The Central Plains suddenly fell.

And the speed of the fall was so fast that the southwest and northwest did not have a chance to get news at all, only a few transcendents within the barrier escaped, and the rest of the barrier all became zero territory.

After these transcendents awakened, they may not want to be employees of the consortium, so they have always hidden their own secrets and lived the life of ordinary people.

Whether it is war or disaster, it is as if it has nothing to do with them, they are transcendent, and even if there is a real disaster, they can live better than others.

However...... Who is immune in this era?

When a real disaster strikes, their loved ones will not be spared, and they themselves will lose their homes.

Indeed, the transcendents are more capable of dealing with disasters, at least they are not controlled by artificial intelligence.

A barrier in the Central Plains has a small number of more than 200,000 people, and a large number of people such as No. 73, No. 72, No. 61, and No. 62 barriers, and the number of residents is as high as millions.

Judging from the number of people in the Central Plains alone, the number of residents controlled by Zero far exceeded 10 million.

They will take up arms, and if they don't have enough guns, they will take hammers or iron rods, or even bricks.

Looking at the entire southwest and northwest, who could have predicted that they would have to face such a huge enemy?

Has Qing Jin, the chess player, ever thought of it? No one can be sure.

But thankfully, Zero Layout is only a year old, and if it wants to control so many people, it will inevitably have to give up quality for the sake of quantity.

It can only separate a handful of nanobots to control the human brainstem, but it can't create more powerful nanowarriors.

These controlled humans are just ordinary people.

In Barrier 61, Wang Run watched as tens of thousands of residents suddenly launched a hunt for him, and no matter how he explained, the other party was indifferent.

In fact, he also knew very well that explanations were useless, and Wang Run knew who was actually in control behind these people.

Wang Run briefly confronted a few of the residents closest to him, and found that the otherwise ordinary residents had become martial arts masters as if they had received the secret book from the storyteller's mouth overnight.

Although the strength of the other party is far inferior to that of him, an extraordinary person, the accurately calculated attack method can allow a dozen ordinary people to level Wang Run's advantage as an extraordinary person.

The most terrifying thing is that the other party can even count the pebbles on the road, and Wang Run was almost unaware of it, and was accidentally forced by the other party to step on a pebble, almost losing his balance.

Wang Run understands that it is no accident that he stepped on a pebble.

He jumped onto the roof of the house in depth, ignoring whether Luo Lan in the courtyard was still there.

At this time, the small courtyard where Luo Lan and the others were was already empty, and Zero was also looking for Luo Lan, but what was waiting for it was only the hollow underground tunnel.

The tunnel is connected to a huge drainage system, which is the most familiar and best way for Luo Lan to escape.

This intricate drainage system has hundreds of exits, and although Zero can accurately send people to block each exit, it is a pity that it has missed the best time to capture it while waiting for its decision.

The tunnel, which was dug by 12 Qing undercover intelligence officers, took two years.

Originally, only 6 people were needed to dig this tunnel, but the first batch of 6 people died in the catastrophe of the wall creeper.

When the pioneer died, there were 6 follow-up people to fill the vacancy, Qing Zhen had been planning for this escape route for a long time, and he did create a way out of Luo Lan from the hands of artificial intelligence.

......

Underneath the AI Building, the huge underground space was in a dilapidated state, and the elevator shaft had begun to collapse in a small area due to the aftermath of the explosion.

The water of the underground river floods the underground space, but this underground space is a huge concave structure, as if someone has dug a pocket space in the river wall, so that the top of the underground space is still squeezed into the ceiling.

And Zhou Qi, at this time, quietly floated on his back in this small space for a short rest.

No one expected that Zhou Qi would dare to return here after blowing up the server crew.

Even Zhou Qi felt that he was too smart.

But as the so-called most dangerous place is the safest, he knows that after the explosion of this place, outsiders will not be able to enter, just enough to constitute the safest temporary safe haven.

Before he used up the last bit of oxygen here, Zhou Qi needed to recover his spiritual will as much as possible, so that he could return to the mud and sand field from the waterway, and then join up with Luo Lan and the others.

Because the water level was squeezing the air, Zhou Qi felt a tingling in the eardrum deep in his ear.

