Sky-cracking Rider

Boom!~

It was like a thunderclap next to his ear. Chen Fei felt like Lu Tixia had punched his head hard, not only did he see stars, but his ears were also buzzing incessantly, as if a whole water and land assembly had been started, causing his whole body to shiver involuntarily, immediately feeling the reliable restraint of the seat belt.

Even with the layers of protection from the composite armor, he was still heavily shaken.

Good gracious!

The impact point must have been within fifty meters, this shot almost sent Chen Fei off as well.

Ugh...

It was a muffled howl, as if it came from hell.

This time, it finally made the big guy outside feel some pain.

System: Ding! Monster Commander unit destroyed, reward: 5000 energy points storage limit.

Energy Points: 43121/50000

Sigh!~

Persistent effort in vain, and acquiring things without effort. Unexpectedly, the commander unit was hiding inside the big guy that devoured the Mechanical Dragon, likely roaming underground, moving very much like how Chen Fei pilots the Mechanical Dragon, no wonder after bombing the area with tonnage Thermobaric Bombs, it was nowhere to be found.

If it weren't for Chen Fei and the Mechanical Dragon serving as bait, the opponent might have escaped to another region and become even harder to locate.

The gyroscope showed that the body was still in motion. This "Big Mouth" was really able to persist!

It survived the internal explosion caused by a 600mm Demolition Bomb, even affecting and killing the commander unit, yet it remained lively, scrambling underground.

Is this thing a worm? The vitality is remarkably wild!

Without its commander, who knows where it will go now.

Chen Fei had no intention of following it into the mantle; despite the machine body's ability to withstand the high-temperature, high-pressure environment there, he could not.

Never mind, he retrieved another tonnage Thermobaric Bomb from the Storage Magical Device, set the parameters, and sent it out. Upon release, the safety mechanism was automatically engaged.

Chen Fei silently counted in his heart.

Five, four, three, two, one, detonate!

Thud!

A muffled sound entered the cockpit, as if a giant hammer had struck the egg-shaped machine body.

Because the combustion wasn't complete, the Thermobaric Bomb turned into an Incendiary Bomb, with flames drilling into every available space and crevice, the continuous explosions and bursting like fireworks.

Then came a violent shaking with a sense of the world spinning. The cockpit immediately adjusted the suspension structure and active balance system, absorbing most of the vibrations.

Left left downward down right downward down down upward… The irregular movement trajectory went deeper underground, leaving Chen Fei trapped inside the egg-shaped machine body, waiting for the big guy outside to come to its senses, tire out, or eventually die.

"'Rookie', can you determine your location?"

With only the communication channel left, the command center dared not hang up, keeping the conversation going for fear that in the blink of an eye, both the Mechanical Dragon and the person would be gone.

"The current location might be east longitude ××"××', north latitude ××"××', but it's not necessarily accurate."

Chen Fei looked at the electronic map, unable to rely on any reliable reference points or positioning signal sources. It was only through the gyroscope system and kinetic vector analysis that he could barely estimate some continuous positional changes.

The current location should be at 11 o'clock from the 223 Aircrew Base, 279 kilometers away, at a depth of about 159 meters below sea level, moving roughly northwest at a speed of 15 meters per second (±5 meters). These data are estimations, with considerable deviations from the actual situation.

"It's good to have location data, we'll send people over right away."

The communicator immediately sent the coordinates provided by Chen Fei to the staff team, arranging personnel to board a small flying ship carried by the "Snow Mountain" airship.

"The error might be huge!"

Chen Fei reminded the command center that his reported coordinates might be unreliable. A minute deviation could lead to a huge error, possibly diverging by more than a hundred kilometers.

As time passed, this margin of error would only increase.

The external temperature of the egg-shaped body reached 1500 degrees Celsius. If the descent time hadn't been enough to drill through the Earth's crust, Chen Fei might have thought he was already in magma.

The cockpit, located at the center of the shock-absorption suspension, swayed gently like a cradle. His eyelids grew increasingly heavy as drowsiness overwhelmed him.

Gradually, Chen Fei's snoring grew heavier.

"Hey! Hey! 'Rookie'? 'Rookie'?"

If it weren't for the snoring, the one-on-one communicator at the command center might have thought the call had been cut off.

She hadn't expected Chen Xiao'er to sleep so soundly, snoring thunderously.

It was unclear how long had passed when Chen Fei gradually opened his eyes. His eyes shone with stardust and brilliant moonlight...

It was uncertain if it was dawn or dusk, the sky full of stars, and the sun and moon high in the sky.

He was enveloped in warmth, hearing voices nearby.

"Hey! Are you awake?"

"Eh? Where am I?"

