Fang Zheng had always thought that the so-called "Protagonist Halo" was merely a somewhat exaggerated metaphor. But now, he helplessly discovered that this thing actually existed!
What? You asked why Fang Zheng was so certain?
Nonsense. He had used Psionic power to take out Tom Cruise thirty times, with a success rate of zero. How the hell could that still be chalked up to good luck?!
This Protagonist Halo was way too obvious!
Damn it, those useless aliens could kill Tom Cruise in seconds, so why was it so hard for him just to seriously injure the guy and draw some blood? Fang Zheng would never believe there was nothing fishy going on here. He finally understood how frustrated Death must have been in Final Destination. After painstakingly putting so much effort into quietly setting someone up, only for them to escape anyway—anyone would be pissed off.
He had no choice but to do it himself.
After reloading twice more, Fang Zheng had no choice but to make that decision. He had discovered that the plot was already moving toward its later stages. Tom Cruise now knew that the dam vision he had seen before was only a trap. They had lured him there to slowly drain his blood and make him lose his ability.
Fang Zheng had always thought that this Boss was incredibly stupid. If it wanted to draw blood, couldn't it do that anywhere? On the battlefield, it had the advantage in numbers. It could have sent several hundred monsters to surround the protagonist and slowly drain him, and no one would dare cause trouble, right? Or it could have just knocked him out and dragged him away. Wouldn't that have worked too? Yet it insisted on going through all that trouble to lure him specifically into some deserted, rundown dam. And in the end, it was even seen through. The intelligence of these Alien Creatures... sigh, it was truly worrying.
He could not count on alien monsters as stupid as pigs, and trying to scheme in the shadows would only be countered by the Protagonist Halo. Fang Zheng had no choice but to adopt Plan B—do it himself, and have everything he needed.
During this cycle, Fang Zheng had already learned the rough progression of the plot through Psionic power. Tom Cruise followed the vision he had seen before dying and went to the dam, intending to challenge the Boss alone. He then discovered it was a trap and decisively killed himself to reload. In this cycle, after Tom Cruise discussed things with the heroine and the others, the heroine's assistant mentioned that he had created a Signal Generator that could strengthen the signal connection between Tom Cruise and the Boss, allowing them to learn the Alien Boss's true location.
This time, the two of them were heading to the London command headquarters to find the Commander who had previously sent Tom Cruise to the front lines and obtain the generator the heroine's assistant had made... The more Fang Zheng thought about it, the more holes he found in this story. The heroine's assistant had lost his position and become a repairman because no one believed what he said, yet the thing he made was carefully preserved by the general. And the general did not believe them either. If he did not believe Tom Cruise and the others' story, why would he lock that generator in a safe? Under normal circumstances, shouldn't he have smashed it and thrown it away?
Forget it. Why bother talking logic with a Hollywood movie? As long as there were explosions, charges, and satisfying action, that was enough. Reasonable or not, they had already bought the ticket. It was not like they could ask for a refund after watching it.
Those superheroes in American comics did not exactly have many people with normal intelligence either, so he should not expect too much from a popcorn flick.
"Wooo...!!"
Fang Zheng withdrew from his thoughts and looked at the road ahead. Through Psionic power, he had already seen Tom Cruise and the heroine driving toward the command headquarters. Fortunately, when he had saved last time, Fang Zheng had checked their route in advance. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to find them now.
Soon, the car driven by the two appeared before Fang Zheng. The heroine was as calm as ever, while Tom Cruise looked somewhat nervous, constantly turning his head from side to side. However, Fang Zheng understood why he was acting like that. His earlier interference had not affected Tom Cruise much, but it had scared him badly. Tom Cruise had always believed that after reloading, everything would restart in sequence, yet Fang Zheng's various "incidents" had followed no pattern and were not in Tom Cruise's memories. Though the outcomes had all been close calls without real danger, for Tom Cruise, this was enough to make him worried and tense.
But Tom Cruise could relax this time, because Fang Zheng had given up on causing trouble and planned to act personally.
"Remember, once we get to the command headquarters, you have to... Oh, damn it!!"
Tom Cruise and the heroine were quietly discussing what they should do next, but the instant they turned past an intersection, Tom Cruise immediately noticed a young man standing in the middle of the road ahead. Dressed in casual clothes, he simply stood there, watching the car turn toward him. Seeing the man who had suddenly appeared, Tom Cruise shouted in alarm. He had never expected something like this to happen—there should not have been anyone on this road when he came here last time!
The heroine reacted quickly as well. Upon seeing someone ahead, she hurriedly jerked the steering wheel. The entire car immediately swerved, but at that moment, they saw the young man suddenly raise his right hand.
The next instant, their car seemed to be struck violently by something. With a boom, it flew through the air, then slammed directly into the wall beside the road and came to a stop.
