163: Chapter 163 The Thunder and Magnetic Maze

The lift platform slowly came to a halt amidst a dull sound of metal locking into place.

The isolation door in front slid smoothly to the sides, and a scorching wave of air mixed with the pungent smell of ozone instantly flooded the platform.

Gu Shen stepped out of the lift shaft.

As far as the eye could see, it was a steel labyrinth interwoven with countless thick cables and giant transformers.

High-conductivity cables, as thick as a wrist, clung densely to the bulkheads and ceiling like the blood vessels of a giant beast.

Thick blue high-voltage electric arcs burst from various nodes from time to time, and the interwoven light and shadows became the only light source here, illuminating the entire area in a bizarre and fantastical way.

"My Lord, the microwave radar is experiencing intense electromagnetic interference, and the scanning radius has been compressed to ten zhang."

Crab's monophonic electronic voice came through bone conduction, accompanied by slight electrical noise from the high-frequency environment, "There is a high-intensity electrostatic field roaming in the air of the Eighth Floor. The Mainframe on the Thirteenth Floor has tampered with the power supply protocol, intercepting all the electricity originally intended for the upper levels and keeping it here, forming a high-energy physical barrier."

Gu Shen strode forward, and his gray robe over the thousand-tough black silk armor fluttered slightly under the electrostatic pull.

The Dark Gold Thunder Bone emitted a steady hum beneath his skin, actively absorbing the remaining thunder-magnetic waves scattered in the surrounding air.

A series of heavy metallic clashing sounds came from the dark cable passage ahead.

A dozen massive mechanical Aberrations, shaped like multi-legged spiders, climbed along the intricate cables.

Their bodies were forcibly stitched together from scrapped transformers and thick copper wires, their cores flashing with blinding, eerie blue electric light, while cables like tentacles danced wildly in mid-air.

"Thunder-magnetic Aberrations. They have completed a physical connection with the power grid on this floor and can extract high-voltage electrical energy from the grid at any time to repair themselves or launch attacks." Crab quickly provided the target analysis.

The Aberrations discovered the intruders and raised their current emitters.

Dozens of azure high-voltage electric arcs, as thick as water buckets, tore through the air like a violent thunder net, descending upon Gu Shen and the twelve Iron Guards.

Gu Shen stood his ground, the AI Crystal pulsating at a high frequency between his brows.

In his field of vision, the huge and chaotic substation before him was quickly deconstructed into a super-large Cultivation World Formation model.

Those thick cables were the "spirit power circuits" of the Formation, the giant transformers were the "spirit power nodes," and these mechanical Aberrations were the "Formation Spirits" that survived by attaching themselves to the Formation.

The method to break the Formation lay in severing the spirit power hub.

"No. 3, step forward."

Gu Shen gripped the hilt of the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade with one hand and issued the command.

Beside him, No. 3 Iron Guard, implanted with the skeleton of the Tier 3 Great Demon "Thunder Cloud Snow Leopard," stepped forward. The surface of its titanium-tungsten alloy armor gleamed with an eerie metallic luster.

Facing the overwhelming high-voltage thunder net descending from above, No. 3 Iron Guard completely ignored the high temperature that could instantly carbonize carbon-based life forms. Relying on the natural thunder-magnetic absorption properties of the Thunder Cloud Snow Leopard demon bone, it charged fearlessly into the violent electric field.

Crackle!

Thousands of high-voltage electric arcs struck the armor of No. 3 Iron Guard. The expected melting of the metal did not occur. That manic electrical energy followed the patterns of the titanium-tungsten armor and was completely conducted into the demon bone inside.

The Thunder Cloud Snow Leopard had spent its life breathing in heavenly thunder, so its skeleton was inherently an excellent thunder energy storage container. At this moment, No. 3 Iron Guard acted like a walking super lightning rod, forcibly pulling the electric arcs scattered throughout the hall onto itself.

"No. 7, No. 9, break into the transformer matrix on the right."

Gu Shen stepped forward to follow, drawing the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade from its scabbard.

Iron Guard No. 7 (Golden-Horned Rhinoceros Beast) and No. 9 Iron Guard (Flame Poison Crocodile King) turned into two black afterimages, and with the help of the thunder-free zone opened by No. 3 Iron Guard, they cut directly into the flank of the mechanical Aberrations.

