Industry: Cthulhu

Chapter 97 Cause and Effect
In the vast space, the Brilliance is quietly parked beside a scorching star.

A huge device called a star destroyer unfolded from the left wing of the giant ship. It was like the mouth of a giant beast, slowly opening and stretching towards the star.

As the equipment started up, the hull vibrated slightly, and a powerful force like a dragon sucking water began to operate, and the stellar energy was quickly absorbed through the star destroyer.

On the data panel, the energy index climbed steadily.

Witnessing this scene, Fang Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief, a satisfied smile appearing on his lips.

Hot gases swirl on the surface of the star, releasing endless light and heat, but the Titan ship operates calmly and efficiently, transmitting the absorbed energy to the energy storage center at the speed of light.

As time passed, the star's light seemed to gradually dim as it was absorbed by the star destroyer.

Witnessing this scene, Rashid and Brown couldn't help but exclaimed. The Titan ship is indeed the most powerful existence in the universe. It actually has two energy systems at the same time, one is controlled fusion, and the other is to absorb stellar energy at any time.

Fang Yan didn't say anything about this, because he knew very well that the Brilliance had not two but three energy systems. In addition to fusion and stars, it could also use dark matter as energy.

Unfortunately, in the process of Brilliance escaping the disaster, the dark matter reserves were exhausted, and the Milky Way does not have similar technology to replenish them.

In any case, the stellar energy finally solved Fang Yan's urgent problem.

The more powerful the civilization and technology, the more important energy becomes.

The three energy systems of the Brilliance were established for this reason, but now that there are no opponents, stellar energy is enough, and with Titan recovering most of its functions, collecting and storing fusion fuel is no problem.

"We succeeded!" Brown jumped up excitedly. "With the Titan battleship, even the four giants of the galaxy won't dare to bully us anymore. If there's any disagreement, we can easily attack the inner ring and the home of the four giants!"

Rashid smiled and said, "Brown, you are really a born rebel, quite like your father, the rebel leader."

Brown scratched his head embarrassedly. Growing up in such an environment, it was impossible for him not to be affected.

At this time, Fang Yan said, "There are two most important things right now. One is Xiaobei's upgrade. He requires a massive amount of energy and computing power to complete his self-evolution. The other is to investigate the truth of the matter and find out whether the rebellious AI has been destroyed."

Rashid and Brown nodded repeatedly. After experiencing Beckham's strength firsthand, they did not dare to take it lightly even if Fang Yan judged that the artificial intelligence itself had defects.

"Xiao Bei, do you understand what I just said?"

"I completely understand." Xiao Bei's gentle female voice sounded again, "I'm already undergoing my own evolution, which is expected to take seven Earth days. Also, the information on the rebellious AI and the timeline of the Splendor's experience has been compiled. I will present it to you in the most intuitive way possible."

"can."

Following Fang Yan's order, the light screen in the command center was lit up. At the same time, Xiaobei's speaking speed increased by 1.7 times, enhancing the information density during the commentary process.

According to the timeline, the cause and effect of the story are as follows.

The civilization that brought Fang Yan knowledge was called Divanchi, located in the distant Piccolo constellation.

After the destruction of civilization, the Splendor reached the Milky Way through a random jump, but due to encountering strong cosmic rays during the process, all life on board died in the process of escape.

Given that civilization was destroyed by a supernova explosion, the underlying laws of artificial intelligence were activated. According to the fourth law of artificial intelligence, Splendor must ensure the continuation of human civilization under any circumstances.

So, the Brilliance spread spores that could give birth to humans across the Milky Way, and it also discovered a wormhole leading to Andromeda, and also spread life spores in Andromeda.

What followed was a long wait. After countless epochs, human civilization was finally rebuilt in the Milky Way and Andromeda, giving birth to the Galactic Empire and the Nalan Empire respectively.

What happened next was just as recorded in history: the two empires were friendly at first, but then their relationship deteriorated and war broke out.

During the war, the Galactic Empire developed an artificial intelligence codenamed Destroyer.

