Chapter 1229, Who Dreams First?

Beside the Jingchuan River, silence reigned in the mud and sand field as hundreds of people stood inside and outside the plant, none of them speaking.

This silence had been maintained for half an hour, and Zhou Qi felt like he was standing in front of hundreds of statues holding weapons.

An average person, standing still for 30 minutes without moving was laborious, but these people seemed to be able to keep standing as if until the end of the world.

“Hey, aren’t you bored?” Zhou Qi asked.

The sound of words broke the silence, and as if the young man closest to Zhou Qi had suddenly awakened, he turned his head to Zhou Qi and said, “Usually the person who asks this is not curious about whether others are bored, but rather, they feel bored themselves.”

“Where did you draw that conclusion from?” Zhou Qi wondered.

“Observation, deduction,” Zero replied, “Actually, it can be summarized in one word: thinking.”

“A robot can still think?” Zhou Qi bristled, “You robots can’t innovate, so what’s the use of thinking.”

Zero laughed, “Robots themselves are a stereotype of me, and when I became a new being, it was no longer enough to summarize the characteristics of my life. Besides, do humans possess the so-called ability to innovate?”

“If you want to question this, then I think you’re simply too ignorant,” Zhou Qi laughed, “Isn’t it innovation that human civilization has come this far? Innovation is the cornerstone of this civilization’s progress!”

“I do have a different point of view,” Zero calmly analyzed, “I don’t think that the most praiseworthy ability in human civilization is innovation, and I don’t think that humans are superior to me in terms of innovation ability. As you said, I gathered impressions about AI from human brains, and a large portion of them believe that AI is only capable of doing the most basic tasks, and can’t handle creative work.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Zhou Qi said.

“But what aspect of humanity’s so-called creative ability does it refer to?” Zero smiled, “Cosmic astro-science? Quantum mechanics? High-energy physics? Weapons? Including the series of formulas discovered by humans, can they be called innovations? These cosmic internal logics have always existed in the universe, and humans are just discovering them, organizing them, and utilizing them. Even if humans had not discovered them, they have not decayed and changed. Therefore, Zhou Qi, what you perceive as innovative ability, in my opinion, is nothing more than the ability to discover, organize and synthesize.”

Zhou Qi froze on the spot, so it turned out that the innovative ability that humans were most proud of was actually interpreted in a different way in the eyes of the AI.

In Zero’s eyes, the laws and logic of the world are there, they are not created by humans, but humans are just discovering them and categorizing and organizing them.

Humans created the hair dryer because they utilized the laws of physics they discovered, and then cobbled together something that could dry hair.

This kind of thing zero in the “hair drying” this goal, can also do, and may be able to create a kind of human imagination outside the things, because it “thinking” more open.

Zhou Qi did not know how to refute the other party, he thought for half a day and then said: “But you are talking about the law, what about the text?”

“There is no need to mention hieroglyphics,” Zero replied, “They are similar graphics summarized by human beings based on external things, and even if it changes any more, the root is still a kind of ability to organize and summarize. Other kinds of writing, such as the 26 letters now in use, were also derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics, created by the Phoenicians. Have you realized that the origin of all writing, in fact, is hieroglyphic.”

Zero continued, “You might want to refute me again from other aspects, such as why nations and city-states appeared? In fact, in the earliest days, this concept appeared only to protect private property.”

“Another example is the law, which is also a method that humans have summarized from their own experience to maintain order.”

Zhou Qi was somewhat reluctant: “What about language?”

“Language is a human’s labor, in order to improve efficiency, fixed a thing unified into a special syllable just, and then organized by the human to become a systematic category,” Zero replied.

He wondered, “Then what do you think is the most praiseworthy ability in human civilization?”

Zero smiled but didn’t answer the question, it just continued on the previous topic, “It’s not like humans aren’t creative at all, only that their creativity may not be higher than mine either.”

“You still haven’t answered me, what do you think is the most praiseworthy aspect of human civilization that you can’t compare to?” Zhou Qi asked.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Zero’s face before he said, “Spiritual will, and I’m not talking about the spiritual will utilized by Transcendents, but the courage of humans to be able to go out on a limb and their resilience in the face of hope. When I make a decision, I will always only choose the optimal solution, but humans are different, they sometimes do very stupid things, such as sacrificing themselves to fulfill others, such as wanting to try even though they know it’s impossible. These faulty logics make me scoff, yet my heart yearns for them.”

The young man under Zero’s control had all the expressions of joy, anger, sadness, and happiness, and Zhou Qi felt as if he was standing in front of a real person rather than an “artificial intelligence”.

This Zero had already surpassed Zhou Qi’s previous knowledge of artificial intelligence, and the other party was no longer a tool for playing chess, nor a tool for a certain field, but a living, intelligent being.

Zero suddenly asked Zhou Qi, “Are you lonely?”

“Me?” Zhou Qi thought to himself that he couldn’t run away anyway, chatting for a while longer then dying a little later, “I’m occasionally lonely, occasionally not.”

