Volume 1, Chapter 47: I Am Your Elder Uncle

Brother Lei wondered if his ears were plugged. What kind of insane nonsense was this?
He had nearly four hundred formidable subordinates under his command; why would he ever surrender to someone who only had twenty or thirty lackeys?
Had this guy lost his mind?
To be fair, Zhang Tao originally had thirty or forty subordinates, though recent attrition had been somewhat severe.
However, this did nothing to affect Zhang Tao's train of thought.
From Zhang Tao's perspective, this fellow Brother Lei must have heard about yesterday's events. He had single-handedly scattered and destroyed a city-wide swarm of rats in a single morning. What did that prove?
It proved that he was overwhelmingly powerful, right? Wasn't it only natural that people would come to pledge their loyalty?
As for Brother Lei and his lackeys, those three to four hundred mechs were worth less than a fart in front of the rat swarm.
Zhang Tao didn't care how the news had leaked.
There were still plenty of people hiding in the cracks just trying to scrape by, and Zhang Tao couldn't stop someone from recording a hidden video of him from some dark corner.
"Have you lost your mind? Do you think this is still the world before the apocalypse?"
Brother Lei sneered in mockery.
If it were before the apocalypse, he might have been willing to work under Zhang Tao for a meal.
But now...
"Oh? You're not here to surrender?" Zhang Tao let out a light "oh," looking somewhat surprised, his tone entirely devoid of any regard for Brother Lei.
This instantly provoked Brother Lei's displeasure: "It seems that unless I teach you a lesson, you won't recognize reality."
With that, Brother Lei threw a punch in the blink of an eye, a heavy and powerful blow aimed straight at Zhang Tao's chest.
Originally, this punch was supposed to hit Zhang Tao's head, but unfortunately, he couldn't reach that high.
"Is this a skill?" Zhang Tao asked, somewhat startled.
Clearly, Brother Lei's punch did not match the speed of his mech.
"Boom!"
Zhang Tao took Brother Lei's punch squarely.
The lackeys behind Brother Lei immediately burst into cheers and applause.
This was precisely the effect Brother Lei wanted; the display of dominance was exceptionally effective.
Zhang Tao's mech was knocked back five or six steps, and thirty durability points were shaved off his defensive armor.
Had he not been wearing defensive armor, that punch genuinely would have caused Zhang Tao some injury.
Though, only a minor one.
"Boss, boss, calling boss! Someone just used some kind of skill. If I kill him, will the skill drop?" Instead of immediately retaliating, Zhang Tao contacted Zhang Wei.
Zhang Wei was standing by the river looking lost. Hearing Zhang Tao's call, he replied, "It can. Are you in trouble?"
"No, no, I can handle it myself," Zhang Tao hurriedly responded, as he certainly didn't want to bother Zhang Wei with such a trivial matter.
Of course, the main reason was that he had his eyes on the skill Brother Lei possessed. He didn't want Zhang Wei to come back for fear that he wouldn't get a share. If he looted the skill himself, his big brother wouldn't have the face to snatch it from him, right?
"Hmm."
After uttering that single response, Zhang Wei looked back toward the surface of the river.
"Strange, why isn't there a single mechanical creature here?"
...
"How about it? Bring your people and surrender to me now, it's still not too late." Seeing that Zhang Tao had frozen in place after taking his punch, Brother Lei assumed Zhang Tao was terrified.
"Ha ha!" Zhang Tao burst out laughing.
"Brother Tao, should we call for backup?" asked the bodyguard lackey standing by Zhang Tao's side with a very serious tone.
"No need," Zhang Tao waved a hand.
A bunch of mere trash like this—why would he ever need to call for backup?
Besides, he couldn't beat Lin Qianying. Just in case Lin Qianying could also use the skill Brother Lei had mastered, that would become troublesome.
Brother Lei was not stupid; he could clearly tell that the conversation between Zhang Tao and his lackey was somewhat off.
However, he was more inclined to believe that Zhang Tao was putting on a front to intimidate him.
