Chapter 58

Man Qian’s expression was gentle. She touched the ring on her finger, then closed her eyes with a smile, leaving her final words: "Live well."
Tao Shushu couldn’t bear to look at the screen any longer. Covering her face, she turned away.
The black box playback ended.
No one spoke first.
After a long while, Tao Shushu looked at Nan Yuan on the screen. The black box had dimmed, and the light reflecting on Nan Yuan’s face vanished. His shoulders trembled, veins bulging tautly along his neck. One hand covered his eyes, the other clenched tightly into a fist, he was weeping with restrained sorrow.
Tao Shushu gently patted Nan Yuan’s back.
She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say to comfort him.
After a moment’s thought, Tao Shushu found paper and a pen, quickly sketching a simple drawing.
She placed the drawing beside Nan Yuan’s hand.
Tao Shushu switched to the area outside the door, then tugged at the doorframe, signaling to Nan Yuan that she would step out first.
Leaving the space to Nan Yuan, Tao Shushu hugged her phone, lost in thought over the scenes she had just witnessed.
Man Qian firmly piloting the spacecraft.
Man Qian and Nan Yuan standing together by the viewport, gazing at the receding Central Star...
Suddenly, Tao Shushu thought of something and swiftly switched the map to the Bloodsucking Grass area.
Her fingers trembled slightly, and she held her breath anxiously, frantically tapping to explore among the Bloodsucking Grass patches.
The list of resources obtained from yesterday’s exploration hadn’t included some of the smaller items.
But Tao Shushu remembered, Man Qian had been wearing an identity tag, made of metal, which had fallen to the ground during the fight.
She wanted to find something, however small, that Nan Yuan could keep as a memento.
She tapped ten times, … a hundred times, Tao Shushu tirelessly continued tapping. With each exploration, her heart sank a little, but she persisted.
Poking around until Tao Shushu's fingers were sore, she had already given up hope, yet she didn't know what else to do if she stopped.
Finally, a similar piece of metal appeared before her.
Tao Shushu quickly picked it up, only to find a foreign name engraved on it.
It wasn't Man Qian.
Could she really leave nothing for Nan Yuan? Tao Shushu bit her lip in frustration.
She slowly slid down and sat on the steps.
The gold coins in the value bar had already decreased by three hundred.
Tao Shushu pouted dejectedly. Just as she was about to switch back in disappointment, her finger accidentally brushed against a cluster of Bloodsucking Grass.
A metal plate, reflecting a faint cold gleam in the fading sunset light.
Tao Shushu reached out and picked up the plate.
Her eyes suddenly widened, it was "Man Qian."
The name on the identity tag was Man Qian.
Tao Shushu held the identity tag tightly, cherishing it.
The Bloodsucking Grass, having had something snatched from it for the second time, stretched out its stems and leaves, trying to reclaim the item.
Tao Shushu swatted them away and quickly returned to Nan Yuan's room in the base with the two identity tags.
Nan Yuan was still sitting alone on the floor. In front of him, the black box had just finished playing its recording.
The overloaded black box player emitted a red temperature alarm, and it was unclear how many times he had rewatched the footage alone.
Seeing him reach out to press the play button again, Tao Shushu felt as if she had eaten a sour orange. She said softly, "Don't watch it anymore."
Tao Shushu's racing heartbeat gradually slowed. She reached out and placed Man Qian's identity tag in Nan Yuan's palm. "This is for you."
Nan Yuan froze for a moment, feeling something cold in his hand.
Shushu was back.
He tried hard to force a relaxed smile, unaware that his reddened eyes had already betrayed him.
Tao Shushu ruffled the boy's black hair. "Your eyes are very much like hers."
Both mother and son had bright, determined eyes, as if no matter how dire the situation, they could always find hope.
Nan Yuan clenched the identity tag, his fingertips tracing over his mother's name and serial number.
He sighed. "Thank you, Shushu."
Tao Shushu looked at Nan Yuan with a pained heart. As an outsider, even she felt so sad watching the footage, let alone Nan Yuan.
"I'll always be here," Tao Shushu said.
