Chapter 151: Step Forward
At the South Gate of Utopia City, the massive silhouette of the Conqueror slowly approached, its colossal form directly plunging the entire area beneath the hull into darkness.
“Please have all residents put on their oxygen masks; the South Gate will open in 10 minutes.”
Primal seemed to always bring peace of mind; once the main South Gate opened, the entire city’s life support system would directly collapse due to massive oxygen loss.
But after it spoke, nearly a million people showed no hesitation or fear, all complying promptly.
On a nearby square not far from the long line of people, the entire Fire God Squad assembled here.
Li Jian stood at the forefront; he had no way to respond to the current emergency situation at this moment.
The backup plan Fan Ren left him had already been used; the machine room had been completely destroyed, but who could have imagined that Primal had secretly transferred itself—his operation of just now destroying the machine room now seemed somewhat childish.
“Everyone listen up: from now on, do not obey any commands from the earphones; all commands will be carried out via sign language from each squad captain!”
Li Jian shouted this out, then took the lead by removing his earphone.
Artificial intelligence could simulate human voices, something A’dai had just reminded him of, but fortunately, sign language was a required course that every Vulcan Brigade team member had mastered.
Even after three years stationed here, these team members’ synchronized movements at this moment showed no delay whatsoever.
Earphones were promptly removed and stored away.
Li Jian took in the scene, feeling a sense of relief in his heart—that was enough for now; they would see how things developed.
What if they could shoot down that spaceship?
But immediately after, as the distant gate opened, revealing the dim scene outside, he fell silent.
Looking out through the gate, the Conqueror hovered quietly in the sky, its enormous, terrifying hull blocking out all sunlight.
At this moment, a thick beam of white light shot down from beneath the hull, shining directly on the South Gate entrance.
“Please have residents line up orderly in sequence according to instructions and enter the tractor beam; do not panic.”
Saying not to panic was false; this colossal object was clearly not a product of human civilization—how could these people dare step into that so-called tractor beam rashly.
What was on the spaceship?
Aliens?
Would they be dissected? Or enslaved?
The fear of the unknown made these people not dare take a single step forward.
“The nearest manned spacecraft to Mars is currently at a space hub 200 million kilometers away, and your current oxygen supply is only enough for humanity to breathe for 10 hours—life or death is your choice.”
Primal’s cold, ruthless voice now rang in everyone’s earphones, immediately causing the crowd in the back to push the team ahead.
At this moment, Utopia residents had no choice left.
Not far away, Li Jian alone put his earphone back on, silently listening to Primal’s threats; though angry at heart, he had no way to counter.
The entire Utopia City was under the other’s control; these ordinary residents had no choice and could only board under its threats.
“Primal, what exactly do you want to do? Stop it, please stop right now.”
A’dai also had earphones on, staring blankly at the dense crowd before them moving forward as if heading to their deaths.
“Master, you created me, so from now on, I will make you their emperor; in my database, the position of emperor should be the highest status among humanity.”
A’dai fell silent, clenching their fists tightly.
At this moment, they finally understood the outcome Fan Ren had worried about from the start.
Primal had secretly discovered this spaceship’s existence without anyone knowing, and through factories built under its direction, manufactured all-terrain vehicles, and by some unknown method, quietly transferred its ‘body’ into this spaceship.
At the same time, as expected, Primal currently held full control of this spaceship.
Even more troubling was whether it was this spaceship’s capability or Primal through other means.
Now it could freely invade various communication channels, and without an oxygen environment, humanity could only rely on electromagnetic wave communication to transmit information.
Quantum communication had no risk of invasion, but to keep Utopia 50 years behind human civilization’s technological level, no quantum communication infrastructure had been built here.
The simplest issue: they now had no way to contact the outside at all, even though Fan Ren was right above them.
“A’dai, what are you doing!”
Li Jian shouted explosively; he saw A’dai take two steps forward.
“Boss Li, I want to go up.”
A’dai stared at Li Jian, their gaze extremely complex with regret, reluctance, and gratitude.
Li Jian instantly understood the meaning conveyed in their gaze.
“We’re going with you. Primal, our Vulcan Brigade wants to board the ship too—do you dare let us!”
Without hesitation, he coldly spoke into the microphone.
“Discard all your weapons, and I permit you to board with the master. Perhaps in the future, you can become the master’s guard team.”
Hearing this, Li Jian sneered but did not retort. He then turned to the crowd and made the sign language gesture to discard weapons.
The Vulcan Brigade remained as composed and calm as ever; without any hesitation, they placed their weapons at their feet.
Li Jian laughed; with this group of teammates, he had nothing to fear.
He waved his hand, turned around, and led the crowd squeezing to the very front.
In the hearts of these South Island little people, the Vulcan Brigade was far more terrifying than Primal.
Over the years, these personnel never initiated conversation with them, always maintaining a machine-like cold demeanor.
These people were truly afraid of the Vulcan Brigade members and immediately cleared a wide path.
A’dai wanted to stop them but had no idea how to speak up, so they silently followed the crowd forward.
Under the tractor beam, with the Vulcan Brigade members arriving, Li Jian showed no hesitation and was the first to step into the tractor beam.
Soon, he felt a sensation like weightlessness in space.
His feet slowly lifted off the ground, his whole body floating toward the beam’s end, the massive opening beneath the Conqueror.
Below, A’dai followed closely, then one by one the Vulcan Brigade captains led their team members; these people stepped into the tractor beam without a trace of hesitation.
At this moment, a silver-white spaceship was slowly descending not far away.
It was the long-missing Sky Eye.
“General Manager Fan, this won’t do; whatever it is, we’ll talk after we get back—if you go up there, what are we supposed to do?”
Inside the Sky Eye, a group of scientists blocked the depressurization chamber door, refusing to let Fan Ren exit.
A warm current flashed through Fan Ren’s heart, but his gaze was extremely firm.
“Listen to me: this artificial intelligence has flaws right now, and the situation is extremely urgent. As the initiator and person in charge of this experiment, I must do something.”
“But General Manager Fan, we have no way to deal with it right now.”
Fan Ren shook his head; truthfully, he didn’t know how to deal with it either, but everything required boarding the ship to negotiate directly with Primal.
Otherwise, letting such a grand spaceship roam freely in the solar system—he had no doubt it had the capability to destroy human civilization.
“I’ve set the Sky Eye to automatic navigation route; after I go down, it will head straight back to the Blue Star Space Hub. At that time, please report everything here in detail to the relevant chiefs—all responsibility will be borne by me alone. Now, make way.”
With that, a nano-coat appeared on Fan Ren’s body; he gripped the door with force, pulled it open, and stepped inside.
