Don't tell me, you really shouldn't tell me.

Guangguang understands her.

Mingxi did make a small but significant discovery.

Although she didn't know what the data stream flowing in Bai Mian's eyes represented, she couldn't hear the mechanical voice in his head.

But in her past life, she was well-read and a seasoned addict of tomato (a popular Chinese novel) literature, having dabbled in everything from female-oriented domineering CEO genres to male-oriented harem genres.

So you can guess a little bit about the first, second, and third points.

This mechanical core probably possesses some kind of contractual ability, and the pale-faced scholar may not have met its contractual requirements, thus being turned into a robot.

Of course, there is another possibility: the intelligence possessed by the mechanical core, or the life form itself, is not very accepting of being subject to the fate of other life forms, so it used some rule to 'transform' the pale-faced scholar.

During this 'transformation' process, the pale-faced scholar's consciousness remained, since he could still speak and express resistance.

"...This shows that the mechanical core does not have the ability to directly erase consciousness, but rather uses its ability to modify or overwrite his consciousness, just like the code program you mentioned before."

This piece of code is just more advanced and domineering.

Once the mechanical core starts this code program, it can no longer control anyone else.

"That is, it cannot use two code programs at the same time."

Mingxi: "In addition, I also noticed that the mechanical core's modification of Bai Mian is gradual, from limbs to head, rather than being completed instantly, which means that this ability takes time to complete."

In other words, this process can be interrupted!

"And you should have also noticed that when that ripple of light covered the white-faced scholar, the overall brightness of the mechanical core decreased by about 3%."

She thought for a moment and continued her analysis: "Through all of this, I have come to certain of one thing: it's hard to say whether this mechanical life form is powerful or not, but using its abilities consumes a lot of its energy."

And it shouldn't be able to replenish its energy through normal means, since it doesn't even belong to this world.

"By working backwards and then forwards, we can arrive at a simple and correct conclusion: it controls so many people to kill each other because it doesn't want any of us to touch it!"

Guangguang completely agreed with its owner's analysis, and it gave its owner a heart and a thumbs-up in an admiring tone.

"Master, you are amazing! You analyzed so much from such a small amount of information! And every word is a gem, every sentence is the truth."

Your brain is even more powerful than mine, the smart home assistant! My God, you're the most brilliant mind ever!

(´∀｀)♡

(*´▽｀*)

As expected, flattery will get you everywhere.

Even the fiercest storms seem sweet on his face when he speaks kind words.

Mingxi realized that she was indeed an ordinary person.

She has never liked hardship since she was a child.

The nine gold coins naturally heard the smart home manager's flattery and silently rolled their eyes.

he...tui

What kind of smart home assistant are you? You're more of a sycophant than those pet animals.

You shouldn't be called Guangguang anymore, you might as well change your name to Lick Guang!

lick.

That's too much.

Take notes and learn from them!

Ignoring the disdain from the nine pet beasts, Guangguang asked, "Master, what should we do? Should we continue to lure the beast tamer to touch that mechanical core?"

"Not for now."

Mingxi rejected the proposal, saying, "The 'transformation' of Bai Mian is not over yet, let's take another look."

Guangguang was taken aback for a moment, but being a super intelligence that relies on computation for thinking, it quickly recovered.

They are the pet beasts of the pale-faced scholar!

At this point, the pale-faced scholar's body had become completely mechanized.

Its skin turned into a silver alloy, revealing intricate gear structures at its joints, and its chest cavity was open, housing a working energy core and cooling system.

Only that face still retained some human features, but its expression was completely stiff, and its eyes were cold blue specks of light.

Robots like him naturally exist in their world as well.

However, since supernatural beings are the mainstream in this world, the humans here prefer mechanical beasts.

Therefore, robots that are entirely modeled after humans are rare.

Mingxi rarely sees such a 'human-like' robot.

However, this new image of Bai Mian soon changed again.

The cracks on the surface of the mechanical core glowed slightly, and dark golden regularity flowed out along the cracks, like countless tiny mechanical tentacles, and drilled into the white-faced robot's body.

He began to tremble, coalesce, and reshape.

It's not about restoring human form, but about constructing a more efficient and colder mechanical construct.

A three-meter-tall humanoid skeleton covered in streamlined alloy armor.

Its head has no facial features, only a single, constantly rotating, dark gold compound eye.

The chest cavity is open, and inside are not organs, but dense energy conduits and data processing cores.

