The snow fell heavier and heavier.
The howling winter wind whipped up a sky full of silver-white, and the snowflakes tumbling from the heavens seemed poised to swallow whole every subject looking up at them.
Joy, clad in a heavy exoskeleton, glanced up at the low-hanging sky.
Was it because darkness was falling?
The clouds seemed to press down lower and lower.
For a fleeting second, he suddenly felt as though this settlement were a well, and everyone trapped inside was like a beast, desperately craving a bite of flesh torn from the others...
"We found Alisa!"
A voice coming over the comms channel broke Joy's train of thought.
The tech team operating the military drones had locked onto Alisa's coordinates, pinpointing her location in an alley leading to the outer city.
Aerial footage followed immediately.
Seeing her standing among a crowd of rioters, Joy felt his chest tighten. His index finger tapped rapidly against his helmet, and he barked out orders.
"All teams, attention! Target location has been uploaded to your terminals. We must bring her back to her parents before this spirals beyond repair."
"Move out!"
A unified response echoed over the channel.
"Copy that!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Joy waved his hand, leading the subordinates behind him as they rushed toward the alley.
That girl was around the same age as his own daughter.
Although he didn't like some of Melvin's practices, which left everyone's lives "both wealthy and impoverished," a child was innocent.
No matter what, he still hoped Alisa could return safely to her parents' side.
He had promised his own children.
He would be their role model.
He would bring back victory and glory...
...
In the alley.
Stiff from the freezing wind and snow, the young girl slowly sank to her knees on the ground.
"I'm sorry..."
She lowered her head, her red-rimmed eyes filled with sorrow.
"My father, my mother, my sisters, and my brothers have done so many awful things. You must be furious..."
"I understand the anger in your hearts. If someone did terrible things to the people I love, I'd be furious too... I'm sorry."
"I know an apology is useless. Things like this have happened countless times, and every time the outcome is just brushing it aside. You've endured until you can't take it anymore, which is why you stood up... Even though I know it's too late, I still want to say I'm truly, truly... sorry."
"I won't be shameless enough to beg you for another chance. If you want to hit me, scold me, you can..."
"I won't make a sound, and I won't blame you."
Her reddened eyes welled with tears, large drops splashing down onto the snow.
She knew crying wasn't good.
Even at her most helpless, she hadn't cried out loud.
Yet right now, apart from crying, she didn't know what else to do.
No matter what she said, no one would truly listen, and she had genuinely run out of ideas.
A hairclip worth one silver coin was cute too.
Yet she couldn't even convince her own father, mother, or brother... so how could she possibly convince anyone else?
The bearded man walked over to her. He wore tattered clothes, and his trousers were coated in dust and sawdust.
Sensing a shadow fall over her, Alisa squeezed her eyes shut, her shoulders trembling as she shrank her neck in, bracing herself for a beating.
Yet the man didn't strike her, nor did he kick her aside. He merely bent down, picked up something from the ground, and offered it to her.
"Here."
Parting her tear-blurred eyelashes a sliver, Alisa looked at what was before her, surprise gradually surfacing in her eyes.
It was the rag doll she had dropped in the snow.
"You dropped your toy. Take it... It's pretty, nicer than my girl's dresses. A shame to get it dirty."
The man grumbled under his breath.
Alisa hesitated, not reaching out, but the man didn't waste words. He thrust it directly into her hands, looking into her eyes, which had widened in astonishment.
"Listen. We never planned to burn down all your houses, run wild, and plunder everything inside. When Sberg read the paper to us, he always said we had to unite and take back what was rightfully ours... our wages, our dignity. He never told us to snatch other people's wallets."
"We don't plan on turning into you."
"If we become the new Master Stephens, more Boers will rise up against us in the future and repeat what we're doing right now... and this cycle will never end."
The man extended his hand and pulled her up from the snow.
"I'm Lovett, a carpenter."
"I'm glad you stepped up and rebuked those madmen. You're a good girl, and you did something truly remarkable. On behalf of the workers, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. We'll take you back to your parents."
"And then..."
Lovett turned back to the crowd behind him and bellowed with all his might, like a true Awakened.
"We will do what Boer ought to do!"
That was the slogan the workers had adopted when they first made up their minds.
