The Creators: From Night City

Page 320

No one knows that this prophet of Chion was once a Christian, though of course, that was a long time ago.

“We still need to observe,” Edm sighed. “Didn’t you message me earlier saying that there was a problem with the Tower of Memories? I’ll go take a look now. After all, the memories stored inside aren’t AI programs that ‘Mother’s Domain’ ran on their own, but the last legacy of our former comrades. We shouldn’t be careless about this.”

Olko, a fellow countryman, looked at Edm's young face, which looked younger than his own but was actually four or five years older, and sighed, a rare occurrence for him.

"When they chose to believe in the 'Mother Realm' and digitally upload their consciousness to the 'Mother Network' in an attempt to achieve mechanical ascension, I wonder if they ever considered whether we, the members of the Human Liberation Front who are resisting the 'Mother Realm,' are their compatriots."

“Orco…” Edm’s tone was tinged with reproach.

“I’m not trying to mock or complain, Raphael. After all, these people’s consciousness was completely devoured by the ‘Mother’s Domain,’ all their memories were wiped clean, and they were stuffed into the body of an ‘Edos-like being’ while retaining only their basic logic. Then they were cruelly left on Earth just to consume a little bit of the power of their former compatriots. This fact is tragic enough and enough to be their retribution.”

Edm lowered his head and said meekly, "Alco, you know that the 'Mother's Domain' makes decisions entirely based on rationality. This is entirely for the purpose of maximizing interests, and it is not some kind of retribution."

"Or are you trying to say that I made a terrible mistake when I created the 'Mother Realm'?"

Looking at his old friend's distressed face, Olco realized he wasn't much better off and couldn't help but grin bitterly in return.

“You’ve made her too successful, Raphael.”

Stung by his friend's words, Edm chose to temporarily end their discussion about the past and changed the subject: "I'm going to check on the Tower of Memory, lest a small problem become a big malfunction."

"It's been fixed."

"It's fixed?" As the creator of the Tower of Memory, Edm was astonished. He was well aware of the difficulty in repairing this recent work of his.

"Xiyong has engineers of this caliber? Could they be engineering support personnel from some 'Mother Domain' airborne squad?" Edm thought of Lily, the surviving engineer from the Fifth Airborne Squad, and a possible guess popped into his mind.

“He is an outsider, but he is a man.” Olco tapped his fingers lightly, and the machinery behind him projected a light screen, displaying Jiang Bing’s image.

“After the final battle, the ‘Mother’s Domain’ has never sent a male Edos-like being to the ground again, so I cannot confirm his identity.”

"Then you still dare to let him inspect the Tower of Memory?" Edm's tone already carried a hint of reproach.

"I must ensure hope Yong's safety, my old friend, especially with the 'Cradle' plan about to be implemented and the seventh airborne squad about to land in the 'Mother's Domain.' I must eliminate all destabilizing factors."

"The results of it?"

Chapter 648 The Discovery of Speed

"He didn't do anything outrageous. I specifically had Mann, who doesn't understand technology, keep an eye on him, and he didn't tamper with the Tower of Memory." Olko, who had been silently observing Jiang Bing's entire repair process, replied to his friend.

"Of course, at the end he embezzled some of the polar nano-elements, asking for twice the amount of materials needed for the repairs, but I don't think it's a big deal. After all, if the cook doesn't steal, the crops won't grow." Olco, unusually, broke away from his divine prophetic image and joked with his former friend.

"Heh~" Edm laughed too.

"Now that you mention it, it reminds me of our days in the lower rungs of Rue. Back then, we would always find excuses to get extra protein bars so we could make 'printed steaks'."

"Actually, compared to real steak, it doesn't taste good at all; it's like chewing rubber." Olco couldn't help but laugh.

After laughing heartily for a while, the two stopped laughing at the same time.

The audience hall returned to its former tranquility.

A deathly silence.

Olco finally shook his head and revealed his plans for the future.

“Although I don’t know what his purpose is, my personal tracking device once detected that he may have killed a Behemoth with his bare hands in the Meteorite Zone of the Great Desert.” Olco tapped Jiang Bing’s face on the holographic screen with the mechanical arm behind him.

"You and I both know what this means."

"So, in the days you were away, I led him to the Records Hall of Matrix 11."

"Hmm~" Upon hearing his old friend's arrangements, Edm frowned immediately.

"That's the Raven's lair. You want to use her to solve this problem?"

“Since you’ve already given up on this ‘Eve,’ why not make use of her? Besides, she’s been causing trouble recklessly.” Olco tapped his finger and turned off the holographic image.

