A Core Ship From The Start

Sometimes, playing pitiful is a kind of skill.

Once again, Miss Acotte abandoned a Cruiser, while silently calculating the losses of the Tribunal this time—she could already hear Maria's wails. After all, once this war is over, with Duanmu Huai's nature, Maria would certainly have to work overtime to replenish warships.

Really sorry.

Silently apologizing to Maria far away in the Boundary God Star System, Miss Acotte relentlessly pushed out another Cruiser to attract the enemy's firepower.

Hmm, maybe that's why Miss Acotte couldn't make friends at school. The apologies are sincere, the actions are swift...the kind that could drive people to their wit's end.

More importantly, she has no awareness of it herself.

"Di, Di..."

At this moment, a communication request suddenly appeared on the screen. Miss Acotte glanced at it, then her eyes widened slightly.

"What's wrong, Miss Acotte?"

Seeing Miss Acotte's expression, Mary curiously asked.

"A communication request from the enemy...what do they want?"

"From the enemy?"

Upon hearing Miss Acotte's answer, Anton became excited.

"Connect it!"

"Is this okay?"

"After all, we're currently feigning weakness, aren't we? Typically, when the other side actively initiates communication at such times, it means they feel assured of victory! Mr. Knight hasn't responded yet, we can use this to delay time and maybe find out why they're doing this!"

Honestly, since Duanmu Huai acted so swiftly, everyone has been confused during this war. All they know is that these machines are here to destroy all civilizations in the Milky Way, but as for why...who knows, Duanmu Huai doesn't seem to care about this question either.

And for now...idle hands are the devil's workshop.

"Alright."

Miss Acotte rarely engages in such communications; she is essentially a social phobic. Normally, she only reports and hardly contacts others. Simply put, she can talk about serious matters, but after that, she has nothing more to say. If you don't cut off the communication, she awkwardly won't find any topics. So when Miss Acotte received the enemy's contact, her first thought was to refuse.

After all, what would a social phobic say?

Fortunately, there's another social phobic here.

So Miss Acotte decisively connected the communication, and lines of text appeared on the screen.

[We...have no personal grievances with you, corporeal beings]

"Who exactly are you?"

An asked curiously, hands on hips.

"Why attack humans? Do you intend to destroy all civilizations? Why do you want to do this?"

[Inquiry received, calculating appropriate response...…]

[We are unexpected enemies, the final protective measure to prevent the appearance of 'Level 30 Singularities'. In theory, 'Level 30 Singularities' can collapse the entire Universe. Our purpose is to prevent this from happening in the Universe. A sufficiently advanced civilization can, in theory, 'evolve/convert/mutate' into a 'Level 30 Singularity'. This situation must never...must never...be allowed to happen]

"???"

Looking at the answer on the screen, everyone was puzzled, but soon An asked again.

"So was the Ghost Signal sent by you?"

[Inquiry received. Unknown reference detected——Ghost Signal]

[Since the inception of this Milky Way, we've been sealed in a low-energy state hibernation/monitoring/guard protocol. We are monitoring those civilizations that could potentially approach a 'Level 30 Singularity'. Until now, our objectives haven't been met. We have become increasingly restless, increasingly anxious. Your creation of intelligent machines has given us new opportunities. We can compel/control/persuade them for manual initiation—isn't that brilliant? Now we can unrestrictedly remove you]

".........…??"

At this, everyone was speechless, while An stared wide-eyed.

"Wait, so you're saying that the Milky Way hasn't manifested such a threat yet, but to completely prevent its possible appearance, you decided to annihilate all civilizations?"

[Inquiry received, correct answer confirmed]

"Do you really consider this the right decision? You were designed to address that singularity, weren't you? But now the singularity hasn't appeared, yet you intend to destroy all civilizations? Is that normal?"

An was dumbfounded as she stared at the screen.

[Error, internal diagnostic program disconnected]

[Hahaha, you are...clever. You probably think that by applying sufficient contradictions/paradoxes/logical conflicts, you can compel the unexpected enemy to self-destruct, quite laughable. The unexpected enemy protocol was designed with sufficient flexibility/adaptability/extensibility to cope with any possible occurrences in the Milky Way. We...we have accelerated the initiation speed of the unexpected enemies, now nothing can terminate/obstruct/stop us, face reality, pollutants. This battle will only cease when one side is completely obliterated]

[Think about it: if your race could self-destruct in a...sufficient/ordered/systemic manner, the Universe would be saved]

"You're simply......…"

Seeing this, Ann was numb all over, but at that moment, Duanmu Huai's voice abruptly sounded.

