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Using the fleeing exosuits below me as a springboard, I reached the scorpion-tailed monsters in no time at all.

Perhaps it was because I had just slain one of their numbers, but upon noticing my presence, a fair number of them immediately abandoned their current prey, instead electing to rush at me, even going so far as to ignore the survivors running past them…

Speaking of survivors, the cruel irony of this whole tragedy wasn’t lost on me at all. Amongst all the survivors right now, the ones who joined us the latest had to be the most unfortunate. We had no exosuits for them, so I had them arranged right in the center of the contingent. Yet what looked like the safest place ended up being the opposite when the monsters suddenly ambushed us. I wasn’t even talking about the monsters killing them either…

Weighing in at one and a half tonnes, the entertainment exosuits easily had the impact of a hover car when they sprinted. In other words, amidst the mass panic of the ambush, the ten or so survivors without exosuits were crushed or smashed to pieces by the ones who were supposed to be guarding them… A veritable hell on Gaia for them…

Seeing the field of mangled corpses laid out before me, a wave of anger immediately consumed me. My body shook with fury, and my eyes turned red with blood…

I hated those monsters. I wanted them dead, every last one of them. At the same time, I hated those cowards, even armed with an exosuit, they still fled like mice. Above all, I hated myself for not noticing the monsters, and for not being able to protect those trampled people…

As more survivors fell, my heart only beat that much faster.

“RAWWWRR!” I let forth a guttural roar, born from my inner helplessness. I took one last leap off an exosuit, then took to the air like a bird!

At the same time, one of the canine/scorpion skeletons leapt as well. With its massive body more akin to a bull, it naturally radiated an oppressive pall. In terms of strength alone, it was leagues above me.

However, I had Icy Inferno with me! Knuckles white from gripping, I swung the mighty sword at the mid-air monster, slicing it apart with the force of my upward ascent. A clean victory. Unfortunately, that also meant that I was now on a descent straight into a pile of waiting monsters.

The bones of my fallen enemy still falling with a clang around me, I immediately kicked off the ground the moment my feet came into contact with the ground, twisting my body at the same, and narrowly avoiding a leaping skeleton. But that wasn’t the end either. The monster was now exposed at his flank, and I swiftly followed up with a spinning swing of Icy Inferno.

The impossible mix of fire and ice on its blade cut easily through its ribs. Then with another swing in the reverse direction, I cut its head! By the time it landed on the ground, it crumbled into a pile of harmless bones.

Revolution Slice was a counter move used during a dodge. Thanks to my superhuman reflexes, I was able to further master its intricacies. In fact, it almost felt like this technique was made for me! Like really made for me!

All right! It’s time for you monsters to become my stepping stones!

As the battle raged on, I only got more and more aggressive. Every slice of Icy Inferno left behind an inextinguishable flame on their bodies. Armed with Revolution Slice, I was able to safely avoid their attacks while launching an attack of my own. In barely a minute, I had sliced apart another four more scorpion-tailed skeletons. Even when they tried to surround me, I could easily cut through them when I dodged.

Even though these monsters were a lot smarter and faster than those zombies, they still weren’t a match for me in reflexes and sheer destructive power. Their tactics were swift but predictable – not a threat at all to me.

While I battled the monsters, I threw a glance in the direction of the girls from time to time. Roughly half of the monsters had been attracted by my actions, that left another half attacking the survivors, of which one unfortunate monster ended up attacking the girls.

Like a well-oiled machine, the girls backed away in unison. Bitong commanded the three unmanned exosuits to act as shields for them, forcefully grabbing onto the tail of that monster and locking down the monster in the process.

The force of three exosuits was more than enough to suppress that skeleton, especially when those three were all acting under one will. The first exosuit locked down the monster’s tail. The second jumped onto the monster’s back. The third locked the monster’s neck in a chokehold, completing the seal on its movements.

From the sides, Lixiang and Jiaojiao both wielded their hammers and began smashing its head, cracking open its skull in no time at all…

Hah… who would have thought that the girls would come through like that… and Jiaojiao was even crying just moments ago too… look at her swing that hammer now… In fact, she seems strangely practised in slamming that hammer down onto round objects… yikes…

Now that we had taken care of a portion of the monsters, the fleeing survivors began to realise that these monsters weren’t as undefeatable as they first thought. Especially after how they saw the girls gang up on that lone skeleton.

If even those young girls can do it, why can’t we? The older men amongst them were probably thinking. That’s right! In fact, some of them even voiced this thought out.

Soon after, a number of survivors began banding up into teams of four and five to take on the monsters. Lest one forgot, these exosuits still had weapons on them, though not very efficient ones. Emboldened, they began overwhelming the monsters with sheer numbers. A shield-wielding exosuit would first block the tail, while the others would then take the opportunity to dogpile on the monster. Following that, another exosuit would crack open the monster’s skull.

With a successful example to learn from, the entire morale of the contingent began to soar! Never would I have thought that these potatoes would mount a counterattack like that! Was this what it means to lead by example? The difference between “CHARGE!” and “WITH ME!”.

Thanks to the overwhelming numbers and inherently sturdy defenses of the survivors, the majority of our casualties ended up only being the initial few and those who were trampled to death…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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“The system just issued a mission.” I relayed to the girls. Thanks to Jiaojiao’s little incident earlier, I prepared a private channel for just the four of us beforehand.

