Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 164

Chapter 164 – The Mastermind is Lin Jingshu

Due to the countless particle cannons shooting aimlessly in the air and severely damaging the highways on Wolto, all mid-air terminals and highways were forced into lockdown.

Both the pedestrians and vehicles on land that should have been divided up in an orderly fashion all merged together in the narrow streets in a chaotic manner. Even the organized troops of the Central Militias were suddenly caught in this mess as they attempted to redefine order.

That was when a vehicle that had driven into the central area seemed to suddenly malfunction and stopped traffic in the middle of the road, forcing all the pedestrians carefully to make their way around the car. Even during a state of crisis like this, the good-natured Woltorians still knocked on the door, asking if the driver needed help even when they were barefoot on the road.

But that car window never rolled down.

Inside General Zheng’s mind, Lin Jingheng’s earlier warning of ‘you’ve all fallen into the enemy’s trap’ repeated like a siren; his eyes twitched in anxiety.

Then, a voice beside that stopped car shouted out: “There’s a bomb!”

The Second Galaxy’s Central Militia forces were the closest to the car; General Zheng felt his goosebumps rise the moment the cry was made. An armed mobile was far more sensitive than a human as it immediately detected abnormal energy waves from that suspicious car, revealing it to be a disguised armed mobile.

The alarmed crowd quickly backed off from the car as Zheng Di called out an order: “Open the shields–”

The closest Central Militia armed mobiles charged toward the suspicious vehicle directly and shot out a web to hold down the suspected explosive. Immediately after, all shields were turned to max defense as the soldiers inside the mobiles got ready to jump off.

At that moment, a soldier noticed that there were signs of hacking into his armed mobile while the shield that was set up shook violently.

The soldier hesitated for a second before he finally turned and returned inside to switch off the autopilot system and cut into manual. The alarms inside the mobile were almost creating a new noise pollution as the wavering shield finally stilled. Yet, before the soldier could let out a sigh of relief, following a large blasting sound, the disguised vehicle exploded.

The shields shattered instantly while the rest of the armed mobile broke into countless pieces.

Raging flames swept the grounds, leaving a trail of ashes behind.

A few comrades on the side felt their eyes warming up but there was no time for them to mourn.

After the first sound of an explosion, countless disguised vehicles that had already driven into the crowds blew up simultaneously on the spot. The heavy barricades by the Central Militia forces were broken amongst the flying rocks and pieces of cement from the explosion; ashes were covered in blood, human limbs mixed in with the explosions while a corner of the Parliament building broke down.

The survivors inside the Parliament building rampaged right into the explosion before they could even see the sunlight.

The outermost circle of people surrounding the Parliament building were biochip humans that wouldn’t hesitate to kill at the blink of an eye; they spread out from the center of the Parliament building and crashed into a crowd of unarmed spectators all dressed in formal attire for the funeral. Everyone, regardless of if they were chip carriers or not, merged into a chaotic swarm of refugees.

In front of the Central Militia forces was another barricade of pirates with armed mobiles. Behind them was a bunch of civilians and nobility mixed in with their enemies; the Central Militias were trapped from all around, the connection to their main fleets up in space completely cut off.

This wasn’t even the worst–

The entire planet of Wolto had all signals blocked off and was temporarily turned into a massive galactic prison. The main Central Militia fleets waiting in space couldn’t receive anything and wouldn’t dare to act on their own; on top of that, they had no idea what was going on down on the ground. As they were about to send someone to investigate the situation on land, the rats behind them that had been previously arranged by Wang Ailun had arrived. The Union Troops that were ready to loot off the battle between the Freedom Corps and Central Militias already sailed into the outer layer of Wolto’s atmosphere.

The Central Militias couldn’t receive any signal from Wolto, likewise, the Union Troops had no way to contact their superiors on land; they still didn’t know that Wang Ailun had already left them and followed in Woolf’s footsteps into the afterlife.

Since there were no new orders from land, they naturally must follow the original plan.

The First Galaxy had always been directly under Woolf’s control and been the Union Troops’ homeground, their headquarters based on Wolto. If the heavens gave the Union Troops this perfect opportunity to turn the tables while the generals of the Central Militias were stuck on ground and perhaps already sent off to visit Lu Xin, the Union Troops certainly took the opportunity and opened fire fearlessly at the Central Militia fleets.

From the skies down to the ground, the shadows of fear inside the fragile human heart were like puppets in Lin Jingshu’s hands as she skillfully led them through the script she had written for humanity.

