“The Sword of Extinguishment… has been drawn!”

A blaze of light and heat washed over the bronze palace.

Turing struggled to open his eyes, gazing in a daze at the radiant depths of the flames.

A blurry golden figure hovered behind Gu Shen.

"Chu Ling."

Turing was stunned. The existence of that golden figure meant that Gu Shen's "theory" was entirely true.

Just as he murmured subconsciously, the figure seemed to turn its head and look in his direction.

The dust settled.

Gu Shen stood in the center of the bronze palace, holding the Sword of Extinguishment.

He weighed it in his hand.

The Sword of Extinguishment… had no weight.

The sword was only a thin, ethereal "sword shape."

Because it was a purely conceptual, illusory weapon. If not for the mental world, Gu Shen would not have been able to "draw" it so easily.

"Where did Chu Ling go…?"

Turing hurriedly stood up. After the dust cleared, the throne in the bronze palace was still there, but the golden figure that had been hovering behind Gu Shen had vanished with the dust.

"I am here."

A light, ethereal voice echoed within the Initial.

At that moment, the corridor lights inside the Initial lit up in rows, as if an invisible breeze swept through, connecting every corner of the Initial's system, ultimately responding to Turing's question as the system AI.

A’Fu: “???”

As the Initial's caretaker, it hadn't sensed anything unusual!

As the AI created by the Lord of Melting Iron, it had spent years alongside the Initial, considering it to be its own "body."

Now there was another AI inside the Initial…

Logically, this should at least have been done with its consent!

"What the hell?"

A'Fu raged, "What do you mean, 'I am here'? Where are you?!"

"If you are asking for my specific location…"

Chu Ling's voice paused for a few seconds.

"Then I am omnipresent."

The two red shadows standing respectfully beside the bronze palace now had crimson glows blooming in their eyes. They bent over in a somewhat stiff bow, clearly Chu Ling was adapting to the "objects" here, but her adaptation speed was fast; the red shadows' rising posture was already quite smooth.

In just a few seconds, she had adapted to this place.

"My apologies," Chu Ling said sincerely. "I currently have no physical body to house my spirit, and can only reside in the mental network. I can only temporarily stay in the Initial's main system… If this causes any inconvenience, please forgive me."

"…"

A'Fu was momentarily speechless.

It looked at Turing, somewhat angry, but more so aggrieved. "Look what you've done!"

Turing saw the red shadows bowing to him. He sat back down, letting out a long breath, his posture relaxing.

"The Sword of Extinguishment has been drawn. You should be happy."

A'Fu paused.

It then realized that the most important thing… was that Gu Shen had drawn the Sword of Extinguishment.

It felt a surreal, dreamlike sensation.

Waiting for a thousand years, drawing the sword was this simple?

It was like a dream.

"I know what you're thinking, but… if everything Gu Shen says is true, then the Sword of Extinguishment, your existence and mine, everything, including this entire world, is all 'false.' Theoretically speaking, your current happiness is just a dream."

Turing sipped his tea leisurely, pouring cold water as if talking about a trivial matter.

"Wait, why are you so calm, acting like it's none of your business?"

A'Fu had never been able to see through this man. It couldn't help but grumble, "Even if we can't be sure whether we truly exist… isn't this a bad thing?"

"Should I be sad, angry, or crazy?"

Turing was taken aback.

He put down his teacup, looked at A'Fu, and asked softly, "A'Fu… in your opinion, are the concepts of true and false subjective or objective?"

A'Fu froze.

"Being 'alive' in this moment is what matters most."

Turing stretched out his hands and said calmly, "We exist in this moment, that is a 'fact'. So, since what Gu Shen said is true… then I also want to see what the world outside this false layer looks like."

This was something A'Fu had never considered.

All along.

The boldest thing it had ever thought about was leaving the Ice Sea and finding the "legacy" left behind by its master, the Lord of Melting Iron.

But now Turing's idea made it think of a greater possibility.

What if.

The world outside was the same as this world?

Was it possible that its master was no longer "here" and had gone to the "real world" outside?

"So… Alfred."

"Shall we set sail?"

……

……

A pillar of light shot up from the Ice Sea.

"All components of the Initial are normal."

"Energy reserves are sufficient."

Chu Ling's voice echoed inside the Initial.

A'Fu ultimately chose to set sail, but it was still somewhat unaccustomed to the current situation inside the ship… Chu Ling had fully taken over the Initial's "management work," and it had suddenly become much more free. But the Lord of Melting Iron had designated A'Fu as the "caretaker," and it felt a sense of emptiness being a caretaker without managing the airship.

"Have you truly made your decision…"

Gu Shen sat on top of the simulated snowfield mountain, looking at the man beside him. "Are you sure you want to leave the Fortress with me?"

For Alan Turing, staying in the Five Continents, nothing would happen.

He could live well.

Perhaps this time, Gu Shen would still fail… but only Gu Shen's "existing" world would be restarted.

