Chapter 122

87

Chapter 87 You even target your own businesses!

The powerless plane hovered quietly in the air, as if supported by some invisible force.

Indeed, that was the case, since among the passengers was a Mental Perception Fused Warrior who could use telekinesis.

"What should we do now?"

Desdrobia floated in the air, one hand raised above her head, seemingly supporting the heavy transport plane. "We can't just throw it into the sea, can we?"

Everyone had escaped through the gap at the bottom of the plane and was hovering in the air using the armor's flight system. For a moment, they felt somewhat helpless.

"Daisy, how long can you hold on?"

Dr. Mei was the first to react, asking, "If possible, try to bring it to land. We need to figure out what's wrong with it."

Although it is not yet possible to determine what exactly went wrong with the aircraft, its sudden loss of power is remarkably similar to that of the drone that flew into the empty zone. If any clues can be found on this aircraft, it may be possible to determine what kind of power Ai Yue possesses.

However, what worries Dr. Mei is that, according to the information shown on the map, the plane that Kevin and the others were on was still about 50 kilometers away from the Australia mainland. If all of this was really caused by Ai Yue, wouldn't that mean that his powers could be used at such a long distance?

The amount of information that might be hidden behind this scene is quite substantial.

"No problem, it's not far from Australia anyway, I should be able to do it."

Desdrobia nodded. "However, you'd better stay away from me... um!"

She had barely finished speaking when she suddenly clutched her head and cried out in pain. At the same time, the plane above her, which was being supported by telekinesis, shook violently before tilting and plummeting down.

"Daisy!"

Cosmo immediately rushed over to support Desdrobia, asking anxiously, "What happened?"

"The telekinesis... the telekinesis attached to the aircraft has disappeared!"

After squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth, Desdrobia said, "I'm sorry, Dr. Mei, I..."

Desdrobia didn't even get to finish her sentence before losing consciousness in intense pain.

"Forget about the plane, lower the altitude!"

Kevin made a quick decision and gave the order, "Otherwise, we'll become the next target!"

The group immediately descended, stopping only when they were almost touching the surface of the sea.

"What do we do now?"

Kevin asked, "Prometheus, can you contact the drone swarm? Were the drone swarm affected by the unidentified attack just now?"

Although there is no concrete evidence yet, everyone knows that an attack that could cause such a result, knocking a Fused Warrior unconscious from a great distance, could only be the work of Herrscher.

"No, my communication with Queen has been lost, and it seems to be related to the unknown attack we just witnessed."

Prometheus responded, "We must reach Australia to establish contact with Queen via drone."

"It seems we have no choice but to keep moving forward."

Dr. Mei sighed. "Kevin, proceed with caution. I've marked the crash site. Leave the subsequent salvage and research plans to Vill-V and the others."

Before Kevin and the others set off, Dr. Mei had asked Vill-V about the current progress of her research, and the answer she received was "soon," so she should have results soon.

In contrast, even if Kevin and his team were to retrieve the plane from the sea, given their capabilities, they would likely find it difficult to extract any useful clues. Therefore, it would be better to focus their efforts on the upcoming battle plan.

Kevin had no objection to Dr. Mei's arrangements, but he glanced at Cosmo and asked, "Cosmo, how is Desdrobia doing?"

"No abnormalities were detected in the life support system of the armor system; it should just be a coma caused by excessive mental exhaustion."

Cosmo responded, "Boss Kevin, I think we should settle Daisy on the island ahead for now. She can't continue fighting right now."

"Can."

Kevin nodded. "Also, you stay here to take care of her. This way, we can stay in touch. When Desdrobia regains consciousness, remember to ask her about her experience during the attack as soon as possible. Perhaps we can find some clues in her answer."

If the attack just now really came from Herrscher, then Desdrobia is the first person to have come into contact with Herrscher, and her feelings are extremely important to Kevin and the others right now.

"I see."

Cosmo nodded, without requesting to participate in the battle. "Thank you."

In the past, he probably would have chosen to continue fighting after settling Desdrobia, but now he can no longer say such a thing.

