Battle fort no.9, commander's hall.
Slayer was sitting on a giant throne with his eyes closed. In front of the throne, the two commanders, Meteor and Furnace of Death, were kneeling on one knee.
Ever since they failed to kill Qi Yuan and lost a lot of soldiers, the atmosphere in battle fort no.9 had become a lot more tense.
After a long while, Slayer slowly opened his eyes. Deep within his scarlet eyes, there was a deep glint of light.
"How's the exploration of the ruin below?"
Meteor lowered his head and replied,
"We've explored 81% of the outer area. If we have enough men, we'll need another 2 months to finish exploring the rest."
"How's the casualty?"
Meteor paused for a few seconds and slowly said, "Almost all of the remaining mechanical puppets are destroyed.
"Almost all the machines below Rank-6 have been lost. Only seven are left. Seventy-three percent of the Rank-6 machines have been lost. Similarly, only seven are left."
The commander's hall fell into a long silence again. If Duanmu Longxiang heard this, he would be shocked speechless.
Other than Slayer and the two commanders, no one knew that battle fort no.9 had invested so much power into the ruin below. If they had invested all of that power into the main battle, the frontline base would've been destroyed long ago.
"Any news from Starlight?" Slayer asked.
"The last report from the explorers said that they found a broken core fragment near the core area. It's suspected to be Starlight's remains." Meteor said.
Slayer squeezed the steel throne so hard that it made a cracking sound.
The ruin below the battle fort was too dangerous. Any mechanical puppets below rank 6 could only be cannon fodder. Even a peak rank 6 mechanical puppet couldn't guarantee its own safety. He had lost more than an army's worth of combat power in the entire exploration process.
In order to complete the mission as soon as possible, the headquarters sent Starlight over. Who would've thought that before the outer area was even explored, Starlight, who was a high rank, would be lost in the ruin? It was very likely that he had died.
Someone had to take responsibility for such a huge loss. Now that the battle had failed, and the exploration of the ruin was not going well, this responsibility had to be taken. If he couldn't get what the headquarters wanted from the core of the ruin, the punishment from the headquarters would be unbearable.
"Send another ten Peak Grade 6 Mechanics into the ruins," Slayer said.
"The reinforcements from the headquarters will take another month to arrive. As for the other forces, they will be deployed after the reinforcements arrive."
"Right now, we don't have enough strength to defend from the front. Duanmu Long Xiang is closing in on us step by step. We have to guard against their sudden attack."
"Before the reinforcements arrive, pay attention to cooperate with Little Nine and do your best to defend. We must not let the enemy enter the camp."
"Yes!"
Meteor and Death Furnace stood up and left. The hall fell into silence again. After a while, a golden beam of light spilled down from the dome of the hall, interweaving into a doll-like shadow of a young girl.
Light flashed in Duanmu Longxiang's eyes as he exchanged a glance with the girl's shadow.
"What's the situation?"
The black-clothed girl said in a cold voice.
"Qi Yuan's battle analysis has been completed. According to the feedback from the people who participated in the battle, although Qi Yuan is only at the Tier 4 stage, his core ability is extremely powerful, and he also has a rare recovery ability."
"When Qi Yuan was recovering, there was an Asterite energy fluctuation in his body. It's suspected to be a special superpower!"
"Also, the sword in his hand is suspected to be a high-grade mutated energy weapon. It can perfectly enhance the power of annihilation. Our soldiers can't fight against it at all."
"Lastly, there's suspected to be an energy lifeform in Qi Yuan's body. When he was hit by the energy cannon of Crownless' clone, at least twenty-seven percent of the energy was absorbed by that lifeform."
When he heard about the powerful core ability and the high-grade mutated energy weapon, Slayer did not have any reaction. However, when he heard that there was suspected to be an energy lifeform in Qi Yuan's body, Slayer's eyes suddenly shone.
"Under such circumstances, to be able to absorb nearly twenty-seven percent of Crownless' full-strength attack, this lifeform is at least at the Tier 5 stage. It's worth three hundred thousand Merits!"
"Correction, it's three hundred and seventy thousand. The headquarters has increased the value of the energy lifeform!" the girl said.
