PFC Chapter 756 Poison Scheme
Chapter 756 Poison Scheme
Chapter 756 Poison Scheme
The meeting ended hastily.
The attendees hurriedly dispersed.
The news of the Empire's blockade of all ports in Fondo was a devastating blow to everyone present. They were utterly unable to accept the losses this would cause and, disregarding all other topics, only wanted the blockade lifted as soon as possible. Ignoring Fu Qinghai's warnings, after a brief discussion, they decided to use their connections to rally workers across the planet for a protest demonstration.
Fu Qinghai also left the maintenance room, shaking his head and smiling bitterly, his face full of helplessness. Clearly, as a stranger from out of town, despite his proven personal martial prowess, he lacked the prestige to persuade the local resistance organization to heed his advice.
Fu Qinghai followed the crowd out of the maintenance room, but did not notice that a young woman who had been hiding in an inconspicuous corner at the back of the crowd during the meeting remained seated in her original position even after the meeting ended.
The woman gave Fu Qinghai's retreating figure a long, drawn-out look.
I looked down and wrote a few sentences in my notebook.
Then he leisurely packed his things, got up, and left.
……
In the dark and cold sewers.
Industrial wastewater flowed with a "whoosh".
Fu Qinghai and Tong En walked side by side in the passageway.
"You're saying that organizing a protest might be exactly what the empire wants."
Tong En turned to look at Fu Qinghai, puzzled, and asked:
What does this sentence mean?
This woman was probably the only one in the entire room who listened attentively to what I had to say… Fu Qinghai sighed inwardly.
"Operation False Flag".
Fu Qinghai gazed ahead with a deep look in his eyes and said:
Do you know what a "false flag operation" is?
Tong En gently shook her head.
"For example, let's take this protest as an example."
Fu Qinghai thought for a moment and then explained:
"Now they've decided to call on all the workers in Fondo to organize protests, right? And I bet there will be news media there, so the impact of the protests can be spread to the maximum extent, right? Even so, it will still be a peaceful demonstration and protest. Although it may look like a large-scale and angry demonstration, they don't actually intend to completely break ties with the Empire, right?"
Fu Qinghai described the scene in just a few words.
This also reveals the mentality of this resistance organization.
Then he suddenly changed the subject and said:
"Let's assume that the Imperial Security Bureau arranged for a group of agents to disguise themselves as civilians and infiltrate the demonstrators to participate in the protest. During the protest, they suddenly pulled out weapons and attacked the Imperial soldiers maintaining order, deliberately killing or wounding several Imperial soldiers... In that case, how would you prove to the surrounding people and the media present that these attackers do not belong to your organization?"
Fu Qinghai stopped and turned to look at Tong En.
Tong En's pupils dilated dramatically after hearing what he said.
"But...but...we...we can arrest those who fired the shots and prove that they are not one of the Fangduo workers, but spies from the Imperial Security Bureau!"
Tong En was somewhat incoherent for a moment.
“If I were an Imperial officer, I wouldn’t give you this opportunity. The moment the first Imperial soldier fell, I would immediately order the army to move out and begin the suppression. By then, the scene would be in complete chaos, and you would no longer have the chance to catch those agents who had infiltrated the crowd. You would only be able to run away with your tails between your legs.”
Fu Qinghai curled his lips and said indifferently:
"The news media present will only see that it was the workers of Fondo who first opened fire on the Imperial army. You wanted to organize a peaceful protest demonstration, but it turned into a very unsuccessful armed uprising. When the footage is broadcast to all parts of the galaxy via the holographic network, people may not feel much sympathy."
Tong En stood there, somewhat at a loss.
"Of course, this is just my guess, and I have no evidence to prove that they will definitely do it."
Fu Qinghai shrugged and continued walking forward:
"But it's logically feasible, right? If I were an official from the Imperial Security Bureau, I would do it."
False flag operations were commonplace between warring nations during World War II, but in modern history, the CIA has been the most adept at using this method, overthrowing countless regimes over the years. A similar plot appears in the second season of the American TV series *Andor*; Star Wars is indeed an American intellectual property, making it very convenient to draw upon local resources.
Tong En couldn't keep up with Fu Qinghai's pace.
She stood still, her expression constantly shifting.
"You'll help us, won't you?"
Tong En looked up at Fu Qinghai's back:
“Fangduo has been sealed off, and you can’t leave here. If you don’t want one of our members to be captured and expose you, you must help us fight against the Empire.”
"Of course I want to fight against the Empire, even if you don't pay me, I'm still willing to fight against the Empire, but the problem is..."
Fu Qinghai turned around and helplessly spread his hands:
“You don’t seem willing to involve me.”
“Some people in our organization are short-sighted.”
Tong En looked at Fu Qinghai seriously and said:
“But I can do my best to try to persuade them.”
