632: Chapter 632: Sneak Attack 632: Chapter 632: Sneak Attack “It seems that all of these are beyond saving.”
He Ao poked at the spaceti beacon in front of him; all the spaceti beacons had powered down and were completely destroyed.
He picked up a flashlight and shone it around, looking at the densely stacked spaceti beacons.
It appeared that these spaceti beacons hadn’t been naturally damaged but rather seed like they had been gathered and uniformly destroyed by soone.
He Ao stepped on these spaceti beacons, continuing to walk forward step by step.
The flashlight’s glow illuminated the pitch-black, silent, and deserted laboratory, sweeping over the ancient machinery.
Around these spaceti beacons, there were also densely packed bloodstains, as if a brutal massacre had taken place here.
He Ao could also see traces of a battle covered in dust from the passage of ti around these spaceti beacons.
Splattered blood, destroyed instrunts, so scattered, broken weapons—all seed to indicate that a fierce battle had occurred here.
Perhaps it was at this very spot that the defenders of the spaceti beacons and those who sought to destroy them had clashed in a small-scale battle.
The end result was that all these spaceti beacons were destroyed.
Under that horrifying, explosive contamination, perhaps one of the parties in the battle was no longer ‘human’.
But no matter the speculations, they were just guesses after all; He Ao wasn’t a Historian and couldn’t go back into history to see what had happened.
After passing this pile of spaceti beacons, He Ao continued moving forward and soon saw three large machines lined up side by side.
These three machines were all about four or five ters tall, nearly two ters wide, and had a small operating screen on the front.
Below the screen was a small opening, seemingly for inserting small items.
At this mont, all of their screens were off.
He Ao walked to the side of one machine, and on its huge body, simple instructions for use, as well as the na of the machine, were displayed in five different languages.
He Ao quickly found the language of the second zone and recognized the marked na of the machine:
‘Spaceti Beacon Corrector’
Below the na of the machine were illustrated operating instructions.
The usage was simple—insert the malfunctioning spaceti beacon into the repair slot, then click the ‘correct’ button on the screen to automatically identify the problem and adjust it.
The correction ti varied from about 5 to 10 minutes.
After the correction was complete, the machine would automatically eject the corrected spaceti beacon.
The problem was, at this mont, it seed like all the correctors were damaged, and not one of them was lit up.
He Ao brushed his hand across the three correctors one by one.
As he passed his hand over the last corrector, the chanical Core ring that was originally on his right pinky finger suddenly trembled imperceptibly.
This ant that the machine could be controlled.
He Ao looked up at the last corrector, whose screen was completely destroyed, and even the insertion port was twisted.
By looks alone, it was the most thoroughly destroyed of the three machines.
But in reality, this machine was the most intact among the three.
However, He Ao didn’t use the chanical Core ring to control the machine.
His expression unchanged and without even pausing his movents, he swept his hand past it.
“These three machines look a bit strange, very big but with very small operational areas.”
He Ao turned and continued forward, speaking as he walked, “Is this that corrector machine you ntioned to ?”
“That should be it, Sir.”
A02 responded.
This microcomputer didn’t have a cara, so A02 could only rely on the surrounding sounds, as well as He Ao’s description and her own calculations, to judge where He Ao had reached.
“Are these machines still running?
Sir?”
A02 asked.
“The screens aren’t lit up,” He Ao looked back, “They all look pretty bad from the outside.”
“That seems like they’re all damaged.”
A02 said.
“Is there anything in this lab that might still be undamaged?”
He Ao asked casually.
“The Spaceti Jump Tester might still be undamaged,”
A02 said,
“This device is located behind a small door next to the laboratory exit.
It’s the only device in the Navigator besides the Control Room that is connected to the ship’s main engines.
It can start the engines, simulate the state of a spaceti jump, observe the surrounding spatial data, and determine if the nearby spaceti is stable and suitable for a spaceti jump.”
“This machine can start the engines?” He Ao’s tone paused as he asked, “Can it control the ship’s operation?”
“Theoretically, it’s possible,” A02 maintained her consistently gentle and steady tone, “but the command to control the ship must go through the pilothouse, which is currently completely out of contact.
With the authority of the tester alone, it can only control the testing start-up and shutdown of the engines.”
“So are the engines of this ship still good?”
