Now that he had obtained the necessary intelligence, as an exchange, Yang Ying briefly recounted to the female intelligence officer his journey from his home, eliminating an Ape-man and a giant centipede, and arriving at the central air conditioning building. He omitted any mention of the Pocket Interstellar, only mentioning that he had awakened his psionic ability.
The female intelligence officer noticed nothing amiss; she attributed Yang Ying's earlier awakening compared to others to the emergence of his psionic powers, emphasizing to him how difficult it was for a civilian to slay an Ape-man.
Even a standard special forces squad would struggle to hunt down a single Ape-man, because beyond their bizarre psionic attacks, they possessed animalistic intuition, knowing how to seek advantage and avoid harm. If it hadn't been for Yang Ying's strength being far inferior to it, which failed to trigger its full alarm, it would have already summoned the centipede for a pincer attack.
Then, the two parties agreed to communicate every half hour to provide intelligence about the Light of Titan to the landing forces of the Seventh Fleet, concluding the communication.
Yang Ying walked to the glass wall and looked down, observing that the air conditioning equipment was indeed severely damaged, particularly the ground floor, which had three large holes blown out, the steel plates and frames twisted, and all the wiring exposed, occasionally spitting electrical sparks, as if the Ape-man had planted explosives to destroy the machinery before leaving.
Although the situation appeared desperate, the severity of the damage did not shake Yang Ying's resolve. He had already decided to do everything in his power to save three hundred thousand lives; the mere thought of Wendy’s face, radiant with happiness, made him feel he could not allow the temperature to continue dropping.
And the reason for his confidence lay in his secret weapon.
Since the Light of Titan was now approaching an empty city—devoid of military forces from either humans or Ape-men—Yang Ying had few reservations.
“Summon CVs!”
He extended his right hand and summoned the three mining CVs from beside the Terran base.
CVs possessed the ability to construct a complete Barracks from nothing in under a hundred hours. Therefore, repairing the air conditioning equipment, which required far less technological complexity than a Barracks, should not be an issue. Furthermore, having three CVs working together on the repair would be three times more efficient than a single one, making it entirely possible to complete the repairs within three hours.
He pointed toward the massive air conditioning machinery visible through the transparent window and instructed the three CVs: “Your mission is to repair this colossal machine within three hours. Do you have confidence?”
One CV raised its hand and shouted loudly: “If there’s confidence, we press on; if there’s no confidence, we still press on! Mission must be completed, sir!”
“Good!” Yang Ying laughed. “I think I recognize your voice. Are you Tom?”
“Reporting, sir! I am not Tom, I am Jerry! Tom is currently constructing a Barracks!” the CV reported loudly.
Tom and Jerry, the cat and the mouse?
Yang Ying broke out in a cold sweat; those names were simply too impactful.
“Your voice sounds very much like Tom’s. Who gave you your names? Are you brothers?”
The three CVs responded in unison: “We are all brothers! ~~ ．ㄧ~ ．We are clones gifted with engineering talent!”
Yang Ying frowned slightly, then immediately relaxed. He hadn't previously considered that CVs were all clones, and hearing it for the first time surprised him.
He then asked: “So the Zealots and Firebats are also clones?”
“Yes, sir. They are clones gifted with combat talent,” the three CVs replied.
Yang Ying nodded in understanding, setting aside the matter of clones, and led the three CVs into the equipment room.
The central air conditioning facility was situated in the very center of the equipment room, which was a vast, gray space spanning nearly ten thousand square meters, extending from the first to the ninth floor without internal divisions.
Upon entering the equipment room, aerial corridors ran from the second to the ninth floors, all leading to the air conditioning unit—between one or two, and as many as four or five corridors per level. Each corridor faced a door.
The aerial corridors connected to two concentric circular walkways: the outer ring connected to the building structure, and the inner ring ran adjacent to the air conditioning unit for inspection and adjustment purposes. Stairs connected the inner and outer circular walkways between adjacent levels.
Near the control center’s viewing window, a door connected directly to the aerial corridors.
Yang Ying and the three CVs arrived at the inner circular walkway and instructed them: “Examine this air conditioning equipment and figure out how to repair it. Then give me a report, only telling me if you can finish the repair within three hours.”
“Understood, sir!”
The three CVs dispersed. Jerry found an interface on the air conditioning unit, pulled out a cable from its mechanical arm, plugged it in, and began downloading data.
The other two CVs spread out to inspect the external damage sustained by the machinery.
A few minutes later, the situation assessment was complete. Jerry consolidated the findings and reported back: “Report, sir! The nuclear reactor is located underground, protected by armor, and remains largely intact with no indication of fuel leakage. Although the surface equipment is severely damaged, damage this severe is routinely repaired by our CV engineers. I have downloaded the complete blueprints for this air conditioning system. After careful analysis, we can definitively complete the task within two hours and thirty minutes. One of our CV engineers is equivalent to one hundred standard engineers, so please rest assured, sir!”
“Excellent!” Yang Ying was greatly pleased by the CVs’ readiness, nodding heavily: “Then begin work now!”
The repair capabilities of the CVs were formidable; there was no machinery they couldn't fix. Yang Ying entrusted the work to them with complete confidence, while he himself ascended to the top floor of the building.
He had promised the female intelligence officer to provide information support for the Seventh Fleet’s landing forces, so to fulfill his commitment, he needed to gather intelligence. As the saying goes, the higher you stand, the farther you see. Unlike Earth with its dense clusters of tall buildings, the Central Air Conditioning Building ranked among the top ten tallest structures in the Light of Titan city center, affording excellent visibility from the top floor.
The visor of the EVA suit was multi-functional; besides its built-in computer and thermometer, it could zoom the field of view, acting as a telescope.
Yang Ying scanned the surroundings from the rooftop like a probe. The city aesthetics of the twenty-sixth century were vastly different from five hundred years prior. Most residences featured intricate designs, adorned with large amounts of stylized, almost mystical patterns. Although he had the memory, seeing it firsthand was different.
The city, blanketed in white, was eerily still; no fighting was occurring. The most conspicuous features nearby were the centipede’s corpse, which still looked menacing, though it lay helpless entangled in the barbed wire.
Yang Ying could also spot the villa where he had recently hidden, and his thoughts drifted to Wendy, as delicate as a porcelain doll. He wondered where her parents were now, whether they were in mortal danger, or perhaps already dead? He had taken so much liquor from her home, and hadn't returned it upon leaving; now, all he could do was repay the debt with the manual labor he was capable of here.
The Anatd Canyon in the northern mountains was shrouded in thick fog, appearing pale yellow, obscuring vision beyond three kilometers, let alone seeing the battle thirty kilometers away between the elite Ape-man squad and the Titan Star military.
Gazing upon the frozen city, Yang Ying mused: “What exactly are these Ape-men here for?”