LRAB Chapter 20: Guardian
Chapter 20: Guardian
"Warning! Unknown life form intrusion detected! Energy level... Celestial level! Initiate elimination procedure!"
A emotionless, synthesized electronic voice resounded in the command center, which had been silent for tens of thousands of years. On the control room screens, large swaths of universal language text rapidly refreshed, which, when translated, became...
"Target: Humanity."
"Strength: First Rank of the Constant Star Level"
"Permissions: Unknown".
Solution: Kill the target!
Hong couldn't hear any of this. The instant he squeezed into the crevice, the massive gate behind him, weighing over ten thousand tons, crashed to the ground with a deafening roar that echoed endlessly, completely severing his connection with the outside world.
An ancient aura, a mixture of metallic decay and dust, wafted over.
"The spaceship's intelligent system should have sensed my presence."
Hong flew forward slowly. He sensed his surroundings; the space was much more open than he had imagined, with piles of rotten metal boxes everywhere. He could clearly feel a subtle energy fluctuation being activated deep within the spaceship.
"The robots that deal with the intruders should be arriving soon. I just wonder how much energy this Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship has left to power them."
As soon as he finished speaking, a rhythmic, slight vibration came from the dark passage ahead. The sound grew closer and clearer, the heavy echoes of the metal robot colliding with the metal floor.
Tap, tap, tap...
Nine metallic robots, crafted entirely from a gleaming, jet-black metal, emerged slowly from the shadows of the passageway in perfect unison. Their crimson electronic eyes gleamed in the darkness, locked onto Hong, the sole intruder.
The only incongruous thing is that at the ends of their arms are two disproportionately large iron fists.
"Damn, in the original story, when Luo Feng arrived, only three robots came out to greet him. How come when it's my turn, the welcoming ceremony has been upgraded to nine!"
Looking at the robot legion before him, which exuded a chilling killing intent and a strong sense of oppression, Hong showed no tension whatsoever; on the contrary, he was quite interested.
This is the standard equipment of the elite guards of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, each piece of which is made of indestructible Uranium metal.
The energy contained within each of them was so powerful that each one was comparable to a high-level martial artist at the seventh or eighth rank of the planetary level. If the nine of them joined forces, even a martial artist at the ninth rank of the planetary level would likely only meet their demise on the spot.
However, he is not a planetary-level being.
"Perfect, I'll use you guys to test just how powerful my celestial-level physical strength really is!"
Hong did not activate his domain immediately. His joints cracked and popped, and with a sway, he transformed into a blurry black shadow and charged towards the nearest metal robot.
Without any fancy moves, Hong concentrated all the immense power of the Hengxing star into his right fist and slammed it down hard into the robot's chest!
Wherever the fist passed, the air was compressed by the powerful force, producing a sharp explosion!
"when!!!"
A deafening clang of metal clashing rang out in the closed cabin.
The metal robot that was hit was blasted off the ground by the enormous force, flying backward like a cannonball, leaving a trail of dazzling sparks as it scraped against the smooth, hard metal surface, before finally crashing with a loud bang into a wall dozens of meters away.
Hong stood still, shook his slightly numb fist, and frowned almost imperceptibly.
The robot, struck with all its might, only had a faint white mark on its shiny black armor, without any dent. It shook its head, its crimson electronic eyes locked onto Hong again, and then got up from the ground unharmed.
"The hardness of this thing's outer shell is really beyond my expectations. If we rely solely on physical attacks, we probably won't be able to cause any effective damage."
Hong made a quick decision in his mind.
In that brief moment of contemplation, the other eight metal robots had already completed their tactical encirclement of him. Their core logic instantly analyzed Hong's level of danger and, without any probing, immediately activated their strongest attack mode!
hum-
Red light flashed simultaneously in the eyes of the nine robots, and nine scorching energy beams shot out from all directions, sealing off all his escape routes.
At the same time, their enormous iron fists whistled as they slammed down on Hong's body!
This combined attack was incredibly powerful! It was enough to kill any planetary-level powerhouse!
However, despite this seemingly inescapable predicament, Hong's face remained impassive.
That concludes the warm-up exercises.
He muttered something to himself softly, his voice low, yet it sounded like an invisible command.
"game over."
The next moment, a force suddenly erupted from him.
A deep darkness instantly engulfed the space within hundreds of meters, shrouding the nine robots and their attack.
Within this dark realm, the energy beams that were originally moving at incredible speeds now appeared extremely slow in Hong's eyes, their trajectories clearly visible. The nine robots' powerful attacks also seemed to be stuck in viscous quagmire, each movement slowed down.
Even through their hard, metallic shells, Hong could clearly "see" the incredibly complex energy conduction pathways within them.
"Well then... let's start from here."
Hong's mind stirred slightly, and he did not attempt to attack the robot's indestructible shell head-on.
Under his control, the power of the domain became invisible, silently seeping into the robot's interior.
"Erase".
In the darkness, the core signal lines within the nine robots, responsible for transmitting attack commands, were precisely severed from their source by Hong's domain power at the same instant.
In an instant, the nine robots that were still in an attack posture froze.
The red light in their eyes went out, their iron fists, halfway through their swings, froze in mid-air, and the powerful energy fluctuations emanating from their bodies abruptly ceased.
Then, amidst a series of clanging and clattering sounds, the nine once imposing metal robots collapsed one after another like puppets without strings, turning into a pile of true scrap metal.
Hong calmly waved his hand, and the darkness that had enveloped the surroundings receded like a tide, restoring light to the entire space.
He walked up to the pile of scrap metal, bent down to inspect it, and found that the robots' external armor was intact, but their internal energy cores and control chips were completely destroyed.
He nodded in satisfaction, and with a wave of his hand, he stored all nine precious black jade metal lumps into his spatial storage equipment.
"These things are priceless treasures for the Earth today."