Starlight of the Apocalypse

Vice President Mahamud solemnly addressed the microphone, saying, "Please rise for the anthem of the Starfire Alliance."

As the music began, the entire audience stood in unison, singing together:

"Like wild grass growing through the soil, reaching for a single ray of sunlight,Though the war rages on and the flames burn, they cannot extinguish hope,How many faces look back, no longer the same as before,How many struggles bring wounds to the heart, when will we soar together as one?If ideals are betrayed, then what is left to venture alone for?Wait until the chaos clears, the starfire reignites, and flowers bloom on the other side,I wish this palm could heal the wounds, burying all the pain,I wish this chest could withstand the sharpest blades, guarding this land,I wish this belief would echo for a thousand years, that all may believe."

This excerpt from a song written 300 years ago stirred the blood of the surviving humans whenever it was sung.

Soya and her companions were moved by the atmosphere, marveling at how such seemingly small humans possessed such powerful and unwavering belief. As the song ended, Soya glanced around at the solemn and determined faces in the crowd, then looked deeply at Yuwang. He was focused intently on the Starfire flag, unmoving, as though he had been swept up by the song's spirit. She felt a stirring of inexplicable emotion within herself...

After a brief speech, Mahamud announced the start of the competition.

Due to the need to select winners within a short time and the fact that the competition involved intellect, the organizers had strictly limited the number of participants. Those wishing to compete had to pass an intelligence test in advance. The top 1,000 scorers were selected, with the competitors spread out across various districts to compete.

With the competition now underway, music played across the central square as 120 contestants entered from six different passageways, forming twelve rings in the center of the square under the guidance of staff.

As the music stopped, the lights in the square went out, leaving only faint light from bioluminescent plants growing along the ceiling. The entire square fell into a quiet, dim atmosphere.

Three seconds later, above each of the twelve rings, projections of spherical objects appeared. To be precise, they were simulations of star clusters, though not as dense as real star clusters. There were tens of thousands of tiny stars in varying colors—blue, white, red, orange—shining brilliantly and beautifully.

"Are we testing astronomy here?""Wow, this is gorgeous!""How do we even compete in this?"

The audience began to murmur at the sight.

At this point, a beam of light shone, and a civil servant appeared on the podium. His deep, magnetic voice echoed through the square via the loudspeakers: "Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens of Blackstone City, I am Oyun Darai, the host of today's competition. Now, let me explain the rules."

"What you see in front of you are the twelve three-dimensional star models known as the 'Starry Chessboard,' provided by the esteemed Princess Thysis. For the first round, every ten contestants will operate the same chessboard. Each chessboard consists of 16,807 different celestial bodies. Each contestant will choose one celestial body to represent themselves, and the rule is simple: within the designated time limit, the first person to move their celestial body out of the 'Starry Chessboard' wins the preliminary round."

He paused briefly before continuing, "Every move will create different chain reactions in the chessboard. The detailed rules are quite complex and have been given to each contestant before the competition. Whether they can understand them is itself a test of their intellect. I won't go into further detail here. Now, I declare the start of the first preliminary round in the Blackstone City Central District!"

Yuwang looked toward the nearest chessboard, where, among the ten contestants, nine had furrowed brows and were carefully calculating which celestial body to choose as their representative. One contestant, however, quickly grabbed the remote control and selected a red giant star near the center of the board, beginning to make their move.

As the red giant shifted, nearby celestial bodies began to change positions. Occasionally, some celestial bodies even altered the direction of the red giant's movement. The chess piece weaved back and forth, making its way into a relatively open space. But suddenly, a force from the "empty" area pulled it in, and the celestial body began to rotate rapidly in an unseen "space." Moments later, it was s*ck*d into the center of the chessboard again.

"This is no easy task," Yuwang thought.

At the same time, other contestants made their selections and began moving their pieces. One small contestant cleverly chose a comet model at the edge of the chessboard, which, in theory, only needed one move to succeed.

The comet, with its long tail trailing behind, slowly flew toward the edge of the chessboard. The star's core soon left the chessboard, and the small contestant smiled. But as the comet flew outward, its tail stretched further and further, until it was nearly 1 meter from the board. The tail suddenly snapped back, like a stretched rubber band, and the star's core was pulled back into the chessboard, deep into the board's center.

For a moment, the other nine contestants were struggling, some even interfering with one another. It seemed like someone was close to success, only for the board to change and ruin their progress.

At that point, the last contestant, who had been quiet up until now, finally made their move. They quickly chose a small planet model next to the comet and made a subtle adjustment to its position.

As the small comet began to make another attempt, the contestant allowed the star's core to spin in space just outside the chessboard. The comet's tail coiled around the core like cotton candy, and once the tail was nearly fully wound, the contestant began to get excited.

Finally, the tail successfully detached from the chessboard, and the contestant signaled the judges that they had completed the task. However, the spiraling comet began to descend in height and speed, eventually crashing into the three-dimensional board. Just as this happened, a planet on the board moved quickly into position. It wasn't a straight line but rather a path that dodged other stars. Finally, it crashed into the comet's energy wave, launching it out of the chessboard.

With that, the winner of the chessboard was decided.

Yuwang looked over the other boards, noting that half of them had already crowned their champions. Each game was different, unpredictable, and dizzying to watch. The audience, especially the ordinary civilians, was completely bewildered, unable to grasp the patterns behind the game.

As the preliminary round came to a close, the twelve victors remained on stage. The projections of the chessboards vanished, and the lights in the dome brightened once again.

The crowd began to murmur when they saw that ten of the twelve winners were bionic humans. They started to talk amongst themselves. Bionic humans, a type of robot designed to resemble humans, came in two forms: androids and biological androids.

Androids resembled humans on the outside, with their skin and features made from realistic materials, but their insides were still mechanical and powered by electricity.

Biological androids went even further. Their brains were implanted with advanced AI chips, and their bodies were made of artificial organs. They functioned like humans, eating, drinking, and even excreting to maintain metabolism. The only difference was that, unless their brains were damaged, they were immortal, able to replace and regenerate their bodily tissues.

Bionic humans made up less than 1% of the population in the underground cities, but they had played a key role during the Great Extinction Era, protecting the last survivors and helping to build the underground cities.

People had learned to coexist peacefully with bionic humans, but a few years ago, some bionic humans were discovered to be spies for the Sun Empire. In response, the Starfire Alliance passed the Bionic Identity Disclosure Act, which required bionic humans to clearly distinguish themselves from humans. Androids had to expose parts of their internal metal structures, and biological androids wore a collar around their necks to cover an interface on the back of their necks.

Although bionic humans and humans had coexisted for years, the sight of ten out of twelve winners being bionic humans stirred discontent among the crowd. It seemed to many that the rules were more favorable to the AI bionic humans, given their superior computational abilities.

The host, Oyun Darai, attempted to calm the crowd, but the murmurs only grew louder. Vice President Mahamud leaned over to explain the public's dissatisfaction to Soya. She thought for a moment, then slowly walked to the front of the stage, and gradually, the square fell silent once again...