“We also need to inform the local civilizations within the Ancient Star Desert, getting them on side. This problem must be dealt as soon as possible.”
At this time, in order to reassure others, the three could not take the opportunity to attack the Super Star Cluster Civilizations of the Ancient Star Desert. Otherwise, no one would cooperate the next time a similar disaster occurred. The disadvantages far outweighed the potential gains.
If they missed the optimum timing due to infighting, this virus would shake the very foundation of order in the Galactic Civilization, causing a major blow to the dominance of the three Universal Civilizations. There were countless examples in history, so the three of them would never repeat the same mistake.
In the face of such disasters, the three Universal Civilizations would put aside their struggle for interests and temporarily work together to overcome the shared difficulty.
“I recommend that we recruit mechanics from all over the Universe, especially the Beyond Grade A Virtual Mechanics that specialize in this area,” Urranrell suggested. “We should also call the Mechanic Emperor and Black Star to come over and cooperate sincerely to solve the problem.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
The others all nodded.
Since it was a disaster in the Virtual Domain, they had to have experts in a related field to check it out. Mechanic Emperor and Black Star were the leaders in the Virtual Domain, so they would naturally be employed by the three Universal Civilizations.
As for the origin, cause, and principles behind the disaster, there would be plenty of time to look for clues after this problem was solved.
Furthermore, the three Universal Civilizations were extremely interested in this Virtual Virus Technology.
If this virus had happened in the past, it would likely cause the direct order of the galactic civilization to collapse, turning it into a troubled time. However, with years of development, the three Universal Civilizations could keep the risks under control so long as such disasters were discovered early. There was no need to panic like before.
The only hidden danger that the three Universal Civilizations were worried about would be the unstable civil organizations, such as the Galactic Black Market, wanted criminals, and rebels. If one of them kept the virus secretly, that would be problematic.
Maybe there was even someone that was behind the scenes. The three leaders exchanged glances, sharing the same worries.
…
The Black Star Cup had been in full swing for around two of three months, and Han Xiao had been spending that downtime within his workshop.
He initially wished to keep a low profile for the next year and a half, waiting for the three Universal Civilizations to take action against the Super Star Cluster Alliances, but he did not expect the dynasty to suddenly send him an invitation to a mission one day, asking him to run over to the Ancient Star Desert to tackle a virtual virus.
“To actually block the entire Ancient Star Desert, is that virus so powerful?”
After reading the news from the dynasty, Han Xiao had a weird expression on his face.
In his previous life, this incident did not happen during Version 4.0.
To be precise, the players did not experience the ‘Intelligent Plague’. This event happened during the version update leading up to the Silver Revolutionary Army. For the players, it was just a background story.
Han Xiao recalled the brief introduction to the ‘Intelligent Plague’, even though he had not experienced the incident personally.
In his previous life, the process of resolving this disaster was difficult. The three Universal Civilizations wanted to clear out the virus entirely, but something went wrong, causing the virus to leak and infect multiple Star Fields. The communications in a large number of areas were paralyzed, and the order of their civilization was hit hard.
The three Universal Civilizations sacrificed a lot of resources to resolve the disaster, but due to their attention focused over there, coupled with bad public opinion, it was exploited by the Silver Revolutionary Army of his previous life to develop and grow. This was also an important factor in the success of the Silver Revolutionary Army.
But now, the Intelligent Plague had broken out many years in advance, yet the Silver Revolutionary Army had not said a word, probably missing this opportunity forever.
“It’s the butterfly effect caused by my actions again…” Han Xiao stroked his chin.
The dynasty’s brief contained the cause of the incident, and Han Xiao realized the moment he went through it.
Because he had gotten rid of Gorutan, the black market had entered a short period of time where there was a vacuum in the positions, leading to them being raided by galactic pirates. The original buyer was also investigated by the three Universal Civilizations and seemed like he just wished to collect an antique of an unknown civilization, so Han Xiao had indirectly caused the opening of the safe many years in advance.
Not sure if this is a blessing or a curse…
Han Xiao pursed his lips. The Intelligent Plague was a timed bomb, and it was definitely better for it to erupt during this version rather than during the World Tree Civilization War arc. However, with the conflicts between the three Universal Civilizations and the Super Star Cluster Alliance, this might turn into a bargaining chip for the Super Star Clusters.
If the Super Star Clusters obtained a respite and managed to find a way to rise up as a Universal Civilization, the situation of the universe would take a completely different path compared to his previous life.
I don’t know the general trend of the times, as well as which side will eventually fall…
Shaking his head, Han Xiao suppressed the worries in his heart. At least there was something positive from this incident.
