Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland.

Chapter 623 True and False (Combined Chapter)
The fine-gold arrowhead struck fiercely on the intelligent core - it was pushed with great force, whistling through the wind, and the entire long arrow seemed to be able to create sparks by friction in the air.

Time seems to have stood still.

Although the intelligent core is a research product, it is an ancient creation after all. Even the outer shell container embodies the essence of material structuralism, which is why it has been able to survive thousands of years despite twists and turns.

It is not so easily destroyed.

However, the arrow that hit it was made by a Blade Walker. Even if it is not as good as the Inscribed Blade, it is very ancient... But after all, it has been a weapon used in war since its birth!
Combined with Eagle Crossbow.

With Romi's full force attack.

Click.

A crack appeared on the surface of the blue sphere... and then expanded rapidly!
There was a bang.

The long steel arrow pierced through, and the whistling tail wind it brought with it blew the fragments into pieces, like forming a long and thin tornado.

It broke.

"Puff." Blood flowed from the corner of Romi's mouth. The moment he pulled the trigger, the recoil of the Eagle Crossbow returned directly to his body, dislocating his right arm and perhaps part of his lung... It is probably impossible to achieve such a high level of power accumulation with an Eagle Crossbow below the expert level.

But the corners of his mouth were raised.

With a bitter smile.

This team was formed at the end of wandering, using, inciting or coercing. Some people wanted revenge, some wanted to join, and some...but their ultimate goals were almost the same.

Kill the Lord of Blood and take back the intelligence core.

The two are two sides of the same coin.

This is certainly a difficult task, and they have seen hope of success... However, only Romi knows what the real instructions given by Merlin are.

Smart core, if you can't get it back.

Just destroy it!

If you don't succeed, you will become benevolent.

If the team members knew the goal of this mission, they would definitely go crazy... because it does not require killing the Lord of Blood, and the destruction of the intelligent core also means that the second half of the biochemical transformation operation will be cut off forever.

The promise Li Rong and Wen Jin received.

It was a scam.

Madam Merlin doesn't care about their future at all...all she wants is destruction!

Just as they didn't want the intelligent core to fall into Long En's hands, they also didn't want the intelligent core to fall into Lu Beiyou... or anyone else except themselves.

If you don't get it, destroy it.

In comparison, this task objective is much simpler than the previous two.

Especially when it was delivered to Romi.

"Hahaha..." The tech hunter finally laughed out loud, but his tone was dry and without any joy.

He covered his eyes and stepped back.

There was a moment when Romi really thought that maybe they could complete the false mission and return successfully with the intelligent core... Even if they would inevitably encounter obstacles along the way and suffer heavy losses in their breakout, at least some people would be able to return alive.

But when Lu Beiyou drew his sword.

That fantasy was shattered.

Being cut mercilessly... as cruel and cold as his name.

Before, people thought that Romi’s deathly pale face was because he was shocked by the other party and realized that he was in a desperate situation - it was indeed a desperate situation, but on another level.

He is aware.

I finally have to make this choice.

Wow.

Blue fragments fell all over the ground. For a device as sophisticated and black-box-like as the smart core, it was impossible for others to repair it, let alone understand its operating principles.

Broken into this shape.

It must have been completely damaged.

The Mine Hunters, who had become complete spectators, were stunned...There was really nothing they could do on today's battlefield.

These hunters who came out of the Mine Town had been struggling in the ruins for the first half of their lives. They had no chance to come into contact with the United Cities, let alone undergo biochemical transformation... Chad, who concealed his strength and experience, was the most unique one among them.

They are just a group of ordinary technology hunters.

If they were asked to fight against the melee monsters in Lake Town, they would only be seeking death... Later, even when someone tried to track down the crossbowmen roaming around the periphery, Romi easily shook them off... Instead, they took the opportunity to rescue another team leader who had been stabbed in the chest and fainted on the ground, and who was obviously as ignorant as themselves.

Liu Si's injuries were serious.

But with the Tech Hunters' ample reserves of medical modules, it was no problem to pull him back from the brink of life and death.

Romi did not interfere with this.

At this moment, his remaining vision once again saw his former friend lying on the ground... If he knew that he had destroyed an intelligent core with his own hands, Liu Si would probably be the craziest one, right?

This means that a piece of the civilizational prospects of the entire continent will be missing forever.

It can never be replenished.

Mechanics and technology hunters have struggled for thousands of years... but the results they have achieved may not be enough to offset this moment of regression.

