141-146

Chapter 141: The First Hunting Lesson

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

This scene caused the officer to smile wryly, thinking to himself that the scouts this year were really such oddballs. In the past, the scouts who came were all mostly already in their own teams, and all those teams basically had all 6 members. But this term, not only were there very few teams, the teams were not even filled yet. He found it annoying just looking at the sparse teams.

"Why are there so few team members?" asked the officer unhappily to all the team leaders.

"My team is actually full, but the other two members are not in Class-A." Li Yingjie was the first to respond.

"Still in the process of choosing. No final decision yet." This was what Wu Jiong had to say.

"Um ... the ones I like have already joined other teams, and the ones who haven't joined a team yet, I don't see any I like," said Qi Long with a grin, scratching his head, adding a touch of goofiness to his demeanour.

"I want to take in more people, but they don't want to join me," said one of the team leaders with a long face. Who asked everyone to have their eye on Ling Lan's and Wu Jiong's respective teams?

"Ditto +1!" Another team leader had a similarly long face.

"Ditto +2!" The final team leader was also part of the long face clan.

The officer was unsure whether to laugh or cry at the humorous words of the last three team leaders. He then turned to ask the other students, "What about you all? Why didn't you choose to join a team, or make your own team?"

All was silent, so the officer pointed at one of the students at random. "You, answer!"

That student truly bemoaned his bad luck, actually being called on to answer. Sullenly, he replied, "If I made my own team or joined another team, then I would lose the chance to join Ling Lan's or Wu Jiong's team. We all do not want to lose these final three chances."

"Alright, alright, so you all have your considerations." The officer stared doubtfully at Qi Long and Wu Jiong, uncertain what sort of charisma they had to make the other students so tenacious. However, there was no way to continue on like this, so the officer grinned sardonically and said, "I don't care about these messy considerations of yours. Here, my word is law. Right now, I command you all to quickly get into temporary teams of five. Give me the name list in 3 minutes. If you still don't have a team then, I will randomly assign you one."

The officer swept his gaze at Qi Long. "Since your team is already full, I won't make any changes. You all can wait over there." The officer pointed out a direction, signalling for Qi Long and his team to move there.

Qi Long and the others were very happy that they could remain with Boss Ling Lan. This gave them a lot more confidence.

The students reacted swiftly. It took only 5 minutes for 10 teams to form. To ensure his team's combat ability, Wu Jiong chose a classmate ranked in the top 10 to join his team, while Li Yingjie had managed to secure the 13th-rank for his team. The other students teamed up according to how well they got along with one another.

Seeing that the students were all ready, the officer waved expansively and shouted, "Depart!"

The scouts charged aggressively towards the entrance of the camping grounds, and there they found a huge vehicle which greatly resembled a fully enclosed armoured car of Ling Lan's past world, but was five or six times bigger. The officer indicated for the students to get into the vehicle.

Ling Lan felt the vehicle start up and move. Along the way, she even felt the body of the vehicle being crashed into by some large force, causing several loud bangs. Seeing the anxious and curious faces of the students, the officer in the same carriage explained, "This is just the savage beasts attacking. Don't worry, this area is mostly just beasts below G-class. They won't be able to do any damage to this transport car."

"Won't any higher class savage beasts appear?" asked one of the students.

"I've lived here for 3 years and that has never happened. The savage beasts on this planet are all territorial, so the savage beasts normally won't leave the area they live in," explained the officer. Seeing that everyone was still anxious, he then shared the greatest trump of the camp. "We have heavy artillery on the transport car, capable of killing savage beasts below E-class."

At that, the students released relieved sighs, and waited calmly for the transport car to bring them to the hunting grounds.

********

After travelling for not even half an hour, the transport car stopped. The car door swung open, and Ling Lan and the others disembarked under the officer's direction to find that there was a temporary outpost here.

The officer pointed at the thick forest in front of them and said in introduction, "This is the H-class hunting area which has been specially set up just for you all. Right now, mark down the coordinates of this location. You must not go beyond the radius of this coordinate by 10 kilometres."

He then pointed at the temporary outpost behind him and said, "This is a temporary rest area provided for you all. The fence around the perimeter is also an electric barrier fence, definitely capable of withstanding multiple attacks by H-class savage beasts. Inside, there is also an exchange station. Also, if you want to return to the main camp, either you walk back, or you'll have to buy a return ticket. And each return ticket requires 500 credits ..."

The officer's mouth split into a grin, and he said with some malicious glee, "So, please work hard and earn money!"

That said, without waiting for a response from the stunned students, he leapt onto the transport vehicle, which then zoomed away from the area, leaving the students with nothing but faces full of dust.

Slow on the uptake, the students only realised they had been abandoned by the heartless officer after the vehicle was no longer visible. They broke out into angry curses, yelling loudly of the other's despicable shamelessness, actually leaving without teaching them anything.

Han Jijyun ignored the uproar beside him, turning to ask Ling Lan, "Check out the outpost or just go hunting straightaway?"

Ling Lan said impassively, "The outpost won't run away, we can always check it out when we get back. We need to get a better idea of this area before nightfall so we can create a hunting plan tonight."

Ling Lan's decision gained everybody's agreement. Or, we should say, since Ling Lan had decided so, no one else in the team would have any objections. Thus, the five of them swiftly put on their backpacks and headed towards the forest ahead.

Seeing the movements of Ling Lan's team, the other teams put a lid on their anger and began moving as well. Some teams chose to enter the temporary outpost to check it out, while other teams followed Ling Lan's team to enter the hunting area, getting ready for their first hunt.

********

At this moment, several kilometres in the air above Ling Lan and the others, a mecha battle squad was monitoring the area. Seeing some of the scout teams begin to hunt, their captain gave the following orders to his subordinates. "Each person is responsible for one team. Don't let them come to any harm."

"Roger that, Captain!"

"M1702, choosing the first team!"

"M1703, choosing the second team!"

"M1704, choosing the fifth team!"

"M1705, choosing the ..."

********

Meanwhile, in a different direction, on a mountain slope several kilometres away, a bestial mecha squad was also monitoring the area.

"Little ones, have you chosen your targets?"

"Boss, don't worry, we've all chosen ..."

"Pity there aren't any lolis, can't push any of them down ..."

"Shotas are just as good for that, you sleazy uncle."

"Don't look at me that way, it's just my fatherly love overflowing ..."

"Che ..." This group of people, though noisy and flippant in their unfiltered speech, were nevertheless precise in their movements. Controlling their bestial mecha, they made their way skilfully through the forest, surreptitiously tailing the respective scout teams they had chosen to protect.

********

Qi Long was the spearhead of Ling Lan's team, with Han Jijyun in the middle, Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing at both flanks, and Ling Lan at the back of the formation. Han Jijyun's combat skills were the worst among them, so before they figured out the true strength of the savage beasts in this area, Ling Lan had no choice but to use this safest formation.

It was extremely calm the whole way through — they didn't encounter any so-called savage beasts. After walking 300 to 400 metres into the forest, Ling Lan's gaze suddenly flickered and her head twitched minutely towards the left. She could clearly sense that a savage beast was approaching from that direction.

A few seconds later, Qi Long also sensed it. He quickly gave a warning, "It looks like a savage beast is coming. Everyone watch out."

Hearing this, everyone tightened their grips on their weapons, focused intently on the direction they were in charge of defending. No one knew what the first H-class savage beast they encountered would be like and where it would attack from.

The wait wasn't very long. Within a few seconds, a burly grey figure leapt out from the short shrubs on their left side. Its chosen target was the one standing closest to it, Luo Lang.

Long prepared, Luo Lang swung the high-frequency blade at the figure in a hurried arc. Perhaps Luo Lang's counterattack was too swift, catching the opponent by surprise, for it was struck dead on by Luo Lang's attack.

