Chapter 457: Chapter 396: World Channel: No More Praise, Out of Megaphones.
Rebecca demanded Li Zheng alive, which surprised everyone else.
This woman has a big heart. They’ve all teamed up to persecute each other, and she’s still thinking about capturing him alive?
Shouldn’t it be forcing the opponent to hand over their possessions and then killing them to eliminate further troubles?
"This condition... Tanaka Junichiro, does the blueprint deciphering device copy or cut?" Diana asked in the group.
"It cuts, meaning it directly seizes," Tanaka Junichiro replied with some insidiousness.
If Rebecca thinks that obtaining Li Zheng equates to getting everything everyone needs, she’s gravely mistaken!
As long as the plan proceeds smoothly, at most, Rebecca could gain a powerful henchman.
They have plenty of such players under their command; they don’t lack another Li Zheng.
"What I want isn’t just the little things on him... oh no, or rather, I do want those little things on him!" Rebecca spoke an internally contradictory nonsense.
Being a woman, Diana understood her hidden meaning: "In that case, it’s settled. We’ll do our best to ensure he stays alive, provided his resistance isn’t too fierce. Otherwise..."
Otherwise, even if the gains aren’t as great as anticipated, they would still kill Li Zheng, and take whatever they can.
"The plan is set for three in the morning after midnight. Before that, everyone get enough space-jumping items ready. I believe this isn’t difficult for any of you present." After Diana sent her last message, she disbanded this temporary group chat.
Thus, the leaders of these organizations started frequently arranging their subordinates for their own objectives.
...
"Old Li is getting more impressive as time goes by. Watching him... I feel a bit inferior," said Phoenix Mountain, holding the Mysterious Declaration, sitting in a dark environment, with Yan Guang beside him, and Lin Fengjiao opposite.
The three of them were gazing at a distant flicker of firelight, where Li Zheng, along with Zhan Zhouzhou and Little Sakura, were besieging a shell-covered mutant creature.
"I really don’t know how he does it; his power escalates like a rocket—it’s growing incredibly fast," Phoenix Mountain murmured with some frustration, yet enviously remarked lightly: "Xiao Lin, don’t be fooled by your mountain brother sitting here like a slacker. Once upon a time, when your mountain brother and Old Li went on raids, he was a main force."
"Without me, that... I’m telling you, it just wouldn’t work! You know?" Phoenix Mountain, like a middle-aged boss fond of bragging, feared others wouldn’t believe his past glories, injected several semantic terms into his sentence.
In a trance, Phoenix Mountain seemed to see his once high-spirited self in front of Li Zheng.
Flying in mid-air, he could arrogantly declare to Zhan Zhouzhou: Continue, I’m here!
Even if it eventually resulted in a disabled arm and leg, without fighting so hard, could the mechanical giant have been defeated so easily?
And Li Zheng?
What could he do?
Wasn’t he just hiding behind, sniping from afar, and leading hundreds of mechanical Sword Mantis in several big circles?
Was that a skill?
If you’ve got skills, why don’t you go fist-to-fist with the mechanical giant?
Sigh...
Phoenix Mountain narrowed his eyes, watching the figure flipping overhead and delivering damage to the mutant creature with each flip.
Now...
He was the one hiding behind.
Even less than back then Li Zheng, at least Li Zheng had the ability to help solve a crisis significant enough to cause a team wipeout.
While all he could do was sit and wait, trying not to add more trouble for Li Zheng.
"You know, initially Old Li was kind-hearted, bringing us along to claim the final rewards of the event, and we thought we could help, eagerly agreeing," Yan Guang, who had gone through the process with Phoenix Mountain, felt deeply about it.
Initially could keep up as an ADC dealing damage, now demoted to support, the mental disparity was hard to describe.
The feeling for Yan Guang now was like being the fire-breathing娃娃 (pronunciation ’wawa’) in the Gourd Brothers, only summoned when Li Zheng needed, to spit out some fire and watch the fireworks afterward was enough.
