Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 496 - 140: Just Right

Chapter 496: Chapter 140: Just Right

A drone swiftly maneuvered through the mountains, like a swift. This drone only had very basic modules, not the popular multi-rotor structure, but instead metal foil wings and a propeller at the front. After maintaining high-speed flight for ten minutes, its internal mechanical structure triggered a random change of direction, and the rotary-wing immediately changed its flight angle, continuing to fly for another minute.

Then, four signal flares, ignited by a countdown timer, shot up from the drone. The flare tube that launched them automatically burned away. The fire quickly spread over the entire drone.

This, the cheapest piece of machinery, immediately caught fire and crashed into the mountains.

It was never fitted with smart modules, let alone navigation and auto-return capabilities.

Its sole purpose was to get as far away from the launcher as possible and then shoot out signal flares.

Due to that unimaginably skilled Internal expert, Heavenly Machine himself had destroyed the privately set base station and then through other unstable channels, had the message relayed layer by layer, directing everyone to do the same while activating Plan B for the signal flares.

This was essentially blinding oneself, but it also meant there was no risk of being threatened by "witnessing" or such methods.

The others from Green Forest were puzzled, feeling there was no need for such actions. But Heavenly Machine insisted on it.

Only he understood just how powerful an expert of Iron Heart Dharma King’s level was.

If the growth of external strength was linear, several good fighters or even hundreds of soldiers could threaten a master.

The growth of Inner Strength, on the other hand, was non-linear. At a low level, everyone was a mere follower, only able to proceed along paths carved out by Great Hackers. But at a high level, it was indeed a matter of life and death with a single thought.

At the levels of Turing or King Aqini who had once influenced the course of eras, their battles weren’t merely happening in the present. It could be said that the ripples of those supreme beings’ battles were affecting the present. People’s understanding of Inner Strength was a trace of their battles. They were always trying to shift the world of the internet more in their favor—every tutorial and textbook known to people was a weapon in their battles.

Without reaching this realm, one couldn’t even begin to peek into it.

These hackers even gradually erased their own past records, becoming "Nameless Kings" in history.

Heavenly Machine didn’t know whether Iron Heart Dharma King was at that level. However, the Iron Heart Dharma King was at least also a top-tier master. The curses and Gu he had accumulated could instantly kill most people.

Anyone whose Inner Strength was below a certain level couldn’t stand in front of him.

And the person who had attacked Sky Fierce was at least at that level.

If everyone was still connected, then that master could have simply slaughtered indiscriminately. If they could kill one, they could definitely kill everyone.

Now, everyone was relying solely on a patch from Iron Heart Dharma King for protection.

Though disconnecting from the network resulted in some issues in "coordination," relying on external strength alone, a group of mediocre fighters still had a chance to reverse kill a master, avoiding complete despair.

But Sky Fierce was still puzzled.

"No wonder you insisted on setting up a backup plan," Sky Fierce looked at the signal flares rising not far away with some confusion, "but did you know beforehand that we would encounter a master of Inner Strength that’s beyond limit?"

"The Secluded Crane Knight Order is also not short of masters. And they even possess the Igni Seal," Heavenly Machine said, "Such a large Order of Knights can request direct support from the Moon’s experts."

"That’s not right either. The Igni Seal is just something that has never been triggered, a... well, a mere elusive legend. You even worry about that? Besides, we have no reason to initiate conflict with those dogs from the Secluded Crane Knight Order..."

Heavenly Machine stared at him: "I blackmailed something from the government. Are you telling me now, it’s best not to guard against them?"

His tone was slightly unfriendly. To Sky Fierce, this seemed to be a response to the previous argument about "becoming dogs."

Sky Fierce said nothing, just shrugged.

Of course, Heavenly Machine had other reasons for setting up the signal flares this way.

That was... to call the other masters from the Six Dragons Sect to come and save them quickly.

With the presence of that great master, the roles of hunter and prey had now reversed. Now, they needed to find a way to get the masters of the Six Dragons Sect here quickly.

Indeed, sending drones to launch signal flares was for the sake of not exposing the location of the launcher.

Also, to avoid someone deducing the approximate location of the launcher from the drone’s crash traces, the drone would be triggered by its mechanical mechanism to randomly turn before its final launch and then crash.

But it still marked a direction.

It was still a clue.

To save everyone’s lives, Heavenly Machine was indeed strained.

Sky Fierce and Heavenly Machine continued to move forward. Shortly after, their receiver picked up Heaven Hero’s radio broadcast.

"Heavenly Machine, Sky Fierce, there’s some bad news,"

"What?"

Heaven Hero said, "A medium-sized drone flew by overhead, the jet type used for reconnaissance. It might be something governmental, should we shoot it down?"

Sky Fierce looked toward Heavenly Machine: "Didn’t you say the government wouldn’t notice us here?"

"Could it be our abnormal behavior with the signal flares has drawn attention? But the government forces wouldn’t usually mobilize like this," Heavenly Machine said.

Yet his heart couldn’t help but be excited.

This was almost certainly a reconnaissance drone from the Six Dragons Sect.

Heaven Hero spotting the drone meant that it wouldn’t be long before they could be seen by the drone.

Soon, Heavenly Machine saw the target.

It was a medium-sized aircraft flying a few hundred meters above the ground, somewhat resembling the old-era MQ-9 reconnaissance drone, only a bit smaller, capable of being fitted with air-to-air or air-to-ground missiles.

And it was using a wireless signal for communication. This suggested that the masters of the Six Dragons Sect were not far away. Just a few more hours to hold on...

But at that moment, Sky Fierce, who had been concealing himself under a Camouflage Net on the ground, came over with a grave tone, "There’s no response."

Only then, did Heavenly Machine notice something else.

No other signal flares had risen in the Coast Mountains.

"This can’t be! There were four teams an hour ago!"

The Green Forest would use signal flares to connect every hour.

The signal sent by Heavenly Machine meant "abandon the mission, rally to me."

According to the rules, other teams should respond similarly upon seeing the signal flare.

The response should take about ten minutes.

But ten minutes had passed, and there was still no response!

It was as if those teams had mysteriously disappeared.

"Good news... might also be bad news," Heaven Hero said, "Looks like that expert is nearby."

Sky Fierce laughed heartily: "That’s perfect!"