Steam Motorcycle

"This is intense."

The wind whipped against his face like sandpaper, the ride feeling like a roller coaster with its extreme ups and downs.

Rein clung to the tail of a skeletal mechanical city, its frame stripped bare, gripping the steel structure tightly to keep from being thrown off by the violent jolts.

He had to admit, the steam boilers that powered the heavy steel castles, now unburdened, made them fly.

Yes, they were actually flying!

Every time the mechanical city hit a pothole, its excessive speed would send it leaping into the air. It was like a clumsy toad jumping, only to crash down with a clang, scattering unknown metal parts across the ground.

Along the way, rivets, nuts, wheels, and other iron scraps had fallen off.

Rein held on, his heart pounding, praying that this skeletal mechanical city would hold together and not completely fall apart after one more leap.

However, his luck seemed to be holding up.

The more parts the mechanical city shed, the lighter it became, and the faster it went. It ran for over ten to twenty kilometers like this.

In the end, it took the lead and successfully broke through the encirclement.

Not long after, looking back at the shores of Storm Lake, the "Black Market Trading Ground" was already engulfed in flames.

The Oma Empire's Royal Army, ambushed on the outskirts with over a dozen "War Elephant-class" mechanical cities leading countless tank-sized troop carriers, had formed a massive encirclement, slowly closing in.

The encirclement was gradually taking shape, like a bag slowly tightening, trapping the thousands of Phantom Thief mechanical cities by the lake.

Only a small group of Phantoms, who had chosen to abandon their cities and escape lightly at the first opportunity, managed to slip out before the "pocket" closed.

Rein was one of them.

Dodging the occasional shells flying overhead, riding a skeletal mechanical city that could fall apart at any moment, after a frantic, adrenaline-fueled dash...

Rein, his face contorted by the harsh desert wind, was surprised to find no pursuers chasing them, the stragglers who had escaped.

"Did we really get out?"

His eyes sparkled, but he also found it hard to believe.

Could it be that he, who was usually plagued by bad luck, was finally turning his fortune around?

But his intuition told him that things weren't that simple.

Although Rein didn't understand military formations, he had read plenty of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his past life.

Looking at the battlefield before him, he suddenly felt that the current scene overlapped with some tactics from his memories.

Wasn't it called the "Surround Three, Leave One" siege tactic?

Thinking of this, Rein muttered to himself, "Could there be an ambush ahead?"

Then, in a flash, he wished he could slap himself!

Chug, chug, chug...

As the skeletal mechanical city approached, the sound of engines, like tractors starting up, erupted densely from not far away.

Looking closer, he saw that dense ambushes had appeared in the tall desert grass at some point.

As far as he could see, they hadn't been detected earlier because there were no large mechanical cities. Hidden in the grass were legions of strangely shaped "Mechanical Cavalry."

"What is this thing... a Steam Motorcycle?"

This was Rein's first time seeing such peculiar steam machinery.

These strange steam locomotives looked like Harley motorcycles with large iron rings fitted around them. They were about three meters in diameter, with toothed tracks on the outside for grip, and large-caliber six-barreled guns mounted on the sides. Small steam boilers puffed white smoke, exuding the usual dark industrial aesthetic.

"They really are motorcycles?"

Rein, the country bumpkin, was wide-eyed.

You could say these things were backward, as even with his past life's advanced technology, they hadn't come up with such flashy motorcycles.

But you could also say they were advanced, being strange steam-powered contraptions...

The brass legion crests on the locomotives clearly bore the insignia of the Oma Empire's First Royal Legion.

These were the Oma Empire's most elite fighting force – the Royal Steam Mechanists!

Clearly, now was not the time to ponder how these iron-ringed motorcycles were created.

There were hundreds of steam locomotives before him, and they were quickly catching up, behaving like cavalry.

The Phantom Thief mechanical city, lacking armor protection, had become a virtual sitting duck.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The large-caliber six-barreled guns mounted on the locomotives spat fire, turning the mechanical city into a honeycomb with a single volley.

Only then did Rein understand the follow-up to "Surround Three, Leave One."

