The young man was momentarily confused, but that feeling was instantly drowned out by the double rush of white powder and the thrill of killing—he was in heaven. At that very moment, Liu Xiaoying lunged forward with decisive speed. This seemingly delicate girl gritted her teeth and, risking a deadly counterattack, jammed the muzzle of her gun right under the young man's left armpit.
This was one of the few spots without armor plating, a place where a shot could go straight to a vital organ.
No words, no hesitation—just a bent finger and the trigger pulled!
Bang!
The muzzle spat fire, scorching the skin. The bullet tore through muscle, slipped between bone and armor at a strange angle, and drilled forward. The slug bounced inside, shredding the young man's heart.
The young man's dream shattered in an instant; he was stunned for a brief moment.
"Die!" Rattatat! The assault rifle kept firing, bullets kept tearing into the young man's body. Senior Brother Mentor whipped out his own gun and squeezed the trigger like mad: "Trying to kill me? Die, die, die!"
A moment later, the gunfire stopped. Senior Brother Mentor and Liu Xiaoying, panting, stared at the mangled corpse. Past the disgust and fear, an intense sense of accomplishment welled up inside them.
Me, a non-combatant, actually took down an enemy soldier?
"This tactic actually works pretty well. How about we just camp here and ambush people like campers?" Senior Brother Mentor was suddenly brimming with confidence. "I’ll draw their fire and control the situation, you find their weak spots and go for the kill. We really make a great team."
"Well, I guess that's a strategy too," Liu Xiaoying twirled her hair nervously. "The situation’s a mess right now, and we can’t just send a signal—if the enemy picks it up, we’re toast. Dropping stealth mode would be suicide for two non-combatants like us, so maybe it’s better to keep the fighting low-key. If they come at us one by one, we can actually handle it…"
Boom! Before Liu Xiaoying could finish, the bar wall exploded with a deafening bang. Through the blaze of plasma jets, the Shadow Mech burst in—a three-meter-tall beast, slick and midnight black. Four mechanical wings arched high off its back, ion beams shooting out from each. Its arms bristled with autocannons, and auxiliary wheels spun beneath its feet. Mobility and firepower? Off the charts.
Whoosh! In a flash, the Shadow Mech charged forward, smashing everything in its path to bits—didn’t even scratch the paint.
This thing was all swagger and menace, like a mini Gundam. It spun through the air and instantly spotted two wannabe campers trying to go prone. The autocannon swiveled up, fire-control system locked onto the two petrified humans.
"Holy crap! That thing’s awesome! And, uh, we’re totally screwed!!"
"What happened to our low-intensity battle plan? Why isn’t anyone following the script?!"
Whirrr—the autocannon spun up, and the tension skyrocketed. Senior Brother Mentor and Liu Xiaoying wanted to dodge, but with their squishy stats, there was no way they’d outrun the Shadow Mech’s bullets.
Just then—
"Dominance!" someone roared. Lightning cracked—the bar’s ceiling exploded, and a muscle-bound nerd, straight outta a Hong Kong comic, dropped from above with a fist like a meteor, slamming down hard on the Shadow Mech’s roof.
Bang! The whole mech lurched sideways from the shockwave. The gun barrel spun off target, bullets went wild, sparks flew everywhere, and the cacophony sounded like a string of firecrackers going off. Senior Brother Mentor and Liu Xiaoying screamed and clung to each other, totally helpless. Suddenly, a blur shot in, grabbed them around the waist, and zipped away.
The wind howled past as the two looked down—turns out it was Luo Yuxi hauling both of them at breakneck speed. She darted and weaved, her steps snakelike and unpredictable, busting out some new-school lightfoot technique with a frequency burst step. Like a ghost, she dodged every stray bullet and bolted straight out of the bar without so much as a backward glance.
In the blink of an eye, all three of them shot out into the corridor.
"Yuxi sis!" Liu Xiaoying's eyes welled up with tears—like she'd just seen her guardian angel.
But Luo Yuxi was so out of breath, she couldn’t even answer.
Behind them, shouts of "Dominance! Dominance!" mixed with bursts of energy, flattening the whole bar in seconds. Then, like a drop of ink piercing water, the comic book-style nerd—Li Yuncong—appeared at Luo Yuxi’s side in a flash, black streaks trailing through the air. He slung Senior Brother Mentor over his shoulder and took off running like a madman.
Senior Brother Mentor, his face practically plastered to Li Yuncong’s butt, yelped, "Even you can’t beat that guy?"
From his point of view, Li Yuncong was already top-tier—right below the absolute monsters.