The Union Troops were dispatched by Wang Ailun with the promise that they will be able to kill two birds with one stone: capture the Central Militias and strip them of their military autonomy. They mobilized all their forces with one goal in mind, completely unaware that they had left their backyard open.

At this time, all other planets within the First Galaxy had their communication signals taken over discreetly as the viral spread of the biochip finally opened its bloodied mouth to consume the First Galaxy.

On the galactic map in Lin Jingshu’s hand, the area indicating the First Galaxy looked as if someone had poured ink onto it as a heavy blackness slowly consumed it. Countless heavy mechs slowly rose up from the oceans of Neverland while she stepped onto the commanding ship.

Years ago, the small and fragile little girl was forced to leave her home and her only family to stay with the Committee. She also left behind her heart, her body, and her soul as she imprisoned herself in the hands of those politicians; she carried her hatred and forced herself to play the role of an elegant flower vase in order to survive in the crevices of this rotten world.

Today, almost 60 years had gone by; she followed a trail of blood one step at a time towards the peak of the world.

She had always been more sensitive and mature than her twin brother since they were young; she understood the familial love Chief Woolf had for their father, and had once hoped that Woolf would step in to take her away from the terrible place that was the Committee, but he never did.

She had once carefully enjoyed Doctor Hardin’s companionship and listened to him talk about her mother Laura; she had once hoped that Doctor Hardin would take her away, and even daydreamed that Laura had once loved her, but both of them had failed her.

She no longer dared to place her expectations onto anyone else and cautiously packed her last emotions deep down. She couldn’t even trust her own heart and placed it on Lin Jingheng as her last hope, making him the very last safe space in this universe for her…but he refused her.

Fate had never shown her pity. She was the one who gripped the necks of the past and future with her own hands, then forcefully pulled fate down its high and mighty throne so that it could kneel before her.

Lin Jingshu looked at the beautiful cerulean sky of Wolto through the windows of the heavy mech: “I think it should rain today.”

Wolto was a planet that peaked in the technology to create a suitable and relaxing environment; it was possible to completely control the weather and climate. At this moment, the biochip humans on land had already fully taken control of the climate control station. A simple line from her summoned heavy rain clouds within an instant, all floating towards the central area of Wolto carrying violent storms and lightning.

The biochip empire was only a step away from realization, but she could already control the heavens like a god.

The moment the first raindrop hit the ground, an unknown disruption wave suddenly covered the entire Parliament building as all biochip humans froze on the spot.

Biochip disruption signal was an invention from Doctor Hardin. He had once made one for Lin Jingheng back in the galactic prison, but due to the limited resources they had, the old man could only manage to create a tiny numbing effect on biochip humans. Luckily, his partner back then was Lin Jingheng; the few seconds of disruption was enough for him to sweep through a small fleet of mental networks.

After arriving on planet Qiming’s Milky Way City, the available technological equipment also made it possible to upgrade the signal disruption to a much greater scale.

The new upgraded disruption system would be effective against biochip humans within a diameter of ten square kilometers; it would send off a strong numbing effect against chip carriers, and lower level chips might even be completely frozen on spot for at least 30 seconds.

For an elite military group like the Central Militias, 30 seconds was more than enough time to act!

The back row of armed mobiles locked on the biochip humans with high precision as hundreds of laser guns opened fire simultaneously, piercing directly through the chip injection spot on the target’s napes and crushing their necks. Within an instant, all biochip humans within the Parliament building were cleared.

At the same time, the front row armed mobiles pierced through the barricade of their enemies with a blast of particle cannons; the Freedom Corps’ barricade collapsed like messy dominos. While the biochip humans further out were not affected by the disruption signal, they were blocked physically by the massive traffic jam up front and unable to move, giving the Central Militias some time to finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Officer!”

Zheng Di lifted his head: “Captain…Lee?”

“It’s me,” Lee responded. “There are too many injured people here; our disruption won’t last for too long either so it’d be pointless to remain here. The Union Parliament building has its own defense system–we successfully activated it earlier when we snuck in and cleaned up all the biochip humans inside. Commander Zheng, please ask your comrades to cooperate for a bit here and send all injured personnel and unarmed civilians inside the Parliament building.”

The Parliament building that had trembled amidst gunfire earlier shook once more as soon as Lee finished his request. The sounds of the sirens covered the rolling thunder in the background while the entire Parliament building sank into the ground, about two meters deep. A heavy-mech grade shield was set up around the building while the exterior began transforming, flashing numerous cannons outwards.

