"...there is indeed such a possibility, but we still need to find something, otherwise all of this is just speculation," Old Jack said.
"That’s troublesome, all three of us appear as normal humans; if it’s as Malin said, then even if that rogue Machine Soul sees our presence, it’s unlikely to make a move," Gaiate frowned, bending down and probing into the wound with his finger: "...I’ve indeed felt something like the shaft of an arrow, very hard."
"Wait a second..." Suddenly, Malin turned to look to his left, where something moving had entered his sensory range.
Then, through his goggles, he caught sight of a thread of crimson light in the world of ice and snow.
"What is that?" Old Jack raised the gun in his hands, aiming at the shifting light.
"Spread out, we don’t want to be in a fan formation," Malin said as he moved aside, gesturing for his father to get up quickly.
Old Gaiate, of course, stood up and looked at the point of light: "It’s not human, I can’t feel any signs of life."
"I can’t see any infrared spectrum... wait, it’s getting closer, I can see a humanoid form, be careful, Mech Soul Armor confirmed!" Malin said, continuing to back away while switching on the UV light on the left side of his head.
In their line of sight, a mechanical body with a battered shell gradually emerged from the blizzard.
"Humans, why have you come here?" It spoke in standard English, which was relatively close to the current common language.
"We’re here to confirm the cause of death of the Frost Giants," Malin immediately replied.
Upon the reply, the monocular light on the head of the armor immediately switched to blue light: "Linguistic confirmation passed, life forms with 17% exterior difference confirmed as friendly."
Malin felt somewhat relieved—these military war machines not twisted by Chaos bore no malice towards ordinary humans.
"Mecha, as a civilian, I wish to confirm your serial number."
"This is the Europa Seventeenth Army Group, Ninth Armored Assault Corps, Automated Combat Armor Company, Number Eleven. Citizen, are these giant life forms human?" the Mech Soul Armor inquired.
"Yes, they are mutated humans, very large but definitely human," Malin nodded in confirmation.
"Then why do they not respond to my inquiries and even launched an attack on me? If it wasn’t for a child leading a wounded away, I would have eradicated them all, just like the previous battles," the Mech Soul Armor finished, sweeping its gaze over Malin: "Citizen’s blood pressure, heartbeat, and other vitals are normal, no lies detected... Why did these citizens attack me? What exactly has happened to the Union?"
"The Union... The Union is no longer around. It’s the eighth millennium after the enemy invasion; we are rebuilding civilization. Eleven, when did you awaken?"
"...My battle record indicates that I went offline due to a close-range bomb eight millennia ago. A week ago, the system completed self-diagnostics; I thought there was an error with the date on my battle record," the Mech Soul Armor contemplated: "Can I join the reconstruction efforts?"
"Welcome," Malin nodded, and also realized one fact: "Right, Old Jack, do the ordinary Frost Giants speak the common language?"
Malin asked Old Jack in the common language.
"Aside from the Frost Giants of the Royal Court, it’s already not bad if the ordinary ones can speak Giant language; don’t expect them to know the common language," Old Jack came to a realization as he said this, slapping his own face.
"So it means it probably asked the Frost Giants something, but they didn’t understand?" Malin looked towards the two old men.
"I think that’s probably correct; I can understand its words, even though I also haven’t figured out what the concept of eight millennia ago means, but... Humans before the Great Destruction were too powerful, aren’t they? That such Mech Armor is a craft from eight millennia ago?" Gaiate was extremely surprised by the fact.
Malin nodded: "That’s right, which is why I always use the word ’rebuild,’ because the people on this planet, even eight millennia ago, could break free from the constraints of gravity."
With that, Malin reached out and shook hands with the Mech Soul Armor that had approached and extended its hand.
"Please express my sincere apologies to the relatives of these deceased humans; I did not know the people of this era are unaware of the two common languages," the Mech Soul Armor said. Although it spoke without any hint of emotion, Malin still promised to do so.
As for the two common languages... "Is Chinese one of them?" Malin asked.
"Of course, aside from these two languages, what else could qualify as a major language?" the Mech Soul Armor replied.
"I have no more questions," Malin finished, thinking over his next steps—now the task was to compensate each person who died in this battle, provide their families with work, explain the incident to the Frost Giants in the Royal Court, and then take Mr. Eleven to the research institution so those science enthusiasts could get a look at a living Mech Soul Armor that was neither rogue nor twisted.
"Damn it, I regret taking on this task now; how should I write the cause of death of these Frost Giants?" Now that they were entirely safe, Old Jack came over and complained to Malin and Old Gaiate.
"You can write that they died because they couldn’t understand the common language. If you want it simpler, the two words ’stupid death’ should suffice," the Mech Soul Armor considerately offered a template.
"This thing’s got a mind of its own!" Old Jack exclaimed, slapping his own face yet again.