Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Herlous received approval. He sat opposite Alvin, arranged his card set, and sneered, “Since you want to give me free money, I shall grant you your wish.”
“Haha, it’s still uncertain who will lose.” Alvin laughed loudly.
His laughter could be heard in the entire cabin. The other passengers looked over.
The two of them started the round, which quickly became intense. Alvin was very quick to familiarize himself with others and spoke in a tone as if they were already very close friends. After the initial awkward stage, the atmosphere soon became harmonious as they chatted and joked with each other.
Han Xiao stared at Alvin from start to finish, preventing him from having any ulterior motives. At the same time, he discreetly activated the metal detector and wave detector in case he had some devices on him.
However, Alvin did not make any strange movements at all; everything that he had on him was normal. He was just playing cards excitedly along the way, shouting and joking, seeming very forthright.
Two hours later, the train arrived at the station.
Alvin took a deep breath of the fresh air, turned around, and slightly bowed toward Han Xiao and the others. “It was a short trip, but the time spent was amazing. It will be engraved in my mind as a beautiful memory. I sincerely thank you guys for your company. We are friends now. I hope that we will have the chance to meet again in the future.”
Then, he waved, turned around, and left with his bag.
“Strange guy,” Sylvia murmured.
“Such an amiable guy,” said Feidin with a smile.
“He’s probably just an honest passerby. We might have been overthinking,” Herlous said.
Han Xiao glanced at him and did not comment. Although he still did not know Alvin’s motive, he rarely believed that anything was coincidental. Even if this guy called Alvin did not do anything abnormal during the trip, he still did not let his guard down. He patted Phillip’s metal head and said, “Captured his looks?”
“A total of 372 photos, hum… There’s one for every angle, hum…”
“Let’s not care about him for now. We shall go search for our target.” Han Xiao nodded and walked forward. Then he casually asked, “By the way, I did not see earlier, did you guys win money in cards?”
Herlous scratched his head.
“That guy is quite good; he won a few hundred from me… I lost a lot, so I let Feidin help me. He won a few rounds, and then we arrived. In conclusion… hmm? It happened to be a tie. No one won or lost any money.”
Han Xiao’s footsteps suddenly paused, and he rubbed his chin.
“Alvin, never heard of this name before… interesting…”
…
As Han Xiao did not know Alvin’s motive, he put the matter to the back of his mind, followed the clues from the intel, and found the last place that the target appeared.
It was a narrow, rural street surrounded by tall buildings. Between the tall buildings, there was surprisingly a comparatively short villa. Its construction style fitted the aesthetic of humans—smooth, symmetrical, and with a yard. It looked like a private mansion.
The alloy door was sealed shut, so the inside could only be seen through a small window in the door. There was no one in the yard at this time.
Han Xiao looked around and noticed a button beside the door, likely the doorbell for visitors.
“We’re here to search for someone, not to kill… ahem, sneak in. It’s best to knock. The target has foresight anyway. If he wants to see us, he will walk out himself.”
After pressing the doorbell, they waited at the gate. They were used to climbing over walls, so now that they had to walk the front gate, they felt uncomfortable.
After a while, Han Xiao pressed the doorbell a few more times, but still, no one responded.
“There might be no one in, or the person inside doesn’t want to open the gate. What do you say, break in?” Herlous shrugged.
“Since no one responded, we shall go in and take a look before…”
Boom!
Han Xiao’s sentence had yet to finish when a loud bang suddenly came from above. He was way too familiar with this sound—it was the sound of a cannon being fired. Han Xiao could analyze the cannon’s model with just the sound. “Dodge!”
Everyone there was a Super, so their reaction speed was extremely fast. They immediately jumped away from their initial spot.
Boom!
A chain explosion happened on where they initially stood, and black smoke filled the air—this was the effect of an exploded rocket.
Looking up following bullet trajectory, it was from one window in the building opposite the villa. Quite a few vertical creatures were extending their heads out of the window and looking down. One of them was still holding the rocket launcher.
