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Chapter 360 - The Mecha Storehouse!
Adjutant Qiao's departure made a subtle sneer tug at the corners of the senior colonel's lips, a trace of mockery flashing through his eyes. The general had already declared that this was an order, yet this Adjutant Qiao was being so obtuse — it looked like once they returned, Adjutant Qiao would probably be dismissed from service. The senior colonel walked over to the JMC's position and watched as the JMC carried out his guide duties and swiftly launched <Belief> with the general inside. <Belief> drew a trail of stars across the starry skies as it flew off in the direction of planet Newline. In just a few seconds, they could no longer see any sign of its figure ...
On the screen, all that remained was the dejected Adjutant Qiao.
"Sir, what do we do now?" As the person holding the highest rank after the general, he was originally supposed to be the true leader of the assessment team, so the other officers naturally turned to him for direction.
"What to do? Of course we will follow the general to planet Newline. Also, send a report to the Federation mainframe about planet Newline being in danger," ordered the senior colonel. They could not let the general fight solo; they needed the mainframe to deploy a strong fleet over to assist as soon as possible. Although the senior colonel had faith in the general, it was always good to play it a little safe.
The senior colonel's words were greeted with enthusiastic agreement by the other officers. Thus, the military ship swiftly sent a report off to the Federation mainframe, changing directions at the same time to follow after Ling Xiao's mecha, flying rapidly towards planet Newline ...
********
After rapid marching for more than 10 minutes, Ling Lan and her group of about 100 New Cadet Regiment members finally arrived at the exclusive mecha storehouse of the First Men's Military Academy. The storehouse stored various mecha of different grades, to be used during the practical training of control skills of the cadets. Usually, these mecha would be sealed away in the storehouse and could not be easily accessed by the students.
"Boss, the storehouse doors have been broken open already. Someone has entered before us." Moving ahead of the others, Qi Long had led several others from Ling Lan's team to scout ahead. They were the first to make contact with the main doors of the mecha storehouse and had immediately noticed that the doors which should have been shut tight were actually unlatched and remained half-opened. Seeing this, Qi Long quickly ran back to where Ling Lan was to report this situation to her.
Ling Lan was taken aback by the news. Frowning, she thought, 'Could it be that someone had decided to do the same thing I was planning to do?'
This speculation of Ling Lan's was based on the fact that the mecha within the mecha storehouse were all trainee mecha for students and not proper battle mecha. The weapons equipped on these mecha were only the most basic types, which had a much lower damage output than true battle mecha. Generally, soldiers would not choose to use mecha from the academy storehouse to fight. Furthermore, all the academy instructors had their own personal mecha and so would not come to retrieve any mecha from here either. The only possible candidates remaining were the academy cadets.
Ling Lan could not help but become curious over the student who had come to the same conclusion she had. Who were they? If she could befriend them, Ling Lan would not mind getting to know the student whose mind had walked the same path as hers.
As she was unsure about the situation inside the storehouse and was afraid that their entry would cause the party before them to misunderstand, Ling Lan asked the team leaders to pass on the word — when they entered the storehouse, the team members were to maintain silence and make as little noise as possible.
The storehouse doors were shoved wider by a few of them, and then the New Cadet Regiment began to slip inside in an orderly manner. The moment they entered the storehouse, they saw countless tall and formidable steel mecha standing before them. Everyone felt their heart rate pick up — they would soon be able to touch and use these great combat weapons.
Ling Lan glanced at the mecha right at the frontmost end of the storehouse and saw that they were all trainee mecha from the major three categories 1 . Besides the requisite cold weapon, trainee mecha were not equipped with any long-range firearm. Ling Lan decisively turned away from these mecha — trainee mecha were just going to be sitting ducks; using them on the battlefield was just asking to die. She motioned for the New Cadet Regiment members to follow her onwards.
Because she had investigated beforehand, Ling Lan was well aware what level the members of the New Cadet Regiment who followed her were at in terms of control skills in the virtual world. Those trainee mecha operators and lower mecha operators had already been removed by her; all who remained were intermediate mecha operators and above.
It wasn't that Ling Lan looked down on those lower level students, but the combat power of a lower mecha operator was just too weak in a real battle. The death rate for low-level mecha operators was as high as 80%. Even though the 20% who managed to survive were likely to become strong fighters in their own right, the key point was that they needed to survive first.
Ling Lan felt that unnecessary death should be avoided. It would be best to wait for these students' skills to advance further before letting them go out and fight. That way, more would survive and the future would be just as lovely.
Therefore, in order to ensure their safety, Ling Lan decisively removed those lower level mecha operators from her group, only keeping those members who were at the level of intermediate mecha operator and above. This was another reason why this New Cadet Regiment group had suddenly shrunk by over 200 people. Those mecha operators who were able to become intermediate mecha operators in such a short amount of time were all certain to be outstanding in terms of talent and heart. As long as these people were baptised by war, they were sure to grow even faster!
The mecha storehouse was pitch dark and silent. They could not see the figures of those who had entered before them. When the first person of their group stepped into the mecha storehouse, the sensor light turned on automatically. The initially dark mecha storehouse was instantly bathed in bright light.
Although this situation startled the mentally unprepared students, they remembered Boss Lan's instructions and did not utter any sounds of shock. After that, seeing how steady their schoolmates were, they very quickly regained their composure. In the vast mecha storehouse, only the orderly sound of the New Cadet Regiment's footsteps could be heard.
Ling Lan led the way at a clipped pace for about 3 minutes, skipping past all the lower mecha sections along the way, and soon, they had arrived at the intermediate mecha section. Finally seeing some mecha which had several more types of long-range and close-range weapons, Ling Lan halted in satisfaction.
"Schoolmates, those who have already achieved intermediate mecha warrior status in Mecha World, please choose a mecha you are familiar with." Glancing at the time on her communicator, she instructed, "Remember, you all only have ten minutes to get used to your mecha. Once time is up, you all will be led out by your respective team leaders. Overall, we return to that same idea — keep your calm when you sight an enemy. Be mindful of teamwork; don't rush into the fray on your own. Also, work hard to return and see me again alive!"
"Yes, Regiment Commander!" Ling Lan's words reverberated in the silence of the storehouse, stoking the excitement of the near 80 students, causing them to shout loudly in response 1 .
With a wave of Ling Lan's right hand, these people swiftly boarded the mecha they aimed for respectively. Those mecha were the ones they were endlessly familiar with inside Mecha World. Of course, the mecha in Mecha World and the actual machines were sure to have some differences, but it was overall largely the same. Familiarising themselves with these mecha was not a very difficult thing — this was also why Ling Lan had only allocated them 10 minutes to adjust.
Of course, no one was dumb enough to go and select an unfamiliar mecha. Everyone understood that even if there were mecha much better than the one they piloted, they still could not choose it now. They would only be able to bring out the full capabilities of a mecha they were familiar with, and whether they could do so would be the key determining whether they lived or died on the battlefield.
Students who could make it into the Central Scout Academy were originally already an outstanding bunch, and among them, those who could even consider going into the First Men's Military Academy were the most exceptional of the group. They did not lack rationality or composure, so they knew what they should do.
Watching as these people began busying themselves adjusting to the real world mecha, Ling Lan nodded silently. She turned her head to look at the remaining students by her side. There were only 35 left. Other than her team's own 7 members, there were 28 other members. Twenty-one of these were the team leaders of the various teams in the New Cadet Regiment.
As expected of those capable of being team leaders, they were all the most exceptional of the lot. Of the 27 teams within the New Cadet Regiment, only 6 team leaders were not yet at this level. Meanwhile, of the remaining 7 advanced mecha operators, 4 were members of Wu Jiong's team, which included Ye Xu, while the other 3 were from Li Yingjie's team. Without question, Wu Jiong's and Li Yingjie's team members were obviously stronger than those of the other teams.
