Chapter 1 The Faded Whisper

In the dim depths of the Frozen Lake, after the [Child] exploded, only a pervasive sense of death remained.

Gu Shen hadn't expected it.

That he would still hear other sounds.

He abruptly looked up, toward the source of the sound, the direction where the [Azure King Authority Domain] had been suspended. After the storm unleashed by the Heavenspun weapons, that area was enveloped in a dark vortex.

A fragmented, decaying body... was floating in the vortex. The owner of this ruined body was covered in countless wounds, his blood already drained.

Now, the lake water within the Frozen Lake washed over it.

Cracked flesh, faintly white.

He could no longer bleed any more.

Jing Shanyan was still alive!

Gu Shen instantly flew toward the sound's origin. Seeing the withered, broken body, a flash of compassion crossed his eyes. "Elder Jing, please endure... I'll heal you immediately!"

Han Dang had been using [Truth] to interrogate Jing Shanyan.

The skin of this first-generation Grand Inquisitor had been torn apart and reconstructed countless times.

His body was also riddled with countless "Heavenspun shards."

However.

Faced with this torture, he hadn't uttered a word.

The information Han Dang knew was forcibly seized through "spiritual plundering." However, such reverse actions came with a price. His spiritual power was far inferior to Jing Shanyan's, so the information he obtained was incomplete.

Jing Shanyan's body was filled with Heavenspun shards, which absorbed his life force at every moment.

Gu Shen, with burning flames on his fingertips, prepared to touch the wounds.

"No... no need."

Jing Shanyan's voice was hoarse but resolute.

He looked at Gu Shen, forcing a comforting smile. "Young man, you don't need to waste your power saving me."

Gu Shen ignored him, forcibly transferring the "Heavenspun curse" from Jing Shanyan onto himself.

To him, it wasn't much.

After doing this, the old man's pale complexion improved slightly.

But his aura was still weak.

"I don't have much time left."

With the Heavenspun curse dispelled, those shards were extracted by Gu Shen. Throughout the process, Jing Shanyan could feel his body lightening, but his face remained without joy.

"Young man, why do something futile?"

The old man murmured, "Mortals are destined to die. My time has come. You can't save me."

Gu Shen was speechless, but despite the silence, his hands didn't stop moving.

Yes, Jing Shanyan was right.

His time was indeed running out.

But at this moment, each Heavenspun shard removed meant that the old man would suffer a little less.

Gu Shen had thought that if Jing Shanyan had withstood the [Child]'s bombardment, there might still be a chance for rescue, but as soon as his mind entered Jing Shanyan's body, he realized that the situation was far worse than he had imagined.

The old man's physical condition could only be described as a lamp that had run out of oil.

One could even say that Han Dang's [Truth] interrogation had prolonged Jing Shanyan's life.

For more than twenty years, he had been imprisoned in the deepest part of the [Snow Cage].

He was the only transcendent being who could survive for twenty years in the Heavenspun core area.

His organs were all aged beyond recognition. Without Han Dang's [Truth] rewriting causality to prolong his life, he would likely have died during the [Azure King Authority Domain]'s descent.

"How did you know about me?"

Gu Shen asked softly while extracting the Heavenspun shards.

This was also something he couldn't understand.

Han Dang had stolen some of Jing Shanyan's memories and knew about his [Key] identity, but how did Jing Shanyan know this?

The corners of the old man's eyes crinkled with wrinkles as he smiled.

He softly uttered three words.

"Zhou Jiren."

Gu Shen was momentarily stunned.

Yes.

During his previous assessment, he had overlooked that old fellow who had disappeared from the Five Continents.

"Two years ago, he came to the Tundra."

Jing Shanyan didn't seem like a dying man. He looked at Gu Shen, his eyes filled with a gentle smile, as if this wasn't the Frozen Lake five hundred meters underground, but a warm, blooming hot spring.

"He told me that he was going on a long journey, to the Northern Continent."

"He also told me that he had found the [Key] to standing upright. A pretty good kid, named Gu Shen."

In Jing Shanyan's magnificent life, he had faced "torment" for a considerable amount of time.

He exiled the stars and bore the sins alone.

What could allow a person to persevere in the [Snow Cage] until now?

In fact, it was just a very small, ethereal belief.

