Chapter 366: Leather ropes and whips

A mechanical army!?

Lin Xian felt a slight tremor in his heart. Mochizuki Shinjin's words had struck right at what he was thinking. Looking back at the journey so far, from wielding a short blade and a simple wind cannon to now wearing high-tech power armor and commanding drones, every single armored steel plate of the shelter train, Infinite, had been manufactured by his own hands, piece by piece. Only he knew the hardships involved in that.

If he didn't have the mechanical ability but some other combat-oriented ability instead, Lin Xian reckoned he would be focusing on how to improve his combat techniques and expand his survival organization, living a life of licking blood off a blade. The Climbing Elevator and the Mark I—Pangu would have nothing to do with him.

Lin Xian was very clear about his own positioning. He was not a combatant charging at the very front, but rather someone more like Mochizuki Shinjin or Qian Suxun. His output relied entirely on the powerful firepower of the Infinite and his teammates. His own individual combat strength wasn't particularly formidable; aside from causing large-scale damage with his Gravity Lens, he still had to rely on his teammates to deal with monsters of slightly larger size.

The strength of his mechanical ability lay in these operable external pieces of equipment: train defenses, vehicle weapons, drones, power armor, armed teams, and then intelligent combat units like Grace and Dancer No. 1. Added to the Forbidden Items, disaster plants, and the powerful ability users in his team, they made up the current combat strength of the Infinite!

Therefore, besides upgrading his vehicles, what Lin Xian wanted most were the various drone systems of Silent City. With these, his productivity could see a leap in improvement, and productivity was equivalent to combat power. If Lin Xian had one thousand, ten thousand, or even one hundred thousand combat drones forming a swarm effect to concentrate on defending against enemies, perhaps he could even go head-to-head with a Special S-rank.

This was also the reason for the Phoenix Society's Emperor Project: the two directions of super-large mechs and drone swarms.

Seeing those countless blueprints, Lin Xian immediately felt relieved. With these, he didn't need to scan anything anymore; he could start manufacturing directly, and he could even improve his manufacturing proficiency along the way, speeding up the R&D center.

"AI brain plus drones—sounds like you're the same as me," Lin Xian said, unable to help himself as he looked at the photonic storage device in front of him.

"The same? I have a different opinion on that."

Mochizuki Shinjin smiled. "Lin, if we analyze your ability using theory: First, you possess the ability to scan and generate blueprints. In the current world, if a research team were to backtrack a mechanical object, the time and investment required would be significant. Second, you can perform void manufacturing directly, skipping all the parts manufacturing and processing links, and even saving space. Third, you can devour machinery, which represents a power of dissolution based on physical rules, not just simple recycling... All engineering machinery, man-made weapons, and defense systems pose no threat to you."

He looked at Lin Xian and said something thought-provoking: "It's fortunate that you are on the human side; otherwise, you would certainly be a more troublesome problem for current human civilization than an S-rank."

"This is the first time I've heard such an evaluation. I don't know whether to be happy or unhappy," Lin Xian said with a bitter smile.

Mochizuki Shinjin analyzed: "Perhaps I could theoretically achieve the same things as you by combining the power of the entire Silent City, but the difference is: Silent City weighs 1.31 million tons in total, has a total population of 109,561, 91,560 drones of various types, and the total space area of all industrial zones, manufacturing zones, planting zones, and living zones adds up to more than 3.5 Manhattan Islands. Meanwhile, my quantum core processor consumes 325,000 kW per hour, and the city-wide central AI cooling system consumes 162 million kW per hour. It requires the power generation of 6 Hoover Dams to operate at full load. Yet you are only one person, sitting here, having ingested no more than 2,000 kcal of food energy at the dinner just now... Do you still think we are the same?"

"Sorry, I said you weren't human just now. Hearing you say that, you seem much more like a human than I do," Lin Xian said, nodding in a daze.

