The Creators: From Night City

"did not expect."

Laura continued, "I didn't expect that they were afraid that after you turned into Himiko, you might still retain your original memories and cause trouble for them again, right?"

Samantha shuddered again after hearing Laura's words. The feeling of being used as a vessel for possession was horrifying just thinking about it.

"This is horrible, Laura, it's crazy."

"I never thought about the possibility that one day I would no longer be myself, but a completely stranger. The thought of this gives me goosebumps."

Laura put her arm around her classmate's shoulders and comforted him, "Don't worry, we won't let this happen."

Thanks to Jiang Bing's massacre just now, most of the X cultists in the fortress were almost cleared out. The three of them had a smooth journey, turned several corners along the passage, and came to a spacious tomb chamber.

The tomb was interconnected. Laura was about to ask Samantha about the next route, but she followed Jiang Bing's gaze and was attracted by the mural on the ceiling of the tomb.

These ancient histories always have a special appeal to Laura.

Looking up, Laura quickly discerned what the mural was telling.

"This records that the ancient Yamatai craftsmen were building a huge mausoleum."

On the mural, countless craftsmen are excavating the mountain and building an underground mausoleum. Jiang Bing is also very familiar with the location of the mausoleum, which is in the belly of the mountain where the lost ancient city is located.

Laura carefully examined the massive undertaking on the mural and made her own judgment.

"The tomb built in the mural should be Himiko's tomb."

"But why were so many metal supports placed when building the tomb? Do they need to support the mountain?"

Jiang Bing was also very interested in the part of the mural that Laura mentioned. His intuition told him that Himiko must have hidden many secrets in her tomb.

"A man who knew he wouldn't die, yet he conscripted so many laborers and craftsmen and embarked on such a massive project, just to build a tomb for himself?"

Laura was also very curious about this, but it was obvious that a large part of her interest was in the tomb itself.

She excitedly pointed at the dent in the center of the tomb and told the two of them her guess.

"This should be where the tomb owner's coffin was placed, but unfortunately, it must have been moved away by those X cultists."

"As for the identity of the tomb owner, judging from the content of the murals, he was most likely the main person responsible for the construction of Himiko's tomb."

Samantha continued, "So, that's why he recorded his most outstanding achievements in the form of murals?"

"That's right." Laura had a teachable expression.

Jiang Bing continued to watch the subsequent murals. After the tomb was completed, the laborers and craftsmen on a large scale built a magnificent capital city above it.

"What decent person would build his own mausoleum under his own palace?" Jiang Bing touched his chin, pondering the subtle message conveyed by the mural.

"Unless there's something important, I have to personally guard it like this to feel at ease."

When Jiang Bing turned back to look at the murals of the mausoleum construction again, he was attracted by the metal brackets that the laborers carried up the mountain on their shoulders and hands. His "craftsman" intuition told him that these things should not be used simply to reinforce the mountain.

"It seems that after killing Himiko, we have to find a way to go down to this tomb and find out what's inside. Maybe Himiko's ability to control the storm comes from here."

Apart from these, there was no more content in the murals, and without the coffin of the tomb owner, Laura's interest disappeared. The three of them continued to follow Samantha's guidance and move forward.

After going two floors underground, I finally saw the people from the "Endurance".

Jonah thought that the X-cultists had arrived, and quickly patted Alex who was picking the lock to signal him to hide, but the familiar figure made him a little surprised.

“Laura!?”

"Why are you here?"

"And Samantha, you saved her from those crazy people."

The four people were locked in a metal cage and hung in mid-air. Jiang Bing followed the chain, found the winch and lowered the four people.

"You need to find the key. This lock is difficult to pick." Jonah was about to tell Laura and Samantha about the various attempts they had made on the big lock when he was interrupted by a loud sound of metal colliding.

Jiang Bing retracted his [Big Chop Chop], removed the severely deformed padlock, and signaled the others to quickly get out of the cage.

Now that everyone was together, no one had any interest in exploring other parts of the catacombs, so they simply followed the original route and escaped from the fortress of the Brotherhood of the Sun.

The prisoners were all cheered up when they saw the light of day again.

Jiang Bing felt the familiar waves passing through the sky again and gently pulled Laura's arm.

"You'd better take Samantha to the ship graveyard. The area there is open and easy to defend."

"If you don't want to face an ancient army, you'd better consider my advice."

Then, Jiang Bing gently pointed his finger at the sky, then at Samantha, and said meaningfully, "After all, she's looking for her like crazy right now."

The other two people who had experienced the strong wind extinguishing the flames naturally understood the meaning of Jiang Bing's words.

So Laura and Samantha communicated with everyone and went to the ship graveyard. Amidst the stories told by others who exclaimed in surprise, everyone reached a consensus, forced themselves to be strong, and continued on their way.

