134: Chapter 135 Feeding the Server Some Cyber ​​Specialties

A cluster of pale blue data streams floated on the main screen of the Holographic Operations Cabin.

This was the code entity of the primary tactical AI core from the Cyber Federation legacy.

Li Cang had never studied programming, but the logic reconstruction interface built into the Civilization Editor transformed this tedious code into visual modules.

In the systems of the Cyber Federation, this thing was a well-behaved auxiliary tool.

If it were stuffed into the gear system of Warhammer, it would be pure 'Abominable Intelligence,' an absolute heresy devoid of any prayers or incense.

The Adeptus Mechanicus firewalls were prepared for all kinds of malicious scrapcode and Warp viruses, yet they lacked immunity to this clean, efficient silicon-based AI that directly tampered with underlying permissions through brute-force methods and logic traps.

Li Cang deleted all the 'IFF' and 'Fire Control Support' modules within the AI core, dumping all the computing power quota into the 'Permission Infiltration' and 'Data Overwrite' options.

The pale blue data stream was compressed into a deep red file package only the size of a fingernail.

He wrapped this file package in a layer of prayer text commonly used by the Adeptus Mechanicus, naming it [machine spirit Appeasement Protocol - Type C].

After finishing this, Li Cang cut into the communication frequency connecting to the base's temporary meeting room.

A holographic projection lit up in front of the round table in the meeting room.

The low-ranking Tech-Priest supervisor in charge of the orbital dock project stood before the projection.

Half of the supervisor's head had been replaced by a bionic eye and a respirator grille. He wore a red cowl stained with machine oil, and a single-layered gear emblem was printed on his chest with low-quality paint.

"Commander," a crackling synthetic voice emanated from the Priest's metallic vocalizer, "the main keel of the dock has been assembled. The underlying logic matrix is undergoing its final triple closed-loop verification."

"Stop for a moment," Li Cang's voice transmitted into the meeting room through the speakers.

The holographic screen flickered.

A high-definition photograph was projected in front of the Priest.

The photo showed that high-grade metal ingot with triple-layered gears and skull micro-carvings, dug out from the ice cap ruins.

The massive red optical probe of the Priest's right eye instantly emitted a sharp focusing sound.

The aperture contracted and expanded rapidly, and the gears in his mechanical cervical spine let out a tooth-grinding clatter due to excessive rotation.

This was a hardware error report triggered by a severe conflict in the underlying logic.

The low-ranking Priest's logic library was hard-coded with absolute obedience to high-ranking Priests, yet his current covenant protocol required him to be loyal to Li Cang.

"Does this look familiar?" Li Cang asked.

Several strings of unparseable binary gibberish burst from the Priest's vocalizer. He extended an oil-stained mechanical mechadendrite, reaching for the holographic photo, but his fingers passed through the light and shadow, catching nothing.

"Omnissiah above..." The Priest's voice began to tremble. "This is a Seal of Truth at the Archmagos level. Where did you obtain it..."

"Dug it out of a trap meant to kill us all," Li Cang's voice was flat, devoid of interrogation or anger. "Now I want to know if there is anything left by the owner of this seal in the dock currently under construction."

The Priest fell silent.

The radiator pipes behind him vented a cloud of murky white smoke.

After ten seconds of calculation, the Priest's mechanical mechadendrite slumped down dejectedly.

"At the third node of the base power conduit, there is an unencrypted monitoring backdoor." The static in the Priest's synthetic voice became extremely faint. "It was hard-coded into the core array before we took over the blueprints. We do not have the permission to delete it, nor... nor did we dare report it."

Li Cang leaned back against the seat of the operations cabin.

The other party wasn't lying. A low-ranking construction crew like this wouldn't dare touch code left by an Archmagos; they could only pretend not to see it.

"There is a way now to save your life, and the lives of the Servitors under your command."

A deep red data card was transmitted to the Priest's personal terminal via the holographic interface.

[machine spirit Appeasement Protocol - Type C].

"Insert this thing into the underlying logic matrix you are currently verifying, and treat it as a routine machine spirit appeasement."

Li Cang stared at the Priest in the projection, who was nearly driven mad by the logic deadlock. "Insert it, and we remain allies. Don't, and I'll have Hark take men to the site to dismantle you all one by one and turn you into cans."

The remaining human half of the Priest's face twitched.

He looked at the data package on his personal terminal, wrapped in its sacred prayer shell.

Reason told him this was absolutely not an appeasement protocol, but the instinct for survival and the strange data gravity emanating from the protocol overrode his panic.

"As you command, Commander." The Priest bowed his head.

Half an hour later.

In the main control room of the orbital dock on the base's perimeter.

The low-ranking Priest pushed the data card into the massive brass card reader.

The heavy lever was pulled down.

The originally smooth sound of gear transmission suddenly stuttered for half a second.

The green indicator lights of the entire control room instantly turned a warning dark red.

The prayers wrapped around the outer layer of the data package melted the moment they touched the underlying logic of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The deep red cyber AI core inside, like a drop of ink hitting clear water, began to proliferate frantically.

It could not understand the binary scriptures praising the Omnissiah.

It didn't need to.

Its underlying logic consisted only of brute-forcing, infiltration, and overwriting.

Following the data stream, the AI core headed straight for the third node of the base power conduit. The monitoring backdoor left by the Archmagos had just attempted to launch a defensive counterattack when it was directly submerged by the AI's millions of logic-garbage cycles per second.

The high-level code representing the Archmagos's permissions was brutally chewed up by the cyber AI and spat into an unrecoverable garbled-code recycle bin.

Underlying control of the dock was locked down both physically and logically.

Far away, deep within Mars, an unknown number of light-years away.

At the lowest level of the Noctis Labyrinth.

On a massive monitoring screen, the green characters that had been constantly jumping to represent the Thunder Warriors' base data suddenly froze.

Immediately after, a long string of garbled code and emoticons saturated with cyberpunk style plastered the entire screen without warning.

A system prompt written in an extremely provocative font popped up in the center of the screen.

[Server not found. Please top up and try again.]

From the darkness behind the monitor came an extremely angry sound of mechanical gears gnashing together.

With a muffled bang, the screen exploded into shattered glass.

In the Holographic Operations Cabin, Li Cang watched the prompt indicating that control of the dock had been completely transferred to his name.

The defensive lines were cleared.

During these seven days, he could peacefully wait for those recruits on the fourth basement level to wake up.