Ch.47- Connection is getting cut–
“Lin Yan has left Pandora.”
“Thank you for your hard work. You did well.”
“It’s nothing much, just installed a small program into Narcissus’ system. Not difficult at all.”
“…In the future, except for encrypted emails like this one, don’t mention what you’ve done ever again.”
“I know. You don’t have to worry about it.”
The girl’s delicate and pretty face was covered with a cloud of shadows as she lowered her head, but then she slowly laughed.
Fortunately, Narcissus was just as narcissistic as his namesake, his beauty and vain allowing her to infiltrate the Black Domain.
Then she was able to find the loopholes in Ares’s system.
Otherwise… Ares would never be “paralyzed” for no reason.
She tilted her head to look at herself in the mirror, picked up the lipstick placed on the table, and applied it carefully.
Her lip shape was very delicate, after putting on lipstick, she looked even more charming than before and she chuckled with satisfaction.
—Even my own mother betrayed me to help that person with all her heart….
—Then I will let her taste the sting of betrayal too….
Kristen suddenly jolted in her seat. General Doyle, who was standing at the front of the podium, noticed but only gave her a sideways look.
He didn’t say anything, just looked at the officer in front of him: “Helmsman, prepare to turn, and return to the military headquarters.”
The Third Legion garrison is the farthest one from the military headquarters. They are stationed far from the center of the empire and closer to the enemy’s frontlines. They have been sailing in hyperspace for a long time, when suddenly they were told to return to military headquarters.
The starship flipped slowly in the large expanse of space and sailed in the opposite direction.
“General, there’s not much energy left on the ship, so it is recommended to find supplies along the way.” Sergeant Hui reported.
General Doyle hummed nonchalantly and asked, “Is there enough to last our return trip to headquarters?”
The sergeant replied: “It is estimated that after we make it back to headquarters, the remaining energy level will be around 7%.”
“That’s enough,” General Doyle looked at the bright stars of the universe on the screen in front of him, “We must hurry this time. Try to get to headquarters as soon as possible.”
“Yes.”
After arranging the technical matters, the starship entered warp speed, and General Doyle walked up to Kristen and asked: “What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly so nervous?”
Kristen nodded and readily admitted: “She went to the military headquarters alone, and it was Ares who had the accident this time. I feel that something is wrong.”
“Oh?” General Doyle raised his eyebrows. “For example?”
“I have seen the records of the last time Ares had an accident,” Kristin recalled, “Lin Yan once told me that in the entire Star Network, there are almost no hackers that can match her, and can be counted on one hand. Unless that person was so cautious that she had never discovered them before, there shouldn’t be another hacker that can paralyze Ares’s system without her knowing.”
“This time, Ares was attacked and the system crashed. However, if there is indeed such a hacker who can attack Ares and paralyze the A.I., then he or she will not act so low-key.
“Why?” General Doyle showed a somewhat confused expression.
Kristen smiled, almost a hint of sweetness in her expression: “Lin Yan said that in this era, the star network technology can easily protect the public domain and the extensive networks of many other entities. Compared to the earth era, the significance of hackers’ existence has dropped. Even if one works hard to learn how to hack, in the end they can only possess superficial skills that will not be enough to even hack the internal network of a small company.”
“Almost everyone who can really become a hacker, are people who were born with talent and interest in it. And people like that all go through a certain chuunibyou phase.”
“When they have learned enough, they tend to be filled with self-confidence, and then challenge everyone and everything they can.” Kristen smiled, “Even Lin Yan was not an exception.”
“However, for an elite artificial intelligence with a sufficiently complete system structure, even Lin Yan was unable to do serious damage to them without sufficient preparation. The most she can do is check the A.I.’s database without disturbing the other party. To be able to cause such serious damage to Ares…they must be someone very familiar with Ares.”
Kristen slowly sorted through her thoughts, she took a deep breath and came to the final conclusion: “General, I suspect… the person who actually did this likely belongs to the military. “
General Doyle did not agree with her judgment: “There is no such person as you said in the military department.”
“Most of the people in the military are from military academies, and as you said, the person must be highly-skilled to have such skills. I’m afraid that those stupid people in the military who rely on Ares for everything wouldn’t be capable of doing any of this.”
“But……”
Before Kristen could finish her words, she was interrupted by the sirens that sounded throughout the ship.
“General, we’ve discovered a sudden increase of high-energy levels form somewhere behind us! Permission to leave hyperspace in 10 seconds!”
General Doyle turned his head and looked at the huge screen in front of the command podium: “Approved!”
“Begin the countdown! ! 5…”
“Raise the energy shield!”
The starship suddenly broke away from the hyperspace, and then, a brilliant white light burst in front of the starship!
“The shield has been damaged, with 68% shield-energy remaining!”
The white light dissipated, and General Doyle saw a familiar battleship model in front of them.
“Enemy attack.” General Doyle’s brows furrowed. “Kristen, go to the mecha docking area and prepare for battle.”
