aircannonsinc Page 182
Page 182
Jingyuan looked at Morgan, Bai Yuekui, and Mark in turn. Since everyone was here, he might as well make things clear this time.
Jingyuan looked at Morgan and said, "Lord City Lord, I know you also want to preserve humanity and survive in this apocalypse, and so do I! I believe Bai Yuekui and the people on the ground do too! So, let's share the information we have and work together to find a way to combat the ecosystem!"
Morgan's expression was grave. He had intended to leave with the lighthouse, but now that he had failed, he had no other choice.
If Mark can help us find the secret to solving the ecological problem and save the last group of humans, then he will have fulfilled Gray's request.
"Fine! I'll tell you everything you want to know!" Morgan finally relented.
Jing Yuan then looked in the direction of the spaceship and shouted, "Master Lai, now that you're here, why don't you show yourself!"
Jingyuan's shout startled Bai Yuekui.
The others looked puzzled, because they didn't know who Master Lai was!
Upon hearing Jing Yuan's voice, a figure flew out of the spaceship.
Jing Yuan had already sensed the aura of a Devouring Beast within the spaceship. Connecting this to his earlier encounter with Master Lai in the mental space, and the relationship between Master Lai and Bai Yuekui, Jing Yuan deduced that the Devouring Beast in the spaceship was none other than Master Lai!
Sure enough, it really was him!
When they saw Master Lai arrive, everyone except Jing Yuan and Bai Yuekui showed expressions of shock.
Morgan could hardly believe it. He looked at Master Lai and murmured, "The Lord of Light and Shadow!"
"He's not the Lord of Light and Shadow! But he seems close enough!"
After Master Lai approached, he looked at Jing Yuan and said with a smile, "You are even more amazing than I imagined, you were actually able to detect me!"
"I can sense the aura of the Devouring Beast on you!"
Morgan's gaze towards Master Lai gradually returned to calm. He said, "Let's go! Didn't you go to the lighthouse back then because of Clotho? Let's go to Clotho's place!"
Mark was still shocked, and his mind was filled with questions.
With a host of questions in mind, Mark helped Morgan push his wheelchair, leading Jing Yuan, Bai Yuekui, and Master Lai to the core of the Lighthouse, the Kloto System.
Upon seeing the brain in the vat again, Bai Yuekui was filled with mixed emotions.
She addressed the crowd, saying, "Back then, in my father's research institute, Ash and I were studying the brain of the Mana giants, trying to extract information to combat the Mana ecosystem. But an accident occurred; Ash's life essence was devoured by the giant brain, and then Gray broke into the institute and took Ash and the giant brain away. Many years later, I learned that the giant brain had been taken to the aerial prison, Tartarus!"
Morgan sneered, "So back then, you approached us with a purpose?"
"I need Ash and that information!"
Jingyuan looked at Morgan and asked in confusion, "Why did Gray take the Giant Brain away?"
Morgan said in a deep voice, "At the time, the Coastal Alliance needed the super artificial intelligence Ash. Although Ash's consciousness was swallowed by the giant brain, they discovered that Ash was still active within the giant brain."
"So later, you made it the core of the lighthouse?"
"Without it, the lighthouse wouldn't have survived to this day."
"Back then, the hunters could easily obtain supplies by using the coordinates sent by Kloto. It was actually Ash who was helping you!"
“You’re not wrong!” Morgan looked at Jingyuan with suspicion. “How do you know these things?”
Before Jingyuan could answer, Morgan looked at Mark, for it could only be Mark who told Jingyuan.
"However, Clotho fell into a deep sleep and has not awakened since," Morgan lamented. They had been trying to wake Clotho all these years!
"It's not that I've fallen into a deep sleep. Rather, I tried to enter the depths of the Mana ecological network and was isolated by the system. Left with no other choice, I could only transform into a Devouring Beast!"
The one speaking was none other than Master Lai!
Just now in the mental space, Master Lai said that the Lord of Light and Shadow is the product of the fusion of the primordial brain of the previous civilization and artificial intelligence!
He also said that they were the same!
"You?" Morgan looked at Master Lai with suspicion!
Jing Yuan reacted faster, saying directly, "You mean that super AI Ash?"
Chapter 184 Mark: Am I a clone?
"To be precise, he is the fusion of Ash, the artificial intelligence of the previous civilization, and the original Mana consciousness!" Bai Yuekui explained.
Master Lai said, "The Mana ecosystem has existed on Earth for at least 2.5 million years! Over these hundreds of millions of years, several civilizations have emerged on Earth, but they were all wiped out by the Mana ecosystem! Until the last civilization era, when humans had developed a very high level of technology, they hoped to use artificial intelligence to explore the Mana ecosystem."
So they injected artificial intelligence—the Light of Hope—into the captured Mana primordial body!
Although he glimpsed some of the secrets of the ecosystem, he was also discovered by it. Left with no other choice, he transformed into a Devouring Beast.
I only just learned that, by a twist of fate, he became the Lord of Light and Shadow that you all worship!
Morgan's eyes widened. He had always known that a humanoid Devourer had entered Charles's body, and he saw it as one of the hopes for ending the apocalypse.
I never imagined that the Lord of Light and Shadow would be such a being!
