342 - 347

Chapter 342 - Mutated Spiritual Self!

D1 and the others were not just sitting around idly. They had been constantly trying to contact D2 and D3 inside the secret base but were unsuccessful till the very end. Despite the good news coming again and again from the warehouse, their mood was steadily becoming worse.

They already had a vague sense that something was wrong — it was likely that an incident had occurred at the secret base. Every time they considered this possibility, their hearts were filled with regret — why had they been so preoccupied with the victory at hand that they had not immediately transferred the spectres on the other end over to help when D2 had requested assistance?

They were even more frustrated and hateful that the Federation army had played a good move by using diversionary tactics to split their forces, destroying their initial sure-win scenario.

"Say, do you think something happened to D2 and D3?" asked the youngest in the group, D10, unable to bear the depressed atmosphere.

The only response he received, however, was silence. Seeing everyone's mood becoming worse and worse, D1 rallied his spirits and retorted loudly, "Impossible! We just talked to them half an hour ago. D2 said everything was normal then, that the invaders had been successfully intercepted by the mecha teams, while Carter and Pete had also gained the upper hand."

"Then why hasn't the T-virus broken out yet?" D10 finally voiced the question in everyone's hearts. According to D2's report half an hour ago, the T-virus should have already erupted 20 minutes ago. Why was there still no sign of it now?

D10's words caused D1 to fall silent again for a few seconds before he opened his mouth again to rasp hoarsely, "Perhaps, some mutation occurred when the T-virus broke out. After all, we have only succeeded once. No one knows what kind of situation might turn up during its complete formation. Or perhaps the virus has a certain incubation period after breaking out and will not immediately manifest itself ..."

D1's words caused the others to take heart — indeed, just because there was no sign now did not necessarily mean they had failed. They might as well continue trying to establish contact with the secret base. Perhaps they would be able to get in touch with the people there right in the very next second and obtain some great news. Who knew?

Seeing everyone cheered up, D1's mood lifted a little as well. He continued to say, "Just now, I've contacted Reiter. He said he has already sent Witt over. With that, we should find out very soon what has happened on D2's end, and why we suddenly lost contact."

After all, this was not their own country's virtual network. As intruders, there was just no way for them to take complete control. Almost every day, there was the risk of them losing contact amongst their separated groups. It was just that the disconnect had never lasted so long before, previously lasting for at most a few short minutes. D1 reflexively glanced at the procedural activation key he had pre-programmed. He really hoped he would not have to use it ...

Their hopes rekindled, D1's group continued to try and find out what was going on with the secret base but they still failed. Not long after, they felt a horrifying wave of energy suddenly descend on their heads. Before they could react to it, that wave of energy had crashed down mercilessly.

When D1 sensed that energy wave, his face changed drastically, and he exclaimed in shock, "Spectre ... this cannot be!"

D1 initially thought that the Huaxia Federation had only sent one spectre this time, so they had purposefully lured that spectre and the Federation investigative team to the trap they had set up in advance. After that, they deployed two spectres of their own with the focused task of intercepting and killing that spectre.

When they had seen the other party walking into their trap without suspecting a thing, D1 and the others had barely had any time to rejoice when they had received D2's urgent notification. They found out that the secret base had been invaded by another unidentified team and there was another powerful spectre with the invaders. This fact had soured D1's mood greatly — he had not expected flaws to actually appear in such a foolproof plan as theirs.

However, D1 had not been too concerned. To ensure the security of the secret base, he had kept two spectres there to hold the fort. D1 felt that it should definitely be no problem for two spectres to handle just one enemy spectre.

That's right. This time, in order to ensure the success of project-T, the Caesar Empire had not only dispatched 30 top-class hackers, they had also generously sent four top-class spectres to handle that spectre the Huaxia Federation would send.

D1's planning was actually ideal. Both spots had two spectres in place — they would definitely be able to kill off the two spectres the Federation had sent. What he had never imagined was that they would succeed at the trap but for the secret base area to end up in a deadlock. In this situation where they had the great advantage of 2 versus 1, it was unexpected for the other to be able to hold them off and hold them at a deadlock. It was even more unexpected that he had actually lost contact with D2 and D3 at the last minute.

Frankly, he had already sensed that something was not right, but he also did not want to think or admit that they might fail. Deep down, he still hoped that everything was progressing as planned at the secret base, that this was just normal connection failure and that no accidents had occurred. However, when this great wave of spectre power emerged, D1 knew then that the secret base must be finished.

D1 was not just a simple hacker — at the same time, he had also awakened spectre powers. However, he had chosen to develop his hacker powers because he did not want to lose his freedom. Perhaps he was naturally extraordinarily gifted — his spectre power did not stop evolving despite his choice. He had achieved breakthroughs twice on that end, advancing to advanced level, only one step away from becoming a top-class spectre.

This had always been his secret. He knew that if the Empire military ever found out, he would definitely lose his freedom to become an experimental subject. Therefore, he had always sealed his spectre power away, only revealing his superior hacker abilities.

This was why D1 had still been able to speak even under the wave of horrifying spectre power. Due to the seal, he had a certain degree of resistance against spectre power attacks.

Still, even so, D1 could not escape this full-powered attack of Little Four's. D1 knew very well that under this horrifying spectre power, his spectre power could only provide some instinctive protection for a moment. Soon, just as if surrendering to one's own king, it would automatically release its defence to welcome death.

Inspiration sparked through D1's mind and he instantly realised that this spectre power was definitely not any so-called top-class existence but an existence that had gone beyond top-class. It was perhaps at the rumoured spectre king level, or perhaps even at the level of spectre god which had never before appeared in the virtual world ... These hypothetical types of existences had been mentioned in some of the research books he had read back when he had been studying about spectres.

D1 watched helplessly as his group D members became white dots and vanished from the virtual world. If not for his spectre powers providing some instinctual token defence, he would probably have already disappeared without a trace like his other companions by now. But even so, he knew he did not have much time left. He saw his own two feet begin to fade away into white spots to vanish into the air ...

"Are you a spectre king, or a spectre god?" asked D1 fearlessly. The black robe concealing his figure had already been stripped away by that horrific wave of spectre power, revealing his original appearance. He was about 24 to 25 years old with handsome features, golden hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and sharply-defined features. These were all characteristics of Caesarians 1 ...

"Eh? Actually still alive?" Little Four, who had initially assumed the sure-death of everyone with one strike, could not help but exclaim at seeing one of his targets still alive. The next second, Little Four appeared before the eyes of D1. The appearance of Little Four, who looked just like a 5 to 6-year-old boy 1 with a little pigtail braid sticking up from his head along with a chubby little figure and short limbs, made D1 stare at him in disbelief.

"How could the Huaxia Federation have a being like you?" It was obvious at a glance that Little Four was a Huaxian 1 . Although D1 knew that the one who had attacked them must be a spectre from the Huaxia Federation, he was dumbfounded upon seeing Little Four's childish appearance, unable to comprehend the situation. This was because at Little Four's apparent age, even the most talented spectre would have only be at the stage of awakening. Typically, a newly awakened spectre could only be at a trainee level — being able to advance straight into lower level would already mark one as an extremely aberrant existence, while advancing to intermediate level would mark the possibility of one being a spectre king ...

But no matter how aberrant a child was, it was impossible for one to immediately step into spectre king realm. D1 smiled bitterly — could it be that the Huaxians' luck was not yet at an end, which was why they could be so lucky as to possess this kind of natural king? D1 could only think so in the end.

