The True Cheat in Honkai is Alicia!

But soon, Gwen, who had recovered his body in his dreams and was attempting to leave the underground base, heard a piercing alarm.

Almost instinctively, Gwen, who had been sound asleep, sprang from the bed with a flip, lowered his posture, pressed his body close to the wall, and vigilantly observed his surroundings.

And after Gwen woke up, the piercing alarm abruptly stopped.

Clearly, the purpose of this alarm was merely to wake the sleeping Gwen.

"...I just slept for ten hours... Did something happen?"

Glancing at the time on his wristwatch, Gwen muttered to himself. He had no intention of sleeping any longer. While tidying his clothes, he walked out of the bedroom.

After a few steps, the somewhat ethereal figure of Prometheus appeared before Gwen, its red eyes quietly gazing at him.

"Prometheus, you woke me up in such a hurry, did something happen?"

Based on Gwen's understanding of Prometheus, this AI left behind by a previous civilization wouldn't wake him up with such an alarm for no reason.

"Detected ground fluctuations outside the base. Comparing data, it's preliminarily determined that the base has been discovered and is being excavated.

As the highest authority holder in the base, you need to choose your attitude towards the people outside."

Prometheus gave a concise and clear answer without any unnecessary words.

"Someone dug us up?"

Gwen was slightly surprised by Prometheus's words—

Although, at the very beginning, when he couldn't even secure a livelihood, Gwen had wondered if the geological changes back then hadn't buried this base too deep, and if someone could excavate it and coincidentally save him. But that was just idle speculation from Gwen, who had no way to survive back then.

Now that someone had actually stumbled upon this base, Gwen couldn't help but feel a slight reduction in pressure.

Of course, only a slight reduction.

As for the authority Prometheus mentioned—

Although Gwen's background was unknown, Prometheus, as an advanced AI, wasn't just a program that only read instructions; it had its own judgment.

After successfully injecting the Hyper-Evolution Factor, Gwen had been upgraded from an unremarkable volunteer to... an unremarkable Reserve Fusion Warrior.

Although the authority of a Reserve Fusion Warrior wasn't high, he had at least entered the system.

At this time, Prometheus, as an AI without the authority to make decisions, needed someone to issue commands.

Gwen was undoubtedly that person at this moment.

"Let's remain silent for now and see who these people outside are.

If they are friendly, we'll try to make contact.

If they are difficult to deal with, we'll slip out directly."

If it were half a year ago, Gwen would naturally have been tearfully hoping that the people outside would dig faster.

But now, having resolved his survival crisis and even gained a little strength, Gwen's thoughts were no longer about welcoming the imperial army with food and drink...

At the very least, Gwen felt he had the ability to assess the situation before deciding.

"Command accepted, commencing execution."

Prometheus immediately carried out Gwen's order. Several lights that were previously on instantly extinguished, plunging the base into darkness.

If Gwen hadn't already become familiar with this small, dilapidated base and now possessed night vision, he would have had to embarrassingly ask Prometheus for directions.

However, even though he didn't need directions, Gwen still spoke—

"Prometheus..."

At the same time, less than ten meters above Gwen—

"According to the detection, the ruins are very close."

Returning from the control room, the active B-class Valkyrie Anna reported to her superior and close friend for this mission, the active A-class Valkyrie Rita Rossweisse from headquarters. Chapter 4: I, Gwen, a Person from the Previous Civilization

"I see it."

Smiling and nodding, Rita looked at the synchronized report on her tablet, her expression serious.

"Anna, please strengthen security.

This area is on the edge of Schicksal's sphere of influence, with Anti-Entropy and other factions active. Our excavation work cannot be strictly kept secret, so we must guard against the covetousness of petty thieves."

"Yes."

Anna nodded.

"The shield generator is ready, the demi-god machines are deployed, and the accompanying Valkyries are ready to fight at any moment."

"Yes, the weather is not good today, and satellites cannot closely monitor the surrounding area. I'll need your extra diligence."

Rita and Anna were quite familiar with each other. When Anna was still at headquarters, they had interacted frequently. They weren't best friends, but they could be considered friends.

However, now that they were at work, Rita maintained a good balance. Despite her actions being almost indistinguishable, she made it clear that she was in work mode.

"Yes!"

Similarly, although Anna considered her relationship with Rita to be quite good, she didn't engage in irrelevant matters during work hours. She also maintained a professional demeanor and turned to leave.

Another half hour passed. The soil covering the ruins was cleared by the instruments brought by the archaeology team, and a gateway, already warped and deformed by past geological shifts, appeared before the eyes of the development team members.

"The current time is 3:12 PM on October 15, 2013, local time. Prepare to open the ruins. Barrier generator, Valkyries, Mechanized units, prepare for combat."

Once all preparations were complete, Rita, who was in charge of this excavation, glanced at the time on her terminal and issued the final command over the comms.

A chorus of assent replied through the comms—

"Yes!"

Schicksal—or rather, the major organizations of the current civilization—were quite enthusiastic about excavating ruins and protecting the heritage of previous civilizations. And Schicksal, with Void Archives and Fu Hua, was a leader among them.

However, neither Void Archives nor Fu Hua could provide absolutely accurate information, so Schicksal had suffered many casualties in past ruin excavations due to the self-defense mechanisms within the ruins.

Therefore, in this world, archaeology was also a dangerous job.

To this end, Schicksal had developed many supporting devices, and one of Rita's tasks as a special envoy sent from headquarters for training was to test the performance of these instruments.