"Not worth it. We bail," Luo Yuxi finally managed to say, now that she’d shed a passenger. "Dominance doesn’t recharge easily, and wasting it on a tin can like that is pointless. Plus, things are getting dicey—we need to contact the others ASAP. Xiaoying, you’ve got the comm hub, right?"
"Yep, I’ve got one of the four comm hubs," Liu Xiaoying shot back. "I can reach the others, but do we really want to break stealth mode? If our signal gets intercepted, we’ll be hunted down for sure."
"Activate the comm hub, now!" Luo Yuxi snapped. "Alert all friendlies—stay away from the edge zones, Tiberius Laboratory is collapsing—"
Boom—a massive explosion rocked the place, blowing the wall to bits.
Pew pew pew! A hailstorm of bullets tore through the breach, and through the swirling smoke, the Shadow Mech reappeared like the Grim Reaper.
"Heaven Shifter—!" The silent nerd sprang into action, slamming his palm forward and warping the air into a swirling circle. Bullets hammered at them, but the shield absorbed the impact and they dropped harmlessly to the floor. The Heaven Shifter technique stores up incoming energy and blasts it somewhere else—perfect for sneaky campers.
Li Yuncong’s Dominance surged as he powered up, getting ready to give that mech a taste of something nasty.
But the mech didn’t close in. It just kept blasting away from a distance, milking its firepower advantage—playing it super safe.
The four kept ducking and weaving, using anything they could for cover, but the bullet chain danced like a fire serpent, and the Shadow Mech kept its aim locked on the fleeing group. Plasma splattered, the mech advanced and retreated with precision, ready to bail at a moment’s notice. That last scuffle made the pilot wary of Li Yuncong—no way he’d let him get close again.
Talk about cautious—none of these enemies are pushovers. This guy’s a veteran camper for sure!
Honestly, every Chosen One in this brawl’s got serious skills—if you’re not tough enough, you can’t even get into hyperspace.
Gritting his teeth, Li Yuncong kept the Heaven Shifter shield up as he ran. Whoosh—missiles streaked in, slamming into the shield with thunderous blasts. Fire rolled out everywhere; tactical bombs are a whole different beast than regular grenades. Li Yuncong’s skin flushed red, muscles bulged—he was almost at his limit. If he didn’t let loose soon, things would get ugly.
Screw it, I’m going all in!
Li Yuncong handed Senior Brother Mentor off to Luo Yuxi, ready to blink over and unleash his ultimate move.
But right then, Luo Yuxi grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" That nerve-grinding metallic screech echoed overhead, as if a giant was crushing a metal box again and again. A weird, tidal pressure slammed down, so terrifying it made everyone’s bodies sink and their hearts pound like crazy.
"That sound..." Senior Brother Mentor was still clueless, but Luo Yuxi and Li Yuncong were already running for their lives. Dominance and Qi burned like money, skills flying without a second thought—their speed shot up and they disappeared in a flash. The Shadow Mech paused, stopped chasing, and looked up, scanning whatever was happening above.
The next instant, the solid ceiling suddenly split apart.
It wasn’t just one hole or a chunk falling down—the entire ceiling, end to end, left to right, front to back, shattered all at once!
It was like a monster bomb had gone off above, detonating everything. The 'bomb' was still some distance away, but the shockwave tore through wall after wall, hammering the mech from above.
Air pressure spiked, the floor shattered instantly, swept away by the shockwave that blasted downward through every level. The Shadow Mech took the brunt—flipped and tossed in a blink. Plasma jets sputtered as it flailed in the storm, barely hanging on. But before it could recover, it witnessed something no pilot could ever imagine.
Water. A mind-boggling flood surged in right behind the shockwave, crashing down from above. It was fiercer than any tsunami, crazier than any rapids. Every drop blasted out like a bullet from a high-pressure hose, barreling straight toward everyone with pure, destructive force.
Boom! In a split second, the Shadow Mech was smacked away like it’d been hit by a bomb—nobody knew where it landed.
At the same time, the monstrous wave chased after the four as they ran for their lives.
"—World Shifter!"
The stored energy finally exploded—Li Yuncong spun around and slapped the oncoming wave with his palm. The wave stalled for a split second, then all four were swept away into the unknown depths.
Water—tons of it—swirled out from the central water system, joined by raging winds, quaking ground, and unstoppable fires sweeping everywhere. It was like the elements themselves—earth, water, wind, and fire—were going berserk, replaying the apocalypse.
Fwoom!
Flames raged out of control. The Tiberius Laboratory was never meant to use gas or any risky fuel, but when the energy core failed, a firestorm was inevitable.