“Mission?” Bitong asked in confusion. “Why didn’t we get it as well?”

“The systems you guys have are child systems; there won’t be any missions.” I quickly explained. “But you can still participate in mine.”

“Your Highness, what are these ‘missions?” Lixiang asked.

“Battle the scorpion-like monsters… is what the system said. Based on its name, it should be a monster slaying mission.”

“But they are scary…” Jiaojiao whimpered. “Those tails can pierce through our armors…”

“Mhm, I know. That’s why I’ve decided to handle them myself. You girls can take cover first.”

The girls did not have as much combat experience as I did. In a life-or-death situation like this, there was no denying that I did not rank their chances very high. In light of that, I wouldn’t want them to risk themselves.

Based on what I’ve seen so far, these beasts seemed to have retained their hunting instincts from life, and they weren’t as mindless as those zombies, so escaping might not even be an option. Especially not when these beasts seemed to be proficient in tracking and assassinations.

For the time being, I should be the one to test the waters. The girls… they could just find a nearby building to hide in first. That would allow me to hold the monsters in a choke point as well.

“Big brother… how about we just go… those monsters are scary… we can’t take them…” Jiaojiao was on the verge of tears at this point.

Still…

“No. Since the system has given out this mission, it must mean that I have the strength to take on these monsters then. I… watch out!”

Barely halfway through with my words, I suddenly spotted one of those canine/scorpion amalgamations circle around to our flank, a mere ten meters away from Jiaojiao’s pink exosuit.

No time to waste, I swiftly tossed the shield in my hands, right in the path of that leaping canine skeleton.

The exosuit shield sliced through the air, smashing right into the head of the monster, causing it to suddenly lose control and fall… right on top of a survivor’s exosuit…

Taking advantage of this, I took a quick step forward, and with a mighty swing of my right arm, smashed my hammer right into its skull.

Aided by the force of gravity behind it, the hammer cracked open a gaping hole in the monster’s head, revealing a wavering green flame within. Soul Flame slightly exposed and unstable, the undead monster started to lose control of its body, just like a human would.

I raised my hammer once more, my opponent still immobilized from the impact of the first strike, then brought it down with a vengeance… and again… and again… and again…

It was only at the fifth strike that the Soul Flame was fully exposed. On the sixth, I struck at the eerie green flame!

Finally, the monster went limp. The exosuit beneath could now climb to his feet and shake the massive skeleton off himself.

However, the fact that it took six whole swings of my hammer was a problem. Also, that survivor did not even leave behind a word of thanks before he sped off into the distance.

Yet just when I thought it was all over, the canine skeleton, which had half its skull missing at this point, suddenly jumped at me. It furiously tried to bite at me, giving me a right scare in the process.

Thankfully, the defenses of the exosuit held up to the leap, though barely. While I was staggered, the canine/scorpion skeleton thrust its mighty tail into my suit, actually penetrating the right thigh in the process!

Crap! Why is it still alive?! I even made sure to give it one last hit after I cracked open its head!

Adrenaline coursing through my veins, the suit seemed to react as well. The seventh and final swing of my hammer completely dislodged the Soul Flame from its head, causing it to fall to the ground. Without a Soul Flame to control it, the skeleton fell apart into separate bones.

“Valued host, the Soul Flame of an undead is mostly immune to physical attacks. Only energy attacks can harm it.”

Energy attacks? Like a laser or magic?

“That’s right. Our enemies this time seem to be quite a handful, be careful.”

Then can my Icy Inferno slay them?

“It can. Icy Inferno has anti-magic properties imbued into it. It does additional damage to devilish and incorporeal enemies.”

Got it.

I opened my exosuit, then retrieved the blade in question from my inventory. At the same time, I jumped out of my suit, and before even touching the ground, stabbed down into the lone Soul Flame.

The moment the tip of Icy Inferno touched the Soul Flame, it vanished, like it never existed to begin with.

It does work…

“Ding! Skill Card unlocked: Revolution Slice.”

Hearing that, I immediately opened up my inventory once more and began scanning through it. And there it was… a Skill Card… so these monsters do indeed drop items…

The system wasn’t lying? These monsters really do drop treasure? Is my luck finally taking a turn for the better? Regardless, loot is always welcome.

Without even considering, I activated the Skill Card.

Just like before, a familiar yet foreign sensation began flowing into my head, as if the knowledge was mine to begin with.

Sometimes, I couldn’t help but marvel at the workings of the system. Did this mean that the system could directly implant any knowledge I wanted as long as I had the points for it?

There really isn’t a better cheating tool than this, is there? Now, if it would just remove the point cost.

Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to bask in my triumph. I did not return to the exosuit, seeing as its leg was now injured and could just fail at any moment. Besides, it felt awkward moving around in an unfamiliar environment.

I leapt onto my former exosuit’s shoulder, then like a martial artist straight out of a novel, I nimbly took to the skies and dived at Bitong, who quickly stretched out her arms to receive me.

Ever since I learned the Revolution Slice, I felt my balance improve by leaps and bounds. Even standing on top of the exosuit, it felt like I was merely standing on flat ground.

