Chapter Thirteen: Blaze! The Thunder Fox! (Part Two)

The city before him seemed, at first glance, to be whole, but to Xu Xiong, it resembled more a fragment cut out from a larger metropolis. As the iron gate clanged shut behind him, Xu Xiong scratched his head, sighed, and leapt down from the platform.

Indeed, this was a city—or rather, had once been one—but now, its streets were littered with corpses and the wreckage of car accidents. As Xu Xiong walked through the streets, he saw that not a single body was intact; it was as if some monstrous beast had gnawed at them. Blood and entrails were strewn everywhere.

“What happened here?” Xu Xiong was certain that this had once been a secret underground base belonging to the Special League—something must have gone terribly wrong. The memory of the Crawlers he’d seen earlier gave him a foreboding sense of dread. “Could it be that our infiltration made the Special League believe this place was compromised, so they slaughtered everyone?” He looked around. “Judging by the scene, they must have used the T-virus. Damn it, is there no humanity left?”

The T-virus was a pathogen capable of reanimating dead cells. Once, it had sparked a craze in Fantasy City for ‘raising the dead,’ but it was soon revealed to produce nothing but zombies. People mockingly dubbed it the “T-virus,” and its production was banned, with only a few laboratories retaining DNA samples.

Xu Xiong lifted his wrist, holding his watch to the air. “The virus was released thirty minutes ago. Given the T-virus can’t survive long in the air, the major threat has passed. Now, the only thing to worry about is those who’ve already turned into zombies and…” Xu Xiong trailed off, glancing sideways. Sure enough, the countless corpses on the street were starting to twitch.

“Resident Evil is great to watch, but being the protagonist is another story.” Xu Xiong shrugged, sparks of electricity flickering across his brow. Raising his left foot, he tapped the ground lightly with his toe. A blue arc of lightning flashed, and he shot forward like a bullet, leaving a trail of electric blue in his wake. “Missy, you really can run!” Xu Xiong could sense Ye Ling’s location—astonishingly, she was at the center of this miniature city, and underground at that.

“I think I’ve also sensed Lin Yang’s position. I didn’t expect him to be here too.” Xu Xiong darted through alleys and streets, stopping soon before a pitch-black building. “Is this the heart of the city?” He stepped forward and slowly pushed open the glass doors. Inside, it was pitch-dark, chaos everywhere, and the bloodstains spoke volumes of the carnage that had taken place.

“Achoo!” Lin Yang sneezed, rubbing his nose. “Who’s talking about me behind my back?” He stared helplessly at the massive machine before him. “Playing Resident Evil wasn’t enough, now you’re into Final Fantasy too?” The giant robot was fixed in the center of the room, two thick mechanical arms waving constantly, surrounded by a countless array of slender, intricate mechanical limbs, all protecting a blue-glowing core at the center. “Is that its core?” Lin Yang knew that destroying it would end everything here. He decided to go for it. Then…

“Ah, damn, that hurts!” Lin Yang rolled on the ground, dodging to where the big robot couldn’t reach him. He would never have guessed that the seemingly insane contraption would use moves like “Tiger’s Claw” and “Monkey Steals the Peach.” “Who designed this thing?” Lin Yang cursed.

“I am programmed to target and attack the opponent’s weaknesses, employing all means to maximize attack effectiveness,” the giant robot replied, stunning Lin Yang. Reasoning with a robot was pointless; all rules of not hitting below the belt were out the window. “This isn’t working. I need to find some tools.” He remembered an armory on the city’s edge. With his abilities, a round trip wouldn’t take long. With that, he activated his power and sped away.

But just as Lin Yang left, a small head peeked out from behind the door. “Anyone there?” Ye Ling’s voice called out as she cautiously entered, looking around to make sure it was safe before venturing in.

“What’s this?” Ye Ling eyed the massive machine with no fear. After all, she had already seen zombies; her courage had grown. She pulled out a small handgun given to her by Xie Liu, gripping it with both hands and striking what she thought was a cool pose as she moved deeper inside. Had Xie Liu been here, he would have sighed—she hadn’t even switched off the safety.

Eventually, she stopped in front of the giant robot. It seemed to notice her, and all its mechanical arms surrounded her, sealing off any escape.

“Uh…” Ye Ling glanced around, realizing she was trapped. She sighed, rubbed her forehead, and muttered, “Will someone save me? Xu Xiong, it’s your turn this time, right?”

“Unfortunately, this time it’s me who saves you.” Xu Xiong strode into the hall, raising his right hand, holding a round object as he solemnly addressed the machine. “Don’t move. What I have here is a remote trigger. If I smash it, this city will be blown to the sky.”

The mechanical arms paused. After a moment, the robot’s voice sounded, “You cannot destroy this place. You do not possess a weapon powerful enough.”

“What if I told you I do?” Xu Xiong pointed the ‘device’ at the machine. “You should be able to detect I’m an Electrokinetic. If I had reversed all the circuits before entering, what do you think would happen?”

