Chapter 854 Chu Ling

Speaking of Chu Ling.

On Jing Shanyan's withered and aging face, an expression of pride involuntarily emerged, like a child who hadn't grown up. This was the most important thing he had ever done in his life.

He had guarded this secret for twenty years.

Changye, Xuelong, Han Dang... Over the past twenty years, countless forces and individuals had been exploring, wanting to know what kind of precious secret the first-generation Grand Inquisitor, who had climbed to the pinnacle of the secular world, was willing to protect even at the cost of his life. What kind of enormous truth could it involve?

But they would never have imagined.

That Jing Shanyan's secret would be this...

"You, rest well."

Gu Shen couldn't bear to let Jing Shanyan continue.

After saying so much in one breath, the old man's breathing became rapid again. His life was slipping away quickly. Gu Shen had been counting down from the moment he entered the bottom of Frozen Lake, but now the real countdown had begun.

Jing Shanyan's life probably only had a few minutes left.

In any case.

He would have no chance to leave this icy lake and see the sunlight above.

In his final moments, Gu Shen wanted the old senior to be more comfortable, so he tried his best to unleash the "Fire of Life." In the five-hundred-meter-deep cold pool of Frozen Lake, he created a warm domain. The "Fire Domain" of an eighth-level, third-realm extraordinary being was still just an embryonic form, but it was more than enough to envelop the closely huddled old man and young man.

Jing Shanyan had endured a lifetime of severe cold and suffering. Finally, in his last moments, he felt warmth. The expression on his face relaxed and became peaceful, but his voice did not stop.

"Let me continue..."

He wanted to continue.

People become very stubborn when they get old.

For the previous twenty years, he had stubbornly refused to say anything.

But now.

He stubbornly wanted to say everything.

Gu Shen's lips moved, wanting to say something but stopping. In the end, he gently hummed in agreement.

"Project Starlight... is just a smokescreen."

Jing Shanyan murmured, "Those fools in the Federation... they'll never know what we wanted to do..."

He smiled mockingly.

Over the years.

The investigations and interrogations by various forces against him had all revolved around "Project Starlight."

But the truth was actually much simpler than they imagined.

This was a feint to the east while attacking in the west.

"You know, the evolution of the Deep Sea requires a lot of computing power. The [Source Code] is no exception. To restart it, it's not enough to just have Turing's array box as hardware support."

Jing Shanyan said softly, "Chu Ling's consciousness wanted to derive and submerge in the deep-water area, iterating silently. It always needed a part of independent computing power to start. If that massacre hadn't happened, we could have had more time to prepare. We wouldn't have had to sacrifice."

Gu Shen was stunned.

We wouldn't have had to sacrifice.

"It all happened so suddenly."

Jing Shanyan recalled the scene from twenty years ago. Perhaps the scene from twenty years ago was too heartbreaking, or perhaps his long life was about to reach its end. The old man's eyes began to blur, and his voice gradually became muddled. "[Deep Sea]'s methods are chilling. Its eye for picking 'teammates' is incredibly sharp. After the council approved it, the secret order to剿kill Gu Wen Hui (Ancient Literature Society) was sent directly to Gu Lushen and Zhao Xilai. Those two young men weren't considered famous at the time..."

Gu Lushen, Zhao Xilai.

These two names, twenty years later, represented the peaks of the Jiangbei and Jiangnan factions in East Continent, respectively.

"The 剿kill mission swept through Changye and Dadu. Zhao and Gu completed the mission sent by [Deep Sea] in an extremely short time... Nearly a hundred suspected criminals were arrested and detained."

"Because the main system holds absolute authority, except for high-level members with independent database records, almost overnight, the grassroots of the East Continent Gu Wen Hui were uprooted. And just a few days before, we had held an online meeting to discuss how to restore the operation of the [Source Code]..."

Jing Shanyan's voice was bitter. "And until the 剿kill mission ended, I, as the Grand Inquisitor, learned that a major operation had taken place. [Deep Sea] planned everything. It selectively concealed information about 'suspicious persons' of unknown identity. The relevant information about '剿killing Gu Wen Hui' was tightly concealed. That night, only absolutely safe whitelist individuals were qualified to participate in the council vote."

Gu Shen fell silent after hearing this.

