Wang Yanfei picked the earpiece up from the ground and clipped it to his left ear.
It was still warm, but perfectly silent, which meant the next set of orders had not come in yet.
He rifled through the corpse again.
Aside from a few crumpled bills and a golden identity card, there was nothing useful.
He pocketed everything.
Then he slipped behind a rundown tin shack, found a dark corner, and crouched down, ready to fish in troubled waters.
It did not take long for a low voice to sound in his ear.
"Brothers, take your positions. The target is almost here. Stay sharp, everything for the Restart Society."
Wang Yanfei braced himself.
Right then—
Boom.
A thunderous crash exploded in his ears.
The ground shook violently. Rows of shacks were tossed aside like paper.
A massive mech, at least ten meters tall, slammed down from the sky and hit the ground hard, throwing dust up in a huge cloud.
The mech slowly straightened. The lights at its eyes flared a blinding red, and a roar blasted out through its speakers.
"Painter, I am here. I came alone. Where is my son?"
The shock wave of sound was almost visible. The distant tin walls shuddered.
Luckily, Wang Yanfei was far enough off to the side and did not take the blast head-on.
"Right on time, Director Tido."
With a soft sigh, a hunched old man squeezed out of thin air, as if he had been hiding inside the dust all along.
It was the same cult leader who had given the speech at the Restart Ceremony.
The mech's booming voice drowned out almost everything else. Wang Yanfei could not hear a word, so he had to rely on Alvina to read the old man's lips and translate in real time.
Alvina pressed herself close to his ear, whispering, "He said, your voice is way too loud, you are disturbing the neighborhood."
"…"
In front of him stood a rampaging steel beast on one side and an eerie cult leader on the other.
For him, this matchup was way beyond what he could handle.
But he still did not want to miss the show. He quietly backed up a few steps and shifted to a safer angle to keep watching.
The mech completely ignored the Painter's complaint and roared again through the speaker.
"Where is my son?"
The Painter chuckled.
He simply lifted a hand and waved.
The air between them twisted slightly, and a teenage boy stepped out of the warped space.
He wore a white long robe, face blank and hollow, eyes unfocused, like a puppet being dragged onto the stage.
A satisfied smile spread across the Painter's face.
"Go on. That is your father."
The boy lifted his head and looked up at the mech.
He was silent for a second.
Then he slowly shook his head.
The mech froze, then rage burst from the speakers.
"What did you do to my son?"
"Nothing much."
The Painter smiled. "But you should really see it for yourself."
He bent down and murmured a few words into the boy's ear.
The boy stiffened. His face went pale in an instant, his entire body shaking uncontrollably.
The next moment—
A tiny sound slipped from between his lips.
Then he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Smack.
Only an empty human skin remained on the ground, the white robe lying limp over it.
Silence fell over everything.
"I will kill you."
The mech ignited like a powder keg, breaking the stillness first.
It raised its massive arms. Joints flipped and folded at high speed. In a few seconds, a huge cannon formed at its chest, aimed squarely at the Painter.
Terrifying energy surged inside the barrel. The light from it almost turned the surroundings into midday.
The Painter only shook his head slightly, as if the blast meant nothing to him.
He lifted a hand and gave a small wave.
Almost at the same time, a fierce shout burst in Wang Yanfei's ear.
"Brothers, it is time to lay down our lives for the Restart Society!"
"…"
So the Restart Society's style was still as crude as ever.
The next moment, he saw black-robed figures pouring out of the tin shacks from every direction, swarming the mech like a human tide.
Unfortunately for them, gnats do not topple a tree.
The mech took a single step forward.
Boom.
With that one stomp, dozens of Restart Society members were kicked flying.
Some slammed into the tin walls and died on impact, turning into shriveled skins in the blink of an eye.
Some hit the ground with every bone broken, twitched a few times, then slowly deflated until only a thin layer of skin was left.
But there were simply too many of them.
Dozens, then hundreds, then more kept charging, piling onto the mech's legs until its lower body was buried under a sea of black robes.
The mech's footing finally slipped. Its huge body swayed, and it could only thrash its limbs wildly, trying to throw people off.
Below, more people were yanking on ropes, wrapping around its legs and clinging to its feet, all pulling hard in the same direction.
The mech lurched. Its balance vanished.
Crash.
The ten-meter-tall mech toppled straight to the ground, throwing up a wall of dust.
The layer of people under it was crushed into a pile of skins on the spot.
The ones who survived only grew more frenzied.
Taking advantage of the mech's fall, they scrambled up its body, whipping out whatever weapons they carried and stabbing madly into every gap in its armor.
Even Wang Yanfei drifted into a trance watching it.
He had a strange sense of déjà vu, like he was watching a country of tiny people beating a giant with bamboo poles.
The mech still struggled, trying to force itself upright.
But every time it got halfway up, dozens of people dragged it back down and slammed it into the ground again.
Another heavy crash shook the nearby shacks. People dropped from its body in waves, only to climb back up and charge again a moment later.
Seeing the giant truly start to lose ground, the Restart Society members were only more fired up. Some even squeezed themselves into the cracks in the mech.
The Painter stepped onto the mech's head, looking down at the giant steel body beneath him.
Then he brought his foot down.
Thump.
The mech's speaker suddenly blasted out a scream of pure panic.
"What did you do?"
The voice was shrill now, stripped of all its earlier bravado.
Then—
The entire mech began to deflate, as if something was draining it dry. Armor caved in. The structure inside withered at impossible speed.
In a few seconds, the ten-meter metal monster had become a flat, enormous skin.
Silence.
Everyone stood frozen, like someone had pressed pause, staring blankly at the scene.
Soon, a figure crawled out of the layer of "skin."
The Restart Society members snapped back to their senses and rushed forward, pinning him to the ground and tying him up.
The Painter watched quietly and did not act right away.
Only after he saw that the man had completely lost the ability to resist did the corners of his mouth slowly curve upward.
It was the smile of someone who had just found a rare and precious toy.