Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - Nuclear Equalization? (The College Entrance Exams Are Over!)
Buildings collapsed with a deafening roar, accompanied by the piercing sound of metal crashing down. The ground was pulverized by some immense, unknown force, and a huge, elongated shadow emerged from the earth—
"Go, Centipede No. 1!"
Rumble rumble rumble!!!
With Julia's command, the giant machine underground revealed its true form. It was a behemoth hundreds of meters long, with countless pairs of slender legs on both sides of its long metal body. Upon closer inspection, each leg was a combination of a laser blade and an 800mm caliber cannon.
Its insect-like head was adorned with no fewer than fifty red lenses, which were all its eyes. Its lower jaw also had long, venomous fangs—missile racks, on which missiles of various sizes were mounted.
"Go! Go! Go! Come on, little centipede! As an appetizer, you'd better perform well!"
Julia seemed excited as she flew around in the sky, while the giant centipede below aimed its cannons—comparable to those of railway guns or oversized naval guns— at Xiao Wu, four of which were already loaded.
Fire!
"Tch! You're serious now... What a hassle!"
Xiao Wu spat fiercely, preparing to dodge and avoid his attack.
Gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle~~
A sticky sound suddenly came, and fleshy tentacles shot out from the sky, buildings, and underground, then split into countless tiny threads, forming a net to block the shells and capture them in the blink of an eye.
"Xiao Wu!"
"Sin Annihilation?"
Sin Annihilation descended from the sky, retracted its membranous wings, and stood beside Xiao Wu, coldly glaring at Julia and the somewhat ugly giant mechanical centipede.
"It's you again!"
Julia landed on the centipede's head, her scarlet eyes flashing, and creaking sounds emanating from her body.
"Why is it always you! Last time when I was pursuing Ye, you stopped me, and now that I'm trying to stage a classic revenge drama with Xiao Wu, you're stopping me again! What are you? A useful cheat code? A system bug? Or is your refresh rate just too fast? Ugh, seriously, that's enough!"
"What are you saying, you defeated opponent?" Sin Annihilation stretched out his left arm, aiming at Julia, ready to launch Sacrifice Attack at any moment. "You ran away last time when our strength was limited. Now that we've all recovered to our peak strength, you definitely have even less chance of winning!"
"Hey, hey, little one, is it really okay for you to say that? I'll be back, and I'm definitely prepared! Look!"
Julia pulled out a box from somewhere, threw it forcefully, and it landed with a thud in front of the two of them.
"... This is?"
"Look at you!"
Sin Annihilation and Xiao Wu exchanged a glance, then she pointed her index finger at the box and fired her fingertip like a gun.
Pfft!
After the bone-shaped bullet hit the box, one second passed, two seconds passed, and then--
"Hahahaha, jili gulu gua!"
The box lid suddenly popped open, revealing a clown's head attached to a spring, adorned with bizarre colored lights and accompanied by a mysterious circus-style accompaniment.
"..." "..."
The two of them had indifferent expressions.
"A surprise box, or something like a scare box, the kind where something pops out and gives you a fright when you turn the handle."
"... Is this what you wanted to show us? An old toy that even preschoolers these days wouldn't bother with?"
"NO! NO! NO! I'm smart and cute Julia, I'm not that boring! Look, look!"
Even if you say that... Ah!
When Xiao Wu looked again at the clown's head that had popped out of the box, she suddenly understood.
At first glance, the clown's head doesn't seem particularly special. The red lips, the exaggeratedly wide mouth stretched to the ears, the pale face, the heavy makeup around the eyes, the signature red nose, and the colorful, fluffy hair make it a textbook example of a clown's appearance.
However, in terms of details, especially that feeling between a man and a woman, Xiao Wu felt more and more familiar with it the more she watched...
"... Trister?"
"Bingo! You got it right!"
It is indeed Trister.
Although now only the head remains, and Julia has cut off its mouth and eyelids to turn it into a scary clown in the surprise box.
"To be honest, he's been completely useless since the research was completed, but how could the intelligent and kind-hearted Julia waste resources? So, adhering to the idea of making the environment better, I made the most of him! Haha, isn't that cute~?"
"... madman."
"A madman? You're praising me, aren't you? You must be praising me! No matter what kind of bullshit novel it is, madness is the highest praise for science! But, but, that's not enough! You don't know what madness is, what romance is! Look at that—"
Julia waved her mechanical arm, pointing it at the four cannonballs entangled by the tentacles of Sin Annihilation.
Each shell had strange markings on it.
At first glance, it looks a bit like a clover, or a fan with three leaves, forming perfect radial symmetry.
"Guess what this symbol means—?"
Before Julia could finish speaking, Xiao Wu took action.
From the moment it moved to the moment it Sin Annihilation the missile-entangled tentacles of the mechanical centipede, forcefully shoving all four shells into its mouth like a flail, and then lunging beneath the centipede's body, the entire process took only a blink of an eye.
"Table 465 - Star Radiance!!!"
The instant Xiao Wu made her move, before the explosive sound echoed throughout the space, the fragments of the mechanical centipede had already shattered in all directions at an even faster speed than the speed of sound! The lower half of the body was completely torn apart, and the upper half, along with the cannonball, turned into a blurry shadow, breaking the sound barrier and crashing into the bottom of the fourth level of the city!
The impact was deafening, shaking even the distant water-resistant wall. A hole was punched through the foundation of the fourth level, and the remains of the skyscraper and Sea Forest Tower crashed to the ground, triggering a second wave of tremors! On the fourth level, the centipede, now only half its body remaining, was like a candle flickering in the wind. Its severely damaged body couldn't even support its own weight, let alone withstand a powerful uppercut from Xiao Wu. Both the centipede itself and the missile shoved into its mouth—
"Sin Annihilation, Si Nan Ying, get away from me!!!"
The last thing they heard was Xiao Wu's loud shout.
The last thing I felt was her bear hug.
Then,
Four nuclear bombs with a yield of 10,000 tons each exploded with a deafening roar.
(Author's brief explanation: Nuclear bombs are classified by yield into megaton, megaton, 100-ton, 10-ton, kiloton, and hectoton classes, with an effective kill radius of approximately 1.49 * yield^(1/3). Theoretically, a 10-ton nuclear bomb has an effective kill radius of 1.49 km.)
At that moment, the shockwaves from the explosion of the four Nuclear Warhead shook the entire Business Capital.
While a 10,000-ton nuclear bomb is considered relatively less destructive, it is only "relatively" so. Compared to 100,000, 1 million, or even 10 million tons, its destructive power is negligible. Compared to someone's Paradise Lost, it is not even a fraction of that. However, it is absolutely devastating to mortal bodies and ordinary buildings.
In reality, the destructive power of nuclear bombs is not as exaggerated as depicted in movies and novels. If a megaton-class nuclear bomb were to explode in a large city, the effective kill radius for exposed personnel would be 6.4 kilometers. If one is lucky enough to be inside a permanent fortification such as a subway, they could escape unharmed as long as they were 800 or 900 meters away. Of course, this only refers to the direct damage. In densely built-up cities, the casualties caused by the collapse of skyscrapers and road surfaces could be greater than the nuclear bomb itself, not to mention the hellish temperatures that could set countless buildings ablaze and the persistent radioactive contamination.
However, reinforced concrete does offer some protection against various forms of radiation and shock waves. As for the most troublesome issue of nuclear contamination, that's something to consider later.
That being said--
"Don't make it sound so easy, you bastard!"
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Welcome back, everyone who's finished the college entrance exams! And by the way, could you maybe throw in Monthly Votes? (laughs)