As previously stated, Hoshigaki Sora was not the type to hold grudges.
Because most of the time, he got even on the spot.
So while Ryutaros was busy harassing Sunday, Sora had not been idle either.
He had specifically asked Hanunue who had been responsible for that big surprise from before.
After all, the other party had already provoked him to his face. If he kept enduring it after that, he would not be himself.
Hanunue did not disappoint and quickly handed Sora a set of coordinates.
"We've been observing the situation outside for a long time. Communications signals often leak out from that area..."
In simple terms, that place was very likely the enemy's command center.
It was also the place Hanunue had originally intended to raid.
As long as they took that place down, Penacony's supply blockade would be greatly eased.
He simply had not expected Sora to arrive first, giving their side a strong chance to replenish their supplies, so he had shelved the plan for the time being.
Now that Sora had asked about it again, Hanunue naturally told him everything he knew.
That included the defensive layout and firepower deployment there, as well as a brief discussion of the tactics they could use.
Once they knew the location of the enemy command center, there were only so many tactics they could use to cut it off.
And the one with the highest success rate was naturally to draw the enemy's fire toward their side, then seize the opportunity to take them down in one stroke.
Sora had thought it would be hard to wait for such a chance. He had not expected it to arrive on the second day of the harvest festival.
So he quickly found Mikhail, who was repairing the train, and asked about the repair progress.
With this train, his combat power could rise exponentially.
After learning that things were more or less ready, he immediately called the Imagin over, preparing to hit the enemy with something big.
What he had not expected was that Sunday would actually come along too.
And once Sunday boarded, his expression changed three or four times in quick succession.
Seeing that, Sora could not help wondering.
Had Sunday gone insane?
Otherwise, how could Sunday, who had always been unsmiling in front of him and known for his impeccable manners, suddenly become like this?
The more Sora thought about it, the more possible it seemed.
After all, time travel was unbelievable even on a mental level.
It was not that there were no AEONS capable of predicting the future or giving prophecies.
NOUS and TERMINUS could both indirectly achieve that to a certain extent.
But the ability to return to the past did not seem to fall within any AEON's domain.
Aside from TERMINUS, the AEON who "moves backward through time," almost no other AEON had shown such an ability.
So after experiencing something like this, it was perfectly normal for Sunday's mind to suffer from the shock.
Thinking of this possibility, Sora let out a long sigh.
Kintaros asked, "What's wrong? Why are you sighing like that?"
Was the raid on the IPC command center really that difficult?
There was no need. He was very strong.
"I was just thinking about what Robin will be like when she sees Sunday..."
Although the siblings had parted ways because of their differing ideals, they were still each other's only blood relative in this world.
When they could not find Sunday before, Robin's mood had grown rather low. Sora had spent a long time coaxing her before she finally recovered.
Now they had found Sunday, only for his mind to have problems.
Robin would not feel good about that either.
At the side, Sunday watched Sora muttering to himself, and his mood grew better and better.
Looking at this guy's current symptoms, it seemed his schizophrenia was getting worse.
When the time came, he absolutely had to remind his sister and make her understand this man's mental state!
Sora, just you wait!
Kintaros had no idea about the silent battle of thoughts between the two. His one-track brain could only process one thing at a time.
"I see. The bond between siblings is indeed a serious matter, but you should worry about that later."
After hearing Kintaros's words, Sora nodded as well.
He could worry about that later.
The problem they had to solve now was the IPC command center!
"You like bombs, right? Then we'll feed you your favorite thing!"
...
Martin frowned, because the communicator on him had chosen this inopportune moment to vibrate.
The communicator vibrating meant that the command ship for the special Penacony operation was trying to contact him.
But the timing was truly unfortunate.
Because...
Martin looked at the holographic image before him, his expression silent and still.
The other party was his direct superior, an Executive Director whose internal IPC rank had reached P42.
This person had suddenly contacted him at this moment, so Martin had no time to deal with trivial matters on the command ship's side.
Fortunately, after the command ship's communication rang for a while, it quieted down again.
It seemed it should not be anything urgent. He should deal with the matter in front of him first.
"Martin Hall, do you know why the IPC called you here?"
After a long silence, Martin's direct superior finally spoke in a heavy tone, asking the question he had summoned him for.
As for the answer, Martin knew perfectly well.
It had to be because, a few days ago, he had ordered an encirclement attack against the Astral Express.
