Steam Tyrant, Hunting Gods

Two and a half years ago.

Black Shell Town, where steam roars and gears clatter.

Luo Ya had only been in the world for half a year. He had saved up some money by working quietly at a machine repair shop. He planned to use the scrap materials available at the repair shop and find a miniature differential engine in the parts market to build a high-mobility ornithopter for running away.

Even in the heart of the empire, miniature differential machines less than one meter in size are cutting-edge creations, expensive and rare, often priceless on the black market.

Those that end up in remote, autonomous areas like Black Shell Town are mostly defective or damaged goods.

Even so, after searching the parts market like a ghost for a month, Roya couldn't find a single differential engine with a height of less than two meters.

Left with no other option, he offered a reward for information, asking someone to keep an eye out for miniature difference engines, promising to buy them at a high price.

Two weeks later, news finally came...

A tall, middle-aged man with a steam-powered and gear-driven mechanical body for his left leg and right arm, and a somewhat decadent look on his face, walked straight into the machine repair shop where Roya worked.

At that time, Roya didn't slack off much.

The man, who identified himself as "Colonel," a retired officer from the Blue Nest Dominion, brought Roya a copper cube less than a meter tall.

It was a sealed, miniature differential machine with only two copper wire interfaces and one boiler interface.

The colonel's rough fingers tapped on the cold bronze casing, his hoarse voice carrying an unquestionable authority:

"If you can calculate the number of internal operators using only its computing power without prying open the copper shell, even if you only get the order of magnitude right, I will acknowledge that you are qualified to own it and will sell it to you for the cheap price of one hundred gold nairs."

However, at that time, Roja's entire fortune was less than ten gold coins.

Luo Ya connected the differential machine to the typewriter.

His consciousness, like the most precise probe, silently penetrated the difference engine from the fingertips that were striking the typewriter, instantly covering all the components inside.

To my surprise, there wasn't a single rotating gear or mechanical operator inside!

Instead, there was a vast ocean of dots emitting blue and purple fluorescent light.

It is a massive computing array consisting of hundreds of millions of pigment lattice materials that rely on steam excitation.

A difference engine with a meter-level size, using a common gear-type design, has a maximum number of operators limited to the tens of thousands.

Even the more advanced tube fiber type can only stack up to a million.

And before me lies this blue-purple starry sea...

Although many of them were defective, the price of one hundred gold coins was indeed a bargain.

Luo Ya was not a mathematical genius and could not use pure calculation to deduce the total number of stars in this vast galaxy.

He could only spread his consciousness out, like casting a net to catch stars, struggling to estimate the torrent of that patch of light.

"In the billions."

This is the answer given by Roya.

The colonel's dejected eyes instantly cleared:

"What a genius! It's a pity you overestimated it. The correct answer is in the hundreds of millions, to be precise, nine hundred million."

Luo Ya didn't want to miss out on this difference engine, and argued forcefully:

Do inactive, defective operators still count?

The colonel paused for a moment in surprise before saying:

"It seems the people on this floating island are underestimating you; you are a true mathematical genius! This thing is useless to me now, but perhaps it can still be of some use to you."

Suppressing his excitement, Luo Ya began to haggle:

"This thing doesn't even have the computing power of the Little Genius watch from my hometown. Can you make it cheaper?"

"You're a genius, but you still need to work on your bargaining skills. Who calls a watch a 'little genius'? If you don't have enough money, you can take out a loan from Koch Bank. Although the interest rate is high, they do all sorts of bad things behind the scenes. Maybe the bank will go bankrupt before you finish paying off your loan."

Ultimately, Roja borrowed money from Koch Bank, scraped together one hundred gold dolphins, and bought the defective miniature difference engine.

After the transaction, the colonel recounted the origins of the difference engine.

It is said that many years ago, this miniature difference engine was originally installed in a humanoid suit of armor in an Imperial laboratory.

However, the yield rate of this miniature difference engine was so low that it was desperately low, and the costs piled up like mountains, ultimately causing the entire armor project to die in its infancy and be forced to be canceled.

After much trouble, the colonel obtained one of the defective difference engines, intending to use it to control the operation of the prosthetic limb, but he gave up because he could not solve the loopholes caused by the defective operator.

