“It seems to be a low-level intelligence… no, it might not even have intelligence, just a machine with basic logic commands. Plus, its technological level is quite low, not exceeding the upper limit of a galactic-level civilization…”

Han Xiao watched the robot pass by. With his knowledge, he could tell the technological level of the robot at a glance, and he couldn't help but ponder.

He slightly raised his hand, aimed at the back of the transport robot, and released a magnetic force from his palm.

*Buzz!*

The robot was suddenly sent flying backward uncontrollably. With a clang, it was sucked onto the Sovereign’s clone’s hand, unable to move. Only its hands and feet flailed in the air, like a turtle grabbed by its shell and held up.

Several tiny blue arcs of electricity, like small snakes, traveled quickly along the Sovereign’s clone’s arm to the robot’s surface. They drilled into its body through the gaps in the armor and immediately read the robot’s current state. Only the most basic functions were still barely operating, and most of the parts were severely worn and almost completely broken.

At the same time, the panel popped up with a description of the item, which Han Xiao glanced at.

[Type 7-5 Machine - Transport Type: A common bionic robot of the Aesop civilization. A low-intelligence transport model with strong biochemical tendons and engineering mechanics components. It has a magnetic suction device and simple self-defense weapons. It is often used for ground transportation.]

[Note: This machine was produced at the fifth workshop of the Mège Group's Klee Star. Product number tov-2144g87m – “Good machines, choose Mège!”]

“An ordinary transport robot?”

Han Xiao was curious. His machinery force invaded the other party's unprotected motherboard chip, quickly copying the logic code and memory logs.

The basic coding used by the other party was unrelated to the explored universe, but it was not a difficult problem for Han Xiao. He skillfully parsed it one by one and soon understood the general idea.

Lines of deciphered code unfolded in Han Xiao's quantum network vision. He quickly scanned them and found that the underlying logic was a normal transport robot code format. It should have had low intelligence, but due to long-term work without maintenance, the data had some glitches and errors, which led to a decrease in intelligence. However, it could barely maintain the operation of the core logic and always executed a long-term command.

This command was to bury a special machine, but in the database of a low-intelligence transport robot, there was naturally no detailed explanation of what the machine did or why it should be buried.

All Han Xiao got from this transport robot's data was the appearance and location of this machine. It looked like two four-sided pyramid vertices connected, like an hourglass lying on its side, and it was located under the metal tower.

The memory logs were intermittent. Due to the failure, a large amount was missing, and even the timestamp records were gone. He could only distinguish the time by the height of the metal tower in the transport robot's different memories. In the earliest memory file, the height of the metal tower was only about a quarter of its current height. At that time, this robot was already alone.

The vast majority of the transport robot's memories were about "building" this metal tower. The other memories were about searching for parts in the warehouse of the abandoned factory, replacing the severely worn parts on its body, and charging.

“This scene looks a little familiar…”

Han Xiao touched his chin, feeling a sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen a similar scene in an old movie in his previous life.

Apart from these things, there was nothing else of value on this robot. Han Xiao turned off the magnetic device, and the robot immediately fell back to the ground. The metal fragments on its back also fell to the side, falling down along the metal tower.

The transport robot stood there for two seconds, ignoring Han Xiao, and left on its own, turning and walking down the mountain, seemingly to find a new "building material," as if nothing had happened.

Han Xiao watched it disappear, then turned to look at the panel.

At this time, the [Shadow of the Past] mission had already shown that it was completed. Han Xiao immediately settled it, receiving a small wave of experience and a Teresius character card. The ability was called "Mind Purification," and its effect was to dispel negative states. It could be used up to three times, which was still practical.

At the same time, a new mission popped up.

[You have triggered the mission [The Secret of Extinction]!]

[Mission Description: You agreed to Teresius's request and came to his hometown, Klee Star, but something seems to have happened here.]

[Mission Objective: Find out the cause of the Aesop civilization's extinction.]

[Reward: 50e experience, Awakening Point x1]

“This civilization is extinct?”

Han Xiao was stunned.

His first thought was that the civilization's demise was mostly related to the unknown mechanical device suppressed under the metal tower.

However, after thinking about it, Han Xiao decided to leave it alone for now. With a flash, his figure turned into a stream of light and disappeared. He soon stopped at the entrance of an abandoned factory, which was the transport robot's base in its memories.

It looked like a large mechanical factory, but it was now covered with vegetation. The surrounding buildings were dilapidated and hidden by dense forests.

Han Xiao took a look, waved his palm, and stirred up a hurricane, blowing away the vegetation and dust on the factory door, revealing a sign written in unfamiliar characters.

“This is probably the factory of that Mège Group. The robot's place of origin…”

Han Xiao did not understand the civilization's writing and secretly guessed.

He strode in and saw rows of scrapped assembly lines neatly arranged, with some unfinished transport robot semi-finished products still hanging on them. It looked like the power had suddenly gone out and production had stopped.

