58: Mechanical Ascension? The Dwarf King has gone mad! He wants to transform his entire population into robots!

The beggar's final words, like ghostly whispers, dissipated in the filthy alleyway, adding a bloody footnote to the core secrets of this city of steel and steam.

His cold mechanical hand, completely locked due to energy depletion, was still tightly clamped around Li Qiang's ankle.

The two Mechanical City Management Officers, who had just finished their "Recycling Program," swiveled their cold, red-glowing electronic eyes and locked onto the players in the alley.

Their programming was simple: eliminate all anomalies.

And the group before them—tall, oddly dressed, and highly emotional "Long-Leg Race"—were the highest-Rank anomalies ever recorded in their core database.

"Abnormal biological signal detected. Unauthorized unit. Initiating Purification Protocol."

The synthesized electronic voice carried not a hint of emotion. One of the officers' arms instantly transformed, a Multi-barreled Steam Cannon extending from its wrist, the muzzle beginning to preheat and emitting a dangerous level of heat.

Li Qiang reacted even faster. "Purify my foot! Wang Wei, hurry up and pry this dead guy's hand off me! Everyone else, get ready to collect some scrap metal!"

The battle was brief but intense.

These Mechanical City Management Officers were strong, precise in their movements, and fearless. Their armor was thick, and their steam cannons packed an incredible punch.

But their opponents were players.

A bunch of lunatics who treated death as a common occurrence and pain as a stimulating experience.

One player used his own body as a brake pad, forcibly jamming the leg gears of one officer. Another pulled out a bag of highly corrosive slime dropped from some unknown monster and smeared it over the opponent's visual sensors.

Li Qiang utilized the mobility advantage of his Magic-guided Motorcycle, weaving around them at high speeds like a phantom, repeatedly smashing his massive Piston Connecting Rod into the officers' joints.

"Hit the pipes! Their core is a steam boiler! Smash all their pipes until they leak!" Wang Wei shouted directions from the back, his goggles reflecting strings of rapidly scrolling analytical data.

With a perfectly synchronized burst of focused fire, one of the Mechanical City Management Officers finally succumbed. Its leg joints were completely destroyed, and the steam core on its back was pierced. With a piercing hiss of escaping gas, it collapsed to the ground, twitching as its red electronic eyes flickered reluctantly before going dark forever.

The other officer, seeing its companion being "disassembled" and its own energy reserves dropping to the warning line, made the most logical tactical decision. It sprayed a thick cloud of black smoke as cover and quickly retreated, vanishing into the city's intricate jungle of steel.

"Don't let it get away!" a player shouted.

"Leave it!" Li Qiang kicked the still-twitching "loot" on the ground. "We caught a live one! This is worth way more than a dead one!"

Like sharks scenting blood, the players swarmed forward, surrounding the half-broken Mechanical City Management Officer.

"Easy! Easy! Don't smash it to pieces! This is important research material!" Wang Wei shrieked, struggling to push away several players who had already pulled out wrenches and crowbars. He looked at the steaming "living specimen" on the ground with eyes as burning as a biologist discovering a new species.

He pulled a mess of wires and strange tools from his backpack. "I'm going to interface with its CPU and see if I can strip its activity logs."

"You know how to do that?" Li Qiang was stunned.

"Theoretically, it's possible." Wang Wei's fingers moved like the most precise instruments, operating rapidly. "Their technology is quite primitive—it's still a physical interface. As long as I can bypass the firewall, I should be able to read its short-term memory."

He found a maintenance port at the back of the Mechanical City Management Officer's neck, pried open the cover with a screwdriver, and began connecting his homemade "Universal Data Probe."

The rest of the players instinctively formed a circle, guarding vigilantly, excitement written on every face. They knew the game's main storyline was about to be revealed.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on Wang Wei's forehead. "I'm in! I'm in! The data stream is messy... mostly patrol routes and maintenance logs... Wait... there's an encrypted partition here labeled 'Supreme Ideological Program'."

"Quick! Read it out loud!" Li Qiang urged.

As Wang Wei scanned the data extracted from the encrypted partition, his eyes grew wider and wider. His expression shifted from professional curiosity to utter shock, and finally, to a near-manic ecstasy.

"My... God..." he muttered to himself.

"What is it? Did you find a treasure map?" a player asked impatiently.

"A treasure map? This is greater than any treasure map! This is a bible!" Wang Wei's voice trembled slightly with excitement. He turned his portable screen around for everyone to see.

It was a promotional document. At the top was a slogan written in rugged Dwarven Runes, with a translation in the Common Tongue below it.

[Flesh is original sin, emotion is a flaw, logic is eternal.]

Below the slogan was a video file. Wang Wei pressed the play button with a heart full of excitement.

In the footage, the Dwarf King—Sorin Ironbeard—stood on the balcony of a high tower, overlooking his city of steel. But he was no longer the heroic Dwarf King of legend. Half of his face was smooth chrome, one eye was a flickering red mechanical prosthetic, and one arm had been replaced by a mechanical claw of violent beauty, composed of countless joints.

"My subjects!" The King's voice was a chilling mixture of flesh and electronic synthesis. "For centuries, we have been trapped within our own fragile shells! We have suffered the torments of disease, aging, and the Chaos of emotion! Our flesh betrays us, decays us, and ultimately leads to death!"

