Reboot: Mechanic

Vanessa was horrified because Theobold had treated her almost like a delicate princess during their interaction.

He was always there, reminding her that she would be protected under his watch. There were also no restrictions on her and she was able to do whatever she wanted.

But if all of those were an act to gain her trust, then she no longer dared to imagine what kind of people could be trusted in this world.

While Vanessa was having a rollercoaster of emotions within her, Shi Tian decided to check with another method.

A method that he had never planned on using unless it was the last resort– the integrated chip in his brain.

The last time he used it was to salvage the IC chip equipped in the electrical circuit of the board. After that, he didn't use it much, and not because he was dumb to not use it, but because he did not want to gain reliance on it.

Gaining a reliance on one particular item could be extremely detrimental to his growth and future life. 

If he were to grow to rely on the integrated chip for every problem and obstacle he had to face, then what would he do when the integrated chip no longer assisted him?

In this uncertain world, there was nothing impossible. 

No one could have predicted the sky would crack like a fissure, and numerous armored dinosaur-like monsters would come out from the fissure and go on a rampage at humanity.

"Give me a few minutes," Shi Tian turned to Mary and Vanessa, telling them to simply keep an eye on the enemy and their distance. 

He would attempt to figure out the badge by himself without any distraction.

Vanessa wanted to say something, but Mary held her arm and shook her head.

Although Mary didn't know how Shi Tian would figure it out, she believed that he should have another method.

The rigged IC chip incident alone allowed her to know that Shi Tian was hiding a secret that could detect things superior to her current capacity. 

Not to mention, Shi Tian wasn't the type to say something without having any confidence, aside from the slight mishap that he tried to proclaim to be a secret spy against Vanessa.

That was probably the most hilarious joke Mary had ever heard from him.

"How long do you reckon it will take for you to figure it out?" Mary enquired. 

"It's not that I'm trying to rush you, but if the enemy realized that we are no longer moving, then they might think we spotted them." She added, warning him of the possible effect. 

Shi Tian nodded his head. 

He understood Mary's warning and that time was against them currently. To solve the issues first, they must also gradually advance forward to avoid any suspicion.

"Just drive the Iron Sentinel slowly and Vanessa can continue to control the drone while killing off multiple monsters. We can use that as a pretext for our delay." Shi Tian responded, swiftly figuring out a solution.

The pretext would be that they are too occupied with killing monsters for their Source Crystal which prevented them from arriving at their destination.

Added to the fact that no one should know their true destination was the dense area, it could be considered a flawless pretext with no loopholes.

Of course, if the enemy was truly Theobold and he had suspected Mary to be concealing the true location of the dense area, then it wouldn't be hard for him to know their true destination. 

Nevertheless, Mary and Vanessa followed Shi Tian's instruction and proceeded to wreak havoc on the poor monsters that were hiding in fear.

The monsters might be fearless, but they still had some form of intelligence. 

Having witnessed the destructive power of the drone hovering in the sky, only a fool would remain there and tank the lasers. 

As Vanessa and Mary enjoyed their chaotic teamwork, Shi Tian himself had already begun communicating with the integrated chip in his brain silently.

'Dear integrated chip, can you please give me a hint on whether or not this badge is really a transmitter for something?' Shi Tian asked silently in his mind, using his most gentle and soothing tone.

And to be honest, even he got goosebumps with the current tone that he had in mind.

Plus, it didn't take long for the integrated chip to respond, something that Shi Tian was not expecting.

Description: Please stop with the gay tone or the host shall be blocked indefinitely.

Shi Tian smiled bitterly when he read the description on the status screen. He figured the response would be something similar to that.

Coughing slightly, Shi Tian decided to return to his normal tone of speech, in his mind of course.

'Integrated chip, I shall comply with your request, but can you detect whether my prediction is correct or not?' He tried again, hoping to communicate with the integrated chip as if it were a grown adult.

Time slowly passed by, and as Shi Tian was getting somewhat anxious at the zero response, the status screen finally glitched once again.

Description: The host does not wish to have a reliance on me, so why bother asking? And yes, the badge itself is merely a soothing fragrance, but there's a subtle connection with another item. Although faint, the detection of the item should be approximately 1000 meters. 

The integrated chip could be said to be petty, similar to Vanessa, but still answered his question nonetheless.

'Is it possible for you to give me that data and the item that has a subtle connection with the badge?' Shi Tian ignored its pettiness and instead went straight to the point.

Just when Shi Tian thought the integrated chip was ignoring him, he felt a slight pain in his head. Despite the slight pain, Shi Tian was able to handle it as the slight pain came with information regarding the badge itself.

And when he received the information, he smirked coldly. 

"It turns out Commander Theobold is a scary schemer after all." Shi Tian muttered, having grasped the result he wanted.