World's First Traitor System (403)

Chapter 403 - Bixi

Fan Li studied the drawing of the giant mechanical beast, which had been brought to him. It was a rendering of every detail, sketched by scouts of the garrison army who had risked their lives to get close enough to observe it. But the more he looked, the stranger he found it.

A mechanical beast? It was a… gigantic tortoise?

No, that wasn’t right.

According to the intelligence reports, the tortoise in the drawing should have been as big as a mountain, practically a demonic or divine tortoise.

But what struck Fan Li was the object it carried on its back, a square, black, wordless stone tablet. If the drawing was accurate, the stone tablet was also as big as a mountain!

A mountain carrying a mountain?

Fan Li could barely imagine what kind of bizarre and awe-inspiring sight it would be.

A tortoise carrying a stone tablet?

Before his transmigration, Fan Li had often seen similar sculptures at various tourist spots.

Perhaps it shouldn't be called a tortoise.

Fan Li dimly remembered it being some kind of mythical beast from ancient legends.

But what was it?

“Master, it’s a Bixi,” Wu Gang suddenly said from beside him.

Bixi?

Fan Li immediately recalled information about the Bixi from the back corners of his memory!

“The Bixi, also known as Baxia, Guifu, or Dragon Tortoise…”

“It is said to be the sixth son of the dragon, Bixi being the sixth son.”

“It has the appearance of a tortoise and is skilled at carrying heavy objects, as well as creating wind and waves.”

Fan Li was stunned. He wasn't stunned by the mechanical beast's resemblance to the dragon son Bixi, but by the fact that he, with his half-baked knowledge of traditional culture, had been able to recognize it.

While the original owner’s memories, claiming a vast knowledge, contained no information about the Bixi.

It seemed as if no book in the world mentioned the Bixi?

“Wu Gang, how do you know about the Bixi?” Fan Li asked urgently.

She had once followed the Chu Overlord in his campaigns, but that was during the late Qin period, after Emperor Qin Shi Huang had already burned the books.

Wu Gang responded matter-of-factly, “When I cultivated to become a dragon, I just knew.”

So that was it?

Fan Li listened, feeling slightly disappointed. Looking at the drawing in his hand, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. While he wasn't skilled in the mechanical arts, he had sought guidance from Wang Ban.

The shape of a mechanical beast was never random; it always had a deep meaning. And the more unique and rare a mechanical beast, the more its form would express its attributes.

Compared to the previous ten thousand mechanical beasts, the Bixi before him was undoubtedly unique!

“Wu Gang, take me there!”

…

Great Chu, the Wujiang River.

After flattening six cities, the Bixi had reached a bank in the middle of the Wujiang River.

Everything was as Fan Li had predicted, the worst possible outcome.

The success of the Peng City defense had caused Shi Jingtang’s second wave to bypass Peng City, and instead rampage across other cities of Great Chu.

Fortunately, the Bixi moved slowly.

Whenever it was about to reach a city, the local government, in cooperation with the Fan Trading Company, had already evacuated its people.

Unfortunately, the Bixi was truly powerful and terrifying. It only needed half a day to reduce an entire city, even an empty one, to rubble.

Wu Gang transformed into a huge black dragon, soaring through the clouds.

Fan Li sat on the dragon’s head, looking down at the Bixi on the banks of the Wujiang River.

“Master, I can sense that it truly is a Bixi,” Wu Gang suddenly said.

Fan Li was focused on the mechanical beast and didn’t notice anything unusual in Wu Gang's words.

The Bixi seemed to be resting?

Fan Li was surprised. Wasn't this an artificial construct? Did it need rest?
But he could clearly see that the Bixi was lying on the riverbank, with an almost comfortable look on its face.

The Bixi was simply too large, it took up the entire riverbank, and even that wasn't enough.

Its huge body had flattened a vast area of forest and grass, as if a mountain had suddenly appeared on the bank of the Wujiang River!

“Perhaps it’s low on power, recharging?” Fan Li thought, thinking of electric cars. “Everything has its flaws, range is a weakness for electric cars. It seems, range is also a weakness for mechanical beasts.”

Wu Gang didn't get too close, to avoid detection by the seemingly dormant Bixi.

Even so, with Fan Li’s Nascent Soul vision, he could clearly see every detail of the Bixi’s form.

The mechanical construct perfectly mirrored the shape of the mythical beast, only it lacked flesh, skin, blood, and bones.

“It’s still a child," Wu Gang suddenly said.

A child?

Fan Li almost laughed, but sensing the seriousness in Wu Gang’s tone, he couldn’t.

“That thing is like a mountain, what child is that big?”

Hearing Fan Li’s question, Wu Gang fell silent.

A brief silence.

Suddenly!

The Bixi below abruptly raised its head, looking straight towards the sky, towards Fan Li and Wu Gang!

“Not good!”

“We’ve been discovered!”

Fan Li was shocked. But at the same time, another thought popped into his mind: a Bixi this big and cumbersome, surely it couldn't fly?

According to all the information he had gathered, the Bixi had destroyed six cities by slowly crawling to them.

And the term “slowly” was only relative.

Each step the Bixi took covered an enormous distance.

“ROAR!!!!!!!!”

The Bixi roared, its sound somewhat similar to a dragon’s roar.

Fan Li had hoped that Wu Gang would respond with a genuine dragon’s roar, but Wu Gang remained silent.

Her silence led to them losing the initiative.

The Bixi attacked!

The square, black stone tablet on its back suddenly detached and flew towards him with an unimaginable speed.

The force was as if a mountain had been thrown into the sky.

“Wu Gang, be careful!” Fan Li shouted.

“Ah?!”

Wu Gang finally snapped out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes wide and saw the black stone tablet heading towards them.

To Fan Li's surprise, Wu Gang didn't dodge, instead, she flew straight into it.

"Master, please retreat."

Fan Li was sitting on the dragon’s head. Hearing that, he immediately turned and ran down Wu Gang’s long body.

BOOM!

A deafening crash shook the heavens!

Fan Li felt like his eardrums would burst. He turned to look and saw that Wu Gang was unharmed, and that the black stone tablet was perfectly intact, merely dropping back down in the direction it came from.

“ROAR!!!!”

The Bixi roared again.

The black stone tablet slowed down as it reached the Bixi, before landing softly and perfectly on its back.

Seeing how smoothly it had landed, Fan Li wondered if Wu Gang had held back, and not attacked with her full power.

“Wu Gang, what is the Bixi’s strength?”

“First-rank Great Vehicle,” Wu Gang slowly said, “That’s just its current cultivation. Its combat power is much higher, it is, after all… of the dragon lineage.”

Fan Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

That had been intense. Yet Wu Gang kept calling it “a child,” as if Fan Li was urging her to fight with a kid.

Below.

The Bixi looked up at Wu Gang, its previously hostile gaze mixed with confusion and curiosity.