“I’ve figured out how to handle these monsters. I’ll get rid of those behind us first. You guys take care in the meantime.” Then without giving the girls time to say no, I took to the skies once more with a nimble leap, landing briefly on top of another exosuit before taking off again…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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The first swing of the policeman’s beam sword easily sliced through the tail of a canine skeleton. With a quick twist of his wrist, he continued with a slash downwards, taking off its rear right leg at the same time. Yet the canine skeleton didn’t seem to flinch at all, as it leapt right at the exosuit, leg or no leg.

However, the sword-wielding exosuit was already waiting for it, calm and collected as it stabbed the scorching blade of light into the monster’s head. A second later, it exploded in a flash of eerie green light. Despite its flashy appearance, this explosion did not cause any damage, but it did signify the disappearance of the strange green flame within its skull. With it, the entire canine skeleton fell apart as well…

Was that the force animating the creature then? Seems like we found a weakness in its head.

Still, while that creature might have died, the force of its leap remained. As its lifeless skeletal frame crashed into the exosuit, the suit visibly staggered, but that was the extent of its impact – seems like even a full-on charge from one of these beasts couldn’t topple an exosuit. Furthermore, its claws did not seem to leave much of a mark on the exosuit either. In other words, that scorpion tail was its strongest weapon, and strong it was.

As for the other exosuit on the bridge, he seemed to have fared worse. The moment he approached one of the beasts in melee range, he was hit by a tail attack. Fortunately, the tail wasn’t able to penetrate the exosuit this time. It merely left a sizable dent where it struck. In all likelihood, the exosuit could take another three or four of such attacks before the pilot within was hit.

That tail attack, it seemed, wasn’t as undefeatable as we first thought. That shocking one hit kill was most likely aided by the beasts’ running charge up the bridge. And that made sense as well. The area of the exosuit in question was the cockpit, it would have to be the sturdiest portion of the exosuit.

Under such conditions, the two exosuits on the bridge slowly retook the initiative from the canine skeletons. As they smoothly ducked and weaved in melee, they would throw in a few slices here and there. Whenever they couldn’t dodge an attack, they merely slammed head-on into the beast instead, easily sending it flying.

Speaking of flying, these two exosuits actually tried to take to the skies several times already. However, the canine skeletons were keen-eyed enough that they immediately sprung on them whenever they even attempted to do so.

Either way, I now had a clear idea of how these beasts worked -only its tail was a concern.

Yet just when I was about to relay this finding to the survivors, trouble struck. A dozen or so canine skeletons sprung up behind us!

“AH! They’re here… they’re right behind us…” One of the survivors immediately yelled in panic.

“I’ll take care of them! Don’t worry…”

“Ah crap… run… there are too many of them…”

“Steady now. Our exosuits aren’t that much different from the police ones, as long as we avoid those tails, we are fine.”

While I might have said that, it wasn’t exactly true that the entertainment exosuits were just as sturdy as the police ones. Initially, such a statement would be true. But the budget allotted to maintaining a game suit wasn’t ever going to be the same as maintaining a police suit. Whenever a part was due for replacement, whether due to shelf life or damage, they would be taken down. However, these parts would often get refurbished, then resold on the market. In the best case, an entertainment exosuit had the same defences as a police exosuit, but after constant refurbishments, could this second-hand car of an exosuit be reasonably expected to function as well?

The moment these monsters appeared, a portion of the survivors broke off from the main contingent in panic. There were also the braver ones who ran up to block the monsters. Unfortunately, good intentions alone wouldn’t cut it in front of the grim reaper.

Just as they were all prepared for a rousing battle, death came knocking on their doors…

The first survivor was immediately pushed back and injured while the second was summarily pierced by multiple tail attacks. Naturally, the pilot was a goner too.

As for the others, what did these survivors even expect with their sealed up weapons? They couldn’t just smash open their skulls with a hammer, could they?!

“He’s dead… dead… RUN!”

“Save me…”

Their bravado barely lasted ten seconds as they started to flee themselves. Unfortunately, the moment they tried to run away, the canine skeletons struck… Geez, did no one teach them not to show their backs to an enemy?

The fear of death was like a virus; once it spread, there was no stopping it. Once the first casualty appeared, a wave of panic washed over the whole contingent, and it wasn’t long before they began fleeing blindly.

“Everyone, calm down and maintain ranks…” Bitong tried to command the survivors to no avail.

“Big brother…let’s get out of here… these monsters are scary…” Jiaojiao said as she rode up to me in her pink exosuit. Even wrapped in a veritable metal fortress, there was no safety to be had at this point for the timid girl.

“Your Highness, the time has come for us to slay the demons!”

Compared to Jiaojiao, Lixiang was a lot more combative, but why did she turn from a magical girl to a character in a cultivation novel?

Regardless, running away wasn’t an option now. From the way these monsters seemed to be popping up in the dozens, there were most likely even more hiding out somewhere. And besides, if the police were to be routed completely, where were we to even run to? Thus, I decided to fight!

“Ding! System update… emergency mission activated… Loot system activated…”

Mission: Battle the scorpion-like monsters
Objectives: Slay all the scorpion-like monsters
Reward: Flame Whip. Activation cost of 5 SP. 2 SP per second while it’s active. Potency varies based on SP used.
Comments: Has our valued host heard of the term “loot farming”?
On failure: Permanent closure of the Loot function.

