We agreed to set sail, so you'd become the ruler of the deep sea?

Chapter 114 Mechanical City
If you had to describe Xia En's first impression of this "Rusty Ruins" in one word, it would probably be—

Profound!

This city is located at a depth far exceeding that of the Coral City, and even deeper than any underwater ruins that Shane has ever explored.

The deep seawater silently swallowed the light from the surface, making the city below appear dim.

That is why those towers standing on the seabed appear all the more magnificent.

Together with those uniquely designed tall buildings, they form a steel jungle in the sea!
And just as rumored.

The city has a large number of metal structures.

Steam pipes, resembling both brass and steel, coil around the high-rise buildings like snakes and spread throughout the city like spider webs.

At the same time, Shane even saw intact railway tracks in the city!
The railway tracks are distributed like veins in the core area of ​​the city.

Above it, a train that should have been powered by steam was parked.

Clearly, due to the city's enormous size, its former inhabitants built this unique transportation system to meet their commuting and mobility needs.

However, these are not the point.

What truly surprised Xia En was...

On those tracks, a long, rusty train was roaring and speeding along!

Steam shot out from the train's pipes, instantly turning into streams of heat in the seawater.

Only that series of inconspicuous bubbles can prove their existence.

"This train can still run?"

Xia En was astonished: "Could it be that it has been moving continuously underwater ever since this city was submerged?"

"No matter how you look at it, this is just too outrageous!"

Even though Shane already had some understanding of the world's steam-powered black technology, the giant steel serpent that roamed endlessly in the seabed still greatly shocked him.

Soon, Shane discovered—

Apart from the steam trains, many steam-powered devices in the city still show signs of being in use.

It's just that the steam cools down rapidly the moment it comes into contact with water, hiding in the dark seawater, so it's not as conspicuous as it is during normal use.

Suppressing his distracting thoughts for the time being, Xia En slowly descended.

He hadn't forgotten the purpose of his trip.

Obtain the steam engine to upgrade the Black Swan.

If you can also farm some Ship Soul experience along the way, that would be even better.

Before exploring, Shane did some research on the Rusty Ruins, learning that the city was mainly divided into five areas.

These are: [Black Queen District], [Factory District], [Port District], [Mining District], and [Copper and Steel District].

The functions of the [Factory Area] and [Mining Area] are just like their names suggest.

The "port area" is the former seaport of the rusted wasteland.

Indeed, before being submerged by the sea, this steam city was a coastal city with extremely convenient shipping.

The advanced transportation and logistics enabled steam technology and geniuses from all over the world to gather, collide, and merge here, sparking brilliant ideas.

Legend has it that some enormous and terrifying mechanical creations lurk in the abyss of this [port area]!

The Black Queen borough is equivalent to the upper part of the city, and is inhabited by the upper class.

In contrast, the Copper and Steel District is home to ordinary people living in this low-rise neighborhood.

With the aim of testing the waters, Shane chose the Copper Steel Zone as the target for his first dive.

"The water pressure at this depth is indeed different from that in Coral City."

After sneaking into the abandoned and dilapidated neighborhood, Shane clearly felt a pressure coming from the surface of his body.

[Ship Soul Power - 1!]

The rate at which the power of the ship's soul decays also illustrates this point.

This means that his underwater time will be somewhat limited—as if he has returned to the earliest days of underwater exploration.

"You have to hurry up."

With that in mind, Xia En began to look around.

Although this is a working-class area, there are still many steam engines on the streets and houses.

However, after years of immersion in seawater, the pipes were covered in dark red or dark green rust, making them look exceptionally fragile, as if they would shatter at the slightest touch. This corroded metal was clearly not the material Shane needed.

His gaze swept quickly across the entire block, but he found nothing of value, not even a steam engine that was still running.

"It seems that the Copper and Steel District doesn't have what I want."

Undeterred, Shane was about to explore the Factory District or the Black Queen District.

Not far away, at the end of the street, a strange noise suddenly came from.

A strange, stiff body slowly stood up, and a dark red light shone from under its goggles.

"Om..."

“Po……iqrQkj……”

"Special environment detected, voice module debugging in progress..."

At first, there was a chaotic and disorderly noise.

But gradually, the voice transformed into a language that Shane could understand.

"Debugging complete, beginning to verify the identity of the outsider..."

"Identity...identity...identity..."

Its words gradually stalled, as if it had encountered some kind of malfunction.

Immediately, the sound emanating from that body became shrill, to the point of being somewhat distorted.

"Unable to confirm! Unable to confirm!"

"Enemy! Enemy!"

The next moment, the figure suddenly transformed into a black shadow and pounced on Xia En at an extremely fast speed.

Only then was Xia En able to see the other person's appearance clearly.

This is a mechanically made doll, or rather... a puppet?!

Its body is made entirely of metal, barely recognizable as humanoid, with exposed gears and connecting rods visible everywhere on its surface, and indicator lights flashing red on its chest and under its goggles.

"Enemy confirmed, eliminate...eliminate!"

A sharp, frantic sound was emanating hysterically from inside the metal puppet.

Given the extent of corrosion on the metal of this body, it wouldn't be surprising if it were simply left unusable on the spot.

However, the metal golem unexpectedly unleashed a considerable fighting ability amidst the roaring sounds.

A rusty longsword sprang out from the side of its arm and slashed swiftly and viciously at Shane.

But Shane reacted even faster!

With a mere thought, the Blood Demon Sword appeared in his hand, and he slashed at the metal puppet's chest.

laugh!
As expected, the puppet's body was split in two.

It exposed a steam core inside the chest that had quickly ceased functioning.

However, strangely, a kind of black, viscous blood flowed from the mechanical puppet's body.

Machines, too, can bleed?

Xia En was surprised.

What surprised him even more was the text that appeared on the panel next.

[Slay the mutated mechanical puppet]

[Loot Obtained: Steam Heart II (Damaged)]

Quality: Poor

[Type: Material]

[Description: A second-generation steam-powered creation developed by a legendary steam mechanic of the previous era, widely used in the steam-powered mechanical golem "Patrolman".]

These mechanical puppets were given life by the Heart of Steam, and over the long years, they were imbued with the mystical power of seawater, transforming them into a unique life form.

They prayed tirelessly to the god of steam and steel, but received no response, thus gradually descending into madness and destruction.

[“Secret Sea Crystal” detected within the corpse. Absorb?]

(End of this chapter)