Chapter 2706: Chapter 1831: They’re Everywhere (Spring Really Is the Season for Sleeping)
As he stepped out of the elevator, Duanmu Huai found the situation a bit different from what he’d imagined.
Originally, in Duanmu Huai’s imagination, the lower nest district should be in utter chaos, with mobs and guard soldiers shooting at each other, a complete mess.
But the reality was different. When Duanmu Huai exited the elevator, he found that the noisy sounds of battle had disappeared. It wasn’t that the battle had ended; it was because the thick rock walls blocked out those sounds. The reason was simple, as one could see from the scene before them.
This was a mine.
Duanmu Huai stood on the platform and looked down, seeing before him a quite ordinary mine shaft. Those mecha servants were manipulating tools, excavating the cavern. It seemed not much different from what the Mechanical Religion usually did. However, doing this beneath a Hive City was somewhat unexpected. Duanmu Huai turned his head, glancing at the elevator buried in the rock wall behind him.
"Looks like we’ve gone quite deep."
"Indeed, my lord, according to the instrument readings, we are approximately 3,800 meters underground now."
"What part of the Hive City is this?"
"No records exist; this area is not found in official maps."
Lumiaire operated the Servo Skull to search the records and then provided an answer.
"This is an undeveloped area."
"Heh, it looks quite developed to me."
Duanmu Huai sneered, as the mine shaft before him was clearly not newly developed. It had obviously been worked on for some time, yet he had no idea what these oil men were up to beneath here. But no matter how one looked at it, it didn’t seem like a good thing. Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai’s mind shifted, and shadows surged like boiling water emerging from darkness, transforming into power armor wrapping around him. Then he swung the chainsaw sword, striding towards the stairs.
"Let’s go see what these oil men are up to."
The surrounding mecha servants paid no attention to the existence of Duanmu Huai and the group of three. Perhaps considering their single-threaded processing mode, they might not even have a response procedure for this. Mianmu Zuoniao seemed somewhat satisfied after the previous slaughter, and now didn’t quite care about these mecha servants. They proceeded directly down the platform and followed the pathway inward.
Initially, everything seemed normal. The dim yellow lights along the sides of the tunnel illuminated the dark depths underground. But as they continued, Duanmu Huai discovered the darkness that even light couldn’t penetrate—this wasn’t just heavy shadows. The fractured bedrock gradually disappeared, replaced by pitch-black, straight stone walls. These began to supplant the broken rocks and soil, becoming the only scenery here.
"Mr. Duanmu..."
"Ah, I know."
In fact, seeing this, Duanmu Huai almost guessed why those oil men did such a thing.
Sure enough, when he reached the end of the cave, that bright, ghostly green light replaced the yellow lights, becoming the only scenery in sight.
Duanmu Huai squinted his eyes, gazing at the scene ahead—the pitch-black, black-stone-covered tomb was in disorder. From the tools and equipment placed here, it was apparent this had been those oil men’s research room for some time. Duanmu Huai raised his head and continued to look inside, then he saw a rather surprising scene. At the end of the tomb stood a group of oil men, and opposite them was a group of Space Undead Soldiers. Furthermore, in front of the Space Undead Soldiers stood a Space Undead. It seemed to have noticed Duanmu Huai’s presence, glanced over, then turned its gaze to the oil men in front.
"Looks like we have new guests."
Upon hearing the Space Undead speak, the oil men turned their heads to look at Duanmu Huai. Although most of their faces were covered by metal, Duanmu Huai could still sense the astonishment and surprise in their eyes.
"Hey, hello there."
Duanmu Huai raised his hand to wave at them.
"I really didn’t expect to find such an unexpected gain beneath the Holy Shrine. As Technology Priests, I find your friendliness with aliens quite surprising. But not that surprising, after all....."
Duanmu Huai sneered.
"Gear Boy, all this insolence, heretic."
"Your ability to reach here truly defies my expectations, Your Honor, the Judge."
One of the oil men spoke up.
"Based on our evaluation calculations of your actions, we thought there was a 96.5% chance you’d perish within the Holy Shrine."
"Hmm, well said. Is your farewell message just this?"
Duanmu Huai tightened his grip on the chainsaw sword, though this unexpected pleasure was indeed something he didn’t want. But who cares, with this opportunity, why hold back?
