Matrix Link brains were soon constructed across a vast number of low level Zerg units, and even a portion of low cost empty shell transport ships were outfitted with the corresponding structures.
The primary purpose of adding the matrix network to these low cost transport ships was to grant them the autonomy to avoid hazards. Once a connection was established between the units, if any single ship encountered trouble, the other hulls would actively take evasive maneuvers.
After issuing the modification orders, Xia Jin continued her life within the Juxin Civilization.
She would occasionally watch the competitions or experience the local entertainment.
Two months quickly passed.
The exciting tournament gradually reached its conclusion. The Zerg's performance was in the upper middle tier; they were not overly prominent, nor did they deliberately strive to seize a massive number of first place titles.
As a civilization participating for the first time with only a few representatives, the combat power shown by the Zerg was enough to make many civilizations take them seriously. At the very least, no one could claim the Zerg were weak.
Using an Olympic analogy, it was like a country participating for the first time with only twenty or thirty athletes, yet those athletes won multiple gold and silver medals and more than ten bronze medals.
In terms of overall ranking, they were not on the same level as the world's leading nations, but looking solely at the quality of the individual athletes, they were undoubtedly in the first tier.
Unlike the Olympics, this competition directly reflected a civilization's military strength.
After all, the powerhouses in the competition possessed individual qualities comparable to military starships.
Therefore, the Zerg's approach of sending only a few individuals who performed excellently was easily overinterpreted by several major civilizations.
But that was exactly Xia Jin's goal.
On the day before the closing ceremony, the primary Zerg representatives sat in a giant venue capable of holding a million people, watching a grand performance on the scale of an interstellar civilization.
However, at that moment, a group of representatives belonging to the Juxin Civilization suddenly displayed abnormal anxiety.
Specific Juxin individuals were running back and forth between their seats and the exits, seemingly delivering some kind of message.
Before long, the primary members, including the leader of the Juxin Civilization, hurriedly left the scene. This event quickly drew the attention of many media outlets and naturally caught the eye of various high level authorities from other civilizations.
While everyone was curious about what had happened, the scout bugs Xia Jin had scattered for exploration had already obtained the information.
A virus outbreak!
A large number of patients had appeared within the Juxin Civilization's home planet region. After being sent to hospitals, these individuals lost their lives in an extremely short amount of time.
They exhibited a wide range of symptoms, including respiratory distress, full body ulceration, fever, hemorrhaging, pain, and neurological damage. Doctors immediately performed autopsies and research, quickly isolating thousands of distinct viruses from the bodies of the deceased.
From the appearance of the first patient three days ago until now, the number of infected had exceeded 20 million, and the virus had appeared on other planets within the Juxin Civilization.
According to current research, these viruses generally had an incubation period of more than three days, and those with longer incubation periods often resulted in more severe symptoms. Observations suggested that some viruses had actually existed a month ago and had invisibly spread to different parts of the entire civilization.
In short...
Xia Jin, who was eating a local frozen snow brick when she learned the news, dropped the snack right onto the ground with a smack.
The image of that seemingly harmless First Protocol immediately surfaced in her mind.
Well, the so called harmlessness specifically referred to the appearance of a beautiful girl; the mechanical body beneath that human skin was still quite intimidating.
“It seems I still underestimated the level of danger involved.”
Clearly, the purpose of asking her for those viruses was not to research some countermeasure; they must have intentionally released the viruses.
“I'll just pretend I don't know.”
Xia Jin looked down at the frozen snow brick at her feet, shook her head, and stood up to leave the venue.
In the distance, a mass of tentacles belonging to the Black Forest people suddenly shifted direction in unison, pointing straight at her.
Xia Jin: “...”
In terms of attraction, her projection as the Zerg Queen was indeed the most absurd. Even though the zergling girls were quite good looking, it seemed more Black Forest people preferred her.
...
The next morning, the Juxin Civilization issued a biochemical alert, confirming they were facing a genocidal biochemical crisis.
Subsequently, the civilization demanded the mandatory quarantine of all contestants, staff, and tourists, and prohibited any starships from leaving the ground.
Large groups of fully armed investigators began searching members of various civilizations and launched accusations against several suspect civilizations... including the Zerg.
In an instant, various civilizations began to condemn the actions of the Juxin people. They believed that because the Juxin were facing a crisis, they were groundlessly suspecting other civilizations to shift the blame and avoid responsibility for their own inadequate medical safeguards and poor management.
