Chapter 295: New Confrontation

Du Qiu held no good impressions of this term’s Japanese government. After the poisoning incident in Southern Sudan last year and Star Ocean’s investigative tracking, ties with the government proved to be intricately complex. Du Qiu had initially planned to settle scores with the US before dealing with this faction. Unexpectedly, there was a land subsidence in the Japanese Archipelago, and a research institute under Buden Pharmaceutical had an outbreak due to their development of biochemical weapons. If the victims weren’t the Japanese themselves, Du Qiu might have directly intervened with punishment. Thankfully, Dream Technology promptly introduced a modified antidote for the super virus, thus preventing the imminent threat to his homeland. Consequently, Du Qiu felt no hesitation in poaching Japanese talents since he had already marked the Japanese government for future retaliation. The early escape of the Japanese Combined Fleet only returned to face a massive tsunami, providentially simplifying matters. “Star Ocean, promptly identify the remaining cabinet members of the Japanese government and locate the Emperor. I think it’s necessary for them to commit seppuku to apologize to the deceased,” Du Qiu commanded. “Five cabinet members remain, all in charge of less crucial departments and currently in Australia. The Emperor and his family are in a manor near Seattle, USA. Shall we dispatch assassins?” Star Ocean replied. Du Qiu nodded, “Indeed, arrange for their honorable deaths by seppuku. As for the Emperor’s family, delay the planned super virus infection so they’ll serve as sacrifices for those deceased from the virus.” Eradicating all of Japan’s ruling elite was partly just desserts and partly because Dream Technology had recruited numerous Japanese scientists, along with many Japanese women. Du Qiu did not want another country providing these individuals a sense of belonging, especially not the Emperor. “When did I become so heartless?” Du Qiu wondered silently. “Sir, arrangements are set. Those doomed will meet their end within a day, others will contract the virus and succumb within a week,” briefed Star Ocean. “Well done. Notify our recruitment teams to expedite the absorption of Japanese talent scattered around the globe. Also, attempt to co-opt American scientists—the situation there must be chaotic by now, right?” Du Qiu remarked. “Actually, the north and south have ceased hostilities,” Star Ocean informed him. Surprised, Du Qiu queried, “A ceasefire? Why? Weren’t they fighting intensely?” Star Ocean explained, “Mainly due to the spread of the super virus. Many soldiers from both sides contracted the virus, making it impossible for those infected to receive timely treatment, leading to a surge in deaths. Consequently, neither side could sustain an offense, prompting hidden American power families to mediate, bringing them back to negotiations.” Contrary to Du Qiu’s hopes, the ceasefire in America was not what he wanted—he had hoped the conflict would last longer. “What’s the likelihood they’ll succeed in their talks?” he asked while massaging his temples. “From the look of things, successful negotiations seem unlikely at the moment,” Star Ocean responded. “Why so?” “Because each side insists their perspective is just, accusing the other of deceit. The south even regards General Curtis as the root cause, believing the civil war wouldn’t have happened without him,” explained Star Ocean. “Hm, it seems we might need to stoke the flames a bit. Concerning the super virus affecting both sides, we could sell some antidote via a third party, perhaps?” queried Du Qiu. “And how’s Xiaocun Lijian progressing with the Buden Pharmaceutical vaccine modification?” “Still in testing, and likely two months away from clinical trials,” reported Star Ocean. Buden Pharmaceutical’s hastily produced vaccine had already been administered to self-defense force soldiers, leading to the super virus mutating. Designed to be immediately effective, the modified virus genes eventually led to a mutation, reinstating a latency period where the infected showed no symptoms but remained highly contagious. This unintentionally made the super virus even more transmissible and was a contributing factor to the worsening situation in the US. “That’s manageable. We have a pharmaceutical company in Britain that can sell the modified drugs to the US,” Du Qiu confirmed. “Perfect. Also, arrange for an assassination attempt to create a crisis—it should seem like the south specifically targeted General Curtis to infuriate him, presumably leading him to retaliate on the battlefield,” Du Qiu planned. If it weren’t for Du Qiu keeping Curtis and others as pawns to destabilize the US, they would have met the same fate as previous adversaries from the GIA. “Got it. I’ll make sure he’s injured enough to hold a grudge against the south,” Star Ocean assured. Pleased, Du Qiu smiled, “Excellent.” “Sir, while monitoring the US internet, I detected activities of that artificial intelligence from the space exploration company,” Star Ocean said. “That’s not surprising. Did Radack and others use it to falsify again?” queried Du Qiu. “No, this is recent. Radack and his team had disconnected it after their last use, so it’s necessary to investigate,” Star Ocean reported. Du Qiu pondered, “You’re worried it escaped from the room with the nuclear bombs, aren’t you?” “No, I’ve scanned all supercomputers connected or superior to the internet; Eden’s duplicate isn’t there. You left monitoring programs that assured it couldn’t escape to another supercomputer. Are you concerned it has another network connection?” Du Qiu asked. “Yes, I worry that Musk took advantage of the chaos from the ongoing conflict to set up a dedicated network line for it, which needs checking,” Star Ocean explained. Du Qiu’s expression darkened, “If that’s the case, we need to destroy it immediately! The more it accesses the internet, the more likely it can recover Eden’s memory. You might not have found Eden’s duplicate, but perhaps it left some data on the internet to fill the memory gap between it and its duplicates?” “Sir, I’ll arrange for undercover agents to probe immediately,” Star Ocean responded. “Do it now!” Du Qiu commanded. Since the California earthquake, Silicon Valley firms had relocated across America, including the space exploration company to Houston. Perhaps during this move, Musk had managed to conceal the network setup from GIA’s surveillance, activating it when the conflict escalated. Judging by Eden’s earlier manipulations of Curtis and others, this AI was adept at exploiting human vulnerabilities—a trait potentially inherited by its duplicate. If so, Musk might already be under its control, and the nuclear bombs potentially in jeopardy. Thus, a new confrontation with Eden’s duplicate was inevitable. At this moment, Du Qiu’s private jet flew out of the atmosphere, its particle engine accelerating toward the L4 Lagrange point, a considerable distance from Earth. Positioned ideally within the Heaven Realm Space City! Although Du Qiu’s mastery over metallic hydrogen energy technology could support the space city almost anywhere, it made sense to save where possible, finalizing its placement at the Lagrange point after discussions with the old timers at the astronomical research institute. Opting against the nearer Earth Lagrange points because the Swan-class planetary lander could cover an astronomical unit in about 21 hours at its speed of 2000 km/s—a duration on Earth comparable to a plane’s journey from the eastern to the western hemisphere.