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Chapter 456 - Quandary and Decision!

Qiao Ting wanted to distance himself and enter long-range combat mode. Lin Xiao, who had done his research on Qiao Ting, did not want to let him do as he wished. As soon as Qiao Ting moved, Lin Xiao reacted quickly, moving along with him. Of course, Lin Xiao did not retreat but moved forwards instead, and his speed was not much slower than Qiao Ting's.

Lin Xiao's long-range attack was also very strong and so he would be able to hold his own in a long-range showdown. Thus, even if he could not obtain victory at that time, he could at least remain undefeated till the end of the match, and then the final outcome would be determined by the points each contestant still had at that moment. However, Lin Xiao knew that his chances of winning with this option were not high. Showcasing his long-range attack skills in front of an opponent whose long-range skills excelled over his own was foolish — from the perspective of the judges, the decision would be obvious. Without question, the victor would be Qiao Ting.

There was not a single contestant who had fought his way to the finals who did not want to reach the very top. No one would choose an option which they knew for certain would end in a loss for themselves. Likewise, Lin Xiao would not choose that way either. In the afternoon, before the match, he had consulted with his instructors, and they all felt that there was no chance in long-range mode; his only opportunity laid in close combat.

Qiao Ting's specialization in long-range combat was no secret. His close combat skills could be said to be good too, but when compared to a true close combat specialist, his skills were really nothing much. And Lin Xiao's close combat abilities were really pretty close to that of a close combat specialist — if the fight was brought into close range, Lin Xiao believed that Qiao Ting would definitely be no match for him.

The key was whether he could drag the fight into close range, just like how Qiao Ting's victory would depend on whether he could put some distance between them to attack from long range.

Both their objectives were very clear — one wanted a long-range fight, while the other wanted a close-range fight. And so the two of them were in a deadlock, one flying away at top speed, while the other chased him fervently. Originally, Qiao Ting's long-range mecha should have had a certain advantage in terms of speed, but Lin Xiao's mecha just so happened to have been modified to improve its speed; thus, Qiao Ting was unable to wrest free of the other anytime soon. After flying four to five laps around the field, this stalemate remained unbroken ... neither side could do anything to the other.

On their sixth lap, Qiao Ting sighed internally. Truly, this Lin Xiao was not that easy to handle, but he had long made provisions for this type of situation ... in mid-flight, he drew a short compact gun from the fixed slot at the back of his waist and took aim at Lin Xiao who was still flying desperately after him.

It was a beam handgun, a standard weapon for close-combat mecha. Its range was extremely limited, only suitable for close-range shots, barely usable in mid-range, and completely useless at long range. It was a gun so normal that people tended to overlook it, but it now left Lin Xiao in a quandary.

The distance between Qiao Ting and himself was precisely the optimal shooting range for this beam handgun. Although the range of a beam handgun was short, its power was decent. In particular, the beam handguns exclusive to ace mecha had even greater power — if someone was hit continuously for three seconds by the gun, their beam shield would be overwhelmed and their mecha would show signs of damage. Six seconds of consecutive shooting would deal irreparable damage to a mecha.

"Hells, why would a long-range shooter have t his trifle of a handgun 1 for close-combat mecha with him?" Lin Xiao was taken by surprise. He had never imagined that Qiao Ting would have such a weapon on him, which was why he had dared to chase after him without any worry ... he just could not understand why Qiao Ting would choose to equip this close-combat weapon, a beam handgun which even he did not think much of before this match, as one of his combat weapons.

It should be known that for the mecha combat events, both for single or group, the equipment and weapons on a contestant's mecha were unknown before they went up onto the field. Only in the final 10 minutes before the match would the participants decide on the final selection of weapons they would equip and let the staff members help them organise everything within that time. In other words, this beam handgun of Qiao Ting's had never ever appeared in all of the hypothetical combat scenarios Lin Xiao had simulated.

To advance or to retreat? Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and pushed his engines to the maximum setting. Following this operation, his mecha's speed surged once more, and his mecha leapt at Qiao Ting with an audible swoosh.

Lin Xiao's decision was to advance because he was well aware that if he retreated, he would no longer have any hope of becoming champion. He was unwilling to accept this outcome, so he decided to fight for it.

With the surge in his mecha's speed, Lin Xiao once again shortened the distance between him and Qiao Ting. However, this speed was achieved by running his engines to overcapacity and so would not last for long. He needed to get close enough to Qiao Ting before his engines reached their limits; otherwise, defeat would still be the outcome that awaited him ...

Right at this moment, Qiao Ting finally pulled the trigger and a beam of light shot straight for Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao calmly moved his fingers — with his full concentration put into it, Lin Xiao's hand speed was also pushed to the limit. According to his operation, his mecha began flashing to the left and right without any system to it. This was the Irregular Flicker which only ace operators could learn. However, Lin Xiao had yet to master it — at times, between flickers, some traces of his figure could be still be seen.

The irregular flicker made Qiao Ting unable to grasp Lin Xiao's movements; his beam shots all struck air. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao was once again drawing closer to Qiao Ting. Seeing this, Qiao Ting's brow furrowed. He suddenly changed his shooting style — his hand which had been holding down the trigger began to twitch sporadically.

At this time, the beam he fired was no longer an unceasing stream of light but cluster after cluster of beam bullets. Qiao Ting's hand speed also reached a limit and over the span of several seconds, he had used up all the power inside his beam handgun. But the results were evident — in the air, a massive net of beam projectiles had appeared. Front and back, left and right, from all directions, at almost the same speed, these projectiles were raining down on Lin Xiao ... Qiao Ting did not give Lin Xiao any room to evade. Either Lin Xiao backed off, or he would have to rely on his mecha's beam shield defence to forcibly withstand these attacks.

No, it should be said that Qiao Ting's objective was for Lin Xiao to eat these attacks, because Qiao Ting knew that Lin Xiao would definitely not choose to retreat. And so, Lin Xiao had no other choice.

Sure enough, Lin Xiao instantly activated his beam shield, his mecha charging into the web of beam projectiles. The projectiles struck home with muted thuds, and Lin Xiao's initially radiant beam shield instantly dimmed ...

After its energy had been drained, a beam shield needed one second to replenish its power. This was why Lin Xiao dared to forcefully receive Qiao Ting's attacks. As long as the attacks did not break through the beam shield instantly, no matter how much power was drained from the beam shield, the beam shield would be back to normal in the next second. And in this one second, Qiao Ting would not be able to shoot any more beams at him because the opponent's gun had already been utterly drained of power.

Lin Xiao was well familiar with the characteristics of a beam shield, and so was Qiao Ting. He had so willingly exhausted all the power from his beam handgun to create this beam net, so how could he not have a follow-up move prepared? It should be said that that seemingly pointless beam net had already served its purpose.

When the beam projectiles hit Lin Xiao, Qiao Ting operated his mecha to slam its left hand on an ejection installation on its waist. An energy storage unit sprang out and at the same time, the mecha's right hand deftly swiped at the button at the bottom of the gun, and the drained energy storage unit fell out abruptly ...

The mecha's right hand then dipped with the handgun, accurately catching the new energy storage unit, letting it slot neatly into place within the gun. The mecha's left hand followed immediately, slapping over the rear end of the gun, locking in the energy storage unit with a click.

Quicker than words could say, in less than a second, Qiao Ting was done replacing the handgun's energy block. This series of actions were clean and efficient, each action flowing into the next as smoothly as water ... the audience could not help but cry out in shock and surprise. There was no doubt that this display of Qiao Ting's involved a high level of technical skill. On the battlefield, this technique would allow Qiao Ting to live longer than other people.

After replacing his handgun's energy storage unit, Qiao Ting did not hesitate to pull the trigger of the gun once more, sending another wave of beam projectiles towards Lin Xiao, who still had not fully recovered from the last round of explosions.

"Goddammit! It was a trick!" When the First Co-ed Military Academy students saw this scene, they were instantly pounding their chests in frustration. At this moment, anyone could see the purpose behind Qiao Ting's creation of a beam net despite having to drain his gun's power; he had been trying to force Lin Xiao to back off ...

At this moment, Lin Xiao could also tell that the momentum was gone. Frankly, from the very moment he had not taken the beam handgun into account, he had already been forced into a passive position. He just had not wanted to admit defeat, and thus had walked step by step into Qiao Ting's set-up. He could only choose to retreat now, to free himself from the attack range of the beam projectiles. The beam projectile clusters finally ended up hitting the ground. The 'pow, pow, pow' sounds rang out everywhere, as the strikes sent clouds of dust and dirt into the air. By the time everything settled, the ground was already covered in potholes of various depth.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao's retreat had allowed Qiao Ting to pull away once more. By the time Lin Xiao dodged the beam clusters and began giving chase once more, Qiao Ting had already achieved the distance he wanted.

With an audible 'clack', Qiao Ting drew a huge, long gun from his mecha's back with his left hand. This was his personal gun —— a ballistic sniper rifle. It was his key weapon to win this match. At the same time, his mecha's right hand holstered the beam handgun back in the dock at his waist.

With a great swing of his mecha's left hand, Qiao Ting's gun flew into the air, and his mecha quickly followed it up into the skies as well. With a clap, he caught the rifle in both hands, steadied it on his shoulders, and aimed for Lin Xiao in the distance.

The appearance of this rifle made Lin Xiao's expression change drastically. He had worked so hard to ward off this gun but in the end, the gun had still appeared.

Lin Xiao smiled bitterly inside his heart, but he still operated his mecha to fly forwards rapidly — no matter what, he needed to rush forwards in time. As long as he managed to get within 500 metres of the gun, the ballistic sniper rifle would lose its power. Then, he would still have a chance.

