The patrol car's engine finally failed, and it spat out its last wisp of smoke at the edge of the forest of living weapons. Feng Hao pushed open the car door and stepped on the ground covered with metal leaves, making a fine, crisp sound - the leaves were the remnants of pre-era mechas, nourished by spiritual veins and growing pale golden patterns like some kind of breathing scales.
The pale white of the sky was spreading, pushing the darkness of the wasteland into the depths of the forest bit by bit. Chen Mohen suddenly pointed to the east, where the clouds were dyed orange-red by the morning light, like a piece of red-hot iron: "Look! It's the sun!"
No one laughed at him for being too naive. It was the first full dawn they had seen since their escape, and the searchlight of the Iron Eagle Guard and the red light of the talisman paper of the Clearsky Pavilion failed to cover it. Feng Hao's mechanical arm glowed bluish-purple in the morning light, and the mixed liquid spot on his fingertips echoed with the orange-red on the horizon, forming a rainbow in the air that stretched across the forest.
"Om --"
The iron lumps at Qin Tieluo's feet suddenly shook, and the toilet lid spun and rose towards the depths of the forest. The psychic crystals on the wreckage collided with the morning light, refracting fragments of light that landed on Lin Banxia's medicine bottle. The mixture in the potion immediately boiled, and the pale golden liquid flowed down the wall of the potion, drawing the talisman on the ground, and the tail of the talisman connected to the data stream of Yan Yuanxiu to form a complete circle.
"This is..." Lin Bangxia crouched down and touched the talisman line with her fingertips. Suddenly, the mixture climbed up her arm along her fingertips and resonated with the light of Feng Hao's mechanical arm, "Energy Circulation Talisman."
Chen Mohen's BUG symbol slid out of his bosom and automatically stuck to the center of the circle. The crooked lines on the paper began to flow, like a little snake burrowing into the ring formed by the data flow, and the ring immediately lit up, enclosing everyone inside. Su Xiaoli's mechanical dragon suddenly darted out of the carriage. The dragon head rubbed against Qin Tieluo's knee and wrapped its tail around Chen Mohen's wrist. The green light of the electronic eye merged with the light of the ring.
Feng Hao clenched the tassel of his sword on his chest, the copper wire and the fibers of the spirit grass burning in the morning light. He looked at everyone in the ring - Qin Tieluo mending the tracks of iron lumps with wire, Lin Banxia adjusting the new mixture, Chen Mohen gestating the drawing of the new talisman to the data stream, Su Xiaoli's mechanical dragon spinning around their feet, and Yan Yuanxiu's data stream flickering at the edge of the ring as if guarding this moment of peace.
"They won't let it go." Feng Hao's voice was soft but clear to everyone's ears, "Zhao Kun's mecha group, Lei Li's talisman array, and that Guiyuan array... We can't escape it."
He paused, glancing at the interwoven light in the ring: "So we can't go our separate ways as we did before. We have to be a real 'team' -- your robotic arm, my talisman paper, her mixture, and Yan Yuanxiu's data, Little Fox's mechanical dragon..."
"It should have been this long ago!" Qin Tieluo suddenly stood up, the wreckage of the iron lump rumbled behind him. "If I hadn't stopped the mecha last time, the iron lump wouldn't have..."
"It was a miscalculation, not your fault." Feng Hao interrupted him, his mechanical arm resting on his shoulder. "Next time, we'll have you run head-on into their formation."
Lin Banxia handed out the freshly mixed liquid to everyone: "This can enhance energy resonance, and in danger, as long as we are close enough, we can form a combined force shield." She handed one of the bottles to Feng Hao, and her fingertips touched his metal knuckles. The two lights exploded at the point of contact but did not disperse; instead, they condensed into tiny balls of light.
Chen Mohen suddenly laughed and rushed out of the ring, with bugs fluttering in strings behind him like wind chimes hanging in the morning light: "Let them try! My newly drawn 'Chaos array' can make Zhao Kun's mecha dance tango!
Yan Yuanxiu's data stream formed lines on the ground and floated to Feng Hao's feet: "Team survival probability: 91%. It's 67% higher than acting alone."
Just then an old voice, like a wind-worn stone, with a strange penetrating power, came from the depths of the Living Machinery forest: "If you want to survive, come in and find the answer."
As the voice fell, the metal vines at the edge of the forest parted automatically, revealing a winding path. On both sides of the path, the psychic flowers bloomed at the same time, and the patterns on the petals were exactly the same as those on Feng Hao's sword tassel. The morning light stretched in along the path as if inviting them to step in.
Feng Hao looked up into the depth of the path and then looked back at his companions in the roundabout. Qin Tieluo had already carried the wreckage of the iron lumps, Lin Banxia held the medicine bottle tightly, Chen Mohen stood on tiptoe peering into the path, Su Xiaoli's mechanical dragon roared excitedly, and Yan Yuanxiu's data stream spread out ahead like a guiding light band.
He smiled and took the first step onto the path. The spike of the sword shone brightly in front of his chest, illuminating the path ahead.
The first dawn has finally come. And their story has only just begun.
On the path where the metal vines split apart, the morning light was cut into tiny specks, which felt like stepping on a ground full of scattered diamonds. Feng Hao's mechanical arm trembled slightly at the moment it touched the light spot. He lowered his head and saw that the light spot was climbing up along the metal grain, interweaving with the light of the sword spikes to form a net, protecting his companions behind him.
