The Universe Jumper Chapter 03 Part 02
Chapter 03 Part 2/2: The Night Battle
"Director Qi, can I go now?" Jiang Liu smiled and said, "You don’t have other little friends coming over anymore, do you?"
"It's too early to say that." Qi Fei jumped off of his motorcycle and he pulled apart the motorcycle by grabbing the handlebars on each side. "My Wu Zhui1 also wants to see Leader Jiang’s skills."
While speaking, Qi Fei pulled onto the two handlebars, easily splitting the motorcycle in half. If an unknowing person saw this from a distance, they would think that Qi Fei was so powerful that he could tear a motorcycle with his hands like it was a chicken. But a person with keen eyes could tell at a glance that the motorcycle itself was integrated with Qi Fei, and wherever he touched it, it seemed to be attached to him automatically.
The base of the motorcycle fell off, and the two handlebars and protruding parts flipped around and snapped onto Qi Fei’s forearm, forming armor pieces and a bladed weapon on Qi Fei’s forearm. The fenders of the front and back tires automatically ejected out metal frames, which then wrapped around Qi Fei's calves, forming greaves and powered wheels with foot pedals for forward motion. These two wheels were too light when used for the flying motorcycle, but now that they were transformed into powered wheels for Qi Fei’s feet to step on, they were just right. It did not appear clunky or exaggerated, nor too rudimentary. It matched with the armor on Qi Fei’s arms and calves, and appeared like natural extensions of his limbs.
Once Qi Fei completed the transformation of this man-machine integration, his actions became extremely swift and violent. The main parts of his head, neck and torso were still exposed, and only the armors of the forearm and calves covered his limbs with metal. On the first glance, the design appeared weak, but the advantages could only be seen when he was in action. Qi Fei’s leaping and fighting movements were still flexible and swift. The turning and bending of his body and the quick movements of his limbs were not affected, and the flexibility needed for twisting and stretching was also maintained. The mecha reinforcements were only added to the areas that were more likely to be hit. He was able to shoot any time, and there were sharp edges for close combat.
Qi Fei looked at his hands and said to Jiang Liu, "You can't interfere with the electrical signals conducted by muscles and nerves, can you?"
As he said this, the two wheels he was stepping on seemed to be controlled by someone, and started to act automatically, rushing in the direction towards Jiang Liu. Regardless of whether Jiang Liu moved forward, backwards, jumped, or turned, the wheels could automatically identify and calculate the most efficient path to move towards Jiang Liu. It was able to move in and cover almost every possible angle. At the same time, the same recognition device used in the spider silk system to capture Jiang Liu last night popped out from his vambraces. The AI camera on the top of the recognizer automatically hunted down the target. The artificial spider silk was strong and elastic, and was able to shoot out and retract back quickly. The spider silk recognizer chased behind Jiang Liu, like it was maggot attached to bone. Jiang Liu dodged past it a few times, but just when he turned around, the second round of pursuit charged at him.
During this process, Qi Fei's body moved as fast as lightning, and his body was able to bend and turn at incredible angles. If there were bystanders, they would have no idea whether he was the one moving the armor or if the armor was driving his actions. In fact, this human-machine integrated effect was achieved by many rounds of supervised training and calibration between him and the armor. His brain inputted electrical signals to stimulate muscular responses to control the overall situation. Muscle memory was established between the armor and the body, allowing it to act automatically, which was much faster and more accurate than making calculations with the brain and then executing the action. The calculations involved in this were far more complicated than most people can imagine, and this was the result of the long-term hard work done by him and the Cloud Thinker team.
While being closely chased by the nets coming from all around, Jiang Liu gradually entered Qi Fei's area of control. He dodged left and right, but he still couldn’t escape the tracking wheels and the AI guided spider silk. Jiang Liu kept leaping horizontally. With the help of his shoes, he could jump high, but no matter how high he jumped, he would eventually have to land. The moment he landed was the moment when the spider silk completely formed a web.