This was the highest level defensive system of the Parliament building during wartime; from the outside, it looked almost like a super heavy mech that rested on land.

Zheng Di nodded at Lee without hesitation and announced: “Line up!”

The Central Militias of the other galaxies followed along with his orders; they reorganized quickly and in an orderly fashion, the armed mobiles with abundant energy surrounding the entire Parliament building while other civilians rushed inside the building fortress.

“It’s not supposed to be a rainy day today,” Lee mumbled as he sniffed the muddied smell in the air.

“It’s not supposed to be a day for war either.” Bayer licked the corner of his lips. “Hey old Lee, did you know that the Silver Ten and Commander Lu Xin’s old generals haven’t fought together on the same side since the late commander died?”

Lee gave a complicated smile: “Is this supposed to be a good thing?”

Rather than forming a temporary heart-to-heart alliance, they’d much rather peacefully bicker and fight like children.

At this moment, the Central Militia Generals that retreated back inside the Parliament building were gathered up wide-eyed as if they saw the same ghost, staring with their mouths open at Lu Bixing who was currently attempting to adjust and fix the defense system inside the Parliament building.

“I know it’s the first time we’ve met, but I’m sure I don’t need to introduce myself, right?” Lu Bixing gave a courteous smile amidst his work. “Just one moment please.”

Zheng Di asked dumbly: “What…what are you doing?”

“Installing the biochip disruptor on this building’s defense system so that we can use this entire building to amplify the effects of the disruption signals,” Lin Jingheng walked over to answer. “The environmental adaptability of the biochip is very strong, so the disruption signal works best within the first 30 seconds. After that, their bodies will adapt to the numbness; but the most important part is that it can reduce the combat abilities of our enemies and help us determine who’s a chip carrier.”

The General of the Third Galaxy was still in awe and blurted out a mouthful of questions: “Why are you here? Didn’t they say the Eighth Galaxy had been closed off? How many people did you bring? What’s the situation outside? What exactly is going on?”

Lin Jingheng: “The situation on land is as you’ve all seen, we only have this many people on our side for mobility. It’d be too troublesome to bring any more, as for space—”

The main fleets of both the Silver Third and Sixth Squadrons were on standby, ready for battle.

The Central Militia fleets were forced into battle after the first shot from the Union Troops; luckily they were close enough to Wolto, where both sides unanimously agreed to be careful. They were both fearful that a single misfired missile would fall onto this natural planet with a population of two billion people, so both sides fought with great caution, giving Captain Liu the perfect opportunity to break into the fight.

Captain Liu Yuanzhong was nothing but lowkey while on the space battlefield. The Eighth Galaxy Galactic Defence–the Silver Sixth Squadron’s main fleet swiftly cut its way in between the Central Militias and Union Troops like a violent butcher knife. The vanguard teams on both sides were swept immediately with a mental network hack, and within an instant a few dozen mechs completely lost control and sailed off to the side.

After being harassed by countless disruptions and interceptions along the way, Poisson Young finally managed to pull up a stable communication platform and gifted both sides a cold and insulting greeting that shared his boss’ trademark sarcasm: “Do you fools all want to turn around and check out your burning asses first before fighting among yourselves?”

“Look at what’s happening on Wolto right now, can you all not imagine what it’s like outside?” Lin Jingheng wanted to be courteous, but as the words reached the tip of his tongue, he still couldn’t change the arrogant attitude that was engraved into his core. “I think maybe you all should consider switching careers to be theater actors specializing in ad-libs; no need to rehearse, you all can just step on stage and follow someone else’s prewritten script without any problems.”

Lu Bixing put his hand on his forehead and quickly stopped him from continuing to play with fire: “Jingheng.”

Lee stepped up and opened up his personal device to show the SOS message from the principal of the Second Polytechnic University of the Second Galaxy to the generals present: “This was an SOS message the Third Squadron received through our secret port before our signals were cut off.”

Zheng Di almost tripped over himself as a siren rang inside his head.

This was the Union’s Parliament building during Chief Woolf’s funeral service; the security check was practically useless as they let in this many biochip humans, what would it be like for other places? Wouldn’t it be unsurprising how many biochip humans could sneak into places outside Wolto?

