Chapter 426: Manager Offline, City Enforcer Debuts
It was thanks to Cheng's high mental power, his multi-threaded thinking developed through controlling zombies, and his decent RTS fundamentals from before his transmigration, that allowed him to manage multiple aspects on such a complex battlefield.
Not only was he controlling World to roam around and farm, but he also had to maintain a deterrent GANK against the hostile Four Heavenly Kings. When his own Ancient Metal Beasts made contact with NESTS combatants, he would also temporarily add new commands based on the current situation.
Wutan was a pure researcher. He didn't have Cheng Tian's seasoned experience in handling a scene that was almost a small-scale battle.
As for Maxima's sandbag-sized "M4 Type Cannon Strike," it was also a remote operation that Cheng Tian decisively completed after activating the Overlord Puppet program.
Cheng Tian didn't know why this manager insisted on charging the laboratory when his side was clearly at a disadvantage. If it wasn't overconfidence in his own combat power, then it was an inability to easily abandon the achievements he could plunder by entering the laboratory, or perhaps… there were reinforcements?
Who knows? Just fight first!
You covet my data, I covet your battle suit. We are very equal beings!
However, Wutan was not an all-rounder researcher; he was only most skilled in gene fusion and its derivatives. So simply stripping the battle suit might not be enough. He had to find a way to make the manager contribute a box.
Preferably a high-quality box.
Maxima's sudden betrayal greatly surprised Krizalid. Caught off guard, he only had time to adopt an emergency head-tilt and arm-raise defensive posture before being heavily struck.
He was slammed sideways directly into the laboratory's well-built outer wall.
After all, this laboratory was constructed to withstand large, super-powered dinosaurs, so the material's solidity was quite good; it wasn't directly broken by Maxima.
Krizalid's head was buzzing a bit, but Maxima, already under Cheng Tian's multi-line control, unhesitatingly pried him off the wall and immediately performed a waist-grab and embrace.
And Krizalid, realizing that two hands had appeared at his waist, immediately thought, "This isn't good."
Subsequently, a standard and powerful German Suplex was executed by Maxima. And just as Krizalid's head was about to hit the ground, two small jet engines emerged from Maxima's elbows, delivering a super acceleration—
"M11 Type Firepower Slam!"
This time, Krizalid's entire head was forced into the concrete ground outside the laboratory.
Cheng Tian firmly believed that "smashing rocks" was the most primitive and purest form of combat in this world, and a suplex was turning the earth, even the planet, into a rock, and smashing your opponent into that rock.
Throws were inherently the most deadly of all highly skilled moves, requiring only a solid surface and an inch of force to easily kill someone.
Let alone normal people; even experienced ordinary preliminary martial artists would mostly be instantly defeated by this one blow… But just as Krizalid's body, upside down, seemed to convulse, the overcoat wrapped around his entire body suddenly ignited without fire!
The thick overcoat was rapidly burned to ashes like a thin piece of paper, directly revealing the manager's dark skin, and the tight-fitting suit and rope bondage, which, after his mind was corrupted, looked deeply profound, pitch black, and fantastical.
Cheng Tian knew these were critical nodes of the battle suit, necessary components for stimulating and controlling the body to make appropriate combat responses according to internal data. But… it was still too fantastical!
Just imagining himself wearing that thing made Cheng Tian shiver.
And at the same time, with combat data loaded and having fully entered combat mode, Krizalid, while maintaining his upside-down state, performed a Thomas Flair with his feet. A whirlwind with a strong cutting effect erupted from his spinning feet—
Rotating Tornado! (Hong Meiling!)
The whirlwind cut a gash in Maxima's back, but due to the force and Maxima's physical strength, this attack didn't cause much damage.
Meanwhile, inside the laboratory.
"Did you record it? Did you record it?! Good! Cut this part out later, copy the footage onto a video tape or something. I'm going to send it to that little vampire!"
Cheng, far from being angry at Krizalid's counterattack, was instead quite excited.
Maxima didn't understand what Cheng Tian wanted to do, but he obediently accepted and sliced this part, storing it separately.
And taking advantage of the combat interruption while Maxima was temporarily editing the video, Krizalid successfully pulled himself out of the dirt, dusty and full of anger, but his hand instinctively pressed the side of his neck, clearly indicating that the German suplex had been very effective.
"I! Krizalid! In the name of a NESTS mid-level cadre, I command you! Maxima! Enter sleep mode!"
Although angry, Krizalid, who had not yet lost his rationality, realized that Maxima might have already been infiltrated or brainwashed by Cheng Tian's side in some way. The most logical deduction was that his program had been hacked, so he decisively chose to use his identity to issue a forced sleep command.
As a mid-level grunt in NESTS his entire life, he still had this much authority.
However, in Maxima's scan and identification, Krizalid's mid-level cadre command authority was clearly entirely inferior to Cheng Tian's Overlord Puppet program.
Maxima first seemingly obeyed the command by stopping in place, then, just as Krizalid's expression relaxed slightly, he exploded upwards, propelling himself off the ground with his arms angled downwards, charging forward like an invincible heavy transport vehicle.
This was clearly an operation made under Cheng Tian's direct intervention.
Krizalid wanted to dodge, but the orange-gold figure had already actively broken through the laboratory wall, reaching out his arms to him, who had instinctively begun to dodge, and reaching upwards through his armpits, performing a very standard strongman lock.
World!
As mentioned before, Krizalid's battle suit was the most basic of the three battle suits currently in NESTS. It had no extra bonuses and only provided basic combat data. Furthermore, due to the lack of research on Kusanagi's flames from '97 to '99, the battle suit lacked the ability to unleash special moves.
A berserk Bazett should be able to break free from World's restraint, but this definitely did not include Krizalid!
Incidentally, World's attire and Krizalid's set were a bit of a match, both being of the fantastical type.
At this moment, Krizalid, with his arms locked, could only watch helplessly as the Maxima-brand heavy transport vehicle crashed directly into him!
Cheng Tian inside the laboratory also seemed to be synchronously enduring the impact, experiencing a small-scale forced displacement.
And Krizalid, who was forced to bear the vast majority of the heavy transport vehicle's impact damage due to World's lock, directly spewed blood mixed with organ fragments from his mouth.
At this moment, K', far away in the NESTS base enduring cruel training and not yet having undergone the Kusanagi flame modification, looked towards a certain spot as if sensing something.
A silver-quality box quietly emerged from Krizalid's blood-stained body.
But it was at this very moment that Cheng Tian suddenly sensed an ominous mental power, extending through the open gap in the laboratory and rapidly spreading.
Just in front of the cage where the December Praetorians were held, a teleportation portal made of purple-black mental energy vortexes appeared out of thin air.
Subsequently, the big red City Enforcer, floating in the air, arms crossed, stepped out openly and grandly—
Shadaloo Leader, Grand Master Vega!