When they got closer, they were able to see that the enormous mechanical insect in front of them was nearly filled to the brim with pipelines. There were hundreds and thousands of larvae wriggling and undulating beneath its slender limbs. Some of them even flew up in the air, climbing to higher areas of the limbs. They moved in sequence and flowed ceaselessly.
"Oh!"
Liang Lu instantly exposed a few small details that contradicted his identity as an experienced person, but no one cared about this right now. The specialized maintenance vehicle continued to move forward. They got a bit closer, and the sparks that occasionally lit up between the larvae and the limbs allowed the two to see even more details.
There were protrusions on top of the six limbs, and every protrusion was a special work station that could accommodate one or two people. There were roughly a hundred of them, but not even a tenth of them were in a working state right now.
And the so-called larvae were actually all sorts of self-propelled maintenance robots. They would be driven by commands to move over if they were damaged, or if they needed to change their mounting tools. They would automatically divert between the limbs and the abdomen of this mechanical insect to complete the task of repair and replacement.
"Tsk tsk. The Earth Layer Patroller is a mid-sized mobile repair station. I never thought that I would actually need to use this big fellow for outdoor work. "
Luo Nan sized up the so-called repair station from head to toe. Its main body, excluding the limbs, was approximately 20 meters long. The widest part of its carapace shaped body was at least 8 meters, and its height could reach approximately 6 meters. If the appearance of the limbs was taken into account, it would appear even more expansive.
"It looks bulky, but its structure can actually be shrunk. When it's finished, it can even use the spatial point to point permeation technique to warp the rock strata, allowing it to run extremely fast underground …."
Luo Nan couldn't help but let out a "wow". He was quite fascinated.
The only unfortunate thing was that this was the first time this special piece of equipment appeared, and it didn't feel particularly easy. The number of larvae under its abdomen was truly a bit too many.
There were several hundred to a thousand pieces of machinery and equipment waiting to be repaired. It would have been fine if there were a hundred work stations. But there were less than ten work stations on the six limbs. It was hard to avoid a bit of trouble dealing with all of them. So much so that the entire repair team became quite bloated.
"Just how much work has been accumulated here … No wonder they asked us to come and help." Liang Lu looked at this scene in detail. He was a bit apprehensive in his heart, but he had to put on a calm and collected appearance in front of Luo Nan. "This is pretty good. Compared to the assembly line, this kind of position is more tempering."
While they were talking, the maintenance vehicle was already approaching the tail of the Soil Patroller. After the signal connection was completed, a hole automatically opened in the area for the maintenance vehicle to enter and exit.
However, the Soil Patroller's abdomen was filled with machinery waiting to be repaired, and the direction of the machinery's flow was also fixed. As the driver, Luo Nan switched to maglev mode under the suggestion of the AI in order to avoid interfering with the already excessively bloated queue. The body of the car floated in the air, passing over the larvae that covered the ground and gliding toward the opening.
Liang Lu was still working hard to fulfill his duty as the commanding officer of the army. He stimulated Luo Nan's desire for victory: "We can have a maintenance competition. Whoever loses will go find Zhan Xiao and get that Out of Print... Oh!"
"Rumble!" The sound of an explosion suddenly came.
Actually, the first thing the two felt was the shock wave that directly oppressed and warped the air. It came crushing over from the side and front. So much so that they were unable to distinguish the following explosion. Was it a simple stimulation to their eardrums, or was it a vicious blow to their faces?
Then their concussed brains gave off a signal of protest.
Liang Lu was completely unprepared. His mind went blank, and the world spun around him. If it weren't for the flexible seatbelt's automatic restraint, he would have been flung a dozen meters away by the roofless maintenance vehicle.
Not just him, even the maintenance vehicle that weighed more than two tons had its magnetic track restraint between it and the Soil Patrol forcibly broken under the impact that came without any warning. The body of the vehicle was clearly offset, and under the effect of the intermittent magnetic force, it swayed in the air like a heavy leaf before it smashed into the external armor layer at the edge of the entrance. There was no telling how thick it was.
In the end, Liang Lu had undergone Sudden Impact training. It only took him two thousandths of a second to three breaths of time before he was jolted awake by the dual warnings from himself and the two AI in the maintenance vehicle. He didn't even have time to warn Luo Nan. He directly used his authority as a commanding officer to take back control of the maintenance vehicle and perform manual emergency evasion.
But he was actually unable to take it back!
"... Determination passed. Magnetic track correction complete. Preparing for collision."
"Motherf * cker!"
Liang Lu couldn't hold back from cursing. His final chance to adjust had already passed by the time his curses left his mouth. The flexible seatbelt had already bound him firmly to his seat, and the maintenance vehicle he was riding in had turned into a card that was flung out diagonally. It spun, scraped the edge of the metal at the edge of the entrance, and smashed into it with a whoosh.
First, there was a clear "clang" sound of impact. It seemed to have been caught somewhere, and the entire body of the train flipped sideways. Before it had completely flipped over, the strong magnetic restraint gathered again, and the train made a surfing-like roll and returned to its original position.
