“Ssshhh—” The hydraulic system released a pneumatic flow, sealing the cockpit door with Dongdong inside.

At the same time, a trail of light surged through the lines and spread across the entire mecha, and those once dim mechanical eyes lit up with a blazing radiance, like two small suns.

“Boom!” The mecha swung its fists together in front of it, shaking off all the dust covering its surface, revealing the unique metallic sheen once more.

“Yeeha! This is awesome!” Dongdong’s voice came through the loudspeaker.

The mecha kept bouncing around, clumsily dancing in place like a giant metal gorilla: “Look at me, I can move however I want! This is really fun~”

Sun Min was so shocked she couldn’t close her mouth: “Mecha… Are you… Can you handle this?!”

“Huh? Feels just the same as usual.” The mecha stuck one hand on its waist and pointed at Sun Min and the others with the other, “You bunch of small fry old-timers, you’re all passionless. You give up at the slightest setback and have to rely on me, Dongdong, to save you.”

“Boom!” The pair of mechanical iron fists clashed again in front, producing a heavy metallic thud that was followed by a deafening roar of engines.

Thick energy cables automatically detached from the connectors, and the mecha lowered its body, maximizing the power of its leg boosters.

“Get out of the way! Here comes Dongdong!!!”

As those words fell, the mecha roared to life, sprinting toward the herd of monstrous lizards at full speed, each step making the ground tremble.

The Lei Ming mercenaries scattered in all directions, scrambling to take cover.

The monstrous lizards were also terrified by the sudden rush of the “metal beast,” freezing in place, with a few even standing upright in brief shock.

“Charge!!!” Along with Dongdong’s excited shout, the mecha’s charge grew faster and faster, like a high-speed, super-heavy war machine, rolling over the herd of monstrous lizards.

As it charged, the unexpected happened.

Though a mecha can simulate the pilot’s actions, its basic structure is quite different from that of a human.

According to the Iron Blood Alliance’s former training rules, it took a pilot a week just to get used to walking in a mecha.

Dongdong, firing up the mecha for the first time, just charged blindly, trying to fly before learning to walk.

As the mecha neared the monstrous lizards, before it could attack, it stumbled and its enormous metal body fell with a thud, rolling over a dozen meters under inertia.

This fall scattered the lizards’ formation, with them rolling around chaotically on their backs, and one unfortunate lizard was crushed into a pulp by the mecha’s massive weight.

“Ouch, my back…” The mecha lay on the ground clutching its waist, with Dongdong’s wailing coming through.

Sun Min’s face alternated between red and white: “Sis, stop messing around! Our lives are in your hands now!”

Dongdong retorted, “Who’s your sis? Get lost! Stop pretending to be a commanding officer and just hide!”

Silenced by the scolding, Sun Min and the others shut up.

Ordinarily, if wild animals were spooked by a large mecha, they would likely flee in terror.

But these monstrous lizards, being reptilian beasts, have a strong combat instinct, and after a brief shock, they quickly recovered and pounced at the mecha from all directions, ready to hunt this “giant beast.”

One lizard leaped and bit the mecha’s arm; its teeth were incredibly strong and penetrative, fiercely gnawing at the steel plate as if there was no difference.

Soon, lizards were all over the mecha, crazily tearing at it, with broken metal and electronic components falling to the ground.

“Get off me!” Dongdong shouted as the mecha grabbed the lizard biting its arm and violently slammed it to the ground.

“Boom!” The violent impact blew the lizard’s body apart, with blood spraying out radially from the impact site.

Its tenacity was incredible, still trying to get up and bite despite being soaked in blood.

“Boom!” The mecha smashed a reverse punch into the lizard’s head, exploding it instantly; only then did it cease struggling.

The mecha was covered in scars from bites, but only its outer armor was damaged, not affecting the core components at all.

Dongdong gradually got the hang of controlling the mecha and became more fluid, continuously pulling lizards off and smashing them, taking down each one with a few punches.

Eventually, feeling that fists weren’t enough, she ripped off a turret from a wrecked Tank, grabbed the barrel, and used it like a baseball bat.

Dongdong: “Hey hey, this weapon feels just right.”

With the mecha holding the turret, the engine inside roared to life, and it began wildly swinging at the surrounding lizards.

“Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!…”

Like swatting flies, the mecha kept smashing the turret into the ground, leaving bloody pits everywhere, each harboring one or more shattered lizards.

In just a few minutes, half the lizards were dead, and the tank turret was reduced to scrap metal.

The lizard horde was utterly dispersed by Dongdong, but their feral instincts still drove them to continue fighting.

The remaining lizards crawled around the mecha, attacking at any open spot, using their absurdly powerful jaws to tear away layer after layer of metal.

“These lizards are so annoying!” Dongdong complained, then suddenly noticed something and curiously said, “Huh, what’s this red button with a skull for? Let’s see.”

“Beep.”

Amid the growing roar of the engines, the mecha’s shoulders began to transform, extending sideways to reveal the missile launch bays hidden underneath.

Narrow formations of micro-missiles filled the compartments, shimmering with a deadly glint.

“Heavy fire suppression system activated, identifying targets.”

With the cold, computer-generated voice, the mecha’s mechanical eyes turned red, emitting two scanning beams that swept over all the monstrous lizards around.

“Detected non-human life forms, locking complete, ready to eradicate.”

Dongdong laughed so hard it sounded distorted: “I’m gonna give them social benefits!!!”

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—”

The missile bays unleashed their full firepower, flames rising in a neat sequence like massive New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Clusters of micro-missiles trailed their fiery exhausts, howling through the air, changing directions to slam into the targeted lizards.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!…”

Though small, the missiles packed a powerful punch, one missile blasting through a lizard’s tough hide and shredding its organs, a few hitting at once turns it to tatters.

The micro-missiles rained down in a furious bombardment, with lizard body parts flying everywhere, trailing smoke as they fell to the ground.

With the last lizard enveloped in missile flames, dying with a mournful cry as it turned to a charred corpse, the brutal battle in the underground space finally drew to an end.

Sun Min and the others peered out, dazed, into the heatwave.

The mecha stood in the smoke and fire, its battered metallic shell reflecting the rolling flames, and those mechanical eyes glowed eerie red, exuding a uniquely menacing presence.

Even knowing Dongdong was inside, its menacing form was intimidating, and Sun Min could only call out from afar: “Dongdong, you okay?”

The mecha turned to look: “I’m fine, those lizards bit the mecha, not me.”

Sun Min found it hard to believe: “Didn’t you feel uncomfortable at all?”

The mecha shrugged: “What’s there to be uncomfortable about? Those stories about mech pilots being pushed to their limits, or not living past 30, are surely made up to scare people!”

“It’s just like driving a car, nothing scary about it. Hey, do you guys want to try? It’s really fun.”

Sun Min and the others quickly shook their heads.

The burden on mech pilots definitely exists.

If it were as easy as Dongdong said, the Iron Blood Alliance wouldn’t have done away with such machines.

As for why Dongdong had no issues, it might be a delay in the damage, or she simply has a unique physique.

Looking at the field full of charred lizard corpses, Sun Min felt a chill of fear: “We should get out of this damned place quickly, in case another batch of beasts comes, we’ll be in trouble.”

Dongdong retorted, “What’s the rush? My boss is still down below! I helped you guys, so you should help me open the door! Anyone who tries to run gets launched by my foot!”

Sun Min had no choice but to agree: “Alright then, I’ll go to the terminal computer and see if I can open the door.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep