N-A-A Chapter 65 Destroyed Spaceship
Chapter 65 Destroyed Spaceship
The timer skipped several more days.
The passageway deeper into the column grew narrower, and the collapsed compartments became increasingly dense. Liu En walked at the forefront, his consciousness covering an area several kilometers ahead. From equipment belonging to the Solar Auxiliary Army to ammunition boxes from the Great Expedition, almost every compartment buried by the debris contained something. Liu En's method remained consistent: he dissected samples to obtain information on their material composition, and stored the blueprints. For less sensitive supplies, he would leave the physical items behind, marking them with coordinates and the type of material by spraying markings on the door frames.
The knight mechs were discovered three days after the passage forked. Several were scattered throughout a wide passageway crushed by the collapsed dome. The frames of the Toren-class knights were pinned to the ground by thousands of tons of terracotta fragments. The torsos of the Guardian-class knights lay askew beside twisted support pillars. Several others, of unknown model, were so badly crushed that their outlines were no longer discernible.
Liu En's consciousness scanned the pile of metal wreckage for a long time. The outlines of each knight appeared in his perception as fragmented metal skeletons—some missing their left arms, some lacking weapon platforms, some reduced to only half a torso. They weren't crushed; they were already broken. These knights were likely destroyed in a fierce battle, their wreckage buried by subsequent collapses. Thousands of years of corrosion left mottled rust marks on the armor plates; the power cores had long since died out, and the cockpits were empty.
Liu En stood before the rubble, dissecting the wreckage he could reach. Armor plates, gauntlets, leg armor, the cockpit frame, the weapon platform base—all fragments dissolved into atomic clouds at the atomic level, flooding into the warehouse. The material composition information of each fragment unfolded layer by layer in higher-dimensional space; it wasn't a complete blueprint, but fragments. He needed to stack, compare, and piece together the fragments. The complete blueprint for the Toren-class knight took shape after countless fragments were archived. The blueprints for the Guardian Knights unfolded layer by layer in the background, the fragments piling up, the gaps becoming more and more complete. When the last fragment was entered into the archive, two complete knight blueprints already lay in higher-dimensional space.
Alien attacks became routine. Pureblood gene-stealers would dart past around the corner of the tunnel, while hybrids would emerge from the pipework. Liu En's consciousness would lock onto their movements kilometers in advance, reporting in advance on the garrison's channel: "There's a cunning den on the right side of the fork in the road ahead, detour." Or: "A few are coming from behind, don't turn around, they can't catch up." The veterans began to get used to this rhythm. Kara only replied "Understood" on the channel.
In a side passage deep within the wrecked ship, a hatch at the end of the passage was half-open. The door was severely corroded, but the sealing and locking devices were still barely in place. Liu En's consciousness probed behind the door and scanned a small storage space. A thin layer of dust covered the floor; there were no signs of battle, no collapse, and no bullet holes. The interior walls were made of standard Imperial engineering panels, but an additional layer of adamantite protective panels was installed behind the door, completely encasing the space.
In the center of the compartment, twelve massive steel figures stood silently in two rows, intact and undamaged, amidst the accumulated dust. Rows of ammunition boxes and spare parts were stacked on the shelves: hydraulic actuators, spare barrels for shoulder-fired weapons, and replacement parts for powered gauntlets, all stored separately and sealed securely.
Liu En's consciousness swept over the outlines. Each machine was humanoid, about four to five meters tall, encased in layers of thick terracotta armor, the surface gleaming with a dull silver-gray sheen. Shoulder-mounted heavy weapons were integrated into the shoulders—the short, thick barrels of heavy-duty explosive cannons were faintly visible beneath the accumulated dust, and robust power gauntlets hung at the sides, the hydraulic lines on the fists as thick as arms. There were no wet joints, no trace of biological tissue—this was pure machinery, cold, metallic, war machines devoid of any organic components.
Starfortress-type Intelligent Control Mechs. The main combat unit of the Imperial Mechanicus's Intelligent Control Legion during the Great Crusade. The Intelligent Control Legion is a branch of the Mechanicus specializing in deploying fully automated combat robots. These Starfortress-type Intelligent Control Mechs were renowned during the Great Crusade for their notorious and highly responsive machine spirits, standing over four meters tall, and serving as a mainstay in the Intelligent Control Legion and the elite defensive formations of the various Forge Worlds.
