Volume 9: Fate of Destiny Chapter 60 Life, bloom on the road to the future
"Snap"
There was a slight sound of a door opening in the dead silence of the ruins, and the stars suddenly appeared at this dawn.
This may be the last time Mason uses the World Gate. Although Team K has been disbanded and the All-Star Society is finished, the landing point of this thing is still accurate.
But after opening the door, the scenery in front of me has changed.
The once prosperous city is now reduced to a vast expanse of ruins stretching to the end of the sight. As the ecological environment has been destroyed, it is no longer suitable for human habitation. The ruins after the evacuation of life are particularly miserable, and only some Arasaka Industries' bionic humans are still working in them.
These hardy bionic people have cleared out large tracts of ruins and built their minimalist assembly workshops and "living quarters".
Although the labor and new life here are not a life of comfort, for these bionic people who choose physical reconstruction, everything they do in this real world is much more meaningful than staying in cyberspace and wasting their lives.
Of course, their assistance in rebuilding the Isu world is not free, and it is impossible for a large company like Arasaka to come and do good deeds.
For example, this ruin has been designated by the Isu world as a construction area for Arasaka Industries, and in the future it will become one of the many civilization restart points in the Kamikami world.
This is the result of discussions between Miss Huazi and Sister Ka, and it also proves that not all people from the world of 2077 are willing to follow in the footsteps of Batmos and transform into another form in the unknown mechanical kingdom.
Mechanical Ascension is a good endpoint for the fate of the world.
But it suffers from the same problem as the other endings in that it's not for everyone.
Life always has its own ideas, although not always correct, but this is obviously not a detail that Mason needs to intervene in at this time. They are free, and as individuals, they have the right to decide their own future without affecting the overall interests.
"After your people recover, they will have to learn to coexist with the large group of androids. At least they will have to help each other in difficult times."
Mason walked in the ruins and said to Brother A beside him:
"I will ask Huazi to give you some preferential treatment..."
“No need.”
Mercer shook his head and said firmly:
“They don’t need preferential treatment!
My world is not so fragile that it is like a baby without the ability to take care of itself. If they want to take back their civilization and find a perfect new home, they have to do it themselves.
Trust them.
When they used me as a counter-attack plan, they had already made preparations for the recovery of civilization in advance. They even set up a very sophisticated permission tree in the genetic sequence of the Blacklight virus.
Life will not be revived all at once.
Those carefully selected elites will be the first to be resurrected from my remains. They will be the pioneers of civilization after the restart of the doomsday, followed by ordinary people.
They have schemes and plans, just like you.
So, I believe they can do it.”
"Well, if they don't need preferential treatment from outside, then perhaps you, a legendary person, can give them some help?"
Mason blinked and said:
"For example, using the immortality of the Black Light Virus to give them some genetic or life form enhancements? Is this necessary?"
He pointed to the land in front of him, where a sandstorm was still blowing in the night sky at dawn, and said:
"Isn't it a bit too much for a group of ordinary people to start rebuilding civilization in a region where the ecosystem has completely collapsed?"
"I won't do that."
Brother A shook his head stubbornly and said:
"My agreement with Lady Cassandra was not like this either, but this piece of land... maybe I can prepay the 'rent' for my people in advance."
His words were very cryptic, but Mason nodded, obviously guessing how this guy had convinced Sister Ka and the assassin managers of this world.
Mason decided to respect Brother A's wishes and not get involved.
In this epic of civilization's revival, he was just a witness and bystander.
"Wait a mininute."
Mason made a gesture, signaling Brother A not to rush to use the "Demon Disintegration Technique". He walked quickly forward, crossed a collapsed area that had been cleaned up by the bionic people, and walked in front of a sculpture.
He looked at the stone sculpture in front of him.
This is a human figure carved from a whole piece of collapsed giant stone, and it shows the scene of the assassin saint John Wick holding the leadership module and dying bravely.
The entire stone sculpture is restored quite vividly and does not conceal Wick's embarrassment in the last stage of his life.
But it also vividly demonstrated the perseverance and bravery of this assassin saint, especially the action of him looking up at the starry sky, which perfectly restored Wick's last wish and conveyed a certain momentum of the Isu people's unyielding spirit.
It is obviously a masterpiece at first glance.
Mason's epigraphy skills have also reached Level 9, so he is definitely qualified to make comments on carving. After taking a look at the inscription below the stone carving, he discovered that it was carved by Sister Ka herself, so it is natural to understand why the carving was so completed to such a high degree.
For an immortal who has lived for more than two thousand years, even taking the time to learn some stone carving techniques would be enough to bring her craftsmanship to the highest level.
