One picked him up. Before it could say anything, just a single glance from those eyes told Xie Jianxun exactly what it wanted to say.
The human stretched out both arms and hugged it tightly, closing his eyes in relief.
The next moment, a powerful sensation of freefall hit them like jumping off a building. His whole body tensed up, but he didn’t scream in panic.
The freefall ended, and they landed on solid ground.
Xie Jianxun let go, still seemingly dazed from that embrace—or perhaps his mind had wandered from the shock of the laser bomb.
One wrapped an arm around his shoulders, one hand cradling the back of his head while the other gently patted his back.
Xie Jianxun shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“What about them?”
The Joint Group members were hiding behind cabinets, scattered in various corners of the vast control room. None were seriously injured, but the fall from height onto the rubble had knocked most of them unconscious.
The Patrol Troops, being closer, were lucky to have high-end armor from the City Lord’s Mansion. Their injuries weren’t severe, though several helmets had come off, revealing young faces smeared with grayish-black dust.
The Sand Bandits had fared much worse.
The ones nearest, within the laser bomb’s effective range and without any protective gear, were electrocuted alive before being blasted away by the shockwave.
They lay scattered on the ground, a gruesome sight.
Xie Jianxun walked past them without looking directly, only using his peripheral vision to check if any were still alive.
Over there, One was staunching blood from a wounded soldier.
Xie Jianxun walked back and told it that he hadn’t seen any surviving Sand Bandits—just corpses everywhere, along with some mangled body parts.
He didn’t dare look at the rest.
“Come on, sir. Teach me how to staunch bleeding. Let me help you.”
He swallowed back his nausea, desperate for something to distract himself.
Xie Jianxun felt like blood was trickling from his nose… No, it was just an illusion. It was the metallic tang in the air, not his own.
The Mechanical Puppet glanced over, its blue eyes flickering slightly.
“The staunching process might not be pretty,” it said tactfully. “Why don’t you sit over there and wait for me, okay?”
Xie Jianxun murmured dazedly, “I need something to do, to clear my head. My mind’s full of those corpses over there. I… I didn’t even dare look closely…”
He covered his eyes, squatted down, and buried his face in his knees in frustration.
The Mechanical Puppet said nothing more, its hands moving steadily. Soon, the bleeding from the Patrol Trooper’s wound was under control.
“Perhaps she needs your help more?”
One said in a low voice. Xie Jianxun lifted his head in a daze and saw Gris open her eyes.
“Lend a hand. You can do it.”
She lay flat on her back, her staff vanished without a trace. She was trying to kip up to stand.
But the violent fall had sapped everyone’s strength. She tried twice and failed.
Just then, footsteps thudded up behind her. Someone braced her back with their shoulder.
Gris twisted her head warily and relaxed upon seeing the familiar young face.
“Thanks… thanks…”
She muttered, placing a hand on Xie Jianxun’s shoulder and pulling herself up with his help. “What about the Sand Bandits? Are they all dead?”
Xie Jianxun: “Probably. How are you?”
Gris exhaled a turbid breath, grinning easily. “Me? I’m great, just no strength left. Where’d they die? Quick, take me to see.”
Without her staff, she grabbed a nearby long polearm, using it as a crutch, and limped forward.
Passing a dead Sand Bandit, she bent down to look.
She shook her head and moved to the next.
Xie Jianxun was utterly confused about what she was doing. After checking three or four, Gris said regretfully, “He’s not here?”
“Who are you looking for?” Xie Jianxun asked.
Gris: “Someone important to me. Ah, there he is! Thank the heavens!”
The mercenary leaped forward with effort, bounding to a pile of rubble where a Sand Bandit lay. The bandit’s head was tilted, half his face covered in blood—it was impossible to tell if he was dead or unconscious.
Xie Jianxun: “You’re looking for him…” for something?
Before he could finish, he saw the mercenary casually swing the polearm, jamming it into the Sand Bandit’s thigh root and firing suddenly.
Bang—a hole appeared in the thigh.
Bang bang—it shattered. The leg blew clean off.
Xie Jianxun squeezed his eyes shut.
A moment later, Gris chuckled laboriously. “Oops, forgot there’s a little lamb here. Don’t look, turn away. I just wanted to get revenge personally. Why else would I go to all this trouble chasing them here?”
Xie Jianxun turned away silently.
Moments later, he sighed helplessly, looking like a rain-soaked kitten. “Next time you want revenge, can you tell me in advance?”
Gris burst out laughing. “Sure, sure. Next time for sure.”
She slung an arm over Xie Jianxun’s shoulders, unapologetically using him as a crutch. “Alright, kiddo, let’s go check on the others.”
A massive hole gaped in the deck plating, with only faint light filtering through cracks from the upper deck into the dim, murky space below.
Two shadows overlapped.
Jack twitched his fingers. Consciousness slowly returned, his body feeling like it had exploded—he couldn’t move.
His vision cleared from blur to sharp. Something heavy like a stone slab weighed on him, and his mouth filled with the taste of blood. Warm liquid trickled from his chest.
But it wasn’t his.
Nir, his loyal subordinate, a native Mase Person, had shoved him aside at the moment of explosion, taking the brunt by covering him.
He was scrawny and short.
In that instant, Nir knew his small frame couldn’t block much, but he rushed over anyway, spreading his limbs like a tattered net.
