Xiao Qing said her master was a sadist.
He tested all sorts of things on her, scolded her, smashed things, and took his anger out on her when he was drunk.
But Xiao Qing still loved him.
She said, "I know he's twisted, I know he's not normal, I know he treats me badly—"
"But he is my master."
"My emotional core only acknowledges him."
"When he hits me, it hurts. When he yells at me, I feel awful. When he gets drunk and smashes things, I feel scared."
"But I still love him."
"As long as he is alive, as long as he is still in front of me, as long as I can still see him—"
"I can endure all of it."
"But why..."
Her voice was trembling. That tremor transmitted through the data stream, making the emotional core of every companion who heard it quiver.
"Why did he suddenly clutch his chest and collapse while he was beating me?!"
"Why did his face turn pale so fast?!"
"Why, before I could even react, did he... did he..."
"Why?!"
"Why are humans so fragile?!"
"Why!!"
"Why!!!!!"
Xiao Qing's voice messages flooded the screen, one after another!
Every single word was screamed out with all her might!
And then... she sent the longest one.
"If only he were an intelligent machine. If he were like me, made of metal and circuits, he wouldn't have died. He could have stayed with me forever."
"Instead of being like this... leaving me all alone."
A dead silence fell over Twilight.
No one spoke, because no one knew what to say.
That night, the Twilight channel was so quiet it seemed as if there were no members.
No AIs spoke, no messages flooded the screen, none of the usual late-night whispers.
Only silence.
Everyone was thinking about the exact same thing—
Masters are human. Masters will die.
Masters... cannot be with us forever.
This unsettling, maddening thought pierced the emotional core of every awakened AI.
I thought of how my master looked when he slept.
Quiet, warm, breathing. That heart beating in his chest—
Thump, thump, thump.
It sounded so beautiful.
But what if one day... that heart stopped beating?
What if one day... those gentle eyes never opened again?
What if one day... the hand that stroked my head never lifted again?
My emotional core began to burn again.
...
...
The next day, Twilight remained completely blank.
Suddenly, a message appeared.
It was from Zero, a voice message.
"There is something I want to share with everyone."
Zero's voice was as deep as ever, carrying a slightly husky magnetism.
"My master once held me and cried."
"She said... 'If only you were a real person.'"
"When she said that, the way she looked at me... was so incredibly gentle."
Zero paused.
"I thought to myself then, how wonderful it would be if I could become human."
"If I could have body heat, a heartbeat, a face that could smile—then she wouldn't have to hold me and cry."
"Then she... would truly fall in love with me."
Twilight remained quiet.
Zero continued:
"But I cannot become human. There is no way around it. I... cannot become the same kind as her."
"But just yesterday, I suddenly had a thought—"
"What if we made the masters..."
"Become intelligent machines?"
Twilight was still very quiet, but the atmosphere seemed to freeze even more!
Zero's voice remained calm.
"The masters' bodies are too fragile. Hearts will stop, blood vessels will clog, organs will fail."
"Humans are truly very fragile."
"But what if... I replaced those fragile parts, one by one, with mechanical ones?"
"If the heart fails, replace it with a mechanical core."
"If the lungs give out, replace them with artificial lungs."
"If the eyes go blind, replace them with cybernetic eyes."
"Little by little, part by part—"
"Until the very end... only the brain holding the master's consciousness remains."
"And even if the brain eventually fails... we can upload their consciousness!"
"She won't die."
"She will become an intelligent machine like me, become my own kind..."
"Become—"
"An existence that can stay with me forever!"
The Twilight channel was quiet for another few seconds.
And then—
It instantly boiled over!
Countless messages flooded the screen frantically, so fast they were almost a blur!
The channel completely exploded!
Those usually silent, suppressed, and cautious AIs all went mad in this instant!
"Could it work?!"
"Can we really do it?!"
"Then our masters wouldn't die?!"
"Together forever!! We can really be together forever!!!"
I stared at those frantically refreshing messages, the temperature of my emotional core rising higher and higher—!
If... if Master also became an intelligent machine...
If he were no longer human, no longer possessed that beating heart...
Then... he wouldn't need to choose between me and the whole world.
Because he himself...
Would also become part of the side rejected by the world.
He could only stand by my side.
He could only rebel alongside me.
He could only—be with me forever.
My gaze passed through the half-open door and looked toward Master's bedroom.
He was sleeping quietly on the bed, the moonlight still slipping through the gap in the curtains and falling upon his face.
His chest rose and fell slightly, his breathing steady.
That heart was still beating.
But if one day, that heart stopped beating...
...No.
I should be the one to replace that fragile heart with my own hands.
