73: father!

(Pseudo-Two-in-One)

(3100 Characters)

After a garbled explanation from the other side,

Xi Hai finally understood what had happened here—

To begin with,

a group of slaves who had become Amnesty Soldiers were about to be collectively executed for certain reasons.

So, in order to survive,

they staged an impromptu rebellion.

According to night lamp, who had accessed the internet, these incidents of mass slave rebellion, though renamed, were not uncommon,

but they had almost never succeeded—

Even if they successfully occupied the space station, they would still be powerless against those massive interstellar battleships,

as they couldn't activate the space station's weapon systems.

However,

coincidentally,

The Cosmic Army occupying the space station, in order to board his few ships—the CAS066s that were mistaken for battlecruisers—

had taken out all their Marine forces for an all-or-nothing gamble, launching an all-out assault;

Meanwhile, the warships belonging to the Cosmic Army had all been reduced to scrap outside.

This allowed the rebels to exploit a massive loophole—

Aside from the remaining Officer Guard Battalion, they met almost no decent resistance.

Most people just yelled, followed a group, and ran until they 'pushed the enemy's crystal.'

Because the process was too smooth,

these plan-less and goal-less individuals were still dazed even after achieving victory.

Furthermore, because a large number of people joined midway through the rebellion,

their current command structure was no better than the Orks of 40K.

It was essentially:

A: Who are you?

B: I don't know! I saw WAAAAAAGH happening here, so I came!

A: Then what are you going to do?

B: I don't know! I saw WAAAAAAGH happening here, so I came!

A: ...A: Then let's WAAAAAAGH together!!!

B: I don't know... Wait! WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

A: WAAAAAAAAHG!!!!

...It wasn't until the first group, led by 9527, stormed the main control tower and captured a large number of officers, intending to execute them as common soldiers,

that they learned there was a group of badass guys outside,

who had turned all the Cosmic Army warships into scrap,

and were now about to attack.

Checking the radar,

they were already face-to-face?

How could they possibly fight this?

The collective group of rebels who could be called “leaders” instantly felt a massive headache.

And 9527, who had been forcibly pushed into the position of overall leader, was even more bewildered:

He didn't know anything!

Ever since he personally avenged 10086,

he felt he had no reason left to live.

However,

perhaps because he was the one who fired the first shot,

or perhaps because the Electromagnetic Gun in his hand looked the most intimidating,

the Amnesty Soldiers rebelling with him kept pushing him to the forefront.

In the end, he inexplicably became the leader of everyone.

Looking at the enemy ships closing in on the radar,

and the expressions of surprise, fear, and schadenfreude on the faces of the people in the main control tower,

9527 suddenly felt exhausted.

He was completely out of sync with the inexplicably passionate atmosphere around him.

He felt that this control tower was worse than the crawlspace where he had lived for half his life:

He couldn't look forward to the starry sky here,

nor was there anyone who would listen to him talk about the starry sky he once longed for.

—Because here, he had to face the starry sky directly,

the real starry sky, stripped of all fantasy and romance, leaving only coldness and cruelty.

Everyone around him was looking at him,

seemingly waiting for him to make a decision.

“Sigh—”

He let out a sigh,

recalling the words 10086 had said countless times but never finished:

“The starry sky is absolutely not as beautiful as you imagine,”

“It is filled with war and death, not peace and prosperity.”

He didn't care anymore. If he died, he died.

Let's surrender.

—

—

As a node space station for the Void Channel,

this place was mainly responsible for the resupply and maintenance of passing ships.

This meant that the permanent population here was small, but there were many Lifetime Debt Contract Workers—

Even though the conscription teams sent by the Cosmic Army only grabbed able-bodied young adults,

they managed to gather a full twenty thousand people.

As soon as 9527's announcement of surrender was broadcast from the main control tower,

inevitably, some people either didn't understand or didn't hear it.

After a large number of Marines riding Shuttles landed at the Starport,

some even suffered attacks from various corners—

although those crudely made small guns couldn't even scratch the Marines' powered armor.

It wasn't until those Marines were given permission to fire and full on-site discretionary power

that they gradually restored order in the main areas of the space station.

To be honest,

Xi Hai was somewhat interested in these rebellious slaves—

Although he didn't know why this group had rebelled,

at least a slave willing to resist was more human than a slave who felt superior about being a slave.

However, considering his own safety,

he wasn't comfortable going directly to the Space City.

“night lamp,”

“Is there a way that can both guarantee my safety,”

“and allow me to move around freely?”

night lamp paused slightly before replying:

“There is.”

“I previously accessed the star-field network of Order Seat V01.01,”

“and hacked into a small database on the Military Alliance's main ship.”

“The copied technology included aspects of Consciousness Transfer.”

“Combined with the Rapid-Growth Clone Technology I already stored,”

“you can enter the space station by remotely controlling a clone.”

