Chapter 158: Epilogue
After countless tests, the “Bedrock System” was officially launched on February 1st, New Calendar Year 917.
This was a day destined to be recorded in history. As the countdown ended, erroneous logic chains in units of trillions were deployed in batches into the vast galaxy. As the process gradually advanced, time on Earth seemed to stagnate for a moment. The sky continuously rippled with strange faint light. Fluorescent green electronic rays fell straight down like curtains of rain, instantly covering every corner of mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas. White fog rose and filled the air. At the same time, emergency phones at Order Maintenance Departments across the globe began ringing frantically!
Jin City was no exception.
At the information center, operators continuously transferred calls. Almost all government office buildings were filled with voices. Citizens stood by windows, watching in terror as masked figures appeared out of nowhere on the streets—wearing black and red robes, holding gavels. Their forms appeared and disappeared in the white fog—judges from another dimension.
“Your previous speculation was correct.” Zhuang Ningyu closed the window and turned to Yi Ke. “When rule zones iterate to a certain degree, AI will ultimately evolve into physical ‘Grand Justices,’ wandering the world, becoming the sole arbiters of human destiny.”
And now, the “Bedrock Plan” forcibly accelerated this process. Grand Justices were rapidly spawned under massive data clusters, then rapidly destroyed under even more massive data clusters. The entire process took less than three hours and didn’t pose any substantial threat to social order. When the last Grand Justice vanished into nothing, the anomaly shrouding Earth’s sky also faintly began to shatter. The unique moist scent of white fog was swept up by wild winds. After desperate, uneasy struggle, it finally dissipated completely into the depths of the universe along with countless data streams.
“On February 1st, New Calendar Year 917, the Earth self-rescue plan codenamed ‘Bedrock,’ jointly led by multiple nations, officially declared complete success! When facing unknown threats, we ultimately conquered difficulties with grand imagination, amazing creativity, and breakthrough technological innovation, rewrote destiny, and won back peace and stability.”
This was freedom day for all humanity.
As for the Invisible Giants, having lost the “protection” of rule zones, and with consortiums behind them defecting and withdrawing one after another, their South Pacific base was soon jointly destroyed by multinational forces. Adam died when his plane crashed during emergency escape. The vast network of relationships he had meticulously woven over many years was forcibly exposed to daylight.
Sharp blades pierced the darkness. Daylight was glaring. Those moldy, dark corners welcomed their first ray of dry sunshine at the story’s end.
…
Half a year later.
The first round of restructuring work for Order Maintenance Departments across the country had been basically completed. Main functions changed from “rule elimination” to “Evolver incident handling,” because although rule zones were destroyed, Evolvers still existed. Moreover, among newborns born during this period, this population still maintained certain numbers—human abilities didn’t disappear along with the disappearance of rule zones.
As for why this phenomenon appeared, later textbooks provided a unified explanation: “Evolvers are not parasitic products of rule zones but rather humanity’s collective self-rescue. When facing threats from the universe, various human bodily functions were developed without limit, rapidly undertaking homeland defense duties, and ultimately achieving stable heredity of such mutations over long years.”
Everyone was learning how to cope with the entirely new environment, but fortunately, the direction of social order changes was toward greater simplicity and safety, so adaptation wasn’t difficult. The original action teams were renamed rapid response teams, with specific functions similar to Evolver police. Zhuang Ningyu wasn’t immediately transferred back but continued working in the research group for a while. Only after his leg injury completely healed did the medical examination center finally sign his examination report.
But he still couldn’t immediately start work, because on the day Zhuang Ningyu moved offices, a cardboard box accidentally fell from a three-wheeler. It happened to be a windy day. Instantly, papers flew out dozens of meters like snowflakes. Enthusiastic passersby on the sidewalk rushed over to help. You pick up one, I pick up one—looking at them, they were all Captain Zhuang’s overtime slips.
How could one person work so much overtime?
No wonder he didn’t even record New Year greeting videos anymore!
This matter was soon spread online. In the photo, Zhuang Ningyu stood alone by the roadside, clutching a large handful of messy, wrinkled overtime slips. Wind blew his hair into disarray. He looked so pale, helpless, weak, bewildered, exploited. That afternoon, the publicity group leader rushed into the director’s office holding his phone. After Huo Ting heard the whole story, he “thud” threw down his teacup. Before the Order Maintenance Department could be criticized on trending topics, he quickly approved five days of leave for Zhuang Ningyu and personally arranged a driver to send him home.
Yi Ke held the person and asked: “Adding before and after, you can rest nine days. Do you have any ideas? Want me to arrange for you and your in-laws to travel somewhere?”
Zhuang Ningyu answered while yawning: “Not going. Sleeping at home.”
Yi Ke raised his thumb. Good, worthy of being my wife!
In the end, he didn’t successfully sleep in even one day.
First day: Called by his mother to the suburbs to help tend the backyard together. A vegetable plot was specially opened “to plant that premium old pumpkin Little Yi likes to eat.” Zhuang Ningyu gripped the hoe and waved his hands repeatedly: “He doesn’t like it. He’s pretending.”
Zhuang Yan didn’t believe it and personally called to inquire. Yi Ke’s obedient voice came through the receiver: “Thank you, Uncle. I really love eating it. I’ve never eaten such delicious old pumpkin!”
