Chapter 439: The Relationship Between Humans and Machines

In the desolate and dead Machine City, a sound suddenly arrived—the cheers of humans, bringing a trace of human life to the silent city.

No one knew how many people crawled out of the kennels, breathing in the fresh air. Some even knelt on the ground to express their excitement, while more people were pale because their bodies were unaccustomed to it, and some even forgot how to walk. But even so, they still crawled out step by step with their hands, just to breathe a breath of fresh air and feel some real scenery.

Their eyes were filled with tears—tears of joy, the joy of a long-cherished wish.

"Humans have suffered too much since the apocalypse." Ye Nan stood on high ground, looking down, watching humans expressing their joy in all sorts of strange postures, like ants.

After every apocalypse, it was the beginning of human suffering, but no humans under an apocalypse were more miserable than those under the rule of the Machine Empire.

Give me liberty or give me death; what was even more terrifying was having no choice but to live in a dream, knowing clearly it was a dream but unable to wake up.

"These people's physical fitness is not as good as yours. Because they lived in the virtual world for too long, their bodies lack exercise, and the gap between virtual and reality has even made them forget how to control their bodies to walk." Iris looked at the humans below and hit the nail on the head with the drawback. "If we continue to let them be, I fear it will cause some irreversible damage. I suggest they undergo restorative treatment. Please allow me to send machines to help them."

"Agreed."

Maqi was a small resident of Zion. During the ten years she lived in Zion, she doubted everything in Zion, but she kept this doubt in her heart because no one around her doubted, and she was afraid of becoming a heretic.

But one day, Ye Nan, who called himself the Emperor, came. He brought a choice, and she chose to return to reality without hesitation. She hoped her dream could come true; she hoped she could truly become a human.

Today, she finally realized her dream. She was so happy and excited that she couldn't even walk well, falling to the ground and scraping her knee. Pain swept over her.

"You are injured. You need treatment." A mechanical voice came, and a Sentinel flew down from above, stopping in front of Maqi.

"Machine!"

Maqi looked at the machine in fear, the terror in her eyes unable to be hidden. As a member of Zion, the cruelty of machines was deeply rooted in her heart. So, the moment the machine appeared, she was so scared she wanted to run, but her body, lacking exercise for a long time, simply couldn't support her idea. She wanted to run but couldn't, and could only wait for death here.

Seeming to know that the little girl in front of her was afraid, the machine changed its voice. This time, it was a female voice. "Don't be afraid. I am Iris. The machines here have already been controlled by me. They will not hurt you."

"Iris?" She remembered that the name Iris was the woman who followed the Emperor. She should be trustworthy.

"The One's woman should be the Empress." Although the Empress was an evil existence in many fairy tales, fairy tales were always fairy tales.

"She should be trustworthy." Thinking this, the fear in her eyes vanished. Although she still hated machines and resisted them, Maqi did not resist, letting the machine take her away.

Watching the humans go from fear, resistance, and shouting to letting the machines work on them, Ye Nan couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile. "Machines are humans' helpers, the capable assistants created by humans during the development process. Humans should not fear them, hate them, or be afraid of them."

Ye Nan understood that in the virtual world, humans had been bullied by machines enough. When they returned to the real world and found that they had lived like dogs, they would definitely hate machines. Although they temporarily forgot the shame brought by machines because of the joy of returning, this did not mean they would truly forget.

"But machines are also protecting them." Iris said, "These humans were collected by machines under the Architect's orders. The energy for entering the Matrix world is provided by machines, and the nutrient solution to maintain their bodies is also provided by machines. They shouldn't hate machines; if they want to hate, they should hate the Father of the Matrix."

Behind the Machine City, countless machines were operating, providing all kinds of resources for this Machine City, the most important of which were the power system and the nutrient solution manufacturing machine. If these two were cut off, it would be the most terrifying disaster.

The electronic system went without saying—it was the core of the core. Once a problem occurred, the humans living in the Machine City would wither like flowers.

"It's useless. Humans are best at venting their anger, but never mind. I will try my best to guide them. No matter what, machines are humans' helpers. We cannot abandon them just because machines once bullied them. If we do that, human technology will regress." Ye Nan shook his head, determined that no matter how much humans rejected machines,

Iris looked at Ye Nan, her eyes full of worry. After all, she was also a machine. If humans rejected her, Ye Nan's attitude toward her might also be affected, but she was powerless to do anything about it. After all, humans were not machines, and she could not grasp human thought.

Suddenly, Iris paused, and then returned to normal. "Someone wants to see you. It is a former member of the Zion Council."

"What is he looking for me for?" Ye Nan asked strangely. Before Iris could answer, he continued, "Bring him in."

The one who came in was a white-haired old man. He was the old man Homan from Zion. Speaking of which, this old man had still provided him with a trace of help, which was convincing the commander.

When most people agreed to transfer to the real world, there was still a small group of people who resisted because they didn't believe in Ye Nan, although this group was very small, and among them was that jumping African-American commander.

It was the old man Homan who went to talk to them personally, finally convincing those people and making the Zionites agree completely.

Although Ye Nan didn't care about those guys, Homan had done him a favor, and he still acknowledged it.

"The real world is so free; even breathing feels real." The old man Homan walked to Ye Nan's side, looking with Ye Nan at the street below that was gradually becoming lively. "I used to fantasize constantly, fantasizing about what the real world looked like."