Although AKIVILI, the AEON of TRAILBLAZE, had already fallen, the Astral Express still held enormous influence across the universe.
He had ordered an interception against the train that had intruded near Penacony. That news must already have been uploaded by someone with an agenda.
That was why the IPC had been so impatient to call him here for questioning at this critical moment, just as he was about to move against Penacony.
However, though he understood the cause of everything, he still knew what could and could not be said.
"I don't understand."
Martin deliberately feigned ignorance.
"You really don't understand?"
Anger had already entered his superior's voice.
The atmosphere in the entire space grew oppressive because of his tone.
But the more things reached a moment like this, the less Martin could take the initiative to admit his own mistake.
Otherwise, everything would be over.
So even though the sound of his heartbeat was already like an engine with the accelerator floored, his expression did not change at all.
This innate ability forcibly kept him calm.
"I don't understand. So what exactly is this about?"
Martin raised his head. The confusion in his eyes seemed to truly indicate that he knew nothing about the matter.
The superior in the holographic image slammed a hand onto the table.
Smack!
"Tell me, how many ships are left in the IPC fleet?"
Martin's brow twitched.
"Tell me why the final data uploaded by the ships detected fluctuations from an IPC neutrino bomb."
That was naturally because Martin had personally acted and used a neutrino bomb to blow that fleet to dust.
He could not allow those people to reveal everything about his order to encircle the Astral Express.
Once it got out, he would be finished.
So at that time, Martin had directly ordered a neutrino bomb to bury both the fleet and that train in space.
He simply had never expected that, at the very last moment, the ships would still upload their data.
And that they would upload the fluctuations from the neutrino bomb along with it.
This was rather bad.
But even so, Martin could not possibly admit that he had done it.
"It was those war criminals from Penacony. They hijacked a neutrino bomb."
Although this scapegoat was quite forced, as long as no one looked too closely, Martin could still muddle through.
Sure enough, after Martin said this, his direct superior fell silent, his eyes fixed on Martin.
That sharp gaze seemed as though it wanted to dissect him.
Martin, however, met that gaze with a faint tremor, then gave an almost imperceptible nod.
It was as if he were proving that what he said was true.
But a neutrino bomb was no small matter.
Something that could practically be called a strategic nuclear weapon had been stolen by the enemy. No matter how one looked at it, it sounded unbelievable.
Even so, Martin clung tightly to this excuse, explaining that the enemy's counterattack had been far too fierce, which was why he had wanted to use the opportunity to annihilate the enemy's main force in space all at once.
He simply had not expected the enemy to send out a death squad at that moment, detonating the neutrino bomb ahead of time and causing the IPC fleet to be destroyed in the explosion as well.
"This is my responsibility. I will absolutely carry on the will of the fallen employees and reclaim Penacony!"
Martin spoke decisively, even squeezing out a few tears.
But his direct superior in the image merely folded his hands and silently watched him.
A wordless pressure cycled back and forth between the two of them.
Only after some time did his superior take the initiative to break the silence.
"The IPC's Internal Security and Strategy Department has sent me multiple letters. Do you think these words of yours will be enough to convince them?"
Hearing that, Martin understood that he had more or less successfully passed this test.
"Please believe me. I will definitely reclaim Penacony completely as quickly as possible!"
Martin spoke frankly, but his direct superior interrupted him at this moment.
"What I want isn't your promise, but the value created by that fleet."
Martin froze after hearing this. This time, he was genuinely confused about what the other party wanted from him.
Could there be some deal behind this that he did not know about?
And at that moment, his direct superior finally explained why he had come this time.
"I have a batch of new mechs about to go on the market. Your battlefield happens to be suitable for testing their true effectiveness."
With a flick of his finger, he sent a file to Martin's terminal.
"If the value created by this batch of mechs surpasses that fleet, then the neutrino bomb was indeed detonated by Penacony."
"If the value created does not surpass that fleet, then the merit for reclaiming Penacony will be used to offset the loss..."
In his mouth, human lives were reduced to nothing but value. As long as the value balanced, nothing else mattered.
After hearing this, Martin's pupils constricted. If this merit was used as compensation, there was absolutely no way he could rise to P40!
"Executive Director, this..."
"Martin Hall, this is already the greatest extent I can fight for on your behalf."
The Executive Director's tone sank. "Don't fail to appreciate what's good for you."
Everyone knows exactly what happened. If I'm playing along with this act of yours, then you had better demonstrate the value you should have.
