Chapter 225: Finding Salvation in an Illusory World

The base is spacious and well lit.

The sides of the passage are painted silver-gray.

Revealing a silent deathly silence.

There was no imagined danger, much less any defensive fire, and the only thing running continuously in the metal-built stepped passage was the incandescent light overhead.

It was as if, the only means of defense for the entire base was the huge alloy door at the entrance.

“Is it because you think defense is useless, so you’ve given up completely?”

Xu System guessed in his mind.

The truth of the matter should be so, he thought.

After all, with the number of insurgent Intelligent Devices in the southern main base city, if the Intelligent Devices found this base, no matter what defense means they had, it would be useless.

“What is this base really for ……”

“Purposefully submerged underground, even the energy system works properly ……”

The Xu system stepped forward.

The machine servant accompanies the body.

Side by side, the two men advanced with the mass of vanguard think-tanks all the way down to the end of the steps, where another huge alloy steel door surfaced before them.

“Master, please step back.”

Ailee was polite, and in a gentle, well-behaved tone, requested that the Xu system step back a bit.

Next.

Several Think Tanks roared into an attack stance under her control, razing the gate.

Compared to the first door, the new door was harder, but with the increase in the Xu system’s mechanical power, the Smartarms were able to break through the door faster instead.

Bang-!!!

Alloy doors were twisted and torn.

It was as violently deformed as a twist.

Finally, it collapsed to the ground with a loud thud, given a gentle push by the expressionless Ailee.

“Ailee, have you gotten stronger?”

“Your powers of observation remain keen”, the girl explained, “I performed a slight enhancement after the last fuselage repair.”

Just a little?

The Xu system looked into the girl’s palm.

In the light, her fingers were soft as feathers, white and flawless, like the first bloom of drifting snow.

In stark contrast was the huge alloy door that had fallen to the ground.

Well, a billion dots indeed.

“Let’s go in,” Xu lost his smile, not dwelling on Ailee’s growing power, and took another step in the march.

This time.

The base was more spacious and had more lights on, and the metal walls on either side were crawling with dark blue energy lines.

Gradually, things come to the surface.

It was huge and magnificent spectacle.

It was the closed full-body pods stacked in layers across the depths of the earth, like tiny precision-cut grids, stacked calmly in the spacious underground hall.

At a cursory glance, there were at least 30,000 of them.

Since the fourth simulation, Xu finally saw the existence of “people”.

But could the presence in front of us, the ghastly white, withered bones lying flat on their backs in the virtual pods, having long since lost all their flesh and blood, really still be considered human?

The Xu system gazed at such a scene.

Stunned for a long time.

“Flesh and blood hopeless, fleeing virtually, creating your own utopia?”

The steel dome covered everything, perfectly dispersing the pressure of the dirt layer above, and moreover making it all but impossible for surface threats to enter the base in the slightest.

The lights dazzle and twinkle with attention.

Lining up to show the dismay of the Xu system.

He looked at the scene in front of him and then associated it with the business of the Virtual Network Company, and instantly realized that the people lying inside the virtual pods were the last survivors of the old Federation era.

Desperate people who know they can’t defeat the insurgent wise weapons.

Therefore, you choose to hide virtually.

Replace the harsh reality with a false illusion.

“There should be some information left here, Ailee, help me look for it”, Xu system looked around and decided to verify the conjecture in his mind.

“I understand, at your will.”

With Ailee’s help, the Smartarms scattered around, seeking out any useful items for the Xu system.

Surprisingly, the process went quite smoothly.

Seemingly intentionally left behind, numerous items that looked like “suicide notes” were piled up in front of Xu, and among them, there were also individual technological artifacts.

“It’s the end of the federal human race ……”

“What the hell is going on with those smart devices, damn it, the federal government is just wasting our money!”

“Farewell, world, I shall never see you again.”

Either sad self-hatred, angry invective and condemnation, or attachment to the world.

The messages in the suicide note interlocked and outlined the complete picture.

That’s when the end comes.

Actions of last resort.

Desperate people, faced with the overwhelming number of rebel smart devices, can only flee into the underground base in a sorry state and hide in virtual pods, seeking spiritual solace in the world of make-believe.

Building up strength for a plot? No, that sort of thing is simply not possible.

The Smartarms are the main armed force of the Federation, the divine blades in the hands of mankind, and when this force turns against them, there is no hope doomed to the side of mankind to speak of.

And so.

People are immersed in a false world.

Let the spirit and the body both rot, and usher in the end in illusory goodness.

“Buzz-“, the machine shuddered lightly, the network equipment hidden in the floor, still faithfully carrying out orders even now, when the humans of the Federation were dead.

Energy supply, cleaning, lighting.

Running programs that will never rebel with stereotypically monolithic underlying logic.

“Master, does it really make sense for them to do this?”

The machine servant was a bit bewildered, she didn’t quite understand why the last act of the Federation humans was to immerse themselves in the world of make-believe.

This practice can be described as a complete characterization of the demise of the human race.

The Xu system shook its head, “Ailee, there’s nothing wrong with looking for salvation in the world of make-believe.”

“They ……”

“Did the best I could.”

Sighs echoed through the empty hall.

The Xu system looked at the virtual pods and could well appreciate the thoughts of the Federation humans.

This simulation, if not for the help of the words, would not have been able to survive the end of the Wizards with the weak bodies of humans.

It’s a desperate world with little hope of survival.

“The Demise of Civilization ……”

“The Demise of the Human Race ……”

“Put on the scale of the universe, it’s just a drop in the ocean.”

The Xu system sighed, rubbing his palm lightly through the machine servant’s hair as he once again looked through the rest of the suicide note.

After sifting and picking, the Hsu system removed useless information, leaving only those items that had value and recorded information about the former Federation.

“This one?”

There was a slight pause in his movements, and the Xu system picked up the sci-fi styled distinctly personal terminal from the mass of clutter.

After Airey’s cracked charge.

The terminal started up again after a long time.

The owner of the terminal seems to be the manager of the underground base.

Inside it, a large amount of information about the underground base was stored, such as energy systems, virtual systems related technology, while mentioning some other intelligence.

There are four remaining virtual utopia bases like this one, within the Federation.

They are located in the northern, eastern, and western parts of the Federation, respectively.

And the capital at the very core.

At the end of the day, the terminal recorded scattered messages that appeared to be some of the venting records of a former user.

There is a mixture of impotent rage at the Wizards’ rebellion and reflection on the truth of their rebellion.

But more than that, it was a misanthropic despair.

“Tramp, those wise weapons are as numerous as the stars in the sky, asshole world, I’m not playing anymore, KAM!”

The terminal ends with this quote.