Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The moment had arrived. Had it really arrived already? Even though he was mentally prepared, Chen Jin still felt very surprised. Survivor forces could still be present.
They had endured the Destructive War, the two decades long nuclear winter and the rebellion of all robots. In the end, there was actually still a small number of survivors who lived?
Chen Jin laughed bitterly. “Are they f**king cockroaches? Even cockroaches are not that, right?”
Why couldn’t they just die?
At that moment, Chen Jin finally understood what his real feelings were. He did not want to make friends with any survivors or hear their stories. He simply hoped that they would not appear.
Do not appear at all costs, otherwise, I will be put in a very difficult position.
Chen Jin wanted to be a kind and good man. He had never done anything to hurt others. But he felt the mask of hypocrisy quickly slipping away in the face of great profits. He felt that his evil side would soon be exposed. “I really want to be a good person. But you could rob me of my gold. You could snatch away my Base or pose a threat to my life… I do not believe that you will make friends with me; just like how I don’t want to make friends with you… Our relationship is one of competition.”
Profits drove people crazy. In any case, it was impossible for Chen Jin to do something like giving away half of the twenty thousand tons of gold that he had to others. And if others saw this pile of gold, it was impossible for them to only ask for half of it. They would immediately shoot at him.
Chen Jin would not be able to make any friends just based on the twenty thousand tons of gold that he had in the Base… Although this gold could neither be eaten nor used. It could only be placed there temporarily as decoration.
In short, Chen Jin had now sunk into the depths of mistrust and speculation. He was filled with thoughts related to the “Dark Forest” theory. He was hesitating; should he fire the first shot? He felt very conflicted.
Seeing the stormy changes on his face that reflected his emotional ups and downs, Alice said, “Master, it may not be the survivor forces who are sending out the radio signals. There could be other reasons. We can’t make any conclusions yet; we still have to look into the matter.”
Chen Jin had a sudden realization after listening to her words. He nodded. “You’re right, Alice. In the absence of a clear investigation, we cannot draw a conclusion. It may not necessarily be the survivors sending out the radio signals. It’s possible that it’s not them.” Of course, the probability that it was not the survivors sending out the radio signals was low. But, no matter what, he would first thoroughly investigate the case before taking the next step of action. Chen Jin asked, “Alice, how should we investigate the mysterious forces in a way that will go undetected and not expose our existence? Can we just send the UAVs over?”
Alice nodded. “By going over hastily without careful planning, we could indeed be detected if they have an excellent radar system. However, Rainbow Wings did not catch any other radar signals besides the radio waves. We can assume that they have no radar devices, or they are lax in their vigilance and their radar devices are not turned on, just like how the radars had never been turned on at our Base. They would also believe that they are the last survivors.”
When one thought that he was the last survivor, his wariness would naturally be substantially reduced.
“So, you mean… ”
Alice said, “We can send the UAV formations to the source of radio signals and do a survey of the area.”
“What if they have a radar system, and it was suddenly turned on? What if they become aware of our spying?”
“It will only alert them. They can use their weapons to shoot down the UAVs. But, they would still not gain a single thing as long as we destroy the data in the UAVs remotely. They will only know that someone has their attention on them. They will not immediately find us, since we are working from behind the scenes,” Alice said, “In addition, we can have Rainbow Wings waiting hundreds of kilometers away. The Golden Eagle can also fly at a lower height, sticking close to the ground to conceal its nearby presence. After obtaining intelligence, it can accelerate and leave the scene. With this method, we can strive to go undetected, with a higher safety factor as well.”
“So we can send the UAV formations over?”
“Yes, there’s the same probability of being discovered no matter what kind of devices we send over. However, the floating dust and sand that makes up this weather also acts as a shield. Hence, the probability of the UAVs being discovered is not high.”
“Ok! Send the UAVs over. No matter what kind of power he is, we will come into contact with each other sooner or later. It’s only a matter of time until we collide. I’ll decide the rest after I’ve clearly found out what kind of forces we are dealing with!” Chen Jin shook his head. No matter how apprehensive, anxious, and overly fearful he felt, those emotions were useless. The events that ought to happen would happen sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before he would come face to face with the oncoming troubles! It was impossible that the process of finding rubbish on Haierfa would always be smooth sailing. This was a challenge that he had to overcome!
Subsequently, the UAV formations flying at high altitudes abandoned their original mission plan and collectively adjusted the direction of their flight. The rushed towards the source of the radio signal. The leading formation for the mission headed in a south-easterly direction. They flew more than two thousand kilometers and were the first formation to approach the source of the radio signal.
During this process, the broadcast signal sounded twice, and each time, it was repeated thrice! This completely exposed the position of the signal source. The UAV formations successfully locked in the specific coordinates of the signal source.
Qiongya Island.
Qiongya was an island with an area of 30,000 square kilometers. There was a nice sea breeze and less dust floating in the air. Its air was clean and clear. Its ground visibility was very good when viewed from a height.
Even if Rainbow Wings was flying near at an altitude of almost 30,000 meters and separated by hundreds of kilometers, it could still get a rough vision of the island using a telephoto camera.
The main UAV probe, Golden Eagle, reduced its flight altitude until it was only 10 meters from the surface of the sea. Once it entered Qiongya Island, it rushed towards the island’s southwest corner straight away. The source of the radio signal that was broadcasted was located in the southwest corner of the island. It was close to the sea!
After more than half an hour, the UAV successfully approached the signal source and shot a series of high-definition photos. Then, it fled at high speed. It sent the directional data to Rainbow Wing. Through the relay communication between the UAVs, hundreds of photos were all transferred within minutes.
Chen Jin impatiently looked through all the photos. He was surprised. There was none. He did not see any survivor bases. There was nothing depicted in the photos except for a large rocket launch site.
The high-precision “Life Detection” instrument on the Golden Eagle could not detect any responses in terms of body heat as well.
“Could this just be… a false alarm?”
Chen Jin felt somewhat confused. Since no survivors were found, just where did that radio broadcast signal come? From which device was it emitted?
Once Alice received another broadcast signal and successfully locked in on the target source, Golden Eagle flew on another trip to the signal source. His doubts were all answered.
The target source was that rocket launch site! There was a broadcast tower next to it, with an offshore windpower generating plant.
The UAV captured photos depicting a huge quantity of robots entering and exiting one of the assembly factories that occupied a large area. It was a very busy scene shown on the screen.
That information exchange between the robots also occurred very frequently. But there were simply no traces of human life or activity.
This was confusing! Chen Jin’s head was filled with question marks.