In 1860, CANC was established.
60 years ago, 01 was already over 100 years old. At the time, he knew when he would die, so he recruited two of his most prized students. In his mind, CANC's future was in their hands.
01 gave her a choice, who was willing to abandon their body and use their consciousness to take over Steel Dogma City, becoming an AI and living eternally, unable to die even if they wanted to?
Without any hesitation, Themis made her choice.
But at the time, Joshua hesitated just a tiny bit.
And so, Themis became the highest leader, inheriting anomaly 001.
Quite a few people knew about the anomaly's existence, because it was 01's anomaly. However, they only knew that the anomaly was very powerful, but no one knew what it was, as 01 had kept it a secret and concealed very well.
While Themis became the preacher of Steel Dogma City, she also became the only person who knew about anomaly 001.
Because 01 passed away the next day, at the age of 108.
Before he died, he told this secret to Themis, describing the omniscient consciousness.
During their secret conversation at the time, 01 said: "You are my most prized student, without a doubt. I trust that you will not forget my teachings, the Steel Dogma will exist forever, without exception "
"From now on, this city will be called Steel Dogma, it will be your true shackles, you will forever be imprisoned within this vessel … Onomyia, I trust that you can do it"
The Steel City originally didn't have a name, but from then on, it did. Themis's soul will forever be imprisoned here, or die.
At first glance, these words didn't seem to mean anything, only a simple request.
But Themis was smart enough to understand what 01 was hinting at.
The iron-like dogma was his cage, and Themis was 001's cage.
The reason why 01 chose Themis who had a stronger will, the reason why he chose the host of Steel Dogma City as the highest leader, was because he hoped that Themis would be able to reject 001's temptation and seal it away in her memory.
Themis understood this at the time. When 01 told her the truth about 001, as an AI, he was extremely calm, he already didn't want to sign the contract, so hearing this, he understood even more clearly.
He understood his teacher's faint hope that he didn't mean what he said.
Seal 001.
Zero had relied on anomaly 001 to secure CANC, but at the same time, he was no longer free to do as he wished.
The contract forced him to inform the next leader of CANC about 001's existence, as if this organization that specialized in dealing with anomalies had become 001's puppet.
Zero tried his best to get CANC out of 001's hands, so he began to set an iron-clad doctrine and carefully nurture the next generation of successors.
Themis and Joshua were the best of the best, and the most suitable candidate for the Zero Plan was undoubtedly Themis.
He wanted his identity as the Executor to end with him, so he could only use this hint in hopes that Themis would use her own thoughts to become 001's containment measure.
01's instructions were not in vain. Themis was undoubtedly a true preacher, and he had the courage to make a choice that was completely different from his teacher.
He used his cold heart to correct his teacher's mistake and rejected the Eternal Contract.
Themis used her entire life to hide this secret, and for this reason, she did not hesitate to add a Thought Stamp to herself. Just like the House of Glamorgan who faced the wall that Lan Mu met, they were the same type of people.
Even when CANC was destroyed, even when they encountered an enemy that they couldn't resist, Themis didn't break this seal and asked for help from 001.
But fate was like a giant net, and he failed in the end. Qu Bo read his memories, and Lan Mu read Qu Bo's memories.
Lan Mu scowled, feeling a sense of foreboding.
"How did Zero know about anomaly 001? And why did he look so frustrated and helpless when he died? "
In Themis's memories, there was a small interlude, which was the day after the selection of the next successor, Zero died.
He clearly knew that he was going to die, he had already arranged everything, he was already waiting for his death, but right before he died, he showed an expression of unwillingness.
This greatly troubled Themis, as she couldn't understand Zero's final hint.
From Lan Mu's perspective, Themis's persistence was useless. If 001 could truly change the world, it was too naive to seal it away in her memories.
Especially when Lan Mu felt that 001 had sought him out.
It was the entity that hoped to form a contract with him during his Heroic Spirit transformation.
If the two of them were the same entity, then Themis's actions were meaningless.
"Perhaps Zero's final regret was because he realized that Themis misunderstood him?"
