Chapter 221
"They live in the deep sea, feeding on the remnants of the ocean, on organic matter. They themselves, what they depend on for survival... can serve as food for your existence."
The meaning of Kongo is...
They either had to eat the Slug Clan or go find something the Slug Clan could eat.
Human reason has long since collapsed in this world, and the Slug Clan itself is no longer human.
All living things survive through the most extreme form of survival of the fittest.
Whether it's the Gem People, the Lunarians, or even Kongo, they are all like this.
After saying that, Kongo looked at Xiao Huasheng quietly, waiting for her reaction.
This suggestion was both the result of his rational analysis and subtly mixed with a personal motive.
He did not want this person, who resembled his mother so much, to repeat the tragedy that had befallen his mother.
Although Xiao Huasheng was not human in his strict sense, the predicament she faced touched his deepest instinct to protect her.
Soul, bones, flesh.
After humanity was wiped out, everything that belonged to it was divided into these three types.
Its soul is that of Lunarians, its bones are those of Gem People, and its flesh is that of the Slug Clan from the mouth of Kongo.
Slug Clan are capable of reproduction, but they also experience birth, aging, illness, and death, and they need organic matter to eat in order to sustain their lives.
They live in the sea, where, compared to the barren land, there is perhaps a little space for organic matter to survive.
After thanking Kongo, Xiao Huasheng made a promise to him.
"If I can truly obtain enough energy from the sea... then make a wish upon me, Kongo. I can grant you one wish, even if it's to transform from a machine into a human, or into anything you desire."
Xiao Huasheng spoke, her gaze resolute.
Unlike other Reality Bender, Xiao Huasheng's Reality-Warping Ability is completely controllable, and this ability can be turned off at will.
Therefore, everything around her is often the most realistic representation of this world, and after her body is Reality Warping and she loses her ability to evacuate, it will revert to its most primitive state.
Therefore, she will not change the world into what she imagines it to be.
Therefore, the wishes she makes are often permanent, and all the rules of the world will give way to these wishes.
Even if she were to grant life to a stone, it would become reality in her words.
Furthermore, this stone possesses a lifespan sufficient to survive until the sun expands to engulf the entire Solar System.
Even if Xiao Huasheng herself did not live for five billion years, she could still give a stone a life of five billion years.
Let a single rock witness the day a star completely loses control from its main sequence and enters its red giant phase.
Even stars have life; nothing can last forever. Perhaps everything will eventually reach a silent end...
However, Xiao Huasheng believed that things only begin anew after death.
Whether it was wishful thinking or unfounded speculation, she simply wanted to bring a glimmer of hope to the miserable machine before her.
Upon hearing this, Kongo closed his eyes.
"Making a wish, I can understand it as praying... Will you pray for me? Xiao Huasheng, if it's you... if it's you..."
For some reason, a complex smile appeared on Kongo's face.
He gently embraced Xiao Huasheng, as tenderly as he would any of the Gem People.
"Indeed, you are so similar to your mother. Thank you, Xiao Huasheng." The warmth and soft touch of Xiao Huasheng's skin brought a look of pity to Kongo's eyes.
If he could shed tears, he would probably be weeping uncontrollably by now.
It was a long time, far too long.
Time destroys everything, but it also rebuilds everything.
The span of hundreds of thousands of years is an unimaginable distance, enough for more than ten thousand generations, while human society evolved from the Iron Age to the Information Age in just one hundred generations.
As the years pass and spring and summer cycle, time continues.
Only Kongo firmly remembered the affection he had for his mother; those few hundred years with her became his most precious memories.
This is also the saddest aspect of his role as a prayer machine.
He spent his entire life praying for humanity, but he never prayed for himself.
Machines, for people, offer prayers.
What a ridiculous joke that cyber prayer has become the world's greatest hope.
"I have a feeling you guys have lived a little too long. Are you a little mentally unstable? Would touching your heads help?"
Xiao Huasheng didn't quite understand Kongo's thoughts; she was simply expressing her own feelings.
This group of people has lived far too long. Some of them feel that living to twenty years old is too long, let alone hundreds of thousands of years.
The red-haired Angel stroked Kongo's bald head, hoping to make him feel better. This soothing touch calmed Kongo down.
He slowly released his grip and returned to his meditative posture.
"Go to the sea, and good luck." He closed his eyes, preparing to drift into sleep.
Xiao Huasheng nodded, waved to him, and left the gathering place of the Gem People.
We are preparing to go to the sea to search for the Slug Clan.
By the moonlight, she arrived at the seaside.
However, something unexpected happened.
As soon as she stepped into the sea, she accidentally entered an extremely deep trench and plummeted vertically into the ocean.
Cement sinks into the sea, then makes a dazzling debut!
"Wait, how am I supposed to get up?!" the red-haired Angel screamed as she plunged into the abyss of the sea.
* To name a fallen Angel.
Chapter 11: The Sea That Was Killed [1 update]
The icy seawater instantly engulfed Xiao Huasheng, and she realized she was sinking at an alarming rate.
