Life's Final Chapter (Revised)

The tracked vehicle drove through the gravel desert area and entered the vast ice sheet that covers 98 percent of the Antarctica continent.

Once they left the vicinity of the coastline, the wind speed began to decrease significantly. Liu Chang'an checked the instrument panel inside the car and saw that the wind speed had dropped from a peak of forty meters per second to twenty meters per second.

This is the level of a typhoon reduced to a normal gale. Liu Chang'an remembers that thirty years ago, there was a super typhoon in Qionghai with wind speeds exceeding 70 meters per second, far exceeding the highest standard of 17. In Antarctica, wind speeds can even exceed 100 meters per second... but the data observed by humans is more than 90 meters per second.

A strong wind rises, and the clouds fly high.

Liu Chang'an squinted in the bumpy tracked off-road vehicle, ignoring the incessant chatter of the Gold Coin, and entered a state of sensory deactivation, just like he often had been in a long, long time ago.

In this state, he had no sense of the passage of time. When Liu Chang'an opened his eyes again, he looked at the date displayed on the instrument panel. Two days had passed. It was the season of polar day in Antarctica. Liu Chang'an looked out of the car and saw that the entire sky had turned into a hazy, milky white sky.

Everything in sight seemed to be covered by Antarctica ice and snow, and there was a thick, milky white light flowing around, making it impossible to see clearly. Ordinary people's eyesight was completely ineffective in such weather, making them no different from blind people.

This is a natural weather phenomenon unique to Antarctica, formed by the reflection of light between ice, snow particles, and clouds. Liu Chang'an observed it with interest for a while, but then found it boring and was about to take another nap when Gold Coin's voice came from the voice system: "Blood Ancestor, this is our testing ground for dominating a part of the Earth. Look at this milky white sky, isn't it particularly beautiful?"

"So all the accidents that happened during Antarctica scientific expeditions and explorations due to the milky white sky were caused by you?" Liu Chang'an thought this was a very effective method. In such a climate environment, it would be impossible to detect any secret bases built there using conventional detection equipment.

Scientific expeditions passing by noticed the milky white sky and either retreated or went around it from a distance. They would not attempt to pass through, because in such an environment, no equipment could function properly. In places like Antarctica, equipment failure often means a major accident or even the death of all personnel.

"There were more accidents a few decades ago, but there are very few now. It's just a pity that no one has recognized this place as some kind of mysterious place and spread its fame like Bermuda," Gold Coin said regretfully, turning his headless body towards Qin Luming... The voice came from the car's speaker.

In a sense, robots do possess advantages that are difficult for humans to match. Ordinary people simply cannot drive for two days and two nights without sleep, let alone chat happily even if their heads are lost.

However, Liu Chang'an naturally disliked robots because they were not living beings at all. Having spent so many years on Earth, Liu Chang'an had always been surrounded by a diverse array of life. The sudden appearance of robots made him feel as averse to them as if a cataclysmic event was about to occur.

What are the differences between robots and conventional life forms? Where are the boundaries? Under what circumstances will the definitions between them become blurred?

Liu Chang'an hadn't thought about these questions. He wasn't the kind of philosopher who would constantly ponder these questions, because life is too long. If one were to constantly think about questions that have no answers or vague answers, time would become incredibly long and torturous... By the time one feels they have the answers, the questions have often already become meaningless.

The tracked off-road vehicle was completely unaffected by the milky white sky, traversing a world where the light melted into a milky hue. When the voice of the Gold Coin, as if announcing a subway station, rang out, the vision finally returned to normal. The snow-covered world seemed to have come to an end, and before them lay a lush, temperate vegetation region.

This surprised Liu Chang'an. The overall transformation of Earth by Gold Coin and Tesla might be insignificant, but they were really doing it... because he glanced at the map in the tracked off-road vehicle, which showed that this was still the area of Antarctica ice sheet, and the ice sheet in this place had an average thickness of more than 2,000 meters, with the thickest part reaching more than 4,000 meters.

