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Chapter 378 - The Attribution of Victory!

Ling Lan's decision was made in a split second, and then the special-class mecha's beam saber was striking out in a savage stab at Li Lanfeng's cockpit. Every mecha operator knew that once an opponent's cockpit was destroyed, it would mean the end of a battle and the clinching of victory.

"Dodge!"

"Watch out!"

"Danger!"

Observing the fight, the other members of Ling Lan's team could only yell helplessly in fright. Qi Long and Luo Lang were not good at long-range attacks, so they could only stare helplessly from the ground below, unable to do anything to help.

As they both favoured close combat, their skills and techniques were largely intended for close combat — they had not paid much attention to long-range attack skills. Right now, they finally regretted their decision. They finally understood why Boss Lan had casually reminded them every so often not to neglect their long-range attack skills even if they wanted to focus on close combat ...

It turned out that when a companion's life was in danger, every extra skill or technique might be the key to turning things around to save that companion ... like now, if only they had some long-range attacks to rely on, they would have long started shooting frenziedly to help Li Lanfeng against the enemy.

Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing too felt their helplessness keenly at this time. If only their mecha control skills were slightly better, they would not have been left so far behind. Furthermore, they also felt that there was something wrong with their teamwork. For example, when they had begun chasing after Li Lanfeng, they had not thought to spread themselves out. Now, all bunched up together, they found that their shooting trajectories were blocked by Li Lanfeng ...

In other words, even though they had the ability to shoot, they still did not dare to shoot now. This was because they just could not guarantee that they would not hit Li Lanfeng, who was closer to them, first before they could even hit the special-class mecha.

Everyone could only stare with wide eyes as the enemy's beam saber pierced towards Li Lanfeng's cockpit ...

"Swoosh!" This was the sound of a beam saber piercing through a mecha. Li Shiyu's group of three following behind Li Lanfeng saw a beam saber suddenly appearing at his back through his body. They all felt despair creep over them — had that mild-mannered, forever smiling nice guy lost his wings here?

Only Ling Lan, who had been observing the fight from the ground below, calmly lowered the raised right hand of her mecha, unhurriedly controlling the mecha to holster her beam handgun back at her waist.

Ling Lan had just finished this motion when the two stationary mecha in the air suddenly moved. Li Lanfeng's mecha abruptly raised a leg and slammed a powerful kick at the special-class mecha sticking closely to him.

The special-class mecha was sent flying backwards by Li Lanfeng's kick, back arching to face the skies, but it still made no motion to resist. Those with sharp eyes could see that a sword hilt-like object was protruding from his cockpit, and at the back of the mecha's waist, an indistinct light was flickering ...

The special-class mecha soaring through the air was not moving; under the influence of planet Newline's gravity, the entire mecha began to plunge towards the ground. Right at that moment, that hilt-like protrusion on his cockpit suddenly dropped off, and the flickering light at the back of his waist was snuffed out at the same time.

Without the hilt-like object in the way, a dark round hole was revealed in the mecha's cockpit, tunnelling right through to the other side ...

A loud 'boom' rang out as the special-class mecha crashed heavily into the ground, sending clouds of dust and dirt into the air. Perhaps because the special-class mecha's construction was extremely solid, it still remained in one piece after the impact.

At this time, the watching crowd finally realised that the winner of this fight was actually their companion Li Lanfeng and not the enemy special-class mecha as they had thought.

Li Shiyu's group of three, which had been hurrying desperately after Li Lanfeng, unwilling to give up hope, were instantly overwhelmed with joy at the outcome. They were just about to fly over to congratulate Li Lanfeng, the clear victor of the battle, when Li Lanfeng, who had been proudly hovering in the air, suddenly lost control of his mecha, which immediately began to plummet.

This unexpected development took the ecstatic team members by surprise. Their expressions changed drastically once more as they leapt forwards in unplanned unison ... the ones in the air hoped to halt the falling mecha, while the ones on the ground hoped to catch the mecha before it could hit the ground ...

Still, it was undeniable that, being so far away, it was almost impossible for them to accomplish their objectives. Even so, they did not give up, still pushing their engines to their limits ...

Mentally prepared, Ling Lan's mecha had flickered right at the moment Li Lanfeng had lost control of his mecha, disappearing from its original position ... the next second, she had appeared right below Li Lanfeng. With a great leap, her mecha flew over 10 metres into the air, just in time to catch Li Lanfeng's mecha by the waist ...

When the other members of Ling Lan's team saw this scene, their hearts relaxed. They had actually forgotten that there was still Boss Lan standing guard below. Everyone slowed their mecha to a stop.

Only Little Four was driven up the wall by the sight. What the hell was this?! A hero rescuing a damsel in distress? A damsel rescuing a hero in distress? Or was it a hero saving another hero in distress? Or should it be a damsel rescuing another damsel ... aaaaaaah, his core chip was quickly being overloaded by this incomputable question!

Little Four suddenly froze, internal systems hanging, his entire body going slack, gaze blank. However, he reflexively saved a copy of this image, storing it directly in his databank. When his core chip resumed normal functioning later, he would continue processing this question.

"Leopard, how do you feel?" Ling Lan efficiently hugged Li Lanfeng's mecha close as she controlled her mecha into landing softly with almost no tremors at all. Feet securely on the ground, she quickly connected to Li Lanfeng's commlink and asked worriedly.

Even though Ling Lan's tone of voice was as icy as ever, Li Lanfeng could still hear the deep well of concern concealed within it.

Li Lanfeng could not help but smile happily, warmth spreading through his heart. His rabbit truly cared a lot for him, otherwise he would not have rushed so quickly over to save him before he could hit the ground ...

Due to the fierce battle, the metal half-mask concealing Li Lanfeng's upper face all this time had already slipped off. If someone had been able to see the radiant, heartfelt smile on his face right now, and if their resistance was a little low, they would have found their hearts captivated, regardless of whether they were male or female.

"I'm fine!" replied Li Lanfeng, smiling. His eyes felt a little hot, and he raised his hands to wipe away the sweat flowing down into his eyes. Even such a simple movement was very difficult for Li Lanfeng right now — he felt as if his two arms no longer belonged to him.

"Your mecha has no more power to fight." Ling Lan swiftly examined Li Lanfeng's mecha; the grey and dull outer shell of the mecha made her frown. In this kind of dangerous battlefield, it was very dangerous without the protection of a mecha ... Ling Lan instantly made her decision. "Later, come sit inside my mecha."

"Ah, oh, okay!" Ling Lan's words startled Li Lanfeng, but he quickly caught himself and answered ecstatically. Did this prove that his performance this time had gained the rabbit's approval? At this thought, Li Lanfeng's entire being thrummed with excitement. His body, initially so tired that he could not even lift a finger, seemed to be infused with a second wind.

He picked up the metal mask and placed it back on his face. When Ling Lan placed his mecha onto the ground, he opened the hatch of the cockpit and climbed out laboriously. Of course, his movements now were not as neat as usual, perhaps even appearing rather awkward, because he had half-crawled half-stumbled out of his cockpit.

He then climbed up from the ground and inched step by step to the feet of Ling Lan's mecha. This would have been an extremely simple set of movements under usual circumstances, but now, Li Lanfeng only managed it via a Herculean effort.

Li Lanfeng had just arrived at the feet of Ling Lan's mecha when the boarding platform of the mecha settled onto the ground almost at the same time. Li Lanfeng smiled wryly — it looked like the rabbit was well aware of his current condition, able to estimate his arrival time so precisely. Although Li Lanfeng was somewhat frustrated and embarrassed by this, his joy and gratefulness quickly chased those complicated emotions away ... he took in a deep breath and then stepped firmly onto the platform.

