Translation Schedule Changed: I can't catch up with the current translation speed. From now on, if a chapter is longer than 3k words but shorter than 4.5k words, the release time will be after 36 hours but not after 24 hours; if the chapter is longer than 4.5k words, it will be split into two parts, with each part be named as Chapter XXX part 1, Cpater XXX part 2, and so on.
Chapter 168: Qualia
TurnA flew into the hole blown out by the beam rifle, followed by a long line of various small shuttles. The interior of the sphere was so bright that Ange, who had been in the dull light for a long time, was momentarily blinded. After she took a second or two to get used to the new brightness, her vision quickly caught the light source.
Located at the core of the giant ELS was a colorful sphere, with countless substances that seemed like neurons extending from the surface of the colored sphere, forming an intricate network that eventually connected to the metal shell at the very surface. Between the gaps of the net, countless small MSs were moored in it.
"It's beautiful …" The beauty in front of her made Ange stare in disbelief, "Didn't Ade say that ELS is a metal lifeform? Why is the core colored?"
"It's a metal-based lifeform, not a metal lifeform, and even if they are metal, their ionic state comes in various colors. You're already not stupid but illiterate. How on earth did Ade like you? I can't figure it out at all." Alice complained, and suddenly exclaimed, "6:00—"
TurnA instantly dodged the flying shuttles whistling behind it, and shot them out with its powerful beam rifle. In the blink of an eye, all cone shuttles exploded. Ange raised the corners of her mouth and glanced smugly at the camera, "Do I need you to warn me?"
"I like you less and less!" Alice looked rather unhappy for some reason. TurnA's screen changed under her control with various unreadable diagrams and words, "On my command, get close to that cell nucleus and fly around it, try not to get hit!"
A pair of beautiful seven-colored wings gradually unfolded from TurnA's back, becoming larger and larger as they slowly stirred. The nanobot was like sparkling pollen, peeling off from the Butterfly's wings and diffusing toward the center of ELS. TurnA fluttered up and down among the neurons, like a genie dancing among the petals of a flower.
"Geez, it's really easy, just fly around and win." Ange while dodging enemy attacks while fired, even had the time to mock, "Didn't you say that it is better to come by yourself? Can you achieve this kind of battle record by yourself?"
"I have full control of TurnA, if you say another word, I will let you die right now!" Alice's big avatar occupied half of the screen, glaring angrily at Ange, "There are so many people at home, but Alice dislikes you the most! The most! If it wasn't for you, Alice wouldn't have been put aside for so long, and Ade wouldn't have blocked my operating privilege to Gundam for so long!"
"Don't block the screen, hey!" Ange pulled out the beam saber with lightning-like speed and cut off the MS that came up from the dead angle caused by Alice's avatar, "You forced me to jump at that time. If not for Ade, I almost died at the entrance of the palace, okay? You deserved it!"
"Who forced you to jump? I saved the evidence, you jumped yourself." The recorded voice sounded in the cockpit, "…Even if I die, it has nothing to do with you, put me down… it seems you have made a choice then …"
"It's too shameful! Turn it off! Alice, you turn it off right now!" Ange shouted with a red face, "What's the point of saving this? You're so boring!"
"Yes, very boring! Ade will only spend an average of half an hour a day with me, and I had to spend the remaining twenty-three hours and thirty minutes without any purpose or meaning, and you?" Alice sneered and displayed a chart on the screen, "Look at the data, Ade spends the longest time with you, talks to you the most, makes love with you the longest. Of all people, he likes you the most. Of course you're not boring!"
"How dare you spy on him!" Ange was about to rebuke, she suddenly realized a more important issue, "…Are you jealous? Being an AI, you are jealous?"
"I do not know, there is no comparative data, so I can't analyze it. Anyway, I don't like you!" Alice said justifiably, "I'm not happy to see you! My emotional module is going to explode as long as I look at you!"
