Chapter 1553 - The Fortress (2/2)
It was useless to try to hack or destroy the black cubes. Hao Ren’s target was the computer room in the Ultimate Palace.
The map had detailed features of the routes, but it was not easy to get close to the fortress without being spotted. The First Born, whom the Executors called the Planet Devourer, had never carried out sophisticated tactics such as spying and sabotage, but the humans who designed and built the lunar base still habitually set up multiple layers of checkpoints and patrol teams around the fort. The Cortex Prime, which took over the management of the lunar base, had inherited and expanded these designs.
There were many patrols and sentinels along the way. Some Executor guards rode on small combat vehicles, and some in fixed checkpoints operating the electronic monitoring stations. There were also many little gadgets called the Patrol Craft, which was a kind of disc-shaped smart aircraft. At only the size of a basketball, Patrol Craft usually operated in groups of three or six and was distributed throughout the moon and more around the fortress.
These Patrol Crafts were the eyes and ears of the Cortex Prime.
It was not difficult to eliminate these “eyes and ears”; a transcendent husky with a piece of brick could wipe out all the sentry posts. But that would inevitably alert the entire lunar base. By then, Hao Ren’s team would probably drown in the sea of Executors.
His teammates were the gold medalists in combat. But even the best god medalist was not invincible. Even if a bat of Vivian could immobilize a hundred ordinary Executor soldiers, but faced with a million troops, she would soon find that she was running out of bats.
Hao Ren trod his path very carefully. N-6 was guiding them to circumvent the surveillance cameras while the MDT alerted them of the nearby patrol units. With these helps, the team was able to maneuver close to the fortress safely.
At first, Hao Ren wanted to let the MDT go farther ahead and then teleport them. But the moment the MDT activated the portal, it sensed at least 70 radar signals locked onto it. So, the MDT could only give up the idea.
The Executors had not developed spacetime technology, but their radars were not blind. The abnormal energy burst and electromagnetic radiation before the portal opened were enough to alert the Cortex Prime. Considering the stun and disorientation after the teleportation could momentarily affect the combat strength of the team, Hao Ren must give up this risky approach.
Fortunately, the chaos that Hao Ren had orchestrated in and around the Zenith had helped draw the attention of the Cortex Prime and the forces on the lunar base, leaving only part of the Executor forces behind on the lunar moon.
The team managed to come before the black steel fortress without a hitch.
“The fortress was built on top of the crater. At first, it was only an underground alloy bunker at the bottom of the crater.” N-6 looked proudly at the black fort in front of her. “Since then, it has undergone many transformations and enhancements over thousands of years. Now, apart from this circular contour, it basically does not look like what it used to be. Sensors and electronic eyes of the Cortex Prime have now covered the entire outer shell. The entire wall is made of activated metal, and the Cortex Prime can sense any contact with the external wall in real-time. How do you deal with this?”
Y’zaks looked at the black wall not far away and asked, “Could we go in from above or below?”
N-6 shook her head. “A repulsive shield is in the air. It is not as advanced as your shield technology, but it is laid with sensors. The Cortex Prime will immediately sense if there is an intruder. Going in through underground is unworkable because there is also a hemispherical activated metal shell there. You cannot possibly sneak in.”
Vivian thought for a moment and said, “It sounds like the entire fortress is shrouded in a shield. Do not tell me this thing can detach from the lunar base.”
N-6 glanced at Vivian and said after two seconds of silence, “You have guessed it right. The entire fortress has been indeed designed to be detachable from the moon. This great project was completed 3,000 years ago. Enhancement work is continuously carried out until this day. It is so designed to preserve the last seeds of the survivor society in a worst-case scenario. If the Planet Devourer brings down the lunar base and destroys the Zenith space station, the fortress will detach from the moon and escape into space. It is a new Zenith Ark by which humans and the Cortex Prime retain a glimmer of hope to find a new home in the universe.
“At the same time, the Executors have built annihilation reactors inside the moon. The annihilation reactors are powerful enough to push the entire moon out of the orbit. If the day where the fortress is forced to detached from the moon indeed comes, the Executors will blow up those annihilation reactors, and the moon will crash into the home planet. We do not know if this will eventually kill the Planet Devourer, but at least we can go home.”
Everyone broke out in cold sweat upon hearing the plan. “Are you crazy?” Lily asked.
“We just want to go home.”