They were giant, cold birds of steel.
Their bodies were easily over ten meters long. They were less like drones and more like fighter jets. Cold and solemn, they radiated a palpable aura of lethality and majesty.
They were parked in silence, hundreds of meters underground.
Cylindrical robots were performing maintenance on these steel behemoths.
Chu Bamboo held his breath as he walked among them, his gaze sweeping across the scene in silence. He felt as if he wasn't in a drone base, but a colossal fighter jet hangar... or perhaps a steel graveyard.
Majestic and solemn, yet tinged with desolation!
"Hive! How many fighter jets are here?" Chu Bamboo forced his voice to remain steady.
"Correction: These are Z-3 model drones, not fighter jets," Hive stated calmly. "Total count is twenty-seven. Commencing search... Commencing self-start sequence."
Chu Bamboo froze. With a loud, crisp CLICK, the lights on a single, massive jet flickered to life.