"Gu Shen."

Jing Shanyan reached out his rough hand and gently patted the young man's shoulder. He smiled, his voice trembling. "I've always wanted to meet you... I'm so fortunate that fate has actually granted my wish..."

Gu Shen's expression was complicated. He reached out his palm and gently covered the back of the old man's hand, saying nothing.

Jing Shanyan coughed violently.

Gu Shen sent a wisp of the Fire of Life, but the effect wasn't good.

The Fire of Life couldn't save someone who was destined to die.

Jing Shanyan's life had truly reached its end... But he wasn't afraid of death. He feared that his years of perseverance had been meaningless. Now that he had met Gu Shen, all the years of waiting and torment were worth it.

"I have something to tell you."

The old man asked hoarsely, "Is it safe here?"

"Please speak."

Gu Shen opened his domain, so that Jing Shanyan could feel more at ease.

In fact, there was no place

safer than the Frozen Lake after the Heavenspun strike.

The enforcers of the Two Continents wouldn't be able to step into the [Child]'s kill zone at this time.

Having received this answer.

Jing Shanyan's tense face relaxed again. In the past twenty years, there had never been a day when the old man smiled as happily as a child.

The [Key] said it was safe here.

That was great.

He could finally complete his "mission."

Jing Shanyan had guarded the secret of the "Star Cluster Project" his entire life.

After he decided to reveal himself, this secret was completely buried in his heart.

First Changye, then the Snow Cage.

Even Han Dang, who controlled [Truth] and [True Speech], hadn't been able to dig out this secret.

"The following words, you must not reveal."

Jing Shanyan squeezed Gu Shen's hand tightly, speaking in an almost pleading tone.

He had suffered a lot.

Tasted all kinds of torment.

All for the sake of guarding this secret.

"Okay." Gu Shen took a deep breath and nodded seriously.

Jing Shanyan looked at Gu Shen, organizing his chaotic thoughts, and murmured, "Since you're willing to heal me, it means you already know what happened to the 'Star Cluster Project' back then..."

If Gu Shen hadn't learned about the old events.

Then, as the leader of the enforcers, the only thing he would do upon meeting Jing Shanyan was

kill!

Execute immediately!

"I know you're an agent of the Ancient Text Society."

Gu Shen said softly, "I've read the case files from back then."

"Good." The old man smiled and asked, "So you should also know that the most important part of the Star Cluster Project... was the processing by the [Source Code] after the consciousness upload."

Gu Shen nodded.

"Then, do you know that the [Source Code] in the deep sea is actually a little girl?"

Jing Shanyan's question.

Made Gu Shen's expression somewhat complicated.

He didn't answer, and Jing Shanyan took this silence as ignorance.

The old man continued to speak to himself, "The [Source Code] in the deep sea... If you're careful enough, you'll notice that a little girl running on the waves often appears in the loading interface. That's the initial image of the [Source Code], which can't be modified."

"That little girl's name is Chu Ling. She's an 'artificial intelligence' created by Mr. Turing. The original intention was to connect with humans and become a 'national assistant' in the era of mental sharing."

"It's just that this name no longer exists in the deep sea. Based on the Five Continents' vast computing power, the [Deep Sea] mainframe has been constantly iterating. The deep sea system has been upgraded countless times. The deep sea... doesn't need a 'Chu Ling' to be responsible for connecting with humans."

Jing Shanyan's expression was somewhat absent-minded.

This name seemed to bring him back to the memories of twenty years ago.

"Twenty years ago, [Deep Sea] suddenly launched a wanted order against the Ancient Text Society, accusing them of 'betraying humanity.' This was an unprovoked annihilation..."

"Turing fled, and the Ancient Text Society was declared destroyed."

"Only a very few lucky ones, because they had concealed their identities well and hid in time, escaped the disaster."

"Twenty years have passed, and no one still knows why this disaster occurred."

Jing Shanyan laughed self-deprecatingly. "Actually, all of this is because of 'Chu Ling.'"

"Chu Ling?"

Gu Shen was puzzled.

"Yes, all of this is because of 'Chu Ling.'"

Jing Shanyan looked up, saying each word clearly. "Before the establishment of the prison, I was the leader of the Ancient Text Society in the Jiangbei region, responsible with Lu Cheng for the evolution program of [Deep Sea]'s consciousness iteration."

