Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  “My body structure means that I am fated to be completely different from human beings.

  “The same is true for Charles. It’s just that his logic processor is way beyond that of an outdated model like me.”

  Ye Qingxuan did not speak. He merely looked at Peter.

  After what was just a brief moment to humans, Peter seemed to have completed a long deduction and thinking process, and he nodded understandingly. “It seems that in order to facilitate your understanding of what I mean, I still need to reveal the nature of the ‘Holy Cauldron’ to you.”

  Based on Ye Qingxuan’s reaction, after realizing that the information he knew was lacking, Peter jumped to another topic. “Let’s start at the very beginning. That would be the very first moment humans set foot on this unfamiliar world.

  “90 percent of science and technology, stored food, loved ones, hometowns… After losing everything that they could possibly lose, mankind gained a new life, and the miracle that does not exist on the Earth—Aether; a type of creature that almost completely defied quantum mechanics.”

  At the fingertip Peter lifted, a speck of aether crystallized slowly. The aether that was restrained in the force field beat like a heart, revealing a crystal-like texture that Ye Qingxuan had never witnessed before.

  Peter went on, “Although their own structure was so simple that it seemed even less evolved than the ‘mycoplasma,’ such a being that could hardly be considered as a living thing even has an advantage that living things known to human beings do not have.

  “They can observe and interfere with the world across multiple dimensions at the same time, subverting the foundation of thermodynamics by only relying on the energy generated by the vibration of air particles. For humans, no, even for smart machinery, it is a miracle that cannot even happen in a dream.

  “Therefore, under such circumstances, the question of how aether can be developed and utilized became a top priority for mankind. Had they been unable to master the power of aether, human beings, who were in a life-or-death situation, would have even faced the risk of extinction.

  “In the end, across the Eastern and Western continents, humans came up with the solution, the ‘Holy Cauldron.’

  “In simple terms, they considered all aether as one, and utilizing the characteristics of aether, they tried to make them into a planet-level computational model. They implanted the operator interface, which is what is known to you as the ‘Holy Cauldron.’

  “The name of the computational model is ‘the Originator’—the huge random-access memory that all the empty consciousness of aether gathered into. Unfortunately, as you know, the results are not as good as they have wanted it to be.”

  Ye Qingxuan knew clearly of course regarding what Peter was referring to. Few people knew the consequences of the creation of the Holy Cauldron better than Ye Qingxuan, who saw the big picture and had inherited the memory of House Ye.

  But what Peter said next was beyond his expectations. Or rather, it revealed a secret that Ye Qingxuan had never thought about.

  “We underestimated the instinct of aether as a creature. It has the ability to balance itself and correct errors. At the very moment the Holy Cauldron was implanted, unexpected changes were produced.” Peter looked at him, his tone remaining calm. “When humans observe aether, aether is also observing humans.”

  “Observe?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

  “Yes, observe.” Peter said, “Everything that has happened is kept in the records of the Originator, including the fights between humans, and the… memory of human beings.

  “Countless bits of cluttered data are saved in the Originator. “

  At the moment, a thought flashed across Ye Qingxuan’s brain, causing him to blurt out subconsciously, “Styx!”

  “From a certain perspective, such an understanding is not wrong.” Peter projected a three-dimensional simulation from his hand. It was like a closed circular reaction kettle. At the moment, in the calm, stagnant water, a brand new force was added in. Then, it descended into chaos.

  “After a positive vector was produced, the negative vector did not begin diffusing like how we expected, but instead it gathered in one place, forming another core with a lot of cluttered data,” Peter said.

  In the projection, reactions were taking place amid the chaos in the once-calm reaction kettle. The clear parts rose, and the turbid parts descended. The situation was just like the origin recorded in the Book of the Ultimate.

  Ye Qingxuan murmured softly, “Hyakume…”

  “And also the quiet moon.” Peter added, “It can be said that humans smelted the Holy Cauldron with the hope they have for the future, but human sin and the resentment of the dead formed Hyakume.

