Chapter 273: Qilin

Just as suspected earlier, Yagami Light had deceived everyone; he had not buried rockets underground as claimed, but instead hid an EVANGELION General-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Weapon from the Neon Genesis Evangelion series.

Rising from the depths underground was Unit-02, painted red, standing forty meters tall, resembling a slender humanoid figure with a slight hunch, its eyes embedded with four green visual sensors, its shoulder armor towering high, gripping a dagger-shaped vibrating particle knife in its hand, its body connected to a thick, long cable extending down into the earth.

Thud.

Unit-02 took a half-step forward, crushing an armored vehicle used by City Hall to blockade the district as if stepping on an ant.

The remaining armored vehicles and Gryphon gunships, after a brief moment of shock and chaos, opened fire on Unit-02 one after another.

However, all shells striking the EVA were blocked by a layer of warm white concentric octagonal barriers—known as the AT Field, capable of repelling, weakening, and neutralizing energy and physical attacks from the outside.

Under the absolute defense of the AT Field, Unit-02 moved like a tiger among sheep, crushing numerous armored vehicles.

Seeing the dire situation, the Gryphon gunships in the sky switched targets to bomb the cable behind Unit-02—in the original setting of Neon Genesis Evangelion, EVAs are humanoid weapons mass-produced by humans based on Angels, requiring power supply through cables; otherwise, they can only operate for a short time.

The pilot inside Unit-02 clearly knew this as well; bending down into a crouch, he grabbed a tank, hurled it violently into the sky, picked off the Gryphon gunships one by one with precise hits, recreating scenes from Black Hawk Down and "Grandpa Unit-02 knocking down toy-city planes with a tank."

Meanwhile, from within the fissure in the earth, a massive swarm of small-sized monsters also surged out.

There were flea-shaped parasites the size of large dogs from Cloverfield, the four-legged insectoids from Starship Troopers, the Terror Drones from Red Alert, and the Mimics from Edge of Tomorrow.

The common trait among these monsters was their overwhelming numbers, and each had the same model of metallic device installed on its head, suspected to be a brain-control apparatus.

All the monsters spread out like a tide, intercepting reinforcement troops arriving from different intersections.

All of this unfolded within merely a dozen seconds.

And Li Cheng, who had personally orchestrated this mess, had already stored Hui Yu inside an electronic pet egg, taken out the paper crane and railgun once again, and similarly activated the 【Familiar Swap】 skill to teleport away, leaving behind only his arrogant laughter and the lingering echo of the two words: "Bye-bye."

Boom, boom.

The sound of artillery fire continued unabated; Li Cheng, having landed on an overpass several kilometers away, summoned Hui Yu, and the two turned back to gaze at the city center engulfed in flames.

That Unit-02 stood in place, scanning its surroundings to confirm its orientation, then dragged its thick, long cable and strode boldly toward City Hall.

Around the cable, a sea of monsters and Toy City's riot police engaged in a brutal slaughter.

"What exactly is that Yagami Light trying to do?"

Hui Yu asked in confusion, "Originally, we agreed to use rockets to pry open the barrier above Toy City; why has he now switched to summoning an EVA?"

"I don't know; let him be."

Li Cheng put away the electromagnetic railgun; now that he thought about it, the massive object covered with waterproof tarps that he and Hui Yu had seen at the Lower Nest infected camp was likely this very EVA Unit-02.

If Joker had not launched a terrorist attack to disrupt the situation, and if Eugene had not defected to City Hall early to accelerate the pace of the death match,

then, given Li Cheng's official status as a Toy City reporter, he should have been able to investigate the hidden truths behind Yagami Light and City Hall.

However, it didn't matter anymore; it was all the same.

He took out from his backpack slot a suit of People's Power Armor emblazoned with the words "Imperialism Must Fail," and placed it on the overpass.

Unlike Iron Man's modular armor that one wears, this power armor was not donned but rather "entered" like a cockpit.