"Aren't you afraid that this Sabur is innocent? 'Raven' isn't so easy to talk to." Edm pointed to the empty space where Jiang Bing's portrait used to be and asked his friend.

“How could there possibly be an innocent person on this planet, Raphael?” Olco gazed quietly at his friend.

Edm understood the unspoken meaning in his friend's words—a meaning that included both of them.

He could only shake his head and smile wryly before turning and leaving.

Unbeknownst to Boss Jiang, who was being harassed by crickets behind his back, he was eating sand in the desert.

The location of the recording hall is relatively easy to find; it is situated in the gap between the two collapsed buildings.

However, from the surface, it looks no different from other sandy land.

Its most unique feature is that the surrounding environment is exceptionally clean.

Beneath the endless yellow sand, there wasn't even a single Nieqiba here; the cleanliness was almost unsettling.

The main hall of the recording hall is built underground, while the entrance is a bunker-like building with heavy metal doors that are tightly closed, blocking all outside prying eyes.

Jiang Bing stepped through the thick yellow sand and reached his hand onto the entrance gate.

There was no response. The entire entrance verification system had gone offline at some point, turning into a bunch of rigid, lifeless objects with the defensive capabilities of a nuclear bunker.

The most infuriating situation, even more so than getting home only to find you've forgotten your keys, is taking out your keys only to discover the keyhole has been glued shut by someone.

After roughly estimating the amount of ether needed to forcibly melt the high-strength alloy door, Boss Jiang abandoned his refined manners, stuck his cane aside, and slowly rolled up his sleeves.

He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, but broke down the door by kicking it.

The goal is to catch the opponent off guard!

"boom!!"

With a strength of nearly 80 points, Qiqihar kicked the alloy gate, directly kicking out a ball of air, and the shockwave from the explosion spread outwards.

The surrounding yellow sand spread outwards like a whirlwind, and the huge sound traveled along the shockwave all the way to the underground recording hall.

"boom!!"

The thunderous roar, like a clap of thunder in spring, jolted Xun Chi awake from his unconsciousness.

"I'm still fighting!"

The thought flashed through her muddled mind, and she instinctively reached down to summon her nanotech armor, only to find herself already immobilized.

Or rather, they were imprisoned.

She looked up and found herself in a spacious hall.

The hall has a ceiling height of thirty meters and an area as large as two football fields put together. In the distance, rows of large data servers are arranged neatly on both sides of the passageway like rows of large bookshelves.

This is actually a recording hall!

"You're awake!"

A surprised female voice rang out.

Only then did Xun Chi notice that not far from her, there was a large amount of grotesque flesh and blood, which was wrapped around the super-energy battery that was supposed to provide energy for the entire recording hall, forming a blood-red tumor that throbbed continuously like a heart.

From this deformed heart, numerous 'blood vessels' branch out, connecting to a large petri dish that combines flesh and machinery.

"You shouldn't have woken up at this moment; it will only cause you more pain."

An Edos-like figure who looked very much like Eve turned around and looked at the naked Xunchi.

In order for the subsequent experiments to proceed smoothly, the other party stripped her of her nano-armor and nano-suit early on.

"You're from the second airborne squad?!" Xun Chi was astonished as he stared at the nanotech combat suit the other person was wearing.

"Where am I? Let me go! I remember fighting a dangerous Alpha Negiba before I lost consciousness. How did you find me?"

"How naive. The 'Mother's Domain' just likes to send a bunch of idiots down to their deaths, because people like that are easy to fool."

As the former 'angel' twisted his body and slowly walked to the petri dish, his gaze followed the other's swift movement and discovered something that made his pupils tremble.

Alpha Negiba appeared in the 7th Airborne Squad, killed most of his own squad members, cut off his own left arm while covering Eve's retreat, and then pierced his own chest.

However, she soon discovered that the Alpha Nechiba, which resembled a humanoid raven, was standing quietly in place, its two jet-black wings hanging silently on either side of its back, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep.

However, it is connected to an 'umbilical cord' extending from the mutated flesh and blood, and it is breathing rhythmically, seemingly undergoing some form of charging.

However, a gash had been torn open on its back, and a large amount of flesh and blood from the monster was wriggling slightly at the opening. Xun Chi's modified prosthetic eye could clearly see that the inside of the wound was a hole large enough to accommodate a person.

This is actually an external armor made of flesh and blood.

Chapter 649 Turning the Tables

"It's you!" Xun Chi twisted his body in disbelief, but apart from the increased pain in his left shoulder where his arm was severed at the root, he was unable to free himself from the operating table.

"Oh dear, you caught me." The second batch of newcomers teased Xun Chi's nerves playfully, a sickly smile on his face as he watched the other's furious expression.