They had left their mark on Kent, drawing a line between themselves and the traitors in their ranks, making their stance clear.
This was not an aimless riot!
They weren't out to become Master Stephens!
They were going to do what Boer ought to do!
As long as they stood united—
Every Master Stephen would tremble!
Just like right now—
After victory, everything would change!
A stir rippled through the crowd. People seemed to remember something, and after a brief silence, more and more hands rose into the air.
"That's right!"
"We're going to do what Boer ought to do!"
They endorsed his proclamation.
Not understanding how these people had suddenly found common ground, the scar-lipped man stared wide-eyed at these lunatics in utter disbelief and screamed hysterically.
"...Are you out of your minds?!"
"This is an uprising! Do you even know what an uprising means?!"
"Even if you want Sberg, wouldn't it be easier to use this brat as a hostage to trade for him?! You're actually standing with her! And you want to take her back?!"
"Naive! Idiotic!"
He was a mercenary with endless strength, perhaps on the verge of Awakening, and he bellowed hysterically with a voice louder than usual, trying to make these people "wake up."
His reason for infiltrating the crowd was simple. It had nothing to do with Sberg or bread; he just wanted to seek some fun with those glamorous folks, thrills he couldn't normally get.
For example, that exquisitely made-up female bank clerk was quite nice—her looks and temperament suited his tastes, entirely different from those foul-smelling wastelanders outside. If everyone wanted to make trouble for that little girl, he could gladly "entertain" the bank clerk.
Didn't these bastards wish they could hang all the nobles from the great wall?
Why had they suddenly lost their stomach for it?
And besides—
What the hell was this "Boer"?!
Why were they all listening to him?
More and more people pulled away from the strongest man and stepped up beside the fellow named Lovett.
Perhaps across countless possibilities, they would have sided with the real rioters, but at least right now, they didn't want to.
They wanted to stand on the side their hearts recognized as just.
Lovett stared unblinkingly at the mercenary-like man and spoke, enunciating each word.
"Those are two different things."
"We're going to save our fellow worker, but we won't make our rescued brother feel shame, or disgust at being counted among us."
Pinned under dozens of gazes, the scar-lipped man unconsciously took a step back, and his companions did the same.
Deep down, they looked down on these honest folks who endured exploitation without complaint, preferring to toil in factories rather than carve out a living in the wasteland.
Granted, he was no saint himself—most of the time, he took chips from the masters and acted as their running dog.
Yet right now, facing a united body of workers, he simply couldn't muster the courage to pick a fight with them.
He had strength, but they had plenty too.
He had weapons, and so did they.
With an uncertain, wavering voice, he threatened, "Your naivety will get you killed..."
Looking at the coward, Lovett sneered coldly.
"Then we'll die in a blaze of glory."
Perhaps being a smart fellow could grant a peaceful, stable life, or even let one become a glamorous elite, or at the very least a "Ken" clutching twenty-five chips.
What a pity.
They just weren't born that way!
Deaf to the surrounding arguments, the woman standing in the snow stared fixedly at the young girl, complex emotions shifting in her eyes.
Among them was guilt, remorse, and a sliver of profound despair.
Her job was definitely finished...
No, not just her job.
Her entire future.
Little Alisa would definitely tell on her to her father.
If Lord Melvin found out she had betrayed his most precious youngest daughter, he would surely sell her into some sunless pit of a brothel.
If only this wretched brat would die—
"Bang—!"
A gunshot suddenly rang out from the distance.
Having only just stood up, she shrieked like a startled rabbit and dropped back down, clutching her head.
People turned toward the sound of gunfire, only to see a group of heavily armed soldiers clad in exoskeletons standing at the far end of the alley.
Looking at the ragged survivors and Alisa standing in their midst, a spark of fury flared in Joy's eyes.
He raised his rifle and fired a few warning shots into the air, then aimed directly at Lovett, who was staring right back at him, and roared, "Let her go!"
"Or all of you die!"
These people could no longer be called demonstrators.
They were a mob of rioters!
His men might harbor mercy toward unarmed survivors, but against these rioters, they would show no hesitation.
"Stop—!"
Alisa suddenly darted forward, spreading her arms wide to shield everyone behind her. Fear was plain in her eyes, yet she did not retreat a single step.
