When Hao Ren and Vivian returned to the Naqdal base, the minions of the Mad Lord were no longer there.
A small group of them tried to infiltrate the Naqdal perimeter, but they were met with a fierce counterattack from the drone cluster. After a brief battle, the cannon fodder unit, which seemed to be used as pathfinders, was wiped out within the range of the drone cluster. Some of the festered monsters that wandered further away chose to retreat halfway through the battle. Due to the long distance and the fact that the patrolling drones did not carry any intercepting equipment such as gravity trap generators, the festered monsters managed to escape.
But Hao Ren did not think it was a big deal because the Naqdal perimeter was so wide that the festered monsters were not close enough to threaten or observe the inside of the base. They did not even know how big the base was. The drone cluster had intercepted them half a light-year away from the base.
But it still gave Hao Ren a warning: as he had predicted, the festered monsters had not only located the Naqdal Continent but also knew the arrival of the outsiders. They had not given up on this place.
It seemed that the crystals on the Naqdal Continent were very attractive to them.
The Naqdal control center had been remodeled. The underground part of the control center was based on the navigation crystal, which was still beyond Hao Ren's control. So, the underground structure was temporarily shelved, and the temple on the surface above it became the new control center.
The drone cluster had installed all the propulsion systems on the continent's base, and the shield generators and weapon platforms on the continent were also coming online. In addition to the engines, these things now had two sets of systems. One was the original control system made by the guardian giants, and the other was the new control circuit of the drone cluster. These two systems were connected to the underground structure of the control center and the temple on the surface. At present, Hao Ren was controlling the fortress-like continent through the temple on the surface.
The process was a bit like putting an extra electric stimulation sensor on a body with dead nerves. Although it was indirect control, it was enough to make the space fortress function as it should.
Hao Ren and Vivian came back and walked into the temple surrounded by the sprites. The huge and magnificent building still retained its original appearance, but there were a lot of Xiling-style equipment and a group of flying autonomous robots inside. Deep in the temple, in the polygonal hall that served as the temporary headquarters, Hao Ren went straight to a dark metal wall. "Report the situation."
As his voice trailed off, the metal wall squirmed like liquid, and a constantly changing face appeared on its surface. "Six hours ago, the patrol drones detected an abnormal spatial distortion in the security perimeter, and then detected traces of the minions of the Mad Lord near the distortion point. Three minutes later, the leading drones exchanged fire with the intruders. The intruders then divided into two groups. One group continued to invade the security perimeter, and the other moved in the opposite direction. "
As the consciousness of the drone cluster spoke, the holographic projection next to it showed a recorded image of the battlefield.
"… Fifteen minutes later, the enemy forces far away from the battlefield suddenly withdrew, and the drone cluster failed to intercept them. Twenty-six minutes later, the enemy invading forces were all wiped out. We have salvaged some wreckage, but the preliminary judgment is worthless."
After studying the battlefield video, Hao Ren asked, "Did they act in an orderly manner?"
"They showed a high degree of discipline and reaction speed. Although they were quickly defeated due to the numerical disadvantage, the enemy still showed a considerable degree of battlefield command ability."
"As we expected, the previous troops that attacked the Naqdal Continent came from the opposite perimeter. This time, there is a commander following up from the rear." Hao Ren glanced at Vivian. "And I'm afraid we won't encounter F2A boors anymore. The enemy is taking this place seriously."
Vivian had a thoughtful look on her face. She then looked up at the squirming metal wall in front of her. "Can you roughly analyze the combat style of the enemy this time and the previous troops on the battlefield?"
The consciousness quickly responded, "The enemy this time is more conservative, and they are better at using a large number of deformed monsters as their main force. There is a greater deviation from the enemy's tactical data collected before."
Vivian nodded. "This means there is more than one commander on the other side."
"Obviously, this is a wave of probing," Hao Ren said. "The enemy is not sure where we come from. The previous wave of troops was crushed by the drone cluster must have put a lot of pressure on them. So they did not choose to attack rashly. Instead, they sent a small group to scout the way."
"It seems that we are right to build the base and expand our military power quickly," the MDT said as it emerged from the side. "They may not be able to see the exact size of the Naqdal base, but they should have realized that the number of drones here has expanded to a far greater extent than the last time. They may be more cautious in formulating their attack strategy against us."
