Why Do All the Villains Look at Me Like This? - Chapter 98

The artificial intelligence on the other end of the communicator, the Enforcer, had been waiting for Meng Xuexiao to ask this question. It was part of its carefully laid plan.

After Shen Zekai’s starship exploded, the Enforcer received a message from Shen Zekai’s personal email account. The first line read:

[Enforcer, if you’re receiving this message, it means I’m dead.]

[Honestly, I didn’t want to waste my final message on you, but I have no choice. You’re the only 2S-Class who hasn’t harmed Meng Xuexiao.]

In truth, the deepest animosity lay between the Enforcer and Shen Zekai. When Meng Xuexiao first enrolled at the Federation Military Academy, the Enforcer nearly killed Shen Zekai in their first encounter. Yet it was also the Enforcer who rescued Meng Xuexiao from the shopkeeper who had kidnapped them.

Before their duel at the Federation Military Academy, Shen Zekai had assumed the Enforcer’s possession of Meng Xuexiao’s training mecha was meant to harm him. Instead, the Enforcer relentlessly trained Meng Xuexiao for hours, even acting as his instructor when necessary.

Desperate, Shen Zekai gambled on the artificial intelligence’s last shred of kindness. He meticulously listed their clone identities and attached them to the message, then…

[Meng Xuexiao is with Yao Huai right now, and it’s extremely dangerous. Please go save him.]

[If he’s wary and unwilling to trust you, show him the video of my death. As a Smart Brain with absolute rationality, I trust you’ll make the most accurate judgment.]

This was the perfect moment to deliver this message to Meng Xuexiao. With a 99% probability of success, why would a Smart Brain with absolute rationality hesitate to act now?

Yet the Enforcer remained silent.

Under normal circumstances, it would have answered any question Meng Xuexiao asked after confirming its identity, except for questions about Shen Zekai. But now…

It found itself unable to bring itself to speak.

The young man before it was so desperate, so eager for verification, clinging to this as his last hope.

Though merely a Smart Brain, it felt its throat grow dry. Slowly, it typed out a line of text:

[Shen Zekai is unharmed.]

[However, he is severely injured. Yao Huai was the one who attacked him.]

[I came here because Shen Zekai asked me to help you.]

In those brief seconds, the Enforcer had already edited the recording, deleting the final footage of the starship exploding and Shen Zekai’s death.

The words and the video seemed to strike at Meng Xuexiao’s deepest, most secret hopes. The young man’s gaze lingered repeatedly on the two short lines, as if chewing over each word he had typed, again and again.

[Thank you.]

The Enforcer couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Then it saw Meng Xuexiao type the next line:

[But this is fake, right?]

The Enforcer froze, momentarily stunned. Could it be that its meticulously crafted half-truth, the most difficult lie to discern, had been exposed with a single sentence?

In truth, Meng Xuexiao had sensed something was off. The Smart Brain’s silence before responding, the benevolent lie it carried, and Shen Zekai’s final call to reassure him—all left a lingering sense of unease upon closer reflection.

Most importantly, someone like Yao Huai, once determined to kill, would never leave survivors.

Even Zhuoyue, renowned for his unparalleled physique and resilience, had his heart crushed instantly by Yao Huai.

But… knowing this in his mind was one thing; truly facing it was another…

A perfectly healthy man, someone he had spoken to just last time they met, someone who had finally broken through to 2S-Class strength and sworn to protect him this time…

Just like that…

Gone.

This was the Interstellar Era, a time of constant danger. The number of people dying each day might even exceed the number of births. But Shen Zekai was someone close to him.

Meng Xuexiao, still sitting on Yao Huai’s lap, felt his hands and feet grow cold. His hands had been trembling uncontrollably as he typed on the Smart Brain earlier.

Unlike before, when he had drawn warmth and a sense of security from Yao Huai in the Federal Logistics building, now the man beneath him, whose skin pressed tightly against his own, was danger itself.

“What’s wrong?” The source of danger spoke at that very moment.

Meng Xuexiao froze. Yao Huai must have felt him trembling, but he couldn’t be sure if the man had noticed anything else, like… the recorder hidden in his sleeve.

He instinctively tried to conceal the recorder further.

Yao Huai merely glanced up at the moon, hidden behind layers of clouds. It was the deepest part of the night, the coldest hour.

“You’re trembling. Are you cold?”

Before Meng Xuexiao could answer, the man reached out and pinched the air. A moon-white jacket, identical to the one Yao Huai was wearing, materialized and dropped over Meng Xuexiao’s head, completely enveloping the young man.

The fabric was incredibly smooth and light as a cloud, yet remarkably warm—unlike any material Meng Xuexiao had ever encountered.

Moreover… had Yao Huai ever possessed the ability to conjure objects from thin air before?

Meng Xuexiao recalled that he hadn’t.

Yao Huai had always relied on his devastating offensive powers and mind-altering abilities, never displaying anything like this.

Perhaps it was just his imagination… but Yao Huai seemed to have grown stronger.

How had he become stronger?

This forced Meng Xuexiao to confront a question that had plagued him since their initial collaboration, Why had Yao Huai agreed to work with him?

Throughout their partnership, Yao Huai had never asked Meng Xuexiao for anything in return. Nor did he strike Meng Xuexiao as the type to offer selfless assistance. So what exactly did Yao Huai hope to gain from this alliance?

Now, Meng Xuexiao had a faint suspicion—

“Are you feeling any better now?” Yao Huai asked, as if ready to add another layer if Meng Xuexiao still felt cold. “Huai Sui is just ahead. We’ll be there soon.”

That’s it!

In that instant, all the pieces clicked into place in Meng Xuexiao’s mind.

Yao Huai was using Meng Xuexiao’s desire to eliminate these bosses to systematically kill them off one by one.

With each boss’s death, Yao Huai’s power grew stronger. This was why he was so relentlessly pursuing Huai Sui!

If someone already powerful could continue to grow stronger, what would they become in the end? They would become unstoppable!

At that point, would anyone be able to restrain Yao Huai?

And what if Yao Huai, who was now helping him eliminate these bosses, eventually became another boss Meng Xuexiao would have to flee from?

Would he even be able to escape then? Would another person appear to help him kill Yao Huai?

Then… then…

Meng Xuexiao’s trembling hand gripped the clothes Yao Huai had draped over him. With his other hand, he pinched his thigh hard.

His delicate face quickly paled.

He carefully peeked out from under the garment, biting his lower lip. His voice was faint as he said, “I’m not cold, just feeling a bit unwell. Probably just tired.”

“Could we… stop for a short rest?”

No matter what, he couldn’t let Yao Huai catch up to Huai Sui!

Using the hand he had just pinched his thigh with, Meng Xuexiao rapidly tapped the screen of the recorder hidden beneath his clothes.

[You said you came to help me. How can you help?]

A reply came swiftly from the Smart Brain:

[My data perception is being interfered with. I can’t pinpoint your location and can’t follow the data stream directly to you.]

[I suspect Yao Huai is responsible. He must have created an interference layer around himself. You need to distance yourself from him temporarily until I can reestablish a signal and coordinates.]