The temperature gauge on Jiang Chen's wrist flickered past 55 degrees Celsius. The air down here, two kilometers beneath the canyon floor, was thick enough to chew. It tasted of sulfur and ancient, stagnant dust.
Jiang Chen wiped the sweat from his brow, smearing grease across his forehead. He was encased in a Mark II Environmental Exosuit—a stripped-down, lighter version of the Titan armor, designed not for combat, but for survival in extreme hazards. The hydraulics hissed with every step he took on the uneven rock.
"Depth report," he spoke into the comms.
"2,400 meters," Old Wu's voice came through, crackling with static interference from the magnetic fields. "Your Highness, the structural integrity of the shaft is holding, but the drones are overheating. The rock down there... it's changing."
"I see it," Jiang Chen muttered.
He stood at the bottom of the excavation shaft. The ten mining spiders were huddled against the wall, their drills silent. They weren't broken; they were stopped.
In front of them was a wall of black metal. It wasn't ore. It was a smooth, seamless plate that curved outward, disappearing into the rock above and below. The spiders' diamond-tipped drills had merely scratched the surface, leaving faint, silver lines.
Jiang Chen walked up to the wall. He placed his gloved hand on the cold surface.
"System. Analysis."
[Scanning Material...][Composition: High-Density Celestial Steel (Star Iron).][Age: Approximately 5,000 years.][Energy Signature: Massive. The "Heartbeat" originates from within.]
"It's not a rock," Jiang Chen whispered. "It's a hull."
He stepped back. "Clear the area. Set up the Plasma Cutter."
Two drones scurried forward, carrying a heavy, backpack-sized generator connected to a cutting torch. This was Tier 2 tech, intended for cutting tank armor.
Jiang Chen grabbed the torch. "Safety goggles."
He ignited the beam. A jet of ionized gas, hotter than the surface of the sun, slammed into the black metal.
Sparks didn't fly; molten liquid dripped. The metal groaned, a sound like a dying whale echoing through the deep earth. It took ten minutes of continuous cutting to carve a hole large enough for a man.
Jiang Chen kicked the glowing slag inward.
CLANG.
The piece of metal hit the floor inside. The sound echoed for a long time. The space inside was vast.
"Stay here," Jiang Chen ordered the drones. "I'm going in."
He stepped through the breach.
His helmet lights cut through the darkness. He expected a cave. He expected a nest.
He found a cathedral.
The chamber was spherical, easily three hundred meters wide, lined with geometric plates of the same black metal. And suspended in the center of the room, held in place by massive chains that pulsed with blue light, was a giant.
It was a humanoid construct, fifty meters tall. It sat in a meditative lotus position, its head bowed. Its armor was ornate, covered in glowing runes that shifted and flowed like liquid mercury.
The Spirit Vein above—the crystal river Jiang Chen had been mining—wasn't a natural formation. It was a leak. Energy was bleeding off this machine, crystallizing into the rock over millennia.
[Target Identified: Ancient Automaton.][Class: Strategic Siege Unit - "The Earth Shaker".][Status: Dormant. Battery Level: CRITICAL (5%).]
"A Siege Unit," Jiang Chen breathed. "Elder Mo wasn't lying. This is the Pre-Dynasty Ruin."
He activated his suit's thrusters, gliding across the gap to land on the platform directly in front of the giant's chest.
At this distance, the machine was terrifying. The "rivets" on its armor were the size of dinner plates. The runes hummed with a low frequency—the heartbeat. Thump... Thump...
Jiang Chen located a console on the chest plate. It was a circular array of stone dials and jade keys. A magical interface.
"System. Can you interface?"
[Interface Mismatch. Target operates on "Dao Logic".][Translation Matrix Required. Attempting to bridge...]
Jiang Chen pulled a cable from his suit and jammed it into a slot that looked like a crystal socket.
ZZZT.
A shock of blue electricity surged through the cable, nearly frying his suit's HUD.
[Connection Established.][Warning: Hostile AI detected.]
Suddenly, the runes on the giant's armor turned red.
The head of the giant lifted.
Two eyes, burning with ancient crimson fire, ignited. They locked onto the tiny speck standing on its chest.
"INTRUDER," a voice spoke—not in the air, but directly into Jiang Chen's mind. It was heavy, metallic, and weary. "YOU... ARE NOT... THE CREATOR."
The giant's hand, the size of a bus, twitched. The chains holding it groaned.
"PARASITE. YOU STEAL... MY QI."
The machine knew. It knew Jiang Chen had been draining its battery (the Spirit Vein) to run his factories.
The platform beneath Jiang Chen shook as the giant began to rise. Dust and rock fell from the ceiling.
"System! Hack it!" Jiang Chen shouted, bracing himself against the console.
[Decrypting... 10%... Logic Wall Encountered.]
"ERADICATE," the giant boomed.
A beam of red light began to gather in the center of the giant's forehead.
Jiang Chen didn't panic. He looked at the readings.
"You're at 5% power," Jiang Chen shouted back at the machine. "You fire that beam, you die!"
The giant paused. The red light flickered.
"BETTER DEATH... THAN SLAVERY."
"I don't want a slave," Jiang Chen said fast, typing commands into his wristpad. "I want an employee."
He overlaid the G.E.F. Power Distribution Grid onto the giant's internal schematic.
"Look at the data!" Jiang Chen yelled. "You are bleeding energy. Your containment seal is cracked. That's why you went dormant. You were leaking to death."
He projected a blueprint into the machine's mind. A schematic for a Spirit-Fusion Reactor—a patch for the leak.
"I can fix the leak," Jiang Chen promised. "I can recharge you. I have access to clean energy sources you haven't seen in five thousand years. But if you kill me, you rot here forever."
The giant froze. The red eyes dimmed slightly, processing the logic. It was an ancient machine of war, but it was still a machine. It operated on parameters of survival and efficiency.
"RECHARGE..." the voice rumbled. "PROBABILITY OF DECEPTION: 40%."
"Probability of death if you don't: 100%," Jiang Chen countered.
Silence stretched in the dark chamber. The only sound was the hum of the cooling fans in Jiang Chen's suit.
The red light in the forehead faded. The giant lowered its head back to its original position.
"TERMS... ACCEPTED."
[System Alert: New Asset Acquired.][Unit: "Earth Shaker" (Class: Super-Heavy Construct).][Condition: Damaged. Needs extensive repairs.]
Jiang Chen exhaled, collapsing slightly against the cold metal. He had stared down a god of the old world and won with a spreadsheet.
"System," Jiang Chen wiped his visor. "Begin the diagnostic. I want to know what this thing can do besides step on cities."
[Diagnostic Complete.][Primary Function: Fortress Breaker.][Secondary Function: Mobile Foundry.][Feature: Internal 'Alchemy Furnace' capable of smelting high-grade alloys instantly.]
Jiang Chen's eyes lit up. A Mobile Foundry. This thing wasn't just a weapon; it was a walking factory.
"Sleep for now," Jiang Chen patted the hull. "I'll send the drones to patch you up."
He turned back to the breach. He had found the bottom of the mine. And in doing so, he had secured the ultimate guardian for his kingdom.
"Old Wu," Jiang Chen radioed, his voice steady again. "Send down the heavy cables. And tell the Steel Mill to double production. We need armor plating. A lot of it."
"For what, Master?"
"For our new Doorman."