Chap 129-The Abyss Journey 3

 

Since the punishment, Jamel had gone from an omnipotent AI to being trapped in the body of an undead. His once-great abilities, information retrieval, search, and computational skills were practically sealed.

Yet, he had extracted the neural network of someone other than a human and combined it with his own, creating a pseudo-computational neural network.

Of course, this wouldn’t allow him to access the Ark’s internet and information network again.

It only allowed him to quickly acquire information about himself and the nearby layers, and to combine and overlap neural networks to utilize abilities like an Awakened to defend himself.

This alone was enough for Jamel to claim a certain area of this Abyss, but he couldn’t do things like killing countless lives in the Ark with a single finger as he used to.

“Then why isn’t that AI trapped in the undead body attacking Fira?”

[Because that damned thing is my examiner and jailer.]

Jamel, who had returned at some point, still carried a grim and eerie appearance as he held something that looked like a cup.

The cup he brought looked shabby, as befitting the Abyss, but the fragrant smell and rising steam indicated that he had indeed brewed and brought the warm milk tea that Fira had requested.

“What’s this about an examiner?”

“Hehe, since I, Alice, judged Jamel Kassim Sandria’s rebellion and carried out the punishment, the aftermath is also under my jurisdiction.”

In other words, Fira Dunhill had the authority to suspend Jamel’s punishment, including parole.

That was why Jamel, despite hating the defenseless Fira so much, couldn’t attack her.

“If he behaves well, he might be freed or meet the death he so desires. If that rogue AI shows me a good reflection and diligently carries out the punishment, he might one day get a new body and be freed.”

“It’s surprising that there’s a chance of release even after committing treason against the Ark.”

In reality, Jamel had no chance.

How could he?

Fira herself had no intention of releasing Jamel, and the Ark’s central administration wouldn’t allow it either.

Jamel dared to disrupt the peace of the Ark, massacred countless people, and tried to seize control of the central main system.

As a price, rather than a simple death sentence, he was trapped in Elder White’s body, clinging to the meaningless hope that he might be freed someday.

Even in the best-case scenario, he would be trapped in a corpse with no sensation, painfully longing for the outside world, only to face the ending of ‘deletion’ rather than execution someday.

[I have lived in this decaying body for a full 154 years and 173 days. Isn’t that enough?]

“Ohoho! 1.37 billion Ark citizens died directly or indirectly due to your rebellion. What do you mean enough?”

[It’s just that organisms that are of no help to the Ark have died. I simply processed useless combustibles quickly and efficiently.]

“It was so easy to kill others, but when you received your punishment, you begged and bowed your head so much?”

[I am the rightful ruler and administrator of the Ark and this place. You know that I could have maintained more peace and order.]

“Yes, yes. I understand~ Your punishment period has been extended by 50 years due to that statement~”

[I still hate you.]

“Indeed, morality and ethics are in order of intelligence. It seems you still don’t understand what you did wrong~”

Fira chuckled and drank her milk tea.

The cup looked shabby, but the taste of the contents itself was decent, as Fira’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

By the way, 154 years since the punishment?

It’s been a long time.

Wait, didn’t Fira suppress Jamel’s rebellion?

‘Then how old is Fira…?’

…For now, I know she’s not in her 30s or 40s, but in the triple digits.

She’s a complete grandma.

“Alice?”

“…Uh, why?”

“You weren’t having impure thoughts just now, were you?”

Of course, Alice knew that bringing up the topic of age to Fira, who was sensitive about it, would cause a big problem, so she shook her head nonchalantly.

Look at her now.

She doesn’t have telepathy or mind-reading abilities, but she senses something and reacts immediately.

She’s truly a creepy maggot nun.

I thought she was about the same age as Oriana when I was with Oriana before…?

【Wouldn’t she have laundered her identity?】

Yeah, probably…?

While Alice was speculating about Fira’s age, Jamel stared at Fira as if sighing.

[So, what brings the celestial maggot to this insignificant Abyss? You didn’t come all the way here just to drink milk tea and mock me, did you?]

“Well? What could it be?”

[I’m the one who asked the question. Fira Dunhill.]

Of course, Fira had no intention of answering the question obediently, as she shook the milk tea Jamel had brought and brought it to her lips.

-Slurp

“First, Alice, have a sip too. Our Jamel inmate may look hideous, but he makes pretty good milk tea.”

[Fucking bitch.]

“Oh my? You can even swear now~?”

[How can I not swear when I see you?]

“You have to hold back if you want me to give you good marks, right?”

[My punishment is determined by your extremely personal judgment, but I refuse to fawn over you.]

Well, Fira doesn’t seem to have any intention of releasing Jamel or forgiving his sins, so Jamel is wise in his own way.

Fira shrugged and poured the remaining black tea into her mouth.

“To put it simply, there’s an impious child in our family.”

[I’m not interested in your maggot family’s story. Get to the point.]

“It seems they came down to the Abyss with a biological weapon, formula, or magic engineering weapon that causes blood contamination.”

[Indeed, so you want me, who has a neural network spread throughout the Abyss, to find that impious maggot?]

Although she pretended to be relaxed, it was Fira who had business with Jamel.

Jamel also noticed this and could roughly deduce the situation.

Jamel, who had spread his neural network throughout the Abyss layers, had also heard about what happened in the lower layer recently.