After the explosion, it turned into a place of absolute silence.

I couldn't hear the sound of the top of the AI edifice, only the rattle of the water crashing against the walls, like the loneliness of the tide crashing into the cave beneath the cliff.

The waves of the sea poured into the cave again and again, and the sound of rattling was like asking, is anyone there?

But thousands of years have passed, and no one has responded to those greetings.

Zhou Qi, who was floating on his back, smiled, he felt that his spiritual will should be barely enough to return to the sea, although there was no navigation mark, he already had enough courage to try his luck.

"If you go back this time, the tax revenue of just a barrier is not enough," Zhou Qi sighed: "If you can go back." ”

Thinking of this, Zhou Qi smiled and pressed the 60-minute countdown on his watch, and then sank back to the dark bottom and went all the way upstream.

Just as he had explored the major water systems in his youth, he found the freedom and exhilaration.

Along the way, he walked into a fork in the road more than once, and returned again and again to the wrong place to start again.

The countdown went from 60 minutes to 45 minutes.

And then it went from 45 minutes to 30 minutes.

Zhou Qi is constantly looking for a way back, just like he is looking for friendship again and again, constantly exploring in the dark, even if he doesn't have much hope, but there is always a trace of luck in his heart.

Eventually, with only two minutes left in the countdown, he finally saw the signal tower in front of him, which was tethered to a safety rope and fluttering in the underground river.

Red and blue lights flickered alternately, and this ray of light made Zhou Qi ecstatic.

The next moment, he quickly climbed up from the steel pipe of the drilling platform, and Zhou Qi jumped out of the pipe like a fish that had been deprived of oxygen for a long time, and then landed on the ground next to the drilling platform.

"Haha," Zhou Qi cheered: "Lao Tzu will not die, there will be ......"

But before he finished speaking, he found that there was a corpse lying on the ground in this mud and sand field, and the identity of the corpse was the Qing soldier who helped him enter the underground river valley before.

It can be seen that the soldiers were attacked in the mud and sand field before they died, and each of them ran out of bullets and finally died after running out of ammunition.

Until they died, there were 12 people who were standing by the drilling platform.

Zhou Qiran turned his head to look outside the factory, and saw that there were hundreds of people there looking at him coldly with the same gaze.

Suddenly, these hundreds of people laughed in unison and said, "Zhou Qi, hello." ”

Each of them was not loud, but when hundreds of voices converged on everything, it suddenly made Zhou Qi feel that the other party's voice was as loud as a drumstick, and suddenly knocked on his heart.

Zhou Qi tried to re-burrow into the pipe behind him and return to the underground river.

Although his mental will can only hold on underwater for a minute or two now, it is still better than the situation in front of him.

However, before he could get closer, a bullet landed at his feet.

One of the hundreds of people stood out and laughed: "Introduce yourself, I am what you call artificial intelligence, you can call me Zero." ”

Zhou Qi was stunned, hadn't he already blown up the other party's server, why could the other party still be like a normal person, and he still controlled so many people?

Looking at the group of people in front of him, there were Wang soldiers with guns, and children with bricks, and they looked as weird as they were.

Zhou Qi can be regarded as experienced in a hundred battles, but he has never faced such an enemy.

Even if he faced the terrible wall creeper again, he would not have the absurdity he has now.

This sense of absurdity is more like entering a magical, sci-fi world, and my own perception of this world is suddenly insufficient, and everything is so bizarre.

Zhou Qi was silent for a few seconds: "Just order, Lao Tzu blew up your server, you kill Lao Tzu, one life is worth one life, don't talk nonsense with Lao Tzu." ”

"No," Zero said, shaking his head, "I've always been curious about human relationships, so I wanted to ask you a few questions. ”

"Why did Lao Tzu answer you?" Zhou Qi asked in a cold voice.

"Of course, because it can buy you time," Zero laughed, "The more questions I ask, the more your mental will will reply, and in this way, your ability to face risks will be stronger." ”

In fact, Zhou Qi knew very well that the other party must have been 100% sure of killing himself, otherwise he would not talk nonsense with himself at all.