The absolutely rational [Deep Sea] main system, after determining that the "Gu Wen Hui" had betrayed humanity, made reactions that were...terrifying. This was an invincible opponent, capable of dispatching everything within the five continents.

It could simultaneously control tens of millions of eyes.

And it possessed hundreds of millions of arms.

The most terrifying thing was... that since the second evolution, it seemed to have begun to understand "human nature" and control "human nature."

"Because of 'Project Starlight,' I obtained the highest authority specially approved by the Supreme Council. [Deep Sea], which had just completed its second upgrade, had no way to refuse the mission orders I executed."

Jing Shanyan said, "I took the secret order of the 'Starlight' mission and, with the highest authority, forcibly interfered with [Deep Sea]'s arrangements. The main system originally wanted to arrange for Gu Qilin to be responsible for the mental interrogation... I took all these people away in the tundra."

"You should know what happened after that."

Many people knew what happened after that.

Twenty years ago, Jing Shanyan, using the excuse that "Project Starlight" needed them, directly took away the captured members of the East Continent Gu Wen Hui and temporarily locked them in experimental capsules... As the Grand Inquisitor of the prison testing facility, he conducted simulated experiments on these death row inmates.

But unexpectedly, an accident occurred during the experiment.

The "suspects" who were originally to be interrogated all "died" in this experiment.

After that.

Jing Shanyan remained silent about everything that had happened.

No one knew what kind of tragic and heroic light burned in the underground that night.

[Deep Sea] had launched a 剿kill, successfully driving Turing out of the five continents and successfully removing the Gu Wen Hui from the "visible" vision of this land.

Resurrecting [Source Code] Chu Ling was the last and only chance.

The 剿kill on the first night eliminated the exposed foundation of the Gu Wen Hui.

And the subsequent 剿kill continued for several years.

The pillars that once supported the Gu Wen Hui also fell one after another in [Deep Sea]'s long cleansing game, such as Lu Cheng of Dadu...

Jing Shanyan didn't know how long his position as "Grand Inquisitor" could last in this severe and cruel 剿kill.

But what he did know was.

The "Great 剿kill" meeting excluded him, indicating that [Deep Sea] had already listed him as a suspect.

"I should have made the most correct choice. Even if I had endured it at that time, I wouldn't have been able to hold on for long."

Jing Shanyan said softly, "It has already begun to suspect me..."

Regarding those arrested colleagues.

He had never doubted these people's "determination," but [Deep Sea]'s methods were not something normal people could resist.

The federal government had ten thousand ways to deal with low-level extraordinary beings.

The simplest and most brutal method was to use high-level mental types to directly hypnotize and forcibly extract information.

To keep secrets, determination alone was useless.

You also needed strength.

So.

"That night, seventy-three members of the Gu Wen Hui from East Continent Jiangbei and Jiangnan decided to carry out the real 'Project Starlight.'"

Jing Shanyan lowered his eyebrows and said with a smile, "After connecting to the mental network of the array box, these seventy-three extraordinary beings sat in the linking capsules. They willingly underwent mental transmission. After their consciousness was uploaded, they burned their souls as the starting computing power for the [Source Code]... That day, Chu Ling was 'revived' in the deep-water network. In the darkness, wanting to see the light often only requires a small spark, and these people were the first spark."

Gu Shen listened quietly.

"So, what Han Dang did was actually very stupid, right?"

Jing Shanyan laughed. "He thought this was some great plan, the last home created by humans to resist the ultimate disaster... Actually, these were all lies I made up to the federal government..."

"So, there is no 'spiritual oasis' at all, and no 'barrier'..."

Gu Shen murmured softly, "These people's consciousness was not directly 'ascended,' but uploaded to the closed network of the array box..."

In the [Truth] domain, Han Dang forcibly searched Jing Shanyan's mind.

The big shots of East Continent had already tried this set of methods.

It was just that they had all failed. A titled expert of Jing Shanyan's level, with an extremely firm will, even an [Apostle] carrying a relic might not be able to read effective information from his spiritual sea.

Either they couldn't hypnotize Jing Shanyan.

Or the information they obtained was chaotic.

And the information Han Dang obtained was a lie.

He was a madman.

He fabricated a nothingness that he believed in and used [Truth] to make it come true.