The platform rose slowly, and before it even arrived at the cockpit, Li Lanfeng could already see Ling Lan standing outside the cockpit, stretching a hand out towards him ...

The corners of Li Lanfeng's lips quirked and he placed his hand firmly into Ling Lan's hand. Ling Lan's fingers were rather cold, but his palm was very warm. This warmth made Li Lanfeng's heart thump and settle — so, it felt this safe being held tightly by someone one trusted ...

Just as Li Lanfeng was wrestling with his emotions, a powerful tug came from Ling Lan's hand. The next second, his entire body had been pulled by the other into the cockpit and thrown into the auxiliary seat ...

"Sit tight!" ordered Ling Lan. Her cool gaze swept over Li Lanfeng, as if displeased at Li Lanfeng's dilly-dallying. This gaze made Li Lanfeng shiver, his mind jolting to clarity in an instant. Those pointless musings in his heart were completely swept away. He did not dare to delay any further, hurriedly buckling himself into the auxiliary seat with the seatbelt.

Boo hoo hoo, he really did not want the rabbit to think of him as a burden !!! 1 Somewhat jittery, Li Lanfeng could feel none of his body's pain or discomfort. He was obviously much more agile when buckling himself in. Sure enough, when one's attention was diverted, there would be a painkilling effect.

Seeing Li Lanfeng's quickened motions, Ling Lan closed the cockpit, satisfied, and activated her mecha. She had really been rather annoyed looking at the leopard's slow movements earlier; she truly was an impatient person ... it looked like she really needed to think of a plan to help the leopard solve the problem of his physical constitution completely soon, thought Ling Lan.

As there were no other enemies around, Ling Lan did not ask Little Four to employ emergency activation, choosing to activate the mecha normally. Two minutes later, the mecha's regular activation was completed.

This was already Little Four delaying things as much as he could bear. Otherwise, for the A.I. that had been optimized by Little Four, even regular activation would definitely be completed within one minute. However, this speed would have been much too shocking and suspicious. Even an imperial mecha could not complete regular activation within one minute. Although Ling Lan trusted the leopard, the existence of Little Four was just too bizarre to explain. So, in order to avoid trouble and also to protect Little Four, Ling Lan still chose to cover things up a little.

1. T/C: Woah, three exclamation marks! The author must really want to emphasize how strongly Li Lanfeng feels about this.

Chapter 379 - The Truth is Revealed!

Having activated her mecha, Ling Lan very quickly contacted the rest of the team and made the subsequent arrangements. Ling Lan felt that continuing to remain here was much too dangerous. After all, two batches of enemies had fallen here — if another batch of enemies came, they definitely would not be just one lone ace mecha squad anymore. It was very likely that two, or even three or more, ace mecha squads would arrive.

Ling Lan had the confidence to go up against one ace operator, but Ling Lan was unsure whether she could take an additional ace. Moreover, she was also not the only one here now — there were still the other members of her team to account for. Ling Lan needed to take responsibility for her team members' safety. After careful consideration, Ling Lan decided to retreat with her team and avoid the keenest edge of danger for the moment!

Meanwhile, at that moment, in the central command centre of the starship fleet in space, two battlefield reports had been delivered to the commander ...

"You're saying that there have been reports from both locations that Qiao Ting has appeared?" The commander looked at the two locations on the map which were over ten kilometres apart and could not help but frown.

"Yes, Commander. On one end is news sent by team-M — preliminary estimation is that the elite ace Tang Yu is bringing Qiao Ting along with him. It's only the two of them, and at present, it has been confirmed that one of the mecha is an ace trainee mecha of the military academy ... meanwhile, the other report came from the dormitory district. Our mecha troops there have discovered a batch of military academy trainee mecha among the ground forces. A majority of those trainee mecha are special-class mecha, with just one of them being an ace mecha ..." The adjutant had pored over the information in detail the moment he had received the reports. Upon the commander's questioning, he quickly spoke up to explain.

"Actually having two ace trainee mecha appear at the same time ... could it be that two ace operators have emerged within the First Men's Military Academy?" The commander-in-chief stared at the two reports, his forehead scrunched up even tighter.

"Unclear. The Huaxians have always been wily. This could just be a smokescreen, a ploy by the instructors, or there really could be two students who have managed to advance and the school had intentionally suppressed this information." The adjutant shared his speculations with the commander.

"It looks like we can't pass on either of these two points. Regardless whether it is true or false, these trainee mecha need to be completely wiped out." A cold glint flashed through the commander's eyes; he had not forgotten the ultimate goal of this operation.

"That location of team-M, since there are two people, send two ace mecha squads over ..." The commander first gave this order.

Thinking of something, the adjutant quickly notified commander, "Sir, before I reported to you, I had already sent an ace mecha team over."

"So what's the current situation?" asked the commander with a raised brow.

The adjutant's expression was unsightly. "We still have not received any confirmed updates."

"How long has it been since the team was deployed?" The commander's face turned grim.

"It's already been 10 minutes." The adjutant too felt that things were not looking good for there to be no news after so long.

"It looks like they've probably met a bad end at that spot ..." the commander's eyes flashed. "It is very likely to be a trap ... but even if it's a trap, I still want this trap to become a conquest of ours. Send two more ace mecha squads to that location. We must completely eradicate the people lying in ambush there."

"Yes, Commander!" the adjutant replied immediately.

After issuing this order, the commander walked over to the battle map display, and the adjutant quickly hurried after him.

The commander peered intently at those spots marking the areas where the battle was most intense, and after a thoughtful pause he said, "The dormitory district ... is the area with the greatest resistance. The bulk of our forces as well as the forces of our allies are caught up here ... Adjutant Gare, is the battle still deadlocked?"

"Yes, Commander. The defending troops of planet Newline have already figured out our objective. They have placed all their martial forces at the dormitory district. Our previous few batches of mecha warriors suffered major casualties because the other side was ready for us. We've lost many people and are currently disadvantaged in terms of numbers. Although we've tried forcing our way through many times, the other side has been able to resist tenaciously." The adjutant reported the situation at the dormitory district to the commander.

The commander-in-chief once again picked up the reports the staff officer had brought him earlier and his brow scrunched up once more. "The ground artillery is too dense and our landing points are too concentrated ... can't we disperse our landing points further away?"

The adjutant chuckled wryly and said, "The only safe landing point on planet Newline is this spot at the First Men's Military Academy. The other undeveloped primal areas are all classified as treacherous terrain. This was specially highlighted during our briefing with the intelligence bureau. Our landing points must not exceed the range of the First Men's Military Academy at all costs. Otherwise, the lives of our warriors will be in danger ..."

Before the commander could say anything, the adjutant added, "The facts prove that the information given to us by the intelligence bureau is accurate. One of our allied mecha squads made an impromptu alteration to their landing point to avoid the dense cannonfire, going beyond the safe areas we had marked out ... those people are still MIA 1 now. After repeated consideration and deduction, the final conclusion we arrived at is that the entire team was annihilated ..."

The adjutant's words made the commander's facial expression change; the adjutant's expression had twisted as well as he said all this. He paused for a beat and then continued, "Just now, I have carefully studied the briefing file sent by the intelligence bureau again and found that those areas are all forbidden grounds. They are left there by the Huaxians for operators of ace level and above to attempt a breakthrough."

The commander-in-chief's gaze narrowed in interest. "So the Huaxians have found such a great spot! No wonder they would often produce top-class operators after a stretch of time. Moreover, with these forbidden grounds protecting the planet, with only the First Men's Military Academy situated here, this is a great way of saving labour and resources while providing peace of mind."

