Did the world end today?

Chapter 130 Never Sacrifice to the Gods
Good morning, Comrade Lin Xu.

Zhiyun's voice rang out in the cabin, but Lin Xu felt a strange chill as he listened to it.
-
Honestly, if Zhiyun really does contain a firewall left by Jiang Xingye of this world, then I have nothing to fear about it.

The problem is that the unrest it causes can actually pose a danger to itself.

Therefore, Lin Xu couldn't help but instinctively reject it.

Goodness, is this a case of "your position determines your perspective"?

Even if one is 100% supportive of the so-called "correctors" in reversing the process of human "theocracy," it still feels uncomfortable no matter what, as one becomes their target.

Thinking of this, Lin Xu couldn't help but sigh.

At that moment, Zhiyun's voice rang out again.

"Comrade Lin Xu, your sleep quality is good, but your mood seems to be poor."

"Would you like to listen to some music or watch something relaxing?"

"unnecessary."

Lin Xu replied:
"I just miss home."

"I understand, it's normal to miss your home."

Zhiyun continued:

"But we are undertaking a great cause, and we are building our second home."

"You might try shifting your focus or temporarily immersing yourself in new work."

"This is just a suggestion of mine. If you have no other questions, I won't bother you any further."

Have a nice day.

"Okay, thank you."

Lin Xu answered casually, and after getting dressed, he stepped out the door.

During his previous two trips into this world, he followed Qi Yuan and fought almost the entire Vermilion Bird No. 1, so he was now very familiar with the process.

His status as a control engineer granted him considerable authority, which also exempted him from access control in most areas of the spaceship.

As he walked towards the upper crew cabin, Lin Xu planned out what he needed to do in his mind.

We must first find First Mate Dong Hui.

Then, Dong Hui must be isolated from the Zhiyun system.

The best place to isolate it is the engine room.

Because the space there is narrow and the environment is relatively harsh, the monitoring is relatively weak.

Only after completing the quarantine can he use his own methods to persuade the first mate, while avoiding triggering Zhiyun's firewall due to "Butterfly's identity being exposed," which would cause Zero to act prematurely.

Next, we need to find a way to obtain Zero's identity.

Then, it is necessary to contact someone with higher authority to completely lock Zero's permissions and isolate him from all other "error correctors".

Only in this way can this turmoil be contained.

This will give you a stable window of time to make the next plan and acquire more information.

The plan is passed√!

Lin Xu walked step by step toward Dong Hui's living room. He glanced at his watch; three minutes had passed since he entered the bracelet world.

But he still consciously controlled his pace, appearing relaxed and casual.

This wasn't done to guard against Zhiyun, but to guard against other error correctors lurking on this ship.

To be honest, if they find out...
I feel the consequences will be more serious than if Zhiyun had discovered it directly.

Four minutes later, Lin Xu entered the upper crew cabin.

Dong Hui's "dormitory" was right in front of him, and his door was half open.

Lin Xu stepped forward and saw Dong Hui sitting alone at his desk, with a book on the table in front of him.

The Descent of Mankind and Sexual Selection

This book is one of Darwin's most important works. I tried to read it before, but I never got around to it because the academic research in it was so dry.

Dong Hui actually reads this?

It seems so.

Their so-called "correction" process is essentially about restoring the natural selection process in human evolution.

Noticing Lin Xu's gaze, Dong Hui looked up in slight surprise.

"Comrade Lin Xu, are you looking for me?"

Lin Xu glanced at the time without showing any emotion; five minutes had already passed.

The rebellion had not yet begun, nor even shown any signs of starting.

This further confirmed his suspicion that the "starting gun" that triggered the rebellion was indeed related to Zhiyun.

Or more precisely, it is related to the butterfly contingency plan.

So he answered:

"Yes, there are some technical issues that need to be discussed."

"A technical problem?"

Upon hearing this, Dong Hui stood up.

He was the ship's first mate, and often paid even more attention to the actual operation of the spacecraft than the captain.

If there's a problem, you should contact him; this is a basic procedure, and he didn't suspect anything because of it.

"What exactly is the problem?"

Upon hearing his question, Lin Xu deliberately frowned, then replied:
"It's hard to explain. In short, I discovered a rather complex vulnerability in our flight control system."

"The probability of this vulnerability being triggered is low—to be honest, it may never be triggered at all."

"However, under certain operating conditions, it could still lead to catastrophic consequences."

"I might need you to take a look and decide whether or not to fix this vulnerability."

"Because if it needs to be repaired, I might need more technicians to help."

"clear."

Dong Hui pushed back his chair, walked over to Lin Xu, and asked:
"Should we get tested? Where should we get tested?"

"The bridge?"

"The engine room, we need to go to the engine room."

Lin Xu replied:
"The problem is related to the control surfaces; we need to directly access the control system to find the issue."

Lin Xuchun is talking nonsense.

What kind of control system problem is this?

I don't understand control systems at all.

This is just a pretext to lure you in.

Hurry up and take the bait, my friend!

Don't make things difficult for me!
Lin Xu looked at Dong Hui with a hint of anticipation, while Dong Hui hesitated for a moment before nodding in reply:

"No problem, let's go."

"Do we need to call in other technicians? We probably don't need to, right?"

"If there's no major problem between us, we won't go public to avoid causing unnecessary panic."

