[In June, six months had passed, and Xu Wen had grown into a truly outstanding warrior, capable of barely piloting the mid-range exoskeleton he had seized from other trash kings.]
[Along the way, there was the Garbage King chasing after us, and exoskeleton warriors sent by the conglomerate, but the planet was too large, and the conglomerate's forces were strangely less than you might imagine, so a true death trap never materialized.]
Yes, the enemies sent by the conglomerate didn't arrive all at once... They initially came with a kill-or-be-killed intent, but when the "Red-Cloaked Ranger" happened to pass by and intervened, and you anticipated their moves and escaped several attacks, the conglomerate's actions suddenly changed.
[They're like third-rate villains in a classic adventure game, first sending ordinary soldiers, then the weakest exoskeletons with only 0.01% functionality, and gradually upgrading their units—it's like they're just giving Xuwen experience points!]
"Didn't you do this?"
This wasn't done by you!
"ah???"
If you didn't know the truth, you'd suspect that the head of the conglomerate was actually Xu Wen's "deceased father," and that all the persecution was to ensure his son's rapid rise to power and inheritance of the family business.
[In 2891, you advanced to the sixth rank of Inner Manipulation Master, corresponding to the mid-stage of the Celestial Realm.]
[Xu Wen has also reached the fifth level of External Manipulation Master, and can finally pilot your eleventh generation War Dragon. Five times the essence and the Holy Body awakened with your help enable his total reserve of manipulation power to support the monster's roar.]
[War Dragon XI, 3.8 meters tall, 2.1 tons, functionality 94.]
"Approaching the peak of Yunba."
The prelude to the counterattack has begun.
You, along with his sister Xu Yan, were in the rear, watching him fight his way back, clearing out pursuers and enemies one by one.
[The sixth branch of the Dawn Foundation, a crimson steel dragon, destroys all enemies in its path and reaches the mastermind behind it all—a middle-aged man.]
"Why?" Xu Wen asked in a low voice.
The man chuckled: "The reason is simple."
The Xu siblings lost their parents at a young age, even earlier than you.
Yun Shou: "..."
Their father died of illness, and their mother is missing.
[You had initially thought that their father was faking his death and was actually a powerful figure in hiding; and that their mother was even more extraordinary, a runaway heiress from a mecha family in the upper realm.]
The wealthy family forbids a poor boy from being with their noblewoman, but the two already have a child, and then all sorts of dramatic events unfold.
"In that case, the conglomerate's intervention is because their father's enemies from back then were not eliminated and were let go, which instead caused trouble for their own children."
However, the truth is cruel: their mother wasn't missing, but rather was collected and tortured to death by people sent by this middle-aged man; their father was also "falsely" killed by illness.
"She behaved very well, very well, for the sake of you two siblings," the middle-aged man said with a smile. "So I kept my promise and didn't harm you again."
"It was just my mistake. I was finally prepared to keep my promise, but you performed so well, showing the potential to become a Holy Land mech pilot."
He sighed, "I'm terrified of death. To prevent you from achieving great success and then returning to investigate your mother's whereabouts and cause of death, thus coming after me... I have no choice but to break my promise."
"You said you're afraid of death?" Xu Wen's tone was strange.
When his anger reached its peak, he actually entered a state of calm.
"So, what you just said was an attempt to wish you were dead?"
"Don't get excited, absolutely don't get excited—otherwise you'll be consumed by regret for the rest of your life."
The middle-aged man clapped his hands: "You... you value your younger sister a lot, right?"
Xu Wen exploded in fury: "You!"
"But you're not by her side right now."
"The conglomerate's surveillance capabilities inside and outside the city far exceed your imagination, especially since this is the Sixth Branch. Your most foolish move was separating her from you. The five powerful exoskeleton warriors should have arrived on their side by now."
The middle-aged man wore a confident expression: "All she has by her side is that useless brat."
Xu Wen: "...Then it's alright."
["What?" Before the middle-aged man could understand what was being said, Xu Wen grabbed his arm and crushed it.]
He screamed in agony, roaring, "You don't care about your sister?! All the suffering I've endured will be repaid to her a hundredfold!"
His tone distorted: "Activate the holographic projection and crush that girl's hands!"
[The projector is playing a video, but it shows your smiling face with a peace sign.]
The middle-aged man froze.
Your expression instantly turned angry: "One hundred credits, huh? Useless brat, aren't you?"
"Little Wenzi, heat up and bake his chicken roll!"
Xu Wen nodded, and a small burst of flame shot out from his left palm, beginning to roast the chicken...
[...]
"It's best for children not to watch the following bloody and violent scenes." You reached out and covered Xu Yan's eyes.
She nimbly jumped aside, stubbornly insisting, "I want to see!"
You shrug, no longer trying to stop me.
[Half an hour of torture—electric shocks, fire, cutting, crushing, and beatings—left the middle-aged man with all four limbs crippled, barely recognizable as a human.]
Just as Xu Wen was about to deliver the final blow, a communication came from the conglomerate's headquarters: "Young man, I hope you can stop here. Don't push things to the extreme."
"Wu Litian has already received enough punishment. Let's stop here; it's better for both of us."
"That's it?" Xu Wen sneered. In other places, if he stopped here, Wu Litian, who had a blood feud with him for killing his mother, would be living a life worse than death.
However, in technologically advanced airspace... on the subordinate abandoned mining planets, even if Wu Litian loses all five limbs, there is still a possibility of repair. Even if the damaged body cannot be repaired, prosthetic limbs can be transplanted, which will not have a significant impact on his life.
[If he lets Wu Litian go now, it's like he only let this enemy suffer for half an hour. How can that be enough?]
The person on the communications end at the conglomerate headquarters said calmly, "Young man, from beginning to end, Wu Litian has only mobilized a very small portion of the Dawn Conglomerate's power. The pursuit you've faced over the past year is just the tip of the iceberg of our strength."
"His authority was suppressed; this is a test for you, and we appreciate your talent."
"You're very talented, but don't make things too tense. We have a long time to work together, and you still have the potential to go into the airspace. Leave yourself some room for maneuver."
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