The clearing in the center of the forest looks like it has been cut out with a knife. The steel vines at the edge are neatly curved into an arch, and the spirit vein crystals form luminous walls among the vines, blocking out all the outside noise. As soon as Feng Hao's mechanical arm stepped into the open space, he felt a familiar resonance, stronger than at the ancient steel tree, as if he had met a true kindred.
Suddenly, a blue light emerged in the middle of the space. First, a few mechanical skeletons emerged from underground, and the gears at the joints turned slowly. Then, pale golden spiritual light particles emerged from the soil and wrapped around the skeletons like fireflies. The light grains grew more and more, forming layers of blurry human figures outside the skeleton, and finally even the contours of the face became clear - it was an old man, with a metal prosthetic eye on the left and a flowing light grain on the right, and a beard on the chin half wire and half light.
"Welcome to the origin of Symbiosis." The old man's voice came through the light grains, sizzling like an old radio tuning, "I am Old Wood, the tomb keeper of this forest and an old friend of your fathers."
He raised his metal arm, which was missing two of its five fingers, with two wristbands floating on each of the three remaining fingertips. The bands were translucent, flowing with blue-violet and pale gold light, as if they were a blend of psychic power and data. "This is the 'Symbiotic bracelet'." Old Wood's artificial eye flashed red and swept across everyone's face. "It can help you adapt to the energy rules of the forest, so that you won't roll on the ground like those fools of the Sky Pavilion who are devoured by psychic energy."
The wristband suddenly flew towards the crowd, as fast as a bolt of lightning. Feng Hao instinctively raised his hand to block it, but the band became soft the moment it touched his wrist and fastened gently. The lines on the inner side immediately synchronized with the psychic frequency of his mechanical arm, sending a slight tingling pain, as if something had gone into the bone marrow.
Lin Banxia's wristband was engraved with the pattern of spiritual herbs. The light grains climbed up along her fingertips and resonated with the mixed liquid. Suddenly, the solidified liquid in the medicine bottle began to rotate. Chen Mohen's bracelet was wrapped in the pattern of the talisman paper. When he fastened it, the talisman paper automatically stuck in his arms, and the ink mark merged with the light of the bracelet. Qin Tieluo's band was the thickest, with patterns of mecha parts all over it. As soon as it was put on, the remains of the iron lumps roared like cheers.
The smallest, however, was the brightest, with light grains piercing into the electronic eyes of the mechanical dragon, and the steel creature suddenly wagged its tail towards the old wood's projection. Yan Yuanxiu's wristband was directly integrated into his data stream, and the code on the screen immediately became docile, forming lines: "Fit successfully."
Feng Hao's eyes suddenly burst with blood.
In the picture, Father Feng Zhan is being besieged by a dozen or so cultivators of the Qingxiao Pavilion. The talismans are stuck to his mecha like snowflakes, and in the burning smoke, father's mechanical arm is still swinging, but it can't stop Lei Li's locking spirit talisman. The old Taoist's dust wrapped around the father's neck, his voice as cold as ice: "Fusion is blasphemy, you and your mechanical arm should be purified!"
He saw the young Zhao Kun standing outside the circle, holding a camera in his hand, with a sneer on his lips. What made his heart stop even more was that when his father fell down, his gaze crossed the crowd and landed precisely on the haystack where he was hiding - it wasn't despair, it was something he couldn't understand at the time... Relief?
"See?" Old Wood's voice brought Feng Hao back to reality. Suddenly, the wristband tightened, and a cool touch came, suppressing his churning spirit energy. "This is the end of your fathers. Qingxiao Pavilion is afraid of them, Federation is afraid of them, because they have proved that psychic and mechanical energy live well and do not need anyone to 'purify'.
Lin Banxia suddenly covered her mouth, and tears streamed down her cheeks. Her wristband showed her mother, the exiled sorcerer of the family, stuffing the last bottle of symbiotic liquid into her father's hand, with the pursuers of her clan behind her, and the poisonous insect in her hand emitting a heart-wrenching hissing.
"The first fragment of the Chaos Protocol is underground in this clearing." The old wood's projection began to blur, and the psychic light grains kept dissipating. "Find it, and you'll be qualified..."
Before he could finish his words, the projection suddenly flickered violently and sparks appeared at the joints of the mechanical skeleton. Old Wood's metal arm pointed sharply at the stone tablet in the middle of the open space: "Quick! Their 'Break Array Talisman' quick..."
The last word dissipated in the current noise, the projection completely went out, leaving only a few mechanical skeletons standing in place like a shabby tombstone. The wristbands suddenly lit up at the same time, casting arrows on the ground that pointed straight to the soil beneath the stone tablet.
Feng Hao touched the lines on the bracelet, and the image of his father falling was still flashing before his eyes. But this time, he saw the relieved look in his father's eyes - it wasn't giving up, it was knowing that someone would take over his burden.
"Dig." "Dig it out," he said to Qin Tieluo, his voice deep but with an inexplicable determination.
Qin Tieluo picked up the wreckage of the iron lump, the toilet lid turret spun fast and crashed down on the ground beneath the stone tablet. Amid the loud clanging of steel and soil, Feng Hao felt the light of the bracelet in perfect sync with his psychic power, and the bluish-purple light spread along his arm, drawing a circle like a talisman on the ground.
The turrets of the iron lumps hit the ground, raising a cloud of dust. Qin Tieluo roared his chants, chiseling down with each hammer as he did when he dug up psychic crystals in the mine. The soil on the ground was a mixture of mecha fragments, and with each strike, blue-purple sparks flew out, the remnants of the psychic power from the previous era.
