Starting from the Planetary Governor

Through the glass window, Gu Hang watched the restless little boy being questioned by an Alliance intelligence officer.

To soothe his mind, they had specifically chosen a lady for the task, who was comforting Cisney's emotions while speaking to him.

Their conversation, amplified by loudspeakers, was audible to those outside.

Although Cisney didn't know much—a five- or six-year-old child, no matter how clever, modified, or mature, could hardly summarize and extract all sorts of intelligence like a well-trained espionage agent—
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after all, he had lived in that city for two or three years. Many things he mentioned might seem like insignificant details, but when gathered and deduced, they might yield an important piece of intelligence.

However, those were all trivial matters.

The core piece of intelligence:

"Blackbird Heavy Industries violated the Smart Mechanisms ban, and Blackbird City has become a nest of Smart Mechanisms," Gu Hang already knew this.

All other matters were just details under this major piece of intelligence. Not insignificant, but Gu Hang didn't need to consider them further; he could just look back at what the intelligence officer compiled.

Gu Hang was thinking about how to make use of this entire piece of intelligence.

Lambert Hodgson, who accompanied him, also dared not to speak and disturb him. He knew that with such a big matter, Mr. Gu certainly needed to think it through.

He was thinking too.

This incident would inevitably lead to many more significant events, and perhaps the Tianma Star Sector, which had just been peaceful for a short time, was about to face war once again.

Moreover, this time the enemy was not some mindless monsters or locals with inferior equipment.

This was Blackbird Heavy Industries, supported by the infamous Fatches Family in the Tianma Star Sector. Now that their violation of the Smart Mechanisms ban had been exposed, their production capacity and the quality of military equipment could not be treated like past enemies.

Based on the intelligence returned from the front, with a population of fifteen million on the continent west, Blackbird City alone was estimated to have seven million. Blackbird Heavy Industries had a high level of organization of these people; if it came to a war of attrition, under extreme conscription, they could muster an army of at least 1.5 million, and perhaps even as many as 3 million.

Did the Alliance want to engage in a war of attrition with them? How many would die? How much labor, originally for economic construction, would need to be converted into soldiers on the battlefield? How long would the Alliance's development be stalled because of this?

And thinking deeper, was Blackbird Heavy Industries still the same as before?

The ban on Smart Mechanisms wasn't just for show; it wasn't about the Empire choosing to shackle itself. It was a deeply reluctant decision born out of necessity.

Don't say that the level of development of intelligent algorithms isn't enough to generate a Smart Mechanisms crisis and everything will be fine; that is simply not the case. Even something as basic as a calculator could become infected by electronic demons, calculating one plus one to be three hundred sixty-five.

Those that had been created, already exceeding the lowest threshold of mechanical servants and becoming fully mechanized, even by the Empire's definition could not be considered human anymore—those modified humans, the mechanical dogs created by the automatic machines, those automated production lines... are there still 'people' in control now?

From this perspective, could the Alliance win?

Even if a genuine Smart Mechanisms crisis erupted, one could request the support of the Star Realm Army and Imperial Navy, but the Alliance would have to hold out until then.

Could they?

His thoughts were in turmoil, and the more he thought, the heavier he felt.

At that moment, Mr. Gu's voice suddenly rang in his ears, "Did that Ilan Bird... make it back alive?"

"...What?" Lambert was momentarily startled before realizing that the governor was referring to a member of the Demon Hunter Squad who had been sent on a mission to the continent west.

He snapped out of the grand narrative and quickly recalled, then said to Gu Hang, "No... As soon as we received the message, we made a request to our brothers in the Air Force. Wind Falcon took off within half an hour. But the continent west is really too far. Even with Wind Falcon's speed, it would take over fifteen hours of flight to get there.

In the end, including this little boy, only three people were brought back. Ilan Bird is not on the list of survivors."

After a pause, Lambert continued, "According to the account of the two surviving Demon Hunters, Ilan Bird likely disguised himself as a personnel transport driver. He managed to pass through the city checkpoint with Cisney and got to the outskirts of Blackbird City. However, due to the presence of guards, he couldn't leave immediately or make contact with his comrades.

After the transport team reached the town where his teammates were and loaded a group of people, he took a risk. Disguised as a local, he tried to escape with Cisney but didn't succeed that time and was forced to resist on the spot. His comrades appeared in time and saved them.

But, being outnumbered and with their location exposed, they could only send out a distress signal and hold their ground to wait for rescue."

"By the time Wind Falcon arrived with the elite special forces team, only two of them were left alive."

Lambert recounted the events to Mr. Gu, his tone tinged with a hint of lament.

Fifteen had set out, and only two returned, though they obtained crucial intelligence, the sacrifice was still heavy, unavoidably eliciting exclamation.