Chapter 1103 - The sickle is accurate, a leek every slice (1/2)
Chapter 1103 The sickle is accurate, a leek every slice
After sacrificing sixty percent of his Luck attribute for fourteen days, which amounted to roughly zero points, the [Bold Explorer) skill was activated, and the world in front of Han Xiao’s eyes changed. His sight panned out into outer space, and below him was a huge planet where its silvery gray earth extended all the way as far as his vision allowed. Blue and white dazzling lights covered the horizon, and the bright light from the photon energy tower stood out from the backdrop of the dark universe.
Han Xiao glanced downward. On the surface was a steel forest without any green vegetation, and numerous strange-shaped mechanical buildings occupied the area. The high mechanical towers shot into the sky, giving the planet a look like a mutated sea urchin wearing steel armor. The cold, heavy style brought with it an evil vibe.
At this time, the scene zoomed in, falling to the ground and focusing on the mechanical city at a low altitude. Han Xiao saw that the inhabitants of the planet were a group of mechanical bodies with varied appearances. There were almost no two identical individuals, their structures all complicated and exquisite. Their decals were all gorgeous, giving them a very advanced look.
“They’re all mechanical life forms. Could this be a Mechanical Life Civilization?”
As a bystander, Han Xiao could not help but think of Psionic Prime’s civilization under his banner. The two were very similar, with the difference that this machinery civilization revealed by (Bold Explorer) was far more advanced, already reaching its matured state.
Did the Virtual Mutiny Virus originate from this unknown mechanical civilization? Han Xiao thought while looking at the scene in front of him.
Right at this moment, something happened!
A piercing white glare that seemed to cover the entire sky swept past, and the giant planet was dead in the center of its blast radius.
A large shield covering the entire planet appeared in outer space, but the moment it came into contact with the light ray, the large shield disintegrated, breaking into countless energy particles.
The planet lost all its protection and was peeled off layer by later, annihilated and decomposed in a short moment. The entire planet’s existence was easily erased in the universe by this light ray.
By the time the attack was over, the illusion disappeared, and Han Xiao’s vision returned to the room. He frowned.
The attack just now seemed to be an advanced energy rank directional gamma-ray burst. It might not have been a natural disaster but rather an attack from a weapon.
Gamma ray bursts were a common universal disaster, and evaporating a planet was like child’s play to them. But with the shields that most civilizations had, they would be able to shield themselves against it. However, the ray burst in the illusion Han Xiao experienced was strange in that it directly disintegrated the planet’s shield the moment it touched it, even though the machinery civilization in it was at an advanced level.
Most people would not be able to observe many details, but the senses of the Beyond Grade As were different. Han Xiao found that there was an additional material added to the Gamma Ray, which might make it a galactic weapon utilized by another advanced civilization.
The universe was full of radiation, and it was actually very lively and bright. However, ordinary people would only see a patch of darkness. As a person’s life level changed, so did the world they saw around them. It was like everyone was looking at the world through keyholes, but those of a higher life level would have larger keyholes.
The information obtained through the skill this time is not enough. There’s no clear direction…
Han Xiao stroked his chin with his thumb, summing up the information he obtained in the short illusion.
Firstly, there was an advanced civilization that was suspected of being a Mechanical Life Civilization. They had a large colonial planet that was extremely advanced in technology, but it was blown up by a Planetary Annihilation Weapon, proving that they had another advanced civilization as their enemy. The hostile civilization would at least be at the Star Cluster level, even possibly at the quasi-Universal Civilization level.
The creator of the Virtual Mutiny Virus should be one of these two civilizations. There was too little information about the other civilization, so Han Xiao ignored it. He mainly analyzed this unknown Machinery civilization.
