Chapter 438 "Infectious Diseases" (9)
After careful comparison, everyone found that there was nothing worthy of excessive attention on the two lists. Although every item in the above list was smuggled goods, the scale of this smuggling was actually not large. For the Tig people, whose population was so exaggerated that it could be used as a "positive" unit, even if the entire "High Wall" was used for smuggling, in fact, in the Tig people's space law, it was just a matter of the same level as snatching lollipops from children. Although it was illegal, as long as it was handled properly, no one would ask about it at all.
And don't forget, the "High Wall" is not a small spaceship, it is a space battleship as big as a city and a half. After all, not all ships can be used as frigates. In fact, the name "High Wall" comes from its earliest actual combat methods.
"That doesn't make sense. If the captain is only looking for such a small amount of smuggled goods, he can settle the smuggling matter with his connections alone, especially when the actual smuggled goods only fill up one or two medium-sized warehouses on the High Wall. With this level of situation, there is no need for him to risk being executed to get this cipher machine. I think there must be something we have missed."
"I'll look for it again."
That's right, possession of a cipher machine and smuggling are not on the same level. Even if the latter is more serious, the sentence will not exceed 20 years at most. The life span of the Tig people is longer than that of humans. Although 20 years is not short, it is not long either. However, if it is possession of a cipher machine, it is different. Since the cipher machine has been classified as contraband, unless you have connections among the highest class of the Tig people, the end is most likely to be disappearance. As for the meaning of disappearance, anyone with a discerning eye can guess it. So the captain dared to bring the cipher machine on the frigate, which must mean that he has a bigger secret.
Xinle went to search the secret compartment under the navigator's bed again, but it seemed to be empty, and there was no more secret secondary secret compartment, so he found nothing. Han Zu continued to look at the two lists, but he didn't find any difference either.
"It seems that our clues have been interrupted. Perhaps it is time for us to leave the High Wall."
"Let me take another look at these two lists, maybe I can..."
"Drip!"
Just as Xin was about to take another look at the two lists, Wu, the team's pilot, who had been connected to the team's spacecraft's equipment, suddenly issued a warning.
"what happened?"
"Someone is trying to overwrite the control sequence of our ship. According to the order in which the protocol process is being modified, this guy is now on our ship!"
"Damn it! Everyone, return to the spaceship immediately!"
It is not normal for the team's spaceship to be invaded. After all, according to what everyone has seen now, there should be no "living people" on the entire "High Wall", and the person who tried to invade the spacecraft system is on the spacecraft at this moment. The most likely scenario is that the invader must be related to the strange situation on the frigate, because if it is the surviving crew members on the "High Wall", it is impossible not to receive the global broadcast sent by the team when boarding the ship, and they will definitely try to contact them instead of directly invading the control sequence of the spacecraft. So it must be a related person who may have avoided the team's scan for some reason and tried to trap them here. After all, according to Sinler's last scan, the escape pods on the "High Wall" had long been used up.
"Wu, counter the invasion immediately and shut down the ship's power reactor. Xinle, immediately search other ports of this frigate to see if there are other ships that appeared after we boarded the ship! Hurry!"
In order not to be trapped on this "half-dead" frigate, the entire team did not hold back this time. Almost all the propulsion power of the armor was fully activated. There was no time to bypass the obstacles on the land. Heavy weapons were used directly to blast them away. The overall movement speed of the team increased by several levels. Han Zu, who was in a bad state at the moment, was naturally left behind and pulled a long distance away from everyone. However, Gloria, who was also wearing the armor of the Tig people, could keep up with the speed of the team members. Just when they were about to arrive at the port area, she found that Han Zu had disappeared, but she did not make a sound. It was estimated that Han Zu had his own ideas.
Soon, everyone returned to the port where the spaceship was docked. Thanks to Wu's counter-blockade, the guys who had invaded the spaceship before were unable to overwrite the spaceship's control sequence. They saved the spaceship, but when they entered the spaceship, they found no one. Similarly, Sinler searched the port area again, but did not find any other ships.
"Om~~"
"what happened?!"
