Knights of the Wasteland Fortress

Chapter 151 Mecha
Kicking over the two spider robots, Jiatu heaved a sigh of relief, found the direction of the underground pipeline, and got in.

This kind of integrated urban infrastructure is often used to lay underground information networks and transmission lines. It is this kind of thing that was buried under the pillars of "there is a circuit underneath, and you must investigate if you dig it out" in the past.

However, with the innovation of urban infrastructure technology, such urban pipelines have been concentrated in one place.

What Jiatu and the others used near the shelter before, besides the subway lines, was the most common city underground official website.

Compared with ground facilities such as subways, only the entrances and exits of underground pipelines have some monitoring facilities installed, and the rest of the underground parts are maintained by pipeline robots——

And with the destruction of urban facilities, it withered on a large scale.

After prying open the access to the underground official website, Jiatu got in. The possibility of encountering an unmanned hunting machine here is not high.

But it's not necessarily the case for other mechanical life forms.

Although there is no Skynet hunting machine here because there is no network signal, the wild machine with an autonomous computing unit is not included.

Not long after Jiatu traveled through the underground pipeline, he encountered a breach in the pipeline.

A large number of mechanical butterflies as tall as a person inhabit here as if hibernating, quietly dormant and motionless.

Cato was taken aback.

But he raised his hand to check the temperature, and confirmed that at this temperature, no mechanical butterfly would suddenly wake up and tear him apart.

So he took a rare and careful look at these mechanical life forms——

Unlike what he saw in his appearance, the whole body of the mechanical butterfly is not all metal structures.

Rather, the proportion of metal components is only between 20% and 30%, and most of the rest are transparent films similar to plastic and cold-proof silicone.

There is no mechanical life science in the shelter, but according to the observation results among explorers, these mechanical life forms that are free from the Skynet system have the ability to independently manufacture silicone and reshape organic plastics.

They can mix the soil they eat with other plastic debris to make wings or the shell of mechanical life, which is about 70% thinner than the lightest organic plastic ever made by human civilization.

The nanoscale porous structure makes people very doubtful whether they are combat mechanical life forms or productive mechanical life forms.

In contrast, the proportion of the "knowledge system" that both the humans in the refuge and the Skynet hunters paid great attention to in the mechanical life forms is very low.

About less than 10% of the total body mass.

And such a small intelligence system naturally cannot support mechanical butterflies to think and judge like humans and Skynet.

As for the mechanical butterflies, they only have insect-level mechanical instincts.

Many don't even have this level of thinking ability.

But Skynet is more afraid of these mechanical life forms than the humans in the refuge.

Because these mechanical life forms are like the "cancer" of Skynet, really feeding on hunting machines.

The first is a network of nano-robots smaller than bacteria, and eventually even dog-like hunting machines and spider-like hunting machines are not a problem.

Thanks to the gospel of these mechanical life, the survivors in the shelter were able to slowly survive under the harassment of Skynet——

And all of this started when Skynet abused the nuclear waste produced by humans.

It can be said that the current Skynet system is more afraid of "nuclear radiation" and "mechanical lifeforms" than the original human civilization.

Because the hardware system of the entire artificial intelligence network is not backed up.

It just keeps cutting, cutting, cutting.

annihilate, annihilate, annihilate

Then until the scale of the wild machine that feeds on mechanical waste is getting bigger and bigger, even it can't suppress it——

It completely abandoned the nuclear power functional system and chose to focus on photovoltaic and magic energy.

However, even so, the wanton growth of mechanical life gradually swallowed up the sky of the entire planet——

Looking at the purple-red sky in winter, even at the brightest noon, Jiatu couldn't help recalling the speculation he saw in the expedition team——

Earth's oceans, originally red.

Because green light has the highest energy efficiency, red light has low energy efficiency, and blue light is scarce.

Therefore, the algae in the ocean are mainly red algae that absorb blue-green light and emit red light.

