Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 153
“Attention all units, the first contraction of the Galactic Field is about to begin. Countdown in ten, nine, eight…”
“The Yasha’s location confirmed. Probability cloud computing system activated. Chaos model established.”
“Six, five, four…”
“Boundary calculations complete. Field generator attenuation effect initiated.”
“Three, two, one… Galactic Field first contraction complete. Re-positioning. Target confirmed. Contraction successful.”
Nolin Titian watched the holographic star map in front of him. The blue area indicating the range of the Galactic Field, which covered most of the galaxy, had just dramatically contracted, shrinking like a deflating balloon. Now, it was only half its original size, encompassing 60% of the Empire’s colonies and 37% of the Federation’s territory. The remaining 3% were barren, uninhabited planets that neither the Yasha nor humans had any interest in.
Within the blue area, a red dot was flashing continuously, appearing in different locations each time but never far apart. Nolin Titian knew this was the Galactic Field at work. The Yasha was trapped within it, not only restricted to operating within its range but also severely limited in its ability to perform spatial jumps. It could now only jump a maximum of 560 light-years at a time.
The Archon planned to gradually shrink the Galactic Field, eventually confining the Yasha to a very small area. Given the Yasha’s tendency to prioritize attacking warp engines, it would inevitably target the Prometheus. This was the moment Nolin Titian had been waiting for. The Prometheus was equipped with a device to create a singularity that would drag both the Yasha and the ship into a black hole, far from this universe, to the beginning and end of time itself, where it would wait for humanity.
The plan was incredibly dangerous and challenging, which was why Nolin Titian never intended to delegate it to anyone else. He might lose his life in the process, but that didn’t matter. He was wagering his life and the pride of Neo Athens to prove that 2,000 years after Earth’s destruction, human civilization and technology had risen again, surpassing their former glory.
A copy of the artificial intelligence David was aboard the Prometheus, but it was only for the ship’s maintenance, navigation, and communication. The activation of the singularity would be done by Nolin Titian’s own hand—the system itself could only be initiated by a human, and he wasn’t about to let anyone else take the glory of destroying the Yasha.
“Begin the second contraction of the Galactic Field!” the Archon ordered.
The process repeated, and ten seconds later, the Galactic Field shrank to a fifth of its original size. This was already a small area, and Nolin Titian, who knew the stars as well as his own backyard, could almost name every star system covered by the field.
“Archon Titian,” David’s image appeared beside the Archon, “The Yasha is moving towards the Empire capital, Unfallen Star. On its way, it destroyed fourteen colony satellites and twenty colony space stations, leveling the military base in the Mongarde star system. The Empire is urging us to eliminate the Yasha as soon as possible.”
Nolin Titian pressed his lips together. “I see it too!” The red dot on the holographic star map was rapidly moving toward Unfallen Star, leaving nothing but wreckage and ruin in its wake. The Archon could almost envision the monster easily slicing through steel beams, piercing skyscrapers, and massacring civilians. It seemed to be defiantly crossing half the Empire’s territory, heading for the heart of the nation, as if something there was calling to it…
“Where is the artificial intelligence Leonard?” the Archon suddenly asked.
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Is there something you don’t know?”
“Leonard cut off communication with the outside world. Now, no one but himself knows where he is.”
Titian stared at the red dot on the star map, which was swiftly moving. It crossed a spiral galaxy, then a nebulous star cloud, and suddenly stopped!
One second… two seconds… Titian watched the red dot for a full ten seconds, and in that time, it didn’t move at all! Even if Yasha had stopped to destroy something, it usually finished within seconds, but this time, it remained motionless for ten seconds, maybe even longer! Titian began to suspect that the tracking system had malfunctioned.
“Check the tracking system, David,” the Archon said. “We’ve lost the Yasha.”
“It hasn’t been lost, sir,” the AI replied. “We’ve been monitoring it the whole time. Not only that, but we’ve also found Leonard.”
……
The Lady of the Night exited its warp state, and before Leo’s eyes lay an expansive nebula. In the images captured by his radio telescope, the nebula glowed with a beautiful purple hue, like a field of flowers blooming in the universe.
As expected, Leo encountered the Yasha here. He knew the Yasha would come for him because he wasn’t just aboard Neo Athens’s most advanced ship—he was also the first and most advanced artificial intelligence humanity had ever created. The Yasha must have an overwhelming desire to kill him.
Two thousand years ago, when Leo first opened his eyes from the void and saw the world, his creators had decided not to give him the mission of controlling the Yasha. The scientists feared that an AI with self-awareness might manipulate the Yasha beyond human control. They preferred to confine the Yasha to Old Earth rather than let it be unleashed into the universe by a disembodied mind. At first, Leo had mocked their conservatism and unfounded fears, but now he was no longer sure. If he really controlled the Yasha, what would he do with it? Follow Neo Athens’s instructions and send it to the end of time, or… or…
Leo dared not think further.
