Chapter 98 - 89: Military Inquiry from Both Sides

In a small alley of Petrol Town, a manhole cover was slowly lifted, and the heads of two women cautiously emerged.

Thanks to the perilous survival environment in the radiation zone, the residents of the Oasis are highly ’vigilant in the face of danger.’ The sewer systems, subway systems, and even some air-raid shelters from the Civilization Era have all been connected.

Once faced with an irresistible danger, the residents of Petrol Town can relocate underground.

The same goes the other way.

"Sister Du, things aren’t looking good, there are a lot of Radiation Beasts outside."

Knowing that she almost caused a disaster, Huang Yuanli no longer dared to use mind communication. But with the chaos around them, they also dared not run randomly.

Du Zhaodi pondered for a moment and said, "I remember he has a hidden base, right? Let’s head there."

The little woman was startled, then quickly said, "No, Sister Du, the perverted advisor said that there is too much metal scrap at the recycling station, and once the war breaks out, it will soon be occupied by Mechanical Beasts and become their nest."

"But have you thought about where these Artificial Soldiers could have parachuted in from? Where did those Mechanical Beasts come from? The front-line defenses are much more secure than here; with just this amount of manpower, it’s impossible they could open a breach and let Radiation Beasts in."

"You mean——"

In Du Zhaodi’s eyes, the radiance of wisdom flashed, "They must have driven the nearby Radiation Beasts over here, taking advantage of the local resources. So the most dangerous place has instead become the safest place."

"I’m not sure, but it’s worth a gamble!"

After the two women reached an agreement, they immediately began their escape, deliberately choosing winding paths and making sure to avoid those metal buildings.

Mechanical Bio-Beasts do not eat humans. Although Radiation Beasts eat meat, what they actually prefer is meat rich in various energies.

In this regard, they are more ’vegetarian’ than normal beasts.

"Glad you’re okay," came Huang Wen’s voice over the headset, clearly relieved, "I’m giving you a coordinate now, there are our people there."

"You peeping tom, you’re claiming victory after the fact; we almost died!" Huang Yuanli complained.

’Huang Wen’ paused, seemingly contemplating a response, when another ’Huang Wen’ voice suddenly erupted, raising an octave.

"Don’t believe her; she’s an Electronic Knight from the Knight Order, invading my hardware!"

"Impersonating me?" the first ’Huang Wen’ rapidly regained composure, "I knew it wasn’t that simple."

"Quickly leave Petrol Town; there are no Sensory Signals outside, once you’re outside, you’ll be safe," the second ’Huang Wen’ shouted.

"Go to the location I just mentioned; Professor Han and Aunt Xiang are there."

"Immediately discard the headset; as long as you wear it, they can locate you. My drone has been hacked, it’s tracking you down!"

"Don’t believe her; without the headset, I cannot guide you away from the enemy. That’s her real aim!"

Huang Yuanli looked helplessly at Du Zhaodi.

"Who do we trust?"

Gritting her teeth, Du Zhaodi grabbed the headset and tossed it into the sewer.

"We trust neither. We only trust ourselves."

...

At this moment, inside a large computer room,

Professor Han and Aunt Xiang were watching the drone’s surveillance footage with serious expressions.

In the footage, there are over a hundred Artificial Soldiers, formed into teams of ten, frantically searching for the two women.

"How’s it going, have you found them?" Professor Han asked.

"Just found them, but they discarded the tracking device."

"Why?" Aunt Xiang exclaimed in surprise.

"Hehehe, probably because they don’t trust you guys, thinking you can’t protect them," a coquettish voice interjected.

"Electronic Knight Selena, it’s you again."

"Little brother, you’re quite clever this time, dispersing your central processing units across six large computer rooms to deliberately stall my invasion, huh."

"Yes, I reviewed your methods and discovered that your hacking skills are still inferior to a true Cyber Hacker; you can’t directly manipulate the Human Body System to detonate a Prosthetic Body but have to use virus-infested programs to cause hardware overload."

"You shouldn’t be called an Electronic Knight; you should be called a Virus Knight."

"Hehehe, little brother, knowing that, what can you do? You still can’t protect your people."

"Software is a virus’s paradise, but a desert is the realm of hardware."

"What do you mean?"

"You invade me through data flow, and naturally, I can use my own methods to capture your entity. It’s only fair, right?"

The red light on the screen once again turned green.

"She left, or rather, she’s conducting a system self-check, ensuring the virus transmission path hasn’t been reverse-traced. For now, Director Du and the others are safe."

Aunt Xiang immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but Huang Wen’s voice followed closely.

"However, once she confirms she hasn’t been reverse-traced, she will act boldly without restraint."

"Do Old Qian and the others have confidence in finding the source?"

Aunt Xiang was uncertain as well, saying, "They do have some homegrown methods to deal with electronic biological viruses in the metropolitan area, but whether it works on the living, it’s hard to say—"

Professor Han pondered for a moment and said, "Deploy the hidden troops."

"I oppose," Huang Wen’s electronic voice was almost unbroken, "In the boss’s plan, the hidden troops are the final trump card, not to be used unless absolutely necessary."

