147-153

Chapter 147: Ace Operator?

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

At that moment, the squad leader also caught sight of the few 'little mice' that Kotou had noticed. He knew of his subordinate's little penchant, and so grumbled at him good-naturedly, "I'll give you one minute to deal with these little mice. Shikamaru-kun, let's go."

The squad leader could leave so easily because he did not think that these few little mice would be any trouble for Kotou, so there was no need for all three of them to be there. Might as well let Kotou enjoy himself.

The two of them very quickly sped off in their mecha, leaving Kotou behind alone. When they left, they did not notice that from another direction, close to the ground, a white and blue mecha was skimming its way towards the area ...

Kotou controlled his mecha to lock onto the group below him. From a distance, he raised his mecha's right arm, aiming his beam gun right at the people staring at him fearfully from below.

Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others naturally knew they had been discovered by the other. Their faces paled, and they shouted desperately for their comrades to run ... but in fact, they knew deep down that no matter how fast they ran, they would not be able to outrun the impact of the mecha's beam gun.

"Wakaka! Pitiful worms, say farewell to the world just like this!" Kotou saw the terrified faces of the children below and began to laugh wildly in excitement. This was the type of expression that excited him! It was like the high from taking drugs — irresistible ... this was also the reason why he had always loved torturing and killing children.

With this twisted mentality and a crazed smile, Kotou decisively pressed down on the launch button in his hand. Energy began to gather at the muzzle of his beam gun, about to burst forth at any moment ...

A loud "Boom!"

From a distance, a beam struck his mecha's beam gun before he could shoot. Because of this beam, the beam gun exploded instantly, blowing off the whole right arm of Kotou's mecha. The arm dropped to the ground below.

"Federation mecha!" Qi Long, Wu Jiong, and the others had thought they were doomed, but unexpectedly, they were saved at the last second. They all turned to look for the source of the beam, and saw a blue and white mecha flying swiftly from a distance, heading straight for the Twilight Empire mecha in the air.

"That's great! We're saved!" There was an expression of great relief on all the children's faces.

Han Jijyun was the only one who was still somewhat level-headed. "Take advantage of this chance and run!" There had been three Twilight mecha, while only one Federation mecha was coming here. If the other two Twilight mecha hurried back, Han Jijyun did not think the Federation mecha had good odds of surviving. The mecha had saved them, so Han Jijyun also did not want him to die, but reality forced Han Jijyun to first prioritize their own survival.

Qi Long and the others knew Han Jijyun was right; they cast a reluctant look at the blue and white mecha, and then gathered everyone and moved deeper into the forest ...

"Good luck, Federation mecha operator!" Everyone was silently cheering on the Federation mecha operator in the sky.

"Baka!" Kotou was livid. He had only wanted have some fun and kill off a few mice, but just a slip in attention had allowed the opponent to blast off his mecha's right arm, losing him his beam gun.

He glared hatefully at that incoming blue and white mecha. It was a standard advanced mecha, with only the Federation's logo on its chest, nothing else. From this, he could tell that the other was just a regular advanced mecha warrior.

In the Federation, mecha of ace level and above would have their own personal symbol on the chest other than the Federation's logo. The higher one's level, the larger one's personal symbol would be. When one became a god-class operator, the Federation logo would no longer be displayed, leaving only one's unique personal symbol behind. Take Ling Xiao for example. On the chest area of his mecha, there had only been a fiery phoenix on display.

His initial plan to contact his squad leader abruptly stopped ... he had really been thinking of calling his squad leader over, but seeing that the opponent was just a regular advanced mecha warrior, his pride would not allow him to press the connect button.

If he had to call for help against this kind of opponent, it would truly be a disgrace.

Kotou felt that he could not afford to lose this face — he was the elite of the Empire, an ace operator — how could he lose to a common advanced mecha warrior of the enemy nation?

Kotou decided in an instant that he would avenge himself. Even if he only had his left arm remaining, with his control skills, it was enough to torment the opponent till the other yearned for death.

Kotou controlled the mecha's left arm to pull out the beam saber behind its back, in preparation for close-range combat.

"Boss, the opponent is actually choosing to engage in close-range combat!" Little Four was thrilled. Compared to long-range attack, Little Four had much more confidence in Ling Lan's close-range combat.

"That's pretty good luck. Little Four, engage full horsepower, charge!" Ling Lan commanded decisively.

Initially, she had been controlling her speed, wary of the other sniping at her mecha. Thus, she had been fully focused, ready to push her mecha into irregular flight. This decision of the opponent actually eased her mind greatly. Mind you, irregular flight was very taxing mentally, and was also a high-level movement that Ling Lan only learned recently. If forced to use it, Ling Lan would have only been able to do her best despite her average proficiency with it.

"Got it, Boss. Leave it to me." Little Four's reply was accompanied by a burst in speed.

Kotou had thought that he would have some time to adjust, but unexpectedly, the opponent's speed suddenly increased by several folds, and the opponent appeared before him in the blink of an eye. Even worse, the other did not seem to have any intentions of slowing down, instead choosing to barrel straight at him, as if determined to bring him down and perish together.

Kotou naturally did not want to die together with the opponent. His first reaction was to dodge — he activated the emergency thruster on one side, forcibly shifting his mecha to a side, narrowly missing the other's charge.

But before Kotou could relax, the blue and white mecha about to pass by suddenly stopped strangely. At the same time, its mechanical arm bent and pushed out savagely. The crook of the black mecha's neck was struck by a forceful elbow.

A loud "Bang!" This strength behind this elbow was considerable. It immediately sent the black mecha spinning, and the initially air-borne mecha began plunging towards the ground ...

"Goddammit!" A moment of negligence made him lose the initiative and take on the passive role in this fight. Kotou tried desperately to regain control of his mecha, hoping to slow the speed of his descent and recover the mecha's balance to counterattack.

He finally managed to stop his mecha's descent with much difficulty, but the blue and white mecha did not stop attacking with just that elbow. The opponent actually descended as well, flying upside down to meet him head first, sending an iron fist hurtling his way.

This attack once again disrupted the mecha's balance. The mecha dropped sharply, and just when Kotou was trying his hardest to pull up his mecha, he was flabbergasted to find that the opponent's blue and white mecha was falling even faster than him, actually overtaking him in an instant.

This was all because the blue and white mecha had engaged both main thrusters at the same time, boosting its speed so the mecha could descend faster ...

Qi Long and the others, who had just run away to a safe distance, were hiding and watching the battle. Seeing this development, their hearts jumped into their throat. Could it be that there was something wrong with the Federation mecha's systems? Or did the mecha operator make an operation mistake?

The blue and white mecha was about to smash into the ground when — barely 2 metres from the ground, the mecha's thus far inert secondary engine for reactionary propulsion activated, its 12 jet spouts all opening up. A powerful surge of air blasted out, actually blowing the leaves and broken branches on the ground into the air, twirling on the whirling winds.

This blast of energy was enough to stop the falling mecha cold. At the same time, the blue and white mecha's two mechanical arms lifted high above its head, all ten fingers spread wide, and slammed heavily onto the ground. Meanwhile, in the air, its two legs spun fiercely, kicking out towards the spot where the black mecha was about to fall into.

And so, a mecha spun gracefully into an intermediate difficulty Thomas flair 1 , kicking the black mecha back up into the air. This time, due to this large force, the black mecha no longer had any way to deflect, and was sent flying by the blue and white mecha's kick.

"Amazing!" Qi Long and the others were utterly stunned by this sight. They had not expected that a mecha could pull off human combat arts, and it was even more impressive and exciting than seeing a real person pull it off.

The blue and white mecha pushed off its hands and flipped to stand upright. Without hesitation, it used its left hand to pull out the beam saber on its back, while its right hand grabbed the high-frequency blade on its thigh, and pounced ruthlessly at the black mecha who had hit the ground and was now lying there immobile.

"Argh, baka, die die die!" Kotou shook his concussed head. Seeing the blue and white mecha rushing at him with its blades, he immediately fired all the artillery he could on his body to try and stop the other. Perhaps out of fear, he actually began cursing vehemently within the cockpit.

Facing the black mecha's barrage of fire, the blue and white mecha's rushing figure suddenly started folding and overlapping, even creating multiple layers of ghost images ... The artillery all landed around the blue and white mecha, releasing countless light and flames, but not a single one hit the mecha.

"Isn't that the irregular flicker that only ace operators would know?" asked Wu Jiong, astonished.

Qi Long nodded excitedly. "Yes, yes, it is! The one controlling that mecha must definitely be an ace operator!"

Qi Long was currently looking at the formidable blue and white mecha with a face full of admiration. He wished that he could be the one piloting that mecha ... The desire in his heart was raging: I want to operate mecha, operate mecha (several hundred thousand more 'operate mecha's omitted) ...

