Can Ci Pin - - - Chapter 189

Chapter 189 – If I Seek Death It Will Only Be a Lover’s Suicide, Not a Heroic One

In the Eighth Galaxy, Turan watched with her heart pounding at the abnormal energy signals detected from the wormhole entrance, only to notice that it was followed by complete silence. The fire stopped momentarily. She suspected she was starting to hallucinate after too much consumption of relaxants–until she came back to her senses and realized that the wormhole had been sealed off from the other side!

This blockade came right on time and successfully maintained the shifting balance on the battlefield on the Eighth Galaxy’s front. The two supermechs that had not arrived on time could now never expect to come out of the wormhole terminal.

Turan couldn’t help but howl on her own command ship: “Long live Minister Lu, I’d like to see who let the dogs out now!”

Yet, at the same time on the other commanding ship, Lin Jingheng immediately understood what the young man was planning on doing and felt a vein pop as he clenched his teeth. “Lu Bixing!”

The wormhole disruption only lasted a few moments before a weak signal returned. Turan had been spending night and day guarding the borders and already knew what every signal from the wormhole meant; she was puzzled at the turn of events and asked, “……didn’t we say close the door and beat the dogs? Why did he remove the lock?”

In contrast to her slow reaction, the AIs immediately came to a conclusion through their powerful analytical processing: the AIs had been dragged down into the Eighth Galaxy while the biochip human had already made his way into the Heart of the Rose.

“Looks like Headmaster Lu’s side purposely exposed his identity,” Zhanlu said. “Could it be that they want to shoulder some of the pressure on the Eighth Galaxy’s side and use the wormhole zone to hinder the foot of the enemy?”

“This troublesome little shit…” Lin Jingheng’s anger only boiled up halfway before he suddenly paused and mumbled in Zhanlu’s general direction, “What did you just say?”

Zhanlu was already used to this method of communication and answered: “It seems that you still don’t agree with my analysis.”

Lin Jingheng pondered for two seconds, then lifted his head abruptly. With an order in his mind, the commanding ship suddenly turned around and sailed back. The escorting mechs quickly followed behind, only to see their commander shoot a wave of particle cannons in an empty direction. The Silver Ten were puzzled but acted on and followed their commander’s signal.

Almost at the same time, all of the mechs from the AI fleet began to contract their formation—

Within this man-made ‘digital void’ that Lin Jingheng created, the internet connection between the AI mechs had been disrupted. The supermechs could only guide the smaller mechs with long-distance networks built from their internal power sources, which was quite a burden on the battlefield. Therefore, aside from the troublesome massive mental network attacks from the supermechs, there hadn’t been any real threats to the Eighth Galaxy forces.

However, the supermechs that had been navigating on their own earlier suddenly gathered together like giant magnets. Countless little mechs began to sail towards them like metal filings, gathering layers upon layers on top of each other. From afar, it looked like they had formed into a giant beehive; if Lin Jingheng hadn’t ordered his vanguards to retreat earlier, they would have been caught in that swarm of mechs.

Zhanlu felt his dignity as an AI with taste had been insulted and critiqued from afar: “Such an unsightly scene.”

The frontmost Ninth Squadron team immediately shot a round of fire toward that massive boulder. Yet the outermost layer of AI mechs formed a shield; stripping down one layer revealed another layer, like an onion ‘rolling’ towards their enemies.

Zhanlu’s thought process was the thought process of an AI; of course, that meant Longyuan and his crew would also come to the same conclusion as Zhanlu.

The heavymech fleet that sailed towards the Eighth Galaxy had not been lured back into the First Galaxy as Lu Bixing had expected; instead, they continued to charge into the Eighth Galaxy even more aggressively than before.

Due to lack of resources on hand and the fact that the First Galaxy was still the homeground of the AIs, the enemies were not in a hurry to capture Lu Bixing. As long as they could capture the Eighth Galaxy and completely control the wormhole zone, the situation would shift from “the main AI fleets are trapped in the Eighth Galaxy” to “Lu Bixing is isolated in the First Galaxy, waiting to be taken by the predator.”

The AI troops threw in all of their assets and didn’t hesitate to use their own mechs as physical shields to push forward towards their enemies. The Eighth Galaxy forces were forced to back off as if they were facing a giant avalanche with no way to fight back.

Suddenly, the AI troops that had been taking the bullet for the last few days turned their cannons all at once and fired at the Eighth Galaxy forces. Of course, the forces were well-trained enough to dodge the attack without any injuries as the teams cooperated seamlessly to sail out of firing range.

