Why Do All the Villains Look at Me Like This? - Chapter 3
The two kidnappers who had been so arrogant just moments ago, were now… dead?
Meng Xuexiao only glanced at them once before quickly looking away, unable to bear the sight. The two burly men, now lifeless, sprawled out like discarded trash.
The stench of blood once again filled the air, far heavier than before. But Meng Xuexiao no longer had the luxury to dwell on whether it was disgusting or not, he was overwhelmed by a strong sense of sorrow and fear, like a rabbit mourning anotherâs death, knowing its own fate might soon follow.
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Brain!
Would he be the next to die?
Silent manipulation, ruthless and merciless one-shot kills, this was all far too much like the Enforcerâs style!
He hadnât wanted to be sold to the human experimentation organization, he hadnât wanted to die under the guns of two kidnappers, but even more than that, he didnât want to run into the supercomputer operating under the name of the Enforcer.
The Super Intellect had no emotions, only absolute rationality. It would not change its decisions for anyone or anything. In its eyes, all humans were equal, all were parasites that needed to be eradicated.
He had no chance of survival.
SoâŠ
Even though his hands were bound, Meng Xuexiao still prayed as sincerely as he could, hoping it wasnât the Enforcer, hoping… it wasnât the Enforcer!
However, in the very next moment, a beam of intense light suddenly flared up inside the dark warehouse.
The stark, colorless white caused Meng Xuexiaoâs eyeballs to ache unbearably. A wave of intense dizziness swept over him, making him temporarily lose the ability to see.
He didnât know how much time passed, but eventually, his fragile eyes began to adapt to the sudden brightness, and the surroundings gradually became clear.
“Plop.”
A droplet of water fell onto his clothes, soaking through the fabric and reaching his skin, the cold sensation making Meng Xuexiao shiver involuntarily.
Then, another droplet.
This time, the droplet slid down the bridge of Meng Xuexiaoâs nose. Without thinking, he stuck out his tongue and licked it.
Salty.
It was… tears.
Only now did he realize, physiological tears had unknowingly welled up in his eyes, wetting his eyelashes and sliding down his cheeks.
Meng Xuexiao steadied himself, turned his head, and wiped the remaining tear stains on his face against his collar, then looked toward the source of the light. It was an abandoned cleaning robot, crushed under a pile of trash. Its surface was covered in a thick layer of dust, but the built-in screen was still lit, the inorganic cold glow of the electronics piercing even through the grime.
Floating at the center of the screen was a single closed eye.
The minimalist lines seemed to pulse like an electric current, sending chills down one’s spine. Meng Xuexiao felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, this was the Enforcerâs symbol.
In the next moment, the eye suddenly opened.
[Meng Xuexiao, found you.]
A beam shot rapidly in Meng Xuexiaoâs direction. “Watch out!”
Shen Zekai lunged toward Meng Xuexiao, dragging him into a clumsy roll to the side. The beam narrowly missed them.
“That’s not an ordinary cleaning robot, getting hit by that would kill you!” Shen Zekai panted heavily.
His father had been investigating the for some time, and Shen Zekai had seen plenty of cases related to the Enforcer, several of which involved modified robots. An ordinary household service robot could easily be turned into a killing machine in the hands of the Enforcer.
His father had personally witnessed a completely ordinary little robot, one that normally used thermal beams to dissolve chewing gum wrappers, burn down an entire villa complex under the Enforcerâs control.
Meng Xuexiao didnât doubt Shen Zekaiâs words at all. This was exactly the Enforcerâs usual way of doing things. He quickly thanked Shen Zekai and still shaken, turned to look at the spot where the beam had hit, only to discoverâThere was nothing unusual there. Far from any catastrophic destruction, there wasnât even a dent.
Meng Xuexiao blinked hard a couple of times.
A wild, almost delirious sense of relief rushed up inside him.
Could it beâthis so-called Enforcer was just an impostor?
But in the very next second, the robot abruptly swiveled its head, locking onto Shen Zekaiâs face.
[Obstacle detected.]
The screen instantly flashed redâa red so harsh it was as blinding as the blood that had splattered when the two kidnappers died.
