"Damn it, they caught up!" Kiana said unwillingly, drawing her twin pistols and staring at the girl in readiness.
"But how could such a young girl be with that robot?" Mei Raiden asked in confusion. Yu Luo sighed and said reluctantly, "Though it's cruel, based on my extensive experience, this girl was most likely modified."
"How could that be?!" Mei Raiden covered her mouth in disbelief. "Father..."
"Mei, don't listen to his nonsense. This kid must just be the pilot!" Kiana deliberately went against Yu Luo and refuted his guess.
Yu Luo rolled his eyes. Putting on the air of an elder, he pushed up a nonexistent pair of black-rimmed glasses. "You're still too young, too simple. Back in the day, I roamed Skyrim, fought the Zerg, saved Azeroth, forged weapons with the Sword Saint, slaughtered the gods of Olympus, and witnessed humanity's eternal glory. Could my guess possibly be wrong?"
"Hmph, it's all stuff I've never heard of. It must all be lies!" Kiana said stubbornly, completely forgetting that a silver-gray drill-haired girl was blocking their escape route.
"Scan complete. Honkai symptoms detected. Confirmed as retrieval target [Subject A]. Executing response protocol. Retrieval operation commencing," the silver-gray drill-haired girl said in an emotionless voice.
"Um, may I ask who exactly you are, little girl? What is your relationship with those mech weapons?" Mei Raiden still found it hard to believe Yu Luo's conclusion. With a smile on her face, she questioned the silver-gray girl who had already been confirmed as an enemy, while Yu Luo and Kiana watched her warily.
"I am Bronya, the compatible host for the embedded all-purpose girl decisive-combat weapon, Heavy-duty Rabbit." The silver-gray drill-haired girl retained her expressionless face as she answered Mei Raiden without emotion.
"A girl weapon..." Mei Raiden slowly mulled over those words. Yu Luo's conclusion had clearly been proven correct, and fury began burning in her heart. "They actually performed human modification on such a young child..."
"That's right. Humans are just this ugly." A nightmare-like voice rose within Mei Raiden's heart, seductively saying, "Such ugly humans should simply be destroyed. Come, embrace my power. Destroy all these ugly humans!"
The tempting words echoed through Mei Raiden's mind. Her eyes went vacant as she muttered, "Destroy them all..." Her right hand reached forward as though trying to grasp something.
"Fire!" Bronya raised her right hand, and the robot behind her made the same motion. Flames lit up within the massive cannon barrel, aiming at the dazed Mei Raiden.
"Mei, watch out!"
"Boom!" Flames burst forth as the shell, carrying terrifying initial velocity, slammed toward the motionless Mei Raiden and exploded violently.
"Henshin!"
"Boom!"
A tremendous explosion rang out, blasting a three-meter-wide crater into the road. Rubble flew everywhere, peppering the abandoned vehicles by the roadside with countless dents and pits. Kiana nimbly dodged the stones flying toward her and nervously looked toward the shell's impact point.
"Mei!"
Yu Luo wore a light-purple kimono, his long blue ponytail fluttering in the wind. Mei Raiden, who had been about to be struck by the shell, was in his arms. "Find somewhere to stay with Kiana!" Yu Luo told her as he set Mei Raiden down.
"No, I want to fight too. I want to save that child!" Having nearly let the Third Herrscher take over her body just now filled Mei Raiden with guilt. At the same time, she felt deeply sorry for Bronya. Modified at such a young age, the girl needed to be saved from that cold white robot.
"She dared attack Mei! I'm fighting too!" Kiana said furiously. Her heart was full of lingering fear and rage, and all she could think about was teaching Bronya a lesson.
"Target has begun resisting. Requesting weapon restriction release... Approved. Heavy-duty Rabbit entering combat mode." Bronya's emotionless voice sounded again as she raised the heavy cannon behind her. Firelight gathered at its muzzle, ready to give them another shot.
