Abyssal Wanderer.

The combat power of the Chainbound Armor far exceeded Jiang Zhou's imagination.

He was able to engage in close combat with constructs ten times his size using only basic melee weapons, taking advantage of the terrain—he barely even used high-energy-consuming equipment like electromagnetic railguns and vector maneuvering devices.

And it's not that his operation was particularly good. In fact, those constructs manipulated by malicious programs were the ones who truly had the "operation."

Ambush, feint, flanking maneuver, cover... the tactical strategies of these constructs displayed astonishing cunning and flexibility. During the battle, Jiang Zhou felt that they were like real people, possessing souls that could highlight their individuality.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't have been able to hold out for long against an enemy who outnumbered him and was skilled in maneuvering.

Unfortunately, the Chainbinder armor was too powerful.

The high-energy threat-sensing radar allows him to avoid a very small number of attacks that could harm him, while the remaining weapons and equipment of the construct can be withstood by the strength of the armor itself.

Correspondingly, relying on the terrifying power output of the exoskeleton and the sharpness of the high-frequency vibrating armor-piercing dagger, almost no construct could withstand two blows from his attacks.

So, two minutes into the battle, Jiang Zhou found himself chasing and slashing at the high-value constructs—which also reflected the cunning of the malicious program's tactics; it saw through the weaknesses of the Chainbound Armor and was using guerrilla tactics to wear down its limited energy.

On the other hand, the battle between Number One and those constructs was like an adult bullying a child.

His previous slender metal stick figure appearance was actually just the framework for his combat mode.

As the modular tactical components generated by computational elements burst from the ground and were assembled onto his body, his true combat stance was revealed.

The battles along the Perseus Path are battles of extreme flexibility.

Countless combat modules constantly transformed and changed on his body; Jiang Zhou had almost never seen Number One maintain a fixed equipment for even a second.

When he raised his right hand towards a construct, a longsword wreathed in a disintegration field automatically formed in his hand according to his thoughts. As the construct was cleaved in two by the blade, the disintegration sword would disintegrate into countless parts and modules and retract, as if it had never existed.

Countless weapons appeared and disappeared with his movements, but even if they existed for only a moment, they would completely destroy a construct's ability to move in that instant.

Number One optimizes each of his attacks to target the enemy's weaknesses, and he also develops corresponding countermeasures to counter each of the enemy's attacks.

Very few constructs could withstand three moves from him, and unlike Jiang Zhou, Number One, with its reactor core, didn't care about energy at all. Without heavy firepower capable of destroying him in one blow, defeating Number One required continuous pressure to create a sufficiently large opening.

To this end, the malware adopted a strategy completely opposite to that used against Jiang Zhou—even though they would be killed immediately if they rushed in, the constructs and drones continued to pour towards Number One.

This is why, although they were both surrounded, Jiang Zhou wasn't under that much pressure.

Faced with such an overwhelming number, even Number One found it somewhat difficult.

This relentless barrage of attacks left him no time to recover the damaged parts and reuse them as computing elements. If this continued, his usable Aegis modules would dwindle until he could no longer leverage his agility.

Of course, he wasn't without a solution. He could transform into a flight module to get rid of the endless stream of ground enemies and bombard them with energy weapons from a high vantage point.

However, this made morticians, who couldn't stay airborne for long periods, the target of public criticism...

So, this was actually intentional on the part of that meme entity?

Number One thought.

Under normal circumstances, if an envoy sent by the Olympian Order sold himself out, he wouldn't be held responsible.

But the "embalmer" is different... I was hoping to use him to connect with Charon. I've almost finished buying all the adjustments and upgrades for Theseus's Path Depth 3, it would be too much of a loss to sell him now.

Thinking this, the power hammer in his hand, which had just flattened a sports car, quickly transformed into a hand cannon.

It was at this moment that the mortician suddenly spoke up in the voice channel:

"Is it just my imagination? Why do these constructs seem to have become sluggish in their offensive strategies?"