The scene cut to a massive factory floor, the very one the players had glimpsed earlier. Countless unconscious dwarves were being slowly transported on conveyor belts. Giant mechanical arms descended from above, using cold scalpels to precisely excise their limbs, organs, and even parts of their skulls, replacing them with gleaming brass and steel parts.

"But I have heard the voice of the 'Great Constructor'! I have heard the revelation of the 'God of All Machines'!" The King's voice grew increasingly high-pitched and fanatical. "It has shown us the true path! An eternal path toward steel and logic! We shall cast off this mortal coil! We shall break free from the shackles of emotion! We shall be one with the machine, becoming eternal, becoming perfect!"

In the video, a dwarf who had just finished "upgrading" stepped off the assembly line. His eyes were two hollow, blue-glowing indicator lights. He marched with precise, stiff steps, joining a phalanx composed of thousands of identical mechanical dwarves.

"This is not death! This is Ascension! This is the 'Great Unification'! Every dwarf will attain immortality and absolute order! We shall become a single, flawless will, an invincible mechanical legion! We shall reclaim the glory that is rightfully ours and become the sole Dominators of the underworld!"

At the end of the video, thousands of mechanical dwarf phalanxes looked uniformly into the camera with their hollow, glowing eyes. A line of large text appeared on the screen like a brand: [Praise the Machine! Embrace Ascension!]

A deathly silence fell over the alley.

Even the loudest players were speechless at this moment.

"So... this King is some crazy cult leader?" a player finally broke the silence.

"And he wants to turn all his citizens into robots?"

"Holy crap, this is insane!"

"Insane?" Wang Wei was trembling all over. "This isn't insanity; it's greatness! This is the ultimate form of industrial evolution! Look at the design of this neural interface port! And the efficiency of this energy core! He's solved the problem of Consciousness Uploading! This King is a Genius! A prophet!"

"He's a lunatic!" Li Qiang countered, his face unusually solemn. "He's massacring his own people, turning them into emotionless puppets!"

"It's not a massacre, it's evolution!" Wang Wei argued heatedly, his face flushing red. "They've gained immortality! They've escaped pain and suffering!"

The players immediately split into two factions and began to argue fiercely.

One group was shocked by this cold, inhumane method of modification.

While the others, like Wang Wei, were deeply attracted by this cool technology and the concept of mechanical immortality. In their eyes, this was practically the ultimate character customization feature in the game.

"I also found this." Wang Wei pointed to another extracted file. It was a massive city design blueprint, so complex it made one's scalp tingle.

In the center of the blueprint—at the deepest part of Black Iron City, beneath the rushing river of lava—was the jagged silhouette of a Dragon bound by countless metal chains and pipes. Its beating heart was connected to a massive reactor, which served as the energy source for the entire city and all the "Ascension Factories."

The file's title was: [Project Chimera: Dragon Engine].

"The beggar was telling the truth," Li Qiang muttered. "That Dragon... it's not sleeping. It's being used as a giant power bank. It's crying..."

This discovery was even more shocking than the video. Not only was the King insane, but his grand city and magnificent plan were built upon the eternal suffering of a legendary creature.

Just as the players were trying to digest this massive amount of information, a new System prompt popped up on everyone's retinas. It was the work of the GM, Su Mu.

[World Event Triggered: The Schism of Steel and Soul]

[You have uncovered the dark secrets of Black Iron City. The fanatical King Sorin Ironbeard, under the influence of a mysterious entity, is attempting to forcibly mechanize his entire race. Meanwhile, a small group of dwarves who cherish flesh and Soul are conducting a desperate resistance in the shadows.]

[The moment of choice has arrived. Will you choose cold evolution or uphold warm tradition?]

[Faction Selection:]

[1. Ascension Legion (Support the King): Assist the King in suppressing the rebels and complete the "Great Unification." Rewards: Exclusive mechanical modification technology, Advanced dwarven equipment blueprints, and the title 'Royal Forge Master.']

[2. Flesh Alliance (Join the Rebels): Help the dwarven resistance overthrow the Mad King and destroy the Ascension Factories. Rewards: Unique dwarven rune forging techniques, lost Earth Elemental Magic, and the title 'Black Iron Liberator.']

[Warning: Your choice will determine the fate of the dwarven race and will make you completely hostile to players who choose the other faction. Please choose carefully.]

The alley instantly erupted into Chaos.

"Are you kidding me? Is there even a choice? Of course, join the rebels! This is a classic case of justice versus evil!" a player shouted.

"Justice my ass! Don't be so naive! This is technology versus ignorance!" Wang Wei immediately countered, his eyes shining with fanatical light. As he spoke, he affectionately stroked the mechanical leg of the officer on the ground. "Flesh is weak! I'm going to replace my arms with steam cannons! I'm standing with the King!"

"You want to be a robot? You're as crazy as that mad King!"

Li Qiang looked at the two options, his brow furrowed. He looked at the scrapped officer on the ground, remembered the beggar who had issued a warning before dying, and then thought of the Dragon used as a battery on the blueprint.

He didn't know which side was right. But he knew one thing.

"Now," a signature, mischievous smile slowly spread across his face, "this is definitely going to become the biggest, most chaotic super-brawl since this game launched."

"And I," he clenched his fists, his knuckles letting out a crisp crack, "can't wait to enjoy every second of it."