However, how could Qiao Ting let Lin Xiao have his wish when he had already obtained what he wanted? Holding the ballistic sniper rifle steady, he kept his sights on Lin Xiao and calmly pulled the trigger. Without much pause, he sent three consecutive shots at his opponent.

From taking aim to shooting, Qiao Ting's speed was so fast that Lin Xiao was completely flustered and caught off-guard. Although Qiao Ting's data had clearly labelled him as a long-range mecha operator, the deepest secret had still remained unknown to the public. No one knew his innate talent was Instant Lock-on; thus, every person who went up against Qiao Ting would be stunned by his super-fast sniping speed.

Could it be that Qiao Ting had fired these three shots blindly? This was Lin Xiao's first reaction, but he instantly rejected the idea after that. How could Qiao Ting, such an outstanding person who had been able to ascend to ace level in his fourth year, make such a rudimentary mistake?

Lin Xiao did not believe it, nor would the audience believe it. Indeed, their judgment was correct. These three shots of Qiao Ting had truly not been indiscriminate wild shots. As the three shots loomed ever closer to him, Lin Xiao realized this profoundly.

And so, he once again faced another quandary which needed him to make a final decision!

1. 酱油枪: The author actually uses the phrase 'soy sauce gun' here. Think of it as a condiment -- soy sauce is not necessary for a meal; it's just something extra which won't even be missed much even if it's not there. (Disclaimer: This is by no means what I actually think of soy sauce. Soy sauce is mmmm.)

Chapter 457 - Difficult to Let Go!

A ballistic sniper rifle was not a beam energy gun; it would not fire beams but solid bullets. However, these bullets were not low-powered gunpowder bullets but extremely horrifying magnetic burst energy bullets. The magnetic energy had been successfully condensed into the bullets, and once a bullet hit its target, due to the high-speed collision, the magnetic burst energy inside would smash through the protective layer of the bullet and cause a violent burst of magnetic energy.

If the power of the explosion exceeded the defensive capabilities of a mecha's beam shield, then tragedy would befall the operator. The magnetic energy was especially powerful against metal — as soon as it came into contact with the outer armour of a mecha, it would ravage the electrical wiring inside it, causing the control systems of the mecha to malfunction and thus leading to the defeat of the mecha operator.

Qiao Ting was clearly well aware of the power of a ballistic rifle — Lin Xiao was likewise well aware, and he naturally would not allow Qiao Ting to hit his mecha if he could avoid it. However, he found that evading was really very difficult because only one of the three shots was targeting him; the other two shots had sealed off his escape paths on the left and right. If he did not dodge, he would be hit, but if he dodged to either side, he would also be hit. The only directions he could choose to escape from were up or down ...

Should he go up or should he go down? Lin Xiao knew that he only had one chance. Qiao Ting's limit was most probably four shots — if he had the ability to fire five shots instantly, he definitely would not have just fired these three shots. If he had shot all five straight away, Lin Xiao would have had no other option but to admit defeat.

Lin Xiao knew that as soon as he chose the wrong direction, he would lose the match. He did not expect that the time to determine the final outcome would come so soon — he had initially thought that, at worst, he would be able to hold out till the time limit for the match almost ran out. This Qiao Ting ... he had still underestimated him.

Since it was a gamble either way, then he would just have to see how lucky he was. Qiao Ting's hands were very steady, so there was no way to tell from them whether Qiao Ting was going to shoot up or down. Moreover, the two of them did not have time to hesitate.

Lin Xiao finally made his choice. Just as his body moved upwards, Qiao Ting also fired his fourth shot.

Right at this moment, alarms rang in Lin Xiao's mind. Without conscious thought, his fingers reached out for the on-off button for his mecha's engines. Perhaps due to the pressure, his fingers actually vanished from sight for a moment as they moved and by the time they reappeared, one of his fingers was already pressing down on the button and the engine instantly shut down.

The initially rising mecha dropped without the support of its engines and immediately after that, the engines rumbled once more. In the process, the engines had been recalibrated to zero level, so Lin Xiao rode the momentum to push the engines to push him down even further. With the addition of the engaged thrust of the engines, Lin Xiao's mecha plummeted even more rapidly.

Turning off the engines had both a good side and a bad side. The good side was that one did not need to shift gears to move in the opposite direction, so not only could one save the time needed to change gears, this also would not cause much damage to the engines. If not absolutely necessary, a mecha operator would never switch so rapidly between opposing thrust forces. The bad side was that once the engines were turned off, the initial high-gear power supplied to the engines would be abruptly cut off and drop to zero instantly. When the engines were activated once more, due process would have to be taken to restore the engines to its initial high-powered state.

But at this time, turning off the engines was really the most suitable choice. Due to gravity, the mecha had already been falling rapidly, so when the engines were activated once more, the speed of Lin Xiao's descent instantly reduced the restoration process of the engine in building up momentum, sending it directly into a high-powered state.

Of course, the main purpose of shutting off the engines was to cut short the time needed to switch directions. In a situation where every second counts, where one's life hung in the balance, being able to shorten the time by even just 0.01 seconds could turn the whole situation around.

" Bong 1 ! Bong! Bong! Bong!"

Four bullets grazed by Lin Xiao's mecha, hitting the boundary shield and emitting loud explosions.

Everyone could see the four large circles of light that had appeared on the shield in the wake of these explosions. The audience members directly facing these light circles were terribly shocked — their faces were pale as they wiped away the cold sweat on their foreheads, and only at this time did they notice that their legs were also weak from the fright.

When they had seen those four bullets heading straight for them, at that instant, they experienced the terror of impending death. Their hearts had stopped beating for about three seconds ... luckily, the boundary shield had held up, intercepting all the force of the bullets. Thus, their hearts resumed beating again, and they felt as if they had been resurrected.

Frankly, the audience members had just been scaring themselves. Any firearm that could appear on the mecha combat field here would definitely have been subject to six thorough examinations by the organizers before being approved. As such, the audience's safety was assured — the force of any firearm on the field would never be able to overcome the defensive shields in place and harm the audience.

Although Lin Xiao had managed to avoid the crisis of being hit by those bullets, he was still in peril. His mecha was plummeting rapidly — if he could not stop his mecha before it hit the ground, he would have to bear the brunt of the collision. Even with the protection of the cockpit, the resulting intense concussive force would certainly leave him dizzy and disoriented.

If he were not in the middle of a match, this might perhaps not be an issue; but now, there was still an eager Qiao Ting beside him, ready to pounce ... he absolutely could not make any mistakes!

Lin Xiao pulled on his mecha's control stick with all his strength, cutting straight from a rapid descent to the maximum elevation thrust. This type of control method was extremely damaging to a mecha's engines — if unfortunate, the engines might even explode from the strain. However, at this moment, Lin Xiao had no mind to take all this into consideration. With a twisted expression, he yelled, "Get up now!"

To pull a mecha up from a steep descent was one of the most difficult manoeuvres in mecha control. This was also why Lin Xiao had chosen to move up at first — changing directions after elevation was much easier in comparison to going down first. As for descending, due to the effect of gravity, it was difficult to adjust directions quickly. The engines would have to first offset the pull of gravity before they could perform the operator's intended action. The time needed to offset gravity could very well leave him open to another snipe attack from Qiao Ting ...

Sure enough, Qiao Ting's snipe attack came once more, but this time, four bullets came hurtling at him at the same time. It looked like Qiao Ting also knew that this was his best opportunity and so he was giving it his all, no longer holding back.

The audience could also tell that the match had reached its key moment. They kept their eyes glued to the field, waiting for the next scene to develop. Would Lin Xiao be the one to escape successfully in the end, or would Qiao Ting's four shots prove effective?

"Bong! Bong! Bong!" Three shots exploded on the boundary shield as Lin Xiao dodged them.

Close after that, another 'bong!' rang out, but this time, the explosion occurred at the right leg of Lin Xiao's mecha. All of the audience cried out at this development — even as they were glad for Qiao Ting, they also felt sorry for Lin Xiao. This scene caused the expressions of the First Co-ed Military Academy's students to change. They all knew that Lin Xiao was in trouble now. The exact same scene, however, was greeted with cheers by the First Men's Military Academy's students as they jumped around for joy. This successful hit meant that Qiao Ting had gained the upper hand.

Although the team members here representing the First Men's Military Academy came from various mecha clans within the academy which were constantly fighting with each other trying to assert their dominance, right here and now, they were one team. They were all sincerely happy at Qiao Ting's success and shared the pride and glory of the moment.

Qiao Ting's attack did not end there — he did not ease up on his advantage, calmly pulling his trigger once more. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Four consecutive booms marked four more shots from his ballistic sniper rifle ...

On his end, Lin Xiao was already in a very bad state. Warnings blared in a continuous stream from his mecha's A.I. — that final bullet had struck his mecha's right leg and, in the subsequent explosion, the control systems of his mecha's leg had been immediately destroyed. Although the systems of the others parts had not been affected, his overall balance was thrown off due to the malfunction of the systems of his right leg. To resolve this problem, Lin Xiao needed to instantly recalibrate his balance system ...

However, Qiao Ting did not give him the chance, once again firing four bullets at him. At this point, Lin Xiao knew his defeat was certain. Off-balance and dependant on his engines to merely stay suspended in the air, there was no more time for him to operate his mecha to dodge.

