Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 186

Chapter 186 – We Can’t Win

Lin Jingheng swiftly strolled out of the Prime Minister’s Office. Behind him, his soldiers efficiently blocked all unrelated personnel from the exit as the Marshal stepped into an armed mobile headed straight toward a detached mech base near the Command Post. Inside the base, Doctor Hardin was already waiting for him in his wheelchair.

The Doctor had changed out of his usual clothing into travel gear: everything from his dentures to his personal device had been removed from his body.

“I’ve heard it all already,” Doctor Hardin said as he saw the Marshal walk towards him. “Why didn’t you all take the opportunity to tear down the AI troop’s main fleet in the Heart of the Rose when the Human Alliance’s bond was the strongest? How could you miss the chance to recapture the First Galaxy?”

The soldier beside him was shocked by the old man’s stern voice, gaze flying anxiously towards Lin Jingheng.

The Grand Marshal of the Eighth Galaxy was infamously a man of few words who disliked small talk; even on the job, he simply gave his commands without taking any objections or questions.

Yet this time, to the surprise of everyone on-site, he stood frozen on the spot. With a surprisingly calm expression, the Marshal waved off the soldiers behind him to leave the premises, “Give me five minutes, let me talk with the Doctor in private.”

The soldiers quickly dispersed to give them space.

Lin Jingheng finally responded, “The Alliance had been guarding the Heart of the Rose for too long and was exhausted from the battle. We were almost pushed off the edge of the cliff by the Freedom Corps too; everyone was at their limit. Even with Anakin’s backup, we didn’t stand much of a chance against them. In my estimation, our probability of winning was only about 3% against the full fleet of the Great Swords.”

Doctor Hardin’s gaze on him was like a ball of blazing fire.

“Besides, even if we managed to take down Longyuan and his crew, we still have no idea how to fight against Woolf. It would be virtually impossible for us to take him down with one strike. If we can’t take him down once and for all at any given opportunity, that supercomputer will become extremely dangerous. The super AI is omnipresent throughout the First Galaxy and has control of all major planets and space stations; on top of that, it has the highest military-grade permissions on all transfer portals. If the AI wanted to, it could completely annihilate all living beings in the First Galaxy within a matter of minutes. Us soldiers aside, we can’t risk throwing innocent civilians within the First Galaxy onto the grill like that. That was why when Woolf voluntarily retreated after completing his task, we had no reason to provoke him another conflict at the time.”

“The existence of an unlimited framework AI is enough of a reason in itself. You all…my goodness!” Doctor Hardin let out a long sigh as he lifted up a shaky finger. “The moment a self-sufficient AI like that is created, it no longer belongs to its maker and is a monster all its own. Two highly intelligent species cannot coexist in peace forever: conflict is inevitable. If not today, then tomorrow. We’re in an age of high-efficient technology, do you think humans have a way to fight back if a full-blown intergalactic war breaks out?”

Lin Jingheng’s gaze dropped: “I understand.”

“Of course you understand, you all do. And you all know that war is inevitable, but none of you have lived through those times and don’t know the urgency of this situation! You think this is a matter for the future, so at the moment you all can take the conservative and safe route, right? Back in the early days of the Union Military, anyone who personally walked out of the old Sidereal Era…even if their chances of victory were as slim as a hair strand, they would cling onto that opportunity until they turned into stardust before they let that ray of hope go.”

“Cut it with the useless babbling, everyone who’s been through the old age is like you, ready to be rolled into the prized antique collection of a historical museum. They can’t even ride a damn ground-level armed mobile without whole-ass carrying a full medical equipment supply, just like you.” Lin Jingheng walked in front of the old man, lifting up his trousers slightly as he knelt on one knee in front of Doctor Hardin. “I don’t have any experience fighting against AIs.”

With Lin Jingheng’s infamous holier-than-thou attitude, this was almost a desperate plea from the proud commander.

“AIs have weaknesses too,” Doctor Hardin was generous in his response. “Chief—your grandfather’s last battle, have you ever read up on it in detail?”

Lin Jingheng tilted his head slightly. “Hm?”

“Back then, they forcefully locked down Wolto with human hands and turned it into a galactic prison that could not contact the outside world. This is the first requirement to fight against AIs: creating a completely concealed space that you can fully control with no way to contact the outside world. The second is a power source and the network; the power source is the life of an AI, and networks are equivalent to their mental networks. Heavy mechs often always contain their own engines and power source backups, so it’s not possible to completely cut off their power from our end. Your only choice is to attack through the network.” The doctor added, “Also, even though AIs are a creation of man, the moment they become self-sufficient, don’t even think about fighting them in the technology department.”

