Chapter 204: Total Control, 100,000 Spies

This command was not a simple one.

The moment Yan Xia issued the command, Ella began to take over the authority of the God of Machines in every star system.

The entities whose authority was taken over by Ella were not entirely under her control. On the contrary, Ella granted them even more authority.

This authority had a name—Total Control.

True to its name, and as the literal meaning suggests, the purpose of this authority was total control, control over everything.

"Fourteen years later, Total Control will commence, Yan Xia!"

Ella's voice sounded, and this voice had completely lost its former gentleness, instead possessing a metallic, icy texture.

Yan Xia's expression was very solemn.

"Although this is not ideal, the Federation must eliminate all potential threats."

"All spies must be eradicated."

"It seems that we have underestimated the Silkworms time and again. They have accomplished a lot over these years."

"It's not just about spies."

After thousands of years, it would be too naive to have only developed some spies. These spies should not have survived until now. What have the Silkworms been up to during these thousands of years?

If a thorough investigation were to be conducted, it would likely consume thousands or even tens of thousands of years, and it might still not be possible to find everything.

As a civilization entirely controlled by Ella, every aspect of the Federation, including the lives of its citizens, was under Ella's control.

The Quark Robots were the identity cards of the Federation's citizens, and every citizen of the Federation must possess a Quark Robot.

As machines that permeate a life's entire body, and as companions that accompany a life for almost their entire lifetime, Quark Robots hold far too many secrets of a life.

From the first month of birth to the final moments of life's decay.

Quark Robots record a life's information.

This information is not just about a life's physical condition but also includes what was done at a specific time, for example, on XXX day, XXX month, XXX year, XXX hour, and XXX minute, you went to the toilet, you had your first sexual experience, you learned a particular piece of knowledge, you saw a certain object, you had some fantastical imagination, you said a particular sentence, your finger moved, the number of cells that died in your body, an assessment of your current health...

Everything, down to the smallest changes in atoms and the impact of every action you take, is recorded in the **Life Log**. These records are stored in the Quark Robots. If the storage capacity is exceeded, the excess data will be uploaded to a unified cloud.

The Federation has 293,800,000,000,000 such Life Logs, and these logs are not just from the present. If you were to investigate, you could even find out what your grandfather or your ancestors did on XXX day, XXX month, XXX year, XXX hour, and XXX minute.

So, what is Total Control?

It is the control of the Life Logs of all Federation citizens, reading, browsing, and searching through them, then filtering out the abnormal parts, which are then identified and analyzed to derive the most accurate representation of reality.

This is a violation of the rights and interests of the Federation's citizens.

Under normal circumstances, the Federation does not retrieve this information. These records are only used by Ella for researching life behaviors.

But at this moment, the danger to the Federation surpasses their rights and interests, so Yan Xia decides to activate the Total Control authority.

This can also be said to be not a violation of their rights but a protection of their rights.

It's like the compulsory military service system during the Earth era.

In the event of war, anyone can be forcibly sent to the battlefield, starting with young men, then young men, followed by middle-aged or elderly men with mobility, and finally women, until a country has no more combat-capable individuals.

Of course, this system was later in a semi-abolished state.

Because the world was becoming more peaceful, even if some countries were conquered, their people could still survive in other countries. If compulsory military service were implemented during a war, it would undoubtedly cause countless people to flee.

This is because, in the 21st century, humanity entered an era of a shared human destiny, a brand new era of human rights, or what could be called an open era.

You might be discriminated against when you go to another country, but you would rarely be slaughtered.

But before the 21st century or the 20th century, it was common for immigrants to be slaughtered by the tens of thousands.

And in the universe.

Such things are even more extreme.

As a civilization, you cannot integrate into other civilizations. Therefore, when a civilization is invaded, it faces destruction, enslavement, and slaughter...

The safety of a civilization is absolutely above the rights and interests of its citizens, with no room for any imbalance.

The cruelty of the First and Second World Wars in human history pales in comparison to the wars between civilizations.

Imagine this: in the 21st century, if some earth spirits or beastmen suddenly appeared on Earth and went to war with humans, causing millions or even tens of millions of casualties, what kind of capability would it take for humans to accept coexistence with them afterward?

Not every civilization is like the Federation, which uses an artificial intelligence's total control to forcefully merge dozens of civilizations.

The cruelty of civilization wars gives Yan Xia the right and the necessity to do this.

...

14 years later.

A strange phenomenon appeared on the Federation's border.

All the lives and robots stopped in place, as if their systems had crashed or time had stopped.

They completely lost consciousness and perception.

Streams of data were wirelessly transmitted to a massive device on the surface of a star.

This device looked very ordinary, just a large sphere with a diameter of about 300 kilometers.

Nothing could be seen on its surface, as it was completely sealed.

But it had a well-known name—the God of Machines.

The God of Machines had terrifying computing power, and at this moment, it was using 90% of its computing power to analyze these data, leaving only 10% to maintain basic information operations within the star system.

These data would be filtered 256 times.

Finally, in a situation where there was absolutely no possibility of error, the data would be sent to Ella.

This filtering process took a full month, and during this time, all lives remained in place for a month. They were well protected by the Quark Robots in their bodies, and each star city also created an excellent environmental atmosphere.

After a month, these lives resumed their movement.

Everything seemed to be unchanged, with people going to work or sleeping as usual, but they would have a sense of confusion, as if there was a gap in their memories.

Later, citizens would research this point, but they had no information, so they treated it as an urban legend.

The name of this urban legend was—The Missing August!

After completing all this, Yan Xia also received a report, discovering that the number of abnormal citizens reached 138,029, among which 108,273 were confirmed to have engaged in espionage activities.

100,000 is a large number.

But considering the number of citizens in the Federation, it doesn't seem like a lot.

Through these investigations, Yan Xia also found that these spies had caused damage to some important facilities and the Federation's financial sector. Moreover, multiple research contents in the Federation's database were directly overturned, and these research contents were physical traps set by the Silkworms, aiming to stall the Federation's development.

The bad news is that there are many spies.

The good news is that spies do not exist in the Federation's upper echelons, and at most, they are some scholars.

After confirming that these scholars were spies, Yan Xia issued a command.

"Erase them all!"

He would not let a single spy go.