strokinit Chapter 82 Distributed Artificial Intelligence
Chapter 82 Distributed Artificial Intelligence
Chapter 81 Distributed Artificial Intelligence
The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning engine oil. The once invincible Warhound-class Titan lay sprawled on the alloy ground outside the camp, like a giant beast whose spine had been drained.
"when--!"
A loud bang echoed through the empty workshop.
Victor, wielding a giant pneumatic wrench, slammed it down on the Titan's chest armor joint.
Sparks flew as a fist-sized rivet flew out and embedded itself deeply in the wall in the distance.
"This shell is really hard." Victor wiped the oil off his face, but his eyes gleamed with greed. "Sir, if this thing were installed on our city walls, that old bastard Haji's sword probably wouldn't even leave a mark."
Lorraine stood beside the Titan's enormous head, holding the "Witch's Codex." The pages turned, and pale golden data streams rapidly scrolled across his screen.
Although the core of this Tier 4 Titan was destroyed, its adamantite armor is a true treasure.
In this resource-scarce snowfield, every piece of high-strength alloy plate is a life-saving asset.
"Ohm." Lorraine closed the secret manual, looking at the silver-haired girl beside him, "Does it hurt your heart?"
Ohm was crouching beside Titan's severed arm, gently tracing the charred lines with his fingers.
That was the body her sister had once controlled, a part of the Tower of Babel, and in a sense, also her kind.
The girl raised her head, her eyes clear, and shook her head.
"It's a machine, I'm a human."
Ohm stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "Besides, its logic core has already burned out; keeping it is just scrap metal. Dismantling it to protect Big Brother is the optimal solution."
"Then let's get started." Lorraine's lips curled up. "The engineering puppet alone can't handle such delicate work. Victor, you and the engineering puppet work together to strip off all the intact armor plates."
"Okay!"
With a roar, Victor unleashed his earthy yellow battle aura, like a tireless demolition director. He plunged his hand into the gap in the armor, his muscles bulging, and with a sickening metallic twisting sound, he pried the rivet off.
The dismantling work is in full swing.
Lorraine didn't sit still. He walked to the edge of the camp's walls and placed his palm on the surface.
"Lord's Talent, activated."
As the thought was uttered, the rules of the world were activated.
In the distance, the mountains of fine gold armor plates seemed to be drawn by some magnetic force, and floated up with a buzzing sound.
The dark red demonic fire was drawn out by Lorraine from the center of the camp and instantly enveloped all the armor plates.
There was no furnace, no forging.
Under the influence of the rules, the hard fourth-order alloy, like softened wax, began to flow and spread.
They fit snugly against the outside of the original third-tier city wall, interlocking with each other to form a layer of dark gold composite armor full of industrial violent aesthetics.
In just ten minutes, it transformed into a dark gold steel fortress.
Lorraine glanced at the attribute panel.
[Territory Building: Wall of Sighs (Modified Version)]
[Rank: Tier 3 (Pseudo-Tier 4 Defense)]
【Features: Refined gold plating, energy deflection, self-repair】
"This defensive power—"
Victor, who had just had his leg dislocated, was dumbfounded. He shuffled over to Lorraine and asked hesitantly, "Um, my lord, may I try cutting through that city wall with my sword?"
"This wall is so hard, it makes my hands really itch to touch it."
"Don't worry, I won't use that fourth-tier Wolf King Greatsword, I'll just use the Molten Fire Longsword."
Lorraine rolled her eyes at him, but still agreed: "Fine, go ahead and cut it if you want."
Victor raised his molten longsword and tentatively slashed at the new city wall.
"Clang!"
The longsword bounced off, and my hand went numb.
There wasn't even a scratch on the wall.
"Stop trying, we have a lot more to do."
Lorraine turned around, her gaze fixed on the darkness outside the workshop. "This is just an appetizer. Ohm, scan outside the workshop."
Ohm closed her eyes, and an invisible wave spread out from her.
"Big brother, there are still a lot of red dots at the exit ahead." Ohm's voice was a little nervous. "They are all berserk mechs, numbering—two hundred, no, more than three hundred."
Lorraine called Anna over, and the three of them headed out of the assembly workshop.
The metal walls of the passageway were covered with twisted cables and pipes, and every so often an emergency light flickered a faint red glow, like dying eyes.
Lorraine activated his omniscient vision, and saw a dense array of heat source signals ahead, with at least three hundred red dots crowding near the exit of the assembly workshop.
"Three hundred and four," he calmly counted. "All of them are second or third order, none are above third order."
Anna and Ohm, come here.
Anna and Ohm walked to the front of the line, looked at each other, and raised their hands at the same time.
If it were before, the camp would probably have fallen long ago if faced with such a number of second and third-tier mechs, but now...
Ohm can bring these mechs to a standstill, and Anna can melt their bodies.
Taking out these mechs is a piece of cake.
Ohm's power caused these mechs to crash.