What a coincidence, to think that I would meet with a famous person from the later versions…
Harrison and his team were the excavators, so they were also recorded. Han Xiao was glad to have come across such a famed protagonist and was already thinking how to transplant this unowned leek into his own vegetable plot.
At the bare minimum, he could serve as a mascot, increasing the luck of his Black Star Army.
“Phillip, reply to the dynasty. Tell them that I’m accepting the invite and will rush over immediately.”
He was naturally willing to make a contribution, as he did not wish for the Intelligent Plague to consume a lot of energy of the current explored universe.
Don’t ask, I’m definitely not going there to obtain and research this virus technology! I have absolutely no interest in it at all! Fighting!
Ding!
At this moment, Han Xiao’s interface popped up with a notification informing him of a mission.
[1] The author is trying to say how the passage of time would grind away at your anger such that you would feel indifferent to everything and anything, just like Buddha or a salted fish who only wishes to lie there and do nothing all day
Chapter 1101 - Accumulation
Chapter 1101 Accumulation
_____________________
You have triggered an S-ranked Mission: Intelligent Plague!
Mission Introduction: An exploration team has dug out taboo antiques in the Ancient Star Desert, accidentally releasing a virtual virus aimed at artificial intelligences. The source of this virus is unknown, but it has an extremely high infectivity and permeability. It has spread rapidly through the domain of the quantum network, and once it breaks out, the underlying logic of countless artificial intelligences and machines will be rewritten to initiate a mechanical rebellion.
Mission Requirements: Clear the unknown virtual virus and remove the Intelligent Plague crisis.
Reward: Based on the Mission Rating, different rewards will be given.
Special Mission Requirement: Personally destroy the core data of the virus.
Special Mission Reward: Generate a Specialty related to yourself (Exclusive to the Mechanic Class)
An S-rank Mission… well, as expected.
Han Xiao was not surprised at all.
With the three Universal Civilizations barricading the entire Star Field, such a large move would naturally not be a small task. Given the spread of the virus, it was indeed worthy of the highest level of difficulty needed to completely eliminate it.
The majority of S-ranked mission requirements were usually ambiguous, with only a few prompts for the steps needed. One had to discover the method to solve the problem themselves. Generally, there would be more than one method to solve the mission, and one had to be easily adaptable to changes.
This was what had happened with Godora’s [Bloodline] mission, so Han Xiao was already used to it.
What he was curious about was regarding the special mission requirements. It actually revealed a lot of information.
I originally thought that every individual virus was the same because that’s how a virus usually transmits. I didn’t expect that there would be a core. In this manner, the virus is more like a controllable Virtual Domain bioweapon…
If the core of the virus was an intelligent life form, it would definitely be hidden within the quantum network and not show itself. The threat of the virtual viruses would thus greatly increase as opponents with a self-consciousness were more terrifying than the objects that moved based on their instincts.
But there was another possibility, and that was that the core data of the virus was not an intelligent life form but rather an algorithm that was responsible for the coordination of the overall infection. It would command all its virus progeny according to its program structure without any self-awareness.
Hmm… why do I have a feeling this is like operating a plague company? Han Xiao scratched his head.
The special mission reward was the ability to generate a Mechanic class related expertise, not one extracted from a target. This made him feel that the virus core was more likely to be an algorithm. The generated expertise would not be any weaker than the huge movements from this mission and would also likely be related to Virtual Technology expertise.
“Phillip, prepare the spaceship and ask Reynold to choose a few mechanics to follow me.”
Han Xiao did not hesitate, putting on his coat and opening the door, striding toward the dock of the base.
This intelligent plague was an emergency, able to threaten the entire universe and disrupt his plans. He had to end his ‘vacation’ early, temporarily leaving the matters at hand and take his people to the Ancient Star Desert to complete the mission.
As someone who was in a high position, he could not remain uninvolved when faced with problems of this level.
Not long after, a fleet full of Mechanics from the army set off from Black Star Palace, shuttling like a group of meteors through the universe in the direction of the Ancient Star Desert.
At the same time, countless well-known mechanics throughout the universe also received the invitation of the three Universal Civilizations to move toward the Ancient Star Desert.
…
This matter concerned the safety of the entire universe, and the three Universal Civilizations were in a race against time, so they acted quickly. The Civilization Conference was urgently convened, and all the civilizations at the Star System level and above in the Ancient Star Desert were quickly identified.
In the conference hall that was full of remote projections of various civilization representatives, the leaders of the three Universal Civilizations appeared at the same time to announce their decision.
“Yesterday, the Federation of Light, the Crimson Dynasty, and the Arcane Church received reliable information that a special virtual virus has appeared in the Ancient Star Desert. This virus is extremely permeable and has inflected many areas. According to the judgement of experts, the goal of the virus is to rewrite the underlying logic for all infected machines, taking the killing of living organisms as their primary task.
