Chapter 34
3
Wei Huo was worried that he would never be able to have such a nostalgic meal again, but it was obvious that his worry was unfounded. Lu Qiqi had to eat as well. Whenever she ate, would she not cook another portion for Wei Huo too?
Of course… Not.
The next day, Lu Qiqi did not cook Wei Huo’s portion. Wei Huo was annoyed. “Why didn’t you cook my portion?”
Lu Qiqi lifted her head and asked in confusion, “Did you ask for it?”
Wei Huo was speechless. “…”
2
Wei Huo understood it all at that moment. Lu Qiqi did not have any common sense. She was an artificial being before she met Wei Huo. It could be that they had always been cooking only for themselves.
Wei Huo asked, “Before returning to God’s Gate, did you all only cook for yourselves?”
Lu Qiqi replied, “We were each in charge of different modules. The meals were made by a certain group of people, and construction, hunting, maintenance, manufacturing, farming, and animal training were all carried out by different groups of people. Everyone worked together to test the game.”
Wei Huo asked again, “What if someone who was in charge of hunting died?”
Lu Qiqi replied with a serious face, “The manpower would be reallocated, and we would try our best to get enough data from the trials.”
Wei Huo was silent for a while before asking, “What happened to the ones who died? Were they buried or cremated?”
Lu Qiqi replied, “The dead artificial beings would return to God’s embrace and not leave a trace in this world.”
Wei Huo was shocked. He could see Lu Qiqi’s age and lifespan from her Health Menu.
‘Lu Qiqi. Age: 30 Years Old. Lifespan: 45 Years’
6
Time did not leave a trace on her body. That was probably one of her God-given abilities.
“Your lifespan is only 45 years! What… do you plan on doing next?” Wei Huo asked.
Lu Qiqi replied, “I’ll wait for the next trial 30 years later and test the game according to God’s orders. I’ll then return to God’s Gate and relay the data.”
Wei Huo was confused. “Is my math bad, or do you have bad communication skills? You artificial beings only have 15 years of life left. How can you wait for another 30 years?”
Lu Qiqi replied, “After delivering the data upon our return to God’s Gate, our time will be halted until the second trial begins.”
“But you were forgotten.” Wei Huo said.
Lu Qiqi paused then said, “It’s my mistake. I was executing an important quest and missed out on the time frame to go back.”
Wei Huo immediately asked, “What quest?”
Lu Qiqi looked over at Wei Huo and said, “Game contents are not allowed to be leaked to players.”
Wei Huo was speechless. “…”
3
There must be a bug somewhere in that quest. I knew it even if you did not say it! The quest of artificial beings was to test out the game. For one, it was to see if humans could survive in such conditions, and the other reason was to find bugs. God must not wish to see players exploiting the bugs to level up.
Wei Huo felt a little guilty, but he did not tell Lu Qiqi that he had exploited bugs in order to obtain the Qi-Training Skill scroll and the highest-ranked God of Thunder Skill scroll.
Lu Qiqi said, “I need to wait till the next trial is completed before returning to God’s Gate. I have important information to relay to God.”
Wei Huo asked, “Is this the only way to relay information to God?”
Lu Qiqi replied, “And death. After I die, God will have access to my memories.”
“But you were forgotten by God.” Wei Huo looked over at Lu Qiqi and realized an important problem. If Lu Qiqi died, God would have access to her memories and realize that Wei Huo was left out of the time halt. ‘Would God send me into a time halt or take away everything I’ve worked for, or… kill me immediately?’
Lu Qiqi cannot die!
1
Wei Huo scrunched his brows and asked Lu Qiqi, “Are you afraid of death?”
Based on past events, Lu Qiqi seemed as if she did not care much about her life and death. It seemed as if she treated herself like a completely artificial being. She seemed like she was unbothered with death.
Lu Qiqi shook her head to Wei Huo’s question. “I don’t know what fear is.”
Wei Huo continued asking, “Can you cultivate Qi?”
If she could cultivate Qi, she should be able to increase her lifespan through it. As long as he found the cave to pass on the Qi Cultivation skills, her lifespan could be increased. When the next trial is over, her freedom could be controlled to prevent her from returning to God’s Gate. That crisis would then be resolved.
Lu Qiqi replied to his surprise, “I’m an artificial being, I have no soul. I can only cultivate Qi but I can’t refine my mind or return to the void.”
Wei Huo let out a sigh of relief. As long as Qi Cultivation was possible, everything was fine. He could buy some time at the very least. Moreover, she mentioned ‘Refine My Mind’ and ‘Return To The Void’— had she meant to say ‘Refining Essence Into Qi’, ‘Refining Qi Into God’, and ‘Refining The Mind To Return To The Void1‘?
Was this the path after Qi Cultivation? In other words, the lifespan of 2,000 years was not the limit, he could still obtain more years!
However, she mentioned soul…
Wei Huo did not overthink it and said, “After your calf recovers, we’ll set out for the cave!”
Lu Qiqi did not say no, nor was she excited about it. It was as if she had nothing to do with whatever Wei Huo had just said.
A month went by and Lu Qiqi’s injury had fully recovered thanks to the meat abundance in the warehouses. She had sufficient nutrients for her recovery.
After Lu Qiqi recovered from her injury, Wei Huo could not wait to bring her along in search of the cave. He wanted to look for a way to pass on Qi Cultivation Skills so that even if Lu Qiqi said no, he could still force her to cultivate her Qi anyway.
Lu Qiqi heard Wei Huo’s plan and replied, “Qi Cultivation Skills are included in the second trial. If we can find the cave, I will agree to inherit the skills and perform trials with it.”
Wei Huo let out a sigh of relief after hearing what Lu Qiqi had said.
2
Wei Huo began packing up and equipping himself. Together with Lu Qiqi and the panda, they headed out to the south.
The northern part of the Central continent had already been explored by 10,000 artificial intelligence beings however, they had yet to find the cave. Wei Huo did not plan to waste his time. He planned to bring Lu Qiqi and the panda to the south and explored uncharted territories.
At that very moment, God’s voice could be heard.
“New event added, Cliffs. From this moment onwards, there will be possibilities for treasures or scrolls to be found under cliffs.
“New event added, Dragon’s Treasure. From this moment onwards, there will be Dragon’s Treasure at dragons’ habitat. The treasure includes Weapons, Scrolls, Props, Medicine, Golden Coins, Magical Stones, and more.
“Note: the first Epic-ranked living creature appears.
“New location Divine Realm added.
“New creatures added: Gods. Gods are intelligent creatures living in the Divine Realm. They possess powerful strength and long lifespans.”
2
Wei Huo paid attention to God’s updates and changes to the game. He did not understand what kind of game God was planning to turn the world into, but it seemed like the game incorporated elements of games from before the time halt.
However, Wei Huo gradually realized that humans would find themselves in a depressing environment after the time halt ends. Would humanity be ended by God?
God had added many more methods to obtain scrolls. It was probably because scrolls were rare. That was good news to Wei Huo and Lu Qiqi as they went on with their journey to the south with sufficient resources.
Ten years flew by.
4
They stopped in their tracks because of a sudden system warning.
“Deadly virus discovered!”