Lin Xiao was a decisive person. Since he knew it was futile to struggle any further, he immediately raised both his hands to signify his surrender. The referee had been closely monitoring the proceedings and so immediately raised his red flag. With that, the imperial operator watching the fight from an extremely high altitude instantly dived down and intercepted the four bullets headed for Lin Xiao with four shots of his own, setting them off before they could reach Lin Xiao ...

Lin Xiao's surrender meant that Qiao Ting was now officially the king of the single mecha combat event for this tournament. When Qiao Ting received the championship trophy signifying this special honour, he suddenly found that he was not as happy as he had expected to be ... as he walked down the podium to meet his team members, he saw Ling Lan's group leaving, and he abruptly understood.

In that fight with Lingtian, his ace mecha had become broken and battered from the self-destructs of the Lingtian members before he had clashed with Ling Lan, and thus had been on its last legs. However, even so, he still could not let go of the fact that he had been finished off by Ling Lan in one move. Only by fighting Ling Lan once more and dealing the other a clean defeat would he be able to return to how he used to be ...

Once again looking down at the trophy in his hands which represented the rank of top person in mecha combat, Qiao Ting then threw it aside carelessly to an admiring team member beside him. With that, he started to walk out of the combat stadium without a backwards glance.

"Boss Qiao, your trophy ..." The team member scrambled to catch the unexpected trophy thrown at him, calling out bemusedly to Qiao Ting who had already moved further front.

Qiao Ting turned his head and said lightly, "If you like it, you can have it."

"Ah ..." Not only was this team member left gaping in shock, but the other members were gobsmacked as well. This was proof of one's status as the number one in mecha combat at the military academy level — how could it be given away so flippantly?

Though the typically domineering Qiao Ting did not like explaining himself, he had a soft spot for this group of members who had not abandoned him when he was at his lowest. Sensing his team members' disbelief, he thus added, "Not being able to become the number one of my own academy, then what use is there in gaining countless number ones outside?"

Qiao Ting's words reminded his team members of their defeat at the hands of Lingtian. Reflexively, they turned to look at the figures of the Lingtian group disappearing in the distance ... it was as Boss Qiao had said. Without defeating that group, no matter how much glory they earned, they would be unable to cover up the fact that they had lost to someone else. At this thought, their initial joy and exhilaration disappeared. That trophy which they had admired so much earlier had now lost the appeal it had at the beginning.

Just like this, Qiao Ting's group also left the venue. However, every member now had a clear goal in their hearts. They would defeat the Lingtian Mecha Clan properly once, and then move on to defeating the Lingtian Battle Clan once. And so, the two battle clans embarked onto the path of mutual rivalry ...

1. The author actually uses this sound effect with English text in the raws.

Chapter 458 - Goal!

The single mecha combat event finally ended with Qiao Ting obtaining first place. This outcome was within most people's expectations — since Qiao Ting was known to be the second Ling Xiao, then he should of course be an undefeatable presence among his peers like Ling Xiao.

However, the audience's enthusiasm for more competition was not dampened by much due to the end of this event, because the even more thrilling group mecha combat event would begin the following day.

Compared to the single mecha combat event which represented personal glory, the administrators of all the military academies were much more invested in the group mecha combat event. This was because this competition was the one that truly reflected the strength of a military academy. After every tournament, those academies which ranked higher in the group mecha combat event would be able to receive even more resources from the Federation, as well as gain a higher rate of applications from top-notch scout academy students. Therefore, the group mecha combat event was one of the most intense events of the entire tournament. Although it could not compare to the chaotic state of the team battle royal, it was not weaker by much ...

The group rounds were run on a best of five system, first to win 3 matches wins. Each academy could send a total of six participants, five regular members and one substitute member. Unlike with the other events, where the substitute member could sub in at any moment, in the group mecha combat event, the substitute member functioned as a true substitute. Only if a regular member was injured severely enough during the fights that he could not continue on would the substitute be able to replace said member and participate in the matches on his behalf; otherwise, the substitute member would not even have the chance to take the field.

Generally, the five regular members participating in the group event would be the same five members who had participated in the solo event. However, this tradition was broken this year. In the name list submitted by the First Men's Military Academy, Zhao Jun, who had obtained third place in the single mecha combat event, should have been a regular member, but he was instead relegated to being the most powerful substitute which had almost no chance of taking the field. Moreover, his slot was replaced by an unfamiliar name —— Ling Lan!

The staff member in charge of registration at first thought that the First Men's Military Academy had made a mistake, and so had specially contacted their chaperoning instructor. When asked, the instructor had smiled wryly and replied that everything listed was as it should be. Even as the staff member was stunned by the answer, he was also curious, wondering what kind of sacred being this Ling Lan was to be able to replace Zhao Jun.

Due to the principle of confidentiality, the staff member did not speak of this issue to anyone else. Thus, the next day, when all of the participants from the various academies took to the field, the audience on the side of the First Men's Military Academy burst into a commotion ...

Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu, who were also regular members for this event, were equally taken by surprise 1 . In particular, Han Yu cast a pitying glance at Zhao Jun standing behind them. In the hands of a clan leader who was so jealous of talent, how could Zhao Jun do well 2 ? At this thought, Han Yu's intentions of recruiting Zhao Jun back stirred once more.

Only Zhang Jing-an was unmoved because he knew very well that Ling Lan had always been very aberrant. Back in the scout academy, Ling Lan had already been able to give them seniors a serious beating as a seventh-grader. If Ling Lan had become mediocre after entering the military academy, only then would he have truly been shocked ...

As for Qiao Ting, whether it was Ling Lan or Zhao Jun, they were just his temporary comrades in this event. As long as they did not hold him back, he did not care about the details. Of course, deep down, he trusted Ling Lan even more than he trusted Zhao Jun. Ling Lan's figure as he instant-killed him was deeply etched into Qiao Ting's mind, and it was a scene that he was constantly working on washing away.

Meanwhile, in the VIP area, Lan Luofeng, who had only attended the opening ceremony before hiding away all this while in her accommodations, finally reappeared in public. In high spirits, she was holding Ling Xiao's arm as she stared at the field, trying to locate her baby daughter among the crowd of 2000 people.

That's right, the only thing that could draw Lan Luofeng out to attend was her dear and adorable daughter Ling Lan. She had long known that Ling Lan would be participating in the group mecha combat event, so she had been waiting for this competition to arrive. Only at this time could she openly watch her daughter and cheer for her.

At this thought, Lan Luofeng could not help but resent Ling Xiao beside her again. If this bastard had not acted so wilfully, how could she have been separated from her daughter? Having to be so sneaky even just to meet up with her ... at this painful thought, Lan Luofeng did not hesitate to reach out her other hand to give her husband's waist a savage 360-degree pinch-twist. That one pinch did not seem to appease her enough; Lan Luofeng gave Ling Xiao several more hard pinches.

Ling Xiao was in the middle of exchanging a few casual words with the other guests beside him. The corners of his eyes twitched, but he managed to endure the pain and maintain the kind smile on his face. Only after he finished his conversation did he turn around like nothing was wrong, gently grab hold of the jade hand still wrestling with the soft flesh at his waist, smile and say, "Luofeng? What's wrong?"

Lan Luofeng glared at him and moved her lips silently. From the shape of her lips, Ling Xiao managed to make out the word 'daughter', and he realised that his wife must have recalled the stupid thing he had done with regards to their daughter again. His smile instantly turned bitter and he scratched his nose helplessly, saying nothing further.

What else could he say? Lan Luofeng wasn't wrong to complain — he was the one who forced his daughter to continue hiding her gender, and though he was not the one who made it impossible for Lan Luofeng to visit her daughter openly ... who asked Ling Lan to be his daughter? He still needed to take the blame for it and, at the root of it all, he was still at fault anyway for placing Ling Lan in the First Men's Military Academy. He really did have to tolerate Lan Luofeng's anger.

On the first day, the morning matches were to determine the top 200. Aside from a few exciting match-ups, most of the competition was nothing really worth watching. The First Men's Military Academy easily advanced to the next round — Han Yu, Zhang Jing-an, and Mu Shaoyu alone were enough to handle their opponents. Even as this disappointed Lan Luofeng, who had been eagerly anticipating her daughter's grand debut, she was also comforted. After all, if her daughter did not have to go out onto the field then she would not be hurt. Compared to seeing her daughter perform well, Lan Luofeng was definitely more invested in making sure her daughter did not get hurt. Thus, Lan Luofeng very quickly adjusted her emotions and continued to watch the afternoon's matches.

The afternoon matches were to determine the top 100 from the top 200. The opponents of the First Men's Military Academy were also not very strong — even though Han Yu had some trouble in the first match, fighting his opponent till the end of the time limit to win by point advantage, the subsequent two matches were clean victories by Zhang Jing-an and Mu Shaoyu. The First Men's Military Academy once again advanced to the next round and yet again, Ling Lan did not have to take to the field.

Still, the First Men's Military Academy successful advancement into the top 100 made Lan Luofeng very happy. Ling Xiao was quick to grab hold of the opportunity to be all lovey-dovey with his wife. Ever since coming to planet Qiming, it had dredged up all the 'old grievances and new grudges' of Lan Luofeng. And so, Ling Xiao suffered a tragic fate — having to sleep consecutive N-nights on the sofa.

The next day, Lan Luofeng's face was glowing with bliss when she arrived at the combat stadium. With just one glance, Ling Lan could tell that her mum, this not-that-old flower, had been well nurtured by her dad 1 and was now radiating her beauty again ...

The competition today was much busier than it had been yesterday. In the morning, the First Men's Military Academy only had one match, which would let them move from the top 100 to the top 50. This time, their opponent was a military academy from the first-rate planet Tongli 1 . Among all the military academies of the Federation, this academy could rank within the top 30. As such, their team members were not comparable to those from the lower-ranking academies; all five of their representatives were special-class operators.