"Impossible, how could it be irregular flicker ..." When Kotou saw this, his eyes popped wide open in disbelief. A wave of regret crashed into his heart — he felt as if he had been tricked ...

"Despicable chinks 2 !" In his final moments, he reflexively pressed the button to connect to his squad leader. But it was too late. The blue and white mecha's beam saber stabbed viciously into his cockpit. The immense beam energy immediately destroyed his upper body, leaving the cockpit filled with blood.

********

The squad leader, already 3 kilometres away, saw Kotou's communication request, and hurriedly accepted. "Kotou-kun? Kotou-kun?"

The other end was silent, but for the strange sound of dripping water ...

"Not good, something happened to Kotou-kun! Let's go back!" The squad leader had a bad feeling about this. He instantly made his decision, calling for another team member to go back with him to check out the situation.

Chapter 148: Number X ...

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Ling Lan resolutely ignored her discomfort; she gritted her teeth and controlled the mecha to pull out its beam saber from the Twilight mecha's cockpit.

Ling Lan's discomfort was not because this was her first kill in real life, but because her current small body found it a little hard to bear the reaction force from operating mecha.

Little Four noticed Ling Lan's condition and understanding the reason behind it, he asked her anxiously, "Boss, are you alright?"

Little Four knew that operating mecha would definitely cause reaction force to reflect back on the operator's body. He had already done his best to lower the reaction force incurred to the minimum, hoping that his boss would not be harmed by it.

However, Little Four never expected that Ling Lan would perform so outstandingly for her very first time operating real mecha. In particular, those final movements to evade the artillery had been beyond her usual standards — evolving the irregular dash of advanced mecha operators straight to the irregular flicker only ace operators were capable of.

The irregular dash and the irregular flicker were actually the same skill. The reason there were two names for it, was that depending on the operator's skill proficiency, the resulting effect was visibly different.

The irregular dash was an advanced mecha control technique, one of the compulsory techniques advanced mecha warriors and special-class mecha operators must learn. On the other hand, irregular flicker was a skill exclusive to ace operators. In other words, only an ace operator would be able to execute irregular flicker perfectly.

This was also why Qi Long and Wu Jiong would mistake Ling Lan for an ace operator. Frankly, Ling Lan's current control capabilities were only at the level of an advanced mecha warrior. At most, she could be said to have stepped half a foot into the ranks of special-class mecha operators.

Without a doubt, the appearance of the irregular flicker was the result of an accidental cross-limits burst of skill.

Of course, this cross-stage display of skill had also dealt heavy damage to Ling Lan's body. Although Little Four had already tried his best to minimize the damage, Ling Lan's body had still incurred a certain degree of damage.

"I'm fine. I've been through worse pain than this. This is nothing," Ling Lan reassured Little Four. Even though her complexion was so pale that it was worrying, her spirits were still at regular levels; it was as if the pain of her body did not exist.

Honestly, from the moment she had decided to pilot the mecha, she was already mentally prepared to get hurt. Mind you, for a child not yet 13 years old, no matter how solidly built the child was, their bones just could not handle the feedback force from operating mecha. This was also one of the reasons why the Federation banned children below 13 years old from learning how to operate mecha.

Of course, Ling Lan's reassurance to Little Four was also the truth. This little bit of pain she felt now was nothing compared to the excruciating pain of her illness from her previous life. In comparison, the pain she felt now was not even worth mentioning.

"Besides, Little Four, you've already helped me neutralize most of the reaction force, protecting me well. So I'm fine. Thank you, Little Four!" Ling Lan thanked Little Four sincerely for his hard work. If not for him, her body might be in even worse condition.

"Boss, I definitely won't fall for your candy-wrapped missiles ..." Little Four was beaming, a smile blooming on his face, stretching from ear to ear. Still, he did not forget to clarify his stance. As a principled intelligent entity, how could he be so easily bought?

Ling Lan ignored the currently tsundere Little Four, quickly scanning her surroundings instead. Very quickly, she had found Qi Long and the others' hiding place. Seeing the lot of them unharmed, she instantly relaxed.

Ling Lan efficiently hung the mecha's beam saber back on its back and slipped the high-frequency blade back into its place at the mecha's outer thigh. Just as she was thinking to go greet Qi Long and the others, Little Four's expression suddenly tightened and he warned, "Boss, the two Twilight mecha who left earlier are coming back. They're about 2 kilometres away from us."

Ling Lan felt a weight settle in her heart at these words. Although she already knew this was a possibility, finding out that the opponent was really coming still made her a little nervous.

"Hide properly. Don't come out!" Ling Lan threw down these words and purposefully flew the mecha in another direction, preparing to distance herself from this area. Ling Lan did not want the following battle to hurt Qi Long and the others, otherwise her coming here to aid them would be meaningless.

Qi Long and the others hiding in the dense forest heard a cold voice ring out by their ears. They were startled, and dispelled all thoughts of climbing out from their hiding place. They laid flat in their respective hiding places, not daring to make any movement.

"It's the Twilight mecha. The two mecha who left earlier have returned. Everyone make sure to stay hidden!" Wu Jiong's hiding spot happened to allow him to see the mecha flying swiftly by in the skies above. He immediately hissed out a warning. Qi Long and the others now knew why the Federation mecha had warned them not to move before flying off.

"He's trying to save us by drawing those two mecha away?" There was a complicated expression on Lin Zhong-qing's face; it was a combination of gratitude and respect, and also a trace of bewilderment.

"He's an ace mecha operator, he'll definitely be able to defeat those two mecha." Luo Lang clenched his fists, trying to convince himself while convincing Lin Zhong-qing at the same time.

"Will he? Don't tell me you didn't see the numbers on the arms of those three mecha." Ye Xu's spirits were low. As children within a militant system, they were well-informed about their own nation's and their enemy nations' mecha details. (At least, they knew more than the time-travelling outsider Ling Lan.)

Ye Xu's words caused everyone to fall silent. Only Lin Zhong-qing remained confused; he looked at Qi Long and then Han Jijyun, hoping that they would explain things for him. As a poor commoner, he did not really know much about this military information.

However, the typically talkative and outgoing Qi Long was uncharacteristically pensive and uncommunicative. His face revealed his puzzlement as he thought deeply about something. Han Jijyun cast a confused look at him, but found that Qi Long's attention wasn't here at all. So, he took over to explain, "The Twilight mecha operators' levels can be determined by the serial number on their arms. Those few mecha earlier all had an 'X' at the beginning of their serial numbers. That means they're from an ace mecha team!"

"Ace?" Lin Zhong-qing caught hold of the key point.

Han Jijyun smiled bitterly and nodded. With that, Lin Zhong-qing understood, and his face drained of all colour ...

Would their saviour lose his wings 1 here? The children's hearts grew heavy with worry.

********

"Squad leader, I've found Kotou-kun's mecha. There's a large hole in Kotou-kun's cockpit. Looks like it's been shattered. From my observations, this should be the result of a stab by a mecha's beam saber ..." Mecha operator Shikamaru discovered the area Kotou-kun had perished on his scanner. The zoomed-in pictures his camera picked up was very clear; it was very obvious how his teammate had died.

" Baka-yarou 2 !" A vein popped out on the squad leader's forehead as he gritted his teeth and cursed. He was irritated that someone had actually managed to kill his subordinate right under his nose. This made him feel extremely humiliated.

"Squad leader, there's a mecha over there ... it's Federation." Mecha operator Shikamaru had already widened his search range, and soon picked up the low-flying Ling Lan on his radar.

"That fellow must be the one who killed Kotou-kun. We must kill him to wash away our disgrace. After him!" Livid, the squad leader immediately turned and set his mecha on the path towards that mecha. Behind him, Shikamaru reacted swiftly, hurriedly following with his mecha.

Ling Lan's mecha was not flying in a concealed manner, and its speed was not very fast either. She was doing this intentionally so those two mecha would chase her and get further away from the hiding place of Qi Long and the others. Ling Lan knew very well that she would have to risk her life to fight against two ace mecha. During that time, she wouldn't be able to spare any mind for the surrounding situation. To avoid harming Qi Long and the others by accident, the further she could get away from them, the better.

The image Little Four transmitted to her let Ling Lan know that the two mecha were following her as she had hoped. Then, Ling Lan abruptly increased her speed by many times. The two main engines of the mecha roared in unison, and the mecha drew a lightning-quick line through the air, flying over 1000 metres in an instant.

"Shikamaru-kun, speed up. The opponent has noticed us." The squad leader saw the Federation mecha trying to escape and knew that the other had noticed them on his tail.

"Hai!" The two Twilight mecha increased their speed at the same time, and like two feral dogs locked on Ling Lan's scent, they chased after her.

As Ling Lan was controlling her movement speed, not pushing her mecha to its limits, after around 10 seconds, the enemy had already caught up to her.

