742: Chapter 742: tal Building Blocks (Looking for Monthly Passes) 742: Chapter 742: tal Building Blocks (Looking for Monthly Passes) The chaotic howl rose into the sky, as countless shattered blocks lost their original form, twisting into squirming flesh in the air, with strands of a ‘structure’ glistening with a tallic sheen protruding among these fleshy masses, exuding a bizarrely orderly allure.
“What have you done?!”
Amid the whistling and rustling of these fragnts, a certain strident roar could be heard.
In the sky, the countless shattered pieces began to try to gather together once again.
The writhing flesh stuck to one another, still powerful, but had already lost the ‘order’ that ca from the blocks.
“Cough—, I rely ‘pushed’ your ‘balance’ a bit further back.”
He Ao coughed lightly, gazing at the blood and flesh filling the heavens.
His hand remained inside the control console, with the tendrils of the chanical Core ring tightly connected to the interface of the console.
Now, he had obtained the utmost control over this console.
In contrast, countless piercing voices of corruption echoed in his mind, making him uncontrollably want to ‘praise’ machinery.
The laser cannon muzzles in the sky slowly twisted their bodies to aim at the nurous monstrous shards, and streaks of flickering lasers cut through the dim world, accurately striking those sowhat out-of-control, twisted masses of flesh that was once blocks.
These laser cannons were designed specifically for this purpose.
They might be blocked or evaded when facing a single complete entity, but when facing countless smaller pieces, they could perfectly unleash their area attack capabilities to eliminate these ‘tiny block fleshes’.
Accompanied by the sizzling sounds of burning flesh, piece after piece of charred black ‘flesh’ fell to the ground.
“Why can you control such power from machinery!!”
These laser cannons were not enough to destroy all the flesh; half of the flesh remained, gathering among those twisted corruptions into a hulking, nearly six-ter-tall, twisted flesh giant.
The giant raised a colossal flesh hamr with no hesitation, smashing it down towards the position where He Ao stood.
The aura of his body was no longer peaceful, with his entire body writhing uncontrollably like unrestrained flesh.
Among these pieces of flesh, things resembling tallic rods were faintly visible, providing support for this fleshly body.
The twisted and conflicting forces of corruption spread with the writhing and contraction of the flesh,
Containing praises for order as well as yearning for machinery.
Bang—
He Ao withdrew his hand, raised his swords, leaped backward, flipping over the core console, and widening the gap between himself and the flesh giant.
“Maybe I just got lucky?”
He looked up at the giant who had missed his hamr strike and smiled.
The chanical Core ring was a reward from the system, and the rewards produced by the system inherently carry randomness, with an elent of luck involved to so extent.
He made no attempt to control the lasers again; they were in the charging phase and needed more ti to fire.
Clearly, the flesh giant that the Carpenter had turned into would not give him that ti.
In He Ao’s Divine Sense vision, the ‘Carpenter’ had weakened considerably, not just because the laser barrage had consud a large chunk of his ‘components,’ but also because the myriad energy gathering points that sparkled like stars had vanished.
The ‘Carpenter’ turned flesh giant was no longer a block giant but a real flesh-and-blood lifeform, with complete energy circuits within, all energy concentrated at three energy gathering points.
For He Ao, it was as if the opponent’s health bar had gone from endless to just three drops of blood.
And the reason for this was simple—’Carpenter’ had actually lost control.
What He Ao had done, indeed, was just a gentle ‘nudge’ on the Carpenter on a spiritual level.
From the research materials left by the Original Federation researchers, it could be inferred that 009-2, also known as ‘Carpenter,’ was indeed intelligent.
But he had always been hiding his intelligence.
The reason was simple, because of these lasers guns overhead, designed specifically to deal with him.
And his ability could actually change inorganic matter to a certain extent, erode chanical creations, so he spent a long ti slowly eroding the control panel of the Research Institute, taking control of the main AI which was capable of controlling those laser cannons.
But what he didn’t know was that this action of his had actually fallen into a trap set by another ‘Higher Being’.
From the incident involving the Navigator, He Ao could already clearly feel that the ‘Higher Being’ that had been coveting the main world was probably related to the God of Machinery.
After Carpenter ntioned that he might be following the orders of a ‘Great Being’, the first one He Ao thought of was that chanically-related Higher Being.
And if this chanically influential Higher Being was brought into the entire background of the event, many things that couldn’t be explained suddenly made sense.
For example, the biggest ‘doubt’ surrounding ‘Carpenter’, why would he guard the fourth level?
Why beco a ‘gatekeeper’ for enemies he looked down on and had a fundantal conflict in abilities with?
Because soone had a hold on his lifeline, forcing him to obey that person’s orders, doing things he didn’t want to do.
And it seems that this entire fourth level hadn’t left behind any obvious powerful contamination; it’s highly unlikely that any powerful Higher Beings had co here, so how did the being behind the scenes ‘control’ ‘Carpenter’ without coming in person?