For a brief moment, Jiang Liu disappeared, and when he reappeared, he had already run four or five steps to the edge of the courtyard wall. Qi Fei had been wary of Jiang Liu hiding in the densely branched forest, but he did not expect him to take the initiative to escape to an open space. Everyone knows that all AI hunts were most successful in open areas, and it’s effectiveness was lost when facing all of the physical obstacles in dense forests, and the aggressiveness of mechas will be greatly reduced too. However, Jiang Liu did not run to the forest. Instead, he ran to the open field next to the excessively large and tall wall, exposing himself to an environment that offered him no protection.
What an arrogant thing to do! Qi Fei snorted. He didn't intend to show him any mercy.
Qi Fei's wheels turned fast, and he was at a distance that was not too close nor too far from Jiang Liu. Four or five strands of spider silk shot out from both of Qi Fei’s arms and went straight for Jiang Liu’s back. Jiang Liu suddenly jumped with both of his feet and rushed straight towards the high wall. If a person was watching from far away, the person would think Jiang Liu was going to hit his head against the wall and kill himself. After kicking against the wall, he immediately bounced back at a fairly high angle, avoiding the spider silk, and landed very close to Qi Fei. He batted his eyes at Qi Fei and then pushed off the ground and continued to move towards the wall. Such a round trip made the spider silk shoot forward first, and then backwards, making the scene appear a bit messy. Additionally, the relaxed and frivolous expression on Jiang Liu's face made Qi Fei feel even more annoyed.
Qi Fei sneered watching Jiang Liu's movement, but he did not panic at all. He was not afraid that Jiang Liu would leap over the wall. The wall was seven or eight meters high, making it almost three stories tall. Although Jiang Liu’s shoes were helpful, its electromagnetism can only assist him leap and there was no magical fire-breathing effect, so no matter, it would be impossible for him to jump over the wall. After all, he was a mortal being and will eventually become exhausted. In a place where there was no cover in the front and no path to retreat back into, the effectiveness of AI hunting would be maximized. Where could he run to?
Jiang Liu jumped to the wall twice and bounced back twice. Qi Fei waved his arms, letting the spider silk shoot at the wall with maximal power. The spider silk recognized Jiang Liu’s behavior pattern and changed its strategy. Three spider silks attacked first, and when Jiang Liu bounced back, the other three spider silks continued to shoot, just in time to strike at Jiang Liu from the front. The Spider Silk system performed Bayesian learning at any given time--- if it missed the first time, it would adjust itself to be more accurate the second time. It seemed that Jiang Liu would not be able to escape and would be constrained soon.
At this critical moment, Jiang Liu made an unexpected move. He rolled on the ground and turned around, took off his coat, and when he took off again, he threw his coat against the wall and turned to jump towards Qi Fei. Qi Fei realized that the back of Jiang Liu’s jacket also had a power-assisting device. Even if no one was wearing it, it still flew to the high wall quickly under the impetus of electromagnetic assistance, and the AI spider silk still recognized the jacket as a Jiang Liu. The first wave of attack followed the jacket closely. In a moment as short as the ignition of a spark, Jiang Liu kicked both his feet towards Qi Fei and Qi Fei instinctively raised his hand to block him. Right at the same time as the second wave of spider silk attacked, Jiang Liu’s feet lightly stepped on the spot on Qi Fei’s forearm where spider silk ejected out of. He didn’t exert any strength that was strong enough to hurt Qi Fei, but it was timed perfectly with the timing of the ejection. As soon as the second wave of spider silk ejected outward, Jiang Liu's booster shoes also lit up. Right after the sound of slight air fluctuations could be heard, Jiang Liu was already flying in the air. It turned out that he used the power of spider silk ejection to give him an extra boost.