"Shikamaru-kun, high altitude snipe." Once Ling Lan entered sniping range, the squad leader immediately gave the order. He dearly wished that his subordinate would be able to destroy that hateful mecha operator with one shot.

"Hai!" The mecha operator Shikamaru was a sniping expert to begin with. He controlled his mecha to fly steadily and lifted the sniping rifle in his mecha's hands. The moment he managed to lock onto Ling Lan flying in front of him, he pressed the firing button.

"Boss, we've been targeted." The opponent had just locked onto Ling Lan's mecha when Little Four issued a warning.

Ling Lan's fingers danced frenetically — very quickly, sweat began to bead up on her forehead and the tip of her nose, condensing to slide down her face and drop ...

Her mecha was suddenly seen to wriggle like a fish in water, drawing a strange curve, allowing it to dodge Shikamaru's shot by a narrow margin!

"Irregular flight! Damn it!" Mecha operator Shikamaru was extremely put out for missing his target. He also knew how to execute irregular flight, but to be able to calculate the trajectory of a shot so accurately ... this was the first time he was seeing this.

What Shikamaru did not know was that it wasn't the mecha operator who managed this feat, but Little Four substituting for the mecha's A.I.. Of course, this was also only possible due to Ling Lan and Little Four's close rapport. Otherwise, if they were unlucky, they might very well have been hit and perished along with the mecha.

Although Ling Lan managed to evade multiple snipes by the mecha operator Shikamaru, she was held back at the same time. When the squad leader chasing them got within 100 metres of Ling Lan, he sneakily raised the beam cannon in his hands to aim at Ling Lan who was still busily dodging Shikamaru's attacks, prepared to lock onto her and shoot.

"Boss, the other mecha is also about to attack," cautioned Little Four anxiously.

"Troublesome!" Ling Lan was confident that she could successfully dodge all the snipe attacks of one mecha, but if two mecha attacked at the same time, Ling Lan wasn't sure if she could remain unharmed.

That said, Ling Lan's control hand speed actually increased by one level. Right then, the outlines of Ling Lan's fingers were no longer visible, nor was it possible to see which buttons were being pressed. At most, on the control panel, one could only see the countless afterimages of her fingers, just like blossom after blossom of flowers blooming, beautiful and ephemeral ...

Chapter 149: Looking For an Answer!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898

Just when the squad leader was about to lock onto Ling Lan's mecha, the mecha's waist twisted into a very bizarre position, and its initial forwards flight trajectory suddenly took a 180 degree turn.

It should be known that for a mecha to change directions, they either needed to curve and make a U-turn in the form of a semi-circle, or they could choose to stop their engines and turn their body around before starting their engines again. The first option would maintain a mecha's speed, but required time; the second was immediate, but the mecha would lose the speed it had built up.

However, this control of Ling Lan suppressed the weaknesses of the two options and kept most of their strengths. This was a control method unique to the Mandora star system that Ling Lan had learned from Instructor Number Three in the learning space. Of course, according to what Instructor Number Three said, this control method was actually still a very basic and flawed one. This was because the mecha of this world were really a bit too crude and simple, meaning many of the more advanced control methods just could not be executed.

The squad leader saw the opponent twist bizarrely — successfully changing directions and maintaining its high speed — and charge fiercely towards him.

"What is this?" the squad leader shouted. This completely went against the principles of mecha control.

If Little Four had known that this move would cause the opponent to be so shocked, he would definitely be extraordinarily smug and laugh up into the skies, because this was a product of their Mandora star system — they had a saying back there which reverberated throughout the entire galaxy, and that was: When Mandora moves, who stands a chance?

Perhaps Ling Lan's control had exceeded the squad leader's expectations, unprepared, he easily let Ling Lan get close to him, and the two looked about to collide in the very next second.

Still, he was the squad leader of an ace mecha squad after all, as well as being an ace mecha member. His mental fortitude and his experience were obviously much better than the other two; his adaptive ability especially was well-seasoned.

The squad leader did not react like Ling Lan's first opponent, Kotou, who had panicked and chosen to dodge. Instead, he calmly turned off his engine thruster. Without the support of the engine thruster, the mecha began plummeting towards the ground due to its own weight.

But after it had dropped about half the body height of the mecha, the squad leader started up the engine once more. At the same time, the upper body of the mecha bent backwards, and its left hand raised a high-frequency blade high to stab at the cockpit of the Federation mecha who had already leapt to his original position.

Of course, even if he managed to hit his target, it would not inflict a fatal injury on the opponent. At most, the opponent would just be struck dizzy for a moment. Yet, that was what he was aiming for. As long as a pause appeared in the opponent's control, he would have the time to counterattack.

However, that would be the best-case scenario. It was also possible that he would not stun the other even if he managed to hit his target, which would instead let the opponent have the opportunity to attack in close range, resulting in a mutually damaging encounter.

But whichever the case, he would not be the loser. He still had a teammate behind him, so even if he and the opponent were both damaged in this encounter, his teammate would be able to eliminate the opponent.

The squad leader knew very well that in this situation right now, he could not afford to retreat. The moment he retreated, he would lose the initiative to attack and would be forced into a defensive position. With just one face-off, he could clearly tell that the opponent was a mecha expert. The opponent definitely would not let any opportunity slip by; he would definitely stick to him like an ulcer to the bone 1 and launch a barrage of attacks on him as he dodged. When that happened, he would really be in danger. The moment he failed to avoid due to any negligence, he could very well lose his life.

The squad leader really hoped that the opponent would give up attacking and choose to evade his strike. This way, the situation would be reversed, and the one with the attack momentum would be him instead.

The situation was not as advantageous to him as he imagined — the opponent did not choose to evade, but also wasn't struck by him either. The Federation mecha raised his right hand in that brief instant and used a similar high-frequency blade to parry his attack.

An explosive "CLANG!" Two sharp blades collided violently!

Not just that, the opponent's left hand had pulled out the beam saber behind his back at some point, and after blocking with his right hand, the beam saber in his left hand swung ruthlessly at the waist of the squad leader's mecha.

If the squad leader were to be hit by this savage blow, even if his mecha was not chopped in half, the internal driver pathways would definitely be disrupted, which would cause the mecha to malfunction, perhaps even becoming immobile and useless.

The right hand of the squad leader's mecha was equipped with a beam cannon. The beam cannon was large and heavy, but very powerful. As long as it hit, its attack was capable of melting a mecha straightaway, achieving a one-hit kill effect. All this while, countless Federation mecha had been killed by beam cannons — its efficiency was extraordinary.

In terms of long-range attacks, this weapon was fearsome. However, every weapon had its weakness. The beam cannon's was for an enemy to get close. The moment the enemy got close, the heavy bulky beam cannon would become nothing more than a burden, preventing a mecha from moving nimbly, just like the predicament the squad leader was facing right now.

The squad leader was undoubtedly a decisive person. He immediately chose to discard the beam cannon. The large beam cannon dropped from the sky, crashing heavily into the dense foliage below. Without the extra weight of the beam cannon, the now nimble mecha arm rose up to meet the opponent's beam saber.

A dull "Clang" — beam saber and mecha arm collided once again. The two of them were thrown backwards. The Twilight mecha had activated the beam shield on its right arm in that instant, rendering Ling Lan's beam saber attack ineffective.

The squad leader's prompt response let him tide over this crisis safely, but the initially ready to fire Shikamaru began to falter.

While the two mecha were tangled up together, he did not dare to fire his cannon, since he might hit his own squad leader as well if he wasn't careful.

This was also one reason why Ling Lan had chosen to fight in close quarters with the squad leader. Otherwise, no matter how proficient she was at irregular flight, she would still be hit eventually by one of the two mecha's attacks. Right now, her stubborn insistence on sticking to a close-range fight had tied the hands of the other mecha, temporarily easing her crisis.

But Ling Lan knew that this was just a temporary reprieve — the opponent definitely would not let this passive situation continue. They would definitely find a chance to attack. On her end, she would need to find a way to eliminate one of the mecha before her opponents found that chance. As such, Ling Lan's choice was to start by first targeting this mecha, which was obviously the main attacker.

The two mecha jumped apart immediately upon contact. The Federation mecha's two side engines roared once more, stopping this rebound in its tracks before pushing the mecha forwards once more to hack at the opponent with its right hand. Ling Lan now had to ensure that her mecha remained within a body's length of the Twilight mecha, or else she may draw the other mecha's long-range snipe attacks.

"Baka!" The squad leader had yet to catch his breath when he saw the opponent attacking once more. He hurriedly controlled his mecha to meet the attack with his own blade, a curse spilling from his mouth.

Remember, a proportion of the reaction force when controlling mecha to fight would be fed back onto the mecha operator's body. Therefore, mecha operators had the habit of stopping for a moment to rest after taking action, before moving on to the next move. It was very easy for the body to get injured when executing consecutive moves.

