Despite having a large hole pierced through her chest, CN. One, kneeling on the ground, still struggled to swing her remaining arm, attempting to continue fighting the enemy.
However, with a second blue beam from a sniper rifle shot down from the cliff, CN. One’s other arm was also destroyed.
Completely deprived of the ability to resist, CN. One was torn apart at the waist by the miasma dogs, with spikes from miasma snakes following closely, piercing her chest. Swallowed by the monsters, she was bitten in half, leaving only her upper body on the ground.
Seeing CN. One incapacitated, the miasma monsters abandoned her, stepping over her remains to attack the other mechanical servants.
Without CN. One, even if the mechanical servant troop had a new commander, they were quickly shot down by the sniper from the cliff. In just a few minutes, all fifty mechanical servants were reduced to wreckage under the fangs and claws of the miasma monsters.
Satisfied with the outcome, the steward of the Black Fire Gang nodded approvingly. He then manipulated the skull in his hand again, and astonishingly, the miasma monsters began to dissolve into red mist and eventually returned to the skull.
However, the skull’s red glow had dimmed significantly compared to before, indicating a substantial expenditure of its power.
“Quick, start the salvage operation!”
At the steward’s command, over thirty Black Fire Gang members, who had been waiting on the cliff, immediately descended using ropes. Greed and excitement filled their eyes as they regarded the mechnical servants’ remains as if they were looking at fields of gold.
Among them were several engineer-like members who used various tools prepared for the task to cut apart the mechnical servants’ remains. Their actions were clearly not their first, indicating they were well-practiced.
One after another, weapon parts were extracted and collected by the Black Fire Gang members from the wreckage. Watching their tactical backpacks fill up with mechnical servant weapons, the steward couldn’t help but smile broadly. Successfully completing this job could potentially elevate him to a deputy leader position within the gang.
He wondered about the “big plan” that required so many weapons, even if he only had a vague idea that it might involve combat against a certain company.
As the steward was lost in thoughts of promotion and wealth, a shout of alarm came from the furthest Black Fire Gang member, the same subordinate who had previously shown sympathy for the mechanical servants. He was now frantically yelling at the steward.
“Boss, put it away! Hurry up and put that artifact away!”
‘Put the artifact away?’
The steward soon understood why his subordinate was so urgent, as he saw the young gang member, who hadn’t managed to say anything more, impaled from behind by a sharp barb that pierced through his chest, staining his shirt with a large patch of blood.
Looking down at the barb protruding from his chest in disbelief, which belonged to a miasma snake, he clutched the bag of weapon parts he couldn’t bear to abandon even in flight. In the end, his body, along with those weapon parts, lay on the ground just like the remains of the mechanical servants.
This sudden turn of events immediately sparked terror and chaos among the Black Fire Gang members as they realized that miasma monsters were emerging from the other side of the canyon.
“Boss, hurry! Turn off your artifact!”
Many Black Fire Gang members shouted at the steward, thinking the appearance of the miasma monsters was summoned by the artifact in the steward’s hand, just like before.
But the steward himself, with cold sweat on his forehead and his hand clutching the skull shaking more and more, was certain that this “relic of the Old Alliance” was not operational. This could only mean one thing: this was a real monster tide within the Dream Zero.
And at times like these, the only hope for salvation would have been the mechanical servants, but obviously, that hope had been extinguished by their own hands.
“Escape the dream!”
“Let me out of the dream, quick!”
“Escape! Damn it! Let me out, aaaah!”
“It’s too late, too uh…”
Flesh was torn apart; in front of the monster tide, the thirty gang members were like ants crushed by elephants. Their flesh was ripped apart by the maws of the miasma dogs, their limbs becoming food in the mouths of miasma snakes.
Unlike other dreams, everything that happens within Dream Zero is felt in reality with true sensation, including the pain of being torn apart before brain death occurs.
The remains of CN. One, now just an upper body, had her eyes showing static, with all her data reporting errors. Fortunately, it seemed her core black box could still function normally.
She tried to reach her disfigured cheek, wanting to touch her lips one last time, but the synthetic skin there was long gone, leaving only cold mechanical bones.
[May the Emperor’s glory stay forever.] 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚
After these intermittent synthetic sounds, the half-body of CN. One transformed into a massive blaze of sunlight. The intense energy swept across the entire canyon, obliterating the miasma monsters and the gang members’ corpses in an explosive eradication.
…
…
-At the base.
Factory buildings stood tall, with assembly lines equipped with various parts. After several complex processes, brand new mechanical servants were reconstructed from the end of the workshop.
[17639, thank you for your contributions to the Dream Zero. This is your 1282nd reconstruction. You bear the important responsibility of maintaining the peace and stability of the Dream Zero. You will continue to be deployed into glorious battle.]
At the top of the workshop’s display, a line of text appeared, a message every mechanical servant would see at birth.
[May the Emperor’s glory stay forever] All the newly emerged mechanical servants, facing the text, placed one hand over their chest, standing at attention.
17639 was no exception.
Then, the base would randomly assign the mechanical servants’ destinations. Soon, it was 17639’s turn, as shown on the workshop’s large screen.
[17639, your model is: Control Unit. You will be assigned to the Evil Dragon war zone, coordinate position: GY-28. We look forward to your valiant performance.]
After being assigned, the mechanical servants usually proceed to action, but this time, Control Unit 17639 did not move from its spot.
[17639, your assignment has been issued. Please proceed to the designated area immediately. Repeat, please proceed immediately.]
[17639 requests a reassignment of the war zone] the blindfolded mechanical servant interrupted the workshop screen in front of it.
The screen seemed surprised by 17639’s action, or more accurately, it was beyond its programmed understanding. After a while, the text reappeared on the screen.
[Warning! 17639, please state your reason for the request. Otherwise, you will be considered defective and subjected to reconstitution.]
Footsteps sounded quickly, and soon, five mechanical servants were dispatched by the base, surrounding 17639.
[Report; 17639 has multiple experiences in the Witch war zone according to its past data. 17639 believes it can offer greater tactical value in the Witch war zone and requests base approval]
After 17639 stated its reasoning, the base was silent for even longer than before, then the mechanical servants surrounding 17639 were withdrawn, and two words appeared on the screen.
[Request Approved]
17639 saluted the base screen and then turned to leave, her wings unfolding as it sped off to the reassigned Witch war zone.
During the flight, 17639 was also processing its own computations.
It calculated why she had made the request, why she felt an inexplicable attachment to the Witch war zone.
However, it had no related memory because every time they died and were reconstituted, all their past data were erased, formatting them into brand new mechanical servants.
No, perhaps there was an anomaly? In flight, 17639 touched her lips with its hand.
She didn’t remember having a record of this action in their programming, and this action seemed unrelated to combat, even a hindrance.
[What was this?] 17639 searched through its system many times but couldn’t find the origin until its hand unintentionally brushed over the position of her chest, finally resting on the location of its artificial synthetic heart.
It had an intuition, yes, the word “intuition,” which is most unrelated to mechanical beings.
[Could this data be…]
[From here?]
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