Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 916: Chapter 22: Battle in the Meteorite Belt (Part 1)

The race pursuing death is mostly information species.

When other races die, they are truly dead. Very few civilized races have multiple life options.

After all, not everyone can be the 4th Celestial Calamity.

And for species on the information side, death has another name—it’s called ’version update’.

In the Cyber Test Field, technologies like ’virtual personality’ and ’consciousness duplication’ can indeed be considered a form of ’version update’.

Such technologies are generally classified as ’forbidden technologies’ in most civilizations, also known as 404 technologies, because they involve species transformation.

This is a domain that only Ascension Technology can delve into.

That’s why when Gao Gong entered the relic, he speculated it was a relic of an information species.

However, after truly entering the relic, Gao Gong overturned his previous thought.

The blue-skinned, fish-gilled humanoid statue not far away is called Aidan, a standard ocean lifeform.

His method of suicide involved pulling out his blue gills, causing him to suffocate to death.

And the cloaked masked man who committed seppuku with a lightsaber beside him is a standard member of the Jedi Race, a civilized race skilled in close combat with lightsabers, also known as Cosmic Swordman.

The statue resembling a ’blue fungus’ species, although Gao Gong didn’t recognize it, he speculated, based on the faint aura emanating from the tops of its tentacles, that it might be a lifeform similar to ’Brain-in-a-Vat’.

Not only are their methods of death different, their species are different too.

So Gao Gong overturned his previous conclusion once again.

"These statues—"

Gao Gong pondered.

These aren’t simple statues; because through instinct as a high-tier carbon-based species, Gao Gong felt the presence of different species’ aura from them.

This aura makes them feel as if they were once living, breathing beings.

Gao Gong turned to Emville, who seemed lost in thought, and asked, "Scholar Emville, did you notice anything?"

"From what I know, this is probably the work of the notorious interstellar terrorists in the Robert Star System, the ’Liberation Association’."

"Liberation Association?" Gao Gong rubbed his chin.

The name doesn’t sound very serious.

But upon hearing the name, Vervi also showed a look of astonishment, with a hint of fear in his eyes, clearly having heard of the Liberation Association.

As Emville continued to introduce, Gao Gong gradually understood the main project of this terrorist organization.

"...In other words, this Liberation Association believes that the universe is virtual, and all human sensations are simulated by machines. Only through death can one achieve the most complete reality?"

What is this? Lacking the fate of a player but inheriting the player’s ailment?

"This is the doctrine of the ’Liberation Association,’" Emville nodded, "This organization spreads ’liberation thoughts’ across different planets, calling for various civilized species to venture deep into the universe for ’complete liberation’. Many suspect it’s merely an excuse for their ’interstellar species trade’."

"In our circle, we frequently receive slave acquisition tasks under the name of the ’Liberation Association’. Unfortunately, with our Star Thief Gang’s strength, it’s difficult to snatch these premium tasks," Vervi chimed in.

At this point, Vervi looked yearningly, rumored that the ’Liberation Association’ is a very reliable party, dispensing payment swiftly.

"What are these then?"

Gao Gong pointed to the statues and asked.

"This is a liberation ritual, completing the last step of ’ultimate liberation’. These statues, in life, were living beings."

Gao Gong gazed at the statues, feeling it wasn’t quite so simple. An idea struck him, and he switched to a virtual field of view. Sure enough, bizarre virtual symbols were engraved on the surface of these statues. The symbols appeared like code, yet also resembled oracle bone script. Staring at them caused a slight pain in his psyche, like being pricked by a needle.

[You have been attacked by the ’Level 1 Liberation Code’, Mental -50, Duration: 10 planetary hours]

Level 1 Code, isn’t that open-source coding? Can this thing be open-sourced?

Gao Gong suspected that the previous players who perished were mostly affected by this code interference.

"Move these statues back."

Casually assigning a transportation task to nearby players, Gao Gong then looked at the two, smiling, "Both of you are well-experienced individuals. You must properly introduce the forces and organizations of this Robert Star System to me."

It turns out that both ’interstellar archaeologist’ and ’star thief leader’ are industries adept at dealing with different forces, and they share an unexpected similarity. For instance, archaeologists deal with the dead and treasures, while star thieves are responsible for turning the living into the dead and extracting treasures from the dead. Although the processes differ, the end goal is the same.

This typical star thief rhetoric made the normally good-tempered Emville scholar roll his eyes uncontrollably whenever he saw Vervi.

Organizations like the ’Liberation Association,’ which have been operating as a terrorist organization for many years, are still rare. The recently popular interstellar terrorist organizations, such as the ’Reversalist Group,’ ’Probability Theory Association,’ and ’Physical Ascension Faction,’ are emerging groups even Emville is not familiar with.

But Vervi knows more about star thief organizations between the third and eighth stellar vortexes, which is the primary reason Gao Gong hasn’t eliminated the opponent.

