Why can't humans do it too?

Suer was somewhat puzzled, because based on past experience, Liku should have come over as soon as he returned to the settlement. As far as he knew, there was nothing so urgent in the settlement that he couldn't leave. Even Ke'er had been there for quite some time, and Ke'er had even helped Liku explain things—but wasn't that the biggest anomaly in itself?!

Given Cole's personality, shouldn't she force her other brother, Riku, to come along when the person she considers her younger brother has finally returned?

This is abnormal, absolutely abnormal.

However, Suer's doubts did not last long. No matter how much he delayed, Riku would still appear. The moment he pushed open the door and saw the small figure following closely behind him, Suer understood instantly.

Why did this guy take so long to come?

The woman was small, not much taller than Jibril at this moment. She wore a brown hood on her head, with a few strands of purplish-red hair hanging down from the front of the hood, obscuring her delicate little face. But what was more striking were her amber eyes—eyes that made Sue notice something unusual at just one glance.

The pupils were black, but there was a thin black line around the outside of the pupils. Although they looked no different from human eyes, no matter how Su Er looked at them, he had the illusion of a mechanical halo expanding and shrinking.

However, compared to these relatively subtle glimpses of information, what is even more impossible to ignore are the two thin, wire-like objects hanging from under the robe to the ground, with orange hoops and bluish-green tips at the ends.

The feeling of the manufactured wires was so obvious that Shinko and Jibril, who had seen and created the wires described by Sull, remembered the same thing. But beyond this simple feature, they had already identified what this being that appeared with Riku was.

It was definitely not human. Suer's nerves tightened instantly, but Jibril, who had been lying down on the other side, was even more excited than him.

This pink-haired Skywing had no intention of joining Xin Ke and Ke'er's conversation, just lazily rolling around on the other side of the rock, bored. But now she suddenly sat up. If she hadn't remembered what Su Er had said about not exposing herself, this Skywing, whose face was flushed and who was so excited that she was about to drool, would probably have been fully armed.

"Ah~, isn't this—"

Snapped!

The sound was so crisp that Suer didn't even have time to react. Before Jibril could finish speaking, Xinke slapped Jibril on the butt.

"Calm down, don't say anything reckless~"

"...Tch~"

Xin Ke's calm words somewhat dampened Jibril's excitement, and the pink-haired winged creature vigorously rubbed her cheeks.

"Hey~, Riku~, and little Shubi~~", seemingly oblivious to the conversation between Shinko and Jibril, Cole raised her hand and waved, calling out without any apparent change in expression, "Come on over here!"

Not only her, but Nona and Klein also greeted the person behind Riku familiarly. It was clear that she was very popular in the village. Even Klein's two little ones reached out to touch her.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

"Ah, long time no see." Group 6 07784197

Compared to the warm greetings exchanged between others, the meeting between Sull and Riku two years later seemed much colder, but this did not mean that they had become estranged; it was simply that these two men... had too much to say to each other.

"Let's go over there and talk."

"it is good."

After giving Xin Ke a look that suggested Jibril was a good match, Sull and Riku went to another cave, where they were alone.

Sitting at the table watching Riku light the lamp, Suer suddenly realized he didn't know how to start a conversation with this man. The draft and opening he had prepared in his mind seemed to have become worthless at this moment. He couldn't imagine how Riku would react when he heard about his so-called plan.

After all, in the long years of getting to know each other, no one understood better than Suer how gentle the white-haired man in front of him was beneath that seemingly icy face. Even though he had suffered countless hardships, this man possessed a heart that longed for peace that even Suer himself was ashamed of—he did not want anyone to die.

No, it's not just people.

This man named Riku didn't even want any other race besides humans to die; he longed for a peaceful, deathless world, a fairytale world like a game.

A world that Suer never believed in.

Even though he also longed for such a world, Suer never believed that such a world could exist.

Bound by layers of self-hypnotic chains lies a gentle yet passionate heart, driven to near madness by countless acts of guilt for ordering others to die.

This is Liku.

Now that the forest elves are providing covert support, no one in the settlement has died from the expedition for a long time. Under these circumstances, will Riku agree to his plan?

Will Liku help him?

Helping him achieve that almost delusional plan, which would obviously require many people to risk their lives, would ultimately amount to nothing more than seeking a possibility, a plan that was also unverified and unprecedented.

Without even asking, and even in his own mind, Sur had already given Riku the answer of refusal, making it extremely difficult for Sur to utter a single word.

"You must have suffered a lot out there?" Riku asked calmly as he sat down next to Suer.

Suer knew that he was referring to Shinko and Jibril. When Riku returned last time, he had guessed that Shinko and Jibril were not human, and Suer did not intend to hide it.

