366 - 371

Chapter 366 - An Awesome Boss!

"Since you're finished, then let me send you to the afterlife 1 ." As the ace operator said this in an icy tone, his mecha suddenly moved, his left hand drawing the beam saber from its back as he leapt towards the enemy mecha, blade slashing.

The enemy mecha quickly operated his mecha to take several steps back, dodging the saber. Attacking from a higher vantage point, thus adding the force of gravity to its own strength, the ace mecha's power right then was not something an ordinary advanced mecha could withstand. Even though the enemy mecha had some contempt for his opponent, he still did not dare to be too careless. An ace mecha was an ace mecha after all — the superiority of its mecha level was still something he needed to take into consideration.

However, the subsequent scene almost caused the enemy mecha to explode from anger. The other had charged down so rapidly from the sky, appearing as if about to attack, but the intended target had not been him at all. Instead, the other had been aiming for that giant steel sword planted in the ground behind him. The ace mecha swooped down fast and low when it was about 3 metres from the ground, and then it was back in the sky in an instant. At this time, that giant sword had been added to the ace mecha's right hand.

The ace mecha's right hand gently tilted the giant sword around, checking it, and seeming extremely pleased, he slung the beam saber in his left hand back onto his back and said, "Against you, just this weapon is enough." These words almost made the advanced mecha operator blow his top. To rely on this type of strength-based cold weapon as his weapon, it basically meant that, in the other's eyes, he was not at all worthy of being called an opponent. It was implied that he was just cannon fodder that could be simply kicked around. On the battlefield, strength-based giant weapons were convenient weapons that could help mecha save power and at the same time be used to clear rabble soldiers swiftly and efficiently.

"You — you're seeking death!" The advanced mecha only had time to say this much before he was interrupted by the other's high-speed attack.

Perhaps because the ace mecha's attack speed was too fast, or perhaps the advanced mecha was so angry that his reflexes were slowed — whichever the case, by the time the advanced mecha could react, the ace mecha's giant sword was already right before his face.

Without any time to evade, he had no choice but to raise both hands and forcibly push them out towards the incoming blade. Following this push, the advanced mecha was sent stumbling a step back ...

"Screeech ..." Where the two clashed, dazzling sparks were unleashed, almost blinding the spectating Gao Jinyun and his team. By the time their vision recovered, the two fighters had already swept by each other. The ace mecha was currently gripping the giant sword with both hands in a reverse grip, the tip of its sword seemingly pointed steadily at the advanced mecha's back.

Meanwhile, the advanced mecha appeared unusually battered — its beam shield which had initially been glowing with a pearly white sheen was now dull and dim. Both the mecha's arms had been chopped off, revealing stumps at its elbows. The exposed circuitry was still crackling with sparks, proving that this amputation had just occurred.

"How can this ... be possible?!" The advanced mecha warrior forced these words out, tone laced with agony and disbelief. Even for an experienced ace mecha, to finish him off should take up a little more time than this ...

"You talk too much ..." The ace mecha's tone was as cold and indifferent as ever. With this comment, the ace mecha suddenly pulled back the giant sword whose point had been resting on the advanced mecha's back.

While the ace mecha had stayed in position, Gao Jinyun and company had not been able to see clearly what was going on. But once the ace mecha pulled back its sword, everyone understood why the advanced mecha had reacted the way he did.

After the giant sword was drawn back, the advanced mecha which had seemed to only have had its arms chopped off suddenly had two strong jets of blood spurt out from both the front and back of its cockpit. Only now could Gao Jinyun and the others clearly see that the giant sword had not just been held at the advanced mecha's back as they had thought but had already pierced through the advanced mecha warrior's cockpit. Just looking at the width of that giant sword, they knew that the advanced mecha warrior inside the cockpit must have already been cut into two by the giant sword. There was definitely no chance of survival.

"... Luck is ... too bad ..." The advanced mecha warrior used up the last of his life to squeeze out these final four words.

His luck was indeed too bad, because the one he had bumped into was not that Thunder King Qiao Ting who did not have any true battle experience. Instead, his opponent was Ling Lan, who had been whipped and tormented into shape by the learning space for a whole sixteen years, who had grown up tested by countless experiences of dire life-or-death situations.

Seeing the ace mecha efficiently finish off that advanced mecha, a complicated expression passed over Gao Jinyun's face. However, he was soon overtaken by happiness, but just as he was about to say something, the ace mecha addressed him first.

"Gao Jinyun, your team is not suited for independent action. Quickly bring your team about two kilometres ahead to the right. Coordinates xx, yy 1 . We have other teams there. Go join them and then move together."

At these words, Gao Jinyun's expression turned serious and he replied, "Yes, Regiment Commander!"

"Also, after meeting up with that team there, leave this area quickly, the further the better. Don't come back for any reason." The initially calm tone of the ace mecha suddenly became stern, his tone carrying steel that could not be disobeyed.

Gao Jinyun was taken aback by these words and did not agree immediately. Instead, he asked seriously, "Why, Regiment Commander?"

"The enemy is about to come here soon. That enemy mecha earlier has most likely sent out news to his comrades that the Thunder King Qiao Ting is here." The ace mecha told Gao Jinyun about his speculations.

Gao Jinyun was also an intelligent person. The moment he heard this, he immediately understood what the ace mecha was planning to do. His expression changed drastically and he said, "Regiment Commander, for you to remain here and deal with them alone is much too dangerous!" Fighting here all by himself against so many enemies drawn here by the news was truly too reckless — for the sake of the New Cadet Regiment, he needed to stop the regiment commander.

"This is some rare practical battle experience, how can I miss it? Besides, as long as there are none of our people around, I won't have any worries holding me back. Even if I can't beat the enemy, with this mecha, running away will be an easy matter. You don't have to worry," answered the ace mecha.

Gao Jinyun's bellyful of protests was instantly left stoppered at his throat. He found that the other was speaking the truth — without them holding him back, it would be a piece of cake for his amazing regiment commander to escape from the attacks of a bunch of advanced mecha by relying on this ace mecha. Right then, Gao Jinyun had not considered the possibility that the enemies who would come might be ace mecha instead. If that was the case, even if his regiment commander was controlling an ace mecha, escape would be very difficult.

Gao Jinyun, who did not have much battle experience, did not think of this possibility at all. He felt that what his regiment commander had said made sense, and so agreed and quickly led his team members away from the area, heading swiftly towards the destination his regiment commander had given.

While Gao Jinyun had been speaking with the ace mecha, Gao Jinyun's team members were actually left utterly confused by the conversation. They all thought that the ace mecha was the regiment commander of the Leiting Mecha Clan, Thunder King Qiao Ting, and so found it rather strange that their team leader was calling the other regiment commander. Still, the Thunder King was the regiment commander of the Leiting Mecha Clan, so it was not actually wrong to address him as such ... they just wondered when their team leader had built such a relationship with the Thunder King, actually getting the Thunder King to step up and save them, who even went so far as asking them to join up and cooperate with a team under him ...

Could it be that their boss had secretly betrayed Boss Lan to follow the Thunder King instead? More than one team member thought of this possibility, and even as they were overwhelmed with shock, they also felt rather indignant. This was because they still admired Boss Lan greatly. That regiment commander of theirs who was so powerful he could defeat a senior cadet from Leiting, the number one physical skills expert in the academy. They believed that as long as Boss Lan was given enough time to grow, he would definitely become the second Thunder King ...

"Third Elder Brother, how did you come to know the Thunder King?" Finally, one of the youngest team members could not hold back any longer, asking the question on all their minds.