The machine fell silent. Xu Xiong continued, “You’ve always been underground. I’m curious—what’s your power source? Hydroelectric, wind, thermal—none would work down here. There’s only one possibility: nuclear. This city is built atop a nuclear plant. Imagine, if I reverse the current, the surge would fry all the instruments and destroy the plant. That’s not the worst of it—there’s a nuclear reactor below. If it melts down and explodes…” Xu Xiong smiled. “Right now, everything’s in my hands. Your programming must include directives to protect this city’s existence. You can’t disobey them. So, your choice: One, break your programming and try to capture us, in which case I’ll trigger the reversal and we all go up in flames. Or two, you let us go, I disable the device, and you neither blow up nor break your directives. What will it be?”

The machine buzzed, seemingly deep in thought—at least, that’s how it appeared to Ye Ling. She glanced at Xu Xiong and froze. What he was holding wasn’t some reversal device; it was clearly an Oreo cookie!

“Hurry over here,” Xu Xiong signaled with his eyes. Ye Ling instantly understood—he was bluffing the machine. She held her tongue and slowly moved to his side.

“How do we get out?” she whispered. Xu Xiong nodded. “We’ll improvise.” Ye Ling pouted. “That’s not an answer.” Xu Xiong ignored her. The two edged backward. Xu Xiong called out loudly, “Have you decided?” They were nearly at the door—just two more seconds and they could escape, but—

Boom! The doors slammed shut, trapping them inside. “You—!” Xu Xiong was stunned. The machine spoke: “I have checked all circuits. There is no reversal device as you described.”

“Uh…” Xu Xiong stuffed the cookie into his mouth and mumbled, “It was just a joke, hehe, hehe, hehe…”

“Kill the intruders!” the robot commanded, and dozens of mechanical arms shot toward them.

“Murder!” Xu Xiong shrieked, but in that instant, Lin Yang appeared before them, a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder. “Boom—” The launcher spat fire, exploding in front of them and blasting the smaller mechanical arms to pieces.

“You’re right on time, princess,” Xu Xiong patted his chest, looking at Lin Yang, who was more womanly than most women. Lin Yang scowled, tossed the launcher aside, and asked, “Got any more Oreos?”

“Sure, here.” Xu Xiong handed over half a bag. Lin Yang took one, biting into it. “Now let’s figure out how to escape.”

“Escaping isn’t enough; we have to destroy that thing. It’s the main control computer. If we don’t, we’ll be sealed in here.” Xu Xiong spoke seriously. Lin Yang glanced at the behemoth. “Even if Gong Hou was here, we couldn’t guarantee taking it down. We’re at a loss.”

“No, I have a way, but I’ll need you to buy me some time.” With that, he sat down, picked up a broken mechanical arm, and called, “Ye Ling, come here.”

“What for?” Ye Ling asked, confused. Xu Xiong grabbed her hand and jabbed it with the arm. “Ow, ow, ow… Xu Xiong, what are you doing?”

“I have an idea. I need you to bear with it.” Xu Xiong sat back down. “This mechanical arm belongs to the big guy, and now it’s injured you. That’s the first condition.”

“Condition? What condition?” Ye Ling asked. Lin Yang seemed to realize something. “You want to use Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics? Impossible. It’s already attacking us without restraint—it clearly ignores the Three Laws.”

“No, it must still apply. Even the Special League wouldn’t dare erase the Three Laws—they’d be asking for disaster. I suspect it’s running special programs to suppress them. If I can unlock that, I can force it to self-destruct.” Xu Xiong explained. Ye Ling nodded. “I’ve heard of those laws, but why injure me? Wouldn’t hurting you two work as well?”

Xu Xiong and Lin Yang fell silent. Ye Ling sensed a heavy atmosphere. After a while, Xu Xiong finally replied, “Because you are, in the true sense, human.”

Truly human? Ye Ling was taken aback, looking at Xu Xiong and Lin Yang, her heart churning. “What have they been through?”

“All right, I’m going to hack their system. Flash Sword, hold off those revolting things for me.” Xu Xiong sat in the corner, connecting his microcomputer to the local data port.

“Hurry, I can’t hold out much longer!” Lin Yang roared as his pink energy sword spun, weaving through the mass of mechanical arms. With a “swoosh,” his figure flickered, vanishing and reappearing nearby, dodging the massive arms’ strikes. “Damn, the energy field around this thing is too strong—my teleportation is being interfered with.”

“Big dumb bear, hurry up! He can’t last much longer!” Ye Ling urged anxiously, but Xu Xiong ignored her. His fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, lines of data streaming past. He focused intensely, blue sparks dancing in his eyes. Using his electrokinetic power to stimulate his cerebral cortex, his brain processed at lightning speed, but the energy drain was terrifying. Xu Xiong grunted, pulled out a syringe, and jabbed it into his neck without hesitation. Ye Ling gasped. Xu Xiong said calmly, “It’s just a highly concentrated energy shot—replenishes glucose and ATP instantly.” He resumed his rapid calculations, eyes glued to the screen as indecipherable characters flashed by. His hands moved so fast they blurred. In just a minute, he injected himself again. His brainpower consumption was clearly immense.

