Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

—The Imp, the master AI of the Great Library, was co-authored by Alice and Patchouli. In essence, she is an aggregate of information from all the books in the Great Library. The two witches trust her even more than they trust their own hands.

“Thank you for your hard work, little devil,” Alice greeted her. “How stable is the mind control? Is there any possibility of errors?”

"The relevant matters have been handed over to Master Patchouli. The will and training of ordinary people are not enough to withstand the mental impact I create. I am sorry that three sailors suffered brain damage due to their excessive resistance, but they are not in important technical positions, so I judge that this loss will not hinder the execution of the mission."

“The correct strategy is to keep all the technicians who can launch nuclear missiles alive.” Alice turned her head to look at her friend. “Patch, I have a plan. I intend to unify the nations of the world, and then…”

She quickly and completely conveyed the plan to Patchouli.

“I don’t object, Alice,” Patchouli said with a slight smile. “I’ll always be on your side. You just need to make sure you can be ruthless enough.”

“Of course I can be ruthless.” Alice took a soft breath. “It’s better for them to be killed as a warning to others than to be slaughtered by aliens like weeds. At least to me, their deaths have meaning.”

“Besides, you’re right here with me…” Alice closed her eyes, and the puppet immediately began to operate. “My calculations and Penglai’s alone might not be enough; we need to add the little devil.”

"Patch?"

Patchouli nodded slightly to the little devil.

"You are permitted to access the network," she commanded.

The next moment, Alice's will sank into the vast ocean of information woven from the internet. Through the satellite network that covered the entire world, the entire blue Earth was presented to her perception like an exquisite glass bonsai.

[Activate the electronic virus to hack into all radio stations, personal computers, mobile phones, and all display terminals capable of receiving signals.]

[Stop all base station and radio communications...prohibit all signals except mine from passing through.]

In that instant, the entire world fell silent. Whether it was the scrolling television screens playing on the streets, the cell phones used by pedestrians, the home theaters in ordinary households, or even the monitors in laboratories and the internal intelligence systems controlled by the military, all electrical appliances with screens were now covered by Alice's bust.

She can do what the Decepticons could do in the second movie. With the help of the electronic virus from the main god and the computing power of the Great Library, her information control is even more extensive than that of the Cybertronians.

She slowly opened her eyes, her sky-blue pupils utterly clear. There was no emotion, no love, hate, joy, or sorrow. Like a deity, she gazed upon everyone on the screen.

The spirit has detached, so the body naturally has no emotions.

"Announce to all peoples of the world. My name is Alice, Alice Margotrovid. From this moment on, I will establish order in this world."

Her voice, translated by the little devil, resonated in hundreds of different languages ​​across various countries. All attempts to shut down the network and disconnect the servers were futile. Unless the power was directly cut off, no one could interrupt her speech.

But no one can cut off a country's power supply all at once.

"All hostile activities between nations must cease immediately. Internal strife will not be tolerated; everyone must unite as a single entity. I give you one hour. After one hour, all individuals still at war will be punished."

High-ranking officials and military generals slammed their fists on the table in fury. Just moments ago, every military base in the world, except those in the combat zone, that could be detected by satellite ceased operations. Tanks stalled, and aircraft wouldn't start. Those already airborne were fine, but their radars were completely blank.

"You may resist, but it will be futile. In the next hour, I will gradually shut down all weapon systems worldwide. This includes your tanks, fighter jets, aircraft carriers, nuclear arsenals, and all high-tech weaponry. And in one hour, I hope to see every leader of the world in this electronic conference room [XXXX]."

All overseas fleets lost contact with their homelands. Communications were cut off, and even the ships themselves were unable to operate their boilers. They drifted pitifully in the middle of the ocean like a pile of floating islands. Except for the nuclear submarines, which were completely silent, all the ordinary submarines were forced to surface, floating on the surface like a pile of dead fish.

The little devils are searching for those nuclear submarines, and it shouldn't take long.

"This is an order, and there is no room for refusal. Those who disobey will pay a heavy price. If you value life and yearn for peace, then do not break your promise."

Alice slowly closed her eyes.

"above."

She withdrew from the internet, returning the world of information to the nations. And when she left, the world was in an uproar.

