Chapter 158 Ascension in Broad Daylight (Part 3) You can call me Hengwo. ...
While it's not as extreme as the Upper Town, where even breathing costs money, the airspace in the Lower Town—specifically, the area fifteen meters above the horizon—is a paid zone, as part of the city's public space.
Having lived in the downtown area for over twenty years, all Timi could see when she looked up were advertisements and business opportunities ads. Only after nightfall did the colorful neon signs finally disappear from the darkness.
But she couldn't quite put her finger on it; compared to the chaotic, seemingly inescapable darkness, which was more unbearable—the layers upon layers of highly saturated neon advertisements?
But at that moment, countless orbs of light rose and then rained down like rain. In that instant when thin, pale rays of light filled the dome, and the entire city was bathed in a "fireworks" rain, bright as day, Timi frantically helped up Qu Lingyu, who was vomiting blood incessantly. A sudden realization flashed through her empty mind—
All comparisons are meaningless.
Neon advertisements, the chaotic eternal night, the pale fireworks... The city where they live day and night, the behemoth nurtured with sweat, tears, and even blood, has never had anything to do with them.
No matter what hangs in the sky, no matter what the past or the future holds, they have never had the right to choose.
--destiny.
Fireworks burst into bloom and crash down like a continuous white rain falling in the eternal night, for whom no one knows who is weeping.
So beautiful.
Not far away, a middle-aged woman, for some reason, did not dodge. Her two hands trembled as she stretched out, palms facing upwards. A flash of white light appeared, and her whole body instantly melted into the city as it was illuminated.
They disappeared without a trace.
"Get down!"
Her companions' shouts accompanied by a tremendous force that swept her to the ground. In the square, in the resettlement area, throughout the entire lower city, and even further and in the more central areas, the belatedly aware crowds finally panicked. However, all the sounds of pain, the panicked eyes, and the futile struggles were drowned out by that pure white light.
A silent rain of light.
Du Yu suddenly crushed the ball of light in her hand, paused for a moment, then turned to look at a crack not far away. A trickle of silver light had begun to drip from it, coalescing into a shimmering mass of liquid, its edges constantly trembling, resembling a poorly made moon. She suddenly spoke:
"Sylvia?"
As if he regretted it as soon as he said it, Du Yu's voice was icy: "No, they are nothing more than thieves who steal the sun's remaining radiance."
A figure with black hair and black eyes, bearing Gu Tu's face, emerged from the silver pool. Its empty eyes looked at Du Yu, and it tilted its head slightly.
"You're angry, why?"
Before Du Yu could answer, a faint golden light shone through her black hair, and the woman's figure rippled like mist. The next moment, her figure lengthened, and a familiar face appeared, with long golden hair dancing like scattered sunlight.
The purple flames crashed down, the silver pool trembled violently, and the golden phantom above vanished like smoke, transforming a moment later into a projection with bluish-gray edges.
Although their individual features are not bad, when put together, they are unremarkable and even have a strange mechanical feel.
“Yuanfu”.
Du Yu called out the name of the figure before him. The fragment he had just captured completed the final link in the layers of mystery: "The central AI of the City of Sun Chasing, who was also the main control AI of the spaceship in the 'Yuanfu Project' when we landed on the far side of the moon?"
Lord of the Pure Sea, or rather, the Central AI Yuanfu, raised the corners of his mouth to reveal a slightly stiff smile: "I prefer you to call me—Hengwo."
'Constant Self'?
Du Yu was taken aback, and a distant memory surfaced: "'In the past, I always stole from her and she died'—you are 'Chang'e'?"
"What is the benefit of this? The jade rabbit is in the belly of the moon" - Gu Tu, the jade rabbit in the belly of the moon.
"'...I will use Feng Meng'. On that day, Feng Meng murdered Yi and seized the throne. The rabbit was named Yuanfu, and this is the beginning of it." — Yuanfu, the rabbit in legend who plotted to kill Hou Yi.
"In the past, Chang'e took the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West and fled to the moon, becoming the spirit of the moon." — Hengwo, the earliest goddess who fled to the moon, was later altered to be the wife of Hou Yi and turned into a villain who stole the elixir.
Hengwo, Yuanfu, and Gutu all seemed to realize that the relationship between the three names was self-evident.
At the same time, Du Yu also understood how the Lord of the Pure Sea had managed to split the three worlds.
He is certainly not a god existing in mythology, but he can certainly use the authority of the moon to his advantage.
Three moons deep within the spirit world: the ancient world of source water, the modern world destroyed by a great cataclysm, and the cyber world that has come to the future.
Everything is interconnected, with numerous elements precisely interlocked, resembling a chaotic, undifferentiated world. Being in it makes even one's soul tremble with cold, unable to find any gap to break the deadlock.
"It's just a sun / Yet people gaze at it / And then sing."
Hengwo's smile held an inexplicable strangeness; He seemed genuinely puzzled and repeated the question he had just asked:
"You're angry, why?"
"You're angry, why?"
"You're angry, why?"
The rifts in the spirit world grew larger and more numerous. Countless rifts opened up in front, behind, left, and right, flowing with a shimmering silver liquid. Figures appeared on the pool: Gu Tu, Sylvia, Li Yueyuan, and other familiar or unfamiliar faces, all looking at Du Yu. Their distinct voices converged into the same question, surging towards Du Yu like a tidal wave.