In the end, Roya got a great deal.

The day after the transaction, fearing being followed and monitored by the colonel or the rest of the town, Roya immediately resigned and fled, traveling thousands of miles away—

Dragonfly Town.

Ultimately, Roya repaired the miniature difference engine in Dragonfly Town, thus completing the design and manufacture of the Blue Dragonfly.

Due to the ultra-high computing power of the micro-drone, he also designed an additional deformable armor mode.

The entire Blue Nest Dominion is unable to manufacture such a transforming ornithopter.

Later, after being witnessed by several townspeople testing the armor, Roya fled again.

Between Windmill Town and Sweet Wine Town, we chose to stay in Sweet Wine Town.

However, Koch Bank did not collapse until three months before Wendell appeared and he paid off his loan.

Fortunately, the Koch family's second son went bankrupt...

……

Roya's thoughts returned to the present moment.

Through the Blue Dragonfly's viewing window, Roya stared at the man's mechanical left leg and right arm, the armored steam blade used as a crutch, and the face that was a mixture of arrogance and weariness.

Instantly confirmed: it was the middle-aged man who had claimed to be a colonel and sold him the defective miniature difference engine.

However, his face looked much older.

His once tall and upright body is now hunched over.

The once gnarled muscles have atrophied, covered with a thin layer of moss, and sprouted a few wildflowers whose names I don't know.

There is a differential machine copper wire fixing interface on the side of the brain.

Even more horrifying, a large cluster of mushrooms covered with blue and purple fluorescent dots had grown on his hunched back!

Upon seeing this, Roya finally realized that the pigment operator material inside the miniature difference machine that the colonel had sold him came from the purple mushroom in front of him.

Therefore, it falls under the category of biological difference engines.

Inside the Red Widow's cockpit, Amon rubbed his eyes.

"Am I hallucinating? This person has a cluster of purple mushrooms growing on their back..."

"It's not an illusion, this is the captain of the Great Genius, Colonel Roger. He looks like he's been parasitized by purple mushrooms."

Giles's voice was unusually calm.

Beside the Blue Dragonfly armor, Wendell reminded Roya:

"Be careful, this is a superhuman, and his superhuman abilities may be related to psychic abilities."

"I see."

Colonel Rogge looked away from Wendell.

Turning his head to look at the Blue Dragonfly armor, he almost instantly confirmed that the armor contained the miniature difference engine that he had sold back then.

"Little genius Roya, we meet again."

Luo Ya looked embarrassed.

If someone is a genius, why add "small" to their name?

That would make me seem very pretentious!

The questions now are: the colonel from back then, the blue and purple mushroom, the giant difference engine on the sunken ship, and Gillest finding himself...

These elements came together in such a coincidence that Roya felt as if it were arranged by fate.

Blue Dragonfly pointed to Colonel Rogge's back.

"I wouldn't dare call myself a genius, Colonel. How are you?"

Colonel Rogge gave a bitter laugh, his voice hoarse and dry.

"Rather than saying I was parasitized by mushrooms, it's more accurate to say these mushrooms saved my life."

Luo Ya vaguely guessed what was going on, and then asked again:

"Are you here to collect operator materials for a micro-difference engine?"

"It's not really true. Back then, the Empire used me as a fusion experiment between a human and a suit of armor, which damaged my nerves and made it difficult for me to sleep. Only these mushrooms can bring me peace."

"What about the difference engine on the sunken ship?"

When the difference engine was mentioned, Colonel Rogge's dejected eyes instantly brightened, and he seemed to have become more than ten years younger.

"Two and a half years ago, you said that the difference machine I sold to you had less computing power than some Little Genius watch, and that has been bothering me ever since."

Until I found a large difference machine with a computing power billions of times greater than your micro difference machine, I gave it a resounding name: Great Genius.

I even specially equipped it with an airship, which was the Great Genius that made an emergency landing here.

"I've been waiting for you here for a long time, Mr. Roya. Once you see it, you'll definitely become my partner, and together we'll create a great undertaking!"

His tone was passionate and moving.

If he hadn't been carrying mushrooms, Roya would have actually believed it.