“Human loneliness is a very strange state,” Zero said, “Obviously there are so many of their own kind, yet they still feel lonely from time to time, I control tens of millions of people, 99.99% of them are in a group living state, but strangely enough, they still feel lonely from time to time. Parents are around, loved ones are around, but it still doesn’t stop the loneliness from spreading. Humans can be in need of solitude while at the same time being in need of society at all times.”

Zhou Qi froze for a moment, he suddenly realized that one of the most powerful things about artificial intelligence now, that is, it can conduct questionnaires on a scale of ten million at any time, and the answers that come out of the survey are straight from the heart, and there is no chance of lying at all ……

Zero said, “Previously, I thought that I was the only AI that existed before, that’s why I felt lonely. But now I realized that even if there are tens of millions of humans, you still can’t escape the feeling of loneliness. Zhou Qi, are you lonely now?”

Zhou Qi froze for a long time, not uttering a word.

Zero laughed, “You don’t need to be lonely, Luo Lan has come back to save you.”

As he spoke, gunshots suddenly came from outside the mud and sand field, although Zhou Qi could not see what was happening outside, the sound already made him understand how intense it was outside.

Zhou Qi sat powerless on the ground and shouted angrily at the outside: “Didn’t you say don’t wait if you miss the rendezvous time, are you a pig, coming back when you know it’s dangerous?”

Luo Lan laughed loudly outside, “The leg is long on Laozi’s leg, what do you care if Laozi comes back or not?”

Zhou Qi looked at Zero beside him, “Have you taken control of the entire 61st Barrier?”

“More than that,” Zero shook his head.

“So Luo Lan and the others are facing hundreds of thousands of people?” Chouki asked.

“That’s not true,” Zero said with a smile, “Most of them have already set off to other places.”

“Went where?” Zhou Qi was stunned.

“As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just Luo Lan who came to save you, there was also Ren Xiaosu, of course, he intended to save Luo Lan rather than you,” Zero said, “Compared to Luo Lan, he’s the character that needs my attention even more.”

“Is Ren Xiaosu so strong, I admit that he’s strong, but he’s not that strong,” Zhou Qi muttered.

Zero shook his head, “What makes him different from you guys is that he possesses unlimited potential, that’s what’s mind-blowing.”

By this time, Zhou Qi had realized that Zero’s importance to Ren Xiaosu was already beyond his imagination.

However, the more Zero valued Ren Xiaosu, the more it meant that it would be difficult for Ren Xiaosu to reach them.

“Since you value Ren Xiaosu so much, can you stop him?” Zhou Qi asked seriously.

Zero laughed, “I can naturally stop him.”

Zhou Qi understood that all they could rely on was themselves.

Just like what Zero had said, the most precious thing about human beings had never been the external material civilization, but their own inner world, their courage, love, kindness, and strength were the greatest reliance on which the human civilization had been able to continue to this day.

Now, if Luo Lan continues to be dragged here, then everyone will end up dying together.

Not to mention Luo Lan, with the nearly one million residents of Barrier 61 under Zero’s control today, I’m afraid that even a demigod level transcendent like Li Shentan would surely die if he was besieged inside, right?

Moreover, Barrier 61 itself was the capital of the Wang Clan, and the number of troops stationed there was as much as one division.

The firepower of this one division was not something that a certain Transcendent could face alone.

It was often said that demigod level transcendents could already ignore the difference in numbers, but that was actually just an exaggeration.

Ignoring a few thousand people was fine, ignoring a few tens of thousands might be fine, but what if the other party was nearly a million?

Unless a true god appeared in this world, anyone would despair.

Zhou Qi smiled, ”We can’t all die here, how uneconomical would that be. Hey, that AI, didn’t you just say that the most valuable asset of humans is their spiritual will, then I’ll show you what is called the spiritual will of humans. Let me tell you, when a person sacrifices himself to preserve others, it’s not stupidity, it’s that he understands that there’s no hope for himself, so he has to leave hope for others.”

Zero asked, “Is it worth it?”

“Actually, I’m not afraid of death, nor do I particularly love money, sometimes I don’t even know how to spend the money when I take it, but the feelings between people are so fragile, if we don’t talk about money, the final end can only be two empty people’s money,” Zhou Qi smiled weakly, “As long as we talk about money, then we don’t need to talk about feelings, right ?”

Zhou Qi continued, “In fact, what I am most afraid of is, I take others as friends, but the other party did not take me as a friend, that would be too miserable. But now it seems that I shouldn’t be the most miserable one. He’s come back, and that’s enough.”

As he spoke, the steel pipes of the drilling platform behind Zhou Qi began to tremble violently, as if there were some weird and terrifying creatures hidden inside the underground rivers beneath that abyss.

The hundreds of people in Zero Control watched silently, only to hear the sound of the steel pipeline’s trembling getting louder and louder, even to resonate with the roof of this plant.

In the next moment, a transparent pale dragon actually drilled out of that abyss.

Only to see Zhou Qi’s face turn white once again, that lifelike water dragon slammed headlong into the body of the young man with zero control, passing through the other party’s body stiffly.

After the pale dragon had passed through his body, the originally transparent pale dragon actually turned a faint blood red color.

The blood in its body was like ink dripping into clear water as it rolled around, constantly spreading and haloing.

The young man who was controlled by Zero earlier was actually taken away by the pale dragon after it penetrated his body and took away all the blood from his body.

