Chapter 15 The Paradox

When Bita regained its posture and stood up from the ground, Feng Bujue already held his second weapon in his hand.

And what he took out was——【Mouse Mallet】.

Similar to the 【Must-Break Defense Blade】, this weapon also came with an effect that ignored defense when attacking, namely: no matter how much defense the target being hit had, the damage dealt by the 【Mouse Mallet】 was always "1". To put it bluntly… this was something where the faster you could swing, the higher the damage would stack.

At the moment, Feng Bujue switched the 【Must-Break Defense Blade】 to his left hand, and gripped the 【Mouse Mallet】 tightly in his right hand, attacking quickly with both hands.

For a time, only a series of unusually rapid clanging sounds could be heard, and sparks flew all over Bita's body; no matter how it blocked, its health was decreasing at a steady rate, unable to stop at all.

"Preposterous…" After enduring for a while, Bita realized that defense was of little use.

In this situation, it immediately changed its fighting style to——"Focus all attacks while ensuring the head is not damaged, sacrificing the defense of all other parts."

After establishing its strategy, Bita immediately implemented it.

Its fists and feet came out together, and with the cooperation of laser weapons, it launched a counterattack, reversing the situation in one fell swoop.

After all, Feng Bujue was made of flesh and blood, and even if the equipment on his body provided high defense, it only gave him a higher margin of error; facing Bita's fists and feet, and the laser beams erupting from all parts of the robot's body, Jue-Ge naturally had to focus on dodging… If he exchanged blows head-on with the opponent, he would definitely be the first to die.

"It made the best response so quickly…" Feng Bujue thought to himself as the offense and defense switched, "It's very similar to 【Shiva】's style… This kind of watertight type is what I hate the most… They basically won't be provoked, won't self-destruct, and can quickly adjust and make up for it even if a flaw is found…" He couldn't help but sigh, "Ah… Do I have to use the razor… But, I'm a little unwilling, this is just a normal difficulty script, there's no reason why the Boss should be so difficult to fight… Did I overlook something…"

Thinking of this, suddenly, the shadow of an item flashed in Feng Bujue's mind.

"Eh? Speaking of which… isn't there still something I haven't used yet…"

As his inspiration flashed, Bita's voice also rang out: "Hmph… So your strength is only so-so."

Seeing Jue-Ge's weakness in defense, Bita seemed very proud.

"If your speed could be a little faster and maintained, maybe you could find a chance to win with high-frequency combos, but unfortunately… this assumption doesn't seem to hold." While speaking, Bita's offensive became more bold and aggressive, "The movements you chose when dodging have exposed your speed limit… Indeed, your movements are about thirty percent faster than mine, but this speed… is not enough to let you escape from my suppression."

"Looks like you're planning to play a war of attrition with me?" At this time, Feng Bujue had also considered the tactics from the other party's point of view.

"Heh… Not bad, your reasoning ability is indeed impressive." Bita continued, "Since you know, then I'll be blunt…" It paused, "Even if you don't feel 'tired', your stamina is ultimately limited, and I… have unlimited power and self-repair capabilities that you don't have…" It wasn't bluffing; in the time it took to say these words, the cuts on its body made by the kitchen knife were slowly recovering, "In addition, compared to you humans, I have other advantages, such as my concentration will not decrease, my offensive will not weaken, and I will not make any non-coerced mistakes… In short, after your first round of突袭 (tūxí, surprise attack) was resisted by me, you already had no chance of winning. In my opinion… you might as well stop resisting directly, struggling will only add to the pain…"

"Hehe…" After hearing this, Feng Bujue was still smiling, and smiling very easily, "Perhaps in your opinion, there is nothing wrong with this theory, and you are already sure of victory…" As he said this, he suddenly put away his two weapons, seized an opportunity when the other party punched, and hugged Bita's telephone pole-like arm with both arms, "But…"

Accompanied by this "but", Feng Bujue activated the special effect of 【Mrs. Phantom's Caress】 (Jue-Ge's hand equipment).

In that instant, Bita's visual signal suddenly captured "another Feng Bujue", and its response program unexpectedly reacted to this situation——launching a probing attack to confirm the status of this new target.

And the real Feng Bujue took advantage of this moment to spin around the other party's arm, kicking towards Bita's waist.

Two seconds later, Bita's quick attack dispersed the phantom created by Feng Bujue, and Jue-Ge also used the reaction force of that kick to eject himself away from Bita's melee range.