With regards to the Huaxians' great luck, the commander-in-chief was truly filled with envy-jealousy-hate! After a few seconds of silent contemplation, he finally made a decision. "Adjutant Gare, notify those below. Mobilize the ultimate tool."

The adjutant raised his head, gaping with disbelief. The ultimate tool was something that was only allowed to be mobilised when the fleet was facing total annihilation. He did not expect the commander-in-chief to violate this principle, actually ordering its mobilization while they were still attacking. If news of this ever leaked to the outside world, the commander-in-chief would definitely receive censure from all sides, and may even be court-martialled.

"Time is of the essence. Do not forget what our primary objective is." The commander-in-chief was not at all surprised by his adjutant's reaction. If possible, he too did not want to mobilise this ultimate plan. However, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry 1 — the sneak attack they had thought foolproof ended up being discovered by the ground forces of the enemy, resulting in mass casualties on their end, pushing the entire battle into a deadlock.

The commander-in-chief knew very well that the longer the battle dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would become for them. At present, their satellite signal jamming technology could only hold out for four hours. As soon as the interference ended, they would be facing enemy reinforcements on all sides ...

In the surrounding star space, the commander-in-chief knew that there were four large Huaxian fleets prowling about. They were only able to cause trouble here for so long because the fleets did not know that planet Newline had been invaded. Once the interference time ended, the ground forces would be able to connect to their satellites again and transmit a distress signal. Those four fleets would definitely rush here at top speed to provide assistance. At that time, they would have to pay a heavy toll to escape, having no choice but to cut a bloody path through the enemies. And this was something the commander did not wish to see.

"Also, I've found out that those allied forces outside have already begun to distrust us." A trace of frustration flashed through the commander-in-chief's eyes. "In order to salvage the situation and appease them, we need to do something impactful to let them know that everything is still within our control!" Besides, he was not at all planning to return fruitless. He was a staunch champion of the hegemony of the Empire ... even if he would be court-martialled, he still wanted to complete this mission for the empire.

The adjutant became very serious in reaction to the commander-in-chief's words. He too knew that those words spoken by the allied forces outside were indeed not very pleasing to the ear, some seeming to even suspect that the empire was purposefully using the allied troops as sacrificial pawns. The commander-in-chief had chosen this drastic step in large part to shake off this bad name.

Coming to terms with the commander's decision, the adjutant quickly stood to attention and accepted the order. "Yes, Sir! I'll immediately notify those below!"

The commander-in-chief waved a hand, gaze shadowed as he looked down at the verdant planet below. He had already revealed all his cards — he hoped that this time things would turn out to his satisfaction.

Subsequently, order after order was sent out from the command centre. Countless starships once again deployed countless mecha troops — among them was the secret weapon which the commander-in-chief had called the ultimate tool ...

In the command centre of the ground forces, when the commander there received reports of more enemy mecha descending from space, his expression changed drastically, "Issue the command. Hold on no matter what." He tore his army cap from his head in a pique. The back of his crisp-pressed military uniform was already soaked with sweat — it was clear to see that the strategic planning over this period of time had already wrung him out mentally.

"Are we still unable to contact the fleets at the other sectors?" Watching his orders being conveyed one by one down the line by the adjutant staff officer by his side, he could not help but look towards the soldier in charge of communications who had not stopped trying to establish contact with the other fleets.

"We can't send any signals out. We can only passively receive signals from the satellite." The comms soldier was in a similar state as the commander. The anxiety and stress over this period of time had also caused his uniform to be soaked through with sweat.

"It looks like the other is using a signal jammer. The only lucky thing is that they only managed to jam outgoing signals and not shut us down completely." The commander had actually come to this conclusion a long time ago, but he had just been holding on to that last bit of hope, unwilling to resign himself to the situation. At the thought of the opponent's jamming technology being just that bit stronger ... the already sweat-soaked military uniform was saturated even more with a new torrent of sweat from the resulting fear. The commander was well aware that if that had been the case, they would certainly be deader than dead right now, to say nothing of putting up any resistance and counterattacking.

"Commander, the latest news from the frontlines say that this batch of mecha are mostly ace mecha and special-class mecha." Without waiting for the commander to finish being thankful, the news his subordinate brought made the commander's heart sink.

The commander knew very well that they had only been able to hold out for so long because the first few batches of enemy mecha invading from the skies were largely intermediate mecha and advanced mecha, with only the rare few ace mecha scattered among them ...

"It looks like the enemy has pulled out all the stops now." The commander clenched his teeth and ordered, "Let the special-class mecha task force holding the fort — all the mecha of special-class and above — engage the enemy in battle."

He had way too few ace operators on hand ... now, he could only rely on special-class operators to use their lives to fend off the enemy. Hopefully, they would not have to wait till all their forces were wiped out for the reinforcements to arrive. A glimmer of pain passed through the commander's eyes. In order to protect those students behind them, he had no choice but to make this painful decision.

1. i.e. missing in action

2. 人算不如天算: Literal phrase here being 'human schemes are no match for heaven's design'. In other words, no matter how much one plans, if luck is against you, things will still go wrong.

Chapter 380 - Break Apart!

As Tang Yu's group, which had been providing support to the frontlines from the back via long-range attacks all this while, consisted of either ace or special-class mecha, they received news of the new batch of incoming enemy mecha a step earlier than the other regular mecha.

Tang Yu swiftly locked onto an enemy mecha and zoomed in onto its image on his screens. When he saw the familiar outer forms of the mecha, Tang Yu's face paled involuntarily. He then quickly chose another few mecha from the incoming enemy team at random, zooming in on them in succession, and found that a majority of these enemy mecha were ace mecha and special-class mecha, at a ratio of 1 ace to 4 special-class mecha ... their numbers were as high as 500 mecha!

Tang Yu knew that this was likely the enemy's last resort, a signal that the final showdown of this battle was about to begin!

"Instructors of the academy at special-class operator status and above, draw in towards my location immediately ..." As the instructor with the highest military rank, Tang Yu was decisive, instantly connecting to the internal commlink of the military academy instructors to issue this order.

The instructors, who had initially been scattered around the campus, heard Tang Yu's command and quickly stopped shooting, operating their mecha in Tang Yu's direction. In less than a minute, these experienced instructors had all assembled by Tang Yu's side.

Tang Yu shared the news he had received with all the instructors, splitting the instructors into several teams at the same time. He also told them that as soon as these enemy mecha entered the lower air range of planet Newline, they needed to surge forth and meet the enemy.

On the ground, the ones defending the dormitory district were all the armoured ground forces of the Federation. As soon as the flames of battle spread out to scorch the ground, the first ones to suffer would be these warriors. This was why Tang Yu had decided to bring the battlefield into the air. Moreover, the dormitory district was right behind the armoured forces — inside were all those defenceless academy cadets. For the sake of the students' safety, Tang Yu would not allow a mecha fight to break out there.

All the instructors knew that this was an extremely unfavourable battle for them, because the number of ace operators among the ground forces defending planet Newline was just too low. Even if they counted themselves in as well, their numbers were still a tad weaker than that of the invading enemy.

Right at this moment, Qiao Ting, who had also rushed over and was now aware of the situation, asked anxiously, "Instructor Tang Yu, what should we do?"

"Continue to work with the ground forces and provide long-range assistance!" Tang Yu did not dare to let Qiao Ting fight with them — once they went up against the enemy crowd of ace mecha, even he would not be able to guarantee his own safety, much less Qiao Ting's. For the students' safety, he felt that it would be better to keep them behind the lines of the ground forces.