With the combined strength of the spider silk ejection system and Jiang Liu's booster shoes, and the diagonally upward motion, Jiang Liu flew to the top of the high wall. Just like this, the eight-meter-high wall became an easy reach. After grabbing the ledge of the tall wall, Jiang Liu climbed over and stood steadily on the top of the wall. The tall wall was originally designed with an electromagnetic barrier, so regardless of who wanted to climb out of the wall, an electric shock and an electromagnetic alarm would be triggered. However, Jiang Liu was able to interfere with the electromagnetic waves, so for him, it was as easy and pleasant as a child standing on the top of a slide.
Jiang Liu stood in the moonlight, as light as a paper kite. He smiled casually, as if he was singing and drinking with his friends.
"You can keep the clothes as a gift, I don't want it anymore." Jiang Liu said condescendingly.
Qi Fei lightly clapped his hands, "What a good strategy--- discreetly escaping like how a Golden cicada escapes through molting2 and making use of my strength to counteract my move."
"Throughout my life, I never use powerful attack techniques. I only know a little bit of self-defense, just enough to save my own life." Jiang Liu said.
"Don't think you can escape like this," Qi Fei sneered. "Today was just a test. As long as Qian Kun has locked onto you, Qian Kun will be able to track you down, even if you escape to the ends of the world."
"Haha, Director Qi is overthinking," Jiang Liu said with a light smile, "I won't escape to the ends of the world. I live next to Director Qi. The saying goes that it is the darkest behind the lamp. Oftentimes, the more dangerous the place is, the safer it is."
Qi Fei knew that Jiang Liu was mocking him for being too confident earlier, so he couldn't help but to angrily say, "Don't be too cocky. I will not go easy on you when I see you next time."
"That’s my greatest wish." Jiang Liu said, "It's been a long time since I battled with a good friend. However, Director Qi, let me tell you the truth, do you know what the AI's biggest weakness is?"
"Just say what you want to say, I don't want to play guessing games." Qi Fei said.
Jiang Liu smiled and said, "The biggest weakness of AI is that it is too persistent. Buddhism has the phrases ‘self-obsession' and 'worldly-obsessions’. Director Qi definitely understands what ‘self-obsession' is. As for ‘worldly-obsessions', that’s the AI's weakness."
While speaking, he leaped into the wilderness outside the high wall. In the moonlight, his silhouette froze in Qi Fei's pupils.
"I'm going back to Yun Fan’s place to sleep! See you tomorrow!" This was the last sentence Jiang Liu left for Qi Fei. Qi Fei didn't know how he would jump off the wall that was more than eight meters high, but obviously Jiang Liu still had a lot of skills that he didn't show him, so he didn't worry about that.
This was the first time that Qi Fei had such a great curiosity about a person, and for the first time, his desire to win was aroused.
That night, Qi Fei explained to all his subordinates about the entire process of detaining Jiang Liu for interrogation and letting Jiang Liu escape. If the superiors did not ask, they would not report this matter again. After all, he was arrested, and then he cleanly escaped. The Cloud Thinker attack system that they painstakingly built failed completely. Under the watch of everyone, someone leaked the password to Jiang Liu. These were all very shameful experiences, so the fewer people who know about this, the more trouble would be saved from explaining.
The assistant asked Qi Fei how to report the results of the interrogation to General Yuan, and after Qi Fei thought for a while, he said, "Just say three sentences: Heaven’s Reward has a strong background, and is perhaps related to dark web transactions; Heaven’s Reward was not behind the previous two rounds of hacking; there are spies from the Heaven’s Reward in our organization, but it is impossible to find out who."
The assistant hesitated and asked, "Sir Qi, should we report his background information found during the investigation?" Qi Fei fiddled with a pen in his hand. He hesitated for a moment, and said, "Don't report it." The assistant nodded and walked out.
Qi Fei was a little bit upset; he was constantly thinking about the phrases "self-obsession" and "worldly-obsessions". There was no doubt that Jiang Liu's words touched some sensitive places in his heart. He has always been carefully calculating for the greatest possible successes and guarding against the most possible risks. When everything was the optimal result calculated according to the maximum probability, was there really a blind spot such as the so-called "obsession"? If such a blind spot existed, how should the unyielding rules be confronted? If it did not exist, how did Jiang Liu escape? Was stronger computing power the ultimate answer to everything? Qi Fei knew that he shouldn’t be disturbed by Jiang Liu’s words, but this sense of doubt had touched the most uncertain corner of his heart---the most vulnerable corner.
