Chapter 136 XT-01

The brilliance of the dark matter annihilation cannon left a lingering, pale scar on his retinas.

Lin Yuan didn't even close his eyes.

In his current physical state, even controlling his eyelid muscles had become a luxury.

He was like a puppet drained of all vitality, trapped inside the now-powerless "mech name" mecha, watching silently as that beam of destruction crossed the void, heading straight for his forehead.

Is this what death feels like?

Compared to fear, what Lin Yuan felt more of was an absurd sense of calm.

At least that monster that wanted to treat Earth like candy was gone. At least the main fleet of these tin cans had been crippled by that shot.

This trade was worth it.

"Goodbye, Old Chen... remember to burn some paper for me, don't be too stingy..."

Lin Yuan muttered this last complaint in his mind, his consciousness preparing to sink completely into the darkness.

However.

In the split second before the beam, capable of vaporizing everything, was about to engulf "mech name".

A faint green dot suddenly lit up on the radar screen that had long been filled with noise and static.

The dot did not flee; instead, it slammed between Lin Yuan and the Grim Reaper at a frantic speed that defied the laws of dynamics.

"That is..."

Lin Yuan's clouded pupils constricted sharply.

He saw it clearly.

It was a xingtian mecha.

Serial number: XT-01.

It was the first mecha to be awakened, the "big guy" that would clumsily salute little girls and use its high-frequency combat knife to peel apples.

At this moment, its once mighty frame was already battered and broken. Its left arm was gone, and the chest armor had been ripped away, exposing the reactor still sparking inside.

But it stood there.

Right in front of that world-destroying beam, it spread its only remaining right arm, like an isolated peak, blocking firmly in front of Lin Yuan.

"Zzz—"

An electronically synthesized voice filled with static crackled through the communication channel, sounding distorted yet exceptionally clear.

"Commander, today's sun is very warm."

No grand declarations.

No melodrama of life and death like in the movies.

It simply stated a fact, as calm as if it were reporting a mission as usual.

The next second.

The dark matter beam slammed into XT-01.

There was no sound.

In that instant, Lin Yuan saw the psionic amplifier behind XT-01 overload and burst; the pale blue psionic shield was like a candle flame in a gale, lasting only 0.1 seconds before extinguishing.

Then came the armor, the skeleton, and the logic core that was flickering with red light at that very moment.

The metal vaporized.

That mecha, which once possessed a clumsy sense of humor, left not even a wreck behind; it was erased at a physical level, turning into a brilliant and tragic stream of particles.

But it was this insignificant obstruction.

It was this 0.1-second delay, bought at the cost of a life.

The trajectory of the dark matter beam shifted by a micrometer.

The stream of destructive light grazed the cockpit of "mech name", the high temperature instantly melting the outer armor, and the shockwave sent the powerless "mech name" flying like a kicked pebble.

"Thud!"

The violent impact caused further trauma to Lin Yuan's already collapsing body, and a mouthful of blood sprayed onto his visor.

But he didn't die.

He survived.

But he wished he had died.

"Ah..."

Inside the cockpit came a howl like that of a wounded beast.

Lin Yuan stared fixedly at the place where XT-01 had vanished. There was nothing left there, only a trace of heat remaining in the void, proving that the big guy had once existed.

It wasn't a program.

It was a brother.

"Is this your 'cleanup'?"

Lin Yuan's voice trembled; it was a chill seeping from the depths of his soul.

His life force, which had already run dry, was forcibly ignited at this moment by a towering rage.

Whether it was a final burst of energy or overdrawing his potential, it didn't matter.

Even if he had to sell his soul to the devil, he would crawl up now and bite these bastards to death!

"gaia!!!"

This roar even drowned out the fortress's alarm.

"I am here! Commander!" gaia responded, voice thick with tears.

"Open... my neural network completely!"

Blood and tears streamed from Lin Yuan's eyes, and his once greyish pupils were now burning with a crimson-gold light—a sign that his mental power was overloaded to the extreme.

"Since you like killing so much..."

"Then no one gets to live!!!"

Boom—!

A mental storm, even more violent and insane than before, instantly swept across the entire battlefield, centered on the broken "mech name".

This was not that gentle command link.

This was a war cry.

It was the sound of chains snapping before a mad dog was unleashed.

In the minds of all surviving human soldiers—whether in warships, mechas, or surface air-raid shelters—Lin Yuan's blood-soaked command exploded simultaneously:

"All units!"

"Forget any damn formation! Forget the combat loss ratio!"

