Chapter 150: Dominoes

Lin Wang was dead.

He died rather hastily and casually, completely devoid of the dignity expected of the second strongest person in Spark Town and a Tier 4 professional.

He was brought down to the very dust.

……

Day 45, 10:07 AM.

At this moment, it was two minutes before Bei Lihui's stunning shot would provoke the Void Beasts.

Ren Zhong had completed the drafting of his entire action plan.

Currently, his various parameters were as follows:

Brain-computer synchronization rate: 29.99%.
Bioelectric load-bearing power: 217.49 kilowatts.
Brain reaction index: 2980.15!
Comprehensive physical fitness index: 217.49.

If his parameters were personified, the situation would probably look like this:

Brain reaction index: "???, little bros, what is wrong with you guys?"
Brain-computer synchronization rate curled its lips: "Ask the other two."
Load-bearing power and comprehensive physical fitness index both broke out in cold sweat with blank expressions.

"What's wrong with us?"
"We still want to ask what is wrong with you!"
"You don't play by the rules of martial arts."
"You are utterly shameless, you're cheating!"

In short, that was the situation.

The awkward phenomenon of one brain reaction index dragging down two legs was intensifying and spiraling out of control.

As for Ren Zhong's equipment, it was quite simple: it was the Tier 3 exoskeleton suit with a peak output power of 1,100 kilowatts given to him by Lin Wang. Inside it, only an amplifier and a tactical camouflage device had been retrofitted; the rest of the components remained original and completely untouched.

In terms of equipment performance, the 1,100-kilowatt suit was slightly superior to the one he had used back on Day 45, when he led Zheng Tian and the others—who were still clueless at the time—in a battle against Lin Wang and Bei Lihui at the abandoned mine pit.

Last time, he chose not to instigate the conflict there as a result of comprehensive deliberation.

During that battle at the abandoned mine pit, he had laid out numerous traps in advance, and had even injected a tenfold dose of Tier 2 stimulants to push his brain reaction index up to 3137. With Zheng Tian and the others providing assistance on the side, they fought desperately at the cost of everyone's lives, ultimately exchanging it for a mutually destructive yet complete ending.

In the previous timeline, when the group took a shortcut on their return journey, Ren Zhong had no intention of using the fatal drug.

At the same time, although his load-bearing power and physical fitness index had increased, his brain reaction index was only 377.61, which was far from enough.

At that time, he judged that he had neither teammates nor traps, and since it was his first time encountering a Legion Beast, he was unsure of its strength. Therefore, he only prepared informational stream interference bombs as a backup plan.

When he finally determined that he definitely could not kill Lin Wang and the other guy, he immediately pivoted from premeditated murder to descending like a deity to rescue people from dire straits.

This time, the external conditions remained completely unchanged. The only variable that had changed was Ren Zhong himself.

He was no longer the clueless Tier 2 professional he was last time.

He was a big shot reborn, a daredevil reckless enough to max out all his buffs before clashing fiercely with the Spark Town's demon infant descending from the heavens.

His combat skills had been tempered through a thousand trials, and his killing experience had become even richer.

Most importantly, he had once attained complete five-senses resonance, and had even mastered the sixth sense.

He understood what the unity of man and machine for a Tier 4 mecha warrior truly entailed—even better than Lin Wang did!

After completing the pre-simulation choreography for the entire combat sequence and finalizing the deduction of the entire plan, he possessed absolute confidence in securing a kill.

……

Everything seemed like a rerun of yesterday.

Bang!

With a casual shot, Bei Lihui poked a hornet's nest.

Ren Zhong had to hand it to him.

Earlier, because of his own "distraction," this blockhead Bei Lihui had deliberately slowed down to fall in beside him and said some nauseating things.

After catching up again, he hadn't returned to his proper position right behind Lin Wang. Instead, he stayed close to Pan Fenglian, riding one-handed while reaching out with his demonic claws to fondle her.

