Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 977: Zhai Jian Yazhi
At this critical moment, ZB51 drew out its light blade, and at the same time, its body changed back to fighter form. Its trunk instantly turned sideways, and its legs were gathered on both sides of the belly, just avoiding the sweeping iron tail!
"What a quick reaction!" Everyone on the bridge was worried about the pilot - if the pilot's reaction was a little slower, the plane would have been destroyed and the pilot would have died.
After using transformation to dodge an attack, ZB51 did not rush to change back into human form. Instead, it used the four vector thrusters on the nose to retreat rapidly, creating distance between itself and the giant lizard.
While retreating, they continued to fire with the high-rate railgun - a single 13mm needle-shaped electromagnetic bullet could hardly penetrate the scales of the giant lizard, but when ten, twenty, thirty... or even a hundred bullets hit the same position, even if the hard scales were not broken, they would be torn off the giant lizard's skin.
After losing the protection of its scales, blood flowers suddenly appeared on the lizard's head.
The brains of these monsters are not fatal weaknesses, otherwise the light blade that just penetrated the skull would have killed the giant lizard. ZB51's barrage of shots naturally could not kill it, and it only had a short-term suppressive effect.
But for the pilot of ZB51, his goal at this step has been achieved.
The short two-second suppression time was enough for him and the ZB51 he was operating.
ZB51 transformed back into a humanoid mecha again, swung his right arm violently, and spewed out a four-meter-long slender light blade.
Compared with the light blade that had penetrated the back of the giant lizard's brain before, the diameter of the light blade at this time was much smaller, but this did not mean that the power of the light blade had decreased - on the contrary, this was because the light blade was compressed to the extreme under the constraint of the strong electromagnetic field. During this compression process, the power of the light blade was also increased exponentially.
This light blade generating device is also a weapon excavated from the ruins of the Alpha Civilization. With the current technological level of the Ark Civilization, energy weapons basically only include plasma cannons and laser cannons, and laser cannons only include cluster and pulse types. However, the Alpha Civilization can use a special electromagnetic field to "confine" energy, forming an almost "solid" weapon.
The principles of the light blade generator and the energy shield are very similar, except that the former condenses energy blades, while the latter appears in the form of an energy shield or protective cover.
It takes a certain amount of time to increase the light blade output power and compress the light blade volume. In the few seconds when the railgun suppressed the giant lizard, the light blade generator had already completed the amplification and compression. This is actually a very risky operation, because in the fighter form of ZB51, the light blade generator is stored inside the body. If the extreme threshold is not controlled well, it is very likely that the light blade will penetrate the body before it can cut the enemy.
Transform twice, increase distance, fire railgun bursts, compress light blades, and charge again - all were completed in less than three seconds. By the time everyone in the bridge reacted, the giant lizard had been cut into dozens of pieces by the compressed light blades and rolled onto the outer deck.
No matter how strong the vitality of this big lizard is, it will definitely be dead after being cut into this shape.
"Who is the pilot of ZB51? How come I have never heard of such a person?" Major General Alexander frowned . Although 30,000 officers and soldiers of the Zero Fleet survived, almost all the elite pilots in the fleet were killed in that inexplicable battle. Most of the pilots who survived were still in the reserve during the apprenticeship period... There may be geniuses with ace potential among this group of people, but true battlefield aces need a lot of actual combat and are honed in countless life-and-death moments. A pilot who has never faced death, no matter how skilled he is, cannot complete the smooth operation that the ZB51 pilot just did.
This is just like the "ace pilots" who come from the military, when facing the so-called "aces" trained by those sports clubs, there is almost no possibility of losing... Let alone one-on-one, even if it is one-on-two, they can definitely win against those pilots who regard fighting as a sport.
The former is to survive on the battlefield, while the latter is to get a ranking and bonus... This alone is enough to determine the outcome.
No amount of simulated training can replace the blood and fire .
Alexander remembered clearly that there were no pilots of this level in his fleet - perhaps there would be in the future, but that would be a matter for the future.
Just as everyone was discussing the identity of the pilot, the surrounding electromagnetic field, which had been disordered by the energy reaction, finally stabilized a little. Although long-distance communications were still restricted, short-range wireless communications were at least restored to a large extent.
Along with bursts of harsh electrical noise, a male voice that sounded very much like an electronic synthesized voice rang out in the bridge: "Special Air Group No. 1, pilot No. 167, reporting in from Takumi Masayuki."
"Takumi Masayuki?!" Everyone in the bridge was stunned. They had never heard of this special aviation brigade, but the name "Takumi Masayuki" and the number "167" that belonged to this name were too famous. Not to mention those of them who came from the air fleet, even in the field corps and the garrison corps, "Takumi-167" was a well-known figure.
But the problem is... Masayuki Takumi was killed in the "Leviathan Resurrection Incident" a few years ago. His body and the wreckage of the fuselage were directly assimilated by Leviathan, and the subsequent troops who cleaned up the battlefield were unable to even find his remains.
Could it be that the news of Takumi Masayuki's death was fake? Did he survive the battle? Someone had this thought in his mind, but then dismissed it - many of the members of the Zero Fleet were from the First Cruise Fleet. They had all participated in the battle with the "primordial beast" Leviathan, and they had all watched Takumi Masayuki's machine being blown up and disintegrated in the air...
Masayuki Takumi failed to eject successfully. Even if he survived the crash and fell onto Leviathan, he would be instantly devoured by those red flesh worms.
Although these officers and soldiers all hoped that Masayuki Takumi could survive, reason told them that under such circumstances, there was no possibility for Masayuki Takumi to survive.
Unless a miracle happens.
