The girl, Jingwei No. 2, stared at the holographic image before her, stunned. Then, her whole body flickered, and the lights throughout the Red Fortress Base flickered in unison.
Tears instantly filled her beautiful eyes. She reached out, trying to touch the image of the boy who had died standing, but her hand only passed through colliding beams of light.
"Impossible... I don’t believe it... Xiaofeng was so smart... Even though he was stubborn, arrogant, and always thought he was right, and sometimes he liked to put on an act, he would never joke about his own life... I don’t believe it. He couldn’t have just died like that!" Jingwei No. 2 murmured, tears streaming down her virtual, holographic face.
"That idiot, that egomaniac, why did he lock me in this base... Why didn’t he take me with him..." Jingwei No. 2’s voice trembled. "If I had been there, this never would have happened..."
Hearing this, Shen Feng and Jingwei understood why this world’s Jingwei was trapped in the Red Fortress Base.
Apparently, when the Shen Feng of this Water World Apocalypse set out for the Shield UY Star System, he had forcibly locked his Jingwei here.
Perhaps he knew the odds were stacked against him and didn’t want to drag Jingwei down with him.
After all, in a strange star realm with little to no electronic equipment, even a super-AI like Jingwei would be of limited use.
Jingwei watched the grief-stricken Jingwei No. 2 with a meaningful expression and said in a barely audible voice:
"Hah... She fell in love with her Shen Feng... There’s never a happy ending for an AI and a human..."
Then, she subconsciously glanced at Shen Feng, her expression darkening for a moment before she quickly turned to look away into the distance.
Just then, Jingwei No. 2 abruptly raised her head. Staring at the image of the boy who died standing, she asked Shen Feng:
"Where did you get this footage?"
Jingwei immediately replied:
"We got it from the Purification Church. I’m sending you the relevant data now."
As she spoke, Jingwei No. 2 received the footage from Cordillera Main Island, as well as detailed information on most of the events Shen Feng had experienced since arriving in this world.
She also told Jingwei No. 2 all of Shen Feng’s upcoming plans. After all, many things in the time to come would require her assistance to complete.
Jingwei No. 2 took a deep breath and said:
"The Purification Church can’t be trusted... I have to go to the Shield UY Star Realm and see for myself! What do you need? The Energy Activation Device, right? I’ll set it up for you now."
Shen Feng nodded and said:
"Good. You understand our plan. Right now, our only chance of survival is to fully activate the Nanomechanical Cluster and use the Beast Gold to carry out iterative upgrades... Also, I need all the data on the Quantum Force Field Core."
Jingwei No. 2 nodded.
"No problem. I’ll open up database access immediately, and... and I’ll share all my information."
Jingwei giggled, opening her arms as she walked toward the girl Jingwei’s hologram. "Come here, little sister."
As she spoke, she embraced the somewhat bewildered-looking girl in the sailor uniform and kissed her deeply on the lips.
Jingwei No. 2’s expression was one of shock. A "MMPH" escaped her lips, and then both their holographic images shattered into countless green digital symbols suspended in mid-air. These symbols then merged together and vanished.
Shen Feng could feel the silicon-based frame in his chest begin to heat up as the two massive databases merged.
At the same time, a stream of data—processed and refined by Jingwei—began to flow into his Silicon-Based Brain. It was mostly information about the Red Fortress Base’s Energy System and the Quantum Force Field Core.
It also included technical data on the Super Giant War Armor, far more complete than what Shen Feng had previously obtained from the War Armor’s own database.
Now, with the help of the two Jingweis, Shen Feng had perfect control over the entire Red Fortress Base, as if it were an extension of his own limbs. He strode forward and soon arrived at the base’s core laboratory.
He went directly to the operating seat of an experimental pod. Electrodes and metal contacts, including a helmet, swiftly rose around him, completely enveloping his body.
Shen Feng’s Silicon-Based Brain connected fully with the lab’s operating system. Soft, flexible mechanical tentacles extended from the surrounding walls and began to operate the Energy Pod before him.
One of the tentacles unzipped his backpack, took out a small glass bottle filled with gray dust, and placed it inside the Energy Pod.
Two other tentacles opened a panel in the lab wall, retrieving a metal briefcase marked with a lightning bolt energy symbol. They placed it in front of Shen Feng and slowly opened it.
A dozen or so shiny, irregular silver metal pieces appeared before his eyes. The smallest was the size of a green bean, the largest about the size of a soybean.
