249: Chapter 249: Revealing the Truth to Win Over Kayla, Gambling with One's Life Before the Gene Lock to Break the Stalemate!
Keira's room was the same specification as Su Che's suite.
She stood by the door, the collar of her silver robe fastened tightly.
"Chief, visiting so late at night, do you have any instructions?"
Su Che didn't rush to speak; he walked to the floating chair in the center of the room and sat down.
The chair automatically adjusted its curvature, catching him.
"Keira, close the door."
The door closed silently.
"Sit."
Keira sat down opposite him, her hands folded on her lap.
Su Che looked at her, and his first sentence dragged the room's temperature to freezing.
"I am not some envoy of humanity from a Level 4 Civilization a hundred thousand years in the future."
Keira's blue skin didn't change under the light, but her folded fingers shifted by an inch.
"I am a native Earthling."
The room was silent for three seconds.
"Chief, this joke..."
"It is not a joke." Su Che interrupted her, leaning forward with his arms resting on his legs.
"I will lay my cards on the table. What I said to the Star Speaker before was a mix of truth and lies. The technical data for the peak Level 3 Civilization I gave you is real. As for the rest, you don't need to know."
Keira's fingers separated and rested on the chair's armrests.
"The data is real..."
She repeated.
"Then the Star Core Terminal in your hand, the data was extracted from it, but where did the peak Level 3 Civilization technology inside actually come from? Is it true that humanity is a Level 4 Civilization a hundred thousand years from now?"
"No."
Su Che answered crisply.
Keira stood up from the chair, her breathing frequency visibly changing.
"But I can tell you one thing: the ultimate trump card in my hand is not peak Level 3 Civilization, nor is it a Level 4 Civilization."
He paused for a beat. "It is a Level 5 Civilization core, a core carrying all the technical data and the spark of a peak, perfect Level 5 Civilization."
A faint luster appeared on the surface of Keira's blue skin.
"Level 5... peak perfection?"
"So what I told the Star Speaker—that I would lead humanity to break through to Level 3 Civilization and lead Kairos to break through to a Level 4 Civilization—is truly achievable."
Keira stood there, her hands hanging at her sides, her ten slender fingers slightly opening and closing.
"On what grounds do you..."
"On what grounds do I claim to be the Chosen One?" Su Che finished the sentence for her.
"The Level 5 core comes from another universe, having fled here across dimensions. It will not bind to just anyone."
"It will perceive the host's will, vision, and capacity to carry civilization through underlying rules. Only when it confirms that the host will not repeat the mistakes of rashness will it release the guidance signal."
He spoke word by word.
"And I am the only one who can find it and obtain it."
Keira's lips pressed into a line.
"So you now know too many of my secrets." Su Che leaned back into the chair, his tone flattening. "There are only two paths before you."
He extended his first finger.
"First, I make you disappear completely. Kairos will not have any suspicions. As my personal assistant, having an accident on Earth is quite normal."
Keira's neck moved slightly.
The second finger went up.
"Second, you defect to me completely. I guarantee that once I find and obtain the Level 5 Civilization core, I will also lead Kairos Civilization to a Level 4 Civilization."
He lowered his hand.
"But if you choose the second path and betray me midway, dreaming of seizing the Level 5 core from me for the Kairos race..."
Su Che's voice was very low. "I would rather let the Level 5 core self-destruct, destroying the entire Milky Way, leaving not even a scrap of your entire Kairos race, than let you obtain it."
"You can trust that I will definitely do what I say."
Keira stood for a full half minute.
Then she did something Su Che hadn't expected: she knelt on one knee, pressing her right fist to her left chest.
"Keira is willing to follow you, Chief."
Su Che stood up from the chair. "Get up."
Keira stood up.
"From today on, you will help me with two things."
Su Che walked up to her.
"First, teach me to fly the spaceship, and at the same time, guide Senior Colonel He's group of pilots. They have only been learning for half a month with the Kairos experts, and they are far from ready."
"Second, every time I will give you five technical data disks, and you will help me unlock the mother ship. If you encounter any punishment mechanisms or special unlocking methods, notify me immediately."
