Both sides were taking action, and both needed endorsement from the higher-ups—even the highest authorities.
To obtain permission for this tactical operation, the nominal supreme commander, General Quill, had personally come to the "War Engine" to meet Du Zhaodi and provide political backing.
Upon seeing this mechanical construct with her own eyes, General Quill was startled.
It was larger than before.
It was like a black planet carved by artificial hands. Its surface was neither rock nor metal, but countless layers of superimposed computational matrices. Each one was as crystalline and translucent as glass, yet as deep as a black hole, devouring the surrounding light. The matrices flowed and rearranged themselves ceaselessly, breathing like living things. Every flicker represented trillions of calculations, and every reconfiguration foretold a rewriting of the battle situation.
Clearly, Director Du had modeled it on Helo Po's previous stellar megastructure.
And when countless "mechanical scouts" gazed at her, General Quill's mind reeled. It was as if she had "seen" countless possible futures: futures in which she agreed, futures in which she refused, and even stranger futures.
After Daisila led her into this mechanical behemoth, she was still savoring the sensation from moments ago.
"Who's that?"
She was surprised to see a mechanical lifeform whose style was completely different from that of the faction's technology.
Its torso was formed from thousands of thick alloy vines twisted together. Every one was covered in gear joints, slowly coiling like giant pythons under the lubrication of hydraulic fluid. These vines were not decorations but its "limbs" and "blood vessels." They were hollow inside, with black metallic magma flowing through them—both nourishment and weaponry. Their surfaces were covered in honeycomb-like metal scales, each of which could flip up independently to reveal rotating cutting saws or high-temperature nozzles beneath.
Rather than a