Little Four did not answer D1. He only prodded D1's body and obtained the other's data. "You're so strange. Actually having both hacker power and spectre power existing within you at the same time, with both powers achieving quite a high level." Little Four naturally knew that the coexistence of spectre power and hacker power in this world was forbidden territory.

"I don't know why either." Seeing Little Four acting like a little grown up, D1 found the situation hilarious and actually broke out into laughter. Perhaps knowing he was going to die soon, D1 no longer suppressed himself. He might as well be himself without any restraints and laugh if he felt like laughing ...

"Hmm, there is a need for research." Little Four looked at D1 and perhaps the other's handsome appearance gave Little Four a favourable impression, for Little Four instantly came to a decision. Little Four reached out a firm little hand towards D1's brain.

D1 stared in stunned astonishment as Little Four's hands sunk into his brain, and then he felt his soul being grabbed. It was as if his soul was being forcibly extracted from his body, or perhaps like his body was being torn apart ...

"Ah ...!" The intense pain made D1 scream involuntarily, his entire body beginning to shake violently.

However, the agony made his mind extremely clear. In his mind, he had thousands of questions — what was this child planning to do to him? Why did he hurt so badly? Why could the other's hand sink into his brain like this ... but he would not have the chance to ask these questions. By the time Little Four's hand pulled back from his brain, D1 had lost consciousness, falling into darkness. His entire body suddenly shattered with a cracking sound, turning into countless white dots to disappear into the air.

All of Little Four's attention was on his right hand. He did not notice the little finger of D1's right hand twitching right before D1 lost consciousness. Somewhere in the distance, a hidden installation silently activated.

Little Four opened his right hand. In his palm was a bundle of pure energy, shining with an indistinct white light. Little Four studied it closely and very quickly found that within the white-coloured light, there were several strands of gold that were easily overlooked, much finer than silk threads ...

"Yup, as expected, his spiritual self is really rather abnormal. Looks like before Little Blossom wakes up, I won't be that bored anymore." The corners of Little Four's lips curled upwards involuntarily, his eyebrows bowed in a happy curve. It looked like he was in a great mood. "Consider yourself lucky, meeting me, Little Four, in a good mood, giving yourself a chance to live ..."

As he muttered to himself, Little Four pressed that spiritual self onto his body, where it was then absorbed by Little Four to disappear without a trace.

1. i.e. people of the Caesar Empire

2. T/C: Well, guess that answers the question of whether Little Four has grown up ... notably, the author does not say whether he is naked here. I would like to think not. Ling Lan has probably bullied him into clothes by now, or else D1 would probably have reacted to that as well.

3. New question: Has Little Four always looked like a Huaxian? Or did he change his features to match Ling Lan's culture?

Chapter 343 - Use!

Perhaps Little Four was very happy with the day's harvest, or perhaps Little Four wanted to rush back to help his boss earlier ... in any case, he did not check the scene properly before hurriedly leaving the scene. He did not discover a hidden secret command being successfully transmitted.

Right then, Ling Lan had already rushed to the warehouse doors. Along the way, she had moved according to the route that a clone of Little Four had plotted out for her, making her way unimpeded to her destination.

"After this, there are still several traps, but the Federation investigation team has already destroyed them. We can just move ahead at full speed. One more thing. One of the enemy spectres is already close to the investigation team." Little Four's clone, who had initially been reporting coordinates and real-time situations suddenly became talkative.

Ling Lan calmly raised a brow. "Little Four, you're back?"

In the mindspace, Little Four's initially robotic expression collapsed and he said sullenly, "Boss, how did you know?"

Little Four had deliberately kept quiet when he had returned, wanting to see when Boss would notice he had come back. He did not expect to be caught out the moment he opened his mouth. This made Little Four feel very hurt.

"Your clone doesn't say any nonsense," Ling Lan responded evenly. Although Little Four had many clones, his clones were all very mechanical. They were like programmes with specific settings, meticulously carrying out their tasks. Only Little Four's true body would possess strong emotions which were very obviously reflected in his tone of speech.

Ling Lan's words dealt a double blow to Little Four. So it turned out his clones were that lame — from tomorrow onwards, he must improve his clones' intelligence ...

"Finished off all those people?" Ling Lan asked Little Four as she continued to move forwards at high speed.

At this question, Little Four was instantly revived in full spirits. He lifted a victory 'V' sign up high and said excitedly, "Of course, with me, Little Four, in charge, success is naturally guaranteed."

"Found nothing unusual?" Little Four was often careless, so Ling Lan could not help but check with him again.

Little Four thought of that spiritual entity he had put in a secret room in preparation for research and wondered whether that was considered something unusual. However, since Boss had asked him to erase everyone, that spiritual self he had extracted should be his spoils of victory ... it should be fine not to tell Boss about it. Little Four hesitated for a moment but eventually decided that he would report to Boss after his research bore some fruit. Besides, he had already defied his boss in secret so many times already — one more time wouldn't hurt.

Thus, Little Four decisively shook his head and said, "Nothing unusual."

Ling Lan trusted Little Four very much. Thus, hearing Little Four say so, she did not inquire further. Ling Lan knew that time was tight — since Little Four was already back, she immediately headed deeper into the warehouse at her greatest speed. In other words, she was charging towards the troubled investigation team.

All the way, not a single NPC soldier showed up to intercept her. There were countless corpses lying beside each checkpoint — it looked like the investigation team was very thorough, making sure not to leave any loose ends, which saved Ling Lan quite a bit of trouble.

When they had two checkpoints left to go, Little Four suddenly reminded, "Boss, the spectre has already met up with the team. It looks like he is about to begin attacking them. Do you want me to immediately go over and kill the enemy?"

Ling Lan's footsteps paused abruptly but instantly resumed again. Maintaining her original speed, she continued moving towards the two parties. She was silent for about 20 seconds before responding, "No need. Wait for me to arrive at the destination, then we'll see."

Indeed. If Little Four took action, they could indeed easily rescue all these people, but how would they explain things after rescuing them? Little Four's actions would undoubtedly tell the investigation team that there was still an unidentified third party at work in the Swift Dragon base. They would definitely report this to military headquarters when they returned, and even if they knew that the third party were allies and not enemies, the Federation military would still want to investigate things thoroughly.

Ling Lan did not have the confidence to keep everything under wraps in the face of a full-force investigation by the military. Moreover, she also did not trust the mainframe of Mecha World. If the Federation military tried to obtain information from it, the mainframe might just hand over their mission details to the military ...

Well, even if the Federation military discovered anything, it would not be a big deal. Ling Lan believed that her father Ling Xiao would definitely suppress the matter — he would never allow the military to disrupt their regular military academy life. Still, Ling Lan was afraid that the traitor lurking within the higher levels of the military administration would leak their information to the Caesar Empire. The set-up which had trapped Ling Xiao those many years ago had let Ling Xiao confirm that there was a traitor within military headquarters. On this, Ling Lan agreed whole-heartedly.

If Caesar really learned of their involvement, she and her companions would definitely be swept into an endless chain of threats and attempts on their lives. Caesar would definitely never let them go for destroying the perfect set-up they had painstakingly arranged over the span of a whole 16 years. Just imagine. If it had not been for Ling Lan's group, Caesar would have already obtained the fruits of success.

Ling Lan had indeed rushed over with the intent of rescuing these Federation soldiers, because Ling Lan had been using them from the start.

