Chapter 85: Cyborg
After he rode the hoverboard down into the forest, Cillin put it back into his backpack, took out a canister and sprayed its contents onto himself, causing his body to be enveloped in an odor that smelled similar to his surroundings. Then, he squeezed his backpack into a crevice, and quietly sneaked his way towards the place where the birds were surprised.
If Cary conducted a spectral analysis with his equipment just now, he would have discovered a particularly strange wave pattern. It was a machine-like cry that was mixed within the cries of the birds and cats, and the cause of Cillin’s piqued curiosity. He had the feeling that he would find something there.
Cillin slowly searched his way forwards. Unlike humans, the animals here had very acute hearing, which was why Cillin was treading with the utmost carefulness. If he wanted to know the truth, then he must hide himself well. Although he had sprayed himself with the deodorant, Cillin still chose to move from where the wind was blowing against him. This way, his odor would not be easily detected by the animals at the upwind.
The leaves susurrated in the breeze, and from time to time, there would be needlelike leaves falling off the branches. These tiny noises were enough to aid Cillin in masking his stealthy approach.
Gradually, Cillin could hear a couple of low growls and the warning growls of a cat. He went closer, and saw the the situation upfront.
There were six wolves and three cats – wait, four – cats. A small cat was surrounded at the center by three large cats, and it looked both sick and dispirited. Its eyes were closed, and its breathing was a little weak.
It was as Cary had said earlier. These cats were as big as leopards, and in comparison, the small cat was the only one whose size could be considered normal. The size difference was glaring with it being enclosed at the center by the three large cats.
But while the cats were big, the wolves were even bigger. Have you ever seen a wolf the size of a bear? Nevertheless, this was the first time Cillin saw a wolf this big, although considering the fact that he had seen mice the size of bears back at Seven Lights, the novelty already rubbed off him already.
Cillin found it strange that the six wolves would hesitate in front of the three cats, however. The small cat was of course a non-factor. Logically speaking, be it in terms of size or numbers, the wolves had the absolute advantage, so they shouldn’t be acting this hesitant as if they wanted to charge forwards, but couldn’t help but be wary about something.
Something’s wrong.
Cillin held his breath and continued to watch the scene unfold. He kept feeling that something was off, but could not find anything amiss whatsoever. There were neither mechanical activities nor energy fluxes in the area. There were only these few animals.
A wolf roared twice in a low tone and took a step forwards, causing the hair all over the three large cats to stand immediately on their ends. Previously, only the hair behind their backs were puffed up, but now it was as if their entire bodies had gone completely stiff with tension. Their tails were stuck straight up, and their puffed hair caused them to look a size bigger than normal. At the same time, the three large cats took yet another half a step backwards and got closer to the small cat.
The wolf did not pressure further, and instead circled around the area restlessly. Its claws cut through the rock hard ground frozen hard by sub zero temperature like tofu.
Maybe it was because of the low growls of the wolves and the sound of their claws grinding against the ground, or it could be because of the growls of the three large, tensed cats. At any rate, the small cat inside the encirclement opened its eyes with great difficulty.
The small cat was leaning against a rock that wasn’t much bigger than it, and there were also some primitive ferns inside the seams of the rock. The first thing the small cat looked at wasn’t the large cats or the wolves, but the few small ferns between the seams.
The small cat opened its mouth and revealed its fine teeth. It was no different from a normal cat’s, unlike the absolutely savage-looking teeth the large cats owned. The small cat bit at the fern leaves extending out of the seams of the rock, rubbed its paws, closed its eyes and dropped its head on the floor just like before. It was as if the mere act of biting those leaves had consumed it much energy.
Cillin narrowed his eyes. Something’s definitely not right!
When the small cat opened its mouth just now, the six wolves obviously looked shaken by it. The foremost wolf had even backed away to stand with its companions, as if it was the only way it could regain some courage and assurance.
At first, he thought that the three cats surrounded the small cat in the middle to protect it from harm, but the truth might be that the three large cats were just scared, and the one the six wolves were truly scared of was not the three cats, but that sickly-looking small cat lying on the floor!
Cillin continued to observe, but the situation remained the same as ever. He couldn’t let it keep going on like this. In order to confirm his assumptions, Cillin grabbed a needle and shot it at one of the wolves. It was only by aggravating the conflict that the situation could better resolve itself.
It was during the standoff where both sides were baring fangs at each other, when the wolf who was shot in the butt jumped upwards and let out a yelp. It wasn’t a yelp of pain, but of surprise. The wolf’s skin was very thick, and Cillin’s needle could not have entered deep into the flesh. But the wolf, in a high state of tension had reflexively jumped a step forwards after it felt pain from his backside. The couple of wolves behind him seemed encouraged by its movements and leaped forwards as well. Seeing that the wolves were actually going to charge them, the three large cats decided to go all out as well. The situation instantly fell into chaos.
It was exactly thanks to this fallout that Cillin saw something that shocked him to the core.
The head of the small cat that was originally lying dispiritedly on the floor, giving off the impression that it was exhaling more than inhaling, suddenly swelled bigger than even the wolves themselves. Its grey hair swiftly contracted and transformed to reveal a metallic skin, and at this very moment, it looked nothing like an animal at all and more like a robot. But no, the small cat should be a combination of both animal and machine, for excluding its bizarre mechanical head, its body and limbs remained the same as before.
The swollen mechanical cat head opened its mouth and swallowed the closest wolf in one gulp. Then mechanical cat head then slowly shrank bank to its original size, losing its metallic luster and regrowing its hair. It regained its original looks and went back to looking delicate and half-dead on the ground.
When the small cat was transforming, the six wolves already tried to leap out of the combat zone right away. But the wolf that was closest to to the cat failed to escape in time and suffered the fatal consequence. The rest of the five wolves escaped with their tails between their legs until they were at least fifty meters away, panting heavily from their flight.
Meanwhile, Cillin dropped a sweat at the sight.
Holy shit, that thing’s a Transformer! It might not be a full machine, but it most definitely looked like a robot just now!
Is it a Cyborg?
The topic of cyborgs once came up in some articles Cillin read from electronic magazine with great contribution points. This kind of lifeform was incredibly unstable, and could only live for a very short amount of time. There were many researchers who once attempted to create such a life that was half flesh and half machine, but the results were never as good as they imagined. With time limit being its only flaw, the transformation between carbon-based lifeform and mechanical lifeform of a naturally occurring cyborg was near perfect, whereas an artificially created cyborg would not be able to achieve this level of perfection. They would always score either below or above the point of balance.
One of the two magazine giants of GAL, ‘Code’ once speculated on the potential causes of the formation of a cyborg, but the explanation provided was very vague. It could be that Cillin’s reading privilege wasn’t high enough to access the true research secrets.
The researchers described this semi-mechanical alien lifeform as a miracle of the universe. A certain substance that was formed randomly in the universe was the core of the formation of this type of lifeform. These substances could not be replicated, and when they drifted to a planet with life, these substances would then capture a certain biological creature’s genetic information, and with this genetic information as basis, turn into a pseudo-lifeform. This was what they called a cyborg life.
The universe is a place where all kinds of miracles happened. Cillin did not know how it was formed, nor did he know if those researchers managed to come up with a perfect cyborg already. However, this being before him was most definitely a cyborg life of perfect transformation!
Translator’s Notes 2: … glorious machine overlord, most OP existence in the galaxy and beyond. Don’t believe me? Read on…