Rustborn

Name: Rustborn
Author: Candy Craftsman

锈裔

by Candy Craftsman (糖果工匠)

Status: Ongoing
Length: 252k Words
Genre: Sci-Fi & Apocalypse
Updated: 18d ago
Source: Fanqie

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Synopsis

After nuclear winter and the mechanical plague, the old civilization lies in ruins. Humanity huddles in the last few cities, while out-of-control mechanical lifeforms still roam the depths of the Western Red Zone.

The scavenger boy Zhou Xi picks through old-world junk at the edge of the Red Zone, trading scrap for a bite to eat. Then he falls into an underground cavern and finds a black-gold fragment engraved with the character “Scale” inside a rusted escape pod.

In that moment, a flood of information pours into his mind. He can “see” the skeletons of machines, the paths of their circuits, and the locks deep inside their energy cores.

Later, he registers as a first-tier apprentice mercenary, number F-07-439, the most unremarkable sort of entry in the records: physical ability C-, mental strength S. Such an extreme combination appears less than once in a century.

Mechanical lifeforms that others struggle to dismantle look like blueprints laid open before him. He deliberately takes the routes through Red Zone restricted areas that everyone else avoids. Unlocking cores, transforming equipment, collecting all eight fragments...

Some call him a rookie, some treat him as a pawn. Most are simply curious: what gives this wasteland boy the right to move faster than anyone else?

The answer is hidden in the shadows of the Apostle tier, in the mark left behind by the “Master,” and in the secrets of two islands across the sea.

Stats

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83Chapters

1Reads

7.1Score

624Reads · all time

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