Chapter 120: The General’s Transformation

Chapter 120: The General’s Transformation

Chen Feng was the first to notice that her implantation had succeeded.

That day had begun as usual; the two of them played two games of Go, which took a total of one hour.

As Chen Feng’s Go skills gradually improved, it became increasingly difficult for Tang Tianxin to precisely control the difficulty when playing against him.

She found it hard to maintain the perfect level of restraint she once had.

Often, deep in thought and calculation, she would unconsciously apply too much pressure, forgetting to hold back. With just two or three moves, she would thoroughly defeat Chen Feng, leaving him helpless to recover.

In both games, Chen Feng didn’t even make it to the end for counting; he surrendered midway through.

While putting the pieces away, Chen Feng complained, “I’m feeling less and less involved in these games. Can’t you hold back a bit more and let me last longer?”

Tang Tianxin smiled and shook her head. She checked her watch and said, “I am controlling it well. Your two resignations happened at thirty minutes eight seconds and thirty minutes six seconds.”

Chen Feng was silent for a long moment before saying slowly, “So you weren’t just calculating the board, but my changing mindset too?”

Tang Tianxin suddenly looked up, her eyes shining with unprecedented confidence. “Yes. Just yesterday, I think I had a breakthrough in realization.”

“You can have breakthroughs?”

“What do you mean?” The General frowned.

“Nothing special, just a little surprised.” Chen Feng hid his inner shock.

He believed logic and the mysterious concept of a “sudden breakthrough” were fundamentally incompatible. For someone like Tang Tianxin to mention it felt strange to him.

Tang Tianxin seemed somewhat annoyed. “If you don’t believe me, I’ll challenge the smart AI again. You know what my previous best level was against it, right?”

“You would always lose by exactly three points. Every single time it was the same.”

“Yes.”

Two hours later.

This long-awaited man vs. machine match ended with Tang Tianxin losing by only one point.

Chen Feng’s mouth hung open. “Did the AI hold back?”

“Of course not!”

“You really have gotten better.”

Tang Tianxin snapped her fingers. “Come on, let’s celebrate!”

As she spoke, she tried to lead Chen Feng further inside.

But Chen Feng froze in place.

He pulled his hand from hers. “Never mind that for now. Go and check if you’re pregnant.”

When she checked, indeed, she was.

Leaving the medical office, Tang Tianxin asked Chen Feng how he had known.

Chen Feng just smiled and said it was a wild guess.

He knew the real reason, of course, but it wasn’t the time to explain it yet.

Back in his dorm, Chen Feng suddenly realized he had forgotten his important task today.

Now that implantation had occurred, missing this day probably meant waiting for the next life.

He felt a little regret, but could accept it.

Chen Feng started researching extensively, preparing his arguments. The persuasion he was about to use on Tang Tianxin was extremely important, crucial for success.

Meanwhile, while Chen Feng was occupied with deception, Tang Tianxin was using her newly broken ability to cause havoc in the army-wide Simulation Training system for officers at the Commander level.

Besides holographic simulation training for the Armored Infantry, support roles like Spacecraft First Officers, Captains, and Legion Commanders had their own simulation systems.

Tang Tianxin’s ranking in this Commander Simulation Training system had always been firmly within the top ten, never sliding out.

Today, an otherwise excellent Commander habitually opened the system during his rest period, planning to randomly match an opponent to enjoy the fun of crushing a weaker player, creating a pleasant mood for sleep while nudging his ranking slightly higher.

He was matched against top-ten rated Tang Tianxin.

He felt some initial tension but quickly calmed down, feeling a surge of competitive spirit. Fighting a strong opponent was great for improving one’s own skills, and even defeat offered lessons.

Less than twenty minutes into the simulated battle, this man, fully concentrated on commanding his fleet, was suddenly declared defeated.

His Command Flagship had been destroyed.

He re-watched the replay three or four times before spotting the reason.

At some point, Tang Tianxin had hidden a massive mine deep within the intense frontline crossfire zone.

She then launched a concentrated barrage nearby; the flashes and energy fluctuations from the beam cannons masked the mine’s trajectory, allowing it to approach stealthily.

Her salvos created a sensor-jamming smokescreen for the Detectors, and her aggressive tactic shifts drew the enemy Commander’s attention. Ultimately, that mine, packing enough punch to destroy a flagship, moved like a deceptive ghost mine.

