450 - 455

Chapter 450 - Lin Xiao vs Jiang Shaoyu

After saying goodbye to Qiao Ting, Zhao Jun hurriedly made his way to the backstage conveyor belt, which would bring him directly to the exit. As soon as Zhao Jun arrived outside, he found Li Lanfeng waiting for him, seemingly completely at ease.

"Lanfeng, why is the team leader looking for me? Why did he ask me to come out from backstage? I was thinking to finish watching Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu's fight." Before Li Lanfeng could speak, Zhao Jun had already blurted all the questions that had been running through his head ever since he had seen the message.

A slight smile appeared on Li Lanfeng's lips and he said, "The team leader wants you to sit beside him to watch the fight together. He might have something to say to you." Regarding why Ling Lan was calling Zhao Jun over, Li Lanfeng had some idea. It would be a good chance for Zhao Jun to improve his strength.

Li Lanfeng was well aware of Ling Lan's control skills — an ace would have much to impart. On top of that, Ling Lan also had an imperial instructor 1 (Li Lanfeng still did not know Ling Lan's real identity) — Zhao Jun would definitely be able to save himself from many detours if he received some guidance from Ling Lan.

Li Lanfeng's words made Zhao Jun's eyes light up. As familiar with Li Lanfeng as he was, he could glean something from his friend's demeanour — something good would definitely come out from this trip.

Thus, he happily followed Li Lanfeng to the exclusive viewing area of the First Men's Military Academy. When she saw Zhao Jun arrive, Ling Lan motioned for Zhao Jun to come sit beside her.

As soon as Zhao Jun sat down, he saw many team members looking at him in envy. He was completely nonplussed by this, wondering what in the world was going on. Right at this moment, his team leader beside him prompted, "Senior Zhao, please watch the fight closely!"

This cry made Zhao Jun's heart jolt, and he faintly felt cold sweat breaking out on his back. Of course, Zhao Jun was feeling somewhat guilty because he had indeed been distracted and had not seen what was happening on the field. He had not expected that brief loss of attention to have been caught by his keen-eyed team leader.

Zhao Jun quickly turned his eyes back onto the field, showing that he was already fully focused on the mecha fight between Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu now. Only after sensing his team leader's cold gaze turn away from him did he surreptitiously wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, sighing internally. No wonder Qi Long and the others said that Boss Lan's force of presence was very powerful — one cold stare was enough to give them shivers. So it was really true. What's funny was that he had actually not taken it seriously when he had first heard about this. He had thought that Qi Long and the others were exaggerating, but now it looked like they were completely right. Their team leader's force of presence and the blade of his gaze was truly formidable. He reckoned that his team leader must have been showing him some face previously by not presenting his force of presence so aggressively ... at this thought, Zhao Jun was instantly crying inside — was it too late for him to withdraw now?

Ling Lan did not know that her special effort to convert her force of presence into sound to make sure Zhao Jun watched the fight properly would make him come to such a realisation. This was also a result of Ling Lan's increasing comfort with using her force of presence. Compared to how her force of presence had been constantly leaking before, her force of presence now was extremely reserved. But as soon as it was presented, the pressure it exerted would be several times greater than how it was originally. Even Zhao Jun who did not feel that pressured before could now feel the powerful pressure of Ling Lan's force of presence.

The moment he focused, Zhao Jun was pulled fully into Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu's mecha fight.

Lin Xiao's ace mecha was a winged transformer mecha, an improved mecha based off a balanced fixed-type mecha. However, it was not like a fixed-type mecha, which had absolute balance in both long-range and close-range attacks. Instead, it leaned towards long-range attacks, but unlike mecha exclusively specializing in long-range attacks, close combat was not a significant weakness. The close-combat ability of this type of mecha was undoubtedly much stronger than long-range mecha, but it was still weaker than a true balanced mecha.

In contrast, Jiang Shaoyu's mecha surprised everyone. He was operating the mecha with the highest death rate, a close-combat mecha. Although the mecha's long-range abilities were weak, it was the indisputable king of close combat.

Two such distinctly different mecha led to the current deadlock on the field. Lin Xiao was extremely cautious — seeing that the other was piloting a close-combat mecha, he had instantly kept a distance from the start. The hands of his mecha each held a long-range beam gun, and he used a continuous stream of firepower to keep Jiang Shaoyu suppressed below, keeping him from moving forwards and freezing up his opponent's advantage completely.

This situation greatly frustrated the ill-prepared Jiang Shaoyu. Opportunity was fleeting — having already been pushed into a passive situation, it was now very difficult for him to turn things around. If he wanted to obtain victory, he needed to get close to the other; otherwise, under the suppression of his opponent's firepower, he would probably be stuck in this situation till the end of the match. Although he was still dodging beautifully at present so Lin Xiao's beam attacks had not given him any injury whatsoever, the opponent had also completed his ideal setup, perfectly keeping him suppressed within the range of his beam attacks, rendering him effectively immobile.

Following the passage of time, perhaps Jiang Shaoyu had become impatient — a control error caused his mecha's evasion movements to slow for a beat, and a spot on his mecha's thigh was actually hit twice in a row ... if Lin Xiao managed to hit the same spot another two times, that thigh would definitely be blasted off, deducting the opponent's score by a large half and bringing victory within grasping distance.

Seeing this chance as well, the audience instantly perked up, beginning to feel nervous. They looked at Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy, silently wondering if he could grasp this opportunity.

Lin Xiao too saw this opportunity — his mind stirred, but he instantly repressed his eager heart, steadily maintaining the frequency of his beam attacks. His shots formed a perfect circle, completely trapping Jiang Shaoyu's mecha but not specifically attacking any part.

Opportunity was fleeting — Jiang Shaoyu's mecha once again regained his evasion momentum, and many in the audience found themselves lamenting the missed opportunity. At this moment, Ling Lan suddenly asked, "Senior Zhao, if you encountered this opportunity, what would you do?"

Those Lingtian members who overheard this question instantly perked up their ears to hear Zhao Jun's answer. While Zhao Jun had still been on the field, they had already heard Boss Lan ask Li Lanfeng to call Zhao Jun over in order to study the methods of the two combatants on the field in this match, in preparation for tomorrow's fight.

They naturally did not want to miss this chance to learn as, after all, this was a fight between two ace operators — if they could hear something from Boss Lan's and Zhao Jun's discussion, they would benefit greatly.

After some serious thought, Zhao Jun replied, "I would do as Lin Xiao did. Choose to give it up!"

At his reply, Ling Lan's lips quirked up slightly. She was very pleased with Zhao Jun's response — just as Leopard had said, Zhao Jun may look like a rough brute, brash, straightforward, and impulsive, but his mind was actually very meticulous and he would not make decisions lightly.

"That weakness appeared too abruptly. Anyone who can keep calm will not fall for it." Ling Lan revealed what she thought. Many who had been fooled by Jiang Shaoyu's ploy only now realised that that opening was actually just a lure.

"But this does not exclude the possibility that it is a ploy within a ploy ..." Zhao Jun did not echo agreement with Ling Lan's judgment, however. The opening was very sudden, true, thus making it very suspicious ... but what if the opponent had truly made a mistake and had simply decided not to hide it out of fear that his opponent might jump on it? He shook his head and added, "It cannot be determined. More observation is necessary."

"Yes, whether it is true or false, to be safe, it is better to be patient. Judging by the situation on the field, the advantage is already on Lin Xiao's side. Giving up on this opportunity will not make Lin Xiao lose his upper hand, so it is right for him to be patient and not charge in blindly. If he falls for a trap, his advantage would be completely lost. Jiang Shaoyu can afford to gamble, but Lin Xiao cannot." Ling Lan did not object to Zhao Jun's judgment; this caused the Lingtian members to feel like they were listening to all this while blinded by fog. Until now, there were still some who just could not figure out whether this opportunity was fake or real.

Qi Long was also watching the fight intently at this time. There was no confusion at all on his face because his Animal Instinct had not given him a strong urge to attack. This meant that that opportunity was not trustworthy.

Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were calm as well. As strategists, they were originally the suspicious sort. Before they could confirm things 100%, they absolutely would not make any decisions lightly. Like Lin Xiao, they would choose to ignore the opening and maintain the current advantage to wait for a better opportunity.

