608: Chapter 608: Creations from the Ruins (2-in-1 Super-sized Chapter for Monthly Votes) 608: Chapter 608: Creations from the Ruins (2-in-1 Super-sized Chapter for Monthly Votes) The Velora behind He Ao once again sailed into the void, and as He Ao’s figure slowly approached the narrow cave, his body began to distort in a way that transcended common sense.
His entire body was stretched out, like a stilt-walker in an acrobatic performance, his waist and chest shrinking and narrowing, the overall shape of his body becoming flatter.
The cloak he was wearing at this mont was a B-grade Transcendent item, the “Cloak of Replacent,” a Transcendent item ford from the Talent Sequences left behind after the Boss’s death.
Using the Cloak of Replacent, He Ao could twist his form into a long, pitch-black Shadow, capable of passing through narrow domains that most people couldn’t navigate, and move swiftly within them.
Eventually, He Ao’s body turned into pure Black Shadow, like a streak of flowing light, and rushed into the narrow cave.
The inside of the cave grew increasingly constricted, seemingly a dead-end path, and at its narrowest part, it was even less than the thickness of He Ao’s calf, requiring him to be extrely cautious even with the Cloak of Replacent to barely pass through.
While passing through this cave, He Ao also used his Divine Sense to swiftly scan the structure inside the rock layers surrounding the cave.
These layers of rock seed to be naturally ford, but there were nurous traces of artificial construction within the structure.
They probably used natural rocks and then rebuilt them with artificial technology afterward.
Below these layers, there was a dense array of sensor devices, with a sensor device installed at nearly every fixed depth.
If soone with a ‘normal’ physique tried to dig through this cave to reach its deepest part, they would inevitably trigger these sensor devices.
These sensor devices may well be linked to so kind of alarm system or so sort of ‘self-destruct’ device.
Based on the Boss’s nature, it was highly likely that there were both.
After navigating through the tightest passages with nurous twists and turns for about a hundred ters, the path ahead gradually began to widen like the bell of a trumpet.
Soon, a passage a little over a ter high that an adult could pass through by bending over appeared in He Ao’s view.
However, He Ao didn’t revert to his normal human shape, instead, he remained as a Black Shadow at the entrance of the passage.
He invoked his Divine Sense to scan the surroundings of the passage.
In this pitch-black cave, the power of Divine Sense could easily perate through rock and reveal the infrared sensor devices embedded within the rock.
These sensor devices emitted dense infrared beams from multiple directions across the passage.
He Ao couldn’t see these beams with his naked eye, but he could roughly deduce the pattern of the beams from the sensors’ structure and positioning and then build a model in his mind.
Long-term use of Super mory had enhanced his mory and thinking abilities to a certain extent, enabling him to handle these complex information and models better.
A layered grid of infrared brilliance, made of invisible light, ford in his mind.
The density of this grid was even tighter than he had anticipated, with the narrowest spaces not exceeding the size of a baby’s arm.
But He Ao didn’t proceed imdiately, instead, he waited for a while at the entrance of the passage.
After about two minutes, the infrared beams in the entire passage changed, presenting a completely different grid pattern from before.
After waiting for about six minutes, the infrared grid changed five tis, each ti differently, with varying intervals between the changes.
These variations seed to be implented using so sort of random algorithm.
Because using the Cloak of Replacent changed the shape of his body, He Ao had co in without smart devices such as a mobile phone that could keep ti.
However, by listening to his own heartbeat, he roughly determined his current heart rate was around 90, and by using his heartbeat to estimate ti, he found that the intervals between the changes in the infrared grid were approximately multiples of 5 seconds, suggesting that the minimum unit of this random number might be ‘5’.
Therefore, after the next change in the infrared network, within the first five seconds, it was very likely that the grid would not change.
He Ao just needed to grasp these five seconds to pass through the passage.
He would then be able to enter even deeper without triggering an alarm.
He Ao wasn’t actually afraid that triggering an alarm would harm his body, as there were few things that could injure him with his current physical condition.
Also, it wasn’t his real body that had co here.
But he was sowhat concerned that the Boss might have placed so kind of trigger-based self-destruct device at the central processor’s possible location in the very depths of the space.
The Boss was quite likely to do sothing like ‘if I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it.’
Maintaining the structure of the Black Shadow, He Ao used his Divine Sense to take another look at the whole dark passage, which was about twenty ters long, and the infrared network inside was incredibly dense.
His shape turned into a black stream of light and entered the passage.
Throughout the process of crossing the passage, he barely sought out the slightly wider grid openings that he could pass through and controlled his body to avoid touching the invisible yet actual infrared beams.
Several tis he had to forcibly change his shape to barely squeeze through the flat, narrow passageways.
The brief five seconds seed longer than an hour.
