Luo Qi felt a burning pain on his back where he landed. Only when the two finally stopped did he poke his head out of Ye Mu's embrace, only to have his eyes immediately covered by Ye Mu.
Ye Mu swallowed hard, forcing down the metallic taste in his mouth, but blood still trickled down the corner of his lips.
To find Luo Qi quickly, he had pushed his mech's speed to the limit, causing a sharp pain in his head and his heart to constrict with each beat.
His back ached terribly, but the thought of the consequences if he hadn't arrived in time hurt him more than the physical pain.
Luo Qi's left arm was completely immobile. He could only awkwardly use his right hand to pull away Ye Mu's hand from his eyes and frowned, "Are you injured? Let me see quickly."
Ye Mu wiped the blood from his mouth and chuckled, "Aren't you injured carrying me?"
Luo Qi, knowing he was in the wrong, pursed his lips and leaned on Ye Mu as they stood up. Ye Mu looked up at the two metal figures locked in combat and asked with a frown, "What is that?"
Luo Qi glanced at it, unsure how to explain. One of the reasons he hadn't told Ye Mu about these matters was this very thing: the existence of the system was not to be revealed to the life forms of the small world. Now that Ye Mu had directly encountered it, Luo Qi had no way to explain.
Ye Mu glanced at Luo Qi, then stopped questioning. He turned to look at Mo Jue and said to Luo Qi, "They haven't caught up yet. We need to hold on a bit longer."
Luo Qi followed his gaze. Mo Jue stood in the distance, watching them both warily. The laser gun in his hand was still warm from its last shot, emitting a faint glow.
Ye Mu had been knocked down first, then burned. His combat suit was mostly torn, his back a bloody mess, and he had injuries on his arms and legs.
Luo Qi's left arm hung limply, his forehead streaked with dried blood, and his body covered in small cuts.
Standing together, they were a picture of utter desolation.
Mo Jue, despite his own injuries, still held the laser gun. By all appearances, their chances of winning were slim.
"I walked a long way to avoid you," Luo Qi coughed twice. "But you still found me."
A smile touched Ye Mu's eyes. Their gazes met, and the firelight reflected in his eyes, revealing a gentle depth.
In that moment, Luo Qi suddenly felt that it would have been wonderful if they had been able to fight side-by-side from the very beginning.
"Didn't I say I would always protect you?"
"Okay, I'll protect you too."
Mo Jue's dark eyes fell upon the two figures opposite him. They were battered and bruised, covered in wounds, yet they could still laugh?
Mo Jue didn't understand. He only found their smiles blinding, making him want to destroy them completely.
He hesitated no longer, raising his laser gun. If he didn't want to see it, then let it all disappear!
111 took a moment to glance at Luo Qi, its movements suddenly becoming more fierce. Even if Luo Qi and Ye Mu couldn't kill Mo Jue, they could at least stall him.
If it was fast enough, and careful enough not to be discovered by this defective product...
A significant reason why the God Devourer could travel through so many small worlds and escape so easily was its ability to usurp the energy of life forms and even non-life forms within the small world.
In other words, as long as it stayed in a small world and could still function, its power would be replenished infinitely.
The only way to destroy it was with sufficient power to obliterate it instantly, preventing it from absorbing any more energy.
If it were the God Devourer in its prime, even 111 would not have been able to achieve this. But now, the God Devourer had many wounds on its body. It had been using energy to repair the damage to itself and its core. If it were now...
111 mobilized all the energy in its core and attacked the God Devourer. The God Devourer, which had been constantly watching 111, naturally dodged this attack.
But 111 was waiting for this very moment. All the energy in its core had been depleted. It would soon be unable to maintain its form and disappear here, but even this brief moment was enough.
The metallic sheen of 111 began to turn dark and deep. It lunged forward, embracing the God Devourer, and charged towards Mo Jue.
At the same moment, Luo Qi drew Mo Jue's attention to the gun's muzzle. Ye Mu flashed to Mo Jue's side, grasped Mo Jue's hands, and turned them.
Mo Jue's pupils contracted, but the trigger had already been pulled, and the fired laser bolt could not be recalled. The God Devourer swung its hand fiercely towards 111, but 111's grip seemed locked, refusing to let go.
Time seemed to stretch, frame by frame. Luo Qi's eyes widened in horror, "Brother 1!"
Ye Mu pulled Luo Qi to the side to take cover, but they were still hit by the shockwave of the explosion, rolling several times on the ground. Luo Qi stopped and immediately pushed himself up, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
The area where 111 and the God Devourer were located had become a sea of fire, and nothing was visible.
Luo Qi's hands trembled as he gripped the ground, trying to stand, but his injuries were too severe. He stumbled a few steps before falling again, murmuring, "111..."
His vision blurred. Although he and 111 always bickered, he had never imagined that 111 might disappear one day.
"Don't worry, I'm not dead yet..."
A weak voice sounded. Luo Qi almost suspected it was a hallucination from his head injury. After a moment, he asked, "Are you okay? How are you now?"
111's voice was so faint it seemed to be carried away by the wind:
"The defective product should be mostly destroyed. I will report to the main system to track its residual fragments.
I've used up all my energy, so I might need to go into hibernation for a while..."
Luo Qi rubbed his reddened eyes. "Okay, okay, get some good rest. It's alright, everything will be alright."
Luo Qi sniffled and looked up at the only person still standing in the area that had been forcibly flattened. Mo Jue was staring at him with venomous eyes.
The God Devourer had likely returned to Mo Jue's consciousness sea, just like 111. 111 had said it would report to the main system to retrieve the fragments, so it should be fine now, right?
Once the God Devourer was completely destroyed, this small world would be preserved intact, and everyone would be safe.
Only when the taut string of his heart finally relaxed did Luo Qi belatedly feel the pain all over his body.
His vision blurred intermittently, unsure if it was from the impact or from excessive blood loss.
But Luo Qi no longer cared. He was utterly exhausted and lay on his back on the ground. Turning his head, he could see Ye Mu, who had fainted while protecting him.
Luo Qi sighed, figuring this was the end.