"This time, I owe it all to a classmate of mine. Zhong Yun—wait, where is Zhong Yun? Weiwei, Weiwei is gone too," Wenzhu exclaimed. Only then did everyone realize two people were missing.

Uncle Qi's brow furrowed slightly; he had noticed a figure seemingly slip away from his left side just moments ago. However, he kept it to himself.

"Where are you going?"

Zhong Yun had only walked a few kilometers when a voice echoed behind him, instantly freezing his stride. He turned, only to see Weiwei pouting not far behind him.

"Why did you follow me?" Zhong Yun asked instead of answering.

"Just because you can leave, doesn't mean I can't follow," Weiwei said with displeasure. "You're sneaking around; where are you trying to go?"

"Why do you care so much?" Zhong Yun frowned. He had just received a report from Xiao Ling—the mysterious figure casing the Ketong family several days ago had begun making moves. He didn't have time to waste on her here.

"You just risked your life to save Xiao Zhu; this is the perfect time to strike while the iron is hot. Leaving now would undo everything," Weiwei said, her gaze shifting slightly.

"Who said I was chasing her?" Zhong Yun replaced his helmet. "The entire planet Ketong is extremely dangerous right now. The safest place is sticking close to the Ketong family's mecha squad. You should go back quickly; I have business." With that, he quickened his pace.

Weiwei gritted her teeth and stomped her foot, surprisingly chasing after him.

Several more kilometers passed. Zhong Yun suddenly stopped. "What are you still doing following me?"

"If you won't tell me where you're going, I'll keep following," Weiwei insisted stubbornly.

"What business is it of yours where I'm going?" Zhong Yun reached toward his waist, producing a palm-sized energy pistol. He fired a shot forward; a thug cried out and dropped.

"It is my business! I'm here to watch you for Xiao Zhu, to make sure you don't do anything bad."

"You truly are meddlesome," Zhong Yun felt a mixture of exasperation and amusement at her audacious claim. "Stop following me, or I'll get serious."

He turned and walked forward again, this time increasing his speed. Unexpectedly, Weiwei kept up behind him. No matter how fast he moved, she remained trailing him.

Finally, Zhong Yun simply launched himself into the air, soaring upward faster and faster. Weiwei, mimicking him, also took flight, maintaining a tight pursuit.

Half an hour later, they cleared the suburbs, but Zhong Yun showed no sign of stopping. He flew straight ahead, quickly plunging into the forest bordering the city.

On Planet Ketong, aside from the cities and logging zones, most areas were rarely visited by people. Since Ketong Academy was situated in the tropics, the land outside the city was mostly primeval forest.

Weiwei had never been to such places, but seeing Zhong Yun plunge into the woods without hesitation, she gritted her teeth and followed.

Zhong Yun stopped once more, turning to face Weiwei. She halted about five meters away from him.

"Are you an idiot or just dense?" Zhong Yun's tone was icy. "You followed me to such a desolate place; aren't you afraid I might harm you?"

"You wouldn't," Weiwei bit her lower lip. Her face was even paler than when they left the academy. The high-speed flight had left her hair a complete mess, and the cold air had taken a heavy toll. Yet, her gaze remained stubbornly fixed on him.

"Why?" Zhong Yun suddenly asked.

"I just wanted to help Xiao Zhu…"

"Stop using such a flimsy excuse," Zhong Yun interrupted her.

Weiwei looked down at her feet, silent.

"If you don't tell me the truth, I won't let you follow me," he warned.

She still said nothing.

"Don't think I can't shake you off. Annoy me, and I’ll knock you out and dump you by the roadside. Don't think I'm joking." Zhong Yun truly wasn't kidding.

"Then hit me!" Weiwei suddenly grew agitated, her eyebrows furrowed as she faced him, her eyes glistening.

A gust of wind swept past, making the endless forest ripple like a vast green ocean.

Looking at Weiwei's stubborn expression, Zhong Yun's heart softened, and his tone eased. "I have to go do something very important, and it's dangerous. Stop following me."

"I know," Weiwei drew a small breath through her nose. Her voice, soft enough to melt cloud-alloy, carried an almost tangible layer of bleak sorrow. "After you finish your business, you won't ever come back."

Zhong Yun was startled; her intuition was astonishingly sharp.

Another gust of wind lifted the hem of Weiwei's skirt. The pale green fabric billowed, harmonizing with her golden hair that resembled flickering flames, creating a strange, unique beauty.

In that instant, Zhong Yun knew he would never forget this pale green silhouette.

"You really are persistent," Zhong Yun sighed softly, turning away. Mid-air, his form paused for a beat. "I'm going to kill people and rob them."

With that, he shot forward, and Weiwei immediately followed.

The two flew deeper into the forest, one after the other.