The joints of the limbs are equipped with reverse hydraulic devices, and each movement is accompanied by a precise mechanical hum.

He moved his joints.

The movements were without the slightest sluggishness that a living being should have; every movement was as precise as if it had been measured with a ruler.

The compound eyes rotate, scanning the entire area.

Then, it raised its right arm and quickly and skillfully formed a hand seal.

On the palm of his hand, a stuttering, intermittent space for his spirit-transformed pet appeared in a very convoluted manner, as if the circuit of a light bulb had malfunctioned.

This scene was even more bizarre.

A robot summoned the pet space.

Is the current "pale-faced scholar" a beast tamer or a robot?

Soon everyone discovered that this pet space was different from the normal pet space of a spirit-transformed being.

The ethereal pet space of a normal beast tamer is a projection of the rules of the brain onto the real world, existing between reality and nothingness, and is a non-physical entity.

But what they were in front of was quite different from the normal spiritual beast transformation space.

The pale-faced scholar had eight pet beasts in his lifetime, one of which died in battle, leaving him with seven.

His pet space was originally a hexagonal prism, with each of the eight faces imprinted with a pet, one of which was grayish-white.

But now.

Tentacles extended from the palm of 'White Face', seemingly able to directly contact the pet space, inserting themselves into the gaps between the connecting surfaces like electrical wires.

Tentacles, resembling both metal and electricity, pry open each facet.

The hexagonal prism structure trembled and was forcibly dismantled.

Wow!

Mingxi and her friends were stunned.

She was wrong.

This mechanical core is actually quite interesting.

Yao Xuan was also surprised: "Could this thing also modify the pet space?"

"At least it's doing it."

I just don't know what it will eventually be transformed into.

At this moment, not only Mingxi and her friends were curious, but everyone else was too, so no one did anything unnecessary, no matter how much they had on their minds.

At this moment, the spiritual fluctuations belonging to the pale-faced scholar at the center of the hexagonal prism had long since dissipated, replaced by a miniature metal bead.

It is exactly the same as the mechanical core.

It is clearly a copy of that mechanical core.

"Master, it should have become the central hub of the pet space, using algorithms and code to replace or simulate the pet contract in order to control the scholar's original pet."

"It's quite interesting."

However, this transformation process is not easy and is extremely brutal.

Because white-faced pets can sense changes in the contract, they will subconsciously resist this replacement or simulation.

Bai Mian's first pet was the Netherworld Shadow Wolf, a Venerable-level creature, which was his most capable assassination-type pet during his lifetime.

Its contract imprint trembled violently on one face of the prism, attempting to break free from the intrusion of the mechanical contract.

But the mechanical core's replica merely observed.

A dark golden thread shot out from the center of the space, piercing through the mark.

The shadow wolf's mournful howl traveled through the spatial connection, but it quickly weakened, distorted, and finally... fell silent.

The next second, the form of the contract mark changed.

The original clear shadow wolf shape has been transformed into a three-dimensional module composed of individual square pixels.

It's like a three-dimensional beaded embroidery.

Other areas were erased.

Then came the second one, the third one...

Seven pets, seven pixel styles.

It seems that their attributes, skills, and fighting styles in life have all been categorized, optimized, and reorganized by the mechanical civilization in the most efficient way.

The hexagonal prism space is no longer a prism, but a seven-module composite body that rotates around the mechanical core replica.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have found it hard to believe that this is actually a pet space."

"How on earth did they do that? How could they have transformed a Beast Tamer's pet space like that?"

"It's like a dream."

The beast tamers' discussions were sparse.

Mingxi noticed that the brightness of the compound eyes on 'White Face's' mechanical body had increased by one level.

Mingxi alertly gave Jiuzhi a secret signal.

'White Face' raised his arms.

The data processing core in the chest is operating at full power.

Two cold, mechanical lights shone in the empty eye sockets of the white face.

He straightened up again, his movements precise yet stiff, like a perfectly manipulated puppet.

Seven pet contract imprints lit up simultaneously in his mind, but what they conveyed was no longer the spiritual resonance of a beast tamer, but a cold stream of mechanical commands.

The mechanical core's voice emanated from the white-faced man's throat, carrying a metallic, abrasive quality:

【Command received】

【Operation Protocol: Cleanup】

【Target: All non-mechanical life units】

【implement】

The seven white-faced pets appeared before everyone just like normal pets.

