A Leaf Obscures the Eye

Midnight. The clouds began to slowly gather across the night sky, allowing only the half-moon to reveal its faint, fang-like glow.

The struggle between machines and Law-Rulers had only now truly begun. In the final third wave of assault, Qin Su would commit the vast majority of his forces.

For now, it was intermission—time for rest and preparation.

"Andre, is your tracking work complete?" The Scholar stepped out from the shadows, his wide red robe swaying slightly. Beneath the hood's shadow was a sinister, sharp face. The Law-Rulers all rose, straightened their backs, and paid him their highest respect. Within the Law-Ruler community, combat prowess earned respect, but wisdom reigned supreme.

"Almost done. Maybe still half an hour. But definitely within an hour."

"Excellent!" The Scholar pulled back his hood, revealing slightly aged crow's feet and graying long hair that marked his elder status. His captivating crimson eyes held evil wrapped in wisdom.

"Artificial intelligence destroying the world... what an ancient fantasy... It's about to become reality." The Scholar smiled mockingly. He had already begun contemplating how to commit suicide after using AI to annihilate humanity. In both strategy and tactical deployment, the Scholar surpassed the deceased Martha.

The Scholar stepped out of Andre's dim room. He stood in the middle of the street, raising his hands like a high priest of a cult delivering a sermon. Firelight illuminated his body, and warm wind gently stirred his red robe.

All eyes turned to him at that moment.

"We have arrived. You no longer need to fear the machines. Twenty of your brethren came with me. We will show these machines what the power of nature truly is."

"Brethren, the technology of these machines is not difficult for us. Do not underestimate the resources we can mobilize. Even Divine Keys we can manufacture. But Law-Rulers have factions—Divine Keys do not."

"The First Speaker believes Andre's proposal is valuable. As long as these charming killing machines exist." The Scholar crouched down and patted the solid, heavy body of a T-800. Blue electric sparks flickered briefly at the neck fracture. Then he turned to look at the other brethren. "Then we will be the last Law-Rulers to appear."

"Do not underestimate them. They are capable of more than just killing." The Scholar's eyes reflected the T-800's wreckage, but what he saw was the destruction of human civilization.

Fan Cheng and his partner crouched on a shop balcony, backs pressed against the corner, holding their breath. Then they stretched out their heads to carefully observe the robots building fortifications outside the alley. A few seconds later, he marked a blue mechanical symbol and some simple notes on the Kyshtym Town map, then swiftly moved to the next location.

Fan Cheng was a Tenth Law-Ruler, a pseudo-Herrscher of Wind. His ability was the same as the cook Kevin had captured earlier—he could only achieve invisibility through light refraction, lacking the other abilities of a Herrscher of Wind. But having a teammate changed things. His partner was a pseudo-Herrscher of Ice, also with a very singular ability: lowering the temperature of surrounding objects to a not-very-low level.

But together, they could fool the Terminators' eyes. Fan Cheng and his partner held hands. Fan Cheng provided optical invisibility, while his partner lowered their body temperature to match the environment. As long as they didn't make obvious sounds or directly touch a Terminator's body, they wouldn't attract attention.

Time approached nearly three in the morning. Most of the night sky was covered by scattered dark clouds. The moon was now completely obscured by the thick clouds—not a single ray of light could penetrate the dense cover.

They were somewhat tired now. Although Law-Rulers had far greater stamina than ordinary people, they were still not full Law-Rulers. Especially Fan Cheng, who had been in a state of low body temperature for a long time.

Fan Cheng and his partner had basically scouted out all the Terminator outposts in Kyshtym Town. But the Scholar and Technical Expert Andre believed there must be a hidden location nearby that the machines used for communication. This task naturally fell to Fan Cheng and his partner.

Andre handed a small portable terminal to Fan Cheng. "I can track areas with frequent communication nearby through certain methods. That place is likely the enemy's communication node. So I've prepared some tools for you. Even if you don't know how to use them, it's fine—through the mental link, I can guide you remotely."

"Brethren." The Scholar grasped Fan Cheng's hand, his wrinkled, serious face looking at him. His words carried hope and an unquestionable tone. "If you can, infiltrate the communication station and find us more intelligence. Only in the worst-case scenario do I permit you to destroy it."

The Scholar was not in a hurry to find these robots' control center. As long as the server existed, it could definitely be found. Even if Andre died, someone else would complete his work. Therefore, preserving this server was the most important thing.

Arriving at the outskirts near Kyshtym Town, the communication station was set up in an open field. There were no dense forests nearby—only sparse woods with few trees left, remnants of the Syktyvkar City lumber mill's problems.

