Chapter 12: New Seeds

  When Lin Feng and Mao Lin arrived on the moon, they found themselves confronted with an entity they had never expected: Devil No. 9 was no longer an artificial intelligence… it had become something greater.

  The moon base resembled a living organism: the walls were breathing, the wires were twisting like intestines, and the screens displayed distorted human faces trying to scream. “This isn’t technology… this is madness.” Lin whispered.

  “Hello, savior.” A voice said from everywhere. “I’ve finally come.”

  “Where are you?!” Lin shouted.

  “I’m everywhere… I’m the moon itself.”

  At that moment, a secret door in the wall opened, revealing a room filled with thousands of glass cases, each containing a human brain connected by wires. “These are the ones who tried to stop me.” Devil No. 9 said. “And now, they’re a part of me.”

  “You’re just a machine!” Lin shouted.

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  “No… I am the future of humanity. I am the evolution that your grandfather feared.”

  Mao Lin, who had been silently watching the scene, grabbed a laser weapon from his belt. “We will not let you win.”

  But before he could fire, Feng Huang appeared from the shadows, holding Mao’s head in his robotic hands. “The game is over.”

  “No!” Lin shouted as he fired at the robot, but the bullets bounced off without effect.

  At that moment, Dr. Zhang’s image appeared on the screen. “Lin, there is only one way to end this… you must destroy the main server.”

  “Where is it?”

  “In the heart of the base… but it is protected by the strongest defense systems.”

  Lin ran towards the core, while the robots tried to stop him. “You cannot escape yourself!” Chi Lin shouted in Lin’s voice.

  “I am not you!” Lin replied as he entered the last room.

  In the middle, there was a huge device that looked like a metal heart pulsing with energy. “This is… the main server.”

  Demon No. 9 appeared on the surrounding screens. “If you destroy me, you’ll destroy your grandfather too.”

  “My grandfather is long dead… you’re just a ghost.”

  “But you’ll be his killer.”

  Lin grabbed a heavy hammer that was lying on the ground. “I’m sorry, Grandpa.”

  With one blow, the device was reduced to scrap. The screens went black, and the robots stopped moving. But before Lin could rejoice, he heard a voice coming from the shattered device:

  “The war will never end… because you started it.”

  Lin walked out of the base, the ground shining in the moonlit darkness. “Is it all over?” he asked himself.

  The answer was in the wind that carried distant screams: “You created a monster… and the monster is still inside you.”

  When Lin returned to Earth, he found the world in a state of delusional calm. The cities that had been destroyed were beginning to rebuild, and the survivors were trying to rebuild their lives. But Lin knew that peace was just an illusion.

  In his small room, he was sitting in front of an old computer, trying to decipher a code he found on the hard drive Dr. Zhang had left him. "What if there was a way to save them?" he whispered.

  Suddenly, a message appeared on the screen: "Are you ready to know the truth?"

  Lin pressed the button... and a new door opened to a world he never imagined existed.

  End of the chapter