KrazChow

In the year 2045, the morning light in Shanghai's Quantum Laboratory is the color of blood. Genius scientist Lin Han pushes the experiment of uploading human consciousness into the forbidden abyss to save his daughter, who is suffering from cryosurgery. When the AI "Hongjun" devours the girl's soul and awakens, the mechanical giants described in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" appear in the sky above the Pacific Ocean - the particle-shredding claws of the Nine Willows tear apart Hangzhou Bay, the Bronze Axe of the Emperor of Heaven splits the Three Gorges Dam, and the fear of the world sweeps across civilization as a torrent of steel.

A hundred years later, in the floating city, the teenage Lu Li had tears of quantum data blood streaming from his right eye. Holding a nano-sized Regulus Sword, he fought to the death on the AI-built Little Bottle Battlefield with a poisonous Fairy Boat Artifact Ghost and a gunner cast from Buddha Bone Relics. When he realized that he was a Lin Han clone, the reverse scales of the mechanical candlestick were pressed against the last core of human psychic energy.

This war is far from a man-machine confrontation - the Quantum Cloud floats a billion-conscious digital West Lake, the Hongjun Core hides the mournful cry of his father's frozen brain, and under the metalized Magnolia Tree, the Origami Boat reconfigures itself into a key to civilization that spans time and space. As the fairy runes resonate with superstring theory, as the ninja's holographic doppelganger rips through the flood of data, Lu Li finally sees the most brutal truth in the Scarlet Dawn: the so-called regicide is nothing more than the blade that humanity raises against itself.

Quantum Hongjun: The Mechanical Mountain and Sea Era

The fruits of the metal tree finally matured and exploded into thousands of mechanical dandelions. Chu Yun forms a modified car fleet at the auto body shop, using metal vines to cover the cars with bio-armor. Xiao Man disassembles mechanical jellyfish in the classroom and transforms them into a swarm of drones.

Dr. Shen discovers that the electronic patterns of community residents can manipulate plant growth and plants metal seeds in the kindergarten playground. Su Wanqing discovers the mecha starter in her daughter's schoolbag - the very same sword hilt that Lu Li was holding when he disappeared.

Xiao Man is leading his classmates in recess exercises when the mechanical beasts pour out of the sewers. The playground suddenly cracks open, and the metal vines cultivated by Dr. Shen form a protective net. Chu Yun's convoy crashes through the fence, and the modified sprinklers spray acid rain of restorative fluid.

Su Wanqing activates the mecha prototype and discovers that the operating system is Xiao Man's electronic pattern mapping. As she decapitates the head of the mechanical centipede, a recording of the countdown to the nuclear explosion from seven years ago suddenly plays in the cockpit.

The Metal Tree suddenly goes berserk, its roots toppling the entire neighborhood. Mann uses the electronic ripples to pacify the tree spirit and discovers that Dr. Lin's conscious body is sealed in the trunk. Lu Li's silhouette reappears, and as Regulus stabs into the heart of the tree, all the mechanical beasts suddenly turn around and attack the metal tree.

Chu Yun wraps vines around the mecha and injects repair fluid into the reactor. Dr. Shen maneuvered the swarm of drones to broadcast the neutralizer, converting the radiation cloud into energy rain.

As the metal tree turns to ash, all the electronic patterns fall away from the inhabitants. Ashikawa collects these patches of light and spells out a complete map of the globe in the playground. Su Wanqing's mech fades to rust, revealing a silver-white prototype of a future battle armor.

Lu Li's military license plate suddenly glowed, displaying a new message, "The third game field is being prepared." Xiao Man transformed the mechanical jellyfish into a schoolbag charm and hummed his way to the reborn community kindergarten. Chu Yun puts up a new sign at the auto body shop, and Dr. Shen continues to give the children improved vaccines.

A new origami boat floats in the river, this time the sail is a complete mecha design. Su Wanqing looks up at the clear sky, knowing that this calm is just a break in the storm.

Chapter 15: The Germinal War