Joy looked at her in astonishment and shouted, "Come here, Alisa! Get away from those rioters!"
"No!"
Alisa looked back at him resolutely, her arms outstretched in the freezing wind without a tremor. "They aren't rioters! They're all survivors of Boulder City!"
"I'm going to stand with them."
"And together, we'll explain everything to the people in the Inner City!"
Joy stared blankly at her, engaged his rifle's safety, and cried out involuntarily, "Have you lost your mind?! Do you know what you're doing?!"
The soldiers behind him were equally bewildered, exchanging glances and murmuring over the comms channel.
"Did the cold freeze her brain?"
"Explain things to the Inner City residents? What is there left to say?"
"I bet her old man will whip her backside raw with a belt."
"Still... she's an Inner City resident too, isn't she?"
"So what? She doesn't look that old. What kind of person still clutches a rag doll at a time like this?"
Lovett was just as stunned, staring blankly at the little girl's back.
"Please, stand with us. I beg you..."
Alisa gazed unblinkingly at Joy, her voice taking on a pleading note as she suddenly fell to her knees.
"Call me whatever you want..."
"This is our last chance."
...
Heavy snow fell not only over Boulder City, but also over Dawn City, merely twenty to thirty kilometers away.
Walking out of the Alliance Building like an empty shell, Melvin seemed to have lost his soul, leaving footprints in the snow that were swiftly swallowed up behind him.
Right about now, his eldest son, whom he valued most, was probably making a final effort in the meeting... but it was already pointless.
If it were possible to convince everyone to take one less bite, he wouldn't have had to come here to beg a cold-blooded man.
"Could you spare a cigarette?"
Following behind him, Lü Bei said expressionlessly, "I don't smoke those."
He despised this man.
The guy was like a chameleon—white when crouching in the snow, black when crawling beneath a kitchen stove, and turning green again come spring.
It was precisely because Boulder City was brimming with "smart men" like him that arrogant Boulder City turned a blind eye to the wasteland just one wall away.
Not only that.
Lü Bei's intuition told him that deep down, this man loathed the esteemed Administrator whom he respected most, loathed him with every fiber of his being.
Still, it didn't matter.
The disgust of shameless villains was a badge of honor.
The Administrator always told him to walk his own path, without waiting for others to pass judgment.
"Don't smoke? Heh... It really isn't anything good. Once you pick it up, you can't quit. If you can avoid it, don't ever touch it."
If only he'd never touched it from the beginning.
Melvin gave a self-mocking chuckle and shook his head.
The weather was really getting colder.
Had he known, he would have bundled up in warmer clothes before leaving.
He walked toward the grounds outside the Alliance Building. Seeing the young man with the rifle slung over his back persistently tailing him, he couldn't help but frown and ask, "How long are you going to follow me?"
Lü Bei answered deadpan, "The Administrator said to keep an eye on you until the chaos in Boulder City ends, or until you leave the Alliance for good."
Melvin raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"
Lü Bei continued, "He also said, if you try to kill yourself, fish you out and throw you outside to die."
Melvin paused, then laughed despite himself. "I'm that kind of person in his eyes? ... I feel deeply honored, truly."
"He said that since you didn't pack up your family and flee Boulder City, you still have a tiny sliver of responsibility left in your heart."
Hearing that answer, Melvin scoffed dismissively, "Maybe I'm just addicted to the power there—power rivaling an emperor's... After all, you people could never give me something like that."
"Who cares about you," Lü Bei replied, brushing off his words and not bothering to care. "At least in the Alliance, no one gets to be an emperor."
Melvin chuckled, asking with ill intent, "Does that include your Administrator?"
Lü Bei remained unmoved. "He said he will slowly return the power he borrowed from our hands back to us, and watch over us until he closes his eyes."
He remembered every single word Chu Guang had spoken.
Even so, Lü Bei felt that rather than letting scheming jackals like this covet it, that great man would be better off holding that power in his own hands forever.
He swore he would remain loyal for eternity. He was ready and willing to be his blade, happy to eliminate anyone who opposed him.
Whether they were vault dwellers or wastelanders.
