novelraw Chapter 141 : Mechanical Tower
Chapter 141 : Mechanical Tower
Xie Chunshi laughed.
Since the last joint analysis, when he brought back nutrient solutions and casually brought some snacks for Xie Yi, she had excitedly blurted out this nickname. The Zhu Jing Fu members seemed to have found a nickname that showed a very friendly relationship without undermining the Commander's authority.
Xie Chunshi wasn't too averse to it. When he really thought about it, only elders would affectionately call him "Little Chun," and his younger brothers and sisters would follow suit with "Little Brother Chun." He hadn't heard this form of address for several years.
It was a bit more acceptable than the "Fragrant Spring Tree" or "Little Hamster" on the forums.
—Xie Chunshi never understood why he had so many nicknames.
During his brief moment of smiling and shaking his head, the energy in front was broken open by the ice pillar. The black-gold mecha saw the ice path form, its foot stepping from above, directly sliding down along the ice path's extension, the mecha's foot shaving off a thin layer of ice.
"Bang!"
The mecha landed with a sound, but no one noticed this noise because a series of spikes flew out like a rainstorm, shooting rapidly from the pitch-black mine cave.
Chen Sui was the first to land and was at the front. Seeing the spikes flickering with sharp light before her, she didn't dodge.
The front mecha raised its long spear, spinning it rapidly in front, the spear dancing in a circular motion as green light burst along it, instantly illuminating the space ahead.
A series of crackling collision sounds erupted.
"Swoosh—"
"Boom!"
The spikes were embedded one by one into the surrounding rock walls. Energy clung to the mine cave, directly gathering on the rock walls to form a metal wall, distributed irregularly like a map above, alarming the surrounding white phosphorus ore which immediately lit up with white light.
No one from Zhu Jing Fu looked around. From the front came a trembling sensation accompanied by a muffled thudding sound, as if something massive was approaching their position.
"High-level energy body."
Chen Sui vigilantly looked at the deep black mine cave. The mecha's searchlight, combined with the white phosphorus ore's glow, brightly illuminated the view ahead, making it not difficult to see.
Chen Sui suddenly moved from darkness to bright light, unconsciously raising her hand to wipe her eyes.
The new artificial eye was adapting well, but somehow she felt a slight discomfort in her eye socket.
Behind her, her teammates heard this warning and were already moving toward the mine cave's exterior.
Not many parts of the lower mining area had collapsed. Rather, they had been severely eroded by energy, with a layer of metal completely covering them. The metal energy had built a solid landing platform, preventing the mine cave and energy bodies from collapsing to this layer.
Space inside the mine cave was limited. Seeing her teammates heading to the perimeter, Chen Sui didn't express any opinion.
The earthquake's magnitude was growing, and heavy footsteps carrying muffled roars drew closer to Zhu Jing Fu.
"Roar!"
Before the black-gold mecha could exit the mine cave, a four-legged giant beast covered in mechanical structures appeared. Chen Sui's eyes immediately caught it.
The four-legged beast's internal skeleton was entirely mecha structure. Through the hollow positions on the exterior, one could see the "internal organs" structure at a glance. An extremely long "spine" made entirely of hard metal supported its whole body. On the outermost layer, scales opened and closed layer by layer, revealing countless spikes covered beneath, densely flickering with dots of white light.
"Iron Spine Beast, SSS-level metal attribute energy body."
As Chen Sui's voice sounded, the Iron Spine Beast's inorganic mechanical eyes looked around, suddenly capturing the black-gold mecha's position. At some distance from the cave entrance, it suddenly quickened its pace, charging fiercely while emitting increasingly strong roars.
"Roar!"
"Roar roar!"
Several responding sounds echoed behind it.
Chen Sui looked closely and realized that more than one Iron Spine Beast was surging out from behind.
"Is this part of those fifty-plus?" Zhou Chen looked at Chen Sui, lightning flickering on his Four-sided Mace. Concerned about energy control in the underground mine pit, Zhou Chen was very careful. The lightning on his Four-sided Mace wasn't ferocious, but extremely fine, almost looking like decoration.
Chen Sui gripped her long spear. The Iron Spine Beast's energy fluctuations were extremely clear, with no concealed energy detected. She unconsciously knit her brows, warning: "It should be. Let's finish this quickly. I have a bad feeling."
