Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 196 Infiltration
According to Jin Zhong, the Great Library is an independent building located on the east side of the Mechanicus Temple.

This building is divided into three floors. The first floor is a relatively open historical and cultural material floor, which is accessible to all soldiers of the Templar Guards Brigade.

Continuing down, there are the confidential layer and the top secret layer, which store the most secret knowledge and the least known intelligence of the Mechanicus.

Generally speaking, only religious personnel at the level of archbishops can enter the second floor, and only successive saints, namely the black archbishops, can enter the third floor.

If the Adeptus Mechanicus did preserve knowledge about the Beast Tide, then there is no doubt that this knowledge and records would be placed on the third layer.

How to enter the third level has become the immediate difficulty.

He Shuo and his companions could certainly rely on force to break through the defenses of the library, blow up the door and rush in directly.

But such behavior is tantamount to declaring war, which will inevitably touch the bottom line of the Mechanicus and trigger an unexpected battle.

Once the war begins, it is impossible to stop in the short term.

For the Chinese army, victory was within reach, but the consumption of personnel and weapons, the energy required to maintain a huge city, and dealing with the backlash from religious fanatics were all quite troublesome problems.

Therefore, before his team is strong enough and ideological transformation has not achieved the predetermined goals, He Shuo still plans to avoid war as much as possible.

His plan was simple. Jin Zhong would bring the ultra-quiet hummingbird drone and micro base station to the first floor, and then wait for an opportunity to follow the black cardinal or the "saint" Jin Cheng into the lower floors.

He was not worried at all about not getting the chance.

The logic is very clear.

If the Adeptus Mechanicus is indeed trying to trigger a beast tide, then they must need a lot of data to support their actions.

It is necessary to enter the so-called "big library" for consultation. It is even possible that they will take the relevant materials out of the big library and use them directly as reference for combat operations.

This is your chance.

Of course, as Zeng Yi said, if he didn't wait for this opportunity and the plan failed, He Shuo would not be without new alternative plans.

Zhang Tao is a breakthrough, and the multiple unmanned combat units in his hands are another breakthrough.

With multiple lines of work running in parallel, He Shuo did not feel that it would be difficult to get the information he wanted.

All he had to do was wait.
-
And Jincheng didn't let him wait too long.

At 8 o'clock that night, He Shuo received a signal that the drone had been activated.

Afterwards, Jin Zhong’s nervous face appeared on the image sent back by the drone.

At the same time, faint sounds of conversation and chanting from the library were heard through the microphone carried by the drone.

"The soul of light leaping in the copper veins
Weaving the fragments of the star map into a holy book.
Deciphering the ancient echoes
To guide stray currents back to the right path.
Give us the key to communicate with the machine spirit
Laying the track of truth in chaos"

"The three saints forged together, the machine body is immortal
The three saints have the same origin, and all things return to one"

Zeng Yi listened carefully to the prayer. After a moment, he said in astonishment:
"Could it be that the 'Holy Trinity' of the Mechanicus refers to three different elements?"

"They've mentioned steam, gunpowder, and now electricity."

"What do you mean, the 'three' in the Holy Trinity refers to these three powers?"

He Shuo on the side nodded slightly, and then said:
“I’m afraid this is what fundamentalists believe in.”

"It's just that in recent decades, the Holy Trinity has been deified and has become a unified entity."

"Tsk, what is this Trinity religious concept?"

"It seems that what Zhang Tao said is right. The entire Mechanicus is heading towards a twisted path."

"Don't worry about this for now."

He Shuo slightly adjusted the drone's joystick, controlling the Hummingbird ultra-micro silent drone to slightly tilt its axis, sending a "ready" signal to Jin Zhong.

Jin Zhong seemed to be startled by the drone's sudden movement, but he quickly calmed down, carefully picked up the drone, and put it in a position where it would be easier to take off.

He hid the drone base station in a secluded corner and covered it with a lot of debris.

