Yu Lian feigned a gesture, raising the metal plate in his hand. "This thing is the core terminal for those robots, isn't it?"
Brigadier General Morey's expression was grim.
He genuinely wanted to ask how the other party knew, but then he saw Yu Lian continue to pretend, raising the personal information terminal on his arm, and said, "I scanned it! This small device is the source of a large number of wireless signals. Besides a drone terminal, there's no other explanation. Heh… What, you don't understand? Of course, I've seen too many spiritual energy users like you. You're complacent because you've mastered a bit of brute force called 'spiritual energy,' but your scientific thinking is worse than a proper middle school student's."
Brigadier General Morey felt his dignity had been severely wounded, but the crucial thing was that he couldn't refute it.
"You lost. Surrender now, and you might still have a little bit of dignity," Yu Lian said.
"Hmph! You are indeed clever, but you will be defeated by arrogance!" Brigadier General Morey said coldly.
Morey no longer wanted to bother with how Yu Lian had discovered it; he knew the other party would just seize the opportunity to continue mocking him. Besides, what if the core terminal fell into his hands? He surely wouldn't know how to shut it down, nor would he know that he could control the robots even through telekinesis.
His will, transmitted through spiritual energy, silently acted upon the terminal in Yu Lian's hand, then spread throughout the ship. The robots on standby around the plaza surrounded them, raising various autocannons and aiming at Yu Lian's back.
At the same time, the gray mist intelligent machines in the bridge and the Great Hall reacted similarly.
"Kill him! Kill them! Let's all go down together!" He revealed a sinister smile.
Then, he watched in horror as Yu Lian raised the intelligent machine terminal high. He only felt a faint spiritual energy fluctuation, and the red light on the metal plate flickered once before extinguishing on the spot.
The robots, who were about to open fire on Yu Lian's back, seemed to instantly lose all their energy, their bodies collapsing with a rustle, and the firearms in their hands drooped.
Morey stood in silence for several seconds, then suddenly turned around and rushed towards the bridge at top speed.
Yu Lian expressed his full admiration for the other party's decisiveness, throwing the blade in his hand with a wave, then taking off in pursuit. As he chased, he had to multitask, fiddling with the metal plate in his hand.
The blade spun like a windmill, whooshing towards the back of Brigadier General Morey's neck. The powerful whoosh of the wind pressure sounded as if it could decapitate an elephant. Morey, or rather, whatever was behind Morey, dared not be careless and shouted a spell word back.
"Command, Isolate!"
The air inside the ship seemed to instantly transform into an invisible, solid wall, materializing directly in front of the two, but only a 'thud' was heard as the blade, distorted, fell to the ground.
Having to chase a master at least two rings higher than himself while also inspecting the newly acquired loot, Yu Lian felt he was having a tough time, but also that he was truly extraordinary.
This thing was indeed a gray mist intelligent machine core, meaning the control terminal for over two hundred gray mist combat robots on this Azure Princess—a very scientifically consistent… antique!
Yu Lian had dealt with this thing several times in his previous life. It was a legacy left behind by some civilization from an unknown previous era. Some scholars attributed them again to the versatile Enlightener legacy, but because these mechanical robots' style was truly inconsistent with known Enlightener legacies, there was still considerable debate.
These things actually existed in considerable numbers throughout the Universe. Each terminal, depending on its serial number and performance, could control dozens to thousands of unmanned combat machines.
The reason it had the name "gray mist" was because, in the future, a transcendent named Ai Meng, from the Luun galaxy, who called himself the "Gray Mist Master," somehow obtained a large batch of ancient mechanical terminals and used them to create a vast robot army for himself. Subsequently, he bravely raised the banner of resistance against the Empire.
In a sense, this "Gray Mist Master," Mr. Ai Meng, could even be considered an ally of Earthlings, although this guy's methods were truly unscrupulous, almost like a cult leader.
…A cult leader? Yu Lian felt as if he had grasped something.
