Shadow Follow Mode

"Step back a little. I'm about to—about to take down this giant lizard!"

Li Si waited, thoroughly enjoying himself, while the reporters introduced him. He even took a moment to bask in the admiring glances of the female reporters before swaggering forward and gesturing for everyone else to move back.

The reporters had already raised their microphones and were preparing to start the interview. They all froze for a moment, but still stepped back as requested, leaving Li Si a spacious circle.

"Li, do you need any help?"

Before coming down, Peter Parker had already been stripped of his chance to show off by Li Si in exchange for a meal. After playing the invisible man for a while, he hesitated before stepping forward to ask.

"Yes. Please stand right here and don't move. Stand up straight!"

Li Si's smile made Peter Parker feel uneasy, but he still went to the spot Li Si pointed out.

Seeing this, Li Si gave him a look that said, "You've got a bright future, kid," then leisurely began rolling his neck and stretching his limbs, as if warming up.

"What's he going to do? Fight the Lizard Monster?"

"Could he be a superhero too, like Spider-Man?"

"I heard during my interview that he knows Chinese kung fu. But can kung fu beat that monster?"

The reporters exchanged astonished, confused looks. Even Peter Parker stared at Li Si in bewilderment.

In Peter's impression, Li Si had decent fighting skills, but his physical abilities were only those of an ordinary person. With arms and legs that skinny, if he rushed in, the Lizard could probably knock him down with a single swipe.

"Bumblebee, activate Shadow Follow Mode!"

After finishing his warm-up, Li Si quietly gave Bumblebee the command.

Click!

A part on Bumblebee's back suddenly clicked, and a silver-white sphere about the size of a fist shot out. Some kind of power kept it floating as it drifted over beside Li Si.

Once it reached Li Si, the floating silver-white sphere retracted its outer shell, revealing a transparent glass layer inside. It then hovered above his head and became motionless.

"Shadow Follow Mode calibration complete. Beginning execution!"

The blue light in Bumblebee's eyes turned red. Its body paused almost imperceptibly for a moment, then returned to normal.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Afterward, Bumblebee seemed to have switched to a different program. Its agility had increased by more than a little, and it landed several clean, consecutive punches on the Lizard before he could react.

"How is this possible?!"

The Lizard, who had gradually grown accustomed to Bumblebee's attack rhythm, looked shocked and furious. But soon, he had no time for either.

Bumblebee's attacks came like a torrential downpour, leaving him struggling to keep up. In the space of a few short moments, he was hit by several more heavy punches. If not for his remarkable healing ability, he would already have been sprawled on the ground, unable to get back up.

What terrified him even more was that dodging did no good at all!

This rigid robot seemed to have gained some kind of precognitive ability. Before he could even begin to dodge, it had already anticipated his move. Then its steel-forged fist was waiting right where he intended to evade.

"It's you!"

Thinking back to everything that had changed before this happened, the Lizard finally realized the truth. Struggling to keep up, he managed to glance in Li Si's direction.

To his astonishment, Li Si was making the exact same movements as the robot.

"So what if you figured it out? It's too late!"

Li Si grinned at the Lizard, showing eight gleaming white teeth.

Shadow Follow Mode was a special program Li Si had added to compensate for Bumblebee's limited processing speed.

Put simply, the holographic camera above his head recorded his movements and had Bumblebee imitate them in real time. His own fighting skills made up for Bumblebee's slow reactions.

Suddenly, Li Si moved!

He took several quick steps, then planted a foot against Peter Parker's chest—Peter was pretending to be a utility pole—and sprang high into the air. As he rose, he clenched his right fist and swung his arm high.

At almost the same moment, Bumblebee made nearly the same movements as Li Si. But instead of pushing off Peter, it braced itself against the outer wall of the school building behind it. Its huge mechanical arm swung high, then came crashing down, all its weight focused into one punch. Right before the Lizard's horrified eyes, the fist slammed into his head.

BOOM!

A thunderous blast that made everyone's heart tremble rang through the sky. The whole earth shook with it.

Everyone lucky enough to witness the scene instinctively hunched their shoulders and covered their heads, nearly crying out in pain as if they had felt the blow themselves.

After the strike, Bumblebee slowly withdrew its fist.

When the dust settled, the Lizard's entire body was revealed, buried deep in the grass.

His forehead had caved in. The flesh there had already turned to a mixture of blood and pulp that ran down his chest.

Yet even after all that, the Lizard still wasn't dead!

The injury looked horrific, but it hadn't actually damaged his brain. At most, he had a mild concussion; the rest was only superficial. After his transformation, he could regrow an entire severed tail in less than a second, so he could practically ignore the rest of the damage.

"Roar! I'll kill you!"

Sure enough, less than a second later, the Lizard came to. He roared as he broke free of the crater, completely ignoring Bumblebee's attacks, and lunged at Li Si with bloodshot eyes.

"You should take a break, Doctor!"

Li Si calmly performed a textbook body slam. Bumblebee received the movement data and reacted instantly, grabbing the Lizard around the waist from behind and leaning backward, smashing his head into the ground again.

"Electricity: maximum output!"

Once Bumblebee had pressed its entire body down on the Lizard and pinned him in place, Li Si gave another command.

Bzzzt!

Countless high-voltage currents instantly surged across Bumblebee's metal shell.

The powerful current pierced the air, turning into visible bolts of lightning that snaked across the metal plating. Just looking at it and hearing the crackling sound made everyone's scalps prickle.

"Ah..."

As the current passed through his body, the Lizard's face twisted in agony, and he let out a pained howl. His skin visibly charred, and after twitching a couple of times, he passed out and went limp.

"Oh... my... God..."

The sequence of events sounded long when described, but it had all happened in an instant. Everyone who had witnessed the sudden turn of events was stunned. They stared at the bright yellow robot, which looked like the God of Thunder himself had descended, unable to say a word.

"Could I survive an attack like that?"

Looking at Dr. Connors's mangled state, Peter Parker asked himself the question, then shuddered and hunched his shoulders.

His durability and healing ability were far inferior to the Lizard's. If he took a hit like that, he'd probably go straight to meet God.

"Good thing that clumsy robot probably couldn't catch me under normal circumstances. And I don't have to fight Li, either."

After reassuring himself with that thought, Peter Parker finally felt a little better.