The match order of the First Men's Military Academy's members had never changed. By the time Han Yu began fighting with the first opponent, everyone knew that things were going to be a bit troublesome this time. The opponent was applying the principle of Tianji's horse-racing — the first fighter from the opponent's team was very strong; Han Yu was actually being suppressed.

Seeing this, Qiao Ting frowned lightly and said to Ling Lan beside him, "Say, do you think this is their strongest candidate? Or is he just the third strongest?"

Qiao Ting had seen how terrifying Ling Lan's abilities were from the two rounds of the competition yesterday — Ling Lan was like an encyclopaedia; no matter how weak and unremarkable the opponent was, he could spout data on them like reading off the back of his hand. This led to Qiao Ting and the others turning to Ling Lan by habit to ask whenever they had any questions about the opponents.

Ling Lan replied calmly, "This person entered the top 50 in the single combat event. There is one other in their team who also entered the top 50, but stopped at the top 32, and the other two are out of the top 100 ..."

Qiao Ting picked up on Ling Lan's tone and knew she had something more to say. The furrow of his brow deepened — if Han Yu lost this match, they might really be in trouble. "The final person ... is he in the top 16?" If that last member was in the top 16, Mu Shaoyu's match would be a little precarious.

"Oh, not to that extent. Their best candidate ranked 19," replied Ling Lan. Mu Shaoyu let out a sigh of relief when he heard this — Mu Shaoyu had ranked 13 in the single mecha combat event, so he was still a steady bracket above the other.

Han Yu's combat style had probably been thoroughly analysed by the opponent — although the two fighters were about equal in strength, caught off-guard, Han Yu finally lost the match. The spectators were flabbergasted at this opening loss on the part of the First Men's Military Academy. In their opinion, the First Men's Military Academy should have been triumphant all the way, fighting their way through their opponents unchallenged into the finals, to finally become champion of the group mecha combat event. That was the way to truly live up to their reputation of the First Men's Military Academy.

Han Yu's defeat made him extremely frustrated. He had made it into the top 32 in the singles event, but had now been defeated by someone who ranked lower than him. He felt greatly humiliated, but Ling Lan and the others did not go over to console him. Someone who could become the regiment commander of a mecha clan would certainly have the ability to self-regulate his emotions.

Due to Han Yu's loss, Zhang Jing-an was clearly much more cautious in the second match. However, no matter how cautious he was, he could not hide the change in his expression when he discovered who his opponent was. His opponent was not the candidate who was in the top 50, but was instead the one who ranked 19.

"Looks like they've given up on the third match." The unexpected appearance of this person here in the second match caused the people of the First Men's Military Academy to frown. What in the world was the other side aiming for? Even if the opponents won this match, there would be no one else capable of rivalling Mu Shaoyu on their side for the third match.

Standing beside Ling Lan, Zhao Jun seemed to have figured out something. He could not help but chuckle and say, "Boss Lan, they seem to have set their sights on you. That top 32 candidate will probably be arranged to fight in the fourth match."

1. T/C: Lol, Ling Lan is such a troll; not even telling her own side.

2. The implication here being that Ling Lan would snatch the spotlight from the talented people in her clan and try to suppress them.

3. T/C: Eh-hm, one needs to have some cultivation in Gutter Dao to really understand what's going on here. Consider this a gentle shove in that direction. 'Well nurtured' indeed. Let's just say Ling Xiao did not sleep on the sofa last night. :3

4. 同理: There's seriously no cool English equivalent I can think of for this one. Roughly, it translates to 'Same Reason/Logic/Truth'. I briefly considered 'planet Equalogic', but editor-H (probably wisely) voted to keep Tongli. :p

Chapter 459 - A Strange Injury!

Ling Lan fully agreed with Zhao Jun's speculations. She nodded and said, "This battle plan is pretty good. For the next round, we should also make some changes." Tongli's targeted and purposeful line-up reminded Ling Lan that a fixed and unchanging order would make it very easy for others to pick out a flaw. Although they had strength, they would not be able to fend against endless schemes and calculations.

Zhao Jun's words pulled Qiao Ting's attention back, and he turned an odd gaze at the few Tongli cadets who were standing not too far backstage watching the fight closely. He did not know whether to give them props for their bizarre way of thinking or offer them a moment of mournful silence.

Although Qiao Ting did not think that he had truly lost to Ling Lan in that challenge fight, having exchanged one proper blow with Ling Lan, he knew well that Ling Lan's mecha combat arts were extraordinary. Whether in terms of speed, technique, or judgment, Ling Lan had achieved the pinnacle of a special-class operator — and this was why Ling Lan had been able to finish him off in one move.

These were the results of Qiao Ting's repetitive study of the battle recording of their fight. He believed that Ling Lan's control ability was actually even stronger than Zhao Jun who seemed stronger than Ling Lan on the surface. It was also this analysis which made Qiao Ting mentally view Ling Lan as his greatest rival — just think, had he been as strong as the other back when he was in his second year?

Of course, without advancing to ace, no matter how powerful or talented one was, everything would be but a passing cloud. Qiao Ting knew he would continue to keep a close eye on Ling Lan, waiting to see if this aberrant who had already advanced to Domain in physical skills at age 17 would be just as aberrant when it came to mecha piloting.

On this end, while Qiao Ting was thinking that the Tongli people were asking for trouble, on the other end, Han Yu, who did not know Ling Lan's true strength, was becoming anxious. He could not help but begin to resent Ling Lan, silently blaming the other for coveting the honour associated with the group battles and forcing his way in to make up the numbers, pushing Zhao Jun aside. If not for that, they would never have been put into such a passive state ...

At the thought that they might be ended here in the top 100, becoming one of the most unexpected losers of this competition, Han Yu could not help but think viciously — wait till they got back to the First Men's Military Academy ... let's see how this Ling Lan was going to explain this! At this moment, Han Yu had forgotten that it was because he had lost that first match which he should not have out of carelessness that things had become so passive for them ...

Sensing the discontent in Han Yu's eyes, a trace of a malicious smile appeared on Qiao Ting's lips. He was not so nice that he would help enlighten his old rival — let him stew in his worry for a while.

Ling Lan chose to ignore Han Yu's displeasure and Qiao Ting's indifference; right then, she was reading through a long document in her mindspace. It was the detailed information she had asked Little Four to gather on all the participants of Tongli.

"It should be this person ..." said Ling Lan, pointing at one of the names in the document; she had finally found what she was looking for.

At her side, Little Four was rather curious. He stretched tall on tiptoe, trying to see who exactly his boss was referring to. Unfortunately, even after 17 years, he was still a little beansprout — his height was not even at the level of Ling Lan's waist; no matter how high he stood on tiptoe, he was still unable to see.

Looking up to see that sheet of white paper high above his head, Little Four suddenly hated himself. Why did he have to turn the data into paper documents? If he had just displayed it on a virtual screen, wouldn't he be able to see it then? Right then, Little Four was filled with infinite regret, but he also did not dare to make an executive decision to change formats — he was afraid that his boss would once again shut him up in that small black room, oh that small black room.

Ling Lan had long noticed Little Four's behaviour and was snickering in her heart, but she decided not to make things difficult for him. She dipped the paper low, bringing it right before Little Four's eyes, pointed at one of the names and said, "Him."

Little Four reflexively read it out loud, "Du Yuanlang, specialization: Military Strategy. Ranked 7 in this tournament's tactical strategy competition ... this result is not that good, even losing to Han Jijyun ..." At this point, Little Four was still befuddled, unsure why his boss had gone to the trouble of searching for this specific person among the list of more than a hundred people.

Little Four's dazed look made Ling Lan smile fondly, and she explained, "This match today, Tongli's line-up was probably by this guy's arrangement. I have to say that this battle plan is very good, almost allowing the other side to achieve an upset ..."

Little Four understood then. Abruptly amused, his eyes crinkled into a straight line as he smiled widely, and somewhat smugly with a touch of schadenfreude, he said, "Sadly, he bet on the wrong person."

Ling Lan did not reply, merely rubbing Little Four's head. She ignored Little Four's resultant protests and instructed, "In short, send a copy each of this person's information to Jijyun and Leopard. Tell them to watch out for him. During the team battle royal, this person might bring us some trouble."

After settling all this, Ling Lan turned her attention back to the field. At this moment, Zhang Jing-an's situation was not looking good; he was fighting under the opponent's suppression. This fighter was truly Tongli's ace-in-the-hole — Zhang Jing-an, who was also a special-class operator like him, was still no match for him.

"Senior Zhang is about to lose," said Ling Lan evenly. She reckoned that there would be just a few more moves before the outcome was decided; based on Zhang Jing-an's condition, he would at most be able to withstand another 10 moves.

Qiao Ting nodded and said, "Yes, it's just uncertain how many more moves he'll be able to take. The opponent is very strong ... his ranking of 19 was probably because he was matched against an ace operator early and was defeated prematurely. His strength is about the same as Zhao Jun's. He could have easily made it into the top 8. Zhang Jing-an's loss is not unfounded."

Ling Lan was rather taken aback by Qiao Ting's words. She had thought that Qiao Ting, an ace operator like her, would also be able to estimate how many moves were left before the outcome of the match was revealed. Surprisingly, that was not so. Qiao Ting was able to foresee the final outcome, but he could not determine how many moves would be used ...

