Steam Tyrant, Hunting Gods

The last glimmer of light before it was swallowed up.

Luo Ya's expression froze, and an absurd smile involuntarily tugged at the corners of his mouth.

He was almost so angry at the scene before him that he laughed!

In his quantum vision, which is so detailed and insightful, as if a god were looking down upon the minuscule world, the "great genius difference engine" that Colonel Rogge spoke of was now mechanically operating.

There is no nebula-like array of pigment dots as imagined, no complex sensing system, and no fuzzy computing power that surpasses the times and resembles the human brain...

Millions of cold, precise brass gears, like metal beetles nailed to the pillar of fate, stacked one on top of the other, engaged in monotonous rotation and meshing within a dark, enclosed cube.

It was a classic gear difference engine!

The subtle hum of gears meshing is enveloped by steam and absolute stillness, creating a breathtaking sense of order.

Admittedly, this may be the most sophisticated and quietest large gear differential machine that Roja has ever seen.

But in terms of computing power, it's not even as good as Blue Dragonfly's miniature difference machine, let alone the great Little Genius.

Not to mention artificial intelligence, emotional responses...

We're still a long way off!

The reason why Colonel Rogge mentioned "intelligence" was because the difference engine had an extra wire with a diameter of less than three millimeters and a length of more than one kilometer.

Gears and mechanical operators that bend, twist, and fold infinitely, covering all the key positions.

However, when Luo Ya’s quantum divine sense tried to probe into the inside of the wire, it was blocked by the life phlogiston that was like a mist.

He had reason to suspect that it was actually a—

Horsehair worm!

A parasitic spirit with cunning wisdom!

It outputs a torrent of commands that mimic human thought by manipulating the millions of silent operators within the difference engine.

This flame of intelligence does not come from cold gears and operators, but from the spirit of the horsehair worm itself.

As the bio-fuels accumulate within the body, the wisdom and power of the Burning Spirit grow like wildfire, and may even awaken extraordinary talents.

Roya even speculated that the so-called psychic ability did not come from Colonel Rogge, but from the horsehair worm in front of him!

The horsehair worm may have indirectly controlled Colonel Rogge by manipulating the two-colored mushroom, leading to Wendell's misjudgment.

This is hardly some brilliant difference engine; if we had to give it a grand name, we could only call it—

The brilliant horsehair worm!

Evidence emerged quickly.

As if sensing Luo Ya's quantum divine sense, the horsehair worm suddenly contracted and emitted a strange trembling sound.

"It really is a horsehair worm!"

Luo Ya felt a tingling sensation on his scalp and a soreness in his teeth.

at the same time--

The massive boulder at the cave entrance crashed down!

The entrance to the cave was sealed off.

Almost simultaneously, the glow of all the bicolor mushrooms in the cave went out.

It was as if the light source had been cut off by an invisible hand...

A thick, greasy, and fishy hallucinogenic fog silently spread.

Darkness, like thick ink, surged in like a tidal wave, smearing everyone's faces.

Even though the poisonous fog was blocked by Wendell's wind barrier, Roya still felt a faint sense of hallucination.

This psychedelic feeling comes from the trilling of horsehair worms.

With his quantum divine sense connected by a mechanical link, Roya is not afraid of darkness or illusions.

But the dangers right now are multifaceted!

Colonel Rogge may be lurking in the shadows, Giles and Eamon may be controlled, and the horsehair worms may launch a surprise attack...

"Can you handle it, Wendell?"

"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Wendell's tone was calm, but too calm, as if he was suppressing something.

In the darkness, Roya seemed to hear a faint tremor coming from the Wendell armor.

"I'm your captain. As long as you're not afraid, I won't be afraid either."

Inside the Red Widow's cockpit.

Giles and Eamon then realized that the entire cave was a complete controlled ecosystem.

"Damn it, the colonel really has been parasitized!"

Red Widow immediately activated her flamethrower.

Orange-red flames erupted violently, instantly dispelling the nearby poisonous fog and illuminating the entire cave.

In the instant the light appeared—

Colonel Rogge has made his move!

The steam-powered sword emitted a piercing metallic hum as it forcefully sprang from the scabbard on the cane.

The mechanical joint of his left leg unleashed astonishing power, and he transformed into a blurry afterimage, leaping ghost-like onto the suspended hull and appearing behind the Red Widow.

