Chapter 427

"Just as everyone must make a choice, you too must make a choice."

Ye Nan stood on the high platform, looking at the dense crowd of people below who had raised their heads, his expression excited. "It is a choice between going to the real world or choosing to stay here."

Behind the crowd were several hundred black mechs, neatly arranged in that space, looking quite spectacular.

"This is the APU mechanical armor. The surface uses a new type of alloy; the overall structure of the body is quite sturdy, but it is very prone to wear and tear."

"Its weaponry adopts dual-wielded 7900DL4 heavy machine guns, with a single-gun rate of fire reaching 3,600 rounds per minute. Unfortunately, however, it lacks mobile firing capability."

"At the same time, due to its design, it uses alternating control levers, and there are no protective measures, making it very easy for the operator to get hurt. It is a failed product."

Yilisi stood behind Ye Nan, stating all the advantages and disadvantages of the APU mechanical armor, and provided an evaluation.

"You actually know this?" Ye Nan looked at Yilisi in surprise.

"I found the data for this thing while calculating just now," Yilisi replied.

"But what you said is wrong." Ye Nan pointed at that mech and said, "Look at it. Although it lacks defense, its firepower is quite fierce. It can easily suppress the enemy. Once they are suppressed, basically there won't be a situation where it gets hit."

In the real world, no one dares to expose themselves to a metal storm, so there is no situation where it would be counterattacked.

"Ahem." Morpheus, standing to the side, saw Ye Nan and Yilisi pointing and whispering. He immediately coughed to remind them, reminding them that this was a very serious scene.

"If you are sick, go get treated."

With one sentence from Ye Nan, Morpheus was choked by his own saliva, and he began to cough even more loudly.

Seeing Morpheus like this, Ye Nan immediately burst into loud laughter. "I personally still think you should go get treated."

"This Ye Nan." Morpheus shook his head, knowing the other party was doing it on purpose, so he stopped trying to persuade him.

Ye Nan's laughter was loud. So loud that everyone above and below heard it; everyone heard this harsh laughter. At this moment, at this solemn moment, someone dared to laugh unscrupulously, which immediately aroused the anger of many people.

"Shut up." The first to speak was that African-American commander. She looked at Ye Nan with a livid face. "At such a solemn moment, you actually dare to laugh out loud."

"Haha..." Ye Nan laughed again, then stopped his laughter and said coldly, "Why can't I laugh? Don't forget, I am the Emperor of the Space-Time Empire, and I do as I please."

"I know many of you are hesitating, but actually, there is nothing to hesitate about. Living in a virtual world versus walking toward the real world is a binary choice. Therefore, there is no need to hesitate, and no need to rely on others, because you who choose freedom are no longer represented by the majority. You will only be represented by one person. That is me—Ye Nan."

"You only need to be responsible to me alone; you only need to show your humility and loyalty to me alone. You are all my subjects."

Ye Nan laughed at the peak of his arrogance, truly a madman. In everyone's eyes, this emperor of his was simply unreliable, but he himself had no intention of being reliable anyway.

What he needed were those who dared to accept the fate of being enslaved by him; he needed those who would become his subjects and offer total loyalty. He did not need rebels, nor did he need people brainwashed by free will. He believed that those freedom-seekers who were still hesitant and chasing so-called truth under the impact of the truth would not truly submit to him, so these people were better off gone.

"Start voting now. I really don't want to waste any more time. After voting, everyone can go their separate ways." After Ye Nan finished this sentence, he ignored the noise below and started chatting with Yilisi directly.

"Yilisi, can that channel of yours really let so many people leave together?" Ye Nan asked again. Although Yilisi had never expressed opposition and had tacitly agreed that she could transfer humans on a large scale, Ye Nan still felt a bit uneasy in his heart. If he made a promise he couldn't fulfill, he would end up with a ruined reputation.

"It's possible, but it requires shielding the access point, which is very troublesome," Yilisi said. "However, I believe that with the help of these computer-savvy hackers, we should be able to shield them for a period of time."

"Access point, what is that?" Ye Nan heard a new term and asked immediately.

"It's the scene you saw when you came out of the Matrix world back then, but it's not as scary as that scene," Yilisi said. "In reality, many years have passed in the Matrix world, while only a few years have passed outside."

The Matrix world adjusted the human biological clock through sensory technology, making humans feel the passage of time. In reality, the speed of time passing is not fast at all, and the outside world has not developed to the point of cloning technology.

Most humans now were collected by the Father of the Matrix. The Father of the Matrix used his robot army to conquer one human base after another, cleared out the zombies, defeated the fire dragons, and then kept humans in captivity, treating them as his own piglets.

However, that scene in the Zion world is the future of humanity. Of course, this future will take at least several decades to become reality.

