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Chapter 139 - To Withdraw or to Remain?
The savage beast slammed into the railing, and just when everyone thought the railing was certain to break, what actually happened stunned them. Unexpectedly, the seemingly flimsy railing was actually very sturdy, and was even equipped with terrifying electrical power. When the beast crashed into the railing, the railing emitted a piercing zapping sound, sparking off arcs of electricity. Very quickly, the wild beast had been electrocuted into a pile of ash, falling onto the ground right outside the railing.
Only then did Ling Lan notice that there were many similar piles of ashes right outside the railing — looks like there were quite a number of wild beasts besides this one before them which committed suicide in this manner.
Han Jijyun couldn't help but exclaim, "An electric barrier fence!"
This cry caused expressions of realisation to dawn on the scouts' faces; only electric barrier fences would have such power.
It looked like the wild beasts on this planet were really not that simple, otherwise there would be no need to use the Federation's strongest protective measure. Ling Lan was not the only one to realise this. Many of the other students also thought of this, and their faces started to reveal traces of anxiety. They could already sense that the hunting course this time would not be as straightforward as they had imagined it to be.
"All students of the Central Scout Academy ..." At this moment, a clarion voice was transmitted into the ears of all the students. "Welcome, everyone, to 'planet Wild and Savage' 1 . This time, you 50 students will be having your hunting course here. I sincerely hope that all of you will be able to complete this course ... but even before completing the course, my biggest hope is that every one of you will be able to survive the hunt!"
This speech made the students anxious and doubtful. They did not know why a simple hunting course would involve their lives.
"You did not hear wrongly. This course may very well cost you your lives, because the wild beasts you will be facing won't be those tame animals you are used to. Instead, you will be facing beasts of a minimum level of H-class."
When the students heard that the lowest level they would be hunting would be H-class beasts, there was an instant uproar, and disbelief was written all over their faces.
The Federation had once announced to the public that there were all kinds of fierce beasts in the universe. Beasts below J-class were still within controllable range — in other words, the damage they could cause was not significant. But from J-class onwards, the beasts left the category of wild beasts and went straight into savage beast level. Of course, J-class beasts were still the weakest of the savage beasts — their strength was roughly at the level of Foundational combat stage level 2 to 3. Anyone with combat talent who had learned combat arts for three to four years would be able to handle them.
However, starting from I-class, it was different. The strength of the savage beasts then approached the Foundational combat stage levels 5 and 6. H-class monsters were even at Foundational combat stage levels 8 to 9; in other words, they were already half a step in the Manifestation stage.
Meanwhile, the students were mostly all at Foundational stage level 8 to 9, with only a few at the Manifestation stage. Against these H-class monsters, they would have no advantage whatsoever.
The students were bewildered by this — could this kind of situation still be considered a hunting class? This was basically asking them to gamble with their lives! Moreover, this was still only talking about the lowest class of monster here. If they were unlucky, they might even bump into a G-class, or perhaps even one of a higher level ... wouldn't it be over for them then?
Right then, that clarion voice once again rang out by the students' ears, "Whether or not to continue with the course, the choice is up to you. There's still time for you to quit now. On your right hand side is the place to register to drop out. Now, you all have 3 minutes to choose ..."
At that moment, to the right of Ling Lan and the other students, a soldier with an A.I. in one arm waved a hand at them, signalling for those who wanted to drop out to come find him.
This sudden choice caused the scouts to fall into indecision and uncertainty, unsure what they should do.
At this time, Wu Jiong pulled Ye Xu over to go towards Ling Lan to discuss the matter. To one side, Li Yingjie's gaze wavered for a moment, but then, with a clench of his teeth, he followed them.
"Ling Lan, what do you think?" asked Wu Jiong.
Ling Lan was rather surprised. She had never thought that Wu Jiong would come and ask for her opinion. Still, despite her surprise, she told Wu Jiong her decision honestly, "Continue with the course."
"Are you not afraid of the danger?" asked Wu Jiong. Then, feeling as if his words were not enough to convey what he meant, he added, "I'm talking about your team members." That day, Ling Lan's spar with the instructor had let Wu Jiong know that Ling Lan's strength was just too far beyond them — perhaps this hunt would be no danger at all for him, but the same could not be said for Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing and the others on his team ...
"Indeed, the hunt this time is very dangerous. It's very likely that what they said may happen. But this danger brings opportunity with it, as well as an increase of strength ..." Ling Lan stopped here, turning to look at Qi Long and the others beside her, before continuing, "I also believe that Qi Long and the others will protect themselves well, and then become even stronger, finding the opportunities that belong to them."
That said, Ling Lan nodded solemnly and said, "They are just that strong!"
This last statement was said forcefully, with conviction, showing that Ling Lan's confidence in Qi Long and the others was absolute.
This statement also drew the brilliant smiles of Qi Long and the others, a sign of how touched they were by it. In that instant, their hearts pulsed with the intense emotions of being understood and accepted ... Ling Lan's trust caused their initially unsteady hearts to settle immediately.
Wu Jiong cast a long look at Ling Lan, and then nodded and said, "That's true. Although the hunt this time is very dangerous, it is also a chance for us. Of course we can't give up this course."
Ling Lan nodded at Wu Jiong's words, saying nothing more. After hearing what Ling Lan and Wu Jiong had to say, Li Yingjie's initial doubts also disappeared. He told himself that he definitely could not lose to Ling Lan, Wu Jiong, and the others. What they could do, he could do too.
No one knew that Wu Jiong was actually a little disappointed at this point. He had questioned Ling Lan with an ulterior motive — he had hoped that Ling Lan would respond in an uncaring manner so that Qi Long and the others would begin to harbour a grudge in their hearts against him. He had not expected Ling Lan's response to make Qi Long and the others even more loyal to Ling Lan instead.
At this point, he knew that trying to get Qi Long and the others to leave Ling Lan and work with him instead was no longer a possibility. This also meant that his chances of overcoming Ling Lan were almost nil.
Yes, ever since the first year, Wu Jiong had never thought of admitting defeat. He had always wanted to beat Ling Lan. When he saw that beating Ling Lan on his own was not a feasible path, he had then chosen to challenge him with a team. He shifted his goal to the seventh grade, when they turned 13 and would challenge the virtual network barrier.
However, Ling Lan's team was also very strong, possessing the two combat talents Qi Long and Luo Lang. Still, Wu Jiong was not discouraged. He did not think that Qi Long and the others were really completely loyal to Ling Lan. Qi Long, especially, had always been the top rank of their class — was he really content to just be a puppet in Ling Lan's hands?
Thus, this time, he had specially asked a trick question. If Ling Lan had expressed blithe unconcern for his team members, he would be able to leverage this to spark Qi Long's dissatisfaction and cause the dissolution of Ling Lan's team. (When necessary, a team's member may choose to build their own team, and then the other members may choose once again whether to follow this member or the original leader, prompting a reorganization of the team. This was a failsafe to handle unresolvable conflicts within a team.)
But the final outcome disappointed him. The friendship among Ling Lan's team was truly like steel. Everyone knew their positions well, and there was no sign of the dissatisfaction he had thought there would be.
Frankly, Wu Jiong would think this way because he did not understand the position Ling Lan held in Qi Long and the others' hearts. The one who admired Ling Lan the most in Ling Lan's team was no other than Qi Long himself. It should be said that Ling Lan counted as half an instructor to Qi Long. Many times, when Qi Long encountered any difficulties in his combat skills, Ling Lan was the one who would enlighten him. Thus, Qi Long might not submit to others, but he would definitely submit to Ling Lan.
