The demon guarding the gate took the two passes handed over by Xiu, and after confirming that they were correct, he looked at Du Ze and the demon sisters who had just returned from Xiu and said, "Only two people can pass."

Xiu pointed at himself and Du Ze. "Just me and him."

"Chirp." The little phoenix on Du Ze's head chirped, showing its presence.

The gatekeeper demon stared at the still trembling yellow-haired ball and said, "What is this? A chicken?"

Do you believe me if I tell you this is a phoenix?

Du Ze had a blank expression and exuded a depressed aura. Since he woke up, Du Ze found that the ball of hair had made its home on his head. Although the little phoenix was still trembling, it was completely used to the trembling. It used its little claws to scratch Du Ze's black hair and then squatted with satisfaction. Every time Du Ze tried to get it off, the little phoenix would bite Du Ze's hair and refused to let go.

The gatekeeper demon glanced at the little phoenix and then lost interest. He put away the pass and rang the long bell. The heavy gate of the fortress slowly lifted up, and a black swamp appeared in front of everyone. A thin mist filled the swamp, and a strong smell of decay came towards them. This is the Death Swamp. It was once a battlefield between the Celestials and the Demons, and also a battlefield between the dwarves and the undead. As long as you cross the Death Swamp, you can enter the Lost Land.

Shula led Du Ze through the gate without hesitation, and Du Ze turned back to look at the demon sisters. Even though they had said goodbye beforehand, Vera was still crying. Alice stood by and hugged her sister tenderly. Noticing Du Ze's gaze, the girl in red smiled and her voice came from a distance.

"Have a safe trip, Master Xiu, Mr. Du Ze. No matter what time, we will be your most loyal servants."

The heavy door of the fortress closed again, cutting off the girl's smile and voice.

After entering the Death Swamp, the rotten smell rushed straight into the nose of the little phoenix. The biggest sneeze even produced a small flame that burned off a few strands of Du Ze's hair.

Du Ze: ...

Xiu paused and hummed a few syllables. A breeze blew by, and Du Ze immediately felt that the air was much fresher. This was a very useful small wind magic, at least it was very effective in saving a silly hair.

"Watch your step."

The black mud was so strong that it made them sink into it. Xiu and Du Ze walked on the swamp for a while, and suddenly a dark shadow appeared in the mist in front of them. Xiu and Du Ze stopped, but the dark shadow on the opposite side was still startled. The dark shadow was about three meters tall, and it turned around, and two blue lights appeared in the mist.

Xiu stood in front of Du Ze and chanted a few spells. A gust of wind instantly tore through the thin mist, revealing the full picture of the black shadow. It was a tall robot with long and big arms, iron chains wrapped around its body, a star painted on its left chest, a metallic iron-gray body, and blue light as its eyes.

Du Ze suddenly had the illusion of traveling to a science fiction world. He knew that the robot in front of him was called a mechanical puppet in "Mixed Blood", which was one of the most famous works of the dwarfs.

The blue light in the mechanical puppet's eyes scanned Xiu and Du Ze, and it made an electronically synthesized sound: "Beep - life form X3 found; conducting race determination, beep - not a dwarf; conducting formation determination, beep - unable to identify; conducting comprehensive determination, beep - activating enemy plan C, expelling the life form."

The mechanical puppet's eyes flashed blue light, and it turned towards Du Ze and Xiu, and its voice suddenly became louder.

"Warning! Please leave this place within 10 seconds, otherwise I will attack. 10, 9, 8..."

Seeing that Xiu had no intention of leaving, Du Ze pulled Xiu. "Do you want to fight?"

Xiu seemed a little surprised. "What's wrong?"

"It doesn't say..." Seeing Xiu's reaction, Du Ze suddenly had a bad guess. "You, don't understand?"

Du Ze had always thought that the mechanical puppets were speaking the common language of the continent, but now he remembered that "Mixed Blood" said that the mechanical puppets used the dwarven language - for Du Ze, the languages ​​of this world were all unfamiliar, but there was an invisible existence translating for him. It was like a foreigner speaking a foreign language in front of him, and he had a translation machine that could understand it, but it couldn't tell whether the other person was speaking French or Russian.

Xiu nodded and asked, "What did it say?"

Before Du Ze could answer, the mechanical puppet's countdown had come to an end.

"…3, 2, 1, switch to attack mode." The blue light in the mechanical puppet's eyes turned red. "Mark the target, share target information, beep - start expelling."

The mechanical puppet pulled out the iron chains on its body and rushed over with heavy steps.