And if the one controlling all of this was a chanically-related Higher Being, the answer would be very simple.
Through artificial intelligence.
The fact that Carpenter could ‘control’ the AI of the Research Institute so easily might have been a trap itself.
In the disaster that led to the destruction of the Underground Palace, Carpenter lost the ‘control’ of humankind, but drew in another ‘master’ for himself.
The massive contamination spread into his body through the AI he controlled.
This contamination did not assimilate with the Angel Designation inside Carpenter, thus creating the distorted order that He Ao had felt before.
This contamination might not have been powerful, as it could be suppressed by Carpenter’s inherent designation and order, but it turned into a ‘ti bomb’ planted within Carpenter’s body.
Once the chanical contamination took the lead, it would completely shatter ‘Carpenter’s’ original order and turn him into a distorted, insane monster.
Strictly speaking, ‘Carpenter’, tainted with chanical contamination, had actually been in a half-mad state already.
He was afraid of completely losing his mind, so he had to submit to that chanically-related ‘Higher Being’.
And after he was completely eroded by the chanical contamination, he might lose so of the unique ‘properties’ that originated from the original Angel, becoming ‘weaker’ in a sense.
So chanical beings actually did not wish to completely contaminate him either, they rely left enough contamination to maintain a balance, as a threat.
Thus, both sides maintained such a tacit balance.
Of course, this was just He Ao’s conjecture, so he conducted an ‘experint’ to verify his guess.
The chanical contamination was not only present in that behind-the-scenes Higher Being; he happened to have it too.
The notes for the chanical Core ring provided by the system ntioned that one should avoid using it on devices with AI, implying the possibility of contamination leakage.
The AI of the Underground Palace had probably already ‘rged’ with Carpenter, so the contamination of the AI would also be transmitted to Carpenter.
Under such circumstances, the contamination brought by the chanical Core ring was no longer a ‘danger’ but a ‘special ability’ instead.
The final result was just as He Ao had guessed; when the balance was broken, the order within Carpenter completely collapsed and twisted.
The energy focal point that ‘Carpenter’ had always relied on, which seed to grant him endless life, was also twisted by chanical force into a normal energy circuit.
Strictly speaking, if before he was not of sound mind, but still had a bit of rationality, now he might have been completely insane.
“You must die!!!”
A shrieking roar ca from the mouth of the flesh giant, as the heavy hamr was lifted again.
He lunged forward in a leap, jumping directly at He Ao, wildly smashing the hamr towards him.
Although the flesh giant had been destroyed halfway by the laser cannons and his nature had changed, his strength was still very formidable.
He Ao had just tried to withstand his attack, testing his strength.
At this mont, the physical abilities the flesh giant could exhibit were probably over eight thousand points, which was still much stronger than the strength He Ao could muster with both Fist Technique and Super mory activated at the sa ti.
Seeing the giant’s hamr coming down, He Ao did not hesitate, spinning and leaping up, his black broadsword fiercely thrown out.
The hamr smashed into the ground, splinters of stone flying everywhere, and amidst flying debris and dust, a black sword light cut through the dust, stabbing into the giant’s lower abdon where its tallic armor was thickest.
As grey-yellow blood spattered, He Ao lifted his empty palm.
Retrieve objects from the air.
The black broadsword reappeared in his hand.
“Ahhhh!!!”
In pain, the flesh giant swung its hamr, spinning to strike at He Ao.
Such imnse force, with He Ao’s current bodily defense, if he were to truly be hit squarely, there might be no saving him.
He Ao abruptly retreated, leaping behind a mound of bones.
The swinging hamr smashed the bone mound to pieces, scattering bones in all directions.
This ti, no twisted force attempted to pull the bones back together.
He Ao dodged past three bone mounds, the first two were directly pulverized by the flesh giant’s unstoppable montum, but by the ti it reached the third bone mound, the giant’s movents had slowed just a bit, and in that instant of delayed action, a streak of black sword light, following the trajectory of the flying dust and bone fragnts, pierced through the void.
The flesh giant subconsciously guarded its lower abdon and deflected the black sword light.
At that mont, a white sword light hidden within the dust of the white bone fragnts also reached the flesh giant.
When the giant realized this sword light, it was already too late; the sharp light carrying Divine Sense directly pierced through the flesh giant’s right chest.
With blood splattering, He Ao raised his hand to reclaim the two swords.
The first energy focal point.
“Ahhhh!!!”
The flesh giant roared in anger, knees bent, its huge muscles erupted with terrifying force, like an arrow it leaped out, charging towards He Ao.
This power already surpassed what he had shown before; he had concealed his strength, waiting to get close to He Ao for a one-hit kill.
While he might be insane, his combat instincts remained intact.
But now, he wasn’t holding back anymore.
Seeing the flesh giant charge at an unexpectedly high speed, He Ao’s face changed.