“This is to commemorate our bravest compatriot, John Wick. At a time when our world was overturned and civilization collapsed, he stood up, defeated the enemies of the stars with his courage and fearlessness, and won us continued power and dignity!
He is the model and symbol of the assassin's way!
He is the embodiment of the indomitable spirit and tenacity of all Isu people. Under his watchful eyes, we will surely step into the future and reach the stars."
Mason read the inscription on the stone carving.
He noticed that there was a traditional and elegant hidden blade symbol under the stone carving, which represented Wick's identity.
He has become a true assassin saint, and his story will be remembered into the next era and sung across the stars along with the existence of the Isu civilization.
Being famous was not a good thing for an assassin, but considering that Wick was already dead, such a grand commemoration became necessary.
"I think you might not like the statue they made of you because your dog isn't in it, and it might make you feel lonely."
Mason said softly, taking out the white flowers that he had prepared for mourning from his bag and placing them in front of Wick's sculpture.
The place was already filled with bouquets of flowers that were quickly weathering in the wind and sand. Obviously, there were other people who would cross the vast storm to come here to pay tribute to their brothers and heroes who had gone before them.
That's good.
A good civilization is one that respects and remembers heroes.
"We won, Wick."
Mason half-knelt in front of the sculpture.
He gestured to Brother A who was bowing his head in silence behind him. The latter turned and left, then came back a few seconds later with a stone of appropriate size.
Mason took out the carving knife and carved it skillfully. He spoke to the deceased soul represented by the sculpture in front of him as :
“Although you didn’t see it with your own eyes, we have completed our expedition to Hell and disbanded the Star Society. The organization that once coveted your world has become a story that will eventually be forgotten in the Dark Ages.
Their chaos, evil and madness will also become the topic of conversation for future generations, and you will also be a part of that story, perhaps an important part.
But I know you don't really care about these.
Although you have never told me about your past life, it is not difficult for me to find this information.
Perhaps when your wife died you had already become a wandering ghost, moving aimlessly in a world that did not belong to you.
The only person who keeps you company is your dog...
I don't know what you were thinking when you died, but I guess that death didn't make you feel afraid. If there really is a paradise for assassins, you must have been reunited with your wife in it by now.
You are never alone.
You just did what you thought was necessary and worth doing, which is a truly heroic act, and I am honored to be a part of your life and to be regarded as a trusted friend by you.
Everything you did was not in vain.
This finally gave me the courage to give you my last gift without any regrets."
Amid the sound of a chisel scratching across stone, a lifelike statue of a golden retriever was completed. Mason blew away the dust and debris on the stone sculpture, then picked it up and placed it under Wick's statue.
Then he stood up and stepped back to take a look.
Under the originally tragic and fearless statue of a dying man, a puppy is lying there licking his wounds. The puppy's expression is full of worry and nostalgia, which invisibly dispels the solemnity and despair of the sculpture and adds a touch of warmth to it.
"How about it?"
Mason lit a cigarette and turned back to ask Brother A, who nodded and said in a hoarse voice:
"It's much better than before. At least he no longer looks like a statue hanging on the wall, being feared by everyone who looks at him but no one really cares."
"Do you want me to carve one for you?"
The captain squinted his eyes and said:
"You can customize the appearance and the thoughts you want to convey. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll just charge you for the labor."
"Forget it, there's no need ."
Brother A didn't know whether he was stingy or really didn't care. He waved his hand and said:
"I am not someone who should be remembered, so you don't need to worry about my tombstone. Let's go, it's almost dawn, and I want to finish this before dawn."
"Um."
Mason nodded and followed Brother A out of here. When he turned around, he waved to the sculpture behind him and said:
"I'll take good care of your dog, don't worry about anything, Wick, just enjoy your reunion in heaven."
A few minutes later, Brother A arrived at his destination. In fact, it was not far from Wick's sculpture. If the city was still there, it would only be a few blocks away.
Although this place is full of ruins, the terrain is flat. Not far away there is a nearly dried-up stream leading directly to a half-ruined harbor in the distance. The semi-circular valley shape is very suitable as a starting point for a civilization.
Although it cannot accommodate too many people, considering that Brother A's world only chose this place as a temporary residence, they will definitely leave the Isu world and settle in a new place in the future, so this choice can be said to be perfect.
Mason looked up at the sky. It was already the darkest moment of the day, and dawn would arrive in a dozen minutes.
Brother A is usually quiet, but I didn't expect him to have such a strong sense of ritual. He probably wanted to try some art and let his civilization revive in the light of dawn.
He is truly a very artistic young man who hides his true self.
"Can I help you?"