"Maybe we can talk."
However, the oil man didn’t stop speaking but continued.
"Just like how we reached an agreement with it, perhaps we could reach an agreement."
"I wonder what heretical doctrine you have to propose."
Duanmu Huai paused, partly because those Space Undead Soldiers had raised their Gauss Weapons, and partly because he wanted to figure out what exactly was going on. As a side note, although Gauss Weapons could easily pierce the armor of a Riemann-Rust Tank, Duanmu Huai had no problem resisting them with pure physical endurance.
Simultaneously, Duanmu Huai carefully examined the Space Undead Tomb ahead.
As a Judge, Duanmu Huai was quite familiar with the Space Undead tombs, and it was clear this was just a small burial site. From the coffins placed on both sides, it could be seen that this Space Undead had at most a hundred undead soldiers under its command. That is to say, the being flaunting itself on the high platform was unlikely to be a Space Undead Overlord, but merely a small Nobleman.
Well, that explains why, after awakening, it didn’t dismantle all these Gear Boys who intruded on its territory into parts.
After all, the strength of the Space Undead varied in power, and this one... belonged to the less impressive kind.
Clearly, with this guy’s strength, if discovered by the Hive City, it would have no way out. Of course, the Space Undead could use teleportation to escape, but judging by this place’s appearance...
Duanmu Huai’s gaze paused for a moment in the corner of the wall before withdrawing.
Oh, I see. Because of the collapse, this guy’s teleportation portal is buried, leaving it with no escape.
How pitiful.
"You should understand."
Just as Duanmu Huai was carefully examining the situation before him, the oil man excitedly spoke up.
"Look, isn’t this great being so dazzling? Don’t you think their innate divinity is a revelation?"
"???"
Divinity?
Duanmu Huai was momentarily stunned, looking in astonishment at the metal ribcage standing behind them.
You’re not a Star God, where’s this divinity coming from? Is this oil man out of his mind?
"What revelation?"
"The future of humanity!"
At this point, the oil man’s voice grew even more fervent.
"This is the perfect embodiment of life after eliminating all organic defects, the ultimate form of humanity as guided by the teachings of Omnissia! Uploading the human consciousness into an immortal, perfect body, achieving assimilation with Omnissia — can you imagine what a sight that would be?"
"I can imagine."
Duanmu Huai shrugged. After all, this silent graveyard was a more than obvious answer.
"Then why are you distributing weapons to the mob?"
"This is just a part of the plan."
The oil man continued.
"Although our Steel Screw Body Xiuhui agreed in unity to seek perfection, we also know that such behavior would be seen as heretical by the decaying and conservative world. Therefore, if an accident occurs, we hope to create a high-intensity conflict, which has a high probability of diverting their attention... particularly you, Your Honor, the Judge. And given the Emperor’s failure to control the lower populations, it’s calculated that with enough weapons and some clever incitement, there’s a ninety-seven percent chance of causing a rebellion, with approximately eighty-two point three percent probability that the rebellion will succeed. Of course, the Imperial army will be dispatched to quell the rebellion afterward, but by then, we would have completed the great sanctification ritual, proving that our path was the right one!"
Ah, I see...
Duanmu Huai nodded silently.
"So you guys accidentally discovered this Space Undead tomb..."
"All of this is Omnissia’s revelation!"
The oil man excitedly raised his arms.
"We received the gaze of the God of All Machines, who guided us to awaken the slumbering envoy, and our thirst for knowledge moved this embodiment of Omnissia!"
Speaking more and more heretically.
Duanmu Huai squinted his eyes, gripping the Chainsaw Sword in his hand tightly. However, he had already guessed what was happening. Clearly, some Technology Priest in this Xiuhui had been corrupted by Cunning Deception, who then, instead of immediately corrupting the entire Xiuhui, deliberately guided them to excavate and awaken this Space Undead tomb...
Such roundabout conduct really fits the style of Cunning Deception’s believers.
So was this also part of its plan? Using this to waste my time?
In that case, let’s not waste time.
"Alright, enough with the nonsense."
Duanmu Huai sighed.
"You all can go to hell."
Before he finished his sentence, Duanmu Huai suddenly leapt up like a cannonball being launched, charging directly at the Space Undead Lord!
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