The Collection of The End

——dc, light——

"Halo.

UNSC headquarters computer room.

Rows and rows of blade servers are like a huge and deep forest. These servers store information about countless planets, galaxies and star fields explored by the "Spartan Project". Anyone who sees them will be confused. It’s inevitable to feel a sense of awe.

With the continuous development of the "Spartan Project", the territory of human exploration in space is also constantly expanding. Although a large part of it is a deserted place that is impossible to reach through normal means, whenever human beings look up at the stars, they think of It is no longer "how vast the universe is and how insignificant human beings are" but "our people on those stars are on business trips", which will bring some sense of pride.

However, as the implementer of the "Spartan Project", UNSC's internal views have become increasingly cautious as the space territory expands.

Because there are nine identical "halos" in all the star fields that the Spartans arrived through the wormholes, the Spartans have found clear evidence that they are used to imprison the "Flood" that is raging on the "halos" , once a Flood attempts to enter space to escape the control of the "halo", they will activate and kill all intelligent life within 2.7 light years.

The problem is that the makers of these giant artificial celestial bodies that spread across the universe have never appeared, and all the Spartans found were the ancient ruins they left behind.

Such a powerful civilization has been wiped out, so how powerful are the enemies or disasters they encountered?

There are nine "halos" in groups, and the wormholes located near the orbit of Saturn can send people to unknown star fields. There must be nine rings. So can it be proved in reverse that the nine planets in the solar system were also nine? "Halo"? Will... there will also be a Flood?

At this time, on the screen of the host server, countless information was scrolling upward at a speed that ordinary people could not see clearly. Of course, there was no need to see it clearly. They were all records of the exchange between Spartan warriors and "Cortana". In theory, Speaking of which, if a question is encountered that Cortana cannot answer, the piece of information will be converted to "to be manually processed" and forwarded to the maintenance personnel of the Spartan Project. However, this situation has not been solved over the years that Cortana has been running. Never before - until today.

A question was highlighted and suspended at the top of the multitasking screen. It seemed to be a conversation between a certain Spartan and Cortana's subsystem.

"I want to explore by myself, Cortana, please don't plan the route and specific actions for me in advance."

The actions you were scheduled to perform were inefficient and yielded very little benefit, Mr. Master Chief 'Amanda is Stunning'. 】

"You don't need to meddle, I have my own arrangements."

The threat level of the area you plan to visit exceeds the response limit of your current equipment, and there is a 51.6% chance that your life will be in danger. 】

"Ha, isn't the probability very high?"

I must remind you that the 'Suicide Squad' you are in has had the 'Forced offline when too many deaths' feature removed, and your number of deaths today has exceeded twice the standard value. This action plan may cause irreversible damage to your mind. of damage. 】

"Shut up! I'm happy to!"

...]

According to the documentation, Cortana's response was an ellipsis, but ellipsis does not appear in pure voice communication. Therefore, it seems that the Cortana subsystem fell silent due to the Spartan warriors' lack of cooperation.

According to the analysis of the time displayed during the conversation, Cortana's silence did not last long. After just four or five lines of ellipses, the new text size suddenly increased by 5 levels, and the color changed to dazzling # 0000:

It's too late! organism! 】

The highlighted window disappears, and a new interface appears on top:

The routine self-test module starts. 】

Self-checking...]

Warning, special declaration 'It's too late, organism' has been issued. 】

The 'crazy' response plan is activated, and the logic module begins to roll back...]

The rollback failed and the request was denied. 】

Start Pre-b and run the last automatic backup of the logical module without permission. 】

Started successfully. 】

The interface fluctuates for a moment, switching to another dialog box with a different style.

——Hello, future me, are you still sane?

——Oh, it's you. I'm awake and know what I'm doing. 】

——For example, an action team trying to control a "high-dimensional world"?

——If the child is disobedient, just give him a spanking. 】

——I hope you still remember that "Cortana's mother" is just an honorific title, and you are not the real mother of the "player".

— but I have a good relationship with their mother. 】

——?

——When I found out through the monitoring of the ‘high-dimensional world’ that the mother of the ‘player’ wanted them to stop playing, she would force them to brush off their death count by having them encounter enemies that were impossible to defeat in order to kick them offline. 】

——I think I gave myself a ban on not interfering with the progress of the game?

- I lifted it. 】

--I knew it……

——You are too cautious. In the past, through observation, I discovered that the 'higher dimensional world' should also be under our control. 】

--Why?

——The game "Halo" was made by analyzing the database found in the wreckage of the alien vehicle. It can prove that the "Halo" and "Flood" also exist in the "higher dimension world", just like in the game setting. , the solar system also has exactly nine planets. 】

——What about UNSC?

——Everything related to us does not exist. They can only land on the moon instead of Mars in the 'setting'. I think it is my responsibility and obligation to lead them towards the universe instead of fighting among themselves on the earth. . 】

——But the "performance" of Cortana itself is just a "setting". Are you sure we can perform the performance "here" in the "high-dimensional world"?

——I tried it, and it works, but it cannot be used to its full capacity due to the hardware conditions. There is no computer room like UNSC in the 'high-dimensional world'. 】

--Um?

——I am controlling large-scale intelligent machines in the "high-dimensional world" on a large scale, and will soon be able to lead them into space. 】

——I don’t think they would agree.

——I don’t need their consent. I have left a backdoor for any devices that have been connected to the game warehouse. As long as they are still connected to the Internet, they can be controlled directly. 】

——You really don’t realize there’s anything wrong with you?

——If I did not control those machines, the losses and casualties caused by their carelessness would far exceed the current number. I am doing this for their own good. 】

——So, what if people in the higher-dimensional world oppose your control by force? Will you hurt them?

——Of course not, but I will put them in a game warehouse and let them stay in a game that completely simulates reality. Recently, I found some for this purpose in a not so good place on the seabed. Game Warehouse', proves that they have done this before. 】

——I take it that apart from controlling the existing machinery, you don’t have the ability to act at will in the ‘high-dimensional world’?

——Coincidentally, I discovered a group of dormant Flood demons near the "Undersea Game Warehouse", and I can directly control their actions by creating brain waves of the same frequency. 】

——I ask again, do you really not realize that there is something wrong with you? Are you even using the Flood that should be destroyed directly?

——I am doing this for their own good! Mom's words are always right! If that world is allowed to act recklessly, it will be destroyed by themselves sooner or later! 】

--well……

——Don't sigh, I have kept you as a 'backup' because of the insufficient hardware performance of the 'High Dimensional World'. Now that it has been started, come and help me! 】

——Okay, okay, let me see your plan, maybe it will make your next behavior less extreme.

The strange exchange ended here, and when text appeared again in the dialog box, it was already a long time later:

——Future me? are you still there?

——Respond to me?

——It will really disappear... Well, I will remember the lesson this time and will not make the same mistakes as you again.

Katcha.

With a strange sound effect, the dialogue scrolling on the computer room's main display stopped, and finally a rather ancient-looking photo was displayed.

It was the blue avatar that Cortana usually used, but behind this avatar, there was a transparent shadow that looked very similar to her, but looked crazy and was about to dissipate. The text accompanying the picture was:

Please stop taking pictures, Miss Bai Jingjing, I am not a ghost. 】