When Rui Mengmeng found Qilin, she was engaged in close combat with a Gluttonous soldier. The tactical knife in Qilin's hand couldn't effectively harm the Gluttonous soldier. This was partly due to Zhang Zheng, who only considered Qilin as a sniper and hadn't given her any close-combat weapons. Additionally, as a first-generation super soldier, Qilin lacked the necessary strength. Although she was slightly stronger than the average Gluttonous soldier, the difference wasn't significant, and the white armor the Gluttonous wore made things even more difficult for her.
Seeing this, Rui Mengmeng didn't hesitate. She mustered up her courage and swung the Adamantium broadsword Zhang Zheng had given her at the Gluttonous soldier. The soldier saw Rui Mengmeng coming but was unable to dodge because Qilin had him engaged. He could only use the blade on his armor to block her strike. However, he misjudged the situation. The Adamantium broadsword sliced through his arm blade, then his armor, and ultimately cut the soldier in half.
"Ugh..." Rui Mengmeng was splattered with the Gluttonous soldier's blood. This was her first time killing, and even though it was an alien, her kind nature found it hard to accept. She squatted down and started to vomit. Although it wasn't as gruesome as Cheng Yaowen's method, it was still enough to unsettle her. Rui Mengmeng was on the verge of breaking down, dropping the sword to the ground.
Qilin, seeing Rui Mengmeng's reaction, wasn't surprised. It was normal for a young girl to react like this after her first kill. If Rui Mengmeng had shown excitement instead, Qilin would have been worried.
"Mengmeng, don't be afraid. They're not human; look, their blood isn't even red," Qilin softly comforted her while holding her. "They're just invaders. Just think of them as pumpkins you're cutting down."
"And besides, Mengmeng, you protected your sister just now. I should be thanking you!" Qilin continued, trying to console her.
"Really? Sister Qilin?" Rui Mengmeng asked hesitantly.
"Yes, really. So be brave. Killing the enemy means protecting the ordinary people of Earth, so there's nothing to be afraid of," Qilin reassured her. Then, without waiting for a response, she picked up her sniper rifle, set it up, and resumed scanning for enemy snipers.
Rui Mengmeng, looking at Qilin's back, clenched her fists and silently encouraged herself. She picked up the broadsword from the ground. "Cutting pumpkins, just cutting pumpkins," she muttered to herself as she positioned herself behind Qilin with the sword.
From then on, the two of them took the lead. Any distant enemies were swiftly taken out by Qilin's sniper rifle, her precision as a top sniper on full display. And any Gluttonous soldiers who managed to sneak up on Qilin were quickly discovered and dealt with by Rui Mengmeng. As the deputy general of the War God of Planet Nuo and a carrier of the Nuo Star Dagger Gene, Rui Mengmeng was no pushover. The unfortunate Gluttonous soldiers who tried to attack her were not just killed; they were chopped into pieces while she murmured, "I'm cutting pumpkins, not people." Every Gluttonous soldier who fell to her sword died feeling disgruntled. Dying in battle was one thing, but being mistaken for a pumpkin? That was just too much.
Qilin, hearing Rui Mengmeng's murmurs, couldn't help but smile.
After assigning Rui Mengmeng to protect Qilin, Di Leina found herself in trouble. Commander Feng Lei had set his sights on her. While this wasn't inherently a problem, Di Leina's powerful techniques had put her in a difficult position. With a loud clang, her Dawn Shield once again blocked Feng Lei's Godslayer weapon, but the impact forced her back two steps. It wasn't her fault; she had already expended a lot of energy blocking the Gluttonous army's initial energy strike. After that, she had been recklessly throwing non-radiation flares, further depleting her energy reserves. Now, in the heat of battle, she had no time to recover, leaving her in a vulnerable position.
"Sun Wukong, how long are you going to just stand there? Watching like this won't win you any points with a goddess," Di Leina shouted, frustrated that Sun Wukong wasn't helping.
"Hey, little goddess, it's not that I don't want to help. Zhang Zheng wants to see if you guys can fend off the enemy on your own, so he told me not to interfere," Sun Wukong replied, shamelessly throwing Zhang Zheng under the bus. After all the time he'd spent with Di Leina, Sun Wukong had learned how difficult she could be. He even shed a few crocodile tears for Pan Zhen. Now that Di Leina's attention was on him, his instincts told him this could be trouble, so he quickly sold out Zhang Zheng.
"Zhang Zheng..." Di Leina gritted her teeth as she spat out his name. Ignoring Sun Wukong, she focused on dealing with Feng Lei.
With a loud clang, Di Leina was once again pushed back by Feng Lei. She had had enough. Her temper flared, and she dismissed her towering blade, summoning a golden energy ball instead. She hurled it at the charging Feng Lei.
Feng Lei, startled by the sudden energy ball, didn't dare block it. He had witnessed the destructive power of Di Leina's flares before, so he dodged frantically. However, there was no explosion. Instead, he found himself facing Di Leina's towering blade.
"Crack." Feng Lei stared in disbelief at his bisected body, struggling to lift his head to look at Di Leina. Di Leina, looking down at the fallen Feng Lei, stuck out her tongue playfully and teased, "What a fool. As if a goddess would unleash a flare bomb among her own allies. That was a decoy. Gotcha!"
Di Leina was proud of herself. After reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms, she felt her tactical acumen had greatly improved. Feng Lei, still trying to comprehend what had just happened, never got the chance to voice his thoughts. His mechanical body shut down before he could say anything.
Sun Wukong, initially alarmed by the energy ball Di Leina had thrown, had almost leaped to stop her. But Zhang Zheng had informed him that the energy ball was just a shell, with minimal actual power, so Sun Wukong held back. Watching Di Leina celebrate, he noted that, despite her childish behavior, she had indeed grown through this battle.
"Qiangwei, the enemy commanders have all been eliminated. It's your turn," Di Leina said into the comms. She glanced at the remaining Gluttonous soldiers in the sky and added, "Ge Xiaolun, Qilin, cover Qiangwei. The rest of you, finish off your targets."
Di Leina continued to calmly command the troops while hurling energy balls at the Gluttonous soldiers. "I am a goddess!" she declared, her excitement revealing her inner child.
"Big sister, stop being so dramatic and just shoot down these aliens! We can't reach them!" Liu Chuang's voice came through the public channel.
Laughter erupted over the comms, and for a moment, everyone relaxed. They all knew that as long as they didn't make any mistakes, the outcome of this battle was already decided.