Chapter 37 - Five Frozen Centuries

“Artificial Intelligence Being Number 677 returns. Reporting on four problems found during the first trial.

“Firstly, there are too many materials needed for blueprint construction, and the quality of appliances built is unsatisfactory. Their parts often malfunction without reason.

“Secondly, plant seeds from three generations ago are no longer useful now that the mutation has been accelerated.

“Thirdly, cold weapons cannot be used to fight beasts of the rank Rare and above now that animal mutation has been accelerated.

“Lastly, a bug was found in the south. Glitches were recorded in the Demonic Anthills. The Demonic Ants evolved too quickly. An initial civilization has been developed, and it is equivalent to mankind’s Stone Age. The civilization is expected to enter the Steam Age after 350 years.”

Artificial Intelligence Being Number 677 returned after its death and relayed all information before entering the time halt mode.

God had only retrieved key information and did not access all of Number 677’s memories. This was not unusual as 30 years’ worth of memories were too vast, and most of them were of no use. ‘Think about it, I had fried leeks with eggs yesterday. I was freaked out by a dog the day before, and slaughtered a chicken the day before that.’ What were the uses of these memories?

In addition, over 5,000 artificial beings were lost during that trial. If God had to read the memories of every and every artificial being, would God not have developed dissociative identity disorder?

Although it was impossible for God to suffer from that disorder, He would never waste His time doing such things. For instance, the General Manager of a company would never spend his time micromanaging every detail. It was crucial for a leader to delegate tasks.

Wei Huo narrowly escaped yet another calamity. He was neglected by God once again, but could it be that Number 677 intentionally hid that information from God?

He would never find out the answer to his question. Anyway, Wei Huo managed to escape that calamity when Lu Qiqi disappeared and returned to God’s Gate, yet Wei Huo was not punished. It seemed as if God had neglected him again.

Wei Huo did not know any of that. His perception changed vastly after Lu Qiqi’s disappearance. He was sure that if God accessed Lu Qiqi’s memories, He would think of ways to deal with him. The most direct way of doing so was killing him!

Those thoughts left Wei Huo feeling low. Whenever he ate, he would think if that was his last meal? Whenever he hunted, he would think if that was his last time hunting? Whenever he started a campfire, he would think if that was his last time seeing a fire?

‘If this is my last time, shouldn’t I be cherishing it better?’

Wei Huo started doing everything slowly. He wanted to truly savor every moment like it was his last. It seemed as if death no longer frightened Wei Huo, but he was not sure if his lack of fear was because he had already given up, or if he had already become tired of living for nearly 200 years.

Wei Huo knew nothing. He only knew one thing — He was awaiting his death.

He started behaving like an actual old man and did everything slowly. He also began enjoying the beautiful things in life. He felt that flowers, grass, as well as the food in his belly were all amazing.

However, after waiting for over three hours, God’s punishment had yet to land on him.

Wei Huo was confused. ‘Was I neglected again?’

Wei Huo lifted his head and looked at the sky.

However, nothing happened even after waiting for a little longer. It seemed as if God had neglected him again, or maybe Lu Qiqi had deleted the memories she had with him at the very last minute.

Wei Huo stared at the bed Lu Qiqi used to sleep in and mumbled to himself, “Is it true that good people reap what they sow? But I’m not considered a good person… What’s on that bed?”

Wei Huo walked towards it and noticed that it was the straight-pull rifle and the 8x Scope. Wei Huo was stunned. ‘Did Lu Qiqi leave her precious babies behind?’

Was she merely an artificial being? Or did her death mean that she would have left her inventory behind?

Wei Huo thought that the latter assumption was more plausible as Lu Qiqi was suffering from dementia before she passed away. However, when Wei Huo picked up the rifle, he found a note under it.

“Mankind’s time halt will only last for 300 years.”

Wei Huo was stunned. It was as if a huge hammer was smashed into his head. Since the time halt was only going to last for another 300 years, and he had already been through nearly 200 years, if he just persevered for another 100 he would witness the return of mankind!