"Charge for me!"

"Hack with blades! Bite with teeth! Detonate nuclear bombs!"

"Tear them to shreds!!!"

It was madness.

If the previous battle had been an organized resistance, the battlefield now had completely turned into a carnival of an insane asylum.

The blue light in the eyes of the remaining tens of thousands of xingtian mecha instantly turned into a crimson that symbolized berserk mode. Having witnessed the death of their leader, the grief and indignation originating from the "Allspark" caused these mechanical lifeforms to completely abandon all defensive logic.

Thrusters overloaded!

One hundred thousand mechas, like a school of hungry piranhas, charged suicidally against the dense firepower of the Mechanical Papacy.

"Ram you, you son of a bitch!"

A human frigate captain, with the main cannon destroyed, laughed maniacally as he pushed the throttle to the limit.

"God bless Great Xia!!!"

Over three thousand crew members roared in unison.

The ship, engulfed in flames, struck like a burning sword, slamming directly into the belly of a Papacy destroyer.

Rumble—!

Both perished together.

But this was just the beginning.

In space, there were such tragic fireworks everywhere.

The Mechanical Papacy fleet, which had assumed humanity was at the end of its rope, was completely stunned.

"Logic error... enemy behavior patterns unpredictable..."

"Warning! Enemy units are abandoning survival probability and adopting mutually destructive tactics!"

"Exchange ratio is severely imbalanced! Suggest increasing distance!"

Thirty astronomical units away.

On the flagship "doomsday".

The high-and-mighty Archbishop was now like a jammed repeater, its crimson electronic eyes flickering frantically.

It couldn't understand.

In its core algorithms, the first sequence of life was "survival". When the win rate was zero, the rational choice should be to surrender or flee.

But these bugs...

Why could they erupt with such chilling aggression in a doomed situation?

"A bunch of lunatics... a bunch of incomprehensible primitive creatures!"

The Archbishop waved its scepter in anger, looking at the collapsing defensive lines on the screen.

Those damn human mechas, even if only half a body remained, would crawl onto the armor plating of the Papacy warships. If they had no heavy weapons, they would hack away with plasma cutters, and if they couldn't cut through, they would detonate their own micro-nuclear reactors.

Boarding battles erupted.

Countless landing pods drove into the interior of the Papacy warships like nails.

Human soldiers wearing crude exoskeletons, holding kinetic rifles, looked so primitive in front of these mechanical soldiers equipped with high-tech shields.

But there was no fear in their eyes.

Only one word: Kill.

A veteran with a severed leg grinned and pulled the pins on the high-explosive grenades hanging all over his chest, throwing himself at a group of mechanical guards preparing to charge.

Boom!

In the narrow corridor, flesh and blood flew, but the explosion collapsed the passage, trapping a ship full of enemies.

This suicidal fighting style completely paralyzed the AI command systems of the Mechanical Papacy that relied on precise calculations.

Because they couldn't calculate the variable of "courage".

They couldn't calculate the equivalent of "hatred".

The front line was pushed back.

That invincible fleet, which had been so arrogant and prepared to crush humanity like ants, was actually being forced into a retreat by a pack of suicidal mad dogs, even pushed right up to the face of their flagship!

"Retreat... must re-evaluate..."

For the first time, the Archbishop had the thought called "retreat".

It looked at the star field on the screen, stained red with blood and wreckage, and looked at the "mech name" mecha, which was broken but still exuded a terrifying mental pressure.

It was afraid.

That native Commander was not human at all.

That was a demon in human skin!

"All ships! Activate warp engines! Disengage from the battlefield!"

The Archbishop issued the retreat order.

It had to run.

It had to report the situation here to the Papacy headquarters; this planet was by no means an ordinary Level 0.7 civilization, this place was a nest breeding demons!

However.

Just as "doomsday" was preparing to open a jump channel.

A massive tractor beam locked onto it tightly from behind.

It was "luan bird".

This last human aerospace carrier had staked all its chips at this moment.

"Want to run?"

Chen Weiguo's voice exploded on the public channel; it was the roar of an old lion.

"Since you've come, leave your life behind!!!"

Although "guanghan palace" was ruined, the Moon was still there.

Countless gravity generators deployed on the far side of the Moon operated at full power, creating a chaotic gravitational field that instantly disrupted the spatial parameters.

"Jump failed! Spatial anchoring unstable!"

The Archbishop looked at the red alarm in despair.

It had been left behind.

Left in this place that it had originally thought was a slaughterhouse, but had now become its grave.

