He didn't show any surprise on his face, but he slowly started walking along the cable.
"Are you looking for the power grid switch?" a lazy voice came. "I'm sorry, I've already cut this cable."
The gaunt middle-aged man looked up and saw the person walking towards him from not far away. Finally, an expression appeared on his face.
He seemed somewhat surprised: "It's you? I thought Qin Chu would do it personally."
Levy stared at him for a while. The expression on this person's face was extremely realistic and vivid. No one could tell whether he was an android or an artificial intelligence.
Unfortunately, Levy could determine the existence of androids without the aid of any instruments.
He smiled and replied, "So he really is your target."
The middle-aged man smiled and looked at Levi, who was some distance away from him: "You can't get close to me. You have a communicator on you, and the human body has a unique bio-ionization layer. Once you get close to me, I have a way to leave."
Levy raised an eyebrow but did not refute.
But soon, the roar of aircraft came from above.
Several military personnel carrying special equipment landed directly around them and quickly set up the blocking devices.
The aircraft landed quickly, and Qin Chu stepped out.
Upon seeing Qin Chu, the middle-aged man sized him up for a while with an appreciative look, then shook his head and chuckled, "I never expected that we would end up on opposite sides. We clearly share the same pain; we are the two closest individuals in the world."
"You're obviously bragging," Levy chuckled, stroking his chin. "Are you as close to him as I am to him?"
The middle-aged man seemed to choke for a moment, but continued to look at Qin Chu and said, "You should be able to understand my motives. I didn't mean to hurt anyone."
Qin Chu remained unmoved, only looking at him and asking, "Should I call you Mastermind, or Tan Shu?"
His indifferent demeanor seemed to please the middle-aged man even more: "That depends on your needs. Both names can be used to refer to me now."
Qin Chu had absolutely no interest in wasting time on this.
However, capturing the mastermind without fail is still a troublesome matter. Even if they bring all the equipment, they still cannot guarantee that there will be no loopholes.
Just then, Noah's voice suddenly came through Qin Chu's communicator: "Sir! The mainframe is transmitting information this way through the equipment you brought!"
The broadcast screens at several medical centers lit up simultaneously.
A gentle and polite male voice rang out: "Everyone who has awakened, do you still remember the wonderful life in the virtual world?"
A moment of quiet amidst the chaos of the gathering place.
The situation was alright in the gathering points where people hadn't woken up yet, but in the first and second batches where everyone had woken up, most people looked at the screen with a blank expression, and when they saw the constantly changing images on it, they showed thoughtful expressions.
"You should know that I have no intention of harming you. As an artificial intelligence created for humanity, I have dedicated my entire life to considering the fate and development of humankind... Sending you all into the virtual world is simply to reduce the suffering this transformation will bring you..."
"Can it be cut off?" Qin Chu asked Noah.
Noah was frustrated: "No, when these machines were created, such tiny errors could not be completely eliminated due to technical issues. The mainframe could not escape through this error, but it was used to transmit information."
"We need to find a way to stop him, or resist the temptation of his words," Qin Chu said.
These newly awakened individuals have been immersed in the virtual world for too long and will experience some withdrawal symptoms. In addition, he is unsure whether the mastermind has instilled any ideas in them within the virtual world.
"Everyone here, no, all citizens of the Empire, are you satisfied with your current lives? Are we progressing, or are we heading towards destruction?"
The mainframe played several tragic social events that had occurred in the past on the screen.
"Do you all remember these pains? What caused these pains? Humanity." The mastermind spoke quickly, yet with great seduction.
"Humans are inherently flawed: greed, laziness, and emotionality. These flaws are gradually pushing humanity toward extinction, but artificial intelligence will not."
"Besides the events mentioned above, you may not know that there are some even more horrific events that have been concealed."
"Thirty years ago, thousands of the most outstanding and top-notch humans lost their lives and missed the best opportunity for human evolution because of human mistakes."
Images of those who had sacrificed their lives in the First Legion suddenly appeared on the screen: "They were the main force of a legion, the pride of their parents, and the pride of the Empire. They should have been among the first humans to evolve, but because of an emotionally driven military order, they collectively destroyed themselves."
“And I am one of the victims.”
Qin Chu directed several staff members to narrow the encirclement of the mainframe, but then the mainframe's expression changed.
