The silence of the deep sea was ripped apart by a metallic roar powerful enough to shatter the soul.
Roar—!!!
The mechanical dragon, named "Deep Sea Patrolman," was as massive as a winding mountain range. Its body, riveted together from countless bronze plates, swirled and churned in the azure waters, stirring up raging undercurrents. Each flick of its tail unleashed a small tsunami on the seabed.
Before it, Seventeen was as insignificant as a speck of dust.
But he was a speck of dust burning brightly.
His black-gold "Golden Vulcan" right arm erupted with a blinding crimson light in the deep sea, instantly boiling the surrounding water into billowing white bubbles. Like a tireless torpedo, he charged towards the behemoth again and again, tearing through the dragon's hard armor with his scorching hand.
Clang!
A muffled sound. Seventeen was struck by the dragon's tail, sent flying like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the glass curtain wall of an abandoned building. The reinforced glass shattered, and he tumbled several times in the water, a trickle of pale golden coolant spilling from his mouth.
"Seventeen!" Shen Qingqiu, hiding in the cramped space created by the water-repelling beads, pressed her hands tightly against the cold metal railing in front of her. Her heart clenched with each blow Seventeen received.
This couldn't go on.
The size difference was too great. This was a war between ants and elephants; even if the ants were venomous, they would be crushed before they could kill the elephant.
Shen Qingqiu forced herself to calm down. She activated [Overclocking Vision], her gaze frantically scanning the "platform" beneath her feet.
She had landed too hastily to examine it closely.
Now, looking closely, this wasn't the rooftop platform of any building.
It was clearly a massive, broad…shoulder.
Following this metal shoulder downwards, there was a chest buried deep in the mud. On the other side of the shoulder, where a head should have been, lay nothing but a massive, sealed, circular hatch.
"Xingtian wields his axe and shield, his fierce will ever endures." This ancient poem suddenly flashed through Shen Qingqiu's mind.
This was an ancient giant without a head.
A god-level mecha named **"Xingtian"**, slumbering for ten thousand years.
Shen Qingqiu's eyes instantly turned fanatical. Ignoring the collapsing rubble around her, she stumbled towards the sealed hatch.
"Since you have no head, then I'll be your head!"
She stretched out her hand, her palm pressed against the hatch, which was covered in barnacles and rust.
[System Access…]
[Warning: Energy depleted. Biometric authentication failed.]
[Warning: Pilot neural synchronization requirement: S-level.]
"Nonsense." Shen Qingqiu's golden pupils flared, a golden stream of data flowing like magma.
"I'm the administrator. Open it!"
She bypassed biometric authentication, brute-forcing the lock's logic using low-level permissions.
Click—hiss—
With a muffled sound of pressure release, the hatch, sealed for millennia, slowly opened a crack. A blast of stale, oily air rushed in.
Shen Qingqiu slipped inside.
The cockpit was dry, but thick with dust.
In the center was a circular control panel, surrounded by thousands of faded crystal runes—control keys from the previous era.
Shen Qingqiu stood before the control panel, her hands flying across the runes.
"Energy system…offline."
"Weapon system…70% damage rate."
"Power core…vacant."
This mech was an empty shell. It had no "heart."
The sounds of battle outside grew increasingly fierce. Seventeen was using her body to withstand the monster's bites, preventing the dragon from getting closer.
Shen Qingqiu's heart was bleeding.
She needed a heart. A heart strong enough, insane enough, and absolutely trusting of her.
"Seventeen!" She called out through the communication channel of the water-repelling pearl (a shortwave connection she had just hastily set up) to the figure battling through the sea.
"Come back!"
"I need to borrow your body!"
In the deep sea, Seventeen, preparing to launch a suicidal attack, paused.
He didn't ask why.
Not even a moment's hesitation.
He glanced one last time at the roaring dragon, a hint of contempt flashing in its red electronic eyes. Then, he turned, transforming into a streak of light, and rushed into the newly opened hatch without hesitation.
With a "bang."
Seventeen crashed into the cockpit, soaking wet, his black hair plastered to his pale cheeks, his golden right arm still sizzling, radiating a terrifying heat.
"Qingqiu..."
He was about to say something when Shen Qingqiu grabbed him and pressed him into the recessed seat in the center of the cockpit.
"Don't move. Close your eyes." Shen Qingqiu's voice was urgent and trembling.
She straddled his lap, cupping his face in her hands, her forehead pressed tightly against his.
It was an extremely ambiguous, yet extremely sacred, position.
"Seventeen, this body is too big, I can't move it alone."
"I need to connect my consciousness to your neural network."
"We need to... merge into one." Seventeen's pupils contracted slightly.
Merge into one?
Before he could react, Shen Qingqiu had already activated [Logic Reconstruction].
Buzz—!!!
Countless golden rays burst forth from Shen Qingqiu's body, like living vines, instantly burrowing into Seventeen's brow, spine, and limbs.
Pain.
Not physical pain, but a swollen sensation as if his soul had been forcibly opened and filled by another soul.
Seventeen felt his vision change.
He no longer saw with his eyes, but with an omniscient perspective.
He sensed Shen Qingqiu's emotions—her anxiety, her anger, her heartache for him, and the deep, unyielding love hidden beneath her rationality.
[Neural Synchronization Rate: 40%...80%...100%!]