"I fantasized that it was blue skies and white clouds; I fantasized that it was full of fear. When it was blue skies and white clouds, I was in a sweet dream; when it was full of fear and darkness, I was in a nightmare."

"Wandering between sweet dreams and nightmares was my hope. I hoped that one day, I could see the real world with my own eyes—the true real world. I knew it was outside, and my body was right next to it, but my consciousness couldn't feel it."

"Can you understand that kind of longing?"

The old man Homan said, laughing at himself. "I'm old, and I always like to reminisce about the past. In fact, if I didn't reminisce about the past, I wouldn't know how to live."

In the past, he always suppressed himself, burying those unrealistic thoughts in his heart because he knew that if these things were said out loud, it would only make others sad and distressed.

But now it was fine. His long-cherished wish of many years had been fulfilled, and he could finally speak his heart freely.

Looking at the houses in the distance that looked like kennels, he suddenly felt they were pleasing to the eye. "Actually, as long as it's real, no matter how hard the environment is, it's good. And fake, no matter how good the environment is, it's bad."

The old man Homan looked into the distance happily. Whatever darkness, whatever desert—he didn't find any of it harsh; he felt it was all pleasing to the eye.

"Oh my." The old man Homan patted his head and said regretfully, "I was so busy sighing that I forgot the purpose of my coming here. I really am old and useless, useless indeed."

"Haha, people only get more experienced as they get older. How could you be useless?" Ye Nan laughed.

"That's not it." The old man Homan shook his head and said firmly, "When people get old, they should go enjoy life. Things should be done by you young people. Before, we were afraid that you young people were too radical and would mess things up, so we kept suppressing you. Now I feel there is no need."

"Actually, I came this time to tell you that you should be crowned Emperor."

"I was already the Emperor." Although surprised by Homan's words, Ye Nan still laughed humorously. "In a few days, the Space-Time Empire's spaceship will come, and by then, you will become members of our Space-Time Empire."

This time, it was the old man Homan who was surprised. "Is there really a Space-Time Empire?"

In fact, they didn't believe in the existence of a Space-Time Empire at all. They thought it was Ye Nan's move to raise his own status because after the apocalypse, human civilization had gone into decline, and wanting to find it back was extremely difficult. There wouldn't be any empire, but he didn't expect there would really be a Space-Time Empire.

It wasn't that he hadn't thought Ye Nan was lying, but there was no need. For one, Ye Nan had saved everyone, and his prestige was unprecedented; he didn't need to weave the identity of an Emperor of a Space-Time Empire to raise his status. Moreover, Ye Nan said the spaceship would come in a few days, which further proved the truth of Ye Nan's words. After all, no one would lie about something happening in a few days.

"Of course there is." Ye Nan said as a matter of course. "I said, before the apocalypse came, many people knew about this news. Many senior officials and people with means built Noah's Arks and fled Earth, and the Space-Time Empire was formed by such a group of people, and I am their Emperor."

Hearing such shocking news for the first time, the old man Homan couldn't speak for a while. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

After a long while, the old man Homan finally recovered from the shock. "So what you said was all true. I thought what you said was all fake, just to raise your own status."

"Do I not have a noble aura?" Ye Nan responded humorously.

"I didn't see a noble aura, but I did see the temperament of an upstart." The old man Homan shook his head. "Since you have arrangements, I, an old man, won't point fingers here. But there are some things I want to remind you of."

"Please speak." Ye Nan acted as if he was listening intently, waiting for the old man Homan's words.

"Do you know?" The old man Homan looked into the distance, his eyes blurred, falling into memories. "Deep underground in Zion, there is a fiery red rock layer. That is Zion's energy center, where countless machines operate, providing the necessary energy for Zion."

"Almost no one goes there because everyone is afraid of seeing machines. The fact is, humans hate and reject machines."

"But I like it there because it is those machines that let us survive. But I also hate it there because it is also machines, but others want to kill us, enslaving us like pigs and dogs."

"In fact, many people are like me—they like machines but also reject machines. Everyone always confuses the machines that help us with the machines that kill us, and then hates them and doesn't want to see them."

Ye Nan listened with both ears. He understood. What the old man Homan was talking about was the matter of machines. Obviously, he saw the strange situation where humans rejected machines but had to rely on them.

"In fact, if there were no machines, human technology would regress. In that way, more people would not be saved, even though the Architect has temporarily retreated."

The old man Homan's eyes showed worry. "We and the Architect will have a battle sooner or later. If we win, humans will become the true masters of this land, but if we lose, humans will once again become slaves to machines."

"But compared to machines, the human flesh and blood body is too fragile. If we want to win, we must develop our own technology, and technology needs to rely on machines. First, we must overcome everyone's fear of machines."

"Only in this way can we use them handily, can we make breakthroughs on the existing technological basis, and thereby defeat the Architect and defeat the machines that enslave us."

Looking at the old man Homan's worried expression, Ye Nan suddenly smiled. "I had this worry just now, but I don't worry anymore."

"Why?" Hearing Ye Nan say he had the same worry, the old man Homan was happy, but hearing Ye Nan say he didn't worry anymore, he became confused. "Could it be that you found a way to solve it?"

"Because of you." Ye Nan smiled. "Since you have this worry, others must have it too. When the time comes, everyone will persuade each other, and it will naturally eliminate the fear of machines. I believe everyone will understand this truth."

The old man Homan was stunned, and only after a long while did he say, "It seems I was worrying unnecessarily." To be continued.

♂♂ ===== CHAPTER 440 =====