Lin Xi had no idea what kind of algorithm the Ghost Mechanical Warriors produced by the Del Corporation 300 years ago used to process things. According to the laws at the time, the use of any chips or laws with artificial intelligence was strictly prohibited when manufacturing these high-powered killing machines. They could only be mechanical command products, but even so...
When dealing with enemies, they still displayed a collective wisdom akin to that of a swarm of bees.
It didn't take Lin Xi long to realize what those red lights represented.
The memories Scripps passed on to him mentioned that these killing machines would prioritize killing those most deeply infected with the alien genes (perhaps because the greater the degree of alien gene mutation, the greater the chance of a human turning into that terrifying monster).
And without a doubt, on the Sun God, Xavier and Lin Xi were their priority targets.
Lin Xi had to admit that even though he had now mutated into a rather powerful being, he still felt somewhat powerless when facing this group of "ghost" mechanical warriors.
Did the Martian leeches that were wiped out by the "Ghost" mechanical warriors ever experience the same fear?
Lin Xi stared at those perfect killing machines and couldn't help but think this way.
These mechanical monsters possess ghostly agility and devastating firepower that belies their slender physique.
Lin Xi's senses had been heightened to their most acute level, but even then, he was still hit by bullets fired from inside their bodies during battles.
The pulsed rays, shimmering with azure light, left numerous wounds on Lin Xi's body. For a couple of moments, he nearly had half his head sliced off by the metal tentacles. Xavier's situation wasn't much better; in fact, if compared to Lin Xi, the former was likely in a more dire predicament. After all, according to the judgment of these mechanical warriors, Xavier, being a complete mutant from birth, naturally possessed a far greater degree of mutation than Lin Xi.
This can be seen from the displays on the heads of those mechanical warriors.
Every now and then, Xavier would seize an opportunity to swiftly slip into the blind spots of the mechanical warriors, then plunge his hard claws directly into the roots of those metal tentacles, tearing them into sparkling metal fragments.
Lin Xi glanced at their displays, where his and Xavier's information was highlighted in red.
[Priority treatment for targets with unknown infection levels: 100%]
[...Secondary priority treatment target with unknown infection level: 41%]
It must be said that Lin Xi was somewhat surprised to discover that his infection level was only 41%. After all, he had already grown mouthparts and fingernails that were completely different from those of ordinary people. In this urgent situation, he had been forced to use many special abilities that were unique to monsters. He never expected to find out the extent of his infection in such a situation.
Lin Xi vaguely felt that there was something wrong with this number, but unfortunately, he and Xavier were facing a situation that was not something they could seriously consider.
"Crack..."
Another mechanical warrior has been reduced to ruins.
Lin Xi looked up and could see how easily Xavier, who was blocking his way, turned those mechanical warriors into pieces.
The scene was even somewhat bloody...
However, these entirely man-made creations feel no pain or fear. The sight of their companions being torn to pieces before their eyes has no deterrent effect on them. They have absolutely no sense of retreat, and what's worse, their numbers are like those of cockroaches.
Lin Xi could keenly sense that, through some special means of communication, more and more mechanical warriors put down the prey they were torturing and began to converge in their direction.
"No, we can't go on like this."
Lin Xi muttered to herself.
Another mechanical warrior swung its metal tentacles and lunged towards Lin Xi. Lin Xi fired at the thing, and his bullets caused some small cracks on the mechanical warrior's rounded shell, but did not hinder its movement.
Lin Xi's expression remained unchanged. He decisively tossed aside the cumbersome gun, took a sudden step to the side, and leaped up. The mechanical warrior tried to stop, but due to inertia, it slid directly to Lin Xi's feet. Lin Xi landed steadily, pinning the menacing metal monster firmly to his ground. He could feel a long, sharp black spike seemingly evolving on his calf.
Now, this spike pierced directly through the cracked spot on the mechanical warrior's hard head, where the bullet had previously struck, and pinned it firmly to the ground like a nail.
Amidst the flying sparks and arcs of electricity, the mechanical warrior remained incapacitated. Its metal tentacles continued to pound wildly against the ground around it, relentlessly lashing out towards Lin Xi.
