Chapter 284: Truly High Combat Power Units

"Is this a branch of Cangyuan Future Technology? Please let me in, I have something very important to discuss with your person in charge!"

As Lu Yuan clearly saw the other party's appearance, system messages rapidly refreshed in the upper right corner of his vision.

【Limited-time Quest Triggered: Mysterious Employee; It's truly regrettable that Cangyuan Future Technology was destroyed in the apocalypse. However, a portion of its employees survived through various means. They might still harbor a sincere devotion to the company. Try your best to offer assistance and repel the powerful pursuers!】

【Quest Time Limit: 3 minutes】

Powerful pursuers?

Lu Yuan was stunned.

This was the first time the system had issued a limited-time quest. Was it an on-the-fly adjustment based on what I was seeing?

Or was it a way to remind me that some opportunities are fleeting and need to be seized immediately?

Doing quests is fine, but I have no idea about the other party's background. Lu Yuan understood that without the system's power, he wouldn't even have survived the initial Desert survival phase.

He relied on the system; objectively, this was true, especially in the early 'server launch' days. But to trust the system unreservedly because of this, Lu Yuan wasn't that optimistic.

He had always maintained his own thoughts on this mechanism of earning points and then buying supplies.

Currently, the most reasonable explanation is that all of this is some kind of post-disaster restart technology, left behind by the old main company, with a level of sophistication almost unimaginable.

In other words, somewhere in this universe, there should exist a Cangyuan doomsday supply depot and a powerful intelligence station.

The supply depot can perform material transfers across space-time, and even across parallel universe barriers, while the intelligence station can constantly monitor a vast area of the universe centered on him, searching for important resource points and checking the results of his post-disaster reconstruction work.

Even summoning player souls from parallel universes, a feat akin to magic, should just be an extremely advanced technology.

It's part of the Civilization Restart Plan.

Good.

Since a plan exists, there should be a hidden manager, whether that party is human, AI, or some other intelligent species.

Honestly, Lu Yuan didn't appreciate the manager's reserved attitude towards him.

Why not give him all the supplies and knowledge at once?

Why imitate game designers, of all people?

He couldn't understand.

However, despite his numerous questions, he had to admit that all the hints and assistance provided by the system so far had been irreplaceable treasures.

Furthermore, in terms of decision-making, as an individual with free will, Lu Yuan still retained one hundred percent autonomy of action, with no signs of manipulation, at most only guidance or suggestion.

The system might have reasons for doing things this way. Before the technology level advanced enough to explore the truth behind the scenes, continuing to play by the rules was undoubtedly the most beneficial choice for the current situation.

Under the slightly anxious gazes of the employees, Lu Yuan realized that the limited-time quest countdown had quietly gone from 180 seconds to 70 seconds.

No more time to hesitate.

"Scan her. If there are no issues, let her in first."

The rolling door opened.

"Thank you—ugh!?"

The girl let out a scream because Ma Lou, who walked up, didn't greet her but pulled out a scanner that looked very much like a high-tech pistol.

"OK! No electronic devices on her, no signs of cybernetic modifications inside her body, and no strange organs."

What the heck are strange organs? A cross-dresser? Alright, the first hurdle was cleared successfully.

No electronic devices fit the profile of someone avoiding pursuit, as they wouldn't be tracked or located.

If this girl truly came from the Super Democratic Empire, and from the Emperor's side, then there was hope she could become a very important source of intelligence. "Take her inside."

Lu Yuan, standing in the shadows and not showing himself directly, commanded.

"Everyone else, put on your power armor and prepare for battle!"

Battle?

Although the employees didn't know how the Executive Officer had detected danger, they still obeyed orders and quickly armed themselves.

These past few days, the branch employees had DIY modified their power soft armor, removing batteries and Zero Element Furnace backpacks, inventing a method of wearing inner power soft armor and outer "Wolf" power armor in layers, with the outer armor battery pack providing unified power.

While this method reduced agility, it also increased strength by about forty percent and protection by a quarter.

For these players whose combat skills weren't particularly refined, the strength attribute in actual combat was clearly more important than agility.

Ma Lou ignored the mysterious girl's strong protests, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and walked towards the deepest part of the back kitchen, passing by Lu Yuan on the way.

"The scan shows she's a pure-blood human, with a gene sequence significantly different from Star Alliance residents."

"Of course, I'm a pure-blood human! I'm a crew member of the great cangyuan one, a Cangyuan employee from the 21st century, your senior!"

The girl continued to protest, wriggling her slender waist on Ma Lou's shoulder armor, her golden hair tied behind her head swaying, nearly hitting the Executive Officer's face.

"No, how can you scan gene sequences in such a short time? Even the Empire can't do something like this..."

