Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 371 Overriding the Main Program

Mountain city, at the entrance of the tunnel.

Chen Jian gripped his explosive pistol, ready to fire.

Just now, he received a message from Fuxi.

The entire virtual city collapsed, its operating framework suffered a major malfunction, the core area of the mountain city lost power, and the core computing unit was in grave danger.

The meme virus has taken effect.

And it took effect in a swift, decisive, and unstoppable manner.

Now, the city's computing power has been completely exhausted by the infinitely looping and iterating program, and the entire underground fortification is completely undefended.

However, this does not mean that Fuxi will be able to take over the mountain city smoothly.

Like a city destroyed by war, the mountain town is now completely out of control.

Neither the original rulers nor the newly arrived occupiers could quell the chaos in a short period of time.

There is only one way:
Full restart.

However, due to the unique nature of the mountain city, it is impossible to restart the city through internal program instructions.

The only way is to enter the mountain city, go underground, and directly insert the power supply module to cut off the power to the entire city.

It's like when you're facing a system crash and you can't even open Task Manager, the only thing you can do is press and hold the power button for five seconds to let the computer suffocate.

After Chen Jian checked his weapons one last time and confirmed that nothing was missing, he decisively gave the order to He Shuo, who was standing beside him:
"Let's go when you're ready."

"We don't have much time to waste."

"The problems of this mountain city must be solved today!"

"understand!"

He Shuo nodded solemnly. Then, he turned to the expeditionary force behind him, which was already ready, and waved his hand. Everyone immediately gripped their weapons.

"set off!"

The group turned around, with an elite squad led by Guo Xu as the vanguard, and headed down the tunnel they had already traversed.

Chen Jian ran a few steps and, together with He Shuo, stepped over the crowd to the front of the group. He continuously used the active fire control module on the Nezha exoskeleton helmet to scan the environment ahead, while simultaneously launching drones to provide signal relay services to other combat units in the deep tunnel.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed continuously inside the tunnel.

But apart from footsteps, there was no other sound inside the tunnel.

The lights were off, the alarm system was disabled, and occasionally, unmanned combat units that had been rendered inoperable could be seen inside the tunnel—they were supposed to continue executing defense commands and actively attacking unidentified intruders using their local computing units.

However, when the framework built by Lingxi completely collapses, the entire defense system is constantly reverting and restarting.

The chaotic commands caused the security system to completely collapse at the execution level, and they didn't even have a chance to sever their network connection with the mountain city.

The reason is simple: to avoid intrusion through the security system, Lingxi had already set the command transmission method to one-way after the first intrusion by the Huaxia Army.

This was originally a decisive, even clever, emergency strategy, but in the end, it became the prelude to the complete burial of this virtual city.

"keep going."

Chen Jian gave the order, and the expeditionary force following closely behind him marched swiftly deeper into the tunnel.

Guo Xu's face was filled with a complex expression. He gripped the Type 191 rifle tightly in his hand, and his eyes flickered as he looked at Chen Jian's back.

For him, it all happened too fast.

From entering the mountain city, to clearing out the level one monsters, to opening the passage from the mountain city to the outside, to making the first contact with the so-called "mountain city people", and then to "invading" the core of the mountain city in a way that he could not understand at all, completely paralyzing this city that should have been "strictly guarded".

This series of actions took less than a month in total.

One month.

What is this concept?
The mountain city has existed on the wasteland for at least 300 years, and it has been known as the so-called "holy city" for at least two hundred years.

For over a hundred years, no one has ever been able to set foot in the mountain city.

But in the face of the Huaxia Army, this seemed to be nothing more than a "slightly troublesome" obstacle.

Guo Xu took a deep breath and quickened his pace.

He had no idea how these people in front of him had managed to do it.

Was it because of that "underground fortification"?

No.

In fact, a century ago, many other forces had also opened the "treasure trove".

Even the Cult of the Machine God has started several underground projects of varying sizes.

However, no one was actually able to make use of those fortifications and the "machine spirits" within them.

Many resources are wasted, and the actual effect achieved by those projects may be less than one percent of their actual function.

So what exactly caused this difference?

Guo Xu couldn't understand it.

By this time, the group had reached the end of the tunnel.

"Fuxi, signal check."

Chen Jian looked around at the cave hall he had seen before, and after a moment, Fuxi's reply came through his earpiece.

"Received, signal is stable and good."

"The security system has failed, the isolation door has been unlocked and can be physically opened."

"understand!"

Chen Jian breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He also thought that the isolation doors in the underground part of the mountain city would automatically lock due to the system crash, so that even if the computing module had been destroyed, it would take more time to dig open or even blow open the isolation doors.

However, it now appears that Lingxi still follows the basic logic of underground engineering design.

However, when it is determined that the entire fortification can no longer be self-sustaining through the intelligent system, all security locking measures will be automatically unlocked under the control of the underlying logic to prevent people who may be living inside the fortification from being completely locked up.

"Open the door!"

Chen Jian gave a brief order, and then He Shuo immediately directed the expeditionary force forward.

The massive isolation door was slowly pushed open, and thanks to the well-maintained and lubricated sliding rails, the process was effortless.

As the door slowly opened, everyone standing outside stopped what they were doing.

The biggest secret is right in front of us.

No one knows what's hidden behind that door.

But everyone knows that once this door is opened, the "mythical era" of the "mountain city" will come to a complete end.

Chen Jian took a deep breath, then gave the order:

"Turn on all the lights!"

"Get ready to enter!"

"understand!"

He Shuo responded loudly.

In an instant, all the lighting equipment carried by the team was turned on.

Once the gate was wide enough for one person to pass through, several drones entered first, followed by unmanned ground combat units.

