Chapter 129: Brain in a Vat, Energy Blessing!

Chapter 129: Brain in a Vat, Energy Blessing!

The next morning, Lu Heng, Su Muyu, and Lin Zeyu returned to Eco Island and encountered an unusual sight.

Eco Island's robots were constructing defensive fortifications along the sea bridge and the shore, with hundreds of repair robots welding weapons and armor with their mechanical arms.

Lu Heng was taken aback by this scene.

Just the night before, Chen Zihan had informed them of the enemy faction's impending attack on the island, and now, the island's robots were already preparing defenses.

Lu Heng and Su Muyu exchanged glances, both perplexed.

"Did we forget to relay the news about the attack?" Lin Zeyu asked, equally confused.

"There's a double agent in the Central System faction, so it's not us who leaked the information," Lu Heng recalled Chen Zihan's words from the previous night, mentioning that the opposing faction had 23 ability users.

This information suggested that the scale of this Abyssal Battlefield would likely involve 30 participants.

The remaining unaccounted ability users might not have joined a faction yet or were hiding more effectively.

It was not surprising for one or two double agents to be among the 23 ability users in the opposing faction, secretly passing information to Eco Island.

Upon returning to Eco Island, Lu Heng sought out Mechanical Tiger to complete the task assigned the day before.

Before leaving the island, Mechanical Tiger had requested Lu Heng to destroy a Cybernetic Guard and retrieve its battery.

Eco Island was in dire need of batteries, and some repair robots were even inoperable due to battery damage.

Lu Heng promptly retrieved twenty-five energy cells and said, "Here are the batteries you wanted. I brought back twenty-five of them."

Although Mechanical Tiger was a machine, its mechanical core, infused with Source Essence, had developed an intelligent consciousness.

Seeing the abundance of energy cells Lu Heng had brought, it expressed surprise, "Wonderful! This will be a great help. Follow me with the batteries, and we'll awaken more repair robots."

Mechanical Tiger led Lu Heng to Eco Island's abandoned robot warehouse, located underground and covering a vast area.

The discarded robots were not piled up like trash but were neatly arranged, each standing twenty centimeters apart, as if in a state of slumber.

Lu Heng handed over the energy cells to a nearby repair robot, which entered the warehouse and installed the batteries into the dormant robots.

After the battery installation, the control panels of the robots lit up, and they rolled forward a few times before heading out of the underground warehouse without any greetings. They proceeded to the sea bridge to commence work.

The twenty-five batteries brought twenty-five robots back to life, increasing the "manpower" for constructing defensive fortifications.

With such a substantial contribution, Lu Heng's standing in the Rogue Servant faction had significantly improved.

He once again requested, "Can I meet your superior?"

Mechanical Tiger paused for half a second, apparently communicating with its superior, before replying, "My superior requires you to participate in the upcoming defense battle. Let me take you to collect your weapons. After the defense is over, my superior will accept your request to meet."

Even with twenty-five energy cells, Lu Heng was unable to meet Mechanical Tiger's superior.

There was no doubt that Mechanical Tiger's so-called superior was the Overmind of the Rogue Servant's Collective Consciousness.

It seemed that Lu Heng would have to wait until after the Eco Island defense battle to meet this entity.

Lu Heng had considered searching for the Overmind on Eco Island, but this idea was challenging to execute.

Without knowing what the Overmind of the Collective Consciousness was, it could be a computer or even a terminal ring.

Any device connected to the Collective Consciousness network could potentially be the Overmind.

Therefore, without knowing the target, searching for it was nearly impossible.

Moreover, approaching the Overmind might be perceived as a threat, leading to an attack from other Eco Island robots.

Following Mechanical Tiger, Lu Heng, Su Muyu, and Lin Zeyu entered the island's armory and were greeted by a plethora of Cyberworld weapons.

Among them, energy weapons were the most abundant.

Lin Zeyu's eyes lit up at the sight of these energy weapons, picking up a Cyber Ray Gun and saying, "This ray gun looks similar to the one I saw on the Crystal Dark Web. It's pretty good. Its damage is 300 points, which doesn't seem too high."

His SVD Sniper Rifle dealt over 500 points of damage, and even at a distance of 1000 meters, after accounting for damage reduction, it could still inflict over 300 points of harm.

From this perspective, the Cyber Ray Gun's attack power was not as high as the SVD Sniper Rifle.