Gao Jinyun was stunned. "Thunder King? I've heard of him but I don't know him."

"Then why are you following his orders to meet up with his people and work together?" That team member felt even more dissatisfied at this response. Was he still planning to deny it even now? Did their Third Elder Brother actually consider them as his brothers or not?!

"Follow his orders?" As Gao Jinyun was still worrying about whether Boss Lan would remain safe in the ensuing battle, he was not fully paying attention, so his responses and reaction to his team members' questions were obviously a little offbeat and slow. Only when he heard this question did he finally sense something wrong about the scenario — it seemed like his team members had misunderstood.

Concentrating, he immediately understood the root of the misunderstanding. Gao Jinyun instantly smiled wryly and said, "You all think that that ace operator just now was the Thunder King Qiao Ting?"

"Wasn't it? The only one who has advanced to ace operator in the academy, who else could it be but the Thunder King?" asked another team member, confused.

"Yeah, didn't that enemy advanced mecha also say that he was the Thunder King?" someone else brought up more evidence.

Gao Jinyun heard what his team members had to say and sighed, saying, "Yes, everyone thinks that in the First Academy, only the Thunder King has advanced to ace. So no one would imagine that some people are born aberrant, as existences that you can never comprehend ... I can only say that we are very lucky to have followed the right boss. The New Cadet Regiment will definitely become one of the strongest factions in the military academy."

Gao Jinyun's words caused some of the team members to be completely bewildered, unsure what their team leader was trying to say. Those who were more quick-witted, however, immediately realised the meaning behind Gao Jinyun's words. One of the ones who had figured things out blurted out in shock, "Third Elder Brother, are you saying that that ace operator ... is our regiment commander Boss Lan?"

This question rendered all the team members speechless. The team which had been moving along quickly yet in an orderly manner suddenly began to display some signs of disarray as some team members forgot about the controls in their hands. Two or three of the mecha bumped into each other, almost causing some of them to fall over.

However, though Gao Jinyun's team only consisted of intermediate mecha, the team members' control skills were still very solid. It did not take the team long to restore order and pick up their speed again as they continued to move closer to the coordinates they had been given.

After marching in silence for ten seconds or so, a team member finally began howling with pride and excitement in the team comms channel. "AAAAAAAAH, our regiment commander is actually an ace operator too! He's only a first year! A first year! Aaaaaaaaaaah ...!" The loudness of his voice almost broke the eardrums of the other members, yet no one said anything to rebuke him, because what he was saying was exactly what they wanted to say too!

Hells, their regiment commander was just too awesome! It's just like their team leader had said — they had followed the right boss!

1. 上西天: Original phrase here is 'up to the western sky'. I don't truly know why the western sky is another way of saying 'heaven/afterlife' for the Chinese, but it could stem from Buddhism where pilgrimages were taken to India (in the west) to obtain sutras, like in the epic 'Journey to the West'. It's a spiritual journey.

2. The author actually just uses 'xx, yy' here.

Chapter 367 - Making Mischief!

It should be said that Gao Jinyun's team was truly very fortunate. In their critical moment of danger, Ling Lan had arrived in the nick of time.

Speaking of which, how had Ling Lan known to come here? When Ling Lan had completed her preparations in the hidden room, she had entered the launch port tunnel, and then, using the ejection force of the launch port, she had activated her engines to fly out of the storehouse into the air outside.

That moment was also coincidentally when Qi Long and the others of her team were leading the 100 odd mecha operators of the New Cadet Regiment out of the mecha storehouse. Ling Lan looked out at the entire military academy from her bird's eye vantage point and, using Little Four's ability, she opened up multiple channels showing different viewing angles in an attempt to get a comprehensive grasp of the entire battlefield.

Before determining for sure whether the people of the New Cadet Regiment could handle this battlefield, Ling Lan was not going to participate in the fighting directly. Her first responsibility in this battlefield was to ensure the survival of as many members as possible. Ling Lan was well aware that the mortality rate was most often the highest at the start of a battle. Once a fighter had adapted to the battlefield, they would not die so easily.

Ling Lan knew that if she wanted her party members to grow up and increase their strength, they would need to rely on their own strength to fight. Thus, Ling Lan would not act like an old mother hen and watch over her faction members till the end. Once they had safely gotten through this most dangerous period of adjustment, Ling Lan would let go completely and let her faction members fight to secure their own survival.

The existence of two Ling Lans, from her life experience of two worlds, had caused Ling Lan's personality to become very complicated and filled with contradictions. She had the gentle compassion and considerate heart of her previous world within her, but she also possessed the cold-blooded ruthlessness and resolve forced upon her by the learning space of this world ... she could not bear for the innocent companions by her side to be sacrificed pointlessly, but she was also ruthless enough to leave her companions in a desperate situation so they would have an opportunity to break past their limits and find their own path to survival.

At this time, the fighting was already in full swing in the entire campus area on planet Newline. The battlefield which had initially started more than 10 kilometres away from the school had now spread all the way inside the military academy. The flames of war had been kindled at every corner of the military academy, with the dormitory district being the area which saw the most fighting. Almost half of the ground forces were tied up there, with an equally large number of enemy mecha attacking, almost more than half of the total invading mecha force.

Seeing this, Ling Lan's brow furrowed slightly. This situation proved that the objective of these mysterious enemies was indeed like she had deduced — they were aiming for them cadets. The only thing she could not be sure of was whether this sudden and unexpected attack was specifically targeting her team.

A cold gleam appeared in Ling Lan's eyes. If her team had truly been exposed, then she would have no choice but to let her dad step in. The 23rd Division would be the best protective umbrella for her team. Ling Lan believed that Ling Xiao would definitely be able to protect them till they grew up enough. At that time, they would no longer be helpless targets for the enemies to slaughter as they liked. If any enemies wanted to deal with them then, they would have to stop and consider whether they could afford to pay the price.

Ling Lan had just thought of a response plan if things really ended up developing into a worst case scenario when, before she could breathe out, her attention was drawn by one of the panels on her mecha's screen. It was the team led by Gao Jinyun — they were in danger.

As expected, it was not that easy for a team made up of only intermediate mecha to survive the battlefield. If they had had an advanced mecha to lead them, then this kind of situation where they were rendered helpless would never have happened ... Ling Lan decisively pushed all of her thrusters to send her mecha flying like a streak of light towards Gao Jinyun's team.

Although the mecha Ling Lan was currently piloting was not the fastest among all of the ace mecha, its speed was not just one or two times faster than an advanced mecha's but was in fact up to five or six times faster. Of course, Ling Lan could also push the speed to the maximum because her body was currently extremely tough, completely able to withstand the feedback force brought on by the movement of the mecha. If this had been her body from three years ago, things would probably not have been as easy.

And the results were just as we all were witness to — at that most critical moment, Ling Lan managed to rescue Gao Jinyun in the nick of time, and then finished off the enemy advanced mecha in one move.

After sending Gao Jinyun and company off, Ling Lan switched her mecha's battle mode from close-range combat mode to night-cloak assassination mode. This was directly reflected in the mecha's appearance — the energy beam shield of the mecha which had initially been glowing softly instantly turned dark as pitch. The entire mecha no longer emitted any bit of light, merging as one with the darkness of the night ...

The ace mecha which had been hovering in the air all this while vanished just like that. Ling Lan was not at all arrogant. Not knowing what level of enemies would be coming here, she would not stand here blatantly and be a convenient target for the enemies to attack.

