Chapter 27: The Goblin's Frenzy, the Steam Crossbow Cannon, and the System's Anomaly

The mechanical hounds' attack struck like a warning bell, shattering the brief illusion of peace. Sister Ai Li's injuries worsened from her forced exertion; Xiang Lingna carefully cleaned the wounds with purified water, then re-applied medicinal powder and bandaged them. Wrench circled the two wrecked mechanical hounds as though he had found a priceless treasure, his bean-sized eyes glittering with fanatical green light.

"Good stuff! Real good stuff! Black Scorpion's 'iron-skinned dogs'—the armor's composite, the joints are micro-hydraulic plus energy-driven! And this sensor…" Wrench violently disassembled with crude tools as he rambled on, "If Lord Wrench can figure out its energy core… hehe, we'll run electricity through our fence! Fry those motherless dogs!"

Lin Mo looked at Sister Ai Li's pallid face and the ravaged battlefield outside, his heart heavy. The wooden fence was as good as nothing against the mechanical hounds; the short crossbow could kill, but against swarms of mechanical units or stronger foes, its power was still insufficient. They needed heavier defensive weapons!

"Wrench," Lin Mo cut off the goblin's obsession, "the fence needs reinforcing. We need… heavy weapons that can deal with these iron bastards! Your 'Jumping Candy' packs a punch, but the range is too short."

"Heavy weapons?" Wrench stopped his work, his bean-sized eyes rolling as his gaze swept over the scrap boiler and thick steel pipes in the workshop corner, then over Sister Ai Li's short crossbow glimmering with a ghostly blue chill. A frenzied thought took shape in his mind.

"Got it!" He slapped his thigh hard. "Crossbow! Bigger! Thicker! Use steam! Use steel pipe! Make a… steam crossbow cannon!"

"Steam crossbow cannon?" Lin Mo and Xiang Lingna both froze.

"Exactly!" Wrench gesticulated excitedly. "Use a boiler to heat water for steam! Use steam pressure to drive a piston! The piston drives the crossbow arm! Use this!" He pointed at a mechanical hound's thigh-bone joint he'd pulled off the ground—an arm-thick, over a meter long piece. "For the crossbow arm! And use this!" He picked up an even thicker alloy tube ripped from the hound's spine. "For the crossbow body! What shoots out… isn't a little toothpick! It's a javelin! A short spear! Lord Wrench's custom-made… 'Can Opener'! Built specifically to smash Black Scorpion's tin cans!"

The idea was mad and bold! But looking at the fire burning in Wrench's eyes and the high-grade alloy parts on the ground, Lin Mo's heart stirred. If they really could build it…

"Materials! Need more metal! Thicker steel plate! Sealing gaskets! And… steam valves!" Wrench counted off on his fingers.

Lin Mo immediately opened the territory resource panel, focusing his consciousness to sense metal deposits within the basin. Soon, he "saw" a dense metal reaction beneath a bombed-out ruin in the basin's northwest corner—likely an old-era metal warehouse or vehicle graveyard!

"Northwest corner! Metal there!" Lin Mo pointed in that direction.

"Lord Wrench's miner squad, move out!" Wrench screeched, shouldering his giant wrench and tattered burlap sack, about to charge out.

"Wait! I'm coming with you!" Lin Mo didn't trust the crazed goblin to go alone, and he needed to confirm the deposit himself. He handed the short crossbow to Xiang Lingna, cautioning her and Sister Ai Li to be careful.

Just as Lin Mo and Wrench prepared to set out, Sister Ai Li, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, her voice weak yet clear: "Careful… Black Scorpion's… traps. They… are in the shadows."

Lin Mo's heart clenched; he nodded heavily.

The two crept cautiously to the northwest ruin. Bombed earlier, the area had collapsed badly. Relying on the resource panel's sense, Lin Mo quickly locked onto a spot pinned under a massive concrete slab. The metal reaction was coming from beneath.

"Good stuff! There's definitely a big one down there!" Wrench excitedly tapped the concrete slab with a crowbar.

Working together, using the crowbar and a jack they'd found, they strained with all their might and finally pried open a gap. Wrench slipped in like a nimble rat.

"We're rich! We're rich!" Wrench's gleeful, pitch-shifted shriek came from inside. "An abandoned… armored personnel carrier! Hahaha! Steel plate! Treads! Engine! All Lord Wrench's!"

Lin Mo squeezed in too. Beneath the ruin, half-buried, sat a rust-spotted but structurally intact old-era armored personnel carrier! Thick steel plate, heavy treads, a massive scrapped diesel engine… a perfect material cache!

Like men who'd found treasure, the two began frantically stripping anything usable: thick steel plate, high-strength bolts, hydraulic rods, sealing rings… Wrench even pulled off several of the track's load-bearing wheels, claiming they could serve as pulleys for the crossbow cannon.

Just as they were working themselves into a frenzy, a sharp humming—different from the system's usual chime—suddenly rang in Lin Mo's mind! At the same time, he felt a burning heat on his chest! It was the 【Seed of Tenacious Life】 hanging around his neck, obtained from the first territory! It was warming slightly, emitting a faint emerald glow!

【Warning! High-dimensional spatial fluctuation detected! The 'Myriad Worlds Sandbox' system senses a new 'World Fragment' approaching the current planar coordinates! Fluctuation signature: dense natural energy, chaotic laws, on the verge of collapse…】

【New territory anchoring procedure forcibly initiating… 1%… 5%…】

【Insufficient energy! Cannot stabilize anchor point! Host, please provide high-purity energy or stabilize the current territory core as soon as possible!】

A new World Fragment?! Lin Mo was stunned! The system had sensed a second territory at a time like this? But with insufficient energy, the anchoring failed?

"Hey! Lin Mo! Daydreaming? Get over here and help lift this steel plate!" Wrench's shout dragged him back to reality.

Lin Mo suppressed the stormy waves in his heart, forcing himself to focus on the present. He looked at the warming 【Seed of Life】 in his hand, then at this fledgling wasteland territory before him. A new world meant new opportunities, but also unknown dangers and greater responsibility. And right now, the Black Scorpion threat was pressing in at the door—the steam crossbow cannon and the territory's defenses were the top priority!

He drew a deep breath, tucked the 【Seed of Life】 back into his collar, and walked toward that heavy steel plate.

"Coming! Wrench, our crossbow cannon—we've got to speed things up!"

The lord of the wasteland, while digging through steel, also brushed against the great gate of the myriad heavens. Crisis and opportunity meshed together like interlocking gears.