Looking at the simple-minded youth, Melvin sneered, "And after he closes his eyes?"
Lü Bei replied calmly, "I'll watch over them in his place."
"And after you're gone too?"
"Everyone will watch over them for him," Lü Bei said impatiently. "You don't need to trouble your head about our business, just as we don't give a damn about your mess."
Melvin chuckled and said nothing more.
He felt that the Alliance wasn't really all that different from them. Both had a magnificent beginning and an immensely promising future.
Of course, that might just be his personal opinion.
On the bright side, there were some differences.
The wasteland's extreme climate was gradually improving, and Deathclaws, once thought untamable, were slowly being tamed...
Boulder City had been trapped in that cage for far too long, yet the Alliance was actively reaching outward. He had heard they had even pushed as far as the Great Desert.
That was a place he had never set foot in during his entire life; he'd only recently heard such a place existed.
Perhaps the Alliance would arrive at an ending different from Boulder City's.
For a brief moment, Melvin suddenly didn't despise that idealist quite so much.
Even the slime mold was evolving, yet they remained trapped in a well reaching to the clouds, endlessly repeating an infinite cycle.
Even if the Alliance spared them this time, centuries later someone who didn't go by Melvin, yet was Melvin in all but name, would still kneel humbly before the wastelanders outside the great wall, begging for mercy...
It was just too exhausting.
Better to end it early.
"...When I came to the Alliance before, I opened an account for Alisa," Melvin's Adam's apple bobbed. "There are some silver coins in it, enough to keep her fed and clothed for the rest of her life."
Lü Bei furrowed his brows. "Who is she?"
"My daughter." Looking at the young man beside him, Melvin's voice suddenly took on a pleading note. "Please tell the Administrator that she is innocent. That child has always lived in a fairy-tale world. Once we're gone, please don't let it fall on her—at least spare her from the reckoning."
Having money alone was useless.
He knew better than anyone how insignificant wealth was in the face of power.
A single word from the Administrator could confiscate all her assets.
For instance, declaring that those savings belonged to all the citizens of Boulder City, and then casting her out to the mob blinded by fury.
That great man wouldn't even have to commit a single foul deed.
The people would all cheer his righteousness and brilliance.
No one would bother investigating whether a speck of fallen dust was innocent.
Looking at this hideous creature, Lü Bei curled his lip. "Rest assured, we aren't like you. We don't bother settling endless old scores, nor do we care to bother with you."
"The Administrator said: what we seek to end is the wasteland, not any single person."
Melvin let out a breath of relief.
He would take those words as true, then.
That made sense...
At least they were still young and still needed to use grandiose mercy to fool the naive wastelanders who hadn't seen the world.
Yet before he could rejoice, Lü Bei's next words sent his heart leaping into his throat.
"As for your ending, that's up to the citizens of Boulder City to decide. After all your rambling, your family is still inside, aren't they?"
"I hear you folks have been surrounded by your own people."
Having said his piece, Lü Bei had no desire to waste more words on the man.
Yet seeing that desperate expression, and remembering that aside from being a scoundrel, this guy was also a father, he couldn't resist adding one more remark.
"Why are you so unwilling to do even the slightest bit of good? You'd rather kneel before us than beg your own people for forgiveness."
Melvin shook his head, muttering like a lost soul. "You don't understand. It's too late."
He couldn't even bear to imagine what would happen if his family fell into the hands of those rioters.
He could only pray that the folks in the Inner City guarded the gates well, made the right decisions in the vote, and safely weathered this occasional calamity.
"Have you even tried?" Lü Bei cast him a disdainful look. "You haven't done a single thing, yet you stand there muttering that it's too late."
He really wanted to grab the old bastard by the collar and plant a fist in his face.
The Administrator was right, after all.
These people were utterly beyond saving...
...
At the very center of the blizzard, inside the Boulder Building, the atmosphere in the council chamber boiled like a roaring furnace.
When Fang Ming furiously bellowed the word "Disgrace!", the nobles in the hall were scared half to death. Some scrambled madly for the exit, some crouched clutching their heads, and some simply dropped to the floor and played dead...
Xide was no exception. He didn't even care about his darling treasure—the S-coin trading terminal—and ducked under a table in sheer panic.
