Only when the haze of near-two-second unconsciousness cleared did Rogandao finally get a clear view of the situation behind him. Just as he’d anticipated, the countless Decepticon robots weren't lingering to engage Zheng Zha; instead, they transformed wildly into aerial vehicles and surged toward him. More robots kept appearing from the corridors, pouncing at him, and in a moment, he was caught in a pincer attack from both front and back.

"Run!" Zheng Zha's roar thundered across the space. Rogandao seemed jolted awake, desperately surging forward. He unlocked his Gene Lock state and activated his robot's energy discharge system. Rogandao disregarded the energy drain, glancing at his reserves—less than a third remained. Gritting his teeth, he charged frantically toward the corridor exit. A robot immediately spread its arms to intercept him, but he didn't slow down, driving straight into it.

"Aargh!" Rogandao's eyes burned a furious crimson. Stopping now meant certain death; only by breaking through lay a path to survival. Ignoring the pursuing robots behind him, he shifted into a semi-gliding state and hurtled toward the intercepting machine. At the instant of impact, Rogandao manipulated his robot to shift slightly sideways. The blade swung in, piercing deep into the side of the oncoming robot. Propelled by the extreme velocity of the energy discharge system, the blade sliced through with alarming ease.

Rogandao then used the impaled robot's shoulder as a springboard, vaulting into the air. In mid-flight, he transitioned from gliding to full flight mode, the rear energy discharge system spitting out a meter-long plume of pure electric light. By then, the shuttle craft had already shot over a hundred meters ahead.

After Rogandao burst into the corridor.

Zheng Zha raised the Tiger Soul Blade, intending to charge toward the plaza entrance and ensure the entire passage was buried. However, as he moved, two or three shuttle craft slammed into the dragon wings and his back, instantly sending him flying back dozens of meters. The surrounding robots then seemed to go berserk. They discarded any use of weapons, instead swarming Zheng Zha in close-quarters combat. With dull thuds, Zheng Zha was buried under more than ten robots.

Seizing this opportunity.

Over a hundred, perhaps more, robots poured into the plaza entrance. These were all advanced, transformable robots, including several equipped with Phase Shifting Armor that followed them in.

As nearly the majority of the robots were about to enter the passage.

Zheng Zha, crushed beneath more than ten machines, finally let out a furious roar. His immense strength flung the robots pinning him aside. Although a dozen more immediately swarmed him, his Tiger Soul Blade flashed ceaselessly, sweeping the approaching swarm away with misty arcs of light.

These dozen robots were shredded into fragments before they could even close the distance. Then, he violently retrieved the Spear of Judgment from his storage ring, pouring his internal energy—his Vampire energy, and his True Essence Power—into it recklessly. The first two energies were manageable, but the True Essence Power was overwhelmingly potent. The moment a thread of True Essence Power entered the spear, the entire weapon began to change rapidly. It had been a simple golden short spear, but upon receiving the True Essence Power, a monstrous beast suddenly coiled around it.

Its savage appearance was ferocious, and the beast seemed alive, constantly spewing and then re-inhaling the True Essence Power from its mouth. It appeared the creature’s manifestation was directly linked to the infusion of that potent energy.

Zheng Zha had no time for contemplation. He hurled the Spear of Judgment with all his might. As it left his hand, a flash of golden light erupted, and the spear transformed into the exact likeness of that monstrous beast. Along its path, it shattered and exploded countless robots. Finally, the monstrous form slammed into the upper section of the plaza entrance. With a deafening crash, the entire passage entrance was completely sealed by massive chunks of debris. The Spear of Judgment, entirely depleted of energy, stood embedded in a piece of twisted metal—now looking utterly ordinary, just a plain golden rod.

Seeing the passage thoroughly blocked—it would take at least an hour or two to break through—and knowing the collapse had buried hundreds of robots, Zheng Zha deduced the remaining pursuers would be manageable compared to the five or six hundred robots still in the plaza. "Hah... Come on! Let's see the limits of this body! The genes of the Ancient Demon..." Zheng Zha turned. Hundreds of robots stood silently behind him, including Megatron and several Phase Shifting Armors. These robots seemed to realize escape was impossible. They assumed bipedal stances, raised their weapons, and warily eyed Zheng Zha. Then, as one robot pulled its trigger, Zheng Zha dissolved into a black shadow, surging toward them.

