Chapter 523: Men, Just Need to Open……

On the wasteland, a large amount of dust rose.

A huge black sphere two meters in diameter rolled forward, and for some unknown reason, it gave people a very carefree feeling.

It made people think of an extremely rare and precious animal—only possibly seen in large settlements, a black-and-white creature that ran everywhere and could not be stopped.

The black crow drove and followed, with the vehicle's fire god cannon rotating.

Unfortunately, the black sphere was too fast and too agile.

Bullets could only leave traces on the ground and could not actually hit the black sphere.

The missile system also could not lock onto the black sphere.

The pursuit was quite difficult.

"I never thought X would actually be a ball..." the black crow said.

When he first saw X, he was completely shocked.

The black crow had certainly heard rumors about X and had prepared himself—prepared to see some six-armed monster or earth-boring worm or something like that.

He never expected to see a black sphere rolling at high speed.

How could this thing cause chaos in the City of Gaze—by charging straight ahead?

"The ball is great," Tang Luo said, "look how fast it runs."

"Master, if we keep going like this, we might not catch up—should we fire artillery shells?" the black crow said.

They had been chasing for a while, and the distance between them had not only not narrowed, but had widened further.

Some vehicles in the convoy could not keep up the speed and had fallen behind by several.

Although missiles could not lock on, firing a mortar round would still be fine—maybe it could hit the black sphere.

"No need," Tang Luo said, "we just need not to lose it—after all, the Heavenly God's Grace didn't give us any money, so why work so hard? Besides, the main force isn't us."

The black crow opened his mouth, then closed it again.

These vehicles are priceless, aren't they?

Still saying they didn't give any money?

Even if they gave the whole convoy to him afterward, just this Land King alone would be enough for the Black Crow caravan to risk their lives.

In the other party's eyes, it's not worth mentioning at all?

The perspective of the rich—he truly cannot imagine it.

Suddenly, the black crow's face changed, and he sharply turned the steering wheel to the side with one hand.

The Land King instantly shifted from moving forward to lateral movement.

Not far ahead, an explosion occurred, with booming sounds accompanied by fire, light, smoke, and flying dust—if the black crow hadn't suddenly changed direction, the Land King, at its speed, would have just been caught in the explosion.

The vehicles behind the Land King maintained a distance, had reaction time, and followed in turning direction.

Several vehicles began to snake across the ground.

Further back, the convoy that had been following all along came to a stop one after another.

Everyone looked up at the sky; beneath the thick cloud layer, several shadows were flying past.

A bright yellow color, faintly glowing, appeared quite dazzling.

"It's the Great Sun Institute!"

"The Great Sun Institute's Sea of Suffering Vessel!"

The so-called Sea of Suffering Vessel, of course, does not refer to a ship, but rather an aircraft like the Wrath of God.

However, its size is larger than the Wrath of God, it is bright yellow, and while its maneuverability and speed are inferior to the Wrath of God, its ammunition capacity and sustained combat capability are superior to the Wrath of God.

It is a powerful war weapon of the Great Sun Institute, not sold externally.

I never expected that X's appearance would even prompt the Great Sun Institute to take action.

Those opportunists planning to get a share all stopped—things had already gone beyond what they could interfere with, and in the end, they were just fishing in troubled waters, letting the hermit gain the profit.

"Damn it! It's the Great Sun Institute!" the black crow slammed the steering wheel hard.

A Sea of Suffering Vessel flew in the sky, chasing the Black Crow caravan, occasionally dropping bombs to drive them away, keeping them distant from the black sphere X.

The remaining three were following the black sphere.

Of course, the Sea of Suffering Vessel's original intention was not to drive away the Black Crow caravan, but to directly blast these competitors to pieces.

However, the Black Crow caravan's vehicles came from Heavenly God's Grace, with guaranteed performance, and besides, they were all veteran drivers, so they could barely escape the bombardment.

