The outstretched hand suddenly knocked the spoon from Kiana's grasp.
This time, the girl was genuinely furious. "Fu Li, you!"
"Don't eat it! The food's poisoned!"
Looking even more serious than she did, Fu Li stood up, grabbed both their hands, and headed outside.
"If the food's poisoned, then—wait? Poisoned?!"
Mei was completely stunned by the string of sudden developments. After instinctively blurting out a complaint, she abruptly realized the problem. "Fu Li, are you okay? Who poisoned us?!!"
"I don't know. We need to leave first!"
Fu Li currently felt like someone who had just stuffed himself at an eating contest, then been forced to run a marathon, staggered home and collapsed into bed, only for the three hundred cats he owned to spend the entire night lying on his bloated stomach.
Fortunately, Human Immortal Path possessed formidable digestive abilities, and the enemy's poison seemed intended only to strip them of their combat capability, leaving him merely somewhat uncomfortable.
Yet countless movies and television dramas had already taught them that poisoning was, at most, an appetizer. It would have been stranger if there were no follow-up.
At some point, the streets had become deserted, while heavy drones soared through the sky.
Well-equipped soldiers stood both openly and in hiding, raising their firearms and aiming their muzzles at the three who had just stepped out of the restaurant.
Sunlight shone upon the pitch-black giant shadow standing alone in the empty street. It was an Anti-Entropy creation known as the Titan Mech, a slaughter machine capable of cutting down 30-meter-class Honkai Beasts single-handedly.
And at the forefront of it all—
Slender willow-leaf brows, a straight delicate nose, and lightly pursed, moist thin lips formed a beautiful, refined little face. Her slightly youthful features carried the distinctive exotic charm of mixed heritage, while her crystalline snow-white skin faintly glimmered with a pale pink radiance, displaying to perfection the elegance hidden beneath ice and snow.
"Hand over Raiden Mei."
Bronya spoke flatly.
"Eighteen soldiers equipped with D-rank defensive individual armor, twenty-six soldiers wearing heavy military exoskeletons of the same rank, six heavily armed drones, three Titan Mechs, and Bronya, who is A-rank in every possible sense."
After swiftly assessing the enemy's numbers, Fu Li's stomach discomfort rapidly faded as he thought, So they found us after all.
In his view, Bronya and the others had pursued them here because he had caused too much commotion during his battle against Kikyo.
This was the modern era, not ancient times, and Anti-Entropy's technology was among the best in the world. Even if he had cleaned up the traces before leaving, it was understandable that they had followed the trail here.
But now was not the time for reflection. First, he needed to find a way to break through the encirclement.
On their side, they had two fighters who exceeded B-rank... cough, SB-rank, and one relatively strong C-rank close-combat fighter.
As long as one of the first two could hold Bronya back, the other two had a pretty good chance of breaking through the perimeter.
A city was not an open suburban wilderness. Amid this chaotic, complex urban environment, the enemy's numerical advantage would lag far behind their individual combat capabilities.
As long as they kept moving and faithfully adhered to the hit-and-run principle, Kiana and Mei would eventually make it somewhere safe.
Yes, Fu Li intended to stay behind and cover their retreat.
This was not personal heroism. It was the result of careful consideration.
Fu Li was the strongest of the three, and he could undoubtedly buy the most time.
If something really went wrong, he could use the Flying Thunder God Kunai to teleport away.
Or, more directly, he could put on the God King Mask and thoroughly do Bronya instead.
It would be different if Kiana stayed behind. In Fu Li's eyes, the girl possessed sufficient raw strength but not many trump cards. She had neither the secret protection of some top-tier big shot, haha, nor a powerful second personality, haha.
Once Bronya entangled her, she would inevitably lose and be captured after a prolonged stalemate.
Then they would have to turn back and save her just to survive. It would be both troublesome and not worth it.
Then, after making all his preparations, Fu Li heard Bronya say to hand over Raiden Mei.
When the little girl uttered those words, Fu Li's expression was amusing enough that Kiana instinctively pulled out her phone to take a picture.
He looked like someone who had spent ages reflecting on his mistakes, only to be told, "The person we're after isn't you? There's someone else?"
It was like a man who had grown up reading Yilin, believing all the readers' worship of foreign countries, then used an illegal broker to sneak into the United States, only to discover homeless people and crap everywhere he looked.
Where the hell were the promised democracy and freedom? So it was actually "cooking freedom" all along!
"Pinru Is a Rare Resource!"
"You..."
Seeing Fu Li's bizarre, mixed expression, a trace of surprise flashed through Bronya's large eyes.
But she still said, "Bronya will say it one more time. Hand over Raiden Mei, and Bronya can let you leave."
"Lady Bronya!"
One of the soldiers seemed dissatisfied and tried to speak.
Bang!
"Shut up! You have no right to speak here!"
The person beside him stopped him with a rifle butt.
That drew Kiana's attention. She raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically, "You say you're here to capture Mei. Flat chest is one thing, but you can't even keep your own dogs in line."
It was no wonder she was so angry. The black-stockinged widow in mourning clothes and the female server from the Chinese restaurant were both standing among the crowd, fully armed.
No matter how slow Kiana was, she could tell by now that these people had been setting her up from the very beginning.
"Bronya has no dogs." The girl gently shook her head. "Bronya's subordinates are all precious. Bronya does not permit you to speak of them that way."
"Lady Bronya!!!"
"An angel! She's a little angel!"
"Please don't deny it, Lady Bronya! Your subordinate is your dog! Woof! Woof woof!"
