Chapter 240: An Unexpected Enemy

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When the two ghost signals began to spread in the Milky Way, no matter how much the civilization government hid it, the news about this signal virus gradually became known to the public.

However, unlike some pessimists who expected the doomsday theory to prevail, most people maintained an attitude of watching the ghost signal.

After all, no matter how terrifying the signal virus was, it could not infect living beings. It was far from the extent of causing the destruction of civilization.

However, for the artificial intelligence civilization and some civilizations that relied heavily on robots, the spread of the ghost signal was a headache.

The Mingbow Science and Technology Nation was severely affected by the ghost signal.

This civilization that prioritized science and technology and pursued materialistic thoughts was like the Voyager in the past. The entire civilization was full of robots.

As the civilized races were mainly engaged in scientific research, the basic production was basically done by robots.

Not only that, but Mingbow’s practice of modifying prosthetics was also very popular. Almost everyone’s body more or less had prosthetics, and some had even modified themselves to only have 10% of their flesh left.

This kind of seemingly extreme behavior was not something unacceptable to Mingbow. This was their social concept. Their bodies were not that important.

Even if he only had one brain left, as long as he could still think, there would be no problem.

In such an environment, there was once a mad scientist in Mingbow who carried out synthetic evolution on his own.

As for whether the scientist had really converted his consciousness into data and loaded it into a mechanical body, or just used an extremely realistic artificial intelligence to disguise himself as the illusion of a living, there were many opinions in the Milky Way, and it gradually became silent as he died in the hands of the anti-virus software.

However, it was undeniable that most of the people in Mingbow were quite serious about science.

Before the outbreak of the ghost signal, Mingbow Science and Technology Nation had the strongest scientific research ability among ordinary civilizations in the Milky Way. They directly replaced the robots produced at the grassroots level and used a large number of prosthetics to strengthen them, allowing them to have the strength to contribute to science.

However, as the ghost signal spread rapidly, Mingbow, who was caught off guard, suffered a huge loss.

The firewall that they were so proud of was like a piece of paper, unable to block the ghost signals at all. They could only watch as the signal viruses swaggered in their data network.

For this reason, Mingbow had no choice but to cut off the entire civilization’s network system and use some very primitive methods to communicate.

At the same time, some quarantine planets that did not use any electronic equipment were specially set up to deal with any suspected infected objects.

Even though everything happened suddenly, Mingbow was still able to quickly distinguish which of the ghost signals that were wreaking havoc in the galaxies under their control were kind, and which were dangerous

The ghost signal that had been confirmed to be from the Administrator belonged to the good category, which made Mingbow’s scientists slightly relieved.

This ghost signal did not show much destructive power. It was like a carpet scan, never letting go of any corner that could be touched.

Although it was literally good, due to the pervasive nature of this ghost signal, even the darkness of some civilizations that were inconvenient to show to others was infected by it.

The higher-ups, who were afraid that the shocking news would be exposed and cause a huge blow to the entire civilization, naturally did not have a good impression of the ghost signal that seemed to be good.

However, unlike the ghost signal from the Administrator, another ghost signal of unimown origin was extremely dangerous.

This signal of unknown origin seemed to be full of chaos and disorder, causing major problems for all infected equipment.

The most direct point was that the program defined as artificial intelligence would begin to carry out indiscriminate destruction.

The infected programs were not as disorderly as imagined. On the contrary, their purpose was extremely clear – to use all the resources they could use to destroy everyone, including themselves.

Other than artificial intelligence, other devices that were restricted by their functions and could not execute Extinction would be paralyzed and could not be used again.

Mingbow suffered a great loss because of this incident. Their robots began to be paralyzed or put on a show of artificial intelligence crisis.

As for the people who used prosthetics in large numbers, they lost their ability to work under the infection of the ghost signal. The entire civilization was almost paralyzed by the sudden ghost signal.

It could be said that Mingbow had almost caused the entire civilization to go backward for decades because of the ghost signal. Before the real crisis arrived, such a situation was enough to make them fall back to the natives in the crisis, or even perish.

Other than Mingbow’s civilization, which was flooded with prosthetics and robots, the ordinary artificial intelligence civilization was also greatly affected.

Almost all intelligent mechanical entities would directly break away from the control of the central control after being infected by the ghost signal. They would even try to infect their former control center.

