Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 245 | The Truth of Lineage | Novela.app

Soro Morgan walked down the corridor. He was humming a tune—a lively, upbeat melody. However, his vocal technique was clearly lacking, and his heart wasn't in it. Before long, a speaker embedded in the corridor wall emitted a slightly mechanical voice: "Noise exceeding the prescribed level detected. User, please cease this behavior." "..." The smile on Morgan’s face froze. His lips twitched. "...'Aeon'?" "Noise detection indicates the disturbance has ceased. Thank you for your cooperation, User," Aeon’s mechanical voice replied. Morgan took a deep breath. He felt as though he were being provoked by Aeon... severely provoked!! But he couldn't exactly vent his anger on an 'Artificial Intelligence' composed of hundreds of thousands of sets—ten units per set—of biomass computer servers. That would be rather pointless... Especially since this 'AI' had no concept of 'personality or emotion' in its surface-level intelligence; it merely faithfully reflected the stray thoughts of the underlying biomass computers. As for those biomass computers... their consciousnesses existed permanently within a virtual space. During their off-duty hours, they were unaware that they lacked physical bodies, living instead as normal beings in a phantom world. Regardless, they were the pioneers who had truly and voluntarily sacrificed *everything* for the future of humanity. Faced with such pioneers, even if they were just teasing him—or even if they did something far worse—he... couldn't bring himself to be angry. He could only sigh inwardly, "Fine, fine..." then raised his voice and said, "The 'Solar Star' knows about you now." Aeon’s response was instantaneous: "He was bound to discover our existence eventually. Mainframe feedback: Development is normal; proceed with standard response." "Alright," Morgan muttered. He then asked, "How is the simulated personality model of the 'Solar Star' coming along? Is it finished?" "Mainframe feedback: Correction—the personality model was completed long ago. We are merely waiting." "Waiting for what?" "Waiting for the 'Solar Star' to approach it," Aeon said. Its dull, mechanical voice actually betrayed a subtle hint of anticipation. Morgan responded blankly, "I see..." Then, he was struck by a sudden, terrifying realization: "...Wait, *what*?!!" "Calm yourself, User. This is a good thing," Aeon offered a perfunctory comfort, its tone even sounding somewhat jubilant. "Only in this way can 'our' sacrifice be utilized effectively." Morgan fell silent. He recalled what Yivonheiler had once said to him. —*For the sake of a greater goal, you must accept the sacrifice of the few, or send them to their deaths, Morgan.*— Thinking back, that core sentiment and its cold delivery didn't sound like something Yivonheiler himself would say. While the man would certainly agree with parts of that logic, that level of detachment was perhaps too extreme for him. At that time... had Yivonheiler been influenced by something? Morgan pondered for a moment. Then, he contacted 'Lover' and received a startling conclusion. —The power interfering with Yivonheiler Kang at that time, besides 'Lover', included the 'Radiant Paragon'. "Wait?!" Morgan asked in shock. "That thing... it has self-awareness?!" —The answer is no. Never. Absolute rationality is absolute mechanization; such is the 'Radiant Paragon'. It was merely performing its duties according to its own behavioral logic. "And the optimal choice it calculated... was to influence Yivonheiler?" Morgan asked back, somewhat incredulously. —Yes. The painful echo resonating in his heart told him. —It is utilizing the 'Solar Star', just as I am utilizing you. We each have our own positions, child. But just as you are indifferent to these things, the 'Solar Star' is also indifferent to it all... He only wishes to achieve his goal. "Humanity being nudged forward by a bunch of 'geniuses' like us... we really have the worst luck in eight lifetimes—no, eight generations..." Morgan grumbled, then reconsidered. It seemed humanity had been suffering from bad luck for far more than eight generations. —Unbelievable. Muttering to himself, he strode into the Human Union’s experimental base stationed at the 'United Starport'. ... A long time later, Kang Li stepped out of the doors again, his expression somewhat dazed. It was difficult to describe his current mood. One of his fathers was a man as cold as steel, holding immense power and being ridiculously strong, yet possessing absolutely no affection for him. This fact certainly didn't make him happy, but it wasn't exactly agonizing either. After all, with or without a father, he had lived through these years just fine... ...It was just that a subtle chill deep in his heart reminded him that he, too, had once fantasized about a life with family by his side. Kang Li scratched his head. The 'United Starport' was always cold and silent; only the soundproofed entertainment districts felt bustling with life. Standing on one of its surfaces, the young man looked up through the cold and saw a wall that seemed to pierce through heaven and earth. That wall was boundless, covered in streets and buildings. Artificial gravity allowed it to maintain such a posture, and the pedestrians upon it were not affected in the least. The young man's mind was a mess. He walked forward slowly, aimlessly. Countless thoughts surged in his mind. For a