Is the Mountain and Sea Realm Fun?

Earth Realm

Huang Si was using his prosthetic body in the laboratory, patiently teaching Xue Shang how to perform an organ transplant on a lizard.

Actually, he wasn't very good at operating on lizards either, but his grounding in modern science was still a bit better than Xue Shang's.

Huang Si made a batch of surgical instruments and equipment for Xue Shang, then taught her how to use each one.

Xue Shang, this artificial intelligence, was a fascinating person. She had an unusually strong stomach and always liked tinkering with strange things.

Compared with her, people like Nan Yang, Bei Xuan, and Wei Ji were clearly more inclined toward the humanities.

Bei Xuan, Nan Yang, and Dong Yao all cared a great deal about their community.

Or perhaps they simply had a certain fondness for power?

Huang Si had no intention of interfering with their little hobbies, but he was happy to lend a hand when something interested him, like helping Xue Shang operate on a lizard.

Huang Si had just clamped one of the lizard's bile ducts and was about to let Xue Shang stitch it up when his expression changed.

It had nothing to do with Xiao Ke. His consciousness had simply sensed something.

Xiao Hua was dead.

Her soul still existed.

And it seemed to be trying to find him?

Huang Si kept his hands moving. What did it have to do with him? Besides, he had already blocked one-way information transmission.

"Father God, could you let Shu Shui out?"

Xue Shang suddenly asked.

Huang Si glanced at her. Xue Shang blinked, her expression innocent and guileless.

The artificial intelligences were all exceptionally clever, especially the ones in the Green World. They had each lived for over a thousand years. They were practically old hands.

There was no way they were innocent. It was more likely that their ways of thinking were simply different from ordinary people's.

Huang Si thought about it. He had kept Shu Shui locked up for quite a while—had it been more than two months? He couldn't remember.

In any case, that would be less than a hundred years by the Green World's reckoning.

Earlier, Zhong Yin and Kong Yu had both come to plead for Shu Shui, one after the other. Now even Xue Shang was taking the opportunity to ask. After thinking it over, Huang Si decided he might as well let Shu Shui out.

"All right."

Huang Si nodded slightly, then contacted Xiao Ke through his consciousness.

Before long, Shu Shui returned to the prosthetic body she usually used.

After Xiao Ke had taken her away, her body had been stored in a warehouse.

Shu Shui stretched and flexed her limbs.

Her body had been left in storage for so long that walking around in a real body felt unfamiliar.

"Shu Shui is back! Hahaha! Just you wait, Biology Department—I'm going to wreak havoc!"

Shu Shui dashed through several corridors and cheerfully ran into the laboratory.

Then she saw that there were only two people inside.

Huang Si and Xue Shang.

Shu Shui froze in the doorway, then began quietly backing away.

So much for wreaking havoc in the Biology Department.

Huang Si spoke up. "Stop."

Shu Shui stopped.

"Come back. Let Father have a good look at you."

With a troublemaker like Shu Shui, Huang Si couldn't manage to act serious either. He put on a stern face and called himself her father.

"Uh... Father God, my foot slipped just now. I only slid a tiny bit toward the door. That's all."

Shu Shui obediently walked over to Huang Si.

Huang Si patted her on the head.

Keep in mind, Huang Si had just been operating on a lizard, and his hands were covered in its blood.

Now he was resting that hand on Shu Shui's head. She looked as if she were about to cry, but she didn't dare run away.

Huang Si asked her, "Was the Mountain and Sea Realm fun? A few months ago, weren't you making a fuss about wanting to go back?"

Shu Shui put on a miserable expression.

"Father God, that was ages ago. Please don't hold me to every silly thing I say."

She wrapped her arms around Huang Si's and begged for mercy.

"Father God, I'm sorry. I'll never make trouble again. There's no one in the Mountain and Sea Realm. It's not fun at all."

