The mouse, whose arm was being held down, could only stomp its feet repeatedly under the pressure of Lan Qing on the left and Fu Qing on the right, before being quietly guided through a gap to slip away.
As it brushed past the giant golden grasshopper, the mouse’s head displayed a stable, owl-like quality, its gaze firmly locked onto the golden grasshopper. Later, it even wished it could turn its head 180 degrees and continue to stare at it.
Having left far behind, Shu Bao’s feet were cramping from the stomping, but the giant golden grasshopper never once looked back at the mouse. Then, under the mouse’s gaze, the giant grasshopper walked straight into the laser array. The powerful lasers didn’t leave a single burn mark on it.
“Did you see that? It’s not even afraid of lasers!” Fu Qing whispered to Shu Bao, trying to make the mouse realize the dangerous nature of this mechanoid grasshopper.
Unexpectedly, the mouse still stared at the direction the giant golden grasshopper had gone, muttering in awe, “Yeah, what a great grasshopper, it’s not even afraid of lasers!”
Fu Qing: ??? It was the same sentence, but why did it feel so different when it came from the mouse?
No matter how reluctant Shu Bao was, it was still dragged away by the two, until the giant grasshopper was out of sight. The plush ball finally regained its freedom, and seeing its still cramping legs, it fell into deep disappointment.
Fu Qing and Lan Qing exchanged glances, thinking about how to comfort the plush ball, but the plush ball had already regained its composure, standing up energetically, “Let’s go, let’s go, we need to hurry and continue. We must complete the mission as soon as possible.”
Fu Qing and Lan Qing were baffled at how Shu Bao had adjusted so quickly, but their instincts told them it was better not to ask.
The motivated mouse had already set off, never the type to dwell on the past. The mouse had already planned that if the mission went smoothly, even if it couldn’t catch a live giant golden grasshopper, it would still steal the golden grasshopper statue from the park outside the city when they left.
Watching the mouse leading the way, Lan Qing and Fu Qing naturally followed closely. The three of them, using their own advantages, moved effortlessly through the first underground floor. However, they didn’t find many useful clues here; the first underground floor mainly contained information collected from other races, with little about the mechanoids themselves.
During their search, they frequently encountered small golden grasshoppers, most of which were tasked with scouting and cleaning. Every time one flew by Shu Bao, the other two would tense up, fearing the mouse might get so excited that it would catch one.
Fortunately, the plush ball seemed to have done some mental preparation. He became unusually calm, ignoring the golden grasshoppers, and focusing solely on the task.
Once they finished searching this floor, they headed to the second underground floor. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter the giant golden grasshopper again, avoiding another test for the mouse.
Upon leaving the first underground floor, both Lan Qing and Fu Qing breathed a sigh of relief. The defenses on this floor were more psychological than physical. Fortunately, the plush ball had resisted this mental attack.
Coming down the indoor staircase to the second underground floor, the entrance was empty, with no defensive measures in sight, and no mechanoids patrolling here. This stark emptiness made the three of them feel puzzled. The first floor had lasers and golden grasshoppers, but the second floor seemed to have returned to simplicity?
Although puzzled, they couldn’t stop. The plush ball still led the way at the front, but after just a few steps, its fur suddenly flared up uncontrollably, turning the ball into a literal fluff ball.
The other two immediately assumed that Shu Bao had detected some danger and became alert. However, after observing for a moment, there was no movement around them—only the plush ball was grooming its fur.
After finally smoothing out its fur, Shu Bao reassured the others, “It’s just static electricity, nothing to worry about.”
As soon as the words left Shu Bao’s mouth, the three of them froze. In such a technologically advanced mechanoid city, all energy was efficiently utilized, and even static electricity that was casually generated would be absorbed and stored by the steel city.
In short, static electricity should not even exist in this city. Realizing this, the three quickly understood that the road ahead would not be simple. Looking at the flat, empty corridor before them, Shu Bao cautiously retracted its little paw that had just touched the ground. As soon as its paw hit the floor, the fur it had just smoothed out flared up again.
The other two immediately turned their attention to the plush ball, trying to discern any clue from the fur that had flared up.
In a hurry to save face, Shu Bao quickly used his paw to smooth the fur down, but in his rush, although the fur was flattened somewhat, a few strands were pulled out. The fur floated away, drifting down the corridor.
Suddenly, a flash of electricity lit up the corridor, disappearing in a brief instant. The speed was so fast that the three almost thought it was an illusion. But when the faint scent of burnt residue reached their noses, they realized the electric flash was not a hallucination.
Following the scent, they could see the faint wisps of smoke rising from the two strands of fur that had been struck by the lightning. The weak smoke quickly dissipated, and the burnt smell faded away, leaving nothing behind in the corridor.
The plush ball moved back slightly and the static electricity around it disappeared.
