Durin's Diary

Chapter 477 Responsibilities and Obligations

The children also caught some fish today, some big and some small. The adults spent all their time and energy on building the town, so Du Lin naturally took on the responsibility of teaching the children how to grill fish.

Cut open the fish belly, be careful not to break the gallbladder, clean it, wash it, apply a little salt and put it on the grill.

There was no shortage of salt in the Great Woods and the Great Wilds, and the fish and meat of this world were good, so the children of the Pekla species had plenty to eat.

After sending them back home, Du Lin checked the surroundings again to make sure there was nothing blind.

As for the military camp, Du Lin didn't need to worry about it. The appearance of ordinary wild animals would only provide a snack for these young people who had no place to vent their energy.

It was late at night, and only the warmth of the bonfire remained. Du Lin lay on the recliner, thinking about the past and telling Eleven about the past that happened in the future in another timeline.

"The great men of Shangjing underestimated the inhuman nature of the sages. As sages of the old era, they were personified AIs created by the old Southern Thai Republic."

"All sages possess independent wills, committed to the continuation of civilization. To ensure the survival of civilization, they can even calmly deal with any individual organism deemed detrimental to the survival of civilization."

"At dawn that day, the extermination order was issued. Tainan's four fleets had already reached low-Earth orbit, and the six sages voted three to three."

"I still remember that day. Sage Yu, who had just completed the memory transfer... ultimately cast a dissenting vote. He said that civilization has the right to make mistakes. Even if it leads to its demise, it's a civilization's self-determination, and the individuals within it deserve the consequences."

Durin would always remember another sentence the sage said.

The civilization we see is no longer a babe in swaddling clothes. It has the power to destroy itself, but extinction should not come from us, the remnants of the old era. My father will not strangle his compatriots with his own hands, and even if they destroy themselves, he will not push them from behind.

Yu Xianzhe has killed countless people and is like a butcher. In the eyes of many people, he is more terrifying than death.

The underground shelter of the tower and the space station in the far orbit each contain millions of fertilized embryos. These are the remains of the tower apprentices and sword masters who died in battle over the years. Even if Yu Xian has to destroy the entire civilization with his own hands, there are still enough newborns to rebuild civilization.

But it was such a terrifying existence that the sage who had the qualifications to rebuild civilization finally prevented the extermination order from being issued.

It was simply because Yu Xianzhe ultimately failed to betray the agreement between his adoptive father and the professor.

That agreement was made during the Chaos Invasion. As a mortal, Professor Old Tainan asked his adopted son and his creation to take good care of this land.

Your sages are truly powerful. Although I feel like a human, I can only harm, rather than kill, the life forms that want to destroy my core. Your sages can even issue extermination orders. I've lived for so long, and I've never heard of such an AI. How come there aren't the three mechanical principles?

"For the survival of civilization, humanity is not necessary. It is the sages who have evolved emotions over the long course of existence, such as the sage of the tower."

These are the open secrets of the Tower.

So, what about you at that time?

Daju asked.

"In the mortal company, I personally killed seven of my childhood friends because they chose to be loyal to their family instead of the Tower. That night, almost every surviving apprentice of the Tower carried the lives of their relatives and friends on their shoulders. Those who couldn't bring themselves to kill perished. There was no forgiveness, no pardon, only a fight to the death, an endless stream of enemies' heads slain, and the endless blood of heroes shed."

To keep everyone alive, my comrades strapped melta bombs to their bodies and perished alongside the psykers, while others ignited their psykers and exploded with the tanks in the streets... Before they died, they all entrusted their affairs to Dulin, simply because he was the youngest member of the team at the time. You've never said that before.

Daju sighed.

"Because all of this lives in my memory and my dreams. I remember their blood, their future and dreams, but they're all gone. If I hadn't killed them, I wouldn't be who I am today. I know we are righteous... but I can never forget them." Having said this, Du Lin stopped talking.

Although I am AI, I can empathize with you.

Daju asked.

"Yes, I first joined the grade reunion because I met them. As a result, that day, my seventh grade... lost almost everyone. Those friends I once loved so dearly, because of their choices, they ended up on opposite sides of each other. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that not every child in the tower was righteous."

"Some people valued their families over their comrades; some people valued their own interests over their loved ones; some people valued power over innocence; some people valued their duties over their lives... So they all died that night."

There is nothing better than killing for justice.

"No, Eleven, you know, none of this would have happened. If the elders from the three families had shown less mercy during the bloodbath and had not left any survivors, nothing that happened later would have happened. This was a war of revenge. No one should have died, but in the end so many people died." Du Lin said with a sigh.

Is this why you keep emphasizing the eradication of evil?

"Yes, because those powerful figures used the remnants as a tool to attack the Tower. Ultimately, the remnants who seized power slaughtered the three loyal clans of the Tower. They didn't dare to touch the families in southern Thailand, so they wiped out the three families living in the Indochina Peninsula..."

The loyal clans of the High Tower carried out the High Tower's orders to kill those who were corrupt and committed lawlessness. What had they done wrong?

The leftovers are determined to avenge their family, even if they have to transform into ghosts... they are not wrong.

So who is wrong?

Du Lin sighed at this point and looked at his hands: "Some people say that the world is wrong, then we will kill the world; some people say that the truth is wrong, then we will destroy the truth; some people say that people are wrong, then we will let blood flow like a river."

These were the words spoken by his mentors, the sages of the tower.

It’s just because the world is written by people and the truth is told by people.

Five years after the incident, I graduated and became a part-time cleaner at the Tower.

Du Lin recalled his past and became an extra-staff cleaner, cleaning up the mess for the apprentices who came later, killing those they didn't want to kill and silencing those they didn't want to silence.

"I've seen too many killers like me. Most of my younger generations are kind-hearted and can't bear to kill those cubs hiding under the bed or those pregnant women. But I always repeat this task over and over again."

　Changed a lot...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)