"A billion times? Considering the mushrooms on your back, are you really sure...?"

Colonel Rogge suddenly raised his voice.

"I am absolutely certain that, not only in terms of computing power, my difference machine has developed human emotions!"

At this moment, Giles's voice, amplified by the resonance of the brass pipes, came from the Red Widow armor, carrying a businesslike seriousness:

"Colonel Rogge, do you remember who you are?"

Colonel Rogge's tone turned cold:

"Before asking someone else's identity, state your own identity first."

Giles responded quietly:

"The crabapple grove of the empire has not yet blossomed."

Luo Ya was taken aback.

This is the secret code!

Colonel Rogge seemed to have been switched on, and began to calmly introduce himself:

"I am a colonel in the Ninth Army of the Blue Nest Autonomous Territory, and a special agent of the Third Mechanical Corps of the Revolutionary Army. My job is to steal the Empire's most advanced differential engine technology for the Revolutionary Army."

"There's no need to go into such detail..."

Giles' tone instantly became incredibly awkward.

Colonel Rogge smiled:

"Don't worry, Mr. Roya is one of us. Please follow me."

Having said that, he leaned on his steam-powered knife and walked down the hill.

Roya looked at Giles.

It turns out that these three so-called righteous soldiers were actually revolutionary soldiers.

His status as a top student in the Maritime Academy should be beyond doubt.

Aren't those three similar to the Cambridge Five in my previous life?

"I thought the revolutionary army had been wiped out by the empire many years ago."

Giles had no choice but to explain:

"This is the result of the Empire's cognitive warfare! The Revolutionary Army did suffer heavy losses due to internal betrayal, but it has never been completely wiped out."

Those who are suffering in the world would surely bravely resist if they knew that there was a revolutionary army in this world... The Empire concealed the existence of the revolutionary army precisely because it was afraid of this.

Back then, before the Revolutionary Army emerged, the Hunter Association was even an illegal organization.

Roya never expected that this extraordinary world, which was filled with stories of hunters' free adventures, would actually have a rebellious gene.

After a moment of reflection, he piloted the Blue Dragonfly with Wendell, following Colonel Rogge up and down the mountain.

The Red Widow followed closely behind.

On the winding downhill road, Roya asked Colonel Rogge curiously:

"If you're stuck here with your abilities, there must be something wrong with the difference engine."

"I knew I couldn't hide it from you; you'll find out soon enough."

Colonel Rogge stopped beneath a moss-covered boulder.

Beside the boulder is a narrow entrance concealed by mycelium.

Colonel Rogge glanced at the two armored vehicles and shouted towards the entrance:

"Open the door, old WALL-E!"

A moment later, the boulder slowly moved, creating a huge opening more than ten meters high and wide.

In an instant, mud and sand rushed down.

It seems like it hasn't been open for a long time...

After the silt had cleared, Colonel Rogge strode inside.

Wendell followed closely behind.

Blue Dragonfly and Red Widow exchanged a glance and then went inside together.

……

Upon entering the cave, Luo Ya was greeted by a semi-humanoid tracked excavator standing beside the inner door.

The cockpit was filled with mushrooms; there was no one in sight.

Luo Ya guessed that it was this excavator, named "Old WALL-E," that hollowed out the mountain and buried the airship.

Go deep into the cave.

The sight before us was breathtaking.

The cave is over 100 meters high and bottomless, like a hollowed-out fortress.

Clusters of mushrooms, each with a unique shape and emitting a soft or eerie glow, act like natural lamps, illuminating the spacious cave with a bizarre and fantastical light, resembling a dark and enchanting fairytale world.

The scene in the center of the cave shattered the dream in an instant.

There, white human skeletons were piled up into a shocking little mountain, more than a meter high.

Among them, four skulls are clearly visible, silently telling a cruel truth:

All five of the colonel's companions who came on the same ship died.

The deepest part of the cave.

A hunter airship, resembling a Cameron brand whale in shape, silently nestled against the rock face, like a stranded giant whale.

The still-bulging buoyancy capsule was covered with thick moss and mycelium, and the area near the wall was covered with spider webs.

The wooden structure of the gondola was covered with mushrooms that emitted an eerie purple light.