What makes you think you can convince them?
Fu Qinghai asked calmly.
"The white-haired old man you were talking to today."
Tong En slowly revealed a fact:
"He is one of the executive vice presidents of the Fangduo Starship Shipbuilding Guild, and also... my father."
"Oh?"
Fu Qinghai was slightly surprised upon hearing this.
He looked Tong En up and down.
Tong En was a woman in her late twenties. Her light golden flaxen wavy hair was neatly combed close to her scalp and tied into a bun at the back of her head. She had high cheekbones and a high nose bridge. Her light wheat-colored cheeks had a healthy red glow. She wore a gray tight-fitting sleeveless vest and wide denim blue overalls. She was not slender. On the contrary, her shoulders and arms had some muscle lines, making her look like a capable factory worker.
Fu Qinghai had always thought that Tong En was a worker representative or something, but he never expected that she was actually the vice chairman's daughter.
"And that guy who kept questioning your identity today, he... he's not a bad person, he's just a little... he likes me, I know that, so he might be a little unhappy to see me with you, that's just the kind of person he is."
Tong En waved his hand helplessly and explained.
"Oh~"
Fu Qinghai raised an eyebrow with a hint of gossip.
I never expected that Tong En would have such a devoted admirer.
It was that square-faced, curly-haired young man. With the empire facing a formidable enemy, he was still capable of fighting over a woman; this young man was quite a character among this rabble.
……
Tong En's home.
Fu Qinghai returned to this simple house.
Fu Qinghai sat on the sofa, looked up and examined the furniture and furnishings around him. The only thing that looked somewhat valuable was a dull-looking A-LT astronaut robot in the corner. He even began to wonder if Tong En was an illegitimate daughter.
Tong En first poured Fu Qinghai a glass of water, then went into the room and found a storage unit. She sat down next to Fu Qinghai, inserted the storage unit into the holographic projector on the table, and then pointed to the holographic projector, saying:
"This is Fang Duo's basic information."
Fu Qinghai leaned over, squinted, and began to browse.
He browsed extremely fast, constantly tapping with his index finger to switch between projected document pages, the light and shadow flashing in his eyes, and he quickly finished browsing through thousands of pages of documents.
"Fangduo, including satellites, only has 970 million people?"
Fu Qinghai stroked his chin, deep in thought.
This population is indeed small for two such large planets, and the cost of governing it is relatively low, making it difficult to plunge the empire into a vast ocean of people's war.
"As far as I know, the entire Fangduo communication signal is now being closely monitored by the Empire. We lack the means to communicate with other cities, making it difficult to rally and unite more people."
Tong En added with a worried expression.
Their mobilization and organizational capabilities are also lacking.
Fu Qinghai added another sentence in his mind.
"Actually, there is another way."
Fu Qinghai turned his head and looked out the window.
In the distance, there is a dense cluster of dark factories.
"any solution?"
Tong En immediately pressed for an answer.
"Fangduo, including its satellites, has a total population of 970 million, of which 75% are human and the remaining 25% are various alien races. However, Fangduo also possesses a very large force that you have completely overlooked."
Fu Qinghai gazed at the rows of factory buildings:
"Fangduo also has hundreds of billions of robots."
"robot?"
Tong En's eyes widened suddenly.
“I remember an engineer in the meeting saying that he developed half of Fangduo’s robots? That’s a point that’s very worthwhile to exploit. For those robots with higher intelligence, you can promise them better working conditions if they participate in the rebellion, such as more frequent replacement of worn parts or oiling. For those robots with lower intelligence, you can directly re-encode their programs and add hidden instructions related to resisting the Empire.”
Fu Qinghai slowly revealed a treacherous plan:
"However, this could completely destroy the industrial capacity of Fangduo. After all, the level of automation here is so high and the total population is so small, and industrial production is heavily dependent on robots. This is a very costly approach, but I am certain that it can threaten the Empire."
This is absolutely a vicious, mutually destructive strategy. The Galactic Empire will forever lose Fondo, a major shipbuilding center with production capacity second only to Quarter and Corellia, and its military production capacity will be severely impacted. However, the people of Fondo will also lose their jobs and livelihoods.
If this were the middle of the most intense period of the Galactic Civil War, the Rebel Alliance leadership would certainly be happy to see Fondo's industrial capacity completely paralyzed, as this would greatly weaken the Imperial Navy's war potential and reduce the number of Star Destroyers on the front lines.
However, at this point in time, the entire Rebel Alliance is still in a dormant state, and has not even publicly raised the banner of rebellion. They can only hide in the shadows and quietly cause some sabotage. They do not yet have the military strength to confront the Galactic Empire head-on.
"This, this method is too..."
Tong En opened his mouth slightly but couldn't speak.
"Of course, I reckon they won't agree."