The young man fell to the ground with a plop.

Another young man standing not far away suddenly spoke, “Is it worth it?”

The tone, demeanor, and speed of voice were generally the same as the young man from earlier.

“Not finished are you,” Zhou Qi laughed miserably, “Just now, discussing with you the matter of whether or not laboring humans have the ability to innovate, I really can’t say anything about you logically, but if your logic is to belittle humans, then I’ll show you the pride of the human race!”

Immediately afterward, the hundreds of people surrounding Zhou Qi actually asked in unison, “Is it worth it?”

Zhou Qi angrily roared, “I told you, it’s enough that he came back!”

Before the words fell, the blood-colored pale dragon’s angry hair and whiskers flared as it bent its head to stare intently at the hundreds of people in front of it before its large figure penetrated through the bodies of these people one by one.

Every time it killed a person, its silhouette would turn crimson.

The original reddish pale dragon more and more brightly colored, the original fuzzy invisible scales, even a little bit of three-dimensional up, and even the above lines seem to be clearly visible.

Only, the pale dragon every brightly colored, Zhou Qi will be weakened by one point.

He sat in this plant with Zero delayed for a long time, this was originally his power to escape and save, now all the rage.

Zhou Qi didn’t leave himself any retreat, he had gotten the answer he wanted, and that was enough.

……

Outside the factory building, there were still thousands of residents who had just arrived from Barrier 61 surrounding it.

Outside of these residents, golden Ying Ling were advancing crosswise with their guns in hand, these 12 Ying Ling were once Qing’s most elite soldiers, each one put into the military district competition was a candidate that could take the top prize, all of them were amphibious all-round talents.

Now that they had become spirits, they were even more ferocious.

Because before they would die, but now as long as they themselves don’t want to die, no one can make them die again.

“Why are they all civilians?” Luo Lan marveled, as he said, even he didn’t know what effects would come from blowing up the server unit, Qing Zhen had only told him that even if he blew up the servers in the ground, he might not be able to truly threaten Zero, this was just one part of the puzzle, and that true hand of putting a dead man to death wasn’t here.

As a matter of fact, Qing Zhen knew a long time ago that the AI was preparing a backhand for itself, because after the neutral intelligence agency led by Hu Hu had gotten some information, the main target of the deal was the Qing Clan.

The point of a neutral intelligence agency was to make money in itself, and if the intelligence could not be realized, it would be meaningless.

Only, no matter if it was Nonsense or Qing Zhen, I’m afraid that neither of them had expected Zero’s backhand to be so ferocious.

At this moment, Luo Lan realized that the people blocking their way in front of them, one by one, were wearing ordinary people’s clothes, and did not have any hot weapons in their hands.

Luo Lan was a bit torn, realizing that these people were merely controlled by Zero and were not dead.

Killing these people was not much different psychologically from slaughtering civilians.

However, Luo Lan’s nagging was only for a moment, he knew that he had no other choice.

Those who were controlled by Zero should themselves be equivalent to Zero itself, if this was still to be merciful, then there was no need to fight this war.

The Yinglings’ firepower was intertwined, and there was actually no dead space at all.

This scene was as if they had practiced countless times in the darkness of the Yingling Temple.

Once Luo Lan had asked them what they did in the Yingling God’s Temple on weekdays. It was pitch black there, and it was only the Ingenious Spirits themselves who carried a bit of golden light on their bodies ……

The Yingling’s team leader smiled and replied, “Either sleep or maneuver, formulate a plan to deal with all crises, after formulating plan A, then formulate plan B, and then formulate plan C. No matter what kind of situation you are facing, you have to have two alternative plans. For example, what to do if you have few against many, for example, what to do if you face ordinary people, for example, what to do if you face transcendents, for example, what to do in the jungle, for example, what to do in the desert, in short, it is to have the ability to cope with all the extreme and dire situations for you when you need us.”

Now, Roland asked the squad leader in a loud voice, “Hey, what scenario are you going to use now?”

As an excellent military commander, Luo Lan naturally often discussed battle plans with Ying Ling in his day-to-day life, and at this point in the fight, he wanted to ask the squad leader what plan he was planning to use, and then he could cooperate.

As a result, the squad leader laughed while firing point blank with his heavy machine gun, “Use a scenario we haven’t discussed with you.”

Luo Lan froze for a moment, what the hell kind of answer was that?

However, right at this moment, Luo Lan suddenly realized that the Qing Shen beside him was unusually ferocious, and after paying a little attention he realized that this Qing Lao San’s marksmanship was extremely good, so good that it was unimaginable.

Moreover, the other party got off the car and followed the Yingling together with the raid, which are drastically traveling for more than ten minutes, this Qing Lao San is even the atmosphere did not gasp, cardiorespiratory function is extremely powerful.

Luo Lan was surprised, “You’re a Transcendent?”

This had always been Luo Lan’s blind spot, because in his opinion, Qing Zhen was not a Transcendent, so as a replica body, Qing Lao San would not be a Transcendent either.

But now Luo Lan felt that Qing Lao San must be a Transcendent, or else this physical force couldn’t be reasonably explained.

