Chapter 1023: A Great Price

Enveloped by the frenzied net of electricity, more than a third of the total area of the scrap metal dump site turned into an eerie spectacle. The car wreckages, broken poles, rusty wire mesh, and the piled up scrap, everything in the electric net started to become transparent and slowly lost its original color. The items turned faded, abstract, illusionary, and finally disappeared entirely.

After the scrap metals vanished from view, in their place emerged the aforementioned basketball court-sized area from the future. This strange pit slowly appeared on the ground.

The electrical flashes were even more dazzling in the pit. A few devices could be seen operating crazily at extremely high loads, churning out electric sparks every once in a while. These electrical flashes covered the surface of the spiral pit, effectively isolating the space-time energy from further invading this world. At the bottom of the pit were the Terminators half-kneeling in neat rows!

Nearly half of the Terminators that had tried to step into the pit were destroyed before the violent electrical currents were tamed. At the moment, numerous Terminator wreckages still lay at the bottom of the pit. If it were not for the exposed metal skeletons inside them, it would have looked like the scene of a crazy massacre!

During the process of space-time teleportation, the violent electrical currents could actually counteract against the power of space-time energy. This was the method developed by future Skynet to mass transport Terminators through the time field.

This method was already quite comprehensively studied. Its advantage was that it could transmit multiple objects at the same time, with the possibility of returning — provided, of course, that a staggering amount of power could be supplied at the destination and the time machines that were transmitted over could be repaired.

There were naturally some shortcomings, the most prominent of which was that the method was extremely risky. More than half of the objects and Terminators transported with this method would be destroyed. If humans were to use it, the mortality rate would be even higher — close to 100%.

The energy of the electrical net gradually ran out as it slowly dissipated. The air was filled with the pungent smell of ozone, and the operation of the time machines slowly died down. Suddenly, one of the machines flared up before it exploded, sending the parts in it flying everywhere!

The time machine had just traveled through time and space, so the space-time energy on these parts had not dissipated yet. As they traveled through the air, they inexplicably emitted some shrill noises akin to the sound of metals being sawed, as if they were cutting through space itself!

A T-910 Terminator that was standing still was brushed by a flying gear. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, pale blue electric currents suddenly gushed out of its neck. The red light in its eyes went out, and it collapsed.

If one were to take a closer look, they would see that more than half his neck had been severed by the gear that was only as big as a fingernail. When it fell to the ground, the wires and parts on its neck spilled out and scattered. This cut to the neck would have been fatal to a human, but not to a Terminator. It could actually still be saved it it weren’t for the electrical currents around the area that had not fully dissipated yet. The electrical charges on its wound caused a huge lightning to come crashing down on it, destroying it completely!

After cutting through the neck of the T-910, the troublesome gear bounced at a weird angle straight towards a man nearby. The man’s face was different from the rest of the T-910, and he even had his own clothes.

He had slightly pale skin, sunken cheeks, neat clothes, and meticulous hair. His blue eyes were cold an penetrating, and his sleeves were slightly pulled up. Together with his hooked nose, tight lips, and the slight frown on his face….his entire person looked dangerous, like a sharp, rusty razor.

Seeing the gear coming towards him, he put out his left hand in front of him to block it. The gear that was carrying space-time energy reached the palm of this man and penetrated straight into it!! Inside his arm, it continued cutting everything in its path, producing some horrible noises, and finally stopped at his shoulder blade.

The man’s outstretched arm instantly became as soft as a noodle. His arm convulsed, marks appeared on its surface, as well as some huge bubbles that kept bursting. Obviously, the residual space-time energy had caused some great damage inside him. However, the man’s face displayed no expression at all. He stood there quietly as if the arm had nothing to do with him at all.

Three minutes later, the man finally extended his right middle finger in a slow manner. The finger bizarrely changed into a sharp knife. He stabbed the knife into his left shoulder blade, then slowly moved it around. When he finally pulled it out, his finger was no longer a sharp knife. Instead, it had turned into a pair of pliers that were currently clamping tightly onto the gear.

