Chapter 305: Nan Guo de Xue is in danger!
Following Lu Yuan’s orders, the fleet launched two nuclear missiles at the surface, then accelerated to withdraw at the maximum speed allowed by their current configuration.
As the nuclear flash erupted from below, Lu Yuan, seated in the captain's chair, saw the system messages in the upper right corner of his vision scroll rapidly.
“Achievement Unlocked: Grand Slam V; Killed 100 enemies in one attack, gained 60 exchange points.”
“Achievement Unlocked: Better to build a seven-story pagoda than to save a life, cumulatively saved 100 allies, gained 20 exchange points.”
After completing these two achievements, Lu Yuan’s total points had reached 378, enough to purchase a set of giant 3D printers during the journey.
Now, he just needed to find a place with sufficient resources—
The Red Dust Star colony was originally a good choice, but unfortunately, it had become extremely perilous.
“Executive Officer, we have broken through the planetary atmosphere.”
The Navigator reported.
“Good, escape the gravity well as quickly as possible, then warp immediately.”
“Understood, Executive Officer!”
Warping did not mean invincibility.
Ships in warp still interacted with electromagnetic waves, meaning they could be detected by radar and intercepted by laser weapons.
However, this state was still much safer than conventional space travel.
The journey to Red Dust Star ended just like that.
During the final evacuation, a total of 5 people were struck by the mysterious green “death ray,” leaving no trace of their bodies.
The loss of five sets of powered armor was acceptable, and the organic matter required for resurrection was merely a drop in the bucket compared to the inventory brought on this expedition.
After repairs, each ship had recovered more than two-thirds of its power, allowing for free navigation.
The armor hadn't been repaired in time, but the good news was that the final payment for the repairs obviously wouldn't be needed.
But Lu Yuan was not particularly happy.
That strange green beam of light, and those mysterious unknown entities hidden beneath the crustal fissures when they finally escaped the planet's surface,
All stirred his curiosity.
It was obvious that the underground of the colony was a “dungeon within a dungeon” structure.
Deeper underground, there should be a base far larger than the prosthetic modification facility, equipped with powerful guardians referred to as “Colossi” by the Chief.
The massive gate seen earlier was the entrance to that place!
The technological level of the base must be very high, either belonging to humans of the golden age or to the natural disaster forces of the “great enemy.”
The Chief’s previous research was related to it, and at the last moment, he successfully awakened the facility's automated response mechanism,
Activating the entire base.
However, subsequent developments completely spiraled out of control, causing him to be annihilated on the spot and crowned this month's best clown.
Hmm—in any case, when he becomes more powerful in the future and can defend against that mysterious green ray, he will definitely come back to check it out.
For dungeons, it’s about having a beginning and an end; not clearing it would definitely leave him feeling uncomfortable.
“Boss—”
A Sailor player interrupted Lu Yuan’s thoughts. He had participated in the recent search and evacuation operation.
“What exactly did that turtle-headed Chief mean? I still don’t quite understand.”
Lu Yuan looked up and saw that almost everyone had adjusted their seats to face him, looking expectant.
Everyone needs a plot summary, right? Alright then!
“The Super Democratic Empire is a constitutional monarchy, and the Emperor still holds significant real power; this is already confirmed,” he explained to his good employees.
Everyone nodded.
‘Under this system, Emperor Constantine V and the Parliament naturally have conflicts. Both want to expand their power and cause trouble for the other. One way is to create scandals for the other.
“From what we saw and heard when the branch boarded the Imperial warship, the Empire has already begun brainwashing and modifying its citizens to make them more ‘obedient’ and suitable for certain specific types of work.”
Oh—.—.
The players empathized with this point.
The biggest characteristic of those two obstructing Imperial warships was their fearlessness of death, fighting to the last moment.
There was no situation like Galan or Apollo, who would immediately try to escape once they realized they couldn't win.
They had originally wanted to show respect, but it turned out to be the result of prosthetic brainwashing.
Lu Yuan continued: “The driving force behind this ‘Great Brainwashing’ plan, it now appears, is clearly the Imperial Parliament.
“We don’t know how the Parliament obtained this technology, but the Emperor is clearly aware of the inside story. He knows that this technology comes from pre-apocalyptic prosthetic modifications and carries serious risks.
“Once this matter is exposed, it can create a scandal targeting the Parliament.
“But the Emperor wants to display a magnanimous imperial demeanor before the populace, creating an image of a wise ruler, and is unwilling to expose this scandal from within the Empire.