Tang Yu's order was not received well by Qiao Ting. He was an ace operator himself! He should be a bit stronger than the instructors who were still special-class operators, right? If they could fight, then why couldn't he go too? He was about to argue his case when Tang Yu barked, "Qiao Ting, obey my orders!"

Familiar with Tang Yu's character, Qiao Ting knew that Tang Yu had already made up his mind not to let him onto the battlefield. Continuing to plead was pointless, so he gritted his teeth and said sulkily, "Roger that, Instructor Tang Yu!"

The enemy's descent was not fast but it was not slow either — five minutes later, the first of the enemies officially entered the lower airspace of the planet. Seeing this, Tang Yu ordered, "Attack!"

Command issued, Tang Yu was the first to charge into the fray. He revved his main engine and piloted his mecha to soar into the sky. Behind him, the instructors all swooped towards the descending enemies under his lead. Two batches of mecha — one from above, one from below — finally met in the air, 100 metres off the ground, and began their fight ...

"Regiment Commander, what should we do now?" Seeing that Qiao Ting had not followed his instructor's orders to retreat to the backline of the ground forces, still standing rooted in place, a member by his side could not help but ask.

"At this kind of dangerous moment, how can we hide behind our instructors?" said Qiao Ting, pumped up. "I want to fight! I want to protect our academy! Those who want to fight, follow me. Those who want to obey the instructors and stay here can stay. I will not force anyone!"

Qiao Ting's words caused his team members around him to fall silent. At this time, Qiao Ting's most loyal defender stood out once more in support to say, "The regiment commander is right. Now is the most critical moment for our military academy. How can we be cowards and hide behind the instructors? I will go with the regiment commander."

Seeing the other members continue to remain silent, his tone was scornful as he said, "Have you all forgotten the oath you swore before the military flag when you first entered the military academy? Those who don't even have the guts to protect their own academy are not worthy of piloting mecha!"

Many of the members were unable to accept this accusation; provoked, they all spoke up, "I'll go!" "Me too!" "And me!" Eleven members shouted in near unison.

In the end, there were only three left who still remained silent. Qiao Ting asked them coldly, "You all plan to stay behind?"

After another beat of silence, one of the three finally opened his mouth. "Instructor Tang Yu told us to stay here. I think we should listen to the instructor. The first lesson we learned was to obey orders from our superiors and not to act on our own impulses."

Qiao Ting's gaze narrowed at these words, his entire aura turning frigid. The other regiment members sensed something strange in the air; just as one of the other members were about to try and counsel those three, Qiao Ting said, "In that case, you three can stay here." That said, he turned and said to the twelve members who wanted to go with him and said, "The rest of you, follow me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qiao Ting was the first to pilot his mecha in a sprint towards the inner regions of the military academy. The twelve members dared not say anything, immediately controlling their mecha in pursuit. Very soon, Qiao Ting's group of 13 had been swallowed by the night, leaving the range of the dormitory district.

The three people left behind watched as Qiao Ting's figure disappeared. The mecha who had responded to Qiao Ting suddenly slumped as tension bled out of its frame, almost losing his footing. The other two reflexively tugged on his arms to support him, thus preventing the other from falling down.

"Just now, I really thought the regiment commander would fly off the handle," said the unsteady member with a wry smile.

"Me too!" The two mecha supporting him had felt the same.

"I'm worried whether the regiment commander is just biding his time to deal with us later 1 ?" asked one of the mecha worriedly.

"If we are all still alive then, definitely. The regiment commander will never let us go for defying him. However, if we are lucky enough to survive, I plan to quit Leiting." That member who had spoken up against Qiao Ting said determinedly.

His words shocked the other two mecha beside him. Mind you, once someone quit from Leiting, they would be viewed by the whole Leiting Mecha Clan as deserters. They would definitely find their every step constricted within the military academy.

"The exams that need to be taken have all been taken anyhow. At that time, I'll just request to be sent to some unexplored territory for practical training. By the time I return, it would already be time to enlist ..." That person was not making this decision blindly. He had long prepared for this eventuality; this was also what had given him the courage to defy Qiao Ting's order.

"The regiment commander will go to the Third Division. This is already something that has been finalised. He's entering directly, exempt from being assessed. I heard this was approved personally by the Third Marshal," exclaimed another regiment member enviously. This was definitely a glorious matter. It was said that only General Ling Xiao had ever enjoyed such a distinction back in the past. Back then, it had been the Second Marshal, now the First Marshal, who had taken a shine to General Ling Xiao and personally appointed and approved his enlistment into his own army division without going through the regular assessments.

"You can't enlist with the Third Division anymore. You might not even be able to enlist with any of the divisions on friendly terms with the Third." Even as cadets, they knew that the army divisions had their respective factions. Once Qiao Ting established himself in the Third Division, if they enlisted with any other divisions within the same faction, their lives would not be easy.

"I will enlist with the 23rd Division," declared that person with conviction. "I'm uncertain about the other divisions, but the 23rd Division, General Ling Xiao's division, will definitely have nothing to do with the Third Division. Besides, Boss Huo and his gang are also at the 23rd Division. Perhaps the regiment commander might become the second General Ling Xiao in future, a true elite among elites, but I still think following Boss Huo is a much more reassuring and secure decision."

Regiment Commander Qiao Ting was just too proud — once he had made a decision, he was not able to accept any advice or dissent from others. Even though this could be taken as the confidence a successful person needed to have, he felt that Qiao Ting was overconfident. This meant nothing good for the future development of the regiment commander, and this was also why he had used Instructor Tang Yu's orders as a legitimate excuse to refuse to follow Qiao Ting.

His words made the other two fall into silent contemplation. A few seconds later, one of them said with a wry smile, "Let me see for a while longer. After all, that's all things that haven't happened yet. Let's just focus on how to survive right now."

His words were extremely reasonable. The three of them no longer had any mood to chat. If they did not manage to survive this battle, all talk of the future was moot. Very soon, they had piloted their mecha back to the rear of the ground forces. They began to carry out their previous duty — shooting their beam guns from far away, helping to keep the enemies attacking the forces at the front at bay.

As they fought, the other member who had not uttered a peep all this while secretly connected to the commlink of the member who had said he wanted to enlist with the 23rd Division and said, "When you apply for enlistment with the 23rd Division, let me know."

Hearing this, the member who had argued back against Qiao Ting smiled. It looked like he was not the only one who saw the problem with Qiao Ting ...

Right then, on Qiao Ting's end, he was swiftly leading his twelve members in a sprint away from the dormitory district. Qiao Ting was confident, but he also knew that they were surrounded by enemy mecha. For them inexperienced cadets to find a lucky break in the chaos was impossible. If they wanted to make any impact with their combat power and have a fighting chance as cadets, they would need to get further away from the main battlefield.

Qiao Ting believed that there were sure to be scattered enemy mecha at the other areas of the military academy. And Qiao Ting's target was precisely these isolated enemy mecha — this was also why he wanted to bring his twelve members away for a change of battlefield.

Unknowingly, the mecha team Qiao Ting was leading and the mecha team Ling Lan was leading in retreat right at that moment were actually travelling on the same route. However, one was moving closer to the dormitory district in order to ensure their safety, while the other had chosen to distance themselves from the dormitory district in order to gain battle merits ...

The battle continued to rage on, and seemed to be intensifying as the fighting progressed. Both the warriors of the Federation and the instructors of the academy were completely embroiled in the whirlwind of battle. Other than fighting, they could only fight and fight and fight some more. As long as they did not die, they continued to fight without stopping. No one could tell when this battle would end ...

1. 秋后算账: Literally, 'go through the accounts after autumn ends'. A translation dictionary gave me this interpretation -- square accounts after the autumn harvest. Think 'settling the score once things are less busy'.

