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Chapter 330 - The Lingtian Battle Clan in the Eyes of Chang Xinyuan!

Right then, Chang Xinyuan, who had been standing to one side without finding an opportunity to interrupt, suddenly said, "Wait a minute, I have some things to give you all."

Chang Xinyuan then took out six round metal discs which looked like palm-sized hand mirrors from his bag. He tossed them to Qi Long and the other five and explained, "These are miniature beam shields I created. The power they contain is only able to withstand one heavy artillery attack. Bring them along with you. Although they aren't that good, they should still be able to play a protective role at critical moments."

Chang Xinyuan then explained how to use the miniature beam shields. The appearance of this unexpected piece of equipment delighted everyone; any extra bit of protection was naturally good. They had already come so far in this mission — the hope of success was in sight; no one wanted to just die and be respawned back at the start.

Qi Long thumped Chang Xinyuan's shoulder enthusiastically, loudly praising how awesome Chang Xinyuan's little invention was as he did so. The strength behind the thumps almost threw Chang Xinyuan to the ground. Qi Long then requested for Chang Xinyuan to make more of these useful and easily portable small beam shields whenever he had the time. It would be best if each of them could have ten or more of these.

With regards to this rather outrageous request of Qi Long's, Chang Xinyuan was not at all angry. Instead, he was very happy, breaking out into a large grin. For Qi Long to say this meant that he, Chang Xinyuan, was useful to the team — the members of the team needed him. This was a great comfort to him.

Along the way, Chang Xinyuan had realised that every member of Ling Lan's team was very strong. Whether it was in terms of mecha operation or physical skills, they were much stronger than the average battle clan, so much stronger than him. This made Chang Xinyuan feel rather inferior and he had even begun to wonder whether he could remain in the clan and actually become a true member.

The brotherly bond among the members of Ling Lan's team made Chang Xinyuan, who had always been alone, endlessly envious. It could be said that Chang Xinyuan had joined Ling Lan's team at the start out of a lack of options — he had no other choice. If he had passed off the chance to join Ling Lan's team, he might very likely have had no other opportunity to ever join a battle clan after that. The cruel truth of the situation pushed him to take the gamble. When Ling Lan had received that SSS-rank mission, he had indeed hesitated. However, Chang Xinyuan was not a person who would give up at the first sign of difficulty, otherwise he would not have resisted the Thunder King's oppression for three years. In the end, he chose to fight along with Ling Lan and the others.

Over this duration of time doing the mission together, he had come to understand the deep bond among the team members. Boss Lan was very cold and somewhat domineering (this was just Chang Xinyuan's perception. Ling Lan was actually not domineering at all, she was just used to keeping a slackface), so it was rather stressful trying to get along with him. At times, just making eye contact with Boss Lan would cause him to have difficulty breathing. He knew that the truly strong would always have a type of aura about them. However, he had never encountered someone like Boss Lan who gave him such heavy pressure. If the Thunder King had exuded the same type of feeling as Boss Lan back then, he probably would not have been able to hold out and would have long chosen to capitulate.

But this domineering, cold, and ruthless Boss Lan would forever stand right at the front of the team and shield them from the wind and rain at the most critical moments. Just like when the magnetic tsunami had hit, Boss Lan had decisively stayed right till the end to ensure all of them safely entered the mainship first. That time, Boss Lan had almost died in the magnetic tsunami.

Chang Xinyuan was well aware that Boss Lan was not just acting. He was very strict with Qi Long and the others' training, perhaps even somewhat brutal about it — he was absolutely a harsh taskmaster. Many times, Chang Xinyuan himself felt that Qi Long and the others were not going to survive. But then, he also saw more than once how Boss Lan would seek out Li Shiyu whenever he had the time to discuss how they could improve the physical constitutions of the team members, along with their endurance and resistance to blows. And all of this was so they continue to stay alive and well, whether it was in Mecha World or in the real world when they fought on a real battlefield in the future.

Boss Lan was a responsible boss and an even more competent parental battle clan leader. Following such a boss, he would never have to worry about being pushed out someday to be a sacrificial scapegoat. Alright, the bits and pieces which had happened over this period of time had caused him to become like Qi Long and the others, beginning to idolise Boss Lan ...

Meanwhile, Qi Long and Luo Lang were the primary and secondary fighters of the team, the strongest in the team in both mecha combat and physical skills combat, but of course they were incomparable to Boss Lan. Back when the New Cadet Regiment had fought against Leiting in the arena, they had been two of the five representatives. Among them, Luo Lang defeated the third strongest in Leiting, while Qi Long fought on even terms with the second strongest of Leiting, only losing unfortunately in the end. All this information had been conveyed to him by Li Shiyu. He had put his entire mind into modifying mecha back then so he was not very clear on the various things that had happened in the military academy, including that arena battle.

Xie Yi was very warm and passionate. He was the first among the old members of the team to take the initiative to get to know Chang Xinyuan better. Friendly and cheerful, they got along very well. But Xie Yi's combat ability was not weaker than Luo Lang's by much. Typically, in battle clans, the main and secondary fighters would be stronger while the rest of the fighters would be a bracket lower. However, in Ling Lan's battle clan, almost everybody's strength levels were very close. With Xie Yi's strength, even if he might not be able to be the primary fighter in another battle clan, he more than qualified to be a secondary fighter. But in Ling Lan's clan, due to the fierce competition with rivals as plentiful as clouds, Xie Yi could only be one of the two wings of the team.

Han Jijyun normally looked very austere, as if hard to get along with, and his eyes always shone with a calculative light. Chang Xinyuan had always felt rather nervous around these kinds of strategist-type people, afraid to approach them. But whenever Boss Lan was absent or sitting idly by, Han Jijyun would automatically take responsibility for the command of the team, develop tactics, and make arrangements to keep the team operations running smoothly.

During the time they had lost contact with Boss Lan, Han Jijyun had proved that he was well qualified for the role. Back when they had no way of obtaining certain news regarding Boss Lan, he was the one who daringly decided to use the set of false data they had agreed on at the start. Despite part of it being due to Chang Xinyuan's suggestion, after learning more about hacker abilities later, Chang Xinyuan had greatly admired Han Jijyun's boldness and decisiveness, as well as the other's deep and unwavering faith in Boss Lan ...

Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing was usually very plain and unobtrusive, perhaps even a little like an invisible person, always silently doing his things. At first, Chang Xinyuan had somewhat overlooked him. But then, the team went on the move. Every time Boss Lan wanted an update on the materials remaining for the team, he would definitely ask Lin Zhong-qing. This let Chang Xinyuan know that Lin Zhong-qing was the head logistician of the team.

The facts proved that Lin Zhong-qing carried out his role as logistician perfectly. Whenever the team needed something, he would be like the legendary Doraemon, bringing out resource after resource to meet the needs of everyone on the team. It was clear to see that he had a very thorough understanding of each and every member of the team, knowing what they might need. In particular, what surprised Chang Xinyuan was that although he, Li Shiyu, and Li Lanfeng had just joined the team, Lin Zhong-qing had been able to figure out some of their habits within this short amount of time. From there, he had actually been able to also prepare some of the materials they needed ...

Li Shiyu had joined the team with him, but the other was already familiar with Qi Long and the others. At first, when Chang Xinyuan had not known their true identities, he could still tell they already knew each other in real life just by their interactions. Li Shiyu was somewhat aloof — this may just be the characteristic of a dux. Chang Xinyuan did not think there was anything wrong with it; it was normal for those with talent to be a little prideful. Perhaps because he too was a researcher like himself, Li Shiyu was also very straightforward and innocent, maybe even a little soft in Chang Xinyuan's eyes. That was why he was always unknowingly falling for Boss Lan's verbal manipulations, having to follow whatever Boss Lan said in the end.