A minute later, in the distant night sky, framed by the flames of war, the indistinct silhouettes of five mecha appeared.

"This should be the place. The coordinates M03 gave us is right around here." The five mecha seemed to be unrelated, but they were in fact communicating with one another in their team commlink.

"Three minutes ago, M03 fell out of contact. I'm afraid something has happened to him. Everyone, be careful."

"Yes, M01," responded the other mecha in unison. M01 was likely to be the leader of this team.

Very soon, they discovered mecha M03 on the ground. They immediately flew over and landed. Three of the mecha stood guard as one of the remaining two mecha rushed over to M03's side and squatted down beside the prostrate mecha to check on its condition. Meanwhile, the last mecha looked as if he were just standing around, at ease with his hands hanging loosely by his sides, not at all on guard, but an experienced mecha operator would be able to tell that the mecha's current stance was actually the best stance for counterattacking. This was because two extremely short long-range power beam guns 1 were strapped to the outsides of the mecha's thighs.

Mecha equipped with this kind of weapon suspension system were known as sharpshooters. Just when you believed that the other had no weapons in their hands and let down your guard, the other could give you a fatal shot. Within 0.01 seconds, the other could draw the long-range beam guns from their thighs and strike your mecha's vital points. This type of mecha had one other name, and that was ambusher!

"M01, M03's mecha has been pierced through the cockpit by someone with one blow. M03 died instantly from the resulting injury ... based off the extent of damage on the mecha, they might have fought for quite a while before it happened. Otherwise, the arms of M03's mecha would not have been chopped off. Preliminary speculation is that after M03 had his arms chopped off, he was then stabbed through the cockpit without being able to put up any resistance." The mecha examining M03's mecha quickly reported his analysis to M01.

"M05, do you know what weapon the opponent used?" The one operating the sharpshooter was the team's leader, M01. After listening to M05's report, he immediately followed up with this question.

"Based on the marks left on the cockpit, it's an overbearing cold weapon. It gives off a very similar feel to the giant sword of the <King of Close Combat> among the ace mecha." M05 carefully examined the breaks at the front and back of the cockpit — those huge diamond-shaped holes inevitably brought to mind that giant and domineering weapon.

"Didn't the intelligence report say that the mecha the Thunder King was proficient at was the long-range < King of Star Space 1 >?" M01 could not help but frown when he heard M05's report. Although the two were both ace mecha, the control style of these two mecha belonged to completely opposite ends of a spectrum, with there being a great distance between the two mecha's techniques. Typically, mecha operators who were proficient on one front were very unlikely to be able to operate mecha with a completely different and opposing style. The long-range <King of Star Space> and the close-range <King of Close Combat> fell precisely into this scenario of diametrically opposed control styles.

"Could it be that there is another ace mecha operator?" M01's question caused M05 to jolt, and this question slipped out from his lips.

"We do not know what exactly happened here three minutes ago, so anything is possible," replied M01 calmly. At the same time, he turned his radar scanner on to its maximum setting. Regardless of whether it was the long-range <King of Star Space> or the close-range <King of Close Combat>, if they were ambushed by the opponent, things would not go well for their team.

Compared to M03's arrogance, M01 was obviously much more cool-headed and self-aware. Facing an unseen enemy, he brought all of his focus to the fore, fearing an ambush by the opponent.

Suddenly, his radar picked something up. He instantly drew the two guns by his thighs to shoot frenziedly at a particular corner. Meanwhile, the three mecha standing watch at the edges of the scene reacted swiftly as well. They followed M01's lead to aim at that spot and began to shoot their beam guns just as wildly.

After a round of attacks, the grass in that area had been completely destroyed by the powerful beam energy to turn into a pile of ashes. Within the ashes, the hilt of a burnt beam saber 1 could be seen. It turned out that the energy reaction on the radar previously had actually been emitted by the beam saber.

"That beam saber is M03's." M05's vision was sharp. Although the beam saber's hilt had already been struck so much that it had been deformed, its original form almost indiscernible, M05 had still noticed the remains of the owner's label on it.

"That's strange. Why would the beam saber suddenly give off an energy reaction? Could it be that someone activated it just now?" asked M01 with a frown. A beam saber needed a person to activate it — it should be said that a beam saber hilt lying on the ground would never give off any energy waves without it being used by someone. But then, if someone had activated it, M01 did not believe that there was anyone fast enough to dodge his sharpshooting and escape his attack range in that brief instant.

M05 also could not figure out this issue that had stumped M01. He could not help but shudder and ask timidly, "Could it be a ghost?"

"How could that be possible?!" barked M01 angrily in return. Several millenniums of scientific research had proven that ghosts were merely figments of the Huaxians' imagination — they did not exist.

M05 too felt that he was being ridiculous, and so he did not dare to say anything more. Perhaps the beam saber's switch had been defective and had let some energy leak out.

Right at this time, M01 sensed the radar responding again, highlighting the spot right behind M05. M01 shouted, "M05, move!"

M05's reaction was swift — he immediately threw himself to one side — and M01 timed things masterfully. M05 had barely moved aside to reveal an opening when the beam gun in M01's hand let loose a deluge of shots. This time, the three other team members behind M01 did not manage to keep up. Only after M05 had dodged aside completely did they follow up with their own attacks, shooting at the same area M01 was shooting at.

Very soon, this round of attacks ended. This time, there was a beam gun lying there in the aftermath, a blackened lump already completely deformed from the barrage of attacks. M01's expression shifted at the sight, because he realised that this beam gun was also a weapon of M03's ... could it be that M03 could not rest in peace and so was trying to give them some hint? Or perhaps someone was using M03's things to cause mischief?

"Bastard, don't try to use these kinds of tricks to scare us! Bloody come out and face us if you have any godd*mn balls!" M01 suddenly switched comms channels to connect to his external speakers and shouted.

1. The original text actually says 'near-range' instead of 'long-range' here, but then immediately switches to 'long-range' in the next paragraph. From context, 'long-range' makes more sense, so I have fixed this instance to match.

2. In chapter 363, the author says that the Thunder King took the third mecha in the ace mecha line-up, which she did not name. The fifth mecha was the one called <King of Star Space>. But now we learn that the Thunder King is apparently proficient at the <King of Star Space> ... and yet somehow did not choose to take that mecha back then? Either it's a mistake on the part of the author or some other plot is afoot. Let us see for now.

3. The original text actually says this is a beam gun in this chapter. But contradictory statements later on, notably in the next chapter, indicate that this is most likely a beam saber. So, I'm fixing this.

Chapter 368 - Power Gap!

However, all that answered M01 was silence. Although M01 did not believe in ghosts, this situation before him now which could not be explained by logical reasoning and common sense was making him feel rather unsettled and creeped out.

"Ah ..." A horrified cry suddenly rang out in the team's commlink. M01's heart clenched and he whipped his head around. However, all he saw was one of the three guarding members pointing at M05 lying on the ground ... even without seeing the other member's facial expression, M01 could feel the fright and panic of the other.

M01 felt that something was not right, because M05 still had not gotten up from the ground after this much time. This was definitely not normal. He stepped forward and squatted down, flipping M05's mecha around. Only then did he discover that the seemingly perfectly intact mecha had actually had its cockpit pierced by a short and sturdy high-frequency blade right through a vital point on the mecha's front.

Meanwhile, a pool of blood had begun to spread out on the ground the mecha had been lying on. That team member who had screamed must have seen the spreading pool of blood ...

