The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

After teaching Kyle and Roca how to pilot the upgraded Ark No. 1, Shen Ge then attempted to modify the "Eye of the Prophet" on the Ark's main mast.

He needs a pair of "eyes" that can see through this sea corrupted by strange energy and find the human settlements in this world for them.

If there are still humans in this world.

At least for now, neither the Alai family nor the "people" on the giant tortoise corpse island are, strictly speaking, human; they should be considered freaks.

The "prophet's" nautical chart proves that external guidance cannot be fully trusted, and that destiny must be in one's own hands. Therefore, Ark One needs its own "nautical chart."

Shen Ge sat cross-legged at the bow of the ship, his eerie energy slowly extending outwards, like countless fine spider silks, enveloping the enormous "Eye of the Prophet".

He wanted to use the strange power of the "Progenitor's Mystery" and the sea chart that devoured the Prophet to completely transform the "Eye of the Prophet".

This process lasted for a day and a night.

When Shen Ge suddenly opened his eyes the next morning, his strange eye was able to connect with the "Prophet's Eye" on the main mast, allowing him to directly observe a more distant area through the "Prophet's Eye".

At the same time, the "Eye of the Prophet" was like a new "chart". When Shen Ge's strange power was injected, the world in front of him changed instantly!
A huge, vast, and three-dimensional nautical chart slowly unfolded in his field of vision, far superior to the two-dimensional bone chart of the "Prophet"!
On this new sea chart that has devoured the prophet, several areas covered by phantom energy, emitting extremely dangerous signals, are clearly marked.

Shen Ge believed that behind each of those red dots lurked a terrifying being no less powerful than, or even more powerful than, the "Deep Sea Monster King."

In addition to these "death zones," four singularities, each radiating a different light and representing a "high concentration of energy or matter," were also clearly marked on the "new nautical chart."

This includes the previously marked "lighthouses" and other areas, but using the new nautical charts eliminates the worry of being locked onto by the fleet.

Shen Ge presented the four possible directions to Alai and the others without reservation. Although they always prioritized his orders, he didn't have much of an opinion on the choice of course. Since he couldn't find the "humans" or the way back, he would eventually have to search for them one by one.

Finally, after discussion, the group chose an area where the "light" was dimmest, representing the weakest aura of supernatural energy.

After sailing for about ten days, as they got closer to the direction indicated by the "new nautical chart," the scenery at sea became increasingly... bizarre.

They began to see things on the sea that shouldn't be there.

Initially, there were some rusty, huge pieces of reinforced concrete, with traces of urban construction still remaining on them.

Next came the wreckage of some steel bridges that had been cut in half.

On the fifth day of their voyage, they even saw the upper part of a skyscraper that was hundreds of meters tall and tilted into the seabed!

The building's glass curtain wall is already shattered and covered with countless barnacles and eerie seaweed, but the steel skeleton full of modern civilization still stands stubbornly in the wind and waves, like a silent tombstone proclaiming the complete death of the old era.

The air began to fill with a smell of engine oil, rust, and soot, a scent that evoked the industrial age.

The sky was gradually shrouded in a layer of gray, dark clouds.

As they rounded the massive, mountain-like wreckage of an aircraft carrier that had long since broken in two, they finally arrived at the area indicated by the new nautical chart.

The scene before them left everyone except Shen Ge completely speechless.

It was a steel city... whose magnificence and absurdity defied description!
Countless rusty, enormous offshore drilling platforms are haphazardly connected by countless steel cables and twisted bridges, forming the "foundation" of this city.

On top of these platforms are "building complexes" built haphazardly, layer upon layer, like honeycomb and anthills, using even more abandoned warship wreckage, containers, and even airplane wings.

Towering crane booms, massive, long-dormant turbines, and countless thick chimneys billowing thick black smoke—the entire city resembled a deformed steel behemoth, proliferating grotesquely on the post-apocalyptic wasteland.