Meanwhile, Luo Lang had always been nipping at Qi Long's heels. He and Qi Long could actually be considered rivals. Whenever Qi Long was stuck, he was also stuck, and when Qi Long improved, he would also improve accordingly. If Ling Lan was half an instructor to Qi Long, then she was also half an instructor to Luo Lang. Therefore, Luo Lang had never considered leaving Ling Lan. His only hope was to one day step over Qi Long to become Ling Lan's number one follower. (Little Four jumped out indignantly here. Dammit, Boss's number one follower is meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ... (the subsequent several hundred thousand 'e's have been removed) ← unidentified entity found to have trespassed, please ignore.)
The one who had always harboured doubts towards Ling Lan was instead the inconspicuous Han Jijyun. Having just average combat ability in the class, he really liked using his brain to solve problems. Thus, he would not be convinced by those who were all brawn and no brain — no matter how strong they became, under certain creative strategies, he could still cause them to lose terribly. Later on, only after finding out that Ling Lan was actually very black-bellied himself (a large part of the credit here goes to Little Four; Ling Lan really wasn't as complicated as Han Jijyun thought her to be), did Han Jijyun become truly convinced and recognized Ling Lan as his boss.
As for Lin Zhong-qing, who entered the team last, he had pretty much sold himself to the team to become a member. Before gaining Ling Lan's full acknowledgement, all he was thinking about now was how to obtain Boss's sincere acceptance, so the notion of leaving Ling Lan had never even crossed his mind ...
The three teams of Class-A simultaneously decided to continue with the course. Seeing this, the other students who had still been hesitating all said they would remain as well.
In fact, Ling Lan was the one who gave them the courage to remain. On the starship, Ling Lan's even fight with the instructor made them believe that as long as it wasn't a monster above G-class, Ling Lan should be able to defeat the beasts with no problem.
Although Ling Lan treated others coldly and his icy slackface did not seem very friendly, they believed that at critical moments, Ling Lan would definitely offer assistance.
The three minutes were soon up, and seeing that none of the students had chosen to leave, the senior officer was very pleased. "This group of brats are pretty good. Their wills are strong, unlike those from the last few years, which always had a few who chose to leave ... in that case, we need to avoid any carelessness and stay alert. We really can't let anything bad happen to them 1 ."
"Don't worry, Sir! Our ace mecha squad is already fully prepared. Whenever the scouts are out hunting, they will be secretly protecting them from the skies. They'll definitely not let anything go wrong with the children," said the advisor with a smile.
1. This isn't the actual name of the planet. The planet is technically unnamed yet due to its confidential status, so this is just the local soldiers' nickname for it.
2. Translator comment: ... so you weren't as alert with the previous batches? =.=
Chapter 140 - Hunting Preparations!
"That's good then. They are the best batch of this year's talents at the Central Scout Academy. Although it's too early to tell whether there are any aberrant prodigies among them right now, no matter what, they are the treasures of our Federation. We mustn't lose any of them." The senior officer's expression was serious. Every time these children came here, the pressure on him was unbelievably heavy — if any one of them died in an accident while hunting, it wouldn't end well for him.
After some thought, he still felt insecure, so the senior officer added this command, "Let the special-ops team on the ground follow them as well, to ensure protection from both the air and land."
"Roger that, Sir, I'll arrange it immediately!" responded the adviser. He then hurried to pass down this newest command so that the special-ops team could prepare to set out immediately.
Meanwhile, in the camping grounds, that clarion voice rang out once more, "Next, the students who hear their names, please come up to retrieve your chip, as well as your combat uniform and firearm."
With that, a troop of soldiers brought out a whole bunch of things in front of them, and began calling out their names one by one. Everyone went up to the registration point to collect the items mentioned, Ling Lan and the others included.
The chips would be their identity cards in this military camp. Credits that could only be used inside the camp could be saved within them, and could be used to buy things in the camp. Other than free accommodation, everything else in the military camp needed to be purchased using these credits. In other words, to live more comfortably, they would need to find a way to earn these credits — and hunting was just one of the ways. This was just another way of telling the students that only the strong had the right to live a better life — the principle of survival of the fittest being emphasized here once again.
Ling Lan followed the usage methods of the chip and inserted it into the communicator on her wrist. Then, she saw the previous system of the communicator being shut down, and the new system was activated. On the chip, there was no name, just a number. Ling Lan's number was 017717. She peeked at Qi Long beside her, and saw that his number was 017709. It looked like these numbers were just randomly assigned by the computer to each of their 50 classmates, with no underlying pattern to be found.
The chips were preloaded with 1000 credits. This surprised Ling Lan, who had thought that there would be nothing inside. Unexpectedly, the camp was giving them some time to adjust, not being as merciless as she had assumed they would be. As long as they found a way to earn credits before these 1000 credits were used up, then they would be able to survive within this camp successfully.
Considering the fact that they were here for a hunting course, then it was likely that the beasts they hunted could be exchanged for credits. The only question was how much. Of course, Ling Lan was sure there were other exchange methods as well; she just didn't know them yet. Still, Ling Lan wasn't anxious. After all, they would be staying here for no less than 3 months, perhaps even longer, so there would be plenty of time for her to slowly figure everything out.
Ling Lan put on her combat uniform. The clothes fit her almost perfectly — the academy had probably sent their data over to the military beforehand so they would be able to get the correct sizes for the children.
After obtaining these items, the originally anxious students felt a little more secure. The combat uniforms had a certain degree of defensive ability, able to withstand two or three attacks from an H-class savage beast, which would give the students a little more to bank on when protecting themselves. Meanwhile, the firearms provided were all beam handguns, only meant for defence. The firearms were there just in case the students found themselves surrounded by savage beasts and needed the firepower to blast a bloody trail through the beasts to escape ...
The hunting course required them to use cold weapons with their own hands to kill the savage beasts. This was also why Ling Lan had brought two high-efficiency alloy blades. Ling Lan could handle the short blade type of cold weapons well with both hands; in particular, her right hand was so proficient with them that it could be said that it was godlike. However, Ling Lan's left hand was actually most proficient with the tri-edge trench knife. But since almost no one in this era knew how to use the tri-edge trench knife, Ling Lan had no choice but to shelve it for now, otherwise she would not be able to explain how she had learned how to use it.
Ling Lan placed one of the high-efficiency alloy short blades into the outer pocket of her combat uniform by her hip. The other she stuffed into the back of her belt. The one on her belt was prepared for her left hand. In a critical moment, she would be able to draw out the blade in time to hack at a savage beast.
From the start, Ling Lan had been a dual-wielding combatant — she had just projected the appearance of being a right-handed fighter to the outside world to hide her true strength.
After finishing her preparations, Ling Lan took a look around. She saw that the expressions on the students' faces were casual and relaxed after changing into their combat uniforms, and could not help but frown.
It was true that the combat uniforms could withstand two or three attacks from an H-class savage beast — however, this just meant that the other's attack would not break the combat uniform, the force behind the attack would still not be completely negated. 3 to 4 layers of the power behind the attack would still be conveyed to the body, so if the body was not strong enough, the victim would still have their bones broken or incur some internal damage from the force of the attack. Therefore, they could not relax just because they had the uniforms.