Anna used the camp relocation order to summon twelve witch towers that popped out of the subspace, lining up on both sides of the passage, their tips glowing with pale fire.
"Clear the area," Lorraine said.
Pale flames surged into the assembly workshop exit like a tidal wave, the ear-piercing sounds of twisting metal and short-circuiting arcs mingling together.
The red optical sensors of the berserkers were extinguished one by one in the flames; some were burned into twisted iron frames, while others turned directly into a pool of molten metal.
In less than two minutes, all the red dots disappeared.
Anna retrieved the Witch's Tower, flicked her fingers, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Lorraine looked around to make sure no enemy was missed, then her gaze fell on the screens around her.
The Messiah's erosion code filled the surrounding screen.
Lorraine crouched down and reached out to touch one of the code-lit strips.
Previously, the color of these codes was a deep, dark red, like dried blood scabs, with an unsettling pulsating quality.
But now, the red is fading, turning into a dull orange-red, and the pulsation frequency has slowed down.
"ohm."
Ohm came over, squatted down next to Lorraine, stared at the code for a few seconds, and his expression gradually became serious.
"The erosion index is decreasing."
She whispered, gesturing a few times in the air as if reading some kind of data, "Compared to when we first entered the second level, the erosion concentration in this area has decreased by at least five percent."
"Because you cleared out the rampaging mechs?" Lorraine asked.
Ohm nodded, then shook his head: "I'm not sure. But it makes sense logically—unlike me, Sister Messiah is a distributed machine spirit."
"She expands her control network by corrupting the mechs; each berserk mech is a node she depends on."
"When nodes are destroyed, the network shrinks, and the area of erosion naturally shrinks—until finally, only the mechs and buildings that have not yet been eroded remain."
Lorraine stood up, her gaze following the patterns of light on the ground as they stretched into the distance.
Those red codes started from the assembly workshop and spread along the walls and ceilings into the deeper passageways, like the roots of an upside-down tree, dense and omnipresent.
However, in the areas they had already cleared, these "roots" were noticeably shriveled, and some of the smaller branches had even completely faded, turning into grayish-black dead lines.
"You mean," Lorraine said, "that if we wiped out all the rampaging mechs in the entire city—all the levels of the Tower of Babel—"
"The Messiah sister's erosion network will completely collapse."
Ohm continued, his voice trembling slightly, "She—may be able to be purified."
There was a few seconds of silence.
Lorraine opened the Witch's Codex to ask for the answer to her question, and the reply was affirmative.
"Ohm," Lorraine said softly, "no need for 'maybe,' it's definitely possible."
"But simply eliminating the rampaging mechs isn't enough; we also need to repair the buildings here to stabilize your sister's distributed nodes."
"Then, just like you, I'll undergo a witch awakening ritual."
Ohm nodded emphatically: "Yes!"
After tidying up the materials scattered on the ground, the group returned to the camp.
Lorraine saw Olivia and waved to her, calling out, "Olivia!"
Olivia was directing several engineering puppets to move boxes of parts to the camp when she heard the call and quickly ran over.
"Put down that list you're holding." Lorraine took a piece of material from the warehouse and tossed it to Olivia.
Olivia caught it in a flurry, and the moment her fingers touched the shard, she shuddered violently.
A surge of vitality flowed into her fingertips, and the plant-based magic power that had been stuck at a bottleneck within her body showed signs of boiling.
"This—this is?" Olivia's eyes widened, her voice trembling.
"This is the [Humus Clothing] that was leaked before, and it's also your ticket to advance to the third tier," Lorraine said calmly. "Anna and Victor are already at the third tier. You're my head butler; you can't always just stand by and watch."
Olivia gripped the shard tightly, her knuckles turning white.
"But—I heard you say that it will take me five days to advance to the third rank."
She glanced around, then at the people cleaning up the battlefield, and frowned. "The camp has just moved in, and we need manpower everywhere. If I go for a promotion, who will manage the distribution of supplies? Who will manage the deployment of the engineering puppets? And what about those acres of newly planted magical herbs—"
She went on and on, listing a whole bunch of trivial matters, like a worried old woman.
Lorraine looked at her and couldn't help but smile.
In this post-apocalyptic world rife with crisis, everyone is thinking about how to become stronger and how to kill.
Only she, in this godforsaken place filled with the smells of engine oil and blood, was still thinking about whether she could grow the next season's crops.
"Olivia," Lorraine interrupted her.
"what?"
"Do you think that without you, we'll all starve to death?"
Olivia paused for a moment, looking at Ohm, who was trying to put a piece of mech battery in his mouth to taste the saltiness, and then at Anna, who only knew how to kill and set fires, and Victor, whose mind was full of muscles.
She nodded very seriously: "Yes."
Lorraine: "————"
That cannot be refuted.
Listen.
Lorraine walked over and placed her hand on her shoulder. "The promotion ceremony will take five days. During these five days, we will stay here and not go anywhere. As for supplies, I have already had Ohm lock up the warehouse and provide rations every day, so they won't starve."
