Chapter 151: Captain, Why Have You Betrayed Me?

As time passed, the situations of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui grew increasingly perilous.

Judging from their state of frantic flight, the damage to their equipment had already far exceeded that of the battle at the abandoned mine.

Seeing that Bei Lihui and Lin Wang were about to break out of the mountain branch's exit, Ren Zhong finally deigned to speak again, "Captain, Sima Wan asked me for help just now. I took 300,000 points from her, and I tried my absolute best to save her, but I just couldn't manage it."

Bei Lihui had sharp ears. Hearing the roar of the motorboat engine coming from Ren Zhong's end, he suddenly blurted out, "Ren Zhong, isn't your motorboat broken yet?"

Ren Zhong nodded. "Mm. A few days ago, I had a sudden flash of inspiration and modified the motorboat's powertrain, and even installed a high-power jet accelerator. These feral beasts can't catch me easily."

Clack!

Ren Zhong's account chimed once more.

Ren Zhong cast a breezy glance at it.

700,000 points after tax!

Coming from Bei Lihui.

"Ren Zhong, you can come back now!"

This was Bei Lihui's shout.

That was not the end of it; another sum arrived immediately.

2 million points after tax!

Coming from Lin Wang.

"Ren Zhong, is this enough now? I pride myself on treating you well. I know there will be mortal danger if you come back to reinforce us, but as long as we make it back to the town alive, I'll give you another two million within half a month! Three million!"

In the blink of an eye, Ren Zhong's account had swelled by another 2.7 million points.

Based on the objective fact that Yang Bingzhong had previously taken over Lin Wang's professional team account and left Ren Zhong with 200,000 in startup capital, Ren Zhong estimated that Lin Wang and Bei Lihui had basically been completely squeezed dry by him.

Ren Zhong was finally "touched," and let out a loud roar, "Captain, Brother Hui! Talking about money ruins our bond! You are different from Sima Wan; Captain, your kindness to me is as heavy as a mountain! I absolutely cannot take your money! Hold on! I'm coming right now!"

A god descending to the mortal realm, once again.

He slammed his foot down on the accelerator, and two long streams of deep blue exhaust flames jetted from the rear of the motorboat, looking just like the engines of a turbofan fighter jet.

He erupted with the "strongest" armor control and motorcycle riding skills of his life, hurtling down from the mountains to dive toward the surrounded Lin Wang and Bei Lihui.

Naturally, feral beasts leaped to attack him along the way, but turning himself into a nimble fish and relying on the superior performance of the modified motorboat, he executed sudden, sharp course changes, stubbornly dodging the interceptions and charging right through.

Catching a sidelong glimpse of that blue blur out of the corner of their eyes, Lin Wang and Bei Lihui were overjoyed. No longer fleeing blindly, they stood their ground and each unleashed their unique abilities to fight for their lives.

Lin Wang, possessing superior strength, unleashed a fierce burst of power that rapidly repelled the pack of feral beasts around him, buying a brief window of vacuum.

Taking advantage of this opening, Ren Zhong descended from the sky on his bike, landing right beside Lin Wang.

He reached out a hand. "Captain, grab on!"

Lin Wang grabbed it, leaped up, and landed behind Ren Zhong.

At the same time, the exoskeleton glove on Lin Wang's left hand stealthily groped toward Ren Zhong's back.

He was very familiar with Ren Zhong's armor.

He knew that that spot was the energy trunk line for the dielectric engine and anti-gravity engine of this exoskeleton.

As long as he cut it off...

Unfortunately, at this moment, Ren Zhong had Sima Wan's backpack strapped to his back, which happened to block that gap. He would have to push the backpack aside, making it not quite so convenient.

Right at this moment, Ren Zhong let out a sudden, startled cry and violently leaned sideways.

The motorboat rolled to the side, on the verge of tipping over.

As it turned out, a feral beast was lunging straight at them directly ahead. They had to dodge, or else they would collide head-on.

Lin Wang hurriedly retracted his hand, gripping the seat cushion tightly with both hands while his leg exoskeleton armor exerted force, clamping onto the motorboat like an iron vise.

Ren Zhong was not so lucky.

His leg armor seemed to slip out of control, and he actually slid right off.

He tumbled off the motorboat!

Lin Wang was slightly startled, but reacted extremely quickly, twisting his body to restore the motorboat's balance, lunging forward by momentum to grab the handlebars.

Ren Zhong shouted from behind, "Captain, come back and pick me up!"

