"Sun Jieke's original body was taken to the wilderness? Who are they?" Tapai quickly calculated and headed out towards the wilderness.
However, after flying just a dozen kilometers, Tapai was forced to stop. The system's radiation warning was incessant, and the radiation level was continuously rising.
It wasn't for any other reason but because the rain in the sky had stopped. As Tapai adjusted the camera's focus, he could even see the Sun spilling in the distance.
With rapid data retrieval and computation, Tapai knew that Metropolis was built in the place with the most rain in the climate out of control precisely because the rainwater helped wash away the radioactive dust on the surface—not just the local dust, but also radioactive layers drifting in from other places.
All the radioactive dust, under the scouring of rainwater, entered the Earth's groundwater and, with the dilution in the oceans' cycles, gradually the rain falling from the sky slowly turned into what's called "acid rain."
In places without as much rain, all the radioactive dust lay quietly in place, emitting silent yet deadly nuclear radiation for thousands of years, just like everything from here to the distant horizon.
Because of these radiation layers, even though the traces on the ground became very clear, Tapai could no longer move forward.
In this situation, his body had not undergone any radiation-resistant upgrades, and even if he found Sun Jieke, he couldn't come down to rescue him.
"With such high radiation, I, made of iron, can't withstand it, how can Sun Jieke, made of flesh, really be alright now?" Tapai couldn't help but worry to himself.
However, more important than worrying now was how to get across.
Fortunately, in this high-tech era, it wasn't very difficult—Tapai found a solution immediately: the intercity shuttle.
The company that operates the year-round shuttle between the two cities definitely possessed the technology and expertise to resist radiation.
"Bring the intercity shuttle company under our wing," Tapai said to Clone Sun Jack. "As for the transportation resources, we must also have control over them."
"I know, I've been negotiating for days now, but their asking price is a bit too high."
"Afraid of what, is this more important or the original body? The whole Metropolis is ours, are we still afraid of one company? If they don't want to be respectable, then we will help them be respectable."
Although he didn't know how Clone Sun Jack managed it, two hours later, an intercity shuttle spaceship arrived in front of Tapai. With the ship door opening, a 2.5-meter tall radiation-resistant battle armor, without a head, and with the assistance of an AI, approached Tapai on its own.
As Tapai entered the opened battle armor shell, his body quickly extended sensor wires, wrapping around the surroundings.
Once Tapai was in position, a transparent energy shield rose, covering his entire body. The fine rain hitting it set off continuous ripples.
With the connection of sensing devices, Tapai instantly saw the endlessly overlapping and dispersing nuclear radiation, swaying in the air like a wild wind.
With this equipment, the intense radiation of the wilderness could no longer harm his electronic components at all.
Tapai was unwilling to wait a moment longer. The second he put on his protective suit, he immediately followed the trail, chasing forward quickly.
"Be ready, all of you, to provide support at any moment." Tapai instructed Steelheart as he caught up, then continued following the trail, and gradually the details of the entire wilderness unfolded before him.
As a city from the Previous Era, apart from the deadly radioactive dust, the wilderness was just an endless concrete forest, undulating up and down.
It seemed that the population back then must have been explosive, the entire Earth was almost entirely cities, nearly bursting at the seams.
Through some layouts, Tapai could even analyze the purpose of these places in the human world. However, only concrete stood the test of time in this long river of time; everything else was just passing smoke.
Tapai quickly opened the world map, but then rapidly zoomed in. They were now 500 miles away from Metropolis, and the movement of the other party showed no signs of changing, still steadily moving forward.
But there were no cities ahead; the nearest city, Piter, was already 3450 kilometers away. He didn't think these people would go to such a distant place.
"But if they're not taking Sun Jack to a city inhabited by humans, where are they taking him? Could it be they want to keep Sun Jack outside?" The result calculated by Tapai clearly contradicted reality.
Whether it was the DNA Innovators or the Mechanical Conservative Faction, keeping Sun Jack in a high-radiation area would arguably double their costs.
"Why would they do this? What is their purpose?" Tapai couldn't calculate the result and even suspected that it might be a trap.
But although he couldn't figure out the result, as long as there was a sliver of hope, Tapai had to continue the investigation.
Thus, after following the hologram projections ahead for another two days and nights, Tapai suddenly saw the holograms ahead stop and then all of them turned around simultaneously,
"I've caught up with them. They've noticed me." Just as this message was calculated in Tapai's system, suddenly a muffled sound came from a nearby skyscraper, and the towering building began to collapse directly onto him.
Accompanied by the collapse of the building, dust laden with deadly radiation billowed high.
No sooner had Tapai been buried than several figures quickly darted out of the nearby ruins. They looked human, but distinct deformities marked their bodies.
Finger-like projections on their cheeks, one hand bigger than the other, tumors on their chests, and red birthmarks on their faces all confirmed their identities — the Wild Men of the wilderness.
They wore rudimentary homemade respirators to avoid inhaling radioactive dust and wrapped their bodies as much as possible to avoid exposing their skin. Their clothes were all dissimilar, the only common feature being a necklace with an 'F' hanging from each of their chests.
Seeing Tapai buried, they quickly scattered and evacuated swiftly.
But everything happening here was clearly observed from a ship high above.
"Don't worry about me, finish off these Wild Men. We've finally found them!" Tapai, pressed beneath the concrete, spoke to Steelheart above.
"Don't worry, they won't escape." Steelheart dumped all the snacks from his hand into his mouth, giving a pat, "Haha, this lousy place. You hackers aren't needed here anymore, leave the rest to me."
"I never thought that in such strong radiation, people could still survive."
"Normal, the mutations caused by radiation can be either bad or good. As long as reproduction continues, natural selection will operate, and life will always find a way," Abu replied over the communication.
"Bro, what do these people want with Sun Jieke's original body?"
"Who knows."