Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 667: Attempt

Translator: CKtalon

Shang Jianyao didn’t immediately take action after Jiang Baimian said ‘go.’ Instead, he raised his palm wrapped in a skeletal metal structure and stroked his chin. “I don’t think this is safe enough. What should we do if our plan is really effective? When it takes a peep, Future will definitely mutter inwardly, ‘Ah, that won’t do. I’ll activate the self-destruct mechanism in advance?'”

In theory, we’ve already destroyed all the electrical appliances in this area, including the hidden ones. Future can’t directly see what we’re doing or hear our discussion… I’m even deliberately whispering… Yes, an enemy I’ve never encountered before is worth being more careful around… Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and approached the neutered version of Source Brain again. She suppressed her voice and said, “Hack into the laboratory’s control system now and use redundant data attacks to jam the circuits of the self-destruct mechanism’s receiver. No, not now. Watch for my signal. Take action when I raise my right thumb.”

Source Brain—which was wrapped in an electromagnetic shield—moved its head up and down and said in the same low voice, “The central control system has already been switched off due to the loss of power. The self-destruct mechanism is another system that works in parallel. I haven’t figured out how power is delivered because of the firewall’s interference.

“Besides, if it’s really as Shang Jianyao said, Future can use its Electromagnetic Manipulation to issue a signal behind the firewall once it decides to initiate the self-destruct sequence ahead of time. No amount of redundant data can delay this matter from happening.”

Redundant data jammed data channels and took up the corresponding computational resources. On the other hand, Future could use Electromagnetic Manipulation and directly produce an effective signal inside the self-destruct mechanism to bypass these.

You artificial intelligence sure are troublesome… Although Jiang Baimian had worked hard to learn a lot of computer-related knowledge so that she could better use the auxiliary chip in her electric eel-like biomechanical limb, she ultimately didn’t major in it. She hadn’t been buried in the coursework for years, so she only had a rough understanding of the various aspects and lacked any in-depth research. What she heard gave her a headache, and she couldn’t help but criticize.

She composed herself and humbly asked, “Then, what do you think we should do?”

Source Brain shared Genava’s memories and knew that Jiang Baimian wasn’t especially professional when it came to the corresponding matters. It had already consciously used a description that was easier for the other party to understand instead of a more precise expression.

It fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “There’s no solution. Even if we can find the high-performance explosives connected to the self-destruct device in the shortest time and cut off the right wires, Future can still issue an explosion signal for them out of thin air.

“We can only hope that your plan is really effective. It can prevent Future from using Electromagnetic Manipulation for a certain period of time or prevent it from affecting the various devices in the laboratory with such abilities. Before that, we can only pray that it hasn’t ‘heard’ what we said or ‘seen’ what we plan on doing, thereby not activating the self-destruct mechanism in advance.”

This is really… Amidst Jiang Baimian’s exasperation, Shang Jianyao’s Blessings from all Kalendarium flashed across her mind.

As a person who liked to analyze, was good at planning, and always made sufficient preparations in advance, she rarely needed to entrust her fate to the Kalendarium’s protection like she did now.

As Jiang Baimian and the neutered Source Brain whispered, Shang Jianyao looked at Wu Meng—who was at the edge of the semicircular hall—and asked curiously, “You and Future are neighbors, so you should know a little about it, right?”

“Yes,” Wu Meng replied, but it was a non-answer because he was only answering the question without further elaboration.

Shang Jianyao didn’t care about how others perceived him and asked, “What kind of person… artificial intelligence is it?”

Wu Meng smiled. “It was an unimaginable magnum opus that Oray completed thanks to the inspiration he received from the mechanical monks in his later years. If not for the Kalendarium, he might’ve created a ‘God’ out of thin air—a ‘God’ that can respond to 10 billion believers 24/7 without rest and lacks flaws. No, no, no. Without the Kalendarium, he wouldn’t have been able to create such a ‘God’ out of thin air either.

“Don’t you want to find the information Oray left behind? Apart from how to format the Source Brain, the rest is directly reflected in Future. However, you have no way of deciphering it at the moment.”

At this point, Wu Meng said in a leisurely tone, “I look forward to the day you truly figure out its principle. The Dao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things.”

Wu Meng—who was wearing small, round glasses—sat on a chair by a table like he was sitting in a VIP seat during a play.

