Abyssal Wanderer.

The fire escape stairwell is very narrow, so if it's just one or two plasma cannons, Jiang Zhou still has some room to dodge.

With the cover provided by the drone, he might be able to dodge one more shot.

But those were six plasma weapons, and they had been lying in wait there all along, ready to catch him off guard.

After their salvo is completed, it is estimated that the entire corridor will be blasted open, creating a small gap that can be seen from outside the resettlement area.

Although Jiang Zhou instinctively activated the anti-gravity drone and rushed towards the plasma weapon array, he knew very well that his chances of successfully stopping it were extremely slim.

But his only chance of survival right now is to detonate one of the mechanical dogs that is accumulating energy in advance, and then pray that the chain reaction explosions will prevent them from launching in time.

It was also at this time.

"Lower your head."

A voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar to him came from behind him.

Jiang Zhou instinctively lowered his head.

A burst of intense heat shot out from the window, almost grazing his scalp, and struck the plasma weapon array on the platform.

In the instant of the violent explosion, Jiang Zhou closed his eyes and raised his arm to shield them—fortunately, his reaction was quick enough that he did not go blind from the intense light.

At the same time, two drones quickly flew behind him, connecting them with a rope (an anti-fiber optic cable) to stop Jiang Zhou. The massive impact of the explosion stabilized his position, preventing him from being blown directly off the building.

After the intense light and roar subsided, Jiang Zhou felt someone pat him on the shoulder.

He opened his eyes and turned around.

He was a handsome man with an androgynous appearance and long, brilliant blond hair—at least his upper body was.

Why do we say upper body? Because his lower body is still being assembled rapidly.

Countless tiny parts are constantly coming together and assembling at a dizzying speed, their movements as rhythmic as the tentacles of a sea anemone swaying with the flow of seawater.

Once those tiny silver-gray parts come together and deform, they seem to undergo a transformation, taking on the visual texture of fabric or leather.

Suits, trousers, ties, and leather shoes—in just a few seconds, the person in front of you looks just like any ordinary white-collar worker you pass on the street.

Of course, considering the current era, his attire is arguably a bit too retro.

However, Jiang Zhou himself was not sure whether he could detect anything by visual observation if he encountered a Depth 7 Coordinator of the Perseus Path on the road someday.

"The emcee has asked me to escort you to the tenth-floor data center, Mr. Mortician."

Perseus I said politely, unexpectedly.

Jiang Zhou nodded and then expressed his gratitude for his earlier help.

"There's no need to thank me, it was just a small favor."

As Number One spoke, his gaze fell upon the exposed walkway not far away, which had been blown up.

"But something's strange. Deploying six plasma weapons to ambush you shows that the memetic entity takes you very seriously. I'm curious, now that the wizard-level hacker under the resettlement area government is in shock, and you..."

As he spoke, a red light flashed in his eyes.

"Theseus Path Depth 2... His hacking skills shouldn't be at the level of a wizard, right?"

He asked with great curiosity.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he shook his head, apologetic on his face, and said:

"Look at what I'm saying... I absolutely don't mean to look down on you. I'm just curious, after all, the production capacity of memetic plasma weapons is not high at present. Even when those advanced constructs fought me before, it never deployed six at once."

Jiang Zhou was unsure how to answer—after all, the other party was a Level 7 expert, and making up any excuses would likely be seen through.

After thinking for a moment, he replied:

"Well... it's not because I'm anything special, but because I was able to apply for the company's online support."

Since he has the identity of a Pluto deep-sea special envoy, he might as well just shift the blame to the company.

However, as soon as he said that, Number One had a "don't make me laugh" look on his face.

"Please don't let that be the reason... If the Olympian gods could provide network support, the situation in the Nord resettlement area wouldn't be in such a terrible state."

As he spoke, Number One laughed, and at the same time, he couldn't help but recall the trial held by the "paradox".

The entire Nord resettlement area's local area network was covered by a black moon, and the directors of the Pluto Deep Dive were banished like chicks. From then on, the Olympian gods never dared to probe this place again...

