Chapter 242: Steamer Key

Xuanyuan Qing leaned her back against the smoking server: "Old Qin said the third entrance connects to..."

Zero Machine suddenly popped up a virtual image of Xu Jianhua, his right hand with missing knuckles chewing on a bun: "Xiaochuan, all three entrances are traps." Grease dripped along the holographic projection onto the keyboard, "The real path is in..."

Xiao Chengzhou's mechanical body crawled out from the magma, the head of Lin Yu's clone embedded in its chest. His gold-rimmed glasses reflected the underlying code of Zero Machine, and three arrows suddenly changed direction to point at each other.

Lin Yu's white hair moved without wind, and Void Energy scorched burn marks onto the surface of Zero Machine. The memories of thirty-seven clones suddenly flooded into his consciousness; he saw Xu Jianhua's back as he was pushed into the furnace, his right hand—missing the ring finger—making a secret signal.

"The Energy Core is in the Donkey Meat Burger Shop!" Lin Yu smashed the virtual projection with a punch, and the gold-black energy backlashed along Xiao Chengzhou's Data Link. The clone head on the mechanical body's chest suddenly opened its eyes, and an "Access Denied" pop-up window jumped out from its pupils.

Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform brushed against a secret door on the side of Zero Machine, the rusted door panel engraved with "Old Xu and dogs not allowed inside." The boy suddenly laughed, blowing a snot bubble: "Damn it, I painted this when I was eight!"

Blue light seeped through the cracked wood grain of the Steamer, and Xuanyuan Qing's hand, which was prying open the third bamboo tray, suddenly froze. Xu Xiaochuan fished a pair of rusty wire cutters out of a secret compartment in the stove, the jaws still stuck with bun filling from thirty years ago.

"Don't touch that!" Qin Tianluo's Mechanical Arm suddenly knocked over a seasoning jar, and peppercorns rolled down the slanted stove. His Electronic Eye flickered with a red malfunction light amidst the humming of the range hood, "The Steamer is connected to a Self-Destruct Device..."

Before he could finish, the sound of a Mechanical Dog's hydraulic joints came from outside the door. Xuanyuan Qing grabbed an iron pot and smashed the glass window; cold wind poured in, carrying Xiao Chengzhou's electronically synthesized voice: "Hand over the key, and I'll leave you a whole corpse."

Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform brushed against the edge of the freezer, the blood from the frozen meat soaking his pant leg. He stared at the crooked "Xuji Baozipu" sign, suddenly remembering how his father always used his right hand with missing knuckles to tap the edge of the steamer—three times each, with a two-second interval.

"There's a secret compartment in the interlayer!" The boy kicked open the deformed freezer door, his fingers digging into the moldy brick seams. Xuanyuan Qing flicked a Silver Bell Fragment to shatter the camera of the lunging Mechanical Dog, the metal parts flying past Qin Tianluo's temple.

The white mist rising from the Steamer suddenly condensed into an arrow, pointing at the ceiling lamp. Qin Tianluo's Mechanical Arm suddenly lifted uncontrollably, and the blue liquid spraying from a burst Hydraulic Pipe etched a star map onto the wall.

"The password my dad left... is the number of bun folds!" Xu Xiaochuan pried open the eighteenth steamer, and a glowing USB drive popped out of the bamboo tray's interlayer. The moment Xiao Chengzhou's mechanical troops smashed through the back kitchen door, Xuanyuan Qing plugged the USB drive into the exhaust fan's circuit board.

The neon signs of the entire street suddenly changed direction, and the projection beams pieced together Xu Jianhua's face in the Void. His right hand with missing knuckles held a Sugar-Fried Chestnut: "Zero Machine isn't a weapon, it's for little Lin..."

The blast wave overturned three mechanical bodies, and fragments of the Steamer fell like a torrential rain. Xu Xiaochuan dove under the chopping board, watching the blue light seeping from the USB interface gnaw at the cuff of his school uniform.

The blue light in the cracks of the Steamer suddenly flashed violently, and the wire cutters in Xu Xiaochuan's hand were shaken loose, flying out and smashing the freezer glass with a clang. Xuanyuan Qing pulled a piece of frozen meat emitting cold air to block her chest, and the sharp teeth of Xiao Chengzhou's Mechanical Dog gnawed sparks off the frozen pig head.

"This piece of junk USB is singing a nursery rhyme!" Xu Xiaochuan clawed at the smoking exhaust fan casing, his school uniform's lower back scorched by the circuit board. The Silver Bell Fragment was stuck in the USB interface, leaking a discordant "Little Swallow" with a crackling sound.