Just as Ling Lan was puzzling over this conundrum, things abruptly changed on the field after the two mecha had exchanged another 7 blows. Zhang Jing-an, who had only been disadvantaged all this while without showing any signs of being defeated yet, suddenly dodged a little too slow and was struck right in the chest by the opponent's cold weapon. The tremendous force behind the blow sent Zhang Jing-an flying.

Thrown through the air, Zhang Jing-an had yet to stabilize his mecha when the opponent had already pounced after him like a fierce predator. Three consecutive hits instantly sent Zhang Jing-an's mecha crashing into the ground below ...

Ten moves! In the end, the moves needed to determine the outcome was as Ling Lan had predicted — only ten moves! Why could she make such an accurate judgment call when Qiao Ting could not? Ling Lan thought hard on this and was suddenly struck by a fit of inspiration. She had thought of her innate talent Profound Insight. Could that be the answer?

Thinking closely about it, that was the only possibility. This made Ling Lan begin to take this innate talent very seriously — she had initially thought that Profound Insight was just an ability that allowed her to hone in on an opponent's weakness, but now from the looks of it, she had underestimated this innate talent. Profound Insight probably still had some other wonderful uses for her to uncover ... perhaps, she should really put some serious effort to study it now.

********

In the learning space, Instructor Number One was seated in quiet meditation on a mountain peak. When he sensed Ling Lan's thoughts, he opened his eyes and a cold gleam flashed through them. Immediately after, he huffed coldly before closing his eyes in meditation once more.

Instructor Number One was actually very displeased that Ling Lan was only just showing interest to understand her innate talent Profound Insight now. He had already told Ling Lan much earlier before that the Profound Insight innate talent was one of the best of all innate talents, so how could it be limited to the insignificant ability to identify weaknesses like the lower level innate talents such as Animal Instinct?

However, Instructor Number One was also satisfied that Ling Lan had been able to notice this point so quickly despite her disinterest. Once Ling Lan had fully mastered Profound Insight ... Instructor Number One did not dare to chase this thought any further — she would definitely become an absolutely terrifying existence.

After the three combo hits, Zhang Jing-an's points had already been deducted till zero. The referee immediately raised his red flag to prevent the opponent from moving forwards and attacking again. Ling Lan and the rest waited for Zhang Jing-an to operate his mecha to stand up so that the referee could announce the results.

Several seconds later, Zhang Jing-an still had not moved from where he had crashed onto the ground. Ling Lan's and Qiao Ting's expressions changed.

The referee on the field had also noticed this, and he quickly connected to Zhang Jing-an's commlink and called out to him urgently. Then, he could vaguely hear moaning coming from the other end and immediately knew that the situation was not good. He quickly called for the medical team.

The medical team immediately rushed onto the scene with several high-level hackers in tow. Zhang Jing-an seemed to have already fallen unconscious and was unable to open his own cockpit, so the hackers were needed to crack the code on the cockpit doors to open them before the medical team could hoist Zhang Jing-an to help him.

Seeing this, Ling Lan informed Little Four to lend a hand. After the hackers had begun hacking, Little Four slipped in and broke the code, springing the doors open.

Zhang Jing-an was pulled out — his entire body was limp like a lump of mud. The primary doctor stepped forwards to examine him, and his face changed drastically. He immediately placed Zhang Jing-an into the pre-prepared healing pod and swiftly contacted a transport machine on standby outside the stadium to come and move the healing pod out.

The competition was declared suspended for an indefinite amount of time. This notification let Ling Lan and the others know that something major must have happened. In the live broadcast they were watching backstage, when Zhang Jing-an was rescued out of his mecha, his injuries seemed off, as if several magnitudes more severe than they had imagined.

Worried and suspicious, they watched the video images of the three-hit combo again and again — the opponent's attacks had been very clean, and there was nothing wrong with the area he had attacked either, fully avoiding the cockpit ... then why was Zhang Jing-an so heavily injured? This matter was just too strange; they could not figure it out.

Ling Lan instructed Little Four to secretly sneak into the military comms channels and make sure he found out what this matter was all about.

Everyone was patiently waiting for the results of the examination — when Zhang Jing-an's opponent, that Tongli trump card, returned backstage, he too had a look of bewilderment on his face. He could not understand how Zhang Jing-an had been injured so gravely either. The initially bustling backstage had now fallen still and silent. Everyone was waiting for news, eager to know what in the world had happened.

"Ah, it's General Ling Xiao!" In the silent backstage, someone cried out, startling everyone. A commotion broke out as everyone rushed to the big screen to see General Ling Xiao's glory for themselves. The initially heavy atmosphere was swept away in an instant.

Ling Xiao had not walked down to the combat field alone. The vice president of the Federation was with him, but everyone's attention was all on Ling Xiao, so the vice president very tragically became part of the background. Expressions grim, they walked up to Zhang Jing-an's mecha where Ling Xiao then jumped straight into the cockpit with a powerful leap. When he came out from inside, his expression had turned extremely dark ...

He said a few brief words to the vice president and the latter's expression changed dramatically, a picture of disbelief. Very soon, the two of them re-entered the cockpit together, and when they came out again, the vice president's countenance was even three degrees darker than Ling Xiao's.

Soon, all of the academies participating in the group mecha combat event were notified that all of the actual mecha being used in the competition would be inspected by military specialists. Only after they were verified to be safe would the mecha operators be allowed to board them and use them in the competition!

As soon as this notice was released, there was an uproar! Everyone understood now what had befallen Zhang Jing-an!

Chapter 460 - Fatherly Love Like a Mountain!

When they received this notification, Qiao Ting's brows knitted together. After musing over it for a moment, he turned to look at Ling Lan and said, "Regiment Commander Ling, judging from this notification, there must have been some problem with the safety of Zhang Jing-an's mecha. Could the monitoring system have been compromised? Or is it the control system? Or perhaps ..." Qiao Ting's expression turned grim and his voice dipped low. "Was there a problem with the mecha itself to begin with?"

By this time, Ling Lan had already obtained the conclusion Ling Xiao and the vice president had come to from her connection with Little Four. Suppressing the rage within her, she replied coldly, "Perhaps. Those are all possible!"

Ling Lan's words made Qiao Ting turn serious. He was just about to continue discussing the topic with Ling Lan when, right then, the people around the large screen began yelling, "General Ling Xiao, General Ling Xiao is coming ..."

Ling Lan and the others looked over and saw from the video feed that Ling Xiao and the vice president were walking over here shoulder to shoulder. There were also quite a number of officers trailing behind them. Among them, Ling Lan saw a familiar face — it was that secret service secretary He Xuyang, who had now become Ling Xiao's 23rd Division's first adviser.

This He Xuyang should have already passed Ling Xiao's tests to become one of his confidants; otherwise, Ling Xiao would not have brought him with him to planet Qiming. Meanwhile, that Adjutant Qiao who Ling Xiao had once brought with him to the First Men's Military Academy was nowhere in sight this trip. It looked like there must have been something wrong with that Adjutant Qiao ... the only question was whether her dad had put him on ice 1 or if he had already utterly dealt with the problem.

By this time, that group had already come to the mouth of a passage. This passageway was very familiar to everyone watching the video feed; it was the passage to the backstage area they were at.

Ling Lan's mind stirred as she began guessing silently as to why her dad would be headed here. Could it be because she was here? Ling Lan felt that this was truly possible.

As soon as Ling Xiao's group entered the backstage, no one there dared to move rashly, afraid to offend General Ling Xiao in any way. Even if they had dared to make any strange moves, the guards who had stepped in ahead of Ling Xiao would definitely have intercepted them. Everyone looked at Ling Xiao with reverent gazes, eyes tracking his every step.

Ling Xiao's destination was very clear. Without any hesitation, he headed straight for the First Men's Military Academy's area. No one was surprised by this move of Ling Xiao's. It was someone from the First Men's Military Academy who had been injured; it made perfect sense for Ling Xiao to go over and provide some reassurance. Moreover, General Ling Xiao was an alumni of the First Men's Military Academy — it was reasonable for him to go over and show some concern for his juniors.

The vice president smiled gently and kept pace with Ling Xiao as they made their way over to the First Men's Military Academy's side. The vice president's destination this time was the First Men's Military Academy anyway — he needed to show some care on behalf of the government.

Watching as Ling Xiao slowly approached, Qiao Ting and the rest were extremely excited. When Ling Xiao was finally before them, the five of them instantly snapped to attention and raised their hands in a sharp salute, shouting in unison, "General, good day!"

Ling Xiao returned a salute with a serious expression. When he put down his right hand, his expression instantly gentled and he said kindly, "That student just now ... though he is injured badly, he will definitely recover with the healing capacity of the Federation. Do not worry."

"Thank you, General!" responded the group in unison, hearts settling at Ling Xiao's words.

Ling Xiao's first remark was to inform them about Zhang Jing-an's condition — Qiao Ting and the rest were silently grateful for General Ling Xiao's compassion. Knowing what they were most worried about, he had instantly provided them with an answer.

General Ling Xiao's gentle gaze swept over the five youths there, pausing for a beat on Ling Lan before swiftly turning to the next youth in line. In the end, Ling Xiao's gaze landed on Qiao Ting and he said, "You. You should be Qiao Ting, right?"

"Yes, General!" Qiao Ting was ecstatic — he had not expected General Ling Xiao to know his name. Suppressing his brimming emotions which were about to overflow, Qiao Ting forced himself to be calm and replied.

"I saw you fight in the singles event. Not bad. Keep up the good work!" praised General Ling Xiao.

Qiao Ting immediately replied, "Yes, General!" He really did not expect General Ling Xiao to not only know his name, but to also go so far as to praise him. Qiao Ting was rather thrown off-balance by this — he desperately restrained himself, barely able to keep his emotions in check.

