In Honkai with Tom Cat

While the battle between the three heroes and the armored duck unfolded over there, let's rewind time slightly and shift our focus back to Tom.

After being struck by Project Bunny, Tom was sent flying and crashed into a room, breaking through the wall and slamming straight into another wall inside. His body was squashed flat like a cat pancake against the wall.

He then slid down and hit the ground, where his body transformed into a blue accordion-like shape, stretching and contracting like a spring while emitting some discordant music.

After a few minutes, with a "boing!" sound, Tom returned to his normal form.

Getting up, he rubbed his head, then suddenly remembered something. He walked over to the hole in the wall he'd made, nervously sticking his head out to survey the situation outside.

That's when he saw Li Huan being sent flying by the giant mechanical monster.

Startled by the sight, Tom quickly pulled his head back in, then slowly peeked out again.

Seeing his master lying on the ground after being hit, Tom knew he couldn't just stand by and do nothing!

But then he saw Li Huan sit up after lying down for a bit, seemingly unharmed.

Tom let out a sigh of relief, but his expression grew serious.

This wasn't good. His master's safety was in danger; he couldn't just stay here and watch.

With that thought, Tom mustered up his courage and decided to find a way to defeat that big monster.

But how?

Tom looked around and noticed something.

The room seemed to be a storage room for the bus depot, with a lot of items piled up inside.

Maybe there was something here that could help deal with that monster?

With his usual quirky logic, Tom dove into the storage room, starting to rummage through the clutter.

As he searched, he found a wrench.

"Should I try dismantling that monster with this?"

He imagined himself holding the wrench, trying to take Project Bunny apart.

But in his mind, the scenario quickly turned into him being riddled with bullets from its machine gun, peacefully passing away with a halo over his head.

"Nope."

Disappointed, he tossed the wrench aside and resumed searching.

After a long while of searching, Tom found a power drill and a large iron plate.

"Maybe I could use the iron plate as a shield to block the bullets, then charge with the drill?"

He imagined himself holding the drill, charging at Project Bunny—

But this time, he envisioned being flattened into a cat pancake with one punch, once again passing away peacefully with a halo over his head.

"That's not going to work either."

Frustrated, Tom continued his frantic search.

As he dug through more and more items, the number of rejected ideas grew, increasing his disappointment.

They say the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Just as Tom was about to lose his patience, he grabbed hold of something hard and curved.

"Huh?"

Tom pulled out the object and discovered it was a standard U-shaped magnet.

He weighed the magnet in his hand, then lifted it toward some nearby nails.

The nails were drawn to the magnet, sticking to it.

Seeing this, a bold idea suddenly popped into Tom's mind.

"That big monster... it's made of iron, right?"

"If it's made of iron, then maybe I could use this magnet to attract it?"

As everyone knows, iron can be attracted by magnets.

And that monster, despite how terrifying it looked, was still made of iron, right?

If the magnet attracted it, the monster wouldn't be able to move. And if it couldn't move, the little girl would be left alone, ready to be overwhelmed by the others.

Tom's imagination ran wild, leading him to a profound realization.

"This magnet could completely counter that monster!"

"Yes, it must be like that!"

Filled with excitement, Tom jumped to his feet after concluding his thoughts.

But then, he immediately tripped over a paint can he had carelessly tossed aside earlier, falling flat on the ground.

Outside, Li Huan, Kiana, and Mei continued their assault on Bronya.

The high-focus, low-margin-for-error battle was beginning to wear them out.

Of course, the same could be said for Bronya. Defending against the three's attacks was mentally exhausting for her, although, unlike them, her physical stamina remained untouched.

As long as their stamina ran out and they collapsed, Bronya could swoop in and take them all down in one fell swoop.

Just then, a voice came from the hole Tom had made in the wall.

"Aha—"

The sound caught everyone's attention, and for a moment, all four of them turned part of their focus toward the hole.

Tom emerged from the hole, holding a magnet in his right hand, raising his left hand in the air, his face brimming with confidence and authority as he made a dramatic entrance.

"Hey, Li Huan, what's he doing?" Kiana whispered to Li Huan, "I have a bad feeling something crazy is about to happen."

"I don't know, but what I do know is that we're definitely going to win this time."

Seeing Tom so confident and imposing, Li Huan felt a sense of calm and reassurance, even a desire to just lay back and relax.

Mei looked at the magnet in Tom's hand. "Is that a magnet? What's he planning to do?"

"I guess he's planning to use that magnet to attract the mechanical monster," Li Huan replied.

"How is that even possible?"

"Just watch quietly."

On the other side, Tom faced Bronya and Project Bunny without fear, raising the magnet toward the mechanical monster.

Seeing this, Li Huan suddenly imagined a scene from *Journey to the West*, where the Gold Horn King raised his Purple Gold Gourd toward the Monkey King and shouted, "Do you dare to respond?" The only difference was that Tom didn't speak human language, and the magnet in his hand—was probably even deadlier than the gourd.

Just as Bronya was trying to comprehend the strange actions of this cat, thinking it had gone mad—

Project Bunny moved.

To be precise, it was pulled away right in front of Bronya, flying toward Tom at high speed, drawn by the magnet's force.

Watching the approaching Project Bunny, Tom grinned mischievously, then ducked behind a still-intact section of the wall, placing the magnet behind the wall.

Project Bunny continued flying toward the wall and, with a thud, crashed into it, getting stuck as the magnet held it there through the wall.

"What...?"

Seeing this bizarre and unimaginable scene, Bronya's brain began to short-circuit. "Reason unknown... cannot comprehend... what just happened?"

"If you're asking for the reason, it's simple."

Li Huan's voice rang out. Bronya turned to see that Kiana, Li Huan, and Mei were all looking at her with hostile eyes.

"Isn't it perfectly normal for a magnet to attract iron?"

Li Huan said as he tapped the head of his Dream Hammer against his hand, a wicked grin matching Tom's spreading across his face.

"Alright, little girl, it's time for some disciplinary spanking."

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