Chapter Ch150.2 - Raising a Big Cat in the Apocalypse (End)
translator: xiin
At down on the third day, when the alliance of new human forces gathered inside a tent to meet yet again, they suddenly heard a strange noise ringing through the valley.
Clang!
After that came several more of the strange sounds in succession.
Clang, clang, clang.
… The a.r.s.enal’s launch pad had been activated.
And four of them had been opened all at once, facing four different directions.
The new human leaders were so frightened that they became visibly agitated, thinking that these old humans were planning to bring them down with them to die together after realizing that they couldn’t escape.
It was unknown who shouted ‘run’, but it grew completely chaotic everywhere.
Everyone was asking about what had happened in the messy camp, and everyone was talking about whatever information they’d heard.
As word of mouth spread, the information became more and more malicious. Most people chose to escape. After all, once the weapons in the a.r.s.enal were detonated, they’d be burned to nothing but flying ashes, with no exceptions.
Therefore, no was no one left to listen to the instructions that the AI were giving.
The AI had lost control of their ‘slaves’, and even while they were shocked and angry, some of them had started to frantically attacked the re-connected weapons systems, while others frantically sent signals to the places where the missiles were targeting and begged the main system to start making a move.
However, the attacking AI found in desperation that they’d been completely blocked by a network of escape-proof traps.
And the AI who were sending out signals also found in desperation that it was already too late.
The old humans inside the base had been planning this for a long time. At the moment when they reconnected the network, the missiles had already completed a series of operations, such as aiming, targeting, confirmation, and launch.
Within a few seconds, the four launch pads each sent out three missiles simultaneously, ensuring that even base stations that were underground would be blasted to nothing.
Roars shook the sky, the burning fires leaving winding trails.
The missiles moved like meteors, disappearing into the sky before hissing and exploding in places where they couldn’t see.
Those AI watched the places they were supposed to defend turn into powder and cracked earth right in front of their eyes.
Had the plan that they’d built actually been destroyed in the hands of a group of old humans, the very ones they looked down on the most, and the ones who should’ve died when the disaster happened?
These twelve missiles that Chi Xiaochi launched, sent out three signals to all the displaced people:
Please see us.
Please fear us.
Please move closer to us.
In the afternoon of the same day, three new human teams arrived outside the base with hundreds of kilograms of meat and all their weaponry. They raised up white flags to signal surrender.
Chi Xiaochi didn’t shut them out. He arranged for them to settle down outside even as he had Sun Yan check to see if there were any problems with the food and guns that they’d offered up. After that, he claimed that he was tired and wanted to go back to his room to rest.
Over the past three days, Chi Xiaochi had accompanied everyone to burn midnight oil, clambering up and down to maintain the weapons rack, and confirmed that all sorts of data was correct. He’d stayed up for three full nights, and his face had begun to grow pale a long time ago.
Sun Yan felt heartache for Ding Qiuyun’s body, but Ding Qiuyun himself didn’t want to rest, so he could only clutch at his ears and rub his face. Now, hearing him take the initiative to bring up going to rest, it was like having a weight lifted off him. He opened up his mouth and called out, “Lanlan! Bring Captain Ding back to his room!”
Chi Xiaochi practically threw himself onto the bed. Boss Coal followed him closely, jumping up into bed to silently lay down by his side.
Everything had been dealt with. It was time to leave.
Over the three days of toil, Chi Xiaochi had had a fever for one and a half days of it. Even if he fainted and pa.s.sed out now, no one would find it suspicious.
Boss Coal licked his heated, soft ears. It was obviously worried.
061 was also urging him, “Xiaochi, let’s go. Your fever is burning very badly.”
Chi Xiaochi turned over and hugged Boss Coal’s neck tightly.
This was his last bit of nostalgia and concern in this world.
He whispered to 061, “Give me a minute.”
After that, Chi Xiaochi put his mouth to the panther’s ear and whispered, “Boss, I’m going to sleep for a while. Don’t be afraid. When I open my eyes again, I may… not be me anymore. But, he’ll be good to you, too. You can stay here if you want, or leave if you want. It’s very cold here, you have to live well.”
He held Boss Coal’s paw, pressing it gently against his own face before giving it another kiss.
However, that paw didn’t look like it normally did, coated with fluffy fur and a soft paw pad. Instead, it looked like a man’s hand with slender knuckles, and it felt cool and comfortable against his face.
