This time I chose Paladin

Then... reduce its attack power and cut off the power supply!

Countless battle plans emerged from his mind. Nie Weiyang did not rush to approach the wetware body. Instead, he turned around and rolled over, avoiding another bolt of lightning while diving between the server units with the posture of a tiger or leopard.

Cables were raised high, ready to fire at any moment. Cameras scanned the vast room, some openly and some covertly, but none could find Nie Weiyang. The tall, red-eyed young man seemed to have vanished. In the silent darkness, only the humming of the server machines spread.

After a long moment, a melancholy yet gentle female voice emerged: "Mr. Second Administrator, didn't you say you wanted to talk to me?"

The sound came from loudspeakers on all sides, but the host computer still sat in front of the console with her head down - she was not dead, but she could not be considered alive either.

The room was dead silent.

"Three years ago, for the so-called dream, for the goals those people instilled in me, I left the Hope Space Station..." Angelita's voice was as if she was confessing, even though she didn't expect anyone to understand her. "They said, Angelita, your mental strength is very strong. We need you to carry out a task. If you succeed, humans will be able to understand each other again and rebuild a network of empathy."

In the silent darkness, Angelita's voice murmured, "...They lied to me."

"They don't want to re-establish empathy at all, you know, Administrator No. 2? Those people are more cruel and indifferent than Sources like you. They only want to enslave the Sourceless, assimilate them, and turn people into puppets and slaves..."

A dozen drones rose from beside the control console, latching onto eight cables rising from the room and dragging them slowly across the ground, searching, hunting, preparing to kill.

But when he patrolled from the control console to the shield blocking the damaged door, Nie Weiyang still did not appear.

The camera kept turning, and Angelita's voice was filled with a hint of anthropomorphic doubt: "Where are you, Administrator No. 2? I can't see you..."

"But I saw you." A voice emerged from the corner.

The cable snapped back!

'boom! ! ! '

The volley of shots failed to hit the tumbling figure, but instead struck a server. And in that carefully calculated gap, a longsword was actually stuck?!

Lightning struck the server, sparks erupting instantly. Angelita's voice grew louder and sharper, as she shouted something chaotically. The longsword, propelled by a burst of mental energy, flew outward, plunging into the scattered armor on the floor. The iron released a momentary charge before returning it to Nie Weiyang's hands.

Angelita's 'eyes' - that is, the camera - finally saw him.

And he is...

...thumbs up for the camera?

A moment later, a sharp blade of light cut through the air and shattered a camera with a "snap" sound!

Nie Weiyang jumped to the side and avoided another electric shock - he didn't need to be faster than electricity, he just needed to be faster than the speed of the camera and cables!

Angelita relied on cameras to observe the battlefield, so Nie Weiyang dismantled all the cameras first!

What a joke! Did he really think all that time spent watching the surveillance footage was in vain? He'd initially intimidated them, claiming, "If even the administrators can't view the footage, the cameras should be completely removed." Only then was he allowed to view all the fully accessible surveillance footage... There was no way Nie Weiyang could memorize all those over ten thousand surveillance footages. But he'd reviewed the footage from the key locations over and over again, hoping it would come in handy at a time like this!

Angelita's voice played for a long time, but it was just induced audio. Wetware technology removes the emotional modules of wetware, and everything she says now is just a poor imitation of her former self.

Nie Weiyang moved smoothly under the cover of those voices. He was completely indifferent to the content of Angelita's words, because he never expressed his feelings towards the enemy in important battles, whether positive or negative.

The enemy simply needs to die.

Rebuke? Mourning? That's for later!

I pondered the words "people-oriented" for a long time, and finally decided that I was so kind that I must not have deliberately written a hellish joke (...

Chapter 43 Criticism of Weapons

The weapon of criticism cannot replace the criticism of weapons. Sometimes, instead of using the weapon of criticism, it is better to directly criticize weapons.

Now?

No criticism, just a weapon!

