True Apocalypse Game

Seeing the mech’s design in the drawing, Shen Feng nodded slightly. He marveled inwardly at its beast-like form and the beauty of its fluid dynamics.

The giant mechanical Battle Armor had eight legs and several mechanical tentacles. Its overall shape wasn’t that of a simple humanoid mech; instead, it seemed to mimic the form of the Exotic Giant Beasts.

The sheer engineering and technology required for such a massive steel behemoth completely surpassed the level of human technology Shen Feng was familiar with. He had no idea how this world’s human civilization had managed to achieve it.

Actually, fabricating just the metal exterior was feasible. By mobilizing immense industrial power, the combined industrial systems of Hua Country and Eagle Country could probably just barely accomplish it.

The biggest problem was actually its power source.

An aircraft carrier was already in the hundred-thousand-ton class. This giant mechanical Battle Armor, which was a kilometer tall, must have weighed several million, if not tens of millions, of tons.

The power required to move something so enormous was completely beyond the energy output humanity currently possessed.

Even nuclear reactors wouldn’t be enough.

Conventional propellant-based propulsion would be absolutely impossible.

The only way would be a breakthrough in controllable nuclear fusion technology, which had long eluded researchers, and even then, it would only be a slim possibility.

After all, the fusion reactor would have to be installed inside the giant mechanical Battle Armor, which raised the issues of reactor stability and miniaturization.

Solving these problems would require time.

’And I’m sure those Exotic Giant Beasts would never give humanity that kind of time.’

He then asked Old Bill:

"How much do you know about the Holy Armor? Does any still exist in this world?"

’Deifying the technological marvels of the past is a path every lost civilization inevitably takes.’ Shen Feng understood this perfectly well.

Old Bill was taken aback for a moment, then replied:

"Holy Armor... An active Holy Armor only exists in legends and history. However, it’s said that in the far east, there’s still a massive island—so large it could be called a continent—and that the last active Holy Armor is there... As for around here... I’ve only ever seen a Holy Corpse. That is, a dead Holy Armor..."

From Old Bill’s explanation, Shen Feng gradually understood that the massive, mobile mechanical Battle Armors were what the people of this world called the Holy Armor.

The ones that were damaged, leaving behind only wreckage, were known as Holy Corpses.

Some Floating Island Markets were even built upon these Holy Corpses. It was said that such places were still protected by the lingering power of the Holy Corpse and were safe from attacks by large sea monsters.

Furthermore, those particular Floating Island Markets had proper names—the names of the Holy Armor they were built upon.

Ordinary Floating Island Markets, by contrast, only had designations.

Shen Feng raised an eyebrow.

’Finding the wreckage of one of these massive mechanical Battle Armors wouldn’t be a bad thing. If any of its equipment is still functional, I might be able to extract some data and find out what happened to this world after the great tsunami erupted. And what, exactly, I’m up against now.’

’This mission is different from the others. The True Apocalypse Game system hasn’t given me any objectives from the start, as if it just plain forgot. I’ll have to figure out a lot of this on my own.’

’Still, I suppose the victory condition is the same as always: eliminate the threats facing this world’s human civilization and reignite the embers of progress.’

’I just don’t know if that means I have to make all the water on this planet recede.’

’If that’s the case, I’ll really have my work cut out for me...’

Seeing that Old Bill couldn’t offer any more useful information, Shen Feng waved his hand, signaling that he could go back to his "treasure hunting" in the floating garbage patch and didn’t need to mind him.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Old Bill bowed to Shen Feng before immediately turning and plunging back into the water. He found a new tire to use as a makeshift raft and, pulling it along, resumed salvaging from the sea.

The sun gradually sank below the horizon. As the stars wheeled into place, the sky darkened into night.

The sky was filled with twinkling stars, and a half-moon hung overhead. Its light kept the sea from being completely dark, making it possible to faintly discern the surroundings.

The school of fish had moved on, and the dolphins and seabirds that had been feeding on them had likewise scattered, disappearing into the distance.

Many of the seabirds simply landed on the floating garbage, some even using the trash to build crude little nests.

The pirates, meanwhile, were completely absorbed in their task, frantically gathering all sorts of useful floating trash by the light of the moon and stars.

They even found a sofa that hadn’t completely fallen apart, hauled it onto the pirate ship, and presented it as an offering to Shen Feng, their benevolent new captain.

When Shen Feng had first killed the old pirate captain and taken his place, the pirates, who knew nothing about him, had been resentful. They simply hadn’t dared to voice their objections.

But when Shen Feng announced that he required no tribute from them, the pirates were suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude and finally accepted their new captain.

Shen Feng lounged on the now-clean sofa, watching the pirates cheerfully hauling their various "treasures" from the water under the moonlight. Listening to the cries of the seabirds and the splashes of fish leaping from the water, he felt a surreal sense that he really had become a pirate captain at the end of the world.

Just then, patches of green fluorescent light suddenly bloomed across the surface of the sea. They looked like stars twinkling beneath the waves, a truly beautiful sight.