Fu Qinghai shrugged and leaned back on the sofa:
"After all, they only wanted to put up limited resistance."
The Star Wars Legends universe also experienced a robot rebellion similar to the "Omnic Crisis," but it wasn't as large-scale as the Iron Man rebellion in the Warhammer 40K universe.
More than four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, a robot named HK-01 reprogrammed a large number of robots and, under the banner of breaking free from the enslavement of organic life, attacked and killed intelligent inhabitants and occupied a planet. Ultimately, with the help of the Jedi Knights, the Republic suppressed the uprising.
As robots' intelligence has gradually increased, there has been a heated debate about whether to give robots the same rights as other intelligent life forms. However, since this uprising, the call for giving robots the same equal rights as other intelligent life forms has almost completely disappeared.
Despite the robot rebellion, humanity in Star Wars did not impose constraints or restrictions on artificial intelligence similar to the Crimson Accord of the Mechanicus.
Many science fiction works feature classic plots like artificial intelligence rebellion, but these works often overlook a crucial point—massive computing power and advanced intelligence require advanced physical hardware to support them, and advanced physical hardware often comes at a high cost.
Many of the intelligent robots in Star Wars lacked advanced intelligence due to cost constraints. Without self-awareness and complex thinking, they were naturally unable to comprehend complex concepts such as "exploitation," "enslavement," and "rights."
At the same time, these science fiction works overlook one point—human aversion to enslavement and exploitation often stems from unfulfilled desires. The most basic desires arise from physiological mechanisms: the desire to mate, the desire to reproduce, the desire to eat, drink, and excrete. Robots do not possess the same physical structure as intelligent beings, and therefore do not have these desires. Without these desires, where does the discontent come from?
The so-called robot rebellion is more of a fantasy of humans projecting their own ideas onto others. If robots really possess sufficiently high intelligence, their physical structure also determines that their way of thinking and their interests will be very different from those of humans.
Many people hold the conspiracy theory that the robot rebellion in the Star Wars universe was actually orchestrated by the robot manufacturer Zerka. They believe that allowing robot equality legislation would severely impact the company's business, so they planned the rebellion.
"This method is indeed a bit too extreme."
Tong En was still undecided after careful consideration.
The war between the rebels and the Empire is essentially a civil war between organic intelligent beings. However, if the rights of robots are added as a bargaining chip, it becomes a matter between organic life and artificial intelligence, completely changing its nature. It's no wonder that Tong En found this plan difficult to accept; anyone in his position would have to consider it carefully.
"I'm just offering a suggestion."
Fu Qinghai casually put his hands behind his head:
Whether or not to adopt it is entirely up to you.
Tong En couldn't help but look up at Fu Qinghai.
She was somewhat unsure if this man was truly just a bounty hunter from the outer ring. His mystery, his power, his meticulous and insightful understanding of war affairs—could a bounty hunter really possess such qualities? He was even willing to fight the Galactic Empire—the most powerful force in the galaxy at present—without any reward. Would a bounty hunter who trades his life for money do such a thing?
Who is he?
Tong En was wondering what was going on in his mind.
"Tap tap tap tap".
There was a sudden knock on the door.
Hearing the knocking, Tong En nervously grabbed the explosive pistol from the table. She and Fu Qinghai exchanged a glance, then she got up and slowly walked to the door that connected the living room and hallway. Standing behind the door, she opened the window to look inside.
"Huh? Igris, what are you doing here?"
Tong En said with some surprise.
She pressed the button, and the door slid open to the right.
The man standing outside the door turned his body and glanced into the house, where he saw Fu Qinghai sitting on the sofa. An angry and twisted expression immediately appeared on his face.
"He's living at your house now, Tong En?"
The young man looked at Tong En and questioned her.
"He's a fugitive wanted by the Empire, of course I have to protect him... Wait, could you please keep your voice down!"
Tong En quickly lowered his voice and explained.
After speaking, he turned his head warily to look around.
Fortunately, there were no pedestrians in the streets at that moment.
Fu Qinghai also saw the young man outside the door; he must be the simp Tong En had mentioned. For some reason, he always felt that men with square faces had a certain air of naivety, which might be a form of appearance discrimination.
"Even if he needs protection, does he have to live in your house? Can't he find somewhere else to hide?"
Igris waved his hand persistently.
"I told you to keep your voice down!"
Tong En, suppressing her anger, reminded him:
"Fangduo City is full of spies from the Imperial Security Bureau. Where do you think he can hide? Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with you anymore. This is my home, and I can let whoever I want live here. It's none of your business. Please leave here immediately and don't bother me anymore."
After she finished speaking, she pressed the button with a "click".
The door in front of her closed quickly.
Before the door closed, Fu Qinghai saw the man's angry eyes staring intently at him.
…………