[Breaking the Critical Threshold! Synchronization Rate: 400%!]
Their heartbeats overlapped at that moment.
Thump.
This wasn't just the sound of heartbeats.
It was the sound of the entire "Xingtian" mech restarting.
On the seabed, the once lifeless steel mountain suddenly trembled.
The silt and rocks covering the mech's surface began to peel away, revealing the dark red armor beneath, resembling dried blood.
"Energy Core Access: Seventeen."
"Fire Control System Access: Shen Qingqiu."
Inside the cockpit, the previously dim crystal runes instantly lit up, the burst of light illuminating the two figures like gods.
Seventeen opened his eyes.
At this moment, he felt he was no longer that broken weapon.
His hands transformed into the massive steel arms of this hundred-foot-tall mech; his eyes became the mech's searchlights, capable of piercing the abyss.
And Shen Qingqiu resided within his "brain."
She was his reason, his direction, his soul.
"Are you ready, my general?"
Shen Qingqiu's voice echoed in his mind (deep within his soul), carrying a chilling excitement.
Seventeen's lips curled into a wild, arrogant smile.
He raised his intact left hand and clenched it in the air.
"Fight."
...Outside the deep sea.
The mechanical dragon was preparing to deliver the final blow to the tiny insect hiding in its "shell."
It opened its jaws, large enough to swallow a whale, a destructive blue sphere of light brewing deep within its throat.
Just then.
A hand reached out.
It was a rusty, yet enormous steel hand, large enough to blot out the sky.
It gripped the dragon's throat!
Snap!
A deafening, metallic clang echoed across the seabed.
The dragon's lantern-like eyes widened in terror. Before it could even struggle, it was abruptly lifted from the water by a gigantic hand.
A thunderous roar—the seabed silt churned.
The headless giant, slumbering for millennia, slowly straightened its body.
It had no head, but two enormous red searchlights illuminated its chest—its "eyes."
At its navel, the armor cracked open, revealing a rotating turbine within—its "mouth."
"Xingtian…awaken." An ancient, deep, mechanical synthesized voice, amplified by the vibrations of the seawater, reverberated throughout the entire Guixu Secret Realm.
Inside the cockpit, Seventeen, following the mecha's movements, violently swung her right arm.
"Golden Vulcan—Thousandfold Amplification!" Shen Qingqiu rapidly coded the output within her consciousness network. She perfectly mapped the "Golden" attribute of Seventeen's right arm onto the mecha's right arm.
The rusty right arm of the mecha instantly turned crimson.
That was the temperature of magma.
In this deep sea, in this frigid depths.
The Xingtian mecha raised its burning fist.
BOOM—!!!
One punch.
A simple punch.
No fancy techniques, only absolute power and absolute heat.
The seawater instantly vaporized, forming a massive vacuum.
That punch slammed heavily into the dragon's head.
Like a hammer smashing a watermelon.
The mechanical dragon's indestructible alloy skull shattered into countless parts under that punch.
Its massive body convulsed violently a few times, the lights in its eyes went out, and it slumped down limply like a dead snake.
Instant kill.
This was a weapon of war from the previous era, a dimensional reduction attack on the "mass-produced monsters" of this era.
The seabed returned to deathly silence.
Only the headless giant remained, standing in the darkness, the red light on its right arm gradually fading, turning into wisps of white smoke.
Inside the cockpit.
Shen Qingqiu gasped for breath, her entire body drenched in sweat.
This extremely intense neural synchronization had placed an immense strain on her mental state.
She remained straddling Seventeen's lap, her hands limply resting on his shoulders, her forehead against his chin.
"It's over..." she smiled weakly.
Seventeen didn't speak.
His golden right arm (now cool) gently encircled her waist, making her more comfortable.
That feeling of "becoming one" was still there.
He could feel her exhaustion, and he could feel the dependence she felt on him.
This feeling... was wonderful.
So wonderful that he even felt a little greedy for this cold, steel shell.
"Qingqiu," Seventeen suddenly spoke, his voice low, with a strange hoarseness.
"Hmm?"
"Just now... we were inside its 'heart'." Seventeen pointed to the surroundings of the cockpit. "It has no head; it sees the way with its heart."
"I also want to... put you inside."
He took Shen Qingqiu's hand and pressed it to the location of his simulated heart.
"Put you inside my core code."
"Be my pilot."
"Never... log off."
Shen Qingqiu looked up at him.
In the narrow, dimly lit cockpit, the faint light of the crystal runes illuminated their faces.
This was probably the most hardcore love confession in the world.
He was inviting her to become the master of his soul.
"Silly girl."
Shen Qingqiu's eyes were a little moist. She leaned in and kissed his red electronic prosthetic eye.
"I've been inside for a long time."
"And I'm the administrator with the highest privileges."
"Without my permission, you're not allowed to be formatted in this life or the next."
Seventeen's lips curled into a very faint smile.
He closed his eyes, and within the steel heart of this abyssal sea, he embraced his god tightly.
Outside the window, the luminous jellyfish gathered once more, dancing around the ancient mech.
It was as if they were paying homage to past glories, or blessing newborn love.
What awakened Xingtian was not divine power, but the human heart.
The old fire of the deep sea burns not for destruction, but only to illuminate your path home.