Chapter 253: 乳蝶娘 (Rudie Maiden)
Time was limited, so after a brief greeting, Sun Lingtong began to hand things over to Ning Zhuo.
He first took out a slender jade bottle and handed it over.
After Ning Zhuo received it, he opened the stopper and took a glance, and his face immediately showed joy.
This was “Supreme Water,” a treasured item of the Water Attribute!
"Three drops are enough, more than enough to wash away all the surveillance methods on me," Ning Zhuo said in a low voice.
Sun Lingtong cautioned him, "When to wash off the surveillance needs careful consideration. You can't be too reckless or optimistic."
"Even though you have ways to hide yourself from Zhu Xuanji’s detection and aren’t afraid of your true cultivation level being exposed..."
"But once you wash off the surveillance methods, Golden Core cultivators will undoubtedly gather around to inspect and question you."
"You need to think about how to explain this!"
"I'm more worried that they might become suspicious and secretly apply more monitoring techniques to you."
"If that happens, you will have washed off the surveillance for nothing, and I don’t have another three drops of Supreme Water to give you."
"So, the timing of when you use these three drops of Supreme Water is critical. You must be extremely cautious!"
Ning Zhuo nodded heavily. "I understand!"
Then, Sun Lingtong handed over a portion of other items, such as the Heavy Thunder Beetle, Rust Mist Orchid, Heaven Dew, and top-grade Cloud Tea.
“You might need these materials for crafting constructs while exploring the Lava Immortal Palace, so I’m giving you some now.”
Ning Zhuo couldn’t help but look surprised.
He hadn’t expected that Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu’s theft this time would be so fruitful!
"It seems that the strength of Song Fuli's cloud merchants isn't that impressive, given that they lost so much..."
“No, perhaps Yang Chanyu played a key role in this,” Ning Zhuo speculated secretly.
He knew Sun Lingtong well and was familiar with his limitations.
Over the past decade or so, he had personally stepped in to support and even rescue Sun Lingtong.
"If my guess is correct, it’s no wonder Old Sun would take the initiative to ask Yang Chanyu for help."
Ning Zhuo realized the significance of Yang Chanyu.
Thinking about it, he spoke a few flattering words about her.
Yang Chanyu squinted her eyes, scrutinizing his face. “Little brother, you have quite the way with words.”
“But just sweet-talking won’t get you anywhere!”
“This time, your Old Sun and I risked our lives to steal from inside the Cloud Whale.”
“You hid in the back without taking any risks, but now you want to take a big share in the end.”
“Heh, I hope you’ll perform well from now on.”
“If, in the end, I feel you didn’t prove your worth and don’t deserve this much, I definitely won’t let you off!”
Yang Chanyu warned Ning Zhuo.
Sun Lingtong chuckled and interrupted Yang Chanyu.
Ning Zhuo quickly assured them that he would do his utmost to prove his worth.
Finally, Sun Lingtong pulled out a mechanical doll, Rudie Maiden. "Little brother, look at what I stole for you!"
"You’ll definitely love this!"
When Ning Zhuo saw Rudie Maiden, he was initially stunned, but his eyes soon widened, and stars began to twinkle in his gaze.
"This... What kind of mechanical doll is this?" Ning Zhuo couldn’t help but grow excited.
"Quick, put her down and let me have a proper look!"
Ning Zhuo’s reaction was just as Sun Lingtong expected.
Whenever Ning Zhuo saw a finely crafted mechanical creation, he would always react like this, with genuine excitement and joy.
Sun Lingtong grinned and placed Rudie Maiden on a long, narrow medical table.
Rudie Maiden remained motionless, her eyes closed, as she was in a state of hibernation.
Ning Zhuo walked over to the table and stretched out his hands to touch her long dress, then checked her jade belt.
Rudie Maiden’s long dress and jade belt were both magical artifacts. The dress had a certain level of defensive capability, while the jade belt was for storage.
Sun Lingtong chimed in at the right moment. "Her waist and jade bottle both have storage abilities, but I checked, and there’s nothing inside."
“I also studied the jade bottle's function. It’s specifically designed to collect sky clouds and doesn’t have much offensive capability.”
Ning Zhuo nodded slightly, thinking to himself, "Could this mechanical doll, like my Mechanical Explosive Monkey, be designed for collecting certain cultivation resources?"
He continued his examination.
His gaze paused at Rudie Maiden’s head, where there was a butterfly-shaped silver crown.
The silver crown was adorned with tiny gems. No matter the angle, it gleamed with a dazzling brilliance.
"What’s the purpose of this silver crown?" Ning Zhuo asked.
Sun Lingtong replied, "I didn’t study it in detail. The only things I’ve looked into so far are her silk clothes, waist belt, and jade bottle."
With that, Ning Zhuo focused his mind and pressed his hands on the surgical table, channeling mana into a talisman on the table.
The table immediately emitted a radiant light, and numerous mechanical tools appeared.
