Mechanical Nexus

Six months later, Du Zhaodi stepped off the plane again to meet a certain young man.

On the tarmac, the senior engineer looked at the other person with a smile. Upon seeing that familiar face, Director Du couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Although in this technological age, distance is not a problem, especially since the latest virtual reality machines offer a network connection mode that can provide "face-to-face" communication, with scenes and environments that can be chosen and created at will.

Unfortunately, Director Du is an old-fashioned and conservative person who doesn't really like this kind of virtual experience.

She chose a traditional way of communicating: long phone conversations.

Although the two had not seen each other for six months, they talked on the phone for at least half an hour every day.

Director Du also mastered a skill on his own: working while having long phone conversations, which was extremely efficient.

So when the two met, there was no sense of unfamiliarity at all, and they didn't even do the three things couples usually do: hold hands, hug, and French kiss.

Gao possesses extraordinary skills, yet he has nowhere to use them.

Director Du is rather shy about this.

The other rich woman was quite the opposite. After breaking up with a certain young man, Rose was still in a passionate relationship for the first week, frequently connecting to the virtual machine.

However, the feeling in the virtual world can never replace reality.

A week later, Rose said it was pointless, just a child's game, and she wasn't going to play anymore.

Then they lost contact.

In conclusion, one was too plain, and the other too sensual. If it weren't for the exceptional talent of a certain young man, he really wouldn't have been able to handle two rich women with such different personalities.

Director Du was dressed in his usual "director's attire," a white lab coat in a research style. However, the observant senior engineer noticed that he had deliberately applied light makeup: delicately drawn willow-leaf eyebrows, resolute yet tender eyes, and shoulder-length short hair tucked behind his ears. When he smiled, there was always a faint sense of relief, but if he pursed his lips, the sense of pressure would immediately increase dozens of times.

Director Du already had a base score of 85, and with this makeover, she went straight for 100.

That's what the senior engineer thought, and that's what he said.

Praise poured out of someone's mouth the moment they met, without stopping.

Director Du rolled his eyes, pursed his lips, and suppressed the slight upturn of his mouth.

"I don't have much time left, I'm going straight to the main brain area."

"OK!"

The senior engineer smiled and took the other person's small hand in his. Her skin was a little rough, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of tenderness.

"I tell you to get some rest every day, why don't you listen?"

Director Du rolled his eyes again, too lazy to say anything, and instead gave instructions to those behind him.

"Wait for me here, don't wander off."

The Dugo Technologies employees were dumbfounded. Weren't we here to work? What does "don't wander around" mean?

This is Director Du's standard double standard.

I may find it cheesy, but you can't stay silent.

Although I'm always working, I don't mind spending some time dating with you while I'm at work.

Those young wolves who cannot comprehend this level of understanding will not even get a glimpse of it, let alone enter the door.

In the past six months, Director Du has had her share of suitors, but none of them have been able to exchange more than three sentences with her.

"That's a Tier 3 weapon?"

From a distance, Director Du spotted the super weapon that was hundreds of meters tall. As a mechanical engineering geek—no, a mechanical tycoon—Director Du's eyes lit up immediately.

Studying this thing, like studying the body of a certain young male prostitute, is extremely attractive to her.

"With only a day and a half, dismantling and transportation might be difficult, right?" Director Du said with some concern.

"I'm afraid I don't have enough people with me."

"Don't worry, I was prepared."

Suddenly, a small black box phantom appeared in the senior engineer's hand. As the "little black box" rotated repeatedly, the "missile wells" in various districts of the City Never Sleeps opened, and countless mechanical eyelines gushed out. Each mechanical eyeline had drill bits of various sizes growing out of it.

They will disassemble this thing from the inside.

As for how to assemble it, that's up to this rich woman.

"Hmm, not bad."

Director Du's eyes suddenly became empty, like emotionless mechanical eyes.

Without the senior engineer's intervention, all the mechanical vehicles and transport robots in the city were temporarily requisitioned.

Although the senior engineer was a pirated "mechanical brain," the fact that Director Du was able to seize some of his power in person shows that she hadn't been working for nothing during the past six months.

The senior engineer gently pinched the other person's cheek, pulling out Director Du's control panel.