The seawater pressure increased rapidly, and all I could hear was the muffled sound of the current and the churning of bubbles.
She tried to swim upwards, but her body was as heavy as cement, and she kept sliding down into the dark abyss.
"Oops... I forgot." Xiao Huasheng had forgotten that he couldn't swim, and the only way to get out of the water was to rely on his Reality-Warping Ability.
There's no Skadi here to propel her upwards.
Her red hair spread out in the water like flames, gradually disappearing into the deep sea.
The deeper you go, the dimmer the light becomes.
The moonlight could not penetrate the deep seawater at all, and the surroundings were plunged into absolute darkness.
Only a few microorganisms emitting a faint glow dotted the endless darkness like stars.
The sinking lasted for an unknown period of time, possibly a dozen minutes or more than an hour.
In the darkness, the sense of time becomes blurred.
Suddenly, an unusual light appeared below.
As they continued to sink, Xiao Huasheng could see clearly.
It was a massive rift running across the seabed, emitting a deep red light from its depths that illuminated the surrounding waters.
She fell to the edge of the crack and barely managed to grab onto the rough rock face.
After regaining her balance, Xiao Huasheng looked around, and the sight before her made her hold her breath.
The seabed was not the flat sandy land she had imagined; instead, it was marked with the traces of impacts.
Huge craters are scattered across the seabed like the surface of the moon. On the seabed of this ravaged planet, magma is exposed, and some crater edges still retain black material from molten and cooled material!
The cracks crisscrossed, some so deep they seemed bottomless, like the earth's gaping black mouth.
What kind of damage did those six meteorites cause to the world?
Even the Earth's mantle was blasted out; no wonder there is no longer any life on this world.
Even within the Foundation World, the impact of six meteorites in succession would definitely be considered a K-class disaster.
The entire seabed was eerily silent.
There were no fish swimming, no shellfish inhabiting the area, only some sparse basic seaweed swaying gently in the weak current.
Xiao Huasheng moved along the edge of the crack, trying to find signs of life.
From the perspective of Earth's biological evolution, these volcanic craters, full of heat and water, are usually excellent sites for nurturing life.
Unfortunately, apart from some inedible seaweed, there was nothing else in this place.
"How can this be? There aren't any living creatures in the ocean?"
Just then, she noticed something unusual.
At the bottom of some of the shallower pits, strange substances have accumulated.
A black sediment emanated from the sea, emitting an indescribable odor.
She reached out and touched it; the substance left a sticky feeling on her fingertips.
Xiao Huasheng scraped a finger, put it in her mouth and licked it. An indescribable, disgusting taste instantly filled her taste buds.
"This taste... um, it's a bit disgusting." Fortunately, she was not only insensitive to pain, but also to taste.
She can eat raw meat without feeling too guilty.
Surprisingly, this black mud from the seabed is edible.
This may be sediment formed after a large-scale death of ancient organisms, which evolved into a special form over a long period of time.
Perhaps this is the food source that Slug Clan rely on for survival?
Xiao Huasheng carefully collected a small amount of black mud. Regardless of how unpalatable it was, it was one of the few organic substances in this world.
On an Earth where even life has disappeared, finding this little bit of edible food is already quite an achievement.
In this silent world, everything is so peaceful, without any disturbance.
This was a loneliness she had never experienced before.
Xiao Huasheng looked up at the sky, lost in thought.
When there are no living beings left in the world, there will be no more noise here.
She could feel the pressure of the seawater proclaiming the depth of this place in an almost cruel way.
Mwah mwah mwah.
The last bit of air in her mouth bubbled out.
This place has long since surpassed the mid-ocean ridge, crossed the boundary between the photosphere and the twilight layer, and fallen into a realm that even sunlight, after traveling thousands of meters, cannot reach.
Hadal Zone.
The word flashed through her mind. Considering reality, this was a depth comparable to the Mariana Trench, or perhaps even deeper.
In this world, which has been struck by six meteorites and whose crustal structure is already fragmented, the depth of the seabed may have reached values that humans have never recorded or even imagined.
Pressure.
The pressure is everywhere, penetrating every nook and cranny.
The hydrostatic pressure here is enough to crush even the most advanced submarines.
On every square centimeter of surface, it bears an enormous weight.
That was the terrifying weight of turning the entire Mount Everest upside down, pressing its peak against your fingertips, and applying it evenly to your entire body.
Aside from truly airless deep-sea creatures, Xiao Huasheng couldn't think of anything else that could survive here.
Clearly, the survival status of the Slug Clan is far from optimistic.
Just then, a wandering shadow slowly drifted out from behind Xiao Huasheng.
It shot out from a swirling cloud of hot liquid smoke behind Xiao Huasheng.
Its movements are exceptionally smooth in high-pressure seawater, with the resistance of the water flow having no effect on it. It is a highly efficient mode of locomotion that has evolved over a long period of adaptation to extreme environments.