True Apocalypse Game

Siberia’s permafrost layer can be up to 1,000 to 1,500 meters thick and is as hard as concrete, making it an excellent protective barrier.

The control system for Bear Country’s nuclear strike system, Shemalge, was hidden hundreds of meters beneath this permafrost.

For hundreds of years, as a faithful program, it had silently run, carrying out its mission.

Unlike Jingwei and Poseidon, Shemalge had no independent consciousness. Its ability to remain operational until now was mainly due to its auxiliary repair systems and the rugged, durable tradition of Bear Country’s military industry.

This time, however, was different.

An intercontinental ballistic missile screaming in from North America directly penetrated a hundred meters of permafrost before detonating deep within the earth. (For reference, publicly available data on the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator shows its penetrator, made of a high-strength nickel-cobalt steel alloy, can pierce 60 meters of standard reinforced concrete before detonating. This is 40 meters for hard rock, 8 meters for ultra-reinforced concrete, and up to 200 meters for soil. And that’s just the public data.)

As the weakest link in the tripartite balance of deterrence, Shemalge’s purpose had always been to ensure the other two sides wouldn’t have to pull their punches. Now, it had completely fulfilled its mission.

The servers, loaded with vast amounts of data, were instantly vaporized by the super-high temperatures of the nuclear explosion. The few remaining backup servers suffered a similar fate.

Simultaneously, with Shemalge’s disappearance, the firewalls it had established vanished. Jingwei easily hacked the sole remaining military satellite, connecting to the last few dozen RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Shemalge, which had barely clung to existence in the Siberian wilderness for hundreds of years, vanished without a trace.

The people living on this vast land were merely puzzled as to why Rebirth Day had come again, unaware that all traces of their Bear God had been erased.

While all this was happening, Shen Feng stood in the plaza of the Night Woman Tribe, staring blankly at the two ICBM launch vehicles before him. He was surrounded by the awestruck and terrified Night Women, who were being calmed by Firefly after seeing the emissary of the God of the East Wind.

After Shen Feng had asked Jingwei for a nuclear warhead, Jingwei had actually summoned two launch vehicles right inside the tunnels of the Iron Country!

’I can’t believe they were hiding nuclear warheads in a place like this!’

Because they had been hidden within the Iron Country the whole time, these two launch vehicles had not suffered any radiation contamination.

But if one of these things were to detonate underground, it would definitely obliterate the entire remaining subway system, turning the whole of Iron Country into a vision of Hell.

"How about it? Am I generous? You ask for one egg, I give you two," Jingwei’s voice emanated from the missile launch vehicle.

Shen Feng ignored Jingwei, took a deep breath, and spoke to his wristband:

"I’ve found the nuclear warhead. How do I submit the quest item?"

A holographic screen instantly materialized from the wristband, displaying a line of text:

"Please drive the launch vehicle into the main hall of Shelter 0 and close the main gate."

Upon hearing this, Shen Feng jumped directly into the cockpit of the missile launch vehicle, acquired the driving instructions via his Silicon-Based Brain, drove into Shelter 0, and closed the heavy alloy doors.

Staring at the sealed doors, Shen Feng couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

’All this time, submitting and retrieving quest items had to be done in a sealed space, out of my sight. Did this mean the entity behind the "True Apocalypse Game" used a transfer method that required shielding from any observers?’

’Moreover, the other party didn’t seem capable of directly interfering with reality. Otherwise, back in the Stone Statue Apocalypse, it could have just downloaded the information on how to drive an armored vehicle into my brain instead of making me read a book.’

’Could the presence of an observer cause the transfer process to undergo quantum collapse?’

After letting his mind wander for a while, Shen Feng couldn’t help but laugh at himself. ’When in doubt, blame quantum mechanics, huh...’

He casually opened the main doors again, and just as he expected, the missile launch vehicle was gone.

In its place was a small object, the size of a button cell battery.

Seeing Shen Feng enter, a nearby screen abruptly lit up, showing Jingwei’s little bird avatar. Its expression, however, was one of pure shock:

"Was that the mastermind behind this game? Incredible! It completely blocked my perception. I think I was just inside a black box!"

As it spoke, it began to dart back and forth between various screens, as if trying to find the hidden mastermind.

Shen Feng picked up the metal piece from the floor, and his wristband immediately flashed a message:

"Quest reward acquired: Electronic Controller. Please place the item on the exterior of your central nervous system."

’What the hell is this thing?’

Shen Feng frowned and pressed the metal piece against his cervical spine.

In the next instant, he felt a flash of electricity, and his Silicon-Based Brain detected a request for an information transfer.

Shen Feng braced himself and accepted the information transfer request.

Immediately, he felt his Silicon-Based Brain begin to operate rapidly. A new set of data appeared in his mind, occupying a section of it.

No, perhaps it shouldn’t be called data, but a program.

Shen Feng could see and even deconstruct the entire program perfectly, as if it were one of his own arms.

This was a subroutine that belonged completely to him.

A cage program.

In his conscious perception, the program manifested as a sturdy metal cage, or a conscious chain!

Then, the metal piece began to heat up and smoke. Shen Feng dropped the thing on the ground, and it immediately burned into a piece of scrap metal.

"What was that?" Jingwei asked curiously.

"A containment program," Shen Feng stated frankly. "Or a security program. It’s probably meant to help me control you."

There was no need to lie in this situation.

Jingwei had already eliminated all its enemies; it would only grow more bored in this wasteland world. Besides, its intellect was far beyond that of a normal human’s, so it would naturally understand the meaning of this balance of power.

Before its demise, Poseidon had cursed them to attack each other, to be forever filled with suspicion. If he wasn’t upfront, he would only be making that curse come true.

Most importantly, Jingwei had already sensed the power of the entity behind the True Apocalypse Game... 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Jingwei was stunned for a moment, then sighed and said:

"Fine, fine, I knew it... After all, humans have a saying: ’Those not of our kind are sure to be of a different mind.’ You have to guard against me becoming a great Demon King who wants to control the world, right...?

"I get it. But I hope we can have a mutual understanding. After I go back with you, my main data can be stored with you, but my core consciousness must be free."

Shen Feng nodded.

He naturally understood that the casual, Zen-like personality Jingwei displayed was just a template it had chosen. As a super-AI with a massive amount of data, everything it did was fundamentally the result of rational analysis.

Clearly, Jingwei wanted to latch on to the powerful entity behind the True Apocalypse Game, and sticking with Shen Feng was the fastest shortcut.

Shen Feng’s eyes widened. He said to Jingwei:

"Come on, enter my body!"

Jingwei giggled, dropping down data cables that pierced into Shen Feng’s body. Shen Feng couldn’t help but let out a muffled grunt.

Then came a torrent of data, surging toward Shen Feng and pouring into his body!

A long while later, Shen Feng’s consciousness appeared within the data world inside his own body.

This place had manifested as a vast ocean. Above this ocean floated a giant birdcage a hundred meters tall, with Jingwei’s massive form standing inside.

Shen Feng looked at Jingwei through the bars of the birdcage and muttered to himself:

"Suddenly, I really feel like creating a Rasengan..."