Legend of the Supreme Soldier - Chapter 271

e Chong was holding a piece of Lavagold plate in his hand. It glowed brilliantly, with ripples of curves over the surface. Imagine the craze that could happen if this piece of Lavagold ever rolled into one market of the 5 major galaxies! Exclaimed Ye Chong in his mind. It was reasonable as a piece of rare mineral would be far more precious than a piece of jewel. So, pieces like the Teardrop, the Do-Kun stone would be obviously something of the other world, with a heavenly price if one were to describe it.

The assistants around were expressing their overwhelmed excitement, as their eyes seemed to have been bewitched by the beauty of the Lavagold, they were intoxicated. And their eyes, when towards Ye Chong, were showing their highest regards and deepest respect.

Yes, you heard it right. There was more than one assistant, as the crew of Ye Chong had expanded from one single man called Sang Fan to a team of 5 members, whom the chief of the village selected from the young generation and all of them were intelligent and adaptive. Certainly Ye Chong knew the intention of the chief – he wanted more men of his to learn, whether they would learn a little bit or none, from this talented teacher of the outside world. Ye Chong would not reject this, considering having more assistants would do him no actual harm.

The 5 men of his team, despite having a rather weak foundation in their studies, possessed a one-of-a-kind diligence. They were the potential, a clay to be sculptured. Yes, one could agree that there would always be a difference in how talented a person would be compared to others, but that did not mean the innate talent could replace acquiring diligence. Though it did not mean Ye Chong would be motivated enough to teach them from the very first page of his textbook, he did not have the interest for that. Glad that Sang Fan was there to do the talking for him.

While they were progressing incredibly slow on metallurgy, they were learning fairly quick on alchemy, it felt somehow as if they were made for alchemy, which was shocking to Ye Chong. So Sang Fan explained, on one occasion when Ye Chong asked, that everyone here was very much exposed to the norm of distinguishing plants. And yes, the Guan’s approach of alchemy was a product of the ancient botanical knowledge, and most of Ye Chong’s alchemical processes were chiefly related to plants, so no doubt the men were progressing quickly.

And we did it!

Phew…

Ye Chong gave a sigh of relief. Although he had probably been completely isolated from the modernity while being stuck without the tools to perform even the most fundamental process of mineral extraction, he made it anyway, as he extracted the fluid from Portabella and produced a reagent with it to extract the Lavagold from the ore instead. The joy faded away quickly however, as he calmed down, remembering the fact that… he was in a race of time, where Mu Shang would never be able to last for him in all eternity.

I wonder… if Mu Shang were doing fine… Thought Ye Chong, his mind sinking into a fact that seemed to be changing history anytime.

He bucked up and spoke to Sang Fan, “Bring the chief here.”

Sang Fan responded agreeably as he set off sprinting excitingly.

The piece of Lavagold flowed from one assistant to another, and every one of them was more than enthralled to see their breakthrough.

Ye Chong was pondering at the side. Yes, they did extract Lavagold successfully but it remained as a problem if they could massively extract and produce these golds. He did inquire Sang Fan on Portabella, the Sang’s response was… Portabella was a common fungi indeed but not common enough in numbers, as it only grew within the gravity region. Assuming they had to go with the Lavagold option, the supply of Portabella would be an issue.

Noises poured from the outside suddenly, as a group of people flooded into the place, with the leading one, of course, the chief himself, while Sang Pu and Sang Ling tailed right behind.

“Did you get it sir?” Sang Pu could no longer hold his excitement, his voice was shaking, Sang Ling was also expressing that mesmerization towards Ye Chong.

“Mhm,” nodded Ye Chong as he turned his head to the few assistants. And Sang De the really old shifted his sight along with Ye Chong’s head and landed upon that piece of glittering precious resting in one of the assistant’s hands. The old man’s eyes sure were large, as his breathing intensified. The assistant went to the chief and passed him the Lavagold with both hands solemnly.

Loud gasps were heard in the room, along with few waves of whispers.

The old chief reached his trembling hands over that piece of beauty. His hands were so shaky that Ye Chong was worried if the chief, at this rate, would have funeral a week from today.

He had to admit that, the Lavagold was truly a beauty to behold, even for someone who had seen countless jewels and mineralites like Ye Chong, as he could imagine himself bowing before this piece of gorgeous. So it would not be far-fetched to see one man isolated from the world like Sang De the chief dramatically reacting towards Lavagold. But well, Ye Chong was more concerned about its functionality rather than its beauty. Lavagold was limited in number within the 5 major galaxies, and so were the researches about it, even the information in Mu’s databank only contained a very vaguely described entry on it. Ye Chong did test out its functionality, briefly, of course. It could never be precisely accurate, but he believed in the excellence of this piece that it would surpass the alloys containing Black Gold.

Ye Chong learned a lot from the extraction process using alchemy’s approach this time. Lots of stuffs regarding alchemy suddenly made very much sense to him ever since.

“Sir…” Spoke Sang Ling, “Why does the metal look… a little different than the color of the mechs in shrine?”

“Why must the metal have the same colors as the mech from shrine?” asked Ye Chong, bewildered.

“Because… weren’t mechs from the Sanctuary made out of metals too?” The villagers could see Ye Chong slamming himself towards the ground.

Pure ignorance! Oh my Fal galaxy… Ye Chong looked at the breasts of Sang Ling. And one word, an odd terminology from Shang returned to his mind… what was it again? Dumb blonde? Wait, that was discriminative Shang said… Oh. Bimbo. Yeah. I guess it fits her.”Brainless with great peaks!” Shang once said, hmmm… wow, first time a word from Shang that made logical sense, Shang actually wasn’t talking meaningless crap the whole time…

And out of sudden… he missed the artificial indulgence.

The inappropriate gaze of Ye Chong was sending blushes over her face.

“Well…” And Ye Chong whispered his explanation, “This metal is known as the ‘Lavagold’. The mech inside the shrine uses a metal known as the ‘Tritanium’, an alloy.” The team of assistants, including Sang Fan, all took out a handy notebook from their pocket and jotted down the lesson of the day. And everybody else was stupefied by their synchronicity.

“So sir, what exactly is Tritanium? Which one is better? Lavagold or Tritanium?” asked Sang Fan courteously, while the other assistants were listening.

“Find it out yourself. The processor is there.” Ye Chong was too lazy to elaborate, “For your information, Tritanium had been a goner since 300 years ago.”

The diligence of the 5 young men was a satisfying sight to the chief, he spoke, “All of you shall learn something from your teacher. He is a very talented teacher and every word of his could count, learn even the tiniest bit of it and you would live with it for the rest of your life.”

“Yes chief!”

“Yes!” The group hurriedly showed their approval. The little instance resolved that awkward situation of Sang Ling just now.

Sang Pu received the Lavagold from the chief and exerted brute force on it. The piece did not change at all! Not even a mark of his fingerprint! “Great!” Exclaimed Sang Pu and the whispers brewed again among the villagers as they stretched their neck, desperately trying to have a better look at that piece of precious.

“Sir, would it be possible…” Sang Pu’s eyes were passionate, “for sir to turn this into a weapon?” The very question got everybody else as they held their respiration simultaneously, the hustle and bustled settled out of the blue.

Right, making a weapon had always been the primary concern of every Sang.

“Well…”

The eyes enlarged, the inhalation was intense.

“It’s very likely.”

And everyone was hurrahing for the talent.

The old chief was delighted, very delighted, as his voice shook, “G-great… whatever sir did, shall never be forgotten among our tribe. All of us, from one generation to another, shall never disregard the bestow sir made!”

Ye Chong was not taking that compliment happily, since obviously that piece of Lavagold would hardly do something if it was never possible to be massively produced in the first place.

“Hmmm…” Ye Chong spoke to the chief, “I did not expect the supply of Lavagold could be this rich, but I would need more Portabella mushrooms if I were to produce weapons.”

“Porta…bella?” asked the chief, certainly he did not get it.

“Yes, Portabella,” nodded Ye Chong, “Its fluid would be the main material to extract Lavagold from its ore. But as far as I know, the amount of Portabella was not motivating here.”

“Hmmm…” The chief pondered, “Now that is some problem.”

“C-chief!” One hoarse voice rang from the crowd, “It’s not a problem!” A shriveled looking elderly walked to the front, the strands of beard were giving him some unfriendliness…

Ye Chong’s stare was strange so the chief quickly made an introduction, “This is our healer, Sang Ru Bei, also the most knowledgeable man regarding plants.”

That pair of little eyes of Sang Ru Bing shone, “I had researched on Portabella mushrooms for some time. They do grow solely within the strong gravity boundary, but cultivating it would not be challenging. We could take a few gravity region as a cultivation for Portabella.”

“Fair enough! I’ll have you do lead the job! You could take anyone in the village for you. Just make sure the Portabellas are coming!” the chief decisively stated.

“Yes chief,” replied Sang Ru Bei politely.

“Sir…” asked the chief, “I wonder would it be possible to make one weapon with the Lavagold now…?”

Ye Chong hesitated a moment… “Hmm, this piece of Lavagold is a bit too small to make a full metallic weapon. I could make it into a few blades for your spear, just tie it on the bitterwoods.”

“As you have suggested,” responded the chief.

“Now…” Ye Chong turned to his assistants, “Reagent No.1 and No.3, Powdered Emerald and Powdered Zinc.”

The assistants began moving. Swiftly they brought the reagents and powdered minerals to their teacher. Although they had yet mastered much on the theoretical part, they had much practical.

Sang Fan quickly placed every utensil on the table for Ye Chong.

The teacher would be actually producing something live! Everyone was interested and nobody was willing to leave, their necks extended, their eyes were glued upon the hands of the master, as they feared missing one moment of the show. They held the breath carefully, fearing their pointless breathing would disrupt the teacher’s production.

Blurp… Blurp…

Ye Chong placed the Lavagold into a container and poured the reagents one at a time. Very soon after the solid gold melted into a splash of glittering yellow. It did not mix with the reagent however, it just reacted towards it. It felt like magic in the eyes of the villagers, even though it was merely another day of being an alchemist for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong discarded the reagents, leaving the liquid of Lavagold in the container. He then sprinkled Powdered Emerald thoroughly over the surface, which turned the liquid into a gluey texture, fluffy and tangible. It was another beauty… an adorable beauty… thought Sang Ling as she saw the gold dancing like cotton candy in Ye Chong’s hands.

Women could say no to cutesy things.

The other villagers were so amazed that they did not even blink their eyes.

Ye Chong’s expression remained unchanged, as he mumbled, “Mold,” after 30 seconds.

Sang Fan passed the mold to Ye Chong immediately.

He took the mold and sprinkled the interior with Powdered Zinc, while his other hand lifted a piece of polished wood chip and sliced one piece of Lavagold jelly. He then took a pair of pliers, made out of wood of course, picked the jelly and stuffed it into the mold. A firm press was given and any portion beyond the mold was sliced off by the chip.

3 minutes passed, Ye Chong lifted the mold and gently tilted it over the table.

Klink! A blade fell out of the mold, giving a clear sound on the table. Ye Chong took the blade and wiped the zinc off the surface. The blade was glowing in Lava Gold.

“Done. Now, just give a nice polish on the blade itself.”

The villagers were staring at the Lavagold spearhead, blatantly overjoyed but they behaved themselves when they turned their head over Ye Chong, blatantly respectful.

Humans… were always the frightened kind in front of the unknown.

“So…” Ye Chong looked at the remaining jellies, “Have a try too,” he said to his assistants, asking them to be a part of the cycle of Lavagold, from solid to liquid, liquid to solid.

ork was progressing fast. Sang Fan and others quickly got proficient at their tasks. Using alchemy to build metal weapons was easy, requiring little effort from the weapon smiths themselves. With Ye Chong’s permission, Sang Fan and the team pushed strongly for the other villagers to join in. Now, almost everyone had the skills required.

Cultivation of the gray mushrooms was also going smoothly. Sang Rubei had studied plants for years, and quickly identified the optimal cultivation conditions. They had even found a few areas with suitable strength of gravitational force to cultivate the mushrooms.

The Sang Family Village gave their all in these revolutionary changes. With the exception of the hunting troop, all other young men were sent to mine lavagold ores, while the women learned to cultivate gray mushrooms from Sang Rubei.

The hunting troop were all equipped with new pikes. Lavagold heads were fastened to the bitterwood shafts. The sharpened and polished lavagold head gleamed with a beautiful and deadly luster, envied by the rest of the villagers. However, the thought of having one for each of them soon encouraged them to work much harder. A warrior’s love for weapons was like a playboy’s love for beautiful women.

The first the new pike tips were used, the hunters returned with glorious fruits of labor. Their first catch was thrice the number of usual hunts. Old Sang De was all smiles looking at the huge pile of dead prey. This proved the incontrovertible power of metal weapons. All the villagers treated Ye Chong with the utmost respect. This was a respect born out of the hope that he had given to them. To receive advice from the man was the dream of every member of the younger generation.

Hence, when Ye Chong asked the village head for more helpers, all the young people except for Sang Ling came to Sang De to volunteer. Even Sang Pu could not help but try it himself, but was lectured by Old Sang De instead.

In the end, Old Sang De chose 10 people, all aged between 13 and 14 years old. These young people were more malleable and receptive to new ideas.

Ye Chong needed help for his current project. He had left the metal weapon forging work to Sang Fan. Now, he was focused on his new research – the mildstone.

It was a race against time. His objective was to save Mu, Shang and the rest. Everything else was meaningless without achieving this.