A wailing howl rang out, and the grey silhouette twisted in the air to land nimbly on its feet. The powerful attack by Luo Lang had not damaged it at all.

At this time, everyone could finally see what it really looked like. It was about the size of a large dog, and was covered in a coat of long grey hair. Its head was like a rabbit from Ling Lan's past world, but was 4 or 5 times larger than a rabbit's head. Meanwhile, its tail was not short and small, but thin and long, with countless scales on it instead of hair. With a subconscious flick of its tail, a crisp crackling sound rang out, and there were now several thin gouges in the tough packed earth. It was obvious that its tail was immensely powerful.

"Flash rabbit, speed-type H-class savage beast. Attack methods: mouth, claws, tail. Strength: Immense speed, almost undetectable. Thick and tough skin, unable to be injured by normal strength. Weakness: Predictable attacks. Very impatient. Exchange value: Skin and fur, 10—100 or more (depending on the integrity of the item). Claws (whole), 20 each. Tail (whole), 100."

Ling Lan read out the information on the flash rabbit immediately. Her memory was amazing, almost to the extent of having a photographic memory. Of course, even if she forgot, Little Four had already saved all the information on the savage beasts and would have reminded her.

Listening to Ling Lan's recitation, Qi Long's gaze shone brighter and brighter — this was all money!

"Looks like it will be our first quarry." Lin Zhong-qing was equally as excited.

The flash rabbit was the weakest among all the H-class savage beasts. As such, there were not many things of value on it, only three. However, this did not beat the fact that it was the easiest savage beast to hunt. Not only could it allow them to practise on it to familiarize themselves with hunting, they would also profit from it somewhat — this was a great thing!

"In that case, Lin Zhong-qing, we'll leave this quarry to you," said Ling Lan calmly.

In their team, Lin Zhong-qing was the nimble and speedy type. Thus, hunting a flash rabbit as practice was perfect for him, very likely to trigger some insight.

The objective of hunting was not simply to take down a quarry, but also to learn how to hunt game that was most suited to one's abilities. This was the first lesson of hunting, known as 'know thyself, know thy enemy'.

Chapter 142: Enemy Attack? Enemy Attack!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Under Ling Lan's planning, every member of Ling Lan's team experienced hunting solo. After a week, Ling Lan felt that the others had already gotten used to hunting, and were able to work together well with great rapport. So, she decided not to move around with them anymore.

Ling Lan had only been following them around this week primarily because she wanted to protect them, afraid that they might encounter some unexpected scenarios. It wasn't that Ling Lan didn't want to go off on her own to the areas with higher class savage beasts, but, Little Four told her that there were mecha convoys from the camp scattered around watching over them, both in the air and on the ground. However, with the passage of time, the number of mecha gradually decreased.

Thus, Ling Lan could only bide her time at the temporary outpost. Still, she had the learning space, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. However, these actions of Ling Lan drew the contempt of the mecha operators protecting the students from the skies ...

Just take today for example. After sending Qi Long and the others off at the gates of the temporary outpost, Ling Lan ambled back to the living quarters and lay down to sleep. This lazy and unmotivated demeanour of hers instantly infuriated the mecha operator in charge of this area.

"Hells, this punk is such a goddamn rascal, not going out to hunt again," said the mecha operator angrily to his teammates.

By this point, the mecha operators were no longer protecting the teams individually, but was keeping track of them through radar monitoring. Any hunting team that entered the range of the area they monitored would fall under their protection.

This particular mecha operator's protection range just happened to include the temporary outpost. Every time he saw Ling Lan remaining at the outpost on his own, sleeping sweetly without a care in the world, his mood would take a deep nosedive. He felt that Ling Lan was not living up to all of their expectations.

"Could it be that his credits haven't been used up yet?" One of his teammates asked him distractedly as he gathered information on the hunting teams within their protection range. Many of the children just did not have the guts to go out and hunt unless absolutely necessary.

"If that was the case, I wouldn't be so angry! I'd just have to wait for him to reach that critical point. But he just goddamn won't ever run out of credits because his teammates are actually willing to provide for him without any complaint!" Extremely disgruntled, the mecha operator's voice was deep and sullen. "Even though they returned every single time covered in injuries, they would still just smile and give the quarry they hunted to that brat, and let him exchange it for credits and continue to remain in the temporary outpost."

The operator was somewhat envious, but his heart also ached for those children. For the sake of such an unmotivated and useless teammate, were their actions worth it?

"Ho! Looks like that punk's interpersonal skills are pretty good then." Being able to get his teammates to provide for him willingly was also an accomplishment. The other mecha operators could not help but exclaim in awe.

"Could it be that the punk has an impressive background?" Of course, someone would think of this — maybe this was the reason why those children didn't dare to not support him?

"I asked the captain, and he said that he doesn't have any notable background. It's just that his father died long before he was born in a battle with the Twilight Empire." Very early on, the mecha operator in charge had already asked the captain to investigate the child's data, and found that his background was very average. Even more average than those of his teammates, Qi Long and Luo Lang.

"Perhaps those children pity him for being an orphan of a martyr. Giving him some consideration because of that would be normal," someone speculated.

"That's not the way to be considerate. They are here to see blood — if this brat never sees blood, then how will he grow? Don't they know that this is actually harming him?" The mecha operator in charge was somewhat distressed at the waste of talent.

"What are you worrying for? If he doesn't want to grow stronger, what can we do ..." The other's words had barely faded when he suddenly gasped in shock, and asked doubtfully, "Look up there, what's that?" When he had been browsing through the images, a light had seemed to flicker at the top of the screen. He adjusted the image, and found that countless bright spots had appeared on it, and could not hold back a shout.

All of the mecha in the air immediately pulled up their images as well, and saw that there really were countless bright spots descending from the atmosphere.

"What's going on? Why didn't the camp control tower give us a report?"

"Could it be an enemy attack?"

"No way ..."

Just when those aerial mecha operators were at a loss, Ling Lan, who had already entered the learning space and had started practising her physical skills, sensed a strong signal calling her from the outside. She decisively ended her training and returned to the great hall of the learning space. There, she saw Little Four with an anxious face, who rushed to say, "Boss, I just did an aerial scan, and discovered a mysterious force invading this planet!"

Ling Lan's face changed. She quickly returned to the real world, leapt up from her bed, and rushed out.

Standing in the square of the temporary outpost, she lifted her head to look up at the sky, and could vaguely see several glimmering lights in the skies above.

"Little Four, lock onto one of those bright spots and zoom in," ordered Ling Lan.

A close-up of the scene right by a bright spot abruptly appeared before Ling Lan's eyes. The bright spot turned out to be a giant elliptical metal object. Its outer shell was smooth and glossy, and it looked just like a large egg made of metal — there was no way to tell what it was. Its speed of descent was not very quick, just as if there was a reactionary force pushing against the planet's gravity.

Ling Lan's brows furrowed, suddenly thinking of something. She yelled out quickly, "Little Four, could you check to see into outer space?"

"From here, I'll need to hack into the radar here. Boss, hold on for a few seconds ..." That said, Little Four left. Ling Lan counted under her breath, and when she reached 9, the image before her suddenly shifted to an image of the space right beyond this planet.

In space, there was nothing. All was silent, just as if those unidentified flying objects had just appeared in their vision from thin air.

"The other side might be using some cloaking system to evade radar scanning, and so were not discovered," explained Little Four, "Let me try to change their radar scanning system ..." This so-called 'cloaking' was not true concealment — it was just recognizing an opponent's radar scanning system and preparing a corresponding countermeasure. So, a minor modification to the scanning system would solve the problem.