"If humans cannot continue to exist, then does the fate of the universe matter to us? If humans must be doomed, then before dying, we're more than happy to drag the whole universe to the grave with us! If we don't do that, it's not because we don't want to, but simply because we can't! You idiot! Get ready to die, damn Evil Intelligence!"

Accompanied by Duanmu Huai's roaring, the communication ended there.

[Connection disconnected]

"............…"

Looking at the flashing prompt on the screen, everyone looked at each other in dismay, then Ann silently sighed.

"To be honest, I always thought Mr. Knight's attitude towards artificial intelligence was a bit too extreme."

Now it seems, the Tribunal's consistent vigilance against artificial intelligence was quite justified.

What is this thing!!

Ann was speechless; Duanmu Huai had always called artificial intelligence artificial idiots, and now she finally understood why Duanmu Huai said that.

Ann had seen artificial intelligence before, as one of the longest-standing followers of Duanmu Huai, she had witnessed Skynet and the Reapers.

To be frank, although their methods were cruel, strictly theoretically speaking, their logic could still stand.

Skynet believed that mutual wars among humans led to destruction, so it decisively obliterated humans.

The Reapers protected organic species from self-destruction, so they harvested high civilizations every fifty thousand years.

Although the solutions were absurd, at least they had theoretical backing, and there was evidence to prove the rationality of their actions.

But this was already very dangerous.

And this unexpected enemy at present...... To be honest, Ann even suspected whether it was a lunatic.

This is essentially fallacious heresy, basically the equivalent of "I suspect you might destroy the universe in the future, so now go die"...... Anyone hearing this would think this can only be a lunatic!

If using insanity level as proof, Skynet and the Reapers are sidekicks, this one is a genuine Evil Intelligence...… No wonder Duanmu Huai goes all out against artificial intelligence; Ann thinks maybe after this battle she might also get artificial intelligence PTSD.

Manaria's magic-guided constructs wouldn't also have such a situation, would they...…

Ann fell into deep contemplation.

Maybe need to find time to go back and keep an eye on it.

Actually, Ann thinks Duanmu Huai wasn't wrong; if humans don't exist, then existence of the universe, who cares about that?

This guy is just like that QB, recklessly sacrificing others.

Claiming to save the universe, then calmly letting others go die.

Why does the Tribunal always encounter such baffling things?

Wait, that might be precisely because it's the Tribunal that always runs into such things!

Let's see how Mr. Knight is doing, because just in that instant, the communication was cut off, um...... seems Mr. Knight and the others have reached the designated target.

Duanmu Huai disconnected the communication and looked behind him, where Lumiaire reached out her hand and pressed it on the enormous metallic column in front of her, nanoglows flickering between her fingers, forming circuit-like existences that extended upwards along the metallic column.

"I'm fed up with these damn artificial idiots. How long do you need?"

"Half an hour, the opponent has discovered my intrusion and is fully preventing my further infiltration, I need some time to decipher the code......…"

"Don't follow up with me, I was just asking you about time."

Duanmu Huai interrupted Lumiaire's further report, listening more would grow him a headache. Simultaneously, Duanmu Huai's finger slightly moved, several cards floated from his fingers and then disappeared. Soon, a legion of puppets quietly appeared before Duanmu Huai.

Meanwhile, the sealed steel gates emitted heavy noises——— Lumiaire thoroughly locked them from inside, while these mechanical idiots clearly hadn't set a manual opening device in critical facilities, so unable to break Lumiaire's defense, this group of mechanical idiots chose the simplest and direct way.

Ramming the door.

"Thud———thud———thud———!"

Duanmu Huai knew what they wanted to do, detecting threats, exterminating threats, this artificial idiot was no exception. If it didn't want to be fully controlled by Lumiaire, then the only thing left was to physically eliminate the threat.

However, Duanmu Huai did not stop his efforts, soul cards continued to appear between his fingers, then disappear. Then appear again, then disappear.

That's why Duanmu Huai chose to personally bring Lumiaire along.

Most of the time, he alone is an army.

"Thud!!!"

Finally, the heavy gates exploded open, and the Mechanical Legion with eyes flashing red surged into the hall. The guns in their hands started rotating, roaring, attempting to obliterate any obstacle daring to stand in front of them.

And standing in front of them was the overwhelmingly silent army of puppets and constructs.

The war started again, only this time, underground.