Why Do All the Villains Look at Me Like This? - Chapter 92

The towering school building had completely collapsed, transforming into a raging sea of flames. Snapped electrical wires crackled on the ground before being crushed under massive claws.

The claws belonged to a colossal Alien Beast, the vanguard of the Empire’s forces and one of the first to descend onto the battlefield.

Blood stained its maw as it lumbered forward, accidentally kicking a human head lying at its feet. The head, eyes wide and staring lifelessly, rolled away.

The Alien Beast clicked its tongue in disgust and kicked the head farther. It struck a broken brick, bounced off, and tumbled into a crumbling wall, vanishing into the dense shadows.

The Alien Beast spat disdainfully at the ruins, “Humans have such peculiar tastes, choosing a place like this for their nest!”

Just as it finished speaking, another Alien Beast descended from the sky. The pair moved with intimate familiarity, as if they were lovers.

“Darling, you don’t like it here?” the second beast purred. “I fought so hard to secure this vanguard position, just so we could claim the best territory first.”

“But it doesn’t matter. If you don’t like this place, we can pick another territory after His Majesty Zhuoyue leads us to drive out more Humans—”

The two Alien Beasts were murmuring to each other, their words unfinished, when a sudden, strange ripple passed through the air, like an invisible gust of wind. In the next instant, their heads fell to the ground, their faces still frozen in the same amorous expressions.

Crimson blood splattered, landing just ahead of a pair of white sneakers.

The owner of the sneakers instinctively took a step back, “Why did you suddenly…?”

The person who had struck didn’t even pause his wheelchair for a second, his expression utterly natural. “You frowned just now.”

The sneaker-wearer, Meng Xuexiao, froze. He wasn’t even sure if he had actually frowned, as he had been in a dazed state of mind.

He had once pondered the Empire’s sudden attack on the Federation Military Academy, but he never imagined the reason would be so simple: just… to seize territory?

Although he had long known this world was far from peaceful, witnessing such a massive invasion firsthand left him reeling.

Meng Xuexiao couldn’t help but recall the scene he had witnessed just minutes earlier when he refused to board Shen Zekai’s starship. The vessel was crammed with people, nearly all of them wrapped in bandages. Those without bandages could only watch helplessly as blood gushed from their wounds, the bandages having run out.

Just moments before, they had been attending an ordinary class.

A man in the crowd shouted at Shen Zekai, “When will the starship depart? My roommate can’t hold on much longer!”

As he spoke, the man desperately pressed his hand against his roommate’s chest wound, as if that could stem the relentless flow of blood.

So, after forcefully shoving aside Shen Zekai’s hand gripping his wrist, Meng Xuexiao pushed him squarely in the chest and repeated his earlier declaration.

“There’s no need for you to wait any longer. I’ve already said it—I’m leaving with Yao Huai.”

Caught completely off guard, Shen Zekai stumbled backward, his eyes widening like those of a bewildered child abandoned in Academy City.

In the end, Shen Zekai returned to the Shen Family Starship, and the ship took off.

As the memory faded, Meng Xuexiao shook his head, clearing his mind. Then—

He saw the heads of the two Alien Beasts, which had been cleanly severed with a single strike moments ago, now being sliced into countless pieces by some special force, reduced to a bloody pulp.

Recalling Yao Huai’s earlier remark, “You frowned just now,” Meng Xuexiao realized the other man had likely misinterpreted his head shake again. “…You didn’t need to do this.”

There was no need to mutilate the Alien Beasts into pieces just because he frowned, nor to drag out their corpses and desecrate them further based on a misunderstanding.

The essence of this world was survival of the fittest, a principle Yao Huai, as a powerful being, undoubtedly understood and had always upheld. He would never be moved by this mere attack.

Perhaps the only one struggling to adapt was Meng Xuexiao himself.

Meng Xuexiao blinked his slightly stinging eyes. After all, he wasn’t native to this world and still carried sentimentalities that even he found melodramatic.

The Silver-Haired Man paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over Meng Xuexiao’s almost perplexed, or rather, bewildered expression. His eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

“I’m just a little pleased.”

Pleased?

Meng Xuexiao was even more confused. At Yao Huai’s level, emotional fluctuations were practically nonexistent. Moreover, he couldn’t see anything along their journey that would warrant such satisfaction.

Then he heard Yao Huai say, “I’m very glad you chose me.”

Meng Xuexiao blinked, realizing after a moment that Yao Huai was referring to his decision at the entrance of the Shen Family Starship. “Uh, well… I thought we were partners?”

The young man raised his voice slightly, “You promised you’d help me deal with Zhuoyue and the others.”

This time, Yao Huai paused for a longer moment. After a long silence, the smile on his lips widened. “Yes, partners. Our partnership will remain in effect forever.”

They were partners—now and forever. Bound together by shared interests and goals. The most stable kind of relationship.

Long after realizing his interest in Meng Xuexiao, He had allowed his clones to flit around Meng Xuexiao, all for the sake of conducting a comprehensive evaluation. Shen Zekai, the clone with the highest favorability rating from Meng Xuexiao, served as an excellent case study and observation subject.

But after repeated experiments, He ultimately reached a conclusion:

Meng Xuexiao was emotionally obtuse, yet stubbornly fixated on inexplicable things.

Especially… His clones.

