33: Chapter 33 Direct Neural Connections and First Blood

The pipes were vibrating.

Thermal expansion and contraction wouldn't make this sound. Heavy military boots stepped on the metal grating—three long, two short—a tactical pace of alternating cover. The Anvil King's scouting team was at least four minutes faster than expected.

Lin Yuan stared at the terminal interface under the green indicator light. A conventional data cable download would take ninety seconds, while the source of the vibration was only a hundred and twenty meters away from the corner of Sector B. The alloy wire in his right wrist crawled under his skin, raising its head like a snake, having already reached the middle of his forearm; its metallic edges scraped against his radius, sending a shiver through him.

"The conventional interface won't make it in time." Chen Duo's mechanical eye zoomed rapidly, scanning the terminal's casing. "There's a physical firewall; it needs a bio-electric field match from an ARK raw data chip. I can bypass it, but decryption will take sixty seconds."

"Too long."

Lin Yuan tore open his left sleeve. Alloy wires already covered his entire palm, fine silver patterns wandering beneath the skin, their ends sharp as needles. He thought of the mixture of flesh and metal in "The Womb," and the hunger cycle that required a return for feeding every month. With a direct neural connection, the download time could be compressed to fifteen seconds, but the biological stc erosion would accelerate.

Lin Yuan stabbed the alloy wire directly into the interface.

Agony exploded. It wasn't a physical wound but a neural-level searing, as if molten iron were being poured up through his bone marrow. Lin Yuan gritted his teeth; the system interface in his vision flashed wildly as the data stream poured down. The biological stc fragment resonated with the terminal core, and his heartbeat synchronized with a much larger rhythm.

Chen Duo stood on the flank, the chip at his spine emitting a faint blue light. His fingers tapped rapidly on a hidden panel on the side of the terminal, using the chip's physical properties to deceive the firewall's identification protocol. This was his pledge of loyalty, and also his value.

"Level one firewall bypassed." Chen Duo's voice was tense. "Level two encryption is... damn it, there's a bio-lock."

Lin Yuan clenched his teeth. The alloy wires writhed convulsively at the interface, more silver patterns spreading from his wrist to his forearm; with every centimeter of extension, the neural searing deepened. He smelled the scent of charred protein from his own skin, mixed with the stale, metallic stench of rust in the pipes.

Download progress: 37%.

The vibrations grew closer. A soft metallic clink came from around the corner—the sound of a weapon's safety being disengaged.

Rat Eye leaned against the door, his remaining left eye pressed against the observation slit. To the right of his vision was a blind spot, and that darkness made him uneasy. The neural link in his right eye had already burned out, but the backup channel for THRONE-02 was still buzzing deep inside his skull, like a bomb buried in his brain.

"Two people, cover positions," Rat Eye whispered. "And one more... I can't see them, right-side blind spot."

Before he could finish, THRONE-00 moved.

The The Warden gave no warning. Its power claw suddenly swung up, pointing with precise accuracy toward Rat Eye's blind spot. The next second, the whistle of an electromagnetic projectile tearing through the air came from that direction. A shower of sparks erupted from the surface of THRONE-00's ARK prototype armor, but it had already stepped half a pace ahead into the trajectory.

Amidst the agony, Lin Yuan stole a glance. THRONE-00's power claw adjusted its angle slightly, its tips gleaming with cold light as the engine emitted a low roar. No emotion could be heard in the sound of grinding metal, only the pure accumulation of power for the kill. It obeyed the Gene Lock, but it retained autonomous attack permissions.

Download progress: 68%.

Su Wanqing's image suddenly flashed within the data stream.

It was only a thirty-second clip. The woman's face was blurred, and her voice was processed through multiple layers of encryption, coming through intermittently: "Don't trust the icon of the emperor... they are already corr... THRONE-01 is in New Canaan... but the surface..."

The image stopped abruptly, replaced by coordinate data. New Canaan station, surface entrance coordinates locked, but the internal structure was covered by level three encryption, showing only a vague outline. Worse, the decrypted satellite map showed that the surface portion of the station had been converted into an arsenal, with massive furnace chimneys piercing the radiation clouds.

A blood-red countdown suddenly appeared at the edge of Lin Yuan's vision: 28 days. That was the hunger cycle of "The Womb," and also his deadline for sustenance.

Download progress: 91%.

"They're here!" Rat Eye hissed.

Two figures burst from around the corner, wearing the Anvil King's signature black ceramic armor and holding electromagnetic rifles. They didn't charge blindly but immediately split to both sides, one kneeling for cover while the other pulled a cylindrical device from his waist.

An electromagnetic pulse grenade.