"However, there is one thing I can indeed help you with, which is the design system for utilizing your mechanical ability that I mentioned before." Mochizuki Shinjin sat down with great interest, hands tucked into his sleeves, looking at Lin Xian. "Perhaps I can design that 'Firmament-class' interstellar megastructure train into a doomsday train that truly possesses deep-space colonization capabilities, and then give it to you. How about that?"

Lin Xian leaned back slightly, looking at Mochizuki Shinjin with a strange gaze. "I thought you would be very interested in my mechanical ability and want to invite me to join Silent City."

"I do indeed have that thought, but... well, Silent City already has everything. Weapons, ammunition, and buildings are all being constructed by an automated system. This framework is already fixed. Even if I gave you the entire blueprint of Silent City, all you could do is build another Silent City, right?"

Lin Xian thought for a moment. "Yes."

"Then, can you help with the hardware upgrades Silent City needs for deep-space voyages?"

"It seems I can't."

"So," Mochizuki Shinjin shrugged, his expression very calm. "If you want to stay in Silent City, I am very welcome, but you are certainly more concerned with the subsequent development of your ability, and I am very interested in that as well. So, rather than that, why don't we continue to maintain our cooperation? Silent City will become your partner, providing you with all the assistance you want, instead of waiting with us at Yongcheng Port for the Polar Night to arrive. Wouldn't that be better?"

"You are too generous to me." Lin Xian looked at the photonic storage device in his hand, including the flickering bullets from before. These were strategically important assets to others, but Mochizuki Shinjin seemed not to take them seriously at all.

"Please don't misunderstand. All my actions have logical purposes, and I don't like to hide these purposes." Mochizuki Shinjin smiled as he looked at Lin Xian. "Didn't I just say it? You possess potential even greater than Silent City. Being able to shrink such massive productivity down to the size of a human is simply a method of a higher-dimensional civilization. So, by cooperating with you, isn't that equivalent to investing in another 'Silent City'? If the Firmament Megascreen breakthrough fails, I will still have a powerful ally, won't I?"

"That makes a lot of sense." Lin Xian nodded meaningfully, then looked at Mochizuki Shinjin with a solemn expression. "Then, if you don't mind, I would also like the blueprints for Qian Suxun's interstellar-grade nano-armor, heavy-duty robots, and Silent City's base defense weapons. Oh, right, and that set of Hyperion directional constraint cannons—could you let me reference those as well?"

Mochizuki Shinjin stared at Lin Xian with an expressionless face. After a long while, he spoke slowly.

"They are in the storage device."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Thank you."

"By the way, there's also..."

"I am currently deconstructing the principles of that set of flesh-and-blood colonial armor from the Deep Red World by combining their assembly data. Along with other useful information, I will synchronize it all to you later," Mochizuki Shinjin said indifferently.

"Uh... okay." Lin Xian asked seriously, "Am I... being a bit too abrupt?"

"It couldn't be more abrupt."

Lin Xian:...

"But it's reasonable." Mochizuki Shinjin smiled faintly. "We expect to arrive at Jinhai in two days. During this time, people from Dawn City will certainly come looking for us, and the Phoenix Society will also have operatives entering the city. Silent City is open to trade and cooperation externally. Although there is a security screening system, my meaning is that not everyone in the Silent Metropolis is trustworthy. You need to pay more attention to this."

Lin Xian nodded and put away the photonic storage device. As for the consciousness memory chip, he thought for a moment, picked it up as well, and then stood up, preparing to leave.

At this moment, Mochizuki Shinjin suddenly called out to him, saying with deep meaning in his words:

"That Grace of yours is very interesting. Although she is only an offline version, she possesses a processing core with a volume of 8,192 qubits. In the current situation where the high-precision quantum brain manufacturing industry chain has been lost, this kind of quantum computer with interstellar engineering-grade processing capabilities is a very high strategic asset in any organization. I bet that apart from the main body, there are no more than two such offline versions in the Deep Red World. The Phoenix Society's Galaxy host has already been transferred to the Polar Region. Phoenix City, Dawn Center, and Noah each only have one offline Galaxy operating as a base. Besides that, even Dawn City only has one 8192. Other alliances like the Reykjavik European Storm Alliance and the North American United Front, which have millions of people, don't necessarily possess a quantum brain core of this specification. Do you understand what I mean, Lin?"