This d*mned mildstone! Ye Chong still could not figure out how to harvest its potential energy. This was the biggest obstacle for Ye Chong now. Without energy, he could do nothing. Ye Chong knew that the metal weapons would improve the lives of the Shang Family villagers, but they would not help with rescuing Mu, Shang and the rest.

Ye Chong was now considering the idea of using alchemy to harvest the energy within the mildstone.

After all this while, Ye Chong was more knowledgeable in alchemy. He was beginning to learn to think from an alchemist’s point of view.

This research was never done before. In the chip left by Lunatic Guan, Ye Chong could find nothing on this mineral. However, reality forced Ye Chong to deal with it head on. He must try everything he could think of.

Ye Chong never liked to express his emotions. In fact, he had done so but Mu, Shang had never discussed about this. He never imagined that Mu and Shang would be separated from him. It came to be that Mu and Shang had become an integral part of his life. When he was first separated from them, he was struck with moments of loss and helplessness, but he quickly found another reason to strive besides surviving – rescuing Mu and Shang.

All this while, Mu and Shang took the role of protectors, while Ye Chong had never done anything for them. Now, they were stuck in the Red Sea, their fates unclear. Ye Chong must rescue them, but not out of so-called gratefulness. It was simply what he had to do.

Alchemy required knowing the material’s properties. This was the most basic principle for every field. Alchemy used plants, but all the plants here were new to Ye Chong. He knew less of the plants here than the children of the Sang Family Village, but unlike them, he was also equipped with the skills of a scientist.

To know more about the plants would require continuous experimentation. Usually, Ye Chong would do it all by himself. It would take time, but that way he would understand even more about the plants.

Now, however, Ye Chong lacked time.

Hence, he needed helpers. The villagers here were all very familiar with the native plants, and most suitable for the role. With them, Ye Chong need only explain the experimental procedures, and leave the execution and documentation of results to them. This way, he could speed up the research significantly. Even Sang Fan was called to join in this research project.

No one doubted Ye Chong’s research. In fact, they all came, full of reverence, to the laboratory that seemed so sacred to them, even though to Ye Chong, the lab was badly under-equipped and primitive.

They were instilled with knowledge of all kinds of plants from a young age. This was knowledge accumulated over time from the previous generations, sometimes at the cost of their lives. Their understanding allowed them to learn alchemy more easily and quickly, as they picked up the skills for laboratory work. Hence, Ye Chong gave them full control of their own experiments on various plants, only asking that they record all experiment procedures and results. As for Ye Chong, he had to analyze all these results, aside from running his own experiments.

Ye Chong was now slowly getting used to the environment of strong gravity. Even in this hectic situation, Ye Chong did not forget to train himself. Everyone here was a warrior, and Ye Chong did not lack sparring partners. Ye Chong learned quickly, impressing his sparring partners. They all admired how smart he was, to pick up even combat skills so quickly.

Even Ye Chong was surprised at his own improvement. Ye Chong’s physical strength had long reached a bottleneck, and the occasional improvements were only in small leaps. Ye Chong had repeatedly thought that he had reached the limits of the human body. Now, however, with the strong gravity environment, he found that his body was also strengthening quickly to keep up. He was finally breaking through this bottleneck. It happened so fast that sometimes Ye Chong would feel imbalanced in his own body. This was why, despite the urgency of his objective, he was still determined to train himself.

As for Ye Chong’s helpers, they were all busy, all the time. Ye Chong was almost embarrassed with himself, watching them so focused in their work. There was finally hope for this centuries-old tribe. The sudden burst of energy they showed had surprised Ye Chong

His research progressed quickly. With Sang Rubei in the team, they advanced leaps and bounds. This made Ye Chong realized something – an expert was more useful than a bunch of newbies.

Every day, Ye Chong analyzed the research results, and keyed them into the photon processor in a new database.

Time passed by, but Ye Chong had not found a way to harvest energy from the mildstone. He was growing more anxious by the day, but was helpless at the same time.

In the strong gravity region, Ye Chong trained intensively. The days passed, and he felt more and more pressured. If it were anyone else, he would not be so affected. However, this was Mu and Shang. He was greatly troubled.

As he trained, he grew stronger and stronger. Ye Chong was now a formidable fighter, even for Sang Pu.

Ye Chong swinged and kicked faster and faster. He was anxious deep inside, and could not help but let out a long howl. His voice echoed throughout the lands. The usually crowded strong gravity region was empty, since the villagers had all gone to mine lavagold.

It had been three months since he was separated from Mu and Shang. Harvesting the mildstone’s energy, building a skeleton-made flying transport, and teaching the Sang Family villagers to fly them all seemed to be so far away. He thought of Coxcomb, Mu and Shang, trapped in the Red Sea, and felt renewed anxiety.

Everything in the strong gravity region became his victims. Ye Chong punched and kicked, and everything hit crumbled easily. Even the ground, tough as steel, dented in many places.

Before entering Archipelago, Ye Chong could punch through alloy doors with his bare hands. Now, he was stronger than the average Sang Family villager. However, Ye Chong did not feel like he had attained Jie. Lan Yixing’s chip had informed him that when a combat expert reached a certain level of skills, he would experienced a bottleneck. Some would never break through this bottleneck, but the ones who did will attain Jie.

Jie experts were the most formidable. They were more knowledgeable in combat techniques than any ordinary combat expert, but most importantly, they had extra extraordinary abilities.

Lan Yixing, for example, was able to control his muscles to a mind bending extent when he attained Jie. These were biologically impossible feats. Besides, his senses were greatly heightened.

All these special features in Jie experts were absent in Ye Chong right now. Ye Chong believed that he must be even stronger than Lan Yixing now, but he still had not attained Jie. However, the chip had said that only a Jie expert can defeat another Jie expert.

“It looks like I’m a weirdo, after all,” Ye Chong thought wryly to himself. Fortunately, he did not mind about attaining Jie or not. To him, strength was his priority. If he could defeat a Jie expert, then it did not matter if he was not a Jie expert anyway.

The Sang Family’s battle techniques had influenced Ye Chong a lot. Now, Ye Chong’s combat style had changed drastically. He had combined the essences of combat from the September Lan family, Black Cove and the Sang family, such that his techniques could be considered an entirely different style altogether.

Bare handed combat was not that important to Ye Chong, not like mech combat. However, he still could not find an energy replacement so far. Ye Chong dared not withdraw Han Jia to train, since the remaining energy must be conserved in cases of emergency.

After venting out his frustration, Ye Chong felt a lot better. He was about to return to his laboratory when he saw someone running to him. Ye Chong squinted, and saw that it was Sang Pu.

Sang Pu was quick. He was by the boundary of the strong gravity region in the blink of an eye, and easily crossed the boundary without stopping.

Seeing Sang Pu in a rush, Ye Chong guessed that he must be here for him.

As expected, when Sang Pu saw Ye Chong, he began urgently, “Sir, please come quick.”

e Chong followed Sang Pu to the lavagold mining site. The mining site was crowded, all of them strong, young men. Ye Chong imagined that almost all of the much stronger villagers must have been dispatched here. Beside the mining site was a small hill of lavagold ore, still covered in mud and not yet transported into the village.

The mining site was now a secured site for the Sang Family Village. To prevent wild animal attacks, almost all the villagers were sent here to sweep the area. A security ring was also formed around the perimeter of the mining site, showing just how much the villagers cared about this mining site.

“Sir, this way please.” Sang Pu led Ye Chong to one of the dugout holes of the lavagold mining site.

This mining site was now much larger and deeper than when Ye Chong first inspected the area. He could smell the wet earth, hear the metallic clangs from the mining work further away. The villagers did not stop working because of his arrival. They were using very primitive tools, mostly made of everthorn wood. While everthorn was not as resilient as bitterwood, it was much tougher and, considering the lack of other metal instruments, a good choice of material.

Ye Chong approached the mining dugout, and the village miners quickly made way for him.

The dugout was quite deep, and at the bottom was smoke-gray soil. This was odd. Ye Chong remembered clearly that the soil was brown when they first started mining. He had never seen gray soil like this before, and it was quite strange.

Ye Chong said nothing as he leaped straight into the dugout.

He bent down and dug up a handful of the gray soil. It felt heavy and tightly packed.

“We came up to this layer of gray earth today. The layer is too hard. We only managed to dig slightly deeper after a whole afternoon, so I thought you should see it, sir.” Sang Pu explained. Ye Chong did not expect there to be such a layer of hard gray soil deep under, mixed in with the lavahold ore. The gray layer was extremely hard. Metal instruments might make work easier, but the villagers only had everthorn wood instruments, which made progress harder and much slower. Besides, the everthorn instruments were already quite worn out, slowing their progress even further.

Ye Chong did not seem to hear Sang Pu, his eyes staring straight at the soil beneath. Ye Chong almost choked himself! He did not hear a word from Sang Pu, his eyes completely focused on the thumb-sized gray crystals mixed together with the gray soil.

He carefully picked out one of the gray crystals and put it on his palm, studying it closely.

It was nonlinear cobalite! He recognized it immediately, and was positively overjoyed by the discovery. This was one of the materials he had been searching for. Nonlinear cobalite was an important material to harvest energy from teardrop mineralite. With this mineral, the teardrop mineralite would be more than just a decoration. A teardrop mineralite powered mech or warship was truly terrifying – that was the conclusion that Ye Chong, Mu and Shang had arrived at after detailed calculations!

However, Ye Chong’s mood quickly dampened. While he was indeed searching for nonlinear cobalite, this was not what he needed the most right now. Ye Chong smiled wryly as he casually picked out a few of them. He had only three teardrop mineralites; they would not need so much nonlinear cobalite. Just as he was about to leave, Ye Chong suddenly had an epiphany.

Abruptly, Ye Chong stood up, his eyes widened.

He pulled Sang Pu to him and gave a few instructions before running back to the village. Sang Pu was worried that Ye Chong might come across any danger, and so ordered a few men to follow him back.

Sang Pu watched helplessly at Ye Chong’s quickly disappearing figure. The problem before him was still unsolved. It seemed that it was up to him in the end.

Ye Chong ran like the wind, and finally arrived at his laboratory. The helpers stared at his rushed entrance. To them, the man was always calm and collected, to an eerie degree. Many times they wondered if he would have any other expression on his face.

Ye Chong ignored them and went straight to his workbench.

Night fell.

Sang Fan was the second last person to leave the lab, leaving Ye Chong alone. As he left, he quietly closed the laboratory door behind him with deference. Ye Chong was completely engrossed in his experiment, and did not notice Sang Fan’s exit.

As he stepped outside the lab, Sang Fan finally felt fatigue overtaking him. The intense work every day left him sleepy by the end of the day. It was dark outside, and aside from the patrols, everyone in the village had slept. During the day, everyone worked long and hard. All the villagers knew that the Sang family was undergoing a transformation, one they had waited for centuries. There was no need for further motivation. Everyone did their part earnestly.

A breeze swept by. The Sang Family Village was like a youth, full of hope for the future as it fell silent at night. Sang Fan finally reached home, and went to bed straight away.

Boom!

There was a loud explosion. The violent explosion woke up the entire village. People began to run towards the explosion site. They were the village’s elites, and responded the fastest, running out without even taking off their sleeping gowns. Soon, the entire Sang Family Village came alive, as the villagers lighted up their homes.

All the villagers were shocked. They had never heard such a loud sound before. With their primitive ways, there was never an explosion to begin with. However, none of the villagers showed fear.

Soon, they found the source of the explosion. It was Ye Chong’s laboratory!

The villagers got worried. The man was very important to them, the only hope for their future.

Thick, white smoke was coming from the laboratory. The smoke was so thick, it looked solid. Was the lab on fire? Old Sang De was startled. He ran towards the lab, ahead of everyone else despite his age, and shouted, “Pu, put out the fire!”

Sang Pu acknowledged, his expression unchanged, but his eyes betrayed his emotions. He waved, and the villagers around him began to fetch water containers.

Before he reached the lab, Old Sang De ordered, “Cheng, go have a look.”

A dark and athletic man beside Old Sang De acknowledged, and made to run into the smoke.

Just then, out came a man from the white smoke. It was night time, but all the villagers knew it was Ye Chong.

Seeing Ye Chong unharmed, Old Sang De was overjoyed. “You alright, sir?”

Ye Chong waved slightly and said, “I’m fine.” He was a sorry figure, his clothing covered with holes, with some places burnt into crisps. His hair was all ruffled like a bird’s nest, and his face was covered with soot.

The villagers were curious. Just what experiment was he up to, to lead to such a violent ending?

Ye Chong may look pitiful, but his eyes were shining with a rare glint of joy.

He had a breakthrough! He had finally found the solution! He could now harvest the energy from the mildstone. The discovery of the nonlinear cobalite had urged him to consider, if the mineral could be used to harvest energy from teardrop mineralite, could it also be used for the mildstone?

Ye Chong had returned to the lab and began experimenting immediately. His suspicion proved to be true! He had finally found the key to the mildstone problem, but the explosion had occurred since he could not control the energy release well. Fortunately, Ye Chong reacted in that split second and avoided the explosion. Even so, he was still completely covered in soot.

It was only an accident, with no casualties. However, when villagers entered the lab, seeing the mess inside, they found that the solid rock workbench was reduced to rubble, and gasped in surprise! What powerful destruction! Their first impression of this unknown power was mysteriousness and invincibility. They also associated this impression with the man who created this power. Ye Chong could see the villagers looking at him with reverence.

Ye Chong was relieved to find that the photon processor was safely sitting in its corner. This was his most advanced “weapon”. Ye Chong’s helpers had arrived, and were shocked to see the state of the lab. However, they took a glance at Ye Chong and realized immediately that it was his handiwork, and so began to clean up the lab.

