There are still quiet areas in the chaotic Chardo Harbor, such as the large database that manages and stores the data information of the Orb, which is unusually stable.

It's like seeing a ghost, obviously all the machines with the Computing Orb in the entire city have gone out of control, but this place that should be regarded as the core area of the data network is as quiet as a chicken, and there are no rampage walking machines coming here, and even the faucets controlled by the Computing Orb on both sides of the street are still doing their duty.

But the silence in the chaos makes the place even more odd.

Especially for those who are about to enter it on a special mission, such a quiet area is more like a cunning beast with its bloody jaws open and waiting for its ignorant prey to step into it, its camouflaged silence just to not scare away the cowards.

Ruyi, chewing hard candy, wore a mechanic's coat and wore a halfling's signature mechanical goggles, dressed like a trumpet pilot, and looked extremely imposing.

She spun around the trumpet pistol she had been dispensed with, popping out the magazine from time to time, glancing at the bullet and inserting it back in, and as soon as she put the pistol back into the holster, she would take out the oddly shaped adventure assistant she had made and press wildly on it.

It was a little game of Tetris that she had "written" for herself.

It can also be regarded as a kind of academic feedback during this time to follow the old flywheel to learn the arrangement of psionic factors, and to be able to make this kind of puzzle game by yourself, it means that Ruyi can already be a teacher in the field of logic writing of the calculation orb.

This little man just can't be quiet, like a real active halfling and not a foreigner.

In addition to her, there are about fifty halfling players around who are preparing to carry out their own missions, and these are all the halflings in the current player, two-thirds of them are halfling assassins, and the remaining one-third include classes such as mechanic, psyker, and doctor.

It seems that the profession is complete, but compared to the total number of players of 6000+, the reality of not even one percent is extremely sad.

However, considering that the racial talent of the halfling is really not excellent among the optional races, and there is also a debuff for frontal combat, in an absolutely real game, players who can insist on playing the halfling with such a negative buff can be seen to be a true love for the "small" image.

"Mentor, what do you think Master Murphy is doing?"

The bored Ruyi whispered to the expressionless old flywheel in front of him.

This interrupted the old flywheel's sigh for the "scenery" of his hometown tonight, and the mechanical goggles he wore on his eyes turned around twice, making his vision clearer in the night, and after seeing a Transancian style carriage turning from the corner of the street, the old flywheel whispered:

"An outstanding leader like Lord Murphy must be doing something big that will affect the situation on the continent now, just as followers like us have a great mission tonight.

The machinery of the city is out of control, and if we don't deal with the chaos in the shortest possible time, even if the port of Chardo survives tonight's crisis, the city will be completely deactivated by internal destruction from the grassroots.

My disciple, the future of the halfling is on our shoulders right now. ”

This kind of mastery of NPC tone made Ruyi pout, and the otherworldly hacker complained in his heart that when he first met Old Flywheel, this guy was still a very majestic heretical engineering master, but now he has been "domesticated" by Lord Murphy and turned into a self-proclaimed "follower" worm.

Is this the appeal of the main story NPCs?

Let these guys who are obviously difficult to entangle all be well-behaved like chickens, well, this is probably the legendary "personality charm"?

"Someone's coming!"

The Halflings of the Assassins quickly spotted the approaching carriage, and the men immediately prepared for battle.

However, most of them belong to the newcomers who only entered the game at the end of the Black Plague, and they are worse in terms of combat effectiveness and equipment, and Ruyi, who is backed by the resource supplement of the Silver Moon Regiment, is already the best equipped boss among halfling players.

She is barely a veteran player, and she is already a serious "professional" who has been "co-opted" in reality, so she is basically Yemeni clear about the various forces in the game, and the NPC in front of her who came in the carriage and horse of the Translancian embassy and the escort of the mountain people winged cavalry is a "friendly person" at a glance.

Therefore, Ruyi stretched out his hand and shook it, so that the players of the same race around him should not panic.

She herself followed the old flywheel forward, and stood at the corner of the street waiting for these guys, and the carriage quickly stopped in front of it, and Professor Malcolm's carriage opened the door, and then, in Ruyi's stunned gaze, a dozen heavily armed halfling mechanics jumped out of a carriage.

Depend on!

Although everyone is short and occupies a small area, how on earth did you cram so many people into such a narrow space?

Just when Ruyi complained that the carriage was actually a terrifying Balart-style vehicle, the old flywheel had already stepped forward and stretched out his hand to the old halfling man with a mechanical cane in front of him, and his tone was full of strong nostalgia and complexity, and he whispered:

"Minks, it's been a long time, look at you now, like a bad old man who walks shaky."

"I walked and walked wobbly, I was injured just now, you bastard."

Master Minks' response was even more enthusiastic.

