chsdbacks 2. I don't read the classics, I read online novels [2-in-1].
2. I don't read the classics, I read online novels [2-in-1].
The Mighty Gentleman has a headless chassis, a feature common in the steam age.
Four meters tall, clad in heavy black armor, with a towering boiler exhaust port attached to his neck, and muscular limbs supporting the thug's physique.
Its steam boiler output power is equivalent to the phlogiston blood pressure of a first-order transcendent.
If firepower is sufficient and mobility reaches human levels, then one can fight against superhumans!
At this moment, Roya, who was being held in mid-air by the giant hands of the Mighty Gentleman, remained unmoved.
Copper pipes, valves, crankshaft... the internal structure of the Mighty Gentleman was clearly visible and imprinted in his mind.
Cynthia's betrayal is a fait accompli.
There was no betrayal involved; the two had no physical intimacy, no established relationship, and never truly dated.
Roya just wanted to find out how he was exposed and why the Oliver father and daughter insisted on sending him to the front lines.
And who is the man sitting in the passenger seat...?
This was an unremarkable-looking but well-dressed young man.
Could this be Seth Koch, the second son of the Koch Bank owner whom Wendell mentioned dating Cynthia?
Luo Ya understood instantly.
If it weren't for Mr. Koch specifically requesting his removal, Oliver and Cynthia would have had no reason to recommend him to the Mewan County conscription office for a mere hundred silver rings as a referral bonus.
"Do you really think the armor I assembled with my own hands would betray me like you did, Cynthia?"
Cynthia gave a low snort, her cold voice coming from the brass megaphone on her chest:
"How dare you address me by my given name!"
It seems your talent has been wasted working at the tavern.
"Congratulations, Roya. You have been drafted into the 1st Mechanized Regiment of Mevin County and are to serve on the surface."
Should it be sent directly to the surface for filling?
Things were worse than Roya had anticipated.
In the steam age, the ground shrouded in gray fog was the habitat of various large-scale burning spirits, and there were even spatial rifts leading to the abyss...
Even extraordinary individuals dare not set foot here easily; for ordinary people, filling in the lines is tantamount to suicide.
But the Empire is keen to sift out true geniuses in extreme environments.
Roya had no desire to be the empire's guinea pig.
He would only fight for the motherland that nurtured him, and would never budge for a blood-stained alien colonial empire.
Moreover, the Blue Nest Dominion, where Mayman County is located, is essentially a comprador colonial government that exploits its own people.
If all he could do was take risks, Roja would rather be a hunter!
Even though his body was restrained by the iron grip of the armor, Roya remained calm and composed, showing no sign of panic on his face.
Only a faint, mocking smile lingered at one corner of his mouth.
"I thought that based on our friendship, we could have some feelings involved, but I never expected it to be just a transaction involving people's lives."
Cynthia calmly controlled the armor, her pretty face extremely stern, yet tinged with a subtle hint of flattery.
"Let bygones be bygones, Roya... My heart belongs to Mr. Koch. May this loss ignite your fighting spirit, for the glory of the Empire, for the survival of humanity!"
Luo Ya laughed in exasperation, almost losing his composure.
As it turned out, he underestimated both Cynthia's ruthlessness and her eloquence.
"Then put me down, I'll join the army myself."
Cynthia's cold laughter echoed from the cockpit:
"No, I understand you, you'll run away."
The word "escape" instantly triggered a nerve in Roya.
It wasn't shame, but the people who stopped him from escaping...
They must die.
"Yeah?"
Luo Ya's tone was suddenly as cold as a piercing wind, extremely chilling.
He had a sudden thought.
The pressure relief valve and exhaust port of the Dali Gentleman are closed simultaneously.
Three seconds later, the steam boiler exploded with a muffled sound!
The overflowing steam quickly poured into the cockpit...
The accident happened so suddenly that it didn't seem like it was caused by human intervention.
Cynthia and Koch were engulfed in scalding steam and panicked instantly. They struggled frantically, unable to open the hatch no matter what they tried.
Her delicate face and sharp tongue, flushed with steam, no longer held their previous coldness and ruthlessness; her soft voice carried a desperate sob:
"Roya, open the hatch quickly! Father is forcing me to get close to Mr. Koch. You know, you've always been the one I love most!"
Kochwan never expected Cynthia to change her attitude so quickly.
Since that's the case, he doesn't need to be human anymore; he'd rather choke on scalding steam than not shout out loud:
"What a huge misunderstanding! Mr. Roya, I never intended to hurt you. Before today, I didn't even know you."
"Save me quickly, and I will give you fifty silver rings!"
Luo Ya chuckled to himself.
