Volume One, Chapter 55: Can We Speak Properly Now?

"One thousand medium-grade source crystals?" Zhang Wei was quite surprised.

At this stage, bringing out one thousand medium-grade source crystals was already a major move.

Did they really think everyone was as wealthy as Zhang Wei?

"That's right!" Lin Qianying raised her head proudly. This was the result of all her hard work and striving.

"Not bad, very impressive." Zhang Wei nodded in satisfaction.

"By the way, I am not responsible for transportation. Let them figure out how to haul it away themselves," Zhang Wei reminded Lin Qianying.

"Don't worry, preparations have already been made on their end."

Zhang Wei nodded slightly and said indifferently, "Good then. Is there anything else?"

"No. How come you don't look excited at all? That's a thousand medium-grade source crystals!"

Lin Qianying was very puzzled.

If those one thousand medium-grade source crystals were given to her, what level would her mecha reach?

"It's just a thousand, what's there to be excited about? Let's go, we've found their traces." Zhang Wei said casually.

This wasn't Zhang Wei putting on airs; it was simply the truth.

There were five to six thousand medium-grade source crystals lying in the cargo hold, so how could Zhang Wei possibly get excited over just a thousand?

"Found them? Where?" Lin Qianying didn't dwell too much on the issue of the source crystals, as she was very curious about how Zhang Wei managed to track them.

The sky had completely darkened by now. Although it didn't hinder a mecha's vision too much, trying to find traces left behind by Han Xiao or Han Xu on this chaotic ground was extremely difficult.

At least, Lin Qianying knew she definitely couldn't do it herself.

"I'll share my vision with you."

"What is shared vision?"

Lin Qianying transformed into a curious little girl.

The next moment, Lin Qianying gasped, "Fuc—"

Fortunately, she managed to restrain herself just in time, nearly blurting out a classic profanity.

"What is this thing?"

"A detection core," Zhang Wei explained.

"You got another core?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Zhang Wei didn't elaborate further. If he were to tell Lin Qianying that his detection core was of legendary grade, she would probably fall into self-doubt on the spot.

"Fine!" What else could Lin Qianying say?

She could only follow behind Zhang Wei.

Outside the city, the ground was covered in all sorts of marks, and the roads were basically completely ruined. Zhang Wei hadn't found any traces left by Han Xu, but he had successfully captured the tracks left by Han Xiao.

After all, Han Xiao had turned into a steel serpent; with her massive size, moving across the ground was bound to leave very obvious marks.

Following the trail all the way, Zhang Wei and Lin Qianying soon arrived at a small town about fifty kilometers away from Chuan City.

The interior of the town was filled with billowing smoke, accompanied by fires that had not yet completely extinguished.

"Is she here?" Although Lin Qianying could see the imagery provided by the detection core, she still couldn't distinguish the marks left by Han Xiao herself.

Hearing this, Zhang Wei nodded. "She definitely entered this town, just not sure if she has already left."

Zhang Wei felt a bit troubled. Although the town wasn't large, the internal situation was complicated, and the traces left by Han Xiao might vanish completely.

"Let's go, let's check it out."

Zhang Wei took the lead, with Lin Qianying following closely behind.

As the two of them entered the town, they immediately attracted the attention of some mechanical creatures and mechas.

There was no helping it; while Lin Qianying's mecha wasn't particularly conspicuous, Zhang Wei's mecha stood out immensely. Walking down the street, it was taller than an average three-story building, making it far too eye-catching.

Zhang Wei didn't care about the entities staring at him from the shadows. His objective was very clear: find Han Xiao and kill her.

Lin Qianying, on the other hand, acted like a child with a new toy, constantly switching her perspective based on her own consciousness to check out those hidden watchers.

"With this core, no one will ever be able to ambush you," Lin Qianying remarked with a sigh after playing with it for a long while.

Naturally, there was also a hint of envy in her tone.

She didn't have a single core, yet this guy already had two.

Zhang Wei didn't comment. In truth, ambushes were still entirely possible.

Once long-range mechas grew powerful enough, launching attacks from a kilometer away would be effortless, wouldn't it?

As mechanical creatures continued to evolve, they would also become stronger and master various long-range attack skills.

However, now was not the time to lecture Lin Qianying on such matters, because someone was blocking the path ahead of them.

"Where are you two from? How come I've never seen you before?" A group of five mechas appeared before Zhang Wei.

These five mechas were uniformly ten-meter-tall close-combat types, looking quite intimidating.

However, Zhang Wei could tell at a glance that none of these mechas had undergone their first evolution; they posed not the slightest threat.

"Chuan City," Zhang Wei replied.

"From Chuan City? That far, and just the two of you?" The questioner appeared very surprised.

"Yes!" Zhang Wei nodded.

"Let me ask you something, have you seen a really big steel serpent?" Lin Qianying chimed in at this moment.

"A woman? We haven't seen any steel serpent, but we'd like to know—are you a beauty? If you're a beauty, I wouldn't mind joining you... Hehe!" The questioner's attitude changed instantly.

The five mechas also took a few steps forward simultaneously, trying to exert pressure.

"You want to handle this, or should I?" Zhang Wei turned to look at Lin Qianying.

Lin Qianying paused for a moment before saying, "I'll do it."

"Alright, just don't kill them," Zhang Wei reminded her. He really didn't have the desire to lift a finger against such small fries.

The conversation between Zhang Wei and Lin Qianying deeply displeased the five individuals opposite them.

What were these two even discussing?

Their initial questioning was merely to find out how many people were in Zhang Wei's party. Upon learning there were only two, they had bared their fangs, and the presence of Lin Qianying merely accelerated that process.

And now? Instead of figuring out how to run away, these two were actually discussing how to fight back?

"Since you refuse to cooperate, we'll just have to do it ourselves. Brothers..."

"Bang!"

Firing at close range, a freezing bomb bloomed right against the speaker's mecha.

Before the others could react, Lin Qianying had already gifted each of them a freezing bomb.

It wasn't that Lin Qianying was stingy or reluctant to fire a few more shots, but rather that she was afraid firing more would freeze these people to death.

The world went quiet. Five mechas that hadn't even undergone their first evolution, with combat power barely reaching a few dozen points, were all frozen in place.

"Can we talk properly now?" Zhang Wei asked.

"Big Brother, yes, ask away!" The leading mecha was frozen solid and unable to move, but hadn't lost the ability to speak.

His reply was extremely compliant.

Given this situation, they clearly ran into some ruthless powerhouses.

"Did you see a steel serpent?"

"This..." The respondent hesitated.

Seeing this, Zhang Wei didn't waste any breath and directly threw a punch.

Using his current strength against someone like this was a dimensionality reduction strike. With a single punch, the mecha's head was smashed straight down into its torso.