Steel Chang'an

Chapter 47

"Cough cough..."

Mu Yun rubbed his eyes.In the blurred vision, a hand stretched out from the diffuse gunpowder smoke, and the fingers with the mechanical skeleton completely exposed groped, pinching the edge of the well.

"Li Jing!"

Mu Yun's heart was beating violently, and he was glad that he hadn't left the cockpit of the armor Xifeng.He rushed over to grab the arm of that hand, and dragged Li Jing's battle armor Wuming to the ground with all his might.Su Sheng, who was standing by the side, had long been covered with tears and was dirty from crying. At this moment, he couldn't hold back his tears, sobbing and pounced on him, "Boss! If people don’t live long, they won’t die for a thousand years, but don’t be so scary, I, who has no heart, am about to have a heart attack from being frightened by you!”

"Hehe, it took me a few more seconds to get the purple crystal out of the beast's belly, and I almost escaped." Li Jing smiled weakly, and the armor Wuming stretched out his finger to touch Su Sheng's teardrop face. , "Look at your talent, if one day I really don't exist, why don't you cry all your artificial tears?"

It was only then that Mu Yun noticed the lump of blood and flesh in Wuming's other hand. It was as big as a human head, and its irregular shape was like a heart, even though it was still wrapped in the internal organs of the beast. In the mucous membrane, but from the dark flesh and blood, there is a faint purple brilliance.

"Is this Amethyst?" Mu Yun asked.He cleared his throat, hoping that his voice would not sound too hoarse, lest Li Jing find out that he was crying like a fool like Su Sheng.Until now, he still couldn't believe it: he knew the power of a [-]-ton heavy mecha's core power furnace explosion, and there was no place under the well that could be used as a shelter to resist such a power equivalent to a nuclear bomb explosion. Thought there was no hope, unless...

"Thanks to the lightsaber left by Black Wind Xuanjia, it can be cut out in such a short period of time." Li Jing said, throwing the ball to Mu Yun, "There should be someone who cuts amethyst in the dead castle. In the equipment room, you and Su Sheng should study how to operate it, I am a little tired as a teacher, and I want to rest for a while..."

Mu Yun frowned.The battle armor Wuming stood against the broken wall of the ruins, and his slowly lowered head showed that the mecha had entered standby mode, but Li Jing never opened the door of the cockpit to come out.

"Hey, are you alright?" Mu Yun asked, a trace of worry finally couldn't help showing in his voice.The nameless armor of the battle armor was completely shattered in the explosion, and the chest and abdomen were mechanically exposed at the position where the black wind black armor stabbed. Although Li Jing managed to avoid the vital point of the core power furnace, the sword obviously also stabbed cockpit.

Even if that sword didn't directly hurt Li Jing, but he had suffered the impact of the Black Wind Profound Armor on the beast's back before, plus the damage from the explosion, it was enough to cause a young and strong knight to suffer internal injuries.What's more, Li Jing's health seems to have been bad all the time. He remembered the streak of blood coughed up from the corner of Li Jing's mouth that day...

"Hehe, the apprentice finally knows how to care about the master. I'm very relieved to be the master!" Li Jing's low laughter was mixed with a few coughs, "Don't worry, you won't die, you just go."

Mu Yun stood there, doubts about the explosion in the well and worries about Li Jing gave him an impulse to rush up and open the door of the cockpit, drag Li Jing out and ask him what he was doing.

"Let's go!" Su Sheng climbed onto the shoulder of the battle armor Xifeng, and tapped the head of the mecha, "The boss has always been like this. Let him stay alone. If he doesn't leave, he should drive people away. You haven't seen the boss get mad..."

While Su Sheng was rambling, Mu Yun glanced at the trainee knights. They had already left the mecha and were bandaging each other's wounds.Judging from their noisy tone, they seemed to be still immersed in the excitement of the rest of their life after the catastrophe, and did not pay attention to Mu Yun and Li Jing's movements.But Mu Yun knew that this peaceful atmosphere would not last long, the previous cooperation was just a stopgap measure, these knights came for Amethyst, and now Amethyst is in his hands.These knights will eventually remember the purpose of their trip.

