Why Do All the Villains Look at Me Like This? - Chapter 40

Meng Xuexiao froze for a moment, stunned, “What…?”

After all that, they were telling him they wanted to cover his retreat? What kind of joke was this? Did they think he was a three-year-old?

Just moments ago, they had been threatening him like kidnappers, pressing cold weapons against his neck as if ready to turn him into a headless corpse.

Even a split personality couldn’t pull off such a drastic shift!

He swiftly grabbed a lever, originally used to pry open the Mecha’s control panel for repairs during malfunctions but now serving as a makeshift weapon.

Meng Xuexiao pressed the lever’s tip against the leader’s abdomen and stabbed repeatedly, using all his strength to shove the man backward.

Like a startled animal with its fur standing on end, he snarled, “Get out! Now!”

The man froze instantly, raising his hands above his head and dropping his weapon to the floor, “Calm down! Calm down!”

“Even though we… uh, acted rashly before, we genuinely want to cover your retreat, now!”

The leader’s breathing grew rapid.

He had already learned that Meng Xuexiao’s physical fitness was F-Class. To someone like him, an S-Class, Meng Xuexiao was as fragile as a paper doll.

What if… just what if… he accidentally hurt him? What would he do then?!

This man, who had faced countless perilous situations and never panicked even during Beast Tides, now found himself restrained, like an eagle with its wings pinned.

But Meng Xuexiao paid no heed to his words.

He wasn’t a fool. He knew these men had genuinely intended to kill him moments ago. Now that was clear, whether their offer to “cover his retreat” was sincere or not was irrelevant.

Though not exceptionally cunning or strategic, Meng Xuexiao would never stumble twice in the same place.

“If you don’t want to believe us, fine!” the leader said urgently, “You can kill us or spare us later, but please, just leave here, now!”

Having spent several years by Chu Sinian’s side, he had gained some understanding of Alien Beasts. The S-Class Alien Beast was clearly preparing to use the Beast Tide as cover for its attack. At that point, even sacrificing all their lives might not be enough to save Meng Xuexiao!

Meng Xuexiao nearly laughed in exasperation.

Why hadn’t he run? Did they think he didn’t want to escape?! It was precisely because he had fled that these people had managed to ambush him from behind!

Now, Meng Xuexiao was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.

If he ran, he feared these treacherous individuals might use the chaos to attack him again.

If he stayed, the approaching Beast Tide was no joke! He didn’t want to die here!

“I really don’t want to kill or harm any of you! Besides, as an F-Class, how could I possibly kill or harm you?” Meng Xuexiao’s voice trembled with urgency, his grip on the pole shaking.

He still pressed the pole against the Captain’s chest, but his rational mind told him it posed no real threat.

With a sigh of defeat, he lowered the pole and slammed it against the ground several times.

“If you truly mean me no harm, please, show some mercy and let me go. Get out of my mecha, now!”

“I don’t understand why you attacked me in the first place, but now you’ve blasted a hole in my mecha, and the explosion has caused a leak in the energy reservoir. It’s practically half-destroyed and useless to you, right?”

In the midst of the Beast Tide, a fully intact mecha could serve as a shield for a while, and a fully charged one could temporarily evade danger by flying. But a breached mecha with a rapidly depleting energy reservoir was utterly worthless. Any Alien Beast could now enter this thing, turning its occupant into a helpless buffet laid out on a table.

The members of Chu Sinian’s team exchanged uneasy glances, their captain’s expression particularly grave.

Meng Xuexiao’s mecha’s condition was indeed a serious problem…

“What’s the status of your mechas?” he began questioning his team members one by one.

The team members’ expressions turned awkward as they reported a string of mecha damage rates: 90%, 80%…

Soon, the captain was also infected by their mood, his gaze toward Meng Xuexiao filled with apology.

If he hadn’t mistaken Meng Xuexiao for the Enforcer and ordered his team to blast open the mecha’s gate with a suicidal charge, Meng Xuexiao’s mecha wouldn’t be in its current state.

“Your mecha is in pretty bad shape… How about this? You use mine for now.”

The captain produced his Space Button, where his mecha was stored.

His mecha was a lightweight model, but he had used heavy weaponry against Meng Xuexiao earlier. Though the recoil had caused some damage, it was still the best among the group’s mechas.

Meng Xuexiao stared at the Space Button offered to him.

The antique item clearly held great sentimental value, a treasured possession the captain had carefully preserved for years.

How could he possibly accept such a thing? Was he trying to get himself killed?! What was the captain’s motive for offering it to him?

The youth’s hand trembled, nearly dropping the offered item.

The captain understood immediately.

As expected, Meng Xuexiao looked down on his mecha.

Although his own mecha wasn’t bad, he could clearly see that Meng Xuexiao’s mecha was exceptionally superior in every aspect. It was likely the work of the Federal Military Department’s most elite research team, a design beyond the capabilities of ordinary engineers.

Even with a hole in its armor and a barely sufficient energy reserve, this mecha still held its own advantages in the Beast Tide. If he were Meng Xuexiao, he probably wouldn’t bear to abandon it either.

Since that was the case, they needed to address the energy shortage through other means.

The simplest solution was to reduce their numbers.

The Captain and his squad were a tight-knit unit, entrusting their lives to one another. He wouldn’t abandon anyone unless absolutely necessary. That left only one option…

His gaze fell on Li Hao.

