Zhuang Fan had not expressed any opinion the entire time because there were too many familiar faces present. He was working hard to sort and categorize his memories.
Xu Tiansheng’s seizure of power and usurpation seemed abrupt, but from Zhuang Fan’s perspective as an onlooker, it did not feel surprising. He even understood it somewhat, and felt a little sympathy.
Xu Tiansheng’s management ability was outstanding; the fact that he had served in the important post of affairs officer for a hundred years was proof enough.
Later, he endured another sixty years in the position of chairman, defeating countless competitors and devoting himself wholly to the company, almost burning out every last drop of his heart’s blood.
In his later years, Xu Renyi had once made a will naming Xu Tiansheng as the first heir, while the other members of the Xu clan were each given corresponding arrangements. Everyone was happy.
From top to bottom, old and young alike, the entire family was only waiting for the old man’s legs to give that final kick, after which the transfer of power would naturally follow as a matter of course.
In the end, the old man’s legs remained sturdy. He kept kicking for several dozen years and was still in power, extending his lifespan from 320 all the way to 400, walking ever farther down the road in pursuit of longevity.
Old Ancestor, please wait for your descendants.
Countless complaints and resentments followed one after another, until that small group of middle-aged and elderly people who had originally been looking forward to the old man’s passing instead outlasted themselves first, leaving their descendants to continue simmering slowly over a low flame.
Faced with the rising grievances within the family, Xu Renyi dismissed them with contempt. His personality also grew increasingly paranoid, and he developed severe delusions of persecution.
Aside from Xu Tiansheng and Xu Lanshan, he would not trust anyone by his side.
“Captain of the Guard Corps” had once become the most dangerous position in the entire group. Human heads were like chives, cut down crop after crop.
Later, when there were no longer enough captains’ heads to go around, he found Max, who had been frozen for several hundred years, and made him captain of his Guard Corps, solely because Old Max’s background was clean.
Fortunately, Old Max had endured it. Zhuang Fan truly felt that Old Demon Xu was a scourge.
Thinking to this point, Zhuang Fan looked toward Xu Tiansheng and said slowly, “Tiansheng, you were a little too impatient.”
The moment his words came out, the entire place fell silent.
Xu Tiansheng frowned slightly. He looked Zhuang Fan up and down properly, but his gaze was filled with indifference.
Zhuang Fan continued:
“I originally thought that after switching to a new body, I would formally retire and let you take charge, with Little Max and Lanshan assisting you.”
Zhuang Fan could swear that Xu Renyi had indeed planned this. He had not added anything unnecessary. As for whether Old Demon Xu would go back on his word, that was another matter.
Xu Tiansheng smiled gently. “Putting aside the fact that you’re just some fellow playing tricks and pretending to be mysterious, do you really think even you can fool yourself with words like that?”
Quite a few people present laughed and joked, joining in the mockery.
Zhuang Fan ignored the noise. “If you don’t believe me, then kill me.”
An elder at the side gave a cold snort. “Heh, that would be letting you off easy. Just for stealing the company’s confidential documents, you can forget about taking even half a step out of Nucleus Group’s prison for the rest of your life.”
“Oh. If the company’s confidential documents can be stolen so casually by an ordinary drifter, then I truly am rather disappointed. I very much doubt whether you have the ability to govern the company.”
Zhuang Fan said unhurriedly, “Or is it that you have been thinking about the more than half of the shares in my hands all along, and now that you’ve seen there really is no other way, you’re putting on this fierce front while trembling inside?”
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole venue was once again in an uproar. The representatives of the neutral faction all turned to look at Xu Tiansheng.
Xu Tiansheng’s expression remained calm. He shook his head slightly.
“Old Xu is dead. There is no need to argue further. As for the transfer of shares, I promise that I will reset the group’s central brain in the shortest possible time, or replace it entirely.”
The group’s central brain.
In an instant, Zhuang Fan unlocked another small portion of his memories, but this cluster of memories rendered him silent:
Inside an enormous glass water tank, several hundred human brains were neatly soaking. They were connected to one another through electrode patches and cables, while bubbles gurgled and churned in the water. The scene was extremely eerie.
Bionic mechanical octopuses moved back and forth, reaching their practiced tentacles into the water tanks to sort and arrange the brains one by one.
And there were several thousand such glass tanks, densely filling the vast underground cavern.
Combined together, they had a very fitting name:
The Human Brain Matrix.
A backward technological product born of compromise and helplessness.
In this era of uncanny fog, quantum computers had completely gone on strike. In order to find a substitute, humanity had no choice but to turn its attention to the human brain.
The human brain was miraculous. Its inherent quantum biological mechanisms could naturally resist interference from the uncanny fog.
It had many shortcomings as well, such as insufficient computing power.
So if one wanted it to rival traditional quantum computers, one had to pile up vast numbers of human brains and win through quantity.
Then where did these human brain resources come from?
Although Zhuang Fan’s memories did not reveal more, he could already guess a thing or two.
The gentlest, fairest nights were always where the bloodiest blades were forged.
And with the Human Brain Matrix “maintaining fairness,” it ensured that shareholders’ rights and interests would not be damaged. The shares in one’s hands were far safer and more reliable than a mere paper document.
Moreover, Xu Renyi had also grasped the final control authority over the group’s central brain. That was the true lifeline involving the group’s survival.
Now, Xu Tiansheng’s intentions were obvious. He did not dare gamble on whether Zhuang Fan had completely retained Xu Renyi’s consciousness, or whether Zhuang Fan himself was Xu Renyi.
In any case, he would first escort Zhuang Fan back to headquarters, obtain the authorization password and brainwave pattern, and have Xu Renyi’s shares and permissions thoroughly transferred to him.
