Chapter 49
A piece of translucent paper fell from midair and landed in front of Si Chen.
The paper felt peculiar, with a strange metallic texture to the touch.
Si Chen wanted to activate his prosthetic eye to scan the leaflet.
“……Huh?”
Si Chen was surprised.
In this Space Fold, his prosthetic eye was non-functional.
Si Chen hesitated for a moment, then knelt down and picked up the paper on the ground.
He clearly couldn’t recognize the words on the paper but the relevant information automatically emerged in his mind.
[Stop resisting! Surrender unconditionally! PS: food and emergency medical package pick-up coordinates: (***,**)]
On this piece of paper, two dots of light appeared, one blue and one green.
Green was the supply point; blue was Si Chen’s current location.
Si Chen picked up a few more leaflets.
[If the electrical impulse in the protein chain created the soul by chance, why can’t the electrical impulse in metal?]*
[Flesh and blood are weak, Machine transcends!]*
[The great Emperor Turing will lead mankind to a new era.]
Judging from the contents of these leaflets alone, it looked to be the usual wartime brainwashing propaganda.
There was a strange electric sound from the sky above, like a bad signal reception.
Si Chen raised his head and above was murky colored sky. Suspended in midair was a huge 12-faced metal object. Each face displayed a number in glowing dark red.
This metal object hung solitary in the sky, creating an oppressive pressure. It took one’s breath away.
Now, the number on the bottom face was 10.
The metal object seemed to be alive, expanding and contracting as though it were breathing.
On the plain, a dead city had appeared out of nowhere.
If one were to look inside, they’d find bombed-out high-rises, collapsed roads and broken bridges. It was completely devoid of people. The scene hundreds of meters away was submerged in a cloud of yellow smoke; there really was no better way to describe it than “dead”.
Si Chen felt that every Space Fold he’d entered was extreme.
In his last Space Fold, the terrain had remained virtually unchanged. This time, it had changed so much that he couldn’t even fucking recognize it.
He couldn’t even tell which direction he’d come from.
Granular dust floated in the air. Visibility was poor.
The Eternal Life Abyss complained, feeling uncomfortable: “…Mom, itchy.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
This dust was a source of strong radiation pollution.
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“Si—-Chen—-Ge!” Through the yellow dust, a figure stumbled over.
His golden thigh was a no show but the carry-on oil bottle had appeared.
Ji Yuanji ran up to Si Chen. Hands on his knees, he panted, “Ge! The Space Fold… suddenly started. I, I…”
His fitness wasn’t that bad. But in this instance, all Ji Yuanji’s mechanical equipment weren’t functioning.
“The link between my prosthetics and my energy core is out of order. It was controlled through automatic assistance before.” Ji Yuanji panted and explained, “Now, I have to do it through nerve impulses. In other words, my brain is controlling my body. I haven’t practiced this for a long time so I’m not very proficient.”
Because he only had one metal arm exposed, Si Chen thought that only his arm had undergone mechanical transformation.
But judging from how Ji Yuanji was walking, he probably didn’t have many original organic parts left. His head was probably one of them.
Ji Yuanji said, lacking confidence. “Fortunately, only the control system is malfunctioning. I can still use my prosthetic parts. This is the first time I’ve encountered such a situation with my prosthetics. It shouldn’t be like this.”
Through the black gloves, Si Chen touched the protruding flesh on the back of his hand and frowned slightly. “This looks like a war zone… let’s go to Ji Chuyao first.”
Hopefully, Ji Chuyao hasn’t been reduced to a non-functioning lump of metal.
Si Chen: “Do you still remember the way?”
They way Ji Yuanji walked, he looked like some hoodlum doing a bad impression of hip-hop. He was trying so hard to control his body that it took a few seconds for him to realize that Si Chen was asking a question.
“Let’s try going back in the direction I came. The terrain has changed so much, I can’t really get a good read on the location.”