"So that's what that thing is." Ye Nan suddenly realized and understood what the access point Yilisi mentioned really was, and at the same time, he sighed, "It seems my considerations were not comprehensive enough."

"You don't need to consider everything comprehensively; you just need to give orders. All analysis is done by advisors on your behalf. You don't need to be omniscient and omnipotent. Brother, as an emperor, you don't need to do everything yourself. All you need to do is give orders."

"But I don't have that ability." Ye Nan pulled at his own hair, feeling a headache. When he was the president of the ICQ company, he didn't feel anything. But when he truly became an emperor, he discovered that what he was doing was fundamentally wrong.

He often rushed to the front, placing himself in danger, yet he enjoyed it, completely ignoring the danger, to the point where he was exiled to a different universe.

"No one is a born emperor, but you have time. You have plenty of time to learn." Yilisi was like an empress, guiding the emperor step by step toward becoming a qualified emperor.

"Actually, Brother, you are very smart. It's just that you haven't been exposed to being an emperor, so you don't know how to be a good one. After we get out, I will collect historical data and then simulate a small virtual space for you to learn and grow until you grow into a qualified emperor."

Ye Nan suddenly felt the pressure, but he still nodded and exhaled an 'um' from his nostrils, just because he was Ye Nan, the supreme emperor.

While Ye Nan and Yilisi were talking, it was chaotic below. Not only the commoners, but even those warriors and the councilors above were facing a choice.

Although the commander was jumping around, constantly spreading words about how unreliable Ye Nan was and how disgusting he was, no councilor explicitly expressed refusal.

They were too old, old enough to see through many things. Each one was calculating and shrewd. Even if they had other thoughts in their hearts, they wouldn't say them out loud, but kept them to themselves, waiting for others' decisions to seize the opportunity for profit.

"Vote, vote yourselves." After Ye Nan finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Yilisi, signaling that she could begin.

A miraculous scene was born. The commoners, who had been empty-handed, suddenly had paper and pens in their hands. This reality, which was like a miracle, corroborated Ye Nan's statement.

Immediately, some people wrote their choices on them, then let go, letting the paper and pens fly toward the high platform, flying in front of Ye Nan.

This scene not only shocked the commoners at the bottom but also shocked the councilors above. Morpheus walked over immediately and asked, "How did you do that?"

"Is it difficult?" Ye Nan said dismissively.

Seeing Ye Nan showing off again, Yilisi immediately giggled and said, "The composition of this world is data, so I seized a portion of the data."

"Don't undermine me, Yilisi," Ye Nan scolded with an embarrassed laugh.

"Alright, I won't do it again." Yilisi put her hands together, making a gesture of 'I admit my mistake, please forgive me.'

"I really can't handle you."

Ye Nan turned his head and stopped paying attention to Yilisi. He looked at the thin sheets of paper in front of him and slowly flipped through them.

"It really is like this."

Ye Nan only took a slight glance and saw that the choices were uniformly in favor of leaving Zion, which left Ye Nan between laughter and tears.

He had originally thought that at least one-third of the people would not be willing to follow an unreliable emperor like him. He didn't expect the temptation of the real world to be so great that they were willing to rely on this unreliable emperor.

Seeing this situation, Ye Nan felt it was necessary to remind them, lest they be tricked by an unreliable emperor like himself.

"Actually, I personally think the Zion world is very good. Perhaps the environment in reality is even harsher than the Zion world, and there are too many people. It's quite difficult for us to transfer, so I think some people should stay here."

As soon as Ye Nan's voice fell, those who were still hesitating began to write on the paper, then scrambled to put down their pens and paper, letting them fly in front of Ye Nan, fearing they would be too slow.

Seeing this situation, Ye Nan was truly between laughter and tears, but this was also fine. They had chosen this path themselves; once they reached the real world, it would be out of their hands.

"Right now, those electronic squids are still digging channels, intending to attack Zion. If we transfer now, we definitely won't be able to transfer completely. If we want to transfer, we can only beat back these minions of the Father of the Matrix." Ye Nan's gaze shifted to Neo, and he secretly plotted in his heart, "It's time for Neo and Smith to fight."

Thinking this, Ye Nan stood out and issued an order: "I know everyone is willing to leave Zion, but before that, we should beat back the electronic squids. Lord Morpheus, you will command this battle."

"Yes."

"On what grounds?"

Morpheus had just stood up to say 'Yes' when he was interrupted by that African-American commander. She looked at Ye Nan with fire in her eyes and said word by word, "All along, I have been the one commanding the warriors."

"Not anymore." Ye Nan did not want to waste words with that African-American commander, but directly ordered Morpheus: "Remember, you are fighting for me, so your attitude must be tougher. Our ultimate goal is to beat back the electronic squid army."

"As for Neo, Trinity, Su Weiqi, and Yilisi, you will come with me to the Matrix world. We should go meet the Mother of the Matrix."

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