Hypocritical Love

Maria scanned the interior of the Haisha Bar.

Naturally, she saw the virtual scene currently being projected by Zero using Changdian Data Reshaping, where individual character models stood like statues.

The most eye-catching among them was undoubtedly the two-meter-tall mechanical giant of the young man, which Zero had subconsciously shielded behind her after modifying it; it immediately seized the nun's attention.

At first, Maria merely frowned.

Until her gaze landed on the face of that "mechanical giant"—the only part Zero had preserved that allowed one to recognize the young man's original appearance.

The nun's body visibly stiffened.

A second later, Maria lowered her head, her bangs casting a shadow that obscured her face from the sight of others.

However, opposite her, the remaining six members of the Emergency Rescue Squad had already drawn their firearms. In the blink of an eye, six red targeting dots locked onto the nun, dancing across her vital points, ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

The Emergency Rescue Squad was famous not just for their medical expertise, but for their combat prowess, making them a service that almost every big shot in the Mechanical Alliance subscribed to.

There was a classic legend about the Emergency Rescue Squad: two major arms dealers in the Mechanical Alliance were locked in business competition, and one kidnapped the other's daughter. This triggered the "Platinum Package" the young lady held with the Emergency Rescue Squad. Within mere minutes, the fully armed squad stormed the kidnappers' stronghold, slaughtered their way through all the armed forces, and successfully rescued the girl.

Since then, no one in the Mechanical Alliance dared to go without a subscription to the Emergency Rescue Squad; after all, no one wanted to be wiped out by the other party's squad while they were busy rescuing someone else.

"Warning! Aggressive behavior detected. Please drop your weapons immediately, raise your hands, and state your identity and purpose. Otherwise, you will be treated as a hostile target by our Emergency Rescue Squad!"

"Warning! Warning!"

The eyes of the six emergency maids flashed with dangerous red light, their cold, stern mechanical voices echoing through the Haisha Bar.

Yet, the response they received was:

"How... dare you."

Maria finally spoke.

She lifted her lowered head, revealing eyes that had already turned scarlet and an expression that had twisted into something terrifying.

Dense red mist, symbolizing Corrupt Calamity, began to permeate the air around Maria. Her sharp nails pierced through her pure white gloves, and the nun's hat on her head vanished, replaced by a Crown of Thorns that seemed woven from blood and slaughter.

An uncontrollable, volcanic rage erupted along with her shriek.

"How dare you... turn my beloved Ash into..."

"This..."

"Monster!!!"

Maria, who had followed the Knights Order report to the Haisha Bar, knew she had found the right place the moment she saw Zero. After all, in this world, there was only one person for whom the five of them would personally mobilize regardless of the distance—the Great Emperor.

Even though the nun knew this wasn't the real young man, but merely a "copy projection" created by Zero's ability, it was still unacceptable to her, and her fury burned white-hot.

Following the nun's heart-wrenching roar, more Corrupt Calamity red mist erupted from her body.

The entire background of the Haisha Bar turned blood-red at this moment, and on the visor of Zero's interface opposite her, the detection level for "Corrupt Calamity contamination" had reached A-rank.

[Data anomaly.]

[Re-analyzing enemy identity.]

The moment Maria appeared, Zero had compared her against the database and determined that Maria was a member of the Light Bearer, a secret unit of Corrupted individuals secretly cultivated by the Holy Kingdom Church, often operating from the shadows.

But with Maria's subsequent outburst, her attitude toward the projection of Ash, and the aura of Corrupt Calamity now erupting from the nun, Zero overturned her previous conclusion.

After a very brief secondary calculation, Zero deduced the true identity of "Maria."

"Stia, the Corrupt Calamity fluctuations in your body have exceeded the critical threshold. Please withdraw your consciousness from this vessel that does not belong to you immediately. Continuing like this will cause you irreversible, severe contamination."

Zero's words had barely faded when the nun's figure vanished. A second later, a head was sent flying into the air, tracing an arc before rolling to Zero's feet.