Luo Lang was the complete opposite of them. His expressions varied greatly — one moment he'd be calm, then he'd be excited, then impatient, then contemplative ... everyone in Ling Lan's battle clan knew that this fellow had most likely activated his innate talent inside, arbitrarily switching between his various personalities to try and come to a cohesive judgment on the situation on the field. As long as this innate talent of Luo Lang's was utilized well, not only would his combat power during battle be explosively increased, during normal times like this, it could also help with battle analysis. Using the different perspectives of the various personalities to dissect a situation would give one a fuller picture with little chance of error.

The others all had their own opinions to varying extents. True battle between aces was not so easy to decipher — anyone who had the chance to view one would certainly gain something from it.

Jiang Shaoyu saw that the weakness he exposed did not work, and he could not help but curse within his cockpit. After a bout of venting, Jiang Shaoyu calmed down. He knew that he had been a little too obvious with that opening — anyone who was cautious would not have acted lightly. And this Lin Xiao just so happened to be a cautious person ...

Jiang Shaoyu's eyes turned in his sockets, and an idea sprouted in his mind. Initially, his right hand had been holding a beam saber, while his left hand held a beam handgun often used by close-combat mecha. The shooting range of a close-combat mecha's beam handgun was no match for the range of a long-range mecha's beam gun. This was the main reason why Jiang Shaoyu had been totally suppressed in terms of range in this battle with Lin Xiao.

Jiang Shaoyu knew he could not continue being passive like this. With a sudden twist of his body, he unleashed a wild flurry of shots from the beam handgun in his left hand. This time, he was no longer aiming for accuracy, chasing speed instead. A continuous stream of beams poured out, and though a portion flew wide, a majority of the shots met the beams coming from Lin Xiao and neutralized them. This gave Jiang Shaoyu a chance to breathe, and then with a great swing, the beam saber in his right hand was sent flying out of his hand.

The beam saber cut through the air, hurtling at Lin Xiao at an incredible speed.

Lin Xiao's mecha was more of a long-range type to begin with, so its speed was among the fastest among ace mecha. He easily avoided the beam saber and the frequency of the attacks coming from both his hands was not interrupted at all.

The beam saber brushed by Lin Xiao's mecha to land heavily on the ground, sending up some dust and dirt. Just as everyone was astounded at this move by Jiang Shaoyu, many of the spectating First Men's Military Academy students sat up straight, eyes bright, Ling Lan and Zhao Jun not excluded. They all knew that Jiang Shaoyu was probably about to launch his counterattack.

Sure enough, Jiang Shaoyu was finally doing something different. This new action caused astonished cries to ring out across the audience seats. It turned out that after discarding his beam saber, Jiang Shaoyu had drawn a backup beam gun from the secured dock on his back. The counterattack method he had chosen was his weakness —— long-range attack!

1. At first, I was confused about who Li Lanfeng is referring to here, but then I recalled how Li Lanfeng was reunited with his rabbit. Here's a refresher: Ling Lan was sparring with her dad when LLF and ZJ stumbled into their room. Ling Xiao was in an imperial mecha then, so it makes sense for Lanfeng to assume Ling Lan is getting pointers from an imperial instructor.

Chapter 451 - Brutal and Savage Revenge!

Most people felt that this move of Jiang Shaoyu's was suicidal — using one's weakness to compete against another's strength ... it would be strange not to lose.

However, as soon as Jiang Shaoyu attacked, the situation on the field was unexpected. With a gun in both hands, Jiang Shaoyu was shooting at a rate not much lower than Lin Xiao's, and his marksmanship was very good too. Every beam shot collided with one of Lin Xiao's — an opening began to appear in the encirclement of beams restricting Jiang Shaoyu's movements ...

"Holy sh*t, Jiang Shaoyu's long-range skills are pretty strong too!" Quite a few people exclaimed when they saw this. Mind you, mecha operators who were proficient at both close-combat and long-range combat would typically choose a balanced mecha to fully apply their all-rounded capabilities. They would not do as Jiang Shaoyu had, abandoning one of their strengths to focus on just one strength.

Jiang Shaoyu's counterattack was effective; he was no longer fully suppressed by Lin Xiao as before. The situation began to look increasingly promising for Jiang Shaoyu, and just when everyone believed that Jiang Shaoyu's chance was coming ...

That chance really came! Perhaps seeing how he was fast losing his absolute advantage, Lin Xiao panicked. He suddenly lost control of his initially very steady and rhythmical shooting. He pulled too fast on the trigger of his beam gun and actually ended up shooting several blanks, and the opening which Jiang Shaoyu was ripping through his encirclement became even larger due to this mistake.

Chance! A cold gleam flashed through Jiang Shaoyu's eyes. His fingers flew, and all the engines on his mecha were instantly revved to their fullest, pushing his speed to the maximum limit. Although this kind of operation would cause wear and tear on the mecha's engines due to being pushed beyond capacity, Jiang Shaoyu could not bother about this anymore at this moment. Opportunity was fleeting — if he did not grab this chance and continued to wait, perhaps he would not get another one. At that time, it would most likely be impossible to turn things around anymore.

The speed of Jiang Shaoyu's mecha broke past the limits of a close-combat mecha, instantly drawing close to Lin Xiao. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao naturally did not wish for his advantage to end here. He too revved all his engines, retreating desperately, but he was still slower than Jiang Shaoyu by a beat — the distance between the two of them was eaten up in an instant.

At this time, Lin Xiao lost the distance he had maintained while suppressing Jiang Shaoyu through long-range attacks. In other words, his initially formidable and threatening long-range attacks were now completely useless. In the blink of an eye, the two combatants had switched over from long-range attack mode to close-combat mode.

"Lin Xiao's in danger now!" Seeing this, everyone felt that things were not looking good for Lin Xiao. Once things shifted to close combat, although a balanced mecha is also strong, it still would not be able to beat a true <King of Close Combat>.

This was a battle between aces — even when one side seemed to have an overwhelming advantage, before the fight truly ended, no one would dare to say that victory was certain. Lin Xiao had had the upper hand all this while, but now he had become the disadvantaged party in the blink of an eye.

At this point, Ling Lan frowned slightly, a trace of contemplation coursing through her eyes ... had Lin Xiao truly made a mistake?

Right then, the two mecha on the field were still engaged in a pursuit, one chasing while the other ran, but now the roles had been reversed. The initial pursuer was now the one being pursued, the initial prey now becoming the hunter.

Lin Xiao did not forget to keep shooting with the guns in his hands as he retreated to prevent Jiang Shaoyu from getting closer and pulling him into a close-range grapple, but Jiang Shaoyu was not someone so easily deterred. His predictive ability was very strong, and the evasion footwork he was employing was also one of the advanced footwork at ace level. Lin Xiao's shooting did not give Jiang Shaoyu much trouble, and the distance between the two of them continued to shrink ...

"What do you think? Senior Zhao?" Ling Lan suddenly turned her head to ask Zhao Jun.

"As soon as the distance is closed and the fight moves into close-range combat, the chances of Lin Xiao losing will become much higher. Now it all depends on whether Lin Xiao can pull away again." Zhao Jun similarly did not think well of Lin Xiao's chances — challenging a close-combat mecha with close combat was really unlikely to end well unless you were piloting a close-combat mecha yourself.

"Jiang Shaoyu can conceal his abilities. What do you think about Lin Xiao? Can he or can he not do so too?" asked Ling Lan instead, clearly showing that she did not agree with Zhao Jun.

"Conceal? Can or cannot?" Zhao Jun was also a clever person. Enlightened, he said in shock, "Leader, you're saying that Lin Xiao's true strength is not actually long range but close combat?" If things were really as his team leader had judged, then this match would really be too interesting.

Finally, Jiang Shaoyu caught up to Lin Xiao. Jiang Shaoyu saw as the distance between himself and Lin Xiao shrunk, and a savage smile appeared on his face. He swung the mechanical beam gun in his right hand fiercely, intending to slam the other with it hard.

The beam gun whistled through the air — everyone in the audience could hear the sound clearly through the top-notch audio system in the combat stadium. Their hearts were raised up high in suspense — with this amount of power behind it, if struck, even an ace mecha would not be able to fully offset the violent concussive force caused by the impact. The mecha operator inside the cockpit would certainly be injured gravely, incurring terrible internal damage.

Quicker than words could say, just as everyone was worrying for Lin Xiao, a loud ear-shattering 'bang' rang out. The two mecha had finally made contact for the first time in the fight.

Those with keen eyes could already tell that Jiang Shaoyu's attack had not worked. At the critical moment, Lin Xiao had used the beam gun in his hands to successfully intercept his opponent's heavy blow.