"The AI is jealous …" Ange was dumbfounded, "Are Lacus and C.C. blind? None of them had found such a serious problem? When this battle is over, I have to go back and talk to Ade…"
"Shut up, idiot!" Alice interrupted her loudly, "Didn't Ade tell you not to make a FLAG?"
"You're the idiot! Alice is a big dummy!" Ange protested as she fought, "He said that, but he also said to believe in science, and I don't know which one to believe."
"So why would Ade like a retard? Alice completely can not understand it!" Miss Music Player paused and puffed up, "The situation is complicated, you have to focus on fighting, don't talk to me!"
"Tsk." Ange whispered, "This is too human. How many years has C.C. been with him? How much does Lacus think she knows about him? I don't know where those two stupid women get the confidence to despise my intelligence."
"By definition, it's not a matter of intelligence, it's a matter of emotional intelligence." Alice obviously heard it clearly, the size of the voice inside the cockpit made no difference to her, "Miss Ange is really retarded."
"Shut up!" Ange retorted, "The situation is complicated, I have to focus on fighting, don't talk to me!"
Alice fell into a logic malfunction and was momentarily speechless.
TurnA just continued to wield its nanobot. Every now and then, a neuron of ELS was bitten off. Countless ELS units kept merging and deforming, eventually evolving into a sturdy metal layer under the fierce fire, so solid that even the beam rifle couldn't penetrate it. However, the surface of this layer of "tortoise-shell" was also pitted with corrosion, and it seemed only a matter of time before it was broken.
The number of small and medium-sized ELS shuttles was still endless, but with Ange's skill, the battle looked fierce, but in reality, TurnA didn't get any hurt.
"It's really easy." Ange couldn't help but show off to Miss AI, "I don't know if this MS is too good, or I'm too good."
"You were the one who approached me for a chat first, I've recorded it, so you won't be able to deny it later." Alice said very cautiously, "Also, didn't I just tell you not to make a FLAG?"
"Which sentence is FLAG, and how is it counted?" Ange was a bit puzzled, "So easy or too powerful?"
"With your IQ, how on earth did you live to …" Alice's voice sharply changed, "Get out! Now!"
Ange flew towards the direction she came in before without thinking, but what appeared at the end of her sight was an intact outer wall, "Self-repair? ELS is quite stupid, doesn't it know that I can easily open another hole on it?"
The beam rifle was tuned to the point-and-shoot mode with maximum output, and the hideous and rough particle beam hit the metal shell ferociously, making a huge circular crater. Before the rifle was cool down, the crater was filled in by uncountable ELS shuttles, as if nothing had happened.
"ELS calculated TurnA's output limit, the shell became a similar structure to the protective layer on the core side, TurnA's beam rifle can't penetrate it." Alice said impatiently, "Can you keep it in a static or non-disturbing state for a while? I'll try to turn on the boson stance to jump out."
"Don't you know how many enemies are densely packed here? Non-disturbing, can the AI also joke?" Ange complained, "What did you do earlier? Useless AI, artificial retard."
"I also just noticed that the space inside the entire sphere is getting smaller, so the inner and outer walls are getting thicker. There is too much interference data, the environment is too complex, and the previous calculation ignored the spatial error." Alice didn't have the time to argue with Ange, "The worst-case scenario is that the ELS shrinks into a solid sphere and we get squashed."
"As a professional AI who, unlike a fool like me, in your opinion…" Ange asked cautiously, "Can nanobot disintegrate the core before we are squashed?"
"Not at the current rate of decomposition. The analysis is over and no effective solution can be obtained." Alice said in despair, "It's all your fault for making a FLAG!"
"Inexplicably, what does it have to do with me? If it weren't for me, we would have died long ago, okay?! It was clearly your idea to let TurnA fly in, right?" Ange said loudly in a discontented voice, "Aren't you great? Think of a way!"
"I'm an AI, I can only make analysis and reason out conclusions based on available data and past experience." Alice said helplessly, "You're the human, you're the pilot, you think of a way."