Correspondingly, one of the mechanical maids of the Emergency Rescue Squad now had a bare neck, with only sparks sputtering from the severed stump.

As the maid fell, she revealed Maria—or rather, Stia—standing behind her. In her hand, a blood scythe condensed entirely from Corrupt Calamity had appeared out of nowhere, the very weapon that had just executed the maid.

She used her actions to tell Zero her stance.

If the Stia of before had held even a shred of hesitation or doubt in the depths of her heart regarding her desire to "monopolize" Liao Ji...

Then now, having witnessed the "atrocities" Zero was prepared to commit against Liao Ji, Stia felt absolutely no reservations or regrets.

There was even a hint of secret joy.

Because it was just as she had thought.

Once Ash lost his power, those "hypocritical loves" would reveal their true colors and betray Ash with ingratitude.

And it was precisely at this moment that it highlighted her—the one who possessed "true love"—and how she remained eternally constant, consistent in her love for Ash.

Stia's lips curled into a crazed smile, but her eyes were filled with hateful rage.

Seeing Zero again brought back all those scenes from five hundred years ago during the "Wasteland era"—memories she had tried to relegate to a forgotten corner, yet they surfaced in her mind as clearly as ever.

"Hehehehe. Zero, even now, are you still going to keep pretending to be this harmless, good-natured person in front of me?"

"The naive me from back then was exactly because I trusted this appearance of yours that I had everything stolen by you—the right to dress Ash, the right to wash him, the cleaning, the cooking, the bed-making... every single right to assist in his daily life!!"

Zero: "Stia, as a domestic mechanical maid, these are simply my duties."

"But the work you speak of, it was all mine originally! It was all mine alone!!"

Stia's angry shriek cut Zero off mid-sentence.

"And what happened after that? When Master Ash gave you the [Brand] that belonged to me, gave you the [Corrupted Crystal] that should have been used to increase my strength, and you even snatched away my favorite ring—that was my equipment, a token of love between Master Ash and me! You, you have no right to wear my ring at all!!"

"Are these things, too, just part of your 'duties'!?"

Facing the nun's interrogation, Zero remained expressionless, answering with calm logic:

"Stia, at that time, Master Ash was merely allocating resources rationally. Your healing abilities were indeed powerful, but during that period, Master Ash required stronger offensive means. That is why Master Ash chose Jiu You and me."

"Furthermore, Master Ash did not forget you. After every battle, he would still set aside a portion of [Corrupted Crystal] for you, and even left you a share of the precious [Corrupted Source Essence] to help you raise your potential and break your shackles, keeping you at the same rank as us—even if, in my view, that was a complete waste of resources."

Zero's final remark about "wasting resources" undoubtedly stung Stia deeply.

It reminded her of the past, when she watched helplessly as Master Ash went on expeditions with other Corrupted, while she could only wait silently in the rear. During countless lonely, desolate nights, she would reminisce about the very beginning, when Master Ash was just starting out and they fought side by side. Yet, the more she remembered, the more painful it became for Stia.

She longed to stay by Master Ash's side, yearning to continue fighting alongside him, but as Zero said, her holy light could only bring healing, while the Master Ash of that time needed slaughter.

So. So.

"Hehehehe. Zero, you're right. The me from five hundred years ago was too foolish. It was that foolish me who gave you—gave you despicable latecomers—the chance to take Master Ash away from my side!!"

"But I am different now. Zero, do you see? I have learned to kill as well. I can be just like you, reaping one life after another! If this is what Master Ash wants, then what does it matter if I abandon the holy light?"

As she spoke, as if to prove herself, Stia tapped her toes, and in the next instant, her figure appeared like a ghost behind another maid of the "Emergency Rescue Squad."

These emergency maids were true mechanical androids, their bodies entirely constructed of prosthetics. Depending on the client's package tier, the strength of the dispatched maids varied.

The Silver-tier package utilized D-rank prosthetics, Gold-tier used C-rank, and the highest Platinum-tier package consisted of terrifying B-rank prosthetics from head to toe, with each unit costing millions of Ash Coin.

