Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 233 232. The analysis is very detailed, but what?

From chaos to order, the entire node city recovered at an astonishing speed. Even the first thing to recover was the assembly hall provided to the three companies.

Many mercenaries left this dangerous place directly, and the rest could only stay temporarily after daylight came, watching the transformation agency reconstruct the entire node city at an incredible speed.

This time they must have learned their lesson and didn't go as far as setting up some completely autonomous unit like before. The new unmanned system took over the maintenance of the node city... and it seemed to be going pretty smoothly.

As an independent mercenary, Seifer had originally planned to run away - if his car and the people in it were targeted by that kind of machine, they would probably be torn into two pieces in one bite.

But, Ms. Jin Junmei asked him to stay. As the biggest financial backer... he had no choice but to stay because he was grateful for the favor, especially when there were benefits.

The daytime hours were rather difficult. Seifer maintained communication with the people inside the car, informing everyone that the plan had changed, and then temporarily stayed in his own repair area. After waiting for less than three hours, Phantom Mist Group sent him to the office area.

After confirming that Shengnai was still in the medical station, Seifer thought for a moment and went straight to the office area without even taking his weapon. As soon as he entered, Gaoshan greeted him warmly.

"Red Crossbow, come on, come to the tactical study room, we have a big job!"

The big job is how to get rid of that worm, right?

Seifer followed him in indifferently and saw that not only Gao Shan was there, but also several other team leaders who seemed to have the same name as Tea.

However, compared to all these, the most important thing was standing in front of the huge holographic sandbox, which was also a holographic projection, and had the aura of "Jin Junmei" who kept strangers away.

"Since everyone is here, let's start the meeting."

With a cool and steady tone, Ms. Jin Junmei turned around, her black hair with a metallic luster like crow feathers and the long hair with highlights like cold fire swaying in the wind.

"Before the battle officially begins, I'll provide you with the target information. This is the content. Gaoshan, you will explain it."

The moment his name was called, Gao Shan, who could chat with the (ostensibly) female mercenary about celebrity gossip without any scruples, stiffened up and straightened his back like a junior high school student who had been called out.

"Ah, well... uh, this mission is a commission issued by the Commercial Union. The goal is clear: to annihilate N-4090 in the 'hunting grounds' around the Node City."

"N-4090 is officially called 'Worm'. The reconstruction agency did not share its exact number with us, only telling us that this adaptive, flexible, fully functional shield machine has been out of control for two years."

Sefer hugged his elbows, stood at the edge of the conference room and thought for a while, then suddenly looked at his communication channel and found that Ms. Jin Junmei did not say anything strange.

I think she is attacking others. She seems to be able to control a large number of accounts at the same time to do this.

"Next is the key information. The structure of the [worm]."

Gao Shan switched the holographic projection, and Seifer saw a long object that looked like a high-speed train appear on the holographic screen.

"The head section of the shield machine features a multi-axis linkage excavation and crushing port, with multiple layers of composite energy protection. According to calculations, even a 500mm or even 600mm main gun attack wouldn't overload it."

"Its armor isn't ordinary special steel either. Its surface is magnetized energy armor. Blast through that armor layer is practically impossible."

By the way, the word "Arabian Nights" that Gao Shan said was what Cypher sounded like, but he actually said another metaphorical word, and I have no idea what it means.

"This is the first section, the head. Next is the second section. This section is where the fusion engine, furnace, and control center are located."

The people around immediately said, "Since the defense was so strong in the first quarter, the second quarter shouldn't be as strong, right?"

"Unfortunately, that's true. Since this section also has a fully autonomous computing core, its protection is also indestructible." There's not even any energy protection on the head that could be 'theoretically penetrated'.

"Then comes the third section. This section is responsible for printing and assembling the materials, completing the construction inside the worm and sending it to the subsequent body parts... or, in other words, the armed warhead."

Sefer was shocked. How big was this thing?
"The Worm is currently known to be at least forty sections long. Because it has been out of control for so long, it has assembled numerous armed combat vehicles—each of which is crammed with weapons, unmanned combat units, and ammunition."

Cypher suddenly asked, "If it's an engineering unit like a 'shield machine,' why does it have a warhead? Is the Transformation Agency planning to use it to dominate the world?"

"Uh……"

Gao Shan was stuck. He suddenly turned to Ms. Jin Junmei, who was just a holographic projection sitting on a chair, looking indifferently at the corporate mercenaries present, without intending to give any answers.

"Well... it's not in the information, but everyone likes to install some weapons on their engineering machinery. You never know which will come first, pirates or accidents, right?"

Yes, Sefer continued to listen quietly.

"Well, in short, this [worm] must be dealt with, because its adaptive system will inevitably become accustomed to sounds of this frequency range and will no longer avoid this node city."

"Anyway, the modification agency said they couldn't change the frequency band because the program was already fixed."

Gao Shan shrugged and continued, "That's all we have. Most importantly, the Transformation Agency isn't particularly concerned about this Node City. They told us that if the Worm isn't eliminated, the worst that can happen is the Node City crashing."

"We'll rebuild it after it's gone. It'll take quite a while, but it'll definitely be completed in the end. Then we're welcome to come back and distribute the giant anomalies—I don't know how many years that will be."

The company certainly does not want to see this kind of loss.

Seifer didn't want to either. He had just seen the scene of satellites suddenly replicating and sticking together in the giant vision. It was like when you were watching a TV series and it reached a critical moment, and then you heard that it would be suspended for a few years, no one could bear it.

"Anyway, this is an analysis of the target, that's all. The rest contains information about the parameters of the armored vehicle, possible weapons and equipment, and other related information."

"Next, it's our assignment."

Gao Shan switched screens, and the captains of each team appeared halfway in the projection. "For this operation, the Phantom Mist Group will deploy three teams, each with three members, for a total of nine machines as firepower escorts."

"The target of the protection is the red crossbow."

While eating the melon, Sefer looked blankly at the others, then at Jin Junmei, with only one thought in his mind.

You, you used my weakness to trick me into coming here, but you didn't even tell anyone else about this information?!
The secret is quite simple. This [worm] is essentially only well-protected in its first three sections, which are its most vital.

But what about the rest of the sections after these three?

Without even a reloading part, the [Worm] will simply abandon its ammunition after it runs out of ammunition or is damaged, leaving it on the ground to be used as a fixed box-type fire dispersion point.

In other words, even when these boxes are on its body, they cannot provide much protection from the charging protection - after all, they are disposable!

As Cypher's thoughts raced, Gao Shan said, "Because among those present here, the only weapon capable of piercing the Worm's armor is probably the Red Crossbow."

Um? ah?
(End of this chapter)