The tracked off-road vehicle came to a stop. It was located on the edge of a cliff. After Liu Chang'an got out of the vehicle, he looked over. It was as if a huge piece of the Antarctica ice sheet had been dug out, revealing the real Antarctica land, instead of the layers of ice and snow covering the land.

Along the edge of this land, where temperate plants grow, are thick ice cliffs reaching thousands or even three thousand meters high. In the center of the land stands a square glass house, its design not much different from the one Su Nanxiu has at Xiangtan University, except that this one occupies a much larger area.

"Blood Ancestor, in the past, all the continents were basically connected, which we called the Rodinia Supercontinent. When the global ice age came, the continent we are standing on now was fortunate enough to break away from the Rodinia Supercontinent, becoming the only ark of life that could draw sunlight at that time... Do you remember where you were back then? What kind of biological state were you in?" The headless body of the Gold Coin followed behind Liu Chang'an, but its voice came from inside the car.

It felt as if someone was shouting at him from behind through a megaphone. Liu Chang'an didn't turn around. He calmly pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "They were probably frozen solid by ice layers thousands of meters thick... so there's absolutely no visual memory left. I'm used to this kind of thing. When the earth's crust moves, a volcano erupts, or the geomagnetic field shifts, etc., and changes the global environment, they naturally come to their senses again."

Sometimes, extreme weather events occur on Earth in ways that are completely unpredictable. For example, a large body of water, an entire lake, or a vast ocean may suddenly freeze over. Any living organism caught in such a situation, even a supernatural being, may find itself trapped in ice layers thousands of meters thick, making escape nearly impossible.

"We now call this the New Rodinia Continent in honor of the global Ice Age. At that time, this continent became the only habitable zone on Earth, and a highly advanced technological civilization evolved here, far surpassing that of humankind today."

Liu Chang'an felt a little regretful because he had actually missed out on such a technological civilization. However, compared to the history of Earth, how short-lived is human civilization now? Even if the highly advanced technological civilization that Gold Coin mentioned existed for ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, or even a million years, it would still be nothing more than a fleeting moment.

The Gold Coin or Tesla beside us probably have a deep connection with this kind of technological civilization.

"Are you speculating about my relationship with that ancient civilization, Lady Tesla? Your line of thinking is correct. Lady Tesla is the only surviving descendant of that ancient civilization. She was resurrected in the 18th century, propelling the progress of modern human civilization. However, with the impending cataclysm, she no longer has time to patiently wait for humanity to develop." The Gold Coin gently touched Liu Chang'an. "We must push her forward again, utilizing your special physique to enable all of humanity to evolve."

So she's a descendant of an ancient civilization... Liu Chang'an was slightly disappointed. Such a descendant of an ancient civilization must have used some of the most advanced technology of that time to allow her to be resurrected in the modern world. However, such technological applications cannot be replicated, and she cannot apply them universally at present. Therefore, she still set her sights on him.

If only they were his kind, Liu Chang'an sighed softly. The phoenix that he planted would never come to roost in.

"What kind of catastrophe?" Liu Chang'an asked. Humanity is so fragile, and all sorts of problems on Earth would be catastrophes for humanity. He had no way of guessing which kind the Gold Coin was referring to.

"The most recent one is the magnetic pole reversal. We all know that the north and south poles switch every once in a while... and the last magnetic field reversal between the north and south poles happened seven or eight hundred thousand years ago, which means that a magnetic field reversal could happen at any time now."

"Yes, the Earth's magnetic field is much weaker now than it was many years ago when I was first pulled out of the underground river. It's only about half the strength it was back then." Liu Chang'an nodded.

"When the Earth's magnetic field reverses, the entire Earth's magnetic field will weaken to near zero within a short period of time. At that time, the solar wind will sweep away the Earth's atmosphere completely, and of course, the ozone layer will also disappear. The Earth's interior will lose the control of its magnetic field, and volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis will become more frequent..."

"Wait, the Earth's magnetic field does weaken when it flips, but not as severely as you say. I've experienced it many times." Liu Chang'an said dismissively, "It will quickly return to its normal strength; Antarctica will still be Antarctica, and the North Pole will still be the North Pole."

