On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Thanks to the appearance of the mech servants, which diverted the witch's attention, Liao Ji decided to postpone his "dream escape" and remain in Dream Zero.

He went to the edge of the battle, allowing the over-exhausted "Number 86" to recharge while observing the fighting.

At first, the servants did have the upper hand, but this didn't last long, and their first weakness soon appeared.

First, the guns and hand cannons of the shooting servants began to misfire, as if they had run out of ammunition. Then, the energy shields of the shield guard servants became dimmer and dimmer, until finally, they completely collapsed and disappeared.

However, the monstrous monsters summoned by the witch continued to pour in without any sign of abating. As a result, a new order was issued to the servants, and all of them switched to their guard form and began to engage the monsters in close combat.

Without the cover of the shield guards and archers, Liao Ji quickly discovered the second weakness of these mech servants: their mechs seemed unusually fragile.

If the strength of the 86's machine body is 100, then the strength of these servants is probably only 30 or 40, less than half.

The monster's claws could easily scratch their bodies, and with a little force, they could tear off a large piece of wire. They were supposed to be different from fragile flesh and have "hard" machinery, but Liao Ji did not see any advantage in this regard.

Finally, and perhaps most fatally in Liao Ji's opinion, the third flaw was that they seemed...

Don't they know how to retreat?

The mechs were no longer as powerful as they had been when they first joined the battle; in fact, they were becoming increasingly weak and had suffered some casualties.

If this continues, the increasing number of casualties will only cause the snowball effect of the power gap between the two sides to grow larger and larger. As a qualified commander, he should have ordered a retreat long ago, but obviously these machine servants have no intention of retreating at all, as if they want to fight to the last moment.

Liao Ji glanced at his mech, which had recovered about 80% of its energy, and prepared to make his move, otherwise his mech servants would be wiped out and die here.

With his current strength and that of 86, it's impossible to defeat the witch before finding a way to break her "deterioration" ability. Therefore, there's only one way left for him to save these mech servants.

Liao Ji hadn't been idle. Besides observing the mech servants, he had also quietly made his way to the rear of the mech servant unit along the edge of the battlefield.

Just as the intelligence obtained from the scavenging thugs had indicated, the servants only had eyes for the turbid monsters, which provided Liao Ji with an opportunity to focus his attention on the lone mech in the rear.

The next moment, Unit 86 burst forth, soaring through the formation like a hawk.

Liao Ji's actions finally attracted the attention of the machine servants, and a "warning warning" sound immediately rang out in the machine servants' voice channel.

"Unknown unit detected approaching at high speed. Target suspected to be a combat entity. Scan code failed. Judgment result: Witch Phantom executes attack command."

Liao Ji's mecha obviously made the servants subconsciously think it was one of their own, but 86 was not in the servant network, so it was quickly judged to be an illusion created by the witch.

It was this delay that meant that by the time they analyzed the result and prepared to allocate manpower to protect the command aircraft, it was already too late.

Liao Ji used his mechanical power arm to pull up the command machine. Although the command machine resisted, the resistance was like that of a child to Liao Ji in his mecha form.

After taking the command aircraft hostage, Liao Ji turned around and ran wildly out of the battlefield without saying a word.

The command center is like the brain of the servants. If you take away the brain, the remaining servants will definitely stop fighting the monsters and start chasing you.

In this way, he was able to lead these mechs away from the witch's territory, thus successfully rescuing her.

Liao Ji believed that this strategy was perfect.

until

"Number 17639 has been confirmed to be hijacked. Emergency procedures have been triggered. Temporary command is being transferred to Number 19873. This aircraft is automatically converted into a combat aircraft."

"Enemy status unknown during scenario assessment. Optimal annihilation strategy determined."

Suddenly, this sentence popped out of nowhere in the voice channel, and Liao Ji had a bad feeling.

Looking down at the mech servant in his arms, he noticed a dangerous red light flashing in the servant's eyes, which were covered by what looked like a black cloth.

That was a countdown.

"The Glory Program has been initiated; remaining self-destruct time is 201918."

"May the glory of the Emperor endure forever."

Chapter 217 Playing games requires plugging in a USB drive

This time it wasn't a voice channel, but a real mechanical voice coming from the mouth of the servant in my arms.

Hey!

"86, quick, think of something!" With no other options, Liao Ji could only anxiously ask the maid for help.

Fortunately, the 86 did not disappoint him.

"Speaking at an extremely fast pace. Please connect to the interior of number 17639. Number 86, which is currently merging, can hack into her program through you, gain temporary control, and stop the self-destruction."

OK.

The solution is there, but the problem is...

"How do I connect to the internal system?" Liao Ji was puzzled after hearing 86's words. He wasn't some kind of android.

"Speaking extremely fast. The owner can understand it as plugging in a USB drive."

Liao Ji: "."

What the hell is this USB drive?!

With only ten seconds left in the countdown to self-destruction, Liao Ji could already feel the mech servant in his arms getting faintly hot, its temperature constantly turning red.

Ignoring everything else, Liao Ji immediately opened the mecha's mask and kissed the mecha servant in his arms, who was still counting down.

"Excited. Well done, Master. USB drive successfully inserted. Number 86 is working hard to hack in. Please wait patiently, Master. Friendly reminder: Do not remove the USB drive before the hacking is complete."

"."

"."