Little Four's words had yet to fade when Ling Lan saw two massive interstellar motherships suddenly appear in a corner of the initially boundless starry sky. Beside them were four escort starships. Right then, those elliptical metal objects were being launched in a never-ending stream from the mothership's launch port. The four escort starships were positioned at four corners, carefully guarding the two motherships in the centre.

"Searching for their emblem ..."

The starships within the image began to rotate, until, on one side of one of the ships, a blood-red sun was revealed ...

"The Twilight Empire ..." Ling Lan's gaze narrowed, her mind swiftly registering the severity of the matter. Immediately, she said, "Quick, transmit the images to the camp's control tower ..."

"Already done." Little Four had instantly transmitted those images to the control tower.

Ling Lan's gaze filled up with killing intent — the Twilight Empire ... that was the main culprit in her father Ling Xiao's murder. She had originally thought that she would only get the chance to get revenge and kill the people of the Twilight Empire once she grew up, but unexpectedly, this opportunity had presented itself here at this mysterious planet.

Of course, Ling Lan also knew very well that their appearance here most likely meant that some problems had also emerged within the inner workings of the Federation, just like back when Ling Xiao had been killed. Only this time, she wondered who their target was.

********

When the control tower received Little Four's transmitted images, they instantly sounded the alarm ... The entire camp leapt into action under the blaring cacophony of the alarms. All the resting soldiers rushed out, grabbing their weapons and their mecha.

Meanwhile, the mecha operators in the air still observing those unidentified bright spots in the atmosphere had also received the warning of an enemy attack from the control tower.

"Warning, this is an enemy attack ...! Warning, this is an enemy attack!"

"Get ready for battle!" The cold voice of the captain came through the public communications channel.

"Yes!" All of the mecha were fully armed, and they watched suspiciously as those countless flying objects drifted down towards their planet. The moment the captain gave the command, they would charge.

In the meantime, the hunting students had also received the notification to return to the camp or the closest outpost.

When the opponent had drifted down to a certain altitude, the flight-capable winged mecha or humanoid mecha all flew up into the sky as well, waiting in formation.

********

Meanwhile, in space, the commanding officer of the mothership who had supervised the launching of the metallic giant eggs, was closely watching the feedback images of the situation below. When he saw that the opponent had already noticed them and were prepared to attack, he instantly pounded the table in anger. " Baka 1 , how did they discover our concealed airstrike strategy? Which bastard ratted us out?!"

Originally, they had wanted to overwhelm the opponent with the element of surprise, but was unexpectedly faced with this sort of direct faceoff. His heart started to twinge in pain — the sneak attack this time involved their empire's most exceptional mecha column, if any accidents happened and they were lost here, it would definitely be a severe loss.

This commanding officer naturally didn't know that the reason the opponent was prepared was due to Little Four, this intelligent bio-entity from the miraculous planet Mandora ...

"Attack!" When the control tower gave this command, all the air-borne mecha launched the first wave of attack. The metallic eggs right at the bottom were instantly caught in the explosions of this intense firepower. Losing the anti-gravity deceleration, they dropped like stones, hurtling downwards at full speed. The mecha in formation paid no mind to these falling eggs — everyone knew that at that speed, even if there were protective fittings inside, the people inside would still be at death's door even if they didn't die.

These images were transmitted back to the motherships in space, causing the commanding officer to yell 'baka baka' non-stop, yet he was helpless to do anything. Now that things had developed into the current situation, it was no longer something he could resolve.

"Sir, can we let them break out of the shells and act now?" The adviser beside the officer wiped away the sweat on his forehead, and reminded him with a bow. Since there was already no chance of a sneak attack, they might as well fight outright pitting strength against strength.

" Sano-kun's 2 suggestion is good. Give out the order to act!" The commanding officer finally calmed down.

" Hai 3 !"

********

Once the order went out, all the falling metallic eggs cracked open by themselves, revealing the black mecha hiding within each one. The sight of those black mecha, along with the crimson sun emblazoned on their chests instantly drove all the Federation's mecha operator's into a collective rage.

"Curses, it's mecha!"

"The bloody Twilight Empire!"

"Dammit, kill them all ... avenge Major General Ling Xiao!" It wasn't clear which mecha operator said this, but it summed up the burning animosity of the mecha operators well.

Translator's Thoughts

ryuxenji ryuxenji

If anyone has questions or comments about the usage of Japanese terms in this chapter, please refer to the translator's thoughts section at chapter 144 first before posting.

Chapter 143: The Mecha Battle Kicks Off!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Major General Ling Xiao's death due to one of the Twilight Empire's evil plots was a major grudge for all mecha operators of the Federation. They too had once thought of charging onto the battlefields against the Twilight Empire for revenge, but they were soldiers, and so had to submit to the military's arrangements. They had been assigned to develop this mysterious planet, but the rage in their hearts had not disappeared. Now, suddenly seeing the hated killers appear before them, almost all of the mecha operators were about to go on a rampage.

Everyone present on the field knew that this would be a death clash, a fight till one side or the other was dead!

The artillery in the hands of the Federation mecha operators needed no command, firing wildly in an endless barrage. A great battle was about to start ... in the sky, the sounds of rocket fire filled the air — the Twilight Empire mecha naturally did not just lay back and admit defeat. Even if they had no choice but to dodge while they were still trying to gain control of their mecha, they would still raise up their firearms when necessary to return fire.

The entire battlefield was shrouded in the smoke of artillery — with every round of fire, several mecha would be destroyed and fall ... some of the Federation, more of those from the Twilight Empire.

Those mecha plunged from the skies wreathed in thick smoke and blazing fire, crashing loudly onto the ground. Even Ling Lan, who was quite far away from the heart of the battle, could still feel the violent tremors from the ground, almost losing her footing.

On the ground, those mecha would explode a second or even a third time. Shrapnel went flying, wisps of flame scattering everywhere — the immense explosive force broke the surrounding trees at their waists, some trees even being uprooted entirely. Yet even more trees were set alight by the errant sparks, quickly becoming engulfed in flames ...

Under the barrage of artillery, the initially tranquil primitive forest descended into a sea of smoke and fire. The savage beasts within seemed to sense the looming threat, and began to make a commotion.

The descending Twilight mecha were getting closer and closer to the Federation mecha soldiers in the air; at this point, the camp control tower gave a new order, "All aerial mecha squads, move out immediately!"

This command proved that the battle had already entered the most intense close-combat stage. The outcome of this battle now would be determined entirely by whose nation's mecha operators were stronger.

From the start, this world had been a world governed by the principle of the survival of the fittest — only by being stronger than the opponent could you have the right to continue surviving.

All the Federation mecha operators who received the order operated their mecha to fly towards those incoming Empire mecha. In the skies of this planet, blue-white mecha and black mecha clashed, battling it out with one another.

********

The supreme commander of the camp looked at the starships hovering in space on the screen before him. Rage spiked in his heart, and he threw the phone receiver in his hand roughly at the ground, where it instantly broke apart.

Raging, he said, "Goddammit! If these bastards weren't here, how would I have let these despicable mecha land so easily ... Damn! Now we can only rely on the mecha teams to hold them off with force."

On the other end of the phone receiver, the technician soldier silently wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. He was thankful that he had managed to react quickly enough to shut down the functions of the receiver moments before the commanding officer had smashed it, saving the eardrums of his teammates.

It turned out that the secret headquarters on this planet was equipped with anti-aircraft artillery. However, due to the threat of the starships in outer space, the supreme commander did not dare to use them. This made him feel extremely frustrated and was the main source of his rage.

The commanding officer could almost confirm that the Twilight Empire was just using these mecha to try and entice them into firing their anti-aircraft missiles. After finding out that the opponent was the Twilight Empire, the commanding officer knew that even if the opponent had found the coordinates to this planet, they still would not know the detailed location of the Federation's secret headquarters on the planet.

