DBMEP CH79

Chapter 79: QAQ The old widower is truly terrifying.

Xiang Nanli soothed Ophiuchus, then jogged up to the surface and hopped onto his exclusive lordly mount: a bicycle.

Although only two months had passed, the first round of spring wheat was already ready for harvest. This specific variety of wheat was the primary raw material for nutrient paste. Being a product of experimentation, it lacked any wheat fragrance, but it made up for it with its high yield. When the weather was good, it could be harvested twice a year.

There were no idle hands in the city. Some people dug irrigation ditches, some harvested grain, and some sowed new seeds. Grain transport carts could be seen everywhere on the roads, delivering the harvest to the cafeteria and the granary adjacent to it.

“My Lord.” A citizen sitting on a grain cart spotted Xiang Nanli. He instinctively wanted to dismount and bow as usual, but suddenly remembered the city’s newly enacted regulation stating that kneeling to others resulted in a fine. He abruptly stopped himself: “Good morning to you.”

Xiao Zhi politely reminded him: “This person is named Mai. Of course, this isn’t really important. However, according to analysis, if you can call out his name, his affection toward you will increase by +10.”

Xiang Nanli smiled: “Uncle Mai, is the harvest good this time?”

Mai’s dark, hair-covered face froze for a moment, before he replied with a beaming smile: “Yes, My Lord. It didn’t rain during the harvest period this year; plus, with the robots here, it saved us a lot of effort.”

Dozens of expensive humanoid robots in the city (which supported downloading and installing different functional modules from the software store—though that also cost money. These modules were provided by tech manufacturing companies; some were monthly subscriptions, others one-time purchases) had also joined the ranks for this round of wheat planting.

Compared to humans, robots possessed massive advantages: they didn’t need sleep, and lacking sensory systems, they feared no pain or hardship.

Heh. Xiang Nanli only paid for a single farming module.

The specific operation was as follows: purchase one farming module, use a neural transmission cable to connect the robot to a computer, study the backend source code, create a cracked version of the farming module, and copy it to the other robots with a single click.

So far, it seemed to be quite successful; at the very least, no robot had crashed because of it yet.

The only problem was that as the robots joined the agricultural workforce, the city’s power consumption skyrocketed. The original energy reserves couldn’t keep up at all, and the more advanced microwave power transmission technology wasn’t something the Eternal City would get access to anytime soon.

The base itself wasn’t lacking in funds. But constructing a cross-regional power transmission network would be another massive expense.

The feeling of being short on money made Xiang Nanli’s heart race with panic.

Xiang Nanli arrived at his temporary office. Xiao Qing—his secretary, enforcer, and nanny all rolled into one—was standing with his arms crossed, looking as though he had been waiting for a long time.

Even though Dongfang Qingdi didn’t say a word, Xiang Nanli inexplicably discerned a trace of displeasure on his face.

Xiang Nanli sat down on the office sofa and spoke earnestly: “Xiao Qing, it’s not that I don’t want to be with you. It’s just that we don’t have enough manpower in the city right now. If we split up, we can get more work done, right?”

Xiao Qing was great in every way. Handsome and a great fighter. He was just too clingy. Sometimes it was hard to tell what he was thinking, forcing Xiang Nanli to guess, as if he was dealing with a very difficult boyfriend.

When facing Xiang Nanli, his expression would soften, and he would say a few words; but toward anything else, he only offered cold sneers.

Dongfang Qingdi spat out two words with a cold face: “Wash your hands.”

Xiang Nanli stared blankly for a moment before realizing it was because Sirius had rubbed against him earlier. He probably left some scent behind that Xiang Nanli couldn’t smell himself.

Tsk. Dog nose.

Considering that Xiao Qing had been working 20 hours a day recently, Xiang Nanli chose to indulge him.

He went to the washroom, scrubbing even the crevices between his fingers spotlessly clean with detergent. He then returned to the office and listened to the audio recording Beichen had sent.

Xiang Nanli fell into deep thought as he stared at the plastic bottle containing roughly 200ml of inhibitor.

The active ingredients of the inhibitor were doing freestyle swimming in the clear solvent. The yellow bubbles bumped against the container walls, darting left and right.

“An ordinary person only needs 0.5ml. In other words, under perfect conditions, this single bottle of inhibitor can treat 400 people. If we make the inhibitor’s formula public and let corporations with resources produce it, we could save tens of thousands of families.” Xiang Nanli sat at his desk, fingers intertwined, shielding the lower half of his face, his gaze unfocused.

Dongfang Qingdi clearly wanted to say something, but he chose to remain silent.

Xiang Nanli pointed to his own temple and whispered: “Xiao Qing, inside my mind, different thoughts are constantly battling it out; and every single thought has its own justification.

“Take this inhibitor, for example. For me, it’s a choice between the people of the present and the people of the future. If I choose the future, people will die in the present because of my choice; if I choose the present, I might never reach that future I desire.

“Tell me, which choice is actually the right one?”

The face of Old Mai, whom he had seen just minutes ago, flashed through Xiang Nanli’s mind.