Naturally, the urgent nature of this mission meant that the system had already accepted the mission on our behalf. Still… What the heck is this Loot system? Are monsters going to drop items now?

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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Hearing Jiaojiao’s abrupt suggestion, 3739 was stunned at first then swiftly shot her down. “That won’t be necessary. Protecting the city and its inhabitants are all part of our duties. Furthermore, if I’m not wrong, you’re still a kid, aren’t you? Children shouldn’t participate in such dangerous activities. Just find a safe spot nearby, the clean up should still take a while more.”

“There’s no need to worry about us! Vanquishing evil is the duty of all magical girls!” With just one simple declaration, Lixiang brought her middle schooler delusions to full bear. “This one accepts this mission on behalf of the Battle Angels Squad!”

“Battle Angels… Squad?” This time, it was my turn to be surprised.

“Your Highness.” She said with all the seriousness in the world. “The Battle Angels Squad is our team.”

There’s no way I’m acknowledging that middle school grouping! And when did we even form a squad? Why haven’t I been informed about any of this?!

I swear… whenever she opens that mouth of hers, I have to worry whether or not we are about to be embarrassed again…

“Woooo! Jiaojiao wants to be an Archangel then!” Jiaojiao, however, seemed to be fully onboard with the name.

“Ahahaha… I’m sorry…”

Even though I couldn’t see the policeman’s face, I could tell he was speechless right now. He wasn’t the only one as well, but just as I was figuring out how to break this awkwardness, something happened at the bridge…

A bunch of strange looking creatures surfaced from the water, clawing their way up the bridge’s structure, and quickly hopping onto the bridge itself…

These creatures were clearly canine in nature, even in spite of their current skeletal appearance. Feet planted on the ground, these canine skeletons still measured an impressive two meters tall. On their skulls were a pair of thick horns, their tails seemed to be joined to a scorpion tail.

Over ten such misshapen monsters swiftly climbed up the bridge with the agility of an assassin. The moment they popped over the horizon of the bridge, they leapt at the nearest police exosuit they could find!

Having fully engaged with the four exosuits there, the remaining five skeletal canines rushed towards the two squads of policemen in a perfectly coordinated manner. These were all normal policemen who weren’t protected by exosuits. In all likelihood, the sudden outbreak of this virus had caused a shortage of exosuits… Regardless, the canine skeletons were now rushing for these vulnerable targets…

The policemen themselves did not take long to discover this new threat. However, the following scene could only be described as horrific. Like a wolf rampaging amongst a herd of sheep, the canine skeletons tore mercilessly into their exposed flesh. A few swipes, stabs, and bites later, the twenty or so policemen were all mangled and dead.

Then, barely a second later, two of the four remaining exosuits were pierced by a canine skeleton’s scorpion tail. The wound was situated in the dead center of the exosuit, meaning the pilots within were most definitely dead as well…

With the sturdiness of these exosuits, the system estimated that an attack had to at least have the power of a Four-star. Meaning we were at least dealing with monsters as destructive as a Four-star! At least, these canines had such power during a sneak attack.

“Zhi! Qing! You monsters…. I’ll kill you all!” Seeing his comrades killed so easily before his eyes, 3739 immediately flew off into a rage. Without even wasting another word, he sped off towards the bridge.

“Big brother… we don’t have to join in, right?” Now that the monsters could easily pierce through a police exosuit in one strike, Jiaojiao smartly chose to abandon her earlier bravado.

“Indeed, these new foes of ours seem unexpectedly stronger.” It was Lixiang’s turn to voice her concerns. Even though she might not have said so explicitly, she wanted us to avoid this danger… In other words, run.

“Yes. Jiaojiao thinks we should find shelter first…” Jiaojiao meekly added on, her voice starting to tremble at this point.

Bitong, on the other hand, was direct as always in pointing out the crux of the problem. “But we have too many people with us, it will be hard trying to hide. Besides, if even the police can’t handle these monsters, then hiding won’t solve the problem in the long run… We need a plan…”

She’s right. We can leave now… but what then? Those zombies may not be a threat, but these scorpions clearly are. Once the police are gone, we are next in line… But even if we try to help now, there’s still the matter of that scorpion tail. Being pierced by that looks deadly! Especially since we have the same defenses as those police exosuits, but even worse weapons than them. Everyone here is just a normal civilian too. I think our ranks would collapse before even the enemy got to us….

Contrary to his earlier declaration, 3739 did not foolishly rush into battle right away. Instead, he started firing off a long-range barrage once he came within range.

His laser cannons could easily suppress a field of enemies within seconds. However, these weren’t ordinary zombies anymore. Even a direct hit by his laser merely left a scratch on their bones. Just based on that, one could tell that these new monsters were highly resistant to heat attacks.

With a new target, four of the canine skeletons immediately broke off from the pack and leapt towards 3739.

However, 3739 did not dare face them in direct combat. He immediately ducked to the left into a different street. As he continued retreating, he did not let up on his barrage.

