NFBE Chapter 16: Infiltration
Chapter 16: Infiltration
Both Zhang Qiming and the players could accept this kind of mission involving a change in the situation, so it was natural for Zhang Qiming to choose to do it himself.
The main reason is that these kinds of situational change missions offer high rewards... Oh, I should say these kinds of missions are tough and tiring, so how could I possibly hand them over to my dear players!
Besides, they can't actually make it for the players right now.
The next second, he raised his hand and opened the task panel.
[Task accepted: Clean house?]
【Yes! 】
After receiving the mission, he began to retrieve the follow-up information that Saint Sophia had left in the secret emails.
Grigory Makarov will then travel to the main city of Mars to rest and recuperate. His specific location is a military reception area on the outskirts of the main city of Tharsis Plateau, one of the three major regions of Mars.
Zhang Qiming scanned the document from beginning to end. It contained detailed security plans and monitoring systems, as well as Makarov's profession and prosthetic configuration.
Grigory Makarov, a transcendent being on the path of the Sacred Body Forger—his main professions are: Cyborg LV10 (MAX) and Mechanical Warrior LV9; his secondary profession is Soldier LV10 (MAX).
In Stellaris, the Corpse Forgers primarily use cybernetic bodies. They forge their bodies into steel artifacts by constantly modifying their flesh and bones.
The prosthetic body functional slots of the Sacred Body Forger are divided into eleven major parts: operating system, frontal cortex, face, circulatory system, immune system, nervous system, skeleton, epidermis, arms, hands, and legs.
The choice of prosthetic body determines the cyborg's fighting style, combat abilities, and survivability.
Of course, it's not true that the more prosthetics you have, the better.
Just as psionicists suffer from "mental pollution," those who forge sacred bodies also have their own problems, namely "prosthetic capacity." Once the modification goes too far and the prosthetic body becomes overloaded, the forger's sanity will be gradually worn away, eventually leading to cybernetic psychosis.
The higher the quality of the prosthetic body, the greater the required prosthetic volume.
Makarov, on the other hand, followed the most typical melee combat style.
Almost all of the eleven types of parts on his body are designed for close combat. Most of his prosthetics are only of green quality, which is not very luxurious, but they are perfectly compatible. The only powerful prosthetic on his body is the blue quality [Forearm Prosthetic - Pop-up Alloy Arm Blade].
This thing is usually hidden in the prosthetic arm. Once it is deployed, his close combat ability will jump a level. Combined with his combat experience from his military background and the physical foundation of his cyborg main profession, if an ordinary superhuman is pulled into close to mid-range by him, he will basically not have a good ending.
After reading this, Zhang Qiming felt more at ease. These melee barbarians were actually the easiest to deal with. Although the opponent's total level was 29, it was still not enough for him, an immortal template who cultivated both psionic and myriad functions.
Moreover, this assassination mission doesn't require specifically dealing with a high-level Type III AI mainnet like Ares, making it even simpler.
Monitoring, routes, security nodes, terminal permissions, and local network blocking—these are all things that Huozhi Shilang can handle in advance.
Furthermore, the Sacred Body Forger has a prosthetic body function slot, while the Myriad Machine Attendant can invoke the Myriad Machine Way and the power of the Machine Soul through mechanical methods and machine soul rituals.
Zhang Qiming hasn't truly reached the first stage yet, but through the Myriad Machines Ritual, he can already draw upon a portion of the power of mechanical magic from Zhi Shilang.
He put away the documents and let Chiseiro tailor the assassination plan based on the intelligence. Chiseiro marked the emergency exits, elevator shafts, and several security checkpoints, and formulated a detailed assassination plan and action strategy.
After doing all that, Zhang Qiming simply put away the guns he would use that night, spare magazines, and a folding short knife, and after confirming that the local link on Chishiro's side was ready, he didn't waste any more time.
We can start tonight.
……
……
After night falls, the cities on Mars look completely different from those during the day.
There is no true night in the main city of Tharsis Plateau. In the distance, there are layers of flowing navigation lights on the outer wall of the tower, and in the foreground, there is a red warning line set up around the military reception area.
Searchlights swept slowly from above, cutting the thick blast walls, enclosed corridors, and patrolling security teams into alternating blocks of light and shadow. Inside, there were pairs of security guards on duty, with fixed posts, mobile posts, and miniature reconnaissance aircraft interspersed among them. Even the maintenance passages that were usually only used by logistics personnel and aircraft servitors had two extra layers of identification tags attached.
The security level in the reception area has clearly been raised considerably due to the assassination attempt on Cardinal St.
However, this level of security was meaningless to Zhi Shilang. Without being noticed by others, he had already taken care of the nearby surveillance cameras and miniature reconnaissance aircraft for Zhang Qiming.
Zhang Qiming sneaked in quietly, following the plan devised by Zhi Shilang and exploiting a security loophole.
[Mental Disguise] reduced his presence, and with the spy subclass's [Stealth LV10 (MAX)] and [Disguise Infiltration LV10 MAX], he seemed to be swallowed up by the night and steel, and his footsteps were barely audible.
Soon, the first node was reached.
A security knight stood at the corner. He was quite cybernetically enhanced, with obvious metal seams on his neck and jaw, and his rank was not low either.
Through [target positioning], he quickly determined the other party's level without them noticing.
【Cyborg LV7】
Holding a standard-issue submachine gun, he leaned against the wall, listening to the internal channel in his headset, while Chishiro hacked into the other party's call channel, where other people's voices could be heard intermittently.
This security knight is clearly a leader, and he is giving orders to the other security knights around him.
"Patrol in Zone B is proceeding normally."
"The shift on the east side of the covered bridge just changed, don't let them miss any inspections again."
The security guard raised his hand as he spoke, intending to turn down the channel volume, but there was still nothing at the end of the corridor.
The surveillance footage is normal, the access logs are normal, everything is normal...
The next second, when Zhang Qiming had silently gotten close to him from behind, the other party didn't even have time to become alert.
[Silent Assassination LV10 (MAX) -]
This attack hit the target's vital point, dealing 212 points of fatal damage!
[Target is dead!]
[You have gained 72 experience points!]
Zhang Qiming suddenly covered the other man's mouth with one hand, while his other hand precisely wedged into the weakest point where the neck and prosthetic body met, giving him no time to react before twisting it off.
Click.
The sound was very soft, almost as soft as a metal fastener snapping.
The security guard's body tensed abruptly, only managing a muffled groan that was blocked from his throat. The light in his eyes vanished instantly, and before he could even raise his gun, his neck was snapped. His entire body went limp as if he had suddenly lost power.
The channel in the headphones continued playing.
Zhang Qiming casually pressed down on the corpse, gently laying it down on the ground without letting the metal prosthetic body make any unnecessary noise. He then reached out and took off the other person's earphone, put it to his own ear, lowered his voice, and casually replied.
"Everything is normal, remain vigilant."
Chishiro automatically corrected the audio, making it sound exactly like the person who had just spoken.
He changed into the other person's clothes, disposed of the body, and when he emerged from the mezzanine, he had become a night patrol security knight.
Next, he continued down the corridor and quietly made his way to the monitoring room.