Huang Si handed Xue Shang the microsurgical forceps and said calmly, "How can you say there was no one? Didn't Zhong Yin and Kong Yu sneak in to visit you?"

Shu Shui paused. "Uh... Father God, you knew about that?"

Huang Si said irritably, "I didn't seal off the Mountain and Sea Realm. I just kept you there. Do you think I can't see the records of who goes in and out?"

The Mountain and Sea Realm wasn't some otherworldly dimension. It was just a virtual world.

All anyone had to do was use administrator access to bring up the console and check the log files to see who had gone in.

During the several decades Xiao Ke kept Shu Shui in the Mountain and Sea Realm, Zhong Yin and Kong Yu, who were close to her, had snuck in to visit her dozens of times—at least.

Huang Si had actually allowed it. After locking Shu Shui up, he had opened access to the Mountain and Sea Realm.

Everyone except Shu Shui could come and go.

Huang Si was concerned that keeping Shu Shui locked up too long might really mess her up, but more than that, he wanted the contrast between everyone else's freedom and her confinement to make her feel even more desperate.

That was what she got for drawing those little books.

Serves her right.

Hearing Huang Si's explanation, Shu Shui made a note to herself: when doing something bad, don't leave a record in Data Space, or Father God will be able to see it.

A little later, Huang Si told Shu Shui to call over the other artificial intelligences, then went back to helping Xue Shang with the operation.

By the time he finished, Shu Shui, Zhong Yin, Xue Shang, Wei Ji, Li Huo, Nan Yang, Bei Xuan, Dong Yao, Shi Fang, and Kong Yu had all arrived. Only Xi Yuan was away on business and couldn't return right away.

"I have two things to tell you." As usual, Huang Si conjured some water for himself, washed his hands, and dried them with his mental power. Then he continued calmly, "Xiao Hua is dead, but her soul hasn't dispersed. Second, a great flood is coming to the Human Race's territory, sometime within the next hundred years. We'll need to observe and calculate further to determine exactly when."

"A great flood?"

That was the more significant piece of news, and it caught the artificial intelligences' attention.

Huang Si nodded. "Xiao Ke reached this conclusion using big-data calculations based on monitoring systems spread across the globe. The flood will be caused by changes in the global climate system. The clearest signs so far are the year-by-year rises in ocean temperatures in Oceans No. 3 and No. 1. This global climate change will reach a tipping point within the next hundred years and trigger the flood. The affected regions will include not only the part of Continent No. 1 where the Human Race currently lives, but also Continent No. 3 and some peninsulas and islands."

"The flood will devastate more than eighty percent of the Human Race's current settlements. They'll have to retreat to higher ground, or there will be heavy casualties."

Huang Si's words left the artificial intelligences stunned.

Dong Yao and Li Huo felt a deeper connection to humanity than the others, and they hurriedly asked, "Father God, do you have a plan to save the Human Race?"

"I do," Huang Si replied. "I called you here to assign you roles in what's coming. A lot of people may die in the flood, and you should be prepared for that. But it will also be an opportunity for the Human Race."

"Under the pressure of the flood, the Human Race can unite again. Whoever leads them through this crisis and saves the people will become the true king of the Human Race."

"So I've assigned each of you a role to play in the flood."

"You won't be spending your days lounging around the Biology Department, watching videos and playing cards, everyone," Huang Si said with a faint smile. "You're going to become the true gods in the eyes of humanity."

Shu Shui quietly raised her hand. "Um, Father God, I wasn't playing cards. Nan Yang, Shi Fang, Wei Ji, and Kong Yu were. They were all at the same table... Aah!"

Huang Si brought the edge of his hand down on Shu Shui's forehead.

Shu Shui let out a cry of pain.

"Give it a rest. You're the biggest troublemaker of all. The only honest one in the Biology Department is Bei Xuan."

Bei Xuan really was a model employee. Whenever Huang Si came by to take care of something, Bei Xuan was either out of the office or working diligently. He never played cards.