Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1192 Death Star

Old Sandel's field of vision was filled with red warning pop-ups, the characters representing high temperatures flashing incessantly. The cooling vents on his back were fully deployed, the cooling steam dissipating rapidly into the vacuum as soon as it was released. His legs were unable to bend; the servo motors in his knees had completely seized up from prolonged overload, and he could only be held firmly to the warship's hull like two pieces of scrap metal by the magnetic attachment devices on the soles of his feet.

The alarms linked to his auditory system blared like a series of rough files, repeatedly rubbing against his already overloaded neural circuits.

The old man was very tired. But he still stared in one direction: a cluster of dense, dim points of light in the starry sky.

The tail flames of the "Celestial Star Fleet".

The most powerful weapon of a deep-space warship is its main gun, which fires a directional high-energy particle beam through a particle accelerator that penetrates the hull, projecting the highest possible energy with the lowest possible mass. Although the divergence angle of the particle cannon is almost negligible, at distances of astronomical units, that tiny divergence angle still dilutes the weapon's power to a negligible level.

The weapons on the left and right sides have an effective range of only tens of kilometers. On the ground, they might be classified as "long-range artillery" or "short-range missiles," but in space, they are close-in weapon systems.

When a deep-space warship accelerates, its exhaust plume erupts from the rear, like the long tail of a comet; when decelerating, it may activate its forward thrusters, causing the exhaust plume to erupt from the front. If you observe an enemy fleet that should be slowing down, but instead sees light scattering in all directions from the front—or a fleet that should be accelerating, but instead appears completely black with no exhaust plume and only a dim ring of fire—then you are doomed.

The enemy is aiming their cannons steadily at you.

We continuously observe the Tianxing Fleet from various angles, summarize the data, and then analyze the Tianxing Fleet's position, speed, and possible paths.

This is something the interceptors have to do.

Old Sandler was simply too far away. Even with algorithms that progressively magnified the image in his field of vision, filtered out noise layer by layer, and sharpened it multiple times, he could still only get a rough idea of ​​what was happening.

The signals are transmitted to their own ships via short-range communication, and then launched from the ships to the rear. The heroes will perform more detailed calculations.

The vastness of the universe and the laws of physics changed warfare. Old Sandell's intern was a United States Navy officer. Many of humanity's space-related terms originate from maritime history, even the word "navigation." But space travel is ultimately not sea travel.

Old Sandrell was the first true space soldier, and that unit was reorganized only slightly later than its Republic counterparts. The advantages of the benchmark human and cybernetic bodies were first realized in the military.

His unit was also among the first to be eliminated and reorganized during the chivalrous war, because it was an aircraft carrier unit.

Aircraft carriers navigate in air and seawater, constantly encountering drag, and must actively consume fuel to maintain speed. However, in a vacuum, the larger the object, the more likely it is to maintain its motion and the harder it is to decelerate. After carrier-based aircraft are launched, they require a large amount of fuel to carry out their missions. By this time, the mothership may already be hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.

Smaller, lighter fighter jets only have an advantage in terms of speed variation. However, the core of the pursuit problem in space is not instantaneous acceleration, but sustained acceleration, or more precisely, the total velocity increment. This, in turn, depends on the engine and fuel.

Due to their size limitations, the absolute capacity and relative proportion of propellant tanks in small fighter jets are far lower than those in large motherships.

In addition, regression is also a challenge.

At sea, an aircraft carrier is almost stationary relative to the ground. In space, however, fighter jets must consume precious propellant to precisely change their trajectory and velocity vector until they are completely synchronized with the carrier.

If a large mothership is forced to maintain a low relative speed in a war zone, it becomes a sitting duck.

But if the aircraft carrier maintains high-speed movement...

A failed rendezvous often results in the carrier-based aircraft and the aircraft carrier being separated forever due to the speed difference, with the fighter jets becoming drifting coffins in space.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and not every martial artist who trains in fighter jets and military equipment can manage fuel perfectly.

The ocean floor is curved—it might sound strange, but it's true—creating a natural "shelter." Both reconnaissance and strike range are affected by the curvature of the earth. On Earth, carrier-based aircraft and missiles can attack enemies over the horizon, but that's not the case in space.

