IMC Chapter 127

This collection hall contained a great deal of information, but unfortunately, there were no written words; interpreting it all relied entirely on guessing and insight and the conclusions drawn were inaccurate.

The records here about Lai Mi’s experiences were so detailed, but only those who had accompanied Lai Mi could truly understand them.

From the development of the paintings, it was clear that the story Lai Mi had told Shu Bao about the past was still accurate in the earlier parts. After Lai Mi awakened consciousness, he became fond of painting and created Wei Lai. They maintained the city they had built together, traveled together, and waited for the arrival of humans.

However, the latter part of the story showed clear deviations. Of course, it was also possible that the paintings on the tenth floor were not painted by Lai Mi. Maybe Lai Mi really fell into sleep while still living happily, unaware of the tragic events that followed.

After much contemplation, it seemed that everything had come full circle. The only way to get a definite answer was to find Wei Lai. Fortunately, it wasn’t all for nothing. At least now they knew that a humanoid race had appeared here, and this race was likely the mechanoids, as they were the ones living in the main city.

While thinking, Shu Bao avoided the small mechanoids that were cleaning and began searching for a place to rest in the collection hall. Unfortunately, the entire building had nothing but paintings. After turning around several times, he finally found a painting on the ninth floor that was the right size and had a warm, comforting theme.

Shu Bao took a running leap and hung himself from the painting frame, then climbed up the frame, pressing himself against the wall. Standing on the topmost frame, he began to take out items from his ring space. Soon, he retrieved a hammock.

He hung the hammock ropes from both ends of the frame and quickly set up a soft and comfortable hammock. After adjusting its tightness to ensure a pleasant sleep, Shu Bao nestled into the hammock, even pulling out a small blanket to cover himself. Thanks to the invisibility scroll, he lay comfortably in the hammock, ready to start his rest for the day.

As for the others, it wasn’t so much an exciting adventure as it was a desperate escape. Fortunately, everyone had many strange magical tools, and no one had been caught yet. However, the various abnormal occurrences in the main city caught the attention of the mechanoids, although they couldn’t understand the cause of these anomalies.

After all, from the mechanoids’ perspective, they had mastered all the science and energy of the chaotic universe and were somewhat helpless against the unknown, which they had never encountered before. But this situation wouldn’t last forever, as the mechanoids had already begun collecting data and organizing countermeasures.

At the same time, the defenses and searches within the main city had become more frequent. The longer this situation was delayed, the more information the mechanoids would gather about magic, and the higher the likelihood of cracking the magic codes.

The exploration team was aware of this situation. Everyone was working hard to quickly explore their assigned areas and record any potentially useful clues in their magical notebooks. However, based on the content in the notebooks so far, the information gathered was limited, as most of the mechanoids’ data was stored in their own brains.

When Shu Bao woke up, he quickly resumed his exploration work. Not long after he left the collection hall, a silver-white figure appeared in the collection. Like other visitors, he browsed the works in the hall, which were his beautiful memories of the past.

Believing that his luck was good, Shu Bao once again missed a chance to meet Wei Lai. As time passed, he got closer and closer to the center of the main city. Along the way, he found several other collection halls, but their collections didn’t reveal much information. As for the library he had been hoping to find, it still hadn’t appeared.

Ten days later, after a slow and stop-and-go journey, Shu Bao finally arrived at the city center, waiting for the others to arrive. Half a day later, as Shu Bao sat on top of a pure golden statue, enjoying the scenery and eating ice cream, Lan Qing floated over, wearing a new hat, followed by Fu Qing.

 

The two of them appeared to be in decent shape but still lagged behind Shu Bao, who had gained 5 grams.

The three gathered at the top of the statue’s head, exchanging their discoveries from the past few days while pulling out food to replenish their energy.

Another day passed, and the rest of the group gradually gathered. Apart from the half-mechanoids whose condition couldn’t be discerned, the three baits looked lethargic. Seeing that the mouse had gained quite a bit of weight, the two snakes expressed great confusion. How could this mouse have such a big heart, gaining weight even in such circumstances?

Perhaps sensing the two prince snakes’ reproachful gazes, Shu Bao rubbed his little belly and solemnly explained, “What can I do? There’s so much delicious food in the space, and all I do every day is eat and sleep. Gaining weight is only natural, right?”

The exhausted others: “…” We don’t quite agree.

No matter how it happened, at least everyone had successfully reached the city center using the cheat code, magic. Now, they would rely on the clues they had gathered to enter the area where the main brain of the mechanoids was located. This area was the core of the mechanoids’ secrets and also the most dangerous part of their main city.

“I discovered a food collection hall, an art collection hall, and a collection hall for the core of the mechanoids from different eras in my area, but I didn’t find a library.”

“I found similar things here, no library either. The collection halls are strange, with one dedicated to cups, one for various ores, and the weirdest one having different skins of the mechanoids. It was truly terrifying.”

