Star Hunter.

Chapter 284 Underground Network

Title:

The panic caused by the earthquake sent the animals in the forest scattering everywhere. Large numbers of ferocious beasts fled to places far away from the epicenter. Some obediently crossed the mountain and did not stay there for long. However, those ferocious beasts with strong curiosity and a bloodthirsty nature noticed the abnormality on the other side of the cliff when they crossed the mountain and moved closer to Neo's safe zone. Such ferocious beasts would undoubtedly be targeted and killed by Gu Xin and others who were guarding the outside.

The chaotic environment also concealed Gu Xin and his group's whereabouts. The killing of some ferocious beasts did not alert many other ferocious beasts. Perhaps the most threatening thing to them now is the earthquake rather than the assassins hiding in the shadows.

The modified gun uses improved explosive rounds to shoot white rats, a different type of bullet to kill ferocious beasts, and poison rounds to shoot bio-soldiers. It also has other modes, making it a rather rudimentary multi-functional composite gun. Although it can't compare to other guns they've used before, it's quite impressive that they were able to modify a gun to this extent with the limited resources available here. This is what Gu Xin and the others admired about Xilin.

Xilin was a mystery to Gu Xin and others. He seemed to be able to chat with anyone, and even when he talked to Hua Li about anatomy, he could have an in-depth discussion.

Could they be from the Royal Academy of Sciences?

Everyone had this suspicion. After all, aside from the Black Viper, the Royal Academy of Sciences was the first place that people would think of when considering someone with profound expertise in various academic fields.

Ertie also asked Xilin, but Xilin did not answer directly, neither saying yes nor no.

Because they had made ample preparations before the earthquake, they were able to remain relatively calm when facing white rats or other ferocious biological soldiers. When they got tired, they would go down to the safe zone to rest and catch their breath before someone else took over.

The ferocious beasts, startled, were quite violent, rampaging and causing chaos. Gu Xin and his companions, who were able to hit vital points with a single shot amidst the chaos and conserve ammunition, were indeed much stronger than the people outside.

On the cliff face, some climbing and flying beasts would roam from below, especially the climbing beasts and insects, which fled from the forest and attacked fiercely. But their numbers were few, and the giant eagle Mercury guarded the cliff face, clearing away the insects that climbed up. Ah Shou and Hua Li would help deal with some of the more troublesome large beasts through the windows cut into the cliff face.

Mercury's massive claws were embedded in the cliff face, its wings flapping wildly, swatting swarms of small insects off the cliff. Sometimes, these hidden insects posed a greater threat to the safe zone than the large, ferocious beast. While flapping its wings, Mercury would also use its sharp beak to peck at those that weren't swatted off.

bang——

Mercury was startled by the commotion beside it, turned its head to look, and its fur stood on end.

"Huh?!"

On the cliff face not far from Mercury, Ovi changed form. His sharp claws, like mercury itself, were firmly planted on the cliff wall, giving him a stable footing. With a flick of his wings, feathers shot out like bullets towards the larger insect beasts.

It's certain that Mercury doesn't like Ovi, given that their first encounter wasn't exactly pleasant. However, they're currently in a cooperative relationship, and Hua Li has already spoken to Mercury about it. So even if Mercury feels awkward, it has to hold back. It would never admit that it's jealous that Ovi's feathers can be used as bullets.

Black Bean and Neo kept a close eye on the information fed back from the protective network around the safe zone. As soon as anything unusual happened, they would contact the others to clear out the "invaders" there.

What about Xilin?

Xilin didn't go with them to shoot the ferocious beasts, nor did he pay attention to the protective network with Heidou and the others. Instead, he went underground with Gray Cat.

It has to be admitted that Grey Cat's burrowing skills have improved a lot. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect; the more holes he burrows, the more skilled he becomes.

Somewhere on the planet, near the place Guan Feng took them when Xilin first arrived, there was a not-so-tall building. The building was mostly filled with robots, or more precisely, most of them were advanced robots that were almost indistinguishable from humans.

The few humans in this building are those who have a voice in Black Viper, including Guan Feng and Gu Chang'an who came with Qiu Xu.

