Chapter 1652: The Invasion Begins

Wang Wei walked into the War Room. No one cared about his presence, as all eyes were fixed on the formation screen at the center, where they observed the situation at the gate. Qiyuan was already in strategist mode as he deployed people to their respective positions. The gate’s fluctuations continued for a few minutes before something changed.

More than a thousand spatial portals opened around the gate, releasing a horde of creatures that covered the sky in black. The first wave of energy had appeared, and everyone observed to decide how to react. "Puppetts?" someone muttered. All these creatures appeared identical, and their bodies were composed of either wood or metal.

Qiyuan received confirmation through the Void Illusion Realm that the first wave of enemies was indeed constructs or mechanical automatons. He then ordered their sides to send their Puppet Legion to intercept. The first clash soon started. Primordial Timeline’s Puppets were more varied since different factions refined them. Meanwhile, the Divine Timeline’s puppets were more uniform, showing their more centralized military management.

It did not take long for the disparity between these two armies to show. The invader’s puppets were of much higher class, requiring at least 10 of the Primordial Timeline’s puppets to destroy one of theirs. The only advantage the cultivators from the Eternal Ascension World had was that they outnumbered their opponents — well, at least, for now.

"Look at this," Ye Guang said to Qiyuan. He created another projection that revealed a strange occurrence on the battlefield. The puppets from the Divine Timeline were peculiar. Once one of their own was destroyed, another puppet would travel to the wreckage and inject something into the remains. Then, a few seconds later, the destroyed puppet would regenerate and continue to fight.

"Wasn’t the core destroyed?" Qiyuan asked.

"It was."

Qiyuan immediately ordered all eyes to focus on these Repairmen Puppets. Soon, everybody saw more signs of this occurrence. As long as their puppets were not too destroyed, they can be repaired — even if the core is smashed. The War Room sent orders to the Puppet Legion not only to destroy the core but also to use a Soul Attack to remove any remaining spiritual power left in this wreckage, hoping to prevent repair.

Unfortunately, this approach proved useless. While their sides keep losing automatons, their enemy uses their superior ability to repair their damaged puppets and continue the battle. The War Room was baffled. They had never met this kind of weapon before.

"Should we send normal troops?" someone suggested. "Maybe these puppets were designed to fight their own kind?"

"Are you saying they are weak to flesh and blood? But that doesn’t make sense since even the flesh puppets are useless."

"Not to mention that the war has just started, and we are already preparing to send human troops? Talk about a major failure."

"In that case, what exactly do we do? At this rate, our puppet legion will soon be depleted if we don’t find the source of their abilities."

"Maybe ask the Saint."

"If we have to rely on her for everything, what is the meaning of our existence?"

"Quiet," Qiyuan said. "Order the Divine Manufacturing Division to send some of their best to analyze the opponent’s design. I want answers as soon as possible."

"It’s a Hive Mind."

Qiyuan turned to look at Wang Wei. "You know what’s going on?"

"I think so," he nodded. "One of their puppets is the real core. As long as they exist, all the other puppets can be repaired and return to their peak functional state." Wang Wei was excited and scared. He has been planning the creation of Skynet and the Zerg Hive Mind for many years, but it appears the Divine Timeline has either succeeded or has a prototype. Wang Wei hoped it was the latter since he didn’t want anyone else to have his idea. Additionally, he can also steal their knowledge to create the full version.

"Having only one core for all the puppets is actually a brilliant method to remove their weakness," Ye Guang commented. "However, now that we know how it works, it should be easy to deal with."

"Will it?" Qiyuan did not share his confidence. He ordered people to find the [Core]. Unfortunately, his skepticism proved to be correct. No karma lines were detected, and all divination or cause-and-effect methods proved useless; no one could find the core. For a moment, people even doubted whether Wang Wei’s words were valid.

"Could you head to the Divination Department and see if you can find something?" Qiyuan said.

"It’s probably useless," Wang Wei said. All signs showed that the Divine Timeline had perfected its means of war, and the chances of it leaving any trace from divination to calculation were next to zero.

"I understand, but just try."

"Alright." Wang Wei teleported to the department, and the people there had already received their orders and were waiting for him. However, everyone gave him a nasty look. Their department was one of the many that suffered under Wang Wei’s ruthless efficiency management. Of course, he had his reasons — he always has. The secrets involved in this war will most likely involve Saint, meaning that the chances of these people ever calculating anything were slim; on the contrary, they are more likely to receive backlash for prying into knowledge beyond their scope of power. So, he placed them at the bottom tier of usefulness.

Wang Wei did not care about these people’s reactions. Instead, he headed directly to one of the two primary artifacts of this department: the Weave. Since Wang Wei mainly used Fate for his divination, he ignored the Yin-Yang Map.

In this moderately lit room, Wang Wei glanced at a golden Silk Weaving Machine floating above a gray lake, with strings attached from the machine to the lake. He has read about this artifact that is considered the pinnacle of Divination Assistance.

’Let’s see if it lives up to the rumor,’ Wang Wei thought. According to records, this thing played a significant role in the Second Origin War. Luckily, someone ran away with it during the Seven Moon Era, or Time Eater probably would have stolen or destroyed it.

Wang Wei activated his Fate Dao and started his divination. As expected, he immediately saw so many warning signs surrounding every aspect of these puppets. Any attempt to gather information would trigger a terrifying backlash. The other members who were "assisting" him saw it too, and their complexion turned pale. They received an explanation why their department was so low on the priority list, and now, the very first divination attempt proved those damn bureaucrats were correct.

"Hmm?" Wang Wei muttered.

"Is something the matter?" The Divination Department Chief asked carefully. He was an elderly man in appearance, but his long hair and beard were a striking shade of red.

"There is something," Wang Wei muttered. He focused his powers and continued the divination. His eyes lit up as if there might be some hope. He soon realized that an unknown power had stripped a significant portion of the Anti-Divination Powers left on these puppets, granting him some room for maneuvering.

’That’s probably Grand Dao’s doing,’ Wang Wei analyzed. Once these creatures entered the Primordial Timeline, a screening power scanned their bodies and existence, removing many things that could potentially have a profound impact on this timeline, much like the immune system deals with foreign bacteria in the body.

Wang Wei focused on the flaws of the puppet’s Anti-Divination Powers to gather as much information as possible. The result was basic data on the puppet’s materials, a few runes, and a vision of the starting refining technique.

"You did it, right?" the Chief asked, but he did not celebrate immediately after seeing the frown on Wang Wei’s face.

"The information we have is valuable, but how long will the Divine Manufacturing Department take to create a method to find the core?" Wang Wei replied. As much as he trusted his wife and the Sages from the association, time was of the essence.

"That’s true," the chief sighed.

"Well, at least, there is good news for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I will be increasing your share of resources," Wang Wei said. Now that he knew the enemy’s Anti-Divination Methods were not absolute, he would grant more World Sources to this department to deal with the possible backlash.

"Really?" the chief asked with a slightly raised voice.

"I don’t need to lie about such a thing."

The chief was about to smile, but his eyes dimmed instead. He observed Wang Wei’s operation and how carefully and skillfully he retrieved such little information. If he were the one to do it, he would need to experience at least 20 backlashes before succeeding, and he was the most skilled one in this department. Even with the aid of World Resources, he will still have to experience immense pain to succeed in his work, but the latter was completely intact.

"Lord Fate Dominator, can I —"

"No, I won’t join your department," Wang Wei said before teleporting back to the War Room, leaving a chief who sighed deeply. Their future was bleak.

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