Chapter Ninety-Three: Unseen (Please vote!)

Fatty blinked. In his vocabulary, darkness and deathly air were nearly the same thing.

“Isn’t deathly air the same as darkness?”

Sophia shook her head. For a moment she did not know how to judge it either, but she put the control panel away all the same. What this world had gone through had already surpassed her understanding.

“If it seems dangerous, then we leave. And we can leave at any time. When I just opened the control panel, I saw there wasn’t a single hint on it. That at least shows the base still cannot connect to this world. If we keep going deeper without resources, then my judgment has been mistaken.”

Zhou Yi said nothing. In truth, he had not wanted to come to Wanzhou City in the first place. After all, they had already gained a great deal from this world; probing it more thoroughly would not really do anything for them, and the cost might well outweigh the benefit.

Still, this black-robed imperial preceptor made Zhou Yi feel dangerous, and at the same time, faintly intriguing.

It was the kind of feeling one got when one knew a dog bit people, yet could not resist how good-looking it was, always wanting to tease it a little. If teasing it worked, that was a bonus; if he could run before it bit him, then running was always still an option.

That was their situation now. With only the few of them and the abilities they had, leaving was always possible. Their safety could still be guaranteed.

Sophia was the strongest of them, though even she was strongest mainly in bodily terms. She was durable, hard to injure, and had stamina. In jumping and running, she was no weaker than those so-called cultivators.

As for the three of them, although each had acquired a spirit-stone affinity, they still had some difficulty controlling it, at least for the moment. That was only a matter of time and practice.

Here, if they happened to encounter some cultivators, it would be the best kind of training. Of course, if they could also obtain a cultivation method or two, that would be an unexpected windfall. So Zhou Yi had no thought of leaving just yet.

“Let’s rest first. When dawn comes, we’ll go take a look at that junction. I really do want to know what these so-called beast-men are. And of course, if we can make a trip to Green City Mountain and learn something about how these cultivators practice, that would be even better.

“At the very least, it would let us improve our abilities in the future. Right now, when we fight, we either charge in blindly or simply rely on our powers in the most basic way, and even then we’re not using them very skillfully. Take that woman in green, for instance. She could gather wood-element spiritual power onto branches and use them as weapons to shoot and kill.”

At this, Cheng Zhi became interested. He leaned in close to Zhou Yi and asked about what had happened.

Zhou Yi did not hide anything. After thinking about it for a moment, he described the woman in green’s technique. Cheng Zhi lowered his head and pondered it.

Fatty sensed his status was being threatened and hurriedly moved in behind Cheng Zhi.

He wanted to join in, but he did not know how to talk about it. After all, this sort of topic made him deeply uncomfortable. Then his eyes rolled, and he looked toward Sophia.

“Miss Su, you keep saying you’re a half-robot. What part of you is machine, really? To me, you look just like the rest of us.”

Cheng Zhi glanced at Fatty and took a step sideways away from Zhou Yi, giving Fatty a look that plainly said: good luck to you.

In an instant, Fatty also felt he might have said too much. He hurriedly put on an apologetic smile and said, “Heh heh, I was only joking. Don’t take it seriously. Just asking casually. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to!”

But Zhou Yi lifted his head and looked at Sophia.

Not just Fatty, even he was extremely curious about this. Earlier, Sophia had said she was controlled by an artificial mind, yet she had gone on to help them in this way. That already went beyond what a deputy lord should be doing.

Sophia did not get angry. She only rolled her eyes at Fatty.

“I’ve lived at the growth center since I can remember. That’s where all children lived. After several rounds of selection, I still wasn’t chosen. In the end, I met an uncle who came to look me over and said, ‘You weren’t chosen because you’re not clever enough. It’s because you aren’t tough enough. Only after being modified and given mechanical bones can you win.’ Then he asked whether I was willing to modify my body.

“I was only seven or eight at the time. I didn’t understand what he meant, so I agreed. After signing the papers, I was taken to the medical center. When I woke up again, I was already like this.

“When I had the X-rays done, I found that only my torso had human bones. The insides of my limbs were all mechanical bones.

“An ordinary person jumping one meter is about the limit. I can leap up to the second floor with ease. I can run for hours, hold my breath underwater for fifteen minutes, and neither boxers nor ordinary half-robots are my match.”

Fatty’s gaze moved from Sophia’s body upward to her head. Then he quickly scratched his own head to hide his embarrassment, feeling he had indeed gone too far.

“Sorry. I was just curious and asked without thinking. I didn’t mean to pry.”

Sophia smiled and shook her head. There was no trace of embarrassment or awkwardness on her face. On the contrary, she looked very relaxed.

