This Protagonist Halo Is Really Tough!

Fang Zheng could imagine that Tom Cruise must be having a rough time.

In the movie, it wasn't obvious, but after truly arriving in this world, Fang Zheng was certain that he had already died over a hundred times.

This was the conclusion Fang Zheng had reached after idly counting the number of reloads to one hundred and one, but what did it matter? A real man had to die a few hundred times anyway. Back when he faced those two rat Lords of Cinder in the sewers, he'd died... how many times was it? Forget it, Fang Zheng couldn't be bothered to remember.

It should be about time.

After another reload ended, Fang Zheng let out a long breath, then turned his head to look at the forest behind him. From a distance, this forest showed no signs of abnormality. But Fang Zheng knew very well that beneath this mountain-ringed forest, among the lush trees and underbrush, the Zerg were already everywhere—Hydralisks lurking underground, Zerglings prowling through the grass, Mutalisks retracting their claws and quietly perching among the branches. Everything was ready. After so many cycles and reloads, the Zerg under Fang Zheng's command now numbered in the tens of thousands, and he was certain that with this wave, he could make those Alien Creatures cry for their mothers, letting them truly experience what it meant to be a destroyer. Compared to the Zerg, who could easily annihilate eighty or a hundred planets, those Alien Creatures, aside from their time-manipulation trick, weren't worth Fang Zheng's notice.

But what Fang Zheng really couldn't figure out, setting aside the time paradox for now, was how the conservation of energy worked here. He had dug out the mines below dozens of times, even drained the shale oil dry, yet every time he reset, the resources came back. So where did those resources come from?

After all, his Zerg hadn't disappeared with the Time Reversal—they had actually consumed those resources.

Was it a parallel world? Or something else?

Fang Zheng thought it over for a while, couldn't figure it out, and stopped bothering. This stuff was too troublesome. In his past life, he wasn't a scientist, didn't study Quantum Mechanics, and didn't read up on relativity. Anyway, he was enjoying using it now, so he'd just keep using it. As for whether problems would arise? He'd deal with them when they did.

So next, first... he had to stop the time from reversing again.

Fang Zheng wasn't worried about the Alien Creatures, but he was very concerned about Tom Cruise, that ticking time bomb. The intervals between reloads were getting longer, which meant the plot had already progressed to the middle or even late stages. But Fang Zheng wasn't willing to give Tom Cruise this chance to save humanity. He needed that boss to complete his mission—if it got blown up by a grenade, everything would be ruined.

So he came here.

London, Heathrow Frontline Base.

Fang Zheng stared intently at the figure of a man in a military uniform ahead of him. He was currently running laps with the other soldiers, but judging by his demeanor, he seemed completely at ease, as if he had done this many times before. If you saw him for the first time, you would never associate him with a desk officer; instead, you'd think he was a battle-hardened veteran.

This was the protagonist of Edge of Tomorrow, that man with bad luck but also good luck—Tom Cruise.

The entire base was heavily guarded. Logically, Fang Zheng couldn't sneak in, but in truth, he didn't need to. Using his Psionic ability, he could project his mental power across the entire Heathrow base and lock onto any target he wanted.

To be honest, in Fang Zheng's view, Psionic was quite useful, but there was one downside: when he equipped the Soul Stone of [Kerrigan], he couldn't use [Arthas]'s skills, and naturally, he couldn't use Holy Light either. This was probably a flaw of the Dimension Mage. Don't think that just because Fang Zheng's Zerg were invincible now, he didn't know that without equipping [Kerrigan]'s Soul Stone, the Zerg wouldn't recognize him as their Master.

Don't ask how Fang Zheng knew that—it was a tearful story.

But Fang Zheng was also helpless, because this was how the [Dimensional Codex] had been set up from the start. In fact, the skills players learned while equipping a Soul Stone were mostly derivative skills of that Soul Stone. For example, the [Royal Cross Swordsmanship] Fang Zheng learned from a quest was a skill branch under [Arthas]'s Soul Stone. So this skill only worked when Fang Zheng had it equipped. Without it, Fang Zheng could still swing a sword for show, but he couldn't use Holy Light, and the skill's effect was naturally useless.

When the Soul Stone's usage count was exhausted and it shattered, the player could choose to inherit one skill with the highest proficiency onto their own panel. At that point, the skill would break free from the Soul Stone and become the player's exclusive skill. Of course, if the player hadn't raised the skill's proficiency much... heh heh, then it was up to luck or even randomness.