At the top of the city's tallest drilling platforms, massive searchlights swept back and forth across the surrounding sea. Figures, their bodies gleaming with mechanical light and steam billowing from their backs, patrolled the steel walkways.

This place really does seem to be... a human settlement!
The moment "Ark One" appeared within the range of their searchlights.

"Woo——"

"Woo!"

The piercing and alarming steam alarm instantly resounded throughout the entire steel city!
Immediately afterwards, dozens of patrol boats, incredibly fast, equipped with huge rams at the bow and steam-powered mechanical arms extending from the sides of the hull, swarmed out from the huge sluice gates below the city and aggressively surrounded the "Ark No. 1".

"Alarm! Alarm! Unknown high-energy biological reaction detected approaching! Repeat! Unknown high-energy biological reaction detected approaching!"

"Target size...huge! Energy level...undetermined! Appearance...highly organic! Classified as...a threat unit of level A or above, 'Leviathan'!"

"Attention all 'Gear Guard' members! Immediately enter Level 1 combat status! 'Purifier' squad, prepare to activate 'Steam Core' overload mode!"

"Target... burn all flesh and blood... to ashes!!!"

A piercing alarm sounded from a steam loudspeaker, carrying far and wide.

Alai and the others were instantly on edge. They never expected that upon their arrival, they would be greeted not by the friendliness of fellow humans, but by a hostile and murderous fighting stance.

Kyle and Roca instinctively gripped their weapons, and the monstrous heart that had just merged with "Ark One" began to pound violently.

Only Shen Ge's expression remained calm.

He scanned the approaching patrol boats and their so-called "gear guards" with keen interest using his cunning eyes.

Those guards could hardly be called purely human. Almost every one of them had undergone some degree of mechanization to modify their bodies.

Some replaced their arms with mechanical arms capable of firing high-pressure steam, others added steam wings to their backs for short-distance gliding, and still others even replaced their lower bodies with a spider-like, agile, multi-legged mechanical chassis. Almost no trace of any strange creature could be seen on their bodies.

All their power comes from those gleaming, roaring steam machines, imbued with a violent aesthetic...

But this "scene" seemed familiar to Shen Ge, reminding him of the new strange and eerie creatures that merged with "machinery" in the Australian horror story.

Clearly, these might be the "descendants" of those new fusion monsters. But what's strange is that the eyes of these robots are filled with... disgust and contempt for all "flesh and blood".

"Flesh and blood are weak! Only steel is eternal!" A cyborg, who seemed to be a squad leader and whose face was half replaced with a brass mask, stood on the front patrol boat and roared fervently in his modified metallic voice.

"Purify all heresy! Praise be to Omnissiah!"

Omnisiah?
Upon hearing this familiar yet unfamiliar word, for the first time, a genuine...strange look appeared in Shen Ge's eyes.

He roughly knew where he had arrived.

"..." So, am I still on Earth?

Seeing that the patrol boats were about to enter the attack range, Shen Ge did not immediately reveal his strength. He knew that against a group of fanatical believers who had fallen into some kind of extreme faith, mere military intimidation would only provoke a more frenzied counterattack.

Shen Ge felt a sense of absurdity towards the group of fanatical "Gear Guards" who were shouting slogans of purification.

In the Australian horror story, the "fusion" monsters who haphazardly stitch flesh and machinery together are madmen who have lost their way in the pursuit of power.

The group of people in front of us, however, seemed to have gone to the other extreme—they loathed flesh and blood, revered machines as the ultimate authority, and became fanatical believers.

In essence, there is no difference.

As the encirclement formed by the patrol boats drew ever closer, and the muzzles of the high-pressure steam cannons began to flash a dangerous red light, Alai and the others' hearts were in their throats.

He simply unleashed his demonic domain, his demonic energy seeping into the "Ark Number One" beneath his feet. What he needed to do was defeat them with their "faith."

You want to see mechanical ascension?
Then I'll show you what a true "perfect combination of machine and flesh" really is.

"Alai, you, Ellie, and Moya go to the safe house and wait. No matter what happens, don't panic, just hold on tight."

