When the main gate opened, everyone was ready to face a vicious attack. Although they had encountered no resistance of any real significance along the way, everyone knew that this was only because the mainframe's malfunction had taken all the defensive systems offline. The mainframe's central core lay behind this gate, and that core could not possibly be offline. The reason was obvious: the fortress was still continuously transmitting command after command outward. That was the best proof that the mainframe was still operating.
A mainframe that was still operating should not have allowed a group of uninvited guests to approach so close to its central core.
Yet as the gate opened, the expected attack never came. Nor did they hear any alarm reverberating throughout the fortress. In fact, Hao Ren did not hear a sound—not if one discounted the buzzing that had never stopped and could be heard everywhere in the fortress.
Even so, Vivian still reminded everyone in a low voice, "Stay alert. We've reached the center of the fortress. Anything could happen here."
Hao Ren raised a shield and entered the circular hall where the mainframe's central core was located, with Lily at his left and right respectively, taking the lead and cautiously observing their surroundings.
The hall was exceedingly spacious and empty. Yet in this area, which covered roughly the size of a football field, there were almost no complex cables or machines to be seen. It was completely different from the machine rooms and equipment chambers they had passed through earlier. The only things visible in the hall were thirteen black machines arranged along the walls and the Black Cylinder in the center. Hao Ren's gaze was naturally drawn to that extremely conspicuous cylinder.
It stood dozens of meters high, its lower end buried in