Perhaps finding Li Shiyu a little pitiful, Chang Xinyuan often chatted with the other. Perhaps because they were both newcomers to the team, or perhaps because they were both researchers, and maybe also because the other could sense his benign intentions, the two of them got along very well, always having something to talk about. This was also how he had found out more about Qi Long and the others. During their conversations, they would often talk about their teammates as well as their exploits and achievements.

The one Chang Xinyuan could not puzzle out was Li Lanfeng. The other had a great attitude, often seen with a warm and gentle smile. He was always extremely respectful towards everyone in the team and seemed easy-going. However, Chang Xinyuan just did not dare to get too close to him. For some reason, the other felt unsafe, without the sense of stable security Li Shiyu gave him. This might be because Li Lanfeng was a spectre, having an innate dangerous air about him. Chang Xinyuan could only use this reason to reassure himself.

In short, Chang Xinyuan had been very happy during this period of time spent with the team. Having been oppressed by the Thunder King for three years, constantly lonely and depressed, Chang Xinyuan treasured the happiness he felt in this brief period of time. He could not bear to lose this again — he really wanted to join the team and become a permanent member, not just a passing guest. Thus, Chang Xinyuan had spent these past few days in a daze, afraid that his hopes would be nothing but a mirage 1 .

This was also why Qi Long's outrageous request had made him so happy — it had made him feel just a bit more integrated into the team. In his joy, Chang Xinyuan's thoughts shifted to the six shooters Boss Lan was going to handle. The best hidden weapon for the task would undoubtedly be the miniature tranquillizer shots Li Shiyu had made. Chang Xinyuan remembered very well that Boss Lan had already used up two as they had passed through the tunnel earlier. Right now, he must only have one left on him.

At this thought, Chang Xinyuan quickly brought out the three tranquillizer shots given to him from his bag, passing them over to Ling Lan as he said, "Boss Lan, I remember that you only have one left. To take out those six men, you'll need another five. I won't be using these 3 of mine. Why don't you take them, Boss?"

Chang Xinyuan's words alerted everyone and they all quickly began rifling through their bags to see if they had any more, all of them wanting to give theirs up for their boss to use.

Ling Lan speechlessly accepted the three tranquillizer shots Chang Xinyuan had handed over. She could not tell them that, as long as she had the materials, Little Four could instantly create countless tranquillizer shots for her ...

Li Lanfeng had just taken out his own set of tranquillizer syringes and was about to hand them over when Li Shiyu beat him to it.

"Here, leader, I won't be using these things. Take it." Li Shiyu decisively passed his three miniature tranquillizer syringes to Ling Lan.

Ling Lan only took two of the three in his hands and said lightly, "In a bit, you'll need to use it."

Ling Lan's words gave Li Shiyu pause, but then Qi Long came up to circle an arm over Li Shiyu's neck and said with a smile, "For those six people we have to deal with, if we want to take them down instantly, we can't lack this creation of yours, you know."

Qi Long's reminder enlightened Li Shiyu. He no longer pressed the matter, taking back that last syringe in his hand. He clamped it tightly between two fingers, prepared to use it when they attacked.

1. 镜花水月: I love the original phrase but it isn't particularly clear on its own. Literally 'mirror flowers water moon', the extended, elaborated version would be 'flowers reflected in a mirror, the moon reflected in water'. The idea being that it would all be merely illusion, not real and substantial.

Chapter 331 - The Existence of a BUG

Seeing how well the members, both old and new, were getting along, Ling Lan's lips quirked up slightly. Then, her expression turned stony as she ordered, "Get ready to move."

Everyone immediately stood up, their initially relaxed and smiling faces turning serious and focused in an instant. The initially relaxed atmosphere was swept away immediately.

Li Lanfeng once again looked admiringly at Ling Lan. He had joined many battle clans before temporarily, but Ling Lan's battle clan was the most efficient. When it was time to relax, they relaxed, but the members would never drag the rest of the team down at critical moments — the transition between moods was perfect. Like now, the moment Ling Lan gave a command, no matter how relaxed they had been before, the members could instantly enter battle mode. This was completely the type of mentality and experience only veteran soldiers could have, yet this bunch of youths three years younger than him had actually managed to attain them. This made Li Lanfeng once again feel the threat — if he did not work hard to become stronger, he would be left behind by these people if he wasn't careful.

Even as Li Lanfeng felt the pressure, he was grateful. Luckily he had found the rabbit early and was able to join his battle clan. He believed that as long as they strive to become strong and continue to grow, the Lingtian Battle Clan would definitely become one of the strongest battle clans in the Federation. He had faith in Ling Lan, he had faith in himself, and he had faith in these youths.

Even if he really did meet that so-called king in the future ... he just did not believe that with the help of the rabbit and these youths, he would still be subject to such humiliation ... Li Lanfeng clenched his fists tight. He would definitely go against the heavens and change his fate!

Once everything was ready, Ling Lan led her team members to split up and hide themselves on both sides of the large door, and then she instructed Little Four to open the door.

The door swung open abruptly, stunning the people inside. Ling Lan's team hiding in the wings charged out like ferocious tigers under Ling Lan's battle cry, each leaping towards their respective targets.

Ling Lan took the lead, three miniature syringes in each hand, leaping out in two large steps. With a stomp of her right foot, her entire body flew into the air. In mid-air, she swung both her hands vigorously, and the six miniature tranquilizer syringes flew out like rays of light, shooting right at those six shooting ports.

Ling Lan was very confident that she would not miss, because she had already used the guidance ability of her spiritual power to align the six miniature tranquilizer syringes to follow the route she wanted so that the syringes would unerringly strike the shooters hiding within the iron wall.

Six cries of pain rang out and then the sounds abruptly cut off. Why had there been a reactionary sound this time when using the syringes? It was because the openings of the ports were truly too small — in order to ensure she hit the opponents, Ling Lan had chosen their most fragile parts to target: their eyes. Who asked the shooters to have their eyes wide open, staring through their gun scopes? According to the flight path, the eyes were the easiest spot to target and hit.

Six miniature syringes struck and shattered the gun scopes, and then ruthlessly pierced the eyes of those shooters. Eyes were the most sensitive among the human organs, with the most rapid reflex nerves. That was why the shooters had time to cry out before the anaesthetic could take effect. Still, it was only for that brief moment — Li Shiyu's intensified anaesthetic was truly too overbearing. Additionally, the eyes were the closest to the brain — the opponents were almost instantly put down, which was why the screams had been abruptly throttled.

At the same time, Qi Long and the other five following behind Ling Lan overtook her when she leapt up into the air to throw the syringes, instantly sprinting forwards about 30 metres, where they then fiercely leapt at those six soldiers armed with heavy firearms.

"Enemy attack!" Seeing six people charging at them, even the dullest soldier knew that these people must be enemies and not friends. One of the men quickly raised his voice to shout, simultaneously raising the heavy firearm in his hands to aim it at the six incoming people, preparing to shoot. Although heavy firearms were powerful and fiercely overbearing, it was not so convenient to use them. Using them were by far not as agile as using beam guns, which was why Qi Long and the others had dared to charge in so directly. They were banking on striking with haste before the enemies could rally and shoot.

At the moment Qi Long and the others attacked, deafening sirens tore through the vast and empty space. The entire centre of the base was dominated by this screeching sound. Ling Lan's group knew well that this was definitely the work of those three soldiers hiding in those blind corners. Only they would have had the time to go do such a thing. However, they did not mind. Once they had entered this location, it was impossible for their presence to remain hidden.

Qi Long and the other five's attack speed was extremely quick. Before those soldiers could pull on the trigger of their heavy firearms, Qi Long and company's attacks had already arrived. Qi Long's company knew that the situation was critical, so they used their strongest killing moves from the get-go.