At this moment, the sound of Qian Kun rang.
Since it was now the middle of the night, Qi Fei did not expect any work notifications. He originally wanted to drink a few sips of red wine and then fall asleep, but he did not expect that Qian Kun would notify him about work at this time.
General Yuan’s face appeared on the wall, and the high-definition display screen revealed every inch of General Yuan’s pores and skin. The fatigue and dissatisfaction on his face were even more obvious. At this moment, General Yuan was in Okinawa. At the closed-door meeting of the Pacific Alliance, he must have experienced a whole day of exhausting discussions and was wiped out. Additionally, he had to deal with jet lag. Okinawa was an hour behind Xi'an, and at this time, it was already 2 am, which was normally the period for deep sleep. General Yuan's face was visibly strengthless.
"Pardon me," General Yuan said, "for not getting back to you. I have been in meetings."
"It's okay," Qi Fei said, "I was rude to interrupt."
"I saw your report. Did you capture the leader of the Heaven’s Reward?"
"Yes..." Qi Fei hesitated, "but I couldn't completely control the situation."
"Escaped?"
"Not quite," Qi Fei said, "he should be in the Qin Mausoleum. He is also here because of the signals at the Qin Mausoleum."
General Yuan nodded, "Keep chasing him. Regardless of whether the Heaven’s Reward organized the hacking operations or not, they are a huge threat since they buy and sell intelligence, without any regards to the parties involved. Now they have the greatest influence in the circle of terrorist organizations near the Red Sea, but the Atlantic Alliance has noticed them already. If possible, it’s best to get rid of them."
"Yes." Qi Fei nodded.
"By the way, there is one more thing." General Yuan hesitated for a moment.
"Please tell me." Qi Fei said.
General Yuan thought for a while and said, "This time I heard people in Melbourne say that they also noticed the abnormal ultra-low frequency signal, but near Mars. You have to pay attention to whether it is related to the Qin Mausoleum." General Yuan paused. After a while, he continued, "The Atlantic Alliance seems to have withdrawn the troops because of this, which shows that they have also noticed too. You must seize this opportunity. The nature of this operation is unclear in terms of whether it is offensive or defensive. I request that we take the lead."
Qi Fei nodded, "No problem, leave it to me."
Before General Yuan hung up the phone, he seemed to have something else to say. He stopped talking, and sighed. Qi Fei guessed that he wanted to relay the matters of the meeting he had during the day, but after thinking about it, he swallowed his words back down, figuring that the time was unfitting. General Yuan finally sighed and said, "It's really like when the mountain rain wishes to come3..."
"What do you mean?" Qi Fei asked with uncertainty.
"We must first settle the foreigners. Old sayings never deceive me." General Yuan said.
That night, Qi Fei pondered General Yuan's words, but after pondering it for a long time, he still didn't understand it. He guessed that due to the recent escalation of the battle situation, General Yuan was feeling some sort of helplessness in the face of the complicated battle situation and multiple external threats. Qi Fei felt that he could alleviate this worry. In this world, there was nothing that could not be calculated by Qian Kun. If there was no answer for the time being, it must be because there was not enough information inputted. As long as there is more information, all situations can be controlled. Qi Fei believed this.
Jiang Liu undoubtedly had more information about the alliance than the alliance had about him. This was the classical example of one side being in the light and the other side hiding in the dark. The side hiding in the dark always has more advantages. This person was the biggest trouble Qi Fei has encountered in his several years long career. He even went to provoke Yun Fan. He could have provoked just anyone, but he insisted on provoking Yun Fan. Qi Fei was so irritated but he couldn't do anything. Jiang Liu seemed to have spotted this point and deliberately opposed him.
That night, Qi Fei slept in a state of confusion.
