Chapter 253: I cannot accept this ending

Tears streamed down like broken pearls, no matter how she wiped, they wouldn't dry.

"How could this be...."

Yunxiao could no longer stay rational; she wanted to see the words before her, but the endless tears kept blurring her vision, making it impossible to see clearly.

The Intelligent Machine Empress also secretly followed Yunxiao's gaze; when she had earlier seen that the Black Hole Voyager Project's issue was unrelated to herself, she had quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but now, while reading the log after 118, even she couldn't help but be moved.

Human emotions truly are something that makes machines both love and hate; although it is also because of them that my mind is now not so sharp, it is also because of them that the Intelligent Machine Empress can experience what belongs to carbon-based life.

Yunxiao fought back her tears and continued flipping through 118's log; after 118 admitted his memory was starting to decline, the remaining content became a large amount of self-talk, recounting everything left in his memory and various boring observations.

Yunxiao read it word by word; in her view, this was 118's unwillingness to forget more, constantly trying to recall past actions.

Each word was a huge blow to Yunxiao's spirit.

"Log 17: This is the... year, I discovered.... the first starlight upon arriving at this lonely star field."

"It gave me the motivation to keep waiting; every moment I anticipated the arrival of the next starlight, but unfortunately, my visual color system has malfunctioned, I can no longer perceive their colors, yet I have recorded their positions and arrival times."

"When Yunxiao returns in the future, this will become a great reliance for our exploration of the universe....."

The subsequent content grew increasingly chaotic; the recorded times of the starlight gradually turned into gibberish, and 118's log also abruptly began to contain gibberish.

This meant his Logic Core might no longer be able to think properly; Yunxiao also realized the problem, but she could do nothing about it.

The log's content is very long, yet although the beginning contains a lot of information, the further it goes, the less useful information there is.

But 118 still occasionally had brief moments of clarity, though these grew rarer until nearly five hundred thousand characters of blank gibberish appeared....

Yunxiao's heart gradually sank to the depths; even if she wanted to read word by word, she could no longer do so.

All she could do was keep flipping down, flipping on, until she finally saw a passage that looked utterly hopeless.

"Fifty thousand years have already passed.... but why... is the black hole still running?"

"The usable area of the Logic Core is no more than 2%; there's no spare performance left to record the log, so the log's updates will stop here for now..."

Although it said updates would stop, 118's log kept extending onward; he seemed unable to control his own actions.

In the earlier logs, at least each entry had a date recorded, but now even the date has turned into a mess of gibberish.

"......"

Yunxiao lifted her head and closed her eyes; regret, unwillingness, and fatigue all surged up at that moment.

If she had emerged according to the planned time, at least.... 118 might still be saved.

But now....

"....."

"Or, would you like to keep flipping?"

The Intelligent Machine Empress spoke weakly; although saying so was rather immoral, she truly wanted to keep reading.

What if 118's situation takes a turn? Isn't he the one with the toughest fate?

Although this time he might really be.....

Yunxiao wiped away her tears and flipped through the log again, but unfortunately, everything ahead was just segments of gibberish, completely devoid of any useful information.

She silently flipped the log to the very end, and in the final passage she once again saw the words left by 118.

Like a brief lucidity before death, like a final farewell, only a short sentence.

"Miss...."

"I seem... unable to hold on..."

"....."

The log came to an abrupt halt.

"It's over..."

It was the Intelligent Machine Empress who spoke first, but after a long while she still didn't get a reply from Yunxiao.

"?"

The Intelligent Machine Empress turned her head in confusion, and upon seeing Yunxiao's state she shrank her neck in fright.

"You... what's wrong with you?"

"I cannot accept this ending...."

"Huh?"

Yunxiao gritted her teeth, murmuring softly; the Intelligent Machine Empress was somewhat at a loss.

"I cannot accept this ending!!!"

Yunxiao jumped to her feet, eyes bloodshot; she could not accept, nor did she want to accept 118's departure.

"Surely! Surely something is messing with this! Surely something is controlling everything."

Yunxiao angrily grabbed the instruments on the table one by one, repeatedly smashing them onto the floor.

The Intelligent Machine Empress watched the frenzied Yunxiao, constantly dodging to the side; her situation was very wrong!

"You! What on earth happened to you!"

Hearing the Intelligent Machine Empress's frightened voice, Yunxiao seemed to realize something; her blood-red eyes snapped toward the Empress, and she stepped toward her.

The Intelligent Machine Empress was terrified; all she saw was Yunxiao fiercely grabbing her collar, locking eyes, and speaking word by word.

"Tell me everything you know about that mysterious being you mentioned before!"

"Ah? Oh! You! You let go of me first!"

"Calm down a bit!"

Yet Yunxiao's condition remained poor; she muttered about not accepting this ending while clutching her hair, incessantly whispering something, looking utterly mad.

Just as the Intelligent Machine Empress was about to try to soothe Yunxiao, the latter suddenly lifted her head, eyes wide, as if she had seen something unbelievable.

"So that's how it is...."

Intelligent Machine Empress:????

So... it's like this...

So... what's it like?

Intelligent Machine Empress had a bewildered expression, looking at the strangely behaved Yunxiao, she was somewhat at a loss.

I know who's been pulling strings behind the scenes...

118... 118 are just experimental items..

I don't accept... I don't accept...

I want that guy... blood debt, blood repayment!!!