Volume 1, Chapter 32: Her life and death are for me to decide, understand?

"Better not, haha. I’ll just watch the show."

Zhang Tao laughed heartily, indicating he was content to be a spectator and had no intention of fighting over any source crystals. While the three of them—Zhang Wei, Zhang Tao, and Lin Qianying—chattered away happily, Wang Sheng was seething with rage. Were these three blind? Could they not see the pile of mechs lying on the ground? He felt deeply insulted by their indifference.

"Dahua, kill them all!" Wang Sheng decided, his resolve hardening. This was the apocalypse, after all; what did it matter if he killed a few people? Besides, a spoiled brat like Zhang Tao had to be eliminated once offended, or he would inevitably strike back. It would be much simpler to kill them all and turn them into fertilizer for Dahua.

Hearing Wang Sheng’s command, Han Xiao’s eyes lit up with excitement; a perverse sense of vengeful pleasure surged within her.

In the next instant, Dahua lunged at Zhang Wei. Simultaneously, Lin Qianying opened fire without hesitation, unleashing a torrential downpour of freezing rounds upon the surrounding mechanical creatures. Seeing this, Zhang Tao quickly retreated from the battlefield, though two or three mindless stragglers still set their sights on him.

"Sister Ying, I’m not trying to steal your kills; they came at me themselves!" Zhang Tao shouted to Lin Qianying before brandishing his war scythe. Lin Qianying didn't respond; she had too many monsters to deal with to afford any distraction.

Zhang Wei, however, remained motionless. Just as Dahua’s massive form was about to engulf him, his floating turrets opened fire. They immediately unleashed a rapid-fire barrage, icy-blue freezing rounds spitting out in quick succession. Dahua, suspended in mid-air, was instantly frozen in place, frost blooming across its entire body. When the force of the freezing rounds sent it crashing back to the ground, some of the frost shattered, but the majority remained, coating the creature.

Wang Sheng was stunned. The smile on Han Xiao’s face froze. As for Han Xu, Zhang Wei could not see any sign of him.

Just then, Zhang Wei suddenly held his combat blade horizontally in front of him. A flash of lightning, like a silver serpent, surged from Dahua’s tongue toward Zhang Wei.

"You’ve even learned a skill?" Zhang Wei said, sounding surprised as he flicked his thermal greatsword. He easily cast off the crackling electricity, but another bolt followed immediately. Zhang Wei would not tolerate such antics. The thrusters on his suit flared with intense flames, and he surged forward at high speed. He raised his thermal greatsword high and brought it down in a single stroke. The incoming lightning was seemingly cleaved in two, but Dahua’s fate was far worse.

Dahua’s combat prowess was not weak; it had tried to dodge by moving its head, but it was still sliced in half by Zhang Wei’s blade. The thermal greatsword, imbued with intense heat, was exceptionally sharp and met no resistance as it cut through half of Dahua’s face. Yet, the creature’s vitality was tenacious; it survived the blow and even retained some fighting capability, its tongue lashing out like a sharp spear toward Zhang Wei’s midsection.

Zhang Wei, as if he had already seen through the trick, simply kicked out, catching Dahua square in the head. The tongue missed, and the kick sent the creature’s body reeling until it crashed to the ground. Before Dahua could recover, Zhang Wei had already stepped on it. Then, with a horizontal sweep of his thermal greatsword, Dahua’s head was severed from its body, and the deep blue light in its eyes flickered out simultaneously.

The entire sequence was fluid and devoid of hesitation, lasting less than ten seconds—so fast that Wang Sheng had not even managed to react. Once the creature was decapitated, Wang Sheng finally regained his senses. "You killed my Dahua!" he screamed, his voice cracking. He couldn't help but be hysterical; Dahua was his only reliance for survival. Without its protection, he knew he was worth nothing—he didn't even possess an ordinary mech.

Zhang Wei turned his gaze toward Wang Sheng. Under that stare, Wang Sheng felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head; he sobered up instantly. "I was wrong! I shouldn't have listened to that woman. She’s the one who incited me to cause trouble. It was all her!"

All his arrogance had evaporated, replaced by a desperate, cringing humility. He was terrified that Zhang Wei would slice him into nothingness. And indeed, with the intense heat of the thermal greatsword, he might not even leave behind a pile of ashes.

Zhang Wei looked away, ignoring him, and turned his attention to the source crystal floating up from Dahua’s corpse. "A high-level source crystal." He collected it with satisfaction; given that it dropped from a mutant steel serpent, it would likely contain high-tier equipment.

"It’s all your fault, you bitch!" Seeing that Zhang Wei was ignoring him, Wang Sheng vented all his fury on Han Xiao. He wasn't entirely wrong—without her, he would never have come to stir up trouble. He could have lived comfortably with Dahua’s protection. But now, it was all gone. Consumed by rage, he grabbed a piece of jagged metal debris from the ground—he didn't know which unlucky machine it had fallen from, only that it would serve his purpose well.

Before Han Xiao could utter a word of explanation, Wang Sheng drove the shard into her stomach. It was surprisingly sharp—any fragment from a mechanical creature proved far more effective than a normal knife.

"You..." Han Xiao collapsed in pain, blood gushing from her abdomen.

"Big Brother, I was truly egged on by this wretch. I’ve killed her for you; please, let me go," Wang Sheng pleaded, looking up at Zhang Wei without sparing a glance for the dying Han Xiao.

Zhang Wei felt a strange mixture of emotions. Was this the pleasure of revenge? As he watched Han Xiao’s life rapidly ebb away, he felt no sense of triumph, nor did he feel any sorrow or pain. He felt only a profound indifference, as if he were watching a stranger die before his eyes.

While Zhang Wei remained cold, Han Xu, who had been watching from the shadows, was filled with a mix of fury and terror. His sister, Han Xiao, was dead. Just like that. He had loved her, and they had shared illicit moments, though they were siblings—a union that could never be. Now, she was gone.

Han Xu stared at Zhang Wei with eyes full of hatred. Although Zhang Wei hadn't killed her directly, he was the root cause. "Zhang Wei! Zhang Wei!" he roared silently, gritting his teeth before turning and fleeing. He knew he was no match for him now; he had to run.

"Who told you to kill her?" Zhang Wei, unaware of Han Xu’s presence, looked coldly at Wang Sheng. "Her life and death are for me to decide. Understand?"

"Brother, I just..."

"Hmph."

With a cold scoff, Zhang Wei fired a single freezing round at Wang Sheng. He didn't even get the dignity of becoming an ice statue; the impact shattered him into a pile of frozen shards scattered across the ground.