The gateway, which had long lost its original function, was quickly destroyed by Schicksal's archaeological instruments and completely dismantled. The ruins were thus completely opened to everyone from Schicksal at this moment.

However, neither Rita nor Anna, the Valkyries responsible for supervision and defense, nor the scientific researchers who came to determine the value of the ruins, ventured deep inside immediately. Instead, they sent in specialized robots to scout the situation.

And as the gateway to the ruins was opened, Gwen retracted the alien music player, its screen glowing with a faint red light.

"The base's gate has been breached. Machines have entered the base and are exploring within."

A faint light flickered, and Prometheus's figure reappeared before Gwen, reporting the current situation.

Gwen wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that Prometheus, still appearing as a loli with no expression, had changed somehow since just now.

"Bring up the feed, Prometheus. Let's see who it is that has welcomed us to this world."

Without dwelling on the source of that feeling, Gwen was now curious about the person—or rather, the faction—that had opened these ruins.

Was it an ordinary archaeological team that accidentally opened these ruins? Or had the "archaeological teams" of those behemoths from his memory entered here?

Everything needed to be explored by Gwen himself.

"Understood."

Prometheus nodded, waved a hand, and brought up the closest surveillance feed, displaying the figures of the uninvited guests who had entered the base before Gwen.

"..."

After observing the strangely shaped robot for a moment and noticing its paint job, Gwen drew a conclusion—

This was Schicksal's archaeology team.

"You seem to recognize their identity."

Prometheus's voice directly appeared in Gwen's mind, rather than being broadcast through a speaker into the air and then transmitted to Gwen's ears.

During the past half hour, Gwen had given Prometheus a choice: continue to stay in this base and await an unknown future, or leave with him?

Although the first batch of "trash" from the system was only useful to Gwen in terms of food and water, after some "gold panning," Gwen discovered something that clearly stood out from the other "trash."

After a simple study, Gwen surprisingly found that he actually had the right to use the blue and white alien music player and figured out its origin—

It was a summoner, a standard issue piece of equipment for the military police of Ares Star, which held jurisdiction over the galaxy.

Although Gwen only had the summoner and not the cassette, rendering him unable to use the Ares Police Armor, the knowledge within it could be learned by Gwen.

Beyond the function of summoning armor, the summoner was also an incredibly powerful computer and storage device.

While its capabilities in this regard were not as impressive as the yellow summoner of another set of armor, which was akin to a game console and belonged to a subordinate general's armor, it could easily store the complete genetic codes of over a dozen Ares Imperial Guards and transfer them instantaneously.

And during the past half hour, Gwen had communicated with Prometheus, successfully tricking... ah, no, luring... well, persuading, her to choose to leave this base with him.

Although Prometheus doubted Gwen's claim that this device, which looked futuristic but also like a mere MP3 player, could contain her program.

However, after all her programs were transferred, Prometheus no longer questioned it.

Also, because she had entered the summoner, Prometheus's voice could directly appear in Gwen's mind, as he had established an energy link with the summoner.

However, after asking, Prometheus didn't wait for Gwen's answer and continued with the next question:

"How do you plan to deal with them?

Will you allow them entry, or...?"

"...Do nothing. Just wait for them to discover me."

Gwen, who had already fabricated his background story with Prometheus during the past half hour, said thoughtfully, "After all, my identity is already suspicious. If I'm too enthusiastic, it will only make me more suspicious."

In Gwen's pocket, the summoner's display screen flashed red for a moment before finally dimming.

Chapter 5: Contact and Attack

Inside the base, Schicksal's exploration robots advanced slowly, continuously transmitting discovered information back to the surface.

"Based on the current detected situation, this ruin is still relatively well-preserved. Although a portion was damaged due to geological changes, the remaining parts are still functioning."

The analyst quickly analyzed the information obtained by the robots' exploration:

"However, according to some traces, it appears there have been signs of human activity in this ruin, and not too long ago."

"..."

Upon hearing this news, everyone in the tent looked somewhat displeased—

Based on experience, if there were clear signs of human activity in a pre-civilization ruin, it meant someone had already entered.

Whether it was due to tomb raiders breaking in because the ruins were too dilapidated, or other factions entering, it would significantly reduce the gains for later excavators.

"It's fine, don't let this minor issue affect you."

Noticing everyone's mood was a bit off, Rita spoke up:

"Regardless, successfully excavating a pre-civilization ruin means everyone present has contributed positively."

"Yes." *N

Since Rita from headquarters had said so, the others temporarily set aside their worries and continued their work.

Inside the base, one of the robots approached a well-preserved large door.

After scanning it and finding that the door was still supplied with energy and functioning normally, the robot's mechanical arm transformed, and a laser weapon was charged, ready to force the door open—

Undoubtedly, Schicksal did not have the clearance of the pre-civilization Fire Moth. Faced with a still-functioning door, forced entry was the only option.

However, the next moment, as the remote operator on the ground prepared to act, they involuntarily let out a cry of surprise—

"There's someone here?"

"Huh?"

Instantly, this staff member drew the attention of most people in the tent, causing their gazes to fall upon the display screen before him.

On that screen, a large door was slowly opening, revealing a brightly lit room within, and the man with black hair and black eyes sitting on a chair, facing the entrance.

Looking at the robot whose paint scheme bore the Schicksal insignia, Gwen, with a calm expression, said:

"You're already using machinery of this caliber to develop ruins?

It seems your civilization has developed quite well."

"Is this... a human from the pre-civilization era?"