I am a hero of the former civilization.

boom! boom!

Two plumes of black smoke erupted from the Gobi Desert, and flying stones clattered against the van. Ryan continued to accelerate, marveling for the nth time at the usefulness of his authority.

The electromagnetic field interfered with the guidance head, instantly turning the target into a Brownian motion projectile; it would be a miracle if it could still hit.

"here we go again!"

Then he heard Sakura's voice again, turned his head and saw that it was a salvo of six shots.

"Calm down."

“I…” Sakura didn’t know what to say. She had been an assassin for so many years and had never been chased by an anti-tank missile.

With a high-explosive tandem warhead penetrating more than a thousand millimeters deep, not only this van, but even a tank would be reduced to burning scrap metal.

But the next moment, she saw an unscientific scene: the missiles started flying around erratically again, their contrails swirling and exploding all around with a rumble.

"Vilvie truly lives up to her reputation as a magician; her electronic interference is incredibly powerful." This was the first time Sakura had praised Velvie, and she had initially thought it was some kind of jamming device.

But when she turned around, a chill ran down her spine again.

There was a large rift valley several hundred meters wide in front of them, and a helicopter was swooping down from behind them. The pilot clearly felt like he had seen a ghost and was preparing to deal with it with his machine gun.

"What do we do now?" Sakura's tone became urgent as she noticed that Ryan showed no sign of stopping.

"Sit still, hold on tight, and leave the rest to me."

Without a word, Ryan pressed the red button on the dashboard, and the trunk door detached, while both engines spewed out long tongues of flame.

hum-

The dilapidated van took off, the intense thrust pressing people firmly into their seats. Even with Sakura's composure, she clenched her toes, her purple eyes scanning back and forth.

She saw the bottomless chasm, the Honkai Beast across the street, the helicopter behind her, and of course, the man with half his body sticking out.

Time seemed to slow down in her perception as she saw Ryan take out a metal object the size of a button and toss it gently into the air.

"To answer your question, this has nothing to do with Velvi, and it's not some kind of mystical art. It's—"

What is he doing? What does he want to do?!

Doubts arose in my mind, and then a bright light appeared, the shockwave even suppressing the incoming gale.

An electric arc appeared, and a blazing beam of light streaked into the distance at several times the speed of sound.

boom!

Accompanying the explosion was a man's cold voice.

"A Certain Scientific Railgun!"

Chapter 85 Chasing Fire: Fourteen Heroes?

Throughout the entire ordeal, the pilots of the Poison Chrysalis were like they had seen a ghost. First, their missiles were jammed, and then they saw a broken-down van fly across the rift valley.

Before they could recover from this magical transformation, they were completely exorcised by a beam of bright light.

Phew—boom! !

The 'shell' arrived at several times the speed of sound, leaving no possibility of dodging. The ace pilot didn't even have to make a move before he and the helicopter were turned into fireballs.

A scientifically sound railgun? I don't think it's scientific at all.

Sakura looked at the helicopter falling to the ground as it crumbled into parts in the rearview mirror, and for a moment she didn’t know what to say. She knew Ryan was strong, but his strength was beyond comprehension and also beyond her expectations.

The rocket had run out of fuel, the van had already climbed past the highest point and was falling towards the other side of the rift, where several enormous tank-class Honkai Beasts had been waiting for a long time.

They don't understand why humans kill each other, but they do understand that whoever crosses the rift will die.

"What should we do now?" Sakura was no longer surprised. She just gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, looked at the huge fist coming towards her, and made a plan in her mind.

Try to get off the vehicle, climb up the Honkai Beast's arm, and use all your strength to cut off its head.

Before she could even act, a crimson spear flew out and, upon striking the fist, tore the giant fist to shreds like a blender.

Forearm, elbow, shoulder—everything that passed through them turned to nothingness, and a man was standing on the head of a Honkai Beast.

Um! ?

Sakura turned to look to the side, and the driver's seat was already empty. There was only a large hole melted in the windshield, but the speed was too fast and she didn't notice it at all.

"I would be more at ease killing you all."

Ryan lowered his eyes, looking at the other giant fist raised by the tank, bent down, and threw a punch first.

A single, powerful strike that splits the earth.

Compared to the three-story-tall tank-type monster, Ryan's fist was negligible, but cracks appeared on the top of the Honkai Beast's head, instantly spreading to its entire body, and then—

disintegrate.

It wasn't a kill, but rather it was directly reduced to fragments, like a porcelain vase shattered by a hammer blow; the Honkai Beast's body tissue covered the windshield.

Boom--boom--

The van finally landed on the ground, its tires bouncing continuously. Sakura gripped the handles tightly, trying her best to resist the impact, but then felt as if she had hit something, and suddenly stopped.

She quickly looked around, her pupils slightly contracting. The Honkai Beasts were nowhere to be seen. She felt a sense of bewilderment, like someone drawing their sword and looking around in confusion, until a hand rested on the car window.

"Sakura, it's time to get off the bus." Ryan showed no emotion whatsoever, and even his glasses were undamaged.

"You've taken care of everything?" The girl pushed open the car door with a creak, only to see several corpses. Looking further back, black smoke from the explosion still lingered in the sky.

