The Ultimate Evolution
chapter-1021

The very next moment, the abandoned warehouse instantly exploded outwards, as if an invisible giant palm had pressed down on it hard. Shattered bricks and stones were blasted everywhere like scattered feathers! Fierce, turbulent airflow surged and formed a terrifying mushroom cloud that rose high into the sky. Sheyan staggered back with his arms covering his face, trying to prevent his eyes from being hurt by the high-temperature air waves.

This was the ultimate ability of the TOK715 Terminator -- triggering the nuclear battery in its body to self-destruct!

Sheyan stared solemnly at the scene of the explosion and found that the warehouse was completely destroyed. Amidst the smoke and fire, a shocking crater could be seen on the ground. Even a Terminator could not survive such a violent explosion.

Sheyan and Mogensha exchanged glances and nodded. Sheyan then heaved a sigh of relief and said, "The secret of John Connor is safe."

"Yeah. We must never let Skynet know about him. He's the only hope for the future of mankind, we can't take any risks!"

Unbeknownst to them (or so it appeared), their actions and expressions had been completely captured by a high-tech camera.

This high-tech camera was currently situated more than 50 meters above the ground!

To be more precise, the high-tech camera was the undamaged left eye of the TOK715 Terminator.

The explosion just now was the last-ditch defensive measure of the TOK-715, but it did not actually kill itself. The move was similar to the way a lizard or a crab would sever its own limb in order to escape. To survive in the face of death was the ultimate art of running away!

Creatures like lizards and crabs cut off their own tails and claws to escape death, but the TOK715 Terminator was more ruthless that that. It even confused the enemy by abandoning its entire body!

After the Terminator was blown into the warehouse, it activated a string of continuous flashes. These flashes only played the visual role of simulating an explosion. If someone were looking at the warehouse at that moment, they would be completely dazzled by the blinding light and their vision would be greatly affected.

After that, the head of the TOK715 Terminator rotated at a high speed, then detached itself from the body and was ejected upwards at a very high speed. Within a second after the ejection, a series of chain reactions occurred in the headless body, and a high-intensity current entered the hydrogen fusion battery to trigger a small-scale nuclear explosion!

The head that was launched into the air would automatically change its colour according to the environment at the time. If it was night time, it would become black. Against a backdrop of a blue sky and white clouds, it would become blue and white. The camouflage made it very difficult to detect. Moreover, the head had the ability to perform short-range flight for up to half an hour, as well as photography and video-recording functions, among others.

Of course, the whole series of functions had been fully analysed and researched by Dolittle. Sheyan and co. knew of them, that's why they dared to force the TOK-715 into such a desperate situation. The reliability of the information transmitted under such a situation would no doubt be quite high.

Even if future Skynet was a sly old fox, Sheyan guessed that there was at least a 70% chance of it falling for the bait. Besides, Skynet was a monster that usually solved problems using logic and numbers.....

Half an hour later, in an alley next to a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles, a strong wind suddenly raged and strands of electric currents started to tangle violently. A fire hydrant was forcefully cut in half, causing water to spray high into the air. Another TOK715 Terminator was delivered to this era. This time, it had the appearance of a handsome man who looked somewhat like David Beckham. Of course, it was naked.

At the same time, on a rooftop 400 meters away, Hannah's head split in the middle, exposing the simple communicator inside. During the few seconds the time displacement sphere was open, a large amount of data was transmitted over. The data was labelled with a blue tag, signifying the highest warning level. Why was the highest warning level blue? Because when a computer crashes, it would show the blue screen of death. This situation was worthy of a high level of attention by the Terminators, just like a cardiac arrest or a cerebral infarction to a human.

After the data was sent out, the bizarre heard chose to self-destruct in order to erase the last trace of itself in this world.

　　**********

At this time, in the place Party Ace chose to be their temporary base, Old Dolittle was not glued to his research like he normally was. He had come to Sheyan with a suitcase. Sheyan was currently resting by himself on a bed. His brows were knitted tight and he looked worried.

Yes, Sheyan was naturally clever and perceptive, but there were also times when he would be confused and troubled.

He was recalling the time when he first entered the nightmare realm. At that time, Sheyan was full of passion and motivation, brave and dedicated, struggling tenaciously in the face of life and death. Why? First, it was due to the novelty of possessing power beyond one's imagination.

Second, he was hoping he could restore Uncle Dasi's severed body parts through the help of the realm.

