Great, we're doomed now!

"Hmm? What's wrong? Why are you asking this all of a sudden?" Qianhua blinked her adorable big eyes. "Of course, I love 'Today's Sweet' the most, I've been following the serialization! Didn't I recommend it to you before?"

"Oh, I remember now."

—That's not surprising, that's not surprising!

Seeing that the Stand maintained a smile on the surface, but the figure of the [Suspension Bridge Effect] appeared behind her, the Stand wearing a metal eye mask sighed and covered her forehead... fully expressing the original's feelings at this moment.

Qianhua, Qianhua, hesitation is a major taboo in military strategy. How can you not understand such a simple principle?

Perhaps because I've seen so many monsters and demons, my way of thinking isn't filled with so much rosy idealism; I can always grasp the crux of a problem by looking at it from multiple perspectives.

Chika has a carefree, romantic mindset. She might even yearn for a bittersweet, tumultuous romance with her childhood friend, just like the characters in a shoujo manga, where no matter what twists and turns they go through, they will eventually be together.

...But this is just a beautiful fantasy; reality won't give you that many opportunities!

Handsome men and beautiful women spending too much time together can easily lead to something going wrong!

How can you possibly win against a maid if you follow the tropes of a school romance manga?

After playing around the amusement park for a while, Chika stopped when they passed a small theater: "Wow, it's Metal Heroes! Let's all go in and take a look!"

"Sis Chihaya, when did you start liking this kind of stuff for kids?"

When Gui looked at the standee, the title was clearly "Suit Heroes vs. Modified Monsters," a clichéd children's movie.

"And it's a character I've never heard of before."

"No, no, no, Metal Heroes aren't niche characters. They're special heroes from the same company as the famous 'Locust Mask,' but they weren't as popular, so they gradually merged into one branch. Now, many masked characters' designs incorporate Metal Heroes' style elements!"

Chika spoke eloquently like an expert, then changed the subject: "These are all things that Xiao Shou told me. He used to drag me to watch them together, and even went on stage to interact with people, saying things like 'This child's body won't be awkward' or other meaningless things."

Hmm... but I've gradually come to like it too, so it doesn't matter~

As she spoke, she put her hands on her hips and posed with her legs, making a transformation gesture without any awkwardness, which drew applause from the children next to her.

"Come on, let's take some souvenirs home!"

The girls were tired from walking, so they chatted and laughed as they followed the crowd into the venue.

"Hmm~ This should be pretty good..."

Chika picked out a decent-looking transformation device from the gift shop, and a rare gentleness appeared on her usually lively face, as if she was thinking of someone.

By the time they took their seats, the performance was about to begin. As the prologue plot progressed rapidly, it finally came to the scene with the dark organization, where stunt performers dressed in cyborg suits made their grand entrance.

They were all wearing power suits, which made their martial arts moves even smoother and more thrilling, making them a thrilling spectacle. Gradually, not only Chika, but also Asuna and the others found it very interesting and began to watch with great interest.

"We will never tolerate the evil One Star Society..."

The actors were interrupted by another group of costumed monsters as they were reciting their lines. This group of actors wore black robes and bird-like monster costumes on their heads. They looked very strange, scary, and very realistic.

Is this leather?

The audience was taken aback, because this wasn't part of the pre-arranged script. Had the script been changed at the last minute? How unprofessional!

"Oh, oh, oh!"

The audience thought a new enemy had appeared and were cheering politely. The actor couldn't show his displeasure, so he improvised and swept his arm across the stage with great force, encompassing the newly appeared enemy as well, and loudly proclaimed his determination to win.

...In the stands, Chika frowned when the new monsters appeared—she didn't recognize these characters, and they didn't seem to be from Metal Heroes.

But why does it look somewhat familiar?

Suddenly, her face turned pale, and she instinctively grabbed Bai Yingui's hand.

The thought of a certain possibility flashed through Chika's mind, along with scenes of monster battles she had witnessed before, making her extremely nervous.

"No, it can't be that unlucky... It's broad daylight, you know?"

"Sister Qianhua?"

"...Kei-chan, don't make a sound. I hope I'm just being paranoid...Asuna, Miko-chan, Hana, let's leave here first."

At this moment, Asuna and Miko also realized that something was wrong—they had been paying close attention when reading online posts earlier.

Chika gently lifted her bottom from the seat: "Don't panic, I must be overthinking it... Anyway, there's nothing else to do, let's go home today."

She didn't plan to publicize it, firstly because she wasn't sure, and secondly because if it were true, it might cause chaos and upset the other party.

"Ah."

"Huh? Okay."

Whether they understood or not, several girls quietly got up and, afraid of disturbing other audience members, crouched down and tried to leave.

Seeing Zi walk at the back, she kept an eye on the crow-like cyborgs out of the corner of her eye. Black and white stand-ins, invisible to the naked eye, had already appeared behind her.

She is now quite proficient in using her abilities. Although she is not good at fighting, she is probably the most capable fighter among these people. If anything unexpected happens, she will have to step forward to protect her companions.

Qianhua took out her phone, opened her contacts, and looked at the first number.