Back on the bridge, the two surviving exosuits continued struggling against the canine skeletons. Exosuits were often armed with a wide variety of weapons that were customised to each person. However, a sturdy shield was a must. Such implements were particularly suited for close-range combat, and that was how these two even managed to survive the initial tail attack.

One of the exosuits drew out a longsword while the other drew out a black tube-like tool. The pilot seemed to have pressed some button, causing a two meter long, blue laser blade to sprout from its black opening…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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After all the work we did, we ended up unlocking enough exosuits for everyone, with three to spare. Yet that wasn’t the most shocking thing we learnt today; that dubious honor had to go to the fact that Bitong could somehow control those three extra exosuits remotely!

There were no pilots to be had in these pilots -completely unmanned – though there were some delays in response time, and precise movements were impossible.

Bitong, Lixiang, Jiaojiao and I were the vanguard of this contingent. The Lans were our rearguard, while the remaining survivors formed the center. Then, right at the helm of all of us, were the three unmanned exosuits, controlled by Bitong as they cleared the path ahead of zombies.

After killing a few zombies, Bitong suddenly said, “They count.”

It was a weird declaration that had no heads or tails, at least not to outsiders. To us, however, her meaning couldn’t be clearer. Even zombies killed through remote means such as Bitong’s counted as part of her kill count. In other words, as long as the finishing attack was in some way linked to us, the points would be credited to us. Still, I couldn’t be sure if this rule held up even at long distances.

Roughly two kilometers of travelling later, we came upon some survivors hiding out in a building. Rather, they waved and called out to us for help. With regards to them, my opinion was still the same as before: if we could save them, we would. Thanks to that, our numbers swelled by another ten.

This time, we had no spare exosuits to give them. Thus, they had to hide amongst the main contingent, flanked on all sides by those with exosuits.

According to the map, we’ve arrived at somewhere known as Northern Waters River. This river spanned 200 meters across, and stretched up to a massive 250 km, cutting across the entire southern section of Southern Plains. According to our planned route, we had to cross this river at the Northern Waters Bridge, in order to leave the southern district of the city.

Had this been normal times, this river would be filled with cruises, ferrying wide-eyed tourists across its scenic waters. Unfortunately, the river as it was now was more akin to the River Styx with its deathly silence. Using my detachable bits as an aerial drone, we counted at least a dozen cruises floating eerily on the river. In all likelihood, they were now inhabited solely by zombies…

Speaking of detachable bits, these could normally be used to fire lasers, but an entertainment exosuit’s laser wasn’t meant to do damage. Still, its camera functions came in handy.

While surveying the river, we discovered that the bridge was currently held by five police exosuits, backed up by two fully armed squads of policemen.

As a side note, when the Northern Waters Bridge was built centuries ago, it was a landmark of its time. Now, it stood tall and proud as a famous ancient wonder. Anyone who visited the city had to have visited the bridge at least once, else it would have been a wasted trip. This bridge was one of the symbols of this city.

“Should we go over and help? There’s quite a bit of farming to be had there!” Suggested an excited Jiaojiao. Ever since attaining this exosuit, she seemed to have forgotten how to even spell the word ‘fear’. She practically leapt for joy when her adorable eyes spotted the pack of roaming zombies.

With a police blockade ahead that was currently engaged in battle, she immediately made that suggestion, without any thought at all for safety. And… that was where she messed up.

In order to facilitate passing down commands, all of us were on a public channel of communications. In other words, what she said could be heard by others as well, and some things were best kept a secret.

“Farming? Do you think we’re playing a game here?!” Bitong immediately chided the girl. While I couldn’t see her face from here, I knew she was just trying to remind the girl to keep quiet.

“Okay…” Naturally, Jiaojiao understood that as well, but she still had to act out the part of a dejected child. “It’s just less scary if this was all a game, that’s all…”

Nice job!

“We have a situation!” Charged with handling the detachable bits, Lixiang suddenly interrupted the well-acted play. “They’ve spotted us.”

Spotted us? Oh… you mean one of the police exosuits have spotted us…

The exosuit in question turned around to face his companions, seemingly conversing with them before waving in our direction -was he telling us to come over? Perhaps he was trying to figure out who we were, or which organization we belonged to.

Barely a moment later, the police exosuit had locked onto our location, and after performing a few acrobatic leaps over the period structures between us, he landed in front of us.

The police in the suit was numbered 3739. He did not reveal his face, but based on his voice, he shouldn’t be too old.

“Greetings. I’m a member of the Southern Plains Police Department (SPPD), serial number 3739. May I ask if you’re planning to leave the city? And where did you get the exosuits you’re currently wearing?”

The policeman immediately opened in an interrogative tone. However, he was merely doing job, so I couldn’t blame him there. More importantly, we hadn’t done anything wrong, and had even saved a lot of people; there was nothing to hide on our part.

“We’re all survivors here, most of us just came out of Joyworks Game City. That’s where we procured these suits.” Bitong answered on her own initiative. She was the one more used to such encounters, so there was no need for me to intervene. “Officer, these are all entertainment exosuits. You may check them yourself -none of the weapons have been unlocked.”

Having said that, Bitong took out one of her swords to show the officer.