"Zhang Tao, do you really think a little scare tactic is going to drive me away?"
"Who's trying to scare you? Don't be so full of yourself," Zhang Tao retorted, casually pulling the electric battle-scythe out of his cargo bay.
When Brother Lei saw the battle-scythe, his eyes lit up.
This was the very weapon Han Xu had mentioned.
It was truly domineering.
Such a domineering weapon rightly belonged to him, Brother Lei.
"Hand your weapon over to me, and I can spare your life."
Zhang Tao stood there in a daze.
Why did this déjà vu statement sound so familiar?
Right, this seemed to be what he had said to his big brother back at the zoo.
At this moment, Zhang Tao could fully empathize with what Zhang Wei had felt back then.
"So, in my big brother's eyes, I was just a complete moron that day!" Zhang Tao evaluated himself quite accurately, while simultaneously evaluating Brother Lei.
"What did you say?" Brother Lei asked in confusion, having no idea who Zhang Tao was insulting.
"I said you're a complete moron."
With that, Zhang Tao swung the battle-scythe in his hand, slicing a streak of purple light through the air.
The sudden turn of events left Brother Lei with no time to dodge. Zhang Tao's speed was simply too fast for him, considering the sheer gap in their combat power.
How much combat power could a guy like Brother Lei command without even a shred of proper equipment?
Instinctively raising his arm to block, Brother Lei watched as the purple light flashed past, severing one of his mech's arms from its main body and sending it crashing to the ground.
The laughter came to an abrupt halt.
The lackeys trailing behind Brother Lei froze as if they had been hit by a immobilization spell.
They never expected that the formidable boss in their eyes would turn out to be so fragile.
"Charge! Take him down together!"
Brother Lei still had a few loyal subordinates—specifically those card-players who had always hung around him for meals. The most enthusiastic among them were those who only got to operate mechs under Brother Lei's name with his permission.
If anything happened to Brother Lei, their good times would come to an end as well.
Over thirty mechs surged toward Zhang Tao with considerable momentum.
"Sigh, as expected, I really was a moron," Zhang Tao cursed himself again.
That day, he too had foolishly thought he could handle Zhang Wei simply by relying on numbers.
Looking back now, he certainly had been quite the moron.
Without further ado, Zhang Tao stopped exchanging pleasantries. He whirled his battle-scythe while his feet were far from idle.
Any mechs that broke through the gaps in his scythe's swings were relentlessly kicked to the ground by Zhang Tao.
The intense sound of metal clashing rang out rapid and dense.
Han Xu stood dumbfounded amidst the crowd.
They hadn't even squared off against Zhang Wei yet, and the fight against just Zhang Tao was already a completely one-sided massacre?
Han Xu instantly regained his composure, knowing full well that staying here meant certain death.
Thus, he ran away again.
However, this time he didn't flee quite as fast; he intended to use the chaos to sneak into Zhang Tao's villa and search for Han Xiao's corpse.
Han Xu knew this was his last chance. If he didn't take Han Xiao's body away now, he could forget about it permanently, as there would simply be no future opportunities.
Before long, Han Xu arrived in the vicinity of Zhang Tao's villa.
To Han Xu's dismay, Zhang Tao's lackeys were all clustered together in groups of two or three without a single one straying off alone. There was simply no way to grab a tongue and interrogate them.
Time was of the essence, and Han Xu grew increasingly anxious.
Right at that moment, a cold, crisp voice rang out: "Who are you?"
Lin Qianying stood atop the roof of a villa, looking down at Han Xu with a condescending gaze.
Lin Qianying had long been aware of the battle on Zhang Tao's end, but since Zhang Tao hadn't called for her, she hadn't bothered to join the spectacle.
"I'm your grandpa," Han Xu cursed back, before turning on his heel and fleeing.
Han Xu knew just how terrifying Lin Qianying was, and he didn't expect to extract any useful information from her—though the most likely outcome would be leaving his own life right here.
Therefore, running away first was the wisest course of action, though shouting a quick parting insult was absolute mandatory.