Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 915: Chapter 21: Strange Ruins

Emmett Protozoa, an extremely rare ’reproductive-type’ Information Life.

Generally speaking, Information Life is difficult to classify from the perspective of Carbon-Based Creatures; it is more about virtuality than biological nature. This ’virtuality’ is somewhat akin to the ’Authority’ of Big Data Life, except this ’Authority’ no longer relies on the Cyber Network but is based on their own life structure.

In other words, ’reproductive-type’ Information Life truly can reproduce infinitely—at least until being suppressed by similar adversaries.

For instance, Gao Yuanyuan.

As for how Vervi acquired this Tier 3 Information Life, it was through a chance encounter during his tenure with a previous employer. After forming the Vervi Star Thief Group, this Emmett Protozoa has helped him through numerous crises, even including several significant life-threatening situations.

Even the top Cyber Hackers find it quite troublesome to solve the problem of massive garbage data output, as this is not simply a mountain of code but countless mountains of code.

As a seasoned virtual tester, Gao Gong expressed empathy in this regard.

However, Gao Yuanyuan was quite happy, casually summoning a caterpillar that burrowed into the screen, crawling back and forth on her hands. Her boss template, ’Hyperlink Girl,’ can link to any Information Life, and for Information Life like Emmett Protozoa that hasn’t birthed an AI, this link is equivalent to a master acknowledgment protocol, bypassing Vervi’s control methods to sign a direct agreement with the other party.

Gao Gong looked at the screen, stroked his chin, and suddenly said, "Have you recently made a breakthrough?"

Gao Yuanyuan exclaimed in surprise, "How did you know, brother?"

It turns out Gao Yuanyuan went from a Planet-level Cyber Network into the narrow shipboard database, feeling as if she had fallen from a villa into a confinement chamber. Moreover, the hardware limitations affected her created virtual realm, ’13-Layered Space,’ where most functions were shut down, adding insult to injury.

However, Gao Yuanyuan is a strong girl; under the confines of the Little Black Room, she started making the most of her limitations. It’s not entirely a bad thing, though. As she attempted to switch the bottom code of the virtual world from the Mother City’s standard to her own, naturally her coding ability improved, gradually integrating the Planet Host’s underlying architecture and Gao Gong’s teachings into her own skills.

Thus, following the ’Virtual Protocol,’ ’Hyperlink Girl,’ and ’Cyber Engine’ boss templates, a new boss template was spontaneously generated—called ’Information Space-Time.’

The strength of this boss template far exceeds the previous three, and the first feature, ’Progress Bar Time,’ alone was sufficient to make Vervi, the seasoned veteran, surrender voluntarily.

Progress Bar Time: Embedding virtual code into the Void to create a large-scale Local Area Network, where the pace of time can be adjusted within this network.

This is not merely manipulating various sensations of organisms, but genuinely controlling time, akin to temporarily creating an embedded page in the real world. Although temporary, the effect is incredibly powerful.

For instance, the reason Vervi did not enter the battlefield promptly was that his perception of time was one hundred times faster than the normal starry sky’s passage.

But this was no illusion; those five planetary times truly vanished from his life.

He lost a small portion of his lifespan.

If Gao Yuanyuan wished, she could easily cause the opponent to lose more lifespan, such as ten years or a hundred years. Unless they belonged to the Longevity Species of the universe, opposing her would be an act of self-harm for any race.

That’s the advantage of Information Life; waves and electromagnetic waves travel at light-speed in a vacuum, so Information Life can approach light-speed and the time rules at light-speed earlier than other technological routes.

For instance, Gao Gong enters the Biomechanical Unity mode, only then barely touching light-speed’s edge, whereas Gao Yuanyuan can enter the true Information Light-Speed channel if she wishes.

This is not due to a unique trait of his sister, but a characteristic exclusive to Information Life.

However, the issue is that once Gao Yuanyuan enters light-speed mode and emerges, the ’Gao Yuanyuan’ who returns is no longer the same Gao Yuanyuan; her original personality will be 100% worn down.

This is also a feature of Information Life—faster information leads to more unstable life characteristics.

From Gao Gong’s perspective, this newly evolved ’boss’ template is quite likely the reward for establishing a virtual alliance.

Just like Gao Gong’s ’Alliance Panel,’ where every 50,000 increase in reputation adds a boss panel.

Although Gao Yuanyuan doesn’t have a panel, the principle is similar. The feedback from evolving the virtual realm ultimately benefits her.

’Brother, I plan to use this ’Emmett Protozoa’ as the core to create my own Planet-level Firewall.’

Such a statement suddenly rang out beside Gao Gong’s ears.