"Or perhaps, there's something I don't know? Unfortunately, Qu Bo didn't read all of Themis's memories, there's too much information in this person. "
Lan Mu quickly found the memories of Qu Bo communicating with 001. Qu Bo had indeed communicated with 001, it was a mysterious entity.
But to Lan Mu's surprise, Qu Bo also rejected this contract.
"Impressive, Qu Bo is truly calm. Facing an unknown contract, he suppressed his inner desire. "
"To be precise, Qu Bo's desire for a perfect creature was too strong, to the point that he was afraid that after becoming a puppet, he wouldn't be able to fulfill his dream."
If 001's goal conflicted with Qu Bo's understanding, then it would be too late for him to regret.
But at this point, Lan Mu was even more confused, because at this moment, his experience conflicted with the experience of everyone else who knew about this.
That was, a contract that everyone else didn't know about, but he already knew about it.
"Erase all existences that hinder humanity's development.
Different people would have different contracts, could it be that because I'm strong enough, 001 already told me about it? "
Lan Mu looked up and tried to contact the anomaly 001.
In just a few seconds, a notification came: Become its agent, erase all existences that hinder humanity's development.
"What are you?"
Lan Mu asked, but the only reply he got was 001's statement that it would allow him to use the anomaly without limit.
"So it really is the same."
The communication stopped there. If he didn't sign the contract, he wouldn't be able to get anything out of it, as the other party wouldn't even bother to talk to him.
"What a great temptation, but I refuse."
This was the second time he refused without hesitation. At least for now, as long as he refused to sign the contract, 001 wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Lan Mu combined all the information that he knew and came up with his own understanding.
Blindly believing in someone else's memories would only lead to too much subjective interference.
First of all, the anomaly 001 did indeed have the three main characteristics, but they were definitely more than that.
Furthermore, the so-called combination of omniscience and unlimited energy to interfere with reality, Lan Mu suspected that without an Agent, 001 wouldn't be able to interfere with reality.
Otherwise, with so many anomalies in reality, why would it need to rely on humans to control them?
Where did unlimited energy come from? If it could be created out of thin air, it would mean that it didn't need an Agent to control the world at will.
Obviously, one of Themis' conjectures was correct, as long as no one knew about it, its abilities would be severely limited.
If that was the case, without an Agent, it would be completely useless.
For example, when Lan Mu refused it just now, it didn't seem to be angry at all, almost like an emotionless machine.
In other words, its so-called unlimited use of the anomaly was also based on the premise that a contract had been established. Then, it was the Heroic Spirit that altered the anomaly's characteristics, not it.
Secondly, from the current perspective, 001 was an anomaly that stood on the opposite side of all anomalies …
Whether it was guiding the creation of CANC, or hoping that it could eliminate all existences that stood in the way of humanity's development, it was an enemy of the anomaly community.
Then why did Themis think that 001 was the source of all anomalies? She created them herself, then thought of a way to fight against them? Did she have nothing better to do?
Perhaps Themis had some sort of direct evidence, but Qu Bo couldn't read it.
Thirdly, if 001 was so powerful, why did it have so many restrictions?
Especially the biggest one, which was why there were so few people who knew about it.
So few that it didn't even have an Agent at this point.
If it had an Agent, Lan Mu would have already met a powerful enemy.
But it didn't, which meant that Themis and Lan Mu were indeed the last people who knew about it, perhaps even the only ones in the infinite worlds who knew about it.
"Perhaps … anomalies were created by stealing 001's power?"
"That would explain why 001 was the source of anomalies, as well as its hostile relationship with anomalies …"
"However … this still doesn't explain anomalies like the life sphere and the pyramid"
After thinking for a while, Lan Mu suddenly realized something, almost forgetting another important thing.
"The countdown to the Abyss' Vengeance … from what I remember, it should be soon"
Lan Mu hurriedly turned into the Goldfur Mouse and began to search for Otto's hiding place.
He had to stop the Gate of Darkness.
"I should have already surpassed the demon by now, right?"
…
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