You said mechs were going to fight monsters, but instead you're destroying stars with your bare

Chapter 31 Steel Empire: World War II
Crisis Era Year 6, June 10th, Tuesday.

Huazhou Shenhai City, Pudong Archipelago Development Zone, Haixing Island.

early morning.

The first rays of dawn shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows and fell on Li Zhe's face.

He opened his eyes quickly, without the slightest hesitation or delay.

A good night's sleep leaves you feeling refreshed and full of energy.

He's in top form.

The energy level has also been fully restored, reaching a perfect 10/10 state.

I didn't eat breakfast, and I didn't even drink a drop of water.

For Li Zhe now, regular food is more about satisfying his appetite and psychological needs.

While it can speed up energy recovery, achieving more efficient energy replenishment and combat power enhancement is still more challenging.

We'll have to rely on those "buffets" from the abyss...

After Li Zhe finished tidying up, he walked to the open space outside the villa.

I took a deep breath of the fresh sea breeze.

Opening the system panel consumes 5 energy points.

"Teleport!"

As the light and shadow shifted, a familiar feeling of weightlessness washed over me.

The next second, he once again descended upon that urban jungle of tombstones made up of living metal, wailing pipes, and rusted flesh.

Abyss of Deception: Steel Empire, Floor 0...

The moment he landed, Li Zhe activated the detection module.

It performed a quick scan of the surrounding environment to determine its location.

It was the same place I left from last time.

Apart from the addition of a floating, protective crystal rhombus next to it, the surrounding scenery is largely unchanged.

There's nothing more to say.

Let’s get started!
Li Zhe did not stay in place, but rushed out of the crystal's protective range and immediately launched a hunting operation.

The target is the low-level monsters roaming the surrounding buildings.

It's time to prepare breakfast!
These monsters generally have a combat strength between 0.3 and 0.5.

It poses no threat to Li Zhe.

"Oh!"

Just then, a mechanical hunting dog, transformed from an abandoned motorcycle, suddenly pounced out of the shadows...

[Catalog Number: Motorcycle Hound (STDOG-15075)]

[Type: First-generation Abyss Apostle - Demonic Hound - Mechanical Mutant]

【Combat strength: 0.6】

[Special Ability: Bite strikes inflict tetanus; Runs very cool]

[Note: Dogs are man's best friend, but this is not]

Wow, that cool dog riding a motorcycle looks really awesome.

Then Li Zhe punched the hound rider, blasting the fuel tank open.

And Li Zhe received a gear-shaped cookie as a reward.

"Crack!"

We just finished beating the dog, and a few more dogs came and started peeking out.

Several strange-looking things, made up of surveillance cameras and robotic arms, suddenly appeared...

[Number: Eye Tumor Monitoring Sentinel (STCAM-15075)]

[Type: First Generation Abyss Apostle - Eye Tumor Species - Mechanical Mutant]

【Combat strength: 0.6】

[Special Ability: Can coordinate with surrounding abyssal monsters to launch large-scale battles; the monitoring function has a control effect, hindering movement]

[Note: Do not look into its eyes...]

"Do you think I didn't notice you? Sneaking around like that." Li Zhe leaped into the air—

The sentinels' magical eyes didn't even have time to aim their crimson lasers at him.

It was smashed to pieces by a stone that Li Zhe casually threw.

This is not a battle, but a one-sided preparation of ingredients.

In less than ten minutes, Li Zhe easily dealt with more than twenty monsters.

They didn't even use their melee weapons.

The result was six "Mechanical Demon Steel Cores".

He picked up a gear-shaped cookie.

Unlike before, I didn't soak it in an energy supplement first.

Once your combat power reaches 2.0, pick up this cookie again.

Li Zhe realized that he could adopt a simpler way of eating...

"Let me taste what the original gear cookie tastes like."

It was stuffed directly into my mouth.

"Crunch, pop, crunch..." The crisp sound echoed in my mouth.