"I picked up such a big bargain?" Lin Xian said in surprise.

"My meaning is..."

"I know." Lin Xian said half-jokingly, "The Deep Red World certainly won't let go of this asset, for one. And why they put this quantum brain in a Zero-Element Center is the second."

This was the second time Mochizuki Shinjin had reminded him. Back when he was in the Star Abyss Xishan Bunker, Lin Xian had already been pondering why such an important quantum brain as Grace was used as a butler robot in an underground research institute in Yijin City. Could those high-level members really be that important?

Clearly not. Although he knew the Deep Red World must have extracted massive benefits from these high-level members, and at the same time, people like Tang Yun's husband, Wen Dong, must have had an inseparable connection to the Deep Red World's massive resources, having a quantum brain guard these people was indeed a bit of a waste.

According to Lin Xian's guess, the quantum brain Grace might have a close relationship with the Deep Red World's mycelium research in Yijin City. The key foundation of the Deep Red World's current clone technology and flesh-and-blood colonial armor technology came from this mycelium research. Through this "evil path," they indirectly opened up the reverse control of human brains and consciousness memory chips, using human brains as quantum computers to process the instructions of digital clones within the consciousness body, while also developing means to control human ghosts.

Added to the fact that when Lin Xian saw Chu Yan through the consciousness link in Akse, the other party was stealing key information about Julius Lite in the Zero-Element Center through dream consciousness, all of this was enough to show the importance of the Zero-Element Center.

Putting it all together, Lin Xian felt that the matter of the Zero-Element Center was far from over; it was very likely that he had only caught a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg.

"Mochizuki Shinjin." Lin Xian turned back with confusion between his brows. "Do you think a quantum brain will betray humanity?"

Mochizuki Shinjin smiled. "Programs will never betray humanity, but human instructions and needs contain too many interpretive margins. For a quantum brain, it requires countless corrections and repeated training to better 'understand' human instructions. So, if you can import a personal consciousness body into it, the quantum brain can perform rapid iterations through 'human-in-the-loop.' It will easily understand your meaning and reach a balanced stage of personality deconstruction."

"Like you?" Hearing this, Lin Xian's mind conjured up Grace's beautiful female torso. Putting his own consciousness inside it was truly a bit strange.

Mochizuki Shinjin said indifferently, "Develop your own intelligence a million times, and you will get unexpected results."

"Better not. I prefer her to be a bit more like a robot."

After saying this, Lin Xian waved his hand and, under Mochizuki Shinjin's gaze, stepped out of the hall.

For Lin Xian, Grace as a robot assistant to handle various matters and help him manage drones was enough; there was no need for anything else.

However, after Mochizuki Shinjin's reminder, Lin Xian became a bit more cautious. He walked out of the high tower and onto the upper deck, looking down at the mechanical city with its flickering neon lights. The holographic curtain walls flowed with the cold light of advertisements, the tracks of drones wove a glowing net in the low altitude, and various hovering aircraft swept past, their exhaust flames dragging fleeting rainbows across the metal walls.

On the periphery of the deck, various large transport ships were either floating in place or docking in the harbor. The entire mechanical floating city in the forest under the dark night looked abruptly like a fragment of space from another world.

"What were you two talking about for so long?"

Just as he walked out, a crisp voice rang out from afar. Lin Xian looked over and saw Kiki leaning against the deck railing, a lollipop in her mouth. She was dressed in denim shorts, a black tube top, and a bright-colored baseball hoodie, her long purple hair dancing lightly in the night wind. Her eyes seemed to reflect the clear radiance of the sky, making it hard to tell if it was starlight or the flickering of ability light in her eyes.

"Were you waiting for me on purpose?"

