by <unknown>
"Yes. Compared to the boundless universe, human beings are simply too insignificant."
Li Yao put on the first crystal suit and retreated the other two crystal suits into the handiest Cosmos Ring. He then carried nine sabers on his back in the shape of a sector, which cast him into the halo of gold and silver brilliance.
Li Yao smiled at Long Yangjun and said, "However, no matter how insignificant we are, I will fight this world to the end, and I will never be changed by it!"
Long Yangjun's breath came to a brief halt. In her trance, she had the feeling that idiocy was contagious.
She could not look at Li Yao in the eyes anymore. So, she turned to the battlefield and changed the topic. "How are you going to fight this battle?"
She immediately regretted it after saying that, because her question on such details implied that she admitted the significance of Li Yao's battle.
"I don't know. This battle is truly extremely dangerous. The chance of winning is no more than 1%. I can only hope that the control system of those battle puppets is not hard to compromise."
Pointing at the firing points and the pivots of defense rune arrays around the Great Iron Plants, Li Yao said, "First of all, I will blow up all the fixed firing points and the pivots of the defense rune arrays, which will greatly reduce the pressure of the Nepenthe believers so that they can keep the battle puppets and the Immortal Cultivators occupied.
"Then, I will go to the control center of the battle puppets. There must be such a thing, right? If I can crack and compromise it, I can hope to control part of the battle puppets and even the whole defense system of the Great Iron Plants.
"Although the odds of success are extremely low and such actions may not be enough to stop Li Minghui's elite troops, it is the only method available right now."
The mental devil had swallowed a lot of tenebrum energy and heritages from Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan and Extraterrestrial Devil Lu Qingchen, allowing it to learn many ways to hack and control the Spiritual Nexus from the predecessors.
Right now, most of the forces that were taming the riot were battle puppets, and the Immortal Cultivators were few. If he could locate the control pivot and hack it with the mental devil, it would be one way to settle the desperate crisis.
As to exactly what he was going to do when Li Minghui's elite troops were back, or how he was going to deal with Li Linghai and Wuying Qi after they learned the incident later—Li Yao had no time to care about those things right now.
Right then, the earth quaked, causing huge noises, and a super heavy excavator drove out of a forsaken mine not far away from the two of them. The excavator had been modified and was pulling a piece of weird magical equipment that looked both like a silver pan and an iron hat. It was protected by dozens of tough-looking, fully-armed Nepenthe believers.
Li Yao was rather surprised because it looked quite familiar. He asked, "What is this?"
Chapter 2383: Modify the Brainwave Magnifier! |
"It's the super brainwave magnifier!"
Long Yangjun said, "The Nepenthe believers have accommodated it to an excavator, making it mobile, before attaching countless enhancement coils to it. As long as it is connected to the energy factory, it will magnify their brainwaves by millions of times, giving them a chance to be heard by all the residents in the underground towns within a thousand kilometers. For the record, that thing is completely made by themselves and has absolutely nothing to do with me. I'm highly suspicious about its stability, too. It will likely explode the moment it is connected to the energy factory, won't it?"
"That's not important. What's important is that—"
Scratching his chin, Li Yao said quickly, "Why does this thing look so familiar to me? I think I saw it from somewhere else before. Got it. We once dug out similar magical equipment from the Kunlun relic and the Nuwa warship. It used to be the magnifying and interfering magical equipment in the primeval wars for the specialists of mental attacks of the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan to boost their mental combat ability, right?"
"Exactly."
Long Yangjun nodded her head. "According to the Nepenthe believers, it was taken off from the head of a gigantic corpse deep inside a primeval relic. It could've been a piece of magical equipment for mental warfare from the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan.
"You know that the primeval war of Pangu and Nuwa was a war about whether the soul should be sealed or be released to the maximum. Both parties tried their best to 'brainwash' their enemy. The Pangu Clan tried to inculcate the ideas of abandoning feelings and sealing desires into the Nuwa Clan, whereas the Nuwa Clan tried to 'contaminate' the Pangu Clan with the extraterrestrial devils in their heads. So, both parties boasted tremendous experts of mental warfare. The mutual transmission, interference, blockage, and corruption of brainwaves were among the main forms of war. It was not strange at all that such a piece of magical equipment was dug out from a primeval relic!"
Li Yao mumbled, "I wonder if this 'super brainwave magnifier' is of the same model as the devices that we excavated from the Kunlun relic and the Nuwa warship. When I returned to the federation from the Ancient Sages Sector, Master Jiang Shaoyang had already repaired a few pieces of magical equipment of the same type leading a team. They were the prototypes of the interferential magical equipment on the starships of the federation, and they could also be modified into facilities to help with mental training and increase the intensity of brainwaves.
"I spent some time in seclusion in one of the 'mental training chambers', learning the mysteries of brainwaves. I even dismantled and modified one of those devices!
"As far as I know, the magical equipment of such a type does not consume much energy. Why can it only be activated after the geothermal factory is occupied?"
"Come on, you were already in the Nascent Soul Stage back then and even slew a member of the Pangu Clan in person. Your brainwaves were unbelievably powerful. It was only natural that you could make use of the special magical equipment for mental warfare easily!"