Honestly, 3739 probably could have seen for himself that these were all entertainment exosuits, but protocol had to be followed. As for why no one seemed to mention the anti-theft system… Well. He never asked. He probably thought it was pointless to ask as well. After all, our lives were in danger right now. What was he going to do? Arrest for us something minor like arming ourselves illegally? Given our numbers, that would be suicidal.

As expected, he skipped over the topic entirely. “I’m sure your journey here must have been hard as well. But the bridge is still being cleared, it’s not safe to go over at the moment.”

“We can help too!” Jiaojiao suddenly chimed in. “Our exosuits might not have any good weapons, but they can still smack some zombies around. And more people would make cleaning the area faster.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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“Our current location is the southern district of Southern Plains. If we travel in a straight line, it would take twenty kilometers travelling in a straight line to reach the suburbs of Southern Plains.” Bitong stated, electronic map opened up wide as she pointed at the districts. “If we’re lucky, we might bump into a military or police patrol -rescue might be possible then. However, even if that isn’t the case, these exosuits should theoretically keep us safe from their attacks. I just don’t know if they might evolve like in those zombie games…”

“Evolve?” Jiaojiao jerked her head towards Bitong, attention fully captured now, instead of flailing her arms about. “No way… this isn’t a game.”

“But reality shouldn’t have zombies either… at least there weren’t any in the past…” Lan Yue’er countered in a quivering voice. “I’ve only heard of failed experiments producing mutated animals in the past. Those were all beasts that were put down immediately. This virus has already taken over this entire city…”

“Hmph. With His Highness here, mere zombies are not a threat.” Lixiang confidently stated her faith in me. However, the words of a girl with middle school delusions weren’t exactly inspiring.

Seeing our morale deteriorate all of a sudden, I quickly stepped in to break the mood. “There’s no need to think that far for now. As long as we’re quick enough, we will be safe, whether it’s finding the army, the police, or just leaving ourselves.”

“Don’t forget, Southern Plains is a very famous tourist city. At every one moment, there are at least tens of thousands of tourists from each planet. If we were to all die in Southern Plains, even the Federation will have difficulty explaining this crisis off.”

Lan Zhi was right there. The death of all these aliens was no small matter, it might even lead to inter-planetary war. The Federation would definitely have taken some measures already. Like dispatching a huge army. The other planets would have sent aid as well.

“Well, time won’t wait for anyone, let’s move.” A good suggestion by Yang Fei, though there was still one matter to do before we left -we should search the entire building for survivors.

“Hold on. We should search Game City first. Given its size, there might be survivors scattered around. If there are, we can just bring them along…”

At the same time, we could do some points farming.

“All right. I will go to the other game rooms and unlock the exosuits. You guys can go search for survivors.” Unless it was about setting up a harem, I could always count on Bitong’s unconditional support, and guidance too.

Just like that, we quickly split up into two teams. The Lans were one team, while Jiaojiao, Lixiang and I were another. Bitong was naturally tasked with unlocking the exosuits.

First off, we searched the other game rooms since these were most likely to have occupants inside. As expected, we actually found three survivors in the first game room we searched. After a quick chat, they agreed with our plans and joined the search as well. Over time, the search time expanded to over twenty people, split into seven groups.

After another hour of searching, the total tally nearly came up to a hundred. During the search, we would gather up survivors till the number reached a threshold, at which point we would escort them downstairs.

On Bitong’s part, it didn’t take long before she unlocked the remaining exosuits. With that out of the way, she took up the duty of guarding the survivors we sent down.

Because we were now armed with exosuits, Jiaojiao was a lot more enthusiastic, seeing as there was no danger of attacks. The moment we bumped into a zombie, she would be the first one to charge ahead. In her own words, she was grinding mobs… Now, if only there was an experience bar somewhere where we could gauge our levels…

As if! Lixiang’s delusions are starting to spread now, I see!

By the time we brought down our last group of survivors, every other team had arrived as well. The number of survivors, not counting the initial survivors who joined us in searching, came up to 91. We had crossed the hundred mark, but thankfully, the amount of exosuits in Game City could accommodate everyone with three to spare.

The earlier survivors, whom we sent down, were already snacking on the rations we managed to scavenge in the building.

“Seems like we got quite a harvest.” Bitong cheerfully waved in our direction. Because Lan Zhi was there to take over the guarding, she had the opportunity to dismount from her exosuit and munch on bread.

While everyone else might have confused the word harvest for the number of rescued survivors, only we knew that she meant the points. And she was right. This round of points farming went extremely well. Between the three of us, we managed to kill over three hundred zombies, smoothly and safely, just the way we liked it.

After an additional thirty minutes of resting, Bitong gathered up the hacked exosuits, at which point everyone boarded an exosuit of their own and left Game City.

During these thirty minutes, we also took the opportunity to do a quick census. Over half of the survivors were tourists, the remaining thirty or so were locals.

These thirty locals decided that they would rather search for their kin instead. Naturally, those who did not have any instead wanted to hide out in Game City. In their mind, this building was mostly cleared, and there should be some supplies left anyway. However, after some persuasion about how short sighted this was, they finally gave up on holing up in this building. After all, the exosuits couldn’t even be breached by the zombies in the first place.

As planned, the remaining eighty or so survivors would follow our lead in taking the shortest route out of the city.