If the opponent had known for sure where the headquarters was, they definitely would not have first let the mecha descend for a sneak attack. Instead, they would have just opened fire with the starships, directly blowing up their main command centre right from the start. This way, without any proper command, the Federation warriors would definitely not be able to muster up any effective resistance. The Empire would have been able to easily assume control of this planet.

If he had not discovered the opponent's starships, he might very well have already given the command for the camp to fire their anti-aircraft missiles. He could almost see the final outcome then ... those few starships of the Twilight Empire would then have figured out where they were hiding, and sent all their firepower on board towards them, completely destroying this location, vaporizing every last bit of them, leaving no bodies behind.

At this thought, the commanding officer felt a lingering frisson of fear in his heart. Luckily the radar had worked in the end, managing to detect those concealed starships and motherships. This also made him instantly aware of the opponent's scheme, saving him from giving out a wrong order.

The commanding officer collected his emotions, and turned to ask the chief of staff beside him, "When will the reinforcement teams arrive?" Although he had seen through the opponent's dangerous scheme, the situation right now still wasn't looking good.

"The crew closest to us is at the Misri Corridor area. Even if they rush over at top speed, it is estimated to take about 10 hours," reported the chief of staff.

"Hold out for 10 hours, is it?" The supreme commander frowned, considering whether it was possible to hold out for 10 hours with his current forces.

"Commander, there's more bad news I have to tell you ..." The chief of staff had received the latest updates from the other staff officers, and he now looked somewhat ill. "The forces just sent word that just now, a Twilight Empire fleet was seen in the vicinity of planet Qiming."

The supreme commander hurriedly tapped on the star map on a screen and compared the distance between the two locations. He could not help but curse! This was because the distance from the Misri Corridor and that from planet Qiming were roughly the same. In other words, 10 hours later, the opponent would also receive reinforcements.

"Contact military headquarters immediately. Tell them to send even more fleets over. No matter how long it'll take them to come, we will hold out till the end!" That said, the supreme commander turned and left the control tower. This surprised the chief of staff who had begun making arrangements for his commands. He asked, "Commander, where are you going?"

"Where? To fight! Am I supposed to just sit here and wait? My soldiers are all battling courageously right now!" With an angry glare, the commander stalked onto the control tower's elevator platform to go down, not giving the chief of staff any time to stop him.

Nimbly, he climbed into his own mecha, and after activating it, he piloted it to fly up to the aerial battlefield. Behind him, his bodyguard mecha team followed swiftly ... the commander they were supposed to protect had already chosen to battle, of course they could not stay back.

"Ahem, this fellow ... that's so irresponsible!" The chief of staff looked at the back of the commander who had leapt into battle, and muttered unhappily to himself. Still, he could only complain a little in protest — against the formidable commander whose very nature was that of an extreme battle maniac, all he could do was resign himself to his bad luck and clean up after him.

********

"Baka! The opponent actually chose not to use their anti-aircraft missiles but fight in close quarters with mecha? Are they that confident in their own mecha operators? What do you all think?" In space, the commanding officer on the mothership saw that their plans had failed once again. Their originally perfect strategies, all failing — this caused him to be extremely displeased and angry.

"Commander, don't worry. Among the mecha operators executing the air strike this time is a team of our empire's ace mecha escorts. As long as they land successfully, the opponent's mecha operators will definitely be no match for them." The staff officer beside him quickly offered reassurance, boosting the commanding officer's confidence, "They will definitely complete this 'Operation Decapitation'!"

There were many strategies; they too had thought of all kinds of unfavourable contingencies. As long as the ace mecha troop landed successfully, they would carry out 'Operation Decapitation' — seek out the opponent's command centre and destroy it so that the opponent would have no organisation, and hence lose all form of effective resistance.

" Yoshi 1 ! I hope they don't disgrace our great Twilight Empire." Once more, the commanding officer felt as if he had the situation well in hand.

********

On the planet, right now, there were the sounds of countless firearms being fired. The temporary outpost was also ringing with the warning blares alerting the troops of an air attack. Some on-duty soldiers were directing non-combatants to the nearest air raid shelter, but their main responsibility was to help those students at the outpost who were scared shitless.

"Bastard, stop running around recklessly! Come back quickly!" A soldier on duty at the outpost was currently gathering all the students hiding all around the outpost. When he saw Ling Lan standing at the entrance of the outpost looking around randomly, he instantly yelled at him anxiously.

Suddenly, from god knows where, a bomb fell — the soldier leapt frantically at Ling Lan ... then, he felt his body being tugged aside by something, causing him to tumble in another direction, dropping straight into a trench dug by the camp.

"Boom!" The bomb exploded on the other side. But because they were inside the trench, they were completely uninjured. The soldier raised his head, bewildered, and saw a small figure crouched in front of him.

"Big Brother, thank you for saving me." That charming young shota had a serious expression on his face, but the immense gratitude he held in his eyes was unmistakable.

Although the soldier was still wondering how he had suddenly changed course in mid-air, the two of them had indeed been saved by the shift in direction. As such, he could only scratch his head in confusion and say, "As long as you're alright! As long as you're alright!"

Then, realising something, he asked, "Why didn't you go to the air raid shelters?" The camp had informed the students the coordinates of all the air raid shelters at the first moment, letting them choose the nearest air raid shelter to hide at. Fearing that the students would be scared stiff by this sort of ruthless battle scene, they had then sent some on-duty staff to check up on them, which was why this soldier had appeared here at the outpost.

"I wanted to go, but was still checking the directions, confirming the coordinates." Ling Lan gave a perfectly normal reason. In the midst of an unforeseen event, it was very easy to lose one's direction in the chaos.

The soldier had already seen scouts in this sort of situation an nth number of times, and so merely pointed at a direction and said, "You just walk in this direction, and then look at the coordinate numbers on your communicator, and you should be able to find an air raid shelter."

"Thank you, big brother. Then I'll be leaving first!" Ling Lan gave him a grateful scout's salute, and then jumped out of the trench, quickly disappearing into the distance.

The soldier pulled on his helmet and carefully moved forwards in a low crouch. He needed to continue checking the next location. After moving stealthily in this way for several tens of metres, he abruptly realised that the other's movements had been much more agile than his ...

Chapter 144: Chance! Make a Move!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Ling Lan did not choose to go to that air raid shelter; instead, she secretly hid at a random blind spot within the outpost. With Little Four's help, she contacted Qi Long. "Qi Long, where are you guys now?"

"Boss Lan, finally got hold of you. We can't go back anymore," said Qi Long, chuckling drily.

"What happened?" asked Ling Lan in surprise.

"The road we need to go back is now a battlefield!" The sound of violent hacking and slashing could be heard from Qi Long's end — the sound was so loud that it almost covered Qi Long's voice.

"Mecha combat!" Ling Lan could immediately tell what the sound signified.

"Yes, and not just ... BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" Loud explosions rang out on Qi Long's end, "Boss, we need to retreat quickly, otherwise we'll be chopped into pieces by the winds of their swords."

Heavy panting could be heard via the communicator — it looked like Qi Long and the others were running for their lives trying to escape that frightening battlefield. Ling Lan was extremely anxious, hating the fact that she wasn't there with them.

"We can't go any further. Any further and it's the F-class savage beast area." Han Jijyun's voice rang out on the other side of the communicator.

"You all already entered the G-class savage beast area?" A bad feeling rose in Ling Lan's heart.

"Yup, the battlefield spread too quickly, so we could only keep dodging backwards. But luckily, those G-class savage beasts have also been frightened away by the battlefield." Qi Long's voice held a trace of relief, because if that had not been the case, they would not have been able to run so deep into the forest.

"Stop running. Those savage beasts have already become even more dangerous," said Ling Lan frantically.

The sound of running footsteps slowed and finally came to a stop. Then, Qi Long's voice came through once again, a note of puzzlement in it, "Boss Lan, what did you say?"

"They're about to go berserk from this sudden battle." Ling Lan had already received Little Four's warning. He had found that within the range of his monitoring, the savage beasts' eyes had already turned red, as if they were about to go berserk at any moment.

"Can you all go around the battlefield?" Ling Lan followed up with this question.

"No, the battlefield has already spread to cover the entire G-class savage beast district. No matter which way we go, we'll have to pass through F-class territory," responded Han Jijyun. He had been keeping a close eye on the situation, so he knew very well that right now, the battlefield had engulfed almost all of H-class and G-class areas. Therefore, if they wanted to avoid the battlefield and get back to the temporary outpost, they could only go through F-class savage beast territory.

Han Jijyun felt very helpless. With their capabilities, their chances of passing through F-class territory safely was exceedingly low — they would only have one chance in ten of surviving. It wasn't that much different from just cutting through the mecha battlefield directly.

"Boss, please don't worry. We'll act according to the situation. Right now, we'll first go look for a good place to hide. Boss, you should also go to an air raid shelter as soon as possible and hide." Qi Long told Ling Lan their decision. He knew that in this type of situation, even if Ling Lan was strong, he would not be able to help them.

In this kind of large-scale, destructive mecha battle, scout academy students like them who only knew low-level combat arts were just ants. Qi Long and the others did not want Ling Lan to be in any danger, even somewhat glad that he had not come with them to hunt and gotten stuck here as well.

"Alright, find a place as soon as possible to hide then. Oh, and keep your communicators turned on. I'll contact you guys periodically." After giving her orders, Ling Lan cut the call.

Ling Lan's brows were deeply furrowed. She knew very well that on that battlefield, the Federation mecha operators were fully engaged in battle and had no mind to care about the students anymore. In other words, whether Qi Long and the others lived or died was entirely up to their luck now.

"Goddammit! I need to find them!" Ling Lan made her decision in an instant. She was not someone who would abandon her comrades.

Ling Lan knew that if the battle continued to spread outwards, Qi Long and the others would be forced to enter the territory of even higher level savage beasts. Little Four had already cautioned more than once that the savage beasts there were already in a state of violent frenzy — their combat abilities were definitely not at their normal baseline. Undoubtedly, the longer Qi Long and the others lingered there, the more precarious their situation would be.

With a decision in her heart, Ling Lan quietly zipped out of the outpost. The soldier on guard at the entrance, who was waiting for straggling students, only felt his eyes blur for a moment, as if a shadow had flown by at the edge of his vision. But when he looked around, he saw nothing.

"Am I seeing things? Looks like the surrounding smoke still managed to affect my vision ..." The soldier could only explain it this way. He threw all thoughts of that passing shadow to the back of his mind and stopped worrying about it.

Ling Lan rapidly dashed through the hunting grounds of the H-class savage beasts. In the dim lighting of the dense forest, she moved through the trees as nimbly as a monkey. With several quick dashes, she zipped from one tree branch to another. Her speed made her seem just like a shadow, leaving afterimages between the tree trunks, and her landings were so soft that they made no sound.

After travelling for about 2 kilometres, Ling Lan abruptly came to a stop. Her brows lifted slightly, but very quickly, she leapt up nimbly, and dashed into one of the shrubs to hide without making any noise.

Ling Lan had just hidden herself when, not far from Ling Lan's position, two large mecha collided heavily in the air and simultaneously lost control and fell.

They crashed forcefully into the forest undergrowth about 200 metres away from Ling Lan. The great tremors caused by the crashes stirred up a tornado, which whipped out to decimate the surrounding trees. The tornado only died off when it was about less than 10 metres from where Ling Lan was hiding.

Ling Lan seemed to have expected this, for she was not affected at all. All throughout, she kept a lid on her presence, crouched within the shrubs, motionless. The instant she went into hiding, Ling Lan had entered hunting mode — her mind was as still as ice, perfectly melding her presence with her surroundings. Even if Instructor Number One from the learning space came here now, before Ling Lan made a move, it would still be very difficult for him to find Ling Lan's hiding spot.

Perhaps the two mecha had been rendered useless by the crash, for the operators could not get them to stand up again. Almost simultaneously, the hatch of the cockpit on both mecha opened. Two mecha operators leapt out from their respective cockpits at the same time.

"Clang!" The clear ring of cold weapons clashing, proving that the two mecha operators had crossed blades again in an instant.

The two of them were pushed back by the other's attack, each stumbling backwards several steps before regaining their footing. They gripped the short swords in their hands and faced each other from a distance, waiting for the next chance to attack.

The distance between the two of them was about 10 metres. The mecha operator dressed in a blue and white combat uniform on one side was from the Federation. Ling Lan could tell due to the Federation logo on his chest — a big golden five-pointed star. On the other side was the mecha operator of the Twilight Empire, dressed in a combat uniform the same black as the Empire's mecha. The entire uniform was a dark inky black, the only spot of colour being the blood-red sun on his chest.

The mecha operators' combat uniforms were a type of one-piece outfit, even coming outfitted with a fully sealed helmet. This set of combat uniforms were definitely the best defensive equipment in this world. Ordinary blades would not be able to pierce through it; of course, the short swords equipped on the bodies of these mecha operators were made of a special type of metal — although the swords could not pierce through the combat uniforms, three stabs at the same spot would weaken the uniform enough to penetrate it and deal damage.

The two of them faced off for a few seconds, unmoving, and then, their figures flashed as they moved almost simultaneously.

Clang! Clang! Clang! ... Over 10 times the weapons clashed. The two men were fighting evenly, but the consecutive attacks were wearing down the stamina of both of them rapidly. Soon, the two men were starting to breathe unsteadily.

They had originally been fighting in their mecha for half a day up in the air, using up a lot of their energy already. And now, on the ground, they were engaged in a life-or-death close-range battle. Whether it was in terms of mental or physical strength, they were at the end of their ropes — it was all down to who could hold out for a breath longer.

The patiently waiting Ling Lan had already quietly picked up a twig about a finger-length and slipped it between her fingers, poised as she waited calmly for the two men to launch into their next attacks.

Finally, the two men lifted up their swords again, and charged towards the other at the same time ...

Chance!

With barely a thought, Ling Lan's wrist twitched, and the twig in between her fingers flew like an arrow towards the Twilight Empire mecha operator.

Ling Lan naturally knew that the twig would not be able to penetrate the other's combat uniform on its own. Thus, her target was the only weakness of the combat uniform — the neck!

Even though, on the surface, it seemed like the mecha operator's entire body was shielded by the combat uniform, in truth, at times, from a particular angle, a tiny unshielded gap would be revealed. For example, when a mecha operator lifted his head a certain way, an almost imperceptible gap would appear at the join between the helmet and the combat uniform.

Ling Lan, who was lying flat within the shrubs, was viewing the scene from a downward angle, and so managed to catch sight of this tiny, tiny gap. All this time, Ling Lan's cool observation was so she could find this opportunity for a one-hit kill. And Ling Lan's patience finally brought her this opportunity.

The small and thin twig struck silently and abruptly — also, the Twilight Empire mecha operator never would have imagined that there would be another ruthless hunter here, so his full attention was on the Federation mecha operator opposite him. He wasn't guarding against other sources of killing intent.

He suddenly felt a stab of pain at his neck, and the hand which he had planned to use to parry the opponent's short sword stilled for a moment.

But this short pause was enough to make him miss the correct timing to parry, and he could only watch as his chest was pierced forcefully by the other's short sword. Panicked, he tried to back away, but then he discovered something even more frightening — he could not control his body at all.