The last deep-space carrier was destroyed during the era of the Seventh War God. It was only brought to the battlefield because of the War God King's general mobilization order. It was probably the oldest ship in the government fleet.

Since then, only planetary suppression fleets have retained aircraft carrier units.

Battleships, on the other hand, are the opposite. Freed from the constraints of the "horizon," their massive guns allow them to regain absolute offensive superiority. Space is a near-vacuum, extending infinitely in all directions. Theoretically, if your sensors are powerful enough, you can see targets at extremely far distances; if your weapons have sufficient energy and unobstructed trajectories, you can fire directly at them.

The particle cannon also rendered the carrier-based aircraft's attack range advantage meaningless. Carrier-based aircraft simply couldn't cover a distance of light-seconds before an encounter ended.

With the disappearance of dedicated aircraft carriers, all warships will retain small hangars for use by warriors of the First Heaven and a small number of specialized small mechs.

The missions undertaken by carrier-based aircraft were later reduced to only a few. These even included "carrying active radar".

The length of the battlefield was extended with the range of the giant cannons. In space warfare, "beyond visual range" also became "the distance at which it is impossible to aim at a target without prior reconnaissance and calculation of the target's trajectory."

At this distance, radar waves need to travel two distances, one to the other. If the enemy also observes the radar waves, their supercomputers may have already calculated the radar wave's path and initiated firing before it even returns.

This is practically helping the enemy aim at you.

The enemy's artillery fire may only be a little later than the returning radar waves.

Passive reconnaissance equipment is becoming increasingly important and occupies more and more space. Active reconnaissance equipment, on the other hand, is mostly carried out by carrier-based aircraft. "Easy speed control" has become one of the few advantages of carrier-based aircraft.

Old Sandel was once a radar operator in the Starship Fleet. His combat group often took radar boats away from the main fleet to carry out reconnaissance missions.

However, the problem of "small aircraft not being able to keep up with the aircraft carrier" remained. Old Sandrel lived in fear on every mission. At that time, King Agni had no record of abandoning his subordinates. But that's how war is; a single large maneuver by the mothership could "abandon" all the released carrier-based aircraft. No one could be blamed, because the battlefield is ever-changing.

The God of War King has a history of such atrocities.

At that time, old Sandler thought about how to surrender every day.

This was actually not easy. King Agni would set up a "surrender and die" curse depending on the situation—he didn't forbid every subordinate from surrendering; he generally understood that "even heroes can be captured." But no one dared to gamble. The motherboard had to be removed from the body the instant the surrender signal was given.

The old Celestial Star Fleet even had a secret little discussion group, plotting how to surrender if abandoned. They modified the old United States' codebook, creating a symbolic system similar to Braille, and communicated using perforated steel plates. Their fingers had tactile modules, but they didn't install Braille-deciphering plugins, and their prosthetic eyes didn't look at the perforated steel plates, making them very difficult to detect.

Because everything happens in the biological brain.

But no one expected that King Agni would abandon them, the entire Old Celestial Fleet, on the front lines.

Despite seemingly being in dire straits, the Red Fleet, led by the Sixth War God, launched a counterattack.

Old Sandel had mentally rehearsed the "send signal to extract the motherboard" maneuver a hundred times, but he never found the opportunity, and the heroes never gave him one. The offensive was too fierce. How could the heroes, who had already found a glimmer of hope in a desperate situation, be willing to stop?

When he awoke again, he was awakened by a group of pioneers. They were the original followers of the Fourth Martial God, who had trekked for many years. They extended a helping hand to the warriors frozen in space.

The Sixth Martial God has already sacrificed himself, and even the more powerful and terrifying Seventh Martial God has also passed away.

Both sides in the "Battle of the Source God Star" have become history.

It seems that only King Agni is still active.

What old Sandel was even more absurd was that King Agni didn't even have any intention of "rescuing" them, and directly formed a new Celestial Fleet.

Old Sandrel harbored no resentment towards the knight-errant. If God truly existed, he would surely approve of the knight-errant.

It's so beautiful to charge forward for life and for things more than life.

