Chapter 6: Lots of Freedom and a Little Love
Qi An contacted Tan Fu and Lin Jiaran only after getting into the car.
She waited downstairs at Tanfu Residential Complex for a while before the two of them arrived one after the other.
Tan Fu is 17 years old. The baby fat on his face has disappeared, and his angular, round face has a pair of dark, cold eyes.
Such a charismatic girl, upon seeing Qi An, delivered a powerful hug that felt like a small cannonball impact!
After hugging her, she even scolded, "Didn't you say you'd arrive tomorrow?"
Lin Jiaran, who arrived shortly after her, accused her, "Did you meet someone else before we did?"
Lin Jiaran wore a pinkish-purple puffy down jacket, with a ring of exposed rabbit fur sewn onto her boots.
Qi An looked at the two of them and thought to himself that the girls had both found their own style and were very beautiful!
She smiled like an auntie and said, "I came a day early to give you a surprise!"
Actually, no. Qi An wasn't sure if there would be any delays along the way, so he gave an accommodating timeframe.
She didn't notify anyone when she arrived at the base; she was completely preoccupied with that whole "god-or-be-mysterious" thing and forgot...
However, it was also a good thing, because she still had to escort Yao Du'an. If she notified Tan Fu and the other two, they would have to run all the way and suffer in the cold for nothing.
"Come on, let's go see the 'White Pagoda.' The sooner we finish, the sooner we can come back, and we can have hot pot and enjoy the snow tonight." Qi An took one arm in each of theirs and strode out.
The two little ones couldn't stay angry with her, and the three of them immediately started chatting and laughing together in a cheerful atmosphere.
Qi An first went to the Purification Alliance and looked at the active remote purification equipment.
The latest versions of the host are all very compact, and their performance is not as good as the one Qi An used last year.
Lin Jiaran explained, "There are no large-scale defensive battles now; we're just clearing out the Fallen Insects one stronghold at a time."
All of this equipment needs to be taken from the base and installed on-site.
There is no electricity outside, so the supporting battery packs or generator sets must be brought from the base.
So now they're all 'small towers'.
A small two-story tower, using two such mainframes, can connect 200-300 soldiers.
A single cleanup operation typically requires 5-10 towers, each operating independently without a unified purification commander.
Qi An was not surprised, knowing that this was an inevitable trend.
This small tower model is more mobile, requires less expertise from purifiers and equipment, and is easier to popularize in small bases.
But on the way to Chen Huaizhi's research institute, Qi An still asked:
"Has the base now completely abandoned its large-scale defense strategy involving tens of thousands of soldiers?"
This question was asked by Wei Maochun, who was sitting in the front seat.
Upon hearing this, the old lady couldn't help but glance at the rearview mirror.
She was clearly looking at Qi An in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
Lin Jiaran, who was sitting next to Qi An, was confused. Tan Fu, who was sitting next to Lin Jiaran with his legs crossed, rolled his eyes and glanced at Wei Maochun.
Wei Maochun turned to Qi An and smiled, "Of course I haven't given up."
A 'large tower' capable of connecting tens of thousands of soldiers at once has an overwhelming advantage in resource allocation and battlefield coordination compared to scattered small towers.
We're far from peacetime yet, why would the base disarm prematurely?
Tan Fu withdrew his gaze, and Qi An smiled and nodded, "Indeed."
The slightly tense atmosphere inside the car relaxed, and they entered the research institute together.
The institute is indeed developing an integrated mainframe device.
Current minicomputers can also be interconnected to form a large host array.
Chen Huaizhi also took them to the intelligent electronics factory to see the production of neural signal transmission terminal equipment.
This type of head-mounted electrode cap is a mature technology, and with the support of rare earth resources from Bei6, the base's reserves have long exceeded 20,000.
In addition to the existing power lines already laid out at the base and the small nuclear fusion power plant already in operation, the North 1 base can indeed build a large tower at any time if needed.
Upon seeing this, Qi An thanked Wei Maochun and the others who had accompanied him, thus concluding his trip.
Back at Tan Fu's house, as the three of them were chopping vegetables and preparing the base sauce, Lin Jiaran asked:
"An'an, why are you concerned about the big tower and the small tower?"
Tan Fu stuffed a cherry tomato into Lin Jiaran's mouth and scoffed, "If you don't use your brain, just donate it."