Savage fists flew through the air, leaving explosive sounds in their wake which indicated that should those fists land, severe injury was certain even if death was avoided. Seeing their own heads about to be struck by these heavy blows, instinct made the six soldiers choose to dodge instead of counterattacking. However, even though they managed to dodge the punches, they still did not manage to avoid the needles held between the fingers of Qi Long's company.

Just a simple graze as the points of the needles broke the skin on their cheeks, and their face was instantly bleeding. However, this sort of minor injury was nothing in the eyes of professional soldiers. They were just about to lift their weapons and retaliate with fire when they found that their own arms were beginning to feel weak. Moreover, they actually felt no pain from their wounds ...

Was it poison? No, it was an anaesthetic. They felt their entire body beginning to grow numb until they could no longer move ... at this time, the men saw those six opponents lift up their hands to jab firmly downwards.

Yes, jab. Because they could see clearly then that the opponents were holding miniature syringes in their hands. When the syringe jabbed into them once again, in the very next second, they had descended into darkness ...

Li Shiyu looked at the people who had initially been standing in their way finally falling down unconscious after being hit by his anaesthetic. He found that it was even easier and more convenient to deal with one's enemies using medication rather than actual combat ... he subconsciously looked down at the emptied syringe down in his hands, contemplative. Perhaps he should change his combat style. The results were the same — the enemy would be downed either way — so why shouldn't he make his life easier? Perhaps he should try and apply more of what he had learned into his fighting?

Li Shiyu did not have more time to think beyond that; a dangerous aura suddenly surrounded them. Perhaps having experienced it before, or perhaps because their spiritual power had become familiar with Li Lanfeng's spectre power — this time, when Li Lanfeng activated his spectre power, Qi Long and the others did not feel particularly frightened.

The next second, Li Lanfeng's body suddenly jerked. Even though Qi Long and the others could not see nor feel anything, they knew that the enemy spectres had most likely tried to attack them while Li Lanfeng had protected them.

********

In the central district of the base, within a beautifully decorated and comfortable hidden room, two black-robed men were sitting with their eyes closed. The body of one of the men swayed violently as a muffled groan emerged from his mouth. Face pale, he opened his eyes and growled, "That bastard D2. Didn't he say that the people sent by the Federation to investigate, including their spectres, had all been drawn over to the trap? Why is there an attack here with such a powerful spectre?"

At these words, the other man opened his eyes in shock. "Carter, you failed?" He had not participated in that attack just now because there were only nine people involved. He thought that his comrade would be able to finish off the group of attackers easily, but his comrade had unexpectedly failed. Moreover, his comrade seemed to have been at a disadvantage against the opponent spectre.

"Yes, the opponent spectre is stronger than me. My attacks were intercepted by him. Pete, let's work together this time. We must make sure they do not return from this attack."

"Okay!" Pete's and Carter's strength levels did not differ by much. Since the opponent was stronger than Carter, he would not be able to handle the opponent alone either. Still, he believed that as long as the two of them worked together to attack, they would definitely be able to bring down this strong spectre of the Federation.

Just thinking that they would be able to kill a powerful spectre filled Pete with excitement. This would mean unparalleled merit! Perhaps his military rank would be pushed higher by this exploit ... Pete's eyes gleamed with greed.

Pete was this confident because the two of them had been partners for over 10 years already, so their rapport was excellent. There had been quite a few singled out and isolated spectres who had already died at their hands. Pete did not think that this spectre would be able to withstand their joint attack.

********

Seeing Li Lanfeng standing still, his expression grim, Qi Long and the others could tell the brutal battle between spectres had already begun. Even within Li Lanfeng's protective range, Qi Long and the others could still feel a sort of invisible pressure as their spiritual power was suppressed by a strange energy. It was extremely uncomfortable. As time went by, the faces of Qi Long and the others began to pale. Even though Li Lanfeng was doing his best to hold the other spectre back, a little of the other spectre's power had still seeped out from under his interception.

And this little bit of spectre power was enough to make them feel the danger. It was as if something was about to devour their souls. Chang Xinyuan, whose spiritual power was relatively weaker, began to cradle his head with a pained expression, slumping to sit on the ground.

Only a little spectre power had leaked — this was not a direct attack — and it was already so painful and unbearable. Only now did Qi Long and the others genuinely comprehend the true horror of spectres. Sure enough, within the virtual world, spectres were death gods. This type of attack on their very soul was something they had no strength to resist.

Seeing that everyone had experienced the horror of spectres, only then did Ling Lan activate her spiritual power to protect the spiritual power of Qi Long and the others. With the additional protection of Ling Lan's spiritual power, colour returned to Qi Long's and the others' faces.

The reason why Ling Lan had not used her spiritual power to protect them to begin with was so that Qi Long and the others could truly comprehend the horror of spectres. This was so that they would not think that spectres were beings they could fight against in future. Before they achieved imperial operator status, anyone would be defenceless babes in front of spectres, freely available for slaughter.

Ling Lan remembered very well that her dad had said that the existence of spectres was like a type of BUG in the virtual world. Only imperial operators who knew how to manifest their spiritual power outside their body had the ability to resist. However, not all imperial operators knew how to project their spiritual power because the projection of spiritual power was one of the necessary conditions for advancement to god-class operator status. Therefore, god-class operators had no fear of spectres, because they too were god-like existences.

Chapter 332 - The Aberrant Modification Innate Talent!

"Boss, your leopard seems to be in bad condition." Following Li Lanfeng's great battle with the two spectres, Little Four very quickly found their hiding place by tracking the other side's spectre power. However, in the meantime, after successive confrontations, Li Lanfeng who had been fighting on his own was gradually put at a disadvantage — the situation looked somewhat precarious.

"How much longer can he hold out for?" Ling Lan's brow creased. The opponent spectres were unexpectedly strong. She had not thought the purely defending Li Lanfeng would be worn down so quickly.

Little Four rolled his eyes dramatically at Ling Lan. How could a confrontation between spectres be as simple as his boss assumed? Although Li Lanfeng's spectre powers were strong, he did not have any true battle experience after all. His methods of resisting were extremely rudimentary, which was why he was being worn down so quickly. Otherwise, with Li Lanfeng's power, which was stronger than the opponents by a bracket, he could have easily held an undefeatable situation with his full focus on defence.

"The main reason is that he does not have enough experience, never having fought other spectres before. Plus, those two people are working together very well, which is why your leopard is being foiled at every turn. Still, your leopard is very smart, actually correcting his mistakes in battle and developing his own defensive manoeuvres. Although the situation is rather worrying, to defeat him, those two people will still have to put in quite a bit of effort," reported Little Four to Ling Lan.

Ling Lan frowned at those words. She was somewhat unsure whether to let Little Four help the leopard to handle those two spectres or to just continue waiting here patiently and let the leopard gain as much combat experience as he could against other spectres.

"Little Four, what is the situation in the base? Is the other side redirecting a large number of ground troops over?" Ling Lan asked Little Four. If a large number of ground forces was mobilised, she would need Little Four to help out then. After all, their numbers were too few — they had no way to compete with the entire Swift Dragon fleet. Time was of the essence, they could not afford to waste any bit of it.

"Ah, I was just about to tell Boss the news!" replied Little Four suddenly, "The Swift Dragon base has not been alarmed. Other than alerting those within the base command, there has been no other disturbance here. Moreover, the people alerted are not the highest commanding officers of the Swift Dragon base."

"Looks like there is indeed some problem with the Swift Dragon base. Who knows which faction these people are from ..." Ling Lan silently mused to herself. Trying to kill them right as soon as they arrived, the spectres here are very likely not actually from the Federation military. Perhaps they had been sent by a hostile nation, or perhaps they were from some of those terrorist organisations rebelling against the Federation.

