"What?!" The squad leader exclaimed, his face turning crimson as he shouted, "Open fire! Throw all remaining grenades!"
The soldiers immediately followed orders, their gun barrels aimed at Zhou Tianming as they pulled their triggers.
Gunfire flashed across the battlefield, the acrid smell of gunpowder filling the air while rear-line soldiers pulled pins from grenades at their waists and hurled them forward.
The ground split open as two metal claws tore through it, a spacesuit bursting from underground with jets of air erupting from its back.
Its black glass visor was webbed with cracks, the outermost layer melted into a gelatinous substance clinging to the silvery-white metal armor beneath.
Bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the inner armor plating.
As grenades flew toward it, the spacesuit's rear thrusters expelled a powerful gust, spinning its entire body rapidly to create a miniature tornado.
The grenades were blown back toward the soldiers, who desperately dove for cover.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions erupted in sequence from left to right, flames erupting as screaming soldiers were sent flying by the blasts.
Zhou Tianming took cover behind the spacesuit, his hair and clothes whipping in the shockwaves.
When the turbulence subsided slightly, his fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Uncle Li, hold on tight. This might get rough."
Li Chi's voice, both pained and exhilarated, came through the spacesuit's speakers: "Don't worry! Make them pay for this pain! I'll avenge our brothers! Kill them all!"
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The spacesuit charged forward with heavy, mechanical footsteps.
A bloodied soldier saw the armored figure emerging from flames and smoke and panickedly raised his rifle.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Bullets deflected harmlessly as the spacesuit closed the distance, its mechanical claw seizing the soldier's head and lifting him bodily into the air.
Meanwhile, several other soldiers regrouped and concentrated fire on the spacesuit's cracked visor.
The armored suit shifted position, using the captured soldier's body as a shield against the bullets before hurling the corpse like a cannonball.
The regrouping soldiers scattered, the body impacting the ground with a sickening splash of crimson.
With a burst from its rear thrusters, the spacesuit accelerated suddenly.
By the time the dodging soldiers turned to aim, the armored figure was already upon them.
Fingers merged into a blade-like formation as mechanical servos whirred, then thrust forward with devastating force.
The bulletproof vest might as well have been paper—the metal hand pierced clean through the chest, bursting out the back in a fountain of blood.
"AAAAHHH!!!"
Surrounding soldiers roared as they unleashed their weapons, but their attacks proved utterly ineffective.
The spacesuit shook its arm, the corpse sliding off as blood dripped slowly from its right limb.
Then, with another blast of wind from its thrusters, it charged into the remaining soldiers.
"Impossible..." The squad leader trembled as he watched the spacesuit slaughter his men. "How... how is this happening?"
Suddenly, the childish voice of Zhou Tianming echoed in his mind—"I want to play a game. Let's call it Battle Royale."
He jolted awake, shouting, "Just kill that kid! Just kill him!"
The squad leader turned his head and spotted Zhou Tianming operating a keyboard not far away.
His eyes gleamed as he yelled, "That kid's controlling the spacesuit! Kill him!"
Only screams answered him, but within moments, silence fell again.
"What are you—"
He turned around—his voice cut off abruptly.
His eyes reflected a sea of crimson, the torn-apart corpses of soldiers scattered across the ground.
"How…?"
A shadow loomed over him as a blood-drenched red claw pressed down on his head, blood trickling down his cheeks.
"Ahhh!!!"
He thrashed wildly, punching and kicking at the chest of the spacesuit.
"Die! Die! Just die already!"
Watching this unfold, Zhou Tianming realized the inevitable outcome and turned away, unwilling to witness the bloody scene that followed.
A triumphant yet sorrowful smile spread across Li Chi's face as his only remaining hand controlled the spacesuit.
The claw tightened. With a mechanical whir, the squad leader's head was crushed, a waterfall of red gushing from his severed neck. His body collapsed, twitching twice before going still.
"Ahahahaha—!"
Li Chi's laughter, a mix of exhilaration and grief, reverberated from within the spacesuit, lingering in the air.
Over ten minutes later, when Zhou Tianming opened the spacesuit, he was met with a blood-soaked interior.
Li Chi's wounds had reopened, filling the suit with blood. He had already fallen unconscious.