"This forest... It seems to know us." Su Xiaoli's mechanical dragon suddenly stopped, and its head turned to the bushes on the left. The metal blades there were turning over, revealing the symbols engraved beneath - the mechanical repair marks from the previous era, exactly the same as those in Feng Hao's father's notes.
Qin Tieluo squatted down and scratched the edge of the symbol with his fingers. Iron filings rustled down, revealing the spiritual energy crystals inside. "The old stuff is well hidden." He whistled, and the remnants of the iron lump suddenly shot out a beam of light that hit the crystal, which immediately exploded and turned into a light bird, circling three times above the path and flying deep into it.
Lin Banxia's mixture was gently shaken in the bottle, which reflected the trails of the light bird. "The light bird is leading the way." She looked at the gold lines left by the tracks in the air, "the frequency of these gold lines matched the remnants of the Chaos Protocol."
Chen Mohen suddenly grabbed Feng Hao's arm and pointed to a huge rock ahead. The rock was covered with vines made up of data streams, and at the end of the vines bloomed a metal flower with the pattern on the petals turned out to be the "bond Talisman" he had failed to draw last night. "How could my talisman be here?" He touched the petals, and the metal flower suddenly closed and turned into a sheet of paper that floated into his hand, "and... And evolved?"
Yan Yuanxiu's data stream swept across the talisman paper, and Danchuxing analyzed: "Absorbed the spirit vein and morning light energy, the BUG has transformed into a special ability - 'Symbiotic Talisman'."
Feng Hao's sword spike suddenly heated violently. He looked up and saw a stone house at the end of the path, with a wooden sign hanging on the lintel of the stone house that read "Forest Keeper". The old voice rang out again, this time closer, as if it were right behind the door: "Come in, children. Your fathers were once guests here."
It was like an electric current that struck everyone. Qin Tieluo's movements stopped, and the remnants of the iron lumps slid down his shoulders with a heavy thud; Lin Banxia's medicine bottle nearly slipped out of her hand, and the mixture splashed in the bottle; Chen Mohen clutched the symbiotic talisman in his hand, and the temperature of the talisman paper was the same as that in his palm.
Feng Hao took a deep breath and pushed open the stone house door.
The room was filled with a mixture of the scents of spiritual herbs and engine oil, and strange objects hung on the walls - half-mecha wreckage, a few yellowed talismans, a bottle of solidified mixture, and a flickering data stream chip. The most conspicuous was the stone table in the middle of the room, on which lay a map, whose edges were worn out and marked with different colors of handwriting, the blue-purple one exactly the same as the pattern of Feng Hao's mechanical arm.
"Sit down." The voice of the old dean came from the corner of the room, where in the shade sat an old man, dressed in a mended mecha soldier uniform and holding a spiritual herb, weaving a blade. "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
The old man raised his head, and the morning light shone through the crack of the door, illuminating the scar on his face - the mark of being burned by psychic energy, but at the edge of the scar, there was a faint mechanical ring. "My name is Old Mu. I was your father's comrade-in-arms, Feng Hao." He placed the brined tassel on the table, "also a traitor of the Qingxiao Pavilion, a senior of Lei Li."
The stone house suddenly fell silent, with only the faint sound of Yan Yuanxiu's data stream flowing through the air.
Old Wood pointed to the map on the table: "This is the distribution map of psychic data stations from the previous era. The Chaos Protocol you are looking for is hidden at the last station. But to get there, one must first learn true 'symbiosis' - not as simple as energy resonance, but to treat each other's pain as one's own weakness."
He picked up the half of the mecha wreckage and the bottle of the mixture: "Feng Zhan used his own fragments of the spirit vein to repair this mecha, and Lin Mo used the mixture to save me from being burned by the spirit energy. They all know that the so-called outliers are just loners who haven't found their kind."
Feng Hao looked at the tassels on the table and suddenly understood the look in his father's eyes before his death. It wasn't an instruction, it was an expectation - an expectation that he would let go of his hatred and find someone willing to live with him.
Outside the house came the roar of the mecha engine, it was Zhao Kun and Lei Li chasing. But this time, no one showed any sign of panic.
Qin Tieluo lifted the remains of the iron lumps and said to Chen Mohen, "Get your symbiotic talisman ready."
Lin Banxia distributed the mixture to everyone and nodded at Feng Hao, saying, "The energy circulation is ready."
Chen Mohen's talisman paper shone in the palm of his hand, Su Xiaoli's mechanical dragon made a fighting pose, and Yan Yuanxiu's data stream woved a net around the stone house.
Feng Hao picked up the tassel of his sword on the table and attached it to the root of his chest. The moment the two beams of light merged, the map of the stone house suddenly lit up, and the complete Chaos Protocol pattern unfolded on the wall, illuminating everyone's face.
"The answer has been found." Feng Hao grasped the double spikes of his sword, and the light of the mechanical arm, along with Lin Banxia's mixture, Chen Mohen's talisman paper, Qin Tieluo's wreckage, Yan Yuanxiu's data stream, Su Xiaoli's mechanical dragon light, swelled simultaneously and condensed into a huge shield above the stone house, blocking the first shell fired from outside.
Old Wood looked at their backs and laughed. The morning light passed through the Windows of the stone house and shone on the new tassels he had woven, and the copper wire and spiritual grass fibers on the tassels, just like them, were tightly entwined together.