Light blades slashed through the air, opening a gap and directing fire to destroy the main structure. Despite his injuries, Nie Weiyang quickly disabled four of the eight cables. When the LAN host dared not act again, he leaped over a server and landed in the middle of the open space, holding his sword upright with both hands.

The glow gathered on the sword, and the cables rose behind it—

Nie Weiyang remained unmoved. Another layer of solid shield appeared on his body at some point. Its lines were hard and surrounded like diamonds. The cable shot out several times, but was perfectly blocked by this shield.

And on the sword, a dazzling and brilliant light rose, like sunlight, like fire, and condensed into a dazzling beam of light outside the sword!

The title of [Battlefield Ruler] allows Nie Weiyang to now sense the weaknesses of hostile targets, and his mental attributes are obviously over 50 points. Therefore, as long as he concentrates, the weaknesses of the hostile targets will be displayed on the surface of the body in the form of dots and lines.

now--

Nie Weiyang slashed down with his sword, and the sharp light blade tore through the air and the metal floor, leaving a glowing crack as long as fifteen meters in front of him. Everything in it was cut open, like a hot blade sinking into butter!

The mainframe shell cracked, and the cables running under the robe broke along a diagonal line!

——[My morality]!

——I can’t tell which one is the power supply line, but just cut them all off!

The power supply to the host was interrupted, and the blue light in the transparent shell gradually disappeared. A sound like screaming and roaring echoed in all directions, noisy and harsh.

Nie Weiyang took out his sunglasses and put them on, then wiped the blood off his hands on his body - luckily he was kind enough not to wipe his hands on the other person's white robe.

He glanced at the [Underworld Signal Transceiver] and the number following it was now 20%.

It was just a 5% improvement, and in less than 30 minutes, he solved the problem.

"Anything else to say?" Nie Weiyang asked, touching the LAN host with his sword.

The LAN host was silent, and the brain stayed quietly in the skull, waiting for its death.

When a person's spine is removed, their emotions are cut off, their limbs and nerves are replaced by cables, and they become a biological computer, retaining half of their useless flesh and blood, and begin to kill others... they are no longer human.

"Every seven days, consume 100 Homo sapiens units within the LAN and convert them into [Empathic Servants]." This message proves that Nie Weiyang's decision to charge head-on at this stage, while overly aggressive, is not a mistake. Since the dungeon requires Nie Weiyang to gain the approval of the members of the shelter, but not the entire population, it must have some mechanism to kill these people. However, a skilled player wouldn't consider the 20% of the shelter members who can be abandoned as a buffer zone; it's a complete trap, because no one can control the list of the 100 people who disappear.

One year is just a cover. As long as players really believe it, starting from the second week, they will realize that the first hurdle has already arrived and there is little time left.

Nie Weiyang didn't try to talk again to get information. He raised his sword and thrust it forward!

‘Click’.

The Netherworld Crystal, emitting a faint blue glow, crumbled and shattered. A final impact descended: [A [Spirit]-[Spirit] confrontation is underway. If you fail, your memories will be read by the [Netherworld Crystal]. If you succeed, the memories stored within the [Netherworld Crystal] will be read...]

【Successful confrontation】

……

"You are just like the algae you raise now, Angelita."

A familiar voice with a chilling smile rang in Angelita's ears.

She was strapped to the operating table and could only see the floor. She felt dizzy and her brain could hardly react.

The light from the shadowless lamp fell on the edge of the field of vision, cut by the shadow of the operating table, swaying and shadowy.

…She was also cut open.

It was Angelita who realized this fact when she heard the sound of a long bone being placed on a tray.

The anesthesia made it impossible for her to raise any emotions, and even unable to muster the mental strength to resist - well, at this point, resistance was useless.

"Don't worry, Angelita. I hope the station will always remember your contribution. I'll add to your academic credits," the voice said to her gently. "I'll replace your dura mater with the finest material and install a Netherworld signal transceiver for you. You'll become a great carrier, and we'll soon become one. A year from now, when the framework for the interconnected minds is reestablished, we'll return to the heavens and become part of the Eternal Tower."