Without looking back, Lin Wang merely made a slight adjustment to head straight toward Bei Lihui's position, while saying to Ren Zhong, "Transfer all the money in your hands to me, and I'll come back to pick you up!"

Thud!

Grabbing Lin Wang's arm, Bei Lihui also leaped onto the motorboat.

Over here, the "panicked" Ren Zhong relied on precise control of his dielectric engine and anti-gravity engine to avoid crashing heavily to the ground. Instead, he spun countless times in mid-air, carving out an arc and snapping several thick trees along the way, though he miraculously escaped serious injury.

Over there, Lin Wang and Bei Lihui, having briefly escaped danger, were charging toward the exit of the mountain valley branch.

Lin Wang spoke again, "Ren Zhong, you need to have your life to spend money. Don't be too greedy; transfer it over."

Ren Zhong flew into a rage. "Captain, I risked my life to save you! You're selling me out for money?"

"Risked your life? Weren't you doing it for money too? If you can't bear to part with the money, then stay here and cover our rear! You'll be dying for a worthy cause!"

Lin Wang laughed heartily and was about to accelerate to continue fleeing forward, but his laughter was cut short abruptly.

Hum!

An information stream jamming grenade hidden in the motorboat's storage compartment detonated.

The distance between Lin Wang and the jamming grenade was only 0.3 meters, and for Bei Lihui, it was 0.6 meters.

The legion beasts in the distance clutched their heads and howled.

(1/3)

The actions of the large swarm of Tier 4 feral beasts that were about to pounce on Ren Zhong paused instantly and plunged into sudden chaos.

Ren Zhong struck the ground with his palm, catapulting himself up to break free from danger, and gave chase straight after the motorboat.

Immediately afterward, the motorboat exploded as well.

This was all the ammunition stored within Ren Zhong's own exoskeleton.

This ammunition had been stashed in the storage box beneath the motorboat's seat cushion.

Ren Zhong's armor engines operated at full throttle, continuously closing the distance between himself and the detonation point of the motorboat.

At the same time, he roared with grief, indignation, and a frantic madness, "Lin Wang! Bei Lihui! I am irreconcilable with you two! I'll fight you beasts to the death!"

...

Bei Lihui was still the first to die.

The difference was that last time he had been cleaved in two by Ren Zhong's flame-slashing giant blade from the front, whereas this time his lower body was scorched black first, followed by a magnetic-control javelin, piercing like a shuttle, straight through his brain.

The close-range information stream jamming grenade had caused the final auto-reactive equipment on his body to briefly fail.

He absorbed the full detonation of an entire suite of modified Tier 3 equipment's ammunition, rendering him utterly incapable of reacting when faced with the javelin flying straight at him from the front.

Different methods of death, yet identically sloppy and abrupt—just like when he had taken Ren Zhong's life with a single shot back then.

Over here, rolling multiple times on the ground to barely stabilize his posture, Lin Wang gritted his teeth against the excruciating pain in his crotch and sluggishly raised his twin guns to face Ren Zhong.

Having been relentlessly pursued by the claws and fangs of the legion beasts, then blasted point-blank by the close-range information stream jamming grenade, and finally having his vital center damaged by the self-destruction of the motorboat beneath him, Lin Wang's physical injuries were severe, and his equipment damage was grave.

At this moment, the stable armor output he could muster plummeted drastically to 3,500 kilowatts, even two points weaker than during the battle at the abandoned mine.

Yet Ren Zhong's soft power was vastly superior to what it had been at the abandoned mine.

Supported by a brain-reaction index as high as 5,965.25, coupled with a month and a half of real-world drills and virtual duels with Ma Xiaoling, having been brutally tortured to the brink of death and back by a Tier 5 symbiotic-armored warrior in the VIP zone of the Zhansha County training ground for eight days, and having even died once at the hands of the Descended Demon Infant,

Although Ren Zhong had not lived on Source Star for long, he had never stopped challenging higher tiers and squeezing his own potential dry.

Every single one of Ren Zhong's opponents had been out of his league!

And every single time, he had died in battle!

His peak combat experience against Tier 4 and Tier 5 professionals far surpassed Lin Wang—a man who had placed the majority of his energy into so-called "power struggles," only caring about routinely harvesting feral beasts and bottom-tier Wastelanders, never once lifting his head to see how vast the sky truly was!

Most importantly, Ren Zhong had already killed Lin Wang twice and had closely observed him during hunting expeditions more than a dozen times.

