115: Chapter 116 Here, I'll show you something heartwarming.

The system took three seconds to generate the script.

A low-frequency hum accompanied the pop-up in the center of the screen, as if something heavy was slowly surfacing from the depths of the data sea. Li Cang watched the loading bar finish its final stretch, and the title emerged.

"Xenos Infiltration".

Below was the mission briefing, which he read line by line.

Environment Setting: Closed colony, population scale of 100,000. The surface is uninhabitable; everyone lives within a domed complex with limited and controlled entry and exit points.

Initial Status: The colony is operating normally with no obvious anomalies.

Hidden Condition: A highly mimetic extraterrestrial organism has infiltrated the colony and is secretly replacing the inhabitants. The replacement process is irreversible. Replaced individuals are highly consistent with the Primarch in appearance, behavior, and even memory. Conventional detection methods cannot distinguish them.

Victory Condition: Identify and eliminate all infiltrated individuals without the collapse of the colony's social order.

Failure Condition: Social order collapse (Panic Index exceeds threshold), or infiltration ratio exceeds 30%.

After reading the victory conditions, he read the failure conditions twice more. He tapped his finger on the armrest, stopping before the third tap.

This problem is interesting.

It's not a combat problem; it's a spy-catching problem.

Among the hundred thousand people in the colony, a group of things that look exactly like humans is mixed in. You have to find them without letting others know they exist, because once panic spreads, everyone will start suspecting each other, and social order will collapse immediately.

He thought about what the Cyber Federation would do in this situation. The answer was almost obvious: a global AI scan cross-referenced with a biometric database, followed by precision targeted elimination. Efficient, elegant, and quiet—like a surgical operation to remove a tumor without harming healthy tissue.

But what if the mimic's disguise could fool the AI?

The prompt said conventional detection methods couldn't distinguish them.

The Cyber Federation's entire logic is built on the premise of "trusted data." AI-assisted targeting is trusted, biological scans are trusted, and databases are trusted. When the data itself is contaminated, all judgments built upon it become worthless paper.

The corners of his mouth curled up, more so than ever before.

This problem was practically a gift to him.

The Empire's way of handling such issues never relies on data. The Empire relies on something else, something that simply doesn't exist in the Cyber Federation's template.

Faith.

To be precise, a faith-driven reporting mechanism.

You don't need an AI to scan for Xenos. You just need everyone to believe that the existence of Xenos is a profanation of faith, and that any behavior related to Xenos is an unforgivable sin. Then, let them watch each other.

A hundred thousand pairs of eyes are much more useful than an AI scanning system. AI can only see data, but people can see what data cannot. Your neighbor's tone of voice is off today, your wife used a different amount of salt in her cooking yesterday, your colleague's gait is slightly different from last week—these minute differences, too small for any sensor to capture, can only be detected by those who live together day and night.

Of course, the cost is also obvious. This model will produce a large number of false reports. Innocent people will be accused, tried, and executed. But the victory condition is "eliminate all infiltrated individuals," not "zero collateral damage."

He opened the hole card configuration interface.

The blind phase allows for placing three to five hole cards. These cards cannot be changed after the match begins and can only be flipped under specific conditions. Once flipped, the effect takes place immediately but consumes Interference Points.

He first checked the limit of Interference Points. During the Evolution Phase PVP, it's three points per round, and each flipped hole card consumes one point. That meant he could flip three cards at most.

Three cards.

He placed the first card into the hole card slot: [Imperial Truth].

This wasn't a plug-in but a projection card of a tech tree node. Its effect was to activate the ideological framework of the "Imperial Truth" within the script scenario. All characters belonging to his civilization would enter a mental state of zero tolerance for Xenos. No evidence or data was needed; suspicion alone was enough to initiate a trial.

When this card was flipped, his colony would transform from a normal human settlement into an Inquisition where everyone was under surveillance.

Second card: [Corpse Starch Recycling Act].

This one seemed to have nothing to do with infiltration warfare, but his reason for placing it was simple: trials produce corpses, and corpses need to be handled. If not handled properly, they cause hygiene issues and psychological panic. The Corpse Starch Recycling Act could convert the "waste" from the trials into food supplies while simultaneously eliminating evidence—killing two birds with one stone.

The people who were tried vanished. No corpses, no graves—it was as if they had never existed.

The Panic Index wouldn't rise because "a neighbor was killed," because the neighbor wasn't killed—the neighbor was simply "no longer there."

He thought about the third card for a long time.