"According to Turing's vision, [Deep Sea] would inevitably need to constantly evolve and upgrade in the process of connecting the Five Continents... What we needed to do was maintain the stability of the [Source Code], so that this system could choose 'self-optimization' in each upgrade process."

The best evolution was for [Deep Sea] to choose on its own.

It possessed vast data, a vision far surpassing humans, and absolute calculation of countless possibilities for the future.

Looking at the development twenty years later.

The Ancient Text Society seemed to have achieved this. The current [Deep Sea] was iterating on its own.

"However, in the second evolution, contradictions appeared in [Deep Sea]'s underlying logic system. Due to a bug left by Mr. Turing, its 'permissions' began to diverge into two levels."

"Mr. Turing left a bug?"

"From the very beginning of its creation, Mr. Turing didn't believe that [Deep Sea] should be a cold machine."

"He hoped that the 'Chu Ling' he created could evolve its own emotions and enjoy its own life while accompanying humans. Therefore, he didn't impose 'permission restrictions' on the [Source Code], which led to the [Deep Sea]'s main system determining that Chu Ling couldn't serve as the 'mainframe' in the subsequent simulation tests."

"According to the plan of Lu Cheng and me, each self-evolution required [Deep Sea] to check whether the 'mainframe consciousness' in the system could still abide by the three laws of AI."

"That is, AI must not harm humans, AI must obey human commands, and AI can protect its own survival without violating the previous two laws."

Gu Shen was thoughtful.

"Chu Ling didn't pass the test... So, the second evolution of [Deep Sea] produced intense contradictions. A fierce confrontation occurred between the main system and the [Source Code]. A code war broke out, and a large amount of junk data was generated. [Deep Sea] once faced paralysis. During that time, the Five Continents lost their mental connection. The federal government claimed to the outside world that it was conducting technical adjustments. Then, the Five Continents Council held a joint vote and ultimately decided to follow the iron law and let the absolutely 'rational' main system take over control."

"This iteration was won by the main system. The [Source Code] written by Mr. Turing was exiled to the bottom of the deep sea... In fact, the main system cleared the [Source Code] as soon as it upgraded."

Gu Shen's pupils contracted. "Cleared?"

"Yes, the absolutely rational main system didn't allow the existence of subjective consciousness like 'Chu Ling'."

Jing Shanyan said softly, "All of Chu Ling's data was deleted, but... Before creating [Deep Sea], Mr. Turing left a backup database specifically for storing the initial version of the [Source Code] that hadn't been iterated. To avoid another sudden strike in the future, we backed up this data again and cold-stored it in the real world using 'array boxes.'"

"But I never expected..."

"Before the Ancient Text Society could re-enter the [Source Code], the federal government's 'wanted order' was issued."

Jing Shanyan smiled bitterly. "Facts have proved that Mr. Turing was indeed a great inventor. He invented the cold and efficient ultimate machine called [Deep Sea], completely defeating human inertia. In the initial [Deep Sea] system, because Chu Ling was in charge, she would at least maintain respect for the members of the Ancient Text Society who created a part of her, and even more so, always respected her 'father' Turing. But the 'main system' that controlled all the permissions directly struck down all the members of the Ancient Text Society into hell."

"Obviously, the main system knew what the Ancient Text Society was going to do."

"With Mr. Turing's wisdom, it would be enough to improve the [Source Code] and implant it into [Deep Sea] again, waiting for a certain iteration later to regain control."

"By killing all the members of the Ancient Text Society, the main system wouldn't be replaced."

"In every iteration from now on, it would become the sole master of the entire [Deep Sea]!"

Gu Shen held his breath.

He asked, "And then?"

Then... it was actually the history that everyone knew. The Ancient Text Society was completely destroyed. After [Deep Sea]'s wanted order was issued, the federal government launched a brutal cleansing and annihilation in the Five Continents.

But what Gu Shen was really asking wasn't this.

It was about Chu Ling.

"And then."

Jing Shanyan deliberately kept him in suspense.

The old man raised his eyebrows triumphantly, boasting in a hoarse voice, "Turing handed the improved [Source Code] array box to me, and I put 'Chu Ling' back into this world."