"The Great Sun Institute has appeared."

Nezha contacted Tang Luo.

"Just small fry," Tang Luo "said," "destroy them."

He took the God's Hand battle armor helmet from beside him, put it on, opened the car door, and in one motion flipped onto the roof of the Land King.

This is where the fire god cannon is mounted.

However, these fire god cannons are all "ground weapons," with the highest adjustable angle being only thirty degrees above the ground.

Although combat aircraft and bombers on the wasteland usually fly at low altitudes.

But by increasing distance, when the fire god cannon's muzzle can be aimed at the Sea of Suffering Vessel, the distance between them also exceeds the fire god cannon's range.

The Land King's missile system is also not anti-air.

Tanks facing aircraft can only endure the beating.

Unless... like Tang Luo, directly dismantling the fire god cannon, aiming manually, and firing manually!

A clinking sound.

Hot shell casings fell onto the car roof, continuously rolling down to the ground, becoming part of the wasteland.

The fire god cannon's muzzle emitted blue fire, and the bullets were like blades, slicing across the Sea of Suffering Vessel.

The wings burst into a flash of fire, the Sea of Suffering Vessel lost balance, and spun in the sky.

Even so, Tang Luo still heard a shout of "Long live the Bright Buddha!" followed by this Sea of Suffering Vessel adjusting its angle as best it could, trying to ram into the King of the Land.

"So this is the so-called 'Saint'?" Tang Luo murmured.

Unlike organizations like Heavenly God's Grace where "turncoats emerge in droves," the Great Sun Monastery and Yellow Robe Association do have fanatics.

Saints and Divine Envoys, within these two major powers, are existences similar to the Hand of God.

They also seem to have some special methods, not seen for now.

Now, however, their extremely fanatical side is on display.

The out-of-control Sea of Suffering Vessel naturally caused no trouble for the Black Crow Caravan, merely leaving a cluster of fleeting, brilliant flames and a pile of wreckage on the wasteland.

Black Crow watched with a pang of distress; if he could, he would have loved to stop the vehicle and collect the Sea of Suffering Vessel's wreckage.

This is all money!

Tang Luo dealt with this fly, and on the other side Nezha also launched a powerful counterattack.

The remaining Sea of Suffering Vessels turned into wreckage one after another.

His counterattack method was extremely crude: he simply leapt up and smashed the Sea of Suffering Vessels with the black sphere.

It was all over in a few leaps.

"You're quite skilled with that ball." Tang Luo said.

"Of course!" Nezha's voice carried pride.

For a period after he was born, wasn't he just a ball? Ramming people with a ball is just a basic operation.

Back when he was in his mother's womb, he could even "ram people while carrying the ball" — the one he rammed was precisely Li Jing.

After ramming the ball, Nezha's speed slowed.

"The Great Sun Monastery has intervened in this matter; Heavenly God's Grace will definitely react. We don't need to be the vanguard; keep a low profile. We'll slow down and just follow along." Tang Luo returned to the cabin, took off his helmet, and said.

"Okay, Master." Black Crow heard this and gradually lowered the speed.

In his heart, though, he thought: this guy is truly ruthless, how enviable.

He also wanted that kind of life, but unfortunately the "Foreman" sits right next to him; Black Crow and his caravan must do their jobs conscientiously.

Otherwise the dismantled Fire God Cannon next time will surely be aimed not at the Great Sun Monastery's Sea of Suffering Vessels, but at their heads.

Moreover, that day's scene, Black Crow will never forget.

Such a huge "Black Crow King" crashing down, hovering above everyone's heads — that feeling is truly unforgettable for a lifetime.

Black Crow has long since stopped pondering who exactly this Xuanzang is, where he comes from, what he ultimately wants to do.

In short, just follow the rule: "Master Xuanzang's words are the highest directive."

A few days later.

The pursuit of the black sphere X not only did not decrease, but instead set off a wave.