A holographic keyboard suddenly popped up from Qin Tianluo's mechanical eye, and the blue light projected surveillance footage from thirty years ago onto the greasy wall—Xu Jianhua was squatting in front of the power distribution box, his right hand with missing knuckles twisting the knob of an old-fashioned Antique Tuner. In the background, there was a faint children's chorus, mixed with the wailing of a bun steamer's whistle.

"The back kitchen of the Donkey Meat Burger Shop!" Xuanyuan Qing kicked open the deformed freezer door, the rusted hinges snapping off and grazing Xiao Chengzhou's Mechanical Arm. Blue blood sprayed onto the frozen chive filling, forming spiderweb-like ice crystals.

The moment the three of them crashed into the utility room, twenty Elliptical Instruments descended from the ceiling. Xiao Chengzhou's synthesized voice trembled like a starting refrigerator: "Zero Machine startup countdown: three minutes—"

Xu Xiaochuan's canvas shoes slipped on the edge of a soy sauce vat, and he tumbled into a pile of moldy flour. He felt a hard object, pulled it out, and found it was an Antique Tuner wrapped in tape, the screen still stuck with a bun price tag from thirty years ago.

"The Frequency Band is near four thousand hertz!" Xuanyuan Qing shook the flour off her head, and the Silver Bell Fragment scraped against the tuner knob, bursting with electric sparks. Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform pocket suddenly vibrated; the memory data of thirty-seven clones was downloading frantically.

Xiao Chengzhou's Mechanical Dog smashed through the brick wall, and the moment its fangs tore through Xu Xiaochuan's pant leg, the discordant "Little Swallow" suddenly changed key. The layered bamboo trays of the Steamer rotated automatically, and wherever the blue light ripples swept, the Mechanical Dog's hydraulic joints went limp like a fish with its bones removed.

"Old Xu hid the Resonator in the dough mixer!" Qin Tianluo's Mechanical Arm suddenly plunged into the flour vat, pulling out a sizzling metal ball. On the Donkey Meat Burger wrapper covering the ball's surface, grease stains formed a frequency curve graph.

Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform was sticky with sour fermented dough, his fingers leaving afterimages on the tuning screen. When the four-thousand-two-hundred-hertz hum synchronized with the vibration of the Silver Bell, the manhole covers on the entire street exploded into the air simultaneously. The metal frame of Zero Machine rose from the ground, the sound of grinding gears shattering the remaining doors and windows of the bun shop.

Xiao Chengzhou's mechanical body suddenly convulsed, and the clone head on its chest cracked with spiderweb patterns: "You don't understand the Zeroing Project at all..." His gold-rimmed glasses exploded with a bang, and Data Streams gushed out from his seven orifices, condensing into a giant 404 error sign in the air.

The energy ring of Zero Machine swept across Si Jiu City, and the neon signs extinguished one by one like snuffed candles. Xuanyuan Qing's back hit the Zero Machine console, and her cracked phone screen showed the city's mechanical troops collectively dancing to "Little Apple."

"Wait!" Xu Xiaochuan suddenly grabbed Qin Tianluo's scorched collar, "The energy reading is shifting toward Yanjiao Reservoir!" The grease stains on his school uniform cuff had somehow formed a warning code, darting toward the southeast like a swarm of crazed fireflies.

Zero Machine suddenly popped up a virtual image of Xu Jianhua, this time clutching half a brick in his hand: "Once the Firewall is activated, the city gates must be closed..." His right hand with missing knuckles slapped the brick onto the Holographic Map, and the entire Si Jiu City was instantly shrouded in a hexagonal light screen.

Xuanyuan Qing felt the melted rainbow candy in her pocket, the cartoon smile on the wrapper seeping blood. She suddenly remembered the pack of expired popping candy in Xu Jianhua's delivery last week—the jagged tear on the back of the candy wrapper was identical to the cracks in the Barrier.

Xiao Chengzhou's remains suddenly erupted, his mechanical skeleton brandishing half a clone spine to stab at the core of Zero Machine. Lin Yu's gold-black energy surged from the cracks in the ground, wrapping around thirty-seven Steamers as it crashed into the battlefield, the aroma of fennel filling mixed with Data Streams to smear the mechanical body's face.

Xu Xiaochuan's school uniform brushed against the smoking tuner, and the four-thousand-hertz resonance wave finally solidified. The moment the blue light shot out by Zero Machine swallowed Xiao Chengzhou, every electronic screen in Si Jiu City began playing Xu Jianhua's wedding video—the bride's position was occupied by an old-fashioned server.

Blood rain suddenly fell from the Barrier light screen, and the liquid Xuanyuan Qing licked from the corner of her mouth was salty. Xu Xiaochuan stared at the Defense Protocol emerging on the surface of Zero Machine, discovering that the password-unlock field was flashing with the very profanity his father loved to say most.