Long Yangjun said, "However, most of the Nepenthe believers are ordinary people whose spiritual roots are not awakened. Compared to the experts in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage, their brainwaves are unrecognizably feeble. Even though they can resonate with each other, how can they power the magical equipment that used to be the tools of the primeval gods?
"Besides, the underground towns are blocked by too many rock stratum. Even the most intense waves will find it difficult to pass through the rocks. In order to deliver their brainwaves to thousands of kilometers away, they naturally need to enhance their brainwaves crazily, which requires the support of incessant, massive energy!"
"Got it."
Li Yao mumbled. Rolling his eyes again and again, he considered the brand-new plan carefully, and his eyes got brighter and brighter. "In other words, if the device is not used by them but by me, the messy magnifying coils around the device and the massive energy in the energy factory will no longer be needed. The crystals that I'm carrying with me as well as the spiritual energy inside my body should be enough for it to work for a couple of minutes, right?"
Long Yangjun bulged her eyes again. "Hey, hey, hey. Don't overestimate yourself. Your soul was seriously damaged in the battle against Blackstar the Great. It is already suicide to charge forward and attack so many enemies, and you are planning to exhaust your soul like that? Are you regretting that you can't die soon enough?"
Ignoring her, Li Yao went on, "You said that I couldn't enter the state of telepathy because the feelings and desires in my head were too strong, which stopped me from perceiving the amazing connection among the Nepenthe believers. If I do not want to get into the state of telepathy but only want to launch out my strong brainwaves, is it possible for all the Nepenthe believers to receive them?
"Perhaps my brainwaves cannot spread to thousands of kilometers away, but it shouldn't be a problem for me to cover the entire Great Iron Plants as well as the dozens of underground town
s nearby, right?"
Long Yangjun was more than furious. "You're insane! You're insane!"
"About that—"
Li Yao smiled and bared his white and sharp teeth. "You should have known it a long time ago, shouldn't you?"
Rendered speechless, Long Yangjun almost couldn't hold back the urge to roll her eyes and roar aloud.
Li Yao extended his hand to Long Yangjun. With the dominating, irrefutable brilliance beaming out of his eyes, he simply said, "Help me!"
…
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The battle inside and outside of the Great Iron Plants entered the most heated phase the moment it began.
The Immortal Cultivators were much stronger, and they controlled all the fixed firing points and the defense arrays. In the meantime, the Nepenthe believers were the locals of the place who were familiar with every cave on the wall and every piece of magical equipment in the factories. Although the uprising began in a rush, they had already planted crystal bombs at the critical locations earlier.
At this moment, the crystal bombs exploded one after another, filling the entire factory area with lethal black smoke. No matter how the giant fans on the ceiling pumped, they could not reduce the intense fog by the slightest.
In the dense fog, light glittered nonstop. Broken limbs of human beings, mixed with the iron shells of the battle puppets, were thrown to the midair together into dazzling fireballs.
They were like ten thousand fireflies that had expanded abnormally. Feeding on human lives, they danced the craziest dance in the smoke and fire!
Because of the hasty activation, the Nepenthe believers' unprofessional nature had been exposed since the first second.
Although the miners and farmers were charging unstoppably and fearlessly, and they seemed to be on the winning side, their charge barely had any accomplishment. The lives of countless people were sacrificed just in order to destroy a few battle puppets. The Immortal Cultivators, on the other hand, hid behind the fixed firing points and the defense arrays at the earliest chance when they saw that things were not good. They were not in a hurry to have a head-to-head clash with the lunatics and simply held their positions while waiting for the mob to be exhausted and for Li Minghui's elite troops to return.
If the rebels were not organized effectively, their blind riot would only be completely suppressed sooner than expected.
By the time Li Minghui's elite troops arrived, the knell of death would be tolled for Nepenthe.
However, for the regular Nepenthe believers, such questions were beyond their concerns.
They were just dwelling in the reverberation of their brainwaves and carrying out the agreed-upon orders mechanically.
The dozens of Nepenthe believers driving and protecting the giant excavator were no exceptions. They were just trying to move the "super brainwave magnifier" to the geothermal factory at the center of the Great Iron Plants.
Bombs and grenades were exploding all the way, and the guards that were supposed to cover the flanks were not in positions, meaning that the vehicle would likely be destroyed halfway. However, for the rebels who lacked training and experience, they had no idea about what to do at all except sticking to the original plan.
As it turned out, they were caught in trouble soon after they drove out of the cave.
Because of the hasty beginning of the operation, the covering forces were not in position. They were soon discovered by three battle puppets.
The weird shape of the excavator drew the attention of the battle puppets. Those battle puppets seemed to have been set to the reconnaissance mode, and they would approach and scan it when they detected an anomaly on the battlefield. The battle puppets, which were in the shape of humans at the beginning, suddenly folded their heads and the limbs, and a second pair of ancillary claws extended out of their bodies, turning themselves into six-footed spiders. They jumped to the ceiling of the cave and crawled to the giant excavator quickly.
