A white fluorescent outline covered the exterior of the truck, followed by a massive, blinding burst of white light.
When the light faded, the truck in front of them looked unchanged, but Zenith could already sense a vibrant life force within it.
The most direct evidence was the addition of Optimus Prime's pixelated head icon on the minimap.
"Is the power of the Rat Talisman just making trucks glow?"
Zenith couldn't help but turn his head to glance at Finn's trio, who had chased after them. What a wild guess. A normal human brain simply wasn't wired to come up with something like that.
Jackie Chan was a bit more observant than the others. Playing a quick game of spot-the-difference, he noticed a new, blocky face logo on the side of the truck's cab.
"This is the insignia of the Autobots. Its history traces back to even before the Earth existed."
Following Zenith's words, a mechanical *ch-ch-ch-ch* transforming sound rang out as the truck shifted into a massive red-and-blue robot. "Greetings to you, Prime who created the AllSpark."
Zenith scratched his chin. Why was Optimus Prime adding new lore to himself? In the Transformers universe, the one who created the AllSpark was Primus.
Of course, not the Primus from Taoist mythology, but rather a massive, planet-sized robot. His ancient rival, Unicron, was comparatively much more well-known.
Faced with Zenith's confusion, Optimus Prime was equally bewildered. He had memories of Unicron, but all his memories regarding Primus had been completely replaced by Zenith.
But none of that was important right now. The world was vast, and Optimus Prime wanted to see it. There were none of his kind here, so he intended to broadcast a signal into space to search for any potential Autobot comrades out there.
"But this is all fake! There's no way there are Autobots in space." Jackie Chan stepped forward. "Besides, it's too dangerous. We can't just let him take the talisman away like this. The talismans belong in the secure custody of Section 13!"
Stopping Jackie Chan, Zenith dug into his pocket, pulled out another Rat Talisman, and handed it to him. "Just take this one, it's the same thing. The one on Optimus Prime isn't the original anyway."
Jackie Chan looked at the familiar sticker on it and stared at Zenith, utterly speechless. "Mr. Zenith, did you already collect all the talismans ahead of time?"
He really couldn't help but be suspicious. If even an antique at an auction had been swapped out in advance, it was hard to say what the situation was with the rest of them.
"Who knows? You'll find out if you go look for them. The ancient texts have records of where those talismans are hidden anyway."
Today's incident was officially over. Zenith took Serie and prepared to head home. Only Jackie Chan was left staring at Optimus Prime, who had transformed back into a truck and was driving away, with a look of deep concern.
He finally understood what Serie meant earlier. This Zenith really was an expert at giving people headaches.
"It's not entirely a bad thing. I noticed that this world has aligned Optimus Prime with the forces of good."
Serie walked side-by-side with Zenith down the street, staring straight ahead as she spoke to him in a flat tone.
"Of course Optimus Prime is a good guy. Just like certain Ultramen, he loves humanity even more than humans love themselves."
There were simply too many monsters and demons in this world, and every single one of them was a villain.
Leaving all these evil villains for the protagonist's group to handle was a bit too much to ask. Optimus Prime was indeed an accident, but even without him, Zenith had been planning to introduce some other forces of justice.
This was what you called a happy coincidence.
With everyone gone, Finn's trio—knowing they couldn't beat Jackie Chan—had no choice but to quickly flee, dragging the still-dizzy Tohru along with them.
Facing interrogations from Valmont and Shendu, Finn recounted the events with heavy embellishments before delivering his final conclusion. "Boss, it's the Illuminati interfering! They're always ruining our plans, which is why Jackie Chan keeps succeeding. And from what they were saying, Zenith might have already collected all twelve talismans!"
"Fools! The power of the talismans cannot be duplicated by magic. It must be one of Zenith's tricks."
Shendu's eyes glowed with red light. He felt betrayed. That Zenith had spoken so sweetly and even took his talisman tracker, only to end up mixing with Jackie Chan and his crew?
"Bring Zenith to me!"
Valmont glared at the men, who were still standing there in a daze, and barked, "What are you waiting for? Didn't you hear Shendu say to bring Zenith back?"
"But, but Boss," Ratso said, poking his two index fingers together. "That guy is terrifyingly strong. He defeated Tohru in a single move."
A massive number of black-clad ninja warriors emerged from the shadows. This was the Shadowkhan, also known as shadow warriors, who could essentially be considered elemental creatures of the Shadow Realm.
Bolstered by the Shadowkhan, Finn's trio and Tohru suddenly regained their confidence and set out to cause trouble for Zenith.
The anthem of humanity is the anthem of courage. But when they arrived at Zenith's manor, they discovered that the security here was terrifyingly tight.
To accommodate ODM gear, numerous thick wooden pillars resembling plum blossom poles had been installed throughout the estate. Members of the Survey Corps sat cross-legged atop these pillars, keeping watch over the surroundings.
"I've seen these in movies. They're plum blossom poles." Chow pushed up his glasses. "Looks like these guys all know martial arts, just like Jackie Chan."
Finn did a quick headcount. "Are you saying there are thirty Jackie Chans just on the perimeter of the estate?"
In this world, setting aside their equipment, the soldiers of the Survey Corps—with the exception of Levi—might not actually be able to beat Jackie Chan in a fight.
Jackie Chan could knock down a fully talisman-powered Shendu with a single kick. Let alone these rookies who had only been practicing the True Meditation Technique for a few years, even Qiao Feng would be brought to his knees by a kick from Jackie Chan.
Finn chickened out, but Tohru didn't, and the Shadowkhan certainly didn't. As elemental creatures born of Dark Qi, these ninja warriors simply lacked the concept of fear.
Shuriken rained down rapidly toward the people on the wooden poles. Accompanied by flashes of blade light, everyone deflected the incoming projectiles.
"An attack? How dare you small fry?"
No one showed mercy to monsters. These Shadowkhan had deep blue skin and eyes like glowing red lightbulbs; slicing them down came with zero psychological pressure.
Amidst these giant plum blossom poles, the Survey Corps was practically invincible. The complex terrain and wooden pillars were obstacles for the enemy, but for them, they were the perfect tactical advantage.
By the time Tohru pushed open the iron gates of the manor, the battle inside was already nearing its end.
Levi approached Tohru with a murderous aura. Staring up at Tohru's double chin, he said, "I don't like looking up at people."
Tohru would eventually become the strongest human wizard after Uncle, but that was only after he turned over a new leaf. Right now, he was still just a brute driven by Valmont.
Without any wasted movement, Tohru lunged forward, intending to crush his opponent with his sheer body weight.
But Levi wasn't about to give him that chance. Without even using his equipment, Levi shifted backward three feet out of thin air. Channeling his Qi throughout his body, he delivered a devastatingly heavy "Black Tiger Steals Heart" strike.
"That shorty beat Tohru!"
"Nobody can beat Tohru!"
"So what are we waiting for? Run!"