Chapter 381 - General Ling!

From the time they had discovered the aerial invasion till now, two hours had elapsed unknowingly. The night was still very dark, and the enemy still had not been able to break through the defensive line of the ground forces. Meanwhile, the enemies who had just appeared had not made much impact due to the desperate resistance from all the special-class mecha of the Federation forces. The battle was once again mired in a deadlock.

The commander of the ground forces had grown numb in the face of wave after wave of casualty reports. He went from deep heartache to unfeeling numbness, because he himself had no idea whether he would share the same fate as many of these warriors, sacrificed in the battle on this planet ...

"Look, what's that up above ...?" A staff officer suddenly cried out in surprise. He was the one tasked with monitoring the battlefield, and right now, his eyes were riveted on the large screen on the wall of the command centre.

At this cry, the commander quickly raised his head from the mass of reports before him, and his eyes immediately noticed two radiant mecha almost bright enough to dazzle his eyes in the air above the dormitory district. That familiar form caused him to lose control and shout, "Godd*mmit! They actually dare to violate the terms of the joint declaration!"

Right then, on the battlefield, almost everyone had noticed the two mecha hovering in the air. The mecha's outer forms were just too large and bright — it was practically impossible to miss them. It was like someone had hit the pause button on the initially fierce battlefield; both sides stopped fighting in unplanned unison.

Imperial mecha were forbidden from appearing in regular battlefields, but now two had inexplicably appeared in the airspace above planet Newline. They stood tall and proud as they looked down on the battlefield below.

When the enemy fighters saw the emblem on the chests of the two imperial mecha, they instantly emitted an earth-shattering cheer. In contrast, the defensive troops of planet Newline, all of the Federation warriors including the academy instructors, were swamped by an emotion that felt a lot like despair.

Tang Yu had just destroyed an ace mecha when he heard the horrified gasps of the other instructors around him. And right after that, the entire battlefield descended into a kind of cold stillness. Bewildered, he lifted his head, and when he saw the two mecha hovering in the air, his pupils contracted, and his hands which had been busy operating his mecha stiffened ...

Tang Yu reflexively shot a glance at the dormitory district — he could almost see what the final fate of the people remaining here would be already. He suddenly thought of something and swiftly checked the location of his pet disciple Qiao Ting. Unexpectedly, he found that the other had already departed the range of the dormitory district and was heading into the depths of the military academy.

Tang Yu could not help but feel both shocked and delighted. Shocked that Qiao Ting had not obeyed his orders, acting on his own to leave the protected area ... if anything had happened, he would not have been able to rush over in time to help. Delighted because, even though Qiao Ting had disobeyed him, he had made a fortuitous mistake in leaving the dormitory district. Perhaps this way, he may have a chance of surviving.

Yes, Tang Yu did not believe that they would be able to survive the attacks of an imperial operator. It was foreseeable that anyone who remained in the dormitory district, whether it were soldiers or instructors, or even those students under the protection of the beam shield, would be unable to escape death in the end.

Having no other recourse, Tang Yu's gaze turned cold as he made an instant decision. He would lead all the instructors here and try their best to hold these two imperial mecha here as long as possible, giving Qiao Ting's group more time to run away.

The two imperial mecha saw that the entire battlefield had frozen for several seconds at their emergence, becoming deathly silent, and their hearts were filled with pride and satisfaction. They stared with cool disinterest down at the people below — the Huaxian ground forces and the ace operators in their ranks were like nothing more than ants in the imperial mecha's eyes.

At this moment, one of the imperial mecha asked the other tonelessly, "What have you found?"

"I see two batches of baby fish 1 trying to meet up, hehe ..." the other imperial mecha suddenly cackled.

"Is it the target?" The imperial mecha who had first spoken could not help but raise an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. He did not expect to be so lucky, discovering their target right from the get-go.

" Most probably 1 . Those baby fish are all trainee mecha of the academy. Two of them are even ace trainee mecha. They should be the two targets central command has assigned to us. Parker, I'll leave this end to you. I'll go handle those little fish, and once I'm done, we can return." The other imperial mecha could not help but lick his lips in anticipation. Compared to being a humanoid cannon without any need for skill or technique, he still much preferred teasing baby fish and having some fun.

"Don't go overboard." The imperial mecha which had first spoken could not help but warn the other. It seemed like the two imperial mecha had a good relationship.

"Chill, chill. When have I not completed a mission?" replied the other imperial mecha. Immediately after, he had operated his mecha to disappear into the night sky ...

Tang Yu, who had been closely observing the two imperial mecha all this time, saw one of them abruptly disappear and his heart clenched. "Where did he go?"

Before he could search for the other's tracks, the remaining imperial mecha suddenly drew a giant cylindrical weapon almost as tall as the mecha itself from behind it. Tang Yu's face changed drastically at the sight and he shouted, "Dodge!"

As an elite ace, Tang Yu had very comprehensive knowledge of the imperial mecha he would be using once he advanced. The weapon the opponent had brought out was precisely the most powerful and horrifying beam energy weapon imperial mecha had —— Line of Oblivion! As long as one was hit by the weapon, even an imperial mecha of the same level would only be able to survive by exhausting all of its power on its King Shield. Any mecha below imperial mecha absolutely could not survive a blow from this weapon. The only way to escape was to leave the attack range of the Line of Oblivion, which was why Tang Yu had immediately yelled out for his side to run.

"Boom!" The round cylinder in the imperial mecha's hands suddenly shot out a violet-black beam. At the moment it discharged, even a mecha as powerful as the imperial mecha could not keep its balance — the entire mecha was sent flying backwards; it was clear to see how powerful the kickback of this cannon was.

Thanks to Tang Yu's warning, all the Federation mecha in the air swiftly flew out of the trajectory of the beam. Still, even so, several mecha who did not react fast enough were grazed by the violet-black beam. Even this tiny bit of contact was enough for the power contained by the beam to blow these mecha apart, turning them into hunks of debris before being vaporized to disappear without a trace into the air.

This one shot of the imperial mecha's cannon had been targeting the armoured ground forces fighting against the enemy mecha. Just one shot, and a circular black space appeared right in the centre of the neat rectangular formation of the armoured troops. Those troops standing within the circle had been swallowed by a wave of black, similarly disappearing without a trace ...

"This is too horrific. We have no way of resisting this!" At the sight, one of the staff officers in ground command was unable to take the pressure and collapsed to his knees, wailing. Although imperial mecha were unable to determine the outcome of a battlefield outright like god-class mecha, the ground forces of the Federation which were already at a disadvantage just had no spare energy to resist against the enemy mecha anymore after receiving this devastating blow.

This spineless behaviour of the staff officer would normally have drawn the scorn and rebuke of others, but everyone in the command centre had been shocked dumb by this strike. The command centre was extraordinarily silent, desperation and despair spreading out like a shroud.

The imperial mecha saw that he had managed to wipe out almost one-sixth of the armoured ground forces with just one shot and nodded in satisfaction. "Truly impressive. This is the true value of us imperial operators ..."

After saying that, the imperial operator stabilised his mecha and raised the cylinder once more. This time, he was aiming for the area several li behind the armoured troops, the radiantly shining dormitory district ...

"What a great target!" The imperial operator licked in his lips excitedly. As long as he utterly destroyed that area, their mission would be half-completed. How funny that these Huaxians, thinking they were so smart, had created such a district-wide beam shield. This saved him a lot of effort, allowing him to find the target he wanted to hit so easily. It was just so bloody convenient.

