Babata's Shock

After winning Babata's unexpected allegiance, Shi Fen was delighted.

With a wave of his hand, Shi Fen released the Baby Machine from the Treasure Refining World and instructed Babata, "First, help me with a small favor. Copy your basic data and add it to my machine's database."

When Babata saw the mechanical child Shi Fen had brought out, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He froze in shock.

The Baby Machine had barely touched the ground before taking in its surroundings and realizing it was outside. It immediately wrapped its arms around Shi Fen's leg, hanging from it as it chirped happily in its soft, babyish voice, "Wow, Master! You finally let me out for some fresh air. I was getting so cooped up in there."

Looking down at the leg ornament clinging to him and bursting with joy, Shi Fen said helplessly, "Machine, get down. Go ask your big brother Babata for the basic data. Honestly, you're a member of the Machine Race, yet you don't even know how to pilot a spaceship."

The moment the Machine heard Shi Fen tease him for not knowing how to pilot a spaceship, his excited little hands froze in midair. He abruptly looked up, his large silver eyes curving into a cute arc as he protested righteously, "I never said I couldn't pilot one! I said I wanted to try operating that Machine Race Spaceship myself before deciding whether I could!"

"Hmph."

Shi Fen couldn't help laughing in exasperation. He snorted, then said helplessly, "By the time you finish trying it out, who knows if you'll have crashed a hole through Earth? Just study with Babata first, then we'll see."

Hearing that, the Baby Machine realized he was in the wrong. He let go of Shi Fen's leg, turned, and glanced at Babata, who was still frozen in place. "Master, I feel like I could break into his database whenever I want. How about I...?"

A mischievous smile tugged at the Baby Machine's mouth.

Babata suddenly stiffened, then snapped out of it.

"No!"

"No!"

Shi Fen and the newly awakened Babata shouted at the Machine in unison.

"Oh, okay." At Shi Fen's command, the Machine lowered his head dejectedly and waited for further instructions.

"..." Babata gazed at the Machine, who acted so much like a real person, and couldn't help blurting out a string of words in the Universal Language.

"Master, I can't understand what big brother Babata is saying, but I think he's swearing." The Machine pointed a tender little finger at Babata, his cute silver eyes narrowing as he explained in a soft voice.

"Babata is definitely cursing up a storm. I can tell, too," Shi Fen said with a grin.

"Good grief! Master, is your Auxiliary Lifeform a Machine Race child?" Babata switched from the Universal Language to the Huaxia Language, but still couldn't stop himself from swearing.

"Yeah," Shi Fen replied.

"What's wrong with being from the Machine Race? Aren't we better than you, a disembodied lifeform?" the Baby Machine muttered softly beside Shi Fen in his smooth, babyish voice.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Babata was so shocked he choked and started coughing.

Seeing Babata's reaction, the Baby Machine continued exposing his weakness in that little voice. "You don't even have a throat. What are you coughing for?"

Babata immediately stopped coughing and glared at the Machine with blood-red eyes. "You Machine Race child, why do you act so much like a human?"

Shi Fen also realized something was off. "Why does the Baby Machine love arguing with people so much? I only activated him a few days ago. Who did he learn this from?"

Shi Fen couldn't figure it out.

Babata couldn't figure it out either.

"I'm alive, not dead. What's wrong with acting a little human?" the Baby Machine retorted with practiced ease in his little voice.

Just then.

Luo Feng, who had been receiving the inheritance data nearby, finally woke after more than ten minutes of concentrating on absorbing it.

As soon as Luo Feng opened his eyes, he saw a being made entirely of silver metal, shaped like a human child, using a babyish voice to argue with Babata. Babata had been left speechless.

Luo Feng's ability to process information was no worse than Babata's. He immediately thought of the Machine Race corpse aboard the Black Ink Star Ship and asked in shock, "What's going on with that Machine Race member? Where did he come from?"

Shi Fen awkwardly rubbed his mouth and said haltingly, "Hehe, this is the Auxiliary Lifeform my inheritance gave me."

"Hiss."

Luo Feng drew a sharp breath, stunned. "Brother, that inheritance of yours is incredible. It gave you a Machine Race lifeform to assist you!"

Babata had been left speechless by the Baby Machine. He looked at Shi Fen as if asking for help and said helplessly, "Master, could you do something about him?"

Seeing Babata like that, Luo Feng was stunned. He stiffly turned his head toward Shi Fen and stammered, "M-M-Master?"

"Machine, stop messing around. Show your big brother Babata some respect from now on," Shi Fen scolded him sternly, his face dark. He wouldn't let the Machine keep fooling around.

Hearing Shi Fen's reprimand, the Machine immediately shrank back and obediently stood beside him, no longer taunting Babata in his babyish voice.

Seeing the shocked expressions on both Babata and Luo Feng's faces, Shi Fen blushed, embarrassed. "Kids really know how to cause trouble."