Chapter Fourteen: But merely dabbling in trivial skills, like dust and weeds in the wilderness, one should strive to improve oneself amidst the mud... [Please Subscribe]

The moment the network connection was severed, the emotions that should belong to human beings returned to her once again. She turned her head and smiled at Patchouli.

Milliseconds later, a torrent of dark red, lifeless blood gushed from every pore of her skin. She coughed softly, each cough spitting out a small amount of fragments of internal organs, her entire body instantly stained crimson with her own bodily fluids. Her legs could no longer support her body, and she leaned backward, about to fall!

Alice!

Patchouli arrived at her side with a speed completely unlike her usual self, reaching out to hug her but hesitating, and could only carefully control the anti-gravity field to keep her levitating. At the same time, the healing barrier operated at maximum power, and the magic of the Great Library was poured into it at this moment. Apart from maintaining the necessary levitation and concealment mechanisms, all the magic was used to sustain the girl's life.

"You're really...reckless! Handling this kind of information, didn't you even consider that your body might not be able to handle it?!"

“Because… Patchouli, you’re right here with me…” Alice raised her hand, her fingertips still bleeding, and gently stroked Patchouli’s cheek, wiping away the few tears that rolled down her cheeks. “Don’t cry, witches… don’t have tears.”

"You idiot!" Patchouli gripped the hand, letting the blood stain her cheek. "Say nonsensical things, do nonsensical things, thinking you're so cool? We don't need such complicated methods to unite the nations. Aren't words and wisdom for that purpose? Why insist on using such brute force?"

"Because I'm not a magician like Merlin who can conjure petals from stones," Alice forced a smile. Most of her organs had been damaged by the excessive strain during the previous information processing, and even with the Great Library's repairs and power supply, she still lacked the ability to move around much.

She took two gentle breaths.

"We don't have much time left. A week's gap is just my estimate. The humans in this world are far too weak. Even their fission reactors are only in their early stages and haven't been widely deployed yet. With just their soldiers, they can at most deal with unarmed Cybertronians. Once they face a real regular army... they don't even qualify as cannon fodder."

"Therefore, I must arm them, using magic and outsider technology to build an elite deep-strike force. Provide the blueprints, get their factories running to manufacture weapons. Moreover, unifying the nations can also be a necessary condition for activating the Apocalypse... We may still need that as a last resort."

Patchouli lowered her eyes.

"The ruler of all nations on earth, Satan? Or..." she murmured, "You really are... Never mind, since you've made your decision, I'll support you to the end. It's just..."

She embraced Alice from behind, whose body had mostly healed. She let Alice's blood soak into her own body.

"Your habit of shouldering everything yourself is infuriating... We are on equal footing. Are you trying to make me your appendage?"

"...You're overthinking it, Patchouli."

Alice shook her head with a wry smile. "The only reason I did it was because only I could achieve that level of precision. If you can do it, I promise I won't stop you."

"You promise you won't stop me?"

"...I'll probably still try to stop them." Alice bit her lower lip lightly, somewhat deflated. "Okay, I know I was wrong, I won't do it again next time."

Patchouli fiddled with her loose short hair, and with a slight fluctuation of the force field, the bloodstains stuck to the ends of her hair were wiped away little by little, then decomposed and disappeared into the air.

“We’re still too weak after all.” Alice didn’t care much about these details. She felt that her body had been roughly repaired, so she supported herself and put her feet on the ground. “Electronic warfare can only deal with this kind of technologically backward world, and the network is only at an early stage. If sound waves were no longer a threat, it would probably take us half a week just to fight for control of the network… Victory would be hard to say, let alone the subsequent planning.”

"But we are the winners."

"Yes, that's why we're able to stand here now."

The little devil appeared quietly beside the two witches, bowed slightly, and respectfully asked a question.

"Masters, the bathroom is ready. Would you like to take a bath now?"

“Well done.” Alice gave her an approving look. “Then, the task of monitoring the world is entrusted to you, Imp. Collect as much data as possible and identify those who still refuse to stop the war after hearing our announcement. Prepare their information. First, shut down the weapon systems around them as a warning. If they still don’t give up, then project information waves of a specific frequency through the satellite network to their area for location. I’m going to prepare a spell-casting ritual.”

“Making an example of someone is not just a saying. Now is the time to establish authority. Although I don’t really want the situation to get to that point, if…” She looked at the screen below the main control tower, where the controlled nuclear submarine remained firmly in its original position.