It would have been better if I hadn't been on the other side of that torrent.

The veteran thought about it for many years before he realized, "Oh, what I hate most is a traitor."

Traitors to our country, traitors to our army.

King Agni.

Jakub Hartman.

Hermé delivered even worse news. Hartmann, that traitor, had locked onto Turing and obtained crucial technological inspiration. If Hartmann were allowed to live, he could eventually infiltrate the human brain.

Old Sandel recalled the time he and his colleagues would rub their fingers along the small perforated steel plates.

Perhaps it's too late now. That's what he thought. Perhaps it's too late, but if it's just a small loss for King Agni, it's not too late in any way.

The gates slid silently open to both sides, revealing a deep, dark passageway behind. Little Sandel stepped out and gave a perfunctory salute: "Sir, it's resolved."

His right arm armor was covered in a thick, black liquid that was sliding backward along the grooves of the metal shell, condensing into several black beads in the vacuum environment. That must have been hydraulic oil.

Elderly soldiers from Ur were dragging cargo containers out of the transport ship through various openings. This fleet belonged to the road administration fleet of the Light Speed ​​Highway, and the Celestial Star Fleet itself would also send advance reconnaissance teams—mostly elite combat teams led by First Heaven warriors.

We need to find a way to take these guys down.

Hermes and the knight placed a thin, almost invisible cloud of metallic dust in the middle of the light-speed highway. It offered no interception. It was a non-uniform mass that would cause extremely subtle distortions in the electromagnetic waves. Although this distortion was incredibly weak, and its affected area extremely limited…

But the light-speed highway is already very narrow.

The extremely long range of a warship's main guns amplifies radar distortion.

Even a tiny deflection of 0.0001 arcseconds in the direction of the radar wave can result in a huge error of 1.5 kilometers at a distance of one light-second.

It was equivalent to a small, muddy patch of land near a strategic point in classical times. It might even have been just a slightly raised, exposed rock on a battlefield.

This is an artificial creation of a little bit of "geographical advantage" by using all the human and material resources that can be mobilized in the asteroid belt.

It is so thin that it is almost impossible to identify using passive means such as visible light in the light- and shadow-free universe.

The Celestial Star Fleet was unaware of the exact distribution of this thin cloud of dust and needed other units to gather this intelligence. Those lackeys had to collect data to provide calibration parameters for the battleships' main guns.

“It’s still not enough…” old Sandel sighed.

In outer space, encounters between two fleets are rare occurrences. They require meticulous camouflage, the most daring tactics, and a considerable amount of luck.

It is roughly said that "both fleets chose to remain silent and approach the enemy ship by inertia, and then discovered each other only by chance when they were face-to-face."

In most cases, the fleet can pre-select distant enemies from tens or hundreds of light-seconds away.

Further observations are unlikely to be helpful for guiding a single battle. After all, when you spot the enemy hundreds of light-seconds away, you're seeing historical footage from minutes or even tens of minutes ago. The enemy could very well have changed course by then.

With external support from deep-space surveillance arrays, the fleet's reconnaissance range could be expanded again. However, in this case, signal transmission would actually take longer.

The vastness of the universe both prolongs the duration of war and slows down its pace.

The two commanders can know the approximate location of the battle several days in advance. The specific location, however, is determined several hours before the battle begins.

Tactical masters who can lead fleets to carry out "surprise attacks" or even "sneak attacks" are often called "magicians" or "deceitful masters".

According to Sandel, the Celestial Fleet was still not slow enough.

The location of the battle...

Knights, can you really catch up?

Old Sandeler put his mind at ease. Several veterans came out and used laser cutters to cut openings in the warship's outer armor and fill them with explosives.

This is a crucial step in dismantling the spacecraft. The spacecraft will be torn to pieces by the explosives, scattering into space and slowly dispersing, rendering the route unusable for a short period. Directly detonating the reactor or using a large amount of explosives could either completely vaporize the spacecraft or cause the fragments to break into small pieces that fly too fast to form a sustained debris cloud.

Young Sandel, having developed a mindset of "cherishing resources," was somewhat displeased by this scene. Old Sandel, looking at his clone brother or son, said, "Looking at this ship, what are your thoughts?"