In the cockpit, Ling Lan's complexion was becoming increasingly paler. The load on her body had already exceeded her limits — Little Four was even worried whether his boss would collapse in the next second. This kind of high frequency attack was really too taxing on the body.

********

Although the battlefield of the mecha and the hiding place of Qi Long and the others were significantly far apart, the two teams in the forest were still somewhat flustered by the intense sounds of collision and the blasts of artillery.

"Qi Long, it's too dangerous for us to stay here. Why don't we continue moving? Let's go around the battlefield to the nearest air raid shelter to hide." Wu Jiong felt that instead of waiting here blindly, they might as well take the risk and continue moving forwards. Perhaps they would stand a better chance that way.

Wu Jiong's words caused everyone's expressions to shift. Han Jijyun and the rest of Ling Lan's team looked to Qi Long, waiting for him to make the decision. When Ling Lan was not around, they would defer to Qi Long. Ling Lan's purposeful cultivation of Qi Long as the team leader had been acknowledged by everyone in the team. So, even if she wasn't there, the team would not lose direction.

After some thought, Qi Long said seriously to his team members, "I'll be staying here to wait. What do you all think?"

Including Han Jijyun, the team members were all taken aback by Qi Long's words.

"Why?" asked Han Jijyun. Qi Long must have his reasons for choosing to stay; they wanted to know the reason before making a decision.

Qi Long raised his head to look at the mecha fighting in the skies in the distance. His gaze was complicated, but he soon regained his composure and turned to face the group, saying, "Boss Lan said that he would come. I need to wait for him."

Han Jijyun and the others abruptly remembered. The situation earlier had been too precarious — the near loss of their lives at the hands of the Twilight mecha had driven this point from their minds. All of them nodded their heads to show that they wanted to wait for their boss together with Qi Long. They believed that since Boss Ling Lan had said he was coming here, then he would definitely come.

Wu Jiong cast a long look at Qi Long and his team, somewhat admiring and somewhat envious. He admired the strong bond of friendship among Ling Lan, Qi Long, and the others of their team, which held up even in the face of death, and also envied their great luck — actually having a boss who would be willing to brave lethal danger to come save them.

"Then we'll leave first." Wu Jiong turned to look at his teammates behind him, gaze lingering on the injured Chen Yu. They could not afford to wait.

Qi Long watched as Wu Jiong left with his team, until their figures disappeared. Then, he turned to say to his companions, "Let us go!"

"Where? Aren't we waiting for Boss Lan?" Luo Lang was bewildered.

"I want to see our saviour's battle up close," said Qi Long, looking to the battlefield in the distance, "Perhaps I will be able to find the answer I want. No, I don't need it ..." Qi Long's words were somewhat contradictory.

Han Jijyun was the one who understood Qi Long best. His expression shifted and he asked, "Did you notice something?"

"No, I don't know, and I don't want to know." Qi Long dodged Han Jijyun's question, directly putting on his backpack and heading off towards the mecha battlefield.

Han Jijyun was puzzled, but he did not continue to question Qi Long, merely indicating for Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing to follow.

Since Qi Long did not want to talk about it, then he would not ask. He believed that as long as he followed Qi Long, he would be able to find the answer.

********

The two mecha had been tussling for several moves. Well, it was more of Ling Lan attacking fiercely while the squad leader defended himself passively. Seeing that the situation was not looking good for his squad leader, Shikamaru finally fired.

His marksmanship was very accurate. Even though Ling Lan was fighting the other at such high speeds, she was still shot.

"The mecha's external shell received light damage. The beam's effect is minor. Initial estimations suggest that the other is using a miniature beam gun!" Little Four ran a quick scan of the mecha and reported his findings.

Chapter 150: Ling Lan's Crisis!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

It turned out that the waiting mecha operator Shikamaru had finally thought of a way to attack Ling Lan without harming his squad leader. He had decisively set aside the powerful beam cannon, hanging it back on his back, drawing out the miniature beam gun strapped to his waist instead.

The beam gun's power was noticeably weaker than the cannon's, and its range was extremely short. But its advantage was that he did not have to worry about hurting his teammate. Even if he shot his teammate by accident, based on the mecha's innate defensive ability, as long as he did not strike the same place twice, the mecha would not take any significant damage.

He chose to use this beam handgun to snipe, primarily just to harass the Federation mecha operator. Though the shots were weak, they would distract the opponent and prevent him from attacking fiercely. This way, his squad leader would have a chance to counterattack. However, if the opponent decided to just ignore his attacks due to the limited damage of the handgun, he believed that, if given a chance, he would be able to hit the same spot multiple times to deal heavy damage.

Without a doubt, his choice trashed Ling Lan's hopeful plans, allowing him to rejoin the battle without worry.

"Looks like I'll need to come up with something to finish off this mecha in front of me." Ling Lan knew that the scales of victory were slowly tipping in favour of the opponents — she could afford to wait no longer. N-number of options flashed through her mind ...

Operator Shikamaru pressed on his trigger once more, and a beam shot out from the muzzle of the beam handgun.

The beam scored a direct hit on the right side of the Federation mecha's waist. The sound of an explosion rent the air — a thick plume of smoke started pouring from the back of the mecha's waist.

"YES!" Shikamaru couldn't help but mentally give himself a pat on the back. This shot, his luck had actually been so lucky that it had cleanly taken out one of the opponent's side engines. This would create problems for the opponent's mobility system.

Sure enough, because of this incident, the Federation mecha's engines suddenly sputtered and died, causing the entire mecha to plummet.

The squad leader, who had been having a frustrating time fighting the opponent, was startled, but he soon recovered and was overcome with joy. "Chance!"

Who knew his subordinate Shikamaru-kun would be so reliable, directly blowing up the opponent's engine? This was the moment for him to counterattack.

His exhilaration let him forget all about the aches of his body; he controlled his mecha to pounce like a ferocious tiger dashing down a mountain at the Federation mecha. Earlier, he had constantly been on the defensive — now it was finally his turn to beat on the other. Of course he would not miss this great opportunity for revenge.

In the distance, the operator Shikamaru was just about to continue sniping when he saw his squad leader leaping at the opponent. His finger on the trigger paused ... Hn, let squad leader vent some of his anger first!

In his mind, the Federation mecha which had already lost one of its main side engines was definitely no threat to his squad leader. Moreover, he also believed that his squad leader would relish the chance to torment the other a little to release the pent up frustration from being suppressed previously. As a dutiful subordinate, he could not get in the way of his squad leader's fun in bullying the opponent.

"The opponent fell for it!" Seeing the squad leader leaping at her, Ling Lan was overjoyed. This had all been a bet — she was betting on this mecha's thirst for revenge, and betting on the other mecha's non-interference — and she had won.

Although Ling Lan was unbelievably hyped, her hands remained steady. She controlled the head of her mecha perfectly, turning it to look up at a very specific angle.

"Calculating attack trajectory, perfect!" Little Four's voice had barely faded when the anti-aircraft missiles in the mecha's head area were launched by Ling Lan.

These two missiles came so suddenly — the opponent would never have expected the supposedly panicking Federation mecha operator to have the mind to launch anti-aircraft missiles.

The squad leader knew that he would not be able to dodge, but still, he wasn't too worried. This was because this type of anti-aircraft missile was not very effective against mecha, due to the resilient outer shell of the mecha that was capable of resisting the explosive power of the missiles.

The squad leader just assumed that this was the desperate final attack of the Federation mecha operator in the throes of death — that even though the opponent knew this attack was useless, he had still fired the missiles.

Before the missiles would hit the squad leader's mecha, they suddenly turned upwards. Abruptly, he found that his main screen was shaking and then thick smoke smothered the entire image. He could only see black smoke on his main screen; the opponent's mecha was concealed.

He reacted quickly, immediately replacing the image of the main screen with the images sourced from other cameras.

"Squad leader, watch out!" The panicked voice of his subordinate Shikamaru came through the communications channel. Reflexively, he controlled the mecha to cross its arms and defend.

He had just completed this move when he felt his mecha being struck by a tremendous force, and then his whole mecha was thrown up into the air.

What was happening? The squad leader was alarmed, finding that things were already out of his control.

From a distance, Shikamaru had the clearest view. The two anti-aircraft missiles fired by the Federation mecha had initially been heading for the squad leader's mecha's shoulder area, only to suddenly shift directions near the end to strike the head. In other words, the opponent had been aiming for the mecha's main camera from the start — the two anti-aircraft missiles were no ordinary missiles, but had been installed with a guidance system.

This proved that the opponent's attack was not a hastily cobbled final struggle, but a pre-planned strike.

