Soul Trigger

Chapter 718 The Origins of the Pioneers

The heavy machinery rumbled to life, and Ji Li saw the vast indoor space before him.

Behind founder Turing, the pipes were tangled and the instruments beeped and dripped. A device he couldn't recognize, called "Haunted by Ten Thousand Ghosts," stood guard at the gate.

Clearly, this is already a memory of the past.

"Let's do it."

In his memory, he answered the founder Turing's question. Ji Li tried to check his state in this memory, but as soon as he had a thought, he switched directly to a surveillance camera.

In the surveillance footage, Turing is leaning over an extension of a large machine, and the human figure lying on it is Ji Li himself, or rather, Ji Li who once came from the Murphy's Great Structure.

But this time, is it actually possible to switch perspectives?

All of Ji Li's memories are like a first-person perspective movie, where he is completely unable to control any of his actions.

After carefully examining the situation from the surveillance camera's perspective, he discovered that the back of his head was connected to countless pipes. It was these pipes that connected to the base in his memory, which was why his thoughts could switch to the surveillance camera.

Ji Li's mind stirred, and his vision shifted again. His perspective switched to a surveillance camera in a corridor, where a highly modified World Tree was patrolling with a demonic machine.

The coexistence of flesh and machine clearly indicates that it is a "Demon God Ascendant" from the Demon God system's industrial line.

This kind of transformation path is the system used by the World Tree Group's top war machine and highest level in the Murphy Megastructure. I never expected that it would just be a patrolling soldier here.

Moreover, Ji Li had never seen such a highly integrated model before; it was clearly a crystallization of even higher technology from the heavens.

Based on her previous memories, Ji Li divided her past into three periods.

The first Murphy's Colossus period, which is the three hundred years of memories that Ji Li fully possessed, ended at the moment he failed to ascend.

The second period was in the high heavens. These memories mostly came from the absorption of the otherworldly crystals. They were fragmented and, apart from bringing him more mysteries and witnessing the more powerful transformation he had undergone during that time, they did not provide any useful information about his arrival in this world.

The third is the period of the Pioneers, which comes from what was gleaned from the memories of Felin and the memories obtained from the retrieval of Valhalla.

He originally thought that the memories brought to him by the two different mediums were different, and perhaps he should obtain more otherworldly crystals from the tombstone in order to obtain the memories of the time in the high heavens.

But his current memories overturned his assumptions.

This time, with the surveillance cameras allowing him to look around, Ji Li wouldn't miss this opportunity to gather visual intelligence.

He had fantasized countless times about ascending to the heavens, but his previous fragmented memories were mostly of cramped indoor environments. Now he could finally see the whole picture.

In an instant, he switched between countless surveillance cameras, imprinting their contents into his mind, until finally, with the last one, he saw what the space he and Turing were in was all about.

This is a cosmic junkyard, or rather, it resembles a cosmic junkyard, and also resembles a space hub.

Buildings from all directions floated silently in the weightless environment. Robots, monsters, integrated buildings... all sorts of densely packed, discarded mechanical objects made up this huge junkyard.

Outside this cosmic junkyard, an endless grid of black lines forms the entire world, stretching as far as the eye can see.

High above the heavens... this is what it looks like?

Ji Li was somewhat stunned, and at the same time, this place also struck him as strange—

It's too complicated.

The spaceship, a product of World Tree technology and an unknown technological system, was like a massive mechanical junkyard piled up from creations from different eras and worlds. He even saw a few dilapidated trains.

What the hell is this place?

The neural connection monitoring probe made it all happen in an instant, but Turing's words quickly brought Ji Li's attention back:
"This is our last effort. You need to calm down and listen carefully to the precautions I'm about to tell you."

His faceplate flashed with red dots, and his voice was cold and solemn:
"The power of the Authority Code can take you to other dimensions. I don't know what will be there, but the Supreme Matrix's surveillance will probably not stop. Be careful of the [Purge Protocol]."

"Secondly, after this, all the implants in your body may become ineffective. If this happens, try using the power of 'spiritual matter' to start over."

Odin: "Of course, I even named it myself."

Turing nodded: "The third point..."

His words abruptly stopped, and he paused:
"That's all for now."

"Stop being so indecisive. You call yourself the founder of the World Tree?"

Turing ignored him and placed his hand on his shoulder:
"Ji Li, this is no simple mission; it is more terrifying than ascension."

After the Chiron Corporation was completely destroyed, you were the last hope in the face of the purge agreement.

Odin remained silent for a long while, then spoke in a deep voice:

"give it to me."

Bang!
Ji Li's vision receded, falling back into the massive machine. Amidst the boundless noise, a force was erupting all around, stretching, twisting, and tearing him apart.

As the pain swept over him, he could see Turing outside.

