Amid the chaos, Ye Qingxuan could only catch a few fragmentary pieces.
"a.s.set mergers...""Age of data…""Breakthrough in polymer material…""Large Hadron Collider…""Human-machine revolution…"
In the end, the speed was so fast that he couldn't catch up, and he couldn't even make out fragments.
In just a moment, Gaius fell from the ancient palace and arrived in a pitch-black world.
Countless dark clouds shrouded the sky. A pungent smell lingered in the air, countless towering chimneys spewed thick smoke into the sky, and stinking torrential rains poured from the sky, landing on the ground after flowing along innumerable flas.h.i.+ng giant trees.
But when he looked at it carefully, he discovered that the things propping up the sky and extending into the dark clouds were not giant trees, but shockingly tall buildings. From across the railing, the hurricane below blew in his face. Looking down, he was able to see dark clouds surging. The earth was covered in dense fog, and it couldn't be seen clearly.
The next moment, Gaius was no longer looking at it from a human perspective, and he gained an incredible field of vision which allowed him to overlook almost the entire region. He saw the land covered in steel beneath the heavy fog, and the countless buildings rising into the sky like forests. In the innumerable rooms that resembled pigeonholes, the deformed and hunchbacked slaves were slumbering.
And at the very top, above the clouds, in the gorgeous homes that could enjoy the suns.h.i.+ne and fresh air, the well-dressed n.o.bles were partying, tasting the wines and delicacies that had long since disappeared from the earth.
"What... is this?" Gaius looked back, stunned, and saw Charles' smile. The smile seemed to be full of pity, and it also had the calmness of a high and mighty G.o.d.
"It is the world that you forged with your wishes." He looked down at the heavens and the earth, answering Gaius' question. "A 'wonderful future after capital freedom is achieved." As he said so, he brought Gaius forward. He took a step, and the rumble from a workshop hit them in the face. In the pungent smell of chemicals, along the huge a.s.sembly line, countless man-made creations were moving fast, being a.s.sembled by the workers on both sides. The thin and withered workers who were hunched over in their narrow workstation possessed an indescribable calmness.
It seemed as if they had been a.s.similated by machinery.
More even had machinery implanted in parts of them.
"They are slave laborers, the people of the lowest cla.s.s in the world. They work more than 18 hours a day in exchange for pay," Charles introduced the place to him. "It is a factory that processes filters. If filters are not installed, humans cannot even survive for three hours in the terrifying air outside.
"Tens of thousands of people work in the workshop. It operates 24 hours a day and never stops. There are hundreds of thousands of such workshops around the world, sustaining incredible prosperity.
"It's a pity that they don't really have any a.s.set or freedom, as they have already sold the owners.h.i.+p of themselves to the workshop.
"They are the slave laborers of the lowest cla.s.s, used as tools, and they have mastered no technology. They can only perform the jobs that have yet to be replaced by machines as of now and are not seen by others as human beings.
"And you… are over there. " As he said so, he looked up at the highest point of the workshop, at the huge portrait located there. The man on the portrait was majestic and n.o.ble, like the one G.o.d had chosen.
When the monotonous ringtone rang, the mechanical a.s.sembly line came to an abrupt stop, and all the slave laborers got up in unison, lifted their heads, looked up at the portrait above, and began to sing songs of praises devoutly and uniformly.
They praised Gaius, the great leader of the revolution, and they praised the great head of state...
"You are the founder of the country's a.s.sets, known as the father of civilization, and you have been revered for thousands of years, becoming a true G.o.d. Countless people are striving to uphold your ideals."
Gaius took a step back, staggering. "It's not right..."
The next moment, they came to a huge and cold building. The emblem representing the Republic hung high on top, reflecting off a cold brilliance.
"Here is the branch of the Purge Management Committee, generally referred to as the Authority." Charles opened the door for him. "Would you like to go in and have a look? A child who drew graffiti on your portrait is on trial. The person who reported him to the Authority is his brother, that child over there. As a result, he received rewards and praise from the great leader."
In the line of sight of Gaius, who was stunned, the child wearing a badge with Gaius on it on his chest was stepping on the red carpet, heading out of the Authority with his head held high and his chest puffed out, his gaze determined and calm.
"Do you want to talk to him?" Charles asked, reaching out and stopping the child. The child frowned and looked at them on the chest, and soon, his expression became one of disgust.
"Oh, I forgot, you didn't wear this." Charles reached out and put two badges on Gaius and himself, gave a wave of his hand, and the distaste in the child's eyes disappeared.
"How can I help you, gentlemen? Ah, I know." The child seemed to have expected it. He lifted his sleeves and wiped the badge on his chest. "Please feel free to look at it, but don't dirty it."
"I... " Gaius looked at him, stunned, his lips moving, but until the child left impatiently, he could not say anything. "It's just a badge... it's just a badge..."