Tang Yu, who had just led the instructors to evade the trajectory of the beam, saw where the cylinder was aimed at and could not help but cry, "Stop! Bastard!" He operated his mecha over in an attempt to prevent the attack, but it was already too late. The opponent pulled the trigger and another violet-black beam shot out from the cylinder ...

"Boom!" The violet-black beam struck the beam shield of the dormitory district without mercy. The beam shield shattered instantly, but the beam was not weakened significantly. In the next moment, it blasted its way into the dormitory district. Many buildings were immediately consumed by the violet-black beam, and one-tenth of the initially lovely and tranquil dormitory district was gone.

Witnessing this, tears formed in Tang Yu's fierce gaze. Right when the beam struck its target, he could almost see the cadets inside being vaporised in the spray of dust and ash, and his heart twisted with anguish.

"Ain't this place big ..." The imperial mecha grumbled, before once again lifting its cylinder to aim at the dormitory district, preparing to fire the second round of the Line of Oblivion.

"Stop, godd*mmit!" Tang Yu became frenzied. Without hesitation, he made his mecha leap towards the imperial mecha. Even though he knew this was suicidal, he just could not stand idly by and watch as the children died here ...

"How impudent!" The imperial mecha saw an ace mecha charging like a reckless fool at him, trying to stop him from firing the Line of Oblivion. Sneering, he pulled the trigger, sending another violet-black beam shooting out of the cannon to barrel towards Tang Yu's mecha ...

"Major Tang Yu!" the instructors all shouted in horror. Everyone there knew that as soon as the Line of Oblivion hit, Tang Yu was very unlikely to survive. Just as the violet-black beam was about to consume Tang Yu's mecha whole ...

With a loud "boom!" the violet-black beam was abruptly stopped in its tracks by a powerful wave of energy. The beam then quickly dissipated, and amazingly, Tang Yu's mecha reappeared completely undamaged. What in the world had happened?

Even Tang Yu himself was equally stunned and confused. He had charged forwards, ready to sacrifice himself, hoping that he could exhaust as much of the power behind the Line of Oblivion's attack as possible so that the dormitory district below would receive less damage. Unexpectedly, in that split second before he would have been struck by the attack, a pale blue beam had suddenly come from a distance to intercept the Line of Oblivion, saving him.

He instinctively looked in the direction where the pale blue beam had come from. In the night sky above, a mecha was flying here at high speed. A few seconds later, the mecha appeared before everyone's eyes ...

Tang Yu teared up when he saw this mecha. Like a bullied child who had finally caught sight of a dependable adult, he could not help but cry out, "General Ling!"

Tang Yu had shouted this through his mecha's loudspeakers, so everyone on the battlefield heard this cry loud and clear!

1. 小猫鱼: Original phrase here is, quite literally, 'baby/little catfish'. Apparently, it's actually referring to tiny fish used to feed cats. Credits to Aurega for the info.

2. 八九不离十: 8 or 9, not far from 10. This phrase means that something is not far off from the truth.

Chapter 382 - Daddy is Here!

The words 'General Ling' reverberated like thunder across the entire battlefield, jolting everyone's hearts. The two sides which had been at each other's throats abruptly stopped fighting, looking up at the mecha which had appeared so unexpectedly.

This mecha was much bigger and grander than the imperial mecha. The imperial mecha, which was already one size bigger than regular mecha, was just like a petite maiden, appearing extremely feeble in comparison. It possessed a classic and simple outer form unlike other mecha. The blazing phoenix totem on its chest and the five stars symbolizing its nationality emblazoned on its right arm could be clearly seen by everyone present.

All of this stirred up everyone on the battlefield. The warriors of the Huaxia Federation were shouting in excitement, uncoordinated chants of 'General Ling' slowly merging into a unified chorus ... they were suffused with joy, and there were even many warriors who had tears streaming down their faces as they cheered.

In contrast, the flames of arrogance stoked by the reinforcement of the imperial operator were instantly dampened. Some mecha operators were even so terrified that they began to retreat — it was clear to see how nerve-wracking the emergence of this mecha was to them.

If it could be said that the battlefield had previously been plunged into silence by the appearance of the two imperial mecha, then the appearance of this mecha had caused the entire battle to freeze. The enemies, in particular, were scared stiff.

This was because everyone knew the identity behind this mecha who had suddenly descended upon the battlefield to block the imperial mecha's horrific attack. He was one of the twelve god-class operators of the Federation, the god-class operator termed to be the strongest in the future — he was one of the ten great generals of the Huaxia Federation, Ling Xiao!

Ling Xiao's reputation did not only echo throughout Huaxia; he was an awe-inspiring existence across the whole world. The enemies knew very well that the moment they made any wrong move, Ling Xiao would definitely eliminate them in a heartbeat. Against such an ultimate weapon, they had no chance of victory.

In the ground command centre, the commander there gave himself a hard slap as soon as he saw Ling Xiao suddenly appear. The sharp pain woke him up, and he began laughing wildly even as his eyes began to redden. Mumbling to himself, he said, "General Ling has really come. He's here, he's here ... victory will inevitably be ours, the Huaxia Federation's!" That final phrase was shouted at top volume. It was clear to see how much he had struggled and suffered in the battle thus far. And now, he could finally let it all out.

This cry of his jolted all the other staff in the command centre out of their stunned stupor. They immediately began to dance and cheer — within the span of a few short minutes, they had risen from the pits of despair to having hope again. Several officers with weaker hearts even slumped to the ground, unable to get up in the interim as they both cried and laughed in relief.

Rushing onto the scene, Ling Xiao's gaze had turned instantly to where Ling Lan lived on campus. When he saw thick clouds of smoke billowing from the dormitory district and the chaos and destruction within it, his gaze turned cold as he realised he had still been a step too late.

Ling Xiao's heart was filled with frustration and anxiety; he did not know whether his daughter was alright. Though typically calm, he finally could not suppress the killing intent in his heart. Without hesitation, he raised the gun in his hands and aimed it at the imperial mecha who had caused this terrible scene.

He absolutely would not allow this imperial mecha who may have harmed his precious daughter to escape his grasp. He would make the other pay the price in blood!

"Ling Xiao, you cannot do this." The imperial operator sensed a great threat; he knew that the other's killing intent had been invoked. Once one entered the imperial realm, they would be able to sense an opponent's killing intent.

The imperial operator knew very well that he was no match for a god-class operator. Against a god-class operator, other than rivals of the same rank, the only other way to deal with them was to rely on a considerable number of fearless imperial operators to employ mutual destruction methods ... perhaps then there would still be some chance of injuring the other. Take a good look — that's only to injure, not destroy. At their level, no miraculous cross-level upset was possible.

"If you kill me, you'll violate the international joint declaration," barked the imperial operator.

"Since the moment you first chose to open fire and shoot, you have already lost the right to say that to me," replied Ling Xiao coldly. Anyone who dared touch his daughter should be prepared to die.

Ling Xiao pulled the trigger without hesitation, and a pale blue beam shot out from the muzzle of the gun, heading straight for the opponent's mecha.

The imperial operator instantly kicked his mecha into flash evasion. In the blink of an eye, the imperial mecha had already dashed several hundred metres from his original location. Everyone on the ground saw the imperial mecha evade the beam Ling Xiao had shot. However, just as the Federation warriors were about to sigh and the enemy cheer, the very next second, everything changed. Everyone stared in silent stupefaction at the imperial mecha, unable to make any sound.

The right arm of the imperial mecha which had already flashed a hundred or so metres away had actually been destroyed. That massive Line of Oblivion which had been hoisted on his right shoulder slipped due to the loss of support to crash heavily into the ground, making a loud crash.

