Saving the Pre-Civilization by Hand-Crafting Black Tech in Honkai Impact 3rd

Chapter 68: You Betrayed Humanity!

"Before that, perhaps there's one more thing you need to take care of, Ai Yue." Sakura, usually quiet, suddenly spoke. Her expression was a little strange. "That... Kalpas, he's... gone berserk."

As one of the few who had clashed with Kalpas physically, Sakura had a good understanding of his strength. She knew that although this strange man hadn't undergone modification, he possessed power comparable to a Fused Warrior.

Moreover, the other party seemed to have a peculiar ability: the more severe his injuries, the stronger the power he could unleash. Combined with his formidable vitality, which allowed him to survive even a heart injury, Kalpas's explosive strength could rank among the top Fused Warriors.

However, such a person, due to his personality flaws, couldn't be a reliable comrade to trust and cooperate with. This was a pity for Sakura.

Fortunately, at least he trusted Ai Yue and followed his orders. Otherwise, Sakura wouldn't even be able to stay in the same room with him peacefully.

That's why, when Ai Yue first asked Sakura to bring Kalpas to the site of the great Honkai outbreak, Sakura hesitated. She had witnessed Kalpas's berserk state and wasn't sure if he could maintain his sanity under such circumstances.

Fortunately, Ai Yue's orders to Kalpas were to act alone, and the man indeed had no intention of fighting alongside Sakura and the others. The moment the plane landed and the cabin door opened, this man called Kalpas vanished into the sea of Honkai Beasts like a wild beast released from its cage.

Only from the scattered remains of the Honkai Beasts could one vaguely guess his whereabouts.

"Oh, I almost forgot about him." Ai Yue just remembered something. He looked down at his phone. "He's doing quite well. Looks like the new equipment is effective. Aponia, I'm counting on you. I'll have Hua assist you."

"I understand." Aponia nodded, then couldn't help but glance at Ai Yue again. "I'll be back soon... Don't do anything rash."

She hesitated for a long time before finally omitting the word "please."

Ai Yue just smiled and waved his hand, signaling her not to worry.

"So, what were you going to say?" Kevin asked after Aponia left, sitting alone in the back of the cabin. "How's the Moth to Fire headquarters? Is Mei alright?"

"Everything is fine." Ai Yue smiled. "Of course, she might be a bit busy right now, but that's all."

"As for what I need you to do," Ai Yue paused here, then continued, "I need you to accuse me of illegally seizing command of the Fused Warrior squad and forcing you to go to the battlefield to fight against the Honkai Beasts."

As soon as he said this, everyone except Mobius looked at Ai Yue with stunned expressions.

"You're going to take the fall?" Hen, being the veteran he was, quickly reacted. "Wait, was there a problem with the headquarters going silent earlier?"

"No, we can't do that." Kevin, though he hadn't fully understood what was happening, still shook his head. "No matter what happened, the responsibility can't fall on one person. Besides, we requested this ourselves. It has nothing to do with you."

Cosmo and Desdrobia clearly didn't agree with Ai Yue's arrangement either. Only Sakura asked, "Do we need to use this method to trigger something else?"

As a former member of the "Poison Pupa," she clearly understood certain dirty dealings better than others.

"Something like that." Ai Yue vaguely replied. "In any case, you don't need to worry. By doing this, you'll actually be helping me."

"If that's the case, then I will make this accusation." Sakura nodded. "If there's anything else you need, please don't hesitate to ask."

As she spoke, she placed her hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist—it was the second sword she never used during battles against Honkai Beasts.

"Since that's the case, then it seems like nothing we say will matter." Seeing that the two had reached an agreement, Kevin couldn't help but sigh. "Dr. Ai Yue, I know your wisdom might be beyond my comprehension, and perhaps you can't communicate certain things with us right now, but please believe us."

He stood up and said sternly, "As long as you stand with humanity, we are willing to help you."

"Quite meticulous, adding a prefix." Ai Yue couldn't help but laugh. "No need to be so serious; it's not a big deal."

He looked out the window. "It's just a matter of solving a problem that has been bothering us for a long time."

