348: Chapter 347 Extreme Speed

It seemed to be a basement; the dim environment caused Guard No. 1 to activate its night vision mode.

In the green-tinted environment, fragments of furniture blown away by the air blast were everywhere, along with some parts from Guard No. 1, making it look like a dumping ground.

Directly ahead was a door that had been broken open with a large hole, glowing under the infrared illumination.

Other than that, it was completely silent.

Wang Shuo frowned slightly and asked, "Zero, where are the people inside?"

"Unable to locate them, sir."

"Unable to locate?"

Wang Shuo was a bit surprised, then said, "Fly in; I want to see the situation inside."

Zero did not reply, but the image began to change; the large hole in front quickly approached, and then it passed through.

Just as the indoor situation appeared on the screen, the entire image began to shake and distort, as if it might be interrupted at any moment.

"Sir, a strong interference source has been detected; transmission signal is weak."

Wang Shuo frowned again.

This was the thing he worried about most under current technological conditions.

Zero was very advanced, and Guard No. 1, controlled by Zero, could do many things, but all of this was based on one foundation: sufficient signal transmission strength.

No signal meant that Zero could not monitor the situation of the unit ahead in real-time, nor could it control it in real-time.

Guard No. 1 would just become an ordinary Drone. Although Wang Shuo had set some simple logic for it, such as automatic attacks, self-destruction, etc., this was far from comparable to Zero.

Taking a deep breath, Wang Shuo refocused his gaze on the flickering screen.

He had anticipated this problem, but he hadn't expected to encounter the most extreme situation the very first time he dispatched a Drone on a mission.

What made him even more depressed was that he couldn't solve this problem for the time being.

Unless he could build his own transmission network right now and completely change the traditional transmission method, as long as he was still using backward technology like radio waves, he would never be able to get rid of the possibility of having his signal blocked.

Of course, there was another more mature and accessible technical route currently before him—distributed sub-units.

As long as the Super Chip could be mass-produced, Wang Shuo was confident that after two or three upgrades, he could produce a Chip capable of supporting the computational load of a Zero sub-unit.

By then, even if disconnected from the network, the individual unit could be a miniature version of Zero and still be able to execute some of Zero's logical capabilities.

"This basement must have other tunnels and exits; otherwise, they wouldn't have vanished without a trace."

"The strong interference source is a problem. This level of interference has already affected Zero's control; even if a few more Drones were sent in, it wouldn't have much effect."

Wang Shuo pondered slightly and said, "Zero, keep a portion of the Drones waiting for orders. Disperse the others and, from now on, monitor all personnel within a range of at least fifteen kilometers. If you encounter any suspicious personnel, other than official ones, approaching rapidly, alert me."

"Understood, sir."

Wang Shuo nodded and patted the back of the taxi's front seat.

"Driver, faster, please. I'm in a hurry."

The chattering driver was stunned. "This isn't fast enough? Any faster and I'd be speeding. I'm a law-abiding citizen; I absolutely cannot do something like speeding."

Although he said he couldn't do it, the driver quietly stepped on the gas.

A dozen minutes later, Wang Shuo suddenly said, "Driver, stop here."

"Here?"

The driver slammed on the brakes, stopping the car, and looked around; it was exceptionally desolate.

"Look, young man, you're still two kilometers away from where you're going. Are you sure you want to stop here?"

"Just stop here."

Wang Shuo didn't say much more, paid the round-trip fare, opened the door, and got out of the car.

"Young man, you paid too much! You don't need to pay this much!"

Wang Shuo turned a deaf ear.

"Zero, activate posture adjustment, start High-Output Mode. When planning the route, pay attention to population density and prioritize sparsely populated areas."

"Understood, sir. Posture adjustment enabled, High-Output Mode activated. Zero can now assist in adjusting your posture while moving. The acceleration during the first activation may cause symptoms such as dizziness or nausea; please be prepared."

Wang Shuo nodded gently, took a deep breath, looked at the countdown on the screen, and assumed a preparatory stance like an athlete in a race.

The middle-aged driver, who was counting the money, saw this scene and laughed.

"Look, young man, who are you posing for here? Be a good lad, get back in the car. I'll take you to a proper anime convention; I guarantee your photo will be circulating in the community by tomorrow."

After speaking, seeing that The Figure didn't move, the driver clicked his tongue and said, "Alright then, young man. If you fail and don't become famous, don't waste this costume. Sell it to me so I can fulfill a childhood dream. Back when I was a kid, we didn't have conditions like you do; never mind the real thing, we didn't even have ones made of cardboard..."

As the driver was talking, he saw The Figure move. In a blur, the black shadow flashed past, and the next moment, the black figure had disappeared from his sight, leaving only a pit in the ground and flying dust.

The half-smoked cigarette dropped from his lips. The driver stared blankly at the black figure that had already appeared dozens of meters away, his eyes dull, and a classic line blurted out:

"Holy... shit."

The next moment, the driver shuddered, started the car with trembling hands, turned around, and sped off toward the city center at a speed faster than when he had arrived.

If Wang Shuo were still here, he would probably still be able to hear the driver muttering tremblingly:

"I've seen a ghost... I've seen a ghost. I must not have woken up properly when I left the house today; I've actually seen a ghost..."

Wang Shuo, of course, had no time to pay attention to this; at this moment, he was even more flustered than the driver.

"Zero, adjust the data; I feel like I'm losing my balance!"

Wang Shuo spoke rapidly.

The start just now seemed smooth, but only he knew that the consequence of dashing out in a sudden burst of speed was that he almost fell flat on his face when he landed.

If it hadn't been for Zero intervening in time and adjusting his posture upon landing, the image he presented to the driver right now wouldn't have been mysterious, but rather silly and cute.

"Sir, I am collecting your physical behavioral data. Many of your movements violate the essentials of rapid human movement. Zero suggests that you participate more in standardized sports to train your physical coordination and reaction speed."

"Your suggestion is good, but for now, please give me a plan quickly."

Wang Shuo replied with pursed lips, but he dared not take his eyes off the screen for even half a second.

At this moment, his speed had reached 100 kilometers per hour, covering nearly 30 meters every second. This speed would be fine on a highway, a smooth path where one wouldn't even need to watch the road.

But this was the suburbs; there were buildings and trees everywhere, and uncertain people and animals could dart out at any time. One careless mistake could result in a major accident with total destruction.

"Sir, according to calculations, your physical coordination cannot adapt to the full power of High-Output Mode in a short time. Zero will limit the power cap of High-Output Mode for you. Starting adjustment to 70%... 60%... 50%."

The speed dropped sharply.

Wang Shuo breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the status display at the bottom of the screen; the speed had now dropped to 80 kilometers per hour.

With Zero's assistance, this speed was just barely manageable for him.

"Zero, maintain current status, display the planned route."

A nearly straight line appeared before Wang Shuo's eyes.

After a quick glance, Wang Shuo had an idea in mind. He changed direction and headed straight toward the target, and in front of him was a dense grove of greenery.

The black figure plunged into the green grove and disappeared.