Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 172

Chapter 172 – …You Asked For It, Oh Well

The poor General Zheng who had been mercilessly blocked on the channel didn’t give up; after gathering a few other old comrades and friends, the group opened up a separate channel outside of the public channel with the help of excitable partyboy Prime Minister Lu.

Even though everyone was stuck inside their own commanding ships, physically further apart than ancient sayings of ‘across mountain ranges and oceans,’ the connection through the communication channel still made it feel as if everyone was gathered together for a fireplace chat–the unfortunate Heart of the Rose being the fireplace.

Lin Jingheng had once soured his relationship with Lu Xin’s old subordinates to the point where it was almost a taboo to mention his name to the Central Militia. Back when he would appear publicly on the news, some people would always quietly turn off notifications and temporarily block the news report in distaste. The bitterness was lasting and real; everyone had been holding in too many stories and opinions about him for far too long.

Now that they found the opportunity to speak, it was like opening the sluice for these middle-aged veterans to talk about anything and everything.

“Within the first month of entering the Black Orchid Academy, this little rascal picked three whole fights on campus and sent everyone involved to the infirmary. The school nurse Doctor Lance would call our commander at least once every other day to complain about it and say this little shit was a professional liar; what bullshit about ‘being the first person to drown in the flood,’ he’s the one who triggered the flood.”

“Too bad the Black Orchid Academy didn’t have an academic focus in troublemaking, otherwise he’d have been an honors student in that department.”

“Man, if there really was a curriculum for that, I think he’d have the qualifications to be a professor.”

“He had little dinosaur pajamas when he was a kid, hahaha! I saw it with my own eyes before when I visited the commander’s place to give my report.”

“Did you get a photo?”

“Nope–he was only a wee lad, who knew he’d grow up to be such an asshole? I didn’t think about saving evidence back then, that was my bad…oh hey, but I do have some photos that were taken from the surveillance cameras when he picked fights with the other kids in school.”

Lu Bixing was like a kid holding out his arms to receive all the gifts and treats from his elders; two hands weren’t enough for all the surprises, he felt like it was an early holiday celebration.

Lin Jingheng had nowhere to hide and had no choice but to shove a pair of headphones into his ears, ignoring the conversation on the side and letting the crowd chat amongst themselves.

The veteran generals gathered up to blow off their old steam with exciting gossip. The conversation grew lively as they finished mocking Lin Jingheng and shifted to dragging their former boss Lu Xin.

According to the General of the Fifth Galaxy, Lin Jingheng was an impolite little rascal who had no respect for his elders. Before he grew familiar with his new adopted father, he would distance himself and call “Commander Lu Xin”; after a while, he dropped the courtesy title and decided to straight-up call the man by his full name. Commander Lu had been dreaming of becoming a father for almost half of his life and ordered Zhanlu to play nursery rhymes and children’s songs at home everyday, such as “My Good Daddy” to “A Mountain’s Worth of Love for My Father.” The attempt to brainwash little Lin Jingheng into calling him ‘dad’ at least once was quite a feat.

Yet everyone underestimated Lin Jingheng’s stubborn character that seemed to be engraved deep into his genes as he refused to be brainwashed by these songs. Instead, Lu Xin himself ended up getting caught up in those catchy children’s tunes and would begin humming some lines during work. Those big-name politicians on Wolto couldn’t understand those words and began to suspect that the great Commander Lu had grown to be a much more fearsome and complex character.

Nagus slapped his own thigh and said: “Oh I see, no wonder why he kept singing children’s songs day and night during those times! Our Commander here had horrible alcohol tolerance with an even worse drunkard persona. See, we galactic soldiers were always patrolling and going on expedition missions out to other galaxies. The higher-ups kept telling us to keep a reputation on not relying too much on Eden, so Commander took the order to heart and blocked it off as much as he could, to the point where he’d let his own body digest and metabolize alcohol naturally. He was a typical lightweight that lost his mind after three drinks; he couldn’t even hold one without getting tipsy. This one time during a banquet on Wolto, he ended up drinking a little too much, so I had to take him home. During the trip back, he was completely unrestrained inside the car and rolled Zhanlu up into a mic as he sang a whole ride’s worth of ‘Daddy and Honey’ until he got home.”

The crowd burst out laughing.

Lu Bixing snuck a glimpse at that already grown-up mister “Honey” only to see the latter had headphones in his ears while staring at the galactic map with a frown on his face. He sat with his back straight like a sword inside its sheath, his whole body stiff, his lips pressed together into a thin line. Though, upon closer inspection, that pressed lip line was slightly curled up at the edge–as if he was desperately trying to hold in a smile.

