Chapter 126 Two N’s

Through the narratives of the two n-named robot girls, Hao Ren's understanding of the "survivor society" in the sky finally shifted from initial wild guesses and vague data observed by Nolan to some more concrete impressions.

According to N-4 and N-6, the survivor society consisted of two major "territories": the Zenith megastructure space station in high orbit and the Lunar Base, a large industrial fortress complex on the Moon. Each territory served different functions.

The megastructure space station "Zenith" wasn't quite what Hao Ren had initially envisioned. It wasn't the survivors' main base, but rather an outpost and command center. This massive and ancient space station had been in service for many years, and compared to this station hanging in high orbit, the Lunar Base further away was evidently safer. Therefore, the true main base of the survivor society was on the Moon. The Zenith's location meant it couldn't be a stable place to live, but it was an excellent bridgehead. It was responsible for coordinating and commanding the rebel forces that attacked the homeworld, providing temporary garrison for the troops, as well as comprehensive maintenance, supply, and upkeep services. Every unit rotated to fight on the homeworld considered the Zenith their temporary "home."

The Lunar Base was the foundation of the survivor society, a source of raw materials and a cluster of factories essential to the rebel army's survival. In that base, filled with factories, mines, barracks, and eco-domes, a large number of war machines were constantly manufactured. The "biomass" needed for human survival was also primarily synthesized there. It was a production center, as well as the birthplace and residence for most of the warriors who vowed to reclaim their homeworld. General-purpose combat "operators" like N-4 and N-6 were produced at the Lunar Base.

In the long struggle of several millennia, the survivors had mined nearly a tenth of the Moon's mass to sustain their seemingly endless war. This was an astonishing figure.

It was said that this continuous consumption had even altered the Moon's orbit and the climate of the homeworld.

As for the total number of "operator units" in these two bases, both N-6 and N-4 remained tight-lipped. Clearly, Hao Ren's party's "security clearance" in the robot girls' minds hadn't risen to the point where they could freely discuss military secrets.

However, on the Lunar Base, there was one extremely important location—a place that could be regarded as the "capital" of the survivor society.

N-4 called it "the Fortress," stating that it was a fortress built with super alloys and advanced technology. The Fortress had the most solid structure and layers upon layers of protective shields, as well as powerful defensive firepower and the unbelievably strong "Titan Guard Legion." Even if a Planet Devourer personally launched an attack, it might not be able to chew through the Fortress's outer shell. The Fortress was the most important core of the survivor society. A super-thinking center called the "Mainframe" was housed there, serving as the highest command unit for all operators. And in the most heavily guarded "End Palace" of the Fortress lived the last human descendants of this civilization.

Obviously, this was even more important and sensitive information, but N-4 didn't hide it from Hao Ren, because the Fortress was impossible to conceal. It was too huge and conspicuous. A single glance with a telescope would reveal that the survivors' "capital" was that metal structure built in the center of the Lunar Base. The specifics of the operator units could be kept secret, but the existence of the Fortress couldn't be hidden, so she simply revealed these things—while emphasizing the Fortress's powerful defenses, in order to remind Hao Ren not to get any ideas about that place.

In some ways, this robot lady's thinking was quite simple—perhaps because the enemies she and her kind usually faced weren't that intelligent?

The humans residing in the "End Palace" never left their sanctuary, but their survival was certain. Although ordinary mass-produced operators like N-4 and N-6 weren't qualified to meet the humans (mainly because there were too many operators and seemingly very few surviving humans), the Titan Guard Legion in the Fortress and the Mainframe, which used the Fortress as its "base," maintained direct communication with the humans.

As an artificial intelligence collective that relied on logic and authority systems to maintain social order, there were no lies or deception among the operators—at least, that's how N-4 described it. Therefore, even without having seen humans, N-6 and N-4 were convinced that their creators still existed and were watching them from high up on the Lunar Base.

To be honest, after hearing the robot girls' description of the human survivors on the Moon, Lily felt a bit disdainful. In her view, the homeworld defense forces who launched the seeds of civilization into space thousands of years ago and stayed behind to defend the surface were worthy of respect. The humans who boarded the ark and bore the mission of preserving the flame of civilization were also another kind of hero, but their descendants who huddled on the Lunar Base, not even daring to step out of the Fortress, weren't so admirable.