It was all Beast Gold.
The smallest of these Beast Gold pieces weighed at least a gram, and in total, there was a good twenty grams.
Shen Feng chuckled, grabbing the Beast Gold and weighing it in his hand. He then tapped his wristband lightly and said:
"Wakey wakey. Time to report a mission."
After arriving in the Water World Apocalypse, the True Apocalypse Game system had prompted him with five major tasks. The first two were to find and collect 10 grams of Beast Gold, and to find and collect the complete technical data for the Super Giant War Armor.
He could now complete both of those tasks.
The wristband flickered faintly, as if unaccustomed to Shen Feng’s attitude. After a few seconds, it projected a holographic image that flashed with a line of text:
"Please place the mission items in the sealed container."
Shen Feng immediately took a hard drive loaded with the Super Giant War Armor data from a nearby computer. He then selected five pieces of Beast Gold, totaling about ten grams, placed them all in the briefcase, and had a mechanical tentacle put it into a nearby cabinet.
After a few seconds, he had the briefcase brought out again. The Beast Gold and the hard drive inside had vanished.
Clearly, the game system had taken them.
But after that, the thing went silent.
Shen Feng clicked his tongue, took off the wristband, and tapped it with his finger.
"So, I’ve completed the first few mission stages, right? Is there no reward or anything? All that work for nothing? It’s not easy for me to take on so many World Beasts by myself. I could die, you know, and then your little game would be ruined. A partnership should be mutually beneficial."
He intentionally stressed the words "reward" and "partnership." As he watched the wristband, his other hand had already quietly closed around two Quantum Force Field Cores.
He had considered his relationship with the "True Apocalypse Game" system many times. As he gradually accumulated enough bargaining chips, it was time to start taking the initiative.
This time, the wristband didn’t keep him waiting long. It flashed a few times and displayed a line of text:
"The third metal cabinet in the second row on the right is your reward."
This time, the word "reward" was in red and very conspicuous.
A faint smile touched Shen Feng’s lips. He controlled a mechanical arm to open the third metal cabinet and retrieve a small metal box.
Opening the box, he found a piece of paper inside.
Shen Feng raised an eyebrow. He unfolded the paper and found a hastily scrawled formula on it.
The formula was extremely long; a single equation took up almost the entire page.
Judging from the symbols, it was a formula related to quantum mechanics.
After scanning the formula, Shen Feng asked Jingwei:
"Jingwei, is this thing of any use right now?"
After a few seconds, Jingwei’s voice replied:
"This thing is way too advanced. Even though human technology in this Water World has developed things like the Quantum Force Field Core, they’re still a long way from understanding this formula. Simply put, this isn’t technology we can comprehend right now. It’s like putting a geometry textbook in front of a gorilla... Tsk tsk, Xiaofeng, it looks like they’re looking down on you."
Shen Feng instantly understood the reason. His attitude had clearly annoyed the entity behind the True Apocalypse Game system, but they couldn’t openly punish him, so they gave him this instead.
Something extremely important, yet completely useless.
’I gave you a chance and you couldn’t even use it,’ was what the guy behind the system seemed to be saying.
Anyway, it was just a way to take a jab at Shen Feng.
Shen Feng shrugged. ’So what if it’s beyond current technology? The future will come eventually. As long as it’s useful then, it’s fine.’
Just as he was thinking this, the Energy Pod in front of him opened completely, revealing an operating platform.
He nodded slightly and controlled a mechanical tentacle to pour the gray powder from the glass bottle onto the platform.
This was the Nanomechanical Cluster he had obtained from the underwater ruins of San Francisco.
In the next instant, arcs of electricity appeared on the platform, crackling around the gray metal powder.
Shen Feng’s Thought Field completely enveloped the Energy Pod. After a moment of contemplation, he took out a piece of Beast Gold and placed it into a nearby Energy Slot.
Immediately, violent Energy Beams shot out from probes on either side, bombarding the Nanomechanical Cluster!
At first, the gray powder showed no reaction, but then it began to tremble slightly.
’The Nanomechanical Insects are waking up!’ Shen Feng’s Thought Field quickly sensed the change within it.
His eyes narrowed. He pulled out a piece of Beast Gold and tossed it onto the platform.
The Nanomechanical Insects immediately swarmed toward the Beast Gold like dogs seeing a bone, rapidly enveloping it and beginning to devour it!
They’re alive!