Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 246: Meeting
Guan Haiming’s head hurt a little, but this time it wasn’t physiological.
This early morning was particularly weird.
The showers stopped, and the sun rose. The vigilance of the Mainbrain hadn’t been weakened, but it didn’t increase either. Lao Zhang’s team returned to the refuge with the two outsiders. The group was thrown into the muddiest area by the escape pod, so the group was covered in mud when they returned.
The entire refuge was on standby, ready to deal with any Order Supervisors that were about to follow, but as time passed, no one appeared.
“There is a notice from above,” Major Ding cut into the call line. “Suspend all active offensive behaviors and use all manpower for vigilance and defense.”
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know.” After dropping this sentence, the other party coldly cut off the communication.
This was followed by Professor Ruan’s communication. “How are Mr. Yu and Miss Ji in condition?”
“Nothing serious. Qiu Yue arranged breakfast for them. They should come over after their meal. Teacher, about the attack procedure—”
“You can put it aside for the time being.” Yu Le interrupted Guan Haiming’s words and pushed the door in carelessly. He had a little bit of mashed potatoes still stuck in the corner of his mouth. “I contacted Tang Yibu and Xiao Ruan. Those two bastards are fine. They asked to join a call.”
Ji Xiaoman followed him. She was silently wiping her mouth with a cloth towel. Although she still had a gloomy air, she looked a lot more relaxed.
“Sorry.” Ding Zepeng entered the room third. “Haiming, I stopped them, but Yu Ge said there was something important to tell Professor Ruan.”
The virtual portrait of Professor Ruan on the light screen looked at Yu Le. Yu Le didn’t say much but gave Ji Xiaoman a wink. The latter took out a bunch of weird small machines from her pocket and connected to Tang Yibu’s communication channel.
A large golden light screen unfolded, which was particularly conspicuous indoors. After the light screen was turned on, everyone in the room took a deep, cold breath.
Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian were in front of the light screen. The background was indoors, and both of them were wearing the uniform of Order Supervisors. They looked to be in very good condition. After a period of silence, Professor Ruan coughed lightly. “I wanted to ask Mr. Yu about the status of you two, but now it seems unnecessary.”
He looked up and down at the environment in the golden light screen. “Are you in the stronghold of Order Supervisors?”
“Mobile stronghold.” Tang Yibu smiled. “We are going to where you are now. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, it’s better to do things face to face.”
Professor Ruan’s expression was calm. He remained silent and politely suggested that the other party continue.
“Don’t react too much to this outfit.” Ruan Xian glanced at Guan Haiming, who was nervous. “Most of our clothes were destroyed in the battle, so we can’t see you naked.”
Everyone was stunned for a while. They couldn’t tell whether the people on the other side won or lost—if they won, there wasn’t much movement in the Order Supervisors, but the authority of the Mainbrain didn’t seem to have been handed over. If they lost, the Order Supervisors wouldn’t use their own uniform as a prisoner outfit, and Tang Yibu wouldn’t look so relaxed.
“We have reached a cooperation agreement with the Mainbrain.” When doubts in the air accumulated to their highest point, Tang Yibu explained slowly. “This is the content of the agreement.”
Several more light screens appeared in the room, filling the space with dazzling text. After reading a few lines, Yu Le decisively gave up and looked at Professor Ruan and waited for a reliable summary.
Despite using an avatar, Professor Ruan’s expression was getting more complicated.
“How did you—”
“How is not the point. The point is, we have done it,” Ruan Xian interrupted the other party’s question in time. “You must be able to understand the marks of those system protocols. Of course, you will doubt the credibility of this whole thing—which is why we’re going to see you.”
“I can open up the auxiliary procedures of the agreement part to you, and you can inspect it as you like.” Tang Yibu nodded his head. “But it’s about my system, so Mr. Ruan will supervise you as you conduct your check.”
“I have to know how you did it, and then consider your credibility.” Professor Ruan wasn’t buying it. “If you can’t convince me to check the procedure, I won’t agree to meet.”
Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian looked at each other for a while. After a few seconds, Ruan Xian lost to the opponent’s gaze and began to dryly explain their previous actions and purposes. All the tense plots were turned into experimental reports by him.
Coupled with Guan Haiming and Yu Le, who would interject from time to time, Ruan Xian talked almost nonstop for more than an hour.
Professor Ruan hadn’t spoken the entire time. He finally let out a sigh. “It matches the information on our side, but it’s too risky… Have you ever thought about it, in case it fails—”
“I can definitely escape.” Tang Yibu pushed the water cup in front of him to Ruan Xian and took advantage of it to kiss the corner of the other’s mouth.
Then he turned his eyes to Professor Ruan. “If Mr. Ruan betrays me, I will forcefully take him back. Then we will go back to the original plan and attack the Mainbrain—you only need the S-type Prototype in your plan. There’s no hard requirement for Mr. Ruan’s assistance, right? Anyway, you haven’t finished the attack program yet, so let’s just give this a try as soon as possible. It’s best to win, but not to lose.”