Kiki rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Tch, Chen Jiejie was worried that you'd be eaten by Mochizuki Shinjin, so she had me stay here to watch you."

Lin Xian walked over and smiled. "How could that be? My ability, as it currently manifests, actually has more research significance than practical significance to large organizations. Anything I can build, Silent City can build too. What reason would he have to eat me?"

Kiki tilted her head and glanced at him. "That's not necessarily true. Even large factories consume electricity to build things. If they catch you and reward you with two steamed buns per meal, your cost-effectiveness is much higher than a production line. Besides, your ability to devour and recycle is simply a great hand for doomsday industrial reconstruction. If it were me, I'd tie you up with leather ropes and use a whip to squeeze you, making you devour and manufacture non-stop every day."

Lin Xian frowned. "Leather ropes, whips—why?"

"Because you can devour iron chains," Kiki said seriously.

Lin Xian:...

"Hee, just teasing you." Kiki gave a bright smile. "Chen Jiejie, Miao Lu, Shu Qin, and Sister Sun went into the mechanical city to purchase supplies. Isn't there a water shortage right now? This problem is still imminent. I heard that although Silent City has many water resources, the concentration of dark invasion is also increasing day by day. If it weren't for this No. 2 city stopping outside the Star Abyss, I don't know how many people would have died from mutations alone."

"By the way, did Mochizuki Shinjin want you to join Silent City?"

"Quite the opposite."

Lin Xian came to the railing and looked at the silhouette of this megastructure mechanical city in the night, saying against the night wind, "Mochizuki Shinjin hopes to maintain an alliance with me. It looks like he's prepared to place some bets on me. But this happens to coincide with my own thoughts. This Silent City has already been built to this extent; for me, it only has two uses: stay inside and sleep, or devour it to upgrade our train. Obviously, neither is very realistic."

Devouring Silent City and then building a train—it sounded like the beauty of having one's cerebral cortex wrinkles smoothed out.

Mochizuki Shinjin's description was very apt. Everything Lin Xian's mechanical ability possessed, the entire Silent City system also possessed, and its productivity was much more powerful than his. Lin Xian currently takes about 15 minutes to manufacture one Lei Sun 2000 drone, but if Silent City's industrial system were to operate at full capacity without sparing resources, it could manufacture one thousand drones in 15 minutes!

So this was why Mochizuki Shinjin wanted to invest in Lin Xian rather than simply incorporating his team into his command. For one, he was interested in the future of his ability, and for another, if all the industrial systems in the world were shattered, then Lin Xian would be the key that could theoretically quickly transition humanity from a primitive civilization to a planetary civilization.

It had to be said that Mochizuki Shinjin's vision was even more far-reaching than Lin Xian's own. If he hadn't pointed it out, Lin Xian wouldn't have realized this himself.

"That actually makes some sense." Kiki nodded. "Then, Lin Xian, are we planning to go to Jinhai to snatch that 'Firmament-class' train, then rob all the Wen family's money and run away?"

Lin Xian smiled. "It's not that simple. According to the current situation, there must be some connection between the Deep Red World and Dawn City. Didn't that Fatty Zhou also say that the high-level officials of Dawn City are colluding with the Advent Sect? Plus, Jinhai is an important industrial base for Dawn City. Starships, Firmament trains, and various weapons and equipment account for at least 60% to 70% of Dawn City's pillars. To snatch resources in such a place, we have to face not only Dawn City, but certainly the Linglong Group and the Deep Red World as well..."

"Then..."

"It's fine, we'll just wait and see." Lin Xian stretched and said, "Anyway, this proposal was made by Mochizuki Shinjin. If there really is a conflict, Silent City will be the one to take the hit. Now that the Deep Red World has also set its sights on us, and the No. 5 Star Abyss is unstable, in this situation, we'll just follow along, use Silent City's convenience to arm the Infinite to the teeth first, and then play it by ear for the rest."

"That's true..."

