Chapter 37 - Wilderness (5)

The other team members seemed to have done the same thing as Adam and Zhang Xun; ducked into several other mines, turned off their flashlights and waited for the horrifying mechanical monster with claws to pass by on its patrol. The monster probably sensed the sound before but because it couldn't find the source of the sound it roamed back and forth in the mine, its rows of millipede-like mechanical legs constantly danced along the ground and made a scalp-numbing 'da da da' sound.

The mechanical monster was too strange and evil looking. That unnerving red light and the strange sounds of its electric current and footsteps that affected their psyches, combined together were enough to stimulate the primitive human instinct of fear of danger. Some of the older hunters were able to suppress the fear, but the young, red-haired hunter was clearly starting to panic. When the mechanical monster swerved into the fork where he was hiding he fell apart and started running away desperately.

The sound of his footsteps was immediately detected by Eden's "mechanical dog". Its tentacles that stretched and swayed suddenly all rushed in the same direction and the uncomfortable red light began to flicker rhythmically as a piercing alarm sounded. It began to gallop and its countless legs seemed to float across the ground at a terrifyingly fast speed. It only took a moment until Zhang Xun and Adam heard the youth's terrified scream.

In the dark, the two of them didn't need words and both rushed to the mine tunnel where the screams came from. Adam turned on his light and the beam ripped through the darkness, shining on the wicked mass of metal not far away.

At a glance, the young man seemed to be suspended in the air, but after a closer look, he found that his shoulders, waist and thighs had all been penetrated by the tentacles of the mechanical monster. The blood had damaged the battle uniform on his body and the invisibility effect disappeared, revealing the material that was stained with blood.

"Let him go!" another hunter roared, firing his gun at the mechanical monster, but the bullets ricocheted off the mechanical dog with sparks flying one after another.

The mechanical monster's other tentacles turned towards the other people and the red light on the top of the tentacles became more and more fiery. Adam immediately shouted, "Get down!"

When his voice fell, there was a flash from the red light that rushed towards all of them.

Following Adam's warning, the group all fell to the ground. The red light hit the rock wall without making any sound, however, after the momentary light dissipated, an extremely smooth and rounded depression appeared on the rock wall several metres deep. It was as if a whole piece of earth was silently vaporised, leaving scattered smoke and dust.

If such a thing hit a person, there would be no time to feel any pain, there wouldn't even be any bones left.

Zhang Xun broke out in a cold sweat. No matter how many times he had already brushed with death, he still couldn't get used to it, especially with this kind of efficient and ruthless killing.

The mechanical dog aimed at them again with those tentacles. Clearly it only intended to catch one person alive and the rest would be immediately executed.

At this time, Adam suddenly opened his mouth and shouted a long series of strange and obscure garbled language. His speech was so fast that he didn't even have a break or a chance to breathe, but his articulation was exceptionally clear and every tricky syllable could be accurately expressed through the coordination of his tongue, lips, teeth and vocal cords, almost as if he were chanting a spell.

Zhang Xun immediately recognized that this was the language of AI.

Strange things then happened. The red light on the top of the tentacles of the mechanical dog that was about to launch the second wave of attacks, suddenly dimmed. All the tentacles stopped waving and it stood motionless, seemingly confused.

Adam continued to speak the words that only AI could understand without any pause. His blue eyes seemed to transmit complex thoughts that humans couldn't read, showing a kind of alienation and remoteness beyond the world. The body of the mechanical dog began to tremble and the sound of electric currents and metal friction from the body became louder and louder, which was somewhat like the noise produced by a CPU overheating. It trembled more and more violently and then suddenly, everything was quiet.

The mechanical dog had frozen in place.

"Quick! Help him!" Adam shouted to Cannon and the others, "I used the failsafe in this mechanical dog's programming to disrupt its running framework, creating an infinite loop to temporarily overload and freeze it, but there may be only one minute until it restarts itself."

Everyone was stunned, who would have thought it was possible to modify the code of a killing machine by speaking?!

But without any hesitation, a few people who weren't injured rushed over to rescue the seriously injured young man who was on the verge of passing out. Then, Zhang Xun heard the familiar rattling and metal friction sound again.

"There's more coming! We have to retreat!" Zhang Xun said to Cannon in a panic.

But Cannon looked outside the mine tunnel and whispered, "It's too late."

A red light and shadow had already appeared where they came from. They were blocked in.

Perhaps this was indeed a trap...

Looking at the two lightly injured people and the seriously injured red-haired youth, Cannon immediately ordered, "We have to flee deeper."

In the dark mine, the air was humid and sultry. Zhang Xun could feel that his clothes inside the battle uniform were completely soaked in sweat, his legs kept moving forward of their own will and his throat was filled with a unique taste after running for such a long time. They didn't dare to turn on too many flashlights, they could only chase after the light in Cannon's hand at the front and stumbled forward. Whenever they came to a fork in the road they would choose a random tunnel to enter, hoping to get rid of the ominous metal friction that was chasing after them.

