Chapter 40

When Su Jing came out of the black market, the sun had already sunk below the New Luo City airway, and the pale golden afterglow cast dappled shadows on the ground through the openwork grilles of the metal walkway.

She followed the same route to the "tool storage room" in the industrial area—the temporary rest stop she had arranged with Martin. With less than 10 hours left before the dungeon ended, she planned to organize her spatial supplies there and wait for teleportation.

The smell of engine oil in the air was stronger than during the day, mixed with a faint burnt smell. In the distance came the distinctive "buzzing" sound of the rebellious robots, which was clearer than when they were heard near the city lord's mansion.

Su Jing gripped the laser gun at her waist, her fingertips on the trigger guard, and slowed her steps—according to the previous risk warning, the rebel robots, infected by a virus, would attack all living beings indiscriminately, and their movement speed was three times faster than the mechanical guards, so she had to be extra vigilant.

Just as I reached the middle of the metal walkway where the industrial area and the slums met, a loud crash suddenly came from ahead—an abandoned industrial robot was violently knocked away and slammed heavily against the walkway railing. Its metal shell deformed instantly, and its parts were scattered all over the ground.

Immediately afterwards, three rebellious robots rushed out from around the corner of the walkway. Their shells were riddled with rusted holes, and their once silver metal plates were now covered in dark red viral slime.

The red scanning eyes flashed wildly, and the robotic arm still had broken wires hanging from it. With each step it took, it burst out with blinding sparks and emitted a hissing sound like electricity.

"It's a virus-infected traitor!" Su Jing instantly dodged behind an abandoned metal pipe, quickly pulled out her laser gun, and activated the energy safety—

The indicator light on the side of the gun lit up green, indicating that the energy was full. She observed through the gap in the pipe: three rebel machines were advancing in a triangular formation. The mechanical arm of the middle one had been modified into a simple machete, while the two on the left and right held rusty metal pipes and were frantically hacking at the abandoned machines on both sides of the walkway, clearly out of control.

The traitor in the middle was the first to spot Su Jing. Its red scanning eyes locked onto her location, and it roared as it charged forward, brandishing its mechanical machete, the blade gleaming coldly in the afterglow.

Su Jing took a deep breath and aimed at the core of the traitor's chest—that was the weak point of all mechanical beings, even those infected by the virus.

She pulled the trigger, and a red laser beam shot out instantly, hitting the core precisely with a "whoosh." The rogue machine froze instantly, its red scanning eye went out, and its massive body slammed onto the walkway with a "clang," sending up a shower of metal fragments.

Seeing their comrade eliminated, the other two rebel planes became even more frenzied, flanking Su Jing from the left and right. The rebel plane on the left brandished a metal pipe, attempting to smash the pipe where she was hiding;

The rebel on the right circled around to the rear, trying to cut off her escape route.

Su Jing quickly assessed the situation, turned around and aimed at the core of the rebel aircraft on the right—the laser beam pierced through its corroded outer shell, the core exploded instantly, and the rebel aircraft crashed to the ground with a "bang," its mechanical arm still twitching unconsciously.

At this moment, the rebel plane on the left had rushed to the front of the pipe, and the metal pipe slammed into the pipe with a "bang," making Su Jing's arm go numb from the shock.

Using the recoil, she jumped backward, adjusting the angle of her gun to aim at the exposed core wiring of the defector aircraft—a more vulnerable target than the core itself, exposed due to viral corrosion.

The laser beam shot out, and the traitor's circuitry instantly burst into flames. The hissing sound of electricity abruptly stopped, and it swayed before crashing to the ground, completely motionless.

Su Jing breathed a sigh of relief, put down the laser gun, her fingertips slightly numb from the tension.

She walked to the fallen rebel machine, confirmed that all three were completely inoperable, and then turned to continue walking towards the industrial area.

She had just taken a step when she heard soft footsteps behind her. She instinctively turned around and saw an indigenous boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a faded synthetic fiber jacket and carrying a black canvas bag. He was standing at the entrance of the boardwalk, his eyes filled with obvious awe.

"Sister, you were amazing just now!" The boy walked over quickly and handed the canvas bag to Su Jing. "I'm Aunt Martha's neighbor, my name is Tom. She told me to give this to you if I met you—it contains 'enhanced energy bullets' that can make your laser gun more powerful and even penetrate the thick shell of a rebel machine."

Su Jing took the canvas bag and unzipped it—inside were 20 boxes of light red energy bombs, each with an extra red stripe around its edge compared to ordinary energy bombs, and the box was printed with the words "1.5 times more powerful".

She looked up at Tom and asked in confusion, "How did Aunt Martha know I would encounter a traitor here?"

“She heard from Uncle Martin that you were going back to the industrial area from the black market, and that there have been a lot of traitors appearing on this boardwalk lately, so she sent me with energy blasts to wait for you.”

Tom scratched his head with a shy smile. "You helped us repair the robots and get the cores without damaging our stuff, so we want to help you too—these energy blasts were secretly collected by my dad from the factory, and they're even better than the ones sold on the black market."

Su Jing felt a warmth in her heart, took out two vacuum-packed dried fruit pieces from her backpack, and handed them to Tom: "Thank you, and please thank Aunt Martha and your dad for me. Take these, they taste very sweet and will give you some energy."

Tom took the dried fruit and carefully stuffed it into his coat pocket, then added, "Sister, there might be rebels on the boardwalk ahead, so be careful! If you really can't beat them, run towards the slums, and we'll distract them for you!"

"I'll be careful." Su Jing nodded, said goodbye to Tom, and continued walking towards the industrial area with her canvas bag on her back.

The weight of the enhanced energy blast pressed down on her shoulders, but it made her feel exceptionally at ease—from the little boy at the beginning, to Lina, Martha, Martin, and now Tom, the friendliness of these natives was like a warm current, supporting a warm corner in the cold machinery of the cyber world.

When Su Jing reached the edge of the industrial zone, she took out her system panel and glanced at it—the dungeon had less than 2 hours left. In the global channel, Jack was still complaining, "I can't find a safe rest point, and I encountered a rogue machine, losing a laser gun." Zhao Yue and Chen Yang were discussing, "Should we give up early and return to the teleportation point to wait for the end?"

Su Jing turned off the channel and quickened her pace towards the "tool storage room." She needed to use the remaining time to put the newly acquired enhanced energy bombs into the spatial "weapon zone" and double-check all supplies to ensure nothing was forgotten on her return trip.

She had a vague feeling that after this instance ended, the end of the world would be closer, and these technological products brought back from the cyber world would become her key strength in protecting the villa and dealing with the extreme cold and monsters.

As they approached the "tool storage room," a familiar "ding-a-ling" sound came from afar—it was the metal bell on the little boy's waist!

Su Jing looked up and, sure enough, saw the little guy in the patched coat running quickly along the metal walkway, clutching a silver square object tightly in his hand, his face showing anxiety. He had obviously come specifically to find her.