Under the cold and dim ancient stars, Duncan stared quietly at the dark red core of the Navigator No. 1, which was like a giant eye. The whole world seemed to be stagnant at this moment. In a trance, Duncan had a feeling: a divergence point, a divergence point that determines the direction of the entire world history, is approaching him.

In this silence, he recalled the information he heard from the "tombkeeper" after entering the Tomb of the Nameless King:

The observer who arrived at the end of the timeline sent back the first and final message - time has ended, and the Fire Usurper has set the whole world on fire.

After a long moment, he exhaled softly and broke the silence: "Do you think this is a bad omen? Do you want me to take over the world to avoid such a future?"

However, the response from the Deep Saint surprised him again.

“No,” the dark red core trembled and made a calm voice, “I don’t rely on any ‘revelation’ or ‘omen’ that lacks sufficient data support. Because in the absence of key information, it is not rigorous to make a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ judgment based on only some incomplete data. I don’t know whether you will really set the world on fire in the end, nor do I know under what circumstances you made the decision to set the world on fire. There is insufficient data to draw a conclusion.

"I want you to take over all of this, simply because this is the most feasible and safest plan to keep the shelter going within the scope of currently known intelligence. Compared to the incomprehensible and unpredictable future, I trust my current calculations more."

In the response of this dark red core, Duncan heard a unique rationality and precision - that was the quality that Navigator One should have as one of the core hosts of the New Hope after being stripped of the title bestowed by the world, such as "Lord of the Deep", and after being stripped of the identity of "Ancient God".

In front of the Fire Usurper, in front of the bifurcation point in history, this ancient "machine"... is using the way of thinking it learned at the beginning of its birth to express its own views and calculate the future of the world.

Duncan thought for a long time, and the dark red core seemed to have infinite patience, waiting for his response.

After a long moment, Duncan broke the silence softly: "What would happen if I really took over?"

The interior of the dark mountain range roared and trembled again, and in a series of low sounds, its "main peak" began to shrink downward, and the dark red core descended from the sky - just like a star falling from the sky, it quickly enlarged in the field of vision of Duncan, Shirley and others, and came to Duncan from the top of the mountain with a suffocating sense of oppression.

At such a close distance, Duncan discovered that the core was even larger than he had imagined - its scale was almost as large as Pland's Storm Cathedral. The surface of the huge sphere had a crystal-like texture, and deep in a layer of crystal clear red shell, countless precise and complex line structures could be seen. There were also multiple flickering light sources flashing near the center of the sphere, surrounded and flowing by a certain sticky substance.

"After you take over, all defects in the shelter will be remedied. Throughout the Infinite Sea, the many 'pollutions' and 'distortions' caused by cognitive drift and out-of-control observer effects will be recalibrated by your cognition. There will be no more dangerous nights, no more out-of-control extraordinary phenomena that devour humans. The sea will become safe, and a new era of prosperity will begin between the city-states... This prosperity and tranquility will continue for a foreseeable, extremely long time... If this is what you want, then it will come true.

“And you will return to being one of the ancient kings, to the position you rightfully hold… You will become the fifth god protecting the world besides the four gods—and your rule will be more stable than any of ours, because you will not gradually go crazy like the other ancient kings, nor will you fall out of control… At least according to the calculations of Navigator No. 2, your condition is more stable than all of ours.

"After that, you can continue to do what you want - everything, including returning to the real dimension and continuing your travels and adventures as long as you want."

"...It sounds like everything is good." Duncan was silent for a few seconds and then said slowly, "Is there anything bad happening? For me, or for the world?"

"Within the scope of currently known intelligence, as far as I know, there is no such thing." The light deep in the dark red core flickered, and the response of the Deep Saint Lord was unexpectedly simple and direct. "Everything will develop in a good direction, and according to my judgment, this should also be in line with your wishes."

"...Under normal circumstances, you should at least mention some less important hidden dangers or flaws at this time, which can enhance the persuasiveness of what you just said."

The dark red core was silent for two or three seconds: "...confirmed again, there are no hidden dangers or defects."

Duncan and the core fell silent again. Shirley couldn't help herself. She looked back and forth between the captain and the "Holy Lord". After a long while, she whispered, "Captain, do you really want to become one of the gods? It sounds great... but I always feel... unreliable..."

Duncan didn't say anything, but just stared at the huge core quietly. After a long while, he slowly said, "...What should we do specifically?"

The dark red core was silent for a moment, and the light in its depths gradually brightened: "Light me up."

Duncan's expression finally changed subtly: "...Ignite you?!"

