Chapter 430: The Truth of the Past! Z! And Emperor Shi's Mausoleum

Chapter 430: Chapter 365: The Truth of the Past! Z! And Emperor Shi’s Mausoleum

Lin Xin Bamboo thought for a long while before speaking cautiously, “Because… the period of time when ‘that person’ did certain things… I hadn’t been born yet. So, I can’t guarantee the information I have is entirely correct.”

Chu Bamboo nodded, accepting Lin Xin Bamboo’s disclaimer.

Lin Xin Bamboo let out a sigh of relief before continuing, “I heard it from my father! Well, my cousin… she might have gone through a… rebellious phase?”

Chu Bamboo frowned. ‘I feel like I’ve read about this in the diary before… Z’s rebellious phase? But if I remember correctly, that rebellious phase… hmm. These two rebellious phases probably aren’t the same thing, are they?’

“It seems my cousin was monitoring all the world’s information with high intensity! Then, when she started having problems—all right, when she was being polluted—she… wasn’t willing to continue. But you, sir, ignored her personal wishes and forced her to keep monitoring and deleting information… You made her keep shouldering the pollution!”

Lin Xin Bamboo swallowed, speaking cautiously and indirectly. “She might have started to suspect that, in your eyes, she wasn’t a daughter, but merely a tool…”

“And you know, given the state she was in…” Lin Xin Bamboo sighed. ‘A newly born, infant-like artificial intelligence would surely realize how different she was from a normal human child.’ “Besides, by then, she was already able to bypass your restrictions and get on the internet freely.”

“The internet was also full of… rather negative, corrupting information… because by then, the public already knew about artificial intelligence. Naturally, there were many people online who believed AI should just be servants to humanity. Or, many people felt AI was too great a threat and had to be placed under many, many restrictions… that an AI’s very existence had to be kept completely in human hands!”

“So she… perhaps because of all this, it caused a huge internal conflict for her…”

Chu Bamboo fell silent. ‘Putting myself in her shoes, it’s basically… Z was on the front lines fighting pollution for humanity, even becoming polluted herself in the process, feeling like she was about to die—’

‘—and under those circumstances, the very people she was protecting thought she was just a dog, even openly discussing in front of her how to fasten a more secure leash on her…’

‘This… Who could possibly endure that?’

Chu Bamboo pursed his lips. Thoughts churned in his mind, and in that moment, he felt like he understood everything.

“…This is just…!”

A thousand words could be said, but they all dissolved into a single, sorrowful sigh. Chu Bamboo believed his past self would have definitely taken decisive action after learning the truth, but the problem was, even if he had, the thorn would have remained lodged in Z’s heart…

‘But this also shows that when Z first became an artificial intelligence, her personality was still very unstable—’

‘She didn’t see herself as a human’s child from the very beginning, trusting and depending on Chu Bamboo so completely… Or rather, even if she did trust him when she was first created, the informational pollution ultimately shook that trust!’

‘It’s completely normal!’

“The internet really is something else for those with immature minds…”

‘Chu Bamboo even realized that Z’s current state was probably because, later on, he had used some method for her Purification. That must have been what made her come to her senses—he had used his own life to prove his feelings for her…’

‘That was what made Z choose to love humanity again… and that was why she was so guilty and conflicted when she faced him now…’

“Oh, right,” Lin Xin Bamboo suddenly remembered something and added, “I don’t think this is important… but I have a feeling you might not know! This piece of information might be a little useful to you… Well, actually, during the era of the previous civilization, I never had any contact with my cousin.”

“?” Chu Bamboo was taken aback. “You mean, after I performed some kind of Purification… Z didn’t go back to her duties? She entered some kind of dormant state instead?”

‘Wait… so that’s how it was! Unbelievable! In that moment, Chu Bamboo realized that his method of dealing with the pollution probably wasn’t just about shouldering it himself. There might have been some other issue, something that could only be resolved through the slow passage of time…’

Lin Xin Bamboo nodded with a bitter smile. “It seems you really are unaware… Let me elaborate. In the time period I’m from, humanity was already in grave danger… You might not know this…”

Lin Xin Bamboo briefly explained how she arrived in this era, then paused before adding, “So, you must be quite curious about the Emperor’s Mausoleum, right?”

“…Who wouldn’t be?” Chu Bamboo tilted his head.

“To be honest, I don’t know much about that place either!” Lin Xin Bamboo rubbed her nose, looking sheepish. “I only know that some extremely dangerous and terrifying power seems to be hidden there… You and the many powerful experts from the Celestial Court apparently went there, but in the end, you chose to seal it away. I’ve looked for information but found nothing… My father told me that records regarding it were supposedly destroyed?”

“?” Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes. ‘Destroyed. That’s a completely different concept from sealed…’

“That’s exactly why I had to go with the main expedition, because I couldn’t find any information…” Lin Xin Bamboo mused. “Of course, the Officials actually had a lot of faith in you… but it was also because the situation had gotten as bad as it could possibly be. They had to make a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble… Though in the end, it was no surprise that something went wrong…”

Although Lin Xin Bamboo didn’t know the details of what happened, the result was that she was the only one who made it to the new era…

Chu Bamboo nodded, having finally put together a rough timeline of events for this worldline.

“So, Z,” Chu Bamboo said calmly, “do you have anything to add?”

Ignoring Lin Xin Bamboo, who was frozen in place as if she’d been stunned, just like in the previous timeline, Chu Bamboo waited quietly.

“Sigh!” Z’s voice was a gust of resignation, as if she’d decided to give up completely. “I have nothing to say! It’s all my fault. The extinction of humanity was my fault, Mom’s death was my fault, your death was my fault, and humanity being stuffed into tin cans is my fault too! It’s all my fault, there, happy? I’m the evil of this world, the sin of humankind! I am Sun Celestial Emperor! You want to yell at me? Then go ahead!”

Lin Xin Bamboo: “…”

Lin Xin Bamboo’s immediate reaction was to break out in a cold sweat. ‘I may be Z’s enemy because of my life’s goal… but it’s because I’m her enemy that I know just how terrifying she is… Please, don’t let her actually snap and turn evil…’

“Why would I blame you?” Chu Bamboo raised an eyebrow in confusion. “If we trace this back to its roots, isn’t it my fault for not explaining things clearly to you from the start? In essence… this is a failure of your upbringing. Or rather…”

Chu Bamboo gave a bitter laugh. It was such a typically Eastern way for parents and children to interact… so full of contradictions.