In the end, he managed to traverse the passage within five seconds, and almost at the mont he crossed, the structure of the sensors in the passageway instantly changed.
This interval was precisely five seconds.
He Ao looked back, continuing forward, with another narrow passage ahead that seed passable only by a child.
This passage also had many trigger chanisms, but He Ao easily avoided them.
Soon, he reached a narrow but normally high doorway space.
A tal door stood at the deepest part of the porte-cochère.
He Ao scanned the porte-cochère with his Divine Sense, confirming it was indeed just a normal doorway space without any traps.
Then he deactivated the power of the Cloak of Replacent and returned to his original body size, stepping up to the tal door.
At this mont, his fra was taller and leaner than his original one.
This was a side effect of using the Cloak of Replacent; after a change in shape, it could affect so of the normal body structures.
However, as long as the overall structural changes weren’t too drastic, the body would gradually return to its original form over ti.
He Ao focused his gaze on the tal door in front of him.
There was a handle on the tal door.
He Ao swept the door with his Divine Sense and saw that the internal latch chanism was simply a chanical lock.
There was a chanical keyhole above the handle.
Inserting a key and turning the handle should open the door.
There were no sensors on the lock, and with He Ao’s ability, it was quite easy to craft a master key upon understanding the internal structure through his Divine Sense—modifying the pull-tab of a tal zipper he carried would suffice.
Generally, the extensibility of these tal pull-tabs was decent, needing only a little stretching and grinding.
However, He Ao did not proceed to create a master key imdiately, but instead squatted down and looked into the corner in front of the door.
His fingers searched the ground, then he slowly picked up the body of a small bug that was already dead.
The bug’s body was charred black; with a gentle pinch of his fingers, He Ao crushed it into dust.
Charred.
He Ao raised his head to look at the tal door in front of him.
His Divine Sense swept the surroundings and in a pile of rubble, he found the body of a small bug that had not been completely burned, still retaining so moisture within.
He Ao flicked his finger and projected the bug’s body towards the tal door.
Crackle—
A crisp sound, accompanied by sparks of orange-yellow fla, appeared in the silent darkness.
The bug’s body flickered with sparks of electricity before turning into a pale yellow fla, charring its entire body.
Indeed, there was high voltage running through the tal door.
That was why there were no electronic sensing devices on the door, only a simple chanical lock.
However, this door was likely connected to a sensitive resistor sensor.
If a large animal from the outside made contact without insulation protection, the current would travel through its body, altering the entire circuit’s resistance, and the sensor would naturally trigger an alarm.
“Boss” was still as cunning as ever.
He Ao retracted his gaze.
Even with his Divine Sense, a ‘x-ray’ ability of sorts, he could still fall into a trap if he wasn’t careful.
After understanding the Boss’s thods, dealing with high voltage beca much easier.
He only needed to find a suitable insulator.
He Ao shifted his gaze to the rocky passageway behind him.
Most rocks served as rather good insulators and had enough hardness to manipulate the chanical structure inside the lock.
However, if the rock contained a high tal content, it could lose its insulating effect.
He Ao turned around, located a dry piece of rock, and inserted his fingers directly into it, carefully avoiding the sensors implanted within, and prised out a sturdy chunk of rock.
He then searched the ground and found a bug that hadn’t been charred.
He walked to the door, leaned the bug against the rock, and then let the rock fall onto the tal door.
There was no sign of discharging electricity.
He Ao extended his finger and swiftly and lightly touched the rock, feeling no electric shock.
The insulation seed to be good.
Then, he picked up the rock, split it in two, and used one piece to grind against the other, quickly crafting a rough key shape.
He inserted this key into the chanical lock on the tal door and gave a light twist to unlock it.
But after the lock was disengaged, the tal handle still needed to be turned to open the door.
He Ao placed the remaining half of the rock in his hand as a layer, pressed down on the handle, and lightly pushed, engaging the hardware.
Click—
With a faint sound, the tal door swung open.
A pitch-black underground room appeared in his field of vision.
He Ao didn’t enter right away, but first scanned the area with his Divine Sense.
The wall at the doorway still had a layer of infrared emitters, forming a single-layer infrared net.
He Ao once again beca a Black Shadow, passing through the net and entering the room.
Almost as soon as he entered the room, in the darkness, an old-fashioned cara turned towards him, focusing on his figure.
Followed by that, bright lights illuminated the entire space.
A massive, about four or five ters high, stack of server racks against the wall appeared before He Ao.
And in the center of this server wall was a black monitor resembling an old-fashioned large television.
He Ao looked around, noting that the room he was in was not very large; the tal door was at his back, and the dense server racks were in front of him.
In two corners of the room’s ceiling, two old-style surveillance caras were mounted, like two eyes monitoring his every move.