Ling Lan mentally acknowledged the strength of Wu Jiong's and Li Yingjie's teams, but unbeknownst to her, in the eyes of the members of those two teams, Ling Lan's team was strong beyond understanding.
When they saw the seven people following closely behind Ling Lan as they walked over together to the advanced mecha section, their expressions could not help but shift, a trace of shock and awe appearing in their eyes. They were naturally astounded by the fact that all of the members of Ling Lan's team had actually managed to achieve advanced mecha warrior status. (At present, they still did not know about the three new members of Ling Lan's team, and so thought that Ling Lan's team still only consisted of the original six 1 .) At the same time, they were utterly convinced — sure enough, Boss Ling Lan was Boss Ling Lan. Even the members under him were strong beyond reason. It made sense if you think about it. Boss Ling Lan was already so strong — if a team member was too weak, what right did he have to follow Ling Lan?
Just like that, Ling Lan led the 35 students into the advanced mecha section. Two more minutes passed and Ling Lan quickly urged the remaining members to board their selected mecha. The time this group had to adjust to the real mecha was only 8 minutes. As they wanted to meet up again with the members at the intermediate mecha section, they could only take 2 minutes out of their allocated adjustment time. That said, those who had advanced to advanced mecha operator at this age were all the extremely talented prodigies of mecha control. Eight minutes for them to familiarise themselves with real mecha was definitely no problem at all.
After settling all of this, Ling Lan ordered Little Four to contact Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie to tell them which section to come to. He sent the exact coordinates of their location in the storehouse to the two, preventing them from wasting time. After all, they too needed some time to adjust to the mecha — each extra second of adjustment time meant an increase in the chances of survival.
Fortunately, the direction of the anti-air shelter was roughly the same as the mecha storehouse, just at a slightly different angle. As Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had left ahead of this party, they were not slowed down by much. Based off their reply, they had just arrived at the storehouse. At their speed, they should catch up within three minutes.
Ling Lan calculated for a moment — with Wu Jiong's and Li Yingjie's skills, the remaining 5 minutes' time was sufficient for them to adjust to real advanced mecha. At this thought, she relaxed and gave her team a heads up. She was planning to go to a secret room Little Four had discovered. That room was deeper into the storehouse, in the innermost area of the advanced mecha section. From the outside, it looked like they were already at the end of the section, but in truth, there was a whole new world behind that wall.
1. This should be referring to humanoid, bestial, and avian.
2. T/C: What happened to not making noise? =.=
3. ... the numbers the author is giving don't add up. Seven people behind her, yet original six? <.< Unless the other students just assume the additional two are just random helpers of Ling Lan. Hmm... just take it as an author glitch; I don't know how to fix it since I'm unsure what the author intends here.
Chapter 361 - Kings of Massacre!
Ling Lan's curiosity was piqued because, thus far, she had yet to come across a single person (or group) who had hit upon the same idea as she had but acted before she did. She did not notice any human figures within the storehouse, and neither was there any sign of mecha having been flown out. Thus, Ling Lan concluded that the other party was very likely still inside the secret room.
Ling Lan wondered why the other party had disregarded the advanced mecha all around them, instead choosing to enter that secret space. Was it that the secret space had some secret stashed within it? Could it be that it contained a special-class mecha or something even superior to that?
Even though Ling Lan felt that it was impossible for the military academy to possess combat mecha as terrifying as ace mecha, Ling Lan's curiosity could not be satisfied without taking a peek at what could be inside.
Since she was alone, Ling Lan unsealed all restrictions on her speed. If anyone had been next to her, they would have sensed that Ling Lan's movements were as fast as the wind. There was no way an average person's vision could keep up with her speed; all they might have sensed would have been a shadow flickering before their eyes, but in the next second, she would have disappeared without a trace.
Very soon, Ling Lan arrived at the end of the mecha hold, and the sight that greeted her was that of a broad wall. The average person arriving at this point would conclude that this was the end of the line and turn back. Ling Lan, however, strode forward and put her hands on the wall. Then, she bent her legs into a half-squat and, locking herself firmly into a horse stance while sinking her qi into her core, she forcefully moved both hands towards the right. On the petite forearm that peeked out of her sleeve, there appeared, shockingly, several bulging veins, a testament to the degree of force that Ling Lan was applying.
The 'ga-ga-ga' of gears locking teeth could be heard as the whole expanse of white wall was unbelievably shifted over a metre by Ling Lan through brute force, revealing a tunnel into which Ling Lan immediately darted. With a clap, the white wall returned to its original position, looking once more like the unremarkable, seamless white wall it had appeared to be at the start.
"How dare they break the electric motorization systems inside!" Ling Lan exhaled as she darted into the tunnel. She only had to exert that much force because whoever had entered before her had dared to sabotage the electric motorization systems, probably to avoid detection. This had left Little Four no opportunity to put his skills to use, so relying on Ling Lan's brute force had been the only way to enter. If not for the fact that she had achieved half step to Domain, attempting to displace this entire stone wall weighing over 100,000 catties would have really been a tall order.
However, after entering the tunnel, Ling Lan's progress was exceptionally smooth, as the sabotage of the electric motorization systems had left the few other traps useless. After a minute and a half of quick running, Ling Lan came to the end of the tunnel where she was greeted by the sight of a tall, wide, thick and heavy steel slab of a door. Just as Ling Lan picked up her pace to get to it ...
"Regiment Commander, are we really going to activate these mecha? If we're discovered by the military academy surveillance team, we're gonna get severely punished, possibly even expelled from the academy!" A shrill, panicky voice coming from the other side of the door was clearly projected into Ling Lan's ears.
Owing to the extreme destructive power of mecha, the military academy had always regulated them strictly. Unless a situation called for the need to pilot one, students were normally forbidden from interacting with the mecha freely. Now that the other side obviously intended to seize the opportunity amidst the chaos to take possession of mecha, the timid among them would inevitably be on tenterhooks.
Ling Lan instantly stalled her footsteps upon hearing this, her expression becoming wary. It looked like it was not going to be one person or even a few, as she had imagined, but a whole crowd to match her group in numbers.
"The military academy sounding the emergency alarm signalling an attack with no warning, that's not normal. To get a handle on the situation, I sent Xiao Yan to steal the ground troops' intelligence ... you've all seen the information, it's grim out there. It could well be that a huge fight is about to go down. If we can't pilot the strongest mecha here, what's likely is that we will become the enemy's cannon fodder and I absolutely will not stand for it," said a cold, self-important voice. It was evident from the speaker's steely tone that they felt extremely pessimistic that the outcome of this battle would favour the ground troops.
"When that happens, let alone the academy surveillance team, not even the military academy is guaranteed to survive," the frigid voice continued to explain.
The others fell silent at this speech, neither denying nor affirming it. It seemed like the military academy's strict rules still filled many of them with dread.
Just then, a boorish voice complained, "The regiment commander brought us here because he trusted us, and what he's saying is the plain truth. Don't you get it? If things go south, the regiment commander will bear even greater responsibility. If the regiment commander's not even scared, what are you all afraid of? Anyways, I don't want to die, nor do I want to become a captive of the enemy. Regiment Commander, I'm right behind you."
At the end of these words, many of them cheered loudly, quickly raising the morale and quashing the others' doubts. Ling Lan wondered, was the speaker just a mouthpiece for that regiment commander? Or did they truly put that much faith in their regiment commander?
"Since no one has any further objections, let's get into the mecha right away. We leave from this launch port in three minutes," the cold voice ordered without giving the others another chance to voice their opinions.
"Yes, Regiment Commander ..." they responded in chorus, but then one voice abruptly raised a question. "Regiment Commander, aren't you going to inform Boss Huo and the others to join us?"