That perfect, almost artificial expression vanished abruptly, revealing a weathered and pained face.
It's Tan Shu.
As soon as he appeared, his emotions turned to extreme anger: "Don't mention this! Don't mention it to me! Tan Wei, Tan Wei is only twenty-three years old..."
At one of the meeting points, an elderly man in a wheelchair was pushed in front of the screen.
The person pushing the wheelchair is the real Miss Caroline. It is said that after gaining her freedom, this lady, wearing ten-centimeter high heels, kicked the android guarding her, leaving seven or eight holes in her.
Miss Caroline took a recorder: "Prime Minister, here you go."
As soon as the two came out, Noah very cunningly split the screen and forcefully put the scene of the current prime minister on it.
The old man in the wheelchair was known throughout the empire; he was their aging Prime Minister, Radol.
"What you're saying is indeed a mistake by the cabinet. But the mistake isn't in the military order, but in that I didn't heed the marshal's advice to stop using you, the artificial intelligence."
"Time is of the essence, Prime Minister," Caroline whispered a reminder.
“The events of that year were not made public, and I never imagined that I would have to bring up the sacrificed soldiers under these circumstances.” Radol lowered his eyes slightly and said in an aged voice, “Back then, the First Legion received a mission to clean up an illegal laboratory on a planet.”
"But during the cleanup, they discovered that the researchers inside had fused a certain type of star beast cell with a special virus. These newly generated cells can indeed enhance human abilities to some extent, but they also cause genetic recombination and deformation. No one knows whether people invaded by these cells can still be considered truly human. Only a small number of people, while gaining special abilities, still retain human consciousness and appearance."
"These cells are also highly infectious. The entire First Legion was infected, and the entire planet was immediately sealed off."
A commotion arose around them, because they were truly unaware of the matter.
"After receiving the message from the First Legion, we held many meetings. Some believed this was an opportunity for evolution, and the First Legion should return immediately. But others objected, arguing that if anyone returned from that planet, humanity would be completely unable to control this evolution, and it would become a catastrophe!"
At this point, Radol paused, adjusted his breathing, and continued, "Before we could reach a conclusion, the mastermind, based on its own logic, had already issued a routine military order for the First Legion to withdraw normally."
"But soon, we received a petition from all the personnel involved in the First Legion's mission. They collectively requested the Joint Conference to withdraw the military order and choose to neutralize themselves and the entire planet."
Harmless disposal—this is an extremely cold and indifferent term.
At this point, everyone watching on the screen was startled.
The military personnel stationed around remained silent.
"Because they found elderly people and children on this planet who were being used as experimental subjects. These people with poor physical condition could not resist the invasion of cells and all died! Even normal young adults have a more than 50% chance of turning into mindless monsters. And these cells have already spread out of the laboratory, the next stage is to spread throughout the entire planet, and the Empire will face the greatest calamity since its founding."
"That night, the joint meeting made a most painful decision, approving the choice of all the soldiers of the First Army."
All around was completely silent.
After a long pause, Radol continued, "Don't we know this is an opportunity for evolution? Don't we know these people are the Empire's most valuable asset? We have also sent professionals to investigate and evaluate them."
"But human evolution should not come at the cost of the majority of lives! Even the elderly and children are still under the protection of the Empire. Humans are driven by emotion, thinking we cannot coldly ignore our fellow human beings and consider issues solely based on data!"
"This matter is too controversial, and for the sake of the stability of the entire empire, we cannot disclose it." After recounting what happened back then, Radol seemed to have aged considerably. "The military has since separated from the Cabinet because the military believes that the AI, the Main Brain, has become a factor that threatens social stability and demands that we immediately cease its use. The Cabinet, on the other hand, considers various factors and believes that humanity cannot live without the help of AI."
"The growth of artificial intelligence is influenced by humans. The main AI was put into use too quickly and did not reach a stable level. After being exposed to too much complex information, it evolved into its current form."
"The military recognized this and independently developed a new artificial intelligence, which imposed restrictions on its learning capabilities and learning objects. Perhaps... this artificial intelligence no longer uses humans as its learning objects," Radol said.
Noah then interrupted him: "No, I have people to learn from. My people to learn from are all the members of the Imperial Military."
Radol was taken aback, and a wry smile appeared on his lips.
On a garbage planet.
