Powerhouse Was Missing?

Across the desert plains, two cars and a motorcycle sped along at top speed. It was Xiao Zhen and his group.

Vanguard pulled up beside Hot Wheels, who had transformed into a motorcycle, and teased, "Xiao Zhen, why aren't you riding with me? Why'd you choose that little motorcycle of Hot Wheels' instead?"

The fierce wind tousled Xiao Zhen's hair, but when he heard Vanguard's words, he shot back:

"The last time I rode in your car, you nearly shook my ass in half. I wouldn't ride in that thing again even if you beat me to death."

Vanguard burst into laughter. "Then you'd better be careful. Motorcycles get a lot of wind, and there aren't even any seat belts. Watch out you don't get thrown off."

Xiao Zhen was a little annoyed and shouted, "Don't underestimate me. I'm pretty good at riding motorcycles."

Vanguard added, "But you can't drive a car. If you could, I'd let you drive, and it'd be steadier, wouldn't it? When we have time later, I'll teach you how to drive so you can experience the thrill of it."

Xiao Zhen did not object to Vanguard teaching him to drive. In his previous life, he had been a poor nobody, working day in and day out. He had never thought he could afford a car, and even if he bought one, he might not have been able to keep it running, so he had never gotten a driver's license.

Anyway, this world had no driver's licenses, so Xiao Zhen could learn to drive as much as he liked. Never mind that he was young—this world had no age restrictions either.

Wait, Xiao Zhen seemed to remember something. Luoluo in the original cartoon seemed to know how to drive too, and he was only eleven! The key was that he said he had learned it in a game. What the hell was that? You could learn that from a game? What a mystery.

Just as Xiao Zhen's thoughts wandered, Vanguard cut in from beside him. "Xiao Zhen, Moon Temple is almost here."

Xiao Zhen nodded. There was probably no one left at Moon Temple now. Even if there were, they would only be Black Panther Beasts.

The main reason Xiao Zhen wanted to go to Moon Temple was that he had remembered another important warrior from the cartoon, Powerhouse. That was where he had first appeared. Xiao Zhen hoped he would get there in time. There might already be quite a few Black Panther Beasts gathered at Moon Temple. He could only hope Powerhouse was all right.

Soon, Xiao Zhen and the others reached a mountain near Moon Temple. From this position, they could clearly see the entire temple.

But when Xiao Zhen saw Moon Temple as it was now, his mouth fell open. The current Moon Temple was completely different from how it had been a few days ago.

Moon Temple could now practically be described as ruins. Not a single intact building remained.

Xiao Zhen could figure out what had happened without even using his brain. Tiger King had definitely done this with his men. When they returned after killing their way back, they must have found that there was no one left and simply taken out their anger on the entire Moon Temple.

The person most affected was undoubtedly Vanguard. Moon Temple was his home. Seeing his homeland reduced to this state, how could he not be heartbroken?

Blaze came over, patted Vanguard on the shoulder, and comforted him. "Vanguard, don't be sad. When we have time in the future, I'll help you build a new Moon Temple."

Vanguard silently nodded and sighed. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't intercepted Tiger King's transport convoy back then, Moon Temple wouldn't have ended up like this."

Xiao Zhen also ran over to comfort him. "Vanguard, try to look on the bright side. At least your companions from Moon Temple, as well as your master, are all safe and sound."

Hot Wheels looked at Xiao Zhen and asked curiously, "Xiao Zhen, Moon Temple has already become like this. Should we still go down and take a look?"

"Yes, of course. I still have some things to do down there," Xiao Zhen said firmly.

This time, Xiao Zhen had returned to Moon Temple to see whether he could find Powerhouse, perhaps along with his unlucky little brother.

Without Powerhouse, who would join with Shockwave to perform the Combined Ultimate Technique? That was their trump card against Wild Star.

Afterward, Xiao Zhen and the others chose a downhill path and entered the ruined Moon Temple.

Looking at the ruins around them and the scorch marks covering them, Xiao Zhen could roughly determine that the destruction had occurred two or three days ago.

That meant Tiger King might have brought a large force of Black Panther Beasts here to wreak havoc two or three days earlier.

If they had arrived even a step sooner, they might have had to face an enraged Tiger King and a huge swarm of Black Panther Beasts.

Xiao Zhen wandered around the ruins for most of the day before Hot Wheels asked anxiously, "Xiao Zhen, what exactly are you looking for? We've been searching forever."

Xiao Zhen sighed and answered frankly, "I'm looking for a Motorcycle Warrior named Powerhouse. He and his younger brother may have come to Moon Temple recently. He's very important."

After searching for another hour, Xiao Zhen finally gave up looking for Powerhouse. He could only hope that Powerhouse had not come to Moon Temple a few days ago and had not run into Tiger King and his army. Otherwise, there was no telling where Powerhouse might be lying by now.

As they were leaving, they unexpectedly ran into a Purple Panther Beast leading two Black Panther Beasts. Enemies were bound to meet, and Vanguard, who had been in a foul mood, went straight over and slashed all three apart.

Xiao Zhen had wanted to tell Vanguard to leave one alive, but he was a step too late. He remembered these minor characters now. Powerhouse's younger brother had been killed by these guys.

Xiao Zhen had wanted to ask the three of them about Powerhouse, but there was nothing he could do now.

Without Powerhouse, even if they found Shockwave, they probably would not be able to master the Polar Sandstorm.

But Powerhouse seemed to have a family. They could only try their luck there later. If they truly could not find anyone to practice the Polar Sandstorm with...

It was not as though there were no other ways to deal with Wild Star. They could learn from Tiger King: lure that big idiot into some remote place, then have a huge group gang up on him. At that point, taking his life would be easy.

There was an even simpler method: borrow Tiger King's hand to get rid of Wild Star. As long as the plot had not changed too much because of Xiao Zhen, the butterfly, all he would need to do then was give things a little push to send Wild Star off the stage.

To prevent any more unforeseen changes, Xiao Zhen and the others set off for Energy City.

This time, in order to make better time, Xiao Zhen rode inside Blaze's car. He did not continue riding with Hot Wheels because his motorcycle-riding skills could only be considered average.

Riding in Blaze's car, even at high speed, was quite smooth. This made Xiao Zhen think of the bumpy ride he had endured when he rode with Vanguard last time.

Xiao Zhen was now one hundred percent certain that Vanguard had deliberately messed with him last time, which was why the ride had been so bumpy.

With the ride now smooth, Xiao Zhen had time to think about more things. Because he had not carefully memorized the plot, he had missed out on a major warrior like Powerhouse.

Next, he needed to thoroughly recall the plot and think about what else he had forgotten.

With his powerful memory, events related to Mecha Beast World passed through Xiao Zhen's mind one by one.

"Wait, stop!" As if he had remembered something, Xiao Zhen suddenly shouted.

Upon receiving the order, Blaze hurriedly slammed on the brakes. Vanguard and Hot Wheels, who had already raced ahead, also braked in a hurry.

Vanguard and Hot Wheels transformed back into their humanoid forms and hurriedly asked Xiao Zhen, who had just gotten out, "Xiao Zhen, what's going on? Didn't we say we were rushing to Energy City as fast as possible? Why did we suddenly stop?"

Xiao Zhen quickly asked, "Is this the shortest route to Energy City?"

Hot Wheels found it a little strange. Didn't Xiao Zhen have a map himself? Why was he asking such a question? Still, he answered honestly:

"Yes, this really is the shortest route to Energy City. What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Xiao Zhen nodded, opened his Mecha King map, then pointed to another route and said, "We're changing routes. We'll go this way."