I originally wanted to persuade those who wanted to stay behind to search for their kin, but upon seeing the grief on their faces, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

Finally, our eighty strong exosuit army marched out of Game City like an unstoppable mechanical horde. Any zombie who stood in our way was dealt swift mechanical justice!

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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Just barely a second after taking a step out the door, a pallid hand reached out and grabbed the outer armor of my exosuit.

This hand that once belonged to a living person scratched furiously at the armor, but no matter how much it tried, the only marks it left behind were the bloodstains from its broken nails.

Then like an elephant crushing an insect, it was over. With barely any effort at all, I stamped down on its head, squashing it like a watermelon. A very gooey watermelon…

The first dry run of the exosuit had been a resounding success. More importantly, I was happy to say that killing with an exosuit still gave me a point!

Seems like I need to have some private fun with this exosuit in the future…

Because these exosuits were meant for entertainment only, their weapon systems were either harmless or sealed up. Even so, a sealed melee weapon was still enough to smash open a zombie’s head. That was why I picked up a hammer on the way out -great for cracking open watermelons.

Bitong’s seemingly reckless driving had rendered most of the zombies outside hapless targets. On the way out, I made sure to give these poor watermelons a quick stomp, especially when they tried to claw at me.

A short while later, coupled with a lot of hammer swinging, the entrance of Game City had been cleared of the zombies blocking the gate. In fact, I was already standing just centimeters away from the outside right this very second. One more step. That was all it took for me to leave the boundaries of Game City.

If the anti-theft system was still active, this single step would trigger its systems and immediately shut down the controls. When that happened, the pilot inside would be prevented from leaving as well, barring those who could hack it, or just smash it apart.

In other words, I would be stuck outside if the anti-theft was still active…

Naturally, I had no doubt that Icy Inferno would be able to slice apart the exosuits… but that wasn’t the point, was it? It was like being nervous before an exam. You might have prepared extensively, but there would always be that heart-pound trepidation leading up to the exam hall…

I breathed in deeply, then took that fateful step ever so slowly but firmly. Then the second… then the third…

Still moving… nothing out of the ordinary…

With that, the anti-theft was proven defeated; these toy exosuits could now be used outside of Game City. As long as we had them protecting us, breaking out of the city was possible!

“Woohoo! It’s done! We can finally leave this forsaken ghost city!” A moment later back in the game room, a veritably excited Jiaojiao was beside herself with excitement as she jumped in celebration. In fact, she jumped so high that she even bumped into Lixiang by accident, causing both machines, one pink and one gold, to topple to the ground.

“So you’re really planning to break out of Southern Plains then?” Amidst our celebrations, Lan Zhi suddenly came in like a splash of cold water with his solemnity. “If you guys merely wanted to hide out in Game City, there would be no need to break the anti-theft.”

“That’s right, we plan to escape from this city by ourselves.” I answered, now fully back in the game room. Honestly, waiting this whole crisis out in safety was a viable option. But there was always a risk when you left your fate to another, even if it was the police or the army. To begin with, this sense of helplessness did not sit well with me, especially now that we actually had the means to accomplish our goals.

“In that case, can you help us break our anti-thefts as well?” Yang Fei was the one who made this request. “We can escape together -safety in numbers, and all that.”

“Sis.” I looked in Bitong’s direction. Even though I did not say much, given our time together, she definitely understood my meaning.

Now that we had these exosuits, the zombies couldn’t harm us, and that meant we didn’t need extra help either. However, leaving another to die wasn’t a very commendable action. If I had to choose between being selfish and helping others, I would be more inclined towards the latter.

“Alright.” Bitong nodded her head. “I was planning to ask you all anyway.”

“In that case, thank you.”

“Thank you.” Lan Zhi and Yang Fei immediately expressed their gratitude. Lan Yue’er was also smiling as she said, “Thank you, Sister… Brother Mo Ke…”

Seeing her stutter for a second when saying ‘brother, I knew this question of gender was probably going to stick for a while…

Still, now that we had new members, it was time to discuss our plan of escape.

To be honest, there wasn’t much to do except lay out the precautions we had to take, and the potential dangers ahead. Even though this was the second time the Lan family was hearing this, when Bitong told them about the outside world, Lan Yue’er couldn’t help but get a little dejected.

“So there really aren’t any survivors out there? There were some people knocking on the door before, but before we could even open it…”

“Don’t be sad.” Looking at that guilty look on her face, I couldn’t help but sigh as I comforted her. “Everyone has their own fate… and it’s not that there are no survivors anymore, they have just hidden themselves. The streets are empty for the most part…”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

Leave a comment

Silent up till now, Lan Zhi’s wife, Yang Fei, suddenly asked, “So what are your plans?”

“Nothing complicated, actually. We came here to find some exosuits to use as weapons, with which we will use to escape Southern Plains.” There wasn’t much reason to hide, so I openly stated our plans.

“An exosuit?” Lan Yue’er’s eyes went wide. “I thought you can’t bring them out of Game City?”

Game City’s being locked by an anti-theft system was common sense. But wasn’t common sense made for breaking?

I pursed my lips a little then threw a side glance at Bitong who was still fiddling with the exosuits. “That’s my big sis over there, she can hack the anti-theft system.”

“Really?” Lan Zhi seemed almost doubtful. “It’s no easy feat to crack an anti-theft system of this level.”

