Man on the ark, forced to become king

After thinking for a moment, she brought up another matter.

"That battle... just how strong were you back then?"

Theresa recalled the battle she had witnessed before, the exquisite martial arts skills were almost unreal.

Perhaps the supreme art of Iberia and that kind of martial art have something in common?

Before this, she never thought that anyone in the world could control a battle to such an extent.

There was no fear, no wavering, and no mistakes.

It was as if all emotions that could affect the battle had been excluded, and every detail was reflected in her mind. Lin Lu, who was in the red sand, was like a perfect robot. Every dodge and every attack was at the most precise distance, achieving the greatest results with the least movement.

Despite facing such a formidable enemy, they seemed to be manipulated at will, with all their moves being anticipated.

To be an enemy of that kind of monster... what a terror that must be!

Yes, a monster...

Even if that man were standing right here beside her, Theresa could only describe him as a monster. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed that such martial arts skills could exist in reality.

"I told you, I was very weak back then, really very weak."

Lin Lu looked helpless in the face of Theresa's question.

He wasn't lying; at that stage, he was far from being a strongman.

Before entering Red Lion City, he only had a large rune he had obtained from Grek. Its power was not great, and he had not learned many spells. Apart from a few skills he had acquired from battle, he had almost no other means of fighting. What else could he be but weak?

"weak?"

Theresa's lips twitched slightly; she didn't know what to say.

Weak? If that's considered weak, then what are these people? Useless?

They're probably not even as good as trash.

"I thought you refused the help of others and joined the battle alone, without even wearing armor, in order to give that general the ending that a true warrior deserves."

"...That is indeed one of the reasons."

Hearing her say that, Lin Lu remained silent for a moment, then nodded, confirming her guess.

“There aren’t many people I admire, but Ratahn is one of them. He was a real man, a man who truly deserves the title of hero. He deserves this kind of funeral.”

"Of course, another reason is that I'm not used to fighting with a lot of people, as it would disrupt my rhythm."

"As for the armor..."

At this point, Lin Lu pointed to the two Shattered Star Greatswords stuck upside down in the ground in the distance and said with a wry smile, "Do you think wearing armor will make a difference in front of that thing?"

"It's better to wear something lighter, which will make it easier to avoid attacks."

"With such a big sword, one strike would end the fight. There's no need for a second. Even if you're wearing armor, you're at most not going to die on the spot. The best way is to dodge them all."

"That makes sense."

Her gaze then shifted to the two dimly lit Starshattering Greatswords, and Theresa felt that this explanation made perfect sense.

Indeed, in the face of such weapons, armor is practically made of paper, so whether you wear it or not seems to make little difference. In fact, wearing it would actually hinder your agility due to the weight and the limitations imposed by the armor's design.

The Shattered Star General is like the Wendigo, a branch race among the Sarkaz.

That's how the Wendigo fight. Their enormous bodies give them greater strength, allowing them to wield even larger weapons. Every attack has the power to destroy steel, crushing all enemies.

No one believed that wearing armor would guarantee their survival in front of the Wendigo.

The same goes for General Shattered Star, and he displayed far greater power than Wendigo, at least Wendigo couldn't fly into the sky with his horse.

"That……"

Theresa wanted to ask more, but Lin Lu raised her finger and pressed it to her lips, saying softly, "Okay, I know you have a lot of questions, but can we talk about them after we get back to the hotel?"

"I'll answer all your questions then. Right now, shouldn't we take care of something more important?"

"what……"

Theresa's eyes widened in confusion for a moment before she realized what was happening, and her face burned with embarrassment.

Her curiosity about Lin Lu's past made her forget where she was.

Indeed, this is the Marquis Boris's residence, and even if the story is to be told, it shouldn't be in the Marquis's mansion. There should be a more private listening environment.

Chapter Sixty-Six Home Physiological Repair Device

"This is... the stone coffin?"

Looking up at the enormous technological creation before her, Lin Lu couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

He had obtained some intelligence from Kal'tsit, but the descriptions of the sarcophagus in those scattered pieces of information were limited to vague descriptions such as 'specific function unknown,' 'possessing some kind of catalytic effect on organisms,' 'repairing organisms,' and 'possessing a vast amount of energy from an unknown source.'

The name 'sarcophagus' is inherently misleading, making people think that the so-called sarcophagus might be a technological creation that looks like a coffin, similar to some instruments in the Columbia Laboratory.

However, after seeing the stone coffin with her own eyes, Lin Lu realized that her previous thoughts were completely wrong!

The stone coffin is not a single technological creation, but a combination of a huge system. From a macro perspective, it is regarded as a whole, independent of the city's operating system. However, its components are divided into several modules with unknown purposes, which together form a strict operating system.

Its true appearance is an instrument cluster occupying a vast underground space, with crisscrossing energy transmission pipes and data connection lines intertwined, resembling a server array responsible for data storage.

Thick pipes, whose material and function are unclear, extend from the array and wrap around a grayish-white square object, which does indeed look somewhat like a coffin.

Outside this self-contained array of sarcophagi, there is a separate structure resembling a pool, into which several pipes and conduits extending from the sarcophagi are connected. These pipes extend outward via massive cables, each half a meter thick, connecting to the city's energy supply system and providing a continuous source of energy for the city's operation.