With this inside informant for the star thieves, Du Gao Technology can continuously harvest wild creatures.

...

Two days later, Gao Gong was standing on a meteorite, watching Vervi and a biomechanical armor engage in close combat within the meteorite belt with great interest.

Speaking of biomechanical armor, it has become Du Gao Technology’s top拳 product nowadays, extremely challenging to mass-produce, with mecha counts never exceeding three digits.

The integration of ’AT Force Field,’ ’S-Level Biological Chip,’ ’Polymer Metal Heart,’ and ’Soul Technology,’ these top-tier corporate assets, further enhance the technological content of these super mechas. Both biological energy and mechanical energy simultaneously soared to 12 million.

This is an exaggerated number, something only comparable to tier 3 top-level soldier species.

And Vervi is no weakling either.

Saying no weak is actually an understatement. This former workplace of the star thief leader was none other than the ’Shrek Star Thief Group,’ which claimed to be the top star thief gang in the Robert Star System.

The internal system of this super star thief gang is extremely brutal, survival of the fittest, where the weak are preyed upon by the strong. Being able to survive in it, and moreover, after the ’Shrek Group’ was annihilated, still managing well, is definitely not simple.

Surviving may be his lifestyle, but it doesn’t represent the level of his strength.

And indeed, the facts confirm this.

Even without taking into account his three templates, this star thief leader’s biological energy reaches 9 million, and his physical toughness is infinitely close to an S-Level Radiation Beast.

And once he enters ’Blue Blood Demon’ mode, his biological energy can even soar to 15 million.

At this moment, in the void, two hundred-meter-tall monsters were fighting intensely. One of them was the biomechanical armor, designed as the ’Doomsday Black Emperor.’ On its domineering mechanical shell, every inch was roaring. Gun ports emerged from the shoulders, flanks, and thighs, with beams several meters thick hardly ever ceasing their roaring.

Compared to the palm-sized X-shaped carbon atom reactors, the ’X’ on the biomechanical armor is several dozen meters long. Blue energy roared continuously within the reactor, and without the vast amounts of energy ore mined from the asteroid belt, it would be impossible to allow its firepower to be fully unleashed.

After all, the higher the level of the mecha, the greater its energy consumption.

Opposing it stood a hundred-meter-tall blue blood demon, with horns several meters thick swirling with spiral patterns. In its hand was a bone-forged giant saber nearly fifty meters long.

Advanced carbon-based species can freely alter the size and distance between atoms. While this ability serves purposes besides inappropriate coupling scenarios, it mainly adapts to various interstellar combat environments.

However, though transformation is simple, finding similarly transformable melee weapons is challenging.

At this time, in the blue blood demon’s hand was a bone knife ablaze with blue flames, whose intensity subtly distorted the surrounding space.

Strangely enough, although it took the shape of a knife, its handle, blade, back, and tip flashed with sharp radiance. But in Gao Gong’s eyes, this was nothing short of a complete combat organism.

"Accompanying biological weapon?"

An intrigued glimmer flashed in Gao Gong’s eyes.

This is comparable to biological chips in biotechnology, and moreover, the marvelous aspect is that biological chips must match the biological level. Excessively high chip levels can cause matched ’humanoid biological hardware’ to explode, while accompanying biological weapons can exceed the biological level.

For instance, this combat species called ’Shrek Devil Fish’ surpasses Vervi’s level 84, reaching level 87.

Its attack equals the combined strike of two advanced carbon-based creatures, reaching a staggering 400,000. Within just 10 minutes, the alloy saber crafted from the hardest metal discovered in the asteroid belt, ’crystal quartz core rock,’ was chopped into two pieces.

Vervi gasped heavily, spraying a powerful energy mist from his mouth, then revealed a proud expression.

Although circumstances were tougher than expected, he subdued the opponent. But after all, he was stronger than a ’mass-produced advanced battle unit.’

However, unexpectedly, after losing its melee weapon, the biomechanical armor did not lose its fighting ability but instead became wilder in combat style. The energy cannons retracted, and the reactor at its chest, adapted for mech designs, shone brightly. Simultaneously, blood and flesh spewed from its two mechanical arms and two legs, covering the metal, emulating muscle dragons and snakes. As the ’dragon snake mouths’ opened, they revealed tank-sized energy spray ports. From wrist to upper arm, nearly 20 ’tank energy spray ports’ simultaneously emitted engine roars, and the thick mechanical arm unbelievably punched out at supersonic speed.

Vervi failed to notice for a moment and was punched directly in the face, sending his hulking body like a meteor straight into a meteor mountain tens of kilometers away, causing it to collapse in place, shattering into bits, and scattering residual fragments in all directions.

"Damn!!"

Vervi climbed up with a swollen face, grimacing, as blue blood ran down his nose.

"Haha, haha, Vervi, trash! Trash!"

A large mouth squeezed from the back of the blue biological saber, mockingly smiling at the opponent without holding back.

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