"Bastard, come out!" At this point, what else was there for M01 to figure out? He abruptly stood up and began shouting out at the still silence around them. There was definitely no such thing as ghosts — all of this was just a deliberate ploy of the enemy. Using those things to draw their attention, the enemy had then taken advantage of their distraction to kill the unprepared M05. And all of this had happened right under their noses.

It had to be said that the enemy's ploy was extremely clever. Even now, M01 still could not figure out what method the enemy had used to set it so that the beam saber and beam gun would release some energy response at those specific moments. M01 knew well that it was impossible for someone to activate the power switches at those two locations without being seen, yet at the same time, there was no other setup to show any hidden manipulations. This kind of arrangement that could not be unravelled by common logic had successfully captured their attention, causing them to neglect the unprepared M05. This had given the enemy the opportunity to kill M05 without any sign.

Undoubtedly, their enemy was an experienced assassin. M01 was instantly suspicious, wondering whether this person was not that Thunder King Qiao Ting like M03 had reported. Qiao Ting's talent and potential may be extremely aberrant — otherwise he would not have been able to advance to ace operator — but this kind of rich combat experience was not something a cadet could have.

"We've been duped! Looks like the opponent used the Thunder King as bait to draw us here to kill us one by one," said M01 through gritted teeth. However, he then instantly backtracked and denied his own words, "No, they do not know our target is the Thunder King Qiao Ting, so they could not have made this sort of arrangement. Unless our plans have been leaked ... also, if this was really a trap, they could not have just arranged for one person to lie here in ambush."

Although M01 had been thrown off a little by the situation before his eyes, he still managed to retain enough of his composure to think things through. He was able to tell that there should only be one enemy hiding here in ambush, but this enemy was very strong and very dangerous.

"This should be a coincidence ..." Suddenly, M01 thought of Thunder King Qiao Ting's mentor, Tang Yu, that prodigious talent who was known as the 'Versatile Ace Master'. Could it be him?

At this thought, M01 could not help but shudder. An experienced ace mecha master like Tang Yu was completely incomparable with a newbie like Qiao Ting — for them alone to go up against an experienced ace mecha master like that was an absolutely suicidal endeavour. He knew he could not afford to hesitate any longer. He immediately transmitted the news that Tang Yu could be here to central command, hoping to receive backup as soon as possible.

"Boss, I've obtained their signal source ..." Ling Lan, who had been hiding in the shadows, still and quiet like a ferocious beast on the hunt, preparing to deal death with one blow, stared coldly at the roaring M01 not too far from her. When she registered the excited yells of Little Four in her mindspace, she could not help but clench her fists. She knew that the wait was over — it was now time to kill her prey.

It turned out that all of this was part of Ling Lan's and Little Four's meticulous plan to obtain the enemy's signal source. Little Four and Ling Lan did not believe the enemy was like them, completely unable to contact the outside world. Sure enough, all of this had pushed M01 in his panic to directly make contact with the enemy's central command on a starship in space, letting Little Four obtain the other side's signal source.

Having obtained the signal source, Little Four was no longer contained on the ground. He had been completely unleashed to become a free-flying king of virtual signals 1 .

After M01 had successfully sent out his message, he had just relaxed a little when he saw a familiar thermal reaction appear once more at one point on his radar. M01's hand paused, a tendril of doubt coursing through his mind — could it be that the enemy was trying to trick him again and assassinate another one of his team members when he turned to deal with the source of the thermal reaction?

Doubt rose in M01's heart, causing his movements to slow, so he did not attack the thermal reaction point as swiftly as he had the previous two times. Right at that moment, from the spot where the heat had been picked up, which was on the left side of the dense forest behind them, a mecha shot out, coming to the area behind M01 in the blink of an eye ... yes, the enemy's target was not M01 but the three members guarding three different directions at his back.

Without M01's guidance, the three members were not at all on guard against that particular spot. When they noticed the mecha leaping at them ferociously, their only response was to pull the triggers of their beam guns desperately, trying to use overwhelming firepower to force the opponent back ...

But, all of this was in vain — the mecha's figure shimmered, and the entire mecha drew a streak of shadow through the air. Their seemingly dense and concentrated firepower merely struck virtual impressions the opponent left behind. Between blinks, that enemy mecha was already before them.

"Bang bang bang!" Three loud collisions caused M01's heart to jerk. This was followed by three terrible screams in M01's team commlink. These three almost simultaneous screams caused M01's gun hand which was aimed at the opponent, about to shoot, to tremble ...

He who had never missed before, perhaps due to this tremble, actually shot wide ... after that mecha achieved his objective with one strike, he suddenly leapt backwards, retreating back into that dense forest, disappearing completely from M01's radar once more ...

M01 looked out at the surroundings before him — there was nothing but the sound of the wind and the distant sounds of cannonfire. There was no other sound in this patch of dense forest ... his entire body felt cold, a chill penetrating deep into his heart. Here at this place, with M03 as the first to go down, four more of his team members were now lying on the ground ... Of the initially rather complete 6-man team, he was now the only one left.

He involuntarily turned his gaze to those three team members of his who had just lost their lives, and his irises contracted. Those three team members had truly died in such a pitiful way. They had had no so-called chance at all of fighting back before they had been crushed alive by the opponent's sheer brute strength. The cockpits of those three mecha were now deeply caved in — M01 did not have to look closer to know that the men inside were now probably ground meat by now. Even if the damage was not to that extent, there was still absolutely no chance of survival.

The way they died proved the enemy had killed them without having to use any advanced combat techniques. By relying only on his mecha's inherent superiority and his horrifying giant sword, he had easily killed those three team members. By this time, M01 had confirmed that that mecha was indeed an ace mecha. Although it was not one with the military's powerful configurations, being merely a trainee mecha of the academy, due to the sheer prowess of its operator, this mecha with its basic configuration had still displayed formidable combat power —— the <King of Close Combat> was truly strong and terrifying, striking fear into his heart.

The gap between their strength and that of this ace mecha master was really too wide. A surge of bitterness rose in M01's heart. He knew well that if the enemy wanted to kill him, just another two forceful attacks would be enough to finish him off. The moment the enemy managed to get close, he was sure to have no hope of survival.

M01 stared at the unresponsive radar and a futile hope actually fluttered in his heart. He hoped that the ace operator had already left ... for the first time, this kind of cowardly notion entered his mind on the battlefield. Before this, no matter how perilous the situation, he had never ever feared for his life like this. M01 knew that he had already lost. Facing that ace operator once more, he most probably did not even have the courage to stake his life in battle anymore. Even now, he had the urge to run away — it was only the pride of a warrior which kept him in place to await his final outcome.

"Have you cracked the other's signal?" Once again concealed, Ling Lan calmly observed her prey who had lost his calm as she questioned Little Four within the mindspace.

"Already cracked!" Little Four raised both his arms to express his excitement. "He actually thought that, Boss, you are the ace mecha instructor Tang Yu ... believing that Qiao Ting is somewhere here as well, he has already requested reinforcements from their central command."

Hearing the name Tang Yu, an image of the referee instructor who had been vaguely biased towards her side on that arena stage emerged uncalled in Ling Lan's mind's eye. He had not favoured the Leiting Mecha Clan just because he was Thunder King Qiao Ting's instructor. It should be said that the New Cadet Regiment's triumph in that battle was in large part also due to his consideration for them.

"Does this mean that the other side will also be sending masters here as well?" Ling Lan's expression turned grim. She naturally wanted to fight against skilled masters, but if a group of masters came, she would not be able to continue with her original plan of waiting here for rabbits to fall into her snare 1 .

