Chapter 85: Flesh and Blood
The day of the fireworks show.
The people packed their luggage and boarded the train. Since they were fleeing, they could not carry much stuff with them. Most people had no smiles on their faces, which were as gray as the gloomy sky today.
Not everyone in the city agreed to leave. Some people were attached to everything here and were willing to be buried with this land.
The trains that originally shuttled around the city could not accommodate too many passengers, and most people could only stand and squeeze together with others.
They watched the doors close and trains departed on time, rushing towards unknown directions.
The temporary track extended further. The area around the Mechanical City was originally turbulent, so there were few people.
And now, because this boundary has been broken, several stable directions leading to the outside world have emerged.
They would get off at the end of the track and then walk forward, crossing the boundary.
Time seemed to pass very slowly. The train that used to always have a visible end in the city now seemed to never reach its destination.
Inside the train, a mother and daughter stood near the door of the carriage. Through the glass, they could see the road outside moving backwards.
"Mom, it's getting dark." The girl whispered.
"Yes... in a while, fireworks will rise in the sky," said the mother.
The girl's grandfather did not board the train. No matter how much he was persuaded, he insisted on staying at home.
He said that he was old and could not move around anymore. Even if he went out, he would be a burden. He had lived long enough and he wanted to stay here and watch the last fireworks.
There were many people who shared the same idea as him. They agreed to watch the fireworks together and welcome the biggest festival of the year.
Yes, the fireworks show will be held as scheduled. It will be in fully automatic mode and the fireworks have already been installed. We just need to wait for the time to come before they can be launched.
People far away from their hometown are filled with anxiety and hope, perhaps they can come back to watch the fireworks many years later.
No matter what the Mechanical City becomes, this is a place they cannot give up.
"This year's fireworks will definitely be beautiful."
Mother said.
…
I don’t know how long it took, but a loud explosion suddenly sounded not far away.
The noise was so loud that it even reached the train, rumbling like an earthquake. Through the window, one could see a thick smoke rising from the distant horizon.
The people on the train suddenly became uneasy and talked in low voices.
The train attendant tried to maintain order: "Please don't panic. We have contacted other trains to find out what is happening ahead. We will ensure the safety of the passengers and take you to your destination safely."
"There was a car accident!"
Suddenly someone shouted in the carriage. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a man sitting in the seat with red eyes and his hand holding the mobile phone shaking constantly.
"I was just talking to a friend on the phone. He was on the train in front of us. We lost contact... The train exploded!!"
Suddenly, the carriage began to boil, as if boiling water had been poured into a frying pan.
Panic spread everywhere. Everyone was on the train, and no one knew whether the train they were on would explode. The high-speed train could not leave, let alone stop.
They were trapped.
Someone covered their face with their hands, crying: "How could this happen? There are so many people in the carriage, are we all going to die here?!"
The mother and daughter also hugged each other tightly.
The attendant tried hard to comfort the passengers, but with little success. In the end, he could only go to his superior with a pale face. The door of the carriage was slammed shut, as if closing the way for everyone to live.
The riot was not limited to this one carriage.
The violent explosion was shocking. The train following on that track could not move forward. The scene before our eyes was like hell, with broken limbs and shattered trains scattered all over the ground, and flames constantly engulfing everything.
People with poor psychological endurance couldn't help vomiting.
In order to avoid causing more panic, the train conductor suppressed the message, closed all the carriages, and did not allow anyone to get off the train. He then contacted the city through the communicator to try to inquire about the situation.
"Zi... We... Zila—Please, please respond!"
Inside the city, the train conductor's voice echoed in the empty monitoring room.
In the mechanical city, the war has begun.
The number of residents who stayed was still considerable. Order had completely broken down, and the streets were full of dangers. People who had the conditions closed their doors and windows to avoid the spotlight.
At this moment, a sudden explosion severed the trams, paralyzing not only the trains outside the city but also the traffic inside the city.
Someone had shut down the signal tower, and almost all the electronic equipment had malfunctioned. Not only that, an omnipresent radio wave suddenly echoed in the mechanical city.