Ren Zhong had almost thought that this time the group would quietly slip past while the Legion Beasts were resting and feeding, pretending as if nothing had happened, to the point where his racing thoughts began racking his brains over how to aggro the monsters.

As it turned out, nobody expected Bei Lihui's hands to be truly itchy.

Even so, when the corner of his eye caught a humanoid object in a tree hole by the road, he couldn't control his hands.

In this desolate, lawless region, killing and looting was his absolute favorite pastime.

And so, he flashed out his Scorpion Lion heavy sniper rifle, fired a single bang, and the forest instantly exploded.

Before the tsunami-like horde of Void Beasts could even surge out, Ren Zhong, who had been stealthily tailing at the very back, immediately turned around and fled, running faster and more adeptly than anyone else.

Ren Zhong had dashed out at least ten meters before Sima Wan snapped out of it and started running behind him.

By this time, a massive number of hair-raising Void Beasts had already leaped out from around the mountain forest.

……

This time, the situation changed once more.

Ren Zhong clearly remembered that the last time they encountered the Legion Beasts, Lin Wang had not uttered any warning.

At the time, he had briefly thought this was because the incident happened so suddenly that Lin Wang didn't have time to sound the alarm, or perhaps Lin Wang didn't recognize this rare intelligent Void Beast.

However, in the post-action review after successfully escaping, Lin Wang's words demonstrated an extreme familiarity with Legion Beasts.

In that case, his behavior of only running away without warning his teammates spoke volumes.

Just like last time, apart from Ren Zhong the escape master, the very second person to complete a U-turn was not Sima Wan, but Lin Wang.

The third was Bei Lihui.

As for Pan Fenglian and Song Qianlian—who had previously been fondled until their faces flushed red—they were even slower.

Song Qianlian's motorcycle inexplicably became sluggish.

Pan Fenglian was already absent-minded to begin with, plus her motorcycle had been tampered with. Under the weight of these dual negative buffs, her initial misstep turned into a chain of errors.

She was quickly overtaken by Lin Wang first, and then left in the dust by Bei Lihui.

The time she dropped to the back and had the gap widened was a full 1 second earlier than last time!

This single second was like the first domino falling, immediately triggering a chain reaction.

In almost an instant, she was surrounded and trapped by more than twenty Tier 4 Void Beasts.

Immediately afterward, perhaps because she was truly unlucky, or perhaps because the number of Void Beasts surrounding her was simply too high, it instantly overwhelmed the performance limit of her auto-reactive protective equipment.

With a single, tragic, and violent explosion—

Just over ten seconds later, Pan Fenglian despairingly triggered all the bombs on her body, attempting to perish together with the Void Beasts.

However, her wish fell through.

The Void Beasts, which usually fought recklessly without fear of death and only knew how to charge blindly, were controlled by the Legion Beast to advance and retreat with the precision of a well-trained army.

Seeing her attempt a suicidal self-detonation, the swarm of Void Beasts instantly scattered in all directions, causing her violent explosion to only barely sweep away a few slow-reacting Tier 3 Void Beasts or sluggish heavy Tier 4 Void Beasts.

Having eliminated the first person, the twenty-odd Tier 4 Void Beasts that had surrounded her immediately pounced on Song Qianlian, whose motorcycle had been flipped over, forcing him to stay put and fight a desperate battle to the death. A portion stayed behind, while another portion split off.

The final situation evolved into a scenario where over a dozen Tier 4 Void Beasts besieged Song Qianlian, while another twenty-plus Tier 4 Void Beasts fiercely pursued Lin Wang and Bei Lihui.

The scale of the Void Beast legion's pursuing force targeting Lin and Bei was twice as large as last time!

As for the other Tier 2 and Tier 3 beasts, they were still closing in from all directions of the valley.

Because Pan Fenglian was missing to absorb the firepower, the Legion Beast automatically adjusted its force distribution, causing the scale of low-tier Void Beasts intercepting Ren Zhong, Sima Wan, Lin Wang, and Bei Lihui along the way to also increase.

