Four Split Personalities

"Alright..."

Liu Li sighed and yawned herself into near-submission, slumping onto the table: "So, what’s the other piece of bad news?"

"Don’t rush; there’s even worse news to come."

The words Ji Wutong uttered next made everyone present tense up; then he spoke in an extremely pained tone: "On top of the system going completely out of control, I’ve discovered something even more bizarre. That piece I cut off back then, the ’Karma’ acting as the core of the system, seems to have developed a consciousness of its own."

Even the usually expressionless Yi Nan couldn’t stay calm now, asking in astonishment, "What did you say it developed?!"

"Self-consciousness, buddy."

Ji Wutong smacked his lips and propped up his cheeks, saying, "You heard me right. To put it simply, that thing ’came to life.’ What used to be just a rule-like entity now has a mind of its own. And it didn’t just happen recently; it was just very well concealed until it completely slipped out of my control, revealing some clues."

"That’s impossible!"

Wanyang, who looked like an older version of his nephew, was also shocked.

"I find it as unbelievable as you do, but this is the reality."

Ji Wutong’s face didn’t look too good either, and it was unclear whether it was because of the current topic at hand or last night’s dinner.

"Since Ji Wutong has confirmed it, let’s not waste any more time discussing the veracity of the situation."

A pretty lady in a white lab coat gently tapped the table, calmly saying, "The question now is, how do we solve this, how do we find that ’phenomenon’ in the face of a runaway system, and what is the stance of that little piece of ’Karma’ that has awakened its self-awareness? Since you said it’s come to life, what is its attitude? From the perspective of ’Karma’ itself, it should be the ’nemesis’ of that phenomenon, right? Maybe after it awakened its consciousness, it might actually cooperate with us?"

Ji Wutong glanced at her and chuckled dryly, "If it were to cooperate with us, do you think I’d still use the term ’out of control’?"

"Then what is its attitude?"

"Its attitude is that there is no attitude, completely locked down in closure. Simply put, it’s non-violent non-cooperation."

The fat guy called ’Stupid Pig’ humphed discontentedly, "I bloody built that system, and fine, if it doesn’t transform into a beautiful woman to throw herself into my arms; but now it won’t even give me so much as a chirp, makes me want to smash that damn server to bits."

"To take on your size, just how ’big’ would the beauty have to be to handle it?"

The girl who was already floating around the room like a ghost immediately quipped at that remark.

Subsequently, Ji Wutong laughed rather unscrupulously for a full three minutes.

"Alright, that’s all for the worse news for now; we’ll discuss some possible expansions on this later."

After his laugh, he didn’t forget about serious matters, as he lazily stretched out his legs and spoke: "As for the bad news, that is after the situation got completely out of hand, according to Boss Du’s latest divination, our families’ children... well, including Stupid Pig’s half-disciple, have all been very clearly dragged into this affair. In the near future, they might play pivotal roles in that world, and clearly, our previous conjectures have come true."

All at once, the meeting room fell silent.

"We bear ’Retribution’; the next generation inherits the lingering ’Karma,’ or should I say ’cause and effect.’"

Ji Wutong’s expression finally became entirely serious as he said gravely, "Until the issue is thoroughly resolved, try to gather the kids in City B. Boss Du said, even though the previous plan has spiraled out of control, this place, as the land of cause and effect, still holds an opportunity to break the situation..."

"Then, what about us?"

Yi Nan, with a gloomy face, looked up and stared at Ji Wutong: "Just watch? Watch the children get into danger?"

"There’s some risk, but it’s not that dangerous."

The guy on the stool shook his head and said softly, "Don’t forget that our original intention in making that thing was to help this world evade danger."

"Face reality, buddy..."

Ji Wutong sighed with a wry smile and shrugged at Yi Nan, "Unfortunately, reality is just like I said during the New Year..."

"We’ve been ordered to exit the stage, right?"

Yi Nan clenched his fists tightly.

"That’s right, but don’t forget one thing."

Ji Wutong stood up, hands bracing the table, and smiled proudly...

"When we saved the world back in our day, we weren’t much older than these young ones. How about we give the young people a bit more confidence?"

To be continued