...

The battle lasted for three whole hours.

When the last Papacy warship was beaten into scrap metal, and that massive cross-shaped flagship lay paralyzed in orbit, billowing black smoke.

The entire Solar System was deathly silent.

In this battle, humanity had won.

But it was a pyrrhic victory.

The "South Heaven Gate" defensive line was completely destroyed, the Moon had almost been shaved flat by a layer, and countless pieces of wreckage floated in Earth's orbit—some belonging to the enemy, others to comrades.

The "mech name" mecha floated silently in space, its engines long extinguished, like a cold meteorite.

"Quick! Medical team!"

"Tractor beam locked! Pull it back!"

On the deck of "luan bird", Li Na rushed like a madwoman toward the broken mecha that had just been dragged back.

The airlock door was violently cut open.

When the man with white hair, looking like a dried skeleton, was carried out, all the iron-willed men present couldn't help but redden their eyes.

He was too light.

The power gained by overdrawing his life had almost drained every inch of his flesh and blood.

"Heartbeat weak... blood pressure unmeasurable..."

"Adrenaline! Quick!"

"Defibrillator ready!"

The lights in the emergency room stayed on all night.

...

Three days later.

Heavenly Court Fortress, special intensive care unit.

It was locked down layer by layer; not even a fly could fly in.

"Beep... beep... beep..."

The sound of the ECG monitor was monotonous and dry.

On the hospital bed, the man covered in tubes, so thin he was unrecognizable, suddenly twitched his finger slightly.

Li Na, sitting nearby, sprang up instantly, too nervous to even breathe.

Eyelashes fluttered.

Those eyes, once vibrant and now slightly dull, slowly opened a slit.

The light was a bit blinding.

Lin Yuan felt like his throat was stuffed with sand, and every cell was screaming in protest.

"Awake... he's awake!"

Li Na's voice was thick with tears, followed by a rush of hurried footsteps.

Chen Weiguo pushed the door open, his usually stern old face full of excitement. Academician Wang nearly dropped the data pad in his hand.

"You kid..." Chen Weiguo wanted to scold him, but the words turned into a choke, "You're really tough; even the King of Hell won't take you."

Lin Yuan struggled to pull the corners of his mouth to smile, but it pulled on the wounds on his face, making him wince in pain.

"Water..."

The voice was as hoarse as a broken bellows.

Li Na hurriedly brought warm water and used a cotton swab to moisten his chapped lips bit by bit.

Lin Yuan swallowed greedily a few times, and the burning sensation finally subsided a little.

He rolled his eyes, looked at the people surrounding the bed, and finally fixed his gaze on Chen Weiguo.

There was no joy of surviving in his eyes, only a heart-stopping chill.

"That... big piece of iron..."

Lin Yuan asked, panting and intermittently.

Chen Weiguo paused for a moment before realizing who he was talking about.

"You mean 'doomsday'? It's paralyzed, locked in low Earth orbit by our gravity anchors. That Archbishop isn't dead yet, locking itself in the core module like a turtle, and our engineering team is trying to figure out how to break in."

Not dead.

Upon hearing these two words, a flash of light suddenly erupted in Lin Yuan's dull eyes that made everyone feel terrified.

He struggled to get up, even though the tubes on his body were ripped open and blood stained the bandages.

"Hold him down! Are you crazy?!" Academician Wang was shocked, and several doctors rushed up.

"Don't... touch... me..."

Lin Yuan pushed the doctor's hand away.

Although his strength was pitifully small, the aura made the few people subconsciously take a step back.

He panted heavily, staring fixedly at Chen Weiguo, the muscles at the corner of his eyes twitching frantically.

"Repair... my mecha."

Lin Yuan's voice was weak but carried an unquestionable ferocity; every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"If you can't repair it, get me another one."

"As long as it can move, that's fine."

Chen Weiguo frowned: "What do you want to do? That Archbishop is already a turtle in a jar; you don't need to do it yourself."

"No."

Lin Yuan shook his head.

He remembered the mecha that had blocked in front of him.

He remembered the words "today's sun is very warm".

He remembered the brother who was instantly vaporized, leaving not even a residue behind.

A violent intent to kill made the temperature of the entire ward seem to drop a few degrees.

Lin Yuan raised his withered, bone-thin hand and pointed at the massive black warship wreckage floating outside the window, a creepy, ferocious smile appearing on his face.

"I want to go over there myself."

"Twist off that iron head... as a sacrifice for my brother."