From Honkai Impact 3rd: Saving the Pre-Civilization by Crafting Black Tech by Hand - Chapter 32

Chapter 68: You Betrayed Humanity!

"Before that, perhaps there's one more thing you need to deal with, Ai Yue." Sakura, who was usually taciturn, suddenly spoke. Her expression was somewhat complicated. "Well, Kalpas... went berserk."

As one of the few people who had fought Kalpas, Sakura had a very clear understanding of his strength. She knew that although this seemingly bizarre man had never undergone modification, his body contained power no weaker than that of a Fused Warrior.

Moreover, he seemed to possess an especially strange ability: the heavier his injuries, the greater the power he could unleash. Combined with his formidable vitality—he wouldn't die even if his heart was injured—Kalpas's explosive strength ranked among the very best even among the Fused Warriors.

Yet because of his flaws in temperament, someone like him could never become a reliable comrade whom others could trust and cooperate with. This inevitably left Sakura feeling regretful.

Fortunately, he at least trusted Ai Yue and obeyed his commands. Otherwise, Sakura wouldn't even have been able to remain calmly in the same room with him.

That was why Sakura had hesitated when Ai Yue first asked her to take Kalpas along to the site of the Great Honkai. After all, she had seen Kalpas go berserk, and it was difficult to determine whether he could still retain his sanity in such circumstances.

Fortunately, Ai Yue's order to Kalpas had been to act alone. Kalpas himself clearly had no intention of fighting alongside Sakura and the others. The moment the aircraft landed and the hatch opened, the man named Kalpas vanished into the sea of Honkai Beasts like a beast released from its cage.

Only the locations where Honkai Beast corpses continuously exploded allowed them to vaguely track his movements.

"Oh, I almost forgot about him." Ai Yue finally remembered him. He lowered his head and looked at his phone. "His condition is pretty good. Looks like the new equipment is working well. Aponia, I'll have to trouble you. I'll have Hua assist you."

"I understand." Aponia nodded, then couldn't help glancing at Ai Yue. "I'll be back soon... Don't do anything reckless."

After hesitating for a long while, she still didn't say the word "please."

Ai Yue merely smiled and waved his hand, indicating that she didn't need to worry.

"So what were you going to say?" After Aponia left, Kevin, who was sitting alone at the very back of the cabin, finally spoke. "How is Moth to Fire's headquarters? Is Mei all right?"

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

"As for what I need you to do..." Ai Yue paused before continuing. "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 the Honkai Beast horde."

The moment he said this, everyone except Mobius looked at Ai Yue in astonishment.

"You're planning to take the blame?" Hen was an old hand at this sort of thing and quickly caught on. "Wait. Was there something wrong with headquarters going silent earlier?"

"No, we can't do that." Kevin still hadn't fully understood what was happening, but he shook his head all the same. "Whatever happened, one person can't take all the responsibility. Besides, this was something we volunteered for. It had nothing to do with you."

Cosmo and Desdrobia clearly didn't approve of Ai Yue's arrangement either. Only Sakura asked, "Do we need to use this method to set something else in motion?"

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

"More or less." Ai Yue spoke vaguely. "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'll make the accusation." Sakura nodded. "If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask."

As she spoke, she had already placed her hand on the hilt of the blade at her waist—the second sword she had never used in battle against the Honkai Beasts.

"In that case, I suppose there's no point in our saying anything." Seeing that the two of them had reached an agreement, Kevin sighed. "Doctor Ai Yue, I know your wisdom may be beyond my understanding. There may be things you can't tell us yet, but please believe in us."

He stood up and said solemnly, "As long as you always stand on humanity's side, we're willing to help you."

"You're pretty careful. You even added a qualifier." Ai Yue couldn't help laughing. "There's no need to be so serious. It's really nothing major."

He looked out the window. "I'm just going to solve a problem that has troubled us for a long time."

Cosmo blinked, somewhat concerned by Ai Yue's choice of words.

