The surrounding images began to rapidly rewind, and the battles that had once occurred replayed before Qin Yi’s eyes in reverse.
One by one, dead soldiers returned to life, the overwhelming swarms of insects receded like an ebbing tide, and everything returned to its original state.
Qin Yi took a deep breath. These visual images reinforced the memories in his mind, making him more clearly recognize that some decisions made under the premise that “all soldiers are rational beings” might be completely wrong, despite seeming correct.
After preparing himself, Qin Yi gently tapped the screen on the control console, and the waiting troops began to move again.
This time, Qin Yi’s attention was more focused, not daring to miss any detail.
Qin Yi recalled the consequences of certain previous decisions while reviewing the analytical data provided by AEEIS.
With AEEIS’s help, the status of every unit and even every soldier was quantified into constantly fluctuating data.
For example, at the beginning of battle, different soldiers had varying morale values, tension levels, fear values, and other data points that differed from one another. During combat, the rate at which these values changed also varied.
By combining all the values of every soldier in a unit and performing complex calculations, the current state of that unit could be displayed.
Sometimes morale was high, sometimes low, and sometimes a unit completely collapsed. Once a unit completely collapsed, Qin Yi had almost no options except to order a retreat, because other commands, whether to attack or hold position, would likely be ineffective.
During battle command, AEEIS would occasionally remind Qin Yi to make key decisions.
For instance, when multiple areas were engaged in battle simultaneously, and a squad discovered an insect nest, AEEIS would directly prompt Qin Yi after judging the importance of this event, allowing him to prioritize commanding this situation.
When a squad called for reinforcements or supplies, Qin Yi had many options. He could dispatch troops to reinforce them, ignore the reinforcement request, and order the squad to hold position, falsely claim reinforcements were coming, or tell them the truth, among other options.
Behind each option, AEEIS provided annotated information to help Qin Yi assess the possible consequences of his decision.
For example, if a squad on the verge of morale collapse received the message “reinforcements are on the way,” their morale would temporarily rise. If they learned there would be no reinforcements, morale might instantly collapse, or there was a tiny chance they might launch a suicide attack to eliminate more insects.
The consequences of each choice were viewable, though Qin Yi couldn’t attempt certain extremely low-probability outcomes.
If telling the truth would lead to a 90% chance of morale collapse, while inspiring soldiers to fight in desperate circumstances had less than a 10% chance, gambling on that sub-10% probability would be extremely foolish.
In this battle, Qin Yi didn’t command entirely according to the probabilities given by AEEIS. Sometimes he would deliberately reject this data in his heart.
Because often, choosing according to the data meant making decisions against his conscience. For example, when he needed to abandon or sacrifice a squad, but had to tell them reinforcements were coming so they would continue holding their position.
Qin Yi instinctively resisted such behavior, so in situations where it wouldn’t greatly affect the battle, he still insisted on telling the truth.
But undeniably, as the battle progressed, Qin Yi began to rely more and more on the data provided by AEEIS.
Because this data was genuinely useful.
Qin Yi gradually discovered that under chaotic battlefield conditions, the command methods designed for “rational beings” were basically ineffective. Instead, strictly following AEEIS’s data analysis for command decisions consistently yielded results that were, overall, the most acceptable.
For less critical decisions, Qin Yi began to place increasing importance on data and AEEIS’s opinions.
Compared to key battlefields, these peripheral battlefields and small unit actions wouldn’t affect the overall situation. Qin Yi didn’t expect them to experience that extremely small probability of “extraordinary performance.” He just hoped they wouldn’t collapse too quickly and could achieve relatively acceptable results.
This time, Qin Yi successfully won the battle.
After quickly reviewing the entire campaign, Qin Yi rapidly moved on to commanding the next battle, as his time was very limited and he had little opportunity to contemplate these dilemmas.
Qin Yi became increasingly adept at commanding according to AEEIS’s data and “global thinking,” and his battle results steadily improved.
From the initial defeats to now being able to control casualties within a certain range and win victories, Qin Yi’s progress was very evident.
With each victory, watching the soldiers’ cheering scenes and seeing the decreasing casualty numbers reported by AEEIS, Qin Yi felt gratified but also increasingly emotionally numb.
He felt himself gradually becoming a commanding machine without emotions, almost completely ignoring individual soldiers’ feelings, making cold and precise choices that benefited the overall battle.
