The anger within Zheng was one of mixed feelings that he couldn’t describe. The core of it was his guilt toward the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died and his sense of helplessness in changing this situation. This helpless sensation had begun to accumulate long before this event. The precise time chased back to when he first entered this realm.
Helplessness when faced with the movie worlds, when placed in a fate unknown to him, when the end was no where to be seen. He strived to become stronger, yet there were still so many stronger than him. This weight continued to exert so much pain. And there were the times he did things against his heart in order to survive.
Humans weren’t robots. They weren’t protagonists in novels who could slaughter people the moment they appeared in texts. He was merely an office worker. He had been changing himself, becoming stronger, but his heart was not the heart of a monster. His heart was still the heart when he was a normal office worker!
How could he not feel lost after he encountered so many deaths and endured so much pain? How could he not feel angry? The anger of his lack of control and of fate!
A thousand meters beneath the ground. Tiger’s Soul slashed open the barrier and revealed a corridor made of metal. The corridor was thirty meters tall and seventy meters wide. It could be seen that the hydrogen bomb had crushed this corridor. The barrier that just appeared was created in a rush. That was why Zheng was able to slash it open in one hit. The four people moved into the corridor.
“Gando, remember. If we seized the AllSpark, grab it and fly back the way we came. Once you exit this corridor, activate the electric jet system and fly as fast as you can to as far as you can. I will cut the corridor off and have WangXia detonate the bombs we plant once you left into the corridor. It will stop the robots chasing you. It takes an hour after we obtained the AllSpark to return… So please. Even if you are going to die, hand the AllSpark to Zero before you die!”
Gando felt as if a knife stabbed into his heart. He could not see Zheng’s expression since he was inside the Valkyrie. But a sense of terror suddenly fell upon him. He felt as though a cold, sharp sword was there right next to him. The sharpness made him shiver.
Perhaps Zheng had not noticed it himself. His eyes at the moment looked sharp as a blade. He appeared to be walking casually with Tiger’s Soul in his hand, but every step he took embedded the floor with a three centimeters deep footprint. Gando could not easily see the floor but WangXia and Xuan saw them clearly. As they looked to Zheng again, he looked nothing like the Zheng they knew. The killing intent he exerted was overwhelming. It felt like he would swing his blade at the next person he saw.
Xuan frowned and said to WangXia in a low voice. “This is far enough. Plant as much plasma bombs as you have here then you can go back up first. Zheng isn’t looking right. It seems similar to the berserk state of the fourth stage that you mentioned. If that’s the case…” Xuan frowned further, like something was making him think.
WangXia nodded without a word. He stopped then took the Sky Stick from Xuan and began planting mines and timed bombs. In reality, he was starting to panic. He couldn’t be sure but he could tell a sense of determination from Xuan’s words. Was something unexpected going to happen in this mission?
(Has Zheng’s berserk state returned? Is it going to be dangerous for Xuan?)
WangXia’s hesitation and worry aside, Zheng said. “Are you worrying that I am going berserk again?”
“Yes.” Xuan said candidly. “It’s what I am worrying. There is no information related to what the fourth stage is about because it reaches into the genetic layer and a person’s consciousness. In simpler words, it’s influencing genetics with a person’s consciousness, which I can not understand. Since I can not understand, I will choose not to trust you for the time being.”
Zheng looked at Xuan. His gaze was still sharp as a blade. It was an expression he never had before. He turned his head away and said. “I do not know the scientific reasoning behind the fourth stage. But I want to let you know that I did not return to the initial berserk state.”
Zheng suddenly charged forward as he finished his sentence. Several robots of varying sizes appeared in front of the corridor. The front most robot fired an energy bullet at them. Zheng and Xuan dodged it swiftly. The bullet hit the Valkyrie then exploded. The explosion was on par with an anti-tank missile.
Zheng was extremely quick. He activated instant Destruction and Shoru the instant he dodged the bullet and rushed to the robot with a speed beyond what the bare eyes could capture. The robot was not so big at four meters tall. It was also quick to react. It flipped backward. Its hands pushed off the floor and threw itself back.
“Trying to run?” Zheng’s expression was colder than he ever was.
Tiger’s Soul slashed forward the instant the robot’s hands touched the floor. A mist like white light blade flew across. He retrieved his sword. The robot only backed two meters when its body shattered into pieces and fell to the ground. That one slash cut the robot into thousands of little pieces. The pieces then exploded, causing a storm inside the corridor.
The remaining robots weren’t weak either. They were hugely different from the ones destroyed in the surface. A ten meter tall robot shook its shoulders and transformed them into gatling cannons. The cannons fired a series of energy bullets. Explosions followed one after another in the corridor. Another seven meter tall robot leaped backward then transformed into a tank in two seconds. Its muzzle roared.
Before the third robot could take action, the gatling cannon robot suddenly flew backward. A man with a red sword stood at where it was. Zheng kicked the robot away then threw out Tiger’s Soul. The tank exploded. The third robot seemingly saw a white tiger biting at the tank’s barrel. The next moment, Zheng was standing on the remains of the tank. He pulled Tiger’s Soul out of the remains. A white misty aura swirled away. Two spiky, black bat wings spread out from his back and shredded his clothes. The wings opened up to three meters long.
“You can not protect the people important to you without power. You can not fulfill the petty wishes you have without power. You can only do things against your heart without power!” A crimson redness overtook Zheng’s eyes. He bit his teeth and uttered as he turned to the last remaining robot.
By the time the robot raised its gun, Zheng was already standing behind it. The energy bullet exploded inside the barrel and the robot also exploded.
“Ohhh!” Gando shouted in shock. “Man, that’s too impressive. I heard they talk about the terrifying power of Zheng in the fourth stage when he went berserk and thought that was an exaggeration. The fourth stage is too strong. He doesn’t even need us to wipe out all the robots here!”
Xuan shook his head. “It can’t be the berserk state. Otherwise, his sword would land on me first, given how much he hates me. Which means that this is the intermediate fourth stage?”
Xuan pondered for a moment. Zheng’s speed was astonishing right now. Xuan didn’t have the time the think and said to Gando. “Let’s go. The mission has just begun. Charge into the core of the base, seize the AllSpark, then run. Their target is only the AllSpark. We will delay them for some time. As long as they can’t get their hands on the AllSpark again, we will be safe. Charge!”
Ahead of them, Zheng left behind a trail of metal remains. With the eyes of a blade and wings on his back, he charged through the corridor like a demon. Nothing moved on the path he went through, whether it be living or dead.