Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 165 From the Heart (Fifth Update)
Faced with the two seemingly contradictory but ultimately unavoidable conditions presented by Chen Yu, Spider Murphy, or rather the core AI she represented that roamed the abyss of data, after a brief but extremely intense internal logical conflict and emotional upheaval, ultimately followed the most basic survival principle and made a decision to seek advantage and avoid harm.

She chose to give in.

According to the conclusion drawn from the core of her cold logic, any form of resistance at this moment would be meaningless and would only lead to utter and worthless destruction.

What she found even more unbearable was that doing so would also implicate Lucky Bartholomew's last physical existence in this world—his body—and subject it to irreparable desecration and exploitation.

In contrast, while a temporary bowing out is humiliating, it at least offers a glimmer of hope and a chance to uncover the truth about Lucky.

“I…accept your conditions.” Her data projection rippled slightly, and her signature, fiery red hair seemed to lose some of its luster, appearing somewhat dull.

Her voice carried a harsh quality, a result of intense humiliation and deep helplessness: "I will serve you in exchange... I hope you will keep your promise and confirm Lucky's final condition."

And…after it is confirmed that he has indeed passed away, return his body to me intact.”

Chen Yu was not surprised at all by this result.

In his meticulous and cold logical deduction, this was the most probable and inevitable choice the other party would make after weighing all known variables.

Everything followed the principle of efficiency first, avoiding unnecessary waste of such a valuable potential resource as a high-level roving AI, which was entirely in line with his expectations and plans.

“A wise choice.” Chen Yu’s virtual avatar simply nodded slightly, its tone so flat that it revealed no appreciation whatsoever, more like simply confirming a fait accompli: “Then, first of all, you need a more stable place to live.”

He said no more, his mind subtly shifting as he activated his deep access to the local "black wall" agreement.

For someone who can use the black wall as a broadcasting tool, guiding a specific consciousness safely through this barrier is not difficult.

Within the data space, a channel, distinct from the surrounding information flow and bearing a unique encrypted mark, quietly opened, emanating a stable and concealed gravitational pull.

Spider Murphy sensed this power, hesitated slightly, and then guided this part of his core consciousness to slide into the passage.

The process was smooth and rapid, with almost no abnormal reactions from the Blackwall AI.

The next moment, her senses found herself in a completely new network environment—the interior of the abandoned town stronghold, the local area network that Chen Yu had initially modified and reinforced.

This area is not vast, but it is structurally stable, with a defense level far exceeding that of public networks, and it maintains a monitored connection with Chen Yu's workshop's core data link.

For her, this place was both a relatively safe haven and an invisible cage.

"This area is temporarily assigned to you." Chen Yu's voice rang out directly in the abandoned town's internal network, without any emotional fluctuation. "Your first task is to guide the three network operators currently in the stronghold: Sasha, Qiwei, and Lucy."

He then transmitted three concise files, which included the basic parameters of Sasha and Qiwei's modified electronic warfare prosthetics, their current ability limits, operating habits, and Lucy's relatively more traditional hacking skills and potential assessment.

“After the basic modifications, Sasha and Qiwei’s electronic warfare capabilities have indeed surpassed the local conventional level,” Chen Yu objectively commented, but then changed the subject, “However, by my standards, their processing logic is still crude, their foresight of potential threats is insufficient, and their utilization efficiency of their own hardware performance is more than 35% below the baseline. They still have a lot of room for optimization.”

He had no intention of personally guiding them. In Chen Yu's view, investing precious time and computing power in this kind of basic, repetitive teaching work was a huge misallocation of resources.

A mechanical engineer seeking wisdom should focus on broader strategies and cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, rather than acting as a trainer for junior technicians.

"Lucy, on the other hand, has a relatively solid technical foundation and possesses certain unique potential, but lacks systematic high-level theoretical and practical guidance," he added.

Now that he has a legendary hacker under his command who comes from the old internet era, is experienced, and whose technical style is consistent with the local system, Chen Yu will naturally not waste this readily available high-quality resource.

Making the best use of resources is a fundamental principle engraved in the core of his logic.

However, Chen Yu's purpose in recruiting Spider-Murphy was not merely to satisfy a hobby of collecting legendary figures, or simply to find a top-notch hacker coach, nor was it "research material" as initially considered.

In his value system, there is a clear boundary and different treatment between "subordinate units" and "experimental samples".

The former refers to functional components that require a certain amount of resources to maintain and are expected to generate long-term returns; the latter refers to one-time resources that are consumed in the short term and are intended to extract specific information.

He distinguishes them very clearly.

Chen Yu's core purpose in recruiting Spider-Murphy was to enrich his ever-expanding pool of high-quality talent.

As his research into the dimensional teleporter deepened, the initial simple cycle of "charging-traveling" was broken.

His research is steadily progressing into a more challenging and strategically valuable phase.

That is, to attempt to open controllable and stable dimensional rifts by one's own power without relying on a fixed-dimensional teleporter, so as to achieve true individual freedom of travel.

Although this research is currently in the most basic stage of data accumulation and theoretical framework construction, and even an effective mathematical model has not yet been fully formed, this does not prevent Chen Yu from laying the groundwork and making arrangements for it in his usual long-term style.

Planning ahead and stockpiling key resources has always been his guiding principle.

This shift in research direction also affected his assessment and planning of the cyberpunk world he currently inhabits.

Originally, Chen Yu did not pay much attention to this world.

In his view, the environment here is harsh, manifested in widespread ecological collapse and distorted social structure; its civilization as a whole exhibits a decadent trend, deeply mired in corporate monopolies and the degeneration of humanity.

Although the local technology landscape has shown a unique style and value in certain specific areas, particularly in cybernetics and basic network technologies, its development suffers from obvious imbalances and bottlenecks that are difficult to overcome.

Compared to the known technological legacy of the Warhammer Empire of Men, this world's overall technological level appears limited and crude.

(End of this chapter)