Nan Yuan nodded. At least he still had Shushu.
From the beginning of the apocalypse, he had known he no longer had parents or siblings. He was utterly alone.
Every time he dreamed of that sea of fire in his nightmares, he would wonder why his mother had left him all by himself.
He also wanted to accompany his father and his brother.
In countless life-and-death battles, he thought, he had to seek justice for his parents and avenge them. It was these beliefs that kept him going through one deadly fight after another.
But now, he also had Shushu.
Nan Yuan managed a faint smile this time. "Shushu, I'm fine now."
His emotions had been too out of control today, and Shushu had stayed with him much longer than usual.
Tao Shushu was still worried, but the evening self-study bell had rung, and she had to attend her physics tutoring class.
Nan Yuan completely closed the black box. "I won't look anymore, Shushu. Don't worry about me."
"Alright." Tao Shushu ruffled Nan Yuan's hair. "Wait a moment."
Nan Yuan paused as a few candies were pressed into his palm.
The girl's voice still carried a hint of a nasal tone, but she was doing her best to comfort him. "They're very sweet."
After buying the candies for Nan Yuan, Tao Shushu hurriedly logged off to go to class.
Nan Yuan smiled, unwrapped a candy, and popped it into his mouth. The thought of her feeling distressed for him was even sweeter than the candy.
He took a step back, about to put away the black box, when he noticed a piece of paper beside his hand that he hadn't seen before.
On the paper were two chibi-style figures, a boy with his back turned and a girl carefully hugging him from behind.
Nan Yuan stood there for a long time, staring at the drawing.

Tao Shushu arrived at the classroom on time. After sitting down, she searched the forum and found out that Qin Rui had already been picked up. There was no way the top student system would appear on campus today, so she quietly took out her phone and opened the game.
She just couldn't stop worrying about her cub.
Nan Yuan was still in his room, but thankfully, he wasn't crying.
Tao Shushu stuck out her tongue slightly and began listening attentively to Li Xin's lecture.
After explaining a common mistake, Li Xin assigned an example problem to solve on the spot. Tao Shushu finished it in five minutes and verified that both her answer and steps were correct.
Seeing her classmates around her still scribbling away, she took out her phone again to check. This time, she happened to see Cheng Feimao approaching Nan Yuan to handle a situation, a weapon had accidentally been activated, and they couldn't turn it off.
Nan Yuan snapped out of his thoughts and followed Cheng Feimao through the base.
He quickly deactivated the weapon and explained the key points to those around him.
Before he could finish demonstrating, Cheng Feimao recklessly tried to tamper with it again.
Tao Shushu lightly tapped Cheng Feimao's leg: Serves you right for being so careless earlier, making my already upset cub deal with this.
Cheng Feimao jumped dramatically. "Why do I feel like someone kicked me?"
Nan Yuan glanced around. There was nothing in the air, but he still curved his lips into a slight smile.
Realizing she'd been noticed, Tao Shushu didn't hide anymore and ruffled Nan Yuan's hair. Even though Nan Yuan was surrounded by others, his expression remained so lonely. Wanting to ease his solitude, she instinctively reached out to comfort him.
When she first turned into the original illustration form, Tao Shushu had found it awkward, but now it felt natural. Since Nan Yuan never showed any reaction, she didn't think there was a problem...
After pondering for a moment, Tao Shushu quickly refocused on her studies.
The concepts Li Xin taught today weren't too difficult. Hoping to carve out some time to observe her cub, Tao Shushu listened and solved problems with extra diligence, achieving high efficiency, she completed every example problem quickly and with perfect accuracy.
Li Xin nodded repeatedly in approval.
The classmates in the classroom also nodded repeatedly. Indeed, Tao Shushu was more talented than Qin Rui. Tao Shushu’s speed and accuracy were terrifyingly high. If Qin Rui were to take an exam alongside Tao Shushu, he would definitely lose.
Tao Shushu had no idea what her classmates were thinking. During the few minutes of downtime after finishing her exercises, she would take out her phone and quietly check on Nan Yuan.
It wasn’t convenient to talk during class.
