82: Encirclement and pursuit

Lu Jianchuan pushed his speed to the limit, chasing relentlessly through the maze-like factory corridors. The two Prometheus executives clearly hadn't expected him to be so fast, as the gap between them closed rapidly.

"We can't shake him!" shouted the executive with abnormally thick arms and dark-colored knuckles, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible impatience.

The other executive, lean-bodied with eyes like inorganic glass, ignored his companion's anxiety. He came to a sudden halt and coldly spat out two words: "Useless."

Before his voice had even faded, he abruptly raised his arms. His sleeves instantly burst open, revealing pale, rapidly proliferating, eerie skeletal structures beneath, accompanied by a low hum.

The thick-armed executive seemed extremely wary of the lean one. Hearing the sound, he immediately gritted his teeth and moved like a ghost to intercept Lu Jianchuan, thrusting a glowing blue bone spur toward the gaps in the armor's joints. Lu Jianchuan sidestepped to dodge, his fist crackling with arcs of electricity as he smashed it toward his opponent, who barely avoided it with a preternaturally agile backstep. The two traded blows, their movements fast as lightning, locked in a temporary stalemate.

At that moment, the lean executive's transformation was complete! The front of his arms had been replaced by a set of complex barrels constructed from pale bone with a biological texture. Fluorescent veins lit up inside the barrels, emitting a heart-palpitating hum.

He looked at the fray indifferently and aimed the muzzles at Lu Jianchuan.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only an invisible yet incredibly violent force that slammed into him like a heavy hammer!

Lu Jianchuan felt as if his helmet had been hit head-on by a ten-thousand-ton freighter. A deafening ringing instantly stripped him of his hearing, and intense vertigo turned his vision black. He was thrown back uncontrollably, slamming heavily into a metal shelf behind him and twisting it out of shape. He slumped to the ground; the biological carapace on the chest and abdomen of his silver armor even showed fine cracks. His limbs were temporarily paralyzed by the intense shock, preventing him from getting up immediately.

Seeing this, the thick-armed executive showed a cruel smile. He stepped forward quickly, raised his dark arm, and aimed the glowing blue bone spur at the connection between Lu Jianchuan's helmet and breastplate, thrusting it down fiercely!

At that critical moment—

Swoosh!

The sharp sound of something slicing through the air arrived! A specialized alloy bullet, with startling precision, grazed the executive's arm and slammed into the concrete floor in front of him. It exploded into a small pit, and the splashing gravel stung him, forcing him to lunge back and look toward the source of the bullet in alarm.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Three more incredibly precise specialized alloy bullets tore through the air. They weren't aimed directly at the two executives but instead sealed off their potential pursuit or escape routes, forcing them to retreat repeatedly.

At the end of the corridor, heavy, rhythmic metallic footsteps approached. The figure codenamed "Golden Bone" appeared in the dim light, his entire body covered in matte black advanced Mechanical Exoskeleton. Beneath the streamlined armor were powerful hydraulic joints and transmission lines. He held his right arm level, a uniquely designed large-caliber firearm integrated into his forearm, with thin wisps of blue smoke still curling from the muzzle.

The executive with mutated arms growled, a hint of wariness flashing in his eyes. He quickly exchanged a look with his companion, who had just finished his attack—a look filled with gravity. The mechanical monster before them and the silver armor currently climbing back up created a troublesome pincer attack.

"Golden Bone" wasted no words; his arm-mounted firearm spat fire once more! The bullets were like precise scalpels, flying toward the vitals of both men.

Relying on his superhuman agility, the thick-armed executive moved like a ghost within the narrow space, dodging bullets by hairsbreadth margins. Those he couldn't completely avoid, he blocked with his dark carapace-covered arms, resulting in crisp "clink-clink" sounds.

The executive whose arms had turned into pale biological cannons reacted more directly. He made a slight adjustment to his barrels, and an invisible low-frequency shockwave instantly spread out!

Buzz—!

The moment the specialized bullets entered the vibration zone, they seemed to fall into an invisible mire. Their speed plummeted, their trajectories became highly unstable, and they eventually veered off target, clattering to the ground.