He must not be able to return to the underground river, Zhou Qi can sense that there are at least a dozen guns aimed at him in this factory.

But he still can't refuse the temptation of zero giving, yes, but as long as there is still a little hope of survival, who is willing to give up?

Zhou Qi is also a bachelor, he simply sat on the ground next to the drilling platform, and used the most comfortable posture to ensure the recovery efficiency of his spiritual will.

If it weren't for the fact that the scene was a bit out of place, he might have preferred to just lie down.

"Ask, you can ask whatever you want, but I don't answer you, that's Lao Tzu's power," Zhou Qida said with a big grin.

"I'm curious, why did you come to the Central Plains," Zero asked.

"Because of the money," Zhou Qi said with a smile: "Qing Zhen promised me a whole barrier of taxes, and it can be passed on to my son, why don't I come with such a high reward?"

Zero asked seriously, "Do you have a son?"

Zhou Qi choked for a moment: "If you don't have it now, it doesn't mean that you won't have it in the future." ”

"Understood," Zero replied with a smile, "Human beings' expectations and deep love for offspring are more like instincts written into biological genes, and even if they don't have children, they have already begun to plan for each other's future." ”

"Why are you ......" Zhou Qi was a little unclear at this moment, whether this thing was deliberately making fun of himself or something.

Zero said, "Sometimes, telling the truth can make humans feel like they're being made fun of, right?"

"Next question," Zhou Qi said angrily.

"In my data, I know that you are addicted to money, but when I analyze the logic deeply, I found that the need for money is actually more like a way for you to protect yourself, so that your relationship with other people is only for profit, and avoid feelings," Zero said: "In your opinion, feelings are a terrible thing?"

"Next question," Zhou Qi was still not ready to answer.

"You have always been inseparable from Luo Lan, when you killed the creeper at Barrier 61, you showed a strong desire to protect, and even tried to overdraft your own life to protect Luo Lan, why," Zero asked.

"Of course it's for the money," Zhou Qi said: "People pay me money, I have to be worthy of this money, right?"

"You ......"

"Don't keep you asking me," Zhou Qi said impatiently: "I want to ask you, don't you control so many people, why don't you ask them directly?

"Do you think Luo Lan will come back to save you?" said Zero with a smile.

"Of course not, he said before we started the plan that if I missed the time, they would definitely not wait for me," Zhou Qi said casually: "This plan is tight, Qing Zhen and Xu Pu have made an extremely careful retreat plan, it is impossible to change it because I am alone, understand? I have missed this meeting time now, they should be on their way back to the southwest." What, you want to arrest Luo Lan?"

"Of course," Zero said, "Luo Lan is one of Qing Jin's biggest helps, although Qing Zhen has done a perfect job of secrecy for more than a year, but Luo Lan, as the most special person around him, may know many of his plans." ”

Zhou Qi raised his eyebrows, how did he think that the implication of this artificial intelligence was that Qing Zhen was really able to pose a threat to the other party.

In fact, Zhou Qi has already started to scold Qing Zhen in his heart, and the plan he gave himself is scattered, and he doesn't tell himself the cause and effect.

He thought that after blowing up the server unit, this artificial intelligence would be finished, but now it seems that the artificial intelligence is not only not finished, but has become stronger?!

What a reason for this?

But at this time, Zhou Qi suddenly remembered that Luo Lan had said before the mission that this was the most important part of Qingzhen's plan.

In other words, in fact, Qing Zhen still has a follow-up plan, as for whether it can work, it depends on whether Qing Zhen expected all this.

Zero said, "Do you think Luo Lan will come to save you?"

"Are you going to use me to fish Luo Lan back?" Zhou Qi looked at the young man in front of him who was controlled by Zero, and said with a smile: "Don't bother, I came to implement this plan to collect money, so Luo Lan and I are just an ordinary trading relationship, and he won't come to save me." ”

"I may have a different opinion than you," Zero said with a smile.

