a resemblance... But who’s pulling the strings behind all this? Could it be..."
Shen Feng chuckled. "I’m guessing it’s him... Let’s go. We’ll play along with this crudely imitated script for now and see what he’s really trying to do."
The two traveled on in silence. First, they found a river on Layer 2019, then continued toward their destination coordinates.
With the river came a source of water and food. Aside from the trekking, the journey was rather peaceful.
The Nanomechanical Cluster on Shen Feng’s body had already been modified for kinetic energy conversion. Its own energy consumption was minimal, more than enough to sustain his travel.
Thus, even though the megastructure’s interior was an intricate maze that prevented travel in a straight line, he moved at incredible speed. In just one day, he arrived at the designated coordinates for the Gray Tide Graveyard.
He was still on Layer 2019. Everything around him was perfectly silent, with no sign of human activity.
According to the Holy Sanctuary’s lead Governor, Galen, the Gray Tide Graveyard was located on Layer 1765.
Shen Feng couldn’t be bothered to descend layer by layer. He found another fissure in the megastructure, one resembling a massive lightwell, spread his arms, and leaped down.
A glowing, square entrance lay below. Shen Feng fell several hundred meters, slipping through the opening like a fish through water.
The next moment, his vision was flooded with light!
Below him lay a vast space, ten thousand meters high and dozens of kilometers across!
The gray metal components were gone, replaced by earth, houses, plants, and the bustle of human life!
Rows of crude yet vibrant houses dotted the landscape below. It was a massive underground cavern, enclosed by a circular dome!
The edges of the cavern were lined with swathes of damaged, black Nanomechanical Clusters. In one area, there appeared to be a former harbor.
As far as the eye could see, the ground was dotted with tiny black figures—people working, living.
On the dome above, numerous lighting rigs salvaged from elsewhere illuminated the area, freeing it from the gloom that shrouded the rest of the megastructure.
Freshwater gushed from several massive aqueducts in the dome, cascading down like waterfalls from the sky. This provided an abundant water source, even forming a freshwater lake where people could be seen fishing.
The oppressive, stifling atmosphere was gone, replaced by a sense of life and vitality.
A beacon of hope for humanity!
Shen Feng was currently in free fall. After his initial excitement wore off, he immediately controlled the Nanomechanical Cluster on his body’s surface, shaping it into a parachute to slow his descent.
But as he descended, he was shocked to discover a powerful, sustained electromagnetic pulse emanating from below!
In this environment, the Nanomechanical Cluster covering his body was being constantly damaged and disabled. He estimated it would soon be completely fried.
And he was still several thousand meters up in the air!
’I should’ve just walked. Why the hell did I have to go skydiving? Am I going to fall to my death and become a fucking laughingstock!?’
"Jingwei, how much longer can it hold on?"
"At the current intensity of electromagnetic radiation, the Nanomechanical Cluster should completely disintegrate at an altitude of one thousand meters. However, the intensity seems to be increasing, so you might be in free fall by the time you’re at three to five thousand meters... Remember to land on your ass. Don’t damage your silicon-based framework."
"Figure something out, goddammit!"
"Let me think... I’ve got it! Good thing we already performed the kinetic energy conversion modification. I’ll reconfigure the entire Nanomechanical Cluster into the shape of a hang glider. Then, I’ll use the remaining power to release a massive electrical current, performing a micro-structural weld. It’ll fry every Nanomechanical Insect, but it will also fuse them into a single, solid hang glider. You can just ride it the rest of the way down!" freёwebnovel.com
As Jingwei spoke, the Nanomechanical Cluster rapidly shifted its form, creating a large hang glider.
A powerful electric current surged through it. Its silvery-gray surface instantly turned a dark, burnt gray as the Nanomechanical Cluster died, solidifying completely.
Shen Feng let out a long sigh of relief. Following Jingwei’s guidance, he clumsily maneuvered the hang glider downward. From the ground, he looked like a tiny black paper airplane.
As he descended, people on the ground began to notice him. They looked up and pointed, but didn’t seem overly surprised.