In other words, the conflict between the two sides was irreconcilable. There was already nothing left to discuss.
Xu Tiansheng issued his final ultimatum. “If you want to retain some dignity, come out on your own. Don’t waste everyone’s time.”
It turned out that everyone present had only been confronting one another through holographic projections, leaving each side a little buffer room.
Zhuang Fan said, “All of you had better think clearly about who truly has the final say in Nucleus Group. Think carefully, ponder it well, and don’t stand on the wrong side.”
After he finished this last fine-sounding line, the holographic projections of his entire group went offline, vanishing completely before Xu Tiansheng’s eyes.
“Strange…”
Xu Tiansheng frowned. After putting on the “Phantom Eye,” apart from possessing the most basic access permissions, he was unexpectedly unable to access the shelter’s AI system at all, let alone take complete control of it.
Xu Wendao reminded him from the side, “Father, they may have cut off the main system’s power.”
“Pointless last-ditch resistance.”
Xu Tiansheng issued an order. “Wendao, go drag them all out. Aside from those few people, kill any resisters without exception.”
Xu Wendao shook his head. “Father, I’ve already changed my name. Wendao is useless. One must first be Wangdao. From now on, I am Xu Wangdao.”
Xu Tiansheng gave a soft hum, appearing especially tolerant of his son’s chuunibyou.
Cutting off the shelter’s main system power was indeed a helpless move for Max.
Although it could prevent the Phantom Eye’s invasion, all the base’s defensive weapons had also been shut down.
When Zhuang Fan had broken out of prison earlier, he had also caused widespread destruction, self-destructing many hidden machine-gun turrets, mechanical hounds, and drones. This time, it was truly like lifting a rock only to drop it on his own foot.
The armored soldiers’ resistance was also very weak. Faced with enemies authenticated by the Phantom Eye, they would directly cease fire, and even turn their guns on their own people.
As the vanguard, Xu Wangdao was arrogant, but he was not brainless. He turned on the broadcast system and called for surrender:
“Hanling No. 133 Shelter, all units are to immediately lay down your weapons and cooperate with inspections. Unrelated personnel are to disperse. Otherwise, you will all be dealt with as rebels!”
Leading a large number of law-enforcement soldiers, Xu Wangdao soon captured one-third of the shelter’s area. Throughout the entire process, they encountered hardly any resistance. The defenders collapsed and surrendered as easily as rotten wood breaking apart.
Anyone with eyes could see that Xu Renyi’s faction was finished. No one wanted to go down with this sinking ship, so there were many who defected on the spot.
Truly done for…
After seeing this from the control center, Zhuang Fan sighed inwardly. Old Demon Xu’s popularity was too terrible. He really was beyond saving.
In the end, there were only a few members of management still willing to remain by Zhuang Fan’s side, and Max’s core troops had only a few hundred elite soldiers left.
They blocked off key passageways, delaying as much time as possible.
Max, meanwhile, felt somewhat guilty. Of the several hundred trusted soldiers who had come with him, he did not know how many would still be able to leave alive.
Before the main control console, the fingers of several operators moved so quickly they were practically smoking.
They were doing everything they could to delete all of Zhuang Fan’s biological characteristic information, including blood DNA samples, body language, and surveillance footage. They had to leave absolutely no trace behind.
Only by doing this could they completely conceal Zhuang Fan’s whereabouts during their escape.
What Xu Tiansheng had seen earlier had merely been a virtual character image created by Zhuang Fan.
“Mr. Xu, we have not failed your trust. Everything has been wiped clean.”
Zhuang Fan nodded. “Thank you for your hard work.”
Xu Lanshan glanced at Max. She still had concerns. “There are so many people in the shelter. All they need to do is extract memories to reconstruct everything. It will be very difficult for Master Xu to hide.”
“As long as we can hide it for a while. We’ll talk after we escape.”
On the other side, after David had his men remove the bottom hatch cover of the hydroelectric generator unit, they left behind a water channel just large enough for one person to dive through.
One soldier muttered softly, “Supervisor Wei, what should we do now?”
“What do you mean, what should we do?”
Everyone looked at one another. No one spoke first, until an impatient one stepped forward and said loudly, “Surrender, of course! Didn’t the broadcast already say so?”
“What? At a time like this, surrender?”
David froze for a moment and looked around, only to see that the gazes of the surrounding soldiers were not quite right.
“Boss, when the corps commander and that body double come over later, we’ll seize him directly and claim the top merit!”
“Exactly, exactly. Otherwise, we won’t be able to escape either.”
David nodded gravely, his expression turning serious.
“You damn bastards really are clever little devils. This deal isn’t a loss. This time, we’re going to do this nice and clean. Anyone want to back out now?”
“Who dares back out? Let’s do it!”
Zhuang Fan and his group fought as they retreated, leading the remaining soldiers to the energy center. Afterward, the alloy doors slowly closed.
At present, on Zhuang Fan’s side, apart from Xu Lanshan, David, Max, and a few high-ranking executives, there were only twenty soldiers left.
In the fierce pursuit just now, more than half their people had fallen again. By the time Max fought to the end, even his eyes had turned a little red.
Zhuang Fan and Xu Lanshan both had a few injuries as well, but they were still light. A simple bandage would suffice.
Max turned to look at David. “Are the escape devices ready? We’re not going to hold much longer.”
David sighed softly. “We only found an old micro-pod, and even that was something I temporarily modified with waterproof cloth. It should barely be usable.”
Max checked it over. “It should be fine.”
David, however, stood where he was without moving.
After giving a few reminders, Max turned his head, looked at him suspiciously, and understood instantly.