Having received his instructions, Melos sat down opposite him, arranged his deck, and sneered, "Since you want to give me money, I'll grant your wish."
"Haha, it's not certain who will win yet," Owenn laughed.
His laughter could be heard throughout the carriage, drawing frequent glances from other passengers.
The two began their match and quickly became evenly matched. Owenn, with his friendly demeanor, quickly warmed up the atmosphere after the initial awkwardness, chatting and laughing with everyone.
Throughout, Han Xiao kept a close eye on Owenn to prevent him from having any ulterior motives, while secretly turning on the metal detector and band detector to check if Owen had any equipment on him.
But Owenn did nothing unusual; everything he carried was normal. He just played cards excitedly and shouted all the way, and seemed to have a very outgoing personality.
Two hours later, the train arrived at the station, and everyone got off.
Owenn took a deep breath of fresh air, turned and bowed slightly to everyone, smiling elegantly, "Although the journey was short, it was a wonderful and relaxing time. It will always be etched in my mind as a beautiful memory. Thank you all very much for your company. We are already friends, so I hope we will have the opportunity to meet again in the future."
After saying that, he waved, slung his bag over his shoulder, and turned to leave.
Sylvia muttered, "Weirdo."
"What a warm-hearted person," Fording chuckled.
"He's probably just a rather generous stranger; we might be overthinking it," Melos said.
Han Xiao glanced at him but offered no comment. Although he didn't know Owenn's intentions, he rarely believed in any coincidences. Even though this guy named Owenn hadn't acted strangely along the way, he still remained wary and patted Phillip's iron head. "Did you take a picture of him?"
"I took 372 photos... buzzing from every angle..."
"Never mind him for now, let's go find someone." Han Xiao nodded, stepped forward, and casually asked, "By the way, I didn't notice earlier, did you guys win any money playing cards?"
Melos scratched his head.
"That guy was pretty good, he beat me by several hundred, I lost a lot of money, so I let Fording play for me. We won a few rounds and then it was over. In the end... wait, it was a tie, nobody won any money."
Han Xiao suddenly stopped walking and touched his chin.
"Owenn? Never heard of that name before. Interesting..."
Unsure of Owenn's intentions, Han Xiao temporarily set aside this interlude and followed the intelligence clues to find the last known location of the target.
This is a secluded street, surrounded by tall buildings, making it appear somewhat narrow. Surprisingly, nestled among these high-rises is a relatively low-rise villa, its architectural style conforming to human aesthetics, flat and symmetrical, and complete with a yard, resembling a private residence.
The main gate was a closed alloy door, with only a small glass window on the door offering a view inside. At this moment, there was no one in the courtyard.
Han Xiao glanced around and noticed the button next to the door, which should be the doorbell for visitors.
"We're here to find someone, not to kill... cough, to infiltrate. It's best to knock on the door; the other party will predict it anyway, and if they want to meet, they'll come out on their own."
They rang the doorbell and waited at the door. Having gotten used to climbing over walls, they felt uncomfortable having to use the front door.
After waiting a while, Han Xiao rang the doorbell several more times, but no one answered.
"There might be no one inside, or they might not want to open the door. So, shall we barge in?" Melos shrugged.
Since no one is answering, let's go in and take a look...
Boom!
Before Han Xiao could finish speaking, a loud bang suddenly rang out from above. He was all too familiar with this sound—it was the sound of a shell being fired. Just by listening to the sound, Han Xiao could instantly analyze what kind of shell it was. He immediately changed his tune and shouted, "Get out of the way!"
Everyone present was a superhuman, and their reactions were extremely quick; they immediately jumped away from their spots.
Rumble--
A series of explosions erupted where he had been standing, billowing black smoke – the signs of rocket explosions.
Looking up along the trajectory of the projectile, several upright creatures were peering down from a window on a floor of a building opposite the villa, one of them holding a cannon.
The next moment, more than a dozen creatures jumped out of the window, plummeting dozens of meters before crashing to the ground, leaving shallow dents in the steel!
