Reboot: Mechanic

Shi Tian wasn't being conceited without reasoning because he was confident that Mary would definitely have struggled with her flaw unveiled. 

Hence, when he called out checkmate, he believed this third round would be his victory.

Alas, his smile soon turned into misery once he realized Mary's expression had changed completely.

In all of the previous recordings, Mary had not shown an ounce of emotion, even when being provoked by Layn. She always had a calm composure regardless of what the enemy did or attempted to do.

Not even when Layn attempted to backstab her repeatedly did Mary show any sort of emotion.

However, this time, when Shi Tian specifically targeted her left thigh, Mary's emotions started to flutter. 

Her eyes were glaring at him, almost like a ferocious tiger was preying on their food kind of glare. 

'Shit, did I target not a flaw but a reverse scale instead?' Shi Tian exclaimed inwardly, feeling like he had just eaten a mouthful of flies. 

Alas, it was a little too late for regret, given that Mary had already appeared in front of his face. The speed was completely different than before and Mary's expression was fierce and cold. 

"Pause recording!" Shi Tian hurriedly shouted to stop the battle simulation. 

And it was a good thing that he had paused in time, otherwise, Shi Tian felt as if his body would have been sliced and diced into numerous pieces.

Mary's actions were currently halted, and Shi Tian saw that the dagger had changed form. It now had an irregular shape compared to the previous form which had its blade sharp and straight. 

Upon inspecting closer, Shi Tian was able to tell that this new dagger's irregular form would cause internal bleeding once it pierced inside a human body. 

He wanted to inspect more but was forcefully kicked out from the battle simulation, returning his vision to the real world.

'Why did I-' Shi Tian was wondering why he had returned to the real world but paused when he felt a powerful killing intent directed at him.

"It seems like you had a lot of fun playing around with the battle simulation, Nathan."

A familiar voice echoed from behind, and it didn't even take a second for Shi Tian to guess who it was. 

Turning around slowly, Shi Tian flashed a smile and clasped his hands in joy. 

"You're awake, Mary? But you still have more hours left until we do another rotation." He said, feigning innocence. 

However, his smile soon faded when he saw Mary wearing a similar watch on her left wrist. 

'Ah shit, this woman played me for a fool.' Shi Tian cursed silently.

"You were pretending to be asleep huh?" He then asked. 

"I was truly sleeping, but it's not because I'm tired. I sleep because it's good for my health, and this watch notified me that you are doing some other function besides watching the recording." Mary said, pointing at her watch that started beeping and vibrating simultaneously. 

"What have you seen so far?" 

"Up to the part where you started using me as a battle simulation and proceeded to think about targeting my left thigh." 

"In other words, you saw all that there is to it, right?" He asked calmly.

Mary nodded her head in response.

"Very well then," Shi Tian flashed a bitter smile as he took off the watch and placed it on the small desk. 

"If you're going to hit me, then please do it on the stomach. The stomach can withstand quite an impact compared to my other flesh. But even better, you can target my right arm here." 

"Why would I hit you?" Mary suddenly raised an eyebrow, seemingly in confusion as to why he would suggest such a thing. 

"A-Aren't you mad that I'm targeting your left thigh… just like what happened in the improvisation of the simulation?" Shi Tian explained awkwardly. 

Other than this particular matter, Shi Tian doesn't know why he would be sent out from the battle simulation and get confronted by her. 

Suddenly Mary laughed loudly, even to the point of clutching tightly to her stomach.

"My goodness, did you think I was mad that you targeted my left thigh, and hence your current awkward behavior?" She exclaimed in amusement. 

A few minutes went by, and Shi Tian was completely silent, just staring at Mary laughing and rolling around. 

"Hahaha, this is too hilarious." Mary kept laughing wantonly, much to the discontent of Shi Tian.

How was this woman the same person that cold-heartedly killed people just a few hours ago? 

Facepalming, Shi Tian sighed exhaustively and asked, "When are you going to stop laughing, Mary?" 

"Ahh~, my bad my bad, it's just really hilarious when your personality is a factor of this. Like, I always see you being serious and focused." Mary wiped some tears of joy and slowly stopped herself from laughing further.

"Anyway, let me clarify some things for you. The watch that you placed down simply went out of battery because of how you were overusing the technology despite not being close to an energy source." She then explained, letting Shi Tian know that he was overly paranoid.

"Went out of battery?"

"Yeah, the watch was only meant for you to watch the recording. Yet you went ahead and started a battle simulation, going as far as integrating yourself and doing multiple rounds of fighting, causing an improvisation as well. Don't you know how consuming that kind of implementation was?" 

"What?" Shi Tian's mouth was wide open, given that he was still confused about one particular part. "Then why did the improvisation part go crazy and seem like it wanted to kill me in the worst manner possible?" 

Mary couldn't help herself but chuckle. "Anyone would have gone mad when you kept targeting a specific area. Like how would you feel if I started targeting your manhood repeatedly?" 

Completely stunned, Shi Tian was utterly speechless at such a simple reasoning.

So it wasn't that she got mad about him targeting her left thigh, but the fact that he kept targeting a specific area? 

While he was thinking, Mary flicked his forehead, smiled slightly, and grabbed the gas mask nearby. 

"Just forget it and get some rest. I'm going to head out to patrol since I'm technically the senior here." She then said, getting up and ready to leave. 

Though once she turned her back toward him, Mary's smile subsequently faded.