“Right,” Lin Jingheng let out a bitter laugh, “we can’t win on technology nor raw power; perhaps even if we gathered the entirety of the human race behind our backs we still wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Nuclear weapons were a product of man, and these boundless AIs that terrorized the entire universe were also a product of man.

Lin Jingheng felt that if the conversation continued, he could see himself writing a letter to Prophet Harris and requesting to join the AUS so refocused on his task ahead: “But the Union once annihilated a super AI, right?”

“Everything I’ve just talked about are things to be cautious of during direct confrontations in the battlefield. In order to completely wipe out this fearsome enemy, you will need to find the super AI’s main body,” Doctor Hardin said. “It must be somewhere within the First Galaxy; with something as large-scale as this AI, it can’t possibly be just any small hole you can insert a chip into. Disregarding its powerful processing abilities, the energy required to run this kind of supercomputer must be completely beyond our imagination. It was powerful enough to overload the City of Angel’s power source the moment it was activated, which means that its main body must be at least the size of a large starship or even a small space station.”

Lin Jingheng let out a sigh–he had expected this to be the case, but hearing a confirmation from Doctor Hardin’s mouth still made his heart sink a little.

Whether it was a starship or a space station, it meant that Woolf’s main hardware was not in a fixed location and could easily travel throughout the universe. It could even go through transfer portals and sail around the First Galaxy as much as it wanted. Yet, all the transfer portals within the First Galaxy were in the hands of this powerful AI; even sending in the entire Human Alliance forces would be like going in blind, so how were they going to find this main body within the vast galaxy?

Besides, nobody guaranteed that the main body would only be in one location.

Perhaps there were a handful of space stations flying around within the First Galaxy; even if they were lucky enough to blow up one of those stations, the AI could easily and immediately transfer to another backup machine.

It could also sail out into other galaxies through illegal passages and terminals and arrive in the Second Galaxy within six to seven years. By then, the entire universe’s transfer portal system would fall into its hands. If given time, it could even build countless clones of itself within every galaxy, traveling around as it pleased with no way of being completely eliminated.

Lin Jingheng was glad he had decided to shoo off all the soldiers earlier to speak with the Doctor alone. If these words were to be spread around, perhaps even a small portion of people in the galactic forces would break down in despair.

Doctor Hardin then said in a lower voice: “You do have another…’option’ right now.”

Lin Jingheng exchanged a quick glance with the old man, both of them immediately understanding–there was still one option left. They could immediately close off the wormhole area and physically isolate the Eighth Galaxy, which might bring peace to the Eighth Galaxy for the next hundred years.

There was a one in a million chance that within the next hundred years the Eighth Galaxy’s technology would see another groundbreaking breakthrough, taking human society up to an unbelievable height that might even let them fight on equal grounds with the AI’s machine empire.

Or perhaps they would live in fear for the next hundred years until the inevitable doomed fate dawned on them.

“We can’t do that.” Lin Jingheng placed a hand in his pocket, his fingers glossing over the small box carrying the paired rings. The soft touch of silk brushed the tips of his fingers, tender but fateful. He responded sternly, “Besides, it’s too late to say it now.”

Doctor Hardin was shocked: “Did you guys do something? Where’s Prime Minister Lu, is he still on air in the press room?”

Lin Jingheng lifted his head toward the large 3D screen within the military base. Through the glass window, he could see that Lu Bixing’s long speech was nearing its end.

“My personal lab has already been turned over to the appropriate department for inspection and I’ve turned in all remaining evidence I have of the experiment. The investigation team will soon go through the data regarding the two Nuwa Projects for a proper report; important witnesses such as Doctor Hardin have already been arranged to be protected as well. In the name of the Pledge of Freedom, I swear that everything I have said thus far is true. After the investigation is over, whether it is illegally obtaining an original Rainbow Virus sample, conducting dangerous private experiments, or whatever else the verdict comes down to, I’m willing to accept a fair trial. If the Highest Court of the Eighth Galaxy gives me a summons, I will attend without any questions.” Lu Bixing gave an amiable smile to the screen after he finished with, “But remember that I love the Eighth Galaxy and no matter what happens, I will fulfill my duty as the top Minister of the Galaxy until the very last second of my term.”

Something suddenly hit Doctor Hardin as he said: “This isn’t a live speech!”

Lin Jingheng shook his head wordlessly. His hand in the pocket also stopped fiddling with the small box that softened his heart at a time like this as he put his glove on and waved at the soldiers waiting outside: “Prepare to take off!”

“Wait, Jingheng!” Doctor Hardin called out to him as he desperately lifted his head from his wheelchair, “Did you manage to see Jingshu at the end? Did she leave any last words?”

“No, she was shot amidst a large-scale battle, so I don’t think she had the time to speak.” Lin Jingheng paused slightly before continuing, “If she did, I imagine it would be something like ‘I was right, you were all wrong’ or something.”