The next morning, when Qi Fei stepped into the Qin Mausoleum again, the first thing he saw was Jiang Liu's smile.
"Director Qi, you’re here!" Jiang Liu said enthusiastically. "After not seeing you for one night, I really miss you!"
Both Yun Fan and Qi Fei gave Jiang Liu a blank look. This sentence was quite weird sounding in the ears of any normal person.
"Young Master Jiang slept well last night?" Qi Fei smiled.
"Very good, very good. Because of Director Qi’s greatness, the surrounding area is very peaceful and quiet. I haven't slept like this for a long time!" Jiang Liu's face was filled with joy. People who didn't know him well would have thought that he was living a simple and happy life of a farmer. "In my dreams, I was thinking about how to help Fanfan solve problems, so I woke up early in the morning and talked to Fanfan about new ideas."
As Jiang Liu said, he deliberately raised his eyebrows towards Qi Fei and said, "Fanfan is quite satisfied with my new idea."
Qi Fei suppressed his anger and said quietly, "Oh, what other new idea does Young Master Jiang have?"
"My idea is that we fly to the sky to find them!" Jiang Liu smiled, "We shouldn't wait for them to come down. We must take the initiative to attack."
"We don't know whether they are friends or foes, or whether it's a misfortune or a blessing. Isn't it wrong to take such a risk?" Qi Fei replied.
"If it's a blessing then it’s not a misfortune, if it's a misfortune, then it can't be avoided." Jiang Liu said with a smile, "How would I know if I don't go and see?"
Yun Fan interrupted at this time, "They are friends, not foes."
Qi Fei frowned and said, "How can you be sure? Even the traces of the spacecraft are only vague and speculative. They have not been proven yet, let alone contacted. How can you be sure that they are friends and not enemies?"
"Because in history, they have always been helping us." Yun Fan said.
"Helping us?" Qi Fei was puzzled.
Yun Fan gently brushed her fingers across the table. On the seemingly wooden table, the wood grain pattern quickly faded, revealing a picture of a scroll. The scroll was beige and old, with a timeline drawn on it and densely annotated pictures.
"Look at this timeline. Whether it is the ancient Egyptian civilization, or the Greek civilization during the Atlantis period and the dark period, or the Maya, when they arrived, they undoubtedly kickstarted the rapid development of a certain aspect of civilization. If you do not believe in evidence from other countries, have a look at ancient China. Liang’zhu and the Yan’huang Emperor were from the 26th century BC, the Erlitou bronze period was in the 18th century BC, the change in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties was in the 11th century BC, and Emperor Qin Shi’huang was in the 3rd century BC. These periods all had great leaps forward in Chinese technology and culture, don’t you see any pattern?"
Qi Fei thought about it, "It's almost...a 700 to 800 year cycle period?"
"Yes!" Yun Fan nodded, "About less than 800 years. Every time it comes, it brings a sudden evolutionary process to Chinese civilization, and then a new era emerges. There are obvious discontinuities in the advancement of technology. Are these all coincidences? That’s impossible. Other than being an extraterrestrial civilization with kind intentions, there are no other explanations for all of this."
"So..." Qi Fei thought to himself, "If another 800 years is added to the third century BC..."
"Fifth century AD. Maya." Yun Fan replied to him, "then the thirteenth century AD, then the twenty-first century AD."
"So you think, this time..." Qi Fei said softly.
"Yes, they are back." Yun Fan nodded firmly, "They are friends, not enemies."
Qi Fei glanced at Jiang Liu, with a meaningful and subtle look. He knew Yun Fan’s idealism in this matter. No one knew better than Qi Fei how much pressure Yun Fan had been under in the past few years, and no one knew better than Qi Fei how much Yun Fan needed something at this time to prove herself. This was what kept her going in life.