"It must be, but I've already obtained the signal source of their communications. I'll keep an eye on them and will definitely figure out how many people the other side has sent here," responded Little Four confidently. He would not let his boss fall into danger!

"That's good. Since everything is settled, it's about time for me to finish off this fellow." Little Four's reply caused Ling Lan to relax. Since she had already received the answer she wanted, then there was no longer any need to keep this enemy before her alive ... Ling Lan decisively brought out her giant sword and pointed it straight at the enemy who was still trying to locate her.

M01 stared at his radar with mixed feelings, unsure whether he wanted there to be a response on the radar. Right at this moment, several energy responses appeared on the radar at the same time. These few points were all close to him, and there were even three points that were right by his side. This sudden situation made him raise both his guns in a flailing panic. Aiming for those few spots, he began shooting with both hands, madly sending a flood of beam energy pouring out from the guns in his hands ...

1. T/C: This was such a strange sentence. O.o

2. The lure has already been set, so she would only have to wait for the 'rabbits' (i.e. prey) to come here on their own.

Chapter 369 - Team-M's Annihilation!

The beam shots hit the ground surfaces of those areas which had registered a response on the radar, sending clumps of dirt and clouds of dust into the air. It had to be said that M01's reaction speed was extremely fast — even though he had lost his calm, his solid foundational skills still let him strike out at those energy response spots in the blink of an eye ...

After one round of attacks, there was still no sign of the ace mecha. Before M01 could let out a sigh of relief, a strong gust of wind came up from behind him. His heart skipped a beat, and before he could operate his mecha to dodge, he felt his back being struck by a heavy force and he could not help but spurt out a mouthful of blood.

M01 clenched his teeth against the pain. He urgently controlled the mecha to roll forwards with the momentum of the blow, and at the same time, he drew out a tube of medicinal agent from a slot inside the cockpit. Flicking the cap of the tube open with his right thumb, he poured the agent down his throat.

Even if he had not seen any sign of the opponent, this tremendous force alone let him know that the one who attacked him was most certainly that unseen ace mecha. As expected, the other was not planning to let him go.

M01 knew that he most likely would not be able to leave planet Newline alive as that last strike had dealt severe damage to his internal organs; unless he immediately escaped from here to find an army doctor, then maybe he would still have some hope of survival. However, M01 knew that the powerful ace mecha would never let him escape. Since death was certain, M01's initial fear was swept away as he prepared himself for one last desperate gamble.

This was why he had used the powerful painkiller formulated by the military. This would guarantee that he would not be paralysed by pain, allowing him to execute the following controls before his life was exhausted. This analgesic agent was a type of medical agent their country had concocted to bring out one's life energy in one final burst. It was meant to let warriors with no chance of survival to go out in a blaze of glory, burning up the last of their life to kill off more enemies ... every warrior who was sent out to battle would have a tube of this agent with them.

"If you want to kill me, you'll need to pay the proper price!" roared M01 in his cockpit. He flipped his mecha around and rose to a half-kneel, then raising both his hands, he aimed for the ace mecha ... eyes red, M01 pulled the triggers of both his laser beam handguns. The speed at which he pulled the triggers was three times faster than usual — it looked like under the lash of both the medical agent and his despair, his latent potential had all been unleashed.

M01 naturally did not dare dream that these attacks would destroy the enemy mecha. An ace mecha was not something their energy weapons could destroy. He only wished to leave some damage on the enemy mecha before he died. That way, it would help the comrades from their reinforcements take down this despicable enemy ... yes, M01 had pinned his hopes on his comrades. Thus, he wanted to help his comrades relieve as much pressure as possible before he died.

But how could things turn out as M01 wished? That ace mecha's response instantly crushed M01's barely regained confidence. That ace mecha did not care at all about M01's resistance — facing the two laser beam guns about to fire, the opponent simply swung the great sword in his hands ...

The giant sword flew out of the other's hands and hurtled through the air. Just as M01 pulled on the triggers, the sword had already arrived before him to slice at his two arms wielding the laser beam handguns ...

There was a loud 'snap' and M01 did not see beams pouring out from the handguns in his mecha's hands as he expected. Instead, he saw two arms suddenly fly into the air — he stared wide-eyed at that pair of arms, which held his two laser beam handguns. They drew a graceful arc through the air before landing heavily onto the ground ...

Before he could shake himself from his confused shock, his mecha's screen was abruptly covered by a dark shadow. His vision in the cockpit was entirely blocked off, and soon after, he sensed a tremendous force slamming into his cockpit once more. This time, he was not as lucky as before to retain his awareness despite his injuries; he was instantly struck unconscious by this force, his entire being plunged into darkness ...

Even if M01 was still alive after this attack, having lost consciousness meant that he would no longer have the chance to wake up ever again.

Watching the final enemy mecha collapsing heavily to the ground, Ling Lan smoothly pulled up the giant sword planted in the ground beside her. Without any hesitation, she instantly stabbed the sword through the other's cockpit ...

The sword slid in, and then Ling Lan could clearly see blood spurt out from the cracks in the cockpit. The glow of the enemy mecha's defensive beam shield gradually disappeared, dimming into darkness, and Ling Lan knew that both the man and machine of this enemy mecha before her eyes was gone.

"Opponent's death verified!" As expected, the A.I. of the ace mecha coldly announced the death of the enemy. Only then did Ling Lan pull out her sword from the cockpit. Reflexively, she lifted her head to look towards the battle-lit night skies. A cold smirk appeared on her lips, and with a flicker, her figure disappeared within the dense forest.

Little Four had just alerted Ling Lan to the approach of three mecha from three kilometres away. The group consisted of one ace mecha and two special-class mecha. This was very likely an ace mecha squadron led by an ace main and two special-class secondaries.

Meanwhile, at this moment, Qiao Ting's group who had moved off ahead of Ling Lan did not linger in the skies above the mecha storehouse to protect their team members as Ling Lan had done. With a clear focus, they moved west, preparing to join the fight in the most battle-intense dormitory district.

Of course, Qiao Ting's group did not choose to enter the frontlines, aiming to land instead at the rear end of the ground forces. This was because they knew that on a merciless battlefield, unidentified mecha would be considered by both sides as part of the enemy forces by default. They were not arrogant enough to believe that they would be able to survive the combined attack of both sides.

Sure enough, Qiao Ting's group had just begun their descent when they received a warning from a mecha column that had temporarily stopped for adjustments. Qiao Ting responded quickly, immediately reporting their status as cadets. As they were indeed piloting trainee mecha of the academy, they were finally allowed to land under the close supervision of the ground mecha team.

Just as Qiao Ting's team was feeling restless and uneasy, Qiao Ting received a video call request. He immediately accepted the call, and a person instantly appeared on his mecha's screen. It was his instructor, Tang Yu.

When Tang Yu saw Qiao Ting, he let out a quiet sigh and said, "Qiao Ting, so it is you. Why have you brought your people here in mecha?"

Qiao Ting primly gave a cadet's salute to Tang Yu and then said respectfully, "Although we're only cadets, we too can fight. So we've come, prepared to raise weapons and protect our academy."

Qiao Ting's reply made Tang Yu's eyes flash with a trace of approval. Able to keep calm in moments of crisis and choosing to go to the mecha storehouse to obtain trainee mecha — this action was undoubtedly correct. Leaving aside whether their combat skills would be at all effective in this cruel battle, their choice at least gave them some means of protecting themselves. Compared to those students trapped in the dormitory district now, reliant on the forces outside to protect them, Qiao Ting's team was perhaps much more likely to survive this battle.