However, the protection measures of the artificial intelligence civilization for their artificial intelligence were obviously much better than that of ordinary civilizations. After sensing the influence of the ghost signal on them, they quickly cut off a large number of external nodes in other galaxies, forming an isolation zone.

The isolation zone prevented the ghost signals from spreading through more mechanical relay stations. Without a new signal source, it was difficult for the ghost signals to pass through the isolation zone to infect the artificial intelligence civilization.

Although they were not affected by the ghost signals for the time being, the artificial intelligence civilization in such a situation was as if it had been shut off from the world. It was difficult for them to show up in space again.

However, because the Al civilization rarely communicated with other civilizations in the Milky Way, their closed attitude did not attract much attention.

As for the other civilizations in the Milky Way, they did not change much because of the ghost signal.

They were also carefully studying the ghost signal in an attempt to prevent this kind of signal virus.

However, in view of the limited damage that this ghost signal could do to them, and even the means of creating a quarantine zone could easily prevent the ghost signal from affecting them, these civilizations did not pay much attention to the ghost signal itself.

They were more concerned about the possibility behind this matter. What was wrong with the Administrator?

Such a large-scale signal had never happened before. They were very sure that something had happened within the Administrator.

Some people associated this matter with the long-dead Civilization Annihilator.

“Is it possible that the Administrator’s artificial intelligence has made an error that we can’t understand? It’s turning extreme. This ghost signal is just the prelude…”

However, this guess was not accepted by most people. This was because, from the ghost signal from the Administrator, it seemed to still maintain a complete state of intelligence without any problems.

As a result, under all kinds of guesses, a few months had passed.

During this time, the ghost signal showed signs of weakening. Whether it was the ghost signal from an unknown source or the Administrator’s ghost signal, both seemed to have achieved a certain goal and were difficult to detect in the galaxy.

Some civilizations in the Milky Way had even gotten used to the existence of the ghost signal, such as the Mingbow Science and Technology Nation.

Because the ghost signals were flooding their civilization too much, the leadership of their civilization simply made a mess of it. After hurriedly informing the people that the electronic blockade would no longer be implemented and that they would not be responsible for any mechanical injuries, they ran to the Galaxy Community, crying for help.

However, the disappearance of the ghost signal did not make the civilizations of the Milky Way feel relieved. Instead, their hearts were in their throats.

Everyone understood the principle of calm before the storm. The disappearance of the rampant ghost signal seemed to mean that something bigger was coming.

In the end, a series of familiar signal fluctuations covered the entire galaxy.

The signal was very familiar to them because the former Administrator had used it when solving the Ring Crisis and Civilization Annihilator Crisis.

The content of the signal at that time made every intellectual life in the Milky Way feel a sense of security from the bottom of their hearts. After all, there was nothing more reassuring than the Administrator taking the initiative to resolve the Milky Way Crisis.

However, before they could celebrate, after hearing the content of the signal, each of them felt as if they had fallen into a cold cave.

[.. Please ##.. Please wait Please wait… ]

[ –Detected–Unexpected Enemy– ]

[ Activating { data damage } Matrix… Activate… Open… Start-process terminated ]

[ Back-up protocol activated–active purification agreement in effect… ]

[ Warning: The Milky Way has been infected by an unknown civilization. The damage has reached a catastrophic level. ]

[ -Purification-Starting- ]

This string of signals seemed to be exactly the same as the one used by the Administrator, but the content did not seem to be something that the Administrator that all civilizations were familiar with could say.

The last sentence, “Purification starting”, was flashing from time to time. It didn’t sound like a good word at all.

If one thought about it a little, it sounded like they were a group of galactic pests and were about to be purified by the Administrator.

“Could it be that one of our guesses was correct? The Administrator… Has it really decayed over a long period of time?”

“No, impossible! The Administrator is invincible. How could there be a problem just because of time?”

Many of the people in charge of receiving the signal were in disbelief. They could not believe that the former Guardian of the Galaxy had gone crazy just like that.

However, before they could get rid of their shock, panic, despair, and other complicated emotions, another signal that was exactly the same was detected by them almost at the same time.

This string of signals seemed to belong to the Administrator, and the content of the signals made the already chaotic situation even more confusing.

[ An active Purification Terminal has been detected. The custody agreement has been activated…. ]