The moment Ling Lan had arrived at the Swift Dragon base, she had already asked Little Four to comprehend the full situation at the base. They had discovered that there was a bunch of people from a powerful but unidentified faction within the base, who had successfully replaced the mainframe in taking control of the highest clearance command rights of the Swift Dragon base. In other words, the Swift Dragon base was an NPC base controlled by the mainframe in name only. In fact, these NPCs were now already subordinates of the opponent; the mainframe's authority had been superseded.

Meanwhile, Little Four had also discovered five spectres lurking within the base. Among them, one was part of the investigation team sent by military headquarters, while there were as many as four from the unidentified faction. This situation as reported by Little Four had made Ling Lan's heart heavy with worry. The presence of spectres meant that their mission this time had become extremely dangerous — any unfortunate slip might result in them losing their lives. Even though she had Little Four, this nature-defying protective talisman, around, she still could not dare to guarantee she would be able to protect all her team members flawlessly.

Spectres were known as 'death gods' in the virtual world. Their abilities indeed defied nature and were terrifying. Any bit of negligence and you would be caught — they could instantly destroy a player's brain region. Those who were turned into idiots but kept their lives could still be considered lucky; many more would be directly reduced to brain-dead vegetables with no hope of waking up again for the rest of their lives.

So, despite having located their secret base on the first day, Ling Lan had not dared to act impetuously. Four spectres and close to thirty top-class hackers. Even though Little Four had assured her that it was no problem, Ling Lan still did not dare to take risks with the lives of her team members.

Even if Ling Lan had no other strengths, patience was her most prominent character strength. Without full confidence to ensure safety, Ling Lan would strongly suppress the urge to act and pretend she knew nothing. Thus, she had calmly waited at the Swift Dragon base for several days.

Until tonight, when the opportunity finally came. The investigation team the Federation military had sent finally could not restrain themselves any longer and had prepared a night-time excursion to investigate. At first, Ling Lan thought the investigative team would be choosing to enter the secret base her team had found. But unexpectedly, the other team had been successfully lured away by the enemy to a different location, which was the warehouse base that Little Four had long discovered was a trap.

Ling Lan knew that if these people fell for the trap, it would be hard to say what the outcome would be. Over there, there had been more than ten top-class hackers monitoring the area comprehensively, and three strong and powerful mecha warriors and two spectres waiting on full alert. The moment the unwitting investigation team was ambushed, they would have been likely to be completely wiped out. Back then, Ling Lan had had the impulse to go inform the other, but in the end, Ling Lan calmed herself down. She chose the cold-blooded option of observing from the side-lines, because she needed to take responsibility for the safety of her companions.

Despite her rational decision, Ling Lan still felt a little guilty with regards to these soldiers. Thus, once she had finished her own mission, she decided to rush over to rescue them out. Of course, another main reason for this was that she still needed the team to be her team's shields.

Still, rescuing these people needed to be done under the precondition that her team would not be exposed. If rescuing the other team would increase the danger to her own team, Ling Lan would absolutely choose to continue observing from the side-lines. This was why when Little Four suggested she go ahead first to kill the enemy and save the team, Ling Lan had coldly rejected the proposal.

Ling Lan pushed her speed to the limit. It had to be said that the virtual world of this world had been simulated to be as realistic as possible, faithfully reflecting real-world physiques inside the virtual world. Ling Lan's strength at a half step to Domain let her move through the virtual world like the wind. Leaving behind but a fleeting shadow, she had disappeared from sight.

About 40 seconds later, Ling Lan silently arrived at the ambush point. Although the opponent had a number of hackers comprehensively monitoring each corner, with Little Four's cover, Ling Lan naturally would not be discovered.

Ling Lan was very surprised; only the three guarding the door were dead. The other people were all still alive and accounted for, but their situation was bad. Every one of them had been isolated and surrounded by enemies. Ling Lan quickly understood the enemies' intent. They had not chosen to kill the team because they were waiting for their spectre to come erase the men directly. The people from the Caesar Empire were similarly afraid that when these people died in the virtual world and reappeared at a resurrection point, they would report to the Huaxia Federation and give the Federation time to prepare.

When the investigation team of the Federation saw the enemy's spectre appear, they understood what the enemy was planning. Several warriors tried to kill themselves but were stopped by the enemies surrounding them. They had no chance to commit suicide even if they wanted to now.

Seeing this, the commanding officer grimaced. "We've been tricked. Still, I cannot understand, Whether or not we get resurrected, it will still expose the fact that something has gone wrong at the Swift Dragon base. At most, you all can only delay things for several days." The moment they died, it would prove that the Swift Dragon base had been invaded by some unidentified faction with spectres in tow. This was because only spectres could obliterate a player's brain. The military would definitely dispatch countless spectres over at first notice to hunt and kill these invaders, unless the enemy managed to completely retreat from the base over the next few days.

"Just a delay of a few days will be enough. One more thing — preventing your suicides is not because we're afraid of you all going back to report. All your resurrection points have already been set to the Swift Dragon base anyway. We just don't want to bother with the time and effort needed to go erase you all at the resurrection point." Reiter laughed when he heard what the commander had to say, following up with an explanation as to why they had prevented the other from killing themselves.

The commanding officer's expression changed at these words and he quickly looked up the relevant details. Sure enough, a few days ago, when they had first landed at the Swift Dragon base, the system had sent a notification telling them that their resurrection point had automatically been changed to the Swift Dragon base. In other words, even if they had committed suicide, they would still be unable to return to Mecha World's central district. They would still be resurrected here in the Swift Dragon base.

Chapter 344 - Rest In Peace!

The commanding officer knew very well that in Mecha World, there was no login point at the Swift Dragon base. In other words, as long as they were still in the Swift Dragon base, they would have no way at all of leaving the virtual world, let alone report to military headquarters. It looked the other's true intention was indeed not to stop them from reporting but to kill off all of them.

"You all are going too far," said the commanding officer through gritted teeth. He knew that the odds were truly stacked against their side this time — their only hope was that the enemy only had one spectre ...

Reiter did not get angry in response; they had planned to turn the Huaxia Federation upside down to begin with. Right then, he was still preoccupied with thoughts of the secret base. After all, it was already time for the T-virus to break out yet there was still no unusual signs. This made him rather anxious. Thus, he did not want to speak any further with this commanding officer of the Federation. Circulating his spectre power, he poured it out in a torrent at the other ...

Seeing that things were going south, the commanding officer quickly shared a look with an extremely plain-looking warrior, and then the two of them leapt up. One of them spun into a whirlwind sidekick, while the other let go a flurry of kicks in the air, and they actually managed to send the people surrounding them flying. The next second, they came to the side of an army clerk who had been taking notes all the way and did not seem like he had a lot of combat power and took up protective stances on both sides of him.

In a world invisible to normal humans, two powerful forces collided forcefully. The bodies of Reiter and that clerk shuddered in unison.

Reiter's expression changed. "Spectre." Who would have expected that there would still be another spectre in hiding within the Huaxia Federation team? If he had not arrived in time, the people ambushing on their own side might have been in danger.

The clerk said nothing, only staring coldly back at Reiter. From their one clash, he had understood that the other's spectre power was probably stronger than his by a hair. A trace of regret flashed across his eyes. If he had known the other side had spectres, he would have long killed off all these enemies when they had surrounded his team. In order to figure out the backgrounds of the enemy, they had chosen to tolerate and hold back temporarily. But from the looks of it now, that had been a huge miscalculation.