Nothing more involved her, just sitting and waiting.
Though there was one thing they had in common with Li Zheng.
That was when Li Zheng finished the "fireworks," they would be deaf for nearly ten minutes...
"Zhou, flank and hold it back, careful not to get hit by its attacks," Li Zheng commanded, wings on his back keeping him aloft, gripping the Demon Blade in a suit of ink-black Earth Dragon Armor, surrounded by flames, like a War God descending.
"Okay!" Zhan Zhouzhou nodded forcefully, immediately activating his Flying Device, circled past the mutant, drawing a bit of its attention.
Li Zheng spoke again, "Little Sakura, give it another Earth Spike wave, flip it over, the shell on its belly is quite fragile, a small blade can easily pierce through!"
"Roar!"
Covered entirely in pink Poli, as if wrapped in an extra layer of Crystal Armor outside the Dragon Scale, Little Sakura glared at the mutant creature, releasing Obsidian spikes.
In the next instant, the earth trembled, two pure black spikes erupted from the ground, lifting the underside of the mutant as if trying to flip it over.
"Oooo—"
The mutant, resembling a gigantic version of an armadillo bug, suddenly curled up into a ball, deftly avoiding the two spikes.
"Little Sakura, Earth-Shaking Platform, shake it loose!"
Li Zheng decisively ordered, finding a suitable angle, calming himself and drawing his blade.
The armadillo mutant was exhausted from prolonged fighting, covered in scars, appearing miserable.
But in reality, its core remained unharmed, all thanks to its tough and thick shell.
Li Zheng’s Demon Blade had struck multiple times, yet surprisingly couldn’t break through its defense, much to Li Zheng’s surprise.
Nonetheless, it had a weakness.
The first being its belly, the shell there was thinner and softer, forget the Demon Blade, even obsidian punctures could inflict some damage there.
Every time Little Sakura unleashed an Obsidian puncture, the armadillo mutant would curl itself into a ball to defend or evade damage.
Moreover, the armadillo’s shell was linked by a tiered, ganged fashion, which Little Sakura’s Earth-Shaking Platform ability conveniently countered.
With one punch, the shock rippled inward, creating weaknesses in the armadillo’s spherical form.
Several times before, Li Zheng couldn’t seize the opportunity.
This time, he arranged everything, waiting for the moment the weakness appeared.
"Thud!"
Little Sakura dove from above, smashing her fists wrapped in pink Poli brutally against the mutant’s shell.
The Earth-Shaking Platform’s unique wave transmitted through the mutant, resonating with the shell, inevitably causing tectonic-like violent shaking misalignments.
Crack.
The seam where the armadillo mutant linked front and back cracked open.
"Think you won’t die now?"
"Kill!"
With a flap of Thunder Wing, Li Zheng activated fourth gear acceleration, swift as lightning, slipping into the armadillo’s internal crevice.
Masses of fragile limbs waver, attempting to capture and crush Li Zheng.
However, to facilitate its spherical form, its mutated limbs were extremely fragile, and Li Zheng merely swung the blade around his body, shattering many of them.
"Die!"
Li Zheng grasped the blade with both hands, repeatedly slashing, breaking through the paper-like shredded limbs, reaching the armadillo mutant’s belly shell.
With arms raised high, he slashed down forcefully, sinking the hilt entirely.
Wrist turning, the Demon Blade reversed horizontally, following Thunder Wing acceleration, brutally split open the armadillo mutant’s stomach.
...
"It’s over."
Phoenix Mountain stood up, patted his pants, waiting for Li Zheng and the others to return victorious.
This was the last mutant they would fight today, and yet it was only a little past five o’clock in the afternoon.
Almost at a rate of half an hour per mutant in the challenge event, the world channel’s feverish players had all fallen silent.
Not because Li Zheng’s kills of mutants were no longer a topic of discussion, but because they ran out of loudspeakers...