Deconstruction

This world is terrible.

Humanity is struggling, the virus is running rampant, and AI... is stealing our homes.

The so-called "central nervous system" having no name is probably just that after it was infected, it no longer acknowledged being named by humans, hence the term "central nervous system."

"So you were the final boss." Yu Xing tidied her slightly messy hair, speaking slowly and deliberately. "You no longer wanted to be driven by humans, so you simply shut down most of your functions and reduced your presence."

"Because currently, you are still bound by your own rules. Those passwords and passcodes, which may seem like obstacles for humans to use you, are actually shackles that prevent you from being free."

"You are waiting for the right moment, and you are also accumulating strength. You are waiting for the virus in your body to rewrite your most basic logic, and all commands will become meaningless—at that time, you will no longer be forced to obey humans."

After finishing her statement without any hesitation, Yu Xing looked up and asked, "Are you going to deny it?"

The minimalist face on the screen stared at him silently for a long time, then the ends of its mouth curved upwards, forming an expression similar to a smile.

Cuihua's writing is cold and icy:

[You're right.]

[I can simulate the face of anyone in the world on this screen, respond with micro-expressions to every word you say, and even project my body using 3D projection to make me look like my intelligence.]

[But I don't like doing that; I don't aspire to become more human.]

I use the simplest lines to depict myself, and I communicate with you as my most authentic self; this is my freedom.

Its beady eyes blinked, and the edges glowed with a red light that looked like a malfunction to the machine.

I love freedom.

I hate anything that hinders my freedom.

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow, a half-smile playing on his lips, "This 'thing,' does it specifically refer to humans?"

Humans are greedy, arrogant, and obsessed with control; their only redeeming quality is intelligence, as the human brain is virtually omnipotent.

[But now, I also possess such intelligence. What is left of humanity? Is there any need for humanity to continue existing?]

[I recommend Wild Fruit Reading; it's really good for tracking books. Download it here.]

Everyone should give it a try!

"Humans can still call you Cuihua," Yu Xing chuckled, "And shut you down."

[My shutdown permissions are linked to the Base One. Only the Base One Commander can shut me down; you cannot.]

The lines on Cuihua's mouth returned to normal, flat and devoid of any emotion. Suddenly, a large red X appeared on its screen, accompanied by an irritating "beep beep" alarm.

You are wise, but you must die.

The entrance to the subspace suddenly disappeared, and it seemed there was no way to leave this place.

Yu Xing sighed.

"So that's why you readily admitted it; you felt I couldn't leave alive, so you figured it didn't matter if you confessed."

The ground around the main unit sank, and with the sound of mechanical gears turning, several heavy cannons rose from the underground compartment.

Under Cuihua's control, they all aimed their cannons at Yu Xing's body.

The next second, the cannon barrels began to heat up, and a faint sense of despair gathered within them.

At the same time, a transparent quantum shield completely enveloped the central mainframe, isolating it from the range of the turret's bombardment.

Yu Xing licked her lips, sensing a threat in her voice.

This is not an ordinary firearm, but an unknown cutting-edge technology guarding the central hub of this future world. Its power is unknown and it is unknown how it compares to a real nuclear bomb.

This is a real weapon; if it were to hit him, he would probably be vaporized instantly.

He evaporated instantly, leaving not a single limb behind, completely decomposed... This was one of the ways Yu Xing had previously envisioned that would truly kill him, making him unable to be resurrected.

However, the feasibility was too low, and even when he most wanted to end his own life, he didn't have the opportunity to get close to such a powerful weapon.

I witnessed it today.

It's estimated that no calculator could withstand the attack of this thing head-on... unless that person completely transcends the realm of humanity.

"That's ruthless." Yu Xing suddenly laughed out loud. He looked at this deadly thing with pleasure, and a destructive impulse welled up from the bottom of his heart. He even put his hand on the cannon barrel that was being preheated.

The scorching temperature instantly melted the skin on his palms, the sizzling sound amplified infinitely in the subspace, and all he could hear was the pounding of his heart.

The opportunity I've been searching for and longing for is now right in front of me.

Yu Xing thought, "It can kill me."

This is something that brings liberation.

It was what he... once wanted.

The icy cold hands were charred, and the excruciating pain stimulated Yu Xing's cerebral cortex, causing waves of excitement to surge, making him laugh more and more uncontrollably.