For the mission this time, in order to guarantee success, military headquarters had sent two spectres on the mission, one overtly, the other covertly. The exposed spectre was Hollow Ground, while the hidden spectre was him, impersonating an army clerk among the investigation team. With the exception of the commanding officer and his adjutant, no one else, not even Hollow Ground, knew of his true identity.

The reason he had been tasked as the hidden spectre was that his spectre powers were rather unique and special. As long as he did not use his spectre power, his entire aura would be just like a regular person's — no one would sense anything strange about him. It should be known that all spectres carried a trace of danger on their aura to some extent. Spectres were extremely sensitive to this trace on the auras of other spectres, so the moment another spectre came within the range of their senses, they would very quickly detect the presence of kin. This special trait of his allowed him to play the role of hidden spectre on many a mission, and this time was no exception.

Thus, when they discovered the enemy was a spectre, the commanding officer and his adjutant had quickly rushed to the hidden spectre's side. Indeed, his spectre power was still pretty decent, but his physical attack capabilities were just like other spectres — terrible.

"I just want to know ... what has happened to our people at the gates?" asked the clerk hoarsely, a hand pressed to his chest, trying to calm the roiling blood and qi within it. Seeing the other rush in from the outside, he already had an inkling that something had gone wrong. Hollow Ground was most likely in trouble, but he still hoped that Hollow Ground was safe and had not died in battle.

Reiter chuckled in response and said, "Since I'm here, what do you think happened to those comrades of yours?"

The clerk's expression turned grim. "Hollow Ground, he is very strong." The connotation being — trying to trick me? No way.

"Oh? So he was called Hollow Ground?" A mocking smirk appeared on Reiter's lips. "He refused to reveal his code name to the very end, saying that he could not disgrace his country ..."

"Bullshit, Hollow Ground can't be dead," retorted the clerk. Hollow Ground was one of the top ten spectres of the Federation — how could he fall so easily here?

Seeing this, Ling Lan had an idea. She asked, "Little Four, can you imitate the energy signature of other spectres?" Every spectre had a unique aura due to the signature of their spectre power — those familiar to it would very easily recognise a spectre by it, so there would be no incidents of accidental injury.

"Of course I can." Little Four pursed his lips, thinking that Boss was truly underestimating him too much by asking this question.

"That's great then. Wait for a moment. When you hear my command, immediately imitate Hollow Ground's energy signature and take the opportunity to kill the Caesar hacker." Ling Lan's eyes lit up, her plan taking form. "Of course, make it look like a mutual destruction scenario."

Little Four's eyes lit up at these words. This was a game he had never played before. He quickly nodded, indicating that he would do everything his boss said.

Meanwhile, Reiter could see that his opponent was shaken. His gaze flashed and he decided to continue agitating the other, because a spectre who had lost his composure would very easily reveal some weaknesses ...

"All alone, he is very strong, but our side has more than one spectre." Reiter smiled placidly. At these words, the clerk's face paled. This was the potential scenario he had been most afraid of. One spectre alone would definitely not have been able to defeat Hollow Ground.

Taking advantage of this window of time while the opponent was still riled up, Reiter once again slyly sent a quick bolt of spectre power at the opponent in a sneak attack. However, Reiter was disappointed — though the clerk looked like he was not using his spectre powers, he had actually been on guard all this time. Sensing the opponent's spectre power attacking, his own power rose up to meet it instinctively.

Yet, the clerk knew that dragging things out like this with pure force would not end well for them. Even as he blocked the other spectre's attack, he threw a pointed glance at the commander, signalling for the other to find a chance and escape immediately ...

These two attacks had given Reiter a pretty good idea of the opponent's strength, which was a hair weaker than his. Still, to finish off the opponent, he would first need to exhaust the other's spectre power — this would be a drawn-out battle of attrition. At this thought, Reiter began to regret sending Witt back to the secret base so soon ...

There was still no news from the secret base thus far (Reiter did not know that the mediating contact, D1 and his team, had already been wiped out by Little Four). Reiter began to feel anxious. He knew very well what they had come here to do. If something happened at the secret base, the loss would not be mitigated even if he killed off everyone here.

Reiter's thoughts settled — he would not waste any more time. Mature and experienced spectres all had their own trump cards. For example, the trump card of his last opponent, Hollow Ground, had been that final deathblow. Similarly, as the team leader of the spectres in this operation, he too had his own trump card.

And so, Reiter's spectre power, which had already been stronger than his opponent by a little, suddenly became several times stronger. This took the clerk by surprise — with an involuntary grunt, he spewed out a mouthful of blood and his face turned as white as paper. This caused the expression of the commanding officer standing by his side to shift. The commander threw a look at his adjutant and the adjutant immediately grabbed hold of the clerk and began running towards the outside of the enemy's enclosure with the commander right behind them.

At the same time, some of their other team members suddenly broke free of their restraints and began attacking wildly. These actions flustered the people surrounding them, afraid that if they accidentally killed the opponents, they would die and resurrect elsewhere on the Swift Dragon base and cause further trouble for them.

Seeing this, Reiter shouted, "Impudence!" An overwhelming wave of spectre power rolled out to smash these Federation soldiers trying to make their last stand.

The clerk gritted his teeth and used the final bit of his spectre power to spread out a defensive shield to protect these brave comrades of his.

The power of the two spectres clashed violently once more and the clerk could not stop himself from throwing out mouthful after mouthful of blood. He could already feel his defensive shield about to be crushed by the opponent. At that time, it would be time for all of them to die. He was still too weak ...

A deep surge of regret and unwillingness rose within the clerk's heart. If only he were as strong as Hollow Ground, perhaps then he would have been able to protect all these people and let them live. He could almost hear the sounds of shattering coming from his defensive shield. Just as he was about to give up hope and just wait for death to descend ...

"Little Four, do it now!" Seeing this, Ling Lan ordered decisively.

A powerful surge of spectre power appeared suddenly to intercept the other spectre's power. The clerk's gaze brightened — it was Hollow Ground!

Hollow Ground successfully blocked the opponent's attack; when Reiter sensed this familiar power signature, his expression changed drastically and he was screaming in his heart that this was impossible.

Yes, he had clearly seen the other become white spots to vanish in the virtual world. He had confirmed that the other's consciousness had been erased under his and Witt's combined power ... so why then would the spectre power belonging to Hollow Ground appear here at this time? He could not understand it. He was afraid. But he would no longer have any chance to ask any questions, because even as that wave of power blocked his attack, it leapt at him in a counterattack.

The strength behind the counterattack did not feel that strong, but Reiter found that his own spectre power was rapidly fading away. He was pushed back again and again, till he was actually being overpowered by the other's power ...

This made no sense 1 ! This was Reiter's final thought, because this change had occurred within the blink of an eye. Before Reiter could react, he had been erased by this seemingly unimpressive spectre power ...

Everyone present saw the initially forceful and imperious Reiter suddenly explode into white spots that rapidly disappeared. The faces of the Caesarians changed; Reiter's sudden death let them know that things were not good. In contrast, this scene was like a shot of heart tonic to the soldiers of the Huaxia Federation, and they found their battle prowess magnified by several multiples ...

Only the clerk had a sorrowful expression on his face. He could sense that as the enemy spectre's power had dissipated, Hollow Ground's spectre power had also begun to dissipate.

From the spectre power of Hollow Ground that had yet to dissipate from the air, the clerk could almost feel the other's dense reluctance to die, as well as his relief that his companions were safe and unharmed. The clerk was well aware that Hollow Ground had only died because that last attack was Hollow Ground's final trump card. The trump cards of Federation spectres were basically all methods of mutual destruction. This was related to the unyielding character of the Huaxian people ... Hollow Ground must have already been on his last legs 1 after going through consecutive battles, yet he had still rushed over to save them. In the end, he had even sacrificed his life to save them.

