Intelligent Mechanical Life, Mechanical Calamity

All they could do was watch.

Yu Muchen brought Di Tian to the experimental site of the giant mecha Universe Pioneer.

"Your Excellency."

"Let me explain it to you in detail."

"The Single Giant Mecha Project was established long ago. It originated from ordinary people's original desire to use soul technology to battle god-level powerhouses."

"However, limited by a single human's capacity to bear the load of a single giant mecha, the upper limit of a single giant mecha's combat strength has never been high."

"Until a scientific genius proposed Neural Bridge Synaesthesia Technology, allowing two or more pilots who could synchronize their thoughts to operate a giant mecha together."

"In theory, there was no problem."

"After rigorous data calculations, the researchers of the Federation Research Institute determined that this plan was theoretically feasible."

"But in practice, a major problem occurred."

"We found quite a few people who could synchronize their thoughts through Neural Bridge Synaesthesia Technology. Most of them were twins, couples married for many years, fathers and sons, and the like."

"But when they piloted the giant mecha, they would collapse before long, and the neural bridge between them would automatically disconnect."

"They were unable to sustain combat."

"From then on, Neural Bridge Synaesthesia Technology made no qualitative breakthrough."

"Until the appearance of Your Excellency's self Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Twin Dragon Kings. One person's Martial Soul Fusion Skill, yet twin beings capable of sharing thoughts."

"Everyone in the Single Giant Mecha Project unanimously believes that with your participation, we will definitely be able to overcome the technical difficulty and turn Neural Bridge Synaesthesia Technology completely from theory into reality."

"What do you think?"

"Is Your Excellency interested?"

"Once the Single Giant Mecha Project is successfully implemented, aside from the Federation's first giant mecha, Universe Pioneer, being given to Your Excellency for your use, we can add another giant mecha as a gift."

Of course.

The Federation, like Shrek and the Tang Sect, had also left itself a backup plan.

Once Di Tian piloted a giant mecha and did something the Federation did not wish to see, a backup device controlled by the Federation Mainframe would cut off the operation of the giant mecha's energy source, turning it into a pile of immobile scrap metal.

After listening to Ling Zichen and Yu Muchen's brainstorming, Di Tian's thoughts had never stopped moving.

His left eye looked toward the holographic projection of the Ecological Warship cluster, while his right eye looked toward the giant mecha Universe Pioneer.

He slowly said:

"My idea is this."

"The two projects can be merged into one."

"Advance them simultaneously?" Ling Zichen and Yu Muchen frowned in sync as they looked at Di Tian. "What do you mean?"

"Neural Bridge Synaesthesia Technology can realize thought-sharing between two or more individual units. Then isn't Neural Bridge Synaesthesia Technology the technical foundation for hive-cluster operations among Ecological Warships?"

"And once hive-operation technology is successfully developed, it can immediately feed back into giant mechas, advancing them from the original single-unit combat of giant mechas into multi-unit hive-cluster combat by giant mechas."

"According to Pavilion Master Ling Zichen's theoretical explanation of hive-cluster technology, all Ecological Warships would be controlled by one unified will. In other words, a very small number of people piloting a mothership would perfectly control the entire cluster of unmanned Ecological Warships."

"This can absolutely be applied to giant mechas."

"I've heard."

"The Federation Mainframe's capacity is extremely powerful."

"It can absolutely control all giant mechas as one through the Federation Mainframe, allowing the Federation, within its own borders, to possess a giant mecha force under unified coordination and scheduling."

"At the same time."

"Train pilots who can share thoughts, and have them fight in star systems beyond the Federation Mainframe's range of control."

"In this way."

"Together, they are a blazing fire; scattered, they are stars across the sky."

Surprise flickered in Ling Zichen and Yu Muchen's eyes in perfect sync. They truly had not expected that a soul beast could possess such insight.

Could it be... that a ferocious beast transforming and cultivating anew could even raise its intelligence?

Their surprise was directed at Di Tian himself, not at the plan Di Tian had proposed.