“Shit!”

The missile that was shot out didn’t loop back toward the Eighth Galaxy forces and instead flew further out.

Bam–

The digital void had been shattered!

In the First Galaxy—

Lu Bixing still didn’t know that the AIs hadn’t acted as he had expected.

However, he had successfully met up with the main fleet of the Human Alliance.

The main Alliance fleet had taken turns sailing into the Heart of the Rose. According to Lu Bixing’s plan, their only job was to flee and run within the area–in other words, they didn’t really have much to do.

Yet during their escape they’d managed to get a sense of direction within the complex region in the Heart of the Rose; there were no transfer portals around the area and therefore it wasn’t easy for AIs to detect them, making it a relatively safe zone within the First Galaxy.

Now, the fleet became Lu Bixing’s tour guide.

“I believe I’m the first to arrive after receiving your message,” Old Bu from the Fifth Galaxy said. “I didn’t see the Third Squadron nor the vanguard fleets that arrived first, not even corpses or remnants. It’s tricky to communicate within the First Galaxy, so I’ve searched around the area with a tiny bit of hope but no luck.”

Lu Bixing shook his head gravely and said: “Prepare for the worst.”

The reunited forces began to fill each other in on their encounters and experiences on the battlefield; everyone had their minds focused on the war at the moment and nobody mentioned the rumor that Lu Bixing was a biochip human.

“So where are we going to find Woolf’s main body?” Nagus pondered in a desperate attempt to work that rusty brain of his that he rarely used, “The man was either born in Wolto or the City of Angels when he was alive, so it must be somewhere between these two places, right? Looking at what happened to Wolto though, I doubt it’s there…how about we search around the City of Angels? I remember that old fella from the AUS found the activation key buried there.”

“I don’t think it would be there,” the Sixth Galaxy General said. “You really think nobody would consider what you can think of? Would Lin Jingshu from the Freedom Corps not have thought about it? If it was really in the City of Angels, the Freedom Corps would have already taken that place down when they were running for their lives being pursued by AIs.”

Lu Bixing felt something in his heart as he lifted his gaze to look at these old generals that spoke before their brains could catch up. Previously, these old men often referred to the Freedom Corps as simply ‘biochip humans’ in a derogatory sense, but Lu Bixing now discovered that nobody had dared to speak this phrase ever since they all gathered here.

It seemed as if these old Generals were protecting him in their own roundabout way.

“Bixing?”

Lu Bixing pulled his straying mind back and said: “I think the main body was likely on the City of Angels fortress in the very beginning.”

“The very beginning?”

“Yes. The reason why the City of Angels was reactivated back then was the pirate invasion into the Union and breakdown of Eden. The Military Council used this as a political opportunity to stand above the Committee–in contrast to the politically unstable Wolto, the City of Angels was the very first location that Woolf could fully control and grasp with his own hands,” Lu Bixing said. “The City of Angels once housed large numbers of Woltorian refugees and acted as a temporary command center of the Union military. There were plenty of smaller space stations and satellites surrounding the fortress as well, fulfilling the needs of everyday life for both the general public and military personnel. It was quite a complicated system.”

“Right, the Eden Testing Labs back then was one of those space stations.”

“That’s why it was very likely that one of those space stations secretly housed AI Woolf’s main body,” Lu Bixing said. “When Hope turned on the activator, it completely removed all power sources in the entire City of Angels and used that opportunity to escape the peripheries of the fortress. Then, through the communication and warping networks, it took control of the entire First Galaxy.”

Nagus could feel his brain exceeding itscapacity and asked; “Then how are we supposed to find that thing if it’s just floating around aimlessly?”

“Don’t worry, everything leaves traces if it exists in this world.” Lu Bixing said, “I’ve said earlier that AI Woolf controlled the networks of the First Galaxy, so it’s like a spider spinning its web. We simply need to follow the web up to find the spider. The warping network is fully laid out on the galactic maps, as for short-terminal networks—”

“The First Galaxy’s communication network was completely rebuilt after the Glory Troops pirates surrendered; we’ve helped with the rebuilding all the way from start to finish,” a Major General from the Union Troops said. “We’re familiar with the layout of the galactic network stations.”

“Perfect,” Lu Bixing said. “Two network webs are too complicated for us, and because we have time restraints, we need to decrease the scale of this mission. Friends from the Union, can I rely on you all to cut off the communication networks of the First Galaxy first?”

The Major General responded without hesitation: “No problem!”

“The First Galaxy Border Fleets can support.”

