Chapter 384: Targeted

Kai didn’t immediately move as he saw it...

His eyes remained fixed on the convoy in the distance as the heavy trucks continued along the road, surrounded by dozens of A.I. Soldiers.

He already knew what was happening.

The machine civilization had been capturing humans for a long time. Sometimes, they used them as living shields during battles, forcing human survivors to hesitate before firing their weapons. Other times, the captured humans were taken away for experiments.

And the experiments had produced those mutants, aside from the side effects of Gene Enhancement Serums.

Kai couldn’t help but think about the strange creatures they had encountered earlier.

Four arms... Four eyes... Distorted bodies... and abnormally long limbs.

Those weren’t simply monsters that had appeared after the apocalypse.

Without a doubt, they had been normal humans once.

They were probably failed experiments too...

After all, the machine civilization had been searching for something through those experiments.

The Divine Gene.

For some reason, the Anima Civilization was also searching for the same mysterious gene that humanity was trying to discover.

The difference was that humans were searching for it inside the VR World known as Perfect World, a place where the A.I.s couldn’t enter.

The machines had no such limitation here.

They could experiment directly on human bodies...

Kai’s expression became darker.

He looked at the convoy again.

There were too many A.I. Soldiers.

Several Sentinels surrounded the trucks, while numerous Spyders moved through the surrounding ruins. There were also several larger combat machines mixed into the formation.

Kai quickly estimated their strength.

Then he glanced toward his own group.

Only two people here could actually fight.

Himself and Farrah.

Xian and Xinyi were with them, but they obviously couldn’t participate in a battle like this.

Kai sighed as he considered his options.

Even if he used all his strength, protecting the children while fighting such a large group of machines would be extremely difficult.

And the humans inside those trucks made things even worse.

If the machines were using them as shields, Kai couldn’t simply unleash powerful attacks against the convoy.

One mistake could kill the very people he was trying to save.

Kai slowly clenched his fist.

He didn’t like this feeling... Not at all.

For a moment, he considered simply leaving.

It was painful to admit, but there was nothing he could realistically do with only himself and Farrah.

If he attacked, they might die.

If he tried to rescue the prisoners, the machines could use them as hostages.

And if the convoy reached its destination, Kai didn’t even know where the prisoners would be taken.

He remained silent for several seconds.

Farrah noticed his expression.

"Kai?"

Kai didn’t answer as he continued staring at the convoy.

He hated this... He had the strength to destroy countless machines, yet there were still situations where he couldn’t save everyone.

Just as Kai was about to turn around, he suddenly sensed something approaching from behind.

His expression changed.

A powerful presence was moving rapidly toward them.

Kai immediately turned around and Farrah also looked in the same direction.

Soon, a humanoid figure emerged from the ruins.

It was nearly seven feet tall, with a heavily reinforced mechanical body and a familiar silver-colored frame.

Kai’s eyes widened.

"Atom?"

The S-Grade Sentinel stopped several meters away from them.

Its mechanical eyes briefly scanned Kai, Farrah, Xian, and Xinyi.

Then it spoke in its usual mechanical voice.

[ Target group located. ]

Kai stared at it in disbelief. This S-Grade Sentinel really talks now... It seemed that it cad i[

"What are you doing here?"

Atom didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, it continued scanning the surrounding area.

[ Escort mission confirmed. ]

Kai’s eyebrows rose.

"Escort mission?"

Atom nodded.

[ Confirmed. ]

Kai was genuinely confused.

He hadn’t summoned Atom.

More importantly, he hadn’t given it any orders.

The S-Grade Sentinel was one of the strongest defensive units at the Codebreakers Shelter. Sending it away from the shelter was not something Kai would normally do without a good reason.

Someone must have ordered it.

Kai immediately thought of the people managing the shelter.

Claire... Althea... or perhaps Sera.

One of them must have realized that Kai and the others were traveling back from Cameron City and decided to send Atom to escort them.

Kai couldn’t help but feel slightly worried.

Sending an S-Grade Sentinel this far away meant the shelter had lost one of its strongest combat units, even if only temporarily.

Still, Kai wasn’t going to complain.

Because the situation in front of him had just changed completely.

He looked back toward the convoy... Then he looked at Atom.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Well..."

Kai reached toward his waist.

He pulled out the Plasma Pistol he had obtained from the Legendary Weapon Gift Pack.

The compact weapon immediately attracted Farrah’s attention.

She had seen Kai receive several powerful items recently, but she hadn’t actually seen him use this one yet.

Kai checked the weapon for a moment before pointing it toward the distant convoy.

The integrated energy cell hummed softly.

He then reached toward his other side and drew the Monomolecular Combat Blade.

The blade looked surprisingly simple.

There was no complicated design or excessive decoration.

Yet Kai knew exactly how dangerous it was.

Its cutting edge had been refined to an extremely thin molecular scale, allowing it to slice through conventional metals and armor with astonishing ease.

Kai carefully held the handle.

He wasn’t going to test the edge with his fingers.

He had no intention of accidentally cutting himself apart with his own weapon.

Farrah glanced at the two weapons.

"You got new equipment?"

"From the Legendary Gift Pack."

"W-what? There’s another gift pack? Amazing..."

Kai looked at the plasma pistol again.

"I haven’t had a chance to properly test them yet."

He slowly raised the weapon.

The distant machines were still protecting the trucks.

There were far too many enemies for Kai and Farrah alone, but now they had Atom.

And that changed everything.

An S-Grade Sentinel was not just another combat machine.

Atom was a powerful humanoid unit capable of fighting against extremely dangerous enemies while also providing protection.

Kai looked at the convoy once more...

Seeing their strength, his previous hesitation had disappeared.

He still didn’t know how many humans were inside those trucks and he certainly didn’t know whether he could save everyone.

But at least now, he had a chance.

Kai smiled slightly.

"Chamber."

[ Yes? ]

"Keep scanning the convoy."

[ Understood. ]

"Find out which truck contains the largest number of prisoners."

[ Analyzing. ]

Kai tightened his grip around the plasma pistol.

"Then we’ll rescue them."

Farrah immediately stepped forward.

"I’m ready."

Atom’s mechanical body shifted as its combat systems activated.

[ Combat support ready. ]

Kai looked at the enormous Sentinel beside him.

"Atom... Let’s see what these machines are transporting."