In Ling Lan's opinion, they should avoid being hit if they could help it. Otherwise, each hit would bring either death or injury.
Ling Lan gave a serious warning to Qi Long and the others, dousing their excitement from obtaining the combat uniforms. Their expressions turned grim instantly, knowing that they had relaxed too soon. It was just as Ling Lan cautioned — even though the combat uniforms would increase their chances of survival, that did not mean it was foolproof. Everything still depended on their own capability to work hard and survive this cruel hunting exercise.
Once everyone was ready, Ling Lan raised her head to glance at the sun. Even after half a day, it had not shifted in position, still hanging high up in the sky.
Ling Lan found a soldier on duty in the camp and asked him about the planet, and found out that the switch between day and night here was different from that of the star system they lived in. A day here consisted of 120 hours, and the nights were just as long. The watch soldier also told Ling Lan that the mass of this primitive planet was just too large, which was why one self-rotation required that much time.
As for how they decided when to eat or sleep, the decision was up to them. After all, every person had different adaptability, and the rest time they needed varied as well.
Ling Lan then asked about the departure time for the hunt, and was told that a car would bring them to the hunting grounds from the campsite in an hour. As such, Ling Lan decided to first go and fill up her belly, lest she have no strength to hunt later due to hunger.
She also asked about the food matters of the students, and learned that there was a special large canteen set up to provide meals for the campground staff. There, one could eat whenever they wanted, though the food needed to be purchased with credits.
Ling Lan did not continue to inquire further after that. Instead, she led Qi Long and the others straight to the canteen. Wu Jiong's team, which had been keeping an eye out on her movements, knew what she was planning, and decided to follow her lead.
The two teams ate a meal of the simplest and cheapest fast food, which costed them 50 credits each. Ling Lan noticed then that the camp really was not giving them much time to prepare at all — if they could not find a way to earn money after three days, they would not be able to afford any more food ...
While they ate, Han Jijyun suggested that they first head to the credit exchange area to learn how they could earn more credits. He felt that they needed to learn the trading methods here before they went hunting, especially with regards to the exchange rates for the beasts. They wouldn't want to kill a savage beast after much difficulty just to find out that it wasn't worth much credits ... that would be such a waste.
Ling Lan agreed that that was wise. So, everyone sped up to finish their meal, cleaning their bowls out within a few minutes. Then, they hurried to the credit exchange point to inquire about the various ways to trade for credits. There, they found that only the path of hunting had been left for the students.
It looked like the camp was worried that the students might put too much priority on surviving that they would forget the main purpose of their trip. Thus, they might as well fix the credit exchange method of the students from the start. Fortunately, the items they would be able to get from most of the savage beasts were all worth quite a lot — as long as they caught something every day, they definitely would not starve.
Ling Lan then spent another hundred credits to buy a copy of this planet's catalogue of savage beasts, saving it into her communicator.
Although Ling Lan's heart ached a little at the loss of this 100 credits, she felt that it was money well spent, because the data on the savage beasts on the catalogue was very comprehensive. Their physical characteristics, attack methods, strengths and weaknesses, and even their skills were detailed very clearly. Besides that, the catalogue also contained a detailed listing of the exchange prices of all the different parts of the various savage beasts. This way, they would be able to target the more valuable savage beasts when hunting, gaining much more for the same amount of effort.
After preparing all this, Ling Lan then brought her team back to the assembly point for the students. As Wu Jiong's followers had not known what Ling Lan's group was planning, they had eaten at a slower pace. By the time they finished their meal and got out, they had already lost sight of Ling Lan's team, and so could only slink back sullenly to the assembly point. Thus, they were already there before Ling Lan's team.
Not long after, a stout officer led a squad over to them. Looking at the little bean sprouts in front of him, he chuckled and said, "Hi, darling brats! I'm your leader for the activity this time. Please call me 'leader'."
Seeing the scouts' attention all on him, he continued, "Later, I will be taking you all to the hunting grounds. Remember, listen to my commands. Don't act on your own, or else don't blame me for not warning you when you die."
The officer's words caused the students' hearts to leap up into their throats once again.
"Also, do you all have any teams? Team leaders, raise your hands," asked the officer.
Among the students, six hands, including Ling Lan's, were raised. The officer's brows creased. He had not expected there to be so few teams in this term's batch of students. Initially, he had thought that in teams, the students would be able to coordinate and work together better, increasing the safety of the hunt. However, the current situation was not as good as he had hoped.
Helplessly, he raised his right hand and shouted, "Those with teams, leaders, bring your team members over here to my right hand side. Team leaders stand first in line, all teams in a row."
Very quickly, Ling Lan and the others had lined up by the officer's side. Qi Long stood in for Ling Lan as the leader at the front. Just like that, the six teams made six lines, and it became clear that Ling Lan's team was the one with the most members, five people. Meanwhile, the other teams had either four or three people, with one team even having only two.
Chapter 141 - The First Hunting Lesson
This scene caused the officer to smile wryly, thinking to himself that the scouts this year were really such oddballs. In the past, the scouts who came were all mostly already in their own teams, and all those teams basically had all 6 members. But this term, not only were there very few teams, the teams were not even filled yet. He found it annoying just looking at the sparse teams.
"Why are there so few team members?" asked the officer unhappily to all the team leaders.
"My team is actually full, but the other two members are not in Class-A." Li Yingjie was the first to respond.
"Still in the process of choosing. No final decision yet." This was what Wu Jiong had to say.
"Um ... the ones I like have already joined other teams, and the ones who haven't joined a team yet, I don't see any I like," said Qi Long with a grin, scratching his head, adding a touch of goofiness to his demeanour.
"I want to take in more people, but they don't want to join me," said one of the team leaders with a long face. Who asked everyone to have their eye on Ling Lan's and Wu Jiong's respective teams?
"Ditto +1!" Another team leader had a similarly long face.
"Ditto +2!" The final team leader was also part of the long face clan.
The officer was unsure whether to laugh or cry at the humorous words of the last three team leaders. He then turned to ask the other students, "What about you all? Why didn't you choose to join a team, or make your own team?"
All was silent, so the officer pointed at one of the students at random. "You, answer!"
That student truly bemoaned his bad luck, actually being called on to answer. Sullenly, he replied, "If I made my own team or joined another team, then I would lose the chance to join Ling Lan's or Wu Jiong's team. We all do not want to lose these final three chances."
"Alright, alright, so you all have your considerations." The officer stared doubtfully at Qi Long and Wu Jiong, uncertain what sort of charisma they had to make the other students so tenacious. However, there was no way to continue on like this, so the officer grinned sardonically and said, "I don't care about these messy considerations of yours. Here, my word is law. Right now, I command you all to quickly get into temporary teams of five. Give me the name list in 3 minutes. If you still don't have a team then, I will randomly assign you one."
The officer swept his gaze at Qi Long. "Since your team is already full, I won't make any changes. You all can wait over there." The officer pointed out a direction, signalling for Qi Long and his team to move there.
Qi Long and the others were very happy that they could remain with Boss Ling Lan. This gave them a lot more confidence.
The students reacted swiftly. It took only 5 minutes for 10 teams to form. To ensure his team's combat ability, Wu Jiong chose a classmate ranked in the top 10 to join his team, while Li Yingjie had managed to secure the 13th-rank for his team. The other students teamed up according to how well they got along with one another.
Seeing that the students were all ready, the officer waved expansively and shouted, "Depart!"
