Chapter 089: Have the Half-Beasts Vanished?

The era of mech warriors had arrived! On the original Earth, they called them Gundams.

If Yang Kai could really create a Gundam, he would become the idol of all amateur martial artists—the father of mechs. Tang Mubai was also familiar with the so-called robots of this new world, but calling them robots was an exaggeration; in reality, they were nothing more than tin boxes. If someone sat inside, it would be more akin to driving a car.

From this perspective, Yang Kai’s dream was truly grand. Of course, to actually produce a Gundam, he would have to overcome immense challenges in technology, materials, and power sources—each a formidable barrier. Even pouring in massive amounts of funding might not guarantee success.

With this in mind, Tang Mubai glanced at Yang Kai, whose excitement was palpable, and asked, “You want to build a robot that people can pilot, so are you planning to leave the mercenary group and join the government?”

“No, no, absolutely not! I have no intention of leaving,” Yang Kai snapped back to attention, waving his hands and explaining, “I came to speak with you, Captain, because for the next three months, I don’t plan to leave the domain. I want to devote myself entirely to researching robots. I know that, on my own, building a robot is like reaching for the stars, but I still want to try!”

“That’s great,” Tang Mubai replied, suddenly enlightened. “It’s a good thing—you should give it a try. Don’t set your goals too high at first. The first step is just to make the robot walk. That alone would be success.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Yang Kai exhaled deeply and grinned. “My first goal is simply to get the robot to walk. The first prototype doesn’t have to look realistic, and the materials don’t need to be high quality—wood combined with iron sheets will do.”

“Alright, do as you see fit. In this matter, you have my support!” Tang Mubai nodded with a smile. “Since you want to do this yourself, as the captain, on behalf of the group, I’ll sponsor you with five hundred thousand a month. It may not be much, but at this early stage, experiments are most important. And if you ever succeed in making a robot move like a real person, I’ll register a tech company with you as the technical director, dedicated to manufacturing robots.”

“Thank you—thank you so much, Captain!” Yang Kai’s face flushed with excitement. He took several steps back and bowed deeply to Tang Mubai in gratitude.

In that moment, he had truly become a part of the Miracle Mercenary Group. No other group would allow a member to pursue personal research, let alone provide funding and permit three months away from hunting expeditions.

A mercenary group, also known as a hunting party, had no use for members who didn’t go out hunting. Who would want someone like that?

Tang Mubai’s trust and support gave Yang Kai a profound sense of belonging. Such a captain was truly worth following.

…

When Tang Mubai came down from the rooftop, Yang Kai left brimming with excitement, and Tang Mubai himself was filled with joy.

Given Yang Kai’s talent, creating a rough version of a mech should be well within his capabilities.

The first mech in the new world, born from his own group—Tang Mubai felt a surge of pride.

Earlier, as he descended the stairs, Tang Mubai opened his system panel and checked the data on his followers.

As expected, Yang Kai’s loyalty had risen above sixty percent, reaching seventy-five percent. This meant Tang Mubai could safely expend his own lifespan to enhance Yang Kai’s talents and strengthen his physique and mind.

Though Tang Mubai was currently focused on accumulating the five hundred years needed to advance his “Tai Chi Fist,” and so would not spend any for now, once that hurdle was cleared, he would definitely boost Yang Kai’s talents.

Yang Kai only thought of amateur warriors piloting robots to hunt non-human creatures. But if a true mech were built and piloted by a professional warrior, its destructive power would be unparalleled.

Of course, if that day ever came, a revolutionary invention like the mech would be beyond Tang Mubai’s ability to guard alone; he would have to cooperate with the authorities. Only if his strength reached the pinnacle of humanity’s martial artists could he act without fear of others.

But that was all far off. For now, his priority was to collect more life force.

Driving his off-road vehicle out the gate, Tang Mubai made a round of the eastern district, gathering a small but useful amount of life force.

After some thought, he decided to head out of the city to the slaughterhouses. He visited several he’d frequented before, then returned to his own, settling into his office to automatically collect life force.

The slaughterhouse operated around the clock in three shifts, day and night.

By lying on the bed in his office, Tang Mubai could increase his lifespan without lifting a finger.

He slept comfortably through the night, and by morning, his lifespan had increased by fifteen years!

If he had nothing else to do, he could simply lie there and grow stronger.

Of course, that would be a lazy man’s path, and he might become indolent, which wasn’t ideal. Moreover, Tang Mubai couldn’t afford to wait so long. The Miracle Slaughterhouse wasn’t large; the increase in lifespan was too slow. He still needed to go out and take action.

For example, by hunting beastmen!

He still needed about a hundred more years’ worth of lifespan to perfect his “Tai Chi Fist” to completion. If he could find beastmen, slaughtering a batch would suffice!

Tang Mubai still remembered the industries under the Honghu Group and several hidden locations where beastmen had been found last time.

If he could find and kill these beastmen, it would be enough.

So, early that morning, he drove around the slaughterhouses outside the city, collecting life force, then returned to the city and lingered outside the Honghu Group’s properties—especially those few hiding places he hadn’t raided before—checking for beastmen.

To his astonishment, not a single beastman was to be found!

Neither at the known hideouts nor at any of the Honghu Group’s publicly facing businesses was there any sign of them.

It was as if all the beastmen had vanished overnight.

Tang Mubai’s plan was foiled before it even began. The beastmen had disappeared en masse—perhaps all hiding at the Honghu Group’s headquarters. If so, Tang Mubai could only stare helplessly.

Fortunately, even without beastmen, there were still the Blue-Scaled Sticky Worms beneath the cave in Monkey Mountain for him to harvest life force quickly.

Returning to the underground space, he found that, as expected, a new batch of giant worms had appeared along the walls and corners—two meters long, their heads comprising a quarter of their bodies, with six tentacles at their bloated necks, waists as thick as barrels, their shells a luminous blue.

Upon seeing Tang Mubai, these Blue-Scaled Sticky Worms immediately spat blue saliva, trying to ensnare him.

Unfortunately for them—

A sudden, terrifying pressure descended from nowhere, crushing all the giant worms under its weight.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound echoed through the underground chamber like firecrackers.

One after another, the thick bodies of the Blue-Scaled Sticky Worms burst open, spraying fluids everywhere.

[Life Force +55]

[Life Force +46]

[Life Force +57]

[Life Force +48]

…

In mere moments, Tang Mubai had collected hundreds of points of life force.

All forty-some Blue-Scaled Sticky Worms were destroyed, each yielding around fifty points of life force on average.

In less than half a minute, the life force he collected exceeded two thousand.

Converted to lifespan, that was an increase of two hundred and thirteen years.

Together with what he already had, it was finally enough to perfect “Tai Chi Fist”!