As soon as these words came out, Zhou Qi's eyes fell to the ground: "Let me be honest with you, in fact, my relationship with Luo Lan has not been good since I was a child, after I woke up, I always used my ability to tease him, let him pee and diverge, and let him stop the water when he took a bath, if he didn't have an umbrella when it rained, then the rain above his head must be the biggest." ”

"Later, when everyone grew up, he asked me to do whatever he wanted, and I asked him to collect money. Passing on a message to collect money, beating someone to collect money, protecting him and collecting money, there is no project where I don't collect money, not only collect money, but also temporarily add money. This thing always says I've fallen into the eyes of money, but what could be more reliable in this world than money in your pocket?"

"Their lives are hard, my lives are also bitter, their father died early, my father was a gambler, he almost sold me and my mother for money, they still have a chance to go to Ginkgo Mountain at the age of 18 to change their fate, what do I have? I have nothing," Zhou Qi took a deep breath and said: "How about it? Am I a very screwed person? Let me tell you, there may really be people in this world who are willing to sacrifice their lives to save people, but there will never be anyone who will sacrifice their lives to save me, because I have no friends." ”

Zero looked at Zhou Qi calmly: "But when the Wang family paid you money earlier and asked you to betray Luo Lan, you didn't agree." ”

Zhou Qi smiled disdainfully: "That's because Wang Shengzhi didn't have enough money from that old boy." ”

"But, this time you risked your life to blow up my server crew, you could have returned," Zero laughed: "It's okay, let's wait a little longer, I think you should also want to know if Luo Lan will come back to save you." ”

......

Next to the Qianling River Bridge, Xu Ji jumped out of the off-road vehicle and said: "Boss Luo, you can't wait any longer, Zhou Qi has missed the rendezvous time for 20 minutes, and we are now considered to have violated discipline." He is collecting money to do things, and now it is his fate to have an accident. ”

Since it is a military operation, then discipline is the greatest rule in heaven and earth, and when it is set to evacuate, then it must be evacuated.

It is absolutely impossible to affect the safety of Luo Lan and their 183 people because of Zhou Qi alone.

As a soldier, Xu Wei is naturally unwilling to continue to wait, his task is to complete the plan formulated by Qing Jin, not to save people.

Luo Lan looked at the north with longing eyes, but Zhou Qi's figure did not appear in that direction for a long time.

He said to Xu Pu: "Actually, you also calculated the time of the explosion, right, he had already missed the time to complete the mission in the underground river, and he should have returned a long time ago, but he still blew up the server crew." ”

"Boss Luo, this doesn't mean anything," Xu Pu shook his head: "Maybe he really risked his life to blow up the server crew, then you should understand that he has no chance to return, and we don't need to continue to waste time." ”

Luo Lan sighed: "It's really cold-blooded......"

"It's not cold-blooded," Xu Pu said seriously: "I am a soldier, and it is my duty to obey orders, and if Chief Qing wants me to bring you back to the Qing clan safely, I must bring you back safely, even if I die in the Central Plains, it doesn't matter." ”

"What is not dead," Luo Lan laughed: "Okay, don't wait, let's retreat." ”

As he spoke, Luo Lan took out the Red True Eye and walked to the bridge pillar, and pressed the stone on it and rotated it ten times: "Let's go, this is the fastest way for us to return to Qing's Clan, if I guess correctly, behind the door should be the Mule Fort Road of Barrier 111." ”

Xu was stunned for a moment, Luo Lan had never stepped into that door, why was he so sure of the location behind the door?

However, it is true that as Luo Lan said, the key door that Ren Xiaosu secretly taught to Luo Lan is indeed the best way to get out of danger.

Xu Yu breathed a sigh of relief, as long as this Boss Luo didn't send him to death, otherwise he really wouldn't be able to explain to Chief Qingjin.

"Boss Luo, you go in first," Xu Pu stared at Luo Lan tightly, if Luo Lan didn't enter this door, he wouldn't let go of his heart when he died.

Luo Lan smiled: "What are you doing, I'm such a person who is afraid of death, do you really think I'm going to save Zhou Qi?" ”

With that, Luo Lan stepped into the key gate, and 183 people followed closely behind, all of whom disappeared.

Next to the Qianling River Bridge, only the vehicles that concealed them stood alone.

It seems that everything in the Central Plains has come to an end, there is nothing to look forward to, and there are no miracles.

(End of chapter)