The scouts charged aggressively towards the entrance of the camping grounds, and there they found a huge vehicle which greatly resembled a fully enclosed armoured car of Ling Lan's past world, but was five or six times bigger. The officer indicated for the students to get into the vehicle.
Ling Lan felt the vehicle start up and move. Along the way, she even felt the body of the vehicle being crashed into by some large force, causing several loud bangs. Seeing the anxious and curious faces of the students, the officer in the same carriage explained, "This is just the savage beasts attacking. Don't worry, this area is mostly just beasts below G-class. They won't be able to do any damage to this transport car."
"Won't any higher class savage beasts appear?" asked one of the students.
"I've lived here for 3 years and that has never happened. The savage beasts on this planet are all territorial, so the savage beasts normally won't leave the area they live in," explained the officer. Seeing that everyone was still anxious, he then shared the greatest trump of the camp. "We have heavy artillery on the transport car, capable of killing savage beasts below E-class."
At that, the students released relieved sighs, and waited calmly for the transport car to bring them to the hunting grounds.
********
After travelling for not even half an hour, the transport car stopped. The car door swung open, and Ling Lan and the others disembarked under the officer's direction to find that there was a temporary outpost here.
The officer pointed at the thick forest in front of them and said in introduction, "This is the H-class hunting area which has been specially set up just for you all. Right now, mark down the coordinates of this location. You must not go beyond the radius of this coordinate by 10 kilometres."
He then pointed at the temporary outpost behind him and said, "This is a temporary rest area provided for you all. The fence around the perimeter is also an electric barrier fence, definitely capable of withstanding multiple attacks by H-class savage beasts. Inside, there is also an exchange station. Also, if you want to return to the main camp, either you walk back, or you'll have to buy a return ticket. And each return ticket requires 500 credits ..."
The officer's mouth split into a grin, and he said with some malicious glee, "So, please work hard and earn money!"
That said, without waiting for a response from the stunned students, he leapt onto the transport vehicle, which then zoomed away from the area, leaving the students with nothing but faces full of dust.
Slow on the uptake, the students only realised they had been abandoned by the heartless officer after the vehicle was no longer visible. They broke out into angry curses, yelling loudly of the other's despicable shamelessness, actually leaving without teaching them anything.
Han Jijyun ignored the uproar beside him, turning to ask Ling Lan, "Check out the outpost or just go hunting straightaway?"
Ling Lan said impassively, "The outpost won't run away, we can always check it out when we get back. We need to get a better idea of this area before nightfall so we can create a hunting plan tonight."
Ling Lan's decision gained everybody's agreement. Or, we should say, since Ling Lan had decided so, no one else in the team would have any objections. Thus, the five of them swiftly put on their backpacks and headed towards the forest ahead.
Seeing the movements of Ling Lan's team, the other teams put a lid on their anger and began moving as well. Some teams chose to enter the temporary outpost to check it out, while other teams followed Ling Lan's team to enter the hunting area, getting ready for their first hunt.
********
At this moment, several kilometres in the air above Ling Lan and the others, a mecha battle squad was monitoring the area. Seeing some of the scout teams begin to hunt, their captain gave the following orders to his subordinates. "Each person is responsible for one team. Don't let them come to any harm."
"Roger that, Captain!"
"M1702, choosing the first team!"
"M1703, choosing the second team!"
"M1704, choosing the fifth team!"
"M1705, choosing the ..."
********
Meanwhile, in a different direction, on a mountain slope several kilometres away, a bestial mecha squad was also monitoring the area.
"Little ones, have you chosen your targets?"
"Boss, don't worry, we've all chosen ..."
"Pity there aren't any lolis, can't push any of them down ..."
"Shotas are just as good for that, you sleazy uncle."
"Don't look at me that way, it's just my fatherly love overflowing ..."
"Che ..." This group of people, though noisy and flippant in their unfiltered speech, were nevertheless precise in their movements. Controlling their bestial mecha, they made their way skilfully through the forest, surreptitiously tailing the respective scout teams they had chosen to protect.
********
Qi Long was the spearhead of Ling Lan's team, with Han Jijyun in the middle, Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing at both flanks, and Ling Lan at the back of the formation. Han Jijyun's combat skills were the worst among them, so before they figured out the true strength of the savage beasts in this area, Ling Lan had no choice but to use this safest formation.
It was extremely calm the whole way through — they didn't encounter any so-called savage beasts. After walking 300 to 400 metres into the forest, Ling Lan's gaze suddenly flickered and her head twitched minutely towards the left. She could clearly sense that a savage beast was approaching from that direction.
A few seconds later, Qi Long also sensed it. He quickly gave a warning, "It looks like a savage beast is coming. Everyone watch out."
Hearing this, everyone tightened their grips on their weapons, focused intently on the direction they were in charge of defending. No one knew what the first H-class savage beast they encountered would be like and where it would attack from.
The wait wasn't very long. Within a few seconds, a burly grey figure leapt out from the short shrubs on their left side. Its chosen target was the one standing closest to it, Luo Lang.
Long prepared, Luo Lang swung the high-frequency blade at the figure in a hurried arc. Perhaps Luo Lang's counterattack was too swift, catching the opponent by surprise, for it was struck dead on by Luo Lang's attack.
A wailing howl rang out, and the grey silhouette twisted in the air to land nimbly on its feet. The powerful attack by Luo Lang had not damaged it at all.
At this time, everyone could finally see what it really looked like. It was about the size of a large dog, and was covered in a coat of long grey hair. Its head was like a rabbit from Ling Lan's past world, but was 4 or 5 times larger than a rabbit's head. Meanwhile, its tail was not short and small, but thin and long, with countless scales on it instead of hair. With a subconscious flick of its tail, a crisp crackling sound rang out, and there were now several thin gouges in the tough packed earth. It was obvious that its tail was immensely powerful.
"Flash rabbit, speed-type H-class savage beast. Attack methods: mouth, claws, tail. Strength: Immense speed, almost undetectable. Thick and tough skin, unable to be injured by normal strength. Weakness: Predictable attacks. Very impatient. Exchange value: Skin and fur, 10—100 or more (depending on the integrity of the item). Claws (whole), 20 each. Tail (whole), 100."
Ling Lan read out the information on the flash rabbit immediately. Her memory was amazing, almost to the extent of having a photographic memory. Of course, even if she forgot, Little Four had already saved all the information on the savage beasts and would have reminded her.
Listening to Ling Lan's recitation, Qi Long's gaze shone brighter and brighter — this was all money!
"Looks like it will be our first quarry." Lin Zhong-qing was equally as excited.
The flash rabbit was the weakest among all the H-class savage beasts. As such, there were not many things of value on it, only three. However, this did not beat the fact that it was the easiest savage beast to hunt. Not only could it allow them to practise on it to familiarize themselves with hunting, they would also profit from it somewhat — this was a great thing!
"In that case, Lin Zhong-qing, we'll leave this quarry to you," said Ling Lan calmly.
In their team, Lin Zhong-qing was the nimble and speedy type. Thus, hunting a flash rabbit as practice was perfect for him, very likely to trigger some insight.
The objective of hunting was not simply to take down a quarry, but also to learn how to hunt game that was most suited to one's abilities. This was the first lesson of hunting, known as 'know thyself, know thy enemy'.
Chapter 142 - Enemy Attack? Enemy Attack!
Under Ling Lan's planning, every member of Ling Lan's team experienced hunting solo. After a week, Ling Lan felt that the others had already gotten used to hunting, and were able to work together well with great rapport. So, she decided not to move around with them anymore.