"Five days—" Olivia bit her lip, "But what if there are two more Fimbulwinters—"
"They won't be here that quickly," Lorraine said with unwavering certainty. "The other two Fimbulwinters are still gathering on the distant ice plains. Even if they had wings, it would take them at least seven days to get here."
"Seven days?" Olivia looked up.
"Yes, seven days." Lorraine held up two fingers. "You have five days to advance, and the remaining two days are enough for you to familiarize yourself with the new power."
He stared into Olivia's eyes, her brown eyes filled with worry.
"During this time, we only need to do one thing: wait. Transform you into a third-tier Abundant Earth Mother," and then prepare a grand gift for those guests who have traveled from afar.
The promotion ceremony was held in the central square of the camp.
This area was originally an open space used to park steam wagons, but it has now been transformed by Lorraine into a huge alchemical array.
Unlike the raging flames that accompanied Anna's promotion.
Olivia's ritual exuded an eerie yet vibrant energy.
Thousands of magic crystals were ground into powder and mixed with [humic grass] to form a huge green carpet.
"Just like growing crops."
Lorraine dusted the dirt off his hands and said to Olivia, who was standing at the edge of the magic circle, "Just like before, plant yourself inside. When you emerge from the cocoon, you will be the new fruit."
Olivia stood barefoot on the cold deck, wearing a thin white dress.
She looked at the magic circle that was flashing green light and took a deep breath.
"Keep a close eye on Victor and don't let him steal that barrel of rum from the warehouse; it's reserved for celebrations."
She turned to Lorraine and gave her a thousand and one instructions.
"understood."
"And Anna, her clothes are torn. The spare is in box number two. Remember to have her change."
"Um."
"If Leila has nightmares, remember to make her some hot milk."
"Olivia." Lorraine sighed helplessly, reaching out to tidy her wind-blown bangs. "Are you giving your last words? You're only going to sleep for five days."
Olivia blushed and glared at him. "I'm afraid that when I wake up, you'll have torn my house down!"
Having said that, she didn't hesitate any longer and stepped into the magic circle.
"Buzz—"
'
The moment her feet stepped into the core, countless green points of light rose from the ground.
The once lifeless magic crystal powder and [humic grass] seemed to come alive, growing tender green vines wildly.
The vines did not harm her; instead, they wrapped around her body like gentle arms.
"Lorraine————"
Just as the vines were about to completely obscure her face, Olivia peeked through the gaps and gave Lorraine a long, hard look.
"Wait for me to come back."
As the sound faded, the last vine closed up.
The woman had disappeared, and in her place stood a giant jade cocoon, three meters tall.
The surface of the giant cocoon is covered with intricate golden patterns, and each breath-like shimmer elicits a cheer from the wood element in the surrounding air.
The entire camp fell silent instantly.
Anna, holding her staff, stood quietly to the left of the giant cocoon.
Victor sat cross-legged on the right, with his greatsword resting on his knees, like a guardian deity.
Even Ohm, who is usually very active, obediently lay on the box not far away and did not make a sound.
Lorraine stood before the giant cocoon, watching the rhythmic green light, and the relaxed expression on her face gradually faded.
Five days.
The camp will become more vulnerable over these five days.
Without Olivia's logistical support and the loss of a control-oriented assistant, the camp would have fewer options to deal with a strong enemy than before.
But this is a hurdle that must be overcome.
Faced with the impending "Three Winters" encirclement, the second-tier Olivia is already falling behind.
Only by advancing to the third tier can she truly unleash the war potential of this mobile city.
"Seven days —"
Lorraine turned around, her gaze passing through the camp's light screen and landing on the dark, deep passage in the distance.
That is the only path to the outside world.
According to the deductions in "The Witch's Codex," the other two generals under the Winter Lord—
"Winter of Desolation" Mordir and "Winter of Fear" Serins should be leading their overwhelming hordes of undead and ice beasts, advancing madly towards this place right now.
That's not a brute like Haji.
Those were two even stronger fourth-tier experts, whose methods were even more unpredictable than Haji's.
"Listen up, everyone."
Lorraine's voice rang out in the deathly silent camp, carrying a chilling, murderous aura.
"For the next five days, aside from taking turns to rest, everyone will be on high alert. Ohm, scan the perimeter of the camp several times these next few days; there are still quite a few Tier 3 mechs there."
"Yes!" Ohm immediately sat up straight, his eyes flashing with data.
"Victor, take the engineering puppets and continue to reinforce the city walls."
"Weld all the remaining Titan armor back on, even if it's solid, weld it all on."
"clear!"
"Anna, look at that cocoon. If anything tries to get close—" Lorraine paused, a hint of cruelty flashing in her eyes, "burn it to ashes."
"Yes, sir." The pale flame in Anna's hand ignited silently.
Inside the massive Tower of Babel, the sound of gears turning echoed once more.
The countdown has begun.