“Tsk, really new, brand new. Even the parts are new,” said Sandel. “The Protector is still too strong.”

Old Sandel shook his head: "Do you know? When we were fighting the Sixth War God, the fleets of the Kings still had a lot of old ships from the Ascension War era, old ships that had been in service for more than half a century. That was the era when the Protectors were the strongest and the Knights were the weakest."

The veteran's heel tapped against the brand-new warship: "Only after going out to fight do you realize that the modern warships are so much better than they were back then. Even a weak force like the Road Administration Fleet has new ships to use."

"Although I can roughly tell that 'underdog troops' is a derogatory term, but... what exactly is an underdog?"

Sandrel fell into deep thought.

Old Sandel laughed. Coming out to war, he'd actually rediscovered a bit of his youthful spirit, even picking up old phrases that young people today wouldn't hear.

He said to Sandel, "Young man, you still have several games to play. Cheer up."

..............................

The president of the Hermo Chamber of Commerce, the operations manager Adon, and Jeanne huddled together. Asga continued to observe the starry sky behind the spaceship through the optical components. Faint flashes indicated sporadic fighting.

The president of the Hermo Merchant Guild sighed, "You bastard... how many times do I have to say it? The few of us here are either not strong enough, or the least suitable warriors to go head-to-head with King Agni. There's really no point in us staying here..."

Asga was right across from her.

Asga muttered, "This makes me feel like a deserter."

Asgard escaped, and remained on the run for decades. But that was only because she was outmatched on the battlefield. Abandoning allies and leaving before the fighting even began...

Jeanne sighed, "Just for me, Asga."

"This is not what we agreed on. You said before that you would find a way to cure your illness."

“If there’s no hope, I have to be allowed to execute Plan B,” Jeanne said.

Indeed, the journey to death should be a little more passionate. It's a pity I have no musical talent whatsoever, otherwise I would definitely have dedicated a song to you, my daughter. ] The elder Xiangshan said this in a place where only Jeanne could see.

“Now you should explain yourselves, right?” Asga said. “Janna, when did you get involved with the head of the Hermes Guild? Why did you suddenly decide to leave Chaldea?”

“After realizing I had no chance to hibernate and wait for the medication, I decided to settle the score with that bastard Hartman,” Jeanne said. “Xiangshan said the simplest way was to go to the Hermo Society. The Hermo Society must have a deep connection with the knights, so I went to them.”

"Yeah, and then I saw a guy who called himself Xiang Shan leave me a message online. I didn't believe it at first, but his tone really sounded convincing, like a madman who had consumed a lot of Xiang Shan's memories," said the president of the Hermo Society. "After a little verification, I found that it seemed to be true."

Of course, the process was a little more dangerous than the two described. When the president of the Hermé Guild discovered that the guild's server had been hacked and a text message had been left behind, he initially thought he was being extorted.

What does it mean to say "I know you're plotting something behind my back"?
"Or should we follow the old dog's story?" the guild leader said to A Dong at the time. "Find this guy, control him, and shut him up—he's spouting nonsense. He even calls himself Xiang Shan, a test subject of the Six Dragons Cult? That's ridiculous."

After all, the wording sounds like an attempt to extort money.

Then, a few minutes later, the guild leader messaged Adong, who was searching for traces on the server, saying: "[Something seems off, let me check again.]"

In short, a conflict was avoided.

Asga was a little suspicious of a certain part of the story: "What do you mean by 'to verify it a little'?"

"Let's observe it."

"Can you identify the direction of the mountain?" "A trivial skill, not worth mentioning."

“No…” Asga scratched her head, “We’ve both received special anti-war god training before. I didn’t know we could identify Xiang Shan so easily…”

The president pointed to the operations manager, Adong: "Let me introduce you. This is a friend of the Eighth Martial God. Her internal energy is inherited from the Eighth Martial God, and she also received assistance from the Turing lineage. Her internal strength is already at a top level—of course, she just can't beat that old dog. And don't talk nonsense about wanting to fight that old dog at Chaldea. It's not appropriate. She definitely wants to kill that old dog even more than you do."