On one side is the one who loves to confess their love, and on the other is fifty silver rings...
Little did they know that every betrayal and oppression came with a price tag.
The merciless iron hand that imprisoned Roya gradually turned into a noose that strangled them.
"Roya, save me! I can't breathe..."
"Help, help me! I'll pay more..."
Cynthia and Koch's sobs were intermittent, like those of a broken bellows.
The powerful gentleman, having lost his strength, slowly released his iron grip.
Luo Ya landed safely, rubbed his fleshy shoulders, and his tone became extremely cold.
"What do you mean by letting bygones be bygones... Who can forget those who betrayed them? I don't read sacred texts, I read online novels."
Ignoring the increasingly faint, desperate screams and scratching sounds coming from the cockpit, Roya's expression turned stern. He raised his right hand, put two fingers together between his lips, and blew three loud, long whistles with a certain mechanical rhythm!
The whistle pierced through the tavern's clamor.
A moment later!
The dark basement of the tavern.
A blue flapping-wing aircraft with its furnace locked.
The frog gill tympanic membrane sensor inside the machine clearly captured three whistle sounds with specific timbre and rhythm.
[Execute the first preset command for the differential engine: Start the furnace!]
With a loud bang, the steam boiler slowly started up.
[Execute the second preset command for the differential engine: Armor Mode!]
Amidst the rising steam, the ornithopter rapidly disassembled and reassembled, transforming into a crouching humanoid armored vehicle.
[Execute the second preset instruction for the differential engine: Emergency Rescue!]
The humanoid armor, which had been lying prone, slowly rose to its feet, and a pair of compound eyes illuminated by an array of kerosene instantly dispelled the darkness.
……
at the same time.
In a corner of an open-air tavern, the indistinct soprano voice from a mechanical record drifted through the noise.
In front of the rows of machine repair benches, the crisp clanging of parts being hammered, the deep rumble of steam pipes, and the rough shouts of hunters... all intertwined to create a noisy symphony.
The hunters were either drinking heartily, feasting, or continuing to supervise their work, and no one noticed the sudden, muffled thud at the back door of the tavern.
Until another sound—
boom!
As if struck by lightning, all the hunters turned their gazes toward the east.
East of the Sky Island in Sweet Wine Town.
Cliffs below ground level.
The side door of the underground hangar of the Distillery Tavern.
It was blasted open by a single shot!
A humanoid armored vehicle painted in sky blue leaped out from the huge, open iron gate.
Suddenly, the main exhaust port on its back unfolded in mid-air, spewing out a torrent of turbid white steam, instantly stabilizing the aircraft's attitude.
It then changed direction, drawing a sharp arc, and hurtled towards the backyard of the Distillery Tavern at top speed.
The backyard of the tavern.
The mighty gentleman's massive body was shrouded in the uncontrolled gushing and dissipating steam, appearing shadowy and indistinct, like a corpse monster.
suddenly!
A dark blue phantom, accompanied by a chilling gust of wind, plummeted down a deadly arc.
However, the moment they landed, they were as light as a feather, their toes barely touching the ground without stirring up a speck of dust.
Only the suddenly erupting column of steam, like an angry giant python soaring into the sky, quickly dispersed.
The blue dragonfly landed gracefully.
The moment it landed, its cramped chest cavity opened automatically.
Without a word, the robotic arm grabbed Roya and swallowed him whole into the cockpit.
"Damn it, can't you be a little gentler?!"
Luo Ya was thoroughly exhausted and couldn't help but grumble and complain.
The weak computing power of civilian differential engines was ultimately unable to support precise movements; being able to fit Roya into the cockpit was already the limit.
After being forced into the driver's seat by his own armored vehicle, Roya grumbled as he adjusted his posture, taking several tens of seconds to finally fit himself into the driver's seat and fasten the four intersecting omnidirectional seat belts.
The Blue Dragonfly armor is 3.3 meters tall, with the same headless design, and the steam boiler also has the same first-order output power.
However, he was much slimmer and more agile than the Mighty Gentleman!
Unfortunately, the machine body was made of spliced second-hand wood grain steel, and the machine guns, steam blades and flamethrowers it carried were all common products, resulting in only average attack and defense capabilities.
The advantage is that the limbs are driven independently by multiple links, which can achieve precise movements and combat postures.
In addition, the armor is equipped with a micro differential machine with a dot matrix algorithm, which enables unmanned driving and combat.
This miniature difference engine was a defective product that Luo Ya acquired from a retired military officer who had become an airship hunter.
It is said that many years ago, this miniature difference engine was originally installed in an experimental humanoid battle suit of armor in the Empire.
Later, due to the poor yield rate of the micro differential engine, the cost remained high, and the armor project was forced to be cancelled.
