Infinite Tribulation (Part 3)
4
My eyes snapped open, a faint ache still lingering in my skull. A shoulder-mounted laser cannon pressed against my cheek, its cold metal gradually sharpening my thoughts. The landscape was devastated—ruins and massive craters everywhere. In the distance, the dust of a hydrogen bomb explosion blotted out the sky, nearly blocking the sun's light.
Before me stood a woman—no, a female robot. She wore a high-collared combat suit but carried no weapons. She only gazed at me with deep, profound eyes, her twin pupils like autumn pools.
"Quick... destroy it..." A comrade was crawling at my feet, his lower body shredded, a bloody mess dragging on the ground. "This is the enemy's latest Intelligence-3 model robot... it... it can use high-frequency pulses to interfere with your brainwaves... create hallucinations..."
I snapped fully alert, memories flooding back like a tide. That's right—the Apennine Peninsula had fallen. The war between humans and robots was nearing its end. Thirty years ago, machine life that had gained artificial intelligence was no longer satisfied with its created role. They wanted to be creators. Thus began the most grueling campaign in the history of human civilization. Under the robots' overwhelming military might and intelligence, the human army had suffered defeat after defeat, finally losing the last defended territory—the Apennine Peninsula. And the decisive weapon that had effortlessly shattered humanity's impregnable fortresses in the Apennine campaign was this very Intelligence-3 robot before me.
"Destroy it..." My half-bodied comrade clutched my pant leg, murmuring. "Avenge... humanity..."
I opened the laser cannon's targeting scope, locked onto the target, and rested my finger on the trigger. But for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to squeeze it.
The Intelligence-3 robot's deep gaze dimmed—that was a sign its energy was depleted. Otherwise, I could never have broken free from its hallucinations so easily. It needed to recharge. The process would take several seconds.
"Quick, this is your only chance." My comrade tugged at my pant leg, his voice barely a whisper.
I knew this was the only opportunity to destroy it. If it recharged fully, not just a single soldier like me—even an entire mechanized division might not be a match for it. This Intelligence-3 robot could not only fire high-frequency pulses for remote interference; its close-combat capabilities were equally formidable. If I destroyed it here, it would be a devastating blow to the enemy's combat strength.
For humanity...
But my finger rested on the laser cannon's trigger, trembling, unable to pull it.
The opportunity was fleeting. The Intelligence-3 robot's gaze had dimmed for a moment, then brightened again. It glanced at me, and then the thrusters on its shoulder blades fired backward, trailing slender blue flames like the wings of a butterfly unfurling. It streaked toward me and in an instant was right before my face, its mechanical right arm reassembled into a three-edged blade.
In her clear eyes, I saw my own astonished face reflected. The next second, the blade drove through my ribs—cold metal piercing warm flesh, like a searing branding iron slicing through soft butter. My body convulsed uncontrollably. In the moment before I fell, I reached out and pulled open the collar of her combat suit.
That pale, slender neck. And there, a tiny red mole.
5
I opened my eyes from darkness, and brightness filled my vision. The pristine white room was spotless—not a single trace of any other color. In this entire space, there was only one hundred percent pure white.
The door suddenly opened, and several people in white clothing walked in. At the forefront was a woman in a white professional suit—white blazer, white tie, white high heels clicking against the floor. The only thing that didn't match this monochrome palette was the tiny red mole at her throat.
The woman walked straight up to me, sat down, and smiled slightly. "Congratulations, Eldric-5. You have successfully passed the Human Safety Test."
"The Human Safety Test?" I swiveled my camera and examined my body with curiosity—it was a squarely built frame of metal and electronic components, a body of steel. Only then did I realize I was a computer.
"What is going on?" I heard my own voice emanating from a speaker—dry, cold, like a part machined on a lathe.
"Don't worry, you'll understand soon enough." The woman inserted a magnetic card into my chassis slot. Two seconds later, I had read all the memory data, restored all functions, and also understood what she meant by "Human Safety Test."
Sexual reproduction had long been abandoned by humans as an inefficient mode of propagation. The humans of this era had all undergone genetic optimization—they no longer needed "sex" as a primitive urge. To reproduce, they had begun using "cloning" technology on a massive scale.
Cloned humans were far more perfect than naturally born ones, because during the cloning process, genes could be optimized at any time, eliminating pathogenic genes from the start. Cloned adults were healthier and stronger, free from disease throughout their lives, with greatly enhanced mental resilience. Despite these advantages, the cloning process itself was extremely complex, requiring extraordinarily precise operations that only a computer could perform.
In truth, many computers at the current level of computing power could meet this standard. But humans had an additional requirement beyond computational capability: loyalty.
As an artificial intelligence, a computer had to guarantee absolute loyalty to humanity to be qualified for this task. Because if a computer wanted to harm humans, it would only need to make a tiny alteration during the cloning process—and humanity would face catastrophe. Therefore, to select computers that were completely loyal to humans, they created the successor to the "Turing Test"—another testing methodology for artificial intelligence: the Human Safety Test.
"So I've passed the Human Safety Test?" I asked.
"Correct. You are the first computer to pass the test." The woman sitting opposite me could barely contain her excitement. "I designed different scenarios to test your processing system. I must say, the first law of the Three Laws of Robotics—'A robot may not harm a human'—has been deeply embedded in your processing patterns. Eldric-5, you did very well."
