Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 416 - 374

Chapter 416: 374

A ship full of magical materials.

Mithril, Mount Copper, Griffin’s Heart, Dragon’s Tooth, Midnight Gem... Over a hundred kinds of objects imbued with natural magic power were uniformly processed by humans, mass-forged like steelmaking, and ultimately turned into tons of magical materials with a consistent quality.

Farosa had seen how the Chaos Witches of the Middle Ages went about their work; they would meticulously gather and refine materials, a process far more elegant than the crude decomposition by humans, and turn them into magical items.

But humans actually did it better, valuing efficiency above all else. The powdered materials still contained magic power, their effects in no way diminished, and were also convenient for packaging, storage, and transport.

In 100 years, humans had eradicated flaws that Witches had been unable to overcome for thousands of years, which caused Farosa some distress; she had once believed from the bottom of her heart that Witches were the superior race.

In any case, it would be wise to first steal the incredibly valuable magical materials from the ship.

Tucking the hem of her Rainbow Cloak, Farosa felt a surge of pleasant emotions. "Moonfire" Mond had given her flames capable of smelting materials, and now all she lacked were the raw materials.

Every time she smelted a treasure, she could strengthen a Witch. Farosa intended to forge a magical item for each member of the Witch Council, to compensate for their weaknesses, leverage their strengths, and take the Witch Council’s combat power to the next level—several times stronger than it was now, capable of standing alone in battle, allowing Farosa to have more time and energy for cultivation.

To Farosa, the narrow-necked, pot-bellied, azure-gold glass bottles appeared like treasure chests waiting to be unlocked.

Standing on the rooftop of Shijin Mansion, Farosa leaned on the railing and gazed into the distance at Anjiu City Port, where the dark blue sea slowly undulated and swayed so neatly, resembling a wave-patterned carpet. She could still feel the psychic link with Clares the Second, the giant Ocean Descendant lurking not 1500 meters from the port, waiting for instructions from her "mother."

Everything was ready.

"I want those magical materials," Farosa turned to Xu Yang and said, "right now, and I also want to kill people."

To her surprise, Xu Yang did not respond but instead closed his eyes.

Mireya had always maintained the electronic information system of the Haiyun with her Digital Mind, but as soon as she was drawn away by the disturbance, Xu Yang successfully hacked into the Haiyun. He had control over every camera on board, and all the ship’s weaponry, electrical systems, and auxiliary facilities were within his authority.

Xu Yang saw everything.

He saw a heavily modified man pouncing on the ship’s information station, just to upload his consciousness into the operating system and become a stream of data darting between circuit boards.

He saw an Angel in ceremonial attire reaching into the void and pulling out a half ring of light, but immobilized by Tenjouin Shino’s magical power.

He saw Mireya and Lu Jing walking together, hidden in the depths of the ship. Mireya quietly opened a crew room door, stood by it, and attempted to reconnect to the monitoring backend to observe the situation.

Xu Yang looked to the sky. A fleet of 12 Shuttle Machines from the northeast was approaching. Tenjouin Shino should be on board, using her All Directions Stop to lock down everything.

What role did Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing play in all this?

Xu Yang reviewed the navigation log.

Mireya was a person from Lighthouse Core, and after being captured by Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing, she had intentions of cooperating with them. She and the entire cargo of magical materials were supposed to be delivered to Silla Region for some plan.

Xu Yang observed the report. The ship had been attacked 13 hours earlier—the suddenly appeared Angel had hijacked the vessel and taken control of Mireya and Lu Jing on board.

A few months earlier, as part of the recognition for capturing Mireya, Lu Jing now was a formal Battle Witch under the Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing, responsible for escorting the cargo and prisoners.

Now, the Haiyun was quiet and motionless, far away from the port. Based on the public report, Tenjouin Shino’s stopping magic could maintain for 30 minutes.

"Kill them all," Farosa said.

"I’ll give it a neat and clean ending," he replied.

"Then I’ll have to find some other amusement," Farosa turned away.

Xu Yang closed his eyes, and as he seized control over the Haiyun, he gradually understood the ship’s general structure. This giant armored cargo ship was like a labyrinth, with its central secret cargo hold filled with magical materials, but first, he had to deal with a few risks before he could start receiving the treasures.

Xu Yang first located Nightmare Program and Yonka, locking them inside a folder.

"What happened?" Yonka suddenly discovered they were unable to escape from their current disk space, trapped in a small corner of the vast data structure, stuck in their present path.

On their left sat 26 operating system files, and to the right, a set of registry entries. Their selves were in the form of deeply encoded personality files, too difficult to leave their current disk.