"Get back now, you monster!"

At this moment, the actor playing Metal Hero on stage has already launched an attack on the newly appeared monster according to the impromptu script.

However, the punch was easily dodged, and the opponent retaliated by raising a prop gun and aiming it at the actor.

hum!

A flash of light, and the actor suddenly vanished!

"Ugh?"

"Magic?"

Where did it go?

"Wow!"

The audience was surprised by this performance and cheered, but the other actors on stage were stunned.

The strange man with a head shaped like a bird couldn't stand the noise any longer. He suddenly turned his head and glared fiercely at the stands, his large eyes flashing with a dangerous yellow light.

One of them then pointed his gun at the audience.

hum!

This time I saw it clearly: it was a spiral-shaped beam of light that hit a spectator, distorting the light and shadow, and then the entire person disappeared without a trace.

"..."

There was a moment of deathly silence in the arena.

"Ahhh!"

"Sigh!"

The crow-men covered their heads, looking quite agitated, and pointed their guns at each other again—

"Deadly move! Rider Kick!!!"

--boom!

The special effects actor, using his power suit, leaped forward and kicked the crow-man hard on the head, sending it staggering backward. The beam of light also veered off course and hit a flagpole, instantly shrinking it to only half a meter in length.

"I...I...I don't care anymore! Monster—ah!"

The actor was clearly the type who acted faster than he thought. After successfully kicking down his opponent, he froze on the spot. He wanted to press his advantage but missed his chance. A beam of light shot at him from the side, and he was captured before he could even let out a scream.

The crow-man who launched the sneak attack glanced at the cage of his "tool gun," inside which was a tiny figure stored in a slot, and nodded in satisfaction.

Such a strong slave could fetch a good price if brought back to our home planet.

Wow, this planet is really great, there's plenty of high-quality labor everywhere!

Chapter 203: You Can Take This Residual Value?! (5K)

The entire amusement park descended into chaos, with terrified screams and the low, eerie hooting of the Crow People becoming the dominant melody in this enclosed space.

The entrances and exits had long been sealed off. The crow-men, wielding strange spears, shot beams of light at the tourists, shrinking them to about five centimeters in size, and then imprisoning them in cages.

The scene resembled a hunt. The Crowmen were not keen on killing; they were an interstellar pirate race whose social system was based on slavery. They plundered labor from other planets and practiced a hierarchical master-servant system within their race.

In their eyes, healthy humans are valuable assets, just like black slaves were in the eyes of white colonists hundreds of years ago.

By bringing a large number of slaves back to their home planet, they can become wealthy overnight, rising from "soldier" to "citizen".

What's most remarkable is that this planet's technology is not advanced; the vehicles on the streets still use fossil fuels, and the weapons used by the police and soldiers are merely kinetic weapons powered by chemical energy.

Through the internet, they learned that there were also some powerful life forms on this planet, but they were pirates, not an army. Once they had plundered enough, they would return home. A race still trapped on its home planet was powerless to catch up with the interstellar spaceship.

But when they come again, it will be a great conquest!

—They are called “Lebik Alien”!

These alien hunters, clad in jet-black uniforms, are carrying out their hunting plans with astonishing efficiency and initiative. Forming small teams of two or three, they methodically search for every hiding human.

Behind a small stall, a young couple huddled together, shivering and holding their breath. Through the gaps in the colorful tarpaulin, they watched as a crow-man walked past with somewhat nervous steps.

The man tightly covered his girlfriend's mouth, afraid that she would scream out of fear.

However, the crow-man's head, which could rotate at multiple angles like a bird, suddenly stopped, and its yellow eyes turned slightly, as if it had caught some trace.

Suddenly, it whirled around and raised its beam gun—

hum!

The colorful tarpaulin was instantly empty, leaving only an ice cream cone that had rolled to the ground and was mostly melted.

On the other side, a staff member dressed in a mascot costume tried to escape through the staff passage using his familiarity with the area. But just as he was about to see the faint light of the exit, a silhouette of a crow-man, backlit and hidden, silently appeared at the end of the passage, blocking his way.

Before he could even beg for mercy, the spiraling beam of light had already engulfed him.

-

The labyrinth castle, a children's playground made of plywood and rubber mats, has become a refuge for many tourists, including a chestnut-haired girl named Asuna who has become separated from her companions.

She was originally following behind her companions, but when the crowd became chaotic, Chika protected the younger Chika and Kei tightly behind her. They finally reached an open area outside, but encountered a small group of crow people on their way to the gate.

To be honest, Asuna was too scared to remember exactly what happened, but she vaguely saw Miko confronting a crow-man. She didn't know how she made a move, but somehow the strange gun in the crow-man's hand went off accidentally, hitting another crow-man and temporarily frightening them.

Later, the crow people began to attack the crowd in different directions. Seeing that there was nothing that could be done, Asuna got separated from everyone in the chaos.

Now, she and several other lost people are hiding in the "maze" of the amusement park. Although it is just an amusement facility, it is still a relatively enclosed space, which gives people a sense of security.

"Mom...I'm scared..." A little boy hugged his mother tightly around the waist, his voice trembling with tears.