Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 78 78. Now that things have come to this, this is the only way to do it

The next round of "tests" featured a machine with a style similar to that of the No. 5, but with a weapon combination similar to that of the Cypher, and a more high-pressure and aggressive action style.

This time, Cypher connected the weapon interface to the canister again.

The familiar graphics and UI noises blurred, and a warning sounded to recharge the weapon's power supply, as Cypher aimed his blurry crosshairs at the sphere.

The same old trick made the "command node" feel safe and secure. It just manipulated the experimental units to chase and beat the endangered No. 5.

Anyway, a mere one shot would at most knock down your own defenses and temporarily overload the recharge system, so what's there to worry about?
If this thing had a mind, it would definitely think so.

However, it ignores what Cypher is targeting.

After a brief charge, the locking circle in Cypher's eyes completed the tracking and he pulled the trigger at the same time.

The blinding white light shot out again, violently and frantically bombarding the sphere... the dense infusion and connecting wires above it, but cleverly avoided the long column that hung it.

That kind of protection only defended this part, so the damage of this illegal weapon penetrated completely. Even if there were someone outside, they could easily see the giant building that was pierced.

On the skylight, flying snowflakes and iron-gray light suddenly penetrated. The thing probably didn't understand what Cypher was going to do, so it still followed the procedure and continued to collect its experimental data.

Another heat sink was ejected, and Cypher regained his stance, folding his weapon and placing it behind his back. "No. 5, listen to me now and charge up the passage immediately!"

As he spoke, he had already advanced and took advantage of the moment when the controlled enemy was trying to avoid the machine gun bombardment of No. 5.

'boom! ’

The specially made spikes once again performed their mission, accurately piercing the engine and cockpit of the opponent's aircraft, instantly rendering it unable to move and falling to the ground.

"Can……"

"We're retreating!"

"it is good!"

NO.5 immediately increased the thrust of his machine, endured the nausea and unbearable pressure that even he felt, and rushed towards the breach. When he passed by the sphere, he subconsciously looked back.

Cypher hadn't even activated his thruster nozzles; he was still adjusting his peculiar striker launcher.

This is a vision after all, and the better you perform, the better you get.

Then let's change our thinking. The reward must be able to leave the vision before it can be condensed. If other mercenaries die, there will be no evidence and naturally no reward will be obtained.

He is different. If he dies, he can just get a spare body, and the rewards will probably be paid out as usual.

[Subject leaves area; area sealed, experiment continues]

The cave entrance was closed, and before the experiment was about to begin, Cypher once again carried the illegal weapon, but this time was different from before, the tip of the can in his hand was not in shutdown mode.

A new experimental machine appeared, but before it could even make any moves, it launched its weapon again, which was extremely restricted and could not move until it charged before each attack and could not move after the attack.

After this launch, the tanks used to fill the fuel flew into the air.

——No.5, which had already flown outside the huge command node, slowly landed, ejected a heat sink, and took off again, moving slightly away.

Then he felt that there was a blooming sun behind him, slowly expanding and rising.

It wasn't that slow, because the moment he looked back, the images inside the cabin in front of him were completely extinguished, and then there was an earth-shaking experience, as if he was sitting in a tinplate bottle and thrown into a strong wind.

He was also lucky not to see the devastating light expand and rise into the sky, blowing everything away or swallowing it up, turning it into a blazing gas.

To Cypher, the tactical nuclear warhead exploding in front of him could only be described as 'spectacular'.

He was also immediately blasted by the full-power, full-band EMP, shattering the energy supply pipes of his body into darkness. Then his armor melted and shattered like rice paper, and his entire body was instantly exposed to the impact of the nuclear explosion.

His last thought before his consciousness faded was.

'it's beautiful'

Then, a torrent of nuclear blasts swept through, wiping the entire command node from the map. Cypher opened his eyes, taking in the world distorted by the heat and the heavy snow that had temporarily stopped falling, feeling incredibly confused. ...No, why hadn't this body been destroyed after being hit by a nuclear blast?!

It was obvious that his broken body would overheat and die after being exposed to the sun!

When he wanted to speak, Cypher found that most of his body functions had been damaged.

Then he realized that his body was vaguely shrouded in a layer of light energy that was about to shatter. He immediately turned his head to look at the thing that should have been blown away but miraculously preserved half of its sphere.

Climbing over with both hands, Seifer looked up at the interior with complicated pipelines, wondering why this thing threw away the protection on itself.

Operational error?

"Sizzle...sizzle..."

A small half of the sphere collapsed in the middle of the explosion crater, making a slight noise that finally condensed into an audible sound.

"Zizi...you are...zizi...O..."

Everything in front of him suddenly became blurry and hazy, with the effect of turning off the TV. Sefer felt his eyes go dark and then light up.

The vision dissipated as abruptly as it had begun.

It might be a fictional world that may not exist anywhere in this world, but is only temporarily revealed for some unknown reason.

Perhaps it was the mischievous pleasure of something watching from the shadows. Its authenticity was even more real than reality.

Even Cypher couldn't help but think that since he was a hero, No. 5 should be able to survive and return to the train. Although the problem of two trains stopping at the same time has not been solved yet...

But at least the external conflicts have been resolved.

The first and second contacts made Sefer realize that the anomaly might also be related to the 'timeline', and even if an action was too outstanding, it would affect subsequent developments.

It's like playing a real game where choices affect branches.

It’s just… he came out, but the damage to his body wasn’t repaired at all.

Even though he was inexplicably protected by the command node, the effect was just that. Sefer lay on the ground with electric sparks running all over his body.

He tried to raise his hand and knock on his neck, and surprisingly, his pronunciation system was repaired... In short, he had to confirm whether there was anyone in the signal path first.

Suddenly, the sound of an electric vehicle came from nearby. Seifer turned his head and saw a three-wheeled vehicle stop beside him with a creaking sound.

Shengnai walked out from the driver's seat.

Why are you here?
Unfortunately, there was no expression on the machine's face. After seeing him like this, Shengnai's calm expression became very anxious, and he didn't care whether he could lift such a heavy machine.

"Are you okay? Please don't move. Let me diagnose your injuries first... Hmm, they're quite serious..."

She took out the testing tools from her shoulder bag - there was not a single painkiller in such a big bag, only this detector!

"Why...are you here?"

Cypher asked incredulously.

Shengnai's voice was soft. "I was approaching the node city with the medical team. I was worried there were still wounded people in the city, so I ran down to look for them... and the first person I saw was you."

This is the Second District. Is it really just a coincidence that he saw me first?

Seifer's mind was full of questions, but seeing how nervous Shengnai was, he could only say, "I'm probably done for, but there's still hope. Could you drive over here and give me a ride?"

"Well... then I'll try to drive more steadily..."

Shengnai quickly returned to the car and tilted the rear trailer over. Seifer used his movable arms to grab the railing and pull himself up. Only after it was fixed did he realize that—

Why does it feel like recycling scrap metal electronics?
(End of this chapter)