Fang Zheng had originally thought this design was sweet and would definitely trap a bunch of big spenders, but now it seemed... indeed, one should always leave some leeway.

Using the power of Psionic, Fang Zheng watched as Tom Cruise began doing push-ups under the instructor's orders. But he knew that soon, the guy would take advantage of a passing vehicle to find cover, slip away, and rendezvous with the Heroine, continuing their endless cycle of slaughter.

What Fang Zheng needed to do was take this chance to deal with Tom Cruise.

One interesting thing was that few other movies explained how to disable the protagonist's cheat, but in Edge of Tomorrow, almost every audience member knew how to remove Tom Cruise's advantage. The whole process was disgustingly simple: just don't kill him outright—let him slowly bleed or directly give him a blood transfusion, and Tom Cruise's cheat would be completely ruined.

So what Fang Zheng had to do was simple: find an opportunity to seriously injure Tom Cruise, get him to receive a blood transfusion, and then it would be time for Fang Zheng and his forces to step in.

As for how to do it... have you seen Final Destination?

Just then, a vehicle drove past the line of soldiers doing push-ups. Seeing the car approach, Tom Cruise's expression shifted slightly. He glanced around, and the moment the car passed, he rolled sideways under it. At the same time, Fang Zheng activated his Psionic power. The car suddenly swerved sharply, and its rear wheel pressed down toward Tom Cruise's legs!

That was Fang Zheng's plan!

In Fang Zheng's view, as long as he could successfully crush Tom Cruise's legs, he would be sent for treatment immediately. Once he got a blood transfusion, Fang Zheng's mission would be over. Then the Zerg army would march, and nothing would be a problem.

But then, something Fang Zheng hadn't expected happened.

Whether the driver was too skilled or too clumsy, just as the rear wheel was about to crush Tom Cruise's legs, the entire vehicle suddenly tilted sharply and flipped over onto the roadside. This commotion alarmed others, and soon soldiers ran over to help. Tom Cruise was also startled. He stood up, looked at the overturned car with a mix of surprise and suspicion, thought for a moment, then hurriedly slipped away toward the end of the road while no one was paying attention.

"..."

Alright, maybe he wasn't skilled enough at manipulating Psionic.

Helplessly watching Tom Cruise's retreating figure, Fang Zheng shrugged helplessly, then locked onto him again. There would be plenty more opportunities on his way to find the heroine—no need to rush this one.

Next, Fang Zheng watched Tom Cruise arrive at the Training Ground, riskily walking inside toward the Heroine. At the same time, he made his move again.

"Swoosh!!"

A mechanical target that had been stationary suddenly started spinning rapidly, charging toward Tom Cruise. Faced with this sudden activation, Tom Cruise was taken aback. But just as he was about to be injured by the mechanical target's attack, perhaps due to prolonged use, the base of the target suddenly snapped with a "crack," and the spinning target brushed past Tom Cruise, slamming heavily into the wall beside him.

"..."

Alright, I knew these old, broken things couldn't be relied on.

At the Training Ground, Tom Cruise met the Heroine. After exchanging a few words, they turned and left. Under the Heroine's lead, they drove toward the maintenance center.

"Bang!!"

But just as they reached the maintenance center's entrance, the left front tire of their vehicle suddenly burst. The jeep lost control and veered sharply toward the wall beside it. The Heroine stomped on the brakes, and under her control, the out-of-control jeep slowed down, slower and slower, finally stopping just before it would have crashed into the wall.

"..."

Alright, not accounting for action and reaction was my fault.

As the two quickly walked into the maintenance factory and headed deeper inside, suddenly, a piece of debris from a mech being repaired sprang up with a "ding," flying toward Tom Cruise's arm. Just as it was about to slice through his arm, a gust of wind blew past, deflecting the debris so it hit the wall beside Tom Cruise, startling him.

"..."

Alright, I didn't account for aerodynamics... bullshit!

Watching this through Psionic, Fang Zheng almost flipped the table.

Once or twice could be coincidence. Three or four times still coincidence? Do you think I'm stupid?

"Sigh..."

So Fang Zheng helplessly realized that before he could eliminate the other's cheat, he still had one thing to accomplish.

That was to withstand Tom Cruise's Protagonist Halo and take him down.