Within the blink of an eye, the opponent had stabbed his chest three times repeatedly, breaking through his uniform to pierce into his chest. He could only watch as his own blood started to spurt from his chest ...

What in the world had happened? They had clearly been evenly matched, both unable to overwhelm the other ... why would he lose control over his body in these final moments?

The mecha operator of the Twilight Empire fell over with a face filled with disbelief. Till the end, he still could not figure out how he had died, causing him to be a muddled ghost even in death.

Of course, the reason for all this was Ling Lan's undetectable attack; it had just been too strange and unexpected. Because the twig had been so small and thin, it had only caused a small droplet of blood to well up at the area on the neck which it had shot into. Thus, the Twilight Empire mecha operator had never even noticed that he had suffered a sneak attack.

Translator's Thoughts

ryuxenji ryuxenji

First off, I'm very pleased by the steady ranking this week. Very pleased. :3 And since I also have some extra time, here's an extra chapter.

Secondly, as quite a few commenters have questioned the use of Japanese words in recent chapters, here is my response instead of having to reply again and again individually.

1. These words are included in accordance with the raws. Either the author spelled them out phonetically with Chinese characters, or it was implied, as with the structure of the names. The words are not left 'untranslated' because this is not a Japanese novel.

2. Despite point #1, some have requested the words be 'translated normally'. To that, I have to say, what is normal? Usage of foreign words in text has always been accepted as a literary device, even in original English works. It helps in setting background and differentiating characters. Ask yourselves -- would this be an issue if the words included were Spanish or French or, better yet, some obscure language you were unfamiliar with? The only issue here seems to be the anime-like impression Japanese has in some readers' minds. As a translator, my duty is to be faithful to the original, personal biases notwithstanding. I will only 'fix' the raws if something is greatly illogical (like with the laser missiles in a previous chapter), contradictory, or is clearly an error on the author's part (typos, wrong names, etc.). Which brings me to ...

3. Even reading the raws, the enemy Twilight Empire comes off as a little comedic, perhaps due to the inclusion of the Japanese words. Who's to say that that is not the original intent of the author? Belittle and caricaturize the enemy -- making it easy for readers to dislike them and cheer for the MC's side. This is not to say I agree with this method or the ideology of the author, but it is a possibility that this was what the author was aiming for.

Thus, I am sorry if it makes any of you uncomfortable, but I will be leaving the Japanese words as is. It's pretty systematic, so it should be easy enough to ignore or to just switch the terms in your own mind as you read if it bothers you. Besides, there won't be much more of it once the fighting gets into full swing, and this arc will end in about 10 chapters or so anyhow. I hope this answers all your questions on the matter. As always, thank you for your support, and happy reading. :3

Chapter 145: Controlling Polar Light!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

The Federation mecha operator saw that his opponent was completely dead; only then did he let out a breath, relaxing fully. Similarly, he had not noticed anything odd, just feeling glad that the opponent had run out of stamina before he had. This was why he was the one who lived and not the opponent.

Hiding at one side, Ling Lan was just thinking whether to go out and meet the other to obtain an update on the battlefield situation when a frisson of alarm coursed through her heart. Without even thinking about it, Ling Lan pushed off the ground forcefully with both arms, sending her whole body flying backwards rapidly.

At that moment, a terrifying light energy beam poured down from the skies, accompanied by a horrified voice screaming, "Dodge ...!!"

A Twilight mecha in the air had noticed the surviving Federation mecha operator on the ground, and had decisively raised the gun in his hand to send a powerful light beam blasting down on the other. Not too far from this spot, another Federation mecha had also happened to see the opponent's movement, and had tried to lift his own gun to stop the other, but it was too late.

The resting Federation mecha operator standing there had no chance of reacting, directly being engulfed by that massive light beam ...

A loud "BOOM" and the earth was blasted apart, causing an approximately 20-metre wide pit to appear. Right then, that Federation mecha operator standing there had disappeared without a trace, only leaving behind blood-soaked dark rust coloured earth as proof of his existence.

"Bastards! I'll kill you!" The other Federation mecha operator's anguished voice rang out, interspersed with countless blasts from his gun.

In the air, yet another pair of Federation and Twilight Empire mecha became locked in battle, outcome uncertain.

********

Less than 10 metres away from the deep pit, Ling Lan was lying flat on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, not daring to make a single move. Luckily she had sensed the danger back then and had run away in time. Otherwise, if she had still been hiding in her original spot, that hit just now would have turned her into a puddle of bloody water just like that Federation mecha operator.

Even so, she had still been struck heavily by a broken tree which had been thrown her way by the blast, incurring some internal damage. Ling Lan knew very well that in this kind of grand mecha battle, fragile physical bodies just could not stand up to the potential damage. She was already considered unbelievably lucky for surviving this round.

"Boss, the mecha discarded by those two earlier may perhaps still be usable." Right now, Little Four was also very nervous. Ling Lan was stuck on her own on the battlefield — this situation was just too dangerous. They needed to have a mecha of their own to be able to stand up to the enemy. After searching for a long while, Little Four had found that the mecha which had fallen at the very start of this still seemed somewhat intact, so there was a chance it could still be used.

"Let's wait for a moment. Let those two mecha leave first." Ling Lan circulated her Qi to start healing her injuries as she consoled Little Four.

By now, there was nothing but flat ground around those two mecha which had fallen, no available cover whatsoever. If she just rushed out like this, she would definitely be noticed by the two mecha battling it out in the sky. Ling Lan absolutely did not want to be like that Federation mecha operator earlier — consumed by fire, saying a thorough goodbye to the world, leaving no trace behind.

Little Four knew that Ling Lan was right, and so said nothing further. However, the notion of getting a mecha of their own once again reared up in his heart. That way, he would be able to control the A.I. of the mecha and help his boss.

Ling Lan's internal injury was not too severe, but if not treated well, there would still be the possibility of future problems. Especially since they were still in a dangerous position right now — any damage would mean a decrease in combat ability, so the most important thing now was to make sure her injury was fully healed.

Consequently, Ling Lan left the safety of her surroundings up to Little Four, putting her full attention into recuperating. Very quickly, Ling Lan shut out all thoughts of her surroundings, entering a deeper dimension of Qi circulation and healing ...

********

When Ling Lan opened her eyes once more, her body felt light — the tired feeling in her muscles as she had rushed here was gone along with her injury. Ling Lan knew that this was due to the deeper level of Qi healing, replenishing the vital energies of her body till its optimum state.

Ling Lan's spirits were light as she looked up subconsciously. There was nothing there — the two mecha fighting there before she began healing herself were gone. Frowning lightly, Ling Lan asked, "Little Four, why didn't you wake me?" Who knew how much time she had wasted — if she had known that those two mecha were gone, she would have woken up earlier.

Little Four did not think he did anything wrong. Righteously, he said, "You need to be well so we can find Qi Long and the others more efficiently."

Ling Lan had nothing to say in response to Little Four's words. After all, Little Four had done so for her sake. If she did not heal her injuries fully and forced herself to go and look for her companions, and then, if by any chance there was any danger, she may have dropped the ball at a critical point. That was definitely being irresponsible.

Thus, Ling Lan cast aside the issue and began sneaking cautiously towards the two fallen mecha. As she moved, she asked Little Four, "When did those two mecha leave?"

"Hmm? They never left ..." For a moment, Little Four had no idea what Ling Lan was saying.

"Then where are they?" Little Four's words scared Ling Lan so much that she immediately dropped flat to the ground and stopped moving. Could it be that the two mecha were hiding in some unseen corner? Why didn't this little rascal tell her about this sooner?

