Red Kestrel flew back to Jade City under the sunset.

It carried a beautifully crafted wooden box back with its mechanical claws, the casing of which was polished with a wood texture and was exquisitely smooth. The Recursive City dictionary logo was carved on it.

Below the logo, it was written in Chinese.

[NO.2017]

[Customized by Wasteland Development Company]

[C-5]

The first two were easy to understand, one a number, and the other a client name.

Zhou Yi examined the packaging box, "Is this customized controller a C-5 grade?"

"Yes."

Red Kestrel explained, "It utilizes the brand new fifth-generation Mechanical-Electrical Light Imprint, with extremely high precision, stable and without delay. The highest grade of controller craftsmanship is C grade. Beyond that are integrated, more complex control cabins mainly used for controlling multiple extensions and require higher computational capabilities."

According to the drone's guidance, Zhou Yi pressed the dictionary mark in the middle of the box lid, and the lid automatically lifted open.

On the sponge layer was an 11-inch black-bordered tablet and a black control handle.

It included a user manual, which displayed basic operating methods with simple diagrams.

The handle and screen could be combined or operated independently after being detached.

The advantage of using touch control was ease and intuitiveness.

The handle operation was more delicate, each button linked to its associated command; once mastered, the operational effectiveness was higher, and it also had haptic feedback from collisions and damage to the mechanism.

For everyday use, the touchscreen was sufficient.

Zhou Yi swiped his finger on the screen and found that clarity and refinement indeed had massively improved.

Red Kestrel continued, "The previous old controllers had a resolution of 1280×960, but this customized screen has reached 3840×2160, offering more precise visual display and recognition capabilities."

"It has high-fidelity speakers and is equipped with special noise-reducing headphones, which can layer and better distinguish noises like the Dead Sea and high-altitude airflow from the sounds on the other end."

The headphones under the controller seemed like two ivory-colored rubber balls, capable of isolating external sounds when inserted into the ears.

However, Zhou Yi's main concern was the commonly used features.

He tapped the dictionary icon on the screen.

The Recursive City page immediately popped up, and on a large screen, more information could be seen on the same page.

Opening the purchased music revealed a clearly discernible improvement in sound quality. Opening a segment of the Elektromechanical Masters Tournament video, the high-resolution effects were undeniably pronounced, clearly showing the metal nuts and wrapped coils on the competitors.

The screen-casting function was also straightforward and easy to use, a swipe outward projected it onto the wall.

Red Kestrel emphasized the emergency avoidance mechanism.

"This feature can protect electromechanical lives connected to the controller. If the electromechanical life on the other end confirms it's in danger, the connection will be cut off to avoid signal intrusion."

Zhou Yi was puzzled, "But how does that protect you?"

"Zhou, now my main body is no longer this rescue machine but this terminal equipment. All my data has been transferred to this controller's integrated chip structure, which has larger storage space and computational capabilities."

Zhou Yi finally understood.

This was akin to Red Kestrel's external brain, and indeed, being with him was the safest.

He examined the tablet controller in his hands, "Mechanical City, can it independently manufacture such complex electronic products?"

To produce a tablet computer, an industrial capability to manufacture plastics, semiconductors, integrated circuits, and a whole set of components was needed.

If it had such industrial capabilities, theoretically, electromechanical life should be able to produce a large number of cheap extensions and export various industrial products, exerting a greater influence on the entire world.

But whether on the Human City or Mechanical City pages, Zhou Yi had not seen similar industrial products for sale.

"Unfortunately, Mechanical City does not have that capability."

The voice of Red Kestrel came from the tablet's speaker, "The existing technological base of Mechanical City is all based on existing semi-finished and finished products. This controller was transformed from a perfectly preserved device left from the Divine Era."

"Cloning Divine Era technological products is very difficult, mainly for two reasons."

"First, there is a lack of raw materials. There's very little land available for development, making it impossible to excavate and produce various types of raw materials on a large scale, thus keeping costs high."

"Second, the Light Imprint Technique serves as a substitute. Light Imprint Devices can also achieve a basically similar effect, but they are not as detailed, precise, or diverse as Divine Era technologies."

"The original equipment of the Divine Era and electromechanical life are highly compatible; as one is used, one is lost, so the prices are still increasing year by year."

"With the continuous development of Mechanical-Electrical Light Imprint, they have now surpassed the 5th generation, and research fields are using the 6th and 7th generations, gradually increasing the precision of the Light Imprint Technique. Now Human City is mass-producing cheap, low-level Light Imprints, while Mechanical City focuses on promoting the development of cutting-edge Light Imprints."

Zhou Yi thought to himself.

It seemed electromechanical life was initially human constructs from the information age and transformers.

But so far, the Light Imprint Technique had developed to replace most functions.

Zhou Yi then tried operating the extension device.

Controlling the Sea God was easier than expected. The perspective was provided by the electronic lookout mirror on the bridge, and the screen also had a circular radar that detected various obstacles around, though first-person operation could be dizzying after a while.

