Chapter 97

Wang Lan smiled and directly took Ying Su's hand, leading him toward a certain place.

Inside a small artificial cave within a rockery in the Wang family's rear garden!

As soon as Ying Su entered the cave mouth, he was startled by the items inside!

Here, densely packed, were people!

Of course, they were not real people!

But rather wooden automata crafted one by one!

They could run and jump; at this very moment, seeing Ying Su approach, they even bowed to him.

This scene simply left Ying Su stunned and numb!

Automata!

Automata, indeed!

Wang Lan smiled and said, "These are merely small things; let me take you inside to see, there are many more fun things!"

As she spoke, she pulled Ying Su into the cave!

And the things inside did indeed startle Ying Su.

Inside here, there were actually things like little cats, little dogs, little pigs, and little calves.

If they could merely move and run, that would not have startled Ying Su!

The key point... they could actually make sounds!

Emitting all sorts of noises!

Wang Lan immediately picked up a little kitten and smiled at Ying Su, "How is it? Isn't it cute?"

"Cute..."

Ying Su smiled; to be honest, cute as it was, and wondrous as it was!

Such adorable little things were truly not Ying Su's taste!

He asked Wang Lan, "Is there anything bigger? Preferably something fierce, capable of fighting!"

As he asked, his eyes shone with light!

From Wang Lan, he truly saw the prototype of an army of mechanical beasts.

Yes!

Do not look at these little cats and dogs and think them merely cute.

But this represents technology!

It represents that Wang Lan has mastered the core technology of the Mohist mechanical beasts.

And as long as this technology is applied, it becomes mechanical beasts capable of fighting!

Wang Lan nodded, "There is!"

As she spoke, she called out, "Hua Hua, come out!"

While speaking, she pressed another mechanism!

"Hua Hua?"

As the name left her lips, Ying Su's head felt dizzy.

Instinctively, he felt this was another cute little thing!

The facts proved he had not guessed wrong!

It was indeed a cute little thing!

A giant panda!

Also known as the Iron-Eating Beast!

The key point, it was only half a person's height!

At this moment, it held a cleaver in its left hand and a shovel in its right!

It even... even spoke human speech:

"Eat! Eat!"

"You... you..."

Ying Su was stunned!

And Wang Lan laughed heartily, saying to Ying Su, "Do you want to eat something?"

Ying Su shook his somewhat dizzy head; at this moment, he felt only shock:

"You... how did you make it speak? And speak human speech?"

He swallowed hard!

Truly, the shock was extraordinary!

Yes!

The earlier sounds of little pigs and dogs could be imitated by the clashing of wood or stone and iron blocks!

But... speaking human speech, that was a bit terrifying!

Remember, in this era, there were no phonographs yet!

And merely in the technology of being able to speak, it had already completely surpassed mechanical beasts!

Wang Lan then curled her lip, "A secret!"

"Alright!"

"A secret it is!"

"But... does this thing have combat capability?"

Ying Su asked; as soon as he saw the ground full of little pigs, cats, dogs, and the like, he felt a bit of a toothache!

What I want is an automaton, an automaton capable of replacing a million-strong army!

It is something that can fight.

But these things of Wang Lan's...

Ying Su felt his teeth ache repeatedly!

Wang Lan smiled: "You want an automaton that can fight? It's just a bit bigger. Swap the kitchen knife in Huahua's hand for a bow and a long halberd, and it becomes a war beast!"

"With just this, fighting ten people is no problem!"

"F-fighting ten people?"

"It's only this big?"

Ying Su was shocked!

Given this giant panda's size, he felt he could kick it over with a single stomp!

Wang Lan became unhappy: "Hmph! Dare to underestimate my Huahua? Why don't you try?"

As she spoke, she looked at Ying Su!

Ying Su waved his hands repeatedly; was he idle? Why struggle against a pile of wood?

However... looking at Huahua's appearance, he felt Wang Lan was telling the truth!

Because, although Huahua's body interior was wood, the exterior was a layer of iron!

This was simply more terrifying than the Wei Wu Soldiers of old!

Under the condition of being invulnerable to blades and spears, as long as the strength was sufficient, fighting ten people truly seemed to have no major problem!

But... Ying Su was not satisfied.

Fighting ten people was not his goal either!

His goal was an automaton capable of fighting at least one hundred people!

"Fighting one hundred people..."

Wang Lan said: "No problem. As long as there is enough Black Wood and enough iron, don't say fighting one hundred people, even fighting one thousand or even ten thousand people is no problem!"

"Black Wood?"

Ying Su was stunned!

Wang Lan wasted no words, directly picked up a bronze sword, and swung it at Huahua's head!

What shocked Ying Su was... this bronze sword actually... rolled its edge!

And on that panda's head, not even a single mark was left!

Wang Lan said: "This is Black Wood, harder than bronze!"

"To cut it, only iron can be used!"

Ying Su's scalp went numb!