CH 304

The massive fiend of Pluto stood before me. The organs in its body were still continuously devouring each other. Standing out there, things seemed to be progressing positively, and the cloud germs no longer tried to attack me. The sight of that strengthened the determination in my heart.

My communicator was completely silent. The others were probably so nervous they didn't dare to make a single sound. They might all be praying silently for me. Suddenly, an ear-piercing laughter rang out. My heart skipped a beat, wondering if what I experienced earlier was really just a dream.

The terrifying laughter tortured me for about 10 minutes while I stood before the fiend, trying very hard to maintain calm and project a look of peace, not daring to move an inch. After the laughter ended, I could feel that the storm was returning. Under the violent wind, the fiend of Pluto abruptly rose into the sky. Instantly, I heard a collective gasp from my communicator.

The storm had arrived, and the sky had darkened. The cloud germs had all returned to the ice volcano. I could confirm that the alliance with the fiend of Pluto had been formed. I quickly returned to Markus. Everyone was staring at me with a gaze of worship.

"Well done. How did you do that? Why did that monster leave you alone?" asked Zhang Bao'er impatiently.

"The fiend of Pluto is actually not harming you. Looks like your internal power is stronger than the monster," praised Bob.

"Commander, I don't have much time to explain, but I have reached an agreement to cooperate with the fiend of Pluto. We will work together against the robotic army and rescue the great sovereign. We are only 12 days away before the attack on Blue begins. Also, we need to avoid Pluto's nights. The super virus lives on the dark side of Pluto," I reported to Zhang Xingxing.

"What should we do now?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"Turn on Markus immediately and follow the fiend into the sky. The super virus can't attack objects in the air. We can decide on what to do after observing from the air," I suggested.

Since I was the one who had handled the fiend, my suggestion was accepted by everyone. Temo turned Markus on, and the ship returned to the sky. We floated above the Cthulhu Macula, and Temo had the ship enter invisible mode before flying toward Tenzing Montes.

Moving at a low altitude while invisible, Markus advanced slowly. Time passed as the storm on the surface of Pluto became more and more intense. Our surroundings had basically descended into darkness. On the distant horizon, the tiny sun was on the verge of completely setting. I knew clearly that night was about to arrive. If we wanted to avoid night, we had to keep chasing the sun.

"Look at those buildings!" Dondon suddenly pointed at a square building on the ground.

"That's Base Brown Bear that we lost contact with. I wonder if Second Lieutenant Daisy had safely arrived there," I wondered. Looking at the directional lights flickering outside the base, it was very hard to imagine that it was a destroyed base.

"We'll focus on scouting the surroundings of the robotic army before we consider whether we come back for Second Lieutenant Daisy or not. After all, we're in a race against time," said Baron Sisse.

Thus, Markus continued ahead. After flying for about a dozen minutes, the storm grew even more intense, to the point we could no longer see anything outside with our naked eyes. The ship started scanning our surroundings with its laser scanner. To avoid prolonged exposure to the storm, Markus ascended to remain above the storm. The moment we flew out, a group of odd buildings appeared before our eyes.

A bunch of mushroom-shaped buildings could be seen above the storm. Perfectly straight pillars were holding mushroom-like platforms in the sky. Above the platforms were countless buildings. Numerous small aircraft could be seen constantly taking off and landing.

"This is the base of the imperial robotic army. I did not expect it to be built so high in the sky," said Dodo, who was incomparably shocked by the sight of the base in the sky.

"I finally understand. To avoid the super virus, the robotic army had built their base so high in the sky. Here, not only can they avoid the super virus, but they can also avoid the intense storms," I said.

"Pluto really is quite small. It didn't even take us long to encounter the imperial forces. The great sovereign is probably imprisoned here. I really don't understand why the emperor had chosen Pluto as the prison. What was he thinking?" said Baron Sisse doubtfully.

