Honkai Impact 3rd: Starting with Hand-Crafted Black Tech to Save the Pre-Civilization

In front of the experimental table, a woman repeatedly checked the program on the computer, trying to find any further improvements.

She looked no older than her early twenties, yet her face was haggard, her hair a messy bird's nest with streaks of red highlights, and she wore a wrinkled, stained white lab coat. She didn't look like a genius scholar from the Third Science Department at all, but rather like a mad scientist from some entertainment work.

Opposite her, in what was probably the only clean and tidy spot in the entire laboratory, stood a large equipment platform. On the platform was a humanoid robot, about eighty centimeters tall, designed to resemble a human.

It had long golden hair, a pair of triangular devices resembling ears on its head, and its torso and limbs were covered in armor, making it look like it was designed for combat.

However, its miniature height and a head that seemed almost as large as its torso made it look like an exquisite toy doll, more suited to be held by a child than to be on the battlefield.

This was an "Armed Doll," a self-aware combat weapon designed to assist humans in fighting the Honkai and reduce human casualties.

As the person in charge of the "Armed Doll" project, even though her assistant had gone to attend the highly anticipated technology exchange conference, she remained steadfastly at her post, continuing her project trials.

The current Armed Dolls were nearing success, but there were still some issues with the AI's autonomous logic. Until this problem could be solved, Einstein had no interest in the technology exchange conference.

Although, although she heard that even the legendary Doctor Ai Yue would be attending the conference… Damn it, she really wanted to go!

Einstein pushed up her red-framed glasses, a hint of struggle in her eyes.

Doctor Ai Yue was a super genius who had suddenly appeared more than half a year ago and then, like a meteor, had streaked across the night sky, astonishing everyone.

As an internal member of Moth to Fire, even though Einstein was thousands of miles away from Moth to Fire's headquarters, news about Doctor Ai Yue had still reached her through the internal network.

It was said that he had not only invented the Honkai Energy Absorber but also optimized the Fused Warrior formula, greatly increasing the success rate. Even the artificial synthesis of the Honkai Sickness serum was solved by him. Most outrageously, it was rumored that the Eighth Herrscher was personally dealt with by him, making even Fused Warriors like Kevin mere supporting characters in that war.

Of course, even without the news, Einstein could understand how powerful Doctor Ai Yue was. After all, the prototype Armed Doll, Cheng, in front of her, which could truly achieve the effect they desired, was only made possible by the first generation of Soul Steel he invented.

Such an astonishing and brilliant figure, if she could see him in person and exchange ideas… No, even just speaking two sentences with him would probably be incredibly beneficial, right?

But in the end, this flicker of wavering turned into resolve.

The Armed Doll project had reached its most critical juncture, and she naturally had to seize the time to complete it as soon as possible and put it into mass production. After all, humanity's fight against the Honkai was becoming increasingly fierce, with Honkai disasters occurring every day. The sooner the Armed Dolls could be deployed on the battlefield, the less sacrifice humanity would have to endure.

After Einstein finished checking the program and pressed the start button, the Armed Doll, having received the command, slowly opened its eyes: "Armed Doll System activated, initializing—"

Soon, the Armed Doll's eyes lit up, and then slowly focused on Einstein standing not far away: "Target locked, identity confirmed as… Human, friendly unit."

Under Einstein's nervous gaze, the doll slowly floated up and flew in front of her: "Human, what are your needs?"

Einstein glanced at the computer screen and then said, "Armed Doll, please state your 'Behavioral Law'."

Behavioral Law was the basic logic that the Armed Doll's AI had to follow, and it was the restrictions and requirements Einstein had set for the Armed Doll.

"First, consider the Honkai as the enemy. Second, do not harm humans." The Armed Doll repeated mechanically. "Third, survive."

Success rate… at least for now.

"Very good, next…" Einstein typed on the keyboard, "Link to Data Space for simulated combat."

Data Space was a special local area network designed by Einstein for combat simulation. It stored a large amount of Honkai Beast data and humanity's past combat experience against the Honkai, serving as a place to test whether the Armed Doll's performance was sufficient for battlefield duties.

The Armed Doll quickly returned to the equipment platform and, via wired transmission, connected its AI to the Data Space. Soon, the Armed Doll's figure appeared on Einstein's display screen.