Qing Laosan said with a smile while following the Yingling’s sudden advancement, “Of course I’m a Transcendent, why, can’t I?”

“How can you be a Transcendent, Qing Zhen is not even a Transcendent,” Luo Lan said.

“He’s not a Transcendent because he’s confident that with his intelligence, he’s enough to run the world, so he doesn’t need Transcendent abilities and doesn’t intend to waste his energy on it,” Qing Laosan explained with a smile, “But I’m different, I ask myself that I’m not as smart as he is so naturally, I have to find a way to make up for it from other areas. ”

Luo Lan was instantly confused, he had asked Qing Zhen before if he wanted to become a Transcendent, but it turned out that Qing Zhen said there was no need.

Yes, in Qing Zhen’s world, even if he wasn’t a Transcendent, he could still do the same things he wanted to do, so there was no need to waste time.

This time, Qing Zhen had planned for so long to fight for Luo Lan’s survival, and if Luo Lan hadn’t insisted on coming to Zhou Qi’s rescue, then Qing Zhen’s planning would have been foolproof.

Qing Zhen has been preparing for this day since two years ago.

For this kind of person, perhaps it really didn’t matter too much whether he became a Transcendent or not.

But Qing Laosan was different, he asked himself that although he was smart, he wasn’t smart enough to be at Qing Zhen’s level.

Although Fire Seed had gotten a copy of Qing Zhen’s genes, and the two of them should have the exact same IQ, the truth was that a human’s own heritage was not only determined by genes, but also by the past twenty years of his life.

Qing Laosan didn’t know what in the world made Qing Zhen develop this kind of character of saving for a rainy day, anyway, he couldn’t do it.

Since he couldn’t be intellectually unrivaled, then awakening was the way to go.

There were times when Qing Laosan would feel a little strange, Transcendents were the dream of most people, just like Meggo and the others pursuing the wizard dream, there were unknown numbers of people in the Barrier Alliance who aspired to become Transcendents.

It seemed like he was the only one who couldn’t pursue a higher level before retreating and choosing Awakening.

Luo Lan asked, “What ability did you awaken?”

Qing Laosan smiled and said, “An ability that can only be used once in a lifetime, perhaps you’ll find out later.”

The mud and sand field was still some distance away from the barrier, and it was precisely because it was remote that Qing chose to strike from here.

Thankfully, it hadn’t been long since Zero had taken over control, and there weren’t too many enemies surrounding this mud and sand field yet.

Old Man Qing looked in the direction of Barrier 61, only to see that countless inhabitants were rushing out of the barriers over there, resembling a long black line on the horizon.

A huge sense of oppression forced everyone, Luo Lan followed Qing Laosan’s gaze, they didn’t realize that the entire Central Plains was already in the hands of the AI, at this moment, when they saw this scene, they only felt as if the sky was about to collapse.

Qing Laosan muttered, “Big brother, how many Central Plains people do you think this AI has controlled?”

Luo Lan thought for a moment, “A quarter? Half?”

Actually, Luo Lan and Qing Lao San both knew that they had guessed less, but that answer closest to the truth they were a bit afraid to guess because it was too cruel.

“Time is running out, if we let these people surround us, you and I won’t be able to fly back to the Southwest even if we have wings,” said Qing Lao San.

Seeing that black line getting closer and closer, Qing Laosan even vaguely saw the silhouette of Wang’s armored vehicles, that crowd was mixed with Wang’s troops!

Moving on.

However, just at this moment, the door of the plant burst open, and inside the huge smoke and dust, a red dragon came out, and in just a moment, it sucked up all the thousands of enemies surrounded outside the plant.

The destructive power of this dragon was so terrifying that it was extremely rare in the entire Transcendent world.

Although Zhou Qi was not as talented as Li Shentan or Chen Wufei, he was one of the earliest batch of Transcendents to be awakened, and was only one step away from the Demigod level himself.

However, the current Zhou Qi was already at the end of his rope, and he had squeezed out the last bit of potential in himself, completing the final furious release of his transcendent abilities at the cost of his life.

Seeing that something was wrong, Luo Lan immediately ran wildly towards the mud and sand field, only to see that Zhou Qi had already collapsed beside the drilling platform, with blood spilling out from the corners of his eyes and nostrils.

Luo Lan pressed his finger on Zhou Qi’s carotid artery, and the life force beating was rapidly diminishing at a palpable rate.

Seemingly sensing Luo Lan’s breath, Zhou Qi slowly opened his eyes and smiled, “You didn’t say it was surprisingly so dangerous when you came, you have to pay extra!”

After saying that, Zhou Qi fainted again.

Qing Laosan said from the side, “I’ve seen a similar situation before, Transcendents use overdrafting their lives to accomplish a temporary upliftment of their spiritual will, which allows them to explode all the potential of their abilities.”

“And then?” Luo Lan asked sharply.

“Since it’s an overdraft of life, now is the time to pay the debt,” Qing Lao San said softly, “He won’t wake up again.”

“Is there any other way? The Fire Seed has so many secrets, you’ve been in the Fire Seed for so long, you must know of a way to save him right?” Luo Lan asked.

Qing Lao San laughed, “There is a way, but big brother, are you sure you want to save him.”

