Miss Witch doesn't want to be a diva!.

Chapter 630: Remaining Mechanical Echo

The grassland was very cold at night. The three of them walked quickly under the starry sky. Sura was in the front with an oil lamp hanging around his waist and necessary tools on his back. Tilan was also carrying an iron box containing swords. Guy was behind, walking and keeping an eye on his surroundings.

Because they were worried, Sura and Guy didn't talk much along the way. They just hurried on their way in the night, occasionally telling Tilan some important landmarks along the way so that she could remember the direction.

"Those two trees next to each other, with the line connecting them pointing south at a right angle, are where our settlement is. Remember this when you go in and out."

"I remember." Tilan nodded.

Later, they saw a big rock on the road. Sura told Tilan that this was an important landmark. If they walked northeast along the big rock, there would be another settlement.

"There lives a group of leaf-rot species. Their habits are rather primitive, but the elders in the settlement are reasonable. If you have any questions, you can try to talk to their elders." Sura told Tilan.

The three of them walked for another half an hour and were now very close to the place where they needed help.

"Be careful. If you hear any noise, try to lie down first to avoid being hit by bullets." Sura told Tilan.

"If there are fewer machines, we can try to fight back. If there is a large group, then we have to find a way to escape." Tilan also became a little nervous. After all, she had never seen the war machines recorded in history.

Just like that, when Tilan began to spread his perception, a short burst of gunfire sounded in the distance, and then the three of them focused their eyes on the distant night. The faint muzzle flash was seen by Guy and Tilan, while Sura only heard the approximate direction of the sound.

"Over there." Guy said, asking the two to squat slightly, then throwing away the packages they were carrying and going into battle lightly.

This was the first time Tilan saw Guy fight. He saw him use an unknown secret method, his body became extremely light, his footsteps became silent, and then he ran on the grass at a very fast speed.

No wonder he was able to escape from the pursuit of the war machines that year. This speed is indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people. Perhaps this is also the reason why he was able to survive the melee that day.

Following the direction of the gunshots and the flames, Tilan looked intently into the distance, and gradually saw the scene in the distance clearly.

In the night, a sturdy man in a windbreaker held a pistol in his hand and moved around a hill in the wilderness, avoiding being shot at and occasionally firing back with his pistol. He shot sparingly, probably because he didn't have many bullets, and his opponent...

A mechanical mantis with three pairs of legs was leaping in the mountains with two sharp knives in hand. It swooped down in a straight line at an extremely fast speed, but its turning speed was not flexible, which was why it did not hit the man.

A mechanical armadillo firing from a distance, with armor plates overlapping and interlaced on its body and two dark red muzzles on its head, firing from time to time in the dark.

A detection-type mechanical meerkat stood next to the mechanical armadillo, with its body upright and its head open. A dim red light was rotating inside it, constantly scanning and observing the surrounding situation, and transmitting the man's location coordinates to the mechanical armadillo next to it.

For the man in the black windbreaker, the combined long-range attack of the mechanical armadillo and the mechanical meerkat is strong, but not fast. With his skills, he can run and escape after taking one or two shots. But it is different with the mantis. This mantis is not only fast in a straight line, but its sharp double knives are also very dangerous. So he is trapped here, constantly taking advantage of the terrain to try to use up the mechanical armadillo's ammunition before escaping.

"Let me help you!" Guy approached quickly, then shot an arrow at the mechanical meerkat standing in the distance. The arrow hit the fragile observation device, creating a few sparks.

Afterwards, the shooting accuracy of the mechanical armadillo indeed became a little worse, which gave the exhausted man hope and he immediately cheered up.

"Thank you." He turned over and jumped up. When the mantis chased closer, he held the gun with both hands. A blue light appeared at the muzzle. A special, slightly dull gunshot was heard. This time the bullet actually penetrated the armor on the mantis' head.

Amid the sparks, the mantis continued to approach, and the two knives crossed and brushed against the man's body. Although they did not cut him in half, a straight hole was cut in his windbreaker, which was extremely dangerous.

After rolling over to avoid the pursuit, the man jumped up again, temporarily keeping some distance, then raised his gun and aimed intently.