Slayer was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "Little Nine, how many Merits do you need to exchange for a Tier 7 mechanical body?"
"I still need two hundred and seventy seven hundred and sixty-one Merits!" the girl in black said.
"I'll help you capture this energy lifeform and gather enough Merits. After you exchange for a mechanical body, how about you follow me?"
The girl tilted her head, showing a rare hesitation.
If she did not have Slayer's help and only relied on her own job to slowly accumulate Merits, it would take her at least twenty years to accumulate these two hundred thousand Merits. Although time did not have much meaning to them, to be able to own a mechanical body long ago and enjoy the feeling of freedom was her long-cherished dream.
Previously, when he was chatting with Slayer, the little girl had once expressed her dream. He did not expect that Slayer would remember it and even propose such a condition.
After a while, the girl finally shook her head.
"I'm sorry!
I want a mechanical body because I want to enjoy the feeling of freedom. If I have a mechanical body and still have to follow you, then I'll be in the same situation as I am now. "
Slayer sighed in his heart. Although Little Nine controlled the entire defense of battle fort number nine, her mind was still very young. She was like a human child. If he could trick her into joining him now, then he would have a powerful ally in the future.
"Little Nine, you should know very well that the Ultimate Master will not let you obtain a mechanical body so easily. Only by cooperating with me will you have a sliver of a chance." Slayer said slowly.
"Don't rush to make a decision. Before I capture Qi Yuan, you still have time to think about whether you want to cooperate with me or not."
After Slayer finished speaking, the girl was clearly in a daze. When the Ultimate Master was asleep, she had a few companions who had obtained the freedom they wanted. However, ever since the Ultimate Master woke up, only one of them had successfully obtained a mechanical body. According to the statistics, the chances of her obtaining a mechanical body and enjoying freedom were so small that it was negligible.
"Is the new threat assessment for Qi Yuan out?" Slayer asked.
"It's out." The girl said absent-mindedly.
"After a comprehensive assessment of Qi Yuan's research and combat abilities, Qi Yuan's second threat assessment is 6.5 stars."
"6.5 stars!" Slayer repeated in a low voice.
A threat level of 6.5 stars was far beyond what a rank 4 aptitude user could achieve.
In the entire frontline base, only Duanmu Longxiang had a threat level of 7.5 stars. Most of the other aptitude users did not even qualify for a threat level assessment. Even Pang Jiuchuan, who had reached the pinnacle of rank 6, only had a threat level assessment of 5.5 stars.
A threat level of 6.5 stars meant that Qi Yuan was the human with the highest threat level in the entire frontline base, aside from Duanmu Longxiang.
In the long list of threats in the headquarters, some rank 7 aptitude users only had a threat level of 6 stars. Qi Yuan was the only one who had a threat level of 6.5 stars as a rank 4 aptitude user.
"Send orders to the spies in the frontline base. Keep a close eye on Qi Yuan's movements. If he escapes before I destroy the frontline base, notify me immediately. I will capture him myself. Qi Yuan and that energy body on him can be exchanged for a decent amount of merit points!"
While Slayer was plotting against Qi Yuan, a weak rank 1 clone of the Teeth of Despair quietly left the fort.
Although 009 was monitoring the entire fort, it still consumed a lot of energy. As the frontline base sealed off the wasteland, the fort's energy reserves were also affected. In order to reduce energy consumption, 009 was forced to simplify its defense mode. It switched from a defensive mode with no blind spots to an energy alert mode.
After switching to defense mode, the most direct change was that energy waves below Tier 3 were no longer within the scope of monitoring.
To the powerful fort, anything below rank 3 would not even count as cannon fodder. This was why 009 dared to make such a change.
The Teeth of Despair, which was locked up in battle fort no.9, also sensed this change. That was why it dared to let out a clone and sneak out from underground.
After the clone left the fort and approached the frontline base, it immediately sent a message to Qi Yuan. Soon, Qi Yuan had arrived.
After receiving the feedback from the Teeth of Despair, Qi Yuan vaguely guessed the situation of battle fort no.9. After being locked down, the fort had no energy source. They had to pay attention to their energy consumption. If they ran out of energy, the frontline base would win without a fight.