“He didn’t know that we had already encountered corpse puppets on Ruins Star, so he secretly orchestrated a plan, guiding us to board his warships, then land on Red Dust Star, discover and acquire the prosthetic modification equipment and corpse puppet samples there, and then independently figure out the connection between the two.”
“Then what?”
Some players indicated that they still hadn't grasped the essence of it.
“Then we publicly disclose our findings through Star Alliance media. Once the news reaches the Empire, the Emperor can use the opportunity to target the Parliament. By then,
The Parliament, facing a crisis, will likely recall the two fleets dispatched on this expedition to bolster its own momentum.”
Caoyuan explained on behalf of the Executive Officer.
“If such news is exposed by an external force, it will have even greater impact and further awaken the sense of crisis among the domestic populace.”
“I see. But does it have to be this complicated? Couldn’t the Emperor just organize the evidence and give it to us directly?”
“To make the entire process appear more natural and authentic,” Lu Yuan said.
“If the evidence were handed directly to us through a secret envoy, the Imperial media biased towards the Parliament would naturally question the source of the evidence, and we would be unable to respond directly.
“If we hadn’t gone to Red Dust Star this time, he would have lost nothing and could wait for the next opportunity.”
Damn, what a sly old fox!
The players exclaimed.
“How dare he scheme against us, treating us as tools for domestic political struggle!”
“We were completely underestimated.”
“He even considered maintaining his own image. This means he was certain we would publicly disclose our findings, after all, there’s a high temptation to potentially halve the number of fleets blocking our way!”
“Indeed! The Emperor believed this plan would succeed primarily because he knew the Executive Officer possessed extraordinary analytical, decision-making, and command capabilities!”
Black Smoke didn't forget to seize the opportunity to flatter.
Not bad, it was quite on point.
“Then it seems the Emperor is very confident in the combat capabilities of the remaining two elite guard units, especially that mercenary fleet from beyond the star domain. There’s currently no intelligence on them, which is a bit concerning.”
“Could they be aliens?”
“That possibility cannot be ruled out.”
“The Emperor of the Empire is indeed a formidable opponent,” Xian Yu also had to admit that the other party had some skills.
“Compared to the ‘Desert Bear Lice’ we initially dealt with, he’s almost a different species.”
“Although emotionally I don’t really want to be his tool, objectively, if it can reduce the pressure we face on this expedition, then…” He looked at the Executive Officer, his meaning clear.
“Then let’s cut out the segments that might expose the deeper secrets of Red Dust Star and publicly release the collected images and sample evidence,” Lu Yuan said. “Has there been any progress on the research into the Imperial crew members’ brain prosthetics?”
“Yes!”
On the port side of the bridge, Nan Guo de Xue raised her hand.
“Anya’s hacking helped us unlock some data and files. We now generally understand how this prosthetic works. Take a look.”
Everyone gathered around Nan Guo de Xue’s holographic screen, where a familiar Soldier image was displayed.
He wore camouflage pants, his muscular upper body bare, a large Bowie knife tucked into his waistband, a three-barreled Gatling gun in hand, flowing golden hair, a cigar clamped in his mouth, prominent jaw muscles, one eyebrow raised higher than the other, his expression taut yet not, conveying power and confidence.
“Wow! It’s Rambo for real!”
“Don’t insult Rambo, okay? This is clearly He-Man.”
“A bit like a muscular version of A-Chuan—”
“This should be a composite image of various popular cultural and cinematic heroes from before the catastrophe,” Nan Guo de Xue explained. “The Empire implanted this image into the soldiers’ cerebral cortex using prosthetic technology.
“These modified Soldiers were originally the lowest strata of Imperial society, mostly gamblers, addicts, many with long criminal records, or antisocial tendencies.
“They joined the Imperial Navy due to poverty, but their character did not meet the requirements of regular forces, nor did they possess the ability to learn military skills. So, under military persuasion, they accepted brain prosthetic modifications to draw personality strength from ‘ancient heroes’.”
Black Smoke said faintly: “Isn’t this a form of thought imprint?”
Nan Guo de Xue: “More or less. In any case, after personality implantation, these Soldiers did indeed become extremely brave and gained the ability to quickly master military skills, but they also suffered many side effects.
“Mainly blind self-confidence, paranoia, and they also became extremely obsessed with muscular, large physiques, growth hormones, and steroid-like drugs,
Obsessed with close-quarters combat.