"Oh, they're just laying about 1000 metres away." Little Four's words let Ling Lan's heart settle back in her ribcage.

Little Four brought up the image of the scene 1000 metres away in front of Ling Lan's eyes. Through it, Ling Lan could see that the two mecha had apparently perished together. 1000 metres away, there was yet another deep pit, and at the bottom of it, the two mecha were tangled up with one another. The beam sabers in the hands of both mecha were deeply buried in the other's cockpit. Thick crimson liquid was gushing out endlessly from both cockpits — the mecha operators inside were extremely unlikely to have survived.

"Little Four, monitor the surroundings, including the area above," ordered Ling Lan, after letting out a heavy sigh. Almost every second on the battlefield, a life was ended. Ling Lan hoped she did not become the next to perish. Thus, she needed to get a handle on the surrounding situation so that she would not be caught off guard by an enemy hiding in a corner.

Under Little Four's comprehensive monitoring, Ling Lan safely arrived at her destination. Little Four swiftly checked the two mecha and found that they were both viable for repair. After some consideration, Ling Lan decided to take control of the Federation mecha. Although she also considered using the Twilight Empire mecha to sneak into the ranks of the Twilight Empire and attack them from within, the battlefield was a chaotic mess — both sides were already in a battle frenzy, if she were accidentally killed by the Federation, that would be such an ironic waste.

Ling Lan quickly climbed into the cockpit, and Little Four instantly took over the control rights of the A.I.. Then, the first thing he did was to urgently shut the cockpit hatch, and then activate the mecha.

The mecha's screen lit up in a flash, and then countless combinations of 0s and 1s appeared, scrolling up in an endless stream from the bottom of the screen, finally covering the entire screen ...

"Boss, please wait patiently. I'm upgrading the A.I. and repairing some of the broken driver routines." Little Four's voice suddenly came out from the mecha's sound systems.

Ling Lan waited for roughly 3 minutes, and the countless 0s and 1s finally disappeared from the screen, condensing down to form two large words — Polar Light 1 !

After a brief moment, the two words slowly faded from the screen. At the same time, the screen brightened, and Ling Lan felt the enclosed feeling she had at the start fade away. She could now see the limitless blue skies, and several columns of black smoke drifting over from who knows where.

"This mecha is part of the advanced mecha Polar Light series." Seeing the words 'Polar Light', Ling Lan immediately knew what level of mecha she was about to operate. Who'd have guessed that her first time piloting a real mecha would directly skip basic mecha, lower mecha, and intermediate mecha, jumping straight to advanced mecha? Other children probably wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing. "As expected, anything is possible on a battlefield!" thought Ling Lan to herself.

"The Polar Light series — its strengths are its speed and its long-range attacks. In contrast, it's a bit weaker in terms of close-range combat," said Little Four regretfully. It should be noted that whether in terms of physical skills or mecha control, Ling Lan's skills in close-range combat were much stronger than her long-range attacks.

"Little Four, there's no such thing as strengths and weaknesses for mecha. Whether it's strong or weak depends entirely on the ability of the operator." A small smile hung on the corners of Ling Lan's lips. Even if this was the weakest mecha, when it came to close-range combat, she had the confidence to utilise it well.

"Also, I've found the instructional channel for the Polar Light controls. Boss, do you want to view it?" This was an advanced mecha after all, some of its controls were somewhat different from those of a basic mecha.

"Okay, just speed it up." Ling Lan had already scanned the control buttons — most of it was almost the same as with basic mecha controls, with only a few new additions. What Ling Lan was interested in was this section of the video.

Very quickly, Ling Lan had absorbed the newly added things. There was nothing too strange about them, mostly just the launch buttons of some artillery weapons. Ling Lan wasn't someone who used those much anyway, so this just made Ling Lan even more confident.

"What a shame that other than two small high-frequency blades and a beam saber, this mecha has no other close-range weaponry." Little Four was full of contempt for the dullness of the high-frequency blades and the sole piercing function of the beam saber.

"They're enough for me." Ling Lan nimbly controlled the mecha to grip the beam saber in its left hand. That length and piercing function really made it feel like a tri-edge trench knife; Ling Lan was very pleased.

"Little Four, run an immediate check on the remaining artillery left and the power levels." Ling Lan was not an impulsive person. Everything she did, she hoped to do it with all the information at her disposal.

"Head: anti-aircraft missiles 2 , 2. Left arm: Beam shield energy sufficient, able to support 2 hours of continuous combat. Beam saber energy insufficient, only able to sustain for around 40 minutes. Right arm: 57 mm high-energy beam rifle, able to fire 18 beam shots. Additionally, in the chest area, two inlaid rockets were still unused. Driver energy blocks: Main energy block with 20% remaining, two secondary energy blocks still left unused." Little Four reported the status items of the mecha to Ling Lan one by one.

"If we fly, how long can we sustain movement? If I fight at full strength, how long can the mecha hold out?" Ling Lan then threw a few possible scenarios at Little Four.

"Purely flying, we'll be fine within 10 hours. If you combine flight with full out combat, 30 minutes should be okay!" replied Little Four conclusively.

"Got it." Ling Lan now had a baseline. She then operated the mecha to fly swiftly at low altitudes, rapidly making her way towards Qi Long and the others. Ling Lan was not flying at max speeds, however, because she did not want to be noticed and targeted by the enemies in the air above ...

Chapter 146: Discovered?

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

In a dark and dense forest area closest to the battlefield, a team of four scout students were carefully moving through the trees, trying to go around the whole battlefield by skirting the edges of the forest ...

They could clearly hear the violent sounds of artillery and explosions not far away, and every once in a while, they could feel the sudden tremors of the ground when a mecha crashed from the skies into the ground. Each time, they would be frozen in terror, afraid that some stray artillery or even mecha would just fall directly on them.

"You guys, still okay?" Qi Long swiped off the sweat on his forehead, and turned back to ask his teammates behind him.

"Don't worry about us. Right now, the most important thing is to not go the wrong way." Han Jijyun's brows were furrowed as he continued to keep track of their coordinates. Due to the spreading of the battle, they were getting closer and closer to the active territory of the F-class savage beasts. Even if they had not received Ling Lan's warning, they could feel the chill from within their bones — the situation was already getting worse and worse.

The few of them once again made their way carefully through the forest. After a distance, Qi Long, who was in the lead, abruptly waved his hand. The boys behind him immediately dashed away to hide in the bushes or behind trees, beam handguns in their hands. If an F-class savage beast appeared, they would pull the triggers without hesitation — taking the initiative would give them the upper hand.

Qi Long alone was left in a half crouch, his beam gun pointed right at the spot which he had found suspicious. Sweat dripped down his forehead to glide down his cheek. He did not dare to lose his concentration — an F-class savage beast was equivalent to a human at the Refinement stage; this wasn't something he, as someone who had barely stepped into the Refinement stage, could match up to. He had already thought things through. If an F-class savage beast actually appeared, even at the cost of his life he would create an opportunity for his teammates to escape.

"Qi Long?" A deep and hoarse voice came from behind the shifting shrub.

"Wu Jiong, it's you." Qi Long relaxed instantly, almost dropping bonelessly to the ground. He had really been too nervous before this.

Hearing the two of them speak, Lin Zhong-qing and Luo Lang were about to come out of hiding when Han Jijyun, who was covering Qi Long's back, signalled them to watch and wait. The two of them instantly put up their guard again, gripping their guns tightly as they continued to remain hidden.

Wu Jiong finally climbed out from the bush. His protective vest was a little damaged, and there was an open wound on his cheek. After Wu Jiong came out, his teammates Ye Xu, Qin Yi, and the others also revealed themselves, walking out from various corners. One of them was being supported by Qin Yi. The lot of them were all in roughly the same condition as Wu Jiong, extremely dishevelled.

