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Chapter 46: Scared?

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

413's questions met only silence, and then a wave of fire and artillery attacks was headed straight for him and his squad.

"Damn! Activate Beam Shield," bellowed 413. The opponent was clearly trying to kill them all to silence them — it looked like there was no more room for diplomacy.

On the other hand, when the enemy squad saw the mecha of their opponents using advanced beam shields, their leader raged, "Why do the rebel troops have this type of weaponry? Looks like the information was correct — someone in the upper ranks of the military has betrayed the Federation. Focus your fire, and break through those shields! Kill them all — the commander has ordered to take no prisoners."

"Yes, Sir!" Following that, an even more ferocious barrage of long-range fire rained down upon 413's squad, rendering them immobile.

"Sir, what should we do?" asked 413's squad members as they fended off the opponent's attacks with their beam shields. Although they were veterans, butchers who had returned from the battlefield, capable of mercilessly slaughtering enemy troops, they were still reluctant to fight troops from their own country.

"Number 3, contact headquarters. Number 5, cover. The rest of you, attack with me!" 413 ordered without hesitation. Pulling out a beam sword from behind him, he charged towards the enemy.

413 knew very well that the opponent might just be a squad of mecha troopers who had been deceived by their superior, completely ignorant that their mission was a mistake. Still, he could not afford to be merciful. He was responsible for the lives of five subordinates and could not allow them to die because of his hesitation. Furthermore, the opponent intended to kill an innocent child — this was something he would not allow …

Their captain's decisiveness was channelled through to the squad members. The battlefield was no place for hesitation or compassion — only the more ruthless person would survive.

The mecha trooper squad saw four of the opponent mechas rushing towards them with their beam shields up. Their captain harrumphed and said coldly, "Launch the detonation cables."

Following this order, a fiery dragon shot out from each of the six mechas, converging on the four approaching opponents.

Suddenly, there was the crisp sound of several gun shots and the six dragons exploded instantly. A series of explosions followed soon after as the numerous bombs on the detonating cable were set off. There was a tremendous blast, sending tremors through the earth, as well as cloaking the entire scene in smoke.

Apparently, Number 5, who had been charged with providing cover fire, had deftly used the particle-beam gun on his functional right arm to shoot six clean shots, striking those detonation cables and setting them off, protecting 413 and the others in the process.

His view clouded by smoke, the captain of the opponent mecha squad hesitated. Should he continue to overwhelm the enemy with sheer firepower? However, this short pause was enough for the enemy; a blaring warning went through his mecha's systems, "Danger. Enemy lock-on detected. Evade, evade …"

His first response was to retreat quickly, because he could already see the lead opponent mecha charging out from the smoke, heading fiercely in his direction.

Panicked, he raised the particle-beam gun in his hands, pressing down on the trigger desperately. In this moment, he had completely forgotten how to dodge in his machine, only thinking about how to make the opponent retreat or stop with his attacks.

And then, he saw the opponent suddenly deviate from his straight path, moving instead in a strange radian, skilfully avoiding the dense rain of his particle-beam attacks. His pupils contracting, he shouted in shock, "Freeform evasion! How does he know the most advanced evasion manoeuvre of our military? What the hell is this?" Even as one of the top students at military school, he had yet to learn this skill — why was such a formidable person in the rebel forces?

Heavens, what in the world was happening? It was at this moment that he began to feel that something wasn't right with the situation. But then it was too late.

From his communication systems came the sound of his teammates' terrified screams, but before he could ask them what was happening, his own mecha's display had turned black. No matter how hard he tried to get it to work, pressing the initiate button over and over again, his mecha did not react.

Abruptly he realised, his mecha's movement driver must have been destroyed by the opponent, making him a fish trapped within a jar.

Why did it have to end this way? How could he, an upstanding graduate who excelled in his military studies, lose to these wild mecha operators of the rebel forces? Had the world order been turned upside down? The mecha trooper squad captain slumped in his now useless control seat, face pale with an expression of deep disbelief.

When 413 attacked, he had still shown mercy in the end. He had only destroyed the movement drivers of the mecha, avoiding the pilot carriage and sparing the operator's life. Of course, this was also because the gap in their abilities was distinct, allowing 413 the freedom to choose.

Looking at the six immobile mechas, 413 couldn't help but click his teeth. Hells, thank god these mecha troops were greenhorns who had never seen blood before — otherwise, with their full arsenal against their own simple collection of particle-beam guns and beam swords, the outcome of the battle would have been hard to determine.