Under these circumstances, Lin Xi could only use an unprecedented amount of strength to tear the metal tentacles directly from the rounded head, while sighing to Xavier:
"We have to get out of here..."
In the brief moment Lin Xi was speaking, countless tiny insects rustled and emerged from every corner of the spaceship.
Compared to their strong and resilient companions, they were fragile and insignificant. Some of the insects came from the interior of the Helios—any old spaceship like the Helios, with a history of three hundred years, would inevitably have a large number of cockroaches breeding there. Of course, most of the insects came from this planet.
The mechanical warriors destroyed the Covenant Shield used to block foreign invasion, and now Lin Xi can summon those mindless but numerous alien insects to his heart's content.
These insects were like a black tide, instantly covering the silvery-white ground and walls.
Under Lin Xi's control, they surged and overwhelmed the group of mechanical warriors. Their small size gave them another advantage in dealing with these mechanical warriors; they used their bodies and the acid within them to diligently corrode the tiny parts of the mechanical warriors.
The mechanical warriors froze briefly, but they quickly found a way to deal with the insects.
A blue arc of electricity shot along the arc generator at the tip of the metal tentacle, all the way to their bodies. The swarm of wriggling insects that had previously covered their entire bodies fell off like countless tiny pebbles from various parts of the mechanical warriors' bodies after the arc passed.
The ground was quickly covered with a thick carpet of insect corpses.
However, the sacrifice of these little insects was not meaningless.
In the instant that the mechanical warriors froze because of the tiny insects, Lin Xi and Xavier seized the opportunity, slipped into a hidden corner, and quickly disappeared.
...
Inside the pitch-black main ventilation duct opening—
"Go to the left, there are 12 robot warriors 10 meters above the pipe."
Lin Xi let out a soft hiss as he spoke to Xavier, who was pressed against him.
He could sense that Xavier paused slightly before choosing the left at the fork in the road.
At this moment, Lin Xi was being held tightly by Xavier's clump-holding legs at the base of his wings over his chest, which was covered by a thick breastplate. His remaining few slender, sharp insect limbs were stuck in the smooth metal inner wall of the metal pipe, moving forward slowly in an almost silent manner.
Whenever they felt a faint vibration coming from a distance in the pipe, they would immediately stop all their movements.
Lin Xi blinked, unaware that his eyes were faintly gleaming with a grayish-white light in the darkness. At this moment, his mind was constantly traversing the minds of the insects scattered throughout every corner of the spaceship.
He observed the entire ship's environment through the eyes of the still-living members of his kin. It was because of this that he easily realized the ghostly mechanical warriors were wholeheartedly searching for him and Xavier.
In fact, it was precisely for this reason that he and Xavier adopted such an intimate approach to moving forward.
After all, Lin Xi's body still looked completely human, making it difficult for him to advance undetected in such a harsh environment without alerting the highly perceptive mechanical warriors.
This is troublesome, but there's nothing that can be done about it. What Lin Xi needs most right now is time.
He could never forget that Alyssa and Bryce were almost completely unsuspecting, bustling around near the lifeboat...
Lin Xi had to get back as soon as possible, no matter what.
Fortunately, no further trouble arose on the way to the engine.
They soon reached the end of the ventilation duct, where a very narrow space lay. To the right was a small staircase leading to the equipment room, and to the left, a narrow door. Unlike the surrounding rusted, worn metal panels, the door was smooth, shiny, and sturdy; it was a test port for maintenance personnel. Completely different from the darkness inside the ventilation duct, there was finally some faint light here. Although it would be quite dim for humans, it was enough to illuminate everything around Lin Xi and Xavier.
Lin Xi and Xavier stopped at the narrow platform.
Once they push open that door, they can reach the core of the engine.
They need some time to disassemble the ion generator and then rush back.
"You're injured."
The light here naturally illuminated the wounds on Lin Xi's body.
Unlike Xavier, Lin Xi, as the mother of the mutants, seems to have a physique that is more similar to that of a human...
For example, regarding its healing ability, after such a journey, Xavier's wounds, which were far more severe than Lin Xi's, were covered with a thick layer of mucus. It was obvious without even looking that beneath that mucus, its body was actively repairing the surface of the wounds.
But Lin Xi's wounds still looked gruesome and terrifying.