Si Chen’s suitcase was still in the car and since the Space Fold begun so suddenly, he hadn’t been able to carry much on him. In addition to the gun, he only had the lighter on him. Oh, and also the prosthetic eye in a containment box.
The two tentatively began to walk back.
Ji Yuanji looked at the metal parts scattered on the ground under his feet, and said casually: “The degree of technological use is much higher than our world.”
Both civilizations have lighted the technology tree but this one seems have at least already built an interstellar warship.
Si Chen gave a “hmm”.
He stopped before a huge pothole.
Si Chen has discovered the only connection between the topography of this Space Fold and that before the Space Fold.
The original field of sunken mine shafts has become a giant field of bombed pits. The metal objects on the edge of the craters were burning fiercely and there was a pungent burnt smell in the air.
Si Chen’s eyes were reddening slightly from the smoke. If his body hadn’t been strengthened, his eyes would definitely not just be watering.
The yellow dust in the air contained strongly radioactive metal particles.
Si Chen looked down and saw that the crater appeared bottomless, as if it could reach all the way to the center of the earth.
Ji Yuanji opened his mouth slightly. “At least a level 6 energy core and matching weapons are required to creating something like that. But, isn’t this a Level 2A Space Fold? It shouldn’t be like this. There are so many pits. Even a Level 2A Space Fold was bombarded so thoroughly.”
Si Chen asked, “Did you pick up any flyers on the way here?”
“Uh, yeah.” Ji Yuanji recalled, “It said, ‘Give up resistance. Abandon your delusions. Humanity has been crushed. The future world belongs to Machines!’.”
The current situation was clear.
There was a war between humans and the intelligent Machines. This was originally a human settlement but it was hit by a military attack. The time when the two worlds merged was just after the battle and before the humans’ surrender.
“There are shielding devices installed in the city, which makes mechanical creatures malfunction.” Si Chen continued, “So the Machines are distributing leaflets to persuade them to surrender.”
The only thing that puzzled Si Chen was that there were no injured humans to be seen.
The Machine army seemed to have blown up an empty city.
Ji Yuanji fell into deep thought. “But why would they want to fight humans?…I’m not saying your logic is wrong. It’s just that for intelligent machines though they can imitate human thinking ability, they’re just programs and data. Even if they show emotions, it’s just conclusions based on their own logic.”
“On this basis, it is impossible for them to harbor resentment or rejection towards humans. It’s only humans, using ourselves as a basis to judge others, who think machines have emotions. So, why would they wage war against humans?”
Si Chen asked, “What if Machines do have emotions?”
Ji Yuanji was taken aback and then retorted, “Impossible!”
Si Chen smiled, “As humans, of course, the more unlikely that possibility, the better. But maybe, it isn’t called emotion. Maybe, its erroneous data.”
Because of Si Chen’s words, Ji Yuanji fell into deep silence.
Si Chen hadn’t wandered off far from where Ji Chuyao had parked.
But because of the rough road, blocked by numerous broken pillars and large and small pieces of burning metals, the way back for the pair was lengthened considerably.
They walked almost two hours. Si Chen frowned and stopped.
“The terrain here has changed a lot but fortunately, the location of the original pit hasn’t changed. If I remember correctly, we’re now in the vicinity of where we parked, give or take 500 meters.”
What met them at the scene was ruins. Two buildings stood facing each other, the sky bridge connecting the two was broken, directly inserted into the ground.
The air here was still acrid but there was also a strange scorching heat.
If it was like breathing in expired exhaust gas before; now, at least it was fresh exhaust gas.
He thought he could lie flat but turns out he was going to have to carry someone else’s carry-on oil bottle in this instance.
Sure enough, men are unreliable.
They hadn’t run across anyone along the way, which made Si Chen feel a little uneasy.
He thought for a while and asked the Eternal Life Abyss. “Little Abyss, where’s food around here?”
The Eternal Life Abyss, thought for a moment, squeezed out a small tentacle from his glove and pointed to the ground.
