Hua frowned tightly.
"You went through the 'Goldclad Uprising.' You're the one who understands them best!"
Her speech was steady, neither fast nor slow.
"In that war, countless intelligent machines went out of control. They treated humans as a thorn in their side..."
"They believed only inorganic beings could make truly rational decisions..."
Marty listened for a while, then belatedly realized the two were arguing because of him.
He became flustered, instinctively reaching out to grab the fabric at Zero's chest.
Zero lowered his head and gently rubbed Marty's hair, trying to calm him down.
Guanliang, Daiyang, and Chanzhen exchanged looks.
'No, this… would only make Hua even angrier, wouldn't it?'
Hua watched coldly, a trace of anger surfacing on her face.
She analyzed the situation in a clear, orderly way.
"If the mechanical race loses control again, it will trigger another 'Emperor' war..."
"Those in power can remain safely behind the scenes. The rich will make enormous profits. But what about everyone else?"
"You hate war more than anyone!"
"Once war begins, there are no winners. It becomes suffering for an entire planet, an entire star system, even all of humanity."
As she spoke, Hua let out a cold laugh, "The mechanical race… how can it even be compared to humans?"
"I think the proposal the Interastral Peace Corporation made before was quite good."
Zero seemed to realize something and looked up at Hua.
Their eyes met.
Zero's expression didn't change. It was as if he had stripped away all emotion, standing outside everything, watching the situation unfold with cold detachment.
There was no warmth in his gaze, as if he were looking at someone completely unimportant.
Even the anger in Hua's heart disappeared completely because of that look.
Her words, her emotions, meant nothing to the person in front of her.
How do you pull back someone who is determined to die?
If it were anyone else, Hua could have come up with a solution easily.
But standing before her was the former marshal who had led the Xianzhou for thousands of years.
Her father.
In her father's eyes, all her methods were things he had already used and discarded long ago.
And now, Hua had no way forward.
Other than tearing the roof off, what else could she do?
Hua could only use Marty, the one her father loved most, and use his identity to delay things as much as possible.
Since you can't let go of Marty, then live properly until the day the mechanical race joins the cosmic community.
Hua smiled in return, speaking calmly, "Then let's just wipe out all inorganic life."
"When the time comes, I'll have someone submit the corresponding proposal."
"Once it passes, the mechanical race will be classified as a universal calamity."
Warmth slowly returned to Zero's eyes.
He sincerely admired and acknowledged the successor he had chosen.
With a smile, Zero softly praised her.
"Not bad. You've learned well."
After nearly a thousand years, Hua heard her father's approval again.
The flawless smile she had carefully maintained cracked instantly.
Zero's gaze was gentle, but his words were blunt.
"But I'm not asking for your opinion."
Hua let out a cold laugh, about to say something, when Zero added calmly, "I deliberately kept the mechanical race… for your sake."
Hua instinctively asked, "For me?"
Zero nodded.
He rarely spoke his thoughts to her.
"Yes, for you."
This way, Hua could grant favor to the mechanical race while also drawing a clear line between herself and him.
He just hadn't expected it to drag on until today.
To the point that Marty had become one of the "mechanical race."
Zero understood Hua's purpose very clearly.
His successor was acting so extreme because she wanted to delay things as much as possible.
She believed he couldn't let go of Marty. She believed he would live until the mechanical race joined the cosmic community.
But now…
Zero knew he absolutely could not die.
If he died, everything would completely slip out of his control.
What use would all the arrangements he left behind while alive be?
He trusted no one.
Even Zandar… Zero couldn't entrust everything to him.
That injection… would it really bring him release?
If it were true… then why had Zero come back to life again?
The answer was obvious.
Zandar had reversed life and death.
In this lower-dimensional world, Zero could not die.
At this point, whether human or god, none of them would allow Zero to obtain true release.
Here, he couldn't get what he wanted.
Of course, Zero wasn't without options.
Plan one, stabilize the three people who could activate the engine... Zandar, Marty, and Hua.
Then find a way to leave the Luofu and reach a place even Aeons and humans could not go.
Considering what Zandar had said about the special nature of his flesh, Zero had no intention of going to the "Imaginary Tree" again.
If his flesh really could nourish that tree, then everything that led him to this point… had it been calculated by the Aeons? Had they deliberately guided it?
Zero had always stood opposed to the Aeons.
He had no intention of acting according to their designs.
After ruling out the "Imaginary Tree," Zero only had one option left... the Aeon of "Nihility."
Then came plan two.
Trust Zandar. Trust "Cosmic Creation."
Zero would join them and use the special nature of a "higher-dimensional intruder" to try breaking through the fourth wall together.
If he returned to a higher-dimensional world, he would lose his immortality and finally gain release.
Both plans required time.
Zero couldn't die anytime soon, so he could only be patient and continue dealing with the others.
Since he was already here, he might as well use this chance to clean up the remaining mess.
Zero withdrew his thoughts. Hua's gaze shifted slightly as she stared at him.
Seeing that Hua said nothing, he had no choice but to set down the puppet in his arms and push it slightly toward Zandar.
In that case, he might as well deal with the Vidyadhara matter first.
Before Zero could say anything, Hua turned around and walked quickly toward the door.
Zero was taken aback. He looked at Guanliang and the others and blurted out, "Follow her."
The three of them instinctively took a few steps in Hua's direction.
Hua reached the doorway. After stepping over the threshold, she paused for a moment, then discreetly reached down and pinched her thigh hard.
After her father's death, she had cried many times.
After becoming the marshal of the Xianzhou, Hua stopped crying. She couldn't cry anymore.
The pain in her thigh nearly brought tears to her eyes.
With faint moisture in her eyes, Hua hurried back to Zero in a few quick steps.
"Didn't you ask me why I don't celebrate my birthday?"
The moment Hua spoke, Zandar almost lost control of his expression.
After nearly a thousand years… this child's tone was still not as good as artificial intelligence.
Hua paused, frowning slightly, her voice growing more sorrowful.
"It's not because I think it wastes patrol tokens."
"It's because…"
"On the day of my twentieth coming-of-age ceremony…"
"'The Reignbow Arbiter' told me… that It had received the portion of power that was meant for you…"
At those words, Zero's face turned cold instantly, his gaze devoid of warmth as he looked toward the Aeon.
Lan, "..."