Volume 1, Chapter 62: Xiaobao, well done! Big brother will definitely not treat you wrong

"Humans, mecha, how audacious."

The king-class mechanical bird stared fixedly at Zhang Wei, profoundly displeased with his performance.

Evolving a mecha right under its nose? Did it consider it as mere air?

"Kill him."

The king-class mechanical bird issued its command.

The mechanical birds previously circling in the sky immediately plunged downward toward Zhang Wei.

Over a thousand mechanical birds launched their attack simultaneously, and these were the larger ones with wingspans reaching about ten meters.

The momentum of this charge was quite intimidating; even in the night, it gave off a sense of blotting out the sun and sky.

"Big brother, big brother, they're coming!" Zhang Tao shouted at the top of his lungs.

Facing a charge of this scale, Zhang Tao felt he could die at any moment.

Yet Zhang Tao did not run; he drew his battle scythe and prepared for combat.

Lin Qianying had already opened fire. Although the distance was a bit far and hitting a target wasn't guaranteed, the attitude was non-negotiable.

Zhang Wei also witnessed the scene unfolding in the sky, and he was somewhat displeased by it.

His goal was to lure down that king-class mechanical bird; these ordinary mechanical birds were of no concern to him.

Clearly, Zhang Wei's plan had failed.

Just as Zhang Wei was about to abort the evolution process, Xiaobao rushed out, gnawing on a piece of metallic debris in its mouth.

"Who dares touch my boss?"

Xiaobao roared in anger while swinging its tail to hurl the metallic debris it had been carrying up into the air.

Xiaobao's action lacked any precision, but brute force works wonders; as long as the flung metallic debris even grazed or brushed against a target, it meant a guaranteed crash.

After all, Xiaobao was a mechanical beast infinitely close to the king class.

Zhang Wei was quite surprised; he hadn't expected Xiaobao to show such valor.

Zhang Tao and Lin Qianying stepping up to protect him was something Zhang Wei already anticipated—they had faced danger together more than once.

But what was Xiaobao's personality like?

You couldn't call it timid as a mouse, but it wasn't much better either.

Faced with such perilous circumstances, for Xiaobao to charge out regardless of its own safety deeply moved Zhang Wei.

However, if only Zhang Wei knew what was actually going on in Xiaobao's mind, he would undoubtedly have cursed himself for being moved too soon.

Why was Xiaobao acting so recklessly?

Was it not because its source crystal was stored inside Zhang Wei's cargo hold?

Xiaobao's own body possessed no spatial storage for items.

Although the source crystal wasn't large and could be held in its claws, what kind of reaction would it draw if it walked around flaunting a legendary-grade source crystal?

Consequently, Xiaobao had deposited its source crystal for safekeeping in Zhang Wei's cargo hold.

Xiaobao's reasoning was simple: if these stupid birds killed Zhang Wei, wouldn't its source crystal be lost forever?

This was the primary reason why Xiaobao was fighting with such ferocity.

However, a single Xiaobao was clearly not enough.

The mechanical birds were charging at an extremely fast speed and in massive numbers. Xiaobao alone could not possibly block them completely. It was also Zhang Wei's fault for being suspended mid-air; if he were on the ground, as long as that king-class mechanical bird remained still, Xiaobao could have ensured Zhang Wei's safety.

"Forget it, let's wait and see for a bit." Zhang Wei prepared to continue his evolution.

Interrupting the evolution process would inflict severe damage on Zhang Wei's mecha. Although source crystal energy could be used to restore it, one should save where possible.

Zhang Wei didn't care about the attacks of a small number of mechanical birds.

If that king-class mechanical bird personally entered the fray, things would be different.

Killing this king-class mechanical bird would yield at least an epic-grade source crystal.

With such a guaranteed reward, spending a few medium-grade source crystals to heal the mecha's injuries was entirely worth it.

A fierce battle erupted. Xiaobao leaped back and forth on the ground; its claws, the meteor hammer on its tail, and the tongue in its mouth were all lethal weapons in its arsenal.

None of the mechanical birds targeted by Xiaobao survived.

Lin Qianying was holding her own reasonably well; if she managed to land several consecutive shots on the same mechanical bird, she could bring it down.

As for Zhang Tao, he could only watch helplessly.

There was no help for it—Zhang Tao was a melee mecha without any ranged attack capabilities, and his running speed on the ground couldn't keep up with the mechanical birds, unless he used his Thunder Strike skill.

Yet Zhang Tao was not Zhang Wei; he didn't have a surplus of source crystals to restore his energy. Therefore, he could only stand as close to Zhang Wei as possible, ready to use his own body to shield Zhang Wei from any fish that slipped through the net.

Even so, a few fish still managed to slip past the layers of interception and throw themselves onto Zhang Wei.

Faced with these stragglers, Zhang Wei didn't care at all.

He simply let them attack, knowing they couldn't even wear down his armor durability.

A few minutes later, high up in the sky, the king-class mechanical bird was in a foul mood. It was thoroughly dissatisfied with the competence of its subordinates.

A massive swarm had rushed forward, and not only had they achieved nothing, but they had lost so many of their own?

A sharp screech escaped the beak of the king-class mechanical bird.

Following that, a beam of purple energy resembling a laser erupted from its mouth.

Its target: straight at Xiaobao.

Upon hearing that screech, Xiaobao realized danger was imminent and immediately dropped to the ground, rolling rapidly to evade.

The purple laser struck the ground a fraction of an inch away.

The laser left a hole about ten centimeters in diameter in the ground, of unknown depth.

The king-class mechanical bird screeched again. Since it was quite far from the ground, missing its skill was forgivable.

This time, the king-class mechanical bird lowered its altitude to a mere five hundred meters above the ground. Moreover, instead of targeting Xiaobao, it launched its attack directly at Zhang Wei.

Watching the purple laser hurtle toward Zhang Wei, Zhang Tao felt an intense wave of hesitation.

With his massive bulk, blocking those ordinary mechanical birds was no problem, but to block this beam of laser...

"To hell with it, damn it." Zhang Tao recklessly jumped into the air from where he stood. Still, he calculated the angle, preparing to use a less vital part of his mecha to intercept the laser.

In truth, as long as the laser didn't pierce the abdomen of his mecha, anything else was acceptable.

If the other parts of the mecha were destroyed, Zhang Tao could simply eject and detach from the mecha.

If his abdomen were pierced, however, Zhang Tao would die trapped inside the mecha.

As for whether his mecha would be completely ruined, Zhang Tao didn't care at all. He had plenty of mecha cores anyway; at worst, he would just switch to a new mecha.

Besides, given how heroic he was being, would his big brother shortchange him in the future?

Zhang Tao's optimistic calculations were interrupted shortly after he jumped, as Xiaobao leaped in front of him with even greater speed.

Xiaobao's body was curled almost into a tight sphere, spinning rapidly even as it launched into the air.

The purple laser descended.

Violent sparks erupted across Xiaobao's body.

Xiaobao's defensive capabilities were indeed quite impressive.

After all, even before the apocalypse descended, it was a creature naturally endowed with a suit of armor. Following mechanization, Xiaobao's defense naturally became even stronger, and its raw physical strength was also a major advantage. Its only flaws were its relatively slow speed and its lack of active skills.

Seeing Xiaobao withstand the laser's onslaught, Zhang Tao instantly relaxed considerably.

Xiaobao's action had not only saved Zhang Wei, but it had saved Zhang Tao as well.

"Xiaobao, well done! Big brother will definitely not treat you poorly. In the future, if the boss ever wants to kill you, I will definitely help you stop him. I'll reason with him properly, and if reasoning doesn't work..."