Si Chen looked at the dirt on the soles of his shoes. It didn’t seem edible.
Si Chen had no choice but to add, “Something within reach.”
Thinking for a moment, the tentacle tipped due east.
Si Chen was just about to call Ji Yuanji over to follow him when he turned his head and saw a round red dot of light appear between Ji Yuanji’s eyebrows.
Ji Yuanji was still waving happily. “Si Chen Ge! Come and see, I found Uncle’s drone!!”
Before he could even think, Si Chen was already rushing forward, tackling Ji Yuanji, tucking him under him and doing a roll.
A bullet hit the steel plate he’d been standing ob=n before, making a loud bang like an explosion.
Ji Yuanji’s face turned pale.
It was a sniper.
Unlike Ji Chuyao, the family didn’t raise Ji Yuanji as an heir. It was mainly because of the test they’d conducted while he was still in the womb. Ji Yuanji’s talent and genes were revealed to be nothing special. The pregnancy would have been aborted but his parents were unwilling to do so.
As a flower growing in a greenhouse, this was the first time he had come so close to death.
Si Chen dragged him to hide behind a pillar and took out the gun pinned to his leg.
Ji Yuanji was still in shock. “Based from the direction the bullet came from, the sniper should be in the opposite building. Somewhere between the 3rd to 5th floors.”
Si Chen didn’t speak. He nodded and pointed to the window a few meters away; he signaled Ji Yuanji to climb into the room to hide.
“You go.”
According to the layout of the surrounding obstacles, Ji Yuanji would be briefly exposed to the sniper’s field of vision.
But if the opponent shoots again, it will also reveal his position.
The effective range of Si Chen’s new energy gun was longer than that of an ordinary gun’s, but it was still only a hundred meters.
He mainly wanted to see what it was that fired that shot.
Since Ji Yuanji was able to analyze the position of the sniper, he naturally understood that he was being used as a living target.
However, their Ji Family has always been clear and rational. “Be careful. I’ll wait for you in the building. If I’m not there, it means that something has happened to me.”
Saying that, Ji Yuanji took a deep breath and ran forward.
The red dot of light focused on Ji Yuanji.
Si Chen looked up at the building where the sniper was and his expression quickly turned puzzled.
On the third floor opposite
A video camera-like thing stood by the window. It was standing on a tripod. Where there was supposed to be a lens, had been replaced by the thin barrel of a gun.
“Unidentified creature found…”
“Composition analysis. A human and an unknown android.”
“Protect humans, orders received, protect humans. Settlement plan activated.”
It aimed at Ji Yuanji without even looking at Si Chen.
Then, it fired.
The author has something to say:
*From the game Stellaris.
Turing… wasnt it one of golden thigh’s robot name? I wonder 🤔
I thought author used this name because of Allan Turing…
The inspiration is certainly Alan Turing or the Turing test (a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour)
But what’s uncertain is whether having that name appear twice in the novel is a coincidence or not….
Taking care of the kid while the responsible party is off playing… tsk. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
That’s for the chapter! So the machines are attacking other machines.
Ji Yuanji is really silly. Human emotions are just caused by hormones and bio chemical reactions between them, but they are “real” because we feels them and can measure feelings based on bodily reactions. Humans are still fighting about wether humans have souls, and for a long time, many believed that animals had neither souls nor emotions, completely convinced of humanity’s uniqueness and superiority.
Everything that grows is alive and therefor should have a soul, senses and emotions. That even includes plants. So the world around you might be more alive than you think.
Ji Chuyao’s father brought Ji Chuyao back from the forbidden zone, a space fold that is said to be the origin of all mechanical life. In this instance, a leaflet spoke about Emperor Turing. This shouldn’t be a coincidence. If Turing comes from a world that is the origin of mechanical life, and he is the Mechanical God (said in first instance) is it possible that all mechanical life believe in Turing?
(◞≼⓪≽◟___◞≼⓪≽) you may be onto something here