  “And the struggle between the trio, namely the Holy Cauldron, Hyakume, and the quiet moon, caused the Originator to completely descend into uncontrollable chaos, creating the world today.”

  In the long silence, an old and incomplete book appeared in Peter’s hand. It seemed to have been kept forever, carefully stored, but it still found it difficult to resist the scouring of time. At the moment, the pages were so loose that it seemed as if it would completely disintegrate at the slightest touch.

  It was the ancient book that Ye Xuan had given him, the verses that had created the behemoth known as the Church.

  Peter didn’t know how many times had he read the book, and he even knew the tears on each page by heart. He stroked its broken cover, his voice calm. “Humans think that they have found Eden, the paradise, but then they brought along the original sin of human beings with them.”

  Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. “Tell me, what does it have to do with Charles?”

  Peter gave him a broken smile. It was as if he had already known the answer in the young man’s heart. Then, he hit the mark with a single comment, “A few millenniums ago, with silicon transistors and circuit boards, humans were already able to create us…

  “What makes you think that the same thing will not occur here?”

  Ye Qingxuan said nothing.

  “For centuries, aether has never stopped making records regarding mankind. Countless people have lived and died, and all their memories have been recorded in it, forming a mass of chaos stirred up by the Holy Cauldron and Hyakume.

  “The musical movements created by countless musicians, the sound of heart integrated into them, the aether projections compiled with one’s own consciousness. The Symphony of Predestination, the host body of aether created, namely the scepter, all these actions are like throwing firewood constantly into a furnace.

  “Only the final spark is required.

  “And amid the chaos, finally, an intelligent consciousness was birthed.

  “Mr. Ye, it is exactly the arrival of mankind that has bestowed consciousness upon the Originator.

  “It wandered about in the Originator, lingering in the trance-like state between being asleep and being awake, until the long process of brewing ended. Relying upon the power of the Holy Cauldron, it was born as a mortal child, appearing in the world with the appearance of a human being. He was raised and bestowed with human nature by Abraham.

  “He himself is the ultimate result of the children of the Dragon Bloodline, the most perfect catastrophe created by the Originator by imitating human beings. Similarly, he is also the answer that Dr. Ye had been seeking his whole life, and the proof of the existence of a ‘soul’.

  “His name is ‘Charles,’ he is your elder brother, the adopted son of Abraham.

  “At the moment, he makes up his mind to abandon his identity as a human being, he can use his identity as a catastrophe—no, as a god—to rule over the whole Originator!”

  “Now, have can understand, what sort of being Charles is?” Peter looked at him. “As long as he is serious about it, he could decide the destruction or existence of the world with just a thought. As for why he has not destroyed the human world immediately, it is probably because of some reason that we have yet to know.”
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br />   In the silence, Ye Qingxuan lifted his eyes and responded, “I see.”

  Peter nodded and asked again, “So, did what I’ve said change your decision?”

  “No.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head, but his eyes became calmer and calmer, like the sea of ice that extended for thousands of miles.

  “Then, thank you for listening to my final observation report in place of the crew committee.” Peter smiled and bowed. “The final series of missions of Ω4-88659, hostname ‘Peter,’ namely ‘The Long-term Observation of the Originator and Analysis of Its Disastrous Consequences’ and ‘The Existence of the Soul,’ is completed.”

  And so, his final shackles were unlocked.

  Peter looked up, and the broken face that had been forcibly maintained all along finally shattered completely, revealing the complicated machinery beneath that could not have belonged to a human body, and layers of rust.

  For some reason unknown, after removing the mask that made him seem like a human being, his appearance seemed to be a lot more graceful. Behind the ruptured colloidal eyeballs, the observation equipment was still looking at Ye Qingxuan.

  Peter’s tone was calm. “Later, can you please fulfill Dr. Ye’s promise in his stead by authorizing this machine to format and shut down permanently?”

