61: Chapter 61 The Allure of Technology: Attracting Angels

The wine cups had just been cleared, and the leftovers were not yet cold. Chen Wuwang raised his hand with a wave, a gust from his sleeve sweeping across the long table as a few specks of charcoal ash drifted from the grill, swirling in the night wind.

He didn't look at Aelia, only saying indifferently, "Let's go. I'll take you to see the 'Iron Beasts' and find out if they are truly alive."

As the words fell, he had already turned around. His silver hair traced a cold arc under the moonlight, and the Mechanical Prosthetic Eye in his left eye flashed with a faint light, like some silent activation signal.

Aelia didn't move, her fingertips still resting on the rim of her cup. The phrase "creating a god" from moments ago still echoed in her ears.

She stared at Chen Wuwang's back, suddenly smiled, and stood up to follow.

Her pace was light, yet she deliberately slowed down by half a step—she knew that in this game, whoever spoke first would lose the rhythm.

The two of them, one following the other, passed through the dying embers of the training grounds and headed deep into the East District.

The stone slabs beneath their feet grew denser, and the patterns were no longer natural cracks but neatly interlaced metal seams, with blue light faintly flowing underneath.

"This ground of yours... is it alive?" Aelia finally spoke, crouching down and running her fingers over a seam.

"It's not the ground." Chen Wuwang didn't look back. "It's blood vessels. Psionic Conduits are buried three layers deep, with the deepest layer connected to the main artery of the Leyline. If you dare to dig, it will bite."

Aelia looked up, her eyes shining with startling intensity. "You've transformed an entire mountain into a machine?"

"No." He stopped and glanced back at her. "We allowed the machine to grow as part of the mountain."

She said nothing more, though her breathing hitched for a moment.

Ahead was a rock wall that looked natural, but its surface was covered in fine incisions, arranged like a Formation yet not a Formation, like talismans yet not talismans.

Chen Wuwang walked up to it and raised his right hand, aiming his palm at a protruding rock.

Click.

With a soft sound, the center of the rock wall slowly split open. A metal gate rose, revealing a descending staircase where shadows and light shifted, and a low-frequency hum could be heard faintly.

"You noticed those runes were wrong long ago." Chen Wuwang stepped aside to let her go first. "When you touched them for the third time, you pressed the 'Vibration Frequency Node'—that's an old technique for cracking Formations. No one in a merchant caravan would teach you that."

Aelia paused, her smile undiminished. "Caught red-handed?"

"Not caught." He followed her onto the steps. "Confirmed. If you were truly just doing business, you wouldn't have tested that point."

The stairs extended downward, the walls transitioning from rock to alloy, their surfaces covered in translucent crystal plates. Inside, psionic circuits pulsed like veins, with red and blue light streams intersecting and flowing like the heartbeat of some slumbering giant beast.

"Welcome to the heart of the Chen Family."

Chen Wuwang pointed. "See those lights? Every beam is connected to the life of a clansman. Their cultivation, eating, sleeping, and even dreaming affect the frequency here. Guess if an outsider could control it?"

Aelia looked up, her pupils dilating slightly.

She had seen starship cores and temple hubs, but she had never seen anything like this—a System where humans and machines were welded together.

"They can't," she whispered. "There's no independent power source, no central processor, and all nodes provide mutual feedback... This isn't technology; it's an ecosystem."

"Smart." Chen Wuwang's lips curled slightly. "So don't think about copying it. If you move a mecha away, it will die within three days. Away from this land and these people, it cannot survive."

They entered the main control area.

In the center of the circular hall floated a 3D projection—a miniature model of the entire Chen Family territory. Mountains and rivers were outlined by threads of light, and every thread resonated in sync with equipment somewhere beneath their feet.

Mechanical arms all around operated automatically, grabbing Materials, engraving runes, and assembling components with precision down to the millimeter, yet not a single craftsman was present.

"Fully automated?" Aelia walked toward a mechanical arm, reaching out to touch the control panel.

"Don't touch it." Chen Wuwang's voice wasn't loud. "Last time someone pressed buttons randomly, the entire Artifact Refining Workshop was paralyzed for twelve hours."