…………

Somewhere in the sea east of Yamatai.

Jiang Bing, wearing diving gear, surfaced from the sea. As he gave a thumbs up, Kate on the boat began to notify Laura in the cabin.

It’s not really appropriate to call it a ship.

The ship built by Jiang Bing specifically for salvaging his vehicle should be classified as an offshore operation platform.

Instead of adopting the traditional ship shape, the entire operating platform is in a "U" shape, with the middle part being the salvage operation area and related salvage equipment installed around it.

The special structure can reduce its own weight to the greatest extent and use the buoyancy to support the salvage work.

In this way, the working platform expanded by Jiang Bing to a side length of more than ten meters can only salvage some small and light objects.

Fortunately, Jiang Bing didn't plan to reuse it, so he just needed to get through this time.

With the roar of the four motors, the matching winch made of scrap iron began to rotate, and through the linkage device, it drove the thick iron chain deep in the sea to begin to tighten.

Finally, with the roar of the motor, the body of the Mackinaw Larimore gradually emerged from the water.

As the working platform sank slightly, under the puzzled gaze of Laura and Kate, the vehicle body was lifted out of the water by the ever-shortening chains.

The two originally thought that what Jiang Bing wanted to salvage might be a yacht, a container, or even some large equipment, but they never expected it to be a car.

Under Jiang Bing's command, the three pushed the thick steel plates cut from the hull of the Toughness to fill the gap in the middle of the "U"-shaped working platform. Then Laura returned to the cab and reversed the winch, slowly lowering the Mackinaw, which was pouring seawater out through various gaps.

Jiang Bing couldn't wait to open the car compartment and check the weapons, ammunition and various supplies inside.

After being soaked in seawater for several days, some non-waterproof electronic equipment must have been damaged. Fortunately, most weapon-grade electronic components can reach the IPX10 waterproof level specified by the International Electronics Corporation (IEC) in the cyberpunk world, which is the standard military waterproof level.

You only need to wipe off the water from the weapon parts that have been soaked in water, clean the salt on them, and then perform simple maintenance so that they can be used without delay.

This is still for firearms with more complex structures.

For a creature like the D5-Copperhead, which is known for its toughness and durability, it's not a bad idea to pick it up, shake off some water, and then grab a fire directly.

As for [Power], Jiang Bing, who hammered it out with his own hands, knows all its data better than anyone else.

This degree of seawater immersion will not affect its normal operation.

However, the [Persuasion] rotary folding projectile launcher may be scrapped. Its original [Assault] projectile prosthetic arm is indeed waterproof, but in order to increase the ammunition load, Jiang Bing changed its structure to a point that even its designers could not recognize it, so the waterproof function is naturally out of the question.

But it's not a big deal. The [Declaration] giant chainsaw sword and the [Lumberjack] revolver assault rifle do not require sophisticated flight and guidance systems. The purely mechanical structure is not afraid of blisters at all.

However, this Mackinaw Larimore is completely finished, and we can only think of a way to deal with it after leaving Yamatai.

"Let's go." Jiang Bing signaled Laura to operate the working platform that looked more like a raft than a boat and start returning.

[Key] was fully charged yesterday. It has been exactly one week since the day Jiang Bing traveled through time.

He was not going to waste time with Himiko any longer. It was time to let her see what a Gatling gun with blue flames was like.

Chapter 46 Siege

The lost ancient city.

A small team of 'Storm Warriors' are on routine patrol.

Just when half of the team had turned a corner, the soldiers at the end saw the leader flying back and falling to the ground, their life or death unknown.

Then, a majestic figure walked out from the corner.

This figure was so tall, his muscular body was wrapped in tight metal armor. His left hand had just slapped away a soldier's bloody hand shield, making him look like a devil. His slow steps were more oppressive than those violent warriors.

"Enemy attack!"

The panicked cries of the Storm Warrior marked the beginning of this war.

All the archers in the team began to draw their bows and arrows, shooting at the figure who had started running faster.

However, the arrows hit the armor of [Power] randomly and were easily bounced off. The tiny impact they caused had no effect on Jiang Bing's progress.

He swung the small [Cold War] hand shield in his left hand, and the thick shield knocked a storm soldier who was being chased away. Then Jiang Bing raised the [Lumberjack] rotary assault machine gun in his right hand and turned the other soldiers who were fleeing madly into a bloody mist.

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The large bronze bell on the watchtower used for warning was rung, and the "Storm Warriors" scattered throughout this lost ancient city began to gather here.

【Power】Stride forward.

A large number of soldiers pouring out from the street ahead were about to form a battle formation when they were swept into a pile of dead bodies by the [Lumberjack] in Jiang Bing's hand.