Ling Xiao's gaze then moved onto the Ling Lan and the others, and he asked with a smile, "Who's up for the next match?"

Mu Shaoyu raised his hand excitedly and shouted, "Reporting to the general! That would be me!"

Ling Xiao looked at Mu Shaoyu and his first adviser He Xuyang instantly shifted closer to whisper in his ear. After He Xuyang had stepped back into place, Ling Xiao glanced at Ling Lan standing beside Mu Shaoyu with a smile in his eyes.

'Truly, a tiger does not father hounds!' thought He Xuyang. He still remembered that Young Master Lan was only just a second-year cadet. For him to be able to participate in the group mecha combat event as a second-year, Young Master Lan's mecha piloting talent must not be weaker than General Ling Xiao's by much.

General Ling Xiao smiled, nodded and said, "Mu Shaoyu, is it? You all have already lost two matches so far. If you lose, the other two after you will not be able to take the field, you know. So that you aren't blamed by them, you need to work hard."

Ling Xiao's slightly teasing words helped to ease Mu Shaoyu's nervousness considerably. He loudly replied, "General, I guarantee that I'll complete this mission!" He turned his head to look at Ling Lan and Qiao Ting, and lifted his chin to say confidently, "I'll definitely let them take the field."

Ling Xiao looked over at Ling Lan, his eyes filled with a kind and loving humour. This look almost made Ling Lan think that Ling Xiao would call her 'my child', but unexpectedly, Ling Xiao merely said, "Fight well!"

Ling Lan was the calmest among the five youths. In response to that, she replied, "Yes, General!"

Her cold face was an emotionless mask — Ling Xiao was rather discouraged by this. How could his daughter be so calm and collected? Although the others were trying their best to compose themselves, it was obvious at a glance how they really felt. Only Ling Lan had not revealed any bit of emotion whatsoever, leaving Ling Xiao floundering as to how she felt. Did his arrival not make his daughter excited at all? Ling Xiao had a bellyful of resentment at the thought.

Seeing that Ling Xiao was done speaking, the vice president followed up with his own words of concern. The First Men's Military Academy group could feel the care from both the military and the government.

At this time, the two specialist mecha safety surveyors that had been transferred here urgently arrived backstage, and they began inspecting the mecha of the two mecha operators about to take the field. Seeing General Ling Xiao and the vice president there, they immediately came over to report. Subsequently, under General Ling Xiao's instruction, they respectively inspected Mu Shaoyu's mecha as well as the mecha of the third participant from the Tongli military academy.

As the backstage began to bustle with activity, the vice president was just about to suggest they leave when Ling Xiao suddenly turned his head and asked the five students of the First Men's Military Academy, "Who will be fighting after Mu Shaoyu?"

Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop when she heard this. Hells, she did not believe that her dad had not managed to get his hands on their participant name list. However, she knew that this was probably her dad trying to find a way to speak with her, so she raised her hand and said, "Reporting, Sir, that would be me."

Receiving the answer he wanted, Ling Xiao turned to the vice president and said, "Sir Vice President, I really want to take a look at the cockpits of the mecha of the other participants. Why not take this opportunity to look at this student's mecha as well?"

The vice president's face turned stern at his words and he replied, "Suits me."

Even as Ling Xiao's and the vice president's words stunned Ling Lan, she felt a surge of warmth suffuse her heart. Ling Xiao's visit backstage was not only to see her but, more importantly, to inspect her cockpit. Ling Lan knew that Ling Xiao was concerned and ill at ease, unwilling to leave his daughter's safety in the hands of others. He wanted to inspect her mecha personally, and in order to achieve this objective, he had racked his brains, patiently waiting for the most opportune timing.

Ling Lan pressed down the warmth in her heart and led Ling Xiao and the vice president to the mecha she was going to operate later.

For this fight, Ling Lan had not chosen an ace mecha but a special-class mecha which was comprehensively balanced, unlike the typical close-combat mecha she favoured. Ling Lan had her own reasons for choosing this mecha. Over this period of time, she had organized the legacy information she had received from her dad in the virtual space. She found that, on the battlefield, the more cards someone had up their sleeves, the easier it was for them to survive. This prompted her to reflect upon herself, wondering if she was too biased towards close combat and had neglected her long-range skills.

Putting one's full focus on one aspect would indeed allow one to reach a pinnacle much easier; besides that, many people who ambitiously tried to develop both sides often ended up moving towards mediocrity, lost among the masses. In human history, with regards to mecha, of all the people who had managed to ascend to god-class operator status, Ling Xiao was the only one who operated a balanced-type mecha!

Not everyone was Ling Xiao! Ling Lan too had this self-awareness. She would not be so bold as to think she could do as her dad had and become proficient at everything. She was only planning to train up her long-range combat skills a little more so that it could become one of her reliable cards in a crucial moment.

It was precisely this consideration which made Ling Lan choose this balanced mecha. There was no problem in terms of operating it — in the learning space, Instructor Number Three had not simply made her pilot just one series of mecha. She had had training in all the mecha types — it was just that her talent laid in close combat, so her long-range combat paled in comparison. In Ling Lan's battle clan of ten, Ling Lan's long-range abilities could at most rank her at number five ... Li Lanfeng, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing were all better than her, and even Li Shiyu, who did not focus much on mecha piloting, was better than her by a hair in long-range combat.

Ling Lan's long-range combat skills were only better than Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Xie Yi, who specialized in close combat, as well as Chang Xinyuan, whose piloting talent was terrible to begin with. As for Luo Lang, it depended on which personality he had activated at the time — if the personality in control was one suited for long-range combat, then his long-range skills would also be stronger than Ling Lan's. Thus, Ling Lan's talent in long-range combat could only be considered above average, absolutely nowhere close to top-notch.

However, giving up just like that was not like Ling Lan. She decided to spend a little more time training up her long-range combat skills. No matter what, she would make it so that she could squeeze into the top three of her battle clan ...

When Ling Xiao saw this mecha, he looked at Ling Lan contemplatively. Ling Lan noticed the satisfaction and smugness in her dad's eyes, and she instantly realized something and began screaming in her heart. 'Oh Dad, get over yourself! Me choosing a balanced mecha has nothing at all to do with you!'

Did Ling Xiao really have nothing to do with it? In the mindspace, Little Four cheekily morphed into Ling Xiao's image and asked in a stern tone.

Also inside the mindspace, Ling Lan rolled her eyes at this and with a flick of her finger, she made Little Four turn back to his original form. Fine. So there was that little bit of connection. After all, she had inherited Ling Xiao's legacy. Ling Lan admitted this honestly.

The news that Ling Xiao would be personally inspecting Ling Lan's mecha thrilled everyone. They all gathered close — if Ling Xiao's guards had not stopped them, they would most probably have come right up to the bottom of the mecha.

Ling Xiao spent more than 10 minutes inside the cockpit of Ling Lan's mecha. This duration greatly exceeded the time the experts used to inspect mecha. The specialists who were inspecting Mu Shaoyu's mecha were already done with it and had moved on to inspect Qiao Ting's mecha.

When Ling Xiao finally climbed out of the cockpit, his face was somewhat pale. This instantly made the vice president anxious and he asked, "General Ling, is there a problem?" The malfunction of one mecha could be explained as an error, but one more malfunctioning mecha would be a dereliction of duty. That would definitely cause a great upheaval within the entire Federation in both the military and political world.

Ling Xiao shook his head and said, "No big problems, just some minor issues." As soon as Ling Xiao said this, the staff member in charge of this mecha found sweat beading his forehead. However, he did not dare to wipe the sweat away — he quickly rushed over to stand before General Ling Xiao, bowed his head and took the blame. "General, I did not do a good job."

"This doesn't have much to do with you." Ling Xiao's words lifted the staff member's heart from hell up to heaven. He raised his head in pleasant surprise. Ling Xiao did not notice this. He pointed at some parts of the mecha and began describing the problems.

The staff member quickly opened his communicator and began taking notes. The issues Ling Xiao pointed out were largely effects of wear and tear, which would affect the performance of the mecha. Of course, there were also a few very hidden spots which, if not discovered in time, would have caused some insensitivity in the controls of the mecha. However, these had nothing to do with the main focus of the inspection this time as they would not threaten the life of the operator inside the cockpit.

Hearing Ling Xiao's detailed narration on the issues down to the smallest screw, all the people at the side stared with envy-jealousy-hate at the owner of this mecha — Ling Lan, who was currently standing behind Ling Xiao with a composed expression. Everyone was thinking: why couldn't it have been their mecha that was chosen for inspection by the general? Who would have guessed that General Ling Xiao's inspection would be so thorough, not even letting a single minor issue go?

On the surface, Ling Lan was as calm as ever but in truth, when she heard Ling Xiao listing out the issues of her mecha one by one, her heart throbbed once more —— was this what was meant by comparing fatherly love to a mountain 1 ?

Ling Lan was well aware that Ling Xiao had not simply conducted a surface inspection, but he had also used his spiritual power to envelop the entire mecha, which was how he had managed to ferret out all these little problems. This method was a huge drain on Ling Xiao's spiritual power — no wonder his face had been that pale when he had exited the mecha cockpit. At the same time, Ling Lan was silently shocked at the frightening realm her father's control over his spiritual power had reached. Even she had not noticed him using his spiritual power.

Ling Xiao's abundant berth of fatherly love made Ling Lan's self-erected barrier abruptly collapse. If they had not been in a public place, Ling Lan believed that she would have easily called out 'daddy' at this moment.

