We walked along the road between the factories for about 10 minutes, and then, the road suddenly changed-

In front of us were countless huge machines, stacked on top of each other like ancient plants tangled in the jungle, and the road was just a narrow passage between these terrible machines.

These machines, gigantic and ugly like malformed, cancerous organs, take root in the ground like plants, and then rise high – some hundreds of meters high, obscured by white steam and black soot emitted from chimneys.

Their mechanical parts are generally assembled together in a delirious way, with no apparent use. But these machines are constantly making thuds and jets, like grumpy beasts, and they never stop working, connected by cobweb-like conveyor belts to each other, forming an endless and crazy spiral.

"This is the oldest batch of machines in the factory area, no one has been maintained, but it is still running day and night, and it is said that this is the first and most primitive machine created by the king when he first established his kingdom......"

These rudimentary and primitive machines required more manpower to manage at the same time, and the operating stations around the machines were filled with sweat-soaked workers. The workers, dressed in rags, were doing the hard and dangerous work next to the machines – we saw the workers' hands repeatedly and quickly reach into the striking machines and then pull them out, and the striking iron almost brushed by.

Similarly, the workers spotted us hurrying by, but none of them reported to the overseers who were occasionally patrolling around.

Ian tells us that the people who have been assigned to work here have been involved in some rebellion against the king's tyranny, and they are more than anyone else eager for a real revolution to overthrow this ugly and deformed kingdom.

Shen Tangzhi suddenly asked, "Your king, what is his name?" ”

"Everyone calls him Hemdal the Great."

Shen Tangzhi glanced at me: "Sure enough, that's the case." ”

Ian didn't care much about that, and she nervously led us through the huge and strange machines, and you could tell that her spirit was tense all the time, and her forehead was covered with sweat from nervousness.

Overseers with mechanical masks are everywhere, their masks are a heavy, box-like mechanism that covers the entire face, two wide metal buckles extend from the edges of the masks, tightly strangling the overseer's entire head in a cross shape, the eyes of the mechanical masks are two hollow gears, and the mouth is a metal cage like a dog's muzzle.

These overseers patrol the workers back and forth, supervising their work, and at the same time making our actions more difficult.

As soon as they notice a worker slipping away from their jobs, the men in mechanical masks will wield metal clubs in the shape of whips or batons to force the workers to return to the machines and continue their work.

Traversing this area was much more dangerous and difficult than our previous crossing of the Workers' Hut, but thanks to Ian's familiarity with the terrain and her patience and care, she managed to lead us away from all the Overseers and Keepers.

When a small plaza loomed in front of him, Ian raised his hand and motioned for us to hide.

"There's danger ahead."

Ian whispered, hiding himself completely behind a machine.

I poked my head out slightly, and my eyes passed through the mechanical components like luxuriant branches, and through the cracks, I saw a special mechanical building towering in the small square in front of me, and the overall appearance of the building was very much like a tilting Ferris wheel, the main body of which was a huge gear, the gear was more than ten meters high, and it was slowly rotating.

The gears are divided into four equal parts, painted black and white, and each equal has an English word written on it: "Poer", "Force", "Motion" and "Drive".

In the center of the gear, a worker-like male was chained to it, and the poor man's torn clothes revealed a bloodstained, tortured body, and in excruciating pain—

Because opposite him, there were dozens of metal pipes, from which from time to time spewed steaming hot liquids, and whenever these liquids were sprayed on the worker's body, his body gave a violent spasm from the severe pain......

The sound of screams and chains reaching our ears was unbearable......

Under the big gear, six overseers and two caretaker machines escorted another dozen "criminals" dressed in workers' clothes, covered in bruises and even a little unsteady on their feet.

"That's the torture weapon! Some of our brothers have been captured by the king's lackeys ......," Ian clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, "and the metal pipes are spewing hot water, which is not only hot, but also poisonous. ”

The overseers triumphantly and proudly announced the worker's crime: conspiracy to start a revolutionary uprising.

The torture did not last long, and the poor worker's screams gradually subsided and soon died silent.

After the death of the victim, the chains that bound the body were lowered, and one of the overseers dragged the body away roughly, and the body was thrown onto a pile of corpses covered with tarpaulin, and then the overseer shouted:

"Next, start the execution!"

The other two overseers rudely shoved the next worker in the queue to the big gear and began to tie it up with chains......

"What are we doing here?" The old knife looked ahead, and although he lowered his voice, he could still hear the anger in his heart.

"My mission is to bring you to the dry blood, and I am told to take you with care, not to be discovered by the guards...... Moreover, this kind of thing happens here every day, and we can't put an end to it unless we can completely overthrow the king's rule......" Ian said bitterly, shaking his head.

Although Shen Tangzhi and the others heard Ian's explanation, they still looked at me.

"Six Overseers, it's not too difficult if we make a surprise attack......" I glanced at the two Warden machines, the metal lenses above their heads flashing red, "The point is those two machines, but they don't seem to be equipped with any offensive weapons." ”

"No, the Chosen One, you can't do that!". Hearing my words, Ian immediately objected, "That's right, those guards aren't very aggressive on their own, but they will sound an alarm and trigger an attack from the mechanical giants!" ”

Instead, I smiled lightly: "That's better, we just need to save the workers before the attack starts and run away." ”

Ian was going crazy, and she reached out and grabbed one of my arms, "No, the Chosen One! You have no idea how terrible those mechanical giants are! Once the Keeper decides to wake up the mechanical giants......" she pointed her finger around, "all of these machines around us will turn into mechanical giants, with terrifying sizes and terrifying weapons that will smash us into meat sauce in an instant!" ”

"How far are we from that mine?" I suddenly asked another question.