This change became the straw that broke the camel's back.

Although the plight of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui was slightly better than that of Song Qianlian—who faced certain death—they were utterly overwhelmed and driven to distraction as flying Void Beasts repeatedly attacked the tails of their motorcycles and their bodies.

Even so, Lin Wang was still frantically sending back-up commands to Ren Zhong and Sima Wan through the squad command system.

Since Ren Zhong and Sima Wan were struggling to save themselves, they naturally turned a deaf ear.

Who could have expected that under this situation, the first to collapse would not be Ren Zhong, nor Lin Wang and Bei Lihui, but rather Sima Wan, who was running in second place?

Just as Ren Zhong rounded two bends and was about to reach the foot of the small hill where he had looked back last time, a shrill scream from Sima Wan rang out in his communication system.

Ren Zhong whipped his head back and saw Sima Wan's thigh being savagely slashed by the sharp claw of a Void Beast, tearing away a chunk of flesh.

She had sustained this injury last time as well.

However, back then, her auto-reactive equipment and mini legion had helped her beat back the pursuing Void Beasts, buying her time to escape successfully. She had smoothly broken away and rode off alone while Ren Zhong was climbing the slope.

This time, however, she was besieged by several more Tier 3 Void Beasts than before.

Faced with the disciplined, coordinated assaults of the Void Beast swarm, her mini legion could no longer hold out.

In an instant, she fell into a desperate situation and was tightly trapped.

She felt an incomparable sense of despair and frustration.

At this moment, she had almost fled past a distance of five kilometers.

According to the intelligence related to Legion Beasts, once one broke out of this range—provided the Legion Beast remained in place without moving—she would escape the range where the Legion Beast controlled the Void Beasts, making her basically safe.

Clearly, salvation was right within reach, yet she was about to fall just before dawn. How could she possibly be reconciled?

She cried out desperately to Ren Zhong ahead through the squad communications, "Save me!"

Ren Zhong stopped his vehicle, turned around, and used the amplifier to force back two Tier 3 Void Beasts surrounding him. He said, "I'd love to save you, but my strength is too low, I can't do it!"

Sima Wan gritted her teeth, "I'll give you money! Three hundred thousand!"

Ren Zhong shook his head, "You need your life to spend the money."

"This is all the money I have on me!"

"I can't earn this money, sorry."

Ren Zhong shook his head, turned his vehicle around, and made a motion to leave.

"House 144, Alley 7, South District of the Slums is my safe house! I left something in the basement there! As long as you take this item, General Yang might not obey your every command, but the treatment she gives you won't be worse than mine! This secret is worth at least a million!"

She didn't use the squad communication system for this sentence; she shouted it out loud.

At this distance, Ren Zhong could hear it clearly.

Ren Zhong moved slightly closer, looking half-convinced, and replied verbally, "How do I know what you're saying is true or false? Besides, where's the money?"

……

Plop!

Sima Wan transferred 300,000 credits (after tax) to him first, "Save me! Do you believe me now? I've already transferred the money to you! What I said is also true!"

Ren Zhong nodded, "Alright!"

Ren Zhong fiercely charged back, activated the armor's power with the amplifier, and threw a pair of guns to beat back two Void Beasts, breaking the siege around her.

Sima Wan seized the gap and charged out, quickly flashing past Ren Zhong without looking back.

Ren Zhong's twin guns flew back from behind him, left and right, swatting away two grain-sized intelligent mechanical devices that were quietly approaching his motorcycle's engine, and then continued to shoot forward under his remote control.

Ren Zhong shrugged and sighed inwardly.

People who are determined to die have their own ways of seeking death.

If his brain reaction index hadn't been high enough at this moment to capture the buzzing wing-beat vibrations transmitted through the armor's auditory resonance, he almost would have fallen for it.

