When Theo opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the unfamiliar ceiling.
"Ah, you finally woke up."
Ling's voice came from the side, and Tio gradually regained consciousness. She turned her head and saw Ling sitting on another bed next to her, reading a heavy book. Seeing Tio wake up, Ling blinked at her.
"I didn't expect you to be such a sleepyhead. You didn't even wake up until now. Didn't you sleep well last night?"
"Oh, no, um...I remember I fell asleep normally last night?"
Hearing Ling's words, Theo sat up puzzledly and answered. She remembered clearly that she went to bed and got up on time last night.
"Then why did you sleep in the car for so long?"
"this……"
Facing Ling's curious question, Tio frowned slightly and began to recall what happened this morning. She got into Fang Zheng's car, and then the guided car started, and then... her memory was interrupted.
“…I forgot.”
"You sleep so soundly."
Ling rolled her eyes helplessly.
"What a shame. We missed out on so many beautiful views along the way. We even saw the airship of the Royal Guards."
"I don't think I slept soundly..."
Theo complained silently, then looked around and found that they were currently in a hotel that looked a bit shabby.
"here it is?"
"This is the rest area at the Harken Gate. We will take a short break here and leave after the inspection. But I see that the bearded grandfather seems to be quite interested in your car. I'm afraid he won't be able to leave for a while."
At the same time, in the armory at the Haken Gate, Fang Zheng, Tida, and an old man with a white beard, wearing a military uniform and a serious face were standing in front of "STARLIGHT", observing carefully.
"Although I have been notified by Her Majesty the Queen, but... your car is too strange."
Looking at the huge black beast with bared fangs and claws in front of him, the old man shook his head. He was General Morgan who was in charge of guarding the gate of Haken.
"And you guys actually said you drove all the way from Chase to here and it only took you more than half a day? That's almost as fast as an airship."
"This is part of the test run after all."
Fang Zheng shrugged.
"We adjusted the spring and shock systems to best suit the road conditions in Liberl, and so far, they are in good condition."
Fang Zheng's STARLIGHT is certainly not just a modified car. In fact, when designing it, Fang Zheng referred to the ground vehicle system in the Mass Effect world. After all, those vehicles are used to go up and down in various environments on alien planets. Basically, as long as it is not vertically 90 degrees, it can climb anything. Even if it rushes down the mountain, it will automatically adjust the center of gravity to fall...
Although guided vehicles are not yet popular and the roads in the Kingdom of Liberl are not the highways and asphalt roads of the Founder era, this is naturally not a problem for this modified black monster that adopts the design of a high-tech world landing vehicle.
"Don't let such a good thing fall into the hands of the empire."
General Morgan snorted.
"If you ask me, you'd better not go to the empire. The people in the empire are very bad. If they see something like this, they will definitely try their best to seize it."
Although the Kingdom of Liberl and the Empire have signed an armistice agreement to restore peace, a soldier like General Morgan will certainly not forget the lessons of the "Hundred Days War", and of course he has no good feelings towards the people of the Empire.
"That depends on whether they have the guts... and I'm not someone you can easily mess with."
"Let's hope so. Sigh... If I were Her Majesty the Queen, I wouldn't let such good things go out..."
General Morgan liked the car more and more. Fang Zheng had invited him to ride in it for two turns just now, and it felt pretty good. Even on the bumpy mountain road, the car was as smooth as flat ground, and it was so fast that it seemed to be taking off. As a general, he certainly understood the benefits of this kind of vehicle. It was a good choice for both transportation and reconnaissance.
So as for General Morgan, he was unwilling to let the empire see such a good thing.
But since the Queen has agreed...there's nothing he can do.
"After the test is completed, if the army needs it, we will provide the blueprints... Besides, even if the Empire cuts this thing into pieces, they can't build it."
Fang Zheng is of course full of confidence. Just like chips, these can only be made using Fang Zheng's manufacturing machinery. Even if the Empire steals one and wants to make it by hand, it will be useless.
If the problem can be solved with just manpower, why do we need machine tools?
"Anyway, if you encounter any problems, just come to me. I'm always here."
"Okay, thank you General."
After conducting a comprehensive inspection of the entire vehicle and confirming that there were no problems, General Morgan also issued a clearance certificate to Fang Zheng and others. When Fang Zheng and Tida came out again, they happened to see Ling and Tio.
"Hey, did you sleep well?"
Looking at Theo in front of him, Fang Zheng waved his hand and said hello, but Theo hesitated.
"I have no idea."
"Um?"
"She said she didn't remember anything."
Ling also interjected at this time, and Fang Zheng laughed.
"That's good. Not having any dreams is evidence of a good sleep."
"Yeah?"
"Yes, now that you are awake, let's continue on our way."
"Don't you want to stay here for one night?"
Hearing Fang Zheng's words, Ling looked at the sky curiously. They had left early in the morning, and it was already afternoon when they arrived at the Haken gate. Adding the inspection and maintenance just now, as well as customs clearance and other operations, the sun was setting. She originally thought that Fang Zheng would take everyone here to stay for one night, and then continue on the road the next day.
"Haha, you'll know when the time comes."
Fang Zheng laughed, without answering Ling's question directly, and then walked towards the car not far behind him. At this moment, Theo also raised her head, and when she saw the black monster, her face suddenly turned pale, and then her legs softened and she fell to the ground.
"What's wrong, Theo?"
Seeing Theo like this, Ling looked at her in confusion, and the latter herself seemed a little surprised. She lowered her head and looked at her slightly trembling hands.
"I don't know why, but I suddenly feel a little scared..."
"Scared? Are you afraid of the dark?"
"No……"
Theo didn't know how to answer. She didn't know what was going on. It was as if her body was completely out of control and she was instinctively afraid of something.
"Are you feeling unwell?"
At this moment, Tida also came over with a worried expression.
"Why don't we just rest here for a night?"
"I'm fine."
Theo shook her head, then she took a deep breath, regained control of her body, and stood up.
"let's go."
After getting back in the car and passing through the Haken Gate, the group continued to move forward. This time Fang Zheng did not continue to drive fast, after all, it was already late, and the road here was also a mountain road and not easy to drive. If there was an 86, Fang Zheng would not mind competing with it, but there was nothing nearby... naturally there was nothing to compare with.
After passing through eighteen bends on the mountain road and as night fell, Fang Zheng parked the car in an open space halfway up the mountain.
"Okay, get out of the car."
"???"
Hearing Fang Zheng's order, the girls got out of the car puzzled and looked around.
"Are we going to stay here tonight?"
Tita looked up at the sky above her head curiously.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Huh? But we don't even have sleeping bags. Do you want us to sleep in the car?"
Hearing this, Ling immediately started complaining.
"If that's the case, big brother, you might as well let us rest for a night at Harken Gate."
"I did sleep in the car, but it's not what you think."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng motioned the three girls to move aside, then he took out the car key from his pocket and lightly pressed the "STARLIGHT" in front of him.
Soon, a cold mechanical sound was heard coming from the car.
"Yes, comrade. Building the Soviet empire!"
"MCV reporting in!"
The next moment, in front of the girls, the already huge black monster suddenly unfolded, and its four huge tires automatically extended to the surroundings. Then the armor of the body quickly dispersed and connected with each other. In the blink of an eye, an all-metal, black armored fortress that looked like something out of a science fiction work appeared on the earth.
"Construction completed."
“…”
Seeing this, the three girls opened their mouths and eyes wide, and were all speechless.
After a while, Ling jumped up and grabbed Tita beside her.
"Did you do this? Did you do this too?!!"
"I, I don't know!"
Tita shook her head desperately. She could guarantee that she had no idea that this car had this function!
“I gave it a little bit of post-processing.”
Looking at the three stunned little girls, Fang Zheng chuckled. That's right, this was the "final treatment" he had done to the car after Tida left. To put it bluntly, Fang Zheng added the fire source he had obtained from the Transformers!
Since I have nothing to do anyway, I might as well use it here.
Of course, this is also thanks to the use of hard light technology, otherwise a landing vehicle would not be able to transform into a base vehicle.
"Woooa ...
Looking at the two-story black fortress in front of her, Ling also stuck out her tongue.
"I'm not stupid...Okay, go in."
After the transformation, the interior of the space is quite spacious, even luxurious. The soft rear cushions have become a floor-standing sofa, and the original car window has been stretched and transformed into a landscape mirror. The bedroom, kitchen, and living room are all available. There is even a camp bed on the second floor that was transformed from a bracket.
"Wow, this is really interesting!!"
Ling curiously walked around it, her eyes shining with excitement.
"So we don't need to stay in a hotel anymore and can live anywhere we want?"
"Yes, this is the fun of self-driving tour."
Fang Zheng snapped his fingers.
"Okay, little guys, pack up and go camping! We'll have a barbecue tonight!"