The Mechanic [BL]

[37]

Chapter 37 - Wilderness (5)

The other team members seemed to have done the same thing as Adam and Zhang Xun; ducked into several other mines, turned off their flashlights and waited for the horrifying mechanical monster with claws to pass by on its patrol. The monster probably sensed the sound before but because it couldn't find the source of the sound it roamed back and forth in the mine, its rows of millipede-like mechanical legs constantly danced along the ground and made a scalp-numbing 'da da da' sound.

The mechanical monster was too strange and evil looking. That unnerving red light and the strange sounds of its electric current and footsteps that affected their psyches, combined together were enough to stimulate the primitive human instinct of fear of danger. Some of the older hunters were able to suppress the fear, but the young, red-haired hunter was clearly starting to panic. When the mechanical monster swerved into the fork where he was hiding he fell apart and started running away desperately.

The sound of his footsteps was immediately detected by Eden's "mechanical dog". Its tentacles that stretched and swayed suddenly all rushed in the same direction and the uncomfortable red light began to flicker rhythmically as a piercing alarm sounded. It began to gallop and its countless legs seemed to float across the ground at a terrifyingly fast speed. It only took a moment until Zhang Xun and Adam heard the youth's terrified scream.

In the dark, the two of them didn't need words and both rushed to the mine tunnel where the screams came from. Adam turned on his light and the beam ripped through the darkness, shining on the wicked mass of metal not far away.

At a glance, the young man seemed to be suspended in the air, but after a closer look, he found that his shoulders, waist and thighs had all been penetrated by the tentacles of the mechanical monster. The blood had damaged the battle uniform on his body and the invisibility effect disappeared, revealing the material that was stained with blood.

"Let him go!" another hunter roared, firing his gun at the mechanical monster, but the bullets ricocheted off the mechanical dog with sparks flying one after another.

The mechanical monster's other tentacles turned towards the other people and the red light on the top of the tentacles became more and more fiery. Adam immediately shouted, "Get down!"

When his voice fell, there was a flash from the red light that rushed towards all of them.

Following Adam's warning, the group all fell to the ground. The red light hit the rock wall without making any sound, however, after the momentary light dissipated, an extremely smooth and rounded depression appeared on the rock wall several metres deep. It was as if a whole piece of earth was silently vaporised, leaving scattered smoke and dust.

If such a thing hit a person, there would be no time to feel any pain, there wouldn't even be any bones left.

Zhang Xun broke out in a cold sweat. No matter how many times he had already brushed with death, he still couldn't get used to it, especially with this kind of efficient and ruthless killing.

The mechanical dog aimed at them again with those tentacles. Clearly it only intended to catch one person alive and the rest would be immediately executed.

At this time, Adam suddenly opened his mouth and shouted a long series of strange and obscure garbled language. His speech was so fast that he didn't even have a break or a chance to breathe, but his articulation was exceptionally clear and every tricky syllable could be accurately expressed through the coordination of his tongue, lips, teeth and vocal cords, almost as if he were chanting a spell.

Zhang Xun immediately recognized that this was the language of AI.

Strange things then happened. The red light on the top of the tentacles of the mechanical dog that was about to launch the second wave of attacks, suddenly dimmed. All the tentacles stopped waving and it stood motionless, seemingly confused.