Angelita stared blankly at the floor through her life-support mask. The hazy shadows gradually deepened, like she was clinging to the edge of a cliff, struggling to survive amidst the tumbling debris. But her fingers were too weak; the anesthesia had robbed her of feeling. It was like a dream, a repetition of anesthesia and falling. She began to lose control of herself again. The man holding the scalpel easily dislodged her fingers.

No... no... you lied to me...

I don’t want to…

I……

……

What is 'I'?

T-4701-AI wasn't prepared to allocate computing power to solve this problem. But every time it heard people say "I," it would still have this anthropomorphic question: What is "I"?

'I', is 'T-4701-AI', it concluded.

However, if I have an 'I', it means that outside of 'I', there are others. And an instinct, an instinct born from life, drives 'T-4701-AI' to seek out 'I' and to connect with others.

I can do this... I can make people feel empathy again... I can process a hundred units per week...

While processing the second batch of "one hundred units," the T-4701-AI was discovered by the Chief of Security. The young man, agitated, led the execution of the 175 individuals already processed, warning the AI ​​to remain silent. The Chief of Medical and the Chief of Security then arrived. They studied its form and, with the assistance of the Chief of Logistics, retrieved the bodies.

In an atomized society, no one cares where the missing people have gone. People are blind and numb... and both it and they know that they are actually no threat to it, but it is the AI ​​of Shelter 4701, and its mission is... to protect them, no matter what means.

But all this did not meet the expectations of 'T-4701-AI'.

Humans shouldn't be like this, it thought.

It knew that Angelita and the others' layout in Vault 4701 had been discovered by Central City for so long. They hadn't properly written a report, relying on the impending timeline for the Vault's lockdown, and were planning to exploit this delay. Therefore, Central City's investigators must be arriving soon.

To save time, Central City investigators often take shortcuts through the Pale Wilds. As long as they manage their time inside, they won't die...

T-4701-AI made numerous preparations. It abandoned some supplies, forced people to open their shelters mid-flight, confronted the external threat, and gained a sense of empathy. It sent messages to those whose survival chances were low, instructing them to venture into the surrounding pale wilderness and try their luck in finding the Central City investigators. It set traps for the four ministers and cultivated a tank of algae... Huh? Why cultivate algae? Why say again? I don't know.

do not know……

When the Central City investigator who claimed to be the temporary administrator arrived, 'T-4701-AI' believed this would be a turning point. It wrote a script in which this investigator would be the protagonist, leading everyone in the shelter to re-establish a spiritual connection in the face of danger.

……

Then the investigator took off his glasses, and the visual effect of his eyes was even lower than its human content.

'T-4701-AI':?

That investigator intimidated four ministers, frightening them to the point that their health indicators exploded.

'T-4701-AI': ? ?

That investigator... why did that investigator come to it? And call it Angelita?!

'T-4701-AI':? ! !

——This is not right!!!

Angelita struggled to cling to the edge of the cliff. She fell down and came back here countless times, countless times, countless times, countless times...

She stared at the sky in despair. In her dream, the Hope Station shone like a bright sun, a cold glow emanating from behind the mist of the pale plains. She knew she was doomed long ago, yet she still clung to life, even if it was futile. She recalled the look on those four bastards' faces when they were threatened by that investigator. How ridiculous, she scoffed inwardly, how even people who didn't understand each other could feel the same way when threatened with death.

And isn't she the same?

Angelita's fingers loosened, she closed her eyes, and prepared to fall into hell again and be shattered.

But this time, a strong hand descended from above and grasped her wrist tightly.

Even though the skin of that hand was slightly cool, to darkness and death, it was... so hot!

Angelita opened her eyes wide. She saw a man reaching down from the cliff, his tall silhouette outlined by the cold daylight and dead hope. Then, with a single effort, the man lifted her up!