Silicon Invasion

In reality, after the elite students from North Mountain Academy and South Ridge Academy enter the military, they will quickly undertake more challenging tasks after their initial growth.

Missions like this one are mostly handled by students from regular academies.

"Observe your surroundings carefully."

The instructor's voice came through the team channel. The area around the base seemed to have been cleared, with hardly any tall trees. The interference wasn't as severe as in simulated battles.

Since the Archer Three was a long-range fire support unit, its target acquisition system, while not as good as specialized support units, was much better than close-combat brutes like Warrior Seven and Valiant Three. Therefore, in a configuration of four close-combat units and one long-range fire support unit, the task of reconnaissance fell on Luo Rui.

Although Luo Rui didn't think any silicon-based beasts would be foolish enough to cause trouble for this team, because even A091, which had given him a slight psychological shadow, was no match for the firepower of this three-kilometer-long metal dragon.

However, this was his first time in Maikan, and before he had enough experience and knowledge to question his superior's orders, it was best to obediently listen and do as he was told.

In fact, no foolish silicon-based beasts came to obstruct the team. Luo Rui stared at the radar, which was exceptionally clean. Even the small, flying silicon-based beasts were staying far away.

After the team advanced ten kilometers, the surrounding trees and obstacles began to increase. Ahead was a vast forest, which Luo Rui had seen when they first left the base.

There was a relatively wide road in the forest. Some of the large trees blocking the road had been blown down and pushed aside. The road surface seemed to have been repaired, with traces of artificial destruction and renovation in some places.

"This road is 43.1 kilometers long and leads directly to the C-area mine. Don't let its current tranquility fool you; many predecessors fell here during its construction."

The instructor's voice was somewhat sorrowful.

Luo Rui was silent. This long dragon of machines represented years of accumulated resources. It was easy to imagine how difficult it would have been to build such a road in the past, when mecha were scarce.

And that wasn't the hardest part.

The most difficult part was for the prospecting teams. Facing the unknown forest, those who dared to step in could be called true lone heroes.

As the team continued to advance, Luo Rui gradually had a question. Although the road surface was bumpy and not very smooth, the military trucks were obviously not ordinary vehicles and should have no problem traveling on such a road.

The carrying capacity and speed of those vehicles were much better than the mecha. Even if they couldn't complete the mission alone, why weren't some vehicles included in the team?

However, before Luo Rui could wonder for too long, he found out the answer. The smoothness of the road was limited to the first dozen kilometers after entering the forest. The road ahead was not only full of potholes but also had many gullies.

The gullies varied in size, with the smaller ones only a few tens of centimeters deep and one or two meters wide, but the larger ones were one or two meters, or even several meters deep. Obviously, such gullies could not be crossed by those trucks.

Not only trucks, but even mecha had to use both hands and feet to climb over some of the gullies, which greatly slowed down the team's progress.

Fortunately, the metal dragon's threat was considerable, and even though the team's speed decreased, no silicon-based beasts came looking for trouble.

The team traveled another thirty kilometers, and the road became smooth again. After traveling another ten kilometers or so, Luo Rui and the others finally reached their destination. Even with the mecha's speed, the entire journey took more than two hours.

The base was hidden in the hills and seemed to be unmanned. Plus, there was still some distance from the front of the team, so Luo Rui didn't know what the situation was here.

Fortunately, there was someone in the team familiar with the area. Instructor Zeng would always answer everyone's questions at the right time.

"This is a typical mine base, and because it's far from the main base, it's unmanned."

"Then who mines the ore?" Niu Wei quickly asked the question everyone had.

"Drones! This is like an unmanned factory, equipped with multiple mainframes and auxiliary AIs. Each time we come, we scan new terrain maps and then plan new tasks for them. When we leave, we close the base to minimize the chance of them being attacked."

"I see." Everyone understood. Human AI technology is extremely advanced, and unmanned mining has been developing on Blue Star for many years. There's no problem developing a Maikan version based on this.

Although there's interference here, with mainframes and auxiliary AIs, plus some circuits and signal-enhancing equipment, these effects can be minimized. Then, mining machines are deployed, automated modules are configured, and each time humans come, they scan new mine maps and plan new tasks…

Well, Luo Rui nodded to himself. He knew very little about this aspect and could only think of a rough idea. But that was enough. He didn't want to be an all-rounder.

"Clean up and get ready to work!"

Taking advantage of the break, everyone chatted for a while, guessing the working mode of the forward base. Then, whether it was time or they received a task, the instructor suddenly changed the subject.

So far, this trip to Maikan has been like a picnic in the wild, completely different from the exciting scenes everyone imagined.

Now it was finally time to get to work, and everyone's spirits lifted.

Half an hour later, Luo Rui continued to stay bored in the Archer Three, watching the radar. Niu Wei was with him, probably even more bored, because he didn't even have a radar to watch.

The so-called work was really just work. Three Warrior Sevens acted as engineer mecha, entering the base to work as porters, leaving only Luo Rui and Niu Wei outside to wait.

Before obtaining the attribute table, Luo Rui practiced with the Warrior Seven mecha. It wasn't that he loved this mecha so much; otherwise, he wouldn't have hesitated to switch to the many fourth-generation mecha later on.

The reason was that Warrior Seven was the most numerous type of mecha, and becoming a Warrior Seven pilot also had the lowest requirements.

Warrior Seven's close-range attack and defense were not as good as the Valiant series, and its long-range fire support was not as good as the Archer series. Even in the real world, many Warrior Sevens were not equipped with long-range fire weapons.

For example, Instructor Zeng's Warrior Seven in Luo Rui's team was equipped with a rocket nest, while Tong Yue and Wang Mingan's mecha had empty shoulders.

Even so, Warrior Seven has become the most numerous mecha because it also undertakes other additional tasks.

Warrior Seven can be easily converted into a porter or a miner. It has stronger adaptability and wider compatibility. After all, humans come to Maikan not to simply wage war but to covet the resources here. Too many non-combat-related tasks require a suitable mecha to complete.

And that is why there are so many Warrior Sevens.