211: Production begins.

Shen Mingyuan returned to the apartment and took off his jacket. Only a single warm yellow desk lamp was lit in the room. He walked over to the reptile enclosure and gently opened the glass door. The azure little snake coiled on the branches immediately sensed his return, lifting its head as its pale gold vertical pupils shimmered in the gloom.

It flicked its tongue affectionately and, following Shen Mingyuan's outstretched arm, wound its way upward with light and practiced ease.

The pair of small fleshy wings covered in grey down feathers tucked in slightly as it moved, feeling cool and soft to the touch.

Shen Mingyuan gently stroked its smooth, cool scales with his other hand; the green snake rubbed against his finger contentedly, appearing very docile.

The next two days were calm and uneventful. Shen Mingyuan handled his law firm work step-by-step and looked after the green snake at home in the evenings, occasionally paying attention to sporadic news regarding the approaching Martial Arts Competition. Life seemed to have temporarily returned to its ordinary tracks.

On the afternoon of the third day, his wechat received a message from ".". The content was concise, consisting only of a pickup code and the address of a logistics station.

After work, Shen Mingyuan drove there. At the station, he presented the pickup code and received several unremarkable corrugated cardboard boxes of varying sizes. They had some weight to them, but they were tightly sealed without any shipping information.

He moved the boxes back to his car and drove straight back to the apartment.

He unpacked the parcels in the open space of his study. Inside were items packaged by category:

Some irregularly shaped silver-grey metal blocks and sheets wrapped in shock-proof Materials; several reagent bottles containing powders or liquids of different colors, labeled with complex chemical formulas;

And several bundles of uniquely colored wires with a texture somewhere between fiber and gel. Most prominent was a black rectangular metal box about half a meter long, sealed in foam, with no markings on its surface.

Following The Forger's prior instructions, Shen Mingyuan took out the black metal box and placed it flat on the floor. Then, he pulled back his left sleeve, revealing the black armband on his wrist.

As he slowly brought the armband within about ten centimeters of the black metal box, an anomaly occurred.

The orb in the center of the armband suddenly lit up with a dim red glow. It wasn't the brilliant light seen when activating the armor, but a low, pulsating radiance.

Simultaneously, on the surface of the black metal box, corresponding to the position of the orb, identical dark red patterns lit up in synchronization!

Zzz—

An extremely faint sound, as if an electric current were passing through, rang out. Immediately after, the side of the black metal box slid open silently like a living thing, revealing a gap.

Inside the gap was no mechanical structure; instead, a luster like liquid obsidian flowed out, and several dark mechanical arms of varying thickness, composed of countless fine joints, rapidly "grew" out! The ends of these mechanical arms were not tools, but more like probes or energy focus points used for precision operations.

They extended fully and hovered in the air, slightly adjusting their angles as dark red energy veins flickered faintly within them.

Shen Mingyuan could clearly feel a tight, invisible energy link between the armband on his wrist and these mechanical arms that had appeared out of thin air, as if they were originally one entity.

The mechanical arms "looked" at the Materials scattered on the ground, then "looked" at Shen Mingyuan, seemingly confirming the environment.

Then, two of the most agile arm tubes slowly descended. Their tips lit up with a more concentrated dark red glow as they began to scan and move the metal blocks and wires. Their movements were precise and steady without making any redundant noise; the entire process was filled with a surreal sense of tranquility.

Shen Mingyuan took two steps back and watched with folded arms. He knew that the "preliminary processing" promised by The Forger had automatically begun.

Although this scene was strange, it seemed like nothing compared to the battles he had experienced after transforming. Since he didn't need to do anything and didn't need to understand the principles, he decided to leave it to this mysterious "Automated Workshop."

“Fine, you do your thing,” he muttered to himself, seemingly speaking to the armband, and also to The Forger far away in the Consciousness Space.

He took one last look at the Materials moving on their own under the guidance of the dark red energy—as if manipulated by invisible hands—and the busy mechanical arms, then turned and left the study, gently closing the door.

Leaving the apartment, Shen Mingyuan originally intended to take advantage of the evening leisure to wander around the commercial district and buy some daily necessities. Suddenly, a crowd of people ahead rushed toward him in a panic, and screams rang out everywhere.

“Run! There's a monster in the bank!”

“A monster?” Shen Mingyuan's heart tightened, and he instantly became alert. He immediately went against the flow of the crowd, ducking into a dim side alley. After confirming no one was around, he leaned his back against the wall and his right hand quickly touched the armband on his left wrist.

“Transform!”

Matte black biomass fluid rapidly covered his entire body, and the shadow basic form was completed within seconds. He locked onto the source of the panic—the commercial bank on the street corner—and approached at high speed like a black shadow.

The bulletproof glass doors of the bank's main entrance were shattered all over the floor. Inside, lights flickered, and bursts of inhuman roars and sporadic gunshots could be heard. In the lobby, two police officers were nervously firing while leaning against marble pillars. Their opponents were six or seven Sentry Dogs, quick-moving and wielding crude weapons. Although bullets could force a few back, the Sentry Dogs had the advantage in numbers, using cover to flank them. One officer's arm had already been slashed, and the defensive line was in critical danger.

Shen Mingyuan slid into the lobby from a side window like a phantom, landing soundlessly. His arms rose, and the twin stars hand cannons locked on instantly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three concentrated energy jets fired precisely.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

The heads of three Sentry Dogs that were pouncing on the police from the side and rear exploded, their bodies falling stiffly to the ground.

The remaining Sentry Dogs were stunned by this sudden strike. The two police officers also looked at him, their souls still unsettled.

“You... You are?” the officer with the injured arm asked, panting heavily.

Shen Mingyuan did not look back, his gaze scanning the remaining enemies. The voice coming through his faceplate was calm and emotionless:

“Don't mind me, I'm just a passing Detective.”

Before his voice had even faded, he fired again, and another Sentry Dog fell to the ground.

But just then, more rustling and low growls came from the passages deep within the bank and the shattered back door. Black shadows shifted, and surprisingly, no fewer than ten more Sentry Dogs poured out! It seemed there was more than just one squad here.

“Tsk, never-ending.” Shen Mingyuan's eyes narrowed. Just as he was about to switch tactics, the screeching of brakes and rhythmic footsteps suddenly came from outside the bank.

“GUPA! Lockdown the scene!”

“Priority is to protect civilians! Combat squads, move in!”

Fully armed GUPA special agents rapidly poured into the lobby. Tactical flashlight beams cut through the chaos, and specialized weapons were aimed at all the abnormal creatures in the area.

“High concentration of non-human life signals detected! Confirmed as a Sentry Dogs cluster! Open fire at will!” the commander ordered.

The well-trained special agents immediately formed a tacit cooperation with Shen Mingyuan.

Shen Mingyuan relied on his speed and precise shots to clear targets at close range and from tricky angles, while the GUPA Squad used a web of firepower to cover and suppress the main body of the pack, efficiently cleaning up the remaining Sentry Dogs.

Meanwhile, in the shadows of a rooftop of a certain building across from the bank.

An unremarkable middle-aged man wearing ordinary work clothes silently lowered the high-powered pocket binoculars in his hand.

He watched the scene of that swift black figure in the bank lobby operating in coordination with GUPA. His face showed no expression, but he murmured in a voice only he could hear:

“A passing... Detective?”

He repeated the phrase, the corner of his mouth seemingly twitching almost imperceptibly. Then he turned and disappeared silently into the night on the rooftop, as if he had never appeared.