Chapter 1 A Secret Base

In a secret base in the old Star River,

Inside a spacious factory filled with mechanical equipment, countless mechanical arms were working day and night. Teams of mechanical assistants were busy at their tasks like factory workers, and numerous production lines churned out various mechanical creations in a rigorous and smooth process.

Manison sat cross-legged, suspended in mid-air within the factory, meditating with his eyes closed. Tendrils of golden electricity, like nimble little snakes, danced across his body as his brain operated at high speed, diligently training his computing power. This was a mandatory daily lesson for most Virtual Mechanics.

While swimming in the ocean of data, an alarm from the firewall suddenly echoed in his mind from the connection between his consciousness and the quantum network, deafeningly loud!

"Warning! Warning! Abnormal data detected, infiltrating the database firewall!"

Manison abruptly opened his eyes, the state of deep concentration shattered.

"Someone is invading my database?"

Manison frowned, the figure of Han Xiao instinctively surfacing in his mind.

The last time someone had done this was many years ago. Could it be Black Star, that bastard?

Although they were allies now, Manison always speculated about Black Star with the greatest malice. Don't ask why—it was PTSD.

His mind plunged into the quantum network view, jumping along the quantum network nodes to the location of the breached firewall. In an instant, the view before him changed dramatically, transforming into a virtual world constructed of data streams.

Before him were thick arrays of firewalls, like layers upon layers of translucent shields, with countless pulsating data bytes flowing across their surfaces... These were what protected his virtual intelligence core and multiple databases, making them invisible in the wide-area quantum network, so ordinary people could not find the path and could not search for them.

An opponent capable of discovering the path to invade was either a Super-A Grade Mechanic or the main intelligence of an advanced civilization or large force. Either way, they were up to no good.

At this moment, a large mass of faintly glowing dark purple data clung to the surface of the firewall, like a slime, constantly wriggling and rolling as it eroded the firewall. Vast swathes of purple spread out. From a microscopic perspective, one could see the basic data bytes on either side of the contact point engaged in a fierce battle. The basic bytes of the firewall that were torn apart were reorganized into the form of the invader's bytes, assimilated and devoured by this abnormal data, causing the computational scale of the abnormal data to slowly grow.

Within the firewall, data streams surged up from the ground, coalescing into the form of Manison's virtual soul. He narrowed his eyes at the scene, extending a hand and grasping a stream of data. The data stream stretched out from both ends, becoming slender and transforming into the shape of a scepter, which Manison held in his hand.

He tapped the scepter, and a mass of data streams welled up from the ground, the texture like mud, quickly molded by an invisible force into an army of fully armored AI guards, arrayed behind him.

"You dare invade my territory, but you don't have the guts to show yourself?" Having completed his battle preparations, Manison spoke with a blank expression.

As soon as he spoke, Molnisa's virtual figure materialized outside the firewall, gazing at Manison protected within. She said calmly, "We meet again... Teacher!"

"So, it's you," Manison said, narrowing his eyes. "What? Still not giving up?"

Molnisa had once tried to secretly steal his technical data, motivated by the close proximity and access to some hidden pathways. Her ambition grew, but at the time, her skills were insufficient, and she was discovered and severely reprimanded. Afterward, Molnisa joined the Radiant Federation, and the matter was dropped.

Over the years, Manison had taught many Mechanics, and Molnisa was one of the most talented. After Molnisa advanced to Super-A Grade, he had intended to support her in establishing her own faction, forming an alliance to indirectly expand his own influence. However, Molnisa turned on him, and his plan fell through, transforming their relationship from teacher and student to colleagues.

Although the two were not on good terms, they did not immediately become enemies. On the contrary, they maintained a certain level of intelligence cooperation, each getting what they needed. Molnisa would occasionally leak some non-critical internal information to Manison, which, in his view, was a form of appeasement, a way for her to keep him in check.

He had a relatively good understanding of his student's personality: once she set a goal, she would not give up easily and would try every means to achieve it. She would not simply abandon the attempt to steal his technical data.

Therefore, being suddenly invaded by Molnisa today felt both unexpected and predictable.

Hearing this, Molnisa gave a cold laugh.

"Teacher, times have changed. Black Star's rise has taken away the Mechanical Divine Church's faith. You are no longer the unparalleled Mechanic Emperor you were decades ago."

Hearing the name of Black Star, Manison snorted inwardly. He did not refute this point, but said calmly, "Even so, defeating you is still very simple."

"I'm not so overconfident as to think I can fight you one-on-one..." Molnisa revealed a sarcastic smile. "But this time, I have helpers!"

As soon as she spoke, in several other directions, surging streams of abnormal data crashed against the firewall, shattering large amounts of data bytes. Accompanying them were the figures of several other Super-A Grade Mechanics.

With the support of some of the computational power of the three major civilizations' main intelligence, their speed of cracking the firewall received an astonishing boost. Defense modules rapidly collapsed, and layers of firewalls were riddled with holes.

In an instant, he was surrounded!

Manison's expression changed slightly. These individuals were all direct subordinates of the three major civilizations. This was clearly a joint operation by the three parties.

Dealing with the invasion of several Super-A Grade Mechanics was already troublesome, and on top of that, the fact that the three major civilizations had even allocated portions of their main intelligence's computational power to assist was undoubtedly adding insult to injury.