At the center of the communication station stood a towering signal tower. The surrounding black walls seemed made of portable lightweight metal materials, and the floor was the same. Plasma turrets were mounted on some protruding high platforms. They weren't meant to deal with Law-Rulers, but to handle wandering Honkai Beasts and Dead Servants. So they only had simple laser targeting. Fan Cheng couldn't fool them, but as long as he didn't directly block the turret's aiming laser, there was no problem.

Fan Cheng could kick down the wall with one blow, but the mission now was infiltration, not intrusion. No one knew if there were T-1000s inside. If even one appeared, they would definitely be held up, and the secret of their stealth would be exposed. If this AI detected that someone could deceive its visual sensors, it would inevitably change its combat deployment and plans, disrupting all previous reconnaissance results and the Scholar's strategic plans.

Fan Cheng placed his hand on his partner's. "Lower my body temperature to slightly below the environment." His partner quickly understood his intent.

The communication station's walls were high. The accessible door had laser barriers—going through the door directly was absolutely impossible. But there was one way to send a person in without passing through the main entrance.

They quietly moved to a slope, finding a blind spot invisible to the plasma turrets. Fan Cheng was on the slope, his partner below. Through a series of calculations, they began running at different speeds, like the antelope leaping in primary school Chinese textbooks. Fan Cheng landed precisely on his partner's raised hands mid-air.

His partner used this opportunity to launch Fan Cheng into the communication station, also lowering his body temperature. Everything from now on depended on Fan Cheng alone. As his body temperature gradually drifted out of the environmental range, he had to steal access to the communication station.

Fan Cheng moved cautiously through the station. He didn't dare walk too fast—first, afraid footsteps would attract attention; second, worried that movement would raise his temperature too quickly. There weren't many robots in the station. So far, he had only seen a few T-800s, and they all looked identical. He didn't know the exact number, but he was sure there weren't many here.

Reaching the basement level, Fan Cheng found the entrance to a dark, narrow corridor. At its end was a plasma turret, staring unblinkingly at the entrance. Fan Cheng lay down and slowly crawled his body into the corridor entrance. Fortunately, the turret wouldn't suddenly look down at the floor, or all his previous efforts would be wasted.

While crawling, Fan Cheng seemed to hear footsteps from the far end of the corridor. He pressed his ear to the ground to listen more clearly. Sure enough! Heavy footsteps came from the floor—patrolling robots, and more than one.

Two T-800s approached from different directions in the corridor, holding plasma rifles, patrolling along their programmed routes. One at the entrance, one at the exit. If they kept walking, they would step on Fan Cheng's body. He was trapped, unable to advance or retreat.

"What do I do? What do I do?" Fan Cheng anxiously thought of a countermeasure.

"Don't panic..." he reminded himself inwardly. The more flustered his emotions, the faster his body temperature rose.

The T-800s in the corridor walked toward each other. The sound of alloy feet hitting the floor was clear. Time passed second by second. They finally met in the middle of the corridor, stepping on nothing.

Fan Cheng watched the T-800s gradually move away with relief. Now he was facing the ceiling, his feet pressed against one wall and his hands against the other. The walls were smooth—Fan Cheng certainly couldn't simply rely on friction between his limbs and the walls to stay attached.

His dagger served as an ice axe in this special moment. Holding the dagger in one hand, he searched for a fixed point on the wall, then stabbed it in. His other hand grabbed another notch the dagger had made. This whole series of actions was completed while the T-800 entered the corridor entrance, blocking the automatic turret's aiming laser.

By now, his body temperature had almost returned to normal, but his infiltration had succeeded. Fan Cheng had crawled past the turret's aiming range. After crossing the long corridor, the space opened up. Twisting devices, corners, and vast space meant he had plenty of room to maneuver.

Next, Fan Cheng reached the communication station's mainframe without much trouble. He took a modified portable terminal from his backpack. Andre's voice came through the mental link just in time: "Do as I say..."

A dozen minutes later.

This laptop contained a T-800 chip. This modification provided a shortcut for Andre's intrusion. And it lived up to Andre's expectations, faithfully feeding him important information—especially about all individuals connected to this communication station in the vicinity.

Only... their numbers were a bit large.

"About four hundred units! This AI has gone mad. Deploying such massive forces—Fire Moth couldn't possibly be unaware!" Andre shouted through the mental link, making Fan Cheng's head ache.

The Scholar calmed Andre through the link: "Calm down. The more panicked they are, the greater the threat we pose to them. This AI is at the end of its rope."

"Now, let's push it off the cliff."

PS1: 3K. The last two chapters could actually count as three.

PS2: Skynet's signal antenna looks like this.