Doctor Hardin let out a pained, anxious sigh: “I didn’t take good care of her…I was supposed to take care of both of you, I’m forever in debt to Laura…”

“You aren’t in debt to Laura.” Lin Jingheng turned his head and gave him a very faint smile. “Laura doesn’t love us.”

Doctor Hardin looked at him, dumbfounded.

“Doctor Laura Gordon had eyes that could see the apocalypse through the facade of a peaceful world. You can’t expect those same eyes to also notice…every other trivial matter in this world. Besides, we were raised outside of the womb; she never experienced that hormonal change in her body during pregnancy, there weren’t any of those biological ‘motherly love’ things in the first place.” Lin Jingheng said calmly, “Though I’m quite honored to share even a bit of her genes, it’s too bad I never inherited even a bit of her genius.”

“The Union….was the very first Era of human history that realized the Great Unification,” Doctor Hardin muttered, “how did it turn out like this?”

“You speak too soon.” Lin Jingheng turned his back again and made his way onto the mech. “It’s not the end yet.”

The First Galaxy.

The AUS managed to arrive just as the Human Alliance defense line was broken, but it was too late. With Hope’s lack of experience on the battlefield and firepower, they would simply be adding to the casualty numbers even if they ran to help.

They watched as their former enemies and temporary allies got crushed by the main AI troops, a strange sensation of mourning and frustration beginning to build up within their hearts.

“P….Prophet.”

If any of the AUS followers had doubts about their faith in the past, they forgot it all and solidified their beliefs at this horrific scene before their eyes.

“The mental network!” Harris was the first to react, shouting, “Avoid all the cannon fire and spread out your mental networks. Drag all of the allies’ mechs that have lost control back to safety, even one mech is one life saved!”

The Great Prophet’s order was answered immediately by the fearless followers sailing onto the frontlines.

Perhaps they were preparing for the long journey and were conserving their fuel and missiles, or perhaps AIs were fundamentally different from humans and prioritized completing their assigned task–regardless, the AIs didn’t choose to “clean up” the battlefield. Many allied mechs that had lost their pilots were left afloat with their empty human-mech ports, making it hard to tell whether the rest of the crew on the mech was still alive or dead.

“Prophet, watch out!”

Harris’s commanding ship was already remote-controlling a few alliance mechs and was too close to the frontlines, exposed to the AI troop’s radar. Soon after, a few cannons were locked onto the AUS mechs.

Sirens within the mech buzzed through Harris’s head; an unexplainable epiphany suddenly came to him as he ordered, “Light up your starship passes!”

The AUS–these loser underdogs of space pirates witnessed their commanding ship flash an ‘Intergalactic Civilian Passport’ shamelessly, looking suspiciously fake.

Harris stared wide-eyed at the camera on his ship, his throat rolling uneasily as he waited.

Then seconds later—

“Disarmed.”

Those few AI mechs that had locked in on him earlier actually believed him and even ‘kindly’ turned their cannons away as they followed the main fleet into the wormhole area without batting an eye at the AUS.

“Go, quickly!” Harris called out within his communication channel. The AUS soon picked up all of the injured mechs from the Alliance that they could find within their abilities and left this cursed area.

“Prophet, we’ve received a message. It seems like there are still some Woltorian Refugees that were supposed to be heading towards the City of Angels on the heavy mech we saved!”

“Life signals detected inside the mech.”

“Send out medical capsules into the mechs, dispatch as much as we can!”

“Prophet, what about the Eighth Galaxy? We can’t get in contact with them!”

Harris: “…..”

Seven days later, the Eighth Galaxy.

Mint was on early shift today. She first greeted Rickhead, who had just been let out of the hospital, before carefully inspecting all data collected from the wormhole zone.

“Who dares to put my Professor Lu on trial!?” Rickhead only heard the news after being let out of the hospital and exploded angrily into a loud firecracker, his face filled with clear and naked killing intent. “If I hear anyone on my team dare to shittalk him under their breath, I swear I will punch their damn teeth out!”

“Then you’d be sent to the court martial,” Mint coldly commented. “Say, don’t you think it’s about time to go ask a therapist to see if you can fix that violent nature of yours?”

“I…..”

“Hush!” Mint saw something as her eyes focused on the screen, “I’ll talk to you later.”

She quickly hung up the call and gave a warning, “Border Security Department Headquarters, there is abnormal energy activity within the wormhole zone. The energy level is still rising as we speak, there seems to be something coming in from the other side of the wormhole.”

“Received,” a familiar voice answered. “Technicians, retreat from your post.”

Mint looked up in shock and noticed that the person she was speaking to wasn’t a caller from the Border Security Department.

“M…Marshal Lin?”