“After much discussion, the three Universal Civilizations have rated this disaster as ‘World-Destroying Level’ and are activating the unified command to seal off all quantum network nodes connecting the Ancient Star Desert to the outside world. Troops will be sent to block the Star Field, and all civilizations of the Ancient Star Desert must cooperate with the actions of the three Universal Civilizations. These procedures are to be implemented immediately.”
Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures. Without any long-winded talk, the three Universal Civilizations read out the notices rather than bills, requiring all civilizations within the Ancient Star Desert to comply without fail, with no room for negotiation.
Just as they finished speaking, the civilizations’ representatives, who were initially wondering why an emergency meeting was convened, turned pale.
The three Universal Civilizations were responsible for the exploration of the universe and had also set up a disaster rating system. According to the relevant laws and regulations, when the threat level of a disaster rose to a certain level, the three Universal Civilizations would have the high veto power and be qualified to coordinate all the civilizations within the universe.
It was just that such incidents were few and far between even throughout the long history.
As soon as the announcement from the three Universal Civilizations was issued, the galactic residents went into an uproar. No one had thought that a disaster of this magnitude would happen all of a sudden. The world was truly full of surprises.
For those ordinary citizens, this was just like any other normal day. The disaster happened silently, and if not for the early warning measures of the three Universal Civilizations, most people would only have reacted when the virus broke out.
Regardless of what the various civilizations within the Ancient Star Desert were planning in secret, they were extremely cooperative on the surface, cutting off all external links and blocking their own Star Field network in accordance with the requirements of the three Universal Civilizations.
With the three Universal Civilizations and the civilizations within the Star Field collectively acting, the scale of resources mobilized was beyond imagination. Things that were believed impossible in the eyes of normal people were easily achieved.
The Ancient Star Desert was quickly isolated from the entire galactic society and became akin to a quarantined city in darkness. All contact with it was forbidden, and the outside world did not know what was happening inside.
While the situation was temporarily under control, panic still spread throughout the universe. The sudden disaster robbed the Flickering World of its limelight, and countless people turned their attention away from the competition in the new Star Field to focus on progression of the situation within the Ancient Star Desert.
Compared to the calm and poise with which the civilizations handled the situation, the galactic residents of the Ancient Star Desert seemed to be chaotic and flustered. Even though the civilizations continued to appease the residents, there were still varying degrees of people fleeing to other planets to take refuge.
Due to the target of the virus being artificial intelligences, countless residents no longer placed their trust in their machines, thinking that they might possibly be a threat. They would rather regress back to the level of a surface civilization than continue to utilize the intelligent machinery. Some even destroyed their machines to eliminate any hidden threats.
A trend of machinery rejection was created in the Ancient Star Desert… but such chaos was long within the predicted scope of the advanced civilizations.
With the severity of the situation, the three Universal Civilizations did not choose to block the news but rather let everyone know the seriousness of such a situation. In this manner, the self-examination and supervision of the galactic residents could be strengthened. Besides, there would be no way to hide any movement of this scale.
The stargates were rapidly closed, the army moving into the Star Field to set up barricades. Countless p
eople who wished to escape from the Ancient Star Desert were completely blocked.
This scene was something that also occurred during the era of the intelligent plague in his previous life. Now that this was pushed forward to the Version 4.0 era, a stormy undercurrent started brewing.
…
“The Ancient Star Desert has been sealed? Black Star has gone to aid them‽”
In the free competition zone, the leaders of the Super Star Cluster met in secret within the Flickering World, their expressions gleeful.
“This disaster is too timely! With the three Universal Civilizations involved in disaster relief, they no longer have the time to contain us!”
Roddick of the Modo Civilization tightly gripped his fists, an expression of joy.
The majority of people in the universe were uneasy and panicking about the disaster, but for the Super Star Cluster Alliance, it was unexpectedly good news.
“That’s right. The Intelligent Plague can restrain and control the three Universal Civilizations, which will give us more time. This will increase our chances of winning!”
“The best would be for the Intelligent Plague to spread out and make the three Universal Civilizations suffer. The more chaotic the universe, the less time they have to deal with us. Only with chaos can we stand a chance.”
Everyone present was extremely excited, feeling as though it was some form of divine intervention.
“Say, what happens if the three Universal Civilizations fail?”
“That will put everyone in a terrible situation. We will suffer losses as well.”
“Without destruction, there can never be creation. Only when the foundations of the three Universal Civilizations are shaken will we then have the chance to rise. These are all necessary sacrifices.”
The eyes of everyone present flashed.
If the Intelligent Plague were to truly break loose, then the Super Star Cluster Alliance would also be damaged. However, the three Universal Civilizations would take the brunt, their prestige and dominance sure to plummet.
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