When Yu Hua had fallen into his hands and been snatched away, naturally Huan Zixu wanted to snatch him back. Yu Hua was crucial to his plan. He had to disappear from the mortal world for a time. If the Protection Organization took him, the “impression” would be out of alignment, and all his efforts with “false exchange” would be meaningless. 

Huan Zixu’s ability truly wasn’t suitable for actual combat, but his body had gone through the evolution and upgrades of over a hundred worlds. His strength, agility, and experience were all high grade. When he was equipped with an entire lower leg bone of Feng Kui’s, his combat abilities were fairly frightening. 

He and Feng Kui had worked together countless times. Feng Kui would cooperate with him to control the metal according to his muscular impulses. 

When the person who had jumped out of the air took Yu Hua, Huan Zixu reacted at once. He aimed at You Zhengping with one hand and curled the other hand into a fist, aiming it towards the empty space above You Zhengping’s head where he had appeared from. In accordance with his movements, his alloy wrist guards turned two spring-loaded arrows, and scores of one yuan coins rapidly shot towards You Zhengping, Cen Xiao, and the others. 

But there weren’t ordinary coins. At this speed, the coins could pass through a human body. And the coins had been shot out by Huan Zixu, so it was very likely they had the power to change people’s thoughts. Whether they received direct hits or glancing blows, they might still be brainwashed. They had to dodge. 

But there were many coins, scattering and revolving as they flew like a heavenly maiden dispensing flowers. The attack range of the coins was about three meters. It was hard to dodge entirely relying on the speed of a human body. This showed that Huan Zixu’s aim wasn’t to harm anyone; it was to hit the Protectors with the coins! 

You Zhengping was calm. He held the “unconscious” Yu Hua with one arm and lightly curled the other hand, closing the entrance to the second space, letting the coins attacking the three people in the space all hit the outside of the space, coming up empty. 

As for himself, You Zhengping caught all the coins that might fall on him and Yu Hua with one hand. 

Huan Zixu hadn’t seen this handsome uncle’s face and didn’t know that the Protector in front of him was the ordinary You Zhengping he had seen yesterday. Seeing the “handsome uncle Protector” catching the coins, Huan Zixu smiled faintly. 

But halfway through his smile, You Zhengping threw back the coins in his hand just as fast, aimed straight at Huan Zixu. 

Huan Zixu’s alloy belt became a thin but extremely sturdy shield, blocking and collecting the coins You Zhengping had thrown back. 

You Zhengping snapped his fingers slightly. The space hiding his teammates opened. Cen Xiao, Lian Yufan, and Luo Huai, wearing plain masks, appeared in midair, falling beside You Zhengping. 

The rumble of an armed vehicle shook the ground. An armed vehicle that was over a hundred tons of metal drove out of the warehouse. Huan Zixu leapt back and jumped onto the armed vehicle, warily watching the four Protectors. 

“You already know about my ability,” Huan Zixu said confidently. “Brainwashing Zhen Li and Yuan Luori really did reveal too much information. I was careless.” 

You Zhengping’s voice went through the voice changing device and became deep and resounding. “Up to now, you two haven’t done any real harm to our world. As long as you show good faith, we’re willing to work with you.” 

Lian Yufan looked at You Zhengping. Director Xiao had told them to capture first and negotiate later, but You Zhengping was displaying the intent to negotiate ahead of time. 

“Work together how? Show good faith how?” Huan Zixu pointed at his head. The System had placed self-destruct devices in their brains. As long as the System existed, it was impossible for them to work with the Protection Organization. 

This was also why, after accepting the clearing mission, Huan Zixu couldn’t entirely trust the black-cloaked man no matter what, had to test his abilities and his intelligence before determining whether to ally with him. He couldn’t openly say to the mission target, “Let’s team up to destroy the System.” If he said these words, he would self-destruct at once. 