Hollow Ground, rest in peace! The clerk closed his damp eyes, pushing down the grief in his mind.

1. 这不科学: I actually really love the original Chinese phrase, but this is one of those phrases that sound better in Chinese. It might still make sense in English, but it's definitely on the odd spectrum to use it literally. A direct translation would be 'this is not scientific'. The phrase refers to how something is completely illogical and does not follow common sense or established scientific knowledge.

2. 灯枯油尽: Literally 'lamp about to be snuffed out as the oil runs dry'.

Chapter 345 - Ultimate Weapon!

When the clerk opened his eyes again once more, there was no longer any trace of sorrow within his eyes. All that was left was an endless coldness. Since Hollow Ground had left his hopes of life to them, then he would have to complete the mission Hollow Ground had handed to him — he would protect his team members and make sure they escaped from this place.

The clerk stared coldly at the enemies who were beginning to panic. Ignoring his injuries, he forcefully circulated his spectre power which was nearly exhausted to wipe out all the enemies' consciousness. Let these people be sacrificial offerings for Hollow Ground ...

However, forcefully overdrafting his spectre power made the clerk pay a heavy price. For some time after this, he would not be able to use his spectre power at all. Still, the clerk felt that it was worth it!

Seeing the clerk kill off all of the enemies, the commander and his adjutant instantly breathed a mental sigh of relief. Looking at their other team members who had survived with them, they had a strong sense of having evaded a disaster. However, their mood became heavy again very soon, because the clerk told them that he was unable to use his spectre power for the time being. In other words, he could no longer protect them, so it would probably be dangerous to continue staying here. No one could tell whether that unidentified faction had any other spectres with them after all.

As such, the commander quickly decided to withdraw his entire team. On the way, they did not forget to send a message to their waiting companions about the plan to control the starship — they would follow their original plan to escape from the Swift Dragon base.

Although they were not sure where this unidentified faction had come from, they already knew that the Swift Dragon base was now under the enemy's control. Their mission was pretty much completed. Furthermore, the commander was afraid that there were still other spectres in the base. In order to protect the lives of his team members, he needed to bring his team members to escape from this place as soon as possible.

Little Four, who had been secretly monitoring them all this while, immediately intercepted the message they sent and fabricated an 'order received' message from the targeted waiting team in response to the commander's message.

Meanwhile, at this time, at the spaceport of the Swift Dragon base, the Federation soldiers who had already taken action earlier had taken control of the starship without any difficulty. They did not know that they had accomplished it so easily because Little Four had already finished off all the top-class hackers from Caesar controlling the base. Otherwise, even though they still had a hacker providing cover by creating false information, they would have still been discovered by the enemy hackers controlling the base.

They waited patiently for the commander's arrival on the starship; they had sent the news of their success to the commander when they had taken control of the ship. However, the commander's team seemed to have encountered some difficulty, for he only sent a message telling them to wait patiently before going silent. This made the waiting team begin to feel a little uneasy.

Sure enough, it was not long before they noticed that the defence of the Swift Dragon base had suddenly tightened up. The guards of the base had begun closely examining the NPC survivors at the temporary camp. This made them even more anxious and worried. They were anxious that they were about to be exposed, and they were also worried that it would become infinitely more difficult for the commander's team to sneak back to the starship.

However, after waiting for about half an hour, the commander sent another message: ' Already here. Open the emergency access. Let us board. ' The arrival of this news was an instant relief to the waiting soldiers.

The commander's team silently boarded the starship; the entire process was so smooth and unhindered that they almost could not believe it. Many times, it had clearly seemed as if the other party was about to discover them, but then the other side would be strangely drawn away by something to head in another direction instead. Puzzled, they could only believe that their luck today must be off the charts allowing them to sail through danger again and again.

In order to ensure security, the Federation soldiers who were there earlier had already killed off all the NPC soldiers guarding the starship. This allowed the commander's team to instantly relax once they boarded. They did not hesitate to go directly to the main control room of the starship. With the limited amount of manpower they had, they could only focus on getting the starship safely started; they had no mind to bother with the other areas of the ship.

Anxious to rejoin his comrades, the commander did not notice that not long after they left the emergency access, the access opened again silently. Ling Lan, who had been following them all this way, quietly slipped into the starship.

Little Four mastered the entire starship instantly and very soon found the hiding spots of Qi Long and the others.

Without hesitation, Ling Lan walked towards Qi Long and the others' hiding places. Her arrangements had been set — now, she only needed to wait patiently for these Federation soldiers to start the starship and bring them back to the central district.

On the way to reunite with Qi Long and the others, Little Four did not forget to brag about his achievements in the mindspace. The communications between both the Federation parties were actually fake — Little Four had intercepted all messages on both ends before sending them out at the perfect timings, leaving no signs of his involvement.

The moment the commander arrived at the control room, without giving himself time to catch his breath, he had already begun instructing his team members to take over the operations of the various key procedures of the starship. Once everything was prepared, he gave the order to start the starship.

While the starship was still, the NPCs of the Swift Dragon base had not noticed anything amiss here. But when it was suddenly activated, the loud roar of its engines and the energy response it gave out instantly startled the calm spaceport into wakefulness. Everyone in the Swift Dragon base knew immediately that their starship had been hijacked by an unknown faction.

This made the administrators of the Swift Dragon base extremely angry. They decisively dispatched the armoured missile troops of the base to bombard the starship, trying to destroy the ship before it fully activated.

Everyone in the starship stared nervously at the activation progress of the starship. For the starship to launch and fly, it needed to gather 100% of its power, and the prep time for this was a full three minutes. Everyone knew that these three minutes would very likely determine whether they would be able to escape from the Swift Dragon base.

"Commander, they've fired the attack missiles," reported a team member, having seen the warning sign on the screen of the radar he was monitoring.

"Activate the defensive shield first," said the commander through clenched teeth in the end, after considering several options in his mind in quick succession.

"Yes!" Another team member in charge of operating the defence system decisively turned on the defensive shield. The power store which had been shored up to 10% dropped in one go to rock bottom again. In other words, the starship had to start shoring up energy all over again.

Still, the commander's directive was correct. Activating the beam shield prevented the many missiles from destroying the main body of the starship. But even so, the explosive force of the missiles shook the starship around enough to make the people inside stagger.

In the #3 mecha hold of the starship, Ling Lan's team were already seated in the standard mecha of this starship within secure seats. The anti-shock system of the mecha themselves was also much more stable than that of the starship, so despite feeling the vibrations, they were not as thrown by it as the people in the control room.

Seeing this, Qi Long's loud voice rang out again in the team's comms. "D*mn, this mission is just too exciting! Whether going or returning, it's all so thrilling!"

"If it wasn't thrilling, would it be called an SSS-rank?" responded Han Jijyun lightly, leaving Qi Long speechless.

Several soft snickers could be heard within the channel — it was Xie Yi, Lin Zhong-qing, and the others. To make Qi Long shut up, other than Boss Lan, only Han Jijyun could do it.

The others were still alright, but Chang Xinyuan was rather nervous. He could not help but ask, "We'll be fine, right?"

