Embers Ad Infinitum

“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” As its voice echoed, the silver robot raised its hands.

Two grenades shot out with flaming tails and flew at Shang Jianyao, who was inches away.

It was fast, but Shang Jianyao was even faster. Almost as soon as it raised its head and emitted a red glow in its eyes, Shang Jianyao leaned back, kicked with his feet, exerted strength with his waist and abdomen, and flipped backward.

This would only be a backflip under normal circumstances, but Shang Jianyao was now wearing a military exoskeleton. Be it his jumping ability or balance, they far exceeded that of humans. Therefore, he seemed to have obtained a magical cloud from an Old World myth, and he flipped backward so high that he almost touched the ceiling.

Two grenades passed him and landed at the edge of the metal hall, producing a violent explosion.

On the other side, the Old Task Force members reacted equally quickly.

Encased in the Chameleon, Bai Chen disappeared from her spot and entered stealth mode in search of the most suitable opportunity to attack.

Although Long Yuehong was a little nervous and didn’t have sufficient confidence in fighting a robot head-on, he still relied on the Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor’s outstanding defense to jump out and run toward the enemy.

He didn’t run in a straight line. Instead, he used the tail attached to the smart armor to snake out an S-shaped trajectory while maintaining sufficient balance. At the same time, he raised his right palm, placing the T1 mechanical arm’s laser weapon on firing mode.

Once he locked onto the target and aimed at the other party’s vital spots, he would immediately deliver the fatal blow.

Jiang Baimian jumped onto the metal wall beside her. She then continuously bounced off the wall, ceiling, and ground to approach the robot in a dazzling and difficult-to-detect manner.

She didn’t choose to engage in a long-range battle with the other party because the hall wasn’t an open square that provided sufficient maneuvering room. Furthermore, this was basement two. If they really fought to the death here and damaged the corresponding load-bearing walls, it could cause the building to collapse.

The four fragile carbon-based members of the Old Task Force definitely couldn’t compare to metal robots. When the time came, there was a high chance that nobody would survive.

The Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor couldn’t withstand having a few tonnes or more crashing down on it. In such a situation, even though it might be able to maintain a certain level of integrity, Long Yuehong—who was inside—would definitely become a meat pancake mixed with blood.

Faced with the Old Task Force members’ encirclement, the silver robot didn’t stay in place foolishly. It followed its programming and moved horizontally like it was equipped with combat intelligence.

This resulted in Long Yuehong’s lock-on failing.

The robot then nimbly jumped and ran, constantly changing positions. It also seized every opportunity to fire grenades at the intruders and used electromagnetic weapons to create wave after wave of explosions.

It didn’t seem worried that this would cause the building above its head to collapse and bury the laboratory. If not for Jiang Baimian and the others supporting each other and their fast reactions, it was very likely that they would’ve been injured by this merciless killing machine.

Only about ten seconds had passed since the sudden battle began.

Just as the silver robot rolled back to the laboratory entrance, completed a wave of attacks, and was about to jump away, the red glow in its eyes suddenly flickered, and its body temporarily stiffened.

This stiffness only lasted for a second, but in the blink of an eye, a bullet wrapped in silver-white lightning shot out and hit the robot’s chest with immense kinetic energy.

With a clang, the crack that resembled a metal spider web crumbled, revealing the hidden chips, densely packed electronic components, and transmission lines beneath.

Jiang Baimian seized the opportunity to use the electromagnetic transmitter attached to the military exoskeleton in midair! She then used the ceiling as leverage to change directions, jumping in front of the silver robot and pressing the rocket launcher’s face against the enemy’s chest.

Without any hesitation, Jiang Baimian stared at the two expanding red lights and pulled the trigger. At the same time, she jumped back using the momentum, exerting strength with her feet.

She flew backward while her body stuck close to the ground.

Boom!

Huge flames spread from the silver robot’s body as countless components were thrown out, scattering everywhere.

After the explosion subsided, only an incomplete metal body remained. It shook two to three times before crashing to the ground with a clang.

Long Yuehong stopped what he was about to do and turned to look at Shang Jianyao, who was standing at the edge of the silver hall. “How did you do it?”

The robot from before had clearly shown an abnormality for about a second. Shang Jianyao probably couldn’t ‘control’ electromagnetism and could only ‘interfere.’

