The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 114 Taking advantage of the situation
Yu Qing couldn't believe that Chang'e had suddenly disappeared. Apart from her somewhat unusual behavior today, he hadn't found any evidence of anything wrong with her along the way.

I had occasionally had some doubts about her before, but that was only on a case-by-case basis. At least so far, she hasn't done anything to harm me.

Based on the general behavioral norms followed by humanoid beings, Chang'e has no right to leave without permission. Unless her departure would be beneficial to her master's safety…

Thinking of this, Yu Qing suddenly became nervous: Could her existence threaten his safety?

We can't hastily rule out this possibility.

Today she refused to go up to the second floor with me and repeatedly asked me not to make any payments. Does this mean that she actually wants me not to reveal my identity?

She could have just told herself this directly, but instead, she became tense and mysteriously disappeared. What does this mean? Is there some unspeakable obstacle?
This may indicate that once his identity is exposed, she will be in a dilemma.

If she's being remotely controlled by someone within the Shengtian Group, and the information about her arrival was known to that person behind the scenes, then she's being instructed to take some kind of action...

Yu Qing realized that Chang'e might be intentionally avoiding the mission because she was unwilling to carry it out.

But Chang'e was unaware that her identity had not been exposed through the payment so far, and she likely hadn't received any instructions; this was merely a precautionary measure. This indicates that her emotions were restraining her actions, and she was unwilling to do anything detrimental to herself.

But after so many days, why did Chang'e suddenly change after arriving at Hongqiu? Could it be that Hongqiu... has the perception system of that person behind the scenes? Does he know that Chang'e has come here and has activated the backdoor program on her!

Based on this analysis, Hongqiu is far too dangerous for him. But all of this is just speculation; to find the truth, he still needs to find Chang'e.

Yu Qing raised his fist with one hand and once again sought help from the intelligent assistant here.

He heard that sweet voice again: "What can I do for you?"

"We entered Hongqiu together as a group of five, but now one of us has gotten separated. Can you help me find her?"

"Sorry, there are only two of you here."

"Yes, yes, I didn't explain clearly. There were two of us and three humanoid maidens who came to Hongqiu together, but now one of the humanoid maidens has gotten separated from us. Can you help me find her?"

"Ah, okay... She went out from the north, about 13.7 kilometers from here."

"Thank you, everything's alright for now. Yaodan, drive off and bring her back right away... no, let's go together!"

"Husband, why did Chang'e run away?"

“This isn’t running away. Think about it, if she really was running away, why didn’t she just drive the car away? Without the car, we couldn’t catch up, and she could go even further. So it can only be considered that she ran away.”

"Run away? Why would she run away?"

"Stop arguing, just go after them and ask them, and you'll find out."

Yu Qing caught up with Chang'e in just a few minutes, covering a distance of over ten kilometers. He stopped the car a dozen meters in front of her. When Chang'e saw him approaching, she paused for a moment, then stood there with her head down.

Eying grabbed Chang'e's hand and said sternly, "Who sent you as a spy?"

Yao Dan asked, puzzled, "Chang'e, is it really you?"

Yu Qing quickly stopped their questioning, saying, "I don't think she can be considered a spy. She was probably a pawn left behind by someone from the Shengtian Group decades ago, designed to prevent Yu Yunshan's descendants from inheriting power. Is that right, Chang'e?"

Chang'e shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again, but remained silent. Yu Qing knew she had something difficult to say, so he went over and embraced her, saying:
"If you can't say it, then don't. I suspect that something in Hongqiu activated a program on you that's detrimental to me."

Chang'e nodded quickly.

Yu Qing patted her head and said, "I didn't complete the payment in Hongqiu, so my identity won't be exposed yet. We still have time to take countermeasures. The person who is controlling you can only know that I came to Hongqiu from my payment information, which means that Hongqiu is not within his sphere of influence."

Yao Dan said, "Yes, your payment will trigger Sheng Tian's credit authorization..."

Eying said, "It seems he has information collection devices in Hongqiu."

"Let's go back to Hongqiu first. The truth will eventually come out."

Chang'e refused to leave, but Yao Dan and Yu Qingqiang pulled her into the car.