Cosmo blinked, paying attention to Ai Yue's choice of words.

Us?

Could it be that what he intended to solve was actually a problem within Moth to Fire?

After a considerable amount of time, the plane finally landed at the Moth to Fire headquarters' airport.

However, no one was in a hurry to disembark. Instead, they all looked outside with furrowed brows.

The once-empty airport was now surrounded by countless soldiers. They were orderly, well-equipped, and their weapons had their safeties off. Even through the glass, one could feel the palpable killing intent and chill.

These were battle-hardened elite soldiers who should have been deployed to fight the Honkai. Now, they were facing their own people who had just returned from the battlefield with such a wary attitude. It was truly disheartening.

"Don't be nervous; it's probably not aimed at you." Seeing the grim expressions on the faces of the Fused Warrior squad members, Ai Yue stood up and opened the cabin door himself. "These people are probably here for me."

As expected, when Ai Yue appeared outside the cabin door, all the soldiers uniformly aimed their weapons at him.

"Suspect Ai Yue, I order you to immediately surrender all your equipment and submit to confinement and interrogation by Moth to Fire!" A voice came from behind the soldiers, but the speaker's location was unclear. "Do not attempt to resist; you have committed a 'crime against humanity'!"

"Are they crazy?!" Cosmo couldn't help but exclaim upon hearing this. "'Crime against humanity'? Isn't that equivalent to being anti-human?"

Everyone understood what such a charge meant. In this era, within Moth to Fire, "crime against humanity" was almost synonymous with "colluding with the Honkai." Even the prisoners in The Deepest Place did not bear such a charge.

And now, it was being leveled against Ai Yue—a man who had just completed the plan to defeat the Eighth Herrscher!

How ironic.

Cosmo shivered, not out of fear of the wickedness of Moth to Fire's higher-ups, but because the temperature inside the cabin had dropped to an uncomfortable level even for Fused Warriors.

Kevin, the white-haired warrior, though still silent, was radiating a chilling aura that clearly indicated his stance.

"Don't move. Doing anything now would just cause trouble." Mobius, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "You don't think Ai Yue didn't anticipate this scene, do you?"

At this opportune moment, Ai Yue turned back and made a "shushing" gesture to them.

Then, he walked forward leisurely, facing the muzzles of numerous guns.

Chapter 69: It's Time to Settle the Score

A moment later.

"I didn't expect Moth to Fire to have a place like this."

Ai Yue sat in darkness, speaking to himself.

A few minutes earlier, he had been escorted by a squad of soldiers to a facility somewhere beneath Moth to Fire. It was heavily guarded, with airtight cells. The walls and ceiling were cast from thick alloy plates, and a faint stench could be detected within. It felt less like a prison and more like the lair of some monstrous beast.

In truth, his guess wasn't far off, as this place had previously been used to imprison Honkai Beasts as test subjects.

Now, however, it was being used to imprison an ordinary human. It just went to show how terrified the higher-ups in Moth to Fire must have been by certain events.

"Rose, Aponia, and the others..." Ai Yue trailed off, suddenly stunned. "They forgot. Those guys didn't even leave my belt buckle alone."

Although Ai Yue had managed to hide Prometheus's sub-unit within the artificial void space of the belt buckle beforehand, the soldiers had not overlooked anything suspicious on his person during the search, including the rather exquisite belt buckle.

Consequently, Ai Yue had been forced to hold up his pants all the way to this room, a truly embarrassing predicament.

Without the reliable Prometheus, Ai Yue felt a sense of emptiness. In this lightless room, even the passage of time became blurred. He had no idea how long had passed, or whether Kevin and the others were acting according to his plan...

Speaking of which, had there been some sort of noise since a while ago?

Ai Yue frowned. In the darkness, his hearing had become sharper, and he quickly sensed something like a small creature crawling back and forth above him.

He paused for a moment, then suddenly had an inspiration and called out, "Pardo?"

Even though there were guards outside, given the thickness of the walls and door of this room, Ai Yue wasn't worried about them hearing anything inside, so his voice wasn't quiet at all.