The two mecha were instantly sent flying backwards away from one another after the violent collision. At the same time, both their mecha each had an item fly off from them. Two loud booms, and those two items cut a lovely curve through the air before crashing heavily onto the ground, smashing open a shallow pit while sending a large spray of dust and dirt into the air.

Apparently, the beam guns of the combatants had been flung out of their hands due to the collision.

The audience had yet to see what had fallen onto the ground when the two mecha which had been flying backwards once again traded moves in the air. It turned out that as they were flying backwards, they had respectively drawn a cold weapon from their backs and had swung it without any hesitation at the other.

If either side had only been a beat slower, one of them would definitely have been able to hit the other with their cold weapon due to its length and weight. If the opponent was unlucky, he might have been struck at the waist where the cockpit was — then, not only would the opponent have suffered concussive damage, his score would also have been deducted by one-third. A strike to the cockpit was considered a very effective attack, thus garnering the highest point deduction on an opponent.

The two of them moved almost simultaneously, and so the two giant cold weapons clashed violently. The resulting force sent both cold weapons bouncing back and at the same time, their already stabilized mecha were once again sent spinning out of control. Only after shooting back several dozens of metres did the two manage to regain full control of their mecha again.

The two mecha faced each other from a distance of 200 metres. This bit of distance could be covered by the speed of a mecha in an instant, but the two fighters did not move recklessly. That last clash had made both of them keenly aware that the opponent before them was undoubtedly the strongest they had ever encountered thus far. The outcome would be decided in a split second; a reversal could occur at any moment.

The two youths vigilantly held their cold weapons up, keeping their eyes on the other as they waited patiently, each trying to find an opportunity.

The audience which had been completely spellbound by the thrilling fight earlier abruptly came to their senses. They began to exclaim,

"Who'd have guessed that Lin Xiao's close combat skills are not at all weaker than Jiang Shaoyu's!"

"Jiang Shaoyu was not the only one hiding his abilities, Lin Xiao was too!"

"Things will be interesting now. Both of them are good at close combat, so even if the fight is now in close-combat mode, the outcome will be hard to predict."

With the display of just those two moves, those with discerning eyes could already tell that though Lin Xiao's mecha looked like it was more geared for long-range attack, in reality, his close-combat ability was several degrees better than that of the average close-combat mecha. By this point, everyone understood that both Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao had been concealing part of their abilities.

At this moment, Ling Lan turned to Zhao Jun and said, "Pay more attention to Jiang Shaoyu's movements. He may be your opponent."

Zhao Jun was taken aback by her words. He could only see that the two people on the field were evenly matched — it was very hard to predict who would win or lose; both sides still had hopes of winning. It all depended on who was better at grasping the opportunities they had, and who was more stable and able to keep their weaknesses shielded.

Seeing the doubt and surprise in Zhao Jun's eyes, Ling Lan explained, "Jiang Shaoyu was too impatient when turning the tables around. He did not think through why the consistently calm and collected Lin Xiao would make such a low-level mistake ..."

Only then did Zhao Jun comb through his memories, and indeed, even though Jiang Shaoyu had broken Lin Xiao's suppression, Lin Xiao was still the one with the upper hand. Lin Xiao's personality was cautious to begin with — he definitely would not waver so easily ...

Zhao Jun said in shocked realisation, "Was it all a setup by Lin Xiao?"

"Exactly so. Lin Xiao seems like he wants to use the opponent's most confident point to defeat him ..." Ling Lan stroked her jaw. This behaviour was actually very brutal and savage — by unfortunate happenstance, the opponent's confidence may be completely crushed. Unless against an especially hated person or for the sake of revenge, the average person would never resort to such means ...

A flash of insight sparked through Ling Lan's mind. Could this be because of Luo Chao? Although Luo Lang had been the one harassed, anyone who was interested could easily find out the truth of the matter and who Jiang Shaoyu's true target was. Luo Lang had just become a decoy shield due to a misunderstanding.

A subtle smile hung on Ling Lan's lips. She really admired a senior who would openly seek revenge when his junior sister had been wronged, not to mention that the junior sister in question was a close childhood companion she had grown up with. Lin Xiao's current scheme was something Ling Lan was very glad to witness.

Sure enough, the following situation turned out as Ling Lan had expected. Lin Xiao's close-combat abilities were extremely solid, and his mentality was extremely calm and logical. Against Lin Xiao's sure and steady way of fighting, Jiang Shaoyu had no chance at all. In contrast, Jiang Shaoyu became increasingly anxious and impatient. It should be known that although three ace operators had come to participate in this tournament, their proficiencies were not the same. He, Jiang Shaoyu, was operating a close-combat mecha, so his close-combat ability was definitely outstanding and noteworthy, Qiao Ting operated a long-range mecha, so his proficiency was undoubtedly in long range, while Lin Xiao operated a balanced mecha, so he should be about equally good in both. However, this balance also signified mediocrity — Lin Xiao should neither be able to beat him in close combat nor beat Qiao Ting in long-range combat. Originally, although he took this fight against Lin Xiao seriously, he had still believed that it would not be a difficult matter to defeat the other. As soon as he managed to get close, victory would be his.

But reality had now given Jiang Shaoyu a direct slap in the face. In his strongest suit, close combat, his opponent was no weaker than himself — instead, he was the one losing confidence as the fight went on. He could still comprehend why he was weaker than the other in long range, but if he could not beat the other in close combat either, then what face did he have as a close-combat operator?

Chapter 452 - A Shameless Person?

Jiang Shaoyu did not want to lose face. He desperately wanted to use his greatest strength to defeat his opponent. Even if he could not do it in one move, he also hoped to strike his opponent so that even as the opponent's points were deducted, he would be able to prove to the audience that he was still stronger in terms of close combat.

Perhaps due to the pressure or perhaps due to Jiang Shaoyu's desperation to obtain results, this mentality made Jiang Shaoyu lose his cool. His movements turned rough and choppy, no longer as fine and rhythmical as before. Anyone with eyes could see that his operation was starting to veer out of control, no longer as perfect as it had been at the start ...

Lin Xiao observed the changes in Jiang Shaoyu and his gaze flickered. He knew that his opportunity would come soon. Lin Xiao did not move immediately — he only had one chance. He needed to act at the moment he had the best shot; otherwise, he would rather wait than be as impulsive as Jiang Shaoyu.

"Hehe, Jiang Shaoyu is probably going to lose now." Zhao Jun could also see the signs now and he could not but break out into a wide grin.

"Hn, from the looks of it now, out of the three ace operators, Jiang Shaoyu is the weakest. That Lin Xiao is very strong and he also knows how to hold back ... he will probably give Qiao Ting a lot of trouble." Ling Lan really quite admired this cadet who had a name which sounded so similar to her dad's — his skills were great both in long range and close range. A balanced mecha was truly most suitable for him.

Moreover, he did not lack cunning either. He had intentionally disguised the outer shell of his mecha to give others the mistaken impression that his strong suit was long-range offense and that his close combat was slightly weaker. This had lured the opponent in to attack his perceived 'weak point' —— close combat. Now, this arrangement of his was indeed proving wondrously effective — well, at least, Jiang Shaoyu had tragically fallen for it. Without these elements of disguise, Jiang Shaoyu would certainly have been warier; he was not that easy to fool.

On the field, the two fighters exchanged several more blows in mid-air, their mecha trading positions several times. Following the passing of time, Jiang Shaoyu, unable to find any opportunity to attack, became even more restless and agitated. His brain ran hot, and he actually abandoned defence to attack with full force. Every swing of his mecha's arms with his cold weapon became heavy and powerful, but his speed dropped noticeably. In aiming for a one-hit kill, he caused his mecha to lose its agility. At this moment, Lin Xiao, who had been waiting all this time, knew that his true opportunity had arrived. He finally made his move!

Jiang Shaoyu's ended his latest round of ferocious attacks, and just as he was about to start the next round, Lin Xiao, who had been on full-defence all this while, actually disappeared from sight while Jiang Shaoyu was distracted preparing his attack. Jiang Shaoyu was first startled and paused for a beat, but immediately after, alarms blared loudly in his mind. He silently knew that things were not good — without conscious thought, his fingers flew reflexively over his mecha's controls, instantly bringing his hand speed to its limits. He needed to pilot his mecha away from here, or else he would be in danger.

Jiang Shaoyu's intuition was not wrong, but though he tried his hardest to escape the crisis, Lin Xiao had already waited so long for this opportunity, so how could he let Jiang Shaoyu escape so easily?