Shen Feng landed gently at the edge of the Gray Tide Graveyard and detached the hang glider.
He looked up to see a stretch of fertile land before him, dotted with old houses and the occasional tall building. He could even hear chickens crowing and dogs barking, making it feel like an ordinary town.
A dozen armed men were running toward him from the town.
"Who are you?" asked the man in the lead, who was wearing a tattered military uniform. He gave the metal hang glider a kick.
Shen Feng smiled faintly. "A sleeper who woke up not long ago. I’m looking for the descendants of Arthur Seldon."
Hearing this, the man in the uniform paused. He stepped forward, carefully examining Shen Feng’s eyes and exposed skin, then extended a hand.
"Well, you’re human, so you’re welcome. The name’s Jamie."
Shen Feng shook it. "Shen."
Jamie nodded.
"Alright, Shen. On behalf of the Gray Tide Graveyard, welcome. To be honest, I’ve seen plenty of your type. Sleepers are either rich and powerful or they’re the worst of criminals—elites, all of them. After hearing that legend, they all come looking for the goddamn descendants of Arthur Seldon, as if he didn’t make our lives miserable enough already..."
A young man in a tattered jacket beside him chimed in.
"Most of them fail, though. They either disappear and die out there, or they settle down here in the Gray Tide Graveyard. You’re welcome to stay, too. Just think of this place as the world you left behind."
Jamie said, "Come on, I’ll give you a tour of the Gray Tide Graveyard, humanity’s last haven. I can even help you find a job, if you need one."
With that, the men exchanged a smile, lowered their guns, and turned to walk toward the town. They seemed accustomed to outsiders.
Shen Feng followed them into the town and saw that it was, indeed, much like the world that was.
There were shops, factories, cafés, restaurants, even a library. Police patrolled the streets, and it seemed Jamie and his men were among them.
The only difference was that there was no electricity.
It made sense when he thought about it. The constant electromagnetic pulses made it impossible for any electronic devices to function here.
They would essentially be fried the moment they were turned on.
The entire Gray Tide Graveyard spanned dozens of kilometers, roughly the size of a city in Hua Country, and was home to a population of five to six hundred thousand.
They were currently in a small town on the outskirts.
As they patrolled, Jamie told Shen Feng about the place.
The Gray Tide Graveyard was originally a relic of the war.
When the Gray Tide ravaged the world, national governments collapsed. A group calling themselves the "Salvation Army" rose up, forming an army to fight the Gray Tide.
Here, they built several mega-scale electromagnetic pulse emitter arrays and established a fortress.
An unknown number of Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs had been dropped all over this land.
Eventually, a genius within the Salvation Army devised a novel solution: to use the planet’s Geomagnetic Field, in conjunction with mechanical devices, to create a natural electromagnetic pulse environment that would halt the Gray Tide’s advance.
But by the time they had finally, after countless hardships, completed the natural EMP fortress, the rest of the world had already fallen.
The megastructure gradually took shape, leaving this place as the only forbidden zone for Nanomechanical Robots, a pocket of life barely clinging on.
Jamie’s telling was simple, but the history behind it was undoubtedly epic and brutal.
The population of "Tomb City," as they called it, was mostly comprised of awakened sleepers, but there were also many who were native-born—descendants of the original Salvation Army members.
Tomb City had always sent out explorers to find hibernation prisons or individual sleepers, spreading the word about the Gray Tide Graveyard to draw more people to this free land.
Soon, they arrived at the center of the town.
Similar to the Holy Sanctuary, there was a humanoid sculpture here as well.
It was a stone statue.
The statue depicted a hooded figure sitting on a hillside, as if in the middle of telling a story.
But the statue’s face was a complete blank; it had no features at all. It was impossible to discern age or gender, let alone any distinct appearance.
Shen Feng felt a surge of emotion.
Before he could ask, Jamie was already gazing at the statue with reverence as he explained:
"This is the founder of the Salvation Army. The Commander. The Valiant Soul. The Savior!"