"Carry her away, find a water pipe, and tie her to it."

"A water pipe? How crude—"

Lu Yuan waved his hand, indicating he didn't have time to chat.

Don't get in the way later!

The branch's rolling door was wide open, and no less than 30 good employees were fully armed, taking a stance of actively confronting the enemy.

Although the first and second-tier combat players were currently leveling elsewhere, the remaining professional merchants were by no means pushovers.

Finally, not long after the limited-time quest countdown ended, three strangers appeared in front of the branch.

All three were male, naked, and didn't need to wear clothes at all.

Because the most human-like among them had a cybernetic modification level exceeding 70%, with only the head and a small portion of the chest maintaining organic form. All limbs and the spine had been replaced with metal skeletons, covered by thick carbon-based composite armor plates, standing over 2.4 meters tall.

"Holy cow! Mass-produced Adam Smasher!"

Ran Ge couldn't help but make a sharp comment.

"We are pursuing a fugitive. All signs indicate the culprit is inside."

The leading cybernetic human walked towards the warehouse. His gait seemed relaxed, but beneath that calm lay a hidden killing intent.

This was a dangerous aura that only players with sufficiently high perception could detect!

"For your own safety, hand the person over to us."

He didn't advance further because the even taller Male God blocked his path, clenching his fists, which were larger than sandbags, making cracking sounds.

"This is private property, no visitors allowed. Please leave."

Ma Lou also walked up, carrying a Dragon Breath shotgun.

"Oh, it seems you don't intend to cooperate—"

The cybernetic human's eyes gradually changed from blue to red, and a faint, almost imperceptible sound of equipment running, somewhat like a real-life turbo boost, came from within his body.

Lu Yuan knew that was the sound of the superconducting capacitor charging.

Without a word, he entered a pre-battle charging state.

"Brother Ma Lou, you shouldn't have wasted words with him!"

Male God was full of confidence, pulling out a 350-kilogram heavy hammer from behind his back.

In an instant, the three cybernetic assassins all leaped high backward.

Lu Yuan keenly noticed that the rate and amplitude of their mechanical Achilles tendons stretching and contracting could not support a jump height of at least 7 meters.

The next second, something even more physically impossible occurred.

The three of them hovered in mid-air.

Dumbfounded, aren't you? I can fly.

The disadvantage of Male God's new account was that he temporarily didn't have a large flight suit suitable for his weight.

What the hell?!

Male God was certain that his tactical face mask hadn't detected any form of reverse thrust from beneath the three.

The cybernetic assassin in the middle extended his hand towards Male God in mid-air, and the mysterious device in the center of his palm lit up.

What is that thing?

Space Iron Man?

【Warning! Rapid increase in gravity detected, cause unknown!】

No! It's an attack through precise control of the zero element field!

Male God's heavy hammer immediately became difficult to hold and fell, directly denting the space station's titanium alloy floor.

He quickly threw away the warhammer, which had become a burden, his body feeling as if it had been filled with lead.

So strong! This is 5 times, no, at least 8 times relative mass!

He struggled to leap upwards, slashing out with a claw, but unfortunately, due to his barely sufficient jump speed, the sharp tip of his power claw was still easily dodged by the enemy.

Other players were even more incapacitated by the high gravity, finding it extremely difficult just to raise their guns and aim.

What was even more deadly was that the zero element field created by the enemies was erratic, fluctuating in strength and weakness very rapidly, making aiming difficult.

"Fire!"

After a volley of shots, the three still floated in mid-air, solid bullet rain whizzing past them, leaving them unharmed.

This high-frequency, high-precision control over the zero element field clearly exceeded the limits of traditional Zero Element Furnace, reminding Lu Yuan of a concept that was not entirely unfamiliar but had not yet been directly confronted. He realized the grave danger.

"Take cover!"

As he shouted the warning loudly, the cybernetic assassins on both sides also made a raising-hand motion.

Lu Yuan saw the air in front of him distort.

Thump!

In just an instant, four transparent "projectiles" knocked down no less than ten players, with considerable force.

Lu Yuan's combat experience far exceeded that of the branch players; he was prepared in advance and quickly dived to the side, dodging this wave of attacks.

Good heavens, those weren't transparent projectiles, they must have been kinetic barriers thrown by the enemy!

This meant that even if the players hadn't missed earlier, those small and medium-caliber bullets might not have penetrated the attackers' defenses.

They were protected by miniature kinetic shields, no wonder they adopted such an arrogant posture, swaggering as they seized the high ground on the battlefield.

Through a series of observations, Lu Yuan finally confirmed the opposing side's combat style and "school."

"Psionic" cybernetic humans, dual ascension!

Aren't you guys a bit overpowered?!