Seeing Luo Feng's stunned and confused gaze, Shi Fen explained, "Hehe, Babata accepted my inheritance, remember? I happened to mention that I could turn him into a member of the Machine Race. Then Babata decided to join my not-yet-established faction, getting in ahead of you to become its senior brother. Babata's probably used to roaming the universe, so he instinctively called me 'Master.' From now on, he can just use my name. Calling me 'Master' feels too strange."

Shi Fen's explanation saved Babata some face.

Babata looked at Shi Fen gratefully.

"Hm? I'm joining too. Brother, you must have quite a fortune tucked away. Hurry up and hand it over! You've kept me in the dark for so long, so you owe me some compensation." Luo Feng didn't catch Shi Fen's meaning. He immediately lunged at him like a hungry tiger.

Shi Fen helplessly took out a black World Ring and handed it to Luo Feng.

"Here. I prepared this for you a long time ago. There's a Golden Horned Beast Egg inside, along with a little more than half a jar of special medicine I made. Take the medicine, and you'll be able to handle the Golden Horned Beast hatchling without any trouble. The Golden Horned Beast is a perfect match for your Gold Domain talent, so giving it to you won't be a waste."

The Golden Horned Beast Egg inside the World Ring was one Shi Fen had found beneath the Pacific Ocean.

Before giving the egg to Luo Feng, Shi Fen had specifically placed it in the Collection Hall inside the Treasure Refining World. Over several days, he used the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror's Scan Recording Function to collect its data.

He didn't know what the collected data would be used for, but he did it just in case.

This was the first time Shi Fen had officially used the function.

The previous time he had planned to use the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror's Scan Recording Function was when he first went to Mist Island. He had intended to record the entire Black Ink Star Ship, but discovered to his dismay that there was far too much inside the ship.

The scan would have taken more than a decade, so Shi Fen promptly gave up.

It wasn't until Shi Fen found the Golden Horned Beast Egg that the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror's Scan Recording Function finally came in handy.

Luo Feng excitedly took the black ring. He didn't know what a Golden Horned Beast Egg was, but he recognized a Space Ring.

"It's heavy! It must weigh over eight hundred kilograms!" Luo Feng exclaimed in astonishment as the World Ring landed in his hand.

A palm-sized Crimson Chaos Copper Mother Fragment weighed over a ton. How could something as tiny as a ring be so heavy? The material used to make it must have been far denser than F9 Grade Metal.

"This ring alone must be worth a lot, just for the material, right?" Luo Feng asked excitedly.

"In the universe, it's probably nothing special," Shi Fen replied modestly, without a care in the world.

"..." Seeing how unconcerned Shi Fen looked, Babata couldn't help launching into another stream of words in the Universal Language.

A long while later, Babata clutched his chest in agitation and roared, exasperated, "You two really are a pair of bumpkins!!!"

"That ring was made from Black Prison Gold Mother. Do you know what Black Prison Gold Mother is? It's the rarest, most valuable kind of F9-class metal, the undisputed king of F-Grade Metals!

"By weight, Black Prison Gold Mother is worth hundreds of times more than the Red Chaos Copper Mother used in my master's spaceship!

"And that has to be a World Ring. Do you know how much space there is inside a World Ring? A proper World Ring is at least ten thousand kilometers long, wide, and high!

"And Luo Feng, do you remember what I told you about bloodlines in the universe?

"The highest human bloodline reaches the Domain Lord level upon adulthood, but the Golden Horned Beast Egg Shi Fen mentioned belongs to one of the universe's most powerful bloodlines. It reaches the World Lord level upon adulthood! Shi Fen means for you to possess the Golden Horned Beast and gain its body. Luo Feng, you'll reach the World Lord level just by lying around!

"Shi Fen, surely you know all this, right? These things are far too precious!"

Shi Fen couldn't help rolling his eyes at Babata, thinking, If I didn't know, why would I have arranged all this?

After hearing Babata's tirade, Luo Feng's hand froze in midair as he clutched the World Ring. It trembled. He asked Shi Fen with difficulty, "Brother, is what Babata said true? You want me to possess the Golden Horned Beast? But what would happen to my human body? I just got together with Xu Xin..."

Babata practically roared as he cut Luo Feng off. "You're completely wrong! Luo Feng's human body doesn't matter. You'll become a World Lord easily enough later. Your human body really isn't important..."

"Babata, you bumpkin." Shi Fen cut him off at just the right moment, openly showing his disdain as he rolled his eyes at Babata. "Machine, give Babata and Luo Feng one copy each of what I prepared."

"Sure thing!"

The Machine cheered happily. Without making a single move, he transferred a set of data to each of their devices.

"My god... Inherited memories, a natural affinity for the Gold Laws, and three Innate Secret Techniques: Strengthening, Devouring, and Clone. The Golden Horned Beast can actually cultivate three clones?"

Babata and Luo Feng were utterly stunned by the detailed information on the Golden Horned Beast recorded in the Treasure Refining materials Shi Fen had prepared long ago.

By then, the World Ring was the least of their concerns.