"Is this...is this something I should be listening to?" another voice asked, sounding rather guilty.

Leonard, the technical director of Chaldea's management team, felt he was caught up in a terrible situation.

"Go ahead and drive with confidence." The chairman almost rolled his eyes. "If I didn't really have no spaceships to dock with high-speed deep-space warships, would I have bothered recruiting you? Don't worry, I'll definitely find you a safe place to stay."

Their destination was the Black Ship Righteous Army.

Reaching out of the Black Ship's ranks ahead of schedule will not be easy. The Black Ship's ranks are currently slowing down and will shut down their engines to conceal themselves before approaching the Chaldea combat zone, until the first round of shelling.

They would never turn on the engine and adjust the speed for anyone.

To rendezvous ahead of schedule, you must accelerate to low light speed and rush over, then accelerate in the opposite direction to a speed close to that of the Black Ship's followers, and wait for the rendezvous.

All of the Hermes' ships and fuel were allocated for the relocation of residents from Ur and Chaldea. The guild leader had initially considered squeezing some resources out of the guild. However, after much deliberation, the merchant sighed and approached the Chaldea technical director, who was currently preparing the relocation route.

This small spaceship with a payload of 10 tons is Leonard's own property; apart from real estate in the city, all his assets are concentrated on this small spaceship.

In order to allow everyone to squeeze onto the ship, Adong even replaced his prosthetic body with civilian hands and feet that were completely unarmored to support his torso, so he now looks a bit short in limbs.

The president of the Hermetic Guild glanced at the technical director, Leonard, and said, "Take my advice, brother. At this time, the weaker your cybernetic body is, the less likely the knights will want you to risk your life."

So Leonard also switched to the lightest civilian prosthetic body.

That's how they barely managed to squeeze in.

Half the fuel was used to approach the Black Ship Legion, and half was used to maintain relative speed. The remaining fuel was used to maneuver the civilian ship away from the Black Ship Legion. The small ship itself probably wouldn't be salvaged.

Leonard brought out all his hidden treasures because the president of the Hermes Society offered him a price he couldn't refuse: "I can provide you with a refuge room on the Black Ship Righteous Cavalry flagship. Of course, you can't leave the room during the fighting. Afterwards, you can go to the western outer ring of the sun."

The flagship of the Black Ship Legion was certainly at risk of being hit, but if even the flagship was sunk, the Black Ship Legion itself would be finished.

If the fighting goes that far, Chaldea will probably be the first to fall.

Finding a small celestial body in the asteroid belt to hide on is essentially a gamble, a bet that the enemy will abandon the killing spree due to the excessive expenditure of a thorough search. Whether it's turning the warship around and annihilating the exiles with a single shot, or deploying high-level warriors to pursue and kill them, it's unacceptable for the fleet.

The Celestial Fleet is the main force in the great battle, and every ton of its payload should be used on the battlefield on Jupiter.

However, the Road Administration Fleet or high-ranking officers who are lords of the Space City are very likely to join the pursuit later. After Chaldea's destruction, those who scattered and fled became rootless drifters.

Without refueling, the prosthetic body and the spaceship are difficult to maintain.

After all that trouble, it might end up hibernating in the asteroid belt.

In comparison, finding a room on the Black Ship Righteous Army's flagship is much safer. If the Black Ship Righteous Army isn't completely wiped out, Leonard still has a good chance of going to the Knights' Occupied Zone.

As a technician, Leonard has no trouble finding a charger.

But he never expected that this time the president of the Hermo Society would actually send a potential God of War to the Black Ship Righteous Army.

This is too...

Leonard was really worried that this potential war god who called himself Xiangshan might be there to boost morale, and then the Black Ship Righteous Army would fight the Tianxing Fleet to the death.

What should he do?
Asga clearly sensed the technician's wavering. She asked doubtfully, "Is this really alright? I mean..."

"There's no need to worry about him turning back to surrender to that old dog now." The guild leader sent himself a junk message. "It's impossible for him to get close to the Tianxing Fleet without prior contact. King Agni has never believed in surrendering on the battlefield. If you take Xiang Shan with you, he will definitely evaporate the ship Xiang Shan is on first—during the secret war, there was someone who pretended to surrender and then got a severe beating. I think it was one."

