https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-349-The-Final-Convergence-the-Dissipating-Timeline/12850792/
Chapter 348: The Sky Net's Decline
Chapter 348: The Sky Net's Decline
"What’s happening to me?" Qian Tong suddenly noticed that his body seemed to flicker.
No, it wasn’t an illusion; it was really flickering, as if snowflakes of various colors were emerging. As he was pondering, a sensation of falling suddenly came over him.
Instinctively, he tried to grab something, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a large net descending from the sky, as if it were enveloping the entire world.
"This can’t be a dream, can it?"
Qian Tong muttered. The falling sensation became uncontrollable, and when he finally reacted, he found himself submerged in water, his entire body restrained, and some kind of device on his face.
More importantly, he felt something foreign clamping down on his spine and the back of his head.
He struggled and finally broke free, swimming upwards and finding the top. He forced it open and saw a scene of darkness and various mechanical constructs continuously moving around.
"What’s going on here?" His voice was hoarse, as if he had never used it before.
He could also feel the weakness in his body, a result of long-term inactivity leading to muscle atrophy. Not far away, he wasn’t alone; many people were crawling out of cylindrical devices, all of them, regardless of gender or age, were just as bewildered and physically weakened.
They were confused but not stupid. Seeing the mechanical constructs and their own condition, they instantly understood that they had been kept in a controlled environment, but they couldn’t explain why they had suddenly awakened.
Qian Tong’s face changed. "Super Assistant, it must be a problem with the Super Assistant!"
Everything had been fine until he obtained the Super Assistant, making it hard not to draw a connection.
"No wonder the investigators were experiencing lag. These investigators might not be people at all, just virtual data."
Connecting the dots, Qian Tong understood the situation. But understanding it didn’t make it any easier to accept. He had been living such a good life, so why did this have to happen to him?
Before he could recover from the psychological shock, he was hit by a physical one.
Intense firepower swept down, and the breeding facility was devastated in an instant.
Flames erupted, and metal exploded.
In a moment, it turned into a living hell.
Most people had just awakened, and it had taken all their strength to get out of the power generation tanks, let alone dodge the dense barrage of fire.
Qian Tong saw a massive beam of light heading towards him, and in a daze, he felt it seemed familiar.
It wasn’t until the light pierced through him and the surrounding area, extending for hundreds of meters, that he remembered what it was. The reason for his character’s death when he first obtained the Super Assistant was the same beam of light.
Fortunately, death was painless. Both his remains and the power generation tank were reduced to ashes by the light, leaving nothing behind.
The vast matrix world was enveloped by the Demon Net and forcibly extracted from the Sky Net’s body, with the mesmerizing data stored away.
The Sky Net’s body suddenly froze, clearly due to the sudden extraction of the matrix world, which disrupted its computational logic, making it unable to control such a powerful body, causing a lag.
The situation was similar to putting an old phone’s system into a smart device; even if it was compatible, issues would arise.
Bang!
Then, a loud noise was heard, and the Sky Net’s head was smashed to pieces.
The one who acted was Hercules, who drove his war chariot straight into the Sky Net, which was no match for him.
Although it lost its head, this was clearly not the Sky Net’s weakness.
Compared to the massive Sky Net, Hercules was like an ant, but this ant’s attack was extremely powerful.
In just a breath, the Sky Net was torn apart.
If the matrix world were still there, the Sky Net might have put up a fight against Hercules, but Qin Muye knew the importance of the matrix world and had immediately taken it away.
"Next, we need to find the main program of the Sky Net. This is going to be a troublesome task."
Wanting to completely destroy the Sky Net is no easy feat. Destroying its body is something Hercules alone can manage, reducing it to powder with his sheer strength, and then covering it with the endless abyss's Level 2 firepower to ensure not a trace remains.
However, the Sky Net's main program can transfer, and it likely already has.
It might have escaped when the matrix world was extracted, leaving behind this Zion base as a mere decoy.
For an intelligent AI, having multiple hiding spots is a routine affair.
When the entire Zion base was blown to pieces, various firepower rained down, turning it into a wasteland.
Even so, Qin Muye realized that he had only completed the fourth stage of the mission, and the final fifth stage remained unfinished.
This indicated that the Sky Net was not dead, and the threat of the Purge Protocol had not been eliminated. Everything was still at risk.
"The only option is to conduct a thorough search. If the Sky Net wants to hide, I won’t be able to find it."
Qin Muye felt somewhat helpless. The Sky Net was practically destroyed, but it wasn't dead, and there was nothing he could do about it.
It might be lurking in some unknown base, quietly developing. Although it no longer had the matrix world or logistical support, it still had the Spark Source.
As long as it seized the right opportunity, it could definitely make a comeback.
Unfortunately, Qin Muye did not intend to give it that chance. While it would be satisfying to keep it around for points, when it came to life and death, it was best to eliminate the threat.
There was a time to be greedy, but this was clearly not one of them.
He could be greedy about the matrix world, as it was a legitimate war trophy, but deliberately leaving the Sky Net for points was a different matter. It might be a beaten dog now, but what if it made a comeback? He would have to run for his life.
Moreover, he urgently needed the random dungeon scroll from the Sky Net's treasure chest to advance to Level 6. Staying stuck wasn't an option.
"Have you tracked the Sky Net's movements?" Qin Muye asked.
"The Sky Net seems to have split and replicated itself. There is a program in each remaining base, so to eliminate the Sky Net, we need to destroy all the bases."
"Fortunately, due to this major defeat, the Sky Net has lost the matrix world, causing all the shielding mechanisms to fail. All bases and Terminators are now visible on the radar."
Black Hand inquired with the command room and relayed the information to Qin Muye.
"Clean up the battlefield, then annihilate all the bases and Terminators." Qin Muye said directly, suspecting that these bases and Terminators were likely just decoys.
Given the Sky Net's cunning, it would never expose itself. It probably used the decoys as a means to mislead Qin Muye. Every previous encounter had been like a matryoshka doll, with each layer hiding another.
However, this suited Qin Muye's interests. If the Sky Net wanted to play the matryoshka game, he would destroy every layer for points.
If it truly went into deep hiding, he would launch another scorched earth plan to destroy the entire world. Qin Muye didn't believe that such extensive destruction would leave any hiding spots.
If the entire world was devastated and the mission still wasn't complete, Qin Muye would have to leave. If he couldn't find it after all that, there was nothing he could do.
Cleaning up the battlefield was quick, thanks to the endless abyss's spatial technology. There was no need to sift through the debris; they could collect everything remotely and sort it later.
With the loot collected, the endless abyss once again performed a spatial jump to clear out the other Sky Net bases and Terminators.
Without the full strength of the Sky Net and Terminators, these bases were no match for Qin Muye's territory. Under Level 2 firepower, nothing would remain.
There wouldn't even be any loot left. Recovering scrap metal for recycling was a luxury they couldn't afford.
The entire base and the surrounding area, spanning thousands of miles, became a massive crater. To ensure no remnants were left, they had to be thorough.
The endless abyss was indeed greedy for resources, but if they eliminated the Sky Net, the entire world's resources would be theirs. It wouldn't be wise to risk a small oversight for a minor gain.
(End of Chapter)
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