Ling Lan had only been following them around this week primarily because she wanted to protect them, afraid that they might encounter some unexpected scenarios. It wasn't that Ling Lan didn't want to go off on her own to the areas with higher class savage beasts, but, Little Four told her that there were mecha convoys from the camp scattered around watching over them, both in the air and on the ground. However, with the passage of time, the number of mecha gradually decreased.
Thus, Ling Lan could only bide her time at the temporary outpost. Still, she had the learning space, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. However, these actions of Ling Lan drew the contempt of the mecha operators protecting the students from the skies ...
Just take today for example. After sending Qi Long and the others off at the gates of the temporary outpost, Ling Lan ambled back to the living quarters and lay down to sleep. This lazy and unmotivated demeanour of hers instantly infuriated the mecha operator in charge of this area.
"Hells, this punk is such a goddamn rascal, not going out to hunt again," said the mecha operator angrily to his teammates.
By this point, the mecha operators were no longer protecting the teams individually, but was keeping track of them through radar monitoring. Any hunting team that entered the range of the area they monitored would fall under their protection.
This particular mecha operator's protection range just happened to include the temporary outpost. Every time he saw Ling Lan remaining at the outpost on his own, sleeping sweetly without a care in the world, his mood would take a deep nosedive. He felt that Ling Lan was not living up to all of their expectations.
"Could it be that his credits haven't been used up yet?" One of his teammates asked him distractedly as he gathered information on the hunting teams within their protection range. Many of the children just did not have the guts to go out and hunt unless absolutely necessary.
"If that was the case, I wouldn't be so angry! I'd just have to wait for him to reach that critical point. But he just goddamn won't ever run out of credits because his teammates are actually willing to provide for him without any complaint!" Extremely disgruntled, the mecha operator's voice was deep and sullen. "Even though they returned every single time covered in injuries, they would still just smile and give the quarry they hunted to that brat, and let him exchange it for credits and continue to remain in the temporary outpost."
The operator was somewhat envious, but his heart also ached for those children. For the sake of such an unmotivated and useless teammate, were their actions worth it?
"Ho! Looks like that punk's interpersonal skills are pretty good then." Being able to get his teammates to provide for him willingly was also an accomplishment. The other mecha operators could not help but exclaim in awe.
"Could it be that the punk has an impressive background?" Of course, someone would think of this — maybe this was the reason why those children didn't dare to not support him?
"I asked the captain, and he said that he doesn't have any notable background. It's just that his father died long before he was born in a battle with the Twilight Empire." Very early on, the mecha operator in charge had already asked the captain to investigate the child's data, and found that his background was very average. Even more average than those of his teammates, Qi Long and Luo Lang.
"Perhaps those children pity him for being an orphan of a martyr. Giving him some consideration because of that would be normal," someone speculated.
"That's not the way to be considerate. They are here to see blood — if this brat never sees blood, then how will he grow? Don't they know that this is actually harming him?" The mecha operator in charge was somewhat distressed at the waste of talent.
"What are you worrying for? If he doesn't want to grow stronger, what can we do ..." The other's words had barely faded when he suddenly gasped in shock, and asked doubtfully, "Look up there, what's that?" When he had been browsing through the images, a light had seemed to flicker at the top of the screen. He adjusted the image, and found that countless bright spots had appeared on it, and could not hold back a shout.
All of the mecha in the air immediately pulled up their images as well, and saw that there really were countless bright spots descending from the atmosphere.
"What's going on? Why didn't the camp control tower give us a report?"
"Could it be an enemy attack?"
"No way ..."
Just when those aerial mecha operators were at a loss, Ling Lan, who had already entered the learning space and had started practising her physical skills, sensed a strong signal calling her from the outside. She decisively ended her training and returned to the great hall of the learning space. There, she saw Little Four with an anxious face, who rushed to say, "Boss, I just did an aerial scan, and discovered a mysterious force invading this planet!"
Ling Lan's face changed. She quickly returned to the real world, leapt up from her bed, and rushed out.
Standing in the square of the temporary outpost, she lifted her head to look up at the sky, and could vaguely see several glimmering lights in the skies above.
"Little Four, lock onto one of those bright spots and zoom in," ordered Ling Lan.
A close-up of the scene right by a bright spot abruptly appeared before Ling Lan's eyes. The bright spot turned out to be a giant elliptical metal object. Its outer shell was smooth and glossy, and it looked just like a large egg made of metal — there was no way to tell what it was. Its speed of descent was not very quick, just as if there was a reactionary force pushing against the planet's gravity.
Ling Lan's brows furrowed, suddenly thinking of something. She yelled out quickly, "Little Four, could you check to see into outer space?"
"From here, I'll need to hack into the radar here. Boss, hold on for a few seconds ..." That said, Little Four left. Ling Lan counted under her breath, and when she reached 9, the image before her suddenly shifted to an image of the space right beyond this planet.
In space, there was nothing. All was silent, just as if those unidentified flying objects had just appeared in their vision from thin air.
"The other side might be using some cloaking system to evade radar scanning, and so were not discovered," explained Little Four, "Let me try to change their radar scanning system ..." This so-called 'cloaking' was not true concealment — it was just recognizing an opponent's radar scanning system and preparing a corresponding countermeasure. So, a minor modification to the scanning system would solve the problem.
Little Four's words had yet to fade when Ling Lan saw two massive interstellar motherships suddenly appear in a corner of the initially boundless starry sky. Beside them were four escort starships. Right then, those elliptical metal objects were being launched in a never-ending stream from the mothership's launch port. The four escort starships were positioned at four corners, carefully guarding the two motherships in the centre.
"Searching for their emblem ..."
The starships within the image began to rotate, until, on one side of one of the ships, a blood-red sun was revealed ...
"The Twilight Empire ..." Ling Lan's gaze narrowed, her mind swiftly registering the severity of the matter. Immediately, she said, "Quick, transmit the images to the camp's control tower ..."
"Already done." Little Four had instantly transmitted those images to the control tower.
Ling Lan's gaze filled up with killing intent — the Twilight Empire ... that was the main culprit in her father Ling Xiao's murder. She had originally thought that she would only get the chance to get revenge and kill the people of the Twilight Empire once she grew up, but unexpectedly, this opportunity had presented itself here at this mysterious planet.
Of course, Ling Lan also knew very well that their appearance here most likely meant that some problems had also emerged within the inner workings of the Federation, just like back when Ling Xiao had been killed. Only this time, she wondered who their target was.
********
When the control tower received Little Four's transmitted images, they instantly sounded the alarm ... The entire camp leapt into action under the blaring cacophony of the alarms. All the resting soldiers rushed out, grabbing their weapons and their mecha.
Meanwhile, the mecha operators in the air still observing those unidentified bright spots in the atmosphere had also received the warning of an enemy attack from the control tower.
"Warning, this is an enemy attack ...! Warning, this is an enemy attack!"
"Get ready for battle!" The cold voice of the captain came through the public communications channel.
"Yes!" All of the mecha were fully armed, and they watched suspiciously as those countless flying objects drifted down towards their planet. The moment the captain gave the command, they would charge.
In the meantime, the hunting students had also received the notification to return to the camp or the closest outpost.
When the opponent had drifted down to a certain altitude, the flight-capable winged mecha or humanoid mecha all flew up into the sky as well, waiting in formation.