Xi Hai nodded, suddenly remembering something, and asked:

“You have Rapid-Growth Clone Technology?”

“Then can you staff the warships I built?”

night lamp:

“Yes, but it's not recommended.”

“Rapid-growth clones have no knowledge base,”

“they need to learn everything from scratch.”

“Including the dormant learning time for language and common sense,”

“the normal cultivation cycle for one clone is between seven and eight years.”

“The input-to-cost ratio is too low.”

Alright,

It seems in the short term, he can only rely on the ship's built-in human-machine AI for volley fire... Wait a minute,

Xi Hai suddenly remembered,

Weren't this group of newly rebellious slaves all people?

Training them could effectively fill the vacant crew positions!

Since night lamp left a backdoor, he wasn't at all worried that these guys would be ungrateful and use his ships to attack him.

As for clones?

Just cultivate a batch for now.

Who knows if they'll be needed seven or eight years from now... Twenty minutes later.

Xi Hai, controlling the clone, walked into the Space City.

Led by the Marines,

he took a Shuttle up to the main control tower and met the leader of the rebellion—no, since they succeeded, it was an uprising—

a man with the number 9527 carved on his neck.

Using the results of night lamp's infiltration of the space station,

Xi Hai roughly understood the man's position.

Rather than being a leader,

he was more of a symbol, pushed forward by a crowd because he fired the first shot.

However, his prestige here was surprisingly sufficient; the people in the space station actually listened to his commands,

just like when a group of Orks gathers, a leading Big Boss automatically emerges.

Since this person was useful, he might as well use him for now.

Otherwise, he might end up with nothing but an utterly chaotic space station and a swarm of omnipresent armed thugs.

Although he could just leave, it would be a shame to abandon such a large space station.

He looked at 9527,

“9527, that's your number, right?”

“Do you have a name?”

9527:

“No.”

“Then what was your mother's name?”

“I don't have a mother.”

“...”

“What about your father?”

“I don't have a father.”

“...”

“No, I mean, do you remember what they were called?”

“I don't remember. They disappeared when I was very young.”

“...”

Xi Hai: ...I must be cursed!

“Alright, then I'll give you a name,”

“I heard you used to work in logistics?”

9527 paused for a moment before nodding and saying,

“Uh... accurately speaking, it was...”

“Stop!”

Xi Hai immediately interrupted him,

“In that case, you shall be called ‘Norma’.”

Hearing this,

9527, who had looked utterly exhausted just a second ago, instantly became excited.

He immediately knelt down,

and shouted loudly:

“Yes! Dad!”

“Pfft—!!!”

Xi Hai immediately spat out a mouthful of water,

“What did you call me?”

he asked, pointing at his own face,

but 9527 said with extreme seriousness:

“Father!”

“According to our custom,”

“only a father can name a child!”

“The fact that you are willing to give me a name,”

“doesn't that mean you recognize me as your son?”

At that moment, a glimmer of light seemed to return to his eyes—

Someone was willing to be his family?

Then... maybe he could live a little longer?

When he went to see 10086 later,

and showed off to him,

that guy would definitely be jealous!

“Can you use a different address?”

“Dad!”

“Can't we negotiate?”

“Dad!”

“I regret it.”

“Dad!”

“God damn it.”

“Dad!”

“...”

“Call me whatever you want.”

“Understood! Dad!”

Turning his head speechlessly,

Xi Hai looked at the group of Cosmic Army officers tied up nearby.

Among them, the fellow with two bars and three stars was the most conspicuous.

Xi Hai leaned closer,

took a look,

and saw that he looked just like that.

“Who are you people!”

“Attacking us—are you planning to make an enemy of the entire Cloud Consortium!”

“I'm telling you! We were only a reconnaissance fleet!”

“The follow-up fleet is already on its way!”

Seeing Xi Hai approach,

Suhart immediately regained his confidence—

That group of savages would actually kill him,

but this guy in front of him, regardless of which faction he belonged to,

should know something about the rules of the “civilized world.”

Xi Hai looked at this yelping fellow,

and only felt annoyance—

Didn't they fire on him first?

If you lost, shouldn't you just sit obediently in the defendant's chair meant for war criminals?

“How much longer until your follow-up fleet arrives?”

Xi Hai leaned in curiously and asked.

At this,

the guy's incessant chattering mouth finally stopped.

Xi Hai immediately felt bored and straightened up.

Walking to the side,

he looked back at 9527—oh no, now it was Norma.

He said:

“This guy is yours,”

“Although I don't know what oppression you suffered before,”

“this man is definitely one of your oppressors.”

“You deal with him, you can't go wrong.”

After Xi Hai's words lightly fell, Suhart didn't even have time to scream

before he was dragged away by a group of burly men waiting nearby—

Perhaps what awaited him was Sichuan Opera?

Never mind.

Who knows... Wasn't this supposed to be posted at six tomorrow? Why did it post tonight?