At this thought, Tang Yu looked back at the dormitory district behind him with concern. Although both sides were still stuck in a stalemate at present, their side was already stretched to their limits. Not only had the ground forces been dispatched, even all the instructors of the military academy had stepped up to fight. In other words, they had nothing left in reserve, but they had no idea whether the enemy had any reinforcements left ...

Tang Yu could not help but look up at the endless starry sky above. If the enemy still had any fighting strength left in reserve, the outcome of this battle would undoubtedly be their defeat. Perhaps they instructors would still be able to rely on the superiority of their mecha and temporarily escape with their lives, but the students in the dormitory district behind them would definitely be destined to die ... seeing how the enemy was throwing their full force at the dormitory district, even the stupidest person could tell that the enemy's objective was precisely the students behind them ... would the Federation truly lose several generations worth of capable fighters because of this?

Tang Yu was extremely anxious but he still appeared as calm as usual on the outside. Before things became truly dire, he absolutely would not reveal his anxiety and affect the confidence of these excellent children before him. Thus, he ordered, "Qiao Ting, lead your team members to move alongside us. After this, follow our orders."

Even if they did not manage to protect all the cadets in the end, he still wanted to safeguard these excellent seeds before him now ... Tang Yu vowed in his heart. This was why he had asked Qiao Ting's team to move with them — if things really took a turn for the worse as he imagined, he and the other instructors would do their utmost to protect Qiao Ting and these other excellent talents, giving these excellent seeds a better chance at survival.

"Yes, Sir!" Qiao Ting immediately agreed to Tang Yu's orders. Qiao Ting was well aware that, lacking experience, they were indeed in need of experienced instructors to provide practical guidance. This would make it easier for them to adapt to the cruel realities of battle.

Just like that, Qiao Ting's team followed Tang Yu and the other instructors into battle. The instructors were primarily special-class operators with a small portion being ace operators. Some, like Instructor Tang Yu, were top-class ace operators. On the battlefield, Tang Yu could fight on even ground with two to three regular ace operators — in the past, before the number one ace operator Senior Colonel Qi had advanced to imperial status, he had even been able to handle four to five ace operators simultaneously on his own.

Though they were all ace operators, there was still distinction within the ranks. Of course, this distinction was due to the accumulation of battle experience and had very little relation to control techniques. This was also why ace operators who had gained their advancement inside a military academy like Qiao Ting would be looked down upon by those battle-experienced advanced mecha warriors. Although many of the ace mecha operators who had advanced by this route had very high-level control skills and techniques, due to a lack of true battle experience, there had been numerous cases where battle-experienced advanced mecha warriors had set up traps and successfully turned the tables on these ace operators and killed them.

Thus, levels were actually not that important — the most important thing on the battlefield was whether you could grasp every opportunity available to kill your opponent and survive.

Chapter 370 - The Team Members Arrive!

In the meantime, Gao Jinyun had led his team swiftly towards the spot Ling Lan had pointed out to him and met up with another team from the New Cadet Regiment making their final adjustments before battle. The two teams combined, and when the team leader of the other team heard that Ling Lan had instructed them to leave this area quickly, he did not dare to tarry. The two teams swiftly packed up and sprinted off in the opposite direction of where Ling Lan had been.

The two team leaders knew very well that their regiment commander's fight was not something they could get involved with. In order to not create trouble for their regiment commander, it was better for them to stay farther away. Of course, they were also afraid that they might bump into some formidable foe who had gotten slightly lost if they stayed too close to their regiment commander's location. That would be a terrible tragedy.

Just like that, the two teams rushed away, pulling a greater distance away from Ling Lan. Only when they felt a little safer did they slow their steps and prepare to take a breather and gather themselves. Just then, they noticed altogether at the same time that there was an energy reaction marking unidentified mecha on the radar. The two teams immediately shifted into battle mode, prepared to fight tenaciously against this unidentified mecha squad when they found that it was a false alarm.

Apparently, this mecha team that had shown up out of the blue was Qi Long's group. They had just finished fighting with two advanced mecha that had gotten stranded off on their own and were cleaning up when they had abruptly stumbled upon more than ten mecha behind them. They too had received a bit of a fright, thinking that they had been surrounded by the enemy.

When the two sides discovered that it was just others from their own faction, they relaxed. Gao Jinyun saw that Qi Long's team consisted entirely of advanced mecha, and he also saw how they had swiftly and efficiently defeated two enemy advanced mecha. This sparked an idea in his mind. Gao Jinyun thought, though their teams' levels were overall too low to be of any help to Boss Lan, Qi Long's team was a completely different matter. A team of advanced mecha warriors should be able to help Boss Lan out.

Thus, Gao Jinyun quickly relayed Boss Lan's situation to Qi Long's team, pointing out as well that Boss Lan could be in danger and may have been surrounded by the enemy.

This news shocked Qi Long's team and they unanimously decided to rush over to their boss's location. All the members believed that since they were members of Ling Lan's battle clan, of course they had to brave danger and death alongside their clan leader.

Just like that, Qi Long's team hurriedly bid farewell to the two teams there and began rushing towards Ling Lan's location ...

********

Right at that moment, the ace mecha squad that had charged over after receiving their orders finally arrived at the coordinates team M had reported.

"This should be the spot." Three mecha came to an abrupt stop in the air above the given coordinates. One of the special-class mecha in the group commented as he scanned the still and silent circular area below.

"It looks like team M has been completely wiped out. We've come too late." The other special-class mecha quickly zoomed in on the empty area below. On his mecha's screen, the condition of the ground below was now clearly displayed. There were several dull-coloured mecha down on the ground, as well as cockpits spattered with blood, a sign that these mecha had all met a bad end.

The moment their squad had received their orders from central command, they had immediately altered their route to head here instead of towards the dormitory district. It had only taken them a short two minutes or so, but they were still too late.

"Could it be that the enemy has already run away?" The special-class mecha who had first spoken looked at his unresponsive radar and suggested this possibility.

"No, the enemy should still be nearby," said the thus far silent ace mecha right at the front.

"Sir, how can you tell?" The special-class mecha who was wondering whether the enemy had run away could not help but ask curiously in response to his team leader's statement.

"Because all the way here, I had opened my mecha's radar scanner to its maximum range. During this time, there has been no sign of any energy leaving the area. So the only remaining possibility is that the opponent is still here," the ace operator analysed calmly. "For the enemy to be bold enough to stay back, he must have something up his sleeve. Be on your guard."

The ace operator's words caused his two secondaries to become wary, and they quickly replied, "Understood, sir!"

"This present situation confirms that the other is skilled in concealment and assassination. He probably intends to separate us and kill us off one by one ..." the ace operator added after a brief pause. "That being the case, you two remain in the air and maintain full scene comprehensive monitoring. I'll go down on my own to check things out."

"Yes, sir!" The two secondary mecha operators knew that they had no place to intervene in a battle between battle-experienced ace operators. Therefore, rather than getting in the way down below, they might as well stay up here to monitor the situation — if anything unexpected happened, they would be able to alert their team leader in time.

After arranging all this, the ace operator piloted his mecha to descend slowly onto the circular open space below. As soon as he landed, the ace operator understood why team M had been completely wiped out in such a short duration of time. This terrain was just too suitable for concealed attacks. The surrounding circle of tall and dense forestry allowed mecha to lurk among the trees easily. As long as the enemy turned off their mecha, another mecha's radar would not be able to pick up its energy output. On top of that, team M's combat power was just too weak compared to that of the opponent's. For an enemy familiar with this terrain, capitalising on it to conduct ambushes and finish off team M would be way too easy.

