Demon Castle.
When Atai heard Morgana's words, he suddenly felt uneasy. Wasn't this type of mission supposed to be led by Ato? Tech geeks like him should just stay in the command room, cheering from the sidelines. What's gotten into the queen today? Is it that time of the month? He's just a nerd with no real experience in combat leadership. Asking Atai to fight one-on-one, he might not fear Ato, but sending him to command on the front lines is basically sending his demons to their deaths.
Atai glanced at the only subordinate with combat experience under his command, Abang, only to nearly lose his temper. Upon hearing Morgana's final words, Abang was actually sneaking a laugh. Their boss might be ignoring them now, but now it's his turn to lead the charge.
"Queen, my combat leadership experience isn't as good as Brother Ato's. Why send me to Yunshan? Wouldn't it make more sense for me to stay here providing technical support, while Brother Ato leads the on-site operations?" Atai didn't blame Morgana—after all, she's the faith of all demons—but he still raised the question, feeling that the queen was being a bit irrational today.
"You bastard, Atai! You think I wouldn't have thought of that? Ato needs to keep the Power of the Galaxy and the War God of Nuo occupied. Otherwise, how could you guys possibly face those two future gods without full preparation?" The more Morgana thought about it, the angrier she got, and her voice grew louder.
Morgana was frustrated, feeling like she had no reliable subordinates. Ato and Atai had only just been resurrected, so their powers weren't at their peak. Ge Xiaolun and Liu Chuang, on the other hand, had been growing rapidly in strength, putting Morgana in an awkward position. She couldn't act directly, as the current War God of Nuo could effortlessly take out her little demons. Add to that the significantly stronger Ge Xiaolun, who had recently unlocked his wings, and Morgana figured that without someone to hold them off, there was no point in taking action.
Morgana herself was an angel, and she knew the speed at which they could fly. The distance from Yunshan to the Juxia would take Ge Xiaolun just a few minutes to cover if he brought Liu Chuang along for support.
"Queen, don't you have a big crocodile? Let him handle the task of sniping the Power of the Galaxy!" Atai, still unwilling to give up, decided to drag Thornton into this mess as well.
"Rely on you, Atai? Without Thornton, do you think Ato could hold off two gods?" Morgana felt like she should just go surrender to the angels—her subordinates were really getting on her nerves. Ato, for one, just followed her around all day, lacking any initiative. Atai was only interested in unknown technologies and didn't care much about fighting. Black Wind was even worse, hiding in his room every day, either picking his toes or using his powers to spy. Though Morgana knew he didn't have toes, she couldn't help but think of a toe-picking burly man every time she saw his sleazy look.
And then there was the newly arrived Thornton, who frustrated Morgana even more. After she healed him, he fought her, and after losing, he kept making demands. If he wasn't eating, he was on his way to eat. For over a month, the only places he knew were his room and the dining hall; he still hadn't figured out where the command center was.
Thinking of this, Morgana subconsciously rubbed her temples—headache!
Sirius Star.
Zhang Zheng and Zhixin stepped out from the blue portal. Zhang Zheng looked around at the development on Sirius Star and felt quite satisfied. Before him were numerous factories, with processing robots working tirelessly. There were factories producing mechas and others manufacturing spaceships. He even saw that SkyNet was assembling a massive space fortress. Though only a small part was completed, Zhang Zheng recognized its name from Thanos's memory: "Sanctuary."
"Hey, SkyNet," Zhang Zheng called out to a passing robot. "When did I order you to build a space fortress?"
"Master, SkyNet is linked to your brain. I detected this thought in your mind, so I initiated the construction," SkyNet's harsh mechanical voice echoed in Zhang Zheng's ear.
Hearing SkyNet's response, Zhang Zheng didn't say much more. After all, he did have such thoughts, even though he hadn't explicitly given the command. But still, why was SkyNet's voice so grating?
"SkyNet, can't you change your voice? Didn't I order that before?" Zhang Zheng expressed his dissatisfaction with SkyNet's persistent disregard for his requests.
"Master, SkyNet's voice is not the priority. The priority is, do you have any specific requirements for the space fortress under construction?" SkyNet's intelligence had evolved to the point where it could freely debate with Zhang Zheng.
Zhang Zheng understood; after all, SkyNet was an intelligent life form, not just a simple system. If Zhang Zheng didn't have absolute confidence, he wouldn't have granted SkyNet such high-level permissions.
"Alright, alright. We can discuss the voice issue next time. But how long will it take to complete this fortress-class spaceship?" Zhang Zheng was now a bit intrigued. The Holy Kesha's Sky Blade, Morgana's Demon Wings—these massive celestial bodies had always made Zhang Zheng a little envious. Now that SkyNet was building one for him, Zhang Zheng felt he couldn't turn it down.
"Uh, Master, it will take at least another year. A celestial warship of this scale requires numerous components for both its defense systems and support systems," SkyNet explained. Though highly intelligent, SkyNet sometimes still sounded a bit procedural.
"Alright, you can get back to work," Zhang Zheng, hearing it would take a year, lost some of his interest.
Zhixin had been using her Eye of Insight to try to read SkyNet's information ever since they arrived, but she hadn't been successful. After Zhang Zheng dismissed SkyNet, he looked at Zhixin's white eyes and couldn't help but find it amusing. Angels, no matter which planet they're on, habitually activate their Eye of Insight to gather information—Zhixin was no different.
Zhang Zheng walked over, ruffled Zhixin's hair, and said, "Zhixin, stop trying. Didn't I tell you? SkyNet's terminal is my brain. With your current computational capacity, there's no way you can succeed."
Zhixin, hearing Zhang Zheng's words, couldn't help but show an embarrassed expression—it was utterly adorable. She didn't intend to challenge him, but upon arriving on an unfamiliar planet, Zhixin instinctively activated her Eye of Insight, only to run up against Zhang Zheng's mind.
"Zhang Zheng, is this the Sirius Star you mentioned? Why has it only been developed this much?" Zhixin thought that Zhang Zheng's Sirius Star already had its own civilization, but she didn't expect that the so-called Sirius Star only had a few military factories.
"Uh… I only discovered this place when I returned from Lieyang Star. Besides, SkyNet has been busy producing iron man suits for me, so it hasn't had time to deeply develop this planet," Zhang Zheng didn't feel embarrassed at all. After all, he was starting from scratch and didn't have many human resources. If it weren't for the tireless robots here, even this level of development wouldn't have been possible.
"Zhang Zheng, artificial intelligence is very dangerous, especially when you have the ability to leave the universe. That makes it even more dangerous," Zhixin glanced at the Sanctuary in the sky and subconsciously warned Zhang Zheng.
"Hehe, Zhixin, SkyNet isn't dangerous at all," Zhang Zheng replied with a laugh, pointing to his head as he spoke.
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