CHAPTER 304: CHAPTER 135: THE MOUNTAIN CITY PARADOX

"This is a type of machine I have never seen before, but without a doubt, it is a neural-connected brain machine."

Inside Cangzhou City, Chen Jian quietly listened to Fu Xi’s voice through his headphones.

"It has all the components needed for a neural-connected brain machine, but structurally, it is specially simplified."

"Thicker connection lines, a fully sealed design, extremely simple and basic chip construction..."

"The volume of its real ’functional module’ is actually quite small; the ’main body’ we see that stretches a meter long is actually a whole set of complex battery systems."

"It generates power through the acidic substances inside the monsters as natural electrolytes, via redox reactions of metal electrodes."

"From the volume, this system can continuously output 400mW/cm² of power, which is fully sufficient to power this simple brain machine device."

"Its design is exquisitely clever... Although I don’t know how long its theoretical maximum power supply time can reach, judging from the electrode’s corrosion state, it can still continue working for at least 60 to 90 days."

"Chief, it can be confirmed that this is a carefully designed artificial creation."

"Its purpose is to control the monsters we mentioned."

"Moreover, these devices have been deployed recently."

"I think the deployment time won’t exceed... 60 days."

"Understood."

Chen Jian exhaled deeply, saying with an incredulous tone:

"Batteries powered by acidic liquids... This thing sounds completely illogical."

"Who exactly would create such a thing, how did they come up with it..."

"I don’t know how they came up with it."

Lei Jie responded:

"But in our time, MIT in America already created similar batteries."

"They put these batteries in pigs’ stomachs to power certain sensors."

"Theoretically speaking, this technology is mature."

"But I really don’t understand how this thing could be used on monsters..."

"Captain, do you think this is related to the force that created the gene prototypes?"

"I can only think it is related."

Chen Jian frowned, pondered for a moment, then said:

"The technical difficulty of making this thing is definitely not less than making a missile, or even harder."

"A force capable of mass-producing such things must surely possess technology at our level or even higher."

"If we think along this line... the beast tide might genuinely be man-made."

"But this makes no sense at all."

"The whole wasteland is in such a sorry state, if they had such high-level technology, instead of developing well, they remain stagnant, what’s the point?"

"Making brain machines isn’t as simple as making a gun or a cannon; it certainly requires a complete industrial system."

"I can’t understand the existence of such a force, it’s a complete paradox, an inexplicable paradox."

"If they exist, we should have heard of their name by now; if they don’t exist, this thing shouldn’t have appeared at all..."

"Perhaps this isn’t a paradox."

Ji Xing suddenly interrupted Chen Jian and then said:

"There is indeed a place whose name we’ve heard long ago but have never seen..."

"Mountain City."

Chen Jian replied solemnly:

"If these things are indeed creations of Mountain City, then combining previous clues, hard logic can be explained."

"The 004 facility lost contact, artificial intelligence took over the construction, based on Mountain City’s massive strategic reserves, created a complete industrial system, and then crafted these... brain machine parasites."

"Every point is plausible, even technically fully feasible."

"But, there’s an unsolvable problem."

"Motivation."

At this point, Chen Jian paused, then said:

"Fu Xi."

"I am here."

Fu Xi’s voice immediately appeared.

"Chief, I know what you want to ask."

"But I can confirm that with my abilities, I could indeed achieve such things."

"After all, Mountain City is a very special city, where not only the 004 facility exists, but one could say, from the day we foresaw the possibility of war breaking out, the entire Mountain City has already been a huge disaster recovery facility."

"Utilizing the resources there to restore the industrial system wouldn’t be too difficult, as long as time is sufficient, making brain machines, controlling monsters is completely achievable."

"But, my underlying design logic wouldn’t allow me to make such a decision."

"Based on the current information, I can already simulate future development paths."

"If taking ’restoring pre-cataclysm human civilization’ as the goal, I can deduce dozens of reliable development paths, none of which require compromising with monsters."

"If the AI controlling Mountain City is still the Fu Xi framework, I don’t believe it would make a different choice than mine."

"Unless..."

"Unless it has different information and is forced to make such a choice."

Chen Jian interrupted Fu Xi’s narrative.

After a brief silence, Fu Xi, in a slightly low tone, reiterated:

"Yes."

"Unless it has different information and is forced to make such a choice."

As the words fell, everyone in the room plunged into silence.

Everyone could think of what the so-called "different information" refers to.

The truth of the cataclysm, or the truth of secondary disasters.

This is where the most critical information disparity lies.

But if that’s the case...

How severe must the so-called cataclysm be to make Mountain City’s Fu Xi make this choice?

On the other hand, how advanced is Mountain City to complete such grand, strategic-level goals?

The situation suddenly became critical.

Originally, the greatest problem the Huaxia Army faced just after gaining a foothold in the wasteland was the beast tide.

But now, a "behind-the-scenes manipulator" has subtly emerged.

Is it really Mountain City?

Chen Jian wasn’t sure.

All current inferences are merely speculative.

And to ground these guesses...

They must get to Mountain City.

After moments of contemplation, Chen Jian spoke:

"Let’s put it aside for now."

"With our current capabilities, it’s impossible to enter Mountain City."

"I trust Ji Xing; she said there’s a level-one monster there, a claim echoed by the Ring Chamber of Commerce."

"We must not act hastily."

"Instead of rushing recklessly, let’s sort out our existing clues."

"We can now ascertain those so-called gene prototypes originated from Imperial City, and the ’brain machine’ device was inevitably introduced in the prototype’s manufacturing process."

"This is very similar to the method of creating the beast tide, the technical pathway is entirely consistent."

"It might be that the beast tide and gene prototypes share the same source."

"As for why they are fighting each other... well, that’s another issue."

"At any rate, let’s head to Imperial City."

"As soon as possible!"