Soon, the movement above seemed to lock onto Ai Yue's position, becoming increasingly clear. Finally, a familiar voice reached Ai Yue's ears: "Brother Yue? You're really here!"

Who else would call him that if not Pardofelis?

Shortly after, accompanied by a series of footsteps, a figure accurately pinpointed Ai Yue's location and hugged him. "I heard Sister Mei say you were being treated as a criminal by the higher-ups. What's going on?"

"It's fine, just a small problem," Ai Yue said, patting Pardofelis's back to comfort her. "Weren't you supposed to be on a mission outside? Why are you in the base?"

He had specifically arranged for Pardo to be sent on a trivial mission in a safe zone, miles away from any major Honkai event, precisely to keep her out of this. It seemed his plan had failed.

"I got lucky and finished the mission early..." Pardofelis explained briefly, but couldn't help asking, "Is it really okay? If it's okay, why would they lock you up here?"

Before Ai Yue could explain, Pardofelis continued, "Why don't we escape, Brother Yue! Let's run off to a place like Twilight Street where no one can find us! Then we can..."

She stopped midway through her sentence because Ai Yue had placed his hand on her head and said in a gentle yet firm voice, "No."

"Why?"

"Because I want to create a world that is no longer threatened by the Honkai," Ai Yue said calmly. "In such a world, everyone can live the life they desire. So, for this goal, I absolutely cannot escape."

Pardofelis remained silent. After a moment, Ai Yue felt her lift her head. "If that's the case, is there anything I can do?"

"There is indeed one thing only you can do," Ai Yue said with a smile. "Do you remember where my room is? I hid something in my bedroom closet..."

"So, you don't agree with the decision to send Ai Yue to the International Criminal Court?"

In the conference room, Vill-V was conversing with several projected images.

"Of course, I don't agree. To put it simply, I don't recommend you transfer Ai Yue," Vill-V said earnestly. "The transfer process is the most susceptible to variables. Once he escapes, with Ai Yue's abilities, it will be as difficult as climbing to heaven to catch him again."

Seeing the projections opposite her fall into thought, Vill-V added, "I'm sure you're all aware, if you can't resolve Ai Yue's issue completely by seizing this opportunity, and he truly escapes, then those who will have a headache in the future will be all of you sitting here."

"Ms. Vill-V, you seem to have a lot of issues with Ai Yue?" one of the projections asked. "I thought you two worked together on Artificial Intelligence and had a good relationship."

"In reality, I only provided the hardware support. The Artificial Intelligence part was almost entirely completed by Ai Yue alone," Vill-V said naturally. "Moth to Fire's budget is limited. If Ai Yue continues to grow, I'll eventually be pushed out, won't I?"

The projections outwardly showed no reaction, but inwardly, they agreed with Vill-V's statement. She was a ruthless individual who dared to repeatedly blow up her own workshop to demand funding. What wouldn't she do for her own interests?

However, just then, an idle camera in the conference room suddenly lit up, and a new projection quickly connected to the room. "This is lively? It seems the news was correct. Some people are planning to hoard all the benefits."

"How did you get here?!" someone from the initial projections exclaimed in shock. "Damn it, who leaked the news..."

"Don't bother thinking about it, everyone knows," another projection appeared in the conference room. "Trying to keep something this big a secret is impossible with just a few of you. If certain people weren't so stingy and had informed us earlier, perhaps things wouldn't have escalated to this point."

As more and more projections filled the conference room, the entire space was filled with various voices. Countless factions were scheming against each other to secure more benefits, attempting to gain the upper hand and thus secure greater advantages—even though these benefits had not yet materialized.

Just as the conference room was gradually devolving into a marketplace for bargaining, a series of violent knocks suddenly drew everyone's attention.

Vill-V tapped the table with her fingerless metal glove. Only when all eyes were on her did she leisurely speak, "Gentlemen and ladies, since things have escalated to this point, I think it would be fitting to make it even more grand."

"Why not summon all the decision-makers and hold a public, grand trial for Ai Yue?"

Chapter 70: Trial? Who's Trial?