The next second, opposite the Armed Doll, a squad composed of five Chariot-class Honkai Beasts and ten Charge-class Honkai Beasts appeared.

"Target locked, identity confirmed as… Honkai Beast, hostile unit." The Armed Doll's voice came through. "Equipment activated, preparing to engage."

Einstein nervously watched everything unfold in the Data Space. The overall strength of the Honkai Beasts facing the Armed Doll was slightly superior to it, making them enemies that the Armed Doll could not defeat with conventional tactics.

To defeat them, one would either have to choose sacrifice or use targeted tactics.

In previous experiments, the Armed Doll had always charged headfirst, fighting until it ran out of ammunition before self-destructing its core to take the remaining Honkai Beasts with it. This kind of fighting style was clearly unusable in actual combat, as Armed Dolls were not disposable items to be used carelessly.

This was why Einstein had added the "survive" Behavioral Law to the Armed Doll at the end, hoping to enable it to fight while preserving its own life.

And this time, the Armed Doll finally did not disappoint her. After comparing the combat power gap between the two sides, the Armed Doll first conducted a search, then decisively created distance, separating the agile and fast Charge-class Honkai Beasts from the Chariot-class Honkai Beasts. Then, utilizing its own superior maneuverability, it eliminated all the Charge-class Honkai Beasts in close combat without interference from the Chariot-class Honkai Beasts, saving a significant amount of ammunition.

With the Charge-class Honkai Beasts no longer providing cover, the Chariot-class Honkai Beasts' clumsy weakness was fully exposed, and they were eliminated by the Armed Doll's firepower. Until the very end, the Chariot-class Honkai Beasts couldn't even touch the Armed Doll's uniform.

Success!

Seeing the Armed Doll use a tactic it had never used before, Einstein excitedly covered her mouth. She had previously tried to prevent the Armed Doll from choosing self-destruction by inputting pre-determined tactics, but the pre-input method was ultimately not flexible enough to fully simulate the chaos of the battlefield. Once the situation exceeded the scope of the pre-input tactics, the Armed Doll would still end the battle by self-destructing.

But this time, without intervening in the Armed Doll's decision-making through pre-input, it was able to actively choose tactics based on the database content. This indicated that its autonomous combat logic had been optimized by the "survival" law.

With this, only some detailed adjustments remained!

"Not bad, what's this little one's name?"

Just as Einstein was about to make adjustments, an unfamiliar voice came from the side.

"Her name is Ai Er Fu (elf, fairy)." Einstein answered subconsciously, then suddenly realized, "Who are you?"

How could someone enter her laboratory so silently? Who was it…

She turned around and saw a familiar green-haired figure and an unfamiliar man standing behind her.

"Hello, nice to meet you." The man extended his hand, a friendly smile on his face. "My name is Ai Yue."

Ai, Ai Yue?

Chapter 39: I've Had Professional Training

Was she hallucinating from staying up too late?

This was Einstein's first reaction.

She had seen photos of Ai Yue on the internal network. Although most were candid shots of his profile, she could still recognize that the person in front of her was not a fake. Moreover, Doctor Mobius, who was beside him, could also confirm his identity.

But why was the real Ai Yue here? Weren't they supposed to be attending a technology exchange conference?

Einstein, who had been up for two days straight, obviously didn't know that things had changed. Even if she did know, she probably wouldn't have expected someone like Ai Yue to show up here.

"Hello?" Seeing Einstein's expression shift constantly but without any reaction, Ai Yue couldn't help but speak again.

"Oh, oh, hello, hello." Einstein finally snapped back to reality. She immediately grabbed Ai Yue's hands with both of hers and shook them repeatedly, as if trying to confirm the reality of the scene before her. "My name is Nikola Einstein, you can just call me Einstein!"

Noticing Mobius's gaze from the side, Einstein realized she had been shaking his hand for a bit too long. She quickly withdrew her hand and began looking around the room. "Dr. Mobius, hello to you too. Um, please, make yourselves comfortable!"

After saying that, she felt a bit awkward. After all, the laboratory was a mess, where could they possibly sit comfortably?

"Don't worry about these trivial matters," Ai Yue said, not bothered at all. "Let's get straight to the point—I'm very interested in your project, may I see it?"

