Chapter 87 Titan Industries' "Legacy"

Pshhh—!

The blazing white plasma lightsaber, carrying the destructive will to tear through all matter, pierced through the thick and solid composite armor on the "scavenger's" back without any resistance.

With incomparable precision, the tip of the blade stabbed into its internal main processor core—a structure of extreme complexity operating at a high speed of billions of times per second!

Time, at this moment, seemed to have been forcibly pressed with a pause button.

All movements of that giant mechanical spider, looking like it had crawled out of hell, froze in this instant.

Its crimson electronic eye flickered frantically and neurotically a few times before the final glow of energy quickly dimmed and went out.

On both sides of its body, those hideous gun barrels that had just finished recharging and were still emitting a dangerous red light also fell into complete silence one after another.

"Rumble—"

A dull, heavy sound.

This titan war machine, which had been so arrogant just moments ago and had pushed Lin Yuan to a desperate situation, completely lost all support and collapsed with a crash.

It slumped powerlessly onto the cold metal floor, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Inside the giant wreckage of the warship, a deathly silence returned once more.

Only the black "ghost" quietly hovered above its corpse.

The shimmering "Adaptive Lattice Armor" on the surface of the machine was still slowly repairing the scratches left from the fierce battle at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Whew..."

Lin Yuan let out a long breath, his chest heaving from the intense panting.

He felt as if all the strength in his body had been completely drained by those brief ten-odd minutes.

The aftereffects of over-consuming his mental power caused his temples to throb with pain, and every corner of his consciousness was exhausted.

But he had won.

Relying on the unparalleled performance of the "ghost," he had head-on defeated a terrifying "elite mob" that far exceeded his current level!

An indescribable sense of great accomplishment, mixed with the relief of surviving a disaster, rushed to his head.

"Command Center? Is anyone there? Can you hear me?"

He subconsciously tried to contact Earth.

In the communication channel, there was still only the "sizzle" of static; the violent magnetic storm had isolated everything.

"Forget it, never mind." Lin Yuan shook his head.

He knew now was not the time for sentimentality.

He had more important things to do.

—Clean up the battlefield, loot the corpse!

This was his bread and butter as a junkyard owner, a professional skill etched into his bones.

Controlling the "ghost," he slowly landed on the scavenger's massive, hill-like corpse.

He switched the "nanocluster plasticity tool arm" from the lethal plasma lightsaber mode back to its most primitive and familiar multi-functional "robotic hand" mode.

Then he began an... epic "disassembly" operation on this massive trophy.

"Let's see... the armor on this thing is 'titan'-class composite armor? Good stuff! I must knock off a few pieces later and take them back for Academician Wang and the others to study."

"This is... the energy core of the pulse particle cannon? Not bad either. Although we don't understand the technology, the energy crystals inside might serve as a 'power bank'."

"This is... its leg? My god, the design of this joint is so damn exquisite! No way, I have to dismantle the whole thing and pack it up!"

Greedy light flickered in Lin Yuan's eyes.

He was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice vat, looking at this "big toy" made of countless high-tech parts, his mouth almost watering.

He wished he could dismantle the entire scavenger into its most basic parts and stuff them into his "subspace storage module."

Unfortunately, his pitiful storage space...

...couldn't possibly hold so many good things.

"Sigh, still too poor," Lin Yuan sighed. "Once I save up enough authority points, the first thing I'll do is upgrade this storage space to the maximum!"

While picking and choosing, he violently dismantled some parts he considered most valuable and relatively small.

Just as he was happily dismantling away...

...his gaze was caught by an inconspicuous little thing next to the scavenger's main processor.

It was a... palm-sized cube, made entirely of some unknown silver metal, its surface covered with incredibly complex and precise patterns.

This cube was placed in an independent groove protected by layers of energy shields.

Even though the scavenger's main processor had been pierced by Lin Yuan's sword, the energy shield of this groove was actually still maintaining its minimum operation, protecting the contents inside.

"Hmm? What is this thing?"

Lin Yuan's curiosity was instantly piqued.