She withdrew her hand, frowning. "There are no operators?"

"There are." He pointed to several blinking red dots in the projection. "They're lying down at home. Each person is responsible for a segment of the process, monitoring it remotely with Divine Sense. The 'automation' you see is actually thirty people working together online simultaneously."

Aelia sucked in a breath. "You've turned production into battlefield coordination?"

"Battlefields are too noisy." He shook his head. "This is life. Just as you must chew to eat, we build things by relying on a group of people breathing and heart-beating together."

She was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Can I see that small mecha? The one that knelt outside the training grounds last night."

Chen Wuwang glanced at her, didn't ask further, and traced a circle in the air with his hand.

In a corner of the hall, a half-human-tall mecha slowly activated. Its entire body shimmered with a bronze luster, and fine runes flowed at its joints, flickering like breath.

It walked up to Aelia, knelt on one knee, and a projection appeared on its chest with two words: "Welcome."

The glowing words were clear, the font ancient, as if rubbed from a stone stele.

"It recognizes me?" Aelia tentatively reached out her hand.

When her fingertips were still three inches from the projection, the mecha's alarm suddenly flashed. A red light pulsed urgently, and it quickly retreated three steps, entering a defensive stance.

"I told you." Chen Wuwang said indifferently. "It only recognizes Family."

"How does it recognize?" She withdrew her hand, her gaze burning. "Bloodline? Divine Sense imprint? Or... heartbeat frequency?"

"All of them." He walked up to the mecha and placed his palm against its chest plate. The projection immediately switched to a new line: "Patriarch Returns."

"It records everyone's biological rhythms. Your heartbeat is too fast, and your breathing is too steady; you don't seem like someone who lives in this land."

Aelia looked down at her fingertips. "So, even if I learn all the technology and get all the blueprints, I still couldn't build the same thing?"

"You can build the outer shell." Chen Wuwang nodded. "But you can't build the Soul. It won't listen to you, and it won't fight for your life."

She didn't argue; she just stared at the mecha, her expression changing.

It was no longer the gaze of a merchant looking at a product, but that of an explorer seeing a continent she had never imagined.

"Chen Wuwang." She suddenly looked up. "Such power shouldn't just guard a single piece of land."

Here it comes.

He remained impassive, waiting for her to continue.

"I can help you open up the market of the Three Thousand Star Domains." Her speech quickened, her eyes bright. "Not by selling mechas, but by exporting the entire System. You provide the core rules, and I'll handle the local adaptation. Every affiliated Family could have its own 'Heartbeat System'."

Chen Wuwang laughed, very softly. "And then? Let them use this System to attack others?"

"I guarantee supervision." She said solemnly. "I will never let this technology become a tool for slaughter."

"Guarantee?" he countered. "With what? A merchant caravan contract? Or an oath of the Angel Race?"

"I swear by the Heart of an Angel." Her voice dropped low as she placed her right hand over her chest. "If I break this promise, may I suffer heavenly punishment and fall forever into the Abyss of Eternal Silence."

The air went still for a moment.

Chen Wuwang stared at her for a long time before saying, "Do you know why I was willing to bring you here to see all this?"

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to know if you truly want to change things, or if you just want to make money."

"The two are not in conflict."

"They are." He shook his head. "People who make money will always find excuses—'It's just a few deaths,' 'War is inevitable,' 'The weak deserve to be eliminated.' But I don't believe in that nonsense."

He turned and walked toward the exit corridor. "You've seen enough today. If you want to cooperate, I'm not against it."

Aelia's eyes lit up.

But he changed his tone. "But it must be done according to my rules."

She didn't press for details, just followed him silently.

The two walked out of the Technology Workshop, the metal gate slowly closing behind them. The rock wall returned to its original state, as if nothing had ever happened.

The night wind brushed their faces. The lights of the distant workshops remained bright, and the silhouettes of mechas were faintly visible under the moonlight.

"What are your rules?" Aelia finally asked.

Chen Wuwang didn't look back, only leaving behind the words: "We'll talk tomorrow."

He didn't stop, heading straight for the Council Hall.

She stood there, watching his back, a flash of unmistakable shock and longing in her eyes.

A moment later, she stepped forward to follow.