The armor plates on its back automatically lifted and opened, revealing a humanoid space; once inside, the plates closed automatically,

while the artificial muscles inside the suit simultaneously tightened, much like a pilot's anti-g suit, regulating the blood flow of the wearer to increase tolerance against overload.

Strength, endless strength surged into his heart.

Li Cheng casually grabbed at the concrete barrier on the overpass, crushing the cement and snapping the steel rebar as if crumbling tofu.

"Why is the head of this power armor so pointy?"

Hui Yu struggled to shift his gaze away from the antenna atop the power armor's head and eagerly suggested, "What do we do now? How about we test our strength with an arm wrestle first?"

"This is my brand-new power armor; don't break it for me."

Li Cheng said helplessly, taking out a sheet of Death Note paper, "The most urgent task now is to find Gou Chen and end all of this."

The image on the paper clearly displayed the battlefield; Li Cheng put away the drawing, propped himself up on the curb with one hand, vaulted over, and jumped off the overpass,

activating his jetpack one second before hitting the ground to land smoothly.

————

"Cough, cough-cough."

Deep within the dark forest, Gou Chen, pinned against a tree, gripped with both hands the thick, long golden arrow that pierced through his abdominal cavity, comparable to a javelin, and endured the excruciating pain of his churning internal organs as he slowly pulled it out bit by bit.

Scattered haphazardly on the ground were numerous empty medicine bottles, with suspicious purple liquid residue clinging to their inner walls—

Gou Chen had already consumed all the various models of Life Potions he had brought this time and had switched to consuming alchemical magic potions brewed and sold by the Monutong Alliance,

which possessed healing effects equivalent to Micro Life Potions but came with far greater side effects.

Plop.

The heavy golden arrow was pulled out entirely, dropped onto the ground, and spontaneously vanished into nothingness,

while Gou Chen himself collapsed weakly to his knees; the piercing hole in his abdomen, under the lingering effects of the magic potion, began sprouting flesh buds and slowly healed.

"..."

The reflection in the pool of blood projected Gou Chen's current face.

More than half of his face had completely lost its human form, replaced instead by the visage of a Xuanlei Qilin with a green face and protruding fangs.

Gou Chen is the Qilin, residing at the center, governing the Wu days.

Lies do not hurt; truth is the sharp blade. Frankenstein was not wrong; he indeed was not human, but merely a monster artificially created by mixing the body of a rich second-generation heir, the soul of an otherworldly powerhouse, and the bloodline of a Qilin.

His fingers dug into the ground, clutching the soil, his eyes bloodshot and red.

Two lifetimes floated in his mind,

one as the second son in his family, constantly compared by those around him to his older brother, a heaven-sent genius, living long under his brother's shadow, able only to numb himself with debauchery, until finally dying confusedly in a car accident.

The other as an otherworldly powerhouse, fighting for his country only to be suspected by his lord, eventually captured and imprisoned, dying unjustly within the prison walls.

The memories of these two lives clashed against each other, mutually exclusive, engaging in fierce conflict, sending waves of stabbing pain through his brain.

Enough.

He swung his fist and slammed it forcefully against his forehead; the wound between his eyebrows burst open, dripping copious fresh blood.

"I am not that rich second-generation heir who idled away his life, nor am I the otherworldly powerhouse who died in depression; I am simply myself."

When he opened his eyes again, Gouchen's gaze held no pain or confusion. Through the reflection in the pool of blood, he clearly saw a black dot in the sky rapidly expanding; he immediately kicked off the tree trunk behind him and rolled away.

Boom!

The gray rain descended from the sky and slammed onto the spot where Gouchen had been, smashing a deep crater into the ground.

Tsk. A pity.

The gray rain turned to face Gouchen, who had escaped death; the swordsman gripped two iron swords in both hands, his expression once again calm and composed. "I should thank you."

Frankenstein, Joker, Eugene, Master Pi Fu.

This mortal duel has cleared my mind; I am no longer confused or lost.

The tide comes in on the Qiantang River; today I finally know who I am.

Before he could finish the last word, the gray rain charged forward and smashed him flying with a single blow.