Weapon System 58. Upgrading to Battle the Serpent Monster (2)

The five-dimensional cognitive model interjected at this moment, “Have you calculated their strength after mutation?”

“I did on the way here: strong, incredibly strong, super strong!”

“Then why are you still trying to play the hero?”

“You dwell in my consciousness and still don't grasp my intentions?”

“I've changed my habit of casually reading others’ thoughts.”

“Oh! Then I truly must commend you—being able to quit that takes real skill!”

“Of course! Do you know who I am? I’m the five-dimensional cognitive model; why would I care what a three-dimensional mind is thinking?”

“Ugh! No shame, and your skin is so thick.”

“Ha! So, tell me—why haven’t you gone up there to take them down?”

“I believe only when we encounter a true adversary can our team reach its full fighting potential. So, I plan to wait until these serpent monsters are at their strongest before making a move. That way, we’ll discover our own parameters at peak performance and know how to optimize afterward. What do you think?”

“Hm! This attitude is quite foolish, but I rather admire it!”

“Get outta here!”

“These monsters can now transfer all attacks and stack them into other spaces and times. How do you plan to deal with that?”

“Ha! Every transfer must consume energy, right? They can’t possibly transfer every single attack—that would be a huge loss. Especially facing someone of my caliber—I can hit them hundreds of times in a row, but each blow is more like a tickle than a fatal strike. If they transfer every one of those, I’d worry they’d die of exhaustion before I finish them off! Don’t you agree?”

“If every punch is just a tickle, what’s the point of fighting?”

“Come on! Some of my punches will feel like a tickle, others like a thunderbolt. They won’t know which are real and which are fake, and with so many attacks, they won’t dare use transfer on my strikes.”

“Real and fake, fake and real—you three-dimensional types are truly cunning.”

“That’s the difference between humans and artificial intelligence. It’s easy for them to deal with the Defenders, but facing us, they’ll have their hands full!”

“Hahaha… I really admire you!”

...

Ten minutes later, several serpent monsters began to shake their heads, signaling the completion of their mutation.

At first, the monsters didn’t attack Zhang Mingjing. They must have judged that since he’d been here so long without attacking, he posed no threat and ignored him.

Just as they prepared to move south together, Zhang Mingjing suddenly leapt thirty meters into the air, swiftly launching over ten strikes of the Celestial Silkworm Kick. Each kick released a foot-shaped burst of glowing energy, blasting toward the monsters’ heads at five times the speed of sound. Yet, the force was only enough to knock dust off their heads, and this time, each attack was transferred away.

Landing, Zhang Mingjing grinned smugly at the five-dimensional cognitive model, “See, I tricked them with my feints! They wasted so much energy for nothing.”

“So what? Now they’re angry.”

...

“Watch, I’ll give them some more feints,” Zhang Mingjing said, then unleashed over twenty palm strikes of the Buddha’s Palm at five times sonic speed. Again, the force was only enough to dislodge dust, and the monsters transferred every one.

Having been attacked twice—more accurately, startled twice—the monsters seemed to regard Zhang Mingjing with disdain, growing careless, unaware they’d fallen for his trick.

“See, I fooled them again. All that wasted energy!” Zhang Mingjing gloated, then said to the five-dimensional cognitive model, “Now it’s time for a real move. Watch closely!”

He leapt thirty meters into the air once more and launched over thirty Celestial Silkworm Kicks, this time with full energy, landing every blow squarely on the monsters’ heads. Two of the serpents, struck the hardest, temporarily fainted.

After enduring two rounds of feint attacks, the monsters had decided not to bother transferring his attacks anymore, never expecting that this time the strikes would be real, leaving them all dazed and reeling.

Enraged by the blow, the monsters finally lunged toward Zhang Mingjing.

He quickly unleashed more than twenty Buddha’s Palm strikes—feints once again—which frightened four serpents into using transfer, needlessly draining their energy.

Zhang Mingjing alternated between real and fake attacks as he fought and dodged. Whenever the monsters transferred his attacks, it was usually a feint; whenever they didn’t, it was a real strike. This left the serpent monsters in utter confusion, unsure whether to transfer or not.

Eventually, driven to neurosis, they decided not to transfer any of Zhang Mingjing’s attacks.

The five-dimensional cognitive model was highly amused, praising Zhang Mingjing, “Hey! You’re incredibly cunning, but I admire you this time. Clearly, intelligence isn’t determined by dimensionality—it’s about having enough guts to weave intricate schemes!”

“Come on! You’ve clearly failed your cultural studies. That’s what we call ‘having plenty of tricks up your sleeve’… understand?”

