On the way to Qingzhou, they had to pass by Yang City, which was the safe base of the Handong army.
Two days later, in the afternoon, Lin Qing and the other two arrived at Han River Bridge, which was more than ten kilometers away from Yang City.
The cold wind that blew in their faces was biting. Ye Daying stood on the bridge and looked down at the sparkling Han River. This bridge was 100 meters long and the closest route to Yang City.
The strange thing was that no one walked on it.
There was a sign at the edge of the bridge that said, 'Be careful of the monster in the river.'
Over the past two days, Lin Qing and the others had hunted almost all the adult steel beasts in other parts of Handong and were preparing to leave Handong.
Thus, the few of them headed straight for the Han River Bridge without taking a long detour. When they saw the sign on the bridge, not only did they not retreat, but they were even interested.
"It should be an adult steel beast." Ye Daying's eyesight was good, and he saw a shadow flash in the river.
Lin Qing said, "Get to work and follow the usual rules."
But Huang Quan looked at the bridge and felt apprehensive. "With my physique, can I still float if I fall down? Will I sink to the bottom of the river?"
"I don't know whether you will sink, but if you don't move, I'll sink you immediately."
"Don't rush me. I didn't say I wouldn't move."
They stepped onto the frozen bridge. Ye Daying walked in front while Lin Qing turned into his heavy truck form and followed behind them.
When they reached the middle of the bridge, everything was calm, and there was no movement at all. Ye Daying 'suddenly' slipped, and the sack of crystals on his back fell to the ground, causing a few crystals to fall into the river and make plunking sounds.
Seeing this, Lin Qing smiled. "This kid is quite smart."
The whirlpool in the river grew bigger and bigger. Huang Quan stared at it from the corner of his eyes. "It's coming up. Get ready."
Bang!
Before Lin Qing could respond, the surface of the river exploded, and a gigantic black fish jumped out. It blocked out the sky with its body that was dozens of meters long and had four legs. Its opened mouth, revealing two rows of sharp sawteeth inside, was like a black hole.
"Captain, save me!"
The giant fish was about to bite Ye Daying. It was planning to use its tail to propel itself from the surface of the water and land on the other side of the bridge after swallowing him.
Boom!
Huang Quan made his move. He quickly transformed into his mecha form and punched out with an earth-shattering fist that looked down upon everything. The air blasted apart, and an ear-splitting boom thundered.
This was the ferocity of the Battle God in his previous life.
The giant fish was just about to swallow Ye Daying when Huang Quan's fist smashed its waist, causing sparks to fly as a long row of scaly armor fell to the ground.
The giant fish was sent flying more than ten meters away and crashed on the bridge. But Huang Quan felt that there was something wrong with the efficacy of his punch and shouted, "My hand slipped on its scaly armor, and I missed!"
This punch didn't land on the body of the giant fish but slipped at the instant of impact, reducing a lot of its strength.
Even so, the giant fish was still quite exhausted. It had almost become crippled, but it got up and tried to escape.
It jumped seven meters toward the other side of the bridge.
From the punch just now, it could feel that it was no match for the yellow mecha, so if it continued fighting, it would die.
It jumped into the air. But before it even reached the river, a red blade flashed in front of it. The giant fish's heart tightened as an aura of death rushed toward it. It subconsciously turned its head and shrunk its body.
"Pfft!" The giant fish landed on the bridge and trembled. Most of its tail was separated from its body as it lay on the ground and roared.
The black scaly armor on its wound had turned red from the high temperature of the sword.
After attacking once with the Flame Devil, Lin Qing didn't stop. He charged forward at almost the same moment as the giant fish landed and slashed it with his fiery red blade.
"Roar!"
At such a close distance, the giant steel fish knew that it couldn't dodge at all and simply didn't dodge. Instead, it opened its mouth to bite Lin Qing's head.
Veteran hunters all knew that animals were fiercest during their final counterattack before their death. Smart people generally wouldn't fight animals head-on during such moments.
But Lin Qing was an exception. He didn't dodge or evade. Instead, he put his left arm in front of him to block the giant fish, allowing its mouth to bite down on him. Meanwhile, the blade in his hand didn't slow down at all, and a fiery red color appeared in the air.