"When the data disks are used up, I will give you more. If those Earth scientists encounter unlocking difficulties, help them if you can."
"Understood," Keira responded crisply.
Su Che muttered to himself.
"System, give me five technical data disks at once."
In the conscious space, golden light flickered.
[Do you really trust this Kairos woman?]
"If I don't trust her, there's no other way," Su Che replied inwardly. "If this continues, I will be exposed sooner or later, and I cannot do without her assistance. If you don't trust someone, don't use them; if you use them, don't doubt them. I have to gamble on this."
[You've improved a little.]
The system's text carried an indefinable meaning.
[However, you still need to continue working hard. You are still a long way from being recognized by the Level 5 Civilization core.]
Su Che didn't bother with the system anymore.
He left Keira's room, didn't turn left back to Lin Waner's side, but walked a dozen steps to the right and stopped at Jiang Yingxue's door.
He raised his hand and knocked twice.
The door opened. Jiang Yingxue was wearing an oversized white T-shirt, her hair loose, and her eyes still hazy with sleep.
"Su Che?"
Su Che squeezed in sideways and closed the door behind him.
Jiang Yingxue stepped back, her back against the wall. "In the middle of the night, you..."
"I can't sleep."
Su Che pulled her over and rested his chin on the top of her head.
Jiang Yingxue's body stiffened for a moment, then relaxed, her hands slowly wrapping around his waist.
"You are so cold," she said muffledly.
Su Che didn't answer.
The last time in the Pangu Laboratory lounge, it was a mix of alcohol and exhaustion, all blurry.
This time, it counted as him taking the initiative.
Jiang Yingxue didn't say anything more and buried her face in his chest.
...
The next day.
Su Che was still sleeping when his communicator rang.
He reached over and saw it was a message from Keira.
[Chief, the 19th door, a punishment mechanism has appeared. This is the first time I've unlocked it for you, and I've already encountered one.]
Su Che rolled over and sat up, dressed in three minutes, and went out.
In front of the 19th door, Patrick had arrived with the twenty people of Group Four.
Keira stood to one side, holding a data disk in her hand.
Su Che walked over. "What's the situation?"
Keira pointed out the content on the door panel to him.
In the center of the door panel, a huge palm print pattern glowed with cold white light.
A line of text below.
[Genetic Lock: Only one person's genetic sequence on the current mother ship can unlock this. A single trial error will permanently close an already unlocked area.]
Patrick stood nearby, and none of the twenty scientists behind him made a sound.
Su Che read the line of text over and over.
A single trial error will permanently close an already unlocked area.
There are over three hundred people on the mother ship now. If everyone tries it once, all eighteen unlocked areas will be closed, and by then, people won't even have a place to live.
"Kairos is really vicious," Su Che cursed inwardly.
His first thought was that Kairos wanted to reclaim the mother ship in this way.
But this thought only turned half a circle before he denied it himself.
There are still eighty-one data sets not yet given; Kairos has no reason to back out at this point.
Then there is only one possibility: this question is not a gamble on luck, but on courage.
He asked inwardly.
"System, whose genetic sequence can open this lock?"
[I just praised you last night, and today you're useless.]
[Kairos cannot reclaim the mother ship in this way. This question won't be unsolvable. They are betting on your courage. Why don't you just try it yourself?]
Su Che's brows relaxed.
He turned around and faced the door panel.
"Move aside."
Patrick and the people of Group Four stepped back to the sides.
Keira also took a step back.
Su Che raised his right hand and pressed his palm onto the palm print pattern in the center of the door panel.
The cold white light turned into gold, spreading outward from his palm.
The ring symbols of the genetic lock lit up layer by layer, unlocking in sequence from outside to inside.
"Click."
The door panel slid inward.
In the group of scientists behind Patrick, some gasped, some straightened up, each with different expressions.
Keira stood behind Su Che, her gaze fixed on the hand he had pressed on the door panel for a long time.
Su Che withdrew his hand and stepped inside.
Behind the door was a long, narrow corridor with densely packed cabins on both sides.