In the coming days, Ye Chong stopped his training routine and worked on the mildstone. Now that he found the key, research progressed smoothly. Sang Fan and others did not know what Ye Chong was doing with the mildstone everyday, but they knew that the tasks assigned to them were important. They must analyze all the native plants and ores, and record the results in the photon processor to build a complete database. While they did not understand the bigger picture that their tasks were leading towards, they still continued to work earnestly, including the elderly Sang Rubei.

The way Ye Chong was, it would only be weirder if he explained his intentions to them.

Every member of the Sang Family Village were put to use, and the military discipline had raised their efficiency. When Ye Chong was done with the most important experiment and left the lab, he was surprised to find that everyone was already equipped with a metal weapon. They were all jubilant and excited, and the atmosphere was a cheerful one. Not only that, even the tools in the women’s hands were made of lavagold.

With the exception of Ye Chong, no one knew what an uproar their primitive and simple lavagold tools would cause if they ever made their way to the Five Galaxies!

Ye Chong’s expression did not change, but he was moved inside. All of a sudden, he recalled the times when he dug out some useful treasure out of the trash mountains on the trash planet. Back then, he would be so happy and excited from his findings, but as he learned more and more, these treasures became fewer and fewer. Given that he had seen even the rare minerals like the Do Kun stone and the teardrop mineralite, there were not many things left that he could be excited about.

“Sir, the database is about complete!” Sang Fan came to Ye Chong’s side and reported.

Ye Chong was surprised. “So soon?” He had expected the work to be dry and time-consuming.

Sang Fan explained, “Grandpa Bei joined us, so we finished faster than expected.” Ye Chong realized then. Sang Fan stood at attention, hands at his sides, looking like a completely different person. He was now more mature, only his eyes would sometimes betray his once youthful liveliness.

In theory, he had already found a workable solution. The main experiments were completed, and it was time to build the final product. If the engines worked, then he would be able to build flying machines. He would then be one step closer towards saving Mu and Shang.

“How are they doing now?” Ye Chong wondered to himself, and was for a brief moment, lost in thought.

Sang Fan looked strangely at Ye Chong. Melancholy looked odd on the face of a man who was usually cold and expressionless. “Sir must have his own stories to tell,” Sang Fan thought to himself. The world outside must definitely be more interesting than here.

“Where can I find wild animals nearby?” Ye Chong asked abruptly.

Sang Fan broke off his thoughts and answered reflexively, “Turn left from the village exit, and go past two hills. There are plenty there.”

“Let’s go. Lead the way,” Ye Chong spoke crisply.

“Oh, alright,” Sang Fan answered almost instinctively. He took a step forward, but quickly realized his own confusion. “Why do you want the animals, sir?” He groaned inwardly. Wild animals were always the Sang family’s greatest enemy. In the past five centuries, all members of the Sang family had fought against the beasts. Even though they were all equipped with metal weapons now, it was still not enough to give them a definite advantage.

The man might not know of the ferocity of the wild animals on Archipelago, but Sang Fan would, having grown up here himself. He decided to advise the man against meddling with the animals. However, he was not sure if he would succeed. If the man was determined, then he would have to ask the village head to assign him with guards.

“I need skeletal material,” Ye Chong answered succinctly.

“Skeletal material? You mean animal bones?” Sang Fan asked, curious. It was the first time he heard of the bones being referred to this way.

Ye Chong nodded. “Yes.”

Sang Fan heaved a sigh of relief, and his expression relaxed. “I see, I know just the place!’

e Chong followed Sang Fan. They did not leave the village, but headed towards the back instead. Ye Chong had never been here before. His days in the village had been spent on research almost every day, and he had never bothered to study the area. If this was in the past, Ye Chong would see it as a fatal mistake.

Unlike in the Five Galaxies, Ye Chong saw no one idling. All the villagers walked around purposefully.

Sang Fan pointed to a cavern in the mountain ahead and introduced to him, “Right in front is where the bone dumping site is, there’s plenty of bones there. Maybe they’ll suit your purpose, sir?”

The cavern entrance was not large, probably allowing only two of three mechs to enter side by side. However, for Sang Fan and Ye Chong, it was wide enough.

Once he entered the cavern, Ye Chong stared in shock!

There were mountains of them! Here were truly mountains of skeletons. They reminded Ye Chong of the trash mountains on the trash planet, only now they were mountains of bones.

Sang Fan explained, “The animals we hunted, we eat their meat and take their hide, but the bones are useless. They’re too many of them, though, and it’s not good to just throw them anywhere we wished, so we chose a place to dump them. Usually, no one comes here, except for the youngsters.”

Ye Chong recovered himself by then, and asked, “What for?”

“The bones are strong, and sometimes colorful, making good and lasting ornaments or jewelry. It’s been long since people used them to make love tokens, and it has since become tradition. We call them skeleton love tokens. Every young person, man or woman, has to learn how to make them to propose for marriage. The skeleton love token must be made by hand, or it’ll not be convincing.” Sang Fan quickly added, “Making skeleton love tokens is tough work, relying only on water to shape the bones. The stronger the skeleton used, the better. We didn’t have lavagold before, so we’d use rocks to shape the skeletons. A complicated design could take months, and the chances of success in your first try is very low. So, generally speaking, if you don’t really love your partner, you wouldn’t even try making this skeleton love token.”

As Ye Chong listened to Sang Fan, he could almost hear Shang sighing in his head, “These days, no matter where you are, girls are so hard to get!”

Ye Chong suddenly turned to Sang Fan and asked, “Have you ever tried making one?”

Sang Fan immediately blushed, and answered awkwardly, “Ye – Yes.”

Ye Chong was amused by his reaction, and asked again, “For whom?”

Sang Fan blushed into an even darker red, and replied very quietly, “Sang Ling.”

Ah, no wonder Sang Ling had looked at him apprehensively that time when Sang Fan was injured. She was probably mad that he did not interfere earlier. They were actually a pair. Ye Chong was no longer as obtuse in these matters as he was before.

However, understanding their relationship did not mean approving her reaction. Everyone had their preferred style of doing things. Given the chance, Ye Chong would not change what he did back then.

Ye Chong looked back at the mountains of skeletons, his eyes that were usually calm as ice were now burning fervently. There was probably no skeleton artisan who could stay looking at so many skeletons. Ye Chong certainly could not.

What excited him was not the volume, but the quality of these skeletons. Ye Chong had seen plenty of skeletons himself, and he tell just by looking the properties of these skeletons. Here, in the mountains of skeletons, their quality was enough to blow his mind!

Heavens! What was this place? Ye Chong felt like sighing out loud. There was lavagold, then nonlinear cobalite, and other rare ores. Even the skeletons were all top class. It seemed like the Heavens was trying to compensate for the Sang family’s suffering by offering these rarities during their long centuries of suffering.

With strong gravity, skeletons of the native animals were denser than normal, and that was why they had excellent quality. Ye Chong realized this some time later.

After selecting a few suitable skeletons, Ye Chong and Sang Fan returned to the laboratory. Sang Fan was vexed. What would the man need skeletons for? Could it be to make a skeleton love token? The thought was rejected immediately. With his cold temperance, how would he? Besides, based on the size of the skeletons, it seemed even more unlikely.

Back in the lab, Ye Chong first built a few odd-looking tools, all made from lavagold.

What he did next left Sang Fan and the rest of his helpers stunned.

Ye Chong used his handmade tools and began to work on the skeletons. The skeletons began to take on different shapes as Ye Chong worked, all looking odd and unusual. The helpers discussed among themselves, trying to guess what he was up to, but to no avail. However, they all agreed on one thing, which was that he was not making any jewelry at all.

Even so, the man’s craftsmanship was enough to make them jealous. The skeletons may look odd after shaping, but they were all intricate and well crafted. They were so interesting that even the village head stopped to have a good look at the incomplete project components when he was visiting. If someone had the master’s skills, the skeleton love token he made would definitely …

The youngsters who had not made their own skeleton love tokens decided then that, when the man was finished with his project, they would ask for him to teach them how to carve skeletons. With this skill, the skeleton love tokens they make would be lovely, and the perfect gift to win the hearts of their love interests. For now, however, they dared not interrupt Ye Chong. They waited, interested and expectant of the project that he was working on.

With Ye Chong himself doing the actual work, his impeccable skills were fully displayed. The young men all watched with great reverence and respect.

Ye Chong finally stopped working. Before him were all the skeletal parts he had made, neatly arranged on the workbench.

The moment everyone was waiting for had finally arrived. Knowing that Ye Chong would complete his project today, even the usually indifferent village head, Old Sang De came to have a look himself. Together with him were Sang Pu, Sang Ling and the others. They all watched Ye Chong quietly from the side.

Ye Chong had gone through the designs at least a dozen times, and he checked the skeleton parts until he was finally satisfied. He breathed in deeply a few times, his expression solemn, and began to put the parts together. He picked up the parts quickly, and assembled them easily and accurately. He moved confidently with a sense of familiarity, as though he had practiced more than a few times, in a stunning rhythm of motion.

Everyone in the lab was surprised to no end. They did not know what Ye Chong as up to, but that did not stop them from appreciating the significance of this assembling work. Ye Chong’s hands moved gracefully like a magician’s, the natural flow touching the hearts of his audience. He was like the perfect image of proficiency and accuracy.

Everyone watched Ye Chong’s hands as they moved here and there on the workbench. In the silent room, one could only hear the soft clink of skeleton parts being fitted together. No one blinked. They were all curious – what was the flawless final product that would be born from his pair of hands?

Ding! The final part was assembled in place. Ye Chong looked at his work, satisfied. Considering the lack of more precise instruments, he was at least satisfied with this level of work. While he was already aware of it, the toughness of the skeletons still surprised him. He had worn out at least a few lavagold tools.

Unlike Ye Chong, the other people in the room seemed disappointed. That was because the final product looked terrible. It was made up of skeletons in various colors, shaped like a huge egg. With the exception of a few see-through holes, the surface of the egg was dull and uninteresting.

“Sir, what is this?” Sang Fan voiced out the question in everyone’s mind.

“Engine,” Ye Chong succinctly.

Confusion showed on everyone’s face. The term was too unfamiliar to them.

“It’s the core of a mech,” said Ye Chong.

His audience realized then. All their confusion was thrown out the window, replaced with great respect. To them, mechs had always represented power, a most formidable and mysterious power! One of the helpers who had wanted to touch the engine quickly pulled his hand back.

Could it be, that the man wanted to build a mech? Some of the smarter ones realized this. If that was the case, then …

Their faces lit up with uncontained joy.

Ye Chong ignored them, however, deep in his own thoughts. The engine was designed based on the Destiny engine model. It was powered by the mildstone, which he recently had a breakthrough with.

Now, it was time for the final test.

Ye Chong opened a flap, and slipped in a square mildstone that he had shaped earlier into an indentation inside the engine. He closed the flap and pressed on the ignition button. The engine began to hiss on the workbench. The holes in the engine blew a steady airstream. Sang Fan and the rest stared in awe.

The engine was running steadily.

Ye Chong’s face was calm as ever, but his hands were gripping tightly – success!

n the hilltop beside the village stood Old Sang De and some other villagers. They did not look as assured as they usually were. Their faces were white as sheets. Even Ye Chong’s expression showed a little worry.

Far away, a black horizon seemed to creep closer and closer towards them. They could all see it, clear as day.

It was a stampede of wild animals, heading their way. It was a magnificent view, such that even Ye Chong, who did not lack experience with grand situations, felt slightly chilled inside. The stampede was made up of all kinds of animals. However, they did not seem bothered with each other, running like their lives depended on it, as though something terrifying was coming after them from behind.

Everything seemed tiny compared to this animal stampede. Nothing could stand in its way.

Rumble! Rumble!

The earth shook. The stampede was loud. No one could remain calm against this adversary.

Ye Chong was the first to recover from his initial shock. He turned to the pale village head, Old Sang De and asked, “What’s happening?”

Old Sang De did not seem like himself, only muttering incoherently, “How could this be … How could this be …”

Everyone was panicking. Ye Chong could only turn back to look at the stampede as he waited for them to calm down. The stampede was still some distance away. Besides, judging from the direction of movement, the animals would probably pass by the plains in front of the Sang Family Village.

As everyone stood around in shock, Ye Chong sat in a corner as he waited for them to calm down in order to find out what was happening. He could see from their looks that they knew what was happening, but were strongly affected by it.

Ye Chong did not panic, nor did he get too excited. He watched calmly like a third party observer. The ground beneath him shook, and the rumbling sound came like thunder from afar. Ye Chong watched calmly at the animals running for their lives.

‘”What’s happening?” After a while, Ye Chong asked calmly, pointing towards the stampede. He had heard Old Sang De’s breathing becoming calmer.

Old Sang De answered with a trembling voice, “It’s the beast stampede … The beast stampede … 10 years … There should be 10 more years …” Old Sang De spoke hopelessly.

Beast stampede? Ye Chong did not understand.

Old Sang De vented his frustration for a while before finally calming down, and began to explain to Ye Chong about the beast stampede.

The beast stampede happens once every 200 years. These wild animals were herded. Archipelago’s beast stampede was caused by the migration of a particular species of bird. The steelbat was a bird species that lived in the deepest parts of the Archipelago, and the real king of this world. Their sharp claws and steely beaks and legs could break through the defenses of a scalex, king of the land animals. With the exception of the animals that lived underwater, the steelbats were the nemesis of all other beasts. This supremacy was a result of their ability to fly.

The most terrifying thing about the steelbats was that they always come in swarms, in the hundreds and thousands.