Ren Zhong was far too familiar with this captain's combat style and defensive mindset. Bolstered by his out-of-spec brain reaction, he easily completed the compilation of the entire combat program in just a few short minutes.

Next, he didn't even need to exert physical effort himself; he simply needed to use the amplifier to continuously pull his armor output up to 11,000 kilowatts, and then click execute program—just as he had done when dealing with feral beasts and when charging Lin Wang's manor to violently breach the third-generation Iron Curtain.

Of course, Lin Wang was, after all, a living human being.

A suddenly erupting battle is bound to be ever-changing and full of variables, so Ren Zhong had added tree-branched routing branches when programming.

Whenever he made the initiating movement on his end, the exoskeleton's auxiliary brain would enter standby mode, waiting for Lin Wang to provide feedback before issuing subsequent commands to the armor.

Assuming Ren Zhong threw both javelins simultaneously, Lin Wang might make several of the following choices:

a. Utilize the characteristics of the two silver short spears—having higher power and better material performance—to parry both with one spear, while throwing the free spear in an attempt to assassinate Ren Zhong. This was an offensive-defensive integrated choice.

b. Severely injured, Lin Wang lacked the determination to trade lives with Ren Zhong, and used both short spears to parry and block simultaneously. This was a choice where defense outweighed offense.

c. Seize the opening when Ren Zhong had no weapons in hand, rely on the armor's protection to brute-force Ren Zhong's two javelins, and charge over regardless to gamble on whether Ren Zhong's twin spears could pierce his armor, while also betting that his current 3,500-watt output could suppress through sheer force, using offense as defense to wipe out Ren Zhong in one go. This was a life-or-gambling choice.

In addition, there were more than a dozen other options like e, f, g, etc.

In short, as long as Lin Wang was still Lin Wang and not someone else, and his current equipment status did not completely exceed Ren Zhong's comprehension, the feedback he made could not possibly exceed the dozen or so options pre-set by Ren Zhong.

He was like an ant in a glass bottle, forever spinning within Ren Zhong's algorithmic snare, and would inevitably march step by step toward the ultimate ending—death, just like water returning to the sea.

As time ticked away, Lin Wang felt a profound sense of despair.

Clearly possessing higher parameters, he somehow couldn't take Ren Zhong down no matter what.

He felt as though he had become a marionette in Ren Zhong's hands, every single step within the other's calculation and prediction.

He had never encountered such an opponent.

He did not understand.

Clearly, just over ten days ago when Ren Zhong had first acquired the Tier 3 exoskeleton, he was stupid enough to crash into a wall while riding a bike.

After arriving in the Chenghui Mining Area, although Ren Zhong had displayed a bit of competence, it was crystal clear to anyone—it could only be described as mediocre at best.

But what on earth was this now?

Ren Zhong's rate of improvement was simply terrifying!

Furthermore, Lin Wang had worn this set of Tier 3 exoskeleton equipment for several years, and had even personally funded and invited Qiu Qingmeng to modify it bit by bit to its current state.

Lin Wang could be said to know the performance of this armor like the back of his hand.

Yet even if beaten to death, he would never have imagined that the exact same equipment, simply fitted with an amplifier, could wield a combat effectiveness in Ren Zhong's hands that was worlds apart.

Even more bizarrely, Ren Zhong was definitely relying on the amplifier to control the armor, but where was his lag?

None!

There was none at all!

The most vicious part was that, compared to his own frantic and flustered state, Ren Zhong was multitasking—fighting while continuously running his mouth, his tone relaxed, leisurely, and completely at ease.

...

"Captain, back then, Pan Fengnian and Song Qianlian ran into danger first, and then you made me their scapegoat, didn't you?"

Lin Wang: "..."

Ren Zhong: "Although I am naive, I am not stupid. Stop trying to argue your way out of it. I understood everything, I just couldn't bear to spell it out. I treated you like life-or-death teammates, but you only ever saw me as expendable. This was the first time you hurt me."

...

"Captain, you should understand that I am only a Tier 2 mecha warrior. I was truly risking my life coming to save you. But what about you? Look at what you did!"

Lin Wang: "Tier 2 my ass! You can't possibly be just Tier 2! You've been faking it all along! Your strength makes no sense!"

Ren Zhong chuckled softly, "Captain, you know nothing about geniuses."

...

"Captain, you and Brother Hui have disappointed me far too much."

Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Wang roared, "Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost! What are you disappointed about, you asshole!"