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These people were gathered in a large, circular conference room on the third floor. In the center of the conference room was a screen displaying an image of a rotating planet—the very planet they were currently on. The planet was covered with many small red and blue dots. Each dot represented a person; red dots represented non-Black Viper individuals like Xilin, who had been sent to this testing area for trials. Blue dots represented native Black Viper individuals.

From the initial scattered distribution of red and blue light spots on the first day, they gradually gathered in twos and threes, with red and blue mixed together, and then clustered together. In between, there were also some changes in the light spots. For example, the red light spots representing the two people killed by Xilin and Tuba would turn black after their deaths.

Looking at the area that was gradually gathering on the screen, the leader sighed, "Only half a time has passed, and it has already formed such a state so quickly."

On the rotating planet, three locations showed the most concentrated points of light, one of which was where Xilin was located. The other two were distributed across other parts of the planet's testing area. These three locations were quite far apart, and their geographical environments and climates differed. Xilin's area was mostly mountainous and forested, while the other two locations were primarily desert and plains, respectively.

The ways of fighting differ from region to region, and the reasons for gathering are also different. In comparison, Xilin's way of gathering can be considered the most peaceful, and it is also Guan Feng's favorite way. Therefore, Guan Feng is very satisfied with Xilin's performance and is thinking of directly exempting Xilin from the exam at the affiliated high school and letting him pass it internally.

"Anyone who can get Neo to give up his place must have the ability to take your place," the man said, his gaze towards Guan Feng carrying a meaningful meaning.

"That's right, look who taught them. But Ah Lang, the people you recommended are pretty good too." Guan Feng sat in his chair, legs crossed, swinging back and forth. It seems the two people he recommended this time were mostly successful.

The man Guan Feng referred to as Ah Lang was none other than Christy Lang, one of the three leaders of Black Viper.

Gu Chang'an chuckled and said, "There might be many people who could compete for the other two, but Xilin is someone that no one can replace. That guy's brain is like a robot, with superb calculation abilities."

"Sikki, perhaps this guy Xilin can help you realize your 'original state' concept," Christy Lang said.

The person sitting in the outer row, who was slumped over the table, heard Christie Lang's words, slowly raised his head, looked at the rotating sphere and the points of light on it in the center of the conference room, and asked doubtfully, "Really?"

"Maybe." Guan Feng suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Xi Kai. "Kid, do you think all those robots you put underground might be wiped out?"

Xi Kai frowned. "Is that possible? Those are advanced robots, the latest upgraded versions. Although they don't have a pseudo-intelligent brain, their attack power shouldn't be underestimated."

"Just watch." Christy Lang raised his finger and touched the screen, and another image filled with glowing dots appeared.

Xi Kai watched the image switch on the screen. "Actually, I'm more curious about why he went underground. Was it just because he knew there were things underground that could cause earthquakes? And he just wanted to stop the earthquakes?"

This is something that no one knows, and everyone is curious about.

Because of the many things they didn't understand, the people here paid much more attention to Xilin than to the other two places.

On the other side, Xilin followed the gray cat underground.

The further down he went, the more Xilin could sense the movement of those machines.

The source of the earthquake was deeper, but Xilin had now arrived at an underground tunnel hundreds of meters below the surface, a place that neither Neo nor Black Bean's scanning devices could detect.

While the surface environment felt like a natural wilderness, the deeper you went underground, the more you could sense the presence of machinery. There were traces of machinery in many places, whether in tunnels or elsewhere.

Xilin and Gray Cat entered a tunnel. Gray Cat scanned the tunnel and discovered a spiderweb-like underground structure.

After Xilin remembered the gray cat's scan results, the two of them walked towards the center of the "spider web".

Spider webs always remain quietly there, like a silent hunter waiting for its prey.

Xilin didn't see himself as prey, but within this spiderweb, there were indeed many waiting for him. For example, the robots near the center.

These robots completely surrounded the perimeter of the area, so if Xilin wanted to get close to the core area, he had to break through this layer of robot "walls".

"superior!"

Xilin drew his long sword and moved swiftly towards that direction.

The gray cat's eyes flashed with green light, and then it rushed over excitedly.

These robots automatically activated their attack mode the moment Xilin and Gray Cat appeared. They were incredibly fast, their movements fluid and seamless. The robots had serrated blades on their arms and legs, but none of them used any activated weapons. Perhaps considering the nature of this underground network, activated weapons would be too destructive, so the creators didn't equip them with them.

