Chapter 27: The Gnome

The attack of the mechanical hounds sounded like an alarm, shattering the illusion of fleeting peace. Ai Li’s wounds worsened from her forced intervention; Lingna carefully cleaned them with purified water and reapplied medicinal powder before rebandaging. Bannister, meanwhile, circled the remains of the two mechanical hounds like a man who had discovered a priceless treasure, his tiny green eyes gleaming with fanaticism.

“Gold! Real gold! Black Scorpion’s ‘Iron Hounds’—composite armor, joints driven by micro-hydraulics and energy! And these sensors…” Bannister chattered nonstop as he violently dismantled the wreckage with crude tools, “If Bannister the Great can figure out its energy core… hehe, we’ll electrify our fence! Zap those bastards!”

Lin Mo watched Ai Li’s pale face and the ruined battlefield outside, his heart heavy. The wooden palisade was useless against mechanical hounds; though the short crossbow could kill, it was still inadequate against swarms of mechanical units or stronger foes. They needed far more powerful defensive weapons!

“Bannister,” Lin Mo interrupted the goblin’s obsession, “the fence needs reinforcement. We need… heavy weapons capable of taking down these iron beasts! Your ‘Jumping Sugar’ has power, but the range is too short.”

“Heavy weapons?” Bannister paused his work, his tiny green eyes darting around the workshop’s corners—at the rusted boilers, the thick steel pipes, then at Ai Li’s short crossbow, glowing with a cold blue radiance. A mad idea took shape in his mind.

“Got it!” He slapped his thigh hard. “Crossbow! Enlarge it! Thicken it! Use steam! Use steel pipes! Build a… steam-powered crossbow cannon!”

“Steam-powered crossbow cannon?” Lin Mo and Lingna both froze.

“Exactly!” Bannister danced with excitement. “Boil water in a boiler to generate steam! Use steam pressure to drive a piston! The piston drives the crossbow arm! Use this!” He pointed to a thick, one-meter-long mechanical hound leg joint he’d torn off, “Make the arm from this! And this!” He picked up a thicker alloy tube taken from the hound’s spine, “Make the barrel from this! What we fire… won’t be toothpicks! It’ll be spears! Javelins! Bannister the Great’s custom-made… ‘Can Opener’! Designed to smash open Black Scorpion’s iron cans!”

The idea was insane, audacious! But seeing the fire burning in Bannister’s eyes and the high-grade alloy parts scattered on the ground, Lin Mo was tempted. If they could actually build it…

“Materials! We need more metal! Thicker steel plates! Sealing rings! And… steam valves!” Bannister counted off on his fingers.

Lin Mo immediately opened his territory resource panel, focusing his awareness on metal deposits within the depression’s range. Soon, he “saw” a concentrated metallic signature beneath a collapsed ruin in the northwest corner of the depression—likely an old-era metal warehouse or vehicle graveyard.

“Northwest corner! Metal!” Lin Mo pointed.

“Bannister the Great’s mining squad, move out!” Bannister shrieked, shouldering his giant wrench and a torn sack, ready to charge out.

“Wait! I’m coming with you!” Lin Mo didn’t trust the mad goblin to go alone, and he needed to verify the deposit himself. He handed the short crossbow to Lingna and warned her and Ai Li to be careful.

Just as Lin Mo and Bannister prepared to leave, Ai Li, who had been silent until now, spoke suddenly—her voice weak but clear: “Be careful… Black Scorpion’s… traps. They’re… hiding in the shadows.”

Lin Mo’s heart tightened. He nodded firmly.

The two crept cautiously to the northwest ruin. The area had been heavily damaged by prior explosions. Using his resource panel’s sensing, Lin Mo quickly pinpointed a section buried under massive concrete slabs—the metallic signature emanated from beneath.

“Gold! There’s something big down there!” Bannister excitedly tapped the concrete blocks with a crowbar.

Together, using crowbars and a jack they’d found, they exerted tremendous effort until they pried open a narrow gap. Bannister slipped inside like a nimble rat.

“Treasure! Treasure!” Bannister’s voice shrieked, distorted with ecstasy, “Abandoned… armored troop carrier! Ha! Steel plates! Tracks! Engine! All Bannister the Great’s!”

Lin Mo also crawled inside. Beneath the rubble lay half-buried an old-era armored troop carrier—rusted but structurally intact. Thick steel plates, massive tracks, a huge Baofei diesel engine… a perfect material cache.

The two began frantically dismantling everything usable: thick steel plates, high-strength bolts, hydraulic rods, sealing rings… Bannister even removed several track road wheels, claiming they could serve as pulleys for the crossbow cannon.

As they worked feverishly, a sharp, unfamiliar hum suddenly pierced Lin Mo’s mind—different from any system alert. Simultaneously, he felt searing heat on his chest—the [Tenacious Seed of Life], the pendant he’d obtained from his first territory, was growing warm, emitting a faint emerald glow.

【WARNING! High-dimensional spatial fluctuation detected! ‘World Sandtable’ system perceives a new ‘World Fragment’ approaching current coordinate! Fluctuation signature: abundant natural energy, chaotic laws, on the verge of collapse…】

【New territory anchoring protocol forcibly initiated… 1%… 5%…】

【Insufficient energy! Unable to stabilize anchor point! Host must rapidly provide high-purity energy or stabilize current territory core!】

A new world fragment?! Lin Mo was stunned. The system had detected a second territory—now? But insufficient energy meant anchoring would fail?

“Hey! Lin Mo! Stop zoning out! Help me lift this steel plate!” Bannister’s shout pulled him back to reality.

Lin Mo suppressed the storm in his chest and forced his focus back to the present. He looked at the burning [Seed of Life] in his hand, then at his fledgling wasteland territory. A new world meant new opportunities—but also unknown dangers and greater responsibility. Right now, the threat from Black Scorpion loomed close; the steam crossbow cannon and territory defense were paramount.

He took a deep breath, tucked the [Seed of Life] back under his collar, and walked toward the heavy steel plate.

“Coming! Bannister—we need to speed up the crossbow cannon!”

The lord of the wasteland, while digging for steel, had brushed against the door to countless worlds. Crisis and opportunity, like interlocking gears, were now tightly bound.