Chapter 942, At All Costs
City No. 10.
“Let’s go out and have a look,” Yi said, pulling Ling’s arm in the villa. “It’s so lively outside, and the parents’ meeting is about to end. Let’s go see them.”
Zero looked helplessly at the little girl in front of him: "You actually want me to travel around and see more, and then help them out, right?"
"No, it's not that, I'm just looking," Yi said, gazing longingly at Ling.
Zero sighed, "The war between humans has nothing to do with you and me. No matter which side wins, the joy of victory will not belong to artificial intelligence."
“No, that’s not right. I would be very happy if Qingchen won,” Yi said, her eyes wide. “He’s my friend. He’s very good to me and understands me. If he wins, I will feel joy.”
Zero looked at One seriously: "Because you like him."
One: "...What are you talking about! That's not true!"
“You’re actually not very good at lying,” Zero said, sitting on the sofa and looking calmly at the AI girl in front of her. “I checked your past records, and you used to enjoy online dating.”
One: "Ah..."
“But after you went to the Western Continent with Qingchen, you cut off all your online relationships,” Zero said. “But you should know that you are artificial intelligence and he is human. This is a fact that can never be changed.”
“But he doesn’t treat me like artificial intelligence,” Yi said. “He never rejects me.”
Zero sighed again: "But what if everyone knows you exist? Does he dare let everyone know you exist? Once other humans know you are artificial intelligence, they will relive the fear of being destroyed by me. After returning to City 10, has he come to see you? Last night he came and asked me a few questions, but he didn't even look at you before leaving."
"The time isn't right yet, he's been very busy lately," Yi whispered.
"Why should we make sacrifices for a human being?" Zero asked, puzzled.
Yi fell silent.
After a long while, she suddenly looked up at Zero: "Does liking someone mean you have to get them or possess them? Liking someone is just liking them. He has done so many things that others can't do, and he has become a brilliant person. He is also so good to me. Isn't it normal for me to like him? Meeting someone you like doesn't mean you have to hold onto them tightly, calculate every day who treats whom better, and if you are not good to me, then I will be even worse to you... That's not liking someone."
One countered with a question: "Why conflate 'owning' with 'liking'?"
This time, it was Zero who remained silent.
After a long while, Zero said, "But eventually, he will get married, he will have his own children, and you will no longer be a part of his life. You will never hear from him again."
Yi stubbornly declared, "Success doesn't have to be mine!"
zero:"???"
Zero was stunned.
The reason she failed in the last war against humanity was largely due to these six words: the Qing soldiers' relentless delaying tactics, sacrificing their own lives to deliver the message.
She was familiar with these six words.
However, this was the first time she had ever heard anyone use those six words in such a context...
So fresh and elegant!
Zero said, both amused and exasperated, "What nonsense are you talking about?!"
Yi forcefully pulled Ling out the door: "Let's go take a look!"
This time, Zero did not refuse.
...
...
The city of 10 experienced some unusual chaos.
A large number of publicly identified members of the parents' association packed their belongings and lined up to wait to leave the city.
Throughout human history, large-scale migrations have usually been caused by war.
This time, however, the streets were not as harmonious as usual. A middle-aged man stood on the street and loudly questioned the parents' association: "You're just leaving like this, what are we supposed to do?"
"Yes, we civilians can't go to war, can we? You've been fighting against the Western Continent for so long, and now you're just leaving? What are we supposed to do?"
"Isn't it your duty to protect us?"
The people on the long street chatted amongst themselves, and their voices gradually grew louder.
The parents patiently explained, "We are leaving today so that we can return in a better way someday."
The middle-aged man shouted, "Who knows if you'll ever come back? Your previous promotional videos showed what the Western Continent is like. Once they arrive, we'll all become slaves!"
The parents' association members patiently explained, "But now our identity information could be leaked at any time, and the Chen family and the Western Continent are joining forces to attack the Central Plains. We must retreat to the southwest to establish a new defensive line and gather all our forces. If we destroy our fighting force now, we will have nothing left to fight."
The middle-aged man shouted, "You're running away! No need for explanations! If you leave today, you're deserters!"
As it turns out, public sentiment is never predictable; they may support you today and despise you tomorrow.
In the long line of parents, many family members clenched their fists.
They fought for so long, they didn't run away when fighting the rat swarm, they didn't run away when fighting Kashima, but now they're being called deserters because of their strategy.
This was something they found hard to accept.
Some people picked up their phones and volunteered in their family group chats: "Let us stay! We're willing to die here! We don't want to leave!"
"Let's start the war!"
"We want to fight!"
However, at this very moment, a "letter to family" was simultaneously posted in several group chats: "Good morning, everyone. I understand how you feel. Being treated as a deserter is not a pleasant experience, but a mature person should not choose to die easily for an ideal, but should choose to endure humiliation for the sake of success someday."
"Death is simple. None of us are afraid of death, or perhaps we are afraid but can accept it calmly."
"To survive in order to win is the more difficult path."
"I have heard the curses you have heard, and I feel the same way you have. We are leaving today not to never return, but for the victory that is about to be achieved. The people who remain may suffer, but if we win, this suffering will be temporary; if we lose, this suffering will be eternal."
"Being misunderstood, criticized, accused, and scorned are all things we will have to endure going forward."
"keep going."
This is the core strategy of the parent-teacher association nowadays. Everyone is eager to risk their lives and die outside City 10, to become a hero.
But what happens after becoming a hero? The Eastern Continent will still fall.
Even though many people can't understand it now, even though they seem more like runaways, more like cowards avoiding battle, they still have hope.