"Boom boom boom boom ..."

The engines of Jiang Shaoyu's mecha had just begun to flare, his mecha's body yet to escape from range, when Lin Xiao suddenly descended from above, his attack already a step ahead ...

"Was that space flicker just now?" The spectators cried out in shock. They had seen Lin Xiao's actions clearly — at the moments Jiang Shaoyu's attack had slowed, he had suddenly dashed to the area above Jiang Shaoyu's head. This flicker movement was a technique that only ace operators could perform. It was called 'space flicker', a weaker version of teleportation. As the technical skill required to perform it was very high, many operators who had just advanced to ace level could not learn this technique.

However, these were not the only exclamations. Closely following that, the voices rose once more, "Ah, it's a mecha chain combo!"

In close-range mecha combat, a mecha chain combo was the technique that could best showcase an operator's control skills and explosive power. The more skilful the operator was, the higher the combo chain they could perform — rumour had it that a god-class operator had once managed a combo chain of 128 hits, instantly defeating his opponent who was also a god-class operator.

"Three hits ... five hits!" By the time Lin Xiao reached five hits, everyone was on their feet in excitement. For the average mecha warrior, a 3-hit chain was already the limit, while a mecha master might be able to do another one or two hits more. Still, five hits was a tipping point — there were very few normal mecha masters who could go beyond five hits. Once someone went over the five-hit mark, that meant that that person's future was limitless.

Under the anticipatory gazes of everyone in the audience, Lin Xiao finally completed the sixth hit in his chain. When the loud 'bang' rang out once more, everyone could not hold back their cheers. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao reached his limit at this time and his combo chain finally ended. After taking Lin Xiao's 6-hit combo, Jiang Shaoyu not only did not manage to escape Lin Xiao's attacks, he was defeated instantly by this combo chain. Six effective attacks instantly reduced Jiang Shaoyu's points to zero — even though Jiang Shaoyu still had the ability to fight, the referee would not give him the chance to do so anymore.

Sure enough, when the referee saw that Jiang Shaoyu's points had been reduced to zero, he decisively raised his red flag and announced the end of the match. On the screens on all four sides of the combat field, Lin Xiao's victory was announced.

With regards to this result, no one had any objections. Although both combatants had been ace operators, Lin Xiao's control skills and mentality had been shown to be better than Jiang Shaoyu's.

After completing his 6-hit combo chain, Lin Xiao sat panting in his cockpit. His initially serious face was now adorned with a wide smile. He wasn't just glad that he had obtained the victory in this match — because victory was already within his expectations — what truly pleased him was that he had actually managed to break through his limits in this fight. For the first time ever, he had managed to up his combo chain to six hits. Undoubtedly, he had once again achieved a breakthrough while putting his all into the fight.

Ling Lan saw the final outcome, and it was as she had expected. She turned to look at Zhao Jun and asked, "Senior Zhao, what do you think of your opponent now?"

Zhao Jun's mouth split into a grin. "Jiang Shaoyu's heart will have an opening remaining. I'll be able to use that in the afternoon."

Ling Lan nodded, but then shook her head. "It's true that there will be an opening, but you are not Lin Xiao, so you won't be able to use it."

"Why?" Zhao Jun frowned, somewhat puzzled.

"Because you are still a special-class operator," answered Ling Lan levelly.

Zhao Jun fell into a thoughtful silence, head bowed. Then, as if figuring something out, he raised his head and asked, "Is this because he has a psychological advantage? So he won't be as caught up in insecurities as he was during his fight with Lin Xiao, making it hard to pick on this weak point of his?"

"Not only does he have a psychological advantage, but he also has the strength to back it up. Even though Jiang Shaoyu will be off his game due to this loss here, it is still very easy for him to defeat you," added Ling Lan.

Ling Lan's words deepened the furrow between Zhao Jun's eyebrows. Well, that was true — although special-class operators and ace operators were both operators, the distance between the two was like heaven and earth; this gap was not so easily bridged.

"Is there no way at all?" mused Zhao Jun regretfully.

"To win will be difficult, but to achieve an internecine outcome is not impossible ..." Ling Lan gave Zhao Jun a great surprise.

As soon as Zhao Jun heard this, he was invigorated. He quickly said, "Leader, tell me quickly ... uh, no, it's Boss, Boss! Tell me quickly!" In order to obtain Ling Lan's battle sutra, Zhao Jun's expression was sycophantic, and he had even shamelessly begun calling Ling Lan 'boss'.

To one side, Li Lanfeng had been listening to their conversation silently, and now he could not help but cover his face in shame, almost hoping he could dig a hole to bury himself in it. Sob, sob, sob, this shameless Zhao Jun ... I really don't know him ...

Meanwhile, the other Lingtian members were instantly left dumbstruck in the face of such shameless behaviour from Zhao Jun. Some members who still retained some degree of rationality, like Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi, swiftly bounced at least three metres away from Zhao Jun, looking for all the world like he was a stranger to them.

This behaviour of Zhao Jun likewise hit Ling Lan like a lightning bolt. The plan she had thought of had already been by her lips, about to be spoken, but now it slid back down her throat. She decided that she would not say anything for now and let Senior Zhao stew for a while to console her poor frightened little soul.

Zhao Jun was completely oblivious to the disdain and avoidance of his companions in reaction to his behaviour. Yup, well, even if he had sensed some of it, his heart right now was filled with that method Ling Lan had mentioned; he had no mind at all the care about teaching those disrespectful juniors a lesson. He ignored the increasingly cold aura emanating from Ling Lan, happily circling around her and calling her 'Boss, Boss' over and over again. He was completely clueless to the fact that the more ingratiating he was with his behaviour, the more unlikely he was to get what he wanted.

Meanwhile, at this time, in the VIP room of the combat stadium, all of the special guests attending the Grand Mecha Tournament were pretty much watching the fight inside.

Seated beside Ling Xiao was the vice president of the Federation. He looked at the winner's name displayed on the large screen and could not help but laugh and say teasingly, "Oh, Ling Xiao, do you have any thoughts about this person's name?"

Ling Xiao and the vice president held the highest status in the military and the government respectively among all the special guests. Though all the other guests appeared to be watching the match intently or conversing in low voices with the people next to them, in truth, they were constantly observing the actions of the two men. When they heard the vice president's teasing remark, their ears instantly perked up — they wanted to know whether this cadet would be especially valued or disliked by General Ling Xiao due to his similar sounding name. Ling Xiao's attitude would determine how they would treat this cadet in the future.

"He's not bad!" Ling Xiao said with a smile. "The name Ling Xiao really is very popular in the Federation, I see. Vice President, in this regard, you can't match me ..."

Ling Xiao's smug boasting made everyone there smile knowingly. Several high-ranking officers of various army divisions now viewed the outstanding Lin Xiao with greedy eyes, planning to report this person to their commanders immediately after the tournament ended so that the officers sent to assess cadets would work hard to secure Lin Xiao for their respective divisions when they went to the First Co-ed Military Academy.

After Ling Xiao finished speaking, he turned his attention back to the field. Everyone assumed that he was watching the two fighters on the field — only he himself knew that he was looking for his daughter. Unfortunately, there were hundreds of thousands of people in the audience — it really was not that easy to find his daughter in the crowd.

The end of Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu's match signalled the end of the single mecha combat matches in the morning. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the rest of the matches would be held to determine the final placings of the four combatants.

The audience in the combat stadium began to exit in an orderly manner. They needed to take the time for lunch before returning to watch the afternoon matches. The afternoon matches were sure to be even more exciting than the morning matches — after all, the coming matches would decide the first and second place, and even the match to determine third and fourth promised to be a view-worthy fight.

Seeing this, Ling Lan stood up. Meanwhile, Zhao Jun still had not been able to receive the answer he wanted from Ling Lan. He saw Ling Lan stand up and quickly hurried to follow suit ... when the other members saw this, they could only smile wryly and stand up as well. Li Lanfeng's feet were a little unsteady — standing on swaying feet, he felt deep regret for the first time for knowing such a shameless person like Zhao Jun.

Ling Lan did not know that when she stood up, Ling Xiao who was still in the VIP room suddenly turned to look in her direction as if guided by some supernatural sense. When he saw that familiar silhouette, the smile playing at the corners of Ling Xiao's lips deepened, and only then did he stand up to say goodbye to the other special guests. Ling Xiao had honestly sat around here idly for half a day all for the sake of this one glimpse of his daughter.

