Yes, it was an ark.
Compared with a warship, this enormous unfinished vessel felt more like a refuge ship to Lin Yuan.
A refuge ship this enormous could hold tens of thousands of people.
That was almost exactly the number of students at the entire Artisan Academy.
Perhaps the Artisan Academy had realized something back then and wanted to build an ark like this to escape the disaster.
But in the end, it had still failed to escape.
Countless black specks moved about on the ark.
They were the guard puppets and "student projects" that had been wandering the clearing earlier.
Only now did those bizarre-looking "student projects" reveal their true purpose: they were robots for all kinds of transport, construction, and repair work.
The metal guard puppets still patrolled faithfully, maintaining order on-site, as though construction of the ark was still proceeding in an orderly fashion.
But ultimately, the puppets and machines had no will of their own. Without the guidance of the "Artisans," all they could do was futilely repeat meaningless actions.
Lin Yuan observed through Lilia's eyes, watching these puppets and machines install a plank, remove it, then install it again.
They completely failed to notice that, given its shape, the plank should never have been installed there in the first place.
Just then, a dark shadow flashed past, sweeping away the incorrectly shaped plank and replacing it with one of the right shape.
Click.
A new section of decking was successfully installed.
Hmm?
Lin Yuan paused in surprise and looked closely, but where was the shadow?
Yet that section of decking had indeed been installed properly.
Lin Yuan thought for a moment, then had Lilia ask Yang Pangzi:
"Do you think construction on this ship has progressed since you last saw it?"
Yang Pangzi paused, then