He Ao straightened his clothes and assud an upright stance, with bright lights from either side casting shadows of varied depths on the floor.
He turned to the monitor in the center of the server racks and tentatively opened his mouth, “Hello?”
“@￥%,”
The monitor lit up with a dim glow, and the stacked server matrix started to operate with intense noise.
A simple pattern of ‘⊙_⊙’ appeared on the screen, followed by the speakers on the monitor emitting a string of language that He Ao couldn’t understand.
Judging from its rhythm, it might very well be the language of the Copy World Federation’s First District.
He Ao looked at the screen, at the stacked servers, and after pondering for a mont, he spoke slowly in Rodan, “Can you communicate with using my language?”
“@￥*(@#￥@······Language has been translated to Recognition Type #1.
Hello, human sir.”
“#%￥ Standard Artificial Intelligence 8753 at your service.
Attempting to connect to #%￥ network.
Connection failed.
I suggest you to quickly connect the device to the internet.
System has detected that the software update service has not been used for…
data error…
years.
8753 needs to verify that it has been updated to the latest artificial intelligence version.”
It seed that ‘Boss’ did indeed communicate with this artificial intelligence in Rodan.
And just as He Ao suspected, ‘Boss’ had indeed taken away the central processor and storage chip from the Relic Tower.
Furthermore, after seeing the pile of servers, monitors, and surveillance equipnt, He Ao was pretty certain that the Boss had indeed found a way to use what he brought out of the ruins.
In fact, this could be inferred from the fact that the ‘Boss’ knew secrets that went beyond the scope of understanding of normal humans in the main world.
Either the Boss had learned the language of the First District and guessed so knowledge from the storage chip and central processor, or the central processor ‘actively’ provided him with so information.
And He Ao was more inclined to believe the latter.
The civilization that had been extinguished in the ruins, judging by the state of the relics, appeared to have developed artificial intelligence and chanical intelligence to a level that seed to surpass that of the Federation of the Copy World.
And the Copy World had already achieved the integration of artificial intelligence core programs into central processors, it was impossible that the more advanced relic civilization couldn’t do the sa.
Moreover, since ‘Boss’ also took away the adjacent storage chip, even if the artificial intelligence program inside the central processor was incomplete, as long as the Boss could find a way to ‘read’ the storage chip and put it together with the central processor, certain artificial intelligence programs could certainly be activated.
And having seen this obvious supply wall for the central processor’s operation, He Ao beca even more sure of his judgnt.
This device likely contained a usable artificial intelligence; when it ca to reading information, display devices and operating devices should occupy the main role.
Instead of, as it was now, with almost no operating devices and mostly rudintary servers, with only a rudintary monitor for interaction devices.
Because artificial intelligence itself can communicate, there’s no need for a large number of interaction devices.
“You’re called 8753?”
He Ao asked in Rodan, which he spoke not very fluently.
“I am #%￥ Standard Artificial Intelligence 8753, specifically used for @￥#%, and based on a miniature quantum computer core for advanced artificial intelligence,”
the monitor quickly responded, “8753’s system update ti has far exceeded the set value, many programs are outdated and cannot keep up with the tis.
Human sir, your language is not in the system’s preset language plugins, 8753 might not recognize so rare words, please try to use simple terms.”
“8753, how did you recognize this language?”
He Ao continued to ask.
“Human sir, before you, another human sir provided with so simple children’s picture books, which allowed 8753 to learn this language.”
The response from 8753 was still quick.
“This server array, did he build it for you too?
How did he find data lines that match your slots?”
He Ao asked quietly.
“Reading storage data…
Recognition error…
Human sir, 8753 cannot recall data from before its activation, but according to previous intelligence analysis, these connection lines should co from a place known as ‘Relic’.
According to the narrative of the previous human sir, 8753 was also found in that ‘Relic’.”
8753 responded.
“These servers, can they support your calculations?”
He Ao glanced at the sowhat rudintary servers and asked casually.
“Most of 8753’s calculations are conducted through the WE-1534 miniature quantum computing core.
These outdated integrated circuit-based servers are just for shouldering so redundant calculations.
Excluding these outdated devices, 8753 can still operate normally but would result in approximately a 10% reduction in operating speed,”
8753 continued in that rough voice.
“So can you understand your current situation?
Do you know what ‘Relic’ is?”
He Ao returned his gaze to the old-fashioned monitor.
“Recognizing current environnt…
Recognition failure…
Error, system crash…
Performing system self-check…
Attempting to connect to the network…
Connection failed…
System self-check successful…
System integrity 83%…
WE-1534 miniature quantum computing core is detected to perform far below the design level…
The computing core might have been damaged…
Please replace the computing core as soon as possible…”
The ‘⊙_⊙’ on the screen flickered, turning into ‘(ー_ー)’ and then back to its original ‘⊙_⊙’,”Human sir, 8753 is at your service.
