Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 564 - 60 - s Mechanical Ascension (Part 1)
"This, this is impossible."
Duke Weilang’s throat was dry, unwilling to believe his own eyes.
Chang Yu was also stunned, and after a long while, he forced a smile, then without any hesitation, twisted Duke Weilang’s neck and broke it.
Even amid the uproar, the sound of a neck being brutally twisted and broken by steel was still so crisp and terrifying.
St. Yves threw down his cane and top hat, and without any grace, turned and fled. A rich steam billowed from beneath Chang Yu’s cloak as his right leg, a tight integration of steel and flesh, suddenly erupted with a shocking leap ability that took down the disheveled St. Yves in an instant.
Thump~
It was only now that Duke Weilang’s body fell to the ground, his lifeless eyes still looking towards the direction of the Mississippi River.
Boom!
The entire Cupid Tower began to shake uncontrollably once again.
Chang Yu’s eyes were wide open, as if some string had snapped in his heart.
————————————————
In front of Cupid Tower, amidst the rubble and debris, smoke was curling up.
A section of cracked iron sheeting clanged as it fell to the ground.
Designed collectively by Chang Yu and Li Yan, which could operate nine Tri-Orb Devices simultaneously and withstand the onslaught of hundreds of Steam Guards, the headless soldier now knelt weakly on the ground, every part of its body battered and torn, with red steam, like blood, leaking from its wounds.
It seemed to want to stand up, but before its knees could straighten, a heavy iron fist descended from the sky, smashing the headless soldier into the cracked earth, parts bursting and red steam scattering everywhere, a spectacle of utter devastation.
The guards all stepped back, and it took a while before the fist, comparable in size to an ordinary bulldozer, was lifted.
The headless soldier was now shapeless, with the thick red steam spreading outwards and the nine glowing Tri-Orb Devices one by one flickering out, its intricate and ornate spine, though still intact, had lost all warmth and power.
The view rose higher, revealing what had shattered the headless soldier: a colossal being a quarter the size of Cupid Tower itself, equipped with four sets of treads front and back, six yellow, mechanical arms that extended from its sides, each arm ending in three segmented fingers. Chimneys on its shoulders sent columnar black smoke straight into the moon, with the resounding noise of steam hitting boilers revealing the terrifying destructive power of this steel monster.
Enfield’s greatest masterpiece, the Eight-Core Soldier, Giant Ymir!
As for how quickly the police department had persuaded Enfield to deploy the newly combat-tested Giant Ymir, Chang Yu wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
The complexity of technology and its destructive power were not always proportional.
From inception to production, Giant Ymir took a full five years, with the entire Enfield team, including Chang Yu, pouring their hearts into it. Yet most parts of the headless soldier had been, in the end, hastily assembled by Chang Yu and Li Yan over just a few days. And there was also a huge gap in size and material quality.
An Eight-Core Giant crushing a Nine-Core headless soldier was, in fact, hardly a suspense.
Chang was a genius in steam mechanics, but he wasn’t a god; even with the help of the Book of Creation, there were far too many obstacles he couldn’t overcome.
His creation, the headless soldier, had a spine connected by twenty-eight Tri-Orb Devices, but only seven to nine could operate simultaneously, with the others serving as spare parts in an overload state.
According to the Book of Creation, this top technology from ancient times could have nineteen to twenty-one Tri-Orb Devices operating at once, leaving only seven as spares.
Clearly, the current headless soldier had not lived up to the full potential of its Tri-Orb spinal column.
Tri-Orb Devices could vaporize anything in the world. Conversely, while vaporizing certain materials, Tri-Orb Devices could unleash even greater power.
As for what exactly the headless soldier lacked, Chang Yu had no clue.
But Chang Yu knew one thing for sure, his time to shine personally was running short.
"Charge in!"
Almost simultaneously with the headless soldier being shattered, the chief detective issued the order to attack.
Ignoring St. Yves’ struggle, Chang Yu grabbed his collar and, amidst the shocked, angry, and peculiar gazes of everyone present, dragged him toward the upper levels of Cupid Tower. St. Yves screamed hoarsely, pounding his fists against Chang Yu’s brass-covered armguard to no avail, except for turning his own hands beet red.
