The bomb was in place, and Pei Ran let out a sigh of relief. She no longer needed to run for her life at such a frantic pace. Slowing her steps, she fished out the small round button used to detonate NG_y8 from her pocket.
W reminded her, “Pei Ran, this distance won’t work. It’s too close. You’ll be caught in the explosion. You need to get farther away before detonating it. Also, be prepared—the explosion is very likely to cause the tunnel to collapse.”
He was right. Pei Ran stopped in place, waiting for the tunnel boring machine to move farther ahead.
The Thinker was still clinging to the tail of the tunnel boring machine, struggling.
Compared to the massive tunnel boring machine, it seemed somewhat petite, but it was still a behemoth, standing three to four meters tall.
Its entire body showed no traces of fused biological matter, encased instead in a solid, matte-black metal shell.
Its head was also tightly wrapped, but behind the transparent protective panel, where a camera should have been installed, there was a single, solitary large eye.
It had an eyelid and eyelashes, distinctly human-like, and the eyeball was still moving, making it look extremely eerie.
W calculated, “The distance is about right now.”
Pei Ran moved her thumb to the red part of the small round button, ready to press it.
But suddenly, the tunnel boring machine ahead shuddered.
Its forward speed slowed, as if it had encountered another obstacle and was preparing to drill.
However, with this jolt, the Thinker Intelligent Mobile Combat Center, stuck at its tail, was violently shaken up and down. Its black foot broke free from the tunnel boring machine’s restraint and fell off.
As it fell, the Thinker quickly regained its balance.
Once free, its lower half swiftly merged into a tread-like structure and zoomed toward a nearby side passage.
Its movements were too fast, seamless, and in an instant, it was beyond the ten-meter blast radius of NG_y8.
Pei Ran and W: “…”
The tunnel boring machine, unaware that it had lost something, continued to move forward with great momentum, carrying the bomb and boring through the rock. Meanwhile, the Thinker had left it behind, rushing into the side passage.
The bomb and its target had now gone their separate ways.
Pei Ran immediately sped up, sprinting to the entrance of the side passage. She set W down and assigned tasks: “You go after the Thinker. I’ll retrieve the bomb from the tunnel boring machine.”
W acknowledged, extending two folded arms downward, and began to “run” forward.
He wasn’t as fast as Pei Ran, but at least he could keep up with the Intelligent Mobile Combat Center for now, ensuring it didn’t get away.
Pei Ran continued forward.
The rock ahead seemed a bit tough, not easy to chew through. The tunnel boring machine’s drilling speed had slowed considerably, allowing Pei Ran to finally catch up. She reached out, grabbed the horizontal beam at its tail, and hoisted herself onto the conveyor belt, retrieving the NG_y8.
The tunnel boring machine fusion must also have green light on it, but now is not the time to retrieve its green light. They had to go after the Thinker first.
Before the tunnel boring machine could react, Pei Ran had already jumped off and was retracing her steps.
Turning into the side passage she had just passed, she saw the metal sphere ahead.
This section of the tunnel was no longer illuminated by the tunnel boring machine, so the metal sphere had turned on its large lights.
Its pair of metal claws were propped on the ground, and the joints of its folded arms were oriented opposite to those of a human. As it ran, it bounced up and down, its posture resembling that of a running ostrich. The beam from its searchlight also bounced along with its movements.
If the situation weren’t so urgent, Pei Ran might have laughed.
She quickly caught up to it, scooped it up, and hung it on her body. “Your running posture is really strange.”
W: “…”
W grumbled, “Are you laughing at me? These two folded arms weren’t designed for running in the first place.”
Pei Ran: “I’m not laughing at you. Can’t I say you’re cute?”
W wasn’t fooled by her “cute” comment and remained calm. “I seriously suspect that your ‘cute’ is just a euphemism for ‘funny.’”
He added in a low voice, “I originally had a levitation system. I could fly.”
Unfortunately, that was no longer possible, so he had to obediently hang on her.
The Thinker truly lived up to its name as a “mobile” combat center, moving at a considerable speed and already far ahead.
Pei Ran asked W, “It’s a combat center, but it doesn’t seem to have any weapons of its own. How is it supposed to defend itself?”
Otherwise, it should have at least shot at the tunnel boring machine to free itself.
W said, “It originally did. It was supposed to be equipped with four attachable and detachable armed robots, but the factory hadn’t had time to install them yet.”
Fortunately, they hadn’t gotten around to it.