Lin Jiaran raised her eyebrows, and Tan Fu said, "Don't say I'm using information asymmetry to bully you, this has nothing to do with information asymmetry."
Whether the base has completely abandoned the 'Big Tower' defense, to some extent, reflects their assessment of the current battle situation and their level of trust in An'an.
Lin Jiaran lowered his eyebrows, looking puzzled.
Tan Fu sighed: "The only commander who can perfectly lead the Great Tower is An An."
An'an made it clear to those above that she also has purification abilities.
If Qiu Yunmeng makes a comeback, An'an, An'an's mother, and Xu Zhuoxing will still stand firmly on the side of humanity.
The battlefield situation was that Xu Zhuoxing and An'an's mother went into battle against the Ash Priest, while An'an presided over the 'Great Tower' to protect the soldiers on the ground.
If either Xu Zhuoxing or An'an's mother betrays her, or if both of them betray her, An'an will have to go to war.
But the 'big tower' on the ground can also be maintained, except that the top of the tower changes from one person to multiple people.
To alleviate the pressure, you top-level purifiers only need to focus on purification; leave the decision-making to me.
If one day, An'an also betrays us, she will attack the North 1 Base.
Then An An will definitely find the purifiers who make up the 'Great Tower' first and corrupt you.
Then you can directly contaminate tens of thousands of soldiers through remote purification equipment!
At that time, the existence of the 'Great Tower' was far more dangerous than its non-existence.
Producing equipment capable of supporting a 'large tower' also consumes a lot of resources.
Therefore, whether or not to retain the large tower defense strategy depends on whether the base believes that An An will never betray them.
Of course An'an would care about that.
Lin Jiaran suddenly realized!
She frowned again: "Even after all this, how can the base still suspect An'an?"
"That's normal. Humans have emerged from the grasslands where 'if I don't eat you, you'll eat me,' so they will always be wary of a powerful other."
Tan Fu spoke in an AI-like, flat tone.
But after saying that, she curled her lips into a smile: "However, An'an is now so strong that if she doesn't move, humans would never dare to provoke her."
What we said before, that the only way to avoid being purged is to become stronger, is absolutely correct.
And my intuition! I felt the key to our strength lay with you, and I was absolutely right!
The girl slightly raised her chin.
Qi An chimed in, "Indeed, Xiao Fu has great foresight!"
However…” she changed the subject, “My interest in the ‘White Tower’ isn’t entirely about testing humanity’s level of trust in me.”
Tan Fu was also surprised and hurriedly asked, "What other reason could there be?"
"Hmm..." When it came time to explain, Qi An couldn't quite articulate it:
"That's right, I passed by Southeast Base No. 1 a while ago."
They have also just deployed the equipment for the 'White Tower' and are currently training.
A senior purifier asked me to guide them.
Qi An guessed that the purifier was just being polite, but she really wanted to see the progress in remote resonance tactics and equipment, so she actually took the little "flower crown" and put it on.
At that time, there were about two hundred soldiers at the terminal. Qi An had to concentrate and meditate in order to activate the resonance.
When she concentrates, she enters a state where she feels as if she is in reality, yet simultaneously open her eyes in another world.
However, opening her eyes in another world is a completely different experience, whether she opens them alone or when she resonates with 200 soldiers.
Qi An recalled that feeling as the tip of the cleaver gradually sank towards the cutting board.
When the knife tip hit the cutting board with a "thud," she came to her senses and said, "Anyway, I still hoped for a large tower for defense, but the current result is pretty good."
......
Enjoying the snow while sitting in a steaming pot is truly one of life's greatest pleasures.
The three girls ate hot pot until late at night and drank alcohol. They fell asleep drunkenly on Tan Fu's two-meter-wide bed, sprawling out in all sorts of positions.
Qi An had nothing to do the next day, so he just strolled around and then made plans to have dinner with the clones that evening.
Although they have complete freedom of choice, the clones still tend to cluster together in one place.
One-third of the clones remained at the new base, one-third came to the North 1 base, and the remaining one-third were scattered across the two new bases.
Only a very small number of clones, who were very independent and had their own ideas, or who made friends while on missions, went to other less popular bases.
This result was not unexpected for Qi An, because everyone was afraid of going to a completely unfamiliar environment alone, and the clones also had the awareness of sticking together for warmth.
The clones were still shy in front of Qi An, but once they started their own lives, the differences became even more pronounced.