…
Another battle.
As usual, Qin Yi quickly reviewed the battlefield information and formulated a combat strategy.
However, when he scanned the name of a small waiting squad, he froze momentarily.
Squad AS-371-45.
Qin Yi zoomed in the camera, scanning each soldier’s ID number and name.
He saw the names Xu Kaile, Meng Yu, Zhao Yongxiu, Wu Shaojun, and himself, Qin Yi, the captain of Squad AS-371-45.
There were so many units on the battlefield, each with its ID numbers and names, but Qin Yi had never paid attention to these details.
Because he simply couldn’t keep track of everything and couldn’t put himself in the position of any particular soldier to consider the problems.
This was a massive battle with countless decisions awaiting Qin Yi every minute. Focusing on a single soldier would be irresponsible to all the others.
However, upon seeing his squad, Qin Yi couldn’t help but feel moved.
The memories that had gradually blurred during training became clear again. Qin Yi’s gaze swept over each familiar squad member, and they were doing the same things as in his memory.
AEEIS didn’t explain much, but Qin Yi understood clearly that this must be the recorded footage of that battle. Now, that battle had been reset to its beginning, except this time he was no longer the captain of Squad AS-271-45 but the battlefield commander.
Qin Yi’s gaze again swept over the data for each soldier in Squad AS-371-45, as well as the squad’s composite data.
Morale value, tension level, fear value…
Each data point was displayed.
The data varied for each squad member.
Short and taciturn Meng Yu had the lowest tension and fear values, which matched Qin Yi’s assessment.
Zhao Yongxiu, who seemed clumsy and face-conscious, receiving the most attention in the squad, didn’t have particularly high fear values.
In contrast, Xu Kaile, who appeared optimistic and positive, often encouraged other squad members, had the highest tension level in the entire squad.
Qin Yi quickly determined the reason after brief consideration: Xu Kaile was a sensitive person who actually bore more mental pressure than others, and his optimism and positivity were merely a facade.
Qin Yi then looked at himself and found that his values weren’t as perfect as he had imagined.
Although his morale, fear values, and tension levels were the best in the squad, they were still far from a true “rational being.” Even across the entire fleet, they weren’t the most exceptional data points.
According to AEEIS’s assessment, he would also collapse and despair, falling short of being a cold, emotionless war machine.
From a personal emotional standpoint, Qin Yi believed from the bottom of his heart that Squad AS-371-45 was unique, but from a data perspective, it was just an ordinary squad.
Compared to other squads carrying out missions, this squad had no special characteristics.
As for why this squad ultimately completed the mission of finding the insect queen’s nest…
Originally, Qin Yi believed it was because of the sacrifice of other squad members, his persistence, and countless lucky escapes from death.
But now Qin Yi suddenly felt that while all these reasons might be valid, they might also be invalid.
From a commander’s perspective, the matter took on a different view.
In reality, the Joint Fleet dispatched so many squads, each with combat capabilities similar to AS-371-45, and some squads even had stronger combat capabilities.
Looking at the results, with a proper command strategy, out of so many squads, one or two would eventually reach the insect queen’s nest. If not Squad AS-371-45, it would have been another squad.
For Captain Qin Yi, such results came at the cost of the sacrifice and bloody struggle of all Squad AS-371-45 members. But for Commander Qin Yi, such results were the outcome of precise calculations.
Of course, calculations could have errors, and strategies could fail, but even without Squad AS-371-45, the outcome of this war wouldn’t have been much different.
Qin Yi stopped focusing on his squad and returned his view to the big picture.
The overwhelming sea of insects was already brewing, like a surging black tide or storm clouds gathering in the wind. Every second now was extremely precious.
Without speaking, Qin Yi skillfully operated the control console and began commanding this battle.
Under Qin Yi’s control, squad after squad met the insect swarms. Countless soldiers were swallowed by the sea of insects, and concentrated firepower blasted crater after crater, trench after trench on the planet’s surface.
Qin Yi calmly made a decision. After one formation was sacrificed, reserve formations immediately filled in. Human forces and insects began to clash on the grand battlefield, repeatedly contesting strategic locations.
Squad AS-371-45, like other elite squads, was dispatched to search for the insect queen’s nest. One elite squad after another was inadvertently exposed, their Anseibolian signals forever vanishing in the insect nests, but other teams continued to penetrate deeper into the nests.