Li Hao looked timid and overly cautious, clearly someone who had snuck onto the transport with their group, hoping to blend in and slip away unnoticed.

When Li Hao noticed the Captain’s stare, he instinctively ducked his head.

The Captain’s brow furrowed immediately.

What a coward! So afraid of death!

Even if they didn’t throw him out, he might betray Meng Xuexiao during the Beast Tide.

With a stern expression, he roughly knocked on the mecha’s inner shell near Li Hao, “Hey, kid! You hear me? We’re running out of energy!”

The harsh, brutal voice carried undisguised malice, the accumulated hostility from countless brushes with death.

Li Hao immediately tensed and shrank further back.

When he first saw the Captain and his group, their extraordinary presence and formidable strength had led him to believe they were saviors sent by the Federation Military Academy. But that naive hope shattered completely when he witnessed their suicidal assault on Meng Xuexiao’s mecha.

The Federal Military Department would never authorize such reckless tactics!

Could it be… were these people Interstellar Pirates?

Yanxing, a planet on the Alliance’s frontier, was loosely governed, making it a haven for criminals seeking to exploit the chaos.

Normally, as a student of the Federation Military Academy, he would have reported them immediately.

But with an Alien Beast looming and his own A-Class status, quietly trailing behind them to scavenge opportunities offered a far better chance of survival!

After all, the mecha had displayed the Enforcer’s emblem earlier. Neither Enforcers nor Pirates were good news. The best outcome would be for them to clash and inflict heavy losses on each other!

If that were the case, it would be ideal!

But…

How could the mecha’s pilot be Meng Xuexiao?!

Wasn’t he supposed to be the Enforcer?!

He had just been kneeling and begging the Enforcer for ages!

Li Hao stared at Meng Xuexiao, who was leaning on a pole, his knuckles slightly reddened from tension, his eyes fixed intently on the Captain and the others. Li Hao felt his head spinning.

This was Meng Xuexiao, the very person Brother Wu had repeatedly warned them not to harm, not even a single hair on his head!

Remembering the sinister smile Wu Zian had worn while issuing his warning, Li Hao nearly collapsed to his knees. Cold sweat had already soaked through his clothes.

Wu Zian always kept his word, and he was meticulous to a fault. If you crossed him, even fleeing to hell wouldn’t save you, he’d find a way to torment you there before killing you again!

Once, a classmate had offended Wu Zian. Terrified of their clique’s influence at school, he dropped out and fled to a remote star system thousands of light-years away to become a farmer.

The brothers had barely finished marveling at the student’s speed, lamenting their missed opportunity to teach him a lesson, when the school’s public television screen switched from a mecha operation tutorial to a dark, cramped room.

In the video, Wu Zian was choking the fleeing student. With a crimson-hot branding iron, he meticulously carved the words “Deserter” into the student’s face, then kicked the student’s neck with brutal force.

The entire audience heard the sickening crack of dislocated bones. A shattered fragment pierced the student’s throat, jutting out from his neck as dark red blood sprayed across the camera lens.

Gasping for air, the student choked on the blood gurgling from his throat. He tried repeatedly to speak, but his attempts were thwarted by the air escaping through the wound.

Finally, in a weak, stuttering voice, he managed to say, “You’re still a student… killing people so casually… The Federal Military Department… won’t allow this…”

“Even if you’re the Marshal’s nephew…”

Wu Zian tilted his head, casually licking the blood splattered on his lips. He looked almost innocently confused, “Killing? Where? Did you see me kill anyone?”

The student’s eyes widened in disbelief. He never imagined Wu Zian would deny it!

It was a live broadcast, the executioner standing right before everyone’s eyes, yet Wu Zian dared to deny it!

Even in death, the student would never find peace.

In the next moment, Wu Zian pressed a button, and a treatment pod rose shakily from beneath the floor.

With effortless strength, he grabbed the student’s arm and brutally tossed him into the pod. The water inside surged out, flooding the already dim room and making it even colder and more slippery.

Wu Zi’an glanced at the time, “Hmm, about five and a half hours for treatment. No rush. Get some rest, and we’ll continue later.”

Li Hao vividly remembered the student’s face in that exorbitantly expensive treatment pod, pale as death, his pupils slowly dilating.

He thought, at that moment, the student must have wished he had died from Wu Zian’s earlier kick.

Li Hao refused to end up like that student!

He had to protect Meng Xuexiao!

He knew what those cunning Interstellar Pirates were up to, they were trying to recruit him!

After all, Meng Xuexiao had made it clear he wanted to expel them. Theoretically, Li Hao, having also been expelled, should now be on the same side as the pirates, united against Meng Xuexiao.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend!

Could these cunning pirates have known all along that he was from the Federation Military Academy? Were they deliberately trying to drag him into this?

Li Hao forcibly suppressed his inner terror, puffed out his chest to appear more confident, and subtly shifted closer to Meng Xuexiao, positioning himself between him and the Captain, “Hey, just because I haven’t shown my claws doesn’t mean I’m a pushover!”

“Before this duel, I specifically bought a compressed bomb from the black market. They say it can kill even A-Class physiques instantly. S-Class might survive, but they’d be critically injured, right?”

“Now that most of your mechs are wrecked, why don’t you try taking this bomb with your bare hands?!”

“If you dare force Meng Xuexiao out of his mech, I’ll detonate this bomb!!!”