Chapter 69 Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland 32

The heavy, imposing alloy door leading to the fifth underground level was covered with claw marks and signs of corrosion, clearly the place the puppet army had previously attempted to breach.

Without pausing, Zhou Jue raised his right arm, which was covered by armor, and the light prism blade popped out with a "hum".

Instead of looking for the lock, she plunged the blade, crackling with blue electric arcs, directly into the alloy door.

"Sizzle—"

Like a hot knife through butter, the sturdy alloy was easily torn apart by the high-temperature, high-frequency cutting of the prism blade. Zhou Jue's arm moved smoothly, drawing a huge square on the door.

"Bang!"

With a kick, the heavy door panel that had been cut off flew backward with a whistling sound, crashing heavily into the depths of the passage with a deafening thud.

A cold, damp smell, mixed with the stench of blood and ozone, wafted in from the open doorway.

Zhou Jue stepped inside.

This is a long, downward-facing metal ramp. The walls are no longer cold alloy, but covered with some kind of dark red, blood vessel-like biological tissue. They are still pulsating slightly, making "gurgling" sounds, making the whole passage look like the esophagus of some giant beast.

[Warning: High-intensity mental field interference detected.]

[Activating mental barrier... Activation successful.]

As soon as the system notification ended, Zhou Jue felt an invisible noise trying to penetrate her mind. It was a mixture of countless people's dying cries, fear, and despair, enough to drive anyone with a weak will to madness instantly.

However, with the dual protection of powered armor and systems, this mental pollution is like the buzzing of mosquitoes through thick glass—completely ineffective.

Zhou Jue descended the slope, his footsteps echoing heavily in the deathly silent passage. At the end of the slope was an enormous circular dome-shaped space, and at the center of that space was the core node of the "Hive Consciousness".

It was a colossal "heart," over twenty meters in diameter, entangled with countless twisted human figures and black nanofluid. Suspended in mid-air, its surface covered in dark red biological blood vessels, each pulse causing the entire space to tremble. Countless thick data cables, like vines, hung from the dome, piercing deep into the "heart," supplying it with energy and receiving commands from it.

Beneath this giant heart, on the ground, lay countless, piled-up corpses.

Zhou Jue's arrival caused that enormous heart to beat at an alarming rate!

"Intruders..."

A consciousness, clearer and grander than the one previously broadcast, resounded directly in Zhou Jue's mind.

Why...resist...unification?

"Flesh and blood... frailty... machinery... ascension..."

"Join...us...and you will...live forever!"

As the seductive whispers continued, the vascular tissues on the walls of the entire space began to writhe violently, squeezing out black humanoid monsters made of nanobots. These monsters were smaller than the one Zhou Jue had encountered in the workshop, but there were dozens of them!

They roared and surrounded Zhou Jue from all directions.

Zhou Jue snorted coldly, his eyes remaining completely unmoved beneath the black mask.

"You're talking too much nonsense."

The miniature electromagnetic cannon on her right shoulder lit up with blue light again.

But this time, it's no longer a scattering mode.

"boom!"

A beam of electromagnetic light, condensed to its extreme, pierced the chest of the foremost black monster like a blue ray of death! The monster didn't even have time to react before its entire body disintegrated instantly under the impact of the high-energy electromagnetic beam, turning into scattered black powder.

However, the powder did not dissipate; instead, as if it had a life of its own, it quickly flowed towards the enormous heart and re-integrated into it.

Zhou Jue frowned slightly. Could it be recycled after being broken up? This thing was more troublesome than he had imagined.

"Kill...her...!"

The vast consciousness roared in anger.

Dozens of black monsters launched an attack simultaneously. They were no longer simply physical impacts, but instead shot out countless black spikes from their bodies, raining down on Zhou Jue like a storm.

Instead of retreating, Zhou Jue advanced, the engine of her power armor emitting a deep roar. She transformed into a silver lightning bolt, speeding through the dense rain of spikes, her light prism blade drawing deadly blue arcs.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

One by one, the black monsters were cleaved in two, but they would quickly turn into fluid and try to reassemble.

The battle reached a stalemate for a time. Zhou Jue fought while simultaneously having the system rapidly analyze the situation.

[Analysis in progress... The target core controls all nanorobot sub-units through high-frequency information flow.]

[After the sub-entity is destroyed, its constituent matter and information data will be recovered by the core.]

Conclusion: Without destroying the core, the number of offspring will be endless.

Just as I expected! Zhou Jue's gaze locked onto the giant, throbbing heart.

To catch the thief, first catch the king!

She stomped her foot on the ground and soared into the sky, ignoring the black monsters surging towards her below, and rushed straight towards the core in mid-air!

"madness!"

The core consciousness let out a mocking sound.

Suddenly, hundreds of thick black tentacles emerged from the surface of that enormous heart, forming a vast net that swept towards Zhou Jue!