Why is it that this "Pilot No. 1" always speaks in such unexpected ways? !

But the dark red core seemed not to notice the change in Duncan's expression and tone. The voice coming from it was still as calm as ever: "Light me up, just like you ignited the frost, use your flame to cover and reorganize everything - in this process, all my authority and influence on the world will be taken over by you, and this may also help you dispel all your worries... You should know that your own flame can do this."

Duncan frowned slightly: "So, you actually 'touched' my flame when I ignited the Frost, or strictly speaking, when I ignited the Frost Deep, and understood my power at that time, and then formulated this 'takeover' plan?"

"...Yes, when that split cluster was burned by you, it sent me the last piece of data, which included the analysis of your power. I compared the result with the observation records of the Pilot No. 2 that year and worked out the takeover plan. The calculation results tell me that this is feasible."

"The 'split cluster' you mentioned that I burned is the tentacle in the Frost Deep Sea? Isn't that the erroneous replica you created when you lost control?" Duncan reacted quickly, and at the same time recalled another thing the other party mentioned at the beginning, "Wait... You mentioned before that you sent the data fragment containing LH-03 to the real world, which was also done through that tentacle... Are all these under your conscious control? You are not actually out of control?!"

Confusedly, he looked at the dark red core in front of him, and the huge body behind the dark red core, which looked like a stunning mountain range. He suddenly realized that he did not understand the true "state" of the Saint Lord of the Abyss. This "ancient god" trapped at the bottom of the Abyss... was he really out of control?

At this moment, he saw the lights on the surfaces of the winding "mountains" flickering again, and then, at the end of one of the "mountains", some new "twigs" seemed to spread out from the epidermis of the main trunk, growing rapidly in the darkness.

But the next second, the new twig was swallowed by some invisible force, and it broke into pieces. One part rose into dark smoke and drifted towards the countless floating islands and the dim starry sky above, while the other part turned into flowing mud and fell back onto the main tentacles.

"... Fire Usurper, this is my 'loss of control'."

The sound coming from the dark red core drew Duncan's attention back.

Duncan looked away, vaguely understanding: "...overgrowth?"

“This is my instinct—and the duty given to me by my Creator.”

Duncan gradually realized: "Your duty is..."

"Reshape my hometown, and recreate the mother planet that I devoured," the dark red core said slowly, "but in this narrow shelter, my mission is doomed to fail - so from a certain moment, my instincts began to... deviate from the original design. Those individuals that constantly differentiated from my body and constantly devoured each other and returned, those overgrown and decaying branches, and the 'tentacles' that pierced into the real world, are all the result of gradually losing control.

"However, this 'loss of control' can sometimes be used to my advantage. When my main body has lost the ability to move, those overgrown parts... can sometimes serve as a medium for perception or communication, helping me understand changes in the world or delivering messages to the outside world."

"...So that's how it is." Duncan nodded slowly and spoke thoughtfully.

A huge body that has lost control and has covered the entire bottom of the Abyss but is still growing excessively; a host core that can no longer move and is trapped deep within the huge body; an ancient AI that can still think clearly but is destined to be unable to complete its original mission - all of this is the true appearance of the "Lord of the Abyss".

And now, this ancient AI trapped in its own huge body has once again invited him -

"What is your response, Fire Usurper? Are you willing to take over and return to the ranks of the ancient kings?"

Duncan raised his head from his thoughts and saw that the dark red core was getting closer to him again - he only needed to raise his hand to touch its completely defenseless crystal surface.

"...Captain, it's true." Alice suddenly said from the side.

Duncan looked at Alice in surprise, and the puppet nodded slowly, with a confused expression: "I... don't know how to explain it to you, but I just know that what it said is true."

Duncan didn't say anything, but just listened to Alice's words silently. After thinking for a moment, he slowly raised his hand.

He touched the dark red core, and felt a slightly warm touch at his fingertips.

It beats slightly like a heart.

“… Light the fire, Fire Usurper,” the core vibrated gently, “Then, I will be freed from this long mission.”

Shirley opened her eyes wide, and Agou beside her also watched it all motionlessly.

For a moment, they seemed to have seen the dark green flames rising into the sky, the dark red core and the dark mountains in the distance were instantly ignited, and the entire deep sea was engulfed by flames.

They seemed to have seen that all the hidden dangers of the deep sea era had been smoothed out, the defects in the initial design of the shelter had been repaired, and the world on the vast sea had returned to peace, forever and ever...

A new god will be restored to his rightful place, like gears meshing and a puzzle being completed.

But suddenly, Duncan withdrew his arm.

"wrong."

History took another branch.