In front of outsiders, Gao Yuanyuan does not like to talk much; after saying a couple of simple sentences, she dives back into the screen. Soon after, Vervi realizes all his Star Thief Ships have become uncontrollable, and any clever thoughts he originally had quickly sobered up a bit.

Gao Gong then strolled around the ship, chatting with Vervi about the local power configuration. Just as they got to the location of the Asteroid Belt near the Three-Ring Stellar Vortex’s Planet-level Civilization, footsteps sounded behind them. They turned to find the giant insect Emville approaching.

"Emville Scholar," Gao Gong casually greeted.

"General," Emville followed the Spark Mechanisms in calling him General, which has since become Gao Gong’s new title across the interstellar space.

Vervi remained silent, trailing behind Gao Gong, devoid of his previous arrogance as the Star Thief Leader.

Emville curiously glanced at Vervi but did not display any disdain due to his Star Thief status, since the profession of Archaeologist naturally involves interacting with various underground forces across the cosmos; moral cleanliness wouldn’t work.

And most importantly, the Vervi Star Thief Gang was not the same Star Thief Gang as the Shrek Star Thief Gang that initially attacked him.

"Scholar, why have you come here, also to visit?" Gao Gong asked.

"Not at all," Emville respectfully replied, "It’s the relic on the dwarf planet discovered by the General’s men, and I would like to invite the General to witness it together."

Relic?

Upon hearing this, Gao Gong became somewhat interested and nodded, "Then let’s have a look."

The three all possess the ability of vacuum flight, among which Emville’s way of flying is the most special. Its other parts rapidly shrink, transforming from a human-like insect into a creature whose head remains normal but the rest of its body is no bigger than a palm, sliding through the vacuum as if its head was placed on an invisible slide.

As a member of the Super Memory Civilization, Emville’s neural system is the most developed and crucial, while other parts are inconsequential—after all, everything aside from the brain can regrow through ’mitosis’.

Vervi, intrigued by this peculiar sight, couldn’t help but approach to greet, and Emville started conversing with them, lamenting during the chat:

"Back then, I was forced into slumber due to an attack by Star Thief Group, and it was the General who woke me up."

"Which unscrupulous Star Thief Group dared to attack a renowned archaeologist like yourself, it’s outrageous!"

Vervi exclaimed in righteous indignation, aware that they typically only raided civilian ships, deliberately avoiding research archaeologist ships, mainly because there’s typically backing behind such ships.

Of course, this didn’t stop him from buttering up.

"During those chaotic times, I can’t recall exactly who attacked me, but I remember a huge black cruiser and a Skull Mountain emblem; the enemy was adept at using phase cannon attacks," Emville said with a reminiscent expression, oblivious to Vervi’s increasingly awkward expression.

"I remember they were called the Shrek Star Thief Group."

"Uh—"

"Why so agitated?" Emville asked puzzled.

Vervi responded awkwardly, "The previous Star Thief Group I was in was the Shrek Star Thief Group."

"..."

The trio quickly arrived near the ’Dwarf Planet Stonehenge’, where numerous players were already wandering around the perimeter, though the entrance was thoroughly guarded by a dozen biomechanical armors and a heap of Spark mechanisms, completely inaccessible.

Seeing these top-notch mechanical bodies, Vervi’s expression changed again. The towering and bizarre human-form machines each gave him a strong sense of threat.

He felt that even if he activated ’Devil’ mode, he probably couldn’t handle five of them.

Thus, he became more restrained.

"Based on my archaeological experience, generally speaking, there will be defenses left by civilized technology within these ruins, making the first wave of entrants the most dangerous," Emville warned.

Gao Gong uttered an ’Oh’ and casually pointed, causing hundreds of surrounding players to immediately receive the ’explore ruins’ task and cheerfully rush in.

"..."

Emville held deep admiration for the General’s skill at manipulating minds.

Soon after, Gao Gong noticed the rapidly declining numbers on the Alliance Panel’s task bar.

96/120

83/120

67/120

...

From within the group of players Gao Gong had infiltrated, cries erupted.

’Damn, I got strangled!’

’I got shot in the head.’

’I got dismembered.’

’Damn, who’s the sicko using a red-hot steel bar to explode my backside! Lucky my pain setting is at the lowest, haha, it feels kind of good.’

’The one above is the real big boss!’

’Admirable, admirable.’

’Remarkable!’

...

Gao Gong quietly indulged in the spectacle, quickly piecing together the truth of the ruins from the players’ scattered words.

The ruins are filled with various stone statues, each representing a civilization race, from carbon-based to mechanical, and even energy creatures, with everything included.

Each statue symbolizes a way to die.

Whenever a player approaches, it triggers this ’death rule’, causing them to mysteriously perish.

Notably, after dying once, the ’death rule’ automatically disappears.

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