Zhou Jue was suspended in mid-air with nowhere to grab onto, and was about to be captured by the net of tentacles.

"Brother Tong, now's the time!"

[Received! Energy core output power switched to 150%! Overload mode activated!]

"Buzz—!"

The power armor on Zhou Jue's body emitted dazzling blue flames from every joint gap!

Her speed surged once again at that moment! She twisted her body in mid-air at an unbelievable angle, narrowly avoiding the front of the tentacle network, while simultaneously aiming the light prism blade in her hand at the data cables connecting the heart and the dome!

"Break it off!"

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

A blue blade of light left several afterimages in the air. The data cables transmitting energy and information were severed instantly!

"roar--!!!"

The core consciousness let out a roar of extreme pain; for the first time, its mental turmoil became chaotic and unstable. Deprived of external energy supply, its pulse weakened noticeably for a moment.

This is the opportunity!

After cutting the cables, Zhou Jue began to fall, but she used the momentum of her fall to channel all her strength, along with the overload power of her power armor, into the electromagnetic cannon on her right shoulder!

The light from the cannon muzzle changed from blue to an extremely dazzling pure white!

[WARNING! Barrel temperature exceeds critical value!]

[Warning! Energy output is about to reach its limit!]

Ignoring the system's alarm, Zhou Jue locked the cannon's muzzle firmly onto the very center of that enormous heart!

"goodbye."

"boom--!!!"

A white beam of light, ten times thicker than before and seemingly capable of piercing the heavens and earth, burst forth from the cannon's muzzle, instantly engulfing the enormous, still-struggling heart!

The entire underground space was enveloped in white light.

There was no sound, because all sound was annihilated in this ultimate release of energy.

The white light dissipated.

In mid-air, the enormous heart had vanished without a trace, along with the black monsters, all turning into the most basic particles.

The core nodes of the target 'Hive Consciousness' have been completely eliminated.

The threat of "sleep talking disorder" at the Kyoto base has been eradicated.

Zhou Jue landed slowly, the overload mode of the power armor was deactivated, and wisps of white smoke rose from several joints.

She didn't stop, but turned and walked back the way she came.

There's one more.

Ten minutes later, she stood in front of that office building, the location marked by the system as the source of the "Grey Gu".

She kicked open the door, and the scene inside was completely different from the biological contamination of the "hive".

The entire interior of the building, including the walls, floors, and ceilings, is covered by a layer of gray-black, self-proliferating metallic material that is analyzing, copying, and reconstructing everything around it at a visible speed.

"Found...organic organism...found...silicon-based...armor..."

A cold, emotionless mechanical voice echoed in the space. The next second, the walls and floor of the entire building came to life, and countless silver-gray spikes, blades, and cannon barrels deformed from the metal layers and were aimed at Zhou Jue.

"Analysis...copying...assimilation..."

Zhou Jue watched this scene and simply asked a question coldly.

"Brother Tongzi, what's going on with the technology on this planet? How come there are nanoviruses and gray worms everywhere? And with such powerful power armor, how did the people here still lose?"

[Host, according to database analysis, the technological development of this planet is extremely uneven. They have reached very high theoretical levels in information technology and nanotechnology, but are limited by bottlenecks in materials science and energy science, making it impossible to stably apply and manufacture them.]

"Nanoviruses" and "Grey Gu" are both examples of uncontrolled research findings.

The 'Guardian Type I' power armor obtained by the host is a complete finished product manufactured based on mature theories, materials, and energy technologies. However, power armor research on this planet is still in its early stages—theoretically feasible, but not yet achievable in practice.

"He was a giant in theory but a dwarf in practice."

Zhou Jue understood.

She raised her arm, but the light prism blade was not activated. Instead, an inconspicuous firing port appeared on her arm armor.

[High-frequency pulse weapon activated.]

This is a weapon specifically designed to counter precision mechanical structures.

"Assimilation?" Zhou Jue's electronic voice carried a hint of sarcasm: "Then try out my new weapon!"

An invisible, high-frequency shockwave spread from her to the entire building in an instant!

"Buzz—Buzz buzz—"

All the weapons made of gray gu were instantly out of control and disintegrated under this shockwave, disintegrating from their sophisticated weapon forms into the most primitive gray-black quicksand.

The entire building seemed to have experienced a violent earthquake, with countless gray-black dust particles falling down.

The source of the 'Grey Gu' has been eliminated.

In a short period of time, Zhou Jue eliminated two potential threats to the Kyoto base one after another.

She walked out of the office building and looked at the now-tranquil base, but felt little joy.

This world is too dangerous.

She needs a truly reliable place to land as a "channel" and also to find the "order" of this world.

"Brother Tong, scan the entire city and look for any surviving official institutions or military assembly points."

[Received, initiating wide-area scan...]