Tie Wu looked dazedly at the black mass of wandering souls floating before him.

Gu Shen had erased the consciousness of these criminal souls…

Their ending had long been decided.

Even if Gu Shen did nothing, these souls, having lost their physical bodies, would gradually dissipate in the array box.

But now Gu Shen's Pure Land needed manpower… These souls destined to pass away were perfect for summoning.

Erase their memories.

Make them "people" again.

"You just said… these guys… are all deserving of death?"

Tie Wu asked cautiously.

"Yes."

Gu Shen nodded. "Be good to Hong Zhong, but to them… it doesn't matter."

"I understand."

Tie Wu looked at the blazing fire brands Gu Shen had left on the foreheads of these people and instantly understood what the God Seat meant.

He had wanted to make a big splash for a long time!

This vast Pure Land had so much potential.

The reason it had been progressing so slowly…

Wasn't because he and Hong Zhong were lazy, but because… they were severely short-handed!

There were only two of them!

Now that Gu Shen had sent these souls and granted him the authority to dispose of them as he pleased, the biggest problem was directly solved!

He hurriedly went into the house, pulled Hong Zhong out. The wooden man scratched his head, looking at the wandering souls in the snow, just as devoid of consciousness as himself, not understanding what was happening.

Tie Wu tugged at Hong Zhong, and facing the direction Gu Shen had left, he shouted loudly, "This subordinate guarantees the mission will be completed!"

…

…

After exiting the "Pure Land," Gu Shen's consciousness returned to the array box.

Now, this private sea area had become extremely tranquil.

In the entire array box sea, only Mu Wanqiu, Mu Qingyang, and fourteen other law enforcers remained.

"Although it wasn't designed for this purpose, the array box can be considered a top-tier 'Soul Resting Place.'"

Chu Ling said, "It's fortunate that Mu Wanqiu's spirit was exiled here. These people haven't suffered any damage."

"Yes."

Gu Shen also felt lingering fear. "If Han Dang hadn't exiled them… I'm afraid…"

I'm afraid that in the 【Child】strike, he would only have been able to save two or three people.

The others would have vanished like those criminals.

Although he could eventually find these lost souls in the array box, they could never return. Even if they were reborn in his own "Pure Land," they could only remain in his divine domain as spiritual bodies.

"Take the array box back."

Chu Ling said with complex emotions, "If possible, next time I descend, I want to see it in person…"

This little box was where she was born.

Or, more accurately, where she was born again.

She had already died once.

Could she consider her current existence as a "second life"?

Gu Shen exited the array box's spiritual network.

He returned to reality, to the dim secret base, where the small black box was placed on the top shelf of the bookcase.

He took it down and carefully put it in his pocket.

"The main system has already attempted to eliminate me once, which is why I can only hide in the deep sea. I lost the first upgrade war. The main system occupies more than 99% of the computing power in the deep-sea area. The research of Gu Wen Hui (Ancient Text Society) gave it its final 'completion.'"

Chu Ling murmured, "After defeating me, it began to seek a more perfect 'evolution.' With each upgrade, it becomes more powerful."

"For the past twenty years, I have been fulfilling the mission of the 【Source Code】, silently collecting the data discarded by the main system in '001', searching for the 【Key】, trying to piece together Gu Wen Hui again."

"But I cannot evolve. The permissions I have are destined to gradually narrow as the main system upgrades… The reason is that the technology of this array box is still stuck twenty years in the past."

Her memories were fragmented.

Before meeting Gu Shen and developing true emotions, Chu Ling didn't think there was anything wrong with this.

Fragmented memories didn't prevent her from completing her mission.

But now… it was different.

After learning the secret of Jing Shanyan giving her a second life at Frozen Lake, she suddenly recalled many past events that she had ignored, the story of her own life…

"I still remember that at the moment of revival, everything was silent, but a sentence echoed in my mind."

"Live on."

"I always thought that this was what I wanted to say to the 【Key】, that it was part of my mission."

Gu Shen would always remember the words Chu Ling said to him when they first met.

It was "Live on."

"Yes, it is part of your mission…"

Gu Shen said in a hoarse voice, "But perhaps when Mr. Turing left this sentence, he didn't intend it to be so complicated… He probably just wanted you to live on. In the eyes of him, your father, your greatest mission is not to find me, nor to reconnect Gu Wen Hui, but to 'live on' strongly under the annihilation of the infinitely upgrading main system."