THRONE-00's engine sound suddenly changed pitch, shifting from a low drone to a sharp wail. It identified the threat, its power claw opening to its maximum angle as the blades popped out, revealing numbered engravings on the surface similar to those on THRONE-02's power claw: ARK-PROTO-00.

The blue light of the pulse grenade's explosion engulfed the corridor.

Violent electrical sparks flared across the surface of THRONE-00's armor, and its movements stalled for a fraction of a second. But through the Gene Lock connection, Lin Yuan felt that it wasn't paralyzed, only that its power system was temporarily suppressed. The The Warden dropped to one knee, stabbing its power claw into the floor to forcefully withstand the EMP shock.

"It's overloaded!" the kneeling scout shouted. "Focus fire!"

A barrage from the electromagnetic rifles sprayed across THRONE-00, and the ARK prototype armor emitted a piercing metallic wail. But the The Warden raised its head, its optical sensors glowing crimson in the smoke. It didn't speak or roar; its power claw slowly rose, adjusting its angle to a terrifyingly precise position.

Then, it lunged.

The fifteen-meter distance vanished in an instant. The power claw tore through the ceramic armor with a sound like ripping soaked canvas. Blood sprayed onto the pipe walls under high pressure, splashing in large patches of dark red. THRONE-00's movements were simple and crude, possessing only pure, violent efficiency; every claw strike precisely severed the connection points between the neural bundles and the power armor.

The kneeling scout tried to retreat, but the power claw had already pierced through his helmet. As the claw blades retracted, fragments of the shattered helmet scattered across the floor, revealing a metal nameplate inside: ARK-EXPERIMENT-07.

Lin Yuan's download was completed at that moment.

The alloy wires were yanked violently from the interface, bringing with them a string of blood droplets. Lin Yuan collapsed to his knees, his right hand having lost all sensation; silver patterns covered his entire palm like a metal glove. He saw his skin mutating; the biological stc transformation had completed a new round of erosion, but it had also unlocked a terrifying permission.

biological stc temporary interface. No resources required, instantaneous construction, at the cost of permanently losing part of his pain-sensing nerves.

In the corridor, THRONE-00 stood between the two corpses, blood slowly dripping from its power claw. Its armor was covered in scorch marks, and the plating on its left shoulder had even been pierced, revealing the writhing biological cables beneath. The energy limitation following the EMP had visibly slowed its movements and reduced its output.

But the worst thing happened.

Inside the fallen scout's helmet, a device was emitting a high-frequency beep. It was a gene lock sniffer, uploading THRONE-00's Gene Lock signal characteristics in real-time.

Lin Yuan's system interface flashed wildly; the Anvil King's countdown instantly compressed from its paused state: 20 minutes.

"Damn it." Chen Duo stared at a panel that had just popped out from the side of the terminal, which displayed the activation option for the "ARK purification protocol." It could instantly kill all non-pureblood humans within Sector B, including himself. He was silent for a second, then pressed his finger lightly on the panel, and it slid back into place soundlessly, as if it had never appeared.

Rat Eye leaned against the wall, his empty right eye socket facing the ceiling. The backup channel for THRONE-02 was questioning him inside his skull: [THRONE-00 status? Lin Yuan's life or death?]

Rat Eye's fingers were trembling. If he reported the truth, THRONE-02 would detonate the remaining chips inside him. He licked his parched lips and sent false intelligence through the neural link: [Target deceased. THRONE-00 has lost control and is attacking allies. Suggest remote detonation.]

The other end of the channel was silent for a few seconds, then disconnected.

Lin Yuan stood up, his right hand completely covered by alloy wires; the tips of his fingers felt the coldness of the metal, yet there was no sense of touch. He looked at THRONE-00; the The Warden was bending over to check the corpses, the serial number on its power claw clearly visible in the bloodstains: ARK-PROTO-00.

An engraving from the same source as THRONE-02.

"New Canaan station," Lin Yuan's voice was hoarse. "The surface has been occupied by the Anvil King. THRONE-01 is deep within the enemy's controlled area."

Chen Duo turned his head, his mechanical eye reflecting a green light. "Within twenty minutes, the main army will flood this place."

Lin Yuan clenched his right hand, the alloy wires making a rustling sound as they rubbed against his palm. The biological stc permission flashed on the system interface, carrying a blood-colored temptation. He looked at Su Wanqing's unfinished message on the terminal screen, then at the serial number on THRONE-00's power claw.

More footsteps came from deep within the pipes, ten times heavier than before.

THRONE-00 stood back by Lin Yuan's side, its power claw slightly adjusting its angle to point deep into the corridor. The engine roared like a war drum.