He definitely lost fairly.

He had just finished reviewing his replay and returned to the main hall when he received more battle reports.

A top-five expert in the entire army had also been defeated.

He checked the time; only fifteen minutes had passed.

This master had lost even faster.

So the two of them studied the replay together.

Twenty minutes later, another top-ten Commander in the army was quickly defeated.

The three Commanders gathered to exchange insights, realizing Tang Tianxin’s tactics to defeat each opponent were different.

Her combat style became more variable, sometimes ferocious, other times ruthless.

She could precisely erode her opponent’s forces in a head-on firefight, or suddenly perform a risky maneuver, instantly appearing her Command Flagship at the heart of the enemy formation to blast the opposing flagship with a single shot.

Tang Tianxin’s personal skill seemed to have broken through its limits overnight. Like Chen Feng, who was unchallenged in the Armored Infantry soldiering domain, she became unfathomable.

After this, the three Commanders formed a team and jointly challenged Tang Tianxin.

An hour later, they stared at each other blankly.

With triple her forces hunting her down, the end result was that all one hundred and fifty warships commanded by the trio were wiped out. Tang Tianxin lost only thirteen ships outright, with another seventeen damaged.

But she wasn’t finished.

Tang Tian immediately issued an open challenge, inviting a four-person team to face her with quadruple her forces.

The simulation war continued.

Tang Tianxin ultimately lost to an opponent commanding seven times her forces.

This was an unprecedented situation since the invention of this Commander simulation training method.

The next morning, Chen Feng had just woken up when Tang Tianxin, waiting by his door, called him over. Together, they boarded a shuttle headed for a space station beyond Earth’s orbit.

That colossal space station, capable of holding tens of millions, represented the pinnacle of human resources and technology. It was also the real headquarters of both the Military and the World Government.

They were both received by the leader and promoted.

Chen Feng was promoted to Colonel. As for Tang Tianxin, she became the youngest Lieutenant General in decades.

Chen Feng remained confused throughout until Tang Tianxin casually tossed him the appointment letter for him to read out of curiosity. That’s when he found out what else had happened last night.

She really had completely dominated everyone!

Chen Feng couldn’t help but click his tongue in silent amazement.

The General’s progress was terrifying.

Just slightly awakening her emotional instincts had caused her command talent to instantly leap so dramatically.

Humanity’s true war potential was truly astonishing.

In the tree-filled residential area of the space station, they sat together on the large terrace of a cafe.

People moved past down below.

Aircraft shuttled back and forth in front of the terrace.

Above them, on the light-canopy, was the eternal, brilliant starfield.

Looking out from an angle, they could see the massive Sun, Mercury, and Venus.

The sunlight wasn’t blinding because the space station was covered by an enormous, thin-as-cicada-wings solar energy harvesting film. Even larger solar films floated in space beyond the station.

This film encircled the entire Earth, its orbit almost perpendicular to Earth’s orbital path. From a distance, the film appeared to trail backward slightly, resembling an elongated Saturn’s ring, or the severed half of a comet’s tail.

The solar film partially encased Earth. It didn’t block sunlight from reaching the planet, yet amplified the total energy harvested by humanity several times beyond what Earth naturally absorbed.

This solar film technology was the peak scientific achievement developed from continuing Dr. Sergey’s research. It had completely replaced fossil fuels and nuclear fission/fusion power, becoming humanity’s primary energy source.

“My friend will be here soon. She wants to talk with me. We’ll head back to Base together after we chat. The fleet sets sail next week; we won’t be able to return to Earth after that,” Tang Tianxin explained.

She took a bite of her sweet strawberry cheesecake and waved her hand, making a projection board appear on the table. “Since we have time now, care for another game?”

Chen Feng shook his head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I won’t play with you anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“And you shouldn’t play Go anymore either.”

“Huh?”

Chen Feng leaned forward, looking down at her. “The friend coming to see you now must be Ou Qinglan, right? She sensed your change. I think you yourself realize you’ve changed. You’re different from before.”

Tang Tianxin was silent for a long time. “Yes.”

“Think about your former self. Think about those challengers you defeated over the past two days. What’s the biggest difference between you and them?”

Chen Feng began to fire off question after question.