Kiki pouted and nodded. She turned around and looked at Silent City with Lin Xian, and after a moment of silence, she said:

"I heard that many residents of Silent City have uploaded their consciousness to the cloud, and a small number have their own consciousness memory chips. I see that quite a few fleets in the joint fleet might have some ideas..."

"You mean joining Silent City?"

"Yes."

"Normal." Lin Xian said frankly, "If it were me, I'd want to as well. There are doomsday death crises everywhere; being able to have such a mobile city for shelter is the dream of how many ordinary people? This couldn't be more normal."

After saying this, he looked at Kiki. "Are you wondering if anyone in the Infinite thinks this way?"

Kiki shook her head. "No, I can understand whatever everyone thinks. It's just you..." She looked back at Lin Xian, and there seemed to be starlight flickering in her eyes.

"I think you're too tired, so I was thinking if Mochizuki Shinjin lets you stay, perhaps... you could consider it..."

"How could that be?"

Lin Xian heard the gentleness hidden in Kiki's words, and his heart stirred. He then took a deep breath and said, "Silent City is going to fight to the death at Yongcheng Port for the Firmament Megascreen, and there is less than a year left until the end of the world. Time is urgent; how could I just drift along? Besides, Mochizuki Shinjin reminded me of one thing: even if he gave me all the blueprints of Silent City, all I could do is build another Silent City. But the problem is, Silent City currently can't solve the Star Abyss and the weird entities, nor can it break through the Firmament Megascreen..."

"The Phoenix Society can't solve it either. This isn't just a problem for Silent City." Kiki said without hesitation.

"But... there is one thing I might be able to do."

"What thing?" Kiki looked at him.

Lin Xian's eyes flickered as he looked at the giant floating city's lift engines. "Integrate all the technology of all humanity, including Silent City, Dawn City, the Phoenix Society, Xinghua Heavy Industry, the Interstellar Military, and then..."

"Expand!"

Whoosh, whoosh~

The night wind whistled, swallowing Lin Xian's words into the starry sky. Kiki, standing to the side, looked at him with brimming eyes, and then a smile curled at the corners of her lips.

At this moment, in her eyes, there appeared the scene from a long time ago, when she had just been rescued by Lin Xian and woken up in the car, only to be caught red-handed stealing bread. Under the confrontation, she had angrily scolded his Infinite Train plan for being unreliable, blurting out various inspiring cutting-edge technologies in one breath, but Lin Xian, instead of being annoyed, had taken out a small notebook and recorded it all seriously.

"Lin Xian."

"Hmm."

"You're amazing."

"How amazing?"

Kiki opened her arms and shouted with a light laugh: "That... amazing!"

Lin Xian smiled faintly and took out the photonic storage device. "It'll be even more amazing once I build this."

"What's inside?"

"Good stuff." Lin Xian said, reaching out to grab Kiki's small hand as he walked back. "There are many tutorials on building little people inside; you'll definitely be interested."

Hearing this, Kiki's face flushed red instantly. Her waist sank, and she braked immediately, looking at Lin Xian in a daze. "Wh... what little people? What are you doing?!"

Lin Xian turned his head and said seriously, "Small robots, as well as nano-armor and space-based weapons. Aren't you interested?"

Hearing this, Kiki immediately knew she had been played by Lin Xian. She glared at him fiercely, her cheeks puffed up in anger. "Small robots are called little people? Do you take this young lady for a fool? Take this!"

Lin Xian fled in a panic, shouting, "If small robots aren't called little people, should they be called small-machines-small-gears?"

Under the starry sky, the wind was light, carrying a hint of metallic scent, along with the faint fragrance drifting from the synthetic botanical garden in the distance. Occasionally, aircraft swept past the cloud deck of Silent City, the low hum of their engines filtered by the city's soundproof barriers, leaving only a subtle buzzing sound, like the flapping wings of some electronic hummingbird.

At this moment, it felt like a rare, luxurious peace since Lin Xian had begun his flight.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 367 =====