The beast stampede was caused by these steelbats. Every 200 years, the steelbats would migrate. They could group together and fly towards the other side of the Archipelago. Steelbats liked to kill during their migration. Any animals in their way would be killed. With the advantage of flight, they were an uncontrollable killing wave. Hence, about three months before the migration began, the sensitive animals would run desperately to save themselves, hence causing the beast stampede.

Ye Chong was speechless. He never imagined that an animal could be so terrifying. However, he quickly accepted the fact. It was logical that the flying steelbats had the definite upper hand. Besides, with their offensive claws and beaks, it was no wonder that they were at the top of the food chain.

Old Sang De felt hopeless. “I didn’t think that the beast stampede this time would happen 10 years earlier. It looks like we’ll have to move with the beasts. But we’re not prepared this time, we’re not …” Everyone looked grim. A large scale migration was not so easy to achieve. No one knew what lay ahead. Without preparation, a long distance migration like this would be disastrous for the villagers.

“We’re migrating too?” Ye Chong asked abruptly.

Old Sang De replied helplessly, “Or what? The steelbats always come in huge waves. According to our ancestors, whenever the steelbats come, they would cover the skies. The migration would take an entire month. No one wants to leave here. We don’t even know what’s ahead of our journey. However, we’re defenseless against the steelbats.” Old Sang De looked pathetic, and the people around him also wore saddened expressions.

“The beast stampede happens three months before the steelbats migrate, right?” Ye Chong asked suddenly.

“Yes,” Old Sang De answered carelessly.

“Three months …” Ye Chong muttered as he made a quick estimation. If they migrate now, no one knew when they would reach safety. His plan to safe Mu and Shang would also be ruined.

“Those d*mned steelbats!” Ye Chong cursed inwardly at the species that he had never even met before.

According to Old Sang De, the steelbats were very formidable. However, Ye Chong believed that no matter how powerful animals were, they were still animals, and could never compete against humans. If they had mechs, they would never be so afraid of the steelbats! In the Five Galaxies, there were even adventurers who specialized in hunting mutants.

“Mechs!” Ye Chong realized then. “That’s right, mechs!”

Ye Chong did a quick calculation in his mind, and made his decision.

Ye Chong asked Old Sang De, “The migration this time, how many do you think will survive it?”

The question was the centre of Old Sang De’s worries. He replied in a frail voice, “If we’re lucky, maybe a third of us. The mayaberries still need another two months to ripen. We don’t have enough food.” However, he quickly gathered himself and said, “Don’t worry, sir, we will ensure your safety. Once we reach our new home, you’ll be able to help us thrive again, sir.” Old Sang De looked to Ye Chong sincerely.

“I have a plan,” Ye Chong said plainly, looking straight back at Old Sang De.

The atmosphere in the Sang Family Village was hectic. Everyone busied themselves with their tasks.

At the bone dumping site, the villagers made a long line, with Sang Ling and Sang Fan at the entrance to organize them. Every villager received some skeletons from Sang Fan, and an animal hide with a picture drawn on it from Sang Ling.

Sang Fan raised his voice and said, “Everyone listen up, once you get your skeletons, carve them based on the drawings that Sang Ling pass to you. You must have received the tools from our good sir. You’ve all made skeleton love tokens before, so this will not be hard. However, remember, you must follow the drawings exactly when you carve. Once you’re done, pass the skeletons to me for inspection. If you ruined your skeletons, come here and find another one yourself. I believe you all know what’s happening now. Yesterday, the beast stampede had begun. Right now, what we’re doing is for the protection of the Sang Family Village. Everyone, please work as fast as you can. Our survival depends on it. The more skeletons you carve, the better our chances to survive this. Understand?”

“Understood!” The villagers promised in reply.

The 300 most skillful carvers of the village were gathered together. They worked like students, silently and intently. Leading them was the second most influential person in the village, the healer Sang Rubei.

The short, old man looked solemn. He spoke lowly, “Your tasks are key to our plan. The drawing you see before you is your carving objective. Everyone is assigned with only one kind of part. From today onwards, your job is to carve, and only carve. Food will be sent to you. All you need to do is carve and carve. The fate of the village lies in your hands. Let’s work hard!”

“Yes.” The reply came not too loudly, but in perfect sync.

All the women and children were assigned with other tasks by the village head. “Those in charge of the mayaberries, your tasks remain unchanged. We are two months from harvesting, do not slack in your duties. The village depends on you.”

A middle aged woman answered for the rest, “Don’t feel sorry, Village Head, we’ll be diligent.”

Old Sang De nodded, satisfied. He then turned to the younger people around him and said, “Children, it’s time for you to contribute to the village, are you afraid to work hard?”

“No!” The innocent, young voices replied in waves, but there was the unmistakable quality of youthful vigor.

“Alright, you’re all good children!” Old Sang De look at them warmly, patting one of them on the head in gratefulness. “Now this grandfather here has a mission for you. You see those mildstones? You’ll each get a box later. All you have to do is to shape them such that they could fit inside the box. Remember, they must fit exactly.”

“Okay,” the children answered with determination.

e Chong stood in front of the battalion, lead by Sang Pu. This 500-strong battalion consisted of the Sang Family Village’s strongest. They were all the cream of the crop. All the lavagold mined by the Sang Family Village had been used up by Ye Chong, converted into the lavagold swords and pikes in their hands. The pikes, made completely of lavagold, looked the same as their bitterwood counterparts. The village head, Sang De was deeply reluctant to use such a large amount of lavagold.

500 villagers stood silently at attention, looking capable and deadly. Ye Chong nodded, satisfied. For someone like him, who had a long history of fighting for his life, he knew that the aura emanating from this battalion could only be the result of a long history of war and killing. Only true veterans would have this aura. Even the strongest mech pilots from the Five Galaxies or the Four Forces would not be like this. It had been too long since their last war!

The villagers here had battled against the wild beasts that were even stronger than mutants every day, due to their primitive technology. Training began since they were young, and they had grown up fighting for their lives. From this, warriors were born. Ye Chong believed that no other soldiers would be so determined as the villagers here were when it came to war.

Ye Chong spoke slowly with a solemn and steely voice, “Our objective is to hunt. 10 days. We only have 10 days left.” There was no need for more elaboration with this battalion. He gave the order without further explanation. In 10 days, they should have their first batch of products.

The tension was heavy enough to suffocate.

“Pu, you’re in command.”

“Yes sir,” Sang Pu bowed and took over. Ye Chong withdrew Han Jia, slipped into the pilot cabin and flew off.

Sang Pu looked up at Han Jia in the air, for a moment, jealous of the mech. However, he quickly lowered his gaze to the battalion and waved. “Move out.”

The battalion divided into tens of platoons, quickly moving out of the village. The 500-strong battalion moved silently. Ye Chong feasted at the sight of the platoons moving around each other, covering their comrades as they advanced.

The animals outside the village did not notice the Sang Family Village. They were focused on only running. However, some of the wild beasts would still run into the valley in front of the Sang Family Village. Ye Chong’s targets were these animals. No one dared to meddle with the larger stampede outside, or they would risk being run over by the massive stampede before the steelbats even arrived.

Every platoon was tasked to hunt one animal. They evaded attacks as they ambushed or lured their prey, or worked with other platoons to hunt the animals down. The animals were quickly killed. Ye Chong was impressed with their efficiency. The villagers battle strategies were also quite the eye-opener.

They reminded him of Black Cove and the Sanctuary.

They fought at close range, like Black Cove mech pilots, but their cooperative strategies bore resemblance to the Sanctuary. However, compared to the Sanctuary, they had no mechs. The instinctive cooperation between the villagers was born out of actual combat experience, and definitely more superior. They were also more experienced and knowledgeable in terms of strategizing.

Soon, the attacks became swifter and deadlier, as the villagers got used to their new weapons.

Ye Chong grew excited as he watched the villagers fight. His fingers moved, and Han Jia swoop down to attack.

The villagers looked up the God-like Han Jia with reverence. What the mech did next impressed even the most elite of the villagers. Was this the true power of a mech?

Han Jia’s two one-and-a-half-meter gray daggers were sharp. No animal would be able to stop them. The mech’s lithe figure danced purposefully across the sky as the villagers watched in awe. Often, the mech would take down a few wild beasts at a time. The man was as dangerous as the rumors told. The daggers reflected a silvery gleam of death, fatal in its every attack. The animals were all cut or stabbed at vulnerable places, such as the throat or the heart. The villagers shuddered as they watched, thinking, “Thank the Heavens that he’s on our side.”

The villagers ignored the dead animals, and continued to find other living ones in the valley. The hunt was still on.

Ten days passed. With Ye Chong joining in, and the new weapons they had, the operation was fruitful, yielding more than anyone had anticipated. When Sang Pu arranged for the villagers to move the first day’s kills into the village, the villagers were shocked to see the valley covered with animal bodies, some still warm. The valley was thick with the scent of blood.

After the initial shock, everyone was overjoyed. To them, these dead animals were food. With so many animals, it would last them for quite a while.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. The entire Sang Family Village bustled with activity every day like clockwork. Everyone looked tired, with red puffy eyes, but no one gave up on their tasks to rest. Everyone was working hard for the fates of their own, their families, and the village itself. They may not completely understand their tasks, but no one questioned the importance of them, since the tasks came from the honored man himself.

The villagers were hopeless when they first saw the beast stampede. Some even thought it was the end of the world. The honored man, strong and mysterious as he was, however, had brought them hope.

Everyone respected the young man from the bottom of their hearts. The man led the hunting team during the day, and continued to work until the late night.

After 10 days, the first batch of products were finished. Spread before Ye Chong was a bunch of parts, arranged based on their functionalities. Ye Chong’s helpers listened to him as he explained.

“This engine model is quite easy to assemble. See this, there’s a V-shaped wedge here. And here …” Ye Chong assembled the engine, part by part. Due to the circumstances, he had vastly simplified this Destiny engine model.

This was Ye Chong’s plan – through the enormous amount of animal skeletons and available manpower, they would mass produce the simplest full-skeleton mechs and prepare for a battle to protect the Sang Family Village.

The enviable resources here had allowed Ye Chong to even consider this plan. The skeletons were dense and tough, with excellent properties. Ye Chong did not even need to chemically process them. All villagers of age here have had some experience in skeleton carving, and that provided enough manpower to carve the skeleton parts. With skeletons accumulated over centuries in the dumping site, Ye Chong did not need to hunt more animals for raw material.

More importantly, if they could not survive this trial, he would not be able to rescue Mu and Shang in the Red Sea. Ye Chong could only try his best to come up with a solution.

The 10-day hunting spree, with Ye Chong’s aid, had resulted in a large amount of meat available for the villagers. The meat was processed and stored. The cave used to store food was almost filled up. With the mayaberries ripening in another two months, the food would be enough to last them for a long time. The 10-day hunt had depleted all of Han Jia’s energy cells. However, Ye Chong did not worry about it. He knew that once the steelbats arrived, his mech would not make a significant difference in the final outcome.

When he first saw the storage cavern, Ye Chong had thought of excavating a cave for shelter. Later, Old Sang De had explained to him that the caves he saw in Archipelago were naturally formed. Digging was extremely difficult here. The earth was unusually solid, and it grew steadily harder the deeper one went. Excavating a cave enough to fit a hundred people would take a very long time, even with the lavagold tools they had. Before this, they did not even consider it a possibility.

After seeing the final assembled product, even Ye Chong was not confident of its capabilities.

By Ye Chong’s standard, this was not really a mech. Since there was no photon processor, Ye Chong could not build a conventional mech. He was actually inspired by racing mechs, the kind built for speed. From an aerodynamic point of view, the usual mech design was not suitable for high speeds.

Ye Chong’s design was based on simple principles. It must be easy to assemble, able to fly, and armed with some offensive capabilities.

Based on these principles, Ye Chong came up with the current design.

The mech’s main body was shaped like a water droplet, with four sharp skeleton blades inlaid on its surface, much like four leaves on a water droplet. At the tip of the water-droplet body, was a sharp skeleton spear. This spear was replaceable, and was firmly attached to the body.

There were no photon circuits or the like in this thing. All the parts were connected through the most basic mechanical joints.

While the thing could fly, in theory, Ye Chong doubted its reliability. He looked around him. It seemed that he was the only suitable candidate to test fly this vehicle.

He opened the cabin door. Simple cabin pressurization was not a problem for Ye Chong. Ye Chong was quite satisfied with its hydraulic suspension system. Sang Fan had found a type of liquid by accident, that was quite suited for this purpose.

“At least it’s a kind of protection for the pilot,” Ye Chong could only console himself so.

here was no communication system, no photon processor, no holographic scanning system, no mechanical arm, no nothing. This was such a bare unit. If it was in the Five Galaxies, Ye Chong would be too embarrassed to show it. Now though, he had no choice.

Ye Chong sat in the pilot cabin, studying the primitive control levers, more than vexed. Was this really a control dashboard? What a joke! How can there be a dashboard without a photon processor?

As the designer, Ye Chong was at least familiar with the control levers.

He tried pulling the lever up, and the machine lifted off silently into the air. The Destiny engine was truly powerful, even in its simplified form. The engine was the part that Ye Chong was happiest with. The performance of a simplified Destiny engine powered by mildstone was much better than he anticipated.

“Good Heavens, it can fly?”

“Is this a mech?” Ye Chong’s helpers all stared in wonder, discussing amongst themselves. They all looked very excited. Mechs were their biggest dreams. No one had thought that the good sir was actually building a mech!

Swish! The mech flew off swiftly like an arrow.

After the initial confusion, Ye Chong quickly got used to handling the control levers. He maneuvered the mech more confidently and easily. The empty sky allowed him to fly without worry.

