Chapter 446 Alice’s Illusion (2-in-1)

Russell sighed deeply, closed his eyes slightly, and said softly:

"I can actually understand you, really. It must be very hard to play someone else's ideal role with all your heart."

How could he not be who he is now?

Isolated, bullied, despised, forgotten... I long for love but no one loves me, I long for light but can't find it.

I can only put on a hypocritical smiley mask, keep pretending, keep escaping.

They are also trusted by others, they also have trustworthy friends and descendants, and they are also loved by others - not the love for the mask, but the love for the inner core, the core under the mask.

How much difference is there between them?

How much difference can it make?

In addition to the different talents they were born with, and the fact that Russell held the memory of another world... there must be a more fundamental difference between the two.

"It is because of my understanding of you that I can confirm... that we are completely different."

Russell was very convinced that even if he became a sheath, even if he personally faced the situation he once faced, he would never become the empty and desperate man he is now.

He raised his head, pure white flames burning at the bottom of his pupils.

As the psychic energy fluctuations spread out, a weak wind centered on Russell blew up.

His hair was windless and a strand of hair covered one of his eyes.

"You want to stop me?"

But Russell's other eye shined brighter and brighter.

"You believe that the world is no longer worth saving. Humanity is facing a destined death. Is today's entire civilization nothing more than the self-entertainment of death row prisoners...?"

Russell murmured softly, took out the Saint's Beheading from his arms, and poured the determination to kill into it.

This psychic weapon, which had been used by Alice, slowly but resolutely ejected the dark red light blade.

He slowly raised the saint's decapitated head, holding it at the base with his left hand. The light blade, which had been extended to more than one meter, now looked like a sharp sword.

But the sheath just remained silent, without saying a word.

He didn't even pull out his sword, but his "eyes" flickered with an ominous bloody light, staring at Russell like a silent robot.

"I'll be honest - I don't think so.

"I can continue to stay here and discuss with you until the sun sets. I can leave here and feel the warm light of the setting sun. I can continue to say what I want to say, or I can not say it. I can You fight, and I can leave. All I need to do is choose.

“It’s my freedom to make a choice.

"You said that all humans cannot be saved - because only the elves can leave this corrupted planet on the dragon. If that is the case, why didn't the elves and the dragon just leave from the beginning?

"——Because they are unwilling to give in. Because they want to try to see if there is any way to change everything.

“Because they don’t want to just run away. Because they want to resolve the situation… because they don’t want to just run away yet.

"Beginning in 2000, the spiritual relatives were born... They tried for a full thousand years. But it was not until a hundred years ago that the dragon initially compromised.

"Because until then, the 'psionic qualifications' will still penetrate the dream world and come to the residents. There is no point in killing psykers, it is just deceiving people. Because psionic energy itself is not a threat, but humans can still The 'qualification' to awaken psychic powers means that the spiritual plague still lurks in the hearts of humans.

"Sixty years ago, the mind protection chip was another attempt. Thoth psionic energy was still trying to block the possibility of awakening psychic energy. They added another layer of protection to the mind... but there are still things that can penetrate the protection.' Psykers' birth.

"Until twenty years ago, the Seven Giants still did not give up. They tried to exhaust all possibilities of psychic energy, in turn catalyzed the birth of psychics, and tried to solidify and control all demons into the human world. Through this method, they stopped human beings. Continue to awaken spiritual energy...

"But even so, there will still be people who awaken new spiritual powers and awaken demons that don't exist in the world."

Russell's mind suddenly thought of the monkey-faced eagle.

He couldn't help but sigh for this...

Whether it is himself or the monkey-faced eagle...their essence is the twilight egg of twin opposites, an embryo that has not yet hatched.

And what provides them with nutrients should be this banned "God's Core".

But these are just sentiments.

The decisive evidence that really made Russell think that Sheath's decision was a big mistake was the demon named "Budding Lover".

"Maybe you don't know yet... Oh, of course you don't know. Because you have been away from Sky Island for too long."

Russell sighed: "The soul is solidified, and theoretically no elves will be able to awaken spiritual energy - not long ago, spiritual energy and demons were also awakened.