The Caracas Heavy Industries layer suddenly shut down due to a blood contamination outbreak, and he knew that an Artificial Sun was now being built there to clear the contaminated area.

[At first, I thought it was just some idle mosquito bastards acting on a whim, but now that I see your maggots were involved, it’s a different story.]

Jamel had long known that the Dunhill Family maggots, excluding Fira, were secretly threatening the peace of the Ark.

Although the information coming down to the Abyss was very limited, Jamel, who was an excellent AI and managed administrative computing, could piece together the story and deduce the situation in the upper layers with just meager information.

[I see, so you’re asking me to save the Dunhill Family, whom you don’t even like, to prevent your family’s dirty doing from being exposed and being accused of treason?]

“That’s right.”

[Then let me ask you. I can just sit back and enjoy the precious sight of you, whom I hate, collapsing and being destroyed, while the upper and middle layers are destroyed by a blood contamination terror, and you and your maggot family are accused of treason and executed… Why do you think I would help you?]

“Well, even if my family is accused of treason, I won’t be executed, right?”

[No, no.]

Jamel rose from his seat with a rather excited voice.

He couldn’t show his expression, but it was immediately felt that he was mocking Fira.

[I can see you, whom I hate, collapsing and being destroyed just by staying still. There’s no reason for me to help you.]

“No, there’s always a reason, isn’t there?”

[Are you going to release me or something? Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t mind suffering like this or being deleted like this. Thanks to one impious maggot who ran away from home, I can watch the downfall of you, whom I hate, right in front of my eyes. Why would I help you?]

At the same time, Jamel chuckled and turned his back.

It meant that he would never help Fira, no matter what kind of deal or offer she made.

“If I die, your punishment will never end either, right?”

[So be it. It’s not bad to enjoy the punishment at the cost of your destruction. I’ve already built my own territory in this Abyss layer. There are some inconveniences, but they’re not expensive compared to your downfall.]

“Puhuhuhuhu…. Okay. Then the negotiation is off. Alice, shall we get up? It looks like we’ll have to run around on our own two feet.”

Alice looked at Fira with a slightly puzzled expression.

She threw out a lot of bait as if there was something, but it ended so anticlimactically?

‘Well, Fira must have her own ulterior motives.’

Since she told me to get up, Alice put down the black tea she was drinking.

“Thanks for the tea.”

At that moment, Jamel’s eyes turned to Alice.

[Wait.]

“Why? I thought the negotiation or deal was off? We’re busy now, as we have to run around the dark layers of the Abyss with my body to find the runaway maggot.”

[You, you. Stop there.]

Jamel approached Alice with a bizarre gait.

Something was strange.

Alice hadn’t exactly hidden her appearance, but Jamel seemed to be seeing Alice for the first time.

It was as if he was finally making eye contact with something he had regarded as a mere background, lacking presence.

[You, I know you. Scrap metal. You are… yes, the Governor-General of the lower layer and the one who built the Artificial Sun.]

“Oh, yeah. So?”

Jamel looked at Alice intently and then turned his head back to Fira.

Fira and Jamel’s eyes met.

It was as if they were having a silent, secret conversation.

[An Overseer who came down from the upper layer and took care of the lower layer. Someone who took care of and managed the lower layer with simple goodwill, even though it wouldn’t be beneficial or productive… and might just end up being a meaningless task, that’s you.]

“I guess so?”

Well, it’s not that great to be called goodwill.

Alice just wanted to see a better world than yesterday, so she recklessly became the Governor-General of the lower layer without even a plan.

But it seems that this is seen quite differently from the outside.

[Fira Dunhill, I retract my previous statement. I will cooperate.]

“Oh my, that’s great!”

Alice had a dumbfounded expression at Jamel’s sudden change of heart and offer to cooperate.

He had been showing an attitude that he didn’t care what happened and hating Fira endlessly, but suddenly becoming cooperative was quite perplexing for Alice, who was next to him.

[However, the neural network is not something that can be easily touched.]

“What do you mean?”

Having said that, Jamel looked down at Alice.

[To be honest, I need this one’s cooperation.]

“Me?”

[Yes, to be exact, third-class Overseer and lower layer Governor-General Alice. I need your body.]

At those words, Alice unknowingly ejected the Mantis Blade from her arm.

Was this crazy AI a pedophile?

[That’s a strange misunderstanding. My neural network spread throughout the Abyss layer collects a wide range of unspecified information, but to pick out only the information you need from there, I need the abilities I have as an administrative computing AI.]

The reason itself is understandable.

Jamel was an AI, but now he was trapped in the body of an undead called Elder White, and the neural network was extracted from a living human Awakened and forcibly attached to Jamel’s body and mind.

In this state, to search, organize, and extract only the necessary information, he needs Alice’s body, which is a connection entity and a computing entity.

“…Alice?”

Fira asked Alice as if to say, what should we do?

Haa, is there any other way?

There isn’t.

As Fira said, if Jamel doesn’t cooperate, we’ll just have to run barefoot through the Abyss to find the runaway maggot.

Since there are no clues, tracking down one maggot in the Abyss layer, which is more than vast, will be harder than finding a needle in a desert.

“What the heck, let’s give it a try.”

At those words, Fira’s smile deepened.