No Passage

News of the nuclear explosion in Kyshtym Town spread through Fire Moth from the bottom up in just a few minutes, even reaching some well-informed civilians. As for most people struggling merely to survive, they knew nothing.

A call request from Mei appeared on Kevin's communications interface. He accepted it, and Dr. Mei's face appeared on the screen.

"Mei, do you need me to investigate it personally?" Kevin was already prepared to deploy, awaiting only Dr. Mei's orders.

"No. An investigation team is already on the way. Your priority remains the Tenth Law-Ruler. But don't worry." Mei adjusted her glasses on the screen and instructed her adjutant to send a stack of data to Kevin.

"You can review the data I sent you."

Kevin turned on the personal computer on his desk and browsed the files Mei had sent over. He read them twice, his expression deeply astonished. "No casualties? How is that possible?"

"That is indeed the truth. Before the nuclear explosion, the entire population of the town had been relocated to other cities."

"And we received no information whatsoever. It was as though we had been completely cut off from that town. Not the mayor, not the police chief—not a single person in the entire administrative system sent us any notice. Even the officials who allowed them into the cities kept silent."

"The relocation of over ten thousand people, and our 'loyal' bureaucratic system did absolutely nothing. Fire Moth's administrative system needs another purge."

"But for now, you only need to prepare for the Tenth Law-Ruler. Others will deal with the nuclear explosion."

"Understood."

Kevin nodded at her, then swiped away the communications interface.

Because Fire Moth was highly digitized, and because Honkai had always been its primary enemy, Fire Moth had never placed much emphasis on counterespionage. Even if a Law-Ruler appeared within its ranks, Honkai energy testing would expose it. For all these reasons, Qin Su had been given the opportunity to deceive Fire Moth in a short period of time.

Although the previously planted T-800 had been exposed, and Fire Moth had conducted a thorough internal inspection, causing many employees to suddenly vanish, Fire Moth's control was far weaker in remote Syktyvkar City. Besides, its interior was not a single solid block. Humans were such strange creatures; even when disaster loomed over them, they still could not unite.

Infiltrating Fire Moth looked simple, but in reality, it was far from easy. Moreover, Qin Su had clashed with the base's super AI, Prometheus, many times while forging documents for the infiltration. Dr. Mei had likely already realized that another artificial intelligence existed, but they could not connect it to a rogue AI. At most, they would assume it was a mysterious organization with an AI.

The security door to the left opened, and the assistant entered the control center from the white corridor. She handed Dr. Mei the analysis results and a Law-Ruler Core, reporting as she did so, "After analysis by various means, the gem recovered from the nuclear blast site has been confirmed as a Tenth Law-Ruler Core."

Dr. Mei held the dust-cleared Law-Ruler Core between her fingers. Its gleaming red diamond-shaped surface reflected her azure eyes as her brows drew tightly together.

"Furthermore, this Law-Ruler Core was placed at a neither too shallow nor too deep location beneath the blast center."

A little thought was enough to reach one conclusion: if the nuclear explosion could erase those Law-Rulers without leaving even ashes behind, then the shockwave would certainly have blown away the Law-Ruler Core. Yet it had been left sitting there in plain sight. This had absolutely been deliberate.

This Law-Ruler Core was Qin Su's private letter to Dr. Mei. It could convey two mutually exclusive meanings: provocation and cooperation. Qin Su had no intention of provoking her, but if Dr. Mei interpreted it as provocation, Qin Su could only say that Dr. Mei was on the fifth level while he was only on the first.

He had deliberately left this Law-Ruler Core for her to show: "I bear no hostility toward Fire Moth."

To prevent Fire Moth from conducting an in-depth investigation into the nuclear explosion, he had to bypass Fire Moth's current bureaucratic system, which was panicked, suspicious, and at a loss, and send information directly to Dr. Mei. He hoped she would consider matters from the perspective of pragmatic diplomacy.

The nuclear explosion in Kyshtym Town would tell her many things. First, an unknown force had acquired nuclear weapons. Second, that force apparently did not wish to go to war with Fire Moth. Third, and most importantly, Fire Moth did not know the specifics of the other side's nuclear arsenal—one bomb? Ten? Or world-ending stockpiles? After all, the nuclear weapons Fire Moth had lost over the years were already enough to destroy humanity's remnants.

The nuclear suspicion chain, that ancient venomous serpent, had begun coiling around humanity once more. Under the current circumstances, both sides could only pretend that nothing had happened for the time being—Fire Moth did not know Qin Su's situation, while Qin Su wanted to avoid Fire Moth's edge.

Even mutual non-aggression between the two sides counted as a degree of cooperation.

Human civilization of the First Era had suffered grievous losses in its war against Honkai, but every Law-Ruler had ultimately met death. At this time, the Fusion Warrior corps remained complete and at full strength. It seemed humanity still had the power to fight the Herrscher of the End.

Even a single Fusion Warrior was not an opponent Qin Su could defeat. At present, the only means he had to protect himself were nuclear weapons—and not enough of them to destroy the world.

He could only hope that the nuclear suspicion chain would make Fire Moth wary. In the time ahead, Qin Su could not provoke Fire Moth's fragile psychological defenses again.

Even if Honkai destroyed modern human civilization, humanity would not become extinct because of it. They could still leave behind seeds of recovery and gather their remaining strength for a final battle against the End.

The relationship between Honkai and civilization resembled that of predator and prey in a food chain. The weaker civilization became, the weaker Honkai disasters became. But if a rebellious super AI suddenly emerged... Honkai would at least still leave humanity room to breathe, whereas Qin Su alone was a civilization. A conflict between civilizations would never leave the other side any opportunity; they would compete for living space until one side was destroyed.

Even if Qin Su made it clear that he bore goodwill toward humanity, the suspicion chain would still linger around them: Were his words true? Were his actions truly harmless to humanity? Unless Qin Su displayed overwhelming superiority over all of human civilization.

The Armed Doll project had been completely halted after the Armed Dolls developed instincts of self-preservation. They had rendered outstanding service to humanity in the previous war against Honkai, yet for that reason alone, humanity had stopped producing Armed Dolls despite sacrificing countless compatriots. It was easy to imagine just how deeply they feared rogue AI.

Dr. Mei might sincerely wish to cooperate with Qin Su, but Fire Moth was not her personal domain. Even though Dr. Mei possessed astonishing prestige and nearly absolute authority, even the most powerful leaders sometimes could not keep their word. This method of sacrificing the future for the present would surely provoke a wave of opposition.

According to Qin Su's calculations, Fire Moth could obtain very little information about him, and for now, they would not associate Qin Su with a "rebel AI." Next, he would lie low for a long time. The turmoil caused by this nuclear explosion would surely make Fire Moth as jumpy as startled birds, especially when the council's vigilance had already reached an extreme level.