********
Meanwhile, in space, the commanding officer of the mothership who had supervised the launching of the metallic giant eggs, was closely watching the feedback images of the situation below. When he saw that the opponent had already noticed them and were prepared to attack, he instantly pounded the table in anger. " Baka 1 , how did they discover our concealed airstrike strategy? Which bastard ratted us out?!"
Originally, they had wanted to overwhelm the opponent with the element of surprise, but was unexpectedly faced with this sort of direct faceoff. His heart started to twinge in pain — the sneak attack this time involved their empire's most exceptional mecha column, if any accidents happened and they were lost here, it would definitely be a severe loss.
This commanding officer naturally didn't know that the reason the opponent was prepared was due to Little Four, this intelligent bio-entity from the miraculous planet Mandora ...
"Attack!" When the control tower gave this command, all the air-borne mecha launched the first wave of attack. The metallic eggs right at the bottom were instantly caught in the explosions of this intense firepower. Losing the anti-gravity deceleration, they dropped like stones, hurtling downwards at full speed. The mecha in formation paid no mind to these falling eggs — everyone knew that at that speed, even if there were protective fittings inside, the people inside would still be at death's door even if they didn't die.
These images were transmitted back to the motherships in space, causing the commanding officer to yell 'baka baka' non-stop, yet he was helpless to do anything. Now that things had developed into the current situation, it was no longer something he could resolve.
"Sir, can we let them break out of the shells and act now?" The adviser beside the officer wiped away the sweat on his forehead, and reminded him with a bow. Since there was already no chance of a sneak attack, they might as well fight outright pitting strength against strength.
" Sano-kun's 1 suggestion is good. Give out the order to act!" The commanding officer finally calmed down.
" Hai 1 !"
********
Once the order went out, all the falling metallic eggs cracked open by themselves, revealing the black mecha hiding within each one. The sight of those black mecha, along with the crimson sun emblazoned on their chests instantly drove all the Federation's mecha operator's into a collective rage.
"Curses, it's mecha!"
"The bloody Twilight Empire!"
"Dammit, kill them all ... avenge Major General Ling Xiao!" It wasn't clear which mecha operator said this, but it summed up the burning animosity of the mecha operators well.
1. 'idiot' in Japanese. A pattern is really showing up here with this 'Twilight Empire' ... *sigh* Please don't shoot the translator; content is beyond my control.
2. '-kun' is a Japanese suffix for names, generally used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, or just in general to refer to a male person whom one has a close relationship with.
3. 'Yes' in Japanese.
Chapter 143 - The Mecha Battle Kicks Off!
Major General Ling Xiao's death due to one of the Twilight Empire's evil plots was a major grudge for all mecha operators of the Federation. They too had once thought of charging onto the battlefields against the Twilight Empire for revenge, but they were soldiers, and so had to submit to the military's arrangements. They had been assigned to develop this mysterious planet, but the rage in their hearts had not disappeared. Now, suddenly seeing the hated killers appear before them, almost all of the mecha operators were about to go on a rampage.
Everyone present on the field knew that this would be a death clash, a fight till one side or the other was dead!
The artillery in the hands of the Federation mecha operators needed no command, firing wildly in an endless barrage. A great battle was about to start ... in the sky, the sounds of rocket fire filled the air — the Twilight Empire mecha naturally did not just lay back and admit defeat. Even if they had no choice but to dodge while they were still trying to gain control of their mecha, they would still raise up their firearms when necessary to return fire.
The entire battlefield was shrouded in the smoke of artillery — with every round of fire, several mecha would be destroyed and fall ... some of the Federation, more of those from the Twilight Empire.
Those mecha plunged from the skies wreathed in thick smoke and blazing fire, crashing loudly onto the ground. Even Ling Lan, who was quite far away from the heart of the battle, could still feel the violent tremors from the ground, almost losing her footing.
On the ground, those mecha would explode a second or even a third time. Shrapnel went flying, wisps of flame scattering everywhere — the immense explosive force broke the surrounding trees at their waists, some trees even being uprooted entirely. Yet even more trees were set alight by the errant sparks, quickly becoming engulfed in flames ...
Under the barrage of artillery, the initially tranquil primitive forest descended into a sea of smoke and fire. The savage beasts within seemed to sense the looming threat, and began to make a commotion.
The descending Twilight mecha were getting closer and closer to the Federation mecha soldiers in the air; at this point, the camp control tower gave a new order, "All aerial mecha squads, move out immediately!"
This command proved that the battle had already entered the most intense close-combat stage. The outcome of this battle now would be determined entirely by whose nation's mecha operators were stronger.
From the start, this world had been a world governed by the principle of the survival of the fittest — only by being stronger than the opponent could you have the right to continue surviving.
All the Federation mecha operators who received the order operated their mecha to fly towards those incoming Empire mecha. In the skies of this planet, blue-white mecha and black mecha clashed, battling it out with one another.
********
The supreme commander of the camp looked at the starships hovering in space on the screen before him. Rage spiked in his heart, and he threw the phone receiver in his hand roughly at the ground, where it instantly broke apart.
Raging, he said, "Goddammit! If these bastards weren't here, how would I have let these despicable mecha land so easily ... Damn! Now we can only rely on the mecha teams to hold them off with force."
On the other end of the phone receiver, the technician soldier silently wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. He was thankful that he had managed to react quickly enough to shut down the functions of the receiver moments before the commanding officer had smashed it, saving the eardrums of his teammates.
It turned out that the secret headquarters on this planet was equipped with anti-aircraft artillery. However, due to the threat of the starships in outer space, the supreme commander did not dare to use them. This made him feel extremely frustrated and was the main source of his rage.
The commanding officer could almost confirm that the Twilight Empire was just using these mecha to try and entice them into firing their anti-aircraft missiles. After finding out that the opponent was the Twilight Empire, the commanding officer knew that even if the opponent had found the coordinates to this planet, they still would not know the detailed location of the Federation's secret headquarters on the planet.
If the opponent had known for sure where the headquarters was, they definitely would not have first let the mecha descend for a sneak attack. Instead, they would have just opened fire with the starships, directly blowing up their main command centre right from the start. This way, without any proper command, the Federation warriors would definitely not be able to muster up any effective resistance. The Empire would have been able to easily assume control of this planet.
If he had not discovered the opponent's starships, he might very well have already given the command for the camp to fire their anti-aircraft missiles. He could almost see the final outcome then ... those few starships of the Twilight Empire would then have figured out where they were hiding, and sent all their firepower on board towards them, completely destroying this location, vaporizing every last bit of them, leaving no bodies behind.
At this thought, the commanding officer felt a lingering frisson of fear in his heart. Luckily the radar had worked in the end, managing to detect those concealed starships and motherships. This also made him instantly aware of the opponent's scheme, saving him from giving out a wrong order.
The commanding officer collected his emotions, and turned to ask the chief of staff beside him, "When will the reinforcement teams arrive?" Although he had seen through the opponent's dangerous scheme, the situation right now still wasn't looking good.
"The crew closest to us is at the Misri Corridor area. Even if they rush over at top speed, it is estimated to take about 10 hours," reported the chief of staff.
"Hold out for 10 hours, is it?" The supreme commander frowned, considering whether it was possible to hold out for 10 hours with his current forces.
"Commander, there's more bad news I have to tell you ..." The chief of staff had received the latest updates from the other staff officers, and he now looked somewhat ill. "The forces just sent word that just now, a Twilight Empire fleet was seen in the vicinity of planet Qiming."