He extended his eight mechanical tentacles, supporting himself in mid-air as seen in the documentary about the founder of the World Tree, gazing at himself in the distance:

"This is the last ticket, please don't let me down... Odin."

The noise stopped, and the world fell silent.

When Ji Li opened his eyes again, he found himself in a destroyed town.

The ruins were silent, save for the crackling flames and the charred corpses scattered on the ground.

"This is... White Island."

Ji Li recognized it by the collapsed Evangelical church, and the surrounding landscape was also very similar.

But unlike others, these buildings look very old, even older than the old houses in Red Maple Town.

Among the corpses scattered on the ground were soldiers in chainmail, and also longswords and shields—

This is ancient times, or, in this world's terms, the Middle Ages?

This predates the time before the pioneers created crop circles in Red Maple Town.

What stood out in stark contrast to these things were the endless mechanical creations beneath his feet.

It was a product of the World Tree; the scars on its body did not resemble physical injuries, but rather seemed to have been erased from space.

Ji Li's gaze swept across the distant castle, and he heard Odin, who was himself at this point in time, sigh:

"We've really reached the end of our rope."

He suddenly knelt down, his heavy body making a loud thud.

As his gaze moved, Ji Li saw the black hole engine on his chest from his memory.

His body was covered with marks resembling those of a corpse on the ground, revealing a dilapidated construct beneath.

Something that even Odin in his black hole engine state couldn't fight against?
Ji Li was filled with deep doubt.

At that moment, a dense stream of data appeared before his eyes, the complete ascension protocol, and Odin's voice came again:

"Fortunately, the Ascension Protocol has fully analyzed the rules of this world using the power code. After the reincarnation... I can try again."

No, before this world advances to the technological level of the Murphy's Colossus, I can try countless more times…

In the last scene before the screen went dark, Ji Li saw a distant hillside.

There, dark buildings are being created, sweeping in like a virus, as if to engulf the entire world.

This was the pioneer's first life in this world, and he seemed to have suffered some unimaginable failure, entering his next life through the path of reincarnation.

In his second life, he used the power of the Ascension Agreement to establish a World Tree outpost on an island at lightning speed, and developed a massive army. But in the end, the scene shifted, and only Odin remained.

Dark particles spread out, and Odin sighed deeply in the underground base:

"No, still no..."

He clenched his fist:
"We can no longer rely on what the World Tree already possesses. Perhaps Turing's path is the right one. I need to develop even more powerful technology to deal with these pursuers, the power of the spirit..."

The pioneers entered the wheel again.

The third generation.

“That’s right, it’s a problem with the power code. After discarding the power code in that red space, the cleansing protocol couldn’t detect me so easily anymore… Let’s try the power of spiritual matter.” During the long journey, the pioneers studied the power of spiritual matter, attempting to combine it with World Tree technology, and achieved some success.

He used those spiritual technologies to support a local lord.

He taught him the power of the spirit and used a certain amount of technology to help him conquer other castles, carefully adjusting the fusion of the spirit and the Murphy Megastructure technology in the process.

Gradually, the black particles reappeared from the east.

He told the lord that it was a demon. Thus, the massive Crusades swept across Europe, but history records it as one of the world's most failed campaigns, much like his own life.

Due to insufficient development of spiritual energy, the Pioneers ultimately resorted to World Tree technology, but were defeated and died once again.

But this time, Ji Li saw exactly what those black particles were.

Layers of dark lines formed a matrix, enveloping and interweaving the sunset-lit hillside, much like the view he saw from the cosmic junkyard high in the sky.

The lines moved into the distance, and the unknown creation was "printed" out.

They were entirely black, their bodies composed of some kind of miniature cubic collapse. Their eyes burned with green light, and they had braided mechanical hair behind them, their bodies radiating black particles.

Ji Li finally understood that these things were the so-called "cleaning agreement".

They were called "Matrix Creatures" by the pioneers, and they traversed dimensions in pursuit of the Supreme Matrix:

Occam's Hound.

The fourth time, the pioneers who were reborn through the Wheel of Reincarnation discovered that the world had become somewhat different.

A hundred years have passed since his last death, and he has encountered ghosts and people who can spontaneously manipulate spiritual energy—

Evil and the Awakened.

After delving into the world of the Awakened, he realized that he had inadvertently changed the world.

Perhaps because of the power code he relinquished in that rotating space, spiritual essence was no longer his exclusive possession.

At first, he was quite annoyed because this was the culmination of the World Tree's technology, a technological product named by him. How could a group of natives take it?

But he soon realized that this might be a success.

The spirit matter is not part of the cleansing protocol; it is a product of successfully breaking through the technological blockade of the Supreme Matrix. The ecosystem of the spirit matter has officially begun to unfold in this world, and research on the spirit matter will not be conducted by him alone, but by the entire world.

