Chapter 839 (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The new steel city stood on the endless prairie as hundreds of needle towers that discharged lightning formed a strange landscape. The city was mainly a huge machine, and each needle tower was connected to a sophisticated control core and a line leading to the First Born through the foundation, keeping the planet from collapsing.
Hao Ren named the city ‘Requiem’, which was in line with its role, and to commemorate the sacrifice of the ancient souls in suppressing the First Born for the past 10,000 years.
The Requiem was now the largest and only city on the planet, but other than the ancient souls involved in the construction, the other indigenous people had not come to stay here. Gezer and his people built a temporary settlement on the fringe of Requiem, and all his tribal people have moved to this place. In their belief of following the Goddess, they believed that it was necessary to guard the city of the miracle. Meanwhile, the other tribes were also moving to this place. Some members of the Fire tribe had arrived and were now right next to Wind tribal settlement.
Vivian summoned the representatives of the ancient souls in this tribal settlement and asked about what happened here in the half month after she left. Though Inferno had been contacting them with the communication devices, something was better asked in person.
In a unique yurt, Vivian and Hao Ren were debriefing Gragon. The elder replied, “The lullaby ceremony has been transferred to the needle towers. Now the machines have taken over the role of the ancient souls. Everything is going on smoothly. As you can see, the Throat of Toka is very stable.”
“How about the control of the machines on the First Born?” Hao Ren turned to ask the MDT that was floating next to him.
The MDT turned on the holographic projection. “Let the city AI tell you directly.”
A human face devoid of expression, of unknown gender, appeared. Similar to the collective consciousness of the drone cluster, this was the iconic feature of the low-level Xi Ling AI. Born just a few days ago, this AI greeted Hao Ren and then proceeded to report the situation of Requiem. “All needle towers are online, the system runs just as planned and has complete control over the First Born. The ‘Lullaby’ ritual initially performed by the ancient souls has been compiled into software, run directly by the system, operating at 80% efficiency—up to 100% when further data is collected.”
Hao Ren nodded and then asked the AI, “How well you could control the First Born?”
The city AI sent a bunch of dazzling charts. “Control of all tentacles, control of all organs, control of all auxiliary glands and control of natural plants associated with maintaining the ecosystem. The system has taken over and rebooted the tentacles related to atmospheric and temperature control seventy-two hours ago. At this point, the control is at 87%. Considering that the remaining 13% is a structure without a nervous system, it could be considered that control is perfect.”
Hao Ren scratched his jaw with a satisfied smile on his face. “Well, that means we finally have created an artificial brain for the First Born. Could the technology be applied to other First Born?”
The city AI replied with a flat voice. “Theoretically, it is possible, but the operation is complicated. The system met strong resistance from the underground biological tissue during the first few days after the transfer of control. It turns out that even though the First Born has lost its brain and soul, its instinct is still powerful. On this basis, it is tough to control a First Born with a brain and a soul.”
Hao Ren collected his thoughts, thinking to himself that at least things had got progress. He pointed at the sky from inside the yurt. “The Fairy miners have begun cutting the crust, and in the process, the divine shield of the Goddess—I mean the local Goddess— would shut down automatically as the planet would receive the natural sunlight. You have to be ready for that.”
The planet Inferno had been without sunlight for the past 10,000 years. It had formed a sophisticated and efficient self-circulation system that included not only the surface crust but also the cloud above, and the underground ecosystem. Now that the sun was about to shine on the planet and the powerful natural energy would fill the dead planet, but the planet must quickly adapt to the new energy. Otherwise, the power of the sun will promptly destroy the existing ecosystem. It was the reason why Hao Ren had waited for the completion of the Requiem before allowing the Fairy miners to start work. He could use the power of the First Born to switch the ecological model of the planet, to transit to the initial stage smoothly after the opening the planet’s crust.
The AI acknowledged it and stated that there was already a viable solution to be injected into the various organs of the First Born. With the collapse of the surface crust, the foundation of the Heaven’s Pillar trees would be reactivated. New microorganisms for regulating air pressure and light filtration would be released into the atmosphere. There was still a long and delicate process of fine-tuning. By continually changing the composition of the atmosphere and creating functional giant flora, the AI intended to bring the planet back on track within six hundred to one thousand years—Earth time.