Zhou Chen raised his eyebrows, never doubting her words. As soon as Chen Sui finished speaking, she flew out. Seeing the Iron Spine Beast exit the cave, her long spear slid along the ground, its four-edged blade creating a noticeable mark on the metal surface, then quickly inserted between the energy body's four legs, flipping it upward and throwing it to the side.
The analyst cleared the obstacle in front. The Iron Spine Beast group behind quickly caught up. Zhou Chen and Gu Qinxue didn't hesitate, immediately following up—one pulling with the thorny fire whip, the other repeatedly smashing with the Four-sided Mace, carrying fine lightning that made the Iron Spine Beast convulse.
The Iron Spine Beast wasn't easy to deal with. Zhou Chen finished his attack and was about to retreat, still holding up his Four-sided Mace, gathering energy for a downward strike. The energy body bound by Gu Qinxue suddenly struggled, its scales opening to shoot countless flying needles in all directions. The sound of wind-breaking rushed toward the surrounding mechas.
"Little Jin, wall!"
Puluo's shield umbrella stood in front, and the energy bodies rushing toward him couldn't move it at all. But feeling this metal attribute energy burst, he immediately summoned his spirit body, instantly calling out.
Dazzling golden light flashed from him, blocking in front of his teammates.
"Clang!"
Sharp collision sounds erupted in front of Zhou Chen and Gu Qinxue.
On the other side, Chen Sui threw the Iron Spine Beast toward the ground on the other side. Her figure rushed to close the distance, her hand movement not pausing. The mecha, using the force from shaking the energy body, flipped in mid-air, directly leaping up, the long spear held with both hands, thrusting downward.
"Bang!!"
The energy body's mechanical body that had crashed to the ground twitched.
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
The fitted joints on its body made stuttering sounds, like human vertebrae colliding, causing listeners to pause.
Simultaneously, the Iron Spine Beast's inorganic eyes rotated, suddenly turning red.
"Roar—"
An angry roar burst out. Around the Iron Spine Beast, a large amount of energy concentrated. The metal ground began to sprout spikes, rushing straight up.
A huge spike directly rushed from below toward Chen Sui's face.
The black-gold mecha dodged sideways. The long spear transferred to her right hand, her foot tapping lightly on the spike, her body moving even more agilely forward.
The Iron Spine Beast had already risen from the ground. Its tail moved, extending a very long metal tail with golden light flickering at each section's tip.
The Iron Spine Beast's forelegs kept pounding the ground. With its movements, the mine cave floor began to show various changes. The supporting ground started to shake. At the same time, its long tail slapped the ground repeatedly, with continuous vibrations.
Zhou Chen was shaken by this frequency, his footing unstable, causing his Four-sided Mace's downward strike to pause.
"Wait, are they using a harassment flow?"
Zhou Chen asked in confusion.
Meanwhile, Gu Qinxue tightened the thorny fire whip. The thorns on the long whip interlocked, with sparks gradually appearing from the friction.
The Iron Spine Beast struggled frantically under the whip's constraint. The modified thorny fire whip directly embedded into the Iron Spine Beast's mechanical body, fusing with its mecha structure.
Seeing these sparks, Gu Qinxue's eyes showed some urgency: "Zhou Chen, hurry up!"
Otherwise, she would lose control of the thorny fire whip's explosion.
Hearing this, Zhou Chen immediately continued his attack, breaking through the energy wall in front and smashing the Four-sided Mace on the Iron Spine Beast's face.
Chen Sui reminded him: "The Iron Spine Beast's energy crystal is on the main spine at the back. Just pull out its backbone."
Zhou Chen looked at the position she mentioned. Through the Iron Spine Beast's outer mechanical structure, he saw a main spine with a spike exposed, but didn't know how to proceed: "The main spine is buried too deep. Unless we blast open the outside, we can't stab through."
Chen Sui's long spear had already pierced through the Iron Spine Beast's widely opened mouth into the energy body's throat. Hearing this, she nodded: "Blast it."
She said it so definitively that Zhou Chen hesitated: "What if it collapses?"