However, with the evolution of the earth, anaerobic algae that absorb red light have been eliminated on a large scale, leaving only chloroplast algae that absorb blue-green light waves and emit red light.

So the world in the previous life was green.

But newborn mechanical lifeforms don't follow these rules.

The clusters of nanomachines that have broken away from the management of the Skynet grow wantonly, and they expand aimlessly. All the intentions of existence are to absorb sunlight and expand their population number and group size——

So they chose the more energy-efficient blue-green light over the lower-energy red-orange light.

So the sky and the sun in the new world are all purple——

Not because their color was changed.

Instead, the atmosphere is populated by mechanical clusters called "nanored algae."

A large number of wild mechanical life forms feed on this.

Even Skynet will absorb a part of mechanical red algae as fuel.

But the mechanical design from the old world prevents them from easily transforming their energy supply form——

After all, the physiological design of mechanical lifeforms was not evolved for the sake of war and short-term victory——

it was long...

It is intended to use the lowest energy consumption to expand its own orderly structure within a time of [-] million years, and prepare the mechanical design.

Just like a "horse" would not choose to become a "snail"——

That is the difference between Skynet hunters and mechanical lifeforms.

Jiatu's outer armored brain is also filtering the mechanical energy in the red algae——

Although due to the difference in shape, the converted electric energy is not much, but it is no problem to maintain daily use.

In consideration of the longevity of the Heiyin body, Jiatu's external brain has been kept in a low-function state, without the guidance of the auxiliary system, he has become accustomed to relying on himself for everything.

However, the blockade of Skynet still made it difficult for him to move forward.

As the weather got warmer, the itinerant hunters who had been dispersed into nearby military depots set out again.

Although the scale is far less than the original thousands of airframes, there are still more than thirty airframes in a logistics station.

If Jiatu had a small team of explorers in his hands, he would be sure to compete with them.

However, he is alone now, so he can only walk around the military station.

【Wait a moment. 】

Just when Jiatu wanted to plan a route and move in the direction of the sea-crossing bridge, Heiyin suddenly woke up.

Cato had not heard her voice for a long time.

I don't know what key words stimulated her reaction system.

But he stopped to listen, and she didn't hesitate to say until more than ten seconds later——

[I seem to be a little familiar with this place... Can you come with me? 】

The holographic map in front of Jiatu showed a winding road.

It was the opposite of Jiatu's destination.

But after estimating the distance from his starting point to the sea-crossing bridge, and also estimating the possibility of arriving directly at his destination without resupply at all, Jiatu sighed:

"What's there?"

[Sorry, I can't remember clearly...]

Heiyin's voice was hesitant and confused.

This kind of situation often occurs after hacking the Mother of Skyfire.

It seems that she has reached the limit of her lifespan.

Although Jiatu was sad, he still resisted and nodded, like a child coaxing an old man:
"Okay, let's go and have a look..."

Jiatu calculated that it was absolutely impossible for him to reach the destination in one go.

Resupply is necessary on the way.

But he has no idea what is in the ruins of the city outside the blockade.

Although through Xu Yang's perspective, you can find some related urban facilities through the travel routes of other explorers.

But that also has to wait until other people have gone far enough to explore.

Therefore, besides moving towards the cross-sea bridge, he has no purpose or direction at present.

And the place that Heiyin has an impression of is at least worth exploring.

So under the guidance of Heiyin, he followed the facility line sent by her and moved forward.

.

The more he followed the direction guided by Heiyin, the more Jiatu realized that he was approaching a ruin——

To be precise, it is an ancient battlefield.

There are bombed-out buildings and bomb craters everywhere.

Although there are some broken mecha bodies, but because of the above-average level of residual radiation, normally, whether it is Skynet's hunting machines or mechanical life forms, they will avoid such places.

Only explorers like Jiatu, who had their heads pinned to their belts, relied on the metabolic ability of the Moko system to a certain extent, and dared to go deep into such a place.

In the explorer's team log, there are often some good things in places like this where Skynet and mechanical lifeforms dare not approach——

Although it can last for hundreds of years in such a place, the facilities that can still be used are considered extremely rare.

