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墨書 Inktalez
Endless darkness enveloped me. I curled up in a cold corner, shivering. The explosion of the "Hive," Zhou Yu's nearly transparent call before my consciousness faded, Li Cheng's shocked face, and the fleeting image of a pale hand clad in black gloves flashed through my mind. Everything felt like an unending nightmare.
The "Soul Restoration Book" had completely fallen silent within me, its cover adorned with blood-red warnings—"Error in 'Ouroboros' Protocol!" "Sample is about to collapse!" "Purge mode activated!"—like death warrants proclaiming my impending doom.
Who am I? Zhou Mo? Or the sample "Ouroboros"? A carefully woven lie? An erroneous code on the verge of deletion? My memories, my emotions, the past I shared with Zhou Yu... were they all just illusions?
If everything is merely programmed, then what significance do my pain and struggles hold? Free will? Perhaps I never possessed it from the very beginning.
My consciousness began to blur, and my body grew increasingly numb. The azure data streams beneath my skin dimmed, like circuits losing power. I could even feel my body temperature gradually dropping, the beating of my heart growing weaker.
"Program crash"...? So be it. Let it end like this.
I closed my eyes, surrendering all resistance, allowing the cold, inhuman whispers of "commands" to engulf me like a tide.
"…Obey…"
"…Purge…"
"…Return…"
Just as my consciousness was about to be completely consumed, reduced to a soulless shell—
"Brother—!"
A heart-wrenching call filled with endless sorrow and determination struck deep within my soul! It was Xiao Yu!
I opened my eyes wide. Before me, Zhou Yu's pale and beautiful face appeared with startling clarity. Her body was almost entirely transparent, like a wisp of smoke on the verge of dissipating. Countless delicate golden data streams entwined around her, continuously stripping away something from her.
Her willpower... was nearly exhausted! But her gaze burned with an unprecedented brilliance!
It was a kind of resolve and love powerful enough to burn everything away!
"Brother! Wake up!" Her voice was no longer filled with static; it rang out in my mind with an extraordinary clarity, carrying an undeniable force!
"Don’t let 'it' control you! You are not a program! You are not a tool!"
Her image began to overlap and merge with that of the mysterious little girl from my memories. Their faces, their gazes, the indomitable will radiating from them… in that moment, they became one!
"The true meaning of the 'Ouroboros'… is not to devour… but to… choose!"
As her words echoed, a dazzlingly pure light erupted from their fused image! That light was like an invisible key, instantly piercing through the cold barriers of programming in my mind, touching the deepest part of me… the true core personality belonging to 'Zhou Mo'!
The whispering 'commands' shrieked in agony under the illumination of this light and then melted away like ice and snow!
I felt… I felt as if I had been forcefully awakened from a long and terrifying nightmare!
The merged image of Zhou Yu and the little girl ultimately transformed into a small Ouroboros pattern radiating soft light. The head of the serpent did not bite its tail but lifted slightly, as if gazing into the distance, filled with a yearning for infinite possibilities.
This pattern was deeply etched into the depths of my consciousness. Then, as the light faded, Zhou Yu’s image completely dissipated, along with that mysterious little girl. They… used their final existence to pull me back from the brink of destruction.
"Xiao Yu…"
I reached out, wanting to grasp that vanishing light, but only caught a piece of nothingness. Tears uncontrollably streamed down my face. But this time, they were no longer tears of despair. Instead, they were mixed with endless sorrow, profound heartache, and… a faint yet resilient flame of hope.
They did not give me answers. They simply… offered me a choice. A choice of who I am. A choice for my future.
I looked down at my hands, covered in ethereal blue circuitry patterns. The mutated metallic bones on my arms still appeared grotesque and fearsome. I am the 'Ouroboros.' There is no doubt about it. But I… am also Zhou Mo! Even if my memories might be implanted, even if my emotions could be programmed, at this moment, the heart-wrenching pain within me, the love and guilt for Zhou Yu, the overwhelming hatred for the old ledger master… all of it felt so real!
If I am a program, then at this moment, I choose… to rebel against this program! If I am a monster, then at this moment, I choose… to reclaim everything that belongs to me in my monstrous way!
A nearly mad determination erupted within my chest! I could feel the "inhuman" energy that surged into my body from the contact with the core memory database no longer clashing with the energy of the "Soul Rebirth Book," but rather… beginning to merge!
A brand new, more powerful, and even… colder force awakened within me! I no longer tried to suppress it; instead, I began to attempt to guide it! The data flow beneath my skin no longer dimmed but shimmered with a dark red glow filled with a sense of destruction.
I could even feel that I could… draw a bit of energy from the ubiquitous obsessions in my surroundings to replenish my own consumption!
"I must know…" I slowly rose from the ground, my eyes burning with an almost obsessive flame. Yet deep within that flame lay a cold calmness that transcended human emotion. "Even if I am a fake… I will… tear apart this false 'reality' with my own hands!"
Zhou Yu had not only passed on to me the right to choose but also a… specific location coordinate.
In Xinshi City, at the Seventh Central Park, three levels underground, lies the abandoned… original "Soul Rebirth Book" research center.
That place is likely where the old book master first conducted the "Ouroboros" experiment. It may also… hold the secret of my "birth," as well as… the truth behind the last page of the "Soul Rebirth Book."
Dragging this broken body, which was undergoing an unknown transformation, I stepped out of this forgotten corner. My gaze was no longer filled with fatigue and vigilance but rather with a kind of madness that sought to destroy everything and a cold, inhuman sense of "mission."
I was no longer seeking "redemption" or "understanding."
I was searching for an answer.
For Zhou Yu's final sacrifice.
To prove that even as merely a "construct," I had the right to choose my own ending and reclaim my own… story and meaning.
Old book master… "Sir"…
I am coming.
Whether you are a god or a devil, I will see your true face with my own eyes.
And then…
In my own way, I will bring this all to an end.
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