Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Beep.

Accompanied by a mechanical sound, the number of surviving members of the Federation representative team officially dropped to zero.

"This military exercise is now concluded." Both the contestants on the field and the audience heard a cold announcement accompanied by the sound effects of fireworks and cannon salutes, "The winner is—Ares Empire representative team!"

The still "alive" members of the Empire’s team erupted into cheers. They patted their comrades' shoulders, and a few mecha pilots quickly repaired their teammates lying on the ground, helping them to get up to celebrate together.

Due to the sheer number of participants and the chaotic nature of the last annihilation battle, some injured students had not yet received support from the medical team. Only after the dust settled did the medical team dare to enter the field, carrying the injured out on stretchers.

At this moment, a strange contrast formed on the field.

[...Federation and Empire people are two different species, identification complete.]

[How can we compare with such freakish physical abilities?]

[I'm tired. I was planning to apply for military school, but after watching the exercise, I decided it’s better to go back home and grow greenhouse vegetables.]

A few minutes later, both the Empire and Federation live streams were simultaneously closed.

Baisha, piloting her mech, walked over to Dai Sheng and kicked him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you," Baisha narrowed her eyes and leaned in to ask him, "Were you the one controlling those Federation team members just now?"

Dai Sheng's mech arm had been blown off by cannon fire, lying in a twisted posture on the ground, surrounded by scattered parts. Theoretically, this should not prevent him from opening the mech's cockpit and crawling out. Yet, Dai Sheng just lay on his back inside the cockpit, silent.

Baisha: "…It's just a loss in a military exercise, don't play dead."

Dai Sheng's angry voice came out: "What do you know! My life is completely ruined now!"

"It's your own fault for such poor command," Baisha said. "Honestly, randomly picking a commander from your team might not have been worse than you. Why did they specifically choose you as the commander? …Is it related to that mysterious system of yours?"

Dai Sheng remained silent.

Baisha speculated on her own: "Hmm, a system that syncs the minds of all soldiers. Its purpose surely wasn't just to have the whole team follow your command. There must be other uses for it—like letting an intelligent AI take over the battle, right?"

The intelligent AI was supposed to assist or even dominate Dai Sheng, who would then command others. That should have been the process.

"Why didn’t you activate the 'intelligence' of that system?" Baisha sharply questioned him. "Did you have enough confidence to believe that you could outperform the system’s computational capabilities?"

"…If we really let the intelligent system dominate everyone, then what’s the point of our existence!" Dai Sheng finally couldn’t hold back anymore and yelled, "We might as well have robots come out and fight you. What kind of military exercise is that?"

But your command was really poor.

Baisha held back that comment, not wanting to stress the point further, but instead asked from a different angle: "But by doing this, didn’t you contradict the purpose of the system's developers? Won’t they hold you accountable for this?"

Dai Sheng: "…"

At this moment, judging from his reaction, it seemed like he had anticipated this outcome.

After a while, with a hissing sound, Dai Sheng's cockpit suddenly opened.

He removed all protective gear, exposing himself to the harsh air of the desolate planet, staring intently at Baisha with a glint of burning stars in his eyes.

"You don’t need to tell me. I know that many people have command skills far superior to mine," Dai Sheng coughed, spitting out blood-tinged saliva. "But you know what? The most talented students in command refused to connect their minds to the system, seeing it as an insult. The few who remained either deliberately played dumb, unwilling to bear the stigma of being a puppet leader..."

"Only I—only I dared to take the stage. Whether a hero or a clown, at least I had the courage. They have no right to judge me."

As he spoke, he coughed again, showing a smile. His voice was so low that only he and Baisha could hear it.

"Without me, do you think... these students dominated by the intelligent system's consciousness would have had any 'freedom' at all?"