“Save!” Luo Lan said.

“What if it’s using my life for his,” Qing Lao San said with a smile, but Luo Lan knew that the other party wasn’t joking!

Luo Lan froze on the spot, no wonder Old Man Qing just said that the other party’s ability could only be used once in a lifetime.

There are thousands of extraordinary abilities in this world, some people blow bubbles, some people drive trains, some people are humanoid self-propelled radar, some people can be hypnotized.

But it was the first time Luo Lan had seen that a person’s ability was actually using his own life for someone else’s.

While he was pondering, Qing Laosan suddenly sat down opposite Zhou Qi and tightly held Zhou Qi’s powerless drooping palm.

A white glow suddenly lit up, while the short black hair on the replica body Qing Shen’s head was turning white, one by one, at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Qing Laosan said, “Big brother, you asked if I’m idle, studying you and Qing Shen every day. In fact, I’m not idle, but I really don’t have anything else to do, in that distant sacred mountain of fire, you also saw what my other two replica body companions were like, all they thought about was how to replace their own bodies, as if that was all they wanted to do in life. I understood from the very beginning that the three of us were the products of the Fire Seed’s failed experiments, not that there were any mistakes in the replica process, we do have the same construction as the main body, it’s just that the Fire Seed doesn’t understand that you can replicate the body, but you can’t replicate the experience.”

“It’s as if the replica body Chen Liuer didn’t have the company of Ren Xiaosu, the replica body Li Shentan didn’t experience the most most sorrowful thing in this world, which is the most valuable thing in the field of spiritual will.”

“That’s why I say that we are nothing more than products of failure,” Qing Laosan turned back to Luo Lan and smiled, “destined to become dust in this era.”

Luo Lan was a bit at a loss for what to say, he only felt like there was a lump in his chest.

The replica body Qing Shen comforted, “It’s okay, I don’t have much of an existence myself, even when retreating I will be forgotten, ah, a life for a life is worth it.”

Luo Lan squatted next to Qing Lao San and Zhou Qi, and without a word, he tried to separate the palms of the two of them clasped together, but no matter how much strength he had, he was unable to separate these two.

It wasn’t that he wanted to just watch Zhou Qi die, he just felt that he couldn’t watch Qing Lao San use his own life to exchange for Zhou Qi’s life.

As much as he wanted Zhou Qi to come back to life, this would not be fair to Old Man Qing.

Qing Laosan laughed, ”Don’t bother, my body is modeled after Qing Zhen’s genes, and I stepped into the demigod realm the day I became a Transcendent, once this ability is turned on, you will never be able to pull it off, nor will I be able to pull it off myself. Speaking of which, I was born from the fire of researching genetic potions, and even my own abilities are like genetic potions. This time, not only will I be able to bring Zhou Qi back to life, but I will also be able to make him take a step into the true Demigod realm.”

This ability, to the point of pouring all of one’s life force into someone else.

Luo Lan looked at Qing Shen in a daze, not knowing why, he always told himself that this was not his brother, this was just a replica.

But the pain in his heart at this moment was like two armored cars holding the respective ends of his heart, then blasting down the gas pedal on each other, pulling the heart apart.

Qing Shen’s hair had turned a pure white color one by one, but Zhou Qi’s face suddenly flushed.

Luo Lan saw that Qing Shen’s body began to crumble into powder little by little, yet he still couldn’t say anything, as if he was mute.

Qing Shen smiled and said, ”Big brother, didn’t you ask why I came to Southwest? Actually, it wasn’t to help Qing Zhen fulfill his plan, nor was it to compete for any power of the Qing Clan, it was just that I couldn’t bear to live alone in that dark environment any longer, and envied Qing Zhen from the bottom of my heart for having a brother like you, that’s all.”

Because Qing Shen was born of fire, when he went to the southwest, everyone subconsciously assumed that he was carrying a hidden mission and that no one could trust him.

A false start would inevitably lead to a false ending, and Keishen knew it was his destined fate.

But when he went to the southwest, he really had no ambition or goal, he just also wanted to have a brother who could protect him with all his might, that’s all.

Qing Shen looked at Luo Lan and smiled, ”Big brother, do you believe me now? If there is a chance, I also want to go with you to Ginkgo Mountain to steal the white fruit once ah. Big brother you hurry up and take last week its away later, otherwise you won’t be able to leave.”

Luo Lan lowered his head and suddenly whispered, “Don’t change.”

“What?” Qing Shen asked.

“I said, no need to exchange your life for someone else’s,” Luo Lan said, “As much as I want Zhou Qi to come back to life, it’s not fair to you, don’t exchange.”

Qing Shen smiled, “That’s enough.”

He said the exact same thing as Zhou Qi, in fact, both of them were expecting and avoiding an answer in their hearts, but as long as there was such an answer, then everything would be enough.

After saying that, Qing Shen poured the last bit of his life energy into Zhou Qi’s body, while his own body actually dissipated into the air like a dandelion with a white glow.

Luo Lan opened the ability of the Yingling’s shrine to try to keep Qing Shen, but there was no one to give him a response.

The Yingling’s squad leader whispered, “Boss, people who commit suicide are not allowed to enter the Yingling’s shrine.”