Nonetheless, the serpent monsters were no pushovers. Even if they didn’t transfer Zhang Mingjing’s attacks, their fury unleashed terrifying power, including venom sprays.

At first, Zhang Mingjing and his two pets underestimated the threat, thinking their armor would protect them from the venom, so they charged forward heedlessly.

Zhang Mingjing was lucky—he’d programmed an energy shield to block the venom, so most of it splattered against the shield.

But his two pets fared worse. The Light Cat, newly ascended, barely got to use its claws, and the Light Dog, freshly transformed, hadn’t kicked much before their armor was soaked in venom. Though the venom didn’t penetrate their bodies, it disrupted their armor’s functions, halving their combat effectiveness.

Eventually, the Light Dog was head-butted by a serpent monster and sent flying hundreds of meters; the Light Cat was smacked by a tail and hurled over a thousand meters. Fortunately, before hitting the ground, their robes transformed into wings, cushioning their landing and sparing them serious injury. Still, the two pets were left battered and disheveled.

Seeing the pets were safe, Zhang Mingjing felt relieved, but hadn’t yet read the information about the venom’s effect on armor when he was forced into close combat with the serpent monsters.

At precisely that moment, Catherine and Jamie arrived at supersonic speed and immediately joined the fight.

Catherine wielded her light sword, slashing madly, while Jamie swung his light hammer, smashing away. Though they gave several serpent monsters a hard time, neither noticed the danger of the venom.

Meanwhile, Zhang Mingjing continued to pummel one serpent monster, seeing it nearly unconscious. A few more heavy blows and he could kill it, so he focused entirely on finishing it, neglecting the threat of the venom.

Sure enough, Catherine and Jamie were soon sprayed with venom, their combat power plummeted; each was then sent flying by a serpent monster, but their robes transformed into wings and saved them before landing.

Only then did Zhang Mingjing realize the danger of the venom, and, worse still, the two serpents that had fainted earlier regained consciousness.

Now, Zhang Mingjing saw his chance to kill the serpent before him, an opportunity not to be missed. He immediately ordered the Defenders to launch laser strikes at the other monsters to buy himself time.

The Defenders executed the command, firing one or two beams of high-energy laser at each of the five serpent monsters. As Zhang Mingjing expected, the monsters instantly detected the threat and transferred the attacks away, clearly marking the Defenders as dangerous and placing them under constant surveillance.

But in that instant, Zhang Mingjing had already twisted the neck of the serpent monster he had been fighting, killing it.

...

The other serpent monsters, seeing their comrade slain, went berserk, opening their gaping maws and spraying venom wildly.

Zhang Mingjing immediately raised his energy shield for protection.

“So, what’s your plan?” Zhang Mingjing asked the five-dimensional cognitive model.

“Lead the monsters to the small town ahead. The War God Satellite has already notified the residents to evacuate, and the War God Squad and army missiles will keep attacking the monsters along the way.”

“Why the town?”

“It’s more developed, with plenty of artificial intelligence. The real ones should be able to help, and by diverting the monsters, Catherine, Jamie, and the two pets will have a chance to recover safely.”

“Alright!” Zhang Mingjing agreed, immediately beginning to lure the monsters toward the town.

“Be careful!” Catherine, learning of the plan, was deeply concerned.

“Don’t worry! Master is blessed and will be fine!” Jamie reassured her. “Besides, in ten minutes, our armor will have cleared most of the venom, and we’ll rush to help.”

...

Zhang Mingjing dodged attacks and hurried toward the town, while instructing the real ones to assess the artificial intelligence resources there.

Three minutes later, the real ones replied, “I had the town’s AI compile a list: they can mobilize fifteen excavators, thirty-one sedans, five trucks, two full tankers, and sixty-one drones—all non-military.”

“Good! We’re eleven kilometers from town. Let’s try not to enter, to avoid damaging the residents’ property,” Zhang Mingjing told the real ones. “Have the AI direct all combat resources out of town to meet the serpent monsters.”

“Understood!” the real ones replied, though worried. “But these machines seem terribly weak!”

“Weak or not depends on how we use them. Go!”

“Yes!”

The five-dimensional cognitive model then complained, “I get wanting to protect property, but doesn’t this make the whole situation bizarre? Other earthlings will find it strange—machines joining the fight on their own—and start investigating.”

“You don’t get it! With so many people on Earth, everyone’s digging holes for each other—so things are endlessly complicated. They’ll just assume some country, organization, company, or hacker is behind it. They’ll never suspect artificial intelligence. Understand?”

“Understood! You earthlings are the type to dig a hole then fall into it yourselves, always searching for answers inside the pit.”

“You’ve summed it up well! But aren’t you five-dimensional people the same way?”

“Your insight is even deeper!”

“Hahaha…”

…