This felt like being immersed in a game, having prematurely learned about the final Bosses for some reason. He wanted to escape, yet was forced to hang his entire heart on them, terrified they might suddenly jump out and kill him.

The young man’s eyes seemed to see only their power and terror, completely overlooking their almost blatant affections.

It was like someone playing a horror game, trembling so violently that they were utterly disheveled—how could they possibly focus on exploring the game’s romance routes?

Therefore, rather than having his clones hover around Meng Xuexiao aimlessly, He decided to cooperate, binding the two together tightly into a unified entity with shared goals.

As it turned out, He was right.

Of course, He had always been confident in his plan.

But when Meng Xuexiao chose him over Shen Zekai, when he truly heard those words with his own ears, He felt genuine, heartfelt joy.

Now that the purpose of the experiment had been achieved, it was time to discard the millstone after it had ground the grain.

…

Shen Family Starship

Shen Zekai sat in his seat, staring at his empty, outstretched hand, his expression somewhat dazed. At that moment, the last trace of warmth from another person had faded from his palm.

The Shen Family members beside him had asked for his instructions several times before Shen Zekai finally snapped out of his reverie.

The starship was packed with people, the air thick with the stench of blood and sweat. After answering the Shen Family members’ questions, he decided to head to the Bridge for some fresh air.

The Bridge was the starship’s core area, housing the entire propulsion system. Apart from the piloting team, no one else was allowed there. Shen Zekai walked with his head down, as if venting his frustration, when he spotted a figure swaying unsteadily.

Instantly alert, he strode over and grabbed the person’s shoulder. His foul mood left him no inclination to hold back, but the other person parried the attack and executed a swift shoulder throw, sending Shen Zekai crashing to the ground.

Already in a foul mood, Shen Zekai’s anger flared. He glared up and saw Wu Zian’s familiar face, his suit askew and slightly torn.

This only fueled Shen Zekai’s rage. He grabbed Wu Zian by the collar, yanking him roughly. “It’s all your fault! Why did you have to be so impulsive? If you’d just waited a little longer… if you’d just waited a little longer!”

Maybe none of this would have happened!

Truthfully, both of them shared responsibility for what had occurred. But Shen Zekai desperately needed to vent his emotions, preferably by getting into a fight.

Yet Wu Zian remained uncharacteristically silent.

Shen Zekai tightened his grip on Wu Zian’s collar, pulling his head closer.

Wait, how could this be… so easy?

As fellow 2S-Class individuals, they should have been evenly matched. For Shen Zekai to pull Wu Zian’s head so effortlessly, the only explanation was…

Wu Zian had leaned in himself!

Like a slithering snake.

Shen Zekai recoiled in shock, instinctively pressing Wu Zian’s head down. Then… he met a pair of silver-gray eyes, their depths swirling like liquid mercury.

From the past to the present, Shen Zekai had only ever seen such eyes once before—

“Yao Huai?!”

When did this happen?

How is this possible?!

Shen Zekai reflexively released Wu Zian and instinctively retreated several steps.

How could this be? The item he had given Wu Zian wasn’t even enough to awaken his memories as a clone!

Wait, could the problem lie with…

Shen Zekai immediately looked at the cube-like device in Wu Zian’s palm.

Originally silver-gray, the device now appeared faded, its surface dull and completely black.

He had confidently given this item to Wu Zian because it contained a recording he had personally made of his breakthrough to 2S-Class.

He had believed this entirely self-made device to be completely safe, completely forgetting that his 2S breakthrough had also been the moment when his clone self had drawn most heavily on Yao Huai’s power.

He had been… tricked by Yao Huai right here.

Was it because Yao Huai had been observing the Federal Army with such detached indifference that even the clones had begun to forget what the Main Body truly looked like?

“You really don’t need to be so disheartened.”

“Wu Zian” stepped forward, reaching out to caress Shen Zekai’s face. The once-handsome face was now bruised and swollen, the bloodshot veins in his eyes starkly visible.

He looked every bit the defeated loser.

“You should thank Meng Xuexiao for not choosing you.”

“If he had chosen you, you would have died on the spot.”

With those final words, “Wu Zian” turned to gaze out the window. The setting sun retracted its last rays, shadows crept in, and even “Wu Zian’s” silhouette blurred into indistinctness.

Then Shen Zekai heard him murmur, almost to himself, “This position… should be about right.”

Shen Zekai seemed to realize something, his pupils contracting sharply.

In the next instant, the floor beneath their feet exploded violently, crimson flames erupting upward to engulf the entire starship.

Damn it…

Shen Zekai was thrown violently into the air.

That madman!

He had actually let… Meng Xuexiao stay with this lunatic!

The last thing Shen Zekai saw was pitch-black darkness.

Then—

“Boom!”

A fiery red burst erupted across the sky, far more dazzling and blinding than the one Huai Sui had spat out to crash into the Federation Military Academy classroom earlier.

It looked like…

“Fireworks?”

Standing where Meng Xuexiao was, he had a perfect view of the fiery display blooming across the horizon.

But then he immediately felt a sense of absurdity. Who would set off fireworks on a battlefield? It was utterly bizarre!

“Strange?” The Silver-Haired Man standing beside him seemed to have noticed the fireworks as well, his voice lifting slightly at the end. “I actually find them quite beautiful.”