Shang Jianyao stuffed his right palm—which was covered in a metallic skeletal structure—into his pocket and smiled smugly. “I interfered with one of its signal receivers, causing a malfunction. It started a self-check.”

It was unknown who he was imitating, but he insisted on putting on a relaxed posture.

“Isn’t this too precise?” Long Yuehong didn’t hide his surprise. Is this something that can be completed by electromagnetic interference?

Shang Jianyao—who had switched personalities—stopped posing and walked to the laboratory entrance. He smiled and said, “I spent some time identifying the model of its signal receiver and recalled the corresponding malfunctioning code and the interruption mechanism. I often asked Old Ge about how to stimulate the receivers of different models in the simplest way so that I could temporarily affect a robot at my current stage. Have you forgotten what you learned in university? Do you usually not chat with Old Ge? My friend, knowledge is power!”

In terms of understanding of the Old World robots, Genava was undoubtedly the best among the Old Task Force. Even Bai Chen—who once had an Old World robot—couldn’t compare.

This was a talent stemming from his race.

Long Yuehong blushed with shame, and he really felt that his efforts in certain aspects couldn’t compare to a mental patient’s. However, this was never his goal.

Shang Jianyao glanced at him and smiled warmly. “Study more on how to deal with different enemies. It can effectively help you survive an intense battle. Big White and I need to do this—you even more so because we aren’t afraid of death while you are.”

I’m afraid too! Jiang Baimian didn’t disturb the temporarily serious Shang Jianyao and took the opportunity to remind her teammates.

She guessed that this was the Hey who valued relationships.

Long Yuehong’s heart palpitated as his expression gradually turned solemn.

“I understand.” He nodded hard.

At this moment, Bai Chen appeared again. She had already sneaked to the laboratory entrance.

If Jiang Baimian hadn’t used the electromagnetic weapon in time, she would’ve thrown a bunch of high-performance adsorption explosives over.

Shang Jianyao stopped at the laboratory entrance and cast his gaze past Bai Chen. He said in relief and disappointment, “I thought a series of ‘intruder alert’ would sound from inside as robots run out one after another.”

Don’t think about things that sound so terrifying… Long Yuehong was afraid that he couldn’t help but think about it.

Jiang Baimian reloaded the single-man combat rocket launcher with ammunition and deliberated before saying, “There shouldn’t be that many robots awakening. Old Ge already entered using the passcode, and the Source Brain is definitely best at dealing with robots.”

She meant that as long as they didn’t court death like Shang Jianyao and took the initiative to ‘provoke’ the guard robot, it was impossible for the robots to regain mobility for no reason.

“What I fear most is that they have already become the Source Brain’s slaves,” reminded Bai Chen.

Jiang Baimian had naturally thought of this, and she smiled bitterly. “If such a situation really happens, there’s only one solution: Run!”

With the abilities Shang Jianyao had just shown and the Old Task Force’s equipment, they still had the strength to deal with three to four such Old World robots. Any more, and they wouldn’t be able to handle it.

This didn’t include the Source Brain.

After a simple inspection, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong led the way. The Old Task Force members passed through the door and entered the secret laboratory.

The walls here were cast from metal, but some places were painted with insulating paint of different colors.

As the Old Task Force slowly walked forward, they sized up the rooms on both sides.

In the beginning, those rooms were like offices. There was nothing special about them except for a large number of computers and a small amount of paper. If there was plenty of time later, Jiang Baimian didn’t mind flipping through them or taking them away.

After moving forward for about 30 meters, there were many experimental apparatus in the rooms on both sides of the aisle. Some of them were standard equipment, while some were equipment Jiang Baimian couldn’t immediately identify.

They came to a room that had doors that were either tightly closed or ajar, preventing anyone from seeing what was inside at a glance.

Shang Jianyao casually pushed open the door on his side.

Under the ceiling lamps’ illumination, large and sealed cylindrical glass containers appeared. They were filled with a light-yellow liquid, and a naked corpse floated in each of them. There were men and women.

Due to the vessel’s shape, these corpses were vertically upright. It was terrifying.

Shang Jianyao suddenly smiled. “Will they suddenly look up like the robot from before, their eyes glowing?”