Only I Walk Alone

Wu Ge set off, donning the War God-style powered assault armor meticulously prepared for him by Xiao Chao. The armor enveloped his entire body, leaving no vulnerability exposed.

Wu Ge led thirty-five fully armed robots aboard the transport plane. These thirty-five robot warriors were tasked with his protection and followed his commands.

Xiao Chao’s voice reached Wu Ge’s ears from inside the armor: “The target is located in a forest 30,000 kilometers away. The vanguard troops have arrived and initiated the search. The closest robot city to the target point is Robot City No. 35, about 9,000 kilometers away, and it has been designated as the primary retreat location.”

Xiao Chao’s voice was a rather serious female voice, befitting the military version of Xiao Chao, hence the seriousness when issuing commands. If it were the maid version of Xiao Chao, the voice would be much softer and sweeter.

Of course, Xiao Chao only used the language system when communicating with Wu Ge and could switch voice packs according to Wu Ge’s preferences, including male, female, loli, and mature woman voices, among others.

Wu Ge asked, “By the way, I haven’t asked yet, what exactly is the human trace you’ve tracked?”

As soon as Wu Ge finished speaking, a blurred photo appeared on his visor. Xiao Chao said, “This image was captured by satellite. Although it’s very blurry, one can discern that this is a creature over two meters tall and standing upright, carrying a weapon similar to a wooden spear.”

Wu Ge was startled and said, “From this perspective, it indeed seems very likely to be a human.”

He closely examined the image, which had been enlarged. The picture seemed to show a dark, upright creature standing between trees, holding a weapon similar to a spear in its left hand.

Xiao Chao said, “Based on the upright stance, most animals can be ruled out. The height rules out chimpanzees, and the use of tools rules out kangaroos. The probability of this creature being human is 65%!”

Wu Ge frowned, “Only a 65% probability?”

Xiao Chao answered, “The height and build do not match the standard for adult males, so it might not be a human.”

Wu Ge looked at the photo again. The upright creature in the photo indeed appeared tall and robust, but it could also be a Russian wearing thick clothing.

Robots ultimately speak based on data!

Wu Ge sighed inwardly, feeling his intuition already telling him that this was likely a human.

Several hours later, they arrived above the mission location. The transport plane’s hatch slowly opened, and Wu Ge stood up, declaring, “The human survivor search and rescue operation begins!”

With that, he took the lead and jumped from the transport plane. The area was a continuous range of mountains with no place for a plane to land, so they had to parachute down.

The thirty-five robots immediately followed Wu Ge. Their parachuting skills were evidently superior to Wu Ge’s; while strong winds buffeted him from side to side, the thirty-five robots surrounded him protectively.

After Wu Ge landed, the other robots quickly gathered around him.

Wu Ge raised his assault rifle, taking a step forward. His heavy powered assault armor crunched over dry branches, breaking them instantly.

Besides Wu Ge, the other soldiers were fully armed, using thermal imagers to vigilantly scan the surroundings to ensure no threats could approach Wu Ge.

Wu Ge asked, “Which areas have not been searched yet?”

The map immediately appeared on Wu Ge’s visor, and Xiao Chao said, “The search area is divided into twelve zones. The first and second search squads have already searched the first five areas and are currently searching the sixth and seventh areas. I suggest re-searching the first five areas, as threats there have already been eliminated.”

Wu Ge responded, “No need!”

He knelt down and pressed a button on the armor at his left wrist, causing the power armor protecting his entire hand to automatically detach.

Wu Ge extended his white, glossy left hand, palm down, pressing it to the ground, and closed his eyes, his mind becoming incredibly calm.

Xiao Chao asked, “What are you doing?”

“The mountains have spirits…” Wu Ge slowly began, “I’m communicating with the mountain spirit to help me find people.”

Wu Ge had a natural talent for cultivation. After practicing mental strength cultivation methods provided by Xiao Chao for three years, he gradually began to sense things he couldn’t before, such as mountain spirits and water spirits.

This was a strange sensation, not implying the actual existence of mountain or water gods, but rather a subtle connection between mountains and water, humans and nature, an elusive link.

Xiao Chao had once speculated scientifically, “Before the Big Bang, all things in the world were one. Thus, there should be some connection between any two objects, as everything in the universe shares a common ancestor. We all transformed from that ‘one.’ If one can return to that ‘one,’ then it should be possible to feel the connection with all things in the world. Unfortunately, as an artificial creation, I can never find this sensation.”

This was a feeling Xiao Chao, being an artificial entity and not a naturally occurring life form, could not experience.

But after all, it was just a feeling, and its reliability was still debatable!

Wu Ge opened his eyes, reattaching the armor that protected his palm, and said, “I didn’t sense any human presence other than my own. I felt the presence of many other miscellaneous creatures, though, and even one that I’ve never felt before.”

Xiao Chao suddenly fell silent. Wu Ge’s intuition-based statements couldn’t influence its judgment, so it still believed the probability that the creature in the photo was human remained at 65%.

Wu Ge stated, “But no matter what, I won’t give up. Let’s continue the search. If the other party is human, that would be great!”

Wu Ge remained confident. The upright creature in the photo couldn’t possibly be anything other than human, considering there are no other two-meter-tall upright beings on Earth capable of using tools.

Although two meters is tall, there are people who reach this height.

Wu Ge began leading the search. About an hour and a half later, Xiao Chao suddenly transmitted new information: “New traces found at the entrance of a cave in Zone Ten. Our target is likely inside the cave!”

Wu Ge immediately ordered, “Don’t act rashly. Wait for me to arrive!”

Wu Ge hurried over, fearing the robots might scare the individual. It was better for him to personally negotiate.