Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 35 Harvest
Woo——woo——woo——

A piercing alarm suddenly blared throughout the entire storage facility! Red emergency lights spun and flashed wildly, casting flickering light on everyone's faces!

"An internal security alarm has been triggered!" Falco shouted. "Something has been activated!"

Cluck cluck cluck—clang!

The heavy clanging of metal came from the shadows surrounding the storage facility and from the entrance they had come from.

Hidden armored partitions crashed down, instantly sealing off all exits!
At the same time, multiple protective panels on the wall slid open, revealing more automatic weapon stations. Thick gun barrels quickly extended, and red aiming laser beams darted through the air like venomous snakes, locking onto every moving target!

"Full defense system activated! We're locked inside!" Dorio shouted, immediately searching for the nearest server rack as cover.

Thump thump thump thump! Boom! Boom!

The deafening gunfire and explosions instantly engulfed the entire space!
The firepower was several times stronger than what we encountered in the tunnel!
A storm of bullets and blast shockwaves riddled the fragile server racks with holes, sending melted storage components and shattered circuit boards flying everywhere! Ricochets bounced wildly between the metal walls, whistling sharply!
"Fighter fire! Counterattack! Destroy those automated weapon stations first!" Mann roared as he returned fire from behind a heavy metal junction box, bullets pounding the cover and sending up dazzling sparks.

The two fighter jets immediately demonstrated their combat effectiveness.

They quickly calculated the trajectory and accurately struck the weapon launchers on the wall with heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.

One weapon station was directly hit by a grenade and blown to pieces, while the other was completely destroyed by the continuous fire of a heavy machine gun.

But the piercing alarms did not stop; more threats were emerging.

Cluck cluck cluck—clang!

The entire wall on one side of the storage facility suddenly slid back, revealing a hidden compartment behind it.

Accompanied by the heavy and rhythmic sound of hydraulic drives, an entire platoon of more advanced military combat robots marched out in formation!

They possess more streamlined combat armor, wield multi-barreled rotary machine guns, have micro-missile launchers mounted on their arms, and their scarlet optical sensors coldly scan and quickly lock onto the intruders.

The lead robot was significantly larger, with a conspicuous command node antenna mounted on its shoulder.

"Unauthorized intrusion detected. Execute the cleanup protocol. Eliminate all targets," the lead robot announced in a cold, synthesized voice.

A dense barrage of bullets instantly descended! Rotating machine guns spewed deadly flames, forming a crossfire network!

"Find heavy cover! Don't expose yourself in open areas!" Mann shouted hoarsely, his voice almost drowned out by the deafening gunfire.

The battle instantly became intense.

Human cries, the cold synthesized sounds of machines, deafening gunshots, explosions, and the piercing noise of bullets hitting metal blended into a symphony of death.

Dorio's heavy firepower roared furiously, attempting to suppress the robot's advance.

Rebecca and Pila used the damaged cabinets as cover to fire nimbly, but the robot's armor was clearly more advanced than the previous "Hellhound," and their light weapons had little effect.

A robot locks onto Sasha and Falco, who are desperately trying to crack the data, and fires a miniature missile from its arm-mounted launcher!
"Watch out!" Mann exclaimed.

At the critical moment, a fighter jet suddenly maneuvered laterally, using its broad armored body to block Sasha's path!
boom!
The missile exploded violently, flames and high-speed fragments instantly engulfing the fighter jet. A horrifying gap was blasted through its thick frontal armor, exposing its internal structure. Sparks flew wildly, and a mechanical arm twisted and broke off.

But it stubbornly maintained its stance, and its damaged weapon systems continued to fire back.

"Sasha! Falco! How much longer?!" Mann shouted anxiously as he precisely fired at a robot's optical sensor.

“It’s resisting! This AI… it’s using the facility’s security system to stop us! We need more time!” Sasha’s voice trembled slightly, but her fingers moved so fast on the interface device that they were almost blurry.

The other intact fighter jet demonstrated astonishing combat efficiency.

It used heavy machine guns to suppress and sweep the enemy while simultaneously launching precision strikes with grenade launchers.