Chapter 453 - To Gamble or Not to Gamble?

Ling Lan led the people of Lingtian out of the combat stadium. They were just passing by the mouth of the passage to the backstage when they heard a round of joyful cheers. Ling Lan turned at the sound and saw a group of cadets standing there. Lin Xiao, who had just won over Jiang Shaoyu, had just walked out of the passage — he should be the reason for these cheers.

Li Lanfeng, who had been watching Ling Lan closely all this while, saw Ling Lan's attention drawn by those cadets, and so spoke up to explain, "These people are the participants from the First Co-ed Military Academy. They should be here to welcome back their team leader Lin Xiao."

Ling Lan nodded lightly in response. She of course knew they were from the First Co-ed Military Academy, because she had seen two familiar figures among the crowd — Luo Chao and Han Xuya. However, the attention of the two girls was on Lin Xiao, so they had not noticed the arrival of Ling Lan's group.

When Lin Xiao came out, he had turned to Luo Chao and Han Xuya and said something. With her skills, Ling Lan could naturally hear everything he said loud and clear. Lin Xiao said that no one would still be able to strut around arrogantly after bullying someone from the First Co-ed Military Academy ... this sentence left the students of the First Co-ed Military Academy beside themselves with excitement, their eyes filled with respect for Lin Xiao. Even the always shy Luo Chao also cast a grateful glance at Lin Xiao.

The corners of Ling Lan's lips quirked upwards and she did not stop, passing by the First Co-ed Military Academy's people just like that. In her mindspace, Ling Lan instructed Little Four to help her send a short message to Luo Chao.

Luo Chao suddenly felt her wrist vibrate, and when she raised her hand to look, she found a message notification waiting for her. She opened the message and her face flushed red, a sweet, shy smile appearing on her lips.

"Little Sister Luo Chao, you have a good senior!" The message only contained this brief sentence, and the sender was Ling Lan.

She had not expected that the always cold and indifferent Boss Lan would actually care about her this much! Luo Chao's heart began to throb, and she could not help but think shyly — was her crush of many years finally being reciprocated?

********

In the afternoon, the competition continued. The first to be held was the match to determine the third and fourth place. Zhao Jun and Jiang Shaoyu each piloted their mecha onto the field.

Jiang Shaoyu still had not recovered from his loss in the morning. He was rather unfocused — in his mind, he kept seeing scenes from his fight with Lin Xiao in the morning, all the way up till when he had been KO-ed by Lin Xiao's 6-hit combo chain, and he was immensely frustrated inside. During lunch, his instructors had already helped him analyse the reasons behind his defeat. He had lost in terms of patience — he had not been calm enough, a little too impatient, and had thus fallen for Lin Xiao's scheme. If he had only been a little calmer, a little more patient ... then perhaps the outcome might have been very different.

Even now, Jiang Shaoyu still could not accept the reality of his loss to Lin Xiao. In his mind, only Qiao Ting from the First Men's Military Academy was a worthy opponent.

The referee's green flag swept down, signalling the official start to the fight.

As the flag fluttered down, Zhao Jun sprang out like a tiger let out of its cage, pouncing at his opponent several hundred metres away. He pushed all the power of his engines into speed, hurtling straight for Jiang Shaoyu in a dark streak of light.

Although there were also different types of special-class mecha, these types were not as extreme in their specializations as ace mecha. Despite having certain strength biases, special-class mecha were overall still quite balanced. Thus, when Zhao Jun pushed his engines to the maximum, his speed was not significantly slower than close-combat ace mecha. In fact, it could even be said that he was faster by a hair.

This move of Zhao Jun's drew shocked gasps from the audience. This was because, for the sake of this speed, Zhao Jun had sacrificed activating even the most essential beam shield protection. This meant that if he was accidentally hit by a stray beam, his defenceless mecha would certainly be immediately KO-ed out of the match. Moreover, his opponent was Jiang Shaoyu — his match in the morning had proven that his long-range attacks were no less impressive than his close combat skills. This action of Zhao Jun's was clearly too reckless ...

Everyone believed that this match would set the record for being the fastest to end — would it be 10 seconds, or 5? If Zhao Jun was unlucky, the match could even end in 3 seconds.

However, everyone soon saw that reality was not turning out as they expected. With this great opportunity right before his eyes, Jiang Shaoyu seemed stupefied. He actually did not manage to lift his gun in time — by the time he raised his gun, Zhao Jun was already less than 50 metres away. With the mecha's speed, this 50 metres would be closed within two steps.

Only at this time did the fearlessly charging forwards Zhao Jun release a sigh of relief. It was as Boss Lan had predicted — Jiang Shaoyu had not taken him seriously because he was underestimating him; this had given Zhao Jun the chance to get close.

Zhao Jun was a close combat specialist as well, though he was no match for Jiang Shaoyu even in close combat. Still, it was much better compared to his long-range attacks — with his lame marksmanship, he would definitely get the crap shot out of him by Jiang Shaoyu.

Jiang Shaoyu was awoken by the blare of alarms from his mecha. One look and cold sweat instantly broke out all over his body. It was lucky he had awoken in time, or else, just half a second later and he might have been subject to a successful blitz attack by Zhao Jun.

Why were these people all so annoying! Jiang Shaoyu's rage burned. He snapped up his beam gun and pulled the trigger on Zhao Jun who was sprinting right at him. Since you want to die, I'll grant you your wish.

With the pull of the trigger, the muzzle of the gun glowed brightly, a sign that a beam was about to be fired. Just then, a long and narrow black sword suddenly sliced down diagonally, stabbing straight into the muzzle of the beam gun.

"Boom!" An explosion rang out, followed by a column of dark black smoke. At this time, the two mecha were already in a standoff. Part of the audience had naturally caught what had happened, but there were some who had been unable to see clearly and were left boggled as to what could have happened. Had Jiang Shaoyu really been hit by Zhao Jun?

Just as everyone was wondering, the two mecha suddenly leapt back from each other. Only when the two mecha were fully displayed before the crowd once more could the audience tell where the explosion had come from.

Jiang Shaoyu's left arm was now a scarred mess. Half of the mecha's palm had been sliced clean off, only leaving a thumb behind. Electrical wires were left exposed to the outside at the broken edge, and some of them were still sparking.

The crowd gasped in shock once more — they had not expected Zhao Jun's reckless charge to work. He had actually managed to ambush Jiang Shaoyu! In that state, Jiang Shaoyu's left hand was pretty much unable to hold anything anymore — in other words, Jiang Shaoyu was now down by one hand, and his combat power would be decreased by three tiers because of it.

Jiang Shaoyu looked at the upper right corner of his screen, at the '100' there representing his points. The number suddenly began to scroll backwards rapidly — Jiang Shaoyu knew that this meant his points were being deducted. When the opponent's sword had jammed the muzzle of the beam gun, the beam energy could not be fired and had actually exploded within the gun. It was a shame for him that the energy block of the beam gun was completely full — the explosion instantly ignited the power left in the energy block. The force of the resulting explosion had been so powerful that it had instantly made waste of his mecha's left palm.

His point tally finally stopped scrolling, and the glaring number '70' sent pricks of pain stabbing into Jiang Shaoyu's eyes. Unexpectedly, his little distraction had actually been taken advantage of so thoroughly by the opponent to launch a successful blitz attack, resulting in such a huge deduction right off the bat, almost one-third of his total points. This made him feel ashamed — he had actually been harmed by a special-class operator. The thread of reason in his mind was fraying — he wanted to kill the other, he must kill the other ... Jiang Shaoyu's eyes began to turn red as a thick killing intent emanated from him.

Zhao Jun had managed to land a hit in one attempt — his heart was inexplicably exhilarated, and his admiration surged so high that he wanted to prostrate himself at Boss Lan's feet. It turned out this entire series of actions had all been directed by Ling Lan. Ling Lan had predicted that the opponent would be unable to focus at the start due to his loss in the morning as well as his natural disdain of Zhao Jun as an opponent. Thus, using the theoretical top speed of a mecha right at the start to draw close to the opponent for a blitz attack had a good chance of succeeding. Of course, this so-called top speed referred to abandoning everything else on the mecha to funnel its entire available power into speed ...

At first, Zhao Jun was not too sure about following Boss Lan's proposal — he just felt that it was too risky. If there was just the slightest bit of error, he would be KO-ed right out of the match and become the person to be eliminated from a match in the shortest amount of time in tournament history. That would be such a loss of face!

