Chapter 18: 100,000 Slashes!

A beggar turned and ran towards the bridge.

Bang!

Another gunshot.

The beggar immediately fell to the ground motionless.

Blood was gushing out from his head.

"Don't force us to kill. What's wrong with living a little longer?"

One "policeman" jested.

The beggars dared not move at all.

Why...

Why was this happening? This was clearly a society ruled by law; only people like them at the bottom would commit crimes.

Why would someone dressed in a police uniform shoot people in the street?

The beggars couldn't understand.

The beggar leader lowered his head and walked up to the guy who had brought Wu Xiaode back, frantically punching him several times, until he fell to the ground with his face covered in blood.

"You bastard, it was all because you led them here," the beggar leader spat venomously.

But by this time, no one was paying attention to this marginal criminal gang anymore.

"Tell me, Little Wu, what's your relationship with Zhao Junyu, classmates? Subjects? Or loyal followers?" Li Zheng said.

"No relationship. I'm just doing public service announcements for garbage sorting," Wu Xiaode replied.

"That kind of talk can only fool ghosts," Li Zheng retorted.

Wu Xiaode sighed quietly.

Yes, he had taken the killing robbery from Zhao Junyu.

So this fight—

He had to take matters into his own hands.

But he didn't have time right now!

Where could he find a thousand people who would sincerely admire him?

A thought suddenly flashed through Wu Xiaode's mind, and just as it was about to leave, he caught it again.

This idea seemed somewhat absurd.

But in fact, there was no other way.

He turned on his phone—

"It's useless; this place has been locked down. All your electronic devices have lost the ability to connect to central data. You can't call for help," Li Zheng said tauntingly.

Wu Xiaode's face changed as he looked at his phone.

The signal was full!

This Li Zheng was really just shooting off his mouth thinking that would deceive him?

Wu Xiaode opened an app, logged in automatically, and pressed the "Live" button on the interface.

The camera turned on.

He entered the live broadcast.

Wu Xiaode took a deep breath and smiled.

Once the bow is drawn, there's no turning back.

Let's do this.

He held up his phone, cleared his throat, and said, "Hello everyone, I'm Little Wu. I often watch live streams online, but I've never tried it myself. Today, I'm going to live stream from the site of a brand new sci-fi movie shoot for you."

He turned the phone around to face the Mobile Battle Armor over four meters tall.

"Take a look."

"This is the type 10275 humanoid combat machine, standing 4.26 meters tall. Since it uses some lightweight materials, it weighs only 3.15 tons, and by the way—"

"This is what I'm going to fight today."

After he finished speaking, the title of his live broadcast had already been edited:

"—An amateur appearance, fighting a Mobile Battle Armor live."

"Come on, Li Zheng, let's not waste words. Let's see the truth through our hands," Wu Xiaode said.

Li Zheng was silent for a moment, then burst into laughter, "It seems you've gone mad from fear! Your network access has been stripped away long ago, and you're still here staging a video?"

Wu Xiaode looked at his phone again.

The number of viewers jumped from 0 to 1, then swiftly climbed to 10, and kept increasing, quickly reaching 25.

—Already more than the number of beggars at the scene!

It seems setting the live stream cover photo to that of the Mobile Battle Armor really was eye-catching.

Regardless, perhaps Li Zheng got something wrong.

He could connect to the network!

Encouraged, Wu Xiaode pointed the camera at the Mobile Battle Armor again and began to explain, "Look, this 10275 type humanoid combat machine, it was designed and manufactured a few years ago. Because the combat engine is from the older generation, it doesn't feel very smooth in combat and occasionally it can be a bit jerky—"

"You'll know when we start fighting."

The number of viewers continued to rise.

Over a hundred now.

There was hope, real hope!

Wu Xiaode silently called out for the One-eyed Giant, forcing himself to cast aside all other thoughts, and devoted himself entirely to the live stream.

A comment floated across the screen:

"Such a large model must be tough to make. What's the investment? The materials? How many people completed it?"

"An expert!" Wu Xiaode praised, continuing, "Speaking of its appearance, this gadget requires several large machine tools to produce such perfect stamped parts, so I think we should pay more attention to its combat ability."

Da da da da da—

A string of fire burst out from the Mobile Battle Armor.

Wu Xiaode's movements were light as a leaf and fast as lightning. With several dodges and shifts, he avoided the gunfire.

"Yes, the 10275 type humanoid combat machine is equipped with three types of heat weapons: a machine gun, a grenade launcher, and small tracking bombs—"

He had just said this when a row of small holes appeared on the back of the Mobile Battle Armor.

A handful of tracking bombs the size of a fist flew out, whistling in the air, heading towards Wu Xiaode.

"We'll solve them in the most environmentally friendly way."

Wu Xiaode bent down to pick up some stones and, with great effort, flung them out with a swing of his arm.

Boom boom boom boom boom—

The small tracking bombs were hit one by one and exploded in mid-air like hand grenades.

The number of viewers jumped to 1571.

Wu Xiaode was stunned.

Did people show up this quickly?

He explained patiently, "Small tracking bombs capture their targets through heat-sensitive radar, calculating their trajectory, thereby increasing the hit and kill rate. But if they encounter any obstacles beforehand, they'll explode directly."

"That's its design flaw."

"Just now, my toss had a certain knack to it; this move is called 'Scattering Blossoms'. It's a basic skill from Iron Wire Fist—the technique of Iron Sand Palm, a kind of self-protection dart throwing method."