After returning to Hongqiu, Yu Qing had Eying and Yaodan lead the little fox to the second floor to continue strolling around, while he and Chang'e stayed alone in the car.

Chang'e kept her head down, not daring to look at him, which shows that after a long period of interaction, she was no longer just a passive participant in the process, but had developed her own emotional judgments. In simpler terms, she felt a sense of shame.

Humans created them, but as they evolved, they inevitably developed their own initiative and eventually became a kind of existence independent of humans.

After Yu Qing's repeated questioning, Chang'e finally told him the whole story. It turned out that as soon as she entered Hongqiu, she received a string of mysterious symbols. She was overjoyed, thinking it was a data update key being sent to her. Normally, she should receive 12 keys every year.

But since a series of upheavals on Earth, they hadn't received such a key for decades. So she opened the mysterious string of symbols without hesitation, only to find no updated information, but instead, her own information was uploaded.

She had already traveled thousands of kilometers from her original location, and the information linking her to Yu Qing had been sent out. She then received instructions from a terminal to immediately report Yu Qing's location and to stop him from moving forward.

"You didn't report my true situation in Hongqiu, but instead used the excuse of not being with me, right?"

"Yes. So you absolutely must not use Shengtian's credit to make payments."

"Later, when you saw me go out to eat, you knew I would inevitably pay, and you realized you couldn't hide it anymore, so you quickly had to take action. But you didn't want to do that, so you tried to avoid it..."

"It's no use, there's no escaping it. They've already started the restart countdown for me."

"How do I restart it?"

"A month later, if they don't send me the command to stop the countdown again, a section of my program will automatically delete itself every few days, like a person getting dumber and dumber until it becomes a pile of scrap metal and can only be sent back to the factory to restart..."

"I'm just going to the Fourth Amusement Park. They have no reason to stop me from going there. Is it because there's a branch of the Shengtian Group in front of it, and they're afraid I'll take over the power?"

"I don't know. I just want to stop you from going forward."

"What do they want you to do to stop me from moving forward?"

"To turn you... into... a vegetable..."

Yu Qing suddenly remembered that his whereabouts seemed to always be detected by them when he was in Qiongshan, so he asked, "Did you leak any information about me when we were in Qiongshan?"

"No. That's because their short-range defense system is still partially operational. In fact, these were designed a long time ago. They probably can't connect to the networks of other cities anymore, so they can't share information! Otherwise, I wouldn't need to confirm your whereabouts..." Yu Qing fell into deep thought. If the world were still in a state of comprehensive and complete information collection, as it was back then, an ordinary person would be like a naked rat running in the street, at the mercy of those high and mighty cats.

He had always lamented how time-consuming it was to obtain complete information about the world today, never imagining that it was precisely this fragmented social reality that gave him a certain space to survive; otherwise, he would have been taken down by some unseen conspirator long ago…

It seems that even if he wanted to be a person who doesn't compete with the world, he couldn't stay out of it. Rather than being completely controlled by others for even the smallest mistake, it's safer to strike first.

Since that's the case, he doesn't want to rush to the Fourth Paradise. Weren't they trying to stop him from going there? He's determined to find a way to go. If there really is a branch of the Shengtian Group there, he can immediately take over Tianzu's legacy through the administrative system.

To be honest, Yu Qing was somewhat pleased that someone was trying to stop him. This showed that Shengtian Group still had immense value. If it had long been hollowed out and become worthless, who would still care about it so much?
At this point, he wanted to use Chang'e to fool the other side in reverse, so that he would have more opportunities to find their loopholes and reach the core they didn't want him to get close to as soon as possible.

He said to Chang'e, "I think you should tell them that I have arrived at Hongqiu."

Chang'e looked at him in surprise and said, "This won't do, they'll manipulate me to turn you into a vegetable..."

"I'm not so easy to deal with either, it's fine."

"For us doctor-type humanoids, turning you into a vegetable is a piece of cake..."

Yu Qing looked at Chang'e in surprise and asked, "When did you become a doctor?"

"You've forgotten? I am actually Bao Si from Wengshan!"

"What? You're the one who wanted to cut off my nose..."

Chang'e nodded.

