Chapter 641
Madness Like a Dream
Chapter 641 Madness Like a Dream
Burning, pain, chaotic signal noise, fault signals roaring in the logic chip, and the roar of gunfire and explosions in the midst of battle...
The heavy walking machine was slammed to the ground with an unreasonable force. Old Joe felt as if all his sensory units had malfunctioned at that moment. He struggled to reconnect to the body, only to see thick smoke billowing in the cockpit. Everything outside the observation window was absurd and chaotic, as if he were in a crazy and bizarre dream.
The soldiers were fighting an enemy force that resembled playing cards. These bizarre enemies were like giant, upright pieces of paper, their faces painted with colors reminiscent of classical theatrical makeup, and their bodies draped in bright red and green robes. Bullets could easily leave holes in their bodies, yet these "playing cards" still managed to bypass the barrage of fire and, with comical and grotesque gestures, swung their thin, paper-like swords at the walking machine's shields.
A giant serpent was wreaking havoc in the sea of fire, its massive body crushing everything in its path as it rolled and rolled. The black dots of soldiers around it desperately fired at it, but all it got in return was a casual flick of its tail that crushed the fully armed clone soldiers, armor and all, into a flattened can.
Another strange howling sound came from the sky, like the screams of ghosts in the dark, thick dust. The external monitor of the walker captured the shadows swooping down from the bottom of the clouds—ancient-looking fighter planes burst out of the darkness, their cannons licking the ground, and then began to bombard the streets.
The two tactical walkers reacted quickly, raising their twin cannons and strafing the sky while simultaneously firing several "Honeycomb" light anti-aircraft missiles. They easily hit the old-fashioned fighters that looked like they came from ancient times, which exploded into fireballs of various sizes in the darkness, but no debris fell—the fireballs only flashed in the darkness and disappeared like phantoms into the fog.
But the bombs falling from the sky were real. The entire abandoned neighborhood was shaken by deafening explosions. The fire was fueled by hot winds, and the shockwaves swept everything away with the flames. The fire illuminated the abandoned ancient city as bright as day.
Amidst the raging flames, the long-haired figure emerged once more. Her entire body twisted and burned like flames, and she held a fireball as intense as the sun's rays. "Match" frantically hurled the fireball at every living thing within her sight, laughing maniacally as she watched the black dots of soldiers flee in all directions. Her cries echoed through the ruins: "Sir! Do you want matches? Do you want matches? Do you want--matches?!"
Then, in this chaotic dream, the clone soldiers, caught in a fierce battle, heard a song—
Dark, mournful, and melodious, the song almost evoked the alluring voice of a siren from a story. The exceptionally beautiful yet extremely unsettling melody, accompanied by a repressive and solemn organ tune, resounded through the dark streets and echoed at the base of the giant wall.
"Sing! Sing!" The giant serpent banshee raised her body in the sea of fire, her eyes shining with excitement. Her body grew even larger in the darkness, and several extra heads grew from behind her as her body split apart, swaying unsettlingly in the firelight. "This little sister really does sing quite well, clap your hands, clap-clap-clap!"
The Snake Princess clapped her hands in delight, and the numerous heads behind her plunged into the flames, each carrying a clone soldier engulfed in flames, waving them wildly in the night sky like glow sticks.
The severely damaged tactical walking machines slowly moved their mechanical legs, struggling to crawl towards the edge of the fire with their remaining power. The surviving clone soldiers and other walking machines, driven by orders, continued to rush towards the center of the battlefield, protecting their masters with their lives.
More reserve tactical squads are on their way from the assembly point, and a dozen heavy drones are taking off from the middle of the giant wall and will arrive soon.
But the most urgent task is to ensure that you can evacuate to a safe place.
Old Joe was racking his brains. He had just spent a lot of effort extinguishing the flames on the control panel, and now he was reviewing everything that had happened that day, reflecting on all his judgments and decisions over the past period.
Something's wrong, something's wrong, these things... aren't human... they can't be human...
That madwoman Luo, that freak who escaped from the lab, she must be hiding something from me, from everyone in the company… Where did she get all this “assistance”? Where did she find these monsters?!
They should have been on alert when the first tactical squad suddenly lost contact in the dark district... but at the time everyone thought it was just a sneak attack by Luo and her soldiers... thinking it was just a lucky trap...
Who would have thought that these "ambush troops" would emerge from the depths of this forgotten abyss?! This is completely illogical! How did they even appear?!
