Chapter 477 - 294: Heavenly Palace Ruins (Part 2)

Chapter 477: Chapter 294: Heavenly Palace Ruins (Part 2)

According to calculations, the Tiangong Ruins would perhaps lose its last metal fortress in another four thousand years.

Through his Reversing Destiny Vision, Yu Fei clearly saw that among the robots patrolling and gathering outside, some had talent gems above their heads, while others didn’t.

This "didn’t" wasn’t the same as the blank, diamond-shaped frame that indicated a lack of talent. Instead, there was simply nothing there, as if they were inanimate objects.

He did a quick tally: less than 3% of the mechanical lifeforms possessed a talent.

For a moment, Yu Fei felt an urgent desire to copy their talents. ’What kind of talents could mechanical lifeforms possibly have? Can I even copy them?’

Suppressing his eagerness, Yu Fei calculated that there were still five days until his replication ability refreshed.

’When the time comes, I’ll find one with a high-level talent to copy!’

Among that large group of patrol robots, the highest talent was only blue. Besides, attacking them would get him marked for pursuit, which wasn’t worth the risk. He figured that some of the out-of-control mechanical lifeforms must also have talents. Those would be his real targets.

He activated his Prime Energy Armor and switched on navigation mode.

A real-time map, like something out of a virtual mirror, immediately appeared before his eyes, indicating his path forward. ℯ

The Prime Energy Armor also had a radar function capable of identifying potential energy signatures.

In the Tiangong Ruins, a Martial Artist’s own senses were useless. However, the Prime Energy Armor’s technological detection capabilities didn’t provoke the mechanical lifeforms. It was his only remaining means of perception.

He needed to get to the City of the End and contact the Shenxiao Corps.

The City of the End was the first and only city established by humanity in the Tiangong Ruins.

The cost of survival here was immense, so the City of the End was dedicated solely to scientific research. Nearly all its personnel were from the "Seven Greats," with very few unaffiliated Martial Artists.

Nominally, the Tiangong Ruins was a clandestine border zone, and information about it was not made public.

Every time a metal fortress was breached and disabled, it was a feast for humanity. The fortress would lose its ability to mass-produce Martial Saint Mechanical Bodies and coordinate with other fortresses. It was as if they’d had their machine credentials revoked.

Human Martial Artists would then frantically plunder all visible materials and equipment, bringing them back to the City of the End for research in hopes of cracking the secrets of mass-producing Martial Saint Mechanical Bodies and their Energy Shields.

The armor Yu Fei wore had four selectable modes.

He was currently in Energy-Saving Mode. In this mode, the Prime Energy Armor consumed almost no power for basic operation. This meant the Martial Artist had to rely on their own strength to move the armor, essentially just adding to their own encumbrance.

The second was Power-Consumption Mode, which could run for eight hours. In this mode, the armor provided combat assistance, tactical analysis, and support, using a small internal engine to boost the Martial Artist’s speed and attack power.

Finally, there were Supersonic Mode and Burnout Mode, both designed for escape or pursuit. The former provided Mach 1 speed, while the latter offered Mach 3.

Yu Fei gave it a try. Power-Consumption Mode didn’t do much for him, and in Energy-Saving Mode, the armor’s one-ton weight was completely negligible.

But an accident occurred when he tried to teleport.

Normally, he could teleport with any object imbued with his aura, but this failed with the Prime Energy Armor.

No matter how his Gang Qi surrounded and infused the armor, it would still detach when he teleported. He had a feeling that if he forcefully teleported with the armor, the thing would be torn to pieces, with only a few parts following him.

Yu Fei couldn’t figure it out for the life of him, so he had no choice but to start walking on foot.

The dark, full-face display didn’t obscure Yu Fei’s vision; it actually made it clearer. All sorts of data streamed across his field of view, including threat alerts. Suddenly, a small red dot appeared on the panel. Yu Fei looked closely and saw a distant pile of mechanical scrap stir.

’Is it an Exiled Machine?’

Yu Fei guessed, but his Reversing Destiny Vision perceived nothing. He slowly approached, and when he was about a kilometer away, that pile of junk exploded outward, revealing a giant, ugly, spider-like mechanical body.

