He got to show off again.
From a distance, the Doctor saw two people hugging tightly not far away, and a surge of dissatisfaction rose in her chest.
Her cheeks puffed up like an angry little pufferfish, and her already rosy lips pouted slightly, as if they could hang a small oil bottle.
She took small steps forward, each one stamping hard against the ground with "thump thump thump," heading straight to Zane's back.
Once behind him, she stopped, lifted her small foot wrapped tightly in black pantyhose, and without hesitation kicked him hard in the butt.
It wasn't a light kick. Completely unprepared, Zane staggered forward, nearly falling to the ground. He sucked in a sharp breath, pain flashing across his face.
At this moment, Rover, who was being carried in a princess hold in his arms, not only didn't speak up for him, she actually covered her mouth and laughed softly.
Still curled in Zane's arms, she peeked out from over his shoulder, quietly observing the situation, with no intention of helping him out.
"How long do you plan to keep holding her!?"
A trace of coldness seeped into the Doctor's voice, making Zane shiver, every hair on his body standing on end.
"Well… this is…"
"An irresistible force?"
Having his line stolen made Zane feel like ants were crawling all over him, and he wished he could just escape this mess on the spot.
Fortunately, the Doctor knew this wasn't the time to settle accounts. The Devouring Star was only sealed by the time barrier for now, not destroyed.
So after Rover's feet touched the ground, she didn't pursue the matter further.
"Buddy, you stole my scene. Saving the damsel was supposed to be my part."
With no more entertainment to watch, Stelle carried her lance and hopped over to Zane's side. As she spoke, she waved the lance in her hand.
Looking at the gray-haired girl starting to act silly, Zane shook his head and smiled. "Really? Then I'll leave it to you next time."
Stelle's eyes lit up, her brows curving as she smiled brightly and innocently.
"No problem. Remember what you said."
At that moment, a violent tremor suddenly erupted beneath their feet. Countless red exclamation marks made of data instantly surrounded them.
A piercing alarm rang out, accompanied by the calm mechanical synthesized voice of the Tethys System echoing through the space.
"…This unit cannot predict a future without itself."
"A future in which this unit is destroyed will inevitably lead to the destruction of the world."
A pale blue electronic screen suddenly appeared in front of Rover. Strings of incomprehensible code surfaced on it, then gradually faded away.
Seeing how the Tethys System shifted from arrogance to submission, Zane let out a scoff. It was just a computer, yet it had learned human tricks.
"So this is your reason for trying to devour Rover?"
Zane stepped forward without hesitation, staring straight at the blue screen in front of Rover.
"Once the encoding core is lost, the Tethys System faces the risk of collapse."
"I object!" Zane waved his hand sharply, his gaze turning cold as his finger pointed at the system.
"Fighting the wailing shouldn't come at the cost of innocent people."
The pale blue screen instantly turned red, and abnormal warning alerts around them increased.
"Objection. For civilization, there is no such thing as innocence."
"Civilization concerns only survival."
"In over ten thousand years of continuous observation, this unit has recorded a total of five global extinction-level wailings, and more than three hundred thousand regional wailings."
"Based on this unit's projections, and referencing computational outputs provided by regional Aeon authorities, all possibilities leading to large-scale extinction of civilization have been avoided."
"In the face of large-scale civilizational development, humanity is too weak. The survival of individuals is insignificant."
"You're right." Zane nodded. Crimson light cast shadows across his face, making it impossible to see his expression clearly.
But no one, including Rover, interrupted him.
They trusted him.
Feeling their gazes, Zane lifted his head, meeting the Tethys System without backing down. Specks of golden light overflowed from his emerald eyes, gradually dispersing the surrounding crimson.
"But no one should be a sacrifice for civilization's survival. And you are just a cold machine created by the weak humans you speak of!"
"Emotion is a burden to survival."
"But it's the bond of civilization."
The synthesized voice of the Tethys System suddenly paused. In its database, this scene was still recorded.
Back then, Zane wore a pure white flower-bearing uniform, stepping alone into endless darkness, facing wave after wave of wailing by himself, enduring observation after observation.
But this time was completely different from the records. There were many people by his side now. He was no longer alone.
This was a future it had never calculated.
At that moment, Rover walked over and stood beside Zane, facing the Tethys System with him.
"I'll correct your mistake. I've already found a way to fix it."
Hearing this, the Tethys System's CPU suddenly began operating under heavy load. A term called "fear" abruptly appeared in its database.
"This unit exists to prevent human extinction. There is no error."
"What connects the world should be people… human emotion, not a cold machine."
"Unable to understand…"
As the synthesized voice faded, a portal suddenly appeared beneath their feet.
"Executing highest-level authorization strategy."
In the shift of light and shadow, Zane suddenly found himself in a familiar place. The metallic walls around him, the rising data streams beyond them, it all looked exactly the same as when he had seen his own frequency before.
"The Bottom of Tethys." The Shorekeeper's gentle voice sounded beside them, patiently explaining.
"This is the deepest part of the Tethys System. Its core."
As her words fell, the crimson black hole appeared above them once more. The next second, a massive hammer wrapped in dark blue data streams dropped from the black hole, slamming heavily into the center of the Bottom of Tethys.
Immediately after, a figure clad in silver heavy armor descended from the sky. With a piercing roar, the shockwaves it unleashed caused distortions in the surrounding data streams.
"The system must persist…"
For a system meant to preserve civilization, its core code didn't prioritize protecting life.
It really was a fallacy.
"Watch out!"
The Tethys System, like a massive war machine, raised its heavy hammer high. Wrapped in data, the hammer glinted coldly under the glow of the streams.
As the "Fallacy of No Return: Tethys System" moved, the entire Bottom of Tethys trembled slightly.
The dark giant hammer, carrying overwhelming pressure, smashed down toward Zane and the others.
Stelle's eyes were firm and resolute. She stared at the descending hammer, holding her lance horizontally in front of her chest, refusing to step back.
She had said she would protect everyone. She couldn't let Zane face the danger alone.
But in the very next second, something black brushed past her hair and shot straight toward the Fallacy of No Return.