Chapter 724: Chapter 352: A Beautiful and Cruel World
Following Loken’s lead, Li Ang finally witnessed the central part of the ancient ship.
The pathways of the Island Builder Civilization, resembling those from a science fiction movie — sleek, flowing, and orderly — extended to the center of the ship, which was also the bridge of the fallen island battleship. From the outside, the ancient ship didn’t have an evident ship island, and the command and control room seemed embedded in the ship’s body, making it hard to find. Only by standing here in person could one recognize it.
Inheriting from the lineage of the Mechanical Creation Furnace, the bridge’s control console featured control levers and buttons of the same style. However, compared to the Furnace, the fallen island battleship’s console was more simplified and clear, evidently a design optimized through iterations.
Considering that the Mechanical Creation Furnace took form when the Island Builder Civilization mastered the Melting and Gathering Law, and the fallen island battleship was formed on the eve of the race’s enslavement by the Deus People, which was the point of extinction for the race, it should also have been the peak of their technology, so this change is justifiable.
It was apparent that Loken already had some knowledge of the console and understood how to operate the fallen island battleship. Originally, the room had only basic lighting akin to nightlights to recognize paths. After he flipped some switches, the entire room lit up completely.
"Wow." The young girls who came with Li Ang exclaimed in amazement. They felt the vibration of the ground. Even though they hadn’t seen the destruction battleship’s bombardment like Andasu, they were very worried about Li Ang and clung to him.
But it wasn’t just them; even the experienced Sky Knights were amazed by the structure here, as were the executives of the seven shipyards who came along because it was directly related to them.
In this space that jointly played the roles of both the cockpit and command room, the first thing that took one’s breath away was the tracks, akin to golden lines encircling the surroundings. They were set up to allow chairs to move to various positions.
The tracks enabled chairs to align freely in all directions to connect with various instruments descending from the ceiling. Some of these could be identified by aviation experience as being used for measuring distance and orientation, while others seemed to employ the advanced techniques of the Island Builder Civilization, making their purpose indecipherable at first glance.
The lights adorning various parts of the room resembled rare jewels only visible in the depths of the island’s heart and at the fringes of the starry sky. They and the lights in the corridors, as well as functional equipment in the ship’s living areas, were all composed of modules powered apart from the main engine of the fallen island battleship. Without acquiring the Key of Activation, the engineers were unaware of how its main power was generated or how to make it fly.
Loken introduced the room’s facilities one by one. Outside the main console, there were two auxiliary consoles. Based on their exploration, it was clear that one side was for controlling weapons, while the purpose of the other one remained unknown.
After completing the basic introduction, Loken pointed to a groove on the side of the main console and said, "That should be the slot for the Key of Activation."
The old man looked at Li Ang after he spoke. Li Ang nodded to him, so he stepped towards the console under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Neil, standing next to Li Ang, said, "It’s not easy. The Great Engineer thought of many ways and even tried to decipher the codes of the previous civilization to create a startup tool. Today we’re finally going to witness its entirety personally."
Loken took a deep breath and accurately inserted the startup chip into the groove, his aged hand steady without a single tremor.
The groove immediately lit up with a light similar to that of the chip, and then it flowed like runes in the console to the surroundings of the room. After an indescribable sound, a human-shaped hologram emerged from the console.
"Faser?" Li Ang recognized the hologram.
"Master Li Ang, welcome to the fallen island battleship. Before the Island Builders left, they didn’t have time to write and inject an appropriate thinking unit for this ship, but they granted me the authority to stand in this position. I can guide you to master the fallen island battleship."
"That works perfectly."
Having someone to communicate with is much more convenient than groping around and controlling machines on one’s own.
Loken raised the question most on everyone’s mind at the moment: "Can this ship fly?"
"Yes."
The crowd sighed with slight relief. In the face of the insular threats outside, this was very good news.
"However, it depends on how you define it."
Just when they were about to relax, the crowd furrowed their brows again. Loken pursued the question: "Is it a lack of energy or missing components?"
If it were the former, solutions might be found. But if it were the latter and required spending a long time to build, then using the fallen island battleship to face the enemy would have to be abandoned.
"Please explain," Li Ang also said.
"Flying, if its definition is to float on its own without needing the support of an island, can be achieved. But if it requires long voyages, it won’t be possible, not even departing from Inscapsa."
The crowd felt slightly relieved, but Faser’s explanation triggered new questions.
"Inscapsa?" Someone queried this term.
"It is the large metal island constructed by the Island Builders where you all reside, and its name means ’Tool Chest.’"
Faser explained, "Why it has this name and the relation to the Mechanical Creation Furnace and the fallen island battleship all belong to the Island Builder’s great endeavors."
The simple narration of the thinking unit stated that the Island Builders were descendants of a civilization focused on mineral refinement and forging. The initial leader had foresight, and upon realizing the potential of the people under their leadership, laid down a grand race development plan.
The first phase was to use the group’s capabilities in building large machinery to craft truly massive machinery, an island so large it could be considered a monumental artifice. This was the foundation and start for their race’s development, so it was termed ’Tool Chest’ Inscapsa, which also defined their ethnic name ’Island Builders.’
