In the blink of an eye, like sparks of electricity and fire!

A phantom silhouette suddenly appeared in front of Zhu Hanyi.

A boy with black-and-white hair.

He reached out and grabbed the head of the Steel Puppet, slamming it forward!

Boom!

A loud explosion.

The Steel Puppet was slammed into the cement ground by an irresistible, furious force.

Dust scattered everywhere!

Debris flew wildly!

Zhu Hanyi felt the ground tremble, like stepping on a mass of cotton, unable to find leverage, as if standing in an earthquake zone.

The other Steel Puppets nearby also struggled to maintain their balance.

The phantom of the black-and-white-haired boy slowly dissipated.

"This..."

"This is!"

There's no need to doubt!

Though Zhu Hanyi was still somewhat dazed, having narrowly escaped death, he immediately realized that at the moment of life and death, the one who saved him must have been Ma Ran, without a doubt!

Even from Zhu Hanyi's perspective, seeing only the back, he could be 100% certain who the phantom represented!

But...

Ma Ran should still be in the tactical vehicle outside the gray fog!

How did he achieve this from such a distance?

Feelings of gratitude and confusion surged in his heart, and Zhu Hanyi, still in a daze, was awakened by the sound of gunfire.

Bang!

Bang!

The Steel Puppets that originally flanked both sides were hit by bullets, halting their movements.

Zhu Hanyi was drenched in sweat, not daring to waste any time.

Ahead, a Steel Puppet was stepping over its companion embedded in the ground.

Zhu Hanyi seized the opportunity, flipping the Rain Boiling Sword, a pale cyan spirit flickering on the blade.

Swish!

With one strike, he severed the left calf of the opponent, and without hesitation, he swiftly retreated!

Neither Wan Haihao nor he could inflict effective damage on these Steel Puppets.

Conserving energy and ensuring one's safety was the right choice!

Nearby, lightning flickered incessantly!

Crackle!

Every second, more than one Steel Puppet fell.

Their massive and heavy bodies disintegrated, stirring up gusts of wind, seemingly thinning the dense fog.

"Damn! So ruthless!"

Zhu Hanyi's eye twitched: "No wonder she's a National Guardian level Ability User!"

"It's ridiculously strong!"

Normally, it would never show...

Su Qiangwei was surprisingly this powerful!

The Steel Puppets facing her were like paper tigers, unable to withstand even one move, kneeling as soon as they met.

Overwhelming!

A complete massacre!

...

The edge of the gray light fog.

Inside the tactical vehicle.

Ma Ran slowly stood up, his once tightly clenched right hand gradually relaxing.

"You just now..."

Wei Zuxia's eyes widened as he noticed a few more white hairs on the boy's head: "How exactly did you do it?"

Just as Zhu Hanyi was about to be pounded into pulp by a punch from the Steel Puppet, Ma Ran suddenly opened his right hand, grabbed the air in front, and slammed it down.

And miles away, the Puppet seemed to have its head grabbed by a hand and was slammed into the concrete ground!

"This is a little technique I accidentally discovered while pioneering the path of the Tenth Rank of Inner Qi."

"It's not stable and holds no significant value for widespread adoption."

Ma Ran's tone was calm: "Achieving this, although it has many prerequisites, is not difficult to execute."

Upon hearing this, the other Academic Society members in the tactical vehicle displayed complex expressions.

Not difficult — what humility!

For Ma Ran, cultivating Inner Qi from zero to Ninth Rank is perhaps effortless too?

In terms of jealousy...

They couldn't even think of it.

Ma Ran leads them by not just a small margin.

When the gap is so large, forget about envy or grudges, not everyone even has the courage to catch up.

All they could do was admire him from afar.

"In essence, this is a reinforcement of the Ninth Rank of Inner Qi characteristics."

Ma Ran glanced at Wei Zuxia, pausing slightly, then spoke quietly: "You're aware, before the action, I hid Inner Qi within the bodies of Su Qiangwei and the other two."

"The specifics might be hard for someone of your intellect to understand."

"To put it simply..."

"After infusing Inner Qi into Su Qiangwei, Wan Haihao, and Zhu Hanyi, I programmed several Inner Qi commands, leaving a simple feedback mechanism."

"When they sense a strong threat to their lives, the dormant Inner Qi within them will activate and respond to my signals."

"If their subconscious trusts me enough, I can provide a bit of minor assistance."

"Unfortunately..."

"There's a great limitation to this intervention."

"Signal transmission also requires time; from me executing an action to the assault team reacting, there's a delay of around 70 milliseconds."

"Moreover, the amount of Inner Qi left in their bodies is fixed; once used, it's gone."

Master Youwen didn't mention the role of the Lin Clan's two Reproduction Medals, lying with ease.

"What if Zhu Hanyi didn't trust you enough?"

Hearing this question, Ma Ran looked at Wei Zuxia with an expression of disbelief: "Then he would already be a corpse."

After speaking, Ma Ran's gaze refocused on the "live movie" projected on the table by the [Caged Gaze] and [Visual Imprint], seemingly losing interest in the topic.

For the assault team trio, Steel Puppets were unfamiliar, never seen in intelligence reports.

But Ma Ran was very familiar with these things.

Before his rebirth, China coded them as "Kunwu Soldiers."

This title comes from the ancient legend of swords "Gan Jiang" and "Mo Ye".

It's said that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a man from Wu killed a pair of rabbits on Kunwu Mountain, dissecting them to find they had iron gall and kidneys.

The King of Wu ordered a swordsmith to make a pair of male and female swords from the rabbits' organs.

Because they have iron bones, they're almost movable iron lumps, feeling no pain and needing no food, appearing solely for slaughter and destruction, so...

These Steel Puppets are named "Kunwu Soldiers."

Their defense power is astonishing, possessing immense strength, touching them means death, being hit means injury, even a master of Black Rock Martial Arts at the Eighth Rank of Inner Qi wouldn't dare to easily confront them without suitable equipment.

But the Kunwu Soldiers also have a fatal flaw!

Electrical Weakness!

As long as they come into contact with a current exceeding three hundred volts, they'll immediately be paralyzed, losing all operational ability.

This seemingly trivial information was actually acquired at the cost of many Civilization Guardians' lives!

Thinking of this, Ma Ran slightly squinted his eyes.

The Kunwu Soldiers shouldn't appear at this time!

Many disastrous events occurring on Earth do indeed originate from different alien civilizations.

But there seems to be a small part of them now that can be linked, pointing to a common perpetrator behind the scenes.

...

At the Lotus City Demon Mountain Center, in the command room.

"Interesting!"

"Very interesting!"

X9500 laughed heartily.

The first wave of offense was effortlessly resolved.

In just a few minutes, the Steel Puppet Legion would be completely annihilated by the girl wielding thunder.

"The third native with 'Hero' qualification after Ma Ran and Matt Gray!"

Speaking, X9500 tapped on the console, and on the mini-map, the red dot representing Su Qiangwei turned into a golden light.

"This is simply the great cosmic will favoring me!"

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