As the mortician spoke, the high-frequency vibrating armor-piercing dagger on his mechanical arm pierced through the two Hunter constructs that were lunging at him. He threw the two mechanical spider-like constructs away before they exploded.

Upon hearing this, Number One raised his fully charged hand cannon.

As the energy-focused hand cannon pierced through the structures in a straight line, Number One noticed that their movements seemed less disciplined—even two seconds ago, these guys wouldn't have stood there so dumbfounded, lining up to give themselves such good firing angles.

He then realized what had happened.

Booker's plan has succeeded!

He actually used those Dionysus virus infected people in his hands to concretize the ideology of the Icarus Liberation Front.

"So that's why the Olympian gods don't want to see uncontrolled legends."

After the electromagnetic cannon on his shoulder blasted a large military structure, Number One opened the door.

"What do you mean?"

Seeing the constructs around him begin to collapse, the mortician leaped from a nearby building to his side and asked.

"That means there is now more than one meme entity in the local area network of the Nord resettlement area."

As Number One spoke, he turned to look at the ten-story data center in the distance, which was still emitting thick smoke.

In that case, there is still hope for the Nord resettlement area!
His mind was constantly calculating the balance of power between the two sides—the number of people infected by the two types of Dionysus viruses, the developmental level of the iridobrain region in the infected individuals on both sides, and the control of computing power over the Nord resettlement area by both sides...

Especially this last point, even Number One himself couldn't believe it. Booker had actually approached him and asked for the backdoor program that the "Firebringers" had left in the brain-computer interfaces of the residents of the Nord resettlement area over the years—this was originally something he had prepared to advance to Depth 8 and to relieve mental stress.

"You're even going to use this? This isn't a decision you'd make, Booker Irwin."

"The Incarnation of Fear now has too much computing power. Without such extreme measures, we have no chance of winning."

Booker said with a straight face.

Thinking of this, Number One couldn't help but show a relieved expression.

Yes, as a leader, how can one be hesitant and indecisive?
To win, one must stake everything, including one's own conscience, and win by any means necessary.

No matter how noble an idea is, someone always has to do the dirty work behind the scenes to make it come true.

Uprightness and honor are the privilege of heroes. Since you are a leader, don't delude yourself into thinking you can be an incorruptible hero. With that in mind, Number One made a simple assessment of the relative strengths of the two sides.

Even taking into account the computing power extracted from the residents of the resettlement area, the memetic entity Icarus would most likely still be unable to defeat the embodiment of fear—after all, the number of people who constitute it is two orders of magnitude smaller than Icarus.

But according to the emcee, they didn't actually need to defeat the embodiment of fear.

As long as we stall for time, until the leader of the Dionysian Cult descends upon the Nord settlement—with the Orpheus Path Depth 7 Coordinator's abilities, it will be enough to quell the intense emotions of those infected with the Dionysian Virus.

Afterwards, whether it's identifying and harmlessly disposing of infected individuals one by one, blocking their brain-computer interfaces, or removing the iridobrain region of these people, this crisis can be resolved smoothly.

Thinking of this, he pointed to the data center not far away and said to the mortician:
“Let’s go, we need to provide the newborn Icarus with the computing power support there.”

…………

"If I survive after this..."

After kicking the head off a humanoid construct, the riot control squad member wearing "sin-type" power armor cursed under his breath.

But one of the Adonis Path Depth 2 Adjusters beside him spoke first:

"People who say this usually don't survive in the end."

The riot control squad member glared at her, then continued:
"Then I'll only hire domestic workers from now on... I never want to see a domestic robot again in my life."

His words elicited a sparse burst of laughter from inside the bunker—a laughter filled with understanding and bitterness.

Not long ago, they repelled a wave of constructs, all of which were made up of domestic robots—only when these familiar modern appliances become enemies that want to kill you do you realize just how outrageous these things, which every middle-class family has, really are.