Han Xiao checked and found that all the energy equipment in the factory had been destroyed. The traces of destruction looked like they had been subjected to a high-amplitude electromagnetic pulse impact. The only one that was still working was a charging pile, but the underground cables had been dug out and connected to a crude small generator, which was intermittent.

He originally wanted to see if the factory's main computer had a more detailed database, preferably a star chart of the civilization's territory, but the factory's main computer's chip components were also destroyed and scrapped, making it impossible to turn on. Moreover, all the data was destroyed, and nothing could be found.

"It seems that all the equipment in this factory simultaneously encountered an impact that could destroy electronic and energy devices, scrapping them in an instant."

Han Xiao's heart stirred. He summoned his mechanical legion and searched the entire planet. He soon discovered the remains of cities covered by vegetation. All the energy appliances were in the same condition.

Moreover, not only were there no intelligent life forms on this planet, but even beasts and insects could not be seen. It was as if all living things other than plants had become extinct.

In addition, in some urban residences, there were still bowls and plates on the tables, and piles of rotten clothes scattered on the ground. All indications showed that the life forms on the entire planet had disappeared simultaneously.

“What happened here? Everyone disappeared overnight. It seems that the transport robot is the only survivor…”

Han Xiao became more and more curious.

He turned back to the metal tower, covered himself with a repulsion field, and plunged into the base of the tower. He strode forward, and the accumulated metal waste in front of him was smoothly pushed to the side, creating a path.

Before long, he reached the central area. He saw that it was a ruin of buildings, which had been crushed by a mountain of garbage. Various experimental instruments were scattered around, as if it had once been a research base.

The Sovereign’s clone’s eyes shot out scanning rays, and he immediately saw that there was a large space underground. It seemed that it used to be an underground base, but its structure was also crushed by the huge weight above and filled with metal waste.

After comparing the scanning rays for a while, he finally locked onto his target. The hourglass-shaped unknown device was pressed in the pile of garbage, making it difficult to distinguish.

Han Xiao released his machinery force, and the unknown device was slowly levitated and sucked into his hand. Then, he left the interior of the metal tower along the same route and returned to the outside world.

His machinery force penetrated the unknown device, and Han Xiao sensed its internal structure, only to find that he could not understand the technology at all. Moreover, many parts had been damaged and destroyed during the long period of burial.

Han Xiao also glanced at the item description.

[Primordial Energy Wave Transmitter - Prototype (Damaged): Unknown Function]

“Primordial energy wave?”

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows, and his mind was immediately filled with thoughts.

He had a feeling that this "primordial energy wave" concept was probably not the same as the "primordial energy fluctuations" and "primordial energy shocks" that the explored universe spoke of. He was not yet clear on what the situation was, but he roughly guessed how the Aesop civilization had become extinct. Research involving primordial energy had always been extremely dangerous, and quite a few civilizations had come to a cool end because of it.

After thinking for a few seconds, Han Xiao used [Bold Explorer] on this thing. The last time he used it on the Super-Godly Strain, it prompted that the target was invalid, and he did not successfully cast it. Therefore, he had not yet entered the seven-day cooldown period.

*Buzz!*

Han Xiao's vision suddenly changed, and he came to a research institute.

He saw that the primordial energy wave transmitter was suspended in mid-air, surrounded by a transparent container, with lines connected to it, and below was a large pile of instruments. Countless researchers wearing uniform uniforms were busy debugging the parameters.

An officer who looked like a person in charge waved his hand and turned to say something. The other researchers pushed the lever and started the switch, and streams of energy poured into the primordial energy wave transmitter along the lines.

Before long, the space on both sides of the hourglass-shaped device began to vibrate faintly, and the air was distorted, as if a circle of invisible ripples was rippling, but it was constrained within a small area.

Seeing this scene, many researchers present showed joy.

However, the next moment, an accident happened!

The ripples on both sides of the device suddenly broke through the constraints, and light blue annular shock waves suddenly spread out, passing through the inner wall of the container and quickly sweeping across the entire room. All the instruments exploded with sparks, the energy devices instantly collapsed, and the entire room immediately went dark.

The researchers who were swept by the shock wave were all annihilated in the blink of an eye, turning into dust without a sound, leaving only empty clothes falling to the ground.

At this moment, Han Xiao's perspective suddenly zoomed out, coming to the outer space overlooking the entire planet, turning into a macro perspective. He saw a ring of blue shock waves suddenly erupt on the surface of Klee Star, quickly sweeping across the entire planet. The brightly lit cities instantly went dark, and countless people turned into dust in the sky without knowing it.

No one on the entire planet survived!

However, this was not the end. Han Xiao clearly saw that the light blue shock wave that destroyed all electronic and energy equipment and life forms was still spreading outward from Klee Star, and soon disappeared from view, not knowing how far it would fly.

After watching this scene, Han Xiao's perspective suddenly returned to normal, and the skill effect ended.

"As expected, it was caused by this thing. I thought Teresius was lying to me, but I didn't expect his civilization to be so underdeveloped that they could destroy themselves by researching primordial energy. But it doesn't seem right to say that their technology is not good. The primordial energy wave transmitter they made is probably black technology..."