Perhaps Li Jing's previous strength and the power of the Bright Sword will make them retreat, but their mecha damage is not as serious as the two zero-type mechas of themselves and Li Jing, and the Bright Sword is also in the last battle. The energy in the sword is exhausted, if they are going to give it a go...

Perhaps this is why Li Jing urged himself and Su Sheng to deal with Zijing as soon as possible.Mu Yun thought to himself.Bright Sword needs amethyst to replenish energy.The reason why Li Jing didn't leave the cockpit was also to avoid exposing his injuries, so that he could stay here to frighten these trainee knights, making them think that he could continue to fight, so that he and Su Sheng could leave smoothly to cut the amethyst...

From this point of view, Li Jing's injuries should be serious, and he was even unable to fight anymore.Mu Yun frowned again.Although he was worried about Li Jing's injury, staying here would not be of much help, not to mention that they would have to face not only the apprentice knights, but also the iron spiders in the castle might attack again at any time. There may also be chasing soldiers from the Chang'an Knights and the Northwest Wolf outside the Fortress of Death...

If Li Jing can't fight anymore, then he must get ready to fight as soon as possible.

Nodding in the direction of the armor nameless, the armor Xifeng finally turned around and walked away.

Seeing two figures, one big and one small, walk out of sight on the monitor, Li Jing finally heaved a sigh of relief, and slumped on the floor of the cockpit without any image.He let go of the hand covering the wound under his ribs.The sword that Heifengxuanjia pierced into the cockpit passed by his side. Although the wound was deep, it didn't hurt internal organs, but he didn't have time to deal with it. The blood loss caused by the wound made him a little dizzy. The bad thing is that his body wasted too much this time, which made him unable to restrain the changes in his body, and the blood flowing from his mouth and nose began to turn black.He knew that there were other terrible changes in his body, he didn't want Mu Yun and Su Sheng to see these, he would need to explain all this to them one day, but not now...

He took out the sealed iron pot from the deep pocket of his clothes, opened the lid of the box with one hand, and stuffed a handful of pills down his throat without looking.He chewed the bitter medicine, hoping that these changes in his body would disappear before Mu Yun and Su Sheng came back, but he knew in his heart that every time he increased the dose, the effects of these pills were weakening, and they would no longer work that day.

He hoped that day would come later, he still had a lot to do, and new troubles kept appearing.

Like this one right now.

He picked up the black cylinder.That was what he found from the cockpit of the Black Wind Xuanjia.After studying the small triangular mark on the black cylinder for a while, he threw it directly into the holographic teleporter, and then opened an encrypted private channel.

"Help me take a look, is this the same thing that we found in the northwest desert five years ago..."

He closed his eyes and waited for the other party's analysis result, but he had already guessed the answer in his heart.

When Mu Yun and Su Sheng returned to the vicinity of the well, they smelled a smell of barbecue.

"It smells so good!" Su Sheng raised his nose, "What kind of meaty smell is this? Could it be that the beast was cooked by the explosion?"

Mu Yun suddenly felt very hungry. There is no difference between day and night in the dead castle. Only the number displayed on the timer in the mecha told him that he hadn't eaten anything for 36 hours.Before entering Dead Fort, the last meal he ate was a pack of compressed biscuits.

Even if it was the meat of a beast, he didn't mind trying it.

Then he saw the temporary camp that had just been set up not far away, with the Eagle Fort logo on the tent.There is a fire in the camp, and meat is roasted on the fire, just like the White Horse Army Camp in the northwest desert.Several apprentice knights were sitting around the fire, passing a bottle of wine, and the person sitting among them was actually Li Jing.

