Mechanical Beasts（4）

Lin Yi tucked the black box back into his chest pocket and scanned his surroundings. The area remained a desolate wasteland, with the skeletal remains of buildings casting eerie shadows under the dim sky. He glanced at his wristband and saw that his exploration had only taken 20 minutes so far, leaving him with nearly an hour and a half on the countdown.

"Still enough time," he murmured.

Using the maps he had seen in reality, Lin Yi memorized the general directions. He moved swiftly through the ruins, weaving past broken walls and debris, heading toward the data tower he remembered. A faint burnt smell lingered in the air, and in the distance, sporadic metal clanging noises sent a chill up his spine.

As he passed a charred section of wreckage, a strange metallic scraping sound came from up ahead. Lin Yi immediately stopped, his senses on high alert.

In the dim light, he spotted a vague silhouette shifting within the shadows. Focusing his gaze, he realized it was a mechanical beast—a grotesque construct of shattered metal plates, its four limbs ending in sharp mechanical claws. Exposed wires twisted chaotically around its body, making it look like a broken automaton hastily reassembled into a monstrous form.

The sight instantly reminded Lin Yi of East Country's combat robots. He had seen similar models in the Guardian Squad's documentary archives—originally designed as humanoid machines, but now grotesquely stretched into an unnatural beast-like shape. Its head drooped slightly, a single red eye flickering ominously, while its joints clicked with each subtle movement.

"What happened here?" Lin Yi held his breath, his mind racing. These machines clearly belonged to East Country once, but something had twisted them into these nightmarish forms.

He carefully planned to sneak past the mechanical beast, but as he stepped forward, his foot pressed down on a loose metal fragment.

Clang!

The beast's red eye instantly flared, its head snapping toward him. A guttural metallic growl rumbled from its core, and in the next second, it lurched forward, charging straight at him!

"Shit!" Lin Yi cursed and turned to run.

The mechanical beast moved with terrifying speed, its metal limbs pounding against the debris-covered ground, each step sounding like an execution drum, steadily closing the distance. Lin Yi relied on his memory of the area, sprinting towards a more open section of the ruins, hoping to shake it off.

His rapid footsteps echoed against the cracked stone, while the mechanical monstrosity's relentless pursuit filled the air with a deafening clamor. The glowing red eye bore into his back like a scorching laser, the intensity of its gaze making his pulse quicken.

"Dammit!" Lin Yi clenched his jaw, frantically analyzing escape routes. However, the ruins provided little cover—every collapsed wall and pile of rubble was a new obstacle in his way. He tried to swerve around a pile of twisted metal beams, but a protruding iron rod caught his ankle.

Thud! He tumbled forward, scraping his knee against jagged stones. Blood seeped through his pants, but he had no time for pain. Rolling onto his back, he looked up—just in time to see a cold metal claw descending upon him.

"Clack!"

The mechanical beast leapt, landing just inches in front of him. Its razor-sharp claws raised high, the red glow in its eye intensifying as if scanning him, sealing off any chance of escape.

Lin Yi froze. Time seemed to stop.

"Kacha!" The claw swung down.

Pain exploded through his body. Darkness swallowed everything.

----------

Lin Yi gasped as he jolted awake. His vision refocused, and the numbers on his wristband's screen were still there:

01:00:32.

"...No way." His brows furrowed.

In his memory, the timer had started at two hours when he first entered the ruins. Now, despite "dying," it hadn't reset.

A chilling realization crept up his spine. This meant that he didn't have unlimited retries. Every failure permanently reduced his available time.

"No room for mistakes," he muttered, forcing himself to remain calm. He stole one last glance at the black box but decided to leave it for now—there wasn't enough time to analyze it. Instead, he turned towards the southeast, recalling that it might lead toward an old residential district.

Moving swiftly, Lin Yi navigated through the increasingly densely packed wreckage. A strange damp, decayed smell filled the air—evidence of a long-abandoned sector. As he advanced deeper, scattered signs of the past emerged: a toppled road sign, a weathered billboard, an overturned small vehicle.

"This place… used to be a community," Lin Yi murmured.

Despite the chaos, he could imagine the past—children playing, families gathering. But now, only silence remained.

But he had no time for nostalgia.

His sharp instincts picked up an anomaly—a faint clinking noise from the wreckage ahead, like metal brushing against metal.

"Another mechanical beast?" He instinctively took a step back, scanning the surroundings.

Nothing.

Still, he moved cautiously forward, each step calculated. The narrow alleyway ahead was littered with old furniture and debris, but he could faintly see a more open area at the other end.

After brief hesitation, Lin Yi stepped into the alley.

At that exact moment, a mechanical whirring sound activated above him.

His head snapped up—mounted atop the wreckage, a small surveillance drone powered up, its red sensor light flickering as it scanned his location.

"Shit!" Lin Yi cursed and quickly darted into the shadows, but it was too late.

The red beam swept across him once, then shut off for a second.

Then flickered back on—this time, sweeping deeper into the alley, as if searching for something.

Lin Yi held his breath, fists clenched, his body tense with anticipation.

The silence was oppressive.

He could feel it—something was coming.