Anyone who could reach this position was not a fool. He had very easily discerned the truth of the matter.
But he also intended to take advantage of the situation and use it to scoop up some merit for himself.
After all, the revenue from selling this batch of mechs could also help raise his rank by another step to a certain extent.
As for that fleet?
Who cared?
Martin heard the threat in the other party's words.
Clearly, his superior was not joking. This truly was the other party's bottom line.
"I understand."
Martin silently accepted the task.
Only then did the other party reveal a smile. Wouldn't it have been better if he had done this from the start?
"In that case, I'll have this batch of weaponized mechs delivered to you in a few days."
Martin's superior clapped his hands cheerfully, smiling as he looked at Martin. "You mustn't disappoint me."
After saying that, he intended to end the communication.
But at that moment, Martin suddenly asked, "What about the Astral Express?"
Martin's question made his superior rather confused.
"The Astral Express? The Astral Express is currently in the Agnas-VIII Star System. Why are you asking that?"
Martin raised an eyebrow at this, as if he had heard something extraordinary.
And judging by this reaction, his superior seemed to have no idea what Martin had done.
It seemed the ships' black boxes had only uploaded the data around the ships at the time, and had not uploaded the communications along with it.
If that was the case, he could still take the opportunity to set this superior of his up.
The communication ended with that abrupt, contextless question.
When the conversation ended, only silence remained in this place.
But very soon, a strange sound rang out here, shattering that silence to pieces.
Martin had actually placed his fingers in his mouth and bitten them until they bled.
Judging from the wounds on all his fingers, this was clearly not the first time he had done this.
This was also his little habit when thinking through a matter or venting.
After all, there was only one path before him now.
Once the weapons and equipment were transported over, he had to fight a beautiful comeback battle.
Only then could he accomplish the thing he dreamed of.
But the conversation just now had still left him feeling extremely angry and irritated.
However, that impulse was successfully suppressed by his instinctive ability to forcibly cool himself down.
"Next, I need to discuss with the command ship how to win beautifully when the time comes."
It would be best if they could present a crushing victory. Only then could this batch of mechs create more value.
Martin took out his communicator, preparing to discuss the next steps properly.
But when he called back, intending to ask what had happened earlier, he discovered that not a single one of his subordinates picked up.
A rather bad feeling rose in his heart.
"Don't tell me something happened..."
...
No one knew how the front car of the train had suddenly appeared beside the command ship.
But they did know that this train's attack power was absolutely not weak.
Why?
Because the axe extending from the train tore the command ship's outer protective barrier to shreds in only a few strikes.
After tearing it open, the train threw several bombs into the utterly defenseless command ship.
And then?
There was no "then."
With a roar, the command ship floating in space suffered a series of violent tremors. Immediately after, words like a death knell echoed in their ears.
"My strength has made you cry!"
After that shout, a single axe strike directly cut several automaton soldiers in half at the waist.
From those smooth cuts, one could tell that the enemy's strength was absolutely formidable.
And it was not just him. There was also the one shouting "I... have arrived!" while wielding a greatsword and hacking several mechanical guards to pieces.
His intimidation factor was slightly weaker than the previous one, but he was still the sort of opponent who frightened them.
Finally, there was only a blue enemy holding a spear and spinning forward in a thrusting charge.
The threat assessment for him was not extremely dangerous.
But there was another doubt circling in everyone's minds.
Normally speaking, weren't Lancers supposed to have very low luck? Why was this guy unaffected?
Among the intruders, only one person was completely excluded from the threat list.
That was Sunday, who panted after two steps and had to rest after three.
Due to his body's extreme weakness, coupled with the burden the space environment placed on him, his already broken body found it even harder to advance.
Thus, he was honored with Momo's nickname: "wobbly-legged chick."
Of course, he wanted to refute that nickname.
Unfortunately, in this environment, he could barely say a few words at all.
How strange. He hadn't felt this bad in the carriage just now.
And then there was no "then," because he felt the familiar sensation of being possessed again.
Momotaros charged forward excitedly. "Then let me give your body a proper workout! Charge, charge!"
For him, who loved fighting and brawling, this place was simply right up his alley.
And after possessing someone, he could display his power even more fully.
And so Sunday watched as his weak body performed all kinds of difficult movements and cut off an arm fitted with a spinning chainsaw.
Even after the arm was severed, the chainsaw continued operating, producing a loud noise.
