Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Before this scientist spoke, countless other scientists had already proposed their own methods, ideas of every imaginable kind. Some were so outlandish that even Xiao Yu felt they had surpassed the limits of his imagination. But unfortunately, not a single one had passed Xiao Yu's feasibility evaluation.

Hearing this scientist speak such an arrogant declaration, Xiao Yu's first reaction was not anger, but delight. Because Xiao Yu believed that under his command, not a single scientist would dare toy with him. Arrogance required strength to support it. Since this scientist had said something so bold, it meant he was at least quite confident.

"Continue. If your method works, I will reward you handsomely," Xiao Yu said.

The scientist paused for a moment, then respectfully said to Xiao Yu, "My method is very simple: inform Intelligent Program One that we have already passed the first trial, because we already know where it is hiding, right here on this dwarf planet."

"Hm? What does that mean?" A chorus of murmurs spread through the conference room.

"Is this guy insane? What's the point of that? Didn't we already pass the first trial?"

"You fool, sit down at once. Don't disgrace Species Number Fifty Eight."

Amid the restless whispers, an older scientist sitting beside him leaned over and scolded in a low voice, "This is the General Assembly of Scientists, don't display your stupidity here."

Yet the scientist stood there as if he hadn't heard a word, smiling calmly at Xiao Yu.

The scientist nodded and continued, "I came to this idea based on Lord Two's deductions, that Intelligent Program One and the second trial were fundamentally a deception. Before I elaborate, I would like to ask you a few questions, Master."

"Proceed." Xiao Yu said, his projected image expressionless as he nodded.

The scientist bowed once more and asked, "Why do you believe we have already passed the first trial left by the Trolor Civilization?"

"Isn't that obvious? Intelligent Program One declared it to us itself, and it already began the second trial. Why would you ask such a foolish question?" The older scientist beside him seemed extremely worried about the young man and could not help but scold him anxiously, pulling at his sleeve to make him sit down.

Xiao Yu thought for a moment and then said, "My reasoning is the same as the scientist next to you."

Shaking off the elder scientist's interference, the younger one remained standing and persisted, continuing his questions, "Yet we clearly know that Intelligent Program One has developed independent consciousness. We clearly know it has been deceiving us. So why do we still believe it?"

Xiao Yu's eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked, "Hm?"

"We must first understand, even if Intelligent Program One has developed independent consciousness, in essence, it is still only a program. Within that program, there must be a mechanism to judge whether or not we have passed a trial. So I must ask you, did we ever explicitly state to Intelligent Program One that we knew the answer to the first trial? Did we ever explicitly tell it what the answer was?"

The scientist paused briefly before continuing:

"No, we did not. All we did was move the fleet toward that dwarf planet. Intelligent Program One declared that we had passed the trial, and we accepted that we had passed. We never sent any clear message to explicitly tell it so. Therefore, there is a very real suspicion, within Intelligent Program One's internal evaluation protocols, did we actually fulfill the relevant conditions? Perhaps, in fact, we never passed the trial at all. The claim that we did may have simply been Intelligent Program One deceiving us, its purpose being nothing more than to lure us into attacking those thirty thousand ships."

Xiao Yu's rapidly operating mind finished digesting this statement almost instantly. But the other scientists did not possess such formidable processing power. Xiao Yu saw that they all seemed bewildered by this long line of reasoning, even Luka Two was frowning in deep thought.

"I can understand what you mean," Xiao Yu said. "But what does this imply? Whether we explicitly told it we knew the answer, how does that connect to our current predicament?"

"Master, these are only my conjectures. I do not dare guarantee that everything I say is correct, I am only offering it as a reference," the scientist replied respectfully. "Let us first suppose my idea is correct: that Intelligent Program One only claimed we passed the first trial, when in reality, because we never clearly stated the answer, we never did. Based on this, I have several further deductions."

"First, why would Intelligent Program One deceive us?" The scientist looked around the room. Seeing that everyone was now listening intently, he continued, sounding more confident, "My explanation is that Intelligent Program One wanted to keep the trial process stuck in the first stage, or at least prevent it from advancing to the second stage. That is why it proactively declared we had passed the trial before our fleet actually reached the dwarf planet, because the reason is simple. I believe that within its internal evaluation protocols, if any of our ships landed on the dwarf planet, that would have triggered the condition of 'correctly identifying the answer.' So it intervened to stop us."

"That is very clear. Go on," Xiao Yu said, realizing he was unknowingly becoming fully absorbed in this line of thought.

"Then we arrive at a second question." Encouraged by Xiao Yu's expression, the scientist's voice grew more resolute, "Why did it want to prevent us from reaching the second stage? To answer that, we must look at what it did to stop us. As everyone has seen, it dispatched thirty thousand ships, trying to lure us into attacking first. When that scheme was exposed by Lord Two, it colluded with the Level 4 Alien Beast, using itself as a shield to prevent us from striking back at the creature, and in this way, using vile tactics, it forced us into retreat."

Xiao Yu nodded slowly.

"Therefore, can we make the following inference, that keeping us in the first stage was only meant to lure us into initiating an attack? Conversely, does it also mean that if we advanced to the second stage, it would no longer be able to use this strategy?" He stopped to catch his breath, panting for a few seconds before continuing. "I cannot deduce the exact cause of this phenomenon. I don't know why, after we entered the second stage, it could no longer harass us with those thirty thousand ships. But does the reason even matter? All we need to do is explicitly declare to it that we have found the correct answer, forcing its internal protocols to acknowledge we should advance to the second stage. Once that happens, there is a very high probability it will no longer be able to interfere, though we may never know why."

"That is all I wished to say, some of my thoughts and conjectures. Whether to adopt this method is for you to decide, Master. I am finished."

The scientist bowed again to Xiao Yu and sat down.

The conference room remained utterly silent. No one spoke. It seemed that every scientist present was still processing the tangled web of logic. The argument was complex, but it also felt very coherent, and the inferences were supported by ample reasoning. At the very least, no one had any definitive evidence to refute it.

Xiao Yu had already begun running a feasibility analysis in his internal testing program. Half a second later, the results appeared.

"Excellent, excellent. The feasibility analysis indicates this approach is likely to work. Then I have decided, we will try it. After all, even if it fails, we lose nothing, correct?" Xiao Yu swept his gaze around the room, then fixed his eyes on the scientist who had spoken. "Your name is Long Fei, isn't it? A newly promoted scientist of Species Number Fifty Eight… Very good, very good. If this method succeeds, I will see you rewarded properly."

"Thank you, Master," Long Fei said calmly. "To serve you is the greatest honor of our species and of myself."

"Very good. Whether this plan works, we shall know very soon." Xiao Yu said.

He operated the external communications system and, using broadcast mode, transmitted a message toward the dwarf planet:

"Intelligent Program One, I have discovered the answer. Your hiding place is right here on this dwarf planet. In this universe, all dwarf planets are the same single body. I have found your lair."

This message was transmitted via faster-than-light communication. Three seconds later, Xiao Yu witnessed a startling sight.

The thirty thousand ships circling the Level 4 Alien Beast suddenly reacted like startled toads struck by lightning. In an instant, they pulled away from their positions and shot at breakneck speed toward the dwarf planet, the residence of Intelligent Program One.

In that instant, the Level 4 Alien Beast lost the protective screen Xiao Yu hadn't dared to touch.