"So, you’re saying that there is a Dark Engine device at the foundation of the entire town, and everyone is living in such an ’engine town’?" Wu Hen asked, puzzled.
"That’s right, the raw material for the Dark Engine is the Ancient Technology Engine. Speaking of which, if you have information about the Ancient Technology World from your travels, you can report it to us; there will be a reward," said Prison Director Levi.
"Oh, I don’t remember where it was," Wu Hen immediately shook his head.
"Kid, for the sake of this half-eaten apple, do you want to broaden your horizons?" Prison Director Levi said with a smile.
"Okay."
"Come to the stone tower when it gets dark," the Prison Director said.
...
As soon as night fell, the alarm bells of the entire town began to sound.
The workers quickly returned to their positions, while the residents firmly closed their doors and windows.
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Most of their doors and windows were electric, locking with the flip of a switch. Wu Hen also noticed that the buildings in Prison Town were quite uniform, and most of the furniture inside their homes was fixed in place...
Prison Town began to shake. After the alarm bells, there were no pedestrians left on the streets. Some stalls that hadn’t been packed up or secured in time had some items roll off, but nothing of major concern.
"Boom!!!!"
Suddenly, the roar of an engine erupted, and the entire town rose from the ground, like an ancient mythological mountain giant awakening, the town on its back moving across the land.
Prison Town came to life again; its lower half was one of mechanical bonds, effectively a mobile fortress.
As if filled with enough Dark Energy, this time Prison Town’s movement was no longer slow; it sped across the land, with the surrounding scenery all blurring by.
At that moment, Wu Hen was in the high command tower, where Prison Director, his female deputy, and several commanders from the town were all gathered in the room. Outside the room’s curtain walls, intense beams of light were released, piercing the dense darkness of this land.
So this was the super searchlight that had locked onto him before!
It turned out that while he was absorbing the spiritual charm, these people could see him as clear as day.
"Heh, isn’t it magnificent?" the Prison Director said with a hint of bragging to Wu Hen behind him.
"What about that magnetic prohibition? What kind of technology is that, to lock down the Extraordinary Power within our bodies?" Wu Hen immediately asked.
"I can’t tell you the principles behind it. After all, you’re not exactly innocent," replied Prison Director Levi.
"Why do you move only after dark? Is there a rule?" Wu Hen asked.
"It is indeed a rule," Prison Director Levi said.
"So what do we do now? Are we going back to your so-called ’main city’?" asked Wu Hen.
This was a mobile prison, one that had the capabilities for hunting and capturing, clearly sent on a mission.
Now that supplies were running low and the prison was nearly full, it was natural to return to the main city to "unload."
"Hunting. There are many incredible things on this land. Just keep your eyes wide open and watch," said Prison Director Levi.
Wu Hen made himself comfortable, sitting down in one of the chairs with fixed straps, and began to watch the performance of Prison Town.
The entire Living Town was clearly divided into many parts, including the residents who also participated in moving the town, playing the role of gears. Meanwhile, those in the command tower were mainly responsible for key decisions, such as which weapons to use, what acceleration to start, where to step, information detection and analysis...
What surprised Wu Hen was that the operational methods of the entire Prison Town were not hidden from him; they were openly displayed by the locals for this outsider to see, as if knowing how their mighty Living Town operated couldn’t possibly lead to their undoing, as they had a very mature operational system in place.
"Did you spot a wanted criminal?" asked Wu Hen, unable to hide his curiosity.
Since it was Prison Town, its main duty was to issue warrants and capture criminals, and to detain them or make them undergo labor reform, becoming productive forces for their town...
But Wu Hen’s thoughts were too naive.
When the Living Prison Town crossed a dense forest, the searchlight, like the eyes of a demon god, aimed at a valley. At first glance, the valley seemed very peaceful, with only some birds and beasts dwelling therein. But when the searchlight turned from white to purple, the unusual contours under the purple light revealed themselves immediately...
There were houses, ridges, small paths, and many signs of human inhabitation.
Despite the ancient trees camouflaging from above and the dense shade-tolerant plants covering them, the real appearance of the valley under the purple searchlight was fully exposed—it was a village!
The Living Prison Town now loomed over the mountains, overlooking from above. With the aid of the purple searchlight, the village hidden in the valley became clearly visible, showing chimneys, doors, courtyards, fields...
"Haha, quite a good hiding place, but alas, it’s been exposed under our upgraded searchlight!"
"Bai Luobo, we must thank you for significantly shortening the time it took us to mine the Dark Energy Spring Eye. We had the surplus energy to upgrade the searchlight, otherwise, we would have never found such a bountiful small village," Levi laughed joyfully.
