The Way Back to Civilization - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Glorious Queen

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Where did humans go?

At least in the database of the stellar fortress, Gu Fan could not find any relevant answers, except for a civilization star map updated 1300 years ago.

For important facilities such as strongholds or starports, they would usually be displayed in the form of light spots, just like twinkling stars.

In the past, it was under the protection of these [Stars] that human civilization could develop steadily.

Gu Fan could still remember the scene when he first saw the star map of the human civilization in the military academy.

That appearance that was brilliant like the Milky Way left an extremely deep impression on him, and it caused a sense of pride as a human to arise in his heart.

However, because the network had been cut off, there was nothing left on the huge civilization star map in front of him.

“A049 reports that the self-examination of the fortress has ended.”

The girl’s voice echoed in the empty command room. At this moment, she was sitting obediently on the console in front of Gu Fan. A cable as thick as a thumb was inserted into the port behind her neck.

“The main function of the fortress remains at 87%…”

“The core energy reserves can be used for 371 years…”

“Ammunition reserve is still at least 73%…”

Gu Fan listened carefully to the girl’s report. The various functions of the base were still intact, and there was no need to worry about the supplies for him to survive.

From the sound of it, if not for the fact that the sun was about to reach the end of its life, he could stay in the fortress and die of old age accompanied by the AI.

Thinking of this, he sighed helplessly.

“Have you identified the intruders?”

“According to the genetic characteristics, there’s a 98% chance that the intruders are Amarians.”

Amarians? Hearing this unfamiliar term, Gu Fan lowered his head and thought for a long time. If nothing went wrong, those alien creatures that looked like humans should be a new race.

It seemed that while he was sleeping, this universe had already undergone earth-shattering changes. It was obviously impossible to know what had happened in the past two thousand years in a short period of time.

At this moment, Gu Fan had a rough judgment of his current situation and the difficulties he had to face.

The first thing he had to do was to leave this dead star region graveyard before the sun turned into a white dwarf star. He did not have as much time as he had imagined.

As for escaping, he would need to use the spaceship.

“Is there a way to get that command ship moving? We need it.”

According to the girl, there was an abandoned Glory Queen Class command ship docked near the fortress. Although it was also a new model that Gu Fan did not understand, he was still a military school student after all. With the help of AI, it might not be difficult to drive it out of the solar system.

Hearing the order, the other party didn’t say anything and just closed her eyes silently.

After an unknown period of time, Gu Fan watched as a huge projection slowly moved in the turbid asteroid belt in the distance.

Like a knight in heavy armor, when the majestic warship parted the fog and walked out of the gray haze filled with planetary debris, its golden eagle emblem at the bow of the ship was shining brightly under the sun.

It was not until it gradually approached the fortress that Gu Fan truly realized what kind of huge thing was in front of him. It was not an exaggeration to say that the warship was a moving space city.

In front of him, the Glory Queen Class ship’s armor had clearly withstood a large amount of firepower. Some parts were already severely damaged, revealing the internal structure of the shield.

However, judging from the way the ship was moving just now, these injuries should not have caused too serious an impact.

As for the specific situation, he would have to do a detailed check for it.

At the thought of this, Gu Fan stood up and called out the girl’s code name.

“A049…”

As he spoke, he seemed to have thought of something. After getting up, Gu Fan stared at the calm girl in front of him and thought for a long time. A strange thought gradually appeared in his heart.

“Speaking of which, I want to give you a simple name. It’s too troublesome to keep using code names.”

The girl was clearly confused by such a suggestion. She tilted her head and jumped down from the control panel.

Her long grayish-white hair fluttered in the air, making people think of the white snow fluttering in the wind.

Looking at the white figure that flashed past, Gu Fan spoke thoughtfully.

“Snow…”

“How about I call you Xue Feng?”

As he spoke, Gu Fan reached out and picked up a strand of the girl’s white hair. Perhaps it was because she had been exposed to the sunlight for a long time that it had such a unique color.

“No objections. Do you want to cover the original code name A049 and replace it with Xue Feng?”

“Confirmed.”

Gu Fan’s answer was very straightforward. Compared to a string of cold digital codes, he preferred a meaningful name.

This made him feel a sense of familiarity.

…

…

Relying on the shuttle in the fortress, the two of them quickly boarded the battleship parked in front of the fortress and used the elevator to enter its command core.

In the command hall that could accommodate a hundred people, as Gu Fan entered, the Glory Queen’s central control computer automatically lit up the screen, as if welcoming his arrival.

“Xue Feng, take over the control of the ship. Execute it immediately.”

For humans born in the golden age, AI had long become an indispensable and important technology.

Take the warship for example. An AI with powerful computing power could completely control and coordinate the system of the entire ship alone.

It ranged from navigational fire control to lights in corridors and even coffee machines in crew quarters.

Everything was fully under the control of AI. They were often better at handling details than humans.

As Xue Feng connected the neural end to the Glory Queen Class central control computer, thousands of screens recording all kinds of data began to jump crazily.

As the lights in the hall flickered, the steel behemoth seemed to be slowly waking up.

However, it only lasted for a moment.

“Ah!”

For some reason, Xue Feng’s wail came from the side.

The nerve bundle connected to the central control was ejected, and she slumped weakly to the ground, as if she had lost consciousness.

This sudden scene clearly surprised Gu Fan. Then, he rushed to the other party’s side.

“How’s the situation?”

He wanted to reach out and help Xue Feng up from the ground, but the moment his fingertips touched the artificial skin, the huge heat on Xue Feng made him retract his hand instinctively.

Her body was like a piece of red-hot charcoal…

Xue Feng, who was sitting on the floor, panted in discomfort. The coolant in his body quickly evaporated into dew and condensed on her red skin. At a glance, she was drenched in sweat and looked pitiful.

Could it be overloading?

Looking at Xue Feng in front of him, Gu Fan understood that there was usually only one reason for such a situation.

Her body was filled with the huge and complicated data of the steel behemoth. A large amount of data overflowed and overloaded her brain.

Fortunately, the Glory Queen noticed Xue Feng’s abnormality in time and voluntarily cut off the connection. Otherwise, she would have been broken.

This situation was clearly beyond Gu Fan’s expectations. As a military-grade fortress defense AI, Xue Feng could easily control the defense system of the three star fortresses.

But why would such an unbelievable scene appear with a warship?

It seemed that this steel behemoth was not as simple as it looked.

For this reason, he decided to find out the truth himself.

…

…

Not long after, after checking the data link of the Glory Queen, Gu Fan quickly discovered the reason for the overload.

“I didn’t expect such a thing to be hidden here…”

According to the data, there were several Iron Man legions in the storage room of the Glory Queen.

Not only that, but those who were sleeping on the lower deck with the army…

There were also a total of four warlord-level Titans.