At this moment, Number 3, who had successfully contacted headquarters, reported to 413, "Sir, the commander has said to smuggle these people into the Headquarters of the Bladed Forces, and to destroy their mechas completely. Best to let the opponent think that the pilots died along with the machines."

413 nodded, and passed down the order. "Number 3 and Number 5, stay here and carry out the commander's orders. The others, follow me on rescue detail."

"Yes!"

Just like that, 413's squad split into two groups and the four intact mechas sped towards Ling Lan's last known position.

Together with his three team members, 413 flew for a distance with their eyes peeled, but saw no strange disturbances within their range of sight. They couldn't determine Ling Lan's actual position this way.

Helpless, 413 could only order his troops, "Fan out and search. Notify me ASAP if you notice anything odd."

"Yes!" Acknowledging the order, the three mechas behind 413 chose a direction at random and flew off.

413 controlled his own mecha and continued flying forward. He was undoubtedly anxious — because of the scuffle with the troops, they had been delayed for up to 5 minutes. Within those 5 minutes, anything could have happened. He fervently hoped that Ling Lan and whoever he was with could hold on and wait for their rescue.

They really had to find Ling Lan's whereabouts soon, or else everything would be for naught.

Leaving aside 413's frantic search, on Ling Lan's end, they were going through a high-speed chase and were currently in a precarious situation.

While evading, the hover car had been hit once more by the opponent's long-range missiles and had then given out a warning, telling them that the hover car would disassemble in 56 seconds.

Due to the strain of going over its speed limits, the hover car's defensive abilities were already on the brink of collapse, and adding in the damage it received from the attacks, it could hold on no longer.

"Scared?" asked Ling Qin with a smile as he stroked Ling Lan's head. In his other hand, he was already holding a type II particle-beam submachine gun.

"Nope!" replied Ling Lan coolly, as if she were totally unconcerned whether she lived or died. This surprised Ling Qin yet heartened him at the same time — Ling Lan was truly a chip off the old block. Naturally, he had no clue that Ling Lan's apathy towards death was due to her experiences within the illusory primordial forest within the learning space. There, Ling Lan had already learned that fear and terror would not help save her life — only keeping calm would allow her to capitalise on any chance of survival.

"Protect yourself!" Ling Qin patted Ling Lan several more times on the head before lifting his head to look out the window. In a flash, the muscles of his entire body stretched taut as he prepared to go on the attack. Ling Lan did the same, except her actions were much subtler.

Meanwhile, there was now only less than 10 seconds left on Ling-Zero-Seven's countdown …

Chapter 47: The Self-Volunteering Little Four!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Once Ling-Zero-Seven's countdown hit 1, the still speeding hover car came to an abrupt stop. Ling Lan felt as if she would be flung out of the vehicle, but because her seatbelt was very secure, she stayed anchored in her seat.

Soon, Ling Lan sensed the inertia fading, but unexpectedly, her entire body suddenly felt light and the safety belt unbuckled. It turned out that the hover car was beginning to disassemble, breaking into multiple pieces.

"Run!" barked Ling Qin. He braced himself against the hover car for one last moment before being the first to spring out of the vehicle. Ling Qin had already made up his mind — he would set himself up as bait to draw away the surrounding assassins, giving Ling Lan a chance to escape.

Ling Lan followed him out soon after. Amidst the numerous pieces of wreckage from the hover car, she quickly grabbed hold of one of the larger pieces she had set her eyes on immediately. It wasn't too large or too small, just right for sheltering her small body, and it was also flying off towards a landing point which suited her.

Like a lizard, Ling Lan clung to the piece of debris, and under the cover of the other debris flying around, she flipped herself nimbly in mid-air to hide behind the debris and reined in her presence. She then let the debris fly as it would until it fell with her positioned below it onto an empty plot of ground with no cover in sight.

At the moment she landed, Ling Lan circulated her Qi throughout her body, filling her limbs and torso with energy as she crashed into the ground. Unknown to outside observers, a large ditch had been carved into the ground under the piece of debris she was holding onto, with Ling Lan fully ensconced within it. Naturally, the piece of debris was flat against the ground above her — no one would suspect a person could be hiding under that debris.

Ling Lan chose to hide in this manner because it took advantage of people's general assumptions and blind spots — in this flat open ground with no place to hide, her hiding place would be easily overlooked, since the natural tendency was to focus on the surrounding shrubs and tufts of wild grass where people were more likely to hide.