All in all, Ye Chong was quite satisfied with this flying machine.

The machine’s main strength was its wonderful speed. While he could not exactly measure it, Ye Chong estimated from his experience that it could reach around Mach 15 to Mach 20. This was within the atmosphere. If it was in outer space, Ye Chong believed that it could go even faster.

Another advantage was its ability to change course. The machine was fitted with many auxiliary engines that allowed high motion flexibility in space.

Collision – that was the name Ye Chong had in mind for this flying machine, even if it was not really a mech by any standards. It’s main means of offense was the skeleton spear at its tip, and the attack method was by a collision with the enemy. Ye Chong had prepared two types of skeleton spears for the mech. One was the five-meter long spear fitted on his unit right now. At high speeds, its sharp tip could break through very thick barriers. Ye Chong believed that even Han Jia could be penetrated if it was hit. However, the spear broke easily, and was not suitable for prolonged combat.

The other type of spear was only two meters long, with a thicker shaft, and looked more like a rounded stump. While it could not deal as much damage as the former type of spear, it was harder to break, and suitable to use repeatedly. With Collision’s speed, Ye Chong believed that any mech would suffer a dent from the attack of this spear. It it was a mech with thinner armour, it might even be reduced to a wreckage.

Aside from the spear, Collision also had its four sharply honed skeleton fins.

It was obvious that Collision’s power came from its excellent speed. Without it, the mech would be totally useless. If it was not for the current situation, no one would have built a machine so full of weaknesses. After all, with such a powerful engine, it could be fitted into an actual mech, complete with far superior combat abilities, and not a simple machine like this.

Ye Chong felt helpless in this situation. Given the resources available, building a flying machine was already a huge success. Collision’s cabin was specially reinforced, since attack by collision was a typical self-damaging means of attack.

Ye Chong did not have high hopes on Collision. As long as they can fight on even ground with the steelbats, he would be satisfied. It would be foolish to use the mech to battle against another mech. Collision was too fragile for that.

Ye Chong never imagined that this third-grade flying machine that he built out of desperation, the primitive and backward Collision, would leave its deep mark in the upcoming battle, the legendary war that would be told for generations to come!

If the Sang Family Village was like a bonfire, then the birth of Collision was like feeding the rage of the fire.

The good sir’s following instructions further stoke their emotions to a higher point.

He personally selected the 500 villagers whom Sang Pu had led into the hunting operation to be the first of them all to learn how to fly Collision. Everyone went crazy! They quickly worked on the skeleton parts, hoping to be the next ones to learn to fly Collision. Everyone realised that the dream they always had was now close within their grasps.

The busiest villagers were Sang Fan and his team. If the 500 villagers were to all learn how to fly Collision, then there must be 500 Collision mechs ready for use. Sang Fan received permission from Ye Chong to expand his assembly team to speed up production. As the crew of skeleton carvers grew more familiar with their tasks, the parts began to arrive faster. Collision’s production accelerated every day.

Ye Chong admired the Sang family villagers greatly. They were down-to-earth, hardworking, brave, and disciplined. They were excellent warriors in all respects.

These qualities were apparent from the 500 villagers learning to fly Collision. None of them backed out. They did not fear death, only lack of action. They improved so fast that even Ye Chong was surprised. It was as though they were all talented in flying Collisions. Their hands moved quickly, and they did not suffer any undesirable side effects from flying.

However, Ye Chong quickly realised the reason for this. The villagers were all combat experts. Ye Chong was certain that even a Jie expert from the Five Galaxies would have a hard time facing any of the villagers. The villagers were quick and sensitive, their numerous battles for survival strengthening their determination and mental fortitude. Those were the reasons for their swift improvement.

If it were conventional mechs, they would not have improved so fast. Conventional mechs were far more complicated than Collision. The control dashboard was more convenient for normal mech pilots, allowing them more flexibility in the mech’s movements. However, for the uninitiated like the Sang family villagers, primitive control levers were easier to learn.

The only thing they needed to learn with Collision was how to fly it.

Ye Chong taught them everything he knew, and their performance continued to surprise him. For example, when Ye Chong taught them evasive maneuvers, they quickly came up with their own techniques, and most of them were quite effective. They quickly mastered Collision’s only way of attacking. It occurred to Ye Chong then that if the mechs from the Five Galaxies were to face these villagers in Collision, it would not be an easy battle.

What impressed Ye Chong the most was their cooperation. Ye Chong was not aware of this, but while the villagers approved of individual strength, then did not subscribe to solo heroism. Here, an individual’s strength was too little. Without cooperation, one would live a short life.

The intuition they developed from a long history of fighting together now provided them with a strong advantage. Everyone knew their roles, and what they could do to improve their position. This was intriguing to Ye Chong, since he knew that Collision was not equipped with any communication device.

Time was growing short. The beast stampede continued before the valley in front of the village. The day the steelbats arrived was approaching. However, all the villagers felt confident, as they continued with their tasks.

The second batch of mech pilots to receive training numbered 10,000. Their instructors were the first 500 villagers. Ye Chong handed over the training to Sang Pu, since he noticed that the man was actually an excellent instructor. Sang Pu was more skilled in strategizing and analyzing battles, unlike an amateur like himself.

Everything proceeded as planned. There was Sang Pu for flying instructions, Sang Fan for mech assembly, Sang Rube for engine manufacture, Sang Ling for mech parts, and the village head himself, Sang De for mildstone shaping and mayaberry harvesting. Ye Chong suddenly found himself idle.

He thought of Han Jia with its nearly empty energy cell, and decided that it was time to do something about it. With nonlinear cobalite, Ye Chong planned to insert a teardrop mineralite into Han Jia. He was already very familiar with how to harvest energy from teardrop mineralite, so the modification on Han Jia did not take to long. He was surprised, however, to find that the teardrop mineralite could amplify the power of the Destiny engine.

If Mu and Shang’s theory was right, then this teardrop mineralite could last Han Jia for a century.

Ye Chong really wanted to do some research on this mysterious teardrop mineralite, but he only had two pieces with him, and they were too precious to experiment with.

Now that he was in the mood for research, Ye Chong directed his enthusiasm towards mildstone. Ye Chong thought highly of this mildstone as well. While it was not as powerful as teardrop mineralite, it was still the only mineral here that could store enough energy to power their hopes.

Energy was the core of modern science and technology.

Besides, there was another thing about mildstone that Ye Chong noticed. The last time he accidentally caused a mildstone to explode, he remembered the huge destructive power clearly. Milestone could definitely store a huge amount of energy. If all these energy could be released in a short burst, it would be quite destructive.

s far as Ye Chong was concerned, the current pattern of Collision’s attack would be too simple to face against the raid. Assuming the description by the chief was true, Ye Chong would not be confident to face the battle.

And the following days, BOOM, passed rather lively at the Sang village, for explosions would come roaring from the sir’s research room along with columns of smoke rising to the sky. Boom! There were even times when they witnessed white light bursting from the place. And to their disbelief, at one time the whole research foundation blasted off itself after an explosion, leaving a giant crater on the ground. Boom!

Boom! Boom! Bang! Boom!

The miraculous part uttered by every villager in their bewilderment was, sir, without fail, had always been coming out in one piece. And as time went, the daily explosion scheme had immersed itself in the routine of the villagers effortlessly. To their shocking discovery, the frequency of explosion had been drastically reduced itself over the time, in the end, no explosion had occurred again.

Klink!

Phew…

Ye Chong took a deep breath, as his squinted eyes set upon the crude-looking sphere resting in his hand. It had the size of his fist and yes he made it; it was his latest invention. The craftsmanship of the appearance did not matter, for that was the last thing on his list.

Ye Chong had invested ounces of his effort into the research of mildstone in order to find a way to trigger the explosion. He even moved everything out from his research room, including that hefty processor. And to make sure that he would not become the mortality of his own experiment, he performed every of his experiment only after putting on the Guardian.

But well, even with the superior guard of the Guardian, Ye Chong remained rolling on the ground upon every chemical reaction. The momentum caused by the blow was not something that the human anatomy was designed for. If it was not the Guardian, he would have been counting his negative health points on the way to hell.

At the very least, eventually, finally, the research had been accomplished.

The valley in the outskirts of the village was the only entrance to the Sang Family village. Ye Chong was dragged there by Sang Pu, along with Sang Fan and Sang Ling. And Sang Ling’s attitude towards Ye Chong had become much more dignified, which was a little uneasy for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong passed Sang Pu a sphere, “Toss this there,” he said while pointing at a slope near the valley.

Sang Pu, although looking bewildered, did not withdraw his swinging arm, instead, his right arm tensed, as he launched that sphere all the way towards the slope at the other side. The force was so strong that one could hear sound of the wind piercing, with a thin lining crossing over the azure.

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion was heard, the landing point of the sphere was engulfed by column of white smoke. Everybody, except for Ye Chong, was stunned by the explosion, as their face flinched with unknown horror.

A giant crater was revealed as the column of white smoke parted away, with a size way larger than the crater Ye Chong made near the research room before.

Gasp! The men and lady breathed in their fear.

“T-t-this… what… is this?” Sang Pu, who tried too hard to act calm, was still clogging on his words. The gigantic crater, as if exerting attraction one-of-a-kind, was taking all of their attention.

Thump! Piles of rocks and earth slid from the top, half of the narrow valley was utterly filled.

“Compression explosives,” Ye Chong stated briefly. He was a little disappointed because the blow did not turn out to be as enormous as he presumed. Ye Chong who had seen an array of fireworks in the darkest space had an unimpressed expression of a boy seeing a simple sparkler on the last night of summer. He actually intended to process the compression explosives into some sort of an additional grenade for the village mech. As habitually as he got whenever mech was concerned, he automatically assumed the foes to be always a mech pilot, one from the 4 forces especially.

Missiles had taken up a dark bloody spot of history of humankind ever since war happened centuries ago. But intergalactic war soon dethroned the almighty missiles after humanity shifted into the galaxy. Additionally as hologramic detection system was invented, missiles again, being the slow and outdated weaponry were forced out of the stage immediately. Then the energy-based weaponry came in and took the place, like the heat-ray guns for example.

Ye Chong did not believe that missile-based weaponry was completely obsolete. He himself had once used a similar weaponry, namely the Beauty’s Secretion. The outcome of the war had taken a turn for him in the end, even with the most fearsome Black Covers. It was not that the missiles could not cause fatal damages to the target mechs, it was simply that they travelled too slowly in the boundless space and with those advanced detection system in-built with vast scope, most missiles would have been annihilated way before they touched the mech or spaceship.

The only fact that led to Ye Chong’s anti-theoretical success was the material itself. Those missiles were solely made out of skeletons, which could go undetected by the system, thus the success of a new silent killer in the dark.

Of course, the concept only remained as a concept, an idea in his mind. Assuming he would really make the compression as a grenade to be launched, he would have to design a kind of miniature engine to help them navigate through the space at considerable distance or it would be hardly anything in the space than a cluster of ornaments to be smashed. Miniature engines were not the hardest part of his plan, the time limitation was however, since every man and woman in the village had been working on the Collision itself.

That was an untick on Ye Chong’s checklist. Inability for mass-production equals “out of his consideration”. Ye Chong was more concerned on how he should resolve the upcoming problem without losing everything.

“Great, sir!” Shouted Sang Fan excitingly, which toppled Ye Chong’s thoughts, “So great! That means we got a new powerful weapon? Compression explosives? Compression explosives! This strength… this marvelous strength… such power!”

“Yeah. Not that marvelous though,” said Ye Chong coldly, “It did give a nice firework but it could hardly travel. No engine, no homing feature either. Not really practical.”

“Engine? Sir?” Sang Fan could not comprehend, “Why would we need engines sir? Why can’t we just toss it?”

Right!

Ye Chong realized something. Sang Fan was right, he did make a mistake. This was never an intergalactic war to begin with! Their enemies were not sheltered in a layer of high quality alloys, they were merely a type of beast rampaging in the woods! With the strength of the Sang, the reachability of the explosives would be more than fearsome!

Ye Chong began visualizing the scene where the villagers launched the grenades over the sky with their strength competent enough for a Jie expert. Horrifying! A tiny piece of rock could already be destructive when it was in the hand of a Jie expert, now replace the rock with an actual bomb, in the hand of the well-trained villagers… Seriously…

Yes! Ye Chong was inspired. Even if the enemies were coming in a mech, the continuous shower lobbed by the villagers would be annihilating at close range!

“Right, sir?” Supported Sang Ling, “Sir please do not forget we had always been guided by rock-tossing daily as we hunt. Everybody knows rock-tossing in the village, who needs to aim anyway?” Sang Ling was right as well. The villagers had been trained to test if there was a gravity region at the front by lobbing a piece of rock. This was their bread and butter, the sole trick for their survival. So everybody must know it well to be able to lob far enough, accurate enough as they pleased.

Hmmm… that means…

Ye Chong got the message quickly, he began mumbling… I seemed to have created a monster for the villagers…

“Sir? Sir!” Sang Pu the silent one suddenly initiated, “Is it possible to block the opening of the valley?”

Ye Chong flinched, “Umm…” He took a glance at the partially blocked valley, “Possible.” He nodded.

“Pu, my brother…” Sang Fan who could not get what Sang Pu meant, asked, “Why would we block the opening?”

“This is the only entrance to our village,” pointed Sang Pu at the opening. “If we blocked it, that means we only have to look up for our battle. We could have lesser distraction on our guard. Also, I was worried that if it was the Steelbat that caused the beast to attack us, they would join the fight too. It would be nasty, so we block the opening, one less thing to worry.”