He scolded, did not hold the old flywheel's hand, but strode forward to give the senior brother who had not seen him for many years a hug that was so strong that the old flywheel felt suffocated, and then said in a dumb voice:

"When I saw him, he was a 'scholar'! That bastard he lied to us, he failed everyone who expected anything from him. ”

"Well, I guessed."

Old Flywheel knew who Minks was talking about, he reached out and patted his junior brother on the shoulder, and said:

"I guess Bach Jr. may have guessed it too, but she's now in the Cato area to assist Marshal Loren in fending off the attacks of the Biting Clan, so there's no way to get here, and I'll talk about that later.

Now we have to deal with the chaos in the city, I haven't been back for a long time, and you need to lead the way inside this big database. ”

"That's what I'm here for!"

Minks glanced at the assembled mechanics behind him.

These are the absolute backbone of the Chardo Port Mechanics Guild, and many of them are contemporaries of him and the old flywheel, so to speak, the mainstream engineering field on the mainland is currently led by these people.

The mechanics who were invited were all ready, each carrying a strange but powerful variety of equipment.

Several large-shouldered, well-armed mountain cavalry with some heavy instruments on their backs had to go with them to the building in front of them, as the area that supported the exchange and aggregation of data on the entire Chardo Harbor, there were many dangers hidden in the big database.

The halflings who are not good at fighting are in need of the help of these powerful mountain people.

Minks didn't spend more time catching up with the old flywheel, and after the two sides confirmed the collaborators, Minks personally opened the door to the large database, and everyone followed the slowly opening gear-shaped mechanical door to enter.

"The total processor has to be taken offline immediately, and without its central communication, the data exchange of the computing orb in the city is about to be cut off, and the sabotage programs released by the scholars can no longer share data to cause more damage."

Minks pointed to the left-hand passage and said to Old Flywheel and the players:

"You go there! We're going to destroy the energy system along the middle way, so that the entire big database can be taken offline for a while, and by the way, the new walkers that have not yet been activated for the war effort will be blocked. ”

"Wait!"

Ruyi said loudly:

"So, even if we destroy this place, will we only make the rebel machines unable to communicate? I thought you had some kind of remote control center where you could remotely shut down all the machinery as long as you controlled it.

Isn't this ultra-classic 'mechanical brain' setting actually appearing here? ”

"Of course, we certainly have the most basic manipulation core based on cybernetic principles."

Minks pointed to the blocked road on the left, sighed, and said:

"But that thing has been locked up by the scholar's destruction program, and with his technical prowess, I don't think we'll be able to reclaim the mechanical brain that remotely controls all the computing orbs in the city in a short period of time.

Look at the traces around, friends, all the security machinery in the entire big database has been concentrated in that area, and the machinery here is a security unit specially developed by halflings, and the parameters are very exaggerated.

In the current situation, it is difficult to do even close to it.

Even if the power is forcibly shut down, there is an independent backup generator that can continue to operate for at least four hours.

But it's definitely going to shut down after dawn, so we'll just have to hold on until the first rays of the sun rise."

"How much more danger does that have to put the city in danger? It's obviously a difficult option for the campaign, I know it's dangerous, but it's also cool, we Gents like to challenge the most difficult, you go deal with the other two areas, and we'll leave it to you! ”

Ruyi waved his fist and said:

"Let's try to reclaim it, and once we succeed, the mechanical chaos of the entire city will subside in an instant, and in this way, it will be the halflings themselves who have saved our city and civilization! Well, this is the gold content of the main line of the race!

Brothers and sisters, are you going to go on an adventure with me? ”

She turned back and shouted to the halfling players, and the next moment there were cheers and shouts, and the halfling players obviously thought that the difficult options in the scenario battle were as good as Ruyi, but they were not afraid.

After all, everyone understands the truth that the bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish.

"This"

Minks hesitated.

He glanced at the old flywheel, who nodded and said:

"Rest assured, my disciple Ruyi's attainments in the field of data security of the Computing Orb are stronger than all the old men here combined, although she is hiding, I believe she must have her own unique way to accomplish this difficult thing.

They take the risk to take a one-and-done plan, and we act as their back-up, and if the Gentile adventure fails, then follow your plan to complete the obstruction and destruction in the other two areas.

But given the current situation."

The old flywheel glanced at his apparently creator-style mechanical watch, and said:

"I can only give you twenty minutes to try, and once the time is breached, whether you complete the goal or not, we will both start moving immediately."

"Twenty minutes, huh? More than enough! ”

Ruyi set a countdown on the mechanical watch he made, then pulled out his pistol, waved his little hand, and rushed into the mechanical passage on the left with a wave of his hand.

"That was your disciple just now?"

Minks watched Ruyi and the halfling players disappear into the mechanical passage, he looked at the old flywheel suspiciously, and said:

"I thought that after the incident with Jasmine and Dina, you would not accept any more disciples."