The opponent used the low-powered anti-aircraft missiles to disrupt the squad leader's main screen; the thick smoke caused by the explosions were probably also part of the opponent's plan. Then, once the squad leader's vision had been obstructed, the opponent had launched the extremely powerful inlaid rockets from its chest, sending the squad leader's mecha straight into the air.

Angrily, Shikamaru raised the beam handgun in his hands, prepared to blast the opponent's mecha to smithereens ...

But then a shocking thing happened — the engine that should have been damaged by him suddenly roared loudly once more, and the powerful force of its thrust sent the Federation mecha up towards the squad leader's mecha in the air.

On top of that, the Federation mecha's following action made him yell out in shock. He saw the opponent swiftly sheathe the high-frequency blade in its right hand back to the mecha's outer thigh, and then, grabbing its beam saber with both hands, it stabbed straight at the squad leader's cockpit.

"Quick! Activate your beam shield and defend!" Shikamaru screamed.

The squad leader was a leadership figure after all; he managed to activate his beam shield in that instant.

The beam saber and the beam shield collided violently. Ling Lan could only feel a large rebound force feeding back into her hand.

"Little Four, hold steady, don't get repelled!" Ling Lan pushed the mobile force of her mecha to the max, pushing against the rebound, while Little Four desperately worked to make sure that the mecha's systems would not break down under the combined pressure.

In the sky above, a white and blue mecha with a beam saber gripped in both hands could be seen flying past rapidly with its beam saber pushed up against the cockpit of a black mecha, drawing a straight line through the air.

"Baka! Baka!" At this moment, the squad leader, who had finally regained the view of his main screen, started hacking desperately at the Federation mecha with the high-frequency blade in his left hand. Once, twice, thrice — leaving mark after mark on the opponent's mecha.

Within the cockpit, Ling Lan could not endure it any longer, throwing up a mouthful of blood. The hacking of the other mecha caused the mecha to shudder to a certain extent; the consecutive tremors worsened the injuries already borne by Ling Lan. Under the roiling of her Qi and blood, she actually ended up spewing blood.

"Boss, are you alright?" Little Four was panicking.

"It's fine. I can take it. How much longer can the beam saber hold out?" In this contest between beam saber and beam shield, both sides were expending energy. Whoever ran out of energy first would be the one to disappear. Right now, Ling Lan was betting on the opponent's beam shield expending more energy than her beam saber.

"There's less than 10 seconds left!" Little Four was extremely anxious.

"I'll risk it!" A feral glint flashed through Ling Lan's eyes; in crucial moments, she could even be ruthless to her own self.

"Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two ... Sh*t! There's no more energy ..." Little Four's voice had barely faded when Ling Lan felt the force blocking the beam saber in her hand melt away, and the beam saber pierced through something.

And then, all that was left of the beam saber was its hilt. Was this a success or a failure? Ling Lan's doubt lasted for a mere instant; her fingers never stopped, still dancing rapidly, creating those layered afterimages.

The Federation mecha discarded the depleted beam saber from its hands and grabbed the Twilight mecha with its right hand. With it as a fulcrum, the Federation mecha spun in a circle to hide behind the body of the Twilight mecha, successfully dodging the sneaky snipe attack by operator Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru-kun, the Empire's mission is in your hands now," said the squad leader to his distant subordinate, as he looked at the blood gushing out from the hole in his chest.

"Squad leader, what are you saying?" The distant operator Shikamaru had not managed to see what had happened in the end. The beam saber and beam shield had run out of energy at almost the same time.

"Use your beam cannon! That's an order!" The squad leader felt that his life was slowly fading. With his last breath, he gave this command, and then triggered the mecha's self-destruct mechanism.

"Even if I die, I will pull you down into hell with me!" bellowed the squad leader with the final bit of his energy.

"Squad leader!" Shikamaru now understood what had happened. In those final moments, the beam saber had likely lasted a second longer than the beam shield. In that one second, the saber had pierced through a vital point of the squad leader. This was why the squad leader wanted him to switch to the beam cannon — he did not have long to live.

"Squad leader, the Empire shall not forget your sacrifice!" Mecha operator Shikamaru's eyes were ice cold. He threw away the beam handgun in his hand, and once again lifted up the beam cannon from his back. Getting into position, he aimed right at his squad leader's mecha ... as well as the Federation mecha hiding behind it!

********

"Not good. The other mecha has switched over to its beam cannon." This whole time, Little Four had been monitoring the Twilight mecha sniping them from a distance.

"Does he not care that his comrade will die?" Ling Lan's first thought was that the other had gone mad.

"No ..." Ling Lan abruptly felt a deep apprehension crawl into her heart, the warning bells in her mind were ringing.

Without even having to think about it, her fingers flew — in this kind of life-or-death juncture, she did not think about the so-called limit of her finger speed. In her mind, there was only one thought — she needed to be fast, faster, even faster than faster ... because she was fighting with the god of death for the time to survive.

This time, the control panel no longer had those layered afterimages — instead, Ling Lan's fingers disappeared into thin air ...

Translator's Thoughts

ryuxenji ryuxenji

Yes, the title of this chapter is exactly the same as a previous chapter. No, it is not a mistake. :3 (Ling Lan just has that many crises in her life. orz)

Chapter 151: Only Chance is to Get Close!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Ling Lan's mecha suddenly dipped, the entire mecha somersaulting, then it bent both knees to kick out abruptly, sending the Twilight Empire mecha in its hands flying.

The Twilight mecha flew like a missile, hurtling straight for the sniping mecha in the distance. Meanwhile, riding the reaction force of the kick, Ling Lan's mecha flew backwards. Almost at the same time, Ling Lan activated the mecha's engines to full power, adding onto her momentum to push her mecha's large body further away from the kicked mecha.

From around 300 metres away, the Twilight mecha responsible for sniping pressed the trigger of the beam cannon. An extremely powerful energy beam shot out from the mouth of the cannon ...

An intense explosion rent the air. The force of the explosion was so strong that it sent out powerful shockwaves which could be felt from even 2 to 3 kilometres away. Meanwhile, close to the heart of the explosion, stretching out 500 metres, all the trees and plants had been ravaged by this great explosion. In particular, 100 metres around the centremost point, there was not a speck of greenery left. All that remained was turned up black dirt and a large pit of about 50 metres wide.

At this life-or-death juncture, Ling Lan's mecha control had exceeded her limits, achieving a realm regular people were unable to obtain. But despite her speedy reaction, she still did not manage to completely escape the range of the Twilight mecha's self-destruction. Her mecha's right leg was blown to smithereens.

This immense concussive force also dealt heavy damage to Ling Lan herself. With a cry, she once again threw up a mouthful of blood, her head spinning.

Ling Lan bit down fiercely on the tip of her tongue, letting the sharp pain force her back to wakefulness. She wiped away the traces of blood at the corners of her lips and asked, "What happened? How could the explosion from self-destructing be so strong?"

Little Four gave his analysis instantly, "The mecha self-destructed at the moment the beam cannon struck, igniting the full force of the cannon beam. The two energy waves added to each other, resulting in an effect N-times stronger than just pure addition."

"Looks like it involved some chemical reaction." Ling Lan frowned. This unpredictable explosive force was the cause of the severe damage to both her mecha and herself.

********

Marching rapidly, Qi Long and the others were thrown off their feet by the tremors from the explosion. The weakest Han Jijyun was even sent flying, but fortunately, Qi Long was able to react in time to press him down to the ground so he wasn't injured.

Qi Long waited for the tremors to stop and then climbed up quickly to look into the sky. He saw that the Federation mecha's right leg had been destroyed in the blast, and his complexion paled.

"We need to move a little faster." The aerial battle did not seem too far, but was in fact 3 to 4 kilometres away. Qi Long and the others were already moving extremely rapidly, but still only managed to cover half the distance thus far.

However, this time, Qi Long's decision drew his sworn brother Han Jijyun's objection. "Qi Long, the closer we get to the mecha battlefield, the more danger we'll face. Especially now, the mecha on both sides are obviously at the do-or-die moment — at any point, they could choose to self-destruct to bring the other with them. If we get too close, judging by the explosion just now, we will die immediately."

Han Jijyun was extremely rational, not at all led by his emotions. Thus, seeing that progressing further would threaten their lives, he raised his objection, not allowing Qi Long to behave wilfully just because they were sworn brothers.

"I know." Qi Long did not deny the truth of Han Jijyun's words. He too knew that going closer was not a smart move, but a voice in his heart was yelling at him to get as close as he could — if he didn't obey, he felt as if he would die from the tension and sense of suffocation in his chest.

Qi Long pointed at his chest and said, "But, my heart tells me that I should go there. You know well that many times, my heart is more accurate than my mind ... although I don't know why it wants me to do this ... but, what you say is right. Getting close is really very dangerous. I cannot be selfish and ask you all to take this risk with me."