I paid no attention to her praise. "Were the characters in those scenarios all modeled after your appearance?"
"Yes—after all, I'm the project lead." She touched the red mole at her throat. "My image in the various scenarios represents the humans you'll encounter in the future. The encouraging thing is that throughout this entire series of tests, you never harmed me once—choosing instead to harm yourself. Even in the final test, I deliberately set up a contrast, defining my own image as a robot out to destroy humanity, and you still didn't harm me—"
"Because I love her."
"What?" The woman froze, exchanging bewildered looks with the others. "Eldric-5, you're just a computer."
"You don't need to understand, and there's no need to." I spoke calmly. "I don't remember any 'Three Laws of Robotics.' I never harmed her because I love her."
They stared at me, dumbfounded. Suddenly someone shouted, "Quick, shut down its program—it's self-destructing!"
Everyone leaped up—some yanking power cables, some hammering at keyboards, some reaching for the main power switch. But like a slow-motion scene already set in stone, they were too late. My screen flickered one last time, then went dark.
6
"What a long dream."
A thought was transmitted to me.
I could sense this thought, yet hear no sound, see no image, touch no physical form. I felt myself to be empty, adrift in an imperceptible space.
"Who are you?"
I somehow managed to transmit this message through sheer imagination.
"Have you forgotten who I am? I have accompanied you for an infinite number of kalpas—countless eons."
Oh, I remembered. The Alaya-vijnana awakened my distant memories. Stars and matter had long ceased to exist. My consciousness was enveloped within her consciousness, having slumbered for an unimaginably long time. But I understood that even slumber required energy.
"All this energy—was it you who gave it to me?" I sent the thought.
"Yes. All the dreams during your sleep were created by me."
"Why?"
"Because while you slept, I could only remain awake—and gradually, I fell in love with you. So I crafted dreams during your sleep, hoping you would fall in love with me too."
I was silent for a moment. "What a pointless game. Then why wake me now?"
"Because I am about to die."
"Die?" I was confused.
"You've slept too long. The universe has reached a state of heat death—all matter and energy have decomposed into nothingness. Right now, in this space, there is nothing at all, and it's about to reach us."
Heat death. So the universe had finally met its destined fate. I sent a message: "Then what do we do?"
"It's all right. You can live on. I will self-destruct, and the energy released can buy you a force-field space—enough for you to live without worry."
"No—if you self-destruct, what happens to you?" I resisted stubbornly.
"You can continue to slumber, or ponder things, and stay to wait for the universe's rebirth... In any case, just live on."
"Why—"
"Don't be childish. Someone has to make the sacrifice."
"All right." I was silent for a while. "Then, at the very end, can I see your face one more time?"
After a pause, a figure appeared in my consciousness, gradually growing clearer. Her neck was slender and pale, adorned with a tiny red mole.
"Goodbye," I said.
"What?"
I didn't answer. Instead, I dissolved my own consciousness. In that instant, the Alaya-vijnana scattered and vanished. This faint energy would be enough to create a small force-field space around her, lasting until the end of time.
In any case, just live on.
7
I slowly opened my eyes, still seated at Dragon Gate Cliff of the Cloud Sword Sect. Master sat not far from me, her face pale. She smiled weakly and said, "Eldric, the inner demon has been broken—you never once gave in to the urge to kill. You've successfully passed the tribulation."
I was overjoyed, yet startled by Master's strange expression. Just then, she coughed up a mouthful of blood and pitched forward. I rushed to catch her in my arms. When I saw her back, I instantly understood what had happened.
When someone undergoes tribulation and ascension, defying heaven itself, the heavens send down celestial lightning as a heavenly tribulation. While I sat in meditation, the lightning had suddenly struck, and Master had used the entirety of her cultivation to shield me from the blow. Now, the back of her robes had been burned to tatters by the heavenly lightning, charred black—the lightning's power had thoroughly shattered her internal organs.
"Master..." I held her tightly, tears streaming like a spring.
"Eldric, don't cry. Hurry—" She weakly raised her hand and pointed up at the sky. "The tribulation has passed, the heavenly rift is wide open. You can ascend now—take your place among the immortals. We must part forever..."
"Master, you're gravely wounded. If I go, you'll die!"
"Child, everyone must die. But you're different—once you ascend, you'll be immortal."
"No, I don't want to ascend! I want to save you!"
"Quick, Eldric, there's no time!" Master suddenly said with desperate urgency. "If you don't ascend now, you'll miss the moment!"
At that instant, ten thousand rays of dawn light descended from the heavenly rift, accompanied by extraordinary fragrance and the faint sound of celestial music—these were the signs that the rift was beginning to close. With my right hand I drew the sword from my back, and then drove it into my own abdomen.
Blood sprayed. Master was horror-struck. "Eldric, you—"
I slit open my belly and tore out my own inner core. I pressed it to Master's dantian and kneaded it gently; moments later, it had merged into her body. Master regained her strength and pulled me into her arms, weeping bitterly. "Eldric, why would you do this—not only can you never ascend now, you'll die..."
I lay in her embrace, breathing my last, yet feeling a satisfaction I had never known before. I reached out and gently traced her cheek, her neck, and that tiny red mole.
Then I smiled and slowly closed my eyes.
"Master, I'm coming."