Chapter 687 Approaching Mechanical Cluster
On the ground covered with hot sand, three autonomous units like dragonflies swooped down from the sky. They vibrated their wings, and their electronic compound eyes constantly observed the surrounding environment and recorded the surrounding conditions.
The dry and broken soil, the residual black carbon powder scratches, and the metal condensed after melting at high temperatures, all these anomalies indicate that the area has recently experienced a severe high temperature shock.
After checking the scorched land, the three autonomous units vibrated their wings again, flew forward to explore, and recorded various situations.
The anomalies of the southern continent were recorded by these patrolling autonomous units and gradually fed back to the slowly moving mechanical cluster.
Such a large number of traces of intelligent life activities stimulated the central system of the mechanical cluster. After receiving more and more data, they began to make logical judgments.
In their perspective, after these years of continuous patrols, there should not be a large number of traces of intelligent creatures on this planet. Wherever they go, no new races have survived. However, this discovery has caused a logical conflict in them. If this planet is really as they judged, there should not be such violent traces of battle. The wasteland hot sand left on the scene shows the result of the bombing of modern weapons.
[Judgment, there are traces of intelligent creatures in the area]
[Negative, according to the recent retrospective records, there are no intelligent creatures in the area. ]
The flashing indicator lights kept alternating, and it was difficult to jump out of the logical cycle of thinking.
As time passed, the giant airship patrolling in the night sky suddenly loosened its logic, jumped out of the circular thinking, and began to perform its duties.
A large number of flying units scattered from the airship, they flew in all directions, and began to search everywhere like a carpet.
...
Star-Chasing Covenant, Redstone City.
With the arrival of early spring, the plants on the grassland sprouted green buds again, and the residents here also walked out of the rooms trapped in the severe winter and started a new year of life.
All things are revived, and animals running and galloping appear on the grassland again, and there are more lively birds singing on the treetops.
This season should be joyful, but Tilan sat in the meeting hall, looking at the information reported in front of her with a little solemnity.
"We have lost all the signals from the southern continent. The ships that used to arrive at the port every half a month have not arrived as scheduled, and none of the aircraft that traveled far have returned."
Half-kneeling in front of her were a group of members of the Slami Association in overseas bases. A month ago, they gradually lost contact with the headquarters, and various attempts have never received any feedback. All of this vaguely expressed some kind of terrifying result.
"One and a half months..." She just asked about various possibilities, but these members in front of her said that it was impossible for the headquarters to have no contact and personnel exchanges for a month and a half.
"In other words, you suspect that some kind of terrible natural disaster has occurred in the southern continent, and you hope that I can send people to explore the situation there, right?" She understood the intention of the group of people in front of her.
"Yes, respected Lord Heshia." Although the members of the Slami Association had a sense of pride in the past, now the situation is treacherous, and they have become fragile and uneasy.
After losing the headquarters, the Slami Association could not maintain its normal system with these scattered bases overseas. They could not produce various weapons and products of the industrial age like the headquarters, and could not resist the new ethnic settlements with various special abilities.
The reason why they came to Heshia was that among the several forces in the southern part of the northern continent, only the Star Chasing Covenant led by Heshia had strong strength and vitality. The
once prosperous Iron Rat Kingdom, the Heshan Rescue Association, the Wolf Blood King Camp, and the Stone Forest Castle built on the mountain have now become a thing of the past.
"I will let my subordinates pay attention, but you should also understand that this is not a mission that our members of the covenant must complete, so don't expect too many definite results." She told the other party in advance.
"I dare not offend Her Highness Heshia, I only ask you to tell us the answer after you get some news." After that, these people carefully said goodbye and left.
A few minutes later, the hall became quiet again. Fran, who had been standing beside Heshia, took off his hooded robe, and his eyes had not left the backs of the group of people who had just left.
"What do you think?" Guy, who was on the other side of Tilan, spoke up. At this time, in addition to them, there were a few senior members of the covenant in the room. However, they did not dare to speak so boldly in front of Heshia, but listened to the reactions of the two elders with a little curiosity.
