Why can't humans do it too?

Because of his silly younger brother's unintentional words, the atmosphere in the cave became somewhat awkward for a moment, especially since Ke'er was specifically criticized!

The red-haired woman, who could be considered the chief steward of the village, had her strange gaze sweep over Suer and Xinke countless times, even intentionally or unintentionally steer the conversation in odd directions.

Fortunately, the angel who broke the chilling atmosphere finally appeared—Nona!

Four years have passed, and the strong and sensible little girl has grown into a young woman. Although there is still a trace of naivety and immaturity between her brows and feet, her style of doing and speaking has undoubtedly become like that of Ke'er back then. In fact, she is now the capable assistant who helps Liku and Ke'er manage the rapidly increasing population in the settlement.

However, in front of Suer, this young woman, who was already quite grown up, did not show the shrewd and capable demeanor she usually displayed in front of others. She was still the child Suer remembered who liked to follow him around, clamoring to hear stories.

Without any hesitation, Nona shoved Credo aside and sat down next to Sul. She then picked up the two children who were following behind her and said, "Wait a moment, Brother Sul. Riku has some things to take care of, but he'll be here soon."

“Ah, no rush. It’s really not easy for the village to rely on him now,” Suer said, taking one of the children from Nona’s arms.

The boy's name is Kerry, and the girl's name is Morena. These two little ones are Kredo's children. Watching his children laughing happily as Sull teases them, Kredo also chuckles along.

"This child is beyond saving," Suer commented.

"Oh wait! Sur, you haven't answered me yet!" Cledo, who had been grinning foolishly for a while, finally remembered his question, unaware of Sur's internal monologue. "Whatever you're doing out there, take me with you! I can help!"

"Oh! Me too!" Nona's eyes lit up when she heard Credo's words. The blue-purple-haired girl hurriedly shook Suer's arm and said.

“...The settlement still needs you.” Although he had indeed returned to find help, Suer found it extremely difficult to speak at this moment, and even instinctively resisted.

“Surgo, you’ve been out there for too long, so you probably don’t know, but thanks to the food and new ingredients you found on your adventures, everyone’s going on expeditions much less often now. The population of the settlement has increased several times over in the last few years!” Kredo said with considerable pride. “That’s why everyone’s been holding their breath, eager to help you!”

“Yes, yes, and now there are a lot of capable people in the settlement. With them around, there won’t be any problems at all, so please take us with you, Surgo~~” Nona even dragged out her voice and started to act coquettishly, while Credo looked on in shock, as if he wanted to gouge his own eyes out.

Chapter 226 Hugh

"We'll talk about it later," Suer said, feeling a bit overwhelmed by these two seemingly immature kids. "I need to have a good talk with Riku first. Don't worry, I won't hesitate to help if you really need it."

"Then it's settled!" It wasn't that Nona was being unreasonable; rather, she was already quite satisfied with such a guarantee from Suer. The blue-purple-haired girl extended her little finger in a hook shape in front of Suer.

“…You’re all grown up, why are you still playing this?” With a helpless sigh, Suer extended her finger and hooked it with Nona’s.

"Hehe~, anyway, don't lie~", Nona chuckled to herself, making no attempt to clarify her age.

Suer was somewhat puzzled, because based on past experience, Liku should have come over as soon as he returned to the settlement. As far as he knew, there was nothing so urgent in the settlement that he couldn't leave. Even Ke'er had been there for quite some time, and Ke'er had even helped Liku explain things—but wasn't that the biggest anomaly in itself?!

Given Cole's personality, shouldn't she force her other brother, Riku, to come along when the person she considers her younger brother has finally returned?

This is abnormal, absolutely abnormal.

However, Suer's doubts did not last long. No matter how much he delayed, Riku would still appear. The moment he pushed open the door and saw the small figure following closely behind him, Suer understood instantly.

Why did this guy take so long to come?

The woman was small, not much taller than Jibril at this moment. She wore a brown hood on her head, with a few strands of purplish-red hair hanging down from the front of the hood, obscuring her delicate little face. But what was more striking were her amber eyes—eyes that made Sue notice something unusual at just one glance.