So, no matter where Nan Yuan was, he would receive a few "little notes", simple drawings made by Tao Shushu.
Nan Yuan’s gloomy heart was gradually filled by these little drawings.
He carefully took the notes and tucked them neatly into his chest pocket.
Tao Shushu had performed well in class that day, earning her special attention from Li Xin, a set of extremely difficult test questions.
Li Xin said, "Don’t think I didn’t notice in class. Every time you finish your exercises, you’re grinning at your phone. Are you in a relationship? I didn’t criticize you in front of everyone, so go home and write an extra set of test papers."
Tao Shushu smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, teacher. I’ll pay better attention next time. But I’m not in a relationship..."
Li Xin waved his hand dismissively. "I’m not that old-fashioned. Class is over, I’m leaving." Holding his thermos, he strode quickly out of the classroom, performing the "speedy exit" routine like a true corporate drone.
Tao Shushu made a face as she packed her bag. She had no idea why Li Xin thought she was in a relationship. Was there something wrong with her smile?
Tao Shushu quickly returned to the car, eager to get home and have a good chat with Nan Yuan.
Fortunately, aside from Cheng Feimao, no one else came to Nan Yuan with problems that day.
He patrolled the base alone before returning to his room, where he was studying a disc, likely the encrypted disc mentioned in Man Qian’s last words.
Tao Shushu gently tapped Nan Yuan’s hand. "Nan Yuan."
"Shushu, you’re back," Nan Yuan said.
"Yeah." After replying, Tao Shushu realized something was off, she had been by Nan Yuan’s side the whole time.
As if reading her mind, Nan Yuan explained first, "You weren’t speaking earlier. Was it inconvenient to talk outside? I seem to remember Shushu is a student."
"Yes." There was no need to hide it now. Nan Yuan wasn’t some NPC designed to scam players, so Tao Shushu decided to be straightforward. "I’m still in school, so I can’t come see you during class hours."
"Was Shushu in class just now? I’m sorry for disturbing you."
"It’s fine. That class happened to have a break, and my teacher is very understanding. He knew I had something urgent and didn’t scold me," Tao Shushu said.
Nan Yuan nodded, though he knew in his heart that Shushu was trying to comfort him. There was no way the gap between her classes was that short, it only showed how much she worried about him. He felt happy knowing that, in her mind, he was considered an "urgent matter."
"Your teacher is really kind, Shushu."
Tao Shushu stuck out her tongue playfully. "He's alright. Some of my classmates are actually scared of him, but he treats me pretty well."
"That must be because Shushu is smart, gets good grades, and is well-liked by the teacher," Nan Yuan said.
Tao Shushu smiled a little sheepishly. "Well, I guess my goal for exams is to be the top of my grade." She allowed herself a small moment of vanity.
"I believe you can do it, Shushu," Nan Yuan replied.
Tao Shushu cleared her throat softly, already planning to hit the books as soon as she logged off. She couldn’t let the boast she’d made in front of her "cub" fall flat, she had to come back with the top score in the monthly exam. "I’ll let you know for sure once the results are out."
"Okay."
Seeing that Nan Yuan’s mood had lifted a bit, Tao Shushu cautiously brought up the matter mentioned in Man Qian’s last words.
Nan Yuan shook his head. "I don’t remember the passkey to open the disc."
In her final message, Man Qian had said that once he was strong enough, he would recall the sealed memories. At that time, she had also sealed away the set of passkeys their family commonly used.
Tao Shushu gently ruffled Nan Yuan’s hair. "It’s okay. As you evolve bit by bit, you’ll remember."
Nan Yuan clenched his fist quietly.
He had always wanted to become stronger.
At first, it was to avenge his parents.
Later, it was to find her, to be like her lively teachers and classmates, to see the real her.
Now, knowing he carried an important mission left by his parents, he couldn’t help but wonder, if his mother hadn’t used her powers to seal his memories back then, maybe she wouldn’t have grown so weak. Maybe her chances of survival would have been higher.
Such speculations were useless now. Nan Yuan couldn’t help but see the task his parents left behind as his own responsibility.
He had to strive to become stronger, just like Shushu, aim for first place, be the very best.