In short, in the future, Mr. Ai Meng became one of the most threatening rebel leaders to the Empire, and his title of "Gray Mist Master" spread throughout the galaxy. The intelligent machine cores and combat robots he used were given the bandit names "Gray Mist Core" and "Gray Mist Robot."
However, these were indeed just bandit names. In fact, in official records of the future, the academic designation for this item had always been Ancient Relic UA12.
"Gray Mist Master" Ai Meng, along with all life on his home planet Luun, was ultimately annihilated by the Empire's neutron sterilization, and the Virtual Spirit Temple sealed almost all known gray mist intelligent machine terminals, with only the Empire and the Alliance obtaining a few for research.
That such a scientific antique was handed over to the most unscientific organization in the Universe for handling was perhaps because its method of operation indeed contained very unscientific elements.
However, we all know that once such a thing spreads onto the battlefield, it's absolutely impossible to completely ban and seal it. Yu Lian had played with it several times in his previous life.
He dared to say, even to the universe spirit, that he knew far more about gray mist robots than Brigadier General Morey opposite him.
Ordinary people could operate it in conventional ways, but spiritual energy users could also attach their will to it, achieving an effect similar to a magical artifact recognizing its master in fantasy novels.
If that were the case, it would take some time to dispel the will of the previous owner. Yu Lian could only temporarily shut it down.
So, the most energy-saving and convenient method… was indeed to kill the previous owner first, right? Yu Lian quickened his pace, and incidentally, reached out to grab an autocannon from a nearby gray mist guard, taking it into his hand.
In fact, even at this point, Brigadier General Morey's raw strength was still superior to Yu Lian's, but both sides seemed to have forgotten this fact.
No one noticed that a large unmanned delivery vehicle had already emerged from the other end of the plaza.
Serena Mao poked half her head out of the vehicle compartment, looking around with a puzzled gaze. She quickly saw the passage at the end of the plaza, knowing it should lead to the bridge.
The singer knew that the greasy middle-aged man whom she disliked so much, the unreliable leader of this country, was also the most important man in her life right now, and he was there.
It's causing such a big commotion… He's so weak, and he's fainted, it must be very dangerous.
Serena gritted her teeth, then quickly pulled her head back in.
Need to find a way? But how? The singer felt that if she just foolishly rushed in to save someone, there was a high probability she would become a burden to her own side, or even directly become a hostage for the enemy, turning into a tool for the villains to threaten her companions.
Yes, Miss Serena had seen many movies of this type and always thought those heroines were idiots. When it was her turn, she absolutely couldn't act like that.
She carefully pulled out her beloved electric screwdriver, calmly opened an opening at the bottom of the cargo box, and crawled through, actually managing to crawl into the driver's cabin. Her extremely skilled movements clearly indicated she had done this many times before.
This delivery drone was unmanned most of the time, but just in case, it was equipped with a manual cockpit. Serena Mao crawled to the control panel.
Many people knew she grew up in a single-parent household, was scouted by a company at 12 and trained to be a future star, and from then on, she saw her mother for less than a month each year. However, too many people didn't know that her mother used to drive large transport trucks, and later became a starship freighter pilot.
One can imagine the demeanor of women engaged in such work. And given that, one can also imagine what kind of person Miss Serena Mao, who grew up in such an environment, essentially was.
She manipulated the dashboard, then saw a complete map of the ship's interior, with a highlighted trajectory that should be the robot's delivery route.
"Mom, bless me!"
Serena didn't really understand too much, at least not as much as her mother, but she still earnestly tinkered with it according to her superficial understanding of machinery.
Perhaps the operation modes of this type of vehicle are largely similar. In any case, this unmanned cargo truck stopped on the spot, and then restarted a few seconds later. It immediately changed its original trajectory, bypassed the plaza in front of the bridge, and entered a side passage before finally stopping.
At this point, Miss Serena Mao crawled back into the cargo hold through the passage she had just used, continuing to squat with her head in her hands.
Horatio Wien peeked out from behind cover, looking at the robot opposite, which seemed to have fallen silent. He stood up and fired a burst of bullets from the heavy autocannon in his hand at the steel Colossus.