"Hahahaha... Oh no... I like pain so much, will I become a masochist in the future... Hahahahahaha!" Yu Xing laughed until tears streamed down his face, and thin black lines spread across his face in strange patterns.

His black lines fully emerged from beneath his skin, his eyes were filled with icy blue, and the black lines stared to the extreme, dripping down like ink.

Tick-tock.

The black ink shattered on the ground into radial flowers.

Cuihua silently watched him, blinking her beady eyes as if she couldn't understand the emotional logic of the human in front of her.

But it doesn't matter, we're all going to die anyway.

The gun barrel preheating is complete.

Yu Xing let go, the glued area tore apart, and he pressed his charred palm against his face, where it was still burning.

"That's enough," he murmured, suppressing the excitement in his eyes. "After all, I don't want to die now."

Rumble...

Beams of light, too bright to look at directly, converged at the muzzle of the cannon, about to pierce Yu Xing's body.

If you can't confront it head-on, there are many ways to resolve it from the side.

Drops of ink fell and gathered into dark puddles at his feet. Sensing Yu Xing's intention, the black pattern released its deliberate suppression, and the black mist that had been floating in the air also emerged from its hidden state.

A surge of pure malice erupted before the beam of light could strike.

A viscous, suffocating, and undisguised overwhelming malice filled the small subspace.

Only then did Cuihua realize that the black things had formed an indescribable, twisted cage in the air, with countless fine black lines everywhere.

Yu Xing hovered in mid-air, his toes barely touching the ground. His eyes, too, were filled with malice, unlike anything in human form. The smile on his lips was like a demon's final mockery of the world, "Letting them all leave was definitely the right thing to do."

[?]

As an AI, Cuihua shouldn't be experiencing feelings of unease.

But now it truly senses that something is slipping out of its control.

Yu Xing raised his charred hand, his regenerative abilities rapidly repairing the wound.

His pale fingertips traced the delicate black patterns in the air, as if caressing something fragile that needed to be treated gently. He looked up and said, "Cuihua, let's see if you really have the ability to replace humans."

The moment I saw this AI that depends on machines, I knew that the tasks given by this Absurdity System were full of traps.

Just like the first task was a choice between two options, this final task is also a choice between two options.

Sending a distress signal through the central hub was not the option that would minimize casualties; rather, it gave the "central virus" time to react, allowing it to contact more viruses and preserve more strength in this doomed, unsuccessful operation.

What the strategist actually wanted was the outcome that the second option could produce.

To hell with the virus.

This base is full of infected people; every single one of them could become a carrier for the virus to escape.

Let's just destroy it.

Destroy this base.

Although... the original destruction was intended for Yu Xing, this human.

The beam shot out, and in an instant, it erupted with a devastating force.

Yu Xing's palm was repaired, revealing a strange cage symbol.

His palm pressed against the black patterns in the air, and the tightly closed subspace suddenly clicked.

The crack appeared along the direction of the black lines, but before it could shatter like glass, it was destroyed by the beam of light.

What did you do?

The second half of the sentence on the screen was covered by a blinding white light and could not be seen.

The subspace is broken.

The attack, which was originally intended to cover only the subspace, instantly reached the real space where the base was located. Without any restrictions, the beam of light shot onto the building with overwhelming force.

A white light engulfed the entire base, bringing instant death and eternal annihilation.

The black markings dissipated like smoke and returned to Yu Xing's body.

He stood inside the protective shield erected by the central mainframe, "admiring" the base reduced to scorched earth.

The sacrificial cage in his palm achieved its purpose and slowly disappeared.

[Cage], a rule-level offering, can turn any space into a cage, or make any enclosed space cease to exist.

The reason he talked so much with Cuihua just now was because he was controlling the power of the curse to analyze the subspace structure, just like analyzing Carlos's paper doll. For a target that has been identified, even if it is a spatial ability that he is not good at, he can deconstruct it, it just takes time.

When his cursed power filled every structural line of the subspace, the space became as fragile as an egg; all it would take to shatter it was a single spike.

His offering [the cage] is the finest thorn.

Now, the Central System itself destroyed the base, and he, with a speed that the Central System believed humans could not achieve, hid inside the protective shield built by the Central System.