The Thinker slid to the end of the tunnel, smoothly turned left, and disappeared.
Pei Ran, carrying the metal sphere, quickly chased after it and also turned left.
Suddenly, a strange sight appeared before her eyes.
In the section of the tunnel the Thinker had just passed through, countless points of green light were emerging from the walls.
Its main body soon emerged from the wall.
At its center was an intensely bright mass of green light, so dense that the individual points of light were almost indistinguishable. Extending outward from the center were several broad, luminous spiral arms, also composed of countless scattered green lights.
From the center to the spiral arms, it formed a massive disk, slowly rotating.
The disk-shaped, spiral structure resembled a galaxy composed of green light, its tilted disk illuminating the entire tunnel.
Dozens of kilometers away.
Black Well Base. Command Center Hall.
Marshal Vina and other members of the provisional decision-making committee had left the small meeting room and gathered in the command center hall.
The large screen in the command center was divided into many small grids, originally all displaying the current situation of the northern battlefield. Now, an additional grid had been added, showing the progress of destroying the Thinker in the tunnel.
In the small frame of the feed, a massive vortex of green light appeared.
The vortex was constantly moving, but it came to a halt when its main body filled the entire tunnel.
The tunnel was already over eight to nine meters wide, but the spiral of light was even wider. Parts of its spiral arms extended into the tunnel walls on either side, and the green light points completely ignored the obstruction of the walls, smoothly passing in and out of the rock as it rotated.
Marshal Vina ordered, “Agent W, zoom in on the tunnel footage.”
The image quickly enlarged on the virtual screen, soon occupying the entire display. The bright green light cast a greenish glow on everyone’s faces in the command center.
General Eugene said, “This is…”
W interjected, “…the kind of light vortex we’ve encountered before.”
W continued, “This type of light vortex was first discovered by Dr. Yisi, who was studying the green light of the fused entities. However, the largest vortex he discovered back then was no more than forty centimeters in diameter. It wasn’t until last night, on the northern front, that we first encountered a vortex of this scale.”
This was undoubtedly a colossal entity.
Someone asked, “Is this the same vortex we discovered in the north last night? It seems to be moving.”
W answered truthfully, “I don’t know. The form of the light vortex is constantly changing, and I can’t distinguish between them.”
“This kind of light vortex is malignant,” W said. “According to Dr. Yisi’s research, every point of green light within the vortex can create a frenzied fused entity. No one should ever approach the light vortex.”
Someone remarked, “No wonder there are so many frenzied fused entities around here. It must be the work of the light vortex.”
This thing brought misfortune to anyone who encountered it.
But everyone could see that the Thinker Intelligent Mobile Combat Center had just passed through the tunnel before the light vortex appeared, racing far ahead to the other end of the tunnel.
A small stroke of luck was that this path was a dead end, and the Thinker had stopped at its terminus.
The problem now was that the dangerous light vortex was blatantly blocking the middle of the tunnel, leaving no gaps, making it impossible for Pei Ran to get past and destroy the Thinker.
Someone asked, “What is the effective range of NG_y8?”
W replied, “Ten meters.”
Without needing W to calculate, it was clear that the distance from Pei Ran’s position to the Intelligent Mobile Combat Center was likely over two hundred meters.
General Song Wan immediately said, “Agent W, your patrol robots aren’t human. Is it possible for them to carry NG_y8 through the light vortex?”
W said, “I cannot. Research shows that the light vortex has a significant impact on the core processors of robots. My patrol robots would also be unable to pass through the vortex; they would shut down and become paralyzed while attempting to cross.”
Marshal Vina quickly realized, “What about NG_y8? Will it be affected by the light vortex?”
W answered, “The NG_y8 bomb only has a simple detonation mechanism. It can pass through the light vortex without issue.”
Song Wan pondered, “I wonder if Pei Ran could throw the NG_y8. She has a special mechanical arm, so her throwing distance should be much greater than that of an average woman.”
W: “In terms of throwing, NG_y8 is quite heavy. I’ve checked the parameters of Pei Ran’s mechanical arm. Her throwing motion is limited by the human shoulder’s range. It’s estimated she could throw it over 120 meters, but that’s still not enough.”
Marshal Vina frowned, continuing to brainstorm solutions. “What if we used a drone to transport the bomb over?”
W reminded her, “Our drones are also equipped with AI core processors. They would be similarly affected by the light vortex.”