"You all should know, once the hidden troops are exposed, it signifies that we will turn from allies of the Security Corps to a target of suspicion."

"This hidden army should only be unveiled after we establish the Oasis and build the Hunter Base."

"I’m not being emotional," Professor Han’s tone was calm, "Manager Huang, you should also be aware of the value of a mechanical committee member; she is an indispensable part of our future plans."

If we consider the Iron Sand Desert as a country, then the Mechanical Committee is akin to the Senate, and a mechanical committee member is analogous to a senator.

Although most of the time, this identity is just a puppet manipulated by various forces.

But without this ’puppet’ as a spy, it would be absolutely impossible.

Giant Corporation’s new technology proposals, Oasis’s infrastructure projects, military contractor’s product bids, Mechanical City’s immigration plans.

The simplest example, after the Beast Tide, Gao Gong opens up New Oasis without this member to protect his rights and negotiate with corporations, factories, and the Mechanical City Main Brain; he’d get taken for a ride till losses were insufferable.

As for Du Zhaodi becoming this legislator, besides her clean background from the factories and not low-level, able to represent the Equipment Research Institute’s interests, the two Quasi-Generals also contributed significantly.

The highest Commander-in-Chief of the Public Security Corps is only a Vice Admiral; a Major General is already a prominent figure in their area, and a Quasi-General is just one step below a Major General, representing a standard power faction. They scraped together enough ’votes’ from their own ’domains,’ which is a significant factor.

There’s no choice; behind the Central Desert is the ’Factory,’ and behind the ’Factory’ is the Mechanical City. If an oasis in the Central Desert gets breached, it’s a matter of losing heads.

Compared to losing heads, a bit of sacrifice is bearable.

This is a particular case of a middle-level elite being pushed to the forefront at crucial moments during certain dramatic scenarios, not possessing any universality.

Capturing Du Zhaodi, transforming her into a Knight Order’s informant, is second only to destroying the ’Biological Factory’ in importance.

After all, not everyone risks their life to see an old love.

Especially when most of the upper factory management are pure mechanical bodies.

One can only say, although personality has been consistently declining, Gao Gong’s charm as a little wolf dog is still substantial enough.

Eventually, Huang Wen agreed.

"For now, we can only deploy part of the Mechanical Beast troops; there are too few operators."

"I’m already working on urgently distributing modified drugs," Professor Han sighed, "It would be much easier if we had access to Knight Order’s modified soldier technology."

Aunt Xiang is one of the few insiders; Gao Gong only sold the ’Special Effects Machine’ + ’Monster-Attracting Divine Artifact,’ and under the guise of free instruction, frequently sends personnel to other combat zones. His intentions are not that altruistic.

During the Beast Tide, what is most abundant? Naturally, all kinds of Mechanical Beasts are most abundant.

And now, the Mechanical Beast troops hidden by Gao Gong in various places are certainly not a small number.

But Aunt Xiang, after all, is not Professor Han or Huang Wen; her thinking is not as ’purely rational.’

She gritted her teeth, "I’ll call and scold those old codgers; have they truly wasted all their skills over the years? Back then, tracking B-level Beasts was never this slow."

...

In one of the Knight Order’s hidden bases

The Steel Knight Banner was facing interrogation at the ’Round Table Revenge Meeting.’

Across a towering electronic round table, over a dozen blurry-faced tall figures were staring coldly at him.

"Banner, why did you make adjustments without application, deploying the newly successfully tested Beast God General? Do you know how rare an artificial planetary monster is? It is our greatest reliance against the Mechanical Octopus of Mother City!"

"If news leaks, can you bear the consequences?"

"Or have you placed your own mission above the bigger picture?"

Strictly speaking, a Great Knight still belongs to the Knight Class, except due to strength surpassing the Knight (Level 30) cap.

Above the Knight Class, the existence is actually Standard Bearer.

Across the planet, the number of Standard Bearers is merely around twenty, each presiding over some ’Planet Zone’s’ revenge task.

Steel Knight Banner must complete the ’subversion task’ of the Iron Sand Desert to truly become a Standard Bearer.

According to normal history, he evidently succeeded.

"The Beast Tide cannot fail," the Steel Knight expressed with a blank expression, "Only when the situation becomes utterly irreparable will it compel the Cloud Nobility to collaborate with us, ensuring our infiltration into the Factory succeeds."

"But you deployed the Beast God General to save just two worthless beasts!" A Standard Bearer explosively said, its entire mechanical body erupting terrifying energy fluctuations, akin to an ocean wave, and its background seems to be a small asteroid somewhere outside the planet.

"Not just two worthless beasts, but a radiation beast ancient species and a radiation beast energy species. With them, we can control the sky beast tide; the newly born A-level radiation beast does not possess flight capability — this is their only shortcoming."

"You need to go to the ’Data Highland’ and explain to the Knight Commander yourself; I cannot guarantee your personality template will not be altered."

An elderly Standard Bearer spoke.

"I will persuade the Knight Commander," Steel Knight was full of confidence.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, Demon Mountain was also undergoing military questioning, and questioning him were senior officials from the Public Security Corps.