As Eve's projection vanished, nothing remained on the floor of the top-level Control Center but scattered chunks of charred flesh.
The battle was over, and the entire top level fell quiet. Amid the crackling flames, firelight shone on He Zheng's and the others' faces, revealing their stunned expressions.
Waves of burnt stench filled their nostrils.
Eve's final words echoed in their ears. For a moment, none of them could understand what she had meant.
Human?
The Rebels were human?
"Ye Lin!? What did she mean!? Why did she say...!?"
Before He Zheng could instinctively ask Ye Lin, a sound interrupted him.
An icy system notification rang out:
"Beep. Destroy the Rebels Infection Module. All participants received +30 points. Current transcendence progress: 95%."
Almost the instant the notification sounded, the lights throughout the base went out.
In less than a second, lights flashed on at incredible speed from far to near, as though the world itself were rebooting.
At the same time, a series of mechanical notifications sounded overhead:
"Beep. The hijacking program has disappeared. The control system is restarting." "Beep. Infection detected in the Main Control Core. The system has activated the separation program." "Beep. The Main Control Center has activated its emergency protocol. The system will automatically switch to non-intelligent mode. The backup system is expected to come online in three minutes."
Hearing the notifications overhead, An Ke froze briefly before excitement filled her eyes.
"Ye Lin! It's back to normal! This place is back to normal!"
With no time to ponder what Eve had meant, they watched white lights illuminate the Server Cluster as it restarted. They immediately realized that Eve's death had allowed the original control system to resume operation.
Although the self-diagnostic messages indicated that the City of the Other Shore's artificial