"Bang--" The bullet shot in from the gap that had just been pierced, penetrated the mechanical mantis's head, and shattered into pieces from the back.

After its head was pierced, the mantis's steps and attacks became noticeably messy, as if it were blind, allowing the man in the windbreaker to dodge its attacks several times.

Sura and Tilan started to approach, but when Tilan was about to take off the iron box on his back, he was stopped by Sura.

"I won't need to use it today. Let me do it." As she said that, she raised the rifle in her hand, aimed at the mantis in the distance, began to calm down, and then shot the mantis in the abdomen, and black oil began to flow out of it.

"It won't live long now." Sura breathed a sigh of relief and then shot again, but the hit rate of the next few shots was not very good.

Perhaps knowing that it was about to stop moving, the mechanical mantis's attacks became more frantic.

[ρ Mechanical Council's subordinate autonomous unit - Mantis-5 type, is executing the purge order. It has reached the shutdown critical value at this moment, and the self-destruction program has begun...]
A series of data flowed through its AI core, and a mechanical synthesized sound was heard inside.

With a roar, a fierce fire broke out from inside the mechanical mantis. The ejected scales cut the man in black. Then the fire died down, leaving only burnt debris at the scene.

"What a pity! If it hadn't exploded, the parts inside could be sold for a lot of money." Sura put away the gun.

Tilan stood still, blankly recalling the last mechanical synthesized sound she had just heard.

"That voice just now..."

"Oh, that's what you're talking about. It's just boring whining. The old humans died long ago, and the legacy of the Mechanical Council is nothing but a death struggle." She answered nonchalantly.

"I don't know why some people always miss the past. If we really want to go back to the past, let's all be monkeys in the trees." She shook her head and then ran to Guy.

Another battlefield was also about to end. Without the observation and lock of the mechanical meerkat and the enemy-facing mechanical mantis, the remaining lone mechanical armadillo had very poor melee combat ability and was constantly circled and attacked by the agile Guy. Finally, he pulled out the dagger he carried with him, inserted it into the gap of the mechanical armor, cut off the connecting line, and stopped it from working.

"Phew, although it was a bit thrilling, this time I have gained a good harvest." Looking at the relatively intact mechanical armadillo, Guy seemed particularly proud and satisfied.

The battle was over. The three men packed up their things and walked towards the man in black who was bandaging his wounds. Only then did they see his appearance clearly.

"Younger than I thought." Guy touched his chin, perhaps a little unhappy that the other person was more handsome.

Judging from his appearance, he seemed to be only in his early 20s, with short silver-gray hair and a very fair face. However, his experienced skills and marksmanship made the three people mistakenly believe that he should be an older warrior.

"Thank you." He bandaged his wound and stood up with difficulty.

Wearing a black windbreaker, black leather pants, and a slightly technological pistol on his waist, he looked like a man from a distant civilized world. "My name is Fran, I'm from the Slami Association in the south, and I'm currently traveling around to perform investigation missions." He briefly introduced his background.

"The Slami Association, that's really far away. I heard it's on the other side of the sea."

"Yes, there are many scholars there. The current chief has issued an investigation plan and sent us to various places to collect data." He took out the necklace from his neck, on which hung a precisely cut nameplate with Fran's name and number on it.

"If I die, you can take this nameplate and the investigation report and find anyone from the Slami Association to get a valuable reward."

"But if I'm alive, I can act as your guarantor and buy some things from the Slami Association that are not available on the market, such as precious antibiotics, weapons, protective windbreakers, and even power armor."

"Hey, hey, don't lie to kids with big words. The power armor you mentioned is an extremely precious thing in the Slami Association. Outsiders can't buy it." Sura said that he was not a rookie who had just started out.

"Hehe, it's not impossible, is it?" He smiled and turned his gaze to the other two, especially to Tilan, where he stayed for a long time.

"Who are these two?"

"I'm Guy, a companion of Sura from the same settlement. This is Heshia, our friend." Guy took the initiative to introduce. He was probably afraid that Tilan would say too much and reveal some unnecessary information.

"I see." He nodded, then turned to look at the broken machine lying on the ground.

"I'm injured now and may not be able to travel any further. Can I stay in your settlement for a few days? I know some good intelligence that I can tell you in return."

"That depends on what the information is." Sura bargained.