Inside the Ketong family's base, just like all the cities on Planet Ketong, a furious battle was raging. On one side were the Ketong family guards, clad in deep blue protective suits; on the other were thugs uniformly dressed in black, half their scalps shaved clean.

These thugs were clearly far more troublesome than the ones Zhong Yun had encountered at Ketong Academy, and they were all armed. Outnumbered, they pressed a ferocious assault on the base.

The Ketong guards held the line desperately, not allowing the enemy a single step closer. Across a dividing wall, countless energy beams flew, and it seemed someone fell every second.

Zhong Yun and Weiwei, stealthily approaching, witnessed this brutal scene.

Zhong Yun breathed a small sigh of relief; the fight hadn't concluded yet. He pulled Weiwei to a hiding spot.

The thugs clearly possessed more forces; suspended in the sky were over a hundred mechas, not yet committed to the battle.

Zhong Yun observed that the attacking thugs moved with discernible order and coordinated their fire—they were definitely not the disorganized rabble from the academy. He wondered internally who their commander was.

The battle settled into a stalemate, a contest of attrition. While the Ketong family had the advantage of terrain, they were clearly outnumbered. Moreover, with over a hundred mechas hovering ominously, if the Ketong family had no hidden contingency, their annihilation was certain.

Zhong Yun analyzed the situation from the sidelines, calculating the best moment to intervene. A direct confrontation was out of the question; just among the fallen fighters he could see, there were over ten experts at Level Ten or higher.

On a modern battlefield, so-called Level Ten experts were little more than a joke. A Level Ten expert might manage to destroy a low-grade mecha (below Three-Star) in a one-on-one duel, but in terms of destructive power on the battlefield, ten Level Ten experts might not equal one mecha.

If one pitted a hundred Level Ten experts against a hundred Three-Star mechas, the outcome would be a one-sided slaughter, and the victims would decidedly not be the mechas.

No matter how strong a Level Ten expert was, they were still human. A slightly higher-penetration energy bolt could injure or kill them, let alone the more powerful energy cannons.

Zhong Yun wouldn't be foolish enough to believe that his Level Nineteen Body Arts alone could swing the current tide. His initial plan was always to infiltrate covertly.

He was currently waiting for the chaos that would erupt when the thugs finally breached the base defenses. Once things devolved into pandemonium, he could slip inside. Once he reached the underground ship, not only the forces present but the entire power of Planet Ketong combined wouldn't be enough for his needs.

"See? It's incredibly dangerous here. I can't even guarantee my own safety, let alone worry about yours," Zhong Yun murmured quietly.

"I won't be a burden to you," Weiwei leaned lightly against Zhong Yun's arm, avoiding the brutal scene of the battle. "I'll wait here for you."

Hearing this, Zhong Yun fell silent, sighing internally. He truly couldn't understand why Weiwei had taken a liking to him.

If he couldn't grasp Weiwei's interest in him by this point, he might as well bash his head against a wall. The previous charades—having him act as her shield, pretend to be her boyfriend to help her pursue Wenzhu, and so on—were merely tactics to get closer to him.

Yet, he had never exhibited anything particularly special around Weiwei, and he had done nothing to warrant it. She had inexplicably fallen for him. He even had the vague feeling that by their second meeting, she already held considerable goodwill toward him.

The trope of a stunning beauty developing an instant crush on an ordinary boy—it was like a cheap TV drama plot unfolding in his own life. He found this even stranger than Xiao Ruo inexplicably starting to like him after he kissed her.

Just as Zhong Yun was puzzling over Weiwei's feelings, the battle took a new turn. The Ketong family indeed possessed more than just the troops they had shown.

When the guards were on the verge of collapse, several robots, about three meters tall, burst from the base. Clad in matching blue and white, they suddenly charged, shattering the advantage the thugs had enjoyed, even pushing back and counter-attacking the enemy.

Zhong Yun's spirit lifted as he snapped back from his reverie, carefully observing the group of automatons. These Ketong robots were agile and fast, mostly employing melee weapons like blades and spikes, with small energy cannon ports on their chests. They were certainly potent.

Soon, he realized these robots were human-piloted. Miniaturized mechas? He frowned.

Mechas were typically between ten and fifteen meters tall for a reason. If they were made smaller, although speed increased, the limited volume restricted the equipment they could carry. There simply wasn't enough space for a powerful enough engine. Such units had limited use in warfare unless they were shield-type mechas that sacrificed speed for a specialized role—otherwise, losing speed just made them targets.

However, in this scenario, miniature mechas were quite useful. The thugs were rapidly driven back.

The mechas that had been lingering on the horizon finally moved. Zhong Yun's heart tightened; he knew his chance was approaching. (To be continued. For more, please log on to .**.m for more chapters, support the author, and support legitimate content.)