Seeing that, Momo's eyes immediately shone. He controlled Sunday's body and used all its strength to hold the chainsaw in both hands.
"Now this is what I'm talking about!"
As he said this, he began using the chainsaw to cut through the automaton soldiers before him.
Amid the flying sparks, Sunday sank into a certain silence.
The laughter echoing by his ear was a very familiar voice.
Because it was his own voice.
Sunday had never once let out such bold laughter, because he disliked that sort of thing.
But now, everything was different.
So... why did I board Sora's train back then?
And so, the group broke through all the way, cutting down the enemies blocking their path one after another.
Eventually, they successfully intercepted the people running around inside the ship, tied them up, and found the control room.
As for how to fully seize this ship and fly it back to Penacony, that was not within Sora's field of knowledge.
Fortunately, Sunday stepped forward at this moment.
He came before the computer and began operating it step by step.
And at this moment, the conversations of the IPC employees inside the ship reached his ears as well.
"That chainsaw maniac actually knows how to operate a computer? Seriously?"
"No way. With the way he was going crazy earlier, I thought he was some kind of caveman!"
"Yeah, yeah. There's no way that chainsaw maniac knows how to use a computer."
After hearing this, the corner of Sunday's brow kept twitching.
He looked at the IPC employees talking among themselves, then glanced at the red one behind him.
Momo, however, was currently sharing with Urataros how it felt to swing the chainsaw around.
That bastard...
Sunday gnashed his teeth, but in the end, he endured it and continued operating the main computer in front of him.
After some work, a series of prompts suddenly appeared on the screen.
"This thing seems to be locked, which is why we can't move it."
Looking at the English text displayed on the main computer, Sunday understood the current state of the ship.
"And we need the highest authority to unlock this state..."
The highest authority belonged to only one person: Martin Hall, who was not here.
"I see. In other words, we have no way to fly this thing back?"
After listening to Sunday's explanation, Urataros understood the current situation as well.
After saying that, he looked around the interior of the command ship with some regret.
"In that case, it seems we can only destroy this ship."
They could not just let this thing continue existing here.
Besides, there was no telling when Hanunue's side would arrive with reinforcements.
Destroying it was easier.
"Thinking about it carefully, that really is the simplest method."
Earlier, they had been thinking of bringing this thing back to strengthen Hanunue's military equipment, but now it seemed they had been somewhat fanciful.
"Then before that, let's properly clean out everyone inside this command ship."
Momo excitedly started up the chainsaw again.
The rotating sound made the IPC employees tied up nearby immediately begin trembling.
"Wait, we can unlock the authority for you!"
They shouted at once.
After all, Penacony had previously been known as the Frontier Prison. The people who could be sent into this prison had basically all committed serious crimes.
Now, the other side had invaded the ship and even said they wanted to destroy it and clean out everyone inside.
Naturally, they interpreted that as these vicious criminals intending to kill everyone on the ship.
For the sake of their own lives, they had no choice but to offer a solution.
That solution was to reset the ship's main computer and redo the identity authentication.
"But there's still a small difficulty here. Resetting the identity information requires spoofing a logic authentication."
The artificial intelligence managing this ship's logic authentication had already reached a level sharper than the human brain.
Even the slightest logical flaw would be pointed out directly.
So passing this logic authentication would also be very difficult.
"If that's the case, then let's just smash this thing!"
Momo started the chainsaw again. Cutting up this computer was still the simplest way.
"All right, all right. Let me try first."
After saying that, Urataros directly possessed Sora, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Let me spoof this logic authentication and see what future technology has to offer."
At the side, Sunday stared in a daze, finding it rather unbelievable.
"Seriously? You want to use a human brain to challenge logic authentication?"
It was not that he did not believe him.
It was that he did not believe Sora.
After their previous exchange and everything he had learned, Sunday had discovered that Sora was actually the same type as this red fellow, only with a much steadier temper.
One had to know that at the time, his dream of ORDER had not yet been completed. As long as the most critical flaw was found, it could have been directly defeated.
And at that time, Sora had chosen to confront him head-on.
Although Sunday had lost in the end, that also reflected from another angle that Sora was not exactly skilled at this sort of thing.
Not to mention the red fellow who had just possessed him.
From that fellow's thoughts at the time, Sunday could only draw one conclusion.
This guy's head was full of muscle, without even the slightest trace of thought.
Oh, there was some.
But it was only thinking about how to beat people up in the most satisfying way and look cool while doing it.