Taking advantage of this momentary distraction in his reply, Ren Zhong seized the opening, immediately initiating his combo program. Recalling his twin spears, he launched a fierce assault. The twin spears danced like cascading quicksilver, the offense rolling forward wave upon wave, each wave more ferocious than the last.

Lin Wang abruptly fell into a comprehensive disadvantage, shouting, "I recorded it all! I've already sent the recording to President Yang! President Yang won't let you off!"

Ren Zhong spat, "Send it if you want! I risked my life to save you! You sold me out first! It is entirely justified for me to kill you! If President Yang doesn't understand me, the worst I'll do is leave Spark Town!"

He delivered a heavy kick straight to Lin Wang's face, sending the man flying backward in an upward arc.

Ren Zhong's engines spewed flames as he lunged forward.

A blink later, he was floating directly above Lin Wang, his chilling gaze piercing through his helmet's visor to look down condescendingly at Lin Wang below.

"Captain, you can go die now."

With an expression of utter indifference, Ren Zhong raised his right hand high.

A cold gleam flashed blindingly on the tip of the javelin under the sunlight.

Yang Bingzhong's stern rebuke rang out in Ren Zhong's communicator, "Ren Zhong, stop right there!"

Ren Zhong shook his head with sorrow, speaking with grief and indignation, "President Yang, I'm sorry. He is devoid of humanity, so naturally, I am under no obligation to show loyalty! I can no longer tolerate this!"

The next instant, the javelin thrust straight down, piercing through Lin Wang's forehead.

Lin Wang, dead!

Far away in his office, Yang Bingzhong was dumbfounded and incredulous, slowly slumping back into his spacious, soft leather chair.

He had indeed entertained the thought of propping up Ren Zhong to keep Lin Wang in check.

However, he never in his wildest dreams imagined that Lin Wang—a veteran Tier 4 mecha warrior whose combat power in Spark Town was second to only one and above tens of thousands—would meet such an absurd and tragic end at the hands of a Tier 2 professional who was merely forcing control over a Tier 3 exoskeleton suit with an amplifier.

This world was far too absurd.

Since when could a Tier 2 professional cross two tiers to kill a Tier 4 professional?

This man Ren Zhong was more Sid Meier than Sid Meier himself!

A monster!

A true monster!

...

Ren Zhong stood at the exit of the mountain valley branch, looking back with a flood of mixed emotions.

At this moment, Lin Wang's heavily damaged full set of armor, a pair of silver short spears, and Bei Lihui's Scorpion-Lion heavy sniper rifle were all bundled up and slung across his back.

In the past, I viewed you as an impassable chasm; simply facing you caused my soul to tremble uncontrollably.

Today, however, you die like a common grunt, not worth a mention.

In a sense, Lin Wang, I must thank you.

Only after stepping across your corpse did I truly catch sight of the more distant sea of stars.

If not for the sake of dealing with you, I would not have repeatedly and madly squeezed my own potential dry over these short 75 days, I would not have laid down such a solid foundation, achieved my current accomplishments, or gained my present state of enlightenment.

...

"Ren Zhong, you must give me a reasonable explanation. I just heard you say the worst you'll do is leave Spark Town? You must be dreaming. Cross me, Yang Bingzhong, and even if you hide on a fringe asteroid to be a miner, you'll still end up dead."

Yang Bingzhong's voice echoed sinisterly in Ren Zhong's ears, his anger seemingly reaching its boiling point.

The bottom-tier Wastelanders in the town had been incited by Madafu today, audaciously surrounding the company, and were currently looking to cause trouble for him.

It was inconvenient for Yang Bingzhong to show his face personally, so he had urgently summoned Lin Wang back, waiting precisely for his notorious reputation to help stabilize the situation.

As a result, this rebellious traitor Ren Zhong had gone and wiped out his entire team.

These damned Wastelanders were already restless to begin with.

Once any desperate fools caught wind that his capable right-hand man Lin Wang had actually been wiped out team and all, they might genuinely escalate their sit-in protest into an armed riot.

If that happened, he feared he would have no choice but to resort to slaughter.

It wasn't that he was afraid he couldn't win the fight, but rather that he had other concerns.

Killing a Wastender and making slightly less money was a minor matter; the important thing was that should too many die and the population drop below the number previously agreed upon with the Mandu Group, he wouldn't be able to fulfill his quota.

Over here, upon hearing this, Ren Zhong let out a sorrowful, wailing cry, "No!"

He then used a tone of heartbroken despair to cry out in grievance, "President Yang! You can't treat me like this! You have to seek justice for me!"

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