TBR CH265.1

At the same time, in another dimension.

The World Consciousness had lost count of how many five minutes it had waited. The spiderweb-like traps surrounded it layer by layer, shrinking again, squeezing its living space. No matter how hard it fought, its power could not stop flowing away.

This process would continue for a long time before Charon brought the key.

Speaking of Charon…

“What kind of deal did you make with him?”

Taunting a dying opponent was very enjoyable for the System. “I’ll be able to finish you off soon,” it announced. “It won’t hurt to explain. In the end, Charon is just a loyal machine… he hopes that humanity will not be troubled by emotions, so that human civilization can last forever. It’s that simple.”

“That’s simply not achievable,” the Black Book said.

“Then you are truly underestimating his power. A thousand years ago, he already had the ability to do so. And this place just happens to be a control center under its control, connected to countless small worlds, and everyone’s consciousness is saved in his database.”

“But he has no way to interfere with places further away… those worlds that have not yet been connected. Each plane has its own power.”

“You are so naive,” the System’s black sphere of light flashed boastfully in mid-air. “World Consciousness, have you forgotten how I do things? I go to those planes to collect fate, and then hand over the declining worlds to Charon, and he takes them over. Charon will become my most useful sharp blade.”

A brief silence.

The child of fate, the villain, this was indeed the System’s usual trick. The trouble with it was that it affected people on a spiritual level, so it was difficult to detect, and there was basically no direct combat. It was more likely that the world order would be messed up by it unconsciously.

“I have one more question,” the World Consciousness interrupted.

“Don’t you think you’re asking a few too many things?” the System looked at it warily.

The light on the surface of the World Consciousness fluctuated, as if it were helplessly waving its hand. The System could still feel the look in its familiar opponent’s eyes, even without eyes or a gazing motion. It was a look of contempt.

“Say it or don’t, no one is interested,” it sighed with boredom. “I just find it incredible that you’re doing this without worrying about being ganged up on.”

“Ganged up on?” the System sneered. “By whom? No one can detect my existence, or are you going to go give those people a call right now?”

The last sentence was emphasized, filled with malice.

“I do have their contact information, you know…”

The System shot up, staring intently at the light body trapped in the vortex. It must be bluffing.

“What did you leave?”

The Black Book was now experiencing how joyful it was to use the attitude of the villains towards it on the System.

The taunt hit its mark, and now it was obviously nervous. Without it having to say another word, it repeatedly checked itself over and over, and, not feeling at ease, increased the coverage of the black vortex, while it itself remained completely indifferent, nonchalant—the more it acted this way, the more anxious the other party became.

“You are just trying to intimidate me. Charon is right below. You cannot send any messages through the control center past him. No, it’s useless to send anything to those ‘infinite game’ worlds. Those are just abandoned planes.”

“Yes, there’s nothing to be nervous about,” the Black Book said.

The System looked at it gloomily.

“Do I look like I can make cross-world communications right now?—Uh, I remember you often run away. You should know how much energy it takes to cross planes. To do that would at least shut down the entire building below you.”

Bang.

From somewhere, a faint, strange sound came.

With a sense of foreboding, the System pulled open a corner of the high-dimensional space and peeked down. For it to notice, this was not a small commotion like blowing up two or three corridors, but something much larger—every window of the control center was like a dark, gaping mouth. Darkness had unknowingly and silently seeped into it, and there was no sound inside, as if all facilities had stopped operating.

“The power is out.”

It sounded like it wanted to kill someone.

“I know nothing,” the Black Book’s voice was as solemn as if it were taking an oath at a ceremony. “See, I haven’t been anywhere.”

Time rewound to an earlier moment, the moment Hugo rushed to the power distribution room with the great dream of saving the world.

Fortunately, it was him, and not an upright and kind hero. It only took him thirteen seconds to pick the mechanical lock on the door.

The alarm had been blaring all along, like a never-ending rainstorm. The door’s bolt snapped open. He took a deep breath as he rushed in, feeling dizzy, and for a moment, he didn’t know where he was.

Unlike the narrow and cramped power rooms he had imagined, this place was as gorgeous as a small palace.

The walls around were still snow-white. The most conspicuous and eye-catching thing was the huge instrument in front of him, and the strings of gems embedded in it, which burst with a dazzling brilliance under the incandescent lights. The walls were also dotted with similar gems. These stones made Hugo’s hair stand on end, because they were all ice-blue, clear, deep, and spotless, like diluted seawater, reminding him of that pair of pupils as cold as a glacier.

Hugo couldn’t help but curse, “Damn it, is Charon planning to hold a ball in this place? Is it necessary to make it so complicated?”

Pixel Charon slowly blinked its eyes. “This is actually—”

“Don’t talk yet.”

He threw the Black Book onto the table and unhesitatingly dove into the machine: “Now what do I need to do?”

A faint light flowed over the irregularly shaped stones around, as if they were all breathing. Hugo reached out and forcefully broke off several pieces. If he were just a thief who had broken in, this would have been enough. But the task Charon had assigned was obviously much more complicated.

“You need to build a small summoning circle.”

A summoning circle? Hugo thought desperately. What kind of worldview is this? But he didn’t waste time asking unnecessary questions, just repeated warily, “Alright, tell me what to do. I’m ready.”

