Book 4, Chapter 3

A Plan in the Making

Don't take the story for serious!

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    We followed dad to the laboratory. We're

now standing on a giant trestle bridge. An area the size of four or five

football courts lies below us. Three really big...machines are located there. I

see the emblem of Dragon Fate printed on them. They are about 10 meters high, with

octagonal shaped foundations. Hundreds of thick cables are connected to them. There

are cooling devices attached on the cables, which would release out some vapour

now and then. They must have implemented a really good ventilation system

in here, since the place doesn't feel damp in the least.

    "Now what you see here is the very core of my

Dragon Fate--Nova!"

    "Is that

the game server of [Zero]?" Rose asked, a bit excitedly.

    "Well, we also use Nova as the game server yes. But

not these three. The game server is a simplified version. We removed a lot of

components that are useless to host a game, and of course it won't be as

powerful as the three complete machines."

    "So these three computers are Nova?"

Rose's face is getting red. I moved behind her in case she faints.

    "They're not computers! Photoelectron computing

units, they're semi-biological machines." Father pointed at those cables.

"Look at the biggest one. That is not an electric cable, it's a nutrient

ca.n.a.l. What's inside these machines is basically composed of insectoid brain

tissues."

    "Insect? Why not human?"

    Father knocked me on the head, while Rose also rolled

her eyes.

    "First of all, my boy...you don't find free human brains lying

around! Using a human brain will bring a lot of...ethical issues. Besides, the

only advantage of the human brain is the excessive capacity."

    "But there's no doubt humans are the most

intelligent creatures out there." Rose commented.

    "That is also because of our brain size. Now

suppose an insect can grow a brain as big as ours, they will outsmart us in no

time. Their brain cells are independent, each cell is like a single digital

chip that can function on its own. As for human brains...they're useless if separated. The most important

reason though, is the low cost. We can breed tons of semi-products within a

year, thanks to their reproductivity."

    "I can use Nova to do my simulations?"

    "Yes. We will allow you 20 percent of our system resources

for your project."

    "20 percent?"

    "That's more than enough. That old computer back

at school probably can't even match 1% of Nova's true capability."

    "This is

brilliant!" Rose jumped. Thank G.o.d there are safety bars on the bridge.

"I believe I can finish my experiment in no time! By the way, what kind of

'weapon' did you turn my project into?"

    "We gave a vivid little name for your theory."

An old man with white hair, wearing clean room suit, walked to us. "The

'Commercial Nuke'. Boring, I know. But is enough to tell us the idea of it."

    "It still sounds dangerous though." I joked.

    "Of course it's dangerous!" The old researcher

continued, "Our progress has proved it to be reliable, and we have already

found a proper detonator for it."

    "Exactly." Father took over the topic. "The

detonator is no other than [Zero]."

    "Wha--" I yelled. "Zero? The game I'm playing?"

    Rose smiled. "I get it. So who's your first target?"

    "Take a guess."

    "j.a.pan?"

    "Bingo." The researcher smiled. "Tell

us dear, how did you reach this conclusion?"

    "Several reasons. To begin with, the first target

who took the 'bomb' is the last one expecting it, so the bomb will have its best

outcome, which means we should pick a tough target. Next, we're using [Zero] as

a middle. So who loves games? j.a.pan or Korea. Lastly, Dragon Fate has its

influence all over the world but is weakest within j.a.pan. If we can force a

power shuffle there, we will have a chance to get a big haul in the process."

    "Clever. Very clever!" He commented. "Why didn't you consider our ethnic contradictions though?"

    "A businessman talks business. We pursue profit, and all

for profit. Without an actual war, ethnic and nation conflicts are just

political lies, profit decides everything."

    Rose is speaking with a high

spirit like those ambitious empresses in movies. I never knew she had this in

her! Geez. I hope she can be as good when it comes to dealing with

emotions.

    Father and the researcher chuckled. Dad explained

slowly. "Nice insight. But not thorough enough. It's totally

understandable though, for your age."

    "I was...wrong?" Rose asked in shock.

    "Nonono, I said 'not thorough'. That ethnic issue

which you considered least, is actually our biggest motive."

    "But how?" Rose questioned, "Why would

you act to your emotions?"

    "We're not acting on emotions." The

researcher explained. "I don't hate j.a.pan. On the contrary, I admire them.

j.a.panese people have always been living under great pressure of all sorts, thus

they developed some of the best awarenesses. As you may heard, they work with

great efficiency, they never slack off on their job. They don't enjoy much

spare time because they're the first ones to know how to face crisis. They

learn fast, too--they can always study from the other nations and races, then

leverage the best parts. Sadly, our ancestors already claimed we should learn

from the foreign world, but we never took it seriously. That's one of the many

aspects where the j.a.panese people would win over us."