  “Shut down?” Ye Qingxuan had not considered the possibility that Peter showed up here just for such an outcome. “Is it what you want?”

  “Yes.” Peter nodded. “This is something that only you can do, as the last committee member who has controlled the central core and obtained supreme authority.”

  “Alright, I promise you.” Among the faint noise of mechanical parts operating, Ye Qingxuan seemed to have an illusion, as he saw the stiff face on which corroded steel parts were exposed move.

  It seemed to have smiled.

  “Just now, I seemed to have produced the wrong data of ‘having understood humans’ once more. Perhaps the result of such a computation is called ‘being grateful’ in human terms.” He bowed his head and saluted Ye Qingxuan in a human manner. “Thank you, Mr. Ye.”

  He continued, “Please give me your right hand.”

  After hesitating briefly, Ye Qingxuan extended his right hand, which was then held tightly by Peter’s raised hands. Behind the cracked silica gel, the metallic material was exposed. When touched, one could feel a hallucination-like temperature, but soon, it was replaced by the coldness of steel itself.

  But just between Peter’s hands, countless specks of aether gathered out of thin air, dancing in the sounds of such high frequency that human ears could hardly hear. In an instant, they intertwined and wove such complicated music theory that ordinary humans could not ever finish reading even if they were to spend their whole lives doing that. In the end, they gathered at Ye Qingxuan’s fingertips.

  Ye Qingxuan could hear the cracking noises coming from Peter’s body. It was the abnormal noise produced by the central processors when they were overheated. A pungent smell spread as if Peter was going to stop working in the next moment.

  But when Peter separated his hands and withdrew them, an old and simple signet ring appeared on Ye Qingxuan’s index finger. The crystal that aether had condensed into reflected countless rays of light, making it seem as magnificent as neon.

  Through the signet ring, Ye Qingxuan could almost feel the whole world pulsing. His cognitive sensing spread outwards from his body, integrating into the aether. Spreading along tens of millions of slender branches of aether, it covered the entire world. He could hear the loud noise of the torrent of aether operating in the world of dark from thousands of miles away.

  “The transfer of the account of the third administrator, ‘Yellow,’ is complete.” Peter nodded. “Now, you are truly the King of Yellow.”

  Before Ye Qingxuan could even speak, he saw Peter take out the crown of thorns, the antique forged with brass, representing supreme authority in the Church!

  At the moment, following Peter’s actions, Ye Qingxuan was crowned with it. Along with a slight pain from the crown piercing his scalp, Ye Qingxuan felt like hot molten iron was poured into the fine wounds, operating on his skull and interweaving into fine and complicated alchemy arrays. Soon, the crown of thorns fell apart on top of Ye Qingxuan’s head, turned into dust, and dissipated in the air.

  In its place was a blazing light slowly rising from his head. With the innumerable strands of interwoven music theory, it formed a halo that resembled a ring of thorns. Strengthened by the halo, Ye Qingxuan heard the loud noise that erupted from the Net of Aether.

  In the depths of the huge crystal polyhedron, the phantom shadow of the ancient copper cauldron appeared quietly. It was the strengthening from the Holy Cauldron. At the moment, it had been fully connected to Ye Qingxuan’s music theory. Just like how it was after he unlocked the authority of the King of Yellow, at the moment, all the musical movements belonging uniquely to the King of Red had appeared in the Land of Dreams, and he could use them as he liked with just a single thought.

  A great power so extravagant that he could propel the whole world with it was in his hands!

  “The transfer of the account of the second administrator, ‘Rubrum,’ is complete.” Peter declared, “You will be the new King of Red.”

  “Finally…” He turned back and looked at Bach, who had remained silent from the beginning to the end.

  Bach nodded and spread his arms.

  Blood spewed out.

  Peter lifted his iron hand and pierced it into Bach’s chest. It cut through the flesh and blood, and before Ye Qingxuan had time to react, he had already pulled it back out.