All advanced air defense systems in this world rely on electronic control, and their only means of air defense right now is anti-aircraft machine guns. If some expert could manually control an anti-aircraft machine gun to shoot down a ballistic missile... then Alice would accept it.

However, such a person could not possibly exist in this world. And a life form capable of doing such a thing... would not interfere with her at this time.

Her phone suddenly rang.

"It's Optimus Prime. Looks like he's moving faster than I thought." Alice chuckled, beckoning with her hand and using her force field to take the special cell phone provided by the main god into her palm. As soon as she connected the call, the unique mechanical noise of the Cybertronians entered her ears.

She spoke first.

"I recall you promised a few hours ago not to interfere in human affairs? Has your stance changed?"

“No, I won’t break my promise,” Optimus Prime’s voice came from the other end of the communicator. “But Sam isn’t entirely satisfied, so I’m asking you as a friend. Why did you do this?”

"Because humanity must unite. Just recently we captured a Decepticon prisoner here, and he told us that although the AllSpark is damaged, it can still be used once or twice."

"...And then?" The voice on the other end paused for a moment.

"Megatron intends to use it to repair a starship called the Nemesis. And a large army is sleeping on the Nemesis."

"...I understand. I'll talk to Sam about it."

Alice secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems you've recognized Sam's value. Can you share some information with me?"

"Sam has information about an ancient artifact left on Earth by us Cybertronians inside his head. It's called the Source Matrix, and it's even more important to us than the AllSpark. But Sam can't access that information yet; it will probably take a few more days."

"........."

"I wish you success in finding your artifact." Alice thought for a moment and tried to use a light tone. "If you need any help during the search, please don't hesitate to ask."

“I won’t hesitate to speak up if necessary,” Optimus Prime replied.

Communication was immediately interrupted.

Alice put down her phone, her brows slowly furrowing.

"Such a crucial thing as the Source Energy Matrix didn't even trigger the main quest in the second part..."

Section 15. Gathering and gregarious, moving towards life... [Please subscribe]

An hour passed quickly. Before Alice's allotted time for the meeting, the web conference room, constructed using the resources of the Great Library, was already packed. Leaders from all over the world occupied every seat labeled with their country's name, projecting their busts onto the screens.

They had no choice but to come.

During this one-hour buffer period, Alice shut down all their weapon systems one by one. Any machine with a circuit board capable of receiving signals, regardless of whether it could connect to the internet, became completely unusable. Fighter jets couldn't take off, ships couldn't sail, and even multi-purpose infantry vehicles and tactical personal terminals were rendered unusable. At this moment, the entire army lost most of its combat capability.

They had tried to fight back, but their efforts were in vain. Even the best hackers combined with the most advanced supercomputers could not shake Alice's control over the information network. They hadn't even detected the electronic virus yet, let alone figured out Alice's methods.

Lacking the ability to resist, one can only choose to obey.

Everything that happens in this conference room will be broadcast to every corner of the world. Just like Alice's last speech, the whole world will witness this historic moment.

And it will surely be passed down through the ages.

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

Alice's will arrived in this virtual conference hall. The moment her figure appeared, a cacophony of voices erupted from the various windows. Spokespersons from each country protested to Alice in their own languages, condemning her actions.

However, the sound disappeared the moment Alice raised her hand.

It wasn't because these people felt afraid or apprehensive; Alice simply muted their audio, preventing them from speaking at that moment.

"It's not time for you to speak yet," Alice said calmly, her gaze sweeping over all the virtual windows one by one, and she easily spotted the three empty seats.

[People from three countries didn't come... Which three countries?] Her will connected with the little devil lurking in the network and quickly found the answer.

Three small countries, two in Africa and one in northeastern Oceania. The two African countries are at war. They lack access to high-tech weaponry, and information technology can't disable AK-47s. Therefore, they ignore Alice's warnings and are solely focused on determining the victor.

The small country in northeastern Oceania did this intentionally, seemingly because its leader wanted to project an image of toughness and authority, but Alice knew the answer wouldn't be what it appeared to be.

Are they merely pawns of powerful nations, sacrifices used to probe the enemy's path?

Very well, this is your own choice.

—Her gaze paused only very slightly as it swept over the blank windows, and even the most observant analyst could not detect her abnormality except for herself.

Then, she clapped her hands lightly.