Chapter 303: Chapter 300: [Will Die?]
Chapter 300: "Will I die?"
Violating the rules brings backlash...
Chen Nuo frowned, carefully mulling over this sentence.
It was now the afternoon, with the sun directly overhead. After all, Jinling City is located south of the Yangtze River, and even in October, the midday sun could still bring a touch of warmth.
But Chen Nuo felt a shadow and chill rise in his heart!
"So... that virus came about, huh?" Chen Nuo sighed.
The little boy didn’t speak but took another sip of his milk tea. "So sweet, tastes good."
After putting down the milk tea cup, the boy smiled at Chen Nuo. "You seem to recognize who I am?"
"If I couldn’t recognize you, I’d probably be a fool."
Chen Nuo’s mouth felt a bit bitter as he looked at the little boy in front of him. "However... you transformed from a giant spider into a shadow, and finally into what you are now... I’m quite surprised. Mr. Seed."
The boy laughed. "Mr.? Are you really sure I’m not a girl?"
"...Uh..."
"Okay, from your human perspective, I don’t actually have a gender difference.
"But as for the bodies I’ve chosen over the years... indeed, I’ve mostly inhabited males.
"It might have started as a coincidence, but after getting used to it, it became a subconscious preference.
"Perhaps, my personality really has become more male-oriented," the boy said, smiling at Chen Nuo.
Chen Nuo frowned, pondering over a problem... One, two, four, eight...
Suddenly, he spoke in a low voice, "Missing a ’one’!"
"Hmm?"
"Missing a ’one’," Chen Nuo sighed.
The sequence is incomplete; it’s missing a ’one’.
"This missing ’one,’ even if the interaction continued according to the previous algorithm, would always be short a ’one’!"
"This ’one’ was missing from the beginning!" Chen Nuo said slowly. "During the first interaction, we interacted with the first individual; we went from ’one’ to ’two’, and the interacted individual was ’one’!
"In the first round, a hidden flaw was introduced, missing a ’one’!
"So, even after countless rounds of interactions, continuing indefinitely, it would still be missing a ’one’!"
Saying this, Chen Nuo suddenly realized something.
"So, it’s missing a ’one’!
"Missing an ’one’ that always exists, one that could make up for the missing ’one’!"
As he spoke, Chen Nuo looked up at the little boy in front of him—Seed.
"So, the issue that once troubled the Mother and brought disaster upon it...
"Has also become your issue, hasn’t it?
"A Seed full of ambition, a Seed that wants to take root, sprout, and grow into a new Mother...
"If you can’t break through this problem, then even if you one day achieve what you wish, such as devouring the Mother and replacing it...
"You will still face the same problems that the Mother faced before.
"If you can’t change this flaw in the rules, then the backlash that destroyed the Mother will also befall you!"
"You finally understand," Seed sighed.
At this time, the staff member inside came out again, carrying a large tray, and placed it on the table.
Various flavors of ice cream, cookies, cola, waffles...
"Please enjoy," the staff member said.
Chen Nuo nodded, taking out his wallet to pay. "Keep the change."
The staff member happily glanced at Chen Nuo, then left with a smile.
With this one customer, I made nearly a hundred from their spending—a huge profit! I wish more customers like this would come!
Chen Nuo looked at Seed in front of him, but Seed didn’t say anything more and instead concentrated on tackling the pile of sweets in front of him.
Seeing Seed happily eating, Chen Nuo couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
"So what are you doing looking for me?" Chen Nuo shook his head. "Our grudges are not small... after all, in Brazil... I teamed up with others and eliminated you.
"Well, now it seems that we were actually the ones who lost in that fight.
"Are you here to seek revenge?"
Chen Nuo was smiling easily.
Clearly, he too did not think that the Seed had come for revenge.
"Just here to see you.
"Well, I didn’t know it was you before I came.
"But seeing it’s you, a familiar face, that’s not too bad."
The Seed scooped a large spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, pursed his lips, his face filled with pleasure as he savored the sweetness of the ice cream...
Chen Nuo, however, was still deep in thought.
"What if, at the very beginning, when the Mother first interacted, it had created an additional ’one’? For instance..."
He looked at the red bean pie on the table and then tore off a small piece.
"It won’t work."