Of course, directly comparing damage values between different weapon types was not appropriate.

Energy weapons could only inflict energy damage, while sniper rifles, being kinetic weapons, dealt damage through their bullets.

The destructive power of kinetic energy never goes out of style in the material world.

Objects with mass require a significant amount of energy when set in motion.

Moreover, this energy can be carried by matter over long distances.

Energy weapons lack kinetic damage, but they have their advantages. The rays travel at the speed of light, essentially hitting the target instantly.

Conversely, energy weapons require a moment to inflict damage.

The B-Class Cyber Ray Gun in Lin Zeyu's hand could deal 300 damage per second, a considerable amount that could easily take down a Level 20 or lower mutant within a second.

Additionally,

Ray guns have another advantage: they don't require reloading, as long as the battery has power, they can be used continuously.

Typically, the battery in a ray gun is sufficient for an entire battle.

Lu Heng, Su Muyu, and Lin Zeyu each received a Cyber Ray Gun, equivalent to a reward of 25 C-Class Energy Cells.

Having a ray weapon for self-defense is quite effective.

Especially for Lin Zeyu, who had wanted to purchase the ray gun on the Crystal Dark Web while on Bluesphere, but the seller treated it as a family heirloom, asking for an absurd price.

Unexpectedly, after just one trip to the Abyssal Battlefield, he easily obtained such a ray gun.

After acquiring the ray guns, the three went to the shooting range on the island to test them out.

Using the ray guns was much simpler than kinetic firearms.

Since ray guns have no recoil, the gun barrel doesn't kick when firing.

Secondly, ray guns are unaffected by gravity and wind direction. Wherever you aim, you hit, as long as your hand is steady.

Therefore, you don't need much practice to become proficient with ray guns.

...

After several days of construction, most of the defensive works on Eco Island were completed.

Time had come to the hour of the island invasion, as Chen Zihan had mentioned.

Before this, Lu Heng exchanged Energy Cells for five Faction Wristbands.

Prior to the invasion, Lu Heng found an opportunity to meet with Chen Zihan, exchanging Faction Wristbands and briefly sharing information. The original invasion plan remained unchanged.

However, the direction of the mutants' landing on the island had changed.

After all, the construction of defensive works on Eco Island was evident to anyone who observed it.

A sturdy defensive work had been built in the direction where the mutants were supposed to land.

The mutants didn't want to be riddled with bullets from the coastal defense machine guns, so they changed their landing location.

This news was both important and unimportant.

The mutants could change their landing position at any time, and it was impossible for Eco Island to build defensive works around the entire island, so the main defensive focus remained the Sea Bridge.

...

After exchanging the Central System Faction's Wristband, Lu Heng sent it to Su Muyu and Lin Zeyu but did not use it immediately.

This wristband was meant for completing the final challenge mission, and they only needed to use it before the end of the Abyssal Battlefield time.

If they wore it now, the robots on Eco Island would identify them as red-name targets and hunt them down.

...

The time had come to midnight.

Finally, it was the Central System Faction's turn to invade the island.

Hundreds and thousands of Cybernetic Guards and Light Lancer Tanks began to gather towards the Sea Bridge.

Armored Tanks led the charge, withstanding the steel barrage fired by the Eco Island robots.

The battle was about to commence.

The tongues of fire from both sides' weapons illuminated the entire bridge.

The high-energy lasers from the Light Lancer Tanks swept across the defensive works of Eco Island, plowing a path of scorched earth.

...

On Eco Island, in the building closest to the bridge.

Lu Heng, Su Muyu, and Lin Zeyu watched the robot battle, which indeed differed from human combat.

Robots had no fear or sense of pain, and they would persist in charging until they were completely destroyed.

"Should we join the fight?" Lin Zeyu scratched his head, aiming his sniper rifle.

"Wait and see," Lu Heng said, not rushing to engage.

Because, up to this point, it wasn't clear which side they should support.

The mutants summoned into the island weren't there to help the robots fight, but to find and eliminate the source of the Abyssal contamination.

In fact, the outcome of the battle between the two robot factions wasn't something humans should concern themselves with.

Finding the source of the Abyssal contamination was the key.

Lu Heng had always suspected that there was an issue with the Overmind of the Rogue Servant Faction, as his two requests to meet with it had been rejected.