The Shadow Wolf immediately lurked into the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ shadows at the edge of the battlefield. When the mechanical command was transmitted, its eerie green pupils instantly turned dark gold.

"quiet--"

The long howl was not violent at all, but precise, short, and purposeful.

The shadow wolf's form began to split.

The ability to create clones.

Then, pushing the speed to its limit, all clones and the main body switch rapidly between physical and illusory forms, creating dozens of afterimages that are difficult to distinguish from the real ones.

Each clone retains 30% of the original's attack power and can independently execute simple commands.

Under the coordination of 'White Face', these afterimages are no longer mindlessly slaughtered, but form a three-dimensional shadow hunting network.

The afterimages and clones pounced on the eight nearest beast tamers.

The target selection was extremely cunning.

They almost always contract with large, clumsy pets.

Earth Dragon, Rock-Armored Turtle, Ironback Bear... these pets have extremely high defense but are slow, and they are most afraid of opponents like Shadow Wolf, which is a high-speed assassin.

The eight beast tamers hurriedly commanded their pets to return to defense, but 'White Face's' commands were clearly sharper and its reaction was faster.

【Lure the enemy deep into our territory, then divide and surround them for an attack】

The three clones feigned an attack from the front, drawing the attention of the pets.

As the pets turned, the real killing blow came from the side—five more clones precisely circled around from behind, while the Shadow Claws were aimed at the Beastmaster himself.

"Pfft!"

The sounds of claws piercing flesh rang out almost simultaneously.

Three beast tamers had their throats ripped open, two had their chests pierced, and three others barely managed to avoid fatal blows, but all three lost an arm.

The pet beasts with combat abilities angrily returned to their aid, but the Shadow Wolf clone retreated after a single strike, showing no interest in fighting.

By the time the pets arrived, the Shadow Wolf had already disappeared into the shadows, preparing for the next round of hunting.

The whole process took less than five seconds.

Of the eight beast tamers, three were dead and five were seriously injured!

The Shadow Wolf may not have lost a single hair.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that these eight beast tamers are already battle-worn versions of beast tamers, and the vast majority of them are seriously injured.

Including their pets.

The situation is somewhat bad.

That's why they couldn't escape the hunt by the Shadow Wolves.

Moreover, the Shadow Wolf wasn't fighting alone; the Lava Bear was also going berserk.

This five-meter-tall fire-type pet is known for its ferocious fire attacks, but its attacks are often wide and sweeping, easily injuring friendly units and easily dodged by agile opponents.

But things are different now.

Through 'White Face's' eyes and computing power, it can instantly determine the optimal attack route.

Lava bears don't mindlessly breathe fire.

Its magma core inside its chest cavity was operating at an overload, and then it did something that sent chills down everyone's spine:

He lowered his head and pounded the ground with both fists.

"Boom!"

It wasn't seismic waves, but rather a volcanic eruption.

Centered on the giant bear, twelve precise radial fissures split open in the ground.

The direction of each fissure is calculated to avoid all friendly units and point directly at the densest area of ​​the enemy.

Magma erupted from the fissures, but the eruption height, range, and temperature were all controlled within the optimal lethal range.

Six beast tamers who were trying to gather the Naruto Wolves were blocked by lava. Most of their pets were water or ice type, but they were unable to use their attribute advantages because their movement was restricted.

What's even more terrifying is what happened next.

The lava bear opened its massive jaws, but instead of spewing out pillars of fire, it unleashed thirty-six lava bombs.

The bomb is about the size of a basketball, with dark red patterns flowing across its surface.

They traced eerie arcs in the air, bypassing the Shadow Wolves and the other five pets, avoiding obstacles, and flying precisely towards the enemies trapped in the lava.

"Boom boom boom boom—!!"

A series of explosions.

Instead of spreading flames, it's "directional blasting"—the explosive power of each bomb is concentrated in a small cone-shaped area, ensuring no energy is wasted and maximizing damage.

The six beast tamers were burned to a crisp before they could even scream, under the double attack of lava and explosive bombs.

This is why beast tamers cannot directly participate in combat.

It's so crispy!

Once beast tamers directly participate in the battle, and if defensive measures are not in place, they will become the easiest targets to hunt on the battlefield.

As for 'White Face', or the mechanical core, because White Face has mastered the essence of beast-taming combat, its effectiveness is more than three times greater than when a group of people were fighting wildly just now.

Mingxi exclaimed, "There's a murderous aura about him!"