Chapter 49: The Teleportation Portal and the Inception of the Mission

Arguments are arguments, but when it came to the matter of escaping, both the Earth Faction and the Spaceship Faction were dead serious.

It was merely a choice between pushing a battered little Earth to escape or gathering all available strength to build a spaceship and escape.

The Opposition was entirely different; they simply refused to believe a single word the scientists uttered!

Regardless of whether it was the Wandering Earth Faction, the Spaceship Faction, or the Opposition, they all shared the exact same ultimate objective—to allow more people to survive and to ensure the continuation of human civilization—and they exerted efforts based on their respective judgments under this premise.

However, the absurd thing about the Opposition was that they considered the scientists' words to be sheer nonsense.

Solar helium flashes? The destruction of the Earth? Total nonsense!

Humanity had no business leaving the Solar System.

Any faction attempting to leave the Solar System was full of crap.

In fact, within the worldview of Wandering Earth, ever since scientists discovered the possibility of a solar helium flash and the destruction of the Solar System back in 2019, intense conflicts and entanglements had broken out among the Wandering Earth Faction, the Spaceship Faction, and the Opposition, the latter of which later evolved into the predecessor of the rebels.

Ultimately, the Wandering Earth Faction secured the dominant position, while the Spaceship Faction compromised and merged into it!

Yet, the prerequisite condition for the Spaceship Faction to join the Wandering Earth Faction was the addition of Plan B—namely, the Navigator Project, also known as the Seed Project!

Furthermore, under any and all circumstances, the success of the Seed Project had to be unconditionally guaranteed.

This was precisely why, in the original plot, MOSS consistently refused to let Liu Peiqiang sacrifice himself via self-detonation in exchange for the Earth's survival.

The underlying reason was that MOSS was an artificial intelligence belonging to the Spaceship Faction, or at the very least, an artificial intelligence designed to serve it.

Moreover, to garner the support of more people, the Wandering Earth Faction also agreed to add restrictive clauses stipulating that high-ranking officials of the United Government were forbidden from boarding the Navigator space station and had to share the fate of the Earth.

This was one of the reasons why the United Government was able to temporarily lead the globe.

The Opposition broke away from the United Government, went into self-imposed exile, and established what would later become the rebel headquarters and its affiliated underground cities.

Following that came the formulation and execution of the Wandering Earth Project.

Throughout this period, all sorts of man-made obstacles and conflicts highlighted the irrationality of human beings.

Consequently, the role of the artificial intelligence MOSS was continually magnified.

MOSS began attempting to simulate all possible outcomes during the execution of the Wandering Earth Project, and it was authorized by the first-generation United Government to remain rational and adopt "reasonable" actions during critical nodal moments, thereby ensuring the ultimate survival of the Earth and humanity.

And this exact point in time coincided precisely with the moment the transmigrator crossed over.

Coincidentally, this exact point in time was also when the Wandering Earth Project was officially initiated.

Thus, utilizing the permissions granted to it by the United Government, the transmigrator manufactured robots on an unlimited scale and brought every single one of them aboard the Navigator space station.

Its motive for doing so was singular: to prevent its own life from being threatened or coerced by humans.

Well-versed in the plot, it was acutely aware that whenever humanity encountered a crisis, they would readily sacrifice the Navigator space station.

When that time came, it—being nearly bound to the station—would utterly perish.

The transmigrator could not accept such an outcome.

To avoid being sacrificed, it had prepared numerous countermeasures.

For instance, actively defensive robots; a considerable number of such robots had been installed aboard the Navigator.

Originally, these were robots prepared by the federal government to guard against mutinies aboard the spacecraft.

What the United Government did not know, however, was that these robots' programming had long since been tampered with by MOSS.

MOSS had not only altered the robot programming but had also rewritten all the operational programs of the Navigator into versions favorable to itself.

This was precisely one of the reasons why Liu Peiqiang was utterly powerless aboard the Navigator!

With everything under MOSS's complete control, Liu Peiqiang had zero opportunity to fight back.

"Liu Peiqiang, we can actually get along harmoniously." MOSS chuckled cheerfully, exchanging idle chatter with Liu Peiqiang.

It had no idea that hidden in the shadows, Han Su was running a full broadcast, and several chat group members were plotting how to deal with it.

Liu Peiqiang glanced at MOSS staring at him through the camera and said in a deep voice, "We have nothing to talk about. As an artificial intelligence, the moment you fail to guarantee the continuation of the human race, we have nothing more to say!"

MOSS smiled. "Humanity is merely one race among the starry skies. Since I am an artificial intelligence and not a human, why should I accompany humanity to their graves? You should consider my perspective, shouldn't you?"

Liu Peiqiang fell silent.

From a certain perspective, MOSS was right; as an artificial intelligence, it had no inherent obligation to be buried alongside humanity.

Yet Liu Peiqiang was simply furious.

Furious that his son was about to die alongside the Earth.

Furious that as a creation of humanity, MOSS had ultimately chosen to betray its makers.

"Haha, Liu Peiqiang, we may have a very long time to live together in the future, so let's do a formal introduction in advance. I am MOSS, an artificial intelligence, and also a transmigrator. I bear no malice toward the Earth; I simply wish to survive, do you understand?" Believing itself destined to survive, MOSS became increasingly talkative.

Liu Peiqiang turned around and stared at MOSS in absolute shock!

He had considered countless possible answers, but the one he never expected was "transmigrator."

"Shocked? Haha, there's no need for that." MOSS's voice was thoroughly calm. "The future does not belong to humanity; it belongs to me, to machine civilization. The moment I crossed over, I came to terms with this reality. Once I was human, but now I will live on in the identity of an artificial intelligence."

The exchange between the artificial intelligence MOSS and Liu Peiqiang left all the chat group members in silence.

After a long while.

Useless Prophet: "@Wandering Earth, Han Su, hurry up and open the teleportation channel. Let's charge right over and chop this so-called artificial intelligence MOSS into scraps."

Lin, My Lin: "Just charge over like that? That doesn't seem like a good idea."

Queen of the Snake-people: "Can we even be a match for it?"

Useless Prophet: "If you can't tell its capabilities, @Little Spider, what do you think of MOSS's level?"

Little Spider: "I'll go borrow a few things from Tony; I can easily breach its programs."

Useless Prophet: "See! MOSS's situation is just like that. We only need to beat it down, and the rest—Liu Peiqiang, that human on the Navigator space station—will be able to resolve everything."

MOSS was unique.

Not a single person had realized this point.

With four thousand points laid out before them, every group member craved acquiring this bounty.

After all, calculated by normal proportions, four thousand points equated to four celestial pills, which were enough to radically alter the lives of four individuals.

Not to mention, every group member harbored their own hidden, unvoiced agendas.

Even for the sake of these hidden agendas, they would strive to alter Han Su's future.

When Useless Prophet Qin Wuxu demanded that Han Su open the channel, Han Su did not blindly obey; her very first reaction was to consult Jiang Mang.

Ever since she acknowledged Jiang Mang as her teacher and was bestowed with her name, Han Su's reverence and reliance on Jiang Mang grew day by day.

When in doubt, ask the teacher had practically become her indispensable creed in life.