Ye Chong looked all impressed at Sang Pu. He is the candidate to succeed to the village. Thoughtful, careful to details. The other two Sangs were looking impressed as well.

“Sir. Excuse me…” Sang Fan was too a quick thinker, “Is it possible to blow a hole with compression explosive?”

“Well this…” Ye Chong gave a thought, “Great idea but explosion on a certain orbit of direction would require some works. I was not really an expert on this.”

The Sangs were looking disappointed. It would be wonderful if they could create caves in a split second since with caves they would be able to hide themselves from the Steelbats, which also meant less mortality.

Since the suggestion was not feasible to run at all, they eventually discarded the tempting idea. They were showing immense gratitude towards the inclusion of a new powerful weapon though. They believed they had hit the jackpot as compared to their forebears who had progressed almost nothing over the past 500 years and now they got metallic weaponry, an actual mech and even a highly compressed explosive. The villagers were very much convinced that they would once raise upon the other races again as soon as they survived the crisis this time.

Looking at Sir who was pondering in the meantime, their eyes were overflowed with appreciation and respect. It was this teacher from the mystery, with his vast knowledge unfitting to his youth, that had brought all these gifts, striking the hope of the tribe in their luxuries.

So the villagers received a new task from the teacher – production of compression explosives. Ye Chong was surprised though, that this little bomb actually had taken over Collision, becoming the favorite among the Sangs.

Well, unlike Collision, the explosive was simple to use while being able to dish out significant damage, and the roar it produced was exciting to the ears of the villagers.

The production of Collision was coming to an end as well, fortunately, or the villagers might be procrastinating over their new toy. Collision, the product of the overclocked villagers had become the standard setup at everyone’s home. The mechs would flock upon sky, stampeding the ground daily. It was scenic to see about a hundred thousand mechs traveling like a military air force on a normal afternoon. Ye Chong wondered if the sky would remain that scenic if those Steelbats ever came. The scene had reminded him again the power of cooperation, the bond of a group. It was powerful indeed. But… yes, Ye Chong realized one big catch he almost missed – there was no dimensional keystone, where would these hundred thousand mechs go? Certainly they could have landed in their village, however to accommodate mechs of this amount would be far insufficient for a tiny village in the middle of the valleys. Sang Pu eventually picked a plain next to the mountain behind the village. It was spacious enough to accommodate those mechs, looking like the parking place on Christmas Eve.

Still, it would take around 10 minutes of running to travel to the plain from the village. Sighed Ye Chong, realizing that it would be actually a hassle to introduce a super hi-tech way ahead the chronological order of invention. To assure those 10 minutes of safety were assured, Sang Pu succumbed to sending off a giant flock of Collision to scout the area ahead to see if there were a nest of Steelbats.

2 months had lapsed and everyone was given a Collision mech. And there was one instance where Ye Chong ran out of skeletons to produce stuffs, which Sang Pu immediately resolved by calling his men to hunt for more bones. It was a nice opportunity to test out Collision as they piloted the mech to hunt. And that was the first time they realized the fact that, hunting could have been this hassle-free and the beasts could have been this weak, easily conquered.

The beasts had not scurried away from the proximity of the village. Nevertheless, “Darkness” the once fearsome name branded in the mind of the villagers had degraded into a new hunting ground with Collision.

It usually took the villagers a straight impale, a lift with the spear, then skeleton spears would have a few bulky animals skewed tidily on the shaft. The case where Ye Chong worried about the spears breaking had never occurred, which had affirmed the villagers’ confidence. And soon, after countless encounters, the villagers discovered a more effective way to eradicate their foes.

They maintained a high velocity and travelled right above the beast. Utilizing the 4 sharp skeleton wings on the body of Collision, the blades danced like the Reaper would slice upon the enemies, that one glide they only took, the Darkness would be immediately cut open, bleeding and having its inside rolling out, tainting the ground with thunderous cry. The beasts were bisected, with a clear cut upon.

As time went, more villagers joined the troop after completing the training. Ye Chong got more skeletons in the inventory. But Sang Pu felt it was yet the time to stop the hunt. The Darkness had convinced him the fact that the hunt would provide the villagers the more valuable loot – experience itself!

An on-hand fight would always be the standard procedure to power up a fighter, especially if the fighter was in a troop to begin with. Since there lacked a kind of communicative device, the villagers had to rely on their sense of war to carry out the right action in correspondence to the situation.

It sounded easy on paper but it was a mess, as they soon realized, a highly frequent mess. It was hard for one to even sort out friends and foes with mechs this many in the sky. They had a conference on it and Sang Ling actually gave a pretty good solution – they would dye the mechs into different colors in accordance with the position of the pilots in the team. Sang Pu would be the supreme leader, thus the bright red tone; after that the blue would follow, it would be black, and then white at the lowest. At both sides of every Collision would have 3 types of Lightstones in different colors embedded, there would be also a plate before each stone, it would be like a signal where the plate could be placed down to block the beam of the stones. Thus, every secondary leaders of the team could give commands by flicking signals. Sang Ling even designed a set of codes using the stones’ color as well as the frequency for communication. Ye Chong who was listening at one corner, felt impressed with Sang Ling. “Looks like she was not a bimbo after all. Shang sometimes just likes to exaggerate things…”

The new codes brought up another period of tutorial among the villagers, with each of them having a booklet in the hands while their heads spinning along with their recitation.

It was as effective as the way Sang Ling mentioned it, as the villagers were not only highly experienced, their rapports were great too. They needed no sophisticated language, a few blinks of different colors would be more than enough to tell them what their teammates planned to do.

Even Sang Pu the more demanding one was showing satisfaction on his current troop. Ye Chong? Well, he was losing his head over the codes. He seriously could not imagine how a massive troop could communicate without a standard communicative device but a mere set of blinking lights, especially when the villagers had actually no issue using the code while being able to have a much more coordinated expedition.

Every villager was feeling exhilarated of their improvement. The harvest of Twinkleblues marked also the end of their last concern. The Sangs, with their blood surged from the war itself, were looking forward to this war, the battle of survival with the Steelbats.

Here they come!” Announced the returning Collision from the woods, which stirred a storm among the villagers as they set their feet running.

15 Collisions were sent off as a scouting team to check out if the Steelbats were approaching in reality. And there were actually 10 similar teams taking shifts to scout the surrounding daily.

“Team Four, follow up. Now!”

“Team Eight, carry out according to plans!”

The crowd disintegrated into countless afterimages of silhouettes. The Sangs sure had some rapid feet. It almost felt like a crowd of Jie experts piloting their mechs over one peak and another. It was epic, truly epic.

This would be the most major operation the Sangs had ever launched. The first batch of Collisions took flight in a number of 5000 and the sky right above the Sang village was fully enveloped by them. Other than elderly or children who could hardly harm a fly, all villagers including the women armed themselves with weapons and started moving.

Right at the heart of the valley there parked countless Collisions. The valley where the village located was not that spacious to begin with, but it would be too risky to park them at the plain as the Steelbats might have raided the place before the battle happened. So after a moment of discussion, they gave up their former setting and cramped themselves. Sang De, the chief said that the Steelbats would arrive with darkness engulfing the world, with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The sky would only have one color by then, the color of Steelbats – dark, darker than black.

So, united we stand, stronger we grow. Thought Ye Chong.

Apart from a safe house for the elderly and children, the remaining housing area had been transformed into the parking ground for the mechs. One could see every single shelter had at least one mech landed on it, while some were even installed with a strange kind of hook to hang those mechs. Now, while it would sound a little insane to have a mech parked on a foundation made out of twigs and leaves, it would be a different story if the mech was made out of pure skeletons, which were much, much lighter. Of course, as far as logic would apply, nobody would park their moving alloys on their wooden home, that would devastate the shelter immediately. To ensure safety though, reinforcement had been carried out on every pillar of the houses, especially the safe house for the weak, that was much, much sturdier.

There were also mechs parked on the slope. The villagers had never exited the cabin ever since, for they would spend the following days eating, battling, sleeping in the mech itself. It was those times which one would call the “emergency period” or “evacuation time”.

The only entrance to the village had been completely swamped by the debris from the explosion Sang Pu caused at both sides of the mountain using compression explosives. As planned, their remaining concern would only be the above, nothing on the ground. The mountain had become their walls of defense from technically everything on the ground.

The Steelbats were extremely bloodthirsty during their migration, they would not halt their flight for food however. They would peck, but would not ground themselves and hunt, they would instead keep advancing, in other words, the Sang villagers would be declared as succeeded the operation if they could last till the Steelbats flew away completely.

Everyone was pumped in their position, anticipating the arrival of the flying devil. Sang Tie was one of the thrilled warriors. It was one major role he got being at the frontmost line, which every villager was acting envy upon. No one would go and argue for the placement though, as they all recognized the strength of Sang Tie, who stood easily the top 100 fighters in the village. Moreover, the most highly respected man, the teacher was giving recognition towards his piloting skill as well. That would be a solid evidence since the teacher hardly demonstrated his recognition towards things. So his popularity among the ladies was well-justified.

Sang Tie could reminisced the very scene when the teacher complimented his performance that day. It was, he strongly believed, the happiest few seconds of his life. The teacher, sir, was the idol highly regarded by all younger folks in the village, including he himself. Never once he would dream of gliding into the air, and there sir was, zooming into the air as if a rock he tossed. The most respectable figure in the village was no longer the chief, but the teacher, the young yet resourceful teacher.

Okay, no time for that. He bucked up and looked upon the sky, the war was just around the corner. He did not panic however, since he, like every other man and woman in their position did, believed that they would succeed as long as the teacher stood by their side. He was the leader of a rescue team of the frontline. The team was mainly consisted of the experts of the tribe, in which most of them was the students specially chosen by the teacher himself for the first flying course he conducted, including Sang Tie.

A “course” it was called yet the teacher had only taught the piloting procedure once. Only the first batch of students to the course was the actual students of the great teacher. And of course these students, a vast 500 of them were calling it an achievement and were proud of it.

The rescue team was formerly led by Sang Pu, who was then raised to the position of the highest commander. So in return, Sang Tie took over.

Another chosen one by the teacher himself! Why must it be him that always get different treatment! The men seemed to be mutating into a real green-eyed monster soon. The chosen one himself was very proud of his placement though, that he even made up his mind to not shame his teacher by accomplishing this mission flawlessly.

5000 mechs ascended into the sky, spiraling speedily to their respective position. Sang Tie began flicking his signals, the two beams flickered : S-T-A-Y. R-E-A-D-Y. And 500 mechs silently hovered in position behind him. They were body and soul ready. Sang Tie knew his duty well. The team he led was called a rescue team for a reason. He was there to rescue, the support to the war. If the situation was crumbling, his teammates were losing, they would have to launch themselves into the war field, to buy time for the other mechs standby on the ground.

Sang Tie lifted his eyes, seeing teacher piloting that strong and outstanding mech in the midst of the warring troop. It was unique, it was different. A sense of respect rose as the morning sun in him. He swore, feeling pumped, it would be an honor to fight alongside sir, that he would die, with glory and no regret.

Sang Tie was technically wrong of what he presumed. His great teacher, Ye Chong did not really intend to join the first wave. The reason he flew into the sky was merely for spectating purpose. He wanted to see what that horrifying beast of the myth actually looked. Sang Pu, the commander was right next to his teacher, with similar reason that he wanted to have a direct observation on this migration phenomena that only would occur once every 200 years.

And there they saw, a lump of darkness approaching.

It was brutally horrifying! If the namely Darkness formed by the beast was a whirlpool, then these Steelbats would be a real abyssal darkness that would engulf the sun completely. People were shocked. Some villagers zoned out for the first few seconds. The formation was disrupted for a quick while. D-O-W-N. O-N-E-O-O. Sang Pu gave a quick order to descend all units by a hundred meters. This move was to cover the team within the height of the mountains.

Sang Pu and Han Jia remained at the upper. Since Ye Chong was equipped with real technology, the hologramic detection system, he was the first among all men who discerned the actual appearance of Steelbats.

Steelbats had no feathers, the wings were two thin layer of membranes which spread as wide as 10 meters. Those pairs of legs looked so brawny that it could probably shatter a rock piece with a kick. The claws were sharper than the swords, the beak would pierce an iron wall. Ye Chong who had been hunting mutated lifeforms ever since birth could imagine the potential threats these nasty avifaunas would impose on humanity. Those claws and beak alone could murder even the most fearsome beast on ground.

Steelbats were dark, dark as the coals; their eyes were red, scarlet as the blood diamonds. A petrifying fear they were as they soared through the darkening sky at an alarming velocity. It almost felt as if they had teleported over few hundreds meters after they had just spread their wings.

The lump of darkness came like a prelude to the storm, they were approaching, with constant cries of eagerly hunger as their membrane-wings flapped in threatening waves. The air had already started to smell intense as they approached, while those sounds they made as they travelled were as if one punch on one’s torso after another.

The Sang villagers were not ordinary folks, they had been trained, and they had been trained enough to face the arrival of their nemesis. They might be argued to be inexperienced fighting against humanity, but they were truly the rival against the wildest nature. They adjusted themselves to the menacing debut of the Steelbats as they got into their battle stance on their mechs again.

Sang Pu, with Ye Chong, landed quickly. They did not leave their mechs however. No other thing could withstand the raid of the homicidal birds on migration than the mechs made out of alloys, not even those houses with their structures remastered. Likewise to the villagers, they also hid within the mechs, for they had spent the last few days living with the mechs, as if a connection had been built soul to soul. The mechs which seemed to be the most novice in Ye Chong’s eyes turned out to be the most formidable stronghold to the villagers. The mechs could be novice, still Ye Chong had that little confidence in them since they were at least made out of the finest skeletons he could find around the place. They could be the toughest tortoise at the very least. Furthermore, Collision was named Collision as it used collision as the main form of attack, so maxing out defense would equal to maxing out the offense as well. Ye Chong even added a few more layers to the surface, technically any physical strike would do no harm to the surface.