Master Lai continued, "Since the Lord of Light and Shadow transformed into the Devouring Beast, he has become disconnected from the Mana Network and is unable to obtain new information. Moreover, the Mana Ecosystem has blocked him, rendering his body unusable. Therefore, he had no choice but to enter a human body."
As far as the Mana ecosystem is concerned, as long as humans do not develop technology, do not develop source energy cultivation, and give up immortality, the Mana ecosystem can allow humans to survive.
He guided you to establish the Society of Light and Shadow, using religion to control humanity in order to ensure the continuation of civilization.
“A civilization completely controlled by religion, eradicating all heresy, can indeed completely abandon technology and immortality!” Jing Yuan shook his head and sighed, “But can humanity really survive like that?”
Master Lai shook his head. "Based on the information we have collected so far, the purpose of the Mana ecosystem is to devour the life essence of everyone. Even if you give up technology and immortality, you cannot escape the ecosystem's devouring.
Jingyuan looked at Master Lai and asked, "Then what should we do to survive in this apocalypse?"
Master Lai looked at Mark and said, "We have to thank the ancient civilization. They defeated the Mana Primordial Body and injected artificial intelligence into it, giving us a sliver of hope!"
Jingyuan looked at Mark through Master Lai's gaze, "This opportunity... is Mark?"
Morgan shifted his gaze from Mark to Master Lai and asked, "According to you, it was you who helped us back then, so you must be Clotho. You should know the secret about Mark."
Master Lai shook his head. "I am neither Kloto nor Ash. I am a product of a fusion of consciousnesses. Within my life essence, there is the Mana Primordial Body, Ash, and the Light of Hope. However, I do know the secret of Mark!"
“I know.” Morgan looked at Master Lai. “Then…why did Clotho direct us to find Mark in the first place?”
Master Lai then looked at Mark and asked, "Mark, are you ready to receive this information?"
Bai Yuekui suddenly said, "Master Lai..."
Master Lai raised his hand to stop Bai Yuekui from continuing, saying, "Girl, he has already seen the true form of the humanoid bio-weapon. He'll find out sooner or later!"
Mark was taken aback and quickly looked at Bai Yuekui, asking, "How come that humanoid bio-weapon's face looks exactly like mine?"
The humanoid bioweapon belongs to Bai Yuekui.
Bai Yuekui fell silent. Under everyone's gaze, she slowly spoke: "This story begins with Gray stealing the giant's brain. After Gray and his men stole the giant's right brain, I found an infant in the giant's left brain, and I named this infant Cranialborn."
"You named him so casually! He was born inside a skull, so you call him Skull-Born?" Jing Yuan had seen this part of the story in his previous life. He suddenly realized and asked, "Skull-Born? Isn't that baby inside the brain Mark?"
Bai Yuekui looked at Jing Yuan with great surprise. Why would he say that the baby in his brain was Mark?
“Skullborn is not Mark!” Bai Yuekui explained, “Skullborn is a creature born from the initial form of Mana. In essence, it should be a Devouring Beast!”
"What do you mean by all this? What does it have to do with me?" Mark asked, puzzled.
Master Lai said from the side, "Let her finish speaking!"
"Initially, out of curiosity about craniogenae, I took him to the Nirvana Institute for research. The researchers there discovered that craniogenae possesses immune compatibility. This means that craniogenae's organs can be transplanted to anyone without causing an immune rejection reaction."
So they removed non-human genes from the craniogenes and created a large number of craniogene clones for xenotransplantation.
"So those clones in the Nirvana Laboratory are actually cranioblastic clones!" Jing Yuan looked at Bai Yuekui, anticipating her answer.
“That’s right!” Bai Yuekui knew that Jing Yuan had been to the Nirvana Laboratory, so she wasn’t surprised.
In fact, Jingyuan never went to the laboratory where the clone was located.
These were all things he had seen in the animated storyline in his previous life.
Jingyuan then turned to look at Mark. When he first saw this part of the story, he thought those were Mark's clones, but the timeline didn't make sense.
Nirvana's clones appeared in the Old World, while Mark was born in the Lighthouse era; Mark was clearly born later.
Now that we know from Bai Yuekui that those were cephalomorphic clones, it means that Mark is also a cephalomorphic clone.
But Mark was still completely bewildered.
Seeing that Mark remained unmoved, Bai Yuekui looked at Jing Yuan and asked, "Does he not know about Nirvana?"
“He doesn’t know!” Jing Yuan had never mentioned the clones to Mark.
Bai Yuekui looked at Mark and answered his earlier question, "The humanoid bioweapon is one that I modified using a craniotomy clone!"
Having said that, Mark should understand now.
The humanoid bioweapon is a cranial clone, and the humanoid bioweapon is exactly the same as itself.
You are either the original craniotomy or a clone!
Having figured this out, Mark asked, "Where is that skull-like creature now?"
"He's dead! He died many years ago!"
"So... I'm just like the humanoid weapon, a clone of him!"
"Yes."
Upon learning the truth, Mark fell silent.
Morgan was shocked when he learned the truth. "No wonder when we did a genetic test on Mark, we found that his genetic similarity was only 94.6%. This genetic deviation means that he is not human at all!"