Chapter 450

"Correction, your gaze makes me feel threatened. This body has no reproductive function and will not create for you."

Am I really that indiscriminate in my choices? It seems even the most clueless people have sharp tongues.

Uh, can reproductive function really create? I don't have any other thoughts, I just want to see for myself.

Yuki suppressed his wicked thoughts, raised his hand, and the Machine Soul ran away, so he had no choice but to reluctantly put it down.

"May I have your name?"

"When the Machine Race is programmed with the Netway Will, it receives an individual number. Since I wasn't programmed with the Will, I didn't receive one." The Machine Soul clearly knew common knowledge such as 'names'.

"Then I'll give you one. Don't refuse; it's also to fulfill the contract."

The girl closed her mouth, which she had just opened, and her expression remained unchanged, showing neither anticipation nor resistance.

This is a blank sheet of paper, Yuki will draw the first stroke. Of course, at this moment, he didn't think that much. He only hesitated for a few seconds before a very disloyal thought popped into his head.

Machine Soul, well, as long as it's Chaos Grade enough, there's no need to even think about it.

"Praise be to the omnipotent Machine Soul, you shall be called Om Messiah, or Om for short."

"Om Messiah ..." The girl unconsciously straightened her back, feeling that there was some sacred epic hidden behind this name.

The injection program records data in the database.

"Okay, I am Om Messiah."

As a young Machine Soul that is less than fifty years old, Om Messiah is like a blank sheet of paper. Of course, the Machine Race does not need to grow.

All knowledge and plans are stored in a database, and data is accessed based on different permissions, so no one can capture Machine Race soldiers.

They will never betray you, they will always be loyal, and no matter what method you use, you can only obtain what you are authorized to see.

Walking on the desolate land, in just three days, Om learned emotions such as 'irritability', 'questioning', and 'depression', because Yuki had too many troublesome issues and had dug a pit in advance, making it impossible for her to bypass the underlying logic.

You must engage in casual conversation with him; this is to get to know each other and increase the chances of successfully closing the deal.

We must explain to him the passing war machines; survival is the prerequisite for fulfilling the contract.

We must help him by serving him tea and water, because he has difficulty traveling when he's in a bad mood, which will cause the contract completion time to be delayed indefinitely.

On the third day, Om learned to 'regret', blaming himself for not calculating things clearly and leaving such a big logical loophole. He should have determined the time and process in the first place.

But with a gun pointed at his forehead, it seemed he had no right to negotiate.

"Om, speaking of which, Machine Soul is a soul ball, so why did it turn into this shape?" Yuki, he no longer needed to add the condition of why he had to answer.

The white-haired girl materialized into a black and white maid dress, adorned with a lace headdress. Needless to say, this was also Yuki's request; he would only walk a little faster when he was in a good mood.

She put down the pure steel teapot, looked at the man leaning against the Ishigami, her eyes filled with helplessness.

"Because I chose the appearance you're most likely to like."

"Why would you think that?" Yuki was taken aback. Surely the Machine Race wouldn't make such a guess.

"It's simple. When two people of the same race appear together, a young member of the opposite sex will trigger a protective instinct." Om tilted his head and said coldly, "And your subsequent behavior confirmed the calculation. Yes, Mr. Rod is a stupid and lustful male creature. My reproductive system has already been forged..."

Smack

Yuki it, even Mona wouldn't dare to provoke me like that.

I've said it so many times, I'm a mature, sophisticated woman.

To everyone's surprise, Om remained expressionless, only raising his hand to cover his head. "Calculations show that Mr. Rod, enraged, has increased his prediction accuracy to 99.98%."

You son of a bitch.

Yuki raised his hand, clenched his fist, then reluctantly let go. It was embarrassing for an adult like himself to be angry with a 'child'.

"Mr. Rod, there's no need to hold back. Suppressed negative emotions will be even more terrifying once they erupt, and my current energy level is insufficient to withstand it. Please vent them in time."

Om, with an expression that said, "Don't hold back, I can take the torture now," made Yuki raise and lower his hand repeatedly. Finally, he took a deep breath and went to look at the scenery of the Inner Ring Battlefield.

Right behind him, a faint smile appeared on the girl's face. At that moment, Om learned the meaning of 'pleasure'.

Yuki of the Machine Soul's great joy, Yuki gazed into the distance, where the world seemed even more fragmented, with not a single intact and flat piece of ground to be found.

The dense craters stretched all the way to the horizon, interspersed with countless twisted pieces of debris.

Warships broken into pieces, bizarre war machines, skeletons scattered everywhere, and even several giant swords broken into pieces, with several overturned, colossal skeletons beside them.