Humans are not sensitive to this faint sound, but the androids feel very uncomfortable with it. They riot collectively, losing their minds and attacking everyone indiscriminately.
Even the robots on the streets flashed ominous red lights and attacked anyone they saw.
Han Shangyan said: "This is a virus."
At that time, he was standing in a bedroom in the Han family villa. From the floor-to-ceiling windows here, he could see the flickering fire in the distance. The Han family mansion, located halfway up the mountain, was already quite old.
This bedroom has the best view and is the bedroom that only the head of the Han family is qualified to use.
Behind him, the old housekeeper who had been working diligently for the Han family bowed slightly and said:
"Thanks to your planning, from today onwards, the Han family will gain the highest prestige in the Mechanical City. We have powerful external support and control the lifeblood of the Mechanical City, the puppet factory. No one can stand against the Han family anymore."
Han Shangyan is about to become the next president of the Mechanical City and turn this city into his own place of power.
"I've said it before, brother is still too cowardly. The Han family needs people who can bring benefits. Those who are of no use can only be abandoned."
Han Shangyan retracted his gaze and turned away from the window. The housekeeper bent down and pushed him aside. He walked to the table and poured himself a glass of red wine, sighing: "I don't know how he is now."
Han Yan disappeared quietly from the Han family before he reached adulthood. Han Shangyan suspected that he had long been gone from the Mechanical City.
Although his whereabouts are unknown, the victors take all.
Han Yan is now worthless.
Although the puppet factory only has the right to produce bionic puppets but not the right to control them, Han Shangyan still left a back door.
All recorded bionic puppets have a common sea of source consciousness, which is equivalent to the puppet's consciousness network.
The radio waves broadcast in the Mechanical City are a virus that spreads in the sea of consciousness and can easily trigger a riot among bionic dolls.
Bionic Man No. 1 will not leave them alone and will definitely devote some of his energy to dealing with this problem.
However, since the rebellious and escaping androids will erase all their registrations in the central building, this trick cannot be used on the puppet of Bionic Man No. 1, which is a pity.
Everything is ready, just waiting for Bionic Man No. 1 to fall into the trap, and he will be able to step on everyone's shoulders and reach the highest position as he wishes.
Han Shangyan thought about it and couldn't help laughing, with a smile that was so sweet that it was sickening.
He sat on a chair, shaking his red wine leisurely. In the dim room, his red hair seemed as dark as blood. Several buttons on the collar of his shirt were not buttoned, revealing his collarbone and half of his chest. He looked both handsome and arrogant.
He is about to succeed.
…
Residents of chaotic urban areas do not have identity cards.
In other words, from the very beginning, this group of people were sentenced to death in the strategy of diverting the people. They are the wandering souls of this city, hiding in the shadows on the edge of the city, and no one cares about them.
However, no one went to the central building to cause trouble. They were used to it. The future was an extremely distant word to them. They were used to living in uncertainty, and disasters were not worth mentioning to them.
"Because I knew I would be abandoned, I didn't expect anything."
The young puppet scratched its head and said, "But why don't you leave, Doctor?"
This young man often came to the studio for repairs and was often injured due to work. As time went by, Rong Le became familiar with him and even asked him to find Tina.
Rong Le: "Because there are more important things to do... You didn't think I would say that, did you?"
The young man chuckled, a little embarrassed: "Doctors must have reasons for what they do. Of course I don't know. What do you want me to do?"
Rong Le: "I do have something to tell you. The studio will leave the Mechanical City through another safe exit. You can go with them."
The young man was stunned for a long time before he reacted: "They, what about you?"
"Of course it's something more important." Rong Le blinked.
However, this time the joke did not amuse the young man. His face darkened slightly: "Are you going to do something dangerous?"
Rong Le sighed: "Someone has to do it."
The mechanic looked calm, as if the decision he had made was not to stay here, but to leave with them.
When the young man saw the mechanic here, he thought that such a clean and gentle person would definitely be eaten to pieces by this shitty place.
Now he knew that the mechanic was not only a skilled doctor, but also very stupid.
The young man was furious and was about to say something when a figure suddenly rushed down from upstairs and shouted, "I won't leave!"
Rong Le frowned and supported him and rushed into her arms: "Tina? Didn't I ask Nika to take care of you? How much did you hear?"
The wolf-like child bared his teeth. "All of them. If you don't leave, I won't leave either. I want to stay with you."
It's really worrying.
Nika came down from upstairs slowly. Rong Le looked at her and then pinched her brows: "The plan has been decided and will not be changed."
"I see."
The delicate puppet with long brown hair said slowly, "But leaving a few more people in the city won't affect the overall situation. I want to stand with Bionic Man No. 1. That's my organization."
Having said that, Rong Le hadn't looked back at the organization many times since she started working there. It was as if Bionic Man No. 1 had forgotten about her as well, and tacitly accepted Nika as a nanny here.
Rong Le looked at her for a moment and said, "Tina is different. He needs someone to take care of him personally."
This candidate must first be someone who is trustworthy and familiar enough. Rong Le cannot hand him over to anyone casually. 1018 and Zero are not the type to take care of others, and they cannot control the noisy Tina.
Nika gave a prepared answer: "I believe Mr. Yan Liu and Mr. Xu Yuanhe are capable of handling this position. You trust them enough, don't you?"
After everything was revealed, Nika, whose identity was exposed, stopped pretending and gained further trust. No one hid information about the collection hall and contact with players from Nika, so Nika keenly locked on the perfect candidate.
It seemed that she had made up her mind and he could not convince her.
Rong Le compromised: "I understand, then let's follow this plan."
He pinched Tina's face and said, "Tina, it's time for you to go. Remember what I said. One day, we will meet again."
He quickly made arrangements to pack up the young man, Tina, the studio's puppets, and Xu Yuanhe and take them all to the collection hall.
The players' tasks had already been completed, but Xu Yuanhe was the only one who remained in the module.
Before leaving, Tina burst into tears.
After all, it’s still too weak, Rong Le thought.
It's not just physical weakness, it's mental weakness as well. Unable to withstand a severe blow, it's impossible to survive in this world.
If Tina's spirit is not strong, she will eventually face destruction.
Strict education is necessary.
He thought carelessly.
Survive as long as you can, prove yourself to me, make your abilities match your ambitions, let me see your determination, and that you have a future that you can stand on your own.
For this reason, even if it means hitting Tina's self-esteem and the degree of severity is unbearable, it must be done, because it is a means to keep Tina alive.
"No wonder I care so much about my teacher's evaluation when I grow up. It seems the psychological trauma I suffered as a child was too deep."
"I can't say for sure. I can't say that Rong Le's education is wrong. I can only say that this world is too fucked up. I have to force children to grow up quickly. Sigh."
"Rongrong asked everyone to leave, didn't she want them to be sad? After all, if they stayed, they would just watch..."
"Fuck, stop talking (crying)"
"This is the tomb built by Rong Le himself. He ordered those around him to retreat and had Bionic Man No. 1 mobilize all his strength to collect the remaining chapters of the Necronomicon. The only thing they need to do today is to conserve their strength to rescue the people, while he will face the cult alone."
"Although I know this is preparation for time travel...but is it really okay for Rong Le?"
"I cried my heart out. The Polish special module flashed back so many times. I really couldn't bear to watch it anymore. When Rong Le died, there was no light in his eyes."
"In the later Qiu Hai module, Rong Le has actually begun to learn from experience and avoid risks. Furthermore, according to expert analysis, Rong Le's innate skills seem to have begun to upgrade. His rewinding ability will become increasingly precise, allowing him to control it with ease. He might even be able to control time and space in the end."
"Believe him. Death was also planned by him. Everything is part of the plan."
The barrage of comments said.
…
Before the riot began, Arnold received two messages.
One is an action notice, informing all security forces to prepare for combat, maintain city security, and jointly repel the enemy.
Another message came from a new mechanic I'd just met. The general meaning of the message was that he was in the city and needed help. I hoped to see him.
