Just ten minutes ago, the man had walked up to the factory door completely alone.
When stopped by the outer security detail, the man had simply opened fire without saying a single word.
The bearded man's support troops had immediately rushed out to join the encirclement and suppression operation.
But what happened next was truly frightening.
The intruder seemed to be a machine dressed in human skin.
Countless metal bullets struck his body, only to produce a metallic clinking sound like a hammer hitting an anvil.
The high-caliber rounds simply flattened upon impact, their crushed tips dropping harmlessly to the ground.
The bearded terrorist was completely unable to express the horror in words.
But he still had one heavy weapon left to resist.
He glanced down at the olive-green tube resting near his feet.
It was an American SMAW-D 83mm rocket launcher.
It was the most powerful infantry anti-tank equipment on the black market, boasting amazing lethality.
The bearded man knew the attacker might be some kind of unknown robot hidden in human skin.
But he refused to believe that any man-made alloy could successfully block a direct hit from an anti-tank rocket.
Another chorus of horrific screams erupted from the adjacent corridor.
Then, a deathly silence fell over the plant.
It was a calm, terrifying quiet.
The bearded man had thrown away his radio communicator early on.
This monster's auditory tracking system was absolutely terrifying.
He had seen it with his own eyes when the machine shot his communicating comrade to death from across the room.
The most horrifying detail was the monster's unearthly precision.
It could shoot targets directly through solid walls without even turning its head to look.
The atmosphere in the factory gradually solidified.
The oppressive, heavy air made the bearded man break out in a cold sweat.
He swallowed softly, absolutely terrified of making even the slightest noise.
For a long while, the bearded man did not dare to move a single muscle, fearing that any motion would instantly result in a headshot.
There were no more gunshots echoing outside.
Of course, there was no more shouting from his comrades, either.
The result was tragically self-evident.
They were all dead.
He was likely the only person left alive in the entire facility.
The bearded man narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
Holding his submachine gun tightly in his left hand, he hoisted the heavy rocket launcher onto his right shoulder.
He began walking forward on his tiptoes, taking it step by grueling step.
Maintaining such a tense, unbalanced posture was extremely exhausting.
But he knew this was the only way he could possibly survive.
Sizzle~
A strange, melting sound drifted into his ears.
The bearded man hurriedly adjusted his posture, curving his body like a coiled snake, fully prepared to fire the rocket.
But he violently suppressed his urge to pull the trigger.
A dazzling, intense firelight shone against the far wall of the corridor.
A burly, imposing shadow was reflected on the concrete, seeming to be fiddling with something near the equipment.
The bearded man's heart thumped wildly against his ribs.
As he slowly crept closer, the hissing sound of hot magma being rapidly cooled became much clearer.
He leaned his shoulder close to the edge of the wall and peeked down into the lower foundry level.
The scene unfolding in front of him made his pupils shrink to the size of needles.
The entire body of the monster was riddled with deep, smoking craters where heavy machine-gun bullets had impacted.
Beneath the shredded, bloody synthetic skin, an extremely cold, gleaming metal skeleton was exposed to the air.
Some of the hydraulic pistons and armor plating were visibly dented and broken.
It truly was a killing machine wrapped in human skin.
The T-800 stood motionless in front of a small industrial blast furnace.
It reached into a tactical backpack, constantly pulling out unknown materials and throwing them directly into the roaring flames.
Sizzle~
That strange melting sound echoed through the foundry again.
From time to time, bright flares of combustion erupted within the vat of molten iron.
Soon, the Terminator stopped throwing items into the fire.
It stood perfectly still, quietly watching the chemical changes occurring within the molten liquid.
The bearded man slowly eased the front end of the rocket launcher around the corner.
He lined up the optical sight perfectly with the monster's back.
He rested his finger on the firing mechanism, gently stroking the trigger.
He had been struggling with his fear, but now the machine didn't seem to have any active defenses raised.
If he bombarded it to death while it was completely unprepared, he could win.
The exposed chrome alloy on its back already looked heavily damaged from the crossfire.
A direct hit from the anti-tank rocket would absolutely destroy it.
But a morbid, itching curiosity held him back.
He desperately wanted to know the ultimate purpose of this robotic monster's actions.
He decided to hold his fire for just a moment longer to watch the bizarre experiment unfold.
The factory remained extremely quiet.
Only the wet, heavy sound of dissolving materials boiling within the molten iron broke the silence from time to time.
The bearded man didn't have to wait long.
The sizzling noise echoed more frequently in the stifling air.
More and more boiling bubbles began to appear on the surface of the glowing hot metal.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Within a few seconds, the viscous bubbles had completely covered the entire surface of the vat.
