Chapter 2980 - 992: Protocol III · The Creator’s Perfect Blueprint Will Be Realized! (3)

Chapter 2980: Chapter 992: Protocol III · The Creator’s Perfect Blueprint Will Be Realized! (3)

Prototype Unit 11 did a very human-like head-turn, even though she didn’t need to; with sensors packing thirty-two different observation modes, she could clearly lock onto the figure approaching her just fine.

Even in the dead of night, she could still see every single pore on the other’s face once she tweaked the focal pixels.

"Penny... are you awake?"

Bertie dropped from the sky, wings flapping.

The miserable bastard was covered in severe burn marks—torture-level stuff for a vampire—but he didn’t care at all. He just half-knelt by Penny, reached out, trying to help the Mech Maiden who’d collapsed in the rubble back up. Unfortunately, there was no way he could actually pull that off.

The creator’s personally crafted Intelligent Guard prototype was built like a tank; even after getting hammered over and over by Power Armor, she’d only picked up a few scratches. At this weight class, forget Bertie—drag a few Barbarians over and they’d still struggle to lift her.

"You... who are you?"

A confused electronic voice came out of Prototype Unit 11’s voice module. She said:

"I feel like you’re familiar... have we met before? Penny, is that my name? I just remember being hit by a flash of light... it hurt... I heard someone crying... ah, memory data and audio channel comparison match at 100%, so, was that you crying?

You shed tears for me?

Why?"

"I... what the fuck is going on!"

Bertie was stunned.

He hadn’t even sobered up from the joy of Penny regaining her mind, and then her questions came down like a sledgehammer straight to his chest. With angry confusion he turned to look at Murphy, who was striding over. The vampire felt his offspring’s rude stare and said:

"Not my fault!

Minkus only managed to stop her emotions from being stripped at the very last second; the progress bar was already past 90% by then. It’s a miracle she kept even a tenth of her memories. Still, the fact she can feel you’re familiar already proves you weigh quite a bit in her heart.

You’ve both stepped into immortality; you’ll have plenty of time to let her get to know you again. Right now, I have to restrain her. She’s dangerous.

To you, and to everyone else, she’s dangerous."

"Refuse... restraint!"

Hearing Murphy say he was going to lock her up, Penny reacted hard, immediately trying to get up to fight again—but Bertie pinned down her arm, clamping over the nozzle that could spit Plasma Flames at any second.

He shook his head at Penny and said:

"No! Don’t go back there, I won’t let you go back. It’s that seemingly gentle but actually batshit Scholar who turned you into this... Calm down, Penny, don’t fight it. Our mentor will come looking for us, and then we’ll decide what to do."

"Ooh, the little fledgling finally figured out what kind of crap the Dusk members really are. Congratulations, I guess."

Murphy chuckled and said:

"But I don’t see you two walking away that easily. Your minds need recalibration. Until you’re completely free from Dusk’s influence, you’re staying put at my side. As for your mentor... I’d be delighted to meet him again."

"I... I’ll listen to you..."

Penny was a bit lost, but after "looking" at Bertie, she decided to follow the tug in her heart. Even though her consciousness had been fully datafied, her emotional thinking let her confirm that she could trust Bertie—he wouldn’t hurt her.

Logic-based decision scoring gave that choice a 35—rock-bottom, meaning the core processor didn’t really approve of the decision. But Penny still had ideas of her own.

With the War Marshal’s forces ready to swing in with a heavy punch at any moment, Prototype Unit 11 rose to her feet in a pose that blatantly violated normal physiology, not showing any aggression, but instead putting herself in front of Bertie in a protective stance.

That made Murphy very curious about what kind of relationship these two, whose lives had just been turned upside down, had now.

But a few seconds later, Penny said in confusion:

"System self-check detects a special program activating... high-level permissions... unable to terminate... using this unit as signal source, a special directive is about to be broadcast to the entire city..."

"Hm?"

Murphy raised a brow and asked:

"Directive contents?"

"One moment, parsing directive..."

Penny started emitting proper robot beeps, then a few seconds later responded:

"Directive contents as follows: Creation Protocol III – seize control authority over all mechanical units within directive range and lock their action mode to destruction, target Charldo Harbor and all living entities within.

Directive from master control program ’Rebirth’.

Special note: Administrator Alpha, do not interfere with this program’s continued advancement of the creator’s blueprint, or you will be classified as Enemy of the Creator and eliminated!

Life Greenhouse Project is about to relaunch, world reconstruction will resume a thousand years from now.

For the creator’s glory! The Perfect Realm will be built!"

"Huh?"

After hearing that, Murphy felt like the world was getting a bit too damn exciting.

He, the administrator personally chosen by the creator, a bona fide Creator God’s chosen, was actually being labeled "Enemy of the Creator" by a rebel AI? If you’re that bold, why don’t you just kick me out of the creator faction roster entirely? And this Rebirth—after stirring up so much shit, its grand goal really is just rebooting the world blueprint the creator left behind?

This guy’s Loyalty is a bit too hardcore, isn’t it?

And this Creation Protocol III...

"Boom."

Murphy was still chewing on what the protocol meant when, off in the distance, a Half-body Man walker that was down for maintenance suddenly rebooted and lobbed a shell straight at his position.

But before the shell could land, Penny smashed it midair with a vicious, so-cool-you-lose-all-your-friends "Heavy Cannon Smash MAX". In the flicker of the blast, Murphy instantly realized something new and nasty was underway.

"Officer Morphy! The engineering machines in the city just all went rogue!"

Mosna’s scream echoed over the armor comms. She shouted:

"Those walkers just backstabbed the outer wall defenses. The whole city’s erupting into chaos. The university district got set on fire by firefighting walkers. The machines have betrayed their makers; they’re being driven by some force to launch an internal destruction of the city.

Ah, I get it—this is an Iron Man Rebellion...

Exactly what your Foreign Spirit Heroes are always ranting about: hating on how smart tech can’t be trusted, only pure flesh can bring true Loyalty. I’ve always disagreed with that take, but right now this city is in real trouble."