Chapter 21: Ch.20 Security Dinosaur

Chapter 21: Ch.20 Security Dinosaur

Su Ming didn't need Cindy to answer; he already knew.

Because right in front of him, the enormous mechanical dinosaur started to move slowly. A massive shadow loomed over him.

The dinosaur had activated when Barbara connected to the mainframe. Bryce hadn't relied solely on network firewalls—after all, if an enemy could penetrate the Batcave and start hacking, no firewall could offer complete protection.

Instead, she opted for a physical firewall. After all, if a mechanical dinosaur broke all the intruders' bones, who would still be able to hack the system?

"Cindy~~~ You'll definitely want to see this."

"What now? Men are so much trouble," Cindy muttered, casually turning around—only to be startled. "What the hell, Su, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! You should ask yourself what you forgot to do. This is one of the Batcave's security measures."

Su Ming dodged the dinosaur's massive jaws with a quick roll. Though it didn't have the sharp teeth of a killer machine, getting crushed between two giant metal plates would still leave him severely injured.

"What is this? Batman's toys are supposed to be bats, not dinosaurs," Cindy said, puzzled. The last time she'd been here, she'd assumed it was just a decoration.

"Clearly, Bryce must've debated for a long time whether to become Batman or Dinosaurman," Su Ming joked. He hooked his foot around a nearby railing, executing a full-body backbend to avoid the dinosaur's tail swipe.

The tail passed within inches of his face, and he could hear the air whistle as it moved. It hit a steel fence, tearing through it and sending shards spinning through the air.

Even though Su Ming's body and armor were top-notch, he couldn't withstand too many hits from such blunt force. Internal organs would be severely damaged. His healing abilities worked best with open wounds, so avoiding hits was the logical choice.

Thankfully, the dinosaur wasn't fast, and its large size came with its own weaknesses.

"Can you handle this?" Cindy asked, unable to help at the moment. The dinosaur seemed focused entirely on Su Ming, chasing him around the cave while smashing tables, chairs, and jars in its path. Su Ming led it toward the tunnel they had come through.

"I should be fine." Su Ming ducked between the dinosaur's legs and fired a test shot at its underbelly, but aside from a flurry of sparks, there was no visible effect. "Just protect Barbara and the computer system!"

Cindy nodded, pulling out her staff. If any debris came flying their way, she'd knock it out of the air.

Duang!

The sound echoed through the cave. It was so loud Su Ming almost let go to cover his ears. It was like a giant gong had gone off right next to him, making his vision blur for a moment. But his battle instincts quickly kicked back in.

Two massive metal plates clashing wouldn't be enough to stop the beast, but the force had cracked the dark green exterior on its head. Beneath the skin, a long stretch of metal had bent inward, like a trench in a field.

Su Ming lured the dinosaur into hitting itself several more times, all in the same spot. After all, a program is just a program. Once you figure out its logic, you can exploit it over and over again.

After several more deafening collisions, a small crack appeared in the dinosaur's head.

Su Ming had been waiting for this moment. Drawing his katana, he plunged it into the crack and twisted it around, causing sparks to fly as the metal insides ground against each other.

Sparks exploded from the crack, like fireworks spraying out of the opening. They bounced off his mask, leaving black streaks across the yellow parts.

The more sophisticated a machine is, the more likely it is to collapse from a single broken cog. That was true in the steam age, and even more so in the information age.

Su Ming didn't need to destroy the CPU or hard drive. Severing a few circuits would be enough, just like pulling out some wires from a computer. Messing around inside the machine would definitely cause problems.

Still, the dinosaur didn't stop immediately after his attack. To be safe, Su Ming pulled out his shotgun and emptied every shell into the crack.

Finally, the dinosaur stopped moving and began to collapse.

Su Ming stood up, perched on its head, and calmly jumped to the ground as it fell.

A cloud of dust billowed up, then slowly settled, revealing the shiny silver armor of the mechanical dinosaur under Su Ming's feet.

He bent down, yanked his shotgun out of the crack, and slowly began reloading it, as if he had just swatted a fly—not worth mentioning at all.

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