This gave Ling Lan a surprise; it seemed that these people were very likely of the Leiting Mecha Clan, which would make their regiment commander none other than the infamous Thunder King.
If it turned out to be that Thunder King ... Ling Lan's gaze cooled slightly. It looked like she would have to be more cautious when she fought Leiting in the future. This Thunder King was an astute judge of circumstances. She had only dared to act because she had confirmation from Little Four. However, the Thunder King could only have acted after the alarm had sounded, boldly ordering his subordinates to steal the ground troops' intelligence, and then using extremely sparse information to determine the possible outcomes and taking the appropriate course of action ... even Ling Lan would hardly dare to be as decisive as the Thunder King without Little Four's help, possibly needing to ponder it a little more first. Ling Lan sensed the difference between herself and the Thunder King in terms of judging circumstances, acknowledging her inexperience.
As expected, one who could dominate the First Men's Military Academy was no fool! Ling Lan's gaze took on a sombre cast. The Thunder King, whom she had not thought much of previously, was now firmly noted by her.
"What we're doing now violates school regulations, so naturally the fewer who know about it the better. We're all people most trusted by Boss ... If anyone else is informed about this, if news of it leaks by accident and the academy surveillance team finds out, they will come and stop us. When that happens, not a single one of us will get mecha." This answer to the earlier question did not come from the cold voice, but the boorish one which had first supported that leader.
The Thunder King did not explain anything, appearing to tacitly agree with what the boorish voice had said ... Ling Lan could not help but furrow her brow briefly, disapproving of the Thunder King's response. Ling Lan believed that if a team was unable to endure through thick and thin together, it would only breed distrust and envy amongst themselves — by then there would be no need for such a team. If it couldn't be helped, one could take the blunt approach, and take those who were deemed unfit to be in the team and expel them ... A leader allowing such distrust and envy to develop within his team, in Ling Lan's eyes, was a failure.
The explanation given by the boorish voice must have been accepted by the rest since no more talk was heard after that. Very soon, Ling Lan heard the sound of several mecha activating. Ling Lan listened closely for a while, then cross-checked Little Four's notes on the mecha and largely concluded that the mecha activated by these people were all special-class mecha.
Special-class mecha, despite being only half a level above advanced mecha in name, were as different as the sky from earth compared to advanced mecha due to this simple half-level. Operators of special-class mecha were already at the level of mecha master, whereas operators of advanced mecha could only be mecha warriors. If they were to enter a squad, an advanced mecha warrior's highest military rank would be senior captain while a special-class mecha master's rank would at least be major.
The knowledge that there were actually special-class mecha behind the metal door made Ling Lan secretly happy. Being able to operate a slightly better mecha would allow her to more fully realize her combat ability, which was undoubtedly the best for her.
Even in her delight, Ling Lan did not forget to count the number of mecha that had been activated, eventually discovering that there were, in fact, no small number of men inside; fifteen by her estimates. Yet Ling Lan could not be certain if the Thunder King was among them. After all, it was rumoured that the Thunder King was already at ace level ... Ling Lan was unsure if this military academy's storehouse contained the battlefield's Kings of Massacre — ace mecha.
Just then, a mecha that sounded different from the rest was suddenly activated. Hearing that, Ling Lan's expression was initially of surprise, followed quickly by joy, because she could tell that this new mecha activation sound most likely belonged to an ace mecha.
Could it be that, inside this military academy's storehouse, there really were ace mecha, the battlefield's Kings of Massacre? At this thought, Ling Lan's heart surged. Even Ling Lan could not resist the temptation of a chance to operate the battlefield's Kings of Massacre.
Ling Lan's flare of excitement lasted for only a moment. She quickly calmed down and began withdrawing her presence, even activating her innate talent to cause her body to become as cold as ice, practically wiping out her original body heat.
Ling Lan had not forgotten that there were many kinds of automatic scanning features equipped on an ace mecha, one of which was thermal scanning. Once anything was discovered by the mecha, it would proactively warn the operator. This was also one of the reasons why ace mecha could become the kings of the battlefield.
Of course, the various fittings on imperial mecha and god-class mecha were definitely more powerful than those on an ace mecha, but it was precisely because they were too powerful, their destructive power too terrifying — it was said that even one attack by an imperial mecha would be able to turn an area several hundred li in circumference into a wasteland, not to mention the capabilities of god-class mecha which represented the ultimate might of a nation — that unless it was a matter that shook the very foundations of the country, they could only be used as a force for deterrence and would not really be deployed as the main force in a battle ...
All this was because even though humans had built weapons with such terrifying destructive power, they were also frightened of the weapons' might at the same time. In order to restrict other nations from deploying these terrifying weapons, all galactic nations in the human world entered into an agreement that, on the battlefield, it was absolutely forbidden to allow those ultimate weapons above the level of ace mecha to show up ...
This was why ace mecha were known as the Kings of Massacre — they were the most powerful weapons allowed on the battlefield. It could be said that the number of ace operators and the extent of their abilities would determine the final victor or loser in a war.
Chapter 362 - Thunder King Qiao Ting!
Ling Lan carefully controlled her body temperature. At this time, she was quite grateful that her innate talent was Ice Affinity, allowing her to make her body temperature match the temperature of the surroundings or even lower. If she had not had this ability, her only option right now would have been to retreat out of the tunnel immediately.
"Eh?" A surprised cry suddenly rang out from behind the metal door. This gave Ling Lan a fright as she thought she had been discovered.
This surprised cry was even louder than the voices of conversation prior to this. Ling Lan knew that the other must have been using the speakers of the mecha so that all the other mecha masters could hear him. This was the reality without the presence of cheat code Little Four — members from different battle clans could not use the clan-specific comms channel to communicate. This proved that these people were not all from the same battle clan.
"Regiment Commander, what's wrong?" Hearing this startled cry, everyone inside the room reflexively paused, and someone soon spoke up to ask.
"I found that there is quite a crowd now in the advanced mecha section at the front of the storehouse. Quite a few mecha have already been activated," their regiment commander replied. It looked like after he successfully activated the ace mecha, he had discovered the situation in the mecha storehouse under the sensor prompting of the mecha A.I..
"Actually having the same idea as us? Looks like quite a few people have come to the same conclusion as you, Regiment Commander, not optimistic about the outcome of this battle," someone suddenly exclaimed.
"The military academy is a lair of — for someone to think the same as me is not unusual," responded the regiment commander dispassionately. This injected explanation from the side dampened his curiosity quite a bit. Moreover, those others were only within the mecha storehouse area and had only gotten as far as the advanced mecha section at most. It could be imagined that these people were not very high level in terms of mecha operation. If they were already at the level of special-class operator, they should have managed to make their way to this area.
With this thought, the regiment commander tossed his discovery of these people to the back of his mind. He paused and then asked those present, "Are you all ready? If everything is ready, I'll activate the launch port tunnel now."
"Regiment Commander, I'm OK!"
"Regiment Commander, I'm ready."
"Regiment Commander, everything is good to go."
Soon, there was a messy chorus of responses. Seeing everyone give the OK, the regiment commander activated the launch port.
Ling Lan sensed that the regiment commander's attention was no longer on the outside, so she silently asked Little Four whether he could project the situation inside to her. Little Four told her it was no problem — Ling Lan's current level of spiritual power was enough to support this distance of long-range infiltration. Not long after, a video feed of the situation inside was displayed in Ling Lan's mind-space.
Inside the metal doors, it was still an extremely vast mecha storehouse. To both sides of the doors were many neat rows of black mecha. Although there were some minor alterations in particular spots on these mecha, overall, they were largely the same. Each mecha gave off a strong sense of fearsome power.