Third, he was hoping he could grow quickly and look for Huashan Fei for revenge! The outrage from being harassed, the humiliation of having his family's fingers chopped off, and the anger from having their boat burned down were not things that he was willing to let go of!

But now, Sheyan just felt tired. While constantly being driven by the realm to grow strong, he found himself increasingly lacking in motivation.

Was this the feeling of emptiness after achieving one's goal? He suddenly thought of something strange -- Sanzi and himself had become contestants. Was this a mere coincidence or was there a special reason behind it?

And then there was Jinkuang. Sheyan could sense that this servant of his, who was now asleep almost all the time, was full of mystery. The process by which he obtained the service of Jinkuang was also full of unexplained oddities. But somehow, he had always felt an indescribable sense of familiarity in Jinkuang, and he had a hunch that Jinkuang's background contained a huge secret that was related to him. Unfortunately, Jinkuang would not tell him what it was....

Dolittle's unexpected arrival interrupted his chaotic thoughts. Dolittle was also looking worried.

"Your plan was successful, Seaman."

"Huh? How do you know?" asked Sheyan curiously.

Dolittle showed him an analysis sheet and told him, "Using the instruments you got for me, I easily hacked into the the specialised network for matters related to the Terminators in the National Security Agency. In the last few hours, the Gate index in space has dropped by 3%, and the instability factor of wormholes has decreased by 11%... Well, to put it simply, future Skynet has reduced its infiltration frequency into the current era in the last few hours."

"Did Skynet get attacked by the Panda Burning Incense Virus? Is it self-checking and updating its firewall? Or is there too much dust on the graphics card in its motherboard?" asked Sheyan as he took a sip of cola.

(TL: Panda Burning Incense Virus was a notorious computer virus a number of years ago - https://www.pcworld.com/article/183272/article.html )

"Not funny," said Dolittle with a straight face, "This is a sure sign that Skynet is preserving energy in preparation for a large-scale transmission."

Sheyan found that Dolittle's expression was really dark, so he asked cautiously, "You mean, we might have overdone it? Future Skynet is now placing so much importance on this matter that it's sending an incredibly powerful team over?"

Dolittle sighed.

"It's very likely. And based on the amount of time Skynet is taking to preserve energy this time, I highly suspect that you may face as many as two T-1000 Terminators! Of course, they will have a dozen of the latest T-910 model as assistants too! Once they're given 20 minutes to look for weapons, their destructive power is beyond your imagination!"

Zi happened to be passing by Sheyan's room at that moment. She could not help but frown when she heard the unfortunate news.

"We'll be under too much pressure if that's the case. Can we somehow involve the government in this?"

Sheyan shook his head.

"It'll be hard. What're we gonna tell them? That the fetus inside a certain pregnant woman will be targeted by Terminators?"

After a moment's contemplation, Dolittle said, "I don't know how you guys will deal with this, but the three Terminators captured before have provided a lot of useful materials. Skynet's technology is 30 years ahead of us after all. I've brought you a few little gifts that transcend the technology of this era -- for the sake of my weakening heart."

Dolittle was indeed really eager to get his hands on some liquid alloy to repair his heart so that he can live for a few decades longer to engage in his beloved scientific research. Therefore, he and Party Ace shared a common goal.

Dolittle finally opened the suitcase he brought with him and showed them some shiny gadgets.

"This is a high-frequency oscillator. Attach it to a Terminator's body, the closer it is to the head, the better. The microchip which functions as the brain of the Terminator will be shocked several times in an instant. Simply put, it will be put into a state similar to unconsciousness in human beings. Naturally, it doesn't work on a T-1000."

"This is a liquid nitrogen compression tank, which can be used to slow down a T-1000's movement. But be careful, the extreme low temperature it produces is harmful to humans, so it's clearly written in the instructions that it's not to be used at close range."

"This pile of stuff which looks like sh*t is, without a doubt, the most dangerous thing among all the things I've brought today. When it comes into contact with electric current, it will become a terrifying bomb. The resulting explosion will be powerful enough to tear a Terminator's body apart."

"And last but not least, this USB drive contains a new computer virus that I developed based on my research on the microchips you got from the T-910s. You can inject the virus into a Terminator by inserting this USB drive into the slot on a Terminator's head. Just the way you said John Connor did to a T-800, you can use this to turn a Terminator from a strong and lethal opponent into a loyal bodyguard. However, since said slot is under a Terminator's artificial scalp, it's safer to do so after the Terminator has lost its ability to resist."