236: Chapter 236 The Missing Iron Guard

Shelter No. 7, 6th Underground Level, arsenal.

The dome's emergency floodlights cast a dim, yellowish halo, and the steady roar of machine tools echoed through the spacious steel hall.

Dozens of automated assembly lines were fully operational, and the faint blue fluorescence of the central control console flickered in the hall.

Gu Shen sat upright on the high-backed metal chair of the central control console.

He wore a purple-crimson robe with dark patterns, and his face was covered by that stern, dark gold Asura mask.

Underneath his skin, the Cold Jade Bone slowly converged the last traces of overflowing thunder-magnetic ripples.

The Nirvana Star Core within his Dantian Qi Sea rotated steadily along a specific trajectory, refining all the chaotic Qi in the surroundings.

"Master, the surface advance defense force has transmitted the first phase of survey data."

The mechanical spider, sprawled on the operation panel, extended its micro-projection component.

Its single-machine electronic voice sounded in the quiet hall, filled with the rigor of data coordination.

"Three hundred t-7 heavy purgers have cleared the low-level mutated creatures within a fifty-mile radius of the Shelter."

"Ten Mass-produced Iron Guards are currently following scheduled coordinates to dismantle and transport materials from the pre-war heavy industrial arsenal located beneath the 3rd-tier Aberration Earth Dragon nest."

A holographic light screen unfolded before Gu Shen.

In the image, a dark red radiation sandstorm raged across the sky as massive steel beasts orderly transported tons of high-carbon steel ingots onto conveyor belts.

Gu Shen nodded slightly, his deep gaze watching the light screen through the slits of his mask.

The pure spiritual power provided by the Mid-Grade Spirit Stone was converted into surging kinetic energy under the guidance of the Spirit Gathering Array patterns.

This logistical system, stitched together from two worlds, operated perfectly.

As long as this harvesting matrix never stopped, he could sit upon endless industrial foundations.

Suddenly, the image on the holographic screen twisted violently.

A large expanse of glaring snow-noise static forcibly cut into the originally stable data stream.

Accompanied by a burst of short, chaotic electronic noise, the three green coordinate points representing the Mass-produced Iron Guards in the lower right corner of the screen suddenly turned a dangerous scarlet color and then extinguished completely.

"Alert! Data link fault!"

The mechanical spider's electronic voice spiked sharply, its eight metal limbs tapping rapidly on the console.

"Master, the connection between the No. 4, No. 7, and No. 9 Mass-produced Iron Guards deployed at the C-4 area on the periphery of the arsenal and the main control center has been forcibly physically severed."

"The signal source has evaporated into thin air."

Gu Shen straightened his back, cold light flashing in his eyes.

The Mass-produced Iron Guards were cast entirely from high-carbon steel and titanium-tungsten alloys.

Even if they encountered the brute force collision of a 3rd-tier Aberration giant beast, they could still hold out for a moment and transmit the battle damage footage back.

They would certainly not lose contact collectively in such a silent manner.

"Retrieve the visual cache logs from the last three breaths before the loss of contact." Gu Shen's voice was deep and solemn.

"Understood. Extracting residual bands."

The holographic screen flickered wildly.

After difficult noise reduction processing, a blurry image was projected.

The perspective of the image came from the optical sensor of the No. 7 Mass-produced Iron Guard.

In the dark red sandstorm, three Iron Guards were carrying heavy armor plates.

Without warning, several blinding white lights lit up behind the surrounding sand dunes.

These were not the explosive fireworks of conventional gunpowder weapons, but a color of extremely dazzling blue-white electric arcs.

The moment the white light flashed, the image underwent severe stretching and tearing.

The massive metal body of the Iron Guard No. 7 stiffened suddenly, and the transmission bearings of its crawler chassis locked instantly.

Immediately after, more than a dozen shadowy outlines emerged from the sandstorm.

Those figures walked upright.

Although their physiques were not as massive as the Iron Guards, they were all wrapped in an extremely crude and bulky humanoid exoskeleton armor.

Various scrap metal plates and anti-radiation lead layers were welded onto the surface of the armor, and thick hydraulic lines were exposed at the joints.

The leading figure walked with heavy steps to the front of the Iron Guard No. 7.

In its hand, it held a high-frequency cutting saw with a peculiar design, which it unceremoniously pressed against the armor seam of the Iron Guard's chest cavity.

A conversation filled with severe electrical noise was faithfully recorded by the Iron Guard's audio capturer.

"Boss, the anti-electromagnetic pulse coating on these three iron lumps is a complete joke. A single tactical EMP grenade paralyzed them all."

"But this shell armor is surprisingly hard; the brothers' plasma welders cut for a long time before they managed to open a crack."

A vulgar male voice came from the loudspeaker of the exoskeleton armor.

"Stop the nonsense, be quick with your hands and feet!"

