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

Based on the firepower at the base entrance, he deduced that it seemed to be a battle between two gangs with hundreds of members. However, it appeared that the indoor terrain was not conducive to gunfights, so the attackers opted for close combat.

This is why Liao Jicai discovered that the wounds of each Black Fire Gang victim were almost identical, as if they were all inflicted by the same person. Moreover, judging from the traces at the scene, the number of attackers was not large, and there might even have been only one person.

Thinking of this, and considering the gruesome state of the corpse, Liao Ji suddenly recalled a story about a murder ghost that Yilin had mentioned on a TV program called Night Love Radio, which was currently very popular in Dream City.

The killer often used blunt instruments to cut his victims, almost always in fatal locations. He was like a brutal butcher, yet also like a precise surgeon. That's how the two radio hosts described him back then. Now, the way the Blackfire Gang members died gave Liao Ji that feeling.

Although 86's detection radar showed that there were no other biological signals in the entire Blackfire Gang's base besides them, Liao Ji did not relax. Instead, he became even more cautious. Especially after receiving the intelligence that the attacker might be just one person, Liao Ji directly ordered 86 to switch forms again and summon the mech.

After all, the absence of biosignals in Dream City doesn't mean the surroundings are safe.

After walking for about ten more minutes, Liao Ji finally saw the leader of the Black Fire Gang. As expected, he had long since turned into a cold corpse. His death was exactly the same as that of the gang members he had met along the way, or even more gruesome. It was as if he had been dismembered by a chainsaw, leaving him in pieces that were too gruesome to look at.

However, it was precisely because of this that Liao Ji was able to see the circuit boards and wires exposed from the fragments of the corpse, as well as the core chip that had been shattered into pieces in the leader's chest area, as if it had been pierced by a heavy hammer.

So, the leader of this dark horse that has risen in recent years, the newcomer who has emerged from many established gangs, is actually a cyborg?

Moreover, she is a female android.

Normally you wouldn't be able to tell; it must have been gender-neutralized, giving the impression of a woman dressed as a man. But now that it's a corpse, it's easy to identify from its physical features.

Speaking of which, Liao Ji realized that this wasn't the first time he had seen androids mixed in with the society of Dream City. Last time at Kyle Technology, as a guide, he led them to visit the Branding Technology. Tia, the main force of that General Manager William, was also an android.

That's why I advised Luo Xiaoji, who had his eye on Tia, to give up.

The seemingly unrelated clues in Liao Ji's mind suddenly seemed to connect. No wonder William trusted the Blackfire Gang so much, and the Blackfire Gang was willing to take such a big risk. If the leader of the Blackfire Gang was a pawn planted by William, it would make sense.

Following this line of thought, is it possible that Kyle Technology is continuously cultivating androids and then turning them into leaders in various industries, just like the Blackfire Gang leader? In this way, Kyle Technology could quietly take control of most of Dream City without anyone noticing.

However, considering that William later needed to rely on Luo Xiaoji's backing to try and destroy the Black Fire Gang, it's very likely that this leader was a pawn secretly planted by William without the company's knowledge. That's why William was afraid of a subsequent company investigation and wanted to use a third-party force to silence him in advance.

Of course, there are still many points that cannot be explained.

For example, how did Kyle Technology manage to make androids so intelligent? Whether it was Tia before or the current gang leader, they are undoubtedly almost indistinguishable from humans.

Furthermore, if the Blackfire Gang was under William's control, then the attack should have stopped after he summoned the mech with the Brand. However, after the situation calmed down for a short while, the gang members who had been fleeing started to launch suicidal attacks again. Later on the plane, the gang members he had kidnapped explained that their masks had malfunctioned and they had been controlled by someone using the Turbid Calamity.

This action was definitely not in William's interest; there must have been an accident. Considering the current dire situation of the Blackfire Gang, Liao Ji guessed that it was most likely related to the attackers.

Speaking of the attackers, they didn't destroy the Blackfire Gang's base or plunder resources. Their sole purpose in expending so much effort seems to be to kill the android leader.

To unravel these mysteries, Liao Ji needs to return to the source of everything: all the conflicts of interest in Dream City revolve around the dangerous Pandora's box, "Dream Zero."

