Chapter 31.1 – Protagonist: Hold then sit on it.’
Xiu handed over the two passes to the demon gatekeeper. The demon examined the passes to confirm they were genuine before he looked at Xiu, Du Ze, and the two demon sisters: “Only two people can go through.”
Pointing to himself and Du Ze, Xiu said: “Just and him.”
“Chirp!” The small Phoenix on top of Du Ze’s head tweeted, calling attention to its existence.
The gatekeeper stared at the trembling yellow hairball: “What is this? Chicken?”
If I say this is a Phoenix, would you believe it?
Du Ze’s face expressed lancholy. Ever since he woke up, he found that the little chick had made itself ho on his head. Although the small Phoenix was still shivering, it seems to have beco accustod to it and just trembled while gathering Du Ze’s black hair in its claws. After finding a satisfactory spot, it settled down there. Whenever Du Ze tried to get it down from his head, the little Phoenix would bite Du Ze’s hair and stubbornly refuse to let go.
The demon guarding the gate glanced disinterestedly at the little Phoenix, put the passes away, then rang a bell. The heavy gates of the fortress slowly rose and a black swamp appeared in front of them. A thin mist hung over the swamp. The sll of decay was strong. This is the Death Swamp, the battlefield of the angels and demons and later, the gnos and undead. Those who want to enter the Lost Land must first cross the Death Swamp.
Xiu did not hesitate and imdiately pulled Du Ze with him to enter the gate. Du Ze looked back at the demon sisters. Though she had known that they would be parting today, Violet was still crying. Alice, who was gently holding her sister, noticed Du Ze’s eyes on them. The red-clothed girl smiled and said: “Bon Voyage, Lord Xiu, Mr. Du Ze. We will be your most faithful servants at any ti.”
The heavy door of the fortress closed again, and the girl’s smile and voice were cut off.
After walking into the Death Swamp, the rotten sll irritated their noses. The baby Phoenix sneezed a dozen tis. Fire spurted from its mouth and burnt so of Du Ze’s hair.
Du Ze: ...
Xiu stopped and softly chanted a few syllables. A gentle breeze with a fresh scent enveloped the group. This was a very useful wind-type magic spell that can, at the very least, save so stupid person’s hair.
“Tread carefully.”
Wherever they walked, their feet sank down into the black sludge of the swamp. Xiu and Du Ze walked for a while before suddenly, a black shadow half-hidden by the fog appeared in front of them. They stopped walking but the shadowy figure still seed to notice them. The dark figure was about three ters high. When it turned around, there were two blue lights in the mist.
Xiu stood in front of Du Ze, chanting a few words. A gust of wind tore the thin mist apart, revealing the shadowy figure. It was a tall robot with long, big hands carrying chains. A star was engraved on its left breast. Its body was a tallic iron-gray, and its eyes were simply blue lights.
Du Ze instantly felt as though he had been transported into a sci-fi world though he knew that the robot was a chanical puppet, one of the gno race’s best-known creations in “Mixed Blood.”
The blue light set in the eyes of the chanical puppet scanned Xiu and Du Ze. It spoke in an electronic-synthesized tone: “Beep – lifeforms discovered, analyzing race. Beep – non-gno, analyzing faction. Beep – unrecognized faction, analysis complete. Beep – activate the enemy program X, expel the lifeforms.”
The blue lights in the chanical puppet’s eye flashed. It faced Xiu and Du Ze and its voice suddenly beca louder.
“Warning! Please leave here within 10 seconds or you will be attacked. 10, 9, 8 ...”
Seeing that Xiu had no intention of leaving, Du Ze tried to pull Xiu away. “Do you want to play?”
Xiu seed sowhat startled. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s going to ...” he said. Then, based on Xiu’s reaction, Du Ze had a bad feeling and guessed: “You don’t understand what it said?”
Du Ze thought that the chanical puppet was speaking the language of the Chaos Continent, but now that he thought about it he rembered that in “Mixed Blood,” the chanical puppets use the gno language. For Du Ze, all of the languages of this world are unfamiliar, but there is a magic that translates everything for him. As if he had a foreigner in front of him speaking an unknown language and a translation machine, he can understand what is said but he can’t tell whether that person is speaking French or Russian.
Xiu nodded and asked, “What did it say?”
Du Ze did not have ti to answer before the chanical puppet’s countdown ca to an end.
“...... 3, 2, 1. Activating attack mode.”
