Mechs of the same color scheme...?

In the heart of the Banute pollution zone, a swift gray mech darted after the Vines, its vision flooded with non-stop alarm sounds.

Inside the cockpit, a woman with a stern face and slightly disheveled hair wrapped her slender fingers around two sympathetic nerves. The mech's pollution levels were skyrocketing, lighting up in red, but the woman's calm eyes remained undisturbed as if she was completely indifferent.

The cockpit was silent until a female voice broke the quiet, prompting a slight reaction from her, "What's up?"

The pollution level had soared to 4000. Shirley turned off the annoying alarm system and stopped the mech's thrusters just as she was about to catch up with the Vines. She glanced at the radar, now filled with a dense array of pollution red alarms and other mechs' coordinates.

Through the crackling communication, Pearl's voice came in patches, "Why did you go off the grid just now?"

Shirley found a high spot to stay, overlooking the situation below, "Ran into some trouble on the way. What's the situation with the pollution source?"

Deep in the Banute pollution zone was the origin of a highly mutated pollutant, the [Nine Dragons Vine].

Surrounding the floating Nine Dragons Vine were mechs of almost the same color scheme. Including others, there were no less than 15 mechs present.

"Nicholas gave us some intel. It's preliminarily determined that the mutation level of the Nine Dragons Vine is higher than A-grade, very likely A+ close to S-grade. This is definitely about the special crystal." Pearl continued, "A+ close to S-grade, worth the trip for you, huh?"

"Definitely worth it." Shirley pondered, "But it's a bit crowded."

Pearl asked, "Can't handle it?"

"I didn't come in my own mech today," Shirley said simply.

Pearl: "…?"

"What mech did you come in?"

Shirley: "Rented at the entrance of the pollution zone, the shop owner lent me his A-grade mech."

As soon as she finished speaking, the mech necklace around her neck shook discontentedly, trying hard to poke out of her collar.

Shirley popped the collar key back in place and added, "Turns out the mech was broken, didn't want to drive it."

"That's troublesome, it's just Edward and Nicholas on our side, and they're not in their mechs either," Pearl said with a headache. "The monitoring station detected two locations with pollution levels of 6000 not long ago, the pollutant this time should be what you're looking for. With the situation now, if it's too hard to handle, don't force it…"

Shirley suddenly cut in, "Which locations?"

Pearl sent her the coordinates, "One is just outside the deep zone, and the other is 4 kilometers away from the Nine Dragons Vine."

Seeing the coordinates, Shirley had already checked out the first location, only to find a bunch of Sharpfang rats there. But the second coordinate... was in the same direction she had come from. "When was this data logged?"

"About fifteen minutes ago," Pearl replied.

Fifteen minutes ago... So, so she might have just missed crossing paths with it. Shirley looked down at the situation below. Before coming here, she had received a message from Pearl about reports of pollution values hitting 6000 in the Banute pollution zone.

A 3000 level was an A-grade pollution source report, and 6000 was an S-grade. But looking at things now, this Nine Dragons Vine was at best around 4300. Was that 6000 spike really from this thing?

Listening to Pearl and scoping out the area, Shirley was about to establish a comms channel with the rest of K&D when she noticed a faint mech signal about a kilometer behind her.

The radar map inside the mech, which relies on mental power to capture mech signals, showed that this signal was incredibly weak, meaning either the person's mental power was low or they were a mech pilot skilled in stealth.

Shirley remembered this signal type; it was extremely similar to that of a close-combat mech she had encountered not long ago.

She remembered the mech's code seemed to be JD1456M...?

"Did you just say we're short-handed?"

Shirley simply stated, "Let's add one more then."

Pearl: "?"

---

Merlin was unaware of the situation outside. His primary source of information was the mech system's real-time pollution data, starting from the rodent swarm fleeing the outskirts of the pollution zone to the mutant Vines that suddenly attacked him, and the mech pilot he encountered on the road...

This gave him a clear indication that something extraordinary was happening deep in the Banute pollution zone.

High-level mutant pollutants always carry special crystals, a highly coveted resource among mech pilots. For Merlin, who was in desperate need of various materials, this was undoubtedly good news.

The path taken by the fleeing mutant Vines showed clear signs of disturbed soil, and it didn't take long for Merlin to find the direction. However, as he was about to approach the center of the high pollution peak, he noticed four or five mechs in the air not far away.

Mechs of the same color scheme...?

Merlin frowned slightly. Had the pollution zone management called for assistance from alliance teams?

The battlefield was a bit chaotic. Eleven yellow-colored mechs had almost surrounded the central pollutant, with the remaining mechs trying to break into the inner circle being indiscriminately driven out by them, especially two mechs with red stripes were particularly noticeable.

Merlin had seen that color scheme recently in the K&D repair room. The pollution zone often invites nearby teams to assist in clearing pollutants, and K&D, located on Sirius, would be there... Besides, the mechs dominating the field with twelve units were likely from another top 16 team, DE, from nearby.

What puzzled him was why among the twelve mechs surrounding the area, there was one with a red color scheme?