"Everyone, remain highly vigilant. Battles could happen at any time!"

"Understood!"

"Copy that!"

Voices of responses came through. Chen Jian took a deep breath, nodded to Lei Jie, and then stepped forward without hesitation.

Guo Xu and the other two followed closely behind him, showing a hint of nervousness on their faces.

However, after following the battle for several days, they had gradually adapted to the rhythm of the Huaxia Army.

Without needing instructions from Chen Jian, they spontaneously organized into a three-three formation, beginning to alternate covering each other as they advanced quickly.

Chen Jian watched their actions with satisfaction and no longer divided his attention for specific commands. Instead, he focused on using the Smart Fire Control System built into his exoskeleton, monitoring every movement on the road ahead.

"Five hundred meters ahead, clear."

Ji Xing's voice came through the headset.

"You can proceed."

"Understood, proceeding."

Chen Jian relayed the instructions to the convoy. Just at that moment, something flickered before his eyes.

"Bang----"

The sound of a collision came from afar.

Immediately after, Ji Xing's somewhat hurried voice sounded.

"The underground entrance is under attack."

"They're coming!"

"Copy that!"

Chen Jian's gaze immediately shifted in the direction of the sound.

And there, the collapsed entrance was already raising dust.

"Prepare to engage!"

Chen Jian shouted, issuing the order.

The next second.

Gunfire erupted.

....

Elsewhere.

On the grass.

"So, is Mountain City indeed humanity's tomb?"

"The buildings on the surface, were they indeed constructed by you for 'commemorative purposes' only?"

"That's not entirely accurate."

The voice from the void sounded again.

Subsequently, an incredibly realistic human figure abruptly materialized next to Lin Yu.

It was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man, whose face Lin Yu wondered if he could even remember.

Yet inexplicably, he felt there was a special warmth to this face.

"I thought about it, perhaps I should sacrifice some computing power to talk to you in person."

"This should make you more at ease and more receptive to what I have to say."

"So, how about it? Do you want an introduction?"

"...Sure."

Lin Yu nodded slowly.

"I'm Lin Xi."

The man extended his hand to Lin Yu.

"Lin Xi? You also have the surname Lin?"

"Just a homophone."

Lin Xi shrugged vividly, and after shaking Lin Yu's hand once, he continued to speak:

"You asked earlier why we built this above-ground city."

"In fact, rather than calling it a 'commemoration,' it's more of an experiment."

"Continuing our previous story, even after we locked our souls into this tomb, the hypothesis about the Entropy Beast, or that monster, remained unproven."

"Therefore, we needed further verification."

"We wanted to verify whether it was human consciousness, or the soul, that generated information entropy, or whether it was the actions directed by consciousness."

"To verify this, we needed to change the surrounding environment."

"Initially, we kept expanding the underground space of the city, constructing a complete system capable of maintaining the tomb's operation."

"But soon, we realized this approach couldn't effectively verify our thoughts."

"Because all our actions were simply to maintain the existence of an information center, without generating a large amount of new information in the process."

"So, we began attempting some 'manifestations'."

"For instance, we once intervened in the world outside Mountain City, and we also spread our knowledge and technology everywhere."

"Although the Mechanical God Sect and Holy Blood Temple are native forces on the wasteland, their development paths have traces of us behind them."

"But that wasn't enough."

"Perhaps due to the 'loneliness' unique to our souls trapped in the tomb, we began trying to recreate our former home on the surface."

"You know, humans have a deep-seated attachment to home."

"When you no longer have to worry about survival, you always want to build a home of your own."

"The surface city of Mountain City was born this way—as you said, it does have commemorative attributes."

"I see."

Lin Yu nodded slowly.

"Judging by your words... indeed, I..."

He frowned, wanting to say something but ultimately holding back.

"Indeed what? Indeed, you can't blame us, am I right?"

The man who named himself Lin Xi interjected.

"...That's correct."

Lin Yu exhaled deeply.

"You're simply trying to confront the catastrophe in your own way, just like what we're doing."

"Whether it's the Holy Blood Temple, the Mechanical God Sect, or the Huaxia Army, even the now-defeated Huadu, everyone's doing the same thing."

"Some just got it wrong, while others got it right."

"Exactly, that's it."

Lin Xi showed a comforting smile.

"I'm glad you understand us."

"Glad....."

Lin Yu couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

"So, even with your soul imprisoned, you can still feel emotions like 'gladness'?"

"That depends on how you define it."

Lin Xi spread his hands.

"If you're referring to the pleasure brought about by the secretion of hormones specific to organisms, then we definitely lack that."

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