The more he was refused, the more Lu Heng felt something was amiss.

Therefore, if this invasion could force the Overmind of the Rogue Servant Faction to show itself, it would be what Lu Heng hoped for.

After half an hour of the bridge defense battle,

A group of nearly twenty Mutants had landed on the north side of Eco Island and made their way inland, clearing out rogue servant robots as they headed towards the central hemisphere-shaped building.

Su Muyu spotted the Mutants and reported, "Mutants have landed on the island, and their target is clear—they're heading for the central hemisphere building. Chen Zihan's team is among them."

"Let's go invisible and follow them," Lu Heng said, leading the two towards the hemisphere building.

The hemisphere building was indeed a unique structure on Eco Island.

They had passed by it a few times before but had never gone inside.

The Central System Faction Mutants rushed to the building and blasted open the entrance with bombs, entering the building.

The hemisphere building had a large footprint and a complex internal structure.

The Mutants split into several teams and entered different passages, beginning their search of the building.

Lu Heng, in his invisible state, followed them into the building.

From the outside, the hemisphere building appeared to be ten stories tall, but upon entering, they discovered another ten stories underground.

With a total of twenty floors above and below ground, and a vast footprint, the building's internal passages were interconnected, making it a challenge to explore thoroughly.

"Which way should we go?" Su Muyu scanned the area, unsure of how to lead the way.

Lu Heng asked, "Which way did Chen Zihan go?"

"Chen Zihan headed towards the lower passage, probably thinking the target is underground," Su Muyu pointed to the direction Chen Zihan had taken.

This hemisphere-shaped structure had ten underground levels.

Given the depth of the building, if the Overmind was indeed in this building, there was a high likelihood it was hidden underground.

Lu Heng thought for a moment and said, "The Scout Eagle will follow Chen Zihan. We'll go up."

Currently, they were still in an alliance with Chen Zihan.

Both sides had a clear objective: to find the source of the Abyssal Contamination.

Lu Heng suspected that the rogue servant's Overmind was compromised, so if Chen Zihan found the Overmind, they could communicate using the Scout Eagle.

However, given the building's complex interior, the Overmind might not necessarily be underground.

Therefore, Lu Heng decided to head upwards to increase the chances of finding the Overmind.

...

Apart from Chen Zihan, over a dozen other Mutants from the Central System Faction also entered the hemisphere building and spread out to search.

Meanwhile, on the ninth floor of the hemisphere building, in one of the rooms.

A Mechanical Tiger guarded the entrance to the room.

Its information network received real-time surveillance footage.

Thus, the news of the Mutants entering the hemisphere building had already spread to all rogue servant individuals.

The combat robots responsible for guarding Eco Island began to converge on the hemisphere building, entering it to intercept the Mutants.

Some Mutants encountered combat robots, and the sounds of battle reverberated throughout the building.

About twenty minutes later, a group of Mutants reached the ninth floor and entered the room where the Mechanical Tiger was located.

The Mechanical Tiger let out a mechanical roar and engaged in combat with three Mutants.

These three Mutants were powerful, and together, they subdued the Mechanical Tiger within minutes, then opened an alloy door behind it.

As the door opened, a scene was revealed.

Upon seeing what was behind the door, the three Mutants were astonished.

In the room was a massive glass chamber filled with an unknown liquid.

Floating in the liquid was something resembling a brain or a heart.

A brain in a vat!

However, this brain in a vat was different from a human brain, but it was still evident that it belonged to some intelligent life form.

At that moment, numerous tubes were connected to the brain, and it even exhibited slight pulsations.

Just as the three Mutants were in awe, two more individuals entered the room—Hou Lingshan and Liu Liangpeng.

These two were the Mutants who had been teleported to the same transport vehicle as Lu Heng and Chen Zihan.

They assured the others that they weren't after the credit and only wanted to join the challenge mission, offering to trade Energy Cells in exchange.

Since these Mutants all belonged to the Central System Faction and had landed on the island together, the three Mutants didn't suspect them and agreed to their request.

Just as the three were about to destroy the brain in a vat, Hou Lingshan and Liu Liangpeng suddenly attacked and killed the three Mutants.

After the attack, the two approached the brain in a vat and placed their palms on the glass wall.

Abyssal Energy began to permeate the liquid within the glass chamber, merging into their bodies, revealing an Abyssal Energy Blessing.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end