He Ao continued forward in the direction of the map previously provided by A02, passing through a gap ford by the collapse of two machines.
“Insufficient data to analyze.”
A02 quickly gave an answer.
At that mont, He Ao raised his flashlight and saw a tightly closed gate ahead.
Below the gate, two destroyed, toppled double-leaf door panels lay on the ground.
According to the markings on the map, this gate should lead to the next corridor heading towards the Core Control Room.
This gate seed to have always been tightly closed, and the control switch next to it was also entirely destroyed.
He Ao stepped forward and pressed against the gate.
The gate was very solid, and his pressure didn’t cause any displacent.
He knocked on the gate, and a dull thud echoed from behind it, as if he were knocking on a thick slab of stone.
The gate was very thick.
He raised his bone sword and scratched the gate, leaving only a faint mark.
He Ao looked down at the destroyed door panels in front of the gate, “I am currently blocked by a very thick gate, which doesn’t seem like a normal door that would originally be used in this lab.
Does it have so special purpose?”
“Sir, what you are encountering might be the outer barrier door of the Core Control Room.
This door is used to separate the areas near the Core Control Room from other areas of the ship and is the outer barrier of the Core Control Room.”
A02 responded quickly.
“The switch for this door has been destroyed, is there any way to open it?”
He Ao glanced at the nearby switch and asked.
“Sir, you can connect the main unit that is receiving my signal to the switch above, and I can hack it open.”
A02 said.
“Hack it open?”
He Ao’s movents paused montarily.
“The barrier door is controlled by an independent system that doesn’t connect to the main network; both opening and closing require verification of a specialized password.
Such passwords are usually held by crew mbers with high-level permissions and are not stored in my database,” A02 explained, answering He Ao’s question.
“Okay,”
He Ao pried open his miniature computer again, used his bone sword to slice through the destroyed outer layer of the switch, and following A02’s guidance, connected the wires inside to the motherboard.
“Analyzing now, please wait.”
A chanical workbench appeared in front of the silver-haired girl version of A02 on the screen, and then A02 began to tinker with the parts on the workbench, performing maintenance motions.
It appeared to be so sort of maintenance animation.
“How long will it take to fully open this door?” He Ao asked.
“Approximately eight to ten minutes, sir.”
In the animation, A02 picked up a device resembling a welding torch, created sparks on the workbench, and responded to He Ao’s question.
“After opening this door, how far is it to the Core Control Room?” He Ao looked around the dark space and asked further.
“Under normal circumstances, it would be about a ten-minute journey, but considering the obstructions you might encounter, sir,” A02 kept busy with her actions, “it might actually take thirty minutes.”
“If soone reaches the Core Control Room, will you be able to sense it?” He Ao pressed on.
“I can perceive if anyone is attacking the doors of the Core Control Room.”
A02 explained.
That ant if Ivier reached the Core Control Room and started attacking, A02 would be able to detect it.
According to A02’s earlier estimate, it would take Ivier approximately forty-five minutes to break down the gate, while He Ao could afford to spend at most forty minutes; he should make it in ti.
Divine Sense covering the bone sword should be able to cut through the gate, but the gate was thick, requiring a significant amount of Divine Sense; even He Ao’s own strength might not suffice.
If he could conserve strength, He Ao would prefer to save his strength for more complex situations that may arise in the future.
After a long battle, even he was feeling sowhat fatigued by now.
And just as he finished chatting with A02, a Black Shadow suddenly dropped from the darkness above, wielding a large chanical blade, and slashed at He Ao.
He Ao had kept his guard up, and as the attack descended, he quickly raised his bone sword above his head and blocked the strike with a loud clang.
However, he slightly underestimated the force of the attack; the imnse impact instantly pressed down on the bone sword, the blade nearly touching his nose.
He Ao quickly gathered strength in his arms and shook violently.
The attacker seemingly did not anticipate his sudden increase in strength, lost grip, and was directly flung away, crashing into a fallen machine.
As the Goat Creature was sent flying, He Ao quickly removed the miniature computer from his arm, glanced at A02 still working, hung the computer near the switch, and raised his sword to face the Black Shadow he’d just repelled.
At that mont, a string of text lit up on A02’s screen.
However, He Ao didn’t look back at A02 but focused all his attention on the creature in front.
The creature wasn’t tall, about one ter thirty-five, covered in dense brownish-yellow fur, hunched over, and resembled a wild monkey.