The reason that Destroyer 192 had dared to speak to the Protection Organization openly and force out the mission target with such fanfare was that the facts about the mission and the System had already been exposed. The System must have been aware of this, so it put no more restrictions on speaking about the contents of the mission to allow the levelers to operate within the unopened world. 

You Zhengping saw Huan Zixu’s movement and understood. He sighed gently. 

Director Xiao had been right again. The Destroyers and the Protectors were opposed. If the black-cloaked man hadn’t absorbed Zhen Li and Yuan Luori’s Systems, the two of them would have died. Even though the new Destroyers weren’t guilty of unpardonable evil, they were controlled by the System. They couldn’t fight alongside the Protectors. If they did anything that wasn’t beneficial to the System, they would self-destruct and die. 

Him thinking that they could communicate with the new Destroyers had been excessive naïveté on his part. Unless the black-cloaked man stepped in, Protectors and Destroyers couldn’t become allies. And the black-cloaked man…

You Zhengping remembered the unbelievable dream he had had the night before the date, then looked down at the “unconscious” Yu Hua. 

He quickly shook his head. No, his guesses were insane, it couldn’t be. 

“You have someone who can resist my ‘false exchange.’” Huan Zixu didn’t attack. He carefully considered the four faces, then raised a hand and pointed at Luo Huai. “It’s you.” 

From a certain angle, the Protectors’ special abilities and the powers that the levelers obtained from the System had a common source and ancestry. People with the same abilities would often have an unusual reaction. The same way that Luo Huai could check the two strains of particular energy in You Zhengping’s brain, Huan Zixu could tell at a glance what was special about Luo Huai. 

Seeing that Huan Zixu had identified Luo Huai, the other three protectors inadvertently stood in front of Luo Huai to protect him. 

“As for you…” Huan Zixu narrowed his eyes and looked at You Zhengping. “You don’t seem to have a mind control sort of ability. Either your mental force is particularly strong, equipped with a certain degree of defenses, or else…you’re a spatial ability user, you covered your hand with a thin space, and my coins didn’t make direct contact with your skin.” 

Right, it was the second one. 

You Zhengping wasn’t certain whether the mental force in his brain that had protected him would continue to be effective. He wasn’t going to run that risk, so he had covered his hand with his shape-changing third space. Before, he had used the third space as steps. Now he was using it as gloves. 

Seeing that Huan Zixu had guessed their combat methods after only one exchange, the four of them became increasingly nervous. It seemed that this would be a fierce battle. 

But Huan Zixu ably said, “I don’t want to harm anyone. I only want to slightly alter your abilities. Also, I need to borrow Yu Hua for a few days. I hope you can cooperate with me.” 

“Do you believe what you’re saying?” Lian Yufan said loftily. 

“If you don’t believe me, we’ll have to fight.” Huan Zixu sighed. “So you think that because you have a mental ability user, you can do whatever you please? Mental ability users with the same attributes can still suppress each other. We’ll see whose power is stronger!” 

Then, without any warning, two chains drilled out of the ground, one curling towards Yu Hua, one attacking Luo Huai. 

Huan Zixu had never said useless words to his enemies. If he was speaking to his opponents, it had to be to cover up Feng Kui’s actions. 

You Zhengping’s reaction wasn’t slow. He put Yu Hua into his second space, so Feng Kui couldn’t capture him. He also didn’t abandon Luo Huai. His other hand grabbed the chain attacking him. 

But just then, the chain that had been aimed at Yu Hua suddenly turned towards Luo Huai. Luo Huai was the target of both of these chains. The attack on Yu Hua had been a feint all along. 

Huan Zixu’s priority wasn’t Yu Hua, it was to attack Luo Huai, who could restrain his ability! 

The second chain split into eight in midair, wrapping tightly around Luo Huai. But the instant the chains captured Luo Huai, Lian Yufan grabbed one of the thin chains. The chain broke at his grasp. The other seven thin chains, still binding Luo Huai, flew towards the armed vehicle. 