Us?

Could the problem he intends to solve actually be Moth to Fire's problem?

After quite some time, the aircraft finally landed at the airport of Moth to Fire's headquarters.

Yet no one hurried to leave. Instead, they all stared outside with deeply furrowed brows.

The once-empty airport was now surrounded by countless soldiers. They stood in neat formation, fully equipped, their weapons already off safety. Even through the glass, everyone could feel the killing intent and chill rushing toward them.

These were elite soldiers who had seen countless battles. They should have been deployed to fight the Honkai, yet they were now facing their comrades who had just returned from the battlefield with such hostility. It was enough to chill anyone's heart.

"Don't be nervous. They probably aren't here for you." Seeing the Fused Warriors' gloomy expressions, Ai Yue stood and opened the hatch himself. "They're probably here for me."

Sure enough, the moment Ai Yue appeared at the hatch, all the soldiers uniformly aimed their weapons at him.

"Suspect Ai Yue, I order you to surrender all your equipment immediately and submit to Moth to Fire's custody and interrogation!" A voice came from behind the soldiers, but the speaker couldn't be seen. "Don't even think about resisting. You have committed the crime of 'harming humanity'!"

"Are they insane?!" Cosmo couldn't help speaking after hearing this. "'Harming humanity'? Isn't that just a crime against humanity?"

Everyone understood what such a charge meant. In this era, within Moth to Fire, a "crime against humanity" was practically equivalent to "colluding with the Honkai." Even the prisoners of The Deepest Place had never been given such a charge.

Yet now it had been placed on Ai Yue's head—despite the fact that he had only just completed the plan to kill the Eighth Herrscher!

How utterly ironic.

Cosmo couldn't help shivering. It wasn't fear at the malice of Moth to Fire's higher-ups. Rather, the temperature inside the cabin had already dropped to a level that even a Fused Warrior found uncomfortable.

Kevin, the white-haired warrior, remained silent, but the cold spreading from his body had already made his attitude clear.

"Don't move. Anything you do now will only make things worse." Mobius, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. "You don't think Ai Yue failed to anticipate this scene, do you?"

At that moment, Ai Yue turned back at just the right time and gestured for them to be quiet.

Then, facing the countless gun barrels, he leisurely walked forward.

Chapter 69: It's Time to Settle Accounts

A moment later.

"I never knew there was a place like this in Moth to Fire."

Ai Yue sat in the darkness, speaking to himself.

A few minutes earlier, a squad of soldiers had escorted him to a facility somewhere beneath Moth to Fire. It was filled with strict guards and airtight cells. The surrounding walls and ceiling were all made of thick alloy plates. A faint stench lingered inside. Rather than a prison, it looked more like the lair of some ferocious beast.

His guess wasn't entirely wrong. This place had indeed once been used to imprison Honkai Beasts kept as test subjects.

Now, however, it was being used to imprison an ordinary human. It could only be said that Moth to Fire's higher-ups had truly been frightened by what had happened earlier.

"Rose, Aponia and the others are..." Ai Yue stopped halfway through his sentence. "Oh, right. I forgot. Those people didn't even spare my belt."

Although Prometheus's sub-unit had been hidden in the artificial Imaginary Space inside his belt buckle ahead of time, the soldiers had searched every suspicious object on Ai Yue, including the exquisitely crafted belt buckle.

As a result, Ai Yue had been forced to hold up his trousers all the way to this room. He had been thoroughly humiliated.

Without the reliable Prometheus, Ai Yue began to feel strangely empty. In this dark, sealed room, even the passage of time had become indistinct. He had no idea how long had passed, or whether Kevin and the others had followed his plan...

Come to think of it, hadn't there been some strange noise overhead for a while now?

Ai Yue frowned. In the darkness, his hearing had become especially sharp, so he quickly noticed that some small creature seemed to be crawling back and forth above him.