Liao Jilai's main purpose in coming to the Black Fire Gang's lair was to obtain the gang's Dream Anchor Point, which is equivalent to a website for entering the Zero Dream. Fortunately, although the leader died tragically, the Black Fire Gang's equipment around him was mostly preserved.

After connecting 86 to the gang's system and extracting Zero Dream's anchor points, Liao Ji quickly left the scene.

The outside world is in chaos. The series of shocking events at the press conference have become the hot topic of discussion among the people of the city. The streets are filled with the sound of sirens, and police cars are speeding by, all heading towards the gangster district of District 13.

Liao Ji ignored all of that, found a safe place, and let the outside world continue to cause chaos, giving him time to re-enter the dream.

"Anchor point information confirmed."

Coordinates: Witch War Zone D-T32

"The dream begins."

Chapter 235 The Commander's Duties

The sensation of sinking into the deep sea swept over his entire body. After a brief period of darkness, Liao Ji opened his eyes again, finding himself back in that blood-red, turbid old world.

Entering Zero Dream for the second time, Liao Ji was much more experienced than before when he was completely clueless. Moreover, this time he came prepared, carrying the mark that allowed him to "go online with his main account".

Liao Ji didn't rush to use the Brand to summon the Holy Maiden of Light. What if this thing had a time limit? It was safest to wait until he was in front of the witch before using it.

One more thing, Liao Ji didn't forget his promise to "Control One". He asked 86 to identify his location. Then, the cool sea-blue motorcycle came back online, and Liao Ji sped off towards the coordinates where he had logged off earlier.

Since both locations were Blackfire Gang's Dream Anchor Points, the coordinates of the two logins were not far apart. When Liao Ji arrived, he was pleased to see a squad of mechs patrolling the area from afar.

It must be the unit under control number one. Liao Ji breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that the servants would disappear or something unexpected might happen.

It's not that Control One and the others are of any help in the upcoming battle, but after learning about the identities and experiences of these machine servants, Liao Ji didn't want to see them get hurt anymore.

"Control Line One!"

Liao Ji, riding his motorcycle from a distance, was already waving to the lead "control machine." Although it had only been three days since they last met, Liao Ji still missed this first machine servant he had ever encountered.

Buzz!

As a result, the motorcycle below deliberately made a couple of noises, as if in protest. Liao Ji then quickly patted the front of the motorcycle a few more times and said that 86 was the first one, and the motorcycle finally calmed down.

Twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters

Liao Ji's happy expression gradually faded as he noticed something was wrong. Control System No. 1 did not respond to his waving and even ignored him. Only when he got closer and exceeded a certain safe distance did the control machine turn its head and look at him coldly.

"Abnormal approach detected. Target scan complete. Target identity confirmed as: Unauthorized Dream Enterer."

"Warning, do not approach."

"Warning: For your own safety, we recommend that you immediately undergo a dream-breaking procedure."

"warn."

A series of warnings rang out, which made Liao Ji frown and feel puzzled.

Without a doubt, the command servant in front of him was no longer Control One. At the very least, he had lost Control One's memories of him, which was why he couldn't recognize him now.

On the other hand, this servant seems to be different from the other servants in Dream Zero, because based on previous Dream experiences, the biggest characteristic of servants is that they cannot communicate and can only communicate with commands within their own channel.

Like now, after discovering that a stranger like myself is approaching, it will give a warning and even "suggest" that I leave the dream immediately and not stay in Dream Zero. This is something that the servant does not do.

And

Most importantly, the fact that they have been lingering in this area is no coincidence, suggesting that Control One may still exist in the subconscious of this machine servant.

Thinking of this, Liao Ji made a decisive decision. Having had the experience of the first time, Liao Ji knew very well how to contact the machine servant.

He got off the motorcycle and turned 86 back into maid form. Sure enough, upon seeing 86, a servant similar to them, the controller was immediately confused and began to calculate continuously in an attempt to find out the reason.

Taking this opportunity, Liao Ji successfully approached the control machine. Just as 86 was about to do it again and "insert the USB drive" for them, Liao Ji stopped him.

How long have you been here?

"No response to unknown individuals," the controller coldly told Liao Ji.