Wu Jiong saw that Qi Long was alone, and his expression shifted slightly. "Where are your teammates? And where's Ling Lan?"

Qi Long answered, "They're here." He turned to wave behind him, and Han Jijyun and the others walked over.

Then, Qi Long said, "Boss Lan is at the temporary outpost. There's only the four of us here." He pointed at Wu Jiong and asked, "How did you all become like this?"

Wu Jiong grimly spat out a gob of spittle. "Pah! Our luck was just too bloody terrible. A bomb blew up not too far from where we were hiding. Luckily, we had hidden behind a large thousand year old tree, so the tree blocked most of the explosion. But still, being the closest to the explosion, Chen Yu was heavily injured. It's lucky we had enough emergency healing agents on hand, otherwise Chen Yu would have really been in danger. Now, at least he's alive."

Chen Yu was the Class-A student who had temporarily joined Wu Jiong's team for this hunting period. His results in class had always been average, and he was normally extremely untalkative, and so was very easily overlooked by others. But for some reason, Wu Jiong had chosen him at first glance ...

"Do you have enough medical agents? We still have some here." Qi Long asked in concern. Hearing Qi Long mention this, Han Jijyun hurriedly took off his backpack, prepared to take out some first aid agents.

"Thank you, but that's not necessary for now. Chen Yu's injuries are stable, but to heal it as soon as possible, we need to get back to the outpost immediately to get him into a recovery pod." Wu Jiong declined Qi Long's offer, but his complexion did not look any better. This was because they needed to get through the battlefield as quickly as they could to get Chen Yu back to the outpost for treatment, or else his injuries might get worse if left untreated for too long and end up giving him trouble in the future.

But how they could pass through the battlefield was a huge problem. At this moment, he truly hated how helpless he was.

He lifted his head to look at Qi Long and said, "We're preparing to go back to the outpost as soon as possible to get treatment for Chen Yu. What are you guys planning?"

"We also plan to do the same," replied Qi Long, "Boss just contacted us, saying that the savage beasts here are about to go berserk. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it'll be."

"Cutting through the battlefield is impossible. The two sides are fighting too fiercely. The artillery is flying everywhere — no one knows whether they'll hit us," said Wu Jiong.

"Not just that. If any enemy sees us, they would also shoot a beam projectile at us without mercy. They've always been passionate about getting rid of us so-called 'promising seeds'," added Han Jijyun, mockingly.

"Hn, so we can only stick to the forest and go around the battlefield this way," Qi Long told Wu Jiong their original plan.

"Just as I thought." Wu Jiong had the same plan as well.

"Still, it's just as dangerous. We're basically rubbing the edges of the F-class savage beast territory as we travel. If we happen to meet an F-class savage beast, we'll be wiped out," cautioned Han Jijyun.

"Dammit. Staying here is not an option, we might as well try our luck," muttered Ye Xu in frustration.

"Agreed!" The others all chimed in as well. They were the genius students of the Central Scout Academy, the cream of the crop — from youth, their education had always taught them to face trouble head-on and create chances for themselves. They were certainly not people who would just do nothing and wait for death.

The two teams were in agreement. In fact, Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing even helped Ye Xu, Qin Yi, and the others by taking their backpacks so that they could care for Chen Yu better. This cooperation helped the two teams move a little faster.

Right then, Qi Long suddenly signalled for everyone to stop. Under Wu Jiong's suspicious gaze, Qi Long excitedly took a call on his communicator. "Boss, how did you manage to contact us?"

Not long after the battle started, the communicators had lost the communication function. Qi Long and the others knew that this was due to the fighting. The camp control tower was afraid that the enemy would hack their signals and so had chosen to cut satellite transmissions. But surprisingly, even under these circumstances, Ling Lan still managed to contact them. This was absolutely freaktastic!

And so, in Qi Long's mind, Boss Ling Lan's image just became even more impressive.

Hearing Qi Long's question, Ling Lan knew that this was all thanks to Little Four. Still, Ling Lan did not explain herself. After simply asking Qi Long for their current coordinates, she told Qi Long that she was on her way over. If they were not in any danger, they should stay as close as possible to the coordinates they gave until she got there.

Hanging up his communicator, Qi Long's face once again revealed his trademark wide-toothed grin, adding some goofiness to his demeanour. However, everyone present knew that this was just Qi Long's facade — he had never been silly when he needed to be astute.

"Good news?" Wu Jiong asked, seeing Qi Long in such a great mood after answering the call.

"Yup. My boss will be here soon," said Qi Long gleefully. Hehe, it was truly great to have a boss. Even if the sky fell, there was someone to hold it up.

"It's too dangerous! What can he do even if he comes?" Han Jijyun's first reaction was to object, feeling that Ling Lan must have gone mad. He felt that this was not an action Ling Lan should take — this was definitely not the choice of a rational type leader. Still, it could not be denied that a tendril of warmth was spreading through his heart, and his initially flagging spirits suddenly lifted significantly.

"Brothers united, we can even cut through gold 1 ! With Boss leading us, I have nothing to fear ... Also, Boss said that he's already at G-class territory, heading here." Qi Long did not have as many considerations as Han Jijyun — he just felt that with everyone together, he would even be willing to venture into a dragon's lair or a tiger's den.

"That's great! Since Boss is coming, then let's just wait here," said Luo Lang, equally excited. At the same time, he had noticed that a large part of Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing's stamina had been used up during this forced march. It was just that they were in a hurry to get back, and was surrounded by danger, so they hadn't dared to stop and rest.

Qi Long looked at Wu Jiong, and Wu Jiong looked at the tired faces of all his team members. He felt that it was indeed about time to get some rest, so he nodded and said, "Let's rest for a moment."

The two teams found a relatively secluded spot, and with Qi Long and Wu Jiong as sentry on each side, the others huddled together in the middle and began consuming the compressed biscuits and nutrient solutions they had on them.

Very quickly, they had eaten their fill and rested. If it were not for the sounds of explosions and mecha fighting not too far from them, they could almost believe that the battle had just been a bad dream.

"Not good! Hide!" Wu Jiong and Qi Long shouted almost simultaneously.

The two teams reacted quickly. They immediately threw down the food in their hands, all of them moving to the respective nearest cover to hide.

At that moment, a blue and white mecha fell from the sky, crashing forcefully into the forest about 100 metres from them. In an instant, the area had become a large pit, trees fallen with broken branches scattered everywhere.

Three powerful energy beams immediately followed, striking the cockpit of the mecha with precision. The cockpit was devoured by the beams instantly, melting away to become a gaping hole.

Three black Twilight Empire mecha lowered their beam cannons in unison. " Seeking death idiot 2 !" sneered one of the mecha operators gleefully.

Honestly, this Federation mecha which had been destroyed was really very unlucky. He had been on his way back to restock on ammunition, but had unexpectedly stumbled upon this three-man team of Twilight Empire mecha. Although he had tried his best to escape, he still did not manage to evade their combined attack in the end and was killed.

"Stop dithering. Our brave warriors are fighting courageously. We need to find the enemy command centre as soon as possible and carry out Operation Decapitation. The earlier we finish, the more brave warriors we can save." One of the other mecha seemed to be the squad leader of the three-man team. The moment he said this, the other two mecha immediately responded respectfully, "Hai!"

Just as the three men were about to pilot their mecha away, one of the mecha seemed to spot something as he zoomed out his screen. "Eh? What that could be 3 ?"

"Kotou-kun? Did you find something?" The small team leader was startled by his subordinate's cry of surprise, and quickly asked him to report.

"Hehe, no worries. I just found some fun little mice." The mecha operator called Kotou-kun suddenly let out a burst of maniacal laughter, somewhat excited and perverse.