Feng Hao's wristband suddenly heated up, and the blue light drew a square on the ground - the fragments were inside the box. He crouched down, his robotic arm's fingertip inserted into the soil, and could feel a cold piece of metal with the same pattern engraved on the edge as the Chaos Protocol fragment. "Be careful." He held Qin Tieluo's arm, "Don't break the lines."
Lin Banxia's bracelet lit up, and the pale golden light seeped into the soil, breaking down the impurities around the fragments into powder. She watched the mixture boiling in the bottle and suddenly remembered the symbiotic liquid in her mother's picture - it was not a mere healing potion, but a solvent that could "peacefully separate" the psychic from the mechanical impurities.
Chen Mohen's talisman paper suddenly stuck to the edge of the square frame. The light of the talisman paper and the light of the bracelet formed a small array, firmly locking the fragment. "As usual, there must be a sense of ritual when digging for treasures." He grinned, with tears still in the corners of his eyes. The scene of his mother being hunted down just now made him understand the struggle of the "outsider" more than any preaching.
Yan Yuanxiu's data flows along the box, forming a layer of transparent membrane that protects the fragments while the screen begins to analyze the patterns: "This is the 'energy Harmonization' module, which stabilizes the frequency of conflicts between psychic and mechanical... It aligns with the core principle of Feng Hao's robotic arm."
Su Xiaoli's mechanical dragon gently pried open the last layer of soil with its claws, and the fragments finally revealed their full appearance. It was a palm-sized metal plate engraved with a spirit vein and a data flow on each side, connected by a pale golden line in the middle, like a bridge spanning a chasm.
Just as Feng Hao was about to reach for it, the bracelet suddenly burst out with a strong light, and the scene flashed before his eyes again - this time it wasn't his father being besieged, but earlier when Feng Zhan squatted in front of the laboratory bench, holding exactly this fragment in his hand, and Old Wood stood beside him, playing with an identical bracelet.
"This is just the beginning." Feng Zhan's voice was soft but clear as if it were right beside his ear. "The Chaos Protocol has three fragments. Only when they come together can spiritual weapons truly coexist."
When the scene vanished, Feng Hao's fingertip had already touched the fragment. There was a hint of warmth in the metal's chill, a remnant of his father's psychic power. The fragment touched his bracelet and suddenly turned into a streak of light, penetrating into the inner side of the bracelet. The pattern immediately became more complete, with a hint of pale gold in the bluish-purple light.
"Other people's bracelets..." Lin Banxia suddenly pointed at his companions, and their wristbands were changing in sync. Qin Tieluo's wristband had the pattern of a mecha gun barrel, Chen Mohen had the mark of a Daoist symbol, and Yan Yuanxiu's data stream was infused with psychic symbols.
Suddenly there was a "click" at the edge of the open space, the sound of steel vines being forcibly split open. Zhao Kun's mecha searchlight pierced through the woods, and the thunderous dust turned into red light, like a venomous snake coiled around the vine. "We've found them!" The voice of the loudspeaker was ecstatic. "The Broken Array Talisman has taken effect. This broken forest won't protect you for long!"
The old wood's mechanical skeleton suddenly moved, and several metal arms propping up the dao barrier, blocking the first electromagnetic cannon to shoot. But the skeleton was soon shaken by the blast light, and the psychic light particles leaked out of the cracks as if weeping.
"Go!" Feng Hao grabbed Su Xiaoli, and the bracelet suddenly made a prompt sound, "Yan Yuanxiu, locate the direction of the next fragment!"
The data stream marked a blurry arrow on the ground, pointing deeper into the forest: "The signal is disturbed and can only be confirmed near the 'Rust waterfall'."
Qin Tieluo picked up the iron lumps, and the turrets spewed out a cloud of smoke at the pursuers: "Junk, charge with me!" His wristband suddenly lit up, and the tracks of the iron lumps sped up, leaving a trail on the ground - it was the wristband that activated the potential of the mecha wreckage.
Chen Mohen's talisman paper exploded in the smoke and turned into a swarm of light butterflies, entwining the flying swords of the disciples of the Qingxiao Pavilion. "Taste my new talisman!" His wristband pattern glows, and the light butterfly suddenly shoots out a stream of data, buries into the spirit vein of the flying sword, and turns the tip of the sword towards his own people.
Lin Banxia's mixture spilled on the ground and met Feng Hao's mechanical arm's psychic energy, condensing into a wall of light behind him. The pursuers' electromagnetic cannons hit the wall, but the light wall did not break; instead, it absorbed the cannon light and became brighter. "A new use of symbiotic liquid." She smiled at Feng Hao, her wristband flashing in sync with his, like two hearts beating in unison.
The mechanical dragon suddenly flew up with Su Xiaoli, and the psychic crystals on its steel wings emitted a strong light with the support of the bracelet, illuminating the way ahead. Yan Yuanxiu's data stream carried everyone through the forest, automatically avoiding all the energy traps.
Feng Hao looked back at the old wood's skeleton, which was still persisting. The metal arms were blown up again and again, and reassembled again and again with psychic light particles. He suddenly realized that this forest was never "fusion pollution", but the seeds sown by our fathers with their lives, waiting for them, the "outsiders", to water.
The bracelet was burning hot on the wrist, as if urging. Feng Hao clenched his fist, and the bluish-purple light interwove with the pale golden light in the center of the fist, illuminating the newly unlocked pattern of the fragment - where the map of "Rusted Waterfall" was faintly engraved.
The pursuers' roars drew nearer behind them, but no one slowed down. Their wristbands pulled out six bands of light in the woods, like six rebellious dragons, flying deep into the forest.