The seventh-tier Ghost King's heart, which had always maintained a stable fusion with the hull, entered "overload" mode for the first time under the stimulation of Shen Ge's ghost energy!
The immense bio-energy, like a flood bursting its banks, instantly surged into every inch of the "skeleton" of "Ark No. 1," including those alloy materials that originated from the research institute and contained the crystallization of the highest technology of the old era!
At this moment, the "ancient technology" fully activated by bioenergy and the berserk power of the seventh-order Ghost King underwent a perfect chemical reaction!

"Click! Click click click—!!!"

A series of dense metallic crackling sounds suddenly erupted from deep within the hull of "Ark One," plunging all the members of the "Gear Guard" into a state of utter horror.

"Ark One," this ship, which was originally just a grotesque and hideous "stitched ship" of flesh, bones, and metal, has begun its... "transformation"!
Of course, strictly speaking, it is not a "transformation". It is just that Shen Ge uses his strange power and strange domain to control the heart of the Deep Sea Ghost King and manipulate the flesh and blood of the ship to "revive" them and "give birth" to the new monster, the No. 1 Ark, in a new way.

The "Ironback Crab" armor plates that Shen Ge had added to the sides of the ship, which were originally just for defensive armor, unfolded layer upon layer like inverted dragon scales.

Dozens of mechanical limbs, made of alloy materials and strange tendons, shimmering with dark red energy, suddenly extended from beneath the armor plates, drawing deadly arcs in the air like sharp scythes!
The enormous single eye installed by Shen Ge suddenly opened, and inside it was no longer a complex sea chart, but a rapidly spinning vortex composed of countless scarlet energies!

A thick, solidified beam of eerie energy shot straight into the sky, tearing a huge gash through the thick, dark clouds!

The flesh and blood on the surface of the monstrous heart that had merged with the hull receded like a tide, revealing the biomass engine structure underneath, which was powered by energy and shimmered with a metallic luster!

Dozens of enormous, octopus-tentacle-like mechanical arms extend from the bottom of the ship, but the surface of these mechanical arms is covered with a thin layer of active tissue, like biological muscle.

In just a few dozen seconds, the entire "Ark No. 1" transformed from a "ship" into a... half-mechanical, half-biological creature, full of science fiction and violent aesthetics, as if it had sailed out of the most insane nightmare... an "armed fortress"!
This astonishing scene caused all the menacing members of the "Gear Guard" to freeze in place, abruptly stopping their patrol boats.

The fervor and disdain that had filled their faces were instantly replaced by an extreme, incomprehensible shock and bewilderment.

what is this?
What is this?
The behemoth before them possessed a more ferocious metal structure than their most prized "Purifier" warship, yet it flowed with life energy even more vigorous than the highest-ranking bizarre creature.

The cold machinery and warm flesh and blood did not clash at all on it; on the contrary, they presented a kind of...perfect harmony that they could not conceive of even with their best imagination!
If their mechanical modifications were merely clumsy patching of their decaying flesh and blood, then...

The shape of the ship before them was showing them... a perfectly formed, divinely created body!

"Purify...all heretics..."

The squad leader, whose face was half covered by a brass mask, subconsciously muttered his slogans repeatedly. But his voice was filled with trembling and confusion.

Is the being before them the "flesh and blood heretic" they should purify, or the "mechanical god" they have been searching for all their lives, showing them the ultimate form?
Their faith was shaken at this moment by Shen Ge in the most direct and brutal way!

"Flesh and blood... are not weak, nor is steel eternal."

"To set the two against each other is a common and foolish view."

“True ‘ascension’ is the merging of the genetic sequence with the gears of a machine. It is the ignition of the soul’s flame in a cold engine.”

“What you see is both ‘form’ and ‘truth’.”

"I am 'Omnesia'... the embodiment of my will as I walk in the world!"

whispering sound.

When I was playing with mechanical ascension, you were just a lump of white matter! (End of Chapter)