Chapter 27: Zhou Yan, Who Exactly Are You?

With a single strike, Zhou Yan obliterated five giant werewolves blocking the entrance and pressed forward without stopping.

Indeed, those five advanced werewolves in a state of enhanced transformation could barely match a Mecha Martial Artist operating a Divine Machine in second gear.

Yet so what? They were not even worthy of a single blow from him.

Such was the might of the Yinglong Steed operating in second gear. Back when he sparred with Chu Wan, a single move of his had forced her into her third gear mode.

He had lied to Chu Wan at the time, claiming he could only maintain the second gear for a very short duration, but that was obviously a fabrication.

The reality was that his mental strength was on par with Cong Shiyun, the peak master of the True Realm. Furthermore, after his Destiny Equipment's "Resolute Circuit" had been upgraded to level 2, his mental recovery rate had increased by 60%. This meant that under equivalent mental strength, his mental endurance was far superior even to Cong Shiyun's.

Even though the Yinglong Steed consumed two to three times the mental energy of a standard Divine Machine, it was not difficult for him to infinitely maintain its second gear mode.

During his descent.

Along the way, he witnessed numerous corpses of armed guards and ordinary werewolves, interspersed with some Mecha Martial Artists wearing Divine Machines. The scene was truly grim.

Then, he spurred the horse into a right turn, galloping rapidly down the corridor.

Any werewolf that poked its head out to investigate upon hearing the hoofbeats was swiftly cut down by a swing of his spear if it was fast, while the slower ones only caught a glimpse of Zhou Yan's receding back as they emerged.

Soon enough, Zhou Yan arrived at the designated sector and found the office labeled with the characters "Divine Machine Squad".

Dismounting, he entered.

Bang!

Amidst a crisp sound, Zhou Yan abruptly tilted his head back, watching a bizarre bullet enveloped in a black sphere of light graze the tip of his nose and slam into the wall.

He cast an exasperated glance at the bewildered young girl: "Xiao Ke, is this how you treat someone who came to rescue you?"

Looking at Luo Ke now, she appeared quite disheveled, her hair and face smudged with blood and grime.

Staring blankly at Zhou Yan encased in armor, tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

The next second, she bolted forward, threw herself into Zhou Yan's arms, and burst into loud sobs: "Wuwu—Zhou Yan, you finally came to rescue me!"

Fearing that his armor would hurt the girl, Zhou Yan deactivated it, embraced Luo Ke, and gently patted her back: "There, there, Xiao Ke, didn't I say I'd be here in three minutes?"

Luo Ke sobbed in his arms, her voice muffled: "I thought you were just comforting me, just like when I was a little kid in the car and Mom and Dad always told me 'we'll be there in a minute'."

"Be a good girl, stop crying." Zhou Yan reached out to gently stroke the back of the girl's head. "Mom and Dad might lie to you, but your Brother Zhou Yan won't."

Luo Ke held tightly onto Zhou Yan and refused to let go. Upon hearing his words, she abruptly lifted her head: "Then tell me, what's the deal with these vines and this gun?"

With that, she pointed to the wriggling vine snake on the floor.

Upon being pointed at, the vine snake even lifted its upper body and swayed, as if responding to her command.

Then, keeping her left arm tightly wrapped around Zhou Yan, she raised her right hand, showcasing the gun modified by the Endless Desire to Shoot and the skeletal armor encasing her right hand to Zhou Yan.

"Brother Zhou Yan, who on earth are you?"

Her large eyes stared intently at Zhou Yan's expression, trying to catch him in a lie.

Zhou Yan met the gaze of the young girl in his arms for several seconds, then suddenly smiled faintly: "I am Zhou Yan."

Luo Ke silently looked at him, her eyes welling up with moisture: "You... you're still lying to me..."

Zhou Yan gently stroked the girl's head instead: "My real name is indeed Zhou Yan, but I'm not an amnesiac. I am an otherworldly traveler, Zhou Yan."

"An otherworldly traveler?" Luo Ke was dumbfounded. "Are you sure you're not joking with me?"

The culture of this world was highly developed, and of course, there were plenty of fantasy works.

Luo Ke naturally knew what an otherworldly traveler meant.

Though when she had been letting her imagination run wild earlier, she had actually entertained the absurd conclusion that "Zhou Yan was a being from another world."

Yet even she knew that was purely her own whimsical fancy.

In truth, even guessing that Zhou Yan was the reigning Emperor Yinglong's biological son would have been far more plausible than this "otherworldly traveler" identity he confessed to.

With a bewildered expression, Luo Ke said, "Brother Zhou Yan, do you have some unspeakable secret? I... I won't press you, just stop pulling my leg."

To think she wouldn't believe the actual truth.

Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head: "Luo Ke, you can think of me as an alien. Both this vine snake and this gun are alien technology."

"Oh, so you're an alien!" Luo Ke nodded with a sudden look of realization.

Then she abruptly reached out and pinched Zhou Yan's waist: "You big liar!"

Seeing Luo Ke's relentless behavior, Zhou Yan said helplessly, "You don't believe me when I say I'm an otherworldly traveler, and you don't believe me when I say I'm an alien. Then what identity do you want me to have? Emperor Yinglong's illegitimate son? Hounded into exile by treacherous officials, hiding my identity while waiting for the chance to inherit the throne?"

Hearing Zhou Yan's exasperated remarks, Luo Ke's eyes lit up: "I like this one! This sounds reliable!"