Of course, Ling Lan wasn't hiding here for safety reasons — she intended to counterattack. Once everyone's attention was further ahead, her position would be right behind the attackers, where she would have a chance to deal a killing blow from their neglected backs.

Ling Lan had no choice but to take this risk. The opponent had chosen their ambush spot too well, where the protection from the cities were the thinnest. From the Ling household to the Central Scout Academy, Ling Lan's group had always travelled through bustling cities, and it was only during this particular half-hour stretch that they would pass through uninhabited land. In this stretch, there were only woods or deserted plains, with hardly any people about — the only living creatures being wild beasts and fowl.

By setting up their ambush here, the opponents ensured that by the time the cities on both ends received their distress signal and sent out rescue forces, the earliest possible time for reinforcements to arrive would be 15 minutes. Ling Lan believed that these people were fully capable of killing her multiple times over within these 15 minutes. She also believed that if the opponent couldn't find any trace of her in the surroundings, they would take a scorched-earth approach and do a thorough sweep, perhaps even digging three feet into the ground. When that time came, even if she was hiding in a blind spot, she would still be forced out from her hiding place. She could not take this gamble.

Most importantly, she could not be sure that Chamberlain Ling Qin could hold on for 15 minutes under these circumstances. If she didn't make a move, it was likely that she would see a loved one die for the first time since coming to this future world, which was something she really didn't want to gamble on.

Soon enough, three hover cars flew over. However, the opponent was very cautious, not driving right up to the main site. Instead, they landed about 30 metres away from where Ling Lan was hiding.

Two of the hover cars opened up and eight stout men walked out. The eight of them were fully armoured, with protective helmets on their heads and protective suits on their bodies, and particle-beam submachine guns in their hands. These were all standard equipment, common in both the military and even private personal armouries. Looks like the opponent was cautious in this aspect as well — anything that could reveal their identity had been excluded.

The eight men crept closer, carefully, leaving behind that lone hover car with its doors shut. That car had two plasma cannons raised high above it, covering the men's approach, ready to fire at any sign of resistance.

Obviously, these three hover cars had been privately modified to become combat-suited hover cars, and Ling Lan noticed that there was no Federation-mandated registration number on any of the cars. The opponent was certainly well-prepared.

Ling Lan did not raise her head at all, yet she knew the current situation as well as the back of her hand. Having Little Four meant that she could be aware of what was happening within the radius of a thousand metres even with her eyes closed. In this way, she knew that much farther away from the hover cars here, at a location not visible from this position, there were two humanoid mechas aiming long-range sniper rifles in this direction. The opponent was really determined to kill them.

Calmly, Ling Lan calculated the success rate of several possible attacks within her mind. However, all the scenarios that she had considered in her mind up till now had a success rate of zero. Still, Ling Lan wasn't discouraged — her time in the primordial forest and her survival training there had engraved this lesson into her: be calm even if you were about to die, for a chance would often appear at the most improbable moment.

For just the possibility of survival, she would have to first solve the problem of the predatory hover car. The two plasma cannons were just too great a threat, although the two humanoid mechas in the distance were also a huge headache … Ling Lan decided to just focus on the problem right before her for now.

That said, the weapons she had on her now were just not enough for her to get rid of that armoured hover car, not to mention the professional assassins contained within it. With Ling Lan's current small frame, it might still be possible for her to handle one person, but if she had to fight two, then she would pretty much be like a lamb to the slaughter.

What should she do?

"Tch, at this crucial moment, why did you forget me?" In her mind, Little Four, who had been waiting for Ling Lan to call for help all this time, suddenly made his protest heard.

"Huh? How many people can you handle?" Ling Lan was startled and rather confused — she herself could not take on two at one time, what could Little Four do as a mental presence without a body?

"Well, I can't do anything about the humans, but I can handle cars …" said Little Four resentfully. Why was his boss so stupid? Humans weren't computers which he could hack.

Little Four's words enlightened Ling Lan — she had indeed got caught up in thinking within a box. Modern hover cars were all controlled by artificial intelligences, while Little Four was the natural enemy of anything digital. As long as he was given a chance, Little Four could definitely wrest control of the hover cars, which would prevent the car's weapons from firing …

"From this distance, can you do it?" Ling Lan couldn't help asking once out of worry.

"Even 10 metres further would be fine … if your spiritual power were just a bit higher, I'd be able to do it from even further away," replied Little Four with some disdain in his tone, as if looking down on Ling Lan for limiting his range.

