A Vill-V brand bio-mechanical robot suddenly appeared.
When Michael saw what it was holding, he only had time to exclaim:
"A C-Country National Missile Defense System!"
After a brief whirring of motors, the machine gun barrels spun rapidly. The robot, while emitting a chilling laugh, sprayed bullets at the rapidly fleeing figures.
Michael grabbed Immer and crashed into a building again.
The stray bullets knocked over flower pots and washbasins on the balconies on both sides of the street, and also sent the underlings, who were chasing after them with their biohazard suits, into a chaotic frenzy.
"Immer, how much further until we reach the shantytown?"
Immer, while operating his tablet on the run, shouted, "Two more blocks!"
Michael looked at the intersection ahead, feeling somewhat relieved.
He couldn't help but quicken his pace.
But as soon as he reached the center of the street, he caught sight of the robot again.
The street was narrow. Michael, holding Pardo, rolled out of the way and took cover at a street corner. But Immer, who was behind him, wasn't so lucky. He could only retreat, scrambling on his hands and knees.
Bullets kept hitting the wall, kicking up choking dust everywhere. Michael wanted to peek out and observe, but the machine gun fire forced him to stay put.
"If only Pardo was here..."
If only Pardo was here, he wouldn't mind revealing a bit of his Herrscher powers... but...
"Grenade!" Michael shouted at Immer.
"What!" Immer cupped his ears and asked.
"Immer! Where the hell is your grenade!"
Immer was stunned, then pulled out a hand grenade from his chest. But he looked rather comical. The grenade kept bouncing in his hand like a hot potato. Before he could pull the pin, it fell to his feet, and then he kicked it into the middle of the road.
Michael covered his forehead, not wanting to say anything.
But it didn't matter! Immer still had a chance! He pulled out another grenade! Was he going to pull the pin? Oh no! He threw the grenade without pulling the pin!
"Ah!" Immer wailed, clutching his hand and collapsing to the ground.
"Rubber bullets? No, wax bullets. These are wax bullets fired by an electromagnetic gun!"
Michael's eyes lit up. Immer whimpered twice and nodded.
Wax bullets, as the name suggests, are bullets made of wax. These bullets melt rapidly under the high temperature of burning gunpowder and have no killing power beyond five meters. And Vill-V's robot was clearly holding an electromagnetic gun.
Electromagnetic guns cannot normally fire wax bullets, but Michael guessed that Vill-V had probably used a piston-like component to fire the bullets.
Without the heat of a primer, the melting speed of the wax bullets was slowed down, allowing them to fly for thirty or forty meters.
Of course, the downside was that they mostly caused bruises or burns when they hit people.
Okay, Vill-V hadn't completely lost her mind.
He could indeed just rush up and tear the robot apart, but it would hurt. He didn't want to be beaten until his face was swollen red, like a dog that had been specially targeted by wasps.
So, using a grenade was the better solution.
"Don't be a coward, Immer! You have one last grenade! Let it go, let me handle it!"
Immer leaned against the wall, scrambling to his feet, used his left hand to pull out the last grenade, skillfully pulled the pin with his mouth, and threw it to Michael without looking.
Michael couldn't care about anything else. He threw Pardo down, covered his crotch with one hand, leaned out, and slapped the grenade that Immer had thrown towards the Vill-V robot, which was still mindlessly "rat-tat-tatting."
Then he did a slide (not really)... he slipped and turned, falling to the ground, and quickly scrambled back to the corner, covering Pardo's ears.
The 300-gram grenade, specifically designed to deal with Honkai beasts, exploded at close range. In a daze, Michael even felt the buildings on both sides of the street tremble, as if they were about to collapse.
The dust stirred up by the explosion was no less than what Vill-V had caused in the garden earlier. Moreover, the street was narrow, the air was blocked, and the dust that was stirred up accumulated on the ground, so thick that it seemed like it could form cotton. Forget about seeing your feet, you couldn't even open your eyes in the dust.
A figure broke through the dust, stumbling over. Michael heard the footsteps and kicked out without thinking. Only when he felt a familiar sensation on the sole of his foot did he realize it was Immer.
"You... cough cough!" As soon as he opened his mouth, he was choked by the dust and couldn't speak. His throat was burning, and he didn't know if he had inhaled gunpowder residue.
"Don't come over! Don't move!" He shouted at Immer, covering his mouth.
He then patted Pardo. "You too, don't move!"
"Hiss..." Michael gently touched his left cheek with his index finger. He had taken several wax bullets there earlier, and it was burning now.
Since Immer couldn't see anyway, Michael swiped his hand and put on a gas mask.
"Hiss... finally alive!"
While waving his hand to try to clear the accumulated dust, he groped towards the robot's direction in his memory.
As if he had guessed what it was, Michael crouched down and saw that it was one of the robot's feet. The severed part was still sparking.
"Whoosh!" Something whooshed overhead, sucking away much of the dust in the streets and alleys, greatly improving visibility.
"Michael! Michael! Is everything okay on your end?"
Ato's call came through the communication device.
"Just ran into a bit of trouble, nothing serious."
"The entire block exploded, and you're saying it's nothing serious... Do you know how worried Ellie is about you? She just left her team behind, and for you, she dared to jump straight down from dozens of meters in the air... Although our physiques are a bit special, but that's too..."
"She's not hurt, right!"
"Don't worry, don't worry! How could Elysia get hurt from that? Michael, I'm three blocks away from you. Are you ready to welcome me?"
"It's good that she's okay..." Michael wanted to say that, but he felt that it wasn't quite right, and he hesitated to respond.
"Forget it, forget it. You two young people just have fun. All the dirty work has to be done by this old comrade." Ato joked.
"Captain Ato, what I encountered was Vill-V's robot. Her control method should be electromagnetic remote control. She can't be too far away. That means she's probably still in Twilight Street. You should think about how to block off Twilight Street in the shortest time and trap Vill-V here."
"Hey! Michael! This is clearly your fault..." Ato said unhappily.
Michael tried hard to suppress his laughter and replied, "Captain Ato, do I need to remind you? Dr. Mobius is particularly concerned about this girl named Vill-V. If you let her slip away, I and Ellie will only have to write a self-criticism. But as for you... I can't guarantee that Dr. Mobius won't make Blanka work an extra month, and then someone won't be able to go on dates!"
"?" Ato said with a pained expression, "Michael, you are such an excellent and responsible young man! You are the sun at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, you are the future pillar of our Fire Moth! How can you learn from the evil Elysia!"
Michael smiled and cut off the communication.
Heh! I've been trained by Ellie-nee!
Wait, how did I get infected by Pardo...
While Elysia hadn't arrived yet, Michael followed the robot's wreckage, finally finding a not-so-intact upper body.
It didn't seem to be completely dead yet. It mechanically turned its head and looked at Michael.
"..." Her lips moved meaninglessly, and her index finger also beckoned to Michael.
He hesitated for a moment, then leaned down and put his ear close.