"It won't collapse," Xie Chunshi interjected. The Commander's wise eyes watched the movements of the surrounding Iron Spine Beasts. His energy-reducing knife slashed forward, sweeping away the approaching energy body while also noticing the Iron Spine Beast controlled by Chen Sui. "These energy bodies aim to drive us away, not let us approach below."
The mighty force from the Iron Spine Beast's tail-slapping only made the surroundings shake violently, but the ground showed no changes. Logically, with such metal ground, the energy body could make the mecha fall through, but the Iron Spine Beast never did this. Even when disturbing the ground, energy was still reinforcing it, clearly not wanting these people to enter the area below.
Chen Sui nodded. She had also observed this point. The analyst looked up: "I think we can blast it. We won't fall through, but the structure above might not hold."
Above didn't have as much metal attribute energy-made ground support.
"I'll block," Puluo put away his shield umbrella. A golden energy flashed in his hand, and following his control, the golden energy extended from its original position, growing an extremely tall metal support pillar.
Seeing this, Chen Sui was finally reassured. She exerted force with her hands, her long spear throwing the Iron Spine Beast against the wall with a heavy sound. Simultaneous with the output gun cannon charging, the analyst put away her weapon, her fist swinging out.
The Iron Spine Beast's massive body hit the front, the mecha clicking and stuttering, then moving again immediately. Seeming to sense the mecha approaching, the Iron Spine Beast swept its long tail. Chen Sui moved faster, almost at the instant Gu Qinxue's fierce fire cannon fired—
"Bang!!"
The black-gold mecha approached the Iron Spine Beast, delivering a punch to its body.
The Zhu Jing Fu members' attacks instantly became fierce, with fierce fire cannons and quantum cannons flying everywhere.
Xie Chunshi's energy-reducing knife inserted into the gaps of the Iron Spine Beast's mechanical structure. The blade tilted, the mecha's grip pushing outward, peeling off a layer of the Iron Spine Beast's shell structure.
The energy-reducing knife's movement didn't stop, immediately swinging again, quickly slashing at several surrounding positions. Upon finding hardness, he immediately switched to the gun cannon.
Under Chen Sui's hand, the Iron Spine Beast was hammered by iron fists, its outer structure somewhat disassembled, revealing the central "skeleton." The main spine hiding the energy crystal was just at the back. Chen Sui, facing the Iron Spine Beast's energy impact, grabbed part of the main spine through the sharp structure. Just as she tried to pull, she suddenly sensed an unusual aura.
"Not right," the analyst's gaze shifted, looking toward the back. "Watch out for surrounding energy bodies!"
The Zhu Jing Fu members were locked in a standoff with the Iron Spine Beast, but from within the mine cave, many mechanical structure energy bodies crawled out with faint light, about to pounce on the mechas.
Chen Sui's hand didn't stop. She lifted the Iron Spine Beast, pulling on the main spine while throwing it toward the mine cave.
"Bang!!"
The Iron Spine Beast's body was thrown into the mine cave interior, colliding with the energy bodies crawling out, pushing the energy cluster back somewhat.
The Zhu Jing Fu members all looked in that direction, the enormous energy fluctuations immediately making them click their tongues.
"So many?" Zhou Chen sighed. Without needing his teammates' reminder, his lightning magnetic cannon began charging. "Were they attracted by the device, or do they purely not want us to pass through?"
"There must be something below, otherwise the energy bodies wouldn't intercept us halfway. We need to go down and see," Chen Sui said firmly. "Energy bodies attracted by the device have completely different attack intensities."
Chen Sui could feel the changes in the Iron Spine Beast's energy attacks. Initially, its hatred was strong, but when she gripped the main spine, the energy fluctuation actually pushed the mecha outward.
Chen Sui looked at the section of main spine she had pulled off in her hand. The Iron Spine Beast's body was recovering in the energy concentration, quickly twitching and crawling toward the periphery.
"Zhou Chen, aim."
Seeing the lightning magnetic cannon fully charged, Chen Sui reported the position: "The more they block, the more curious I become."
Just as Chen Sui's voice fell, Zhou Chen aimed the lightning magnetic cannon, his tone carrying a hint of secretive excitement: "The last thing blocked by energy was the Mirage Orb."
