In the underground warehouse of the Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical branch in Sapphire City, cold, pale lights illuminated the space.
The air was filled with the metallic smell of machine oil and coolant, and even the flowing air seemed to stiffen under this chill.
Natasha stood alone on the high platform at the entrance of the warehouse, her solemn expression tinged with a hint of imperceptible compassion.
She looked down at the neatly arranged steel creations below.
Just now, she had personally completed the final inventory and signing. These "medical supplies," urgently transferred through countless hidden channels using the company's highest authority, were of a scale and nature that would send shivers down the spine of any knowledgeable military official.
Tall Titan Mechs stood like silent ancient giants. Their heavy composite armor gleamed with a matte finish under the cold white lighting. The hydraulic transmission systems at their joints occasionally emitted an extremely faint hiss, like the breathing of a slumbering beast.
Most of the crimson optical sensors on their heads were in a low-power standby mode, with a few occasionally sweeping a red beam across the room, as if confirming the environment.
The invisible pressure had almost solidified into substance.
Among the towering Titans, smaller, more ferocious-looking Spider Mechs were like loyal hounds, quietly clustered at the feet of the Titans.
Their sharp mechanical limbs dug deep into the reinforced ground. The multi-barrel rotary cannons and micro-missile pods urgently installed on their bodies were already in a primed state, ready to unleash lethal firepower into any corner upon command.
Not to mention that they themselves were bombs ready to detonate at any moment.
Several ARC City Sentinels hovered quietly half a meter above the ground, their anti-gravity engines emitting an almost inaudible hum.
Hidden beneath their graceful, streamlined bodies were powerful deflection field generators and precise pulse cannon muzzles, serving as sturdy shields against aerial threats and protectors of key areas.
And the few "Nightmare Module" sealed boxes, specially marked and stored separately, emitted a completely different, heart-stopping aura.
The warning signs on the surface of the boxes were not merely symbolic. They were the ultimate means to fight against "non-human enemies," and their very existence declared how terrifying the impending enemy was.
Besides these, the standardized weapon crates piled up along the warehouse walls were even more shocking.
Inside the open crates, standard assault rifles, large-caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, individual rocket launchers, Honkai energy suppression grenades, energy shield generators...
They were a dazzling array, with cold metal and polymers refracting the light, enough to arm several well-equipped special forces units in an instant.
All these killing tools were now in a unified pre-activation state.
The intelligent AI cores were running at minimum power, maintaining basic system self-checks and battlefield data links.
The entire warehouse was devoid of any noise, save for the faint hum of equipment running at minimum capacity and the occasional mechanical click.
A deathly silence enveloped the place, as if these steel beasts and lethal weapons were holding their breath, waiting for the horn that would finally awaken them, signaling the arrival of disaster.
Natasha took a deep breath of the cold air mixed with metal and oil. She could clearly feel the suffocating murderous aura emanating from this steel forest.
But this didn't give her enough sense of security because she understood that a catastrophe sweeping everything away was waiting at the end of the countdown.
There was no impassioned pre-war mobilization, no anxiety or restlessness among soldiers, only the absolute coldness of metal and the absolute obedience of programs. In this final hour, destructive energy capable of tearing apart the facade of civilization was accumulating.
She raised her wrist and activated the encrypted communicator. Her voice, transmitted through the mask, was calm without a single ripple, as if stating an established fact.
"'Emergency supplies' have all been received. 'Life support system' is on standby, awaiting the final plan."
As her voice fell, the heavy alloy warehouse door behind her emitted a heavy hydraulic sound, slowly closing and locking.
The last trace of connection with the outside world was cut off, completely isolating this torrent of steel prepared for the apocalypse beneath the city's lights and noise.
All preparations, whether in the name of salvation or destruction, were ready.
Only the last sixty minutes of false peace remained.
Thirty minutes remaining—
In Joachim's temporary safe house, the air seemed even more stagnant than outside.
Time was like fine sand seeping into the bottom of an hourglass, with little left.
Yae Rin sat quietly on the only relatively clean chair in the living room, her small hands tightly clutching a brand-new fox doll—the only "luggage" she had brought with her after leaving the rental apartment.
Joachim had bought it for her.
She lowered her head, her long eyelashes drooping to cover her purple eyes, which were similar to Yae Sakura's, making it impossible to see the emotions within.
But judging from her slightly curled body and tightly pressed knees, fear was like an invisible thread, wrapping around her delicately.
The door was pushed open, and Anna walked in, carrying the cool air from outside.
She was wearing the standard field uniform of the City of the Future, with a hint of fatigue from a long journey on her face, but more evident confusion.
The request she received was originally just a personal plea from Joachim, but just as she was about to set off, the plea suddenly transformed into a top-priority emergency transfer order.
She was required to deliver a batch of designated supplies to a designated location in Sapphire City as quickly as possible and follow Joachim's instructions.
Things suddenly became oppressive. The feeling of an impending storm made Anna cautious in all her actions.
"Anna Schariac?" Joachim's voice rang out, calm but with an unquestionable power.
"It's me." Anna immediately straightened up, her gaze quickly sweeping the room and finally landing on the overly quiet little girl, the confusion in her eyes deepening.
This little girl... is she the 'key' to this mission?
She was indeed the key.
In that meeting, Fu Hua, Himeko, Kallen, and the others had repeatedly emphasized Yae Rin's uniqueness. His mission, besides notifying Yun Feng and gathering potential survivors, was to protect this child...
And to observe her condition.
"Where are the supplies?" Joachim dispensed with pleasantries and cut straight to the chase.
Anna placed a silver metal suitcase, which didn't look very large, on the table and skillfully entered the password to open it.
Neatly arranged inside were several test tubes glowing with a ghostly blue light, several high-density energy batteries, and a complex micro-signal transmitter.
"As requested, 'Life-Sustaining Serum,' 'Heart of Titan' energy units, and the 'Ark Beacon' have been delivered."