Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 614 - 157: Reason Remains

"Cut off its own arm?" Liu Li was stunned, "Could it be that this anomaly still retains some part of human awareness?"

"It seems so. Just now when it retreated and fell, it wasn't pretending to create a flaw for you, but rather, it forcibly interrupted its own movement," Sun Hang added from the side.

"Then why does it attack other robots so mercilessly... I understand now. The machine dogs and mechanical spiders don't resemble humans, so when it attacks them, it doesn't face any psychological burden. But H4 is a humanoid robot, and from the anomaly's perspective, it closely resembles humans, so when it attacks H4, the remnant rationality in its consciousness prevents it from acting..." Liu Li's mind was indeed quick, "It seems I need to change my strategy... Luckily, there's an Eternal Freeze Coffin on the other helicopter."

"Crystal!" Liu Li shouted.

"I'm here!" Princess Crystal's voice came from the direction of the cargo bay.

"Are you equipped?"

"I'm equipped and ready to deploy at any time!"

"Good, I'll deploy you now. However, the mission is changed from eliminating the anomaly to capturing it alive. An Eternal Freeze Coffin will land with you, and I'll coordinate the remaining robots to assist you. We must successfully contain this humanoid anomaly!" Liu Li said.

"I heard from you all that this anomaly retains some rationality, is that correct?" Princess Crystal asked.

"Yes, we might be able to learn what happened at bunker number one from her." Liu Li said while having two humanoid robots continue to engage the anomaly, while adjusting various parameters on the cargo bay deployment device... Meanwhile, he connected with the rear research institute's communication, starting to discuss subsequent handling issues of containing the humanoid anomaly through text with the researchers.

His brain was like a multi-threaded high-end CPU, executing multiple distinct tasks simultaneously without a single error... He even watched the replay on another laptop from the corner of his eye, internally reviewing the battle that just happened.

"Prepare to deploy!" Liu Li whispered, then flipped a switch.

Accompanied by crisp unlocking sounds, the number one hatch at the bottom of the cargo bay instantly opened, and Princess Crystal, in heavy power armor, was lowered slowly by several steel cables.

"The coordinates for the airdrop have been inputted into the mecha's main control computer... Good luck." After saying this, Liu Li released the hooks on the steel cables. The nearly ten-ton power armor rapidly plummeted towards the ground due to gravity.

Meanwhile, not far away, another helicopter also opened the cargo bay's bottom hatch and threw an Eternal Freeze Coffin loaded in an airdrop pod down.

Before Princess Crystal even landed, the battle situation inside the bunker changed.

After severing its own arm, the humanoid anomaly decisively stopped attacking the two robots and turned to run deeper into the bunker—it moved swiftly and like an all-terrain mechanical spider, it could move across walls and ceilings. The propellant fuel in the two H4 robots was mostly expended during the recent battle, making it impossible to chase down the anomaly intent on escaping.

The robots' jet boosters were additional attachments that didn't use the robots' own electricity but required separate semi-solid fuel. Due to space and weight limitations, the fuel capacity was pitifully small, and at full output, it could only sustain about ten seconds of operation.

After all, these devices aren't meant for the robots to travel but provide a burst of powerful thrust at critical moments—such as in close combat requiring explosive acceleration or when a non-flying robot unexpectedly falls off a cliff. In these moments, the jet boosters, usable for only ten seconds, come in handy.

Moreover, as long as there's a residue of fuel, they have one last function.

Self-destruction.

If the humanoid anomaly hadn't suddenly held back, Liu Li was prepared to have the robot that was knocked down self-destruct.

"Can we catch up?" Sun Hang folded his arms, watching the scene unfold.

"No, but the bunker has no other exits deep inside; I've already dispatched two other humanoid robots to outflank it. As long as we can corner it deep inside the bunker, it can't escape," Liu Li confidently said.

Amidst the busyness, he extended a finger to tap a few times on the keyboard of the nearby laptop, instantly displaying the cross-sectional structure and floor plans of bunker number one on the screen. A conspicuous red dot was swiftly moving through the underground first floor passage and soon entered a vertical shaft, moving into the underground second level.

The structure of bunker number one has five levels, two above ground and three below—above ground are the communication base station, observation post, equipment library, vehicle library, and a small multifunctional meeting room, serving as primary activity areas for personnel stationed in the bunker.

Meanwhile, the underground's first and second floors are dormitories and warehouses. Although there are many rooms, the structure is simpler than the above-ground section, consisting of two simple corridors forming a rectangular layout with rooms neatly distributed on either side of the corridors. Every several meters, there's a vertical shaft connecting upper and lower levels, and at the ends of the corridors, there are freight elevators... However, according to the robots' detection, both freight elevators are in a "jammed" state, completely unusable.