Now that explains a lot, why the villagers were relying on their mechs than houses.

And this time, they would be fighting against the lord, the topmost animal in the entire food web of Archipelago, the ruler of the ecosystem, Steelbats. The fight would be for their home, for their other halves, for the next generation, for they themselves! They held no other choice than joining the fierce competition itself. Unlike the residents of the 5 major galaxies, these villagers were strong, probably stronger than anyone else.

Kiak! Kiak kiak kiak!

The leading Steelbat seemed to have gotten a sniff of blood – a sign of living things around.

Kiak! Kiak kiak kiak! Kiak Kiak! Kiak kiak kiak! Kiak!

A piercing cry that Ye Chong had never heard before roared throughout the sky.

Shush!

The leading Steelbat brought one large batch of its compatriots and raided the valley!

The sky darkened.

The people looked upon the clouded sky. The first collision happened seconds later.

G-O. All commanding mechs flashed the same signals simultaneously.

3000 mechs quickly disengaged from the 5000 army as they formed a long slinking chain. S-P-E-E-D! O-O-O! They then accelerated in circle and performed a rather perfect turn, like a slithering serpent rose upon its prey.

The army actually initiated the attack!

Spear up! Piercing spike!

Splash… Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!

Fleshes fell off to gravity, there was a rain of blood, as the insides of Steelbats tumbled. The skeleton spears of Collision even penetrated the entire body of Steelbat directly upon contact. Their body size easily turned out to be a giant bullseye to be impaled, as some of their compatriots were instantly bisected. Their abdomens ruptured, like the explosion of a water balloon, dark red fluid splashed all over Collisions.

The conservation of momentum was the game winner this time, as the Collision retained its acceleration and smashed upon its enemies. A perfect strike! Or maybe not… Thought the spectators who were hardly smiling on the ground, as their eyes reflected the deflated, deformed mechs which some of them fell miserably.

The Steelbats were carnivores for a reason as a number of them would raid upon one single Collision. They raised their claws, they charged with their beaks, and in the matter of split seconds, the Collision splintered. The specks were grounded by gravity, as well as the pilots, the sacrificed who went flattened on the ground.

The 3000 armed forces did not hold their attack, as they zoomed all the way up with their spikes. They no longer were able to distinguish directions as they had been swarmed upon by the aggressed Steelbats. The pilots tried their best to make a turnabout but they failed, for they could be smashed into pieces by the Steelbats from the back and the front if they blanked out for once. They sped up, they sped up more, to the front, striving to break through the darkness formed by the Steelbats, hoping for that silver lining of the sky to come.

It was a brief simple collision but the danger was more than what one could get in one’s entire life.

Sang Huo, one of the villagers whose mind no longer contained a thing than brutality, remained one order constantly rung in his head, “Charge. Charge! Charge!!! Hit everything!”

He kept charging, he pulled the lever all the way up as he felt the momentum dragging bit and bit of his sanity away, seeing his allies being crushed into specks, hearing the sound of crumbles and clashes on top of his mech. Within blinking of eyes, he was the last one standing, as engulfed by the whirlpool of Steelbats.

Blood boiled even in his veins, as he was cornered; his eyes reddened, his breathe deepened, a storm of fire raided his soul, burning that last bit of his sanity. “Ah!!!” He rampaged.

His hands were pulling the handles madly, the speed had been maximized! The Steelbats lost sight of their target out of sudden, as the skeleton spear pierced the iron skin of the membranes. The Steelbat blocking the way was smashed into a splat of blood right after. The 4 skeleton wings at the body of Collision sliced through the air in sharp whistles. Momentum had broken through the conservation, the energy packed in that blow built up by the speed could easily cut into the bones, would be possible to slice things into half effortlessly.

Sang Huo’s success undoubtedly had caused the will of all other men to burn to the highest height, as their mechs accelerated along, pushing the blade further into the dark clouds.

There were mechs being crashed into pieces as they pushed along. The claws and beaks of the Steelbats were threatening to the flesh but not against the skeleton Collision, which would only fracture at constant attacks. Steelbats were heavy as the steel, they felt coming like a wrecking ball when they smacked themselves onto Collision. If it did not work once, they would do it twice. There were even two to four Steelbats aiming the same mech together, which explained why there were casualties constantly. The villagers were seriously outnumbered, it was as if they had been tossed into a pool of dark toxic, slowly corroding their senses away.

How many Steelbats had he exactly killed? Sang Huo had already lost count, he was no longer in the mind for triviality like that. The same order echoed in his mind, CHARGE! FASTER! Fearlessly he advanced forward, he had hunted enough Steelbats for his entire life, he was more than happy to die if he had to now. He thought back those days being put under the threat of Steelbats, where one of them was more than enough to take his entire tribe out and now there he was, slicing through Steelbats like his daily skew by the bonfire.

The lump of darkness lingered and Sang Huo had his mind all focus at the shining gap between the Steelbats, which would be his key to victory. The lack of sense of direction was not his concern, the fact that he might have been caged by the Steelbats was not his concern, what stayed as his concern was merely that lining that would lead him to success. Sang Huo adjusted his position gradually by making minuscule turns.

The turns were a savior to his life though, since they caused the Steelbats to miss him while being actually wounded by the skeleton blades on Sang Huo’s Collision.

If there were cameras connected to the Virtual World, the forum should be exploding now. Anyone from the 5 major galaxies would have been stupefied upon seeing this. Not even the intensive virtual Neurotraining stimulation could be as frightening as this. A minimum scope of turns, those were what the expert of the experts would be doing as those would wear a man out completely within a brief moment, and those could murder the pilot by bursting the capillaries.

Whatever the Collisions had performed during the war were considered the most hideous, tedious, challenging, fatal movements any pilot of the 5 major galaxies would shun themselves away from, which some of them would even address as the “impossible to do”. The Sangs were the only exception to the limitation of human anatomy due to their familiarized exposure to gravity regions as well as continuous systematic military training.

And with those, they actually had transformed the Collision, which Ye Chong assumed to be too primitive and obsolete by today’s technological standard, into a monstrous devastation. It was shocking when Ye Chong saw how passionate the villagers were, still remaining in gravity region for training even the last night before daybreak.

For the Collision, the vitality lies within the flight itself. The way it would deal damage, the way it could cause destruction, were both about airborne movement. To master flying it would require both maturity in skills and physique, which were never issues to the Sangs, as they wielded the strength of Jie expert, the speed like Jie expert, the sensibility of space of Jie expert, the rich experience of war like Jie expert. The simplistic control of the colliding technological stone age was perfect for them and in no time they piloted the machinery their own way. They would sting, like the Lavagold to your skin, if you would dare compete their bulkiness.

Sang Huo sought that very weak point to make the next breakthrough. Within the limited space, it was solely depended on his instinct. Experience would not do the trick, only the sense would.

Now!

Zooooom! Hush…

Sang Huo’s world brightened up, as he suddenly got back into the fine blue sky he grew up seeing. Overjoyed he was, I did it? I did it! I really did it!

He would not be satisfied by this little triumph however, as he maintained his course, carried on ascending, he believed his brothers and sisters at the queue behind would also love to see the same sky as his.

A glance downwards, the lump of darkness rumbled and grumbled, engulfing his entire home. He could neither tell the whereabouts of his leader, nor the safety of the villagers. Steelbats, they were everywhere.

Kiiiaaaaaaaak! Kiak! Kiak! Kiak!

The Steelbats cried outrageously, their flappy wings hissed excitingly. The cloud of darkness moved on to the east with the wind, a long column it was, with a portion still lingering on top of the village.

It was purely horrid, even for a man like Sang Huo with an iron will. Nightmarish scenery it scorched as, in the mind of Sang Huo, probably would tail him for the rest of his life. But he bucked up, as fully aware of his demise in this war, those haunting dreams would be buried together. He was one of those 3000 men who feared no death and desired the once again glory of their tribe, they were ready to sacrifice. So, Sang Huo would only concern what the war would achieve in the end.

The sky of Sang Family Village had become an absolute slaughterhouse. 3000 mechs fired themselves into the air and smashed the first wave of Steelbats. After an analysis, both Ye Chong and Sang Pu concluded that the first wave of Steelbats was the worst they would face. So as long as the villagers survived Wave One, assuming what the chief stated about a total darkness for the village being true, the Steelbats, as losing the necessary space to accelerate in aggression, would actually be too crowded to return resistance, they would be a flying target.

The good news was, the 3000 mechs successfully shattered the first wave. The cost, on the other hand, was miserable, as the men were completely engulfed by the flocks of aggressive carnivores in no time, whose mechs were mostly crushed before breakthrough even happened, while the surviving mechs would be very unlikely to come back in one piece.

The 3000 souls and machineries did not go to a waste however. The frontline commanders got their intention fairly quick, as the frontline seized this golden opportunity, sending their 2000 mechs to the top atmosphere next to squash these Steelbats in the cage they created themselves. The Steelbats outside carried on joining the cramped party, and they could barely lift their claw to give a scratch.

The 2000 mechs occupied the space quickly, they then broke into little flocks, few hundreds of them began soaring around, like a combat order. The speeding Collisions soon caused invisible slice attacks, like the blade of a blending machine, which the Steelbats would be completely dissected upon contact. The aids were also waiting for further command at the lower atmosphere.

Steelbats were harmless without their speed. There were a few managed to squeeze themselves out of the web, their fate was cruel however, as a handful of compression explosives tossed by experts shall await. Boom! Splash! The flying beast would become falling rain.

The villagers on the ground were feeling underwhelmed though, as there were hardly time where the Steelbats actually escaped their grip. So most of the villagers armed themselves with weapons made out of Lavagold, eagerly waiting for the falling Steelbats from the sky to give those nasty animals the final cut.

The spawn rate of Steelbats was too great. It felt like an endless war.

Hush… Hush…. Zoom! A queue of mechs forced out of the lump! And the escaped had spotted Sang Huo’s mech at the topmost atmosphere as they sped towards him. The lump of darkness continued tumbling below them. There were also a tiny few of lone bats but those showed ignorance towards Sang Huo and his escaped brothers.

Sang Huo estimated… out of 3000 mechs, only 200 mates or so had survived. It was heart wrenching. He could feel the grief choking his breath. And they were actually armed and seated in a mech, imagine without the teacher’s help, the tribe would have been a goner.

Well, at least we have survivors.

The lump of darkness was covering almost everything that could sign him direction. Sang Huo seriously was no longer able to find the location of his village.

They could still survive even if they had to live in the mech for the following days, as long as the Steelbats would continue ignoring them. They were supplied with food, made out of Twinkleblue extraction by Dr. Sang Ru Bei which Ye Chong once complimented to be as powerful as the nutrition capsules outside.

Sang Huo first flew forward, the remaining followed him on the runaway at a loss of idea, as they flew on in their own formation.

The Steelbats in their giant flock retained their aggression, as if on steroids, and every following wave was the most impulsive from them, that Sang Tie and his mates of the Explosives Team would have to tame those flies with compression explosives.

The Sang’s territory was guarded, no doubt, but the mortality rate carried on rolling, so as the visiting Steelbats. It was a long fight, that it would take more than 10,000 words to write even as summary.

It had been more than 20 days, the migration still continued, and Ye Chong felt his iron nerves would snap at any second, while Sang Pu was also dispirited. The Steelbats were ever-aggressive, they seemed to have tossed their biological clock away the moment they left their nest. The Sangs were on shift, and every shift was a consuming trip, as they flew up and down, getting so worn out that they could sleep the moment the fresh breeze of the outside hit their eyelids.

Like seriously, which pilot would have a battle more than 2 hours? Which author would write a war scene on a single chapter that seems to last forever? It would drive people mad! Under such tension, such density, such aggression of enemies!

The mortality rate was rolling faster when shift happened. Sang Pu felt his heart aching at first, but fortunately as people got used to the constantly irritating process of going ups and downs, no-tension to tension, back and fro, the mortality rate slowed down.

Throughout the 20 days of high density training, the Sang villagers had transformed as they had grasped the Collision utterly. They knew the machinery so well like the back of their hands, and Ye Chong was fascinated by their self-learned capabilities.

Speaking of Ye Chong, being the dark knight, of course he would not be the spectator the whole time!

Han Jia’s blades were slicing through the approaching Steelbats silently. It had always been a sudden fall of a few Steelbats to the ground, and the villagers who were planning to charge upon the birds – to their horror – realized one giant cut right on the neck.

“Ming my child, look. Sir is a slaughter-man. One painless slice and it’s done. Sir is the real expert, sighs, when would we get to this standard?” Sighed one villager.

“Don’t worry, you will. IN, YOUR, DREAM. I mean… we call him ‘Sir’ for a reason. He’s a superlative figure, whom little folks like you and me could ever imitate. But well, I guess Pu and Tie those big boys could have some hope.” The other villager was such a bitter tongue.

“Right… Pu and Tie were indeed the best in our village. But I personally think Fan would be the greatest of them all, since you know, he’s the student of Sir himself. He learned how to make mechs with Sir, you could see his achievement very much sooner. Sighs, why am I not the chosen one back then?” The villager was feeling upset.

“I have to agree. This boney mech was sure something, even the lord of all beasts, those disgusting Steelbats could not stand against it. If it wasn’t Sir, I guess the Sang would no longer exist. The Steelbats… man, they are the demon…”

“I know right…,” sympathetically the villager approved the bitter-tongued.

