Chapter 151: The Desert of Dead Satellites
The desert heat was unlike anything they had felt in the simulation. In Server 777, "Heat" was just a status effect that lowered your stamina bar. Here, it was a heavy, suffocating blanket that made every breath a struggle. The group's van kicked up a massive cloud of dust as it sped toward the coordinate Leo had provided—a location marked on the map as "Site-Zero".
"The signal is getting louder," Aki said, tapping the side of his head. Since the Reformat, his connection to the digital world had become a double-edged sword. He could "hear" the data-streams, and right now, the desert was screaming. "It's not just one satellite. The entire 'Project_Afterlife' network is locking onto this location. They know we're coming."
"Let them know," Sai growled, checking the reinforced steel gauntlets he had crafted in his workshop. "I'm tired of hiding. If Marcus wants his 'Assets' back, he can come and try to take them."
Ahead of them, a massive silver dome emerged from the dunes. It was the Core-Tech Launch Facility, an abandoned relic of the corporation's attempt to colonize the digital space. The doors were rusted, but as they approached, the red sensors above the entrance flickered to life.
The Guardian of Site-Zero
Before Von could even step out of the van, the ground in front of the dome exploded. A mechanical figure, twice the size of a human, rose from beneath the sand. It wasn't a sleek android like the Optimizer. It was a 'Juggernaut-Sentinel'—a brutal combination of industrial machinery and corrupted code.
[SECURITY_PROTOCOL_ALPHA: UNAUTHORIZED BIO-FORMS DETECTED. ELIMINATION_MODE: ACTIVE.]
"Wait... that voice," Rena whispered, her eyes widening. "That's not a machine. That's a recorded consciousness. That's... Marcus's head of security, Captain Vane!"
The Juggernaut didn't wait for a conversation. It raised a massive arm, which transformed into a multi-barreled railgun. A stream of kinetic slugs tore through the van, forcing the group to dive for cover behind a nearby rock formation.
"Aki! Get into the system!" Von roared, his violet eyes flashing with a spark of his old power. "If that thing is running on Captain Vane's memories, it has a 'Logic-Loop' we can exploit!"
The Neural Hack
Aki didn't reach for a weapon. He sat cross-legged in the sand, closing his eyes. He reached out with his mind, searching for the invisible Wi-Fi signature of the Juggernaut.
There it is, Aki thought. A thick, jagged stream of red code, filled with anger and old commands.
Command: Internal_Logic_Check
Query: Is Captain Vane still on the payroll?
The Juggernaut suddenly stopped firing. Its massive head tilted to the side, gears grinding as it processed the paradoxical query. [SEARCHING... EMPLOYEE_DATABASE_NOT_FOUND. ERROR: CORE-TECH_REVENUE = 0. STATUS: UNPAID.]
"Now! Sai! Von!" Aki yelled.
Sai leaped over the rock, his gauntlets glowing with a faint blue light. He punched the Juggernaut's leg with enough force to bend the titanium casing. At the same time, Von appeared behind the machine's neck, his hand glowing with a concentrated burst of violet static.
"Your contract expired five years ago, Vane," Von said, slamming his hand into the machine's power core. "Go to sleep."
The Juggernaut let out a long, mechanical sigh before its red eyes went dark. Its massive form collapsed into the sand, returning the desert to its natural silence.
The Countdown to Launch
They rushed inside the dome. In the center stood a sleek, needle-shaped rocket, but instead of carrying fuel, its payload was a massive 'Quantum-Uplink'.
"The Afterlife server is drawing our signatures into that rocket," Leo's voice echoed through the facility's intercom. "It's not trying to kill you here. It's trying to 'Upload' your souls into the lunar backup. Once you're in the moon's network, they can keep you in a loop forever."
"Not if we upload a virus instead," Aki said, running toward the main console. "Leo, give me the 'Zero-Point' encryption. I'm going to hijack this launch. We're going to send a 'Delete-All' command straight to the moon."
[WARNING: AUTO-LAUNCH INITIATED. T-MINUS 180 SECONDS AND COUNTING.]
"Aki, the doors are locking!" Rena shouted as dozens of smaller security drones began to swarm from the ceiling.
"Hold them off!" Aki's fingers were a blur on the holographic keyboard. "I just need three minutes to rewrite the flight path! If I miss this window, the moon becomes our permanent home!"
Von stood in front of the console, his back to Aki. "You have your three minutes, Aki. Not a single drone will pass this line."