Chapter 264: Sang Family Village
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The people marched quickly ahead, one of them carrying the reinvolt over his shoulder. Everyone was quiet, thinking about the massive thing that was flying slowly behind, following them.
It was a mech. Sang Ling recognized it. The Sang Family Village’s shrine had seven mechs on display, but they were ancient compared to this mech. In fact, the comparison was not an exaggeration. The seven mechs had been passed down for a few generations, known by every member of the Sang family.
"Mechs really could fly …" Sang Ling took a peek at Han Jia, flying above, her eyes filled with envy. In the legends, mechs could fly, but today she had finally seen it for the first time. The techniques to fly the seven mechs in the shrine had been long lost. They were now only a symbol of the courage and determination of their ancestors.
Sang Ling quickly lost her initial excitement. She began to worry about Sang Fan’s injuries. As childhood friends, she and Sang Fan were the most famous pair in the village. Sang Fan and her were both the most capable and outstanding of their generation.
It was this guy’s fault! Sang Ling could not help but stared angrily at Han Jia. The dagger had blood from the three-eyed giant squid, it was no wonder that the reinvolt suddenly turned crazy. Just a tiny bit of the three-eyed giant squid’s scent could trigger the reinvolt’s fear due to its sensitive sense of smell.
However, if the mech had not interfered, Sang Fan would have … Sang Lin shuddered. Besides, the guy had even offered medical supplies. With that offer of assistance, they really could not blame him now. His medicine was truly miraculous. Just by swallowing a tiny pill, Sang Fan’s breathing steadied. While he was unconscious now, his situation seemed a lot better.
What a powerful mech! Sang Ling was impressed. The mech had injured a three-eyed giant squid. Before she met this mech, she never thought that anything could ever hurt that giant beast.
Ye Chong sat in the pilot cabin, his face calm. Inside, however, he was not nearly so peaceful.
These primitives spoke the same language as him, and communication was not a problem. Could this be part of the Five Galaxies? That was Ye Chong’s first guess. Could the primitives be part of some savage tribe? That thought was quickly dismissed by Ye Chong.
If there was really such a strange place in the Five Galaxies, it would have been discovered.
From the primitives, he learned that they came from a place called the Shang Family Village. The term "village" was unfamiliar to Ye Chong. He imagined it to be some kind of city.
The other party was cautious against Ye Chong, and did not speak much. Ye Chong accepted this easily. If it were him, he would be even more cautious. At first, Ye Chong thought they came from some savage tribe, but they had all recognized mechs. That surprised him very much.
Nevertheless, their clothing and weapons felt very primitive to Ye Chong.
The two parties did not exchange many words. According to the woman in the group, any questions can be directed to the village head.
Village head? What an peculiar title.
Ye Chong quickly noticed something interesting - the group practiced strict discipline. They worked together seamlessly, delegating tasks in reasonable ways. This reminded Ye Chong of an army troop! They were very much like the Sanctuary’s standard combat squad.
This made Ye Chong suspect even more that they came from a savage tribal society.
Ye Chong was intrigued by their physique. The seven-meter tall reinvolt was heavy, but the man heaving the prey seemed quite relaxed, and did not fall behind.
Finally, they reached the Sang Family Village. The village was much smaller than Ye Chong imagined. The entire village was surrounded by a six-meter tall fence, probably to ward against animal attacks. However, if a mech were to attack this village, it would only be too easy.
There were no anti air attack measures, no field interference facilities, no long range attack weapons. Ye Chong made a quick assessment of the village. His conclusion was this - if he wanted to escape, they would not be able to stop him. This made Ye Chong feel safer. While they were of the same species, and communication was not an issue, Ye Chong still dared not be careless.
Han Jia’s simple scanning system was now quite handy.
There were about 100,000 inhabitants here. Ye Chong shook his head. This city was too small. In the Five Galaxies, any city would be home to at least a few million. Everything here was primitive, the exact image of a savage tribal society.
The return of Sang Ling and others created a slight commotion. Sang Fan’s injury had everyone busy. However, he was soon sent to a tiny purple coloured straw hut. Just as the people were about to disperse, they finally noticed Han Jia.
"A mech, it’s really a mech .." A villager muttered incoherently.
"It’s truly a mech …" Similar utterances were heard in the crowd, all filled with wonder.
Han Jia was now surrounded by a dense crowd.
When Ye Chong came out of Han Jia, the village suddenly fall into a short silence.
When Ye Chong withdrew Han Jia with its dimension keystone, everyone was shocked. The sight of a huge machine suddenly vanishing made quite an impression.
Ye Chong quickly found himself stuck in the middle of the crowd, unable to leave.
"Make way, make way please." A path quickly formed amongst the crowd. In came an old man, supported by Sang Ling, as he slowly approached Ye Chong.
"Cough, cough, young man, how do you do? I’m the village head, Sang De." The village head coughed twice before finally speaking slowly.
Ye Chong was always respectful towards the elderly. He bowed slightly and replied, "Village Head, how do you do? I’m a mech pilot and I’ve lost my way. I hope to have your assistance."
Sang De nodded, and spoke to his people, "Go back to your own businesses now." The village head was heeded. Everyone left, and only some children were left hiding in a corner, watching them.
"Let’s talk at my place," the village head, Sang De motioned for Ye Chong to follow.
Ye Chong and the village head had a pleasant conversation. Ye Chong finally had a rough understanding of the village. Sang Family Village was the only human settlement here. Their ancestors seemed to have come here to avoid some huge disaster elsewhere.
Their tribe had lived here for 500 years. Before that, they came from a galaxy called He Yue.
He Yue Galaxy? Where was that? Could it be an earlier name for one of the Five Galaxies? 500 years ago, the galaxies might be known with different names. However, Ye Chong could not be sure. He had almost zero knowledge of the Five Galaxies’ history.
