71: Dragon's Lair

Following the command from the Bridge, the armory door swung open.

Lin Mo and Gu Zhixia stepped forward, walking towards the two silently standing steel constructs.

“Buzz—”

Accompanied by a faint hum, the titan mech's chest armor silently slid open to both sides, revealing the compact and precise cockpit within.

The two skillfully climbed inside.

The hatch closed, completely cutting off the outside light and sound.

The next second, a 360-degree holographic view lit up, perfectly displaying the vitrified, scorched island below before their eyes.

Neural link successful.

Welcome to titan.

At the bottom of the ship, a massive lift platform slowly descended, steadily delivering two three-meter-tall dark gold mechs to the ground.

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

Two heavy thuds sounded almost simultaneously.

The mech's metal feet stepped onto the fragile, vitrified ground, causing the entire scorched earth to tremble slightly, and spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards from the impact points.

On the small boat, Chen Ping and his remaining three team members had just barely recovered from the world-ending laser bombardment.

Their dazed gazes hadn't even had time to move away from the silver behemoth hovering high in the sky, like a miracle.

Then, they saw it.

They saw the two steel giants, like demon gods, descending from the sky.

“What… what… what the hell is that?!”

The burly man, who had just climbed back from the brink of collapse, at the sight of the two mechs, his eyeballs bulged, and a hoarse, fear-filled roar erupted from his throat, like a broken gong.

His proud muscles, strong enough to tear apart mutated wild boars, seemed so ridiculous, so weak, before these two steel constructs of violent aesthetics.

Chen Ping's body was stiff as a stone.

His proud brain, adept at calculation and planning, completely crashed at this moment.

A mobile fortress flying in the sky.

Humanoid mechs descending from the heavens.

All of this had far exceeded his scope of understanding.

This was no longer a survival game.

This was simply a dimensionality reduction strike.

He had originally thought he had found a top player, a powerful backer.

Now he understood that what he had found was perhaps… a god.

The two mechs' cold blue optical sensors slowly turned in their direction.

A cold, inhuman sense of oppression spanned hundreds of meters of sea, locking onto them firmly.

“Lead the way.”

An electronically synthesized voice, devoid of any emotion, came from the external speaker of one of the mechs, echoing clearly over the desolate island.

Chen Ping shuddered, instantly snapping back to reality.

He didn't dare to hesitate for a moment, immediately roaring at his terrified team members.

“Sail the boat! Hurry! Head over!”

...The dilapidated sailboat tremblingly approached the scorched shore.

Chen Ping and the other three scrambled ashore, treading on the still-warm vitrified ground, each step filled with trepidation.

They didn't even dare to look up at the two steel idols silently overlooking them.

“Thump.”

“Thump.”

Heavy footsteps, like hammers striking their hearts.

Lin Mo and Gu Zhixia controlled their mechs, following behind them, unhurriedly.

The entire island no longer carried any natural scent of earth; the air was only filled with a pungent, burnt smell of rocks and organic matter melted by high temperatures.

Soon, in the center of a completely flattened basin, they saw the door.

It was a portal, suspended in mid-air, emitting a faint blue glow, constantly rippling like water.

It stood silently in this land of death, full of mystery and strangeness.

Lin Mo stopped.

“Let's be clear first.”

His voice was still the emotionless, electronically synthesized tone, but it made Chen Ping's body tremble violently.

“If we go in later and encounter trouble that even we can't handle, we won't be able to protect you.”

“You can still back out now.”

The air was deathly silent.

The three team members behind Chen Ping simultaneously showed intense struggle and fear on their faces.

Going in might mean death.

Not going in would render all their previous sacrifices and efforts meaningless.

Chen Ping's chest heaved violently; he suddenly gritted his teeth, and a gambler's madness burst forth from his bloodshot eyes.

“We don't regret it!”

He turned his head, looking at the cold blue eyes of Lin Mo's mech, his voice hoarse but exceptionally firm.

“We've already lost three brothers trying to find this door!”

“This opportunity was bought with their lives!”

“We… don't want to waste it!”

Lin Mo said nothing more.

He merely looked at Chen Ping with his blue optical sensors.

“Very well.”

As his voice fell, he controlled the titan mech, taking the first step and unhesitatingly walking into the faint blue light curtain.

Gu Zhixia followed closely behind.

The figures of the two steel giants instantly vanished behind the rippling door.

Chen Ping took a deep breath, then roared at his pale-faced team members behind him.

“Follow!”

The four gritted their teeth and rushed in after them.

The moment they passed through the light door, there was no dizziness as imagined.

The scene before them suddenly opened up.