Then Liang Lu saw and experienced it. The maintenance vehicle smashed into the magnetic restraint ring. It was like a crazed beast that had been shot with a tranquilizer gun. It smashed forward in the narrow passageway. It smashed into the left wall, smashed into the right wall, smashed into the ceiling, and smashed into the floor. After seven or eight consecutive smashes, it finally digested the inertial force and came to a stop in disorder.
"Rumble!"
Another muffled sonic boom rang in his ears. The vehicle and his body bounced once more. Liang Lu subconsciously curled up his body into a defensive position before he came to a realization.
This time, the entire Earth Layer Patroller was rocking.
The second sonic boom was the same as the shock wave that nearly caused the car accident. It was just that they had entered the stomach of the Earth Layer Patroller. There was an additional layer of filtering buffer, so it wasn't that uncomfortable.
This was... The Fantasy Breed servant army outside had begun a large-scale attack. They had really made it at the right time!
Liang Lu finally came to his senses. He turned his head to look. "Luo Nan, are you okay?"
Luo Nan was also firmly tied to his seat, but his hands were still propped up against the driver's seat's sensor area. His arms were a bit stiff. Liang Lu was worried that his defensive posture wasn't in place and that his bones would be broken by the collision from the tumbling just now.
"I'm fine." Luo Nan's voice was still stable. His hands moved away from the sensor area, and at the same time, the two's flexible seatbelts automatically loosened, restoring their freedom.
Liang Lu let out a long sigh. His scalp tightened. In that situation just now, if they really collided, it wouldn't be fatal. However, they would injure their muscles and bones, and they would be sent to the battlefield hospital. If this was the result of their first new mission, they wouldn't be able to raise their faces before the end of this battle.
Liang Lu remembered something else when he thought of this. He pulled up the operation records of the special maintenance vehicle without a second thought. Even so...
It was more daunting than dangerous, but he just couldn't understand why he didn't take back the control authority when he used his commanding officer authority.
"The last operation... Luo Nan?"
"Yes, Gong Shi?" Luo Nan responded.
Liang Lu looked at the confused expression of his only subordinate soldier. His own mind was even more confused. "What kind of operation is this?"
He saw that... No, that set of records showed that Luo Nan had promptly switched to manual mode the instant the special maintenance vehicle was detached from the magnetic track. He completed as many as 22 operations within a thousandth of a second. He forcefully completed the manual docking of the vehicle and the magnetic track, as well as the trajectory adjustment.
It was this series of operations that helped the AI complete the most critical judgment of the situation. It allowed everything to return to the right track.
Liang Lu only reacted in the latter half of this time frame. He attempted to take over the authority, but the AI had already determined the correctness of the previous set of operations. It gave Luo Nan more weight in the operations, and this caused Liang Lu's control to become ineffective.
Basically, there were no mistakes in the logic.
But how did Luo Nan enter and execute the 22 operation commands in the blink of an eye? Just how fast did his consciousness rotate in that instant?
The operation records were drawn, right?
Luo Nan looked at the records and was a bit baffled. "I didn't do that much..."
Someone followed up just as the conversation began. "What kind of operation? To put it nicely, it's an extreme operation. But to put it bluntly, it's an operation that scrapes the edge. It's an operation that's just a hair away from violating the rules! "
The answer to Liang Lu's doubt was a hoarse voice that suddenly appeared, sounding a little weak.
The two people in the car looked in the direction of the voice. This was already the end of the passageway. It just so happened to be a parking area. Two similar maintenance vehicles were parked there, as well as some other means of transportation … … But no one could be seen.
Liang Lu and Luo Nan didn't dare to tarry. They happened to jump out of the car at the same time by chance. They stood ramrod straight and announced in a loud voice, "Second rank public officer Liang Lu (Private Luo Nan) has come under orders to report."
It was still the same hoarse voice. He spoke powerlessly, "You can see it. I'm your direct subordinate officer, Gou Ye … … If you have the time to talk nonsense, come over and help your officer up!"
"Huh?" The two looked at each other in dismay. Luo Nan's reaction was a bit faster. His line of sight shifted and he saw a shadow that didn't quite fit in between the two parked maintenance vehicles.
After confirming the suspicious range, they focused their analysis. The two went "Oh no!" and ran forward together. They tried to lift up the person who was sandwiched between the two vehicles.
But Luo Nan was stupefied when he just touched the edge.
The current situation of this Lieutenant Gou Ye really wasn't suitable for many people to use their strength. This was because this person's limbs were all severed from the shoulder to the hip. Moreover, he didn't have prosthetics installed. He had the appearance of a severe disability that was completely unable to take care of himself.
Liang Lu was still able to recognize this person. He called out "Lieutenant Gou" once more and carefully lifted him up, placing him on the side of the car.
"You've never seen a disabled person before huh? Then do you know that this disabled person just helped you out? "
Lieutenant Gou Ye was clearly already used to Luo Nan's current gaze. He had an indifferent expression, still full of the air of an officer: "If I wasn't here, I wouldn't have used my only leg to adjust the magnetic orbit. You, Private Luo Nan, would have had to perform at least 50 instantaneous operations … … That would be a completely illegal act of mental interference. I could immediately kick you back to Two Hive!"
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