At this observation, the ace operator could not help but sigh under his breath. If he had been team M's leader, he would never have landed straightaway. Instead, he would have hovered in the air and destroyed the dense forest in the surroundings first — no matter what, it was necessary to ruin this disadvantageous terrain.

Having looked over the terrain, the ace operator roughly knew how team M had been killed, but he still did not jump to any conclusions, carefully checking the conditions of all the mecha remnants of team M. When he saw that all signs of severe damage were on the mecha cockpits, his heart clenched.

It looked like the enemy was an extremely level-headed person and was ruthless in his attacks — almost every mecha he examined had been killed in one hit. Also, the weapon the enemy used was a giant cold weapon. This type of weapon was extremely overbearing — ace operators generally could not use this type of weapon with ease, but this person obviously could. The other's attacks had been extremely precise, clean and efficient — he was certain to be someone who had mastered this type of weapon ...

The ace operator began to rifle through his mind, searching through all the information he had on the Huaxian ace operators staying on planet Newline. However, he could not find any ace operator that truly fit these conditions ... after turning it over in his mind, only the elite ace Tang Yu known as the 'Versatile Ace Master' could possibly do such a thing. It looked like the intelligence team M had obtained right before they perished had been accurate. Other than Tang Yu, there really was no one else here who could utilise a giant cold weapon with such proficiency.

"Sir, mecha energy detected about 10 kilometres away. Numbers at 1, 2, 3 ... 7. There are 7 mecha in total." Right then, one of the secondary mecha responsible for wide-range scanning reported loudly in the team commlink.

"Enemy mecha? Allied mecha?" In order to prevent an ambush from the lurking enemy mecha here, the ace operator had narrowed his radar's range to its smallest and most accurate range. Hence, he had not noticed this situation which had popped up 10 kilometres away. At his subordinate's words, his brow furrowed. Could it be that central command had sent another squad here to investigate? This displeased him. Did central command think he alone was no match for Tang Yu? As an ace operator, he had his pride. He did not want other people to interfere when he fought with an opponent of equal strength.

"They're enemy mecha coming from within the military academy." At his leader's question, the secondary knew he had not explained clearly enough. They had not received any news that any of their comrades had gone that deep into the enemy territory in that direction, so for so many mecha to appear all at once from that end, it was very unlikely that they were allied mecha.

"Prepare for battle!" Receiving this answer, the ace mecha commanded with a sneer.

With that many mecha coming over, it was almost certain that it would be a team of small fry. They definitely could not be an ace mecha squad, because ace mecha squads were always set with an ace mecha as primary and two special-class mecha as secondaries. Of course, every army had its own trump card — the strongest ace mecha squad would have ace mecha as both its main and secondaries. Whenever this type of squad was dispatched, it would mean the battle had reached the most critical point, where victory and defeat were about to be determined ...

Moreover, from the intelligence reports he had received, there was no such ace mecha squad on planet Newline, whether it was in the ground forces or within the school's ranks. Therefore, for so many mecha to come at once, it was likely that these were all advanced mecha, or perhaps mostly advanced mecha with a few special-class operators among them. This was the situation at best. With regards to this kind of enemy, no matter how many came, he was not at all concerned. On the battlefield, an ace mecha was definitely a top-level existence which could stand a head above the crowd.

"Boss, Qi Long and the rest of the team are coming." Little Four had also picked up the voices of Qi Long and the other team members. He could not help but holler in excitement in Ling Lan's mindspace, but then, his face fell and his little brow scrunched up in a frown.

These underlings were disobeying orders to come here ... wasn't this just ruining his and the Boss's plans? This was so unreasonable! Little Four puffed up his cheeks in exasperation.

Little Four's alert made Ling Lan rub her forehead in consternation. It went without saying that Qi Long and the team must have met up with Gao Jinyun and found out about her situation here. Although she felt that she would not be able to fight as freely as she would have liked with Qi Long and the others here, it could not be denied that she was actually quite happy deep inside. The actions of her team meant that they really valued her — regardless of the danger, they wanted to fight by her side. Having such loyal and steadfast companions willing to brave thick and thin, life and death, together ... what did she have to complain about?

"Boss, what now? Should I send them a text telling them to turn back?" Little Four was actually very glad that Qi Long and the others were coming, but thinking that this development could spoil his boss's plans, he could not help but feel a little down.

"No need. Let them come. They can help me handle those two troublesome special-class mecha in the air." Ling Lan quickly made her decision.

Perhaps, this was a chance for Qi Long and the others to grow. Mind you, fighting against special-class mecha would not give Ling Lan much experience, but it would be a rare opportunity for Qi Long and the others to gain practical experience. Although it would be a little risky, danger often went hand in hand with opportunity as it was able to force out the latent potential hiding within a person. Besides, Ling Lan was extremely confident that Qi Long and the others would grasp this opportunity well.

Chapter 371 - Ace VS Ace!

"Little Four, pay attention to Qi Long and the others' location. When they are 3 kilometres from us, let me know." After coming to a decision, Ling Lan began to arrange things. "Also, listen for my commands after this."

"Understood, Boss! Emergency activation, right? Little Four will make sure to activate it successfully in the shortest time possible," Little Four accepted her orders.

Destroying team M and instant activation of mecha — all of this was possible due to Little Four's optimization of the mecha's systems. Under emergency activation, the mecha practically booted up in less than a second. If the Federation mecha researchers ever found out about this, they would be absolutely gobsmacked. They had already been researching this issue for several generations, but still they had not found a way to push an ace mecha's emergency activation period below three seconds ...

The anxious team of Qi Long's moved quickly. Under the full speed of the mecha, ten kilometres were swiftly covered within three minutes.

"Three unidentified mecha discovered. Two in the air, one on the ground." Qi Long's team, which had just entered the three-kilometre boundary, heard the warning from their mecha's A.I.. Due to the power difference between the mecha, only now did they learn of the enemy mecha's presence.

"Zoom in!" At first notice, they all chose to first identify whether those mecha were friend or foe. When they zoomed in to see the outer appearance of those three mecha, they all became tense. Sure enough, those mecha were enemies, and the one on the ground was actually an ace mecha. Even the two mecha in the sky were one level above their own mecha, both being special-class mecha.

"Qi Long, what do we do now?" Han Jijyun's expression turned grim at the sight of those three mecha. He was the first to speak up and prompt Qi Long — at critical moments, Han Jijyun habitually defaulted to letting Qi Long decide.

"I want to continue pushing forwards. Since we already know Boss is ahead, no matter how dangerous it is, I still want to go over there and see what's going on," Qi Long said as he looked at those three mecha. Despite knowing that he would most likely meet a bad end if he continued pushing forwards, he could not allow himself to retreat since he knew Boss was there.

"You all can do as you like!" Qi Long had decided to take the risk, but he would not drag his companions together unwillingly. He would let them make their own decisions.

"I will go with you," said Li Lanfeng without hesitation. He had already vowed that he would never abandon the rabbit ever again — no matter how dangerous it became, even if he had to pay with his life, he would not go back on his promise.

Li Lanfeng's words had barely faded when all of the others spoke up to say that they would come along as well. They were not timid people — many years of friendship had prepared them to share one fate with their comrades.

However, Li Shiyu, who had been swindled and pressured into joining the clan, remained silent. When everyone turned to look at him, he only replied evenly, "I need to take responsibility for my patient. Wherever Qi Long goes, I go ..."