Meanwhile, Lin Yang’s burden grew. Not only did he have to contend with countless small arms, but the two massive ones posed mortal danger—a single hit would be fatal. He swung his energy blade, blocking two incoming arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another targeting Ye Ling. Swearing under his breath, he activated his power and appeared before her. “Damn claws—want to get any nastier?” Lin Yang shouted, slicing one arm apart. Two more came at him, but Lin Yang spun through the air, his pink blade sweeping them aside, landing protectively in front of Ye Ling. “Is that all you’ve got?” he taunted, but his smile froze—the mechanical arms had all clustered together, not attacking, but instead revealing countless gun barrels!

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Lin Yang almost cursed. He wasn’t Superman; he couldn’t withstand that many bullets! He dashed toward the wall, every gun barrel swiveling to track him.

“Bang bang bang…” Gunfire thundered through the room, muzzle flashes flaring as bullets surged toward Lin Yang like a tidal wave.

“I—!@#%$*!” Lin Yang let loose a string of expletives but didn’t dare slacken, darting from spot to spot to evade the hail of bullets. “Arc Furnace, if you don’t hurry, I’m dead meat!”

“It’s Spark Fox, not Arc Furnace,” Xu Xiong shot back, injecting himself again. Ye Ling huddled behind him, bullets whizzing everywhere—this was no joke. Two mechanical arms aimed straight at her and Xu Xiong.

“Ah—!” Ye Ling screamed, squeezing her eyes shut in terror.

But nothing happened. She cautiously opened her eyes and froze in astonishment. All the bullets were suspended in midair, as if time had stopped. Then blue electricity danced through them, and they clattered to the ground. Ye Ling glanced at Xu Xiong, seeing blue arcs of electricity spreading around him, forming a protective barrier for them both.

“So powerful!” she thought in awe. Only now did she truly realize how formidable the five so-called “losers” around her actually were.

In that electrifying instant, Lin Yang failed to dodge—his calf grazed by a stray bullet, he stumbled and fell. Bullets were about to engulf him. Gritting his teeth, he vanished once more.

“I’ve already analyzed your power!” the robotic voice rang out, and the huge arm slammed down on an empty spot. The next moment, Lin Yang materialized there.

Boom—a tremor shook the ground as Lin Yang was pinned. “Ah!” he screamed, coughing up blood.

“Kill the intruders, kill the intruders…” The machine repeated its command, all gun barrels swiveling to Lin Yang.

“It’s over!” Lin Yang closed his eyes, that single thought remaining.

But the bullets didn’t come.

“Mal… mal… malfunction…” The machine halted abruptly. To Lin Yang’s amazement, it lifted its massive arm off him. “Did he succeed?” Lin Yang, sprawled on the floor, looked toward Xu Xiong.

Xu Xiong was already on his feet, gripping Ye Ling’s wounded hand, raising the injury toward the machine. “It’s done. This is over.”

“According to Asimov’s First Law of Robotics, you cannot harm a human. Yes, neither I nor that cross-dresser count as truly human in your programming, but scan her—she is one hundred percent human!” Xu Xiong declared.

The machine emitted a series of strange clicks.

“Your programming hasn’t changed. You can’t hurt humans, but you’ve defaulted to treating powered individuals as non-human. It doesn’t matter. You were created to help humanity build the future, programmed with the Three Laws to ensure our survival. You don’t recognize us as human, but so what? True humans may be weak, but they are resilient, creative, and unafraid to face monsters like you.”

“You were made to benefit humanity, yet now you wear the shroud of war. I don’t know if that’s your glory or your tragedy, but regardless, today your time is done.” Standing before the machine, Xu Xiong took out his last Oreo, bit into it, and smiled at the robot.

“Well done!” Lin Yang, still on the ground, gave Xu Xiong a thumbs-up.

“Beep—sshh—crackle—” The machine emitted bizarre noises. Moments later, every light dimmed. In the end, it could not defy its original programming and initiated self-destruction.

At that moment, the entire building and underground city fell into darkness. Xu Xiong staggered and collapsed.

“Spark Fox, are you all right?” Lin Yang struggled to his side. Xu Xiong nodded. “Not dead yet. Take me to the machine—I’ll reboot the circuits so we can get out.”

“Right, hang in there.” Lin Yang and Xu Xiong supported each other toward the heart of the machine. Xu Xiong tapped on the keyboard for a long time until the lights flickered back to life.

“All done,” Xu Xiong and Lin Yang slumped back to back, sitting on the floor as the distant doors slowly slid open. The only thing left was to go home.

“Let’s go. I’m exhausted—I just want to sleep for days,” Lin Yang smiled. “There are still so many zombies outside. Looks like we’ll have to hold on a while longer, but I really can’t move anymore.” He glanced at Xu Xiong, who had already passed out, his mind and body pushed to the brink by the ordeal. As the doors opened, Lin Yang managed a bitter smile, looking at Ye Ling and Xu Xiong. “No matter what, I’ll get you both out of here.” With that, he tried to stand, ready to face the oncoming horde.

At that moment, Xie Liu appeared in the doorway, bloodied and battered. “Hey, I’ve come to take you all home.”