Compared to the Casterland mechs that Liu En created on the Black Pearl, the Starfortress type was on a completely different level. The Casterland mechs were over three meters tall, covered in sturdy metal infused with terracotta, and equipped with a repulsive grid—an invisible shield emanating a deep hum from within the mech, capable of stopping almost all fire and, at the correct deflection angle, even deflecting enemy shells. The Starfortress type was even larger—over four meters tall, significantly taller than the Casterland, with armor thickness and coverage far exceeding the former.
In terms of weaponry, the Casterland mech is equipped with powered gauntlets on both arms, and a heavy bomb gun integrated on the upper part of its torso as a supplementary long-range firepower. The Starfort type has heavy-punch-type bomb cannons integrated on both shoulders—the caliber and power are far superior to the heavy bomb gun, and together with the powered gauntlets on both fists, they play an important role in siege and assault missions.
The biggest difference lies in their protective systems. While the Casterlan mechs' repulsive grid is sufficient to deflect incoming fire in most situations, it struggles against heavy weapons. The Starfort, however, adds an extra layer of atomic deflection shield on top of its repulsive grid—using the same shield technology as the Astartes Legion's Defiant Dreadnoughts, deflecting incoming ammunition by distorting energy fields. This dual-layered protection system gives it far greater survivability under suppressive fire than the Casterlan.
More crucially, there's the difference in intelligence. Servant machines can only execute preset commands, mechanically rigid, and prone to errors when faced with situations outside of those presets. But mechs are different—they react rapidly, autonomously adjusting tactics based on battlefield conditions, making them far superior to servants. In the formations of the Intelligent Control Legion, a squad of three to five mechs, commanded by an Intelligent Control Legion Data Craftsman, was the standard combat formation during the Empire's Great Crusade. These Starfortress-type mechs are the backbone of the Intelligent Control Legion.
They do not belong to the category of "abominable intelligence" but are the most orthodox war creations permitted by Mechanism.
Liu En walked to the nearest Starfortress-type mech. His consciousness probed into the mech's interior from a superficial level of perception—he immediately sensed something different. Unlike the Casterlan mechs he had previously disassembled, those Casterlan mechs had never shown any residual energy through his superficial perception; they were essentially just more advanced lumps of iron. But this Starfortress-type, deep within the crystal lattice of its core of perception, had an extremely faint, almost dormant energy pulsating slowly. His consciousness scanned all the Starfortress mechs present again; they all had it.
That is the machine soul.
He had dismantled countless items in wrecked ships, from standard equipment of the Solar Auxiliary Army to knight mechs, but he had never discovered anything like this in his superficial perception of material composition. Only these Starfortress types. They possessed machine spirits. Liu En didn't know if they had machine spirits when they were first produced, but at least these did. He hadn't discovered machine spirits in the Casterland mechs when he forged the world in Lucis. Machine spirits might be mysterious to others, but to him now, they were a 'physical' existence.
Liu En did not hesitate. The field covered the entire machine, reaching its consciousness. The decomposition command was issued. The four-meter-tall steel behemoth transformed into an atomic cloud at the atomic level, surging into the warehouse. Armor plates, joint hydraulic rods, power core, shoulder-mounted weapons, atomic deflection shield generator, cognitive core—all were transformed into atoms. The position, lattice arrangement, and material formula of each atom were completely recorded. In the higher-dimensional space, a complete blueprint for a star fortress unfolded layer by layer.
During the decomposition process, Liu En's consciousness dissected the atomic structure of this ancient war machine layer by layer. Its data core interface pin arrangement, handshake signal frequency, and encryption level were all different from those of the Casterland mechs. If it were to be rebuilt exactly as it was, this mech could only be driven by the exclusive numerical control protocol of the intelligent control legion from the Great Expedition era.
But that wasn't the problem. He began making changes at the atomic blueprint level. The atoms in the warehouse were rearranged, and the Starfortress-type data core interface was modified atom by atom—pin spacing was reset, signal channels were rewired, and the logic gates of the interface controller were reconstructed to Casterland standards. It wasn't a physical modification; it was a direct replacement of the interface specifications from the Starfortress standard to the Casterland standard within the atomic blueprint.