“It’s fine. It’s not some secret thing. I actually wanted to tell Zhou Yi about it too, since he’s interested in it as well. I guess he was worried I’d be embarrassed, so he never asked.”

Zhou Yi paused, then rubbed his nose.

“How would you know what I was thinking? Because of the mark, or because the control panel can read it?”

Sophia shook her head.

“My mechanical bones don’t mean my brain is mechanical too. Your eyes said it all. Did it need analysis? Still, don’t worry. The control panel can only transmit limited content.

“In theory, the artificial mind can know everything, but most of the time it’s unable to reach everywhere at once. He usually does not bother with most things. Otherwise he’d be busy to death.”

Zhou Yi nodded and glanced at the sky outside.

“It’s almost dawn. Rest a little. We’ll set out after daybreak and at least avoid the black-robed imperial preceptor.”

Fatty seemed to want to speak, but hesitated.

Zhou Yi gave him a look, not knowing what the fellow was hiding in his sleeve, and tilted his chin at him to signal him to speak quickly.

“If you’ve got something to say, then say it.”

Fatty patted his waist and showed the gold leaf he had previously broken apart. After trading it for silver, only two small pieces of gold leaf remained.

“One day, and half our fortune’s already gone. We’re about to head far away too. They always say you need plenty of money when traveling. Why not have you folks scrape together some silver or coin? Otherwise how are we supposed to eat and drink along the way?”

Cheng Zhi clapped a hand over Fatty’s mouth at once. Fatty grew anxious. As the saying went, only those who do not manage a household fail to realize how precious firewood, rice, oil, and salt are. They had waved their hands and let Fatty handle the purchasing, and after he had gone around buying things, he was the one who knew best exactly how much had been spent. Of course he was worried.

Sophia smiled. She opened the control panel on her wrist, flipped her hand over, and evidently pulled a tray from the storage box. It was covered with a red cloth. When she lifted the cloth, there was a neatly arranged tray full of silver ingots, each one quite large.

The moment Fatty saw them, he grinned.

“Good, this is great. With silver, I won’t worry anymore. Miss Su really is thoughtful, and she handles things reliably too. I truly admire you from the bottom of my heart...”

Zhou Yi smacked Fatty on the shoulder. Fatty nearly lost his balance and looked at Zhou Yi with grievance.

“What’s that for?”

“Less nonsense. Hurry up and sleep. We’re leaving in a bit!”

“Right!”

Fatty grabbed Cheng Zhi by the arm and went straight out of the room, casually closing the door behind them, no longer bothering with Zhou Yi and Sophia inside.

...

Dawn came.

Fatty had naturally risen early. He had bought a great deal of food and water, as well as some necessary supplies for spending the night outdoors. Altogether there were four large bundles, though Sophia had already put them away.

After a hasty meal, the four of them set out.

Sophia wore a veil hat, while the other three wrapped their heads in cloth. Outside the city lay the desert wasteland, so their dress did not look out of place. As soon as the city gates opened, they quickened their pace and went out.

With the map in hand, they had a clear idea of the terrain. They did not hire a carriage, nor did they rent horses. Both would have been too conspicuous in the city. Instead, the four of them left through the southern gate and headed straight for the border between Green City Mountain and Yingzhou City.

With no luggage, they traveled empty-handed, and with the wind at their backs, they moved very quickly.

By near evening, they could see a valley appearing in the distance ahead.

Green City Mountain loomed far off before them, and not far away a city stood solemnly erect. It seemed the map had not been mistaken: this was indeed the place where the beast-men appeared.

From above, it did not seem large. In truth, the valley was far from small. It only looked that way because they were standing higher up. Green City Mountain was on the far side as well, looking down upon it.

If beast-men truly appeared here, then would the people of Green City Mountain not know?

Or was it that Green City Mountain did not care about these beast-men at all and had no intention of getting involved?

Of course, there was one final possibility: that these so-called beast-men were nothing more than a pretext used by the court, and the real target was actually the cultivators of Green City Mountain.

Thinking of that, Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes.

A thread of danger brushed past him, so sharp that all the hair on his body bristled. He quickly pulled the others down and crouched among the dry weeds.

They saw a familiar black figure descend from the back of a huge bird, a green-clad woman hanging from his hand. Her limbs dangled limply, and no one could tell whether she was alive or dead.

The moment he landed, he glanced sideways toward the direction where Zhou Yi and the others were hiding. Zhou Yi pressed down hard on Fatty and Cheng Zhi’s heads, and closed his own eyes as well.

He can’t see me. He definitely can’t see me!