Design, Testing

The sound of steel being cut rang throughout the entire area, while the rumble of tracks rolling over the ground went on without end. The industrial zone's renovation was in full swing. Employee lounges, offices, and other useless facilities were all converted into new production workshops. Thanks to the earthquake, some parts of the industrial zone could be built more compactly.

Qin Su intended to turn this industrial zone into a district with a complete industrial system. Drawing on his characteristics as a mechanical intelligence and his existing knowledge, he designed various types of robots. However, limited by the available materials and scientific knowledge, the war robots he designed were somewhat weak. They could not punch an S-Class Valkyrie to death like a Titan. A single war robot could only handle the most basic Assault-type Honkai Beasts, and would struggle against slightly stronger Knight-type Honkai Beasts.

Qin Su assessed it based on its specifications. "As long as there are enough of them, they can even deal with Tank-type Honkai Beasts."

"It needs a name. Its specifications are a little better than those of a C-Class Valkyrie, so I'll call you T-800." Its iconic metal skull and metallic skeleton inevitably brought to mind a robot from a certain movie, which was where the name came from.

Though this work was still far from enough in Qin Su's eyes, it was a small step for him and a new step in the fight against Honkai. The Armed Doll project had been forcibly terminated after the Armed Dolls developed self-awareness. These Honkai Terminators, however, would be centrally controlled. Under unified command and coordination, they would display formidable collective combat power.

Production had already resumed in the industrial zone. The first things manufactured were various production, construction, and raw-material-gathering robots, along with two T-800 Honkai Terminators for testing, protecting production and mining operations, and other tasks.

Africa's vast land held abundant resources, including ores and natural rubber. This provided Qin Su with an excellent starting point for his initial development.

At an open-pit iron mine, mining robots were carrying out collection operations, placing the excavated ore into storage containers. Just as a container reached full capacity, a transport drone landed there. The robots coordinated seamlessly as they hooked the container beneath the drone's belly. The instant it was secured, the drone took off and carried it to the ore smelter. At the very moment it landed, the work machines in the smelter caught the container and began preliminary processing of the ore.

The entire process, from mining to smelting, fit together flawlessly. Qin Su monitored and coordinated every step. That was the advantage of possessing immense computing power. Because it was handled by an intelligent central hub like Qin Su, the entire process eliminated many unnecessary intermediate stages. Such exquisite systems engineering was merely the tip of the iceberg.

A hundred meters away from the open-pit iron mine, an Assault-type Honkai Beast seemed to have caught the scent of "civilization" from these robots. Its wings beat so quickly they seemed almost motionless, and its target was clearly these moving machines.

The T-800 began running as the Assault-type approached.

Just as it was about to charge at a mining robot, the T-800, which had rushed over at the same time, suddenly punched it in the face. The sandbag-sized iron fist left the Assault-type Honkai Beast dazed. Reeling, it retreated several meters, warily observing the T-800 as it circled around it and waited for an opportunity.

The titanium alloy skeleton reflected a silvery-white sheen beneath the sunlight. Advanced optical sensors observed the Honkai Beast's every move, while the small computer in its head recorded data from every sensor and uploaded it to the central computer.

Before obtaining sufficient data, Qin Su would not allow the T-800 to kill this Honkai Beast. The Honkai energy concentration of this era had reached an extremely high level, and a Herrscher was on the verge of appearing. Honkai Beasts were rampant across the world. Even America's nature reserves, where Honkai energy concentrations were low, contained quite a few Honkai Beasts. Yet overall, Honkai Beasts were still a relatively scarce species.

The Assault-type's body suddenly drew back before it charged straight toward the T-800. Qin Su did not have the T-800 evade. He wanted to see how much damage this Assault-type could inflict on the T-800, as well as the strength of the improved Titanium-Uranium Alloy.

With a bang, the nearly half-ton T-800 was rammed backward one or two meters, its chest slightly dented. It climbed back to its feet without retaliating. The Assault-type possessed only rudimentary intelligence, and its only attack methods were ramming and spiraling slashes. This was also the perfect chance to test the cutting resistance of standard Titanium-Uranium Alloy. The other T-800 nearby observed the entire battle from a third-party perspective. If this T-800 was accidentally destroyed, the observing T-800 would immediately kill the Honkai Beast.

As though it shared a tacit understanding with the Assault-type, once it saw that ramming was ineffective, it immediately launched a spiraling attack against the T-800. Its swift, sharp wings swept over the T-800's titanium alloy armor, producing a piercing, grating sound of metal being cut.

Even the lowest-ranking Assault-type left a deep gash on the T-800's arm.

Under Qin Su's control, the T-800 watching from the side charged forward. One hand seized the Assault-type's body, while the other quickly clenched into a fist and struck it repeatedly at tremendous speed. The Assault-type's three pieces of biological armor were battered together by the fierce assault, leaving it unable to move. The T-800 thrust both hands into the Assault-type's head and forcibly tore it in half.

The damaged T-800 would return to the base for repairs suspended beneath a drone. The mining operation had never stopped from beginning to end. Within a radius of over a thousand meters, the other T-800 cleared more than a dozen Assault-types. Aside from the one initially used for combat testing and data collection, practically none of the robots suffered damage.

After two or three months, all protective modifications targeting the T-800's weaknesses had been completed. Mining operations in every region were proceeding in an orderly fashion. The industrial zone expansion plan had once slowed due to material shortages, but once the expansion was complete, T-800 production could rise to around twenty-eight units per year.

The compiled data showed that the base's productivity was rising like a rocket. He now had sixty-two robots of various types, sixteen of which were security robots. Yet among the combat robots, only two T-800s could truly fight Honkai Beasts, along with one T-1000 responsible for guarding the space center. The rest could barely handle a few Deadwalkers.

Qin Su pondered, "Security is still an extremely important issue." It could be said that there was no need for an A-Class Valkyrie or an Emperor-class Honkai Beast. Any B-Class Valkyrie or lower-ranking Honkai Beast such as a Honkai Emperor could snuff out this newborn mechanical intelligence in its infancy.