moment, his power fluctuated along with them, but... it was difficult. He seemed to lack something—something that would allow him to exert even greater output. Much later, Kang Li arrived near the intersection of the cross-shaped double rings. Such places were always structural focal points and true military restricted zones. Under the vigilant gaze of drones and soldiers of various races, Kang Li stood outside the safety line, looking up at the city on that wall. After a long while, he turned his head and looked toward that high-rise building in the distance. He knew that person was no longer there, just as he had realized exactly who that man was. —'Solar Star', Lei Ting. A double S-class esper, currently the strongest in the galaxy. He had heard legends of this man and had seen how the people who raised him fretted over him. How could the child of such a man be raised by Morgan and the others? Setting aside the question of willingness... Kang Li knew he was born from a gestation pod. How could the embryonic offspring of such a man end up in the hands of the 'Resistance'? Countless pieces of information filtered through his sharp brain. Finally, he locked his focus onto one person. —At the root of it all, there had to be at least one other person. At least one person who could decide his destination, and that person had to be powerful enough; otherwise, they could have achieved nothing in this matter. So, there was a person who was already dead, who simultaneously met the three conditions of being 'powerful', 'connected to the Resistance', and 'having dealt with the Solar Star'. Furthermore, they were an Omega—an Omega capable of gestating life. Kang Li walked quickly toward the previously agreed-upon destination—the experimental base where the Human Union was stationed. He didn't know why the Human Union Resistance could enter and exit the Human Union's facilities so openly. The answer to that question was nothing more than a trade of power and wealth or a cooperative relationship; he didn't care. He simply burst into the base, found Morgan, and threw a question straight at his face: "Is my other father 'Starstream'?" "Huh?" Morgan looked up instinctively, appearing a bit dazed. "That guy actually told you?" Then, from the rapidly contorting expression on Kang Li’s face and a voice quietly surfacing in his heart, he received a warning. "You've been hiding information about them from me all this time..." Kang Li gritted his teeth, his voice rising higher and higher. "...Is it because one of my fathers killed the other?!" —*This is bad!!* Morgan was horrified, his mind racing through information. He forced himself to appear steady and said in a deep voice, "Whatever you're thinking, that isn't the truth. Child, you know we wouldn't hide information from you without reason." "..." Kang Li took a deep breath, feeling as if he were about to explode, but he did his best to calm down. Although the logic of the situation seemed clear to him, if there were still hidden details, any irrational action on his part would only be a hindrance and lead to tragedy. Morgan stepped forward and patted Kang Li on the shoulder—he was starting to fear the kid might suddenly bolt. "Come, sit," he said, pointing to the sofa. "Let's have a proper talk about this. You're twenty-two now; it's time you knew the truth about certain things." He sat down, showing no sign that he had nearly fried his CPU over this. Once Kang Li had also sat down, he immediately threw out a question: "How did you feel when you saw him today?" "How else could I feel?" Kang Li sneered. He felt he could apply every negative adjective used for cold villains in novels and movies to that man. And after realizing the fact that 'If I can figure out I'm his son, how could the galaxy's top powerhouse not realize it?', he had become the person in the galaxy most qualified to call that guy a bastard. "I know, you really want to say he's a piece of work." Morgan patted Kang Li’s shoulder, leaning back into the cushions just like him. "But... I don't truly understand him as a person. I can only tell you this: you should think again about why 'Starstream'—my friend, our best comrade-in-arms—would have a child with that guy." Kang Li almost blurted out some impolite words—or perhaps some unrefined plots from literary works. But he didn't actually say them, because he knew that while no one knew if that bastard named Lei would do such a thing, a person like 'Starstream' would never willingly submit to coercion. If he really made such a guess, he would be insulting the dignity of his own progenitor. Thus, the young man fell into deep thought. Seeing him lost in his own reflections, Morgan let out a long sigh of relief in his heart, relaxing slightly. He knew better than anyone how terrifying it could be when a young esper’s perception suffered a severe blow. —*Solar Star, how on earth do you handle people?!* *From the looks of it, your performance at the dinner table wasn't even the limit of how much you can aggravate someone, was it?!* Fortunately... fortunately. Morgan stood up to pour Kang Li a glass of water, making an effort to erase the terrifying memory associated with that 'tea personally poured by the Solar Star'. He turned to look out the window. His eyes suddenly widened, and his body tensed. He took two quick steps to the window, staring fixedly at the scene in the starry sky. Because, beyond the Crimson Torrent... ...He saw a piercing blue light.