A public trial?

The moment these words were spoken, the conference room fell into a brief silence.

Then, a more intense argument erupted than before.

The initial group that controlled the situation naturally did not want a public trial. It would mean everyone would be involved in the struggle for benefits. They had quickly and decisively sealed off information within Moth to Fire precisely to resolve the matter before others could react, thereby securing more benefits. Even if they had to negotiate and trade with other factions later, they would hold an advantage.

However, Ai Yue was not in the Moth to Fire base initially, and Dr. Mei, the administrator here, had used the meeting to stall for a significant amount of time, thus giving the latecomers an opportunity to enter the fray.

The latecomers naturally did not want the former group's plan to succeed, so the final outcome of this matter would be resolved through a public trial.

Watching the big shots in the conference room argue themselves into a frenzy, Vill-V couldn't help but shake her head inwardly.

If these high-and-mighty figures knew that everything happening before them was within Ai Yue's expectations, and even orchestrated by him, would they still be arguing so fiercely?

How laughable that they thought they were hunters dividing the spoils, unaware that the one being treated as prey was the true predator preparing for a bountiful harvest.

But what did Ai Yue intend to do by gathering them all here?

Vill-V fell into thought again. Could it be that he planned to find out their detailed identities using Prometheus's performance and then resort to blackmail? But such a method would only address the symptoms, not the root cause, and could easily backfire, leading to someone flipping the table and smashing his head with the chessboard.

But upon closer inspection, did that guy really need her to worry about him?

Vill-V shook her head in the end, giving up on the thought.

"Anyway, I've done as you said. The rest is up to you, Ai Yue."

An agreement was quickly reached, and everything unfolded as anticipated. A trial involving all decision-making bodies commenced, with no faction within the complex power structure of Moth to Fire choosing to be absent.

After all, even setting aside Vill-V's somewhat unreliable revelations, the super artificial intelligence known as "Prometheus" that the other party possessed was enough to drive everyone on Earth into a frenzy.

A super AI capable of locking down and controlling the entire world's network in mere minutes, effortlessly penetrating various firewalls as if they were nonexistent, and even breaching military satellites and internal networks – such a thing, let alone in the hands of a specific faction, could instantly turn even a helpless young man into a protagonist-level figure.

And this was merely the strength "Prometheus" had displayed in the network domain. The thought of what such an artificial intelligence might be capable of in other fields made everyone's eyes turn green with envy.

Some had already decided that if such a thing couldn't be obtained, it must be destroyed.

Therefore, while the trial was ostensibly about judging Ai Yue for his alleged "crime against humanity," it was in reality a shameless division of the spoils, a scramble to carve up the technology he held.

Of course, Ai Yue himself, the creator of "Prometheus," was naturally valued even more than Prometheus itself. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be treated as a pure research tool, spending the rest of his life under 24-hour surveillance until his last ounce of value was squeezed out.

This, surprisingly, was the outcome all factions had unanimously agreed upon before the trial. In other words, Ai Yue's fate had already been sealed.

As for his own will? Who would ever care about something like that.

With the trial's plan unanimously approved, Ai Yue was finally released from the dark room. Accustomed to the sudden glare of light, he instinctively squinted.

Dr. Mei was waiting by the door of the dark room. Upon seeing Ai Yue emerge, she turned to glance at a nearby soldier. "I have a few words I'd like to say to Dr. Ai Yue privately."

The soldier remained unmoved, as if he hadn't heard her at all. These people had no affiliation with Moth to Fire, so they had no reason to heed Dr. Mei's orders.

"They've decided to put you on trial, but there's still a chance. Don't despair," Dr. Mei said, leaning in close to Ai Yue. "When you face them later, no matter what they accuse you of, don't argue. No matter the outcome, remain calm. Understand?"

In Dr. Mei's view, while Ai Yue's strategy of stalling for time to involve more factions and try to maintain a balance between them was clever, it didn't fundamentally solve the problem. The only reliable approach now was to feign compliance and then make further plans.

"I understand. You too," Ai Yue nodded, a smile still on his face.