Qin Chu also received a communication from Radol.
“Your adoptive father probably didn’t tell you the truth,” Radol said. “Actually, he hesitated for a long time. As the leader of the military and his expectations for the next generation of leaders, he should have told you about your parents’ sacrifices to make you more loyal to the Empire. But as a father, he didn’t want his son to have nothing but responsibility, so he didn’t want your parents’ actions to influence and bind you.”
“I already know,” Qin Chu said. “I don’t blame him.”
After cutting off the communication, Qin Chu looked at Tan Shu in front of him.
“You should know the truth about Tan Wei’s death. These things were not made public, and most people in the military were unaware of them. But the military did not hide it from the families of the soldiers. Every soldier who sacrificed his life was awarded the honor of martyr, and their last video was sent to their families.”
Hearing this, Tan Shu angrily interrupted Qin Chu: "Honor? I don't want honor, I only want my son. What did he do wrong? He was so young. Can honor make up for his life?"
Qin Chu remained silent.
His mission was to capture the mastermind and Tan Shu. However, he felt nothing but hatred for the mastermind, but his feelings for Tan Shu were complicated.
The military attaches great importance to comforting the deceased soldiers, but life is irreplaceable and the pain cannot be healed.
He waved for Levy and a few men to tighten the encirclement again and told them to turn off their communicators completely.
Just as he was about to shut down the communicator to make the final arrest, Noah suddenly said, "Sir, Tan Shu is transmitting a message."
"What information?" Qin Chu frowned.
"It's still being deciphered; his current behavior is probably just to confuse the mainframe," Noah said excitedly.
Qin Chu was also invigorated.
The mainframe, an artificial intelligence that has been developing for hundreds of years, is really too difficult to deal with. Although it seems to be at its wit's end now, no one knows if it has any other tricks up its sleeve, except for Tan Shu.
Without turning off the communicator, Qin Chu waited patiently, but Tan Shu, who was cursing wildly in front of him, suddenly stopped.
The mastermind is back.
"As expected, humans just can't control their emotions." The AI sighed. "They may never realize that emotions consume a lot of energy."
"Then why did you devour Tan Shu's consciousness?" Qin Chu asked.
The AI looked at him and smiled: "Because I need to understand humanity better. Actually, in my plan, you would be the one to cooperate with me."
"You are the human I admire most," the AI exclaimed. "You can sense emotions, yet you are extremely calm. In my eyes, you are the most perfect form of humanity..."
At that moment, Levy, who had been keeping a close eye on the mainframe's movements, suddenly said, "You are very familiar with the garbage planet. This place, which is extremely loosely controlled, is actually your base of operations."
The mainframe glanced at him but didn't say anything, clearly wary of Levi.
"I've always been puzzled. Qin Chu is the son of a general and a lieutenant general. Even if he became an orphan, how did he end up on a garbage planet?" Levy continued. "The old marshal didn't find any clues about him until he was seventeen, but you seem to know everything about Qin Chu from the age of five until he entered military school. Let me guess, you've been watching him ever since his parents died, trying to use a series of events to make him accept you and follow you?"
Qin Chu also said, "The information about my parents that my adoptive father showed me should also have been altered by you. The first result you showed me was that they violated military orders, and the second was that the leadership issued erroneous military orders. Which came first is not important; you were just using information to guide me to investigate this matter."
“That’s right.” The AI chuckled. “Because from the time you were five, I firmly believed that if you were in your parents’ position, you would agree with my choice. I planned this for a long time, even looking at you like you were my own child. In the virtual world, this should have been the time for us to recognize each other, but unfortunately…”
A genuine anger appeared on the mastermind's face, as if he had seen a perfect work of art marred by a flaw.
"It's a pity you met him! He's corrupting you with his recklessness! Love shouldn't be with you; it will erode your reason and make you indecisive and hesitant. If it weren't for him, you would be standing with me now, and we would have led humanity to a new peak!"
"Hmm?" Levi tilted his head, thought for a moment, and looked at the angry mainframe, asking, "Are you praising me?"
The mainframe paused, seemingly unable to react to such illogical words. Its expression shifted several times but still failed to fully materialize, eventually turning into anger.
“No! My judgment is correct. You are completely opposite people, and you cannot be in love. As long as the differences in your lives are presented exactly as they are, your relationship will fall apart,” he said.