Another Side.14·[RE:I AM-Me-Not]

Foreword:

[Calm, courageous, discerning, and selfless.]

[--Lu Xun]

[Part 1 - Keep running!]

Materialism marches towards the unfathomable sea of death.

Almost everyone could feel the spiritual pressure increase dramatically; even ordinary people without any Inspiration began to break out in a cold sweat and their body hair stood on end.

As the seawater deepened, the mudflats gradually became clearer.

The armored warrior took two steps forward, his entire body about to be submerged in the seawater. The yellow water pressure alarm in the power unit had already lit up, but his head and arms could still maintain normal operation.

"Su Ling!" Jason needed the most Inspiration VIP in the entire combat unit to pinpoint the enemy's location. "It's too dark here! The electronic reconnaissance radar can't see anything, and the sonar signals are shattered and scattered by the sand and mud as soon as they're transmitted; they can't get any spectral images back! If we go any further, we'll be blind!"

Materialism's chin has already sunk below sea level, and the rocket engine assembly has completely ceased operation.

In the endless abyss, four more corrupt giants await it.

"I'll try my best." At this moment, Su Ling couldn't guarantee that her Inspiration would still work.

She changed into a new blue stone, began to sit cross-legged in meditation, and sent the Phoenix's spirit to the observation window of her breastplate a hundred meters away, which was the limit of her range.

Amidst the gray dust and sand, she could sense nothing except the stench emanating from the malevolent chiral molecules on the Niflheim border; even the spiritual pressure of giant units was absent.

Jason: "How is it?"

Meteor: "Teacher A Ling, where is the enemy? After we drove the Water Elemental away, it disappeared! It must be hiding somewhere! I hate these sneaky, despicable guys the most! They're cowardly rats!"

The Phoenix's light receded into Su Ling's body. At that moment, this powerful and unreasonable VIP began to cough.

--The ring and pendant both cracked; these synthetic pyroxenes won't last long.

Su Ling's face was pale, and she didn't say a word, only coughing.

A plume of bright red, foul-smelling air, carrying the metallic odor of blood, billowed from her mouth and nose.

This scene terrified everyone.

Katusha, carrying a medical kit, was about to help when she saw Su Ling's expression suddenly change. She grabbed a dry powder fire extinguisher from beside her and sprayed it at the cloud of blood mist.

Those were the water elementals' possessions, and somehow, they had burrowed into Su Ling's flesh and blood.

"Don't worry! I'm fine!"

With white powdery tracers, the Canaan fully automated auxiliary system used flamethrowers to exterminate the bizarre creatures.

Su Ling jumped off the elevator platform, heading towards the key mechanism.

Meteor: "Was that a little water sprite? When did it get in there?"

"It crawled in through the wound on my severed arm, not long ago, when I was injured and got caught in the rain." Su Ling struck the steel gong and whistled the tune of "Katusha."

--The sub-mech located in the ammunition storage center immediately ejected from the key mechanism.

It stands 661 centimeters tall and is made entirely of bright red, ultra-lightweight, hard aluminum oxide alloy; its name is [Red Salamander].

Its function is simple: it is an engineering device for nuclear submarines. The low-density, high-strength aluminum profile can withstand water pressure and drift in the ocean in a low-power, energy-saving mode.

Its bipedal drive rods are numerous and its structure is complex. It was designed to anchor itself on the seabed and use the infantry fighting mech as a gun mount to launch mini nuclear missiles.

It looks like a bright red mermaid.

"Teacher A Ling! What are you going to do?" Katusha asked, bewildered, clutching her medical kit.

Su Ling tore open the plastic fabric garment, leaving only a simple tube top, revealing the skin on her arms—the twisted texture beneath the skin was visible, like worms swimming in her flesh.

"I Inspiration n't find [Ragus the Waterman], I can't lock onto it."

The diesel fuel line was connected to the [Red Salamander], and fossil fuels began to be supplied to this sub-body armor.