The Seed shook his head. "After the first interaction, creating a ’one’, the Mother became ’two’. It could never create a ’one’ again."
The Seed shook his head and laughed. "This kind of simple calculation and reasoning is unnecessary to think about.
"Do you think the Mother is an idiot? When facing rule backlash, it must have gone through long periods of thought without being able to solve the problem.
"It’s a flaw in the Mother’s evolutionary rules... naturally occurring, and not easy to fix."
"Then you..."
"I certainly want to solve this problem too. After all, as you say, I am a Seed with grand ambitions.
"But the problem is, I haven’t even replaced the Mother yet, so this issue is still a long way off.
"Maybe I’ll fail in the process of replacing the Mother, and then there will be no need to consider this problem anymore.
"It’s just like I’ve just bought a lottery ticket and haven’t won anything yet, but now I’m worrying about how to spend the prize money; it’s actually a bit premature."
Chen Nuo took a deep breath, staring at the Seed and said slowly, "I am a human!"
The Seed laughed.
"Do you mean that you share the same principles as those in Brazil who tried to eliminate me?
"You want to try to prevent the rebirth of the Mother, to protect your planet, to protect your civilization?"
"Our positions are naturally adversarial," Chen Nuo shook his head.
The Seed frowned and set aside the spoon he was using to dig into the ice cream.
"Human!" The Seed looked at Chen Nuo and said seriously, "Do you know that there’s a big power disparity between you and me? I have the capacity to kill you right now."
"I believe it," Chen Nuo nodded.
He had no doubt about that.
In Brazil, it was three Controllers who had teamed up against the Seed, and in the end, they only achieved a pyrrhic victory.
Now, here, it was just him alone—not to mention he had already declined in strength, not even at the Controller Realm.
Even if this Seed had revived through some method and might not be as strong as in that battle in Brazil...
The likelihood was that he still couldn’t contend with it alone.
"Actually, what I’ve been particularly interested in lately is... the emotions of you humans."
"Emotions?" Chen Nuo thought for a moment and smiled. "Don’t you have emotions?"
"Of course, I have emotions.
"But... Pure spiritual life forms don’t have such a thing as emotions." The Seed shook his head and sighed. "Since I want to replace the Mother, I’ve always been calculating and pondering about the state, the very nature of the Mother."
"The Mother has no emotions? Although without a body, the spirit-consciousness surely can experience happiness, anger, sorrow, pleasure... right?"
The Seed thought for a moment and smiled. "Are you sure?"
As he spoke, his eyes landed on the abundance of sweets in front of him.
"Let’s not talk about the complexity of happiness, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.
"Let’s divide the overall emotions into two categories:
"Positive emotions, and Negative Emotion.
"To put it bluntly, happiness and pain."
Chen Nuo nodded. "Hmm."
"You humans have a discipline called philosophy," the Seed continued.
"I’ve read a couple of very philosophical statements:
"All human happiness comes from the satisfaction of desires.
"All human pain comes from the dissatisfaction of desires.
"Ordinary people suffer because they can’t eat what they want, can’t have the wealth they desire.
"The more advanced ones suffer because of the barriers in knowledge and thought.
"If not satisfied, they feel pain.
"When they get what they want, they become happy.
"But the essence is the same.
"Right?"
Chen Nuo thought for a moment and smiled. "I’ve heard similar sayings; the meaning is almost the same."
"Just like the folk song you just mentioned...
"You can’t sleep with the girl, so you feel sad.
"This is the Negative Emotion brought about by unfulfilled desires.
"But what is desire? And what is satisfaction?"
Chen Nuo was stunned for a moment.
"Take happiness, for instance.
"When I eat so many sweets, I feel emotionally happy.
"Don’t look at me like that; I sat in the National Library of Argentina for an afternoon and read a lot of books.
"I’ve also read a lot of the basic knowledge of your human race.
"When the human body ingests sugar, it causes the brain to secrete an endocrine substance called dopamine.
"And dopamine excites the cerebral cortex, which then makes a person feel happy.
"See?
"The emotion of happiness actually comes from the body. It’s hormones, it’s endocrine, it’s dopamine!
"But what about a Pure spiritual entity?
"A Pure spiritual entity has no physical body, no nervous system, no endocrine system.