"It's a relic I discovered. There should be an underground laboratory left over from the past. The reason why I was chased by the war machines is probably because they found traces of me when I came out."

"Such important information, are you willing to exchange it just for a few days of accommodation?" Sura was a little unconvinced.

"Well, the ruins look a bit dilapidated, and it is possible that they have been turned over by someone. After all, so much time has passed." The other party sighed.

"Are you sure you're not lying to me? Are there any other features or important information there?" Sura was very interested in the ruins, but he was also worried that his efforts would be in vain.

"I won't lie to you about this. You should know that members of our Slami Association attach great importance to credibility." The other party explained.

"This..." Sura hesitated.

Obviously this is a very cost-effective deal, but there are only six people in the settlement now, three of whom are unable to fight, namely the moose boss, Marula and Orles. If Fran finds out about this and becomes disloyal, it will be hard to say what kind of evil intentions he may have.

But like he said, the things from the Slami Association are very expensive and their reputation has always been good. After all, they don't need to turn against each other for such a small profit.

"Okay, I agree to let you live in our settlement for a while, but you have to help with the work during these days, because some people in our settlement have gone out to travel far away to trade, and we are short of manpower, so it is impossible for us to take care of you exclusively." Sura explained.

"Uh, work... okay." He answered with some difficulty. It seemed that he really didn't like working.

After that, Sura used local materials to make a simple trailer, put the relatively intact mechanical armadillo on it and towed it back.

The four of them walked and talked along the way. It could be seen that Fran had indeed been to many places and his views were very objective and broad.

"When I came here, I took the association's big ship. Those strange sea beasts along the way didn't do anything to us. But when we were almost at the end, we encountered an extremely terrible storm. The waves overturned the ship directly. After that, my companions and I drifted for several days before we reached the shore." He said with some regret and nostalgia.

"Fortunately, there is also a base of our association's advance team here. After a certain degree of supply, we started to move. However, due to the storm, we lost a lot of manpower. The original team of three people, now there is only me."

"You are really lucky, you are able to survive, this time too." Sura complained.

“Hehe, I think so too.” After saying that, he looked at Tilan with a little curiosity. After all, among the three, this girl was too special. She didn’t look like someone who lived in this chaotic land at all.

"I came from a very far place. I fell from a vehicle with my companions and got lost here." Tilan thought about it and could only explain it this way.

"Where exactly is it?" Fran was obviously very curious about where there was a civilization more advanced than the Association, or one that had reached the same level.

"That's rude, Mr. Faran." Sura interrupted Faran's curiosity.

"Heshia saved my life and is my good friend. I don't allow you to pry into her privacy endlessly like this."

"Okay, okay, after all, everyone has some secrets." Fran didn't ask any more questions.

Just like that, the four of them walked at a leisurely pace and returned to the valley where the settlement was located.

"The terrain here is pretty good. No wonder you decided to settle down here." Outside the valley, Fran took a vague look at the surrounding environment in the night and made such an evaluation.

"Come in, everyone is asleep now. I'll arrange a room for you later. Go and get some rest."

"Yes, yes, yes." Fran teased, then followed a few others into the valley.

Knocking on the locked cave door, Guy woke up Marula who was guarding behind the door and asked her to open the door. Then the four of them walked in, briefly introduced the situation, and then arranged a bedroom for Fran. Fran slept inside and Marula slept outside. If he went out in the middle of the night, he would definitely wake up Marula who was sleeping.

It is true that Marula is definitely no match for Fran, but anyone with normal intelligence would not take the unknown risk of attacking in an unfamiliar environment on the first night, especially since he really needs to recover from his injuries.

Anyone who can survive in this chaotic land is not a simple-minded person.

After settling down, they spent the night in silence, but Tilan went to bed late, still thinking about the last mechanical synthesized sound she heard.

[The ρ Mechanical Council's subordinate autonomous unit, the Mantis-5 type, is executing the purge order. It has reached the shutdown critical value at this moment, and the self-destruction program has begun... Long live human civilization! ]
Perhaps in this world, the real members of the Mechanical Parliament have long since perished, leaving only these war machines that follow set programs, constantly replicate themselves, and still execute orders.

(End of this chapter)