Arnold stood up suddenly, making a lot of noise, and his teammates around him looked at him.
Arnold kept his eyes on the screen and forced himself to sit down again. His face was cold and his fingers were flying. "I remember you have a formal ID. Why don't you leave?"
Delete.
He typed again: "Security forces are under martial law. No one is allowed to go out without permission. Find a place to hide first..."
He deleted it again.
Arnold remembered that he seemed to have never revealed his identity, but now none of this seemed important.
The conversation that night made him realize that the mechanic was no simple man, but he could not help but be wary of him.
Now that Rong Le has made all of this clear, and he stayed in the city during this period and contacted him, his thoughts are clear at a glance.
The black-haired officer typed with an indifferent expression, his fingers so strong that they almost broke the screen, and the aura around him made his teammates retreat.
Phyllis, the sniper from the aristocratic team, swallowed hard and leaned closer to Lin Ran. "Wow, the boss looks really angry. Which warrior did this?"
Lin Ran said in a confused tone, "Captain, do you have other friends? That shouldn't be the case. I know all the Captain's friends."
The tone was very kind, but Phyllis silently loosened her grip on his hand.
Abel rolled his glasses and decided not to disturb the boss at this time.
After a while, Arnold finally managed to organize his words, speaking in a submissive yet firm tone: "I can't go out now. Where are you? I'll find you when I can."
He added, "Please be careful. I'm worried about your safety."
The other party quickly replied: "Then I'll wait for you."
After turning off the screen, Arnold breathed a sigh of relief.
He had already figured out how to get closer to the mechanic's location when completing the mission. No matter what his purpose was, he would get him to a safe place first and then deal with his petty thoughts.
The teammates who had been secretly observing came over and said in a frivolous way: "New friend?"
"Could it be a lover?"
Arnold rarely has such big emotional fluctuations. Obviously, the person on the other side of the screen is important enough to affect his mood and make him unable to control himself perfectly.
But Arnold couldn't define their relationship either.
"A mysterious, very special person."
He finally said so.
Abel was always perceptive. "Is this person still in the city?"
“…”
Arnold didn't say anything, but Abel knew the answer from his attitude.
He pushed up his glasses. "At this point, the only people left in the city, besides those without ID cards, are the elderly and those with ulterior motives. It seems you've only just met them recently... Are you sure you're not being tricked, Captain?"
“I wasn’t deceived.”
Arnold whispered back at his teammates' suspicions.
The atmosphere within the team has always been to support each other, especially when it comes to interpersonal communication issues that their captain is not good at, teammates will generally pay more attention.
Hearing him say this, his teammates looked at each other.
"Interesting." Abel said meaningfully, "I hope he will make everything better."
There are not many armed forces available in the central building, and the security forces that remain are almost equivalent to death squads. All those in high positions and with connections have left here.
They are abandoned pawns, and their lives are worthless in the eyes of those in power.
As early as when the news came out, some people who could use their connections to leave had already left, but in order to have enough cannon fodder, some people would always be abandoned.
Phyllis has an older brother, so even though he is a noble, he stayed here.
However, he himself does not care about this, and thinks it is better to fight with everyone than to live alone.
After all, that's how they always come here.
The Central Building had long been reduced to a hollow shell, and everything in this city had become a tool for gaining profit. Arnold looked at the gray sky, and his mind seemed to have left his body and flown away into the distance.
Will everything really get better?
*
When the cult takes action, they don't care about the safety of ordinary people at all.
Just as people do not care about the lives of ants, in the eyes of these believers, these people are not even the same species as them, and their only role is to be consumed, or to serve as sacrifices.
"Just to wipe out a group of androids, do you actually need two of us to help? What a waste of our talents."
Professor Fei Meng sighed.
Gregor, dressed in a dark robe, surveyed the commotion below from above. "I thought a small, insignificant organization would come here to die, but I didn't expect them to be able to grasp the situation clearly. It looks like this mission can be completed safely."
Fei Meng said implicitly, "Your church's actions in recent years have been quite ostentatious. The Mother Goddess Church is so powerful that no organization would avoid its edge."
Gregor: "Silence is the unknown. The Truth Society has a profound foundation, and our church is willing to treat you with respect and friendship."
Both of them were important figures in their respective churches. After dividing the interests, they began to exchange hypocritical courtesies.
After a while, Professor Fei Meng suddenly said "Huh".
The lower-level servant race used to deliver messages used their racial talents to jump over and bring news.
He listened intently for a moment, then laughed out loud, "It looks like this is all coming to an end. My students have set up a formation that has discovered the location of Bionic Leader No. 1."
Let them get a head start.
Gregor raised his brows and said nothing more.
On the other side, the beautiful scene that the two bosses thought of did not happen. After discovering the trace of the leader of the bionic man No. 1, the believers passed the information to the professor and then tried to capture the target.
This is where the problem lies.
In the Science and Technology Museum, Tang Qiu sat in the hall with a numb expression. The number of bionic dolls he saw in this day was almost as many as he had seen in his entire life.
The puppets obviously knew his identity and treated him as their leader who no longer concealed his identity, so they greeted him naturally.
So why did that guy let him out without saying a word and just hibernate on his own?
But Number One had obviously arranged everything. His purpose of sitting here was to act as bait.
"I have a special mystical item in my hand. It will be my weapon against the final enemy. Before that, we need to make some small arrangements."
Rong Le stretched out two fingers to show the concept of small.
Tang Qiu seemed a little absent-minded. He hesitated and said, "Where are the dolls?"
"Of course I went to fight, to save my compatriots, for freedom, and for revenge."
"Then will they..." come back?
Tang Qiu didn't say it out loud, he knew it was a stupid question.
Rong Le: "Everyone has their own mission, no one is an exception. Don't worry about them, worry about yourself first. Soon, someone will come to take your life."
This sentence is enough to refresh people's minds. Tang Qiu is also playing his role, that is, acting as bait.
He was here and couldn't see the tram that exploded for unknown reasons, but he knew that the puppets were hostile to the central building and the puppet factory.
These powerful people have long known that boarding the train means death. They know that the ending of the Mechanical City will be peaceful, so they all hid, which is the perfect time for the puppets to attack.
"You are the best trophy, the best proof for them to divide up the profits. Everyone wants to fight for you."
Rong Le: "I will ambush the incoming believers here and draw the enemies behind the scenes here."
What could make the boss remember the three words "Collection Hall" better than stepping directly on his face?
"You..." Tang Qiu had a complicated expression.
It was as if the people around me stopped pretending and revealed their true colors. Looking at the elegant mechanic friend who used to discuss knowledge with me enthusiastically, and the tough guy in front of me who looked so interested as if he was not under the greatest pressure, it seemed as if they were not the same person.
Rong Le's face suddenly darkened.
"Here I come."
The methods learned are often not very offensive, but because of the characteristics of the research direction, the scope of application is extremely wide, and the automatic search formation is ridiculously easy to use.
Whether it's life or death, as long as the divination information is accurate enough, we can find it out for you.
Yan Liu once expressed that he really wanted this thing.
"Unfortunately, this area is closed to traffic."
The moment the believers of the society broke into the Science and Technology Museum, they heard a voice saying with a smile.
In the hall, two young men were clearly wearing similar white coats, one was thin and decadent, the other was gentle and elegant, both of them were staring at the visitor.
Gurgle.
A small box rolled over from a distance. He subconsciously looked down and the box with intricate carvings suddenly opened automatically.
After seeing the patterns on the box clearly, the pupils of the believers of the society instantly tightened.
The knowledge in his mind told him that he must run now!
But the moment this thought came to mind, it was too late to act.
A magnificent light suddenly bloomed, and the magic circle unfolded in an instant, enveloping the believers.
Then countless tentacles rose from the magic circle and dragged him into the box with a wail, leaving only bloodstains on the ground from the struggle.
Bang!
The box locks automatically.
Intermediate sealing spell——"Moment of Truth"!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