Ling Lan did a rough count. Each side had about 80 mecha, so there were about 160 mecha total. It could be guaranteed that in the entire academy, there were actually not that many students who had already achieved special-class operator status. Based on a distribution of one person per mecha, there would at most be 160 people or so. Besides, the military academy would of course prepare a few extra just in case. Otherwise, if someone suddenly advanced to special-class operator status, without a special-class mecha to match, the title of First Men's Military Academy would truly become a joke.
Ling Lan was now well aware that this type of black mecha that differed from the standard Federation mecha was actually the Federation's special-class mecha. At special class, mecha would begin to display signs of personalisation. This was because at this stage, the skills and techniques of operators would shift from the original regulated movements into their own personalised style of operation. However, at this point, their style would not be properly developed yet. As regular advanced mecha could only accept standard commands, they could not satisfy the demands of an operator's personalised operation style. Yet an ace mecha provided too much freedom in its controls that a special-class operator who had just stepped into the world of personalised operation would not be able to handle it well.
Under these circumstances, in order for these exceptional control seedlings to smoothly break through and advance to ace mecha master status, after much dedicated research and design by several generations of mecha engineers, the Federation finally created this sort of special-class mecha to bridge the gap between advanced mecha and ace mecha. Thus, special-class mecha were not completely outside the scope of standardised mecha, but at the same time, they also possessed some individualistic characteristics like ace mecha.
Back during the assassination attempt on Ling Lan when she was six, that team of black mecha which had appeared to help her was in fact a Federation mecha battle clan of special-class operators. However, up till now, Ling Lan still had not been able to find out who it was exactly who had helped her.
Ling Lan saw these tall and mighty mecha, and she understood why this secret storehouse needed to be installed with a launch tunnel of its own. The passage she had entered to get here did not have enough height or room to let these mecha walk out.
Of course, what made Ling Lan drool with want was not these mecha; right across from the metal doors stood a row of just five mecha. Each of these mecha looked different, possessing clearly unique characteristics of its own. One of these mecha had already been activated at present and had been piloted out of its original fixed secured dock.
Ling Lan saw a long-range laser gun, which was about two-thirds the mecha's height, slung across the mecha's back, as well as a standard beam gun equipped on the mecha, and she knew that this mecha was primarily a long-range attack type.
That aside, the launch port the other had mentioned was to the right-hand side of the metal doors. There was a circular tunnel there with enough space inside to accommodate four mecha. Right now, the access door to the tunnel had been opened. A special-class mecha at the forefront walked through it and the access door was quickly shut. When the three warning lights over the door all turned green, a deep, dull sound could be heard ...
"Boom!" Ling Lan felt a strong shockwave rush over her where she stood. Immediately afterwards, the mecha inside the launch port was launched high up into the air by a large force, springing up several dozens of metres in one shot. In the instant it was launched into the air, the mecha's engines began to roar. Borrowing the force from the launch and the power of its thrusters, the mecha instantly shot out from the launch port tunnel to fly above the military academy ...
It looked like the people of Leiting were already familiar with this type of launch system. They walked into the port one by one to be launched into the skies. The final one to enter the port was the regiment commander controlling the ace mecha. Recalling the rumours she had heard a while back, Ling Lan could already confirm that this regiment commander must be the Thunder King Qiao Ting who had successfully advanced to become an ace operator.
For some reason, after Qiao Ting had entered the tunnel, right when the automatic doors were about to close, the head of his mecha abruptly turned to look in the direction of the metal doors. This unexpected action startled Ling Lan — had the other sensed her?
Very soon, the automatic doors slid shut and she could no longer see the silhouette of the mecha. As expected, a few seconds later, Qiao Ting was launched out of the port like the other special-class operators. Only then did Ling Lan relax.
Still, just to be sure, Ling Lan quietly waited for about a minute before approaching the metal door. Little Four checked and found that the electrical systems of this metal door had not been tampered with. Perhaps after reaching this point, the other party had been afraid that the launch port inside the room would be affected if they destroyed the systems here. Thus, they had chosen to enter normally without applying brute force.
As long as the systems were working normally, Ling Lan could just walk in easy as a breeze with the help of the cheat code Little Four. As she passed by the special-class mecha, she found herself feeling somewhat regretful that none of the New Cadet Regiment members had reached the level of special-class operator. She suddenly thought of that special-class operator friend of the leopard — if he joined her team, then he would have been able to come operate these mecha.
Ling Lan's aim right now was naturally not the special-class mecha; her objective was those few ace mecha. Being able to operate an ace mecha in real life was something Ling Lan had been dreaming of. Back then on planet Demonbeast, the mecha Ling Lan had been operating was actually not an ace mecha but a special-class mecha.
In the military, special-class mecha were lumped together under the term ace mecha, with only the words 'secondary' or 'substitute' added to the title. Those three 'ace' mecha she had finished off then had also only been special-class operators of Twilight. After a period of baptism in war, special-class operators would gradually form and perfect their individual operation style and techniques, which would allow them to officially ascend to ace operator status. This was why they were called 'substitute aces' by the ground forces.
It should be said that Ling Lan was very lucky that she had not truly encountered true ace operators back then. Otherwise, with her barely formed operation style, even if she had only been up against one battle-experienced ace operator, she would have been hard-pressed to win, not to mention that she had been up against three mecha operators back then.
Since Qiao Ting had taken one of the ace mecha, there were only four mecha remaining. Still, Ling Lan was transfixed by them, staring at them with abnormal excitement.
Aside from appearing humanoid like the other mecha, the leftmost mecha had two wings sprouting from its back at a diagonal angle. Based on Ling Lan's knowledge, this should be a transformer-type mecha. In other words, it would become a humanoid mecha at close range, and transform into a flying mecha when attacking at long range. It could be considered one of the more balanced mecha.
This mecha's specialty was speed. None of the other ace mecha here would be able to match it in terms of speed; even its close-range combat manoeuvres would be based on speed. However, what would showcase its speed best was when it transformed into its aviation mode. At that time, putting its entire power into it, at top speed, it would be able to draw away or pull in close in an instant.
This would guarantee that an enemy would be unable to ditch it regardless if they were close-range mecha or long-range mecha. At the same time, this speed was also a means of protection. Whenever its operator found themselves on the losing end, they would be able to pull away swiftly and escape from the opponent's attack range. If a common mecha were to meet this type of mecha in battle, it would be destroyed by it without having any chance to counterattack at all. As for its long-range capabilities, other than that long-range humanoid mecha Qiao Ting had piloted away, only the bestial mecha known as the <King of Ground Combat> might have some advantage against it.
The second mecha in the line-up was precisely the mecha that was just mentioned previously. It was the mecha that might overpower the transformer ace mecha by a head in terms of long-range attacks — the bestial ace mecha <King of Ground Combat>.
1. 藏龙卧虎: I decided to stick with a pretty literal translation here because the imagery is just too cool for words. Haha, but also, the metaphor comes across pretty well, I think. Basically, the school is filled with hidden talents.
Chapter 363 - <King of Close Combat>!
This kind of mecha displayed the characteristics of its bestial form, possessing four thick and strong limbs. The power these limbs could produce were explosively strong — in close-range combat, its power would completely overwhelm humanoid mecha. As for what kind of bestial form it would take, that depended on the operator's preference. This mecha before Ling Lan was in the form of a kingly lion.
The only shortcoming of this bestial mecha was that it could not enter high altitudes or outer space — the thrust force of its engines would only allow it to fight at a maximum altitude of 50 metres. However, by abandoning high-altitude flight, its ground attack capabilities were greatly increased. It had powerful strength at its disposal in close-range combat — a humanoid mecha would have no way of standing up against the impact of its charges. The only thing capable of putting up some resistance were humanoid ace mecha which specialised in close-range combat.