Ling Lan bit out in annoyance, "Just do it. If I kick the bucket here, you'll also die …"

Little Four shuddered — how did he forget that? He did not dare to kid around anymore, immediately borrowing some of Ling Lan's spiritual power to start infiltrating the hover car.

By this time, the eight men had already passed by Ling Lan's hiding place. After all, there was nothing on this plot of land other than several pieces of debris of varying sizes lying flat against the ground, no place at all for someone to hide. Very naturally, they eliminated this area from their consideration, moving steadily towards the surrounding shrubs up ahead. Clearly, that was a much more likely hiding place.

As the men got closer and closer to the shrubs, Ling Lan's heart started thumping anxiously … because that was exactly where Chamberlain Ling Qin was hiding.

Chapter 48: The Psychotic Grandpa Chamberlain!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

A soft "Pop!" was heard and a smoke grenade flew out from among the shrubs. Triggered, the eight men shot wildly at the grenade — their marksmanship was excellent; almost every single shot hit the grenade. However, smoke grenades were unlike other grenades which would explode or become ineffective when struck. It continued to release smoke, and the more it was hit, the faster it released smoke, and soon the entire area surrounding the shrubs was shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke. Although the protective helmets of the men were able to insulate against the smoke to a certain extent, their vision was still affected.

Still, the eight men were professional killers after all. They did not panic, firing their particle-beam submachine guns instead without hesitation. Countless particle beams shot out, turning the short shrubs into a pile of ash.

Ling Lan was not at all worried however, as she had seen Chamberlain Ling Qin rush into the bushes on his right at the same time he had thrown out the smoke grenade.

But Ling Qin's next actions thoroughly stunned Ling Lan — he untied a thin rope which was coiled around his wrist, and with a quick pinch on one end, the initially solid rope split into countless strands which were as thin as hair.

Holding onto one end, Ling Qin swiftly tied it onto the trigger of the type II particle-beam gun, and then set up the gun within the bushes. Under the sound of gunfire, he snuck away once again to a new hiding place. Ling Lan could clearly see that he still held the almost invisible thin strands of the decomposed rope in his hands.

After a round of fire, the eight men saw that the short shrubs had been reduced to cinders. With a quick exchange of glances and some hand signals, two of the men stepped forward. It looked like they wanted to examine the ashes of the shrubs to see if there was any sign of their target there — of course, any remains would do as well.

The two men crept forward, and used the tip of their particle-beam guns to sift through the ashes. And right then, gunfire rang out from the right and a wave of particle beams cascaded out. The hidden Ling Qin had pulled on the strands within his hands, setting off the type II gun within the bushes.

The type II gun ruthlessly expelled particle beams with an intensity that was way stronger than the opponent's own particle beam guns — as expected of the newest version of the particle-beam submachine gun.

This attack was aimed at the six men providing cover — one of the men could not react in time and was mercilessly shot down. The others, including the two checking the burnt shrubs, were quick to react, directing all their gunfire at the bushes from where the shots originated. They shot unrestrainedly, and one of them finally managed to hit the type II gun lodged within the bushes, detonating it and turning the bushes into a sea of fire.

Seeing this, the seven men stopped their attack, and their tightly strung nerves relaxed. They were certain that since the type II gun had exploded, then the shooter holding it would certainly have been caught in the blast. Besides, with this huge fire, even if the shooter didn't die in the blast, he would still be roasted alive and turned into ash.

But right at this moment, something unexpected occurred. Ling Qin flew towards them from one side as he launched a Ling family signal flare into the sky.

It was alright if he died, but Ling Lan must survive. Ling Qin's purpose in attacking was primarily to draw all their attention, including the attention of the hover car in the background — he hoped ling Lan would take the chance to escape while they were preoccupied with him. Moreover, he believed that the Ling family loyalists were already on the way to meet up with them — with the Ling family's strength, handling these killers would be no big deal.

The blazing signal flare hung high in the sky, surprising several groups of people who were frantically searching for Ling Lan. Exhilarated, they turned towards the direction of the flare and started rushing there at full speed.

Ling Qin's attack was too sudden and unexpected. Only the man in the lead had enough time to react, shooting particle beams desperately to try and fend off Ling Qin's attack, while the other six just stood there dumbly.

Quicker than words could say, Ling Qin's sprinting figure suddenly wavered, and then the leader's particle beams were behind him.

The leader exclaimed in shock, "Irregular flicker!" This was a high level evasive move that was extremely hard to apply well in combat. Typically, anyone who could use this move in combat was certain to be a master fighter.

