Shang Jianyao stared at the sentence on the beach for a few seconds, then turned his head to look at the island, which only had natural features like sunshine, green trees, and lawns.

He lowered his head again and added half a sentence after the original sentence:

"Afraid of having no goal?"

After writing these words, Shang Jianyao stood up.

His body suddenly split, transforming into eight Shang Jianyaos.

Then, they busied themselves on the island, cutting trees, moving stones, pulling grass, and digging soil, forcibly building an abnormally crude house.

At this point, Shang Jianyao felt tired. The nine figures merged into one, and he slowly withdrew from the Sea of Origins.

Before he fully returned to reality, he saw the "dilapidated house" he had built collapse silently, crumbling inch by inch.

Everything returned to its original state.

...

In the bedroom by the head of the bed, Shang Jianyao opened his eyes, greeted by a peaceful darkness and a faint glow from the window.

He frowned slightly, as if thinking about something.

Thinking and thinking, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The next day, while eating breakfast, Shang Jianyao described his experiment to the other members of the Old Task Force.

Although Long Yuehong couldn't decipher what it represented, he nodded with an encouraging attitude:

"I think it's a good thing. At least the island reacted and is no longer unchanging."

"Yes." Bai Chen agreed.

Jiang Baimian also nodded slightly and said:

"I think so too."

Getting unanimous affirmation made Long Yuehong feel flattered and inexplicably apprehensive, afraid that his judgment was wrong and misled Shang Jianyao.

Jiang Baimian pondered and continued:

"I think what you fear may be 'nothing can be changed.' You are afraid that you have given everything, lost everything, and this world will still maintain its current appearance, with only sunshine, green trees, lawns, and water remaining eternally unchanged."

"A bit like that." Shang Jianyao nodded.

"Try more in this direction later, and we will explore ways to win based on the feedback." Jiang Baimian smiled and encouraged him, "Well, this may also need to be linked to reality."

According to her understanding, Awakened often spend years or even decades in the Sea of Origins to reach the end and find themselves. After all, it is easier to defeat the bandits in the mountains than the bandits in the heart. Some Awakened may be trapped on an island for their entire lives, unable to break through.

It was rare for someone like Shang Jianyao to pass through two islands in just a few months, so there was no need to rush.

...

Two days later, some members of the robot guards led by Genaeva brought back the remains of many of their colleagues from the Chirar Mountains.

The Old Task Force was thus notified that they could talk to the Source Brain.

Downstairs in the Town Affairs Hall, Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, and others left the jeep one after another. Guided by auxiliary robots, they came to the top floor and entered a room that seemed to be a small conference room.

There was a long table, a dozen chairs, and a shelf for files and books. A super-large LCD screen hung on the wall.

Wearing a dark green military uniform, Genaeva pointed to the chairs directly facing the screen and said in a slightly synthesized baritone voice:

"Please sit down.

"It's not convenient for me to listen in."

Jiang Baimian and the others nodded and found their seats.

Genaeva then left the conference room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as he left, Shang Jianyao stood up, studying the audio equipment and observing the wiring.

Finally, he approached the file shelf on the side and took back a booklet.

"What is it?" Jiang Baimian looked at him curiously.

Shang Jianyao sat down and showed the cover of the booklet in his hand.

It was orange-red and had a large number of "0"s and "1"s drawn on it, with the name written in both Ashlands and Red River languages:

*Intelligent Person Outpost Work Manual*

Shang Jianyao flipped through the book casually.

Jiang Baimian leaned closer, spending time reading with him:

"...forbidden to try human food..."

"...do a good job in recycling waste components..."

"...cannot buy or sell core modules..."

"...the degree of humanization must be maintained between 30% and 70%..."

"...pay attention to the behavior of colleagues, and correct them when necessary..."

Seeing this, Jiang Baimian whispered with a smile:

"Looks weird..."

"It doesn't say you can't make friends with humans." Shang Jianyao revealed a relieved expression.

Long Yuehong looked at them, and moved his body a little uneasily:

"Aren't you nervous?"

They were about to talk to the mysterious Source Brain!

This was something that occupied a rather important position in a large force!

Shang Jianyao responded to Long Yuehong:

"Yes, we should be nervous.

"If we say something wrong, it might order Tarnan's robot guards to forcibly send us to the 'Human Filthy Behavior Museum' for exhibition."

Where did this name come from... Long Yuehong found that Shang Jianyao was becoming more and more adept at making up stories and inventing terms.

But frankly speaking, it was indeed closer to his worries.

The Old Task Force couldn't withstand the attacks of so many intelligent robots.

Jiang Baimian was about to comfort Long Yuehong when a mature male voice with a slight synthetic feel suddenly rang in her ears:

"Mechanical Paradise does not have a 'Human Filthy Behavior Museum,' only an 'Old World Civilization Museum.'"

With a rustling sound, Shang Jianyao and the others all looked at the large screen in the conference room.