"Come back!" Li Jing raised the barbecue in his hand to him as a greeting.Even under the reflection of the fire, Li Jing's face was still extremely pale, but his spirit looked good, definitely not like a seriously injured person.

"Boss!" Su Sheng flexibly jumped off the shoulder of the armor Xifeng, looked around and scratched his head, "As expected of the boss, he went deep into the enemy's camp so soon! I thought the boss deliberately dismissed us just now, Is it going to quietly kill these guys, so as not to reveal our identities!"

When Su Sheng said this, the faces of the trainee knights all changed.But Li Jing smiled and said: "How can it be! We were born and died together, and we are considered friends in need. How could I do such a thing of betraying my friends? It's just that these friends are modest, and they must be punished. The young master of Eagle Castle gave all the credit to us. Even if the amethyst of this beast is invaluable, they will not take any money. It is rare to meet such a friend who understands righteousness. Naturally, we must have a good drink or two. You are welcome, everyone Sit down!"

"Eagle Fort Donglin is indeed rich and powerful, even the apprentice knights are so generous!" Su Sheng sat down on the ground, still yelling, but Mu Yun looked at Li Jing with some doubts, and sat down beside him.

Li Jing only smiled and told him to drink and eat meat. After a while, he turned his head and whispered a few words to him. Only then did Mu Yun understand what was going on: These apprentice knights were from Eagle Castle, and now the young master of Eagle Castle Lost in this dead castle, if Eagle Castle pursues this matter, they will definitely not be able to escape the responsibility, and even if they are traced to kill the young master of Eagle Castle, they also have a share of the credit, that is a dead end.And Li Jing also saw this point, and made a deal with them, and took all the matter of killing the young master of Eagle Castle on his own shoulders. These trainee knights have nothing to do with each other.And as an exchange, even the things obtained in this dead castle have nothing to do with them, and all belong to Li Jing and others.

"All in all, these friends are all sensible people. I just mentioned a few words, and they understand the truth that Amethyst is precious and life is more expensive. Given their current situation, they will never risk exposure. Betray us at your own risk." Li Jing said with a smile, he forked a piece of barbecued meat from the fire and handed it to Mu Yun, "But that girl from the Rui tribe, have you thought about what to do with her? Look at her loyal appearance, say Maybe she will avenge her master."

The barbecue smelled very fragrant. It was not the meat of the beast, but the synthetic beef brought by the Knights of the Eagle Castle. It tasted very good.

But Mu Yun found that he suddenly lost his appetite.

He turned his head and looked at the small white figure outside the temporary camp.

After coming up from the well, he hasn't spoken to the girl yet.Su Sheng graciously helped the girl repair the joints of her hands and feet. Although her other functions could not be repaired for the time being, she could already walk.If she wants to leave, she can leave at any time.

But she stayed here.

Mu Yun watched the girl hugging her knees and sitting on the ground alone.Su Sheng put his coat on her, covering the exposed mechanical parts on her body.She looks like a real girl now.

"I'll go talk to her." Mu Yun thought for a while, put down the barbecue, and stood up.

"Be careful." Li Jing waved his hand and instructed casually.

Su Sheng couldn't wait to stand up and wanted to follow, but Li Jing quickly held him down and dragged him back to the campfire. I can't bear the face of the teacher."

Mu Yun's face was also a little hot, and she couldn't help speeding up her pace, but she heard Li Jing's voice behind her, "By the way, this is for you."

"What is this?" Mu Yun took the thing that Li Jing handed over. It looked like a man's tail ring, with words engraved on the inside of the ring, and a red gemstone inlaid on the ring.Mu Yun raised the tail ring to her eyes, and found that it was a chip disguised as a gem.

"I guess it's the girl's contract." Li Jing said, "It shouldn't have been handed over to you."