A cold smile hung on Ling Qin's lips. At this moment, he had already gotten close to the assassin closest to him.

"Quickly fire the plasma cannons!" The team leader's gaze was fierce, holding a vicious determination within it. He shouted loudly through the communicator, retreating swiftly at the same time.

In truth, the men had disembarked mainly as bait to tempt the opponent to attack — the true killing blow was always meant to be the hover car behind them. Of course, for these people who were used to operating from the shadows, sacrificing a few subordinates was perfectly normal, which was why the team leader had given up on his subordinate who was being attacked by Ling Qin without any hesitation whatsoever.

The team leader had already readied himself to dodge, but the hover car behind them did not react as expected and fire its cannons. Instead, it just maintained its original position, along with radio silence.

Before he could turn back to face the front, he heard a pained scream. The subordinate whom he had ruthlessly abandoned had already been pierced through the throat with a dagger by Ling Qin, and had emitted one final chilling cry. The cry seemed to reverberate with rage and despair — after all, he had seen with his own eyes how his team leader had abandoned him right before he died.

Ling Qin's expression was one of aloof disinterest. His face had been spattered with bright crimson drops of blood, and the cloying scent of blood filled the air, thick enough to cause an average person to vomit. However, Ling Qin seemed perfectly at ease, going so far as to even daintily lick at the blood on the corner of his lips —— what a psychotic Grandpa Chamberlain! Ling Lan couldn't help but wail in her heart at the sight. What was up with all these people around her …?!

At the taste of blood, Ling Qin's expression turned obsessed, almost intoxicated — he hadn't experienced this bloody taste in so long!

Two orbs of nameless fire ignited within his eyes. In his youth, he had been the one to crawl through piles of corpses on the battlefield with Ling Xiao's father — this sort of carnage was normal for him then. Sadly, after Ling Xiao had been promoted to god-class, their bloody reign of terror was thoroughly shoved into the past. It wasn't that Ling Qin wanted to wash his hands of killing, but god-class operators were the symbol of ultimate strength within the Federation, so no one wanted to risk the wrath of a god-class operator.

Ling Qin had thought that the many years of meditation and easy living had caused him to forget his initial savage nature. Unexpectedly, facing battle once again today, his blood still boiled and killing came back to him as easy as breathing. This pleased him greatly, and it felt like the savage beast within him had finally been set free after all this time.

Ling Qin laughed maniacally — looks like killing was still something he revelled in after all.

Observing all this, Ling Lan silently wiped away a handful of cold sweat. Who knew that the strict and serious Grandpa Chamberlain who treated her so kindly was such a vicious character? The way that he killed was almost textbook material, and that chilling smile would make anyone think twice about crossing him.

Ling Lan felt her little heart thunder wildly … Hells, she must never anger Grandpa Chamberlain in the future! Ling Lan decisively labelled Chamberlain Ling Qin as 'a person not to mess with'.

When Ling Qin launched his attack, he had not considered surviving to begin with. So he didn't stop after killing the first enemy, but instead launched himself at the next person in line.

There was a clear gap between the combat ability of the two sides — despite his age, Ling Qin was strong, and his combat prowess was not much weaker than when he was young. By the time Ling Qin had disposed of his third opponent, the team leader could be heard yelling furiously into his communicator, "You bastard, I told you to shoot! Shoot goddammit …"

It turned out that the team leader still hadn't given up on the hover car. As Ling Qin prepared to kill yet another two people, the team leader was still desperately trying to contact the hover car to order them to shoot, but obviously, all he received in return was silence, and this silence was pushing him towards the brink of despair.

Finally, he understood that their finishing move – the hover car – must have been taken out somehow and could no longer be relied on. Enraged, he threw away the communicator in his hands and lifted up his weapon, shouting, "Attack!"

Chapter 49: The Threat of Long-Range Attacks

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898

A cold smile graced Ling Qin's lips. If the opponent had attacked him as a group from the start, he might already be a horizontal corpse lying on the ground. But now, besides the one man who had been gunned down by the type II submachine gun, he had successfully ended the lives of three men with his own hands. It was no longer that easy for the remaining four people to hold him back.

In all honesty, Ling Qin was very surprised himself — why was the hover car not reacting? The reason he had attacked so furiously was that he wanted to eliminate as many opponents as possible before he was taken out by the hover car, so that Ling Lan would have a greater chance of escape.