"What an overbearing system!" Yu Luo laughed in anger. "If we don't resist, we get wiped out. If we resist, we get wiped out. Just what you'd expect from an organization capable of modifying such a young girl!"
"????" The system in Yu Luo's mind slowly produced four question marks. "I'm so easy to talk to. How am I overbearing? Can you please speak reasonably?"
"What the hell does that have to do with you?!" The system's interruption completely ruined the momentum Yu Luo had been building. He said irritably, "Why is your reading comprehension so bad? Did your chemistry teacher teach your language classes?"
"Your system has teachers? Are you using your brain as a fish tank?" The system nearly twisted Yu Luo's nose with anger.
"Fire!" Flames burst forth. Having prepared themselves, the three of them immediately leaped aside. The shell struck the open ground and blasted another three-meter-wide crater.
"Hah!" Kiana truly had put all her intelligence points into stamina and strength. She charged ahead first, firing several shots at Bronya atop the white robot. A translucent giant shield suddenly appeared before Bronya and mercilessly deflected the bullets.
Yet immediately afterward, a light-purple figure suddenly appeared in front of Bronya. Bronya was clearly startled, though no surprise showed on her face. "Swish!" Yu Luo swung the Katana in his hand, which was as long as Bronya was tall. A flash of snowy blade light appeared as he deliberately avoided Bronya's vital points.
"Clang!" However, to Yu Luo's surprise, his full-strength strike with Strength C failed to cut through the virtual shield. It only sliced halfway through before getting stuck. At the same time, the shield was completely pinned down by Yu Luo and could not pull away at all.
"Mei!" Yu Luo called to Mei behind him. Mei immediately understood and lunged at Bronya herself, who appeared to have no combat ability, intending to pull her off the white robot.
"Combat strength assessment complete. Capture probability, 12.36%, below estimated value. Plan changed. Beginning retreat." Bronya's emotionless voice rang out. The half-slashed virtual shield vanished directly, and with the object he had been struggling against suddenly gone, Yu Luo staggered unsteadily.
"Rumble!" The white robot's engine roared, flames jetting from beneath its feet. Bronya sat on the white robot's shoulder as it flew directly into the air. The three of them could only watch from the ground as the white robot, carrying Bronya, gradually shrank into the distance.
"Hey, don't run! Fight this young lady to the death!" Kiana shouted furiously from the ground, but unfortunately, her target was a girl who had already been modified into a machine, so it had no effect at all.
"Damn it... What was with that girl?! She appeared out of nowhere, fought us, then ran away! That's just too shameless!" Kiana continued grumbling indignantly.
Meanwhile, Mei Raiden ran after the already distant Bronya. "Hey, Mei, where are you going?!" Yu Luo deactivated his transformation again. Kojiro's Transformation Energy was down to 72%. That brief clash alone had consumed nearly one-fifth of his Transformation Energy, but the good news was that Kojiro's bond had risen by another 1%, reaching 4%.
"Of course I'm going after her!"
"She can fly! How are we supposed to catch up?! Besides, our top priority is getting out of the Honkai zone!" Kiana stopped Mei Raiden from pursuing her and tried to persuade her.
"Fine..." Mei Raiden helplessly gave up on the idea and agreed with Kiana, though her expression remained gloomy.
Yu Luo's mood was not much better. Human modification was common in all kinds of games and films, but seeing it actually happen nearby, and to a girl only thirteen or fourteen years old, truly shook him.
"They actually did something like this. Unforgivable!" Yu Luo clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white.
"If the person modified had been a two-meter-tall, two-meter-waisted muscleman who looked like Schwarzenegger, would you still be as angry as you are now?" the system suddenly asked curiously.
"I'd just cut him down!" Yu Luo answered instantly on instinct, without giving it any thought.
"Pfft!" The system snorted disdainfully, having no desire whatsoever to speak with Yu Luo, a man obsessed with looks.
Before you continue