It was an energy network so vast it was suffocating.
Densely packed lines spread across the Light Screen.
Like the neural pathways of some enormous creature?
Energy surged through them with a low hum, so deep and subdued that it made their chests tingle.
Every line pulsed.
Pulsed in a steady rhythm.
As though breathing.
The Mechanical City's greatest secret lay completely exposed before Yang Yong.
The thing was...
Yang Yong found it a little unnerving.
The paths those lines took defied all common sense.
Where they should have gone straight, they made seventeen or eighteen turns.
Where they should have turned, they ran straight to the end.
Densely packed energy nodes flickered.
Red, blue, green, purple-each flickered at a different frequency, yet together they vaguely formed some eerie rhythm.
That rhythm...
Yang Yong stared for thirty seconds and suddenly felt dizzy.
Something was wrong with that rhythm.
It was drawing people's heartbeats along with it.
Yang Yong's heart had originally been beating at its own pace.
But after he stared at those flickering nodes for too long, his heartbeat actually began shifting toward their rhythm.
A beat faster, a beat slower-gradually, his heartbeat began to synchronize with the flickering.
He abruptly closed his eyes.
His heart pounded in his chest.
Was it trying to break free?
"This thing..."
Yang Yong rubbed his throbbing temples, a sheen of cold sweat forming on his forehead. "This thing isn't meant for human eyes."
He turned toward Sevian and found the City Lord of the Mechanical City watching him with her head tilted.
There was no discernible expression on her silvery metal face, but her eyes seemed to hold the faintest trace of amusement.
"My dear City Lord."
Yang Yong rubbed his temples as he spoke. "This isn't my specialty. Can I bring