Luo Ya managed to snag a great deal from the defective products that were leaked out.
Even so, the cost of this miniature difference engine still accounts for 80% of the entire Blue Dragonfly machine.
It's fair to say that all the money Luo Ya earned over the three years of his time travel using his cheat-like abilities was spent on this difference machine.
After that, he spent a lot of time secretly inspecting, testing, writing programs, training and refining... before the current intelligence was achieved, which can be described as three years of hard work.
Even so, its maximum computing power is still less than that of a random little genius watch from Luo Ya's previous life.
Especially when driving autonomously, the Blue Dragonfly can only perform simple, instantaneous actions and requires close-range voice control from Luo Ya to move freely.
Only after his body was completely secured in the driver's seat did Luo Ya finally feel a little safer.
Although he can freely control the armored vehicle in flight combat simply by making contact.
However, with the body fixed in the omnidirectional shock-absorbing driver's seat, one won't be shaken to pieces during intense combat.
"Phew... Time to go!"
Roya was about to take off—
Suddenly, a huge black shadow fell from the sky.
With a loud bang!
The earthquake trembled.
Dust surged into the sky like waves.
Five thick columns of steam shot out.
A colossal shadow, as large as a mountain, loomed between the blue dragonfly and the dying, mighty gentleman.
It was Oliver himself who piloted the Distillery Tavern's prized war machine, a five-meter-tall black armored vehicle—
Death barrel.
Upon catching a glimpse of the powerful gentleman who had caused the explosion, Oliver in the cockpit instantly lost his composure and screamed incoherently:
"Cynthia, Mr. Koch!"
However, even though he was terrified, he did not immediately offer any assistance for his own safety, his cold, sharp gaze fixed on the unfamiliar blue armored figure before him.
A familiar blue paint job...
Oliver's face suddenly crackled with shock:
"You...you're Roya!"
Faced with the overwhelming pressure of the Death Barrel, which resembled a mountain, Roya held his breath and did not make any rash moves.
He knew this steel monster all too well!
I even drove it myself once...
The Death Barrel stands over 5.2 meters tall, resembling a bloated steel giant, with a hideous giant ape skull atop its barrel-shaped torso.
The core exhaust vent is located inside the skull.
The steam emitted from the five orifices of the skull served both to intimidate enemies and to protect the exhaust vents from attack.
Its steam boiler is ten times more powerful than the Blue Dragonfly's, and its outer shell is made of thick, refined iron. It is equipped with more than ten kinds of light and heavy weapons, including heavy cannons, fire wheel cannons, chainsaws, and harpoon cannons... It is practically a mobile heavy arsenal.
The output power of the steam boiler is: Second Order!
It was thanks to the fierce protection of the Death Barrel that those unscrupulous hunters who coveted the tavern had to take a detour.
But at this moment, the blue dragonfly has no chance to go around it.
If it were ejected and tried to escape, it would be torn apart by the concentrated fire of the high-altitude beer cannons of the Death Barrel within a hundred meters, resulting in the destruction of the machine and the death of the crew!
In a direct confrontation, with the boiler's power level at Tier 1 against Tier 2, the Blue Dragonfly's weapons would be unable to break through the steel barrier of the Death Barrel, only wasting time. Once the Black Sail Airship from the Mayon County Recruiting Office arrived, it would be unable to escape.
Roya sensed the murderous aura emanating from the Death Barrel.
The tone thus became more sincere:
"Mr. Oliver, the Mighty Gentleman has malfunctioned. I suggest you rescue Cynthia first. Don't worry about me. I will take the Blue Dragonfly to the conscription office myself."
Oliver, having discovered the value of the blue dragonfly's transformation and voice control, suddenly became incredibly calm, his voice becoming frighteningly deep:
"You think I'd fall for that?!"
Before the words were even finished, the steam chainsaw located on the waist of the Death Barrel suddenly started moving!
The roaring saw blades transformed into a deadly arc of light, accompanied by a piercing shriek that tore through the air, as they were forcefully flung backward from the side of the armor.
click-
Like a hot knife cutting through butter, the upper part of the cockpit of the Mighty Gentleman was instantly sliced and flattened by a high-speed rotating chainsaw.
Like lifting the lid of a boiling steamer, the rich steam carrying the aroma of cooked meat slowly spreads out.
"Oh, poor Cynthia..."
Oliver's eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and he let out a mournful roar like a wild beast:
"I'm going to kill you!"
"What, you're going to kill the soldiers of the First Mechanical Legion?"
Luo Ya had barely finished speaking.
Whoosh!
