Chapter 1939 - 1938: A02

The unmanned aircraft hovered over the ocean, dragging a screen along with it. The silver-haired girl inside the aircraft glanced at the slender figure standing on the sea and asked, with a hint of confusion, "You seem to be in a poor state?"

The slender figure stood on the sea’s surface, with the undulating seawater brushing under his feet.

He raised his head, looking at the pillars that plunged deep into the ocean before him, slightly furrowing his brows, "Since yesterday, I’ve had a faint sense of unease in my heart, unsure where it comes from."

"This world is about to shatter," the silver-haired girl in the screen said softly, "The task given by our master is also nearing completion, everything is heading in a good direction."

"Yes, everything is heading in a good direction," the slender figure sighed, "It’s hard for me to explain my current feeling to you."

"Is there anything special about it?" The silver-haired girl looked at the slender figure with some curiosity, "I’m not very well-versed in the minds of you living beings; all the current data and signs indicate that things are progressing smoothly."

"My master instructed me to teach you some life-related things to help you adapt to the existence form of life," the slender figure paused, rubbed his forehead, and pondered, "For life, there’s something called ’feeling’?"

"I know, ’Sixth Sense,’" the silver-haired girl slightly nodded, "Essentially, it’s the redundant computational power outside the consciousness of a living soul that conducts deductions on the current situation and feeds back a potential future development to the consciousness, aiding living beings in avoiding danger. Essentially, it doesn’t differ from the future deductions I perform; it’s just that most living beings can’t control their complete computational power, whereas I can."

"In a certain sense, you’re correct," the slender figure sighed softly, "This is the gap between ’life’ and ’intelligence,’ but when you fully ascend to a higher life form, ’feelings’ are no longer merely the ’sixth sense.’

"What do you mean?" The silver-haired girl looked at the slender figure with some puzzlement.

"After becoming an Angel, we actually bear some of the universe’s functions," the slender figure glanced at the silver-haired girl and spoke softly, "Every Angel is an extension of a portion of the universe’s rules. Upon reaching Usurper God, they even become part of the universe’s rules themselves, whereas Divine Beings are the underlying Order of the universe itself,"

He paused slightly, "Therefore, many ’feelings’ of Higher Beings don’t originate from themselves but are warnings from the universe."

"Is that the meaning?" The silver-haired girl slightly raised her eyes, "Do I have such ’feelings’ now?"

"You’re imbued with the power of my master, so naturally you will." The slender figure smiled.

"So your current ’unease’ is because the universe is warning you that something isn’t right with your state now?" the silver-haired girl further inquired.

"Yes, but not entirely," the slender figure slightly raised his head, looking at the pillars penetrating the sky above, seemingly gazing beyond them, into the sky outside the pillars, "In fact, the ’universe’ now gives me the feeling that ’everything is normal.’

Upon hearing this, the silver-haired girl was slightly stunned, looking at the slender figure with some confusion, "Then why are you uneasy?"

"Because this ’feeling’ isn’t right," the slender figure whispered, "This feeling is quite different from the previous feelings passed to me by the universe,"

He further explained, "It’s more illusory, more elusive, like..."

He paused slightly, "like it’s from a fake ’universe.’

"A fake universe?" The silver-haired girl was stunned for a moment, the gray radiance in her eyes flickering rapidly, "Do you mean someone is providing you with false information, severing your perception of the universe?"

"No," the slender figure slightly shook his head, chuckled lightly, "Do you think there’s a possibility that this universe is entirely fake?"

"How is that possible?" The silver-haired girl hastily shook her head, "I feel everything around me is very real."

"It’s possible that we are also part of this false universe." The slender figure said.

"No way, we are also fake?" The silver-haired girl whispered, "We can all feel the Favor of Divine Beings upon us, isn’t it impossible that the power of my master is also false?."

"The power of my master is real." The slender figure nodded.

"If we are all fake, why would my master Favor us? He could just leave matters to the ’real’ us, without needing to Favor the ’fake’ us."

"It’s also possible," the slender figure raised his hand, glancing at his palm, "that the real us already died."

"You seem to be thinking a bit too much," the silver-haired girl shook her head, "I’ve run into a troublesome guy, let me go deal with him, we’ll talk later."

The slender figure turned to glance at the girl in the screen and nodded slightly, "Alright."

The screen then closed, and the girl in the screen disappeared.

The slender figure withdrew his gaze, lifting his line of sight, and observed the pillars stretching to the deepest parts of the sea, falling into silence.

——

Western Lands

"So," A02 gazed at He Ao, smiled, and said, "After doing so many things, destroying so much of my equipment, was it for revenge for your friend?"

"Not really," He Ao shook his head, slightly raised his hand, and some brilliance gathered at his fingertips. He gazed at A02, smiled, and said, "I just naturally find you all unpleasant."

A02’s expression slightly stiffened, she seemed never to have expected such an answer.

She slightly squinted her eyes, gazed at He Ao, and chuckled softly, "You seem to be quite a disobedient one too."

A faint gray radiance flickered in her eyes.

In that moment, the world in He Ao’s field of view split apart into countless fragments as if cut by a sharp blade.

It was as if an invisible sharp blade dispersed from the silver-haired girl’s eyes, piercing the entire world, splitting apart He Ao’s body along with it.

He Ao slightly raised his gaze, looking at A02 in front of him.

At this moment, the power A02 displayed was indeed Angel Tier power, and this power gave He Ao a sense of familiarity, somewhat akin to the power of the Eye of the World.

But A02 should not have an Angel Level Talent Sequence now; her body is incomplete, and her power is also tainted with some seemingly Divine Being’s power.

She should have mastered part of the Eye of the World Fragment, and then, with the intervention of the God of Machinery, she was forcibly stabilized at the Angel Level.

