Dusk fell, and a disorderly breeze blew across the plains, and rolled up the fallen leaves on the hills, swirling into the sky, and the silhouette of the city at the end of the horizon soaked in the sun, gradually gilded with a brilliant golden glow.

This "illusion" simulated by Pilot 2 based on the remaining information in the database is terrifyingly real, even a speck of dust and a wisp of breeze here have been simulated to perfection, if he didn't know in advance that he was only talking to this ancient artificial intelligence at the level of consciousness, Duncan would not even be able to tell the difference between this small hill and the plain and the real world.

However, this is only an illusion after all, and the perfect simulation itself is its biggest flaw - every speck of dust here is part of the results of the Pilot-2 calculations, and those seemingly disordered breezes have already appeared in the core of the Pilot-2 operation before they blow across the plains, and there will never be an event beyond the database and the calculation results, not even a "random" speck of dust that is blown away.

The ancient kings all knew the end of the world and the truth of the great annihilation, but only Navigator 2, a powerful artificial intelligence built by advanced civilizations that once crossed the sea of stars, understood the subtle and deadly ...... "differences" in the basic laws of the "world".

Now, he has finally found another individual who can understand it all.

A tired man in a white researcher's uniform sat down on a hillside, he sat on a large rock, looking somewhat distractedly at the simulated dusk in the distance.

"My creators, they haven't reached the heights your civilization has reached, so I can't understand the nature of a 0.002-second slice of the universe and what kind of future it will create—so I have to worry that your plan is just creating a larger 'infinite sea'.

"It may be huge, even enough to hold trillions of stars, it may have a long lifespan, even measured in billions of years like the real universe, but as long as the problem of 'eventually transgression' is not resolved, then it will still be a 'shelter', and civilization cannot develop beyond the upper limit of the blueprint, then what once destroyed our homeland, can still destroy it......

"'Paranoia', this is the second concept related to 'human nature' that I learned after the creators disappeared, and this 'paranoia' and 'fear' together are deeply imprinted in the bottom layer of my system like source code, making me constantly think and calculate in search of the possibility that can make the 'two-dimensional villain' 'stand up' on the plane - I call this possibility 'suprasystemic event'.

"But I failed.

"Closed-loop systems do not allow events beyond the system, and I can allow myself to constantly adjust from iteration to perfection in my logical system, but the truth is that non-closed-loop and hyper-systematic are the privileges of the real universe."

The hillside fell silent, and Duncan and Navigator 2 looked into the distance together, and after a long while, he suddenly broke the silence: "...... So for the Infinite Sea, Shirley is a 'supersystem' existence, but is it possible, it is only because the 'information' I carry exceeds the framework of the Infinite Sea itself - and within the 0.002-second universe that I represent, this part of the information is still part of the closed-loop system, and it cannot achieve self-transcendence. ”

Duncan quietly spoke up about this possibility, knowing that the conjecture was not very rosy, because if the speculation was true, it would mean that the situation that Pilot-2 feared was destined to arise: whether in the Old World or the New World, a "parasystem event" would never happen - civilization was destined to be trapped in a cage, even if the cage could be made very big.

Pilot II fell silent, and after thinking for a long time, he shook his head slightly.

"Part of my thought process took this possibility into account after meeting that girl, but in the final calculations, I rejected the conjecture," he said slowly, "because you didn't completely 'reshape' her, except for your 'influence', everything that made up Shirley was still a 'product' of the sanctuary......

"This process can be seen as a supra-system event in an otherwise closed-loop system, and you don't really change the 'total amount of information' in the Boundless Sea Sanctuary in the process, in other words...... That 0.002 seconds of cosmic information is still completely encapsulated in your 'body'.

"Based on this, I judge that the 'supersystem' itself should be your 'characteristic', and the changes that have occurred in Shirley are not because she has been added 'information' outside the Boundless Sea Shelter, but because she has been contaminated with your 'characteristic'."

Duncan frowned and pondered, but still couldn't help but speak: "But your judgment may not be accurate, as you said, you have the 'limitations' of the closed-loop system. ”

"Yes, I have the limitations of a closed-loop system, so I can't really perfectly analyze and calculate things that matter to you, and the possibility of 'the new world is another boundless sea' still exists."

Pilot II stopped at this point, and shook its head after a moment.