This was clearly an enemy starship. But how did it pop out of nowhere and how did it break through the border defenses of the Stewart Empire? However, in this current situation, this was not important.
Knowing that this is not the time to ask questions, Kristen simply responded with a “yes” and turned around and stepped into the elevator connecting the bridge to other areas.
“All departments of the starship, get in your places!!” General Doyle narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the enemy ship ready to fire on the screen.
“Get ready to fight!!!”
Pandora arranged for Lin Yan an identity of a native Pandorian. General Doyle already sent a message ahead to the military department, so Lin Yan was able to arrive in Ares’s main location with Chu smoothly and without problem.
Although Chu was once a member of a high-level military family, he served for only a short time and during that time he was in disharmony with his Sentinel, so he was confined in the bowels of the military for a long time. Except for Doyle Walter, there was no one else in the military department who knew him.
Therefore, he didn’t have to put on any disguise, and directly followed Lin Yan into the military headquarters.
The military department seemed to be very anxious indeed, and welcomed Lin Yan’s arrival with great enthusiasm, so much so that Chu was teased by Lin Yan for overestimating the military department.
The area where Ares’s main system was located was classified as a military secret. Lin Yan and Chu had to pass various inspections before they were given access to the compartment where Ares’ main system was stored.
Countless huge machines were displayed in the room, each one shining with a faint light. Light blue lights blinked every now and then, and the whole scene was something straight out of a sci-fi book.
“…It’s so beautiful.” Lin Yan couldn’t help but sigh.
Ares is probably around middle or lower level in terms of power among the five super artificial intelligences. So… just how beautiful and powerful our Narcissus and Pandora’s systems, seeing as the two of them are ranked at the very top?
Chu obviously has no appreciation for this kind of sci-fi aesthetics, and only urged: “Go and deal with it already.”
Lin Yan looked at Ares’ machines with a reluctant gaze before following the military personnel who led them to the bottom of the compartment.
Ares’ situation seemed to be much better than Lin Yan had imagined, and it was not something difficult to deal with.
According to the news that Pandora gave her, the attack on Ares should have left more serious damage so what was this….
Lin Yan quickly plunged into her work while suppressing the doubts that had emerged in her heart.
“Da-ren, I have fulfilled my mission and hope you can abide by your previous promises.”
“Don’t worry, my people will be moving as fast as possible. You just need to treat it as nothing happened.”
“But… the Third Legion has contacted the Guide Alliance again, and this time Doyle also specially notified the military…”
“Isn’t that a easy thing to fix?” The man snorted. “Just tell Doyle that the two men never even arrived at military headquarters at all.”
——Doyle will soon be overwhelmed anyway.
The Ares system was finally repaired, Lin Yan rubbed her faintly aching wrists and stood up.
The reception staff beside her directed her the way out again, but for some reason, she didn’t see a glimpse of Chu’s figure.
She asked the staff if they had seen him with a strange feeling in her heart, but the officer was also at a loss: “…Maybe he got bored and came up early?”
Lin Yan shook her head, still feeling something was wrong.
Ares’s system restarted again and the rows of huge machines began to light up.
Lin Yan looked back at Ares’s machines one last time before leaving the cabin.
The officer walked in front of her, and they only took a few steps when she saw Chu not far away.
The officer chuckled: “Why are you out here….”
Before she could finish her sentence, Chu suddenly shot his hands like electricity, and strangled the officer’s throat with a severe grip.
Lin Yan exclaimed: “Chu!”
Chu gave her a hard wink, and dragged the leading officer to the other side with one hand.
“What is this…”
“Pssshhhhhh——!!!” A muffled explosion suddenly broke through the air, and a bullet hit the metal floor beside Lin Yan’s feet, making a dull sound.
The look on Lin Yan’s face changed, and she followed Chu obediently.
The situation has changed!
The ground under her feet shook violently, causing her to almost fall over.
Chu frowned, trying to reach out and grab Lin Yan.
But a strange smell suddenly filled the air, Lin Yan only felt nauseous, and when her eyes went dark, she lost her consciousness.
“Your Grace, the person you want, is on her way. We…also have another person in our custody.”
“Oh? Who is it?”
“The widow of the former commander of the Third Legion.”
“…There is no need to bring him. You can deal with him as you see fit.” The person’s voice paused, “You can also find the audio and video left by the Third Legion and put it on for him if you want.”
“Yes.”
A girl lay quietly in the operating room like a cold corpse.
A mechanical voice without any emotion sounded: “Isolation element has been injected. The operation can now begin.”
Someone pressed the confirmation button and then the mechanical voice made a frightening beep.
“We will now began severing the connection–”
The girl that had fallen into a deep coma suddenly struggled violently as if it had suffered some unbearable pain.
The robotic arm on standby quickly injected a tranquilizer, and the girl’s struggle gradually weakened.
No one noticed the line of tears that dripped from the corners of her eyes and into the inky black hair flowing down her shoulders.
Author’s notes:
Today’s abuse is for a sweeter tomorrow! Believe me!
Fluffy Translations 