When Tony woke up, JARVIS immediately reported the latest news regarding Ultron's activities. Startled, Tony tumbled straight off the sofa. The commotion woke Pym, who was suffering from severe sleep deprivation, but once Pym realized what Ultron was up to, he was equally terrified. He immediately began running a diagnostic on Ultron's systems.
The final conclusion: Ultron was fine for the time being.
"The two core lines of base code haven't changed: the prohibition of lethal force and the mandate to assist the Avengers. Ultron poses no threat yet."
Pym breathed a sigh of relief after finishing the check and handed Tony a tablet. "The good news is that Ultron is indeed modifying his own programming and has begun adapting to counter Nimrod's code."
"Wait, you mean while he has no possibility of harming humans right now, the same might not apply to other AIs." Tony seemed to realize something and quickly turned to Hank. "Immediately—right now—add a specification. Don't let him designate JARVIS as an attack target."
Pym opened his mouth to speak but ultimately found the point valid. He quickly began writing the code. Afterward, the two began discussing what weakness Ultron had discovered in Nimrod. After double-checking that Ultron was functioning correctly, they quickly activated him and waited for his analysis.
The result was an answer that left them quite speechless.
[Nimrod possesses a fundamental logical flaw. Its created purpose is to prevent the human race from being replaced by the mutant population; therefore, it implements control over mutants. However, the program itself was never provided with a final objective for this action.]
"In other words, for Nimrod to operate, it effectively requires the existence of mutants." Tony rolled his eyes, beginning to understand Ultron's point. "So even in a future where Nimrod massacres humans, enforces segregation, and even sets up concentration camps with reproductive bans, it never completely exterminates the mutants. Because its programmers never considered what would happen after mutant extinction."
Tony then complained, "But how does that help us? We can't exactly exterminate all mutants just to defeat Nimrod."
"Actually, we can, Tony."
Pym hesitated for a moment before looking at Tony. "The Nimrod we are dealing with isn't the Nimrod of 2013, but the Nimrod of 2029. We only need to convey this point to the resistance in 2029. Once they have this information, they might be able to find a way to counter Nimrod."
"Putting aside the fact that mutants aren't dead yet in 2029, even if they manage to destroy Nimrod in that timeline, the problem we face doesn't get much easier." Tony raised a brand-new concern. "What if Nimrod realizes it's about to be destroyed in 2029 and decides to flee back to 2013? Can Ultron stop the 2013 Nimrod?"
Ultron provided a response almost immediately. It wouldn't even require the total destruction of the 2029 Nimrod; as long as the 2029 Nimrod's computing power dropped to a certain threshold, Ultron would be able to contain or outright delete the subroutines Nimrod left in 2013, further preventing Nimrod from entering this era.
At this point, Tony's task was essentially complete. Tony didn't particularly care what the 2029 of another world looked like; he only cared that his own universe didn't turn out that way. Because of this, upon hearing Ultron's report, Tony made a snap judgment: the matter was more or less settled.
If the survivors of 2029 could simultaneously destroy the future Nimrod prime, then everyone would be happy. If they couldn't, Tony's side would have at least driven Nimrod away. As for the events of 2029, they were beyond their scope of concern; one could only wish them luck.
However, Tony still felt something wasn't quite right. He pondered for a long time before finally figuring out the source of his unease: this logical error—had Nimrod really not discovered it himself?
It was at that moment they received word: Spider-Man had returned.
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Underground Research Facility.
With the help of Shadowcat carrying the future Professor's thoughts, the White Queen finally managed to revive Lucas Bishop, who had been lying in a comatose state for a full two months. Bishop woke up in a state of bewilderment, gasping for air. When he saw Cyclops—who hadn't lost an eye yet and was very much alive—he clutched his head and asked.
"What... what year is this?"
"2013, pal. You made it." Cyclops patted Bishop on the shoulder. "We're currently working on a way to deal with Nimrod, and we already have a lead."
"Nimrod... oh no, no."
Bishop took a deep breath and looked at the X-Men. "I come from the year 2059 of Earth-1191, which is a possible future of Earth-811."
"And this is the year 2013 of Earth-616, and Earth-811 is one of our possible futures." Beast finished, looking at Bishop with confusion. "While this is starting to feel like a Russian nesting doll, Mr. Bishop, the reason you're telling us this is..."
"I went to 2029 to stop Nimrod from evolving into its final stage, but we failed. So we decided to start from the source."
Bishop took a deep breath and shook his head helplessly. "I told Cyclops this in the future, which is why we planned the time-travel mission. We wanted to come to 2013 to find a way to kill Nimrod once and for all, but it looks like we still failed."
"Well, yet another piece of bad news. It seems a dystopian world where Logan is the only one left alive isn't the end of this nightmare."
Cyclops ignored Logan's grunt and looked at Bishop. "So, Mr. Bishop, in the year 2059, how far had things escalated?"
"The human race is completely extinct. There are no humans left, and the last of the resistance has failed. What's even more terrifying is the mutants. For some reason, Nimrod suddenly began massacring the mutants who had been held in concentration camps for decades."
The X-Men weren't particularly surprised by this; they actually found it more unusual that Nimrod hadn't killed all the mutants earlier. Cyclops asked Bishop, "Do you know why?"
"I don't. I only know that Nimrod Sentinels suddenly entered concentration camps across the globe and began a slaughter. I only managed to cross over by relying on an old, small robot." Bishop carefully recalled the terrifying doomsday scene of that day. "I... I only remember the Nimrods repeating one phrase over and over."
"It said: Nimrod has mastered the key to evolution. Nimrod shall become the Mutant."
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi