Chapter 102 The Mole

The group followed Isaac's plan and continued onward, soon entering the sewers.

In this world ruled by Bieta, the city's sewers were relatively clean, because Ai placed great emphasis on water conservation. From the moment daily water entered the drainage pipes, the filtration process had already begun.

The filtration system was very detailed. For example...water drained from the kitchen and water drained from the toilet did not flow into the same pipes, nor were they filtered under the same mechanisms. And the water flowing from the toilet...depending on the outlet (bathtub, sink, toilet), entered different pipes and filtration systems.

In this way, it could be ensured that the water finally flowing into the sewers had all reached a certain standard of cleanliness. Subsequently, these waters would be collected and discharged into rivers, lakes, and seas connected to the ecosystem.

It was also for this reason that Feng Bujue and the others were spared from being covered in the smell of excrement and stale food...

"This sewer environment isn't bad..." Brother Jue muttered as he waded through the water, "It's almost as good as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' home."

He was actually complaining—Feng Bujue had always felt that if the Ninja Turtles lived in a "real" sewer, then these guys should be covered in stench and more or less covered in excrement every time they appeared.

"Hahaha..." Two seconds later, Cyclops understood the meaning of Brother Jue's words and responded with a laugh, "Although my memory doesn't include the Ninja Turtles cartoon, I understand the point you're making."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue continued, "Your engineers can restore all games and consoles up to the PS, but can't restore a cartoon from 1987?"

"Because making cartoons and making games are two different things..." At this moment, Isaac took over the conversation and said, "In terms of our technical level, an experienced engineer can restore a game for the Atari platform in one day, and a team can restore nearly ten FC platform games in a week. As for games on platforms like MD, GB, SS, and PS, the restoration time will increase depending on the complexity of the game and the platform, but...overall, the cycle won't be too long."

He paused for two seconds, then continued, "But...cartoons are another matter. The production cycle of cartoons won't be shortened too much because of our progress in engineering technology. Whether it's an animation from '87 or an animation from the twenty-first century, it has to be done step by step from the original drawing, and there are no shortcuts from shooting to post-dubbing... Take the '87 Ninja Turtles you mentioned as an example, on another timeline...that cartoon had a full 193 episodes and ran for nine years. And our 'Game War' has only been going on for nine years in total." He turned his head, revealing a helpless expression, "Even if we wanted to restore it, we don't have that kind of resources."

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue nodded upon hearing this, "That's true..."

"Furthermore..." Isaac wasn't finished, he continued, "Besides the Ninja Turtles, there are many other excellent animations, aren't there? *C.L.Y.D.E*, *Inspector Gadget*, *Batman: The Animated Series* (the 92 version), *Gargoyles* (regarding this work, I feel it is necessary to mention that *Gargoyles* can be said to be Disney's positive response to Ah Hua and Ah Na. Disney at the time was forced into a corner a bit by the Batman animated series, so they quickly prepared such a dark-style animation that was very different from their previous style but similar to the style of Batman. The result proved...that many successes are forced out; it was in this context that Disney made such a classic breakthrough). And so on, and so on. In addition, there are those classic movies and TV series that should have appeared...it would take many years of effort to restore all of these...but before winning the war, these can only be empty talk."

Feng Bujue was also filled with emotion when he heard this, "Listening to you, it seems that you all have a long way to go..."

"Heh...you're overthinking it." At this time, Big Beard said with a smile, "We people are actually more relaxed. Those 'restoration projects' will probably be done by our next generation, or even the generation after that. As for us...hehe...we just need to think about how to kill those robots while we're still alive."

...

Although wading through water was much more tiring than walking, the few of them forgot about that little bit of fatigue as they chatted.

Before they knew it, they had walked nearly a kilometer and arrived at the end of this sewer journey—the entrance to a metal pipe.

This kind of "engineering pipe" could be seen everywhere in the city's underground and above-ground buildings, mainly for use by "repair robots," so it was also called "maintenance pipe."

Basically, Bieta would add this kind of pipe when planning and building any facility. From the perspective of an Ai, this was also a matter of course...because any hardware has a time when it breaks down, even if this only happens once in a few decades, it is necessary to be fully prepared for that one time.

But Bieta at the time could not have imagined that these pipes would become free fortifications for the resistance army after the war broke out. In the second year of the war, the resistance army launched a major incident through tunnels that Bieta called the "Game Boy Plague." The specific content of the incident can be imagined... In any case, after that, Bieta changed its 'arrest policy' and began to kill people...

"Speaking of which...this pipe is a little too narrow, isn't it?" Feng Bujue stood at the entrance of the pipe, and before even crawling in, he already felt that the size was not right.

"This pipe was never meant for us humans." Lightning Head, who was tying equipment to a strip of cloth, said at this time.

"Yeah, it's good enough that we can get in." Cyclops also said, "We should also be glad that Bieta's repair robots are spherical instead of strip-shaped...otherwise, we would only be able to find underage soldiers and soldiers as thin as bamboo poles to carry out the infiltration mission."

"Then..." Feng Bujue seemed to hear some not-so-good keywords from this sentence, "When we're crawling in the pipe, what if we encounter a robot? Wouldn't we be wiped out in this kind of environment?"

This was indeed a worrying problem. Even Feng Bujue...would have a hard time escaping if he was trapped in that kind of intestine-like environment and attacked by firearms.

"Don't worry." Isaac replied, already the first to crawl in, "As long as the facility isn't malfunctioning, there won't be any repair robots entering the pipe. Given that the things Ai builds are of extremely high quality...these pipes are almost empty all year round." He was already halfway in when he said this, "Furthermore...the distance we have to crawl is very short. If we're quick, we'll be there in ten minutes."

