[??? MiHoYo! Zenless Zone Zero devs! Don't tell me you're going to kill Grace off! Are you seriously that cruel?]
[Zenless Zone Zero! You've already hit Koleda with enough angst! If you do the same to Grace, I'm sending razor blades to your company right now!]
[Honestly, the razor blades sent over from Honkai: Star Rail are probably already enough to make miHoYo rich selling them.]
Xia Linxi couldn't help feeling a little nervous herself. She had never been able to bear seeing game characters suffer, and every time there was an angsty scene, she cried her eyes out:
"Don't do it! MiHoYo! Don't kill her off! If you spare her, I'll buy a 648 yuan top-up right now!"
Anton ran over as fast as he could, his face contorted. "Grace! Where are you?"
Belle didn't dare imagine what would happen if that mutated pincer tail slammed straight into Grace...
There probably wouldn't even be a whole corpse left, would there?
"Cough, cough..."
A man's voice rang out.
As the dust slowly settled, a figure stood there, gripping the pincer tail with one hand and holding a half-eaten popsicle covered in dust in the other, coughing nonstop.
Grace sat slumped where she was, staring in terror at the figure standing in front of her, blocking the pincer tail...
[Just as expected! Hubby never lets us down!]
[Do you understand what it means to feel safe? Who wouldn't love feeling this safe?]
[I hereby declare! I am Dragon Emperor hubby's most loyal dog!]
Xia Linxi immediately opened her WeChat Wallet. "MiHoYo! I keep my word! I'll buy a 648 yuan top-up as soon as I finish watching the story!"
"Brother Heng? What are you doing here?"
Belle's delighted voice rang out. She clearly hadn't remembered that Wise had just called him.
Lu Yingheng tossed aside his half-eaten popsicle.
"Hello? I just barely remembered a bit of my teleportation ability when your brother called, so I hurried over to protect you!"
"Looks like I came to the right place. Shame about my popsicle, though."
Anton's eyes widened, and even his dodging slowed by half a beat.
"Bro, Proxy, how about leaving your assistant with us? Is he even human? He stopped that monster with one hand?"
Lu Yingheng smiled. "Brother Anton, this isn't just a monster. This kind of mutated Ethereal should be called a Sacrifice, to be precise."
When the Sacrifice saw that Lu Yingheng had a firm grip on its tail, it stopped attacking Anton and the others. Its drill and mechanical claw slammed toward Lu Yingheng.
Just as the drill and mechanical claw were about to strike Lu Yingheng, two mechanical arms instantly caught them.
"Looks like I'm not too late, am I? It took me a while to get this thing moving, after all."
Koleda's voice came from the machine.
Grace sat slumped on the ground, still holding the battery she hadn't thrown.
She couldn't begin to imagine what would have happened if that enormous pincer had hit her...
There was no way she could have blocked it. The battery in her hand might have slowed it down a little, but it definitely wouldn't have stopped it.
Looking at Lu Yingheng's broad back before her, she suddenly felt a strange emotion well up inside her.
If only someone could always be there to protect me...
"Grace! Are you okay?"
Anton finally rushed over and helped her to her feet.
"I'm fine. It's all thanks to Mr. Assistant. Otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been so lucky today."
Ben stared in astonishment at Lu Yingheng, who was still gripping the Sacrifice tightly.
"This guy's so strong. It's a shame he doesn't work at our construction site."
The prototype's two arms held the Mechanical Sacrifice's mechanical claw and drill in a tight grip.
"Mr. Assistant! Let's work together and defeat it! Please!"
Lu Yingheng's smile faded, and his expression turned serious. "Belle's friends are my friends."
He quickly released the pincer tail and rushed straight toward its middle.
"Help me hold it still! I'll tear this damn thing off!"
Lu Yingheng grabbed the mechanical tube in the middle of the pincer tail with both hands and tore hard in opposite directions...
In an instant, the Mechanical Sacrifice's tail snapped cleanly in two at the middle.
The Mechanical Sacrifice instantly flew into a rage. Its mechanical claw and drill broke free of the prototype, shoving it away and sending it crashing into a dilapidated building in the distance.
"Koleda! Are you okay?"
Grace quickly threw all the batteries in her hands, trying to disrupt the Mechanical Sacrifice's movements so Lu Yingheng could attack more easily.
With its mechanical claw and drill finally free, the Mechanical Sacrifice struck again and again at Lu Yingheng on the ground.
Lu Yingheng dodged swiftly under the others' worried gazes, each escape a close call.
Knowing he couldn't help at all here, Anton called out to Ben:
"Ben! Let's go rescue Koleda! Without the prototype's help, Mr. Assistant will be in serious danger!"
Suddenly, Belle's shout came from Eous, making everyone's hearts skip a beat.
"Brother Heng! Watch out!" Belle's terrified voice couldn't reach Lu Yingheng in time.
For some reason, Lu Yingheng suddenly lost focus for a moment as he dodged, and the drill he could otherwise have avoided bore down on his head...
[Don't do this, miHoYo! So you just switched to killing someone else off?]
[Seriously, miHoYo can't be that stupid, right? Killing off such a popular male character?]
Xia Linxi was frantic now, with no time to check whether she still had money in her WeChat Wallet.
"MiHoYo! Seriously! You really can't kill hubby off! How about this? If no one gets hurt in this story, I'll buy a second 648 yuan top-up right away!"
"BOOM!"
Before everyone's horrified eyes, a giant cleaver over forty meters long appeared out of thin air and blocked the blow with its massive blade.
The forty-plus-meter [Fury] was fully unleashed, crimson alchemical patterns burning across its pitch-black blade.
Its broad, thick edge glowed like molten lava, bony spikes jutted from its spine, and a dragon's roar echoed as it swung.
The heavy blade made the air tremble. Every inch of metal flowed with the Dragon Emperor's fury, and its massive form brought a suffocating sense of pressure.
Lu Yingheng stood rooted to the spot, looking as though he were pondering something.
[Whoa, whoa, whoa! I knew hubby would be fine! Look, didn't the blade spirit come out on its own to protect him?]
[That scared me to tears. A cleaver even bigger than the Mechanical Sacrifice-a single swing could split heaven and earth, couldn't it?]
[Hubby is awesome! He unlocked his second form just like that and is going to insta-kill this big boss!]
[I have to say, that cleaver really is cool. It's practically the toy every man dreams of!]