BT straightened up, streams of data flashing through her eyes.
"Information on the Alpha Reagent is classified top-secret, level S. I don't have clearance to access it."
"Lord Human can go to Sky Island and look it up in person."
Qin Ze sighed softly.
So what exactly was the Alpha Reagent, to be kept under such tight secrecy?
On the way to the hangar, Qin Ze pieced together a rough timeline from what BT told him.
BT had been manufactured in 2051. Only twenty-one humanoid combat weapons had been produced in the first batch.
After all these years, BT was the only one from that first batch still alive.
According to BT, she had been sent straight to the front lines as soon as she came off the production line.
Back then, however, her opponents had not been the Mutated Ones, but mutant beasts.
At the time, the Mutated Ones had still been few in number, posing no threat to humanity at all.
A year later, the mutant beasts had all been wiped out, but the Mutated Ones were multiplying exponentially.
As the number of Mutated Ones grew, the space available for humans to live in continued to shrink, and the Sky Island Project was proposed.
Sky Island was a large space station, completed and put into operation at the end of 2052.
In early 2053, all humans on the ground moved to Sky Island, leaving only the Mutated Ones on the surface.
From then on, Sky Island began continuously producing humanoid combat weapons to exterminate the Mutated Ones on the surface.
The weapons produced afterward did not have special abilities like the first batch of the BT Series, but were equipped with powerful firepower and martial arts chips.
Shelter No. 10 had also been put into use in early 2053, at the same time as Sky Island.
Qin Ze was curious about what had happened back then to make both sides act with such urgency.
What puzzled Qin Ze even more was that Sky Island seemed to be concealing the fact that there were still shelters and humans on the surface.
The current year was 2102, and the fighting between humans and the Mutated Ones had been going on for fifty years.
"How exactly were the mutant beasts wiped out?"
Even if all twenty-one humanoid combat weapons in the first batch had possessed teleportation, they could not have changed much against such vast herds of beasts.
BT said, "The mutant beasts just rapidly dwindled in number. I don't know why, either."
She scratched her head, looking a little aggrieved.
I'm just a humanoid combat weapon, not an intelligent computer. I don't know that much!
Qin Ze asked no further. BT knew only the surface of things.
They soon reached the hangar.
No one had been inside for a long time, and a thick layer of dust covered the floor.
An aircraft covered with a gray canvas stood in the center.
BT stepped forward, grabbed a corner, and yanked it off.
It was a black flying-wing aircraft, somewhat like a B-2 bomber.
"Fuel is sufficient, and the engines and avionics are intact. It can take off at any time."
After a careful inspection, BT confirmed that the aircraft could make it to Sky Island.
The cockpit had just enough room for two people.
Qin Ze took the copilot's seat, while BT handled the flying.
The aircraft emerged from the hangar and taxied slowly toward the runway.
"What's this?"
Qin Ze pointed at a screen densely covered with little red dots.
BT was alarmed. "It's the Mutated Ones!"
She hurriedly issued an order over the communications channel.
"The Mutated Ones are attacking, approximately three hundred of them. Make sure Lord Human and I get off the ground safely."
"Roger!" ×17.
A vast mass of shit-yellow Mutated Ones surged in from the distance, looking like a cesspool that had burst its banks.
The humanoid combat weapons opened fire, and their fierce barrage brought the Mutated Ones' advance to a momentary halt.
BT looked completely at ease.
"Don't worry, Lord Human. There are no flying Mutated Ones. We'll be safe as soon as we're in the air."
Boom-
The aircraft's engines roared to life, spraying ghostly blue flames from the rear.
After racing more than a hundred meters down the runway, it shot into the air, heading toward the gray sky.
Seeing that Qin Ze had taken off safely, the humanoid combat weapons guarding the airport did not linger in battle. Instead, they all took flight to escort him.
After all, Lord Human's safety was what mattered most.
"How long until we reach Sky Island?" Qin Ze asked.
"Two hours will be enough," BT replied.
Qin Ze's right eyelid kept twitching. He had a feeling the trip would not go so smoothly.
"BT, a large number of flying Mutated Ones have appeared on the right. Correct your course!"
The weapons sent a warning.
Qin Ze swallowed.
Danger! Danger! Danger!
He was starting to wish he could go home.
The flying Mutated Ones looked like enlarged, shit-yellow bats.
Fleshy membranes connected their arms and legs, allowing them to stay airborne by flapping rapidly.
The humanoid combat weapons opened fire together. The Mutated Ones they hit instantly turned into great balls of flame and plummeted toward the ground.
Fortunately, these Mutated Ones had no means of attacking from a distance. Otherwise, an aircraft this large would have immediately become the target of concentrated fire.
Seeing that Lord Human's face had gone a little pale, BT reassured him softly, "These are all the lowest-level Mutated Ones. They're not enough to pose a threat."
"As long as no high-level Mutated Ones appear, we're absolutely safe."
Qin Ze: ...
Sis, could you stop raising flags for a moment?
"Watch out! A high-level mutated has appeared five hundred meters directly ahead!"
One of the escorting humanoid weapons shouted.
The corner of Qin Ze's mouth twitched.
BT's flag had come true.
Whoosh-
No sooner had the words left her mouth than a blast of flame hurtled straight toward the aircraft.
BT pulled hard on the control stick, banking the aircraft.
The flame skimmed past its underside, leaving a black scorch mark.
"BT, we'll hold it off! Get Lord Human out of here!"
The escort formation split in two.
One group continued to fend off the flying Mutated Ones attacking from the side.
The other group charged toward the high-level Mutated Ones.
BT seized the opening and swiftly threaded her way through.
On a screen in the cockpit, Qin Ze saw a humanoid combat weapon cut in half at the waist by the high-level Mutated Ones' sharp claws in their very first clash.
The high-level Mutated Ones stood nearly five meters tall. Their wings grew from their backs, giving their hands greater freedom in battle.
BT's expression did not flicker at the death of her companion.
"Death is the final destination of every weapon. Besides, it is our honor to die for Lord Human."
Qin Ze was filled with a mixture of emotions.
He opened his mouth, but the words he wanted to say ultimately became a sigh.
"Please brace yourself, my lord. We're about to pass through the atmosphere."
The aircraft pitched its nose upward and began to accelerate.
Bang-
Just then, the rear of the aircraft suddenly exploded, and both engines cut out at once.
The powerless aircraft began plummeting rapidly toward the ground.
At the same time, a huge shadow swooped down from above and clung to the aircraft.
Another high-level mutated.
He had been hiding above the clouds in the depths of the sky all along, launching a deadly sneak attack without a shred of martial virtue.
The high-level mutated's face was pressed tightly against the transparent cockpit canopy.
He was smiling.
His shit-yellow features were twisted together like a chrysanthemum that hadn't been wiped clean.
"Hold on to me, Lord Human!"
BT unfastened her seat belt and held Qin Ze tightly in her arms, as though cradling a child.
The aircraft's automatic escape system activated.
The cockpit canopy ejected upward, the tremendous impact flinging the unprepared high-level mutated away.
BT activated the thrusters in her legs and carried Qin Ze clear of the aircraft.