More importantly, there was the Mech Soul. This Starfortress-type Mech Soul dissipated during the disintegration process. But during the reconstruction, a completely new Mech Soul was regenerated at the atomic level—with an irreplaceable affinity for him. No Mechanicus rituals were needed, no incense burning or prayers, no chanting of mantras to the Mech Soul. The moment the last armor plate took shape, he knew—this mech recognized him. It would respond to his commands on its first activation, without any calibration.
The atoms were retrieved from the warehouse and reassembled according to the revised blueprint. The skeleton grew from the void, hydraulic actuators engaged, the outer shell of the power core took shape, and the coils of the atomic deflection shield generator were wound into place. A dozen minutes later, a brand-new Starfortress-type intelligent machine appeared in place. The data core interface had been modified to the standard specifications of the Casterland machine.
It wasn't started, and no instructions were written. Its machine spirit lay quietly in standby deep within its cognitive core, waiting to be awakened for the first time. But Liu En could sense the connection—not a channel of numerical control protocols, but a deeper connection that grew from the atomic level.
If he were to personally create ten thousand, or even a million, of these mechs, imbued with a machine spirit and intimately connected to himself, their command chains would be directly linked to him. This is the advantage his ability grants him—not the brute force of individual combat, but the possibility of transforming an entire army into an extension of himself. Of course, whether he can create that many is another matter entirely.
This machine will later become a member of the Black Pearl.
Liu En glanced at the remaining eleven machines. Their machine spirits also existed clearly in his superficial perception, perfectly preserving the imprints of thousands of years of slumber. But he didn't intend to dismantle them. He would send them to the Forging World intact.
He said in the garrison channel, "Kara, bring people in. There's something to move."
When Kara arrived at the compartment with two companies, the beams of searchlights swept over the silent steel figures, and everyone stopped in their tracks. Carlos dragged his injured leg slowly to the nearest machine, reached out and touched the armor plate on the mech's calf, his fingertips rubbing against the dust that had accumulated for thousands of years.
"This is... a mech?" His voice was a little tense.
"Starfortress-type intelligent mechs." Liu En stood in the center of the cabin, his consciousness sweeping over the outlines of the entire row of steel colossi. "The main combat unit of the Intelligent Control Legion during the Great Expedition. Twelve units, all well-preserved. The ammunition boxes and spare parts were also moved."
Kara nodded without asking any further questions.
Transport-type servitors flooded into the compartment. They took the mech's spare parts from the shelves—shoulder-mounted weapons, ammunition boxes, spare hydraulic actuators, replacement parts for powered gauntlets—and stacked them one by one on the backpack racks. Cargo-type servitors carried main weapons and spare parts boxes on their backs. Service-type servitors moved back and forth between the compartment entrance and passageways, securing large pieces of equipment with straps.
Liu En walked to the Star Fortress he had rebuilt and patted its shoulder armor. "Follow me." It silently stepped forward and followed behind Liu En, like a silent guard.
Kara glanced at the Starfort type following behind Liu En, but didn't ask any questions. She turned back to continue directing the moving operations.
The eleven mechs were so large that they could barely pass through the passageway after their weapon platforms were removed. The transport team formed a long line in the narrow passageway of the abandoned ship, with the six-legged transport mechs moving steadily across the metal grilles.
The cargo hold was barely enough space. After the eleven mechs had their weapon platforms removed, their torsos and limbs were folded and secured to the backpack-type racks, and carried out by the six legs of the transport-type mech servants. The one behind Liu En walked alone, without needing to be disassembled, and could even bend over or sideways to avoid obstacles, sometimes looking quite comical. The Casterland mechs, a size smaller than the others, were also large and stumbled a bit, but could still manage to keep up, since Liu En had secretly widened the narrow sections of the road.
The team began to retreat.
Along the route they had come from, the orange markers reappeared in the beams of the searchlights. The corrosive layer that had accumulated on the tunnel walls had disappeared, and the leaking poisonous gas was gone. The veterans of the garrison didn't say anything, but there was nothing left in the tunnel. As pack animals passed by, some would glance back at the walls on either side of the tunnel, no longer a dark purple.
