Chapter 1559 - Legacy (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Humans were dying.

If those twisted flesh and cell clusters sealed within the containers were, perhaps they could still be counted as human.

Even without any instruments, Hao Ren could tell that the pieces of flesh within the containers were slowly withering away. Something within their genes had mutated under the influence of the First Born’s wrath, This change transcended time and space, affecting the “survivors” who managed to escape their homeworld. In truth, they did not survive. The extermination had already started, but its completion was delayed.

It seemed like true “survivors” like Holletta were a rare minority, and most civilizations simply could not escape the First Born’s rampage.

“With the death of humanity, the entire Executor society is finished as well.” Vivian shook her head. “The purpose of their birth was to serve humans. All their roles, thought processes, and even their societal structures were built for this purpose. If they were to lose this prime objective, the entire society would spiral into chaos. The Cortex Prime hiding this fact was to prevent that from happening.”

Lily’s ears drooped lifelessly. “But the Cortex Prime itself could not escape this fate. When humanity was done for, it was the first casualty.”

Hao Ren did not interject as he was thinking about something else. From the Cortex Prime’s series of actions, and the Executors themselves, he seemed to have realized something else.

“You are probably very bitter about this outcome, aren’t you?” After some thought, Hao Ren looked up and asked.

The Cortex Prime was emotionless as ever. “I’ve been following the orders given to me by the humans. In my programming, there is no option to be bitter.”

“But when you malfunctioned, a server sent out an order, for N-4 to lead a small platoon to look for the crash-landed outsiders. While you very quickly retracted the order, this meant that part of your programming refused to give up. Humans call this subconsciousness, and your subconsciousness was hoping for a turnaround, even if you don’t know what that means.”

The Cortex Prime went silent for a few seconds before asking. “Can you cure the humans?”

Hao Ren shifted his gaze at the chunk of flesh within the container, and based on the MDT’s scans, he was now sure of the actual state of this flesh. The human portion of it was long gone, they were now nothing but twisted and congealed chunks of cells, and every part of it was a mutation.

In a sense, humanity was long dead. The humans of this planet died the day they entered the nutrient containers.

And the Executors were fighting for the ghosts of yesteryears.

Hap Rem was sure that the Cortex Prime was aware of this, and yet this powerful A.I loyally or stubbornly executed its task for thousands of years to keep these former human cells alive, but this stubbornness had lost its meaning.

“I cannot save them.” Hao Ren shook his head. “They were long dead. And I can’t see any humanity left within those tubes. Not a single shred.”

Lily’s ears shuddered before looking at Hao Ren quizzically. “Mr. Landlord?”

Hao Ren waved her off, indicating that he was not done yet. “Even if I cannot save your ‘humans’, I believe that if they knew they would turn out like this, they would not have wished to ‘live’ on.

“And I’m willing to believe that when humanity created the Executors and gave them that time, it was not only for them to replace humans to work or to fight.

“For the continuity of civilization, it is not as simple as ‘living people’. If a race were to face extinction someday, they would fight tooth and nail to protect the legacy of their civilization. Countless generations of knowledge, culture, thought process, this is the most treasured legacy of all civilizations. You have mentioned, humans knew that their kind was withering away when they created the Executors, and used a thousand years to teach them how to think freely, and another thousand to build the Bibliotheca and transfer all their knowledge and thoughts into data that can be downloaded by the Executors, do you understand what this process means?”