That hand also pinched his cheek gently, in a gesture that held a kind of gentle reproach and urging.
… Chi Xiaochi felt that he must be having illusions from the fever.
He closed his eyes tight and said, “Liu-laoshi, start the transfer.”
The task had been completed, the data checked over to make sure there were no errors. The transfer began.
The young man whose beast ears hadn’t yet disappeared lay there under Chi Xiaochi’s body, his hands at his waist and holding the man who was about to fall asleep in his arms face to face. He whispered into his ear, “Wait a minute, I’ll be right there.”
He spoke again a moment later, though it was unclear who he was speaking to. “Listen well, I’m handing something over to you. The choice is up to you.”
Soon, there was only one person left in the bed.
That person opened up his eyes laboriously, coughing twice. The high fever running through his body roughened his voice, but he still tried his best to shout, “Lanlan…”
Yan Lanlan jingled as she ran inside, the silver bells making clear and crisp sounds from where they hung on her wrists, “Hey, hey, hey, I’m here.”
… I’m here.
She was here. Everyone was here.
The corners of Ding Qiuyun’s lips curved up, and he smiled silently before immediately closing his eyes, falling into a sweet dream in the darkness.
When he regained consciousness once again, Chi Xiaochi was already lying inside the renovated little room with an ice pack on his forehead.
He felt very comfortable, just curled up in the quilt without moving or talking.
061 took care of him quietly while he was resting, and when he woke up, he didn’t rush to ask him how he felt. He only deconstructed and vaporized the water droplets that exuded from the ice pack so that they wouldn’t flow onto the pillow and make his rest uncomfortable.
Chi Xiaochi spent a long time going over his performance for the tasks before sighing lightly.
Only then did 061 say, “You did a very good job. Don’t blame yourself.”
Chi Xiaochi placed a hand on his forehead, “My performance for this quarter’s no good.” He should have given Ding Qiuyun more choices, rather than a two-choice question with life or death as the answers.
061 chuckled, “It’s fine, if your performance is no good, then there’s still me.”
Chi Xiaochi keenly noticed the implication contained in his words, “…… Liu-laoshi?”
061 explained gently, “It’s like this, I gave Ding Qiuyun something…”
……
Three years later.
Ding Qiuyun built a city with the a.r.s.enal as the center.
Spreading outwards from the a.r.s.enal, the city expanded out in a radius of 1000 kilometers. The most peripheral edges of the city even touched borders with their original town.
Some residents chose to stay in their small town, while another group of people, including Father Ding and Mother Ding, He Wanwan and the Jing family mother and son, followed Ding Qiuyun and moved to the center of the a.r.s.enal.
The reason why the construction had proceeded so rapidly was that firstly, a large number of new and old humans who’d heard the news came pouring in, eager for shelter; and secondly, they had the help of the AI.
Of those AI who had lost their hope, a portion of them were still fighting tenaciously to resist large-scale attacks from humans, while others had no more fighting spirit left and simply chose to surrender to humans again in order to ensure that the base station that hosted them would not be destroyed.
Of course, Ding Qiuyun would never again allow them to touch important systems, especially when it came to the a.r.s.enal.
The system that 061 had written operated day and night to maintain the long-term stability of the entire a.r.s.enal.
Previously, the a.r.s.enal had been a useless decoration during the apocalypse. People without ambition had difficulty getting close to it, while people who had ambition regarded it as a delicious cake, wanting to grab it for themselves and use it as a bargaining chip, but they didn’t really want to make use of it.
But when it was really set up to be used, then it became the thing that everyone could rely on the most to provide rea.s.surance in the entire apocalypse.
More and more people entered their city, and humanity’s damaged sense of moral consciousness began to recover as the crowd grew and re-gathered. Simple legal norms began to be rebuilt.
Ding Qiuyun didn’t claim power and only took over the management rights for the central city. Other towns attached to the city built their own buildings, and maid their own living. However, what he said still carried significant weight because he held the master key to the a.r.s.enal.
The only goal he set for everyone was, development.
Because everyone was busy with development, they had no time to fight. Those who farmed focused on farming, those who hunted focused on hunting, those who were in trade focused on trading. All kinds of goods circulated through the city towns. There was occasional friction, but prosperity was the overall trend.
Ding Qiuyun felt very relieved when he looked at all of this.