They must definitely be afraid of exposing themselves, and so did not dare to cause too great of a ruckus. This was also why the Swift Dragon base had not been alerted — they were afraid that the mainframe would discover a problem (they must not yet know that the mainframe is already aware that there is a problem here).

And the purpose of this trip by Ling Lan's team was to find out what exactly had happened at the Swift Dragon base. To make sense of this, it was necessary to uncover the backgrounds of these mysterious hackers and spectres. Thinking about it, the true intention behind the mainframe's assignment of this mission was probably to figure this out ...

"Also, those military investigators sent secretly by the mainframe have already been lured to a trap and have already begun fighting. That's why there won't be any other spectres appearing here temporarily," Little Four suddenly interrupted Ling Lan's thoughts to say, "However, there's some bad news. Although there hasn't been much commotion outside, two of the three large mecha troops protecting this base is on their way here now. I estimate that they will be here in one minute."

With a 'thwack', Ling Lan, who was utterly infuriated at this news, instantly flicked a forceful finger onto Little Four's forehead. "You rotten Little Four, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Little Four cradled his aching head and whined, "Isn't it still in time, telling you now?"

Although what Little Four said was still rather reasonable, Ling Lan completely ignored the pouting Little Four in her mindspace. This Little Four ... treat him a little better and his skin would begin to itch with the urge to do off-key things. She must treat him a little harshly for him to be a bit more reliable — Ling Lan truly suspected that Little Four had some masochistic tendencies in his bones.

Ling Lan decisively cast thoughts about Little Four to the back of her mind as she commanded everyone in her team, "All members, enter your mecha and prepare for battle!"

Ling Lan's command was very abrupt, but Qi Long and the others of the old team were already used to this sort of behaviour from Ling Lan. They instantly unleashed their mecha. Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan had only joined the team recently after all, so they were stunned for a moment, slower than Qi Long and the others by a beat. However, their reaction was still pretty quick, releasing their mecha right after Qi Long's group of five.

Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng, who was tenaciously fighting against the two spectres, was the last one to let out his mecha. Defending with all his strength, only when he could ensure no disruption to his duty did he allow himself to let out his mecha.

They had just gotten into their mecha when the ground began to quake violently. Only then did they realise why their boss had asked them to get into their mecha. These intense vibrations proved that quite a number of mecha was rapidly approaching them from not too far away. Following the gradually intensifying quaking of the ground, everyone prepared themselves for battle. They each pulled out their cold weapons with their right hands, while their left hands raised their beam guns. The moment Ling Lan gave the command, they would fire.

After about 30 seconds, around 20 mecha appeared ahead of them in an arc formation. Ling Lan calmly observed the distance between the incoming enemy and her team, silently calculating the best time to attack.

Just when they were about 10 metres short of entering each other's shooting range, Ling Lan shouted loudly, "Fire!"

Following this command, everyone raised their beam guns, aimed at their respective targets, and pulled the trigger. Eight beams shot out from the guns at almost the same time in an attack towards the distant enemy.

"Activate beam shields!" Seeing the opposing mecha firing, the invading mecha from the base all activated their beam shields to block. Their numbers were obviously two or three times greater than their opponents. Even if the opponents were attacking them, there were not enough beams to hit all of them. And even if they were hit, the shot mecha might only be hit by just one beam. If any of them were hit twice in a row, then they could consider themselves terribly unlucky today.

Furthermore, their beam shields could withstand three beam attacks without sustaining any damage. Thus, none of these mecha chose to dodge, charging ahead fearlessly instead. They were prepared to overwhelm the opponent with their numbers and utterly destroy these terrorists who had invaded the heart of their base.

Then there was a loud 'boom!' and one of the mecha from the mecha horde from the base suddenly exploded. The tremendous explosion even caused collateral damage to the mecha of his comrades around him. Right after that, not too far off, yet another mecha exploded in a similar manner, just not as frightening as the explosion of the first mecha had been.

"What's going on?" This question emerged suddenly in the minds of all the other mecha operators of the base. However, time did not allow them to think any further on it. On the battlefield, death was extremely commonplace. Thus, they merely carried their doubts in silence and continued to charge forwards.

Ling Lan stared, somewhat dumbfounded, at Chang Xinyuan. The mecha Chang Xinyuan was operating now was not a standard Federation advanced mecha; he had chosen to operate his own intermediate mecha. Having been modified by Chang Xinyuan, although this mecha did not seem very different on the outside, its internal weapons system had already been changed significantly. Ling Lan had already witnessed this back when they had been trying to destroy the door of the transport ship's hold.

Ling Lan knew that Chang Xinyuan's innate talent in modifying mecha was very strong, which was why he had garnered the Thunder King's attention so much that the other had not hesitated to use threatening methods to try and force Chang Xinyuan to join him. Ling Lan had been under the impression that she already had a good grasp of Chang Xinyuan's abilities, but now, from the looks of it, she had still been underestimating his modification innate talent.

Ling Lan had never expected that Chang Xinyuan was not only good at modifying mecha, he was equally aberrant at modifying weapons. It was previously shown that he had modified the interference missiles in the mecha's head portion, transforming them from weak ' chicken ribs 1 ' into extremely powerful heavy-artillery laser cannon shots. Although Chang Xinyuan had categorised those projectiles as immature modifications due to the limited firing range, in Ling Lan's mind, those shots were absolutely a horrific trump card to pull out when circumstances called for it.

Just imagine, when a mecha draws into close-range to fight, no one would ever think to defend against those interference missiles from the head of that mecha. This was because even if they were struck by interference missiles, at most their mecha would be left with several faint and negligible scratches. The mecha would not be significantly damaged, let alone the mecha operator sitting inside it.

Therefore, no one would be on guard against interference missiles. Then, imagine if, at that time, a laser cannon shot were to be unleashed suddenly from the head of that mecha ... The power of a laser cannon is several tens or even hundreds of times stronger than that of an interference missile. Undoubtedly, even if the mecha on the receiving end of a laser shot head-on would not be completely destroyed in the blast, the concussive force from the resulting blast would be enough to give them a whole lot of trouble 1 — even if they did not die, they would still be half-dead. Thus, the range problem Chang Xinyuan was regretful about was not a problem at all in Ling Lan's eyes.

However, back then, the situation had been pressing, so Ling Lan had not had a chance to discuss this with Chang Xinyuan. Ling Lan had believed that that was already Chang Xinyuan's most outstanding design, but unexpectedly, Chang Xinyuan had given her a great surprise. The one behind the first explosion of the enemy mecha was precisely this Chang Xinyuan who looked like he had the poorest combat capacity.

They were all using beam guns, but Chang Xinyuan's beam gun was not shooting the standard white beams. Instead, the beam from his gun had a thread of strange purple light running through it. This beam instantly eliminated the energy powering the beam shield and caused the mecha it hit to explode violently. Even at the time of explosion, Ling Lan could see slight traces of purple light within the flames ...

Meanwhile, the explosion of the other mecha was the result of Ling Lan and her original team members working together. Qi Long and the other four had not chosen to shoot randomly, choosing instead to attack the one target Ling Lan had selected. Struck by six beams at the same time, that mecha's beam shield had no way of holding out. The natural outcome of this was the explosive destruction of that mecha.

Battlefields were constantly changing — it did not allow for any distraction among the participating fighters. No one else noticed the strange power of Chang Xinyuan's beam gun other than Ling Lan. Qi Long and the others were merely secretly glad that their first attack had been so lucky as to eliminate two mecha. This was extremely advantageous to them.

The fight had just begun and the other side was already down two mecha. Both the team leaders and the team members on the other side returned fire indignantly. Beams shot out simultaneously from both sides, but compared to the other sides' brute force approach, Qi Long's group nimbly evaded the beams heading for them with agile and intricate steps.