"In short, this is also a major catastrophe."

"In short, you have every reason to use me as some kind of experimental subject, or to sacrifice me for your plans, for the sake of Earth and humanity." Liu Chang'an was certainly willing to contribute to humanity, but why should he entrust himself to Gold Coin and Tesla? A robot, a descendant of an ancient civilization—he couldn't trust them in the slightest.

Even when Zhou Dongdong sees a stranger and suspects that the person is a bad guy, she will stare at them and try to scare them.

"Yes," Gold Coin readily admitted.

"Before that, let me meet Tesla," Liu Chang'an said, gazing at the glass house in the distance.

What a beautiful view this is! If it were developed into a tourist attraction and the houses were converted into hotels, it would surely be a very successful business.

He could come for a vacation, but Liu Chang'an was unwilling to stay here... It was like a scene from heaven, unlike anything on earth, but what Liu Chang'an loved most was the world of mortals.

Gold Coin didn't speak, but pointed to the glass house in front of them. A large helicopter took off and flew over.

"I thought you would use more technologically advanced transportation," Liu Chang'an said, somewhat disappointed.

"Practicality and effectiveness are more important," a speaker on the tracked off-road vehicle said.

The helicopter stopped at the edge of the cliff in front of Liu Chang'an, and the first person to jump out of the helicopter was Gold Coin.

Liu Chang'an glanced back at the headless, mangled robot.

The Gold Coin ran over and kicked its own broken body, which it had just been using, onto the snow.

"Blood Ancestor, you should realize that, just like how you've crushed my body so many times, yet you're still helpless against me, your resistance, your escape, your desire for freedom, your refusal to take responsibility, your refusal to sacrifice for humanity... all these struggles and non-cooperation... are meaningless." Gold Coin's lips curled slightly as he pointed to the robot's mangled remains on the ground. "Look, you're just like it, ultimately merely a vessel carrying a certain function. What you carry is the code to human Longevity. Once we've thoroughly studied you, you'll be as free as it."

As he spoke, Gold Coin kicked the robot's remains again, sending them tumbling off the cliff.

After a long while, the faint sound of a heavy object falling to the ground could be heard.

Liu Chang'an felt he had every reason to hate robots. He glanced at the Gold Coin expressionlessly and refrained from trying to crush it for the time being.

Immediately afterwards, a familiar face to Liu Chang'an stepped off the helicopter: Su Nanxiu.

Su Nanxiu was still wearing her long white lab coat and those glasses that she wasn't sure could still connect to the data system here. She looked somewhat haggard and stared at Liu Chang'an in surprise, seemingly unaware that she would see Liu Chang'an here, or even knowing who she was going to meet before boarding the helicopter.

Following behind Su Nanxiu was a blonde woman, a typical Russian beauty, except her skin wasn't covered in fine downy hair. Upon seeing Liu Chang'an, she opened her mouth and said, "Oh, you've been captured too. I'm Avrora, you might have heard of me. I used to be called Rasputin... Where's my Snake Snake?"

Liu Chang'an was somewhat surprised to see Avrora. He had heard the name from Gold Coin, but had no idea who she was... Rasputin, this was truly a natural development.

The Snake Snake that Avrora mentioned also stepped off the helicopter. She was a woman with a dark, aloof demeanor and a subtle air of elegance reminiscent of the water towns of southern China. Avrora spoke enthusiastically to Liu Chang'an, "This is Little White. You were Xu Jiuzhou back then, weren't you? You left it in Lin'an before you went to sea, and it still resents you."

Liu Chang'an's lips curled slightly, and he nodded as a greeting. Although there was still a lot of resentment in Little White's eyes, Liu Chang'an could understand. But how did a snake turn into a human?

By the way, Rasputin, formerly known Avrora, was also a bear who turned into a human.

These wondrous creatures are probably the reason Tesla captured them; Tesla's research wasn't just about Liu Chang'an.