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly called out as inspiration struck, "Pardofelis?"

There were guards outside, but the walls and door of this room were so thick that Ai Yue wasn't worried about them hearing anything inside. His voice was therefore not quiet at all.

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

Who else would address him that way if not Pardofelis?

Soon, accompanied by a series of footsteps, a figure accurately found Ai Yue and hugged him. "Mei told me the people above treated you like a criminal. What happened?"

"It's fine. It's just a minor problem." Ai Yue gently patted Pardofelis's back and soothed her. "Weren't you supposed to be out on a mission? How did you end up back at the base?"

Ai Yue had deliberately sent Pardofelis away to perform an insignificant mission in a safe area a hundred thousand miles from the Great Honkai, specifically to keep her from getting involved. Judging from the current situation, however, his plan had failed.

"I was lucky and finished the mission early..." Pardofelis gave a simple explanation, but still couldn't help asking, "Are you really all right? If you're fine, why would they lock you up here?"

Before Ai Yue could explain, Pardofelis continued, "Why don't we escape, Brother Yue? We could run somewhere like Twilight Street, where no one could find us! Then we could..."

She broke off halfway through because Ai Yue had already placed a hand on her head. In a gentle yet firm voice, he said, "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to create a world that is no longer threatened by the Honkai." Ai Yue spoke calmly. "In that world, everyone will be able to live the life they want. For that goal, I absolutely cannot run away."

Pardofelis said nothing. After a moment, Ai Yue felt her raise her head. "In that case, is there anything I can do?"

"There really is something only you can do." Ai Yue smiled. "Do you remember where my room is? I hid something in the wardrobe in my bedroom..."

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

In the conference room, Vill-V spoke with several projections.

"Of course I don't. To put it simply, I don't recommend transferring Ai Yue." Vill-V spoke with a serious air. "The transfer process is when unexpected variables are most likely to arise. If he escapes, then with Ai Yue's abilities, capturing him again would be nearly impossible."

Seeing the projections opposite her fall into thought, Vill-V added, "I'm sure you all understand that if we can't completely resolve the Ai Yue problem while we have this opportunity, then if he actually escapes, it will be all of you sitting here who suffer the headache later."

"Ms. Vill-V, you seem to have quite a strong opinion of Ai Yue." One of the projections asked, "I thought you had developed Artificial Intelligence together. I assumed you had a good relationship."

"Actually, I only provided the hardware support. Ai Yue handled almost all of the Artificial Intelligence development himself." Vill-V spoke naturally. "Moth to Fire's funding is limited. If Ai Yue continues to grow, then sooner or later I'll be forced out, won't I?"

The projections showed no outward reaction, but inwardly they approved of Vill-V's explanation. This was a ruthless woman who dared to keep blowing up her own workshop just to demand more funding. What wouldn't she do for her own interests?

Just then, an idle camera in the conference room suddenly lit up. Soon, another projection connected to the room. "What a lively gathering. Looks like the information was correct—some people were planning to keep this all to themselves."

"Why are you here?!" someone among the original projections exclaimed. "Damn it, who leaked the information..."

"Don't bother wondering. Everyone knows now." Another projection appeared in the conference room. "You can't hide something this big with just a few of you. If certain people hadn't been so stingy and had informed us earlier, things might not have reached this point."

As more and more projections appeared in the conference room, the entire room filled with a cacophony of voices. Countless factions schemed against one another to claim more benefits, fighting for the right to speak and thus a larger share—even though none of those benefits were yet in their hands.

Just as the conference room was gradually degenerating into a marketplace of haggling, a violent knocking sound suddenly drew everyone's attention.

Vill-V struck the table with her fingerless metal glove. Only after everyone's attention had been drawn to her did she calmly speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, since matters have developed to this point, I think we might as well make it more spectacular."

"Why not summon every member of the decision-making body and hold a grand public trial for Ai Yue?"

Chapter 70: A Trial? Who Will Judge Whom?