"Where did you come from..." Mu Yun suddenly realized, "You have entered the cockpit of the Black Wind Xuanjia!" He grabbed Li Jing by the collar, pulled him in front of him, and said in a low voice, "This ring It should have been taken from the young master of the Eagle Castle, right? You also detonated the Black Wind Profound Armor yourself, right? The timing of the explosion is in your hands, that’s why you narrowly escaped from the well. I I have always had a strange feeling that the energy of the Bright Sword was almost exhausted at that time, even if my last sword destroyed the power furnace of the Black Wind Profound Armor, it would not cause it to explode..."

"Why?" Mu Yun tried his best to suppress the anger in his voice, even he didn't know why he was so angry, "What are you looking for when you send me away to enter the cockpit of the Black Wind Profound Armor? You deliberately detonated the Black Wind Profound Armor What is the power furnace trying to hide? What is it that you would rather risk being blown to death than keep it from me?"

"Ahem, let go first..." Li Jing patted Mu Yun's hand that was grabbing his collar. Only then did Mu Yun realize how ambiguous the nose-to-nose position he had with Li Jing just now, and the Knights of the Eagle Castle all rushed Give them strange looks.Mu Yun let go, took a step back, but still stared at Li Jing, "Explain to me." He whispered.

"Well..." Li Jing narrowed his eyes, "Would you believe me if I said that I entered the cockpit of the Black Wind Xuanjia just for you to find a contract with that sharp girl?"

"I don't believe it." Mu Yun said firmly.

"Isn't this the end?" Li Jing shrugged his shoulders, "Since I would rather risk being bombed to death and keep it from you, it's because there are some things that you can't know, why don't you ask me casually like this?" Am I going to say it?"

"You..." Li Jing said it so naturally that Mu Yun didn't know what to say.But I heard Li Jing continue to say, "As for why I took the risk of detonating the power furnace of the Black Wind Xuanjia, a small part of the reason is that there are some things that you don't know yet, and the other big reason is because some things should not have appeared in the first place. On this continent."

"Okay, that's all I can say. If I knew you had so many problems, I shouldn't have softened my heart and handed over the contract of that sharp girl to you just now." Li Jingsheng stretched himself, and lay back comfortably Beside the bonfire, with one arm resting on his head, his legs raised on his knees, he reached out to take a piece of roast meat from the fire, "Didn't you want to talk to her? Or did you change your mind and want to talk to me now?"

"I..." Mu Yun stared at Li Jing's crooked collar, no matter how it looked, it was an eyesore, and she wished she could reach out to help him straighten it.never mind.Mu Yun shook his head to himself. Given Li Jing's cunning, no matter how much he asked now, it would be very difficult for him to get the truth out of Li Jing's mouth.Instead of asking Li Jing, it's better to investigate secretly.Apart from Li Jing, there is another "person" who may have a clue as to what is the secret in the cockpit of the Black Wind Xuanjia.

He held the small tail ring in his hand, and walked towards the sharp girl outside the camp.

"Remember, you still owe me an explanation."

Hearing Mu Yun drop these words without looking back, Li Jing rubbed his chin with a wry smile, "This kid...isn't the same as my ideal and cute apprentice! Compared with it, Su Sheng's love He's a little cuter... Hey, where's Su Sheng?"

Only then did Li Jing realize that Su Sheng, the "lovely disciple" he was talking about, had quietly slipped away from the fire when Mu Yun caught him talking.

"Shouldn't you also go to that Rui girl, these two little bastards..." Li Jing cursed with a smile, put his hands behind his head, lay down on his back, and muttered to himself, "It's time for them to I have seen the world, I have seen a real woman, otherwise this senior brother will become jealous because of a man-made girl, where will I lose my face as a teacher..."

"Ah sneeze!"

Su Sheng rubbed his nose vigorously, and looked at the seemingly endless darkness in front of him with a bitter face.He sneaked out of the camp while Mu Yun was talking to Li Jing, but instead of looking for the Rui girl as Li Jing thought, he returned to the ancient battlefield under the circular square of the Fortress of Death remains.It's just that Li Jing's judgment of Su Sheng's motives was not wrong: the reason why he sneaked back to this ancient battlefield relic like a mechanical cemetery was to get some parts back to help the sharp girl repair her body.