"Hah... Let's see you get out of this one."
Lowering his right hand, Fang Zheng let out a long breath. Then, without paying any attention to his surroundings, he walked directly over to the car and looked inside. Through Psionic power, Fang Zheng found that neither of them had died, only fallen unconscious. This made him nod in satisfaction. His Psionic control inherited from Kerrigan really was quite handy. He should not have suddenly gotten the idea to imitate Death and pull tricks before. Wouldn't it have been simpler to just hit them hard from the start?
With that thought, Fang Zheng reached out his hand. Soon, under the influence of Psionic power, the car began to disintegrate. He then pulled the two people out. Afterward, Fang Zheng tossed the heroine onto the roadside and swaggered away with Tom Cruise.
This incident quickly caused a tremendous uproar throughout the city, because quite a few people had witnessed what Fang Zheng did. In particular, many had seen the final scene where he used Psionic power to dismantle the vehicle. For a time, this mysterious young man with immense power became the target of many factions' attention. The entire city was even placed under martial law and sealed off, while many soldiers were deployed to search everywhere for traces of Fang Zheng.
The heroine was unlucky as well. She was directly arrested and questioned. But after waking up, she was utterly desperate too. How was she supposed to know who that young man who had suddenly appeared in front of her car was? And he had actually kidnapped Tom Cruise!
The heroine immediately felt that life had lost all meaning—Great Britain was probably doomed.
However, while those people were running around in a panic, Fang Zheng had already brought Tom Cruise back to the Hive. It seemed that Tom Cruise's Protagonist Halo had a limit to its effectiveness. It was impossible for Fang Zheng to secretly scheme against him, but if he directly beat him head-on, then it was purely a matter of overwhelming strength. No Protagonist Halo could help him.
"You have returned, Master."
When Fang Zheng stepped into the Hive, Milune hurriedly bounced forward—honestly, this Zerg Queen was looking more and more like a dryad now.
"Mm, I'm back."
Hearing Milune's greeting, Fang Zheng nodded at it—rather, at her—then casually tossed Tom Cruise onto the ground.
"This is..."
Seeing Tom Cruise, Milune froze for a moment, then curiously moved closer.
"A human? Master, I can sense what seems to be the power of a Time Gene sequence within him."
"A lucky man."
Fang Zheng made a gesture toward Milune.
"Is there a way to extract the gene sequence from his body without harming his life?"
"Of course, Master."
"Then do it."
"Yes."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng's order, Milune bent over and backed away. Then several Drones came over and dragged off the unconscious Tom Cruise. When it came to biotechnology, there truly was nothing more formidable than the Zerg. In less than half a day, Milune reported to Fang Zheng that the gene sequence had been extracted from Tom Cruise's body. Tom Cruise had now returned to being an ordinary person, but there was also an unexpected bonus.
"Master, the gene sequence extracted from that human is far more powerful than those we consumed before. I..."
"If you want it, take it and use it."
Before Milune could finish, Fang Zheng understood what she meant. The Zerg had an instinctive desire for powerful strength. The alien blood in Tom Cruise's body was only an inferior product, and Fang Zheng did not care about it. His target was the Alien Boss's energy core—that was the real prize. Compared to it, Fang Zheng had no interest in even eating these appetizers.
"Thank you, Master."
Hearing Fang Zheng's answer, Milune was clearly extremely happy. She thanked Fang Zheng, then bounced away. Fang Zheng, meanwhile, looked at the unconscious Tom Cruise and helplessly shook his head. Then he reached out and gave Tom Cruise several sharp slaps, finally waking him up.
"Ugh... Where is this... Who are you?"
Tom Cruise truly deserved to be called a Divine Human who had reloaded countless times. The moment he woke up, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. He quickly sprang to his feet and stared uncertainly at Fang Zheng. Seeing Tom Cruise's shocked expression, Fang Zheng smiled faintly.
"You don't need to worry. I brought you here with no ill intentions. In fact, I only wanted to tell you that your ability..."
Fang Zheng had intended to say, "The ability in your body has disappeared," but before he could finish, Tom Cruise seemed to be triggered by something. He hurriedly pulled out a pistol from his waist and shot himself in the head!
Bang!
"..."
Looking at Tom Cruise lying on the ground, now completely dead, Fang Zheng's mouth twitched. He had no idea what to say.
"Master? What happened?"
Hearing the gunshot, Milune hurried over with a group of Zerglings. Seeing this scene, she froze as well.
"This human... How did he die?"
"...There was a small accident. Find a mine pit and bury him."
What else could Fang Zheng say? Well, at least Tom Cruise had proven with his life that his ability really had disappeared.
But whether he had died with his eyes open... Fang Zheng had no idea.
Come to think of it... this counted as suicide, right?
Before you continue