The thick smoke was dispersed by the blast wave, revealing the true form of these creatures. They were a group of rock creatures with four arms, two legs, and one head. They wore simple and crude combat uniforms and carried various firearms. Some of them also carried melee weapons such as mechanical battle Battle Axe and mechanical warhammers. They had the demeanor of a group of mercenaries, ready to pounce.
The group was only on their way to find someone, and they were quite surprised to be attacked.
Sylvia asked in surprise, "Why are you attacking us?"
"Someone's paying to teach you a lesson," a rock-man said in a deep voice.
Are you teaching us a lesson?
Sylvia was about to say something when her expression suddenly changed, and she hurriedly cried out, "Oh no, Phillip!"
Han Xiao looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the shattered parts were scattered all over the ground at the feet of the group of Rock Mercenaries.
Phillip was too slow and failed to dodge the initial bombardment, ending up as a pile of scrap metal.
Just then, the rock warriors made their move, letting out strange roars as they charged forward.
Han Xiao clicked his tongue, reached out and took off a compressed ball from the necklace, flicked it to his feet, and it quickly unfolded into a black Flying Serpent Mecha. However, the mecha was not worn; instead, it stood to the side, an empty shell piloted by Wuhe-Tu-Shuren.
At this moment, Han Xiao said in a deep voice, "Take care of them!"
Buzz--
The Flying Serpent Mecha's eyes suddenly lit up!
The mech suddenly sprang into action, unleashing a swift, whip-like kick that lashed the chest of the leading rock warrior.
Snap!!
The immense force sent him flying, slamming him against the wall and shattering him into a large pile of fragments, whether from the wall or the rock warrior's body, was unclear.
"Command activated... Combat mode activated... Enemy knocked away..."
The empty Flying Serpent Mecha automatically assumed a combat stance, and at the same time, Phillip's voice rang out from its helmet.
Phillip is an artificial intelligence that exists within a computing system. The machines are merely its controlled entities; if the machines are destroyed, Philip remains unaffected, as its core chip is protected by multiple layers of security. With AI-level computing speed, it can simultaneously control dozens of times more mechanical beasts than before. Furthermore, through combat simulations in its database, it can adapt to changing circumstances, engage in independent combat, and possess an extremely high level of combat prowess!
This means that Phillip can pilot the mechs in his place, and even more than one!
Previous intelligent chips had limited processing speed and weak independent combat capabilities, making them unable to react flexibly—precisely the qualities most needed on the ever-changing battlefield. Therefore, they could only be used as auxiliary systems, working in conjunction with their Neural Link. But now, new intelligent systems built with [Advanced Virtual Intelligence Technology] have seen a significant leap in technological advancement, much like the leap from gunpowder weapons to electromagnetic kinetic energy weapons—a complete technological upgrade!
Han Xiao's hound-style fighting style has limited effectiveness against enemies of the same level, but when combined with a powerful mech controlled by artificial intelligence, the effect is completely different. His mech is a high-quality mechanical weapon, which makes up for his lack of powerful mechanical warriors! Even against enemies of the same level, he can entangle them for a long time!
High-End Knowledge is always useful, and artificial intelligence with powerful computing speed is one of the prerequisites for completing the legion-style strategy!
Han Xiao turned and glared at Sylvia, frowning as he said, "Go back and copy the theory book on smart chips five times as punishment."
Sylvia immediately looked miserable, her head drooping, enveloped in a low, dejected atmosphere.
Sizzle--
Mechanical Force shot out from Han Xiao's fingertips, clinging to the Flying Serpent Mecha and providing it with mechanical enhancements.
Without him lifting a finger, Phillip controlled the mech to deal with the enemy, analyzing all their movements, precisely dodging all attacks, and smashing the rock warriors' stone skin with each powerful punch, producing muffled thuds.
Knock knock knock!
Gravel flew everywhere!
"Don't go too far. Noriosse can't be killed indiscriminately."
Han Xiao leaned against the wall, watching the one-sided battle, his eyes flashing. "Moreover, these stone golems were probably hired by that prophet to ambush us. It seems he really did know someone was looking for him, humph."