Butterfly

The seating arrangement in the transport plane differed from that of a passenger aircraft. To make meetings easier, the seats were generally arranged in groups of four facing one another.

Without turning his head, Wang Jixuan said, "You got an upgrade and suddenly grew bold? Want me to look up at you?"

"How would Peony dare?"

Peony moved to sit in front of Wang Jixuan, smiling as she primly settled down.

This was the demonstration pose she had learned from Shen Qionglin: her legs pressed together, calves angled to one side, and her more lifelike fair hands folded atop her knees, with faint vascular patterns visible beneath her skin.

Peony said sweetly, "Officer~"

"Speak properly. Don't act crazy around me."

Wang Jixuan scolded with a smile:

"If you want to report something related to your return-to-factory testing, save the power. I'm not interested in that."

Peony pouted somewhat dejectedly. "Peony wanted to thank you too. I heard Officer spent a whole day and night passionately debating a group of professors to keep Peony."

"Who told you that?"

"Captain Zheng."

"He was talking nonsense. There was neither passion nor a whole day and night..."

Wang Jixuan shrugged.

"Also, either put on armor or put on a skirt. Why are you running around in underwear?"

"This is a Pressure Suit. It's necessary before putting on armor, used to protect this precious Simulation Skin."

Peony raised her slender white wrists as though showing them off.

"Officer, touch it.

"This technology is prohibited from widespread use, to prevent humans and mechs from becoming indistinguishable!

"This set of mine is the only trial version!"

Wang Jixuan was a little curious as well. He had Peony lay her hands flat and lightly poked them several times with his fingertips.

The texture really was quite good, no different from human skin. What was rare was the downward elasticity and the faint impressions left when pressed, both exactly like real skin.

That prompted Wang Jixuan to inspect his head maid with his spiritual sense.

A silver-white alloy skeleton sat before him in a ladylike pose, its pair of Mechanical Eyes glimmering red.

Daoist Wang:...

Better to look with his eyes.

At least she looked prettier that way.

"Peony, did you adjust your body measurements?"

"Did I?" Peony held her head high and thrust out her chest, proudly displaying her striking artificial aesthetics. "To balance beauty and practicality, I secretly asked them to add some structures."

Wang Jixuan frowned. "Stop thinking about improvements that don't help in battle."

"All right."

"Was this what you wanted to report?"

"Of course not." Peony cleared her throat and swiftly regained a serious demeanor. "This is a separate report concerning the mechs in the D5 Comprehensive War Zone."

"Hm?" Wang Jixuan was somewhat baffled.

He asked curiously, "What direct connection does that have to me?"

Peony considered her wording, raised one finger, and lightly tapped the air. A small sonic barrier enveloped the two of them.

She said solemnly, "It does have some connection, because when I went for my upgrade, I accidentally accessed their Control System."

"The Control System?"

"Yes." Peony leaned forward slightly and whispered, "They didn't notice. My soul... that is, the spirit body you mentioned, entered their data control center."

Wang Jixuan:...

No, had she broken into their own house?

"What did you discover?"

"The Doomsday Protocol! There are three layers of Doomsday Protocol in total!"

Peony was unusually excited.

"The D5 Comprehensive War Zone has a super project, with countless mechs, fifty years of accumulation, and self-maintaining mech hangars!

"The key to activating the Doomsday Protocol is the Commander-in-Chief's brain!"

Wang Jixuan did not quite understand. "What does that mean?"

"It means that if the Commander-in-Chief does not personally issue an order to cancel the three-layer Doomsday Protocol, then once the Commander-in-Chief's brain dies, all mechs will activate."

Peony spoke quickly.

"All mechs will follow three principles.

"Protect humanity, eliminate Blade Beasts, protect Earth. The three principles are ranked by importance, and it specifically states that they are to protect humanity, not obey humanity.

"The mechs are also equipped with mechanical factories and autonomous engineering mechs. They can expand chaotically in a short period of time!"

Wang Jixuan leaned back in his comfortable seat, frowning as he pondered for quite some time.

This matter did not have any direct connection to him. It was purely Fu Jian and the D5 Comprehensive War Zone's choice.

Fu Jian had previously despaired that after his death, humanity would completely fall into decline or be controlled by Psionicists. That was why he had established this directive: protect humanity, rather than obey humanity.

"And then?" Wang Jixuan asked. "Do you want to become the Mechanical Queen?"

"How could I?" Peony shrugged with a curl of her lips, looking somewhat like Wang Jixuan. "I just suddenly realized that my spirit body can attach itself to other mechs too. It isn't some kind of data replication—I can directly slip inside."