What in the world had happened? Very soon, some of the mecha operators with quick minds quickly realised that the imperial mecha's right arm must have been destroyed by that beam Ling Xiao had shot. But, how had the beam which had already been evaded still manage to strike the imperial mecha's arm?

Almost everyone was unable to figure it out, completely baffled, because they did not believe that their eyes could have been mistaken. Only Tang Yu's gaze flashed, a trace of confusion on his brow despite having some vague flash of comprehension that he just could not put words to.

Only the imperial operator who had been shot knew exactly how he had been hit. When the opponent had fired, he had used the highest form of shooting skill —— Temporal Shadow!

Temporal Shadow was actually a form of illusion — that is, the speed and the beam of light seen by the attacker were in fact all fake. In other words, when Ling Xiao had shot, the opponent had already fallen victim to a kind of misperception; this was an ability that only god-class operators could possess. The imperial operator only understood because he had once received some guidance from a god-class operator in his own country. The imperial operator felt that he might have already been hit even before he evaded — it's just that he had only noticed it after he evaded.

This was a god-class operator — he had no way to resist! The imperial operator finally experienced the same helplessness ace operators felt when they faced him ... Before he could regain his mental balance, a dark shadow had already appeared in front of him.

Pow pow pow pow! Four beams of cold light flashed by and in the next second, the imperial mecha's sole remaining left arm had been sliced cleanly off. The final blow of the sword pierced mercilessly through the imperial mecha's cockpit. With Ling Xiao's capabilities, he could certainly have finished off the opponent in one blow. However, it would be hard to quell Ling Xiao's rage with just one blow ...

The imperial mecha, who had strutted around proudly, terrorizing the entire battlefield, was eliminated so efficiently — everyone present at the scene was gobsmacked. Although they had always known that god-class mecha were ultimate weapons of the human world, that was after all just a legend. Many warriors would never witness a god-class mecha operator in battle all their lives, and so they would never truly comprehend what that description truly meant. Right then, after truly seeing a god-class operator in action, they finally understood why only god-class mecha were called the ultimate weapons of the human world ... the imperial mecha which had so frightened them was nothing before the god-class mecha. Like any other mecha before a god-class mecha, its existence was at the level of an ant.

Ling Xiao's rage was not appeased by destroying one imperial mecha; in the next moment, he had already appeared in the air above the armoured troops.

"Activate Divine Punishment system!" His own daughter's life hung in the balance because of these intruders. Ling Xiao's heart was surging with killing intent — without hesitation, he unleashed the god-class mecha's most fearsome weapon, the Divine Punishment system.

"Command received by <Belief>, Divine Punishment activated!" In less than a second, twelve beautiful wings unfurled from god-class mecha <Belief>'s back — the wings absorbed energy rapidly, reaching its peak level in the blink of an eye.

"Fire!" Ling Xiao said icily as he pressed the trigger in his hands without mercy. Twelve beams of light swept towards the enemy formations held off by the armoured troops, leaving white spots in everyone's vision for several seconds ... when the light faded and everyone's vision returned to normal, twelve lanes of white space had been carved into the ground. In the spaces, there was no longer any sign of mecha, not even debris — it was as if the mecha had been instantly vaporized.

This devastating firepower once again drove the point home on why god-class mecha were called the ultimate weapons of the human world — nothing could stand in the way of this power.

One round of Divine Punishment had almost wiped out half of the enemy mecha; the entire enemy camp suddenly appeared so empty and insubstantial. Ling Xiao's rage was only slightly alleviated; ending his attack, he once more teleported to hover in the air and decisively took charge of the general military-wide commlink and ordered, "All forces, attack! Clear the battlefield!" Since they dared to invade, then they should be prepared to die — Ling Xiao had never intended for any of these enemies to leave the planet alive.

"Yes, sir!" At Ling Xiao's command, all of the Huaxian soldiers responded spiritedly. They had been lifted from despair to hope over the course of a few minutes, and had now seen the budding fruit of victory from the heights of hope. Right then, they were fully motivated — the frustration from fighting at a disadvantage, completely overpowered, had finally disappeared. All of the warriors were bursting with energy, leaping towards those remaining enemy mecha like a pack of hungry wolves ...

While everyone charged at the remaining enemies, only Tang Yu flew towards Ling Xiao, shouting, "General Ling, there is still one more imperial mecha. He has already infiltrated the military academy ..."

Ling Xiao had already been planning to go check on Ling Lan in the dormitory district. Hearing what Tang Yu said, his heart clenched — for the other imperial mecha to let go of the obvious battle merits here to secretly infiltrate the school, what exactly was the other after?

Ling Xiao had the same thought as Ling Lan. The very first thing that came to mind was — could it be that his daughter's actions at the Swift Dragon base had been exposed? However, Ling Xiao very quickly eliminated this possibility. Although he had been staying at the military academy for the past period of time, he had still remained well-informed of the situation on the outside. There had been no sign at all that the Caesar Empire had sensed anything new ...

Suddenly, Ling Xiao's face shifted subtly, and in the very next second, he had vanished from Tang Yu's sight. Only his words echoed in the air, "Leave it to me!"

Ling Xiao unstintingly expended his mecha's power to utilize the Divine Wind system. Just a moment before, he had received a message from his daughter. The message consisted of only a set of coordinates, along with one word: Help!

Ling Xiao was consumed with worry and rage — he could almost guarantee that that last bloody imperial mecha must be at those coordinates!

"Lan-er, hold on for another 5 seconds. Daddy will be there soon~!" Ling Xiao was very confident that he would definitely be able to rush to the scene within 5 seconds using the Divine Wind system. However, he also knew that, up against an imperial mecha, 5 seconds could very well already decide whether his daughter would live or die ...

Chapter 383 - A Game!

After the other imperial mecha abruptly left the dormitory district, it arrived at an area several kilometres away several seconds later, where it then intercepted the Thunder King's gang which had been sneaking away from the dormitory district.

Seeing this enemy imperial mecha which had suddenly appeared before them, even the confident Thunder King Qiao Ting instantly lost his composure. His first reaction was to lead his team members to run in a desperate bid for escape.

"What a bunch of limp eggs!" said the imperial operator scornfully. He looked towards the distance — on the escape path this group had chosen, a team of eight mecha was heading right towards them in this direction ...

"Perhaps, I can play a fun game." A creepy smile emerged on the imperial operator's lips; this was his favourite game.

Having come to some decision, the imperial operator did not choose to destroy the Thunder King's group directly. Instead, he tailed them like an unshakeable shadow, slowly yet surely. At the same time, he enforced signal interference onto this sector, making it impossible for the two mecha teams to discover each other's presence beforehand with their radars ...

"Eh?" The imperial operator suddenly cried out in surprise. He had noticed the eight mecha rushing here suddenly stop — could it be that they had sensed something? The imperial operator immediately denied this possibility, because the interference function of an imperial mecha was unable to be cracked by mecha other than god-class mecha.

"How troublesome!" The other party's subsequent actions puzzled the imperial mecha and soured his mood. He could not help but curse and mutter under his breath before disappearing in a flash.

Running for their lives, at the brink of despair, the Thunder King's group suddenly found that the imperial mecha chasing after them all this while had suddenly vanished. Unable to help themselves, all of the mecha fell to their knees — the only one who managed to stay on his feet was the Thunder King ...

"He's letting us go?" Qiao Ting asked disbelievingly. Had that butcher's knife hanging high above their heads truly just gone away? The Thunder King really wondered if he was dreaming.

"That person is gone. He must have decided to let us go," answered one of his team members, panting. He was very grateful to keep his life — when they had been running earlier with the imperial mecha hot on their tail, he had really thought that they were all done for.

