Chapter 274 - Malfunction

Chapter 274: Chapter 252 MalfunctionLi Cheng’s expression was stiff. In the view of his Information Integration Glasses, the label above the other person’s head originally read "Brunette Young Woman," but now it had turned into "Sakura Kinomoto," and behind the name hung several skull icons,

wordlessly conveying the terror of this person’s Strength.

Sakura Kinomoto caught Li Cheng’s silence, casually holding a canned beer, teasingly said: "Have you heard rumors about me?"

"Somewhat."

Li Cheng honestly nodded. The person in front of him could be regarded as the founding figure of the Magic Girl world, who was able to wield a Magic Wand in fourth grade and shatter a group of Demon Gods.

"Don’t be so nervous; we’re all just toys, not the original characters."

Sakura Kinomoto sipped her beer listlessly, with a worn-out salaryman’s expression that lacked any trace of her former Magic Girl charm, and said, "By the way, what kind of toy were you originally? Your modeling is so meticulous."

Li Cheng, who had crossed over from the real world, had a "modeling" precision far superior to that of the Lego couple next door, making him look as if he were on a different layer altogether.

’Actually, I am a super handsome, dashing, eight-pack-abs scaled action figure.’

This excuse circled once in Li Cheng’s mind and was quickly suppressed; his Charm Value was only at 5 points, so he truly lacked the confidence to make such a claim.

Fortunately, the sudden commotion downstairs drew everyone’s attention.

"Don’t come any closer! Stay away!"

A Lego citizen wrapped in a blanket was seen holding a kitchen knife, shouting fiercely, causing a group of people in medical protective suits to back away.

"Sir, please calm down!"

The medical personnel in white protective suits didn’t dare to approach, instead hiding behind a security guard with a riot shield, patiently saying, "We aren’t trying to harm you; you have contracted an infectious disease, and we want to help you..."

"Help me? Don’t think I don’t know that all the toys infected with the disease get taken away by you to be silenced! Not one has returned alive!"

The enraged Lego citizen tore off the blanket, eliciting gasps from the surrounding crowd.

His body was covered in a layer of purplish-black substance that looked like both slime and signs of rust.

From his seventh-floor vantage point, Li Cheng narrowed his eyes, and his Information Integration Glasses scanned the Lego citizen, retrieving two pieces of information.

Malfunction Syndrome was presumably the so-called toy epidemic.

More and more onlookers gathered around, and many citizens quietly took out their phones to film the infected.

"Film it, let everyone know, City Hall has lied to us!"

The Lego citizen suffering from Malfunction Syndrome stood tall and chest-out, showing off his infected parts and shouting loud, "Mayor Dumbledore, Deputy Mayor Einstein, they are the source of the disease!"

Just as the situation seemed to spiral out of control, reinforcement finally arrived.

Several hovercraft marked with TOYPD (Toy City Police Department) rushed in and stopped at the entrance of the residential area.

A group of Stormtroopers from Star Wars disembarked. They were clothed in full-cover white armor, wearing helmets, and armed with laser guns, looking quite formidable and majestic.

The leading Stormtrooper shouted through a megaphone, "Citizen, you are under arrest for non-compliance with City Hall, stand in place and raise your hands..."

"I would rather die than go with you!"

The enraged Lego infected flung the kitchen knife, which grazed the helmet of a Stormtrooper and nearly hit.

"What? Daring to throw a kitchen knife at us? This is no longer an Ordinary citizen; we must strike hard. All units, fire at will!"

The Stormtrooper leader barked in frustrated anger, as the soldiers below him raised their guns and started Shooting.

Then, a rather regrettable scene unfolded.

Over twenty Stormtroopers, holding laser guns, swept back and forth for a full minute, all the thermal rays hitting the ground below the LEGO infectee,

plowing through the concrete surface without hitting their target even once.

"I’ll be a horse at the fair and people would reckon I’m a fine one."

Li Cheng, who was overlooking from a building, thought to himself in disbelief. Even though Stormtroopers’ marksmanship in Star Wars is notoriously poor, to the point where they can’t even hit a Bantha lying down, witnessing this absurd scene was still too much.

Might as well blindfold yourselves, gentlemen, and randomly pull the trigger; you might actually hit something by chance.

The LEGO infectee, not expecting to survive, stood there stupefied,

until a medical personnel in protective gear quietly approached from behind, and injected a syringe into his neck, knocking him out.

The farce finally ended, and the medical staff brought a stretcher to move the infectee into an ambulance.

The Stormtroopers then approached the crowd, confiscating people’s mobile phones under "City Hall ordinance" and deleting the videos recorded inside.

"The malfunction has been occurring for almost a year, and scenes like this have happened more than a few times."

Sakura Kinomoto held a beer, commenting indifferently: "A group of doctors has been researching for so long, yet they haven’t figured out the cause of the disease or the mode of transmission,

they only know that the infectee will gradually fall into a state of paralysis within six months, becoming stiff all over and unable to move, and needing injections of nutrient solutions to sustain life.

Better to end it themselves while they can still move around freely, at least that way they can keep their last bit of dignity."

With that, she drained the rest of her beer, belched in a manner far removed from that of Magic Girl, turned, and went back to her room, slamming the door shut.

Li Cheng pondered, if he assessed the current situation with the theory that "the killing field grants the weaker more advantage in a battle royale game," then all of this made sense.

Because his on-paper strength was inferior to that of Lv23’s Gouchen, Lv22’s Frankenstein, and others, the killing field granted him the legitimate identity of a Toy City citizen at the start of the mission,

and staged this farce, to quickly explain the reproductive methods of Toy City citizens, the dangers of malfunctions, and display the armed forces of the city—though the tactical level of the Stormtroopers was quite disappointing.

The other players would surely already be taking action by now, Li Cheng had no time to hesitate, immediately returning to his room, rummaging through his belongings, finally finding a smartphone and some crumpled banknotes in a drawer.

There were no contacts stored in the phone, just one suspicious text message that read the same as the note in Li Cheng’s pocket, "Southern City Park, 18:00."

The banknotes ranged from values of 5 to 200, all with a panoramic view of Toy City on the front—a solitary city built on a Floating Island.

The back side depicted portraits of common laborers—such as truck driver Optimus Prime, dock worker Popeye, chef Middle Manager, and so on.

With money in hand, things became easier, so Li Cheng took the elevator downstairs and hailed a yellow cab.

However, he soon regretted getting in the cab—it was an anthropomorphic car from the animated film "Cars," with no driver, the car itself was a sentient being.

Sitting inside, he had a peculiar feeling as if being devoured.

The taxi itself didn’t seem to find anything odd, calmly speaking through the car’s radio: "Where to, passenger?"

Li Cheng steeled himself and gave the destination, "Southern City Park."

"Alright, please buckle up your seatbelt."

The taxi whistled and stepped on the gas.

The highest level of driving in the movie "Cars" is driver-car unity, emphasizing harmony between driver and vehicle.

But since the taxi itself was the driver, and very skilled at that, it weaved through the dense traffic, darting and dodging its way southward.

Even with Li Cheng’s physical and mental fortitude, he couldn’t help but grip the handle inside the car, worried he might be flung out.

Zzzzt, zzzzt.

At that moment, the car radio suddenly started, a woman’s voice spoke in a serious tone: "Warning, a terrorist attack has occurred at the City Center Museum, all citizens please be advised, a terrorist attack has occurred at the City Center Museum, this is not a drill."