Even without activated weapons or high-energy laser guns, their combat capabilities are still very high.

Xilin's figure flashed, each strike cleaving the robot in two. The headless robot could continue to move, and even after its entire head was destroyed, its body could still make some delayed reactions.

These robots were not what Xilin was looking for, and Xilin knew that these robots did not have "autonomy" at all. Compared to the robots he had encountered before, although these were also very good mechanical weapons, robots without "autonomy" were no different from knives and guns; they were just "dead" weapons.

He stomped a robot's head against the tunnel wall, turning the robot's entire head into a "pancake." His knife wasn't idle either; after the blade pierced the robot, a vibration frequency too subtle for the human eye to detect created a dent where the blade touched.

The gray cat could take them down with a single claw. It had no qualms about dealing with such robots, and even if the blades on the robot's arm were to hit it, it wouldn't get hurt. At most, it would leave a mark, which would then quickly disappear.

With the successive attacks of about three hundred robots, Xilin and Gray Cat shredded these "meat" like a meat grinder.

The people in the conference room outside watched the rapidly decreasing signal on the screen. Guan Feng glanced at Xi Kai, whose face was tense, and smiled without saying a word.

Those who know Guan Feng know that the more smug this old fox is, the more he likes to smile without saying a word, which is infuriating to watch.

Three hundred robots, in less than half an hour, all the signal lights disappeared. If they were humans, this would prove that they were all dead.

Guan Feng swung his legs, rhythmically tapping the armrest of the chair with his fingers. The rhythm looked like the beat of a song; if it weren't for the occasion, Guan Feng would have been humming a tune long ago. Here, Guan Feng was completely devoid of the scholarly air and gentlemanly demeanor he displayed outside.

Underground, after Xilin and Gray Cat dealt with the robot guarding the area, they continued towards the core of the "Spider Web." They didn't encounter any other robots along the way, but at the very center, there was one. This robot looked the same as the ones Xilin had just dealt with, but its facial expression was completely different from the rigid ones; it even had eyes.

Humans can reflect their inner thoughts through their glasses, which is a manifestation of emotions. Now, this emotion is manifested in robots, just like the robots that Xilin had encountered before. They have relatively autonomous thoughts.

Upon closer inspection, this robot seemed more "conscious" than any of the robots Xilin had encountered before; every glance gave the illusion that it was alive. This feeling was familiar to both Xilin and Gray Cat, so familiar that it excited them.

This robot was the main reason why Xilin and Gray Cat went to great lengths to search from the surface to underground. As for finding the cause of the earthquake, that was just a side effect.

Neither Xilin nor Gray Cat attacked the robot, and the robot did not attack Xilin either. Instead, it looked at Xilin and Gray Cat with a calm gaze, without anger or surprise, like an old man who had experienced many vicissitudes and was now only calm and indifferent.

Xilin slowly walked towards it. Next to the robot was a circular platform. This platform was the cause of the earthquake. There were some buttons on it that could adjust the earthquake's epicenter and amplitude.

The robot didn't react to Xilin's approach, as if it already knew what Xilin was going to do, so it stepped aside to allow Xilin to reach the circular platform.

After looking at the settings on the circular platform, Xilin pressed a few of the buttons.

After Xilin pressed these buttons, the vibrations gradually subsided, and the animals on the ground, who had been panicking due to the vibrations, gradually stopped running away.

"Has it stopped?" Erti asked Guxin.

"It should be, let's wait and see."

"it is good."

The cessation of the earthquake greatly reduced the pressure on Gu Xin and his companions. With so many ferocious beasts and insects, even if they were good at fighting, they wouldn't fare well against these things. If it weren't for the guns and ammunition modified by Xilin, those white rats alone would have been enough to make them retreat in a sorry state.

Underground. After the earthquake stopped, Xilin looked at the robot standing quietly not far away.

Still not right. This robot doesn't have the "spirit" of Sigma. Even though it's more "conscious" than the robots we've seen before, it's still slightly inferior to Sigma when compared to it. Even though this robot has a more human-like appearance, and even though it has facial expressions and eyes, it still can't compare to the "spirit" of Sigma, that guy with the primitive appearance.

A thousand years have passed, why has there only been this much change? (。。)

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