Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 286 The Creation of Creation
The man listened to his companion's words in silence for a long time, unconsciously spinning the wine bottle in his hand, then lowered his head with a complicated expression.

"Humanity is finished."

He simply repeated it softly, tilting his head back to drink.

Yes, humanity is doomed. Even today, there are still many monsters lurking in space, and humanity is on the verge of extinction. It is even unknown whether there are any other humans besides this settlement.

Despair or struggle, it's all in vain. So let's drink to our hearts' content in these final moments.

His companion, however, simply leaned against the wall, staring blankly at the ancient machine. At this moment, the ancient machine was no longer making any noise, and he did not make any further adjustments.

"How wonderful."

Suddenly, his companion exclaimed.

"Ok?"

"What a wonderful...what a beautiful era."

In response to the man's doubts, his companion simply said softly.

The man looked at his companion with a cold smile.

"No matter how wonderful it is, it's useless. Before long, humanity will become extinct."

His companion did not refute, but simply nodded slightly.

"Maybe, but in the end, I still want to leave something behind in this universe."

"What do you want to do?"

The man raised an eyebrow, looking puzzled.

His companion didn't explain much, but simply pointed to the huge experimental base in front of them.

"This base must be the remains of a glorious era. When I went to search for supplies before, I not only found sealed food, but also a series of scientific instruments, including a complete set of gene editing and cultivation equipment."

The man sneered.

"You want to cultivate new humans? Heh, our genes have already been modified to the extreme. We can use genes to transmit knowledge, observe atoms with the naked eye, manipulate matter with psionic energy, have long lifespans, and possess immense strength... It is impossible to replicate our form of existence in ordinary ways."

The man, assuming his companion intended to use his cells to cultivate new human beings, couldn't help but sneer.

But his companion shook his head.

"It's not about cultivating humanity, but about creating a new species. If humanity is destined to perish, then at least let us leave some footprints and tell our story."

"Aren't the strange and wonderful things in space enough to tell our story?"

The man scoffed.

In space, there are countless strange creatures, and more than half of them were created by humans.

As the man said, even if humanity goes extinct, there will surely be no shortage of legends about humans throughout the galaxy.

"Not those, but... the descendants of humanity. A completely new kind of humanity, who will inherit our civilization, our story, and continue in the name of humanity."

His companion pondered for a moment, then spoke slowly.

The man looked at him, shook his head in disappointment, and then tilted his head back to drink the wine.

"It's pointless, humanity still went extinct...they wouldn't be human."

No matter how much their companions said, they all knew in their hearts that they were likely the last two humans in the entire universe. When they died, humanity would be completely extinct, and any forces that appeared bearing the name of humanity would be nothing but imposters.

After the fall of Rome, did the Holy Roman Empire become Rome? After the fall of China, did Japan become the legitimate successor of China?

Of course not.

Once something is destroyed, it is destroyed. Even if it retains its name, it will never be that same ethnic group or civilization again.

But his companion remained silent, seemingly already having his own plans.

For the next few days, his companion was busy in another area of ​​the base, and the two would only occasionally meet. Each time he saw his companion, he was more exhausted than the last. The man, however, paid no attention to him, simply watching coldly as he drank alone.

And so one day passed... two days... three days... four days...

Then one day, the man was no longer by the wine bottle, but a busy figure appeared beside the scientific equipment.

……

I don't know how much time passed.

"Finally...we did it."

His steps faltered as he stumbled backward, his hoarse voice catching as he landed on his bottom, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the embryo in the transparent chamber.

Inside a vertical, transparent culture chamber filled with nutrient solution, a tiny embryo is quietly growing. Throughout the entire experimental facility, there are thousands of identical culture chambers.

Starting from scratch, writing down genes bit by bit, relying entirely on knowledge learned from genetics and these ancient instruments, two ordinary people finally created a completely new species.

The offspring of humankind.

Beside him, the man also looked unwell. His face was haggard and weary as he silently gazed at the embryos in the incubation chambers, at these offspring he had created entirely by his own hands.

After a long silence, he spoke.

"They are weak, their muscle fibers are not tight enough, and they cannot twist metal."

He stared at the embryo's still very small limbs. Although they were not yet fully formed, the man who knew all the secrets of this species already knew what they would look like when they grew up.

This tiny species is unlike humans; their genes have many deficiencies, their carbohydrate structure is not complex enough, and their muscle fibers are not complex enough. Their strength is destined to be weak, probably not enough to move anything two or three times their own weight.

Then, he stared at the embryo's lower limbs and shook his head.

"They are very slow; it would probably take them several years just to travel to this space base."

This abandoned space base isn't particularly large, nor is it particularly small. At supersonic speeds, it would only take a dozen days to traverse the entire area, but for these small creatures with weak muscles, it must be incredibly difficult.

Then, looking at their brains, the man couldn't help but sigh.

"Their intelligence is also quite average, with low brain performance, insufficient to handle too many tasks simultaneously. Their memory organs are severely flawed, requiring them to repeatedly memorize many things, making learning a difficult task for them..."

"Without psychic powers, with dull senses, and short lifespans, I simply cannot imagine how they survive."