"Hmm, you're not strong enough yet, it'll be quite troublesome to handle. Come with me, the guests are almost here." Ryan didn't say much more and turned to leave.

Sakura paused for a moment, standing there with a flicker in her eyes. Then she turned to look at the departing figure and gently bit her lip.

He was indeed terrifying, like being shrouded in a fog, with no way of seeing his limits, and even making one doubt that Alicia was a match for him.

But once you're on the same side as him, you feel incredibly safe.

'Can he be Ling's protector?'

The thought suddenly flashed through Sakura's mind. Her hands were stained with blood. She had thought that power could do it, but now she realized that power was insignificant in the face of personal strength.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, without an answer, she took a step forward, but this time, she was much more decisive.

Ryan didn't care what Sakura was thinking. He only knew that one person couldn't be the savior, and those heroes who stood out from the original timeline were the best companions.

Although they ultimately failed, they still shone brightly and left behind a rich legacy. Moreover, what the thirteen heroes could not do, can the fourteen heroes do?

Like Sakura, Ryan had no answer either, and could only take it one step at a time and seek some possibility.

"At least most heroes can provide direct assistance, especially combat-type heroes like Sakura."

Ryan walked to a high place, looked into the distance, and then his mouth twitched.

He could see a dozen small black dots approaching in the sky, and then, where he had started speeding, Vivi crossed her legs, lifted her skirt, struck a pose as if taking her final bow, and then sped away.

A great performance naturally deserves cheers from the audience, although this sight made Ryan's blood pressure rise a little.

"Is that person really alright?"

"I have no choice but to trust her now. If she ruins my entire plan, then I'll..."

"So you killed her?"

“I’ll have Mebius develop a new drug so that all she can think about is engineering research.”

Are you sure this is punishment, and not a reward?

Sakura licked her lips, finally suppressing the urge to complain. Spending a few days with these two people was completely different from what she had imagined.

Well... it was quite interesting, wasn't it?

"Six helicopters, a pursuit team of about thirty people, is that all the Poison Chrysalis has?"

“The Poison Chrysalis isn’t a legion; its members are scattered all over the world. It’s already quite impressive that they could gather thirty people.” Sakura glanced at the corpses behind her and added, “Of course, these people are no match for you.”

That's for sure. Ryan is no different from the Herrscher. Before the Fusion Warrior project succeeds, wanting to hunt down enemies with a small team is just a pipe dream, but he wasn't too arrogant.

Ultimately, it's because the Honkai energy isn't enough. Humanity's high-tech weapons can also pose a threat, like the 'Scepter of God'.

"You're curious why I didn't rush over and kill them all?"

“Yes, you certainly have the ability. I guess you want to keep it as secret as possible.” Sakura is intelligent and has the instinct of an assassin.

“That’s right. I prefer killing within the rules rather than making enemies everywhere. Besides, the Fire Moths are very useful. I’m just keeping them pure.” This was the first time Ryan had revealed his operational objective to prevent Sakura from overthinking.

"Then who exactly is your enemy?"

Ryan turned around, kicked away half of the tank's arm, and walked into the depths of the wilderness.

"Honkai Beasts, but they are not just Honkai Beasts."

......

Helicopters hovered over the small town, and soldiers in full-body powered exoskeletons had taken over the streets, searching houses one by one with various instruments.

Whether or not the target was found, any living person would be interrogated with drugs, then shot once more, leaving behind a trembling corpse before leaving.

The local police department had already given the word, and the Firemoth branch responsible for the area remained silent. This town, which should have perished long ago, was about to undergo a 'collapse,' leaving no survivors.

Well, it's a kind of relief, I suppose.

Various cutting-edge instruments searched the entire town, but found nothing. And obviously, the poisonous pupae couldn't be dug up three feet deep; those 'tacit approvals' obtained through a huge amount of favors had time limits.

"It seems that, just as the report said, they flew across the rift valley and went to the deepest part of the desert."

On the rooftop where Ryan had once looked around, a white-haired man in a tight-fitting combat suit, holding a helmet, was also gazing at the rift. He wore a mask, revealing only his scarlet eyes.

Between the small town and the rift valley, there is a pile of burning wreckage. Some people have already explored it and concluded that the helicopter was shot down by some kind of artillery shell.

This is consistent with the traces in Montpellier, and the accompanying agents suspect it is the effect of a small electromagnetic railgun, except that it is being tried to be made into a tank main gun, which is very strange.

Who drove the tank to rescue people? That's way too high-profile, and how did the tank get into the mine and wipe out the Black Mask Squad?

“Chief, there’s one more thing. Judging from the traces, there are three enemies.” A poisonous pupa strode over and stood ramrod straight. “We can’t rule out the possibility that there’s a traitor among them.”

“There’s definitely a traitor. Although all the traces have been erased, they fought at the lowest level of the mine. How could we pinpoint their location without a traitor?” The white-haired man sneered and casually asked, “Any results on those two matters?”

"Alicia is helping out in Shenzhou, while Dr. Ryan is working at the Fifth Research Institute."

"Is that correct?"

"We have personally confirmed all of these, and compared the remaining traces with those from the Third Herrscher extermination battle. The similarity is very low."