Each clone is different in their clothing, speech, mental state, and the topics they are interested in at the dinner table.
Even with Qi An present, the atmosphere during the meal wasn't particularly lively, but it was still a dinner party with a group of living people!
The eyes and brows of the young people sparkled with the warmth and vitality of real life!
Qi An enjoyed the meal very much.
She happily walked home through the snow, preparing to go to her house, which she rarely visited more than twice a year, to pack her things for the new base she would be leaving for the next day.
But she stopped in her tracks as soon as she stepped into the stairwell.
The motion-activated lights in the hallway are very old; they work sometimes and not at all, and right now they're not working.
A small window at the turn of the stairs provided the only source of light, but it was too far away; the surrounding darkness was heavy and suffocating.
Qi An shot out a tentacle in a certain direction from the darkness!
The tentacle was grasped, and a faint white light illuminated the person holding it. It looked like... Chen Xi?
Qi An was somewhat shocked, because she found that Chen Xi's strength was so great that she was unable to pull the tentacles out for a while.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you on a mission?" Qi An asked.
Her heart skipped a beat as she watched Chen Xi, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere from the darkness, silently staring at her and walking towards her.
Chen Xi's condition is not right... In fact, ever since she left the freshman base, Chen Xi's condition has been off.
In the past year and a half, including this time, Qi An has met Chen Xi a total of twice.
The last time she saw him, Chen Xi was just like that, silent and unsmiling, his gaze filled with a shadow of countless complex emotions.
Qi An failed to pull out the tentacles, nor did he allow them to grow in time, leaving a bloody hole in Chen Xi's neck.
So Chen Xi approached her, grabbed her outstretched finger, and pulled her into his arms.
More than a year has passed since I last saw Chen Xi, who is now over twenty and seems to have gotten even stronger.
His strength is noticeably greater than before. He could lift an off-road vehicle with his bare hands before, and now he can probably do it with one hand...
Qi An was held tightly, his nose and mind filled with the man's cold, nighty scent, while his body rapidly heated up due to the man's heat.
Her thoughts were a little confused, but she instinctively pushed Chen Xi:
"What are you doing? What's wrong with you? Let go of me first, let's talk this out."
Chen Xi took several seconds to answer her:
"I'm sorry... I'll only hold you for 3 minutes. During those 3 minutes, you can kill me, but I won't let go!"
Qi An was slightly taken aback, and remained quiet in his arms for a moment.
But after a moment she asked, "Your strength has increased so much, did you... use a second-stage enhancement drug?!"
"Yes," Chen Xi replied.
Qi An suddenly became furious and shoved him hard: "The lethality rate of the secondary enhancement drug is less than 10%, but it's not that there's no lethality! You might die!"
"You're already this strong, why would you need to strengthen yourself further?"
This push failed to move her, and Chen Xi's voice came from her shoulder, muffled and hoarse:
"Even after the second enhancement, I still can't keep up with you."
Qi An was stunned.
"You gave us freedom, but I don't think freedom is anything good."
The more free time I have, the more I miss you.
"Come and see my memories, feel my pain, even just for a moment!"
Chen Xi grasped Qi An's hand.
Qi An noticed that his shoulder was wet.
In the silent, cold night, without any pale light, they could not see each other's faces clearly.
Their sense of touch became more and more sensitive. As time passed, the embrace became tighter and tighter, but their bodies, which were pressed tightly together, went from burning hot to cold.
Three minutes are up, and the darkness will spread even deeper and thicker.
Chen Xi was still holding Qi An, as if he wanted to embed her into his body.
In the chilling cold, Qi An hesitated before slowly stroking Chen Xi's back.
She whispered, "I can't promise anything. I don't belong to you, I won't be with you, and I can't give you the same amount of love in return."
I just like you a little.
Chen Xi, do you accept this?
Chen Xi's body seemed to tremble violently!
After a long while, he released her.
Qi An thought he was about to leave.
But Chen Xi simply lit a camping lighter.
The golden flames dispelled the darkness and chill.
The golden flames seemed to dance in the man's eyes.
He pursed his lips slightly, picked her up, and kissed her fiercely.
Qi An suddenly felt dizzy, as if a flame had been ignited between their lips and tongues!
She wondered in confusion what Chen Xi had murmured.
It's like saying, "I accept, just give me a little bit of love. I love you."
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