Data centers in various Mechanical Cities are rapidly updating with information from all over the area.

[Report to Command Center: The Second Legion, Sixth Division has completed strategic strikes and broken through Wild Bull County. The local sea lord has declared surrender. Our side has captured 17 Mechanical Knights and 28 illegal mechanical lives, and taken control of 7 related Mechanical Knight equipment and facilities.]

[Report to Command Center: The Third Legion, Ninth Division has completed long-range strategic strikes on Estria, destroying two villages and one city, annihilating over 300 enemy troops. The area is still resisting stubbornly.]

[Report to Command Center: The First Legion, Fourteenth Division has completed strategic strikes and taken control of Icefield Island. The local sea lord has fled abroad. Our side has captured 5 Mechanical Knights and 7 illegal mechanical lives.]

[Report to Command Center: The First Legion, Twelfth Division has completed strategic strikes, and Hardware City has declared surrender. Our side has captured 2 Mechanical Knights and 33 illegal mechanical lives.]

...

[Report to Command Center: The Second Legion, First Division has failed in their strategic strike, blocked by Wasteland Development Company at Dead Sea. We lost 2 A-class cruisers, 3 B+ class destroyers, 16 frigates, and over 600 aerial vehicles. Both the flagship and command ships have lost connection. Requesting support, requesting support!]

[The enemy possesses extremely dangerous atmosphere creatures. All units, be extremely cautious.]

This red-flagged message placed all cities on high alert, demanding access to first-hand battlefield information.

[We apologize, but the atmospheric creatures have the ability to destroy and block signals. We have only obtained the initial part of the signals.]

[Reserve troops have been dispatched from Chuneng City to the front lines, currently collecting battlefield data, and recovering and repairing scattered damaged units...]

Several A-class employees from Wasteland Development Company have already prepared detailed file cards and assessment forms, with specific arrangements made.

There are specialized weapons for handling Condensers and sand-controlling skeletons. Even for the company's most notorious Alien Control, a full set of tactical matches is available. Even for the rarely engaged Angel of Death, there is a corresponding tactical manual to counteract it.

Security Department has not overlooked even the extremely rare and odd creature known as Stinger Man.

Its high-energy state can only last a very short time, and it is not a combat unit itself, with only a narrow effective range. It does not affect other dispersed remote units, allowing for remote bombing strikes on Sand Port.

Without endurance capabilities, it is still insignificant in the face of a formal army.

With just a little time and space, the joint guard squad can complete strategic bombings.

But.

Atmosphere creatures are extremely dangerous natural disasters at the Outer Sea.

Aside from relying on the Light Banner phenomenon for containment and defense, there is no other effective targeted method.

Unexpectedly encountering atmosphere creatures on the battlefield, they have almost single-handedly destroyed a well-organized division.

Massive amounts of data are continuously synchronized and calculated, finally completing information updates.

[Threat assessment of Wasteland Development Company upgraded, danger level: X]

[Possesses extremely dangerous atmosphere creatures.]

[All combat units, pause all proactive military actions against Wasteland Development Company and Development Alliance, await further instructions.]

While cities tried to find coping strategies, another message came through.

[This is Chuneng City, we are under invasion and attack by Wasteland Development Company, requesting urgent support, requesting urgent support!]

[...]

[Please hold on, rear units are rallying combat units.]

[...]

[Chuneng City, Chuneng City? Please respond.]

However, there was no response anymore.

At the same time, the representation of Chuneng City data center's machine stack green dot also turned grey.

...

Speed is of the essence.

After deciding to counterstrike, Zhou Yi immediately set off non-stop, taking several A-class employees direct from Jade City to Chuneng City, 800 kilometers away.

The company lacks sufficient experience in destruction.

Thus, Zhou Yi sought advice from a specialist.

"Ah?"

Duke Destructive was caught off guard for a moment: "You want to destroy a Mechanical City?"

"To be precise, Chuneng City."

Zhou Yi did not conceal: "Give me some professional advice. This is your specialty."

"…"

Duke Destructive pondered for a moment: "Although I have never invaded or destroyed a Mechanical City, I know how they operate. A Mechanical City has two core parts."

"One is the data center. Core departments like the Program Department and Security Department rely on the data center for information exchange and decision-making based on its data, and the database resides here."

"The other is the dispatch center. The consolidation and call of all city resources depend on the dispatch center, which supports all city actions and activities. The dispatched natural resources include water, land, locally unique minerals, and raw materials, and the social resources include mechanical residents, vehicle equipment, and various supplies."

"The data center is the brain, while the dispatch center is the heart."

"If you want to destroy a Mechanical City, theoretically, damaging these two places would be enough to paralyze a city. However, their defenses are usually very stringent, especially the data center, where data backups and external transmissions are possible. So, even if the physical buildings are destroyed, the internal data might escape and flow to the outside."

"This is the trickiest point;if those data ghosts that can regenerate are not dealt with, relying on their world's strongest production capacity, an identical city can be quickly re-created."

Zhou Yi said, "Thanks."

"No problem. Since the universal protocol connection, Mechanical Cities have never been destroyed by external forces. I'm quite curious to see if this iron rule will be broken."

Duke Destructive seemed amused.

Jade City took two hours to fly over Chuneng City.