Noticing Zhao Jun's doubts, Ling Lan had merely said lightly, "If you don't take the risk, you will definitely lose. Take the gamble, and there is the possibility of a draw." Yes, at most, Zhao Jun could only push this match to a draw. The difference between their mecha's levels completely threw out any possibility of victory for Zhao Jun. No matter how much he schemed and plotted, it would all be for the sake of just a draw.

Ling Lan's words enlightened Zhao Jun. Yes, if he did not gamble, based on his strength, losing was just a matter of time even if he fought with his life. As such, he might as well take the risk — wasn't a loss the worst thing that could happen 1 ?

In reality, Ling Lan had created this plan with an estimated success rate of 70%. In Ling Lan's opinion, as long as the odds were at 50% and above, it would be a gamble worth taking. In order to increase the chances of success, Ling Lan had even lent her newly bought Firmament to Zhao Jun. The typical giant swords used by mecha were all the broadsword type, heavy and solid, thus making them unsuitable for more agile and dexterous attacks. However, Firmament was extremely unique — it was a fine sword and had extremely high resilience, allowing it to do things a typical broadsword could not.

So that Zhao Jun would be able to pinpoint the perfect timing to intercept, after they had eaten their lunch, Zhao Jun had been dragged by Ling Lan over to a mecha combat hall for some urgent training. The main purpose of the session was for Zhao Jun to familiarize himself with Firmament. The way to use Firmament was different from that of other ordinary giant swords — in order to avoid any mistakes, this impromptu training was necessary.

Zhao Jun's efforts had now finally come to fruition, and in the most perfect way. In order to ensure success, Ling Lan and Zhao Jun had analysed all the possible reactions of Jiang Shaoyu in detail, coming up with counterplans for each alternative. Who would have guessed that they would not need to use any single one of those in the end?

Right then, Zhao Jun's heart was running hot — he may be able to make history by proving that there was the possibility of a tie in a battle between an ace and special-class.

However, Zhao Jun did not have the time to really think about all these random things right now. He was staring at Jiang Shaoyu with his full attention, not daring to miss anything. Boss Lan had said that once Jiang Shaoyu was injured, he would definitely go berserk. It could be predicted that the following attack would be an overwhelming one, and Zhao Jun's task was to tide over this round of attacks no matter what. When Jiang Shaoyu found that he was unable to bring Zhao Jun down, his morale would fall, and that moment would be Zhao Jun's chance.

Sure enough, Zhao Jun found himself faced with a barrage of wild attacks. The enraged Jiang Shaoyu's mind was fixated on the thought of killing his opponent. Furthermore, the oppression of the level difference allowed Jiang Shaoyu to attack without having to worry about so-called skill or technique. He attacked by relying solely on the brute force of his mecha itself, sending punch after heavy punch at his opponent. Zhao Jun desperately protected his most vital spots, slowly being pushed back by Jiang Shaoyu. He looked bitterly at his slowly dwindling points and sweat flowed uncontrollably from his forehead ...

1. T/C: Actually ... aren't they using real mecha now? Losing is not the worst that could happen. Death is. (Or disability, depending how you look at it.)

Chapter 454 - Punishment and Equal Placement (prelude)!

Just as Zhao Jun felt that he was unable to hold on any longer, he suddenly felt Jiang Shaoyu's attacks slowing down. Zhao Jun instantly felt the pressure ease, and he managed to catch a break.

He then reacted quickly, knowing that this had to be the chance Boss Lan had mentioned. Without stopping to think about it, he leapt, raising Firmament in his hands to slash forcefully at the opponent.

Jiang Shaoyu saw Zhao Jun charging over without fear of death again and he sniffed coldly. The difference in their levels made it extremely easy for him to handle the attacks of a special-class operator. Seeing Firmament coming at him, he casually operated his mecha to lift his own cold weapon to meet the other's attack.

"Clang!" Jiang Shaoyu's giant sword collided with Firmament, but the results were not as Jiang Shaoyu expected. The swords did not repel each other, but instead became locked tight, unable to part.

At this sight, Jiang Shaoyu stared blankly and then tugged hard to try and bring his sword back. However, he found that when his giant sword returned, that long and narrow sword of the opponent's followed it too. Jiang Shaoyu suddenly sensed danger and without conscious thought, he kicked out a leg at Zhao Jun's mecha that had come even closer following behind Firmament.

"Bang!" "Snap!" Two sounds rang out almost simultaneously.

When Jiang Shaoyu's kick landed on Zhao Jun's mecha, the head of Zhao Jun's mecha suddenly split open to reveal to openings, revealing the two interference missiles contained inside.

Due to the force of this kick, Firmament finally detached from Jiang Shaoyu's giant sword, and Zhao Jun's mecha was sent flying back.

Excitement was writ across Zhao Jun's brow. He stared at the screen — when the value for the best shooting range Boss Lan had told him arrived, he would be ready to press the launch button.

"Pow" — two interference missiles shot out from the head area of the mecha, flying straight for Jiang Shaoyu.

Interference missiles were a type of missile meant to draw away and confuse tracking missiles. They were useful when fighting against starships, but in a battle between mecha, these missiles were almost never used by mecha operators. This was because interference missiles did not have much lethal power. Even if a mecha did not evade them and allowed them to hit it as they liked, the mecha would be left completely unharmed by just relying on the defensive power of its beam shield.

Thus, when Jiang Shaoyu saw that Zhao Jun was actually shooting interference missiles at him from close range, his first thought was: Is the opponent stupid? His second thought was: The opponent really is stupid. His third thought was: The opponent is an absolute f*cking idiot.

Faced with these two interference missiles, Jiang Shaoyu's expression was disdainful and he made no move to dodge them. He wasn't an idiot himself — why should he be scared by these harmless interference missiles? Instead, he raised the giant sword in his hands and flew forwards, thinking to take advantage of this moment to strike the opponent.

Right when the interference missiles were about to hit Jiang Shaoyu, however, an unprecedented sense of danger welled up in his heart. At this moment, Jiang Shaoyu did not have time to think — he trusted in his intuition. Without any hesitation, he abruptly swung the giant sword in his hands at those two interference missiles he had been ignoring.

If there was danger about, Jiang Shaoyu's intuition believed that it must be coming from these two interference missiles he had been ignoring!

Two loud rumbling explosions rang out.

The giant sword struck one of the interference missiles and the missile exploded upon contact. However, the other missile avoided the sword's interception to fly straight at Jiang Shaoyu's chest.

Under this great looming sense of danger, Jiang Shaoyu's finger speed reached his limits. At the last minute, he managed to tilt his mecha to the side, avoiding a strike to the chest, but the missile still struck his mecha's left shoulder. Right after that, the second interference missile exploded.

The explosive power of the interference missiles was beyond his expectations — Jiang Shaoyu's mecha was instantly sent flying back several hundred metres from the blast. The massive blow caused the blood to roil in his chest, leaving his chest feeling heavy and making him nauseous. If not for the protective mechanisms inside the cockpit, as well as his own tough constitution, the force of this blast would likely have been enough to injure him badly.

However, the mecha Jiang Shaoyu operated was not so lucky. The left arm had been completely blown off by the interference missile — even the defensive power of an ace mecha was unable to withstand against this explosive force.

The horrifying destructive power of the interference missiles which went against all common knowledge caused a rare lull to roll over the audience. It took several seconds for a loud roar to rise up as the venue was filled with the raucous expressions of disbelief. The interference missiles which had been fired from the head of Zhao Jun's mecha had blown apart all everyone's expectations — there were even a few missile experts in the crowd who leapt to their feet in excitement.

With regards to the weapons stored in the head of mecha, these experts naturally wanted to add some power to the missiles there while retaining the interference function the missiles were meant to serve. However, due to the low weight bearing capacity of the head area and the very limited amount of physical space, both the factors of mass and weight had put an end to all possibility of enhancing the offensive power of the missiles. They had not expected a new possibility to rise in this area where they had already given up. This excited them greatly, and they could not wait for the match to just end so they could grab hold of that special-class operator and properly take apart his mecha to properly see what in the world those interference missiles were.

When Chang Xinyuan heard the spectators around him all discussing what those interference missiles could be, he smiled so smugly that his eyes were slits. He had originally thought that he had created some useless things, but surprisingly, under Boss Lan's arrangement, those trash had actually become treasures, managing to achieve an unexpectedly great lethal effect in mecha combat.