The girl in the deep sea watched countless data whizzing past.

There was no sadness on her face, but glistening tears slid down.

There was no bitterness in her heart.

It was just that, as an omniscient and omnipotent super-AI, she experienced for the first time a kind of broad, selfless human emotion.

Mr. Turing, the great "father" who created 【Deep Sea】, could not give her much.

Probably just the power to "live on."

But these three words encompassed everything.

…

…

Gu Shen didn't touch the other items in the house. He had preserved everything here very well.

More than twenty years ago.

Jing Shanyan and his partners discovered a "scenic" snow-capped mountain peak in the easternmost uninhabited area of the tundra, and out of pure interest, built a secret base here.

No one expected it.

That this uninhabited base would become a crucial turning point in "saving" the entire Gu Wen Hui.

Without the array box, there would be no Chu Ling.

Naturally… there would be no subsequent 【Key】.

Gu Wen Hui's conference room would have been directly breached by 【Deep Sea】, and this annihilation would have ended within a year. No matter how clever Jing Shanyan Zhou Jiren's methods of concealment were, they would eventually be exposed.

Without Chu Ling's cover, the omnipotent "main system" would seize the entire world!

"Senior Jing, I will come to see you again in the future."

Gu Shen left the base, came to the top of the snow mountain. He restored the red-silver dome, and then re-piled the snow on it… Finally, he picked up a dead branch nearby, used the "Fire of Life" to make it grow tender green buds, and gently inserted it into the snow layer.

The fire flickered.

This dead branch with green buds was like a small flag.

Gu Wen Hui was fragmented. In these twenty years, there were lost souls like "Ian" who were insane and willingly degenerated, and there were also light-chasers like "Jing Shanyan" who silently endured and willingly burned.

Burning eternally in the long darkness.

Spreading like wildfire in the frozen land.

【Deep Sea】annihilated all Gu Wen Hui members who threatened it, but it was not a true human. It did not know the meaning of "hope" for humans, nor did it know what humans, these irrational creatures, were thinking in the last second of their lives.

The reason why people are people.

Is because they would give up everything for something that Ai considers "unimportant."

Even the "most important" life.

Gu Shen finished all this and left the uninhabited area.

The vast snow fell on the mountain peak.

This dead branch was shrouded in a hazy firelight, blown by the wind and snow. This small flag would not stand for long, because Gu Shen's "Fire of Life" had a limited burning time. When the fire went out, it would return to its original state.

It's just that someday in the future.

More than a wisp of light would be born in this cold land.

Although the long night is dark.

Perhaps one day, there will be a sky full of stars.

…

…

"Chi…"

The dead branch on the snow mountain peak extinguished its fire, and burned out its vitality.

The tender green buds quickly lost moisture.

And then withered.

A strong wind blew, and snow swirled.

I don't know how much time passed.

Someone squatted down and picked up this dead branch. He looked at this dead branch intently, scrutinizing it very carefully, as if he wanted to remember every inch of the texture of this small branch.

The snow was raging, and the cold wind was howling.

The position where this figure appeared had no footprints before or after. He seemed to be a "traveler" from another world, or a cold stone statue that had stood here for a long time.

He gently pinched the dead branch. Under the friction of his fingertips, this small dead branch re-grew green buds, and there were many more green buds than those ignited by Gu Shen's "Fire of Life."

In just ten seconds, a dead branch sprouted seven or eight branches!

"Pa ta."

The man stood up, shook the snow off his body, and then threw the dead branch into the distance.

The dead branch rolled into the thick snow layer, but the growth had not stopped… It blossomed "flowers" and also bore "fruit"… It's just that all of this was carried out in the snow layer, and the man who threw out the dead branch obviously had no interest in continuing to watch, after throwing it away, he squatted down and brushed away the snow from the red and silver top cover.

He opened the roof of the secret base, and then very skillfully entered alone, picked up the duster in the corner, and drove away the light dust. It wasn't because time was really frozen that it was spotless here, it was just because someone cleaned it.

Wooden table, bookcase, display stand.

The man silently cleaned the base alone, and then he stopped in front of the bookcase… Like watching the "dead branch" earlier, he stopped moving when he came here.

He stood quietly in front of the bookcase and looked at it for a long time.

