It was done.
Nick had doomed Rising Star Base.
This was in accordance with the Pure One's plan.
The Pure One agreed that humanity needed Nurse Alice's knowledge.
Without it, the knowledge repositories might as well not exist.
Of course, the reason Nick was with the Pure One for five entire years was to pass the knowledge of the Jolly Cannibal on to him.
The Pure One now also knew everything about engineering, which meant the engineering knowledge repository of the Enlightened Ones wasn't lost.
Nick looked in Nurse Alice's direction.
"The Ice Maiden will be next," Nick said.
Nurse Alice remained silent as she looked at Nick from the other side of the planet.
This guy had actually done it.
Alerting the Sun to even one of the bases would put everything in jeopardy.
The Sun might search for even more hidden bases, which would endanger all the knowledge repositories of the Empire.
This guy was mad!
He was literally cutting off his leg to show that he would be willing to kill himself!
This put Nurse Alice in a predicament.
For the first time, she believed that Nick might actually kill himself if she didn't teach him about energy manipulation.
She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Any choice would have a 90% chance of death.
Yet, she still decided against teaching Nick.
He could sacrifice one knowledge repository, but he wouldn't destroy all of them.
That would ruin everything!
At that point, humanity wouldn't have any hope left anyway.
And then, this madman would have nothing holding him back anymore.
It was a tough choice.
Several days passed, and eventually, the Sun contacted Nick.
"How did you find this base?" it asked.
"I was searching through the ruins to learn more about old technology. That was when I found it," Nick said.
"Tell me everything about it."
Nick quickly told the Sun a fake version of events.
The Sun remained silent for a while.
Most likely,the aliens were holding a meeting right now to decide how to proceed.
Nick was in danger right now.
It was possible that they would kill him with the base.
Nurse Alice also knew that which was why she started to believe Nick.
He was literally putting his life on the line right now.
"I will remember your contributions," the Sun said. "You have unearthed something of significant importance. If you continue contributing, I will allow you to become an Eternal."
"Thank you," Nick answered. "What shall I do with the base?"
"No need," the Sun answered. "The base has been dealt with."
"Affirmative," Nick said.
Then, the Sun stopped looking at Nick.
He had survived.
Some days later, Nick paid a visit to Crimson City.
Everything appeared normal.
But when he entered Rising Star Base, he found it empty.
All the machines were gone.
The Containment Unit containing the Jolly Cannibal was empty.
It was like it had been empty this entire time.
It looked… eerie.
'The Sun most likely told the Null to take care of the base.'
This was the most probable explanation.
The Maw didn't have this kind of subtlety, and Nurse Alice hadn't moved.
The Sun would have probably destroyed the entire city, and the Nightmare couldn't do stuff like that.
Nick also didn't think that the Sun had some sort of Adversary as an agent.
That only left the Null.
'As expected, the Null is the cleaner of unwanted information.'
'It's probably a program or machine, like the Sun.'
After a while, Nick left the base again.
"I want to kill myself," Nick said while being several kilometers underground.
Nurse Alice immediately looked at him.
"Yes or no?" Nick asked. "The Ice Maiden is next."
Nurse Alice didn't answer for several seconds.
This was such an insanely difficult choice.
Both sides led to death.
Nick waited.
Minutes passed.
Death or death.
What would Nurse Alice choose?
Her forgotten past was clashing with her new reality.
She was a Specter!
She worked for the Sun!
She got unending power and could live forever!
This was always what she wanted!
Yet, she was also reminded of when she had just been a Hatchling.
When she grew up with the other three, she also believed in humanity's ideals.
The ideals did not come to her naturally, and trying to understand how humans thought was like learning a foreign language.
Her desires did not align with humanity.
But she had once believed in them regardless.
When she was younger, she was like the Ice Maiden of today.
The Ice Maiden also didn't have an inherent understanding of humanity, but in a certain way, she also saw herself as human.
After breaking out, Nurse Alice discarded her past.
She wanted to follow her desires.
She wanted to do what Specters do.
That was the only thing that came to her naturally.
She had believed in the Empire.
Then, it failed, and the old Emperor was turned into the Nightmare.
She knew about that.
She knew the Emperor and the signs were clear.
The Empire had been so powerful.
The humans of today were ants in front of the Empire!
If even the Empire failed, how could anyone else succeed?
The Empire had been a giant, and it still failed!
If she trusted Nick, she would die with certainty!
But if she didn't believe Nick, this guy would continue destroying knowledge repositories.
At what point would everything become unrecoverable?
If all hope was lost, would Nick actually go through with it, or would he embrace his Specter desires?
Nick could become just like Nurse Alice.
There was hope, but it was tiny.
Either choice led to death.
"No," Nurse Alice answered after several minutes.
Nick's eyes darkened.
"Then, the Ice Maiden will be next," Nick said.
"You won't do it," Nurse Alice answered.
Nick's expression became cold and emotionless.
"Give me five years."
Then, Nick went further underground and hid himself.
Since Nurse Alice wasn't following him,Nick managed to escape from her perception.
After Nick had escaped her perception, he went to Deep Core Base again.
He stayed in the Pure One's Containment Unit for another five years.
And when he came out, his eyes were cold and determined.
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