Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 48: Chapter 47: This is Really a Sudden Rash Operation

Fang Zheng used to think that the so-called “protagonist’s halo” was just a somewhat exaggerated metaphor. But now, he had no choice but to admit that this thing really exists!

What? You ask why Fang Zheng was so sure?

Come on, he used psionic energy on Tom Cruise thirty times with a success rate of zero. Could that possibly be chalked up to good luck?!

The protagonist’s halo was way too obvious!

Damn it, those worthless aliens could kill Tom Cruise in one hit, so why was it so hard for him to just severely injure the guy and draw some blood? If he didn’t believe there was something fishy going on, Fang Zheng would never buy it. Now he finally understood how frustrated the Grim Reaper in “Death Has Arrived” must have felt. After working so hard and going to so much trouble to quietly kill someone, only for them to escape, who wouldn’t get upset?

No choice but to do it himself.

After reloading two more times, Fang Zheng had to make this decision. He noticed the plot was progressing to the later stages, and Tom Cruise had already realized that the dam illusion he had seen before was just a trap. The other side wanted to lure him there to bleed him slowly, causing him to lose his powers.

Fang Zheng always thought this BOSS was really stupid. If you wanted to draw blood, couldn’t you do it anywhere? On the battlefield, where you have the advantage in numbers, you could just send a hundred creatures to surround the protagonist and slowly draw his blood, and no one would dare bother you, right? Or just knock him out and drag him away, wouldn’t that work? But no, you had to lure the guy to an abandoned, desolate dam. And in the end, he even figured it out. These alien creatures’ intelligence was really… worrying.

With the stupid alien creatures being unreliable, and the underhanded tactics being countered by the protagonist’s halo, Fang Zheng had no choice but to go with Plan B—do it himself and reap the rewards.

In this loop, using psionic energy, Fang Zheng had already learned the general progress of the plot: Tom Cruise followed the illusion he saw upon death and headed for the dam, planning to face the BOSS alone. When he discovered it was a trap, he decisively committed suicide to reload. In this loop, after discussing with the heroine and her allies, one of the heroine’s helpers mentioned creating a signal emitter that could enhance Tom Cruise’s signal connection with the BOSS, allowing them to find the true location of the alien BOSS.

In this loop, the two of them were heading to the command center in London, where they planned to find the commander who had previously sent Tom Cruise to the front lines and obtain the emitter created by the heroine’s helper. When you think about it, this story is full of holes. The heroine’s helper lost his job and became a repairman because no one believed him, yet the device he created was well-kept by the general. If the general didn’t believe their story, why keep the emitter in a safe? Normally, wouldn’t he have just smashed it to pieces?

Oh well, there’s no point in looking for logic in a Hollywood movie. As long as there’s plenty of action and excitement, who cares about reason? You already bought the movie ticket, it’s not like you can ask for a refund after watching it.

With American superheroes, there’s barely a handful with normal intelligence, so let’s not expect too much from these popcorn flicks.

“Vroom…!!”

Fang Zheng snapped out of his thoughts and stared at the road ahead. Through his psionic energy, he could see Tom Cruise and the heroine driving towards the command center. Thankfully, Fang Zheng had anticipated their route when he saved the game last time, otherwise, it would have been difficult to find them.

Soon, the car they were driving appeared before Fang Zheng. The heroine looked as calm as ever, while Tom Cruise seemed a bit nervous, frequently looking around. Fang Zheng understood why he would feel that way; his previous attempts to mess with Tom Cruise didn’t cause any real harm but definitely scared him. After all, Tom Cruise had always thought that after reloading, everything would restart in order. Fang Zheng’s “mischievous acts” had no pattern and were not in Tom Cruise’s memory. Although the outcomes were all close calls, it was enough to make Tom Cruise worried and nervous.

But this time, Tom Cruise could relax because Fang Zheng had given up on messing around and planned to handle it himself.

“Remember, when we reach the command center, you need to… oh, damn!!”

Tom Cruise and the heroine were quietly discussing their next steps when they rounded a corner and saw a young man standing in the middle of the road in front of their car. He was dressed casually and simply stood there, watching the approaching car. Seeing this unexpected person, Tom Cruise shouted in surprise; he never expected such a situation since there had been no one on the road the last time he came here!

The heroine reacted quickly. Upon seeing someone in front of them, she promptly turned the steering wheel, making the car swerve. But just then, they saw the young man raise his right hand suddenly.

