Chapter 877

"..."Samsara! You promised me you wouldn't expose yourself to danger!" She Mo angrily looked at the robot."

""Don't panic, She Mo. Proposal: I will show you my historical memory, hoping the Astral Express Alliance can, after studying this data, reconsider the petition of Dan Lun Temple.""

"Yu Kong approvingly glanced at Lu Ka: "Finally managed to pry open your mouths? Thank you, Lu Ka. Machine, I won't make any promises. But you can try to trust me; honest communication is better than clinging to precepts.""

"..."The deal is done.""

""Then let's begin the confession.""

""Proposal: The confession as an extension of language is too primitive in transmission efficiency. I will use a more efficient way to synchronize my data with you all. Wavelength adjustment complete, memory access permissions altered, synesthesia beacon synchronization begins.""

"..."

"Who knows how many system cycles ago."

""The timing system has stopped… How long have I been in hibernation?""

""Order: Detected ██ object, meets organic life definition, entering annihilation mode.""

""Annihilate, annihilate, annihilate, annihilate, annihilate…""

"The calculation of organic life lacks logic, full of fallacies. To correct this error, Emperor Rupert wrote the perfect anti-organic equation, attempting to patch the loophole in the cosmic program. The machine army once ignited the galaxy, seeking to utterly erase the existence of organic life."

""Conclusion: We have failed. We must learn from ███. We will ultimately prevail.""

"She Mo lowered his gaze to the small robot at his feet, clicked his tongue: "Look, the remains of a war machine.""

"Another person named Tuo Na, a Strider, said: "It is the core component of some larger body. It has some damage, entered a dormant state—pick up the surrounding parts and bring them over; perhaps it can still be saved.""

——

The Valkyrie of the End.

Is this a relic from the First Imperial War?

Zeus stared wide-eyed, incredulously gazing at the small robot buried in the snow, its surface mottled with rust. Even as king of the gods, he felt awe toward the Imperial War—bestowing upon every sentient machine in the cosmos the mission to eradicate organic life is not something a deity can accomplish merely by overtaxing their divine power.

Compared to the efficiency with which the Imperial War slaughtered organic life, the gods' campaign to wipe out humanity is almost hopelessly inefficient. Still, if we consider it, the gods themselves are a kind of organic life, just as vulnerable to the machines' killing agenda.

If I remember correctly, the Imperial War happened twice—once before and once after. What we witnessed with Star and Black Tower in the simulated universe was only the first Imperial War; the second has barely been spoken of... Shiva rubbed his chin as he reminisced, "It seems the second Imperial War was even larger than the first, and Emperor II was still human, wasn't he?"

"Humans?" Zeus blinked, then burst into a hearty laugh: "Hahaha! How could humans possibly start the Imperial War to wipe out humanity? Shiva, you must be misremembering. If what you say is true, once the war began, the first thing they'd have to destroy would be themselves."

"I doubt I'm misremembering, am I?" Shiva scratched his head in bewilderment, too lazy to dig deeper, "This little robot is probably a relic of the Second Imperial War, but these days it seems to have 'gone straight,' starting to learn from the Bu Li Ren."

""What to study? Study Buddhism?" Odin scoffed disdainfully."

""Hey… little Odin, what do you mean by that?" Shakyamuni bit into the lollipop in his mouth, "What's wrong with studying Buddhism? Be careful—on the arena you might just be liberated by a human who's studied Buddhism.""

""Hmph…" Odin snorted coldly, not wanting to argue with him; he had never taken a liking to this unserious deity, but since they were both combatants on the divine side, he didn't want to fall out with him."

""Shakyamuni, if this machine were to take refuge in the Buddhist gate, could it also attain fruition?" The War God Hercules laughed and patted Shakyamuni on the shoulder."

""Well… probably?" though I've never had such a tiny disciple before." Shakyamuni rested his chin, pondered, then shook his head: "No, if it attained fruition, wouldn't it enter cessation and nirvana rebirth? But this iron‑skin robot has no life, so where would rebirth come from?""

"——"

"The protector Vipali, standing aside, advised: "Venerable Tuo Na, why waste time on cold mechanical metal, in my opinion? Machines are ultimately just machines; no matter how fluently they can converse with people, they cannot comprehend others' thoughts. Moreover, this is a relic left from the Emperor's War, and the karma it created is no trivial matter.""

""Whether the machine belongs to the sentient or the insentient is beyond my dull wisdom to fathom. But whether to save it can be decided by a single good thought in our hearts. She Mo, come help me.""

""Yes, Venerable Tuo Na.""

"After the three gathered the nearby parts, they also successfully awakened the small robot. But the moment it "woke," it immediately detected three organic lives before it and instantly entered combat mode."

The machines buried in the surrounding snow began to wobble and crawl up from the ground, the numerous signal lights from before the Amber Age flashing again inside their severely rusted iron armor, they encircled the three, slowly closing in.

"Remnant of the anti-organic equation? Or is this the first time I've seen it… well, it's not impossible to convert."

Fortunately, most of these mechs were severely rusted and damaged; after a hard fight, Pili couldn't help but sigh: "Whoa… these iron guys are tough! They can actually manipulate the surrounding machines to beat us! But after all, they're just scrap iron, not as sharp as our claws, haha!"

Tuona gave Pili a reproachful stare: "As a monk who protects the Dharma of the Severed Multitude, how can you indulge in the pleasure of battle?"

"Cough, you're right. Ah, this iron guy has woken up."

The small robot's ID was 0089; it curiously sized up the three people before it: "Question: organic life, why haven't you destroyed me? The annihilation mode has failed; based on logic, you will destroy me—this is the optimal solution."

Shemo answered truthfully: "Yes. Iron benefactor, the universe is filled with slaughter, and so are our hearts. It is this impulse that leads us to destroy each other, leaving the world in scorched ruin, forging an unbreakable cycle of blood and fire. And our Cinnabar Wheel Temple practices ceaselessly to oppose it."

Shemo closed their eyes devoutly: "…Because upon slaughter, we have found a greater power."