After these tools emerged from the table, they floated in the air and hovered around Ning Zhuo.
With just a thought, Ning Zhuo could make these tools fly into his hands, very convenient.
They were currently in the critical care treatment room, the highest-grade medical area in the facility.
Ning Zhuo selected one of the tools and positioned it above the silver crown.
He activated the tool, probing it for a while, and soon reached a preliminary conclusion.
"This silver crown can be used for detection and also has a control function, but what exactly it controls isn’t clear yet."
Ning Zhuo didn’t delve too deeply.
His gaze shifted downwards as he quickly scanned Rudie Maiden’s entire body.
He stretched out his hand, grasped her delicate hand, examined it, and then gently pinched her arm.
"Her skin is made from a mixed material. The main component should be high-grade cloud velvet cotton."
"This material has the ability to automatically absorb spiritual energy from the air, and it’s soft and elastic like a cloud."
Ning Zhuo activated a lamp-like mechanical tool and shone it on Rudie Maiden’s arm.
Under the light, something previously invisible to the naked eye was revealed.
Under the surface of Rudie Maiden’s arm, there was a faint layer of intricate silver array patterns.
The silver patterns interwove with each other, forming a dense diamond-shaped mesh.
Ning Zhuo focused intently, pondering for a while, before murmuring, "Her entire skin is designed to automatically gather spiritual energy from the outside world."
“This design suggests that this mechanical creation has a high demand for spiritual energy.”
“Although her skin appears soft and fragile, it’s not. Beneath the surface of her skin, a defensive formation has been laid out.”
“The person who set up the formation was extremely skilled. I can see the array patterns, but I can’t deduce the core structure.”
“This array-setting technique is at least at the master level. It allows for the normal array to change its formation base and eye, transforming the entire formation.”
“For Rudie Maiden, the formation was specifically deformed to fit her body’s structure.”
“So far, I can tell that when she engages in combat, this formation will activate, creating a protective spiritual light to shield her completely.”
After examining her skin, Ning Zhuo proceeded to investigate Rudie Maiden’s hands and feet.
Although Rudie Maiden appeared lifelike, her body temperature was very low, and when Ning Zhuo touched her, she felt cold.
He discovered that her hands and feet were extremely flexible, intricately constructed, almost identical to human hands and feet but scaled down several times.
The Mechanical Explosive Monkey’s hands were also capable of precise actions, and Ning Zhuo had embedded several nested formations in them to enable it to pluck Huoshi fruits.
But compared to Rudie Maiden’s hands, the gap was clear and obvious.
After a rough inspection, Ning Zhuo took out a headband and put it on.
The medical facility's specialized tools were all of excellent quality. After putting on the headband, Ning Zhuo’s spiritual sense could intertwine with it, creating a temporary spiritual consciousness.
He enveloped Rudie Maiden with this temporary spiritual sense, allowing it to penetrate her body.
In the next moment, a faint white light radiated from Rudie Maiden, covering her entire body.
Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu’s faces grew serious, and they quickly became vigilant.
Ning Zhuo’s brow furrowed slightly.
He hadn’t expected that merely probing with his spiritual sense would trigger Rudie Maiden’s protective spiritual light.
From this, while he couldn’t yet gauge the strength of her defense, it was evident that her sensitivity to threats was extremely high.
Most of Ning Zhuo’s spiritual sense was blocked, and he could only barely see a few parts.
For instance, he found that Rudie Maiden’s hands didn’t have overlapping arrays or the typical skeletal structure of human hands. Instead, they were supported by a highly intricate network of fibers crisscrossing each other.
Rudie Maiden’s feet had the same structure, but hidden in the soles were two talismans.
These two talismans were identical, but Ning Zhuo couldn’t fully understand them. He could only tell that they were combat-related talismans.
This piqued his curiosity: What kind of power would Rudie Maiden display when using these talismans?
Through his temporary spiritual sense, Ning Zhuo
also discovered that Rudie Maiden had something akin to “blood” flowing inside her.
Her blood was milky white and semi-transparent, which reminded Ning Zhuo of high-quality stalactite.
After thinking for a moment, Ning Zhuo focused his mind, and a thin hollow needle flew into his hand.
He pierced the needle into Rudie Maiden’s arm.
In the next instant, her protective light surged, snapping the hollow needle and expelling it from her body.
However, in that brief moment, Ning Zhuo had achieved his goal.
He had collected a sample of Rudie Maiden’s milky white blood from the broken needle tube.
After analyzing it, Ning Zhuo confirmed that it was a mixed material.
The liquid was rich in vitality and had a powerful restorative effect on her skin, bones, and other mechanical parts.
Not only that, but the liquid could also carry a considerable amount of mana.
Its ability to carry mana was so strong that it could rival an empty top-grade spirit stone!
Clearly, this must have been the intended result sought by the craftsman who designed her.
(End of the Chapter)