"The port's isolation hatch was closed manually. The weapons on our armor cannot effectively attack the isolation hatch of a frigate. Although the weapon sequence on our ship can, it does not have enough energy to completely destroy an entire isolation hatch. It is estimated that it was done by the people who invaded our ship before. It seems that there are more than one person."
"We have to go and unblock the port area, otherwise we can't leave."
"We need to keep some people on the ship this time. We can't rule out the possibility that those guys will come back and try again. Wu, Hai, you two take two people to stay, and Xinle and I will take a few people to lift the blockade of the port area."
"The port blockade was not done remotely. Someone used the blocking device on the navigation station. It seems that the other party does not have the ability to hack the entire frigate. If we act quickly, we should be able to solve this problem quickly."
"Let's go. I have synced the route to your devices."
"Isn't the navigation station in the driving area?"
"No, I don't know why, but after maintenance, the navigation station of the High Wall was placed near the main power reactor."
"Okay, let's go out right away... Wait, where is Han Zu?"
After a good division of labor, the team led by Xin and Xinle were about to leave the spacecraft when they discovered that Han Zu was not with them.
"He must have been left behind by us. His condition is not perfect, so his speed is not that fast. But even if his body is in normal condition, his speed is not as fast as yours."
"Aren't you going to go find him?"
Although her companion had left her sight, Gloria did not seem to intend to return to look for him. She stayed beside the spaceship.
"We have to leave by spaceship eventually. If that guy can't find you, he will probably go back the same way. The navigation station you are going to is not in the same location as the area we arrived at before. Rather than risk missing him, it is better to wait for him here on the spaceship. Besides, I don't think he will be in any danger."
Although Gloria's behavior made everyone a little suspicious, she was not completely wrong, because returning the same way was indeed what a normal person would do. The location of the navigation station was very close to the main power reactor of the "High Wall", and it was inevitable that the guy who tried to invade the team's spaceship before would do something, so the situation was urgent and everyone did not investigate further. The team heading to the navigation station set off immediately. The sooner the blockade of the port area was lifted, the sooner they could leave.
Outside the navigator's room.
When the team members and Gloria quickly returned to the spacecraft, Han Zu had no intention of going back with them. He continued to stay in the navigator's room, not because he had found some secret that no one else had discovered, but because he used his powerful vision to see a contractor with half of his body exposed in the corner on the other side of the corridor outside the door before the team left the room and Wu received the warning that the spacecraft's control system had been invaded.
After the team left the navigator's room, Han Zu came to the door, and the contractor who was hiding on the other side of the corridor also walked up to Han Zu.
"So... you were the ones who did the things in Sector 4?"
"Negatively, such a pointless act of self-destruction is not in our interest."
"The invasion of that spaceship... I mean the one that the team members invaded, not this frigate."
"Surely, the diversion of unrelated persons is necessary for status assessment."
As he spoke, the contractor walked up to Han Zu. A number of probe devices suddenly extended from his mechanized body, which extended into Han Zu's currently liquid body. Han Zu could feel that these probe-like devices were continuously releasing some electric current. This feeling was similar to the feeling of the large device that Han Zu entered when he first met these contractors, except that this time he could move freely.
"To keep your assessment data accurate, please avoid large movements."
“Okay, but can you tell me what you’re evaluating?”
"The special unit has been missing for the past 413 days, and the corresponding special equipment signal has completely disappeared. I have been ordered to find the special unit. Because of its unique importance, it is not feasible to replace the unit. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the "protocol", it is necessary to evaluate the status of the special unit and re-implant the special equipment."
The contractor in front of Han Zu seemed to be different from the ones he had seen before. Although the status and torso composition of the original contractors were exactly the same as the guy in front of him, there were some subtle differences in emotions. If the original contractors spoke more like cyborgs, then the guy in front of him looked completely like a robot with intelligent AI introduced.
"how did you find me?"
"Unusual energy dumping activity."
"Abnormal.. You mean the obelisk that almost exploded?"
"affim."
"Okay, that thing is indeed very eye-catching, but how did you get into the fourth star zone? Not to mention that this is the rear base of the Tig people, according to their intelligence, the entire star zone has experienced large-scale abnormal interference, and it is difficult to send information. Did you come here on your spaceship?"