The various advantages that manufacturers used to promote, such as sturdy materials, flexible movement, long battery life, strong learning ability, resistance to electromagnetic interference, noiseless operation, and powerful instantaneous output, only become apparent when these products go berserk and become killing tools, prompting the question, "Is this the performance of a civilian product?"

Even setting aside hard metrics like horsepower, battery life, and materials, let's just talk about the "realistic" selling point that many domestic robot manufacturers like to emphasize. A group of steel robots strong enough to lift a car are covered with a layer of realistic silicone to make them look like real people, and they even make their skin mimic real human body temperature in normal times.

When such domestic robots are mixed in with refugees, sneaking in unnoticed and then suddenly launching an attack, those who experience it firsthand will realize just how terrifying these things are.

The security team guarding the data center witnessed their teammate being caught off guard and having his heart ripped out with a single punch from a housekeeping robot.

Once the battle began, they couldn't even quickly distinguish the robots among the refugees.

Compared to the military constructs that had previously launched strong attacks, these domestic robots actually caused the greatest damage to the security forces—both physically and psychologically.

After that raid, they never dared to open the checkpoints again and let the refugees in.

As the laughter around him subsided, the riot control squad member seemed about to complain again, but the observer beside him suddenly said nervously:
"They're here again. This time there are two... hiss... two..."

Due to the intrusion of malicious programs, the data center's ten-layer monitoring matrix had long been rendered ineffective. They could only rely on personnel with advanced prosthetic eyes to observe and investigate the surrounding situation through optical equipment.

"You should explain what those two things are."

Some people complained.

The observer hesitated for a moment, then said:
"No... they don't seem to be constructs controlled by malware, but rather like Coordinators."

He said this because he saw them precisely bombarding the constructs wandering along the roadside.

His hesitation stemmed from the fact that the two "people" did not look human at all.

Okay, the one with four arms looks somewhat human. But he has a "tail" trailing behind him, connected to another guy, making him look like an appendage of the other.

As for the other one... it, or rather, its entire body is constantly changing shape, with all sorts of unnamed weapons appearing and disappearing.

This doesn't look like a human being at all.

If he is a Coordinator, it seems there are no Coordinators with such a high Coordinator rank in the entire Nord Resettlement Area.

Just as he was thinking this, he saw the two guys suddenly jump up together, and several vector jet nozzles on their bodies lit up.

Then, the two men smashed through the concrete fortifications and landed in their midst—jumping directly into the encirclement was not a wise decision.

Dozens of guns were instantly pointed at them.

"Hey! Calm down! Calm down!"

The four-armed man raised his four arms, and immediately lowered the V-shaped mask on his face, revealing a yellow-skinned face.

“I am a special envoy from the committee’s professional team. There used to be a guy who looked just like me here in charge of network support... I’m here to take over his job.”

As he spoke, he projected a human intelligence ethics committee's authentication code.

The group exchanged glances and then lowered their guns.

But the Adonis Path Depth 2 Adjuster kept staring at the tall humanoid figure beside him and said:

"And what about the other one over there?"

Upon hearing this, Number One also removed his mask, revealing his androgynous and beautiful face—or more accurately, he used the process of removing his mask to create his own signature face.

“I am reinforcements sent by the Icarus Liberation Front to support you.”

Number One also raised his hand, then glanced at the body bags scattered on the ground and continued:
"Trust me... With me here to help maintain the defenses, no more of you will die."

…………

At the same time that Jiang Zhou and No. 1 arrived at the data center, Sita Bisant and an entire Valkyrie escort team were racing against time to reach the Nord resettlement area aboard the Nick supersonic aircraft.

Inside the aircraft cabin, Sita felt that the Valkyries were looking at her strangely.

"Why do I keep getting the feeling that you guys look like you're about to shut down the plane halfway through and kill me?"

She tilted her head and said. (End of Chapter)