The operation proceeded unexpectedly smoothly. After a round of gunfire, the giant mecha's weapons were largely destroyed. Even the rows of rockets on its belly were emitting smoke, clearly rendered unusable.
Li Chonglou found this peculiar. The giant mecha had been active for less than ten seconds before being reduced to this state. What exactly were they guarding against?
Perhaps this entity was merely a vanguard.
As Li Chonglou pondered, the red light in the eyes of the giant mecha in the distance flickered, as if locking onto everyone present. Those two red eyes stared intently in their direction.
The next moment, two vortexes of steam appeared behind the giant mecha, followed by an eruption of flames.
*Boom!*
With its colossal frame, over two meters tall, it reached their position in less than three seconds. Li Chonglou's pupils constricted. He hadn't heard any sound at all.
This meant the opponent's speed had surpassed the speed of sound!
The others seemed unfazed. As soon as the mecha's steam appeared, everyone had already scattered. The small squad that had been targeted was not far from Li Chonglou.
Whether it was intentional or accidental, as the mecha charged forward, they continued to move towards Li Chonglou's position.
"Trying to set me up?"
At a time like this, he refused to believe it was accidental. After all, there were no ordinary people present; everyone was a seasoned veteran. Every action and behavior was carefully considered. So, could they have missed his presence here?
Impossible. The only explanation was that they intended to lure the mecha towards him.
Furthermore, a significant reason was likely their belief that he was a newcomer, unfamiliar with the strange pulling sensation. This meant the three individuals luring the mecha wanted him dead.
Having grasped this in an instant, Li Chonglou looked at the approaching figures with icy eyes. The next second, instead of retreating, Li Chonglou advanced, adopting an aggressive stance and charging directly at the trio.
The three were instantly stunned. Moments before, they had been inwardly gloating, but now they were in a panic.
"Rookie! Get out of the way!"
Seeing Li Chonglou blocking his path, the leading man roared in fury.
Li Chonglou ignored the man's enraged shout because he had discovered that after the pulling sensation reappeared, it seemed possible to offset it by adjusting his body's frequency to a specific level.
The moment he moved, that pulling sensation had completely enveloped him. Thus, Li Chonglou had instinctively adjusted various body frequencies and methods of channeling energy.
Although he hadn't found the perfect frequency, he had found a temporary one that could offset most of the pulling sensation.
For him, this was enough.
Though complex, all of this had happened in a very short span of time.
From the moment the trio moved towards him, to Li Chonglou discovering the method to counter the pulling sensation and blocking their path, the entire process had taken only a few seconds.
Behind him, the colossal mecha had caught up. It was only now that Li Chonglou finally heard the roar of the engine.
Seeing that Li Chonglou had not evaded, the trio realized they were out of time and quickly lunged to the sides, each finding an iron tree for cover and hiding behind it.
As the three dove for cover, the giant mecha roared up to them. Li Chonglou's eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly bent his body low, passing almost within inches of the giant mecha.
*Boom!*
A deafening crash echoed from behind. The giant mecha, having missed its target, crashed into several iron trees, uprooting them completely, and sent them toppling to the side.
The mecha's momentum faltered for a moment before it turned around as if nothing had happened, its red eyes continuing to scan the surroundings.
"Quick, follow up with freeze rounds, and the rest of you, follow!"
At this point, a command from Yi Long was heard again from nearby. As his order was issued, white bullets began to strike the giant mecha.
The ice flowers that bloomed from the white bullets appeared like delicate white snowflakes surrounding the giant mecha. The scene was quite spectacular, and the mecha's movements instantly froze, even though the red light in its eyes was still flashing frantically.
"Fast! Follow up and dismantle it!"
However, Yi Long's voice showed no sign of relaxation. Li Chonglou pushed himself up and quietly retreated to the side. Judging by Yi Long's tone, the situation was far from simple. But their willingness to engage indicated they had a certain level of confidence, so the best course of action at this moment was to observe.
No one paid him any mind this time. Even the trio who had tried to divert the disaster had merely glanced at Li Chonglou before joining the others in surrounding the mecha.
Soon, Li Chonglou understood what Yi Long meant by "dismantle." It was literal. The surrounding crowd pulled out engineer's shovels and began violently dismantling the mecha at its joints. The giant mecha, sealed in frost, stood there motionless like a massive piece of iron.
It endured the onslaught, but the damage inflicted by the engineer's shovels seemed minimal. After such a barrage, the giant mecha remained intact.
"Damn it, Captain, this thing has been upgraded too!"
A team member shouted, and Yi Long's expression changed immediately. He quickly issued an order: "Disperse first, then use magnetic disruption rounds!"
After Yi Long spoke, he was the first to flee from the giant mecha, and the remaining twenty-odd people also scattered. However, one man, refusing to believe it, swung his shovel one more time. In that single second, the giant mecha's body vibrated violently.
The man lost his footing and slid off. While still in mid-air with no leverage, the giant mecha's arm suddenly broke free from the frost with a *bang* and grabbed the man by the waist.
A look of utter despair instantly spread across his face. Yi Long, who noticed this from a distance, shouted anxiously, "Xiao Bing!"
But it was too late. The person called Xiao Bing didn't even have time to struggle before being fiercely crushed by the giant mecha. Blood splattered everywhere, and Xiao Bing's internal organs were flung in all directions. The man was squeezed into two halves, as if he were a bottle being crushed.
He was unequivocally dead.
"Fuck!"
Yi Long cursed and immediately ordered everyone to use magnetic disruption rounds.
Following another round of gunfire, the projectiles this time were azure blue, tracing arcs of blue across the air and landing accurately on the giant mecha.
This time, the effect was far better than the previous two. As the azure bullets impacted the giant mecha, each one caused it to flash with electrical sparks, immediately freezing the mecha in place, flames constantly erupting from its body.