The steam blade tore through the air in an instant, slashing horizontally towards the Red Widow's cockpit with a piercing shriek!

click-

Like a hot knife through butter, even the strongest armor is as fragile as paper in the face of absolute power and sharpness.

The Red Widow's massive body let out a metallic groan as it was cleaved in two by the raging blade!

The cold blade, carrying the scent of death, whistled past Giles and Amon, almost grazing their scalps.

Amon felt a chill run down his spine, and his fingers trembled as he reached up to touch the top of his head.

Thank goodness, my head is still intact!

A blade of that size, if it were to strike the body, would be absolutely unstoppable even by an airbag in a vest.

The bizarre stroke of luck made the two realize in an instant that Colonel Rogge's humanity might not have been completely extinguished.

In his final moments, his remaining will compelled him to raise the deadly blade upwards.

They had just escaped death.

Then, turning to Colonel Rogge, who was panting from the sudden maneuver, he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Colonel, wake up!"

"In the name of freedom, wake up! A great revolutionary cause awaits you..."

Completely exposed to hallucinogenic gas, the two gradually weakened, their resistance melting away like ice and snow.

Her body went limp, and she fell into a dream woven from poisonous gas.

As the Red Widow split in two, the flamethrower quickly went out, and the cave was plunged into darkness once more.

"How can you awaken others when you yourself are asleep?"

Colonel Rogge chuckled.

He turned and disappeared into the darkness.

next moment.

He appeared silently three meters to the side of Roya.

He was hesitating whether to kill Roya or control him.

Suddenly, Wendell's merciless iron hand swept across the air!

In an instant—

The cold wind howled, slapping my face like a knife!

The wind didn't seem strong, but it blew upwards to the side.

Colonel Rogge, wielding a steam-powered knife, instantly lost his balance.

Its 300-pound weight caused it to fly backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the rough rocky cave wall.

At the point of impact, the cluster of eerie purple mushrooms behind them was instantly crushed to a pulp, with viscous juices mixed with stone chips flying everywhere.

Colonel Rogge suffered a splitting headache and even experienced phantom pain.

My head felt like it was going to explode, and then everything went black.

Immediately, bizarre and fantastical hallucinations surged forth.

His consciousness sank, and he felt himself completely merge with the cold imperial armor, floating in an endless ocean shimmering with ghostly blue and enchanting purple starlight...

After losing control of the mother mushroom on Colonel Rogge's back, clusters of companion mushrooms growing along the cave wall began to glow again.

The cave was once again enveloped in a purple glow.

the other side.

Loya holds the moss-covered differential machine casing.

Concentrate intently on finding the core of the horsehair worm.

To be precise, we need to find the brain of the horsehair worm.

Strangely, the horsehair worm has sharp spines at both ends, is generally the same thickness as its body, and does not clearly show the location of its brain.

It can also branch out in the middle, forming a network-like root structure that covers almost all the gears and key operators.

"This is too abstract. Is this thing really a living organism?"

Just moments before the cave was illuminated again—

That seemingly harmless hollow tube, hanging on the ground, had risen up like a venomous snake, approaching Roya from Wendell's blind spot...

At the opening of the tube, a gleaming, needle-sharp iron wire shot straight at Roya's unsuspecting left ear with a speed beyond visual perception.

However, just a foot away from Roya's left ear, it was held firmly in place by an invisible force, as if it had crashed into a transparent wall of sighs, causing it to tremble violently.

It can't go any further!

Just then, the cave was lit up.

Roya turned around and stared at the sharp mouth of the horsehair worm:

"If you dare to extend your claws at me after noticing my gaze, it only proves that your poor little brain hasn't fully developed yet."

His voice was icy and piercing, like sand whipped up by the polar wind, each syllable striking the frozen air.

Horsehair worm:

"..."

Even so, Roya was also extremely panicked.

He couldn't run away because his physical body was far slower than the horsehair worm, so he couldn't escape at all.

Secondly, there was no time to ask Wendell for help, because he had previously warned Wendell that if he encountered similar worms, he should deal with them first, and if he couldn't handle them, then it wouldn't be too late for Wendell to step in.

The only way to control the horsehair worm is through mechanical means, by rotating gears and operators, to forcibly clamp its body.