The pupils were black, but there was a thin black line around the outside of the pupils. Although they looked no different from human eyes, no matter how Su Er looked at them, he had the illusion of a mechanical halo expanding and shrinking.

However, compared to these relatively subtle glimpses of information, what is even more impossible to ignore are the two thin, wire-like objects hanging from under the robe to the ground, with orange hoops and bluish-green tips at the ends.

The feeling of the manufactured wires was so obvious that Shinko and Jibril, who had seen and created the wires described by Sull, remembered the same thing. But beyond this simple feature, they had already identified what this being that appeared with Riku was.

It was definitely not human. Suer's nerves tightened instantly, but Jibril, who had been lying down on the other side, was even more excited than him.

This pink-haired Skywing had no intention of joining Xin Ke and Ke'er's conversation, just lazily rolling around on the other side of the rock, bored. But now she suddenly sat up. If she hadn't remembered what Su Er had said about not exposing herself, this Skywing, whose face was flushed and who was so excited that she was about to drool, would probably have been fully armed.

"Ah~, isn't this—"

Snapped!

The sound was so crisp that Suer didn't even have time to react. Before Jibril could finish speaking, Xinke slapped Jibril on the butt.

"Calm down, don't say anything reckless~"

“…Tsk~”

Xin Ke's calm words somewhat dampened Jibril's excitement, and the pink-haired winged creature vigorously rubbed her cheeks.

"Hey~, Riku~, and little Shubi~~", seemingly oblivious to the conversation between Shinko and Jibril, Cole raised her hand and waved, calling out without any apparent change in expression, "Come on over here!"

Not only her, but Nona and Klein also greeted the person behind Riku familiarly. It was clear that she was very popular in the village. Even Klein's two little ones reached out to touch her.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

"Ah, long time no see." Group 6 07784197

Compared to the warm greetings exchanged between others, the meeting between Sull and Riku two years later seemed much colder, but this did not mean that they had become estranged; it was simply that these two men... had too much to say to each other.

"Let's go over there and talk."

"it is good."

After giving Xin Ke a look that suggested Jibril was a good match, Sull and Riku went to another cave, where they were alone.

Sitting at the table watching Riku light the lamp, Suer suddenly realized he didn't know how to start a conversation with this man. The draft and opening he had prepared in his mind seemed to have become worthless at this moment. He couldn't imagine how Riku would react when he heard about his so-called plan.

After all, in the long years of getting to know each other, no one understood better than Suer how gentle the white-haired man in front of him was beneath that seemingly icy face. Even though he had suffered countless hardships, this man possessed a heart that longed for peace that even Suer himself was ashamed of—he did not want anyone to die.

No, it's not just people.

This man named Riku didn't even want any other race besides humans to die; he longed for a peaceful, deathless world, a fairytale world like a game.

A world that Suer never believed in.

Even though he also longed for such a world, Suer never believed that such a world could exist.

Bound by layers of self-hypnotic chains lies a gentle yet passionate heart, driven to near madness by countless acts of guilt for ordering others to die.

This is Liku.

Now that the forest elves are providing covert support, no one in the settlement has died from the expedition for a long time. Under these circumstances, will Riku agree to his plan?

Will Liku help him?

Helping him achieve that almost delusional plan, which would obviously require many people to risk their lives, would ultimately amount to nothing more than seeking a possibility, a plan that was also unverified and unprecedented.

Without even asking, and even in his own mind, Sur had already given Riku the answer of refusal, making it extremely difficult for Sur to utter a single word.

"You must have suffered a lot out there?" Riku asked calmly as he sat down next to Suer.

Suer knew that he was referring to Shinko and Jibril. When Riku returned last time, he had guessed that Shinko and Jibril were not human, and Suer did not intend to hide it.

Chapter 227 The Power of the Machine Race

It seems that in Riku's eyes, he had a very difficult time being caught between those two non-human races when he was outside.

Thinking about this, Su Er felt a strange urge to laugh.

"It's actually not bad," Suer said easily, recalling the scenes of living with Xinke and Jibril. "It's not as difficult as you think. They've helped me a lot. Well, we actually get along quite well."