Although the surface of the homeworld had the First Born, the First Born didn't fire cannons or laser beams at the Moon, did they? Did these surviving humans not even have the courage to take a look at their own home?

However, these thoughts only flitted through the husky girl's mind. She might be a bit daft, but she wasn't stupid. She knew how important the "creator" was in the robot girls' minds, and rashly saying bad things about humans might make them go berserk.

Hao Ren had similar thoughts to Lily, but he wasn't going to dwell on this issue. He was just a civilization observer, observing, recording, compiling reports, and taking the coffin back for his superiors to review was his job. As for what development path these civilizations chose, that wasn't something he needed to worry about. Besides, he believed that there must be a reason why those human survivors chose to lock themselves in the Fortress, and it wasn't just "fear."

Did something weird slip in just now? Never mind, nothing's wrong…

"I thought humans would operate alongside you," Hao Ren rubbed his temples, looking at N-6. "Because we analyzed the wreckage of your crashed aircraft and found that you were just the co-pilots… Wasn't the main pilot a human?"

A hint of pride seemed to appear on N-6's face: "The main pilot's seat is always reserved for humans. They just aren't fighting alongside us for the time being, but when the day comes to finally reclaim our home, someone will be sitting in the seat beside us!"

Hao Ren didn't expect this answer, and was stunned for a moment before saying, "...Huh?"

"We are operators, tools to carry out the great will of the creators in their stead," N-4 nodded gently, speaking with a sense of mission. "In the early years, when the creators could still fight alongside us, we were their assistants. This mission will never change. We will sit in the co-pilot's seat, completing the tasks assigned to us by the creators under their gaze, until the final victory."

Hao Ren quietly looked into N-4's eyes. The latter also responded with a calm gaze—perhaps it wasn't a calm gaze, but just a standby expression awaiting new information, but Hao Ren seemed to feel that something called belief truly existed deep within the heart of this artificial intelligence.

They really are no different from humans anymore…

"I understand," Hao Ren relaxed his body, turning to N-6 and changing the subject. "There are some minor details. First, you call the 'First Born' on your planet Planet Devourers?"

"That's the name humans gave them," N-6 nodded. "It spreads out from the depths of the crust, devouring everything on the planet, so naturally it's called Planet Devourer. You call it 'First Born'? Are there similar things on other planets?"

"Yes, and almost every ecological planet has them. The truth about this creature is probably very different from what you know…" Hao Ren sighed helplessly, realizing that the natives of this planet didn't understand the truth about the First Born, so he decisively ended the topic. "Now is not the time to explain this to you. I'll explain it to you in detail when I have the chance in the future. I want to ask, has your war with the… 'Planet Devourer' always been like this? I mean, it just stays on the planet without moving, neither attacking nor surrendering, and you just keep sending bombers to deal with its tentacles, neither achieving victory nor being defeated by it, just maintaining a stalemate like this?"

This wasn't something that needed to be kept secret, so N-4 answered directly: "This situation has lasted for at least three thousand years, but it wasn't like this at first."

Vivian immediately showed an interested expression: "It wasn't like this at first?"

"According to the Great Library's records, in the first few millennia, humans and the mechanical legions they led faced extinction several times. The Planet Devourer used power far greater than it does today to hunt down the survivors fleeing the land. At the worst times, the Zenith even had to flee far into the depths of space, returning to the homeworld's orbit only after five centuries of exile. But three thousand years ago, the situation changed…"

Hao Ren perked up, realizing that the First Born's "brain death" was the key turning point: "What happened then? Was it after that that the Planet Devourer's activity decreased significantly?"

"According to the Great Library's records, it was a time when the Zenith was once again facing a life-or-death moment. The beams fired by the Planet Devourer pierced the space station's shield system, and a huge canyon split open in the earth. From space, one could almost see the Planet Devourer's main body located in the core of the planet, but suddenly, a meteor shower descended, and a large number of unknown celestial fragments fell towards the homeworld, just happening to crash into that canyon—the Planet Devourer was severely damaged as a result. Although it immediately closed the crust to protect itself, after several days of earthquakes, it lost most of its power."

The language N-4 used to describe this history was filled with emotional descriptive words, completely unlike the way an artificial intelligence would speak, because this history wasn't narrated in her own way, but came directly from the records in the Great Library—records from human observers three thousand years ago.

Apart from the two robot girls, everyone present looked at each other in dismay.