Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The desperate members of Starfall glimpsed hope once more.

Yet they couldn't use even a trace of Spirit Ink, and could only watch Ji Xia with eager eyes, hoping she could create a miracle.

"Recognition of the God of Mechanisms" was the title reward from a previous hidden quest.

Its effect granted one instance of the God of Mechanisms' attention.

The description was too vague, and no one could figure out its purpose at the time.

But now...

Bathed in the God of Mechanisms' gaze, Ji Xia radiated a sacred brilliance. A distinct golden thread now appeared on the [Crimson Heart Gear], connecting it to the "core" of the Mechanical Demon God.

"Zzz... Zzzzt..."

The pulsating crimson at the Demon God's chest erupted violently upon contact, like cold water dripping into hot oil.

The core's surface flickered wildly, with black-red chaos and golden light fiercely entwined.

The Mechanical Demon God's slender body began to tremble, its arm poised to attack froze mid-air.

Suddenly, a clear yet agonized roar rang out.

"Ahhhh!!!"

It was Gong Shuwan—the mournful cry erupted from the Demon God's chest!

"Gong Shuwan!" Ji Xia called her name, helping her anchor her consciousness. "Can you hear me?"

Ji Xia tightly gripped the scalding [Crimson Heart Gear] and, under the "God of Mechanisms' Gaze," stepped toward the violently trembling Mechanical Demon God.

The connection via the golden thread grew steadier, and Gong Shuwan's voice became clearer.

When the "Crimson Heart Gear" completely dyed the crimson core golden, Ji Xia's vision blurred momentarily. She saw countless fragmented images and a torrent of complex emotions rushing in.

Her father's stubborn rigidity.

Her mother's weakness and helplessness.

Her junior brother's narrow-minded betrayal.

Her home set ablaze, and the culprit was actually the mechanical puppet she herself had created.

Amidst all the chaotic and despairing images, there were also those unyielding, unwilling questions: "Why? Why! Just because I'm a woman? Was being born a girl a crime?"

"Gong Shuwan!"

Ji Xia struggled to awaken her within this sea of painful emotions.

Golden light surged.

A woman's phantom condensed from the shattered images, hovering beside the Mechanical Demon God.

She was no longer in her youthful form but appeared as a tall adult woman. However, her body was covered in countless cracks, like porcelain on the verge of shattering.

Ji Xia tightly held the [Crimson Heart Gear], looking at her and saying, "You weren't wrong. Being born a woman was never a mistake! It was that era that was sick! It was they who forged a cage with their rules!"

The woman covered in cracks slowly lifted her head.

Amidst her disheveled black hair, a pair of eyes brimming with tears were revealed.

"But, Gong Shuwan," Ji Xia's voice became incredibly gentle, yet possessed a force capable of splitting mountains and rocks, "you broke that cage!"

"You didn't resign yourself to fate."

"After everyone denied you, used you, betrayed you, you chose to forge a new path for yourself with your own hands!"

"I know you built this 'Locked City' not for destruction or slaughter. You wanted to use it to shelter your family and friends! You wanted to build an underground fortress that no one could harm!"

The woman's eyes flickered.

Ji Xia's words were like a stone dropped into a stagnant, dead pond, creating clear ripples.

"You never gave up. You kept fighting! Against royal decrees, against the Mandate of Heaven!" Ji Xia spoke each word with resounding force. "So what if you were a 'daughter'? You could still grasp the truths of mechanics! You could still become the Supreme Artisan! You could still create an underground fortress that made an entire era tremble!"

"Look." Ji Xia's gaze gently enveloped the weak phantom, holding up herself, Hong Lan, Lao Liu, and A Mu to show her the future. "Thousands of years have passed since your time."

"Today's daughters can openly enter schools, study and become enlightened; they can achieve great deeds and build careers with their own talent and sweat; they can freely choose whom they love and decide their own marriages!"

"What we inherit is no longer the rules of our families!"

"What we inherit is the vast, boundless knowledge, the power to dare break all shackles, and the expansive world to explore, to create, to possess!"

Gong Shuwan's phantom listened, stunned.

Tears silently streamed from her eyes, but they were no longer tears of despair and bitterness. Instead, they were tears of release and solace, like melting snow moistening parched earth.

"So, Gong Shuwan," Ji Xia approached her, looking straight into her eyes, "the path you blazed with your life..."

"Has not ended!"

"Your struggle, your wisdom, your creations... were not erased by time. They grew into towering trees over the millennia, sheltering countless 'daughters.' It was you... no, it was you 'mothers' who gave them the strength, the confidence, and the courage to walk into a further and broader world!"

Ji Xia slowly raised her arm and solemnly extended her hand toward Gong Shuwan's increasingly clear remnant image. "The legacy began with you..."

Her gaze burned like blazing stars.

"Now, may I..."

"Take up this legacy?"

It was not a plea, not a transaction.

This was the highest tribute from a successor to a pioneer.

Within Gong Shuwan's remnant image, the cracks like shattered glass shimmered with brilliant golden light.

The millennia-old grief and vicissitudes etched on her face faded away like sand paintings scattered by the wind.

In their place was the liveliness and cunning Ji Xia had seen when she first met her.

She parted her lips gently, her voice like clear spring water striking stone, as if she had returned to her youth:

"You are... the 'God of Mechanisms,' right?"

Ji Xia: “!”

This line was from the “story,” spoken when she assumed a false identity to gain Gong Shuwan’s trust.