"But it doesn't matter, anyway, even then, we can't have a better solution, 'do your best', and a lot of times that's the only thing we can do."

Duncan said no more, but nodded slightly, and then sat down with the other on the hillside, enjoying the luxurious tranquility in the evening breeze, looking out at the sparkling waves of the river on the plains.

In this simulated illusion, time can flow very slowly, slowly—and Duncan hasn't emptied his mind like this for a long time.

But as long as there is an end, the extravagant rest time always seems short.

"It's time for me to leave," Duncan said suddenly, rising up from the hillside, "There's still a long way to go." ”

"yes, you still have a long way to go," Pilot Two followed suit, looking at Duncan calmly, "You're still going to meet the two of us, and after going through all the nodes on the outer barrier, Gemona is still waiting for you to make your appointment - don't keep the lady too long." ”

Listening to the other party's words, Duncan was silent for a moment: "...... You should know my plans, right? ”

“…… You're 'paradering' along the outer barriers, and this is the first step in destroying this world," Navigator II laughed, smiling with childlike purity, "I know that when you leave Gemmona, the countdown to the true destruction of this world will begin - after all, no matter what form the new world will take, the destruction of the old world is the most fundamental part of the process, and we must first find a way to end the ...... 'annihilation' that has lasted to this day." ”

He raised his arm and held out a hand to Duncan, still with a pure smile on his face.

"I don't know what the success rate of this is, and I don't know if we can really be 'retained' by you to that new world, and if we do get there, what kind of new 'posture' we will have, but I believe that you will do your best, so we will see you in the new world."

Duncan looked at the hand that was reaching out to him, and after a brief hesitation, he took the other's palm.

A faint green flame jumped silently between the two fingers, and then disappeared in an instant.

"See you in our new world."

Duncan's figure faded into thin air—the link to access was broken.

The invisible breeze blowing on the plains and hills gradually stopped at some point, and the golden-red glow that filled the sky became more and more dim, and the man in the white researcher's uniform stood silently on the hill, and in his vision, the whole world was gradually disappearing into darkness.

The vague memories of his hometown returned to sleep in the darkness, and he stood in the darkness for a long time, and it was a long time before he slowly raised his right hand.

A little faint green fire was still jumping on the fingertips, but in the blink of an eye, the faint green flame was dyed with a layer of hazy starlight, as if it had transformed into its original "true posture".

Pilot 2 raised his hand and waved it lightly in the darkness.

A vast intertwined light and shadow instantly emerge from nothingness, quickly sketching a picture in a series of astonishing changes—the vast expanse of the sea, the city-state shrouded in darkness, the fog that surrounds the whole world, and the looming nodes and barriers at the edge of the fog.

This is the "surveillance" of the whole world.

Pilot 2's gaze swept over the projection, and he saw a faint starlight on the looming nodes and barriers at the edge of the frame.

The starlight spilled over from the node representing the "Queen of Leviathan" and crossed a quarter-arc along the outer barrier, resting on his "Navigator Node" at the moment.

Starlight seemed to have eroded the barrier, and even if it was just a scene of "analog data" transmitted through countless sensors, it still exuded a certain powerful and vast ...... "presence".

and the breath of destruction.

Navigator 2 waited silently, and after an unknown amount of time, he finally saw the starlight that had stayed on the Navigator node suddenly flicker, and then began to spread towards the next node.

The starlight that spreads on the barrier ring is like a "dial" that heralds the day of the end of the world.

After a moment of thought, Pilot 2 turned its gaze slightly, and a line of information appeared in his field of vision, and was sent into the distance:

"Source-LH02, to--Lord of Fire-ta has gone to you."

In the darkness, Pilot II had waited for a long time, and in his memory, Tarijin never seemed to be so slow to reply to messages.

But he finally received a reply, and a line of information appeared in front of him:

"Source - Lord of Fire - I understand, I'm ready."

"Source-LH02 - you're slow to reply, are you okay?"

“…… The fire is dying out, but I'm still there. ”

“…… Bartók, are you still there? ”

"Yes."

"Queen Leviathan, are you still there?"

“…… Well. ”

Murmuring from the hollows of the Wilderness of Death and the murmurs of the Deep Sea Temple, Navigator 2 exhaled softly, waving away the remaining faint glimmer of light in the air.

(End of chapter)