Quadruple split.

Chapter 2676 Offering Loyalty
"Uh, is the problem... really that big?"

Cordova tapped his monitor, looking somewhat bewildered, and asked, "I thought exoskeletons were a type of vehicle, right? Even if the smaller ones are just for wearing as armor, this size one is definitely big enough for a normal person to crawl into and drive."

Mo Tan, who had keenly noticed that Ji Xiaoge's expression wasn't quite right, frowned and said seriously, "In short, Ye Ge's mission has nothing to do with these so-called mobile weapons. I think we should..."

"It's fine."

However, Ji Xiaoge gently shook her head, softly interrupted Mo Tan, took a deep breath, and said seriously, "Let me put it this way, this kind of thing does not have a 'cockpit'. Although there is indeed a storage space about half a meter above the abdominal cavity, it cannot be activated by conventional means."

Cordoba shook his head, asking curiously, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that, theoretically, machines of this specification cannot achieve a delay of less than 20 milliseconds through normal means. Therefore, any action with considerable practical value, even with the rune technology laid down by the mentor as a foundation, is already at its limit with the agricultural mechs from Tianzhu Mountain."

Ji Xiaoge looked at the screen full of characters in front of her through her goggles and said softly, "Even the ninth-generation agricultural mech developed by the mentor can hardly carry high-specification weapons, but look at these 'mobile weapons' and you will immediately find that almost every part of them is designed for war."

"Of course, that's obvious."

Mo Tan nodded slightly and asked her beloved, who was clearly determined to explain things clearly, "So what exactly is its operating principle?"

"It is a method that is superior to symbolic networks and mechanical braking, with lower latency and greater endurance."

Ji Xiaoge subconsciously grabbed her left wrist with her right hand, raised her head and stared intently at the black armor near the abdomen of the [C·E·7·Special Grade Assault Combat Mobile Weapon] directly in front of her. Her face was pale as she explained, "The 'pilot' who operates the mobile weapon will fix himself in the cabin and then force himself into a sleep mode through drugs. After that, the machine will establish the simplest and most direct 'mapping relationship' with him through a large number of cables and conduits."

"...!"

Suddenly thinking of a certain type of film, Cordoba paused slightly and fell silent.

Jadka narrowed his eyes and asked in a deep voice, "Could it be that the 'mapping relationship' you mentioned, Little Pigeon, could cause great harm to the pilot?"

"The pain receptors of the qualified individuals, as well as a large number of 'burdens' that are not related to 'combat missions' and only increase the operational burden, will be removed and destroyed. Only the torso that can adapt to the body and the brain that is endlessly loyal and whose reaction speed and desire to attack have been physically amplified will be retained."

Ji Xiaoge stared intently at the screen in front of her, biting her lip as she said, "Once the preparations are complete, the pilot will merge with the [C·E·7·Special Assault Combat Mobile Weapon]. The latter will become the former's body, and the former will become the latter's will, offering loyalty to Valhalla at all times, whether in life or in death."

"After death?"

Wang Ba dared to stick his head out, baring his teeth as he asked, "What do you mean? Turn into a ghost on the spot?"

"Yes, it means turning into an undead on the spot."

To everyone's surprise, Ji Xiaoge gave an affirmative answer and said to the dumbfounded Wang Badan in a serious tone: "Under normal circumstances, even the most adapted pilot can only ensure about 720 hours of accumulated combat time. After that, the pilot's physical condition will rapidly collapse, and the special device on the [C·E·7·Special Assault Combat Mobile Weapon] - the [Enheria Mechanism] - will be activated at the same time."

Gu Xiaole nodded slightly and asked with a calm expression, "I can sense some very 'ominous' fluctuations near the power reactors of those things. Is that the so-called [Enheria Mechanism]?"

“I don’t know if that counts as ‘ominous,’ but Sister Xiaole, you’re right. Because it requires a high-intensity power supply, the [Enheria Engine] can only be installed in the compartment next to the power reactor.”