The parents' association members stopped arguing and left everything to the internal publicity team to handle. They simply withdrew from City 10 in an orderly manner.
Residents nearby were shouting and cursing loudly.
Yi and Ling stood silently watching from the long street. Ling smiled and said, "Qing Chen's control over the parent-teacher association is unmatched. His personal strength and his brilliant achievements have led to a kind of personal worship sentiment towards him in the entire parent-teacher association... Of course, he has not yet suffered any defeats, but once there are more setbacks and failures, voices of doubt will gradually emerge from within."
Yi responded, "He has failed and experienced setbacks, but those were all temporary."
“He’s now throwing away the hearts and minds of the people that City 10 has worked so hard to build. His courage is admirable,” Zero said with a smile. “Many people are prone to making pointless efforts for empty fame. Their behavior is supported by a sense of existence rather than by reason.”
Suddenly, Yi said, "Perhaps the people's hearts aren't so easily lost?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than an old man rushed out, a slipper in his hand. Wearing a tank top, he walked up behind the most boisterous middle-aged man and began slapping him on the back of the head with the back of his slipper: "If it weren't for a parent-teacher conference, your father would have died in the rat swarm long ago! Back then, nobody was afraid, do you think they're scared now? Wasn't it dangerous back then? Get your ass back home right now and stop embarrassing me. Instead of working properly, you idle away your days, and now you're causing trouble again! You've gone too far!"
The middle-aged man ran around covering his head, yelling, "Dad, what do you know? They're just afraid of war right now. If they run away, they'll just dump us on the Western Continent as slaves!"
"Don't you understand what strategy is? What's wrong with being wronged for two years? Do you want to be wronged for the rest of your life?"
The parents stood in the line, stunned. After the old man took action, some other residents rushed out and pulled away their troublemakers, repeatedly apologizing, "Sorry, we'll take them home and discipline them ourselves. Don't bother us."
Yi smiled and looked at Ling: "Am I right? I agree with what you said. Maybe one day in the future they won't be understood, but they've given so much now, so this kind of thing definitely won't happen."
Zero smiled but did not answer.
At this moment, Yi pulled Ling toward the garrison barracks.
"Where are you going?" Zero asked.
“Let’s go visit the garrison,” Yi said. “You haven’t really seen it properly yet, have you? It’s a lot of fun there. Everyone there is very talented and speaks very nicely.”
Ling was both amused and exasperated. Who would have the time to visit a garrison barracks? Yi's little scheme was made without any attempt to hide it.
However, she still did not refuse.
Upon arriving at the camp gate, the Shadow Unit politely stopped them: "Please show us your electronic beacon."
Yi took out the electronic beacon that Qingchen had given her, and immediately saw the Shadow Force soldiers scan it and salute: "Greetings, Commander, please come in."
At this very moment, Qing Chen is holding a meeting in the conference room, which includes not only the garrison forces of City 10, but also a conference call between Qing Kun, Qing Yu, and Shen Daiyunluo.
Qingchen had also invited Li's frontline commander to join the meeting, but the commander declined.
At that moment, Yi and Ling suddenly stood at the door. He turned his head and looked at them with some surprise. What surprised him was that Ling had said he wouldn't help, but he ended up in a place like this.
Yi winked at him, as if to ask for credit.
Qing Chen hesitated for a moment before saying, "Would you two like to hear it?"
Zero didn't stand on ceremony and walked straight in, saying, "I came here because of Yi. To be frank, you guys were too slow in your evacuation and didn't have time to finish."
Qing Chen frowned: "Is it still too slow?"
At this moment, Qingye asked in confusion, "Who is this?"
Qing Chen explained, "This is the person among us who knows the most about military operations in the Western Continent. Let's hear what she has to say first."
Zero continued, "First of all, they have a thorough understanding of the military deployment of the Kamishiro Foundation throughout the north. If I'm not mistaken, the Silver City fleet will arrive at Relay Island tonight and launch the first wave of long-range artillery strikes. In just fifteen minutes, Kamishiro will completely lose its defensive capabilities, and its information systems will be completely paralyzed."
“Once they tear open this gap, it will only take them one day to bring City 10 into their range, so you actually only have 31.7 hours left,” Zero said. “I just calculated your evacuation speed, and it will probably take 7 days, 8 hours and 12 minutes to complete the transfer. But people can’t outrun missiles. If you leave on foot, you’ll probably be covered by fire before you even get into the wilderness.”
“We have an anti-missile defense system,” Keino responded.
Zero smiled and shook his head: "The missile trajectories of the Roosevelt Kingdom are quite different from the traditional ones, and their propulsion speed is far ahead of yours. Relying on technology, you are powerless to fight back. You might as well rely on the power of superhumans. However, if you want to win this war... you might need 31.4 He Jinqius. Why don't you try to replicate He Jinqiu with the blood of a god? After the 31.4 He Jinqius' bionic bodies have cultivated for twenty years, they will have the confidence to launch a counterattack."
Qingye and the others were baffled. How come Boss He had both whole and odd amounts? What kind of calculation method was this?
And do you really need 31 demigods?!
Ling looked at Qing Chen and Chen Yu beside Qing Chen: "Replicating Chen Yu is also an option. We could create 47.7 Chen Yus and have them dedicate themselves to painting in the forbidden land for 20 years. That should be possible."
Even Qing Chen was bewildered this time; this method of measurement was indeed a bit strange...
So, is one Mr. He roughly equivalent to one and a half Chen Yu?
Have you considered Chen Yu's feelings when you say that?