Ian was stunned, probably not expecting me to suddenly ask this question: "We need to start ......"

I nodded, interrupting her, "We need to get around from some point, right?" I've long since figured this out – we've been going around in circles, and it's just too inefficient. ”

I took the opportunity to pull my arm from Ian's hand and gestured in the direction of the mine in the distance: "The distance from here to that mine will not be more than a kilometer in a straight line." ”

"You mean......" Ian's eyes widened slowly, a little startled by the plan I had revealed.

Not only Ian, but everyone else reacted in the same way.

Under the gaze of everyone, I smiled and nodded: "Yes, my plan is simple - we rush over, overturn the sinful overseers, save the workers, and then, you say the caretaker will wake up these machines around us, right?" Well, that way, we have a shortcut. ”

"It's crazy......" Ian opened his mouth wide and a look of horror on his face.

"It's impossible for us to completely avoid the overseers and caretakers, no matter how careful you are. So, instead of passively escaping after being discovered, it is better to take the initiative to start a planned escape. I tapped Ian on the shoulder, then immediately realized that she was a girl, and withdrew my palm, "Whatever the reason, you call me the Chosen One, and if you believe that I am the Chosen One who can save the world, there is nothing terrible about this plan." ”

The old knife smiled and said, "Aji, it's better for you to command!" Hiding and hiding all the way, like a rat crossing the street, that's not our style! Hehe, little girl, don't worry, he's the most powerful detective in our city, don't worry at all - what's more, I don't think your world is as mysterious as you say, it's just a few faggets with iron masks, what's there to be afraid of? …… Hey, you imps don't get left behind. ”

The little ghosts in the mouth of the old knife are the three children with phobias.

Shen Xiaoke poked his head out from behind Kirishima and stuck out his tongue at the old knife, Du Min snorted from his nose and ignored the old knife.

I noticed that Xu Liang, who was the most talkative in the orphanage, was silent after entering this dream world, but now when I looked closely, I found that he was biting his lip, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his left hand subconsciously pinched his right arm wrapped in bandages.

Yes, Xu Liang has a phobia of density!

I'm afraid that as soon as he entered here, the ugly and repetitive mechanical structures had already caused his dense phobia to kick in.

It's hard for him, he has been holding back the fear in his heart and hasn't dragged anything back - it seems that even if he is a child, he can't underestimate their self-esteem.

"Section Chief Shen, please take care of these children." I didn't say it explicitly, but I just raised my chin slightly in the direction of Xu Liang, and Shen Tangzhi was already clear, and she nodded at me, indicating that she understood.

On the side, Kirishima Xun had already rolled up his sleeves, looking eager to try, and his face was almost written "Quick, take me to fight!" "That's it.

"Action."

As soon as I gave the order, Lao Dao and Kirishima took the lead and rushed out of the hiding place, while Shen Tangzhi and Ian followed closely behind us with three children.

The raid was a success, we had the humanoid weapon of Fumiya Kirishima, and it took less than fifteen seconds to clean up the six overseers, but we had just put down the worker who was hanging from the big gear, and before we could untie the chains on his body, a sharp whistle sounded!

It was the two Keepers who sounded the alarm!

"They're on the alert, the Chosen One!" Ian rushed up to me and tried to get me to give up on rescuing the worker, "The mechanical giant will be awakened soon, go!" ”

"You go first! You lead the way! I shook off her hand, and my men were quicker at unchaining.

Seeing that I wouldn't give up, Ian stomped his foot hard, but still had no choice but to leave.

"Woo-click-click......"

Strange whistles and the grinding of robotic arms rang out from all directions, and even the ground began to shake slightly.

At this point, not only Ian, but also the rescued workers began to panic, and they began to flee in all directions......

"Click!"

A machine with two huge rolling iron wheels (like an upside-down giant bicycle) twisted, and the mechanical parts began to fold and deform......

"Boom!"

Loud tremors came from the ground, almost unsettling to stand.

A huge humanoid machine blocked the way of several workers, the humanoid machine was really like a "giant", the components of the machine were docked with each other, spliced into the shape of legs and torso, and the pair of huge iron wheels were "held" in the hands of the mechanical giant, which was constantly rotating rapidly, making a "woo" sound of breaking the wind.

"Bang-"

The workers had no time to escape, and two huge iron wheels hit them in the head, as if they had killed a few weak flying insects with a fly swatter.

At this point, I finally unchained the workers and carried the bruised workers on their backs, shouting, "Ian, lead the way!" Remember, straight ahead! Come on! ”

"Boom!"

A huge iron wheel smashed down where I had stood a second ago.

In front of us, several machines suddenly stopped, and a few seconds later. The two strange-looking machines also began to fold and deform and leave their original positions.

The two machines quickly twisted and deformed, reuniting into two new mechanical giants - one covered in metal brackets and pulleys, the original loom and the other a casting machine.

They wielded large, terrifying weapons, one of the mechanical giants with whirling blades and the other with scorching red pieces of iron.

"Woo-woo-"

The two mechanical giants roared in the sky, their shrill whistles piercing our eardrums, and a huge amount of steam from them obscured my vision for a while.