Chapter 642: Breaking Out of the Encirclement

Angry roars came from within the tactical walker, the screeching noise from the speakers enough to wake the dead. Energy leaking from the power core sizzled with sparks beneath the damaged shell. The pilot inside seemed to still be trying to activate the weapon station's machine guns and missile launchers, but the Snake Princess's earlier vicious slam into the ground had clearly destroyed all of the war machine's weapon systems—and upon realizing this, Old Joe's curses grew even more hysterical.

But the Thunder Titan didn't care about any of that.

The giant grabbed the walker's main body with one hand and the can opener with the other, and with a crack, pried the lid off.

Normally, prying this thing open wouldn't be so easy—even a Thunder Titan would have to put in some effort, since the thing had shields, energized armor, and an upper combat platform bristling like a hedgehog. It was a super-tough, biting turtle shell. But, well...

The kindergarten's little animals were terrifying. They'd drained the walker's shields right from the start, then followed up with a barrage of explosives. That this thing still had its structure mostly intact was already a testament to Black Dot's incredible military quality.

The Thunder Titan shook the walker in his hands, rattling it around. A clattering sound came from inside. Then the giant peered in, turned the "tin can" upside down, and shook it vigorously until the "filling" finally tumbled out.

A tall figure covered in metallic luster, like a robot, dropped out.

The scarlet blood mist that permeated the surrounding streets seemed to scent prey. It surged in frantically from all directions, burrowing into the steel body's interior.

At the same time, inside a large building not far away, another Titan giant was hidden in the darkness. A short-haired girl in the blue-and-white uniform of Boundary City No. 2 High School stood on the giant's shoulder, watching the situation outside, but suddenly frowned.

"No..." Snow White whispered, "That thing that fell out of the 'walker' is still a metal guy... Sister Luo, it looks like another 'avatar.'"

"Exactly... I knew it! That coward wouldn't dare show his real body even now," came a somewhat irritated voice from the earpiece Snow White wore, but it quickly calmed down. "But it's fine, this was within my expectations anyway... I know his reactions too well in situations like this. Snow, listen to me..."

Snow White listened seriously, nodded slightly, then gave orders to the Thunder Titan outside while frowning at the distant abandoned street shrouded in darkness. The atmospheric environment, which could almost be described as "poison gas," made her grimace. Even with her far-above-average physical constitution, she felt extremely uncomfortable staying here.

The Mermaid was truly amazing—singing in this kind of atmosphere without even coughing...

"Bang!"

Old Joe hit the ground hard again. This proud steel shell was as weak as a child before a mythical creature. The triple-barreled light cannons and small needle missiles hidden inside his arms couldn't even break through the giant's thick armor—and the giant only needed a casual swing to send him flying a dozen meters across the ground.

Rage and fear grew together in his heart.

The surrounding blood mist only amplified the shadows of instability in his reason.

Damned mongrel, damned monster, damned trap!

This "giant" wasn't invincible—Old Joe was sure of that. If he had some heavy firepower now, a frigate, or even an atmospheric heavy attack fighter, the armed forces under his command had countless ways to deal with the monster in front of him—but he'd fallen for Luo's little trick today!

The hastily assembled clone soldiers were helpless against these surreal beings, and the heaviest combat unit that could be transported through the giant wall passage was the mediocre tactical walker. The harsh electromagnetic environment at the base of the giant wall and the blackout interference stacked layer upon layer by countless local gangs had blocked orbital communications—the dark hunting ground originally built specifically to track down prey had now turned into his own trap.

Old Joe flipped over and got up. All his joints made ominous noises under the overload. He struggled with the difficult choice of whether to sacrifice part of his sanity and memory to cut the connection to this current body as he raised his hand to aim at the Titan giant striding toward him again.

An unsettling clicking sound came from the arm's ammunition magazine—the micro-missiles were depleted.

The Titan began gathering dazzling lightning in his hands.

But just then, an increasingly sharp buzzing sound broke through the "night" over the abandoned district. Deep in the thick dust, several lights were rapidly brightening and accelerating in their direction.

A relieved smile appeared on Old Joe's steel face.

The first shadow emerged from the darkness, revealing a heavy drone in Black Dot Group style—dark shells flashed with crimson lights, and "Hyena" missiles had already lowered from their pods, locking onto the Titan giant's head.

Those were the heavy drones originally planned to support the district center—but now the priority was to have them support the commander himself.

The Thunder Titan seemed somewhat slow to react. He only looked up when the drones' screeches came from the sky. Then the missile's propulsion flames suddenly lit up the sky.

A Hyena missile fell from above. The Titan instinctively raised a hand to block, and the missile struck his arm armor. Then two more missiles came from the other two directions, accompanied by the roar of cannon fire.