Overall, the large screen controller indeed offered a significantly improved operational experience.

This expenditure was worth it.

Red Kestrel then added, "On my way back, the Steel Refining Lord and I exchanged some information. It said that Steel Refining City had captured an enhancer fighting in the streets, who upon interrogation, mentioned they were going to Jade City to meet a friend. The Steel Refining Lord deemed the person suspicious and informed me."

"That enhancer is Feng Ying, and she has been detained in a local prison for a month now."

Zhou Yi was puzzled.

This pharmacist had first gotten fired for beating up a patient, and now she had ended up fighting and getting jailed in Steel Refining City.

Why did it seem she fought everywhere she went?

Zhou Yi said, "Tell the Steel Refining Lord, we're heading to Steel Refining City right away."

Sitting on the back of Lie Hai, Zhou Yi overlooked Steel Refining City through the high-altitude camera of the Red Kestrel.

Rather than a city, it looked more like a large iron foundry complex.

To the north and west were the mines, where many miners were engaged in excavation and loading. Although it was night, the area was lit by rhombic lamp posts, and workers tied with rhombic stones on their heads were energetically mining and chipping at rocks, dust flying everywhere.

The central area housed the iron foundries with two smoke-belching blast furnaces at the core. Here, energy packs drove the Light Imprint to heat and smelt the iron.

The work here was much more complicated than in the mining area, with workers divided into multiple teams cooperating together.

Some were adding and removing energy packs to the blast furnaces, others transporting raw materials and sorting them, some flushing out slag with water and scraping off the solidified material, and yet others disposing of iron slag and repeatedly checking and ensuring the safety of the blast furnaces…

Despite the harsh production environment and the somewhat crude operational methods, the steelworkers worked seamlessly together, appearing as seasoned veterans.

To the south lay the port where transport ships docked, either to deliver steel or steel products to their destination or to bring goods from other places to this city of steel.

Only the east side was a residential area.

There, houses stacked with wood, stone, and straw huts were separated by stone dividers, with the local residents concentrated in this area, maintaining a significant distance from the factories.

Zhou Yi noticed Red-eyed Vultures circling and scouting in the sky, with sea warriors patrolling the ground.

There was also a type of Guangna Species lying stationary on some stone platforms. These were black creatures with two legs, a half-tail behind their buttocks, two soft horns on their heads, and bright yellow eyes, tail tips, and horns.

These creatures were called Roar Frogs, known for their loud voices.

Roar Frogs were rated as D purely based on their powerful vocal ability. If aggravated, their roars could cause disorder in the Guangna organs of many Guangna Species, causing confusion and dizziness in the short term.

Overall, Steel Refining City was more orderly than Zhou Yi had anticipated.

The Steel Refining Lord said during his reception, "Roar Frogs can detect danger; their function is to guard. If they see a blast furnace accident, mine collapse, or serious fighting, they will scream, and the sea warriors will hurry over to handle it."

They were biological alarms and surveillance heads.

Zhou Yi admired, "Being able to further develop and utilize the existing Guangna Species to construct a safety system in Steel Refining City is something our company could learn from."

"You flatter me."

The Steel Refining Lord said, "It was also because of the Roar Frogs that we discovered Ms. Feng Ying assaulting someone on the street. She was in the residential area beating up an ordinary worker, causing him to vomit blood. It affected the factory's operations, so I had her arrested."

"She then claimed she was going to Jade City to pick someone up. I checked her background first, then contacted Red Kestrel to see what you would suggest."

Zhou Yi said, "Let's go see her."

The prison of Steel Refining City was next to the mining area.

It was a refurbished cave in an abandoned mining area, guarded by a Roar Frog squatting outside and two Sea Horse Shooters at the entrance.

The Steel Refining Lord was too large to enter, so Zhou Yi proceeded with Red Kestrel.

Led by one of the Sea Horse Shooters, he arrived at an inner cavern entrance.

Inside, there was a person looking up.

The light from Red Kestrel illuminated below.

It was a young woman dressed in simple sack-like clothes, her hands wrapped in bandages.

Her expression was calm, her face non-threatening. Her hair was tied back, and despite some stains on her body, her gaze was neither timid nor evasive.

She was rather attractive.

"Who are you?" Feng Ying's voice was soft and fine.

"I'm Zhou Yi."

Zhou Yi said, "I heard you hurt someone; can you tell me about it?"

She paused for a moment.

"Are you the chairman of Wasteland Development Company… May I ask, has Ding Ye been confirmed dead?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yi nodded, "It's unfortunate."

"How's the sword?"

"It's fine—completely intact, untouched, waiting for you to reclaim it."

"That's good."

Feng Ying breathed a sigh of relief, "Just revive him then."

Zhou Yi paused, suspecting he had misheard, "You're saying, Ding Ye can be revived?"

"Yes."

"But he voluntarily donated his body after death, it's already been used for medical experiments and dissection…"

Feng Ying said, "It's not a big problem."

Zhou Yi felt a bit confused.

The body had already been used for experiments, how could it possibly be brought back to life?

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