Seeing Anubis remain silent, John's face grew increasingly solemn, and his hands gripped the control stick tightly.
But he couldn't make the first move; after all, Anubis merely sitting there exerted an unprecedented pressure on John.
After a long while.
"Indeed," Anubis's brow gradually relaxed, and his tone was no longer as casual as before.
He nodded slightly and said, "In recent years, this Umbrella company has indeed caught my attention.
What surprises me even more is that when soldiers belonging to your company die and are measured by the Scales, their pass rate is one hundred percent.
It seems they are a group of humans with faith."
"Yes," John replied calmly, "As employees and soldiers of the company, we are always ready to fight to the death against abnormal phenomena, allowing ordinary humans to live in what they consider a 'normal' world."
"Haha!" Anubis laughed heartily, "A normal world… Exactly.
My appearance, to you and to your human race, is a completely abnormal existence."
As he spoke,
Anubis looked through the screen, directly at John in the cockpit, and praised, "The reason I allowed you to enter here is precisely because I detected your fearless faith.
(Then, staring intently at Cortana) I have witnessed Umbrella's influence on humanity over these past few years…
To some extent, the fundamental reason why humans can still survive on the surface is your protection.
Hmm…"
At this point, Anubis rested his left elbow on the armrest of the throne, his left fist propping up his chin.
His right index finger tapped rhythmically on the other armrest, as if in contemplation, muttering, "Humans… humans…"
[Detected John's 'Good Luck' perk activating, affecting Anubis.]
A few seconds later.
"Alright."
Anubis rose from the throne, slowly descended the colossal steps, and came to the front of John's God Body.
Looking down, he said, "Then I will give humanity another chance. Besides, I also want to see what Earth civilization looks like when it spreads throughout the universe."
"This…" Cortana was somewhat incredulous; she seemed not to have expected this ancient giant god to change his decision so easily.
"Thank you," John, however, remained expressionless as he thanked him.
Anubis raised his right hand, waved it effortlessly, and for the first time, opened his mouth to speak: "Alright, you can return to the surface."
After he finished speaking, the God Body piloted by John was enveloped in light, then vanished into thin air before Anubis's eyes.
As for Anubis, after performing the recent action, he stretched with both hands raised, returned to his seat, and muttered to himself,
"It seems I can't just throw 'morning tantrums' anymore."
——————
…
At the same time.
John and Cortana were instantly teleported by Anubis to the skies above the outskirts of Cairo.
The panoramic screen inside the cockpit showed that the barrier that had previously shrouded the sky had long disappeared, returning to the clear night sky of the past, unaffected by environmental pollution.
However, when the two of them looked down, they discovered that there was still a colossal fissure in Cairo.
City buildings, pyramids, and the Sphinx were still completely destroyed.
But the fissure seemed to have been 'manually' filled, merely sunken hundreds of meters below the ground.
Seeing this,
Cortana couldn't help but ask in astonishment, "Master Chief… Did that ancient god just let humanity go? Isn't that a bit too simple?"
.
John didn't rush to answer, instead first controlling the free-falling God Body to maintain balance, activating its thrusters and anti-gravity.
Only then did he say thoughtfully, "If my intuition is correct, I don't think Anubis ever intended to kill all of humanity.
It only wanted to warn… or rather, remind us, that only by working together can humanity continue to propagate the species."
"Since it was just a warning…" Cortana turned to look at Cairo below the God Body, and said with a hint of sadness,
"But in just this half-day, the estimated death toll could reach tens of millions…"
"To a god that has existed for hundreds of thousands of years, or even longer, ten million is utterly insignificant," John said calmly.
But from the way he gripped the control stick even tighter, John was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.
Because humanity, after all, was still a 'insignificant' existence.
"John? Cortana?" Just then, William's concerned voice came through the comms: "How are your statuses?"
Hearing his boss's voice, John uncharacteristically smiled and replied, "Boss, we have successfully resolved this outbreak."
Then he said to Cortana, "Alright, no need to dwell on what Anubis was thinking. It's time to report back to the boss.
Also, upload all the data we recorded underground to the Infinity so that the Doctor can analyze Anubis."
"Yes, Master Chief."
As they conversed, the God Body had already returned from high altitude to the surface, and rendezvoused with William and the other Spartans.
——————
…
Project: Anubis.
Level: God.
Read Access: Limited A-Class personnel, and the Olympus Board of Directors.
Description:
The Project, in appearance and abilities, matches the mythological and legendary god of death, Anubis, with a specific height of 333.6 meters.
On April 15, 2015, the Project, using unknown means, enveloped the entirety of Egypt, cutting off contact with the outside world.
According to reconnaissance by Spartan Blue Team and Shark Tooth Company, people within Egypt were subjected to large-scale attacks and arrests by 'Ghost Soldiers'.
At the same time, the reconnaissance team also discovered twelve replicas of the Project.
It has been confirmed that the 'Ghost Soldiers', resembling skeletons and mummies in appearance, and the replicas, were all created by the Project.
Ultimately, due to the persuasion of Spartan A-007 and AI Cortana, the Project lifted the blockade of Egypt at 01:14 on April 16.
However, the outcome was quite severe for the Egyptian government, UNSC, and indeed all of humanity.
The death toll was approximately fourteen million, with a large number of missing persons whose exact count cannot be determined.
Egypt's iconic structures, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Sphinx, and ancient cities and ruins like Cairo, were all completely destroyed in this outbreak.
Given that this Project can easily cause over ten million casualties, the Olympus Board of Directors has added a new classification level, God, which supersedes Exafanistei.
.
Appendix File: God (Level).
Description:
The Exafanistei level refers to abnormal phenomena that, if Umbrella's containment efforts fail, would ultimately lead to the collective death, disappearance, madness, or assimilation of humans on Earth within a certain period.
The primary difference between the God level and the Exafanistei level is that God-level abnormal phenomena can easily annihilate humanity.
They are existences beyond Umbrella's comprehension.
For example, Project Anubis, if it wished, could instantly cover the entire Earth with a barrier, or create a large number of its own replicas.
In such a scenario, humanity would perish in an instant.
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