Ever since Ling Lan had brought up the fact that if they died here, they would revive within the Swift Dragon base and not the central district, Chang Xinyuan had been afraid he would die here due to the little bit of mecha control skills of his that were utter rubbish. That would hold the team back, forcing Boss Lan and the others to turn back to save him.

"Yes. The defensive shield has already been activated. The anti-aircraft missiles of the base won't do much damage to the starship," replied Ling Lan evenly. Little Four was faithfully reflecting everything that was happening in the control room to her mindspace.

Ling Lan's words made everyone on the team calm down. They knew that it was not as simple as Boss Lan had said to escape from the Swift Dragon base. Every base possessed ultimate weapons to deal with starships and powerful mecha — their only hope was that the supreme commander of the Swift Dragon base would choose not to utilise those weapons out of concern that there might be soldiers from the base on the starship.

Finally, the starship's power gauge was full. The commander shouted joyfully, "Start moving at low speed!"

Amidst the echoes of this order, the team member in charge of operating the starship slowly lifted the head of the starship and the starship slowly rose into the air.

At this time, witnessing this scene, the command team of the command centre turned to look anxiously at the supreme commander of the Swift Dragon base, awaiting his final order.

The supreme commander calmly zoomed in on the image of the starship and then slammed a hand onto the screen. He ordered, "Activate the ultimate weapon, the magnetic energy beam cannon."

At this command, everyone's expressions shifted. Even though some still felt it was rather inappropriate, in the strictly hierarchal NPC world, the lower level officers did not dare to voice any objections.

By this time, the starship had already pulled several hundred metres away from the ground. As long as it could rise up to a height of 2000 metres, it could shift from low speed to high speed and leave the gravity pull of the base's planet to truly enter outer space. Only at that time would they truly be safe. Everyone in the starship's control room had cold sweat pouring from their foreheads. This was generally the most dangerous period for starships — this was the moment where starships were most easily struck by weaponry attacks from the ground.

Suddenly, the team member monitoring the surrounding situation yelled out in horror, "The base has activated its ultimate weapon! We'll be shot down ..."

The commander rushed over when he heard this. On the edges of the base, he saw what had seemed to be a large but normal, barren mountain suddenly split open, a massive cannon barrel slowly rising from its depths. Although only its head was currently visible, the commander could tell what it was with just one look. His face instantly drained of all colour.

If the starship was destroyed, even though they would not really die, with their resurrection point set to the Swift Dragon base, it would not be long before they were certain to become the prisoners of the opponent. The commander did not have the confidence to successfully lead his team in escaping death for the second time. By the time headquarters noticed anything wrong and sent more people to stage a rescue, it would still be a month later at the very quickest ... if the unknown enemy still had spectres hidden within the secret base, they might really end up losing all their lives here.

At this time, the adjutant who had been standing quietly behind the commander all this time suddenly spoke up to say, "I'll go."

Chapter 346 - Death Descends!

The commander understood what the adjutant meant and immediately retorted, "No, that's too dangerous." Even though the adjutant's strength was infinitely close to imperial level, he had still not reached it after all. Relying on the defensive shield of an ace mecha alone against the base's ultimate weapon would at most buy the starship another ten to twenty seconds ...

"We can't just sit here and wait for death. If we can earn a bit more time, then we need to fight our hardest for it," argued the adjutant passionately.

"But, if anything happens to you, you will have no choice but to remain at the Swift Dragon base." The commander told the adjutant the likely outcome of his actions.

"That's still better than having everyone remain here. If by any chance something happens to me, as long as you all live to return, then you'll be able to submit a timely report. That will make it much faster for a rescue team to be sent ... I believe that I should still be able to hold out for a short three to four days," said the adjutant with a determined air. It could not be denied that he possessed the self-confidence and pride of an ace mecha operator deep in his bones.

The commander cast a silent look at the adjutant, then nodded solemnly and said, "Fine. Go and make your preparations. I'll let the members of team C act as your personal JMC to guide your movements." At this point, the commander paused for a moment before adding a final statement, "Take care!"

The adjutant saluted respectfully. "Yes! Sir!" Done speaking, he resolutely turned to leave the control room of the starship. As he turned, all the members of the control room, including the commander, silently saluted him. This was a sign of respect as well as a blessing for a comrade.

Meanwhile, on Ling Lan's end, she had received news of the activation of the Swift Dragon base's ultimate weapon at first notice. This made her mood turn extremely grim, for every base had its own ultimate weapon whose power was exceedingly horrifying. It was the last resort to protect a base — a sure-kill weapon against starships and powerful mecha. No matter how strong the starship's energy shield was, it would at most be able to endure one strike from this weapon. After that one strike, the starship's accumulated power would be completely depleted. It could be imagined that a starship without an energy shield would be a blatant sitting duck — any slightly powerful weapon would be able to riddle the starship with holes.

This development had pushed Ling Lan's team into a dire situation. The moment they died, their mission would be judged as a failure. Moreover, the key thing was that they could not leave the Swift Dragon base either if that happened, and so would have no way of returning to the real world. Sure enough, an SSS-rank mission was extremely insane. Even the ultimate weapon of a base had been brought into play.

Seeing the adjutant volunteer, an idea sparked in Ling Lan's mind. She said to Qi Long, "Qi Long, later, no matter what happens, you must bring the team back alive to the central district and complete our mission."

Qi Long did not understand why his boss was saying this, but whatever Boss said to do, he would of course do his best to do. Thus, he acknowledged the order seriously.

Li Lanfeng was stunned by Ling Lan's words, but he quickly figured out the other's intent. With a shift in his expression, he said, "Rabbit, you're going out?" Instantly, Ling Lan's half-dead, battered appearance after he had intercepted the magnetic tsunami with an imperial mecha appeared in Li Lanfeng's mind's eye, and Li Lanfeng felt his heart shudder.

Li Lanfeng's words instantly enlightened the other members of the team about what Ling Lan was planning to do. They all immediately spoke up in protest — they did not want to lose contact with Boss again.

Seeing this, Ling Lan cast a cold glance at everyone and then said calmly, "Obey my orders!"

Although Ling Lan's tone of voice was extremely calm, her team members still felt a chill permeate their bodies. This cooled their ardent spirits instantaneously — their courage frozen in its tracks — and they did not dare to object any further.

Only Li Lanfeng was not frightened into silence by Ling Lan. Perhaps due to his exceptionally strong mental fortitude, or perhaps out of courage due to his deep concern, he once again spoke up to say, "Rabbit, if you want to go, I'll go with you." He absolutely would not leave the rabbit behind and escape on his own.

Ling Lan merely controlled her mecha to reach out its right hand and tapped Li Lanfeng's mecha lightly on its head. "Leopard, you are still too weak. If you want to help me, improve your strength first. Otherwise, following me will just hold me back. Also, I have faith in you. Don't let me down."

That said, Ling Lan walked out of her mecha's secured seat and let Little Four command the transport system of the ship to move her mecha to the launching device of the ejection port.

Li Lanfeng was saddened by Ling Lan's words. So he was actually that weak in his rabbit's heart and was holding the other back? These words were truly quite hurtful ... he sat within his cockpit and clenched his fists, cursing his infirm body for the first time.

No, he could not be discouraged just like that. Next time, he must make the rabbit understand that he, Li Lanfeng, was capable enough to fight by his side. Li Lanfeng touched the document in his bag. Since he could not help the rabbit at his current level of strength, then he could not disappoint the rabbit any further. He must live to hand this document over to the city lord of Grandsweep City and complete the rabbit's clan-formation mission.

