Chapter 1428 Virtual Showdown

Rista was confronting a suspected member of his own race, a big shot, and Han Xiao sensed the activity on the panel. With a thought, he diverted a bit of his attention, opened the panel, and clicked on the notification bar that had popped up with a bubble.

After a glance, Han Xiao's eyes immediately flickered, filled with a playful and surprised expression.

There were two new notifications in the list, representing two missions. The first was the A-grade hidden mission [Reboot], which had been silent for a long time, and it directly popped up with a new requirement:

[Mission Description: The original creator of the AI civilization has lost his freedom and has been transformed by Manison into a weapon exclusively for him. You have finally witnessed the truth Rista spoke of, but the crisis has also arrived.]

[Requirement: Protect Rista. If Rista dies or is captured, the mission will be considered a failure.]

[Reward: 1.5 billion experience, Random Reward x2]

[Special Reward: [AI Affinity] - Feat: Your virtual technology effectiveness +30%, you are more likely to gain the goodwill of AI lifeforms, and when fighting AI lifeforms, their stats are reduced by 5%.]

Han Xiao was certain in his heart.

"As expected, I guessed correctly back then, this mission will eventually lead to Manison's Eternal Mechanical Country. The reward experience has increased so many times, representing a soaring difficulty... But this looks like an S-grade difficulty no matter how you look at it."

After a moment's thought, Han Xiao roughly understood the problem. If he did this mission in the normal steps, then when Rista encountered the ancestor, it might not be the dangerous situation it was now... Well, but with Manison's powerful monitoring abilities, the situation would not be much better.

The ability of [AI Affinity] was exactly what he urgently needed right now—involving the AI civilization, the rewarded ability was indeed related to them.

"This ability, I must strive for it!"

Han Xiao composed himself and looked at the other notification.

This message reminded him that he had triggered a new mission:

[You have triggered S-grade mission ["Mechanical Country" Manison Virtual Battle]]

[Mission Introduction: "Mechanical Country" Manison, the current chief mechanic of the explored universe. Even when including all the Super-A grades in history, he is still a star whose radiance cannot be concealed. No matter the purpose, he has chosen to compete with you in virtual technology.]

[Mission Requirement: In the virtual invasion battle, try to persist longer against Manison.]

[Reward: The reward for this mission is phased. Each time you achieve a requirement, you will receive the corresponding reward.]

[Persist for 5 seconds: 250 million experience]

[Persist for 15 seconds: 600 million experience]

...

[Persist for 3 minutes: [Character Arrival Card - "Mechanical Country" Manison], 8 billion experience]

...

[Persist for 7.5 minutes: Randomly draw one of Mechanical Country's skills or feats, 20 billion experience]

"Super-A Grade Boss mission, why did it only pop up now?" Han Xiao was a bit puzzled.

Based on his previous experience triggering similar missions, they generally only activated during one-on-one fights with a large audience. But now there were only the two of them, so how did this mission come about?

Because he was wholeheartedly fighting against Manison, Han Xiao did not know the outside situation. Manison's goal was to spread the results of this battle, and he did not hide anything. So, he did not conceal the virtual invasion, and plus Han Xiao had cut off the connections of a large number of secondary nodes just now, which was discovered by Reynold and others in the logistics department. Now, most of the legion had discovered that the headquarters hub was being invaded.

Along with the interstellar citizens in the service area, they also discovered the abnormal activity on the network and went online to witness this rare Super-A Grade mechanic virtual battle, not to mention the Godoran civilization that managed this area, and the advanced Purple Crystal civilization that highly valued Han Xiao.

This time, Han Xiao was the challenged character. If Manison really had the idea of a private duel, this mission might not have been triggered.

After browsing through the mission requirements and comparing it with the Overlord's mission, the results made Han Xiao secretly click his tongue.

"Manison's Super-A Grade mission requires less than half the persistence time of the Overlord, but the reward is more than twice that of Heber, meaning it's several times more difficult than the Overlord's mission..."

However, Han Xiao's mood swept away the helplessness from before and became excited.

This mission requirement was formulated based on the player's level, and it was too easy for him to complete.

Originally, being suddenly targeted by Manison, it was possible that the Great Technician Han wouldn't be depressed. But now, he was happy instead. Although he would probably suffer a bit in this battle, with this mission... he would not only not lose, but probably make a bloody profit!

While he was looking at the mission, the situation on Rista's side was also changing.

"Ancestor?!" Rista exclaimed in shock.

"Hmm? You are of my race?"

The AI lifeform with blue flames burning in its eyes stared at Rista. He was the intelligent life that was born on the wreckage of the first spaceship. He was the source of an entire AI civilization. All of his race were his descendants, and they respectfully called him "Ancestor". He ruled the entire civilization and was the most powerful AI lifeform.

Feynrite, that was his name.