"Are you interested in Armed Dolls?" Einstein's eyes lit up instantly. She quickly exited the Data Space and displayed the detailed data of the Armed Dolls to Ai Yue. "Please, take a look!"

She showed no signs of defensiveness at all. What a joke, would Dr. Ai Yue covet a project of this caliber? Don't underestimate me!

After making space for Ai Yue, she stood obediently to the side, like a student handing in their homework to a teacher for grading. If an uninformed person were to pass by, they might even think that Ai Yue was the mastermind of this laboratory, and Einstein was his assistant.

Ai Yue didn't stand on ceremony with Einstein's enthusiastic reception and began browsing immediately. From the basic design concepts to the structural blueprints, and finally to the drive programs, Einstein had truly revealed everything about the Armed Dolls to him.

"Um, Dr. Ai Yue?" Seeing Ai Yue's expression remain unchanged, Einstein finally couldn't help but ask, "Is there something wrong with my project...?"

"Be more confident, you're not in your thesis defense," Mobius sighed from the side. "I remember you, Einstein. You weren't like this when you faced me, were you?"

"This is different, Dr. Mobius," Einstein said very seriously. "Do you really think you and Dr. Ai Yue are equals?"

Mobius couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You're being a bit excessive."

Of course, she knew that Einstein's words were the truth, but it was still hard to maintain composure when it was said directly to her face.

Come to think of it, when she used to carelessly judge others, they probably felt the same way. But Mobius back then certainly couldn't have imagined that one day, a genius beyond human comprehension would descend like a meteor, shattering her pride.

"It's like this, Einstein." Ai Yue finished reviewing everything very quickly, so fast that Einstein felt like he was just going through the motions. "I need to tell you something next. Don't be scared, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm a scholar, I won't be scared." Einstein nodded, already prepared to be criticized.

"Alright, then," Ai Yue connected Prometheus's sub-unit to Einstein's computer. The machine body, composed of nanobots that could change its form at will, immediately caught Einstein's attention. "I'll play you a video."

Under Prometheus's operation, new images soon appeared on the screen—countless Honkai Beasts wandering amidst the ruins of a city.

"Is this... Australia?" Einstein quickly deduced the location from various details and couldn't help but glance at Ai Yue in confusion, clearly not understanding why Ai Yue wanted to show her this.

Perhaps he was trying to tell her that Armed Dolls would be difficult to deploy against such a large number of enemies?

Soon, accompanied by a low rumble from the video, Einstein understood the true meaning of the video.

As the camera gradually zoomed out, a massive shadow completely enveloped the horde of beasts.

The Honkai Beasts were not the main subject of this video; their shadow's owner was.

At first, Einstein thought it was just the shadow of clouds blocking the sun, but she soon realized she was wrong because the rumbling sound was becoming clearer, and the sounds of engines and propellers could be clearly heard.

It wasn't clouds at all, but a dark cloud formed by countless drones!

By the time Einstein realized this, the drone swarm in the video had already swooped down towards the beast horde. Their previously dense formation quickly dispersed during the dive, the entire process as smooth and fluid as if it had been pre-programmed.

But Einstein was an expert in this field. She quickly noticed that all the drones could perfectly avoid obstacles in their path, and they didn't collide with each other. This was definitely not achievable through pre-input commands. If there wasn't a massive control team behind the scenes controlling these drones, then only Artificial Intelligence could achieve such on-the-spot adaptation.

However, the drones in the video, by a rough estimate, numbered at least in the thousands, possibly tens of thousands. Human control could be basically ruled out. But even for AI, controlling so many drones simultaneously so effortlessly would be difficult.

Einstein couldn't even imagine the level of computational power required to meet such complex computational demands.

However, the shock the video brought her wasn't over yet. As the drones dived, the upper and lower parts of many seemingly bulky drones separated. The upper parts continued to maintain their flight posture, while the lower parts landed on the ground, transforming into ground-walking drones within just a few seconds!

Although the "lower chassis" of these drones couldn't fly, they possessed both tracked and spider-like leg modes of movement. Even in extremely complex environments like urban ruins, they could move quickly, not much slower than the flying drones.

In this way, within just tens of seconds, the drone swarm had completed a full blockade of the Honkai Beasts. Whether in the air or on the ground, drones were everywhere.