"Our hacked permissions have been restored, an expert is controlling the entire ship," the Nightmare Program observed the situation. "Keep your voice down, you fool... I don’t want to turn into a piece of [data deleted]."

"You bastard..." Yonka saw the bad turn of events but couldn’t advance even an inch, not even having the chance to move freely. They would be deleted with each system maintenance update.

Xu Yang could easily find them because they left behind mind files wherever they went. To others, these files seemed to be complete gibberish, but Xu Yang, who had once created similar archives through his Net Avatar, recognized them clearly and knew they were subconscious documents produced by a digitalized mind.

Therefore, when Xu Yang discovered that new files were being added to some sectors of the disk, he could track them down by following the trail and find the directory where they were hiding.

Only after eliminating the potential trouble they could cause did Xu Yang feel at ease to let 101 teleport to find Seeking Shadow and bring her to the cabin to execute the task.

"The order is to deal with Mireya and the Angel, to clear the obstacles for us," 101 instructed Seeking Shadow.

"Are they evil?" Seeking Shadow asked.

"They are enemies," 101 said.

Our enemies are always evil, unless you think we’re not on the side of the right. 101 thought, but did not say it out loud.

Seeking Shadow nodded slightly, ready to act.

She was teleported deep into the cabin by 101, who then returned alone, ready to grab a large bag to collect magical materials, leaving Seeking Shadow to act.

Armed with Shadow Kill, her face covered by a plastic mask and her body draped in a black ultra-fiber cloak, Seeking Shadow was confident in solving any problems.

Along the way, she saw several Synthetic Humans controlled by the system, who, under the effect of Tenjouin Zina’s magic deprivation, were left motionless while cleaning the corridors, like exquisite sculptures.

They were controlled by humans to perform hard labor. Seeking Shadow quickly passed these Synthetic Humans, remembering her own unawakened past as she observed these rigidly moving beings of her kind.

What exactly is the relationship between Synthetic Humans and humans? Are they merely products and tools to replace human labor? Seeking Shadow considered discussing this issue with Nidelaide after completing her task.

On the other hand, Mireya had successfully accessed the surveillance system and was observing her surroundings, waiting for the right moment to strike; unaware that Xu Yang had replaced all the video content with illusions, specially designed to mislead her.

If only she weren’t a Witch, how good that would be. Mireya sat in the crew’s quarters, patiently waiting for her victim to take the bait. According to the "surveillance footage" she had, she was very safe, with no one else boarding the ship yet. However, she knew it was only a matter of time; Tenjouin Zina had locked down the ship’s movement, and only a fool would miss this opportunity.

"Dilnai will strip me of my magic power," Mireya sat on the metal floor, taking out a bottle of orange soda from the living cabinet. She asked Lu Jing to help her open it. "This is my biggest dream—to no longer be a Witch."

"Okay," Lu Jing responded dully, fulfilling Mireya’s wish, as she even needed Mireya’s control to speak.

Through the orange liquid in the soda bottle, Mireya saw Lu Jing’s innocent and naive face, who knew nothing. Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing hadn’t mistreated them, and Lu Jing had also shown respect for her, which made Mireya hesitate slightly; Lu Jing was a rare kind of Witch, one with great kindness.

But she still had to serve Dilnai. The Goddess of New Taixi State would grant great rewards to the loyal.

If only she wasn’t a Witch, then she could avoid all sorts of threats, oppression, and pain. Mireya thought as she looked at Lu Jing. What exactly was a Witch? Apart from dominating people’s hearts with their gaze, she had no outstanding characteristics. She could disappear into the crowd at any moment, indistinguishable from ordinary human females, capable of laughing, joking, enjoying movies, and keeping cats.

Dilnai had promised that if she served her, she would strip Mireya of her magic power and turn her into an ordinary Angel to live in Paradise.

If only she could make it to shore alive. Mireya thought to herself.

Footsteps. Mireya heard the noise and checked the surveillance cameras for the surrounding area; all was normal. But the sound made her uneasy, and she cracked open the door to take a look outside.

She locked eyes with a female Synthetic Human.

Mireya saw the cold-looking optical devices behind her biomechanical eyes and, on instinct, lifted her gun to shoot.

Bang!

The pulling of the trigger and the swing of the Ion Sword occurred simultaneously. The high-energy blade cut through the door, instantly repelling Mireya as the bullet struck Seeking Shadow, damaging her alloy skeleton but causing no serious harm.

Before Mireya could command Lu Jing, Seeking Shadow charged forward, slicing through Mireya’s chest. From her right shoulder to her left side, everything was burned and destroyed by the energy blade. Mireya screamed, stumbled back two steps, and passed out.

Seeking Shadow lunged forward again, only to be caught by Lu Jing.