Regardless of whether this was a crossover universe or not, Li Ke could be certain of one thing now.
And that was, everyone sitting here represented the tears of a bygone era.
Whether it was Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, or Hong Kong gangster films like Young and Dangerous, they were actually all products of his previous era.
Forget about the post-10s generation; many born in the 00s didn't even know about them, and even those born in the 90s might not necessarily know, or at most only knew a little.
Because China was simply too big, and economic development varied wildly from place to place.
It wasn't until junior high school that Li Ke finally had a bit of pocket money to visit the arcade, and even then, he found it too expensive. His first real exposure to arcade games was actually through an emulator on a computer, where he fell in love with Mai Shiranui at first sight.
He was eight years old that year.
It was already the twilight era when arcade games were dying out.
As for things like Sailor Moon, City Hunter, or Fist of the North Star, if it weren't for the countless memes present in newer works, nobody would even know they existed anymore.
In fact, even Dragon Ball and Inuyasha were things from a long, long time ago.
Many things—their worldviews, their outlooks on life, and their core values—had completely changed.
Just like back when Japan was dominant, the girls in anime back then were incredibly strong-willed, each with their own convictions and pursuits. Even if they were dumped by the male protagonist, they would still go on living their own lives.
And while the male protagonists might have been playboys or dissolute, they also had moments of being real men. Even if they were rejected, had their faces kicked, or got slapped, they wouldn't feel like their dignity was crushed.
Because they knew very well that they wouldn't change just because of how others treated them. They would endure for the sake of the bigger picture and handle things later.
This also gave rise to many fierce older-sister types and strong-minded girls.
The men were confident that they could tame such women, believing that only such talent was worthy of their own powerful selves.
However, with the passage of time and Japan's economic decline, male protagonists had shifted from taking the initiative to passively accepting things—and doing so quite reluctantly.
And the reason was quite simple.
They no longer believed they had the ability. Rather than accepting someone and getting hurt, they figured it was better not to accept them in the first place. It was enough to give readers from other countries a massive headache.
It was just like Hong Kong films. At first glance, seeing millions of dollars thrown around in those movies felt astonishing, like a massive deal, and everyone was flaunting their power. It made you think that anyone who could make it in the underworld was incredibly badass.
But looking back now, they were nothing more than low-life thugs who couldn't make it to the big leagues. The so-called "badasses" were just a bunch of trash—trash who didn't even have the guts to go to Africa and establish their own country.
"So, trash belongs in the trash can. Now get the hell back there!"
Violent Blood-Qi power surged through Li Ke's body, and his muscles pushed to their absolute limits. Wrapped in mana and qi, and propelled by dragon flames, his greatsword smashed directly toward Brother Crow, who was now completely unrecognizable as a human!
By this point, Brother Crow had already beaten three of the Sailor Guardians to the ground. Only the experienced Minako and the blonde Usagi barely managed to stand, shielding their companions.
Although their relationship wasn't the best right now, they would never abandon their companions at a time like this!
Yet, looking at Brother Crow, who had sprouted countless bizarre tentacles, Minako instinctively took a step back.
It wasn't that she was afraid to fight him, but rather for one very simple reason.
She knew exactly what the shape of those tentacles looked like—aaaaah!
Looking at those tentacles, Aino Minako wanted to flee almost instinctively, because their current strength was simply not enough to fight this monster!
But the problem was that this monster's strength was way too powerful! If she were alone, she could still run away, but it was impossible to do so while bringing along the remaining four people!
She, Aino Minako, could never bring herself to flee alone!
But just as she clenched her teeth and held her ground, a powerful presence appeared right behind them, followed immediately by a storm of fire.
The violent blast of air directly forced her eyes shut, and her hair blocked her vision. She could only see a tempest formed by crimson flames and golden flames smashing down from above their heads, striking right onto that terrifying monster's body!
In an instant, the golden flames burned those grotesque tentacles completely into ashes. A figure they couldn't see clearly, holding a greatsword, smashed it directly onto the head of the monster they couldn't defeat, forcefully shattering one of its arms.