He shared what he knew: "My father wasn’t someone who relied on artificial intelligence, and neither was my mother. That’s why she used more traditional methods, like storing important information on discs."
Nan Yuan touched the identity tag his mother had left behind and continued, "Chu’s analytical permissions cover the entire star system. Aside from a few secret military bases, it’s connected to the main control systems of almost every planet. It has at least eight major cores, I don’t know which one my mother and I were heading to. Our destination back then was a remote planet less influenced by AI. The actual coordinates might be somewhere along this route."
Tao Shushu also glanced at the survivor’s map of humanity but didn’t see any planet labeled "Planet X."
Nan Yuan had never heard of "Planet X" either. In the C1 star system, planets were named either by function or by serial number.
Tao Shushu studied the route Nan Yuan pointed out. Almost all ten planets along the way were under AI control, and nothing stood out as particularly significant.
Based on various clues, she could deduce the mission left by Nan Yuan's parents. Nan Yuan's father had always been wary of artificial intelligence and thus discovered the location of the control components for the supercomputer "Chu." That place must have been extremely well-hidden. When the AI rebelled, Nansi instructed his wife and child to insert the highest-level control program into the controller in an attempt to take control of Chu. However, the deputy betrayed them midway, and the AI caught wind of the plan. Man Qian altered the flight route's destination without revealing the coordinates. She did her best to leave behind some information and the control program.
Tao Shushu glanced again at the map of surviving humans, the territory occupied by the AI was overwhelmingly vast.
Nan Yuan was thinking the same thing. "Back then, the AI's warships came after us. Perhaps they already knew about the mission my mother and I were on."
The AI side would undoubtedly take corresponding defensive measures.
Humans didn't know where Chu's weaknesses lay, but Chu itself certainly did.
Even if they managed to find that base and attempted to use the control program to dominate Chu, it would inevitably become an immensely difficult task.
Tao Shushu tried to lift their spirits. "It's alright, Nan Yuan. We're fighting together, and there are still many humans who haven't given up. We can figure out what to do next once you remember everything. For now, let's just take it one step at a time."
The AI knew Nan Yuan was Man Qiani's child. The desolate planet was too insignificant to fall within the AI's monitoring range.
Tao Shushu had no idea how arduous the path would be once Nan Yuan left the barren planet and headed toward the central star system. But she was confident, Nan Yuan could definitely do it. He would surely restore the human world to normal.
"Mm." Nan Yuan closed his eyes for a moment. "I feel like I might evolve again soon."
Last time he evolved, Shushu had taken care of him the entire time.
Tao Shushu also recalled that during Nan Yuan's previous evolution, he had nightmares, which suggested that evolution could counteract the effects of Man Qian's psychic abilities.
Once he evolved again, the things he couldn't remember now might finally find their answers.
Tao Shushu nodded. "Nan Yuan, don't rush it. I'll stay by your side when you evolve, it'll be safer that way."
"Okay," Nan Yuan agreed.
After a moment's thought, Tao Shushu decided to buy several dozen bottles of Health Potions for Nan Yuan. She was afraid that if she wasn't around when he suddenly evolved, he might run out of energy and face danger.
Nan Yuan carefully packed the Health Potions one by one into his bag.
Tao Shushu watched with great interest as Nan Yuan organized his backpack. Suddenly, she noticed him gently take out a few sheets of paper.
She tapped on them, curious to see what he was handling so delicately.
"Ah!" Tao Shushu flipped through them and realized they were all the drawings she had made for Nan Yuan.
Not only were there the simple sketches from earlier that evening, but also the ones from long ago, back when she hadn't unlocked the voice communication system and had used paper and pen to communicate with him.
He had collected them one by one, sorted them chronologically. The papers were well-preserved, no creases, no folded corners, only the edges slightly yellowed, as if frequently handled by their owner.
Nan Yuan put away the Health Potion and was about to store the drawings and small notes he had received that evening when he realized that Shushu had already seen all the things he had secretly been keeping.
Would Shushu think he was a pervert? Even collecting all these random things.
Nan Yuan froze in place.