"Is that so?" Riku nodded thoughtfully, as if he had thought of something.

"I'm more curious about you than me, aren't I?" With a mischievous smile, Sull poked Riku's ribs. "You certainly couldn't have met Miss Shubi by just staying in the settlement, right? Won't you tell me about your legendary adventure?"

With a long sigh, Riku knew that Shubi's true nature could not be hidden from Sull.

After all, compared to the women in the village, even just looking at her face, one could see that Shubi was extraordinary—she was too beautiful.

In this era where both men and women have to work and take risks, and where there is a lack of skincare products and nutrition, modern humans simply don't have such beautiful looks, that kind of beauty and refinement that belongs only to non-human races.

Simply put, if you see something pretty, you can be sure it's not human.

“…There was no legendary adventure at all,” Riku said with a wry smile. “And you might not believe it, but I did meet Shubi in the settlement, not by chance during an expedition.”

"Huh?" Sur exclaimed in disbelief.

It's clear that Riku didn't appear immediately after Sull's return because he was troubled by Shubi's presence. However, after much deliberation and earnest advice, he finally decided to reveal Shubi to Sull.

As the lights flickered on and off, Riku began to slowly recount how he met Shubi and what had happened during the two years that Sull had been missing again.

Shubi appeared at Riku's bedside overnight, nearly scaring the man to death. He was covered in white fur and cold sweat... well, it seems he really was white fur.

In short, about two months after Sull and his group stayed in the settlement for a short time and then set off again, Shubi suddenly appeared in front of Riku, which was quite a shock. Her race was also very obvious and Riku recognized her immediately - the Machina.

The exposed machinery on his body was perfectly integrated with his seemingly fleshy body. The mechanical wings and long lines extending from his body were also very easy to identify. Because he already knew about the machine race from Sul, Riku immediately grasped the key point of the problem after the initial shock.

Hugh.jpg

Why did the machine appear in front of him?

Why was only this one-piece Kaiji appearing in front of him?

Xin Ke once told Su Er about the difference between life and living beings among all races. However, in the time that followed, she also told him about a race that was extremely special among all races: the Machine Race.

This race, which existed even before the great war, has continued from the ancient times to the present day. It is a mechanical race, so unique that it is not even considered a biological race, and its form of existence is completely different from other races.

Like a swarm of bees, but far more efficient and powerful, each individual's thoughts and consciousness are interconnected, acting through a group connection known as the Connector. Being discovered by one individual means being discovered by the entire Machina race, and being hostile to one individual means declaring war on the entire Machina race.

If this alone were all they had, it wouldn't be enough to allow them to survive the great war to this day. What makes other races fear and avoid them is their strength.

If any individual is attacked, they can analyze the type of attack in less than a second and quickly design an weapon equivalent to that attack. The ability to reproduce an attack is not enough to be frightening. What is more terrifying is the upper limit of this reproduction. Whether it is the magic of the forest elves, the spirit armor of the goblins, or even the strongest attack of the dragon elves before their death, they can reproduce it all and retaliate. So far, there is no way to find the upper limit of the power that this race can reproduce.

When Su Er first heard about it, he exclaimed that the Sharingan Saint Seiya was invincible.

During the long war, the Machine Race evolved indefinitely. Theoretically, they were a ferocious race that could grow stronger indefinitely. Defeating the giant demon race that gave Xin Ke a headache could be done with just their bare hands.

Of course, becoming infinitely stronger is only theoretical, because this seemingly incredibly powerful race has a weakness that cannot be ignored: creativity. All their attack methods to date are based on absorbing and copying the attack methods of all the races that have waged war against them over the long years. Moreover, they have only designed and copied them, never independently developing any unique attacks of their own... or perhaps this ability to copy is unique enough in itself.

Undoubtedly, they are an extremely powerful race. However, the reason why such a powerful race has not yet destroyed other races and seized the sole divine position is that they have lost the divine species that created them. Along with this, they have also lost their direction. The entire race is like a lost lamb, wandering aimlessly across the continent, seemingly a simple machine without any self-will.

They never take initiative or have any specific target. They will retaliate if attacked, but they will not be attacked unless they adopt a hostile attitude towards the attacker.