Something that could be so carefully and preciously protected by a war machine in this manner was definitely no ordinary item!

He controlled the robotic hand, cautiously reaching toward the groove.

"Zzzt—!"

As soon as his robotic hand touched that thin energy shield, it was violently bounced back by a powerful electric current.

"Holy crap, it's still electrified?"

Lin Yuan refused to give up.

He switched the robotic arm to "plasma cutting sword" mode, preparing to use force to cut open this turtle shell.

However, just as he was about to act...

...in his mind, ashilya's database suddenly popped up a prompt automatically.

[Warning: Detected Titan Heavy Industry's highest-level 'Genesis'-class data encryption protocol!]

[Forcing open the energy shield will trigger its internal self-destruct sequence! There is a 100% probability that the data stored inside will be completely formatted!]

"Self-destruct sequence?!"

Lin Yuan's movements instantly froze, and he almost dropped the lightsaber in his hand.

"That's ruthless."

He looked at the small silver cube, feeling like he was looking at a hedgehog covered in spines—he wanted to eat it but had nowhere to bite.

"ashilya, what exactly is this thing? Is there any way to open it safely?" Lin Yuan asked urgently in his heart.

[Retrieving relevant information...]

[Retrieval complete.]

[Based on the level of its encryption protocol and the characteristics of the external energy fluctuations, there is a 97.3% probability that this item is the ultimate industrial creation core of the Titan Heavy Industry civilization—the "nano-forging matrix"!]

"nano-forging matrix?!"

Although Lin Yuan didn't understand the term, it sounded incredibly impressive just from the name.

"What does this thing do?"

[The "nano-forging matrix" is the crystallization of all industrial technology of the Titan Heavy Industry civilization.]

[Inside it are stored billions of super nanorobots with independent AI in a dormant state.]

[Once activated, it can control these nanorobots to perform arbitrary and precise reorganization and 'growth' of matter at the atomic and molecular levels.]

[Theoretically, as long as there is enough energy and sufficient base materials, it can 'print' any item existing in its database. From a basic screwdriver to a ten-kilometer-long titan-class interstellar dreadnought!]

When Lin Yuan finished "hearing" this explanation...

...he was completely stunned.

He felt as if his brain had stopped functioning due to the overwhelming amount of information.

It can... print... interstellar warships?!

This...

Isn't this...

...the ultimate "Industrial Mother Machine" he had been searching for to solve all of Great Xia's industrial dilemmas?!

And it was the ultimate version from a god-level mechanical civilization like Titan Heavy Industry!

An indescribable, massive ecstasy, like magma from the deepest part of the earth, broke through the crust's constraints and erupted!

Instantly, it swept through his entire body!

He felt as if the blood in his entire body was burning!

His heart pounded frantically in his chest, each beat making his eardrums buzz.

"ashilya! Quick! Tell me! How do I open it! How do I crack its firewall!"

He roared in the depths of his consciousness with all his might.

[Cracking an encryption protocol of this level requires immense computing power and a deep understanding of Titan Heavy Industry's underlying logic code.]

[Given the host's current level of brain development and knowledge reserves, the success rate of a forced crack is lower than...]

"Don't tell me about success rates!" Lin Yuan interrupted crudely, his voice somewhat distorted by extreme desire. "Just tell me, can it be cracked or not!"

[...It can.]

ashilya fell silent for a moment before giving a positive answer.

[However, this process will consume a large amount of your mental power. Furthermore, it can only crack the outermost first layer of the firewall.]

"What can be done by only cracking the first layer?"

[The first layer of the firewall protects the 'basic functional modules' of the matrix.]

[After cracking it, you will obtain the lowest-level... usage permissions for this 'nano-forging matrix'.]

[Additionally, according to the protocol analysis, the interior of the first firewall usually includes an 'instruction manual' for the matrix and a... fragmented star map.]

"star map?!"

Lin Yuan's heart skipped another beat.

[Yes. That is to make it convenient for the scavenger mecha to find its way home or locate the next... supply point after completing its recovery mission.]

[For example... an Armory.]