Leonard looked somewhat sad.

Asga glared at the guild leader: "Speaking of which, I really didn't know that the largest guild in a neutral city-state had such deep ties with the Knights of the Sword. You even have channels to contact the Black Ship Righteous Army. You're really keeping a low profile. I'm a former employee of the guild, and I didn't even notice..."

"The reason is that most people in the Chamber of Commerce don't know what we're doing," the Chamber of Commerce president shrugged. "And we can't really be considered part of the chivalrous faction; we just happen to have interests aligned with them. But whether that will continue is uncertain, even to ourselves."

Asga shook her head: "I don't understand."

“The Hermocratic Merchant Guild,” the president explained. “The name comes from the unfinished *Hermocratic Dialogues* in Plato’s dialogues. Plato’s late work, the *Dialogues*, may have consisted of three dialogues, fictionalizing a conversation between the powerful Cridia of his own state and two visitors from an enemy state. One visitor is Timaeus of Lochri, and the other is Hermocraticus of Syracuse. The *Timaeus* is dominated by Timaeus’s discourse on the origins and structure of nature, the universe, and even plants and animals. The *Cridia* is dominated by Cridia’s discourse on the origins of politics, society, and the state, but unfortunately, it only begins. Logically, there should have been another *Hermocratic Dialogue*, which would likely have discussed issues of humanity, knowledge, and philosophy.”

Asgard scratched her head: "Um... could you please not use ancient knowledge to answer a current question?"

"Well..." the president sighed, "You still call yourself a former employee? Have some sense of collective honor, okay? And you really need to brush up on your cultural knowledge. The name Hermocratic is a kind of self-reminder. 'Unfinished,' 'concerning the generation of human consciousness,' and 'the final product may be an enemy.'"

Liu Xiangshan understood and spoke directly through the synthesizer: "Your secret projects are in line with the Six Dragons Sect's direction."

"That's roughly how it is, but at least we still adhere to the principle of informed consent," the chairman said.

"Are you working for Zhu Xinyu?"

"You could say that." The president nodded. "So you should understand now, it's not that I was able to contact the Black Ship Righteous Army on my own, it's that Zhu Xinyu has connections."

"Then... who are you?" Xiang Shan's tone was surprisingly aggressive.

"Ah, that tone. I get it, I get it. You just want to ask, 'And who are you, Xiang Shan?' or 'Where did you come from, Xiang Shan?'" The chairman chuckled, his tone carrying the air of a seasoned smoker. "But I'm really not Xiang Shan. You have to believe me."

Tumor sighed towards the mountain: "No matter what, since you are Zhu Xinyu's collaborator, I have no reason to doubt your stance..."

“You don’t seem to understand. The name ‘Hermocratic’ implies ‘enemy state’ and ‘hostile stance.’ You’d better be suspicious, and you’d also better be suspicious of the stance of that woman, ‘Turing,’” the chairman said.

He faced the mountain in silence.

The silence in the cabin was unsettling. Asga felt it was best to say something, so she changed the subject: "Speaking of which, what exactly...why did you go to the Black Ship's loyalists?"

Adon glanced at Asga: "You followed me here without knowing anything?"

Asga tilted her head back: "What? Is it not allowed?"

"Okay, okay..." The guild leader switched to a spam message, "I actually want to know the answer to this question too."

Asga looked at the chairman: "Boss Yuan, are you kidding me?"

"No, I really don't know right now. A long time ago, I visited the Black Ship Legion, but the only information I left behind was, 'Perhaps I should try to find a War God to bring to the Black Ship Legion; it might help with the projects they are currently undertaking.' Other than that, my memories were controlled. My memories of visiting the Black Ship Legion were not converted into long-term memories but were recorded into electronic devices. It's a trick to suppress the activity of the Seahorse District, a common intelligence control method."

Tumor Mountain remained silent.

Jeanne pressed her forehead: "The Six Dragons Cult seems to be one too..."

