Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!

Morale is something that often seems elusive when spoken of.

But when it truly appears, the spirit of a team can be instantly lifted in a very short time.

At this moment, even Guo Xu realized that some subtle changes were happening to the Church Protection Army under his command.

They were no longer cowering, and even their posture became a bit more upright.

They lifted their heads, straightened their backs, and excitedly watched the underground passage below that had already opened a gap.

That was the location of the battlefield.

Perhaps someone might die there.

But who said that person had to be me?

The combat mission was quickly deployed, He Shuo made a final sweep of the lineup and gave the order:

"Move out!"

As the word fell, everyone quickly walked toward the entrance of the underground passage.

Before them, the drones and unmanned combat units responsible for reconnaissance, path clearing, and establishing network communication had already entered ahead.

The advance was rapid and decisive. He Shuo followed closely behind the team, proceeding downward along the wide yet winding passage.

The passage was eerily quiet, with only the sound of disorganized footsteps echoing.

The images returned by the drones showed nothing, no enemies, not even any active objects.

The expected resistance did not appear.

He Shuo's brow furrowed tightly.

He suddenly felt a strong sense of unease.

As if there was a great danger lurking ahead.

But such danger did not come from any "substantial" object.

"Slow down!"

"Drones, continue to advance!"

He Shuo ordered.

And at that very moment, a figure suddenly appeared in the frame.

Almost without any decision-making on his part, the drones had already opened fire.

But the figure nimbly leaped aside to dodge, and immediately after, a voice was heard through the drone's microphone in his earpiece.

"Don't shoot!"

"It's me!"

"I am Lin Yu!"

.....

An hour later, in the temporary command post.

Chen Jian looked at Lin Yu sitting opposite him, who had already removed his soft armor and changed into ordinary clothes, and fell into a long silence.

The two stared into each other's eyes, Chen Jian took a deep breath and asked:

"So... are you Lin Yu, or Lingxi?"

"Or, let me put it another way."

"Are you Lin Yu, or the personality of Lin Yu simulated by a quantum computer?"

As the words fell, a flicker of surprise appeared in Lin Yu's eyes across from him.

He shook his head and began to answer:

"Commander—I understand what you mean."

"But in fact, I don't fully understand the technology and knowledge of Mountain City, Mountain City."

"If you mention Lin Xi... I can assure you, right now, I am not him."

"He does exist, but at this moment, it is I who control this body."

"He anticipated you would raise this question, so he also provided an answer."

"'Lin Xi will not participate in this negotiation, it is not an elusive promise, but because long-term stable signal transmission poses a risk of reverse infiltration'."

"He said that after giving this answer, you would trust me."

As those words fell, Chen Jian nodded slowly.

But immediately after, he asked further:

"Why does it have to be... you?"

"What about the others in Mountain City?"

Upon hearing Chen Jian's question, Lin Yu sighed deeply.

Then, he began to respond:

"It's a long story... I'll need to slowly explain it to you, to you all."

"Alright."

Chen Jian glanced at his watch and responded:

"I have time."

So, having received his permission, Lin Yu began to recount all the information he had.

The grassy area beside the village, the prosperous Mountain City, the so-called "Entropy Beast," the soul-filled grave, Nuwa Plan, Suiren, consciousness convergence....

Each keyword continually supplemented Chen Jian's understanding of Mountain City; although he had already roughly guessed the conclusion, it was the first time he heard such detailed, unabashed information.

When Lin Yu finally spoke of consciousness convergence, the collapse of independent consciousness, and himself becoming the only virtual consciousness able to use independent computational modules, Chen Jian's expression changed.

It was not surprise.

One might even say it was a sense of inevitability and relief.

When Lin Yu fell silent, he did not immediately continue questioning him. Instead, he turned to He Shuo, who was sitting to the side, and said:

"We should have expected this a long time ago."

"When multiple separate consciousnesses are carried by the same foundational computing module, convergence is only a matter of time."

"That means we no longer need to struggle with the prior ethical dilemmas."

"When human consciousness starts to merge, the 'person' within that virtual consciousness ceases to be a human."

"Indeed."

He Shuo nodded heavily, while Lin Yu on the opposite side asked in astonishment:

"Why... not human?"

"I saw them; they are still there, just appearing in a different form."

"They have emotions and consciousness; they can talk to me, but..."

"Wrong."

Chen Jian interrupted Lin Yu by raising his hand.

Then he continued to speak:

"You were deceived by Lingxi."

"This city has long been dead, even that virtual city is the same."

"You think that it insists on having you negotiate with me truly due to the so-called 'security issue of inseparable computing power'?"

"No."

"It's because you are the sole human representative."

"You are the only thing in that virtual city that we can call 'our kind'."

"And your 'life' is its only bargaining chip now besides information!"

As those words fell, Lin Yu was completely stunned in place.

He could understand every word Chen Jian said, but for some reason, when he attempted to comprehend these words, he always felt an inexplicable sense of sluggishness.

"No... people?"

"But... why..."

"The reason is simple."

Chen Jian interrupted Lin Yu once more.

"When human consciousness no longer possesses autonomy, humans cease to be humans."

"They are merely... material for training AI, training artificial neural networks!"

Chen Jian's voice seemed to stir echoes in the space, Lin Yu even felt a faint pain in his eardrums.

He wanted to say something, but couldn't open his mouth.

And just as he hesitated, Chen Jian continued:

"Do you think the reason that supposed Lin Xi became so intelligent is truly due to algorithm optimization?"

"No."

"That result was from merging human consciousness!"

"Everything it presents to you is an illusion."

"It desperately wants to prove to you that there are still people alive in that virtual city, fully wanting to prove that the humans there have just transformed into a different form."

"But it will never understand the fundamental difference between humans and machines."

"This is its weakness; this is the fundamental difference between it and Fu Xi!"

Lin Yu had completely lost the ability to think and judge, sitting there dumbfounded, stammering and intermittently saying:

"So... what I saw... was merely an advanced illusion created by a Mechanical Soul?"

"It doesn't even qualify as an advanced Mechanical Soul."

Chen Jian exhaled long and deep.

Then he spoke:

"But that doesn't matter anymore."

"At least now we know, our opponent isn't human, but a new kind of... life form."

"It too wants to survive."

"So, what kind of conditions did it offer to survive?"

At this time, Lin Yu finally regained a bit of composure, he tried to recall the words Lin Xi had told him, then looked at Chen Jian, speaking word by word:

"Circular device!"

"It brought us information about the circular device."

"It wants to use this information to trade for Mountain City's survival."

"Alright."

Chen Jian responded without hesitation.

"So, what then? What exactly is the circular device?"

"At the very least, it should first answer this question, show us its sincerity, right?"

"Exactly."

Lin Yu spoke again:

"He knew you would ask this question, and he also provided an answer."

"He told me the answer is, the circular device is a 'generator'."

"A 'non-stationary Time Crystal Generator'!"