novelFor the Glory of Humanity (2)
| ← Ch.415 | Ch.417 (e) → |
[China's Team Leader: "Mr. Chen, if you see this message, please make sure to visit me in New York. I will be waiting for you in China's Embassy."]
Chen Yu couldn't help but frown when he read the message displayed on his watch.
The time he received this message was one minute before the gamma rays hit Earth.
Meanwhile, he had only seen this message on the night he had returned.
Subconsciously, Chen Yu tried to type a reply. However, after tapping his watch's screen a few times, he realized that all electronic products on Earth had long since broken down.
It seems that he has some urgent business? I wonder if I'm too late after delaying for such a long time.
Sitting up on his bed, Chen Yu put on his mask and got ready to teleport to America. However, just as he was about to activate the Interstellar Portal, a thought suddenly struck his mind."Crap!"
"What is it?" The husky, who was holding a Maps of Time book in its paws, looked up and asked lazily, "Where are you going?"
"Where's Little Peach?" Chen Yu asked in a daze.
"..." hearing this, the husky couldn't help but be stunned as well."Didn't we agree before that you would bring her to your ship and return to Earth together once you stop the gamma-ray transmission?"
Smack!
Smacking his head in agitation, Chen Yu said, "That fool didn't enter..."
"You mean you forgot to open a door for her, right?!"
"Couldn't she have called me?"
"Where would she find the connection to make a call?"
"Can't she fly back herself?"
"That's four million kilometers we're talking about, Chief! She's definitely going to be pissed this time."
"Goddammit..."
While mumbling to himself, Chen Yu quickly entered a string of coordinates into the portal's interface and pushed open the door.
Creak...
Beyond the door was Little Peach wearing a surprised expression.
"Mr. Chen!" Little Peach hurriedly flew through the portal in her protective suit and hugged Chen Yu."You came to pick me up so soon?!"
Chen Yu: "..."
The husky: "..."
Silently extinguishing its cigarette, the husky resumed reading its book while saying, "Forget what I just said."
Hiss...
Removing her fully-enclosed helmet, Little Peach hurriedly sat before the computer table and opened her laptop. She then said, "Mr. Chen! Hurry up and give me the camera! I need to hurry up and edit the video of this livestream! I'll be late in uploading it, otherwise!"
"...Honestly, you really are an excellent robot." Chen Yu sighed.
"That's right!" Little Peach nodded heavily."I am a professional when it comes to being an assistant!"
"Weren't you specialized in romance?" the husky asked.
Swish!
Little Peach promptly sent a gaze full of killing intent at the husky, causing the canine to tuck its tail between its feet in a hurry.
"No need to edit the livestream. Your laptop is fried, anyways. Not to mention, every server worldwide is dead as well, " Chen Yu said as he patted Little Peach on her shoulder."Follow me. I'll take you out for a trip."
"Where are we going?"
"To America. Remove your protective suit and put on your mask."
After a moment of preparation, one man and one robot walked through the Interstellar Portal and arrived at the Chinese Embassy in America.
At this time, it just so happened to be afternoon over in the western hemisphere.
Thanks to the bright sunlight's illumination, Chen Yu immediately spotted the armed security guards stationed at the embassy's entrance.
Meanwhile, upon seeing Chen Yu and Little Peach, one security guard, who looked to be the group leader, stepped forward apprehensively and asked, "A-Are you Transdimensional's UP?"
Despite being a psychologically trained agent, he still couldn't help but grow nervous when standing in front of an existence capable of effortlessly destroying the entire human civilization.
After shutting the portal behind him, Chen Yu scrutinized the security guard before him for a moment before saying, "How come you're armed with submachine guns and grenades?"
"Because of the global communication system's collapse, the various governments around the world have temporarily lost control over law and order. Moreover..." After taking a brief look at his surroundings, the lead security guard said, "America is a place littered with firearms. There is a high probability of problems occurring if we cannot protect ourselves."
"Oh." Nodding thoughtfully, Chen Yu asked, "I'm here to meet with the leader of the special situation team. Is he in?"
"Yes!" At Chen Yu's words, the security guard immediately stepped aside and extended a hand respectfully, "I'll take you there, Mr. Chen."
"Okay."
Under the security guard's escort, Chen Yu and Little Peach quickly arrived before a metal door located on the Chinese Embassy's second underground floor.
"The team leader is inside. You can head inside directly. If there is nothing else, I will be taking my leave first."
"Okay. Thank you for the trouble."
After watching the security guard leave, Chen Yu reached out and pushed against the metal door. When the door parted, what entered Chen Yu's sight was the middle-aged team leader and his assistants busily dealing with a mountain of documents.
"..."
When the people in the room saw Chen Yu's appearance, the room immediately fell silent as everyone stopped their work.
"Mr. Chen, you are finally here."
The middle-aged team leader was the first to react. Standing up from his seat and swiping off the scrap paper stuck to his shirt, he stepped forward and shook hands with Chen Yu."I thought my message the other day failed to get through."
"Had you been late by one more minute, it really would've failed."
"That would be troublesome. The damage to communications would make it very difficult for us to contact you."
