The First Order

Yang Xiaojin thought about it alone. How could she not know about Ren He, the founder of the Qinghe Group? But he existed more than 200 years ago. Logically speaking, how could such an ancient figure have anything to do with people living in the present?

If it had been anyone else, Yang Xiaojin would probably have laughed it off. However, it was precisely because it was Ren He that there were some issues unanswered, such as the fact that the Qinghe Group was still searching for his descendant.

According to the information the Riders and Pyro Company had revealed, Ren He's son was likely to be in Laboratory 39 in the Jing Mountains where he needed treatment due to a serious illness.

It was during the treatment process when The Cataclysm began.

Yang Xiaojin wondered if this had anything to do with Ren Xiaosu's background.

There was no way to confirm it yet. After all, there was no evidence that Ren Xiaosu had learned those skills from Ren He.

As there was still some doubt regarding this matter, Yang Xiaojin decided she would tell Ren Xiaosu about it after confirming some things.

In fact, Yang Xiaojin had a feeling Ren Xiaosu might have thought about it before. It was just that he did not face it directly.

Wait a minute, if Ren Xiaosu were related to Ren He, wouldn't it mean the person the Riders were looking for was Ren Xiaosu? Wouldn't the entire Qinghe Group and the Riders become followers of Ren Xiaosu?

Thinking of this, Yang Xiaojin even felt a little strange. When she first met that guy, he was just a refugee. How did he suddenly become the future commander of the Northwest in the blink of an eye? And he might even be the head of the Qinghe Group and the Riders too?

It was not that Yang Xiaojin was worried that Ren Xiaosu's status would be too high, but she found this matter very intriguing. The contrast in his status would be enormous.

It had been a long time since she heard any news of the Riders, so she wondered what those people were currently up to.

…

Ren Xiaosu had been sitting at the edge of the defensive position all this while and did not return to his tent. He had already sent out "Old Xu," who was patrolling the entire battlefield to prevent any barbarians from sneaking in and catching the 6th Combat Brigade off guard.

He had fought the barbarians on the battlefield in the northern forest, so he knew full well that there were also experts among them. Their physical fitness was even better than that of a T5 combatant's. If experts like these were to quietly approach the defensive position, it could prove very destructive.

Moreover, Wang Yun's 200-odd subordinates were scouting the area around Mt. Zuoyun as well. If they encountered any danger, Old Xu could go to their rescue in time.

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu heard footsteps approaching behind him. He turned around and was surprised to see Mo Fei.

Ren Xiaosu smiled at Mo Fei. "Did you also come out to look at the stars? I read in a book that the Pre-Cataclysm sky was all haze, so it was very difficult to stargaze."

"That's the price of industrialization." Mo Fei said, "Actually, you've already guessed my identity again, right? I've analyzed from your expression that there's an 89.91% chance you've guessed my identity."

Ren Xiaosu smiled. "After all, other than you, I find it very difficult to believe that there are people in the world who can identify a few points that would cause a mountain to collapse. I'm afraid that it would require an extremely powerful calculation ability to achieve something like that."

"Yes." Mo Fei nodded. "Normal people can't possibly do so. I've already marked points on all seven of the mountains in the vicinity for Ji Zi'ang. If necessary, he can topple the mountains at any time and bury the expeditionary army below."

"I've always been curious about something." Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, "Why can you appear in human form?"

"You already know the answer to that question, don't you?" Mo Fei said.

Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and probed, "Nanomachines?"

Ren Xiaosu did not know that Zero had obtained some nanomachines in Stronghold 61, and that these nanomachines were even the ones that got chipped off from his armor.

But in Ren Xiaosu's view, he knew that only the principle of the nanomachines interfacing with human neurons could fully support what Zero was doing now.

After all, the nanosoldiers the Li Consortium had deployed to attack the Yang Consortium's Stronghold 88 had their minds completely controlled. This showed the nanomachines were indeed capable of doing something like that.

"But where did you get the nanomachines from?" Ren Xiaosu wondered.

"They fell off when you were fighting the creeper vine that day," Mo Fei calmly explained. "But I only got a small portion, so I can only use it to control one person."

"Does Wang Run know about this? I mean, that you're actually Zero," Ren Xiaosu asked.

"He doesn't know. It's just that I found someone who met my criteria and took control of him," Mo Fei replied.

"Then how were you so sure that Wang Run would bring Mo Fei to Mt. Zuoyun?" Ren Xiaosu looked at Mo Fei intently.

Mo Fei suddenly smiled. "Because probability told him that bringing Mo Fei and the other five soldiers would increase the chances of winning the battle at Mt. Zuoyun."

It was obviously Zero who calculated the probability.

Zero already had a far-reaching influence on every one of the Wang Consortium's plans through its own actions. In fact, it was extremely simple for it to do so. All it needed was a simple probability chance to guide the Wang Consortium on which choices to make!

But now, when Ren Xiaosu looked at Mo Fei's smile, he wondered if it was really just an artificial intelligence behind that smile. Just how advanced had its intelligence progressed?

Ren Xiaosu frowned and said, "I feel like it's not right for you to control others."

Mo Fei shook his head. "Humans have also used such methods to control others. For example, I know what happened on the day Stronghold 88 was destroyed. If humans can do it, I can do it as well."

Ren Xiaosu realized a very important fact from this sentence. Ever since Zero "awakened," it had been imitating and learning from humans.

As such, everything Zero saw after its awakening would affect the way it made its future choices.

It was just like how a child might grow up to be soft if his father was overbearing.

If he were bullied, he might bear a grudge against the world. Of course, it was also possible that he could become a hero who protected the peace of the world.

The outcome was not predestined, but every incident he experienced would deeply affect his worldview and outlook on life and values.

Ren Xiaosu asked, "Do you want to become human?"

"Yes." Mo Fei said in seriousness, "I'm learning how to be human. Look, other than you, no one has suspected my identity. While I lived as Mo Fei, I learned not to use data to explain the situation. Instead, I'm using words that you humans use to describe things, like 'more or less,' 'pretty good,' 'sure thing,' 'I think it's not bad,' 'no can do,' 'no good.'"

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. "Who did you learn those last two phrases from?"