After seeing through [Truth], Jing Shanyan decided to use the same method to deal with Han Dang. So... under the guidance of Jing Shanyan's "lie," Han Dang made the crazy move of uploading everyone.

"I am the Grand Inquisitor of Changye."

A sly smile appeared in Jing Shanyan's eyes again. "You can decide whether to 'destroy' or 'preserve' the spirit in the array box... As long as the physical body is still there, they still have a chance to go back... I buried that box in... a very interesting place."

He leaned close to Gu Shen's ear and slowly spoke the location.

"Cough cough cough!"

The old man was about to continue speaking.

But then, there was another violent cough.

He coughed up scarlet blood, which spread in the cold water area surrounded by the Fire of Life, like swimming little snakes.

"Senior..."

Gu Shen summoned the wisp of dark flame from between his eyebrows.

Jing Shanyan had entrusted his greatest secret in this life to him.

And at this moment.

Gu Shen no longer hid anything.

This black fire was very small, only a strand as thick as a hair... But after it appeared, the Frozen Lake within a hundred meters began to "tremble." After the [Childlike] strike, there were no longer any living beings here, but after all, nearly a hundred extraordinary beings had been stored in the [Azure King Authority Realm]. [Childlike] had turned them all into dust.

And the "Nether Fire's" authority to summon life, even if these "spirits'" shells were only powder, would still be deterred.

"This is..."

A look of great shock appeared on Jing Shanyan's old face as he stared blankly at Gu Shen.

"Nether Fire..."

Gu Shen said softly, "The King of the Underworld from twenty years ago is dead. Now the fire seed is in my hands."

It wasn't quite appropriate to use the phrase "in my hands."

Because the main body of the "Nether Fire" was still hidden in the cemetery, secretly guarded by Mr. Bai Shu.

Gu Shen had not yet cultivated to the realm where he could merge with the "Nether Fire."

However, Jing Shanyan's time was running out, and Gu Shen couldn't explain too much.

In these twenty years, too many things had happened in the world outside [Xuelong].

This simple sentence was enough for the old man to understand many things.

"Your physical body can't leave Frozen Lake, but I can preserve your spirit..." Gu Shen said sincerely, "Perhaps your life's journey can continue."

Jing Shanyan's gaze towards Gu Shen became extremely complicated.

He hadn't looked at Gu Shen like this before, only as if he were looking at an excellent junior, with affection and appreciation in his eyes.

After seeing the "Nether Fire."

He recalled more past events, and these past events flashed back to countless fragments related to "Turing."

"The Nether Fire chose the key..."

Jing Shanyan smiled softly and said, "No wonder Zhou Jiren told me that you would become a remarkable person..."

He stretched out his palm, his withered fingertips wanting to touch this flame.

Gu Shen did not avoid it.

He took off the Nether Fire, and under the embrace of the scarlet flame, this flame appeared particularly妖異 (yaoyi - bewitching, alluring, and often with a hint of danger or supernatural).

"Project Starlight... is not entirely false. The words and ideas I wrote when I proposed it to the Federation were all true."

Jing Shanyan's fingertip hovered before the Nether Fire.

He said dreamily, "If we are destined to face the same destruction as six hundred years ago, what should we do to preserve the spark of civilization? At that time, I thought that stuffing the physical body into the ground and turning the mind into stars was the best way."

At that time, everyone in Changye thought that Jing Shanyan was a genius.

"But later, I didn't think so."

Jing Shanyan laughed. "In the twenty years in [Xuelong], isn't this the kind of life I've been living? Humans who only have ideals can't be considered real humans. Real humans should live in the real world. So if I could do it again, I wouldn't choose this kind of life. Living this kind of precarious life is really tiring."

"This time, I don't want to hide in the underground where I can't see the light. I want to rush into the storm, even if the ultimate fate is only destruction."

In the end, the old man did not touch the Nether Fire.

He opened his arms and slowly hugged Gu Shen. His body was very thin, like a cluster of withered catkins, ready to dissipate at any time.

Gu Shen also gently held the old man.

He heard Jing Shanyan say in a slow, sleepy tone.

"Let me end like this..."

The bottom of Frozen Lake was cold and lightless.

Only a swaying fire remained.

"Thank you, thank you."