Gong Shuwan stepped forward—the cracks across her body flooding with ever-brighter light, as if she were about to dissolve into radiant brilliance.

Ji Xia did not stir.

And the now-shattered Gong Shuwan embraced her.

There was no physical contact—only an indescribable warmth enveloping Ji Xia, like a sliver of winter morning sunlight piercing dense foliage to fall upon a tenacious sprout just breaking through the soil.

“It was you who told me…” Gong Shuwan whispered, her voice trembling with both laughter and tears, “that the God of Mechanisms could be a woman.”

“Now, I return to you… what you once gave me.”

The moment her words ended, the Crimson Heart Gear in Ji Xia’s hand blazed with golden radiance—dazzling as the sun itself.

This light was no mere illumination—it pulsed with the sovereign authority of *Creation*!

Wherever it swept, the ground split and exploded; countless wisps of Spirit Ink scattered outward.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

Metal clashed. Gears meshed!

From the earth erupted countless mechanical puppets!

Some were heavily armored sentinels bearing massive shields; others, nimble scouts armed with repeating crossbows…

They had lain buried deep underground—now liberated by Gong Shuwan’s will, shattering their restraints!

An entire formation—hundreds of mechanical puppets—stood silently and solemnly behind Ji Xia.

Everyone in Starfall stood frozen in awe.

In the corner, Bai Yan cradled a lantern, his gaze locked on the increasingly unrestrained, kaleidoscopic soul.

Azure light ignited in the puppets’ eyes; their frames surged with overwhelming Spirit Ink. Every weapon locked into position—awaiting the final command.

“Attack.”

A clear voice—somewhere between Gong Shuwan’s and Ji Xia’s—rang out.

The next instant—

The puppets surged forward like a torrential flood, engulfing the Mechanical Demon God!

All who witnessed this scene would carry it in memory for life.

Starfall members had long forgotten to breathe, eyes wide and unblinking.

The Mechanical Demon God was so formidable that without these puppets, they would surely have perished.

But now—

Ji Xia seemed to merge with Gong Shuwan’s fading afterimage. Together, they stood behind the puppets—tall, radiant figures blazing with dazzling golden light, as if divine.

The God of Mechanisms…

Who truly was it?

Ji Xia—who had once impersonated the God of Mechanisms—had seemingly forged the *true* God of Mechanisms.

And this woman—who had ascended to divinity—had passed her divine throne to her.

Amidst the deafening chaos,

the Mechanical Demon God staggered, its shell fracturing into countless points of light; its long-dormant core plummeted with a hollow clang.

*System Announcement (Server-wide): Congratulations to the ‘Starfall’ guild for successfully clearing the high-risk dungeon ‘Lu Ban’s Locked City’!*

*Team Size: 9/9*

*Final Evaluation: S*

*All members have obtained the title: ‘God of Mechanisms Recognition’.*

*Dungeon rewards are being calculated…*

As the system prompt echoed, no one even glanced at the rewards—their eyes remained riveted on the spectacle before them.

The Mechanical Demon God collapsed.

Before them, the countless mechanical puppets began softening at the edges, melting like wax statues beneath a scorching sun—flowing into streams of molten metal.

A vast pool of Spirit Ink abruptly materialized before Ji Xia.

It churned with fractured gold and cold silver, its surging aura of Spirit Ink leaving everyone breathless.

Ji Xia’s heart hammered wildly as she stared, transfixed.

Yun Ling—who had remained silent all along—could no longer contain herself and shrieked inside Ji Xia’s mind: “Heavens above—such immense *Creative* power! It’s enough to activate the [Divine Cloud Brocade]!”

Without hesitation, Ji Xia prepared to leap into the Spirit Ink pool.

But then—something shifted.

Eerie purplish-black light erupted from beneath her feet. Several black chains lashed out like venomous serpents, binding her limbs tight.

*Thousand Mechanisms*!

The Mysterious Brilliance Fragment held by Mo was now restraining Ji Xia.

Xingxing emerged from the shadows.

Her gaze swept over the churning Spirit Ink pool—then settled back on Ji Xia. She smiled and said, “I never expected a group of underlings to actually clear this dungeon.”

Author’s Note:

The dungeon content of *Lu Ban’s Locked City* concludes here. A brief aside: When shaping Gong Shuwan’s character, I thought of the suffragettes—the film *Suffragette* is profoundly moving, telling the story of British women over a century ago bravely fighting for the right to vote! I wept and burned with passion watching it.

Gong Shuwan’s image was inspired by this. She couldn’t inherit her family’s legacy because “it was passed down only to men, not women.” She couldn’t achieve greatness because it defied convention. While refining her character, I asked: What *are* rules? Who made them? What is familial inheritance—and why does matrilineal inheritance not exist? Thus, *Lu Ban’s Locked City* was born.

The bosses Ji Xia and the others faced were first “rules,” then “parents,” and finally “the self”—mirroring the process of dismantling unjust systems, resisting oppressive authority, freeing oneself from deceitful and treacherous “love,” and reclaiming one’s own life.

That is also the core intention behind this story—girls aren’t suited for engineering? No—the God of Mechanisms here is a woman! Girls aren’t suited for combat? No—in this dungeon, the strongest defense is a woman, the highest damage output is a woman, and the greatest intellect is also a woman!

Ahem… I got carried away again—my inner chuunibyou热血魂 is boiling over. Apologies.

Finally—red envelopes await in the comments [hug].