Chapter 11: Rescue

"What is the relationship between Major Shangguan and the Lord Mayor?"

As the words fell, a rough-looking man nearby could no longer hold back, his eyes blazing with fury as he roared, "Kid, what do you mean by that? Do you think Major Shangguan was promoted to her rank just because of her relationship with the Mayor?"

The other mecha warriors glared with equal hostility, clearly holding Shangguan Luohua in deep respect and affection.

"...No, no," Nangong Yuchen quickly waved his hands in defense, explaining, "I... I just saw her earlier with Shangguan Yueying..."

"Young man, you shouldn't be overly curious. There are some things you aren't supposed to know!" Ye Cheng's expression turned serious. Seeing Nangong Yuchen's awkwardness and knowing he meant no harm, he added, "As for Major Shangguan's rank, I can only tell you that she attained the rank of major a full decade ago!"

"A decade ago?" Nangong Yuchen and the other two felt a shock ripple through their hearts. Based on that timeline, didn't their homeroom teacher become a major back when she was just a young girl?

Right at that moment, the communicator on Ye Cheng's left wrist suddenly lit up. As he tapped it, a pale green virtual window popped up, and the video feed displayed a middle-aged man.

The man looked to be in his early forties with handsome features. Although it was just a video image, one could still sense the natural majesty of someone in a position of supreme authority radiating from his brow.

Upon recognizing the man, Ye Cheng and all the other mecha warriors immediately straightened and shouted in unison, "Lord Mayor!"

Without any preamble, the man went straight to the point: "Ye Cheng, lead your mecha squad and provide reinforcements to Tianwan Street immediately! Remember, you must arrive within five minutes!"

The grave tone revealed the absolute urgency of the situation.

"The Mayor? He's the Mayor of Ruxia City!" Nangong Yuchen and Nangong Kexin stared in utter astonishment. The two of them had only ever heard rumors of Shangguan Yufeng, and today was the very first time in their lives they were laying eyes on the legendary Lord Mayor!

Compared to the other two, Angel appeared completely calm.

"Tianwan Street? What about the other districts?" Ye Cheng asked instinctively.

"The situation in the other sectors and streets has stabilized, and the residents have already been evacuated to District E, but Tianwan Street..." At this, Shangguan Yufeng's expression turned frigid, his brow furrowing deeply as he triggered a video file and transmitted it through the communicator.

"Hiss!" Every single mecha warrior present, along with Nangong Yuchen, Nangong Kexin, and Angel, sharply drew in a breath of cold air. The very next instant, a fury like an erupting volcano ignited within their chests.

The Tianwan Street shown in the recording had become a living hell. Roads, streets, and buildings were littered with severed limbs and corpses. Trickling streams of blood soaked the earth, painting the entire street crimson!

Large numbers of surviving residents were fleeing in tears, but they could not escape the pursuit of giant spiders and wolf demons. Every time they were overtaken, blood splattered and bodies were torn apart. They shrieked and screamed in agony, dying amidst terror and despair. On the outer perimeter of the street corner, over a dozen tier-one mecha warriors led hundreds of soldiers in a frantic, bloody battle, charging inward. However, with the ferocious beasts and the civilians mixed together, heavy weapons were entirely unusable, while the dozen mecha warriors were toyed with and dragged down by two intermediate-level beasts. All they could do was hack and slash desperately, watching one figure after another fall...

The brief, few-second recording ended. The dozens of people stood there with dark, gloomy faces, the veins on their temples throbbing—each of them evidently on the verge of berserker rage.

At that moment, Shangguan Yufeng's voice rang out like a low growl: "Move! I have already ordered Lieutenant Yang Long to lead the warriors out from the Technological Mecha City. You must ensure the safety of those six Star Academy children, minimize civilian casualties as much as possible, and wait for Lieutenant Yang Long to arrive so we can wipe those beasts out in one fell swoop!"

The communication was cut off. Ye Cheng's brow twitched as he roared, "Speed-type physical fighters, head out for Tianwan Street first!"

"Let's go!" More than a dozen male and female mecha warriors stepped out of the formation, leaping directly into the air. Operating at full speed, they flew in a fury toward Tianwan Street.

"Angel, Kexin! Let's go too!" The fury in Nangong Yuchen's heart was on the verge of erupting. He recognized both of the intermediate-level beasts from the video—they were none of other than Xia Yue and Chen Hao! What he found most unbearable was that the two people he had once looked up to like an older brother and sister had turned out to be monsters slaughtering human beings!

Combined with the fact that Mu Ling and the others were among those dozen mecha warriors, anger and anxiety drove him to act without hesitation.

The two girls nodded in agreement, and the three of them moved to depart. The rough-looking man from earlier called out again, "What do you three kids think you're doing, not following the squad?"

"To slay beasts!" Nangong Yuchen dropped those four words before sprinting toward Tianwan Street with the two girls. Operating at peak speed, the three of them vanished around the corner of the street in the blink of an eye.

"M-Major!" The rough man was stunned by the absolute resolve in Nangong Yuchen's tone. Not just him, but Ye Cheng and the others were equally shaken.

"That speed... three speed-types?" With a complex expression, Ye Cheng rallied the remaining mecha warriors behind him and quickened his pace toward the destination...

District D, Tianwan Street.

"Boom!" Within a one-kilometer radius of the entire street, the fires of war raged, wails echoed endlessly, the earth fractured, and high-rise buildings collapsed, turning the area into a catastrophic battlefield.

