Chapter 216 Island Sinking Crisis

Chapter 216 Island Sinking Crisis

"Sophia?"

Alberta leaned against the operating table, her mind racing. "How can you prove you're really you?"

"What kind of proof do you need?" Yasmin shot back. "I didn't miss our meeting five years ago. After Gabrielle and Yasmin merged, the body started to break down. Oswald thought Gabrielle's consciousness had achieved immortality through Yasmin, so the physical decline didn't matter. Everett had a different idea; he was the first to suggest mechanical life to Miguel. He picked me to succeed Gabrielle, hoping I'd help him beat Oswald. My body is just a brain now, deep within the Isle Heart Authority. Is that enough proof? Or you can test me, but with Oswald's resurrection plan, you might not believe anything I say."

"So, you're not just an AI," Alberta sighed. The metallic voice she had heard so many times now carried emotion.

"No, I'm not. Time's short, let's cut to the chase. As long as we can reach an agreement, who I am doesn't matter," Yasmin said.

Alberta nodded. "What's your goal?"

"To kill Oswald and destroy Paradise Island," Yasmin replied.

Alberta glanced at Little Oswald's corpse on the floor. "Oswald isn't dead yet? How many clones does he have?"

"One more, from his younger years," Yasmin answered.

"Who is it? Where?" Alberta asked.

"I don't know," Yasmin admitted.

Alberta narrowed her eyes slightly. "You don't know? Doesn't seem like you're very sincere."

"I truly don't know." Yasmin's fixed smile appeared on the screen. "The whole island is under my surveillance, but there was a power outage recently, forcing me into hibernation. Oswald took that chance to transfer his memory again."

"A power outage? When?" Alberta asked, wondering if it was during the typhoon.

"During the typhoon," Yasmin confirmed.

"Of course," Alberta immediately thought of two people. "Allen and Zayne, where are they?"

"Oswald hid them while I was in hibernation. I can't find them, but I'm sure they're still on the island," Yasmin said.

Alberta closed her eyes, piecing together recent events. Many mysteries were becoming clear. "Did you design the new rules and tasks after the sixth game?"

"Yes."

"The earthquake, the cracks, Dawn City... you guided me back to the experimental zone step by step?"

"Yes."

"Were the points and tasks meaningless, just to isolate me?" Alberta rubbed her forehead with her index finger. "If you can control the mechanical species, why not capture me directly? Oh, I almost forgot, Oswald wants me to spend more time with Lawrence and have a child."

"That's one reason," Yasmin explained. "If I captured you openly, you and Lawrence might choose to die rather than cooperate."

Alberta agreed. Yasmin continued, "I know you're upset about the task to save the baby whale, which nearly cost Lawrence his life. But to deceive Oswald, I had to create a real game. All tasks had meaning; the baby whale has returned to its pod."

"But Lawrence almost didn't come back to me!" Alberta said coldly.

"I'm really sorry," Yasmin apologized.

Alberta calmed herself. "Let's talk about our cooperation."

Yasmin said, "There's an active underwater volcano 500 kilometers east of Paradise Island. Recent monitoring shows it will erupt within 24 to 48 hours, causing a major earthquake. Unfortunately, Paradise Island is near an underwater fault line, with an over 80% chance of sinking."

Alberta raised her head slightly, her expression serious.

"Only after you find and kill Oswald's clone will I deactivate the defense mode," Yasmin said firmly. "Evacuating to a safe area will take at least 12 hours. If we can't find Oswald in time, everyone will go down with the island."

After a few seconds of silence, Alberta pinched the bridge of her nose.

"This is what you call cooperation?" Alberta was severely injured. Even with her strong self-healing ability, she needed time to recover. She gritted her teeth and sat up.

"We both want revenge. I want to destroy Paradise Island, and you want to escape. Our interests align. I provide information, you take action. How is that not cooperation?" Yasmin chuckled.

Alberta laughed too. "Seems like I have no choice."

Deep within Yasmin's core, Sophia wished she could give Alberta an encouraging hug, but her data-simulated arms couldn't touch the warmth of reality.

"Alberta, I want to invite you to Isle Heart Authority."

"Before, I let Oswald capture you to understand his true intentions. Now, I need to protect you from him and keep you as my 'hostage' until the final task is complete."

The seventh zone, known as the animal zone, was the cross-species gene fusion experimental area. The various mutant beasts seen on the island were the results of this research.

Unlike the silent eighth zone, filled with gray mist and moths, the seventh zone was chaotic. Mutant beasts rampaged, and people fought each other and the beasts, with the air thick with the smell of blood.

"What's going on? Why is the door open again?"

"Close it! Don't let the gray mist and moths in!"

"Is there another idiot who broke in? Are the unlucky ones from the eighth zone not all dead yet? Perfect, let me practice my knife skills!"

As soon as Lawrence entered the seventh zone, he heard someone shout, "Close the door!" Three men charged at him aggressively, their knives flashing dangerously close to his face. His battle instincts flared; he dodged the long knife, spun around, elbowed one man, and kicked the knife out of another's hand.

Two figures fell, and the third man froze, a gun pressed to his forehead by Lawrence.

These men were used to living on the edge, licking blood off their knives, and had seen many ruthless characters. Few had ever made them feel fear at first sight like this man.

"Where are you from? Do you know whose territory the seventh zone is now?" the man on the left, lying on the ground, asked gruffly, secretly gripping a stun gun behind his back.

"Whose?" Lawrence asked calmly.

"It's you!" the man with the gun to his forehead recognized him. "The man who slaughtered the hungry ghosts on the cruise ship!"

The other two men remembered, too. They exchanged glances: Can't mess with him, better run!

Lawrence didn't hesitate, firing two shots, hitting the legs of the two trying to escape. The third man, seeing the situation, immediately begged for mercy. "I won't run! Don't kill me!"

Parker hurried over, hearing the pleas from a distance. When he stepped through the door, he saw a scene of carnage, with bodies and blood everywhere, cries of pain filling the air, like a vision of hell.

Lawrence stood with his back to Parker, looking like a demon emerging from hell, or an enraged Asura ready to lay waste to everything.