The Wheel of Chronos

Sharon once watched a Japanese animation film called "Howl's Moving Castle" before the Great War. At that time, the young Sharon admired the rich imagination of people in the Great Peace era. .If there is really a mobile mechanical castle in this world, it would be such a miraculous thing.It's a pity that in the world that Sharon knows, perhaps only the aircraft carrier above the sea can barely be regarded as a huge movable mechanical thing, but it is not a castle, and it is not a place suitable for long-term living.

But today, she is in the continent of Lemuria, and she finally understands that there are moving mechanical castles in this world, and this is not just a moving castle, but a whole moving mechanical continent.That gigantic, suffocating majesty, the metallic, overgrown aggregate constructed from countless mechanical parts, simply brought her the horror of facing an abyss.

Coming out of the escape passage, what they saw in front of them were countless meshing gears and mechanical arms. They were connected together in a way that was too complicated to understand, pushing each other, interacting with each other, supporting and operating this huge floating together. mainland.And this is just a mechanical operation part in the corner of the continent of 60 square kilometers, just like a certain working cell of the human body.But this cell brought Xue Lun and Tian Yang an unparalleled shock.In this huge space, the top can hardly be seen upwards, and it is tens of meters deep downwards. A large number of mechanical gears mesh with each other, forming an endless, tall and towering mechanical mountain range.This mechanical device is like a prehistoric monster, only a small part can be seen, and most of it is still extending into a deeper and farther space. It is unknown where it will extend, as if it is endless.

"Sharon, have you heard the term steampunk?"

"Well, I heard."

"I didn't expect that the internal structure of the continent of Lemuria would be so retro. It seems to have returned to the history book said that at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, human beings still needed to burn coal and steam as power. "Sharon said.

"But this continent is not driven by steam. These seemingly steam-machine structures are actually not what we think. Since the Lemuria continent can master technologies that are far beyond the reach of humans, then these machines have A function far beyond human comprehension." Sharon said.

"Yeah, I almost forgot that this continent has wandered in the universe for tens of thousands of years. If the earth's space cracks hadn't been opened, they might have wandered forever." Tianyang said.

Although Sharon took a glance at the technology of the Lemuria continent, in fact, judging from the situation on the Lemuria continent she has come into contact with so far, the technology of Lemuria may be far from what they originally estimated. so developed.Their technology tree is very strange, and their application of materials and energy may be far superior to that of humans, which is why Lemuria's airships are tougher and faster than humans.However, the level of mechanical linkage and mechanical engineering is relatively backward, and may even stay at the level of human beings around World War II.As for the highly developed computer network and information engineering of human beings, the Lemurians may not have developed them at all, because their own brain development is higher than that of humans, and the use of mental power is far beyond that of humans. With external assistance, the reliance on the computer was not great at the beginning.

Xue Lun took a deep breath, calmed down after the huge shock, straightened her thoughts, and said, "Tianyang, we have to find a way to go up, we should be at the bottom of the Lemuria continent now, if we want to find the To open the central control room of the parking garage, you must go up, to the most core place."

"But where is the core? We must have a goal." Tianyang said.

Xue Renren rationalized his thinking, and said: "If my guess is correct, the mechanical engineering capabilities of the Lemuria continent are relatively weak. Then, we will use the mechanical theory of the steam engine era to apply it. Such a huge mechanical continent, To make it float, how will the transmission method adopted by Lemuria be extended? Where will the end of the core central control be?"

Tianyang was stunned, she was not a student majoring in mechanics, and although she often maintained the Goddess of War by herself, she was no stranger to mechanics, but she hadn't risen to the level of theory.She couldn't answer Sharon's question, so she could only turn around and say:

"If it's really that backward, I feel that there should be more than one central control terminal. Otherwise, it would be too difficult to use only one central control terminal to control such a large continent."

"What I said is, let's go up first, and we'll talk when we get to the top." Xue Lun took the lead, followed by Tian Yang.

The huge cavity containing the mechanical mountains is like an endless cave. Amid the deafening sound of mechanical transmission, Xue Lun and Tianyang walked through the layer after layer of return passages on the edge of the cave.The switchback passage was built along the front wall, and the material looked like stainless steel, but it wasn't actually. Sharon tried to fire a shot, and it looked much harder than stainless steel.Since the upward stairs are at the other end of the passage, Xue Lun and Tian Yang had to run back and forth through the entire passage to climb up. The length of the entire passage is about 400 meters long, connecting all the entrances and exits on the wall , these entrances and exits should all be escape openings leading to the shutdown compartment.

Although the two are very strong and supported by a powered exoskeleton, they finally feel exhausted in this endless cycle of running, climbing, turning back, running, climbing, and turning back again.About two hours passed, and Xue Lun stopped panting, held on to the handrail of the passage, and looked down. Now they can hardly observe the position before they started climbing, and the bottom is all endless Mechanical gears are submerged at the end of sight.Sharon didn't count how many floors they had climbed, but she looked at the altimeter, at least they should have climbed a height of 2000 meters. It can be said that they climbed a high mountain in a rather roundabout way.However, the top is still extending as if there is no end, and people can't help but feel a wave of despair.

"Could it be... don't these people have an elevator? Do Lemurians love to exercise so much?" Tianyang asked out of breath from behind.She was already sweating profusely at this moment, and the ambient temperature here was not low, at 22°.

"I think it's because we haven't reached the place where the elevator will be installed. It's too remote. It's an emergency passage for diverting people when escaping. Installing the elevator will be crowded and cause accidents." Sharon said, "But refer to the Three Years War. During the period, the military measured the thickness of the Lemuria continent. The overall thickness of the floating continent of Lemuria averaged about 2500 meters, and the average altitude above the surface level was about 1500 meters. The thickness of the water entering the water is less than 1000 meters, so we should not be far from the ground.”

