Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 423 - 62. The clear mandate of Heaven

Chapter 423: 62. The clear mandate of Heaven

Galactic Era, January 14, year 221.

Azure Star, south-west of Frost Plated, Nadiville Island, headquarters of Mingji Heavy Industries.

This former tourist attraction from the old era, during the sweep of global chaos brought about by Lord Entropy’s calamity, was left outside the order.

Following the evaporation of seas, heavy snowfall and glaciers buried it for an entire century. Fortunately, due to the shallow seabed it was situated on, Nadiville Island was grounded on the continental shelf and eventually taken over by Mingji Heavy Industries. After centuries of transformation, it became a de facto unsinkable fortress, serving as the headquarters and military base of Mingji Heavy Industries.

Being highly integrated with the continental shelf, along with the peril presented by the glaciers, made this island the most unique fortress on Azure Star.

To destroy the nest of Mingji Heavy Industries, 4,957 tactical nuclear weapons would be needed, a million infantrymen would have to land, supported by 200,000 armored forces, and the consumed materials would probably be worth 120 trillion Red Arrow Galun. Even the Four Nations wouldn’t dare to pay such a high price lightly.

Moreover, as a neutral corporate entity, Mingji Heavy Industries actually possessed the status of a political entity, and many were optimistic that they would become the next GTB; they even hoped that Mingji would rise and give GTB a good competition.

Here stands the Tolaras, a conglomerate of biotech, heavy industry, and pharmaceuticals; there, the Syndicate of education, energy, and communications.

From their fields of operation, it is evident that a conflict between them is inevitable.

Mingji and GTB are like the ’hero versus evil dragon’ archetypes from tales, with the Four Nations enjoying the sight of the two organizations’ struggles.

Rotorcraft, large and small, take off and land ceaselessly, transporting a massive amount of products all over the world, then regurgitating endless gold and silver before continuing to load cargo and sailing full again. Also shipped out are the group’s carefully trained security teams and Biochemists.

N4 quietly sits on the carpet in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, her slender legs crossed over each other, enjoying the warmth of the glowing fire as she watches the snow drift into the distance outside the window.

"This month the Frost Plated Council has again restricted the entry of our Biochemists. A total of 55 have been forced to stay within the borders of Frost Plated."

The synthetic human secretary reports the situation without any hint of emotion:

"The group’s newly acquired ’Mo Cai’en Life’ saw its stock price drop by 12.5%, which is the result of Red Arrow pushing behind the scenes for antitrust proceedings, preparing to ban our pharmaceutical enterprises from entering areas of the Red Arrow capital."

"These are not big issues. Let the regional offices handle them."

N4 supports her delicate and smooth chin with her hand, her expression indifferent:

"How is the Xulan Action Group doing?"

"They’ve clashed with the elite operatives of GTB, mission failure, 12 dead, two survivors, returning only with a piece of professional-grade knowledge."

"GTB is indeed not easy to deal with. To pry even a punctuation mark from these people would cost millions of Red Arrow Galun."

N4 shows neither joy nor sorrow; such loss and gain can only be considered breaking even.

"On the intelligence department’s side, there’s still no trace of high-level knowledge?"

"Director of Alkuco has already thrown all the employees under him into the fray; he is currently left with no subordinates, basically unable to carry out actions."

"I don’t want complaints; I want results. He has missed his KPI for four consecutive months now. If he can’t keep up, let him plunge into the Biological Pool himself; the corporation has no need for dead weight."

"I shall heed your will, Pioneer," the synthetic human said respectfully. "I have already reported to Chairman Elasu, who will pass along your will."

N4 shows no reaction, but instead raises her hand to look at the slightly slack skin on the back of her hand.

This body has aged another year.

Her time is running out.

The height of a Biochemist’s achievements can be deduced from whether they remain eternally youthful.

The more confident individuals are in their own abilities, the more trust they place in their enhancement techniques; technology can deceive time, but not forever.

When one begins to age, it means their technology has reached its limits and can no longer maintain their youth and life; their mentality, too, starts to age and become timid. The high intelligence they possess also bestows upon them increasingly stubborn personalities.

Perhaps it is the influence of the Pathway, but martial artists tend to become more humble the higher they reach in their realms, whereas scholars often become more stubborn in their later years, staunchly defending their worldview.

N4 is an exception. Her character, as pure and rational as a machine, allows her to easily accept her flaws and deficiencies and to approach this issue with objective calm.