Each cabin contained a streamlined escape pod with a silver-gray shell, capable of holding up to twenty people.
The text on the central instruction panel had been translated.
[Ship-borne Emergency Escape Pod Cluster Storage Area]
Two hundred independent escape pods, equipped with short-range jump beacons, 30-day life support systems, basic defensive shields, and distress signal transmitters.
Originally used for personnel evacuation when the mother ship encounters a catastrophic crisis.
Su Che scanned the area, didn't linger, and turned to come out.
"Patrick, your group is dismissed. Notify Academician Zhong's Group Five to come over. Keira will open the next one for them."
Patrick nodded and led the team away.
Ten minutes later, Academician Zhong brought Group Five over.
Su Che called Keira and walked toward the Interstellar Scout Ship Hangar behind the fourth door.
In the hangar, eighteen scout ships were parked in the docks.
Senior Colonel He led one hundred pilots divided into six groups, groping around the control panels of three of the ships.
After the Kairos experts went to Su Family Village, the teaching was interrupted.
These people had been working on it themselves for two days, and the progress was as slow as a snail crawling.
Su Che walked over to Senior Colonel He.
"How is the learning going?"
Senior Colonel He smiled bitterly.
"Su Che, I can barely understand the theory, but the practical operation is a completely different story. The Level 3 Civilization control system is generations ahead of ours, and many logics don't match up at all."
"From now on, Keira will be your chief instructor."
Su Che tilted his chin toward Keira behind him. "After she finishes teaching me, she will come to teach you. I am also learning; once I learn it, I can also lead you."
Senior Colonel He looked at Keira and nodded heavily.
Su Che walked around the hangar, his gaze sweeping over every pilot.
Most people were thinking seriously, and a few were clearly faster to pick it up than others.
He asked Senior Colonel He for the names of those few people.
Lu Zheng, Jiang Lin, Zhao Heng, Zhou Chuyue, Han Qiao.
These five people had good hand-foot coordination, quick reactions, and a deeper understanding of the Level 3 Civilization control logic than the others.
Su Che had an idea. Someone has to fly the mother ship later; these five should be cultivated as a priority.
Coming out of the hangar, Su Che followed Keira to the exclusive hangar where the shuttle was docked.
Keira stood at the hatch of the shuttle and looked back at him.
"Chief, let's start with basic operation."
Su Che followed.
The shuttle's cockpit was not large, with two seats side by side.
Keira sat in the left seat, and Su Che sat in the right seat.
"The control logic of the shuttle is completely different from Earth's aircraft."
Keira's fingers swept a blue light across the control panel, the holographic projection unfolded, and the 3D situational map around the ship floated in mid-air.
"There are no joysticks, no pedals; all instructions are input via the touch panel and bio-signal sensing rings."
She pointed to two grooves on the inside of the seat armrests.
"Put your hands in; the system will read your muscle electrical signals and neural micro-currents and convert them into control instructions."
Su Che put his hands into the grooves.
A weak current passed through his palms, the seat armrests tightened, fixing his wrists.
"Do you feel it? The system is adapting to your biological characteristics. Now try to make the ship tilt three degrees to the left."
Su Che thought of the instruction "tilt three degrees to the left" in his mind.
The shuttle didn't move at all.
"Not just thinking," Keira corrected him. "Your muscles have to move. Slightly contract the muscles of your left forearm, and the system will capture it."
Su Che tried three times, and finally, the shuttle moved.
The ship tilted to the left by about ten degrees, stopped abruptly, and then wobbled back.
"Too much. Your muscle signals are too strong; the system will amplify your intentions. You have to hold back."
For the next two hours, Su Che practiced basic attitude adjustment repeatedly.
Yaw, pitch, roll—every action was either too much or not enough, and the shuttle wobbled in the secondary hangar like a stranded fish.
"Try again, roll fifteen degrees to the right, and steady it."
Su Che gritted his teeth, his forearm muscles slightly tightened.
The ship began to roll to the right.
Five degrees, ten degrees, fifteen degrees...
"Don't! Stop!"