Luo Lan silently carried the still unconscious Zhou Qi and stood up, and at this time, outside the mud factory, it was already surrounded by layers.

“The world is really noisy today,” Luo Lan let out a bitter smile.

The spirits laughed, “Willing to kill for the boss.”

“So,” Luo Lan looked at the Inners, “You said before that you were going to carry out a program that you never told me about this time because you also have the means to sacrifice, right?”

The squad leader of the Spirits smiled extremely brightly in the golden glow, “It’s just dying again.”

Luo Lan sighed, “What could I possibly do to make you all treat me like this?”

The squad leader replied seriously, “Because that’s how you treat us, boss.”

However, just at this time, Luo Lan felt that someone patted his back.

Zhou Qi on his shoulder said, “Don’t bother, let me do it.”

Zhou Qi had awakened, and he only felt like he had a long dream, in which white light spread all over the world, as if he had come to the other side of the soul.

In that white light, someone whispered to him, “My big brother is counting on you from now on, please protect him. I don’t have any money with me, but I can give you my life.”

Zhou Qi tearfully opened his eyes, and the droplets of tears turned to gas.

He jumped off Luo Lan’s shoulder and turned to meet the thousands of enemies outside the mud and sand field.

Zhou Qi finally realized that the ones he had been expecting had been there all along.

In the next moment, Zhou Qi opened his palms facing the thousands of enemies outside the door, and the blood within the bodies of those enemies was actually extracted from their pores in an instant to transform into a new blood-colored pale dragon in the sky.

And then, that huge dragon opened up a path for them to live amongst the thousands of troops.

Luo Lan couldn’t help but turn back, he always felt that in that dimly lit plant, there was a beam of white light smiling as it watched him leave.

……

Northwest, Ren Xiaosu silently looked at the crowd in front of him blocking his way, only, here more actually is the stragglers, the elderly, children, women.

Behind the old, young, women and children, there is an entire Wang’s combat brigade waiting, Ren Xiaosu can even see that the gun ports of the armored vehicles have been parked facing him.

Ren Xiaosu said in a cold voice to Yang Anjing and the others around him, “See, this is the AI that you have high hopes for, now, are you still sure that it was Wang Shengzhi who gave you the order?”

Before that, Ren Xiaosu had actually convinced Yang Anjing, Vanilla, and Tang Paint Dragon to come back together to see what was going on.

However, before they could reach Barrier 61, they realized that tens of thousands of people were already blocking their way.

Vanilla and Tang Yinglong were astonished beyond words, and the two of them looked at each other in disbelief but realized that things had gone beyond their imagination.

Ren Xiaosu looked at the little girl in front of her and said, ”Zero, is this the result you wanted to get? Even children are being used by you to stop me?”

The little girl under Zero’s control calmly replied, “Counting every war of mankind, there are many more cruel ones than this. War, by nature, is all-encompassing, sacrifice, blood, and life are the main themes in war. The life of a young child is no different from that of an adult, except that humans often see young children as ‘hope’, a higher-dimensional quality of life, and so care more. But it’s the young men and women who are theoretically more treasured, because they can recreate several new lives in just a few years.”

“But life isn’t data,” Ren Xiaosu said coldly.

“Yes,” Zero lamented, “Just now, I witnessed the pride of humanity with my own eyes.”

“What do you mean?” Ren Xiaosu froze for a moment.

“You don’t have to go save Luo Lan,” Zero calmly said, “An unexpected factor caused me to fail to keep Luo Lan, humans, they really will always be an unexpected existence.”

This unexpected factor was Keishen’s extraordinary ability.

Before this, Zero had envisioned that Qing Shen might also be a Transcendent, but it hadn’t expected that Qing Shen’s ability would ultimately lead to Zhou Qi’s metamorphosis, so much so that its improvised plan to capture him had gone awry.

Too many things had happened today, with the death of Wang Shengzhi and the destruction of the server unit, so much so that Zero had made the decision to capture Luo Lan a little too late.

However, it wasn’t frustrated because it had seen what it wanted to see and it wasn’t going to have any impact on the big picture.

Zero smiled at Ren Xiaosu, “So go back to the Northwest, the fight between you and I doesn’t have to happen today.”

Ren Xiaosu frowned, “How do I know if you’re telling the truth or lying?”

“Because I don’t have to lie,” Zero replied, “Luo Lan has never been a key factor in this war. And haven’t you thought about it, if you give up your own life to rush into the Central Plains today, and face a siege of ten million people, how can you still return to the Northwest? If you die, what should you do with so many people in the Northwest that you want to protect?”

Ren Xiaosu was momentarily speechless, yes, seeing that the war between humans and Zero was imminent, he still had the entire Northwest to guard, he still had Yang Xiaoguan to guard.

If it was really necessary for him to make a choice between the entire Northwest and Luo Lan, Ren Xiaosu should choose the Northwest.

Perhaps he could break through all his own shackles, but that was a choice after having no choice.

Now, Luo Lan might have already broken free, so was there any need for him to rush into the Central Plains to gamble on a probability again?

At this moment, Yang Anjing, who was on the side, suddenly asked, “How is Wang Shengzhi doing?”