It was not that no one had ever mentioned merging the projects.

However, the Federation had always been at odds with Shrek and the Tang Sect. How could they possibly open their core technologies to each other?

What if the other side obtained the core technology, yet refused to share the research results?

Once suspicion formed, it was difficult to dispel.

Di Tian saw through their suspicion and smiled calmly. "If I propose the project merger..."

"Then the projects truly have a chance of being merged successfully."

"I'll act as the middleman and connect with both of you. No one has to worry about the other side taking everything for themselves."

"No?"

To be fair, Ling Zichen and Yu Muchen were tempted.

Especially Ling Zichen, that technology maniac.

After thinking it over, then thinking it over again, it could work.

"It can be done."

"But there's one condition."

"If you start dating any young lady from the Federation's various families or factions, you're no longer allowed to come into contact with Shrek and the Tang Sect's technology, and any research data you've already obtained must be destroyed."

The moment those words came out, Yu Muchen suddenly understood.

"Same here!"

Di Tian: "..."

Speechless was speechless.

However.

Di Tian still agreed.

He had his own plans and goals.

What mattered was not the Federation's giant mechas or Shrek and the Tang Sect's Ecological Warship clusters. Leaving aside whether Di Tian even cared for them, the hidden measures they would definitely leave inside alone made Di Tian wary.

What mattered was the technology.

The successful neural synesthesia technology and Hive Cluster Combat Technology.

Technology was king.

One had to know that, in the original timeline, the one who eventually became the mothership of Shrek and the Tang Sect's Ecological Warship fleet... was freaking himself!

Historically known as—the Federation Ninth Fleet.

Although just thinking about it made Di Tian's brain bleed, it also proved one thing from the side.

He was qualified to become the core of multi-mechanical-creation hive cluster combat, to become the unified will of countless mechanical creations.

His spiritual power talent, strengthened twice from divine sense into spiritual sense, and the will tempered by countless failures without ever giving up.

He could bear the pressure brought by countless mechanical creations.

He, Di Tian, had that confidence.

In that case.

He would have one more trump card for transcending tribulation and becoming a god.

Never mind that undergoing the godhood tribulation outside the Douluo Demi-God Realm would be safer.

Even within the Douluo Demi-God Realm.

Even if his many methods of slipping away like a cicada shedding its shell failed, even if he had no choice but to undergo the godhood tribulation in the Douluo Demi-God Realm, even if someone tried to stop him from transcending tribulation and becoming a god.

He could still unleash an unprecedented, earthshaking mechanical calamity in the Douluo Demi-God Realm! An intelligent-machine uprising! One that swept across the entire Douluo Continent!

It would leave those hiding their filth with no time to look after anything else.

What was even more fortunate was.

The mechanical calamity he prepared could be hidden from everyone. As long as he had not offered up his own dragon body to make an Ecological Warship, no one would think he possessed a load-bearing capacity comparable to a Federation mothership and the Federation Mainframe.

While the vast, surging battlefield of a mechanical calamity and intelligent-machine uprising roiled endlessly inside him, he said with perfect composure on the surface:

"I'll first use my self-body Martial Soul Fusion Skill to try piloting the 'Universe Pioneer.' As for the reason multiple pilots can't sustain the divine-realm bridge for long, I already have a guess."

"Of course, the specifics still require practice."

"Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."

"All right." Yu Muchen nodded quickly.

Then he waved a broad hand. "Open the dome of the underground experimental base, then activate the simulated sky covering the entire experimental base."

"Don't disturb the students of the Elf Branch Academy."

The dome of the underground experimental base opened from both sides in the middle of the mountain hollow. A hexagonal barrier activated, covering everything from all directions toward a single point in the sky.

Inside, it recreated a sky identical to the outside world.

Di Tian walked step by step toward the giant mecha, "Universe Pioneer."

He met everyone's gaze.

Including those of the two true gods.

Everyone was waiting for the result of truth gained through practice.