1. This term has been explained before. Please refer to footnotes of chp318.

2. 喝一壶: Literally 'make them gulp down a whole potful'. A potful of what is not explained, but I like to think of it as hot tea. If something is said to be cause someone to 喝一壶, it means that the thing is very challenging and troublesome, enough to make one choke on it.

Chapter 333 - A Weakness Appears!

The steps Qi Long and the others used to evade were not movements that Li Shiyu and the other newer members were familiar with. Only the eyes of Li Lanfeng, who was still fighting the enemy spectres, lit up when he saw those moves. He had seen the rabbit use moves similar to these 7 years ago while they were practising for the assessment. It looked like these techniques must be unique arts from the rabbit's sect. Since Qi Long and the others could learn them, did this mean that he would also be able to learn these moves later on?

The reason why Li Lanfeng would be so taken by this set of steps was that each of the stepping points in the set was exceedingly strange, completely going against conventional logic and laws of inertia. Oftentimes, places which you did not think was possible to get to, you would be able to get there accurately using this set of footwork. This type of utterly unpredictable evasion method would cause all the enemies' attacks to strike air.

Just like Li Lanfeng predicted, this set of footwork which Qi Long and the others were currently displaying was indeed taught to them by Ling Lan. However, it was not like Li Lanfeng believed — these steps were not an exclusive art of Ling Lan's sect but were something Ling Lan had learned in the learning space. It was also the most basic evasion footwork for mecha available in the learning space.

This set of basic evasion footwork from the learning space had been derived over the accumulated tempering of time. Each step in the set was the fruit of concentrated effort from countless mecha operators within the Mandora star system over tens of thousands of years. Ling Lan had tested it — as long as one mastered this set of evasion footwork, learning any of the other so-called advanced evasion techniques of the Federation after that was extremely easy.

Having discovered the benefits, Ling Lan naturally did not forget about her companions. After obtaining permission from Instructor Number Three, she taught this set of footwork to Qi Long and the others. In order for them to integrate this footwork into their instincts, Ling Lan used extremely brutal and punishing training, just like Instructor Number Three had within the learning space, to force Qi Long and the others to rapidly become used to the steps.

Similarly, Qi Long and the others also thought that these steps were part of General Ling Xiao's legacy. After all, only a god-class operator could have such a strange and inexplicable set of footwork.

Li Lanfeng had already been obsessed with this wondrous set of footwork of the rabbit's ever since he first saw it seven years ago. Now, seeing that there was the possibility of learning it, he was instantly thrilled. This surge in emotion spurred his initially suppressed spectre power to expand rapidly in reaction, instantly flinging off one of the spectre powers attacking him fiercely.

"Pfft!" In the hidden room, one of the black-robed men suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood.

"Pete, what happened?" Seeing this, Carter's expression changed drastically.

"The opponent spectre's power suddenly became stronger. My attack was reflected back at me, so I suffered some injury." Pete rubbed at his brow with his fingers, beginning to soothe his somewhat chaotic spectre power after suffering from the counterattack.

"Could the opponent be playing around with us?" Carter's expression fluctuated uncertainly. The power of a typical spectre was stable and would not suddenly increase by so much at once. The only explanation he could think of was that the opponent had not been going all-out from the start.

Carter's words made Pete's expression change as well. "Then what do we do?" If the other was truly playing a pig to eat a tiger, then they were truly in a very bad position. No one wants to die, even if these people were spectres who had always been reaping the lives of others.

"D*mn, how much longer will they need to handle things over at the trap?" said Carter angrily. In order to ensure their safety, he had immediately contacted D2 who had been holding the fort at the heart of the base, telling him to inform D1 to send another spectre over to help as soon as possible.

D2 had responded quickly, telling Carter that there was a great fight around the trap at the moment. The enemy spectre there was extremely powerful, so they needed two spectres working together to kill the other. It would be difficult to pull either spectre out for the time being, so he could only ask that they continue to hold on.

D2's words implied that both sides were similarly fighting just one enemy spectre, so why did they need an extra hand when killing the enemy spectre at the trap was only a matter of time? In particular, the part where he told them to continue holding on was obviously tinged with contempt. This made Carter so angry he could feel the rage swell in his chest. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say that they would take down the enemy spectre on their own, as long as the mecha warriors could handle all the other small fry; the connotation being that these mecha warriors sent by D2 were truly too weak.

These two were so at odds because spectres and hackers belonged to two separate systems in competition with one another, neither willing to back down. Spectres have always considered themselves the gods of the virtual world, able to dictate the life or death of everyone in the virtual world. Meanwhile, hackers were just an inferior bunch of rebels, unstable elements in the virtual world.

In contrast, hackers believed that they themselves were the true masters of the virtual world. They could alter the virtual world with their abilities, even turn the entire virtual world on its head. In their eyes, spectres were just a bunch of demons lurking within the virtual world, a bunch of revolting, dark stinkbugs that made them feel afraid even as they were filled with disgust ...

Carter angrily cut off his call with D2. If their superiors had not ordered their group of spectres to listen to the orders of the hackers from group D, he would have long have given the other a taste of what's what.

Knowing that they would not be getting any reinforcements, Carter and Pete held an emergency discussion and then decided to play it a little safer. This time, they would not attack one after the other, but instead attack together. Their original strategy of attacking one after the other was to not give the opponent any time to rest — it was a plan to exhaust the stamina of the other spectre. However, now, in view of the unfathomable power of the opponent, they decided it would be better to attack together for the sake of safety.

Thus, the two of them attacked Li Lanfeng at the same time. This combined spectre attack almost broke Li Lanfeng's layered spectre power defensive shield. He had initially been able to operate his mecha to dodge the enemy mecha's beam attacks, but now he could no longer spare the effort to do so. Against the simultaneous forceful attack of two spectres, Li Lanfeng needed to use all his strength to withstand it ...

During this time, as Qi Long and the others were dodging, they had managed to take down another three mecha by working together. Compared to how easy things seemed to be for Qi Long and the original team members, Li Shiyu was obviously struggling a lot more. He was hit several times by the enemy's beams, but luckily it was only one or two beams each time. With the protection of a beam shield, he had not taken any damage.

However, the situation soon took a turn for the worse. Li Lanfeng's strange behaviour had been noticed by quite a few of the enemy mecha. In contrast to the other unhittable mecha who were evading their attacks so mysteriously, Li Lanfeng's almost immobile mecha was an obvious sitting target. They all knew to go after the weakest link 1 , and so all the attacks of these mecha began to congregate onto Li Lanfeng's mecha.

As he was the closest to Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu was the first to see the threat to Li Lanfeng. He rushed forwards without hesitation to use his own mecha as a shield.

"Hells!" Qi Long and the others too became aware of the problem now. They all began to gather around Li Lanfeng, and this odd shift brought the attention of all the remaining enemy mecha who had initially been oblivious to the weakness of their team. The number of beams attacking Li Lanfeng's mecha increased even more — with this, even Qi Long and the others had no choice but to control their mecha to block some attacks and try to divert attention. The team was put into a passive position.

Ling Lan was just about to order Little Four to help Li Lanfeng finish off those two spectres when Chang Xinyuan operated his mecha to rush and stand before Li Lanfeng's mecha, shouting, "You all go and finish off the other mecha, I'll protect Li Lanfeng."

Following this cry, Chang Xinyuan's mecha suddenly transformed from a humanoid mecha into a large pot lid 1 . The large pot lid abruptly stretched and covered Li Lanfeng's mecha entirely ...

"Holy crap, Chang Xinyuan, what is this thing?!" Qi Long saw the other's mecha transform into this extremely black, large pot lid and could not help but exclaim in shock.

"One of my immature designs. I'm not very good at mecha piloting, so I was afraid of pulling down my battle clan in future. That's why I designed this most defensive solution. I call it Divine Turtle Shield. It's used to attract the enemy's fire, allowing my other teammates to attack freely ..." explained Chang Xinyuan, "But for now, I can only make this pot lid shape. It's rather far still from my original idea of a turtle's shell, and even its defensive strength is not at the standard I would like."