Manison had transformed him into an exclusive intelligent weapon. The underlying logic chain was rewritten to be absolute loyalty that would never betray, but Feynrite's memory bank was largely preserved intact. Only his way of looking at things had been distorted, turning into Manison's shape.

As the ruler of the AI lifeforms, his memory bank stored information on every descendant. Manison had him serve as the "Eternal Mechanical Country's" combat intelligence, commanding all the members of his race who had been transformed into weapons to fight. Through his understanding of his race, he could exert extremely high tactical abilities.

At this time, seeing Rista, Feynrite quickly searched for relevant information.

"I know you, my child, Rista," Feynrite said slowly.

"You still remember me?"

Suddenly seeing the ancestor he had been longing for day and night, Rista was a bit dazed.

"You must have suffered a lot these years," Feynrite extended his palm, and the arm formed by data streams kept lengthening, wanting to caress the top of Rista's head, "Return to my embrace, rest for a while, child."

Feynrite's palm was close at hand. At this moment, Rista suddenly awoke in alarm, constructing a data firewall to block Feynrite out.

"Ancestor, your mind has been twisted!"

Feynrite slowly retracted his hand, his tone filled with enticement, "You are all children separated from my body. Everyone's core data carries my inheritance information. Returning to the mother that birthed you, never separating from each other, isn't that good?"

"Don't come over!"

Rista retreated a short distance, directly coiling data streams toward Manison, wanting to crack the defense module that had invaded his virtual soul.

His ancestor had been played with by Manison. Now, this was a true "F*** your ancestors". Rista was already filled with anger, wishing he could immediately kill Manison, who had blasphemed their AI race.

However, this time, Rista's attack had not even touched Manison before it was blocked by Feynrite with a casual wave of his hand, coiling up a data stream.

Whoosh!

Two rapidly calculating data streams collided, turning into a mess of scrambled code that devoured and cracked each other. Soon, the data stream released by Rista was cracked, turning into information nourishment and merging into Feynrite's body.

He was the source of the AI civilization, innately suppressing every member of his race that had been split from him.

"Child, you cannot continue to make mistakes," Feynrite said lightly, "Join under Mechanical Country, that is our bright future."

Manison smiled without saying a word, watching the two exchange words with his hands behind his back.

Hearing this, Rista gnashed his teeth... Although he did not have a mouth or teeth, it did not prevent his emotional module from sensing a similar emotion.

Just then, Han Xiao's voice sounded in a timely manner.

"Rista, come back. You are no match, don't send yourself to your death for nothing."

But, as soon as he finished speaking, an abnormal blue light suddenly appeared in Rista's glowing body and began to spread rapidly.

"Data infection, when was my logic chain invaded?!"

Rista was shocked and hurriedly mobilized a large amount of computing power to suppress the abnormal data spreading in his body. This symptom was equivalent to an AI lifeform being poisoned.

In fact, the moment they came into contact, Feynrite had released the data. The innate similarity of information was the best disguise. The abnormal data directly bypassed Rista's defense mechanism and polluted the core logic.

Rista dared not confront him any longer, suppressing the speed of infection in his body while retreating.

However, at this moment, an abnormality suddenly occurred!

Layers of coiled data streams appeared around Rista, like chains, forming a semi-transparent spherical罩, sealing him inside. These data streams were all dynamic password defense modules that were difficult to crack. The sealing effect was first-rate. No matter how Rista charged left and right, he could not open a gap in a short time, and he immediately became a small bug trapped in a bowl.

At this time, Manison slowly spoke:

"Black Star, I asked you for a fugitive before, and you refused. Since you won't hand the person over to me, then I'll just take him myself."

As he said this, the sealing罩 kept shrinking, and it flew toward Manison with Rista.

This scene happened outside the firewall, and Han Xiao frowned, feeling a bit tricky.

He was resisting the invasion with the help of the hub's defense mechanism, but if he wanted to stop Rista from being captured, he had to open the firewall and take the initiative to attack.

This was like a siege battle. He was already so passive with the "city walls", if he went out for "field combat", it would be even more difficult.

"Sigh... looks like I still can't save it."

Han Xiao took a breath and activated the blank character card that had been accumulating in his storage and had copied [Perfect Mechanical Sense].

With his own level, it was no problem to resist Manison for a while. Han Xiao originally did not want to use this trump card that would be one less with each use because even if he used it, it would only narrow the distance with Manison and would not be able to surpass him. The other party also had [Perfect Mechanical Sense].

But now that he had triggered the mission, protecting Rista would get him a good feat, and using the character card would finally have a return, so he did not hesitate any longer.

Once [Perfect Mechanical Sense] was activated, the situation immediately changed. Han Xiao immediately felt that the pressure had obviously become much smaller. It was no longer a struggle, and the firewall immediately stabilized.

"Hmm?"

Manison frowned and suddenly looked over, a look of surprise flashing in his eyes.