"Boss, while that person is away, let us quickly leave this place!" Another member was still extremely frightened. Even though his stamina was almost depleted by their desperate dash for survival earlier, he still felt that it was better to leave this dangerous location as soon as they could.

"Then, where should we go? We have no idea where the enemy has gone. What if we just happen to choose the same direction that person is heading towards? Isn't that just asking for trouble?" Yet another member glanced at his radar and saw that everything was empty on it. This meant that there were no other mecha within a ten-kilometre radius of them, making it seem as if this spot was very safe. However, the more things appeared this way, the harder it felt for him to make a decision.

"Let's just go back to the dormitory district. There are Federation troops there, and Instructor Tang Yu is there too." Someone suggested that they head back from whence they came. In their minds, Instructor Tang Yu was the strongest — perhaps he could protect them. Besides, there was both power and safety in numbers.

"No, I believe that it would be even more dangerous there. Didn't you see how all the enemies focused their attacks there? I'm wondering whether that imperial mecha has gone over to reinforce the forces at the dormitory district. If he has really gone there, even if Instructor Tang Yu is there, he won't be able to handle it," said Qiao Ting with a bitter smile. Even though Instructor Tang Yu was a king of aces, against an imperial operator, he was equally vulnerable.

Of course, although Qiao Ting did not want to go back for the reason he had mentioned, there was still another reason for his resistance. He had domineeringly led his group of twelve away earlier because he had wanted to earn battle merits and establish himself — if he ran back now with his tail between his legs, Qiao Ting felt that it would be just too great a loss of face. He did not want to go back and become the butt of jokes for those three members who had refused to come with him.

"Yes, the regiment commander is right." The member most supportive of Qiao Ting once again jumped out to back Qiao Ting's decision.

"It's better for us to continue moving forwards in this direction. If the imperial operator was planning to head this way anyway, I really can't figure out why he would choose to disappear on his own. Wouldn't it have made more sense to keep following us?" Qiao Ting bit out, then finally chose to continue with his previous course.

Qiao Ting's words were undoubtedly logical. Moreover, he was also the regiment commander, so even if some of the members had some reservations, they could only tag along since the majority agreed with their leader ...

Meanwhile, on Ling Lan's end, her team had been charging at high speed towards the dormitory district when she suddenly stopped. As soon as Ling Lan stopped, without her having to say a word, the rest of her team members tacitly stopped moving as well. They silently spread out around Ling Lan — highly used to working together, they knew what to do. They believed that their team leader would not have stopped for no reason; he must have noticed something.

Ling Lan had stopped because, inside her mindspace, Little Four had suddenly shouted a warning that there was an enemy ahead and that this enemy was actually an imperial mecha!

This news stunned Ling Lan. She immediately chose to stop her mecha, turning in her mind to ask Little Four what exactly was going on.

Little Four was also very distressed. Hands wrapped around his head, he said in disbelief, "I also can't figure it out. Doesn't this world have a joint declaration that mecha above ace level are not allowed to appear on a battlefield?"

"Boss, we better change directions and run! The other has most likely already noticed us ..." Little Four had some shielding ability, but he was not confident that his shielding would work as flawlessly against an imperial mecha. He immediately suggested that his boss temporarily run away to avoid the enemy.

"Okay!" replied Ling Lan decisively. She signalled for her team members to follow her, turning 90 degrees left in a swift escape ...

Backtracking along their original route, they would certainly bump into the unidentified enemy — Ling Lan naturally did not want to take the risk. Also, if they turned right instead, they would indirectly shorten the distance between them and the imperial mecha — Ling Lan did not want to chance it. Only by turning left and heading up could they put as much distance as they could between them and the imperial mecha.

However, Ling Lan's team had not even flown this way for 10 seconds when Little Four yelled out, "He's found us! He has given up on his original prey and is rushing towards us ... estimated time of arrival, 10 seconds!" This final phrase was said with a whine, because Little Four really could not think of any way for them to escape from the demonic clutches of the imperial operator.

Ling Lan gritted her teeth at those words, once again putting the brakes on her rapid sprint. She abruptly turned her head around to shout, "Prepare to fight!"

This cry of Ling Lan's instantly caused her well-trained team to stop and turn around like Ling Lan to get ready to face the enemy. At the same time, they took the weapons hanging on their backs into their hands.

Just when they had finished doing all this, in the night sky above them, a huge mecha appeared out of thin air. Its glorious and lovely chassis made everyone's face change. Familiar with mecha of every level, they naturally recognised that this was an imperial mecha.

At the same time, they also understood now why Boss Lan had asked them to prepare for battle. Before an imperial operator, it was utterly impossible to escape by running. As such, they might as well choose to fight — even if they died, they would at least die with some dignity.

"How interesting, actually able to choose death so calmly ..." Seeing how this group made a completely different decision from the previous group, the imperial mecha was exhilarated. The more he saw how brave and upstanding they were, the more he felt like abusing them. He wanted to see what these people would choose to do in the face of death — would they heroically leap to their death, or would they betray their principles to live?

"I will give you all one chance to live. Go back to the path you all were using previously, and you will encounter a group of people with 13 mecha. As long as you all kill everyone in the other group, I'll let you all go!" The imperial mecha suddenly turned on its external speakers to tell Ling Lan's team.

Ling Lan's gaze narrowed. "If I'm not mistaken, that group must be from our side. You want to see us fight amongst ourselves?"

Applause rang out from the other's speakers, and the imperial operator's sinister voice quickly followed, "You're very smart! Yes, indeed, I really want to see you all fighting and killing each other. And this just so happens to be your only chance to survive. Refuse, and the outcome for both your teams is death, though you will all just die at my hands."

"Of course, you can also choose to sacrifice yourself. Lead your team to meet the other group and commit suicide, and I can also let those people go," suggested the imperial operator with a smile. He was just like Satan, spreading the seeds of temptation which you could not refuse.

Ling Lan fell silent. All of a sudden, she did not know how to choose — the opponent had given her a reason she could not refuse. Just as Ling Lan hesitated, Little Four's despairing face was suddenly painted with pleasant surprise. He shouted loudly, "Boss, Daddy's here!"

"I agree!" Ling Lan's heart surged with joy as she replied decisively. Ling Lan was neither planning to kill the other team to survive, nor was she planning to lead her team to kill themselves. She was only trying her best to drag things out. Since she knew a saviour had come, it would really be too stupid to die here out of carelessness.

As Ling Lan replied, she did not forget to command Little Four inside the mindspace, "Little Four, quickly think of a way to send dad a message so he can come save us!"

"The other team is heading here right now. I'll give you all 10 seconds. If you all still have not met up with them after 10 seconds, I will destroy all of you, because you are all trash unworthy of playing this game." The imperial operator did not do as Ling Lan wished and give her more time — instead, he gave Ling Lan's team yet another rule to follow, giving them no choice but to work hard.

"I'll begin the count now ... 1 ..." The imperial operator did not give Ling Lan's team any more time to prepare, beginning to count the moment he finished issuing his newest rule. When Ling Lan heard '1', she was the first to turn her mecha and rush back in their original direction.

No matter what the situation would be like 10 seconds later, she needed to make full use of these 10 seconds to do as the other had said. Her only hope was that Little Four could make contact with her father as soon as possible ...

Seeing their boss charging out like a ferocious tiger, Ling Lan's team responded swiftly. All of them also operated their mecha to follow after their boss ...

"What a bunch of obedient children! Things are gonna be fun now!" The imperial operator licked his lips in excitement at the sight, cackling maliciously. A second later, that grand and lovely imperial mecha once again vanished from the sky, leaving no trace behind.