Universe Infinite Canteen
Chapter 771 - 771: Assistant

Ma Lu still hadn't figured out what exactly had happened in the prison during his absence when he heard the sound of metal scraping against the wall.

Clearly, the one-legged machine guard had not forgotten its mission and was dutifully moving in his direction, ready to deal with the enemy that had just appeared before it.

Ma Lu glanced around. Great, this godforsaken place didn't even have a stick. The only bed and toilet were welded to the floor.

After searching around, he managed to grab a pillow that could be detached.

So, he huddled in the corner with the pillow, listening to the metallic scraping grow louder and closer, and then hurled the pillow out the doorway with all his strength.

The next second, a burst of gunfire erupted, and foam fragments from the pillow flew through the air.

Meanwhile, Ma Lu lowered his body and sprinted out. Of course, he didn't expect the pillow to take down a Destroyer II Machine guard, not even a one-legged one.

And as he was currently empty-handed, he stood no chance against this war machine. The pillow was deliberately thrown skyward to draw the guard's attention so he could find a way to escape.

With all his might, Ma Lu managed to rush up to the machine guard before its machine gun could lock onto him again, then delivered a fierce kick to its remaining good leg.

Prison No. 444, except for the central area, had artificial gravity achieved through rotation.

Though he'd only had a brief encounter with it earlier, sharp-eyed Ma Lu had noticed that this machine had balance issues, otherwise it wouldn't have been leaning against the wall to stand.

While Ma Lu's powerful kick didn't immediately topple it, it did succeed in making it wobble again, throwing off its aim.

Seizing the opportunity, Ma Lu dashed behind it, but to his surprise, this thing didn't need to turn around at all—its mechanical joints rotated 180° and locked onto him once more.

This time, Ma Lu wasn't so lucky. The bullets flying from behind tore him apart like a sieve.

Cunning bastard!

When Ma Lu reopened his eyes, he had respawned and restarted.

Using the same trick, he attracted the machine guard's attention with a pillow, then charged forward courageously and kicked at its remaining leg again.

As before, the machine guard wobbled and lost its target, but this time Ma Lu didn't run. Instead, he jumped side to side.

It wasn't that he suddenly got cocky or decided to mess around—he had noticed the heavy weight of the machine gun on the guard's arm. By jumping around, he caused its gun arm to sway, further destabilizing its balance.

Then, finding the right moment, he landed another kick. This time, he finally managed to bring the machine guard down.

However, its joints were more flexible than Ma Lu had anticipated. Falling to the ground stabilized it again, and with a simple 42° rotation, it locked onto Ma Lu and sent him back to the respawn point.

Ma Lu was extremely frustrated. He couldn't believe he couldn't beat a one-legged robot—how humiliating.

But his current predicament was genuinely tricky. While he could revive indefinitely, stepping out of the room meant being targeted by the machine guard outside.

But staying inside the room meant no way to find equipment to deal with the machine guard.

Just as Ma Lu was hesitating, he suddenly heard familiar gunfire coming from the hallway outside.

Ma Lu froze. He hadn't even shown his face this time, and the machine guard hadn't spotted him, nor were the bullets flying in his direction.

Poking his head out for a look, he saw a large, shaggy black dog grappling with the one-legged machine guard.

Its claws tore through the guard's chest plate, a full centimeter thick, yanking out wires from within.

Though the machine guard was at a disadvantage, its gun barrel adjusted several times and eventually managed to aim at the black dog.

A hail of bullets rained down on the dog, making it grimace and retreat. Yet, its fur was as tough as the most advanced combat suit, deflecting most of the bullets.

Only a few bullets embedded in its flesh did any limited damage.

Though its appearance had changed quite a bit, Ma Lu immediately recognized who it was—it was Gu Qi, the boss of the Black Dog Gang.

Soon after, ripples appeared in the air, and a petite figure emerged in front of the machine guard, fiercely grabbing onto its gun arm.

However, her strength wasn't enough to destabilize the gun arm. Just then, a voice rang in her ear.

"Don't be afraid, I'll help you!"

Seeing reinforcements, Ma Lu perked up, rushing forward to help Ah Yi pin the gun arm against the wall.

Seizing the opportunity, Gu Qi lunged and bit the machine guard's neck, using terrifying bite force to rip its head off along with the internal wires.

He then spat the mechanical head onto the ground without a word and bolted away. Ah Yi also prepared to teleport out. Seeing Ma Lu still standing there, she anxiously shouted, "What are you standing there for? Run!"

"Run? The enemy's already been dealt with," Ma Lu said, puzzled.

But the big black dog didn't stop, and in the blink of an eye, it was already forty meters away. Ah Yi seemed like she wanted to explain but, gritting her teeth, teleported out as well.

Ma Lu realized something was wrong and tried to run, but it was too late. The headless machine guard suddenly exploded in the next instant.

His body was shredded into pieces by the storm of metal fragments, leaving him like a roasted duck.

On his third resurrection, Ma Lu cursed Yuwen furiously in his heart. That scheming bastard hadn't just implanted micro-explosives in every prisoner's neck; even the machine guards weren't spared, equipped with self-destruct mechanisms.

Thankfully, this kind of ambush only worked the first time you encountered it.

This time, prepared, Ma Lu quickly fled after helping take down the machine guard, narrowly avoiding the explosion.

As a ripple formed in the air ahead, Ah Yi appeared once more.

"Thanks for earlier."

"No problem," Ma Lu said. "I just woke up. Can you tell me what happened here?"

"As you can see, the prison was attacked."

"You guys did this?"

"No, it was a military force. They broke in from outside to rescue their emperor."

"The Ares people?" Ma Lu said, surprised. "Weren't they defeated by the coalition?" Then he thought of something, and his expression changed. "Wait, was Ivan VI rescued?"

"I'm not sure. Ten minutes ago, their forces broke into Zone 23, taking down most of the machine guards here and killing quite a few prisoners in the crossfire," Ah Yi said.

"Gu Qi and I only managed to escape by hiding in the communication room."