Chapter 252: Diary

Found it?

Found it.

Yunxiao's heart, which had been hanging, finally fell at this moment. She never thought 118 would die; her greatest worry had always been not knowing what to do if she couldn't find them.

I'll come take you home...

Although she still had many bad premonitions in her heart, Yunxiao still lifted the black body and slowly walked onto the mecha.

Yunxiao returned to the vicinity of the Black Hole Voyager, where countless intelligent machines had already begun construction. The first task was to reshape a planet capable of sustaining normal life.

But Yunxiao now only thought of rebooting 118; she ignored the workers and directly brought 118 back inside the Black Hole Voyager.

She opened 118's already rotted body, took out its most important logic core, and upon seeing that the logic core had also rotted, Yunxiao's formerly elated heart instantly sank to the bottom of the valley.

How could this happen?

Yunxiao opened the logic core, and upon seeing the crystal core clearly, she was completely dumbfounded.

All she saw was that 118's crystal core was clotted with masses of black unknown substance; after careful observation, Yunxiao realized this was something condensed from within 118's crystal core itself.

Afterwards, Yunxiao began nonstop cleaning, repairing, and restoring, but when she finally managed to clean the crystal core and began checking its internal data, she could only see rows upon rows of meaningless gibberish.

If carbon-based life is composed of a bunch of organic cells, then the most important thing for a machine is that string of code and data.

But now, the soul representing 118, the very essence of 118... is damaged.

Yunxiao furrowed her brow, trying over and over to repair, trying over and over to restore, but all attempts came to nothing.

She grew anxious, continually trying until her eye sockets darkened, until her eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, until her body could no longer endure.

Don't... please... please...

Yunxiao kept praying, unaware that 118, this entity, had already, under the endless wash of time, reached its maximum waiting time.

Now, 118 is already an object without 'life'.

Just like a specimen taken from a carbon-based lifeform, like the cells that endlessly proliferate after a carbon-based lifeform detaches from its main body.

They are no longer 118....

It shouldn't be like this...

Yunxiao summoned the Intelligent Machine Empress, who specialized in code, and after a long wait, she ultimately received an answer that filled her with despair.

That... Yunxiao.

How should I tell you....

The Intelligent Machine Empress found it hard to speak, and her gaze toward Yunxiao held more pity and fear.

You say...

When you carbon-based lifeforms define the concept of death, it's usually brain death and blood flow stopping, right?

118.... its code.... has also 'died,' its data can no longer flow.

I don't believe it.

Yunxiao stared, eyes bloodshot, at the chaotic code in the computer, tears streaming down silently.

Uh....

Although I don't want to discourage you, but....

I still found many complete logs in his existing data; this is the only thing 118 has preserved.

You can... try reading it?

The Intelligent Machine Empress carefully presented 118's log to Yunxiao, and the first passage on the log made Yunxiao's eyes widen in disbelief.

Log... one...

'Due to my miscalculation, I am now forced to stay here, waiting for Yunxiao to return, but unfortunately, some of my components seem to have been damaged, which causes... I cannot enter hibernation and must face these fifty thousand years awake.'

'So I recorded this log, Miss, hoping that one day you will be able to see it...'

Yunxiao read that sentence back and forth countless times, eventually arriving at a despairing fact.

118 endured while completely conscious.

Yunxiao trembled as she covered her mouth, unable to believe the log's content, even losing the courage to continue reading.

'I don't know why, but in this short day I have experienced many variables, and I don't understand what caused them.'

'The Insect Disaster inexplicably came under control; when the Voyager entered the black hole, they all flung themselves into it, even the Insect Emperor was no exception.'

'I don't know if something is watching me; I'm not sure, but in my observation, the insect swarm should naturally fear the black hole.'

Variable...

Yunxiao once again keenly noticed this term that appears more than once; a variable should not appear multiple times, yet it clung to Yunxiao like a devil.

Is it... that there is something...

Yunxiao muttered to herself, and suddenly a memory flashed of what the Intelligent Machine Empress had once said about two mysterious entities.

Two threads that had been seeking each other were suddenly joined by a pair of hands; Yunxiao jerked her head up and once again aimed her gaze in a direction.

Yunxiao began to suspect that her tumultuous fate, and the endless unrest of him and 118, might be due to someone behind the scenes pulling strings.

But at this moment, Yunxiao forced her consciousness back; she wants to read 118's log, to see what 118 has actually experienced.

Even if she cannot help him share the pain, at the very least she needs to know the truth....

'Staying awake is harder than I imagined; to maintain necessary energy, I need the operating core at minimal levels, and I often recall that past mistake—if I and Yunxiao had successfully returned to the Voyager, what would happen next?'

Yunxiao had thought of this question, and 118 had too, but time has already torn a tragic chasm between them; the current 118 is already a product from who knows how many years ago.

The following logs are 118's yearly records of how far it has drifted, plus reflections on the past; Yunxiao finds them not tedious, just examining each character carefully.

'Log Two: One-fifth of the time has already passed; during the long operation, my logic core has suffered irreversible wear, some data has begun to turn into unreadable gibberish, but alas, I am powerless; the only thing I can do is protect this log as best as I can....'

'Do machines, like carbon-based life, forget things?'

'I can feel that some memories are slowly slipping away from me; perhaps the anomaly in the data, turning into gibberish, is the very essence of my forgetting.'

Sorry, miss..... I seem... to have forgotten a bit what you look like....