Name: Du Zhaodi

Race: Mechanical Lifeform, Corporate Will

Level: 60

Mechanical energy: 1,200,000

Personal Attributes: Strength 14, Agility 15, Stamina 17, Intelligence 90, Perception 75, Character 80

Templates: Machine Girl, Creator's Heart, Mechanical Genius

Note: A mechanical, humanoid creature—if it weren't completely unguarded, would you think you could see its true nature? Pretty boy!

The system's words sound rather sarcastic.

Are you a public system?

In six months, Director Du rose from level 55 to level 60, which was not surprising, given his well-being.

Surprisingly, in the race category, Director Du listed "corporate will" in addition to "mechanical life".

Corporate will is a powerful buff, but very few people can truly integrate with it and effectively control it.

The last person to do this was Hugh Laurie, whom he killed.

A guy who copies and pastes personalities everywhere.

For Director Du, who is focused on heavy machinery, copying and pasting personality traits is probably impossible, but strengthening control over machinery is definitely within his grasp.

It's definitely not wrong to say it's half a mechanical mainframe.

That's not the point.

The key question is, how did your luck suddenly drop to 80? Wasn't it only 50 last time?

As a capitalist, how come your moral character is rising faster than mine is falling?

Are you going to break three digits before me?

"What's wrong with you?"

Seeing the senior engineer's strange expression, Director Du asked directly.

"Uh, it's nothing, it's just that I'm finding myself liking you more and more."

"Snort!"

The two were working and dating at the same time. In fact, the senior engineer was well aware of the development speed of "Dugo Technologies", and the system panel explained everything.

Without Director Du's support, he wouldn't have been able to issue the "Large Nightmare Mission".

But Director Du still preferred to tell him in person.

As for why, the senior engineer knew very well.

"Go down."

The two arrived at the main control room. The senior engineer clasped his hands together, and the mechanical ground began to sink rapidly—one thousand meters, two thousand meters, three thousand meters...

Similarly, Director Du also sensed a strong mechanical aura.

To her, it smelled wonderful.

For Director Du, the best gift is not expensive luxury goods, but high-tech mechanical creations.

Ten minutes later, a colossal creature appeared before her.

Mechanical central hub!

Or rather, the artificial core of this continent.

Without seeing it up close, it's hard to describe its magnificence. It's a super mechanical structure, its height and depth are hard to discern, and what they see before them is a massive mechanical wall.

Tens of thousands of mechanical pipes are inserted on its surface. Some of these pipes are energy pipes, continuously drawing liquid fuel from the seabed. Some of these fuels are oil, and some are radiant energy liquids.

Among the other pipelines, a significant portion are production pipelines; most of the mechanical buildings in the City That Never Sleeps are manufactured by the Mechanical Hub itself.

In addition, there are weapon pipelines from which a continuous stream of mechanical eyes and energy turrets are produced and transported.

As for the remaining pipes, they were enveloped in a glowing light of data, with surging, simulated data flowing within them.

These types of pipelines are the network infrastructure that enables the city-wide network to be transformed into a 'regional network'.

The gleam in Director Du's eyes made the senior engineer feel that if this mechanical hub were a man, he would have met his strongest competitor.

"Let's move it now!" Du Zhaodi said decisively.

"Ahem, I'm afraid that won't work."

Sister, wake up! Stealing a mechanical nexus is tantamount to openly opposing the Mother City, and the most warlike Cybertron General at that!

At least before the Cyber Tide began, the Mother City's rule was unbreakable.

However, seeing Director Du's disappointed expression, the senior engineer changed the subject, "But stealing some spare parts is still no problem."

"The gift I prepared for you is inside."

Following the pipes specifically designed for transporting people, the two quickly arrived at the core of the mechanical hub.

Perhaps influenced by Cybertron's style, even at its core, it still has a rough and complex heavy metal feel, with "mini suns" that are tens of meters in diameter, which are artificial energy cores, as well as continental-scale logistics systems, various solid-state processing modules, and artificial magnetic field generators.

It can be said that in terms of hardware, the "mechanical hub" has reached its limit.

It's all hardware; let alone Cyber Hacker, even ordinary cyber beings would find it very difficult to hack into.

This is the defense mode of a purely mechanical civilization.

Under the influence of the magnetic field, the two floated to the front of the largest solid-state processing module.