This former capital of the Yamatai Kingdom has an architectural layout similar to that of most other capitals of the same period, divided into the inner city and the outer city.

The outer city mainly accommodates merchants, craftsmen and ordinary residents. As a commercial and trade center, economic activities such as markets and handicrafts are concentrated in the outer city.

The inner city, as the core, basically has to play the role of a political and cultural center. For a regime with a strong religious atmosphere like the Yamatai Kingdom, the inner city also has to play the role of a religious center.

The main residents of the inner city are rulers, important officials and religious leaders, so compared with the outer city, the inner city usually has stronger fortifications and more soldiers to ensure safety.

Therefore, the first step of this assault plan is to break through the outer city as quickly as possible and break through the entrance to the inner city before the defending soldiers can react.

In order to facilitate management and control, the outer city was designed with consideration given to the traffic pressure that commercial activities and residents need to bear. Therefore, the roads in the outer city are basically horizontal and vertical, especially the main roads, which are particularly spacious and flat.

This made it easier for Jiang Bing to make rapid progress.

In order to achieve the fastest advance speed, the Lumberjack revolver assault machine guns kept firing all the way, smashing the 'Storm Warriors' and the sentry towers along the main road into pieces.

Whenever there was a small organized group of soldiers blocking the front, Jiang Bing would spare no effort in using bullets to fire upon the ground while ensuring the speed of advance.

Laura and her group could not keep up with the high-speed attack of [Power], so they could only linger far behind and clean up some fish that slipped through the net along the way.

The combat skills of these 'Storm Warrior Legions' who followed Himiko in her battles were still qualified.

Soon, the bronze bells on the walls of the inner city began to ring, warning of the enemy's approach, and the sound spread along the undulating mountains all the way into the city.

But Jiang Bing's speed of advancement was so fast that it took him less than two minutes to rush out from the side and run to the entrance of the inner city.

When Jiang Bing's figure appeared in the eyes of the soldiers on the inner city wall, several 'Storm Warriors' in the city gate corridor who were responsible for closing the city gate were still trying hard to push the heavy city gate closed.

Looking at the city gate that was about to close, Jiang Bing stopped firing and bent down.

As the small torque rotors at the joints of [Power] ran at full power, Jiang Bing ignored the obstruction of the 'Storm Warrior' in front of him and exerted force on his body, instantly increasing the forward speed of [Power] to the extreme.

Under the anxious gaze of the soldier pushing the door, [Power] showed no intention of slowing down. Like a siege vehicle, it crashed directly into the city gate, which had only a tiny gap left.

With a loud noise of flying wood chips, the city gate on the left and the soldiers who were closing the gate on that side were slammed hard against the wall of the corridor.

Jiang Bing, bearing the brunt of the sword attacks, used his back to hold onto another city gate, and repeatedly stomped his feet on the hard stone slabs, pushing the gate aside.

The two unlucky guys were unable to dodge and were pushed by the rotating city gate, hitting the wall beside them hard. Then, under Jiang Bing's strong pressure, they became silent.

Jiang Bing leaned sideways and clamped the spear tip of a Storm Warrior with his arm. He retracted his left hand shield and reached behind his back to grasp the hilt of the giant chainsaw sword. The electronic fiber bundles inside the scabbard collectively contracted, assisting the giant chainsaw sword to pop out diagonally from the side of the scabbard.

The length of 1.7 meters makes it impossible for the giant chainsaw sword to be pulled out from the scabbard like an ordinary sword. It can only be opened from the side of the scabbard and popped out at an angle when drawn.

But this did not prevent Jiang Bing from using this force to use [Declaration] to sweep out a death zone in front of him.

This attack directly killed all the 'Storm Warriors' surrounding Jiang Bing, clearing the space at the city gate.

Looking at the numerous "Storm Warriors" marching neatly into the city gate corridor, with sword and shield soldiers in front and spearmen in the back, Jiang Bing shook off the pieces of meat on the [Declaration] and inserted it back behind him.

[Lumberjack] Jiang Bing raised his hand and pointed at the soldiers who were advancing in groups.

Sir, times have changed!

The metal torrent swept everything. The power of the [Lumberjack] was comparable to that of the M2 heavy machine gun, but its maximum rate of fire could reach a terrifying 1200 rounds per minute.

In addition, the city gate corridor has a unique terrain.

Before the soldiers could even realize their fear, their neatly arranged formation was easily cut in half from left to right by an invisible sharp blade.

A clean break in the physical sense.

The leather shield did not provide any protection against bullets carrying nearly 20,000 joules of kinetic energy. The thick leather and wooden boards could not even slow down the bullets, and they fell apart in the dense barrage of bullets.