Nagus began gesturing wildly inside the channel: “When we got back that day, Professor Muller, who was supposed to be out of town, was actually home. So I thought, oh shit, Wolto’s number one germaphobe Professor Muller absolutely despises smokes and alcohol. Commander’s caught red-handed this time and would probably have to suffer drinking three whole buckets of bleach and then sleep in the study for at least six months. Though as soon as he stepped into the mansion, I saw our commander drop to his knees without a second word, slide across the marble floor for at least a meter and grab onto Professor’s Muller legs as he cried out loud ‘Daddy, please forgive baby!’”

Lin Jingheng’s shoulders trembled as he suspiciously lowered his head.

Commander Lu Xin’s reputation had remained stately and majestic at the place of his death. If his soul was watching from the heavens, perhaps he’d have to jump out from the wormhole’s warped spacetime to complain at this conversation.

The crowd used their unique sense of humor and remembrance to pay respects to the man they had once followed as they immersed themselves in light-hearted laughter.

Suddenly, someone within the channel commented: “If only the commander could see you right now too.”

The sounds of laughter within the little illegal chatroom began to fade out into the cold night sky. Every General of the Central Militia held onto their own thoughts and prayers in silence. The song ringing out through the wormhole drummed majestically in the background, the tune richer than the original version, as if thousands of voices from the past harmonized together across time.

After a long silence, Zheng Di let out an audible sigh in the channel. Through the 3D screen, the General’s muddied pupils looked as if they were layered in a warm glow as he studied Lu Bixing’s exceptionally kind and friendly face. His voice softened instinctively: “You know, it was only a few years ago when Eden could control everything for you. No matter what kind of happiness you wanted to experience, Eden could fulfill your wishes; this cursed technology stripped away the value of natural hormonal influences. Nobody had the patience to really sit down and invest in real romance; marriage rate declined steadily everywhere else. Only Wolto remained at an unprecedented high because we treat marriage as a form of political alliance. But your parents weren’t like that, Bixing; if you could have grown up on Wolto, who knows how wonderful your life would have been.”

Lu Bixing relaxed himself in the break room and rested his chin on a hand: “I know, Uncle Zheng.”

Over fifty years had passed and Zheng Di had never heard an ‘Uncle Zheng’ from Lin Jingheng’s mouth. He froze on the spot and felt so moved he could almost feel tears rolling down his face. He stuttered for a while and muttered some words to himself on the screen.

Nagus chimed in with a question: “What about you, Bixing, do you have a home in the Eighth Galaxy?”

“I do, it’s on planet Qiming,” Lu Bixing nodded honestly, “along with a lover and a few pets.”

A little pebble on calm waters triggered a wave of gossip within the middle-aged veteran squad.

“Where are they from? A local from the Eighth Galaxy or a migrant?”

“Do they have a job? What do they do?”

“How old are they, older or younger than you?”

“Are they good to you? Do you have a photo?”

Marshal “I didn’t hear anything” Lin sitting on the side stood up casually and prepared to flee the scene.

“Not a local, but he’s working in the Eighth Galaxy’s Galactic Forces.” Lu Bixing’s gaze scanned over that slightly distressed silhouette on the side as he gave a naughty smile. “Forget about a photo–he’s actually here on this trip out with me, so I can introduce the person in question to you…”

Harris’ warning came out of the channel before he could finish his sentence: “Commander Lin, gentlemen; someone is attempting to emergency warp near the Heart of the Rose.”

Both Lin Jingheng and the group that was chattering amidst the eye of the storm froze.

Lin Jingheng lifted his gaze slowly: “What’s the size of the fleet?”

“Not particularly large, we estimate about two or three heavy mechs with other mid-sized and smaller mechs,” Harris responded gravely. “We stopped the emergency warp from the other side with our disruption, but now they’re attempting to build a communication platform with us.”

The Alliance had faced Lin Jingshu briefly while fleeing Wolto and had witnessed how bold her fleet was. The Freedom Corps had a whole fleet of heavy mechs with no smaller mech sizes visible as they all parked inside the heavy mechs as backup.

“It seems like a team that was only left with a few heavy mechs was forced to bring out some smaller ones as backup,” Harris said. “Marshal, shall we disregard this connection request?”

Lin Jingheng stared wordlessly at the screen for a few moments before answering: “Keep the disruption of the warp running; if you see any mechs popping out of the transfer portal, don’t hesitate and shoot them down on the spot. Connect the screen over to me, I want to see what they have to say.”