The Giant, a once-powerful race now exiled, had their sword pierce the dragon's neck—or rather, the ancient dragon race, which had also been exiled.

The extinction of tens of millions of humans is insignificant in this Great Game; over countless years, those powerful races that could destroy mountains and rivers have wiped out countless others.

"And yet, this group hasn't figured out how to get close to the Divine Torch, so the intensity of the war has actually slowed down?"

Yuki a strong sense of irony, understood what the 'sprint phase' in the backstory meant, raised an eyebrow, and sensed that something was amiss.

Why do I keep getting 'end-of-the-world' missions?

The same applies to the Global Insect Calamity, the Wizard's Tower, the Nighttime Murder, and the Race Game.

These instances all bear the footprints of players. For example, the tasks that the predecessors received might simply be to eliminate a certain race or to help the race they were assisting to advance to a certain stage.

But he was different. This Great Game was about to end in his hands, Yuki could even imagine how to end it.

[Tip 7: You can return if you help your race obtain the Divine Torch; or you can choose to return if 5 or more races lose their eligibility.]

Conversely, if at least five races are disqualified, shouldn't the Divine Torch appear?

So here's the problem: getting this hint from the player isn't difficult; at least the Angels asked Hiyori about it, and she didn't hide anything from them.

Why don't they unleash their full power and wipe out all five races? It wouldn't be difficult.

Yuki the prompts he received when he first entered the dungeon, word by word, and felt that there was some hidden meaning in them. He glanced at the shattered moon in the sky and then focused his gaze on what was in front of him.

This place is close to the Inner Ring Battlefield, and such places are extremely dangerous. If it weren't for Yuki's good stealth abilities, he would have been discovered long ago. There are detectors everywhere, and patrol ships or scouts everywhere.

These things almost filled every area, and even Om didn't urge them. Once discovered, it would be an encounter battle, which would then grow larger and larger, eventually leading to the Machine Race.

If you lead a bunch of pursuers to the Machine Race, do you think they'll treat you well?

"Project the map."

"Um."

The girl spread her arms, and a screen of light spread out in her palms, revealing different colors such as blue, red, and gray, as well as densely packed patterns.

Those painted areas belong to the racial territory. Yes, even the individual Monster Race has its own territory and creates advantages based on its racial characteristics. As long as it's not a full-scale war, other races will not intervene.

These territories vary in size; for example, the 'Poplar Tree' that Yuki saw on the outskirts was an Elves settlement.

The territory of the Machine Race is still some distance away. Because he has not connected to the 'Netway Will', Om does not have the authority to mobilize any of his machines. Trying to get the Machine Race to come and help him is pointless.

"Calculations show that, traveling from the neutral zone, the chance of Mr. Rod being discovered is as high as 75.11%, with a 65.212% chance of being discovered by the Angels and a... probability of being discovered by the Monster Race..."

"Alright, alright, you're just using this as an excuse to mock me again. Besides, isn't this problem your doing, you incompetent Machine Soul?" Yuki waved his hand. Om's probability calculations were a pretense; his real intention was to find an opportunity to berate him.

"Ignore it. Om doesn't want to argue with the clumsy Mr. Rod. Be alert. Scan Mr. Rod's smile. He's definitely made a lewd association. Confirmed. No explanation he offers can be entered into the database."

Yuki smacked his lips. This Machine Soul was getting more and more active. The key was that it remained expressionless when making fun of itself, making it hard to muster any desire to retaliate.

"Tell me your thoughts."

Om regained his composure, data streams flashing in his eyes, a red line Piercer the holographic map towards the inner ring.

"Based on all calculations, this is the optimal route. Its advantages are: shorter distance, less chance of other races not noticing even if a battle breaks out within the race, and the Undead has a strong sense of territory and rarely pursues."

"Disadvantages: The database hasn't been updated in a long time, making it impossible to determine the strength of the Undead within this territory. Furthermore, Om doesn't have much power left, and if he gets surrounded, the risk of being abandoned is extremely high."

The clear voice was calm, revealing no fear or tension. Yuki looked at the map; it was exactly as he had expected.

If they weren't incredibly unlucky and happened to encounter an attack on their territory by another race, then it would be a problem between them and the Undead. As for the risks...

What are the chances of being discovered?

"The lack of intelligence is incalculable."

"If I'm not mistaken, the probability is quite high, your Machine Soul has mutated and will be targeted by the Undead."

Yuki bluntly exposed him; he wasn't stupid, he had seen this kind of thing before, involving the control of the dead.

Under the intense gaze of those red eyes, Om slightly averted his eyes, eliciting a pleased smile from the man.

This stupid Machine Soul has even learned to lie!

Fortunately, he knew that Om's calculation was based on the premise of fulfilling the contract, and under this fundamental logic, he disregarded the risks.