Regardless, Ling Qin was very pleased with the current situation. It was clear that something had gone wrong on his opponents' end, and this was extremely advantageous for him. From the certainty of death to the renewed hope for survival, Ling Qin's attacks only became fiercer and more powerful.

If living was an option, would anyone choose to die? Ling Qin also wanted to live — he wanted to watch Ling Lan grow up, get married, and have kids. He still dreamed of the day he could hold Ling Lan's children in his arms. For this objective, Ling Qin dug out all the inner potential he could from within his body.

Ling Qin weaved left and right, nimbly avoiding all of the opponent's wild shots. He used the irregular flicker to its ultimate effect, leaving Ling Lan astounded as she watched. She decided then that if both Chamberlain Ling Qin and her survived this, then she must get Grandpa Chamberlain to teach her this move — it was just too goddamn beautiful.

Evasion aside, Ling Qin's lethal attacks became even more unpredictable. His dagger flew through the air gracefully like he was dancing, and the mysterious rope being controlled by the fingers of his left hand was even more terrifying.

Every single time the men saw the fingers of his left hand twitch, they couldn't help but back away. The men really couldn't be blamed for being fearful — out of the three men Ling Qin had killed, two had died because of this thin rope. They hadn't been observant enough and had let the rope loop around their necks, and with just a quick twist, their heads had been severed from their necks, blood spewing everywhere. That just went to show how sharp that rope truly was, and combined with how hard it was to see – appearing and disappearing without any warning – how could they not fear it?

Ling Lan watched it with greedy eyes. This was undoubtedly a most subtle killing tool. Who knew that such an unassuming thin rope looped around Ling Qin's wrist would be so terrifying? Ling Lan decided that she must ask about the origins of this rope later, and if possible, she wanted one of her own.

Today's experience taught her that the world she was living in was truly dangerous. She needed to work much harder to improve her own capabilities and diversify the weapons and tools she could use — both were equally important.

Still, although Ling Qin's feat in killing three of the men could partly be attributed to his strange choice of weapon and his own individual strength, a large part was still due to sheer luck. Certainly, the first person he killed was a result of his careful planning, but the following two were just opportunities presented through the opponent's own mistakes.

If the team leader had not moved to abandon his own team member, the other members wouldn't have been so afraid of becoming the next sacrifice, all choosing to withdraw to protect themselves instead of focusing on attacking. In that case, then Ling Qin wouldn't have been able to kill two more men in the chaos, turning the tables around.

All that can be said was that the opponent's team had an idiot in it — and most unfortunately, this idiot was the team leader with the authority to decide whether they lived or died.

Luckily, this idiot was not an idiot to the extreme, deciding to change his orders in time. The remaining four men quickly arranged themselves into the formation of an inverted trapezoid, cooperating with each other to coordinate their attacks and defense as they faced the aggressive Ling Qin who was rushing towards his fourth intended victim.

The tips of four particle-beam guns lit up, spewing out countless particle beams in Ling Qin's direction, blinding the eyes of all observers, including the two mecha pilots closely watching the proceedings here.

"Head, why don't those idiots fire the cannons?" One of the mecha pilots wondered out loud. He rubbed at his blurry eyes — the display screen on the mecha relayed what was happening live, so his eyes would get tired from staring at it for too long

He really just couldn't understand it — there had clearly been several really great opportunities to launch those cannons, but the men had just let those opportunities slip by, while the hover car just continued to hover there uselessly.

The mecha operator called Head replied, "Who knows? All we need to do is do clean up. Only if those people fail, then it'll be up to us."

"But the opponent has already sent out a signal flare — reinforcements are sure to be on the way. If we don't resolve this matter soon, we may be discovered by the people heading here. Head, didn't you say that the superiors don't want our involvement to be revealed?"

"That's right. If the superiors find out they botched this, we won't have a good time of it either. Oh, what the heck, let's just do it. I'll leave that annoying flea jumping around to you — make sure to get a headshot in one shot." After being reminded of the consequences by his subordinate, the operator called Head abruptly changed his mind and ordered his subordinate to eliminate Ling Qin quickly.

"Got it, Head. Watch me as I take the stage." Finally, it was time for him to show off his skills. The mecha operator who had waited for so long was ecstatic. He controlled his mecha to swing about the huge long-range sniper rifle on its right shoulder, and then the 4-metre high mecha bent into a half kneeling position. Its metal left arm steadied the rifle, which had its sight aimed at the busily evading Ling Qin.