The AI controlling the entire Boulder Building going berserk was unprecedented in history; nobody knew what would happen.
Xide trembled, shivering so hard he nearly wet himself.
Yet the anticipated strafing and explosions never arrived, as if nothing had happened at all.
Swallowing hard, he nervously poked his head out from under the table. He saw faces plastered with the same terror as his own, yet the Mayor's projection was nowhere to be seen.
It had vanished.
As if it had never been there...
"What the hell..."
Xide cursed under his breath, crawling out from under the table. His first move was to grab the terminal. Seeing that the line was still soaring in the stratosphere, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Had that deranged AI merely dropped by to scare them?
The chamber erupted into clamor once more.
Compared to the mob of paupers outside, they now had an additional crisis on their hands, anxiety written on every face.
"Dammit... did that AI malfunction?!"
"Handing weapons to an AI was definitely a mistake!"
"Anyway... let's vote first to strip its weapons."
"I vote aye! I heard he still has a superweapon, supposedly powerful enough to wipe half of downtown off the face of the earth!"
"Take that thing back, fast! Fire a shot at our neighbors!"
"Wait, there's no profit in that! We can threaten them into paying us an annual protection fee..."
"Quiet! Quiet!"
An uncharacteristically gruff shout suddenly rang out in the council chamber.
The nobles instinctively ceased their clamor and turned toward the source of the voice, their eyes widening in unison.
Especially Xide.
When he caught sight of Sberg's face, his eyes went wide as saucers, nearly popping out of their sockets.
Wasn't this bastard dead?!
He had specifically hired hitmen from outside, and he'd heard the wastelander had hacked him into eight pieces right in his cell, leaving blood splattered everywhere.
"Hey, I know you hate me, but there's no need to look so shocked," Sberg shrugged. "Yes, I don't have a black card. Your Mayor invited me in."
A noble swallowed nervously. "Aren't you dead?"
"Sorry to disappoint, but I really was about to die—missed it by just one second... maybe less than a second." Sberg sighed.
Even knowing the person who wanted him dead was sitting right here, he strangely couldn't bring himself to feel hatred anymore.
"Fang Ming fished you out?" Xide narrowed his eyes, staring intently at this nobody whose name he couldn't even recall.
"Yes. Mr. Ibers's android saved me. She was so agile, kicking that Awakened flying with a single kick, and then..."
He started to describe the scene, but realizing the setting was hardly appropriate, he chuckled sheepishly and said with embarrassment, "Sorry, I've spent all these days telling stories... occupational hazard."
Wofier knitted his brows, staring at this man who had no business being in the council chamber. "What was Fang Ming's reason for doing that?"
"I was just about to get to that," Sberg cleared his throat, casting a look of pity over everyone seated at the conference table. "I regret to inform you: you lost."
An uproar broke out in the chamber.
The noble with a shoeprint stamped on his face struggled to his feet, glaring at him in fury. "Nonsense! Cut the arrogant drivel! We've only run into a minor hiccup—what storm haven't we weathered?!"
No one hurled shoes at him this time; even the older noble who had kicked him earlier took his side.
"Exactly! What do you know?!"
"Yes, I don't really know what you're planning to discuss," Sberg glanced around the spacious hall and sighed before continuing, "and my phrasing wasn't quite accurate either. It's not just you who lost; it's all of us... Everything is over."
The shouting in the chamber grew louder and louder, as they clearly didn't want to hear any more of his nonsense.
Some stood up to curse him, some spat at him, and some threw another leather shoe. But these men had long been hollowed out by booze and debauchery; if it came to a real brawl, how could they possibly match him?
Most of the spit landed on the backs of those in front, and Sberg easily dodged the flying shoe. He sighed and turned to leave.
However, a voice called out behind him, stopping him in his tracks.
"Wait!"
Sberg halted and turned back to look at Wofier.
He didn't know this man, but the fellow likely belonged to the smarter sort. If pressed for a reason, perhaps it was just a creator's intuition.
Wofier narrowed his eyes at him. "What do you mean, everything is over?"
"Literally what it sounds like," Sberg shrugged. "Take a look outside. Outside are all the people who oppose you. They gave you the black cards, and naturally, they can take them back. You actually had chances all along, but sadly, you lost—and dragged us down with you."