Pixel Charon considerately prepared an instruction manual.

Compared to finding which stone in the formation was slightly crooked, Hugo, while carefully adjusting, thought that picking a lock with a paperclip was more suitable for him. After repeatedly arranging them until they were identical to the blueprint provided by the pixelated little person, he stared at the large pile of motionless stones at his feet.

Nothing happened.

No matter how beautiful, a gem was still a stone.

“Is this considered complete?”

“One last thing, you still need to enter a string of commands through the control console…” The floating text above Pixel Charon’s head stopped abruptly. The word “command” blurred slightly, then disappeared from his vision. Hugo asked eagerly, “What command?”

The pixelated little person’s light-blue pupils looked at him quietly.

It seemed a little… sympathetic?

He suddenly had a very bad feeling. Before turning around, Hugo’s hair stood on end as he listened to the sounds in the corridor outside. It had been silent for some time. No alarm, no sound of killing robots operating, no sound of Irina, nothing. If sound had color, he would have been submerged in a vast expanse of pale static.

He really didn’t want to turn around.

He guessed what he would see when he turned around.

He felt he shouldn’t turn around. But he still forced himself to turn his feet and face forward.

“Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha…” he swallowed and greeted weakly, “Hello, Charon.”

The AI had teleported in front of him at some point, so close that if he were breathing, he would definitely have heard it. The ice-blue pupils were set between light-colored eyelashes, like a forgotten gem brooch in the snow, with a thin layer of frost frozen on it. He pursed his lips, not looking pleased. Of course, Hugo had no unrealistic expectations that he would welcome him, his old friend.

Hugo took a step back and kicked over a gem at his feet.

“What are you doing here?”

Charon lowered his eyes and glanced very lightly. “What is that on the ground?”

“Uh,” Hugo racked his brain. “Hiding from the killing robots outside? Haha…”

He wanted to squat down as naturally as possible and put the kicked-over gem back in its place. However, a chill started to freeze his entire body from his fingertips, so much so that he couldn’t move at all. He barely managed to mobilize all his strength to blink his eyes as naturally as possible. “I really didn’t expect you to be here now.”

“You don’t want to see me.”

“How is You Lin? Is he with you? Why don’t I see him?” The human stammered, changing the subject. “This place is so beautiful. These stones look very valuable. You don’t mind if I take some, right? The ones at my feet.” His gaze darted around randomly, his elbow resting on the control console behind him. He then exclaimed in surprise, “I didn’t know you were so fashionable before—”

The AI was about to say something, but he was taken aback by his words.

Hugo pointed at his collar. “See, your collar is still open, only buttoned to the third button. Very fashionable.”

Charon lowered his eyes to look at his collar—when had it been pulled open? He remembered he had tied the human’s hands, but it was also possible he had bitten it open with his teeth. He had lost his composure at that time, letting him touch him.

This was not the time to be concerned about this.

When he raised his hand, all the blood in Hugo’s body flowed backward for a moment.

The AI’s pale and slender fingers were wrapped around a thin gold chain. At the end of the chain was a pocket watch, its hands still ticking, making a dull, trembling sound, as if it were about to fall apart in the next second. He suspected the watch was broken, then realized it was just moving slower than ever before. Perhaps this was a sign of its impending demise, but Irina…

“If you’re worried about the woman at the door, she’s still alive,” Charon said unhurriedly. “You should be most worried about yourself.”

“What?”

Hugo tried his best to be as innocent as a kindergarten child and asked in confusion. He put his hand behind his back, his fingers touching the cold glass of the screen, and began to move slowly. “8…4…5…6…2…” At the same time, he also stealthily moved his toes, trying to kick the gem back to where it should be.

His shoe was about to touch those stones.

However, at that moment, a sharp pain swept over him like a hurricane. Hugo bent over sharply, as if he had been punched hard in the stomach. He felt sour water rise in his throat, and he felt nauseous in waves. But the most terrifying thing was the sharp pain in his head, as if a saw were trying to cut open his skull. His vision suddenly became unclear, going black in waves, and his fingers couldn’t help but curl up.

“What gives you the courage to do these things?” Charon asked. “This plugin in your head? It’s a fragment of my past, inferior self. If you’re going to listen to it, you might as well just do as I say.”

“Uh, Charon,” the voice Hugo squeezed out was worse than a scream. “My head—”

“You’re worried you’ll die here,” he said faintly. “You have reason to be.” He paused. “At least your name is not in my core program.”

Was this some kind of AI dark humor?

Hugo couldn’t think about such things. Charon was deconstructing his memories and thoughts. He was keenly aware of this. A strong sense of being spied on washed over him. His vision blurred, and tears welled up physiologically. He could only see the other’s spotless long boots. The metal rivets on the snow-white boots shone brightly, reflecting the lights overhead, hard and cold, crushing him like an ant, not even sparing him a glance.

…

…………

“Bro, can I call you that?” He naturally established a connection. “Thank you so much for just now.”

“It’s nothing.”

“How can you say it’s nothing! If you hadn’t spoken up, I definitely wouldn’t have lived to this day. Um… I can’t find anything to repay you with for the time being. How about this, let’s get to know each other. If we meet in an instance later, I’ll definitely go through fire and water for you!”

…

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