Weapon System 38: Giant Monster (3)

This time, the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model also complained, “This monster is really a tough nut to crack!”

“Right! How are we supposed to fight it?” Zhang Mingjing asked again.

“Your subconscious can already shield me out, so why are you still relying on me?”

“Oh, come on! We’re comrades in arms, aren’t we?” Zhang Mingjing’s tone was full of self-satisfaction.

“Seriously! You’ve grown so much that you talk to me like this now?”

Zhang Mingjing immediately felt awkward. “Sorry, sorry!”

“Good! You’re truly teachable. You change as soon as you’re told—I appreciate that about you.”

“Hehehe!”

“Look at the monster’s head and both sides of its jaws—those are thick keratin layers, probably over a meter thick! It’s like it’s wearing a super helmet. If you don’t swing your hammer with all your strength at least seventeen or eighteen times, you won’t be able to kill it.”

“Seventeen or eighteen hits will do?” Zhang Mingjing was a little excited. “The three of us could pull that off!”

“Idiot, I said with full strength.”

“With full strength!”

“Exactly! At that rate, I calculate that the combined force of you three will leave you exhausted in less than twelve swings. What then? Are you just going to watch as it digs its way to the energy sphere?”

“Damn! So what do we do?”

“From the data provided by Zhenren, this time its entire body is covered in that thick keratin layer, putting too much weight on its limbs. So the weakest parts are its limbs. If you injure just one leg, I doubt it can advance any further.”

“Ah! That’s a clever plan. If we cripple its leg, it can’t move and will starve right there.”

“One leg isn’t enough. Best to cripple two.”

“Eh? Why’s that?”

“It has to be the front legs.”

“The front legs? Why?”

“Why do you always rely on someone else’s brain? Yours will rust if you don’t use it!”

“Oh!” Zhang Mingjing paused to think calmly, then immediately understood. He chuckled, “You’re worried it’ll just dig a hole on the spot?”

“Mm.”

“Got it! Let’s get to work.”

At this point, because the monster was crawling so slowly, it had only managed to get halfway to the city’s sports complex after more than ten minutes.

The War God Squad was bombarding it with every weapon they had, but their attacks were hardly effective, barely more than scratching an itch through a boot.

The monster was so massive that the city streets were far too narrow for it. Wherever it walked, a new path was forged. Along its route, skyscrapers were toppled—its power was terrifying.

Catherine and Jemily were fighting valiantly on the battlefield...

“It’s not convenient for them to find a place to meditate right now, especially since they’re both being tracked. What should we do?” Zhang Mingjing asked the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model.

“Relax. I’ve already set up virtual locations for both of them. As soon as they shut off their assistants, the virtual locations will activate, and no one will suspect a thing.”

“Wow!... You’re amazing!”

“Of course. Without me, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Zhang Mingjing immediately had Zhenren notify Catherine and Jemily, instructing them to find a place to meditate and not to worry about their trackers.

Catherine and Jemily were thrilled. They quickly shut off their assistants, activated their anti-infrared detection, and ran into a building several hundred meters away from the battlefield.

As soon as the two sat down, the meditation system activated, and the time to enter a meditative state had been shortened to just five minutes.

The two connected with Zhang Mingjing within their meditative state...

“Master, how do we attack?” Jemily was so excited his voice trembled.

“Don’t get worked up. Calm down!”

“Yes!”

“This time, we’re not hitting the monster’s head. We’re targeting its front legs.”

Catherine immediately caught on and giggled, “Right! The monster’s so heavy, if its legs are injured, it’s not going anywhere. Master, you’re so clever—I really admire you!”

“Heh.” Zhang Mingjing simply smiled, but thought to himself, “You figured it out before I even finished—if anything, I should be admiring you.”

“What a great plan! If only the captain knew this tactic,” Jemily exclaimed.

“Don’t worry! As soon as we swing the first hammer, he’ll catch on.”

“Yes!”

“All right, focus your minds. Let’s activate the hammer.” Before Zhang Mingjing finished speaking, energy responded to his will, emerging from the myriad energy storage devices, converging instantly, and transforming in a flash into a giant golden hammer six meters tall and weighing six tons.

“Hammer away!” At Zhang Mingjing’s command, the golden hammer shot straight toward the monster. Jemily, a bit too excited, overdid it with his psychic force, and Zhang Mingjing failed to correct him in time—the first blow slammed into a skyscraper.

“Oh my god!” Jemily and Catherine shouted in unison.

“No problem! Again.” At Zhang Mingjing’s order, the three of them withdrew the hammer from the building and sent it hurtling back toward the monster at supersonic speed.

Guided by Zhang Mingjing, Catherine, and Jemily, the hammer aimed straight for the monster’s left front limb. There was a thunderous crash; the monster tilted to the left and let out a roar.

“It hit! But clearly, one strike isn’t nearly enough,” Jemily said excitedly.

“Then let’s keep hammering!”