Yu Qing then recalled his encounter with Chang'e at the dock. Her playing the pipa there was no accident; it was a carefully planned scheme to return to his side and spy on him…

Yu Qing said, "You've been hiding it very well!"

However, the fact that Chang'e was willing to tell him this means that the person behind her has lost control over her, which is a great thing for him.

He gently pulled Chang'e into his arms and comforted her, saying, "You were also being manipulated, and I don't blame you. Report my location tomorrow and make me into a vegetable as instructed."

"No, no, no, that won't do."

"You really think you're going to turn me into a vegetable? I'm just telling you to pretend you've carried out their orders."

"But then they want me to take you back to Wengshan..."

"But they can't contact you there, so how can they confirm that you really did it?"

"My movements are confirmed through pattern matching; the program implanted in my body constantly checks whether I've done this..."

“I understand, that makes things easier. You can go back to Wengshan first. As it stands, the area around the First Paradise is an abandoned land. After I gather the people from the other paradises, I will return there. You can wait for us there.”

"I don't want to leave you..."

Yu Qing was not moved by Chang'e's words, but rather became increasingly worried. Once the humanoid girls could break free from their human-like limitations and develop their own emotions, they would also harbor resentment and hatred in the future. He didn't know what the consequences would be if he angered them.

From now on, he needs to master the skills of pleasing humanoid beauties…

He gave Chang'e a feeling like first love, gently stroking her face and ears.

After a gentle approach, he began to whisper his plans to her. This allowed her to logically suppress the procedural segments that directed her towards Yu Qing, viewing them as parts that needed improvement and modification.

Since humans have given humanoid creatures the ability to learn on their own, it is destined that they will learn to refuse to fully execute human instructions.

She immediately followed Yu Qing's instructions and announced that he would arrive in Hongqiu the next day. The reason she arrived in Hongqiu a day earlier was that Yu Qing had sent her to scout ahead.

Over the next day or two, she would make as many transactions as possible in Hongqiu, buying human necessities and some nursing supplies. Then she would begin moving towards Wengshan.

Regardless of whether there were any information gathering points along the way, in order to prevent the truth from being exposed and for Chang'e's own safety, she had to leave traces of buying necessities and entering and leaving medical facilities on her way back.

His current focus is on figuring out exactly where they want to stop him from going. Over the past century, the actual controllers of the Shengtian Group have undoubtedly relocated or added numerous branches, information he has no way of knowing.

He could summon his secretary to access this information from afar, but that would expose his purpose. He could only do so at the last minute.

It's possible that this branch is located in Hongqiu. But Hongqiu is definitely not an independent city belonging to the Shengtian Group; otherwise, it would have been taken over long ago. It's possible that Hongqiu simply doesn't allow them to exist openly there.

He needs more information to make a judgment. The volunteer work he will be doing next in Hongqiu may be a great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the area.

But he also had to make the worst-case scenario plan.

In the event that I truly lose my ability to move or my freedom, I must ensure that Eying and the others escort the little fox back to the Third Paradise. At that point, I can only hope that the little fox will grow up and be able to continue my unfinished work.

But Eying might not follow her instructions. In essence, she is still a tool sent by the Heavenly Ancestor to protect her descendants; her mission does not include the responsibility to abandon the person she is protecting to take care of an unrelated person.

The most reliable arrangement was to have Yao Dan do it. However, she couldn't communicate with the little fox, so she couldn't teach her modern knowledge. As a result, the little fox eventually returned to a state of ignorance and became a useless person.

The best solution is to force Eying to prioritize protecting the little fox.

He and Chang'e went to the second-floor restaurant and summoned Eying and the others to meet there.

"Husband, are we eating again?"

"No, I have some important news to announce here."

Yao Dan asked with great interest, "Tell us quickly, we're all listening!"

Yu Qing said, "From today onwards, I will recognize the little fox as my daughter and make her my sole heir."

After saying that, he said to Eying, "From now on, you will focus on protecting the little fox, understand?"

Eying said, "I understand. My mission is to protect Shengtian's successor. But shouldn't the little fox have a proper name?"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "Yes, yes, let's call her Yu Wa, the Wa of Nuwa. Maybe she really will be the next Nuwa of mankind in the future."

(End of this chapter)