Chapter 132 Who Will Propagate the Way (Part 3) - Reunion.

Yuanfu.

Upon hearing this name, Du Yu felt a chill run down her spine. This obscure name was given to her by the city lord of Chasing the Sun City. She learned the origin of the name from the amnesiac Gu Yinglan:

"Hou Yi hunted in Bashan and caught a rabbit as big as a donkey, which he found strange. He put it in a cage, but it got lost halfway through the journey, and the cage remained intact. That night, Yi dreamed of a man dressed in the robes of a king who said to him, 'I am Yuanfu, the god of this land, why do you humiliate me? I will use Feng Meng to help me.' That day, Feng Meng murdered Yi and seized the throne. The rabbit was called Yuanfu, and this is the origin of the name."

Even knowing the origin of the name "Yuanfu," Du Yu still didn't quite understand the meaning of the core AI's name—the legendary city lord probably wouldn't have such a perverse sense of humor as to simply give such an important AI the meaning of "rabbit."

But if it doesn't mean that, then what else could it be? This word comes from an ancient book that Gu Yinglan read, and it shouldn't be mentioned in any other part besides that story...

Wait, the story.

Du Yu suddenly understood. Sometimes the meaning of a name is not what it seems; the story associated with the word may be the namer's true intention.

Hou Yi was hunting in the Bashan Mountains when he caught a rabbit that was as big as a donkey, which he found very strange. He put the rabbit in a box, but on his way home, the rabbit disappeared, even though the box was closed as before. That night, Hou Yi dreamed of a person dressed in fine clothes and wearing a magnificent crown, just as he had in the past. The person said to Hou Yi, "I am Yuanfu, the god of this land. Why did you put me in a box to humiliate me? I will use Feng Meng's help to take revenge." Later, Feng Meng killed Hou Yi and took his place. From that day on, the rabbit was called "Yuanfu."

After going over the meaning of the story in his mind twice, Du Yu suddenly stiffened, his lips trembling slightly. Gu Yinglan's voice from the ancient village echoed repeatedly in his ears:

"...On that day, Feng Meng killed Yi and seized the throne. The rabbit was called Yuanfu, and this is the beginning of the legend."

"...On that day, Feng Meng killed Yi and seized the throne. The rabbit was called Yuanfu, and this is the beginning of the legend."

...The rabbit is called Yuanfu, and this is where it began.

The novel is set in the City of the Sun...

She was wrong; she was completely wrong!

Du Yu thought the important information from the myth he heard from Gu Yinglan was that the word "Yuanfu" meant rabbit, but that was not important at all!

Most importantly, Yuanfu, who transformed into a rabbit, killed Hou Yi! He killed Hou Yi, the one who shot down the suns!

The City of the Sun, literally speaking, is a city-state that chases the sun. The entire city exists for the sun, so how could it allow "Hou Yi" to shoot down the sun?

...So the city lord named the core AI "Yuanfu"...The rabbit is called Yuanfu, and that's how it started. So when did the City of Chasing the Sun start being called "City of Chasing the Sun"?

Even though this avatar was already immune to heat and cold, the thought of the city's name, "City of Chasing the Sun," still made him shiver. It was like stepping out in short sleeves and shorts and suddenly finding himself in a frozen wasteland, feeling shocked and helpless.

Why, after being active in the "City of the Sun" for so long, has she never wondered why the city is called that?

Thinking about it now, it's quite strange that a cyberpunk-style futuristic high-tech city would have a bizarre name like "City of the Sun"... Yes, she was curious about it at first, but she thought it was a third-rate novel with mediocre writing, so she didn't pursue it any further.

Novel... Novel.

Now that things have come to this, even the most obtuse person can no longer simply think of this world as a novel.

Du Yu felt a chill run through her body, not only because of the name of the core AI Yuan Fu, but also because of the deeper meaning of the name—all signs indicated that everything was premeditated. She was like a moth that thought it was free, unknowingly flying into a net woven specifically for her.

And only when the deadly thread is wrapped around your body and about to sever your throat do you suddenly realize it—but sometimes finding yourself in a desperate situation brings a deeper sorrow than simply being trapped. If you cannot change your fate of death, watching helplessly as fate dismembers you is the greatest terror of all.

No.

There's still time.

Du Yu let out a long breath, as if the action had restored some of his strength. His head was still numb from the shock, so Du Yu pinched himself hard, using the pain—always his top priority—to overcome his confusion and forcefully begin to follow the clues:

But the question is, what role does the core AI play in this process, and what exactly is the "City of the Sun" chasing?

Sun, the sun, [new sun].

The name of a deity jumped into Du Yu's mind naturally, so smoothly that she was somewhat surprised herself.

"They advocate violence, explosions, and chaos. There are rumors that those Angry Birds... cough, the Hunter Guild Black Hawks are backed by them."

"Their doctrine is strange. They believe that the sun died before the Great Cataclysm, and what hangs in the sky now is merely the remains of unknown creatures. They call the current sun the 'Old Sun,' and believe that it is the light of the 'Old Sun' that brings the lingering gray fog. Therefore, they are determined to use explosions and chaos to make a new sun rise over the City of the Sun."