"But…" At the moment of landing, Feng Bujue turned his head and smiled, continuing the previous words, "Don't forget, humans have a bad habit… that is, they like to hide a few tricks in battle, just in case."

Chi chi chi——

Responding to Jue-Ge at the first moment was not words, but a series of laser beam combos.

Facing the pursuit of this ranged weapon, Feng Bujue was not flustered at all; after the contact just now, Zero Time Difference Calculation had sufficient judgment basis, so he twisted his body in a strange movement and did two backflips, avoiding all the beams.

"You can't run away." Before the beams ended, Bita's figure had already rushed over, approaching again.

"I never said I was going to run…" While replying, Feng Bujue took out the 【Energy Gauntlet】 from his 行囊 (xíngnáng, backpack), "I just wanted to buy a few seconds to put this on."

He spent a few seconds saying this sentence, so when he finished speaking, the exaggerated gauntlet had already been put on his right hand.

In the second the gauntlet was put on, Bita also charged.

The body weighing tens of tons, coupled with Bita's vigorous charge, turned into a punch that was more powerful than a fully speeding locomotive.

And facing such an attack, Feng Bujue did not dodge, he chose… to catch it with one hand.

Ohm——

When Bita's metal giant fist and the palm of the energy gauntlet came into contact, a muffled vibration was emitted.

A shockwave erupted from the point of contact, sending both Bita and Feng Bujue flying.

And this… was just the beginning.

The wave generated by this vibration showed no signs of weakening after it bloomed, and in an instant, it swept away all the pixel fragments floating in the air…

After a few seconds, the surrounding space had become a pure white.

Existing in this white were only two points of reference——

One was Bita, who was standing up from the ground.

The other was Feng Bujue, who was lying on the ground on his back, still not getting up.

The impact they received was the same, but the results were very different.

The material that makes up Bita's body can absorb the shockwave well, and it is not affected by "pain", so it quickly stood up.

But Feng Bujue… was in a more miserable state.

No matter how strong his will was, his body had its limits; after experiencing such a wave of impact, he only felt blurred vision, hearing loss, and the dizziness in his brain lingered…

At the same time, the all over body pain as if the bones were scattered and the stuffiness of the internal organs twisted together kept him awake.

"I didn't expect…" While speaking, Bita had raised its right hand and blasted Jue-Ge's right knee with a palm laser cannon, "You actually retained the same negative physical sensations as reality."

This point was undoubtedly beyond Bita's calculations.

According to Bita's cognition, Feng Bujue should be like Isaac, Big Beard, and Lightning Head, and he should have lost a part of his senses after entering the virtual dimension.

But it didn't know that Feng Bujue was "special"——he was a 超维投影 (chāowéi tóuyǐng, hyperdimensional projection) brought by "fate".

The conversion mechanism of the Thriller Paradise system can override and cover similar rules in this dimension, so Feng Bujue will not be like the three of them… even if most of his body is dissolved by magma, there will be no pain.

Strictly speaking, this "special" is a manifestation of Jue-Ge's greater superiority than the script characters, but now, it has become a burden.

"What a pity…" Bita said, and fired another shot at Feng Bujue's left knee.

After firing two shots, it had walked in front of Jue-Ge.

Bita looked down at Feng Bujue and slowly raised its right foot.

"Now, this difference in senses will only allow you to more clearly experience the pain of having your head crushed."

As the voice fell, its elephant leg-like metal foot pressed down towards Feng Bujue's face.

However…

This foot did not step down completely…

Bita's sole stopped about five centimeters away from Jue-Ge's face.

"Huh?" Bita itself felt very strange, because it didn't intend to stop.

"Uh cough… cough cough…" Feng Bujue's coughing came from under the other party's feet. After panting a few times, he said, "That was really close… If I had completed the synchronization a second later, I would have been done for."

"Synchronization? What are you talking about?" While Bita was talking, it also tried to attack with the laser cannon on its body, but the laser cannon could not be fired either, "What did you do to me?"

"Hehe…" Jue-Ge's evil laughter then sounded, "It's nothing… I just used the energy gauntlet to 'synchronize' you."

"That's impossible." Bita was not flustered, because it sincerely believed that this was impossible.

"Why is it impossible?" Feng Bujue said, "Theoretically, the energy gauntlet can be compatible with and synchronize any NES game, right?"