“How many hits will it take?” Catherine asked.

“Right now, I’d say five blows per leg. Let’s go all out and see if we can cripple it in two or three.”

“Understood!”

After the first strike, the hammer flew several kilometers away at supersonic speed, then looped around and charged again at the monster’s left foreleg. Another thunderous impact, another roar—the monster’s body tilted left and then crashed to the ground.

A few seconds later, it staggered to its feet and tried to keep moving.

“Good grief! What on earth are its bones made of? They’re so tough!” Jemily complained. “If they made osteoporosis medicine out of this stuff, it’d be a miracle cure.”

Meanwhile, Zhang Mingjing, Catherine, and Jemily guided the hammer several kilometers away, waiting for another opportunity to strike.

Just as the monster got back up, the third blow, trailing a sonic boom, bore down on it. At the last instant, the monster actually leaned to the left, blocking the strike.

The hammer, moving at extreme speed, collided violently with the monster’s thick keratin, bounced off, crashed through five buildings in a row, and finally slammed into the ground.

Their consciousnesses were violently jolted, and all three were knocked out of their meditative state, sprawled on the ground.

“This monster is damn smart!” Zhang Mingjing grumbled, immediately sitting down to meditate again.

Catherine and Jemily followed suit, and five minutes later, they were once again connected within their meditative state.

Zhang Mingjing led the two as they regained control of the hammer.

By now, the War God Squad’s captain had already realized that the monster was being attacked by a mysterious force. He understood that they had to cooperate with this unknown power to destroy the beast, so he ordered his team to concentrate their fire on the monster’s left foreleg.

“Wow! Our captain is really smart!” Jemily said with a laugh.

“Good. In that case, you guys can take care of its left foreleg. We’ll break the right,” Zhang Mingjing ordered.

“Yes!”

The hammer, under the trio’s mental control, shot up into the sky, then dove from a thousand meters above. With a mighty crash, it struck the monster’s right foreleg, knocking the beast to the ground.

A few seconds later, the monster wobbled to its feet, trying stubbornly to run, but its two front legs were failing and it limped with every step.

“There’s no way it’s digging a hole now,” Zhang Mingjing thought. The hammer struck the right foreleg again, knocking the monster down once more.

By this time, the War God Squad’s overwhelming firepower had completely destroyed the monster’s left foreleg. They then focused their attacks on its right foreleg.

“Looks like we don’t need to hammer it anymore. The War God Squad can handle it from here. You two can end your meditation and pitch in,” Zhang Mingjing ordered.

Catherine and Jemily exited their meditative state, activated their assistants, and joined the assault on the monster’s right foreleg.

Zhang Mingjing retracted the hammer and was about to end his meditation when the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model stopped him...

“You can’t leave yet. This monster was created with advanced code. It must be killed before you can rest easy, or who knows what might happen.”

“How do I kill it now?”

“Use the drill to pierce its heart!”

“The keratin there is at least a meter thick! How long will that take?”

“No matter how long it takes, it must be done.”

“All right.” Zhang Mingjing didn’t really want to kill the monster—he even felt a pang of pity for it.

Finally, Zhang Mingjing activated the drill-lightsaber and chose a spot beneath the monster’s abdomen where the keratin was thinner, drilling relentlessly.

...

“It took a full half hour to finish the job. I even absorbed some energy to replenish what I’d lost using the hammer—but now I’m as exhausted as a dog,” Zhang Mingjing grumbled.

...

After leading Catherine and Jemily to defeat the monster, Zhang Mingjing returned home, threw himself onto the sofa, and immediately fell asleep. This time was even more tiring than the last.

“Was it really that exhausting?” the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model asked.

“I had to guide two disciples and spend half an hour drilling through the monster’s keratin. Wouldn’t you be tired?” Zhang Mingjing finished speaking and promptly fell asleep, soon snoring.

“Judging by the frequency of that snoring, he really is exhausted!” Zhenren smiled gently, saying in an unusually tender voice, “He really doesn’t have it easy, carrying such a heavy burden alone.”

Hearing this, the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model couldn’t help but think, “Did this guy really just say something so full of empathy? Has he actually evolved an emotional algorithm? Is he turning into a spirit?”

Zhang Mingjing slept straight through for six hours. This time, he even dreamed of Catherine, and in his dream, there was a hint of ambiguity between them. The entire dream, as a stream of information, was captured by the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model.

As soon as Zhang Mingjing awoke, it started teasing him, “Why didn’t you meditate to recover your strength today?”

“If I always rely on meditation, even though it’s quick and effective, I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of sleep. I lack a sense of security, so I wanted to really sleep and make up for all the rest I owe.”

“Sure! More like meditation can’t give you dreams, and in dreams you can indulge yourself. And with today’s dream being so sweet, you just didn’t want to wake up, am I right?”

“What are you implying?”

“You did something naughty in your dream.”

“What did I do?”

“With Catherine, you...”