It held a giant chanical cleaver, one ter fifty in length, and its eyes shone with a blood-red gleam.
Despite its small size, the monkey creature’s oppressive presence was no less intimidating than the Goat Monster he had encountered before.
Moreover, it was probably quite intelligent.
It must have been the monster that occupied this laboratory, but when He Ao entered the laboratory, it didn’t imdiately attack.
Instead, it kept hiding in the shadows, waiting for He Ao to let his guard down before leaping out to launch a sneak attack.
“Hiss—”
The monkey creature glared at He Ao, baring its teeth and letting out a roar, as it swung its chanical sword at him with both hands.
He Ao stepped diagonally backward, dodging the incoming sword, and at the sa ti, he lifted his bone sword, chopping toward the creature’s face.
The monkey creature leaped up violently, landing on the flying sword, evading He Ao’s attack, and then the sword hit the ground, its blade embedding into the tal floor.
He Ao quickly changed his move from a chop to a stab, aiming straight for the creature.
At that mont, as the agile creature clung to the hanging sword handle and jumped down, avoiding He Ao’s attack, its feet hit the ground, and it grasped the handle, swinging the sword with montum toward He Ao’s waist.
At this point, He Ao was very close to the creature, and he imdiately spun his body around, simultaneously flipping the tip of his bone sword downward in a slash, positioning it in front of him just a mont before the blade struck.
The sword’s edge collided with the bone sword once more.
This ti, the monkey creature’s force wasn’t as great as before, but He Ao’s stance wasn’t as stable either, although he quickly gathered his strength in his arms and legs, he was still hit by this heavy blow, taking a half step back.
The strength of this monkey was not weak, and the weight of the chanical chopping sword was also significant, even sowhat beyond the monkey’s strength.
The monkey’s attacks were all following the montum of the thrown chopping sword.
It was sowhat like a child swinging a heavy sword.
But the monkey wielded it with great skill, successfully combining its own strength with the ‘montum’ of the sword to create a powerful sense of oppression.
Even as He Ao gathered the energy within his body, he could barely withstand the force.
Just as He Ao took a half step back and hadn’t yet regained his balance, the monkey standing on the ground kicked the huge blade fiercely, adding an upward force to the chanically swung sword that hadn’t yet lost its energy.
Following the bone sword’s blade toward He Ao’s sword hand and face, the blade ca slashing.
At the sa ti, the blade that had been hidden in darkness suddenly burst into a dazzling heat, turning a fiery red as if engulfed in flas.
He Ao didn’t know how hot the blade had beco in that instant, but he knew that at such a temperature, if he were to be hit, even C-level flesh would instantly char, and the flowing blood would imdiately dry up.
And in the instant the sword kicked upwards, the monkey creature didn’t stop its actions, it looked up at He Ao, its blood-red eyes reflecting his figure.
This is bad!
Seeing that gaze, He Ao didn’t hesitate and violently focused his energy onto his feet, withdrawing his sword as he leaped up high like a dragon soaring through the sky, simultaneously throwing his bone sword with great force.
And in the next second after he jumped out, two red lasers shot out from the monkey’s eyes, piercing through the place where he had just been standing, hitting the chanical wreckage behind him and leaving behind two lted holes.
Although He Ao had dodged the laser strike, the danger hadn’t disappeared, as the searing chanical sword was still swinging through the air.
The sword, barely missing his hand before, was now aid at his lower back.
The monkey creature had calculated He Ao’s direction of movent, in that brief window of ti, if He Ao dodged backward, he would be t with its laser; if he jumped up to evade the laser, he would be cleaved by its diagonally upward swinging chanical sword.
It was a no-win situation either way.
The blade, glowing with fiery heat, suddenly chopped toward He Ao’s lower back.
At this mont, the bone sword that He Ao had just thrown reached the chanical monkey creature.
The monkey didn’t dodge, and the sharp tip of the sword pierced its shoulder, cutting through the fur and flesh, then a crisp sound, like striking steel, was heard, and the bone sword was violently deflected.
Beneath the monkey creature’s flesh, there seed to be a layer of hard, steel underflesh.
The monkey creature grinned as if mocking He Ao’s presumption, watching him as the burning blade got closer to He Ao’s body; it seed to be envisioning He Ao split in half, his flesh charred.
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