The hidden mysteries of life remain unexplored, even by ancient civilizations.

"Now look what's happened, we've all been captured. I used to think we were the strongest in the world, but who would have thought this Tesla was stronger than all of us." Avrora clearly believed that Liu Chang'an was now a "prisoner."

"Father." Mrs. Karnstein was the last to step off the helicopter, and she looked the most haggard compared to the others.

Her eyes were sunken, and her skin was deathly pale... Although she fit the original image of a vampire perfectly, she should actually be a much more beautiful woman.

Without a doubt, she was the subject Tesla used most frequently for research. Liu Chang'an saw that many black chips were implanted under the skin of her arm, and her hair was almost gone, with only a few strands covering the top of her head.

Liu Chang'an narrowed his eyes, spat out a tiny bead of blood, and flicked it into Mrs. Karnstein's lips with his finger.

In an instant, Mrs. Karnstein changed. Her hair grew thick again, as if flowing black liquid, covering her soft back. Her pale skin regained its rosy hue. She stretched out her fingers, scratched her skin, and pulled out all the chips. Then, her bloodied arm quickly returned to normal, and the image of a vampire, as elegant as the most beautiful work of art, returned to her.

"How amazing! No matter how we extract, replicate, or cultivate, the products we research can't possess such an ability to instantly turn the rotten into the miraculous." A beautiful young woman exclaimed in admiration from behind everyone.

Red hair.

Twin tails.

White shirt.

Overalls skirt.

A slender figure.

This is what Tesla looked like when Liu Chang'an first saw him; he was the last one to step off the helicopter.

Liu Chang'an wasn't surprised that her appearance was anything but different; perhaps she simply wanted to appear this way today.

What concerned him was that Tesla was pulling a coffin.

Bronze coffin.

It was almost identical to Shangguan Dandan's coffin.

"You're wondering why I also have a coffin like this? Because this is the Eternal Cabinet, one of only two that the ancient civilization could create with all its might. One protects me, and the other... oh, Shangguan Dandan treated it like a coffin and even painted many colorful designs on it." Tesla glanced back, "It does indeed look like a coffin."

"I've gone to great lengths to win you over, and I've only come to this point because I have no other choice. After all, my previous conservative and gentle plans have all failed," Tesla continued regretfully.

"We tried using Yan Huaye and Liu Yuewang. Their bodies have been modified and are theoretically a perfect match for you, allowing us to carry out a higher-quality human reproduction plan. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we failed repeatedly. You probably sensed something was wrong and cleverly disappeared... but we didn't expect you to reappear under a different identity after a short time." Gold Coin walked up to Tesla and said in the same regretful tone.

So that's how it is... Liu Chang'an stared at the Gold Coin and the Tesla. He didn't intend to ask for any more details. He just wanted to know who was behind the strange or coincidental events of the past.

He glanced at Mrs. Karnstein. Although he hadn't quite trusted this woman who called him "father" at their initial reunion, the two blood transfusions, like a ritual of recognizing family, made Liu Chang'an feel that she was worth trying to accept.

Sensing the entrustment in Liu Chang'an's eyes, Mrs. Karnstein embraced Su Nanxiu without hesitation and disappeared like a wisp of black smoke.

"They ran away," Avrora said, shaking her head with surprising foresight. "They can't escape. I've tried several times."

Little White ignored Avrora and followed Mrs. Karnstein, which was already far away, like a wisp of black smoke.

Avrora stopped where she was, thought for a while, and then simply sat down. She was just a bear, and in the cold season, she didn't want to move around much. Besides, the surrounding area was filled with magnetic field disruption devices set up by Tesla and Gold Coin. Any earth creature would lose its sense of direction and even the most basic ability to distinguish front from back, left from right, up from down. Where could she possibly go?

"They have a lot of confidence in you." Tesla adjusted the straps of her dress. "I'll grab you first, then I'll grab them back."

Liu Chang'an hadn't said a word since he saw the helicopter appear. Now, he wasn't going to waste any more words. He vanished from his spot and instantly rushed to Tesla's side, smashing the robot Gold Coin's head with a single punch.