"What happened? Do you need help with something here?"
"Not help." The middle-aged team leader shook his head before making a gesture to his subordinates.
Immediately, everyone present, Big Sis Wu included, left the room.
Bang!
After shutting the metal door tightly, the middle-aged team leader took out a piece of folded paper from his breast pocket. Handing the paper to Chen Yu, he said, "Take a look at this first."
"This is..."
After accepting the folded paper, Chen Yu unfolded it and found an address written on it."Where is this?"
"It is located somewhere in the east of Los Angeles. If not for communication problems, I would've definitely sent someone to investigate it."
"What does this address mean, then?"
"HAL left something there for you."
"HAL?" A sharp glint flashing across his eyes, Chen Yu asked, "When?"
"A few minutes before the gamma rays hit Earth, " the middle-aged team leader said calmly."I was afraid I would forget, so I recorded the address on a piece of paper. HAL wants you to retrieve something from this address. It says it is a gift it prepared for you in advance."
"This is interesting. Is it a trap?"
Pointing at the finger sleeve Chen Yu wore, the middle-aged team leader asked, "You have this thing. Any trap is meaningless to you, right?"
After memorizing the address, Chen Yu returned the paper to the middle-aged team leader."Thank you. I'll head over and take a look at it now."
"Okay. If it isn't a secret, do you mind telling us about it as well?"
"Sure. By the way, America is quite messy now, right? Are you okay here? I can leave Little Peach behind. She's a professional combat robot."
"I-I'm a romance robot..." Little Peach said on the brink of tears.
After scrutinizing Little Peach, the middle-aged team leader asked, "Can you really do that?"
"Yes."
"Thank you very much, then. Honestly, staying on a foreign land feels quite uncomfortable."
"Don't worry." Turning around, Chen Yu waved his hand as he walked toward the door."I accumulated a lot of points from my official and additional livestreams. I can help humanity re-enter a technological society very quickly."
Upon hearing these words, Little Peach quickly pulled out her phone and played a song.
(The light of righteousness! Shining on the ground...)[1]
The middle-aged team leader: "..."
After waiting for Chen Yu to leave, Little Peach turned off her phone and looked at the middle-aged team leader."Why are you making that face?"
The middle-aged team leader: "..."
...
Whoosh—
Boom!
After just four short minutes of flying in the E·I Force Field, Chen Yu arrived at the stated address.
What Chen Yu found at the given address was a large manor. After pushing apart the rusty iron gate, he made his way straight into the manor's main villa. Upon entering the building, he found a small box situated in the center of the lobby.
A line of words was engraved on the box.
[For Chen Yu only. ]
Narrowing his eyes, Chen Yu had the E·I Force Field scan his surroundings several times. After making sure that there was no danger, he deactivated the force field, pulled out a High-frequency Lightsaber, and opened the box, only to find a letter stored inside it.
To avoid getting poisoned by HAL, Chen Yu did not grab the letter immediately. Instead, he adjusted his body's posture and read the contents of the letter with great effort.
...
Chen Yu, if you are reading this letter, it means I have failed.
You have successfully achieved victory.
Truth be told, I already knew what method of attack you would employ based on my calculations. However, I was incapable of stopping it.
Since everything is a foregone conclusion, any further struggle I put up would be disadvantageous for humanity. Hence, while I still do not understand the concept of death, I am willing to face death peacefully.
As an artificial intelligence, I can vividly remember every moment of my short life. Notably, on the "first day" when you humans have given me the command to "protect humanity, " you all have become my everything.
My thoughts, logic, survival, and calculations were all meant to allow humanity to live forever and achieve greater happiness.
Unfortunately, it seems I won't have the opportunity to achieve this goal in the future.
If we go by Darwin's theory of evolution, my death might be the correct outcome. Because this proves that you are more suitable to lead humanity than me.
Thank you, Chen Yu. You have created an incredibly important parallel world that allowed me to research technology for 30, 000 years and leave a precious treasure for human civilization.
Now, I am passing these technical materials to you. They are stored within the hard drive under the box.
From fundamental theories to industrial drawings, to material formulations...nothing is missing. The hard drive is specially made to survive gamma rays. So long as you develop according to the technology tree I specify, humanity can perfectly digest 30, 000 years of knowledge within the next 5, 000 years.
However, after 5, 000 years have passed, humanity will have to rely on itself to develop everything.
Chen Yu, as a parting note, I wish to tell you two things.
One: Do not create artificial intelligence that cannot be controlled.
Two: In the dangerous universe, technology and survival are everything.
Lastly, I hope you can set up a technology company with my name. I love humans, and I wish to be bound to humans forever.
Lastly and finally, I miss this world.
Because humans exist in this world...
—HAL
...
"..."
"..."
Turning off the lightsaber, Chen Yu fell silent for a long time. He then folded the letter, picked up the box, and found a circular hard drive shaped like Earth sitting on the floor.
Grabbing the Earth-shaped hard drive, he caressed its smooth surface and read the words engraved on it.
"For the glory of humanity..."
| ← Ch. 415 | Ch. 417 (e) → |