Ye Chong’s request to stay was quickly accepted by Sang De. The cunning village head knew that this young man was a capable fighter, and could help defend the village. As for his origin, Sang De did not care for it. If the man wanted to harm the village, then they could not stop him. If that was the case, why not maintain a good relationship with him?
Besides, 500 years had passed, and they knew nothing of the advances of the outside world. Their world was still so primitive. All this while, this had been a concern for every village head. When their first ancestors arrived here with their mechs, they had sacrificed most of their combatants to protect the villagers. All the engineers died. This caused the Sang Family Village to be the way it was today. Moreover, when the backup energy cells were used up, all the mechs became useless. Until today, the problem of powering the mechs was still unsolved, and no one alive knew how to pilot a mech.
Now that they had a visitor from the outside world, and a mech pilot with his own mech at that, the Sang family’s 500 years of stagnation finally had a glimmer of hope.
However, Ye Chong was not thinking about these things. The best option for him now would be stay in the village. He did not know how to return to the Five Galaxies, and wondering around aimlessly would be foolish. This place had too many oddities. Besides, the people here had a history going back 500 years, and were familiar with this place. For now at least, he would not have to worry about survival.
Ye Chong followed the young man called Sang Pu. Sang Pu was around his age, reaching 170 meters in heights, a tall stature compared to the rest of the villagers. Sang Pu did not speak much, but seemed to be a man of reputation amongt his peers. He was rumored to be the next village head.
"These are the mechs from our ancestors," Sang Pu explained with reverence towards his ancestors.
Seven mechs with rusty spots all over them were displayed in the shrine. These mechs were all huge, towering at around 20 meters tall, like huge iron men. The thick armor made them look unwieldy, like a metal lump. It was apparent that mechanical techniques were still quite undeveloped back then. One had to use thickened armor to protect the mech pilot in the mech.
A 500-year-old mech was definitely something that Ye Chong was interested in. Since he first heard about these seven mechs, his first request was to pay them a visit. The village head agreed easily. Even the oldest mechs in a mech museum in the Five Galaxies were only about 300 years old. Ye Chong could not help his excitement at these seven 500-year-old mechs!
The mechs’ internal structures were crude and simple. There were no hydraulic suspension systems. The circuits were made of metallic wires, and not photon circuits. There was no holographic scanning system, only an ancient radar …
A mech like this was far worse than the most low level Raven mech. However, Ye Chong still felt very excited. In reality, any mech engineer would be interested in these ancient mechs. This opportunity was not to be missed.
These mechs would not be able to inspire Ye Chong with new ideas, but he still crawled into all of them and inspected in detail. In his professional opinion, mechs like these were less than basic. However, for something that was made 500 years ago, one cannot ask for more.
Sang Pu asked, "Are these mechs still functional?" He looked at Ye Chong, hopeful. These seven mechs had been kept here for 500 years. To the people of the Sang Family Village, they should be warriors, not historical relics.
Ye Chong shook his head. "No. They’re too rusted. Some of the joints lack maintenance, and cannot be bent anymore. Besides, they use some kind of organic fuel. I’m not familiar with them." In fact, Ye Chong was already quite surprised to find these mechs so well preserved after 500 years.
Ye Chong’s reply made Sang Pu feel deeply disappointed. Ye Chong could see those emotions in his eyes. However, Ye Chong was helpless as well.
Ye Chong was also immediately reminded of Han Jia’s energy problem. The backup energy cells were almost used up. If he could not find any new and suitable fuel, Han Jia would probably end up being put on display with these mechs here.
Nonetheless, haste would not solve this problem. There would not be any energy cell charging devices here, so the only option left was to find a replacement.
For now, he could only minimize his usage of Han Jia. It was best if he used Han Jia only when desperate.
After all, the people here had lived their lives all this while without mechs. Ye Chong believed that he would be able to defend himself, even without his mech.
It was soon meal time. Sang Pu led Ye Chong to the village head’s house. Ye Chong saw the woman from the group that brought him here earlier. Ye Chong nodded to her slightly, and sat beside Sang Pu.
Sang Ling humphed softly, and ignored Ye Chong as she began to eat.
Since the woman did not greet him back, Ye Chong did not press further. Instead, he nodded to Sang De. The village head laughed heartily, "Food is simple here, nothing grand to boast about, I hope you’ll like it!"
By now, Ye Chong could tackle these social pleasantries easily. "You’re too kind. Please call me Ye."
Sang De laughed again. "Alright, I’ll call you Ye, and you can just call me Village Head."
On the plate before Ye Chong was a piece of steak, with some blue berries of some kind on the side. Ye Chong did not recognize the meat, but he knew what the berries were. On the plains on the other side of the river, there were many plants with these blue little berries.
Ye Chong picked up one of them and studied it closely. Unlike when it was on the tip of the plant, it no longer glowed with that faint blue color.
Seeing Ye Chong taking interest in the blue berry, Sang Pu introduced, "This is our main source of food, we call it mayaberry. Go ahead, try it, it’s not bad. This steak is from the meat of that reinvolt you killed today. Reinvolt meat is tender and delicious."
Ye Chong threw a mayaberry into his mouth and chewed. A fragrance began to spread in his mouth, with a little sweetness. He ate another one. To Ye Chong, this was far better than on the trash planet. He had never tasted such delicious fruits over there.
The village head and Sang Pu smiled, looking at Ye Chong enjoying his meal. Only Sang Ling still looked cool.
Eyeing the steak on his plate, Ye Chong took out his dagger and made to slice it.
Sang Pu saw the dagger in Ye Chong’s hands, and his eyes glowed. He urged, "Ye, can you let me have a look at that weapon of yours?"