With the Great Sun Monastery joining in, more and more wasteland powers could not hold back, wanting to seize that black sphere and find out the truth.

What secret is hidden inside this thing?

The Great Sun Monastery participated, so the Yellow Robe Association naturally would not miss out; the tank convoy they formed pursued the black sphere relentlessly.

Even the ever-mysterious Red Lotus Society appeared in force.

The Red Lotus Society is a rather special organization on the wasteland.

On the wasteland, being able to find a safe settlement can be said to be the foundation for all major powers to establish themselves.

Powers without a settlement are like water without a source, a tree without roots.

Forming a strength like the Black Crow Caravan is just about the limit.

To go further, one must have a safe dwelling; without even a place to sleep soundly, who would follow you?

But the Red Lotus Society is an exception.

Red Lotus followers can be found in many settlements.

Yet the Red Lotus Society has never had a definite gathering place, at least not one known to outsiders — a headquarters.

But whether it is Gaze City, Great Sun Mountain (Great Sun Monastery headquarters), or Golden City (Yellow Robe Association headquarters), you can find Red Lotus followers.

The Red Lotus Society disperses into small units, lurking within wasteland settlements.

If Heavenly God's Grace, the Yellow Robe Association, and the like are colossi standing on the wasteland, then the Red Lotus Society is the shadow cast upon the ground.

Few people know what the Red Lotus Society is doing, who their leader is, or which god or buddha stands behind them.

And this time, even the Red Lotus Society has set its sights on this black sphere, appearing openly.

In this situation, Heavenly God's Grace, already in turmoil, ultimately chose to withdraw; the Wrath of God in the sky turned around and flew back, leaving only some mercenaries to continue the pursuit.

On the surface, it was to prevent their lair from being stolen after investing massive manpower and resources here.

A very wise, cautious move.

However, the mercenaries left behind aren't fools either; the main force has all fled, so they stay behind to take the blame and die?

They slipped away one after another as well.

In the end, within the huge pursuit force, the power representing Heavenly God's Grace was actually reduced to just a single mediocre Black Crow Caravan.

Trailing behind, putting on a "I'm just going through the motions, everyone understands what I mean" performance.

Almost negligible.

The current pursuit force is mainly composed of four powers.

One side Yellow Robe Association, one side Great Sun Monastery, one side a coalition formed by various formidable powers.

And one man, one vehicle, a male identified as "Red Lotus Protector."

Of course, the Red Lotus Society certainly wouldn't have only this one man and one vehicle appear; going by their style, there are definitely followers hidden within the coalition and the two major powers as well.

The black sphere's speed is already far slower than when it was first discovered.

Among the pursuing fleet, quite a few vehicles only need to step on the accelerator a bit to catch up to the black sphere.

But no one did so; they were waiting.

Waiting for the dragnet to be fully laid!

The time it took to lay it was much faster than some people imagined.

The black sphere was driven into a narrow ravine, with sheer cliffs on both sides; the "gap" overhead had already been filled by the Sea of Suffering Vessel after the black sphere entered.

And the ravine's exit had been completely blocked by the Yellow Robe Association's mobile fortress.

"Rooted" deep into the ground, even if the Land King at full power rammed into it head-on, it could not be shaken in the slightest.

Before ramming into it, the terrifying vitality would blast even the Land King into thoroughly useless scrap metal.

The Yellow Robe Association and the Great Sun Academy reached a tacit understanding, not beating each other's brains out before dealing with the black sphere.

Deep in the ravine, the black sphere's speed grew slower and slower, finally stopping.

The ravine's width was no more than ten meters.

The pursuing forces also formed a "line."

At the very front were naturally the Yellow Robe Association and the Great Sun Academy, each occupying half; behind them were the Red Lotus Protectors on the left and right, empty and spacious.

He stood directly atop the vehicle roof, tall and powerfully built, his hair fluttering in the cold wind blowing through the ravine.