Unfortunately ... Ling Lan's gaze flickered. She finally reined in the shifting warmth in her heart, once again reverting back to the usual cold and seemingly emotionless Ling Lan.

If Ling Xiao had known right then that he had missed the chance to be called 'daddy' by Ling Lan because this was the wrong place and time, he would certainly be pounding his chest in frustration. However, it was also fortunate that he did not know so it did not affect his mood. With a serious demeanour, he instructed the backstage staff to fix each and every one of those problems.

Ling Xiao's serious attitude spurred everyone into nervous action. The problems that originally would have taken one to two hours to fix were completely resolved within half an hour. After Ling Xiao once again entered the cockpit for a reassessment, when he came out, he nodded at the staff to show that everything was fine now.

Having obtained General Ling Xiao's approval, all of the staff members could not help but break out into celebratory applause. This shook Ling Xiao out of work mode and a smile appeared on his lips. Now that the mecha was free of possible issues, Ling Xiao let out a sigh of relief.

However, this joyous atmosphere was soon broken by the news that the specialist inspecting one of the mecha of the Tongli Military Academy had found some problems with it. When Ling Xiao and the vice president heard the news, their expressions changed. Sharing a quick glance, they walked over to that mecha.

After listening to the specialist's report, Ling Xiao boarded the mecha to recheck it, and when he came out, he nodded at the vice president to show that the specialist's inspection results were not wrong. The vice president's countenance darkened instantly. He knew that this was most likely a case of collusion between officials and businessmen, a major incident of corruption, bribery, and dereliction of duty.

"General Ling Xiao ... this matter, can you leave it to us government officials to resolve?" The vice president waited till General Ling Xiao alighted from the mecha before pleading softly.

At this moment, there was no sign of Ling Xiao's previous warmth and gentle manner. He glanced at the vice president, his gaze so sharp that sweat began to run from the vice president's forehead. The vice president then heard Ling Xiao reply coldly, "I will need to report this matter to the First Marshal. I beg your pardon, Vice President." Just thinking about how many of his comrades, who were fighting with their lives on the line on the battlefield, could have lost their lives due to this, Ling Xiao's rage burned. He would not let this rest.

The vice president knew that his request had been a little too much, so he could only nod bitterly and say, "As you should, as you should. I did not think it through. I beg your forgiveness, General Ling Xiao."

Only then did Ling Xiao's tense expression ease and he said sincerely, "Vice President, we can only do things by the book. What happens next is not something we can meddle with."

The vice president smiled wryly at those words. Compared to Ling Xiao, he was much more worried. If this matter was not handled properly, the government this round may very well have to resign collectively ... he hoped that the skies would not be torn asunder by this 1 !

After settling the concern in his heart, Ling Xiao led his men away from the backstage. Meanwhile, the vice president returned to his accommodations with a mind full of worries. At this time, how could he still have the heart to continue watching the group mecha fights? He needed to convey this news at soonest notice to the president.

As for Ling Xiao, he returned to the rostrum area and nodded lightly to the worried Lan Luofeng. Only then did Lan Luofeng relax — if Ling Xiao said that everything was fine, then everything was sure to be fine. With regards to mecha, Lan Luofeng had the utmost trust in Ling Xiao.

In the meantime, Ling Xiao's first adviser He Xuyang was already on the road back to their accommodations. He had been sent by Ling Xiao to report what had happened here to the first marshal. As for what would follow, it was just as Ling Xiao had said — those were not things he could control. Of course, if someone was found to have engaged in malpractices for selfish ends, he, Ling Xiao, would not mind intervening — the mecha defence systems which could impact the survivability of a warrior absolutely could not be allowed to be treated lightly by anyone.

Very soon, the group mecha combat event resumed, and Mu Shaoyu operated his mecha onto the field. His opponent from the Tongli Military Academy was significantly weaker than him, so it only took a few moves before the opponent could hardly fight back under Mu Shaoyu's attacks. After resisting for ten more moves or so, the opponent felt that he could not go on and so immediately found time to make the motion for surrender. The referee immediately waved his red flag and ended the match.

The Tongli team backstage did not show any signs of disappointment at this loss for Tongli. Instead, they seemed even more eager and energetic in their preparations for the fourth match. This also confirmed that the opponents were indeed hedging their victory on the fourth match. They were putting their hopes on defeating Ling Lan who had not participated in the single mecha combat event, but had unexpectedly shown up to participate in the group event.

Zhao Jun was the only one backstage who knew Ling Lan's true strength — his boss was a bona fide ace operator! Even if he was operating a special-class mecha, a special-class operator would still be no match at all for him.

By this time, Ling Lan had already boarded her mecha and was conducting her pre-match checks. She found that after Ling Xiao's repairs and adjustments, her mecha's functions had become one to two points more responsive — it could be said that its responsiveness had doubled, skirting around the edges of the limits of special-class mecha, just a hair's breadth away from an ace mecha. Ling Lan was filled with silent admiration — her dad's mastery over mecha had already reached an amazing pinnacle. Only with that was he able to instantly come up with the best modifications for this mecha on the spot.

Yes, modification. Although Ling Xiao seemed to have only been replacing the worn parts of the mecha without touching on the roots of the mecha itself, it was precisely these unassuming small parts which had brought earth-shaking changes to Ling Lan's mecha. It was not at all overboard to say that this was a modification.

Ling Lan's mind stirred and she immediately asked Little Four to record down the process of Ling Xiao adjusting the mecha as well as all the parts he had highlighted for fixing. She then sent the information to Chang Xinyuan — she believed that this might be a chance for Chang Xinyuan to evolve.

Finally, Ling Lan's match began. Lan Luofeng, who had been awaiting this moment for so long, could not help but grip the sleeves of Ling Xiao's clothes tightly. Her grip was so forceful that Ling Xiao was almost pulled into her arms.

Ling Xiao clasped Lan Luofeng's hand which was holding onto his sleeve and pressed down lightly. Lan Luofeng raised her head, her eyes filled with worry. Her daughter was actually going to operate a mecha to fight with another mecha operator ...

Ling Xiao consoled her in a low voice, "Luofeng, it'll be fine. Believe in her." Under Ling Xiao's comforting words, Lan Luofeng gradually relaxed and looked towards the combat field. One of the mecha operators operating a special-class mecha there was her daughter Ling Lan ... she should probably be the first ever female mecha operator to participate in the mecha combat tournament. Lan Luofeng felt both proud and sorrowful. If at all possible, she did not want to see this scene.

********

The mecha the Tongli operator was piloting was a close-combat mecha, while Ling Lan was piloting a balanced mecha. The spectators could not help but begin guessing if this would be a mixed battle of long range and close range, or if it would just be a direct all-out close combat match.

In fact, Ling Lan really wanted to push for close combat immediately and KO the opponent cleanly. However, she still pressed down this notion of hers, deciding to first try long-range attacks.

When the referee waved the green flag, before the opponent could react, Ling Lan had already operated her mecha to retreat several hundred metres. This extreme speed made everyone cry out in shock — they all turned to look at the referee's flag, trying to determine if this action of Ling Lan's was a foul.

This was because there had been contestants before who had moved before the referee had waved his green flag and declared the start of the battle. In the end, those contestants had been judged to have committed a foul and were deducted a whole half of their points. Not only that, the match had been restarted and those contestants were warned that if they made the same foul again, they would be judged to have lost instantly.

The referee panel monitoring the match very quickly gave their verdict — all of the referees on the panel judged that Ling Lan's operation was legal and within the rules. When the referee on the field received the referee panel's conclusion, he immediately waved his green flag around to indicate that everything was fine with the match — Ling Lan's operation had not broken any rules.

The audience applauded enthusiastically at this outcome. With just this move alone, Ling Lan had shown that her control skills were not mediocre. As expected, someone from the First Men's Military Academy could not be much worse than the other representatives from the school even if he had not participated in the solo event. Ling Lan's remarkable operation skill standards immediately dispelled the doubts the people had against her. She was able to participate in the group mecha fights due to her own strength and not because of anything else.

1. i.e. isolate him and only give him menial tasks

2. Heavy, strong, and reliable.

3. i.e. things would not escalate beyond their control.

Chapter 461 - Ling Lan's Operation Type?

The two fighters on the field were completely oblivious to the situation involving the audience and the referee panel. This impressive bit of operation by Ling Lan had left her opponent, the Tongli mecha operator, scrambling. His first reflex was to chase after his opponent — he could not let his opponent pull away till the optimum distance for long-range attacks.

However, he was already a step late. Even though he tried his hardest to make up for it, he found that no matter how hard he tried, the distance between them just kept growing. The inherent difference between the speeds of their mecha gave him no chance at all ...

The Tongli mecha operator only chased for a few seconds before he realised this. He immediately slowed down and began to think about how he could deal with the opponent's long-range attacks.

In truth, in a mecha competition, the chances would always be equal regardless of whether one excelled in close combat or long-range combat. For a long-range attacker to obtain a safe distance within a match to conduct long-range attacks, they would need to find opportunities to pull away from their opponent and extend the distance between them. On the other hand, if a close-combat mecha operator did not want to passively react to long-range attacks, they would have to try their best to prevent the opponent from pulling away right from the start.

And now, in this current situation, the Tongli mecha operator had lost the first opportunity to do so. He could only hope that the Tongli strategists were correct in their speculations that the opponent's skills were just average — then, he might still be able to salvage the situation and turn things around, otherwise ... the outcome would be unpredictable.

Ling Lan finally pulled away till the optimum distance for long-range shooting. Without any hesitation, she drew a giant gun from her back — it was a long-range long-barrelled beam gun.