The next moment, their car seemed to be violently struck by something, flying off with a “boom” and crashing into a nearby wall before halting.

“Phew… I don’t believe I won’t manage this time.”

Lowering his right hand, Fang Zheng let out a sigh of relief. Ignoring his surroundings, he walked directly to the car and peered inside. Through his psionic energy, Fang Zheng saw that neither of them was dead, just unconscious. Nodding in satisfaction, he noted that his psionic control derived from Kerrigan was quite adept. He should have come down hard directly at first instead of trying to imitate the Grim Reaper’s tricks. A straightforward approach would have spared him all this trouble.

With that thought, Fang Zheng extended his hand, and under the influence of psionic energy, the car began to disassemble. Soon, he pulled the two people out and then casually tossed the heroine by the roadside, striding off with Tom Cruise.

News of the incident quickly caused a stir throughout the city, as many people saw what Fang Zheng did, especially the scene where he used psionic energy to dismantle the car. Numerous forces took notice of this mysterious and powerful young man. The city went into lock-down, and many soldiers were dispatched, searching everywhere for clues about Fang Zheng.

The heroine was unlucky too, getting arrested and interrogated. But when she woke up, she was utterly distraught. How could she know who the young man who suddenly appeared in front of her car was, and he even kidnapped Tom Cruise!

The heroine felt utterly hopeless—this must be the end for Britain.

While everyone was busy, Fang Zheng had already returned to the Insect Hive with Tom Cruise. It seemed the protagonist’s halo had limits. Fang Zheng might not be able to sneakily take him down, but in a direct confrontation, he could completely overpower him, rendering any protagonist’s halo useless.

“You’re back, Master.”

As soon as Fang Zheng entered the Insect Hive, Mirune eagerly hopped over—this Insect Matriarch was starting to look more and more like a dryad.

“Yes, I’m back.”

Hearing Mirune’s greeting, Fang Zheng nodded at her and casually tossed Tom Cruise to the ground.

“Who is this…?”

Mirune glanced at Tom Cruise curiously.

“A human? Master, I sense some sort of Time Gene sequence in him.”

“A lucky guy.”

Fang Zheng gestured to Mirune.

“Can you extract the gene sequence from his body without harming him?”

“Of course, Master.”

“Then go ahead.”

“Yes.”

Upon receiving Fang Zheng’s command, Mirune bowed and retreated, and a few drones came over to drag the unconscious Tom Cruise away. When it came to biotechnology, nothing could surpass the Zerg. Within half a day, Mirune reported back to Fang Zheng that the gene sequence extraction from Tom Cruise’s body was completed. Tom Cruise was now an ordinary person again, but there was also an unexpected bonus.

“Master, the gene sequence extracted from this human is far stronger than what we’ve consumed before, I…”

“If you want it, just take it.”

Before Mirune could finish, Fang Zheng already understood her intent. Zerg instinctively craved powerful forces. The alien blood in Tom Cruise’s body was just an inferior product to Fang Zheng. His target was the power core of the alien BOSS, that was the real prize. Compared to that, these small, hors d’oeuvres didn’t interest him at all.

“Thank you, Master.”

Mirune was visibly thrilled, thanking Fang Zheng earnestly before hopping away. Fang Zheng looked at the unconscious Tom Cruise and shook his head helplessly before slapping him a few times to wake him up.

“Uh… where… who are you?”

Tom Cruise, who experienced countless reboots, immediately sensed something was wrong upon waking up. He jumped up and stared at Fang Zheng warily. Fang Zheng, seeing his surprised expression, just smiled.

“Don’t worry, the reason I brought you here isn’t malicious. In fact, I wanted to tell you that your ability…”

Fang Zheng intended to say, “your ability has disappeared,” but before he could finish, Tom Cruise seemed to realize something. He quickly pulled out a handgun and shot himself in the head!

“Bang!”

“…”

Fang Zheng watched Tom Cruise slump to the ground, truly dead, his mouth twitching at a loss for words.

“Master? What happened?”

Hearing the gunshot, Mirune and a group of Jumping Bugs rushed over, stunned by the scene.

“This human… how did he die?”

“…A bit of an accident, bury him in a mine pit.”

What else could Fang Zheng say? Well, at least Tom Cruise proved with his life that his ability was indeed gone.

As for whether he died with regrets… Fang Zheng had no idea.

Come to think of it… this should count as suicide, right?

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