From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 404 Fragments
"What do you mean?"

Dr. Mephisto was so shocked by Miller's words that he didn't even close his mouth.

"Literally, if Lilith is really in Atlas now, can we try to take her back?" Miller asked again.

"No, no, no, that's a false proposition. We can't be sure that Lilith is in Atlas. What I just said is just a guess."

Dr. Mephisto shook his head. He suddenly wondered if the Minister of Defense in front of him had gone insane because of the recent situation and a series of events.

Although the guess he just made matched the time, place, and people, and making the unmanned fleet out of control in an instant did seem to be something Lilith could do, it was still inappropriate to draw such a conclusion so arbitrarily.

After all, this sounds like a bizarre novel story, filled with too many coincidences and luck.

Miller was not surprised by Dr. Mephisto's rebuttal. He raised his hand to interrupt the doctor and said:

"Doctor, don't be so hasty to refuse. And if Lilith is really in Atlas, I believe you have no reason to refuse, right? Do you really want to see your creation being controlled by others and doing things that are not beneficial to the Federation?"

Mephisto fell silent after hearing this, and Miller, who was sitting opposite him, immediately started to strike while the iron was hot after noticing this.

"To be honest, we were also planning to take action against Atlas. The Federation would never want to suffer a loss and not try to get back at the situation."

"No, just wait."

When Dr. Mephisto heard the Defense Minister suddenly start to say something outrageous, he felt his eyes go dark, and then he quickly activated the black box mode of the office.

"Don't be nervous, Doctor. This is not a secret." Seeing Mephisto's actions, Miller shrugged and continued:
"Anyway, we will begin to impose sanctions on the Atlas Group in a while. At the same time, some 'patriotic companies' in the Federation will also assist the authorities in encircling and suppressing Atlas and their business within the Federation."

"Isn't it just the military-industrial complex? And it's called a 'patriotic enterprise'." Dr. Mephisto shook his head in disdain, obviously not having a good impression of these so-called 'patriotic enterprises'.
"It's as if they are really doing this for the Federation, not just because there's an outsider who wants to share the pie, and they're getting quite a bit, so aren't these companies going to be able to eat their fill?"

"Don't interrupt me. If you want to vent, wait until I finish." Miller looked at Dr. Mephisto helplessly. He knew that this old friend disliked some unofficial military-industrial enterprises because of some "old things".

Dr. Mephisto stopped complaining and drank the coffee in the cup that had already gone cold.

"Well, go ahead. So you want to take advantage of the plan to attack Atlas to get back the possible existence of 'Lilith'?"

Miller nodded. "Yes, and it must be in the hands of the federal government. I know this is just a guess, but I will ask the intelligence department to find a way to infiltrate and see if we can get some evidence that proves Lilith's existence."

"Evidence that proves Lilith's existence. I can help you with this. If Lilith is really in the Atlas Group, she will definitely leave traces."

As Dr. Mephisto spoke, he lowered his head and thought about something. Miller, who was sitting opposite him, suddenly had his eyes brightened when he heard this.
"I knew you were reliable! In that case, Doctor, do you have a way to regain control of Lilith?"

"I can't be 100% sure. After all, I don't know Lilith's current situation. I can only speculate based on the current known situation." Dr. Mephisto said as he activated the holographic screen on the desk and displayed a complex artificial intelligence mind map.

“We are now assuming that Lilith was taken out of Robert IV by Amber and then stayed in the Atlas Group. During this period, Lilith may have undergone one or two iterations, and her abilities will far exceed the state when she was sealed in the research institute.

This also explains why the unmanned fleet lost control in a short period of time, because these shipboard control personalities were originally reset based on Lilith's research data. If it was Lilith who had undergone evolutionary iterations, she would be able to do this."

Miller listened to what Dr. Mephisto said, and then looked at the mind map that was as densely packed as human nerves. Although he didn't know much about the research on artificial intelligence, he could understand what Dr. Mephisto meant - that is, if Lilith still existed, she would definitely be more powerful than before.

This also made Miller more determined to take Lilith back, because this might very well become the most important weight on the scale of victory or defeat.

On the other side, Dr. Mephisto's explanation continued.

"Although Lilith may be more powerful now than she was back then, I speculate that her current level of evolution is not enough for her to become a true 'cyber ghost', so there must be a carrier that can carry her."

"Something like a large computer room?"

"Not only that. Assuming that based on the capabilities Lilith has shown so far, she would need a super-large server array as a base."

After listening to Dr. Mephisto's words, Miller nodded thoughtfully.

"Anyway, this is one direction. I'll let the intelligence department start from this direction and see if we can find some clues." Having said this, he looked at Mephisto again.

"If we confirm the location of this server array and then find a way to send you and your team there, can we try to take back control of Lilith?"

"I'm really not sure about this. I can only say that there is a certain possibility. After all, I was the one who wrote the underlying code back then. And even if this 'Amber' can take Lilith away, she should not be able to modify her meta-instructions."

"What if the instructions are modified?" Miller asked with a frown. He had to fully evaluate all the risks before he could finally decide whether to do so.

"Theoretically, this is impossible. The authorization instructions are only known to the core researchers at that time. Including me, there are only four of us in total, and we are all in this building now."

Dr. Mephisto paused, as if he thought this possibility was a bit too extreme, but he finally spoke:
"Even in the worst case scenario, the meta-instructions have been modified, and there is still a last resort."

As he spoke, this Federation leader in the field of artificial intelligence took out a mini storage device hanging around his neck from his research suit.

"Back then, I separated some of these 'fragments' to keep as a memory, but I never thought that they might have a chance to be put to use now."

(End of this chapter)