Lu Xiao let out a long breath: "Although there are still many details yet to be understood, our goal is finally clear."
"Hades was originally just a subroutine of Gaia. It does not have artificial intelligence itself. It will only be awakened under specific circumstances to snatch Gaia's authority over the planet transformation system."
"The definition of the specific circumstances is not yet known and is not important to us."
"The important thing is that Hades now possesses advanced intelligence. We must find the universal overwriting program mentioned by Gaia, trace the whereabouts of Hades, clear its distorted AI system, and seize its intelligent core."
"Aletheia, where are the ruins of the core power furnace of the Gaia system? Can it be found out through terrain comparison?"
"Hold on."
Aletheia used the base's main control system to make some calculations: "No, the expansion range of the drone is not large enough to accurately locate the exact location of Gaia's ruins."
Lu Xiao scratched his head helplessly: "Can we get the answer by comparing it with ancient maps?"
"No way."
Aletheia smiled bitterly and said: "Nearly a thousand years have passed, and the map of the North American continent has undergone considerable changes. It is impossible to completely refer to the maps of the old era to find the way."
"Then there's nothing we can do."
Lu Xiao spread his hands and turned to look at Yongzhen: "Let's split up."
"Considering the shadow Calgar and the Eclipse Cult forces that Hades may have under his control, it would be best for us to obtain official support from the Kingdom of Calgar."
"Yongzhen, you first have an honest contact with Aloy, travel with her temporarily, and find a way to establish contact with the Nora tribe through Aloy."
"I rushed to Meridian City first to see if I could use the information we had to meet Sun King Yavid and gain support from the Kingdom of Calgar. By the way, I could also meet Orin."
Yongzhen nodded: "It's good. Orin is an archaeologist. He should know something about ruins all over the world. Maybe we can ask him about the precise location of Gaia's ruins."
"One more question."
Yongzhen asked hesitantly: "Should I find an opportunity to tell her about Aloy's life experience? Can she accept her identity as a clone?"
Lu Xiao shook her head: "With her current world view, even if she knows the truth, she may not be able to understand the meaning."
"Let's hide it from her for now. Aloy has Dr. Sobek's genes. She can enter any ancient ruins at will."
Lu Xiao handed the information recorder left by Gaia to Yongzhen: "When Aloy has enough understanding of ancient technology, you can tell her the truth as appropriate."
"We must pay attention to her mental state, guide Aloy to think about the bright side, and don't let her go to extremes because of her bizarre life experience."
…
To be fair, if Lu Xiao suddenly learned that he was a clone one day, it would be difficult for him to remain calm.
Clones are also called replicants. In the era when Lu Xiao lived, cloning technology was still imperfect, and the biological lifespan of most clones would be far lower than their sampled versions.
The number of cell divisions is limited.
Taking humans as an example, if cloned cells are taken from a 30-year-old adult, his cells will be 30 years old when he was born.
Assuming that the theoretical lifespan of the sampled version is 80 years old, the clone created using his cells will live to be 50 years old at most.
After hundreds of years of evolution, perhaps Gaia has solved the problem of cloning human cell division times.
At least Aloy has not been found to have any genetic diseases or problems with clones aging too fast until he is 16 years old.
You know, the cells Gaia removed from Elisabeth Sobek were at least as they were when she was 40-50 years old.
It stands to reason that Aloy would age quickly when he reaches his teens, but this is not the case.
Yongzhen and Lu Xiao set off from Vault 53 on the same day. Yongzhen went south to meet up with Aloy, who was hunting down the Eclipse Cult, while Lu Xiao went west to Meridian City, the capital of the Kingdom of Calgar.
Aletheia left her electronic clone to sit at the base. Her body possessed Yongzhen and followed her to find Aloy. She could provide Yongzhen with powerful assistance when necessary.
Consus was more interested in the cultural inheritance of the Kingdom of Calgar. He continued to stay with Lu Xiao and followed Lu Xiao to Ziwu City to witness the world's first kingdom.
Just like Aletheia said, after thousands of years of changes, the terrain of the North American continent has undergone considerable changes.
Lu Xiao could hardly find the correct road by comparing it with the map, so he could only ask passing business travelers along the way to find the way to Ziwu City.
Leaving the territory of the Nora tribe, the types of mechanical beasts have become more abundant.
There are no large water sources in the territory of the Nora tribe. At best, there are only small rivers flowing.
When Lu Xiao was passing through a vast lake area, he discovered the first large mechanical beast by the lake.
The Yaostom is an amphibious mechanical beast with a total length of more than 10 meters. Its appearance is similar to a crocodile and is highly aggressive. Any person or mechanical beast who dares to approach the lake will be attacked by the Yaostom.
Facing such a behemoth, Lu Xiao didn't want to fight hand-to-hand with it.
After accidentally provoking a toothmouth beast, Lu Xiao tried to fight it using a long-range guerrilla approach, as a way to gain experience in fighting large mechanical beasts in advance.
The Toothmouth Beast has both a flame fuel tank and a freezing fuel tank, and can spray fire and ice mist attacks, making it very difficult for those who lack experience in dealing with it.
"Whoosh!"
With the help of Focus, Lu Xiao shot an arrow while running, hitting the flame fuel tank on the back of the fangmouth beast.
"boom!"
The ignited fuel tank exploded and affected the nearby frozen fuel tank. The backlash of the two layers of ice and fire caused the Yaoshou beast to lose its combat effectiveness almost instantly.
"It's not difficult."
Using the Xuanyuan Sword to cut off the head of the Yaosou Beast, Lu Xiao easily took out the intelligent core from its head.
Consus analyzed: "Perhaps these mechanical beasts were not designed for combat at the beginning, and their strengths happen to be also weaknesses."
In addition to sharp metal claws, fuel tanks are important components that support the attack of mechanical beasts, but most of these fuel tanks are not tightly protected.
If it is a machine specially designed for war, it should protect its weaknesses, just like the Degrader that Lu Xiao destroyed before. At least there will be no obvious loopholes on the surface.
As she continued to delve deeper into the Kingdom of Calja, Lu Xiao saw more weird mechanical beasts.
In a valley near the highlands of Ziwu City, Lu Xiao met the overlord of the ground mechanical beasts - Thunder Fang for the first time.
"This is really..."
Lu Xiao, who was hiding in the dark, looked at the huge mechanical monster walking on two legs in amazement.
"This thing should be regarded as self-discipline, right?"
There are weapons called disc launchers mounted on both sides of Thunder Bluff's body, and a powerful cannon is also installed in its mouth.
Other parts include flame fuel tanks, frozen fuel tanks, power batteries, and a radar for scanning enemies on the back.
Lu Xiaoren, who had not activated the battlefield ghost, was still a few hundred meters away when Thunder Bluff's radar scanned his position and sprayed out a long, thick red laser from his mouth.
"Fuck!"
While jumping out of the grass to avoid the ray, Lu Xiao activated two concealment skills at the same time.
Thunder Bluff relentlessly used its disc launcher to fire at Lu Xiao's location, and the huge energy flying discs sent dust on the ground.
Lu Xiao temporarily held her breath to prevent the wind and sand from entering her body and damaging her lungs.
'Forget it, if you don't want to fight this thing, you should try not to touch it. Too much noise can easily attract other mechanical beasts, and there is no decent benefit if you fight it.'