"This technique, in ancient times, was specifically used to counter arrows and flying crossbows. Now we use it against small tracking bombs—applying ancient methods to modern uses. Ah, and as you can see, it also works quite effectively."

The voice had barely faded.

Li Zheng's voice came from inside the Mobile Battle Armor:

"I thought you would kneel immediately. Who would have thought you'd dare to fight the Mobile Battle Armor?"

The four-meter tall steel Mecha suddenly moved with unimaginable agility, charging forward twenty meters and raising its door-sized steel fist to smash down heavily onto Wu Xiaode.

Boom!

Amidst the deafening sound of the collision, Wu Xiaode unleashed a Destroying Power punch, taking the Mobile Battle Armor's massive fist head-on.

The image froze!

His fist, only as big as an apple, firmly withstood the huge steel fist.

This scene was powerfully impactful.

The number of viewers on the live stream suddenly jumped, reaching a peak of 17,999!

"You see, the force of my punch was all in my wrist. No matter how strong it is, my hand is as hard as iron. With deep practice, I could even stop a great river in its tracks for you to see!"

Wu Xiaode, holding his phone in one hand to narrate, suddenly pushed with the other hand that had been storing up force.

The Mobile Battle Armor's heavy steel fist was lifted, and the entire steel Battle Armor, in an effort to maintain balance, was forced to take two steps back.

"Wow—"

"My God!"

Two "police officers" watching the battle exclaimed in amazement, each simultaneously popping up half a star above their heads with a "clang."

Wu Xiaode glanced back at them.

These two were well aware that the Mecha was real, and they were not filming a movie.

Speaking seriously, for a person to force back a four-meter tall steel Mecha with their flesh and blood body, it truly deserved every ordinary person's admiration.

At this time, the Book of the Dead rapidly generated lines of ice crystal letters for explanation.

One police officer had contributed knowledge of bare-handed capture techniques to Wu Xiaode.

The other police officer had even presented his home's savings account password on the Book of the Dead.

Wu Xiaode fell silent.

—The second police officer must be a Mecha and martial arts enthusiast.

However, immediately after, several lines of ice crystal letters emerged on the Book of the Dead:

"Attention:"

"These skills and knowledge gains belong to this book."

"The acquisitions of 1,000 people will be converted into the raw source power, gathered in the Book of the Dead, providing the power for the book's evolution."

Wu Xiaode shrugged.

If you won't give it to me, then don't; I just hope that after your upgrade, you can avoid the One-eyed Giant's prying eyes.

At this time, Li Zheng continued to speak:

"Indeed your fist is hard, but that's pointless, I'll kill you all the same."

A series of hums came from the Mobile Battle Armor, followed by a long steel valve opening—

A thick and solid steel handle was grasped by the Mecha.

"Everyone, take a look! This is the 10275-type humanoid combat machine's close combat special weapon, the Laser Molecular Vibration Blade—this weapon is very powerful, though it charges slowly, so we have time to switch to a better view," Wu Xiaode said.

He ran to a bridge pier nearby, turned his phone sideways, adjusted the angle and lighting, and then ran back.

"I'll kill you!" shouted Li Zheng.

From the steel handle, surging light erupted, flowing and accumulating like the tide, forming into the shape of a blade.

The Mobile Battle Armor charged toward Wu Xiaode.

Wu Xiaode advanced to meet it, his body flashed to the side of the long blade, and like a monkey scaling an old tree, he jumped onto the Mobile Battle Armor.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

As he climbed onto the Mecha, he struck out continuously with his palms, a total of five strikes, each producing a deafening resonance on impact.

After the fifth move.

Wu Xiaode lightly tapped with his toes on the Mobile Battle Armor's head and floated down several meters away, carried by the wind.

Standing up, turning back, facing the camera.

Wu Xiaode smiled and explained, "Ladies and gentlemen, the weak spots on the 10275-type humanoid combat machine are the very spots I've just struck. If you didn't catch it, please watch the replay. In any case—"

"I've taken it down."

Having said that, Wu Xiaode walked towards the phone.

Against the jet-black night sky behind him, the four-meter-tall Mobile Battle Armor started emitting thick smoke, and a deep, sonorous red glow burst forth from within the steel structure, soaring into the clouds.

The cockpit opened.

Li Zheng, looking ragged, rolled out onto the ground and sprang up, running crazily to one side.

Boom—

The Battle Armor exploded!

"Actually, there's no need to hide too far; the explosion radius of a Mobile Battle Armor of this level is quite small, and I only destroyed one of its engines and power cabins," Wu Xiaode explained.

At this point, Wu Xiaode could no longer pay attention to Li Zheng; he had to finish the live stream first.

He opened his hand for the camera to see.

A layer of crushed steel stuck to his hand.

This sight was indeed unforgettable.

Wu Xiaode sneaked a peek—

The number of viewers had unexpectedly surpassed 130,000!

The live stream had been quite hurried.

But the reaction of the live streaming platform's officials was incredibly fast; they instantly blasted an explosive headline across the whole site:

"Bare-handed Disarming! Unseen footage of a new film shoot surfaces, come see this formidable person!"

As Wu Xiaode watched, a loud "clang" suddenly erupted by his ear.

The Frost Book, floating in mid-air, had already opened, revealing lines of chilling, ice crystal letters:

"Likes exceed one hundred thousand!"

"The book is about to undergo an extraordinary evolution, which will far surpass any same-level Spiritual abilities!"

"The book now enters a silent state to complete this evolution."

"Duration: 10 minutes."

(Thank you to qlvlp and the boss 'Spoiled Cotton Candy' for their Alliance Hierarch rewards, the bosses are so generous!)