"You'd better be careful with the masterpiece I built this time."
Moket shot Chris a glance, a trace of worry in his voice.
To him, Unit-01 was a true work of art—his groundbreaking creation in the field of humanoid mecha. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to send it onto the battlefield at all, even though it had been designed precisely to handle special combat scenarios and break through deadlocks on the front lines.
"Relax. I'll be careful. As long as it has all the functions it's supposed to, I doubt it'll take much damage."
"It better not..."
Moket slowly withdrew his gaze from Chris, the concern in his tone impossible to hide.
"How are you planning to get this treasure over there?"
"Hmm… Let me think. What about the dimensional teleportation device in the base?"
"You've lost your mind."
Moket turned to look at him, his expression calm but his tone firm—stating it as an unquestionable fact.
"Wasn't this thing developed to seize the battlefield as quickly as possible?" Chris raised a brow, puzzled.
"Sigh… This is exactly why I hate dealing with people like you."
Moket let out a long sigh. Chris, however, conveniently ignored the comment.
"The dimensional teleportation device is still just a prototype. It's unstable. There's nearly a forty percent chance it'll send the target somewhere else entirely—and the deviation could be extreme. You might end up on the opposite side of the planet."
"On top of that, it was just built. It can only be used once. After a single activation, it'll be scrapped. The cost is astronomical. Yes, the recent war has filled our coffers, but if this fails, we'd lose two extremely expensive creations in one shot. Are you going to take responsibility for that?"
Chris clicked his tongue after hearing the explanation, then shook his head and discarded the idea. Just as Moket said, the cost-to-benefit ratio wasn't worth it. No reason to gamble.
"Fine. We'll transport it the conventional way."
"If you're planning to airlift it, I'll propose canceling the operation to the boss."
Moket turned to him calmly. Chris frowned.
"Airlifting won't be fast. Entering that region means we'll still be subjected to concentrated fire from the New United States. It'll just be a different kind of moving target. The odds of destruction are too high. I won't watch my only completed unit get blown to pieces."
"Hmm…"
Chris rubbed his temples, irritated. This was why he didn't like dealing with people like Moket. He genuinely didn't care much about equipment damage. In his view, trading this thing for reduced casualties among other units was entirely acceptable.
"So what's your brilliant suggestion?"
"Airlift it first. Then move underground."
"Underground?"
Chris froze, staring at Moket in confusion.
"This big guy can do a lot more than you think."
Moket reached out and gently stroked the armor plating on Unit-01's foot, speaking with quiet confidence.
"I'll be waiting for your good news."
Chris nodded, cut the communication, and began coordinating troop deployments with Boros. They needed to prevent the New United States from pulling any sudden tricks, clear out the virus units previously sent in, and capture some for research along the way.
For now, the New United States showed no intention of launching an offensive. They were quietly regrouping within their territory, seemingly waiting for reinforcements from their homeland.
And that was indeed the case. Reinforcements from the anti-war and neutral factions would arrive soon, while the hawks had already sent another wave of troops. As long as they could hold out a little longer…
…they could stack resources until victory was inevitable.
...
Zzz—Zzz—
"Phew… Finally made it…"
Kelly wiped nonexistent sweat from her forehead and took in her surroundings.
As far as she could see, there was nothing but a flat expanse of black-and-red data forming the ground—featureless and eerily calm.
"So this is what it looks like beyond the Blackwall…"
She narrowed her eyes, already guessing why this side was so quiet. She glanced back at the Blackwall behind her.
"Must be thanks to this thing…"
Shaking her head, Kelly glanced once more at the green stream of data swimming within her arm. Then she dissolved into a streak of purple data and left the area. She needed to find where the Rogue AI were active to determine exactly which region beyond the Blackwall she had arrived in.
Through her cooperation with Alt, she already understood the territorial divisions beyond the Blackwall. Now she only needed to extract data from a Rogue AI's core to pinpoint her approximate location.
The strand of green data inside her had been given to her by Lissandra, to be used in case of an emergency she couldn't handle.
It could instantly pull her back from the far side of the Blackwall, ensuring the safety of her data form.
Before long, after distancing herself from the Blackwall's vicinity, Kelly noticed the digital landscape begin to change. Cubic structures rose from the ground. The flat surface became uneven. Numerous holes appeared—some so deep they seemed bottomless.
She ignored it all, flowing like a phantom into what resembled a digital city.
Between the towering structures, countless white data entities drifted about, trailing faint streams of data behind them like jellyfish.
They were feeding—scavenging scattered fragments of loose data to sustain themselves.
Soon enough, several "wild" AI began trailing her from a distance, as if waiting for an opportunity.
"Tsk…"
Kelly narrowed her eyes at the group behind her, then concealed her presence. Once they lost their target, they resumed wandering aimlessly.
She had no interest in them anyway. Those that hadn't developed true consciousness were useless even if captured.
Not long after, she found what she was looking for.
A much larger data silhouette stood atop a structure, looking down over the area below. Its form was gradually condensing into a humanoid shape, though its facial features and finer details were still incomplete—only a rough outline existed.
Most AI shaped their virtual avatars into humanoid forms, modeled after the superintelligent AI originally developed by the corp.
Swish—
Just as it searched for prey, a massive purple hand suddenly manifested behind it, seized it in one grasp—
—and refined it instantly.
"Hmm…"
After absorbing the data from its core, Kelly closed her eyes and sifted through the information. When she determined her location, her eyes brightened with delight.
She was right within Bartmoss's sphere of influence.
...
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