Chapter 821: A Real Dream Woven to Encompass the Entire World! The Birth of Shuvi
[Doomsday Chat Group]
The Ex Machina girl processed Ren's statement. He had just claimed he would teach her what a heart was. A rare spike of processing errors occurred within her logic circuits, translating to what a human might call surprise.
Shuvi: [Question: How do you teach a heart?]
Luo Hao: [The heart is the human heart, an abstract concept of the soul. How can such a thing be taught? Is he a charlatan or a swindler?]
Ren grinned, his fingers tapping lazily against his interface.
Ren: [Whatever you think it is, that's what it is.]
Luo Hao frowned at her screen. Her brow furrowed in genuine confusion. Why did this man seem completely indifferent to any questioning or slander? He possessed an arrogance that bordered on absolute apathy toward the opinions of others.
Ren: [Wait there. I will go and teach you right now.]
In the physical world, Ren finished wiping himself down and stood up from the edge of the massive bed.
"You girls rest," he told the exhausted women sprawled across the mattress. "I'm heading out for a bit. Lock the office door—don't let anyone in unless you want them joining the pile."
He vanished into thin air, leaving Kal'tsit and the others staring blankly at the empty space where he had just stood. The heavy, lustful ambiguity that had choked the room finally began to dissipate. The women, still completely bare and covered in thick, glistening patches of white fluid, exchanged awkward, unspeakable glances, the reality of their shared mess setting in.
Across the dimensional boundary, the Ex Machina girl stared at the anomalous creature materializing before her.
Crimson light flickered rapidly within her mechanical irises as her optical sensors locked onto him.
"Analysis. Confirming race: Human," she stated in a flat, synthetic tone. "Threat level... Unknown. Analysis... Unable to analyze..."
Her internal processors whirred, attempting loop after loop of scanning protocols on Ren. Every single result returned a glaring 'unknown'. Yet, visually and biologically, he appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary Human.
"Stop analyzing."
Ren interrupted her endless processing loops. Before her optical sensors could even register his movement, his large, warm hand rested heavily atop her head, casually ruffling her metallic-tinged hair.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Ren, the administrator of the Doomsday Chat Group. I'm here to teach you what emotions are, and exactly what it means to have a heart."
Shuvi, who already knew his identity from the chat, tilted her head, a flicker of bewilderment crossing her stoic features.
The exact second Ren's palm made contact with her head, a massive shift occurred. Shuvi realized her constant, background uplink to the Ex Machina collective cluster had been completely severed. A strange, hollow sensation washed over her—as if she had suddenly been stripped of her vast, networked computing power, leaving her entirely isolated in her own chassis.
"I can see you're very confused right now," Ren said, his voice dropping to a low, soothing cadence. "Since I'm going to teach you how to perceive the human heart, the absolute easiest way is to let you experience a human life completely different from anything you've ever known."
He shifted his gaze past her, looking out toward the desolate, ash-choked horizon. His eyes pierced through the ruined landscape, settling on a scattered group of ordinary people struggling desperately to survive in the toxic ruins of this broken world.
Humans. The absolute lowest rung of the food chain. The true ants of this war-torn planet.
"Since we're doing this, we might as well go all out," Ren murmured, a dangerous, arrogant smirk tugging at his lips.
He raised his hand. His thumb and middle finger snapped together.
A sharp click echoed through the wasteland.
In that singular fraction of a second, the time of the entire world ground to an absolute halt. The falling black ash froze mid-air. The howling winds died instantly.
Shuvi watched in mute shock as the dilapidated, cratered world before her warped and dissolved. In its place, towering structures of glass and steel pierced the sky. A pristine, modern metropolis—a concept entirely alien to her databanks—bloomed into existence all around them.
Ren grinned, his eyes sweeping over the bustling, illusory city. "Enjoy. A beautiful dream, gifted to the struggling Humans and the warring races of this forsaken world. I hope you all like it."
He turned back to the Ex Machina girl, extending an open hand toward her.
"And you..." he said softly. "Are you ready for this journey? Ready to experience the human heart?"
Shuvi lacked the data to comprehend what was happening. Yet, driven by an inexplicable, newly formed instinct, she slowly reached out. Her small, mechanical fingers brushed against his palm.
The moment their skin touched, the dream world roared to life.