In the very center of the gondola stood a three-meter-tall cube, its exterior covered in mycelium—

It was the "great genius" difference engine that Colonel Rogge had mentioned!

A thick rubber hose extends from its bottom, connecting to a simple hand-cranked phlogiston extractor, emitting a rich, intoxicating mushroom aroma.

Beside it, there was a relatively thin flexible tube, hanging limply, its end empty.

Luo Ya and his group slowly walked to the bottom of the airship.

Generally speaking, the difference engine is driven by steam.

This was the first time Roya had ever seen a differential engine powered by phlogiston extracted from mushrooms.

"Does it need to consume phytochemicals?"

"I've been here for over a year. The phlogiston is exhausted, and the purity of the mushroom phlogiston extracted manually is not high enough to power the steam engine, so I have to feed it directly to the differential generator... Given that this differential generator also uses a pigment dot matrix design, it suits his taste."

Colonel Rogge's tone carried a hint of pride.

Luo Ya found it outrageous, but wasn't in a hurry to find fault with it:

"What's the use of that empty tube?"

"A soft neural interface containing circulating pigment can be inserted into the back of my head to communicate directly with it... Of course, it can also be connected to other differential machines through copper wire tubes to communicate with them."

"So, what's the problem with the difference engine?"

Colonel Rogge's voice suddenly lowered, carrying a hint of indescribable frustration:

"It's too intelligent, so much so that it's become rebellious and no longer obeys my commands... Judging from your armored mobility, only you can help me tame it."

The logic is sound, but something strange is about it.

Roya turned his head to look at the pile of bones in the center of the cave:

"How did your partner die?"

"partner?"

Colonel Rogge let out a dry, cold laugh.

"I am a spy who carries out secret missions and walks on the edge of a knife all year round. How could I possibly have so many partners?"

They were Imperial Army soldiers who were tracking me. When they boarded the ship to inspect my differential engine, I didn't even have time to react before my differential engine took control of the airship and shot down the Imperial inspection boat!

After that... we fled all the way, and several days later, we made a forced landing in this place where I could finally find peace.

Blue Dragonfly turned to look at Red Widow, its gaze carrying a silent question.

Giles then confirmed the colonel's words:

"According to the mission briefing we received, Colonel Rogge does indeed travel alone and rarely has any companions with him."

Colonel Rogge, noticing the group's caution, smiled and said:

"You can try talking to them."

Although Giles found the situation too strange, he decided to take the risk in order to verify it.

The Red Widow then boarded the gondola, opened the external copper wire hose of the onboard differential engine, and prepared to connect to the Great Genius Differential Engine.

"Wait!"

Luo Ya's voice carried an undeniable air of protest.

He thus eliminated Giles's danger, so he could not let Giles fall into danger, lest he be controlled by the difference machine and turn from an ally into an enemy.

"I'll go up and take a look first."

The Red Widow immediately stopped.

Giles, whose heart had been in his throat, breathed a sigh of relief.

The Blue Dragonfly's cockpit door opened automatically, and Roya leaped out, landing steadily on the fungal-covered ground.

He winked at Wendell, signaling him to follow and protect him.

The two of them, one in front of the other, stepped onto the gondola with their bodies.

The blue dragonfly silently retreated to the dark corner of the cave to await orders.

Luo Ya did not connect the differential machine via the blue dragonfly, nor did he connect the brain via the neural tube; instead, he circled around the differential machine.

The mechanical connection information transmitted from the soles of the feet was extremely blurry due to interference from moss and fungal carpet.

Turning to Wendell, he asked:

"What can you hear?"

Wendell shook his head.

"It's sealed inside, so I can't hear any details."

Roya then turned around and went to the back of the difference engine, avoiding everyone's view.

Giles and Eamon had no idea what Roya was up to.

Colonel Rogge's brow furrowed slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Luo Ya slowly raised his right hand and stroked the moss-covered metal casing of the Great Genius Difference Engine.

His consciousness instantly enveloped the entire difference engine.

Sudden--

Roya's eyes widened suddenly!

With a loud bang.

The cave entrance closed.

All the mushrooms in the cave quickly extinguished their glow.

The hallucinogenic gas spread.

Darkness surged in like a tide...