"One must not dishonor authority. The sacred bourgeois revolution is the cornerstone for the establishment of the country. Even a holy emblem must not be defiled."
Charles turned around. "Let's go, sir, we still have a lot of places to visit. It seems that you have not gotten used to being a G.o.d."
The memory after that had already fragmented under the huge impact.
Gorgeous palaces, soft anthems, celebrations... Mutated human bodies... Experiments... Surveillance... Reporting to the authorities... Acquisition... a.s.set change... Falls... Rises...
Ye Qingxuan could see Gaius roaring angrily at Charles, questioning Charles, defending himself. Then the future changed, once again becoming... even more difficult to understand.
In the wonderland that seemed like a kaleidoscope, the will of the weak would be worn away quickly.
In the end, only ruins were left.
Innumerable rays of vicious radiation were everywhere on the surface of the earth. Deformed humans crawled on the deserted ground, licking the mud greedily.
Amid the wreckage, Gaius' statue shattered, having fallen to the ground.
The majestic face was covered in dust.
Gaius fell to the ground, his hair hanging disheveled around him. He looked at the barren ground around him sluggishly, murmuring something, but even he himself could not make out his words. In the end, he turned madly, pouncing at Charles, tugging his collar.
"No! Let me see more! Something must have gone wrong! The human world should be perfect! This time around, I will certainly be able to..."
"It's ok." Charles smiled with pity, saying the last words in Gaius' memory, "You can watch on for as long as you like to..."
At the moment, Ye Qingxuan's traceback came to an abrupt end.
It was because the old man screamed.
He woke up from his dreams, struggling wildly, scrambling down from the operating table. Screaming, he frantically tried to make it past the people in front of him, destroying everything.
"No! No! It isn't right! It should have been perfect! It's not my fault! I am not wrong!" he screamed hysterically, his bloodshot eyes looking at everyone. "I am not wrong! I have not!!!"
No one responded.
Everyone looked at him quietly, watching him roar desperately. In the end, he sat down on the ground, exhausted. He began laughing like an idiot, then teared up immediately, tearing at his own hair and face. He curled up in the corner, talking to himself, "Sorry, sorry, sorry, please forgive me, everyone, sorry, sorry, sorry..."
Sorry.
Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes.
Gaius has already gone crazy.
It isn't even because of Charles' revenge.
From the very beginning, when the countless sacrifices crushed him, causing him to lose his way, his fate has been doomed. He can't face the sacrifices of his peers, he can't face his own kind, and he can't face so much pain.
He can only deceive himself, that all the sacrifices are worthwhile, for the sake of the future, or for something else.
For whatever.
He will never find the perfect world.
When the bubble is popped, there was no longer anything between him and madness.
He is overwhelmed by guilt and despair. The things he has been pursuing his whole life are destroyed. After the price he has been paying his whole life and the sacrifices made lost their meaning, how can he face the world?
"Kill him." Ye Qingxuan kept his eyes low, clenching his fists. "Whenever I remember that my teacher sacrificed himself for such a madman, I feel that... it's not worth it."
"I regret to inform that we can't do it," the person in charge of the Silence Governance answered.
"What do you mean?" asked Ye Qingxuan.
"I mean it literally, we can't kill him." The old musician replied, "His body has become so healthy that it is non-human. Even the lethal brain tumor that has originally meant imminent death has been taken out.
"Something is supporting his life, and every time he is on the verge of death, it will restore him to his original state, just like this."
He pulled out his sword, and with a clean strike, he chopped off Gaius' head. But as the head rolled on the ground and blood spilled out, the blood then flowed back towards the wound, with not a single drop left behind, and finally, the head returned to its original position.
No wound could be seen anymore.
"We have tried various means. In a sense, he has become a catastrophe and is almost immortal." The person in charge sighed softly. "Even if he is burned to ashes, he can be reborn again from the fire. I am afraid that the G.o.d doesn't want to let him off so easily either?
"Originally, we were able to inject sedatives and hypnotize him, letting him fall asleep. But now, his body has become resistant to it, and it will not be long before dreams become a luxury for him even."
Ye Qingxuan was silent.
The average person probably yearned dearly for such immortality, but for Gaius, It was an eternal punishment and torture.
He could no longer escape from anything through death.
He would live forever in pain.
He would face everything painfully forever.
"I have noted the information you provided. You can go, and take him with you... I don't want to look at him again." Ye Qingxuan withdrew his gaze and pushed the door open.
He paid no more attention to the person in charge who chased after him. The man was stopped by his own subordinate, and shouted something at Ye Qingxuan from a far distance.
But Ye Qingxuan was unwilling to listen any further.
But when he pushed the door open, he saw the man below the steps.
And the familiar face.
"Nice to meet you, Grand Inquisitor. Do pardon my manners for taking the liberty to visit you without prior notice."
Below the steps, the first citizen of Burgundy, the great emperor, 'Don Juan', gave him a familiar smile. "Can we talk in private?"