The entire operation of Chernobog is built upon this unknown technological construct, which is much smaller than the Origin Stone Power Unit.

Chernobog is not actually a long-standing city; its history is only a little over a decade old.

According to Kal'tsit's intelligence, more than a decade ago, a small mining company under the Ursus Boris Group unearthed a set of strange equipment in the southern mountains, suspected to be the strange legacy of the 'Gods,' and some of it is still in operation.

This news quickly reached the ears of Marquis Boris, the head of the group. After a series of tests and studies, it was confirmed that there was a stable energy supply with an unfathomable upper limit in this set of strange equipment. Marquis Boris made a bold choice - to try to build a fully equipped industrial city with this set of instruments as the core.

At the time, the Boris Group was struggling and in dire straits amid the power struggles within Ursus. Whether the instruments unearthed from the mine were the legacy of the Protoss or ancient Sarkaz sorcery machines, as long as they could function, they could provide the Boris Group with a breakthrough—an opportunity to break free from the Ursus military's dependence on military-controlled mining and military production.

The Marquis's order was then passed down, and the Boris Group spared no effort to gather all the villages and large population centers within the Chernobog area, consuming a great deal of manpower, resources, and funds to cobble together a new city in the shortest possible time.

That is Chernobog today, a border city that can break free from the current Originium-powered reactors and has an independent industrial system.

However, Boris failed. His ambition could not withstand the crushing pressure from the upper-class nobles and the military. Chernobog, which should have been dominated by the Boris Group after its completion, was filled with a large number of small noble groups. The military also gained a foothold in the city, stationed a large number of troops, controlled Chernobog's industrial production line, and incorporated it into the military-industrial complex.

Then came the current situation: foreign nobles, Marquis Boris, and the Ursus military are balancing each other in this border city. The sarcophagus array, which was once extensively researched, has been abandoned and is now used only as an inexhaustible power source. Chernobog has fallen into complete silence.

...To be honest, thinking of Marquis Boris's pot-bellied, fat-headed appearance, Lin Lu found it hard to imagine that he had once been so spirited and ambitious more than a decade ago, and had once had the ambition to take over an industrial city on his own.

However, he still ended up looking the way he does now.

"That's true, who hasn't been young before?"

With a sigh, Lin Lu touched the cold outer shell of the stone coffin. He couldn't tell if it was not functioning or because the technology used in the coffin was too advanced, but he couldn't detect any energy flow from the device.

If there really were an inexhaustible supply of energy... that would be incredibly useful for the Golden Tree—provided it could actually use it.

"Lani, do you feel anything?"

"...No, what can I sense about things from different systems?"

Above the enormous sarcophagus system, Lani floated lightly in the air. She had been observing the entire structure from above, and upon hearing this, she rolled her eyes.

Perhaps due to living in Lungmen for a long time, Princess Moon, who has always preferred staying at home and doing small research, has also taken on a more urban feel. She is wearing a long down jacket with white background and red patterns, and a scarf with a cat paw pattern around her neck, which makes her look quite cute.

A demigod's physique is strong enough to walk on scorching lava and ignore storms on frozen ground, so she doesn't need to worry about the climate of Ursus, but she still put on appropriate clothes.

—Miss Lani, who has a slight social anxiety, doesn't like to show any unusual behavior to attract more attention.

"Do you think we should move this thing?"

Lin Lu touched the stone coffin with her palm and suggested a possibility.

Chernobog is, after all, Ursus, and Black Serpent's guarantee is not credible. Once it attracts the attention of the Ursus authorities, a mere Marquis Boris and the city lord's secretary will not be of much use.

If the sarcophagus really does help the golden tree, then it's best to get rid of it as soon as possible. Good things are always safer to keep at home.

However, transporting such a large mass out quietly is a problem. In addition, without the sarcophagus to provide power, Chernobog's operation is also a huge problem.

Putting aside everything else, the daily energy consumption of a mobile city alone is astronomical, and the profits saved are enough for Marquis Boris to squander without doing anything.

“We don’t have enough control over this city yet, and even if we were to take it away, it shouldn’t be now.”

Lani rejected the suggestion outright, descended from the sky, and examined the stone coffin before her with a thoughtful expression.

"How about we start it up and try it?"

The princess is wonderful in every way. She is easygoing and has very low material needs. She just has one small hobby—a particular interest in the unknown, which fully demonstrates the curiosity that an outstanding magician should have.

She was very interested in trying it out, but Lin Lu didn't dare to do it. Who knew what this thing was for or what would happen if it was turned on?

"You'd better not mess around with it. I think we should find a professional to take a look."

When it comes to professionals, one person naturally comes to mind for Lin Lu.

In terms of expertise, who on Terra is more professional than a PhD?

She doesn't have much to do lately, and taking care of the child every day must be quite boring, so why not find her something to do?

As for telling Kal'tsit to go to the Doctor if she couldn't handle the affairs before leaving... Lin Lu simply chose to forget it.

Kal'tsit is so old, does she really need someone else to watch over her when it comes to such small things as cooperation?