"It doesn’t produce hormones, it doesn’t produce endocrine substances, and it certainly doesn’t produce dopamine.
"So...
"Where does ’happiness’ come from for it?
"It can’t emerge from nothing."
The Seed slowly continued, "I am trying to experience and feel everything that the Mother lacks! Although I haven’t figured out what use this has for the time being.
"But I feel it might be useful.
"Who knows?
"The destruction of the Mother was because it was missing a ’one’.
"What exactly this ’one’ is, the Mother didn’t figure out.
"I haven’t figured it out either.
"But I think, since I can’t figure it out, then I should search among all the things the Mother ’lacks’ or ’doesn’t possess’.
"Even if it means an exhaustive search, slowly searching, one by one, maybe one day I’ll find it."
Saying this, the little boy pointed to his own nose. "That’s why I use this body to walk, to feel, to experience.
"Otherwise, I wouldn’t need a shell at all."
Not at all... a shell...
Chen Nuo savored the words carefully, and suddenly his expression changed drastically!
He looked at the little boy in astonishment. "You mean..."
The little boy looked at Chen Nuo and slowly nodded his chin.
"In terms of attributes, in essence, in modes of ability, in forms of life existence... as well as all the aspects you can and cannot think of...
"Although, in terms of energy magnitude, I am much weaker compared to the Mother.
"But... essentially, I have now grown into a...
"Mother!"
The Seed, no, it should be said, a newly born, weak Mother, was at this moment looking at Chen Nuo, a faint smile on its human child’s face!
Chen Nuo’s fingers resting on the table slowly clenched, forming a fist!
"Back in Brazil..."
"Back in Brazil, I could have killed all three of you, as well as all your people," the little boy shook his head. "But after a long period of hibernation, I’ve understood the loophole in the rule’s backlash.
"So I changed my mind.
"I am indeed the founder God of your civilization... I kindled the fire, and then you enjoyed the energy released by the Mother, achieving evolution...
"But, by doing so, I am no different from the Mother. I did it for the harvest."
The Mother looked at Chen Nuo’s clenched fists and shook its head. "It’s not time yet, not time yet, human.
"After I awoke and saw you all, I did consider the issue of harvesting.
"But... if I harvest now, I will quickly evolve from ’one’ to ’two,’ then to ’four,’ and then continue to interact and evolve further.
"And then... I would follow the path of the previous Mother.
"I, too, like the last Mother, would forever lose a ’one.’
"Discarding that ’one’ that would bring the retribution of the rules upon me.
"So, before I solve these issues, I will not start evolving."
Chen Nuo’s expression turned horrified. "But you’ve already interacted with the people around me..."
"No, no, no, I did not interact." The young boy shook his head. "I merely stimulated the potential of these people. It wasn’t interaction.
"The effect of interaction is not this trivial.
"Moreover, the stimulus I provided to their energy will also bring benefits to you.
"Consider it a gift to you."
"A gift to me?" Chen Nuo frowned. "Why give me a gift? What use am I to you?"
"You... have been chosen by the Mother...
"And now, you have also been chosen by me."
Chen Nuo’s mind suddenly flashed to the last scene of the memory world from his Antarctic expedition!
Chosen!
In the memories of his last lifetime’s expedition to Antarctica, the Seed had said the same thing to him.
Chosen...
As the Mother spoke, the sweets on the table were completely devoured as if by a whirlwind.
He stood up, dusted off the crumbs from his clothes, picked up the remaining half-pack of cookies, and said with a smile, "Thank you for your hospitality.
"However, I’ve also paid for this meal.
"I’ve given you so much information; it should be enough for you to digest for a while.
"Oh right, one last piece of advice.
"Well, it’s a piece of well-intentioned advice..."
The young boy looked at Chen Nuo and slowly said, "Don’t let your power grow too quickly...
"It will...
"lead to death."
Having said that, the figure of the young boy vanished into thin air right in front of him!
Cold sweat began to seep out drop by drop on Chen Nuo’s forehead, slowly rolling down!
Power growing too quickly... leads to death...
Chen Nuo took a deep breath.
In my last life... I was at the peak of the Controller Realm when suddenly... various tumors appeared inside my head... and then...
"Leads to death?"