Xavier's wings suddenly turned a pale purple in panic.
"Lin Xi, you said... your injury wasn't serious."
It reached out, seemingly wanting to touch Lin Xi's wounds, but before that, Xavier cautiously withdrew his hand.
This monster, which could easily tear those killing machines produced by Del Corporation to shreds, now appeared unusually terrified.
In contrast to Xavier's panic, Lin Xi was remarkably calm. He didn't care about his wounds at all, even though they hurt terribly.
"It's alright... I avoided the vital points, these are just superficial wounds."
Lin Xi said calmly.
"..."
However, when he looked up, he saw Xavier on the verge of tears.
"I failed to protect Lin Xi."
Xavier murmured.
Its pain was so vivid that it was even transmitted directly to Lin Xi's heart through the connection between the two of them.
Lin Xi subconsciously raised his hand, instinctively wanting to comfort Xavier.
However, the mere act of raising his hand immediately aggravated a deep scar on his arm, causing a large amount of blood to gush out.
The strong stench of blood permeated every corner of the spaceship, following the ventilation ducts they had come through.
Lin Xi groaned, somewhat dazed, as his mind was drawn into the vision of another clan. He then clearly saw the mechanical warriors produced by Del Corporation suddenly raise their ugly, rounded helmets and look towards the ventilation vents, as if they had sensed something.
"Damn it."
Lin Xi wanted to curse that damned designer from 300 years ago. What was he thinking when he installed an odor analyzer on a robot?
As the mother of the mutants, his blood contains a large amount of pheromones, giving him a distinct distinguishing feature compared to other mutants.
"We have to get rid of this blood, otherwise those damn Del Corporation monsters will soon be following us by the scent."
Lin Xi frowned and said in a low voice.
The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a damp sensation on his arm.
Lin Xi's body jolted suddenly. He looked up abruptly and stared at Xavier grinning.
The face that once belonged to Xavier has now completely changed, and Xavier himself probably hasn't even noticed that its mimicry is showing signs of disintegration.
His jaw, as perfectly sculpted as a marble sculpture, split open from the middle, revealing long, gleaming fangs covered in fine serrations protruding from below his lips. Then came the protruding mouthparts, and a long, thin, tongue-like object emerged from deep within Xavier's throat, wrapping around Lin Xi's arm.
Lin Xi's breath hitched slightly. He almost cried out and pulled his arm back, but he didn't move in the end. He just watched as Xavier lowered his eyelids and cleanly sucked up the blood gushing from Lin Xi's wound.
As a monster, it has an amazing skill in dealing with bloodstains.
The wings hanging behind it flashed pink and light blue in a regular alternation, like breathing lights.
After processing the blood, Xavier secreted a glob of translucent liquid from his mouthparts—it looked almost like saliva.
Of course, Lin Xi knew that it was probably not saliva, but so what? He wasn't willing to investigate any further.
Xavier's "saliva" quickly formed a thin film on the outside of Lin Xi's wound.
Only then did Lin Xi subconsciously breathe a sigh of relief.
In fact, only a short time had passed from when Xavier opened his mouth to when the wound was treated, but for some reason, Lin Xi felt that time seemed to have been stretched out.
Just a moment ago, there seemed to be a strange atmosphere between him and Xavier.
They're being a little too intimate.
Lin Xi couldn't help but think.
He felt uncomfortable with Xavier's natural intimacy.
"In that case... Lin Xi won't feel any pain."
Seemingly noticing Lin Xi's gaze, Xavier raised its head, looked at Lin Xi innocently, and then said ingratiatingly.
"Thanks."
Lin Xi said dryly.
Lin Xi's thanks made Xavier seem a little happier. It even offered to treat some of Lin Xi's remaining wounds. Of course, Lin Xi accepted some of its saliva, but refused its tongue.
Immediately after quickly treating his wounds, Lin Xi took a deep breath. He needed to calm himself down as soon as possible, because the situation was urgent and he shouldn't waste his energy on emotional issues.
Lin Xi told himself this in his heart, and then he pushed open the small door with all his might.
The core area of the spaceship's engine looks no different from the rest of the spaceship. However, it appears much more polished than other areas. After all, the Helios has rarely undergone a complete overhaul in the past three hundred years, but the spaceship's engines are replaced with the latest equipment that keeps pace with the times after each change of ownership.