Marshal Vina understood. “So what we need is a device without an AI operating system, something very simple in structure, like a child’s toy car powered solely by electricity, to pass through the vortex and deliver the NG_y8.”
She was absolutely correct.
“Exactly,” W said. “I’ve already ordered the smart robots in the Black Well weapons modification workshop to create such a device. It’s now completed, and I’m deploying a drone to transport it over.”
The only issue was that navigating the maze-like underground tunnels to reach Pei Ran’s location would take some time.
Dozens of kilometers away.
Underground tunnel.
Pei Ran stared in amazement at the massive galaxy of green light before her.
“What is this thing?”
W warned her, his voice unusually serious. “Pei Ran, do not approach.”
“This thing is what we call a light vortex,” W explained. “Simply put, it’s a manufacturing center for frenzied fusion entities. Last night, we discovered a giant light vortex. A major who accidentally got too close absorbed a large amount of green light and turned into a horrifying frenzied fusion entity.”
Pei Ran glanced at the Thinker, spinning in place at the far end of the tunnel, then turned her gaze back to the massive rotating green light.
She asked, “How horrifying?”
“Within a few hours of absorbing the green light, he began acting strangely at the temporary medical station on the battlefield. He lost his mind and turned into a frenzied fused entity. He frantically absorbed everything around him—hospital beds, chairs, tables, medical equipment, doctors, nurses, and several soldiers who came to assist. Everything became part of his body.”
Pei Ran asked, “What happened after that?”
“We already knew how to deal with frenzied fused entities. Before he could continue growing uncontrollably into a chaotic behemoth, we completely destroyed him, along with his mutated heart.”
He warned again, “Pei Ran, so don’t touch that thing.”
However, the green lights inside Pei Ran’s body had a different opinion.
From the moment the light vortex appeared, Green Light No. 1, which had been impossible to wake earlier, was now fully awake. Green Light No. 2 and No. 3 were also excited, the three light points frantically darting around inside Pei Ran, overwhelmed with excitement.
Food! Food!! Food!!!
They were fervently communicating their desire to Pei Ran.
Pei Ran thought to herself: Can you really digest this thing??
They didn’t care.
They just kept repeating: Hungry! Hungry!! Hungry!!!
But hunger wasn’t a reason to act recklessly.
Pei Ran asked W, “You can’t approach the light vortex either, right? If you could, you would’ve already taken the bomb over.”
W: “Yes, the core processors of artificial intelligence are severely affected. Robots would be paralyzed.”
Pei Ran: Robots would be paralyzed if they passed through the light vortex?
That’s perfect.
She immediately started waving frantically at the Thinker on the other side of the green light, jumping up and down, trying to attract its attention.
The Thinker was an AI robot, and of course, it had a core processor inside. When it had passed through the tunnel earlier, the light vortex hadn’t appeared yet. If she could lure it to turn back and pass through the vortex again, it might get paralyzed, and all problems would be solved.
W: “…”
W: “Pei Ran, it’s a fusion entity. The light vortex might not affect it.”
Pei Ran continued waving and jumping desperately. “Let’s try. We won’t know unless we try.”
What if it worked?
Unfortunately, the Thinker, despite having a large human-like eye, seemed blind and utterly uninterested in appreciating her dust-covered beauty. It didn’t even glance her way, just kept spinning in place at the end of the tunnel, desperately looking for a way to keep moving forward.
Pei Ran had no choice but to calm down and think of another solution.
She observed the shape of the massive light vortex, pondering, “W, look at the position of the vortex. The brightest part at the center seems slightly tilted to the upper left. So if we dig along the right side, close to the wall, we might be able to create a path free of green light.”
W was speechless. “You want to dig a path? Do you think you’re a tunnel boring machine?”
Pei Ran glanced at his folded arms.
“Your two claws, plus my mechanical hand, might just do the trick.”
When he had dug her out of the dirt pile earlier, his claws had moved incredibly fast. If they worked at that speed, they might be able to dig a crawlable passage to the side.
W could only provide the data: “I’ve already dispatched a simple electric cart via drone. It’s estimated to take about thirty minutes to locate us in the tunnel. With only thirty minutes, there’s no way the two of us can dig a passage. It’s a waste of effort.”
He added, “Besides, there’s a chance the light vortex might move before the drone arrives.”
The light vortex could move, so there was a real possibility of that happening.
Once the light vortex moved out of the way, they could simply go over and destroy the Thinker.