Zhuang Ningyu: “?”
Zhuang Yan hung up and continued directing his son to dig. Little Yi already said he loves it!
Zhuang Ningyu worked while sighing deeply. In the future, you’ll probably be tricked into buying infrared health products.
Second day: Had tea with former colleagues from the dispute mediation department. Wu Tao had currently been promoted to deputy director of the street office, becoming a powerful stumbling block on Director Wang’s promotion path. Reportedly, every few days she’d make him so angry his beard bristled and eyes bulged. She never lost arguments. Her future was limitless. And Qian Yue, after learning about Zhuang Ningyu and Yi Ke’s relationship, was first greatly shocked, then given a second great shock by Wu Tao’s comment “Didn’t you notice at Peach & Plum District?” He cried on the spot. What, they were already wrong at Peach & Plum District? But at that time, I thought the person the boss loved most was me!
Wu Tao: “I advise you not to let Little Yi know this.”
Third day: Accompanied grandparents climbing the health preservation mountain. On the mountain was a Taoist temple. In front of the temple was a wish tree full of red silk ribbons. While the two elders ate vegetarian meals, Zhuang Ningyu sneaked out and secretly wrote one himself. When hanging it up, he casually flipped through others’—smooth college entrance exams, successful graduate school entrance, successful civil service exams, promotions, official advancement, wealth, wealth, wealth, wealth, great wealth…
Zhuang Ningyu looked at his own “together every spring,” fell into long silence, thought for a long time, and added a line beside it: good health.
To seem not so love-brained and have a few other pursuits.
Fourth day: Dragged by his future mother-in-law to attend a banquet. During it, Ms. Deng dressed in jewels, holding a wine glass in one hand and her elegantly beautiful new son in a suit in the other, made a grand entrance with a beaming smile. Throughout the event, she shuttled back and forth tirelessly like a butterfly NPC possessed, her figure graceful.
Auntie Liu: Want oxygen.
Fifth day organizing bookshelves, sixth day organizing bookshelves, seventh day continuing to organize bookshelves. Zhuang Ningyu held a stack of books and climbed the ladder. When standing on tiptoe to place them high up, his pajamas rode up a bit. The drawstring of his pajama pants was loosely tied, exposing a large section of pale, slender waist.
Yi Ke: Dig in!
Eighth day, Zhuang Ningyu lay prone on the bed with sore back and didn’t want to move: “What gathering?”
Yi Ke considerately helped massage his waist: “U-Shield’s birthday.”
The experimental lab’s little dog who had gone through hardships finally welcomed its good days—every day free and unrestrained. The birthday party location was chosen at a resort villa over a hundred kilometers from the city center. When night fell, a grand barbecue party was held in the forest.
Zhuang Ningyu wore a cream-colored sweater that day, looking unreasonably clean and beautiful. Alternating bright and dark lights fell on his face, outlining perfectly proportioned features. Under the loose collar, his exposed neck was beautifully slender. His entire person seemed to carry a holy glow.
Super Perfect Human Praise Group: Just proves the holy aura has its own logic!
Yi Ke walked forward. Taking advantage of no one noticing, he bent down and kissed his wife’s face.
Zhuang Ningyu smiled and dodged: “The barbecue is ready. Call your friends over to share.”
“You still care about them.” Yi Ke casually set down the barbecue tongs, then waved at his fair-weather friends on the other side, signaling everyone to hurry over and eat, not to waste his wife’s precious thoughtfulness.
“You didn’t eat much tonight. Want me to grill some shrimp?” Zhuang Ningyu asked.
“What shrimp? Smoke and fire everywhere.” Yi Ke pulled out a wet wipe and cleaned his hands. “Not eating anymore. Let’s go for a walk in the forest.”
The two walked out hand in hand. A minute later, over a dozen back-view photos from different angles and camera positions were “bang bang” posted in the “Super Perfect Human Praise Group.” Although “exactly how Little Yi pursued Brother Zhuang” remained this group’s eternal unsolved mystery, it must be said the two really looked well-matched.
The mountain forest in October wasn’t too cold. The wind was light. Thick fallen leaves accumulated on the ground, rustling when stepped on. After walking a while, Yi Ke asked: “Does your waist still hurt?”
Zhuang Ningyu was vigilant for a moment, as if analyzing how serious this question was. Yi Ke laughed aloud and reached out to hold the person in his embrace: “Caring about you. What are you overthinking?”
U-Shield didn’t know which hilltop it went to frolic on. One bark and the mountains echoed with werwer. In this chorus of wer sounds, Zhuang Ningyu was tightly pressed against Yi Ke’s chest. Heartbeats transmitted through clothes to each other. Obviously one party was ridiculously fast. Zhuang Ningyu poked his heart’s location: “The one overthinking doesn’t seem to be me?”
Yi Ke simply picked the person up: “I’m thinking about our first meeting.”
Zhuang Ningyu cupped his face with both hands, eyes only able to hold one person: “Mm?”
Yi Ke smiled and said: “That was the best day in my past twenty-plus years.”
Exactly how good was it?
Sunshine brilliant, sky clear as wash.
A day suitable for going out, for proposing marriage, for hearts to flutter, for promising the rest of our lives.
—END OF MAIN TEXT—
