Groups of insect monsters raged in the passages inside the energy tower. After fighting with humans several times and breaking through several lines of defense, these smart and terrifying monsters also figured out how to deal with human weapons. They opened shields to protect each other. Charging forward, one after another, fat maggots filled with strong acid and highly toxic substances were shot out from the muzzle of the acid cannon, turning into acid rain and falling poisonous gas to kill and damage the fortifications, as well as hide in the fortifications. human soldier.
Neither human defenses nor their bodies can resist this intensive attack of poison. Even if just a little bit of acid is stained on the forearm, the whole hand will turn into a slime and melt continuously. , a festering semi-liquid substance; if you inhale even a mouthful of the settled poisonous gas, you will fall into a state of acute poisoning, and all the holes in your body, including the pores, will continue to seep blood, turning into a terrifying bloody man who will die.
The dense swarm of insects was like passing locusts, with no grass growing anywhere they passed. Suddenly, all parts of the energy tower were involved in high-intensity fighting.
A large number of hostile reactions detected! The third line of defense in area A comes into contact with hostile units!
The second line of defense in Area C was completely wiped out!
The sixth line of defense in Area E encountered devastating firepower! The fortifications were destroyed!
The fourth line of defense in zone R was breached! Request support! repeat! Request support!
The logistics team is under attack. Oops! Your farmers are beaten!
One piece of information after another filled the field of vision, flashing at an overwhelming speed and then being covered by new information. Battle reports from the front line came like snow flakes, but they were all bad news.
Although the humans cooperated tacitly, used various defensive tactics, and fought bravely without fear of death, the insects still suffered heavy losses due to the weapons and endless numbers of the insects that were several generations ahead, and the soldiers were unable to form combat effectiveness. After retreating again and again, in the end even the defense line was crumbling and about to be lost.
Throne of domination.
It seems that Plan A to lock these monsters in the energy tower failed.
The chairman was sitting high on the throne. Dozens of cable lines were moved out of the direct connection port behind the throne to directly connect to the throne. In this way, various areas of the energy tower were monitored and managed in real time. He watched with his own eyes as another garrison team fought to the death and was killed. Submerged in the sea of insects, when all the blocking teams in the tower were wiped out and it was a foregone conclusion that the swarm of insects would break out of the energy tower, he took the initiative to connect a communication channel.
Gerwen, report on the operation of the power furnace.
As external signals were connected to the communication, a humanoid outline composed of snowflakes and chaotic color blocks suddenly appeared in the chairman's field of vision, and Gwen's voice sounded slowly.
All components are operating in good condition, the micro solar power furnace is operating normally, the energy circuit shows no obvious signs of overload or damage, and the energy output unit has no abnormalities. Ge Wen's voice was calm and simple, and he reported that the power room had just undergone a sacrificial repair not long ago. Although it was a batch-produced test product, there was no problem with the repair effect.
Can it withstand the next energy output?
The energy output of the main power furnace is definitely no problem. Although the volume and mass are not comparable to those of stars, the energy provided will not be compromised at all. It’s just that Gwen paused here and after a short calculation, he was silent for a moment. I continued to raise my concerns. Compared with the situation of the power furnace, I was more worried about the output line.
The additional energy output units and circuits are all add-ons manufactured based on our own processes. I don’t know whether they can withstand the high-intensity energy output.
Are you afraid of overload and short circuit? The chairman's calm voice sounded slowly.
That is the most optimistic idea. Gwen's voice still sounded as mechanical and cold as usual, but at this moment there was a bit more worry in it. We were worried about meltdowns, power surges, uncontrollable violent pulses, and even whether the machines over there could start normally. have no idea
After all, this is a power furnace that permanently supplies energy to the spacecraft. We have not yet understood the principle of the internal energy transmission circuit. We can only add patches to it according to our own understanding.
Regarding his somewhat pessimistic views, the chairman's response was still flat: But this is the only road in front of us.
Now the stasis field is unknown due to unknown reasons.
Due to the failure, the insect monsters that should have been sleeping awakened. With our firepower and numbers, we were unable to stop their advance. This meant that all the plans we had drawn up before were in vain. Now we can only fight to the death.
Gwen was silent for a long time before speaking, is it worth it?
At the other end of the passage, the skeleton man sitting on the throne of control flashed with red light in his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling with complicated lines and crisscrossed cables. The scarlet light swayed in the deep metal eye sockets, like a candle that flickered on and off. Fire, his mechanical and plain voice echoed quietly in the empty control room.
worth.
Forget it, I'm going to do the final preparations for startup.
Leave the rest to me.
The communication was quietly disconnected, and the chairman's consciousness returned to reality again.
Throne of domination.
The control center of the energy tower, the chairman sits on this iron toilet and the Iron Throne all year round, managing all matters in Night City - of course all this is just the wishful thinking of the residents of Night City.