Data flowed rapidly across Golden Bone's tactical visor. He decisively stopped firing. Short bursts of air erupted from his mechanical soles, propelling his heavy body forward like a cannonball. His target was the cannon-armed executive who had just released the sonic wave and seemed to be in a brief recovery period!

"I'm your opponent!" The thick-armed executive wasn't about to let him have his way. With a low shout, his arm muscles bulged, and ten glowing blue bone spurs shot out like venomous snakes, striking at the joints of Golden Bone's exoskeleton from extremely tricky angles!

However, Golden Bone seemed to have anticipated this. Without slowing his charge, his left mechanical arm swung back at an ergonomically impossible angle, precisely meeting the opponent's bone spurs. Just as the spurs were about to touch the armor—

BOOM—!!!

A dull explosion, like a giant hammer hitting the ground, erupted! A visible, highly condensed secondary shockwave burst violently from the precision device on his left forearm!

This shockwave was highly focused, like an invisible heavy cannon, slamming squarely into the thick-armed executive's crossed arms!

"Ugh—!"

He felt an irresistible force surge through him. His mutated arm-guards let out a tooth-grinding cracking sound, and he was sent flying backward like he'd been hit head-on by a high-speed train. He slammed into the distant metal wall, embedding into a human-shaped crater, his arm-guards shattered and clearly severely injured.

Meanwhile, the precision device on Golden Bone's left arm that had just unleashed the terrifying strike was now emitting wisps of white smoke. The sound of breaking parts came from within; it was completely scrapped. Without hesitation, he pressed and twisted a joint on his left arm. With a "clack," he detached the entire ruined Shock Generator and tossed it aside.

Almost simultaneously, a compartment on the side of his tactical backpack opened. A brand-new Shock Generator, gleaming with cold metallic luster, was automatically retrieved by a mechanical arm and precisely delivered to his left arm. With a crisp "click," the new weapon was loaded. The entire process was seamless, taking less than two seconds.

The hearts of both executives sank. The combat power of this mechanical monster far exceeded their estimates—not only was its defense formidable, but its attacks were domineering, and it could even rapidly swap out key weapons! They instantly judged that they had no chance of winning in a direct confrontation!

In that brief gap, the cannon-armed executive made a decision! A flash of ruthlessness and resentment crossed his pale face as he pushed the power of his biological sonic cannons to the absolute limit! The fluorescent veins inside the barrels glowed blindingly bright, emitting a deathly hum like ten thousand bees vibrating their wings at once!

But this time, he wasn't attacking a specific target. Instead, he aimed at the load-bearing structures and ceiling of the abandoned factory building above them! This was the only way to create chaos and block the pursuit!

"Everyone... be buried here!"

RUMBLE—!!!

A low-frequency shockwave, far more violent and massive than any before, surged upward like a tide of destruction! The reinforced concrete floor slabs snapped like brittle crackers under the terrifying force. Giant concrete blocks mixed with twisted rebar poured down like a torrential rain!

"Not good!" Alarms flashed wildly on Golden Bone's tactical visor. He instantly calculated the collapse zone. His mechanical soles fired at full power as he tried to rush toward the nearest exit, while his arm-mounted firearm fired frantically at the falling boulders above, trying to clear a path.

Lu Jianchuan also endured the vertigo and bodily paralysis, pushing his armor's energy to the limit. He dodged and blocked clumsily amidst the falling rocks.

For a moment, dust filled the air and explosions roared, as the entire space turned into a destructive Hell.

When things settled slightly and the dust slowly fell, Golden Bone and Lu Jianchuan struggled out from the ruins. All that remained before them were broken floor slabs and a blocked passage. The two Prometheus executives had long since vanished without a trace, taking advantage of the extreme chaos caused by the building's collapse.

The gaze beneath Golden Bone's visor was icy. He glanced at Lu Jianchuan, who was equally disheveled with a few more cracks on his armor. Without saying another word, he simply issued a muffled electronic voice through his external speaker: "Clear the passage. Evacuate."