Lian Yufan was calm. He pressed his palms together, closing the broken thin chain between them. The chains that had been speeding towards Huan Zixu were pulled back by the assembling force in Lian Yufan’s hands, gathering together once more into one thick chain. Luo Huai was returned to the protective circle of his comrades in arms. 

Though he disliked You Zhengping and didn’t acknowledge his point of view, when You Zhengping was hard-pressed to take care of both people, Lian Yufan’s first reaction was to make up for You Zhengping’s shortfall, protecting Luo Huai. 

“Assembly power…” Huan Zixu’s easy expression became serious. “Adding in spatial power and mental power… Don’t you control too much of the natural law power?” 

The natural law power? This wasn’t a term that the Protectors had come across before. Huan Zixu’s words gave the young Protectors pause. 

“When did special ability users first appear in your world?” Huan Zixu asked. 

“He must want to distract us by talking again to let his companion act in secret. We can’t listen to his nonsense again,” Lian Yufan, the most rational, said firmly. 

Lian Yufan was aware that what the Destroyer in front of him wanted to say was very important, but faced with a choice, he firmly chose to carry out the mission—drain the source of the Destroyers’ power, capture the Destroyers!

Lian Yufan tightly grasped the chain he had assembled. If he had guessed right, this had come from the body of the armed vehicle Destroyer. If he only had enough power, he could drag over the main body! 

Bean-sized beads of sweat rolled down Lian Yufan’s forehead. Feng Kui’s body trembled uncontrollably, actually moving towards Lian Yufan. 

“Up!” Lian Yufan yelled. His veins were popping. The armed vehicle shaped Feng Kui rose into the air. His hundreds of tons were actually being dragged over by Lian Yufan! 

The armed car turned slightly, dropping Huan Zixu so he wouldn’t be taken. 

“Fire!” Lian Yufan called when Feng Kui flew up. 

Cen Xiao threw several petrol bombs into the air. High heat roaring flames rose up to the sky, a sea of fire encircling Feng Kui. 

The strongest metal would still disappear in the face of high heat. If Cen Xiao concentrated all of his power on the temperature, he could instantly release a temperature of over ten thousand degrees. Any metal would melt under that temperature!  

Just in time, Feng Kui used his points to equip a condensation spray from the System and sprayed it in all directions, counteracting the high temperature Cen Xiao had created. 

He changed shape, turning into an over three meter tall mechanical skeleton. The white steam of the reaction between the high temperature and the condensation spray billowed all around. As soon as the mechanical skeleton walked out of the white steam, it was encircled by Cen Xiao and Lian Yufan. 

Lian Yufan was holding his arm. The hundreds of tons of weight were too much. But it didn’t matter. Last time he had broken his spine. The spine was a very important location. If it hadn’t healed right, his whole body would have been paralyzed. This time he had only broken one arm. He could keep fighting. 

The instant Huan Zixu dropped off of Feng Kui, before he could assist Feng Kui, he was encircled by You Zhengping and Luo Huai acting in tacit cooperation. 

“I’m sorry, I need to use you. Please help me.” Sadness flashed through Luo Huai’s eyes. Five faint stars flew up from his arm and encircled Huan Zixu. 

It wasn’t that Luo Huai didn’t have any combat abilities. It was that he had always been unwilling to use others’ memories as a mental attack. 

---

Author's Note

Sleeping Beauty Yu Hua (frantic enough to lose his hair): I’d been planning to use their battle as a diversion, change into the black cloak, and show up to clear the field, but Xiao You has stuck me into his space, and breaking out of it would hurt Xiao You. What should I do? Please assist, waiting online!

Yu Hua: Too clever for his own good. 

Yu Hua: Xiao You’s space is very warm and safe. Am I the first person to be in here? 

Cen Xiao: …I was the first one…

Yu Hua: You’re really putting yourself out there.  

---

Translator's Note

Footnotes!!! ^{1 1}