The man tried moving his left hand. Some electricity surged on the surface of the hand while he did so, before everything returned to normal. There was no more doubt that this man was a T-1000.

Despite having its body built from powerful liquid metal, it must be noted that the space-time energy on the gear was not so easy to deal with. This could be seen from the fact that the T-1000’s left hand, although seemingly healed, still produced the occasional sparks when it moved.

In order to avoid a similar accident, all the Terminators maintained their posture, half kneeling quietly on the ground as they waited.

More than ten minutes later, the T-1000 finally stood up and said to the other Terminators, “All models equipped with maintenance capabilities, stand up and step forward!”

Three T-910 Terminators abruptly stood up. However, two of them were injured.

Looking around, the T-1000 noticed that the other T-1000 had vanished. It could still remember the situation at the time, when an electric current whipped past, causing the other T-1000 to fall into the space-time vortex.

After some calculation with its powerful CPU, the T-1000 immediately took over command. He ordered with a cold, mechanical voice, “All models equipped with maintenance capabilities, start repairing those around you. You can try using the scattered parts on the ground.”

The sound of electric welding was instantly heard. Suddenly, one of the T-910 with maintenance capabilities said in a rigid voice, “Unable to proceed with maintenance work. We do not have the necessary parts.”

The T-1000 did not hesitate at all as he barked, “Then just disassemble your own parts!”

Although the command of T-1000 was cruel, the T-910s with maintenance capabilities would have the maintenance modules take up a large part of their CPU resources. So, in terms of combat effectiveness, they were inferior to the T-910s with full combat capabilities.

While the Terminators were executing the orders, the light of a heavy truck suddenly tore through the darkness in the distance. It truck swayed over while spewing thick black smoke, then directly smashed through the barbed wire surrounding the area and drove to the edge of the pit.

A man jumped off the heavy truck. His expression was not stiff, and looked no different from a human. From a human standard, he actually looked quite harmless, somewhat similar to Mr. Bean.

After he jumped out of the truck, he stretched out his hands and exclaimed passionately, “Aha, my friends, I hope I’m not too late. Check out the gifts I brought you!”

This man was obviously another TOK715 Terminator lurking among the humans.

“Shut up, fool, or I’ll tear you into pieces,” replied the T-1000 flatly.

The TOK715 Terminator merely shrugged and said in a regretful tone while chewing on a gum, “I’m sorry, sir, but my personality is controlled by my CPU thread, so I can’t help it. The Creator (Skynet) wanted me to be this way, and that’s what I became. It’s precisely thanks to this human emotional template that I can hide so well in this alien society without being found.”

At the mention of Skynet, the T-1000 became silent.

After a few seconds, he asked seriously, “What have you brought us?”

The TOK715 Terminator whistled before he answered, “Comprehensive information about the target, including, but not limited to, her family members, her pictures and so on…. Also, we can almost be certain that there are humans who are capable of fighting against Terminators protecting her. According to our assessment, the combat capabilities of these humans are not inferior to those of the Terminators.”

The colour of the T-1000’s eyes shifted rapidly in succession. He was apparently making calculations and analysis while he was talking.

“It’s close to impossible for humans to become capable of fighting against Terminators!” said the T-1000 coldly.

“Unfortunately, it’s the truth,” the TOK715 spread his hands and said. “They’re extremely strong. That’s why, I hope you won’t get careless. Inside the truck are some weapons I prepared for you guys – of course, the necessary modifications have already been made.”

The T-1000’s voice remained cold as he said, “This is the only piece of good news coming out of your mouth today. You better get out of my camera’s sight as quickly as you can; the sooner the better, the farther the better — because I’m finding it really hard to resist the urge to tear you apart! You look too much like a damn human!”

(TL: Bonus chapter coming later.)

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