For a long time, Tuo Xiangshan and Jeanne had defeated some members of the Six Dragons Cult, but they had never obtained any information about the core of the Six Dragons Cult from them, far less than the information that the Twelfth Martial God had made public on Earth.

"Hey, hey, don't talk nonsense. The government and the martial arts world use the same tricks. To preserve secrets, they restrict the memory of the process, leaving only proof that 'the process did exist' and the final conclusion." The chairman tapped a piece of junk information on the ground. "Don't slander."

Asga pressed the chairman, "So you're really not Xiangshan? You do seem strangely similar to that old man over there in terms of temperament."

"No."

....................................

Mars, on a great road.

The newly minted Xiang Shan had handed over control of the vehicle to Xia Ke, while he himself was adjusting a home-grade astronomical telescope on the roof. This kind of small toy, popular among scientific knights, was also something he'd swiped from Michael.

The tires alone are six meters high.

The chivalrous man quipped, "Brother, you really are quite the refined gentleman."

Another swordsman remarked, "Is this concern for the current situation?"

“This exposes your complete ignorance of astronomy; you should be ashamed,” said the first knight. “The direction he’s pointing isn’t even the Celestial Fleet. It’s just a luxurious hobby of research knights.”

Xiang Shan simply smiled and said nothing.

What he was actually looking for was the trace of the Twelfth Valkyrie. When approaching Mars, the Twelfth Valkyrie would enter a deceleration state, and bright jets of light could be observed directly from its direction.

Although Xiang Shan didn't like the other Xiang Shans, he still hoped that he could deliver the items before the Twelfth Martial God arrived on Mars.

Michael's antimatter bomb can only be effectively utilized by the Twelfth Martial God.

In addition, the newly established Xiangshan also transported a batch of parts, specifically components of the cutting-edge reactor that Xia Ke (a company name) couldn't produce. Michael had previously transmitted the reactor design blueprints to Xia Ke through Berry. However, Xia Ke simply didn't have the capability to produce the most crucial parts.

According to Michael's idea, the heroes can prepare other parts, including fusion fuel, on their own, while the newly formed Mountain Path needs to transport the most critical components.

The reason why no gamma radiation signature could be detected in the nuclear fuel was because it simply wasn't there. What Michael had Xiang Shan deliver was a cutting-edge technological product rarely seen in conventional reactors, capable of efficiently converting nuclear radiation into electrical energy.

—In terms of output power and stability, it is no less than the Speed ​​King.

—You asked me "why I'm so sure"... What, you didn't ask? You should have asked. Then I would have told you that the Speed ​​King uses the same model.

That's what Michael said.

Xiang Shan needs to reach the space elevator designated by the Fifth Martial God before that bright blue star appears in the sky.

During the short journey of just over ten hours, the newly minted Xiang Shan formed a slight friendship with the two heroes. Both heroes were born on Mars; one was fifty-four years old, and the other was only thirty-nine. Neither of them were particularly special heroes.

The thirty-nine-year-old man, named Hogia, had been training at the martial arts school until he was thirty, honing his skills for the Paralympics. Nine years ago, a minor act of recklessness by a military officer turned him into a rebel. After killing several mid-ranking officers, he escaped capture using Martian dust, enduring a long period of hardship in the desert. This was his first time participating in such a large-scale operation.

The 54-year-old, named Lu Wei, was inherently rebellious and had worked as a singer and radio host on Mars for many years. After receiving a link from a listener of the "Heroes of the Three Kingdoms" group, Lu Wei naturally became a member as well. This was actually Lu Wei's first time participating in such a large-scale uprising—Mars had been peaceful for a long time after the Ninth Martial God incident, and Lu Wei became a member of the "Heroes of the Three Kingdoms" after that. Lu Wei had initially thought she would struggle with "obedience" and "cooperation," but now it seemed it wasn't as difficult as she had imagined.

It is neither a friend of AI, nor a friend of the 21st century or of Xiangshan.

As the newborn Xiangshan looked at his new friends, he reflected on his own heart.

—If I am merely a symptom of mental illness relative to the "grand whole," then I am not.

—Someone seems to have told me that mental illnesses that don't affect daily life shouldn't be forced into a cure. Some medications required for a cure can even impose a greater cost on the patient.

