Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 182. Experiment Dawn

"Why should I tell you?"

Charles' heart skipped a beat upon hearing Dawn One's reply. "So you know?"

"Make a guess."

Growing increasingly agitated, Charles shot back at the artificial intelligence in the air, "Tell me. What do you want from me?"

"I have no requests. I'm no human, after all. How about you tell me your story? I'm very intrigued by your background. You're clearly not from the subterranean world."

Charles considered his options for a brief moment before he recounted his entire journey of how he came from the surface world to the underground realm. He spared no details since there wasn't really anything to hide.

"I see... No wonder I get a different feeling from you as compared to my worshipers," Dawn One mused.

"Can you tell me where is the exit to the surface now?" Charles asked again.

"I'm sorry, but I still can't release this information to you."

A wave of frustration and rage surged within Charles. He felt like he had been played. He couldn't be bothered to talk in riddles with the artificial intelligence any longer and turned his gaze onto the towering, twisted skyscrapers around him.

"Fine if you are not willing to speak. There are bound to be other clues within Newbound City. I'll surely find them if I comb the area in detail," Charles declared.

With an entire city sprawled out before him, searching for clues would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, he was certain that they surely existed.

"If you take another step, I'll double the speed of my nuclear fusion reactor. I wonder how long humans can survive with a surface temperature of 91 degrees Celsius."

Dawn One's menacing threat made Charles freeze in place. The stifling atmosphere thickened with tension.

"Is the sun in your world huge? Is it perhaps as huge as I am?" Dawn One's voice echoed from the phone's speaker.

After a rapid bout of mental calculations, the weight that had been hovering in Charles' heart settled back down.

"You're bluffing, aren't you? If you could randomly increase the temperature to kill, there was no way the Foundation would hang you up here in Newbound City."

With that, Charles took a step forward. One step. Two steps. Three steps. It was as per his deduction—his surrounding temperature remained in the forties. It was hot but still bearable. Dawn One was indeed bluffing.

In modern society, the safety and security levels of nuclear reactors were always set to the highest. Since the Foundation had created Dawn One, they would have made such countermeasures as well.

"How smart. Yes, those people have imposed restrictions upon me. My actions are very limited. However, finding the clues to the surface won't be as easy as you think it may be."

Beep—

Charles hung up the call. Since Dawn One was unwilling to help, he would have to find the clues himself.

Under the sweltering heat, Charles rapidly darted through the buildings. It was a modernized cityscape, yet it was different from those he had seen on the surface. He also noticed some rather unique facilities at the city's perimeter.

Amongst them, a colossal circular structure caught his attention due to its familiarity. He had seen something like this before back on Skywater Island. It was a nuclear fusion reactor. However, this one was far larger and far more expansive than that one.

Charles gazed upward and noticed the gaping hole at the top of the circular building. His eyes then darted toward Dawn One, hovering in the air. Matching up the pieces, he instantly arrived at the conclusion that the colossal building was designed to house that artificial intelligence.

He cast a glance at a sign on the wall before kicking aside the rusted fence before him and stepping through. Just as he was about to pass through the shattered glass doorway, a sudden memory struck his mind.

Wait. I've seen that name somewhere before.

Charles swiftly backtracked and reached out to touch the words—Experiment Dawn—on the signboard.

The contents of 1002's experimental log surfaced in his mind.

Experiment Name: Initialization

Charles' eyes shot upward, and his gaze locked onto the faux sun in the air.

All this time, he had been wondering how that entity gained sentience. As memories of the reactor on Skywater Island surfaced, the last elusive piece of the puzzle suddenly clicked into place.

Both Dawn One and 1002 were initialized by the same Subject 074. However, the struggling 1002 on that island was a failed experiment, while Dawn One was the successful output.

I can't believe those guys actually did it. Is this the infinite energy source they spoke of?

After sorting his thoughts out, Charles turned and headed deeper into the laboratory.

One of his questions had been answered, but it provided little information in the grand scheme of things. To find a way back to the surface, he needed either a nautical chart with the path charted or a way to control Dawn One.

Just like how there was a control room in a nuclear power plant, there would surely be a place that could control Dawn One. Since that thing was alive, then it could surely be threatened and manipulated.

Charles darted into Experiment Dawn Laboratory. His face grew darker by the minute as he combed room after room.

Every scrap of recorded information had been taken away, down to the hard drives from decrepit computers that had long since decayed into uselessness.

After a quick comparison of the dust in the gaps where the hard drives used to be, Charles deduced that they had been taken away only in the last few years.

Who would clean up the Foundation's items? It was clearly abnormal. He could understand if only the documents had vanished. However, the person or group in question had even taken away all the hard disks, which meant that they had a more profound understanding of technology.

As Charles recalled the conversation he had with Bandages, where he was told of the Divine Light Order's attitude toward Newbound City, Charles could only conclude that they were the ones who had pulled it off.

Standing before the Divine Light Cathedral on Hope Island, Hunn wore a cordial smile on his countenance as he watched Charles disembark from the Sky Battler.

"Governor Charles, has the Almighty Light God enlightened you?"

Charles replied with a placid expression, "I need to speak to your Pope."

Soon enough, Charles found himself in a confessional chamber within the cathedral and face to face with that familiar giant statue of the Pope.

"Ah, my child, it's been such a long time. What have you been through in the past three years? You seemed to have changed immensely."

Charles had no time for the superficial pleasantries. Getting straight to the point, he asked, "You instructed your disciples to remove all the files and hard drives in Newbound City, didn't you?"

"Yes, it was my doing," the Pope admitted readily without hesitation.

"Why?" Charles demanded and took a step forward.

The statue of the Pope gestured what looked like a prayer, and wisps of dust floated off him.

"The All-knowing, Almighty Light God has spoken to me. Those things conceal a grave threat. Letting them be known would lead to irreparable doom."

"Stop lying! Dawn One is just a giant power generator and not your so-called Light God!" Charles roared.

The smile faded from the Pope's face as Charles bluntly exposed the truth.

"Governor Charles, I hope you understand one thing—I never lie. The entity above is not the Light God, but He does truly exist."

"I don't care what kind of divine chit-chat you've had with that thing up there, and I don’t care about your faith and beliefs as well. I only want to know the exit to the surface. I just want to go back! It's that simple!" Charles unconsciously raised his voice.