Levy's birth was indeed their mistake, and failing to destroy Levy as their experimental subject was a second mistake. However, the subsequent pursuit of Levy was not targeted at them.
They recognized the power of this experimental subject very early on, and most importantly, Levy was not under any constraints.
So in order to clean up the mess for their own people, they had to find a way to capture Levy.
However, the cabinet overestimated its own capabilities.
The Prime Minister had thought that Qin Chu would become a constraint on Levy, but now it seems that Qin Chu has no intention of persuading Levy at all.
That evening, after Qin Chu returned from his patrol, he sat down at the table and glanced at the documents, which were about the analysis of the main brain chip and research on its integration with human consciousness.
Levy was already in bed, but he got up again and came over to take a look.
Then he reached out, snatched the documents away, and tossed them aside: "Why are you looking at that? Look at me."
Qin Chu clicked his tongue, didn't refuse, and walked to the side to turn off the light.
The next day, Qin Chu was awakened by Levi's good morning kiss.
They got up, ate breakfast, and went out together, just like every peaceful morning before.
They simply hugged each other in front of the gates of the Royal Palace, and then went their separate ways.
Qin Chu arrived at the equipment room in the base.
He asked Noah, "Are you ready?"
Noah was silent for a moment before replying, "It's too dangerous. There might be other ways."
“We can’t wait any longer,” Qin Chu said. “What the Empire needs now is not a mainframe, but a powerful artificial intelligence. In previous years, the military relied heavily on artificial intelligence when fighting against the beast tides. Now the situation is even worse; we don’t have enough manpower, so we need artificial intelligence to operate the mechs even more. Only in this way can we have any hope of victory.”
"I'm so useless," Noah said dejectedly.
“Don’t think like that. The mainframe is three hundred years old. How old are you?” Qin Chu said.
“But merging with artificial intelligence and digitizing human consciousness is really too dangerous. Tan Shu is an example; his consciousness can no longer be separated!” Noah was very emotional.
During the analysis of the main brain chip, they discovered the information that Tan Shu had once wanted to convey.
This father, who has suffered from the pain of losing his son for many years, may have been paranoid, but his original intention in merging with the AI was simply to recreate his son in the virtual world.
Tan Shu could not accept Tan Wei's sacrifice. He resented the military, the cabinet, and the entire empire.
He kept adjusting and trying in the virtual world, desperately trying to find a factor that could prevent his son's death.
But in the end, he realized that no matter how things changed, as long as Tan Wei's character as a soldier remained the same, he would eventually choose to sacrifice himself.
After countless simulations, Tan Shu suddenly couldn't bear to part with it.
He couldn't bear to let the mainframe destroy something his son was so desperately protecting.
So he tried to send out information, and even wanted to tell Qin Chu about the main brain's plans against him, but unfortunately the main brain intercepted them all.
Thanks to this information, Noah was able to quickly decipher the method by which the main brain merged with human consciousness.
However, he did not want Qin Chu to do that.
“You’ve done the test, and I’m the most suitable candidate,” Qin Chu said. “Besides, you also said that the way we used to wander in the virtual world is not much different from this situation.”
“But your consciousness may never be able to separate; you will lose all emotions and become just data.” Noah felt he shouldn’t know how to be sad, but he was indeed in great pain.
“Tan Shu’s consciousness cannot be separated because he is fused with the main brain. I don’t believe in the main brain, but I believe in you, Noah,” Qin Chu said.
Noah remained silent for a while before asking, "Sir, would Levy allow you to do this?"
Qin Chu raised his hand and touched the back of his neck, where a familiar dark red tattoo was visible.
“He knows,” Qin Chu said.
-
"Are you here to smash up the lab?"
When Dud saw Levy in the lab, he was surprised and a little embarrassed, his bald patch on his head becoming even shinier.
The beast tide has begun. Because of the explosion caused by the mainframe, the crazed star beasts now have a clear target. Those on the Imperial Capital Star can almost feel the spatial tremors caused by the rapid movement of the star beasts.
During this period, the cabinet must have been frequently harassing Levy, trying to get him to open the shield.
Driven by a survival instinct, Dud even entertained this idea. He dared not let Levy make such a sacrifice, only fantasizing about whether the cabinet could steal a vial of Levy's blood or bone marrow.
However, these are still not enough to open the protective shield.
Seeing Levi arrive at the lab, Dodd was incredulous, even wondering if he was hallucinating from being too panicked lately.
"Tell me what you want to do," Levy said casually, sitting down on a chair nearby.