Chapter 227 The Power of the Machine Race

It seems that in Riku's eyes, he had a very difficult time being caught between those two non-human races when he was outside.

Thinking about this, Su Er felt a strange urge to laugh.

"It's actually not bad," Suer said easily, recalling the scenes of living with Xinke and Jibril. "It's not as difficult as you think. They've helped me a lot. Well, we actually get along quite well."

"Is that so?" Riku nodded thoughtfully, as if he had thought of something.

"I'm more curious about you than me, aren't I?" With a mischievous smile, Sull poked Riku's ribs. "You certainly couldn't have met Miss Shubi by just staying in the settlement, right? Won't you tell me about your legendary adventure?"

With a long sigh, Riku knew that Shubi's true nature could not be hidden from Sull.

After all, compared to the women in the village, even just looking at her face, one could see that Shubi was extraordinary—she was too beautiful.

In this era where both men and women have to work and take risks, and where there is a lack of skincare products and nutrition, modern humans simply don't have such beautiful looks, that kind of beauty and refinement that belongs only to non-human races.

Simply put, if you see something pretty, you can be sure it's not human.

“…There was no legendary adventure at all,” Riku said with a wry smile. “And you might not believe it, but I did meet Shubi in the settlement, not by chance during an expedition.”

"Huh?" Sur exclaimed in disbelief.

It's clear that Riku didn't appear immediately after Sull's return because he was troubled by Shubi's presence. However, after much deliberation and earnest advice, he finally decided to reveal Shubi to Sull.

As the lights flickered on and off, Riku began to slowly recount how he met Shubi and what had happened during the two years that Sull had been missing again.

Shubi appeared at Riku's bedside overnight, nearly scaring the man to death. He was covered in white fur and cold sweat... well, it seems he really was white fur.

In short, about two months after Sull and his group stayed in the settlement for a short time and then set off again, Shubi suddenly appeared in front of Riku, which was quite a shock. Her race was also very obvious and Riku recognized her immediately - the Machina.

The exposed machinery on his body was perfectly integrated with his seemingly fleshy body. The mechanical wings and long lines extending from his body were also very easy to identify. Because he already knew about the machine race from Sul, Riku immediately grasped the key point of the problem after the initial shock.

Hugh.jpg

Why did the machine appear in front of him?

Why was only this one-piece Kaiji appearing in front of him?

Xin Ke once told Su Er about the difference between life and living beings among all races. However, in the time that followed, she also told him about a race that was extremely special among all races: the Machine Race.

This race, which existed even before the great war, has continued from the ancient times to the present day. It is a mechanical race, so unique that it is not even considered a biological race, and its form of existence is completely different from other races.

Like a swarm of bees, but far more efficient and powerful, each individual's thoughts and consciousness are interconnected, acting through a group connection known as the Connector. Being discovered by one individual means being discovered by the entire Machina race, and being hostile to one individual means declaring war on the entire Machina race.

If this alone were all they had, it wouldn't be enough to allow them to survive the great war to this day. What makes other races fear and avoid them is their strength.

If any individual is attacked, they can analyze the type of attack in less than a second and quickly design an weapon equivalent to that attack. The ability to reproduce an attack is not enough to be frightening. What is more terrifying is the upper limit of this reproduction. Whether it is the magic of the forest elves, the spirit armor of the goblins, or even the strongest attack of the dragon elves before their death, they can reproduce it all and retaliate. So far, there is no way to find the upper limit of the power that this race can reproduce.

When Su Er first heard about it, he exclaimed that the Sharingan Saint Seiya was invincible.

During the long war, the Machine Race evolved indefinitely. Theoretically, they were a ferocious race that could grow stronger indefinitely. Defeating the giant demon race that gave Xin Ke a headache could be done with just their bare hands.

Of course, becoming infinitely stronger is only theoretical, because this seemingly incredibly powerful race has a weakness that cannot be ignored: creativity. All their attack methods to date are based on absorbing and copying the attack methods of all the races that have waged war against them over the long years. Moreover, they have only designed and copied them, never independently developing any unique attacks of their own... or perhaps this ability to copy is unique enough in itself.

Undoubtedly, they are an extremely powerful race. However, the reason why such a powerful race has not yet destroyed other races and seized the sole divine position is that they have lost the divine species that created them. Along with this, they have also lost their direction. The entire race is like a lost lamb, wandering aimlessly across the continent, seemingly a simple machine without any self-will.

They never take initiative or have any specific target. They will retaliate if attacked, but they will not be attacked unless they adopt a hostile attitude towards the attacker.

This was also the first anomaly that Riku noticed when he discovered that only the Shubi All-in-One Gai appeared in front of him. These guys always acted in groups without any purpose... Why is this one acting alone?