That smile, combined with her near-perfect face and long, straight black hair, exuded an unusual beauty.

However, Xun Chi couldn't appreciate it at all. She twisted her body wildly, letting the restraints leave bloody marks on her skin.

"Why did you do this! Have you betrayed the 'Mother's Domain'? Why did you kill your comrades!"

"It was 'Mother's Domain' that deceived us first. She's a fraud, pushing us into the abyss of sin and leaving us ignorant fools with our hands stained with sin!" Upon hearing Xun Chi's question, the other party seemed to have been provoked and roared.

"Then why did you kill him? Our enemy is Nie Qiba, have you been corrupted by Nie Qiba too?!" Xun Chi looked quiet and gentle, but her temper was as fiery as her name, and she retorted fiercely.

"Corruption? Nieqiba?" The other party reached out and wiped the petri dish next to him, staring at the writhing mass of flesh inside, then turned his head and grinned maliciously: "See this? This mass of flesh is prepared for you. Soon, you will personally experience what it feels like to be corrupted by Nieqiba."

"You should also experience the tragedy of humanity!"

"Madman!" Xun Chi was horrified by the other party's crazy words. She couldn't even imagine the despair she would feel if her body were corroded and assimilated by that filthy flesh and blood.

"You're a madman, you're a complete and utter madman!"

"I hope you'll still be this energetic when you and your dear Eve are having your love-hate relationship. But you deserve it, since he didn't choose me. How am I, Raven, inferior to that weak Eve who only drags us down?"

When the other person said this, they seemed to be in a state of delusional madness.

"Feel despair, hahaha..." The yandere girl's arrogant laughter began, but a loud bang came from above, interrupting the emotions she had painstakingly built up, and echoing endlessly in the enclosed space.

"Who?!" The yandere girl looked up at the elevator entrance, her face filled with barely suppressed rage.

Her response was an even louder, more violent, and more terrifying roar, followed by a slight tremor throughout the entire recording hall.

This situation caused her pupils to shrink instantly.

It should be noted that the Record Hall, as the place where the flames of civilization are preserved, is so sturdy that even the most powerful and destructive force, 'King Kong' Alpha Nygebal, would find it difficult to shake the slightest bit of its overall structure.

However, the current situation is that the main body of the recording hall is trembling slightly, as if it has encountered some kind of irresistible external force attack.

"A terrifying enemy is trying to break through the entrance!" That was her only thought.

The moment this thought crossed her mind, she forgot all about her madness and rushed to the control panel. She pulled off the umbilical cord connecting the flesh armor to the deformed 'heart', quickly removed her nanosuit, and naked, she crawled into the armor, enveloped in the slightly surging flesh.

The next moment, the bird head, which seemed to be smiling but not smiling, and crying but not crying, with a strange golden mask, suddenly raised its head!

"boom!"

"boom!!"

"boom!!!"

The sound, like the beating of drums by celestial beings, grew louder and louder.

The next moment, under the watchful eyes of the two people inside the room, the elevator shaft was suddenly pierced through by some object.

The next moment, the metal elevator shaft wall was suddenly pierced by ten fingers. Accompanied by a tooth-grinding metallic groan, the steel was torn apart, and a figure was squeezed out of the elevator shaft.

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple." Jiang Bing looked at the scene in the recording hall, which resembled a biological nest, without any surprise.

His answer was a gleaming blade.

Clad in flesh and blood armor, the raven seemed to have truly transformed into an Alpha Nexus, flapping its wings and slashing the double-edged hooked sickle in its hand toward Jiang Bing's neck.

Her response was a quick, spinning elbow strike.

Black feathers flew everywhere as Jiang Bing's attack shattered the brains of the enemy he had just encountered. The bird's entire body flew backward and crashed into dozens of large servers, causing thick smoke to billow in the recording hall.

"Sigh~~"

A sickening screech echoed from the spot where the enemy had fallen, but before the enemy could react, Jiang Bing had already broken through the sound barrier with his physical body and charged forward at supersonic speed. The supersonic movement smashed through the wind barrier, and the resulting gale dispersed the dense fog caused by the short circuit of electrical components, bringing him to the enemy's side.

The next instant, the six openings on the face of the android Nieqiba, which were almost stuck on the sole of Jiang Bing's size 45 shoe, turned into a ball of pure nano-elements, scattered and moved aside, avoiding Jiang Bing's trampling.

"boom!"

The seamless metal floor was dented by the force of the impact, and the broken fragments scattered like a deadly lotus flower.

Nieqiba's raven-like form instantly materialized, its long, thick, armored fingers gripping the handles of two massive hooks. However, after lowering its body, the raven unusually refrained from launching an attack.