In front of the tremendous might of the Level 6 Rester, the thick screws on the mech’s head that held the steel plates in place were simply not enough to stop it.
With a "crack," the 20-millimeter thick H-beam steel plate was violently torn apart by Hatred, leaving only the screws desperately guarding what was left of it, the inside wires destroyed by brute force, and the sound of electricity fizzed and crackled as Hatred’s frost-like white hair stood on end.
Electrical arcs moved about, continuously seeking to penetrate Hatred, causing his movements to become somewhat stiff.
"Being shocked still makes me quite uncomfortable," he said.
As he spoke, Hatred continued his violent disassembly of the mech, ripping the information transfer board and circuit blocks apart in large chunks, until with the removal of the last steel plate, the control space was revealed.
With a sinister smile, Hatred coldly said, "Come out! Your life has reached its end!"
With that said, his hands pressed against both sides, exerting immense force on the mech’s head.
The sound of the current was piercing, and the hole in the mech’s head, under the force, turned into a split, as other mechs clumsily approached and extended their mechanical arms to grab Hatred.
But he paid them no mind, seeing the control space inside getting larger and larger, until the split was wide enough to fit a human head, and only then did Hatred finally see everything inside.
However, at this moment, his brow furrowed tightly, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes.
"Hmm? There’s no one inside, unmanned control?"
With a jolt in his heart, Hatred thought of something and quickly turned around to look at the other three mechs, a smile spreading across his face.
"So you want to play this game, huh? Good, you really do go all out."
No sooner had his words finished, than one of the mechs reached out with two mechanical arms, clamping his hands tightly, while the red lights on the foreheads of the four mechs began to flash faster and faster, and a beeping sound emanated from inside the mechs’ bodies.
[Self-destruct sequence initiated, three... two... one!]
Four great explosions sounded, and a ball of fire rolled into the sky, concrete rubble, and reinforcing steel bars from the first and second floors of the apartment building were ejected like a flood discharge from the impact of the self-destruction of the four mechs!
The scene was a complete mess, dust flying everywhere, as if it had undergone a major earthquake, with Hatred’s body buried under the falling rubble.
After a while, a strange "cackle" echoed from within the rubble, sounding like the voice of a vengeful spirit coming to claim lives from a movie.
"Cackle, hahaha! Hahaha, hehe–Excellent job, truly excellent, ouch! It hurts! It’s so painfully delightful, thank you all, I will properly repay you!"
On the fourth-floor staircase, ten New Human Stronghouses, wearing B-class exoskeleton armor and wielding meter-and-a-half-long corpse-slashing swords, stood on the banister looking down at the aftermath of the explosion on the first floor.
But upon hearing Hatred’s mad cackle, their faces all turned extremely unsightly.
Behind them stood a man whose exoskeleton armor was clearly thicker than the others. Hearing the laughter below, he glanced at the group of soldiers who had fled upwards in panic and said indifferently, "He didn’t die from that, seems like the people the Peace Party sent aren’t simple, eh? Guess who it could be? A Level 5 New Human wouldn’t have such strong vital force."
"The Peace Party has two Level 6 New Humans, one is their chairman and the other is the vice-chairman Tang Fu. The strength of the person below is beyond that of a Level 5 New Human. Such close-range explosion, even a Level 5 New Human would be heavily injured if not killed, but this voice... why does it sound like it’s not affected at all?"
"Does anyone recognize him? We’ve investigated, the appearances of Li Henian and Tang Fu are both clear, but this person here is neither of them."
"I don’t know. Wait, could it be a stronghouse who has recently evolved to Level 6 within the Peace Party?"
"Forget it, guessing is useless. Let’s find a way to stop him first. If the leader dies, we’re finished as well."
"Even if we can’t, we have to try. If he kills the leader, you know the consequences."
Everyone fell silent for a moment, deeply aware of the underlying severity of the situation. Their allegiance to the Yesteryear Association’s leader wasn’t out of great loyalty, but rather because of unspeakable hardships they faced.
Within the rubble, a hand pulled away a large rock, followed by another hand stretching out. Planting both hands on the ground and exerting force, Hatred’s mutilated body, akin to that of a decaying zombie, broke free from the pile of stones.
After crawling out, he wobbled on the spot for quite some time. Clearly, while the explosion from the four mechs hadn’t claimed his life, it had made him suffer greatly. His head had been so concussed that it took him a long while to come to his senses.
"Heh heh, you’re all done for."
Back to normal, Hatred sneered as he approached the broken staircase, whose steps firmly grasped the break, hoisting Hatred’s body up.
Suddenly, he looked up sharply, his gaze fixating on the group gathered above him.
"Is there anyone else? Come on! Ugaga hahaha!"
His eyes flashing scarlet, Hatred quickened his pace like a malevolent spirit, charging toward the fourth floor, while the New Human warriors waiting above also adopted a more glacial stare.
The New Human warriors unsheathed their corpse cleaving knives and attacked the charging Hatred!
Soon, the first New Human warrior confronted Hatred: his all-encompassing combat helmet emitted a faint glow, and the cold light flashed by, grazing Hatred’s scalp. The second warrior followed closely, straightening his corpse cleaving knife, slashing with a force infused with the vitality of a Level 3 New Human!
Then, more and more New Human warriors surged forward, and in an instant, the stairwell where Hatred stood was swamped, blade lights and shadow interweaving incessantly.
"You all came, did you? Then prepare to die, all of you!"
Surrounded by so many, Hatred showed no fear, and instead, the bloodlust in his eyes grew even more intense.
Moving swiftly, a warrior’s knife swung and missed. Before reacting, in his peripheral vision, he saw Hatred raising his fist, striking toward him, a shock of terror hitting his heart. He attempted to dodge, but regretfully, his body could not keep up with his reflexes. Suddenly, he felt a heavy blow on his chest and a tremendous force struck. He was sent flying backwards, crashing into the wall behind him, leaving a human-shaped indention.
After coughing twice, he reached for his chest to find his exoskeleton armor caved in, and at the corner of his mouth, blood was faintly trickling out. Fortunately, his life was not in danger; the B Grade exoskeleton armor had absorbed most of the force from the Level 6 Rester’s strike.
After flinging one person away, Hatred couldn’t spare a moment to pause as his step feet and hand feet moved in unison, turning to attack the others rushing towards him.
The small stairwell filled with the cold light traced by corpse cleaving knives, leaving deep gashes in the surrounding walls in no time!