However, its original owner.

Obviously he wouldn't care.

In fact, they will regard it as a huge success.

All family descendants of the members who participated in the action will receive honors and protection from the city-state for generations...if they have any.

Zheng——

The white-haired young man sheathed his sword.

This time, he did not put the inscribed blade back into the "Void Backpack", but took out a simple yet extremely tough leather sheath from it.

Hang around your waist.

The Inscribed Blade - Horse-Slaying Sword is the symbol of the Swamp King's authority, but this leather scabbard was privately made for him after consultation among the major nomadic tribes in the Land of Shem.

Lu Beiyou came to Shandi and seemed to be a conqueror - but the herdsmen of Shandi saw it all: the Red King drove away the beast disaster, broke the conspiracy of the guild, and everything he did thereafter was for the construction of this grassland, but he never asked for anything from them.

Even a lot of resources were lost.

There are certainly factors of mutual exchange and mutual benefit involved...but the same business run by merchant guilds has always been a case of exploitation and taking advantage of others.

This leather sheath.

Just a small token of my appreciation.

And on the enhanced information on Lu Meng's panel, the word "Masterpiece" appeared next to it... The so-called masterpiece has nothing to do with technology, but with the inspiration and hard work of the craftsman.

Unpredictable.

The gift from the Shandi tribe turned out to be his first masterpiece-level protective gear.

This speaks volumes.

Now he sheathed the inscribed blade and quietly turned his back to everyone... He didn't even look at the intelligent core, leaving it to shatter all over the ground.

Looking at his appearance, the Sorrow Mine Hunters couldn't help but recall the situation not long ago when the other party was willing to take out the intelligent core in order to escape, and confronted the entire Sorrow Mine Town and even all the southern technology hunters... At that time, he shouldered a mountain of burden and determination.

However, this moment.

The destruction of the intelligent core destroyed all hope.

Although they were on opposite sides of the interests before...but at this moment, none of the Mine Hunters wanted to mock them.

They had originally envied the emergence of such a hero in the swamps, dense forests and plains of Shem, and lamented the ill-fated fate of their hometown... Now the same fate has befallen them, but at least the other side has fought hard.

Even if you lose in the end.

Missed.

It was not something that a petty person like a fly could say. Even when he saw Lu Beiyou, who had just appeared like a martial god with peerless swordsmanship, his back now showed a hint of loneliness and fragility... The pain of empathy unconsciously welled up in his heart.

When we first met.

They called him the Red King just to follow local customs... but only now did they truly understand why the locals respected him so much.

It is even revered as the first fire.

Only he can shoulder such a heavy responsibility, and correspondingly, probably only he can successfully withstand the same blow.

In an instant, Romi felt countless angry gazes staring at him, as if they could burn through him.

Even he has already realized it.

They all felt extremely anxious.

He forced himself to ignore the gazes and looked at the young man - to be honest, the other person was so young that it was frightening.

Romi, who has now completely let go of his grief, is as calm as calm water, but when he saw this scene, ripples could not help but appear on the surface of the water.

"Kill me," he said.

He knew this would be the outcome.

Lu Beiyou did not respond.

Deathly silence.

"Besides this, there's nothing else you can do." Romi spoke again, "The acquisition and transfer of Ai Mine Town is a must. It's a project jointly promoted by Kaiton City and the Depression Lagoon. Now that you've lost your smart core, you'd better give up your plan to set up a station in Flash as soon as possible, otherwise..."

He did not continue.

With the Lord of Blood's knowledge, the other party knew many things without him reminding them.

To say anything more would be hypocritical.

And he originally wanted to entrust the other party to take care of Liu Si and the Mine Hunter, or at least not to make things difficult for them. The end of their wandering might be... However, this matter was caused by himself.

He has no right to say these words.

So, there is nothing to say.

Lu Beiyou finally turned around, his hood had been blown off his head, revealing his soft white hair sticking to his forehead and face. He didn't look as intimidating as the lion or tiger he had been before, but was clearly just an ordinary, handsome man.

But, to everyone's surprise.

His expression was calmer than anyone expected...

Much calmer.

"!" A premonition suddenly arose in Romi's heart, and he suddenly panicked, but he didn't know why.

Click.

The next moment, the strong wind from the fierce battle finally subsided in the hall, and it used the last bit of its remaining strength to roll up the blue fragments.

Rolling at the young man's feet.

He looked down.

The intelligent core was originally placed on a compartment display stand in the stone pillar, but it was shot down by an eagle crossbow, smashing half of the pillar into pieces.