“Besides that, while they weren’t afraid of death, they also valued their lives greatly, always feeling they could turn the tide and wouldn’t easily die gloriously.”
No wonder those two Imperial warships didn't explode after being crippled, Lu Yuan thought.
Of course, not knowing that Cangyuan possessed god-tier blueprint scanning technology was probably another reason.
“It seems the modification still has its merits. You just said it increased their speed in learning military skills?”
Nan Guo de Xue nodded slightly.
“Yes, mainly for various complex warship operations and individual combat tactics, learning efficiency greatly improved. The Empire clearly has the ability to partially remove the ‘pollution’ from the prosthetic modification technology. Although we don’t know exactly how they do it, it at least proves it’s feasible,
The approach is correct.”
“Very good. We don’t need personality implantation; we only need to extract the accelerated learning ability from it. So, provide the side effects of the personality modification to the branch as well, and have them hand it over to North Star TV Station.”
“Understood!”
Nan Guo de Xue stood up: “Additionally, I’d like to request a few days to return to Emerald Star to oversee the next phase of the body modification plan and distribute specific tasks to the younger ones.”
“I also request to return to Li Star for a period,” Black Smoke chimed in. “As you know, assisting Moto in designing the next generation of frigates,
The workload is said to be quite substantial.”
“Me too!”
Jubian also submitted his application.
“It has now been confirmed that the prosthetic modification equipment on Red Dust Star contains more advanced additive manufacturing technology, with a technological level between Star Alliance and our black technology 3D printers. It can perfectly fill the gap between the two!”
Lu Yuan nodded.
“Alright, then you all go back for now. If there’s an emergency, I’ll summon you again. Remember to also research that new plasma weapon.”
“No problem!”
Equipment and player characters are Cangyuan’s two major military-industrial research directions.
Currently, the warship sub-category of the former has collected numerous research materials, including a series of technologies from the deep sea and Imperial warships,
As well as large areas of naval wreckage around Ruins Star awaiting recovery.
Frigate development should proceed smoothly, and even the next level of destroyers can be prepared in advance.
The principle is: one generation of equipment, one generation in development, one generation in preliminary research.
To lay out warship design in the form of an industrial assembly line, moving away from artisanal workshop operations.
In terms of player character enhancement, the captured Paradise Island psionic assassin, plus the recently acquired prosthetic modification equipment, are all good reference objects.
However, they all point towards artificial organs. As for the enhancement of the physical body itself, that cannot be neglected either—
Lu Yuan thought of the tall skeletons on Ruins Star, suspected to be “super Soldiers.”
He needed to find the super Soldier training base there soon!
It would be good to issue more exploration missions for Ruins Star. The four cargo ships escorted by the fleet were also arriving soon, and that area could produce a large number of teleportation point stasis pods in the future.
In short, Cangyuan’s next phase of scientific research has a bright future, with great potential to break through current bottlenecks!
While Lu Yuan was thinking, the three who had requested temporary leave walked towards the stasis zone.
Suddenly, Nan Guo de Xue seemed to lose consciousness, her entire body slumping down.
“Watch out!”
Fortunately, Caoyuan, who was nearby, reacted quickly and caught her.
Her eyes had lost their luster, and she was unresponsive to the outside world, with only her breathing and heartbeat remaining.
“What’s going on? What happened to Nan Guo de Xue?”
The crowd immediately gathered around her with concern.
“It looks like she forcibly logged off herself?”
“Nonsense, who would forcibly log off while walking? Wouldn’t that just lead to a big fall? Besides, the stasis pod is right on the ship, just a few steps away. Is it really necessary?”
“Could something have happened? Who has her contact information?”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Jubian seems to have it.”
“Maybe her signal receiver was knocked off by a pet. That thing adheres to the forehead and isn’t very secure. My cat has done that to me a few times before.”
“Hmm—maybe. She should be able to log back on in a while. Let’s recline her chair and lay her down for now.”
“Alright. That’s all we can do.”
Lu Yuan watched the other party, who had suddenly gone offline, in silence.
At the same time, in “reality,” in a university-affiliated research institution at MIT in the Milligan United States, Nan Guo de Xue woke up from her reclining chair in her office.
In front of her stood a white male in a suit, around 60 years old.
This man held her signal receiver, and an NSA (National Security Agency) ID badge hung from his chest, with a forced smile.
“Hello, Dr. Song. We meet again.”