"Negative. Our ships cannot enter the Origin Clan's territory in stealth mode. The way to locate and approach the special unit is to use a temporary transmission node. Thanks to the special energy fluctuations of the special unit, the transmission process is smooth and the error data can be ignored."
"Okay then. By the way, since you can teleport here, can you teleport back?"
"affim."
"Then can you take me back? Oh, and by the way, there might be at least one other passenger."
"Negative. The energy particles of the special unit are unstable and cannot support long-distance transmission. The energy of this machine is insufficient to repair the unstable particles of the special unit."
Although what the contractor said sounded like something programmed by AI, Han Zu roughly understood what he meant. It was possible to leave by teleportation, but he could not leave by teleportation because of his instability. The instability should refer to his current liquid state. He said that his energy was not enough to repair himself, which meant that he only needed to find a sufficient energy source to restore himself to normal.
However, to be on the safe side, Han Zu still asked a few more questions.
"You mean to say that as long as I am no longer in this liquid state, you can start the teleportation and take me back?"
"affim."
"Can you bring others back too?"
"affim."
"How many people can you take?"
"If the energy remains at the current reading, the number of units that can be transported via teleportation is 107. However, based on the estimated energy consumption, the final number of units that can be transported is 79."
"Okay, that's definitely enough."
"Evaluation completed. The device cannot be implanted. The instability coefficient of the special unit energy particles needs to be reduced. It is recommended to go to the energy core of the ship's weapon sequence. After calculation, the remaining energy of the energy core meets the minimum standard for reducing the instability coefficient."
"Okay, then lead the way. I don't know if the energy core of the weapon sequence is nearby."
"Affirmatively, this unit will serve as a protection unit until the special unit is repaired."
"Um... So are you really a contractor, or just a sentinel?"
"According to the special unit description, this unit is positioned as a "contractor."
"Then why are you... like a sentinel?"
"The emotional module consumes a huge amount of computing power. The danger level of this mission is Δ. Carrying the emotional module will reduce the success rate of the mission by 71.9242%. After calculation, in order to ensure the smooth location of the special unit and bring it back, the emotional module was removed before the machine started the mission."
"...Okay. Do you have a name? How should I call you?"
"Γ4."
"...More like a sentinel."
"Negative, this machine is not a sentinel."
Following the contractor Γ4 who looked like a tin can, Han Zu traveled through the corridors of the "High Wall". During the period, he encountered several attacks from the energy creatures, but Han Zu did not need to take action these times. Γ4 used a special force field generator he carried with him to make the two of them disappear out of thin air in the cognition of those energy creatures, and they soon gave up the search.
Han Zu was somewhat familiar with this special stance. When fighting in the high tower, some of the contractor's sentinels would use this kind of thing. This was a shielding device, or simply a stealth device. However, the energy fluctuations of the one used by Γ4 were somewhat different, and it was estimated that it had been modified.
"Γ4, do you know what happened in Sector ? You previously described the events in Sector as "meaningless self-destructive behavior." Do you know some specific details?"
"affim."
"Tell me about it? I have nothing to do anyway."
"No. The amount of relevant information is huge. Using language to communicate is a waste of computing power. If a special unit needs to know the relevant information, this machine will be repaired in the special unit, and after the new equipment is implanted, the relevant information will be transmitted to the special unit's equipment."
"Okay, wait a minute, new equipment? Do you mean you just got me a new device, or did you upgrade the original device?"
"The device has been further upgraded, and this model can both enter or bypass the unified network."
Unconsciously, the two had arrived at the energy core of the weapon sequence located by Γ4, but it was very intact. Han Zu couldn't destroy the hatch of the energy core, but it seemed that Γ4 could. Because his arm transformed into a device that looked like a particle emitter.
"Evaluating the energy output required for breakthrough, avoidance is recommended."
“Buzz~~~!!!”
"Clang!!!"
A dark blue light shot out, and as Γ4's arm moved steadily, it quickly cut out a gap large enough for free entry and exit. The cut metal protective plate fell to the ground with a loud noise.