Ji Xiaoge looked at the lumbar region of a certain [C·E·7·Special Grade Assault Combat Mobile Weapon] and said seriously, "Its only function is to immediately convert the confirmed 'death' pilot into an undead creature and switch the cockpit to [Psionic Synchronization] mode. Using the so-called 'Heroic Spirit Enheria,' which is the pilot who has been converted into an undead, as nourishment, it continuously burns their spirit to make them forget the fact that they are 'dead,' and continue to fight bravely in the form of 'resentment.'"

Ya Ya's face turned pale, and she twitched her ears, asking in a low voice, "Can... this really be done?"

"If we consider the level of conventional engineering in this world, this is absolutely impossible. But this [Ascension Fortress], which is at least nearly 10,000 years old, is different. That misguided chief engineer may indeed be able to master this terrifying technology."

Ji Xiaoge pursed her lips and said in a dry voice, "Although the operation manual of the [C·E·7·Special Assault Combat Type Mobile Weapon] clearly states that every pilot learned the truth during training and still decided to board their own machine after being given the right to choose freely, this is obviously not a suitable reason."

Mo Tan sighed and asked, "So, what about these mobile weapons we're seeing now...?"

"These are the last batch of machines to roll off the production line."

Ji Xiaoge sighed and said quietly, "The whole process was completed automatically. According to the experimental log in front of me, six months before this batch of mobile weapons was officially deployed, the last batch of pilots died on the front line in order to fill the gaps in the combat sequence and inherit those mechs that were not suitable for them."

"Tsk."

Wang Badan clicked his tongue and said irritably, "I really don't understand what kind of freakish enemy could drive the people in this fortress to such a desperate situation."

"I cannot access the records in this regard; it was said that they were deleted directly by special access."

Ji Xiaoge shook her head, then raised her hand and waved away the projection screen in front of her, saying in a deep voice, "It's not just in this operation manual. I just used my newly acquired permissions to do some in-depth investigation, but all the records about the enemies of [Valhalla] have been mysteriously erased... I suspect it was done by my mentor."

Jadka paused for a moment, then asked, "You mean Master Ruvi?"

“That’s right, but according to the records I could find, the permission that forcibly performed the deletion operation was not a normal high-level permission in the [Ascension Fortress Valhalla] system.”

Ji Xiaoge shrugged and analyzed, "Based on the mentor's understanding of this fortress, and considering the large number of things we saw in the upper area that are similar in style to the Seventh Outer Mountain Workshop, I think it is very likely that the mentor came here to do some 'cleanup' after everything settled down."

Ya Ya flicked its tail vigorously, then hesitated and asked, "Woof Queen?"

“That’s right, it’s about cleaning up the mess. Although I don’t know why my mentor didn’t take action when there was still a chance to salvage the situation, the cleanup work for this fortress…”

Ji Xiaoge pursed her lips slightly and said seriously, "It's most likely that he did it."

For a moment, no one spoke, until two minutes later, Cordoba broke the silence by shaking his large head—

"I can help corroborate that."

Cordova, whose monitor displayed "=. =", shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "After visiting Old Jia once, that old guy opened a portal and kicked me here. Although the style is completely different, the feeling of this 'mass grave' is exactly the same, so that old guy must have seen a lot of things here."

Jadka, shifting his attention away from the large robots, stroked his beard, sighed, and shook his head, suggesting, "Anyway, Pigeon, you can ask Master Ruvi about this later. If he's willing to talk about it, he will; if he's not, it just means it's not something we should be curious about right now." "Yeah, don't worry, I'm not that fragile."

Ji Xiaoge made a face, then forced a smile: "In short, although it's a bit of a pity, I would like to ask all the gentlemen to remain restrained and not to make any moves on those big guys. Otherwise, if you accidentally get a brain puncture or something, I, Ji Xiaoge, will not be responsible."

"Good pigeon."

Cordoba immediately nodded vigorously and said seriously, "Understood, Pigeon!"

"Okay, good girl."