At this thought, Chang Xinyuan felt somewhat regretful. Such an unexpected sneak attack had still been dodged by Jiang Shaoyu. If the opponent had been struck dead-on in the chest, the entire power system of his mecha would have been destroyed, making it a true killing move!

However, Chang Xinyuan's regrets very quickly disappeared. On the field, having lost his left arm, Jiang Shaoyu had insult added to injury — his giant sword suddenly broke with a loud 'snap', right in the middle. The top half of the blade fell heavily to the ground below, sending up a spray of dust.

Jiang Shaoyu's complexion paled greatly at the sight and he stared in shock at the remains of his giant sword in his mecha's right hand, unusually confused. Even now, he still could not understand how the rather harmless interference missiles could suddenly become so powerful. It was beyond his imagination. Two interference missiles — one destroyed his left arm, while the other destroyed his sword ... could it be that the Federation had developed some new range of interference missiles? And the opponent had just been lucky enough to get his hands on some?

Jiang Shaoyu naturally could not obtain an answer, because these interference missiles had been created by Chang Xinyuan of Ling Lan's battle clan. Chang Xinyuan had always considered these missiles his failed products, and so he had never spoken of them to outsiders. If Ling Lan had not seen the value these modified missiles had, they would probably still be buried somewhere in Chang Xinyuan's workshop.

Seeing the outcome, Zhao Jun was also sighing in regret in his heart. Two ultra-NG missiles 1 , and in the end, he had only managed to destroy one of the opponent's arms. By Boss Lan's estimates, the best outcome was destroying half of the opponent's mecha.

Jiang Shaoyu could not comprehend why things had turned out this way, but he was aware enough to know that he had lost face big time now. A grand ace operator actually being pushed to such a sorry state by a special-class operator. Even though he had previously managed to deal considerable damage to the opponent's mecha with his powerful torrent of blows, leaving the opponent's mecha covered in scars, the opponent had still retained the overall integrity of his mecha on the surface. In this aspect, he had lost to the opponent.

The cheers of the crowd were clearly for the opponent, Jiang Shaoyu knew. He felt a strong sense of shame ... with a 'snap', in his brain, a cord called 'rationality' broke. With reddened eyes, Jiang Shaoyu stared at the mecha before his eyes, and his mind had only one thought in it — kill him ... he must kill the opponent! Only then could he wash away his disgrace!

Jiang Shaoyu violently threw aside that broken half sword left in his hands, and then his mecha's right arm reached behind his back to pull out the handle of a beam saber. As soon as he flicked the switch, the beam several metres long instantly extended from the handle. At the same time, his mecha's engines began to rumble loudly and in the next second, his mecha streaked forwards like a beam of light, barrelling straight towards Zhao Jun who was several hundred metres away ...

"So quick!" Everyone exclaimed. This was the true power of an ace. Before this, due to being absent-minded, Jiang Shaoyu had not really displayed the strength an ace operator should have. This was also why Zhao Jun had been able to withstand the opponent's wild blows earlier.

"If Jiang Shaoyu had used the strength he is now displaying from the start, Zhao Jun would most likely have already lost by now," said Li Lanfeng with a sigh, seated beside Ling Lan. Though he said this, he was honestly happy for his good friend over his good luck.

Ling Lan nodded in agreement. Frankly, the plan she had designed for Zhao Jun actually had a flaw.

Enraging the opponent could indeed make the opponent lose his cool and cause his strength to decrease, but there were actually two other possible outcomes. One was that despite the anger, the opponent would still be able to control his emotions and retain his original combat power, while the other was the one Ling Lan most did not wish to see. Out of anger, the opponent may instead dig deep and unleash his latent abilities, making his combat power burst past his limits.

Fortunately, Jiang Shaoyu had not turned out to be that type of oddball, allowing Zhao Jun to accomplish his goal despite the most dangerous of margins, claiming one of the opponent's arms. However, at this moment, Jiang Shaoyu's strength had been restored to its original standards. Zhao Jun's luck had come to an end — the match would be over soon. Ling Lan came to a conclusion.

From the audience's perspective, Jiang Shaoyu's mecha hurtled like lightning towards Zhao Jun. And from Zhao Jun's own perspective, he only saw a flash and the opponent was already right before him, the other's beam saber mercilessly piercing straight for his cockpit ...

This scene made Zhao Jun's face change drastically. He quickly operated his mecha to turn to one side, and the opponent's beam saber scraped across his mecha's outer armour. The power of the beam saber exceeded the maximum tolerance of Zhao Jun's mecha's beam shield, hence leaving a noticeable scratch on the mecha's armour.

Everyone gasped in shock. Seated in the viewing area, Ling Lan's frigid and stony expression also shifted beyond her control. Her eyes narrowed as rage flashed through them.

"Zhao Jun, it's time to admit defeat," muttered Ling Lan silently, rather anxious inside. It could not be avoided — she had an extra burden of worry this time; she did not wish for any of her members to meet with any accidents in this tournament.

Having avoided that killing blow, Zhao Jun heard the feedback given by the mecha's A.I. and his initially enthusiastic expression froze. A surge of rage spread uncontrollably within him. That last blow was certainly no mistake or a simple slip of the hand — it was intentional; the opponent wanted to kill him ...

Zhao Jun might appear to be a savage brute, the perfect picture of a thug — while he had been with the Wuji Mecha Clan, he had also been mistaken for a simple-minded battle freak — but in reality, he had a set code of conduct. He would repay the tiniest drop of kindness with a fountain, and collect a skull for the grievance of a broken tooth 1 . If Jiang Shaoyu intended to be underhanded, Zhao Jun naturally would not just take this in silence.

Seeing Jiang Shaoyu charging to attack him once more, a cold gleam flashed through Zhao Jun's eyes. His fingers began to dance fervently and his mecha moved. Firmament was gripped firmly in his right hand as his arms spread out slightly, and the tip of the blade dipped down to a 45-degree angle.

1. 超级Ng炮: Seriously, that's what the author calls them here. I guess that's the name Chang Xinyuan gave them?

2. 滴水之恩当以涌泉相报,断齿之仇必须头颅偿还: Lovely metaphor. I had fun translating this. Basically, to repay any kindness with greater kindness, and to return any offence with greater vengeance.

Chapter 455 - Qiao Ting's Innate Talent!

Just as Jiang Shaoyu's beam saber was once again turned towards Zhao Jun's cockpit, his arm abruptly jerked upwards. Inside his cockpit, Zhao Jun roared in anger. Firmament darted out in a dark streak of light, drawing a half-circle in the air, its blade driving up from the base of the opponent's leg towards the opponent's cockpit ...

"Ah ..." Zhao Jun's decision to not avoid the opponent's attack in favour of an internecine outcome made everyone in the audience cry out in shock. Some of the more timid female audience members were even so afraid that they covered their faces with their hands, shielding their eyes in fear of witnessing a tragedy.

When Ling Lan, who had already been extremely worried to begin with, saw this scene play out, her face changed drastically and she rose to her feet. Right then, she was unbelievably shocked and angry. She had always thought that Zhao Jun was a calm and discerning person, and that combined with his four years of mecha combat experience, he would not make any errors in judgment. Unexpectedly, he too had bouts of irrationality, actually disregarding his own life and safety like this ...

Right at that critical moment, a mecha suddenly descended from the skies above. It appeared in an instant above the two mecha, immediately pressing the two mecha which were about to destroy each other onto the ground.

A loud 'boom' rang out, and the entire stadium was shaking uncontrollably due to the force behind it. Dust and dirt spread out everywhere, but because there was a shield separating the combat field from the audience seats, the audience was not affected by the dust and dirt.

Only after the dust had cleared could the crowd see that a dazzling mecha was half-kneeling on the field. That mecha was slightly bent over, both arms stretched down to hold both Jiang Shaoyu's and Zhao Jun's mecha firmly against the ground.

Meanwhile, Jiang Shaoyu and Zhao Jun were like two large tortoises, pathetically pressed flat on the ground. They appeared to still be struggling, trying to climb off the ground, but their opponent's strength was just too much for them. Regardless of how they resisted and pushed back, it was all to no avail. Their struggling merely made them look even more like fat tortoises.

The sudden appearance of the dazzling mecha finally put a stop to this match which might have ended in bloodshed. The audience instantly released a collective sigh of relief. Ling Lan, who had stood up straight in her shock and anger, also calmed down in the face of this scene and sat down again.