Zhou Yan laughed in exasperation, reaching out to give the silly girl's seat a fierce slap from behind.

"Eep!" Taking a hit to her bottom, Luo Ke jumped up in fright.

Then, blushing fiercely, she glared at Zhou Yan and pinched his waist hard:

"You hooligan! Zhou Yan is a big pervert!"

"Hmph hmph hmph..." Zhou Yan let her pinch away. By now, his physical fortitude far exceeded human limits, and Luo Ke's strength felt no different from a tickle.

After pinching for a while, Luo Ke hugged him again, burying her face in his chest, and whispered softly, "Brother Zhou Yan, I thought I was a goner just now. I even prepared my last words."

Zhou Yan gently stroked her little head: "It's all right now."

A few seconds later, Luo Ke began to feel a bit shy about holding each other like this, growing entirely self-conscious.

Zhou Yan gently lifted Luo Ke up. Amidst her startled gasp, he walked out the door to the Yinglong Steed, and directly leaped onto the horse's back holding her in his arms.

"Whohoo!" Luo Ke cheered, excitedly reaching out to touch the reins: "I am a Divine Machine female knight!"

Wrapping his arms around her, Zhou Yan laughed: "Let's go, come with me and see just who has the unmitigated gall to raid the Lihuo Pavilion."

Hearing Zhou Yan's words, Luo Ke's face lit up with joy before she lowered her head again: "Zhou Yan, I'm just an ordinary person. If a real fight breaks out, I'll definitely hold you back..."

Zhou Yan chuckled lightly: "Generally speaking, yes. However, A-Guang, the creator of this Divine Machine, is truly a genius, and this machine is his masterpiece of showing off, so..."

With that, he snapped his fingers lightly.

The next second, a radiance burst forth from the Yinglong Steed.

Amidst the light, massive amounts of metal armor plates instantly surged upward from the horse's flanks and belly.

Then, they enveloped Zhou Yan and the Luo Ke in his arms respectively, transforming into two sets of black battle armor.

Luo Ke: ?

She looked down in utter bewilderment at the armor on her body and snapped her head around: "Brother Zhou Yan, what... what is going on?!"

Zhou Yan tapped her shoulder, producing a metallic chime: "As you can see, the Yinglong Steed is large enough—large enough that A-Guang had plenty of space to store two sets of armor inside."

"And another thing..." Zhou Yan patted the horse's head with a smile. The next moment, a piece of armor unfolded, ejecting a weapon entirely different from his black spear-sword.

Zhou Yan pulled it upward, displaying it before Luo Ke.

This was a rifle, also entirely black in color, but with intricate and classical silver patterns etched across its surface.

Its overall shape resembled a sci-fi magic-modified version of a classical single-shot rifle from Earth, with a sharp bayonet extending forward beneath the muzzle.

Looking down at the bewildered girl who accepted the rifle, he couldn't help but smile: "Now, Xiao Ke can fight side by side with me."

Indeed, the interior of the Yinglong Steed not only stored two sets of armor but also housed both a ranged and a close-quarters weapon.

With its massive size and abundant internal space, it was just that extravagant.

Zhou Yan guessed that A-Guang's original intention was to allow a Mecha Martial Artist to promptly switch to backup armor to ensure combat effectiveness if one set of armor was accidentally destroyed.
However, the creator most likely never anticipated that there would be a user with such wildly imaginative ideas like Zhou Yan, who would repurpose his design in a far flashier way.

Double-riding on a single steed!

As for the mental energy consumption of Luo Ke's armor, it naturally fell upon Zhou Yan to bear.

However, since Zhou Yan's mental strength was astonishingly vast, he could easily sustain even the burden of extra mental consumption.

Furthermore...

Zhou Yan's pupils trembled slightly. Through this unconventional maneuver, he discovered that the extra mental pressure he needed to shoulder was not nearly as heavy as he had imagined.

Following that, a possibility occurred to him.

He couldn't help but ask the girl in his arms: "Xiao Ke, have you ever taken a mental strength test?"

Luo Ke had already sorted out the situation and was brimming with excitement. Hearing Zhou Yan's question, she simply toyed with the rifle in her hands and replied:
"No, I don't practice martial arts. Why would I take that test?"

Zhou Yan set aside his urge to ask further, but rational speculations began to form in his mind.

The Divine Machine's demand for mental energy was a strict necessity. If his consumption was less than he had imagined, then someone else must have been absorbing that surplus portion of energy.

In other words, "Divine Machine Genius Luo Ke," whom he had previously assumed to be merely smarter than ordinary people, actually possessed mental strength surpassing that of a normal person—perhaps even high enough to tolerate a Divine Machine.

She might very well be a true "Mental Anomalous"!

Making a mental note of this, Zhou Yan decided to have Luo Ke take a mental strength test once this incident concluded.

Looking down, Zhou Yan smiled: "Xiao Ke, if a fight breaks out later, use this rifle to aim and harass the enemy. But fire with caution—the bullets it shoots are energy projectiles, which consume the armor's energy as well as my mental power, understand?"

"Mm!" Luo Ke nodded excitedly. "I know my limits; I definitely won't hit anything, so I'll just aim at the enemy without firing, and scare them to death!"

"Not quite, though." Zhou Yan shook his head lightly, a thought flickering through his mind.

Immediately afterward, a mass of black, amorphous sludge slithered out from the small bag Luo Ke still wore on her back. It then enveloped the Longma rifle held in Luo Ke's hands, transforming it into a more menacing black spear covered in blood-red patterns.