“It’s done.” Just as Lan Zhi voiced his doubt, Bitong called out to us, signalling that she was done hacking the first exosuit.

Her face was the picture of confidence, and while her claim hadn’t been verified yet, even Lan Zhi knew that she wouldn’t make a baseless claim like that under such situations… that would be pointless.

Even so, he couldn’t help but feel the timing of her announcement was rather coincidental, and it wasn’t long before the atmosphere turned awkward…

“Ahem. So… Sister Mo Ke…” Most likely in an attempt to break the ice, Lan Yue’er suddenly spoke up, “I saw you kick my dad off his feet just now. Are you a martial artist? Your leg was glowing too – so cool!”

I could clearly hear the excitement in her voice as she bombarded me with questions, but some records had to be set straight, “Before answering your answer, I think I need to clarify something. I’m a guy.”

“Eh?!” Lan Yue’er glanced over me, probably scanning for any semblance of masculinity. “Sister Mo Ke is a guy?”

What do you mean, am I a guy?! How am I not a guy?

Lixiang threw the girl a scornful look. “To think this human wasn’t even able to distinguish Your Highness’s gender, foolish.”

“What did you say? You’re a human yourself!”

“Hah. This one isn’t some lowly human.” Lixiang tilted her head up and arrogantly looked down upon the girl despite being shorter than her exosuit.

“You’re not?” Lan Yue’er asked with mocking incredulity. “What are you then?”

“This one is the spawn of light and darkness, a Primal Angel of the Apocalypse. And also the magical girl, Heavenly Feather of the Broken Sin!” Having said that, Lixiang raised her doll up here. “This is a clone containing this one’s sealed up memories, as long as this one undos the seal…”

Ah… here we go again…

By this point, the Lan family was beginning to give us a pretty strange look. I hurriedly interrupted Lixiang before it was too late. “Lixiang… Lixiang…”

Hearing me call her, she promptly halted her speech, and like a proper attendant, curtsied in my direction. “Your Highness. Lixiang is ready and willing to serve.”

My ears immediately flushed at her gravitas, yet at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a little happy… Crap. Am I turning into Lixiang 2.0? But this kind of roleplaying is pretty fun in its own way.

“So… what’s a Heavenly Feather of the Broken Sin?”

Calmly, and without any shame whatsoever, Lixiang replied, “That is the magical girl title of this one.”

“Lixiang…”

“That’s right. This one has just regained the memories of her past life.” Lixiang interrupted me in that same solemn voice. Then with adoration in her eyes, she looked at me. “As expected of Your Highness, you’ve already guessed that.”

“…”

Actually, I was trying to tell you not to embarrass us in front of the outsiders…

However, as I watched her mind fill the plot holes in her delusions, I suddenly had this thought: what if she was actually telling the truth? She did seem rather convinced… Fine… As long as you’re happy, Lixiang. As long as you’re happy… But it’s still so embarrassing. Someone get me a bag to cover my head please.

“Your Highness, why are you covering your face?”

“Oh, it’s nothing… I just wanted to rest my eyes all of a sudden.”

“That is true, these foolish humans do not deserve to gaze upon your heavenly visage.”

“No… I did not mean that at all…”

How does she even twist my words like that? Every time. It must be a special ability of some sort…

By now, Bitong had hacked the fourth exosuit.

“Ke, bring Lixiang over here, they’re done.”

As instructed, I herded Lixiang to Bitong. Jiaojiao had already equipped a pink exosuit before us. Even though she was small, these exosuits had the ability to adjust their size to their wearer. At its maximum, an exosuit could accommodate an astonishing 2.5 meters.

“Look, big brother, Jiaojiao can do all these now.” Fully buckled up, Jiaojiao began enacting a series of difficult maneuvers, as if to prove to us that she was an excellent pilot.

“Jiaojiao’s the best!” I praised her in a slightly exaggerated fashion. When she saw the smile on my face, she got even more excited and started a new round of maneuvers, only more difficult this time. They weren’t the most precise of kicks, but they worked…

Honestly speaking, if one were to compare her to a professional pilot, she would, at best, be considered an ordinary pilot. But at her age, she was already a genius. My praise was definitely sincere.

“All right, it’s my turn then.” I stowed Icy Inferno into my inventory, then boarded the purple exosuit that Bitong had picked out for me. I first gave the controls a quick warm-up then started moving towards the door. “I’ll go outside and clean up the remaining zombies. At the same time, I can test if these suits can leave Game City.”

It wasn’t that I did not trust Bitong’s skills, but a little caution went a long way -not like she was against this idea anyway.

Barring the Lan family whose abilities I still wasn’t familiar with, I was the only one present who could survive even without an exosuit.

The girls naturally had no objections to my suggestion. They trusted my abilities, and they knew I was the most suitable candidate here.

“Sister… Brother Mo Ke… are you really planning to go out? But it’s dangerous out there, maybe we should all stay here instead.” Upon hearing that I was about to leave the room to test the exosuit, Lan Yue’er was the first to voice her concern.

“I won’t deny the dangers, but we can’t stay here forever. Besides, sis has already hacked the anti-theft systems, so all that’s left is to test it out. Someone has to do this job.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE