The American Tough Guy Always Survives an Explosion
The background music, imbued with an evil aura, echoed above the ruins of the battlefield, while the unrestrained vocals rose and fell with the music.
As for the source of the sound, the mech that should theoretically be so easy to lock onto, it seemed to drift among the ruins like a ghost, and every time it appeared, a mech was inevitably destroyed.
One, two, three...
The easily torn limbs were carelessly tossed on the ground, while the remaining pilots stood back to back in a circle, holding 44mm machine guns to guard against any monsters that might appear at any moment.
Yes, a monster!
They were not unaware of the existence of Seventh Generation Unit; in fact, many pilots had even experienced them. But it was precisely because of this that they deeply understood that the ability to unleash such Destructive Power was not due to the fighter itself!
"At this moment, you are in an illusion~~"
"And the antidote is right here~~"
The song came from all directions, seemingly indicating the other party's omnipresence. The pilots were on the verge of a mental breakdown, and their aircraft trembled with their movements.
Do you want to be free?
The song, like a seductive whisper, echoed, as if a demon were murmuring in one's ear. Not only the slender driver, but even the viewers watching the live stream on their screens—those who had activated Holographic Mode and Immersive Experience firsthand—unconsciously uttered the words.
"Want to!"
"Splash!"
The gun fell to the ground, and the pilot, overwhelmed by mental pressure, suddenly began to flee. And in the instant the needle and thread crumbled, the demonic machine reappeared—
Click!
One mech fell to the ground. The monster, which was much taller than a typical sixth-generation mech, grabbed one and used it as a shield. While using friend or foe identification to hold back the machine gun's firing, two more mechs fell.
That demonic machine, like a tiger among sheep, easily slaughtered any mechs that showed any weakness. The oppressive feeling it exuded far exceeded the generational difference in the machine's performance!
"It's the machine's structure! The secret lies in the machine's structure! Mr. George is an expert in machine structure. What appears to be a mech torn apart by brute force is actually achieved through the feedback from the pilot and the joint structure!"
In the awkward silence of the commentary booth, Victor had finally received the copy from Constantine's Design Department, shouted loudly. It wasn't that Constantine was being kind; it was mainly because the destructive power George displayed was simply too exaggerated. Even Konstantin Company couldn't help but worry that the machine's performance might lead to attacks from other competitors, and that customers might buy it only to find that it didn't have such performance, which could damage the company's reputation.
But George, caught up in the flames of war, was completely oblivious to all of that. His mech moved with an awkward yet incredibly exhilarating gait, easily tearing apart mechs like children's rag dolls, then casually tossing them aside.
Only when his killings ceased did a song finally come to an end.
No, at this moment, the audience doesn't even feel that he killed too quickly; on the contrary, they feel... this guy seems to want to finish the song, so he's deliberately dragging out the rhythm.
The demonic mech stood with its hands on its hips and its feet in a T-shape amidst the ruins, its scattered mech parts dripping with Cooldown that resembled blood.
The previously boiling air froze at this moment, even forming faint frost flowers in a small area.
While fighting and singing, George Augustus also completed his OS input. With those incredibly Demonic Nature, twisting steps, he typed the final OS command into the AI—
"System Name Registration, 'World'".
"Understand, 'the world' is at your service."
The screen, which was originally filled with a lot of code, instantly transformed into a familiar layout. However, a warning suddenly began flashing on the clean interface.
Meanwhile, the newly registered AI reported in its unremarkable voice:
"Hypersonic weapon detected, expected to arrive in twelve seconds. Please take cover immediately. Repeat, please take cover immediately..."
[Damn, Sun Umbrella is using a supersonic missile in the city! That's overstepping their bounds!]
The Live Broadcast Room exploded, but [World], standing atop the "mountain of corpses and sea of blood," remained fearless, proudly raising his head to gaze at the plume of white smoke that was "slowly" approaching in the sky.
The missile launch was undoubtedly a violation of the rules of the game for the parasol, but apart from Constantine, no company would be angry about it, because no one would want Constantine to have such a test pilot.
"Hide!"
"Get out of the way!"
