Chapter 156: Aftertalk

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Simply put, the AI went rogue, turning all humans into living batteries and locking their consciousness in a virtual world to act as the CPU of a supercomputer.

The AIs created a second-layer virtual world for human pleasure, leaving us unable to escape their control.

Liu Delie said, shoving an energy bar into his mouth, and continued speaking to the dazed Yu Xiaomo.

I woke up a few months before you, and when I heard that news I was just as shocked.

Have you felt the brain‑machine interface at the back of your head? This device is what traps your consciousness in the virtual world.

Following Liu Delie's direction, Yu Xiaomo felt a bottle‑cap‑sized interface at the base of her skull, which is now sealed with a special material to prevent bacterial infection.

They are currently in a makeshift tent, with a constant flow of bald‑headed people wrapped in blankets being brought to other tents outside.

They were all once livestock raised by the AI...

Not just them—all of humanity used to be that way.

Yu Xiaomo pondered, a familiar figure kept appearing in her mind, but she could never recall who it was.

'What's his name...'

'What is his name?'

Yu Xiaomo tried to recall what was in her mind, but she couldn't come up with any useful information.

Everything experienced in the dream has been forgotten; it seemed like a fantastical and wonderful journey.

Likewise, although she doesn't remember how she met Liu Delie or what story they share, she still knows Liu Delie.

She and Liu Delie should be friends.

And in her impression, they should have been a trio...

'Just who is he...'

Yu Xiaomo lowered her brows and eyes, her heart feeling empty.

Dreams make you forget everything upon waking, but some deeply impressionable events are etched into the mind, causing you to recall them from time to time.

Yu Xiaomo has been living in the real world for three months, and she can finally walk normally again.

Liu Delie woke up a few months before her, has completed rehabilitation, and is already doing what he can on the AI frontline battlefield.

And she has also learned more about reality.

For example, they were able to break free from the false world's control thanks to the resistance army founded by the last batch of awake humans.

They established an underground base, secretly stealing AI technology to develop themselves, and continually snatching infants from the human production line to use as members.

The resistance used the materials discarded by the AI in the junkyard to gradually develop, get on track, begin infiltrating the false world the AI created, and intentionally start guiding its direction.

In the end, they successfully guided that world's direction, continually invaded the false world, rescued humans nonstop, and began the war against the AI.

But to completely destroy the AI's human livestock farm and overthrow its rule, we must utterly destroy that false world, so that all humanity awakens.

To that end, they released a 'virus' into the false world to destroy it.

They seem to have succeeded; the virus successfully freed all humanity, and Yu Xiaomo is among them.

All of this left Yu Xiaomo utterly shocked; she could not imagine that the truth of this world could be so fantastical.

At the same time, she still couldn't recall that person's name—someone incredibly important, as if she had completely forgotten him.

Zhang Jie

A voice suddenly appeared in her mind, and Yu Xiaomo's whole body jolted.

'Did someone... say something?'

'Zhang... Zhang... Zhang what...?'

Yu Xiaomo muttered to herself; that name was again quickly forgotten by her.

Zhang Jie

'Zhang Jie?'

That mysterious voice appeared again in her mind, and the dazed Yu Xiaomo uttered that familiar name.

'Is his name Zhang Jie?'

The voice didn't answer her again, but that name was deeply etched into her mind.

As she softly whispered that name, for some reason a dull ache kept coming from her chest, so painful she could barely breathe.

'Why...'

What she forgot, that person she forgot, must be extremely important.

'No... I must find him... I must regain my memory!'

Feeling the tugging pain in her heart, Yu Xiaomo secretly made a resolution.

Suddenly, a familiar figure passed by in front of her—a very beautiful woman—and Yu Xiaomo's eyes widened in an instant as she rushed toward her.

'Eh? Who are you?'

The beautiful woman looked about thirty or forty, with a head of soft, long hair, and her attire suggested she was a high-ranking member of the resistance.

'I know you! I know you!'

Yu Xiaomo said excitedly, as if a familiar thread in her mind had been grasped.

This beautiful woman before her must have some connection to him!

'Do you know Zhang Jie? Do you know him?'

Looking at the excited girl before her, Zhang Jie's mother finally recognized the girl.

She remembered that this girl was her son's little sweetheart, a girl who clearly had affection but liked to act tsundere.

'Did she also forget?'

Having the same surname, plus her guess about the meaning of the name, she quickly figured out who that name referred to.

'Zhang Jie... so... my son is called Zhang Jie...'

Zhang Jie's mother squatted down, gently stroking Yu Xiaomo's head; for some reason her touch made Yu Xiaomo feel very familiar.

"Good..... good... Auntie will take you to the database to look for him, okay?"

Yu Xiaomo froze, then tears and snot poured out, and Yu Xiaomo nodded vigorously.

"Mm! Mm!"