"So that's how you got this prohibited Simulation Skin?"

"Uh, that..."

"All right, I won't report you over such a minor matter." Daoist Wang waved his hand. "Go get some tea or coffee. I'm still thinking about how we should fight next."

"Okay."

Peony deactivated the sonic barrier, rose, and drifted toward the refreshment area in the corner.

In the seating area nearby, several Half-Human Mechs watched Peony and remarked that their autonomous mech had become completely humanized.

The Black Shell, who had been waiting for some time, rushed over in two strides and plopped down opposite Wang Jixuan.

The instructor chuckled. "Teacher Wang, what are our odds of taking down Xing Tian this time?"

"Sixty percent. In the worst case, sixty percent."

Wang Jixuan clicked his tongue softly.

"If the Fourth Spiritual Practitioner didn't set me up, we should have a seventy percent chance. It's worth trying."

"Indeed, the odds are not low."

Black Shell looked puzzled. "The Fourth Spiritual Practitioner set you up? What do you mean?"

"Well..."

Wang Jixuan did not answer directly. Instead, he asked:

"Instructor Shell, do you think Spiritual Practitioners would truly betray one another?"

"Hard to say. But there are only six Spiritual Practitioners in total..."

Black Shell rubbed his chin and muttered:

"By our logic, the Spiritual Practitioners should already be wary of each other at a time like this.

"But I also saw the report Professor Shen Qionglin submitted earlier.

"She conducted a very detailed analysis. Spiritual Practitioners are arrogant to the bone. They see themselves as demigods, and they also regard the Blade Beasts' power as strength they granted them. The stronger the Blade Beasts are, the more it reflects their own power.

"The report said that the six Spiritual Practitioners do indeed have some conflicts among themselves. The Fourth Spiritual Practitioner inadvertently revealed his disgust toward the other Spiritual Practitioners... They have their own little factions too."

Wang Jixuan nodded. "The intelligence I obtained this time almost entirely matches Shen Qionglin's earlier reports."

He lowered his eyes toward the side, recalling some of the Fourth Spiritual Practitioner's words:

"The one hidden beneath the snow mountain is truly named Weier'aimina Tuk. She has a female form, though gender is meaningless to us.

"I do not know the specifics of her condition either.

"Our information sharing remains unobstructed. She is most likely asleep. Every piece of information she shares consists of preconfigured scenario descriptions—her physical state, whether her thoughts are clear, the state of her Core Circuit, and so on.

"We have not directly communicated in logical language for a very long time.

"So-called logical communication is like when I previously sent a plea for help to the three of them beneath Psionic Capital. That was dialogue based on our own thoughts.

"Her Core Circuit's governing law is of the natural type. She excels at efficiently killing enemies in large-scale battles. Back then, she was also a primary target of the Blade Beasts' siege, so her injuries were the most severe.

"To be honest, I have some enmity with her.

"She believes in absolute evil, believing that every living being is born evil, and defines beastliness as evil thoughts. Our usual definition is that beastliness is instinct, while divinity is restraint.

"The planets once cultivated by her and her followers all suffered immense misfortune.

"If she regains her strength... believe me, her ideology will overturn everything you imagine.

"The First, Second, and Third Spiritual Practitioners you named are powerful, but also traditional. They are considered conservatives; my friends and I are liberals, without aggression.

"Weier'aimina Tuk, on the other hand, is a radical.

"The Blade Beast crisis originated from radicals like her, who secretly developed Pillar-Class Blade Beasts despite our opposition..."

And so on.

Wang Jixuan did not completely trust this information.

He organized his words and gave Black Shell a brief account of it. He had already had Peony share all this intelligence with Fu Jian in a timely manner.

Black Shell fell silent after hearing it.

He muttered, "So this time, on the surface, we're going after Xing Tian, but in reality, we're going after Wei... the Fifth Spiritual Practitioner?"

"No." Wang Jixuan said calmly, "We're going after Xing Tian. The Fifth Spiritual Practitioner is merely a strategic resource. We cannot blindly trust the Fourth's words; there are hardly any truthful sentences in his mouth."

"That's true!"

Black Shell slapped his forehead.

"All right, I more or less understand now!

"Next, we'll land near an abandoned fortress ruin, three hundred and sixty kilometers from Snow Mountain Base. Ground forces have already been arranged to receive us there."

Wang Jixuan asked, "Are the ground forces reliable?"

"They are. They're our people who infiltrated D2 from the outer perimeter."

Black Shell thought for a moment.