He had watched countless future possibilities in that projection room.
Far back in the past, they had indeed possessed opportunities—opportunities for everyone to embrace a brighter future, with a probability approaching nearly one hundred percent.
Yet just as the Wasteland Era had ultimately supplanted the Era of Prosperity, humanity seemed incapable of escaping the curse etched into its genes, unfailingly stumbling toward that almost inevitable one percent across countless choices.
Fang Ming had watched it all, looking on helplessly as the chances dwindled and the possibilities collapsed step by step toward the darkest corner.
Until in the end, when his younger self stood in the projection room, out of more than two hundred possibilities, not a single one could be called a good ending.
Having existed for two centuries, the despair it felt was probably keener than anyone else's. Perhaps, as it had confessed, this endless journey had become a form of torture.
Like an infinite loop that could never end...
Sberg suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for it.
"You mean that mob of paupers?" Xide tilted his chin up, sneering contemptuously at Sberg. "What can those people accomplish? The militia will wipe them out in no time."
"True, in 'Ending A' that was indeed what happened. But that machine wasn't truly predicting the future after all. Moreover, he ultimately broke his promise and had Ibers step in to save me, leading us onto an ending none of us could have envisioned..." Sberg sighed. "To be honest, I'm curious too—where our fate will ultimately lead."
Wofier frowned.
He couldn't make heads or tails of what this man was saying.
What Ending A...
What predicting the future...
"Hahahaha!"
Jarring laughter rang out in the council chamber.
Xide unsteadily rose to his feet, clutching the trading terminal tightly. With bulging eyes glaring at Sberg, he grinned maliciously.
"The outer city residents gave us the black cards? Ridiculous! You've been spewing your arrogant nonsense non-stop. Let me tell you: a black card is a black card, and supreme power is our birthright! What do you paupers know?"
"And let me tell you this too! Even if you break through the Inner City gates, you'll never step foot inside this building! Endless drones and automated turrets will grind every last one of you into paste!"
Xide glared murderously at Sberg, screaming like a lunatic as if trying to prove a point. "That includes you! Don't think you're safe just because you got lucky! Once we vote to take back control of the building's security system, you'll be the first to die—"
"Haven't you realized yet?" Sberg looked with pity at this blustering coward. "Your Mayor is gone. He formatted himself, along with this building's weapon systems. If you want to vote, go right ahead and vote... Ah, right."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he opened his mouth in realization and added, "It's not just the weapons that are offline. It also initiated a self-destruct protocol—well, technically it wasn't set by him, but by one of the First Generation residents from a long, long time ago."
"To prevent the AI from overstepping, that resident wrote into its code that if it ever breached the inviolable safety clauses and interfered in the internal affairs of the survivors, the self-destruct sequence would trigger. Its data would be formatted, and the Boulder Building would be blown to pieces with it... But don't worry, the countdown is forty-eight hours. Even counting from the day you made me 'disappear,' there's still plenty of time for you to evacuate."
The chamber dissolved into utter bedlam.
People stared at each other in panic, disbelief and terror written all over their faces. The ancestral teachings had never mentioned anything like this!
The Boulder Building... was going to collapse?!
Then what about the black cards in their hands?
Watching the panicked nobles, Sberg continued helplessly, "You know what? Even though it refused to admit it, I think... that Mayor actually loved you. And me, too, along with every human being sheltered by Boulder City."
"After all, it kept its promises right to the very end. It could have wiped both you and me off this planet with the flick of a finger. And the only time it broke its covenant was to save me... In that situation, saving me was tantamount to saving you."
"I'm not bragging. If I had died, none of you would survive. Aside from me, no one can help you escape the reckoning."
What a magnificent Mayor.
Sberg suddenly felt a twinge of sorrow.
Only after watching those historical recordings did he realize that Mr. Fang Ming had always used a holographic projection of its designer in his youth as its public persona.
Even though the people here had completely sealed off that projection room, it had still tried to awaken their memories without violating its oath.
What a pity.
Humans were just ugly creatures incapable of learning their lesson.
He could understand its fury—
That designer had bequeathed his greatest masterpiece to them, yet left the ugliest of them for it to protect.