This left Cosmo somewhat confused, wondering if this change in himself was due to weakness stemming from his emotions.

"Alright, let's move on."

Kevin nodded, then looked at the others, "Just to be on the safe side, we'll move in a dispersed formation."

Although it is not possible to obtain more useful information from the crashed plane for the time being, considering that the plane did not lose power all at once, but rather that all four engines failed for unknown reasons in succession, it can be seen that the attack range of the other party was not very large.

Therefore, if lowering the flight altitude still cannot avoid the enemy's aim, then using a dispersed formation can at least reduce the probability of casualties.

Of course, Kevin still hoped that the other party would not be able to launch an attack under these circumstances. After all, even he, a veteran of countless battles, was not confident that he could dodge such an attack that could be described as "colorless and odorless".

Fortunately, his wish was not in vain. After flying in silence for fifty kilometers and reaching the Australia mainland, everything returned to normal, and the attack that occurred without warning or indication did not happen again.

Upon arriving in Australia, Kevin immediately looked at Prometheus: "Can we contact the drone swarm now?"

"Please wait a moment."

Prometheus paused for a moment, then sent a navigation message to everyone's armor systems. "Proceed in this direction. There's a Queen drone factory there. We should be able to make contact with Queen from there."

Perhaps because the Artificial Intelligence's voice lacked emotional fluctuations, no one questioned Prometheus's words. But only Prometheus himself knew that this situation was abnormal.

Since receiving that video, she has never been able to contact Queen again, as if he had simply vanished from the face of the earth.

But Queen, as the latest generation of Artificial Intelligence created by Doctor Ai Yue, and with the support of a swarm of drones, can be said to be the most difficult thing in the world to kill. How could such Artificial Intelligence disappear in less than a day?

However, when the drone factory marked by Prometheus appeared before everyone, she finally began to waver.

The factory in front of me looked perfectly normal, but it was completely silent.

The factory, which should theoretically be producing drones 24 hours a day, has stopped operating.

88

Chapter 88 The case is now solved.

Rose, are you sure this is the place?

Seeing this, Elysia couldn't help but ask, "It looks fine from the outside, but it seems to have been abandoned?"

"That's impossible,"

Prometheus responded, "This place should be working normally. Even if the Honkai Beast could break through the drone swarm's encirclement and attack this place, it shouldn't be this quiet and tidy."

Prometheus's answer was not without reason. After all, this place is located on the edge of the Australia mainland, with the sea behind the factory. If this place also malfunctions due to an attack, it means that the Honkai Beast have already broken through the encirclement of the drone swarm.

Judging from the environment at the scene, there was no trace of Honkai Beast attack at all, and the factory in front of us could not be found to have been attacked in any way. It was as if it had simply been abandoned.

"I'm afraid it's that strange Herrscher authority again."

Dr. Mei concluded, "We've encountered situations twice before where machines can be disabled without damaging their appearance, and this factory might be the third time."

"There's no point in saying more, let's go in and check it out."

Kevin also made his decision, "Kalpas and I will lead the way, Elysia, you and Sakura will follow, let's move out."

The group quickly entered the factory, and the scene before them further confirmed Dr. Mei's judgment.

There are still parts on the production line, but the conveyor belt underneath has long since stopped operating. On the assembly table next to it, there is a drone that is half-assembled. It only needs two more processes before it can be started and sent to the front line.

"The molten steel used to cast the parts had not even completely solidified, but it had already cooled down."

Once inside the factory, Sakura, being the most agile, used her strengths to circle around several times. "It's strange, this doesn't make any sense at all... it's like the heat has been drawn away beforehand."

"Could it really be the power to draw energy?"

Kevin brought up his earlier speculation again, "But could such power have an effect on Desdrobia's telekinesis?"

"If it was absorption, then Desdrobia shouldn't have said 'telekinesis disappeared' before she fell into a coma."

Elysia shook her head. "As Fused Warrior with a mental perception ability, it's impossible for her not to be able to tell whether her psychic power is being absorbed. So even if it really is being absorbed, it should just be a manifestation of the Herrscher authority."