A sharp harpoon cannon shot out from the cannon muzzle of Death Barrel's waist, whistling as it tore through the air and hurtled straight at Blue Dragonfly!
The tip of the harpoon cannon is a trident with a hook, and the projectile behind it is a compressed golden spider web.
Once it explodes, the spider web will instantly wrap around the limbs of the armored or burning beast, binding the exhaust port or cannon barrel.
Luo Ya dared not be careless.
The blue dragonfly dodged the moment the harpoon cannon's launcher locked onto it.
With a roar of steam, the armor shot out like an arrow and landed on the side of the Death Barrel!
Roya had refrained from making any proactive move precisely because he was waiting for this moment.
Compared to the Death Barrel, the Blue Dragonfly's only advantage is its mobility.
With Roya's thoughts acting as the differential engine and control linkage, much like the spinal cord of a vertebrate is to the ganglia of a crustacean, the mobility is a devastating blow to ordinary steam-powered mechs.
Moreover, Roya's "mechanical connection" has no fixed boundaries and will only weaken rapidly as the distance or spacer increases.
Roya's body can connect to both armor and air.
When connected to the air, he can detect in advance the air ripples caused by enemy armor activating weapons and adjusting firing angles.
Blue dragonflies can therefore anticipate their opponent's moves and take evasive action in advance.
The blue dragonfly, which leaped to the side of the death barrel, had already drawn its steam blade.
chap——
A flash of light!
It precisely severed the harpoon gun's launch tube and the towing rope.
Only then did the Death Barrel slowly turn around.
The heavy chainsaw, accompanied by howling wind pressure, swept sideways and cleaved straight at the upper part of the Blue Dragonfly's cockpit!
Clearly, Oliver had realized that Roya was far more valuable than Blue Dragonfly and intended to capture him alive here.
The blue dragonfly crouched swiftly, and the chainsaw whistled past overhead.
Taking advantage of the momentum from Death Barrel's sideways swing of the chainsaw, Blue Dragonfly kicked its ankle, tripping it.
"Damn it..."
Oliver tried his best to regain his balance.
However, because the chainsaw could not be retrieved in time, it occupied 60% of the boiler's output power, making it difficult for the counterweight gyroscope to start.
Its massive body gradually lost its balance, and the Death Barrel crashed heavily to the ground like a toppled mountain!
Real mecha battles are just that simple and unpretentious.
Although there is a difference in boiler power, Blue Dragonfly allocates all its power points to agility...
Even so, the Blue Dragonfly's cheap weapons were still unable to break through the Death Barrel's thick armor in a short time.
At this moment, Luo Ya only wanted to escape and had no time to linger.
Blue Dragonfly, wielding a steam-powered blade, plunged it into the muzzle of the Death Barrel's shoulder-mounted cannon with a flash of cold light.
This is the rapid-fire muzzle of the beer cannon, capable of quickly unleashing a barrage of explosive projectiles.
This strike precisely destroyed the inner tube launcher of the beer cannon, rendering it unable to fire and making it difficult to pursue the blue dragonfly.
Luo Ya stopped pressing the matter.
The blue dragonfly, with its steam fully released, leaps and flies like a raptor breaking free of its cage.
He leaped off the cliff!
In mid-air, the blue dragonfly's armored form quickly switched to its flapping wing form.
Four thin, scale-like wings vibrated rapidly, and the dragonfly skimmed the water, disappearing into the blind spot below the floating island. It sped away into the depths of the vast sea of clouds and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.
"call……"
Oliver let out a long sigh of relief; cold sweat soaked his back.
The Blue Dragonfly armor's terrifying mobility far exceeded his expectations!
Roya was hiding his true abilities very well...
If it were a life-or-death battle where we met on a narrow path, I might very well have been defeated by Roja today.
Fortunately, the conscription office's airship was about to arrive, forcing Roya to flee.
Oliver immediately released carrier pigeons to quickly report the shape of the Blue Dragonfly flapping-wing aircraft, its flight path in the clouds, and its possible destination to the conscription office.
Then, Death Barrel ejected to its feet, and its mechanical arm reached into the Gentleman's uncovered cockpit, pulling out Cynthia and Koch's sullen bodies.
Oliver staggered out of the cockpit, his eyes vacant, as if his soul had been ripped out.
Holding his pregnant daughter, her beautiful, rosy face showed no trace of life.
"Cynthia, my Cynthia!"
Oliver's cries were heart-wrenching.
The sound resounded through the sky.
Heaven and earth were moved.
Until they were covered by intense artillery fire...
There was no more crying.
The Blue Dragonfly ornithopter, which had kindly turned back, unleashed a precise barrage of fire, finally ending Oliver's grief over the loss of his daughter once and for all.
Then he turned and left.