Ji Xiaoge smiled slightly, then coughed lightly and said with a subtle expression, "And then, I just received a rather special mission, and I'd like to discuss it with everyone."

【! ? 】

The next moment, as he felt several burning gazes, Mo Tan's heart skipped a beat. He then turned to Ji Xiaoge with a nervous and stiff expression, revealing a smile that could only be described as a bitter laugh. Pointing at himself, he asked, "Could it be that my talent is acting up again?"

"what?"

Ji Xiaoge paused for a moment, then burst out laughing and waved her hand, saying, "It shouldn't be. Although this is a special mission, it doesn't seem like the kind that just appears out of nowhere. I did some research just now, and I think that no matter when I get here, as long as I have the [Valkyrie Path Beacon Stone] in my hand, I should be able to successfully trigger it."

"call--"

Upon hearing that it had nothing to do with his "fussy nature," Mo Tan immediately breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Then what is it about?"

"Well..."

Ji Xiaoge scratched her cheek, her expression somewhat subtle, and said, "It might be a bit difficult to explain on its own. Hmm, let me think how to put it. Oh right, you all probably know that after completing the first stage of [Valkyrie]'s Glory, I not only unlocked the second stage, but also unlocked three legendary quests, right?"

"of course."

Mo Tan nodded vigorously, giving an affirmative answer. After all, it was an extremely rare legendary-quality quest. Ji Xiaoge shared the information with everyone almost the instant it was unlocked, and his impression of it was exceptionally clear, for example—

……

[Repairs: Lower Right Wing - Maintenance Area]

Category: Derivative Task

Quality: Legend

Individual contribution: 0/999999
Overall progress: 0/999999
Task requirements: Night Song, ? ? ?
Quest Rewards: Optional rewards include 20000 EXP, 5000 Gold, unlock Valkyrie reputation, and the Engineering set [Prehistoric Civilization B-3 Apprentice].

Mission success reward: [Lower Right Wing - Repair Area] fully repaired, 3000 Valkyrie reputation, and a random set of [Prehistoric Civilization Series].

Individual contribution reward: ? ? ?

Mission failure penalty: Valhalla Ruins will be permanently fixed in a state of destruction, irreversible.

Mission objective: Before failing the [Regional Quest Chain - Valkyrie's Glory], advance the overall progress of this quest to 100%.
[Note: The glory of Valhalla endures forever.]

……

"Speaking of this mission, I felt something was strange from the very beginning."

Mo Tan touched the scales on his cheek and pondered, "If I remember correctly, you already obtained the entire [Prehistoric Civilization] engineering set, but you haven't unlocked it yet, so there are many things you can't learn. Not only that, I remember you should have already obtained the 'Unlock Valkyrie Reputation' reward after completing the first stage of [Valkyrie's Glory], right?"

Ji Xiaoge looked at her sweetheart, who had noticed the problem immediately, with a beaming smile, and nodded vigorously, saying, "Yes, yes, that's how it is!"

"In addition to the 'overall contribution,' which is exactly the same as the 'personal contribution,' there are unknown conditions in the requirements for receiving it, besides your own."

Mo Tan narrowed his eyes, suddenly thought of a possibility, and then looked up sharply and said, "Could it be that this task can not only be done by you alone, but also by multiple people working together?"

"You got half right."

Ji Xiaoge gently shook her finger and said with a subtle expression, "The right half is that this task can indeed be completed by multiple people working together. As for the wrong half... after checking the extent of damage in several areas, I can confirm that this is definitely not a task that I can handle alone!"

"Huh? What do you mean? Is the workload huge?"

"Big? It's not as simple as 'big'! You all remember that the 'Glory of Valkyrie' quest has a limit of 2400 hours, which is 100 days of game time, right? If you exceed that, you will fail immediately."

"Yeah, remember."

"Let me put it this way: after inspecting the current condition of this fortress, even using the most optimistic scenario, if I wanted to repair this fortress on my own, it would probably take..."

"Approximately what do you need?"

"Three years, I guess."

"Clam!?"

Chapter 2667: The End