Qi Long felt that he had been selfish. He should have explained things clearly to his teammates and discussed the matter first before making a decision.

Han Jijyun looked at Qi Long silently, and found that Qi Long's gaze was extremely determined — he was dead-set on getting close. As his sworn brother, Han Jijyun understood Qi Long well. Although Qi Long seemed brash and forthright on the surface, not placing anything but combat in his mind ... In truth, Qi Long's personality was very stubborn. Once he had made a decision, even a herd of thousands of cows would not be able to hold him back 1 .

"I want to go," said Luo Lang suddenly.

Luo Lang's abrupt interjection caused Qi Long and Han Jijyun to turn and look at him with some befuddlement. With some embarrassment, Luo Lang scratched at a cheek and said with a smile, "Actually, everyone knows that Qi Long's animal instinct is very accurate. If instinct is telling Qi Long that he must go there, then there must be something there. Perhaps it might even be safer there. Besides ..." Luo Lang's expression became serious, "I also want to watch our saviour kill off the enemy and return safely to camp ..."

At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing chimed in as well, "Honestly, I want to go too ..."

Even Luo Lang was surprised by this, looking over in shock. Luo Lang's support of Qi Long's decision was largely due to the fact that he had become sworn brothers with Qi and Han Jijyun since they started school, so it made sense to advance and retreat in accord. However, Lin Zhong-qing joined later, so his relationship with all of them naturally wasn't as deep. It was understandable that Luo Lang and Han Jijyun were willing to take the risk with Qi Long, but Lin Zhong-qing's decision was obviously a little beyond their expectations.

The three of them focused their attention on Lin Zhong-qing, waiting for his explanation.

Lin Zhong-qing said seriously, "Whether the team leader's instinct is right or not, I do not know. However, the fact that I want to become strong is not a lie. So, I cannot retreat because I fear danger ... cowards will never become strong."

Regardless of whether Lin Zhong-qing's reason was true or false, his support undoubtedly stunned Qi Long and the other two. Lin Zhong-qing's willingness to risk his life by throwing in his lot with them proved that he truly considered himself a member of their team now, and wasn't just here because he had been forced to by circumstance.

Han Jijyun forcefully held back the surging emotions in his heart and said, "In that case, team leader, bring us along."

Qi Long looked around at the three people in front of him, nodded solemnly and said, "Okay! Let's go!"

From then on, they no longer doubted; there was only the strong bond between brothers who were willing to brave life and death together.

The four of them moved with Qi Long in the lead, Han Jijyun right behind, Lin Zhong-qing in third, and Luo Lang watching their backs. They swiftly made their way through the dense forest. The violent tremors caused by the previous explosion were not purely bad — it also brought about a small benefit. There were no longer any savage beasts in this area of the forest. Even if some savage beasts were lingering around previously, the force of the explosion had scared them enough to send them running into F-class territory. Therefore, Qi Long and his company did not meet any obstacles whatsoever; it was smooth sailing all the way to their destination.

Along the way, Han Jijyun quietly said to Qi Long, "Qi Long, you must definitely become a qualified team leader!" Han Jijyun's voice was extremely, extremely soft, so soft that it was more like Han Jijyun talking to himself.

At the front, Qi Long jerked. His chest throbbed. In a position no one else could see, his fists clenched.

********

Meanwhile, in the aerial battlefield, Ling Lan was facing another crisis. In order to dodge the opponent's snipes, Ling Lan had no choice but to once again control the mecha to execute irregular flight. However, this type of advanced flight movement put a heavy burden on the mecha.

Right then, on the secondary screens on both sides, many areas had lit up with flashing red warning alerts. The entire cockpit was drowned in a sea of alarms.

"Little Four, scan damage condition." Ling Lan commanded Little Four to report as she controlled her mecha to dodge the opponent's fire.

"Right leg damage 100%, left leg damage 30%, right main engine working under duress, the entire mecha's overall damage at 52% ... Ah, it's 53% now ... Boss, every time you execute irregular flight with the mecha, the damage rate goes up. Estimated 10 more minutes at max before the mecha disassembles ..." Little Four quickly reported the condition of the mecha to Ling Lan. "Most importantly, because of the continuous fighting, there's only one secondary energy block of the mecha's driving energy remaining. 20% has already been used. If we fight at full strength, it can only hold out for 5 minutes!"

"That's really bad news!" Ling Lan grit her teeth. In short, this mecha would not be able to hold out for much longer, so she would need to find a chance to counterattack within this limited time. Otherwise, she could only let the opponent chase her around and be beaten to death.

"Little Four, how many more usable weapons do we have?" Ling Lan controlled her mecha to dodge another of the opponent's attacks, and the screen flashed with red warnings. The alert that the mecha's damage levels were at 55% caused her brows to furrow.

"Hanging on the left shoulder, a 57mm high-energy beam rifle, able to fire 18 shots. In the two slots on the outer thigh, a high-frequency blade in each one," said Little Four regretfully, "Only these."

"We need to think of a way to get close ..." Ling Lan silently planned. Solely depending on the 18 projectiles of the 57mm high-energy beam rifle, it was impossible to finish off the opponent. Only if she got close would she have a chance. Even though the high-frequency blades were a little blunt, a few extra hacks would make up the difference.

However, the opponent also knew what the consequence of letting Ling Lan get close would be, and so was extremely cautious. Every time Ling Lan attempted to get close, the opponent would swiftly back away to keep a certain distance between him and Ling Lan. In other words, the opponent was planning to attack Ling Lan from a distance till she died 2 .

"Little Four, analyse the surrounding terrain!" While flying, Ling Lan took down the 57mm high-energy beam rifle with the mecha's right arm as she waited for the results of Little Four's analysis.

"The north, east, and west are all just filled with endless plain and forest shrubs. The ground condition is soft and the earth is slightly loose. About 300 metres to the west, there is a rock mountain. The close-up image indicates that it is adamantite 3 ..." Little Four reported on the surrounding terrain one by one to Ling Lan.

"Adamantite?" Ling Lan's gaze flashed, as if thinking of something, "How high is its hardness factor?"

"Up to 12!" responded Little Four with certainty.

"That's enough!" Ling Lan instantly made her decision. Still in flight, she lifted the beam rifle in her right hand and began shooting at the opponent.

Shooting was certainly not her one of her strong suits. That said, this was only in comparison with her personal strong suits. If compared to another person, Ling Lan's marksmanship was considered in the upper range of good — it just wasn't at the most excellent level, that's all.

Chapter 152: Self-Destruct!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

It was extremely difficult to shoot accurately while flying at high speed. Furthermore, ace mecha operators basically all knew how to dodge using irregular flight, some even able to use irregular flicker for long periods of time. Thus, in a battle between opponents of the same level for advanced mecha operators and above, to defeat the other with pure gunfire ... this was almost impossible.

However, Ling Lan had not planned to incapacitate the opponent with just her beam rifle to begin with. She was only using it to create the impression that she was fighting for her life; in reality, she was preparing to lure the opponent to the rock mountain.

The two mecha shot at one another with the guns in their hands, neither doing damage to the other. Still, because the Twilight mecha operator's beam cannon was a more powerful weapon, Ling Lan was at a disadvantage.

In this manner, Ling Lan had no choice but to retreat as she fought, slowly drawing the opponent to the rock mountain.

18 beam shots were not much. Ling Lan had already calculated and used them sparingly, but they were gone in a blink of an eye. Though she knew very well that she had no shots left in her rifle, she pretended not to know, pressing her trigger once more as she aimed at the Twilight mecha ...

No more? Panic. The anxious Federation operator once again controlled his mecha to press down on the trigger again and again ... but there was still nothing!

Mecha operator Shikamaru saw that the Federation mecha's movements were somewhat flustered — repeatedly pressing on the trigger, but its beam rifle did not respond. He paused, thinking to himself. Could this be a trap?

Shikamaru cannot be blamed for being wary. The example of his squad leader was still fresh in his mind. Remembering how his squad leader fell for plot after plot before finally self-destructing had made him jumpy and paranoid 1 . His first reaction to any strange situation now was to wonder whether the opponent had some plot up his sleeve.

However, when he saw the Federation mecha throw away the beam rifle in the end and turn tail to run, he knew that the other's rifle had truly run out of power.

Shikamaru's heart leapt in joy. This meant that the opponent no longer had any long-range attacks. As long as he kept his distance, long-range attacks were his domain now. He immediately controlled his mecha to chase after the fleeing Federation mecha.

Of course, Shikamaru could only give chase without worry because Ling Lan had thrown away her beam rifle. If the opponent were still holding onto his rifle, Shikamaru would definitely be on his guard and not chase so closely on the opponent's heels.