With regards to long-range attack capability, two long-range laser cannons hung on the bestial mecha's back. The range of these long-range laser cannons far exceeded that of ordinary beam guns and long-range laser guns. Thus, when it came to long-range attack distance, before a humanoid mecha could attack it, this mecha would already be able to attack first.
Although this bestial mecha was very formidable in both close-range combat and long-range combat on the ground, hence its name of <King of Ground Combat>, there still were not many ace operators who would choose it. This was because, just like its title said, it was only the king of ground combat. Nowadays, a majority of battles were conducted in outer space or high up in the air. On these two fronts, this bestial mecha was significantly limited. The moment it entered those types of battlefields, it was certain to be crushed by humanoid mecha.
The third mecha in the line had been the long-range attack mecha that Qiao Ting had taken. Although its shooting range was less than bestial mecha's, it was greater than other types of ace mecha. Especially in a space battle, no mecha could compete with its long-range attacks, and at the same time, it was also second in terms of speed, only slightly weaker than the transformer mecha — no other mecha could compare. This type of mecha boasted the second-best survival rate (the first being transformer mecha) and it was also the second-best at accomplishing tasks. In terms of overall strength, this mecha ranked first.
The fourth mecha had obviously thicker limbs than other humanoid mecha. There were two swords attached to its back — one was a heat-based weapon, a beam saber with powerful energy, while the other was a cold weapon, a broadsword which could deal the strongest physical damage. Just by looking at it, one could tell that this was a mecha specialising in close-range combat, otherwise it would not have been equipped with two melee weapons.
Let's leave the beam saber aside for the moment and just look at that broadsword. With a blade width of about a metre and a centre thickness of about 50 centimetres, it was clear to see that this was definitely an extremely heavyweight cold weapon, unparalleled in its dominance. One swing of this sword would be able to break the outer shell of a mecha, as long as enough force was put behind it. Because the equipped defence for mecha in general were beam shields, the defence threshold of mecha against firearms was the highest, while their defence threshold against cold weapons was the weakest. This was also why cold weapons had not been eliminated from the arsenal of mecha.
The close-range mecha was the strongest when it came to close-range combat. On the ground, the difference between its strength and bestial mecha was pretty much negligible. It only lacked long-range attack capabilities, but if it managed to get close in the skies or in space, victory was basically determined. Thus, a close-range mecha on the battlefield would oftentimes receive the most battle accolades. However, its survival ratings were also the lowest compared to other ace mecha. Still, as long as its operator lived, this type of mecha was also usually the main mecha type to advance to imperial level. For this reason, the Federation soldiers called it the <King of Close Combat>!
Ling Lan fell deeply in love with this mecha at first sight — her eyes shone with an intense need to possess it. She desperately wanted to board this mecha. This was closely related to how much Ling Lan loved close-range combat; even in mecha, Ling Lan still preferred fighting at close range.
However, Ling Lan suppressed her bucking enthusiasm to look over at the fifth mecha. The fifth mecha was very strange. Mecha usually sported a suspension system on their backs for the purpose of hanging various long-range or close-range weapons. But this mecha did not have that. Its back was directly affixed with a thick and sturdy round metal object, somewhat reminiscent of a turtle's shell. However, this turtle shell had several additional pipes running across it horizontally and vertically, spread out across the shell like green veins. Ling Lan counted closely and found that there were three on each side, six pipes in total, while two more ran across the top, bringing the grand total of pipes to eight.
At first, Ling Lan was rather bewildered, unsure what kind of ace mecha this was. Luckily, Little Four swept in to help once more, instantly searching out a similar mecha type from his databases. Only then did they learn that this type of mecha was called an artillery type mecha. It could be said that this type of mecha was equivalent to a small mobile attack bastion. Its firepower was the most powerful among all the ace mecha. The eight artillery barrels could automatically adjust themselves to lock on to a target and shoot. Basically, even an ace mecha would find it difficult to fend against the simultaneous fire of its eight barrels. This type of mecha was suitable for large-scale space battles. Each time it attacked, it would be able to annihilate a large batch of enemy mecha, hence it was also known as the <King of Star Space>.
But it also had a fatal weakness — because of its own burdened weight, its speed was the worst among all the ace mecha, making it very easy for an enemy to draw close. Once it let an enemy get close, especially if it were the <King of Close Combat> which was an ace mecha just like itself that managed the feat, its end would pretty much be decided. Thus, once it moved, it needed another ace mecha or eight special-class mecha to accompany it and protect it. That is, those escort mecha would need to step in at critical moments to intercept other ace mecha from getting close.
Ling Lan decisively cast aside the fifth mecha from consideration. Ling Lan was not at all interested in this type of mecha which relied on its configuration and build to win; only those mecha that required control skill would make her feel challenged. Ling Lan decisively returned to stand below the fourth mecha. Leaping upwards, she used both her hands and legs at together to climb swiftly up the mecha and pulled the lever to open the cockpit.
A click rang out as the cockpit was opened, and an opening that would allow easy access to an adult was revealed. Ling Lan bent over to take a quick look inside before jumping in, where she then immediately sat down.
Ling Lan closed the cockpit doors and the lights dimmed. Immediately after that, Ling Lan pressed on the activation button of the mecha. The cockpit lit up once more, and at the same time, in the control seat, a safety belt popped up automatically to bind Ling Lan's body securely. This was to prevent the intense vibrations from piloting the mecha from harming the operator.
"A.I. activated. Checking in progress. Please wait! The estimated time for this check is two minutes. If emergency activation is necessary, please press the emergency activation button." The mecha A.I. followed its procedural settings, voicing out the notifications to alert the operator.
This was the first time Ling Lan was using this mecha, and the situation was not urgent, so she naturally chose regular activation. This time, she was going forth into a treacherous battlefield where the chances of survival were slim, so it was necessary to guarantee as much safety as possible. If she missed out on discovering any hidden problems on the mecha just because she wanted to save these two minutes, it would be too late for Ling Lan to cry later if anything happened.
Ling Lan was a calm and rational person; she naturally would not allow herself to be put into such a dangerous position. She patiently waited for the two-minute activation check to run its course, and only after confirming that everything was normal with the mecha did she begin operating it.
"Little Four, from now on, begin taking over for the A.I.. We must not let the computer retain any battle data of me in the following battle." Mecha possessed auto-saving functions. For one, its recordings were used as proof of an operator's battle merits, and two, it was also useful in helping mecha mechanics adjust and modify mecha based on an operator's habits to make a mecha more in line with the needs of its operator.
Of course, the recording function of the military academy mecha was to facilitate the instructors of the academy in checking the control skills of the cadets. If there were any flaws or weaknesses captured in the video, the instructors would be able to immediately correct the students and fix those issues.
Ling Lan knew very well that when the fighting ended and the military academy's monitoring systems came back online, it would definitely investigate these mecha which had been used in the battle. And these saved recordings of the fight would be the evidence they would pore over. Ling Lan did not wish to expose herself to the administrators of the academy. Even if it was just as Ling Xiao's son, she did not want that to happen.
Just imagine, even someone as powerful as her dad Ling Xiao had been unable to resist the schemes and backstabbing from within the military itself. If the military found out that Ling Xiao's son was also a mecha piloting prodigy like him, Ling Lan did not believe that those people who had set up Ling Xiao would be content to sit back. If by any chance they felt that they could not allow Ling Xiao and his child to continue growing, not only would she be in danger, Ling Xiao's safety may also be put at risk.
Ling Lan naturally knew that Ling Xiao was very strong, but she did not believe that Ling Xiao had enough power to fend against treachery from those who may be friends. This recent period together had let Ling Lan know that Ling Xiao was someone who treasured emotions deeply. Unless he was absolutely certain that the other had truly betrayed him, Ling Xiao would not actively suspect his friends.