As he spoke, the Zhu Jing Fu mechas simultaneously threw the energy bodies toward the mine cave position, blocking the crawling energy bodies' path.
"Boom—"
The lightning magnetic cannon's blast wasn't ear-piercing. Compared to the roaring sounds of other energy cannons, it seemed quite gentle, but the dazzling white light it burst out looked far from harmless.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be one of the few weapons capable of hard-fighting high-level energy bodies.
The white light exploded in front, seeming to crack open a spider web in space, with light spreading along the web in all directions.
Chen Sui watched this scene, temporarily unable to clearly see whether the space was being torn open or if it was simply the mine cave cracking.
But soon, the violent earth movement made the Zhu Jing Fu members react.
Puluo's shield umbrella opened with a swoosh. Zhou Chen hurriedly took shelter inside. The lightning magnetic cannon's mouth was still flashing. He anxiously disconnected the charging, feeling the surrounding earth-shaking situation, inwardly shocked: "Damn, didn't you say it wouldn't collapse?"
He looked up. Rocks from above were already falling. Not only had a huge crack opened in the mine cave at this layer, but even the supporting pillars' metal was shaking. He didn't know if it was affected by the shaking ground below; Zhou Chen saw the ground beneath also shaking.
Chen Sui tightened the vines around her waist, darting out from the mine cave entrance shaken by the lightning magnetic cannon's energy aftermath. Her long spear swept around, her hand pulling out the energy body's main spine with the energy crystal, rushing back into the shield umbrella a second before the ground collapsed.
Chen Sui didn't have time to look, focusing only on entering the shield umbrella. Thus she didn't notice that a second before she entered, someone reached out a hand to her, which she unhesitatingly grasped.
After entering the shield umbrella, there was an instant of earth-shaking movement as the entire mining area rapidly collapsed.
And the hand she grasped had no time to let go.
The metal below broke, and the sensation of falling instantly came.
As they fell, with Puluo's shield umbrella blocking in front, giant rocks crashed onto the shield, and dust poured down like a waterfall. The entire mining area was filled with dust. When Zhou Chen opened his mouth, he felt the air was extremely turbid, but still couldn't help complaining: "Little Sui, what was that position you reported? It actually collapsed such a large area!!"
Chen Sui truly lived up to being Zhu Jing Fu's home-wrecking expert. Even with someone else, such an effect might not be achievable.
Chen Sui was sensing her surroundings, capturing the returning energy signals, and hadn't had time to respond to his words.
The bullet screen, seeing this familiar scene, felt somewhat emotional.
[Tell us, Zhu Jing Fu, how many mines have you blown up]
[Your Zhu Jing Fu both blows up and takes]
[Not to criticize, but what's going on with you, Sui? This mine pit below was really solid—one lightning magnetic cannon blast took care of it. Wait, is this lightning magnetic cannon in Zhou Chen's hands different from the one in my hands?]
[No one mentioned it, but reporting the position directly controlled all the energy bodies]
[Family members, I also want to admit the lightning magnetic cannon is strong, but having used it, I dare not say]
[What kind of eyes do you have, Sui? I looked at the forum screenshots—very good, your Zhu Jing Fu piles energy bodies together, stacking energy crystals on energy crystals]
[Awesome]
[Goodness, the damage from Zhu Jing Fu's mecha crashing to the ground is higher than a half day of setup]
[I'm so curious what Zhu Jing Fu will find this time]
Surprisingly to everyone, beneath the metal partition, at the very bottom of the mining area, a great distance from the ground, wasn't the expected black rock walls or mining area terrain, but a metal-built area.
Under the mecha's searchlight, in front was a metal-built corridor. Following along, they could see a series of rooms with closed doors and no movement.
Falling from the hole above, Zhou Chen lay on his back and looked up. From this angle, he could see all the way up to the various mining areas, the metal layer covering them, and another extremely thick geological cover below the metal layer. The energy bodies' metal energy had opened a mechanical passage within.
And Zhu Jing Fu, sliding down this passage, had directly created a large hole in this unknown object through the analyst's impact.
"What is this thing? Created by energy bodies?"
Chen Sui's mecha scanned the inside of the metal wall.
This material was different from the Star Alliance's common metal building materials and also distinct from the Mechanical Tower's special metal texture.