"Thoughts? Probably a little sad." Faran shook his head.
He was from the Slami Association and did not betray the association. It was just that after his position in the Star-Seeking Covenant was improved, he deliberately reduced the frequency of contact in order to avoid suspicion. Unexpectedly, so many amazing changes have taken place in just one year.
"The generator, TV, and independent radio station they just gave should be fine. I have also obtained some information from some acquaintances recently. Just as they said, there are serious problems with the headquarters." Faran answered with some concern.
"It is not known whether there is really a problem at present. It may be that the changes in the geomagnetic field and solar wind have interfered with the contact and forced it to be interrupted." Someone comforted him, but this did not make Faran feel at ease.
After the remaining personnel discussed for a while, they gradually dispersed. Only Tilan, Faran, and two scholars who concealed their figures and appearance were left in the hall.
"It seems that the situation recorded by the sages of the past has reappeared." Lindsay also felt some complex emotions. He was indeed the inheritor of history, but he did not expect to witness some drastic changes now.
"Is it the work of the Silver Wings, or is it a cluster of the Mechanical Council..." Tilan closed her eyes and pondered.
"I can only send someone to take a look." She was thinking whether to go in person or let Loloria go.
But soon, someone made a decision for her.
A member hurried into the hall and reported to Heshia who had not left yet.
"Your Highness, we received a telegram from the Southern Jungle Exploration Team--" He was panting and very anxious.
"They found a large number of migrating mechanical clusters, passing through the Land of Meteorites and heading north."
"North, that is to say, according to their route, once they pass through the jungle area, they can reach the southern part of the grassland." Tilan knew the terrain distribution of the surrounding area.
"Yes, Your Highness." Seeing that Heshia understood the urgency and importance of the reported information, he was particularly excited.
"I understand. Are there any other details?" Tilan asked some more questions, but the information conveyed by the telegram was limited and there was no more intelligence.
"First it was the southern continent, and then it was the mechanical cluster in the south." Tilan rubbed his eyebrows, feeling that things had suddenly become complicated.
She could guarantee that she would have a few people who could survive the large-scale attack, but now the Star-Seeking Covenant has tens of thousands of members. If you add the various ethnic settlements that have been incorporated on the grassland, there may be hundreds of thousands, nearly a million people.
You can't just abandon everyone and escape alone.
It seems that this time she must go and see the situation in person.
The girl got up from her chair and began to arrange various matters in an orderly manner, making plans for various emergencies and preparing all parts.
"Spring plowing still cannot be abandoned, otherwise even if the enemy does not come, hunger will cause a large number of deaths."
"As for the war..." Tilan thought for a while.
"We should fully operate the newly built weapons factory and try to produce as many weapons as possible. Maybe we need to unite more forces to deal with this drastic change." She thought of other forces on this continent, such as the Ford Alliance in the north and the ancient forces in the east.
After doing this, she said hello to Orles to avoid her worrying, and then she and Lololia set out and flew to the southern jungle.
After a year and a half, Tilan came here again. Recalling that time, she helped the weak Orlesi through the rain forest. The other party was afraid and carefully avoided various insects. Tilan still remembered that look.
There is not much change here. She glanced at the dense trees and vegetation below, and occasionally saw some insects and reptiles moving in the shade and silt.
Continuing forward, after flying over the verdant jungle area, it is a barren meteorite zone. There are many meteorite craters of different sizes, the land is charred, and there is no vegetation.
The geomagnetic environment here is very special. If there is a meteorite from the sky, it will easily deviate and fall here. Over time, the surface bombarded by the meteorite will no longer have vegetation to survive, forming a barren and empty terrain.
After arriving here, she and Lololia stopped immediately and stopped far above the sky, because in their field of vision, the land below was full of advancing mechanical clusters. They were made of dark gray alloys and had different shapes. Some resembled mantises, some resembled beetles, some resembled centipedes, and some resembled stink bugs. These mechanical clusters seemed to be inspired by a certain command, constantly gathering and pulling out long lines on the land, slowly advancing forward, like layers of waves made of gray iron. Such
a magnificent scene surprised the people who saw it. This was probably the first time in nearly a hundred years that the mechanical clusters had such a large-scale activity. They did not wander around aimlessly like in the past, but had a clear plan.