Although it is not a real girl, the skin and muscles produced by the bioprinting technology used on the surface of Ruizu's body are just like a real human body, with delicate skin texture and the softness that women should have.When Su Sheng repaired the joints of the sharp girl before, Su Sheng's artificial heart was beating continuously. Although the girl's body was broken and even the parts in her belly were exposed, it was enough to make people see it for the first time. Su Sheng, who was naked as a girl, had a flushed face and was profusely sweating.

In order to experience this feeling of blushing and heartbeat again, Su Sheng also made up his mind to take advantage of this opportunity to help the sharp girl recover her body a few more times.Moreover, Mu Yun must not let Mu Yun know about such a good thing, and he naturally didn't have the guts to let Li Jing know about his little thoughts, so he could only sneak out while taking advantage of the chaos, and return to this gloomy mechanical cemetery alone Looking for available parts...

"This damn place is really fucking big..." Su Sheng scratched his head and raised the searchlight in his hand.He had already expected that with his small body, he might not be able to respond to the automatic lighting system here, so before sneaking out of the camp, he specially stole a searchlight from the Knights of Eagle Fort.

It's just that he forgot that he came here in Muyun's mech before, and he didn't feel how eerie this mechanical cemetery was, but now he was alone, walking in that machine armor or something like that. Between the giant or beast-like human mecha and the wreckage of the King's Legion, except for the small area illuminated by the searchlight, there is boundless darkness around him, and the journey along the way is unavoidable.Even if Su Sheng used the most advanced prosthetic body created by the puppet master himself, his legs were trembling involuntarily, and he felt an urge to turn around and leave...

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, there are dead people here, there's nothing to be afraid of..." Su Sheng emboldened himself while tremblingly climbing onto an ancient mecha that fell on the ground, and a mechanical arm popped out of his left hand. With a screwdriver, pry it towards the cockpit door of that mecha.

The tonnage of these ancient mechas was over [-] tons, and even if their spare parts were disassembled, they would not be able to fit on the sharp girl. Therefore, what Su Sheng wanted to think about was the armor worn by the knights who piloted the mechas.This kind of close-fitting armor is the last layer of protection for knights, so the craftsmanship is also very complicated, often consisting of more than a dozen layers of different materials and components.What Su Sheng wanted to find among them was a material similar to shape memory alloy coils that was very suitable for connecting and fixing the internal parts of the artificial human in series.

However, even though Su Sheng said that the dead are nothing to be afraid of, when he thinks about stripping his clothes from the dead in a while, Su Sheng still feels nervous.

After hearing a crunching sound, the cockpit door of this ancient mecha that had been dusty for thousands of years was finally pried open by Su Sheng.He heard a pop, as if the airtight jar had been opened.The rusted cabin door was pushed open a line, and an unpleasant musty smell wafted out.Su Sheng covered his nose, put the searchlight in his hand, and moved slowly.A layer of gray mold grew inside the cabin. Through the crack in the door, Su Sheng saw the console in the center of the cabin. The legs of the armor stretched straight across the floor between the console and the cockpit wall.Other than that, he couldn't see much more.

The crack in the rusted door was very narrow. Su Sheng pushed hard, but the door didn't budge.Fortunately, Su Sheng was small enough, so he simply gritted his teeth, turned sideways, and forced his way through the gap.He picked up the searchlight that had just been placed on the floor and walked around the console. The armored leg lay across the floor at a rigid angle, showing no sign of movement.

Su Sheng bent down and stepped over that leg, and his hand that was not holding the lamp touched a smooth round object.He didn't realize at first that it was the helmet on the armor, and that the round object was also covered with gray mold.Su Sheng withdrew his hand suddenly, but he didn't expect to press his palm on the helmet in a panic, and the curved side of the helmet slid out on the ground, bringing him forward as well, and sat down on the armor superior.