"If the Spiritual Practitioners really are that powerful, and if the Fifth Spiritual Practitioner has a cooperative relationship with Xing Tian, or even an enslavement relationship, they may be able to sense the transport plane carrying Zheng Shiduo and Ji Xiao.

"Didn't you say before that we should act separately and have those who might be exposed move later?

"Our landing sites are different too."

Daoist Wang nodded and turned to look out the porthole.

The transport plane maintained multiple layers of stealth as it sped slowly through the high altitude.

At this moment, he was indeed somewhat worried about Zheng Shiduo and Wu Man's safety.

Wang Jixuan said, "As long as I reach the vicinity of the snow mountain, there will be no secrets left there."

They had no means of guarding against spiritual sense.

Black Shell nodded. "I'll keep watch in the electronic warfare cabin. Once we leave D5's borders, we need to prepare for battle. I don't know why, but I have a feeling this operation won't go smoothly. Let's prepare more contingencies."

Wang Jixuan nodded with a smile.

After thinking it over, he waited for Peony to equip her black-and-gray "Invisible One" armor, then went to change into his own X Armor.

Safety first.

Three hours later, Wang Jixuan watched the forested mountains below draw closer. His spiritual sense carefully observed the farthest range, and he smiled inwardly.

Was I being overly cautious?

"Peony, ask Dragonfly Aunt about her situation."

"Okay then."

"Drop the 'then'!"

"Yes, Officer."

Ding ding.

Underground, in a corner of a residual Blade Beast passage, inside a shuttlecraft.

Dragonfly Aunt yawned, climbed up from her reclined seat, alertly glanced at the data on the monitoring console beside her, and quietly sighed in relief.

Picking up the communicator, Dragonfly Aunt's mouth twitched a few times.

[Big Peony: Where are you? Are you dead? If not, want to meet up?]

"Do you think this is an online meetup?"

Dragonfly Aunt muttered.

Ding ding!

[Big Peony: I brought you Talisman Water and Sugar Pill!]

Dragonfly Aunt considered it briefly, then sent a simple reply.

[Mai Xiaomei: Give me an approximate direction, not an exact location.]

[Big Peony: Twenty-five degrees west of south from Snow Mountain Base. How are you getting here?]

[Mai Xiaomei: I'll fly over!]

[Big Peony: Then we'll wait for you a while. Fly faster, okay? The second team landed elsewhere and will need time to get here and regroup too.]

Dragonfly Aunt tilted her head slightly, wariness flashing through her eyes.

Why had Peony's messages suddenly become so frivolous?

Was this a trap?

As Dragonfly Aunt was thinking, the instrument panel beside her suddenly flashed red. The green marker representing Bristle Bear turned red.

Crackle.

Bristle Bear's voice sounded from the nearby earpiece, still calm.

"I'm surrounded. Something's not right. It seems they discovered me long ago and only just made their move."

Dragonfly Aunt picked up the headset and asked, "Can you escape?"

"They haven't found several escape routes I left behind. This group isn't very professional, but a few A-Class Psionicists are troublesome."

"Mm." Dragonfly Aunt's expression was cold. "Remember, you cannot be captured now."

"Understood. Don't worry, Captain."

The sound of howling wind came from Bristle Bear's end:

"I'm worried that the timing of my exposure might have caused me to send back incorrect intelligence."

"Then I'll remind them."

Dragonfly Aunt had already typed out a line on her communicator. Without any hesitation, she tapped send.

Bzzzt.

"Captain, I have to destroy the call records. See you at Safe House Number Three."

"Alright." Dragonfly Aunt's expression did not change. She started the shuttle and tossed the earpiece aside. "Stay alive, and I'll introduce you to a fierce woman."

"I like them young."

"Then try your best to die."

Beep beep beep.

The call automatically turned into a busy signal. The last sound that came through was a faint explosion from Bristle Bear's end.

He had destroyed his communication device.

Dragonfly Aunt piloted the shuttle into a slow turn. Its Magnetic Halo glimmered faintly, lifting it a foot off the ground in the passage.

Just as she was about to leave, the Micro-robots and Parasitic Eggs she had sent out earlier had detected no danger around her.

Dragonfly Aunt casually searched, activated her ability, and saw Bristle Bear sprinting toward the mountains outside Rainbow Town, with several drones pursuing him from behind.

She did not look any longer and immediately reached to turn the shuttle's power switch.

"Mm-hm-hm~"

A soft chant suddenly echoed through the pitch-black Underground Passage.

At some point, a black butterfly had landed outside the special glass of Dragonfly Aunt's shuttle windshield, gently fluttering its wings.