58: Chapter 58 Brain in a Vat!

The massive crimson heavy tank sped wildly along the dilapidated highway.

The Tyrant engine let out a low rumble, the needle on the speedometer pinned firmly at the 400 km/h mark.

The area of the Atlantis map was far larger than Lu Yuan had imagined.

He had originally thought that with the terrifying mobility of the Red Wolf Tank, he could cross the map in half a day at most.

As it turned out, it took two full days of driving.

As they continued to push deeper into the deep-sea ruins, the surrounding environment underwent earth-shattering changes.

Originally, he could occasionally see a few sporadic white-named players on the radar.

Now, there wasn't even a ghost of one to be seen.

In their place were monsters wandering on both sides of the road, their levels becoming increasingly absurd.

From just over level ten at the start, they had gradually soared to level twenty, or even level thirty.

Those deep-sea mutants, covered in hard scales and as large as small hills, would be an absolute death sentence for any ordinary player who encountered them.

But before the steel tracks and terrifying main gun of the Red Wolf Tank, they could only be ruthlessly crushed.

Finally, after two long days of racing.

In the center of Atlantis, a massive energy barrier emitting a faint blue light appeared.

The moment the vehicle passed through the barrier, a glaring red system announcement suddenly began flashing wildly before the eyes of all surviving players across the entire server.

[Server-wide Announcement: Player C-72 District-Red Wolf has been detected successfully arriving at the core area of Atlantis!]

[Warning: Due to the player entering the core area, the current map exploration progress has surged!]

[The current game difficulty will be significantly increased!]

[Calamity Alert: The current advancement speed of the Death Tsunami has increased to 200 km/h!]

[Please prepare to evacuate!]

Once these announcements appeared, those ordinary players who were still lingering on the outskirts and middle layers of the map, happily grinding monsters and collecting supplies, were scared out of their wits on the spot.

The cross-server channel instantly erupted into wails.

"Holy crap!! Red Wolf, why are you running so fast?!"

"Are you crazy?! Reaching the core area in two days?! Is that a speed a carbon-based lifeform can achieve?!"

"It's over, it's over!! My modified pickup truck only goes 100 km/h with the pedal to the metal!"

"My piece-of-junk van can't even hit 80!! With the tsunami moving at 200 km/h, isn't that just killing me?!"

"Stop scavenging!! Run!! The seawater is catching up!!"

Panic spread through the player base like a plague.

Countless people frantically abandoned the monsters they had just whittled down to half health, scrambled into their vehicles, floored the gas pedals for their lives, and headed toward the nearest evacuation point.

If they didn't run, that wall of black water reaching from the sky to the ground behind them would completely swallow them up.

Meanwhile, the perpetrator, Lu Yuan, had no time to pay attention to the wailing in the channel.

After passing through the barrier, a deep, downhill tunnel stretching for dozens of kilometers appeared in front of the tank.

Lu Yuan did not slow down, speeding all the way down the tunnel.

The moment the tank finally burst out of the tunnel, he slammed on the brakes, looking at the scene before him in shock.

Before him lay a massive mechanical city sleeping on the deep-sea floor.

A transparent glass dome isolated the seawater. Countless towering metal pillars supported the ceiling above.

The surfaces of those buildings were covered in the mottled marks of time, yet they still glinted with a cold metallic luster.

Interlocking gears, massive mechanical arms, and glowing pipes spreading across the city's surface like veins formed a magnificent tapestry where myth and cyberpunk perfectly intertwined.

Bai Li, who had been staying in the command cabin, maintaining her aloof demeanor, could not help but lean toward the observation screen. Her beautiful eyes reflected the brilliant neon lights on the screen, her gaze filled with undisguisable shock.

"What an exaggerated place."

Lu Yuan smacked his lips, glanced at the ice-cold beauty beside him who was staring in a daze, pushed the joystick, and drove the tank forward along the wide metal main road.

Not long after, a massive, magnificent metal fortress appeared at the end of the road.

It seemed to have sensed the arrival of the Red Wolf Tank. The heavy mechanical gate, dozens of meters high at the front of the fortress, slowly opened to both sides, accompanied by a dull sound of metal grinding.

Immediately after, rows of fluorescent green guide arrows lit up on the ground. These arrows flickered in the dim mechanical passage as if actively inviting Lu Yuan to enter.

"Let's go and meet this king who sent out the rescue mission."

Lu Yuan, bold due to his great skill, followed the guidance of the green arrows and drove the tank directly into the depths of the fortress.

After passing through a long corridor, the vehicle finally stopped in the center of an incredibly spacious circular hall.

The perimeter of the hall was packed with dense server cabinets and flashing indicator lights.

However, in this place that should have belonged to a throne, Lu Yuan did not see any human wearing a crown, nor did he see any tall mechanical body.

In the very center of the hall, there was only a ten-meter-tall, transparent cylindrical glass nutrient tank. It was filled with pale blue life-sustaining liquid.

And in the very center of the liquid floated a massive, infinitely large human brain, its surface covered in countless folds and neurons!

Hundreds of metal tubes of varying thicknesses extended from the top of the glass tank, piercing firmly into the cortex of this brain.

The brain was still pulsing weakly along with the bubbles in the liquid.

Lu Yuan looked at the eerie and shocking scene before him, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"This is the king of Atlantis?! A brain in a vat... soaked in a jar?"

Just as Lu Yuan was secretly complaining to himself, a dull, mechanical, synthesized electronic voice suddenly echoed in the hall.

This voice seemed to ignore the heavy armor of the tank, echoing directly deep within the minds of Lu Yuan and Bai Li.

"Welcome."

"I have been waiting for you for a long time..."

"The supreme powerhouse—Red Wolf."