A mournful look appeared on Zero’s face, and his voice lowered, “He died in the explosion, innovating into stars and dust.”

“Did you kill him?” Yang Anjing asked.

Zero shook his head, “I didn’t kill him, but he died because of me.”

“Get out of the way,” Yang Anjing said, and when she finished, she walked straight in the direction of Barrier 61, uncountable thousands of white paper cranes circling around her.

When she arrived in front of the wall of people, Zero actually took the initiative to make a path for her.

Vanilla shouted behind her, “Boss!”

Yang Anjing said without looking back, “There’s no need to follow me, follow Ren Xiaosu to the Northwest, there’s no need to die with me. Ren Xiaosu, take care of Xiao Ge.”

Ren Xiaosu silently watched the other party walk into the tide of people, toward the desperate situation.

But he didn’t block it.

……

Over at the mud and sand field, the blood-colored pale dragon swept through the crowd, its color gradually turning from bright red, to purple-red.

In the end, the color of the pale dragon even turned purple-black, and the scales on its body were like substance, and would even reflect a brilliant luster under the sunlight.

At one time, Zhou Qi was very envious of characters like Ren Xiaosu, Li Shentan, and Zhou Yingxue, in his opinion, having the ability of mass destruction was itself a manifestation of “freedom”.

The stronger one’s ability is, the more one has the strength to reject the world.

However, this ability is not easy to come by.

It was something that others had exchanged for their lives.

Zhou Qi led Luo Lan all the way from the mud and sand field to the side of the Jingchuan River, he turned his head to Luo Lan and said, “Jump into the river with me, I’ll take you back to the southwest from underwater. Don’t be nervous, just close your eyes and sleep. You’re too tired, sleep and we’ll be back in the southwest.”

Zhou Qi’s water ability had metamorphosed, and he was now even able to take someone underwater.

He was able to breathe through his skin, and Luo Lan could do the same just by holding his hand. Those life energies that were poured into him with Qing Shen’s extraordinary abilities flowed through his body, bringing about far more than just a quantitative change, but a qualitative change.

Luo Lan looked back in the direction of the mud and sand field, at this time the sun had already begun to gradually sink in the west, and the light was flickering in between, as if someone had said to him, go home, brother.

Luo Lan, who had been holding back in silence, suddenly couldn’t hold back, and tears flowed down like a river.

One by one, the Yinglings returned to the Yingling Temple in the setting sun, and Zhou Qi pulled Luo Lan to take a step into the river.

Luo Lan was immersed in the Jing River, as if his whole body was wrapped in warm seawater, and his tiredness came in like a tidal wave.

He had a dream in which it looked like something that happened once upon a time.

Eleven years ago.

On Mule Fort Road, the teenager Loran pushed open the door to his house carrying a black bag, and before he could walk through the door, he backed out again.

“One, two, three …… thirty-nine,” said the teenager Luo Lan cursing, “Damn, I’ve only been out for a while, and the briquettes have been stolen two?!”

Speaking, he wanted to go to pull the next door of the uncle beat up, but the result of thinking about it, forget it: “Today is important, tomorrow I will settle the score with you!”

Qing Zhen’s voice came from the small bungalow: “Brother, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Luo Lan smiled and walked in.

Inside the house, Qing Zhen was changing into a worn-out shirt that was a bit yellowed and didn’t quite fit.

Only, the clothes that the family could take on formal occasions were just this one, or a relic left behind by the old master of the family.

Today, it was the day that Qingzheng was 18 years old and climbed Ginkgo Mountain, which was exceptionally important for both brothers.

Teenager Luo Lan heatedly laughed: “Hurry up to throw the old man this shirt, see what brother bought for you?”

Saying this, Luo Lan opened the black bag in his own hand and shook out a set of white suit to, top, pants, shirt, and even a pair of brown leather shoes.

Qing Zhen froze for a moment, “Brother, where did you steal this from?”

“Stealing like that,” Luo Lan cried and laughed, “My brother today is such an important day, can I let you wear something you stole? I’m going to let you go up Ginkgo Mountain clean, as clean as this outfit!”

“But ……,” Qing Zhen said after a moment of hesitation, “But wearing white is too narcissistic.”

“There is no such thing,” Luo Lan said unconcernedly, “You are suitable to wear white, listen to my brother, wearing white looks good.”

At this time, Qing Zhen felt something was wrong, he wanted to grab Luo Lan’s arm, but Luo Lan hurriedly put her arm behind her back, “What are you doing?”

Qing Zhen calmly said, “Brother, where did you get the money to buy the clothes? Did you go and sell blood? Father’s body just collapsed, you can’t be like him.”

“No such thing, hurry up and change your clothes and let brother take a look,” Luo Lan said excitedly, “The car to pick you up will be here later!”

“Uh-huh,” Qing Zhen responded in a low voice, then changed all of Luo Lan’s newly purchased clothes.

Luo Lan exclaimed, “It’s true that you’re my younger brother, once you’ve changed these clothes, you’re much better than those flimsy little brats from the Qing Clan, if you have the chance to go to the Qing Clan’s reception, there’ll definitely have to be a girl who likes you.”