"Good brother!" Qi Long said gratefully to Li Shiyu. Just as he was about to lead the way forwards, a message suddenly appeared on the team's mecha screens.

"It's Boss!" Qi Long shouted in excitement. The message was sent by Ling Lan via Little Four's abilities. Ling Lan instructed Qi Long and the rest to attack the two special-class mecha in the sky, while she very explicitly labelled the ace mecha as her prey.

"Boss has given us our assignment. We must complete it!" said Qi Long in high spirits with a swing of his fist. Up against two special-class mecha, perhaps they might have a chance.

"Yes!" Ling Lan's appearance instantly gave the clan members great mental support. With different voices but one mind, they replied confidently. Their initial hesitance and uncertainty were swept away, and even as their gazes became steady, a measure of ruthlessness appeared within them. They drew the weapons from their mecha's backs — a beam saber and a beam gun.

Their initially slowed steps sped up once more, and very soon they had emerged in front of those three enemy mecha.

"It's a group of advanced mecha, and academy training mecha at that." After taking a closer look at Qi Long's team's mecha, one of the secondary mecha in the sky could not help but spit.

The ace operator responded calmly. "That's fine. Our mission is to eliminate Qiao Ting, along with all of the cadets here. Since we haven't found Qiao Ting yet, then let's just kill these cadets first. It's all the same."

Students in the military academy who could achieve advanced mecha warrior status must also be extremely talented in terms of mecha piloting. The ace operator knew that if these students were allowed to grow unchecked, as long as they did not die, they would one day become ace operators themselves ... so, the ace operator was very happy to eliminate these cadets who might become their future opponents.

As Qi Long's group of seven was charging straight at him, the ace operator thought they would be attacking him directly. However, around the 1000 metre mark 1 , those mecha suddenly revved their thrusters to sweep up from the ground into the air, leaping towards his two wingmen instead ...

Was it because they had discovered he was an ace operator and so did not dare to attack him? Still, even if they decided to change targets, did they think he would just sit still and not follow them to attack? As expected of a group of academy cadets without any battle experience, actually leaving their backs exposed to an enemy ... the ace operator sneered as he unhurriedly removed the high-precision laser sniper rifle from his back. That's right, he was an excellent sniper — he specialised in killing from a distance.

The ace operator quickly raised his sniper rifle to aim at the cockpits of one of the mecha ...

Right then, the A.I. of Lin Zhong-qing's mecha suddenly blared a warning alarm. "Danger! Mecha has been targeted. Please evade immediately ..." If this were any other time, Lin Zhong-qing would definitely have begun evasion procedures immediately, but recalling that Boss Lan had said to leave the ace operator below to him, Lin Zhong-qing gritted his teeth and ignored the A.I.'s warning. He continued to use his fastest speed to fly in a straight line towards his target.

It wasn't that Lin Zhong-qing did not want to evade, nor did he trust Ling Lan blindly, but the moment he moved to avoid being targeted, Luo Lang, who was before him, would definitely become the enemy's target instead. It had to be said that the sniping trajectory chosen by the ace operator was just too precise — with one attack, he was aiming for two people at one time 1 . Whether to protect himself or to protect a teammate, it was all up to the target. No matter which choice his target made, the ace operator would not miss.

Seeing the cadet show no signs of evasion, the ace operator's eyes held a trace of pity as he said, "You've got guts. Shame ..." Just as he was about to pull his trigger, a long, giant object came hurtling at him from the side, ramming into the sniper rifle in his right hand ...

With a loud bang, the powerful blow jostled the grip of the mecha's right hand, causing the sniper rifle to fall to the ground. The ace operator reacted quickly. With a twist of his body, he instantly moved over 10 metres away from his original spot. At this moment, he was already facing the direction the attack had come from. A military academy trainee ace mecha had appeared where he had been standing, casually catching the giant sword which had yet to fully hit the ground.

"So you are here." The ace operator stared at his opponent and said through the external speakers, "Lieutenant Colonel Tang Yu?"

The ace mecha's question confirmed Ling Lan's suspicion that the enemy had mistaken her for Tang Yu. Ling Lan naturally would not take the effort to correct this misunderstanding — she would be able to gain practical experience and there would be someone else to take the heat for her ... what else could she ask for?

And so, Ling Lan remained silent. Whether or not the opponent was certain in his assumptions, she herself would not expose her identity.

"Who'd have guessed that the elite ace of Huaxia would be stuck here in this small little military academy to be an instructor? You Huaxians really know how to waste talent." Ling Lan's silence did not dampen the interest of the ace operator, who once again spoke up to mock his opponent.

Ling Lan's lips thinned in displeasure. Why did the enemies in this air invasion have so much to say? The first advanced mecha warrior she had encountered had been a chatterbox, and this ace operator now was not much better ... Ling Lan did not want to waste any time, because she knew her team members were engaged in a tough fight right now. She needed to swiftly finish off this ace operator so she could go assist her team members.

With that, Ling Lan accelerated, leaping forwards in an oblique arc. She was before the ace operator in the blink of an eye, and the giant sword in her hands swung in a narrow trajectory, aiming straight for the opponent's waist.

Against another ace operator, she could not use the giant sword the same way she had with the advanced mecha, brainlessly plying brute force. The defence threshold of an ace mecha's outer shell itself, as well as the anti-shock systems inside, would reduce the giant sword's blunt force as much as it could, so she could not achieve a one-hit kill. Therefore, Ling Lan did not expect to defeat the other in one blow — her aim was to throw the enemy's mecha off-balance so that she would have the opportunity to execute some combo attacks after this.

However, Ling Lan's plans fell through — an ace operator was an ace operator after all. Right at the moment the giant sword was about to hit, the opponent smacked the flat of the blade with his palms. Pushing back from this smack, and engaging his thrusters, the mecha slid back several metres.

Meanwhile, the giant sword was forced to pause for a brief moment due to the force of the smack. Although it continued to swing forwards the very next second, this brief pause was enough for the opponent to find time to evade the strike.

When this attack of Ling Lan's struck air, with a swift shake of the right wrist of her mecha, Ling Lan pulled back the giant sword once more. By this time, the opponent had already drawn a beam saber from his back, which was now emitting powerful waves of energy. Seeing this, Ling Lan decisively hung her giant sword back on her back and switched to a beam saber as well.

The giant steel sword was indeed overbearing and powerful during attacks — it did not fear clashing against other steel weapons or mecha. However, it was useless against these energy-based swords, because the high electrical charge emitted by the energy swords would easily erode the internal structure of the giant steel sword. Once the energy absorption became too much, causing the inside of the sword to overheat, the steel sword would definitely lose its initial hardness and perhaps even be melted down by the energy sword. This was why Ling Lan had switched to a beam saber — she could not bear to see such a powerful cold weapon go to waste like this.

"Bam! Bam! Bam!" Consecutive sounds rang out as the two mecha clashed. The beam sabers met again and again, violently, each collision sending countless electric sparks flying. It looked like the two were fighting evenly, none able to get one up over the other ...

Meanwhile, in the air, the two secondaries of the ace operator had already been separated from each other by Qi Long's team of seven. Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi were surrounding one special-class mecha, while Li Lanfeng and the other three were attacking the other mecha.

1. T/C: The author could have just used 1 kilometre? O.o

2. T/C: This sounds more like a problem with the team's flight formation, but I've decided long ago not to question the hand-wavey science and strange military things in this novel anymore. Seriously not my domain. />.<\\ If you all see anything truly horrendous that needs fixing for public sanity AND have a clear solution for me to apply, please let me know. If not, just ... move on.