Chapter 33
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 33: Show Yourself, Earth Bug!
At eleven o’clock at midnight, lights quietly illuminated an empty storage room. The steel-structured warehouse, measuring nearly one thousand square meters and ten meters high, lacked any supporting pillars and was typically used as a maintenance hangar. A round metal plate above the big door bore a blue background with white Arabic numeral “5.” This camp, nestled in the mountains, had over a dozen similar hangars, used for maintenance and storage purposes.
More than twenty energy-saving mining lights lit up this unusually cold maintenance hangar, where not a single aircraft was present. Instead, various tool benches and maintenance equipment lined the walls.
The hangar door was tightly closed, with all windows shut, and thick canvas curtains drawn to prevent any light from escaping outside. To gain access to this warehouse, Lin Mo had gone to great lengths, pretending to study aircraft structures, assisting technicians, and showing great interest in tinkering with various parts. The mechanics accepted this eager pilot, who wanted to learn more about the aircraft components, which they thought was not a bad thing.
In truth, Lin Mo held a tremendous interest in aircraft structures, and this provided him an opportunity to utilize this storage room filled with discarded parts. However, tonight, this hangar had a special purpose for Lin Mo, and he had made meticulous preparations throughout the day.
Ever since the last incident where the metal egg, which had accompanied Lin Mo into this world, transformed into a metal beast, revealing its true identity as his contracted mount, the gold giant dragon Gold Coin, which nearly tore him apart, Lin Mo had become cautious. Thankfully, the metal egg had inexplicably changed back at a critical moment, allowing Lin Mo to escape. Since then, he had not dared let this dangerous metal egg consume any metal, fearing a repeat of that perilous event.
Yet, Lin Mo did not plan to discard this ticking time bomb. Instead, his stubborn nature led him to continue scheming to tame the disobedient gold giant dragon. Though he found himself in this unexpected world, Lin Mo hadn’t left empty-handed. Drawing on the knowledge of physics he had learned here, he painstakingly prepared for this encounter.
The metal egg lay pathetically bound with high-strength nylon ropes, transformed into a colossal ball of thread, growing over a hundred times its size, resembling a gasoline barrel. It barely revealed a tiny portion of its exterior. To add to the situation, the ball of thread was coated with powerful universal glue, ensuring that none of the bindings contained any metal; all the materials were chemical components Lin Mo had scavenged from the base.
Pulling out a folding chair, Lin Mo tossed some metal pieces he had found among the piles of scrap into the enormous tangled mass that was the metal egg. As usual, any metal that touched the metal egg seemed to be attracted, and the visible part of the ball captured and greedily devoured any metal that came close as if it were a black hole, causing those components to shrink and vanish instantly.
Finding these metals posed little challenge; being at the air force base offered great convenience. There were numerous derelict aircraft exposed to the elements, stripped for parts by newly appointed mechanics learning the trade, while some planes would occasionally be transported for recycling at specified refineries after important components had been removed.
Not to mention the spent bullet casings abundant and difficult to clean up at the shooting range; despite the copper shortage in China, the iron casings were easily collected.
Routine maintenance and replacements meant that discarded metal pieces were scattered everywhere. The closed nature of the base allowed for relatively relaxed management of such items—military secrets prevented them from being sold as scrap readily. Furthermore, the nearest recycling station lay over a hundred kilometers away from the base, making it easy for Lin Mo to gather materials without worry.
Much of the metal was lightweight alloys, but there was also ample special alloy components, particularly titanium alloy parts, commonly referred to as magic silver in Lin Mo’s world, which were not hard to obtain.
Lin Mo continued to leisurely toss metals toward the egg, not knowing how much was required to reactivate it, but he had gathered more discarded metal than before. The metal egg began to gleam, and its absorption rate increased.
Just as he had experienced previously, quantity could lead to qualitative change. After absorbing a gearbox component the size of a human head, the metal egg seemed to come alive, cracks appearing on its surface as if it wanted to expand. However, it was still thoroughly bound by the heavy nylon ropes and strong glue.
The nylon ropes, woven from countless thin strands, could sustain tons of weight, and the tightly wound bundle firmly prevented the metal egg from expanding. The empty room echoed with squeaking sounds, reminiscent of a large rat.
“Morin! You despicable creature, let me go!” An unsettling roar emanated from the core of the metal egg, expressing the fury of Gold Coin, the gold giant dragon.
“Gold Coin! You truly have awakened!” Lin Mo gently placed the dragon flute to his lips and began to play a soft melody.
“No, no!” Upon hearing the strange and familiar tune, the metal egg struggled violently, shaking the nylon bundle around it, but it remained futile.
After the eerie melody played once without effect, Lin Mo frowned. Normally, he would summon a spatial magic array to absorb Gold Coin, but the flute showed no reaction to the contract. Thinking he had grown rusty from lack of practice, he played the melody again, but it was still useless. The same result—a futile endeavor.
Was it possible for the dragon flute to lose its effectiveness? Lin Mo had not anticipated such an accident. Doubtful yet persistent, he blew again and again.
The metal egg, transformed from Gold Coin, sensed the unusual situation, shifting from fear and rage to confusion. Then, it broke into wild laughter: “Hahaha, has the Dragon God forsaken you? Morin, the dragon flute has failed! You can’t do anything to me now! I won’t be imprisoned in that Contract Space to enjoy eternal slumber again! Let me think about how to eliminate you—is it better to slice you up or smash you into pulp? No, no, perhaps I’d enjoy peeling your flesh from your bones bit by bit.”
Gold Coin’s tone dripped with sarcasm and menace, as the bloodthirsty and murderous instincts, suppressed for so long, emerged. The temperature in the warehouse seemed to drop sharply, chilling the air to the bone.
As Lin Mo pondered the flute’s loss of power, an unexpected change occurred—the metal egg suddenly softened and reformed like a droplet of water, squeezing out of a small opening in the nylon ball. Once free from the threads, it rapidly expanded, transforming into a gold giant dragon nearly the height of an adult. Lin Mo instantly recognized Gold Coin, now significantly smaller than in the other world—no longer a giant dragon, just a metal dragon.
“Morin, you said your life is already mine; are you ready?” The metal dragon waved its sharp claws, each about a foot long, easily cutting through the tightly wound nylon ropes into countless fragments.
Confronted with this metal dragon, its red eyes gleaming with killing intent, Lin Mo fearlessly met Gold Coin’s gaze as he set down the dragon flute and firmly stated, “Don’t get too happy yet!” He slightly elevated one foot to stomp down.
“What?” Gold Coin thought he had misheard; this fool dared to act tough even when facing death. Stunned, it hadn’t registered the next moment as its body suddenly felt weightless, involuntarily rising into the air.
Clang! Before Gold Coin could react, it was firmly stuck to a round disk that sat atop a solid, unknown exterior. Below this surface emanated a powerful, invisible force of attraction.
This was not magic but a powerful lifting electromagnet! The large and fully operational suction cup hung in the air, its magnetic force unparalleled!
The metal electromagnetic suction cup had thick layers of composite plastic-steel armor affixed to it, specifically designed to safeguard pilots within the aircraft cockpit, even capable of withstanding bullets from large-caliber rifles.
This world boasted advanced metallic materials, and its non-metallic materials were equally impressive; Lin Mo had truly thought things through.
Gold Coin made no hesitation to struggle desperately, yet no matter how it twisted and turned, its limbs and sharp claws were firmly held by the powerful magnetic field, rendering it immobile.