Meanwhile, Rogandao, piloting his robot, had flown several hundred meters out. He owed his survival to the corridor’s width and the enhanced focus granted by his unlocked Gene Lock, which allowed him to push the energy discharge system to its limit. Otherwise, a mere sharp corner might have caused a self-destructive collision.

After flying only a few hundred meters, Rogandao felt the entire passage shake violently. He then heard the sounds of collapse and explosions echoing from behind—this was exactly what he expected. Zheng Zha must have destroyed the entrance to prevent a massive pursuit. The collapse happening slightly later than he predicted was irrelevant; he had no time to dwell on it. Regardless of how many robots were chasing him, the only option was to push forward, forward, and further forward, until he reached the open sky. During this phase, it was pure, desperate effort! (...Out of energy! Only about ten percent left. Can't take any more laser fire; a few more blasts will drain everything completely...) Rogandao’s eyes glazed over blankly as he checked the power gauge. Simultaneously, two more robots appeared in his line of sight. These two seemed slightly inferior to the others pursuing him, both in reaction time and armor plating. Still, they could both fire laser blasts. The moment they met, several shots were already streaking toward Rogandao.

(Can't block! The Dragon Crystal Necklace won't hold! Or the energy won't last to reach the outside!) Rogandao stared at the incoming barrage. His focus instantly sharpened to its absolute peak. In this moment between life and death, he felt something snap into place. His focus, already maximized, suddenly increased several times over. In that instant, a profound realization dawned on Rogandao: he had broken through to the second stage of the Gene Lock.

The incoming blasts were almost impossible to evade. Rogandao suddenly hurled the Allspark through the gaps between the laser shots. Then, he shifted his Tri-Form robot into glide mode, soaring past two of the blasts. Just before the third shot hit, he switched the robot back to flight mode, scraping the ceiling as he shot toward the distance. Before the Allspark landed, he morphed back into humanoid form, scraping the ground as he snatched the artifact. This entire sequence took mere moments. Using this burst of speed, Rogandao shot past the two robots, his carried blade sweeping out in the same motion to sever both machines...

Two explosions bloomed sequentially behind him, and Rogandao instantly reverted to flight mode, rocketing wildly ahead.

When Rogandao finally burst out of the tunnel, Zhan Lan’s Psychic Chain instantly linked with his consciousness. Zhan Lan urgently queried, "What happened? What's going on inside? My mental scan hasn't penetrated since it started—tell me quickly, what's the situation inside?" Rogandao was completely focused on piloting the robot. Seeing his energy rapidly approaching zero, he had no capacity for conversation. He simply urged the machine upward in a desperate climb, covering a thousand meters in that single ascent. He broke free of the massive crater left by the hydrogen bomb explosion and sped directly toward Zero Point and the others.

"Zero Point, cover me! No energy left!" Rogandao managed only this shout before plummeting from the sky. Even the Allspark fell to the ground, sliding tens of meters away along with his inert Tri-Form robot. Yet, he was still a thousand meters shy of Zero Point’s location. At that precise moment, several shuttle craft emerged from the crater behind him. The lead craft possessed incredibly bright, vibrant external plating, clearly marking it as a top-tier Decepticon. It scanned the ground briefly, then dove toward the fallen Allspark.

Smash! A thunderous impact sounded as a Gauss Sniper round slammed into the shuttle craft’s hull, sending up a shower of sparks. The power of the Gauss round was immense; even Phase Shifting Armor couldn't fully negate it. With a sharp crack, the bullet finally scraped along the exterior, burrowing through the robot's center mass before punching clean through the rear. While it didn't instantly vaporize the machine, the shuttle craft visibly lost control and crashed to the ground, incapable of fighting in the short term.

"Rogandao... I can see where you are, don't worry. My sights are locked on them!" Jumping to...

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