The Nepenthe believers who were protecting the super brainwave magnifier immediately opened fire at the battle puppets. It was a shame that they had never received professional shooting training, and the recoils of the guns were too huge for them. The bullets from the storm bolters raised a storm of dust on the wall, blowing off countless stalactites and stalagmites. But except for the one battle puppet which was sparking under the barrage, the other two battle puppets hopped to the front without being damaged at all.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
Sharp blades ejected from the front ends of the arms and the feet of the battle puppets before they vibrated at a high frequency in humming sounds. The cold redness in their eyes locked onto all the Nepenthe believers one after another. All the Nepenthe believers felt that ice cones were being stabbed into their throats!
"Ahhh!"
A tall and stronger Nepenthe believer raised the vibration pickaxe that was used to shatter rocks. If he hit the target, the metal skull of the battle puppet would certainly be dug through. However, before he completed his movement, which was strong enough but too slow, the battle puppet whose crystal processor had been imported with tremendous slaughter skills had evaded agilely and leaped onto his pickaxe after a weird turn.
The blade ripped quickly, and the pickaxe immediately fell into two parts. What the Nepenthe believer held in his hand was just the handle now. As if dancing a graceful dance, the battle puppet swung the edge of the blade, which was vibrating thousands of times a second, toward the neck of the Nepenthe believer.
It was not even a battle but just a one-sided massacre.
The Nepenthe believer could not even see the battle puppet's movement. There was no time for his nerves to react.
However, when the edge of the blade was about to cut the Nepenthe believer's throat and carotid artery, the metal spine with which the battle puppet connected its crystal processor and the six sharp limbs was grabbed by someone before it was pulled out of its body by brute force!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The crystal processor of the battle puppet was completely separated from the shell and was still sparking brilliantly in Li Yao's hands together with the metal spine!
Chapter 2384: Such Old-Fashioned Trickery! |
Before the first spark died out, the metal skull of the battle puppet had already been waved by Li Yao like a hammer and thrown into the chest of the second battle puppet, which immediately collapsed.
The second battle puppet was still active. It took two steps back and intended to run off, but Li Yao's giant hands had grabbed its head in advance. As Li Yao exerted his strength suddenly, the upper half body of the puppet was pushed back into the wall nearby. After a boom, the scorching flames of spiritual energy blowing out of Li Yao's palm demolished the head of the metal puppet.
At this time, the third battle puppet fell down.
The battle puppet was barraged by the Nepenthe believers a moment ago, but it had not entirely lost its combat ability yet.
Li Yao grabbed the pieces of its companions and tossed them over casually. In earsplitting sounds, they pierced through the computation chips in its head and the reactor in its chest, making it dim and collapse in weird wounds.
In only one second, three battle puppets were all wasted!
The Nepenthe believers had repressed their feelings and desires but had not entirely lost their thinking abilities. They were all astounded by Li Yao's unbelievable attack.
"Change of plan. Pull the 'super brainwave magnifier' back. I'm going to modify it!" Li Yao shouted at the Nepenthe believers.
The Nepenthe believers looked at each other in bewilderment. Noticing the crystal suit on Li Yao's body that far exceeded their imagination and the battlefield up ahead that was even more dangerous, they were hesitating whether or not to follow Li Yao's order when weird waves suddenly spread over in midair and flowed into their brains like brooks.
It was Long Yangjun who was directly giving them an order through the reverberati
on of brainwaves.
The "Serenity Seraph" had a high prestige. Although she was never involved in specific affairs, the battle was too chaotic right now, and Grand Guardian Xu Zhicheng was unreachable on the battlefield. Naturally, they needed to follow the Serenity Seraph's order.
Therefore, the giant excavator returned to the exact forsaken cave where it came from. Li Yao's spiritual energy spread out quickly like tides, scanning every tool and every piece of maintenance magical equipment, as well as the backup materials piled in the corner.
Li Yao had seen several pieces of "brainwave enhancing magical equipment" of the same type in the Star Glory Federation. He had once discussed the maintenance and modification plans with "Solar Eclipse" Jiang Shaoyang.
While this particular brainwave magnifier was slightly different from the few devices that he had met before, the general structure and the basic mechanism were the same.
He drafted the most convenient modification plan in only five minutes.
"Brother Yao!"
All the Nepenthe believers were asked to defend the cave on the outside, but Li Jialing barged in and said, "Sister Long said that you needed my help?"
"Exactly. I'm going to modify this 'super brainwave magnifier'. You can give me a hand."
Li Yao retrieved the materials from his Cosmos Rings and placed them on the ground before he said casually, "It's not a complicated job. All we need to do is to dismantle the messy enhancing coils that the Nepenthe believers added and then install a few anti-gravity units and defense units so that it may hover around my head slowly. Due to the limitation of time, it doesn't matter how it looks as long as it works. In the next second, you will do exactly as I say, and don't have any concerns. Do you understand?"
"Okay!"
Li Jialing nodded his head and ran to Li Yao's side, but he seemed rather hesitant.
Li Yao glanced at Li Jialing and asked, "Anything else you want to say?"
"N-Nothing."