"Then when Miss Bronya and I go out on a date, I'll walk you."
"Who ate shit? Why does your mouth stink so badly?"
The girl's words caused quite a stir among the crowd. Men and women in exoskeletons immediately had hearts in their eyes and twisted postures, their gazes toward Fu Li's group filled with determination.
Fu Li could understand them well enough. Expressionless, flat-chested, robot girl, twin-drill hair, assassin, god-tier gamer, tsundere, prosthetic limbs, twin tails, long curls, little angel, younger sister, referring to herself in the third person... a little duckling possessing so many moe traits was truly, truly, truly super adorable.
Just seeing that taut little face made Fu Li want to step forward, pull her into his arms like in his previous life, then kiss her, hug her, and lift her high.
What? Kiana had mocked the duckling for being flat-chested?
Pinru, my ass. Flat chests were rare resources!
"A little girl says a few nice things and you get so fooled you can't find north. I thought this kind of simp only existed in VTB fan clubs and idol fan clubs. I didn't expect to see one in the flesh this time!"
Facing the enraged Anti-Entropy troops, Kiana sneered, Galaxy Bat in her left hand and Dragon Lord MK3000 in her right. "I was originally just going to single-handedly tear through your formation and leave, but now it looks like I have to show you what it means to take the enemy commander's head amidst an army. I'll capture that Bronya girl alive right in front of you and give her a hard spanking!"
"There's something this good?"
A voice suddenly emerged from the crowd.
Everyone looked over and discovered it was the middle-aged captain who had disciplined the rookie with his rifle butt earlier.
The guy wore a black stocking mask like a bank robber. Upon realizing everyone was looking at him, he bashfully lowered his moist, long-lashed eyes.
"Chu? Mii~"
"Bleurgh..."
Kiana nearly threw up on the spot. The girl admitted that even if she knew these people were deliberately trying to provoke her this way, the only thought in her mind was still to punch them into two tiny pancakes!
She couldn't take it anymore. She was going to blow these idiots up with one punch!
So she did exactly that.
"Hey, A Li, what are you doing?"
"Don't fall for it." Fu Li reached out and dragged back the white-haired husky that had dashed off in excitement. He whispered, "I'll hold Bronya back. You two use the chance to leave. We'll meet up at Susanna's place, the Yae Village ruins."
Considering that someone might read their lips or be listening in, he did not directly mention the Yae Village ruins as the meeting point and instead used Susanna as a code name.
He trusted the girls would understand.
But Kiana shouted, "No need! I—"
"The other side has an A-rank."
As soon as Fu Li finished speaking, three Shadow Blades whistled through the air, piercing an equal number of plasma spheres approaching at twice the speed of sound.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three fireworks exploded in midair, raising the temperature of the entire street considerably.
"Fine!"
The weight of an A-rank was enough to cool Kiana's overheated brain. She gave Fu Li a worried look, then grabbed Mei and ran in another direction.
"Fu Li!"
Mei, who had remained silent ever since hearing, "Hand over Raiden Mei and I'll let you go," could not help turning back. A pair of white wings happened to be tossed before her.
They were Heavenly Wings, a D-rank item Fu Li had borrowed from Susanna, capable of letting someone fly through the air for a short time.
"Have Kiana tell you how to use them. Then have her give you the Galaxy Bat. What kind of sense does it make to fight people with a wooden sword?"
Fu Li withdrew his throwing motion and flashed the worried girl a gleefully malicious smile. "Rather than worrying about me, worry more about yourselves. Those Titans, soldiers, drones, and whatever else will all be chasing after you next. I only need to deal with one Bronya here."
"What do you mean, one?! She's a living, breathing person too!"
Despite running, Kiana still could not resist retorting.
"By the way, you call her so intimately. Did you two know each other before?"
Her tone held a subtle hint of interrogation, and who knew why.
"This isn't something you need to concern yourself with."
"Tch! Acting all mysterious!"
Kiana was in a bad mood again.
The scumbag who toyed with girls' hearts added, "Don't lose our Princess Mei, okay?"
"Don't underestimate a Kaslana knight!"
"Mm-hm. I'll tentatively look forward to it."
Fu Li waved without looking back.
At the same time, over on Bronya's side—
Seeing her attack easily blocked and roughly confirming that Fu Li's combat strength was no weaker than hers, the gray-haired girl ordered those beside her, "Pursue them. Raiden Mei must be taken alive."
"Yes!"
Upon receiving the order, the many subordinates shed their earlier carefree appearances. They swiftly passed Fu Li, who stood in the middle of the street, from both sides and formed ranks as they chased toward where the girls had fled.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Continuous explosions soon rang out from behind. The resulting gusts tore at Fu Li's incandescent white coat, and the brief flashes of light even shifted his shadow for an instant.
"This is clearly a city district, yet you don't care about the consequences at all?" He was surprised by the Anti-Entropy troops' methods. At least put up a pretense.
"To capture Raiden Mei, a certain degree of sacrifice is unavoidable."
Heavy-duty Rabbit appeared behind Bronya. It gently wrapped the girl in its embrace, like a knight protecting a princess in a fairy tale.
The difference was merely whether they died early or late.
Knowing Cocolia's entire plan, the girl lowered her silver-gray eyes, only for them to transform into stubbornness and resolve in the next instant.
Seele...
She raised her hand and gave the order expressionlessly. "Heavy-duty Rabbit, fire!"
"Fu Li's Fleeting Slash"
Before you continue