But there were no mountains of gold coins here, nor sparkling treasure chests.

This was a vast ruin, filled with decay and desolation.

Broken stone pillars, collapsed statues, and shattered city walls silently told of a brutal war long forgotten.

A cold, ominous aura permeated the air.

Just then.

A cold system prompt simultaneously sounded in everyone's minds.

Entering monster territory: Dragon's Lair

Mission objective: Survive for 5 minutes.

After the countdown begins, you will be automatically teleported away.

Chen Ping's face instantly turned ashen.

Not exploration.

It's survival!

“Roar—!!!”

A terrifying dragon's roar, as if capable of tearing souls apart, exploded from the sky above the ruins!

Everyone suddenly looked up.

They saw an immensely massive dragon slowly emerging from the thick clouds.

Its entire body was covered in dark red scales like molten lava, and dark red flames even flowed between the gaps in its scales.

A pair of golden vertical pupils, filled with tyranny and majesty, coldly overlooked the tiny ants that had intruded into its territory below.

A string of blood-red data appeared in Lin Mo's mech's field of vision.

LV20 Flame Dragon (Lord)

Attack: 100

Defense: 100

Life: 10000 / 10000

“Damn it.”

Lin Mo's electronic voice, for the first time, carried a hint of solemnity.

“How did we encounter something like this?”

He turned his head, his cold blue eyes sweeping over Chen Ping and the three others, who were already so scared their legs were weak, almost collapsing to the ground.

“You guys, good luck to yourselves.”

Before his words finished, he had already raised the mech's arm, and the heavy assault rifle mounted on it instantly spat out furious tongues of fire!

“Da da da da da—!”

A dense hail of bullets accurately poured onto the dragon's head.

A series of insignificant damage numbers floated up from the dragon's head.

-70

-72

-68

Facing a full 10,000 Life points, this amount of damage was not even enough to scratch it.

The dragon was completely enraged by this ineffective attack.

It let out a deafening roar, opened its gaping maw, and a scorching, destructive dragon's breath began to gather in its throat.

“I'll take on this beast.”

Gu Zhixia's clear yet battle-ready voice sounded in the communication channel.

The next second.

The wing-shaped flight module on the back of the titan mech she was piloting instantly unfolded, and the vector thrusters spewed dazzling blue flames!

“Boom—!”

The entire mech shot up like a cannonball, rising from the ground with a defiant posture, charging upwards to meet the colossal dragon!

The massive Six-Harmony Long Spear in her hand traced a cold arc in the air, its tip pointing directly at the dragon's golden eye!

Critical hit!

-400

The crimson damage number finally made the dragon feel tangible pain.

It roared in agony, abandoning its charge, and its massive dragon claw, carrying a tearing gust of wind, slammed fiercely towards Gu Zhixia's mech!

“Evade left! Use its arm as a stepping stone!”

Lin Mo's calm voice sounded in Gu Zhixia's ear.

Gu Zhixia didn't hesitate for a moment; the mech performed a nimble side-roll in the air, narrowly dodging the dragon claw's swipe.

At the same time, her thrusters suddenly burst forth, and she actually used the dragon's swinging arm to leverage herself into a nimble flip, landing deftly on the dragon's broad back!

“Beautiful!”

Lin Mo praised, the gunfire from his weapon not stopping for a moment, continuously drawing the dragon's attention.

The dragon frantically twisted its body, trying to shake off the small insect on its back.

But Gu Zhixia's mech stood firmly on its back like a nail, the long spear in her hand transforming into deadly flashes of cold light, constantly piercing into the gaps between the dragon's scales!

-150

-145

-160

“Roar!”

The dragon was completely enraged; it suddenly shook its head, abandoning its attack on Lin Mo, and a scorching dragon's breath, without warning, spewed towards Gu Zhixia!

“Careful! It's turning!”

Lin Mo's warning, and the dragon's breath, arrived almost simultaneously.

Gu Zhixia's pupils contracted; she unhesitatingly activated the flight module's maximum power, launching herself off the dragon's back and performing an extreme dodge to the side!

The scorching dragon's breath whistled past the edge of her mech.

The high temperature, enough to melt steel, instantly reduced the mech's durability by a small amount.

And the dragon's breath, having lost its target, transformed into a massive fireball, crashing directly to the ground with destructive force!

On the ground, Chen Ping and his remaining three team members were staring blankly at the god-like battle in the sky.

By the time they saw the rapidly enlarging fireball, it was already too late.

The burly man who had been shouting earlier didn't even have time for the fear on his face to fully register before he was instantly engulfed by the fireball descending from the sky.

He couldn't even let out a scream.

In his place, only a deep, smoking pit remained.