According to the theory, the Turing before him still had his own "world" to live in.

But once he left the Fortress…

What Turing had to face was this world's "original will."

"Gu Shen…"

Turing folded his glasses.

He narrowed his eyes, looked at the vast and boundless snowfield in the distance, and suddenly asked with a smile.

"Do you think they can guess that the 'snowfield' they've lived in their entire lives is actually just an artificially created false environment?"

There was a large snowfield on the Initial.

In order to restore the real snowfield's ecological environment, the plants and animals on this snowfield were real. Since the age of starship civilization, they had been breeding here. In the distance Turing looked, he could vaguely see polar bears curled up in caves… besides that, there were also reindeer, hares, and snow wolves.

Thousands of years had passed, and they lived very well here.

The Initial would provide nutrition, control the weather, and create "ecological balance."

Staying here, they could "live" well.

"Perhaps… they can guess."

Gu Shen thought for a moment and said, "After all, so many years have passed."

"Yes. So many years have passed, and although these living creature groups don't have much intelligence, there are always exceptions… that will touch the boundary."

Turing looked behind him again.

At the end of this simulated snowfield, under the snow, were buried many skeletons… these skeletons were the creatures that had touched the boundary.

In order to maintain the stability of the airship's external environment, the boundary of the ecosystem defined by A'Fu was a wall of air. If they tried to cross it, they would be "executed!"

Over time, the truth that this snowfield had an "end" was deeply ingrained in the minds of these creatures.

They no longer explored, nor did they pursue the limit.

In order to… live.

Turing asked again, "So, if you were them, would you try to leave here?"

Gu Shen was silent.

He understood what Mr. Turing meant.

"Death is not scary. What is truly scary is not knowing why you were born."

The snow scene on the ceiling gradually changed.

Chu Ling closed the false sky covering the snowfield… the Initial had officially left the Ice Sea and entered the [Old World]. The external sky gradually became dim, and the ordinary creatures living in the snowfield raised their heads one by one. They had never seen such a gorgeous and spectacular scene. The Initial broke through the sea and soared into the clouds. There were bright shooting stars across the sky, and large clusters of light and fire bloomed above the sky.

"Tsk, there are even shooting stars. The world outside is so beautiful."

Turing smiled and said, "If I really had to choose a life, I would rather die outside than stay in an artificially created false ecology, spending a mediocre and boring life."

Gu Shen also looked at the flowing light blooming on the ceiling, with a thoughtful expression.

A few seconds later, he said sincerely, "I have to admit, what you just said was quite philosophical, but there is something I need to remind you… those aren't shooting stars, but Source Quality Storms."

Turing: "?"

No one was more familiar with that ball of light and fire than him… Gu Shen sighed and added, "And it's a super-giant one."

Turing: "???"

Alarms rang throughout the Initial!

The Source Energy Shield was activated immediately!

The entire airship began to shake, Mr. Turing staggered slightly, looking a little embarrassed. He said angrily, "Damn it, why is it here so soon? We just left the Fortress!"

"Choosing to 'break the boundary' requires bearing the price."

Gu Shen looked at Mr. Turing. He said seriously, "Mr. Turing, thank you."

Turing was stunned for a second.

"Seeing that you can still maintain your original intention in this world… makes me feel at ease."

Gu Shen smiled.

With a bang!

Flames blazed in the center of his brows. A crack opened in the sky of the virtual snowfield, and the biting wind poured in, but Gu Shen was fearless. He raised his hand, and the Sword of Extinguishment from the bronze palace instantly passed through layers of obstacles and landed in his palm. The burning fire did not extinguish because of this, but instead burned even more vigorously.

Sword of Extinguishment, extinguish all Source Quality and transcendents in this world…

Theoretically speaking, holding this sword was equivalent to holding absolute order.

"Next, please watch a performance."

Gu Shen held the sword in one hand, the tip of the sword pointing upwards. The gale of the entire snowfield died down at this moment.

The snowfield sky was removed. Gu Shen stood on top of the Initial, looking expressionlessly at the super-giant storm that was constantly approaching in the distance.

One sword.

Just one sword.

The slender sword energy didn't even create ripples in the void!

The ten-thousand-foot-tall blaze was instantly cut in half. This extremely vast Source Quality Storm was like a withering firework. Countless light and fire were sucked into the darkness—

Turing sat on the top of the snowfield mountain, staring blankly as countless lights ignited and countless lights extinguished.

Such a terrifying Source Quality Storm was, in just a few seconds, extremely brilliant, and then withered away in an instant.

Turing murmured.

"It… extinguished?"

Gu Shen sheathed his sword and said calmly.

"Yes. It extinguished."

……

……

(ps: Afternoon, evening… I don't know exactly when, but what I can be sure of is that there will be at least one more chapter today, the kind with more words the later it gets~ Continuing to ask for monthly tickets~)

(End of this chapter)