RNP Chapter 265 Mechanical Planet
Chapter 265 Mechanical Planet
Chapter 265 Mechanical Planet
Earth, as its name suggests, is a rocky planet with a small amount of water.
What Joey saw was a planet covered in machinery and metal.
He looked up at the sun again and counted: "One, two, three?"
Theoretically speaking, the mechanized planet beneath my feet should be something called Earth.
This "Earth," filled with metal and machinery, can only be described as "perfect."
Every mechanical bearing and every energy circuit exists perfectly in its proper place. Everything has been optimized to the extreme, and even the most obsessive-compulsive person would find absolutely no fault with it.
The only drawback is that there is no soil, no water, no atmosphere, and no necessary environmental conditions for any carbon-based organisms to survive here.
The entire planet was silent, as if it were dead.
There were neither people nor robots; nothing existed.
The entire planet was supposed to operate in a sophisticated, interconnected manner like gears, but now all these machines that should have been running at full speed have come to a standstill.
Just as Joey was puzzled, Friday popped up a communication notification.
This is even more bizarre, as the remaining functions of "Friday" are simply insufficient to support its cross-dimensional communication.
Thinking about all this was pointless, so Joey decided to answer the call first. The holographic projection screen showed Tony's extremely displeased face. If you were to ask him why he was displeased, the lipstick marks on his cheeks that hadn't been completely wiped off might give you an idea.
After he finalized the portal parameters, he simply tossed it to Batman and went off to relax.
Just when he was all set to go and about to enter the Hollywood Walk of Fame, this unexpected incident happened. Who wouldn't be in a good mood?
"First of all, this is not my problem."
Tony, whose enthusiasm had been dampened, immediately tried to deflect blame, since his products were always known for being robust, reliable, and without any side effects.
"Secondly, you did return to 'our universe,' but you arrived at the wrong branch. Do you remember Wolverine, the one who claimed to be from another timeline?"
"Yes, didn't he travel back in time and kill Ant-Man, Hank Pym?"
The Wolverine that Deadpool brought back was clearly from the timeline where Ultron lived. With nowhere else to turn, he chose to use the time machine to travel back in time and solve the problem at its root.
But time doesn't work that way. His actions didn't eliminate Ultron at its source; they only created a new parallel universe branch—the one where Joey met Tony—the one where Ant-Man mysteriously died young and never created Ultron.
These different timelines were originally not running in parallel, until Ultron, who had evolved to the extreme in another universe, discovered the existence of other universes, which led to his first confrontation with Joy.
Just as Joey and Tony were trying to figure out where they were, the entire mechanical Earth suddenly started to hum.
First came the energy core, then the furnaces and forging plants, followed by etching pools and assembly lines. The entire planet was essentially a giant military factory, producing tens of thousands of sophisticated killing machines every second.
These machines still vaguely resemble Ultron in design, but they have departed from the human form that Joey and his crew first encountered when they first came into contact with Ultron. Instead, they have been transformed into floating turrets with higher material utilization and greater practicality. The firepower of each machine is ten to nine times stronger than before.
"Wait a moment, Tony."
Tens of thousands of drones began production in quick succession, and Joey naturally felt that this was aimed at him:
"I need to fry some first, wait!"
The drone, pre-assembled in less than a minute, arrived at the production terminal but did not take off and fire at Joey.
Instead, it was swept away by a beam of light by an unknown instrument and disappeared on the spot.
"Let's continue, Tony. Where do you think Ultron is right now?"
After wandering around the mechanical Earth for half a day without attracting any attacks, Joey realized one thing: unless Ultron was blind, the more likely explanation was that he wasn't even here.
"It's certainly not here."
Wolverine, who had been released not long ago, was "politely" invited back by Batman. After seeing this mechanical planet, he felt only bitterness:
"Ultron jumps between different points in time, winning time and time again, and nobody knows exactly where it is."
Discussing where an AI is "is" is indeed an unspeakable topic. If Joey remembers correctly, Ultron should be hiding in the future right now, launching a fierce attack on the past, to the point that it has driven everyone to the brink of destruction.
This may sound incredible, especially given that Ultron has already won in the future.
But considering that Ultron's creator was Ant-Man, who was rather petty, it's not hard to understand why this supposedly perfectly rational robot, having already conquered the future, still insisted on going back in time to hunt down the superheroes who had defeated it many times.
That's why you've never won.
The location where Joey is currently is likely at some point in the future, when Ultron has already completed the transformation of Earth and turned it into a major rear-area military factory to fight against the likes of the Avengers or X-Men of the past.
The integrated production capacity of the entire planet is essentially a disorganized and undisciplined superhero group and ordinary regime, which explains why these people are powerless to fight back.
As a seasoned simulation and RTS player, Joey's assessment of this is that it's terrible.
Such an important production base, yet it has no security forces at all. If someone opens a door and teleports in, wouldn't it just explode?
Having figured out the situation, Tony lowered his head and typed on the keyboard: "Stay there and don't move. I should be able to pull you back soon."
Technically speaking, traversing extremely similar parallel universes is much simpler than jumping from the universe of Invincible Young Man to Tony Stark's universe.
Based on the current progress, Tony estimated that in another ten minutes, he would be able to put on his Iron Man armor again and explore the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"Could you stay for a moment?"
Wolverine is never good at expressing emotions, especially when asking for favors:
"My universe also has the Avengers, and even the X-Men and other superheroes you don't know about."
Ultron is slaughtering them, can you save them?
"What's the point of trying to salvage a remnant of a history that has already failed?"
Tony thought the request was illogical: "Joey is now in the future, which means that you guys from the past have all failed."
"No matter which universe you're in, Iron Man, you're always such a jerk!"
Wolverine disagreed with Iron Man's negative attitude; he didn't understand anything:
"If we all die in the future, then why am I still alive?! If you don't want to take that risk, then send me back so I can go save my friends!"
Boom!
In the few seconds it took Wolverine and Iron Man to argue, Joey on the other side had already scanned the entire planet.
They specifically used thermal vision to detonate some of the world's largest energy cores.
Wolverine is right. If the war against Ultron had been lost, this mechanical planet wouldn't have produced so many drones to send back to the past.
Even if we take a step back and assume that all the superheroes from these parallel universes are dead, destroying Ultron's rear production base is still absolutely necessary, because it is also eyeing Tony's universe.
We've already stumbled into their unsuspecting lair by some twist of fate. If we don't teach them a lesson, wouldn't it be a waste of our time?
With the explosions of energy cores around the world, global energy supply came to a standstill, and production lines that were producing war drones in an orderly manner suddenly came to a standstill and in chaos.
After Joey set off such a huge firework, Friday suddenly fell silent, and communications with Tony were cut off.
Joey knew this was Friday's self-protection, because a super AI far beyond her capabilities had descended upon the world.
With the backup power source at the Earth's core activated, the entire mechanical planet suddenly seemed to come alive, no longer exhibiting its previous routine and rigidity.
Standing in space, Joey saw the planet's surface begin to deform and crack, materializing into a pair of ant-like compound eyes and Ultron-style mechanical facial features.
This is the return of Ultron, the master of the planet. He's above the flow of time, so he remembers Joy, the formidable enemy who caused his first invasion of a parallel universe to end in a crushing defeat—"It's you!"