At one of the outer corners, Mu Ling's three-member team and the elite class's fourth squad had joined forces with three male students. All six of them were covered in blood, looking disheveled as they stared with blazing anger at the catwoman who kept toying with them and blocking their rescue attempts.

"If you want to pass, you'll have to get my permission first!" Meira crouched, standing atop a ruined wall over five meters high. A seductive smile graced her face; although her skin tone and appearance differed greatly from humans, there was no denying that her rounded hips gave her an exotic, alluring beauty. She licked the corner of her mouth, gazed at the six young men and women, and sprang from her legs, lunging straight toward them.

"She's coming!" Mu Ling immediately switched to his bombardment sniper rifle, which had finished cooling down, and fired a blast straight at the leaping Meira. A bowl-thick red energy beam, crackling with destructive power, hurtled directly toward Meira's chest.

"Treating a big sister like this isn't nice, little brother with the glasses!" Meira showed not a trace of panic. At the critical moment, she twisted her waist ninety degrees and flipped through the air. Utilizing her agile physique, she ricocheted back and forth off the ground, dodging the incoming energy beams while rapidly closing in on Mu Ling.

Boom! The beam missed its mark and struck a dilapidated building in the rear. A deafening roar echoed as the entire building collapsed on cue, burying two giant spiders that had been feeding on corpses below.

Seeing that the enemy was now less than ten meters away, the tall, slender male student from Star Academy's elite fourth squad drew his heavy machine gun and began firing a barrage at Meira.

"Rat-tat-tat!"

This time, Meira leaped fiercely, her hands flashing with razor-sharp claws as she slashed through the air. Ten cyan blade-arcs rained down from above, hurtling rapidly toward Mu Ling and the tall, slender boy.

"Shield Bash!" The strength-type male student nearby rushed to support them, carrying a massive square shield. He planted himself directly in front of the tall boy to shield him completely, while the red-haired Qingxue wielded a giant tapered wooden mallet, smashing it downward with brutal, extreme force to shatter the claw-arcs!

At that moment, Yi An and the speed-type male student from the fourth squad seized the opportunity and unleashed their skills in unison. A five-meter-long blue spear-image and a broad, heavy blade-image thrust and slashed outward, attacking Meira while she was still recovering from her momentum.

"Annoying little brats!" Having failed to break through after repeated attacks, she grew somewhat angry. Seeing the blade-image slicing toward her first, she quickly crossed her claws to block the strike. Then, spotting the spear-image thrusting at her chest, she twisted her body and dropped toward the ground.

"Go to hell!" Yi An's handsome face distorted completely. The continuous, miserable screams ringing in his ears drove him into a frenzy of rage. Seeing that Meira was landing and he was about to miss his window of opportunity, anger overrode his injuries and over-consumed stamina, prompting him to unleash his skill once more as he thrust forward with violent speed! "Ice Piercer!"

"Splat!" This time, the blue spear-image was even faster. Meira failed to dodge in time and took a direct hit to her waist, leaving a gaping, bloody wound! Excruciating pain drove Meira into a fury. Her previously seductive face suddenly twisted, and she roared through gritted teeth, "Kid, you're asking for death!"

The instant the words fell, an even stronger shockwave erupted from within her body. The claws on both hands grew dramatically, and she slashed down directly at the nearest target, Yi An.

"Tier Two!"

Yi An's face drained of color. He hadn't expected the catwoman before him to be a Tier-Two beast. Seeing the cyan claw-arcs descending, he hurriedly brought his spear horizontal to block, but the moment they collided, his entire body was knocked flying backward.

"All of you, go to hell!"

Meira had gone berserk. The excruciating pain from her wound meant she no longer had any desire to play games. Seeing the yellow-haired youth sent flying, she stamped the ground and surged forward with skyrocketing speed, catching up to Yi An in the blink of an eye to claw at his head once more.

"Yi An!" The expressions of the other five turned frantic as they rushed forward to rescue him. But Meira was no longer someone they could contend with; the moment they closed in, they were all knocked flying.

Watching Yi An plunge into danger once again, Qingxue's pretty face turned terrifyingly pale. Disregarding her own injuries, she impulsively charged forward and shoved Yi An out of the way, exposing herself directly to Meira's razor-sharp claws.

"Qingxue!"

Yi An and Mu Ling's eyes turned bloodshot as they screamed in unison. Within their dilated pupils, those thirty-centimeter-long cyan claws gleamed with a chilling, eerie light as they descended toward her head!

Meira didn't care in the least. She didn't stop simply because her target had changed; in her view, all six of them were already corpses—it was merely a matter of who died first and who died second.

"Qingxue!"

"You guys go..." Qingxue closed her pretty eyes, resigning herself to her fate. She had no regrets; if she could trade her own life for the life of the person she loved, she would be content.

"Half a meter, twenty centimeters, five centimeters!"

Seeing the razor-sharp claws resting right against her forehead, the corners of Meira's mouth curved into a smile of vengeful satisfaction, as she had already pictured the gruesome scene of the girl's skull shattering and blood spilling.

Just as the girl's life was about to be snuffed out, an angry roar suddenly echoed from not far away: "Xia Yue, if you don't want to die, stop right now!"

As the ferocious roar subsided, a blinding golden streak of light flashed through the air, hurtling downward like a golden meteor and arriving right above Meira's head in the blink of an eye...