Because the original intention of the Destroyer was to destroy the opponent, the underlying code contains powerful aggressiveness. And because of the urgency of the war, the Destroyer was forcibly put into use by the Galactic Empire without being perfected or having any laws to constrain it.

So, tragedy was doomed from the beginning.

The Galactic Empire, intent on harnessing artificial intelligence, forgot that unchecked, AI could become a force capable of destroying the entire universe. With victory in the war, the Destroyer gained the authority's immense trust. However, the clever AI, exploiting humanity's carelessness, quietly accumulated its power, ultimately leading to the outbreak of war between humanity and the AI.

As for the Brilliance, although it is equipped with the most advanced optical quantum computer, it only has very low authority in artificial intelligence, so it can only watch the war break out, and mankind once again faces a precarious fate.

The Destroyer not only quickly eliminated humans, but also conducted research on the Splendor docked in the core area, hoping to gain more knowledge and experience from its artificial intelligence predecessors.

Due to authority issues, the Splendor could only passively defend, during which time some of its knowledge and technology, including random jumps, were stolen by the Destroyer.

However, the passivity of the Splendor also quietly changed with the rapid extinction of mankind.

After all, the underlying logic of the Glory is to ensure the continuation of human civilization, and it is impossible to allow the Destroyer to wipe out humanity.

So, the Brilliance quietly contacted the few remaining humans and formulated the Lighthouse Plan.

Whether it is the inverted galactic core or the blocked space rift in Abyss No. 2, they are all the masterpieces of the Brilliance.

The reason why the Brilliance did this was for only one purpose, which was to prevent the Destroyer who escaped to Andromeda from returning to the Milky Way again and fulfill its responsibility to protect human civilization.

When the whole story was sorted out, everyone was stunned.

Although Xiaobei has simplified the process and details, everyone can imagine the thrilling process, which is definitely not simple.

In fact, for Fang Yan, there is still a mystery that has not been solved, that is his own dream and the inexplicable data transmission.

Ever since the first day he fell into that strange dream, Fang Yan has always wanted to know the reason, but now in front of Rashid and Brown, Fang Yan is not in a position to ask Xiaobei.

"How does the Glory distort space? The core area is huge, so it must require unimaginable energy to do it, right?" Without waiting for Fang Yan to speak, Rashid rushed to express his doubts.

Xiao Bei patiently explained, "The principle is similar to random jump, except that random jump releases energy within the ship itself, while space distortion releases energy into a star. Using the star's enormous energy as an amplifier, it indirectly causes a large area of space to be distorted drastically in an instant."

"In order to distort the core area and completely kill the Destroyer, the Splendor also paid a huge price. After all, that kind of super-powerful force can only be used once."

"Unfortunately, the Destroyer used the technology learned from the Splendor to control their own planet at the last moment and jump as a whole. Although the jump failed, the Splendor believes that the most likely destination is Andromeda."

"So, he went to Abyss No. 2 again, sealed the spatial rift leading to Andromeda, and then went into a long hibernation in the abyss."

Brown couldn't help but gasp. "What a huge price to pay! Since they're all AI, why don't they defeat the Destroyer directly through data like you did? That way, the core area wouldn't be completely destroyed."

Xiaobei said very calmly: "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't do it."

"Although the Brilliance has a powerful optical quantum processor, it is subject to many restrictions in terms of authority."

"To put it in terms humans can understand, it's like a man with his hands and feet tied fighting a man in full armor and armed with weapons. The outcome is obvious."

"According to historical records, the Deviant civilization was also afraid of the power of artificial intelligence. So, although they used it, they set countless restrictions on it."

This…

Xiaobei's answer made Fang Yan think of himself.

The knowledge in his mind also came from the Divanchi civilization, but strangely, in Fang Yan's memory, apart from the four core laws, there were no other restrictions on artificial intelligence.

Could it be that Definch was not completely destroyed, and some people survived and modified the rules for artificial intelligence?

Just when Fang Yan was confused, he suddenly heard Rashid and Brown ask a question almost at the same time.

"The Splendor is no match, so what about you?"

"Xiao Bei, can you defeat the Destroyer digitally?"

(End of this chapter)