The doctrines of the New Sun Church that Catbeard had explained to her back then still echoed in her ears. She narrowed her eyes. She hadn't studied this low-key evil god much before, but now that she thought about it, she keenly sensed that something was wrong.

According to Cat Beard, the New Sun and its followers are a group of fanatical religious zealots who are keen on creating explosions and chaos in the lower city.

Despite Du Yu's long-standing activity in the lower city, there has been very little trace of the activities of this supposedly rampant evil god church.

The only recent contact was during the dock incident, when He conspired with [Mimi Yin], whose current fate is unknown, to secretly plot the Six-Star Holy Grail—even during the dock incident, [New Sun] instigated [Mimi Yin] to be the one to take the lead, while He himself played dirty tricks behind the scenes, which is completely inconsistent with His image as a volatile god.

Unless He has something extremely important to do, leaving Him with no energy to interfere in other matters, and can only resort to using others to do His dirty work. Back in the dock incident, [MiMiYin] dared to send an avatar to cause trouble right under the nose of [Lord of the Pure Sea], while [XinRi], who was stronger than Him, simply walked away without doing anything after provoking Him.

Each day, a new day.

Du Yu repeated the two words in his mind again, and a sense of realization gradually rose in his heart. No matter what the details were, the goal of the City of the Sun and what the New Sun wanted to do must have some overlap!

Thinking of the sun that rises in the west and sets in the east every day, he squinted his eyes in melancholy.

The two people behind me started talking about the history of the central AI's development, and the conversation veered off-topic to a plan to admire the moon together, but somehow it eventually came back to the original topic:

"By the way, I have another piece of inside information, but I won't tell you if you still don't believe me."

"You tell me first. How can I believe you if you don't tell me?"

"I heard, just heard, that the name of the central AI was chosen by itself."

The teacher was late for class, and the two people behind him seemed to have endless gossip to share. Du Yu heard the girl with the lots of rumors click her tongue in dissatisfaction.

"If I don't tell you, you'll listen; if I do, you won't believe me. What exactly do you want?"

"How can I believe you if you don't even tell me? Even if you do tell me, if you're just spouting nonsense, why should I believe you?"

"Well, you're really hard to please."

Du Yu curled the corners of her lips. Although she knew that these classmates might not be real people, their joking noise still dissipated some of the heaviness in Du Yu's heart. Moreover, for some reason, although the two whispering voices were unfamiliar, they gave her a sense of familiarity.

The two voices behind her chatted for a while, and she heard the one who always found fault reluctantly apologize:

"Alright, alright, I don't distrust you. Even if there's a groundbreaking breakthrough in AI technology, how could you possibly know about such top-secret information before it's made public?"

"I just know it... Hmm, I really can't remember where I saw it, but I'm sure it's that voice! I just know it."

"hehe."

The girl didn't refute further, but those two onomatopoeic words, each carrying a hidden meaning, completely conveyed her meaning. The girl who had been spreading rumors grew anxious, and Du Yu felt a hand on her shoulder:

"Oh dear, classmate, look at this person. You be the judge. She said she wanted to hear it, but she didn't believe it after hearing it. She's simply unreasonable."

"It's no use asking her. She doesn't know us. Even if she says I'm wrong, I won't admit it."

A second female voice gave a soft hum, its tone proud and confident. In Du Yu's mind, an image of a proud girl immediately flashed before her eyes, her chin raised, a confident yet disdainful smile playing on her lips. A strange sense of familiarity surged into her mind again, like fine needles piercing her brain; each tremor brought a long, lingering pain. Du Yu's brows furrowed involuntarily, but she clung to that familiarity, like a fool, driven to the brink of despair, willing to drink poison to quench his thirst.

"You did it again! You did it again!"

The girl who had been gossiping earlier huffed in annoyance, but there was a hint of amusement hidden deep in her voice; it was less of a scolding and more of a coquettish pout.

"From now on, you'll have to find out information yourself. I'm not going to tolerate your spoiled princess attitude anymore!"

"Just because you say so, I have to listen? This young lady doesn't take orders from others; she has plenty of people to do things for her."

"Tsk, Miss, you've condescended to listen to my gossip, so shouldn't I say thank you?"

"We're fairly familiar with each other, so thank you is unnecessary."

"Hey, don't push your luck..."

The two people behind her were laughing and joking again, their laughter fading into the distance, as if they were leaving the classroom. Du Yu's pupils trembled slightly. When she heard the words "Young Miss," she heard a loud buzzing sound from the depths of her memory. The flood of pain that swept over her did not drown her thoughts. She clung tightly to a guess and refused to let go.

The two people behind me are... are...

When the person they had been searching for for so long suddenly appeared, Du Yu's mind went blank. Instead, he dared not utter those two names, for fear of shattering that bubble-like illusion that only appeared in his dreams.

She almost instinctively wanted to turn around, but the hand that had just reached out was still on her shoulder, and Du Yu inexplicably understood the meaning she couldn't say.

Don't look back.

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Author's Note: Finally, I've reached the part revealing the world's secrets! All for this plate of vinegar-filled dumplings.jpg