dtnovels Chapter 218: A Painful Dilemma
Chapter 218: A Painful Dilemma
In the deep basement of the Planetary Parliament Building, Xingkuite and Huojing No. 1 secretly met, accompanied by Academician Qin, the newly appointed chairman of the Science Committee, and others.
Because the lights were off, the basement room was dim, and everyone could only see each other's blurry figures.
Xingque spoke first: "Miss Huo, are you saying this alien fleet is here to sabotage your plan to save us?"
"Yes, Speaker. My husband has now basically gained the aliens' trust and deliberately arranged for the three of us to come to the Capitol. The announcement you made that the four of us are spies they sent is actually a scheme of theirs, the purpose of which is naturally to sow discord between us."
"Miss Huo, I'd like to know, did these alien warships come from your place?"
“Yes, President Qin, they were sent by those cyborgs. These people are our compatriots, but they have been controlled by those beasts. My husband suspects that the consciousness of these humans has been rewritten, and he is thinking about it and preparing to risk his life to confirm it.”
"Brain consciousness rewriting?"
"Yes, your future, which is us, is capable of scanning and rewriting human consciousness."
"Why wasn't this mentioned in your technology upgrade plan?"
“Speaker, we believe this technology is still very dangerous for you. If it is misused or used by the enemy, it would be extremely dangerous.”
"You mean we should rebel?"
"Yes."
"But we have no military force, how can we resist?"
"My husband is trying to rewrite the consciousness of the high-ranking officers of the alien fleet, well, how should I put it? To restore the consciousness of our puppet compatriots to normal."
"So what? Is there anywhere we can serve?"
“Speaker, of course there will be. Once the fleet’s leadership returns to normal, they will carefully relax security on the planet in some form, while we rebuild our base and manufacture weapons.”
Celeste glanced at Jean, who nodded.
"Speaker, our military technology and engineering foundation are still intact, and our production has basically recovered. As long as security is relaxed, we will recover quickly, but we must make preparations as soon as possible."
“It turns out we really misunderstood Mr. Zhou,” Xing Quite sighed.
“My husband is in prison and has to be very careful. He does things that are 100% guaranteed to succeed, and every step is difficult. For the past two years, my husband has been racking his brains to figure out how to resolve this crisis, turn our passive situation around, and win this battle.”
When can we relax or lift security restrictions?
"Lifting the restrictions is not possible at the moment, but easing them should be possible in the next few days."
"If Mr. Zhou can reverse the mindset of the fleet's leadership, that will already be a great success. Approximately how many people are in this fleet?"
"My husband says this fleet has about 6.5 million people. With so many people, he can't possibly rewrite their consciousness; he can only try to start from the highest level."
"Understood. President Qin, please make arrangements secretly as soon as possible. Once security is relaxed, we will carry out technological upgrades and military construction. Please be careful. I will inform my other trusted confidants to cooperate with this work."
"Yes, Mr. Speaker."
Xingkui stepped forward and extended his right hand. "Professor Huo, on behalf of all humanity on this planet, I thank you all, especially Mr. Zhou, for everything you have done for us. Thank you for your hard work."
“Speaker, everything we do is for our future.”
Huo Jing No. 1 also reached out and shook hands with Xing Quite.
At the Earth's airborne fleet base, aboard the flagship "Linghu X-2," Zhou Yuan No. 1 arrived at Linghu Ying's office.
"Ah Ying, is something the matter?"
This was when she was alone with Zhou Yuan No. 1, and Linghu Ying blushed when she heard Zhou Yuan No. 1 call her "A Ying".
Even though she knew he was Zhou Yuan's clone, Linghu Ying still habitually said, "Brother Zhou, you cloned me. I find it strange that my memory seems to be fragmented, and I can't remember some important things."
“Ah Ying, the closer it gets to the time of the sudden accident, the more likely your memory will go blank.”
"Brother, that's not what I meant. I meant I don't know how I came into this world or when I came here."
"Ah Ying, I don't know about that."
Linghu Ying stared intently at Zhou Yuan No. 1's face for a minute, then asked, "Have you ever felt that Xiao Mei and the others are acting a little strange sometimes?"
Zhou Yuan No. 1 feigned surprise, a look of suspicion on his face, "Aying, what happened to Xiaomei and the others?"
“This fleet is not normal,” Linghu Ying finally said.
"Isn't it?"
"I've reviewed all the logs and information of this fleet." Linghu Ying paused for a moment, glancing at Zhou Yuan No. 1. "Strangely, this fleet has absolutely no record of my home planet, or when and how it arrived in this world. All the information I want to know, like my memories, is fragmented." Linghu Ying raised her voice.
Zhou Yuan No. 1 lowered his head and pondered for a while, then looked up to meet Linghu Ying's gaze. "Ah Ying, don't be loud." Zhou Yuan No. 1 made a gesture to cover his mouth. "Ah Ying, you have memory gaps, and I don't know what happened. Have the other people in the fleet also experienced memory gaps?"