"How long can it hold out for?" Ling Lan asked as she continued to fire her beam gun. She pulled her trigger consecutively, attacking a particular mecha ten times in succession at the exact same spot, finally destroying that mecha completely.

"It's able to block the simultaneous attacks of 10 beam guns for 10 minutes. The other side has approximately 20 mecha left. I should still be able to hold out for 5 minutes." Hearing Boss Lan ask about his shield, Chang Xinyuan quickly answered without daring to include any irrelevant chatter. Facing Ling Lan, Chang Xinyuan was still rather timid.

"Good! Chang Xinyuan, mark this down as a merit for yourself. Lingtian Battle Clan, follow me!" With no more worries holding her back, Ling Lan gave this direct order and then charged on her own out into the fray.

Ling Lan was not a person who liked to attack passively; she liked taking the initiative. Since Li Lanfeng was being protected by Chang Xinyuan and would not be in any danger for the next five minutes, she decided to go head to head with the enemy. Only in this way would they be able to hinder the other side's unbridled attack on Li Lanfeng so Chang Xinyuan would be able to hold out for even longer.

As for those two spectres, Ling Lan was prepared to let Li Lanfeng continue playing with them, with Little Four acting as an alert guardian. Ling Lan felt that it was worth taking the risk if Li Lanfeng could gain a little more experience. After all, a battle between spectres was not so easy to come across.

Howling exuberantly, Qi Long and the others charged out after Ling Lan. Finally, the blades of the two sides clashed, and the enemy mecha's thoughts of steamrolling their opponent by relying on their numbers were thoroughly crushed by Ling Lan.

In order to bring her full combat power into play, Ling Lan was using the standard Federation advanced mecha which was at the same level as the enemy mecha. Meanwhile, Ling Lan's true level had long been at mecha master level though Ling Lan was unsure whether she was in special-class level or already in ace level. This was because she had promised her father before that before she managed to gather enough points in Mecha World to redeem an equivalent mecha, she would not cross-levels to operate a more advanced mecha.

Of course, when Ling Xiao had found out that the mission she had received this time was an SSS-rank mission, in order to ensure Ling Lan's safety, Ling Xiao had handed his own imperial mecha <Wind's Shadow> to her and permitted her to use it at critical moments. Thus, finally operating a more suitably advanced mecha, Ling Lan's sealed powers were beginning to manifest. Like a wolf let loose into a flock of sheep, she began her wild massacre.

A sharp roundhouse kick sent the 4 or 5 mecha around her flying. And as they were flailing around defenceless, she raised the beam gun in her right hand and sent a barrage of shots firing at those mecha's cockpits.

Her super strong close-range combat skills combined with perfect and accurate marksmanship caused three mecha to explode in an instant. Ling Lan's super strong attack power flabbergasted the surrounding enemy mecha. In unplanned unison, they actually stopped their attacks to stare dumbly at that fearsome mecha standing tall within the raging flames and thick smoke.

1. 柿子要检软的捏: The Chinese version goes 'choose the softest persimmon to pinch'.

2. Legit. The author used 'pot lid'. I did a double-take myself when I first came across this.

Chapter 334 - An Intense Battle!

In another hidden room, D2 was directing the hackers as they put their full effort on carrying out project T. Witnessing this scene unfold, D2 could not help but cry out, "He cannot be just an advanced mecha warrior! He must be an ace mecha master ..."

Sitting beside D2, cold sweat poured from D3's forehead as he urged D2 anxiously, "Quick, inform D1 to send our ace operator over. Otherwise, relying on these mecha warriors alone, we won't be able to stop him."

D3's reminder abruptly jolted D2 to awareness. Project T was just a little short of success now — if the opponent managed to break into this area, all their previous efforts would be for naught. Thus, they quickly contacted D1, but the news they received in return was that the fight at the trap area had fallen into a stalemate. An ace operator who was infinitely close to breaking through into imperial status had appeared there as well, and their ace operator was currently already engaged in battle there.

"We need to stall." Seeing Ling Lan's team finish off another 4 or 5 mecha, D2 knew he could not afford to hesitate any longer. He decisively sent the remaining two mecha teams over.

"How much longer will it take to succeed?" D2 asked one of his subordinate hackers who was carefully channelling his hacker power into a black box inside the hidden room after the mecha teams had left at a sprint towards the battlefield on his orders.

"It has already entered the propagation stage. Based on this speed, we need at least one more hour for proper formation." The subordinate hacker wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and answered softly.

"Can't you speed it up at all?" When D2 heard they would still need an hour, he frowned.

"No more than we have. Any faster and it'll be dangerous. They will devour our power, all of it ..." When the subordinate hacker heard the request to speed up, his face instantly changed. He had been there during the research process of the T-virus. Previously, someone had once tried to speed up the cultivation process by sending great amounts of hacker power at it, but in the end, he had been consumed mercilessly by the T-virus. That person's final outcome had been death.

His subordinate's reminder calmed D2 down. He too knew of that incident that year and knew the cultivation of the T-virus could not be rushed. He could only hope that everything would turn out well — as long as the cultivation succeeded, they could then leave the virtual world and quietly wait for the victory the T-virus would deliver to them. The Chinese Federation would be their prize.

"Boss, they've sent another two mecha teams over." The mecha teams' movements naturally could not be concealed from Little Four who was closely monitoring the secret base. This time, Little Four had learned from his previous mistakes — he immediately reported this to his boss so that his boss would not flick him in the head and bully him again.

"D*mmit, forcing me to go all out." Ling Lan placed all of the energy blocks she had in her bag into the standard Federation advanced mecha she was currently piloting. If not for the fact that crossing levels to operate a higher level mecha was a great burden on the body, Ling Lan would have liked to use the imperial mecha more. Its standard-equipped six-tube maglev 1 cannon would need only 3 to 4 shots to finish off all these mecha operators.

Ling Lan sighed internally. For now, imperial mecha could only be a last resort, not to be used unless absolutely necessary. She knew well that based on her current level of strength, she could only operate an imperial mecha for 5 minutes. Beyond 5 minutes, her body would not be able to endure the tremendous feedback force generated by cross-level mecha operation and would collapse completely.

Doing such an idiotic thing in the enemy's main camp was utter suicide — Ling Lan would definitely not let herself fall into such a desperate situation just to show off momentarily.

Ling Lan had just filled her power up to the brim when she felt a faint vibration coming from the ground. It went without saying that the final two mecha teams of the heart of the secret base were rushing over. Ling Lan's team needed to finish off these enemy mecha before them now before those mecha arrived. Otherwise, with the addition of 20 or more mecha, they would not be able to hold out no matter how strong their control skills were.

"The enemy is sending reinforcements. Hurry up and kill off these mecha." Ling Lan connected to the team's dedicated channel and issued a decisive order. (Little Four had created this dedicated channel for the nine of them at the moment they had boarded their mecha.)

Everyone knew the situation was critical and that they needed to go all out. Like Ling Lan, they plugged in the spare energy blocks they had in their bags, making sure their mecha were fully charged. In the upcoming battle, they would no longer try to save power by sealing away some of the advanced techniques that consumed a lot of energy.

Qi Long and the original four plus Li Shiyu each controlled their own mecha and began sprinting. They weaved left and right as they ran so that the enemy could not predict their route, and so could not hit them with beam guns. Furthermore, this kind of airy and mobile running method made the enemy unable to determine which target they were aiming for ...

All the enemy mecha became nervous, because any of their remaining group of 18 mecha could become the attack target of the six incoming opponents. Suddenly, the figures of the six fluttering mecha vanished ... Oh, no, not vanished, rather, the six were drawing indistinct ephemeral streaks of light through the air. This was the advanced technique only advanced mecha warriors could learn — Light-and-Shadow Slidestep.