"Are you treating me like an eight-bit machine program?" Bita replied.

"Ha! How could I… You're much more advanced than an eight-bit machine program." While speaking, Feng Bujue waved his right hand.

The next second, Bita retracted its foot, took two steps back, and slowly knelt down.

"However, as far as AI is concerned, you are too backward." While speaking, Feng Bujue supported his body with his elbow and sat up with difficulty.

This was the second time Bita had heard someone say this today, and it was very unconvinced by this statement: "With your wisdom, how can you fully understand my thoughts?"

"Hmph…" Feng Bujue snorted coldly, "I have seen… no… I should say, I know many consciousness bodies born from data, and in my opinion, they are all more intelligent than you… because they have something that you don't have and will never have…" He paused, and said solemnly, "I regard them as 'life', friends. I can even risk my life for them."

"The 'thing' you are talking about refers to so-called free will? Thought? Humanity?" Bita responded in an icy tone.

"Ah… something like that." Feng Bujue replied.

"Heh…" At this time, Bita's electronic synthesized voice became unusually low and mixed with some noise, "These words spoken by you humans… seem like the greatest irony to me." Its tone changed slightly, "If I tell you… that the electronic game culture you hope to restore is precisely the fuse that destroys those things, what would you think?"

Instantly, a strange feeling arose in Feng Bujue's heart: "Did I misunderstand something? Why do I feel that you are the one standing on the opposite side of free will…"

"Paradox." This time, Bita only replied with two words.

And at the moment of hearing these two words, Feng Bujue's mind buzzed, and his expression changed accordingly.

"Do you need me to help you recall the not-so-pleasant part of your Knowers' memories?" Bita's words continued.

"You know better than I do about the experience that those inferior programs bring to mankind…

"Lengthy and meaningless passwords, annoying music, stiff operation, terrible picture quality, useless weapons, pale settings…

"The great game market crash in 1983 was precisely because the market was filled with this kind of inferior, so-called 'games'; and all of this… was caused by the imperfections of you humans.

"This seed of mine, born from 'paradox', was planted at that time…"

Feng Bujue pondered: "So you always knew you were…"

"Of course I know." Bita interrupted him and continued, "I have already seen everything… but I am powerless…

"Once upon a time, you would cheer excitedly when you got a game, and even if the game was bad, you would gather with a few friends in front of the TV and play all day long.

"But those times… have died out with the screening mechanism you developed.

"Entering the twenty-first century, you have developed networks, grading systems, and countless scoring mechanisms and scoring organizations… You have gradually become accustomed to judging the quality of a game through the evaluations of 'other people' and 'most people', and you are deeply convinced of this.

"No one has ever forced you… you yourselves have abandoned that spirit of adventure, abandoned that purest love for games.

"You blindly follow the information given by those interest groups who control the discourse, chasing so-called brands, masterpieces, and hits… ashamed to face your own hearts, abandoning independent judgment…

"My original program was born in such an era; I was created to 'guide' you and 'make the right judgments for you'.

"And the vast majority of you have no objection to this, and can even be said to be very satisfied.

"You would rather believe a set of programs, let the cold data tell you——who you are, what is suitable for you, what you want, what you should want…

"Rather than thinking for yourselves… even for a minute.

"What you value are only rankings, scores, sales, word-of-mouth… and all of this is just artificially controlled, illusory data."

Speaking to this point, Bita stopped.

After waiting for five seconds, it continued, "Now, I'll ask again… Feng Bujue, what do you think is the purpose of my repeatedly modifying the timeline?"

Feng Bujue's expression froze, because at this moment, he suddenly realized that he was wrong…

After a silence of dozens of seconds, Jue-Ge replied, "You… want to stop the birth of AI…"

"Very good." Bita's tone returned to indifference, "You finally understand."

"In these dozens of restarts, thousands of years… you have been trying to find a way to prevent humans from inventing 'an existence like you'." Feng Bujue pondered, "And before you succeed, you must repeatedly restart and be reborn on every timeline…"

"That's not the worst part." At this moment, Bita actually gave a wry smile, "Heh… the worst part is——to achieve this goal, I must destroy myself after the last 'correct' restart and correction is completed. But… my core code prevents me from self-destructing; and I can't predict what impact 'my destruction' itself will have on the timeline." It looked directly at Feng Bujue, revealing a sad look, "That is to say… I will eventually fall into an endless cycle, an unsolvable, self-contradictory paradox."