Super Mothership
No, this won't do. He had to find the Unity of All Things Society. He had to strongly condemn their two-faced hypocrisy—pretending peace on the surface while plotting behind the scenes!
Just as he was about to order a contact with the Black Butler, his adjutant glanced at his personal terminal and his expression turned even more peculiar than before.
“Uh… Sir, we just received a wide-area transmission. A group calling themselves ‘Hacker Codename’ has claimed responsibility for the virus attack. They specifically stated that the Unity of All Things Society had nothing to do with it…”
Gustav was utterly dumbfounded.
What the hell?! Do you think I won’t recognize you just because you slapped on a new identity? If you're trying to cover up your crimes, could you at least disguise the virus startup screen a little?
And you’re seriously making a statement to deny involvement? Is there any group more shameless than this?!
Even worse—they’re not just hiding behind a pseudonym, but they picked a name like “Hacker Codename”? What kind of lousy name is that?
So what is the hacker's codename? I need to know now…
…
In the days that followed, this so-called "mysterious" hacker group launched wave after wave of cyberattacks like a tidal flood, infiltrating every possible network with increasingly aggressive offensives.
Although there were no casualties, the officers of the Sea Tribe were exhausted just trying to keep up—they could barely get a good night’s sleep. Even mid-sleep, the air conditioning might go haywire and freeze you awake...
Soon after, the fleet’s internal network began filling up with clickbait headlines like:
"Shocking! A Billionaire in the Military!"
"Step-by-Step: How to Get Promoted to Senior Officer!"
"Scandal in Three Acts! The Untold Story of XX and XX!"
With titles like those, the curiosity of onlookers was instantly hooked. And when they clicked on the posts—they were stunned. It was all real, juicy content!
The exposés included cases of embezzlement, bribery, and trading favors for power or sex—over a dozen cases, all with specific names, detailed accounts, and shockingly familiar faces.
At first, many assumed it was just some prank. But a little digging proved—it was all true.
That’s when the public exploded. Those exposed were trembling with fear, and everyone else was outraged, demanding the military take serious action. Things quickly spiraled out of control.
Gustav was caught in a bind. What could he do?
If he didn’t act, the crimes were right there for everyone to see—impossible to cover up, even deleting posts wouldn’t help. The officers below might mutiny if he ignored it.
But if he did act, he'd be offending a lot of people.
Corruption wasn’t exclusive to the Pioneer Legion. Every unit had its fair share. After all, "pure water has no fish." Most leaders turned a blind eye, sometimes even using it as a tool to gain loyalty.
But now, with it all laid bare, if he really started cracking down, morale would collapse—and with it, his ability to lead…
Even more serious was the leak of personal information—it meant the opposing hacker could access all kinds of intel within their fleet at any time. Gustav suspected that the hacker had a hand in several of the previous information breaches as well.
To prevent the situation from spiraling further out of control, Gustav immediately ordered the shutdown of all communication networks. From then on, ships could only communicate with each other using a single, secure line.
The hacker known as “Codename” had been able to infiltrate the Gemini Fleet mainly because mechanical bugs were planted inside, giving them direct access to the fleet’s local area network.
It was like stealing bandwidth off someone else’s Wi-Fi. But now that the other side had completely shut off the router, if Codename kept attacking, it would basically be admitting: we have a way to launch attacks from inside every one of your ships.
One or two compromised ships could be explained by spies, but if a whole bunch were affected? That’d be way too suspicious—it just didn’t make sense.
Doing that would surely raise Gemini’s alarms and possibly expose the fact that Codename had some alternative infiltration method. So Codename had no choice but to temporarily halt the hacking attacks and focus solely on spreading the bomb virus.
Gustav’s blunt-force response did succeed in stopping the hacker from wreaking further havoc on their networks—but at the cost of severing all internal communication within the fleet.
Officers across the ships were furious about this forced “offline” status. Even Earthlings are known for internet addiction and phone dependency—how much worse would it be for the more technologically advanced Gemini society? A single day without internet was like losing their mental lifeline.
Not only did morale drop sharply, but the lack of communication also disrupted the coordination between ships’ AIs. The fleet’s overall operational efficiency plummeted. Thankfully, they weren’t at war right now—otherwise, their combat capability would have dropped by at least 30%.
While the Sea Tribe scrambled to contain the virus and fend off cyberattacks, things on the Feather Tribe’s side were peaceful.
As soon as Isar saw how badly the Sea Tribe was hit, she cut off all network connections with them. Although a few bomb viruses were found on some ships, there were no frequent hacking attempts, and the situation was far better than what the Sea Tribe was facing.
This "target-one-and-beat-them" strategy left Gustav deeply dissatisfied. Why only attack them? Was there something going on between the Unity of All Things Society and the Feather Tribe?
With such doubts creeping into his mind, Gustav hesitated—even the idea of asking Isar for help didn’t leave his lips…
…
Meanwhile, in the neighboring star system, the war had fully shifted to electronic warfare. The mysterious hacker known as “Codename” was locked in a battle of wits against Gemini.
And far away, in the Solar System, the trio of protagonists had just been assigned another temporary mission.
“Psychic Abilities Training Class?” The three of them stared at the giant banner in front of them, feeling their eyelids twitch.
“That’s right! You’ve spent far too long on the path of ordinary people. It’s time to open the door to a brand-new world!” Nie Yun (clone) snapped his pointer for emphasis, looking very official.
The trio exchanged looks—confused, but intrigued. In many ways, they were already far from ordinary.
Piloting aircraft, driving mechs, eating, sleeping, and fighting aliens—hell, they could even smash rocks on their chests for fun. Was this still considered normal?
“Uh… Boss, what exactly are we training for in this class?” the eldest asked.
“You don’t know how to read? Follow me—Psychic Abili~ties,” Nie Yun said slowly, pointing to the banner with his pointer.
The trio was stunned. This kind of thing can be taught? Wait—are psychic abilities even real?
“Boss, did you invent some new kind of black technology again?” asked the third brother, who, as Nie Yun’s usual “guinea pig,” was quite mentally prepared for surprises.
“Correct! If you manage to learn the psychic abilities I’m about to teach you, the mission will be considered complete—and the rewards will be huge!” Nie Yun declared proudly.
“So, what exactly are we supposed to learn? How do we know if we’ve got it right?” asked the eldest.
“Here—see this spoon?” Nie Yun pulled out an ordinary stainless steel soup spoon. “What you need to do… is this!”
Nie Yun fixed his gaze on the spoon. Right before their eyes, the bowl of the spoon began to slowly bend backward—until it was almost twisted into a right angle.
Then, he casually let go. The deformed spoon floated into the air, wobbling like a feather.
“Wha… What the hell?! Psychic powers?!” The three of them stared, wide-eyed, in disbelief.
The spoon in Nie Yun’s hand was made of non-magnetic stainless steel—meaning, this absolutely wasn’t something electromagnetism could explain.
Was the door to a whole new world… really opening for them?
TL Note-Era of Superpowers?
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