Super Mothership
After enjoying a soak in the Water of Life hot spring, Nie Yun returned to the bridge of the Sea Wolf wearing a look of contentment.
From the outside, the Sea Wolf could basically be divided into two parts. One part was the “foundation” below, made up of six combined warships, while the other was the “potted-plant” section above, dominated by the Immortal. Although the two parts appeared clearly separated, internally they had already been completely integrated by circulation and supply channels constructed by mechanical worms.
The Sea Wolf’s core bridge was located inside the silver sphere at the root of the Immortal. That position was not only ringed and protected by five Houyi-class escort ships, it was also heavily wrapped by the Immortal’s strongest defensive black roots; if necessary, the Immortal’s canopy could be used as additional cover to provide another layer of defense. In terms of defensive capability, this spot was even several notches stronger than the area where the Immortal’s main body resided.
Before Nie Yun returned, he had thoroughly remodeled the spherical bridge of the Sea Wolf, converting roughly 30,000 square meters of spherical interior into a comprehensive command hub that combined living quarters, entertainment, communications, control, and many other functions. Because detection, attack, defense, energy and other systems had been largely moved into the large, more spacious body of the Immortal, the spherical core—capable of accommodating tens of thousands of people—now had a more rational layout and purer functions, and had completely become the superbrain Nie Yun used to control the entire Sea Wolf.
Within this enormous bridge, roughly half of the space was devoted to housing the most critical super quantum computer. This machine would serve as the codename “New Host,” while the computing center at the lunar base would be downgraded to a computing node under that codename. It was an improved design derived from the blueprint of a super-large quantum computer Nie Yun had recently obtained from the Gemini Spaceport. Although not huge in size, its computational capabilities and hardware architecture had both been substantially optimized compared to the earlier designs. With material enhancements provided by the mechanical worms, its performance even exceeded the original version at the spaceport.
Getting hold of this blueprint was, of course, thanks to Nie Yun’s “Silver Revolution” against the Gemini Spaceport’s engineering robots. Although he had not yet completed a full infiltration of the spaceport’s main control intelligence, every maintenance robot that serviced the host carried portions of the design plans for their maintenance areas. Like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, Nie Yun invaded these robots and pieced together the spaceport host’s blueprints bit by bit, eventually obtaining the complete design. For Nie Yun, once he fully understood the computer’s “physical structure,” making it fall to him would be only a matter of time.
Unlike previous attempts, this time Nie Yun had ample time and a relatively large target, so he planned to use a step-by-step strategy of devouring and infiltrating to silently turn the spaceport’s intelligence brain to his use.
....
“How does the new body feel?” Nie Yun asked casually as he walked down a wide corridor of the bridge.
The projection called Codename that followed him still wore an expressionless face. “Very good! It can currently perform multi-threaded, remote, precise control of on the order of a million unmanned mechs simultaneously. If linked with the lunar computing center, that number will double!”
“‘Precise control’…” That term didn’t mean giving a few simple commands like controlling small robots for routine tasks and letting them run according to their chip programs. By using far more computational power together with Codename’s super intelligence, the mechs could move as flexibly as real humans—that was true mastery.
Although its capabilities had increased again, Codename showed no sign of excitement or pleasure. For her, switching to a new host was no different from a traveler changing hotels—completely ordinary. At most, the new hotel just had a higher star rating...
“Mm! Sounds pretty good.” Nie Yun said, then suddenly stopped outside a certain cabin, turning to look up and down at Codename’s projected figure.
“Have you ever thought about… changing bodies again?”
Faced with Nie Yun’s seemingly random question, Codename looked a bit puzzled.
“A more powerful host?”
“No,” Nie Yun said with a faint smile in his eyes. “I mean… what if I gave you a real body? What would you think of that?”
Codename froze for a moment.
Give me… a real… body?!
Nie Yun chuckled without elaborating. He opened the metal sliding door and stepped into the cabin before them.
Codename, still confused, glanced up. The sign on the door read in three bold block characters—“Materialization Room.”
Carrying a mixture of curiosity and an unexplainable sense of anticipation, Codename followed him into the strange cabin.
Inside, there was a row of human-shaped mannequins—at first glance, just like the faceless display figures used in clothing stores.
“Go on! Pick the one you like,” Nie Yun said, pointing at the dozen or so mannequins.
“But… they all look the same,” Codename said, clearly suffering from choice paralysis.
“The result isn’t important—the process is. Ceremony matters!” Nie Yun replied with complete seriousness.
Codename: “…”
Mechanical Worms: “…” (lll￢ω￢)
“Then I’ll pick this one!” Faced with Nie Yun’s overwhelming need for ceremony, Codename reluctantly cooperated, using a rather mystical chaos algorithm to finally point at the mannequin in the middle.
“Excellent!” Nie Yun snapped his fingers.
Click! Materialization… begin!
Codename’s projection vanished instantly, dissolving into points of light that flowed into the mannequin.
As the activation sequence began, a new terminal suddenly appeared among Codename’s data interface options—
Neural signal simulation complete. Data link initializing…
The mannequin’s facial features began to ripple and shift. Soon, a breathtakingly beautiful face appeared. The dull silver tone of its body changed—black silky hair, fair and rosy skin, a graceful long dress—all came into being one by one.
When the bright eyes finally opened, there was a trace of confusion in the girl’s gaze.
“Maiden from the virtual world—welcome to the realm of matter,” Nie Yun said with a smile, extending his right hand toward her.
Still processing the chaotic data stream within her, Codename blankly mimicked him and reached out her right hand as well.
But unlike before, her hand didn’t pass through him. When their fingertips touched, she felt a vivid, undeniable warmth. The girl trembled slightly, pulling her hand back like a startled fawn.
She lifted her hand, gazing at the light spilling through her fingers—at the pale skin that no longer carried even the faintest trace of transparency.
Confusion, astonishment, and a shiver that seemed to come from her very soul left Codename unable to respond for a long time.
She… had a body?
Just like Nie Yun—just like all humans—she now had her own body?
Nie Yun’s work in virtual reality technology had begun with the transformation of human neural signals into mechanical control signals, forming the foundation for remote robot operation.
And now, after immense technical accumulation and years of research, Nie Yun had finally achieved the reverse—converting mechanical control signals back into human neural signals!
Codename’s new body, built entirely from mechanical worms, perfectly replicated the structure of a human body. The only difference was that its central nervous system housed a special signal converter that transformed Codename’s data codes into corresponding neural control signals—and then reconverted the returning neural feedback into data.
Compared to ordinary robots, biological organisms perceive their surroundings with far greater subtlety—a kind of sensitivity that no machine could ever match.
Human intelligence and emotion arise from perception of the external world, and with this new body, Codename had taken another step down the path toward true humanity.
“…Thank you,” Codename said softly after a long silence—the first real emotion she had ever expressed, and the first thank you in her entire “life.”
“You’re welcome. And… happy birthday.”
Today marked exactly one year since Codename’s creation.
And on this day, the future goddess of wisdom who would one day shake the entire galaxy received her very first birthday gift.
TL Note- Codename's birthday gift was a rebirth...
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