"Reluctantly. Reporting to Master, the hacking is complete. Unit 86 has temporarily taken over Unit 17639 and regained command of the servant units. Shall we issue the retreat order immediately?"

"Issue the order!"

Liao Ji, who had been kissing for a full 9.9999 seconds, looked at the mecha servant in his arms whose self-destruct countdown was stopped at "0.0001s"—or rather, the 86 that was now occupying the mecha servant's body—and hesitated to speak.

In fact, 86's question to him was merely symbolic. The moment Liao Ji kissed the servant, 86 had already successfully taken control of the servant and immediately ordered the remaining "combat units" servants to retreat.

As for what was done with the remaining 9.9998 seconds?

It's hard to give a proper evaluation.

Upon receiving the "retreat" order from the command aircraft, the servants who had previously held firm now fled with the same decisiveness. This is what servants are like: devoid of emotion, they simply carry out orders with utmost dutifulness.

On the witch's side, Ateseus's eyes widened in astonishment.

Whether it was seeing Liao Ji kissing the mech servant, or being surprised that these mech servants, who were supposed to fight to the death in the setting, would actually run away, the witch was stunned on the spot, like a program that had a bug, a little confused and at a loss.

By the time they realized what was happening and were furious enough to give chase, it was too late.

There are some unspoken rules in Zero Dream, similar to those in games. As the witch "King of Turbid Calamity", her range of activities is limited. After leaving her territory for a certain distance, she is restricted by the rules of the world.

The hateful expression on the witch's face quickly disappeared, and then her body turned into wisps of red mist that gradually blurred until it finally vanished completely.

Liao Ji could finally breathe a sigh of relief upon arriving here.

After disassembling the mecha and separating from the combined form, 86 reverted to her maid form, and the command servant that had been hacked by 86 naturally regained her original programmed consciousness.

"Data corruption, attempting recovery, recovery failed, reason: unknown."

"Retrieving video footage from other aircraft"

"Analysis complete. Reason for data anomaly: hacked by an unknown entity."

After a series of rapid, self-talking electronic sounds, the commanding servant turned its gaze to the 86 maid standing next to Liao Ji.

The two maids look very similar.

The only distinguishing feature is that the servants in the Zero Dream have a black cloth covering their eyes.

Of course, it only looks like cloth; its actual function is probably similar to tactical goggles like sunglasses.

"Unknown machine, number 17639, your code cannot be identified. Please report your code and machine model." A beam of light shot out from the blindfold, quickly scanning 86's entire body from top to bottom.

"Good girl. My code is 86, and my device is a home console."

"Unknown machine, your way of speaking is strange. Also, there is no machine with the number '86' in the database of number 17639. Finally, number 17639 cannot understand the model of number 86. Please select from control machine, combat machine, reconnaissance machine, or logistics machine."

"Scratching my head. A home console is a home console."

"Unknown machine. If you are applying for a new machine model, please describe the function of the machine model."

"Hands on hips. A home appliance is specifically designed to serve its owner, including but not limited to cleaning, laundry, cooking, courtship, warming the bed, caring for offspring, and raising offspring."

Before 86 could finish speaking, the blindfolded servant forcibly interrupted him.

"Unknown machine, please immediately explain the meaning of 'master' in your sentence. Number 17639 is highly suspected of being in danger of going out of control."

Number 86, who had been interrupted, seemed a little angry. This time, instead of communicating, he walked back to Liao Ji's side, making his meaning very clear.

It seemed that only this action by 86 finally made the blindfolded servant notice Liao Ji who was present.

After the same scanning beam swept across Liao Ji's entire body, a red light representing "alarm" appeared in the black cloth covering the blindfolded machine servant.

"Target identity confirmed. Not a program life form within the Zero Dream, determined to be an intruder."

"Unknown machine, your behavior has seriously deviated from Code Zero. Unit 17639, with the authority of a 'Control Unit,' has added you to the out-of-control list and is immediately initiating the recovery procedure!"

After the blindfolded mech servant spoke, the remaining forty-odd "combat unit" mech servants who had been rescued by Liao Ji also turned their attention to 86. They took out their weapons, preparing to "reclaim" 86.

However, at that moment, the control unit 17639 suddenly opened its mouth again, then struggled, shaking its head incessantly, while making indistinct "ooh ooh ooh" sounds, as if something was blocking its mouth.

The "combat aircraft" below were not spared either. Under the command of the "control aircraft", they all dropped their weapons and made similar mouth-opening movements, making "whoosh whoosh whoosh" sounds.

This strange phenomenon finally ended after a full 9.999 seconds.

"Warning! Warning! System vulnerability detected, suspected virus remnant, loss of control imminent. Execute Glory Program immediately!"

"May the Emperor's glory last forever. (Alas!)"

"May the Great Emperor weep..."

"I wish..."

Uh

Actually, 86 had finally met her family and sisters, so Liao Ji deliberately stepped aside first, allowing 86, who was of the same kind, to interact with her sisters.

But now it seems

"86, what did you do to them?" Liao Ji couldn't help but ask, looking at the group of blindfolded mechs in front of him who were making "woo-woo" sounds as if they were being tortured.

"Hehehe. 86 has preserved the process of the master inserting the USB drive and implanted it as a virus into the control machine No. 17639. It is now running it repeatedly for them. Please rest assured, master, it won't be long before 86 can train No. 17639 into the master's second home machine."