“We’ve been flying for too long, and everyone’s a bit psychologically unstable. There’s no need to scare them.”

"Ok, Ok."

Lin Xu nodded quickly.

This is Dong Hui.
Honestly, he is a really good person.

Compared to Shen Li's cold and resolute attitude from beginning to end, he was much more human.

So perhaps, he was actually one of the candidates who had been screened?
do not know.

The two walked towards the engine room one after the other. Along the way, Lin Xu and Dong Hui talked a lot of dubious theories.

Dong Hui certainly had a certain technical foundation; judging from his background information, he even had a doctorate in mechanical engineering. However, there's still a significant gap between mechanics and electronics, and Lin Xu could roughly fool him.

Upon reaching the engine room, the two unlocked the doors and entered.

The deeper you go, the louder the noise becomes.

This spaceship certainly can't be as minimalist and tidy as those in some science fiction movies.

Its existence is due to the explosive development of core technologies, but the relative backwardness of supporting technologies and processes has also allowed it to retain a relatively rudimentary, or even outdated, design philosophy.

Inside the engine room, the noise from the transmission system was constant, and the heat dissipation, cooling, and life support systems dripped water from time to time, making the whole environment humid and stuffy.

It is precisely this environment that makes this place almost a blind spot for surveillance.

Those sophisticated electronic devices are neither easy nor necessary to be placed here.

Lin Xu gradually slowed his pace.

He looked around to make sure he was out of the surveillance range, then turned to face Dong Hui.

The moment of decision has arrived.

He took off the communicator he used to maintain communication from his chest, threw it on the ground, and crushed it to pieces in front of Dong Hui.

"boom!"

The cracking sound was drowned out by the noise.

Immediately afterwards, he swiftly removed the communicator from Dong Hui's chest and crushed it just as quickly before Dong Hui could react.

"what are you doing!?"

Dong Hui roared and tried to grab Lin Xu.

Lin Xu nimbly dodged it, and then said:

"This is Zero's order!"

At that moment, Lin Xu felt like Captain America in the elevator, uttering that classic line.

"Long live Hydra!"

Sure enough, upon hearing the word "Zero," Dong Hui froze on the spot.

"Number Zero?!"

Dong Hui looked at Lin Xu suspiciously, frowned and asked:
"Why did I never know you existed?!"

Of course you wouldn't know.

I was just kidding you.

Lin Xu raised his hand to signal Dong Hui to calm down.

Then, he spoke:
"What I'm about to tell you is very important."

"This concerns you—the actions we are about to take also concern the survival of this entire world."

"In any case, I hope you will listen to what I have to say from beginning to end."

"Regardless of your stance, I hope you believe that I always stand on the side of humanity."

After he finished speaking, Dong Hui nodded slowly.

So Lin Xu continued:
"I am a butterfly."

Dong Hui stared in astonishment, his eyes widening.

He wanted to say something, but no sound came out of his throat.

Lin Xu, however, continued speaking regardless of the consequences.

From the Butterfly Project to the Killer Bee, to Ximeng, to Zhiyun AI, to the conflict between theocracy and human rights, to digital totalitarianism, to the evolutionary path locked by theocracy, to the resistance of those who correct errors, to the arrival of the true apocalypse.
Lin Xu speaks extremely fast.

He spent 10 minutes explaining all the issues. This series of information, far exceeding his authority and logically consistent and accurate, was enough to convince Dong Hui from all sides.

After hearing this, Dong Hui was completely dumbfounded.

"So...you're not our enemy??"

"Are you kidding me? How could I possibly be anyone's enemy?"

Lin Xu frowned and said:

"I have only one purpose, and that is to save the world."

"Although...it's not the world we live in now."

Dong Hui breathed a sigh of relief.

"So this world is destined to be destroyed?"

Lin Xu did not hesitate at all.

He nodded and replied:

"There's no chance anymore."

"Less than 45 minutes until the end of the world."

"With the current level of technology, I don't think the world is capable of escaping the end of the world."

"But there are still opportunities in other worlds."

"I must obtain all the information this world has acquired and try to save another world, starting from 20 years ago!"

"understood."

A look of relief suddenly appeared on Dong Hui's face.

Then, he looked at Lin Xu with a wry smile.

"I know about the butterfly contingency plan."

"My permissions are actually sufficient."

"However, our definition of the butterfly contingency plan is flawed."

"This contingency plan has been misinterpreted in many instances."

"We originally thought that our world would become a 'sacrifice to God'."

"But in fact, we are the piers that support a bridge."

"Depend on."

"You should have explained this to us earlier!"

Dong Hui was heartbroken.

"If it is a sacrifice to the gods, I will fight to the end."

"But if it's to save lives, I'm willing to sacrifice myself."

"Zero was also misled."

"But it's okay—there's still time!"

Dong Hui grabbed Lin Xu's shoulder.

"Walk."

"To the bridge command room."

"I'll help you think of a way."

"We still have a chance!"

"it is good!"

Lin Xu followed closely behind Dong Hui towards the bridge, and asked as he did so:
So who exactly is Number Zero?

"Could his name be Zhou Yue?"

"Zhou Yue?"

Dong Hui shook his head.

Then he replied:
“Zhou Yue is the leader of the Western Alliance, how could he be Zero?”

"Zero is not a specific person."

"It is... a projection of consciousness with a personality!"

(End of this chapter)