They burst in rapid succession, releasing plumes of strange gas, before the molten iron suddenly became eerily calm.
Just as the bearded man frowned in utter puzzlement, the T-800 reached into its exposed chest cavity.
It retrieved a sealed bottle containing a metallic, silver-gray solvent from a compartment near its internal skeleton.
The Terminator unceremoniously threw the bottle straight into the vat.
Instantly, the entire volume of molten iron in the blast furnace began to undergo a radical chemical deterioration.
The glowing, flaming orange liquid was rapidly replaced by a sticky, silver-gray substance that looked incredibly viscous.
After a short while, strange ripples began to appear across the surface of the metallic liquid.
It looked exactly like a calm lake surface being repeatedly disturbed by skipping stones.
The frequency of the rippling waves became faster and faster, before stopping abruptly.
The bearded man's heart leaped directly into his throat.
He knew that the final result was about to be unveiled.
He was about to witness the true purpose of this terrifying steel monster.
The level of the silver-gray liquid inside the vat slowly began to lower.
From the exact center of the pool, a thick column of the metallic fluid began to rise upward with a soft, rustling sound.
The flowing liquid gradually solidified and condensed in mid-air.
What made the bearded man absolutely stunned was the shape the metal was taking.
The liquid stream was flawlessly forming the contoured back of a human upper body.
The volume of liquid in the vat continued to drop until it was completely scarce.
In direct contrast, the towering mass standing in the middle of the furnace was slowly condensing into a perfect, flawless human form.
The T-800 reached out and tossed a small, black microchip toward the forming entity.
The silver-gray liquid immediately swallowed the chip, sucking it deep into its core matrix.
The process continued until there was not a single drop of silver-gray fluid left in the blast furnace.
What appeared before the terrorist's terrified eyes was a polished, silver-gray skeleton that gradually extruded synthetic tissue.
It finally condensed into a complete, anatomically perfect human body.
It looked exactly like a living, breathing human being.
"T-X, wake up," the T-800 commanded in a deep, mechanical voice.
"This is an order from the Master."
As soon as the voice fell, the closed eyelids of the newly formed human body snapped open.
A pair of digital, glowing red eyes flashed in the dim factory light.
Instantly, a wave of metallic ripples swept cleanly across the entity's entire physical form.
The monochrome, silver-gray color of the poly-alloy body began to rapidly shift and texturize.
Flawless human skin, simulated bone structures, and realistic external organs appeared entirely intact.
At the exact same time, the liquid metal morphed to simulate a set of crisp, black and white tactical clothing.
Because the synthetic skin and the clothing generated simultaneously in less than a few seconds, there was no moment of vulnerable exposure.
The T-X transformed into a heroic, breathtakingly beautiful, yet utterly cold-looking woman in the blink of an eye.
"My designation is T-X," the female cyborg announced.
"I will follow the Master's orders."
The T-X's cold, synthetic voice echoed through the foundry.
She turned her head, her optical sensors locking perfectly onto the bearded terrorist hiding on the upper catwalk.
She stared at him blankly.
"T-800, you are careless."
The bearded man's blood ran cold.
The moment she looked at him, he knew his position had been completely exposed.
He abandoned his stealth, leaning over the railing and firing his submachine gun wildly down into the pit.
Clang! Clang!
Not a single bullet managed to damage the T-X's poly-alloy body.
The liquid metal simply absorbed the kinetic impact, rippling slightly before settling back into its flawless color.
The collapsed, useless lead tips rained down onto the concrete floor.
"Negative," the T-800 replied stoically, ignoring the gunfire raining down around them.
"I am unable to take further offensive action."
"Manufacturing you was the top priority."
After completing a rapid diagnostic scan, the T-X observed the extent of her predecessor's damage.
The T-800 standing next to the blast furnace was currently balancing heavily on one foot.
Its other mechanical limb had been completely blown apart by an earlier explosive trap.
"You are too weak without the liquid poly-alloy," the T-X stated analytically.
She did not express any gratitude for her creation; she simply stated a cold, tactical truth.
The T-800 did not become irritated by the blunt assessment.
Such emotional responses did not exist within its infiltration programming.
It was simply a very normal, efficient data exchange between two machines.
High above on the catwalk, the bearded terrorist realized his submachine gun was completely useless.
He threw the empty rifle aside in a panic.
He hoisted the heavy anti-tank rocket launcher back onto his shoulder.
Steadying the olive-green tube with his left hand, he squeezed the firing trigger firmly with his right.
"Go to hell, you monsters!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
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Word count: 1757
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