The strength level provided by prosthetics is usually one tier lower than that of a Corrupted, so a B-rank android corresponds to a "Danger Rank" Corrupted. Five hundred years later, in this relatively peaceful world where the concentration of Corrupted energy has greatly decreased, a "Danger Rank" Corrupted is very rare. Yet, this single "Emergency Rescue Squad" possessed the combat power of seven "Danger Rank" Corrupted!

This level of force could sweep through many small and medium-sized factions across the world. However, before Stia, even for her as she "used" someone else's body, they were not worth looking at.

The neural conduction of the B-rank prosthetics was fast enough, but their reaction speed still couldn't keep up with Stia's blood-red scythe. Another emergency maid's head flew into the air.

The remaining four maids did not panic—this was the advantage of being mechanical; they were not swayed by emotions. Taking advantage of the brief stiffness in Stia's attack, they pulled their triggers, unleashing a hail of gunfire upon the nun shrouded in red mist.

The firearms in their hands were also high-end goods, military weapons produced by the former "Kaier Technology." Every bullet was not only equipped with a [Kinetic Acceleration] device, but the gun bodies were also embedded with [Ballistic Coordination Processing] chips, granting the bullets tracking and ricochet functions, with an accuracy rate as high as 90%.

Regrettably, no matter how precise a bullet is, it is useless if it cannot penetrate the opponent's defense. The red mist swirling around Stia acted like a highly resilient net, intercepting all the kinetic bullets and preventing them from advancing even an inch further.

Immediately after, Stia swung her scythe, striking the bullets and sending them flying back along their original trajectories at high speed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Two of the maids were unfortunately turned into beehives by their own bullets. Seeing that long-range attacks were ineffective, the two remaining members of the "Emergency Rescue Squad" dropped their guns and engaged in close-quarters combat.

Even though they were equipped with the latest military [S-11] brain-machine combat chips, making them killing machines that could fight a hundred, even killing machines have a day when they are shredded. Their so-called combat techniques were a joke in the face of an absolute gap in strength, becoming nothing more than toys for Stia.

After the two emergency maids were thoroughly "broken" from their arms to their legs, Stia tossed their sparking, mangled limbs aside.

The appetizer was over, and Stia left Zero, the main course, for last.

Looking at Stia, who no longer resembled a "nun" at all but rather a brutal demon, Zero spoke:

"Information update complete. Stia, I have confirmed that your sanity has been completely polluted by the Corrupted energy. You are now at the highest S-rank danger level to the Master and have been listed as a hostile target."

"If you still possess a shred of clear sanity, I hope you will stay away from the Master, as far as possible. Otherwise, you and your Holy Kingdom will face a declaration of war from the entire [Mechanical Alliance]. I will. Not hand the Master over to you."

To Zero's threat, Stia merely gave a contemptuous laugh and continued to close in on Zero.

Seeing this, Zero remained unperturbed and continued to advise calmly:

"You should know that I am currently just a projection of a virtual consciousness. Even if you kill me, it will change nothing. Give up. All video records regarding you and the Master have already been uploaded to the database, utilizing the highest-level security protocols. You. Can no longer monopolize the Master."

"Is that so? Zero, it turns out you have moments of negligence too. Why do you think I said so much to you? Why did I deliberately tell you I had changed? Why did I 'perform' a battle right before your eyes? Do you really think I wanted to waste precious time on you?"

As she finished speaking, Stia had already reached Zero and grabbed her by the throat. From the moment she touched Zero's virtual body, the outcome of this battle was sealed.

She had won.

Because.

"You... you!!"

Zero experienced a rare, violent emotional fluctuation. She even began to struggle. Only at this moment did Zero finally understand the meaning behind Stia's words.

Yes.

Why had she forgotten? Stia's strongest ability was not slaughter, but the holy light. And as the opponent's rank increased in the later stages, the holy light was no longer just a healing ability—it also included control.

From the moment she discovered Stia had occupied Maria's body, she should have realized that the opponent's ability had evolved again, moving in a more dangerous direction. That was. Possession.