Chapter Seventy-Four: The Red Identity Card
He was struck and thrown into the air, crashing with a loud thud against the slate-covered wall nearby.
Ji Cheng landed hard, his body covered in dust and debris, his chest heavy, yet he felt no pain whatsoever.
“Turn sideways and dodge,” Shana called out, her voice tinged with urgency as her ethereal form floated above him.
As a data ether entity, conventional means could not harm her, and she could switch to a mode where only Ji Cheng could see her.
“Luckily, I managed to lessen the impact when I landed, or I’d probably be unable to even crawl right now,” Ji Cheng gritted his teeth, twisting aside to avoid another crushing blow from the mechanical guardian.
Boom.
The ground shuddered, sending pebbles and sand flying before they clattered back down.
Ji Cheng coughed forcefully, spitting out blood-tinged phlegm. Then, like a leopard, he rolled and sprang to his feet. ‘Remorse’ activated, the air in the room thrumming as if a taut iron wire vibrated.
Zzz.
An invisible blade sliced into the mechanical guardian’s abdomen, forked arcs of electricity sparking at the wound, sharp and dazzling. A metal sphere clicked against the rock fragments.
“Huff, huff.”
Only now did Ji Cheng feel the numbness in his chest morph into heat, followed by a radiating, intense pain.
Had he not worn his high-grade all-terrain combat suit, that ferocious blow could have shattered his sternum and driven bone into his lungs.
Thanks to the multi-layered buffers of his suit, he was battered but not gravely injured.
He staggered back, sweat beading on his brow.
“P24-R1-R5, switch to T53-7D…”
Seizing a rare moment, Ji Cheng recited another command to Shana, then lifted his gaze.
The mechanical guardian looked battered, its towering metal frame marred by deep gashes. Its broad, protruding, bearing-like shoulders hung loosely, yet it still lunged at him again.
Ji Cheng leaned forward, stepping toward the guardian. He planted his foot on the metal sphere beneath it, swiftly raising his left hand to waist height, brushing the connection joint with a barely noticeable motion, darted past, and landed on the opposite side.
The air’s cutting edge struck the same spot again, electricity arcing wildly, while Ji Cheng was already behind it.
He felt a sting in his left palm.
“Running the full array at maximum power is exhausting.”
‘Remorse’ was crafted from an electrode lattice, driven by bioelectricity—it demanded significant stamina when used at full output.
---
Ji Cheng raised his right hand, gripping the black rock pistol, aiming at the mechanical guardian’s face—now slow to turn back.
A perfect opportunity.
His arm held steady as he fired from just five steps away.
The muzzle spat tongues of flame; each bullet struck precisely the same spot, burrowing into the previous crack without deviation.
The Black Rock K-90 held fourteen rounds—Ji Cheng emptied them all in one breath, then shoved the pistol back into its holster without bothering to reload, retreating further.
The mechanical guardian reeled under his barrage, stumbling, its movements rigid and sluggish. It took half a second before it could face Ji Cheng with the back of its head.
Click, click.
It charged anew.
As a cold, precise machine, it felt no pain, harbored no fear, executing its programmed purge: to destroy any organism that intruded upon the laboratory.
“Its movements are much more impaired now. Keep targeting the waist-abdomen joint,” Shana whispered gently, her voice echoing in his mind.
The corridor was dense with dust; Ji Cheng squinted, observing. The spherical guardian’s absolute speed hadn’t changed much, but its actions were uncoordinated, especially as the electric arcs at its joints caused it to pause each time.
“T12-47, switch to U80-79-Y21… Should I come from the left or the upper right?”
“Attack head-on—strike and retreat.”
“Alright.” Ji Cheng growled, charging directly.
Two minutes later, Ji Cheng was utterly spent, sitting on the ground, gasping for breath without a trace of dignity.
The D-150 spherical mechanical guardian had reverted to a silent metal ball, lying motionless nearby.
“At last, I’ve cracked it. Can you locate the network hub it’s connected to?” Ji Cheng wiped sweat from his brow, leaving wet spots on the sand.
“I’ll try to find it—it might take some time.”
“By the way, Shana, I really think you should absorb some computer theory; your cracking speed is far too slow.”
Ji Cheng spoke bluntly.
By his plan, Shana was to carry combat-related knowledge: force field research, computer theory, space transport, mechanical control—she should be used often, given her good temperament.
Shana looked apologetic, her delicate face full of remorse. She bowed deeply, her head nearly buried in her chest: “Shana will do her best and try not to trouble you.”
---
Splash.
An Chan’s icy, striking figure appeared, scoffing, “How can you be so manipulative?”
“Ah?” Shana murmured softly, then moved closer to Ji Cheng, gazing up at him. “Shana would never be so fierce—I only worry about you.”
“You’re so fake.”
“Hey, stop arguing, stop arguing.” Ji Cheng hurriedly intervened, surprised that these two had quietly become rivals.
Data ether entities possessed their own personalities and emotions, even forming friendships. In some ways, they were a higher form of life than flesh and blood.
—The ‘data ascension’ Ji Cheng had mentioned to Ji Ruyue was essentially the conversion of human consciousness into a data ether entity.
But for Shana and An Chan to become so antagonistic after just a few days together was rare.
“I’ve found it. This spherical guardian is connected to a network hub called ‘Hive Area A Core’,” Shana said, ignoring An Chan, her gentle tone directed at Ji Cheng.
“Try to breach some peripheral firewalls, see if you can find any data—focus on the entries: case, concealment, 1251.”
……
While Ji Cheng was busy hacking the network hub, Zuo Hao had already quietly left Hive Area A. He checked the map on his wrist computer as he carefully moved through rooms and corridors.
He struggled to advance through increasingly dense sand and clusters of slate, each step stirring a soft rustling.
“It seems the deeper I go toward the central area, the more severe the petrification. I’ll have to be careful,” Zuo Hao said, wrapping himself in a curtain to shield from dust, then drew a red card, poker-sized, from his chest.
[Name: Wei Changshun]
[Gender: Male]
[Rank: Research Supervisor]
[Access Area: Unlimited—including main hive of central zone]