Xiu drew his sword and took the initiative to meet him. When the mechanical puppet saw Xiu approaching, it waved its hands and threw the thick iron chains in its hands at Xiu. The sword in Xiu's hand chopped the iron chains with a "clang" sound, sparks flew everywhere. The colorless fighting spirit poured out from the sword onto the iron chains, generating unimaginable destructive power, and the iron chains of the mechanical puppet broke one by one and fell to the ground with a bang.

However, even if all the chains were broken, Xiu had to withdraw. He looked at the sword in his hand, which was a sword he bought in Agares City. Even with the blessing of fighting spirit, there were still several cracks on the sword, which was enough to show the terrifying power of the mechanical puppet. The mechanical puppet did not care about its broken chains. It pulled out several more chains from its body and launched another attack.

Xiu didn't pick up the chain this time. He silently chanted a few spells, and the breeze blew his golden hair. Xiu slightly bent his legs, then suddenly jumped to an unattainable height - it was as if the wind lifted him up high, and the light shone down from behind the blond young man, and the shadow cast by him enveloped the mechanical puppet below. Xiu held the sword in both hands, and the sword was filled with fighting spirit. When he fell, he stabbed it hard into the head of the mechanical puppet.

The sword finally broke under the weight, and the head of the mechanical puppet was also completely destroyed. The headless mechanical puppet paused for a moment, then stretched out its big hand to try to grab Xiu who was standing on its shoulder. Xiu was almost caught by the mechanical puppet, and he jumped off the mechanical puppet, slightly panting as he watched the mechanical puppet waving its hands. The head is probably the information collection part of the mechanical puppet, and at this time the headless mechanical puppet was spinning in place, trying to find its enemy.

To stop the mechanical puppet, its power center must be destroyed, but there is no need to destroy it at this time. Du Ze and Xiu bypassed the headless mechanical puppet and continued to move forward.

On the way, Xiu asked about the previous conversation: "What did the mechanical puppet say just now?"

Du Ze repeated the words of the mechanical puppet to Xiu, who was thoughtful after listening. They saw several more mechanical puppets on the road, and because they discovered them in time, they avoided them from a distance. But as they went deeper and deeper, the number of mechanical puppets gradually increased, from 1 or 2 to 4 or 5 at a time. The range they could avoid became narrower and narrower, and sometimes they had to take a long detour to avoid the patrolling mechanical puppets.

Xiu and Du Ze walked for a while and then heard the faint sound of fighting. The wind from the battle blew away the mist, and in front of them appeared a huge mechanical puppet, which was twice as big as the previous ones, and the star on its chest became two. Facing the two-star mechanical puppet were two demons, who looked shabby at this time and had varying degrees of injuries.

Xiu thought for a moment, and then asked Du Ze to wait for him there. Qianbian transformed into the form of the Demon Sword Fenyu, Xiu swung the Demon Sword uncomfortably, and joined the battle. With Xiu's help, the demons finally solved the huge mechanical puppet.

The less injured demon came over to thank him, "We are the guards of Agares City. Thank you for your help."

"What happened?" Xiu glanced at the fallen mechanical puppet: "Why are there so many mechanical puppets?"

"We are also investigating the cause." The demon frowned in distress: "I don't know what happened in the Lost Land. These metal lumps are all activated and attack anyone they see - you have also encountered those one-star mechanical puppets before, right?" He gestured on his chest, then pointed at the huge mechanical puppet: "This is a two-star mechanical puppet, with ten times the strength of those one-star ones, about the level of a great swordsman." The demon finally pointed forward, with a flash of fear in his eyes. "If you continue to move forward, you will find that they are all two-star mechanical puppets, densely packed together."

Xiu fell silent after hearing this. The two demons decided to return because they were injured. After they left, Du Ze walked to Xiu's side and heard the blond young man whisper, "I have an idea... Let's give it a try."

Five days later.

The Death Swamp was still filled with mist. A one-star mechanical puppet was wandering aimlessly. Suddenly, it saw two figures.

"Ding - Found three life forms; Conducted race determination, Ding - Found dwarves!" The blue light in the eyes of the mechanical puppet kept flashing. "Conducted identity determination, Ding - No such person was found, initially determined to be a system lost individual; conducted comprehensive determination, Ding - Activated protection plan A, escorted the individual to 'home'."

The huge body of the mechanical puppet knelt heavily in front of the small figure, stretched out its hand, and quietly waited for its master's response. The flax-haired dwarf grabbed the black-haired young man beside him, raised his head, and revealed a pair of amber eyes. "What did it say?"

