Chapter 617: Is the Seed on the Mechanical Dog King?

“Kill the mechanical beasts?”

Ye Nan regarded the Mechanical Dog King with amusement. “You’re quite intelligent for a mechanical dog.”

Submitting at Ye Nan’s feet and letting him lead you to kill other mechanical beasts? It looks exactly like you’re treating Ye Nan as a sucker.

He goes out to kill mechanical beasts while you, the Mechanical Dog King, hang back to reap the benefits, expand your territory—could it be you’ve mistaken him for Long Aotian? You say a few flattering words and trick him into doing your bidding, fighting your wars for you? Is your imagination really that overblown?

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, and the mechanical dog translated its words: “The King says yes, kill the mechanical beasts.”

“Very confident.” Ye Nan watched the Mechanical Dog King’s smug expression and chuckled. “Why should I go kill mechanical beasts?”

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, and the mechanical dog translated its words: “The King says killing other mechanical beasts will expand the territory of the mechanical dogs.”

“Of course.” Ye Nan heard its words and immediately understood its scheme—it really did think he was Long Aotian, just needing a few sweet words to get him to expand its territory.

“Do you think I’m Long Aotian?”

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, and the mechanical dog translated its words: “The King asks: what is Long Aotian?”

“Long Aotian is a bizarre creature: handsome face, broad shoulders and muscular back, arrogant, cool, and badass, radiates royal aura that makes enemies kneel, has three thousand concubines, invincible in the world, peerless in the universe.”

Ye Nan casually borrowed the internet novel depiction of Long Aotian. “Of course. Long Aotian’s greatest talent is having no brain—anyone who bows to him gets dragged into helping his underlings seize territory and fight over women.”

Ye Nan looked at the Mechanical Dog King, a playful smile in his eyes.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, and the mechanical dog translated its words: “The King says you are Long Aotian.”

Ye Nan’s face darkened instantly—he’d been waiting to laugh at the Mechanical Dog King’s joke, but now he snapped at it: “You’re Long Aotian! Your whole family is Long Aotian!”

Ye Nan was nearly enraged into fainting—he was no Long Aotian. Not only was Long Aotian itself a derogatory term, but even the level of Long Aotian was far beyond his reach.

Long Aotian had a handsome face and broad shoulders, was arrogant, cool, and badass, radiated royal aura that drew countless followers, had three thousand concubines, invincible in the world, peerless in the universe.

But him? He was nothing but tears and snot. He worked tirelessly in experiments, only for them to keep failing. Facing the Cosmic Emperor, he tiptoed cautiously, tail tucked.

He barely assembled a team of superheroes, relying on cloning technology to sweep the universe—only for the cloned supermen to develop strange symptoms, possibly triggering cloning aftereffects and turning against him.

If he were Long Aotian, then everyone in this universe would be Long Aotian.

“Besides, Long Aotian should be that bitch Beth.” Ye Nan muttered to himself.

The Mechanical Dog King didn’t understand why Ye Nan refused such a compliment—it thought he was being modest. Didn’t it itself, when becoming Mechanical Dog King, pretend to resist half-heartedly? Thinking of this, it began barking again.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, and the mechanical dog translated its words: “The King says don’t refuse—you are Long Aotian. The great Long Aotian.”

“Shut up.” Ye Nan snapped.

Instantly, both mechanical dogs fell silent, afraid to bark again. The other mechanical dogs, seeing their King reprimanded, all stood up and bared their teeth at Ye Nan.

Ye Nan saw this and laughed. “Mechanical Dog King, didn’t you say you submitted to me?”

He laughed at their stupidity, but also at their loyalty—after all, when the master suffers, the servant is disgraced; when the master is humiliated, the servant dies. These mechanical dogs were weak, but their loyalty to the Mechanical Dog King was unquestionable—though they clearly had no sense of judgment.

The Mechanical Dog King, seeing Ye Nan’s laugh, mistook it for the prelude to an attack and trembled violently, barking frantically until the other mechanical dogs lowered their teeth.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, and the mechanical dog translated its words: “The King says it was all a misunderstanding—please don’t be angry.”

“I’m not angry.” Ye Nan shook his head, pitying these loyal dogs—their King was simply too pathetic. “Tell me where you were born.”