The blue lights of the chanical puppet’s eyes turned red. “Mark target, access target information. Beep – start eviction.”
The chanical puppet pulled out its chain and rushed over to them with a heavy pace.
Xiu pulled out his sword, moved forward, and took the initiative to “greet” it. The chanical puppet flung its chain towards Xiu. Xiu’s colorless battle aura covered the sword which swiftly struck the chain.
An imnse destructive power poured out of Xiu’s sword and into the chain, which broke.. The chanical puppet fell to the ground.
However, even if the chain was broken, Xiu had to pull back. He looked at the sword in his hand. It was a sword bought in Agares City. Even though he had used his battle magic, the cracks still appeared on the sword blade which showed how powerful the chanical puppet was.
The chanical puppet did not care about the chain that broke. It simply pulled out several chains from its body and launched another attack.
This ti Xiu did not strike at the chain. He chanted a few words. A breeze ruffled his blonde hair. Xiu bent his leg then leaped higher than a person could normally leap – it seed that the wind was holding him aloft. The sun shone from above the blond youth and projected his shadow onto the chanical puppet underneath him. As he fell down from his jump, Xiu held his sword with both hands, activated his battle aura, and rcilessly stabbed the head of the chanical puppet.
The sword was finally overmatched and broke but not before destroying the chanical puppet’s head. The headless chanical puppet paused for a mont then stretched out a big hand to try to catch Xiu who was standing on its shoulder.
Xiu narrowly avoided capture and jumped down.
The headless chanical puppet started waving its hands and moving in circles, trying to find its enemy.
To make the chanical puppet stop moving completely, one must destroy its power center, but there was no need to destroy it at this ti. Du Ze and Xiu simply walked past the headless chanical puppet.
As they walked, Xiu continued their conversation: “What did the chanical puppet say?”
Du Ze repeated the chanical puppet’s words to Xiu. After listening to Du Ze’s explanation, Xiu seed to be thinking deeply. They were able to spot several chanical puppets from far away and were able to avoid them but as they traveled farther into the Death Swamp, the number of chanical puppets increased. From the initial solo chanical puppets, they had increased to groups of 2, 3, 4, and 5. It beca harder and harder to avoid the chanical puppets and sotis they had to circle a very long way around them.
Chapter 31.2 – Protagonist: Hold then sit on it.
Suddenly, they heard the sounds of fighting. The wind of the battle blew away the fog and they saw a giant chanical puppet, twice as big as the ones they had seen. It had two stars on its chest. The two-star chanical puppet was fighting with a group of demons who seed to be on the losing side. The demons were panicked and all of them had varying degrees of injuries.
Xiu thought about the situation for a mont then instructed Du Ze to wait for him. He took out Qian Bian,1 transford it into the Burning Desire Demonic Sword, and joined the battle. With Xiu’s help, the group of demons finally defeated the huge chanical puppet.
One of the demons who had less serious injuries thanked Xiu: “We are guards from Agares City, thank you for your help.”
“What’s going on?” Xiu glanced at the fallen chanical puppet: “Why are there so many chanical puppets?”
“We are investigating the cause.” The demon frowned: “We don’t know what happened at the Lost Land. These tal lumps all got activated. When they see people, they attack. You have seen those one star chanical puppets?”
The demon pointed at the chest of the chanical puppet. “This is a two-star chanical puppet. Their strength is 10 tis that of the one-star chanical puppets, around the sa level as a Grand Sword Master.”
He pointed in the direction Xiu and Du Ze were going and said: “If you keep moving forward you will encounter lots of two-star chanical puppets all cramd together in that area.”
Xiu was silent after listening to these words. Two demons decided to leave because of their injuries. After they had left, Du Ze walked to Xiu’s side and heard the blond youth whisper: “I have an idea ... Let’s try it.”
Five days later.
In the misty Death Swamp, a chanical puppet that was wandering aimlessly, suddenly saw two figures.
“Beep – lifeforms discovered, analyzing race. Beep – gno discovered!” The blue lights in the chanical puppet’s eyes blinked. “Identifying individual. Beep – identity not found in system, conducting complete analysis. Beep – activate protection program A, escorting the individual ‘ho’.”
The giant chanical puppet knelt in front of the small figure and stretched out a hand, quietly waiting for its master’s response. The flaxen-haired dwarf grabbed the black-haired youth then raised his head to reveal a pair of amber eyes. “What did it say?”