“……”

Although they had briefly explained their discoveries through the magic notebooks, sharing them in person revealed many more details.

After everyone finished sharing, Shu Bao also expressed his thoughts. The two prince snakes never expected that the clues discovered by a mouse who had gained weight would be the most numerous and that this mouse had even had the fortune of meeting the mechanoids’ ancestor. What kind of luck was that?

After the amazement, everyone noticed that the mechanoids’ collection halls were full of oddities, yet none of them contained books. In fact, along the way, they had rarely come across any text from the mechanoids. After further discussion, the group was surprised to discover that even the few texts they had found were all different.

Could it be that there were differences in writing within the mechanoids? This was quite rare among high-level species with collective consciousness.

After a night of detailed discussion, the group integrated their information. After more than ten days of exploration, they figured out the general structure of the mechanoids’ main city, the functions and duties of different types of mechanoids, and the powerful defense systems they needed to avoid.

Of course, the most important information was about the main brain. Since the mechanoids didn’t communicate through language, they had gathered this information from the collection halls and museums. One of the discoveries was from Fu Qing, who had found a model of the main brain’s building in a collection hall of architectural models.

The main brain of the mechanoids was located beneath the energy pillar in the center of the city. They had already witnessed the terrifying operation of the sub-brains and energy pillars in the mechanoids’ ruins, and now they were naturally keen to avoid encountering the main brain.

Although the main city looked much more worn than the ruins, it was much larger in size. Such a massive city, formed into a mechanical giant, would have formidable destructive power.

Based on the 3D model projection Fu Qing had obtained, the group planned their infiltration route. Apart from the basic structure, they knew nothing about the other details of the main brain building. To reduce the chances of being discovered, the three baits were left behind.

At a critical moment, Yu Lingqi seemed to have thought of something and firmly refused to stay outside, which was relatively safer, and insisted on entering the main brain’s interior along with Shu Bao and the others.

The two prince snakes thought that Yu Lingqi’s mind wasn’t quite functioning well. From the model, it was obvious that the area where the main brain was located was not easy to infiltrate. It wouldn’t be easy to get in and out alive. Staying outside would obviously be the best choice.

Under the strong insistence of the bait, Shu Bao had no choice but to bring Yu Lingqi along, leaving the two prince snakes outside to wait. To regain their strength, the group rested for an entire day, and when night fell, they quietly made their way toward the area where the main brain was located.

The energy pillar in the center of the city emitted a bright yet non-dazzling light, with various types of mechanoid patrolling around it. Shu Bao, Fu Qing, Lan Qing, and Yu Lingqi had to first pass through the heavy patrols.

Except for Yu Lingqi, the other three could all transform into a mimic form—small in size and fast. On the other hand, Yu Lingqi was tall and clumsy. The diligent bait was sweating profusely but, under the command, managed to pass through the patrol defenses without incident.

As they continued forward, the group stopped about a hundred meters from the light pillar. In front of them appeared a deep abyss—a huge, perfectly circular pit. The light pillar itself was projected from the pit, creating a gap of several dozen meters between the edge of the pit and the pillar.

This pit was the very location of the main brain’s building. The smooth metal walls of the pit served as the foundation, with layers of buildings extending downward, forming a unique, downward-spiraling skyscraper.

This skyscraper, over a hundred stories high and over a thousand meters deep, was also the core of the main city. Each floor had its own special defense systems and, of course, many mechanoids were stationed for defense.

Because they didn’t dare to trigger the elevator carelessly, the group decided to descend using the spiral staircase. The transparent glass allowed them to clearly see the internal layout of the walls. Upon reaching the entrance to the underground level, they were greeted by a long laser corridor.

On this level, the workers and defenders were mini mechanoids. Thanks to their small size, they could navigate through the gaps between the lasers, but the web-like laser layout was not something that humans could squeeze through due to their lack of flexibility.

In response, Yu Lingqi could only stay obediently on the outside of the suspended spiral staircase, while the other three used their mimic forms to slip through the gaps in the laser grid.

After passing through the laser defense zone, they encountered a group of golden mechanoid grasshoppers. The sight almost made Shu Bao leap forward to pounce on them. Fortunately, Fu Qing and Lan Qing reacted quickly, each grabbing one of Shu Bao’s arms to stop him.

The little furry one was speechless. Although those golden grasshoppers looked very tempting, the mouse could resist temptation, okay? Just as this thought crossed his mind, a huge golden grasshopper, about two meters in size, appeared behind the group of small golden grasshoppers. Fortunately, the mechanoids’ corridor was quite spacious, or it might not have been able to fit.

Shu Bao’s eyes widened in shock. He had thought the golden grasshoppers were statues in the plaza earlier, but now he realized that they were very likely mechanoid corpses! These giant golden grasshoppers were real and still alive!

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