Plan

The accident on the distant, unregulated road, the loud explosion, though it didn't trigger the Castle's security system, startled a flock of birds that happened to be passing by.

Firelight, thick smoke, and loud noise—any one of these three is enough to frighten a timid bird, but when all three appear together, their scare effect far exceeds 1+1+1.

The flock of birds, which had been maintaining their formation and flying along their predetermined route, were thrown into disarray after being startled. Some birds scattered in panic, and a few of them inevitably wandered into the guarded area of Castle below.

The Castle's artificial intelligence faithfully executes its predetermined program in the face of intruders, even though these are just birds.

In the gardens and lawns surrounding the Castle, some hidden mechanisms quickly activated, and several cannons rose from them. They swiftly focused and aimed, then opened fire without hesitation.

The Epoch Clan's technology is ahead of the entire Star Sea Alliance, and the defense system of its elders' palaces is among the best in the Epoch Clan. A few birds are merely the most primitive birds and beasts; how could they possibly withstand such an attack?

Most of the birds were instantly reduced to ashes by the concentrated energy beams. Even those birds that had not entered the warning range were attacked because they resembled the intruders.

But just as the attack was about to strike, one of them miraculously changed its position, causing the energy beam aimed at it to deflect.

The beam of light grazed its neck, and half of the bird's neck and head were gone. Without its brain to control it, the bird's body plummeted forward due to inertia.

The bird, now devoid of vital signs, was no longer a target of the Castle's security system; its body flew straight toward the Castle window.

Rowan chose this day to carry out his plan because the Castle opens its windows for ventilation one day every ten days, and today was precisely the day when the Castle doors were wide open.

When the Castle last opened its windows to let in fresh air, Rowan had already peered through the Flying Bug to get a glimpse of the interior. He noticed a large porcelain vase directly opposite one of the windows.

While the Castle itself is heavily fortified, the defense level of the garden area outside is much lower. At least, insects are allowed to exist in the garden and green areas.

Therefore, Rowan had long since figured out the locations of the defensive facilities that were usually buried underground. So Rowan meticulously planned today's events, including the headless bird carcass that fell. Everything about it was carefully calculated.

Its body, devoid of vital signs, will pass through the Castle's active defense system. Then, driven by inertia and the force of its fall, it will accelerate until, a few seconds later, it will precisely strike the vase.

The Echolocation System couldn't gather any information because there was little sound inside the Castle. So, why didn't Rowan just make a noise?

Unfortunately, Rowan underestimated the Epoch Clan's defensive technology. Just as the bird corpse approached the Castle window, a force field shield suddenly rose up in front of it.

"Smack!"

The Epoch Clan inadvertently displayed another powerful technology: the falling bird carcasses crashed into the field shield as if they had hit a solid object. The shattered limbs and blood froth hung in mid-air, and then the field disappeared, causing these things to fall vertically to the ground.

Two cleaning robots arrived immediately, collected the debris, and then carefully leveled the ground, restoring everything to its original state.

Rowan had previously witnessed the Repulsion Field used by various members of the Star Sea Alliance, but their equipment was usually enormous and extremely energy-intensive. Most importantly, it required advance preparation, and its reaction speed was nowhere near that of the equipment displayed by the Ji Epoch Clan. Thus, Rowan's meticulously prepared plan was ruined.

However, as the saying goes, "there's always a way out," and although Plan One failed, Plan Two unexpectedly succeeded.

The deafening sound of the distant explosion, like a tidal wave, crashed against the Castle, forcing its way through the open windows and echoing again and again in the empty Castle.

With the help of these echoes, the architectural layout of the Castle gradually took shape through the Echolocation System, and the mysterious interior of the Castle was unveiled to Rowan.

Rowan had previously tried to explore the Castle using external sounds, but after several attempts, he found that the insects could not get close, and the sounds made by the insects would trigger the Castle's alarm system.

Birds cannot get close to the Castle, and their circling calls travel too far to be effective. Moreover, the birds' unusual circling will also attract the attention of the alert system.

Most importantly, Rowan cannot try repeatedly because the artificial intelligence controlling the alert system has hundreds or thousands of years of big data on the surrounding environment. Occasionally, one or two anomalies are normal, but once a certain threshold is exceeded, the artificial intelligence will immediately determine that the Castle is under attack.

That wouldn't be good for Rowan's plan. Therefore, Rowan simply went all out and created a grand spectacle by modifying the flying car to carry powerful shock grenades. Although it was quite absurd, doing it once in a while wouldn't be a big problem.

The faint sounds continued to echo within the Castle. Most of the structure was complete, but some closed doors, protected by strong soundproofing materials, stood firm as rocks amidst the noise.

But none of that matters. These areas stand out like shadows on the echolocation map. The external structures are unremarkable, so if there's anything hidden, it must be somewhere in the shadows.

The location where the Biological Armor is stored has been confirmed by three-dimensional analysis to be a shadowy area, which is likely the location of a warehouse in the Castle.

After a chaotic commotion, the damage from the impact was cleaned up. However, the unusually loud noise was still flagged by the Castle's artificial intelligence and sent to the relevant departments for investigation.

However, after investigation by relevant departments, it was found that the drivers of the two cars had no prior contact, neither had a criminal record, and had no motive to deliberately cause this accident.

After all, while the flying cars have decent protective features, they are not warships. Perhaps a one-way collision might offer a chance of survival, but a head-on collision resulted in the instant death of both flying car drivers. No one was so reckless as to risk their lives to plan an accident that had no apparent purpose.

The cause of the loud noise was also found to be that one of the flying cars used a very rare type of fuel for its power system. When this fuel was subjected to a violent impact, it would explode and produce a loud noise, creating an effect similar to a stun grenade.