The secret base had been destroyed, and all the medicine they had bought earlier was lost inside. Fortunately, Zhou Tianming was intimately familiar with the spacesuit—it had a small compartment storing emergency medical supplies to ensure the wearer's safety.
Opening the hidden compartment, Zhou Tianming retrieved a vial and checked the production date—November, CE33.
Expiration—20 years.
Gritting his teeth, Zhou Tianming looked at the barely breathing Li Chi. "Can't get any worse than this."
He pressed his thumb against the vial's base, and a slender needle extended from the tip.
Without hesitation, he plunged the needle into Li Chi's chest. The device automatically injected the medicine into his body.
Li Chi convulsed briefly before his breathing gradually steadied.
Zhou Tianming exhaled in relief, then hurriedly grabbed a water plant employee on duty to fetch a medical kit. He performed basic first aid on Li Chi again.
But as he looked at Li Chi's condition, Zhou Tianming knew he wouldn't last much longer. A pang of sorrow struck his heart.
"Don't make that face…" Li Chi stirred awake, his voice weak but cheerful. "I'm already satisfied not dying like a cripple in bed."
"..."
"Tian Ming, help me one last time," Li Chi said, his eyes shining. "I want to save Wei Jun. His grandson is about to be born—he shouldn't die here. Take me to him."
Zhou Tianming met his gaze, his chest tight with emotion.
Finally, he nodded.
Li Chi smiled.
...
Wei Jun sat in the captain's seat on the bridge of the Black Tortoise, staring into the pitch-black surroundings with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Never thought I'd be trapped here to die."
Boom!
The ship shuddered beneath him as a deafening roar echoed through the Black Tortoise's corridors.
Wei Jun glanced at his phone and dialed again—still no signal.
He sighed. "Tian Ming, Li Chi… I hope you're both safe."
Boom!
The noise grew closer.
"Old friend, you really picked the worst time to cut the power. A little earlier and I could've died cleanly. A little later and I could've triggered the self-destruct. But now? Just waiting for them to slowly approach—this is torture."
Wei Jun muttered to himself, swiveling the captain's chair toward the door, gun raised and ready.
One minute passed...
Five minutes passed...
Ten minutes passed...
The enemies seemed to have vanished.
...
Over ten minutes earlier, on the bridge of the small warship Ohmuth.
"Lord Gregg, all signals from the squad sent to the water plant have disappeared."
Gregg blinked at the news, his face blank. "You're telling me over twenty men were wiped out against one cripple and some nobody?"
The subordinate reporting hung his head in silence.
"Speak!" Gregg slammed the armrest and shot up from his seat. "Did you run into some monster at the water plant?"
"My lord, the last transmission showed the enemy wearing a spacesuit—"
"What? Did the spacesuit have an energy shield too?"
"No—"
"Get out!"
The subordinate didn't dare say more and hurried away.
Gregg swung his arm. "Start up the Ohmuth! All hands, battle stations!"
"My lord, should we inform the Junk Guild?"
"No need. Train the main guns on the Black Tortoise—that's notice enough. Sink it."
...
Aboard the Black Tortoise, Wei Jun grew puzzled by the prolonged silence. The lowered bulkhead prevented him from investigating.
Then, his phone rang.
Wei Jun answered hastily. Zhou Tianming's voice came through: "Uncle Wei, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. What about you and Li Chi?"
"We're alright. Hold on, we're coming right away."
"What?" Wei Jun looked shocked. "Don't come. Get Li Chi out of here."
"He's insistent."
Wei Jun fell silent, muttering under his breath, "Idiot. Went through so much trouble to save him."
After a pause, he warned, "Be careful. The assault team here vanished for some reason. I'm actually safe inside the Black Tortoise."
"Got i—" Zhou Tianming's voice cut off abruptly.
Wei Jun startled, shouting, "What happened? Tianming! Tianming!"
"Are they insane?!"
Zhou Tianming's stunned murmur came through the phone.
"What?"
Suddenly—
BOOM!
The Black Tortoise shook violently, hurling Wei Jun from his seat before he crashed back down.
Another explosion rocked the ship, tilting the hull.
A deafening roar echoed through the Junk Guild as flames erupted over the city.
Outside the city, in an unmanned car heading inward, Zhou Tianming gaped at the warship firing into the urban area.
"They're insane."
-Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/QueenTL
Thanks!