Sharon's estimation was correct, and soon they discovered that this seemingly endless passage had a different exit.It was an exit with a security door, which was now closed, apparently to prevent entry by ordinary personnel.Sharon carefully studied the opening method of this door, and found that this door was not a door that could be opened from this end, so they decided to blast it.

"Sharon, are you sure this door can be blown open? This material may not be able to be blown open by the explosive bombs we carry."

"But we can only do this." Xue Lun's words hit the point, and Tianyang had no choice.They installed the blasting bombs in the structurally weak part of the door, and then stepped back to detonate.The sound of the explosion was not strong, but in fact the impact was quite strong. Xue Lun and Tianyang fanned the green smoke and took a closer look. Fortunately, they blew the door open. Unfortunately, there was only a small gap.

"Okay, Tianyang, come and help me, let's push the door open."

"you sure?"

"I'm sure." When Sharon said this, she had already gathered all her strength and started to push the door.

Tianyang: "..." In desperation, Tianyang had no choice but to help.They used all their strength and almost squeezed out the last breath of strength deep in their bodies, and finally pushed the door open a gap that one person could slip through.The two passed through the gap and came to an uninhabited passage. After confirming that the passage behind the door was safe, they sat on the ground, unable to move for a while, and could only rest panting.

"Let's eat something." Tianyang took out the food and energy drink and handed them to Xue Lun, who took a few sips of the drink, and then opened a pack of compressed biscuits.

"Sharon, I always have a feeling that this continent of Lemuria is not what we thought." Tianyang said vaguely while eating.

"What do you mean?"

"There may not be many people left on this continent. During the three-year war, all the Lemurian ships we encountered were unmanned, and we had almost no contact with the Lemurians. Only recently, I just saw the appearance of the Lemurian with my own eyes, and that is a spy who has been sneaking into our interior for a long time."

"Didn't the government popularize the appearance and characteristics of the Lemurians to the public?" Sharon remembers that when she was very young, every school launched a wartime course, and the military specialized in Send someone to the school to explain the characteristics of the Lemurians to the students. There is also a very classic 3D map that draws all the appearances of Lemurian men and women. This picture has appeared in various schools The screen board in the classroom still appears as a picture in the official online entry.The person in that image was exactly the same as the female spy they had seen in appearance.

"That's right, but Sharon, you don't know the origin of that picture. That picture was sent by the empire when it first came into contact with the Lemurians. In fact, we have never come into contact with the real, living Lemurians." Tianyang said.

Sharon was taken aback: "Could it be that the female spy is the first Lemurian that we discovered to appear on the mother continent?"

"I'm afraid it is. Therefore, the empire dare not speak out when dealing with espionage incidents, and it is even more cautious. The appearance of the Lemurians on the mother continent is of great significance. This is a very sensitive matter. My mother sent me to do it myself. The most important reason lies in this."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier..." Sharon frowned.

"You didn't ask, and I don't think it's necessary to say anything." Tianyang swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, "But now I realize that I need to take this situation seriously."

"If there are really very few people left on this continent, then...then the Lemurian continent suddenly gave up on the offensive during the three-year war, and there is another explanation. They are indeed powerless, Because of the sparse population, the long-term war made them unsustainable, even if they are superior to us in science and technology, it is not a qualitative gap, so they had to give up their offensive and retreat to the sea.”

"Then have they mastered the ability about time?" Tian Yang asked.

"This possibility is still not ruled out. Lemuria retreated at that time, there should be very complicated and multi-layered reasons." Sharon said.

"No matter what, this continent probably hides a lot of secrets that we don't know about. We have to be more careful in the future. It is estimated that there will be many unexpected situations." Tian Yang said as if predicting something.

After the two finished eating, they rested for a while to recover their physical strength and refresh their spirits before getting up to continue exploring.The aisle they were in was dark, and the right-hand side facing the door they came in was a sealed wall, and they couldn't walk through it, so they could only go to the left.Sharon looked at the compass needle to confirm the direction, but the compass needle failed on the continent of Lemuria, and now they could not tell the difference between east, west and north.

Tianyang and Xuelun walked cautiously along the dark corridor, and then strange things happened.The walls on both sides, including the ceiling above the head and the ground under the feet, suddenly seemed to be activated and lit up with light.The four walls were still dark, but two thin lines lit up, one red and one golden, entangled with each other, flowing forward along the four walls in the direction they were heading.The four walls of this channel are like four whole screens, playing a picture with flowing lines.

"What's going on?" Tianyang asked.When she said this, the golden light vibrated up and down a few times, and then began to tighten.

The red light also tensed up for a moment following the movement of the golden light, but it was not as straight as the golden light, and soon relaxed, and then returned to the spiraling state that appeared at the beginning, compared to The chaotic progress of the golden light appeared more regular.Sharon didn't speak, watching the change of the two lights.

"Tianyang, relax, this should show our mental state. The red thread is me, and the golden thread is you." Xue Lun's voice sounded steadily, Tianyang's heart settled down a lot, and the golden thread also relaxed.

"Why does it show our mental state?" Tianyang asked strangely.

As soon as she finished speaking, Xue Lun suddenly stopped and grabbed her, and the red and gold threads also stopped extending forward as they stopped.At this time, Tianyang discovered that there was a door that seemed to exist in illusion at the front end of the red line and the gold line that were about to touch. The frame of this door was surrounded by strange silver rays of light, but the whole was completely regular and equal. It is a square shape, and it is impossible to judge whether it is an entity or an illusory projection just by observing it with the naked eye.

"It seems that the real test is coming." Sharon said softly.