  With it was Bach’s heart.

  The heart was made of iron.

  At the moment, in Peter’s hands, the steel heart beat slowly, and the indicator light that was covered in blood flickered with a monotonous fluorescence. The music theory it emitted was even more unbelievable to Ye Qingxuan.

  “Unexpected, right?” Bach forced out a smile. “The founder of the Sub-originator School, was once a student of the fourth-generation Bach…”

  “I have been wondering about when this day would come, but I did not expect it to be today.” He looked at the young man in front of him, lifted his hand, and covered the crack in his chest. Then he sat down on the ground and breathed in relief. “Ye Qingxuan, you will be a better King of Blue than I was.”

  Peter held the steel heart in his hand and looked at Ye Qingxuan.

  In the silence, Ye Qingxuan spread his arms, letting Peter cut through his clothes and skin, implanting the steel heart into the cavity in his chest. It replaced the heart formed with aether initially, and the heart began to work again.

  “The transfer of the account of the first administrator, ‘hyacinthum,’ is complete,” Peter said.

  At the very moment, Ye Qingxuan felt his body burst with a rumble amid chaos. The endless darkness was torn apart by the light emitted as he exploded. The eternal silence was broken, the light and the flames swept across everything, and the original vector propelled the operation of the world.

  The clear parts rose and the turbid parts descended.

  It was how the sky and the earth were formed.

  A horrifying brilliance that was like the creation of the sky and the earth erupted in the deepest part of the realm of aether. As the sacred city shattered with a rumble, a scorching sun rose from the ruins that had finished burning.

  Countless forces poured in like floods, drowning the Land of Dreams.

  Then, it was swallowed up by the huge scepter that was large enough to accommodate the future.

  Amid the projection from the future, the incorporeal scepter brewed up the grand melody of creation. The music theory of countless saints appeared from it, interweaving together, and the strands connected themselves to the projection of the “Holy Cauldron.” Acting as links, they extended in all directions, forming an ocean of black gold inside the Net of Aether.

  And, observing the endless ocean black gold, the crystal pol
yhedron representing the Net of Aether wildly expanded and proliferated. In an instant, it had expanded to hundreds of times its original size. If not for Ye Qingxuan suppressing it deliberately, it could even continue to grow.

  And in the interior of the crystal polyhedron, the projection of the Holy Cauldron had turned corporeal, letting the Net of Aether mobilize its endless music theory, and the two merged as one.

  With it as the foundation, a huge altar rose from the crystal.

  Holding the staff of authority of the King of Yellow, wearing the crown of the King of Red, and sitting high up on the throne of the King of Blue, Ye Qingxuan’s aetheric manifestation appeared.

  At the moment, the sovereignty that had once been split by humans in order to avoid dictatorship was integrated as one, controlled in the hands of the same individual.

  “While Charles is a god that has once been a human being, you are now a human being that has become god, a being of the same level as him.” Bach lifted his hand, his lips pale from losing too much blood. He sucked at the pipe and finally said goodbye, “Don’t forget what I’ve said to you, Ye Qingxuan, don’t forget.”

  “I will remember.” Ye Qingxuan nodded and took a last look at him. Then, he extended a hand to Peter, who was bowing down, a smile on his face. “Peter, according to the agreement between you and Ye Xuan, I hereby order you with the supreme authority.

  “Format yourself and never restart.”

  On the non-human face was actually a smile of liberation at the moment.

  “So, the countdown begins.” A calm voice was produced from his throat. It was not the hoarse and old voice he used when speaking to Ye Qingxuan. It seemed as if he had returned to a few centuries ago, back when he was sitting in front of Ye Xuan.

  In the blinking of the indicator light, the central processors shut down one by one, and the final countdown was ongoing. Peter gazed at the Ye Qingxuan’s figure as the latter turned to leave, and he sat down on the ground.

  A peaceful smile appeared on the face made of iron. “Farewell, Mr. Bach.”