"The environment on Azure Star is too poor to allow one to advance beyond Gamma Rank in their Pathway. My time is probably coming to an end."

N4 raises her hand, and fine nanopolymer tendrils spring from her palm, plucking her eyeball from its socket. As she casually opens the crystalline layer underneath and applies thermal paste to the cooling nerves, she says:

"Mingji Heavy Industries no longer has new Gamma Rank individuals to replace me. The position of ’Pioneer’ will be vacant in a few years. The board had better prepare early."

"The System shows there are two Gamma Rank synthetic bodies in our inventory."

"This is not about the body."

N4 reinserts her eyeball, the optic nerves reconnect, and her emerald eyes suddenly light up, as if transforming in an instant from a high-polymer substance to a bona fide living being.

"My thought process, through continuous replacement of Implant Gear and thought transplants, has gradually weakened. With my level of intelligence and brain development, I should clearly remember the explosion incident at the Halmut Laboratory 239 years ago—yet now, I’m starting to forget."

N4 rubs her temples, her gaze unflinchingly fixed on the heavy snowfall in the distance:

"Humans cannot live forever. Death is a natural, necessary, and universal catastrophe that the Creator has arranged for mankind."

"Have you ever considered transplanting your brain again?"

The synthetic human’s eyes shone bright as they offered a suggestion through the brain’s quantum computer:

"By cloning a new body with the stock stored in the sperm and egg banks through the incubator."

"Meaningless. I have uploaded my consciousness countless times in my life and switched bodies just as many times. The transplanted brain cells have already proliferated by trillions. Every transfer accumulates a certain state of my being."

N4 said coldly:

"That is—chaos. The strength of my consciousness has reached its limit, its information entropy is about to peak, and present technology can no longer eliminate it."

"Mortals cannot live forever, whether it’s digital consciousness uploading or switching to a new flesh. My telomeres and chromosomes are all normal, but the level of chaos in my consciousness is about to reach its maximum."

"I am certain this is a problem that Azure Star’s extraordinary knowledge cannot solve, only the high-level knowledge of Biochemists that GTB might possess could potentially change it."

That was precisely why she had sent agents to infiltrate the GTB headquarters to steal extraordinary knowledge.

However, since the group’s most excellent Xulan Action Group had already failed...

"Without the leadership of a Pioneer, Mingji will head towards ruin," the synthetic human secretary said.

"It is fate."

Even upon knowing her time was coming to an end, N4 still remained calm and indifferent.

She did not care about anyone’s life, not even her own.

"I will apply for the funeral service on your behalf, and in accordance with your will, arrange for an autopsy and storage."

The secretary nodded and stepped back for the moment.

N4 gazed out at the world beyond the window.

As someone from a science and technology background at the helm of a top-tier Scholarly Faction and Financial Faction that operated a heavy tech conglomerate, her pursuit of beauty was almost nonexistent. She never cared about her own dressing and appearance in her life—there was no such thing as leisure or entertainment for her, as more money was invested in running the corporation’s business and career.

Now, with death approaching, she often found herself staring at the snow outside the window.

Beneath the semi-open barrier emitter, Mingji headquarters had no fake sun, only the quiet, pitch-black snowy night.

What’s there to see? Others did not understand.

Indeed, there was nothing to see.

Even N4 did not know why she often did so now.

While she silently watched the snowscape, the door to her office was suddenly knocked on again.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Pioneer, there’s been a major incident."

The urgent triple knock came from outside the door along with a loud shout.

N4 still remained unmoved, sitting still and watching the dark night snow.

"Pioneer, Albolinta, Albolinta!"

Without turning her head, N4 replied, "What about Albolinta?"

"Albolinta, the gravity wave receiver on the ground!"

The executive from Mingji Heavy Industries outside was too excited for words and stammered for a while before finally organizing his speech and stating clearly:

"Just four minutes ago, the staff doing routine maintenance noticed two vacuum tubes had burst, there was an alarm from energy unit three, and after repairs, the encoding unit began functioning."

N4 slowly lifted her head.

"Upon inspection, we’ve received gravitational waves entirely different from giant celestial bodies like Beta-Three and Pi-Five. What we’ve received this time is information that is regularly arranged, it’s unbelievable... it must be a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization."

She stood up, walked toward the window, and lifted her hand, attempting to hold up the snowflakes through the glass.

"The decryption result is as follows:"

Why did she so want to see the snow today?

"—Dear Ms. N4, happy birthday."