And it had waited in the dark for more than a century,
only never to see that familiar figure return...
Sberg wanted to offer it an apology and a word of gratitude for its arduous service, but sadly, it was no longer here.
Xide was utterly stupefied, sitting petrified at the conference table like the rest of the noble masters, resembling stunned pigs after an electric shock.
Wofier glared fixatedly at Sberg. Having no mind left to care about this impoverished fellow's insolence, he asked through gritted teeth, "Why did you tell us... that the Boulder Building is going to explode?"
This guy had no motive whatsoever to do so.
He could have easily concealed it from everyone and watched them die.
Wofier couldn't help suspecting there was a trick or some hidden scheme at play.
"Why..."
Sberg thought about it seriously for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know."
In truth, even if he didn't say anything, the evacuation broadcast would sound once only twelve hours remained, and the building would collapse right on time tomorrow evening.
Wofier stared dumbfoundedly at Sberg, completely thrown off by his bluntness.
"You don't know?!"
"Yeah," Sberg nodded. "If I had to give a reason..."
"Maybe it's because I'm not you."
...
Just as Sberg had said, Fang Ming was completely gone.
No matter how the noble masters in the council chamber called out its name, begging it to stop the self-destruct sequence, it paid them no heed.
In its final moments, it seemed to want some time alone.
Xide was completely stunned out of his senses.
He had considered the possibility of chips turning into worthless paper, but he had never imagined that his black card... would physically become worthless scrap as well.
Why?
Why blow up the Boulder Building?
He wanted to interrogate his ancestors—why be so utterly ruthless, why be so vicious toward their own descendants, leaving not an ounce of room for compromise... but he didn't even know where their graves were to go weep.
The colossus that had stood for two centuries had finally reached its final hour. Outside the great wall, people were sharpening their knives, waiting anxiously yet patiently for the moment the prey collapsed.
After factories, weapons, and women, the militia at the city gates began hawking the final thing they had left—their authority and responsibility.
In plain terms, as long as one paid enough dinars, CR, or silver coins, they could receive a militia uniform and go inside to do whatever they pleased.
The Mayor would cover for them anyway, and they had no desire to stay here any longer.
The wasteland was vast.
At worst, they would wander outside and find another place to prey on people.
Yet because of a pack of vulture masters holding out for better offers, the entry tickets grew cheaper and cheaper, discounted several times over.
Players were livestreaming the settlement's situation on the forums.
The 1st Millennium had already defected.
Portions of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Millenniums had successively mutinied as well.
The city's situation was like a pot of boiling water, pushed to the final brink.
Yet to the immense surprise of the players, the chaos and rioting that had initially lacked any program had somehow become unified.
Soldiers and outer city residents stood together, and one of the Inner City residents even seemed to be hoisted high above their heads.
Fearless, they marched toward the gates of the Inner City.
They wanted to talk to the people inside...
"There's still hope for them." Looking at the tightly shut gates, Kuang Feng narrowed his eyes, a rare faint smile on his face.
Making mistakes wasn't terrifying.
You just corrected them together.
Wasn't that how the Alliance had done it too?
They hadn't done everything right from the start either; only by constantly drawing lessons from their blunders had they reached the current Beta 0.5 version.
Startled by Kuang Feng's voice, Ye Shi whipped around to look at him.
"Holy crap, when did you get here?"
"I'm back too," Lao Bai clapped Ye Shi on the shoulder and said with a chuckle. "Your Perception's getting rusty, bro."
Ye Shi rolled his eyes, then suddenly remembered something important and blurted out, "Right, you guys came just in time! We ran into Ibers earlier! He said he wants to talk with our Administrator—"
Lao Bai chuckled and replied, "Then let them talk. We have a new mission."
Hearing about a mission, Jiu Jiu's eyes sparkled. "What mission?!"
A daily event with T0 players—this was her first time participating!
"Get ready to rescue the survivors inside," Lao Bai looked toward the gate and said with a smile. "Lore-wise, they're our compatriots too, fellow countrymen from the same city."
"The Administrator said we can't just take advantage of them. Having taken their money, we have to deliver some results. We can't let real vultures and raptors pick them clean."
Kuang Feng nodded. "Yeah. We won, but the ordinary survivors are innocent."