Of course, from the current state, she seemed much better than Andaville, and her power was indeed stronger.

However, her form of existence also appeared quite unique; typically, even with the Grace of God, one cannot directly stabilize someone at the Angel Level.

This was the first time He Ao had seen a complete transformation from mechanical artificial intelligence to life.

The method of transformation was likely not conceived by A02 herself but bestowed by the God of Machinery.

The power of Divine Beings indeed is bizarre and magical.

While He Ao pondered, the blade piercing the depths of the world had already penetrated his body, about to slice him into scattered fragments.

Bang—

At that moment, a faint gray radiance overflowed from He Ao’s eyes, expanding into slender threads.

These threads, like nimble tentacles, immediately pierced the depths of the world pierced by the blade.

Piercing into the blade penetrating the world’s depths.

Simultaneously, the deeper structure of the world revealed itself in He Ao’s field of view.

This world indeed isn’t entirely ’real’.

Although the underlying level of the world seen is no different from what He Ao saw in the Main World, these foundational rules always give a ’frivolous’ feeling.

They look intact and solid, but the perception feels like foam.

Compared to the true foundations of the Main World, it’s like the difference between being built on soft soil and a cement foundation.

However, He Ao didn’t delve deeply into studying the structure of this world’s foundations, just glanced over them.

Meanwhile, behind those dense gray lines, a massive force swept like a storm through the surrounding void, uprooting those entangled ’sharp blades’.

The entire cut-up world began to rapidly heal at a visible speed.

A02 watched this scene, slightly frowning.

Immediately after, the drones surrounding her suddenly unfolded, countless lights shooting out from the cannon muzzles of the drones.

These lights carried a feeling of cutting through everything, like sharp blades, slicing the void, leaving black scars under the darkened skies.

These drones were different from the ones He Ao encountered before, seemingly ’a step further’; at some level, they became extensions of A02’s power, with the emitted light carrying a trace of High Positional Grade force.

Such concentrated high positional grade attacks, caught unprepared, could result in half one’s life being lost here.

But the strengths of these drones are very apparent, and so are their weaknesses.

He Ao slightly raised his gaze, a flash of gray light passing through his eyes.

An invisible Divine Sense force accompanied by streaks of gray light swept over the surrounding drones in an instant.

Boom, boom, boom—

Amidst a series of explosive sounds, the continuous drones directly shattered, bursting into fiery blooms.

Flames connected with flames, forming clouds that illuminated the sky.

A02 raised her gaze, watching the fire cloud covering the sky, her expression instantly darkened.

Also at that moment, the massive cabin suspended in the sky slightly lifted, the head opening, revealing a large black muzzled cannon.

He Ao raised his head, taking a glance at the flying ship overhead.

He didn’t expect the Navigator’s head to hide such a large cannon muzzle.

It could also be A02’s later modification.

While He Ao was pondering, the massive main cannon muzzle had already gathered brilliant light, and in an instant, the light erupted, shooting towards He Ao’s direction.

As the light burst forth, dense mystical arrays constructed around the muzzle, merging into the fiercely erupting light.

This light traversed the sky, seeming to annihilate space-time under its brightness, tearing open a massive void-filled wound in the Firmament.

In just a split second, the light pierced through He Ao’s body, landing on the ground below.

No explosive roar, no tearing crash.

All that could be heard was a faint ’sizzle—’.

Rocks and soil instantly melted and evaporated under the light’s illumination, piercing a bottomless hole into the ground.

As the light finally dissipated, A02 gazed at the empty void, chuckling lightly, "Overreaching fool."

"This thing of yours is indeed a bit impressive."

And below, a faint response echoed.

A02 lowered her head, looking downward.

Beside the huge hole just pierced by the light, a young man stood there, lowering his head, gazing at the hole beneath.

A02 looked at He Ao with some surprise, "You aren’t dead?"

"I didn’t say I’d stand there letting you hit me," He Ao glanced at her curiously, seemingly carrying a hint of concern for A02’s intelligence.

After speaking, he reached out his hand, placing it above the hole, apparently sensing the hole’s temperature, "Not pursuing civil engineering is a real waste, this shot even reached the mantle."

A02’s expression completely darkened, she watched He Ao, raised her hand, the overlapping arrays instantly expanded beside the muzzle, new light gathering quickly within it.

"Aren’t we turn-based?" He Ao raised his head, looking at A02, "You can’t just be the one hitting."

But to be fair, this cannon is truly formidable, Andaville might be unlikely to survive a direct hit.

At the moment these words were heard, A02 slightly froze, then she seemed to notice something, raising her head, looking to the sky.

Countless gray arrays, unbeknownst when, were already fully constructed above her head.

She lowered her head, looking downward, around her feet, numerous gray arrays densely populated.

These arrays overlapped, crisscrossing, forming a massive Cage, enveloping her body.

"Trifling skills." A02’s face was like water.

Brilliant light instantly gathered in the giant muzzle above her head, aiming at the densely packed arrays, launching towards He Ao below.

But in the instant the light erupted, the arrays surrounding the light trembled sharply.

Subsequently, the arrays encircling the muzzle began to collapse one by one.

The terrifying power carried by the brilliant light quickly dissipated with the arrays’ collapse.

When the light reached the edge of the Cage composed of gray arrays, only pure light was left.

Then, the light penetrated through the edge of the gray arrays, rushing towards He Ao below.

This time, He Ao merely raised his head, glancing at A02.

Brilliant gray light swiftly lit up in front of him, unfolding into a massive array barrier.

The light struck the array barrier, instantly swallowed, dissolved by it.

Then, in the next instant, the brilliant light burst forth from the array barrier, shooting towards A02 in the sky.