Du Ze's eyes wandered between Xiu and the mechanical puppet. The dwarf's small stature was made even smaller by the two-meter-tall mechanical puppet, but it was this contrast that brought an indescribable shock. He repeated the mechanical puppet's words in a somewhat dry tone. After listening, Xiu stared at the mechanical puppet's hand that was flat in front of him, and then said to Du Ze: "Hold me, and then sit on me."

A hole suddenly appeared in Du Ze's brain: these words coupled with the cute Lord's tender appearance at the moment made him look like a child who wanted to be hugged.

The lost avatar bent down and held Xiu in his arms awkwardly. Xiu's slender arms were around Du Ze's neck, and he rested his chin on Du Ze's shoulder. His eyes were attracted by the earlobe that was so close: it seemed very soft...

The mechanical puppet held Du Ze up, and the bumpy ride made Du Ze feel his ear being rubbed hard. The mechanical puppet started running, and Du Ze had to grab its shoulders to prevent it from falling. The place where it was rubbed was so hot that he couldn't help but want to cover it with ice to cool it down.

On the way, they saw all kinds of mechanical puppets. They would stop when they saw Xiudu, and watched them leave in silence like soldiers being reviewed. The closer they got to the Lost Land, the more mechanical puppets there were. The number of stars on their chests also increased from one to three. Later, all they could see were three-star mechanical puppets everywhere. Du Ze was terrified. If Xiu hadn't transformed into a dwarf, they would have been dead if they had rushed in from the outside.

The outer membrane of the Lost Land was getting closer and closer. It was a milky white membrane. As long as you passed through it, you could enter the Lost Land. The mechanical puppet passed through the membrane without any pause. Du Ze looked at the familiar scene. Whether it was the icy ground, the sky above and below, or the light column in the distance, it gave him the illusion of being reborn as a human.

After the mechanical puppet entered the Lost Land, it took out a mechanical flying saucer and activated it. The small flying saucer flew up with a buzzing sound and led the way in front, and the mechanical puppet followed closely. Du Ze had always used the word "arrogant" to describe the Lost Land, but in fact, to be more precise, the Lost Land is like a large formation. Going around the light column is a way to crack it, but it is not the only way. There are more than one way to the light column. The dwarves alone have found no less than ten ways, and the fastest way can reach the light column in just one day.

When the mechanical puppet carried Du Ze and Xiu into the light column, a completely open metal pyramid appeared in front of them. It was still activated, and once inside, they could see the huge Eye of Space at the bottom. The small flying saucer flew above the mechanical puppet, and a red light shone down and enveloped everyone. Du Ze felt a sense of weightlessness in his body, and they were guided by the small flying saucer into the Eye of Space.

As they got closer and closer to the Eye of Space, the red light of the small flying saucer became brighter and brighter, and it was so bright that he could hardly see outside. The moment he entered the Eye of Space, he didn't know if it was the protection of the red light, but he just felt dizzy for a moment, and he didn't lose consciousness. After the red light that enveloped them gradually faded, Du Ze looked at the scene outside and was stunned for a moment.

——He seemed to have returned to the 21st century.

This is a city made of steel. Gray is the main color of the entire city. Machines of various sizes and shapes can be seen everywhere on the streets. Some of them have lost their energy and fell quietly in the corners, while others are still active. . Du Ze looked up. He couldn't see the sky. The whole city seemed to be built underground or in a cave. Large and small light balls lit up the city as bright as day.

He knew the name of the city, and Du Ze's heart began to beat. He seemed to hear the main plot of "Mixed Blood" whispering to him.

Welcome to... the gnome ruins.

******

******

[Explore the dwarven ruins: no level mission. Go to the dwarven ruins to find materials. The mission level and reward depend on the material level. Client: Mercenary Guild.]

The receptionist Jian Xiu stared at the notice board that said "Explore the Dwarf Ruins". She kindly suggested, "It's best not to try this mission. The Dwarf Ruins are not a good place to visit."

"If I complete the mission and my rank is S," Xiu asked expressionlessly, "can my mercenary rank be raised?"

"Your current mercenary rank is E. If you can get S-rank materials..." The receptionist calculated and gave an answer: "Your mercenary rank can be upgraded to A."

"Let's do it." Without any nonsense, Xiu directly put the mercenary certificate on the table.

The receptionist wanted to persuade him, saying that she was reluctant to let such a beautiful creature die. But when she saw the elf's almost indifferent look, she sighed and began to accept the task.

——Excerpt from "Mixed Blood"

The author has something to say: The protagonist (dwarf): You hold me and then sit on me.

Reader: Yoshi.

…

Protagonist (Demon): Huh...out of strength?

Reader: ...your grandpa's! Hiss——QAQ

Author: What happened in the middle? How do I know. ⊙▽⊙