Chapter 377: New World
Cloud Sea Star System, Azure Planet.
As the last ray of sunset was swallowed by the data clouds, the neon matrix of Terry in Cyber City suddenly awakened.
Thousands of vertically stacked skyscrapers pierced the sky like a forest of steel, while holographic lasers projected floating virtual idols amidst the smog and densely packed hovercar light trails.
Countless phantom texts flickered between the buildings, displaying the data carnival of cyber civilization!
In the center of the city, the Heaven-Reaching Tower, over ten thousand meters tall, stood like a black sword.
The surface, covered with Super Titanium Glass, absorbed all the surrounding light, making the giant tower like a black hole.
At its top, the Light Energy Quantum Server processed the data of the entire planet at a rate of quintillions per second.
On the ground, gene-modified cyborgs shuttled between suspended light rails and electronic shops, while in the dark corners at the base of skyscrapers, hackers with glowing tattoos on their skin hacked corporate firewalls using neural interfaces.
In a nearby alley, rusted pipeline networks connected to abandoned factories, and the red indicator lights of illegal brain-computer interface clinics flickered amongst the ruins of steel and concrete.
Vagrants gathered around burning electronic waste, the reflected cold light of giant corporate logos dancing in their modified irises.
The exterior of a vertical community made of abandoned containers hosted a bizarre beauty where mutated fluorescent mosses coexisted with AR graffiti; boys on anti-gravity skateboards whizzed past, leaving a mixed scent of synthetic contraband and machine oil!
Suddenly, the skateboarders heard sirens approaching from afar, closing in on their position.
They looked at each other, panic showing in their modified eyes.
Then they scattered!
Moments later, three anti-gravity armored cars with flashing red and blue lights roared in.
They descended one after another beside the city’s ruins.
The rear doors of the armored cars opened swiftly, and fully armed mechanical police streamed out.
The badge of the Terry Security Bureau glistened on the chest of each mechanical police officer.
This was the symbol of terror and death!
One officer bent down, extended a mechanical arm, and forcefully lifted a manhole cover from the ground.
A hole leading underground immediately appeared!
The next moment, an intelligent mechanical spider sprang out from behind the officer, silently leaping into the hole.
The mechanical police waiting at the entrance received the images sent back by the intelligent spider and then gestured with his left arm before jumping into the hole.
The other mechanical police followed closely behind!
Below the hole lay a long tunnel, dark and damp, filled with an indescribable stench; only a few of the illumination lamps on the walls still worked due to years of disrepair.
A cable fixed to the top of the tunnel had snapped, its end sparking and sizzling.
As if warning those who entered!
Guided by the mechanical spider, dozens of mechanical police advanced in combat formation.
All the way to the end of the tunnel.
A thick metal door blocked their way.
There was no visible lock or access control panel on the door.
The mechanical spider halted in front of the door, its electronic eyes suddenly emitting a high-energy laser beam that instantly etched an almost perfect incisive circle on the metal door.
A mechanical police officer stepped forward and kicked heavily at the center of the circle.
Bang!
The circular metal, weighing several tons, detached from the door instantly, flying over ten meters away.
Screams and cries of agony erupted simultaneously!
The mechanical spider continued to lead the way, with the mechanical police following behind.
They entered a filthy, decadent, and degenerate underground world!
A world belonging to the lowest tier of the populace.
The sudden invasion of heavily armed elite mechanical police was like an anteater entering an ant nest, causing the ants cramped inside to explode with panic.
Some scattered in terror, some crouched in corners trembling, some with grim faces grabbed nearby iron rods, and some stood still, desperately trying to squeeze out ingratiating smiles.
"Get out!"
A drunken vagrant, uncertain which nerve was triggered, cursed at the mechanical police walking past, "You electronic trash!"
Saying so, he swung a bottle in his hand with force.
The bottle didn’t even reach the mechanical police before it was pierced by a stream of high-energy particles.
The same was true for the vagrant’s head!
Yet this small episode didn’t affect the mechanical police’s operation in the slightest.
They ignored the chaotic underground populace, named "cockroaches" and "rats," screaming, crying, and running around them, continuing their determined and cold advance.
Further down and down, the mechanical police, guided by the mechanical spider, entered a cavern hundreds of meters deep.
In this enormous underground space, tens of thousands of containers were densely stacked.
Each container was a household!
Under the watchful eyes filled with fear, the mechanical spider used high-energy lasers to cut open one of the containers.
The mechanical police rushed in immediately.
The internal space of this container was not large, certainly not enough to accommodate dozens of mechanical police.
Its walls were covered with various mechanical and electronic scraps; there were dozens of ion screens, each displaying different data streams.
In the middle of the container stood an old-looking Life Support Pod.
The door of the pod was wide open, and inside lay a pale-skinned young man in a pale green Energy Liquid, his eyes wide open, pupils completely dilated.
Life had long departed!
Click!
The ballistic mask of the first mechanical police to enter the container automatically lifted, revealing a stern and resolute face.
He reached into the Life Support Pod, his right thumb ejecting a Titanium Needle, which pierced the young man’s chest.
After a moment, the mechanical police officer withdrew his hand and pressed the communicator built into his Battle Armor.
"PCC1367 reporting to headquarters, found the stowaway codenamed White Wolf, no vital signs!"
After reporting, he quietly waited for a few more minutes until receiving new instructions from headquarters.
Then the mechanical police officer ordered, "Take everything from here, leave nothing behind!"
Dozens of mechanical police officers immediately sprang into action.
In just half an hour, this massive underground shantytown lost a container.
Not even a screw was left.
But the tens of thousands of impoverished residents living here were oblivious, watching the mechanical police withdraw with apathetic eyes, their faces devoid of any expression.
Nobody cared that one of their own had left forever!