The supreme commander hurriedly tapped on the star map on a screen and compared the distance between the two locations. He could not help but curse! This was because the distance from the Misri Corridor and that from planet Qiming were roughly the same. In other words, 10 hours later, the opponent would also receive reinforcements.
"Contact military headquarters immediately. Tell them to send even more fleets over. No matter how long it'll take them to come, we will hold out till the end!" That said, the supreme commander turned and left the control tower. This surprised the chief of staff who had begun making arrangements for his commands. He asked, "Commander, where are you going?"
"Where? To fight! Am I supposed to just sit here and wait? My soldiers are all battling courageously right now!" With an angry glare, the commander stalked onto the control tower's elevator platform to go down, not giving the chief of staff any time to stop him.
Nimbly, he climbed into his own mecha, and after activating it, he piloted it to fly up to the aerial battlefield. Behind him, his bodyguard mecha team followed swiftly ... the commander they were supposed to protect had already chosen to battle, of course they could not stay back.
"Ahem, this fellow ... that's so irresponsible!" The chief of staff looked at the back of the commander who had leapt into battle, and muttered unhappily to himself. Still, he could only complain a little in protest — against the formidable commander whose very nature was that of an extreme battle maniac, all he could do was resign himself to his bad luck and clean up after him.
********
"Baka! The opponent actually chose not to use their anti-aircraft missiles but fight in close quarters with mecha? Are they that confident in their own mecha operators? What do you all think?" In space, the commanding officer on the mothership saw that their plans had failed once again. Their originally perfect strategies, all failing — this caused him to be extremely displeased and angry.
"Commander, don't worry. Among the mecha operators executing the air strike this time is a team of our empire's ace mecha escorts. As long as they land successfully, the opponent's mecha operators will definitely be no match for them." The staff officer beside him quickly offered reassurance, boosting the commanding officer's confidence, "They will definitely complete this 'Operation Decapitation'!"
There were many strategies; they too had thought of all kinds of unfavourable contingencies. As long as the ace mecha troop landed successfully, they would carry out 'Operation Decapitation' — seek out the opponent's command centre and destroy it so that the opponent would have no organisation, and hence lose all form of effective resistance.
" Yoshi 1 ! I hope they don't disgrace our great Twilight Empire." Once more, the commanding officer felt as if he had the situation well in hand.
********
On the planet, right now, there were the sounds of countless firearms being fired. The temporary outpost was also ringing with the warning blares alerting the troops of an air attack. Some on-duty soldiers were directing non-combatants to the nearest air raid shelter, but their main responsibility was to help those students at the outpost who were scared shitless.
"Bastard, stop running around recklessly! Come back quickly!" A soldier on duty at the outpost was currently gathering all the students hiding all around the outpost. When he saw Ling Lan standing at the entrance of the outpost looking around randomly, he instantly yelled at him anxiously.
Suddenly, from god knows where, a bomb fell — the soldier leapt frantically at Ling Lan ... then, he felt his body being tugged aside by something, causing him to tumble in another direction, dropping straight into a trench dug by the camp.
"Boom!" The bomb exploded on the other side. But because they were inside the trench, they were completely uninjured. The soldier raised his head, bewildered, and saw a small figure crouched in front of him.
"Big Brother, thank you for saving me." That charming young shota had a serious expression on his face, but the immense gratitude he held in his eyes was unmistakable.
Although the soldier was still wondering how he had suddenly changed course in mid-air, the two of them had indeed been saved by the shift in direction. As such, he could only scratch his head in confusion and say, "As long as you're alright! As long as you're alright!"
Then, realising something, he asked, "Why didn't you go to the air raid shelters?" The camp had informed the students the coordinates of all the air raid shelters at the first moment, letting them choose the nearest air raid shelter to hide at. Fearing that the students would be scared stiff by this sort of ruthless battle scene, they had then sent some on-duty staff to check up on them, which was why this soldier had appeared here at the outpost.
"I wanted to go, but was still checking the directions, confirming the coordinates." Ling Lan gave a perfectly normal reason. In the midst of an unforeseen event, it was very easy to lose one's direction in the chaos.
The soldier had already seen scouts in this sort of situation an nth number of times, and so merely pointed at a direction and said, "You just walk in this direction, and then look at the coordinate numbers on your communicator, and you should be able to find an air raid shelter."
"Thank you, big brother. Then I'll be leaving first!" Ling Lan gave him a grateful scout's salute, and then jumped out of the trench, quickly disappearing into the distance.
The soldier pulled on his helmet and carefully moved forwards in a low crouch. He needed to continue checking the next location. After moving stealthily in this way for several tens of metres, he abruptly realised that the other's movements had been much more agile than his ...
1. From Japanese, meaning 'good'. An emphatic expression, think 'Yes!'
Chapter 144 - Chance! Make a Move!
Ling Lan did not choose to go to that air raid shelter; instead, she secretly hid at a random blind spot within the outpost. With Little Four's help, she contacted Qi Long. "Qi Long, where are you guys now?"
"Boss Lan, finally got hold of you. We can't go back anymore," said Qi Long, chuckling drily.
"What happened?" asked Ling Lan in surprise.
"The road we need to go back is now a battlefield!" The sound of violent hacking and slashing could be heard from Qi Long's end — the sound was so loud that it almost covered Qi Long's voice.
"Mecha combat!" Ling Lan could immediately tell what the sound signified.
"Yes, and not just ... BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" Loud explosions rang out on Qi Long's end, "Boss, we need to retreat quickly, otherwise we'll be chopped into pieces by the winds of their swords."
Heavy panting could be heard via the communicator — it looked like Qi Long and the others were running for their lives trying to escape that frightening battlefield. Ling Lan was extremely anxious, hating the fact that she wasn't there with them.
"We can't go any further. Any further and it's the F-class savage beast area." Han Jijyun's voice rang out on the other side of the communicator.
"You all already entered the G-class savage beast area?" A bad feeling rose in Ling Lan's heart.
"Yup, the battlefield spread too quickly, so we could only keep dodging backwards. But luckily, those G-class savage beasts have also been frightened away by the battlefield." Qi Long's voice held a trace of relief, because if that had not been the case, they would not have been able to run so deep into the forest.
"Stop running. Those savage beasts have already become even more dangerous," said Ling Lan frantically.
The sound of running footsteps slowed and finally came to a stop. Then, Qi Long's voice came through once again, a note of puzzlement in it, "Boss Lan, what did you say?"
"They're about to go berserk from this sudden battle." Ling Lan had already received Little Four's warning. He had found that within the range of his monitoring, the savage beasts' eyes had already turned red, as if they were about to go berserk at any moment.
"Can you all go around the battlefield?" Ling Lan followed up with this question.
"No, the battlefield has already spread to cover the entire G-class savage beast district. No matter which way we go, we'll have to pass through F-class territory," responded Han Jijyun. He had been keeping a close eye on the situation, so he knew very well that right now, the battlefield had engulfed almost all of H-class and G-class areas. Therefore, if they wanted to avoid the battlefield and get back to the temporary outpost, they could only go through F-class savage beast territory.
Han Jijyun felt very helpless. With their capabilities, their chances of passing through F-class territory safely was exceedingly low — they would only have one chance in ten of surviving. It wasn't that much different from just cutting through the mecha battlefield directly.