The autocannon in Wien's hand was the only heavy weapon capable of posing a real threat to the gray mist guard, but this burst only pushed it back several meters.
With a 'crunch,' the black, shiny steel giant seemed to lose its Balance, falling to the ground with another heavy clang.
"Dead, finally dead?" Major Gayson asked with a lingering fear in his voice.
One must know that just a moment ago, this robot had suppressed everyone so much that they couldn't even lift their heads. The light weapons in their hands could hardly make an effective impact on its sturdy armor.
Wien pondered for a moment, gave everyone a look to stay alert, and then directly walked out of cover.
"Officer!" Manager Harris tried to stop him, but Wien ignored him, stepping forward and directly touching the robot with the muzzle of his cannon.
"…That guy really pulled it off!" Wien sighed inwardly, then ordered, "Mr. Harris, take your men to the Great Hall and quickly suppress the rebels. No need to seek to kill; just hold the doors. Everyone else, follow me to the bridge for support!"
He had a very clear assessment of the combat effectiveness of these security personnel. Although they had an absolute advantage in numbers, it was too unrealistic to expect them to fight to the death.
Wien's guess was indeed correct.
Harris, along with a group of private security guards and mercenaries, quickly arrived at the Great Hall. After a not-so-intense skirmish with the special forces on the other side, the latter began to retreat.
There was no other way; there was truly nothing they could do but retreat. When these special forces saw the aerial combat outside the portholes, they knew that what was bound to happen had finally happened.
The thirty former special operations members were divided at this point. Some wanted to follow Brigadier General Morey's initial plan and start massacring the hostages, but most of them ultimately couldn't bring themselves to be so ruthless. Shooting one or two people and indiscriminately spraying bullets at over twenty thousand people were, after all, two different matters.
It proved that although they had followed their old superior and become terrorists, they ultimately had not yet fully committed to becoming beasts. They quickly unified their thinking.
"Leave the slaughter to the robots," the special forces thought, and so they simply withdrew from the Great Hall.
They still felt that as long as they guarded the doors and prevented the hostages from escaping, controlling the situation here during that time would be enough to be worthy of Brigadier General Morey and General Schwartz. After that, it would be up to fate.
What the special forces never expected was that as soon as they lined up in the Great Hall, the door there slammed shut with a 'thud.' The thirty former special operations members were thus completely cut off from the more than twenty thousand hostages inside, plus dozens of combat robots.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, they all declared that they would jump straight to the last step and leave it to fate now!
When the few robots still cooperating with them in combat completely lost power, and when the security guards who were supposed to be locked up suddenly attacked, they became even more certain of this.
"What do we do?"
Everyone looked at the person in charge there, a strong man in his 30s, a Captain named Rubins.
"Everyone knows that I used to be a gangster, a thug for several years, and committed many murders. It was thanks to my brother Morey's great kindness that I became a military policeman, and then a special forces member. If not for him, I would have either been killed by another gang in that small alley, or already shot by the police."
What are you doing, reminiscing now? Are you going to lead everyone in a desperate charge because of a debt of gratitude?
"But if a person dies, there's nothing left! Although I've been working for the government, I haven't truly felt the same joy as when I used to drink heavily! This time, turning from a government employee into a wanted criminal, I guess I've done right by my brother Morey!"
Everyone was on the verge of dying from anxiety, thinking, 'Why are you still rambling on at a time like this? Are you talking to the universe spirit to put your mind at ease?'
"If you go this way, there's a small yacht dock, and you can find two working yachts. Let's gamble and see if we brothers can escape! To live freely among the stars in the future would be a little bit of happiness!" the bald Captain said.
One side didn't want to launch a strong assault, and the other didn't want to hold out to the death. After a rather intense but not at all brutal exchange of fire, the special forces retreated while fighting, thus leaving the Great Hall to the White Wing Anglo Company's security personnel.
With that, the more than twenty thousand hostages on the Azure Princess were liberated.
The only ones still in danger were the more than two hundred elites among the elites on the bridge.