But Jiatu still didn't expect that he would see a "mecha" in the center of the ruins.

To be precise, it is a "manned mech".

It was deep in the ruins of a collapsed building.

The black mech seemed to have crashed into the building and then smashed it in half, collapsing in the depths of the building.

A large number of ruins and stones buried it deep in the ground. It was not until the black voice gave a reminder that Jiatu realized that there was actually an amazing individual combat armor buried deep in those chaotic rocks and concrete slabs. .

"How do you know it's here?"

Jiatu looked at the dust-covered manned mecha, which seemed to be undamaged except for the legs being pressed down by the stone slab, and asked Hei Yindao in some astonishment.

【...It may be my previous body. 】

Heiyin's voice was a little silent: [I still have some memories, I remember its activation command...]

"After so many years...is it still usable?"

Jiatu didn't ask any further questions. Looking at the surrounding environment, he also knew that Heiyin's survival must have been through a tragic victory. As for the damage of individual mechas in the battle, it was the most normal result.

['Pioneer' has a certain nano-repair ability, so many years have passed, it should have almost repaired the damage of the body. 】

Heiyin's voice gradually became firm from confusion:

[If you want to break through the blockade of roving hunters, the 'Fire Demon' will definitely become your rare resistance! 】

"Are you sure it's still usable?"

Jiatu muttered in a low voice, and followed Heiyin's instructions, and placed his right hand next to the cockpit of the mecha.

Let him feel a little surprised.

With the fluttering of large pieces of agglomerated dust, the cockpit at the chest of the mech really opened a gap.

Although it was quickly blocked by falling rocks and could not continue to open and close, it was able to allow an adult to get in.

After patting the opening of the cockpit to make sure it wouldn't close suddenly, Garto jumped in.

Surprisingly, there are obvious lights inside the mecha.

And the nuclear radiation mark on the inside of the mecha proves how far the power supply system of the mecha in the pre-civilization era has developed.

"This mech is only ten meters high at most... Has the nuclear reactor been completely miniaturized..."

Cato clicked his tongue.

Although the nuclear mecha is dangerous, it is indeed an awesome weapon in the context of the doomsday war——

At least when it is destroyed, its driver can choose to self-destruct and die with Skynet's unmanned machines.

With Jiatu inputting Heiyin's identification code into the operation interface, the mech's operating system wakes up again after a long absence of more than 100 years.

To some surprise, Jiatu heard another brand new mechanical sound.

It seemed to be a somewhat hoarse male voice. Although it was not like a real person, it was not full of mechanical and empty responses like the brain-scaring system of the shelter.

【Welcome back, Colonel Heiyin. 】

The mechanical voice seemed to be unresponsive: 【Since you left last time, 750 million hours, 43 minutes and [-] seconds have passed...】

As the camera in the cabin was fully turned on, "it" froze suddenly——

【Who are you? ! 】

Feeling the incomparably clear sense of surprise, Jiatu pointed to the console in front of him and asked Heiyin:

"artificial intelligence?"

【Yes. 】

The voice of Heiyin and the howling of the mecha system filled Jiatu's ears, making his scalp itchy:

[This is the artificial intelligence I mentioned to you, with the highest purpose of 'serving mankind', but it should not hear my voice, so if you want to activate it, you must persuade it to accept you...]

And the artificial intelligence equipped on the mecha also reacted belatedly:
[Colonel Heiyin's identification code? !Who are you?A descendant of Colonel Heiyin?Why is your body the same as those from another world? !Are you really human? !What happened to the outside world? !What happened to the war on Skynet? !I have been imprisoned here for too long...I don't know anything...]

The voice of artificial intelligence is getting lost.

Let Jiatu clearly realize its "character".

So he looked at the time, had no choice but to hold back his temper, and explained to him his relationship with Heiyin, as well as the current status of humans and the Skynet system.

　Oh, I'm on my way again

　　
　
(End of this chapter)