"But this will also give them a sense of urgency," Hao Ren said, waving his hand. "A normal commander will immediately think of gathering superior forces to eliminate a fast-growing and uncontrollable third force like us. The drone cluster has shown an extraordinary growth rate. The enemy will not sit back and watch us grow."
The next wave of attack would come soon, and the scale was not to be underestimated.
Of course, Hao Ren did not intend to wait for that day. He was already taking action.
In the deepest part of the Naqdal Base, next to the main nest of the drone fortress, there was a newly completed hyperspace projection device. Its structure was very much like a miniaturized version of the warp-jump acceleration track. At the end of the series of rings, there was a long silver-white track that seemed to be constantly changing between virtual and real. At this moment, the strange newly built device was being activated. Bright sparks of energy constantly jumped and increased between the ring and the guide rail, and a strange-looking drone was slowly moving into the ring at the beginning of the acceleration track under the guidance of the tractor beam.
This was indeed another kind of acceleration track. But unlike the conventional acceleration track that was purely used for rapid delivery of units, this acceleration track had an enhanced stealth module. Not only could it erase the coordinates of the accelerated target in the real world, but it could also keep the accelerated target in an "erased" state for an hour after arriving at the destination. In this state, the launched unit would lose all corresponding information in the real world, including all traces left on the timeline and causality. It would disappear from the world as if it had never existed and would never appear in the future. Any observation based on the laws of the universe would be ineffective against this target.
The covert unit that had been "erased" was the strange-looking drone. It was larger than the conventional drone model, and its body was tens of meters long. There were all kinds of detectors of various sizes installed on its body. The insect-like rear section also had a bulging spherical mechanical cabin. These devices were made by the inspector's data link through the "authorization upgrade protocol." They allowed the stealth drone to observe the real world in a one-way manner even when it was erased. In other words, it could observe the outside world, but the outside world would never be able to detect its existence.
The primary coil of the acceleration track began to flicker, and the surging light in the coil became a thin film. The "scout" passed through the film and began to blur.
"Coordinates have been erased … Erasing information … Target unit information has been erased. Related source data is temporarily stored in virtual point storage."
Hao Ren stood in the observatory in space, watching the fluctuations at the front of the acceleration track gradually subsiding. Although he did not know what he had just launched, nor did he know what the thing looked like and what its function was, according to the memo, he knew that after the fluctuations of the acceleration track subsided, some information would soon come from the distant and mysterious battlefield.
"The detector is about to send back a signal," the MDT said while activating the holographic projection nearby. "The image may be a little blurry at first …"
A moment later, Hao Ren saw a bright and dark image on the holographic projection device.
It was the image presented after the distorted starlight passed through the interwoven curtain of the real world. The image was very blurry at first, and appeared to be in a state of interlaced confusion. But soon, the blurry image became clear.
The first thing he saw was a huge rock. This rock floated in space and quickly approached the camera. But the expected collision did not happen. The camera passed through the space rock as if it did not exist in the real world. After a short period of darkness, the image became clear again.
A shimmering galaxy stretched across the distance. With the galaxy as the background, Hao Ren saw countless large and small black fragments floating in the dark space. There was also a hazy halo in the upper left corner of the image, which seemed to be the extension of a gaseous cloud structure. At the end of the gaseous cloud structure, there were a few shimmering, man-made things.
The sprites could not go too far away from Naqdal, but the facility where Hao Ren was located was on the synchronous orbit near Naqdal. So the three sprites were invited here as temporary consultants. The long-haired sprite was floating next to Hao Ren's head, watching the holographic projection attentively. She nodded and said, "These should be the fragments of Naqdal!"
The other two sprites also said, "These fragments should be mixed with Agodal's!" "Because Agodal was also scratched at that time!" "But I can't see where Agodal and Amantir are from these images." "After all, they are so far away."
"There seems to be no enemy here." Vivian looked at the image, which was constantly changing its angle to observe the entire area. "Did the festered abandon this place after destroying Naqdal?"
"I'm afraid they do not have the habit of cleaning up the battlefield or recycling resources." Hao Ren nodded. "What are the man-made things on the edge of the gaseous cloud belt?"
The sprites immediately gathered together. "Let me see, let me see …" "Looks like an outpost controlled by Amantir." "Stay away, we will be discovered!"
Hao Ren nodded and said to the MDT, "MDT, make a note that we need to avoid these things when we go there."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