Having figured this out, the pioneers entered the world of the Awakened and devoted themselves to research.

Gradually, as the technology made breakthroughs, he felt the time was right and assembled a team to support a new spokesperson.

This time he learned his lesson and was no longer an ordinary lord, but a member of the royal family named Napoleon.

With the inherent rights they possessed and the help of pioneers, their territory continued to expand.

War, colonization, the establishment of empires, and the pioneers' spiritual research made rapid progress.

Ultimately, he made great progress and successfully completed the development of spiritual energy.

This means that World Tree Technology no longer needs to be powered by electricity; a single ritual is all it takes to allow Napoleon's people to transform their emotions into spiritual energy, providing him with power.

With the Black Hole Engine enhanced, he began to combine it with spiritual matter to develop a new generation of prosthetic bodies. If this continued, the Cleansing Protocol would no longer be a problem, and he would be able to face the Occam's Hounds even without Turing's help.

Many years later, he came to terms with reality in a place called Waterloo:

"I shouldn't have lost the power code."

The matrix's creations were vast and powerful, yet he failed once again.

But this time it took him the longest, so he patiently continued, the fifth time, the sixth time...

Despite repeated failures, his plan became increasingly successful, drawing ever closer to the answer he desired, until he successfully eradicated a proliferation of the cleansing protocol. He knew then that he had succeeded.

The technological blockade has achieved a breakthrough from zero to one; if this continues, he will be able to complete his final plan with Turing—

Kill the Supreme Matrix.

But after this success, he was met with failure.

Through the Cleansing Protocol, the Supreme Matrix is ​​watching him, observing him, and retaliating against any actions he takes.

You can develop spiritual qualities, and so can it.

"I need a clearer mind, more meticulous logic, and more ruthless choices. I need... to have the same way of thinking as the Supreme Matrix in order to surpass it."

Thus, the pioneers were born.

Hedonism corrupts the spirit, so he abandoned pleasure and indulgence and became an ascetic.

Arrogance influenced his decision-making, so he abandoned the pride and complacency of the otherworldly beings and became a true native, seeking survival with caution and meticulous logic.

War is not about individuals, so he abandoned the pursuit of combat ability, greatly enhanced his brain, devoted himself to research, and delved into more technological and spiritual knowledge.

He must become a researcher like Turing, studying spiritual matter, studying the world, studying the Supreme Matrix, studying everything.

But it was still one step short.

"I have completely integrated my spiritual essence into the World Tree technology system, but why is it still not working..."

After giving it their all, they still suffered a complete failure, and despair began to take hold.

Time is running out. Technology is advancing in tandem with the rest of the world, and the natives here have already begun launching satellites to explore outer space.

With the advancement of technology, it's only a matter of time before this place is hijacked by the Supreme Matrix.

He decided to take a gamble.

And so, in a tiny country in the far east, during a sacrificial ceremony called the Red Whip Society, a boy opened his eyes.

My soul trembled, and boundless memories receded from my mind.

The images jump around and piece together, like the outline of a story.

Ji Li had no way of knowing the details, but he finally witnessed the birth and end of the pioneers.

The world plunged back into darkness, and that thing that called itself an intelligent, spiritual AI stood right in front of him:

"Now, do you understand?"

Ji Li shook his head:
"The Supreme Matrix... the Cleansing Protocol, what exactly are these?"

He looked at Ji Li quietly:

"If life has an end, then the Supreme Matrix is ​​that end."

It weaves the world with its power codes. Whether it's the Murphy's Colossus or high in the sky, all time, space, technology, and civilization are controlled and sealed off by it. They are all its parish testing grounds for studying the evolution of civilization.

Do you know why you failed to ascend?

The other party didn't give Ji Li any space to answer, and instead asked and answered their own question:
"Because the Murphy Megastructure, as one of the parishes of the Supreme Matrix, has been drained of all its observational value in its eyes, like waste that has been thrown into a recycling bin and is waiting to be completely deleted."

When a civilization no longer has any research value in its eyes, only destruction awaits it. It was Turing who led you and me to sneak into the high heavens.

It possesses countless other worlds like this, as vast and boundless as a constellation. The heavens above are but one of them, however, the one closest to it in spatial location.

Ji Li remained silent for a few breaths:

"Then, what's different here?"

"Here... White Island, Silla, Shulong... This planet, this universe, does not belong to it."

Therefore, this is the only place that can destroy the Supreme Matrix, the only hope, and your mission.

He paused, looking at the silent Ji Li:
"Go back, my future self. You saw those memories. You've completed your mission; you don't need the power of the Murphy Megalostructure."

Ji Li looked at the other person, and the other person looked at him.

Then Ji Li smiled:
"Step aside."

(End of this chapter)