When she found out that the adjutant had already been ejected successfully, Ling Lan then let Little Four arrange for her to be ejected by the starship's launch system. Of course, due to Little Four's interference, the figure of Ling Lan's mecha did not appear on the large display screen of the starship control room. This was also why Ling Lan dared to launch herself into space so blatantly; her movements would never be discovered by these Federation soldiers.

Finally, the base's ultimate weapon was revealed in its entirety. Viewing the image Little Four transmitted over, Ling Lan could not help but feel frightened. Just looking at its outer appearance, one could tell that this was a powerful ultimate weapon. Its ferocious form and its muzzle, which was several tens of metres wide in radius, were signs of how horrific the energy it would blast out was sure to be. A magnetic storm was scary because its associated energy turbulence was too vast and enduring, while an ultimate weapon was horrifying because it focused all its massive power onto a single point. This allowed it to very easily wipe out a target it had locked onto.

"Based on the outer shape of this weapon, I've found some relevant data. It's part of the Federation ultimate weapon series: a magnetic energy beam cannon! It has powerful attack capacity — capable of smashing through all of its target's external defence systems, and at the same time, the terrible magnetic energy it carries can destroy the internal systems of its target." Little Four immediately told Ling Lan all about the ultimate weapon of the Swift Dragon base, giving Ling Lan a good idea of what to expect.

"What a troublesome thing." Ling Lan frowned. Such powerful energy ... if they relied on the Pulsing King Shield of her imperial mecha, they could actually still withstand it. The problem was that the weapon possessed magnetic energy capable of destroying a mecha's internal system as well. This would affect the power circulatory system in the mecha. An imperial mecha without power support would actually be no different from the average mecha.

She glanced at the x192 high-glazed nuclear power source equipped on the imperial mecha and hoped it would be reliable enough to withstand an attack from the magnetic energy beam cannon.

Right then, the starship had successfully climbed up to about 1500 metres. Meanwhile, the ultimate weapon, the magnetic energy beam cannon, had finally stored up enough energy as well to reveal its savage side. A magnetic energy beam shot out from the base, aimed right for the starship suspended in the air.

"Concentrate all power on the point being attacked!" bellowed the commander. At this moment, he had lost his usual composure. If this ultimate weapon was too strong, they might not even be able to withstand one blow.

The magnetic energy beam slammed heavily into the defensive shield of the starship. The power of its blast lasted a whole 20 seconds. During these 20 seconds, the starship was shaken violently by the powerful energy attack. Everyone in the control room was almost thrown to the ground. However, these soldiers were all battle-hardened warriors. They clutched tightly to the control panel before them, and thus were not sent tumbling by the violent vibrations.

Twenty seconds later, when the final bit of the beam from the magnetic energy beam cannon faded away, only then was it discovered that the starship remained high up in the air, but its appearance was battered and dark. The dull and bleak looking outer hull of the starship proved that the starship's power had been utterly depleted; it could no longer maintain its energy shield.

The high-ranking officers in the control room of the base could not help but cheer at the sight. A smile appeared on the supreme commander's face, and then he ordered decisively, "Let the armoured missile troops continue to attack."

When the armoured missile troop on the ground received this command, they once again fired their missiles. But very quickly, they found that their attacks were futile. An ace mecha had appeared beneath the starship, and it was striking down any missiles that were attacking the starship. Before the missiles could reach the starship, the mecha had already shot them down.

When the command centre heard this news, everyone waited for the supreme commander's orders.

The supreme commander frowned as he looked at the grandstanding ace mecha in the sky and then also looked at the starship struggling desperately to replenish its power. He gave a decisive order. "Fire the second round of the magnetic energy beam cannon!"

When the starship's main control room saw the ultimate weapon of the base begin to flash and accumulate light again, the men's faces turned terribly pale. "Sir, they're preparing to fire the second round. Are we done for?"

Seeing that the starship had only recovered 17% of its power, despair was present in everyone's hearts. A full 100% power level had only been barely enough to block the attack of that magnetic energy beam cannon. However, the result of all that effort was still an inevitable 13% damage done to the starship. Fortunately, the crucial flight system of the starship had not been destroyed; this was their good fortune.

"Speed up power accumulation. We can only gather up to 50% power. Whether or not we reach the required altitude, we'll have to switch to high-speed operation." With a grit of his teeth, the commander prepared to take this final gamble. He looked at the ace mecha struggling to defend the starship — he would place his hopes on the other, hoping that the other would be able to help the starship obtain the final bit of time to accumulate power.

Everyone stared nervously at the team member in charge of reporting on the progress of the power accumulation. They could only hope that they could hit 50% power before the ultimate weapon fired its second round.

"Power accumulation at 20% ... 25% ... 30% ... 35% ..." When the team member reported till 35%, the muzzle of the base's ultimate weapon finally erupted in a dazzling blaze of sparks. In the eyes of everyone on the starship, these sparks were undoubtedly the flowers of death here to collect their lives.

"No ...!" Heaven knows who yelled this. Everyone instinctively held on tightly to the control panel before them and closed their eyes, waiting for death to descend upon them.

Chapter 347 - Ace Operator!

The adjutant was busy striking down those missiles when his mecha suddenly emitted an emergency alarm. He found that the magnetic energy beam cannon was preparing to shoot once again and unleash its second powerful energy beam.

"For the honour of the Huaxia Federation!" mouthed the adjutant silently. This was the only phrase the Huaxians knew to say on the battlefield — this was a display of their strong attachment to their country, as well as a heartfelt explanation of their final decisions.

A savage light appeared in the eyes of the adjutant. He operated his mecha and pushed it to its maximum power, bringing out the ace mecha's most powerful beam shield as he resolutely went up to meet this overbearing beam cannon.

Five seconds ... ten seconds ... the adjutant let out a great roar in his cockpit. He tolerated the intense agony the strong magnetic energy wrought upon his body, watching calmly as the power of his mecha dropped rapidly until it was finally empty ... only 23 seconds had passed.

What a pity! Before his mecha was completely consumed by the magnetic energy, the adjutant only hoped regretfully in his heart that the starship would be able to hold out on its own for the final 7 seconds it needed to gather power.

The adjutant had no way of seeing the final outcome. His mecha, with him inside, was completely devoured by the magnetic energy beam, instantly turning into a cloud of gas to disappear into the air. Right then, Ling Lan, who had been hiding to one side but was long prepared, controlled her imperial mecha to instantly leap forwards and take the adjutant's place, blocking the remaining magnetic energy beam directed at the starship.

This time, Little Four expended his greatest disguising ability to make Ling Lan's imperial mecha look like the adjutant's ace mecha. Whether it was in the starship's control room or at the command centre of the ground base, all they could see was an ace mecha holding off the magnetic energy beam cannon's attack. When the beam energy ran out, what was revealed in the aftermath was still that extremely battered yet surviving ace mecha!

"He did it!" the commander could not help but shout in exhilaration at the sight of the resilient ace mecha. No one wished for the comrades by their side to die, even if they were in the virtual world.

********

On a hill at the edge of the Swift Dragon base, an ace mecha was standing there looking out into distant space at the ace mecha that had held off the attack of the magnetic energy beam cannon. He said in a cold tone, "That starship is most probably carrying the enemy that gave D1 no choice but to activate the ultimate weapon system."

"Senior Colonel, you're right. I've observed the other people staying at the Swift Dragon base. They are all NPCs. The investigative soldiers the Huaxia Federation sent are definitely on that ship." The person on the other end of the comms channel confirmed the thoughts of the ace operator.