Things changed gradually over those three months. It wasn't a sudden change that happened one day; it happened little by little each day, until by the third month, things were completely different from the first day. When Liz stitched up the wound of the last seriously wounded soldier, her hand was steadyer than before as she cut the stitches.
Yes, as long as he hasn't lost consciousness, Liu En can pull him back to the real universe.
Kara was the one who changed the least. She still had the same face, and her speech was still straightforward. But when Liu En returned from the depths of the wrecked ship, Kara was waiting for him at the firing position. She glanced at him without saying a word, then turned and continued to deploy troops. Her trust in him had always been militaristic. Now, that trust hadn't changed, but something else had been added to it. She had placed him in a slightly more important place in her heart.
For Liu En, what he had been showcasing to the garrison over the past few months was an integrated device—a "creation from the ancient dark age of technology"—which, in his explanation, could account for the pathways and threat distribution detected by his consciousness extension scans. Treating the wounded was Lis's job; he merely stabilized their vital signs. No one knew how the contamination and radiation within the pathways were decomposed. Those things vanished without a trace; the garrison only knew that the pathways they had traversed were cleaner than expected.
The Greenskins and the Cunning disappeared from the main path. Not wiped out—they retreated voluntarily into the depths of the side paths, behind the collapsed structures, to the edge of their senses. At some of the side paths, a few Greenskin corpses could be seen, not killed by gunfire, but trampled to death while fleeing. The Greenskins didn't care who was in their way; they pushed and trampled, as long as they survived. The Cunning disappeared even more quietly, leaving paw prints on the passageway walls, but the nearest prints were hundreds of meters away. Having lost their coordinating center after their chieftain's fall, the entire clan had completely scattered in the passageways deep within the wrecked ship.
Large-scale material handling began on the very first day of the evacuation. Liu En led the way, stopping at every marked compartment door along the route. He instructed the service sergeants to prioritize loading high-value equipment—solar auxiliary force weapons and various vehicle parts—the Black Pearl's biggest tangible gain from this technology recovery mission.
One by one, the seriously wounded soldiers stood up from Lis's medical station on the retreat. Some had their stitches removed and walked on their own, some followed behind the group with crutches, and some were carried for a while by service servants before quickly walking on their own. Kara had reported the status of the wounded once on the channel, saying that all the seriously wounded were out of danger and those with minor injuries had returned to their units. She didn't mention the captain. But as Liu En walked past her, the way she looked at him became increasingly different.
Liz glanced up at him as she packed her medical kit. But the way she looked at him was different from how Kara looked at her superior. Kara was like an adjutant looking at her superior; Liz was like a doctor looking at a black box of equipment that had cured all her patients. She didn't dwell on it. Instead, she lowered her head and put the hemostatic agents back into the compartments of the first-aid kit according to their numbers.
The journey there took nearly two months, and the return trip took a little over a month. In total, it took a little over three months.
Liu En stood at the intersection of the passageways, his consciousness extending into the distance in the direction he had come from. The sediment from the wrecked ship's hull could not stop his consciousness from reaching out.
The communications panel lit up suddenly. Marcus's voice squeezed out from the communication channel, muffled by the sediment on the wrecked hull, but this time the words were clear—"Captain. We've finally received your signal. Where are you?"
Liu En pressed the communication button. "We're already on the outskirts. We expect to be out in two days."
Marcus seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "Welcome back."
The team set up camp for the last time at the edge of the wrecked ship. Liu En stood at the entrance of the passageway, his consciousness covering the entire area. No aliens approached within a radius of several kilometers. The roars from deep within the wrecked ship carried through several layers of bulkheads, but were no longer clearly audible.
He sifted through all the categories archived over the past few months in the database. There were too many. Blueprints for various equipment of the Solar Auxiliary Force, blueprints for the Knight Mechs, blueprints for the Cyclone Torpedoes, complete blueprints for the Star Fortress-type Intelligent Controlled Mechs... and many more. The entire team had entered as a lightly armed exploration group, but when they left, the cargo holds carrying the mech servants were crammed with spoils, and the backs of the mech servants were also piled high with them.