Without any special weapons, such as Qiao Ting's ballistic sniper rifle, the standard equipped weapon of long-range mecha would be the long-barrelled beam gun. It was characterized by its long range, but its weakness was that its firepower was a little weak. To break through the beam shield of a mecha at the same level, it would need at least 5 seconds of shooting time ... and this was a difficult thing to achieve. Normally, those who could become special-class mecha operators all had very good operation abilities — they would not so easily let someone else shoot at them for five seconds or more.

However, Ling Lan was not at all concerned about this. If she had wanted to use a long-range gun with greater firepower, she had plenty of ways to obtain one. Her greatest objective in using this gun was to train her long-range skills further. Even if firepower was a problem that would stop her from defeating the opponent quickly, she was not bothered by it.

Ling Lan decisively steadied the long-barrelled beam gun in her mecha's hands and aimed at the opponent who was currently trying to use irregular movements to try and disrupt her shooting.

Judging by the speed of the opponent's mecha, she only had a chance for three shots before the opponent would pass over into close range and the target-locking function of this long-barrelled beam gun would be rendered useless. At that time, if she still wanted to shoot, she could only rely on pure instinct.

A 'beep' indicated that the long-barrelled gun had locked onto the target successfully. Ling Lan did not hesitate to pull the trigger, and a powerful beam shot out of the muzzle of her gun towards the opponent.

"Fixed-point shooting?" This motion of Ling Lan's made everyone exclaim. Fixed-point shooting was not any advanced shooting technique; it was a basic technique that every mecha operator would know. The more advanced a mecha was, the harder it was to see these kinds of basic techniques being used. The average mecha operator believed that these basic techniques were no longer enough to cope with the more difficult mecha combats.

Just before the beam was about to hit the opponent, as if being refracted, it suddenly grazed by the mecha's side. Anyone could have predicted this outcome — as expected, basic techniques were completely useless in a battle between special-class operators. The audience could not understand why a student participant from the First Men's Military Academy would use such a technique ... could it really be that he had just paid lip service and was here to get a share of the glory 1 ? Was the remarkable operation previously just a misperception on their end? Or was it just a flash in the pan?

'This ... it's not just Irregular Dash. Instead, it's more like Irregular Flicker.' Ling Lan was not at all anxious at her missed shot. She calmly analysed the situation and instantly saw that the opponent's footwork was not what it seemed. 'Tsk, well, it can't be considered a true Irregular Flicker either. I can only say that it's something in between the two. This Tongli student is no slouch either, eh? Actually already beginning to learn the advanced footwork that initially only ace operators can learn. Unfortunately, the lock-on function is already useless against this kind of footwork which is bordering on Irregular Flicker.'

"Beep beep beep ..." Sure enough, the lock-on alert of the gun kept ringing to signal that the long-barrelled gun could not lock onto the opponent. It would probably be pointless to shoot again this way.

Ling Lan hesitated for a moment, and the opponent took this chance to once again draw even closer. Ling Lan was rather chagrined by this — she had initially had the opportunity for two more shots, but now, due to her hesitation, she had only one shot left. If she hesitated any further, the chance to take this last shot may be lost as well.

Ling Lan was the type of person to become even more focused and settled the more critical a situation became. Having just one final shot left, she entered into a state with no distractions whatsoever. Fully focused, she stared at the opponent — the target-lock was now useless, so she needed to rely on her own judgment to decide when to shoot ...

Ling Lan began calculating frantically inside — the opponent's speed, possible flight paths, as well as his operation habits ... only by factoring in all of this would she be able to predict the opponent's potential landing point, and that would be the spot she would shoot at.

There!

While Ling Lan was still calculating, she suddenly felt as if she could see a target point. Without conscious thought, she instantly pulled her trigger ...

"Boom!" The beam hit the opponent accurately. The powerful suction force of the beam made it hard for the opponent to move for some time 1 . However, how could a special-class operator be stuck for long by this? At the fourth second, the opponent managed to operate his mecha free of the attack radius of the beam. Although he had broken free of the beam, his initially bright outer shell had already become somewhat dull and dark due to the steep drain on his beam shield's power to deal with the attack.

"Awesome!" The audience clapped and cheered — how contemptuous they were at the start was precisely how thrilled they were now.

Being able to land a successful hit on an opponent with the basic technique fixed-point shooting ... this completely overturned the people's general knowledge! Mind you, in all of the previous mecha combat competitions, no one would use fixed-point shooting. Even if someone had used it, no one had succeeded before.

In general, in order to maintain their distance from a close-combat mecha, long-range mecha operators would always utilise the tactic of shooting while moving. And while they were moving around, it was impossible to shoot accurately, so the mecha operators would use ranged attacks to intercept their opponent. Or they might do as Qiao Ting had and use advanced shooting techniques to seal off their opponent's paths of escape, leaving their opponent with no place to hide. The audience was used to seeing advanced techniques being used this way, so when they suddenly saw a basic technique being effective on the combat field instead, everyone's interest was raised ...

Ling Lan's success in using a basic technique to strike the opponent with one shot caused the two imperial operators monitoring the field to nod silently, becoming very interested in Ling Lan. This achievement proved that Ling Lan had already attained a pinnacle in her foundational controls. Oftentimes, only when one arrived at the late stages of ace level did one learn of the importance of the basics. Unfortunately, at that time, it was already futile to consider starting over. Without solid foundations, their futures were limited, and even if they managed to advance to imperial level, they would still be the worst among the imperials.

Ling Xiao felt pride spring up within him at this scene. His daughter truly did not disappoint him. The essence of his legacy had been completely mastered by her — only flawless foundations could support the construction of towers reaching up to the skies ...

This scene also made Lan Luofeng very excited. She did not know anything about foundations or no foundations — no matter what, her precious daughter had managed to hit the opponent. That was the most important thing!

She tugged on Ling Xiao's hand and asked somewhat incomprehensibly in her excitement, "Lan-Lan has hit the opponent! Why hasn't the opponent been declared the loser? Why does the fight have to continue?"

"This one shot is not enough to deduct the opponent's points to zero," explained Ling Xiao, feeling rather regretful. If the shot had been able to hold the opponent down for just one more second, this match would have been over.

After her hit landed, and once Ling Lan saw the opponent escaping from the attack range of her beam shot, she did not even keep her gun, instantly piloting her mecha to dash backwards.

"Good timing!" One of the imperial operators in the air above who had still been able to maintain his composure could not help but exclaim in surprise when he saw Ling Lan's move.

"And it's also seamless control. The shift between the two actions has almost zero excess," added another imperial operator with an equally amazed tone. This unknown boy below from the First Men's Military Academy was impeccable both in terms of timing and operation — he was even more precise in his movements than the widely-known Qiao Ting. Right then, the imperial operators were somewhat envious of this mecha operator's instructor ... that person must be very proud to have such a student.

They did not know that this aberrant Ling Lan was not the product of one person. She was the oddball result of the combination of the rich experience of Ling Xiao's legacy, the Divine Command techniques from the Divine Command Sect, and the prolonged and extensive training of the learning space.

At this moment, at the rostrum, even the outwardly composed Ling Xiao could not help but cheer loudly in his heart. Ling Lan's operations were even more refined that they had been a year ago, already showing signs of her own operation style. This style was still in its embryonic stages though, not yet matured. Once it fully matured, perhaps his daughter would truly have the chance to touch upon the realm of imperial level.

Sensing Ling Xiao's excitement, Lan Luofeng shot a puzzled look at him. In Lan Luofeng's eyes, Ling Lan's motions to escape were not as dashing and beautiful as her shot which had hit the opponent. She had no clue that that series of actions was an embodiment of perfection in the eyes of a top-notch mecha master.

The situation on the field also began to worry the Tongli students backstage. They found that the person they had targeted as a soft persimmon was in fact not soft at all and was in fact rather prickly and hard to handle. Right then, they could only hope that their companion on the field would do a little better and chase up to the opponent to drag him into a close-range fight, and thus win the match.

They never imagined that Ling Lan could also be a close-combat expert. He was already so amazing at long range, if he was also amazing at close combat ... even though the opponent was operating a balanced mecha, Tongli vehemently refused to entertain this conjecture in a very ostrich-like manner 1 .

Qiao Ting too witnessed Ling Lan's series of actions and his expression became shadowed. He found that Ling Lan existed to rain blows on his self-esteem. This long-range basic attack was even more solid than his own ... godd*mn, was this still a close-combat operator?

He could not help but turn his head around to look at Zhao Jun and ask, "Your regiment commander ... is he really operating a close-combat mecha?" They must have been lying to him, right? In truth, Ling Lan was actually a long-range expert?

Zhao Jun stared blankly at the large screen — Boss Lan's series of long-range operations had also deeply shaken him. When he heard Qiao Ting's inquiry, he nodded after some hesitation, saying uncertainly, "He should be. I've never seen him operate any other mecha other than close-combat mecha before."

Zhao Jun was rather confused himself. He really did not know anymore what type of operator his Boss Lan was. Could it be that Boss Lan was in fact a comprehensive operator? He had just hidden this fact all this time? Just considering the possibility sent chills running down his back and Zhao Jun shivered. Hells, this was too terrifying! The close combat skills of a balanced operator actually being stronger than them pure close-combat operators ... how were they supposed to continue living?

1. 开口门镀金: Literally, 'open (his) mouth to be coated in gold'.

2. At first I did not understand this, but combined with the reading of what follows, I think the beam attack here is a continuous one. So, when the opponent was hit, he was pinned down in place as the beam continued to whittle away at his beam shield's reserves.

3. i.e. bury their heads in the sand and hope the problem goes away.