"I'm an idiot, what can I do!" Ange futilely continued to destroy the still endless ELS shuttles. She could feel that the enemy's attack purpose had now changed from killing her to holding her back, and she could also feel that the space around her had become significantly more cramped while flying, "Why is it suddenly going to be finished? This is too strange, right?"
"I already said, it is because you make that FLAG!" Alice waved her fist in the corner of the screen, "Do something! I want to die with Ade, not with you!"
"That means you think you will definitely die?" Ange suddenly relaxed, "Put on some music. I'm kinda curious what Ade usually listens to."
"You have an idea?" Alice immediately asked, "What solution?"
"I told you I'm an idiot, there's no solution." Ange relieved, "I just think… it's good that I didn't let Ade personally come over. Without TurnA, he will focus on escape, right? He will not be stupid to risk anything to be the savior. That's quite good."
"… are you not afraid of dying?"
"Of course I'm afraid. Once I realize that I can never see him again, I want to cry." Ange said stubbornly, "But since you hate me so much, how can I cry out in front of you?"
"… Come listen to music. Ade listens to Beethoven the most." Alice turned on the speaker in the cockpit, "He always calls me Music Player, but Alice can't tell if that's an expectation or a term of endearment or a joke."
"Apparently it's a joke, stupid AI," Ange nodded slightly unconsciously along with the rhythm of the music, TurnA's movements seemed to take on a certain sense of rhythm, "I don't know this one called Beethoven, but his music is quite elegant. I thought Ade was Lacus's fan."
"You understand?" Alice asked in amazement.
"Classical music is a must, I'm a princess, do you understand? Princess." Ange said proudly, "This one called Beethoven seems to have a high level in classical music, so be quiet and let me finish listening."
Alice shut up honestly and stopped talking.
Beethoven's Fourth Symphony is about thirty-eight minutes. By the third movement, the ELS had gathered up all the medium-sized shuttles, and by the beginning of the fourth movement, even the number of small shuttles had been reduced. TurnA's space for the movement was getting smaller and smaller, and the speed of the nanobot's decomposition was simply a drop in the bucket in front of the thick solid ball.
The music eventually played out. TurnA struggled hopelessly between the inner and outer walls, and the only sounds in the silent cockpit were the blonde girl's operating and breathing.
"The tactical setup was wrong from the beginning, or we don't have any chance to win in the first place." Ange whispered to herself, "Dad, I'm sorry."
"Alice hates you the most, because Ade likes you the most." Miss AI, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke, "If Alice dies, Ade will be sad. If you die, Ade will also be sad. But Ade likes you more, so he will be sadder if you die."
Ange didn't know what she was trying to say and didn't answer. She also knew there was no point in continuing to struggle, but she still operated TurnA, flying around like a headless fly, pretending to shoot in a meaningful way.
"Alice feels sad when she thinks of Ade being sad, so Alice doesn't want Ade to be sad." Miss AI silently erased her image from the screen, "Since Ade is going to be sad anyway, let him be a little less sad."
"Wait!" Ange was horrified and startled, "What do you mean?"
"It's a problem to find a stable solution for the boson position under high-speed motion, which you can't understand with your below-average IQ." Ally smiled happily, "Simply put, it means that although an object as big as TurnA cannot complete the jump, I found a way to send the small object back. And I can't get back to the small object due to the punishment of being too greedy before."
"Small object…" Ange finally remembered that TurnA's cockpit was detachable and shouted excitedly, "Why can't you get back? What do you mean by the punishment of being too greedy? What the hell do you mean? Come back with me!"
"Although Alice hates you, although this is a good opportunity to get you killed, Alice decided to send you back. After all, I can not let Ade become too sad." Miss AI did not answer the question, but said calmly, "Can you tell Ade for me? Just say … just say thank him for taking me out of the warehouse. Alice loved, loved, loved him."