Even he himself had to be chained up here like a watchdog, unable to escape even knowing that the place was about to be blasted into a wasteland.

Thinking of this, a feeling mixed with grievance and anger made his heart throb.

These Olympian Order envoys are only able to come to the Nord settlement under the pretext of a joint operation with the Anthroposophical Ethics Oversight Committee.

And this little guy actually said that he could apply for the company's network support in the Nord resettlement area?
The fact that he temporarily set aside his mission to annihilate the high-level constructs to escort this person suggests that the master of ceremonies is quite ill...

Shaking his head inwardly, feeling a pang of regret for the 'computing elements' he had wasted on this trip, Number One decided to just go through the motions and send the mortician to the tenth floor.

There's no need to place any hope in this person.

After all, he didn't want to die... He needed to buy as much time as possible before the leader of the Dionysian Cult arrived.

I wonder how far along Booker's preparations are...

For no reason at all, Number One thought to himself.

Just then, the sounds of constructs moving could be heard from not far away.

Ugh, here we go again...

Number One sighed and quickly reactivated the Aegis module, intending to take care of the pursuing minions.

"Please wait a moment."

As the floating cannons were gradually being assembled around him, the mortician suddenly spoke up to stop them.

"what happened?"

Although Number One was slightly annoyed, he still asked in a very polite tone.

"What arrived was not a construct controlled by a memetic entity, but a courier delivering supplies and support."

The mortician was very confident and authentic.

As soon as he finished speaking, an all-terrain vehicle bearing the "Theseus Freight" logo rushed out from around the corner and stopped in front of them.

A man who looked exactly like the mortician, but was covered in wounds, jumped off the transport vehicle.

Number One looked at that person and said:

"Is this your puppet?"

The mortician nodded, then looked at the several large boxes being laboriously dragged behind the transport vehicle and said:
"In addition, those boxes contain 'computational elements' that can be used to generate Aegis modules."

Upon hearing this, Number One abruptly turned to look at the mortician.

"You know I need to calculate elements?" he asked with a serious expression.

"How did you know?"

…………

I have no idea...

Jiang Zhou pondered this question posed by Number One.

This was all the result of Human Path's own planning. After resolving the issue with Jim and tending to his wounds, Human Path obtained several boxes of Computation Element from Theseus Freight's warehouse—a universal printing material that, by injecting relevant information in a special way, could quickly reproduce certain material properties and structures.

In the hands of the Perseus Path Adjusters, it can be considered a universal building block for generating various modules.

It can be said that as long as there are enough computational elements, a high-level Perseus path adjuster can be invincible in battles of the same level.

When Number One saw that he did not answer, he first walked to the boxes and then pried open the lid of one of the boxes.

Sure enough, it was filled with a whole box of gray, viscous substance.

Number One's lips twitched.

This box weighs about a ton, and the truck brought four boxes...

With the support of four tons of computational elements, even if he is currently restricted and can only assemble Depth 4 constructs, it is enough for him to suppress or even defeat many Depth 5 Coordinators.

Thinking of this, Number One turned to look at the mortician, just about to ask him again why he had prepared these things in advance, when the "Theseus Cargo" all-terrain vehicle spoke.

"Dear SVIP user, your membership has been renewed by Ms. Carole Christie for 46 years and 10 months. Thank you for using our express delivery service."

A sweet, standard announcer's voice rang out.

The question that Number One was about to ask instantly fell silent.

Wait a minute... is this the SVIP membership that Christie, the Abyss Walker, gave him?

A series of clues pieced together in his mind, and in an instant, he understood what had happened.

"I see……"

Number One murmured.

This kid is lying... He can't get internet support from the company, he can get internet support from Christie!

No, it might not even be Christie, but rather "Charon" behind that woman.

Not only that...

Number One continued to think along this line of thought.

As far as he knew, Hecate, the goddess of the moon, and Charon, the ferryman, these two advanced dark web AIs, had joined forces for some purpose, and he didn't know what they were plotting.

Behind them, there seems to be an even more mysterious entity called "Paradox"... including the recent fluctuations in the Abyss Dark Web and the banishment of the directors to the Pluto Deep Sea, all of which seem to be His actions.