However, Ling Lan was still frowning deeply, her anger not at all appeased by Zhao Jun's escape from danger. Her eyes narrowed briefly as rage coursed through them. She decided that a while later, she would find a chance to bring Zhao Jun to a combat hall once and let him have a personal taste of the terrible consequences of being rash and irrational.

At this time, everyone had recognised that the dazzling mecha was one of the five imperial mecha the Federation had previously announced. As such, there was no doubt that the operator of the mecha must be an imperial operator. They were stunned that an imperial operator would appear here, but at the same time, they rejoiced. After all, top-class operators above ace almost never appeared in this kind of large events.

Gradually, the whispered discussion coalesced into a uniform cheer of 'imperial', a testament of the reverence and love the people of this world held for top-class masters, which was arguably greater than that of some entertainment superstars.

By the time the audience's passion calmed, the audience could guess the reason behind this imperial operator's appearance. After all, the Grand Mecha Tournament brought together all the most outstanding cadets of the Federation. In order to ensure their safety, to make sure that no one with ill intentions would harm them, as well as to prevent any tragic accidents from occurring during the tournament, the military had specially sent a few imperial masters to monitor the event. Especially since there were three ace operators participating in the tournament this time, the number of imperial operators sent here had even been increased by a few more.

In fact, the military was also extremely afraid that any carelessness might result in the loss of the talents of the Federation. Mind you, every single prodigy was a treasure to them.

After confirming that the two of them would not continue attacking each other, the imperial mecha released its hold on the two mecha and stood up.

As soon as Jiang Shaoyu and Zhao Jun regained their freedom, they instantly climbed up from the ground, glaring fiercely at each other though the other would not be able to see it. Only then did they stand meekly before the imperial operator, waiting for his verdict.

Ever since they broke the rules of the tournament, they had already been mentally prepared to be disciplined.

"Jiang Shaoyu, Zhao Jun, for violating the associated rules of the tournament, and for the severity of the transgression, after deliberation of the panel, your punishment is as follows. An instant deduction of 100 points in this tournament! When the team battles begin, Jiang Shaoyu is banned for five rounds, Zhao Jun is banned for three." After he received the final verdict of the judging panel, the imperial operator coldly announced the punishment the panel had decided to dole on the two boys.

When Jiang Shaoyu heard the verdict, his complexion paled. He was the absolute main force for his academy in the group mecha combat competition. This five-round ban would be an absolutely subversive blow to his academy. That is to say that, before his team entered the top ten, he would not have any chance to be on the field. To win, it would all depend on his teammates' efforts then. If they lost before that point, this would mean that his journey here in this year's tournament would end, and he could only wait till the battle royal on the final day to be involved again.

Jiang Shaoyu did not want things to be like this — he had led his team here to get the title of champion for both the single mecha combat and group mecha combat events, and not just for a simple excursion. Although becoming the champion of the single mecha combat was now out of reach, he still had not given up on the group champion title.

Under this heavy blow, Jiang Shaoyu's mind finally cleared. Recalling how he had struggled so much against a special-class operator, he was immensely frustrated and upset, hating how badly he had performed in this match. He had lost his usual standards, falling for the opponent's schemes again and again, becoming a laughing stock ...

On this end, Jiang Shaoyu was mired in chagrin, but Zhao Jun on the other side seemed completely unaffected. This was because, in the upcoming group mecha combat event, he was never the primary force to begin with. He was a substitute for that event, the extreme sixth man — whether or not he would even get a chance to take the field was debatable.

In this manner, as the two contestants were both docked 100 points, this meant that Zhao Jun and Jiang Shaoyu were eliminated from the match at the same time. After extended discussion, the judging panel ruled that Jiang Shaoyu and Zhao Jun would both share third place, while the fourth place would be left empty ...

Learning of this outcome, Zhao Jun whistled loudly at the skies with a wide grin. He had originally just planned to leave several scratches on the opponent's mecha armour to vent some of his fighting spirit as well as pay back a little of the grudge on Luo Lang's behalf; now, not only had he destroyed one of the opponent's arms, he had also ruined the other's sword. He had truly overachieved in this task. Most importantly, his ranking was the same as the opponent — the thought of being equal to a special-class operator would definitely disgust the other ... this was stating that he, as an ace, was actually no different from a special-class operator. This was an absolute stinging smack to the face, a handful of salt thrown onto the wound in the opponent's heart.

At this moment, Zhao Jun's admiration for Ling Lan was indescribable. The plan of action Boss Lan had created for him had considered all possible responses of the opponent, not at all weaker than a scheme hatched by Li Lanfeng. Moreover, as an operations expert, Boss Lan's plan was even more suitable for a mecha operator, direct yet amazingly effective. Compared to Li Lanfeng's convoluted plots, Zhao Jun much preferred Boss Lan's plans.

Very quickly, the two of them had gone backstage and disembarked from their mecha to land on the ground. Qiao Ting nodded at Zhao Jun in greeting, expressing his approval. Zhao Jun's performance at fighting Jiang Shaoyu to a draw both surprised and pleased him. After all, the point difference between third and fourth place was still quite significant, and Qiao Ting naturally hoped that their school would rack up more points — this would be very advantageous to their final ranking.

Lin Xiao also walked up to Zhao Jun to offer his congratulations. After all, wresting a draw from an ace operator was an achievement Zhao Jun could be proud of. Jiang Shaoyu saw how Lin Xiao and Qiao Ting were pretty much ignoring him, and the humiliation he felt became even heavier. He huffed coldly and stormed out of the backstage. As for Lin Xiao and Qiao Ting's match after this, he was already in no mood to watch it.

Very soon, the staff informed Lin Xiao and Qiao Ting to get ready; it would soon be their turn to fight. Lin Xiao breezily bid farewell to Zhao Jun and left. Zhao Jun looked at Lin Xiao's back as he left, and then turned to glance at Qiao Ting and said, "Qiao Ting, that fellow is very strong in close combat. If he gets close to you, it'll be very disadvantageous for you. Be careful."

"Yes, I know!" replied Qiao Ting, but when he turned to leave, he said lowly, "Thank you!" After experiencing failure, betrayal, and being ostracized, Qiao Ting had become very humble and low-key. This made Zhao Jun hate him less, and so he was willing to talk a bit more with Qiao Ting and remind him to watch out. If this had been the previous Qiao Ting ... Zhao Jun would not have said anything even if he was going to be beaten to death.

Finally, the two contestants operated their respective mecha onto the stage that was now theirs. Qiao Ting watched Lin Xiao slowly approaching and he also operated his mecha to move forwards. Reflexively, he glanced at the sitting area of the other participants. He knew that Ling Lan would inevitably be there watching this upcoming match ...

Qiao Ting clenched his fists and took in a deep breath, casting aside all the stray thoughts in his mind. Right now, his opponent was Lin Xiao — even though Lin Xiao was very strong, being an all-rounder and so countering him to some extent, Qiao Ting was still unafraid. He would use the victory of this match to tell everyone that he, Qiao Ting, was unafraid of anyone's challenge when it came to mecha control. He was still the number one of all the military academies!

Qiao Ting knew very well that only Ling Lan was an exception. Ling Lan was a psychological demon in his path to becoming strong — only by defeating the Lingtian Mecha Clan the other led would he be able to set aside his fixation on Ling Lan and focus on becoming stronger. Otherwise, unable to rid himself of distraction, he would not be able to progress far on this road, and that was something that he absolutely would not allow.

The referee checked in with both contestants, and finding them ready, he waved the green flag in his hand.

At the very moment the referee's flag moved, Qiao Ting's mecha slid back several hundred metres, pulling away from Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao was indeed strong at both close combat and long-range combat, but in terms of long-range attacks, he was definitely not as good as Qiao Ting who specialized in long-range combat. Qiao Ting's mentor, the elite ace Tang Yu had said before that Qiao Ting was a natural-born sniper king. His innate talent allowed him to be unlike other long-range mecha operators who needed a certain amount of time to lock onto their targets and make adjustments when shooting; Qiao Ting could almost lock onto a target instantly — one glance was enough for him to lock on and shoot.

In fact, Qiao Ting's close-combat skills were also good, but ever since he had awakened this instant targeting innate talent, under the guidance of his mentor, he had given up on close combat to focus on long-range combat. Qiao Ting's decision was undoubtedly correct — his singular focus had allowed him to enter ace level a step ahead of everyone else. Moreover, this focus had also given him a much deeper and more profound understanding of the nature and intricacies of long-range combat. As such, with regards to long-range combat, he had travelled much further and deeper than any of his peers ...