Ironclad: How can hand-crafted knight belts not be considered genius?

Jiang Ning's words seemed to instantly suck the air out of the entire infirmary.

Natasha and Clara both fell into a daze.

Beyond the heavens...?

In the deeply ingrained belief of everyone in Belloberg, the world had long been sealed off by the calamity of perpetual freezing.

The sky is a false barrier, and the starry sky is a non-existent illusion.

The upper level guards only a cage that barely survives, while the lower level struggles in the mud at the very bottom of that cage.

For centuries, no one believed that "there are people beyond the heavens."

No one has ever seen a traveler who truly descends from the stars.

Natasha paused for a moment, then the wariness in her eyes not only did not dissipate, but deepened.

She had witnessed the arrogance of the upper class, the greed of the refugees, and the madness of the wanderers, but she had never encountered anyone from beyond the heavens.

The unknown is always more frightening than the known malice.

"From beyond the heavens..."

She repeated the two words in a low voice, her fingertips unconsciously tightening their grip on the gauze.

"Belberg was frozen for seven hundred years, the world was closed, and the star orbits were severed."

I have never heard of anyone being able to reach this planet from "outer space".

Mr. Jiang Ning, if your joke was meant to lighten the mood, it was undoubtedly a failure.

"I knew it..."

Jiang Ning raised his hand to cover his face and sighed helplessly.

"In the end, I still have to explain... Oh well, it's normal that people can't understand things beyond their perception."

Then, Jiang Ning raised his right hand, extended his thumb, pointed in the direction where Iz was standing, and said:

"Iz is the best proof."

As she spoke, Izzy took a step forward in agreement.

Sensing the puzzled looks from the two, Jiang Ning rubbed his hair and continued speaking.

"You may have a misunderstanding. Iz is not a conventional carbon-based human."

She is a "Humagear," a highly intelligent machine life form created by me.

As soon as he finished speaking, the air in the clinic froze completely.

Natasha's pupils suddenly contracted, and a crack appeared in her otherwise composed expression as she looked at the dignified Iz in disbelief.

Omnic…living form?

She spent her life in the lower echelons of Belloberg, witnessing firsthand the autonomous mechs under Schwarz's command, mining machinery, and broken old-fashioned devices.

In her mind, machines are always just tools.

It is a roaring, spinning iron block, a dead object obeying programmed instructions, a cold remnant of the old era.

She had never seen such a machine before.

A mechanical life form with human-like appearance and gentle speech, almost indistinguishable from a normal human.

Clara, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed, her small face filled with disbelief.

She spends every day with Schwarz and his fellow mech pilots, and is most familiar with everything about machinery.

But the Iz before me was completely different from those clumsy, cold mining mechs who only knew how to execute commands.

Elegant, lively, and gentle, like a living, breathing person.

"Izu-neechan... is she a robot?"

Clara murmured softly, full of disbelief but without a trace of fear; instead, she felt a sense of wonder.

"But... Sister Iz can laugh and talk like a normal person, completely different from Mr. Schwarz and the little mechs..."

Jiang Ning understood as he looked at the two completely different reactions.

Clara grew up surrounded by machines and has a natural affinity for them, with no sense of alienation.

But Natasha is a purely human healer.

The common sense that Beloberg had instilled in her mind had been completely overturned at this moment.

No wonder, she had felt that Izzy's behavior was a bit awkward before.

In addition, the barely noticeable mechanical features on her body, combined with Jiang Ning's explanation, indeed corroborated that Jiang Ning's identity was not a fabrication.

Natasha's Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and she remained speechless for a long time, her heart churning with turbulent emotions.

The old-fashioned mechanical civilization of Beloberg represents the limit of what remains on this frozen planet.

Schwarz is the highest computing power core left behind by the civilization hundreds of years ago, and is the source of all the machinery in the lower zone.

But the mechanical life form called Humagear before us completely surpasses the local old-era technology in terms of precision, life form, and intelligence level!

Anyone with eyes can see that these are not products of a civilization from the same dimension.

If Izz is real...

Beyond this permafrost territory, there might truly be other, more advanced civilizations!

With the help of more advanced technology, we might be able to end the winter storm that has been holding Belloberg back!

Thinking of this, a burning flame suddenly rose in Natasha's eyes.

But this glimmer of light was fleeting, and Natasha immediately composed herself, looking at the smiling Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning naturally wouldn't miss the slightest change in the other person's emotions, and smiled as he met Natasha's gaze.

Let me reintroduce myself.

Jiang Ning, president of the Feidian Intelligent Group. Currently working part-time as an "unnamed passenger" on the Starry Sky Train.

Speaking of which… doesn’t “pioneering” seem to have a significant connection with Berlberg’s belief in “preservation”?

(...though it was a tragic fate.)

Natasha frowned slightly, her expression shifting as she looked at Jiang Ning.

"I wonder what President Jiang Ning's plans are after all this trouble to come to Belloberg?"

"If you want to discuss cooperation, you should go to the upper district to find the Great Guardian—Cocolia—instead of wasting your time with us commoners in the ruins of the lower district."

Jiang Ning chuckled, waved his hand, took out a photo, and threw it in Natasha's direction.

The image shows a nearly perfect sphere suspended in mid-air, its core flowing with a thick, dazzling dark golden glow, like compressed and solidified starlight.

"This is…?"

Natasha frowned, frantically searching her mind for relevant memories.

"Star Core".

That's also why I didn't go looking for Cocolia.

Jiang Ningyou stood up from her seat.

"The person currently in power in Bellberg is Cocolia on the surface, but behind the scenes it's this thing."

It also has another name, "the cancer of all worlds".

In the shadows, unseen by most, this thing has been brainwashing Cocolia, prompting her to adopt her current cold-blooded policies.

"Hundreds of years ago, Beloborg was swallowed by the calamity of the 'Rift'. The first Great Guardian used the 'Star Core' to unleash a storm, freezing almost all the entrances to the Rift. This was supposed to be a salvation."

But a century has passed…

His tone turned slightly somber as he directly pinpointed the planet's greatest ailment:

"Now the barriers are no longer a refuge, but a prison."

Holding on to the status quo is no longer about survival; it's about stagnation.

Cocolia, possessing the power of preservation, saw only the calamity of the star core, the stability of the sky, and the order of the upper levels.

She fears change, fears turmoil, and fears losing the false peace she currently enjoys.

Should I go find her?

Jiang Ning chuckled lightly, a hint of sarcasm in his voice:

"I am an extraterrestrial traveler with interstellar technology and intelligent mechanical systems far beyond this era, and I also have a precise understanding of the origin of the 'star core'."

She would only be wary and cautious, and in the end, she would completely expel me, or even besiege me, on the charge of "disrupting order."

I'd rather chat with some of the "leaders" in the lower-level areas than with her.

Jiang Ning glanced at Clara, who was standing silently to the side, and smiled.

"For example, 'big shot' Schwarzkopf, and..."

The gaze finally returned to Natasha, sending a chill down her spine.

"The true leader behind 'Earthfire,' Ms. Natasha?"

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