Only now has Dud confirmed that Levy did indeed come to activate the protective shield.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and hurriedly reached for the documents, but hesitated when he was about to hand them to Levy.
He was a participant in the experiment in which Levy was born.
Although he couldn't stand the project early on and offered to leave, Dodd still felt a deep fear and a persistent sense of guilt when facing Levy.
He was well aware of what this experimental subject had experienced since birth, and occasionally when he couldn't help but talk about it with his family, he would lament that it would have been better if he had never been born.
Therefore, Dudley knew very well that Levy had no need to do such a thing.
"Did General Qin Chu send you?" Dud asked.
Levi scoffed, "You really don't know him. Even if the whole empire begged me to come here, he wouldn't. The fact that he hasn't forced me back yet is already a testament to his patience."
Dude was surprised to hear this. He never expected that Qin Chu, who was usually so cold and focused on the big picture, would actually protect someone like this.
After the initial panic subsided, Dudley regained the composure befitting a researcher.
He contacted his team and told them to prepare to activate the protective shield.
“I remember you used to hate humans,” Dud said.
“Yes, that’s true now,” Levy said.
"...Then why?" Dud asked, somewhat puzzled.
This was a rather complicated problem, and Levy thought about it for a while.
Qin Chu was actually quite similar to him, but miraculously, under the guidance of the main AI, he didn't go astray. He seemed to be born with a sense of mission and a protective instinct towards the weak.
Levi initially found this kind of thing hilarious and wanted to try crushing everything Qin Chu insisted on.
Unexpectedly, he was eventually drawn to the person who possessed these things.
"Because you've fallen for someone, right?" That was the only answer Levy could give in the end.
Dud still found it surprising.
He had assumed that Levy would force Qin Chu to leave.
This is a crisis for all humanity, but not for Levy. Unexpectedly, the experimental subject, once no different from a star beast, has learned to respect his lover.
Perhaps it's because everyone else sees Levi as a terrifying star beast, but Qin Chu is different.
"Do you know the consequences?" Dud said. "As a qualified researcher, I must explain this to you. Activating this protective shield will extract all the King-level Star Beast cells from your body. After all, you are no longer the original King-level Star Beast, so in this process, it is very likely that all the cells in your body will be depleted."
“That means… you might never wake up,” Dud said.
Levy didn't say anything, took off his coat, and lay down inside the prepared machine.
It was then that Dudley noticed that Levy had a new tattoo on his neck.
The dark red flowers are a cluster of dangerous yet vibrant thorns.
Author's Note:
It should be finished tomorrow.
Chapter 151 The End (The End)
Some say this is the greatest catastrophe humanity has faced since entering the interstellar age.
Humanity has abandoned vast galaxies, huddling together like tiny insects to support and persevere.
Amidst this distressing, desperate, and unimaginable crisis, precious visual materials have been preserved.
On the planet of the capital, the ancient protective shield once again shone brightly, like a dazzling aurora, providing the last line of defense for human settlements.
At the forefront, tens of thousands of drone mechs were being controlled, charging forward in an orderly fashion to block the most ferocious attacks of the star beasts.
One was the sharpest vanguard, and the other the most reliable support; they fought side by side on the vast and brutal battlefield.
...
Several months later.
The planet, ravaged by the star beasts, is now a scarred wasteland.
In the vast galaxy, fragments of broken mechs and spacecraft, as well as the corpses of star beasts, float everywhere.
The people in charge of cleaning up gathered all the corpses of the star beasts, and would carefully go inside to check which mechs and aircraft they passed.
Although they knew the chances were slim, they still tried their best to find the wounded.
After some time, the densely packed people gradually left the settlement and returned to their own planet to begin post-disaster reconstruction work.
Most of the buildings on the capital planet were well preserved, and the protective shield erected by Levy was never breached.
The Royal Palace, a palace that carries the memories of human history, became a supply station for the soldiers.
The military has now withdrawn, and this protracted war has only added another mark of time to this ancient palace.
The elderly butler pushed a cart along the corridor, entering each room to tidy up.
Change the blood-stained bedding and restore everything in the palace to its original state.
The long corridor seemed to stretch on into endless time, with portraits of emperors and all the great contributors of humankind hanging above, silently overlooking the world.
The old housekeeper is quite old, and even with a cleaning robot by his side, the tidying process is very slow.
He had reached retirement age, and after the war, his children and grandchildren wanted to take him to another planet to live out his retirement, but his butler refused.
He devoted almost all his energy to this palace, surviving the wars, and had no reason to leave when peace came.
Finally, we reached the main hall at the end of the corridor.