Mason asked as he blew out a smoke ring, and Brother A shook his head.
He opened his bag and threw out many jars, which contained strange solid energy blocks. The captain didn't even need to check them, just one sniff and he knew that it was concentrated life energy. No one knew where Brother A got it from.
This amount of energy is enough to revive the population of a small city.
Under Mason's gaze, Brother A took a deep breath, took off his hood and faced the ocean in the distance. He moved his five fingers to maximize the activity of the Blacklight Virus. Then his fingers turned into black tendrils and inserted into the surrounding jars, extending like a spider web so that the ends of his tentacles could absorb enough energy.
His feet pierced the ground like the roots of an old tree, extending downwards.
Just like a thousand-year-old tree, Mason could feel the black tendrils running under the ground like dense blood vessels, filling and running rapidly, and quickly spreading to half of the ruins with the slight vibration of the ground.
The movement was quickly detected by the bionic workers working in the surrounding ruins, and a few minutes later armed bionic men riding octants rushed over.
But when they saw Mason standing there, the soldiers immediately dropped their weapons.
Although she is not a manager of Arasaka Industries, Miss Hanako, the current head of the large group, is the secretary of this gentleman. As staff members affiliated with the group, they must of course show the strongest respect to Mr. Mason.
The captain's kindness to them is something they can never repay in several lifetimes.
Mason did not drive away the approaching bionic people.
He allowed them to watch the process from the outside. As more and more people watched, Brother A's body continued to stretch. With the infusion of sufficient life energy and the official start of the "seeding" program in the blacklight virus gene sequence, his original life form was also changing rapidly.
It was like some kind of weird and absurd "alien" that lost its human form in just a few minutes and stood up like a black leafless tree.
His arms transformed into tree trunks and vines extending to the ground, while his body continued to expand and eventually formed tree trunks surrounded by solidified black biological keratin.
Weak branches kept sprouting from behind Mercer and looking around, and the bare trunks soon formed a canopy that covered the surroundings.
There were dark red spots of light shining on the strange black branches. That was the last link in the process of spreading the blacklight virus by sending the constantly transformed life energy into the body.
This should be the most suitable way for Brother A to spread his life, which he concluded through his research on the red power of all things.
Although it looked very scary, Mason could fully understand how it worked. As he watched in silence, the ends of the constantly differentiating branches formed red "cocoons" like blooming flower buds.
Just like twigs with large fruits, they continue to expand until the branches are bent and they are gently placed on the ground one by one.
There was also a reddish light flickering in those cocoons.
People with good eyesight can even see the embryos that are rapidly taking shape in the unknown substance, just like the process of the birth of a clone, except that Brother A used the blacklight virus that has evolved to the extreme to accelerate the process.
Amid the constant exclamations of the bionic people behind Mason, the black branches continued to extend and branch out from the main trunk, until finally forming a "black forest" that covered the entire valley and the half-ruined harbor.
At this time, Brother A has turned into an existence that is difficult to describe in words. His body as a living being and any trace of humanity can no longer be seen. He has transformed himself into a giant black tree over a hundred meters high. The branches that extend like spider webs form layers of strange patterns.
Being in it is like standing in a living nest, and the number of embryos that have been spawned has exceeded tens of thousands and is still being born.
Those points of light...
Red spots of light like fireflies rose from this black nest of strange life, and they were blown towards the city behind in the wind and sand of the night.
Mason held out his hand and let a reddish light fall into his palm.
He could feel the pure life force contained in this point of light, which began to dissolve and give as it fell.
There were bursts of exclamations from the bionic people behind them. They saw the red light spots merge into the ground when they hit the ground, and then green grass and flowers grew rapidly.
Brother A's black light virus has devoured the entire world, not just humans but also beasts and plants, and while he is freeing his people, he also has to regenerate these natural creatures.
This is the agreement between him and Sister Ka.
Sister Ka lends part of the world to her people, and Brother A wants to help Sister Ka reshape the ecosystem of this wild land.
As the most perfect host for the Blacklight Virus, Brother A can do this.
"Click"
Mason heard the sound of a large cocoon breaking, and the captain looked up and followed the sound. He saw the first "hatched" cocoon under a black branch that went deep into the ground not far away from him.
Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, a naked young girl with short hair was crawling out, gasping for breath, her body covered in some kind of mucus.
Makes this scene look very evil.
But Mason recognized her. The face that was 70% similar to Brother A was enough to prove her identity.
The captain turned his head away like a gentleman, took out a set of Harry's clothes from his bag and handed it to him. On the eve of dawn, he whispered:
"Hello, Diana, get dressed, you don't want to miss what's coming."