On the surface, it is a large black box with a diameter of 20 meters. Its surface is like a rubbed and unfolded cloth, and every millimeter of its area is a miniature mechanical computing unit.

This thing is a super-evolved version of the 'difference engine'.

Name: Solid State Processing Module

Level: Tier 3

Note: A type of hardware processing unit distinct from a CPU; each solid-state processing module is equivalent to a supercomputer.

Both are level 3 buildings, but one is a heavy weapon and the other is a production base. The continental plate impactor is not in the same league at all.

Clearly, this thing is more in line with Director Du's aesthetic taste.

"Old Wu, come out and greet the guests."

On the surface of this solid processing module, a blurry humanoid figure protruded, and the Speaker's irritating voice rang out.

"Do you think I have nothing better to do? Not only do I have to assist you, this 'fake mechanical mainframe,' but I also have to maintain the normal operation of the City That Never Sleeps, and suppress..."

"Ahem, that's not the point. The point is, have you done what I asked you to do?"

"If I do that, I'll be nailed to the pillar of shame in the mastermind."

"Okay, hurry up."

As the senior engineer spoke, countless data and documents surfaced on the surface of the solid module.

Director Du's eyes suddenly widened.

The reason is simple: these documents contain all the parameters of the mechanical hub.

According to the game, these are all the blueprints for building this "Tier 3 Civilization Building".

There are more than 300 in total.

The continental plate impactor has 10 large modules.

To implement all the basic functions of the 'Mechanical Hub', a minimum of 40 large modules are required.

Another point is that the mechanical energy of the mechanical hub is measured in "hundreds of millions".

The number of civilizations and buildings on this planet that can be counted in the hundreds of millions can be counted on one hand.

In fact, even if a hundred experts came here, they would not be able to replicate all the blueprints within three days.

But "without a speaker" is different.

As the former mechanical mastermind, it has a very good understanding of its own "body".

This is the number one traitor in the country.

Director Du instantly entered a frenzied work mode, completely forgetting about that young man.

She had to handle these unique documents personally.

"I promised you, and I kept my promise. So what about your promise to me?"

The speaker suddenly asked.

The senior engineer didn't say anything, but took a step forward and directly "entered" the solid module.

It felt as if I had entered a world made of metallic particles.

At the center of this world lies the slumbering 'Machine Generation'.

At this moment, the machine's body parts were constantly disintegrating, and with each disintegration, its figure weakened a little.

This is the machine code copied by the two of them while carrying the Cloudwing Killer.

"I was able to survive because part of my body was reconstructed by android A."

"She doesn't have it, so she's going to die."

"Don't forget what you promised the machine agent."

At this point, the "machine agent" mentioned by the Speaker was naturally the old machine agent.

"I will naturally keep my promises to others."

Suddenly, the senior engineer had a spinning top in his hand.

A small virtual realm was activated, and the next moment, a rain of electrons mixed with metal particles fell and struck the opponent.

As the rain fell, the figure of the machine became clear once more.

"It's an amazing information manipulation capability, but it's only a temporary solution; you can't keep programming like this forever."

The senior engineer nodded.

"The best way to bring 'Machine Generation' back to life is to reshape her body using the underlying code of cyberspace."

"Before the opening of cyberspace, this was something only the Mother City could do."

"But after the space was opened up, some beings who have 'cyber network access' can also do this."

"For example—"

The senior engineer closed his eyes, and the next moment, the Rich Lady Aiai Prototype materialized into form.

"Our gentlest and kindest sister, Elisa~"

A soft laugh echoed through the air, and the next moment, an enormous data hand descended from the sky, grasped the three of them, and vanished.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to a certain young man, another wealthy woman, the domineering female CEO Ms. Rose, also appeared in the City That Never Sleeps.

Next to her was an elderly woman in a traditional Chinese clothing.

The old man looked up at the sky and squinted his old eyes.

"A terrifying aura... Why is the data source stuck here?"

"The pheromones in this city are a bit strange," Black Rose frowned. "I actually feel like I'm in a cyborg factory when I see these natives."

"Is this another experiment by some crazy entrepreneur? These people will ruin themselves one day," Aragaki said with dissatisfaction.

"Go see your people first, then deal with my business."

The two walked openly down the street, but no one saw them or even noticed them.