Chapter 114: Mechanical Lost City
If I had to use one word to describe the first impression that this [Rusted Waste City] brought to Xia En, it would probably be -
Profound!
The depth of this city far exceeds the [Coral City], and is even deeper than any underwater ruins that Shane has ever explored.
The deep sea water silently swallows the light from the sea, making the city below look dim.
Because of this, those tall towers standing on the seabed look even more spectacular.
Together with those tall buildings with unique shapes, they form a steel jungle in the sea!
And it’s just like the rumors.
There are a lot of metal structures in this city.
Steam pipes that look like brass or steel are wrapped around high-rise buildings like snakes, and spread across every corner of the city like spider webs.
At the same time, Xia En actually saw intact railway tracks in the city!
Railway tracks are distributed in the core area of the city like veins.
Atop it, there is a train that is supposed to be powered by steam.
Obviously, due to the huge area of this city, the former residents of this city built this unique transportation system to meet the needs of commuting and moving.
However, these are not the point.
What really surprised Xia En was...
On those tracks, there was a slender, rusty train roaring forward menacingly!
Steam spurted out from the train's pipes and instantly turned into streams of heat in the sea water.
Only the series of inconspicuous bubbles can prove their existence.
“This train can still run?”
Xia En was astonished: "Could it be said that ever since this city was submerged, it has been running non-stop under the sea?"
"No matter how you say it, is this too exaggerated?"< br>
Even though Xia En already knew something about the black technology of steam in this world, this giant steel snake running endlessly under the sea still gave him a great shock.
Soon, Xia En discovered——
Except for the steam trains, many steam devices in the city still showed signs of being used.
It's just that the steam cools down quickly the moment it touches the water and is hidden in the dark sea water, so it is not as conspicuous as it is during normal use.
Suppressing the distracting thoughts in his heart for the time being, Xia En slowly dived downwards.
He did not forget the purpose of his trip.
Obtain the steam device to strengthen the [Black Swan].
It would be great if I could gain some ship soul experience by the way.
Before exploring, Xia En also did some research on [Rusted Waste City] and knew that the city is mainly divided into five areas.
They are [Black Queen District] [Factory District] [Port District] [Mining District] [Copper and Steel District].
The functions of [Factory Area] and [Mining Area] are just like their names.
The [Port Area] is the harbor that once was a rusty abandoned city.
Yes, before being submerged by the sea, this steam capital was a coastal city with extremely convenient shipping.
Developed transportation and transportation allow steam technology and geniuses from all over the world to gather, collide, and blend here, and sparks shine like stars.
According to legend, there are some huge and terrifying mechanical creations lurking in the abyss of this [Port Area]!
[Black Queen District] is equivalent to the uptown area of the city, where the upper class of society live.
On the contrary, [Copper and Steel District], ordinary people live in this low-rise neighborhood.
For the purpose of testing the waters, Xia En chose the [Copper and Steel District] as the target for his first dive this time.
"The water pressure at this depth is really different from the Coral City."
After diving into the abandoned and dilapidated neighborhood, Xia En clearly felt a pressure coming from the surface of his body.
[Ship Soul Power -1! 】
The speed at which the power of the ship soul decays also illustrates this point from the side.
This means that his submersible time will be limited to a certain extent - like returning to the earliest time of submersible.
"You have to hurry up."
Thinking of this, Xia En began to look around.
Although this is a civilian area, there are still many steam devices on the streets and houses.
However, after being soaked in seawater for many years, those pipes have long been covered with dark red or dark green rust, and they look extremely fragile, as if they will break with a light touch. This rusted metal is obviously not the material Xia En needs.
His eyes quickly swept across the entire block, but he found nothing of value, not even a working steam engine.
"It seems that there is nothing I want in the Copper and Steel District."
Xia En is not discouraged and is about to explore the [Factory District] or the [Black Queen District].
Not far away, at the end of the street, there was a sudden strange noise.
I saw a strange and stiff body standing up slowly, and a dark red light lit up from under its goggles.
"Buzz..."
"Po...iqrQkj..."
"A special environment has been detected and the voice module is being debugged..."
At first, it was a mess. Disorganized noise.
But gradually, the voice turned into a language that Xia En could understand.
"Debugging completed, start to confirm the identity of the outsider..."
"Identity...identity...identity..."
Its words gradually got stuck, as if it had encountered some kind of malfunction.
Immediately, the sound coming from the body quickly became sharp and even distorted.
“Unable to confirm! Unable to confirm!”
"Enemy! Enemy!"
The next moment, the figure suddenly turned into a black shadow and rushed towards Xia En at an extremely fast speed.
At this time, Xia En was able to see the other party's appearance clearly.
This is a mechanical doll, or... a puppet? !
Its body is made entirely of metal, and it can barely be seen as human-shaped. Exposed gears and connecting rods can be seen everywhere on the body, and things like indicator lights on the chest and under the goggles are flashing red.
"Confirm the enemy, destroy... destroy!"
A sharp, crazy voice was coming hysterically from the inside of the metal puppet.
Judging from the degree of rust on the metal of this body, it would not be a surprise even if it were scrapped in place.
However, the metal puppet burst out with considerable fighting ability amidst the roar.
A rusty long knife popped out from the side of its arm, and struck Xia En quickly and hard.
But Shane's reaction was faster!
With just a thought, the Blood Demon Sword appeared in his hand and slashed towards the chest of the metal puppet.
Chi!
Without any surprise, the puppet's body was split into two.
Exposed a steam core in the chest that quickly stopped working.
However, the strange thing is that a kind of dark, sticky blood actually flows out from the body of the mechanical puppet.
Machines also bleed?
Xia En was in a surprised mood.
What surprised him even more was the text that appeared next on the panel.
【Kill the alienated mechanical puppet】
[Trophy obtained: Steam Heart Type II (destroyed)]
[Quality: Poor]
[Type: Material]
[Description: The legendary steam from the previous era The second-generation steam creation developed by mechanics is widely used in the steam mechanical puppet "Patroler". 】
【This kind of mechanical puppet was given life by the heart of steam, and was infected by the secret power of sea water over the long years, turning into a special life form. 】
[They pray to the God of Steam and Steel all day long, but they never get a response, so they move towards madness and destruction step by step. 】
【The presence of "Secret Sea Crystal" in the corpse was detected. Should it be absorbed? 】
(End of this chapter)