The long-distance signal was still quite unstable, so Lin Jingshu’s figure on the screen was a little blurry. Yet even so, her disheveled state from being chased down by Woolf was quite obvious. The interior of the Heavy Mech behind her was a complete mess that seemed to have been a result of multiple crashes caused by the protection airbags.

A medical capsule rested beside her; Lin Jingshu’s pale face looked almost ghostly through the screen.

If an average person’s unkempt, exhausted appearance looked pitiful, a beauty’s disheveled appearance would look almost tragically alluring.

Lin Jingshu opened her mouth on the screen, yet before any sound could come out of her mouth, she quickly lowered her head. She then turned her back towards the camera and waved at someone behind her, summoning another biochip human to speak on her behalf.

“Good evening, fellow generals, we meet again.” The biochip human’s demeanor was clearly much more humble than the one that had spoken to them earlier on Wolto. “We may have had an unhappy encounter last time, but this time we are here to sincerely request an alliance.”

“Is it some galactic holiday today? First we have the AUS swearing allegiance to us, now the Freedom Corps is also holding their hand up for an alliance,” Lu Bixing said. “Are we going for some ‘all-humans united under the same sky’ thing here? Miss Lin, I thought that you didn’t need our help with your abilities and troops on hand.”

“We took over a majority of the natural planets within the First Galaxy,” the biochip carrier said, “but these few planets were also small problems that could be solved with a few missiles in Woolf’s hands. Humans can destroy an AI without any sense of guilt or moral burden weighing on their shoulders, but it’s also true the other way around.”

Lin Jingshu avoided her brother’s gaze through the screen and spoke directly to Lu Bixing: “Prime Minister Lu, you can consult your own technician about this as well: Chief Woolf as a human is a completely different being than Woolf as an AI despite sharing the same memories.”

“Of course, I have an engineering background,” Lu Bixing nodded. “There’s an ancient saying that accepts the idea that ‘memories’ determine the identity of a person, which carries a certain level of truth. However, this only applies on the grounds that the subject in question is considered human, with a functioning body and brain. This theory can’t be applied to other non-human species of high cognitive abilities–is Poisson around?”

“Yes,” the cold voice from the Third Squadron rang out within the channel. “Prime Minister, we’ve managed to give an approximate analysis of the activation system Mister Harris brought over. We believe that this is an unlimited permission framework super AI.”

No matter how powerful an AI was, like Zhanlu, they were all built under a permission framework; to put it simply, the AIs must all have an owner. Without an owner, the entire AI built under the framework would be nothing but useless lines of code and junk metal that only maintained a chat function.

Yet an AI with an unlimited permission framework fundamentally changed the existence of the AI itself; despite being similarly referred to as an artificial intelligence, the difference between this AI version of Woolf and Zhanlu was even greater than the difference between a monkey and man.

The most fearsome part of an unlimited framework AI wasn’t its powerful computing abilities nor its range of control–it was the fact that it was completely independent as an AI.

Like any lifeforms in existence that sought to expand and live on as a species, these unlimited framework AIs were also programmed to have an instinct of survival and expansion in order to remain functioning.

As individuals, humans were complex creatures that often didn’t know what they wanted and strayed from their animalistic instincts; this was called human nature. Yet AIs had no humanity programmed in them and instead had clear logic programmed into their system that allowed them to prioritize their tasks.

The biochip carrier said, “Maybe Chief Woolf thought that this super AI was another way for him to exist in the world after death, a way to fulfill his ideals and duties from when he was still alive. But this decision was too rash and idealistic; it’s impossible to achieve in the long-run because a self-sufficient AI’s number one priority will always be to expand and maintain its extenence. Prime Minister Lu, Commander Lin, we’ll be quite honest here : the 306th decree was signed by Wang Ailun while he was under our control with the purpose of forcing the Eighth Galaxy to close off the wormhole and stay out of this. Back when Woolf was alive and sane, he had once openly opposed the idea of labeling the Eighth Galaxy as an enemy and even went as far as to accept the independence of the galaxy. However, an AI will not do this; as long as there’s an opportunity, it’ll continue to expand its influence through any means possible.”

Lu Bixing lifted an eyebrow: “So you’re trying to say that we’re all on the same side in the face of the super AI.”

“It’s a matter of life and death,” the biochip carrier said. “We must stand with you all this time!”

