Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 58: Breaking the Defense

The gunshot rang out, and the room fell silent. The only sound Sun Jack could hear was his own racing heartbeat.

He took a deep, trembling breath and turned toward the direction of the shot. Up near the ceiling, behind the ventilation duct, he saw Four Ai and AA crouching there with a sniper rifle, waving at him through the metal grating.

“Boss! We saw you go offline, so we came to help!” AA swiftly dismantled the covering over the duct and jumped down excitedly.

But before Sun Jack could smile, the Steel Heart began to move again. Slowly but surely, it stood back up.

“You think I’m some dumbass? That I’d leave my weakest spot exposed like that? A mere anti-armor penetrator won’t do anything to me,” it sneered.

As it turned around, Sun Jack saw its temple, now missing the metallic mane, revealing a pitch-black titanium shine. Aside from a slight dent, the sniper round hadn’t done any real damage. This thing’s entire skull was reinforced with titanium alloy!

Noticing the two newcomers, Steel Heart’s smile grew even wider. “Excellent. You’re all here now. Saves me the trouble of hunting you down one by one.”

As its gaze shifted toward AA, Sun Jack quickly pulled her behind him with a scowl. “What the f*** are you staring at, you sick animal-f***ing bastard?!”

“That brothel was for others! I never go there myself! How many times do I have to say it?! Damn it! We furries are NOT into bestiality!!!”

Roaring with rage, Steel Heart charged at Sun Jack again with alarming speed.

“Holy sht, Jack! What the hell is this thing? Who the f** did you piss off?!” Four Ai, still crouched in the ventilation duct, provided sniper support, but her rounds, capable of piercing steel plates, barely slowed Steel Heart down.

With a sudden zing, a laser blasted through Song 6PUS, leaving a gaping, smoldering hole in his chest. He collapsed into a pool of his own blood—the first casualty.

The situation was dire. The Father’s shotgun was out of ammo, and the reinforcements, Four Ai and AA, were being forced back into the ventilation duct by the drones.

Despite all their efforts, the only damage they’d managed to inflict was destroying one of the drones, thanks to the Father’s earlier attack.

Zzzzzap! A laser beam grazed Sun Jack, burning off half his face.

“Father! This guy’s prosthetics must consume a ton of energy, right? How long can he keep fighting like this at such intensity?” Sun Jack was desperately clinging to the idea of draining Steel Heart’s energy reserves as their last chance for survival. ŘΑɴŏʙÊŠ

“With regular batteries, not long. But I suspect he’s using a miniature nuclear reactor for power,” the Father replied grimly as he clutched the hollowed-out wound in his abdomen. Borrowing a grenade from Sun Jack’s belt, he hurled it at a nearby drone.

“Holy f***! How do we even fight this?!” Sun Jack yelled, feeling utterly hopeless. It was like being a mouse trapped with a cat, toyed with until inevitable death.

Bang bang bang! Gunfire erupted to Sun Jack’s left. It was AA, trembling but resolutely gripping her handmade weapon, firing at the drones above.

“No! We can’t give up! Not yet!” Sun Jack muttered as he scanned the room, his eyes falling on the reclining chair in the center. Without wasting a second, he rushed toward it, intent on waking the man lying there.

Even though it seemed like a long shot, perhaps this man could provide some vital information—or, at the very least, be another pair of hands in the fight.

Sun Jack yanked off the man’s translucent, flexible helmet and shook him hard by the shoulders. Suddenly, he froze, staring at the helmet in his hands.

An idea burst into his mind. Quickly opening the subnet, he shouted to everyone, “Guys! I’ve got a plan!”

Hearing this, everyone turned to him.

Without hesitation, they sprang into action. The Father, AA, Tepai, and even Four Ai from the duct worked together to distract the drones, while Sun Jack charged straight at Steel Heart.

This time, there was no escaping. Exhausted, Sun Jack was caught by Steel Heart, who crushed his left arm into an unnatural L-shape.

“It’s over for you!” Steel Heart’s left eye gleamed ominously.

“No! It’s over for YOU!” Sun Jack roared back.

With their faces mere centimeters apart, Sun Jack’s cybernetic eye suddenly flashed. Steel Heart’s massive body convulsed before collapsing to the floor, rigid and motionless.

This was the trump card Sun Jack had been holding back all along, saving it for this exact moment.

Taking advantage of the situation, the others immediately targeted the drones’ light sources, plunging the room into total darkness.

Steel Heart struggled to rise, attempting to activate thermal imaging, but nothing happened. Still, it wasn’t fazed. A momentary disruption couldn’t stop it. Its prosthetics would reboot in three seconds, and these clowns’ weapons couldn’t breach its armor anyway.

As its systems came back online, Steel Heart smirked cruelly. It prepared to unleash the full force of its combat prosthetics when it felt something soft and flexible tighten over its head.

“Tepai, now!”

Switching its perspective to a nearby drone, Steel Heart saw, to its horror, that the object on its head was a Cognitive Mode Buffer. Tepai stood by the control terminal, hands poised over the interface.

“Wait! What are you doing?!” Steel Heart’s voice trembled with panic.

Ignoring the plea, Tepai began wildly manipulating the holographic controls.

As he worked, Steel Heart’s body spasmed uncontrollably. Its face twisted, its fingers curling into claw-like shapes.

AA stepped closer, astonished. “Tepai, you know how to operate this? I heard it’s insanely complicated, requiring tons of psychological knowledge and certifications.”

“Haha, of course not! I’m just messing around. Doesn’t matter what I scramble in his memory—it’ll still get the job done,” Tepai replied with a laugh.

Before he could finish, Steel Heart’s eyes rolled wildly before it collapsed to the ground, drooling.

No matter how impenetrable Steel Heart’s prosthetics were, the consciousness and memories in its brain remained incredibly fragile. And this was the one weak point Sun Jack had discovered after exhausting every other option.

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