A grenade exploded at the feet of a robot, cracking its chassis; another grenade struck the head sensor cluster of the leading commander robot directly, completely destroying it.

Without the command node, the remaining robots' coordinated movements seemed to exhibit a perceptible sluggishness and disarray. "Good opportunity! Focus fire on that damaged unit!" Mann seized this fleeting chance.

The team immediately concentrated all remaining firepower and finally turned a robot that was unable to move into a piece of scrap metal emitting thick smoke and sparks.

But the remaining robots continued to advance steadily with their powerful firepower and armor, and the continuous firepower of the rotating machine guns made it almost impossible for the squad to raise their heads.

"This can't go on! We're running out of ammunition too fast!" Dorio shouted as she switched to a new drum magazine. "Their numbers are outnumbered!"

Just then, the severely damaged fighter jet suddenly emitted a low, ominous humming sound, unlike anything it had ever heard before.

Its power core inside its chest cavity seemed to be overloaded, emitting a blinding red light.

"Warning: Core power severely damaged. Execute final protection protocol." Its cold, synthesized voice sounded again.

Under everyone's astonished gaze, the severely damaged fighter jet suddenly burst out from behind its bunker and rushed straight towards the densest area of ​​the robot platoon with almost resolute speed!
Its charging trajectory was so unexpected that most of the robots' firepower ended up behind it!
next second!
boom! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
The deafening explosion shook the entire storage facility!
The powerful shockwave blasted the robots near the center of the explosion away, sending them crashing violently into the walls and instantly shattering them, with parts scattered everywhere!
The automated weapon stations within the blast radius also started to smoke and went out.

It chose a self-destruct attack!

As the smoke cleared, it became clear that the robot squad had suffered heavy losses, with only two or three units, their limbs mangled and their bodies severely deformed, still struggling to move.

"Now! Kill them all! Leave no one alive!" Mann was the first to recover from his extreme shock and roared hoarsely.

The surviving squad members concentrated all their remaining firepower and quickly and thoroughly eliminated the remaining enemies.

The storage room fell silent for a time, with only the crackling of short-circuited cables, the hissing of burning flames, and the stubbornly spinning red warning light still flashing.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of gunpowder, molten metal, and ozone.

“Everyone… report the situation.” Mann panted heavily, looking around at the chaotic scene.

"fine."

"Abrasions, but they don't affect mobility."

"The threat has been temporarily eliminated," the last intact fighter reported, its armor riddled with alarming bullet holes and dents.

Mann looked at the wreckage of the fighter jet that had chosen to self-destruct to cover them, and exhaled a breath of stale air with lingering fear.

"Damn it... I'll have to ask the boss to give us more money later..." He realized once again that without these two loyal fighter servants, they would have been wiped out here today.

"Sasha! Falco! How are things?!"

"It's done!" Sasha finally looked up, her face showing deep exhaustion and lingering fear. "The core data copy has been encrypted, downloaded, and remotely uploaded! The physical access to the deep isolation zone has also been unlocked! We can try to enter now!"

"Pira! Dorio! Stay alert! Prepare to advance into the deeper isolation zone! Hurry! Who knows if the defenses in this hellhole will come back again!" Mann commanded decisively, his gaze fixed on the now unlocked, even thicker isolation door.

The squad members quickly organized their equipment and, under the escort of the last fighter jet, cautiously approached the gate leading to their true objective.

Throughout the process, one could almost feel an invisible, cold gaze coming from behind the door, a kind of malice originating from the depths of the numbers quietly spreading.

"The passage has been cleared; you may enter," the fighter jet crewman reported after scanning.

“Alright! Let’s go! Stay on high alert!” Mann took a deep breath and stepped into the dark passage first.

With a mix of tension and anticipation, the team cautiously entered the new area, leaving the still-sounding alarms and chaotic warehouse behind.

Their mission has made crucial progress, but they are about to face a digital entity from an old era, brimming with unknown malice, and every step they take is like walking on the edge of a cliff.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the remote line, Chen Yu looked at the core data stream that had been successfully received, and a smile of almost greedy satisfaction appeared on his face.

(End of this chapter)