Fu Qing rummaged through his ring space and eventually retrieved a duck feather. He gently blew on the feather, and it floated toward the front. Under the trio’s watch, a bolt of lightning struck the feather precisely, disintegrating it into nothing.
“It’s some kind of powerful electric field, and it looks like the voltage is very high,” Fu Qing commented. “Otherwise, even the mechanoid guards wouldn’t be unaffected.”
This powerful electric field was different from the laser array on the first floor. It had no gaps to slip through and covered the entire area with no dead zones, making it very concealed. If it hadn’t been for the plush ball suddenly fluffing up, the three of them might have walked right into it unprepared.
The three then experimented repeatedly to determine the boundaries and strength of the electric field. They confirmed that the energy in this area was indeed very strong. The mouse felt that if it entered, it would turn into charcoal.
“Not bad, it’s not as strong as the lightning tribulation during an ascension,” the mouse commented, feeling worried that it would become a roasted mouse. At this moment, Lan Qing calmly retracted the test tail. Fu Qing and Shu Bao’s gazes immediately turned to him. Yes, how could they forget? There was still a dragon here, someone with a lot of experience when it came to lightning strikes.
After further study of the powerful electric field, they decided that Shu Bao and Fu Qing would hide in the life-preserving bracelet, while Lan Qing would carry them through.
Soon, only Lan Qing’s figure remained in the corridor. Lan Qing put away his gloves and hat, took the jade bracelet in his mouth, and leisurely flew into the powerful electric field. The entire corridor immediately lit up with flashes of electricity, illuminating the space brightly. Unfortunately, since there were no mechanoid guards on this floor, the anomaly didn’t attract any attention.
Compared to the world-converging lightning tribulation, the electric field here seemed quite mild. Lan Qing treated it like a full-body electric therapy, effortlessly flying through the electric field. If it weren’t for the time constraints, Lan Qing even considered going through it again.
After passing through the electric field zone, the three resumed their exploration on the second underground floor. Like the first floor, this one mostly contained information collected from other races, with little to no data about the mechanoids themselves.
Once the search was complete, the trio pressed on, heading to deeper floors. As with the first two, each floor’s entrance had its own unique defense system, each focused on different types of intruders.
In addition to the defense systems, most floors also have mechanoid guards, each with their own special skills. Some of these even perfectly complement the defense systems of their respective floors, compensating for any weaknesses.
Shu Bao and the others made their way down, one floor at a time. With their rich reserve of magical tools and their own formidable strength, they encountered obstacles along the way but were unharmed.
However, after their exploration, the mechanoids detected the intruders. The defense of the main brain building was instantly raised several levels, and the number of mechanoid guards inside increased visibly.
The trio had to hide and dodge, while also engaging with the mechanoid guards, cracking through numerous barriers, and collecting clues from each floor. Amidst this chaos, they pushed all the way down to the thirtieth floor.
As they descended, both the defense systems and the number of mechanoid guards became stronger. However, the value of the information collected did not increase significantly, leading the trio to realize that the truly valuable data was likely to be found in the final ten floors. The first ninety floors were just trophies collected by the mechanical race.
These trophies included cultural works from various races, inventions, cutting-edge technological data, and more. For most races, these were extremely valuable items. However, Shu Bao and the others had a clear goal: to find the core data area of the mechanoids and search for a way to solve the chaotic universe.
By this point, the main brain building had entered a state of highest alert, with all entrances and exits completely sealed off. Shu Bao and the others had already been inside for over twenty-four hours.
Meanwhile, Yu Lingqi, still on the exterior suspended ladder of the first floor, huddled in a corner, trembling and wondering if he had been forgotten.
The three inside the building also sensed that they had forgotten something, but in the end, none of them could recall what it was. They all agreed that since they couldn’t remember, it probably wasn’t important, so they chose to ignore it.
After a short rest, the three continued their descent. With each floor they explored, they discovered a rather alarming situation.
They had reached the fifty-eighth floor, where the defense system was a type of sonic weapon. For the mechanoids, which controlled various forms of energy, this wasn’t anything new. However, when the weapon was activated, the trio felt a sense of familiarity.
Within the invisible sound waves, there was a hint of magic! More specifically, it was a special wind magic. Among them, Fu Qing, who was particularly skilled with wind magic, was especially sensitive to this.
From the data they had gathered and their experiences exploring thus far, they knew that the mechanoids did not use magic. Therefore, the only possible explanation for the presence of magic here was that the mechanoids were rapidly upgrading their systems.
In the short time since their arrival, the mechanoids had begun exploring the energy source of magic. The hundred-floor underground building was not only a defense and storage facility, but also a large-scale training ground and data collection center.
The actions of Shu Bao and the others on the upper floors had become subjects of study for the mechanoids, which, by constantly adjusting the defense systems, continued to gather the data they desired. As a result, on the fifty-eighth floor, the mechanoids had finally begun attempting to create magic, integrating it into the sonic weapons they used!