This was a strength of Ling Xiao but also a weakness — even as Ling Lan respected Ling Xiao for it, she could not help but worry for him. Thus, till now, she still did not dare to let Ling Xiao know of her true strength and abilities. She was worried that in his joy, Ling Xiao would run and tell his so-called friends about it ...
At the heart of it all, Ling Lan was still concerned about the high-ranking person hidden within the depth of the military who had almost killed Ling Xiao. Being able to arrange all of that so naturally, without flaws, Ling Lan believed that only the few great marshals or the great generals would be able to do so. It may even be the result of several people working together ... so, even if Ling Xiao was extremely trusting of the First Marshal, Ling Lan was actually very suspicious of the other deep inside.
"Got it, Boss!" Little Four responded excitedly when he heard Ling Lan's instructions, as she had always restricted Little Four from interfering with matters of mecha; now, she was finally letting him help. This made Little Four feel that he was truly able to help Boss now ... did this mean that he was well-deserving of his position as number one follower now?
Little Four carried this smug happiness and excitement with him as he took over the administrative rights of the mecha's A.I.. The first step would be to screen the recording function of the mecha.
Little Four understood that his boss did not intend to turn off the recording system completely, otherwise Ling Lan could just have turned off the system herself without needing him to step in. Ling Lan had ordered him to get involved because she wanted to utilise Little Four's ability to create false images, to let the mecha indicate that no one had piloted the mecha. In other words, no one would be able to discover from the recording system that this mecha had ever been used in this battle.
Chapter 364 - Prepare to Fight!
Having resolved this concern, Ling Lan decided that she would let loose in this battle. She sent out a mass text to all her team members, telling them that she was going to act alone from this point on. She tasked Qi Long with the responsibility of leading the team members into battle, and specially pointed out to him that if he were to encounter any issues he could not resolve on his own, he could look for Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun for advice.
The partnership of Qi Long's brawn and Han Jijyun's brain had been intentionally cultivated by Ling Lan. However, when Ling Lan was sending off the text to Qi Long, she suddenly thought of Li Lanfeng. Over this period of interaction, Ling Lan had a good look at Li Lanfeng's abilities, and she found that he had some strengths Han Jijyun did not. If Han Jijyun could be said to be a wise man on the path of righteousness, then Li Lanfeng was the mastermind on the path of grey areas and side channels. Li Lanfeng would often think of some plans that Han Jijyun would never have considered. On the battlefield, there was no doubt that Li Lanfeng was more likely to keep the team alive.
At this thought, Ling Lan had decisively added Li Lanfeng's name to her instructions. Ling Lan believed that with both Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun helping Qi Long to strategize, there would be no problem at all for the team members to survive this battle.
Li Lanfeng had only needed 2 to 3 minutes time to familiarise himself with the advanced mecha he had chosen. This was because he had already used real mecha before, a year ago. Thus, he was not troubled by the difficulties of adjusting from virtual mecha to real mecha like the other New Cadet Regiment members.
This was likewise for Li Shiyu; the difference between those with experience and those without was clearly evident at this moment. However, because the two of them were there, whenever Qi Long and the others had anything they did not understand, they could quickly receive an answer. This cut short the time they needed to figure things out by trial and error, allowing them to grasp the controls of their mecha faster than other people.
The team members received Ling Lan's message at almost the same time. Seeing that Ling Lan wanted to act alone, though Qi Long and the others had been mentally prepared for this, they still could not help but feel somewhat dejected. After all, with Boss around, they would feel that much more reassured.
Right after that, Qi Long conveyed Ling Lan's decision to Li Lanfeng, telling him that he was to work with Han Jijyun to help him arrange the team's battle strategy. When Li Lanfeng heard this, he was very moved but also felt deeply downhearted.
Ling Lan's decision let Li Lanfeng feel how much Ling Lan trusted him, letting him know that his rabbit sincerely cherished him. But he still felt crestfallen, because when it came time to truly go onto the battlefield, he still was not qualified enough to stand by Ling Lan's side. Obviously, this arrangement of Ling Lan's was in large part due to the fact that they were currently unable to keep up with him.
Perhaps, the rabbit's control technique was already at the level of special-class operator ... Li Lanfeng recalled his good friend Zhao Jun telling him that in a hidden room deep within the storehouse, there was a space dedicated for the storage of special-class mecha. Perhaps the rabbit had gone there. He felt a little regretful — if he had known in advance, he would not have been so stubborn about sticking with his foundational controls, refusing to advance to special-class together with Zhao Jun. If he had given up on his principles then and advanced to special-class operator, perhaps he would have had the chance to fight by the rabbit's side in the present situation.
Inexplicably, every time Li Lanfeng was by the rabbit's side, he would feel very relaxed. The looming destiny of his that was pressing down and suffocating him felt less heavy in the other's presence. He even got the feeling that changing his fate was not as hopeless as it seemed. Having borne the burden of his fate alone for twenty years, he too had moments when he felt tired, unable to cope and desirous of rest, so he especially treasured and yearned for this feeling.
Li Lanfeng did not want to take even a half step away from the rabbit. He felt that if he let the rabbit leave his life once again, he would really be crushed by this fate of his.
"I must completely master these basic controls as soon as possible ..." Li Lanfeng's low spirits only lasted for a brief instant. He had very quickly remembered that the rabbit was very particular about the basic controls — looking at Qi Long's and the others' controls, it was clear that their foundations were all very solid. If he had chosen to take the shortcut back then, the rabbit definitely would not have reacted favourably. Li Lanfeng secretly tamped down on his insecurities and silently warned himself to never ever cross over into the forbidden territory of the rabbit ... However, in order to make up the gap between himself and the rabbit, Li Lanfeng decided to double the practice load of his already doubled practice load on the basics ...
While Li Lanfeng was tangled up in his own thoughts, the time limit Ling Lan had set for them to adjust to the real mecha crept up upon them. Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie, who had arrived a few minutes later than Qi Long and the others, also seized this last bit of time to activate their selected advanced mecha and tested them out to adjust properly.
Seeing that the time limit had elapsed, Wu Jiong controlled his mecha to make a hand motion at Qi Long's and Li Yingjie's mecha, asking whether they were to go out now.
Qi Long and Li Yingjie both responded with affirmative gestures. Just like that, the three of them led the thirty or so advanced mecha to head out of the mecha storehouse. When the mecha in the intermediate mecha section saw the regiment commanders and team leaders walking out in their advanced mecha, without needing any orders, they fell into line behind their respective team leaders to move forwards in an orderly manner.
Perhaps because 100 or so mecha were walking out of the warehouse at the same time, a minor quake actually ran through the ground as they moved. However, the fighting had not spread to this area yet, so there were no enemies around to notice and discover this batch of mecha walking out from the storehouse.
All the team leaders did not say much, only reminding their team members to choose their pre-set frequencies as their team comms channel to communicate. Before they had come here, they had already discussed what they should do.
Very soon, all of the mecha had arrived at the open grounds outside. Qi Long issued a command, and the various teams dispersed swiftly, each moving in a different direction.
As the only non-ex-Central Scout Academy team there, it was clear to see that Gao Jinyun's team was rather strong since they were able to keep a full team together. However, Gao Jinyun looked over at the 30 or so advanced mecha in the distance and then looked back at the intermediate mecha he was piloting, and he could not help but feel rather disheartened.
Gao Jinyun had been convinced to submit by Ling Lan's unfathomable strength and daring strategy during the operation to take over the ship of the military academy. After entering the academy, he was even more set in his determination to follow Ling Lan and had joined the New Cadet Regiment. Of course, part of the reason he had first joined was out of some minor intention to lean back against a big tree and enjoy its shade 1 . However, following the results of the wagered fight with Leiting, Gao Jinyun had thoroughly thrown aside that little bit of selfish motive, deciding to follow Ling Lan with his full heart and soul.
