Chapter 650: The End?

When Poet took Sun Jack's words seriously, his expression became grave. "So what you mean is...?"

"Exactly, you can become this antagonist. As long as you, the threat to the whole world, continue to exist, humanity will not revert back to its old ways!"

"My deterrence plan was sound, we just need to shift the target from you and me to you and humanity!"

At that moment, Poet sincerely considered the possibilities. Regardless, he had finally stabilized Sun Jack—he no longer shared the fate of mutual destruction.

"First turn that thing off, then let's sit down and have a proper talk, how about that?" Sun Jack said to Poet.

The dark mountain sprawled across the ocean floor gave Sun Jack a tremendous sense of oppression.

"Since I was created by you, you should know about my integrity. Sun Jack always keeps his word! I absolutely do what I say!!"

Poet glanced over and finally nodded. "Fine, I'm somewhat interested in this plan. We can sit down and discuss it properly."

However, at the very moment Poet shut down the infinite chain reaction, Sun Jack moved instantly. The Mechanical Worm combat units, laying in wait, surged forward and riddled the entire ocean floor fortress with holes.

"Sun Jack! You bastard!! Sun Jack! How dare you trick me?!" Poet's projection roared furiously, teeth clenched in anger.

"I'm sorry, I've always kept my word, but to deal with you, I could be a dishonorable man." Every combat unit in the ocean had already converged on the location, completely decimating Poet's last stronghold.

As Poet howled in rage, his last hardware storage was swiftly destroyed. All of Poet's data was disappearing at a rapid pace—he was dying. The entity that had existed for thousands of years was finally about to die.

In his final moments, Poet looked at Sun Jack. Suddenly, it seemed as if he understood Sun Jack. Then, a small smile appeared on his face as he gave Sun Jack a thumbs-up.

At that moment, Poet gave up all resistance and destroyed all his contingencies, watching Sun Jack calmly as he faced his ultimate end.

With his final smile, the last piece of storage hardware was completely destroyed, and Poet vanished forever.

Yet, Poet's final smile left both Sun Jack and Tapai completely baffled.

"What the hell is he smiling about?" Tapai asked in surprise.

Sun Jack thought for a moment and slowly shook his head. "I don't know; I've checked everything inside and out just now, and he didn't leave any contingencies behind. I have no idea what he was smiling about."

In front of them, the so-called fortress began to open, revealing not only doomsday weapons capable of destroying the world but also some relics from The Previous Era, including unique works of art and smaller items, such as a dust-covered cleaning robot.

Looking at the cleaning robot, Sun Jack felt a touch of nostalgia; he seemed to see himself, to remember the time when he was a cleaning robot.

At that moment, it felt as though it was not Poet who had died, but himself.

"The mission is finally complete," Sun Jack uttered as he began to slowly delete Poet's memories from his own memory. This was the last thing Poet had left behind.

With the complete deletion of this data, the crisis had finally ended.

He then looked toward Tapai, and the two of them shared a knowing smile.

"Jack, let's go. Let's head back. Damn, it's finally over."

However, Sun Jack did not move. Instead, he began to fully take control of all of Poet's inheritance. "No, I still have unfinished business."

A hint of unease rose in Tapai's heart. "What are you going to do?"

"My proposal to Poet wasn't just talk. If we don't want to see the cannibalistic Metropolis of the past reemerge, then humanity must have a formidable enemy."

"However, I didn't trust Poet; I couldn't stand the idea of such a lunatic existing on Earth, so I decided to take his place as humanity's adversary."

Tapai was speechless for a moment, as if shocked by Sun Jack's words. "Do you know what you're doing? You will be scorned by everyone; you'll become a villain in history! Nobody will care about you! What's all this self-righteousness for!!"

"I know, but what does that matter? I don't care." Sun Jack's gaze had never been as resolute as it was now.

He began to sever all connections with others, leaving only the Sun Jack network intact.

Even while attacking Poet, Sun Jack had never forgotten his objective.

"What do you care about! Have you ever considered yourself for a moment? You've given up everything, but what for!!" Tapai started to struggle for control over the system with Sun Jack.

"Why do you have to be like this! Why does it have to be you making the sacrifice!! What gives you the right!"

"Because I am Sun Jack," Sun Jack replied quietly, tired of grand statements. He didn't want to talk anymore; he just wanted to continue with his actions.

"Can we go back, please? Let's go back, okay?" Tapai's voice carried a hint of pleading, "Do it for me."

But Sun Jack shook his head, looking at her. "I'm sorry, this is my choice."

Suddenly, Tapai made her move. "Then fine. I'll help you."

Seeing the look on Tapai's face, Sun Jack felt a twinge of softness, but his gaze soon firmed up again. "Thank you, and thanks for being there with me all this way."

"You go back. Live on. Go find your own meaning in life. From now on, Tapai, you are free."

At that moment, Sun Jack began to take over all of Poet's inheritance instantaneously and started making preparations for a ceasefire.

"Wait, Jack, you can't ceasefire now," Tapai called out to Sun Jack.

"What?" Sun Jack turned to look at Tapai, who showed no signs of leaving.

"According to your plan, we were killed by Poet and then initiated the deterrence plan. That doesn't make sense. If Poet had such an advantage, he wouldn't stop fighting at this point."

"So?"

"So, we must continue to fight in Poet's stead, fight until enough people have died, fight to the bare minimum defined by Three Quarters, and attempt a mutual destruction with the doomsday weapon. That's when we can have a reason for a ceasefire."

"But... that will result in many deaths." Sun Jack's heart sank as he saw the living beings in the images before him.

With a gesture from Tapai, the images displayed joyful human faces: his friends and his subordinates.

"Yes, Jack, another three hundred million must die. Being a villain isn't that easy; you have to kill without blinking. Can you do it?"