"What are you standing there for?!"
"Deflection shields are useless against area-of-effect weapons!"
Various cheers came from the audience; they even forgot to type, but the machine still looked up at the sky.
They knew very well that even tactical missiles were powerful enough to completely destroy a city, and that even if Seventh Generation Unit jet escaped at full speed, it would be impossible to escape the blast radius.
However, the streamer didn't seem to be waiting to die, because he still had that confident smile on his face.
"9 seconds, 8 seconds..."
The world was counting down relentlessly when it suddenly froze, and then a completely different sentence appeared—
"Data transfer complete."
"Release the driver's restraints!" George said immediately upon hearing this, and only then did everyone notice that George's smart terminal was still plugged into the cockpit interface.
So, besides playing background music, the streamer was also downloading data? But even if they downloaded the data, how would they escape?
Such a reaction arose in the audience's minds, while George, already clutching the Gambling Ghost's Preservative Film ball and the terminal, had crawled out of the cockpit.
However, he did not leave, but instead gave an order to the now unpiloted machine:
"Southeast, full power throw, maximum power, all-around overload!"
"Learn."
"Wait, it can't be..." Victor's jaw dropped so wide it almost dislocated, and Yelo was a beat slower to react, finally understood what was about to happen when the world held George Augustus in its grasp.
"Is this really possible?" Yelo looked blankly at his partner, while Victor said as [World] raised his arm:
"Sixth-generation fighter jets can break the sound barrier by throwing knives, but the problem is, that's something humans can't withstand!"
"But this gentleman was just clinging to the rocket and going up into the sky..." As Yelo spoke, before Victor could answer, the Electromagnetic Muscle Bundle of the entire [World] machine completed their final contraction in an instant.
With the explosive force that squeezed out all its functions in an instant, George Augustus weighed less than 100 kilograms, along with the Preservative Film ball he was holding, was thrown out like a baseball at a terrifying speed. The director wanted to control the drone to follow, but after only capturing the moment the body shot out, all the screens were left with only a distorted image.
At the same time, the residents of the Asgari City also felt the earth tremble and saw firelight in the distance.
"Quickly, bring over the nearby drones! We need to find the body at least!"
Not only Dore Media, but almost all the major and minor forces in Asgari City mobilized their equipment at the same time. They were not concerned about the life or death of the man named George Augustus, but about the Gambling Ghost and the terminal on his body.
Splash splash splash...
The distorted screen returned to normal after a few seconds, and the drone that was close to the direction Feng Xue threw the image picked up the feed.
The already dilapidated city was now reduced to thick smoke and flames. In the video footage, a Buffer Ball of Preservative Film was being forcefully torn open, and a burly man, carrying the ball, emerged from inside, his head bleeding profusely, bathed in the red glow of the firelight behind him...
There are many theories about the exact origin of the Kuchisake-onna Urban Legend, but that's not important. All that matters is that when this thing erupts, it causes upheaval throughout Japan.
You can find specific details online; you should be able to find relevant explanations on Bilibili or Baidu Baike, so I won't go into too much detail.
In short, this thing Jieyin a nationwide uproar simply through word of mouth. Elementary school students were afraid to go to school, parents were filled with anxiety, and the police and military had to conduct armed patrols (not to kill the Kuchisake-onna, but just to give parents and children a sense of security)...
But this thing disappeared very suddenly. This large-scale Urban Legend, which even led to the mobilization of the military and police, vanished instantly. It was later discovered that it was because the elementary school students were on vacation (I can't remember whether it was winter or summer vacation).
Because at that time, elementary school students basically went home during holidays, and there was less interaction between students. Even if there was interaction, it was only a few people gathering together. In addition, there was the presence of the Kuchisake-onna as a deterrent, so elementary school students basically did not talk about related topics during the summer vacation, and thus this Weird Tale disappeared.
The reason I'm bringing this up is to illustrate just how vulnerable Weird Tale are after they lose their channels of dissemination. As I mentioned earlier, this point in time marks a turning point between Weird Tale and reality, mainly due to the widespread adoption of the internet and Self-Media.