However, this also meant that the Mech King's reinforcements would arrive soon. Otherwise, the Slayer would not just hide like a turtle and wait for death. Instead, they would escape when they had enough energy or fight to the death.
Qi Yuan took out a precision machine the size of a thumb.
The machine was silver-grey in color. Its energy wave was very weak. It didn't look like much, but it took Qi Yuan almost a week to build it.
According to the Seraph's data, this machine had a very strange name – Intruder.
It had no direct combat ability. It only had one special ability, which was to quietly infiltrate data life forms.
The existence of the data life form made the fort's defense as solid as a steel wall. It completely eliminated any possibility of sneak attacks. However, it also had a very obvious side effect, which was that it would make the user heavily dependent on the data life form.
Once the data lifeform that controlled the defense of the fort was infiltrated, the entire defense system of the base would be turned into a pile of scrap metal. If the data lifeform's logic was tampered with, the defense system that was used to deal with the enemy might even turn around and aim at himself.
"Bring this thing back to the main body and find a chance to contact the Veda controlling the fort!" Qi Yuan said.
The Fang of Despair nodded and swallowed the silver-grey machine in Qi Yuan's hand.
Seeing the Fang of Despair disappear into the ground, Qi Yuan turned around and left in silence.
He had the upper hand in all the battles with the Mech King's court, but that did not mean the Mech King's court was weak. As a matter of fact, the fact that the Mech King's court was able to suppress the Gate of Truth and Armory of Doomsday was enough to prove their power.
The data life form that controlled the entire fort's defense system must have a very strong basic logic. It was definitely not something machines like the Fang of Despair could compete with. Although the Intruder in the Seraph's data was very delicate, Qi Yuan's power was limited. He could not replicate all of the Intruder's abilities. As for the Intruder that the Fang of Despair took away, Qi Yuan wasn't too sure if it could successfully infiltrate the Veda.
If the infiltration failed, the Fang of Despair would be exposed. At the same time, the Slayer would be alerted.
Therefore, there was only one chance!
The Fang of Despair's doppelganger quietly returned to the fort. The Intruder also merged with the doppelganger.
After the failure to hunt Qi Yuan, the hunting team in the fort had suffered a great loss. Their strategic position had dropped a lot. However, the Fang of Despair still had the power to fight against a rank 6. It was one of the upper echelons of the fort, so it had the authority to directly contact 009.
The Fang of Despair tried to call Lin Linjiu, and it soon got a response.
009 was a little surprised by the sudden contact. It had been a long time.
Other than handing in a mission, this was the first time the Fang of Despair contacted him.
"Fang of Despair, what do you want?" 009 asked.
"I want to apply for an upgrade. A third of my machine body was destroyed in the last battle. I need to repair it. Please recommend a plan for me," the Fang of Despair replied.
009 looked at the Fang of Despair's data and said, "You still have 17,000 merit points under your name. I recommend the seventh, ninth, and seventeenth upgrade plans."
"The details of the three plans have been sent to you. If you want to repair it, you can go to the 2nd legion and apply."
The Fang of Despair's eyes flashed red. It could vaguely feel that the machine in its body was moving, but 009 couldn't sense anything.
"I choose the ninth upgrade plan!"
After making a decision, the Fang of Despair slowly wandered towards the 2nd legion's base.
In a pitch-black room, a little girl hugged her knees and curled up in a corner with a confused look in her eyes.
It was a world that belonged to her.
It was a virtual world that was like a cage.
This world was dark, lonely, cold, and bound. It was like an eternal cage that she could never take a step out of.
After a while, the little girl suddenly realized that there was something in the dark. She reached out her right hand, and a golden light appeared and instantly dispersed the darkness in the room.
The little girl looked around in confusion. She didn't find anything strange. The golden light slowly disappeared, and the room returned to darkness.
In the silent darkness, indistinct calls could be heard.
"Jiu … Jiu … Jiu …"
As the call echoed in the darkness, a strange glow slowly appeared in the little girl's confused eyes.
"I'm not 009 … I'm … Nine!"