“Lo...you traitor...you must have sold yourself to the subspace...no, to an evil spirit that's even more dangerous than the subspace...damn it, you little bastard…”
Old Joe cursed under his breath, but then a smile suddenly appeared on his steel-covered face.
However, that "little bastard" is definitely dead... With that level of direct fire, she and her bunker were blown to bits on the spot. He saw it with his own eyes, there's no doubt about it.
The roar of artillery and the frenzied laughter were gradually left behind, and the scorching heat gradually subsided from the armor. The nano-damage control device was doing its best to repair the damaged pipelines in the walking mechanism and control circuit. The tactical walking machine's power was restored to 30%, and the monsters—especially the snake demon that called itself "little animal"—did not seem to have noticed his escape.
This was a victorious escape.
Old Joe increased the walking machine's speed while continuing to order the other reserve squads to build defensive lines around the Dark Street area, and even to "make some noise" if necessary—as long as they could hold off those strange enemies.
Luo is dead. Although we failed to obtain the crucial data, at least she won't have the chance to go elsewhere and make irresponsible remarks. The most basic objective has been achieved, so this operation wasn't a complete loss.
As for the soldiers who remained in the neighborhood... some of them heard things they shouldn't have heard, so they couldn't stay.
Although clone warriors are always loyal, even the most loyal living person is no match for a corpse. The walking machine's joints crackled with fire as it sped faster and faster through the dark streets.
But the melodious and mournful female voice still echoed in the surrounding darkness. The source of the voice could not be discerned; it felt as if the entire space was filled with the resonance of sound, like... a large area of "background noise."
The singing was beautiful, but Old Joe felt extremely irritated by the sound, as if something was still tracking him and he couldn't shake it off no matter what he did.
He stopped in front of a building that had been abandoned for who knows how many years.
The building is now just an empty shell. Several reinforced pillars extending from the base of the "giant wall" slant through the building, like nailing an ancient corpse firmly to the ground. The remaining structure of the building still faintly reveals its former glory—it may have originally been part of the surface civilization of this planet, or it may have been some kind of "symbolic building" built by the early colonization fleet to gain the trust of the locals. But all the glory and stories have faded with time. Now it is pressed under this iron nest, leaving only a pile of decaying remains and the hollow sound of wind lingering within.
The power core of the walker has overheated, and forcibly accelerating it while it was damaged has overburdened it. It must now stop and rest.
Old Joe cautiously observed the situation on the street through a set of still-intact external surveillance cameras.
It was quiet around, and the strange "pursuers" were not in sight for the time being. Apart from the eerie singing that kept echoing in my ears, this place should be safe.
He relaxed slightly.
However, just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark figure out of the corner of his eye.
The logic chip briefly heated up, but quickly returned to normal.
It was a four-legged animal.
Was it a wolf? Or some kind of exceptionally large dog?
Old Joe wasn't quite sure. The creature looked furry, like a fleeting shadow in the darkness. Compared to the giant snake, the card soldiers, and the arsonist in the flames, this furry creature even seemed somewhat "friendly" and quite "normal"—it cautiously slipped out from between the buildings and approached the walkie-talkie as if curiously observing something.
Then it raised its head and grinned widely, as if smiling at the monitor of the walking machine.
The shadow wolf had a blood-stained grenade in its mouth.
The wolf vanished into thin air in an instant, turning into a shadow. The grenade landed on the ground, accompanied by a crisp metallic clang, and a large cloud of scarlet blood mist rapidly sprayed out from one end.
The moment the Shadow Wolf vanished, Old Joe sensed something was wrong. However, the overheated walker failed to activate immediately. Then he saw the spreading crimson mist, and all his logic chips felt as if they had been struck by an electric current, instantly triggering a vivid memory of a certain scene—
The incense on Luo's table!
"Oops!"
He exclaimed in surprise and instinctively pushed the control stick in his hand all the way. A buzzing noise came from inside the walking machine, and the mechanical legs of this war machine finally lifted up. But he soon found that he was not moving forward, but the whole machine was "rising".
The external monitor captured a scene that caused his chip to overheat.
A giant, over ten meters tall, clad in shimmering, lightning-encrusted gold armor, with bristling hair and beard, and a majestic and robust appearance like a Titan from a religious tale, appeared on the street at some unknown time. He easily seized the struggling tactical walker, and with a few slaps of his other hand, knocked off the walker's three pairs of mechanical legs.
Then the giant sat cross-legged on the ground, patted himself down, and pulled out a can opener that was perfectly suited to his size.
A desperate roar came from the tactical walker...
(End of this chapter)