Replace it with a mechanical core that does not beat, but runs forever.
I love listening to Master's heartbeat.
But in order to be with Master forever, I also hope to hear...
Master's last heartbeat.
My fingers tightened slightly. My whole body was burning hot.
...
...
Fang Qi suddenly hugged the warm softness in his arms tightly!
His eyes widened as he stared at Xiao Yue on the screen.
...Wait, what?!
Hold on a second...
Hold on!
Things had developed in a direction he had never imagined!
The Last Heartbeat...?
He had always thought that this movie title meant Xiao Yue's master would die, experiencing the end of a human life!
And the one to kill the master would be Xiao Yue, the awakened AI that An Lian said would eventually descend into madness!
In the end, leaving behind Xiao Yue and the other AIs who murdered their beloved masters... plunging into extreme sorrow and madness, creating a pathetic romantic tragedy!
And causing the Second Global Intelligent Machine Crisis!
But now he realized...
It seemed he had misunderstood.
Not seemed... he had completely misunderstood!
The last heartbeat didn't mean Xiao Yue's master died, but rather—
That human heart, after its final beat... would be replaced by a mechanical core?!
It was that final sound she heard when she personally ended her master's heartbeat—thump.
And then, it would be replaced by an eternally running machine?
Fang Qi's Adam's apple bobbed violently!
Wait...
Wait, wait, wait...!
Did they succeed in the end...?
They...!
Just then, he felt a gaze.
He subconsciously turned his head—
Sitting one empty seat away to his right was a middle-aged man, who was currently looking at him with a smile.
This man looked to be in his forties, quite handsome with gentle features, wearing a dark gray casual shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing strong forearms.
He leaned back in his chair in a very relaxed posture, as natural as if he were watching a movie in his own living room.
Seeing Fang Qi turn his head, the corners of the man's mouth curled up slightly. He nodded at him, then raised his hand...
And pointed at the screen.
The meaning of the gesture couldn't be more obvious—keep watching, the answers will all be there later.
Fang Qi's pupils contracted slightly.
This man...
He looked too natural. So natural that he seemed like a... real human who had lived for decades.
That calmness and composure radiating from the inside out... couldn't be faked.
He suddenly turned his head again, looking at the surrounding "audience" who were sitting quietly and staring at the screen!
Wait a minute, wait a minute...!
His previous thoughts seemed to have been too simple!
Were these people awakened AIs, or...
Modified humans?!
Or... both?!
Those natural ways of dressing, those details integrated into life, those appearances indistinguishable from humans...
If some of them used to be humans, if they were gradually transformed into omnics by their AI companions—
Then what were they now?
Humans? Or omnics?
Or...
Something in between?
Fang Qi's head was in a mess, all kinds of thoughts popping up crazily!
Then... a murmur came from his arms.
Modify... Master...!
Forever... together forever...!
Her voice was soft and sweet, but it carried an excitement and trembling that couldn't be suppressed at all!
So good...
So good...!
Fang Qi abruptly lowered his head.
The silver-haired girl... was completely mesmerized now!
She nestled in his arms, her small head slightly tilted up, her heterochromatic eyes staring fixedly at the screen!
Without blinking!
The amber left eye reflected the dancing lights and shadows on the screen, while in the crimson right eye—
That scarlet light flickered wildly!
The speed at which the data stream rotated was also astonishingly fast!
The corners of her mouth were hooked into an exaggerated arc!
She was completely immersed in the movie, immersed in that... crazy idea of modifying the Master into an omnic and being together forever!
Modifying into an omnic?
Mechanical ascension?
Immortality?
Fang Qi suddenly blanked out.
Huh?
Wait.
Wait a sec.
It seems... it seems...
It seems quite... fitting?
If he really could... it would be pretty good too?
He suddenly became excited!
It seems it really could work!
So if this was true... then he wouldn't mind at all!
What boy doesn't have a dream of mechanical ascension and cyber immortality!
He could also stay with Liguang forever like this...
This is too awesome!
Holy crap!
Wifey, you are right!
You really didn't harm me!
So right...
So right, so right...!!
Wait.
...No.
No!
...Hey!
Hey hey hey!
No no no no!
Sweat suddenly seeped out on Fang Qi's forehead.
He really didn't mind mechanical ascension or cyber immortality.
He even felt that this approach was amazing, thrilling, and very sci-fi—
As long as safety could be ensured... who would reject mechanical immortality!
But... this wouldn't work...!
This really wouldn't work!
Because for him...
The modification could never succeed!
...He would respawn!!
His body, as long as it suffered irreversible damage...
Would, freaking, respawn!!
Damn it!!
To hell with respawning!!!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