Ye Nan hadn’t forgotten why he came here. He felt he’d wasted enough time already. The Mechanical Dog King’s submission and territorial expansion meant nothing to him—he only wanted to find the Seed.

Only by finding the Seed could he extract its energy to inflict unknown damage upon the Cosmic Emperor. He believed that if he struck at the Cosmic Emperor’s weakness, he would succeed.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, turned, and walked forward, glancing back repeatedly to signal Ye Nan to follow. The mechanical dog translated: “The King says follow me.”

“I know.” If Ye Nan still didn’t understand its gestures, the thing shouldn’t even bother pretending to be human.

Soon, the large group marched toward the place where the mechanical dogs were born.

Dozens of mechanical dogs led the way; Ye Nan, the mechanical dog, and two Terminators followed behind. Before long, the birthplace of the mechanical dogs came into Ye Nan’s view.

It was a place filled with machinery—unlike the rusted scrap outside, the metal here was relatively intact. A production line continuously assembled steel into the shapes of mechanical dogs, then dumped them carelessly onto the ground.

“This is where you were born?”

Though it was clear this was their birthplace, Ye Nan still asked.

“Yes,” the mechanical dog said. “Here, every so often, some mechanical dogs rise from the ground and join our ranks.”

“Looks like it’s here.” Ye Nan looked at the production line, his voice tinged with delight.

The production line was ordinary: it grabbed steel from the ground, fed it into a smelter, poured molten iron into molds, waited for the mechanical dogs to form, then dumped them out.

But mechanical dogs made this way were no different from toys—they had no life.

Yet the mechanical dog’s statement—“every so often, some mechanical dogs rise from the ground and join our ranks”—proved the presence of the Seed. Only the Seed’s energy could grant life to lifeless machines. The slow seepage of the Seed’s influence further confirmed this theory.

“Jiezhong, scan the energy in this area. I need to find the source.”

“Understood.”

The Terminator’s cold metallic voice echoed, followed by a series of buzzing sounds.

A fan-like device spun continuously, emitting electromagnetic waves to scan for energy fluctuations.

“Comparing energy fluctuations… detecting unknown energy… locating energy source.” The mechanical voice brought Ye Nan surprise—the Terminator pointed at the Mechanical Dog King. “Unknown energy source: on the Mechanical Dog King.”

Woof! Woof! Woof!

Seeing the Terminator point at him, the Mechanical Dog King instinctively sensed danger and retreated a few steps, barking warningly.

The mechanical dog faithfully translated: “The King asks: what do you want?”

“I want the Seed.” Ye Nan studied the Mechanical Dog King with interest. He hadn’t expected the Seed to be on the Mechanical Dog King himself—but then again, it made sense—the Seed could be here at the birthplace or on the King, since the King came here every day.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King barked, its voice tinged with fear. The mechanical dog translated faithfully: “The King says he doesn’t know what the Seed is.”

“Not knowing what the Seed is doesn’t matter.” Ye Nan sneered, ordering the Terminator ahead. “Terminator, go. Grab the Mechanical Dog King.”

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The Mechanical Dog King turned and ran. The other mechanical dogs surged forward, blocking the path to chase him.

“You…” The Terminator removed his sunglasses, revealing a stiff, mechanical smile on his handsome face.

Suddenly, he moved. His form vanished from sight. His steel body granted him brutal speed—crash! crash! crash! Countless mechanical dogs were flung aside by the Terminator.

“So terrifying.” The mechanical dog cowering under Ye Nan’s feet stared, dumbfounded. Then it felt relieved—it had already submitted to Ye Nan, not remained loyal to the Mechanical Dog King.

"You seem scared." Ye Nan looked down at the mechanical dog at his feet and smiled. "Don't be afraid. You submitted to me—you're one of us. I won't harm my own, of course, as long as you don't betray me."

“Also, tell me—why did you find me?”

“I was banished by the King,” the mechanical dog hung its head. “The King called me a cowardly waste, disobedient, unworthy to be a mechanical dog.”

“So you were exiled. No wonder you were so terrified of seeing the Mechanical Dog King.” Ye Nan teased.

The battle nearby was ending. After a few frantic steps and struggles, the Mechanical Dog King finally gave up, limp as a dead dog, dragged back by the Terminator.

“Hand over the Seed.” (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian to cast recommendation votes or monthly votes—your support is my greatest motivation.)