"Planning to leave the Swift Dragon base just like that? In your dreams." Killing intent flashed through the ace operator's eyes as he sneered and said, "Send me into the sky. I want to greet that ace mecha, and finish off that starship along the way."

"Yes, Senior Colonel!" With that shout, a hole suddenly opened under the spot where the ace mecha was standing. The mecha dropped instantly as if swallowed by the earth.

But very soon, a tube coloured like the hill rose diagonally from the ground, and several seconds later, a muffled sound rang out. That ace mecha was instantly sent shooting into the sky like a cannonball.

When the senior officers in the command centre of the base saw this, some of the officers were baffled. Where had this unexpected ace mecha come from? At that moment, the supreme commander of the Swift Dragon base could be heard to explain, "This is our ace mecha."

The supreme commander's words calmed everyone down and they waited patiently for the final outcome. The power of the magnetic energy beam cannon was indeed very strong, but its energy consumption was also very horrific. If there were other ways to finish off these invading enemies, they would happily save energy resources and not shoot a third round of the magnetic energy beam cannon.

********

"Boss, an ace mecha is coming." That mecha had just been launched when he had been noticed by Little Four who was monitoring the whole scene, and Little Four quickly informed Ling Lan.

"Godd*mmit, how could there be an ace mecha in the Swift Dragon base?" This kind of small base generally had an advanced mecha at the most. This inexplicable appearance of a mysterious ace mecha made Ling Lan feel that trouble was coming.

"It's not an NPC." Little Four only had time to say this before that ace mecha was already by Ling Lan's side and was fiercely leaping at her.

Little Four's warning made Ling Lan's heart clench — if the other wasn't an NPC, then he must be a real person. Moreover, soldiers of the Huaxia Federation would never attack a teammate without reason, so this ace operator was very likely from Caesar.

With a 'bang', Ling Lan swiftly drew the beam saber on her back and parried the opponent's fierce attack in time.

"Boss, do you want me to kill him?" asked Little Four in a cold voice, killing intent flashing through his eyes.

Ling Lan controlled her mecha to kick out savagely. Seeing this fierce kick coming at him, the opponent became wary and quickly dodged. The two mecha once again pulled apart from one another, but both sides knew very well that this distance was nothing for ace mecha — they would be able to reach their opponent within the blink of an eye.

Ling Lan was guarding carefully against the other but had begun plotting in her mind. If Little Four could act, they could indeed finish off the opponent easily. But the problem was that there was still a spectre on the ship. The moment Little Four used his spectre-like powers, the other would notice it. This would be a large flaw because ace operators just could not be spectres; therefore, it would be very easy to guess that there was the presence of a third faction at the Swift Dragon base. This way, her ideal plan would be broken — it would become completely pointless to try and use the Federation soldiers as her team's shield.

Ling Lan absolutely would not allow her team members to be exposed. Thus, she decisively rejected Little Four's offer and prepared to resist on her own.

In truth, Ling Lan was extremely confident in herself. With the imperial mecha she was controlling now and her control skills that were no lower than an ace operator's, she was still pretty confident she could win this match. Her only concern was that she could not fight in an imperial mecha for over 5 minutes. Otherwise, her body would not be able to withstand the feedback force from the cross-level operation.

Furthermore, because she had blocked the magnetic energy beam cannon, she had already wasted about a minute of that time. Thus, she needed to finish this fight and destroy the other mecha within 4 minutes. Ling Lan's eyes glinted with a cold light, planning inside her heart on how she could end the fight quickly.

Ling Lan saw Regretless lying silently in her bag and an idea flashed through her mind. She immediately instructed Little Four on what he needed to do next ...

Very soon, the two mecha once again collided forcefully together. This time, Ling Lan was the one to initiate the attack — she did not have much time left and could not afford to wait. It should be said the skills of the two operators were about equal — the collision of their beam sabers created countless sparks. Whether it was the mainship or the base command centre, everyone was closely watching the fight of the two ace mecha.

The intense battle lasted for less than a minute. Perhaps due to exhausting too much energy from blocking the magnetic energy beam cannon's attack previously, the thruster on one side of Ling Lan's mecha suddenly exploded. From the dazzling sparks and the accompanying thick black smoke, one could tell that the mecha had received pretty significant damage. As expected, without an engine on one side to provide counterbalance, Ling Lan's mecha instantly lost its centre of balance and actually began to tumble over.

But Ling Lan did not give up — she activated her mecha's secondary thruster and tried to regain the balance of her mecha. However, how could the opponent pass this chance by? That ace mecha suddenly flipped to face downwards and then revved its engines to actually begin speeding towards Ling Lan.

Seeing this, while maintaining the balance of her mecha, Ling Lan gritted her teeth and pulled out her beam saber to meet the fierce thrust of the other's beam saber.

With a 'boom', the two beam sabers collided fiercely. One was buffed by the gravitational force of moving downwards, while the other was held up by an awkward, forced lift of the arm. The gap between the strength behind the two swords was completely displayed by the beam sabers.

Due to the opponent's great strength, Ling Lan could no longer hold on to her beam saber. It was sent flying by the opponent, and the beam saber fell from the skies to stab heavily into the ground.

Witnessing this scene, those Federation soldiers watching closely from the military vessel's control room turned pale. Some of them could not help but exclaim in shock and leap to their feet.

Having sent the opponent's weapon flying with one move, the ace operator was exhilarated. Without hesitation, he grabbed onto the Huaxian ace mecha, who was currently preparing to shoot its beam gun to try and stop him from approaching, enduring two shots from the opponent. The beam saber in his right hand stabbing forwards viciously towards other's cockpit ...

"Success!" The ace operator saw his beam saber piercing through the other's cockpit like slicing through bamboo and was overjoyed. He knew he had won, but before he could laugh out in celebration, he suddenly felt a chill run through his body. And then, intense pain shot straight into his heart, causing him to yell out involuntarily.

"What's happening?" The ace mecha looked blankly at the black cold weapon that had appeared without warning in his cockpit. That weapon had sliced his body into two, and his entire cockpit was splattered in blood.

For some reason, the ace operator really wanted to deride the virtual world of the Huaxia Federation for being too realistic and bloody. This bit was really not good — they should learn from Caesar and make things more mild and pleasant. Even he, a battle-hardened warrior, felt somewhat queasy at the sight. He could almost really feel his waist being chopped in half — if this had happened to a newbie, that person would most likely be useless after this ...

A life countdown began in the virtual world. The ace operator smiled wryly to himself and pressed a button to replay the last few moments. Only then did he discover that when he had pierced the other's cockpit, this black cold weapon had suddenly appeared in the opponent's initially empty right hand. Because the other's hand was positioned perfectly at a blind spot of all his cameras, he had not noticed. This was why he had found the attack baffling.

"I forgot that the Huaxians favour mutual destruction the most," said the ace operator in frustration. With its control systems destroyed, his mecha could no longer remain airborne and it plummeted without warning.

On his display screen, the ace mecha operator saw his opponent's mecha falling faster than his own, and a satisfied smile appeared at the corner of his lips. At least he would die later than the other. By the time they revived, he would definitely find the other for a rematch ...

Ten seconds or so later, that Huaxian ace mecha slammed into the ground first. Right afterwards, he too slammed into the ground, and subsequently, a massive explosion rocked the ground. The fallen mecha were instantly blasted into dust — it was no longer possible to distinguish who was who — and at the same time, the Caesarian ace mecha operator's final bit of awareness was consumed.