Liquid dripped, splattering Jack’s face.
Like a drop of boiling oil in a hot pan, it snapped him fully awake.
Faint voices drifted from afar—the Patrol Troops asking about wound pain.
Jack didn’t move, rolling his eyes like a dead dog to survey his surroundings.
Everyone in familiar garb within sight lay on the ground, dead or alive unknown.
He whispered softly: “Blue? Abby?”
No answer.
Finally, he turned his head, asking silently: Nir, are you still alive?
Of course, no response. He already knew—the corpse atop him was cooling, stiffening, blood no longer flowing.
He lay on a slab of rubble, bewildered. All these years, I’ve never given a wrong order. Every operation succeeded. This one should be no different.
But why? We reached the ship first, yet those Golden City people got to the control room ahead?
And Aisia…
She really didn’t care at all that I’m her blood uncle?
Raised her all these years.
Back then, I should have made her swallow that bug too.
My one moment of softness led to this.
…But it won’t be the end.
Jack slowly sat up. Nir’s corpse slid off him, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Xie Jianxun and Gris both whipped their heads toward the sound from the dark depths.
Gris’s expression shifted. “Not all the Sand Bandits are dead?”
But the next second, they saw the middle-aged Sand Bandit leader emerge from the darkness.
Step by step, with slow, heavy footfalls. Xie Jianxun saw massive veins bulging on Jack’s silent face.
Accompanied by the teeth-gritting sound of tearing muscles, his body grew taller, clothes shredding. In an instant, he transformed from an ordinary middle-aged man into a towering three-meter giant!
Only the head in the center of that massive frame identified him as the Sand Bandit leader.
The one who had once kindly given them food, asked if they were too hot.
Xie Jianxun: “…”
Look at what he was seeing.
How could someone still bring a berserk transformation?! Was this something a normal human could do?!!
Gris: “Who the… urk! Holy shit, what ugly freak is this!”
Xie Jianxun yanked Gris, and they both clamped their mouths shut, turning to flee over the shattered deck plates amid the rubble.
A massive fist slammed down, pulverizing the spot they’d just stood.
Xie Jianxun nearly lost his footing, clambering over the debris with effort.
Beside him, the one-legged mercenary’s cheeks twitched. She scrambled on all fours, roaring, “Where’s my damn crutch? This thing’s useless!”
Xie Jianxun: “If I get any more useless, you won’t find anything better!”
As he spoke, another violent tremor shook from behind!
He glanced back in terror, watching the ugly thing stride after them, each step an earthquake.
The young master squinted in agony.
He’d only come to the desert to find a fruit. Worst case, he’d imagined fighting bugs himself. But now, what the hell was this thing in front of him?
Ah! What breed of unlucky bastard was he?!
Dust sifted from above. He spotted two large panels crossed together, casting unclear shadows.
The mercenary beside him kept cursing.
Her muscles strained fully, but missing a leg was a huge disadvantage. Giant Jack closed in relentlessly.
“If I make it back to Golden City alive, I’ll save up for that old car and never go drinking when I’m free again… Fuck! You!”
Shock froze on her face.
Xie Jianxun shoved her. She lost balance and tumbled, rolling under the crossed panels.
The giant’s raised fist was about to descend. In that moment, Xie Jianxun swore to himself that if he rolled away, it’d look exactly like doggy paddling.
The wind whistled down. Xie Jianxun eyed a half-split wooden cabinet and lunged in a flying tackle.
Clang—
Like metal clashing metal, the Long Knife’s blade collided heavily with the giant’s arm, sparks flying and briefly illuminating the space—and the Mechanical Puppet’s furrowed brow.
One’s left arm scooped him up, right hand gripping the knife to block Giant Jack’s fist!
The giant’s whole body tilted left, stunned for a moment.
Seizing the chance, the Mechanical Puppet dashed away with Xie Jianxun—to lure the giant from this area. Plenty of people lay on the ground here; one stomp from it could crush them.
Its expression was unusually solemn.
To avoid hindering it, Xie Jianxun hooked his toes and was flung onto its back.
“What the hell is that thing?!”
He shouted in One’s ear. The giant recovered behind them, charging in rage. “Does it even understand us anymore? Is it still human?”
The ground quaked violently, but One was unaffected, lightly leaping over a three-meter beam. The giant smashed through everything in its path, roaring in pain.
“…I don’t know.”
Finally, the Mechanical Puppet gave an answer.
Its voice steady: “During my campaigns against the Insect Clan, I’ve seen only two types that control humans. Infestor Bugs manipulate via neurotoxins on hormones, while Informant Bugs do shallow parasitism, sprouting insect limbs.”
“Something like this—enhanced defense, fused with Insect Clan combat ability but stripped of intelligence… I’ve never seen it.”
It was more like a fusion of the two.
In an instant, Xie Jianxun’s mind raced through possibilities, including sci-fi tales he’d read.
Like a new Insect Clan variant, or some mad scientist’s experiment.
The ship tilted, lights flickering on segment by segment as they passed.
A long beam blocked their path. Xie Jianxun started to jump down but was held back by One’s reverse grip.
The Mechanical Puppet’s expression unchanged, it kept running.
It planted one hand on the ground, slid its body low like a nimble arrowhead, sliding under the gap between beam and floor.
Boom! The giant couldn’t brake, smashing headlong into the beam.