Su Ling: "I was also parasitized by this monster, which is a pity."

Jason: "Are you going to drive the [Red Salamander] outside?! That's too dangerous!"

Su Ling: "The Water Elemental does the same thing! It divides itself into a thousand or ten thousand parts! It's unwilling to engage in a direct confrontation with materialism, and that's its weakness. Water can disperse with a single burst, while flames can only clump together— Jason! Open the tailbone passage for me."

Jason: "What if you die?"

"Everyone dies!" Su Ling interrupted immediately, having already activated the cold start switch of the connection. The cables and connecting bridges sent the [Red Salamander] to the skyscraper at the center of its spine, then down into the bottomless, dark sea. "I will turn adversity into advantage, you narcissistic kid. You have two good friends, Popsicle Kid and Fury Kid. One is brave, one is calm, one is discerning, and one is selfless—but they are never afraid of death."

She ripped off her tattered waiter's uniform as if making her final arrangements, stood in the pilot's seat of the sub-mecha, and roared wildly at the sky above.

"You think things have gotten really bad? No! That's not right! In my opinion, this is an opportunity!"

The water-human essence beneath the skin flowed unnaturally within the body, as if drawn by some divine force. As the [Red Salamander] moved lower and lower within the materialistic steel body, clumps of twisted and ferocious mud blocked the major blood vessels in the shoulders and neck, almost bursting through the skin.

"They are still bound by the Immortal Lune Runes. Without these elements, we wouldn't be able to find any trace of them." Su Ling pulled down the hatch and gave Jason the final command, "My sub-mech isn't generating enough power. You need to run, make a big circle on the steep slope of the seabed. The answer is in that circle."

Yibu: "VIP! You took away the nuclear key to the ammunition reserve. Once our warheads are depleted, they will be completely silenced."

"You can't see anything now, so who are you shooting at?" [Red Salamander] travels through the isolation zones, heading towards the outside of materialism.

Soon, [Phoenix] lost contact with its crew members; only [Red Salamander]'s electronic signal moved slowly across the radar.

"Run?" Jason didn't understand what that meant.

Wendy pointed out. "In this environment, rocket boosters won't work. We have to rely on the power of steel."

Meteor: "Let me do it!"

William: "Together!"

Jiang Xueming: "And me, brothers in the combat division! Grip your warhammers tight!"

Do we have to go in a big circle?

Running on the seabed?

Katusha tugged at Xia Xia's clothes, asking hesitantly.

"Is this VIP always acting so recklessly? Why are we going around in circles underwater?"

Xia Xia answered without hesitation, "I don't know!"

Katusha was stunned. "Didn't she tell you about the battle plan?"

Xia Xia immediately said, "The enemy! I'll fight them! Leave the rest to A Ling!"

Katusha clutched her head, nearly collapsing. "So you two are just No-Brain and Unhappy too?"

"However!" Xia Xia crossed her arms, mimicking A Ling's stance, and stood to one side of the railing, gazing at the massive red crystal breastplate. Through the bright red five-pointed star, she saw the faint light source of the sub-mecha in the deep sea. "I believe in A Ling! Just as I believe in you!"

The shouts of the wolf pack blared from the loudspeaker.

She seems cute and adorable, but she's actually quite dim-witted.

"When our ancestors climbed ashore, they didn't know what was on land. When monkeys fell from trees back to the ground, they didn't know what the future held. In nature, very few animals' vertebrae have evolved to perform the action of 'looking up at the sky,' but wolves and humans happen to be able to do it."

"Colleagues, we are making history right now. Whether it's the collections and books in the 1773 Arcane Library or the Homo sapiens documents of the next hundred or a thousand years, our names will be recorded—it will be a true legendary story. Haven't you noticed that?"

"That's just the kind of person A Ling is; she's headstrong and unreasonable. Will the fear of death scare her away from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?"

"Materialism has just completed its transformation, and we need to adapt to this brand-new supplementary system and the divine power contained within this steel body. How can we know what it can do without taking a few steps?"

"So that's how it is!" Meteor was completely ignited. "Can a nobody like me even get into textbooks? Hehehehe! The great Zhuaige Meteor! One of the founders of Red Star Hill Harbor!"

Jiang Xueming: "I advise you to say less and walk more."

The piano keys in the power unit produced melodious notes.

--The left leg stepped forward so smoothly, so naturally.

Its speed was almost beyond everyone's imagination, stirring up ocean currents, and the reactive armor generated high temperatures when it scraped against the mud and sand, evaporating all the water.

Huge bubbles exploded on the sea surface, followed by the second step.

The shooting star was like a spark, igniting William.

The immense thrust from both sides moving forward in unison created ripples, and its momentum gradually grew stronger.

"I can see it?!" Jason felt as if his materialistic mind had been immersed in the ocean, and his eyes suddenly became clear.

Just these two brave and passionate steps--

--A stride of 150 meters, a stride speed that breaks the sound barrier in an instant.

Its ferocious energy almost makes materialism glow like a flame even in the cold ocean.

Jason could tell that Surter wasn't afraid at all.

The heat generated when the mud and sand hit the reactive armor makes the Fireman's flames burn even more fiercely.

"Run!"

Jiang Xueming from the Damage Control Department moved his ten fingers in unison, coordinating with Meteor and William, swinging his left arm like rowing an oar.

Arms and Five Fingers swept across the seawater, the dark red iron armor and the sound of shockwaves echoing each other.

With a sudden burst of power from its heels on the slope of the seabed, it plunges into the pitch-black seabed and charges towards the vast abyss with overwhelming momentum!

Things are different now!

It's completely different now!

[Part 2: Run a few more laps!]

At the beginning, it took materialism a full half minute to climb up from the Red Star Hill base.

Its apparent sluggishness stems from the fact that Surter's physical body is restricted by armor the size of a hundred-story building.

Nevertheless, a creature of this size can traverse distances unimaginable to mortals simply by moving its legs, and can break the sound barrier with a mere punch.

But now, it's like a new life that has opened up all its joints and almost merged with steel.

The speed and power emanating from this body were almost beyond everyone's imagination.

Running underwater sounds incredible.

--Even the world's best swimmers cannot do that.

Even [Uruz the Powerful] could not move quickly through this Dead Sea.

But Surter, clad in heavy armor and fused with steel, did it.

A series of booming explosions came from beneath the seabed, like timpani.

The mudflats on the sea surface surged with raging, giant waves, like a crescent moon.

It maintained a steady supersonic speed as it descended the steep slope.

--In just a few seconds, everyone felt their bodies sink.

Jiang Xueming: "Now!"

The meteor asked abruptly, "Now? Now what?"

Jason's eyes darted around as he searched for the enemy's trail in the dark mud. "We've moved 1,440 meters! The Water Elemental is about to be dragged back by the Immortal Lune! If there's still any remnant of it in Materialism's body, just attack in that direction! You're guaranteed to hit it!"

Almost simultaneously, materialism, following that inexplicable pull, went around in circles.

Within its steel body, the residual water-elemental matter throughout its structure pointed people in the right direction.

Su Ling, as the navigator, had already lit the beacon in the darkness.

--The Red Salamander was swept away by the ocean currents driven by materialism, closely following the mothership.

Jiang Xueming: "Swing the hammer!"

The steel giant ran, raising its warhammer high, and slammed it down on the enemy in the darkness!

The hammer, falling suddenly, pushed aside the waves.

--With a loud "boom".

The Xue Ao Troops, far away at the RSH base tidying up their artillery, had already set up camp. Xiao Qi, bundled up in warm clothes, was about to drink coffee and eat some fried dough sticks when he suddenly sprang up, chair in hand!

Her time in the air was as long as the coffee cup; when she landed back on the ground, she was quick-witted and caught the cup, bringing back all the liquid.

Jason: "Dead!?"

The kinetic energy released by this hammer blow almost completely dispersed all the dust and smoke, leaving nothing visible on the electronic reconnaissance screen, but the sonar radar made a new discovery!

Dozens of jumbled signals flew out from the bedrock of the steep slope ahead, scattering in all directions!

Meteor: "Got it! Didn't kill it! It tried to escape! It's probably injured and doesn't even have the strength to fight back!"

Yibu: "What do we do?"

Jiang Xueming: "Keep running! Run a few more laps! Definitely!"

Before Xue Ming could finish speaking, the [Red Salamander]'s navigation light shone on the cliff face, and Su Ling used lipstick to write a line of words on the lamp head as a projection.

"Run a few more laps! Take a longer route!"

It seems that VIPs share the same thoughts as Jiang Xueming.

Once again, with tremendous momentum, materialism is moving faster and more steadily than before!

If the first attempt was a clumsy collaboration between Meteor and William, this time it's a back-and-forth duet between two tall men.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Meteor leaned forward, looking out the porthole. In the gradually clearing water, the subtle ripples of the water elemental were already visible to the naked eye. "I see it! I see it! Should we chase after it?"

"Take a longer route! Listen to me!" William gently tapped the piano keys, stimulating the materialistic tendons in his legs. "It'll be a long, winding route!"

From the industrial heart within his abdomen, a broadcast signal from Diamond came. "My comrades, I have something to tell you: the main weapon of materialism is complete!"

"This will come in handy! What is it?!" Ibrahimovic asked excitedly, "It must be amazing! It took so much time!"

"It's the ashes of our ancestors," Diamond explained hesitantly. "It's a drill bit made from industrial diamonds, Yibu. I'm sorry, I...I...we don't have carbon of that purity. The auxiliary system thinks these materials are..."

Yibu shouted, "You burned down the shrines of the fallen heroes? You crushed them into drill bits?"

Diamond: "Yes"

"Hahahaha! Hahahaha!" Yibu and his brothers burst into laughter, inexplicably happy, shouting Dai's name loudly.

"Diamond!"

"You did a great job! You did a great job!"

"What did you say?" Diamond couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Well done?"

Jason and Diamond said, "Haven't you always wanted to know what the Soviet Union was like? History books are written by people, and all written words are no longer true, all spoken words contain errors—Brother Yibu is a living Soviets."

Meteor: "If a hundred or two hundred years from now, a group of young people dig me up from the ground and use my ashes to forge divine weapons to slay demons and monsters! Wow! That's fucking awesome!"

Jiang Xueming: "Diamond! Look at the observation window!"

Upon hearing Xue Ming's shout, Daige immediately clung to the window and saw everything rushing by. The golden, high-temperature reactive armor almost illuminated the entire ocean, and the residual energy trails left a circular trace of light, gradually becoming a perfect circle.

Jiang Xueming: "We still have six and a half laps to go! The Water Man is trapped by the strong ocean currents! Can you see the underwater tornado? Can you see the whirlpool?"

"Is this even possible?!" Diamond looked around and saw a dozen dark, human-shaped mud figures being pulled by the immense force of the whirlpool in the turbulent mud flow, unable to escape at all—within their range, all the water had become a materialistic search net.

Jiang Xueming: "There are still five and a half laps left, you need to figure something out! Transfer the main weapon to the combat section!"

Diamond panicked immediately. "No, no, no! That won't work! It's too big! I originally planned to remove it under stable conditions in Materialism, but the steel-threaded casing is fifty-six meters in diameter. Materialism doesn't have an isolation chamber that big! How are we going to get it out?!"

Jason: "Xue Ming! If we damage the internal steel structure of the mech, we'll disintegrate at this speed!"

Jiang Xueming: "Then let's send it out! It's an industrial cutting blade!"

"Pull it out from the belly?" Diamond turned to look at the complex chemical and forging workshops in the industrial park, where countless raw materials and traction belts converged, forming a complicated logistics network. "No, no! The inner layer of the abdominal armor is made of chromium-molybdenum alloy steel; it's too soft. The pressure difference between high and low temperatures, and the deformation and creep of the steel, will allow seawater to seep in!"

"Then let's shoot it through the chest!" Jiang Xueming uttered the calmest yet most insane, most reasonable yet most unreasonable words. "The Mohs hardness of corundum is only slightly lower than that of diamond! Just a tiny difference! The Canaan repairmen are incredibly efficient! When creating this piece of corundum, they only took a dozen seconds to drill through the chest; the matter wouldn't be destroyed, but merely pulverized!"

"You're crazy!" Diamond said, but upon closer inspection, it was indeed feasible.

--The materialist nuclear energy facility has the highest level of security, and the hollow plaza in the chest is left with a large open space, precisely to provide sufficient buffer space for damage from nuclear power accidents.

An inextinguishable flame races across the desolate ocean.

It transformed into a blazing meteor, illuminating the dark world with a Xue Ming.

"Open the ejection escape channel of the spine [S14]!" Jason roared.

A bright red sub-machine emerged from the pressure relief valve compartment on the spine. Su Ling returned safely to the mothership and was transported back to the ammunition storage department by precision steel tracks, where the fire control center was reactivated.

Under the influence of materialism, the swirling water walls transformed into a deep pit hundreds of meters high, with the immense rotational force at the center sweeping away the mud and exposing the bedrock.

The water-man's form is ever-changing, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing in the swirling turbulence, but it can never escape this terrifying force.

It wasn't until Xiao Qi raised her binoculars that she saw a whirlpool appear on the sea surface several kilometers away. The steel giant in the whirlpool was like a runner, making more than twenty large loops under the seabed.

It hurled the warhammer into the air, letting the heavy weapon tumble forward in the whirlpool with the ocean currents, then used strong electricity and magnetism as a guide to pull out the drill bit's steel casing, unleashing firepower and thunder with its palms.

A deep hum emanated from the breastplate, and the gleaming diamond drill bit, like burning courage, had already pierced through the chest!

With each rotation, you move forward one step.

As the drill bit broke through the body, the combat unit, where Yibu was located, gripped the indestructible weapon tightly.

It is the only surviving relic of the martyrs, a diamond cast from their ashes.

--When they were alive, they could see the gates of Helheim from beside the shore guns of the RSH, but unlike the ghost ships in the Battle of the English Sea, they would never return from the realm of the dead to the world of the living.

Because a person only has one life, it should be spent in this way.

A dazzling flame erupted when the drill bit's trapdoor came into contact with the warhead's steel fist.

The crimson star on his chest has been restored to its original state; it is Steel Heart even more resilient than the corrupt giant.

The cannons on the right arm unleashed tongues of fire in succession, and the reactive armor began to rotate.

--With the help of the Canaan auxiliary unit, the muscles connected to the diesel engine were rerouted and the warhead was firing at full power. All faith and all strength were projected onto this drill bit!

I rushed into the center of the vortex and breathed air again.

As oxygen was pumped into the rocket engine's power unit, the drill's rotation almost sucked in the gale and seawater, creating an incredible burst of light.

Compared to the Power People, the Water People's elemental essence was more scattered and weak, making it difficult to resist this terrifying spiral force. In the instant that the water flow of the whirlpool converged towards the center, the rune fragments hidden in the subordinates turned into ashes along with the scattered steam.

When the smoke of war clears, materialism stands tall in the ocean.

"Jason asked, still shaken."

"Is it dead?"

Su Ling clutched her stomach and vomited several mouthfuls of bloody, dirty water, but remained expressionless.

"--My period called me and said it's absolutely dead!"