<h4>Chapter 286: Cyborg</h4>
A power armor could be equipped with a variety of super firearms. For example, the power armorbat squad facing Li Xiaofei had de Hunter II model power armor, which were armed withser weapons and second only to power guns in power. Laser weapons often posed a serious threat to warriors below the Golden Body Realm.
In an instant, five gun barrels locked onto Li Xiaofei. Countless incandescent beams pummeled Li Xiaofei’s armor like a torrential downpour. Theseser beams had considerable recoil, but possessed a horrifying prative ability. The floating armor, made of Bull Demon blood, was burned and pierced inrge sections.
The beams reached Li Xiaofei''s flesh and blood body but that was all. His physical body was no weaker than the armor. The incandescent beams, partially blocked by the Bull Demon blood armor, couldn’t effectively injure Li Xiaofei. Moreover, the de Hunter II power armor was only equipped with four magazines. Soon, all the incandescent beams werepletely spent.
The battlefield fell silent. The superheated air was filled with the stench of burning ozone. But Ghost yer Zhong Kui was standing motionless in the center of the battlefield. His crimson battle robes had beenpletely scorched to a charcoal-like ck. His face was scarred and pitted by theser beams. His already grotesque appearance now resembled a demon straight out of hell.
His entire body seemedpletely carbonized as it emitted faint wisps of smoke. But he stood unmoving.
<i>Is he dead?</i>
From above, Zhen Jiahui and Gu Juechen held their breath. Five de Hunter II power armors, each about three meters tall, approached swiftly under the cold moonlight. Their weapon systems were still locked onto their target, ready tounch a lethal attack at any moment.
<i>Zzz.</i>
The pale incandescent glow of theser sword illuminated the night. The power armor soldier at the front raised hisser sword and forcefully thrust it forward.
At that moment, the charred Zhong Kui suddenly moved. His left foot shifted, and his body flickered to the side to narrowly dodge the attack. The blood-red broadde in his hand turned into a streak of crimson light as he swiftly shed horizontally.
n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
<i>Bang!</i>
The de struck the power armor, but it was blocked by ayer of glowing white light. The power armor''s energy shield had activated just in time to block the lethal strike.
“Damn, that sh took out 67% of the shield’s energy. Be careful, everyone.”
The power armor soldier was shocked and quickly warned his teammates over theirmunication channel. But in the next moment, he could no longer speak. Zhong Kui''s second shnded in the exact same spot. The strike was too fast for even the passive defense system of the power armor to react.
<i>Szzzt.</i>
The energy shield shattered and both the power armor and its pilot were cleanly severed in half. Sparks flew from the damaged machinery, and blood gushed out between the joints.
“Damn it.”
“Be careful! Don’t give him a chance for a second sh!”
“Overheated methrower!”
The remaining four power armor pilots immediately realized the dire situation.
This monster’s defense was incredibly strong. A typical warrior at the Five Spirits Realm wouldn’t have been able to withstand the first barrage ofsers. Even if they had survived, they would have been gravely injured. They certainly wouldn’t have the strength to break through the power armor’s energy shield.
But this guy in front of them had both an insane defense and an even more horrifying offense. He was practically the bane of power armors. One of the power armor units barely managed to raise its arm, and before it could fire the toxic, superheated mes from its methrower, the Ghost yer’s de swiftly severed its metal arm.
“Ah!!”
A scream echoed through the night. Zhong Kui’s movements were simply too fast. His swordsmanship was incredibly powerful. It was as if man and de had be one as heunched sh after sh with unmatched precision. Two strikes! It only took two strikes for him to violently tear through the power armor and kill the pilot within.
Even the battle-grade light core equipped in the de Hunter II power armor couldn’t calcte Zhong Kui’s movements or predict his attack vectors in time. The power armor in front of him was nothing more than an oversized toy. It couldn’t even perform its function as a nemesis of martial arts experts. Instead, it became a helplessmb awaiting ughter.
The battle ended swiftly as all five power armors, along with their pilots, were reduced to broken scraps. Zhong Kui, still holding his Ghost yer, slowly lifted his head. He had sensed the presence of two figures standing on a distant balcony.
In that instant, both Zhen Jiahui and Gu Juechen shuddered in fear. Zhong Kui’s grotesque, charred ck face looked like a Shura Death God, reaping lives in the dark of night.
But then something even more terrifying urred. The fatal, charred injuries on Zhong Kui’s body began to heal before their very eyes. The injuries on his head vanished as well.
In the blink of an eye, Zhong Kui stood before them as the unscathed demon god he had been before. His smile was filled with mockery.
It was as if he was silently saying, "ept your fate—wounds like these are no threat to me."
"Monster... monster..." Zhen Jiahui muttered, his scalp tingling with fear.
<i>Could this unkible creature truly be a demon?</i>
Cold sweat began to form on Gu Juechen’s forehead. Now he understood why the entire Ye family had been annihted overnight. This Ghost yer, Zhong Kui, was terrifying beyond belief.
Zhong Kui made his move. He leaped toward the balcony like a ck meteor.
But just then...
<i>Whoosh!</i>
A micro-missile mmed into his side.
<i>Boom!</i>
The explosion sent Zhong Kui flying through the air. The moment he hit the ground, a figure dove down and unleashed a flurry of punches. The rapid-fire iron fists pounded into Zhong Kui’s body like a high-speed pile driver.
<i>Boom! Boom! Boom!</i>
Once again, Zhong Kui was sted away. The figure''s body emitted crimson jets of energy, propelling him forward as he struck again. Zhong Kui swiftly swung his de, executing the Eight Secrets of the Heavenly de technique.
<i>Boom!</i>
The figure was split apart with one powerful sh. When Li Xiaofei took a closer look, he noticed that the figure was not tall, and half of its body had been entirely reced by gleaming silver metal. Its metallic skeleton and mechanical face gleamed in the light, with one eye glowing a menacing red. The other half of its body remained human, with intact flesh and blood.
"A cyborg?"
Li Xiaofei was shocked. Prosthetics had long bemonce in this era, with many people who had lost limbs using them to live as normal. Sometimes they would even surpass normal human abilities thanks to the advanced features of these artificial limbs. However, prosthetics were typically limited to arms, legs, or small parts of the body. But this creature before him had more than half its body reced with machinery.
<i>Can he even still be considered human?</i>
<i>Whoosh!</i>
The cyborg raised its hand,unching another missile the width of a finger. This thing was like a miniature arsenal.
Li Xiaofei shed with his long de.
<i>Boom!</i>
The missile exploded. But Li Xiaofei had already broken through the mes of the explosion and was closing in on the cyborg. His de shed as he aimed for the cyborg’s neck.
Yet, in that very moment, the cyborg''s head bent backward at an impossible angle, dangling behind its body. The de sliced through empty air.
Meanwhile, the cyborg''s assault waspletely unaffected. Its right hand transformed into a high-speed rotating electric drill, which shot out and mmed into Li Xiaofei’s left chest.
<i>Zzzzt!</i>
Sparks flew as the armor was quickly pierced. Li Xiaofei gritted his teeth through the impact, grabbed the drill with his left hand, and with a burst of brute force, crushed it into a twisted lump of metal.