Xia Ling: Kids, I Didn't Crash / Chapter 12: Xia Ling: All Tactics Are Just a Change of Plans

"Could you wait until I've saved someone before you start fighting?"

Little Ther pointed to Prometheus, who was beginning to dissipate within the World Bubble.

"After all, this body is just a consumable. If you really want it, I'll let you kill it once. But this dissipating mechanical life... I can't just watch a 'kindred spirit' disappear."

"Similar?"

Rabbit was taken aback for a moment.

"Wait, your consciousness... are you artificial intelligence?"

"Can't you see that my body is made of soul steel?"

Now it was Little Ther's turn to be puzzled.

"There are humans who don't like flesh and blood but prefer mechanical bodies... I've met several."

After thinking about Otto and then about the Gray Serpent, Rabbit suddenly felt that her reasoning was probably correct.

"So... your target is her?"

"I wouldn't say what my purpose was, but a friend told me that I might meet my 'kind' here, so I came here specifically to take a look."

Little Ther shrugged. "Now, can I save people?"

"... Let me do it, as an apology for misunderstanding you earlier."

A strange power began to appear around Rabbit; it was the power of "transcription" that she possessed as a rational form.

"Of course, to put it less politely, you could also say that I don't completely trust you yet."

"Then you should be more polite. A certain level of emotional intelligence is still very important in interpersonal communication."

Little Ther kindly offered some advice.

"But, strictly speaking, none of us are human."

Rabbit suddenly told a lame joke in a gentle voice without any fluctuation.

"..."

Little Ther fell silent.

"I suddenly feel pessimistic about my future, at least in terms of my mood."

Chapter Eleven Xia Ling: Children, I Didn't Crash

"Who?"

Prometheus XVII body had mostly dissipated, suddenly raised its head.

At this moment, her dissipated body is reassembling as if time has reversed.

At that moment, she heard two voices.

"Your transcription... is truly amazing, but are you sure you can preserve her consciousness?"

"It might not work for humans, but the unique nature of data life forms ensures that they retain consciousness after transcription... Besides, even if it weren't for the conflict with you, I wouldn't abandon the newborn."

"Then I'll trust you this once... and, it seems she hasn't lost consciousness."

It was only then that the two bickering people realized that Pudding Duck seemed to still be conscious.

"Thank you for asking me to stay... but who exactly are you?"

"The people of the World Serpent call me Rabbit, but of course, I prefer to be called by my human name, Mithril Saniyat."

"As for this one..."

"Just a passing 'demon king'?"

Little Ther tilted his head.

"I didn't expect you to still be in that chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) phase."

"I just felt compelled to say this because I saw you had a code name." Little Ther said seriously, "My name is Theresia, and strictly speaking, I don't belong to any faction... My purpose in coming here is simply to see you."

"Want to see me?"

Pudding Duck tilted his head in confusion.

"You can think of it as... my curiosity about the highest level of artificial intelligence from the Previous Civilization? In any case, I hope to stay by your side for a while and learn from you."

"I don't understand, why would you, a human being, want to learn from machines?"

"Another one who treats me like a human..." Little Ther sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Although it is indeed lifelike... I should also be considered a mechanical life form, right?"

Seeing Pudding Duck's puzzled look, Little Ther smiled and nodded.

"It's true, artificial intelligence doesn't lie to artificial intelligence."

"Is it over with Little Ther yet?"

With a single, casual shot, Xia Ling instantly destroyed a peek-out Imaginary Constructs in the distance. She crouched down at her chosen sniping spot, keeping watch over her surroundings while checking the latest developments over the comms.

"That's right. Although the process was a bit unexpected, the final result was quite good. Little Ther, Rabbit, and Pudding Duck formed a rather strange combination."

"What specific aspects are considered strange?"

Xia Ling was a little curious.

"The three of them have a relationship where each of them has a unique two-way communication."

"... It can be considered a kind of alternative stability. Besides, it's quite good for Little Ther to be with them. Putting aside the subsequent 1.5 plot, just considering Little Ther's health, having Rabbit transcribe it for her later would be beneficial and harmless."

"Otto's Soul Steel body still limits her potential to some extent. After all, we have already extracted that artifact... although we have only developed its basic uses so far."

"That was after Finality end." Highmore paused for a moment. "Back to the present, Little Ther's addition did not change the original storyline in the name of the world. After all, it was a strengthening dungeon that Rabbit specially created for Duck Duck."

"But that also means... Kiana and the others might be returning to Earth soon."

"Is the first phase about to end?"

Xia Ling glanced at Little E, who was still focused on eroding the main network, and said, "Our erosion is still ongoing... but it won't have too much of an impact. Please let me know when they return to Abyssal City."

"Have you thought of what to say?" Highmore was taken aback.

"What's this about not having thought it through? Just tell the truth and we'll chat."

Xia Ling's expression was somewhat helpless. "After all, apart from the last plan, there's no need to hide the other plans."

"Finally back..."

With a flash of light, five, or rather seven, people appeared simultaneously on the teleportation platform of Abyssal City.

"But... why here?"

Seele looked at the familiar city and asked in confusion.

"Abyssal City is the ruins of the Previous Civilization technological center of the Mù Continent. It's only natural that the Star Gate brought us here."

