Paranoid Alpha Chapter 70: Declaration of War

Chapter 70: Declaration of War

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: CaiCai

“I am willing.” These three words echoed loudly. Upon hearing this, Lu Xingye suddenly raised his head and stared steadily at the person in the distance without blinking.

Lyss didn’t even need to ask what Lu Xingye wanted. They understood each other without words, a glance enough to convey their thoughts.

Lu Xingye gazed steadily at Lyss for a while, then suddenly smirked. “A gentleman’s promise is as weighty as a thousand in gold. This is a promise you made to me personally, you can’t go back on it.”

“I won’t.” Lyss nodded. “I’ll be waiting for your return.”

He didn’t specify what he was waiting for Lu Xingye to come back for, and Lu Xingye didn’t ask. They just locked eyes, communicating volumes in that final glance.

Finally, it was Lyss who averted his gaze first. He turned and stepped into the room he had exited before, walking toward the spatial transmission platform.

Clad in a cloak, Lyss didn’t look back, almost as if he couldn’t bear to. As he stepped into the transmission platform, he pressed a button. Outside the platform, a familiar distortion suddenly appeared. Lyss couldn’t help but look back. In the midst of the distortion, he saw a blurry figure standing there, but it quickly vanished.

The familiar sensation of dizziness came again, as if to mark this moment. This time, Lyss didn’t close his eyes. Experiencing the world spinning around him, he kept his eyes fixed on the flashing hub of the transmission platform. Amidst the distortion, that hub seemed to come alive, instantly returning to its normal frequency as Lyss looked at it.

After three seconds of watching, he abruptly looked away, as if nothing had happened. After a long time, the transmission platform gradually quieted down, everything returning to a calm state. Lyss, half-closing his eyes, leaned on the control panel for a moment, pretending to be oblivious. After a while, he stepped out of the transmission platform. Qiu had already left, leaving the vast laboratory with only him.

Lyss walked calmly along the path he came from, the sound of his military boots echoing in the narrow corridor.

The upper part of the corridor was lined with lights that seemed endless. As Lyss walked, the lights behind him dimmed one by one, like a grand finale, yet also the opening act of a new play.

When all the lights went out except for the last one, Lyss stopped at a door. He looked at the tightly closed door in front of him, not immediately pushing it open. Instead, he stood there for a moment, seemingly giving something behind him some time to prepare.

After doing all this, Lyss pushed open the door and walked in.The lifelike puppet was still standing there with closed eyes, seemingly no different from when Lyss left. Without a word, Lyss walked up to it, stared at it for three seconds, then took out a miniature spatial transmitter and transferred it to the mecha.

The journey back was calm, nothing as imagined had occurred. The puppet, as Qiu had said, was like an inorganic shell, motionless. Lyss landed at the medical center in his mecha. Upon pushing open the hatch, he glanced at the puppet that looked exactly like Lu Xingye.

Could that thing’s learning ability have advanced to this level in just a few days? Lyss withdrew his gaze and stepped into the medical center.

The prenatal check-up went smoothly. The child inside seemed much calmer than Lin Lang. Apart from some subtle changes in physique, Lyss didn’t experience any discomfort.

“There is one thing.” The doctor asked, holding Lyss’s report. “When do you plan to have the embryo implanted this time?”

Lyss calculated the time. “Can it be done now?”

The doctor shook their head. “No, at least three months. Embryos that leave the mother’s body within three months have a very low survival rate. No medical center would risk it.”

Lyss contemplated for a moment. “Then three months it is. That should be feasible.”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you.” The doctor said seriously. “Your reproductive cavity is very healthy, but it has already undergone an unnatural delivery. If you choose an unnatural delivery again, it can only be done after the fifth month of pregnancy.”

“What if I insist on the embryo implantation in three months?” Lyss asked.

“That could cause irreversible damage to your gestational sac and reproductive cavity.” The doctor responded sternly.

Lyss lowered his gaze for a while. “I understand, I’ll consider it.”

With that, he stood up directly. The doctor didn’t insist further, only giving some advice on his personal physical condition. “Your hormone levels are very stable, probably due to the alpha’s pheromones’ soothing effect. If possible, during pregnancy, it’s best to have more contact with your alpha, it’s beneficial for both you and the fetus.”

Lyss halted at the doctor’s words. “Hmm.”

Returning to the Mecha, Lyss glanced at the Mecha’s core, which showed obvious data anomalies, and knew the trap had been set. Upon returning home, he locked the puppet in Lu Xingye’s room. Lyss wasn’t concerned about the entity invading his house, likening it to a weed learning to grow if he were compared to a towering tree. uprooting the weed, while easy, was inconvenient. Its roots were tangled underground, requiring them to be forced into one place to eradicate it all. Lyss locked the door, puzzling Lin Lang, who asked, “Why did you lock Dad’s room?” 

Lyss rubbed his daughter’s ears and said, “Serica has a saying, ‘Invite the guest into the trap.’”