There was a small equipment room filled with tools for maintenance. Passing through the equipment room, there was a long, straight corridor. While inspecting the environment, Lin Xi glanced at the spaceship map placed next to the corridor. This corridor led directly to other parts of the spaceship.
Lin Xi raised an eyebrow. If it weren't for that group of crazed mechanical warriors, they could have quickly returned to the hangar by walking down this corridor.
As for the core area of the engine zone itself, it is a circular room—the ion generator is placed in the very center of the room.
The thing was housed in a collector that resembled a glass dome, surrounded by all sorts of pipes and cables.
On the surface of the collector, a display panel shows constantly changing data charts.
Lin Xi walked over and began to disassemble the thing in silence.
Things had been going smoothly up to this point, but not long after, Lin Xi involuntarily let out a muffled groan, and his body trembled violently.
"Lin Xi?"
Xavier immediately sensed that something was wrong with the aura surrounding Lin Xi, and it immediately called out his name in a panic.
"..."
Lin Xi's lips parted slightly as he looked up at Xavier from behind the ion generator with a sense of unease.
Things are gradually turning into the situation he least wanted to see—
Just now, Lin Xi sensed the deaths of his clansmen.
That was done by... those mechanical warriors.
It appears that they are simply beginning to sweep through each deck as they have done before, and they are gradually approaching the deck where the lifeboats are located.
Lin Xi pushed as many monsters as possible to block the path of the mechanical warriors, but compared to those monsters, these monsters, transformed through acquired mutation, appeared so weak.
"We have to hurry—Elisa and Bryce are in danger!"
Lin Xi's face immediately turned extremely ugly.
He tried to calm himself down, but every now and then, he would let his thoughts drift into the minds of those monsters... He had almost witnessed with his own eyes how the group of mechanical warriors approached the warehouse step by step.
This made it impossible for Lin Xi to calm down, no matter how hard she tried.
The next series of tasks was truly terrifying, but he still managed to break open the incredibly sturdy energy collection shield and remove the ion generator.
The thing was smaller than Lin Xi had imagined—yet the energy it emitted was enough to power a spaceship as large as the Apollo…
With an incredulous feeling, Lin Xi tightly bound the ion generator to her chest with a restraint strap.
They originally planned to return the way they came, but just as Lin Xi bent down to climb into the metal ventilation duct, he suddenly stopped.
It was that extremely subtle vibration, coming from far beyond the ventilation duct.
"Those monsters have discovered us."
Lin Xi said with a grim face, and he immediately left the ventilation duct entrance. Before being discovered by the mechanical warriors, the ventilation duct entrance was an excellent passageway, but to fight the mechanical warriors there would be tantamount to suicide.
Now, the only path left for Lin Xi seemed to be the corridors that originally connected various parts of the spaceship—after all, in the spacious corridors, at least he had space to avoid those metal tentacles.
Lin Xi had no choice but to walk through the equipment room and then step directly into the corridor.
As expected, it wasn't long before Lin Xi saw the familiar black figures, with their inorganic, arc-shaped hemispherical heads and waving metal tentacles.
It was clear that the group of Del monsters had gone through a fierce battle before arriving here. Their originally pristine outer shells were now covered with various kinds of slime and bits of flesh, some grayish-black and some bright red. The smooth surfaces of their menacing metal tentacles were also covered with corrosion marks caused by acid.
The moment they saw Lin Xi, just like before, the blue dots in the masks of these mechanical warriors also turned red.
Almost simultaneously, Xavier had already swept past Lin Xi and pounced straight at those terrifying mechanical monsters.
The sounds of metal scraping and ion gun firing seemed to tear the entire space apart.
Xavier's figure was so fast that it was like a phantom, and every time it destroyed a mechanical monster, Lin Xi would seize the opportunity, take the ion generator on his chest, and rush forward quickly through the gap.
He had no choice but to continue fighting these damned monsters here—using the eyes of the monsters he had previously placed near the warehouse, he could clearly see another small group of mechanical monsters approaching the warehouse.
Lin Xi had a strange feeling that these mechanical warriors were not like command-type robots without intelligence at all.
They... seemed to know something.
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