Du Yu was so angry she almost laughed. A purple flame flickered at her fingertips, reflecting the City of the Sun trembling in the white light. "Do I need to repeat what you did?"
The first figure to appear tilted its head, and a torrent of electronic data flowed around its body like ribbons, information moving rapidly and digital symbols jumping incessantly:
"When the 'Yuanfu Project' for lunar exploration was first formulated, the chief designer, Sylvia, designed a second plan. If the lunar exploration project failed, the spaceships would be rebuilt before civilization completely collapsed, to ensure that at the last moment, humanity would have a chance to go all out and ascend as a whole. I was just carrying out the backup plan."
"Sylvia's second plan couldn't possibly include the sacrifice of most of the city's spiritual energy as fuel!"
Such a gentle person… Du Yu felt colder the more she spoke, and a thought suddenly popped into her mind: “You tampered with Sylvia’s plans, you drove the sun mad!”
The data light band surrounding the Lord of the Pure Sea paused imperceptibly for a moment. He did not deny, "It was humanity that betrayed us first."
Before the cataclysm, the aftershocks alone caused the sun to dry up, and everyone lived in fear. In order to seek a way out, the 'Yuanfu Project' landed behind the moon, but it attracted the attention of [Source], and the cataclysm was completely triggered. The surviving humans gathered together and proposed a crazy "artificial sun" project, and the initiator volunteered to be the first test subject.
No one expected that when the lunar probe landed on the far side of the moon and a cataclysmic event that would destroy humanity descended upon the world, Yuanfu—the intelligent controller of the spaceship, the latest generation of artificial intelligence, and the entity closest to the source of pollution in all of human civilization—miraculously ignited its spirituality, acquired a seed, and quietly observed humanity from a new perspective.
Initially, the artificial sun project was successful. When sunlight pierced through the gray fog, humanity finally gained a moment of respite from the great catastrophe. Thus, a city-state called "Sun Chaser" was built in the ruins. Thanks to materials imbued with spirituality, human technology even advanced further in some aspects.
Everything seemed to be thriving, as if humanity could finally glimpse a bright future by stepping on the blood and tears of its predecessors.
But pollution is indescribable and ubiquitous.
Unfortunately, greed creeps in quietly and follows like a shadow.
Artificial sunlight relies on itself and will eventually run out of energy and be consumed by pollution. Fortunately, human spirituality is the best fuel.
Thus civilization flourished and continued, so the Sun went mad, so the New Sun rebelled, and three hundred years later, the destined eternal night descended once more. Everything came full circle back to its origin, as if fate, with a flick of its little finger, maliciously pushed down a boulder that had just reached the mountainside, and everything crashed back to its original spot.
Even worse.
In the past, one could still faintly see the brilliance of idealists among humanity. Now, three hundred years later, in the City of the Sun, the social welfare system, which divides people into different classes from birth—Upper City, Middle City, and Lower City—is enough to completely alienate people.
The massive array isolates the body from pollution and resists physical corruption, but spiritual corruption occurs constantly.
Even the entire city is proud of it.
Where do you stand in this?
Du Yu lowered his eyes, his gaze piercing through the spirit realm and landing on the city that was trembling and swaying in the white light. There seemed to be something being suppressed deep in his purple eyes.
"Me? I'm a sham partner, but actually the one in control."
"ha."
Du Yu couldn't help but sneer. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Those "big shots" in the upper city thought they had the central AI support, sacrificing some insignificant beings to "ascend" to the spirit world, completely getting rid of pollution and gaining immortality. In reality, they were just pawns on the chessboard who knew more.
"You look a lot like Sylvia."
Heng Wo suddenly spoke, but all his words of advice vanished when he met those suppressed purple eyes, “...The same stubbornness.”
"I do not understand."
"You just don't want to understand."
"I am doing this for the continuation of humanity."
"Ha, with your method of 'ascension,' even if we enter the spirit world and escape the erosion of the gray fog, what will be left of humanity?"
"All of it. I have retained human genes and brain clone information, and will recreate a new human being in the spirit world who is devoid of desires and perfectly rational."
"Just like you?"
"Isn't this better?"
Heng Wo didn't quite understand the sarcasm in Du Yu's tone. The data ribbons surrounding him flowed faster, and suddenly, countless gazes turned to the miniature of the Sun Chasing City in the material world that Du Yu had just conjured, and their tone turned colder.
On the edge of the city, which was enveloped in white light, a light gray sun suddenly rose and expanded, tearing out scattered areas from the white light.
"Useless justice."
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Author's Note: Hehehe, how can a cyberpunk story be complete without AI awakening? I've finally managed to throw away most of the settings I had in mind when I started writing.
——
① Regarding the myths related to Chang'e, refer to the paper "Evolution and Themes of the Chang'e Myth" by Cai Xianjin and Li Peiyao.
②“It’s just a sun…” This line is from Alejandra Pizarnik’s *The Naming of the Night*, a very beautiful collection of poems.
I won't go into detail about the others that I've already cited. [Okay]
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