"The connection was severed?" Repeating Riku's words, Sur asked curiously, "Why was the connection severed? Does that mean it can be reconnected?"

"According to her, there were several logical errors when analyzing the unique human language called 'heart,' so it was abandoned. I don't really understand the specifics. I have no idea what she meant by 'heart,'" Riku sighed more and more heavily.

"Hmm... So you just picked up a Machine Race member like that?" Su'er felt like she completely understood. "Then you made a profit, didn't you? This is a Machine Race member, even if it claims to be abandoned, its power is still far superior to most races. Why do you look so worried?"

Chapter 228 Riku and Shubi

Although he looked worried, Su Er felt that the white-haired man's sigh had a hint of... well, a happy kind of trouble.

Those once gray, lifeless eyes, seemingly devoid of any hope, now possessed a tangible light. It wasn't just about simply surviving, as had been emphasized in the past; they were now more vibrant, brimming with hope.

The gloomy Riku that Ke'er and Su'er had tried so hard to achieve but always failed now seemed to have finally come alive, truly alive.

Even though Riku was talking about how the Machine Race named Shubi made a lot of mistakes when she first appeared in order to hide, and how it gave him a headache just to talk about it, Sull noticed that Riku himself probably didn't realize that when he recalled the mistakes Shubi made when she first appeared, the corners of his mouth were slightly curved upwards.

These subtle expressions would never have appeared on the man who had kept himself so tightly guarded a few years ago.

So Sull thinks that Riku was ultimately changed by that machine named Shubi, right?

"The first time we met, he directly asked me to have reproductive acts, and even said that I could indulge my desires and ravage her at will... What's most infuriating is that he said the same thing when he came over after Ke'er, which caused me to get a good scolding from Ke'er..." Like an old man reminiscing about his youth, Riku was still recounting the jokes that happened during that time in fits and starts. It seemed like he was complaining, but Suer noticed that the corners of this guy's mouth seemed to be getting wider and wider.

"Hmm... so she lived with you for two years but still couldn't find the heart she was looking for?" Suer asked, somewhat puzzled.

Judging from Riku's reaction, he thought that the two of them, one human and one machine, had already found each other.

"...While that's true, why are you laughing so strangely?" Riku was somewhat speechless. He was clearly describing how embarrassing and dangerous his situation was, but this guy seemed to have no sense of it at all.

“The heart, self, soul of the Machine Race… who knows what such illusory and unpredictable things really look like?” Riku sighed and said, “What’s with that expression?”

"Ah, I was just thinking about a question," Suer said, genuinely speechless, "Will all these powerful beings eventually become philosophers? Or is this the natural direction in which life will develop once we no longer have to worry about survival?"

"Philosophy?"

"Hmm, let's not talk about that. So, you and Miss Shubi have been going on expeditions together for the past two years? I heard from Ke'er that you changed your expedition mode after Miss Shubi appeared, and started doing expeditions as a duo."

"The mobility of the machine races far surpasses that of human strength. With Shubi's help, we can always travel to distant places at the fastest speed to explore, and everyone avoids the danger of sacrifice. Not only that, you can also go to the cave entrance above the mountain to take a look. Thanks to Shubi's help, we can now use a telescope to observe the war movements of other races from a very distant place."

Whether it was Sull's imagination or not, Riku became more talkative when talking about the contributions Shubi had made to the settlement over the past two years. The white-haired man went on to ramble on about how much help Shubi had given him in creating mechanical tools without any spirits.

As for Sull... he readily offered compliments, but not long after, Riku suddenly fell silent, and even the smile on his lips faded considerably.

"What's wrong?" Suer asked, somewhat curious.

“Actually, there was another reason why Shubi first appeared... that was to forcibly take me away from the settlement,” Riku said calmly, making Sull suddenly realize, “The reason was those two girls outside, Miss Hinko and Miss Jibril, who came back with you.”

“…Just call them Hinco and Jibril,” Sull casually remarked, but then caught the information in Riku’s words: “You’ve met Shubi before? She’s been keeping an eye on you?”

“At first I didn’t remember either, but eventually I recalled it from her fragments of words,” Riku’s voice grew lower and lower. “I’ve seen her before… when I was thirteen, when my parents and the small village where I grew up were completely destroyed by the aftermath of some kind of racial war… on that day, I saw her… Shubi, falling from the sky, standing on the high slope looking at me…”

“Xinke and Jibril will be watching this side, so you don’t need to worry about her hearing anything you say,” Suer suddenly said.

“Ah, thank you, but there’s no need for such caution,” Riku looked up and gave a grateful smile before continuing, “You probably already know what happened to me after that, so I won’t repeat it.”

“Hmm,” Suer nodded.