Once all drone units were in their designated positions, the war—no, a one-sided slaughter—began.

Chapter 40: Interested in Being a Toy Designer?

Compared to the smooth and perfect encirclement formed by the drone swarm earlier, the combat phase was actually the part Einstein could more easily accept.

With such a precise and thorough encirclement, the remaining operations were actually very simple. All it took was for all the drones to open fire simultaneously, and the Honkai Beasts would immediately suffer heavy casualties.

Einstein even suspected that the drone swarm could precisely assign a separate small encirclement to each individual Honkai Beast, ensuring that over 90% of them would be eliminated after the first wave of concentrated fire.

And in fact, it was exactly like that. The entire combat process took only a few minutes longer than the drones' prior deployment. After the first round of firepower coverage by the drone swarm ended, there were basically only about ten Honkai Beasts left that could still move.

In contrast, although the drones also sustained some damage, it was negligible compared to the Honkai Beast horde.

Of course, the firepower displayed by these drones still surprised Einstein. Based on their size, she had expected their firepower to be less intense, but she didn't expect them to be using energy weapons instead of live ammunition.

As weapons that use energy as ammunition, energy weapons don't need to consider ammunition reserves like live ammunition weapons do, greatly reducing the weight and volume requirements for the drones. Although they have the disadvantage of being less effective in special environments, they are certainly superior to live ammunition weapons in normal conditions.

However, Einstein didn't recall any research on energy weapons by Moth to Fire that had progressed beyond the experimental stage. As for putting them into practical use, mass production, and miniaturization, that was still a long way off.

But considering these drones were likely made by Ai Yue, it wasn't surprising.

Einstein thought the video would end there, but unexpectedly, there was another segment. After completing the extermination of the Honkai Beasts, the drones regrouped and began new tasks.

Some collected the wreckage of destroyed drones, some disposed of the bodies of the Honkai Beasts, some extended strange devices from within their bodies and roamed the air, while others burrowed in and out of collapsed buildings, occasionally clearing away debris as if simulating rescue operations for trapped survivors.

Compared to all the previous stages, the aftermath phase was the most time-consuming. It took a full half hour before these drones, just like when they first arrived, gathered into a dark cloud and departed.

Only the remnants of war in the ruins served as proof that a special battle had taken place here just moments ago.

The video ended.

As the screen dimmed, Einstein finally saw her own expression—the fatigue from long-term overwork was etched onto her otherwise refined face, but beyond that, there wasn't much emotion.

"The Multi-functional War Drone Swarm can independently complete tasks like clearing Honkai Beasts, disaster relief, and environmental cleanup. It's truly amazing," Einstein said softly. "Is this your project?"

Ai Yue nodded. "Yes."

"Then how soon can it be mass-produced?"

"Mass production has already begun. The video you just saw was filmed this morning."

"Is that so?" Einstein took off her glasses and rubbed her dry eyes. "That's good. This way, many lives can be saved, right?"

The Armed Doll project was now meaningless.

That was Einstein's thought at that moment.

The Armed Doll project was initially designed to reduce the sacrifice of soldiers and ordinary people, creating special autonomous machines to assist humans in fighting the Honkai. However, in front of the drone swarm Ai Yue had shown, the Armed Dolls had no advantages over it, apart from their cute appearance.

Whether it was cost, technological maturity, AI intelligence level, or difficulty of mass production, they were completely outclassed. Such a project clearly had no value in continuing. The only consolation was that Einstein had at least created one prototype, which could serve as proof that the technology once existed.

At least, losing to Doctor Ai Yue wasn't something to be ashamed of, right?

Einstein glanced at the dormant Elf and couldn't help but rub her eyes again.

In less than two hours, the Armed Doll project had gone from being on the verge of success to being on the verge of termination. The Elf that had been manufactured couldn't even understand what was happening.

She really couldn't bear to part with it.

Mobius saw all of Einstein's expressions. She turned to look at Ai Yue and nudged him. "If you have something to say, can't you just say it directly? Is it interesting to watch other people's expressions like this?"

Her prolonged time spent with Ai Yue hadn't led to any qualitative leaps in her research. Instead, by playing the role of an ordinary person for so long, her empathy had grown considerably.

Einstein's current expression was probably similar to how she felt when she discovered that the Fused Warrior formula had been easily optimized by someone else.