The crowd unconsciously parted to make way for this cold, strange, and cruel Chang Yu. Robert hesitated for a long time and finally called out to him as he was about to brush past.
"Chang," Robert took a deep breath, "I’m sorry."
Chang Yu did not react at all, his footsteps becoming fainter and fainter, followed closely by a string of self-detonating toys behind the lonely silhouette of their master.
The most noise in the entire banquet hall came from St. Yves’ struggles and heavy breathing. All the rest fell into a prolonged silence.
About a minute later, fully armed steam guards burst through the door.
The chief detective, in his solid white combat suit, examined the bodies on the ground and the unnerved guests.
"Where’s the killer?!"
Dorothy looked in the direction of the staircase.
Several officers hurriedly rushed up the stairs, but within moments of turning the corner, they were tackled by a self-detonating toy, and the intense light of another explosion lit up again.
"Damn it!"
The chief detective cursed angrily.
"Chief, something’s not right," an officer said with a stern expression. "Someone has tampered with the elevator system of Cupid Tower. The lookout on the airship spotted a large number of suspicious, discarded oil drums and cardboard boxes on the spire of Cupid Tower, likely explosives."
"Impossible," the detective flatly denied. "The transport of high explosives throughout San Francisco is strictly regulated. Even if Satan himself returned to Earth, he couldn’t possibly transport a large quantity of high explosives into the bustling square unnoticed."
"Come off it, Mr. Chief," a congressman who had just been rescued and was known for his temper accused, "Are you suggesting we were held hostage for over forty minutes with a fruit knife?"
The chief detective’s face turned red and then white, but he did not argue back.
"It’s entirely possible," Dorothy said, her face pale. "Chang just told me he wanted to take revenge for everything he’s done for San Francisco over the years and even threatened to blow up the offshore railway. He has both the motive and the ability to do so."
"That’s utterly delusional!" the chief detective glared furiously. "He’s at a dead end!"
"You have nowhere to run."
Li Yan, standing on the Mississippi River bank’s rail tracks, said to the red-eyed Cha Xiaodao.
Cha Xiaodao responded with silence, breathing heavily. His neck and the back of his hands had white salt stains, residues from sweat being repeatedly evaporated by flames, which highlighted the severe depletion of his physical strength. Even so, the black tail of fire continued to surge behind him, shining brilliantly.
"The moment you resort to the seven forms of firearms and swords, it becomes a life-or-death situation, and even the tentacle-shaped Disaster Water would become uncontrollable."
Half of Li Yan’s eyebrow was gone, a casualty of being grazed by Black Glutton’s flames during the lengthy chase.
The heaviest injury on his body was the knife wound on his chest, but by now the scab had fallen off, posing no great trouble. It merely left a tear in the "Blue Wool Sweater of Jack Chen," which did not affect its attributes.
The golden light around Cha Xiaodao’s skin surged over an inch high, and as the black tail of fire behind him waved, the high temperature caused a hemispherical depression to form in the river beneath his feet. Black flames converged between Cha Xiaodao’s hands, pulsing and expanding like a heart. Wisps of steam rose from the top of his head into the air, condensing to form a ferocious visage with a wide-open mouth.
Gluttonous Rage!
Li Yan felt a headache coming on. Cha Xiaodao had long achieved the "Gluttonous Stance," but his condition was somewhat special. His set of skills were entirely different from that of a typical Glutton heir, yet their power was comparable to any one of the Ghost Chariot’s self-detonating forty-six forbidden techniques, posing a fatal threat to the current Li Yan.
He wanted to hold back, but the other party clearly had no such scruples.
The black fireball on the riverbank rapidly expanded. At the same time, Li Yan released a seemingly unremarkable colorless ripple that spread in all directions. Within the ripples, creatures of various colors—magnificent, beautiful, and fierce aquatic aberrations—stretched out their bodies, forming a grand and majestic underwater painting.
Wu Zhiqi, Nine Variations of Calamity!