Then he attached his bright and standard smile.
Professor Ruan, who was clearly regarded as the alternative: “…”
“You didn’t solve the problem at all.” Professor Ruan pinched his eyebrows. “The world will make a comeback sooner or later. You just delayed things a little bit. This is quite irresponsible—”
“We don’t intend to take this responsibility.”
Ruan Xian in the light screen put down the water cup.
“Judging from the situation at the end of 2100, the world will not be destroyed for a while. If society really perishes in another thousand or two—or more—and the Mainbrain observes the whole process and thinks that human beings are only worthy of such a management method, I personally have nothing to say.”
Professor Ruan frowned.
“Cybernetic brain, natural brain, mechanical tissue, normal flesh. As far as my current feelings are concerned, you haven’t found a suitable definition yourself, Professor Ruan. We are all people who are limited by the times, so don’t try to define everything. Instead of worrying about how people will feel thousands of years from now, you might as well help the living get on the right track early.”
“What if I still disagree?”
“Yibu and the Mainbrain signed a cooperation agreement, and I am also on Yibu’s side. If they join forces, you know what your chances of winning are… At the same time, we have also promised in the agreement that we will not interfere with the composition of society like the Mainbrain, so you don’t need to worry about this.”
Professor Ruan smiled, and then his virtual image dissipated, revealing a three-legged machine equipped with a brain cube.
“I will take a good look at the contents of that agreement,” it said calmly. “And I guess MUL-01 should have mentioned the way to deal with the rebels.”
“It won’t do anything to them. The total population of the world in 2100 is about 9 billion. Including the rebels, there are 30 million people who are still alive, which means more than 8 billion people have to be reset back. There won’t be many resources left that can be mobilized.”
Ruan Xian smiled.
“…They then have to prove that they aren’t crazy, find enough power to deal with Yibu, and then finally find the Mainbrain. I will guarantee that they will lose at step 2.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Yu Le made a “stop” gesture. “What does it mean that more than 8 billion people have to be reset back? I thought the Mainbrain was just going to withdraw like this?”
“It’s already started,” Tang Yibu said. “You can take a look.”
After that, Tang Yibu looked busy doing something. Hundreds of golden light screens flew out from the edge of the big light screen filling the room.
In the clear picture, as the sun rose completely, the earth began to vibrate. The dead wall gradually withdrew from the ground.
Countless construction aircraft rose up, overwhelming the sky. The ruins of the Institute were decomposed and then reconstructed to their original appearance. Even the flowers planted in the flower beds were printed back, stained with dew, and swayed slightly in the wind.
The artificial intelligence city in the distance slowly shattered. The weird, blind, spider-shaped machine disappeared, and the S City of 2100 was slowly returning—a can rolled across the empty street and came to a stop at a garbage bin. There was no dust on the windows of each building of various stores, and the 24-hour signboard kept flickering on and off. Stray cats lay on their backs by trimmed bushes as they meowed.
The annihilation point was reversed. All the undissolved building debris was taken away by the construction aircraft one after another. Without their ships, the pirates stood motionless in bewilderment as they were pelted with tents and emergency food dropped off by the Order Supervisors.
Cities everywhere were returning in turn, and everything was slowly recovering, except for the people. The mechanical life seemed to have received instructions and began to gather in groups, moving in a certain direction.
But the land reclaimed by the Mainbrain hadn’t disappeared. The City of the Mainbrain lay quietly by the sea. The people who looked out their window watched in confusion as a sky full of aircraft flew over them.
“It will take at least three months for the hardware facilities to be restored,” Tang Yibu explained. “The population will be released after everything is restored.”
“What are you going to do?”
After making sure that everyone’s attention was attracted by the light screen, Tang Yibu turned to Professor Ruan.
“Before the Mainbrain retires to seclusion, we will prepare a joint treatment plan. The situation of Guan Haiming and Ji Xiaoman won’t be a problem, but the damage to your brain is irreversible. In the next ten years, if you need a mechanical shell…”
“I will first look at Miss Ji’s mother. You two should be willing to help.” Professor Ruan was still staring at the golden light screen floating beside him. “The next thing… When I finish verifying your program, I would like to ask you to bring a message to MUL-01. At least during the three-month recovery period, it should be there, right?”
“Yes.” Ruan Xian nodded.
“Very good.” The black cube in the glass trough spewed out a string of bubbles. “I want to meet it. Don’t worry, I won’t bring anyone. If it still cares, you can go with me.”
“Alright. But don’t delay too long. We can finally rest…” Tang Yibu muttered.
“Just rest first.” There was a smile in Professor Ruan’s electronic voice. “The time is set in three months. Before it’s ready to go into seclusion… In these three months, I also have some things to deal with.”
“You guys are almost there, right? I hear engine sounds of the mobile stronghold.”
The three-legged machine owed a debt to the body.
“Let’s talk about the rest, face to face.”
The author has something to say:
Transition transition——
The Mainbrain is finally going to see its father (?
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