Ominous Premonition

How many times in one's life does one get to see the sea?

Xingtian stopped and turned to look at the ocean beside him.

He was walking along the coastline, the ceaseless waves lapping against his alloy ankles, the briny sea breeze excessively cold in the night.

But Yu Xiao couldn't feel any of this, as if he were an audience member outside the screen, only able to satisfy himself with imagination.

In his eyes, there was only boundless darkness, and the few beams of light emanating from Xingtian were insignificant.

"Why did you stop?"

Bai Ying looked at Yu Xiao standing beside her with some confusion—the holographic projection of a human figure was exactly the same as what Bai Ying had seen in the synchronization before.

Because I never saw the sea in my past life.

Yu Xiao wanted to say that, but he was Xingtian now, a warrior who had been fighting monsters in the ocean since the day he was activated.

"If you're tired, I can take over," Bai Ying stretched, her close-fitting combat suit perfectly showcasing the youthful curves of her figure at that moment.

Since Xingtian was rebuilt in the Dark Azure Sky, Bai Ying had learned about the "autopilot" function from Yu Xiao. In short, Yu Xiao could complete some simple actions in Bai Ying's place.

"It's nothing, I just feel like the wind direction has changed."

Yu Xiao made up a reason to cover himself, but he was actually a little gratified by Bai Ying's concern, after all, she had indeed changed.

However, the current Xingtian was not actually being controlled by Yu Xiao—it was the holographic high-intelligence AI interaction system he had ordered from the mall that was "driving."

Black technology is awesome!

Yu Xiao was just a black-hearted middleman, enjoying the benefits while not having to do the work.

"If it weren't for you, I don't know how exhausted I would be," Bai Ying cracked her knuckles. "Why is it that Red Hurricane gets to ride a dragon boat, but we have to walk ourselves!"

Bai Ying still remembered Meng Changqing's smug look before boarding the Auspicious Cloud Dragon Boat.

To be honest, Yu Xiao also wanted to ride a dragon boat. It wasn't that he was afraid of losing face, but he simply wanted to broaden his horizons on the dragon boat.

The Auspicious Cloud, the first aerial fortress independently developed by the Gan Nation, was initially designed only for long-distance transportation of mechs, but after many discussions, it had been transformed into a self-circulating assault-level combat unit.

Judging from its scale alone, its size was not much smaller than the Dark Azure Sky base, and it was this terrifying size that allowed it to simultaneously carry five mechs for long-distance transportation!

Currently, the Gan Nation has three dragon boats of the same scale, and it is said that there is also a top-secret project under development, which is based on dragon boat technology.

"Maybe it's because our route is relatively close, and the dragon boat isn't going that way?" Yu Xiao found a more reasonable explanation.

But he knew the reason in his heart.

Because we're going to the Silent Graveyard to scavenge scraps, while they're going on an expedition!

The Silent Graveyard was a mech recycling station located in the middle of the Gan Nation's north-south coastline.

Mechs that were damaged for various reasons or were no longer on the battlefield would be sent by various countries to their own mech graveyards, where they would be dismantled and recycled.

Xingtian was lucky. As the only survivor among the first-generation mechs, he had become a hero in many people's hearts and a symbol of human perseverance, so he was able to escape being dismantled after his retirement.

"Forget it... the place they're going is much more dangerous, and they'll lose their lives if they're not careful. I won't compete with them!" It was rare for Bai Ying not to dwell on this issue of differential treatment.

Because only she knew that this upgrade for Xingtian used the Dark Azure Sky's "lifesaving money."

During Bai Ying's private conversation with General Chen, she learned about the enormous pressure currently facing the Dark Azure Sky—the entire Watchers Alliance had been impacted by last year's global boycott and had to drastically reduce its scale, which directly led to the Alliance's budget being cut by a full half this year!

The number of mechs maintained by Dark Azure Sky was already considered large among all bases, but this also meant that they were bearing several times the expenses of other bases.

Therefore, Dark Azure Sky decided to open the Silent Graveyard, which was originally under its control, to the market and completely outsource its operation to contractors, earning fixed rent and transaction commissions.

But even if they did this, Dark Azure Sky's funding chain would completely break in six months. If they couldn't get new financial support, Dark Azure Sky would be permanently shut down.

In this case, sending Xingtian to the War Factory for a formal upgrade would directly bankrupt Dark Azure Sky next month!

So General Chen took a different approach and used three months of funding to pre-order a complete set of worn-out third-generation mech parts from the Silent Graveyard.

Although it couldn't compare to a formal upgrade at the War Factory, it was enough to increase Xingtian's combat power by several levels!

In General Chen's own words, this deal was "rather than worrying about a tomorrow that may not exist, it's better to live through today at any cost."

This was also his judgment on the next stage of the war.

"I thought you would complain a bit more," Yu Xiao obviously saw that Bai Ying was hiding something from him.

"I'm just telling the truth!" Bai Ying pouted. "Dark Azure Sky's funds are very tight. The Silent Graveyard was originally under our legion's control, but after it was contracted out, according to the agreement, we only get a discount when we buy things, we can't get them for free."

"Mechs aren't cheap. If the contractor let us take things for free every day, they would have gone bankrupt long ago," Yu Xiao easily saw the logic in it. "But if we hadn't driven away that Chris, we might have been able to get an upgrade at the War Factory."

"If we hadn't driven away Chris, you would have been captured by Omega and dissected!" Bai Ying glared at Yu Xiao unhappily.

"Wait..."

Yu Xiao didn't continue to bicker with Bai Ying but instead turned to look at the endless sea again.

The cold sea breeze cut through Xingtian's armor like a sharp knife, but it still couldn't shake the giant standing on the shore.

"Is there a situation?" Bai Ying tensed up, ready to control Xingtian to avoid any possible danger.

Her gaze swept across the holographic interface floating in the air. As the radar waves spread outward from Xingtian, Bai Ying felt increasingly strange.

The energy radar didn't detect any threats.

"The wind direction has changed."

"Can you not make jokes like that!" Bai Ying nearly jumped from the pilot's seat to kick Yu Xiao.

"I'm not joking. The wind really changed."

"I think the wind blew your brains out. This is the seaside; it's not normal if there's no wind!" Bai Ying didn't bother arguing with the somewhat neurotic Xing Tian anymore, directly disengaging autopilot and controlling Xing Tian to continue the journey.

Yu Xiao didn't continue arguing with Bai Ying either, because his energy radar and night vision indeed hadn't detected anything unusual.

But he always felt like something was watching Xing Tian, ​​except that the gaze was very weak, as if it came from the clouds and stars above.

To be safe, Yu Xiao immediately opened the store page.

He originally planned to patch things up after leveling up in the Silent Cemetery, but now he had to make sure he wouldn't have an accident on the road!

[Exchange successful, thank you for your patronage]

"This should be safe enough now..."