"Even just a few days ago - even artificial intelligence, an artificial soul composed of numbers and codes, also gained its own spiritual power. A brand-new spiritual power that does not belong to demons.

"So far, all the protective measures against the 'God's Core' have been penetrated - psychic disease, psychic protection chips, and elf transformation rituals. The only one that is still in effect is this self-isolation The gray dome.”

"That's why I want to stop you..."

"——Don't you understand yet?"

Russell interrupted Sheath.

The rising air blew away his hair that blocked half of his sight, and the white light in his pupils shone brighter and brighter: "Even if the elves and dragons leave this planet, it has no meaning. Even if they imprison all the demons, even if their souls Solid like amber... Sooner or later, they will awaken their psychic powers.

“They are just ‘less susceptible people’. They are not easily infected by psychic energy when other people can get priority. But if everyone else is dead, it will be their turn.

"The current situation has proven that running away is useless."

Therefore, the elves will begin to prepare the final plan...

That’s why this world believes in that religion…

Cyber ​​Church. Cyber ​​immortality.

The only reason why the Dragon allowed the Cyber ​​Church to exist was to use them as a "last resort."

If even elves can be infected, then it is necessary to abandon all bodies and enter the server.

The "cyber immortality" that the Cyber ​​Church has been talking about is the "vaccine" that has been injected continuously for a long time.

That is not to "save resources" at all, but to store the entire civilization through another means - artificial intelligence instead of named elves as the "caretakers" during the journey. Store human consciousness in the form of data, and after finding a habitable planet, "download" the human being into the body again, and the "pre-human beings" themselves will take care of the development of the new human being.

That's another way.

However, the monkey-faced eagle proved that...even artificial intelligence can be infected by psychic abilities. Even if human beings abandon their bodies and enter the data world, they still cannot get rid of the terrible spiritual plague.

The spiritual plague that nearly wiped out the entire old civilization is still lingering around them like tarsal bones.

"Your obstruction is meaningless.

"If we are destined to be destroyed... then the same is true for the elves. As long as there is an infected person, as long as you see a crack, it means that there are already many holes in places that cannot be seen."

"Then you tell me, what else can we do in this world?!"

Sheath's voice suddenly became louder: "Even the elves... are destined to die, and live with a glimmer of hope -

"What's wrong with me choosing the future with greater possibilities?"

As the red light at the bottom of the sheath's pupils lit up with a buzzing sound, an invisible wave suddenly spread.

Russell's head lifted back as if he had been hit hard.

His left arm prosthesis suddenly lost momentum and fell heavily. Pulling on his tendons, he felt severe pulling and soreness. It was as if his left arm was no longer a free-wheeling prosthesis, but a heavy piece of iron.

In front of Russell's eyes, the UI menu and various information provided by the chip were instantly covered by snowflakes, garbled codes, and red pop-up windows. All that rang in his ears was a bunch of warnings and noises, and his vision instantly became blurry. All the technological UI interfaces, including the friend list and body intelligence information, as well as the clock, news and memos that were always present above, disappeared in an instant, turning into an unmodified naked eye image blurred by tears.

As the hormone control plug-in failed, the hormone secretion in Russell's body was instantly disrupted. As the neuromodulation plug-in failed, his muscles and nerves became weak, causing him to feel motion sickness and nausea and vomiting. His body showed signs of imbalance just standing there.

And most importantly...as the psychic protection chip itself failed, Russell's psychic energy also began to become restless. He felt a subtle whisper ringing in his ears... It was not anyone related to him, but a subtle whisper that Russell had never heard before.

It was like the shackles were being opened—Russell felt as if he could just reach out and grab Sheath's personality and master his abilities.

As long as he wanted to, he could incorporate Sheath's unique talents into his own body.

The dim yellow part at the bottom of his pupils grew rapidly, and the "flame" that looked like pure white began to dim.

"What a troublesome ability..."

Russell gritted his teeth.

He held the undisturbed decapitated saint in his mouth and covered his face with his only movable right hand.