Junk parts were haphazardly welded onto its limbs, making its overall form both clumsy and savage. Upon spotting Yu Fei, it charged madly on all eight legs, its body studded with crimson sensor lights.

Yu Fei stopped. He had no way to judge the thing’s strength. Unlike a Martial Artist, it had no discernible aura fluctuations, so he could only estimate its power based on its destructive capability.

However, the Prime Energy Armor had already helpfully analyzed the spider-like machine. It was only Tier 5—a relatively weak type. Despite its massive size, it was quite fragile.

The display even analyzed its likely weak points, marking them with guide lines.

As the opponent approached, Yu Fei flicked his finger, sending out a Sword Qi that cut along its joint. In an instant, the spider robot started smoking, sparks flew, and it shattered into a pile of mechanical junk.

Yu Fei went over and sifted through the wreckage. He found a sealed, circular box and a fiery, fluid-like substance sealed within a palm-sized crystal. These two items were the core of a mechanical lifeform, and the City of the End consistently paid high prices to recover them.

Other than that, the machine’s interior was filled with a black, smelted residue.

The mechanical lifeforms in the Tiangong Ruins always self-destructed at the last moment of their existence, rendering most valuable components and structures useless.

Not even a Martial Saint could do anything about this. The two followed completely different paths of power.

This was also why Tianwen’s progress had been so slow over the years. The technological safeguards of these mechanical lifeforms were just too stringent.

Continuing on his way, Yu Fei relied on his strength and went looking for trouble, seeking out every red dot marked by his Prime Energy Armor.

On the way to the City of the End, he encountered many Exiled Machines and even two that possessed talents.

One was a machine with a cannon barrel, like a tank that had come to life, while the other was another spider-type.

Both had blue talents and weren’t very strong; he killed them with ease.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but Yu Fei noticed that the machines with talent gems didn’t behave as rigidly. The sentient tank had tried to ambush him with a cannon shot, which he dodged. After a rapid three-shot burst also missed, it actually turned and fled.

And the spider-type machine with a talent gem actually played dead, only to fight back fiercely when discovered.

Their behavior was more like that of a true living being; they could weigh pros and cons, flee, and even play dead.

As for the machines without talent gems, they would swarm him suicidally regardless of their own strength, never retreating even in the face of death.

The vast Tiangong Ruins contained nothing but ubiquitous mechanical scrap, scorched earth, and the occasional Exiled Machine hiding in the shadows.

There was no sun to be seen here, no distinction between seasons, day, or night. Overhead was just a layer of gray-white atmospheric currents that radiated endless light and heat.

It was such a harsh environment that not even a "third-realm Martial Artist" could be guaranteed to survive, let alone an ordinary person.

Only a Martial Artist past the Inner Qi Realm, one who had established their own transcendent meridians and achieved a preliminary internal circulation, could survive here.

As he traveled, he discovered that metal fortresses were actually quite rare. Most were concentrated in one area, similar to the five voracious exceptions over by the Cross-Border Black Fog.

The machines in these normal fortresses didn’t attack humans. They were like this world’s NPCs, sticking to their daily tasks and ignoring the presence of humans.

The native lifeforms of other borderlands would all launch frenzied attacks on humans; this place was an exception.

Given the mechanical firepower in any single fortress, it would be easy to cause trouble for humanity, yet the reality was the exact opposite.

Yu Fei’s mind raced with theories. He suddenly approached it from a different angle.

’What if... these machines are NPCs designed to protect humanity?’

This theory seemed plausible. If that were true, then the five metal fortresses near the Cross-Border Black Fog would be the final line of defense for humanity.

’But who is their enemy? And why have they never had any contact with humans?’

The more Yu Fei thought about it, the more confused he became.

"Approaching the City of the End. Distance: fifty kilometers. Estimated time of arrival: 10 minutes. Please be ready to present identification."

Suddenly, the Prime Energy Armor’s internal navigation voice sounded out. Yu Fei looked up to see a base city with a completely alien architectural style appearing before him.