This mine was extremely intricate, like a huge maze in the mountains. All the tunnels looked alike, littered with long forgotten tools and corpses buried in black stone. They gradually became lost, they didn't know where they were or which way they had travelled. The red light of death flashed around every corner and the echoes of metal friction came from all over, the hollow mountainside amplified all the sounds infinitely, as if they were everywhere.

Adam didn't even have time to use his previous method to stop all the mechanical dogs, they could only flee in desperation. Gradually, under the pursuit and interception of those metal monsters, the group began to disperse so there were fewer and fewer people left.

In the end, after being chased again by three mechanical dogs that suddenly rushed out from nowhere, Zhang Xun sat down against the stones that blocked the end of the mine tunnel and found that he and Adam were the only ones left.

He felt like he couldn't move another step, there was darkness everywhere, endless darkness and rocks and that ominous red light. He took off his helmet and left it on the ground, knowing that this thing was useless now. His tablet had broken while they were fleeing and the bugs had all been found and destroyed by the mechanical dogs. Behind them was a collapsed mine tunnel and in front of them was endless darkness and an underground labyrinth with no way out. They were completely trapped.

Zhang Xun wiped the sweat from his eyes in frustration, trying to recall the road they had just walked, but his mind was a mess and he couldn't calm down at all.

Was he going to die here?

After his most primitive fear of death had reached a certain level, his mind had become numb and he didn't feel so afraid. He still had so many things he wanted to do and so many places he wanted to go... But if his time had come, what could he do?

He looked up and saw Adam leaning against the wet rocks, also sweating and exhausted, and had only one thought in his mind: If he was going to die, he mustn't let Adam fall into these people's hands. As he thought this, he touched the last line of defence that was implanted under the skin of his left arm...

Adam was created by him, he belonged to him alone. No one could take him away.

At least they could die together...

Adam looked at Zhang Xun, saw Zhang Xun looking at him, saw that his eyes looked a bit red, they looked strangely fervent, even with a hint of danger.

Adam inexplicably liked this look.

"Ah-Xun, don't worry, the water here is so deep and there are signs of collapse in many places ahead. It's estimated that serious landslides or explosions have occurred. It has been at least a hundred years since anyone has come here. We are still safe."

"If everyone else is caught they are bound to come for us. To be precise, they will come for you. I'm almost certain now that they're coming for you." Zhang Xun stared at Adam and said fiercely in a low, hoarse voice, "But I will never give you to them."

The implied threat in his words was clear.

Adam smiled softly. He turned and crouched down in front of Zhang Xun, his blue eyes fixed on him. With the light from the flashlight, Zhang Xun could see his own reflection in those beautiful eyes.

"I'm glad you think so." Adam said, hooking Zhang Xun's index finger with his own index finger and shaking lightly as if it were fun, "But things are not that bad yet."

"We don't have any weapons on us, how can we deal with so many of those monsters outside?"

"Of course you have a weapon." Adam grabbed Zhang Xun's hand and pointed to himself, "I am your weapon."

Zhang Xun frowned, looking at Adam with uncertainty.

"I think I have a way to get us out, all of us, including James, but there is a necessary precondition." Adam reached out his hand and touched Zhang Xun's chest through the battle suit. He felt the locket that had never been taken off and also felt Zhang Xun's heartbeat, "I need your absolute trust."

"...You know I can't..." Zhang Xun said with difficulty. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he knew how uncontrollable AIs could be. He had to remain vigilant and introspective and keep a distance at all times, so as not to be swallowed up by this technology.

Adam was neither angry nor sad, he still held Zhang Xun's hand and lowered his head to gently kiss the back of his hand, "I know, so I am just asking you to believe me here. Trust in me absolutely."

Zhang Xun felt like the skin on his hand had been burned, but he didn't pull his hand away. Adam obviously understood the impact these small actions would have on him and the more he reacted the more he would conclude that "this action is useful". However, on the more instinctive side of him, his heart beat faster and his pupils dilated because of this touch.

AIs would not have the same emotions as humans because they were not of nature, they have no bodies, have no changes in hormone levels and have not evolved to have a need for emotions. But what about an AI with a human body and metabolism?

Can pure intellect give birth to impulses and feelings that are no longer rational on the basis of having enough "hardware"?

Such conjectures were the basis of the entire god descent plan. Zhang Xun wanted to believe it from the beginning, otherwise he would not have become the key executor of the god descent plan in the later stage.

Now, if they could never escape this place and the worst outcome was that they would die together, what would be the harm in trusting in him?

So Zhang Xun took a deep breath and nodded lightly.

"Okay, just in this place, I will absolutely believe in you."