Counterfeit Hero

Standing on the ship bridge in the Command Room, looking at the central computer still maintaining its operational state, Fatty felt a hint of something unusual. The computer from four thousand years ago was still working, and the normally identity-recognition-based cabin doors had been open all the way. None of this made sense!

As he was puzzled, a green light shot down from the top of the bridge, scanning from Fatty's head to his toes.

"Who's there? Damn it, not coming out, huh?" Fatty shivered as he unbuckled a Fusion Hand Grenade from his body, activated the grenade's remote switch, and placed it in front of the central control computer: "Come out now, or I'll blow this place up!"

"Don't blow it up." A trembling voice speaking Chinese came from behind Fatty.

Fatty jolted and turned around suddenly, only to see a round floating head-like object staring straight at him. "Ah!" Both of them let out a piercing scream simultaneously. During the scream, Fatty was the first to react, "Ptooey!" He spat a mouthful of saliva onto the thing, but his following rifle butt swing hit nothing but air.

"Don't hit, don't hit, listen to me!" The thing, which had two lens-like eyes and a red nose, was obviously a Flying Detection Robot. Its whole body, like a flying ball, dodged nimbly in the air and floated towards the ceiling of the Command Room, far away.

"Talk nonsense! If you don't come out, I'll blow this place up!" Fatty shouted fluently in Chinese. He noticed that this Flying Detection Robot seemed to be shivering, probably revealing that its controller was not much braver than he was.

"I'm right in front of you!" A short mechanical arm abruptly extended from the body of the Flying Detection Robot, wiping the saliva Fatty spat on it, showing some anger, "Why did you spit on me?"

"You're in front of me? Come on!" Fatty was skeptical yet furious, shooting at the ceiling near the Flying Detection Robot: "I want you to come out in person, not send out a flying probe!"

"Who's the probe? Hell, you're the damn probe!" The Flying Detection Robot, frightened by the bullet that whizzed past it, suddenly went into a frenzy, shaking all over and storming towards Fatty with its plump short mechanical arms, "I'm gonna strangle you!"

Seeing Fatty raise his sniper rifle again, the Flying Detection Robot twisted in mid-air and flew off afar, shouting, "If you've got guts, don't use your gun!"

Staring at the lively hopping Flying Robot trying to dodge the sniper lock-on, a flash of inspiration struck Fatty's mind, and he tested, "Are you a robot?"

"No shit!" The Flying Robot yelled exasperatedly, "Which part of me looks human to you?"

Fatty's mind went blank for a moment. In disbelief, he shouted, "You're the only one here? No one is controlling you?"

"Put down the gun first!" The Flying Robot, still buzzing around like a headless fly, stopped only when it saw Fatty put down his gun, "There's nobody here except me."

"An intelligent robot!" A thunderbolt seemed to flash across Fatty's mind. He stared dumbfounded at the Flying Detection Robot floating near the ceiling, with its two lens-like eyes spinning around, unable to believe his eyes.

For scientists, a robot with complete self-awareness had been the ultimate pursuit since the advent of computers. Human awareness includes more than memory; it comprises many irreplicable elements. Even a computer with nearly infinite memory storage, equipped with sensory programs including smell, color, sound, and even touch, and capable of analytical functions, remains just a computer. All these components are forcibly assembled together by humans.

In science fiction movies, robots with self-awareness are pure fantasy in the real world.

But now, this round flying robot floating in front of him, with extremely humanized movements, claimed to be entirely self-aware. It even knew disgust, fear, and anger!

"Bullshit, I don't believe it!" Fatty raised his sniper rifle again.

"Sigh!" The Flying Robot unexpectedly sighed, its two lens eyes drooped, "What will it take for you to believe?"

"Well…" Fatty momentarily didn't know what to say. Putting down his gun, he asked, "Where are the people on this warship?"

"Have you ever seen anyone living for over four thousand years?" The Flying Robot's mouth display formed a green laser pout: "They're not people; they're monsters."

"Hey, damn it, this robot even knows how to argue." Fatty felt a mix of surprise and admiration in his heart, asking, "Are they all dead?"

The Flying Robot's two lens eyes rolled to the top, showing disdain, "If not dead, then they're immortals?" Seeing Fatty about to erupt, the Flying Robot quickly waved its short arms, "My mainframe contains the navigation log, take a look yourself. Don't always resort to violence, haven't we evolved over thousands of years?"

Fatty almost choked to death, glaring fiercely at the robot, then turned to look at the central computer on the control panel, "Is this your mainframe? Are you this thing?"

The Flying Robot's body spun around indicatively, nodding.

Fatty unbuckled the grenades from his body, placing them messily in the control panel's corners, and said honestly, "I don't know if blowing up your mainframe would affect you, or should we try it first? Civilization has progressed, and now we use Fusion Hand Grenades for threats."

The Flying Robot didn't expect such despicability from Fatty. It was both angry and scared, hesitatingly projecting a wavy laser light from its mouth, then suddenly emitting black smoke. Tumbling to the ground, it sparked violently, and the central control computer's screen went black, appearing dead.

"Oh, playing dead, huh?" Fatty gloated inwardly. This was the first time he'd seen a robot that could feign death. Without hesitation, he walked to the door while fiddling with the remote, muttering, "Feigning dead? Today I'll make you GAME OVER for real."

"Damn it, you win!" The Flying Robot was unexpectedly straightforward. Seeing Fatty had seen through its ruse, it immediately flew up again, saying, "Let's coexist peacefully; we're all descendants of Yan and Huang, Chinese people don't fight Chinese people."

"Ptooey!" Fatty said, "At best, you're a Chinese robot."

Meanwhile, the computer's main screen displayed the ship captain's navigation log. After a series of passwords were automatically entered, the log marked with '3S-level confidential' was opened.

The diary was long. From the moment the young captain boarded this warship to carry out his final mission until the day he died, the navigation log contained millions of words. Decades of time, in the vast universe, on a lonely planet, were condensed into the diary. Fatty quietly browsed through the highlighted parts, the more he read, the more shocked he felt.

The life journey of an ancient Earth Federation individual from four thousand years ago, a top-secret research project, a disastrous battle, a legendary escape—were all revealed unreservedly before his eyes.

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There won't be invincible artificial intelligence, nor sexy robots akin to foot soldiers. The appearance of this robot has been carefully considered to avoid affecting future plot developments too much. Its main purpose is to facilitate the later appearance of [Logic]. Additionally, it can be seen as a living secret martial arts manual.

(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please visit WWW.CMFU.COM. More chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)