In the following month, the situation in the empire seemed stagnant. They recalled all diplomats, isolating themselves from the entire interstellar community. Despite other nations’ attempts to communicate, the empire remained unmoved. Triss wasn’t even sure if the empire had held a re-election for the Prime Minister. Trade suffered, worsening conditions for smaller nations. Then, Serica, after failed negotiations with the empire, declared a military blockade and began evacuating its citizens from the empire. This evacuation allowed glimpses into the empire’s internal upheaval.

Reports from some returning individuals to Serica described a complete transformation within the empire. Within just a few months, the ‘system’ had infiltrated every aspect, controlling the empire’s policies. The Prime Minister’s position was vacant, the imperial family seemed powerless, and the sixth prince, the only one with actual power, remained inactive, never appearing. The system controlled everything, even the external blockade policy.

This revelation, whether true or false, shook the entire interstellar community. Despite attempts by various nations to calm their citizens, massive riots erupted. The fear of artificial intelligence permeated people’s minds, causing chaos in smaller nations even before the empire acted. Combined with the empire’s reluctance to disclose its modified codes, fear of the unknown spread widely.

The most terrifying aspect was the fear among people, lacking judgment, that AI would invade their terminals and control everything. World leaders focused on the silent entity—the empire’s military.

The empire’s military, nominally accountable only to the royal family but actually entirely independent, usually highly visible in the interstellar community, now remained uncharacteristically silent. This silence hinted at the worst possibility—that the military was also under system control. Even Feng Man from Sheng Dan considered this possibility, not to mention Lyss.

Lyss, with a grave expression, said while holding a report, “Notify the Federation’s military headquarters. Immediately enter wartime status at the fastest pace.”

The day Serica completed the evacuation, the empire’s starfleet filled the solar system like ghosts. Except for Triss and Serica, other nations couldn’t complete military mobilization before the sudden blockade, cutting off all signals. What terrified them more was Serica’s reconnaissance report revealing that 80% of these sudden warships were unmanned, almost entirely controlled by the system.

Surrounded without warning, the empire’s warships appeared like a fleet of undead ships in a sea of death, silent and unable to communicate. Even a federation as significant as Sheng Dan couldn’t defend itself, let alone other small nations. Most small nations were too afraid to act, submitting to the blockade.

Perhaps wary of Serica, the system dispatched a substantial portion of its forces around Serica’s borders but refrained from getting closer, just positioned at the boundary between public and Serica’s star domains.

Its attitude toward Triss differed. The empire’s most advanced starships were deployed around Triss Federation. Contrary to their silent stance elsewhere, they directly issued a declaration of war against Triss.

The news shocked the council, causing chaos. A newly appointed marshal hurried to the headquarters, bursting into the chief’s office, ‘Chief, the empire has declared war on us!’ Lyss calmly said, “I know. Since they’re here, let them all stay.”

In the vast expanse of the stars, black starships enveloped the nearby star cluster. Thousands of silver-white frigates lined up facing the empire’s ships from afar. Lyss didn’t bother with formalities. His command ship was positioned at the center of the frigates. Despite the military’s efforts to stop him, he calmly said, “Do you really think it can’t discern what’s true or false with its abilities?”

This statement silenced everyone. On the flagship, Lyss, draped in a cloak, looked at the star map. His two months’ slight bulge in the belly hinted even under the cloak.

Nobody dared to glance at his stomach. Before an AI that had completed its learning process, the people representing Triss’ supreme power felt unprecedented powerlessness. In the next moment, all surrounding frigates disconnected, redirecting their targets to the flagship.

After three seconds of silence, chaos erupted within the flagship. “What’s happening?”

“It can already do this?”

“Neither Sheng Dan nor Serica’s sent messages mentioned this!”

Amidst the uproar, Lyss stood up. Gazing out into the starry sea, he witnessed the black empire’s starships aiming their particle cannons at him while the empire’s fleet densely populated the distance.

As if sensing his gaze, those black starships blinked twice unanimously. Proud and arrogant, they seemed to be flaunting their victories, becoming more and more human-like. Their arrogance soon cost them dearly.

Amidst the clamor behind him, Lyss casually glanced at the starry sea. He hesitated for a moment, one hand subconsciously supporting his small belly, and then lightly raised the other hand. Yet, with just that motion, all the triumphant starships suddenly halted, as if a pause button had been pressed.

Then, he slowly pressed down. Starting from Triss’ fleet’s center, the empire’s nearest ring of warships exploded suddenly, like silent, vibrant fireworks blooming in interstellar space. The shockwaves from the inner ships’ explosions reached the nearby vessels, causing them to detonate as well. From a distance, this scene appeared like layers of blossoming flowers, magnificent and colorful.

“Coming from afar,” Lyss softly spoke, “This is my welcoming gift to you.”

Author’s note: The stunning developments with the pregnant beauty plotting in the background absolutely blew my mind.