    Well, listening to this is surely depressing. "Are

you saying our billions of people are weaker than them?"

    Father turned to me. "You didn't understand. We

admit that they can do SOMETHING better than us, not everything. Of

course our overall strength is better. We should know their advantages and

learn. I know you don't like j.a.pan, Sairin, but don't take that emotion to the

whole nationwide level. There are a lot of good people, apart from those

intruders and slaughterers you learned from the history book."

    Researcher: "j.a.pan's geographical location is far

from ideal. They never had much nature resources. It only got worse when we

sunk their Honshu Island last time. n.o.body would just sit there and wait for

demise, they need to grow, yet they don't have the land for it. The obvious way

to get out of the situation, is war. They can solve all of their problems if

they simply seize the land and resources from nearby countries. And the best choice--us.

China sits in the way when j.a.pan wants to develop. That's why they planned to

remove us; On the other hand, j.a.pan is an obstacle for China as well. They're

like an outpost for America, and pose threat to us at all time. They are in

the way for our fleets towards the Pacific. Our boats need to make a detour

and avoid their sea when going anywhere. Do you know what that means, when

everyone is trying to harness ocean resources? It's like someone is preventing

us from reaching a gold mine. Wouldn't it be nice if this 'someone' just

disappears? It's never a good thing to wait for the intruders. We should act

first! Do you understand now? As you said, the real problem is always caused by

profit. The existence of j.a.pan is a threat to our survival, and the same can be

said in both ways. Eliminating the other one will always be the ultimate

decision for either of us."

    The old man is getting over excited. I think I need to

stop this. 

    "Wait! Stop! I get it. So China and j.a.pan are like two hungry

wolves in front of only one piece of meat. We both need to dispose of the

opponent in order to get the meat--or rather, eat the other wolf as well."

    Father frowned. "That's not really a good way to

put it but... close. We were just trying each other out during the previous

conflict, and j.a.pan fell behind." Then he pulled us near and whispered.

"Now you'd better not tell this to anyone else: It's very possible that

there will be a war between us very soon, a big one."

    "Are we going to do a genocide?"

    Father slapped me on the head. "What's going on

inside your brain?? That's not how a war looks like. If possible, we can just

take control of the nation. Now that we mentioned it, I do hope there is a day

when I don't need to waste my time getting a VISA to travel abroad anymore."

    "What about America? Surely they won't just watch

us beat up j.a.pan." 

    "I'm not sure what they'll think. They may just

decide to give up on helping j.a.pan. It's never been easy to keep a leash on

them anyway."

    "So that's

the reason behind it." Rose nodded in understanding," Looks like I was thinking

too simple. I've always believed that we hate j.a.pan because of those old

histories."

    "Don't worry." I comforted Rose. "It's already

something that you can understand these things, when you were born in that kind

of family."

    "Pfff. My dad and stepmom never succeeded when trying to teach

me to follow their steps."

    "Sairin, I believe you got quite some nice

equipment in the game?" Father grinned at me in a...creepy way.

    "What are you planning?" I know something is

coming.

    "Oh simple. I need you to go to j.a.pan and cause

some damage to them."

    The researcher took over. "According to the

records, the total player investment into [Zero] around the globe has went

beyond 10 billion. It's not a noticeable number compared to the economic of an

entire country, but is enough to qualify as that 'detonator'. If you manage to

damage their a.s.sets in [Zero], they will certainly try to throw in more fund in

order to reduce and recover their loss. That's when Dragon Fate can make a

move inside their financial market and cause a big surprise to their groups,

even breaking them apart."

    "That sounds easy but there are a lot of problems

I need to deal with first." I considered.

    "Take it slow. We're in no hurry, so you may act

on your own decisions. Oh and, we have some news for you too. Guild wars will

be unlocked in at most two months, then nation wars, in another four months. When

that happens, all maps in different countries will become connected, and I'm

positive the whole game world will fall into total chaos by then. Whatever you're

planning, you should try your best to improve your strength during the six

months!"

    "Okay then. I'll see to it. Why don't you just rig

something for me in the server?"

    Another slap on the head. Ouch.

    "The other administrators

are not fools! The server of [Zero] went under the supervision of five

countries, that is China, the USA, the UK, France and Russia, from day one. We

can only look at the data but not make any changes. You need permissions from all

five countries to modify any game data. That was what we did when we contacted

you in-game and recovered those abnormal gold you got from the bugged NPC, and

it were the others who asked us to do it, otherwise we could just let you keep

the extra money. We need to follow the majority. And that crossbow, we

paid them greatly to change their mind or you would really lose it forever!"

    "Oh wow. I didn't know that incident caused so

many scenes behind us."

    We chatted until

evening before I got to drive Rose back. Man, this is a tiresome day.

    According

to father, I need to be more aggressive in the game from now on...no more

goofing off I guess.