Four drones pierced through the black mist. One of them launched all its missiles directly, then activated self-destruct mode and dove straight at the Thunder Titan's head.

A deafening explosion echoed through the district. A huge fireball and smoke cloud hung in midair.

The Titan giant let out a roar of pain and rage, then his body began to flicker and shake like an unstable hologram, as if about to vanish from the real dimension. Taking advantage of this moment, a heavy drone swept low over the ground—under the cover of fire and smoke, Old Joe jumped, his mechanical hands locking onto the drone's pylon, and was carried into the sky.

The two remaining drones fired another barrage toward the Thunder Titan, then covered Old Joe as they rapidly climbed toward the upper levels of the giant wall district.

The Mermaid's sorrowful, epic song still echoed through the dark district, and she even raised the pitch deliberately when the three drones' lights faded into the black mist.

The Titan, wreathed in crackling lightning, swayed in place for a few moments. His flickering, fading form finally stabilized again. The giant looked up at the sky, his forehead cracked with several terrifying wounds. Scorching light flowed down from the wounds like blood, sizzling as it hit the ground.

But he didn't seem to feel anything.

Another Titan giant emerged from the darkness and extended an arm to his companion. Snow White walked down along the giant's arm to the injured Titan's shoulder, reaching out to gently stroke the scorching light flowing down.

"There, there, the pain will go away..."

Just like in a nightmare when she was six years old, when the giants first held her and fled from the queen's castle.

...

Fled?

Yes, fled.

A victorious escape.

There was no more thunder of cannon fire in her ears, no more mad laughter from the arsonist or the crazed screams of demons. The strange blood mist was left behind in the depths of the darkness. Everything that happened in that abandoned district felt like a nightmare quickly fading—absurd, insane, but no longer able to interfere with the real dimension.

The heavy drone was climbing fast. The lights of the two escort drones flickered in the mist, the sense of safety growing more real with increasing altitude.

The mist thinned. Sunlight appeared around them. In the distance, the outline of the giant wall district came into view—those mottled rust belts and ancient leaking pipe systems symbolized civilization and order. It felt good to see them.

Old Joe felt something pounding in his chest. The joy of surviving a calamity made him want to take a deep breath and laugh out loud—but unfortunately, this body had no lungs, and he hadn't experienced what it felt like to take a deep breath in a long, long time.

More than ten minutes later, he returned to a hidden safe house on the edge of the upper district—far from any possible observers, including the ubiquitous eyes and ears of the conglomerate.

What happened at the base of the giant wall was no longer just an "internal competition"; it was a failure that could make the conglomerate question his competence. And in Black Dot Group, the most dangerous thing was "losing value." The board could accept any form of internal competition and various extreme projects, even a considerable degree of project loss, but they absolutely could not accept low-value employees occupying positions that didn't match their performance. Employees whose benefits didn't cover costs would be eliminated. And a "special commissioner" who nearly got himself killed trying to deal with a stray dog... his abilities clearly no longer fit the position.

Countless competitors were watching for his mistakes. What happened in the Iron Nest's depths must not reach the upper echelons—at least, not until he was fully prepared.

A low-profile civilian shuttle was already waiting on the safe house's platform. Its systems had started up as soon as he crossed the middle of the giant wall, and now it was ready to leave the planet at any moment.

Old Joe dragged his damaged shell with effort and crawled into the shuttle's cockpit.

This body had to be repaired as soon as possible—to recover every ounce of strength before those vulture-like "colleagues" detected his failure and weakness.

Thinking, the steel giant prepared the shuttle's departure sequence. His frigate was already waiting inside a shielded area at an illegal spaceport; once he entered orbit, he could board and jump away from here immediately.

At least that bitch Luo was dead, so this whole ordeal wasn't a complete failure. Once he returned and prepared thoroughly, he'd have enough room to maneuver in the report...

Old Joe's hand rested on the control stick.

Wait...

Was Luo really dead?

Book promotion time, from Buqi Shixian's "Game of Deception." Let me just copy the blurb:

【Welcome to the Game of Deception, the wronged dead!】

【Win just one round, and you can rewrite the history of the dead, resurrecting from death!】

"Win one round?"

Mingpo tossed out a chip, a corner of his mouth lifting: "As they say, the one who wins until the end is the real winner."

If all victors simultaneously hold the power to rewrite fate,

When the timeline is repeatedly torn, smeared, and overwritten by countless hands,

Only the final victor can have the decisive word.

The winner takes all, the loser turns to dust.

"—All in."

This author probably doesn't need much introduction. I've recommended his books before. An old hand. The quality is guaranteed. Everyone can go support him.

(This chapter ends)