"I don't plan to take in disciples, the relationship between me and Xiao Ruyi is quite complicated, although I did teach her engineering and the production of arithmetic orbs, but she also taught me a lot in the process."

Flywheel pursed his lips and said:

"In her words, we call it 'conjugated master-apprentice'.

Don't underestimate her, her area of expertise is the 'blind spot' of our halfling's technological development, and I guess she will soon show her power in front of us in an intuitive way.

But Minks

You still have twenty minutes to think about where Port Chardo stands in the future after tonight, especially after knowing that our Mentor has joined Twilight as one of the Destroyers.

You, I and little Bach, what kind of way should the three of us face him.

This will have a direct bearing on how we get along with each other in the future, and how you look in the eyes of Master Murphy. ”

"Murphy. My lord? ”

Minks narrowed his eyes at his once unruly brother, and he said:

"You volunteered to be his follower? Why? ”

"Because he represents a future that I don't hate!"

The old flywheel replied very directly:

"You may think you can remain neutral, but you can't, and you can either be his assistant or his enemy when it comes to twilight. Minks, be cautious and make your choice as soon as possible!

As I roam in the knowledge of the Creator, and as I understand the greatness and wisdom of the Creator, the more I understand the horror of the troubles that twilight can cause.

We don't have as much time as you think. ”

The old halfling nodded.

He didn't give an immediate answer, and after watching the old flywheel disappear into the passage to the right with his two secret students, Minks led his mechanics towards the energy zone.

In the passage on the left, the halflings have been fighting with the rebellious mechanical security units, these very steampunk-looking machines are not limited to humanoids, in fact, the idea of orthodox mechanics making combat weapons is similar to that of the mechanical church, and the halflings have made a lot of mechanical beasts as security.

Naturally, you can't use a sword to deal with these guys, you need something more destructive.

Ruyi led the players to open the way with an iron fist almost the whole time, and when it encountered a moving machine, it was a bombardment, and if the opponent could still move, another shot.

The smoke of the explosion and the screams of the automatons as they broke were very emotional for the halflings, and the little players were screaming and scurrying around, rampage through the mechanical hall, shouting some DPS slam and stuff like that, making it look like they were playing a mechanical-style dungeon.

But as a temporary regimental commander and mechanic, Ruyi also has her own fighting style.

She doesn't disdain to use the clunky and dangerous weapon of the Iron Fist Missile, her weapon is the special adventure assistant on her wrist, the adventure assistant of ordinary players only has three operation orbs as the core unit, but Xiao Ruyi's is only used for data redundancy There are four calculation orbs, and its core processing unit is extremely extravagant to use two "three and a half generations" orbs as parallel cores.

This is a truly premium product! In the port of Chardo, they are all real valuables.

This is still designed by her own hands according to her own fighting style under the guidance of the old flywheel, and when facing flesh creatures, Xiao Ruyi's special weapons are useless, but once she comes to the current mechanical area, she has a supremely sharp "hacker knife".

"Whew!"

A fire-breathing mechanical spider pounced towards Ruyi in the rapid movement of the gears behind him, trying to tear the little man to pieces, but Ruyi did not panic, and clicked several times on the adventure assistant on his wrist, raised his fingers, and shouted:

"Battle Protocol Four! My turn, the data exploded! ”

"Buzz"

The mechanical spider that was pounced on was as if it had been hit by an invisible punch, and its huge body slammed to the ground and then began to twitch wildly, as if Ruyi had inflicted substantial pain on the painless mechanical creature.

After a few seconds of vibration and convulsion, a muffled sound rang out from the mechanical spider's control unit, which screamed and spewed foul-smelling black smoke and ceased to function completely.

"Damn! Awesome, Sister Ruyi, you have made the elite monster second! ”

A halfling assassin with the ID "The Chief Says I'm Short" exclaimed:

"Nearly 20,000 blood is emptied at once? Those elite veteran players can't do it either! How the hell do you do that? Are you also hanging? I heard you're a great hacker, so you wrote a plugin for this game, right?

Are you selling or not? ”

"Go, go, the game helmet doesn't even have a hardware interface, what should I write and hang?"

Ruyi threw a hard candy into her mouth, she crossed her waist and shook her fingers, and said very arrogantly:

"This is the power of localized virus attacks, I used psionic factor simulation programming to make a data protocol for DDoS attacks, and nearly 10,000 access attacks per second are enough to make these mechanical computing orbs crash on the spot.

Halflings don't have a firewall for data security at all, which naturally makes my virus attacks invincible.

I'm going to use this thing to open the eyes of old Bach when I'm fighting the boss later!

Hey, that's how we cyber hackers fight! ”

(End of chapter)