The infectious disease did not only appear among the Juxin people; a small number of individuals from other civilizations also showed varying degrees of infection.
Two days later, on the morning of May 2nd by that planet's calendar, a space poisoning incident occurred while the Meteor battleship was docked at an outer space port, infecting a large number of Juxin space force members.
On the afternoon of May 2nd, social order collapsed in some regions.
It proved that in the interstellar era, the moral standards of civilized individuals did not necessarily surpass those of primitive, barbaric times. Under the extreme threat to survival, a large number of disruptive groups emerged within the Juxin Civilization.
On May 3rd, according to the Emergency Crisis Response Act, the Juxin Civilization's social operational hub AI, First Protocol, began taking over social order. Relevant law enforcement personnel and accompanying mechanical security units appeared on the streets, conducting mandatory arrests of violators everywhere.
The AI protocol promised that all arrested individuals would be placed in mandatory detention to ensure the safety of the Juxin population at large.
First Protocol issued thirty two measures to protect the individuals of the Juxin Civilization, ranging from basic medical isolation and vaccine research to ultra high temperature body disposal, causing the chaotic social order to begin recovering.
On the network, a large number of Juxin professionals began to calm the public mind.
At 9:00 PM capital time that day, the Juxin high level authorities opened the nanotreatment protocol, planning to invest 50 trillion in the research of nanovirus cleaning robots, while simultaneously investing 180 trillion in the production of community disinfection robots.
On May 4th, public disorder intensified in some areas, and news emerged of domestic robots sacrificing themselves to protect their masters. Some experts proposed opening up certain permissions for the AI to forcibly isolate malicious spreaders to ensure social stability and curb the transmission of the virus.
On May 5th, the Juxin high level authorities passed a proposal for the production of program robots, allowing everyone to quarantine at home while most production activities were temporarily replaced by robots. First Protocol promised to ensure the supply of three meals a day for all those in home quarantine, with all means of production provided for free through the unpaid labor of robots during the quarantine period.
On May 6th, Juxin law enforcement discovered a micro capsule in the lounge of the Tela Civilization staff. The capsule contained as many as 120 types of viruses.
After a polygraph interrogation, the Tela Civilization staff member admitted to releasing the viruses.
Capital news reported: The Tela Civilization is a neighboring civilization of the Juxin Civilization. In the last 120 years, the two sides have had multiple conflicts over stellar territory disputes. One year ago, a small scale space battle broke out, resulting in the loss of one civilian ship for the Tela Civilization. To avoid escalation, both sides chose to resolve it through negotiations. This poisoning may be an act of revenge by the Tela Civilization.
By May 12th, the number of confirmed infections surpassed 689 billion, the number of symptomatic cases reached 349 billion, and the death toll hit 301.2 billion.
That day, the Saifei ship suddenly lost control, and the ship's broadcast issued a threat to all Juxin people: “The aggressive actions against the Tela Civilization must stop, or more viruses will be released.”
Because the ship attempted to release ten tons of virus into the atmosphere, it was destroyed by near earth orbit cannons controlled by First Protocol.
On May 13th, the authorities strongly condemned the inhumane genocidal actions of the Tela Civilization.
Since most starships had been contaminated by the virus, the authorities decided through an emergency meeting to lift intelligence constraints, allowing Second Protocol to take over control of all starships.
On May 14th, intelligent virus detection robots, after a global scan, discovered that the atmosphere and water sources of all Juxin planets were contaminated. Home quarantine could not completely stop the spread of the virus, so a mass quarantine of all planetary civilians was proposed. One million military spaces were to be converted into absolutely safe, ultra sanitized underground spaces, where Juxin individuals would be isolated separately within trillions of compartments. Safe zones were left between all compartments, with continuous disinfection 24 hours a day.
Facing the threat of extinction, the proposal was passed by the high level authorities.
The AI modification and the safe relocation plan for the quarantined population were launched on all planets.
The plan was expected to be completed within ten days, at which point all Juxin people would be concentrated within the one million underground spaces. Security and defense matters in the outside world would be temporarily handled by the AI. Four billion Juxin soldiers would participate in maintaining order and inspecting the AI to avoid the dire consequences of software or hardware damage.
On May 24th, the mass quarantine of 398 million Juxin people was completed.
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