This is really not mechanical ascension
Chapter 509 - 268 Hypnosis?? The Ever-Doubtful Connet_2

Chapter 509: Chapter 268 Hypnosis?? The Ever-Doubtful Connet_2

And soon, Kewis withdrew his palm, speaking in a deep voice, "It’s almost exactly the same as with Zog."

Zog and another person lay limp on the ground, twitching from time to time.

"They were manipulated through hypnosis with psychological suggestions implanted," Kewis explained, "believing they had inspected the main gun."

"From this, one can infer that these three main guns were replaced a long time ago."

"Hypnosis?" Connet furrowed his brows, "Can it really be this effective?"

"I’m also shocked. Logically speaking, psychological hypnosis should only affect ordinary life forms; even slightly stronger-minded life forms can resist, let alone an evolved body," Kewis was also puzzled.

Pier had regained his composure, his expression fluctuating as he listened to Kewis’s words.

"It’s this device." Ted received a metal box from his subordinate, opened it, and took out a delicate silver mechanical pocket watch.

"Let me see..." Kewis took it, examining the mechanical pocket watch in detail, looking at its hands, scales, and even the casing, his face showing increasing amazement.

"It’s incredible... how did he manage it, this thing...is too..." Kewis momentarily struggled to find words to describe it.

He casually pulled a soldier aside, had him take off his helmet, and waved the pocket watch in front of his eyes; in just two or three shakes, the man fell into a dazed and confused state.

"What’s your name?"

"Bartel..." the man responded numbly.

Fernand was shocked, "Just a couple of shakes can control a person?"

"Controlling a person isn’t the surprising part; the Power of the Mind can easily achieve this. The real purpose of this device is to conceal," Kewis sighed.

"It’s truly impressive. Less than ten hypnosis masters involved in its creation could not possibly produce such a device."

He even felt that such a device should not be possible to manufacture.

The essence of hypnosis is to put people into a state that is easily controllable, and the triggers for each person falling into this state differ, without a uniform standard.

"Moreover, its effect isn’t that significant." Saying so, Kewis waved the device in front of Pier’s eyes to no effect.

Fernand speculated, "Controlling the underlying methods, Des must have used this technique to gather a lot of fragmented information and meticulously untangled it."

"It’s terrifying that the other party could move around here so freely."

Connet remained silent, then ordered, "Pier..."

The first call received no response, Connet intensified his tone, "Pier!"

"Here!" Pier was jolted awake, his reply somewhat slurred.

Connet didn’t pursue it further, but ordered, "Go check, during the time segments when the voice appeared in the video, where was Des?"

He paused, then added, "And the timelines of everyone else."

"You still suspect?" Kewis couldn’t help but look over.

"Not suspicion, but confirmation." Connet shook his head, "If it really was him, everything should match."

"Don’t forget Brother, he spends all his time in his room, he has plenty of time," Kewis added.

"Brother..." Connet mused silently, "Brother shouldn’t have such an ability to hide imperceptibly."

Kewis had a different opinion. "We can’t just look at the surface; among them, Theo is the most skilled in concealment."

Connet frowned, not out of paranoia, but because the losses were too great and too bizarre; he wanted to thoroughly investigate, leaving no stone unturned.

"The most crucial thing is still how he disappeared; this is within the coverage area of the Realm of Perpetuity..." he murmured.

"Leader..." Pier suddenly spoke, lowering his head, carefully speaking to avoid being seen as biting his wounded tongue, "You, you might have fallen into a thought trap."

"Des could leave, maybe not just on his own power."

"Hmm?" Connet turned to look, Pier explained with difficulty, "Others, too, might have, through sacrificing a dimensional creature, obtained strange powers."

"Dimensional Creature!" Connet’s eyes lit up with excitement. Indeed, it was a possibility.

Sacrificing dimensional creatures was not their patent; they had merely stumbled upon this method and were still exploring it.

"Other dimensional powers might trigger a strong reaction from Balzak." Fernand disagreed.

"What if it’s adept at hiding?" Pier whispered.

Fernand fell silent; dimensional creatures were bizarre and unimaginable, possessing all kinds of abilities.

"Indeed, that’s a possibility," Connet nodded, finally finding some solace.

Pier was quite good, whether it was decoding something or suddenly coming up with a new perspective to think about the problem, he provided breakthrough ideas.

"Des’s whereabouts are unknown, and we can’t be sure if the base coordinates have been leaked. Regardless, we need to evacuate temporarily."

Connet sighed deeply, suppressing the pain and helplessness in his heart.

Missing three main ship guns, their plans were significantly disrupted.

Even though the fleet built around three main ships could not directly confront the United Fleet, it could still be effective in certain situations.

At the least, a purely self-destructive interception could buy a lot of time.

But now, the primary attack method was gone, significantly reducing the threat.

"Leave the base?" Fernand was surprised by Connet’s decisiveness and couldn’t help saying, "If Des really knew the base coordinates, then Asimara wouldn’t just ambush you."

"I understand, but we must be cautious," Connet insisted firmly, "Besides, there’s only a month left until the Tidal Period of the Red River Star Stream, it’s also a good time to wait nearby."

"If we evacuate from here, we’ll lose the means to suppress those Level A life forms," Kewis reminded.

Connet didn’t reply but turned to ask Fernand, "Do they know about Des’s situation?"

Fernand shook his head: "They probably don’t know the specifics, but Des has been absent from the Core Laboratory for a long time, they must have guessed something is wrong."

"It’s good that they don’t know the specifics, let’s test them," Connet’s expression turned cold, images of several people flashed before his eyes, but he couldn’t pinpoint them.

"I’ve been wanting to make a move on them for a while," Kewis smirked.

...

In the Core Laboratory, the three remaining Mechanics were present. Benny looked somewhat worried as he glanced at the red exclamation point popping up on the screen.

He sighed and removed the glowing Energy Crystal, whispering:

"It’s wrong again, the coefficient isn’t correct, it can’t handle the energy spectrum’s diversion."

"What exactly has Des gone to do? He hasn’t been to the Core Laboratory for so long, and the Torch Organization has been vague, not giving straight answers."

"We’ve nearly reached 80% of the overall production progress; this is the last core node. Once the Crystallization System Coefficient is resolved, we can quickly finish the Sublimator."

Since Des stopped coming, their production progress visibly declined.

Jesaya’s face was cold: "Only this much is left; can’t we three Mechanics solve it? Surely we can’t say that without Des, we can’t do anything, right?"

"I don’t mean that. It’s just the finishing touches; we could indeed complete it, but it would take too much time," Benny sighed repeatedly:

"I reckon, without half a year, it would be difficult to complete."

After speaking, his gaze turned to Li Ming, who was concentrating on his work, and he added a few more words, "Lord Azure Dragon, at this juncture, don’t hold back, just make your conditions directly to the Torch Organization."

"What do you mean?" Li Ming looked up, slightly surprised, "Why does it sound like I have a solution?"

"You don’t have one?"

"Do I?"

Benny looked even more helpless, as if wanting to reveal something yet finding it difficult to say.