It was a glimpse of hope!

That was the most precious gift from Lu Qiqi!

Lu Qiqi was definitely no artificial being. She must have had a soul. Wei Huo was sure of it. After spending so much time together, Lu Qiqi had occasionally acted and spoken in ways a robot could never do, and now she gave a reason for Wei Huo to continue living before she passed away.

Regardless of the truth behind her words, Wei Huo chose to believe in her!

It was just another 100 years!

Wei Huo believed in it firmly!

Wei Huo continued with his journey. He was feeling hopeful this time, and he became happier along his journey. He wanted to use the remaining time he had in the next 100 years to find more caves, train more, learn more, refine his own skills, and collect more Magical Stones.

Wei Huo had been doing everything aimlessly before this as he did not know when the time halt would end hence he was close to giving up. However, things were different now. Wei Huo had already made it through 200 of the 300 years of the estimated time halt, as long as he persevered for another 100 years the time halt would end, and Wei Huo could finally return to society. He could also hide his 300-Year leverage and acted like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He was excited just thinking about the wonderful future awaiting him!

Wei Huo started compiling a to-do list for himself. He had to cherish the remaining 100 years of time left before time unhalted.

Wei Huo continued traveling with Lu Qiqi’s rifle and left the cabin behind. He spent the next five years traveling. Over those five years, Wei Huo encountered many peculiar living creatures and natural phenomena. He had witnessed countless nature’s wonders and had also faced numerous attacks from unique creatures.

Super Spiders were one of them. These spiders lived in bushes and built webs that could not be cut with a knife. Animals that got caught in them could not escape at all — not even lions or tigers. The spiders would use their venom to knock their prey out, wrap them in their webs, and savored them slowly.

However, Wei Huo had also encountered beautiful and kind creatures as well, such as unicorns. They had white fur, looked like horses, had a horn, and were friendly. However, their attacking power was strong. They could use their horns to penetrate any living creatures that angered them.

On top of that, Wei Huo met creatures with long bodies as well. For example, Kog’Maws¹ which had mouths that were one-third of their bodies with three layers of fangs both inside and outside of their mouths, dumb flightless birds were jumping off cliffs despite having no wings, and a Kraken that managed to arrive at the shore from the seas. Wei Huo renamed it as the Tentacles Monster as it had tentacles all over its body.

On that day, Wei Huo stopped his journey as he saw skyscraping cylindrical mountains.

It was not accurate to call them mountains. Those cylinders seemed more like buildings and some even seemed like bamboo-shaped towers. Each cylinder was over 50 meters tall, and every level had multiple entrances to them. Wei Huo watched giant ants coming out of those entrances, climbing down to the ground, before traveling to seek food.

It was unsurprising for the ants to evolve amidst other animal mutations worldwide. However, it was weird that these animals seemed like they knew how to use tools.

Wei Huo saw some ants polishing stones into sharp ones before tying them to their bodies with vines to serve as weapons while other ants put on wooden armors, and some even brought bamboo cages to carry provisions.

Wei Huo was confused. Apart from monkeys, ants were beginning to utilize tools as well.

It was not unusual for monkeys to use tools as they were of similar species to humans. Their intelligence was high, and it was not unusual for them to use tools after years of development.

However, ants were far from being similar to humans. It was rather surprising to Wei Huo that they had evolved into this state. ‘Their evolution was way too quick, wasn’t it?’

Humans evolved from apes after tens of thousands of years, but how long did those ants take to arrive at their current stage? Just over 100 years.

Did that mean those ants could evolve to the level of human civilization in the next few centuries, or even stronger than that? If no one cared to regulate them, would the ants begin riding Gundams¹ and flying in the skies within the next few centuries?

The propagation rate of the ants was not that far off from humans!

Wei Huo scrunched his brows. He began worrying about the future of mankind, but soon after that, he had another thought. Could that be one of the tests God was going to give to humans? Maybe at some point, the ants would experience a time halt too.