Chen Jian cannot take the risk.

Although the outer security forces have completely collapsed, no one can guarantee that other unexpected events will not occur inside the mountain city.
-
But obviously, he was worrying too much.

The entire underground city was deathly silent.

Apart from the hum of the cooling equipment, there was no other sound here.

"Enter."

Chen Jian waved his hand and took the lead.

At this moment, the drone had begun to return the terrain data ahead, and when Chen Jian saw the dense "net" displayed on the tactical eyepiece, he immediately frowned.

Is this really an underground city?

The diameter of the passage has shrunk to less than two meters, and it is even less spacious than the outer tunnel!

As the drones continue to advance, this network continues to spread.

"Are you kidding me?!"

Chen Jian stopped in his tracks, and He Shuo, standing beside him, also looked grave. He turned to look at Chen Jian and said in a low voice:
"This is not a habitable underground structure at all."

“These facilities were built without taking into account the residents’ living conditions.”

"It is designed to serve computing power."

"Is it necessary for us to continue exploring?"

"In the short term, we are unlikely to obtain any more valuable information. It would be better to go deep underground, find the main energy module, and restart it directly!"

"Reasonable."

Chen Jian nodded in agreement, and at that moment, the drone that had been launched had already identified a vertical shaft leading directly underground.

"Move to the designated location on the map!"

Chen Jian gave the order again, and immediately the team began to move towards the shaft along the increasingly narrow passage.

The oppressive atmosphere made it almost impossible for Chen Jian to breathe; the foul, stale air made him realize one thing:
Before our side entered—no, it should be said, before the mountain city re-established contact with the outside world, all the underground spaces here were very likely to be without air circulation!

After all, there isn't a single living person here, so what need is there for it to maintain a complex life support system and provide oxygen for the underground works?
At this moment, Chen Jian had reached the edge of the shaft. He leaned out and looked down, then said:
"This should be a working well for unmanned robots to pass through and perform maintenance."

"Let's go down directly—and hang the ropes!"

"understand!"

He Shuo acted quickly, but after the rope was thrown down, he realized that the depth of the shaft far exceeded the limit of his vision.

Fortunately, the shaft is equipped with a hoist, and the complex steel cables can also be used as ropes.

"The rest of you, stay put and remain on guard."

"He Shuo, Guo Xu, Liu Hao, Zhang Chao, come down with me!"

Chen Jian gave a brief order, then grabbed the rope and quickly slid down.

As the height continued to decrease, he also saw the condition of each layer of this "layered" underground anthill through the "holes" opened in the side wall of the shaft.

The first layer is the ordinary equipment layer.

A large amount of equipment is piled up here, and the carefully arranged machine rooms are arranged on the side of the tunnel, filling a series of not-so-spacious "factories".

Upon seeing these factory buildings, one word immediately came to Chen Jian's mind.

Stingy.

No, or it should be called precision.

Space utilization has clearly been pushed to its limit. With the support of Lingxi and powerful computing, this city has achieved complete functionality using only the minimum amount of earthwork extraction.

It is powerful.

Theoretically speaking, powerful things should naturally be beautiful.

However, Chen Jian did not feel any sense of beauty in anything here.

Instead, there was only a suffocating feeling of being crowded to the point of being "cramped".

"Continue downwards."

He took a short breath, gave the order, and continued rappelling downwards.

Second floor, third floor, fourth floor.
Through this narrow connecting hole, he saw a cross-section of this underground anthill, as if looking through a tube at a leopard.

This gave him a basic understanding of this so-called "mountain city," but the further he went, the more alarmed he became.

This is a city that belongs to "machines".

All of its functions are solely for the purpose of serving the "machine"!

Should such a city really exist?

Chen Jian continued to descend, and in the next second, blinding lights suddenly appeared.

He instinctively tightened the descender.

But this time, what he saw was...
Something completely different.

Those were densely packed culture chambers.

"Human body manufacturing workshop".

He Shuo, who was standing to the side, also stopped in mid-air.

"This is where they created those 'mountain city people'."

"But something's not quite right."

"The embryos here are indeed developing, but the problem is, doesn't the one they're using look like a fully bionic uterus?"

"of course not."

Chen Jian took a step forward and placed his foot on the opening of the hole.

He then stepped onto the platform on this floor, and as he looked around, he let out a heavy sigh.

"There are humans here."

"However, the humans here have been alienated into inhuman tools."

"Those so-called artificial humans are not manufactured using very advanced technology."

"They are simply living in a giant petri dish."

At this moment, He Shuo, who had also entered the platform, had already seen the nutrient tanks neatly arranged around the platform.

Therefore, all artificial humans are descendants of real humans.

"They were simply deprived of their human thoughts?"

"That's not all."

Chen Jian slowly shook his head.

"These people were created as vessels—this is the so-called Nuwa Project."

"I really don't understand the point of this. If humanity is extinguished, can the increase in entropy be reversed?"

"The research on biophysics in Yamashita has reached a dead end. Their conclusions do not come from experiments, but purely from philosophical and metaphysical reasoning."

"They'll run into trouble sooner or later."

“Even if we hadn’t come, this city would have eventually collapsed.”

"really."

He Shuo said no more, but turned and walked towards the shaft.

"We're almost there."

"There's no time for this. We must take over the city!"

"Yes."

Chen Jian quickly caught up with He Shuo, and the two descended together.

As the noise from the cooling system grew increasingly piercing, Chen Jian realized that he had arrived at his destination.

Dozens of fusion reactors are piled up in a vast underground space, providing the city with electricity endlessly.

Chen Jian stepped forward and found the main control panel set up to the side.

Then, he spoke:
“Fuxi, I have reached the energy core.”