Chapter 251

Fang Zhiyan watched as the tip of each of his tentacles was forcibly shoved with a metal pry bar by Ying Duo; the tentacles seemed equally bewildered, merely curling slightly around the pry bar to keep it from falling, then they made no further movement.

Ying Duo felt nothing wrong with this; after distributing the pry bars to the tentacles, he immediately turned and continued swinging his pickaxe, striking the connection of the next track segment with a loud "clang-clang".

His movements were swift and efficient, sending stone fragments and metal shards flying everywhere.

After a while, Ying Duo noticed that Fang Zhiyan behind him remained motionless, frozen in place, so he stopped his work and turned around.

His golden eyes calmly rested on Fang Zhiyan's somewhat blank expression, as well as on those eight tentacles that looked especially "innocent" as they hung.

"Hurry up."

Ying Duo didn't even know how many times he had urged Fang Zhiyan, but the man still hadn't moved; meanwhile, he refined the division of labor a bit.

"You take the high parts I can't reach, and I'll handle the lower tracks."

Fang Zhiyan: "........."

His dark red eyes blinked, then blinked again.

Over the years, his tentacles have assisted him in countless delicate experiments, and in the shadows they have even transformed into weapons that tore apart those who lacked eyes.

But he had never before made his tentacles perform such pure manual labor.

Fang Zhiyan silently gazed at Ying Duo's eyes—empty yet seemingly filled with urging, golden in color—then lowered his head to look at the few cold pry bars on his tentacles.

After a few seconds, he let out a slow sigh.

He had completely given up on himself.

Then, his thoughts stirred slightly.

The eight silvery-white tentacles finally received the command, gripping the ends of the pry bars tightly—then—

"Bang! Clang! Crack!"

The eight tentacles swung like eight mechanical arms at full power, each striking the station's high, complex structures.

One tentacle jammed the pry bar's tip into the fixed clamp of a large ventilation duct in the ceiling, then wrenched it loose, causing the entire heavy metal pipe to detach with a groan of twisting metal.

Leaving aside other factors, this efficiency was many times greater than when Ying Duo had been working alone, leaving him utterly envious.

Meanwhile, Fang Zhiyan himself remained standing in place, hands still tucked into his coat pockets, his posture still elegant.

Only his facial expression was somewhat blank… or rather, numb.

His dark red eyes stared unfocused ahead, dazed.

"Who am I?"

"Where am I?"

"Why are my tentacles demolishing a building?"

After all these years, what experiment has his tentacles not assisted with?

What troublesome foe have they not torn to pieces?

Even in his spare time, they could simulate playing a classical piece on an instrument (though the only audience were lab specimens)……

But today, they had been reduced to doing manual labor.

Ying Duo was quite satisfied with Fang Zhiyan's tentacles' work efficiency; with one person and eight tentacles cooperating, the station became visibly "open" at a noticeable pace.

The tall supports were gone, sturdy walls had skylights opened, and various equipment and piping lay scattered about.

After happily demolishing for nearly twenty minutes, Fang Zhiyan watched Ying Duo, who seemed intent on scraping away three layers of ground, and finally couldn't help but speak.

"You don't really intend to just tear this station down by demolition, do you?"

Even if they really turned this place into an empty lot, the Church could gather enough rune masters and materials to repair it far faster than they could demolish it.

Especially now that Tianmian City is in turmoil inside, the Church will prioritize repairs to maintain surface order and transportation.

It's like ants trying to gnaw down a tree—though the ants work hard, the tree could at any moment be straightened by a gardener using other means.

Ying Duo heard this and stopped his hand's motion.

He rose, glanced around at the piles of various materials stacked like mountains, and only after a few seconds did he shake his head.

"We've demolished enough."

Fang Zhiyan raised an eyebrow, "Oh? So what do you plan to do?"

Ying Duo didn't answer directly; instead, he walked to the small hill made of various metal plates and components, extended his hand, and hovered it above the scrap iron.

The next moment, Fang Zhiyan's pupils contracted slightly.

Only to see a Ying Guang Lu Data Stream surge from Ying Duo's palm, quickly blanketing the heap of metal materials.

Wherever the Data Stream passed, the metal seemed to be decomposed and recomposed by an invisible force.

The whole process was silent and swift, with no high-temperature flames or loud hammering—only the silent flow of the Data Stream and the rapid transformation of the materials.

In just a few minutes, that heap of metal indistinguishable from scrap turned into neat rows of explosives.

Fang Zhiyan lifted his head to look at Ying Duo.

The youth still showed little expression, merely concentrating on inspecting the batch of explosives he had just produced.

"You look just like someone I know," Fang Zhiyan suddenly said, his voice softening a bit.

"It reminds me of someone—a former student of mine."

Ying Duo didn't lift his head, merely asking flatly.

"Who?"

Fang Zhiyan knew this was the Puppet Master behind Ying Duo seizing the chance to gather intelligence.

He didn't mind; this information wasn't a secret anyway.

"One of my students."

"He has considerable skill in energy circuits, and is somewhat like you… or rather, like the one behind you in certain respects."

He paused, then curled the corner of his mouth into a faint smile.

"It's a pity he and I chose different paths; he now works in the Dome's weapons R&D department, and with his talent, when you return to Dome Headquarters, you might get to see him there."

Yang Yixie silently recorded the existence of this key NPC and the location "Weapon Development Department."

He will inevitably go to the Dome later to meet up with the drama troupe, so gathering more information about the Dome is certainly not a mistake.

At this moment, the materials at Ying Duo's side had been completely used up, all of which he modified into various models of explosives.

He stood up and patted the nonexistent dust off his hands.

"Enough," Ying Duo said calmly, his golden eyes turning toward Fang Zhiyan.

"Now we'll set up the explosives."

Although what he held was only the Air Train's Design Draft, he could still discern the designer's thought process.

"The Floating City stays aloft thanks to a large anti‑gravity Rune array and ley‑line energy nodes; the Air Train network shares part of its energy buffer via secondary levitation Runes and energy conduits placed beneath the tracks."

Ying Duo pointed to the few track sections extending from the station in the schematic.

"Here, and here, are the physical connection points and energy transmission nodes between this track segment and the main levitation array below, also the relatively weak spots of the structure."

"We'll focus on planting explosives at these spots; it should cause a long stretch of track to collapse, and at least for a short time the Air Train will be inoperable."