After calming his racing heart, Zhong Youke Liang turned away from the cliff walls and was surprised to see massive piles of scrap scattered all around. His eyes scanned the heaps of twisted metal, trying to make sense of the chaotic scene. It was strange to him at first, but soon he quickly realized that Azeal Victor's body was likely dumped here after his death, but for how long exactly? Zhong Youke Liang didn't want to think about it, as he would likely remember that gory scene instead.
After a few minutes of pondering, Zhong Youke Liang explored the scrapyard to familiarise himself with it. He took a step and walked along the path, squeezing through the available gaps, and spotted many broken objects, including vases, mirrors, and other small items.
To add to his surprise, Zhong Youke Liang also spotted vehicles, not just carts or anything, but fully steam mechanical cars that were broken or rundown.
'Is this world really that advanced? It's nothing like a medieval fantasy I expected at all!'
The sight made Zhong Youke Liang ponder whether the world that 'Azeal Victor' lived in was fully functional and advanced in its technology, unlike the one he read about in novels, which was fantasy and medieval.
Soon enough, he stopped gazing at the sight and continued to venture through the path that wasn't blocked by the huge piles of scrap. As he continued, he felt lost and unsure of where to go on his path.
'Now I think about it...this was a bad idea, travelling when I have no clue where I am going...I'm such an idiot!'
Zhong Youke Liang facepalmed over his stupidity once more. He was lost and had no clue where he was going or where he even ended up. He couldn't even go back to where he was, as he didn't remember where he had moved through, nor did he have an object to help him return.
Soon, he sighed to himself, but he was glad that he was almost done recovering from his large wounds. Soon, he observed his surroundings once more, and it was obvious to Zhong Youke Liang that he had possibly been walking in circles all this time.
He didn't know what to do until suddenly, he heard ticking noises as well as metal grinding against each other nearby. Zhong Youke Liang looked around, thinking that his head was likely being scrambled once more by memories. However, as he tried to recall his memories, he suddenly realised that there was no clock or grunting noises in 'Azeal Victor's' memories at all.
"Clank Clank!"
The sound of metal scrap startled Zhong Youke Liang as he jumped back in surprise and snapped out of his memory search and turned his head to the source of the sound. He noticed a pile of junk and metals on the ground, scattered, unlike earlier.
Soon, he could spot a little metal claw wriggling within the pile. Zhong Youke Liang was surprised at the sight; however, curiosity got the better of him, and he cautiously approached the pile. As he made his way to the pile, he observed that the wriggling metal claw was trying to loosen itself from the pile. As he approached the pile, he wondered what he should do.
'In most transmigration stories, this kind of scene means either trouble or something useless.'
Zhong Youke Liang kept observing the wriggling metal claw as it desperately tried to break free. Seeing the sight, Zhong Youke Liang sighed and felt bad about it. Even though it could be something dangerous, he just had sympathy for smaller things that can't do a task by themselves.
Soon, he raised his hand hesitantly to his torso level and rummaged through the pile, assisting the wriggling claw. After taking out some piles of junk, the wriggling claw sprang out immediately, which shocked Zhong Youke Liang as he stumbled backward and landed on the floor sitting down. The wriggling claw moved too fast as it escaped, which made Zhong Youke Liang unable to see it for a moment
After regaining his balance from the stumble and picking himself up, Zhong Youke Liang heard the clank once more as he turned his gaze to the dirt floor. he saw the wriggling claw's full body, which surprised him.
From Zhong Youke Liang's point of view, the wriggling claw was one of the legs of a mini clockwork watch. It seemed it had 3 other legs that were stuck inside, but now it was free. Zhong Youke Liang was in awe at the sight of something ethereal and something that was full of live despite it being a machine.
The clockwork watch spread its legs up and down in which looks like a relieved and happy manner. Before long, the watch looked up at Zhong Youke Liang and jumped up as if expressing its gratitude.
Zhong Youke Liang lost his hesitation and slowly grinned and smiled at the sight, the watch jumping reminded him of a puppy being happy. Without hesitation, the clock immediately jumped upwards and forward to his left wrist, shocking Zhong Youke Liang, who had not expected this outcome at all and felt adrenaline and fear building up rapidly.
The clock used its claw to pierce Azeal Victor's skin, causing Zhong Youke Liang to feel the pain. The clock specifically digs its claw deeper, as if gripping the hold, and causing pools of blood to spill out from his wrist causing him to yelp out a loud scream pain.
Zhong Youke Liang was surprised to see blood flowing out of his wrist since he knew that Azeal Victor was dead, yet he had blood flowing out. Zhong Youke Liang groaned in pain from in wrist as if every nerve in his entire arm was being hit and shutting down.
'Verification Complete. Standing by for command.'
A voice message came out of nowhere from the clockwork watch as the hand still ticked like a regular clock. But the message felt understandable, as if speaking the language that perhaps the deceased Azeal Victor knew. Zhong Youke Liang quickly tried to recall from Azeal Victor memories about the language he spoke.
As he scourged through the memories in his head, he couldn't seem to find any memories of said language about where he learned it; it was as if said memories had completely disappeared, never existing from the beginning.
'No memories?!'
Soon enough, he ended his memory search and sighed at himself with frustration. He looked back at the clockwork watch. Despite it being something from the 19th century, which is where Zhong Youke Liang is from. He noticed details that had been modified and had some advancements made to them. As if some gears and parts were from the 21st century.
Zhong was initially confused about how such a fantasy world managed to create a device that was so modern. But in the end, he, too, was confused about his predicament in the first place, as he had no idea how he transmigrated into this world, and he didn't know what to do.
He stared back at the watch for a few moments before looking back up to see his surroundings once more. The piles of scrap were still concealing the way out of the scrapyard. He soon looked to the sky and see it was still blocked by dark clouds and, as if the blue sky had never seen the land in a long time.
The clockwork watch continues to blink a UI interface waiting for a command. But soon a thought hit Zhong Youke Liang. Why did such a complicated device verify him and how did the body of Azeal Victor manage to gain access to a watch? It seems foreign and not of this land that Azeal Victor lives in. There were many questions, yet no answer were told and the situation is moving so fast that everything is incomprehensible.
Zhong Youke Liang sat and lean against the pile of scrap which caused the pile to crumble a bit until there was a hole and he stared at the sky once more while the watch blink, he groaned to himself with frustration and deciding to calm his mind until he can fully decide his next course of action.