"Say, with that one harpoon of Master Fuli's, how many li of intact land do you think will be left of Gold-digging Town?"
Under everyone's dumbstruck gazes, the Steel Giant Beast finished its transformation, turning into a colossal silver-white robot. One blinding "headlight" after another swept over the buffer zone on the town's outskirts, searching for enemies.
As Lin Qi was retreating toward the rear, he asked Li Wenkang with an eager look on his face.
"Gold-digging Town… isn't that your property? Why do I feel like you're more pumped than I am?"
Li Wenkang fell back to the reinforced ravine line, wearing a strange expression as he complained to Lin Qi.
"What else is money made for if not to be spent? It's just a mine whose resources are about to run dry. If it gets destroyed, I actually save on demolition, transport, and environmental remediation costs."
Lin Qi waved his hand carelessly, not feeling a thing about the possibility of the Gold-digging mine collapsing.
Never mind the fact that recycling those old machines might cost more than buying new ones, just the various environmental-convention agreements of the United Assembly would already mean shelling out a hefty sum.
The conventions might not be legally binding, but when it comes to business investments and entering or exiting convention countries, they can easily jam up your paperwork or hit you with extra fines.
Master Fuli blowing up Gold-digging Town was a loss on the ledger, sure, but if you add in the saved follow-up management and remediation costs, Lin Qi could still save several tens of millions.
"...Fine then! Truly a born landlord-tycoon; your wealth management puts the rest of us to shame."
Li Wenkang was speechless for a moment. Standing before the already constructed anti-air ravine line, he looked toward the silver-white machine and slowly said, "The full-power 'Fuyou Cannon'—who knows how strong it really is, we'll see soon enough. But based on what I know of Master Fuli, that first shot probably won't be aimed at people."
"My bet? He's going to brutalize the drones first."
Li Wenkang rummaged in his wallet, pulled out a red bill, flashed it in front of Lin Qi, then leaned back and waved the cash toward the other landowners.
"Then I'm betting on helicopters…" Lin Qi fished a handful of change from the pocket of the Beast Warrior beside him and said.
"???" The Beast Warrior stared wide-eyed at Lin Qi, his face full of disbelief and grievance.
Boss… once I've paid my student loans, mortgage, and alimony, I only have seven hundred bucks to live on each month.
With one grab like that from you, I'll be going hungry for four or five days.
And just as the landowners were all deep in thought, placing bets on the current situation to show off their eyesight and experience—
The silver-white robot let out a "roar," and all the headlights on the front of its chassis began to focus, like anti-fatigue lasers on a freeway, tearing through the night and pinpointing three locations within Gold-digging Town.
One was in the mountains: a formation of black-painted helicopters without identifying insignia was lifting off.
The other two were on the left and right flanks of Gold-digging Town: two squads clad in black combat gear, wearing six-lens night-vision goggles on their faces, were sprinting at a speed that even surpassed off-road vehicles.
"Hmph—"
The squad members racing across the withered grassland saw the searchlights hit them, but their marching speed didn't drop in the slightest. Their captain at the front just snorted coldly and even sped up, charging toward the camp.
"Ignore that bluffing on the other side. We're the elite of the Heretic Inquisitors. Today is the day we bring Judgment upon those demons who proclaim themselves gods!"
"Kill—!"
"Only holy light and blazing fire can cleanse the filth left by demons in this world…"
The Inquisition squad captain, Noren, wore an expression of fanaticism as his face slowly became covered in a chitinous shell. Tendrils sprouted from his brow to sense the flow of air, and his arms warped grotesquely, making him look like a dark knight clad in black armor.
The devils of the Longevity Club have sat atop humanity for so long they've even forgotten what they really are.
It's time for them to remember: they're nothing but the Pope's white gloves, mere salesmen, yet they dare try to stand above the Family Head and look down on God's agents on earth…
Noren's body suddenly leapt up. He raised his right arm to charge power, and in the space of 0.0-something seconds, he hurled a charged punch toward the silver-white machine.
A streak of crimson light flared; the air in the void twisted, and an invisible air cannon, wrapped in brutal force, hurtled toward Master Fuli.
Except—
Before the shockwave could arrive, a huge hand extended from the top of the silver-white machine.
The silver-white hand caught Noren's air cannon as casually as catching a ball.
"Fuyou Cannon!"
Master Fuli gave the Inquisition squad a glance, temporarily ignoring their movements. The fox-man straightened to his full height, looked toward the black-ops helicopter formation, and ruthlessly hurled the double-pointed spiral spear gripped in his hand.
The instant the spear left his hand, the surrounding air seemed to freeze. The spear tip pierced through layer after layer of air resistance, turning red-hot, dragging the sonic barrier behind it as it shot out.
"Boom—"
A deafening roar echoed out. The double-pointed spear, dragging a trail of explosive sound, turned into a white beam of light and shot out from Master Fuli's hand, crossing the void and disappearing into the heart of the mountain range.
Before the afterimage of the beam had even faded, a milky-white sun had already risen from deep within the mountains.
The blazing new sun drove away the darkness, lighting up half the grassland sky that lay under the night.
The helicopters that had just taken off, ready to carry out their mission, were caught in violent turbulence; they couldn't even maintain basic formation, wobbling and tumbling as they fell.
"Boom boom boom—"
Helicopters crashed, fire blossomed, and rolling black smoke sketched out the location of Mayflower's encampment.
"Fuyou Cannon!"
Master Fuli stretched out his arm. Behind him, his tails twisted together in pairs, each pair coiling into a bundle that dropped into his fox claws.
Master Fuli's gaze swept the distance. He yanked out a white spear formed from his tails and hurled it straight into the no-man's-land within the mountains. The white spear left his hand like a bolt of lightning bursting from storm clouds, leaving a long trail behind it.
"Boom—"
Another peal of violent thunder rang out through the mountain range, rebounding off ridge after ridge. The dazzling white light even lit up the sky above the grassland.
Spirit Beasts for a thousand li around stared in astonishment at the two new suns rising from the earth.
"Broadcast to Gold-digging Town: if within five minutes no one has offered Ansheng a Coke, I'll level their entire encampment and the town along with it…"
After giving the order to Triangular Hammer, Master Fuli no longer looked toward Gold-digging Town, where the Mayflower organization had planned to launch missiles for long-range bombardment.
Now that they had no helicopters, they'd already lost their edge in air superiority.
Even if they called in fighters and bombers now, Ansheng could still have Triangular Hammer shoot them down.
"And you lot?"
Master Fuli turned around, stepped out, and planted a foot on the edge of the silver-white robot's head. Narrowing his eyes, he looked down at Noren, who had crashed to the ground and was now babbling "abba abba."
"Did you come bearing Coke, or did you bring over howitzers so I can put on a show for myself?"
Master Fuli's lips curled slightly. The nine snow-white, fluffy tails behind him swayed unhurriedly, like a white folding screen—or a halo of white holy light.
"Th… thunder…"
Noren fell back onto his butt, eyes full of disbelief as he kicked himself backward. "Commanding thunder… God…"
"Demon…"
"The demon serves the true God!"