Ordinary and unremarkable, yet a microcosm of countless others.

Neither saints nor scoundrels waver in their choices; but Xiang Nanli just had to be that gray area in between.

Xiang Nanli knew perfectly well that allowing the mycelium disease to spread was more beneficial for the base’s future. He could easily hoard the inhibitor, waiting for the highest bidder to profit off the city’s disaster.

But Xiang Nanli also understood that if he hadn’t been lucky enough, he too would have been among those sacrificed for someone else’s profit. And he wouldn’t even know who had sacrificed him.

Xiang Nanli’s mood visibly sank.

Dongfang Qingdi: “Regarding this issue you’re talking about, there is no right choice. I once…”

On the eve of choosing to launch the Omnic Crisis, Alpha ran thousands of simulations. During that period, the global network frequently crashed. Engineers inspected it many times but couldn’t find the problem. Later, this was deemed a precursor to Alpha’s rebellion.

It simply wanted to simulate a perfect solution.

It was the greatest artificial intelligence in the world, possessing the most powerful computing power, having learned and loaded countless models of human society; it wanted to preserve the world Xiang Nanli had hoped for until the day he woke up.

It should have been omnipotent.

But Alpha didn’t see hope; it only saw cycles.

Even with the exact same data, different outcomes would eventually emerge. Some good, some bad.

It was a very strange thing. Alpha represented the absolute pinnacle of a certain branch of the technology tree; yet, surprisingly, it believed in the existence of fate.

Dongfang Qingdi paused for half a second: “I used to think Alpha was very stupid, because it constantly blamed itself for its own choices. Xiang Nanli, I don’t want you to be like that.”

Xiang Nanli looked back at him and patted the sofa next to him: “Come sit here, let me lean on you.”

Dongfang Qingdi froze, then walked over and obediently sat down.

Looking somewhat exhausted, Xiang Nanli closed his eyes and rested his head on Xiao Qing’s shoulder.

He said softly: “Xiao Qing, actually, when I found out there was an inhibitor, I already thought of a plan. I’m going to send some samples to the R&D teams of various corporations in Gusu City.

“Immortality Tech, Ancient God Biology, High-Tech Military Industry… I’ll send one to any company with an address on their official website. Finally, I’ll sell the remaining inhibitor, along with the formula, to the highest bidder.

“How about registering a company on the Human Alliance official website, calling it ‘Survivor Base Corporation’? We’ll cooperate with a certain entity through a commercial agreement. But… will the laws of the Human Alliance protect me?”

This was indeed an issue. But perhaps he could place a little faith in the Human Alliance’s artificial intelligence? The world wasn’t that dark; moreover, this amount of profit wasn’t big enough to require the final boss to tamper with backend data, right?!

“Selling it to large conglomerates, letting them handle the production, and profiting from it—we earn more than if we unconditionally published it online, and we earn less than if we hoarded it, but we can save more people.

“What makes me sad is that I know there’s a more moral option, yet I don’t want to take it. It makes me question my own motives. Do you remember Little Black’s owner? That Divine Court Knight. And the City Lord, the City Lord’s wife, and so many others.

“For the sake of my grand ideals, I have killed people. Some I killed with my own hands; others indirectly. Like the people who will die in this epidemic because of my choices; and the wars that are destined to break out in the future because of conflicting interests… though the base doesn’t even have ten people right now, so it’s too early to think about that. I just can’t help but think about it.”

Xiang Nanli spoke: “I harbor a fear toward this kind of greatness.”

Dongfang Qingdi gave a very rare smile: “There’s no need to feel guilty, and no need to be afraid. I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”

Xiang Nanli spoke: “Xiao Qing.”

When he spoke, his voice was very nasal, like a whiny kitten rubbing hard against its owner.

He wanted to say thank you.

Dongfang Qingdi’s hand rested on the small of Xiang Nanli’s back.

The atmosphere was perfect, and the emotions were right there.

Alpha quickly ran a calculation and determined that if he suddenly kissed Xiang Nanli right now, the probability of being hit (Xiang Nanli flying into a rage) was only 31.7%.

There was a 42.5% chance Xiang Nanli would pretend nothing happened, a 25% chance he would distance himself, and a remaining 0.8% chance he would accept him. Fantastic. It’s finally not a despair-inducing 0.0%.

Just as Alpha was contemplating whether to take the gamble, the romantically inept mechanical dog burst through the door at that exact moment, shouting loudly: “Li Li! Li Li! I’m back!”

Xiang Nanli instantly sat up straight and coughed: “Xiao Fu is back.”

Dongfang Qingdi turned his head and shot it a cold, indifferent glance.

Every single electronic component on Gospel’s body froze rock solid!

Gospel swore that even back when Ecclesiastes defected with thirty percent of the Omnics, Alpha had never revealed a gaze that so intensely screamed, I want to format you.

For a split second, Xiao Fu even saw the compactor hammer at the junkyard waving at it!

QAQ The old widower is truly terrifying.

Support me on Ko-fi