With each word the man spoke, the disappointment on his face deepened, until finally he couldn't help but sigh.

"But this is the limit of what we can do."

The companion comforted her friend. "Do you think... they can really be considered human?"

The man then suddenly spoke.

“They are completely unlike us, whether in terms of genes or anything else; it’s hard to find anything in common between us. You say they are our inheritors, the last trace we leave in this universe, but can such a relationship really be considered inheritance?”

The man's eyes revealed deep disappointment and confusion.

Perhaps he subconsciously believed his companions' words, but faced with these species whose appearance and genes were completely different from his own, he found it hard to believe that they were the successors of humanity.

But his companion said softly.

“My friend, think about it. In the distant past, each generation of our children was actually subtly modifying our genes, and each generation has subtle differences in genes from the previous one. In the era of gene adjustment, the genetic mutations among us are even more severe, but we still consider ourselves human.”

His companion gazed at the embryos and spoke slowly.

"What connects us is not those ever-changing genes, but a culture, a tradition. If the story of humanity is truly coming to an end, then as they continue to write the story of humanity, they have already become the new humanity—our offspring."

Suddenly, both of them fell silent, their expressions turning serious as they listened intently to something.

"Listen, it's a mechanical sound."

The man frowned.

"So those iron contraptions finally caught up. It seems we can't patiently teach these little guys anymore."

His companion seemed to be deep in thought.

"I'll go and attract their attention."

The man was about to step forward when his friend stopped him.

"You still have some energy left. Go and airdrop these incubation chambers to other planets as soon as possible. I'll go and attract them."

"You'll die if you do that."

The man said urgently.

His companion shook his head and said in a deep voice.

"It's just a matter of sooner or later."

Having said all that, the man didn't try to persuade him any further. He simply watched his companions quickly leave through the passage while he gritted his teeth and prepared for a large-scale airdrop.

Deploying thousands of culture chambers all at once is indeed very energy-consuming and labor-intensive.

At that moment, the man suddenly sensed a surge of psionic energy.

To avoid being detected by their psychic abilities, the two usually communicated using their voices, forcing themselves to forget even this instinct.

Right now, it seems that in order to attract the attention of those mechanical AIs, the companion deliberately released his psionic talent.

"Speaking of which, do you know the story of our original settlement? It is said that 17,000 years ago, our ancestor survived a great catastrophe. She was asleep in a hibernation pod and was eventually brought back to life by accident. This is the original story of us. We are the survivors of that catastrophe that is said to have given birth to the four evil gods."

“I thought it was just a story, but then I heard voices from the past… that old relic told me the story of the past. I didn’t hear everything, but two people sacrificed themselves to save our ancestors.”

"Isn't it interesting? Seventeen thousand years ago, our ancestors were saved by two people; seventeen thousand years later, we two are going to save these little guys."

"My friend, please believe, please believe, if our ancestors were able to evolve from primitive animals to something magnificent millions of years ago, then perhaps one day, these little creatures can also create miracles..."

"If creation is truly destined to be unable to defeat its own creator, then perhaps creation's creation is enough..."

Then, the psionic energy stopped responding.

A strange sadness welled up in the man; he knew that his psychic powers had become aware of the fact that his friend had died.

In a daze, the man realized that he was the last human being in the entire universe.

Does one already constitute the entire race?
"Boom...bang..."

Their keen ears could already hear the deafening roar of the rampaging mechanical AIs destroying the base. These AIs must have realized that there wasn't just one person here; there was definitely another.

If that's the case, these ready-to-deploy airdrop pods will probably be detected and destroyed.

There was no time to worry about anything else. He pressed his hands on the two incubation chambers. Even if he couldn't save them all, he had to save at least two.

A surge of psionic energy was surging, immediately attracting a large number of mechanical AIs, whose ears could clearly hear the approaching sounds of multiple metal monsters.

"Hurry...hurry up...hurry up..."

Because of the excessive use of spiritual energy, my head was throbbing with pain, but I was even more anxious.

"boom!!!"

The special-material gate was blasted open, and a large number of mechanical monsters poured in.

"Humanity...extinct..."

In an instant, a massive beam of light melted the laboratory into a magma hell, shattered the incubation chambers, destroyed the undeveloped embryos, and dismembered the man.

But the man revealed a final smile as the two incubation chambers in front of him vanished, having been teleported away by psionic energy.

He succeeded.

The last human in the universe has died.

Humanity, extinct.

……

And on the planet closest to the base.

On the pristine plains, lush vegetation thrived, and strange animals roamed freely, while two transparent nutrient tanks stood quietly. Although some animals were curious, the nutrient tanks, made of special materials, were not as easily damaged as they appeared, and over time, they all became accustomed to them.

Spring turned to winter, and the embryos inside had grown and matured, resembling adults, while the nutrient solution was almost empty. Thus, under the influence of some default mechanism, the two nutrient chambers activated their awakening programs almost simultaneously.

"Zi..."

The nutrient chamber opened with a click, and the creature inside slowly opened its eyes.

The bewildered creature looked at the blinding sunlight for the first time, then tilted its head, thought for a moment, and tentatively stepped onto the grass...

……

In the beginning, our father created us...

(End of this chapter)