The mecha's movements did not escape Ling Lan's notice. Ever since Chamberlain Ling Qin had begun fighting head on with those men, Ling Lan had been keeping an eye on the two mechas, wary of a sudden attack. Now, seeing one of the mechas getting ready to shoot long-range, she knew they were about to attack Grandpa Chamberlain, but she was not worried.

Within this time, while Chamberlain Ling Qin had been fighting for his life, she had not been idle. After much calculation and strategizing, she had finally found a way to handle the two mechas. It may not be the best plan, but it was good enough to hinder and delay them.

"Little Four, raise a hover car! And then calculate the trajectory of mecha A's attack." Ling Lan had randomly labelled the two mechas as mecha A and mecha B for ease of reference when communicating with Little Four.

Following Ling Lan's order, one of the unmanned hover cars suddenly rose up from the ground, and not even a second later, it was hovering 2 metres above the ground. Meanwhile, in front of Ling Lan, a map of mecha A's attack trajectory had appeared, with coordinates and height clearly labelled on it.

"Move the hover car here," said Ling Lan decisively, pointing at a point nearest to the hover car.

Before her words had faded, the hover car had already shifted into position under Little Four's control.

"F*ck, what the hell? Actually blocking my line of attack." Resentfully, mecha A put down his sniper rifle. The operator was extremely displeased — that had been a prime opportunity to shoot, but it had been ruined by that errant hover car.

That was probably unintentional, it just happened to move there." Mecha B also didn't know what was going on, but he still didn't hesitate to console mecha A, saying, "Don't mind it. Let me try this time."

That said, mecha B started adjusting his own rifle's angle, aiming at Ling Qin who was still deep in battle with the four men. As for whether his shot would hit any of the men on the ground in the process — that was none of his concern.

Chapter 50: Fighting For Time!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

"Little Four, mecha B's attack trajectories," requested Ling Lan calmly, "and raise the second hover car." The more dangerous the situation, the more she needed to stay calm — Chamberlain Ling Qin's life depended on her.

Ling Lan was endlessly grateful that she had the help of such a useful companion like Little Four. After Little Four had taken control of the threatening hover car, he had also notified Ling Lan that he had assumed control of the other two hover cars as well. This information was like a ray of light to the perturbed Ling Lan, giving her the precious inklings of an idea which might help Ling Qin and her hold on till backup arrived.

Yet along with her relief, she also felt quite glum. For the first time ever, she truly recognised how weak she was still. Currently, she could only watch as a loved one she cared for fought for his life — if it weren't for Little Four, Grandpa Ling Qin would probably be bleeding all over the scene by now.

As of this moment, Ling Lan did not notice that an intense need to grow stronger had taken seed and sprouted within her heart, and had started to grow secure roots. In the future, when she encountered difficulties and felt tired or lost, it would give her the will to carry on …

Little Four's actions were impeccable — not only did he manage to calculate and present all of mecha B's attack trajectories, he had also automatically shifted the second hover car to block off those trajectories.

Little Four was a studious child — Ling Lan only had to order him once for him to remember her instructions. Thus, without needing to be told twice, he had already taken the initiative to do what Ling Lan wanted.

"Little Four, well done." Even though she had never raised a child before, Ling Lan still knew that children loved to be praised. So, she was unstinting with her praise, causing Little Four to blush bright red, smiling so much till his eyes were all scrunched up into a line.

********

When the hover cars once again interfered with the attack trajectories, even a dumber person would have noticed that something wasn't right.

"Not good! Something must have gone wrong." Mecha B lowered his rifle, expression serious.

"Head, I remember that the people in those hover cars are all out. There's no one in those cars." Mecha A had also figured out the truth, remembering that the people who had initially been in those cars were now embroiled in battle with the opponent.

"Not good, we've been discovered." Thinking about how their attacks were being thwarted, mecha B felt cold sweat start pouring out from his pores. His every move was most likely already being monitored by the opponent.

"Ah … H-Head, what should we do?" Mecha A began panicking. If their identities had truly been exposed, then they would not be allowed to live. Although he didn't know who their direct superior was, from the little that he had gleaned from Head's explanations, he knew that it was someone who had the power to move mountains and part oceans. Eliminating them would be like squishing ants to someone like that.

"Shoot down those two hover cars," bit out mecha B ruthlessly. If they pulled back now, they still wouldn't be welcomed back; they might as well take a gamble, and perhaps achieve something that might work in their favour.