...

Isaac was right. Ten minutes later, they successfully passed through that section of pipe and arrived in the subway tunnel.

However...waiting for them in the tunnel was an entire squad of Round Table Spiders and Composite Robots.

"You have been surrounded. Do not make any sudden movements and disarm within ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven..." This was the dialogue recited by the leading Composite Robot.

Upon hearing these words, Isaac turned his head and winked at his teammates. In less than three seconds, the four of them (except for Feng Bujue, who didn't bring any equipment anyway) quickly unloaded their weapons and obediently raised their hands.

Years of dealing with machines told them that the biggest difference between robot soldiers and human soldiers was that...the former said "ten seconds," and that was "ten seconds." They would immediately open fire when the time was up, and there would be absolutely no second warning. As for "sudden movements," don't even mention it. As long as you dared to raise your gun, the other side would dare to open fire... The result of a close-range gunfight with a machine was self-evident.

Thus, this commando team was easily captured.

...

"In a sense...this is also pretty good." Fifteen minutes later, Feng Bujue, wearing handcuffs and sitting in a prison car, said to his teammates sitting next to him with an almost leisurely attitude, "Having them directly escort us to the Central District saves us a lot of travel time and energy."

"Ha!" Cyclops seemed both frustrated and angry at this moment. He laughed dryly and continued, "Why are you still considering time and energy...we're done for, you know!"

"No...not yet." Isaac was still very calm, "If they wanted to kill us, they would have already done it in the subway tunnel. Since they captured us alive, it means we're still useful."

"Tch..." Hearing this, Lightning Head replied angrily, "Are they planning to interrogate us, or...transform us into PMs (parasite machines)?"

"Pah! I'd rather kill myself than be transformed into a PM!" Big Beard spat aside.

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue smiled when he heard their conversation and said to Big Beard, "Before you kill yourself, wouldn't you consider finding the mole first?"

These words caused Big Beard, Lightning Head, and Cyclops to suddenly change their expressions. Only Isaac still maintained a calm expression.

And all of this...naturally did not escape Brother Jue's eyes.

"You mean..." The next second, Big Beard looked at Feng Bujue and tentatively said half a sentence.

"Isn't this obvious?" Feng Bujue replied in a matter-of-course tone, "When we came out of the pipe, the large team was already lying in ambush over there. You have to know...that's a subway tunnel. To carry out an effective ambush there, you definitely have to stop the normal operation of the subway first. And from the actual situation, the other side had at least obtained accurate information half an hour in advance before making such proper arrangements."

"In other words..." At this moment, Cyclops muttered half a sentence and cast a suspicious glance at Isaac.

Lightning Head and Big Beard's reactions were similar to his. After all, Isaac decided on the route of this operation, and the connection was self-evident.

"Do you have anything to explain..." Feng Bujue looked at Isaac with a smile and said, "Captain?"

Isaac still kept a straight face and said in a deep voice, "I...also think there's a mole in the team." His gaze swept over his teammates, "I'm also very clear that my suspicion is very high in this matter." He shook his head, "But right now, I don't have any evidence to prove my innocence, nor do I have any evidence to prove who the mole is. So...I don't want to argue, because unfounded arguments are futile; at the same time, I don't want to point fingers at anyone, because that will only make it seem like I'm shifting the target...which will only make the real mole hide even deeper."

"Hmph..." Hearing these words, Big Beard immediately snorted coldly, "Well said, as expected of Isaac." His expression changed, and he looked at his captain with a firm gaze, "I believe you! You're not the mole."

"Do...do you have any basis for that?" Cyclops heard this and looked at Big Beard and asked.

"No basis." Big Beard curled his lips, "It's just my personal intuition. Anyway, I don't think this man is the kind of two-faced person."

"What do you mean by that?" Cyclops said, "Are you saying we look like two-faced people?"

"Ha! Who knows." Big Beard laughed, "Maybe I'm the mole...trying to win over Isaac with these words and influence his judgment. It's reasonable to think that way, right?"

"Forget it, everyone knows you're the least likely." Cyclops said, "Although you're not a Zhiyueist, just based on your revenge against the Bieta army for killing your daughter, you wouldn't defect."

"Don't you and those robots also have a grudge over your eye?" Big Beard replied, "As for the captain and vice-captain, one is a legendary hero in the army, and the other has more qualifications than the commander, so it seems...anyone..."

"I say..." Feng Bujue interrupted Big Beard, "Are you forgetting about me, the savior?"

When he said this, everyone reacted.

"That's right...your suspicion is the greatest!" Cyclops looked at Brother Jue and shouted loudly as if he had suddenly realized something.

"Indeed...everyone doesn't understand your background." Lightning Head also looked at Brother Jue and frowned, "Also...this operation itself was proposed by you."

"Yes." Feng Bujue nodded, "If I were an observer, I would also think that my suspicion is the greatest; because among the five people on this team, the suspicious points on me are the most numerous." He smiled and tilted his head, "So the question is...is it really me..."

Brother Jue wasn't joking, but seriously thinking with a joking attitude.

Although Feng Bujue had not subjectively made any undercover actions, theoretically speaking, he could really be the mole...

For example—before the "player's" consciousness descended, the character possessed by Feng Bujue was originally an undercover spy, and he was also carrying some kind of tracking device that couldn't be detected by instruments.

If this assumption was true, Brother Jue could have sent information to the other party without knowing it.

"Eh?" A few seconds later, something suddenly flashed through Feng Bujue's mind, and he immediately thought to himself, "Something's not right... Since this team has been arrested, why hasn't that mole jumped out yet? Logically speaking, he/she no longer needs to continue pretending. Could it be...he/she...or rather 'Bieta,' has some other purpose?"