Dogs Wouldn't Even Use It!

Bruis pointed at himself in disbelief. He was just an ordinary Science Officer on a warship—when had he ever operated things like these?

"What? These are all crystallizations of Taotie Civilization knowledge. Don't you want to learn more about them?" Yuan chuckled softly as he looked at the bewildered Bruis.

"It's not that, it's just..."

"As long as it's not, then get to work!"

"Yes, I'll work hard." Yuan's encouraging words stirred Bruis, and he instantly felt filled with strength.

"Hmm?"

Cole looked at them suspiciously, unable to stop himself from muttering inwardly, He seems to value Bruis a lot. No, I need to find a chance to have a proper talk with him.

Cole was right, though rather than valuing him, it was more accurate to say Yuan appreciated him.

Compared to Cole's utilitarian mindset and violent nature, Yuan appreciated Bruis more as a Science Officer. Perhaps that was the resonance between scholars.

Not to mention that Bruis had played dumb earlier and interrupted the potential conflict between Yuan and Cole, making Yuan think more highly of him.

After handing the Particle Catcher and accelerator over to Bruis, Yuan focused his attention on the central system.

A holographic projection unfolded before Yuan. More than a dozen small light screens intertwined into a massive grid.

Countless streams of data and information flowed and merged across it. Under Yuan's hands, they were quickly sorted out as clearly as a tangled ball of thread being untangled.

Countless lines of code intertwined, and each time they formed a complete logical chain, they emitted a beautiful flash of blue light.

"Sigh, Taotie language programming really isn't suited to serve as the logical core of a Supercomputer. Simple, crude, brute force—it isn't suitable for precise underlying logic."

As the logical chains ran, several light screens suddenly turned white, as if they had frozen.

"No fault tolerance, no balance, just brute force. This is going to be difficult!"

Cole had been watching Yuan the whole time, and Yuan's assessment made him blush.

But Yuan did not care. With a casual gesture, he shattered those chaotic logical chains and began editing them anew.

This Supercomputer would not be used for long anyway. As long as it was enough, that was fine.

Before long, the underlying logic of the new Supercomputer had been compiled. Yuan let out a long breath, and Bruis's delighted shout reached his ears.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency! It's done. We did it."

As he spoke, he stopped the accelerator. Carefully controlling the mechanical arm, he extracted the blue core wrapped in an energy field.

"Very good, Bruis. Well done." Yuan then took out the Computing Unit he had prepared beforehand from the supply crate.

He removed its outdated processing core, then modified it and installed an energy-field maintenance device.

"Here, put it in."

At Yuan's signal, Bruis carefully carried the blue core over.

Following the direction of Yuan's finger, he slowly placed it inside.

Click!

Click!

Several faint mechanical sounds rang out. Once the blue core was enveloped by the energy field, the entire core and its energy field settled onto the photon panel, flashing with a dim blue glow.

"Begin connecting to the Stellar Furnace. Feed in the energy."

Hum!

As the energy flowed in, the new computing core began operating. After a soft rumble, the entire Computing Unit slowly rose into the air.

The Taotie soldiers stood where they were, watching expectantly as the Computing Unit floated in the direction Yuan pointed.

Before long, the entire Computing Unit was suspended above the central system. Then, with a slight tremor, invisible quantum light signals connected to the central system.

Alert! Unknown signal connection detected.

Alert lifted. Receive this signal as an external Supercomputer.

Alert lifted. Signal received. Please grant permissions, Commander.

Cole then looked toward Yuan.

"Stop looking at me. Share your permissions with it. It isn't mine."

"Oh, okay. System, share all my permissions with the Computing Unit." Cole imitated Yuan's tone as he issued the command to the central system.

Ignoring the strange looks from the Taotie, he merely stared at the floating Computing Unit with righteous eyes.

"..."

Ding! Authorizer identity confirmed: Commander Cole. Permission confirmed: highest authority. Supercomputer connected. Permissions granted.

"All right, the rest is up to me."

Everyone widened their eyes as a blue light chip no larger than three inches appeared in Yuan's hand, then flew toward the Computing Unit's core in the air.

Blue light blazed from the floating Computing Unit. In that instant, everyone seemed to hear the sound of snow melting.

It was that card. Like snow beneath the blazing sun, it melted into the computing core. Then a mechanical voice sounded.

Quantum Computer activated. Beginning logical self-check.

Self-check complete. Connected to central system database. System status is good.

"Supercomputer, check the operating speed." Yuan's voice remained completely calm as the Supercomputer began another round of self-checks.

Authorized user detected: Your Excellency Yuan. Supercomputer beginning computing-power assessment.

Computing-power assessment successful. Operating speed is three times that of the central system. Energy consumption is one-quarter that of the central system.

"Heh, success."

"Whoa!"

With Yuan's confirmation, earthshaking cheers immediately erupted through the hall, along with whistles rising one after another.

Cole, who had always wanted to leave this damned place, was especially thrilled.

"Quiet, quiet! Everyone, quiet down." Though delighted deep down, Cole forcibly suppressed the wild joy in his heart for the sake of a supreme commander's dignity.

After all, they had not yet left this damned place. Danger still remained.

"Your Excellency, what should we do next?"

"Simple! Clap!"

As he spoke, Yuan lightly clapped his hands. The previously floating Computing Unit descended beside the central system.

Familiar streams of data surged madly across the tactical visor, while new files appeared within the central system.

"Activate the Repair Unit. Grant it permission to inspect the entire warship."

Permission confirmed. Yuan, permission grant approved.

Thud!

Yuan lightly tapped the control panel on the command console with his finger, and a complete three-dimensional projection of the warship appeared.

With a wave of his hand, the warship projection rapidly enlarged. Yuan then began issuing commands.

"Repair Unit, activate self-check function."

Repair Unit activated. Beginning full warship scan.

Ding! Scan complete. Hull cracks detected, weapon system offline, life-support system offline, medical system offline, engines damaged with one remaining, energy compartment intact, central system intact, VR room repairs complete...

"Tut, tut, tut!!!"

Something seemed to cut into the cold report. Seeing the look Yuan sent him, Cole wished he could bury his head inside the warship.

"Begin marking all issues."

Ding! Marking complete. Displayed on projection.

As the Repair Unit marked the issues, densely packed red markers appeared across the blue warship projection. There were so many that anyone with trypophobia would have an attack.

"Whoa, there really are a lot. No need to make such a huge fuss. Remove every area that does not affect normal warship flight, aside from the weapon system."

Immediately, half the red markers vanished from the projection.

"Access the database. Begin retrieving data for the equipment corresponding to the marked areas."

Information volume is excessive. Central system data lacks this capability. Supercomputer computing power required. The weapon system requires sufficient energy support.

Then massive amounts of data began to be retrieved at high speed, and every red marker was even assigned a numbered sequence.

By this point, Cole was dumbfounded.

"This thing? This thing is way too useful. It's so much better than that central system. That thing is practically brain-dead—dogs wouldn't even use it!"

"All right, enough nonsense. Let's begin."

"Huh? Do we still have something to do?"

"Nonsense. Go mine!"