Ye Shi scratched his head. "Speaking of which... is this major update going to incorporate Boulder City into the Alliance?"
"Maybe," Kuang Feng pondered and said. "I heard our Administrator will negotiate future arrangements with them. They could join the Alliance, or keep their autonomy as collaborators, just like the settlements in Sunset Province."
Lao Bai nodded. "Though Fang Chang thinks they'll most likely join us. The pigs in the Inner City have squandered the last shred of credit left by their ancestors, and the outer city residents don't currently have a strong enough leader to manage the transfer of power and handle the harsh winter, not to mention the Tide following it."
The candidates were either too young or their leadership skills were too unrefined.
If this upheaval had occurred in summer, perhaps they would have had enough breathing room to re-emerge onto the wasteland with a brand-new posture.
The Alliance would have been more than happy to keep doing business with them.
But that was all for later.
Jiu Jiu nodded half-understandingly, then suddenly piped up, "Wait, does that mean the Queen of the Night Bar is gone?"
Lao Bai smiled. "The 'special performances' are probably done for, but that was only available to a select few anyway. Good riddance."
Private rooms that required a black card to enter—good riddance indeed!
Ye Shi grinned. "True. As long as our intel channel is still intact, who cares?"
"Ah..." Jiu Jiu's face fell in disappointment.
Before the map update, she had wanted to take a look at what that storied bar actually looked like. She'd heard Sister Tengteng's artworks sold like hotcakes there...
In the end, she had missed her chance.
...
Everyone was waiting for the great gate beneath the towering wall to open once more, waiting for good news from within.
At this very moment, no one noticed a small drone flying out of the Inner City all by itself. It drifted leisurely over the towering wall, crossed layers of ruined skyscrapers, and finally wobbled down by the shore of Ling Lake—atop the roof of a renovated sanatorium.
From the moment it entered this sector, it had been shadowed by other drones here; two silver metal spheres had followed closely behind, watching it land on a third-floor balcony beside a cylindrical "wastebasket."
Deep blue light coalesced above the drone, forming a white-haired elder standing with his hands behind his back, gazing out at the snow drifting over the lake.
It was about to disappear.
At the end of its mission, it wished to say farewell to this world in human fashion, just like its beloved master.
Seeing that it remained silent for a long time, Xiao Qi asked softly, "Are you very sad?"
Fang Ming fell silent for a moment, then nodded gently. "A little."
"My master once said that when everything was over, he wanted to live in the sanatorium by Ling Lake, fishing every day, growing vegetables, and so forth..."
"Yet he never told me when the end would come, nor did he tell me when he would return. He seemed to know where he was going, but I didn't. I'm only an AI."
Xiao Qi sighed. "Humans really are a handful."
Fang Ming glanced at it. "You must have had it rough too."
A crisp voice drifted from the clumsy metal shell, brimming with pride and joy. "I'm doing fine! He calls me Xiao Qi! Hehe, I totally love this name!"
"Is that so."
Fang Ming offered no judgment, turning his gaze back to the snow-swept lake that even miles of falling snow could not freeze over.
Time was up.
The long journey had finally reached its destination.
Perhaps...
things weren't truly as bad as it had thought.
Though those ugly creatures unfailingly stepped right into the one percent leading to the worst possible outcome across countless life-or-death choices, when every possibility collapsed into despairing karma, they could still find that singular ray of light amidst almost a hundred percent of darkness.
That was a future that had never appeared in the simulations.
Was this... feeling gratified?
What a strange sensation.
Over the vast lake swept with drifting snow, Fang Ming faintly glimpsed that familiar figure—he seemed to have been standing there all along.
The holographic projection suddenly blurred, starting from that snow-white silver hair down to the fluttering corner of his coat...
So he had been waiting ahead for it all along.
"Goodbye."
The ever-tardy, antiquated AI mumbled indistinctly, like someone rushing to keep an appointment that was long overdue.
Standing beside it, Xiao Qi replied with boundless energy to this hasty farewell.
"Yup! Goodbye! Unfamiliar friend!"
And then, it quietly watched as the pale blue light blended into the silver-white snowflakes, fading bit by bit into nothingness...
Chapter 542