Ye Chong was certainly more experienced than the villagers, also on a different style too. Unlike the Collisions which sped to roll, Ye Chong would only need consecutive quick blinks to assassinate his targets.

But the war had slowly changed him. A hand-on-hand battle was still the best strategy to improvise. He had enough with fancy, flashy moves against these primitives, his movements had grown simplified, his sensibility of space and strength, like to Sangs, had also improved. He also gained one precious ability – the sense of timing, which was often neglected by the people outside, including himself in the past.

He would be facing countless strikes every minute, he always was fighting a one against millions, and those were the reason he got to pick the timing. Ever since that realization, his output efficiency doubled. Sensibility of timing was a tricky thing to master, as not only difficult to word, but also difficult to comprehend, but Ye Chong did it, coincidentally on this occasion.

A technique truly exclusive to Ye Chong.

And he had also learned the power of group cooperation. He had been the lone ranger, the Solo-man, he thought he would suffice but then he witnessed what the Sangs were capable of once they got into group. So an urge to learn about that kindled inside him.

He wished to learn that and without much time longer he actually did it… at minimum output though. He still lacked that essential rapport with the villagers, which was a headache to begin with. Moreover, the villagers had been treasuring so much that he would be enveloped at the very inside. He did voice his thoughts but the words never got through. And he even got his kill stolen, at one time, finally one escaped Steelbat, he zapped towards it, going to raise his blades. And… hundreds of Collision shredded the beast.

It was as if a shout from the villagers – We Shall Protect You Sir! Touching but also… well…

On the 23rd day, yes, finally the density of the darkness decreased, everything was pumped again. The day before this, the villagers had actually started losing patience, wondering when the hell the epilogue would happen for once. It was so discouraging that if it was not their discipline, they might have tossed their spears and gone underground for the following generations perhaps.

Ye Chong was calling it a miracle, that they could last this long.

It was ending at least.

Ironically, the following wave was so intense that as if the Steelbats, after their diminishing appearance, were shouting out to the villagers, “Just Kidding!”

ai Lian took a glance at the Gigada*, a smug glee rose upon his lips. The Gigada seemed to be utterly exhausted and probably in only a matter of 5 minutes, it would be dead, right in his hand. Piloting “Moonlight” his loving steed, he performed a few sets of standard dodging moves in leisure. The movement of Moonlight was graceful and light, as it constantly fired dazzling gleam from its V-type Beam Shooter, making one hole after another on the body of Gigada.

The body of Gigada was full of pores, as moving slower over the time it was, its greenish eyes were expressing deepest grief.

Zzzt! One final beam hit right between its eyes accurately. Thump! The gigantic insect rolled over its body and passed away. The greenish eyes took one last glance at the sky as they lost the glow after.

Sigh! Shook Hai Lian, only if I have a Recursion, knocking out this thing would never take this long. I do believe in my marksmanship but a Recursion was something I might get… in my dream that is. Furthermore, there has hardly been an actual Recursion in the market, no joke, it’s super rare!

The Recursion had always been the weaponry exclusive to the Xue Lai clan, which annually only a limited number of them would be flowed to the market – truly a thing with demand yet without supply. No one would have access to it even armed with ample cash and points, other than the Aristocrats themselves. And well, I am just an ordinary folk of nowhere, I should stop thinking about it. Hah! Serves me right that I actually refused to join the Aristocrats myself. Teased Hai Lian, he felt like hurling more insults on himself.

Well, the man was still proud of his achievement as he beamed at the dead Gigada on the ground. He knew, there was not many of them who was able to pilot their way into the calamitous asteroid belt while being able to hunt down an actual Gigada alive. The Gigada could go for a fortune in the market, hah! This was more than enough for a better, more advanced mech! Overjoyed Hai Lian was, for he got a valuable loot. The Gigada was a nasty challenge to handle, not because of its defense or whatsoever, rather it was its murdering offenses and speed, which could take out pilots quickly. Moreover its environment was the deadliest asteroid belt of history of humankind so not many pilots could be as out-of-their-mind as Hai Lian to come here.

Hai Lian had been here for literally three years and the current spot he slaughtered a Gigada was the deepest he could have ventured at the moment. He dared not to go deeper with his equipments. He hoped that after getting a better mech, he would have the capability to get into the next unknown. His curiosity was rising.

Being a freelance hunter over the course of 3 years, Hai Lian was actually quite well-known in his circle but he was the low-profiled kind of person so not many people would witness him in action. Still, a handful of Aristocrats found him, they even handed over a formal invitation to their alliance, which every of them was given a polite decline without fail.

He adored the freedom, his spirit was for the adventure. Yes, certainly his life would improve dramatically once he laid his thumb on the contract with one of the Aristocrats but he would have to give his freedom away as he lived under the whim of the others, which was unbearably horrifying as he thought in the wild now.

Moonlight bowed down, was going to pick up the Gigada’s body. It was then…

Hsssssssssssssk!

A strange cry was heard.

A never-before-heard strange cry was discerned. Was it a new kind of beast I have never met before? Alarmed Hai Lian, knowing the fact that every beast in the asteroid belt survived for a reason and for that reason he had drained half of his stamina of the day to kill a Gigada. Moonlight was hitting red as well, he would be doomed if another beast arrived!

The cry seemed to be coming from the depth of the belt.

Hsssssssssssssssk!

An unknown beast deep inside the asteroid belt, crying in a language he wished not to comprehend, his mind was urging him to turn back, run and run fast!

He took a quick glance at the screen. Wait, what? There was nothing on the screen? Impossible! I know my Moonlight was not that advanced of a model! But it is at least a mid-tier model! The detection system is all stable and impeccable! It would not be disturbed by most waves and it had been giving accurate reading the whole time! But, b-b-but, why?!

Hsssssssssssssssssssk!

The cry was getting louder, it felt like something was slicing through the air.

Okay, there has to be something! Judged Hai Lian right away, although his sight was convincing him otherwise. The screen was empty, emptier than ever. No, no no… Fear crawled upon every inch of his skin. Okay! He got it, he knew what to do, he gave a tap on the screen and switched to Photon detection mode.

Hssssssssssk!

He went dumbfounded upon seeing the visual.

What in the solar system is this?

In the boundless sky, countless monsters gleaming in a variety of colors were heading towards him at a horrifying rate. Their bodies were narrow and long, as their bodies seemed to be installed with 4 strange blades? Those were supposed to be wings but the fact that they were well-polished convinced Hai Lian enough to call them blades. There was a spear at the top?

So what animal is this?

Chill ran down to his spines upon seeing the dense lump of monsters approaching.

He was too stunned to run, the beasts were too fast. He recognized the speed of Moonlight even though its performance was a little subpar on the other aspects. At least Moonlight could travel faster than most mid-tiers mech, which was the main reason why he got the bravery to venture into the asteroid belt. But, Moonlight was hardly speedy in front of these beasts.

I’m done. I just am. Hai Lian’s face was colorlessly grey.

The beasts were as barbaric as they appeared to be. The scary part was, these beasts actually knew humane tactics in war!

Good bye, cruel world. He closed his eyes, awaiting his death. He would not buy the story that there would be any civilized entity in the murdering asteroid belt, especially when experience taught him that, those which stayed deeper in the belt would be the more brutal.

…

… …

He waited since forever yet the immense pain, the deadly shriek did not occur, not at all.

In tension he slowly opened his eyes. The scene before him was going beyond his understanding. The strange beasts surrounded him but there was not any attack from them. Knowing that he was surely a done-for, he actually calmed down and took a closer look at these monsters.

The surrounding monsters suddenly rearranged themselves, opening up a way where by then the commander – Hai Lian presumed – came into the scene. Wait what? Hai Lian could feel his eyeballs popping out in disbelief. Did he see a mech flying into the scene?

It’s a mech? A MECH? The leader of these beasts was a mech? He thought he was bright enough to understand all situation, but he no longer felt his brain working by then.

“You have been captured.” The cold voice rang, which feared Hai Lian to the corner.

And that… was how Hai Lian became the captured of these beasts. Confused, Hai Lian watched on, his heart skipped a beat upon seeing a man coming out of these monsters. Okay, that is enough intergalactic travel today. He had seen enough strange things, he seriously hoped to call it a day now. He could imagine him getting a heart attack if this carried on for the next few days.

So, the bloody-sounded tale of human coming out of a beast’s body was actually the army of the Sang villagers, and Ye Chong.

The migration attack from the Steelbats had been successfully overcome, although the last few waves for the past 5 days were manic from the Steelbats themselves, which were consuming. Even Ye Chong had to jump into action with his Han Jia. The compression explosives were extremely helpful either as the remaining Sangs on the ground were able to blow up a hole in the lump of darkness without even the need to aim, they just had to make sure there was not any of their ally nearby.

The battle for survival that lasted for almost 30 days had come to an end. Report had also arrived, stating mortality of 5000 men, with the first day having the most of them, the 3000 men in the first wave of attack especially. The villagers were joyful at first, then tears began streaming down everyone’s cheek. That was a major loss to the village. Fortunately, Sang Huo and his 300 men who made it back safely had brought a happy surprise to everyone.

Sang Huo and his men had once travelled deep into the Archipelago. The area which was once habituated by the Steelbats had been deserted, and they discovered a rich source of mildstone as well as Lavagold. The villagers raised their brows upon hearing the report since both milestone and Lavagold had both become important resources for their living. The chief immediately sent an order to find a spot where the villagers could reside with defense.

The additional surprise was the fact that they found out a large number of caves, which also happened to be interconnected too! By a glance, the caves should be sufficient to accommodate easily over few hundred thousands of residents. It was a happy news indeed as having a shelter within the hollows would be safer in a dangerous place like Archipelago. The Steelbats would fail to nail them if they ever returned again!

They had a discussion. In the end, the chief decided to perform a migration.

Ye Chong followed the Sang and arrived by the cave and it appeared to be a house of treasure! Minerals were everywhere, which tons of them were new to Ye Chong! The Steelbats had been residing here for years, as justified by the scattered remnants of their ancestors. The soil was enriched by their feces, perfect for Twinkleblue plantation. And there were also a few gravity regions nearby, where the villagers could culture more Portabella!

The Sangs felt highly optimistic of their future. With Collision and Compression Explosives, plus a strategically located home, they would be safe, safer than ever.

Moreover, the next migration of the Steelbats would be a matter of two centuries later. The beast stampede was a headache though for it seemed to have wiped out every beast nearby. So they would face a major shortage of meat in considerable amount of time. At least they had a plantation of Twinkleblues now, so they would not actually starve badly. With Collisions they could reach hunting grounds farther than before.

After the hustles and bustles of migration, the Sang Family Village had once again regained its tranquility.

During this period Ye Chong had actually achieved a few things – he had improved compression explosives, where they blew harder than before; he also enhanced the efficiency of utilization of mildstone’s energy in the Destiny: Simplified version; he made miniature engines out of skeletons to create an actual compression missile, which travelled far and hit great, though it lacked a lock-on system, the accuracy was a little bit goofy. Nevertheless, Ye Chong did make use of this weakness in the end, he decided to design it into a more area-of-effect kind of explosive. He modified Collisions and added cartridge to launch the missiles.

The skeletal resources were adored by Ye Chong the artisan, that he even once planned to make a new Han Jia out of them. Sadly Han Jia was a complexity compared to Collision, without advanced apparatuses Ye Chong could hardly make a move.

Ye Chong headed to the chief and mentioned his first request upon completion of these improvements. And without hesitation, the old chief gave Ye Chong 5000 men as requested, of those who happened to be the greatest fighters. Most of them volunteered themselves though, like Sang Pu, Sang Ling, Sang Tie, Sang Huo and Sang Fan, then the apprentices of Ye Chong. Lastly Ye Chong only picked Sang Fan and 6 other apprentices nonetheless. And the large pack of the others was ordered to remain in the village.

5000 Collisions supplied with sufficient mildstone and food commenced their adventure under the leadership of Ye Chong. Ye Chong could not judge what had happened to Mu Shang and the other members but this would be what he could do the most…

The Collisions zoomed into the Red Sea and performed a careful search. As expected, the red strands were doing nothing to the skeleton mechs, which were smooth-sailing without worry. Ye Chong was astonished by the fact that the Sangs possessed a great sense of direction in this, that would really explain their capability to cope with the tension in the cage of the Steelbats back then, they needed no tool to tell them where they were heading.

They searched the Red Sea, but they could not find any sign of the Coxcomb. There was also nothing that could be associated with Mu Shang. Ye Chong, the indifferent one, was literally feeling demotivated.

The Collisions were the perfect transportation to conquer the Red Sea, as not only they were unaffected by the delay effects, their blades were also able to cut through the strands easily, which eventually Ye Chong had a huge chunk of red strand collection in his inventory.

Ye Chong and the men travelled from one end to another. Ye Chong was venturing into this unexplored zone. With Collisions the Sangs now possessed the ability of long-distance migration. The Archipelago was frankly not the best spot for the expansion of their tribe. It would be great if they could discover a better place to live, that their tribe would once again strengthen back to their glory.

Ye Chong was feeling down. Mu Shang remained undiscovered. He sighed as he could do nothing else than holding up the search for the moment. Since he lacked a path to return, his only option would be to live with the Sangs. Ye Chong was certainly glad to be able to help the Sangs with what he knew. He was growing on the tribe, it would a big fat lie if he claimed to have no feeling for them after what they had gone through together. He too hoped that the Sangs would live better.

Well, unexpectedly, before the search at the belt was done, they met Hai Lian.

And everybody knew what it would mean if a mech appeared here.