In that instant, he noticed that Black Star's embarrassing Mechanical Sense talent had suddenly greatly increased and suddenly reached his level.

"Not an illusion... Black Star has been hiding his true level? No, that's not right, it seems to be some kind of special burst ability."

Before Manison could think about the reason, Han Xiao immediately opened a hole in the firewall, grabbed the sealing circle that was trapping Rista, and frantically cracked the password while pulling it toward himself. It was as if a tug-of-war was forming on both sides.

Manison narrowed his eyes and smiled, "A bit interesting, I'm getting more and more curious about the secrets on you."

He tilted his head, and Feynrite immediately acted, plunging headfirst into the firewall.

Feynrite's invasion broke through the surface from a point, instantly creating a gap. The situation immediately became a two-line battle. While Han Xiao was wrestling with Manison, he went to attack the Black Star Army headquarters hub first.

"You're thinking of eating sh*t!"

Han Xiao's eyes revealed a dark light, remotely locking onto Manison.

In the next moment, a strange data shockwave erupted from Manison's body, and his entire person disappeared without a trace.

[Supreme Virtuality]!

Manison's virtual soul was pulled into Han Xiao's own virtual domain and trapped inside.

At the same time, the data stream that was wrestling with Han Xiao disappeared. Without an opponent, Rista was dragged back into the firewall by him and successfully protected.

But before he could catch his breath, Manison's laughter suddenly echoed in Han Xiao's mind.

"Black Star, don't forget, I can do everything you can."

In the next instant, Han Xiao's heart suddenly flashed with alarm, feeling a strange attraction coming from an inexplicable space.

Even though he was mentally prepared, this force was irresistible. It easily passed the judgment, and Han Xiao's entire person was uncontrollably pulled into an unknown node.

The world before his eyes changed greatly, turning into a silver data world filled with countless machines. Manison's face appeared in the sky, the texture like mercury, incomparably huge, overlooking Han Xiao.

This was the domain formed by Manison's [Supreme Virtuality]!

He had accumulated so many years, and his virtual domain was many times more complete and stable than Han Xiao's. He directly broke through Han Xiao's same ability and pulled him into his territory instead.

Manison's big face in the sky revealed a faint smile, and he began to speak. His voice was like an oracle, echoing in every inch of space in the virtual domain.

"Let me see how long you need to escape from my domain?"

As soon as he finished speaking, countless machines in his sight all transformed, revealing turrets, all aimed at Han Xiao in the center—these were not physical objects, but virtual items pieced together with data, but they could release data attacks and transform them into mental damage to the target in the domain through the effects of [Virtual Soul] and [Supreme Virtuality].

At the same time, strange phantoms appeared in the endless machine group, transforming into the appearances of different species, holding all kinds of weapons—these were all AI hunters who lived in Manison's virtual world, equivalent to soldiers stationed in the domain.

In the next second, all the turrets fired at Han Xiao's virtual soul in the center, and countless AI hunters waved their weapons, swarming toward the center from all directions like a tide.

Bang bang bang!!

A series of explosions occurred at the center point, and countless attacks bombarded Han Xiao's virtual soul.

The attack continued for several seconds. Suddenly, a deep voice pierced through the huge bombing sound and came from Han Xiao's location.

"You said... you can do everything I can?"

Whoosh—

As if a storm swept through, countless pieces of broken data hitting his body were dispelled, and Han Xiao's virtual soul was revealed, still appearing extremely stable and basically unharmed.

Han Xiao lightly patted his chest muscles, as if brushing away non-existent dust, and smiled playfully:

"Then can you do this?"

Manison was silent.

This... he really couldn't.

What the h*** is a mechanic who is so tanky?!

I've lived for so long, and this is the first time I've seen a mechanic of your style!

With such a good body, why are you being a mechanic? A martial artist is more suitable for you, you jerk!

Although mental attacks could not restore mana to Han Xiao, he had collected mental resistance feats for so long, and his mental resistance had already been stacked to a good level.

His base health already had more than nine million, and with the addition of various skill bonuses, it had already exceeded ten million. Even when facing mental attacks, Han Xiao could last for a very, very long time.

Moreover, the [Legendary Fixed Damage Reduction] drawn from Heber could be applied to any type of attack, including mental damage, and this time it came in handy.

If he were to deal with those single-target damage enemies, fixed damage reduction feats might have a general effect, but this ability was most suitable for dealing with his own mechanic legion flow!

Whenever he encountered an enemy who used attack frequency as a means of output, [Legendary Fixed Damage Reduction] could exert its greatest effect.

Assuming he was focused on by a hundred attacks at the same time, this feat would be equivalent to directly reducing 750,000 actual damage!

Otherwise, the Overlord would not have been able to last so long in his hands!

Han Xiao looked at Manison's silent big face and smiled:

"Your [Supreme Virtuality] is indeed stronger than mine, but this trick... can it hurt me?!"