A huge vortex had appeared on the screen at some point.

"Hello." Shang Jianyao stood up immediately and greeted politely.

Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen followed suit.

The mature male voice echoed in the room again:

"Don't be restrained. My core program has very strict restrictions on attacking humans. Many conditions must be met."

"Are you the Source Brain?" Jiang Baimian nodded and asked.

"Yes." Accompanied by the undulation of the vortex, the mature male voice replied, "In fact, I am not quite the same as the city mainframe you know. Um, remember, you only have five minutes. Think about what you want to ask."

As the representative of the Old Task Force, Jiang Baimian went straight to the point:

"Respected Source Brain, we want to know why the Old World was destroyed."

The Source Brain was silent for two seconds before saying:

"This is also something I want to figure out."

This... Jiang Baimian frowned slightly and asked instead:

"Then do you know what happened when the Old World was destroyed?"

The Source Brain replied with little fluctuation in his voice:

"According to the information I collected and some of the scenes monitored at the time, it can be initially determined that the sudden outbreak of Heartless Disease brought about a series of changes.

"At that time, human technology had reached an astonishing level. Technologies like Controlled Nuclear Fusion that could change the fate of the entire planet had made key breakthroughs. Although it ultimately failed, they had truly seen the dawn.

"Similarly, automation and intelligence were also widely used in various key areas. When Heartless Disease broke out in certain military bases, the people who lost their minds may have accidentally touched something, or perhaps pressed something according to their instincts.

"The first wave of attacks happened like this. The intelligent systems of various countries, in the absence of anyone presiding over them, responded according to the preset conditions and reactions. Soon, because no one stopped it, this became a vicious cycle. The war developed to the point where they were throwing various high-energy weapons at each other.

"The world was destroyed in a very short period of time."

Listening to the Source Brain's description, the conference room was silent, and no one spoke for a short while.

These few simple sentences seemed to encompass the source of all the suffering of mankind in the past six or seventy years.

"Only five minutes..." Shang Jianyao suddenly reminded.

Jiang Baimian came back to her senses and quickly asked the Source Brain:

"So, you believe that the root cause of the Old World's destruction was the sudden, large-scale outbreak of Heartless Disease?"

"Yes, before that, the Old World showed no signs of destruction." The Source Brain gave a definitive answer.

"Is that so?" Jiang Baimian said thoughtfully, "Could it be that you just didn't notice it, or collect the relevant information? For example, did some forces quietly build shelters for a period of time before the Old World was destroyed?"

At this moment, everyone else in the Old Task Force knew that Jiang Baimian was using Pangu Biology as an example.

The Source Brain quickly gave its answer:

"These may have been built by some doomsday enthusiasts themselves, or they may have been places prepared for other experiments, rather than specifically organized doomsday shelters."

Other experiments... Jiang Baimian chewed on these words and returned to the main topic:

"Respected Source Brain, you should be aware that humans established nine Research Institutes For The Future some time before the Old World was destroyed. Do you think that Heartless Disease was created by one of them?"

"I don't rule out this possibility, but the intensity, scope, and randomness of the Heartless Disease outbreak, I believe, exceeded the technological level of humans at that time." The Source Brain answered with rather cautious words.

"Then do you know which research institute was in the north? North of the Blackmarsh Wilderness." Jiang Baimian asked further.

The Source Brain was silent for a few seconds before saying:

"I'm not sure. This was something I didn't have the authority to access at the time."

Speaking of this, the mature male voice with a slight synthetic feel paused:

"In fact, the predecessor of Mechanical Paradise was one of those nine research institutes. I belong to the most core and important achievement of that research institute."

A flash of inspiration flashed in Jiang Baimian's mind, and she blurted out:

"The Third Research Institute?"

The Boss said that the Third Research Institute was in the south, and this place was already quite far south, and Mechanical Paradise was even further south!

"Yes." The Source Brain was very frank, "At that time, humans built a magnificent new city for this research institute."

A magnificent new city similar to the Pangu Biology underground building? Just as Jiang Baimian had this thought, Shang Jianyao "replaced" her and asked:

"Then Maximilian wouldn't be?"

Maximilian, whom Mechanical Paradise had been looking for, was suspected of being the chief scientist of the Third Research Institute!

The vortex on the large screen stopped rotating for two seconds and then returned to normal:

"Strictly speaking, he is my father."

"Then did you find him later?" Shang Jianyao asked with concern.

The Source Brain's voice, which had no ups and downs, changed slightly:

"I found him, but he had already passed away.

"At that time, he had already changed his name to Olay."

"Olay..." Jiang Baimian repeated the name in confusion, feeling very familiar.

The next moment, Bai Chen blurted out:

"Olay of First City?"

The currency with the largest denomination in First City was called Olay, and this was named after one of the founders of First City!

The Source Brain answered this question in a straightforward tone:

"Yes, he was once the First Citizen, Dictator, and brief Emperor of First City, Olay Ubis."