"Boss, please don't worry. We'll act according to the situation. Right now, we'll first go look for a good place to hide. Boss, you should also go to an air raid shelter as soon as possible and hide." Qi Long told Ling Lan their decision. He knew that in this type of situation, even if Ling Lan was strong, he would not be able to help them.
In this kind of large-scale, destructive mecha battle, scout academy students like them who only knew low-level combat arts were just ants. Qi Long and the others did not want Ling Lan to be in any danger, even somewhat glad that he had not come with them to hunt and gotten stuck here as well.
"Alright, find a place as soon as possible to hide then. Oh, and keep your communicators turned on. I'll contact you guys periodically." After giving her orders, Ling Lan cut the call.
Ling Lan's brows were deeply furrowed. She knew very well that on that battlefield, the Federation mecha operators were fully engaged in battle and had no mind to care about the students anymore. In other words, whether Qi Long and the others lived or died was entirely up to their luck now.
"Goddammit! I need to find them!" Ling Lan made her decision in an instant. She was not someone who would abandon her comrades.
Ling Lan knew that if the battle continued to spread outwards, Qi Long and the others would be forced to enter the territory of even higher level savage beasts. Little Four had already cautioned more than once that the savage beasts there were already in a state of violent frenzy — their combat abilities were definitely not at their normal baseline. Undoubtedly, the longer Qi Long and the others lingered there, the more precarious their situation would be.
With a decision in her heart, Ling Lan quietly zipped out of the outpost. The soldier on guard at the entrance, who was waiting for straggling students, only felt his eyes blur for a moment, as if a shadow had flown by at the edge of his vision. But when he looked around, he saw nothing.
"Am I seeing things? Looks like the surrounding smoke still managed to affect my vision ..." The soldier could only explain it this way. He threw all thoughts of that passing shadow to the back of his mind and stopped worrying about it.
Ling Lan rapidly dashed through the hunting grounds of the H-class savage beasts. In the dim lighting of the dense forest, she moved through the trees as nimbly as a monkey. With several quick dashes, she zipped from one tree branch to another. Her speed made her seem just like a shadow, leaving afterimages between the tree trunks, and her landings were so soft that they made no sound.
After travelling for about 2 kilometres, Ling Lan abruptly came to a stop. Her brows lifted slightly, but very quickly, she leapt up nimbly, and dashed into one of the shrubs to hide without making any noise.
Ling Lan had just hidden herself when, not far from Ling Lan's position, two large mecha collided heavily in the air and simultaneously lost control and fell.
They crashed forcefully into the forest undergrowth about 200 metres away from Ling Lan. The great tremors caused by the crashes stirred up a tornado, which whipped out to decimate the surrounding trees. The tornado only died off when it was about less than 10 metres from where Ling Lan was hiding.
Ling Lan seemed to have expected this, for she was not affected at all. All throughout, she kept a lid on her presence, crouched within the shrubs, motionless. The instant she went into hiding, Ling Lan had entered hunting mode — her mind was as still as ice, perfectly melding her presence with her surroundings. Even if Instructor Number One from the learning space came here now, before Ling Lan made a move, it would still be very difficult for him to find Ling Lan's hiding spot.
Perhaps the two mecha had been rendered useless by the crash, for the operators could not get them to stand up again. Almost simultaneously, the hatch of the cockpit on both mecha opened. Two mecha operators leapt out from their respective cockpits at the same time.
"Clang!" The clear ring of cold weapons clashing, proving that the two mecha operators had crossed blades again in an instant.
The two of them were pushed back by the other's attack, each stumbling backwards several steps before regaining their footing. They gripped the short swords in their hands and faced each other from a distance, waiting for the next chance to attack.
The distance between the two of them was about 10 metres. The mecha operator dressed in a blue and white combat uniform on one side was from the Federation. Ling Lan could tell due to the Federation logo on his chest — a big golden five-pointed star. On the other side was the mecha operator of the Twilight Empire, dressed in a combat uniform the same black as the Empire's mecha. The entire uniform was a dark inky black, the only spot of colour being the blood-red sun on his chest.
The mecha operators' combat uniforms were a type of one-piece outfit, even coming outfitted with a fully sealed helmet. This set of combat uniforms were definitely the best defensive equipment in this world. Ordinary blades would not be able to pierce through it; of course, the short swords equipped on the bodies of these mecha operators were made of a special type of metal — although the swords could not pierce through the combat uniforms, three stabs at the same spot would weaken the uniform enough to penetrate it and deal damage.
The two of them faced off for a few seconds, unmoving, and then, their figures flashed as they moved almost simultaneously.
Clang! Clang! Clang! ... Over 10 times the weapons clashed. The two men were fighting evenly, but the consecutive attacks were wearing down the stamina of both of them rapidly. Soon, the two men were starting to breathe unsteadily.
They had originally been fighting in their mecha for half a day up in the air, using up a lot of their energy already. And now, on the ground, they were engaged in a life-or-death close-range battle. Whether it was in terms of mental or physical strength, they were at the end of their ropes — it was all down to who could hold out for a breath longer.
The patiently waiting Ling Lan had already quietly picked up a twig about a finger-length and slipped it between her fingers, poised as she waited calmly for the two men to launch into their next attacks.
Finally, the two men lifted up their swords again, and charged towards the other at the same time ...
Chance!
With barely a thought, Ling Lan's wrist twitched, and the twig in between her fingers flew like an arrow towards the Twilight Empire mecha operator.
Ling Lan naturally knew that the twig would not be able to penetrate the other's combat uniform on its own. Thus, her target was the only weakness of the combat uniform — the neck!
Even though, on the surface, it seemed like the mecha operator's entire body was shielded by the combat uniform, in truth, at times, from a particular angle, a tiny unshielded gap would be revealed. For example, when a mecha operator lifted his head a certain way, an almost imperceptible gap would appear at the join between the helmet and the combat uniform.
Ling Lan, who was lying flat within the shrubs, was viewing the scene from a downward angle, and so managed to catch sight of this tiny, tiny gap. All this time, Ling Lan's cool observation was so she could find this opportunity for a one-hit kill. And Ling Lan's patience finally brought her this opportunity.
The small and thin twig struck silently and abruptly — also, the Twilight Empire mecha operator never would have imagined that there would be another ruthless hunter here, so his full attention was on the Federation mecha operator opposite him. He wasn't guarding against other sources of killing intent.
He suddenly felt a stab of pain at his neck, and the hand which he had planned to use to parry the opponent's short sword stilled for a moment.
But this short pause was enough to make him miss the correct timing to parry, and he could only watch as his chest was pierced forcefully by the other's short sword. Panicked, he tried to back away, but then he discovered something even more frightening — he could not control his body at all.
Within the blink of an eye, the opponent had stabbed his chest three times repeatedly, breaking through his uniform to pierce into his chest. He could only watch as his own blood started to spurt from his chest ...
What in the world had happened? They had clearly been evenly matched, both unable to overwhelm the other ... why would he lose control over his body in these final moments?
The mecha operator of the Twilight Empire fell over with a face filled with disbelief. Till the end, he still could not figure out how he had died, causing him to be a muddled ghost even in death.
Of course, the reason for all this was Ling Lan's undetectable attack; it had just been too strange and unexpected. Because the twig had been so small and thin, it had only caused a small droplet of blood to well up at the area on the neck which it had shot into. Thus, the Twilight Empire mecha operator had never even noticed that he had suffered a sneak attack.