However, there were few people who knew better than Qi Fei that the more a person looked at things with this urgent mentality, the less accurate and objective a person can see things. Yun Fan wholeheartedly wanted to establish a friendly relationship with aliens. Disregarding whether this matter was true and reliable, even if it was reliable, Qi Fei was extremely skeptical of how friendly the aliens could be. No one is obliged to help others. All human kindness is based on the goal of the propagation of the human race. The different races in the universe were not genetically related, so how can there be benevolent races that were willing to help another planet’s civilization improve? This was impossible. In the dark forest of the universe, it’s either you die or I die. If people hold onto the imagination of others being well-intentioned, then in the end, it would only result in being slaughtered even more tragically. If Qi Fei was allowed to make a decision, he would rather kill a thousand by mistake than be killed by a mistake. He'd rather be wary of extraterrestrial beings, instead of endangering the people of the earth because of foolish kindness.
Qi Fei didn't believe in saying these contacts had kind intentions, but he didn't have many choices at this moment.
Qi Fei signalled to Jiang Liu with his eyes. It was not a child's play at this time and they should not act rashly, but Jiang Liu ignored him.
"I believe in you," Jiang Liu said tenderly to Yun Fan, "I will help you contact them. My family has a space shuttle company. I will find a space shuttle to take you up there and contact them.
After Jiang Liu finished speaking, he looked at Qi Fei with a smile. Qi Fei grinded his teeth with anger.
"This matter is not a trifling matter," Qi Fei said in a deep voice, "It's about the safety of millions of people. If you insist on going, then I will go too." He looked at Jiang Liu and Yun Fan again, and added, "If you don’t have special permission from the military, you can't fly in the no-fly zone."
Yun Fan smiled. This was the first time in Qi Fei's memory that she smiled at him in ten years, yet she smiled at him because of these extraterrestrial beings. This hurt Qi Fei's heart severely.
"Thank you. Then let's go together." Yun Fan said.
"I won’t trouble Director Qi," Jiang Liu seemed to be deliberately provoking him, "My family can also get special approval from the Atlantic Alliance."
"You can't get it." Qi Fei blurted out. He thought about it for a bit, and then said, "Yun Fan is a member of the Pacific Alliance. This identity of hers will not allow her to pass the no-fly zone of the Atlantic Alliance. Only I can ask for permission."
"No problem," Jiang Liu continued smiling with crescent eyes, "I also really want to learn from Director Qi; this time is the perfect opportunity."
Even until the end, Qi Fei still couldn’t figure out how he embarked on a secret journey with Jiang Liu and Yun Fan. He just felt that there was an inexplicable power that made him want to stop the actions of those two people, yet it kept pushing him towards them. In the environment where Qi Fei lived, everyone had developed a habit of discussing things rationally and rigorously, and everything was determined by big data calculations. It had been a long time since he met someone like Jiang Liu and Yun Fan, who were obsessive and persistent, and he didn't seem to know how to deal with them. He just knows by instinct that he could never allow them to act alone.
Qi Fei only felt that his heart was in a mess, but he didn't know that Yun Fan and Jiang Liu had the same mixed feelings as him.
Author's Notes
The human heart is unpredictable; righteousness is ambiguous. .
When everyone has their own goals, they also have their own fears. When people are unwilling to talk about the thoughts that they hid behind smiles, can people who walk together have their hearts come together?
In any case, a three-person team was established.
Many times, our approach is based on our view of the world. And our view of the world is based on everything we experience.
"I believe that the choice of a kind person can never be wrong."
Translator’s Notes
Wu Zhui 乌骓
Wu Zhui was the name of the black horse belonging to the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu.
The Golden cicada escapes by molting 金蝉脱壳
This refers to one of the Thirty-Six Escape Strategies. It means to escape without realizing. I kept the literal translation here, since the imagery parallels what Jiang Liu did. Taking off his coat to escape is similar when a cicada molts.
A sudden mountain rain that wants to fall..山雨欲来
This is a reference to a Tang Dynasty poem. The full line is “山雨欲来风满楼“, meaning “when the mountain rain wishes to come, the tower is filled with wind”. This refers to the foreshadows preceding major changes in events. It is similar to the line “coming events cast their shadows before them”.
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