Everything was ready, and He Shuo immediately operated the drone to take off.

A moment later, the layout of the entire first floor of the library was clearly visible in the drone footage.

This is a large space that looks like an ordinary library. Even the bookshelves look like large alloy bookshelves moved from some library.

However, what was placed on the bookshelves were not the various types of books commonly seen in libraries of their time, but a large number of religious books of repetitive types.

Doctrines, scriptures, standard prayers, books of praise, and "teaching picture books" that have obviously been deleted or even changed.

The camera kept zooming in, scanning the books spread out on the table in the dim light, and the contents on the books made He Shuo frown.

"This is a textbook on ballistics."

“The basic content is correct, but it has definitely been modified.”

“The formulas are all correct, but the complex calculations are gone.”

"These people are trying to simplify the calculations. No wonder they are missing the target."

"Electric Oracle? Holy crap."

"The Adeptus Mechanicus indeed still retains a great deal of knowledge, but it is a pity that it is completely distorted knowledge."

"So was it that religion came first and then knowledge was distorted, or was it that religion came after knowledge was distorted?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zeng Yi's eyes changed.

He had actually seen similar books.

Although the content is not the same, the way of "distorting knowledge" is exactly the same!
"It should be the latter."

Zeng Yi said in a heavy tone:
"I have also seen similar things in the library of the Holy Blood Basilica. At that time, I thought these things were passed down from before the Cataclysm."

"But after seeing the real books at Fortifications 7025 and 011, I realized that it was not the case at all."

"It seems that someone has deliberately modified the knowledge?"

"What is their purpose for doing this?"

"do not know."

He Shuo shook his head and replied:
"But if that's the case, then it's a serious problem."

"Who did this and what was their purpose in doing this?"

"The history of more than 300 years after the end of the world is not that simple. If you want to find the answer..."

"We need to find a record-taker who has never been interrupted."

"Mountain City."

Zeng Yi understood and spoke, while He Shuo nodded silently.

At this moment, the prayers on the first floor of the Great Library suddenly stopped, and then everyone left the Great Library one after another.

"It's time."

He Shuo said:

"The drone returns to the base station to charge and wait."

"Not yet!"

Zeng Yi interrupted He Shuo and then said:

"Someone's coming in."

"Captain, the camera is tilted to the left."

"clear."

He Shuo took action immediately, and when the camera finished focusing, the figure who walked into the library appeared in front of the two of them.

"Jincheng!" At this time, the third underground floor of the Great Library.

Jin Cheng sat relaxedly on his own wooden armchair, exhaled frequently, and then said to the black-robed archbishop beside him:
"Now, only here can I really speak without any scruples."

"Hiding and performing are more difficult and tiring than managing an entire church."

"Even in the cathedral, facing other bishops, I dare not relax for a moment."

"I have to pretend to be working closely with those heretics all the time, and even publicize their achievements to those believers who don't understand."

“It makes me sick.”

"What's even more offensive is that they are even questioning me."

"Especially the so-called 'loyalists' who are always clamoring to end negotiations with the heretics and to completely break off relations with them."

"Are these people all idiots?"

"Don't they understand the principle of keeping a low profile?"

"The enemy is strong and we are weak. Before we truly have the cards that can compete with the enemy, what capital do we have to be 'tough'?"

"I even suspected that those people had bad intentions and were just trying to shake my control over the church."

After Jin Cheng finished speaking, the black-robed archbishop beside him nodded first, then spoke with a little hesitation:
"Perhaps, they are just doing this out of their faith in the Holy Trinity."

"They are not in your position, so they don't have to consider the issues you consider."

"They only see the heresy's blasphemy against the Holy Trinity, but not the compromise you made for your faith."

"But it doesn't matter, history will prove everything."

"When the heresy is destroyed and the religion survives, they will realize the great merit you have made."

"I hope so."