The next moment, ten or so creatures jumped out of the window and fell right onto the ground from dozens of meters high!
The thick smoke dissipated in the wind, showing the true face of those creatures—a group of stone creatures. They had four arms, two legs, and one head, wearing simple and plain battle suits, and had some firearms in their hands. Some even had melee weapons like mechanical axes, war hammers, and the like. They gave off a mercenary vibe as they were on the verge of attacking.
Han Xiao and gang were just looking for someone; they did not expect to be attacked, so they were surprised.
“Why did you attack us?” Sylvia asked.
“Someone paid us to teach you a lesson,” a stone man said.
Teach us a lesson?
Sylvia was about to reply, but suddenly, her face changed, and she yelled, “No, Phillip!”
Han Xiao looked over following her voice. Around the feet of these stone mercenaries, broken parts were spilled all over the floor.
Phillip had been too slow and could not dodge the earlier explosions. It had been blasted into pieces and become a pile of scrap metal.
At this time, these stone warriors struck. They growled with a weird voice and charged toward Han Xiao and the others.
Han Xiao tutted. He pulled out a compressed orb from his necklace, threw it onto the floor, and it rapidly expanded into the black Amphiptere mechanical suit. However, he did not wear it—it stood beside him.
This time, Han Xiao said with a deep voice, “Beat them up!”
Hum!
The eyes of the Amphiptere mechanical suit suddenly lit up!
This mechanical suit moved on its own. It swung its leg sideways like a black lash, whipping the foremost stone warrior on his chest.
Pa!
The huge strength blew him away and smashed him against the wall, shattering a huge pile of pebbles. It was unknown whether it was from the wall or from the stone warrior’s body.
“Order effective, hum… Combat Mode activated, hum… The enemy is blown away, hum…”
The empty Amphiptere mechanical suit was in combat mode, and Phillip’s voice came out of the helmet.
Phillip was an artificial intelligence, so it lived in computer systems. Machinery was just what he controlled. When the shell was destroyed, it would not be damaged with it. Its core was behind layers of protection. With the computing speed of an artificial intelligence, it could simultaneously control dozens more mechanical beasts than before. Furthermore, with the combat simulations in the database, it could improvise on the spot and battle independently with a high standard!
This meant that Phillip could replace him and pilot the mechanical suit, and it could pilot more than one!
The smart chips before this had limited computing speed, comparatively weak combat capabilities, and could not react quickly. These were the most necessary attributes in the everchanging battlefield, so the smart chip could only be used as an assisting feature in combination with Han Xiao’s nerves connection. However, with the new smart system built with [Advanced Artificial Intelligence Technology], like the improvement from gunpowder weapon to electromagnetic weapons, it was a complete update and enhancement!
Han Xiao’s Hound Style had very limited effectiveness against enemies at the same Grade, but together with the strong mechanical suits operated by an artificial intelligence, it would make an entirely different level of impact. His mechanical suits were high quality mechanical weapons, so this made up for his shortage of robot warriors! Even if it was against someone at the same Grade, it would still last very long!
All High-End Knowledges were useful. The artificial intelligence technology that had powerful computing speed was one of the prerequisites of completing the Army Style!
Han Xiao turned around to Sylvia and said, “Go back and copy the theory for smart chips five times.”
Sylvia’s face immediately dropped, completely downcast.
Buzz!
Mechanical Force gushed out from Han Xiao’s fingertips and entangled with Amphiptere mechanical suit, providing it with his bonuses.
There was no need for him to fight; Phillip controlled the mechanical suit and dealt with the enemies. It analyzed all the movements of the enemies and accurately dodged all their attacks. Its heavy punches cracked the rock skin of the stone warriors, making suppressed loud noises.
Dong, dong!
Pebbles spurted everywhere!
“Don’t hit too hard. We can’t randomly kill people on Noriosse.”
Han Xiao leaned against the wall and watched the one-sided battle. His eyes flickered. “Furthermore, these stone men were probably hired by that Oracle to wait for us. It looks like he indeed knows that someone is looking for him. Humph.”