Behind them was a motley assortment of allied forces, mixed together, giving the impression that this bunch's capacity for destruction far exceeded whatever use they could serve in capturing the black sphere.

Last was the Black Crow Caravan.

Tang Luo, hidden inside the Hand of God War Armor, watched this scene with great interest.

What fish would be hooked this time?

A loud gunshot suddenly rang out, forming echoes in the ravine environment, quite piercing to the ears.

It was the vanguard's Vulcan Cannons, sending a crate of rounds to "say hello" to the black sphere first.

Both the Yellow Robe Association and the Great Sun Academy chose to do this, clearly very confident in the black sphere's defensive power.

The facts bore this out: bullets poured onto the black sphere, leaving not a single mark, not exerting the slightest effect.

Bullets unsold, black sphere helped out.

As for more powerful weapons, of course there were some; honestly though, this environment wasn't suitable for using them.

It would be all too easy to turn this ravine into everyone's graveyard.

The Great Sun Academy had clearly prepared for this in advance; when the gunfire ceased, something new was immediately launched, flying above the black sphere and suddenly exploding into an iron net that fell down.

Wrapping the black sphere up.

Then, everyone could see an obvious depression sinking into the ground.

Might be some black-tech like a gravity net.

The Yellow Robe Association sprayed out a strange liquid, covering the ground around the black sphere; who knew what use it had.

"What use is doing it like this?" a Red Lotus Protector voiced the onlookers' thoughts.

"Whether it's useful or not, you Red Lotus lot just watch."

The reply came from inside the vehicle, from the Great Sun Academy, ending with a "Long live the Radiant Buddha," extremely "fanatical."

The Yellow Robe Association responded with a cold laugh, not answering.

"Watch?"

The Red Lotus Protector laughed loudly, leaped up, jumped in front of everyone, and walked toward the black sphere, "You think I'll just watch?"

This person's style of action was quite direct, unlike the Red Lotus Association's overall gloomy and sinister nature.

Everyone felt some anticipation; this Red Lotus Protector seemed to want to oppose the black sphere with a flesh-and-blood body?

Where did his confidence come from?

The Great Sun Academy and Yellow Robe Association had the same thought; they didn't pour bullets onto the Red Lotus Protector's back, just watched him walk toward the black sphere.

Stepping on the unknown liquid on the ground, splashing a bit of spray, the Red Lotus Protector's body grew more hunched the further he walked, but also larger; his hair began to lengthen.

Almost covering his entire back.

By the time he reached the black sphere, the whole person looked just like a giant black wild man.

"Roar!"

He let out a furious roar, arms with a span exceeding four meters spreading wide, embracing the black sphere.

In that very instant, the iron net covering the black sphere shattered.

Amid a burst of mechanical sounds, cracks appeared on the black sphere, and it began to deform.

A dazzling deformation; in less than five seconds, a black humanoid mecha appeared before everyone.

It had a head, arms and legs, a cold and grim black armored shell, a pair of steel wings on its back, standing about twenty meters tall.

In its hand it held a cold-weapon steel long spear.

Transforming from a two-meter diameter sphere into this, it completely violated conservation of mass.

Humanoid mecha, giant robot!

"Boom!"

A huge sound; the ground and surrounding cliffs trembled slightly, some rubble falling.

The black giant robot stomped down, stepping the Red Lotus Protector underfoot, crushing him into an indescribable mass.

"Hiss..."

A sound of sharp intakes of breath rang out.

A bunch of old drivers, pilots with eyes shining, wanted it!

Although we all know this thing has no merits besides being "cool," we just want it!

To hell with practicality, cost-effectiveness.

A man just has to pilot a giant robot!

Nezha clearly thought the same, otherwise he wouldn't have come up with this thing.

The black "Gundam" slowly raised the long spear in its hand, aiming at the squad pursuing it, a cold voice emanating from its head—

"You really think this young master has no temper!"