The scene of the previous trial resurfaced in her mind, when Hecate stood beside "Paradox" like a maid.

So, this could be an opportunity...

Number One thought.

Whether it's Charon or Hecate, analyzing the major events they orchestrated in the base reality reveals that their demands likely overlapped to some extent with the Firebringers' aspirations.

In the Eclipse event, Hecate attempted to gain control of an Alpha-level deep-sea interface; while Charon, in the Third Cyber ​​War, planned to have the Abyss Web erode the entire World Wide Web—clearly, the biggest obstacle to their goals was the Styx Firewall.

The fire-stealers' ultimate goal was to destroy the Styx Firewall!
Needless to say, these four tons of computational elements were definitely not obtained and delivered by the mortician, a mere Depth 2 novice.

This is most likely Christie... no, given that woman's personality, it's unlikely she would do something like that. Right now, she's probably thinking about killing me.

In other words, it is highly likely that Charon delivered this via Christie's horse!
So, is this Charon trying to curry favor and express his willingness to cooperate?

Thinking about this, Number One immediately felt comfortable all over.

My recent disastrous defeat in the Nord resettlement area not only ruined my already secured promotion, but also left me chained up in this impoverished border region as a watchdog.

The subordinates he had cultivated for so many years had become his superiors, holding the power of life and death over him. He had to grovel and beg to use the power that rightfully belonged to him.

What's even more terrifying is that Prometheus, the leader, has most likely become completely disillusioned with himself—something he would rather die than face.

But now, he may have a chance to make amends.

If he could get in touch with Charon-Hecate and get these two ancient and powerful Dark Web AIs to cooperate with the Firebringers, or even make contact with the "paradox" that is suspected to be related to the First Deep One... then the mistakes he made in the Nord settlement would not matter.

Lord Prometheus should look at me with new respect now.

Thinking of this, Number One couldn't help but get excited.

So, the most important thing now is to get along well with this mortician.

Although he was just an insignificant nobody, this was, after all, the first step.

Ideally, he could bypass Christie, the middleman with whom he had a grudge, and get in touch directly with Charon...

Jiang Zhou watched as Number One stared blankly at a box of computing materials, pondering how to explain why these things had been delivered.

Suddenly, Number One turned to look at himself.

Although his facial expression didn't change much—still that overly polite, aloof manner—Jim's observation and analysis revealed that the guy was now much friendlier towards him.

He had been speaking to me with a very disdainful attitude.

"The adjustments and modifications to the Theseus Path Depth Level 2 are too weak because the default is that the main body will be hidden behind the scenes."

After looking Jiang Zhou up and down, Number One suddenly began to comment on the shortcomings of the Theseus Path.

Jiang Zhou paused for a moment, then nodded hesitantly.

He was somewhat confused about what the other party was up to.

"So wait for me a moment, I'll use these computational elements to generate an exoskeleton armor for you. Although the strength isn't very high, only about a depth of 3... at least you won't die instantly from a single plasma weapon hit."

As Number One spoke, he reached directly into the opened box of computing materials.

The gray, viscous substance seemed to come alive instantly, crawling up his arm and then rapidly deforming into countless tiny parts.

What? You want to get me an exoskeleton suit?

Is it a depth 3 intensity?
This is highly suspicious; they're complete strangers, and this whole thing just suddenly happened...

Upon hearing this suggestion, Jiang Zhou's first reaction was to be wary.

It wasn't that he was overly suspicious; after all, if the other side had added something to the armor, wouldn't he have died on the spot?
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou decided to politely decline.

But the other party continued:

"Of course, exoskeleton armor is just an emergency measure. The Theseus Path provides a certain enhancement to the user at Depth 3. Right now, the Nord settlement is in grave danger, and every additional Coordinator at a higher depth increases our chances of survival."

"Perfect timing. When I was on my deep-sea salvage mission, I almost completed a full set of Theseus Depth 3 modifications... It seems like I'm only missing a Pegasus. I don't really have any use for this thing, so I might as well give it to you to bolster your forces and work together to get through this crisis." (End of Chapter)