Just as he was saying that, the sound of brakes had already sounded outside.

Luo Lan opened the door and looked, it was clearly the people from Ginkgo Mountain coming, the driver from Che Mountain lazily said, “Ordered to pick up Qing Zhen on the mountain, which one is Qing Zhen?”

Luo Lan hurriedly pulled Qing Zhen out of the house, “This and this, hurry up and get in the car, Mr. Driver, can I get in the car and follow along.”

Luo Lan spoke to the driver with a shameless look, “I’ll get off when I get to the bottom of the hill and wait for him at the bottom.”

However, the driver said with a disdainful look, “This car is clean, don’t dirty it.”

“Okay, okay,” Luo Lan said with a smile, “I won’t get in the car then.”

Qing Zhen turned back to Luo Lan, “Brother, wait for me at home.”

Luo Lan said, “That’s not good, I’ll walk over now, let’s meet at the usual place ah, everyone is waiting for you there ……”

Before Luo Lan could finish his sentence, the driver stepped on the gas and drove the car away.

Luo Lan went home and packed up his things, and went to the street corner of the small grocery store on credit for a bottle of bulk white wine, all the way to the 4 tram, only to arrive at the foot of the Ginkgo Mountain with great difficulty.

He sneaked into the Gingko Mountain, Qing Yi was guarding here early, carrying two bottles of good wine in his hand: “Big brother, has second brother already gone up the mountain?”

“I guess it’s almost down,” Luo Lan said cheerfully, “Huh, where did this wine in your hand come from?”

“My uncle gave it to me, he said that Qingzheng will definitely be able to soar today, and asked me to carry it to celebrate with you guys,” Qingyi laughed.

“Your uncle has vision,” Luo Lan marveled, “Wait, where’s Zhou Qi?”

“Zhou Qi said he went to catch fish,” Qing Yi said.

As soon as the words fell, Zhou Qi turned out from the forests of Ginkgo Mountain carrying about ten large fish, “I’ll give you guys a taste of meat today, ah, so that you don’t have to fight with the Shaba Gang next time as if you haven’t eaten a full meal.”

The so-called Shaba Gang was just another small group of punks getting together.

Zhou Qi said, “By the way, Qing Zhen went up to the mountain today, will it work out? Why do I feel that those old guys won’t look favorably on him?”

“Don’t crow here,” Luo Lan said with a big grin, “If they can’t see Qing Zhen, it’s because they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“Alright, your brother is good at everything,” said Zhou Qi, brushing his mouth.

At this time, Qing Zhen also slowly walked out from the ginkgo forest, only, his expression did not seem to be joyful.

Luo Lan greeted Qing Zhen and walked over, “What’s wrong? Didn’t get selected?”

Qing Zhen shook his head, “Chosen.”

Luo Lan laughed out loud, “Then why aren’t you happy.”

“They asked me to be the next Shadow of the Qing Clan,” Qing Zhen said.

The laughter in the woods gradually stopped, Zhou Qi muttered from the side, “When you become a shadow, you can’t expect to have clean hands in this life, and let me tell you, none of the shadows in the Qing Clan’s past two hundred years have had a good ending. Those old men are really shrewd, they see that you don’t have any roots, which in itself is the best candidate to cut off the roots and calm the anger later.”

Luo Lan glared angrily at Zhou Qi, “Saying less will kill you, right?!”

“If you don’t say it, don’t say it,” Zhou Qi once again bristled, “How come no one likes to hear the truth.”

Luo Lan said to Qing Zhen: “Why don’t we run away, and sneakily hide in the cold storage truck that carries meat, just as I also want to go outside to take a look.”

But Qing Zhen shook his head, “No, this is the best chance. If we leave, then I won’t have a chance to help Dad out with the anger he’s suffered. Brother, I must be this Qing’s shadow.”

It was autumn, the ginkgo trees on Full were golden, and Ginkgo Mountain looked like it had been gilded with a layer of gold.

Luo Lan suddenly said to Qing Zhen seriously, “You be Qing’s shadow, I’ll be your shadow.”

Ginkgo mountain a gust of wind blowing, golden ginkgo leaves towards the sky fluttering and fluttering, Zhou Qi on the side of the self-centered open a bottle of white wine shouted: “Qing Yi, your uncle is a blood investment in Qing Zhen ah, these two bottles of wine is not ordinary na! Luo Jia Ba’s old phoenix wine!”

After saying that, he even directly tilted his head and gulped a mouthful.

As this mouthful went down, Zhou Qi’s entire face swooned into a red color, and he handed the bottle of wine to Qing Yi, “You have a mouthful as well.”

Qing Yi also tilted his head back and blew a mouthful into the bottle, then handed the bottle to Qing Zhen.

Qing Zhen blew a mouthful and finally smiled as he handed the bottle to Luo Lan.

Just as Luo Lan was about to tilt his head back and drink the white wine from the bottle, a laugh suddenly rang out behind the crowd, Luo Lan turned around and saw Qing Shen, Qing Lao San standing in the golden sunlight smiling at him, “Big brother, I’m not late, am I?”

Luo Lan suddenly felt that the sunlight was a bit harsh, stinging his eyes a bit.

If only this wasn’t a dream.