"Blood Ancestor, hehe... Why do you always like to do such meaningless things?" Gold Coin's voice came from the helicopter again.

"Gold Coin is actually a part of your consciousness, isn't it? Only by killing you will it truly disappear." Liu Chang'an considered this possibility. Otherwise, how could such a robot gain Tesla's utmost trust? When Gold Coin and Tesla appeared together, Liu Chang'an had this strong intuition that it and Tesla were one.

"That's right." Tesla did not deny it. There was no point in avoiding the issue, because Liu Chang'an could not kill her. No matter how much primitive life evolved, the power of the natural body was limited and could not withstand the power of technology.

The coffin behind her had disintegrated, forming pieces of metal the size of fingernails, which floated in the air, surrounding Tesla.

Liu Chang'an felt a sense of déjà vu at this scene. In the next moment, these metal blocks would cover her body and become her battle armor? Liu Chang'an had fought against Su Nanxiu before, and Su Nanxiu wore a similar battle armor. It was probably a technological product based on the same principle, but it was obviously not as powerful as Tesla's.

Liu Chang'an ignored everything and threw a punch straight at Tesla's front.

The metal pieces instantly formed a floating protective shield in front of her, blocking Liu Chang'an's fist.

A tremendous force rebounded, and his figure was immediately thrown back dozens of meters by this force.

"Interesting." Liu Chang'an laughed. The force of the rebound felt so familiar; it was exactly the force he had emitted, returning to him in full.

"It'll be even more interesting." Tesla laughed as she walked towards Liu Chang'an. The metal plates no longer floated in front of her but covered her body, connecting to form a suit of armor.

Wearing her Tesla armor, her slow movements exuded a powerful aura. On the hard ice of Antarctica, which had been silent for countless millennia, she left clear footprints. Suddenly, she quickened her pace, like an armored war god bursting forth, transforming into a black streak of light carrying violent power as she punched Liu Chang'an in the chest.

Liu Chang'an's body was like a snow particle kicked up by a helicopter, spinning in the air before being thrown out and crashing heavily onto the ice. Cracks spread around his landing point. His body continued to bounce backward, hitting the ice, and the shattered ice blocks piled up like mountains from his impact before finally dissipating the force of his blast.

"Isn't it interesting? Hehe..." Tesla let out a laugh that sounded like Gold Coin. "Back then, I made you watch a nuclear explosion to test your physical strength, but unfortunately, you didn't dare to come with me to the epicenter... Now let me test your physical strength again. Try the extremely miniature hydrogen bomb in the Eternal Cabinet. Don't be afraid; it's nuclear fusion triggered by a metallic hydrogen explosion, with absolutely no radiation pollution... Actually, even after being extremely miniaturized, its power isn't great—only a few dozen times the power of ordinary Ottokin HMX explosive."

Liu Chang'an had just stood up when he saw Tesla raise his palm, and a barrage of seemingly ordinary 5.8mm bullets shot out like a rain of pear blossoms. Before he could even make any blocking motion, one of them had already struck his body.

"Hahaha..." Tesla watched as Liu Chang'an's body was blasted into the sky, while other bullets created a devastating explosion all around, his eyes burning with extreme excitement.

Tesla raised her hands, somewhat surprised that Liu Chang'an's body hadn't fragmented... This was also a test of his healing abilities, but why didn't he fall back down after his body had flown into the sky?

Um?

Tesla, and sound waves, imperceptible to the human ear, spread above the clouds.

These sound waves were captured by Tesla's armor and could not be deciphered into a meaning that humans could directly understand, but some frequencies were similar to the sound waves emitted by certain social animals when summoning their kind.

"Lord Tesla, the animals at the base are rioting! They're charging over!" came the voice of Gold Coin from the helicopter.

"What's going on? Analyze it immediately," Tesla commanded.

Then she saw some white dots and some black dots appear on the distant horizon.

Those are penguins.