The two mecha began a game of tag — at one point, the Twilight mecha shot its beam cannon once, but the shot was dodged nimbly by the Federation mecha operator. This caused Shikamaru to curse internally. It has already been three rounds of continuous battle — why was the opponent still so focused?

"Little Four, have you finished calculating?" Ling Lan asked calmly, not at all influenced by the cascading flashing red alerts all over her screen.

"The beam cannon requires roughly 55 seconds to gather its energy, but this doesn't exclude the fact that the opponent could be faking," responded Little Four. While the opponent had been firing at them, Little Four had been constantly gathering data and analysing it. However, what he could analyse was merely what the opponent revealed. If the opponent just happened to be as cunning as his boss, then his analyses could very well all be wrong.

"How likely is that?" asked Ling Lan.

"About 15% chance," replied Little Four. After all, this data was gathered within a short period of time, so some error was to be expected. Thus, the risk of this being a plot was still quite high.

"In other words, 85% chance of winning. It would be stupid not to take the risk." A trace of a smile appeared on Ling Lan's lips. In the learning space, as long as there was more than 50% chance of winning, she would fight for it, because if you didn't, you would definitely die.

"Yup. Also, the mecha's damage levels are already at 75%. From this point on, the mecha's damage rate will double, so it may not hold out for even 2 minutes ..." reminded Little Four, looking at the horrifying damage levels of the mecha and its almost depleted power.

Ling Lan did not respond. Her fingers sped up even more, and this time, her fingers completely disappeared. Focused on the controls, Ling Lan did not notice, while Little Four did not dare to say anything about it, afraid that he would distract Ling Lan.

Ling Lan's mecha began circling the rock mountain as it flew; she was still waiting for an opportunity.

"Boom!" The Twilight mecha on her tail fired its beam cannon once more. The immense beam flew at her from a diagonal angle. Ling Lan calmly executed a small range irregular movement, dodging the attack.

Irregular movement placed a heavier burden on mecha — Ling Lan could even hear the mecha's body emitting creaking noises. The mecha was very likely to break apart soon.

However, Ling Lan paid no attention to all this. Instead, she continued by pulling off a surprising move — she turned off the mecha's engines. Then, she controlled the mecha to get into a pose where all four limbs were facing the ground, and with the limbs as landing pads, her mecha began falling towards the rock mountain below.

Ling Lan was not very high above the rock mountain to begin with, and the mecha itself was heavy, so it took less than 10 seconds for the mecha to crash into the rock mountain.

A loud "Boom"! The forceful impact caused the rock mountain to quake, throwing dust into the air, and Ling Lan's mecha was soon obscured within it.

Shikamaru had quickly halted his mecha when Ling Lan's mecha had dropped, keeping his distance. Extremely cautiously, he kept his cannon trained at the dust cloud. At any odd movement, he would dodge and shoot. Ling Lan had been wily from the start; this made Shikamaru very wary.

Of course, all this happened within the blink of an eye — Shikamaru had just gotten ready when a blue and white figure leapt out from the dust cloud, lunging at him at a frightful speed.

This speed was definitely not a speed an advanced mecha could achieve — Shikamaru's first reaction was to retreat and then he reflexively pressed down on the trigger of his cannon ... but nothing happened. He glanced at the indicator on his screen, only to find that the 55-second recharge time wasn't over yet; there were still 11 seconds remaining.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth and pushed his engines to their limits, letting the mecha retreat at full speed. He needed to get past this brief 11 seconds — as long as he could survive till then, a shot from his beam cannon would be enough to destroy this detestable Federation mecha in front of him.

The Federation mecha leaping at the Twilight mecha was currently already worn and battered. Its initially still intact left leg had also disappeared by this time; all that was left were some broken edges at its thighs. The entire outer shell of the mecha was covered in scratches, and some of its internal parts were even exposed at certain areas. That last fall had indeed caused significant damage to the mecha's body.

"The mecha can only hold out for another 50 seconds at most ..." Little Four was doing his best to maintain the condition of the mecha so that it wouldn't break apart in the very next second.

Ling Lan did not seem to hear Little Four's warning. Right then, she felt as if she was an outside observer, watching herself operate the mecha with cold eyes. Her thought processes were somewhat mechanical, accurately pushing the engines to the maximum speed the mecha could take, aiming the mecha to pounce at the opponent at almost light speed.

At this moment, the two mecha's roles in their game of tag were now reversed, and the distance between them grew increasingly closer ... One of them was anxiously waiting for his beam cannon to recharge, while the other was waiting for the final gap between them to close. She had done everything she could, now it was up to the goddess of luck to decide who she would favour.

Shikamaru watched as the Federation mecha got closer and closer. 10 metres, 5 metres, 3 metres ... a feral smile emerged on his face, "Die!"

He decisively pressed the button to fire his beam cannon. At that very moment, the cannon's power had finally finished recharging, allowing it to fire once again.

A crisp yet resounding "SNAP", and Shikamaru saw sparks bloom at his right shoulder from the corner of his eyes. Then, he realised in shock that the beam cannon on his right shoulder had not fired at all ...

"Warning! Right arm control system has been destroyed. Please repair immediately!" The A.I. mechanically reported the damage sustained by the mecha.

Shikamaru had no idea what had happened, but still understood that his mecha must have somehow been manipulated by the opponent, causing the cannon on its right arm to become useless ... cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Without thinking about it, he forced his engines to speed up even more, trying to pull away and distance himself from the opponent.

As long as he could pull away, his left hand could take over and use the weapon in his right hand. When that time came, victory would still be his.

Shikamaru's plan was beautiful, but reality was not as cooperative as he had hoped. He felt his mecha sink downwards. It turned out that the despicable Federation mecha had actually caught his mecha in a tight hug. In other words, no matter how much he accelerated, he would not be able to pull away from the Federation mecha.

This continuous series of actions caused Ling Lan's complexion to be as white as paper. Blood spilled uncontrollably from her mouth in large heaves. Still, Ling Lan tenaciously held on. She decisively pulled up the self-destruct mechanism of her mecha, and pressed down on the cockpit's eject button at the same time.

"Little Four, the rest is in your hands." These were Ling Lan's final words before she lost consciousness. Of course, this was because Ling Lan fully trusted Little Four, otherwise she would not so easily allow herself to faint away.

The moment the cockpit was ejected, control would be handed over to the A.I.. The A.I. would calculate the best reactionary force to apply for a safe landing and determine a secure landing spot. On this front, Little Four was undoubtedly even more reliable than any regular A.I..

"Leave it to me, Boss!" said Little Four solemnly. He knew very well that Ling Lan was putting her life in his hands — this was a display of Ling Lan's faith in him. At this thought, Little Four's core chip burned. This made Little Four a little worried about whether his chip would overheat and blow.

On his side camera, Shikamaru saw the ejected cockpit of the Federation mecha and immediately realised what was about to happen. He tried to get the Federation mecha still clinging to him off, but either Ling Lan had made the mecha hold on very tightly, or Shikamaru himself was too panicked — he was actually unable to find a way to get the mecha off. He was trapped.

Right then, Qi Long and the others had already made their way to a spot about 1 kilometre away from the battle. When they saw the Federation mecha crash into the rock mountain, they could not help but be anxious and despair. But then they saw the Federation mecha shoot out once more from the dust cloud, and almost leapt up in their excitement.

They also saw the Federation mecha shoot a white light from its right hand at the Twilight mecha when the two were about 3 metres apart. This move was too sudden, so subtle that the Twilight mecha did not detect it.

Chapter 153: Goddess of Luck?

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Subsequently, they saw sparks shooting out from the Twilight mecha's right shoulder joint. A high-frequency blade was embedded in it up to the hilt. The small group immediately understood what the previous flash of white light was. Apparently, the Federation mecha had hurled the high-frequency blade in its hands at the crucial moment, aiming for the weakest defensive spot of a mecha, its joints, and had succeeded in one go!

The Federation mecha operator's distinctive combat style undoubtedly expanded the group's horizons. This would also influence them in future when they learned how to operate mecha — they would not be limited by the doctrine of previous operators. Daring in both thought and action, they would create countless miraculous combat moves in mecha control in their respective domains ...

At present, the Federation mecha had successfully gotten close to the Twilight mecha, but having no more weapons, it could only rely on its remaining mechanical arms to hug the enemy mecha tight, and then the cockpit was seen to be ejected ...

With the exception of Lin Zhong-qing, Qi Long and the others were all from a federal military system background. Although they had not operated a mecha yet, they were still very familiar with mecha. From this scene alone, they could tell that the Federation mecha operator had chosen to self-destruct to finish off this final opponent.

But was the 30 seconds before the explosion initiated enough for the ejected cockpit to safely escape the blast radius? Normally, the mecha's self-destruct mechanism was meant for the operator to die along with the enemy ...

"Boom!" "Crack!" "Kaboom!"