Bayer added in a stern voice: “The Freedom Corps’ biochips have gone through multiple upgrades already and are no longer that ‘illegal drug’ we knew of back when it first appeared in the Union. Also, regardless if the injection was voluntary or involuntary, once the body accepts the chip’s modifications, the person will become one of them. I did a rough estimate; once the percentage of biochip humans exceeds 10% within a crowd, a crisis will occur where society would fall into their hands within a matter of time. Over 30%, they will have the ability to trigger a coup within the local government and overthrow existing authorities within a short period of time. If their population exceeds 50%…”

Zheng Di could hear his own hoarse voice question: “What?”

Bayer’s large eyes looked like a void of darkness as he stared: “They would have the ability to completely turn all of humanity into puppets of their biochip empire.”

“You’ve asked why we’re here.” Lu Bixing finished setting up the disruption amplifier and stood back up. “We could easily close off the wormhole and hide from all of this to live in peace for a few decades…”

Lin Jingheng suddenly chimed in: “No, we can maintain peace for at least a whole generation of people, two hundred years. Almost half of the population in the Eighth Galaxy are vaccuocerebrals, making them unsuitable hosts for biochips. In addition…the mastermind behind the Freedom Corps in Lin Jingshu.”

Lu Bixing was shocked; he didn’t expect Lin Jingheng to reveal this fact at a time like this.

The entire group of Central Militia generals felt their souls leave their body simultaneously; Zheng Di opened his mouth like a broken record: “Which…which Lin Jingshu…”

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” Lin Jingheng showed no intention of respecting his elders and cut him off coldly. “The one who was taken away and raised by the Committee years ago; the one who married into the Gordon family, the one who murdered the entire family to take all authority of the Committee and suddenly disappeared after the Committee’s crimes were made public, my sister Lin Jingshu. Do you want to look at a photo of her and check with your own two eyes again?”

Lu Bixing and Lee exchanged a quick glance with each other; Lee was clearly a little uneasy, but Lu Bixing hinted at him to remain calm and stay put.

Lin Jingheng’s attitude was indeed bad, but it wasn’t rash; even if it was jarring to the ear, he would never speak up without thinking. There must be a reason why he chose to expose Lin Jingshu’s identity here at this time. After the initial shock, Lu Bixing realized that this was actually the best time to reveal the truth.

He was using the situation ripe with the looming crisis over their heads to pick out the hardest pills of truth to swallow. The conflict outside would nullify the conflicts within, which would minimize the damage and friction for the temporary alliance. It was better than revealing the dirty truth after working together to fight a common enemy for a while.

Lin Jingheng’s lips and expression carried that familiar asshole attitude as he continued: “As long as I’m alive, Lin Jingshu wouldn’t be so dumb as to touch a hot potato that she can’t fully control like the Eighth Galaxy. Too bad I’m not a damn turtle; I can’t live for tens of thousands of years, so I have to take the Eighth Galaxy’s future into consideration. Nobody knows what kind of monster this biochip universe would become in the future, and we don’t want to one day reopen our closed doors to see that we can no longer find comrades of the same species amidst this vast universe.”

The generals of the Central Militia were dead silent.

“I also don’t want to see you all that Lu Xin had protected with his life until the end to become the last humans in the Union.”

Zheng Di lifted his head. Back when Lu Xin fled the Union, countless hot-headed subordinates had once followed his footsteps. In the end, Lu Xin protected them with his own life under the fatal blast of the cannons. Even after his death, he still protected their identities and kept that list of traitors who followed him a secret. Aside from Lu Xin himself who jumped out to take the blame, everyone else had lived until this day with a reputable position in the Union.

“You…” the General of the Sixth Galaxy said softly, “you knew…”

Lin Jingheng’s voice choked up a little: “I’ve seen that list from Doctor Lance.”

Zheng Di mumbled: “You’ve always known, that’s why when you took over the Silver Fortress, you sent all of us off to other galaxies away from the center of the Union…Jingheng, you…”

Lin Jingheng didn’t want to continue dwelling on the past and once again blurted out some ugly words: “Stop with the nonsense. If I knew it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have wasted my energy on you all back then.”

Lin Jingheng lifted his chin and held out a hand as he spoke: “Now that we’ve all been forced to the edge of the cliff, gentlemen, suck it up and cooperate with us.”

That hand still covered in those familiar white gloves raised in solidarity in mid-air with no response.

Lu Bixing was about to open his mouth to ease the tension when he saw Zheng Di take a step forward, pulling that glove off and dragging Lin Jingheng into a big embrace, pounding hard on the young commander’s back: “You little bastard!”