However, in fact, the Dominion Throne is the control core of a spaceship.
Decades ago, when the old world was in chaos due to the Cordyceps disease, a spacecraft from outer space appeared in the Earth's low-Earth orbit without any warning, was captured by the Earth's gravity, and eventually crashed on Earth for unknown reasons. on earth.
The crash area of this spaceship (or perhaps a colony ship) was on three overseas islands that were not far from the European continent. Although the whole world was struggling to deal with the notorious Cordyceps disease at that time, The allure of alien civilization was so great that those hegemonic countries that had already declined due to the Cordyceps disease and were unwilling to decline all extended their hands to this spacecraft.
Intimidation, inducement, conspiracy, conspiracy, force coercion, commercial sanctions, in order to seize technology from alien planets, the intrigues of the hegemonic powers use all possible means. Agents, spies, and military forces of all parties compete with each other overtly and covertly. The compromise almost started a war. They dreamed of seizing the spaceship, making technological leaps, and continuing to use violence and force to consolidate their hegemony. However, before the dream could come true, the nightmare came first.
The insect plague is coming.
In the day hemisphere, those bugs that stand on all fours and move in groups like wild beasts relying only on instinct are brought by this spacecraft.
The Skeleton Rebellion, the earth falling into tidal locking, the planet being divided into two hemispheres, polar day and polar night, and even the chairman and the first hunter leading the refugees to open up the Evernight Wasteland and settle around the energy tower, these things, That happened a few years or even more than ten years later.
Thinking about it now, these were almost a century ago, but to him it still seemed like it happened yesterday.
At that time, they were advancing on the ice-covered Evernight Wasteland, a ragtag group of refugees, composed of two skilled old hunters, a clergyman who believed in Buddhism, and a skeleton man who had not betrayed Led by a group of leaders, they overcame all difficulties and struggled to survive.
Cold, famine, disease, as well as the terrifying hunters in the wasteland - the endless tide of insects, any one of them is fatal to the refugees. People continue to fall in the vast team of refugees, and others continue to fall. New refugees joined in, and after they led the refugees to fight their way through the wasteland full of monsters and monsters, they finally found a warmer place - the ruins of the spaceship, which is where tonight The city's energy tower ended the long journey.
Afterwards, everyone parted ways.
The priests who believe in Buddhism continue to save all sentient beings in the troubled world. The old hunter named Alex died for his ideals. The old hunter who inherited the title of the number one hunter was disheartened and traveled around, only the chairman of the board was there. , and only he is suitable to stay and manage the refugees in Night City to build their own homes.
Under his command, they collected materials and built the first shantytown from scratch. The displaced refugees had roofs to cover their heads for the first time.
In the harsh weather as the temperature continued to drop, he summoned the original group of intellectuals, engineers and scientists,
Establish a research institute and, like workers, work day and night to research and produce the technological artifacts they urgently need.
He led the refugees to hunt in the increasingly cold wilderness, hunting and gathering animal and plant resources that were not extinct at that time, catching animals and bringing them back to be domesticated, looking for crops that had not yet frozen to death and bringing them back for planting, solving the problem of Night City. Food shortage dilemma.
He sent out one exploration team after another to search for refugees, supplies, and the production points of various minerals in the wasteland.
Relying on the information transmission from the Skeleton Network, he learned that a large ice storm was forming in the distance. For this reason, he issued an order for the workers to work overtime to increase production capacity, hoard all kinds of materials, and finally successfully led them through the extreme period of the nightmare. cold. .
After the ice storm, the temperature in the night hemisphere began to gradually stabilize, and the residents of Night City also ushered in the happiest time.
Until he saw the things sleeping in the stasis chamber.
According to the chairman's speculation, the energy tower itself should be a spaceship, and it is a colonial ship with extremely advanced technology that can span the star sea.
The bugs that are raging all over the world today are just cannon fodder that cannot even be considered an advance army. The bug monsters that were sleeping in the stasis chamber and have now woken up to attack all living creatures crazily are the regular army.
Even in Night City, only a few people know about this kind of thing.
Ever since he learned about this incident, Night City has completely entered a state of indefinite war preparations, and the residents have never had a relaxing day.
Nearly a hundred years of preparation for war, nearly a hundred years of accumulation of strength, secret projects one after another are put on the agenda, one weapon requirement after another is submitted to the research institute. It can be said that half of the reasons for what Night City is today are due to silence. Those insect monsters sleeping in the detention room.
The sound from outside the door brought the chairman's thoughts back to reality. He came back from his rare wandering state, just in time to see the dusty first hunter open the door and walk in.
You finally came. The chairman looked at him quietly and said.
What's going on outside? The first hunter looked unkind.
I have something to ask you. The chairman did not reply to his words, but said to himself: Do you remember how we carved a road in the wasteland?
Now, let’s take the remaining people and walk our original path again.
Get out of here, run away from here, and don't come back.
