Chapter 198: The Civilization's Secret

"Where is it?"

"Why hasn't it arrived yet?"

"We've been waiting for so long."

The ten ship commanders had been anxious for the past half-month. According to the analysis, the Federation's support attack should have arrived by now, and it should have been here earlier.

But there was no sign of it.

Half a month ago, they had speculated that the weapon might be taking longer to take effect, and the Federation might not have a similar weapon, so they didn't want the enemy to discover it, creating an element of surprise.

But it couldn't be this slow.

And now, they didn't need to wait any longer.

One of the ship commanders carefully examined the information sent by the quantum communication device and then spoke up, "Something's wrong!"

"Don't you all notice it?"

"There's no mention of time in this message, which is unusual and irregular."

"The Federation's regulations state that due to the vast distances, every report sent via quantum communication devices must include the time of transmission and the time of receipt. Furthermore, if there's a plan, the start time must be specified to ensure synchronization between both sides."

"But this document doesn't have that."

The other ship commanders quickly examined it.

Indeed, it was missing.

"Is the information fake?"

"But it's not that simple. The Silk Civilization doesn't control quantum communication, and even if they did, without the encryption key, they couldn't transmit it to our quantum communication device."

If it wasn't the Silk Civilization...

Then it could only be... an inside job!

The eyes of the commanders turned sharp.

"It seems there's a problem within the Federation. That guy should have had access to the quantum communication device."

"If that's the case, the entire Federation border is in danger."

One of the ship commanders realized the consequences.

A traitor!

There was a traitor within the Federation.

No one had expected such an outcome.

Everyone was intelligent and understood that this wasn't an internal struggle within the civilization. You know that being a traitor won't be taken lightly, but after making a fortune, you can enjoy your retirement without causing resentment among those you left behind.

But this was a struggle between civilizations.

Which civilization would allow an outsider to exist?

To put it bluntly, if you're a traitor, even if you help the other side win, the other civilization will kill you without causing any internal problems.

That's why no one had ever thought about the existence of a civilizational traitor.

What was their goal?

But now it was clear that it was an inside job, and this information wasn't directly sent by the Silk Civilization.

"Wait, it might not be a problem on the Federation's side."

"As far as I know, after the quantum communication devices in the Federation were installed, the commanders who came from the various star systems were controlled by the Machine Gods."

"After the Machine Gods receive the information, they transmit it directly to the commanders, and the commanders then notify the Machine Gods of the transmission."

The ship commander speaking had previously inquired about some information regarding Yan Xia.

After all, with a superior suddenly appearing above them, as ship commanders who were almost at the top of the Federation's military hierarchy, they naturally felt some resistance in their hearts.

The news they had previously ignored was now coming to light.

"So, the traitor is within our military."

"Perhaps it's a small soldier, or maybe an officer, or even..."

The ten ship commanders began to be wary of each other.

"Suspicion is inevitable, let's investigate first."

"The giant ship's AI hasn't issued any warnings, so we can conclude that the traitor has used something to deceive the AI and the quantum communication device."

"Is it a jammer, a blind spot, or... a military position!?"

In the virtual meeting room, as soon as the words were spoken, the ship commanders all left.

The truth was far less complicated than they had imagined.

After just three days of investigation, everything became clear.

The forger of the information was indeed an officer, but not as high-ranking as they had imagined, or even lower. He was in charge of the giant ship's computer engineering, which meant he had certain permissions to access the lower levels of the AI's information network.

Using these permissions, he deceived the AI and transmitted a message to the quantum communication device.

The AI was deceived.

In theory, this wasn't uncommon, as the AI had powerful self-inspection devices. But this officer had blocked the self-inspection devices, and it wasn't a recent occurrence; it had happened decades ago during an attack.

In that attack, the AI of a battleship was damaged, and the enemy took the opportunity to destroy the self-inspection devices.

This conspiracy had been in the works for decades and was now coming to fruition.

"Why?"

The half-machine being was glared at by countless eyes.

But he remained calm and composed.

He seemed to have known this would happen.

"Why?"

"Because it's unfair."

"Look at my body. Do you think I'm a machine fanatic who modified my body like this?"

"No, I'm not!"

"It's all because of poverty. I sold off most of my body, borrowed money, and studied to become a computer engineer."

"The Federation is a place that oppresses its citizens. Even the lives of the poor, including machine beings, are hopeless. That's why there are star nations, and many people escape to them."

Before he could finish speaking, one of the ship commanders interrupted, "Is that all?"

He replied, "Yes, that's all."

"Perhaps what I've experienced is just a trivial matter to you."

"But every life perceives things differently. What's trivial to you is significant to me, a crushing weight on my body."

"After the second attack by the Silk Civilization, they began secretly contacting some of the Federation's lower-level personnel and developing traitors, and I was one of them."

"You may wonder why I did this when I couldn't integrate into your society."

"I don't know about the others, but from the start, I never wanted to integrate. I just wanted to destroy this unfair Federation."

A misanthrope.

Some people do things without expecting a reward.

From a rational perspective, this may seem illogical, but most of these people are more emotional, and their needs are different.

It's like being a good person; you do many good deeds in secret, telling yourself repeatedly that you don't need anyone's gratitude.

But if that gratitude never comes, there's always a little disappointment deep within.

And when gratitude arrives, you feel genuinely happy and joyful, even if you didn't do the good deed for that gratitude.

If this is true for a kind person, what about a fallen soul?

They yearn even more for something similar to gratitude. When it doesn't come, it's not just a little disappointment; it's a deep-seated resentment towards everything around them.

The computer engineer before them may have spent half his life waiting for something he yearned for, but it never came, so he went mad.

This madness isn't a mental illness; it's something called 'value.'

Every life has a similar but unique value. When a life lacks this value, it becomes just a shell.

A shell that can be filled with anything.

Even becoming a traitor to civilization!

As the saying goes, 'Those who are pitied will be hated,' and the reverse is also true: 'Those who are hated will be pitied.'

The ten ship commanders looked at each other.

Now that everything was clear, no explanation was needed. They all knew what was missing, and it wasn't something tangible but rather something abstract, empty, and existing only in their hearts.

The emptiness and hollowness from lacking this intangible thing made their goal never to let the Silk Civilization win or to destroy the Federation. Their only desire was to destroy themselves.

"You've committed a serious war crime."

"I know what you need, and I'm ready to fulfill it..."

The ship commander requested the AI to seize all the mechanical components within his body, including the mech, quark machines, auxiliary brain, and the mechanical limbs on his body surface.

After removing all the components, he was locked inside a glass enclosure.

Then, in an instant, he was crushed into carbon atoms and transported to the energy machine, where he underwent carbon fusion to become energy for the battleship.

Although everything was over.

This incident left a scar in the hearts of all the soldiers.

The Federation not only had martyrs and celebrities but, as a vast civilization, it also had dirty traitors.

Over the past decade, they had wasted a significant amount of energy and lost many battleships due to this betrayal. Their initial chance of breaking through the siege was 30%, but now it was less than 10%, and it was even lower in reality, only 5%.

Today, hundreds of millions of soldiers were silent.

On the other side, Yan Xia, unaware of these events, was finalizing his plans.