Even though Meng Xuexiao knew perfectly well that these machines didnât have real “sight,” that it was all just data processing, he still felt a stabbing chill run down his spine.
He couldnât help but warn Shen Zekai, “Donât let your guard downâ”
But before he could finish, another beam shot out.
In both speed and force, this beam was far superior to the previous one.
And its target wasâShen Zekai.
âDamn it!â Shen Zekai finally used the piece of plastic Meng Xuexiao had thrown him earlier to cut through the ropes binding him. At the moment the beam was about to strike his vital points, he slammed his hand onto the watch on his wrist.
A massive energy shield formed at incredible speed, completely enclosing and protecting Shen Zekai.
The beam pierced through, like a slender finger lightly tapping the surface of the energy shield.
“Crack!”
In an instant, the energy shield crumbled into dust.
“How is this possible?!” Shen Zekaiâs pupils contracted sharply as he tumbled aside in a desperate roll, but he was still slammed brutally into the opposite wall by the enormous impact.
The wall cracked inch by inch, and a suffocating burnt smell blasted into his face. The energy shield was a life-saving device his father had given him, even facing an explosion large enough to engulf an entire city, it could barely hold up for a while!
But this wasnât the end. Another beam immediately followed.
“Shen Zekai, get up!”
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If he didnât stand up, if he didnât escape, he would definitely die!
That thought frantically filled Meng Xuexiaoâs mind. Only now did he realize just how ridiculous it had been to hope that the robot was a fake.
He moved closer to Shen Zekai, wanting to give him a hand.
“No, donât come over! I canât move!” Shen Zekai forced a bitter smile.
He wanted to escape too. His S-rank body’s acute senses had long been screaming warnings at him, but his body was simply too heavy now. He couldnât even lift a finger. His lower body was completely numb.
Meng Xuexiao was stunned for a moment and instinctively looked at Shen Zekaiâs legs.
The school uniform had long since melted under the beam, now fused together with Shen Zekaiâs flesh, and white, jagged bone fragments protruded from the bloody mess, the level of gore was comparable to a horror movie scene.
This…
This was the Enforcer that the entire Federation feared.
Facing death, they didnât even have a chance for a final struggle.
Meng Xuexiaoâs hands clenched tightly. Then, as if venting his despair, he slammed his fists hard against the ground. His entire body jerked with the force.
Only then did he remember, he was still tied up. A cold chill spread from the depths of his heart. His calves trembled slightly, completely involuntarily. Then, his foot seemed to bump into something.
Shen Zekaiâs earlier lunge had brought him near the pile of metal crates that Xu Gao had knocked over.
Meng Xuexiao hooked his ankle, his slightly flushed knee drawing a beautiful arc, and kicked a metal crate toward the robot.
The half-meter-high crate tumbled and struck the robot, flipping it over. The next beam shot out, narrowly grazing Shen Zekaiâs face, then pierced straight through the warehouse, the bookstore, and blasted a clean hole through the building across the street.
The towering structure instantly turned into a roaring sea of fire. Meng Xuexiaoâs voice rang outâfirm, but trembling slightly, “Werenât you coming after me from the beginning? Then come!”
Shen Zekai had always wanted to save him, but Meng Xuexiao couldnât drag him down, and even less could he let Shen Zekai die because of him.
“Are you crazy…!” Shen Zekai gritted his teeth, a look of deep frustration flashing across his face. Although he didnât know exactly what level Meng Xuexiaoâs physical fitness was, it clearly wasnât very high. Someone like Meng Xuexiao charging straight at the Enforcer was practically serving himself up on a platter!
The robot’s attention was successfully drawn by Meng Xuexiaoâs words. Its electronic screen flickered, and a new beam began to gather. The bluish glow of the beam lit up Meng Xuexiaoâs face like snow. The attack speed of a 2S-class machine was far beyond anything an F-rank like him could react, even Shen Zekai, an S-rank, could only just barely see it happening.
This little classmate, really…
The beam moved frighteningly fastâin less than half a second, it had already scanned across Meng Xuexiaoâs entire body.
[Meng Xuexiao, physical fitness level: F. First-year student at the Federal Military Academy.
Entrance exam results: Mecha operationâ failed.
Physical endurance testâ failed.
Combat testâ failed.