"I was chatting with Xiaomei this afternoon, and she said that everyone in the fleet, including herself and me, doesn't know when or how we came to this world. From what Xiaomei said, everyone in our fleet has experienced memory loss. Brother, what's going on?"
“Ah Ying, all of your memories may have been altered.”
"It's been altered?" Linghu Ying lowered her head in thought. "By the way, big brother, when Xiao Mei was chatting with me this afternoon, I asked her how we were going to get back, and she actually said, 'The master will summon us.' I pretended to remember the 'master' she mentioned, but I can't recall any 'master' at all. Could it be that our fleet is being controlled by the so-called 'master' that Xiao Mei mentioned?"
“Aya, my guess is the same as yours. However, when Xiaomei is fast asleep at night, she often says something like ‘Yes, Master.’ I always thought she was talking in her sleep.”
"Oh, really? I'll have to observe this further." Linghu Ying suddenly blushed, then quickly added, "Brother, what should we do if this fleet, or even our consciousness, is truly being controlled to some extent?"
"Ah Ying, let me think about it." Zhou Yuan No. 1 sat in the chair, head bowed in thought. Linghu Ying, sitting opposite him, secretly glanced at Zhou Yuan No. 1. Although he looked a bit older than Zhou Yuan's mother, his angular face was still so handsome. Zhou Yuan's signature smile made Linghu Ying's heart flutter. She remembered the 1,000-kilometer-long satellite of Zhou Yuan's golden body in the Nine Stars Orbiting the Sun System. Huo Jing said that you could see that smile from the side, and Linghu Ying understood it now.
"Ah Ying, Ah Ying..." Zhou Yuan No. 1's voice came through. "Oh, big brother, you've thought of a way?"
"Here's what I'm thinking. Let's analyze it together and see if it's feasible."
"Ok."
“If the consciousness of everyone in this fleet has been altered, then there is a very high possibility that they are being controlled by some force or entity. Ah Ying, you are a normal person now. The key is that everyone in this fleet obeys your command and orders. We must seize this huge advantage.”
"Yeah, I thought so too."
"With this advantage, you can issue orders to relax control and security over the planet below, allowing the humans on that planet to develop their own military, technology, and industry."
"But if I do that, won't Xiao Mei, Commander Qin, and the other commanders react or object?"
"Yes, that's possible. We don't know the fleet's management system. Although you are the supreme commander, if you do something that violates the fleet's vital interests, we don't know if there are any other restraint measures. You can make up a reason to transfer those security personnel on the planet."
"What reason?"
"Ah Ying, do you know why I've stayed here for over ten years and never left?"
"Brother, to be honest, I don't know, and I'm also very curious."
"Because when I led my fleet here, we observed a replicant fleet 22 light-years away from this planet."
"What?!" Linghu Ying practically jumped up. She knew what a replicator was. If the Earth Empire hadn't destroyed the Gliese replicator back then, the humans on her home planet and the Martian gods would probably have been destroyed by the replicator.
"There are copyists in this world too?" Linghu Ying felt somewhat confused and incredulous.
"Incredible, isn't it? And the replicator fleet also appeared 22 light-years away from Earth."
"How much time do we have left?"
"The replicator fleet will arrive here in eight years."
"Eight years? Eight years is enough time for us to escape."
“Ah Ying, darling, if we wanted to run away, we would have left here long ago. The reason we didn’t do that is because we want to save humanity in this world. Besides, to be honest, we’ve fallen in love with this planet and humanity, and we love living here.”
Linghu Ying was stunned. She looked at Zhou Yuan No. 1. Like him, she was also a clone. Her dream had always been to find Zhou Yuan, but could she find him? When could she find him? Even if she found the real Zhou Yuan, would he treat her as well as this clone did? Linghu Ying's heart was churning like waves.
"Brother, I understand what you mean. You want to use the crisis of the replicant fleet to make me order the relaxation of military and technological controls on this planet, so that my fleet and the humans of this planet can unite to fight against the replicant fleet, right?"
"Yes, Ying, you're really smart."
Linghu Ying felt a surge of sweetness in her heart and smiled slightly. "I can try this method. It would be best to utilize your hundred warships as well, so that with the three parties working together, the chances of victory would be much greater. However, I am still worried that if I issue these orders, I don't know if the commanders of my fleet will react or take adverse measures against me."
"You're right, Ying, let me think about it some more."
Zhou Yuan, at this moment, was struggling internally. He had thought of a method: to bring Commander Xiao Mei (Number Two) and Commander Qin (Number Three) to his side. However, this would require cloning Xiao Mei and Commander Qin, and cloning them would mean their deaths. The clever Linghu Ying would surely suspect that his cloning of Xiao Mei wasn't an accident, but rather that he had caused her death. If he told the truth—that he killed her and cloned her to win her over—wouldn't that be blatant exploitation? No matter what he said, it seemed likely to arouse Linghu Ying's suspicion and even resentment. What should I say to Linghu Ying? Zhou Yuan was caught in a dilemma and in pain.