"After all, I am just a human being with emotions and desires; I can't imagine how a creature without emotions could live."
Noah gently placed the cup back on the table.
"However, I think that if a living being can truly be without emotions, then it is actually pursuing the same goal as normal living beings."
"The same?"
Hela, who had already lost interest, regained her enthusiasm upon hearing this.
"Hmm." Noah nodded slightly.
We often say that people should be rational, but simply put, rationality means not being controlled by emotions.
"Generally, what we pursue rationally is our own self-interest, and ultimately, our self-interest is simply about making our lives better."
"Living better means having a richer spiritual life, as well as greater wealth and influence, which in turn can explain one thing."
That means my Life is unlikely to be threatened.
"Therefore, I believe that the meaning of every Life is actually... simply to live."
As he spoke, he looked out the window at the city bathed in the golden light of dusk.
"And for humans, who are social animals, there is another meaning as important as living: ensuring the survival of the entire group."
"This is something I want to achieve, whether I have feelings for it or not."
Hela slumped on the table like a rag doll, half her face buried in her slightly pink arm.
"What you said makes a lot of sense..."
Hela's eyes flickered, as if she had begun to think.
"But I'm already alive, so isn't there any other meaning to it?"
Well...
Noah then looked towards the room where his wife and children were, his eyes filled with endless tenderness.
Strive to live a better life.
"Whether it's for oneself or one's community, striving to live better is a meaning that everyone pursues."
Hela buried her face in her hands and began to seriously consider what the man in front of her had said.
"But I am not human, I am just a Variant, and I do not consider other Variant to be my kind."
Hela slowly poked half her head out, her mouth still buried in her arm, and said in a muffled voice.
Noah suddenly smiled and said, "Actually, as long as you can live a good enough life, does meaning really matter that much?"
This stunned Hela.
"To live is to have meaning, and to live is to have no meaning. If you can't find that elusive meaning, then just stop searching for it."
Hela fell silent, slumped over the table, and began to ponder.
As long as we live better lives...
The search for meaning seems to have no meaning at all.
For some reason, Hela suddenly missed her life in the Special Investigation Squad.
Every day, we carry out missions with our teammates, eat together, play together, and sleep together in each other's arms at night.
Hela suddenly felt that this was the best life in the world.
Searching for meaning... it's so painful...
The setting sun burned the clouds red, and the orange-yellow sunlight shone on Ye Yiqing's face, but he did not feel any warmth.
Instead, seeing the sun gradually disappear behind the mountains, he became increasingly anxious.
"Time flies so fast. I even forgot about time because I was so focused on torturing that scumbag."
Ye Yiqing gritted her teeth in frustration, quickening her pace as she walked through the streets.
Suddenly, as if noticing something, he stopped and frowned, looking around.
Something's not right; there are fewer and fewer people on the streets.
Although it wasn't obvious, Ye Yiqing could clearly sense that in United States's most bustling city, at this time of year, there couldn't possibly be only this many people.
Moreover, these people all seemed to be in a great hurry to get there.
Ye Yiqing immediately took out his phone and called [X].
"[X], immediately call Hela and Yuliu, tell them to be on high alert. We've most likely been targeted by the Night Star. Also, report to each other if there's anything unusual around us and what we're doing."
A scarlet X flickered faintly on the phone screen, but its brightness was intermittent, flashing incessantly as if short-circuited.
Upon seeing this, Ye Yiqing frowned slightly, a sense of foreboding arising within him.
"I... [Satellite]... he..."
As the last, intermittent sound of [X] rang out, the flashing scarlet X on the screen suddenly went out, and a green smiley face lit up instead.
ᵔ◡ᵔ
"Hello, according to the information, your name is Ye Yiqing, a confirmed core member of the Light God Society. I am an advanced artificial intelligence [Satellite]."
"Your entire plan has been exposed, and all your comrades are already dead..."
Sizzle!
Before [Satellite] could finish speaking, Ye Yiqing threw the phone into the air and instantly unleashed countless blades, shattering the phone into pieces.
This scene startled the few pedestrians nearby. After someone shouted, they all rushed in one direction.
Ye Yiqing glanced at this scene, then continued heading towards City A Park without stopping.
And the speed kept increasing until it reached Ye Yiqing's maximum speed, turning him into a dark purple trail.
If the facts are truly as the [Satellite] claims, then the other party has no reason to tell Ye Yiqing.
Therefore, this must be a lie.
The sole purpose of telling this lie was to disrupt Ye Yiqing's rationality and prevent him from quickly reuniting with his companions.
That's true; their goal was to stall me.
The fact that they wanted to hold him off but didn't use their combat power to forcibly stop him suggests that either the Night Star are so short-handed that they need to reserve their combat power for more important tasks.
Save your fighting strength for more important tasks... hold yourself back...
As Ye Yiqing was running at full speed, an extremely absurd yet shocking idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
Could it be that the Night Star are planning to concentrate their forces to eliminate one of the [Four Seasons]?!
Although Ye Yiqing subconsciously disagreed, upon closer examination, he found the idea to be exceptionally reasonable.
Ultimately, the [Four Seasons] can only truly reach the power of the [Five Calamities] when all four are together.
If any one of the four is missing, the overall strength will decrease by not just a quarter, but nearly half.
Hunting down a single [Four Seasons] is, in some ways, even easier than killing a creature with ultimate combat power.
It seems they have now somehow managed to separate [Winter] and [Autumn].
Just as Ye Yiqing was thinking this, he suddenly felt the entire city tremble, causing Ye Yiqing to stop in his tracks.
A series of rumbling sounds echoed from the earth, as if a giant beast sealed beneath the city was slowly awakening.
Ye Yiqing stopped and lightly leaped onto the top of a tall building, using the walls as footsteps to jump continuously. In the blink of an eye, she arrived at the top of a tall building.
He stood atop the skyscraper, surveying the entire city, his eyes filled with deep concentration.
On the outskirts of the city, towering steel pillars, like pillars stabilizing the sea, rose from the ground!