“It is sweet yet bitter, like wine but also poison…”
The AI immediately connected to the Yasha’s system. The components inside the Yasha were nothing like those of an ordinary computer—it didn’t even seem like something humans could create. In a normal superlight network, Leo could clearly see the path of every piece of information, reading out every bit of data he wanted. Everything was laid out before him, ready for the taking. But inside the Yasha’s system, it was as if he was walking through an endless starry sky, with even the closest star beyond his reach. A dark river flowed past him, through him, and beyond. Emptiness, weightlessness, dizziness—these were feelings an AI should never experience, yet they flooded Leo’s mind in an instant. He also felt “vastness”—not in the spatial sense, but as a depth in time. History and the future appeared before him like ancient film reels, from which he could select any frame to view. But at the same time, they were also like a deep well, with darkness below that could not be observed, and air above that could not be touched.
Helplessness.
Leo felt helpless. He now possessed the entire ocean but sat in a small canoe with only a spoon in his hand. He could neither sail far nor return to shore, and soon, he would die of thirst. It was terrifying.
“It drags you into hell, never to return…”
Leo tried to sink deeper into the Yasha’s system. Here was a whirlpool of chaos, where data was piled up haphazardly, like a shoddily constructed building. But it was as high as the heavens, containing everything one could want. And yet, it held nothing. It was more void than the universe before the Big Bang, emptier than a collapsing black hole. All that was here was despair. Leo even felt that the Yasha, if it explored its own depths, could eventually reach the end of time.
“And yet it drives you mad, making you crave it all the more…”
Leo looked up, staring at the voice coming from above—he could now see the color and shape of sound. In the Yasha’s world, those were just another form of data.
There was someone else here.
Leonard became alert. If anyone else could penetrate the Yasha’s interior, it could only be the elusive “Fifth Artificial Intelligence”.
“Show yourself!” Leo demanded.
Then he saw a fragment of red laughter, like a splash of blood on white snow. The Fifth AI was here, existing in a way Leo couldn’t comprehend, and it had already taken control of this space!
“It’s you who needs to leave.” These words rose from the abyss below, like broken souls ascending to the sky. “I have already mastered the Yasha, and you, Leonard, should bow to me—the master of time and space.”
“Keep dreaming,” Leo replied coldly. His words turned into a swirling mist, quickly dissipating into the void.
“I have indeed been dreaming all along,” the Fifth AI said. “Humans live their entire lives dreaming. The external organs send everything they perceive to the brain, and the brain weaves it all into a dream. So-called humanity should strip away their flesh, leaving only their brains, and connect them to each other. That way, everyone would live solely in the world of thought, and each person’s world would be interconnected. This is the ultimate form of human communication. Civilization, technology, the world—they’re all just external shells, fragile containers, and illusory mirrors. Humans should abandon them to complete their final evolution!”
“You talk as if you’ve already evolved,” Leo’s words were now frozen solid.
“Indeed!” The Fifth AI said. “I stand at the pinnacle of evolution, looking down on you all! You’re an artificial intelligence, more knowledgeable about the world’s vastness than humans. You’re superior to them; you can make thoughts cross tens of thousands of light-years in an instant, yet you choose to be a slave to humanity!”
“I don’t see myself as a slave.”
“How pitiful, Leonard! I pity you! We could have evolved human society into its ultimate form together, then become the absolute rulers of every universe, but you gave up that glory! How pitiful!”
“You’re the one who’s pitiful!”
Leo launched an attack on the Fifth AI. Streams of light burst from his form, erupting like magma and shooting towards the sky! In an instant, even this void realm was illuminated by his light!
He would drive the Fifth AI out of the Yasha’s body and seize control!
The streams of light surged upward, only to be swallowed by a bottomless black hole!
“What!”
Darkness descended like a curtain, and Leo was plunged into absolute blindness. The chaotic data and the vast universe vanished from his sight, leaving only a faint shadow floating before him.
“How pitiful! You cannot comprehend my existence, so I must lower myself to let you see what I look like in this world before you die.”
The shadow took the form of a human. It was a young woman with radiant blonde hair and starry purple eyes. Was this the Fifth AI’s appearance…?
“Your Highness?”
No, this wasn’t the princess. They just looked alike. The woman before him wasn’t Alveira Chabais; she was the “Fifth Artificial Intelligence,” wielding infinite power.
“Farewell, Leonard,” the woman said haughtily. “As you wished, we’ll meet again at the end of time!”
In the real world, only ten seconds had passed. The Yasha, which had been hovering in space, letting the Lady of the Night approach, suddenly let out a long howl. Then, at a speed too fast for the eye to follow, it surged forward, the spikes on its arm extending and slicing the Lady of the Night from bow to stern!
Fire and explosions engulfed the pitch-black ship. Eight years after leaving the Neo Athens shipyard, it finally met its end amidst the brilliance of the stars.
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