The power of a single gear is far from enough, but millions of gears are enough to stop the horsehair worms that are moving through it.

The horsehair worm's pointed mouth trembled and hissed as it struggled and tried to pull its body away from Roya's layers of control.

It wasn't until Wendell saw Roya's forehead sweating that the trembling wires made her feel inexplicably nauseous.

Then, she suddenly drew her sword.

Clang——

The flexible hose wrapped with wire snapped instantly!

The horsehair worm instantly retracted.

The severed half-meter-long wireworm, like a lifeless snake, hung limply to the ground.

call……

Luo Ya finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"You did a great job!"

Suddenly, the retracted horsehair worm convulsed violently, unleashing a chilling shriek that was a mixture of high-frequency vibrations and sharp friction!

The severed iron wire resonated with it, and a ghostly blue neural glow burst forth from the break, like a liquid arc of electricity, flickering, leaping, and hissing wildly...

The eerie blue light seemed to carry a kind of mental pollution, and Roya's vision was instantly distorted.

In the flickering blue light, he saw his parents, who had passed away long ago in his previous life...

Luo Ya bit his tongue sharply, quickly regaining his senses.

While the horsehair worm was activating its psychic abilities, which resembled mental pollution, his mind acted like a precise probe, quickly locking onto the worm's decentralized neural center.

It's actually a dot matrix composed of every branching node!

Without the slightest hesitation, Luo Ya activated his will, like the most skilled puppeteer, instantly manipulating several gears next to each nerve node of the horsehair worm, locking them all in place!

The powerful mechanical gripping force acts like an invisible iron clamp, tightly clamping down on the nerve center of the horsehair worm.

Luo Ya gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.

The horsehair worm writhed wildly, emitting a desperate cry...

At the same time, Wendell's breathing became disordered.

Luo Ya turned his head to look.

Those eyes, once as bright as molten gold, are now being eroded by countless wildly spreading, serpentine dark patterns, until they are completely submerged!

A majestic, cold, and unfathomable aura of darkness emanated from Wendell.

She raised her right hand, which was holding a sword, and swung it at the difference engine!

Luo Ya quickly shouted:

"Wendel, wake up! Don't cut it! If you cut it, the horsehair worm's central nervous system will come alive, and it will escape..."

Leave it to me, I can handle it!

By this time, Roya had clearly seen the structure of the horsehair worm.

The neural transmission mechanism of horsehair worms is remarkably similar to the control mechanisms of their mechanical connections.

This means that by destroying the horsehair worm's central nervous system, its remains will become the perfect repair tool, serving as its tentacles to penetrate deep into machinery and complete emergency repairs without disassembling the outer shell.

Wendell hesitated for a moment, then swung his sword at the Difference Engine!

clang--

Sparks flew everywhere!

The deafening clang of metal clashing together was deafening!

A figure appeared like lightning, blocking the path before the sword's edge.

It was Colonel Rogge!

He crouched on the top of the difference engine, gripping the steam blade tightly with both hands, using the blade to block Wendell's sword.

A swift, biting wind tore at his scalp.

Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, his voice was hoarse, and a last glimmer of clarity struggled to appear in his eyes:

"You are now a witch, don't you want to bury this decaying empire with your own hands? If so... then don't destroy this machine!"

Wendell's eyes, covered in black markings, remained unmoved, as if he hadn't heard a sound.

His long right leg suddenly shot into the air, delivering an extremely sharp side kick that swept away Colonel Rogge's body with a whistling sound that tore through the air!

boom!

With a heavy thud and a groan of his bones straining under the weight, Colonel Rogge was sent flying again, crashing heavily against the cave wall.

The skeleton shattered, and blood gushed out.

"Thank you, Colonel Roger..."

Luo Ya expressed his heartfelt gratitude.

Inside the differential engine, thousands of nerve centers of the horsehair worms, unable to withstand the pressure of the rotating gears, burst open one after another.

Like fireworks, it bursts forth with a dazzling blue arc of fire.

The outcome is already decided!

Luo Ya instantly took control of the horsehair worm's slender carcass.

"Wendell, I've got it done!"

He excitedly told Wendell.

However, the black demonic patterns spreading wildly in Wendell's eyes did not diminish in the slightest due to the death of the horsehair worm.

