Survival on the Internet: A Bizarre Start at Sea

The movements of the three guardian puppets froze briefly under the impact of the emotional fluctuations.

Their scarlet electronic eyes flashed wildly, and a faint, grinding sound, like gears jamming and being forced to turn, emanated from within.

The swords held high by the sword guards hung suspended in mid-air.

The chainsaw, its blades roaring, suddenly slowed to a stop.

The white light emanating from the gunner's muzzle flickered intermittently.

A faint, distorted whisper, seemingly from an extremely distant place and intermittently accompanied by electrical static, entered Su Zhisu's senses:

"Sizzle...pain...bitterness..."

"Remove...it...sizzle..."

"Release...Nourish...Escape..."

"really!"

A glint flashed in Su Zhisu's eyes.

"The cores of these puppets have been infused with 'soul fragments' by Amadeus!"

"They are not purely mechanical creations, but special alchemical creations possessing incomplete souls!"

"That's why we react to emotional impacts that directly affect the soul!"

"Chance!"

He pushed off with his feet and shot out like lightning!

【The Scimitar Towards the Storm】, carrying the eerie blue flames of the Night Watcher, takes the lead and heads towards 【The Artilleryman】, whose movements are most obviously stiff!

A flash of light!

"Sizzle!"

The burning blade precisely sliced ​​into the junction between the raised energy cannon barrel and the shoulder of the gunner!

The Night Watcher's Flame surged wildly through the incision, scorching the intricate energy circuits and the faint echo of the soul within.

The massive body of the artilleryman trembled violently, the white light from the muzzle completely dissipated, the red light in his eyes rapidly dimmed, and he collapsed to the ground with a "boom," billowing black smoke.

At this moment, Jianwei and Juren had only just barely recovered from the emotional shock.

But Su Zhisu had already moved close to the side of the saw blade like a ghost.

The scimitar drew a strange arc, dodging the wildly swinging chainsaws, and pierced directly into the energy core shell in its chest cavity!

"Snap!"

The outer casing is cracked!

The saw blade emitted a sharp screech, like metal tearing apart, and the chainsaw drooped limply, collapsing heavily to its knees.

The last remaining swordsman gripped his sword with both hands and, with a resolute momentum, slashed down fiercely at Su Zhisu!

Su Zhisu neither dodged nor evaded, but channeled his strange power into his legs, and with a sudden burst of energy, he lunged forward, narrowly missing the massive blade!

At the same time, he swung his sword upwards from below, aiming at the sword guard's arm joint holding the sword!

"clang!"

Sparks flew everywhere!

The sword guard's arm was swung away by tremendous force, leaving the center gate wide open.

Su Zhisu rammed into its arms, his other hand clenched into a fist, the Night Watcher's Heart Flame enveloping the fist, and then the alchemical purification array pattern flashed on the fist before slamming it hard into the core of its chest!

"Bang!"

A dull, loud noise echoed through the workshop.

The red light in the sword guard's eyes instantly went out, and his massive metal body swayed, then fell backward like a collapsing mountain, crashing to the ground with a loud bang.

The workshop fell silent again, with only Su Zhisu's slightly rapid breathing remaining.

The three guardian puppets vanished in specks of light, leaving behind several items on the ground.

[Network Notification]: You have defeated [Amadeus' Guardian Puppet - Sword Guard Lv.11], [Amadeus' Guardian Puppet - Sawblade Lv.11], and [Amadeus' Guardian Puppet - Artilleryman Lv.12], and gained experience.

[Obtained]: Iron Material x150, Refined Puppet Alloy (Blue) x45, Broken Soul Fragments (Gray) x3

Refined Puppet Alloy

[Quality]: Excellent Blue

[Information]: The alchemical alloy, crafted by Amadest, possesses excellent energy conductivity, making it an ideal material for creating alchemical golems.

[Fragments of a broken soul]

[Quality]: Gray defective product

[Information]: Extremely fragmented soul pieces, containing negligible energy. Every 100 fragments can be fused into 1 [Soul Fragment (White)], which permanently increases Spirit attribute by 1 point upon use (only effective on the first use). Further effects are unknown.

"A good harvest, especially these soul fragments..."

"Collecting 100 of them will actually increase your Spirit attribute by 1 point!"

Su Zhisu put away the spoils of war and his gaze fell on the spot where the three puppets had disappeared.

"Try the gathering skill."

He used his skill on the remains of the three puppets.

[Network Notice]: The target is an alchemical creation (not a living being), so a perfect gathering effect cannot be triggered. Successful gathering yields 3 [Broken Puppet Energy Cores (Gray)].

The Broken Puppet Energy Core

[Quality]: Gray defective product

[Information]: The remaining energy core after the guardian puppet shattered is severely damaged and only exhibits a weak energy response. It cannot be used directly, but may be disassembled for research.

"As expected, the gathering technique is not very effective against non-living objects."

Su Zhisu shook his head and put away the three dull, cracked cores.

"It's better than nothing, I guess. I'll take a look at it when I have time later."

He rested briefly to recover his depleted physical strength and strange powers before continuing his exploration.

After passing through the massive [Puppet Core] area, there are even more intricate passages and rooms ahead.

Abandoned laboratories, warehouses piled high with broken parts, power supply rooms with dried-up energy pools...

During this time, they encountered several waves of wandering alchemical golems.

There are level 8-9 [Alchemy Workshop Cleaning Golem] and level 10 [Alchemy Workshop Transporting Golem].

They seemed to simply follow pre-set instructions, wandering around in a fixed area, showing little desire to attack, and their strength was far inferior to the previous guardian puppets.

Su Zhisu easily dealt with them one by one, obtaining only some iron materials and ordinary metal parts.

But occasionally, he would encounter a special kind of puppet.

Their body shape is closer to that of a human female, and their shells have a matte white ceramic texture. Their movements are not stiff and rigid like other puppets, but rather have a strange fluidity, as if they possess a certain level of intelligence.

Lilia's Alchemy Golem

[Category]: Alchemy Creature (Special)

[Level]: lv.9-lv.10

[Status]: Wandering, executing ? ? command.

[Information]: An alchemical golem created by Liliana Thea for work ordered by her (?). It seems to have been endowed with a higher level of operational logic and is more familiar with the workshop environment. It is not strong in combat, but is extremely agile.

[Hidden Information]: There seems to be some kind of logic hidden in its behavior pattern.

Upon discovering Su Zhisu, these puppets do not attack him proactively. Instead, they stop moving and quietly "watch" him with their "eyes" inlaid with pale blue crystals.

I tried to talk to these puppets, but received no response.

A few seconds later, the puppets left on their own and disappeared into the depths of the passage.

"Lilia Thea's puppet..."

"It really was her."

Su Zhisu did not stop them.

"It seems that Liliana Thea did indeed operate here, and held a high position, being able to possess a custom-made puppet named after herself."

"They were just carrying out maintenance instructions and were not hostile to me."

Following the direction in which these "Lilia's puppets" occasionally disappeared, Su Zhixu arrived at a half-open double wooden door engraved with bookshelf and scroll patterns.