Gao Jinyun was a proud person. Originally from Doha as well, although he had not been able to get into the Central Scout Academy, he had still been one of the strongest in his own scout academy. He thought that even if he could not compare to those few regiment commanders of the New Cadet Regiment, he should at least not be that much weaker than the other team leaders. But today, he was once again dealt a mental blow. Who would have expected those team leaders from the same scout academy as Ling Lan to be so strong? In such a short amount of time, they were now able to operate advanced mecha? ( Gao Jinyun did not expect the other side to have broken past the barrier at 13 years old to enter the virtual world and begin learning mecha controls early 1 . This was definitely a beautiful misunderstanding.)
"Sure enough, there will always be a mountain higher 1 . I was still overconfident before." Gao Jinyun chuckled bitterly inside his heart. This experience had smacked him awake, clearing his mind — even though he had been the strongest in his own scout academy previously, here at the First Men's Military Academy which gathered all the best and brightest, he was still greatly lacking ...
However, Gao Jinyun would not just admit defeat like this. He decided that he would work harder to train up his mecha controls and chase up to those team leaders as soon as possible. Losing to Boss Lan, Gao Jinyun was resigned to it. Losing to those other regiment commanders, he could still justify to himself that those were after all the regiment commanders. But losing to those other people who were team leaders like him, Gao Jinyun could not pardon himself. He still remembered the grand ambitions he had back when he had managed to enrol into the First Men's Military Academy — he had been determined to become part of the most outstanding batch of people within the military academy.
Just as Gao Jinyun was brimming with fighting spirit, a sound startled him out of his thoughts ...
"Third Elder Brother, are we really going to operate mecha into battle?" One of the members of his team asked with a dreamy expression on his face.
"Godd*mmit, don't use the external speakers, use the team comms." Gao Jinyun could not help but scold when he saw his team member making a mistake. Luckily, this was not yet at the war zone, otherwise this behaviour of his team member would absolutely have been akin to asking for death.
As they still were not a battle clan, they did not have an exclusive private battle clan comms channel protected by a password. Their so-called team comms was just them choosing to communicate on the same radio frequency without any security measures, so it would be very easily cracked by hackers. Still, the situation was urgent, so they could only make do for now.
Amidst the panicked noises of the team member in question, he finally switched his voice output over into the team comms channel. Only then did Gao Jinyun breathe a sigh of relief, but his brow soon scrunched up in worry again.
His team member's immature performance made him concerned. At this moment, he felt a little regretful for not removing one member whose control skills were still not very well developed just so he could keep his team in formation. Mind you, Ling Lan's original requirement was for team members proficient in controlling intermediate mecha and above. Only such members were qualified to follow him onto the battlefield and engage in mecha combat.
"Xiao Jiang, you aren't fully proficient in your control skills yet. Once we start fighting, first protect yourself well. Only attack from long-range when you find appropriate timings." After some thought, Gao Jinyun came up with this arrangement. Since he had already led his member here, he needed to take responsibility for him.
"Okay, Third Elder Brother." Xiao Jiang heard Gao Jinyun's arrangements and his nervousness abated. Honestly speaking, he really wasn't confident at all in piloting a mecha into close-range combat.
Gao Jinyun set up every member's position and then led his members in a sprint towards the battlefield. Knowing his own team was relatively weaker, Gao Jinyun did not bring his team to the dormitory district which was a chaotic mess, swarming with enemies. Instead, he led them in the opposite direction.
It should be said that there was nothing wrong with Gao Jinyun's decision. After all, the more chaotic an area was, the easier it was for accidents to happen. However, he just did not consider that those enemy mecha who appeared to be fighting alone were often those formidable combat experts filled with confidence in their own skills, which was why they dared to go off on their own to begin with ...
"Third Elder Brother, there is an enemy mecha ahead. Our scanner feedback indicates that it's an advanced mecha!" The team member in the lead who was responsible for scouting ahead suddenly warned the team.
Gao Jinyun had only received the news and had yet to make a decision when the enemy mecha noticed them and came charging over ferociously. Gao Jinyun knew that in terms of speed, intermediate mecha were no match for advanced mecha. If they chose to run, they were likely to be taken down one by one by the opponent. As such, they might as well fight with their lives on the line — perhaps by relying on teamwork, they might be able to bring down this enemy mecha.
These thoughts went by in a flash through Gao Jinyun's mind. He firmly declared, "Prepare to fight!"
1. 背靠大树好乘凉的小心思: Quite literally translated already. Another way of saying to hug a strong thigh -- to rely on someone powerful and influential and take it easy.
2. The barrier-crossing challenge is open to students at 7th grade, based on information given in chapter 131. So, the students would have been 12/13 then. As such, this statement is rather odd to me, unless it is atypical of students to make it through at that age even though the challenge has already been opened. I have kept it as the author wrote since I'm unsure where she's going with this.
3. 一山还有一山高: Literally 'one mountain will have a taller mountain'. The meaning being that there will always be someone better and to never be complacent.
Chapter 365 - The Owner of the Giant Sword!
With tacit understanding and rapport, the team members got into their positions. With Gao Jinyun as point, they formed a diamond array, the beam guns in their right hands raised in unplanned synchronicity. In Mecha World, every time they fought, they had always worked together this way. Habit became nature — in the real world, in this first real battle, all of them chose to fight using this formation they were most familiar with.
"Fire!" shouted Gao Jinyun, taking the lead in pulling the trigger of his beam gun.
Six beams were fired altogether at the enemy mecha — if this were Mecha World, up against the mecha in the game system, at least one or two of their beams would have hit their target. But right now, the opponent they were up against was an advanced mecha warrior with a wealth of battle experience. Facing off against this type of straightforward beam shots, the veteran enemy mecha operator could dodge all six shots easily.
The opponent executed some graceful Z-shaped footwork, evading five of the shots in an instant. The only one he could not dodge was the shot by Gao Jinyun, because Gao Jinyun had fired his shot based on predictive movement trajectory. This was considered one of the more advanced techniques of intermediate mecha operators — he had calculated the reactions the enemy might make and then fired at a position the enemy was likely to move into to evade. Thus, the enemy mecha did not manage to evade Gao Jinyun's shot.
After evading five of the shots, the enemy mecha found that one beam was bloody irritatingly shooting at the position he had evaded into. As dodging required some adjustments, it was impossible to dodge once more, so the enemy mecha instantly activated its beam shield to bear the brunt of Gao Jinyun's beam attack. After that, it leapt aggressively at them, prepared to finish off these small fries at close range.
Seeing their first attack dodged so easily by the enemy, some of the team members could not help but become flustered. Gao Jinyun yelled, "Continue shooting!"
This cry calmed the team members down instantly. They listened to their leader and pressed down forcefully on the firing button in their hands. Beams poured in a torrent from the muzzles of their guns, hurtling towards the enemy mecha ...
This round of frenzied attacks was effective, causing the enemy mecha to become wary and choose to dodge, stopping his frontal attack. He could see that although this group of intermediate mecha's behaviour seemed rather green, their teamwork and rapport were unusually good. This frustrated him, and in the end, he could only choose to dodge.
Gao Jinyun's team witnessed as the enemy mecha took several back leaps while evading, swiftly pulling away from them. In the blink of an eye, the enemy mecha had been swallowed by the night, disappearing without a trace.
Seeing this, Gao Jinyun lowered his beam gun in confusion. Based on the opponent's abilities, no matter how fiercely they attacked, they would have been merely delaying the inevitable. If the opponent had wanted to push forwards anyway, he would have been able to, although that would have damaged the other's mecha somewhat ...