As he explained to Wu Hen, he skillfully commanded the various departments.
"Release the Visibility Bombs!"
From the arms of the Living Town, hatch doors opened, and fluorescent bombs flew out, then exploded above the village!
Like a colored firework, the entire village melded within the forest valley was dyed a reddish-brown by the Visibility Bomb, making it especially conspicuous in the dark of night.
Houses, the village, pathways, field ridges, crops, small bridges and streams—the layout of the village was laid bare, causing even Wu Hen, who stood on high ground, to be taken aback!
How could this village look so familiar?
Wasn’t this Huaguo Village where he first woke up?
No way...
I’ve led the Imperial Army here, bringing disaster upon my fellow villagers!
"Still thinking of running? Release the net!"
Prison Director Levi pointed dramatically and issued the command to the other commanders.
From the chest of the Living Town, winged bullets were fired, which penetrated the clouds below and unfolded a huge magnetic net, laying it across another side of that village.
Wu Hen was also completely bewildered as he observed that magnetic net; the mesh was very large -- if it was meant to seal off the escape routes of all the villagers in the entire village, this large net could be easily passed through... It simply could not form an effective barrier.
However, the villagers did not flee from their houses; they kept their doors tightly shut, regardless of whatever earth-shattering events were happening outside, not one attempted escape.
Suddenly, an incredibly bizarre spectacle unfolded!
The entire village, which was tinged reddish-brown, began to writhe.
It was as if a piece of tree bark in front of you suddenly started climbing up the trunk. At first, it might cause a moment of bemusement, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was not bark at all, but a chameleon disguised as bark, escaping!
At this moment, looking down from high above, Wu Hen could see the dyed village actually crawling!
It moved toward a direction away from Prison Town, deep into the forest valley. The speed of its movement was not slow at all; by the time Wu Hen came to his senses, the village had already crawled to the other side of the undulating terrain, reaching the edge of the forest.
"This… this… this…"
Wu Hen was at a loss for words to describe his feelings at this moment.
This was Huaguo Village, where he had spent some time.
He had walked over its field ridges, crossed its streams, and even chatted with villagers by the temple well in the middle of the village until sunset when everyone returned home.
At the time, Wu Hen had marveled that the village was just like the countryside where his grandfather had lived when he was a child, but now, seeing the entire village moving across the land like a chameleon, his jaw just could not close.
It was totally outrageous!
What kind of land had he come to?
The most speechless part was that he was actually standing on a small town that could also dart about with lightning speed, this town like a hunting dog, was chasing after a small lizard.
A town chasing a village?
The hunting that the Prison Director had mentioned before was not about hunting monsters or criminals; they were hunting a village that could sprout legs and run away!
Wu Hen felt that he wouldn’t have dreamed of such an absurd scene in his wildest dreams.
...
The escape route of the village had been predicted by the Prison Director.
The large-meshed net was not meant to trap the villagers, but to bind the living village itself.
When the village crawled to the depths of the forest valley and discovered that its path was blocked, escaping became difficult.
As the Prison Living Town closed in, beams of light shot out, like iron chains with barbed tips piercing deeply into the field ridges, pathways, well openings, and temple grounds of the village…
These few points seemed to be the pivotal joints of the village; once they were pierced and locked, the village would find it difficult to crawl as quickly as before.
"Those are the locations of their engines; by locking their engines, this village will be in the palm of our hands," Prison Director Levi said with a laugh.
"Commander, this is a village mainly composed of raspberries and grains, and it seems to have a herbal garden that could resolve the ailments we’ve been accumulating for months."
"Finally, we can eat fresh vegetables and fruits again, metabolic functions are deteriorating, even without turning into an Evil Spirit, aging seems to have accelerated by several years!"
"Whoopee, this new model of searchlight has really earned its keep, and our capture weapons have also become much more formidable."
"After all, we’ve absorbed a Dark Energy Spring Eye; our energy is fully charged!"
In the command room, the commanders slapped their hands in celebration, all looking very happy, because the village they had harvested had the fruit forest they needed the most…
"I said it could be settled quickly; how could our town, flourishing and thriving, give birth to a filthy Evil Spirit?" Prison Director boasted to the woman who had previously expressed her discontent.
Clearly a life superintendent, when she saw the large number of raspberries in this village and several fragrant fruit orchards, her face broke into even more smiles, and she even winked at the Prison Director, as if to suggest that there would be a special reward for this middle-aged man later on.
"How is it, was it a satisfying hunt?" The Prison Director covered his glance with his hat, afraid others would see their complicity, and deliberately turned towards Wu Hen, boasting proudly.
"I am deeply shocked," Wu Hen gave his evaluation, all the while hesitating whether or not to draw his sword!