Iron Guard No. 7 swung its iron fist, pouring heavy physical kinetic energy without reservation onto the torso of an Aberration. The titanium-carbon armor and scrap metal components collided violently, smashing it into two pieces.

No. 9 Iron Guard, highly corrosive high-temperature venom seeped from within its skeleton, pouring along its iron fist into the power supply cables of another Aberration, instantly dissolving the copper core into a pool of wastewater.

The Aberrations, having lost the protection of the power grid, were turned into smoking wrecks all over the ground under the pure physical slaughter of the Iron Guard legion.

But the power supply network on this Eighth Floor was still running. More thunder-magnetic Aberrations were continuously gathering from all directions along the cables.

"My Lord, the closed-loop circuit of the central control console must be cut." Crab locked onto the giant transformer equipment that emitted the highest energy level response.

"I'll do it."

Gu Shen's figure moved like lightning, his shadow shoes stepping on a thick elevated cable to leap into the air.

He transformed into a night owl swooping through the air, heading straight for the giant transformer that looked like a small hill.

Surrounding the outer perimeter of the transformer was an absolute defense layer composed of high-voltage plasma.

Gu Shen channeled the mutated dark cyan magic power within his Dantian, pouring it all into the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade. The thunder magnetic fine sand fused into the blade resonated at the same frequency as the surrounding electric field, and the eerie blue blade light surged to over two zhang.

"Slash."

Gu Shen held the blade with both hands, utilizing the immense force of his descent to precisely strike a main power transmission cable at the core of the transformer.

The sharpness of the top-grade Magical Artifact, combined with Geng Metal Sword Qi, sliced through the insulation layer and special steel wires wrapping the cable without any hesitation.

Boom!

The cable snapped, and the high-voltage electrical energy stored inside instantly lost its guidance, turning into a brilliant electromagnetic storm that spread outward.

No. 3 Iron Guard blocked in front of Gu Shen just in time, crossing its arms to absorb the backlash of the thunder-magnetic storm entirely into its demon bone.

The main circuit was cut.

The lights of the entire Eighth Floor high-voltage substation flickered violently a few times before falling into a large-scale shutdown.

The electric light on the bodies of the mechanical Aberrations, which were climbing along the cables, quickly dimmed. Having lost their energy supply, they fell stiffly to the ground, turning into piles of lifeless scrap metal.

The once-violent thunder magnetic labyrinth completely fell into dead silence.

Gu Shen landed steadily and sheathed his long blade.

He walked slowly past the wreckage of the scrapped mechanical Aberrations, his left palm facing downward, as the fire of rules poured out from the [Heaven and Earth Furnace].

The pale white fire of rules licked the scrap metal covering the ground. Impurities and waste plastic were burned into nothingness, while the enriched trace thunder minerals and biological residues inside were forcibly stripped and reorganized.

A moment later, the flames rolled back.

In Gu Shen's hand appeared a pile of fine sand grains shimmering with eerie blue electric light, as well as five milky-white liquid droplets.

[Refining complete. Obtained: 1 jin of thunder magnetic fine sand. 5 drops of (inferior) essence white dew.]

"The thunder-magnetic Aberrations here have long been breathing in the high-voltage electrical energy leaking from the Thirteenth Floor, accumulating a large amount of thunder-element spirit materials within their bodies."

Gu Shen put the newly obtained thunder magnetic fine sand and essence white dew into his Storage Ring and cast his gaze toward the end of the hall.

There, an isolation gate leading to the Ninth Floor was half-open due to the power outage, and the edge of the door gap was covered with a thick layer of white frost.

Piercing cold air spilled out continuously along the door gap, turning into billowing white mist as it made contact with the remaining heat of the Eighth Floor.

"My Lord, the Ninth Floor is the data center. To maintain the operation of the supercomputers, most of the area on this floor is covered with liquid nitrogen and condensate. The current ambient temperature has dropped to minus one hundred degrees." Crab's mechanical legs gripped firmly onto Gu Shen's shoulder, providing the latest environmental parameters.

Gu Shen brushed the dust off his sleeves.

The Dark Gold Thunder Bone within his body grew slightly warm, and the power of his blood and Qi flowed steadily through his Meridians, completely isolating the biting cold.

The twelve Cyber Iron Guards formed up behind him, marching with uniform steps as they followed him into the Ninth Floor, a world that seemed to be frozen in ice.