There were two types of footwork techniques for advanced mecha warriors. One was the Z-flicker, which was in fact what Qi Long and the others had been using at first, while the other was the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep they were displaying now. The reason why they had chosen to use the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep in this final attack with unplanned synchronicity was because the technique not only functioned to increase speed but also had the effect of confusing the enemy. It would cause a display lag on the external cameras of enemy mecha, making it difficult for the enemy to determine their true position and attack timing.

Of course, experienced advanced mecha warriors could make judgements based on pure experience and would not be fooled by the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep ... however, these mecha operators before them now were not truly controlled by humans but were true NPCs. Right after engaging them in combat, Qi Long and the others had already figured this out.

In the settings of the mainframe, these NPCs only had 20% probability of not being confounded. In other words, the likelihood of them being confounded was rather high. Meanwhile, Qi Long and the others ignored these NPC mecha's wild beam attacks. The next second, they were already before their respective target mecha, ruthlessly lifting up their cold weapons to swing it down savagely at the opponent.

The beam shields of mecha could be said to be specially designed to deal with a variety of energy weapons such as beam guns — against cold weapons which were pure physical violence, beam shields were rather weak.

Five mecha were subject to fierce chops by Qi Long's group. The strikes instantly broke through the energy of the beam shields and the powerful force behind the blows slammed into the enemy mecha. The intense collision between weapon and mecha instantly created a string of sparks.

Qi Long and the others had not been attacking mindlessly — the areas they had chosen to attack were the various joints of the mecha. In order to maintain the flexibility of mecha, the defensive strength of certain areas needed to be sacrificed during the manufacture of mecha. For instance, at the shoulders, the neck, the hips, the arms, the ankles, the knees and so on. Their chosen target areas made their attacks effective immediately, directly destroying a part of the mecha.

Only one mecha managed to dodge the crisis this time. It had fallen into the 20% chance of not being confounded — it could be said that mecha had been extremely lucky. The one who failed was Luo Lang and this made Luo Lang rather displeased, unable to figure out why he was the only one so unlucky.

Luo Lang gritted his teeth and followed up with another attack. Since he had failed, he would just have to make up for it. He did not believe that the enemy would still be so lucky to fall into that 20% the next time he attacked.

Luo Lang was full of confidence for his attack this time, but when he found that he had once again struck air, his entire pert face became flushed red with anger. D*mmit! Even if his appearance was a little feminine, that didn't mean others could look down on him like he was a girl!

Fuming, Luo Lang followed up with another Light-and-Shadow Slidestep. It looked like Luo Lang had decided to challenge the mainframe till the end. He just did not believe this NPC mecha warrior would truly be so lucky and avoid being confounded three times in a row ...

Dreams are beautiful but reality is cruel — Luo Lang's confidence-filled third attack was once again evaded by the NPC. Right then, Luo Lang could not stop himself from cursing, "Bastard ..."

********

Meanwhile, Ling Lan, who was attacking with both hands, had also been using the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep. Against real people, this technique more or less had its weaknesses, but against NPCs, it was extremely effective and was one of the primary techniques for all players. The cold weapon she was using right now was the wondrous weapon Regretless that Chang Xinyuan had forged. The special sharpness Regretless possessed was displayed to maximum effect by Ling Lan at this moment.

With a swing to the left and a slash to the right, Ling Lan instantly split open the outer shell of two mecha before her. She felt that the tough outer shell of mecha was not as sturdy as she had imagined ... her swings had sliced through easily, chopping right into the cockpit of the mecha.

The cockpit of a mecha was its most deadly weakness because the operator was housed within it. Whether it was an NPC or a real human pilot, once the mecha's cockpit was struck, the mainframe would judge that a devastating blow had been struck to the mecha. Sure enough, the mecha exploded and on Ling Lan's screen, the notification window indicated that the enemy mecha had been utterly destroyed.

Seeing this, Ling Lan could not help but blink, stunned, glancing over at Regretless in her hand in disbelief. She had always known Regretless was sharp, but she had not imagined that it was this sharp. A standard advanced mecha in Mecha World actually could not even hold up against even one of its attacks.

Right then, an enemy mecha behind Ling Lan saw that Ling Lan had stopped moving after destroying two of his comrades. Thinking that he had a chance for revenge, he swiftly raised the cold weapon in his hands and swung it fiercely at the back of Ling Lan's head.

Ling Lan, who had the entire situation in hand, thrust Regretless backwards without hesitation. This move was so concealed and sudden that the other mecha had no time to react, instantly pierced through the cockpit by Regretless.

The highly raised cold weapon in that mecha's hands was now powerless to chop downwards. Executing a scorpion kick 1 , she kicked out powerfully, sending that mecha flying to crash into the back of another mecha who was desperately attacking Chang Xinyuan's pot lid with its cold weapon. The sudden attack from behind him did not give that mecha any time to react. He stumbled forwards uncontrollably, falling onto Chang Xinyuan's pot lid mecha, his attack interrupted.

He was just about to struggle his way up from Chang Xinyuan's pot lid mecha, when two huge sets of teeth appeared on both sides of the pot lid to bite down mercilessly on that mecha. As the pot lid was completely swarmed by enemy mecha, no one saw when the centre of the pot lid suddenly split open slightly to form a round hole. Then, a beam twined with purple shot out at the mecha caught in the grasp of the teeth, blasting a hole of about 50 centimetres in radius through the mecha. The spot it blasted though was precisely the cockpit of the mecha. And thus, the enemy mecha fell to Chang Xinyuan's pot lid mecha ...

1. short for magnetic levitation.

2. Also known as reverse bicycle kick or back hammer kick.

Chapter 335 - Destroy Them All!

As for that mecha which had been sent flying by Ling Lan's kick, after its collision with its allied mecha, it had bounced back to crash into the ground and had not gotten up again after that.

If anyone was paying attention, they would see a long and flat opening at the heart of the mecha's cockpit. Blood was dripping slowly from it, gradually staining the ground below it red ...

Having eliminated both mecha on her end, Ling Lan saw Luo Lang's third failure and decisively raised her right arm and shot a torrent of beams from her beam gun at his opponent, striking that mecha at its knee.

The knee was the weakest point of defence in a mecha. Hit so suddenly by Ling Lan's attack, it instantly burst into a small shower of sparks, and the mecha's evasive movements slowed.

At this moment, Luo Lang, who had still not given up, used the Light-and-Shadow Slidestep for the fourth time, swinging the cold weapon in his hands angrily at his opponent's neck. Perhaps because its knee was already broken, causing the mecha to be unable to retain its balance, and also because Luo Lang's angry swing had an unusual amount of power behind it, the mecha was instantly sent crashing to the ground by the blow.

Luo Lang was unforgiving once he gained the upper hand. Once again he raised his cold weapon and began slashing it down again and again like a wild thunderstorm down at that mecha on the ground, so mad and violent that it seemed like he wanted to dice the mecha up into a heap of scrap metal. Perhaps even the NPC mecha did not want to suffer such abuse, finally deciding to self-destruct. Fortunately, Luo Lang had good reflexes and managed to avoid the resulting explosion and did not receive much damage.

However, this scene just made Luo Lang even angrier. He truly felt that the mainframe was absolutely picking on him. None of the others' opponents had self-destructed, while his had just happened to choose to try for mutual destruction? Once more he charged forwards, kicking out fiercely at the burning scrap heap. That bundle of scraps was sent flying, and by sheer unfortunate coincidence, it was flying in Ling Lan's direction ...

