Headless Leopard Transforms
The story they told was quite cliché. It was roughly about how, after the Imperial army was wiped out by aliens, they longed for their homeland. Every so often, their spirits would wander out, believing they were still on the battlefield and thus able to attack the enemy with restraint.
"What do you mean by 'restricted'?" Vice Dean Zhao asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
"They will focus their attacks on unmodified creatures, especially the natives here," Old Gold Tooth lifted his coat, revealing his waist covered in electrical conduits. "So Old Gold Tooth, just in case, also underwent a modification."
The senior engineer, with his sharp eyes, immediately spotted the other person's artificial kidney.
"You're a 'sexually addict' type. This modification of yours isn't entirely for ghost protection, is it?"
"Hehe, to ward off ghosts, and female ghosts too."
In the end, the senior engineer bought a map, but the content was quite rough.
"Hehe, hehe," Old Gold Tooth rubbed his hands together, "Does the guest need any other services besides maps? I also offer tour guides, guards, archaeology services, and more."
"You even know about archaeology?" Vice Dean Zhao chuckled.
Seeing that the other party didn't believe him, Old Gold Tooth smiled humbly and pulled a dirty medal out of his pocket.
"Private Jin from the Divine Weapon Base salutes you!"
According to the system scan, the medal is made of 12% zinc, 14% copper, and 14% gold... verified as genuine.
This time, even the senior engineer was somewhat impressed. The other party was actually a veteran who had survived the mechanical war. Although, judging by his age, this veteran was probably only a teenager back then.
Old Jin and the two men he had temporarily summoned walked at the front. According to him, he would lead the senior engineer to the place with the highest chance of digging for treasure on this ancient battlefield, which was the core of the base back then.
Vice Dean Zhao said with some concern, "Boss, this gold tooth guy probably has ill intentions."
"Unimportant."
Deep within the engineer's right eye, white mist shimmered and flickered, and within his "vision," a large number of mechanical scraps rose into the air, were reassembled, and transformed back into large military buildings of the civilized era.
At the same time, large mechs began patrolling between military buildings. They were even taller than large combat robots, about 70 meters tall, and had already touched the edge of the large mechs.
According to the standards of general planets, mechs between 10 and 100 meters in height are classified as small to medium-sized mechs, while those over 100 meters are collectively referred to as large mechs.
Each of these mechs has a clearly visible mech compartment on its abdomen, and human figures can be vaguely seen inside.
"A manually controlled mech, huh? They haven't even implemented a motion-sensing system yet. That's really outdated."
As the senior engineer pondered, his gaze fell upon the core of the Divine Weapon Base, a man-made steel fortress suppressed in the sea.
Tong Kong, a senior engineer, gradually felt the pressure.
The more complex the internal structure of this reconstructed "virtual reality," the greater the pressure.
More importantly, the senior engineer gradually felt a peculiar force interfering with his vision.
"So ghosts really do exist."
Ahead, Lao Jin exchanged a glance with his two men, a sly glint in his eyes.
He was telling the truth. He was a veteran, and the place he was about to take this group to was the core of the base.
What he didn't say was that some of the base's core defense equipment was not broken, and would trigger an alarm if an outsider entered.
He had no intention of killing the group; Old Gold Tooth's reputation was still quite good in this ancient battlefield.
However, his only responsibility was to lead the way.
In case of unexpected situations, additional paid services will of course be provided.
That would definitely cost extra.
Judging from how these people paid earlier, they must be quite well-off. Maybe after pulling off this heist, Old Gold Tooth can enjoy a life of luxury in the City That Never Sleeps. He can't let this kidney transplant go to waste.
"Are we there yet?" a voice suddenly came from behind.
Old Gold Tooth was taken aback, and quickly said, "Everyone, this is one of the logistics centers of the Divine Weapon back then, the mech room. All the mechs damaged on the front lines would be hoisted here for repair. Don't underestimate it, it is the most important place in this base."
Among all the garbage mountains, this one has the most unique shape. It looks like a metal hot dog bun that has been sandwiched between two bars, with a lot of steel bars sticking out like cream, and a passage can be vaguely seen in the middle.
However, the senior engineer did not leave. Instead, he looked at the other party with a half-smile and said, "Since this place is so important, its defenses must be very strong."
"Of course, but it's been so many years, so it's probably nothing," Old Jinya said with a simple smile, "Of course, you pay, and you have the final say whether you can get in or not."
The senior engineer stared at the "oversized metal bread" not far away, and with a thought, activated his innate Elementary Mechanical Sense.
Primary Mechanical Sense (Talent): A specialized perception of mechanics, capable of discerning the internal workings of machine systems, and also applicable to equipment manufacturing.
The colony-formed pistol fired three shots: 'bang, bang, bang,' and the next moment, the alarm blared.
In the senior engineer's eyes, the white mist began to turn black, and the 'ghost' emerged.
One by one, abandoned robots crawled out. Some of these robots only had their upper bodies left, some had lower bodies like tanks, and some were so rotten that their appearance was unrecognizable.