Theory coursesâ full marks.
Born in the Federation’s old district, previously resided at… ]
If anyone were to investigate carefully, they would find that this was all the information available on the Federal Network about Meng Xuexiao, so detailed that it recorded every place he had ever lived, every step of his upbringing, even how many tea eggs he bought for breakfast each day, without missing a single word.
When the mechanical voice sounded, Meng Xuexiao hadnât reacted yet.
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Was it… over just like that?
He stood there, dazed, listening as the robot monotonously recited everything about him, then hastily checked his own body.
His hands were intact, his feet were intact, and no bones had pierced through!
Meng Xuexiao couldn’t help but reach out and touch his own skin. Wait… he could touch?
He opened his palm and raised it in front of his eyes, then lowered his head and started searching the groundâsure enough, he saw a piece of rope that had been cut cleanly in half.
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His bindings… had been undone.
Was this… the work of the Enforcer?
Impossible!
He jerked his head up to look at the small robot, only to find that the robot, unusually, was completely silent. Even with the crate still pressing down on it, it remained utterly motionless, as if it really were just a piece of discarded trash.
If Shen Zekai werenât still miserably pinned against the wall, Meng Xuexiao might have thought everything that had just happened was just a hallucination.
Could it be…
The Enforcer had suddenly encountered some urgent matter?!
Meng Xuexiao cautiously took a few steps closer to Shen Zekai. The small robot still showed no reaction.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The Enforcer must have gotten busy with something else, after all, little nobodies like them werenât worth wasting its time.
Meng Xuexiao got Shen Zekai down from the wall, but he didnât dare linger for long, afraid that the Enforcer might come back. He propped Shen Zekai up with his shoulder and walked toward the outside.
“Hang in there a little longer. Iâll contact Colonel Shen right away.”
“Ah… uh, okay.” Shen Zekaiâs response was slow, but Meng Xuexiao didnât think much of it, assuming it was just because of how badly injured he was.
Thus, he didnât notice the complicated look Shen Zekai was giving him.
Meng Xuexiao… was he really completely unhurt?
Shen Zekai had seen it with his own eyes, that beam had been so fast! They had both encountered the Enforcer, yet somehow only he, the S-rank, had gotten hurt? This… this was really…
Shen Zekaiâs mind grew a little dazed.
But as he drifted in and out of focus, a scene suddenly flashed through his mind. Meng Xuexiao had once claimed in front of the two criminals that he was acquainted with the Enforcer.
When the two criminals later accused Meng Xuexiao of lying, he had thought it was just a story Meng Xuexiao made up to save them…
But now… was it not a lie?!
Shen Zekaiâs gaze once again fell on Meng Xuexiao. In that instant, this F-rank boy suddenly seemed cloaked in mystery.
He was really familiar with the Enforcer, and it wasnât just a casual acquaintance!
Just as Meng Xuexiao and Shen Zekaiâs figures were about to disappear from the warehouse entrance, the small robotâs screen lit up again.
Another beam stubbornly swept over, and the feedback returned was still the same.
[Meng Xuexiao, physical fitness level: F, first-year student at the Federal Military AcademyâŠ]
The minimalist eye on the screen narrowed instantly:
[This is not a miscalculation. Physical fitness truly is F. Why must the world keep rebooting because of someone like this?]
This was the tenth time the Enforcer had experienced a world reboot. Before this, it had never imagined it would end up so helpless.
Each time Meng Xuexiao died, the Enforcer was forced to act like a puppet held in the world’s hand, replaying the same scenes over and over again.
So this time, it had come personally, to meet the true culprit behind the world’s endless resets.
It was just…
it hadnât expected that person to be so utterly ordinary…
The database flashed an image of Meng Xuexiaoâs overly delicate, striking face.
The Enforcer imported Meng Xuexiaoâs data into its specialized computational program:
[The probability of ensuring Meng Xuexiaoâs survival this time is…?]
[0.00001%.]
The usually decisive Enforcer hesitated as it stared at that number.
It immediately recalculated and got 0.00001% again.
Enforcer, “……”
Meng Xuexiao was simply too useless!
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Storyteller CloudyPastels's Words
Translator:nHello~~ if I miss anything please let me know!