Liao Ji didn't mind; on the contrary, he felt more confident. After thinking for a moment, he changed his question.

Don't you want to know why you've been staying here all this time?

After this question, the servant on the other end remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.

"Forty-nine hours, twenty-two minutes, and nineteen seconds."

The machine servant answered Liao Ji's previous question, and after a quick calculation, Liao Ji nodded. Just as he had thought, the time was about the same as when he went offline. This machine servant was the former Control Number One.

As for why it was "in the past"

The problem lies in the timing of "about two and a half days." To be precise, something must have happened during those few hours that the aircraft lost, leading to the disappearance of "Control One."

It is very likely that this area in the middle happened to be hit by the calamity, which led to the complete annihilation of the Control One force. The newly created machines were reconstructed in the base. Although they were formatted and lost their memories, they still retained some data, which is why they became humanized. That is why, although we don't know why, they are guarding this place.

"Control One, it seems your system has malfunctioned. Have you forgotten? I am your commander. We agreed that today is the day to set off to subdue the witch. You will be here on standby, as per my orders."

The amount of information in Liao Ji's words was obviously enormous for the machine servant. This time, the other party remained silent for even longer, and more data streams appeared on the black display screen used to blindfold the machine, as if it were performing frantic calculations.

Finally, the machine servant indicated that it was overloaded and, unable to get an answer, took the initiative to ask Liao Ji for the first time.

"Control Number 1? No related terms can be found in the system. Is this my code?"

"It's not the code, it's your name."

"name."

"Look at you, you've even forgotten your own name, yet you claim you're not malfunctioning."

"But Control One just performed a self-check, and all parts and systems are normal." The servant had unknowingly accepted the setting of Control One, but was still a little hesitant about Liao Ji's words.

But Liao Ji was amused when he heard this.

"Control System One, let me ask you, what is a malfunction? It's something you can't figure out yourself, that's what a malfunction is. It's like amnesia in humans. If you remember everything, can you still call it amnesia?"

"If you don't believe me, ask your fellow officer next to you, Officer 86. Am I right?"

After Liao Ji finished speaking, the servant looked at 86, and 86 obediently nodded to her theoretical sisters.

"A tone of certainty. We are all the commander's personal machines, ah, control machines."

The presence of 86, a fellow being, clearly carried significant weight with Control One. Having confirmed the existence of its own kind, Control One became completely convinced of its malfunction and thus accepted Liao Ji's designation as "commander."

The combination of Control One and Commander is back online, and this time, Liao Ji doesn't use any cheating methods like "plugging in a USB drive".

It's more like a bad uncle deceiving an innocent little girl.

but

This seems to further illustrate that Control One is truly different, possessing several distinct qualities, perhaps what we call humanity, or perhaps what we call the heart?

“Commander, I don’t believe we are strong enough to defeat the witch. For your safety, Control One requests that you cease operations. Your duty is to command us in battle; you do not need to go to the front lines.”

Seeing that even the servants were concerned about him, Liao Ji smiled, then suddenly had an idea. He placed his hand on Control One's head, rubbed it, and said:

"Do you think you can just call me 'Commander' for nothing?"

"A mere witch is easy for a great commander to annihilate."

"Finally, Control One, I have to correct one more mistake you made. My duty as commander is not to lead you in battle, but to ensure that one day you will no longer have to fight."

Chapter 236 Revealing True Colors

No need to fight anymore

Then what is the point of their existence?

Is the commander going to destroy them?

Control One was struggling to understand Liao Ji's words. Although she wanted to ask, the system analysis showed that this question was likely to anger the commander, so Control One kept her doubts to herself.

After successfully reuniting with his mech servant, Liao Ji made no further preparations and headed straight for the "regional boss," the witch.

The azure motorcycle sped across the blood-red wasteland, while above Liao Ji's head, a formation of servant aircraft with their "wings outstretched" flew in a circle, protecting their commander in the very center.

Liao Ji didn't really want to make such a big fuss, but he couldn't resist the insistence of Control No. 1. As a result, any Turbid Monsters wandering in the wilderness along the way, whether they were blocking the way or not, would be shot down by the aerial sergeant squads as soon as they appeared in Liao Ji's field of vision.