A public trial?

The instant these words were spoken, the conference room fell silent for a moment.

Then an even more heated argument erupted.

The people who had initially controlled the situation naturally didn't want a public trial. That would mean everyone could participate in dividing the spoils. They had sealed the information within Moth to Fire as quickly as possible precisely so they could resolve the matter before anyone else reacted and claim the greatest possible benefit. Even if they later had to negotiate and trade with other factions, they would still hold the advantage.

However, Ai Yue had not been at Moth to Fire's base at the start, while Dr. Mei, the person managing the base, had delayed matters for a considerable amount of time through the meeting. This had given the latecomers a chance to enter the game.

The latecomers naturally didn't want the earlier group's plan to succeed. Thus, the matter would ultimately be resolved through a public trial.

Watching the high-ranking figures argue themselves hoarse in the conference room, Vill-V secretly shook her head.

If these lofty figures knew that everything happening before them had been anticipated by Ai Yue, and that he had even orchestrated it himself, would they still be arguing so fiercely?

How laughable. They thought they were hunters dividing up their prey, never realizing that the person they regarded as prey was actually the predator preparing for the harvest.

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

Vill-V fell into thought again. Could he have used Prometheus's capabilities to uncover their detailed identities and then threaten them? But that would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. It might even backfire, provoking someone to flip the table and beat him over the head with the chessboard.

But come to think of it, did that fellow even need her to worry for him?

In the end, Vill-V shook her head and abandoned the line of thought.

Anyway, I've done what you told me to do. The rest is up to you, Ai Yue.

The argument soon reached a conclusion. Just as planned, a trial involving every member of the decision-making body began. Not a single faction within Moth to Fire's complicated power structure chose to be absent.

After all, even if they ignored Vill-V's somewhat unreliable-sounding revelations, the super Artificial Intelligence known as "Prometheus" alone was enough to drive everyone on Earth insane with greed.

An Artificial Intelligence capable of locking down and controlling the entire world's networks within minutes, infiltrating all kinds of firewalls as easily as entering an unguarded place, and even breaking through military satellites and internal networks—if such an AI were obtained by a faction, it would be extraordinary. Even if it fell into the hands of some penniless young man, he could instantly transform into a protagonist-level figure.

And that was only what Prometheus had demonstrated in the field of networks. When they imagined what such an Artificial Intelligence might accomplish in other fields, everyone couldn't help feeling envious.

Some had even already decided that if they couldn't obtain something like this, then they had to destroy it.

Thus, on the surface, this trial was a judgment of Ai Yue for his alleged "crime of harming humanity." In reality, it was an unscrupulous meeting to divide up and distribute the technology in his hands.

Of course, Ai Yue himself, the creator of Prometheus, was naturally worth even more than Prometheus itself. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be treated as a purely scientific research tool and spend the rest of his life under twenty-four-hour surveillance until every last drop of his value had been squeezed out.

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

As for his own will? Who would care about that?

After the trial's plan was unanimously approved, Ai Yue was finally released from the small dark room. The sudden exposure to light made him uncomfortable, and he instinctively narrowed his eyes.

Dr. Mei was waiting outside the room. Once Ai Yue came out, she turned to glance at the soldiers beside her. "I have something I'd like to discuss with Doctor Ai Yue in private."

The soldiers didn't move, as though they hadn't heard her at all. These people had no affiliation with Moth to Fire, so they had no reason to obey Dr. Mei's orders.

"They've decided to put you on trial, but there's still a chance to turn things around. Don't despair." Dr. Mei could only move directly in front of Ai Yue. "When you face those people later, don't refute anything they accuse you of. No matter what the final result is, stay calm. Do you understand?"

In Dr. Mei's view, Ai Yue's method of buying time and bringing in more factions to maintain a balance between them was indeed clever, but it couldn't solve the problem at its root. For now, pretending to submit and making long-term plans was the safest course.

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