The main intelligence of the three major civilizations were the most computationally powerful intelligences in the entire universe. Improved and strengthened by generations of Super-A Grade Mechanics, they had even integrated the memories, experiences, and partial consciousnesses of these Mechanics. They could be regarded as treasures of the virtual technology field, the strongest tools. Without such foundations, the core databases of the three major civilizations would have long been infiltrated and turned into sieves.

It was just that, normally, most of the computational power of the main intelligence had to be used to maintain the operation of civilization affairs, so it did not stand out. But if it concentrated all its computational power, its power would be quite terrifying.

Now that the three of them were jointly invading, and with the cooperation of several direct line Super-A Grade Mechanics, such a formation was difficult for individual power to match. He was powerful, but he also had his limits.

Moreover, he had been hit hard by Black Star, and his abilities were no longer at their peak, leaving him feeling helpless.

"The three major civilizations really think highly of me," Manison said in a deep voice.

"What goes around comes around. You can only blame yourself for being unscrupulous in the past, always trying to steal the Radiant Federation's secrets. The Radiant Federation has tolerated you for a long time, and only held back because you were once a staunch ally. This time is a delayed reckoning. I merely made a suggestion to the three major civilizations and gave it a little push.

"They want to clear out the secrets in your hands and obtain the information you've gathered on the various civilizations of the old Star River... As for your technical accumulation, that's just a bonus for me."

Molnisa's tone was playful, filled with schadenfreude.

Manison snorted coldly, knowing that it was useless to say more, and tapped his scepter.

In the next moment, the AI guard legion launched a full-scale attack, going to block the invasion of the others, while Feidinat also appeared with many intelligent lives, joining the virtual defense.

At the same time, rays composed of data streams suddenly shot out from the firewall, evaporating large chunks of the invading data. The firewall array also began to shift positions, like a formation, and the data traps hidden within were activated one after another, starting to block the enemy's data streams.

Due to the animosity with the three major civilizations during the intelligent plague incident, Manison had taken precautions and reinforced the firewall, also arranging a large number of virtual technology measures in order to prevent today's situation.

"You're still the same as ever, but even if you've made preparations in advance, can you stop it today?" Molnisa's eyes flashed.

"We'll only know if we try."

Manison remained unmoved.

The intensity of the opponent's invasion exceeded expectations. He had already used all his means, and he was not sure whether he could stop it.

The data streams on both sides churned and fought, computing power operating at high speed, constantly analyzing and cracking each other's various methods. The amount of information every second was astronomical.

The battle in the virtual realm was different from the normal flow of time, depending on the individual's speed of thought. With the speed of thought of the many Super-A Grades present, every second here seemed to be multiplied countless times.

Faced with the three major civilizations' tyrannical offensive, Manison gradually became stretched thin. The thickness of the firewall continued to thin, and holes appeared one after another, and some of the outer low-level databases lost their protection.

The three major civilizations' data probes plunged in from these holes, wreaking havoc inside, shooting out streams of AI hunters and data streams, continuing to kill their way deeper... The innermost confidential database was their main target for this trip.

Although the situation was not good, Manison remained unmoved, not affected by his mood, meticulously contracting the defense line, stably and accurately blocking the enemy and clearing out the intruding data.

While manipulating the data streams to try to break through Manison's data blockade, Molnisa continued to harass him, her tone mocking:

"Teacher, your abilities have declined a lot. Without the bonus of dominating the Mechanical Divine Church, falling from the peak of your strength, you must feel bad, right?"

"Why don't you ask Black Star for help? Black Star should be very generous in helping you, this defeated opponent... Heh, I almost forgot, we've blocked outside communications. By the time you successfully send out a request for help, we'll have already succeeded."

"Black Star has you gasping for breath, taking away things that originally belonged to you again and again. I just didn't expect that even though he treats you like this, you can still swallow your anger. If it were in the past, how could you let it go? As expected, you're getting old, and your courage is not as great as before. Could it be that Black Star has scared you out of your wits?"

The harassment, like salted pork heart, struck at Manison's inner vitals.

However, his expression did not change, and his computing power was not affected. He said calmly:

"...Are you done talking?"

Hearing this, Molnisa suddenly felt a sense of warning, feeling as if a blood-red "Danger" character had appeared above her head.

Just as she was about to react, she saw a dim light in Manison's eyes, locking onto her from afar.

In the next moment, a strange data stream rippled out.

Molnisa's vision blurred, and her virtual soul was dragged by an irresistible force into a silver data world filled with countless machines. A towering silver giant stood before her, a magnified version of Manison.

Manison looked down, his gaze indifferent like a god overlooking the world, and said calmly, his voice echoing throughout this world:

"Are you ready to be beaten?"

Molnisa was expressionless, and said playfully, "Since I dared to deal with you, I was prepared for this. It's worth it to suffer a little injury to obtain your technical foundations. Besides, your move is just Supreme Virtual, how long can it trap me?"

"Not long... But enough to beat you half to death! You unfilial disciple!"

Manison suddenly bent down, and his fist fell in an instant, smashing Molnisa's virtual soul into a pancake.

With a boom, the earth shook!