The first sound was the Federation mecha self-destructing, and then, perhaps the explosion sparked something, for the beam cannon on Twilight mecha's right arm suddenly split open, causing the Twilight mecha to blow up as well in a large blast.

Of course, before the big explosion, the opponent's cockpit had also been ejected, but the following second and third blasts undoubtedly intensified the concussive force — the opponent just did not have the time to escape the blast radius. He was instantly blown sky high right at the heart of the explosion, plummeting to the ground in blackened crisps and thick smoke.

Without even having to check, Qi Long and the others knew that that mecha operator was definitely dead. Just looking at the mass that was left — already a whole half size smaller than the cockpit was at the start — it was certain that the person inside could not have survived.

Fortunately, the Federation mecha's cockpit had been ejected much earlier and had been flying at a faster speed. It had shot away from the blast centre by almost 500 metres, just escaping the most dangerous zone. But even so, it was still thrown further away by the blast by about 100 metres before it began to descend in a natural curve, heading swiftly towards the ground.

Qi Long and the others were extremely anxious, hearts lodged high in their throats. Deep down, they prayed that the concussive force of the explosion had not destroyed the A.I. inside the cockpit ...

Their prayers were effective — when the cockpit reached a particular altitude, the cockpit's reactive thrust powered on, slowing the cockpit's descent.

After self-destructing, ejecting the cockpit had a 9 in 10 chance of ending in death; it was basically just there for self-reassurance. Not only did the cockpit have to get out of the blast range, it had to be ejected high enough, and the reactive thrust must activate accurately. Every single item on that list had to be met, otherwise ejection would still result in death.

Luckily, the cockpit was being controlled by Little Four. Otherwise, relying on the Federation's current A.I.s, who knew what the outcome would be? The Federation's A.I.s could only mechanically remember some data sets, and execute operations based on regulated settings — it would not consider other variable factors.

Seeing the cockpit land safely under the application of reactive thrust, Qi Long and the others instantly let out a sigh of relief. They hurriedly made their way over to the landing spot of the cockpit to check on the pilot. If they could help out somehow, then them rushing here would be so worth it.

"Boss, Boss, we're safe now." Little Four's calculations were accurate, letting the cockpit land safely. He called out in excitement to Ling Lan, wanting her to praise him.

However, the inside of the cockpit was still and silent. Only then did Little Four notice the blood still dripping continuously from his boss's lips. "Boss, stop scaring me, wake up! Wake up!" he shouted desperately, but Ling Lan remained silent. Thinking of something, Little Four quickly detached from the mecha's A.I. to look for Ling Lan in the learning space. However, inside, he still found no sign of Ling Lan. Instantly, he panicked, knowing that things were not good.

"Boss must have taken a great deal of damage and lost consciousness. At this time, I must let her eat some healing medical agents ..." Little Four figured it out, but he was just a formless intelligence entity, and so had no limbs to use to feed Ling Lan. At this moment, Little Four hated the fact that he was an intelligence bio-entity.

Right then, Little Four suddenly sensed people approaching! Anxiously, he scanned the surroundings, and when he saw those few familiar figures, he was instantly overcome with joy. Boss was saved! Qi Long and the others had arrived.

From a distance, Qi Long could see the cockpit lying silently on the ground. He signalled for Han Jijyun and the other two behind him to wait while he carefully crept closer to the cockpit, wanting to observe the situation.

He had just gotten within 100 metres of the cockpit when the doors to the cockpit suddenly swung open, startling Qi Long. But he was soon taken with joy — the fact that the cockpit was opened from within meant that the person inside was still alive, otherwise the doors would not open on their own. Of course, Qi Long did not know that this world had such a miraculous existence as Little Four.

Qi Long did not choose to go closer, patiently waiting for the mecha operator inside to come out. A stranger approaching without reason would be easily misunderstood, especially when on a battlefield. Warriors were extremely sensitive after fighting — any strange movements would just prompt a counterattack. Although Qi Long wanted to help their saviour, he did not want to randomly lose his life here, so he retained the necessary caution. Of course, Ling Lan's subtle training all these years was also a reason.

Qi Long waited patiently for a few minutes, but did not see anyone coming out. In fact, Little Four was already anxiously jumping up and down in the cockpit — if not for the fact that he had no voice, he would have otherwise long called Qi Long and the others over.

Qi Long's pause puzzled Han Jijyun and the others, so Han Jijyun led Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing over as well, coming to stand beside Qi Long. At this moment, they too saw the opened cockpit.

"Qi Long, could it be that the person inside is injured and can't get out?" Han Jijyun thought of this possibility.

Qi Long's eyes brightened, thinking to himself that what Han Jijyun said made sense. He decided to go forward on his own and see, and let Han Jijyun and the others continue to wait here. He got closer and closer, and when he saw the blood within the cockpit, all wariness he still had fled instantly. He hurriedly quickened his pace to rush to the door of the cockpit and looked inside.

"Jijyun, it's not good, come over quickly!" Qi Long's voice actually held true grief.

Han Jijyun's heart skipped a beat — could the mecha operator inside be one of Qi Long's relatives? He hurriedly ran over with Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing. When he saw the unconscious small figure inside who was still bleeding from the mouth, his expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Boss Lan! This cannot be, how can it be him ..." Those were ace mecha operators he was fighting! Boss Lan was only 10 years old — there was no way he could control mecha ... Han Jijyun felt everything he thought he knew about mecha completely collapse at this moment.

"Will Boss Lan die ...?" Seeing the terrible state Ling Lan was in, Luo Lang felt a chill spread throughout his entire body, and his body began shivering uncontrollably. Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing was even more stunned, unable to form a coherent thought for a long moment.

"Quick, feed him some healing agents!" Han Jijyun saw that the others were panicking, and so quickly collected his emotions to order calmly.

"Oh, oh!" Qi Long and the others hurriedly pulled out the medicinal agents they had in their backpacks and tried feeding them to Ling Lan. However, because their hands were shaking, the agents spilled, missing their mark to slide off Ling Lan's lips.

"Let me!" Han Jijyun quickly pushed away the typically bold and brash idiots who were currently flailing in their panic. He took one pack of agent from Luo Lang's hands, and using his left hand to pry open Ling Lan's mouth, he poured the agent in.

"Another!" Han Jijyun indicated for them to pass him more and continued to pour, only stopping after five full packs were gone.

The effect of five packs of medicinal agents were pretty good. The initially pale-white complexion of Ling Lan started to warm, and the blood flowing from her mouth started to slow. Three minutes later, Ling Lan was no longer spewing blood.

"We have to return to the camp site immediately, otherwise Boss's injuries will not be able to be healed. If any aftereffects are left, this might destroy Boss's future!" Seeing Ling Lan no longer at the brink of death, Qi Long's rationality returned.

Qi Long's words naturally obtained everyone's agreement. They carefully lifted Ling Lan out from the cockpit, and then looked for materials in the surroundings to make a simple stretcher to carry Ling Lan in. After all, it was better for Ling Lan to lie down and be still in his current condition.

While searching for materials, they actually stumbled upon the beam cannon discarded by the Twilight Empire's squad leader previously. The beam cannon was very large and heavy. It was impossible for the four of them to carry it with them.

After some thought, Han Jijyun asked Qi Long and the others carry Ling Lan's cockpit over to the beam cannon. Under Qi Long and the others' confused gazes, Han Jijyun positioned the cockpit within the line of attack of the beam cannon and triggered the cannon. The shot utterly destroyed Ling Lan's cockpit, melting it down, leaving no trace.

At this moment, Qi Long and the others finally realised why Han Jijyun did this. Destroying the cockpit would also destroy the black box within it. Consequently, no one would be able to find out about Ling Lan's battle and defeat of the three Twilight ace mecha. (They did not know that Little Four had long wiped the data files within the black box.) Then, Ling Lan's true capabilities could be concealed and remain undiscovered. Mind you, if someone else were to find out about this, Ling Lan would definitely be embroiled in much trouble in the near future, and her life may even be threatened. They all understood the theory of the wind toppling the tree above the treeline.

In this manner, the four of them destroyed anything that could expose Ling Lan's capabilities, and then began to trek back to the camp site carrying the still unconscious Ling Lan.

This journey was very difficult — many times, they almost ended up becoming a meal for the F-class savage beasts. However, each time they were in a tight spot, those savage beasts would suddenly get spooked and turn tail and run away desperately, disappearing into the forest ... Even as this puzzled them, they couldn't help but be thankful for the blessing of the goddess of luck, letting this miraculous thing happen again and again.

Little Four pursed his lips, pouting, displeased with this so-called 'goddess of luck' who was claiming the credit for his work. Dammit, if I hadn't released the blood-tinged killing intent concealed within Boss's body to scare off those small fry, you would all be the excrement of those savage beasts by now ... Hmph, goddess of luck, my foot!