Du Ze gazed at Xiu and the chanical puppet. The tiny gno stood next to the two-ter-high chanical puppet. The contrast gave one an indescribable shock. He repeated the chanical puppet’s words. Xiu listened then said to Du Ze: “Hold then sit on it.”
Suddenly, a hole opened up in Du Ze’s brain: these words from a Moe Lord with a tender and soft appearance were like those of a child asking for a hug.
So fool then bent down from the waist and clumsily picked up Xiu, holding the gno to his bosom.
Xiu’s put his chin on Du Ze’s shoulder and placed his arms around Du Ze’s neck. His eyes were attracted by an earlobe. It seed very soft ...
The chanical puppet stood up, holding Du Ze. At the mont when he was jolted by the movent, Du Ze felt his ears were rcilessly rubbed. The chanical puppet began to run and Du Ze had to grab its shoulder to avoid falling. That place was rubbed until it was hot, and he could not help but want to find so ice to cool it off.
Along the way they saw all kinds of chanical puppets. When they saw Xiu all of them stopped and solemnly watched Xiu’s group until they ran out of sight. The closer they got to the Lost Land, the more chanical puppets appeared. The number of stars on their chests also increased from one to three. Later on these three star chanical puppets were everywhere. Du Ze was sowhat frightened at the sight. If Xiu hadn’t changed into his gno form, this place would be a dead end for them.
The outer boundary of the Lost Land was getting closer. It was a milky-white mbrane.2 To enter the Lost Land, one has to go through it. The chanical puppet did not pause as it passed through the boundary. Du Ze looked at the familiar scenery. The ice crystal ground, the skies that appear above and below, and the distant pillar of light made him feel like he was in a dream or an illusion.
When the chanical puppet entered the Lost Land, it took out a robot flying saucer and activated it. The little UFO buzzed and flew in front of them, leading the way. The chanical puppet closely followed the flying saucer.
Du Ze had described the Lost Land as tsundere, but actually walking around the pillar of light is just one way to get to the center; it’s not the only way. The gnos found 10 paths and the fastest can allow a person to reach the pillar in one day.
The chanical puppet holding Du Ze and Xiu entered the pillar of light. In front of them was the activated tal pyramid. The little flying saucer flew over the chanical puppet and a red light erged from it, enveloping the group. Du Ze felt a sense of weightlessness in his body as they were guided by small UFO into the space eye.
As they went closer to the space eye, the red light from the flying saucer beca brighter and brighter until it dazzled them. When they entered the space eye, Du Ze didn’t know if they were still protected by the red light. He felt dizzy but he did not lose consciousness. After the red light faded away, Du Ze looked outside and gawked at what he saw.
He seed to be back in the 21st century.
It was a city made of steel. Gray was the main color of the city. The streets were littered with large and small types of machinery. So of the machines seed to have lost their energy and quietly sat in a corner while so were still active. The whole city appears to be built underground or in a cave. There were balls of light of varying sizes above them, lighting up the city so that it was as bright as daylight.
He knew the na of this city. Du Ze’s heart began to feel agitated, as if he had heard the plot of “Mixed Blood” whispering to him.
Welco to ... the Gno Ruins.
******
******
[Explore Gno Ruins: Unranked Task.] Go to gno ruins to find materials. Task, grade, and pay will depend on materials’ quality. Client: rcenary Guild. ]
The receptionist saw Xiu staring at the request for “exploring the Gno ruins” and advised him: “It’s best not to try this task. The Gno ruins are not a good place to play.”
“If I finish the job and the rating for the materials I find are S, will my rcenary rank rise?” asked Xiu unemotionally.
“Your present rcenary rank is E, if you can get the S-class material ...” The receptionist calculated and gave her answer: “Your rcenary rank can be upgraded to A.”
“I’ll do it.” Briskly, with a no nonsense attitude, Xiu imdiately put his rcenary card on the counter.
The receptionist wanted to persuade him against it. She was reluctant to see such a beautiful creature die. But when the receptionist saw the elf’s indifference, she sighed and accepted the card.
– excerpt from “Mixed Blood”
The author has sothing to say:
Protagonist (Gno form): Hold then sit on it.
Reader: Okay.
...... (ti interval)
Protagonist (Demon form): Oh ... No strength?
Readers: ... Damn you! Hiss——QAQ
Author: What happened? I don’t know. ⊙▽⊙
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