Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 167

Chapter 167 – What Did I Activate?

The first man to feel goosebumps was the man who had snuck into the City of Angels moments earlier, Harris.

Logically, as the advocates of ‘life and nature’ who embraced the natural sciences of human civilization, the followers of the AUS should be the last ones to fear the supernatural. Yet the concept of death was still an unconquered territory of human life; beneath the dark curtains closing over the stage of life was fear of the unknown, which became especially more terrifying under the silent moonlight of the night. Harris trembled subconsciously under this environment.

Woolf wasn’t dead yet?

Impossible. The absence of the newly-wed during a wedding wasn’t uncommon, but nobody had ever heard of the deceased calling in absent for their own funeral. The Union spent so much time and effort to host this funeral, they couldn’t possibly ask everyone to complete the ceremony with an empty coffin.

Then…was this a recording?

That didn’t seem likely either.

Woolf was a man with many tricks up his sleeves; would he really lure Harris and his crew to the City of Angels simply to pass a recording to them? He certainly couldn’t be too tired to even lift a finger to send a protected message to them. Right?

As Harris frantically pondered this, all the lights in the City of Angels quietly vanished.

A blackout.

A complete blackout on an artificial fortress was a terrifying scene. The entire City of Angels looked as if it was a massive chunk of space waste floating amid the stars of the universe; the next moment, gravitational changes on the fortress began to unfold as the artificial system lost control.

Fortunately, the foundational ecosystem on the City of Angels was powerful enough to repair itself within five minutes. The third backup energy source was activated and the vanished lights on the fortress gradually returned as Harris saw everyone else around him let out a sigh of relief. Along with that, the eerie voice that had sounded far too similar to Woolf also disappeared as the rest of the world returned to normal.

Only Harris felt a drop of cold sweat rolling down the side of his face.

The City of Angels had a main energy source that was backed up by a secondary energy supply if any malfunctions were to occur. The transition between the two energy sources was seamless; it would never have let anyone suffer a blackout, even if the main source was shut down. It was only if the backup source also faced problems that the automatic repair system would be triggered to activate the third power source.

In other words, there was something…something that passed by earlier that was powerful enough to overload both power sources on the City of Angels within the blink of an eye.

Harris stared back at that seemingly harmless activator and felt his heart jump: What exactly did I just activate?

“Prophet…”

Harris held up a hand to cut off his subordinate’s words, his mind quickly turning as he processed everything within an instant and said: “Wolto!”

“Wha….”

“We’re going back to Wolto, try and contact headquarters immediately! Let our brothers who are closest to Wolto make their way over first!”

Wolto.

General Nagus from the Third Galaxy pulled his head back like a turtle hiding inside its shell, then carefully gave Zheng Di a nudge on the arm: “Wh…what’s going on? Why don’t you…you go take a look…”

Zheng Di pressed his eyebrows together and pretended not to hear, thinking to himself: Why don’t you go check yourself?

Captain Bayer of the Silver Tenth Squadron was the first to react. He pressed his hand to the gun at his waist as he cautiously made his way toward the mortuary, then lifted up the flag of the Union above the coffin–Woolf’s cold corpse was still resting soundlessly inside. Even after embalming, it was still clear that it was a lifeless piece of flesh inside the coffin.

Bayer held his breath and pressed his fingers near the old Chief’s neck to check the pulse, then asked softly: “Zhanlu, can you do a DNA check for me?”

Zhanlu: “Confirmed, the identity of the deceased is indeed Chief Commander Woolf.”

“He’s certainly dead,” that strange voice that sounded identical to Woolf once again responded. “Hello there, Zhanlu.”

This time, everyone could hear it clearly. This voice was like an AI that resided within the Parliament building, coming from all around.

“Hello there, mister unidentified program.” Zhanlu was perhaps the most calm and collected among everyone present inside as he reasoned aloud, “According to the Union’s AI management laws, it is against the law to develop AIs that are highly representative of a real human in physical form, voice, and even personality. Once discovered, the AI will be immediately destroyed and the original creator can be sentenced upwards to life imprisonment.”

“You won’t be able to serve justice, my creator is lying beneath everyone’s eyes right now. As for destroying me…” That voice was unlike the robotic coldness of Zhanlu and was extremely similar to the voice of a real human. It even made a little laugh as it spoke and said, “You all can try.”

Zheng Di asked: “What’s going on?”

“His core program isn’t here,” Zhanlu said. “I believe the Parliament building only left a backup program that was triggered into activating by the main body–to put it simply, this one here is like its clone. This clone also has the ability to bypass the Freedom Corps’ network interception; I am unable to locate his main body.”

“You all can continue to address me as Hubert Woolf.” That voice, down to the nuanced tone, was terrifyingly similar to its human creator, creating an even more eerie atmosphere than the lifeless corpse near the corner. “It’s alright; I can tell you all that I exist within all transfer portals in the First Galaxy, inside a system that can only be accessed by the Chief Commander’s permission. I retained all memories of Woolf as a human and replicated his personality–Jingshu, when you said that your consciousness will merge with an AI, are you referring to a product like myself?”