It was Zhou Yi's first visit to this mid-sized Mechanical City.

From a satellite view, there was only a blurry mosaic because Mechanical Cities are equipped with shielding devices.

However, when the altitude was lowered, the full view of the city was laid out in front.

The ground layout here resembles a massive fan shape, with dense stone buildings at the center, surrounded by sprawling factory districts with tooth-like blast furnaces and enormous cooling towers spewing black and white smoke into the sky.

On the crisscrossing roads, large transport vehicles rush about, transporting all sorts of ores, Light Soot, and oil tanks filled with Light Amber to various workshops and factories.

The factories have erected tall glass walls displaying the latest news, as well as real-time monitoring footage of mining and energy production.

City roads connect to two ports, one in the east and one in the south.

The southern port harbors a dozen warships, and a constantly glowing dockyard, where new ships are being constructed.

The eastern port is a shipping line, where a multitude of transport ships deliver mined minerals collected and purchased from outside, further transported by vehicles to factories for processing and manufacturing.

Jade City's altitude dropped, immediately encountering a blockade by a swarm of drones.

They buzzed around this massive alien shape, issuing a warning.

"This is Chuneng City airspace, leave, leave!"

On the ground, anti-aircraft guns were also erected, aiming this way.

Zhou Yi directly summoned the Ice Pot.

Atmosphere creatures quickly swallowed clouds and spewed fog, covering and darkening most of the city.

"Disconnect this area from the outside world, don't let any information get in or out. Also, do not hunt them yet."

"Yes, Chairman."

The arrival of the atmosphere creature immediately plunged the scene into chaos. Ground vehicles quickly returned to their garages and factory areas, while the mechanical life forms that were still active scattered in panic.

Bone Man Wu Yi and Jiong Hecang descended from the sky, landing on a large central building.

According to Red Kestrel's recognition, this was the control center.

Zhou Yi had 703 initiate a declaration to the entire city.

The announcement appeared on every large glass wall.

—All residents of Chuneng City, for your safety, please evacuate the city immediately.

—The military forces supported by this city have just invaded our Sand Port and are now enemies of Wasteland Development Company; we are going to completely destroy it.

—Anyone who continues to support the invasion of Sand Port will meet this fate.

—Again, please evacuate the city immediately. If you choose to remain, you will be regarded as part of the invading forces, and we will show no mercy in destruction.

—Countdown 20 minutes, starting now.

Meanwhile, two Class-A employees had dismantled the control center.

Jiong Hecang's light blade easily cut open the building's exterior, carefully avoiding the lives inside and exposing the complex equipment and wiring instruments.

It began physical destruction, and small-scale explosions started occurring inside the building.

The mechanical life forms began to exit in droves, scattering to escape.

Compared to a Human City, Chuneng City has a lower population density; more space is occupied by various vehicles, devices, and installations. One mechanical life form had to operate multiple devices or sub-units, maintaining the high-speed operation of the entire city.

Now that the operating residents were fleeing, the entire city soon fell silent.

Thousands of factories turned off their lights consecutively, vehicles were abandoned haphazardly along the roadside, the heart of the city stopped beating, the roads' bloodflow ceased, and the once noisy sounds gradually disappeared.

At this point, Zhou Yi confirmed the location of the data center—it was underground, not far from the control center.

703 entered and commenced data extraction.

Thereafter, a light guard thrown by Jiong Hecang caused a small mushroom cloud to form.

Bone Man Wu Yi then destroyed the shipyard with sand, thoroughly wrecking and demolishing the various devices inside. Both ports were leveled to the ground solely by his efforts.

Acting like tigers among sheep, the two Class-A employees ravaged the city's foundation.

Various ships had long since fled without a trace.

Throughout its destruction, the vast Chuneng City only faced resistance from some unmanned drones and anti-aircraft guns—their strength was decent, reaching B-level.

No other mechanical life forms fought back or contested.

Devoid of exterior support from the data domain, the entire city was just a hollow shell of a giant, appearing grand but fragile upon touch.

The entire destruction process was so effortless that Zhou Yi found it hard to believe.

However, he quickly understood why.

For long-term stable rule, Mechanical City squeezed the productivity of every mechanical resident, creating a society with a dispersed structure through a universal protocol.

Without power or a sense of responsibility, aside from their work functions, they had no real cohesion and only maintained order through work inertia.

Such a castle built on sand might appear majestic, but would scatter at the touch of water.

Objectively speaking, the key was the severance of Mechanical City's most relied-upon information exchange.

In an isolated environment, a single Mechanical City lacked an absolute leader, and inherently insufficient mobilization capacity, lacking the ability to handle such sudden crises.

Zhou Yi glanced at his Black Water Ghost wristwatch.

"It's about time."

"This place is yours now, free to hunt."

Authorized.

Atmosphere creatures descended from the sky, turning the whole city into Cloud Country.

Inside Jade City.

Red Kestrel's electronic eyes flickered with a red light: "A city where all industries were well-developed, just ceased to exist... a pity for the fruits of many mechanical lifeforms' labor."

Looking down at the ground, Zhou Yi felt no regret in his heart.

Pity for the enemy is cruelty to oneself.

Since they dared support the war, they should be prepared for the flames of war to reach themselves.

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