"I've found the factory's main control center."

Just then, Eden's voice came from the other end of the factory, "But it seems it can't be started. Kevin, can you bring Prometheus's mainframe over?"

After the incident in Australia, Prometheus lost contact with all its extensions in Australia. Therefore, to facilitate operations, Dr. Mei specifically asked Kevin to bring one of Prometheus's sub-unit, just in case the situation of losing contact again occurred.

Kevin and the others quickly arrived at Eden's side, and after a simple scan, Prometheus made a judgment. "It's just out of energy. Just connect me to the main unit and it will start up."

Soon, the main control system's screen lit up, but this time it only lasted a very short time before going out again, and no matter how Prometheus tried, it was to no avail.

"What happened?"

Kevin asked, "Didn't you say it was just a lack of energy?"

"The internal circuitry was also completely burned out. Judging from the current situation, the factory must have been damaged by an excessive energy surge during operation, which caused the malfunction."

Prometheus quickly responded, "I can only try to read the information on the internal disk; hopefully, I'll find something useful."

"An excessive energy surge..."

Upon hearing all this, Dr. Mei fell into thought, and then said, "Kevin, take apart the independent energy system of the main control center and take a look."

To prevent accidents from occurring in the factory due to unforeseen circumstances, Ai Yue's design includes setting up an independent power supply system for the main control center in each fully automated drone production factory. This way, even if losses cannot be stopped in time, the main control center can at least collect enough data to improve subsequent factory designs and prevent similar incidents from happening.

"I see."

Kevin nodded, and was about to squat down when he stopped. "Uh, where is the independent energy system here?"

Finally, guided by Prometheus, he found the energy system of the main control center, but after disassembling the outer shell, the core part inside was empty.

"Is this using Honkai Energy Crystal?"

Kevin immediately realized, "Is it that extravagant?"

"It is Artificial Honkai Energy Crystal, Doctor Ai Yue's masterpiece."

Prometheus corrected, "It was originally intended to be made public, but then we were afraid of causing a riot, so we put it on hold for the time being."

"Can Honkai Energy Crystal be artificially created now?"

Kevin was immediately taken aback. He knew nothing about scientific research and had never paid attention to it, so he was completely unaware of these matters.

"After all, it's Ai Yue, so it's quite normal."

Dr. Mei didn't seem to care. "I don't think there's anything he can't do. The main reason the Artificial Honkai Energy Crystal project hasn't been made public is because it's not universally applicable. Currently, only Australia has the capability to manufacture it... Anyway, that's not the point. Kevin, focus on observing the inside of the outer shell."

Upon hearing this, Kevin turned the outer shell over and quickly noticed something. "This is... a sign of melting?"

"A large amount of Honkai Energy is released in an instant, which will cause such marks. However, the material is of good quality. Even so, it did not burn through."

Dr. Mei found the clue she was looking for and nodded with satisfaction. "It seems that the energy wasn't absorbed, but rather forcibly released."

"Could it be a power that can disable Honkai Energy?"

Kevin couldn't help but widen his eyes, "Does such power really exist?"

After all, this kind of power sounds like it's completely contrary to the essence of Herrscher.

"But if that's the case, it would explain why the Honkai Beast went around that area."

Sakura said, "Given the nature of Honkai Beast, they would be killed as soon as they entered that area shrouded in power."

"So that's why Daisy said 'the telekinesis disappeared,' rather than that the telekinesis was absorbed, right?"

Elysia suddenly realized, "Is Ai Yue's power the manipulation of energy? But isn't the scope of this too exaggerated?"

Both the factory and the plane they were on were incredibly far from the blank area in the video. If Ai Yue could unleash his power at that distance, then even Fused Warrior would probably be unable to get close to him, let alone defeat him.

At that moment, Prometheus, who had been silent for a long time, finally reacted. "Residual data detected, in recovery..."

89

Chapter 89 What? My long legs ran away?

"We don't know what clues we can find in the remaining data."

Dr. Mei's tone was full of anticipation as she watched Prometheus process the data.

"There will be some gains in the end, right?"