Chapter 1718: 574. Old Flywheel and His Hunger Factory – Additional Update for “Pretty Good Huo” Brothers [16/30]_3
“Oh, as long as Flywheel agrees, I have no problem.”
The automaton was gleefully playing with the cool mechanical hunting rifle, and she said:
“You can call me ‘Jasmine.’ Of course, it’s a codename, but I think we’re already friends, so if someone places a bounty on your head later, I’ll try to be gentle with you, handsome vampire.
Go on now, Flywheel is waiting for you.
Oh, an extra reminder, don’t touch any liquid he pours for you. Besides being a great engineer, Flywheel is also an alchemy master.
That guy is a real genius!
It’s a shame he got dumped by his girlfriend and betrayed by his best friend, which made him a little unstable now.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
Murphy smiled, tidied up his clothes, placed the necessary evil in the storage box by the door, and then pushed open the laboratory door. He was puzzled whether he had opened the wrong door into a “junkyard” full of mechanical parts.
In a large corner of the mountain laboratory lay a few strange, limbless steam walkers’ wrecks, while in the opposite corner stood a complex coil device still arcing with electricity.
The bookshelves, meant for books, were filled with all sorts of bizarre engineering items. Amidst a black multi-purpose wrench and a silver automatic screwdriver, inexplicably, lay a roasted lamb shank with bite marks still on it.
The owner of this place, Sulk Flywheel, the wild warlord of Hunger Mountain, was wearing engineering goggles akin to VR glasses, busying himself in front of a half-body girl suspended in midair.
His left hand held a spark-throwing plier, and his right grabbed a cable, constantly muttering to himself like a genius madman in his world, while the half-body girl he had suspended with three chains was stark naked, infusing the scene with a “restricted” aura.
However, to be honest, there wasn’t much to see.
Because the half-body girl hanging there, like Jasmine outside, was a steam automaton.
Her limbs and torso had already been disassembled.
A strange circuit-board-like object had been taken out of her chest and placed aside. Sulk Flywheel inserted a peculiar device, made of five parallel Calculating Pearls, into her heart position, trying to activate this “mechanical heart.”
The scene was extremely horrifying.
But Murphy didn’t interrupt the process. Instead, he was intrigued, holding the Core Bead in his hand to record this spectacle. Using this thing as “development material” and tossing it on the forum would certainly cause a wave of screams.
“Hey, hold this cable for me. I need to fine-tune the current to make Dina’s ‘heart’ operate again. Those damn Twilight believers almost destroyed her last hope.
Luckily, Jasmine arrived in time to pull my poor student back from Hell.”
Sulk Flywheel shouted irritably at Murphy behind him. The Vampire Lord shrugged, stepped up, and held the sparking cable while taking the opportunity to glance at Sulk Flywheel.
This guy was a typical Half Body Mechanic.
Incredibly smart, with an unfortunate Mediterranean hairstyle, but otherwise, there wasn’t much striking about Sulk Flywheel. He seemed like an ordinary middle-aged Half-body Man, yet watching him expertly modify the uncanny steam automaton before them, it was clear this guy was no ordinary person.
After all, the term was something Murphy had only learned a few minutes ago. He could be sure that Little Sheron had never described this seemingly advanced branch of engineering, so it was likely that even Transylvania’s first engineer, Little Sheron, hadn’t heard of it.
This thing certainly belonged to the “restricted” forbidden knowledge in the engineering field.
Building humanoid mechs by hand?
The idea just sounded high-end!
“You just mentioned the Twilight.”
Maintaining the cable-holding posture, Murphy softly said:
“So they are your enemies too? Do you know Twilight is pushing the Black Disaster behind the Wolf People? If you know, why are you still selling weapons to the Wolf People?”
“You ask too many questions. I can only tell you that many things in this world aren’t yours to not do just because you don’t want to.”
Sulk answered casually:
“Even without the few weapons I sold, the Wolf People wouldn’t be gentler when they invade the Continent, and those fools can’t find the hidden locator in the weapons, which at least provides guidance for the assassins’ guild’s purging operations in the war.
Young vampire, you can’t just look at the surface of things.
As for the Twilight…
They’re a big trouble, I admit, but my relationship with them hasn’t soured to the point of a life-and-death struggle like yours, so if you’re trying to persuade me to join you, you can give up.
Old Flywheel lost everything when he was young, and he doesn’t care about what this messed-up world turns into in the future!
As you can see, I’m just an unworthy wild warlord, selling a bit of contraband to make ends meet.
Hold tight!”
He said, and Murphy immediately brought the cable he was holding into contact with the strange “mechanical heart” in the automaton’s chest. As Sulk Flywheel pulled down the lever, a specific-frequency current flowed, making the “sleeping” steam automaton emit a string of screams.
The good news was, she seemed to “come alive.”
The bad news was her head was “blasted” off, allowing Murphy to finally see the “secret” hidden inside the automaton’s brain.
It was an “organ” protected by a special sphere casing, with a complete brain immersed in transparent liquid, linked to the automaton’s engineering body below with bizarre electrodes, creating a scene that was both horrifying and sinister.
“You guys are using ‘wetware’?”
Murphy exclaimed in surprise, while Sulk Flywheel, wiping the oil from his hands and picking up the coil pistol beside him, said:
“You know about wetware? Hmm, seems you’re an insider. I like insiders, you guys, once your brains are removed, make the best wetware. I’ve never used a vampire’s brain to make an automaton before. I hear you can regenerate, but can you grow a new brain if it’s removed?”
“Swish”
The coil pistol with flickering lights pressed against Murphy’s chin. The intense paralysis made Murphy almost lose control of his body for a moment, but the Crimson Ability was ready, allowing him to “pinch” the blood flowing through the half-body man’s heart in front of him.
Sulk Flywheel, while removing his goggles to reveal eyes with two terrible scars that filled his otherwise ordinary face with “stories,” stared at Murphy with a gentle yet sinister look, saying:
“So, we should talk business now, thief Murphy! Loren paid but didn’t receive the goods; you didn’t pay but intercepted the shipment. You not only severely damaged my reputation but also cost me an important client.
How do you plan to compensate me?”
“By offering you another important client?”
Murphy shrugged and said:
“I heard you have a lot of stockpiled Calculating Pearls? Great, I’ll take them all!”