Mobile City Travel Guide

"The human body is fragile."

David spoke slowly.

As the mechanical bishop spoke, his gaze was fixed on the distance, as if he were gazing upon countless worlds he had once visited.

"In the journey across many worlds, we will always encounter all sorts of unexpected extreme environments. We will freeze from extreme cold, dehydrate from extreme heat, suffocate from thin atmosphere, have our skin burned by radiation, have our bones cracked from extreme gravity, and our flesh and blood may also be infected with all sorts of catastrophic diseases... The fragility of the human body is truly incurable."

"But machines are different. They are always loyal and reliable, never letting their will falter, never hesitating due to physical or mental exhaustion, and never trembling due to fear. More importantly, they can be constantly upgraded. If the outer shell breaks, it can be replaced with a stronger alloy; if the circuitry ages, more efficient circuitry can be implanted."

"Machines never die; they only become stronger with each iteration."

Li Xin fell into deep thought.

Bishop David’s words may sound absurd, but upon closer examination, he may be right.

Thinking about it carefully, the highly polluted weather in the world of giants almost made my lungs give way. And the sudden barotrauma during my high-altitude exploration in the Sky World was even worse.

In the future, countless extreme environments may await us: toxic gases that burn our lungs, acid rain that corrodes our skin, extreme cold that can even freeze our bone marrow, or some kind of extreme disease that we can't even name.

By implementing highly mechanized modifications, we can get rid of all of this.

but......

He looked at his hands, a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

Human beings may be fragile, but they are also alive.

They feel pain, they bleed, and they slowly scab over and heal after being injured, with new skin growing under the scars. They age, they sag, they develop wrinkles, and they leave the marks of time on their bodies.

All of this is evidence that I have truly lived in this world.

"If it were mechanical..." he murmured, as if talking to himself. "All of this would be gone."

David nodded slightly, without saying a word.

In fact, this bishop's level of mechanization had reached a terrifying degree. He had even replaced all his internal organs with mechanical parts—his heart was an alloy pump, his lungs were sophisticated filtration devices, and his digestive tract was replaced by a highly efficient energy conversion circuit.

The only part of his body that is human is probably his head. And it's covered by a tempered glass shell, like some kind of bizarre exhibit.

"Which is more important, machinery or flesh and blood, you'll have to decide for yourself later," he said. "By the way, young man, have you ever seen a creature that can fly at a kilometer's length?"

New doubts arise.

"Are you hunting it?" he asked.

David nodded.

"Yes, we stumbled upon it while exploring the black mist and chased it all the way here."

Li Xin's expression became fascinating.

A relentless pursuit?

He subconsciously glanced back at the colossal vortex in the distance, then carefully examined the Holy Machine U2 in which he was located.

To be fair, while the fact that the people of the Myriad Machines Cult have undergone mechanization is astonishing, this mobile city doesn't even have a single firearm, let alone vehicles for external combat.

How could such a mobile city possibly be able to hunt down a giant whale?

Perhaps sensing his thoughts, David placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Machinery is weaponry."

His voice was calm, and his hands conveyed the steady and pressure characteristic of machinery.

Just as Li Xin was about to say something, he suddenly heard a long roar coming from the black mist below—it was the giant whale, which had arrived at that moment.

In the following time, he quickly returned to the Starfire and launched it into the air.

As I looked down from the railing, the floating island shrank smaller and smaller in my field of vision.

Bishop David remained where he was, along with his Sacred Machine U2.

There was no tension, no panic, and not even any sign of being prepared for battle.

Bishop David stood with his hands behind his back, calmly gazing down at the massive silhouette that gradually emerged from the black fog. The parishioners stood in various parts of the city; some were adjusting their robes, some were adjusting the mechanical parts on their arms, and some were simply gazing silently into the distance. All of them had an indifferent expression, as if they were waiting for a routine rain.

"Come on, let me see your power," Li Xin thought to himself.

With a fierce roar, the giant whale burst through the fog, opening its massive jaws to reveal layers of ring-shaped sharp teeth, and roared as it charged fiercely toward the floating island.

The next second, an unbelievable scene unfolded!

With a loud bang, the Holy Machine U2 suddenly collapsed!

No, it's less of a collapse and more of a self-destruction.

The entire mobile city cracked open from top to bottom, decks shattered, buildings collapsed, churches toppled, yet not a single component fell off.

Thousands upon thousands of mechanical parts hovered in mid-air, then began to disassemble and reassemble in a dazzling manner. Some transformed into warships, some into streamlined fighter jets, and others, parts that fell onto nearby floating islands and mountains, deformed on the spot into gun emplacements and fortresses.

The entire process was devoid of roaring sounds, explosions, or any other noise. The only sounds were the mechanical meshing and interlocking, dense, precise, and continuous, like a silent and cold mechanical symphony.

Bishop David and his followers were in charge of operating these mechanical creations.

One by one, the mechanical bodies of the followers began to expand and extend, connecting closely with the mechanical creations, and then they manipulated them to move and fight as if they were their own arms.

Bishop David became one with the largest mechanical warship. Dozens of thick cables spontaneously extended from his mechanical body, piercing into and connecting to the warship's core like blood vessels. Multiple lines extended from his spine, covering the entire warship's sensory system.

The main gun, missile launchers, rapid-fire machine guns... he completely controls every device on the warship, making them an extension of his will and an externalization of his mechanical body.

A meticulously planned and rhythmic hunt has begun.

All the mechanical creations, as if commanded by the same brain, moved and fired in a regular and rhythmic manner, bombarding the giant whale.

Instead of rushing recklessly towards their target, they were precisely controlled by an invisible giant hand, spreading out around the whale in all directions—east, south, west, north, up, and down—blocking the whale's retreat and forming an impenetrable three-dimensional killing formation.

This feeling of the hunter proceeding cautiously made the whale extremely uneasy and even angry.

While the other fighter jets were firing indiscriminately and had no time to turn around, it seized the opportunity and suddenly swung its tail, instantly smashing them to pieces.

Incredibly, these scattered debris and fragments rapidly reassembled, pieced together, and extended in the next instant, transforming into brand-new fighter jets that roared back from even more cunning and deadly angles.