Han Xiao fiddled with the device in his hand in surprise.

After watching this video, he had a vague guess about the principle of the device.

Primordial energy itself can assimilate, devour, absorb, and transform various forms of energy. Once it explodes, it will expand endlessly, devouring everything.

However, the primordial energy wave transmitter made by the Aesop civilization can destroy specific forms of energy without devouring matter, and absorb some of it to maintain its own diffusion. A normal primordial energy explosion is a solid energy ball, while this "primordial energy wave" is only a wave.

However, there were some things that Han Xiao did not understand. He did not quite understand why other substances were not damaged, but life forms would be annihilated along with it. In short, there were still many unknowns about this technology.

"It seems to be very valuable for research. Maybe it can become an important combat technique for me."

Han Xiao was in a good mood. He originally had no intention of this, but he had an unexpected harvest.

He had a feeling that this primordial energy wave technology was probably more powerful than he had expected.

The [Secret of Extinction] on the panel also showed that it was completed. The normal way would be to look for clues everywhere, but he had [Bold Explorer], which directly completed the mission.

He didn't care about the little experience reward, and the 1 Awakening Point was better than nothing, but it was very easy and he almost didn't expend any effort. Moreover, the biggest harvest was this strange primordial energy wave technology.

Just as Han Xiao was happy, a familiar voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"Strangers approaching mission target detected. Permission to use taser to subdue!"

Han Xiao turned his head and saw that the tattered transport robot had returned to the foot of the mountain at some point. It raised its mechanical arm toward him, and two guns popped out from its wrist. Without saying a word, it pulled the trigger toward Han Xiao.

*Ka ka ka…*

Han Xiao knew that these two rusty guns were scrapped and could not shoot anything. However, the transport robot seemed to not have noticed and was still pulling the trigger futilely, always making empty sounds.

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow and took a step to the left. The transport robot's muzzle immediately followed. He took another step to the right, and the muzzle turned again, always aimed at him.

Looking at the robot's silly appearance of pulling the trigger, Han Xiao surprisingly found it a little cute.

"Forget it, I won't dismantle you."

Seeing that it was not a threat, Han Xiao ignored it and raised his hand to summon more exploration-type mechanical soldiers. He waved his hand to let them leave and search for other planets in this universe to see if there were any survivors of the Aesop civilization.

He wanted to find the history of this civilization and records of Teresius's deeds, because there were still many unsolved questions. However, he could let the mechanical soldiers do this kind of thing for him. He was a mechanic, so he didn't need to do such troublesome things himself.

After doing all this, Han Xiao refocused his attention on the transport robot. Seeing that it was still pulling the trigger tirelessly, he couldn't help but smile.

"Speaking of which, this little thing doesn't know what luck it had to not be destroyed by the primordial energy wave. It may be the only survivor of the entire Aesop civilization. Since I promised Teresius to take care of his hometown, I can't turn a blind eye to you…"

After thinking for a while, Han Xiao suddenly released a machinery force that landed on the transport robot. The robot suddenly froze in place, and its appearance and structure quickly changed, gradually becoming humanoid. The rust fell off one after another.

At the same time, streams of mechanical particles poured out from Han Xiao's hand and landed on the robot's body, quickly strengthening the machine's material.

Before long, this change stopped. The transport robot had undergone a great change in appearance. It was covered in silver armor, and its overall shape was streamlined. Its body was slender and slender, and energy circuits emitting a faint fluorescent light were looming on its surface. It was as if it had crossed over from a Q version of the style to a hardcore realistic style.

"That's about it."

Han Xiao nodded and withdrew his machinery force.

He had already given this transport robot life, turning it into a mechanical life. At the same time, he greatly improved the robot's body, adding many new functions, and stored some complete galactic-level civilization technology tree knowledge into the robot's database.

However, he did not rewrite the robot's core logic, but only improved the robot's intelligence on the original basis, and deliberately did not brand the robot with his mark.

With his current level of ability, the various performance bonuses of the first generation of mechanical life that he personally transformed were extremely high, far exceeding the past.

Han Xiao did not plan to take the robot away. Because he owed Teresius a favor, he did this. As for whether the robot could grow new flowers of civilization on the ruins of Klee Star after receiving his gift, that was not his concern.

Looking up at the towering metal tower, Han Xiao felt complicated. After knowing the situation, this metal tower seemed to have a special meaning.

In his eyes, this metal tower, which was like a wonder of architecture, seemed to have become a tombstone for civilization.

“The progress of technology is also the progress of disaster…”

Han Xiao sighed slightly and glanced at the transport robot before putting on the Emperor's Suit and teleporting away with the primordial energy wave transmitter.

The transport robot was unaware of what had happened. It stood there blankly for a long time before finally seeming to regain its senses. It lowered its head and looked at its greatly changed body, seemingly very puzzled.

The current in its motherboard seemed to spark the flames of thought. It muttered to itself in a low voice:

“I… what am I?”