Jin Cheng nodded slowly, then said:
"No matter what, unless it's here, you must always be 'respectful' to those heretics."

"They monitor the entire city. Even the slightest abnormality will be discovered quickly by them."

"Once our true intentions are exposed, the entire religion will face a huge disaster."

“Don’t say the wrong thing, don’t do the wrong thing, and through all the orders you give, there must also be a reasonable explanation.”

"The disaster caused by the 12th Guards Brigade in Jurong Town is already a warning. Have you thought about how to explain it?"

"I have drafted a report and am preparing to submit it to the Huaxia Army's office in Jinling City."

The Archbishop replied:

"I explained the Guards' motives for attacking the monsters, focusing on why they gave up on entering the city and why they temporarily engaged in a battle with the monsters."

"This is actually the biggest doubt - I believe that the Chinese army has also noticed this doubt."

"But we have very good reasons."

"Yanling City, where the 12th Guards Brigade is located, was indeed attacked by monsters, and their return route also coincided with the route the monsters took."

"We can explain this incident as an emergency rescue. If we have sufficient evidence, we should be able to convince them."

"very good."

Jin Cheng thought for a moment, then said:
"Add one more item to the report."

"Request the Chinese Army to send reinforcements to assist in receiving the affected refugees."

"This will make our actions more credible, and on the other hand, it will also be an opportunity to consume their energy."

"There are quite a few refugees, but they are only a little over a hundred."

“I believe that they cannot easily solve the problem of refugees.”

"As you wish."

The archbishop bowed slightly, while Jincheng sat up straight and opened a heavy book that had been opened in front of him.

After quietly flipping through a few pages, he continued:
"The records left over from more than a hundred years ago are still too vague. Even with the oral accounts of successive saints, it is still not easy to figure out the pattern of the beast tide."

"But at least we can be sure that the beast tide is indeed on the verge of an outbreak."

"The death of a level 2 monster has left the entire Jinling Ruins in a vacuum state. Next, more monsters will migrate in this direction."

"We need to add fuel to the fire, but how to do it is still a problem."

"Jin Feng, what do you think?"

"I don't know much about it."

The Archbishop sighed, shook his head and said:

“Perhaps the safest approach is to continue with the current plan.”

"The rise of the beast tide has many different stages. At present, it has not even met the conditions for the first stage."

“It is better to wait patiently than to act blindly.”

"We should finish what we can do, and leave the rest to time."

"Indeed."

Jin Cheng smiled helplessly and leaned back in his chair.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked again:
"Do you think that the beast tide can really wipe out this heresy completely?"

“Although I know that the beast tide is extremely powerful, I still feel a little uneasy.”

"The greatest strength of these Chinese troops lies not in their combat effectiveness, but in their potential."

"They know so much that even we cannot understand."

"An intelligent machine controlled by a machine spirit, a powerful weapon capable of long-range strikes."

"If these things develop to the extreme, perhaps there will be a beast tide."

"Don't worry, my lord."

The Archbishop interrupted Jin Cheng for the first time, and then said comfortingly:

"The beast tide will completely destroy their machine souls, just like what happened to those mimic heretics in Chang'an City."

"Without the assistance of the machine spirit, how much combat power do they still have?"

"Their fate will not be much better than that of the Mimic Heretics. It may even be worse."

"Those mimic heretics also rely on machine souls, but they are not completely dependent on machine souls like them."

"Don't worry, sir."

"They won't live long."

“Maybe they don’t understand why we chose this path.”

"But if any of them survive, perhaps they will choose to join the Holy Trinity."

"I hope so."

Jincheng answered.

He exhaled slowly, then stood up and walked towards the exit of the third floor of the library.

Behind him, the book that recorded the "Beast Tide" 150 years ago was still spread out on the table.

Perhaps, he would never have thought that less than 3 meters above his head, there was a small "hummingbird" hovering quietly.
(End of this chapter)