Chapter 108: Chapter 91: Found It
No matter how strange the woman who had suddenly appeared was, or how much of a weirdo she seemed, the more powerful she was, the better it was for them.
"Uh, Ma’am," Niu Fenjin began, snapping back to his senses and immediately asking for help. His tone was indignant, as if he were a true Defender who loathed evil. "These people are Cultists from the Mechanical Desecration Association. They stop at nothing!"
The mature woman who called herself a tour guide glanced at Niu Fenjin and said bluntly, "I can see that. You don’t need to tell me."
Niu Fenjin was embarrassed.
At this point, the identities of the five were plain as day. They might as well have had "Mechanical Desecration Association" written on their foreheads.
There really was no need to waste any more words.
In reality, Niu Fenjin hadn’t wanted to elaborate either; he was just trying to build some rapport.
Who would have thought he’d be so smoothly rebuffed?
"Ma’am, as I recall, the Mechanical Desecration Association has no quarrel with you," Xuanwu said, his gaze wary as he looked at the suddenly-appeared tour guide while struggling to block an attack from the Thousand Vine Demon.
"Do I need a reason to deal with Cultists like you?" The tour guide curled her lip and replied casually, "If you really need one, let’s just say I don’t like people who destroy the environment. And you happen to have broken my rule."
Xuanwu’s mouth twitched when he heard this. ’What does she mean she doesn’t like people who destroy the environment? There are tons of people who destroy the environment in this world. Why doesn’t she go after them? Why pick on the five of us?’
Angry as he was, he didn’t voice his question. He knew it was just a random excuse she’d come up with. Her real goal was simply to oppose them.
And despite her bizarre outfit—at least, it looked bizarre for a top-tier expert—she might actually be a Federation official.
It wasn’t his first time encountering something like this. Her sudden attack on the five of them was likely just a matter of conflicting allegiances, which was also the most intractable kind of problem.
The smile vanished from Xuanwu’s face, and his gaze turned sharp. With a fluctuation of Spiritual Power, a Summoning Array lit up, and three more robots appeared before the tour guide.
"Ma’am, be careful! Those three robots are also Dominator Level!" Niu Fenjin shouted, having checked the energy levels of the newly appeared robots with his Energy Detector.
The tour guide didn’t respond to Niu Fenjin’s warning. Instead, she said with some surprise, "I didn’t expect you to be a genuine Dominator Level!"
As far as she knew, the Mechanical Desecration Association was different from other Cult Organizations. They only cultivated Mechanical Pet Beasts and had a Secret Technique that allowed a Beast Master to form a contract with a Mechanical Pet Beast one major realm above their own level. The price was that they could only contract a single one.
At first, the tour guide had assumed all five of them were in this situation. She hadn’t expected this man to be a genuine Dominator Level, rather than someone who had contracted above his own rank.
In that case, dealing with him would be a bit of a hassle. Of course, only a bit. Without giving it much more thought, a flash of light appeared, and she summoned another Pet Beast—a puppet doll about the size of a person.
"A Thousand-Year Puppet!" The moment the tour guide summoned her Pet Beast, Chu Xiran recognized it.
It was an extremely rare Pet Beast called the "Thousand-Year Puppet," a Dual-Attribute of the Wood and Spiritual Elements, which was particularly effective against the Mechanical Element.
Indeed, while the Mechanical Element boasted outstanding combat power among its peers, it wasn’t without weaknesses. The Spiritual Element was its Achilles’ heel.
Most Spiritual Element Skills were formless and intangible. Barring a few special metals, they were nearly impossible to block, and completely blocking them was practically unthinkable.
If such a Skill hit a Mechanical Pet Beast, it would damage or interfere with its internal components, causing a significant drop in combat effectiveness.
Of course, a counter’s effectiveness depended on relative strength. If the power gap was too large, the advantage wouldn’t mean much.
The Thousand-Year Puppet before them was clearly terrifyingly powerful. Judging by the energy waves it emanated, it was no weaker than the Thousand Vine Demon that had appeared earlier. This made Xuanwu extremely wary.
Most importantly, he knew he had to end this quickly and decisively. If this dragged on and the Public Security Bureau dealt with the commotion in the city, they would certainly rush to this battlefield. At that point, he and his men would be outnumbered and in real danger.
Besides, all the arrangements inside the Dimensional Rift were in place. If they couldn’t create a breakthrough here soon, the entire operation would be for naught.
With this in mind, Xuanwu gritted his teeth and ordered his four subordinates, "I’ll handle this woman! You ignore her and go straight for those three brats. Force them to reveal the location of the Unstable Rift. We don’t have time to waste!"
With that, he commanded his four contracted robots to attack the tour guide.
"You want to get to those three little ones right in front of me? We’ll see if you have what it takes!" Seeing this, the tour guide’s lips curved into a faint smile. "Thousand Vine Demon, protect them. The Thousand-Year Puppet can handle things here."
After all, these were four Dominator Level robots. She didn’t dare get careless. She wasn’t worried about her own safety, but if the three youngsters were captured, it would tie her hands.
The battle began in an instant. Explosions rang out intermittently, carrying far into the distance. Even Zhao Xiwei, who was at the factory complex, could hear them.
But she couldn’t rush to provide support, because she was tied down by two more Dominator Level robots that had arrived later.
Seeing this, she didn’t hesitate and immediately engaged the two robots right there in the factory complex.
She knew very well that only after dealing with these two robots could she free herself up to support the other battlefield.
The Apple-Eating Deer, Fire Mastiff, Wolf Vulture, and Thunderlight Leopard all entered the fray. Their combined strength was overwhelming, crushing the two robots so thoroughly they had almost no chance to fight back.
BANG! BANG!
CRASH!
Before long, both robots were beaten down, their parts scattering across the ground. One was even sent flying backward into a nearby reservoir, never to rise again.
Having dealt with the two robots with ease, Zhao Xiwei wasted no time. She immediately headed off in the direction of the explosions.
What she didn’t know was that the robot she had knocked into the reservoir was still sinking. Although it had lost its combat and even movement capabilities, its optical lights were still flickering, indicating that it was still active.
Suddenly, its sensors swept over a spot—a depression at the bottom of the reservoir. A light was flickering there. It looked like an Array...
’Found it!’
Upon seeing the Array at the bottom of the reservoir, the robot didn’t hesitate for a second and shared the information.
At almost the same instant, an image appeared in the glasses of Xuanwu and his four subordinates, who were in the heat of battle: deep in the murky water, an Array flickered with light...