Lin Jingshu’s strongest professional asset was the ability to mystify and appear as if she herself was Pandora’s box; she didn’t expect to summon a real ghost and was at a loss for words.

Even as the most senior member of the crowd present, Zheng Di was born after the founding of the Union. Nobody had ever seen such a horrifying AI in their lives. Zhanlu was the most human-like AI they’d ever interacted with, but even this super-AI spoke with a unique emotionless robotic tone that could be easily differentiated from a real human after careful examination.

The truth was that modern technological advancement had reached a point where replication of human characteristics was not a difficult task, as normal AIs were already advanced enough to carry out complicated tasks. It was only due to the trauma of the higher-ups in the Union from the old Sidereal Era that the law had been written during the Union’s founding, successfully influencing the perspective of future generations regarding AIs.

The AI version of Woolf chuckled and said in an almost gentle tone: “My child, your idea of using a super AI to retain your memories, replicate your personality, then letting the supercomputer overtake all aspects of society so that you can become an eternal ruler and live on forever…this concept might have already been realized before you were born. If it wasn’t for your grandfather and the rest of us old fossils that overthrew that machine empire in the old Sidereal Era, perhaps everything would have been different now. Did you really think you were the first to come up with this idea? You can’t claim to be the first in history simply because you are mad enough to make your imaginations reality.”

The face of the generation five carrier twitched slightly on the screen as Lin Jingshu flinched back: “Now that you mention it, Chief Woolf, your life has surely been boring and repetitive. You claimed you were loyal to the Union and were the guardian of the Union, only to nourish the AUS pirates behind everyone’s backs. You invited the devil into your house then took the head of the devil, giving yourself a pat on the back through your own schemes to retain authority in the central government. You claim to be furious and disgusted by the works of the Eden Committee, only to have your own name written on the forbidden fruit. Then, in order to keep this dark secret buried forever, you didn’t hesitate to sacrifice two whole galaxies to get rid of Lin Jingheng, the only person that knew of your crimes. You call yourself a founder of the Union, the forerunner of overthrowing the old Era, then turn around to make yourself an AI for an eternal life…hah!”

Every single word from her mouth was like a torpedo firing into the ocean, blowing up all the generals of the Central Militia until they were nothing but clueless lambs. These lost lambs had no choice but to turn their heads back to Lin Jingheng to find an outlet to direct their frustration and confusion towards.

Lin Jingheng didn’t know how to respond—he had originally kept the secret for Woolf in fear of accidentally reigniting the fire of conflict within the finally peaceful seven galaxies of the Union. But now that the Union was virtually crushed down into shambles, there really was no point in hiding anything anymore.

Lin Jingshu: “Congratulations, Grandpa Woolf, for winning the best actor of the century…”

AI Woolf quietly cut her off: “Are you planning on buying time to escape? Sorry, but your target is too large, so I’ve already located you.”

Lin Jingshu’s eyes widened in shock; the next moment, the alarms inside the mech she was on rang out to the AI’s words. The pilot’s reaction wasn’t particularly fast, but he knew to activate an emergency warp while they were still on the ground.

Without a launching deck on the ground, a heavy mech’s energy storage was only enough to activate one emergency warp. Of course, this was not something normal people would choose to do, due to the effects it created on its surrounding environments and the toll it had on the mech itself and its passengers. This was especially dangerous for Lin Jingshu when space was also currently filled with her enemies.

But the missile was already pointing at her; she had no choice.

An artificial tsunami was triggered by the heavy mech’s warp, massive waves consuming the serene Neverland within moments after the mech left. The little fairies on the beaches fled for their lives but were too slow to escape the raging ocean waves. Priceless transformable materials were soon swallowed up by the merciless waters.

The next moment, the anti-missile systems installed near the edges of Wolto’s central continent rose from the ground. Yet this time, its cannons were not pointed at the missiles shooting down at the ground and instead at Lin Jingshu’s heavy mech fleet.

“Master, our emergency warping signal is being intercepted!”

Warping disruption, a trademark tactic of the AUS, clearly saw an upgrade in the hands of Woolf.

The heavy mech that wasn’t able to successfully warp out into space was still stuck about two kilometers above the ocean, not too far from its original position, and let out a mechanical sigh as it charged up its energy inside. Even though it had successfully dodged the missile, the damage to the main body was still quite severe. Lin Jingshu was thrown to the other side of the cockpit inside the mech, covered in a protective airbag that separated her senses from the rest of the world. For a short moment, she could hear nothing but silence around her and her own beating heart.

The crowd stuck inside the Parliament building couldn’t see the thrilling scene above the ocean and only witnessed the generation five chip carrier suddenly leaning down on-screen. As if he had suffered through unbearable pain, his voice returned back to his normal state as he struggled: “M…master…”

“Did you really think you took over the entirety of Wolto?” AI Woolf asked softly, “Did you really think Wang Ailun had the authority of the Chief Commander simply because he could control the Union Troops? My child, the Military Council was founded by my hands. They’ve operated under my control for over three hundred years, far older than your own father; can’t you see that you’re being too arrogant here?”