"This area is a dead zone near Shelter No. 7. Such heavy mechs that completely deviate from the pre-war standard style must have something special about their internal power furnaces."

"Hurry up and dismantle the core; the radiation value is spiking again in this devilish weather."

Another deep voice gave the order.

In the image, the cutting saw forcibly pried open the titanium-tungsten armor on the Iron Guard's chest.

When the Mid-Grade Spirit Stone emitting a warm halo within the groove was exposed to the air, an uncontrollable exclamation came from inside the exoskeleton armor.

"My god... What kind of energy matrix is this?"

"There are no circuit layouts at all, and no decay reaction from miniature nuclear Fusion batteries!"

"It relies on this glowing broken rock for power? And this rock... it's actually warm!"

The video image ceased abruptly with this exclamation, plunging into complete darkness.

The hall returned to a deathly silence.

Gu Shen sat on the high platform, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest, making a crisp da-da sound.

"Human survivors."

He uttered these three words softly.

There was no rage in his tone at having his property robbed; instead, it revealed a deep sense of scrutiny.

On this scorched earth that had been baptized by the world-extinguishing poisonous light for hundreds of years, the original civilians of Shelter No. 7 had long since mutated into mindless monsters or turned into the piles of white bones on the 11th level.

He had originally thought that apart from plants and mutated beasts, the surface was already a pure dead zone.

Now it seemed that this Wasteland world was far vaster than he had imagined.

"Master, it was a high-frequency electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon."

The mechanical spider provided a professional analysis.

"Although the energy hub of the Mass-produced Iron Guard was replaced by your Spirit Stone array patterns, perfectly avoiding the Heavenly Dao audit and conventional energy detection."

"However, the physical transmission of its limbs and skeleton still highly relied on the servo motors and electromagnetic machinery of the Wasteland."

"The strong electromagnetic field of the EMP instantly pierced through those motor coils that had not undergone special anti-magnetic treatment, leading to a purely physical deadlock and paralysis of the machine body."

"So that's how it is."

Gu Shen understood.

While the Cultivation array patterns were exquisite, they could not change the physical attributes of the underlying Mechanical Iron Guard.

This was a minor flaw left behind by forcibly stitching the technologies of two worlds together, and it was also the reason why those Wasteland survivors could succeed with weapons left over from before the war.

However, Gu Shen's thoughts did not linger on the battle damage.

"To be able to conduct squad exploration on the surface where such heavy radiation and Aberrations run rampant, and to possess the pre-war military's EMP weapons and armor technology."

"Behind this group of survivors, there must be a complete, well-developed Wasteland survival system."

Gu Shen's eyes narrowed slightly as he calculated the gains and losses in his heart.

The situation in the Great Yu Cultivation World was treacherous, and the blockade by the Beast Taming Sect had obstructed his channels for obtaining cultivation resources.

The transaction with the Wanxiang Merchant Alliance had just been completed, and the progress of the next transaction should not be too fast.

If he could recruit this group of survivors who were familiar with the Wasteland terrain and make them act as guides for dragon-seeking and tomb-exploring, to unearth those pre-war military bases buried deep underground and find higher-order energy and technological artifacts, it would surely yield twice the result with half the effort.

"Those who dare to touch my resources must pay the price of serving me."

Gu Shen stood up abruptly, his purple-crimson robe fluttering under the agitation of his True Essence.

"mechanical spider, lock onto the coordinates where the signal was lost."

"Coordinates established. Forty-five miles to the northwest, on the edge of an abandoned industrial park site from before the Great Catastrophe." The mechanical spider responded quickly.

Gu Shen strode down from the control platform.

He did not summon those slow-moving t-7 heavy purgers.

To deal with this group of mortal survivors who possessed electromagnetic weapons, he only needed the most absolute physical violence and crushing force.

With a flick of his large sleeve, the Storage Ring flowed with green light.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Nine elite Demon Bone Iron Guards, covered in shock-absorbing and sound-insulating coatings and embedded with the bones of 3rd-tier and peak 2nd-tier Demon Kings, fell onto the plaza one after another.

The agility of the Thunder Cloud Snow Leopard, the heaviness of the Golden-Horned Rhinoceros Beast, the violence of the Flame Poison Crocodile King.

These nine killing machines, which fused the insulating properties of top-grade Demon bones, had an innate immunity to all electromagnetic pulses and physical techniques.

Gu Shen stood with his hands behind his back in front of the nine steel demon gods, his deep cyan magic power of the Extreme Foundation Establishment hidden but not yet released.

"Follow me to the surface to take a walk and meet this group of survivors from the old world."

Gu Shen's figure moved like lightning, leading the nine Demon Bone Iron Guards, and went straight toward the open No. 1 anti-nuclear main gate along the wide central passage.

Outside the door, the dark red radiation sandstorm was still raging.