Chen Fei quickly sat up, realizing that his seatbelt had been released at some point, and the egg-shaped body had been partly dismantled.

Looking outside, aside from the stars and moon, there were rows of wave-like fishbone poles, long and short, of varying heights, holding the remaining parts of the egg-shaped body. It resembled the burnt framework of a strange house.

A closer inspection revealed that the curved rods were burnt black bones, reminding Chen Fei of the creature that swallowed him and the Mechanical Dragon. Clearly, it had a huge physique, but it was hard to tell what it looked like before being reduced to a skeleton.

"You're at the edge of the Sahara Desert."

A middle-aged woman, kneeling beside Chen Fei, gently nodded at him and said, "Fortunately, there's no major issue, just some internal organ shocks and minor displacements that have now recovered with no aftereffects."

Transparent streams of water gushed out of Chen Fei's body, leaving no trace, finally disappearing outside the body, absorbed by the earth. Only then did he realize the warmth enveloping him came from a healer with a Water-Based Ability. Whether they were a supernatural power user or a spellcaster was unclear.

"Thank you, I'm Chen Fei, codename 'Rookie'!"

Understanding that his internal organs had been shocked and displaced, Chen Fei was acutely aware of the consequences of setting off a 600mm Demolition Bomb and a tonnage Thermobaric Bomb at close range.

Not enough to court death once, but twice. Survival indicated he was incredibly lucky with those injuries barely counting as minor. Surely, God was looking the other way.

"I'm Fulian, a B-Class Water-Based Ability User. Others call me the Hot Spring Healer."

The middle-aged woman's chestnut hair swayed as she stood up. Her treatment was complete. Since 70% of the human body is water, Water Series healing techniques were also quite effective, only second to Light Series abilities.

Among the entire Ability User Observer team, there were only nine with healing skills.

The scarcity wasn't due to a low proportion of healers but rather because no ruling power could afford to let them go; everyone feared being caught off-guard without a healer in a vital moment.

"You slept really soundly. Digging you out took a lot of effort."

A rough voice interrupted, making Chen Fei look over. It belonged to a bearded man clad in heavy Knight Armor, resting a hand on a hexagonal Composite Armor Plate, part of his egg-shaped body's outer shell.

Meeting Chen Fei's gaze, the man patted his chest plate, saying, "I am Morrigan, an A-Class Metal Ability User! Disassembling your outer shell was a lot of work."

"But the material is top-notch. Hey, can you spare me some pieces, brother?"

"And me, these materials should be nothing to you, right?"

"Rare alloys! Could you spare me a few dozen pounds? I'll pay!"

Voices rose around, showing several people eyeing the remains of the egg-shaped body, all of them Metal Ability Users.

This rescue team had ten Metal Ability Users. After digging out the egg-shaped body from deep underground, they worked together for hours to partially dismantle it. Naturally, they were all attracted to the high-temperature, high-pressure resistant materials.

Not every Metal Ability User could fabricate synthetic alloys, and precisely balancing elemental components was no easy task.

"If you all want some, take what you like!" Chen Fei said generously.

He wasn't concerned about the alloy's composition. The Dog System only counted tonnage for energy points. One ton of pure iron equaled one energy point, one ton of gold also equaled one energy point, and one ton of alloy was the same, valuing atomic weight over monetary value.

"Haha, you're a good man!"

"Brother, I owe you a favor!"

"Thanks for your generosity. If you need anything, just let me know!"

"We found a bargain today!"

...

The group of Metal Ability Users snorted with laughter like pigs.

Not only them, others nearby also took some fragments, treating them as souvenirs even if they couldn't use them.

Once clear-headed, Chen Fei pressed down on the remaining parts of the egg-shaped body, encasing the non-metal functional modules, forming a 2-meter cube.

He lost little alloy since the continued absorption of surrounding metal elements had never stopped.

The "Big Mouth" had fled who knows how far, bringing the egg-shaped body's final mass over a hundred tons. Taking 300 to 500 pounds was insignificant, with plenty left over. Apart from forming the necessary parts of the cube, the rest converted into energy points.

System: Ding! Absorbed alloy body 134.542 tons, composition ratio: Iron 47%, Nickel 12%, Chromium 11%, Copper 9%, …

Energy Points +134

Energy Points: 43255/50000

The Dog System's rounding calculations fed half a ton of metal straight to the dogs.

"Huh?"

Just as he stored the cube in the vine-shaped Space System Alchemy Storage Device, Chen Fei noticed a silver-white "straggler" at his feet.

Raking through the scorched soil revealed a silver-scaled plate the size of a pot lid.

"A scale?"

It felt incredibly light, and knocking on it produced a muffled sound, showcasing both strength and flexibility.