The Last Sentinel

"Reporting, sir, Hua Xiaobai has not been found in the inner city!"

"My lord, Hua Xiaobai has not been found in the outer city either!"

"Sir, we haven't found any trace of Hua Xiaobai anywhere in the surrounding area!"

"..."

As reports reached Charlie's ears, his eyes were filled with anger and disbelief. How could this be? Where did that Homo sapiens kid go?

The Perfect City is such a small place, with neither an inner nor outer city, which means he is still in the Perfect City!

That's right! He must still be in Perfect City!

Right in some corner!

Charlie's mind raced, and in the next moment, he remembered something from the past.

Last time in the study, Hua Xiaobai picked up a book and asked himself, "Your Highness, cultivating your mind and character will lead to a limitless future! This book looks very interesting; it even records some of the history of Homo sapiens."

I casually replied, "There are plenty of books like that in ancient libraries! If you're interested, you can go and read them anytime."

Hua Xiaobai laughed and said, "Then I really should find some time to visit the ancient library."

Charlie snapped back to reality and asked his men, "Have you checked the ancient library?"

His subordinate was taken aback. "The Library of Sages? No, it doesn't exist yet. It's a high-level knowledge center with very high barriers to entry, directly under the Council of Elders. We dare not enter; it would anger the Council of Elders."

"Come with me!"

Charlie took the lead and headed straight for the Perfect City - Ancient Library of the Sages.

The Sage Library in Perfect City is one of only two of the oldest buildings in Perfect City, and the only sage sanctuary that can stand on equal footing with the Holy Sepulchre. Ordinary Neanderthals are not qualified to enter the Sage Library. Even a genius like Charlie was not qualified to enter the library before the coup. Only after the coup did he have the right to borrow books from it.

"Your Highness, this is the Library of Sages; we are not allowed to enter!"

"Your Highness, please calm down! This will anger the Elders' Council!"

"Hua Xiaobai is inside; he must know everything! Only Hua Xiaobai can resolve this crisis now!"

Charles stormed in, ignoring the guards on either side, and angrily pushed open the doors of the ancient library.

The ancient, high-rise building with its weathered, pointed roof has narrow windows set into the high walls. The interior of the library is exceptionally dark and quiet, filled with an indescribable tranquility. It is as if all turbulent emotions and distracting thoughts have been cut off from the library, leaving only a devout heart for learning after entering.

Charlie calmed himself down and glanced at the massive stone bookshelves that were hundreds of stories high.

These black, hundred-story-high stone tablets are both bookshelves and books themselves.

As a line from The Three-Body Problem goes, if you want your story to last for generations, then write it on a stone.

Stone is the most stable, reliable, and easily found medium for recording information.

"Little White Flower!"

Charlie shouted towards the ancient library's layers of stone bookshelves, "I know you're here! Come out! You can't hide!"

Tell me, Homo sapiens' next plan!

"I might spare your life!"

Charlie's voice echoed throughout the vast library.

In the darkness, a soft sigh answered Charlie's question, "Your Highness, we've already torn off all pretense of civility. What's the point of these high-sounding words?"

Charlie looked up abruptly. On the bookshelf stone tablet more than 20 meters away from Charlie, Hua Xiaobai was sitting in a bookshelf compartment, holding a book in her hand, reading a book. She showed no signs of the disheveled state of someone who had been fleeing for her life.

Charlie looked at Little White Flower, "What's Homo sapiens' next plan?"

Hua Xiaobai put down his book, looked down at Charlie's gorilla-like face, and chuckled, "You are the worst lord I've ever served, bar none! Even a lord like Brother Eighty, who was like an embryonic infant, knew what he had to do. He understood that to take the throne, he had to dominate the realm and eliminate his rivals. But you are not even as good as that infant Brother Eighty. You don't even know what your next step should be. You rely entirely on me for advice. What's the point of being a prince like you? Why don't you wash your neck clean, cut off your head, and give it to Lord Sentinel as a decorative vase?"

Charlie roared, "Insolence! Do you believe I'll kill you?!"

Hua Xiaobai rubbed his neck and said, "Come on, don't be shy, just kill me now!"

Charlie stepped forward, ready to teach Hua Xiaobai a lesson.

Just then, from the corner of the library, a flickering firelight illuminated a figure holding books as they emerged. "Don't send me just anything. I'm not a garbage dump. I only collect valuable things. Collecting a gorilla's brain like Charlie's will be cursed!"

Charlie took three steps back, his eyes gleaming as he stared intently at the man. "Sentry!"

"I should have known!"

"As the true core of humanity, how could you have remained inactive all this time!"

"You must be up to no good behind my back!"

"Sentinel! You've finally shown yourself!"

Ye Feng glanced at Charlie and chuckled, "Don't get so excited, Charlie! We're all old rivals, there's no need to make such a big fuss! Besides, I'm not up to any dirty tricks. My Sentinels either don't cause trouble, or they cause something earth-shattering, a thunderous event! Like the upheaval at City Hall."

Charlie's eyes narrowed. "You...you mean the City Hall is your masterpiece?"

Ye Feng laughed, "Don't you want to know why the other elders in the council didn't show up? The Second Elder and the others are notoriously stubborn and hardliners, each one as stinking and unyielding as a rock in a latrine!"

"No need to think about it anymore, all the elders who didn't come were killed by Lord Sentinel!" Hua Xiaobai leaped down behind Ye Feng, looking at him with immense admiration. "I was still figuring out how to persuade the elders, but Lord Sentinel has already used his physical might to persuade the enemy! Lord Sentinel is the lord I, Hua Xiaobai, truly admire. He always thinks further than me and acts more decisively than me. With Lord Sentinel around, I, Hua Xiaobai, am just a second-rate nobody, while you, Charlie, don't even deserve the word 'nobody'! You're at best just trash!"

"Baka—"

"sentinel!"

"If you were truly here, I would respect you; you're a real man!"

"A mere divine avatar dares to be so arrogant and domineering? Do you think I can't even defeat one of your divine avatars?"

Charlie immediately saw through Ye Feng's disguise—that Ye Feng wasn't his true form, but merely a divine avatar—and was about to get up and destroy Ye Feng's divine avatar.

Ye Feng was not afraid at all. He fiddled with the book in his hand and said slowly, "I admit that a projection is no match for you. If you don't want to know my next plan, you can kill my divine clone. It doesn't matter. You and I both know that I can have thousands or tens of thousands of such clones in a minute. It's just a matter of a thought for me. The loss is negligible."

Charlie stared at Ye Feng. "You're going to tell me Homo sapiens' next plan? Do you think I'm stupid?"

Ye Feng spread his hands, "Because the war has already begun, the gears of the war machine are running smoothly, and no one can stop the war from continuing. Therefore, the principles of war can naturally be made public. Next, I will really tell you about the upcoming war arrangements, and I can even tell you all my contingency plans for this war. I am also a human being, and I need to share my research results with others. And you are my opponent, the best sharer!"

Hua Xiaobai said quietly from behind, "When the mastermind steps onto the stage, it often means that the play has come to an end. There always has to be a closing ceremony, and watching the closing ceremony with your opponent is also an important part of this play."