The strategist of the Oma Empire had anticipated that those who escaped would be lightly armored mechanical cities. Against these Phantoms, lacking armor and heavy firepower, lightly armored Mechanical Cavalry legions would be more than enough.

"Extinguish your boilers and surrender to live!"

"Resist and be killed without mercy!"

"..."

The cavalry on the steam motorcycles kept calling for them to surrender.

Unfortunately, the phantom thieves who chose to flee were mostly desperate criminals with long rap sheets. None of them were foolish enough to surrender willingly.

The two sides engaged in a fierce exchange of gunfire.

The phantom thieves' firearms were all high-end black market goods, their power and accuracy no less than the standard equipment of the Imperial Army.

The battle was locked in a stalemate.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Flames erupted, and iron bullets flew wildly.

Rein, caught in the hail of bullets, was completely disoriented.

"What should I do now?"

Rein felt a bitter despair; he was in a no-win situation.

He had enjoyed the ride, but now he was being hunted, and he couldn't get off.

However, the only fortunate thing was that whether it was because the "white coat" he wore indicated his identity as a doctor, or because he hadn't made any move to raise his gun and shoot.

The gunmen on the steam motorcycles, as if by unspoken agreement, hadn't fired at him.

But even so, the dense, rain-like shrapnel flying everywhere still wounded Rein in multiple places.

If this continued, he would eventually either be captured or shot to death.

And following closely behind Rein, dozens more small mechanical cities belonging to phantom thieves were escaping the encirclement.

But it was clear that the Oma Empire's ambush legions were far more numerous. Waves of mechanical cavalry appeared, like hyenas surrounding a herd of bison, constantly nibbling away at the fleeing soldiers during the pursuit.

Those phantom thieves weren't foolish enough to try to break through as a group; instead, they scattered and fled. The engaging parties chased each other across the vast wilderness, the battle line stretching further and further.

Rein had also considered jumping off the vehicle.

He had even observed carefully; the battle line had already stretched very long and was quite dispersed. The main force of the Oma Empire's mechanical cavalry was focused on encircling and annihilating those mechanical cities.

A few fleeing individuals jumping off wouldn't attract much attention.

But if he jumped off within a certain range, the end result would be being captured by the mop-up soldiers.

Therefore, he needed a high-speed mode of transportation to escape the ambush circle.

And this single-rider steam motorcycle in front of him was the best option!

"Huh? If it operates like a motorcycle, why not give it a try?"

Suddenly, Rein looked at the steam motorcycles that had crashed and fallen behind him, and the bold idea in his mind could no longer be suppressed.

Just now, the "Smart Brain" had analyzed the riders' methods, and it seemed no different from a motorcycle in his previous life.

In his previous life, Rein had been known as the "Little Prince of Motorcycles," and he wasn't afraid of anyone when it came to racing.

If he could snatch a motorcycle, there probably wouldn't be anyone on this wilderness who could catch him!

"Let's do it!"

With a moment's decision, Rein decided to take the risk.

Since he had no intention of becoming a prisoner, how much worse could the outcome of jumping off be?

With that thought, he didn't hesitate at all and decisively jumped off the skeletal mechanical city that had already reached incredible speeds.

Leap, land, roll, play dead...

Fortunately, as he had predicted, no one paid attention to a small fry like him jumping off.

All the motorcycle riders were chasing the mechanical cities.

After the main force roared past him, Rein, without time to catch his breath, quietly crept over to a fallen steam motorcycle, pulled off the corpse on it, and then mounted it himself!

The motorcycle's mini steam boiler hadn't shut down yet. As he mounted it and twisted the throttle, the large wheels spun rapidly.

A violent push-back sensation hit him, making him feel as if he were riding an angry bull.

"Success!"

Rein was overjoyed.

With his extensive motorcycle experience, he only needed a little adjustment before he was easily controlling the steam motorcycle.

Then, he chose a direction completely different from the main force and sped away.

Just as he expected, no one paid attention to a straggler.

Even if the mechanical legions saw this "deserter," no one would chase him during this encirclement.

Moreover, even if they wanted to chase, it wasn't certain they could catch this wind-like fellow.