"Perhaps the empire intended to use the great sovereign's mind control ability to also gain control of the super virus?" Old Du guessed.

As we approached the base, Temo cautiously stopped Markus before deploying some surveillance drones. Above the violent storm, the drones flew straight toward the base in the sky. Before long, we started receiving clear recordings of the base. The base was incredibly large. It resembled a smaller version of the Black King Base. 

The sole difference was that this base was propped up by over a hundred perfectly straight pillars. On the platforms atop the pillars, there were not only buildings. Lighting and heating systems were also installed, turning the base into something akin to a hidden paradise.

In a short time, the drones transmitted the results of their data analysis back to us. The entire city was covered by an invisible wall of light. Cosmic rays, extreme temperatures, and the storm were unable to affect those living in the base.

Our scans indicated that the base was actually at a pleasant temperature of roughly 30 degrees Celsius. We had never imagined that the empire would be able to build such a large high-tech city in the sky in only one year. Even Temo was endlessly astonished by the masterpiece before our eyes.

"We need to think of a way to sneak inside the base and verify the location of the great sovereign," said Zhang Xingxing.

"The entire city is covered by a barrier. We need to get through the barrier if we want to enter," said Baron Sisse.

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"If the great sovereign is the sole organic life in the city, won't we be detected the moment we enter?" I asked.

"With so many aircraft moving in and out, it won't be hard to get through the barrier. But how do we proceed after entering? We need to be fully prepared," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Canyue, where's your ally? Hasn't the fiend agreed to work with us? How do we contact it?" asked Baron Sisse.

That question stumped me. Bulu had entered deep slumber, and the fiend had left without communicating with me when I went to meet it. I had not taken the matter of communication into consideration.

"We'll do the usual, then. Let's capture a random drone to get more information," suggested Zhang Bao'er.

"We'll have to let a robot deal with robots. I've already upgraded Dodo's body to the standards of the robots on Black King. I suggest we send Dodo and Bob for the reconnaissance mission. I believe Dodo can safely scan more of the city," Temo suggested a different plan.

"What? I was transformed into an imperial robot?" asked Dodo in astonishment.

"This fellow had changed our friend into a monster," said Domo.

"I had only strengthened Dodo's alloy skin and added some imperial tech to Dodo's body. I did not touch Dodo's core. Don't talk if you know nothing, you peasant," said Temo.

"Stop arguing. If Temo is telling the truth, we can consider sending Dodo into the city to verify the position of the great sovereign. We can think of a way to contact the fiend and get its help for the rescue mission after locating the great sovereign," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Even if Dodo can go, Bob has not been modified. How can they go through the light wall's inspection?" asked Old Du.

"That's not an issue. We have the facility to immediately upgrade Bob's alloy skin in Markus itself. We only need 60 minutes to complete the process," said Temo.

"I agree. Perform the upgrade on Bob. They will join Dodo on this mission," Zhang Xingxing decided.

"But this is not my mission. My commands do not include such a task," Bob objected. Zhang Xingxing's order was too different from the orders programmed into them.

"That might have been the case in the past, but it's no longer the case. Do it already. Don't waste time. The first priority of a robot is to unconditionally obey the orders of a superior," said Zhang Bao'er, shoving Bob into the upgrade room with Anxashe.

Soon, Bob was forcefully brought to the upgrading station and was connected to the corresponding device. Temo started upgrading Bob. Bob never stopped protesting, but we ignored all the protests.

It would take one hour to upgrade Bob, so we could only wait patiently. After a while, the sun on the horizon finally fully set. Darkness was descending, and Pluto's terrifying night was coming. According to the fiend, night was when the ground would turn into the super virus's territory. Any organic life that came into contact with the super virus would instantly perish.

The massive storm separated our ship from the ground. According to our laser scans, the ground had changed significantly upon the arrival of night. The entire surface was akin to some sort of paste that could constantly change. Instantly, the system beeped, indicating the completion of Bob's upgrade.