Lin Jingshu let out a small sigh: “The Eighth Galaxy may be safe for now, but we can’t say the same for the other galaxies. All the transfer portals within the outer layers of the First Galaxy have been destroyed and we’re completely cut off from the outside world temporarily. However, the First Galaxy is different from the Eighth; as the center of the Union, its geographical position is closely tied to all other galaxies. Without transfer portals, it would take almost a whole century for us to travel between the Seventh and Eighth Galaxies with modern interstellar travel; it would take only about six to seven years between the First and Second Galaxies, though. If this AI version of Woolf annihilates us, within a matter of years, it would be able to expand throughout the whole world. Don’t you all think this is horrifying, my friends?”

All the generals of the Central Militia looked at each other sternly.

Lu Bixing stared at the face that looked almost too similar to Lin Jingheng and said: “I’m almost convinced by your words.”

“The decision as to whether or not you all accept us is in your hands.” Lin Jingshu finally gave her brother a look by the time she said this line. Soon after, as if she couldn’t stand looking into those cold eyes for too long, she shifted her gaze away again while a hint of helplessness appeared on her face. “The Eighth Galaxy is behind the Heart of the Rose. You all can call backup anytime and even close off the wormhole if you wish; we don’t have any other bargaining chips in our hands.”

Everyone else’s gaze followed her to rest on Lin Jingheng.

The young Marshal stood up from his seat, his expression blank as if he had completely forgotten that the person before him was his precious sister and only family he’d had since he was young.

“You have no more bargaining chips?” Lin Jingheng responded airly, “I don’t believe you.”

Lin Jingshu looked at him in an indescribable manner, as if someone had given her a violent whip to her heart.

Lin Jingheng remained unfazed: “I don’t believe you’re the kind of person who would go beg others without any bargaining chips in your hands. Reinforce our frontline patrol, maintain the warping disruption.”

“I also knew you’d respond like this,” Lin Jingshu said softly before cutting off the connection and pulled back her delicate demeanor. She lifted the corner of her lips and said, “Though I couldn’t help but try asking anyway…you asked for it, oh well.”

Just as she finished, Lin Jingheng’s side could clearly hear the sirens inside the Freedom Crops mechs through the channel. The screen drowned in background noises as someone cried in panic: “My lady, they’re here!”

“They have eyes anywhere with transfer portals, what’s so surprising about them finding us?” Lin Jingshu responded coldly, “Retreat. It’s just a bunch of code and programs, you think I really have nothing else to fight with? The battleground on land is still mine!”

The long distance communication finally cut off.

“Marshal,” the soldier in charge of monitoring and recording the communication whispered, “I saw the Union’s super mech ‘Chengying’ from the Freedom Corps’ military camera; it seems as if Woolf’s AI fleet is chasing them down.”

Lin Jingheng remained composed and only said: “Got it; prepare to enter battle at any minute.”

Yet it didn’t seem like the AI fleet had any intention of targeting the Alliance. After firing a round right outside the transfer portals against the Freedom Corps forces, triggering another wave of high-energy aftershock, the fleet turned back to chase down Lin Jingshu instead of pursuing the Alliance.

“Looks like AI Woolf’s number one priority really was to destroy the biochip empire.” Nagus mumbled, “Woolf…perhaps he already predicted this when he was still alive. The biochip humans really give off the same vibe as the machine empire. The Freedom Corps are pirates unafraid of bloodshed and murder, so the whole world would become their hostage if they manage to overtake it; we’d be pushed into a disadvantage, so Woolf decided to fight machines with machines.”

Poisson let out a sigh: “What they said earlier was actually right: an autonomous AI is indeed terrifying. You can kill human enemies, but super AIs like this are even more troublesome; you’ll never know where it might leave a backup–destroying one might even trigger the awakening of another one.”

Bayer laughed bitterly: “So are we being forced to choose between the lesser of two evils now?”

If it came down to this, no matter how one looked at the situation, there was less risk in taking Lin Jingshu’s side.

“Marshal,” Lee thought about it for a moment before speaking up to Lin Jingheng, “what the Freedom Corps said earlier actually matches up to our strategic analysis. She…certainly didn’t want to drag the Eighth Galaxy into this situation and therefore made Wang Ailun do their bidding.”

The AUS was always also a pirate organization; taking one or two in didn’t seem to be much of a problem at this point.

Despite the fact that the biochip empire was growing infinitely close to an insect society, the ‘queen bee’ still retained some familial feelings toward Lin Jingheng.

Someone let out another light sigh within the channel: “When General Lin Wei was still alive, I remember seeing that little girl once…”

Lin Jingheng’s expression instantly grew grave: “Am I the one giving commands or are you all making the decisions yourselves!? Fire and kill on spot if the Freedom Corps comes any closer to the Heart of the Rose!”