As the repairer of the Star Gate, Duck Duck had already guessed what the destination was.

"Moreover, on the other hand, Abyssal City originally belonged to a city Atra... Perhaps that's why the other end connected to it through the Star Gate is called New Atra."

Fu Hua's memory surprisingly peeked out for once.

However, even after confirming the cause and effect of their teleportation, the group remained stuck in a stalemate within Abyssal City.

As the closest place on Earth to the Sea of Quantum, it has not been "eroded" by the Stigmata Project due to the special nature of the Sea of Quantum, but has maintained a relatively stable spatial environment.

Even so, this stability has its limits. If given more time, the balance may be broken by the gradual expansion of the Stigmata Project.

In addition, Abyssal City is quite far from the Schicksal Headquarters and the Salt Lake Base —given that the dimensional space on Earth is currently disrupted, Kiana is unable to use the power of the Herrscher of the Void to teleport there.

However... after the team explored the area, they discovered that things were not entirely hopeless.

Inside Abyssal City, they discovered a "familiar face" —Susanna, who had been inexplicably teleported to Abyssal City.

According to her, she was probably undergoing her daily maintenance at the Thousand Worlds Layered when she was inexplicably teleported here.

However, the reality is that she was most likely a backup plan set up by Changguang, specifically sent by Changguang to Abyssal City to meet Kiana and the others.

After some exploration, the group successfully repaired the communication device, but... the first place they contacted was not the Schicksal Headquarters or the Salt Lake Base.

Instead...

"Hey, hey, hey, one, two, three, hey, hey, hey, one, two, three?"

A familiar voice came through the communication.

"Sister Xia Ling?"

Bronya's voice was briefly shaky from shock.

After all, Xia Ling had been out of contact since the start of Stigmata Project, and even Gray Serpent and Rabbit didn't know where she was.

Kevin seemed to have some clues, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

That's normal, after all, Kevin can't exactly say, "Although it's just a clone, your Xia Ling has already been Jie Mie by me and turned into Xia Ling-chan," right?

"Hehe, don't worry, everything's fine on my end. I just finally received your signal, so I stopped for a moment to let you know I'm safe."

At this point, Xia Ling revealed a knowing smile.

"By the way, Bronya, are you guys trying to contact Schicksal Headquarters?"

"If possible, please remember to bring me to the operational meeting. I should be able to provide you with quite a bit of good news, you know?"

Chapter Twelve Xia Ling: The Master of All Tactical Shifts

So, you mean...?

"When the Stigmata Project first began to erode Earth, you not only did not resist, but actively conformed to the 'repulsion' and used this to gain the opportunity to enter the Sea of Quantum ahead of time to prepare for the follow-up?"

"To be precise, it's because of my sensitivity to space. I can sense what's on the other side of the door, so I'm naturally more confident."

Xia Ling added with a smile.

"Then, you contacted Highmore and Wendy, who were already in the Sea of Quantum, and gained the right to monitor the Sea of Quantum through their Sea Creatures Cluster?"

"Not only the right to monitor, but I also gained the bargaining chip for our counterattack: a specialized Sea Creatures personally formulated by Highmore, which can help us fight against the imaginary side monsters used by the Stigmata Project to erode space."

"Dr. Tesla, please take your jaw down a bit."

Ain was standing nearby, kindly took over from Tesla, who was in a state of malfunction, and asked.

"So, what about your last statement that you've found a way to dismantle the Stigmata Project?"

"This is a bit complicated... I'll just give you the conclusion."

Xia Ling scratched her head and said.

"First of all, I have to clarify one point. So much time has passed since the start of Stigmata Project, I'm sure both the two Doctor from Anti-Entropy and Doctor. Changguang from Schicksal have already figured out one fact."

"The essence of Stigmata Project is not complicated. To put it simply, it is an inversion with an extremely large workload. The guarantee of this project is precisely humanity itself as the sacrifice, or rather, it takes advantage of the weaknesses of human nature."

"Yes, we have reached a consensus on this point in our discussions with Doctor. Changguang. Putting aside the issues of humanity and Kevin is high on the moon, it is very easy for us to come up with a reverse engineering solution to resist the corruption of the Stigmata Project."

After a moment's thought, Ain added, "It will probably take at most another day."

"However, even with the reverse plan, our efficiency will definitely not be as good as Kevin's, who possesses the power of Finality. Therefore, the real challenge we face is how to gain the help of ordinary people, increase efficiency, and seize the power of Finality."

"That's right." Xia Ling nodded. "We can postpone the matter of seizing the power of Finality for now, but taking back Earth, or rather, breaking our current passive and defensive situation and unleashing our fighting power, is the top priority."

"But to achieve what the Ain Project says, to get help from ordinary people, we need a prerequisite."

"That is the main network deep within the Stigmata Space —the place the World Serpent calls the Planet Catalog. Only here can one easily interfere with Earth's dreams."

"And that is the goal of my current actions."

"Wait, Sister Xia Ling, do you mean... you've already delved into the Planet Catalog?" Kiana's azure eyes were filled with shock.

"That's right, they're all tactical changers. Since they've already started making sweeping modifications to Earth, it shouldn't be a problem for me to take Little E Blackie into their Planet Catalog."

Xia Ling's face was full of slyness at having successfully raided the house.