"Idiot!" The giant fish could already foresee the fate of this mecha in front of it. It would bite off his arms and head.
After all, its sharp teeth could easily bite through even steel and concrete. It had chewed at least 500 Motorbots to bits.
Dang!
Pu!!
Two different sounds rang out at the same time as the giant fish bit Lin Qing's arm. But its sharp teeth that could usually bite a building couldn't even bite his arm.
Lin Qing waved his sword, and an enormous head flew into the sky.
The battle ended in less than three seconds.
"Captain is amazing!" With a chuckle, Ye Daying ran over to retrieve the crystal.
It wasn't the first time the three of them had done something like this, so they cooperated very well.
Adult steel beasts couldn't bite Lin Qing's arm at all when his Armament covered it. So every time, he would use his left hand as a shield while holding his sword in his right hand to kill the enemy instantly without fail.
"Stop!"
Ye Daying had just taken out the crystal and had not placed it in his sack yet when a loud shout came from across the bridge.
Five tanks quickly drove over with 15 heavy trucks behind them. All of them were red Tyrannical Dragons. They were the exact same model as Lin Qing, except that they weren't as tall as him. Some of them were 16 meters tall, while others were 17 meters tall.
Judging from the 車 (vehicle) characters on their chests, all of them had evolved at least twice. Most of them had evolved three times, and the most powerful Motorbot had evolved four times.
"Friend, this is our prey. We've been waiting here for a few days!" said the fourth-evolution Motorbot from the end of the bridge.
Huang Quan narrowed his eyes. "So?"
"First, put down the energy crystal. Second, you have been conscripted. From now on, you must join the Yang City Motorbot Troops."
"Ha, f*ck." Huang Quan finally knew what the empire was like. It was no wonder Lin Qing didn't want to interact with the empire's people. After all, they captured any able bodies they saw.
But what he didn't know was that the empire didn't capture any able bodies when their people saw them. After all, they didn't care about ordinary Motorbots.
If there was anyone to blame, he and Lin Qing could only blame themselves, as the empire would never let go of such large Motorbots.
"What if I don't choose to do either?"
The fourth-evolution heavy truck waved his hand, and the five tanks aimed their cannons at the three of them. "You can try!"
"F*ck, do you think I'm scared?" Lin Qing rubbed his fists and strode forward. "Let me make this clear first. I'm not joining the Yang City Motorbot Troops because I'm afraid of you guys. I'm only joining you guys mainly because I admire Governor Jiang's character and worship him."
"Little Ying, give them the crystal!"
Unwillingly, Ye Daying handed over the crystal that wasn't even warm yet. Then Lin Qing winked at Huang Quan, and the two of them followed.
"Captain, this crystal is huge!" exclaimed someone in the fleet of heavy trucks.
The crystals they usually saw were only fist-sized, but this one was the size of a basketball. It was obvious how much energy it contained.
"Hmph, at least you know your place." After receiving the crystal, the fourth-evolution heavy truck was very satisfied with Lin Qing's attitude.
In the past 20 or so days of the Cataclysm, very few people dared not to show respect for the tanks. The weeds at the grave of the last stubborn Motorbot were already several feet tall.
Suddenly, someone in the Yang City Motorbot Troop saw the sack on Ye Daying's back. He went forward to their captain and whispered, "Captain, there's a fat sheep. There must be a lot of good stuff in the sack."
The fourth-evolution heavy truck's eyes lit up. "We are the most elite team among the Yang City Motorbot Troops. I think you two have potential. Give me all the crystals, and I'll help you to join us."
"Hehe, Big Brother, what team is that?" Lin Qing took a few steps forward and reached the end of the bridge.
"Have you heard of Nine Nether?"
Huang Quan stepped forward with interest. "No, can you introduce them to us?"
"This team was created by Lord Jiang. Only large Motorbots that have evolved at least once can join. You will receive the highest welfare benefits in Yang City, and you can receive over a hundred crystals every month."
"Oh, I see!" Lin Qing took out the handle of the Flame Devil and said with a smile, "Then I'd better not join you."