He was the only figure there. Behind him was the nearby gloominess and the darkness in the distance.

Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and replied very honestly, “What you said is equivalent to not saying anything.”

No key information was divulged!

Meanwhile, Source Brain followed Jiang Baimian’s instructions and came to a socket before squatting down. It then used its tools to quickly complete the hacking and prepared a flood of redundant information.

Jiang Baimian walked back to Shang Jianyao’s side with a tool given by Source Brain. It was an electromagnetic interference device that Source Brain had prepared to prevent Wu Meng from disturbing its work. It didn’t have a large effective range—just a few meters. Its power output wasn’t too high either.

Source Brain had contributed this item after some discussion with Jiang Baimian. It hoped that Shang Jianyao could use its interference to ‘conceal’ their subsequent attempts and prevent them from being discovered by Future.

Jiang Baimian didn’t have the confidence that this would be effective; she was just trying everything she could.

Shang Jianyao didn’t immediately turn on the electromagnetic interference device and instead placed it beside him and lay down on the empty metal bed. He then took out the Six Senses Beads and sank his consciousness inside, using the aura inside to enhance his perception.

Shang Jianyao’s perception range was actually far greater than the Six Senses Beads. He mainly wanted to enhance his ‘strength.’

In the blink of an eye, the Six Senses Beads lit up with a weak green glow.

Shang Jianyao saw black figures emitting from the ceiling above him. They occasionally shrank back and occasionally stretched out like swaying seaweed.

“The Six Senses Beads can also sense it.” Shang Jianyao reported the situation.

Bai Chen—who was in charge of lighting the ceiling—heaved a sigh of relief when she heard that.

The Old Task Force still had many special items.

Jiang Baimian—who was on guard for any accidents with Long Yuehong—asked, “Can you sense a certain level of consciousness, which you can lock onto and use your abilities on?”

“It’s just like an entire swath of darkness. There’s no way to capture it directly,” Shang Jianyao replied using his unique metaphors.

Can’t he just say ‘no?’ Long Yuehong was a little nervous, and his mouth was parched dry.

Without Jiang Baimian’s instructions, Shang Jianyao put away the Six Senses Beads and took out the small, lake-green jade Buddha.

He skillfully sank his consciousness in, but the small jade Buddha didn’t even glow. Shang Jianyao naturally couldn’t sense the black figures on the ceiling.

“This is even worse…” Shang Jianyao sat up in disdain and roughly explained the situation.

“Next plan,” Jiang Baimian replied calmly.

Shang Jianyao forgot his previous setback and excitedly switched on the hourglass-like electromagnetic interference device.

With a sizzling sound, Long Yuehong saw Wu Meng’s figure at the edge of the hall distort and elongate to a certain extent from the corner of his eye, but it didn’t disappear.

It looked even more terrifying!

Jiang Baimian took the opportunity to boot up her military exoskeleton and got Shang Jianyao to do the same.

While waiting for the military exoskeleton to be completely booted up, Shang Jianyao reached into his tactical backpack with both hands. It was unknown what he was fumbling with.

After about ten seconds, he retracted his hand and wore the Six Senses Beads on his left wrist. He then suddenly took out the item he had just obtained from his tactical backpack and aimed it at the ceiling.

It was a very simple discharge device; it looked like a small wooden plank with several high-performance batteries embedded in it. Each battery was connected by the corresponding wires.

Shang Jianyao had just assumed a posture and had yet to push the switch when Jiang Baimian raised her right thumb without hesitation.

Upon seeing this, Source Brain—who had been paying close attention to her and didn’t care if the subsequent attempts would work—sent out a flood of redundant information.

The next second, Shang Jianyao jumped to the ceiling. Then, countless electric arcs gathered into a mighty flood that surged forward, illuminating the semicircular hall as if it were daytime.

Bam!

Jiang Baimian felt her head spin as if the entire laboratory was shaking, but her body didn’t shake at all.

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong were the same.

Before they could gather themselves, the Old Task Force members felt like gazes were cast at them from somewhere.

At this moment, the neutered Source Brain jumped up and shouted, “The self-destruct signal has appeared!”

Jiang Baimian was delighted instead of being shocked because this happened later than she expected.

“Run!” she quickly ordered.