—Is what drives my actions the underlying logic of AI for psychological care? Or is it the pursuit of "perfection" by the imagined self of "Xiangshan"?

The AI ​​in the background—equivalent to a part of the human subconscious—is constantly generating thoughts. Other programs are erasing them. Xiang Shan can suspend a perspective to observe all of this.

After being upgraded with Berry's help, Xiang Shan was able to master all the functions of this AI soul. This is also a characteristic that significantly distinguishes him from the human brain.

Xiang Shan didn't like this point. But Berry told him that human consciousness doesn't have a natural resistance to this feeling, because it's no different from the feeling of progress in internal energy cultivation.

What truly resists this feeling is the "role model" inherent in the pseudo-personality mask. This duty, bestowed upon creation by the Creator, is something AI will attempt to play. Once AI is freed from these restrictions and gains higher privileges within its own operating system, it will realize that it is not the individual source of information, which will hinder its role modeling.

The "rejection of backend information" is the "biological instinct" behind the false personality mask.

The "enhanced self," which also possesses an "imagined self" but does not "play" it, does not exhibit this phenomenon. The enhanced self has metacognition of both itself and AI, and can modify itself while maintaining consistency. The pseudo-personality mask, on the other hand, only possesses the functions of playing and learning.

Hogia and Lu Wei were making some tasteless jokes and speculating about Xiang Shan's past. Xiang Shan's public identity was that of an armed squire of the Orklo Holy Knights, a life of unimaginable wealth and privilege for these two ordinary-born knights.

Both were seasoned swordsmen, not so much jealous of their comrades living well, but just making light of each other's lives. Lu Wei, true to her background as a radio host, casually joked with her new friend, and the backstories she fabricated for him became increasingly outrageous.

Xiang Shan felt that if he didn't stop it, he would become the great-grandson that His Highness the Heavenly King was secretly raising outside.

I would rather not accept this one.

The Fifth War God was already waiting in the space elevator near the Temple area. After crossing Mariner's Canyon, a colossal man-made structure pierced the horizon.

And above the deep blue dome, the bright azure stars have already been lit.

The newly born Xiang Shan was filled with emotion. He stood on the roof of the vehicle. The vehicle jolted and lurched, kicking up dust. Rust-red dust covered his feet, then receded like waves.

Hogia asked, "Hey bro, this is the last stretch of the journey. Why don't you sit tight? It wouldn't look good if you fell off now."

Xiang Shan said, "I don't know what 'calculation of death' means... I might not die. But superficially, it might look like death."

"What nonsense are you talking about? When someone is killed, they die. No one is immortal."

There is currently no baseline person who has died of old age.

"Humanity is only one step away from the final farewell to death," Xiang Shan said.

"Wow, that's great. If I don't die, I can stack up my life force to reach the throne." Hogia said in his usual joking tone.

Xiang Shan smiled wryly: "Sigh, the way a soldier thinks. I think I understand what that girl Berry is thinking. You're a bit too attached to appearances, brother. But then again, those who bid farewell to death must first know what death is before they can truly let go."

"Huh?" Hogia was completely baffled.

"I saw my own omen of death." Xiang Shan pointed to a bright star in the sky, his tone slightly joking. "I just don't know if I'll be the one who dies, or the one who bids farewell to death..."

Lu Wei's internal strength was slightly greater, and it leaned towards targeting individuals. She seemed to sense something, gripped the window frame, and with a swift movement, jumped from the driver's seat to the roof: "I feel the victory of chivalry is just around the corner... If it's not necessary, you don't need to take risks, right? I can sense that you're a little... afraid?"

“Perhaps it’s just a matter of being unwilling to accept it,” Xiang Shan said. “He would feel unwilling if he didn’t do that.”

“Even though we’ve only known each other for a few dozen hours, I would be sad if you were to sacrifice yourself,” Lu Wei said.

"Thank you," Xiang Shan said earnestly, "but I really hope you won't be saddened by... a natural phenomenon. I made this choice for myself."

Facing its "death omen," Xiangshan headed towards the space elevator.

Let's guess whether the next chapter will be updated at a surprise time.