Resurrection Empire

Chapter 1282 - 487: Scars Etched on the Heart_3

On the surface, these seem to be stationary.

But at this moment, both the array of simulation workships below and the fleet headquarters at the top are actually in constant motion.

The 997 data lines continue to be drawn out longer.

If you zoom in for a closer look, you will find these lines are comprised of continuous broken lines made up of one straight line after another.

Because the workships are traversing non-standard routes, it’s difficult to pre-arrange their courses, and they must constantly change direction to avoid the gravitational zones of large or small dark energy fields.

Ahmed Sammy’s Falcon lies at the midway point of one of these data lines.

The name Falcon was chosen by him, yet it has not been officially recognized by the fleet.

All workships only have designations, not names.

For example, Falcon’s specific designation is 981-27, indicating it’s the 27th relay workship on the 981st data chain.

By switching the display mode, Ahmed can see that in addition to the 997 green data lines, countless transverse and diagonal red lines of varying shades have appeared.

At this moment, many red lines connect the Falcon with vessels like 980-27, 980-28, 980-26, 982-27, 982-28.

Close-by relay vessels also have transverse links between each other.

If at this moment Ahmed’s Falcon were to explode unexpectedly, several nearby workships would immediately form a parallel neural network through these transverse links, preserving the 981st data chain, and waiting for one of the other hundred idle workships, left without tasks due to the loss of three at the frontier, to take its place.

If nothing untoward happens, this net will slice silently through the Black Mist Zone like a wire cutter through an olive.

But the danger of the universe lies in its perpetual unpredictability.

"Captain, don’t your eyes get tired from staring at the star map all the time? Nothing’s going to happen, take a little rest, will you?"

The technician aboard Falcon, a young man named Ma Wei’an, approached, saying rather nonchalantly.

Ahmed turned his face away, glaring fiercely at the man, "Shut up."

He greatly disliked this guy named Ma Wei’an.

There were many reasons.

Unlike the majority on the fleet, Ma Wei’an hailed from the core family of the Nine Major Groups, the Deep Communication Ma clan.

His father was Ma Xiaoyun, who was a very close cousin to the former chairman of the Deep Communication Group, Ma Xiaocheng, enjoying a prestigious position.

Ma Wei’an was born on the fleet.

Though Ren Zhong had made every effort to implement fair education, he could not ignore the inherent talent the Ma clan’s core members possessed in the field of programming.

From his birth, Ma Wei’an enjoyed the best education and smoothly entered the Institute of Artificial Intelligence as a senior researcher, being considered as having the potential to inherit his father’s mantle and continue to play an important role in the fleet’s scientific research system.

Logically, such a person should stay dutifully at the Fleet Headquarters as a Crown Prince.

No one anticipated that during Hua Yuelan’s selection process, Ma Wei’an would defy the objections of his elders and forcibly apply to participate.

Once he was indeed selected, Ma Xiaoyun’s widow, Ma Wei’an’s mother, even went to Hua Yuelan to speak on his behalf, but was unsurprisingly rejected.

Perhaps Ma Wei’an indeed had extraordinary talent, or perhaps things came too easily to him, and so, even without serious effort, he outshone his peers, which led to his current lazy disposition.

This was in irreconcilable conflict with the always disciplined and determined Ahmed, who thought that Ma Wei’an’s participation was a waste of his talents. With such ability, he should remain at Fleet Headquarters to become an even greater researcher. He could have contributed more to the Earl but was instead undervaluing his own life.

This person happened to be the chief technical officer on the Falcon, which meant Ahmed couldn’t just confine him; he could only resort to harsh words, trying to influence him with his own seriousness and sense of duty.

Unfortunately, after a whole year, it seemed to have no effect.

After being scolded again, Ma Wei’an didn’t get angry, just rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Bored. I don’t know why you’re so nervous. Even if you crash Falcon into a dark energy cluster, there are still others to take over the signal. Or even if our 981 line breaks, there are still 996 other data chains, steady as a rock, right?"

Ahmed finally snapped, roaring, "You might have had enough of life, but we haven’t."

Ma Wei’an puckered his lips, "The Earl said everyone will die eventually, right? So what’s the difference?"

"Idiot! I just don’t want to die so arbitrarily! I don’t want to be the one dragging others down!" Ahmed finally erupted in anger, standing up and pointing at Ma Wei’an, "I don’t even know how someone like you passed the selection. I don’t understand why you’re here. But you’d better show me enough respect. Someone like you, who never lacked anything from birth, with ancestors always atop the Source Star Pyramid, can never understand the honor of the men from the Sammy family. I have engraved this honor into my heart!"