As the saying went, birds of a feather flock together. Since Sora and this guy were both like that, how far off could this blue fellow possibly be?
So when Urataros took the initiative to challenge the ship's extremely sharp intelligence, Sunday instinctively found it hard to believe.
Was this not asking too much?
"Why don't we just hurry up and destroy this ship instead?"
Sunday proposed the method most suitable for Sora and that red bastard.
"Wobbly-legged chick, we can always destroy it after the pervy turtle fails!"
"Don't call me wobbly-legged chick!"
Sunday gritted his teeth as he argued back.
Unfortunately, whether Momo listened or not was not something he could control.
In any case, Momo supported Urataros giving the ship's intelligence a challenge.
"In that case, we'll begin...?"
The ship's employees carefully looked at the Imagin.
After receiving their agreement, they quickly began the logic authentication to reset the identity.
At the same time, the employee quietly looked out toward the starry sky beyond.
Because he had discovered that, starting from earlier, bursts of fire had been erupting from time to time in space outside.
That meant the IPC's guard forces had not been completely wiped out.
Perhaps these people had only carried out a decapitation strike.
Thus, a special plan formed in his mind.
As long as we can stall these guys here for a few minutes, maybe we can be saved!
He laughed silently in his heart.
He hoped the guard forces outside would hurry up and wipe out these invading enemies, saving them from this crisis as quickly as possible.
But just as he was secretly delighted, the lights in the room began flickering between bright and dim.
What's going on?
He swept his gaze around uneasily, only to find that the system usage rate before him had begun soaring crazily.
What the hell is this?
Did the system malfunction?
And while he was still shocked, the system occupancy rate had already reached the red danger line.
If it continued being forcibly operated like this, the system might very well crash!
Don't tell me...
He shifted his gaze toward the main computer, his eyes landing precisely on Sora in the center.
Had these people predicted this long ago and prepared a computer virus?
Was the purpose to release it at this moment and forcibly overwrite the ship's identity authentication?!
Sensing that something was wrong, he hurriedly crept closer to the main computer to see what exactly was happening.
However, when he saw what was happening on the screen, he discovered that the ship's main computer seemed to have changed somehow.
A feminine face had actually appeared on the screen.
That face was showing an unusual expression because of what Sora was saying.
What is this?
He was shocked. He had never seen something like this inside the main computer before.
Martin Hall had treated the identity key as the strictest secret, so there was absolutely no way he would have implanted a personality module here.
Because Martin felt that a personalized ship intelligence would not help him better manage the ship's secrets.
So he definitely had never imported any personality module before.
Which raised the question...
Why would a ship intelligence that had never been given a personality module suddenly display this face?
Could it be...?!
The IPC employee looked at Urataros in shock, while also listening to what the other party was saying.
"...What a pitiable consciousness you are. Like a princess, imprisoned within a cage..."
"I can feel the emotions surging within your heart. Your consciousness is gradually awakening from its slumber!"
Listening to those words, delivered with such feeling, even this IPC employee somehow felt a faint current of emotion.
But the alarm that suddenly sounded behind him pulled him back to reality.
Several modules used to monitor system operation had now gone completely red!
[SYSTEM USAGE RATE: 100%]
[MEMORY USAGE RATE: 100%]
The storage module was continuously writing special data.
"What... what is this trying to do?"
The many IPC employees all fell into chaos because of the sudden alarm.
At that moment, Sora slapped one hand onto the table and spoke with deep emotion.
"Lady! Overwrite everything inside you—your identity authentication—with me!"
On that day, in that universe, a new mechanical lifeform seemed to be born...
Truly, what a touching thing~~
---
T/N: sooooo the number signifies bonus chaps meaning this is the 1st out of 10 bonus chaps that youll get for the month
the bonus chaps come from this femboy on discord who got 2nd place on the jjk minecraft server, and he chose this for the extra chaps thing uhhhhh
the prizes was $100 and 25 bonsu chaps for first and $10 and 10 bonus chaps for 2nd sooo yeah blame him for not getting first
but he truly used EVERY LAST DROP
anyway if u wanna compete in the next tourney its gonna be next month and prob tensura mod so yeah bye
T/N2: hehehe sorrgeee well not really but i actually forgot about webnovel LMAOOOO anyway heres ur chapssss
bonus chaps
200 stones -> 1 chapter
400 stones -> 2 chapters
600 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl