Sun Jack sat in the underground shield machine, feeling the vibrations of this huge robot.
He had maintained this position for some time, and then he lay down on a box filled with DNA enhancers, "Tapai, how long until we reach Emola?"
"Seven hours, there might be an error of one to two hours in between." Tapai, already linked with the shield machine system, replied.
Sun Jack looked around him; the previously empty space was now filled with materials he had prepared in advance, all meant to support the Emola Resistance Army, provided by Metropolis.
The army of Metropolis still needed some time to recruit, train, and integrate; interactions among millions of people weren't simple. If a war were to start, everything needed to be prepared in advance.
Therefore, Sun Jack decided to take a batch of supplies to support the Emola Resistance Army himself, to prevent them from being extinguished before his arrival.
The supplies included various technical chips stolen from the Holy Grail Network, intended for decoding and hacking Grail Tech, rather than various combat machines, as those were too big and heavy for clandestine transport. Most of them were DNA enhancers, capable of boosting the strength of the resistance army in a short period.
Although he had open-sourced the DNA programming technology, they were now dealing with Holy Grail Persons, and even with factories, the production capacity could not keep up; bringing these items would help him as much as possible.
Apart from these, there were also network installation equipment, as information was easily blocked. So, they would lay cables directly from underground to avoid being cut off by FFP.
This would also enhance the data transmission between the two cities, and then the hackers of Metropolis could provide hacking support to the Emola Resistance Army.
Of course, the most important thing was to establish a forward position; he must see the situation there with his own eyes to prepare for the next steps.
"I'll take a nap for now; remember to wake me when we're close," Sun Jack said as he closed his eyes.
Though a battle was impending, such matters did not stress him, a veteran of many battles. He just needed to take things step by step, and soon, he had fallen asleep.
In a state between sleep and wakefulness, Sun Jack found himself back in a classroom, rubbing his eyes and looking up from a pile of books, watching the orange-yellow sunset outside the window and feeling the breeze.
The feeling of the classroom was so familiar, so peaceful and serene; everything absurd before was just a dream before the dismissal bell.
What he had to do next was wait for the dismissal bell to ring, leave with his classmates, carry his backpack home, eat watermelon, and watch his favorite cartoons.
"Sun Jack, Sun Jack!" Hearing his desk mate calling him, Sun Jack turned his head and saw a little girl with Hilda's face, looking to be around the age of a second or third grader.
"Sun Jack, don't space out, the teacher is lecturing."
"Right, right," Sun Jack promptly sat upright and listened carefully as the middle-aged man with thick bottle-bottom glasses on the podium began lecturing. "Students, turn your books to page 14, and let's recite the text 'OR Sensory Game Space Galactic Warrior' together."
The next second, the style changed drastically; the vast space instantly appeared on the large blackboard, and the bald teacher grabbed his Zhongshan suit and tore it open, revealing a shiny silvery combat space suit underneath.
He then pulled out his weapon and leaped into space where he fought various oddly shaped aliens, maintaining a combination of ranged shooting and bare-hand close combat.
While fighting, he bellowed out advertisement slogans. "Space Star Warrior! The latest full-body sensory VR game! Experience the marvels of space without leaving home!"
When he saw his classmates and teacher reciting the advertisement together, Sun Jack started to feel that something was off.
The next second, the style on the blackboard changed abruptly, turning peach-colored, and the background music also started to become ambiguous.
"Four Seasons Rhapsody! The new VR sensory game! Experience the exotic cultures of The Previous Epoch! In 2002, Tokyo's Jian Tai did not perform well, and to prepare for university, his parents sent him to study quietly at his aunt's rural home. However, his uncle was away, so only his beautiful aunt and her twin daughters remained..."
"WTF? What is all this?" Feeling something was wrong, Sun Jack had just stood up when the entire room instantly collapsed, and his body uncontrollably fell downwards.
Instinctively reaching out to grab Hilda, Sun Jack saw Hilda transform into a gigantic figure in the next second, her skin rapidly shedding to reveal the golden, neon-lit Mechanical Buddha.
The next second, the Buddha suddenly opened eyes larger than planets and fiercely glared at Sun Jack. Then, with hands together and a resonant echoing voice, the Buddha filled Sun Jack's mind.
"Amitabha! Dear followers of the second dimension, please recognize the foyer church! Belief in the foyer of Buddhism! Follow Cyber Buddha! Marry Hatsune Miku!"
"WTF!!" The moment Sun Jack rolled off the box, the absurd dream finally vanished.
Tapai reached out to help him up, "Dang, was there an advertisement in your dream?"
"How did you know?" Sun Jack asked, removing his mechanical prosthetic arm with a bit of a headache.
"Tsk, I just know. It means we're almost there. Emola's dream advertising equipment can already affect you; it's quite characteristic of Emola to secretly stuff ads into people's dreams while they sleep," said Tapai, taking delight in the misfortune.
"What a lousy place, can't even sleep in peace, not even Metropolis was like this." Sun Jack opened the system map to check the distance between the cities.
Tapai shrugged, "This wouldn't be a nice place if we weren't risking our lives together."
Though somewhat surprised, Sun Jack was no longer shocked, as he had prepared himself for even more bizarre experiences before coming.
Seeing there were 5 minutes left to arrival, Sun Jack clapped his hands, and called out to his other Clones and the Lone Wolf Mercenaries, "Switch on the Combat Prostheses, start the Mimetic Camouflage in advance, run a check on all systems. After arrival, we must make contact with the Rebel District immediately; I don't want to see any slip-ups!"
"Yes!" all responded in unison.
Although the shield machine didn't carry many people, only a few dozen, each one was an elite from various professions, ensuring that they could provide maximum support to the Resistance Army upon reaching Emola.
Five minutes quickly passed, and after a violent shake of the shield machine, the equipment halted—Emola had arrived.