Then he took out an ancient literature from the bookcase.

The pages were full of yellowed writing.

And dense annotations.

He "slowly" turned the pages and read it completely.

Incredibly, after his fingers touched the pages, the yellowed paper seemed to have undergone a slight change. It was difficult to detect with the naked eye, but if a second person touched it together, they would feel that these papers began to become less wrinkled and became brand new… In fact, this room's "cleanliness" was also cleaned in this way.

How could a small duster sweep away the dust in this room?

Twenty years.

There is no second exit here.

Even if the dust is dusted off, where can it fall?

"The box… has been taken away."

The man put the literature back and then looked up.

He pushed his glasses and murmured softly.

The "array box" placed on the top of the bookshelf disappeared.

Then, the man moved his gaze to the rock wall of the base, where a clock was hanging… This clock was a symbol of the base's abandonment. The clock no longer moved, and even the hands were gone.

…

…

Counting from the beginning of the departure, it took Gu Shen nearly half a month to return to Nagano with the array box.

These half a months.

News from the Gu family, the Mu family, and Central City had been sent more than once… Chu Ling had completed the processing for him.

Without exception, these messages were all asking whether the retrieval work of the "spiritual exile" was going smoothly.

Gu Shen directly handed over the placement of the fourteen law enforcers to Li Qingsui.

He had to find the "array box." He didn't tell anyone about this matter. Even the little girl Qingsui only knew… Gu Shen had an urgent matter and needed to go out for a while. Mu Wanqiu, Mu Qingyang, and others needed the Li family to take care of them temporarily, and it needed to be kept as confidential as possible.

So, this urgent matter was probably related to "spiritual exile."

The big shots in Nagano all knew.

Gu Shen had many secrets hidden on him.

It's just that the God Seat Bai Shu was above.

Even if the Five Great Families were anxious, they had to endure it.

"Next, I will ask Mr. Bai Shu to take action and modify 'Mu Wanqiu's' cognition…"

This trip was quite hard.

Even with Chu Ling shielding him from 【Heaven's Eye】, the round trip from Nagano to the uninhabited area… consumed a lot of his Source Quality and spirit.

Gu Shen rushed back to the mausoleum, covered in dust.

When he saw the golden divine domain exuding waves of pressure, Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally reached the last step. The hard work he had put in was worth it.

"You're back?"

This time, Mr. Bai Shu was not just communicating with his voice.

When Gu Shen had just arrived at the inner mausoleum, his illusory image appeared on the small mountain. The 【Reverse Flow】divine domain had three illusions. At this moment, the one who came to greet Gu Shen was Bai Shu's younger self, full of vitality, his eyebrows and eyes full of divine power.

At his age, he could compete with Gu Changzhi!

"Your retreat is over?"

Gu Shen opened his mouth with a smile. Earlier, when the inner mausoleum was closed, he could still see the scene of golden divine radiance hammering Song Ci. Now that the inner mausoleum was open, Song Ci had directly entered the mountain gate. It was estimated that he had started a new practice, no longer just being beaten simply.

It was not difficult to infer from this scene that Mr. Bai Shu's retreat should be over.

"Yes, the fusion of the Fire Seed is basically complete."

The change of ownership of the Fighting Fire Seed meant that East Continent would have a weak period.

But now, it was different.

Bai Shu had spent two years basically completing the fusion with the "Fire Seed."

But there was another reason why he greeted him with a divine body today.

He was very curious about what Gu Shen had been doing for the past half month. Could he really complete the conditions he had mentioned?

While Gu Shen was taking something out of his pocket, he said sincerely, "Senior, I brought 'Mu Wanqiu'…"

This scene made Bai Shu frown.

Then his expression became complicated.

Gu Shen took out the small black box.

"Alan Turing's array box… This thing should have been destroyed by the federal government."

Bai Shu recognized it at a glance!

"Senior has good eyes."

Gu Shen exclaimed, "The federal government should have indeed destroyed one, but there is another one in this world. Mu Wanqiu… is inside."

Bai Shu's young divine body fell into silence at this moment.

In the eyes of the Supreme Seat.

He would not leave the mausoleum.

Mu Wanqiu would not enter the mausoleum either.

Gu Shen had indeed fulfilled this condition.

After a moment, he sighed softly and turned to walk towards the mountain gate of the inner mausoleum, "Come in with me."