Lu Bixing waved his hand over the screen, flicked the layout of the communication channel system away and left only the galactic map floating before him.

“If we can destroy the First Galaxy’s communication networks, it would greatly simplify the problem we face,” Lu Bixing said. “When Woolf is left only with warping networks, its main body will be forced to settle on one of the transfer portals within the galaxy.”

“But there’s over 400 transfer portals in the First Galaxy,” someone said.

Lu Bixing responded, “The First Galaxy housed the capitol of the Union and is heavily guarded. All transfer portals are organized into sections, and each section is managed by a military fortress overlooking the portals. This ensures that if any issues arise within any of the transfer portals, the Union can send dispatch troops at any time. Jingheng told me that the Silver Fortress used to be the overseer of all military mobilization within the Union; when they received an order from the Military Council, the Silver Fortress would send their orders out through long-distance networks to each respective governing military fortresses in the region. Yet as fast as it is to use transfer portals to send long-distance messages, galactic distances are still too large to make instant communication possible.”

“The First Galaxy isn’t big; it only takes about eight minutes of delay to send and receive messages from the Silver Fortress to the furthest military post,” another spoke up.

“But now that Woolf already knows that I’m in the First Galaxy, he will gather up as many forces available on hand to search for me within the whole galaxy,” Lu Bixing said. “So let me test the response time of all the major military posts within the area and reverse-engineer a map of potential areas where the main body may be located in.”

Old Bu asked: “How are you going to test this?”

“We’ve captured a few war prisoners from the Freedom Corps. The mech recorded their routes through the non-terminal regions when they were being chased by the AIs, so we can borrow the data for our purposes.” Lu Bixing tapped lightly on the map before him. Within an instant, all non-recorded travel routes were marked on the galactic map as he said, “There are sixteen military fortress zones in the First Galaxy. We’ll split up into sixteen teams, and following the non-terminal routes, sail toward the location of the military bases. I’ve estimated the time already, and without going through transfer portals, it will take at most six to seven days to reach the furthest military base from where we are right now—in about seven days, the supermechs in the Eighth Galaxy will likely be out of the wormhole terminal to chase us down, so we need to be quick.”

“Everyone, check your charts and maps to make sure we’re all using Woltorian standard measurements. Seven Woltorian days from now at midnight, I will emergency warp and return to this location.” Lu Bixing sailed around a transfer portal as he spoke. “When the main body finds me, it will send a dispatch order to all military bases, creating a time delay over here.”

“No, that’s too dangerous, you’ll have exposed yourself before all AIs within the First Galaxy,” Old Bu said. “I don’t think we need to split up into sixteen teams, do we? If we’re only calculating time differences, it should be enough to just send two or three teams to the furthest most regions.”

Lu Bixing: “What if there’s more than one main body?”

The old general suddenly felt goosebumps crawling on his skin.

“Besides, our mission isn’t simply to calculate time differences. When we determine the area where the main body is, the team in charge of that area will need to do the same thing Commander Lin did when they fought against Hertz and destroy the outermost layer of transfer portals at once to trap the main computer inside this isolated land,” Lu Bixing said as he pulled his personal device back. “Our next step will be to test its anti-missile shields–are there any more concerns, anyone? If not, we must act immediately. We’ll leave the communication station to the First Galaxy fleets; everyone else organize into teams and set up your own private communication channels within each team. We don’t have time to waste, let’s go!”

Nagus suddenly asked; “What about you?”

Lu Bixing was taken aback, then lifted his head to look at the old general.

“Commander Lin Ge’er voluntarily used himself as bait to lure King Hertz and his successor into Wolto. His commanding ship was shot down during the trip to Wolto, using his corpse to physically pave the way for the Union’s victory,” Nagus said gently, “so what about you?”

Lu Bixing laughed and said: “I won’t, uncle Nagus. Someone’s back there holding down the Great Swords and the main fleet of the AI troops. If I could still be shot down by Woolf like this, wouldn’t this legendary ‘biochip superhuman’ and ‘the only successful case of the Nuwa Project’ body of mine be a joke to all of the great scientists that came before us?”

The Alliance had been careful to not bring up this sensitive topic before him, not expecting the young man to bring it up without shame like this in front of everyone. They all stared at him, speechless.

“I’ve already made my statement regarding the chip in the Eighth Galaxy. I also plan on giving everyone a thorough explanation,” Lu Bixing said. “Don’t worry, I was born in a difficult world amidst travesties, it’s a miracle that I can even live to this age today. I value my own life like no other; even if I seek death it will only be a lover’s suicide, not a heroic one.”