Feeling the impact, the monster's roar thundered violently. The railings, which were not very sturdy to begin with, were directly shattered and collapsed in this roar. Even the bridge beneath their feet began to crumble.
Part of the reason for this was the sword strike Li Ke had just chopped down.
Meanwhile, Li Ke felt the sensation transmitted from his sword, and a smile couldn't help but appear on the corner of his mouth.
Sure enough, these world invaders still had a few tricks up their sleeves!
He, Li Ke, truly was someone who didn't know swordsmanship at all!
"Now that's more like it!"
His blood-qi surged. Encountering a fellow he could actually slash, Li Ke's smile instantly widened. The moment his smile turned ferocious, the flames on the sword ignited once more. At the exact instant the monster used its other hand to strike at him, he swung the heavy greatsword in his hands again.
And as much as possible, he condensed the flames onto the edge of the blade!
The moment the blade of the greatsword collided with the monster's fist, Li Ke felt countless roars of resentment. The curses and grudges of those triad bosses he had shot to death traveled up the sword.
Li Ke instantly felt a wave of absurdity.
"A bunch of garbage! You dare disrupt my mind?!"
Violent flames instantly rampaged out from the edge of the blade, and exploding right along with them was Li Ke's not-yet-proficient sword-qi!
One of the monster's arms exploded directly under the pressure, but before the impact could even settle, a tornado of fire swept across the entire bridge!
Die!
Li Ke didn't roar again to boost his momentum. The fire tornado sweeping the bridge instantly condensed onto his sword, piercing fiercely toward this monster's torso, but—
The very instant before his blade could pierce it, this monster's body violently burst apart!
"Damn it!"
Li Ke's eyes instantly widened, but it was too late to do anything else. The flames at the tip of the sword had already pierced into the monster's body beyond his control, directly detonating its entire frame.
In the next moment, the fiery light of the explosion engulfed the entire bridge. The smoke and dust from the explosion pushed the flames, sweeping out in all directions. The entire bridge collapsed instantly, falling into river water that Li Ke didn't recognize at all!
Fortunately, the surrounding onlookers had already run far away the moment they showed abnormalities. Otherwise, just the fragments of the bridge blasted away by the explosion would have been enough to crush many people to death!
Meanwhile, Katsuragi Misato pressed down the heads of two elementary school students, hiding behind a building. Looking at the cross-river bridge that had already completely collapsed, she couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
"Is this... an Angel of this world?"
She was somewhat bewildered. She had arrived in this plausible yet strange world under completely bizarre circumstances. If she hadn't been fluent in multiple languages and if the Japanese yen she carried hadn't been exchangeable here, she figured she would have been sleeping on the streets from day one.
However, she was also extremely desperate to know whether this world without Angels was just her own dream, or if she had truly arrived in a parallel world of some sort.
Because of this, just like Li Ke, she had been observing the news through the television, which was how she had seen Li Ke's wanted poster.
It couldn't be helped. Although Li Ke had only killed a dozen or twenty people, the number of people he had crippled was by no means small—some had even had all of their limbs and senses completely destroyed by him. Moreover, among the dozen or twenty people he killed, aside from Chan Ho-nam and his crew who were of a lower rank, the rest were either gang leaders or triad bosses. The entire criminal underworld of Hong Kong Island could be said to have undergone a complete reshuffling, which even directly impacted the official government authorities.
The critical part was that Li Ke had also set fires, burning all of the contraband and cash to cinders, which had directly poked a hornet's nest. It could be said that practically anyone with even the slightest connection to the underworld wanted to kill Li Ke.
As a result, Li Ke's photos and video footage were everywhere. This was exactly why Misato Katsuragi had mistaken Li Ke for a terrorist and had attacked him with a toy gun.
In her eyes, unless Li Ke was an Angel, it was impossible for him not to be wary of a handgun. And while she might have died because of it, she wasn't about to watch Li Ke kill two elementary school students.
But...
"Did I misunderstand a good person?"
Watching the bridge collapse into the water's surface, Misato Katsuragi couldn't help but mutter to herself.