Could it be that the enemy was afraid of his mecha being damaged without there being anywhere to conduct repairs? Thus, worried that this would then affect him in combat later on, he had chosen to retreat? Gao Jinyun felt that this was a likely possibility. After all, this was their home territory.
"Third Elder Brother, I can't believe we actually sent him running. So that's all there is to an advanced mecha ..." commented one of the clueless team members.
"How could that be? If he really wanted to finish us off, he would have been able to achieve it with just some minor price. The opponent decided to avoid the confrontation probably because he did not want to pay anything ..." rebuked Gao Jinyun. When he mentioned 'not wanting to pay any price', a flash of insight passed through his brain and his initial confusion was suddenly given an answer. He shouted anxiously, "Everyone turn on your radar! The enemy could still be here ..."
He had barely finished speaking when Gao Jinyun sensed a strong force rushing at them from his right side. His mecha was blaring an alarm as soon as it picked up the attack — even as Gao Jinyun yelled for his team members to run, he quickly operated his mecha to shove and kick aside two of his team members with a hand and a leg respectively.
A tremendous 'boom' rang out and the beam that had appeared so suddenly struck the activated beam shield of Gao Jinyun's mecha. Gao Jinyun saw his mecha's energy block exhaust half of its power to resist this attack and found himself both shocked and distressed.
It looked like the power of the advanced mecha's beam gun was significantly higher than theirs as intermediate mecha. If an intermediate mecha's beam gun struck another intermediate mecha's beam shield, it would at most take off 20% power from the energy block of the shielding mecha ... there was no way so much power would be drained by just one shot like this. Gao Jinyun knew that if he was hit once more, his mecha's power would bottom out. If that happened, he would only be able to helplessly await death.
Gao Jinyun had yet to get over his fright when the enemy attacked once more. However, this time, because the companions by his side had already dodged clear, Gao Jinyun no longer needed to just take the enemy's attack by force as before to protect them. Although Gao Jinyun was only an intermediate mecha warrior, his control skills were still very solid and the best in his team. He operated his mecha to execute a figure-8 dodge, and the beam shot by just like that ...
However, this was just an attack the opponent was using to fool Gao Jinyun — just as Gao Jinyun evaded the beam, he heard his team members cry out in horror in the team comms, "Leader, watch out!"
Some of the team members with faster reflexes were pulling on the triggers of their beam guns rapidly, shooting desperately at the skies above him, as if attempting to prevent something ...
Gao Jinyun felt a sense of alarm. Right then, he could finally feel the threat coming down on him from above his head. He rapidly turned his mecha's vision to look up and saw that the enemy who had vanished earlier was now right above his head, swinging a gleaming cold weapon down on him mercilessly.
If he had not moved from his current position, it would not have been impossible to avoid this attack, but his mecha was already in motion from trying to evade that second beam attack. Due to the problem of inertia forcing the completion of the motion, Gao Jinyun was unable to instantly stop his mecha to make an emergency change in direction and execute a new evasion manoeuvre. In other words, the present Gao Jinyun could only helplessly watch his mecha get cut down by the enemy.
Right at this critical moment, Gao Jinyun clenched his teeth and resolutely turned the defensive value of his beam shield up to its maximum. Even though beam shields had terrible defence against cold weapons, at this moment, Gao Jinyun could only gamble on this.
The cold weapon was about to strike Gao Jinyun's mecha when a loud 'clang' rang out. Gao Jinyun reflexively closed his eyes, waiting for the intense pain of severe injury to register with his body, but he soon found that he was feeling nothing at all.
With lightning speed, Gao Jinyun opened his eyes, only to see that the advanced mecha bearing down on him earlier was now already 10 or so metres away from him. Right then, the opponent had his head lifted slightly and was looking up at the air to the right of Gao Jinyun. The cold weapon in his hands that had almost slashed Gao Jinyun had been broken into two pieces. The break in the weapon was flat and even, as if having been sliced clean through by some overpoweringly sharp weapon 1 .
In the next second, Gao Jinyun found the answer. Twenty metres or so on his left side, a giant steel sword about ten metres tall and one metre wide was planted diagonally into the ground. It looked like the opponent's cold weapon had been sliced in half by the flying interception of this big sword. Seeing this, what else was there for Gao Jinyun to learn? He was sure that he had been saved by the owner of the giant steel sword ...
Not too far away from the giant steel sword, Gao Jinyun also saw his three team members reacting just like the enemy mecha, staring dumbly at the sky above him to his right ...
Realisation settled in and Gao Jinyun quickly turned his view to that spot in the air to his right and saw a mecha hovering there. At a glance, Gao Jinyun could recognise that this was definitely a Federation ace mecha. As a mecha operator whose ambition was to become an ace mecha master, Gao Jinyun was naturally familiar with all the various types of ace mecha available within the Federation. And how could he not recognise this <King of Close Combat> he was so obsessed over?
In his joy and surprise, Gao Jinyun could not help but be a little puzzled as well. As part of the ace mecha troops, the strongest force on planet Newline, why weren't they protecting the students at the most critical area at the dormitory district? Why would this ace mecha be here at such a non-central fighting area?
"Ace operator! From the military? No, there is no military marking on your mecha, only the emblem of Huaxia's First Academy. If I'm not mistaken, you should be a cadet ..." That enemy advanced mecha operator suddenly turned on its voice speakers and began speaking to the ace mecha in the air. His Chinese sounded extremely awkward to the ear, his tone strange and stiff — it was clear to see that he was not a Huaxian.
The ace mecha in the air did not say anything to enlighten the enemy mecha; he only stared stonily at the other.
The enemy mecha did not care that the ace operator had not replied. He was only excited at his unexpected great luck in locating the mission target so quickly. If he could eliminate the other, when he returned, he would become a national hero.
Perhaps emboldened by the honour and glory within his grasp, the enemy mecha became very talkative. He continued to say, "As far as we know, in your Huaxia First Men's Military Academy, the only one who has advanced to ace mecha status recently is someone called Qiao Ting, alias Thunder King. He's another aberrant prodigy after Ling Xiao and could be said to hold the hopes of the masses ... this person should be you!" At this point in his speech, the enemy mecha clicked his tongue regretfully, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a shame. There cannot be the emergence of another Ling Xiao in Huaxia."
Gao Jinyun's gaze flickered — was the ace operator who saved him truly the Thunder King? If so, he would truly be put in a tough spot. Gao Jinyun knew very well that when he had made the decision to follow Boss Lan, he would eventually go up against the Thunder King one day.
"Are you finished?" The ace mecha in the air finally spoke. His icy voice was so cold that it almost seemed like it could freeze everything in its surroundings.
When Gao Jinyun heard this voice, his irises contracted and his face was filled with disbelief ... but soon, his expression turned ecstatic, and his mouth involuntarily split open in a very wide grin. By the time Gao Jinyun managed to rein in his emotions to look up once more at the ace mecha in the sky, his eyes were filled with worship, respect, and admiration, along with joy and happiness that just could not be concealed.
"If I say that I'm finished, what are you going to do?" The enemy mecha's tone was mocking. An ace operator who had advanced within a military academy, who had never seen real battle nor shed any blood, was, in his eyes, just like a newborn chick, nothing to be afraid of. He believed that, with his decade of battle experience, finishing off such a rookie would be a breeze.
Moreover, while they had been speaking earlier, he had already sent news to his team that the Thunder King Qiao Ting had been sighted here. Thus, his team members should be rushing here soon as well. It turned out that his talkativeness had just been a cover for him to find a chance to send his teammates a message. At the same time, it also worked to buy time so that his teammates could hurry over.
1. T/C: Hey now, that sounds really familiar ... :p