The Almighty Ring

Chapter 949: Enigmatic Action

“I have also detected the Androids production factory deep in the facility, as well as a powerful Hyperspeed Data and Information Relay Center.”

“Dumb it down for me, would you?” Jiang Fei rolled his eyes. Jargons of other aspects of society was not as easy to learn, especially when it came to subjects that he had never been good at.

“To put it in simple terms, there is a series of supercomputers used to collect, process, and store digital data. One of its functions is to convert artificial souls into the form of a memory chip that is being used in the Androids.”

“Now that, I understand.”

Jiang Fei had one of those things. It was the ring itself. With all the original, authentic technology that came with the ring, he was able to revive Ariel and the other girls, including Hong Yu, into this world. Compared to the military’s version, Jiang Fei’s was the original, flawless method of resurrection or creating a human being, while the military’s version was just a cheap knockoff. The best they could do was to create something that still functioned like an artificial intelligence.

After listening to 0542’s report, Jiang Fei had conflicted feelings. From the perspective of a Chinese citizen, the military was able to enforce their military strength and place China at the top of the world. On the other hand, it was nothing but bad news to the martial artist alliance. If there were to be a breakthrough in Android technology and the military was able to mass produce Level 5 Androids, the martial artists could start counting their days left on earth before the culling starts.

“What am I going to do about this…?” Jiang Fei thought to himself, frustrated.

To be honest, there was no enmity between the government and the Martial Artists Alliance. The only reason why the government wanted to eliminate all the martial artists was because of their ignorance and their refusal to cooperate with the nation’s interests. If they were to behave like the Mutants, working hand in hand with the government, the government would be more than happy to take them in.

Unfortunately, pride and honor defined a martial artist. They had always looked down on normal humans and it seemed that they would continue to do so. Not even high ranking politicians, government officials, and military personnel could escape their judgmental glare. Even though they had personally witnessed the prowess of Androids, it was still impossible for them to just change their attitudes that was embedded within their culture for thousands of generations.

“Captain, if I may interrupt here. It seems that you are conflicted on trying to save the martial artists from the government whilst trying not to disrupt the military. How about moving the entire alliance into your private territory, the Winter Islands?” 0541 suggested a solution as it was reading Jiang Fei’s mind.

“If only it would be that simple…”

Jiang Fei sighed. 0542’s method was logical but it failed to factor in an important aspect—human emotions.

The Chinese government and the military force did see the alliance as a threat even though they did not do anything wrong. It was a matter of conflict of interest. The entire Martial Artists Alliance seemed to run on its own rules without interfering with the government. They were strong enough on their own to not follow the country’s laws and regulations, almost as if they were an independent country. A rise of power within the Chinese borders was unacceptable. If they were willing to pack their bags and leave China, the government would be more than happy to assist them.

The problem lied with the martial artists themselves. These folks were born and raised in China and to them, their motherland was more important than their lives. To ask them to move out of China permanently was akin to uprooting their entire culture.

Unlike 0541, 0542 was a new artificial intelligence system that had just been born into the world. The way it calculated solutions was by focusing on the maximum benefits of both parties but not factoring in human emotions and conflicts. Hence, no matter how good the benefit was, when a human was involved, there would not be a perfect solution. 0541 would be able to calculate a better solution since it had learnt plenty about human emotions and the concept of compromising.

“Tch… If only 0541 was here…”

Jiang Fei could not think of a better solution yet but since the military had yet to make a Level 5 Android breakthrough, he still had more than enough time to think about it.

An hour after leaving the holographic entrance, Jiang Fei and Ariel reached where they were picked up from.

“Mr. Jiang Fei. We have reached your destination,” said the driver without turning to face Jiang Fei.

“Mhm.”

Jiang Fei merely nodded instead of thanking. After getting down, the car sped off at top speed, leaving Jiang Fei and Ariel alone in the empty mountain.

“Let’s go back,” said Jiang Fei. The obedient little girl nodded happily and teleported the two of them with a snap of her finger.

“We’re back!” Jiang Fei yelled as he entered the house. After exchanging a few words with the rest of the family, Jiang Fei sat down on the sofa, thinking about what had transpired today.

“Ariel,” Jiang Fei thought, calling out to Ariel via telepathy, hoping that Ariel could hear it.

“Yes?” she answered.

“What do you think of today? What is Fan Yao planning?”

“I can’t tell much…” Ariel answered, looking sad.

Jiang Fei was always thinking about the conflict between the two sides. To be honest, the military had not given him a good impression, especially since Qin Yu had kidnapped Han Tianyu and locked him away. But after today, Jiang Fei calmed down, and started to rethink his opinion on the military.

Fan Yao’s behavior today was enigmatic. Whatever contribution he had made for the military aside, Jiang Fei was still a member of the Martial Artists Alliance of China. For Han Tianyu’s case, it was safe to say that Jiang Fei had bared his fangs at them. The military did not need to play the guessing game as they knew immediately that it was Jiang Fei who had saved Han Tianyu from his prison. That information was not revealed but was kept on a need-to-know basis.

Theoretically speaking, Jiang Fei would be the last man on earth that they would reveal the secret military base to. Furthermore, Fan Yao personally invited him into it!

Oddly enough, Fan Yao’s odd behavior did not stop there. The conversation they had in the meeting room was completely unrelated to the military.

“0542, playback the footage of me having a conversation with Fan Yao!”

“Fetching data… Projecting…”

The footage was being projected directly into Jiang Fei’s mind, like some form of recollection. The conversation with Fan Yao lasted for as long as two hours and during most of the time, it was Fan Yao who was doing most of the talking. Nine out of ten times, the conversation was about things that happened during his childhood.

The only interesting thing that Jiang Fei could remember was how Fan Yao loved to disturb his grandmother when he was little. He had once set his bed on fire just to express his anger when his parents did not allow him to play with his friends. Besides that, there were other naughty stuff that he had done. Most of it were just childish acts of throwing a fit, the kind of stories that a grandparent would tell their grandchildren. That was where Jiang Fei felt odd. Why would Fan Yao, a man of his position, talk about stupid things like his past to Jiang Fei, in the middle of a super secretive military base? There was something amiss and Jiang Fei felt as though there was something extremely crucial.

“Do not delete this footage. Keep it until I say so,” said Jiang Fei after he could not figure anything out after reviewing the two-hour-long footage multiple times.