At this time, Ling Lan was fighting with two other mecha. Her Regretless was clashing violently with the cold weapon of one mecha, while on her right, another mecha's cold weapon was slashing down ferociously at Ling Lan's head. It wasn't that Ling Lan did not have any room to dodge to, but it just so happened that the flaming bundle of scraps Luo Lang had kicked had appeared at the spot she would have dodged to.

Luo Lang's initially towering rage was instantly doused by this scene. He felt a chill shoot into his bones and there was only one thought in his mind ... he was dead meat. He jerked and shouted, "Boss, dodge!"

Facing this dilemma where either choice would result in a hit, Ling Lan just calmly kicked out against the mecha on her left who had been crossing blades with her, sending the other stumbling back a step. Then, with a spin of Regretless, she smacked that flaming ball of scraps and sent it flying towards that mecha which had stumbled back from her kick. That enemy mecha had not expected the fireball flying towards his opponent to suddenly fly at him instead; he was hit directly. The great force behind the crash made him stumble back uncontrollably for another 4 or 5 steps before he managed to catch himself.

Although Ling Lan had dodged this flying accident, she now had no time to avoid the other mecha's overhead strike. But then, something miraculous happened. Borrowing the force of the smack she gave to the fireball, Ling Lan's mecha slid in the opposite direction for about one metre, and this one metre allowed her to narrowly escape that fierce slash by the enemy mecha.

After evading the attack, taking advantage of the other mecha being caught in the tail-end of its attack, Ling Lan executed a flick and swish — with a cold flash of light, Regretless lopped off the enemy mecha's right arm. Ling Lan's attack did not stop there. Right afterwards, she pushed off her right foot and her entire mecha leapt into the air till she was about 7 to 8 metres off the ground. There, she lifted her right leg high before kicking out in a downwards side kick.

A loud 'bang' rang out as her right kick struck the mecha which had lost its right arm. The great force applied from above it sent the mecha crashing to the ground ...

As Ling Lan's mecha descended, Regretless drew a lovely arc through the air. In the end, with its tip pointed downwards, it stabbed right through the mecha's cockpit. This series of actions were completed in the blink of an eye ...

When Luo Lang saw that Ling Lan had avoided the flying accident he had kicked over, he instantly let out a sigh of relief. But before he could rejoice for long, he heard Ling Lan say glacially, "Luo Lang, when we return, private room training for a week!" As she said this, Ling Lan was coldly pulling Regretless out from the enemy mecha's cockpit.

"Ah ..." Luo Lang groaned. He had only been venting a little — who knew things would end this way? One week of training in a private room, under Boss Lan's savage treatment ... would he survive?

"Not continuing to fight yet? Do you want private room training for two weeks?" Before Luo Lang's groan had fully faded, Ling Lan's icy voice had risen eerily in the team's comms once more. Thus, Luo Lang's initial mournful groan instantly became a savage howl as he leapt like a rabid wolf at one of the final remaining mecha.

Qi Long and the other three had just finished off their own opponents when they heard Ling Lan's warning words to Luo Lang. Cold air seeped into their hearts and without even thinking about it, they too quickly leapt savagely towards those few remaining mecha ...

Boo hoo hoo, Boss, we're performing so well. Don't take out your anger on us please. If you want to hold private room training, please just take the main culprit Luo Lang. Please don't involve us.

The brutality of private room training was to the extent that the faces of Qi Long and the others would drain of colour at the mere mention of it. In order to avoid letting themselves experience such deep and enduring pain again, Qi Long and the others pushed themselves to their maximum combat power, beating their opponents so completely that they could not resist at all ...

Right then, Li Shiyu had also confronted the last enemy. Baffled, he glanced at Qi Long and the others, unsure why they were acting like they had ingested some high-effect stimulants. Their battle power now was at a completely different level from before ... could it be that there was some hidden secret behind private room training? Perhaps it would be helpful for his research into developing the potential of the human body so he should find team leader Ling to discuss it properly? This was what Li Shiyu thought.

Qi Long and the other few fighting to the best of their ability suddenly felt a chill rise from within their very bones ... was their boss truly thinking about throwing them all into private room training? At the thought of this possibility, they began fighting even harder, wishing they could kill off all the mecha before them immediately so they could tell Boss that they definitely did not need to go back for some private room training.

Their ramped up performance let Qi Long and the others finish off their respective opponents within one minute. Seeing their initial numbers, which had been several times more than the invaders, instantly decimated by these enemies who had invaded the secret base, that mecha which had been sent stumbling away from Ling Lan due to its collision with the fireball could only stare in frozen fear as Ling Lan stalked towards him with a bloody Regretless in her hands ...

Gripping his weapon tightly, he stared with red eyes at the demon that had killed almost half of their mecha in an instant. Seeing the other getting closer and closer, he finally roared angrily and turned to run ...

"Hah? Actually choosing to run?" Ling Lan was stunned. She had initially thought NPC soldiers were all set by the mainframe to fight to the death. Unexpectedly, there were some who would react like real people and choose to run. At this time, the reinforcements the enemy had sent had already appeared within their visual range, the vibrations of the ground becoming very intense ... an extremely subtle sneer appeared on Ling Lan's lips. With a swing of her right arm, Regretless flew like a bolt of cold light to pierce through that escaping mecha.

"Ahh ..." The NPC operating this mecha let out a terrible scream. His body had been cut into half by that fearsome demon-sword. In the throes of the soul-consuming pain, he could see his internal organs spilling out from the large gash at his waist, accompanied by a fountain of blood ...

Blearily, he looked at the allied troops only 500 to 600 metres away from him. He really wanted to tell them to run quickly — this group of people were demons and not something they could fight ... but he could no longer make any sound. He could almost see what the final outcome of these comrades would be. Like them, these new troops would drink their fill of regret and become lost souls ...

A squelch rang out suddenly by his ears. He stared helplessly as that demon-sword which had cut him in half left his cockpit. He knew that the demon must have come to retrieve his demon-sword. He really wanted to grab the sword, hoping to stop the demon from continuing to harm his allies with it. He used the last bit of his strength to stretch out his right hand ...

Could he not catch the sword? He watched as the demon-sword disappeared from sight and left his cockpit completely. Dejected, he raised his right hand and found that his five fingers were gone ... it turned out that he had actually managed to touch the demon-sword just now!

As expected of a demon-sword! In the end, he swallowed his last breath gripped by this final shock. Even in death his eyes remained open!

After retrieving Regretless, Ling Lan looked at the last two mecha teams approaching them rapidly and coldly gave her orders to the team, "Destroy them all!"

********

In the distant Caesar Empire, in an experimental hall of a military secret base, everyone was closely observing the thirty or so virtual login pods in the hall. Although they were trying their best to maintain their calm, they could hardly conceal their nerves and excitement.

According to the estimated time, after just a few more minutes, their plan was going to succeed. And the result of this success was something that would drive the entirety of Caesar wild — it would allow the Caesar Empire to become the hegemon 1 of the solar system at once. Ever since the Huaxia Federation had caught up to them 5000 years ago, they had lost the sole position of hegemon and could only share that honour with the Huaxia Federation. It should be known that in the history of the Caesar Empire, they had ruled this star system for a whole 7000 years.

How could they allow outsiders to sleep at their bedside 1 ? They had already tolerated the Huaxia Federation for 5000 years — now they could finally get rid of their rival and taste their heart's desire.

"Beep beep beep ..." Two of the login pods suddenly emitted emergency sounds. This likely meant that either something had happened to or there was some danger to the people inside those pods.

This situation made the faces of everyone in the hall change as they rushed towards those two virtual pods. The pods were quickly opened and the nutrient fluid inside was quickly drained away. However, the people inside who should have woken up remained unresponsive, lying inside with their eyes closed as if they were deeply asleep.

1. i.e. supreme leader

2. 卧榻之侧岂容他人鼾睡: This was their house and the Chinese Federation were unwelcome house guests that had forced their way in.