Chapter 279 279: Target, The Dragon War Zone

Chapter 279 Chapter 279: Target, The Dragon War Zone

Suthia's fruit platter was indeed impressive.

Besides cherries, it included peaches, juice, strawberries, grapes, ice cream, and more. Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

After making up for the celebration that was interrupted by "Zero" that night, Suthia seemed to have filled a void in her life, looking completely satisfied.

After a brief moment of leisure, it was time to back to business. Renji called back 86 and Control Number One, who were responsible for patrolling the surroundings, to prepare the next steps.

Having finally gone online on a large scale, Renji hoped to take advantage of having a top-tier combat power like Suthia backing him up. He wondered if it was possible to find Zero directly and speed through Dream Zero.

However, Control Number One's response thwarted Renji's plan.

[I'm sorry Commander, we do not have the coordinates of the base]

'No coordinates?'

'You don't know where the base is?'

Renji was puzzled because the "base" was where Zero slept and should also be the respawn point for all mechanical servants. How could Control Number One, a mechanical servant herself, not know?

Noticing Renji's confusion, Control Number One quickly continued to explain:

[We do not have the program to retain the base coordinates. Once dispatched to the corresponding war zone, the only way back to the base is through destruction in battle, to return in a form of consciousness]

In other words, Control Number One meant that all mechanical servants were essentially "blindfolded" when sent out to fight. From the moment they left the base, there was no turning back; they could only remain on the battlefield for life.

From a human perspective, Renji initially found this outrageous—how could frontline soldiers not be allowed to return home? But from the perspective of mechanical servants, it seemed reasonable; their mission was to fight, and everything else was "extraneous" programming.

It seemed that the shortcut wouldn't work. To find the base and Zero, they would have to follow the rules of Dream Zero.

That is to clear the remaining three war zones like the Witch War Zone, the world's miasma would disappear, and the base would appear.

Building a city oneself would consume a vast amount of resources and was too risky, so naturally, Renji in the game thought of directly seizing an existing one, taking down someone else's base for his own.

Bases also varied in strength, and with his forces at the time, he could at most take down a lowest-level city base, also considering whether there were other allied forces behind the base.

So, in the end, Renji clearly remembered that he set his sights on the "Gulase" base, precisely the city within the Dragon War Zone opposite them.

This base, full of chaos and violence, known for its gambling and slavery businesses, and developed through its "arena".

And it was here that he met Nova.

Past game memories flashed through Renji's mind, driving him to lead everyone quickly into the city.

At the city gate entrance, they could see many wasteland people entering and exiting the base, all created NPCs by Dream Zero. Hence, Suthia couldn't help but suggest that she directly attack the city, wondering if that would make the dragoness appear immediately.

But Control Number One negated the idea.

[I'm sorry, different Miasma Masters have different personalities. Such an approach may work for the witch, but the dragoness is different. Currently, there is no record of a dragon appearing on its own initiative]

Suthia opened her mouth as if she wanted to defend her suggestion, but what was said was indeed correct. Nova's personality is not the type to be ostentatious, but a bit introverted, with very few words spoken, and silence is mostly maintained, just like a real-life empress who stays out of worldly affairs and locks herself in the Dragon Palace for seclusion.

In the dream, finding the witch's trial is simple; just breaking into the witch's area can directly trigger it.

But the dragoness is different. After entering the Gulase base, everyone acts as if it's business as usual, with no clue what to do next, where the trial is, or how to initiate it.

This is probably why, after so many years, Kael Technology has only obtained the Witch's Mark. They are also clueless about the dragon, hence the frantic search for ancient scholars, hoping to get a "guide" or walkthrough.

Indeed, after all, how could the later generations imagine that today's empress, her true identity in the past, was merely a gladiator in the arena?

So for Renji, finding where the dragoness is and triggering the trial is not a difficult task.

Renji carefully recalled the map of Gulase, following the path he once took. Fortunately, despite some differences, he successfully found behind-the-scenes forces operating the "arena."

This time, Renji didn't choose to be an "audience member" like before but used the connection with the backstage forces to participate in the arena as a "gladiator" through internal channels.

After all, Renji is here not just to clear Dream Zero only, but he also genuinely wants to take this opportunity to understand the aspects of "their" pasts that he never knew.