There are many possibilities for the origin of the Machinery civilization. The most common is for a Beyond Grade A to bestow Mechanical Life, but there are other factors. For example, a biological civilization could also undergo Mechanical Ascension, placing the consciousness of their entire race into mechanical minds and replacing their physical bodies with machinery carriers to obtain immortality. It’s also possible that this civilization is in the form of an AI civilization, a world dominated by artificial intelligence, and the machines are just carriers for them to walk around in…
What piqued Han Xiao’s curiosity most was whether this happened during the era of the modern Galaxy Calendar. He did not know whether it was a lost civilization that had existed during the exploration era or an unknown advanced civilization in an unexplored region of the universe.
He needed to continue using (Bold Explorer) to obtain intelligence or maybe use more relevant items for his ability…
Han Xiao suddenly recalled something.
There was still the safe in which the virus had been stored, which was in the custody of the three Universal Civilizations. That might be a better goal!
Along the way, he could also visit Harrison and the others. These guys had been temporarily imprisoned due to the release of the Virtual Mutiny Virus. In the face of such a disaster, the inspector did not have the last say, so whatever promises he gave to Harrison and this team would definitely be blown away like farts in the wind.
The three Universal Civilizations were quite considerate to this group of prisoners as well, fearing that their bodies would rust due to the long prison life. Thus, they were interrogated daily at a high intensity to help them work their brains and stay healthy. Han Xiao left his subordinates and Phillip in the room to continue analyzing the virus code. He left the R&D department by himself and strode over to the headquarters on the dynasty’s side. The three Universal Civilizations had appointed their senior officials to take charge of the affairs of the Ancient Star Desert. With Han Xiao’s position in the dynasty, he met with the supervisor without much hindrance.
The other party stood up to greet him, exchanging some niceties before they got down to business.
“Your Excellency Black Star, what can I do for you?” the inspector asked.
“I’ve read the information you’ve given and hope to study the device that was used to store the virus.”
“That’s easy.” The dynasty inspector immediately agreed, giving him a lot of respect.
“In addition, I wish to contact the group of scavengers that unearthed this virus, and if possible, release them temporarily.”
“You can see them at any time, but releasing them… is a little inappropriate.”
“I know, you guys have been interrogating them, but this has yielded no results. They should just be unlucky fools that got trapped in this. There’s no point continuing to imprison them.”
The Inspector furrowed his brows as he insisted, “But the virus has caused such a big impact. This is a severe crime. Even if it was an accident, they have to take responsibility for it.”
Han Xiao shook his head as he pointed out, “They might be of help actually. Let them stay by my side to obtain some merits. If they really manage to make some contributions, then we will have benefitted from it.”
The inspector hesitated for a long while before finally agreeing. “… Since you wish for it, alright then. However, their identities will remain as prisoners, and they cannot have freedom of movement.”
He only did so out of respect for Black Star’s position. If it was some other person suggesting this, he would not even bother.
“Thanks.” Han Xiao smiled. “I would also like to request to be allowed to go out on field work.”
“You wish to perform field work as well?” The inspector was surprised.
Han Xiao nodded. “That’s right. The research work here has Manison and the rest at the helm, so there’s no need for me to devote myself to it. I’m wasting resources here, and in my opinion, there are two tasks that are both as equally important as developing an antivirus.”
“Please do tell.”
“The first would be the search for the virus’ core. If the core can be located, most of the triggering mechanisms of the Virtual Mutiny Virus will be invalidated, which will be equivalent to destroying the opponent’s brain. The threat of the disaster will also be reduced.”
“This point is indeed important.” The dynasty’s inspector praised.
If the virus core could be controlled, the difficulty of solving this disaster would be reduced by more than fifty percent. However, the virus core had hidden itself too deeply. No one had any idea what sort of abnormal data it was, and the three Universal Civilizations were also unable to find it.
Han Xiao then raised two fingers and continued. “Secondly, in my opinion, it will be a matter of time before the virus is cracked, with the current abilities of the three Universal Civilizations and the Beyond Grade A mechanics. The real difficulty lies in those with unsavory plans.”
Hearing this, the inspector also frowned.