It was the previous cable.

It was still connected, but it was hanging down weakly.

Someone followed his gaze and looked at the horrific wreckage...

Then, I was stunned:

"empty?"

I saw that the blue sphere covered with synapses had its outer shell smashed into pieces by the Eagle Crossbow...but there was nothing inside.

There were no sophisticated instruments, parts, liquid metals, gel nanomaterials that were difficult for humans to understand as imagined... instead, there was nothing.

An empty shell!
Lu Meng picked up the fragments on the ground, put them in his hand, and then his palm sank.

It soon returned to normal.

He flicked it away casually - a simple technique.

No physical performance.

From a distance, Romi took several steps back as if he had been hit hard in the chest.

His face was pale.

He only heard the other party speak:
"I'm sorry, Mr. Dunley was right...it's indeed fake."

"I'm just bluffing." Lu Meng walked to the half-destroyed stone pillar and reconnected the cable to the power supply. The blue broken shell suddenly lit up, with a crackling sound, and then the same pattern as before appeared - LED lights.

If there is any technical content in this ball, it is all here.

Forget about on-the-spot interpretation…if someone touches it and feels the wrong weight, they’ll immediately know whether it’s real or fake.

Even, just wait a little longer.

It will be exposed.

Of course, Lu Meng's final turn and dive was a deliberate exposure of a flaw.

It is the fuse to lure the other party.

Even when asking questions, it is sufficient to broadcast the answers recorded in advance. Anything beyond the scope can be explained as the experimental facilities being simple and the conditions being insufficient.

“But, but…” This time, the Mine Hunters were unwilling to believe it. They had clearly seen the interpretation results of the intelligent core and the experimental products…

"Of course, it was to make you give up. All is fair in war. I regret to have used a little trick for such a huge benefit... but it doesn't matter, right?" Lu Meng took out a bloodstained booklet from his invisible backpack. It was indeed the result of the interpretation of the intelligent core. It was obtained from the Red Sword Group's researchers. It also recorded the appearance of the intelligent core, the interpretation method and other characteristics. "This is what I want to use to trade with Black Scratches, the bargaining chip of the Flash Land... We only got this."

The second half of his sentence was directed to Romi: "I am actually very curious: I know the existence of the intelligent core because of the notes, but more than a year has passed and I still haven't found its whereabouts. I can only pretend to appease the believers... But why are you the ones who are so sure that the intelligent core must be in my hands?"

"To be honest, I was scared." Lu Beiyou looked puzzled. "I guessed that someone wanted to disrupt the cooperation between Shandi and the Tech Hunters, so they would definitely interfere. But I didn't expect that you came here for the Intelligent Core."

Romi paused, and astonishment gradually filled his expression - before this, when he heard the other party introduce "I was the first person to discover it", he immediately knew that the other party was lying, because this intelligent core was undoubtedly found by Colons first... But what if the other party was indeed lying, but on another level?

He... doesn't even know where the core is!
In the battle of Iron Dome, Lu Beiyou finally won and became the king of the swamp, while Colons lost his intelligent core.

According to common sense.

It should have fallen into the hands of the Red King!
but……

There was another force involved in Shark Village at the time... If the one in front of me is a fake, then...

"Where's Deng Li?" A mine hunter suddenly realized that someone was missing from their group at some point, but the scene was too chaotic and there were too many people to notice. "Where did he go..."

When the war subsided, the true form of the intelligent core was revealed and everyone was shocked, Lu Meng seemed not to hear the commotion on the other side, but the corners of his mouth still raised slightly.

He flipped his wrist.

Grab the handle.

The crosshairs of the Old World crossbow were pointed directly at Romi.

Finally, the last step has been reached.

The technological hunter in the distance was a crossbowman himself and had undergone biochemical transformation, so his reaction was very sharp. He immediately sensed the overwhelming murderous intent, which was enough to cover himself completely.

However, Romi's spare crossbow had been thrown away. The Eagle Crossbow was the most powerful in the world, but it had just shot the crucial but futile arrow... He dodged while hurriedly stringing the bow.

Whoosh!
The arrow went straight through his left eye.

Lu Mengping raised the crossbow and the bowstring made a clanging sound.

The Old World crossbow is the most versatile in the world, with no delay in firing.

And his shooting skills.

To some extent, it is even stronger than bare-handed combat, and second only to majoring in swordsmanship.

"As you wish," he said.

(End of this chapter)