The mechanical clusters that had no plan and moved in a scattered manner were already a natural disaster, causing the extinction of many races. Once they were allowed to gather together, there was almost no force on this land that could resist them.
Seeing this, Tilan shook her head. Even she was not sure that she could completely clean up this huge number of mechanical self-discipline units. The number of the other party flooded the horizon, and there was almost no end in sight.
"Can Lololia try to communicate with them?" she asked the girl beside her.
"No, I've tried many times, but they have already changed the key for authenticating friend and foe, and they don't accept rewriting and changing it again." Lololia's voice was a little discouraged, and she felt that she was too useless.
"I am also a mechanical body, and an artificial angel. There is no reason why I can't beat these stupid guys."
"Tilan, give me some manpower, and I can also start to build my own autonomous unit factory and mass-produce war machines to fight against them." Lololia took the initiative to propose.
"I'll do my best." Tilan and Lololia increased their altitude again, avoiding the detection of the mechanical cluster below, and flew towards the sky above the mechanical cluster.
Through the clouds, she looked at the mechanical units below that scraped a layer of soil like plowing the land. Wherever they went, trees collapsed, grass turned up, and various small animals hiding were exposed and dealt with by these mechanical bodies.
If they were allowed to spread, I am afraid that before the so-called restraining force could take action, all life on this land would be destroyed.
As the two continued to fly south, their speed became faster and faster, and finally arrived at the southernmost coast of the continent an hour later.
On the distant sea level, storms gathered, dark clouds rolled, and lightning flashed in the clouds from time to time. With the help of the light of the lightning, Tilan also saw the outline of the giant airship floating in the clouds.
"So they use natural lightning to replenish energy." She finally understood why these large floating warships had never been seen on land. It was probably because there were very few such lightning on land, which was not convenient for replenishing energy. These floating warships usually floated on the sea.
The two of them were suspended in the air, quietly observing the giant crab-shaped mothership emerging from the sea of clouds. At this time, the floating mothership in the sea with lightning interlaced discovered something, and a bright crimson particle stream shot out, piercing the atmosphere and submerging the two people.
After a few seconds, the dazzling particle stream dissipated, and Tilan was unharmed at night, but flashing spots of light appeared on the surface of her body.
She separated from Lololia and turned rapidly in the sky. Soon after, another particle stream passed through the atmosphere and hit Lololia's position.
"Ah——" In the particle flow, Lololia's eyes turned from green to red, and the mechanical wings behind her protected her body to resist the continuous impact of high-energy particles.
In just a few seconds, the mechanical wings made of special alloy melted and sublimated. Fortunately, these few seconds of time also allowed Lololia to escape from the bombardment range of the particle flow.
"What a strong force." Lololia exclaimed while dodging. Although it was very dangerous just now, she kept accelerating, and the particle flow behind her became more and more difficult to hit her.
After a few minutes, she could even reverse the logical loopholes of the opponent's fire control system and float in the air easily. She only needed to turn her body every few seconds to avoid the particle flow passing through her side.
"You can't hit me like this, I'm your senior." She even had time to wave and say hello to the floating mothership in the distance.
After teasing for a while, Lololia still retreated under Tilan's order and no longer approached the floating mothership.
"Let's go back. We need to come up with a mature plan." Close-range combat is much more dangerous than it is now. After all, those drones surrounding the mothership are not for show.
"Okay, Tilan." A little unsatisfied, Lololia replied, but she still obediently withdrew from the battle quickly, and gradually got rid of the scanning and pursuit of the mechanical body behind.
"The equipment on me is more advanced than yours. It's natural that you can't see me."
After circling in the sky for a few times and collecting data, Lololia and Tilan returned to the north.
Looking back on what he saw along the way, Tilan felt vaguely that this planet had been playing a reincarnation game for thousands of years, and he was afraid that this time it would not end as smoothly as usual.
(End of this chapter)
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