As you chew, a strong taste of rust and engine oil instantly fills your mouth.

[Upgrade successful. Mech strength +0.01, current combat power 2.01]

Yes, eating it directly is indeed effective.

As for the texture and taste, well...

It's like licking an iron railing in winter, someone stuffing snowflakes into your collar, and after a bit of roughhousing, you sweat... your sweaty sweater sticks directly to your skin.

This indescribable taste was forced into my mouth and stirred around.

"Damn, this is awful."

Li Zhe frowned and swallowed the crumbs in his mouth.

With his current 2.0 level of combat power, he can easily handle this level of "hard dish".

But the taste is just... indescribable.

Li Zhe took out the "Private Energy Supply Pack" and soaked the remaining few mechanical demon steel cores in it.

As he ate more, the crispy texture with its minty aroma was like eating watermelon while watching TV with a fan on in the summer, making him comfortably squint his eyes.

Without comparison, there's no way to appreciate the difference; the gear-shaped cookies dipped in energy supplements are definitely tastier.

I ate the remaining few in one go.

The energy bar was instantly replenished, and the combat power increased to 2.06.

really……

Food must be prepared before it is eaten!
After eating and drinking to our hearts' content, our energy has been replenished.

Based on the map information obtained from the group, Li Zhe prepared to activate the power module to fly and efficiently traverse the area where the bounty target might appear.

"Light wings spread out!"

With the ability to fly, combined with map information...

He felt right at home in this complex maze of reinforced concrete.

It swept across the rugged streets and collapsed buildings, drawing a straight line in the air, greatly shortening the travel time.

Li Zhe had deliberately planned a route that led him past a stronghold frequented by Abyss Apostles.

These are a group of monsters—mechanical dancers—formed from mannequins mutated from abandoned clothing store mannequins.

They retain the outline of women, but their bodies are made of cold metal and exposed cables.

Its limbs are long and strange, and each joint can twist and rotate without any blind spots.

Each robotic dancer moves with a strange gait that is somewhere between ballet and modern dance.

We moved silently through the ruins.

His movements were sometimes elegant, sometimes frantic.

The cables swayed like ribbons.

With its twisted joints, even Kayako would be humbled... It was filled with a terrifying beauty that was both sinister and eerie.

When they spotted Li Zhe, they immediately stopped dancing.

"Gala!"

The head joints twisted instantly.

More than a dozen pairs of electronic eyes, flashing scarlet light, locked onto Li Zhe in unison!
The next second, their figures instantly became blurry.

More than a dozen silver shadows came from all directions at incredible angles, hurtling towards Li Zhe at high speed!
Li Zhe glanced at the information about this monster without any panic.

[Catalog Number: Mechanical Dancer (STDAN-11074)]

【Type: First-generation Abyss Apostle - Puppet Species - Mechanical Mutant】

【Combat strength: 1.01】

[Special Abilities: High-speed mobility, extremely tricky attack angles, and proficient in combined attack techniques]

[Note: How many seconds can you hold your own once they start dancing?]

Say something.

With a combat power of 1.01, Li Zhe is not weak among the monsters he has encountered so far.

Coupled with their uncanny movement techniques and perfectly coordinated attacks, the initial mechs were completely at their mercy.

But against Li Zhe, who possesses the ability to fly and a combat strength of 2.06...

"Do you want to dance too?"

Instead of retreating, Li Zhe advanced, switching to the agile attack type of the melee module.

His arms transformed into high-speed spinning chainsaws as he charged straight at the dozen or so silver figures!
A waltz has begun...

……

One minute later...

The last mechanical dancer was severed in mid-air by Li Zhe, turning into a pile of parts and dust.

Li Zhe hovered steadily in mid-air, completely unharmed.

With combat power more than doubled, they can truly do whatever they want.

In addition, with air superiority, no matter how many of these monsters come, they're just easy targets.

After defeating the monsters, I found something good.

Li Zhe now possessed a completely new set of core materials...

(End of this chapter)