The armor dented instantly, making a series of fluttering sounds.Su Sheng screamed, he threw the lamp aside, struggled to get up, and then realized that it was just a pair of empty armor, and what was squeezed out of the armor was only air, and there was no corpse inside.

Su Sheng blinked.He picked up the searchlight, stood up and lifted it up, and now he could finally see the entire cockpit: besides the hollow armor, there were some things scattered on the ground, and he saw an empty water bottle, a A wrapping paper for compressed biscuits, the pattern on it is a brand that has disappeared on the mainland, a bobblehead doll hangs in front of the console, the red silk thread has faded, it looks like the one that the knight would put in the cockpit kind of mascot.

But there were no knights in the cockpit—no corpses.

"Strange, did that guy take off his armor before escaping?" Su Sheng tilted his head, somewhat confused by the knight's strange thoughts.It stands to reason that even if the mecha is destroyed in battle, if you want to give up the mecha to escape and save your life on the battlefield, it is naturally safer to wear armor than to run naked.Su Sheng curiously groped under the console, trying to find the chip that recorded the battle log, to see what happened on the battlefield thousands of years ago, and this knight took off his armor and ran naked.

"Tsk, unfortunately, this chip has burned out." The console layout of this ancient mecha is still different from the existing mechas on the mainland. Su Sheng searched for a long time before he found this chip. The moment he pulled the wafer out it turned into a gray powder. "Forget it, don't worry about him so much, work, work!" Su Sheng wasn't bothered, there were no corpses in the cockpit, only armor, which saved him the trouble of stripping clothes from the dead, and he was immediately happy He flicked out the screwdriver from the mechanical arm of his left hand, and dissected the armor.

It's just that although there are many materials used in this armor, there are not many materials such as alloy coils for series connection.When he thought that he would have to open a few more cockpits later, he might not be so lucky to meet such a good thing as only armor but no corpse, Su Sheng felt a little melancholy in his heart.

But then, Su Sheng found that his luck was a bit too good: he pried open the cockpits of four wrecked mechs in a row, and there were only armors inside.There is no body.Even the chips that recorded the combat logs were burned without exception.This series of good luck finally made Su Sheng feel a little weird.

He looked at the extremely damaged ancient mech in front of him.

The mecha wreckage he found before was relatively intact, and the cockpit was not damaged much, so the knight still had the possibility of escaping.But the wreckage of the mecha in front of me was split open in the chest, from the power furnace to the cockpit, and it was scorched black. Obviously, after being hit hard, another bombing accident happened. Should have died on the spot.If there is still only armor and no corpse in this mecha...

Su Sheng shuddered.He had already collected enough materials like alloy coils, there was no need to enter the cockpit of the wrecked mecha, but his curiosity drove him to climb up the mecha with hands and feet.He put the searchlight aside and carefully slipped in through the cracked opening in the cockpit cover.He saw the broken armor on the console, the helmet dropped aside, the breastplate of the armor peeled off, half hanging in the air.Su Sheng didn't even need to look carefully to confirm that there was no corpse inside.

"It's strange, there is no dead person here, it really is a ghost..." Su Sheng muttered softly, and when he said the three words "Damn", his voice suddenly softened, and he bit his tongue hard. own lips.There was a slight metal collision sound from outside the cockpit, as if a gust of wind quietly passed through this silent mechanical cemetery, blowing down the remains of the mechs scattered on the ground.Su Sheng pricked up his ears, this time he heard very clearly that something was moving in the darkness.He quickly ran to the cockpit cover, grabbed the searchlight through the gap, and turned off the light.With the last ray of light, he saw the shadow lurking in the middle of the mecha wreckage.Immediately afterwards, the surroundings fell into complete darkness.

Su Sheng curled up behind the cockpit cover, and heard the sound of the shadow moving, like a shrill wind blowing towards him.

(End of this chapter)