Her body was tense, trembling slightly, as if fiercely fighting against something within her. From her clenched teeth, she managed to squeeze out a few broken but clear syllables:

"...Kill me, and you'll be free."

Roya sensed that Wendell was on the verge of losing control, clinging to the last shred of his sanity by his promise.

"Then you mustn't resist."

With a gentle tone, Roya controlled the newly acquired horsehair worm carcass to suddenly shoot out from the differential engine hose.

The soft, slender iron wires, like vines, coiled upwards, quickly wrapping around Wendell's arms and wrists, skillfully locking the muscles and joints that enabled her to swing her sword.

At the same time, Roya decisively reached out with his other hand and grabbed Wendell's right hand, which was clad in iron armor and gripping the hilt of his sword.

His consciousness, like the finest mesh probe, forcefully penetrated the point of contact between the metal and the skin!

Only then did they realize that the scales sealing Wendell's supernatural abilities within his right-hand armor had already been breached by the uncontrolled blood energy...

The switch is broken; it's not turned on.

Unable to shut it off, Roya had no choice but to control the remains of the horsehair worm, which burrowed into the armor and stitched together the shattered scales to barely form a complete switch, which was then resealed.

Finally, the raging black patterns in Wendell's eyes receded like the tide, slowly fading away...

Her brilliant golden pupils, like sunlight piercing through dark clouds, rekindled their brilliance deep within her eyes.

But the golden light lasted only a moment before quickly dimming, as if it had exhausted all its power.

"puff……"

A mouthful of blood gushed out of her mouth without warning, staining the moss covering the difference engine red.

Clang!

The iron sword slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

With his arms bound by iron wire, Wendell seemed to have his last bit of strength drained away. His body went limp, he lost his balance, and unconsciously fell into Roya's arms.

"Again?"

Roya felt it was necessary to confront the side effects of Wendell.

Especially when Wendell, clad in heavy steam-powered armor, came crashing down on them like a tidal wave!

Fortunately, Roya used the horsehair worms as tentacles to quickly activate the auxiliary power of the steam-powered flying armor through mechanical connections.

Precisely control the speed and angle at which Wendell falls, allowing him to lie down slowly and peacefully fall asleep.

Luo Ya breathed a sigh of relief.

He took another breath...

He smacked his lips.

This tastes wrong.

"Oh no...it's poisonous!"

Without Wendell's wind barrier, the dense hallucinogenic fog quickly engulfed Roya.

Before holding his breath, Roya blew a loud whistle.

[Receives voice control signal and executes differential unit preset command: Combustion ignition.]

The blue dragonfly, which had been lying in ambush, immediately activated its flamethrower, burning all the burning spirits within its sight.

Including the remnants of mushroom roots on Colonel Rogge's back.

This was the only way for Roya to eliminate the dual dangers of Colonel Rogge and the hallucinogenic fumes.

Soon, the mushrooms and hallucinogenic fumes inside the cave were burned to ashes by the blue dragonfly's flamethrower.

call……

Luo Ya took a deep breath.

He suddenly couldn't breathe!

He then realized with a start that in the sealed cave, as the mushrooms and poisonous fog burned out, the oxygen was also depleted...

In just a moment, Roya nearly suffocated.

"Oh no!"

The Blue Dragonfly machine has a spare oxygen tank inside!

Alternatively, the blue dragonfly could force open the stone door, letting in the outside breeze...

The problem is that Roya, who is almost suffocating, can't even whistle!

The aura of death surged forth like a tidal wave...

Damn it, I've solved all the problems, defeated all the powerful enemies, and won so many times that I'm numb with success, and now I'm going to die from suffocation?

In despair!

Roya looked down at Wendell, who was lying in the flying armor.

Like a sleeping beauty, it emitted soft, rhythmic, and pleasant snoring sounds...

I'll fight you to the death, and you'll be sleeping soundly!

Luo Ya was so angry that he was desperate.

etc--

Where did you get your oxygen?

The wind is still, it's the wind!

If you look closely, Wendell's lips and teeth are tightly closed; he is not inhaling.

However, those aloof, tightly closed nostrils were exhaling in a very rhythmic manner...

Luo Ya didn't care about anything else, and boldly leaned down, prying open her lips and teeth in one bite.

suddenly.

A north wind caresses the face, nourishing the land for miles.