He went through the remaining available hole cards. Most were combat-related and useless in this script, but one caught his attention.

[The Eleventh Decimation Order].

This was a discipline plug-in condensed from deductions. Its effect was to randomly execute one-tenth of the soldiers to restore discipline when the troops showed signs of wavering or desertion. The side effect was a short-term plunge in morale, but it would stabilize in the long run.

He stared at the card for five seconds, then put it in.

It wasn't meant for killing his own people, but for establishing a deterrent.

Once the trial mechanism was running, there would surely be resistance. Some would question the fairness of the trials, and others would try to protect suspected relatives. If this resistance wasn't suppressed in time, it would turn into social unrest, which would drive up the Panic Index.

The existence of the Decimation Order wasn't for actual decimation, but to let everyone know the price of resistance.

Three hole cards, three layers of logic.

The Imperial Truth is the spear, Corpse Starch is the broom, and the Decimation Order is the chain.

He set all three cards face down, then returned to the overview interface to look at the entire deployment plan.

Face-up cards: Thunder Warrior Legion (Plan A, but the opponent can only see the name "Thunder Warriors" and basic tags. Engineering Demolition and Overload are non-standard post-installed configurations. Since there's no template index in the database, they won't appear on the opponent's reconnaissance panel).

Hole Card 1: Imperial Truth. Hole Card 2: Corpse Starch Recycling Act. Hole Card 3: The Eleventh Decimation Order.

He looked at this setup and fell silent for two seconds.

Then, he typed a line in the deck's remarks column.

He thought for a moment, deleted it, and retyped a line.

"Heartwarming Group".

Then he pressed submit.

The system accepted his deployment plan, and a prompt appeared on the screen waiting for the opponent to submit.

He leaned back in his chair, sinking deep into the seat this time. His expression was a mix of pride and exhaustion—pride because he thought the configuration was beautiful, and exhaustion because he only now realized he had been awake for nearly thirty consecutive hours.

At the commentary desk, Isabelle saw Li Cang's face-up information before the opponent submitted.

"Red Side's face-up card: Thunder Warrior Legion," she displayed the information on the public screen. "T2 heavy infantry, tags are Frenzy, Rend, and genetic collapse. It's the same as we saw before. No new equipment or unit types. He's staked his entire roster on this single unit."

She paused.

"Only one unit."

The bullet chat immediately exploded. "That's it? Just one card?" "Others bring at least three or four unit types, and he only brings one?" "Is this confidence or is he just broke?"

Karen didn't look at the bullet chat. His bionic eye remained locked on Li Cang's deployment panel. In the bottom right corner of the panel was a small line of text: Hole Card Count: 3.

"He's placed three face-down," Karen said.

Isabelle adjusted the focus of her glasses. The hole card area was grayed out, showing only the quantity.

"Three hole cards for one main unit card—this ratio is very unusual," she said, her speaking speed slowing slightly, a sign she was recalculating something. "A normal ratio would be two or three main unit cards with one or two hole cards. He's reversed it. He only has one main unit, but the hole cards take up three slots. This means his core tactic isn't on the front lines."

"Mm," Karen grunted and said no more.

Isabelle glanced at him. "Do you have another 'feeling'?"

Karen leaned back, the metal interface glinting dimly under the lights. "I'm thinking about something. If a soldier goes to the battlefield with only one knife but three pockets full of stuff, then either his knife is sharp enough to solve the problem in one stroke, or the things in those three pockets are his real weapons."

Isabelle didn't reply because the Blue Side's deployment information had also come out.

Cyber Federation, three face-up cards: Mass-Produced Mechanized Infantry Company, Heavy Mecha Squadron, Tactical Reconnaissance Drone Swarm.

One hole card.

"The Blue Side's configuration is textbook," Isabelle's tone returned to its calm state. "Infantry to hold the line, mecha for fire support, and drones for intelligence reconnaissance. One hole card held in reserve for emergencies. A standard 3-1 formation covering offense, defense, and reconnaissance. No obvious weaknesses."

The face-up information for both sides was displayed side-by-side on the public screen.

On the left, the Cyber Federation: three main units and one hole card, neat and dense, like a meticulously formatted resume.

On the right, the Empire: one main unit and three hole cards. Next to the empty-looking main unit area were three gray question marks.

"From the face-up cards," Isabelle gave her final pre-match assessment, "the Blue Side has an overwhelming advantage in frontal combat power. The Red Side seems to have staked everything on those three hole cards we can't see."

She pushed up her glasses.

"I hope he bet right."