"Alright, let's take this route." Yuki clapped his hands and began organizing his equipment.

Om looked puzzled and tentatively asked, "Question: You've already discovered the problem, so why continue?"

"Because your lie was so clumsy, don't mention your flaws next time."

"Rejected. In order to successfully complete the contract, Om will not hide his weaknesses, even if it carries the risk of death."

"So, between fulfilling the contract and surviving, which would you choose?"

The girl froze, as if her CPU was smoking. Binary life forms find it hardest to answer such fundamental logical contradictions. After thinking for a long time, she finally decided to analyze the issue from the perspective of the relative risks of taking a detour versus the risk of her own death.

But Yuki raised his hand, stopping her from speaking.

"Absolute rationality means making choices based on even a 0.00001% probability difference, but now I want you to calculate from another perspective: if there were real danger, would I abandon you?"

Om nodded slightly, then introduced factors such as Yuki's personality, self-worth, the role of the contract, and the level of risk, but could not arrive at a result because there were too many variables involved.

"Can't figure it out, huh?" Yuki gripped the Storm Dragon Spear and tucked the Hunter's Blunderbuss into his waistband. "The opposite of rationality is emotion, something that transcends all probability, just like how you know there's a probability of angering me, but you still can't help but retaliate."

"Om, you're no longer just a machine, so you're qualified to think about problems with your emotions."

The girl tilted her head, something completely outside her knowledge. But as Yuki said, even knowing there was a chance of angering the other person and conflicting with the logic of 'survival,' she still couldn't help but be sarcastic. At that time, she hadn't calculated it; it was just an impulse.

"How can we think about problems using intuition?"

"No need to think, because emotions don't allow for thinking." Yuki's words were self-contradictory. He picked up his gun and stepped into the wasteland. After a few steps, he turned around and looked at the little angel who was still standing there in a daze.

Forget about probability, feel with your heart, and you'll discover where the source of your impulsiveness these past few days lies.

That's called understanding and trust.

Chapter Nine: I said even a dragon's den or a tiger's lair couldn't stop it.

These past few days have been a process of getting to know each other. Yuki didn't wear any mask and completely exposed his true nature.

Om herself didn't realize that it was precisely because she understood him that she couldn't help but be sarcastic and derive pleasure from seeing the powerful man get the short end of the stick.

Without dwelling on probabilities or searching through databases for records of powerful creatures' personalities, it was simply a feeling, an instinctive feeling that transcended calculation, that led her to unintentionally choose survival over fulfilling the contract.

She didn't even consider the probability of setting a trap to kill Yuki and then regaining her freedom. An ordinary person might not have noticed, but Yuki, being extremely meticulous, had already noticed this.

A blank sheet of paper, an honest man, when it comes to playing dirty tricks, Yuki has never feared any opponent, and when faced with a pure heart, Yuki is not stingy in repaying it with Incandescence will.

He's not some kind of Machine Race; his emotional impulses are always evenly matched with his rational calculations, so Yuki doesn't care about any risks.

Crossing the wasteland littered with craters and wreckage, Yuki walked ahead, feeling a profound silence behind him.

The Machine Soul was so engrossed in the enormous debate between reason and emotion that it failed to realize that mobilizing a large amount of computing power to study a problem that would never yield results was a foolish act.

Yuki didn't disturb her. These past few days felt like playing a raising simulation game, drawing different colors on a blank sheet of paper, turning a robot into a human.

The territory of the Undead is quite large.

He looked ahead and saw a giant canyon at the horizon, the earth looking as if it had been ripped open by something, and thick white fog swirling within it.

Nothing could be seen, but various detectors were scattered around the valley, and the shadow of a huge warship could be seen in the sky.

There was another reason why he chose to proceed in a straight line: this place was the Angels's war zone. Hiyori, the Angels had been hunting the Undead and eliminating Undead settlements one by one.

If they were to cross the Angels's war zone, it would be a bloody battle once they were discovered. Whether they could win or not was another matter. Yuki never intended to start a war with the Angels.

Hiyori's infiltration plan went smoothly. This number one ranked race could be a potential partner in the future, and Yuuki had no desire to Yuki with her senior.

I guess it's a favor, and I can also test the characteristics of Om's meters.

"Are you really going in?"

Just before we reached the valley, a small hand tugged at my clothes from behind.

"Isn't this the best route you calculated?" Yuki turned his head and saw the girl's conflicted expression; she was scared at the last minute.

"It's suggested that Om recalculate; Om senses danger."

"You haven't even gone inside yet, how can you calculate the danger?" Yuki's words made the Machine Soul furious again. He raised his hand and rubbed the other's head. "That's called intuition, something without any basis or probability."