It was already too late to dodge; he thrust his swords into the ground, grabbed the hilts, abruptly leaned back, and with Divine Sense applied to his feet, using the swords as support, he leapt up and kicked with all his might.
Force Shatters Mountains!
This strike did not directly confront the flesh giant’s montum, but instead was a diagonal upward kick to the giant’s chest, redirecting the force that should have brought the giant crashing down forward instead.
This caused the giant, who should have fallen, to fly over He Ao’s head, the entire body losing balance.
At this ti, He Ao’s actions did not cease; he forcefully suppressed the tumultuous surge within him from that earlier collision, landed after turning in mid-air, pulled out the black broadsword thrust into the ground, and pursued the monster, leaping with force.
Though his strength was less than that of the flesh giant, his smaller body and quicker speed ant that as the giant hit the ground, rolled, and crouched, not yet steady, He Ao’s forcefully delivered thrust pierced through its left chest.
The second one.
Imdiately after, He Ao’s movents did not stop; he grabbed onto the hilt of the sword stuck in the flesh giant’s chest and did not pull out the black broadsword but instead pushed himself downward and rapidly let go, descending to the giant’s lower abdon area.
Then he rotated his body, raised his hand, and the bone sword that was previously not far from the ground instantly reappeared in his hand.
As the giant realized what was happening and swung its hamr down at him, the sword, carrying the weight of a heavy hit, stabbed into the wound on the giant’s lower abdon, which had already been sowhat penetrated by him.
This energy focal point was the deepest, the defense seemingly the strongest, so the first ti he used the black broadsword thrown to break through part of the defense.
Blood splattered, drenching his whole body.
The third one.
The flesh giant’s hand, raised in the air, lost its strength rapidly, its eyes widening in astonishnt, looking at He Ao, “You!
You!
You!”
He was so close, he could have smashed that annoying creature into minceat.
Just a little bit closer.
But there are no “if’s” in this world.
Boom—
The terrifying hamr fell to the ground, creating a thunderous noise.
He Ao stumbled back half a step, a sweetness in his throat, a mouthful of fresh blood surged up but he forcefully swallowed it back down.
He watched the giant, with eyes wide open, unwilling to close them in death, and covered his mouth as he coughed lightly.
Then he turned around, raised his hand, and the bone sword along with the black broadsword once again appeared in his hands.
He slung the bone sword on his back and slotted the black broadsword alongside it.
Behind him, the giant’s body, huge as a small mountain, collapsed with a bang, turning into countless scattered chunks of flesh.
He gently lifted his hand.
A silver, concave-shaped “tal block” appeared in his palm.
This was the only piece within the flesh giant’s body, that retained so energy flow after the collapse of its energy circuits.
This tal block was unlike the wooden-patterned blocks described in the research records as 009-2, for it was entirely tallic in shape, and its polished tal surface occasionally twitched like flesh.
A warped combination of machinery and order in the form of pollution emanated from this tal block.
No longer pure like 009-2, entwined with two powers, it’s unlikely to birth intelligence easily.
As soon as the tal block fell into He Ao’s hands, it writhed, imdiately releasing twisted pollution, attempting to corrode He Ao’s body, to absorb He Ao’s flesh and blood.
Then He Ao raised the hand with the chanical Core ring, turned it over, and tapped the tal block lightly with the chanical Core ring on his finger.
Thump thump—
With two crisp sounds, the next second, all the pollution on the tal block instantly retracted, and along with the moving mass that had beco motionless, it transford back into an ordinary-looking tal block.
He Ao smiled and put away the tal block.
There was no information conveyed about how to use this block, its true abilities, perhaps, still needed exploration.
After all, it’s a product of the Angel’s remnants and chanical pollution combined, and even He Ao doesn’t know what use this thing might have.
He walked back to the control panel, which was destroyed halfway by the flesh giant’s hamr, he shifted his stance slightly and stopped in front of the screen where he read the research data, using the bone sword to pry open the console shell below the screen, revealing the mainfra structure isolated from the outside world.
As expected, this was a separate “backup mainfra.”
This mainfra probably survived wedged between “Carpenter” and chanical pollution.
“Carpenter” was afraid that further encroachnt on the backup mainfra would increase chanical pollution, so it only preserved an influence.
And this influence from “order” in the context of chanical pollution, in turn, saved so order for this backup mainfra, which is why it was on the line between functional and non-functional, giving He Ao a chance to access the stored data.
This backup mainfra likely still held so critical operational permissions.
The hand adorned with the chanical Core ring reached inside the control panel, allowing its delicate tentacles to connect with the internal circuits of the mainfra.
At this mont, the mainfra, disconnected from the network and lacking artificial intelligence, could be directly controlled with the chanical Core ring.
He Ao sensed the still-usable permissions of this backup mainfra and his mind stirred.
Click—
Accompanied by a soft noise, the tightly closed circular gate on the floor in the center of the circular control panel slowly opened, revealing a dark, deep passage, as if leading to the depths of darkness.
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