"Takumi Masayuki...Are you, are you Takumi Masayuki himself?" an officer couldn't help but ask.
In his opinion, the pilot of ZB51 was most likely an admirer of Otaku Masayuki, who simply changed his name and pilot number to be the same as his idol... But the problem was that even if there was such a person in Fleet Zero, he could imitate Otaku Masayuki's name, number, voice and even appearance, but it was impossible for him to imitate Otaku Masayuki's operations.
The battlefield situation changes rapidly, and even super-intelligent computers cannot replace the role of those ace pilots - if they could, the aircraft of the front-line troops would have been controlled by AI long ago.
ZB51 did not answer this question. Instead, another vague voice interrupted him - this was the communication from the Mukach Fortress. As the electromagnetic field gradually became stable, the communication channels that were originally affected were gradually returning to normal.
"You can say he is Masayuki Takumi himself, or you can say he is not." Ke Lan said, "The cockpit of the ZB51 is empty. You can think that Masayuki Takumi is driving this machine, or you can think that it is a drone."
"Drone?" Alexander was slightly startled. He obviously didn't know that Ke Lan had hidden such a trump card on the Skadi. "Is it a 'pseudo-living CPU' generated by using AI to simulate the pilot's operating habits before his death?"
The "living CPUs" in the mass-produced Fallen Angel mechas are all living people, while the "pseudo-living CPUs" mentioned by Alexander are just the opposite. With the powerful learning ability of AI, it is not difficult to simulate a dead pilot...
But there is one problem that cannot be circumvented: although AI can perfectly replicate the operations that the simulated person has performed in simulated battles, even to the point of being exactly the same... AI lacks the ability to adapt. If it is placed in a completely new environment and facing a completely new enemy, the performance of AI will become extremely unstable. Sometimes, it will even be worse than those rookie pilots with little experience.
The term "artificial intelligence" is actually not a joke.
"Almost, but this AI has the 'soul' of Otaku Masayuki." Ke Lan said, "Although I personally don't like the term 'soul', I can't find a more appropriate adjective for the time being."
"Soul?" Everyone in the bridge looked at each other, obviously not knowing what Ke Lan meant by "soul".
"Remember two days ago, Ze Luo and I left for a while?" Ke Lan asked.
"I remember." Alexander nodded subconsciously, "But you didn't tell me the reason, so I didn't ask. Since I have made my choice, I will trust your arrangement unconditionally. If you didn't tell me, it means I don't need to know those things."
"I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you, but I forgot because time was tight." Ke Lan said a little embarrassedly, "But it's okay this way. After all, this thing is still under testing, and the best test results can be achieved by taking people by surprise."
Alexander did not ask any questions, but waited for Ke Lan to continue speaking——
"Two days ago, we went to Leviathan's burial ground." Ke Lan said.
"The burial ground of Leviathan... where did you find the remains of Takumi Masayuki?"
"No... Even if we find his remains, after such a long time, all the parts except the bones will have rotted away... Then there is nothing we can do." Ke Lan continued, "After the plane crash, Takumi Masayuki fell on Leviathan. Just as you imagined, his body was devoured by those red fleshworms and became a part of Leviathan.
"The red fleshworms that make up Leviathan are a kind of biological weapon created by the Alpha civilization. They named it 'mimicry'. This mimicry can not only devour living things, but can even devour inanimate objects such as fighter jets, mechas, and warships, and simulate them by analyzing their structures. The original goal of the Alpha civilization in developing mimicry was to simulate those powerful 'primordial beasts'."
Ke Lan did not mention the most important feature of the mimic worm, which is "assimilation"... After the Night Watch discovered that the being could assimilate the bodies and souls of living beings, they became very interested in this ability - if they wanted to fight against that being, they had to understand its various abilities. And this assimilation ability was the root of that being's use of civilization as its own "nutrients".
These mimic worms are actually an experimental test of this assimilation ability by the Alpha civilization.
They can not only assimilate organic and inorganic matter, but can even assimilate the consciousness of other organisms.
Of course, because these secrets involve that existence and belong to the category of "forbidden knowledge", he will not disclose them to the people on the Skadi - for Ke Lan, this degree of erosion may not matter, but for ordinary people, it is enough to accelerate their transformation into eroded corpses.
"When the machine exploded, Masayuki Takumi's body had already died, but thanks to the protection of the helmet, his brain was relatively intact when he fell on the Leviathan." Ke Lan said, "The brain is the most important organ in the human body. You can also think of it as the carrier of the 'soul'. Even if all brain cells die, human consciousness can still survive for a period of time after death... To use a more charlatan term, this is called the soul has not completely dissipated. And Masayuki Takumi's 'soul' was assimilated by those mimics before it completely dissipated."
"You all know what happened later... The mimics simulated the Leviathan's appearance before its death, but this simulation is irreversible. In a sense, they really became Leviathan, but this also gave them the same weakness as Leviathan - the 'core' that was destroyed by the Qilin.
"After the death of the newly born Leviathan, its flesh and blood completely withered, leaving only a black crystalline skeleton... After consulting the information left by the Alpha civilization, I learned that the crystalline skeletons are actually a kind of information storage medium, used to store the data generated by previous experiments. And the 'soul' of Takumi Masayuki is also stored inside this crystalline skeleton."
"This..." Alexander was surprised. Although he had seen many "big scenes", he had never heard of such a bizarre thing... Every word Ke Lan said was subverting his understanding of the world.
"This crystalline skeleton still stores a lot of useful information, but the total amount of information is too huge. I can only extract the soul of Takumi Masayuki and put it into the control system of this ZB51 as a sample for preliminary testing."