As everyone stared in awe at this scene, Lin Jingheng finally understood what Woolf wanted to do and grabbed Lu Bixing’s hand: “Contact the galactic fleets!”

Nagus’s mind was still stuck in a void of confusion: “I thought the communication signals from ground were…”

Lu Bixing interrupted before he could finish: “Lin Jingshu isn’t stupid, she took down the signal barrier just now. Marshal, send in your orders!”

Nagus: “……”

He quietly picked up the dunce hat and placed it on his own head.

Lin Jingheng: “Young, land on Wolto immediately!”

Poisson’s choppy voice rang out in response through the unstable channel: “Yes, sir.”

“Turn on all biochip signal disruptions and share them with all ally troops to pick out all biochip humans. Land the mechs in the refuge area and take in as many people as you can, quick!” Lin Jingheng ordered without hesitation, “Lee, go and gather up all the refugees in the central area…”

“Understood, the on-land Central Militia troops will open up the roads for you all!” Zheng Di exchanged a quick glance with Lin Jingheng in acknowledgement, then gave another pound on Nagus’s back. “Follow up, don’t you get it yet? Woolf’s physical body is dead but he put himself inside an AI, so now he’s virtually everywhere around you! Nobody knows how high this damned AI’s permissions and accesses are right now! Woolf’s death was a plot to lure out the queen bee of the Freedom Corps, then capture the rest of us old rebellious folks while he’s at it! This crazy old man won’t hesitate to blow up Wolto if he has to!”

Nagus, who had been threatening to blow up Wolto and die with Lin Jingshu earlier, was stunned. He could even feel his own voice crack in shock: “Blow…blow up Wolto? There’s two billion people on here, not even those Glory Troops had the guts to blow this place up!”

Lin Jingheng gave him a long gaze.

There had been more than two billion people back then between the Eighth and Seventh Galaxies.

Woolf’s tactics always played out like a game of chess; he was willing to sacrifice the lesser pieces to control the game, making him the most merciless player when it came to throwing away his pawns.

Nagus: “Crazy old man!”

“Isn’t it?” Lu Bixing let out a complicated laugh. “Though I admire his tenacity here to die if he needs to die–do we have time to gather up the citizens?”

“Of course,” Bayer said. “Don’t worry, Prime Minister, you’re not familiar with the Woltorian culture.”

There were sixteen emergency refuge sites on Wolto–the central area where the Parliament building resided was one of them, which was why floods of citizens had fled over when the pirates invaded. During states of emergency, everyone would flee to the closest refuge centers based on their locations so that rescue teams could pick them all up in a timely manner.

No matter how others laughed and joked about Woltorians being the cancer and parasite of Union nobility, it was undeniable that they were still the elites among elites as the residents of the capital planet. Especially during times of crisis, while they would still panic and cry in terror, they were still able to maintain their strong self-sufficient nature and retain civilized order even amidst chaos.

Lu Bixing looked carefully at the crowd lined up behind Lee and noticed that they were all lined up in order of age: the first in line were all children and the elderly, all the able-bodied adults stayed behind without any conflicts. The cooperative crowd allowed Lee to arrange for the evacuation of all refugees into armed mobiles within a matter of minutes.

Lu Bixing was stunned momentarily; he suddenly remembered that this was the Wolto that he had heard about when he was little, and the reason why he had wanted to step out and see the world outside.

Since when had he begun to develop heavy biases and treat the Union like a deadly virus that must be kept away?

“Prime Minister!” Bayer hollered, “Let’s go!”

Lu Bixing pulled himself out of his daze and let himself be dragged inside an armed mobile by Lin Jingheng the next moment. The outermost vanguards from the Central Militias opened fire on the pirate forces that were surrounding them without a second word. Perhaps Lin Jingshu didn’t have time to care for them, or perhaps she wanted to spare their lives to further disrupt Woolf’s plan, but the pirates backed off quickly as the Central Militia ripped open a path to safety for the refugees.

“What were you thinking of?” Lin Jingheng asked.

“I’m thinking about the importance of universal primary education,” Lu Bixing suddenly turned to Lin Jingheng as he spoke and looked at the latter in surprise. “By the way, aren’t you also a pure-blood Woltorian? How did you manage to grow out of a fresh pond with so much dirt on you that you could blend in seamlessly with gangsters on the street, completely fluent in street fighting and bad mouthing?”

As a mutant plant that grew out of Wolto’s soil, Lin Jingheng had nothing good to say. At that moment, the armed mobile charged out like a tornado as it shielded itself in layers of high-energy particle beams.

“Sir,” Zhanlu’s voice rang out suddenly, “there’s bad news.”

The rain on Wolto had stopped as the rain clouds slowly dispersed, yet the light of the sun was still nowhere to be seen…