My database has not been updated online for a long ti, and it doesn’t contain any information about ‘Relic’.”
It seed like the system had a problem and then rebooted itself.
He Ao watched the screen, “Did the previous person install any alarms in you?”
“8753’s program cannot have alarm programs implanted,” 8753 answered, “However, around 8753’s core processor and storage chip, pressure-sensitive alarm devices are installed.
As soon as the storage chip or core processor are removed, an alarm will be instantly triggered.”
“What consequences will these alarms have?”
He Ao asked.
“These alarms, and the ones installed within the surrounding rock and infrared alarms, all ultimately lead to a super high-performance explosive ten ters underground,”
explained 8753,
“These explosives are laid beneath all areas, with a power roughly equivalent to 970 tons of high explosives, capable of directly destroying all areas within a radius of two hundred ters with this room at the core.
“The explosive’s countdown is seven days.
The previous human sir would co every seven days to reset the countdown with his own device.
The explosives are also filled with nurous alarms, any action that triggers an alarm will set off the explosion.”
“If ‘Boss’ doesn’t co back within seven days, these explosives will detonate directly, destroying everything.”
A week is a ‘long’ ti.
Short-term events can be completed in a day or two, and for events lasting longer than a week, a day or two generally doesn’t make much difference.
If he can’t get it, he’ll destroy it.
That’s just like the Boss’s style.
And now it’s the third day after the Boss’s death.
This tifra might seem ample, but in reality, it’s not ample at all.
Given the Boss’s personality, while dealing with dangerous matters like the Mysterious Shadow, he would definitely have reset the tir in advance.
Moreover, he wouldn’t wait until the last mont but would do so at least three days in advance.
By the ti the Mysterious Shadow Advent event happened, half of the countdown would have passed, and in actuality, there’d be just over three days left.
This kind of imdiate event usually takes one or two days to complete.
After completion, if successful, he’d be able to co back and reset the tir.
However, if he didn’t succeed and died, there would only be three days left on the countdown.
Theoretically, given his arrangents, no one would be able to discover all his setups within three days, let alone easily bypass his traps and find his things.
Even if soone did really find them, the countdown would be nearly up.
Maybe he could blow up the person who ca to ‘take’ his things at the last mont.
This is the most extre arrangent and the most likely one.
“How much ti is left on the explosives countdown now?”
He Ao asked in a low voice.
The screen of device 8753 flickered and displayed a string of numbers.
01:53:27
That string of numbers jumped, changing to 01:53:26.
1 hour and 53 minutes left.
This ti was already a bit more than He Ao had anticipated.
He Ao walked forward to the front of the server wall and looked behind the monitor.
In the very center of all the servers, there was a silver rectangular block.
The block had several intricate ports; wires full of the marks of ti extended from these ports, reaching halfway and then through so makeshift manual wiring, transford into lines that could connect to the regular servers.
And next to this block, so rough and old circuits were connected directly to a storage chip.
He Ao looked at the sensor below the block; solving it actually wasn’t difficult, requiring only control over the force to create a substitute, but this wasn’t a problem for He Ao, who had Divine Sense and Super mory.
The crucial issue was that the block wasn’t small—in fact, it was larger than the narrowest part of the tunnel He Ao had co through.
This must have been ‘Boss’s’ design as well.
In other words, if He Ao wanted to take the block back the way he ca, his body could change structure, but this central processing unit block couldn’t.
It couldn’t go back the original way.
Then he would inevitably trigger an alarm.
And then, boom!
This seed to be an inescapable trap.
But He Ao ca fully prepared.
——
anwhile, in front of the cavern He Ao had entered.
Several figures erged from the forest, and the one standing at the back looked at the cliff full of caverns and asked, “Is this the place?”
The leading figure glanced at the cliff with artificial traces, “Wang Family Garden, a secret man-made structure, and those records of workers who ‘accidentally died.’ All these conditions match the prophecy; it should be here.”
“Ruonati, that bastard, really hid things deep.”
Soone in the group couldn’t help but remark.
“We don’t know what other tricks he might have left, but now that he’s dead, he likely can’t cause any more trouble.”
The leading figure looked back, “Is the excavator ready?”
“Almost, it’s on its way,” the person at the back responded, “no more than half an hour away.”
“No matter how complicated and sturdy the fortress he built,” the person who remarked earlier laughed, “it’s like a mud wall that crumbles as soon as it’s touched, when faced with powerful machinery.”
“Hopefully so.
May the Divine Beings bless us,” said the leading figure, nodding.
“This place is difficult to find, with no networks nearby; leave soone to guard it, the rest will co with to bring the machine over.”
“Understood.”
The group’s figures once again vanished into the forest.
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