There were so many of these strange things that they even triggered a temporary quest.
[Mission: Machine Vengeance]
Difficulty: Hard
Mission Briefing: Is the rampage of the ancient machines truly, as legend has it, a revenge against carbon-based life?
Mission objective: Find the truth behind the machine's revenge.
Quest Rewards: 6500 Experience, 1 Skill Point, and a random Ancient Mechanical Blueprint
In an instant, the mountains and fields were filled with ancient robots.
"Boss Jin, look!" one of his men shouted, his eyes filled with fear. This wasn't how it used to be.
Old Gold Tooth was also startled. The shout brought him back to his senses, and he quickly said, "Hey, sir, with this kind of accident, it's obvious we need to charge extra!"
"Oh? You can handle it?"
"Of course, I want five—no, one hundred thousand machine coins!"
"Sure, as long as you can get these machine monsters to retreat."
Old Gold Tooth gave a wink, while arranging for someone to collect the money. He then took out the mechanical token, inserted it into a slot on his waist, and a mechanical voice sounded.
"Private Class 3 at Divine Weapon Base - Verification Passed"
"Private Class 3 at Divine Weapon Base - Verification Passed"
However, these ancient robots did not immediately lift the alert and retreat as they usually did.
Instead, it pounced at an even faster speed.
"Hey, hey, I'm your comrade-in-arms! I even burn incense for you during holidays!"
Old Gold Tooth finally couldn't hold back any longer and pulled out two pistols, firing at the ancient robot that lunged at him.
The bullets struck the two ancient robots, knocking one of them backward, while the other mechanical monster pounced on it.
This ancient robot looks a bit like a mechanical tiger missing three legs. Its last leg is equipped with a box-shaped jet propulsion device, and with a rapid gust of air, its massive body suddenly leaps into the air.
Old Gold Tooth was immediately in a life-or-death crisis.
Seeing this, the senior engineer prepared to help the other party out of the predicament, but then paused and let out a soft exclamation.
Suddenly, Old Gold Tooth curled into a ball. Just as the opponent's claws were about to tear down, he sprang up from his waist, sending the ball flying into the air. A hand shot out from it like lightning, using the momentum generated by the potential energy to strike the opponent's engine with perfect precision. With a light twist of the hand, the entire power system tilted at just the right angle.
The Tiger robot slid three meters sideways in the air with a bang, crashing heavily into a steel bar next to it. The steel bar pierced through the robot's engine, and a plume of blue smoke billowed from inside the engine.
The whole process was smooth and fluid, like a special kind of dance.
To be more precise, it's like kung fu.
However, the senior engineer's eyes lit up.
Mecha Technique!
Mecha Technique is an advanced operating skill that can unleash the power of human implants, implants, and mechanical bodies up to 200%.
This thing is rare even in mechanical civilizations, because operating a mecha requires extremely high talent; in terms of mechanical sense, one must at least have "advanced mechanical sense".
Unfortunately, Old Gold Tooth only knew this one trick. After using it, he became completely dejected and told his men to run away without even taking the money.
The senior engineer shook his head. Apart from him, everyone present was a logistics staff member, so he was naturally prepared.
The next moment, a colossal creature descended from the sky aboard an eighth-level aircraft that had activated its stealth mode. When it landed on the ground, it made a loud noise and created a huge crater.
Amidst the thick smoke, a gigantic cyborg roared, its tangible sonic waves rising higher and higher, causing mechanical monsters to explode wherever they passed.
Name: Gilbert the Man-Headed Leopard
Radiation level: A-
Health Points: 403520/403520
Stamina: 6661/46661
Mechanical energy: 201200
Bioenergy: 301201
Biological Attributes: Strength 130, Agility 140, Stamina 900, Intelligence 70, Perception 120
Skills: Leopard Shockwave (Elite), Bio-Bomb Lv4 (Elite), Genetic Rampage Lv8 (Expert), Dark Soul (Expert), Hormone Frenzy Lv4 (Expert),??,??
Leader Templates: King of Genes, Hormone Transplant (Removed), Beastmaster (Modified)
Unlike the previous sleek, noble white leopard that resembled a noble among beasts, this one is now far more ferocious, with several meters-long mechanical steel claws, scarlet military-grade electronic eyes, a row of advanced grenade launchers on its back, and an energy cannon in the middle.
Now, it has transformed from a "genetically modified ornamental beast" into a "fierce beast warrior".
This one stormed into the ancient robot army, causing terrifying damage. Every mechanical component of his was made of the highest quality materials, so even a simple collision would only destroy the enemy.
Instead of ordinary jet propulsion devices, its limbs were equipped with ship-borne engines, which meant that its speed started at the speed of sound. Sonic booms rang out one after another, and in less than a minute, hundreds of ancient robots were blown to pieces.
Dean Zhao, along with the three imperial workers, Bing, Ding, and Geng, were all stunned by the impactful scene.
This is a pure display of mechanical violence.
The senior engineer nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly raised his voice.
"Human-headed Leopard, transform!"