Chen Sui forcefully hammered her long spear several times, creating an imprint on it.
"This kind of material, I don't think I've seen it before," she said. With her strength capable of hammering through energy shields, ordinary building materials would have been pierced long ago, but this only left a mark, indicating the material's extremely high defensive performance. If such material truly existed, she shouldn't have no impression of it.
Zhou Chen looked but couldn't tell anything, only guessing: "Could it be made by energy bodies?"
Chen Sui shook her head, temporarily unable to answer him.
At this moment, in the control room, several reviewers were staring at this unfamiliar scene through Zhu Jing Fu's perspective, finding it somewhat eerily familiar yet, upon deeper thought, quite foreign.
Jian Run and Gu Pingyang both slightly furrowed their brows.
As Zhu Jing Fu moved along the corridor, Chen Sui's footsteps suddenly stopped: "Something's not right."
As soon as she spoke, everyone looked at her: "What is it?"
"There's a very strange fluctuation," Chen Sui's perception had captured a signal similar to energy fluctuation, but not quite like it in perception, yet carrying a strong attraction: "It seems to have attractiveness."
She temporarily changed direction, following her perception.
The Zhu Jing Fu members all followed her footsteps while observing their surroundings.
Walking to some unknown place in this strange base, Xie Chunshi's vision paused. The mecha suddenly half-squatted, the searchlight illuminating the corner of the wall.
Chen Sui stood beside him, clearly seeing the line of text: "This is—Star Alliance ancient text?"
The Star Alliance had been established for a long time. During its development, there were many cultural reforms, and the text became increasingly simplified. The text from the early founding period was called Star Alliance ancient text.
Chen Sui recognized a bit, having specifically inquired into some of the Star Alliance's early information to understand Master Jin's structure for Black Execution during its repair, thus coming into contact with ancient text information.
Xie Chunshi nodded, looking at this very blurred text, arduously identifying: "Serial number X7-735-5492, special material certification."
Chen Sui wasn't surprised that he would recognize ancient text, after all, the Song family was one that had been passed down since the Star Alliance's establishment.
But hearing this string of information, even someone with some understanding of the Star Alliance's early situation, let alone someone completely uninformed, would know what this was.
"Starship building information?"
"This is a starship?" Zhou Chen's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, why is a starship so deep underground?"
The starship information transmitted to the control room, and the faces of several people showed a moment of blankness.
The reviewers who didn't understand the situation hesitated slightly, while Song Xingzhang, not in the control room, noticed this scene and suddenly thought of something, immediately calling a contact on his light brain.
The word "starship" made Chen Sui instinctively think of the situation in her memory, but unlike the starship in her memory, this starship's layout and materials were vastly different.
The starship in her memory was of Star Alliance standard construction, but this one before her was very likely a creation from the early Star Alliance period.
"Let's go see what you mentioned first," Xie Chunshi lowered his eyes, looking at Chen Sui.
The analyst nodded and continued forward, traversing the metal-covered corridor for a long time before reaching the door of the mecha control center.
"It's in here."
Chen Sui looked at everyone: "This door seems to need a password. I don't know if we can—"
"We probably can't blast it open," Xie Chunshi looked at her somewhat helplessly, his eyes carrying a smile. "I remember now, X7-735-5492 material isn't a conventional type of material."
Chen Sui turned back, hearing Xie Chunshi seemingly take a deep breath.
When he was very young, he had heard the Song family elders mention it.
After Master Jin, along with Song family ancestor Song Yunlai, Gu family ancestor Gu Canglin, and Foreign Alliance founder Aria, overthrew the Kamanna Empire's rule, when everything settled after the war, the Star Alliance, newly established, had built a research institute.
The first thing the research institute did was develop some special materials.
Some became a type of Star Alliance strategic material, some became critical for reforming mechanical organs after abolishing bionic humans, and some only flashed briefly before fading away, with no one able to replicate them after Master Jin.
X7-735-5492 was one of these.
Master Jin used this material to build a starship to begin her interstellar journey, after which her whereabouts were unknown.
Xie Chunshi had seen this record in manuscripts left by his ancestors.
He made a somewhat bold conjecture.
Could this starship be the legendary one Master Jin piloted away from the Star Alliance?