Chapter 525: Reticular Nervous System_1

The loss of communication with the warship was highly irregular, and Zhuang Yue immediately ordered, "All warships commence self-check immediately, see if there's an invader from a smaller unit! Move away from the warship that lost contact right now!"

A staff member speculated, "Could it be an offensive from the AI system?"

Zhuang Yue frowned. If the enemy possessed such a weapon, why hadn't they used it earlier?

Or could it only be effective in a kamikaze-like manner?

This suddenly reminded Zhuang Yue of the ancient Wallfacer Tyler's quantum ghost plan.

With that thought, she shook her head, "Try and see if the emergency communication device responds."

Each warship was equipped with an emergency communication system, but it could only be used at close range and wasn't real-time.

Therefore, the warships that were close to the one that had lost communication immediately began trying to contact it using the emergency communication system.

A few minutes later, they finally made contact with one of the warships that had lost communication.

As soon as the communication was established, the person on the other end exclaimed loudly, "I am He Qing, captain of the P-1367 Warship, my warship has gone out of our control!"

"About twenty minutes ago, Galaxy III suddenly reported that its system had been attacked, and it only took seconds for Galaxy III to be defeated.

"After that, we felt the whole warship had become unfamiliar, neither the AI control system nor the manual control system was working.

"Even the robots on the ship no longer obeyed our commands!"

It really was an attack from the AI system!

Although they could only speak and could not see He Qing's situation, it was clear from his voice that he was very anxious.

Zhuang Yue asked, "What's your current situation? Can you still use the escape pods to evacuate?"

The emergency system's signal was delayed, which was why He Qing tried to report their situation as detailed as possible.

Seizing this opportunity, Zhuang Yue asked the experts around her, "How did the enemy do it?"

Such a system attack would have to come from either the network or an interface.

Coming from the network was impossible, as the communication devices, systems, even the basic theories used by both sides were not the same.

Without sufficient communication between two civilizations, there was no way to connect to the network.

An interface was even less likely, because although there were many interfaces on a spaceship, authorization from the captain or crew was always required to use them.

The experts too were at a loss, but regardless of whether it made sense or not, it had happened.

Zhuang Yue immediately said, "Broaden the scope of discussion, brainstorm, and find the enemy's method of attack as quickly as possible."

Only by understanding how the enemy attacked could they counterattack more effectively.

At that moment, He Qing replied, "We can't even open the warship's doors; we are trapped in the captain's room.

"We just checked, and the Life Support System has already shut down; we're preparing to put on spacesuits, but if the cabin doors can't open, we'll be trapped here sooner or later.

"We have this illusion as if the warship is coming to life.

"How to explain it, it's as if it has life, and I'm not just using a figure of speech.

"We see no hope of escaping, so please, fire at us!"

"Although I don't know what form this warship will transform into later, I always have the feeling it's changing in an unfavorable direction," he said.

Zhuang Yue asked, "Alive?"

Jiang Yu thought back to "Transformers" he had seen in his younger years, and while it seemed far-fetched, he still offered his opinion, "Could it be some kind of machine life? Or maybe the enemy simply is a special kind of intelligent robot?"

Everyone fell silent; after all, the universe was full of countless oddities, and such a possibility really did exist.

A staff officer said, "But no matter what form the enemy takes, we have destroyed them; there are only remnants left."

A scholar suddenly said, "Could it be a reticular nervous system?"

Jiang Yu quickly responded, "Elaborate on that!"

The scholar began to explain, "A reticular nervous system refers to a nervous system without a central nervous system, uniformly covering the entire body.

"In our concept, a reticular nervous system is a very primitive and uncoordinated type of nervous system.

"However, in our studies of extraterrestrial life such as the Root Tentacle Beast, we found that many alien lifeforms have highly developed reticular nervous systems with great coordination.

"A characteristic of creatures with this type of nervous system is that no matter how severely they're damaged, as long as any part of their body remains, under suitable conditions, they can regrow into an independent individual.

"A specific example can be seen in the starfish and other echinoderms."

Zhuang Yue also understood, "So even if only remnants are left, they haven't completely perished."

The scholar wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Theoretically, that's the idea, but it's just theory after all. The conditions in space are too harsh for life, surviving would be nothing short of a miracle!"

Everyone fell into a brief contemplation, and Jiang Yu broke the silence, "Then is there a possibility that robotic life exists?"

"No!" another scholar interjected, "The so-called robotic life refers to a type of mechanical life that emerges through natural evolution.

"Even with the variety in biological evolution, it wouldn't result in the evolution of complex machinery.

"At most, there might be some biological mechanical organs, but don't expect them to be very functional. Nature's organisms can be precise and complex, but like inanimate metals, they ultimately won't function as well as living cells.

"Therefore, robotic life must either be a subspecies of a civilization or have undergone transformation by a civilization; they can only fall into the category of biological humans, not truly robotic life.

"And the increasingly intelligent robots in human society are tools, and should not be described as living."

Jiang Yu clapped his hands out of habit, "Let's not discuss the topic of life for now. Is it possible that the wreckage we just bombarded isn't completely dead?

"They might be using the shape of the debris to lull us into a false sense of security, then take the opportunity to invade our warship."

The scholars did not speak anymore; from a biological standpoint, it seemed far-fetched.

But that didn't mean it was impossible to reach such a level through technology.

Like cutting through chaos with a swift stroke, Jiang Yu gestured, "The wreckage of the enemy ship is the only enemy unit that could have possibly come into contact with our fleet. Otherwise, how did they infiltrate?"

Zhuang Yue knew now was not the time for a biological discussion. She immediately gave the order, "Notify the warships that have lost contact to evacuate from their ships at once! I will open fire on their ships three minutes later."

In reality, this was equivalent to sentencing the crew members of those warships to death, but Zhuang Yue had to make such a decision. Otherwise, if the warships really "came to life," things would become more troublesome and even more lives would be lost.

Just then, the radar showed the presence of enemy combat units again. The Intelligence Staff reported, "The enemy targets have appeared just a dozen astronomical units away from us! Their numbers are more than ten times what they were previously."

Zhuang Yue furrowed her brows tightly, now suspecting that the previous attack was a smokescreen. Everyone's attention was on those flying craft, while the enemy closed in.

"Also," the Intelligence Staff added, "the radar no longer detects the more than a thousand warships that launched a counter-charge."