"Alright, Head." Mecha A was too afraid not to listen. He once again lifted his sniper rifle to aim at one of the hover cars.

********

"Little Four, come back quick." Ling Lan saw the opponent raise his rifle and just knew that they weren't about to just roll over. She was worried for Little Four's safety, and so quickly urged him to come back.

Of course, Ling Lan felt a little regretful — she had actually intended to send a warning to the opponent with the hover cars, letting them know that they were being monitored, and hope that they'd choose to retreat out of wariness. Unexpectedly, the plan didn't work; looks like the opponent was a relentless character, who would fight till the very end.

In that case, come on then! Ling Lan clenched her fists, determination writ all over her face. "Little Four, move the last hover car into a position which can block the attacks of both mechas."

Before Ling Lan's words had faded, two loud collisions could be heard:

"Boom!""Boom!"

The two sounds were almost simultaneous. As expected, the opponent had pressed on their triggers, hitting the two hover cars at the front. However, these hover cars had been modified and were extremely solid — although there was a huge gouge in the car's body as a result from the rifle shot, where one side had even bent inwards, the internal circuitry was still intact, so the hover car was still able to stay airborne.

"That's great, these modified cars are really pretty solid." Ling Lan looked at the hover cars still holding on in the air, protecting Ling Qin, and her heart rejoiced. At first, she had still been worried that the hover cars would not be strong enough, that they would be destroyed in one hit, but now it looked like they would still be able to buy them some time.

Considering the time when Chamberlain Ling Qin had released the signal flare, Ling Lan knew that if they could just hold on for another three to four minutes, assistance might make it here.

Hover cars, you need to stay strong and hold on … Ling Lan couldn't help but pray.

********

"F*ck, who made these hover cars to be so solid?" mecha B couldn't resist swearing. He turned his head and continued to order, "Don't slack off, continue to shoot. We must bring down those cars as soon as possible."

"Yes, Head!" replied mecha A as he pressed down on his trigger furiously.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The sniper rifles shot round after round, and on one particular round, a crack finally appeared on one of the hover cars, and continued to spread until the car was a broken mess …

BOOM! One of the hover cars was hit once more, and this time, it finally gave up the ghost and became a flaming fireball, blazing brightly as it fell to the ground.

In swift succession, the other hover car took another couple of hits and exploded as well, joining its partner in a fiery death on the ground below.

"Hells, why is there another car? When did it move there?" Mecha B finally managed to eliminate the hover cars blocking his line of sight, but just as he was about to relax and start aiming for Ling Qin, he found that he could no longer see Ling Qin once more. And the reason was another hover car that had appeared near Ling Qin.

And unlike the first two which were empty, this car had people in it. The people inside looked at the other two hover cars which had been shot down in flames, and understood what their fate would be as well. In panic, they beat at the doors and windows of the car, but unfortunately, the doors and windows of the hover car had already been sealed up tight by Little Four. There was no way they could get them to open.

Naturally, they had thought about smashing the windows open, but unfortunately the cars had been too thoroughly modified — even the enhanced sniper rifles on the mechas could only destroy the cars after over ten hits, what could they do with only their fists?

Meanwhile, as this was happening, Ling Qin had killed off another two men, leaving only one squad member and the team leader hiding right at the back.

Ling Lan was very nervous. She hoped that this final hover car would be able to withstand the remaining attacks until Chamberlain Ling Qin managed to get rid of the final two men. At that time, even if there was nothing else to block the mechas' trajectory, Ling Qin should be able to utilise the geographical features of the land to find somewhere else to hide, such as another group of shrubs.

Suddenly, the hover car reversed, and its two plasma cannons fired, and the plasma beams rose swiftly through the air.

Ling Lan was greatly startled by this. "Little Four, what's going on?!"

Little Four replied instantly, "Hehe, I didn't waste any time just now, and finally figured out the artificial intelligence systems of this world. I had not expected you humans to have managed to use this sort of mathematical means to create artificial intelligences which resemble us — of course, this resemblance is minor though, since those A.I.s are still worlds apart from us …" Little Four was very smug, a proud smirk on his face as he praised his own individuality.

A vein popped out on Ling Lan's forehead, and she raged, "Get to the point!" Hells, does this brat know what kind of situation they were in? Wasting time blabbering on …

"I've designed two small artificial systems, and have already implanted them onto the navigation system of the plasma cannons." Little Four pouted, throwing out these words sulkily before turning to face away from Ling Lan. Fine, looks like this rascal child had gotten into another of his moods again.