Suddenly the psychic protection chip was "removed", and his psychic energy began to expand out of control. Russell's rationality is suppressing his spiritual power. At this time, he can only use this... the self-suggestion method he used at the beginning to "put on a mask" for himself.

The next moment, a faint green flame ignited——

When the flames dissipated, Alice stood in front of the sheath.

Seeing this, Sheath's face finally showed an expression of emotion.

His first reaction was a look of astonishment on his face... and he took half a step back.

Even though she lost her eyes, Alice could clearly feel that Sheath's heart suddenly became confused.

"Maybe it would be better to fight you in this form."

Alice used her hands to decapitate the saint holding it in her mouth again, and said softly: "There is no enhancement or modification...the original, intact body."

She slowly raised the sage's decapitation, pointing the tip of its sword toward its sheath.

"It turns out you didn't see me clearly at that time."

She showed a solemn and plain expression. There was no smile on her face, but she was not sad either: "That's normal...because you have become 'blind'."

"Alice..."

Sheath said the name slowly, her voice trembling.

It wasn't that Russell was pretending to be Alice... At that moment, he seemed to see the real Alice.

That was the Alice that was etched in his memory twenty years ago.

"I'm not Alice. I'm just her illusion..."

"Alice" sighed: "She is dead...father."

Ahhh...

Sheath opened her mouth slightly, her teeth numb.

His head trembled slightly for a moment, and an inexplicable feeling came over him.

It was like the warm sun shining on him, but he felt cold and despair.

It wasn't until this moment, when the living Alice appeared in front of her eyes, that Sheath finally realized something.

——Alice is dead.

He died because of the stupid choices he made.

I have never seen Alice's body, nor have I attended Alice's funeral. Until now, he had not realized that Alice was dead.

It seemed like a very long separation. As long as she doesn't face it, she is still not dead.

But until now...

There had never been a moment when Sheath felt such intense loneliness and pain.

At that moment, Sheath felt like crying.

"Ahh..."

He opened his mouth and made a dry sound.

It was like trying to sneeze but not being able to sneeze—except that what he wanted was to cry.

But he couldn't cry anymore.

"Do you understand, this is death. The end of the meaning of life, hope and despair turned into nothingness."

Alice said softly and suddenly rushed forward.

She aimed at the sheath and swung the sword lightly.

He instinctively flicked the sword out of its sheath. The ordinary iron sword could not withstand the sharpness of the psychic weapon.

In the light and heat that cut like a chainsaw, the iron sword in his hand was melted in an instant.

——Before that, he could swing a sword and cut off Alice's head.

But just looking at Alice, he couldn't make a move at all.

It's like falling into a dream, or like drinking too much.

He just stood there blankly, enduring Alice's spinning strikes as graceful as a butterfly and as fierce as a tiger——

Before her sword could succeed, she swung another sword.

Sheath awkwardly dodged the sword, but the wings on one side of his back were cut off.

He staggered and fell to the ground, and the light gun on the deer-headed statue suddenly dissipated. She came to life again and the lights around her came back on.

The severe pain made Sheath regain consciousness in an instant, and he realized what kind of unfavorable situation he was in... But Alice did not take advantage of the situation to pursue him.

She just looked at the fallen sheath and said softly: "Whether it's escaping from this planet, or extending human lifespan; finding the truth, or opening the sky... it's all for 'continuation', for 'survival' 'Awareness.

“Instead of giving up.

"Humanity is not over yet. Even if I fight until the last day, I still have to die standing... I don't want to give up before the last day.

"——I feel disappointed to defeat you like this. It can be said that there is no real sense of revenge. It is really ugly, and it disappoints me in every sense... sort out your mood and come back next time."

Alice looked at the embarrassed and losing sheath, and shook her head in disappointment.

She suddenly seemed to remember something and smiled delicately.

“Oh, by the way, you remember this sentence very clearly, right.

"Then listen to it again——

"If this is a stage that only happens once in your life... just let go and play it to your heart's content."

The dreams of the past and the illusions of the present overlap with the present moment.