The frozen gears of time began to turn once more.
The grand illusion encompassing the entire planet awakened.
Inside the last remaining Human settlement on the planet.
A young woman with long, vibrant red hair and eyes like polished blue jewels bolted upright in her ragged bed.
Hot tears spilled uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, tracking down her dirt-smudged cheeks. She made no effort to stop them. She didn't even try to wipe them away. Instead, she just sat there, staring blankly at her trembling hands.
Her name was Couronne Dola. She was the older sister of the colony's leader, Riku Dola—or at least, she claimed to be.
Waking from the dream in this dark, damp cavern, she couldn't tell if she wanted to scream, cry, or laugh hysterically.
Because just moments ago, she had lived an entire lifetime.
She had experienced a sprawling, hyper-realistic dream so vivid it felt etched into her very soul. She dreamed of living in a stunning, sunlit modern city. A place completely devoid of the endless, grinding slaughter between the ruling races.
In that city, young boys and girls from every terrifying species studied side-by-side, laughing and chatting in the same school.
She had been a student there, too. She had made incredible friends.
Her beloved, reliable, and impossibly safe Brother Ren. The quiet, emotionless Ex Machina girl, Shuvi. The terrifyingly powerful yet surprisingly playful Flügel, Jibril. Even the gentle, elegant Elven teacher, Think Nilvalen.
In that sun-drenched school, Couronne had finally understood what true peace felt like. She had tasted a beautiful, ordinary life untouched by the shadow of war and death.
But it was just a dream.
Being violently ripped from such a perfect paradise... the whiplash was agonizing.
She looked around the familiar, suffocatingly cramped walls of her settlement. It felt alien now. She felt like a ghost returning to a graveyard. She was back in the real world, a world permanently choked by toxic black ash and despair.
"Brother Ren..." Couronne whispered, her voice cracking as her fingers dug desperately into her frayed blanket. "Why... why couldn't I just stay in the dream forever?"
Compared to a waking nightmare filled with constant wailing, starvation, and terror, she would gladly trade her soul to sink back into that beautiful illusion. She wanted to stay with her friends. She wanted to confess her feelings to Brother Ren, marry him, have his children, grow old by his side, and live out that peaceful, mundane life.
But reality was a freezing bucket of water.
It ruthlessly shattered her fragile fantasy, screaming at her that none of it was real.
The tall, comforting figure of the Brother Ren she loved so deeply didn't exist here. Shuvi, Jibril, Think... they were either myths, monsters, or phantoms.
"It was all a dream..." she sobbed, burying her face in her hands.
At that exact moment, across the ruined globe, all 987 surviving Humans woke from their slumber.
It was a hyper-realistic dream woven by Ren's sheer will, casually blanketing the entire planet, dragging both Humans and the Old Deus into its narrative.
For the vast majority, the memories of that alternate life faded rapidly upon waking, leaving only a lingering sense of deep loss. But for a select few—those specifically favored and cared for by Ren—the memories remained crystal clear, burned permanently into their minds.
This included the Ex Machina girl who had sought to understand the heart.
Shuvi opened her eyes.
The towering skyscrapers were gone. The ash-filled sky had returned. But as her optical sensors locked onto Ren standing right in front of her, something inside her chest tightened.
She took a hesitant step forward, then another. Finally, she threw her arms around his waist, burying her face into his chest.
"Brother Ren..." she called out softly, her voice trembling with an entirely new frequency.
Over the course of those simulated decades within the dream, the Ex Machina girl had finally grasped the concept of the human heart. She understood the chaotic, beautiful mess of emotions.
She was Shuvi. And because of those overwhelming, intense feelings, she had fallen deeply in love with Ren.
Even though her logical processors clearly understood that the entire experience was a fabricated reality shaped by Ren—essentially a massive, uploaded memory chip—every single moment, every laugh, every touch felt absolutely real to her.
Ren smiled, his large hand gently stroking Shuvi's metallic hair.
"Teaching complete," he murmured.
Perhaps he was the only being in this entire universe with the sheer power and absolute leisure to accompany Shuvi into a dreamscape, living out decades as an ordinary person just for her sake.
If a lifetime of peace, friendship, and love couldn't force her to experience the human heart, its emotions, and its desires, then he would have been too embarrassed to ever call himself a transmigrator again.
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