Just now, Sima Wan had blurted out a massive secret in her desperation.

Last time, she had fallen into Chen Hangyu's hands, and Chen Hangyu, who harbored a blood-deep grudge, had revealed her identity.

Knowing she was doomed and that talking wouldn't help—perhaps even leading to a more gruesome death—she had taken this secret to her grave.

This time, however, seeing hope of survival, she made this transaction.

Clearly, after escaping, Sima Wan immediately reneged.

She thought she had been very stealthy.

After all, in this chaotic situation, no doubt anyone would notice two grain-sized intelligent machines; it was the perfect time to silence a witness.

Very coincidentally, Ren Zhong thought the same way.

Anyway, this location was shielded by the foot of the small hill between them and the positions of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui, completely out of their line of sight.

As long as the strike was sudden enough, those two wouldn't realize a thing.

Ahead, Sima Wan was fiercely pierced through the back of her neck and her motorcycle by two javelins chasing urgently from behind.

She hadn't expected Ren Zhong to be even more ruthless.

Die!

Ren Zhong let out a terrified scream into the communicator, "Sima Wan!"

Her motorcycle had already been destroyed. Lin Wang and Bei Lihui, who were fighting and fleeing in the rear, heard Ren Zhong's scream at the same time and saw the death notification of Sima Wan in the squad system.

Not only was Lin Wang not saddened in his heart, but he was actually overjoyed.

This person Ren Zhong was usable!

Although he had fled cleanly, the fact that he now screamed upon seeing his teammate die tragically indicated that he possessed foolish human nature.

"Captain, how are your situations? Sima Wan just died!"

Ren Zhong shouted again.

Lin Wang threw a javelin to severely injure a Void Beast, and used a javelin's discharge to temporarily shock back other opponents pursuing him from behind. He replied with his voice, "Pan Fenglian and Song Qianlian are in grave danger; hurry back and rendezvous with us. Only by joining forces can we break through! Damn these Legion Beasts!"

Ren Zhong said in terror, "I can't, Captain. I'm too weak. I don't dare."

Lin Wang was so enraged he cursed inwardly, but patiently guided him: "It's fine, Bei Lihui and I are strong enough, we're just lacking that final push. As long as you come back, it'll work."

"I... I..."

While prevaricating with the two of them, Ren Zhong temporarily beat back the Tier 2 and 3 Void Beasts, then used the tip of his spear to snap the straps, took Sima Wan's backpack, and dashed forward a bit more.

These Tier 2 and 3 Void Beasts didn't pursue him; instead, they swarmed around Sima Wan's corpse and motorcycle, frantically devouring them.

Ren Zhong rushed forward and once again reached the peak of the small hill where he had briefly rested last time, looking down from a commanding height.

At the very inner edge of the entire pursuit formation, that humanoid Void Beast was still standing under that tree without moving.

A bit further out, Song Qianlian was still trapped in a formation by more than a dozen Tier 4 Void Beasts, frantically charging back and forth in vain.

Lin Wang and Bei Lihui were each fighting and fleeing under the pursuit of over a dozen Tier 4 Void Beasts.

The auto-reactive protective equipment on the two men was continuously depleting.

Judging from the might of their attacks at this moment, both of them had already injected mental stimulants.

Clearly, the increasingly perilous situation forced the two of them to unleash their absolute peak states.

Ren Zhong observed for nearly a minute; the time had already passed the point where he had thrown the information stream interference bomb last time.

The progression of events indeed unfolded in the direction it originally should have.

The two men did not flee in a straight line toward the hill where Ren Zhong was located, but instead headed toward another branching sub-valley of the mountain.

The Legion Beast also began to shift its position, running like a human to pursue the locations of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui, without getting too close, strictly keeping the distance at around three kilometers.

Ren Zhong pondered for a moment, then restarted his hovering motorcycle, skirting along the edge of the mountain range while maintaining a distance of over five kilometers from the Legion Beast.