The Mechanic [BL]

[96]

Chapter 96 – Feathered Serpent City (2)

The majestic gates of Feathered Serpent City opened in front of Zhang Xun and the others and six humanoid battle droids took two steps forward in a neat and tidy manner. Their design was somewhat similar to Eden's humanoid robot police, except that the outer shell was translucent and the complex devices inside and the liquid circulation lines flowing between the different devices were faintly visible.

A tall...... male human emerged from among the six robots. His face was in his early thirties and his modified eyes glowed a pale gold. Except for his head, his entire body had been modified into a hard and powerful mechanical body, with a yellow glow coming through the gaps in his pitch black armour.

The man swept his icy eyes over the few humans before him two heads shorter than him and finally landed on Zhang Xun, "Our High Priest agrees to see you. You may come with me."

In front of such a tall cyborg, the sense of oppression was naturally frightening. Zhang Xun gulped nervously and nodded, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me too soon. You're the mechanic who destroyed our base." The golden-eyed cyborg sneered, "You should be glad Phoenix didn't burn you to ashes right away."

Zhang Xun was uncomfortably silenced. Now they were in a precarious position, their lives depended on the mood of the others and they had to be humble and submissive.

Having exchanged a great deal of information during that short conversation, Zhang Xun had learned that the name of Feathered Serpent City's main defence AI was Phoenix. This was a rather sophisticated and mature super AI, but the functional side was limited to military aspects, the main goal was divided into two levels: completed under the premise of protecting the safety of the target population.

Zhang Xun and Enoch looked at each other, then he turned back to the others and gave them a look meaning to follow.

Behind the gates was an empty square with a transparent wall of changing projections further away, dividing them from the magnificent megalopolis. Surrounded by more robots, there were two more humans, both apparently also heavily modified. One had eight arms growing from his back, each of which could be transformed into a weapon. The other didn't even have the shape of a head, only the brain, suspended in liquid, was still human.

James, Todd and Diego couldn't help but stare at these heavily modified 'new humans' with a sense of wonder. Even in the ordinary world, most people rarely had more than twenty percent of their bodies modified and here it seemed like fifty percent was the minimum......

A long, light aircraft landed silently in front of them, like a snake or worm that could fly through the air.

The man with the golden eyes stared at them, "Hand over all your weapons."

The men looked at each other and had to comply. However, after Todd had handed over all the guns he had on him, the soldier with eight arms remained with one hand outstretched and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"I've given you all my weapons!" Todd said angrily.

The human soldier grunted, "Your whole bodies were scanned when you entered the gates, you have a dagger in your boot."

Todd cursed and could only bend down and take the dagger out.

They were herded into the snake-like aircraft. Sitting on the soft jellyfish-like seats, Zhang Xun realised that the suspension system of the craft was so excellent that he didn't even feel any vibration or shaking during the whole take-off.

"When you see the High Priest, you must not speak unless he asks you a question. Any suspicious behaviour or movements will be monitored by Phoenix and disciplinary action will be taken if necessary. You are also not allowed to initiate conversation with Phoenix without permission and the use of AI language is absolutely forbidden." The golden-eyed soldier stared at Zhang Xun, a heavy sense of wariness and mistrust pervading his eyes.