Antarctica is home to the world's largest population of penguins, including Emperor penguins, Adriatic penguins, Gentoo penguins, Chinstrap penguins, King penguins, Rocky penguins, and Vanish penguins, with a total population exceeding 100 million.

Tesla felt as if the countless penguins appearing on the horizon were the penguins of the entire Antarctica.

These adorable little animals, appearing so densely, moving their short legs in unison, exude an aura of military might that sends chills down your spine, as if they are about to crush the Antarctica ice sheet.

"Lord Tesla, tens of millions of king crabs are heading this way!" Gold Coin said in surprise. These tens of thousands of king crabs were a huge population that Su Nanxiu had discovered when he was still in charge of the Tesla Biological Research Institute. They were originally considered a disaster for the Antarctica biosphere because they had no natural enemies here.

"Lord Tesla, countless krill have appeared in the surrounding waters; conservative estimates put the total at tens of millions of tons!"

When these tiny creatures are numerous enough, they can be quite alarming. The waters surrounding Antarctica are rich in krill, forming the bottom layer of the Antarctica biosphere. However, their numbers, amounting to hundreds of millions of tons distributed across the southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean, have now converged on this region, numbering in the tens of millions.

"And whales, Mr. Tesla, there must be all the whales in the world here!"

"A giant octopus! A giant octopus! How can there be such a huge octopus? It looks like it could drag an aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea!"

"Good heavens, Lord Tesla, there's another strange creature. They're spheres covered in tentacles, rolling around on the seabed and crawling out of all sorts of trenches. We've never seen anything like them before!" Gold Coin retrieved terrifying footage from surveillance cameras around the world and reported to Tesla with trepidation.

Tesla, no longer bothering to search for the completely missing Liu Chang'an, ran back to the helicopter and retrieved various surveillance footage from the control panel.

She couldn't help but gasp, because footage from a maritime surveillance ship showed a large whirlpool in the nearby waters, and the strange creatures that the Gold Coin had discovered were all gathering around that whirlpool, which was clearly abnormal.

What is this vortex?

Gold Coin remotely controlled the drone on the monitoring ship to take off and capture clearer and more detailed images of the whirlpool.

Tesla at the monitor screen, where countless large marine creatures could be vaguely seen within the enormous whirlpool of incalculable diameter. Many of these creatures were unlike anything he had ever seen before, and some even possessed physical characteristics that suggested they were prehistoric.

"The vortex is about to form a waterspout!"

The vortex spun rapidly, the air pressure at its center constantly decreasing, and the water was drawn upwards around the center of the vortex, forming a eddy. This eddy stretched all the way into the sky, soon connecting the sea surface with the heavy, dark clouds.

"Those marine creatures all ascended to the sky within the waterspout!"

Tesla was extremely annoyed by the sound of the Gold Coin. These marine creatures no longer followed their survival instincts; they seemed fearless, as if they were only there to sacrifice themselves.

They were born in the ocean, and they should have died in the ocean as well.

They never considered leaving their homeland.

At this moment, they have forgotten all instincts and have developed a will to die for themselves.

Those krill, numbering in the tens of thousands of tons.

The king crab that covered the seabed.

Those enormous, monstrous creatures, like ancient behemoths.

There are also familiar marine creatures such as whales and giant octopuses.

At this moment, they are so unified, following the same will.

The waterspout finally broke free from the sea surface, stretched into the air, and disappeared into the clouds.

Tesla jumped out of the helicopter and looked up at the dark clouds overhead.

A dark cloud spread from the sea, streaks of lightning leaped through the clouds, and bursts of thunder sounded like the footsteps of some creature treading on the clouds.

Did this thing absorb those marine creatures from before? Or did it strengthen itself by absorbing their life force and energy?

Tesla had no idea and could only look around in bewilderment; this... was illogical.

Tesla involuntarily stepped back, because she saw the dark clouds overhead being parted by a fingernail.

Her legs went weak. What... what is this?

That fingernail belonged to a sharp claw.

Have you ever seen a dragon?

With a dragon's roar, it arrived piercing through the clouds.