466-470

Chapter 466 Where Is Your Moral Integrity?

The four of them once again put their hands forwards. Han Yu stared with red eyes at the scissors his hands had formed, so angry that he wished to just chop it off. Why did you play scissors? Why did you play scissors? Damm*t, couldn't you have stretched out three more fingers? His entire face a rictus of violent fury, passers-by who inadvertently looked in their direction were instantly sent scurrying back three feet away in fear ...

'My luck is just too horrible!' Han Yu was so frustrated he was gnashing his teeth. The other three had all played rock; he was the only one to play scissors. According to the rules, he was instantly relegated to the final spot, becoming the last person to fight this round. It sounded great, as he would be the finale act, but the problem here was that the four people before him were all like godd*mn bloody wolves and tigers ... would they even give him the chance to come out and fight? Would they? Would they? Would they?! Even thinking with your butt you would know that this was absolutely impossible.

"This round doesn't count!" All worked up, Han Yu demanded this outcome be repealed. Having lost so badly, he had long stopped acting like a gentleman who would never regret a play he had made.

Mu Shaoyu and Qiao Ting, who had been standing beside Han Yu, did not hesitate to grab Han Yu when he displayed such petty behaviour. They summarily tossed him out of their circle — since you have lost, then scram and stay at the side and be quiet. What do you think you're doing blabbering nonsense here?

They were not so stupid as to let a competitor who had already been defeated have a second chance to overturn the results.

Zhao Jun, who already had the right to the opening fight in hand, consoled him with some unholy glee in his tone, "Oh Han Yu, let it go. You'll still have a chance next round!" This sort of insincere consolation was like sprinkling salt on an open wound, instantly enraging the already sullen Han Yu. With a roar, he leapt at Zhao Jun.

The two of them did not use any physical skills, relying solely on the strength of their bodies to grapple with each other. That stance and that momentum ... it was truly the epitome of classical wrestling.

Qiao Ting, Mu Shaoyu, and Ling Lan all wore calm expressions, completely indifferent to the ruckus beside them. The gazes of the three were extraordinarily cold, radiating with powerful fighting spirit. No one was willing to give up on the two slots left among the first three to fight in this round. They all knew that no matter who would be the first three to fight, those three would definitely not show any mercy and give the two members after them the chance to take the field ...

"Ping, Ling, Pang, Lang —— Cai!" shouted the three of them in unison, playing their hands at the same time ...

Draw!

Draw!

Draw!

Ten consecutive draws were enough to show how fierce the battle was among the three. None of them were willing to ease up and take a step back.

"Senior Qiao, you are the number one of our military academy. You are most suited to be the last to fight." After a long fruitless struggle, Ling Lan threw a cold glance over at the stern-faced Qiao Ting beside her and began to prod at him verbally. In order to obtain victory, Ling Lan had made a sneaky move!

"Yeah, Qiao Ting, you've already fought for two consecutive rounds already. You can't keep all the good things for yourself — that'll incite the wrath of the heavens! It's time you take a rest. It's our turn now." Mu Shaoyu's eyes lit up at Ling Lan's words and he immediately jumped on board to put pressure on Qiao Ting.

Qiao Ting's gaze narrowed at their words, revealing a flash of coldness. He asked in return, "Junior Ling, as a junior, you should know how to respect your elders. How can you fight with your seniors?!"

"Yes, yes, Junior Ling, just cede these two matches to your seniors, okay?" Mu Shaoyu also felt that what Qiao Ting said made sense, so he instantly jumped ship to stand on Qiao Ting's side, turning against Ling Lan.

Fight, fight! Only this way would he be able to sneak profit amidst danger and obtain a spot among the first three to fight ... Mu Shaoyu's eyes glittered, glee blooming in his heart as he did his best to fan the flames between his other two competitors.

Qiao Ting and Ling Lan had already locked horns — their sharp gazes clashed against the other's, neither willing to back down.

Just as Mu Shaoyu thought that the two would definitely decide a winner between the two of them, they both suddenly turned to look at him and shouted in unison, "Rock!"

Mu Shaoyu's reflexes were extremely fast — without conscious thought, his hand had already stretched out to obediently play rock.

Looking down at the paper Qiao Ting and Ling Lan had both played, Mu Shaoyu was livid. He pointed a shaking finger at the two of them, looking to be on the verge of fainting as he said, "You two actually tricked me! That's too shameless!"

Sob sob sob ... and these two were their public and internal regiment commanders too! Where was their moral integrity? Where, where, where?! Mu Shaoyu was bawling in his heart, silently berating himself for having such quick reflexes, accidentally falling for their trick just like that.

"Idiot!" Qiao Ting and Ling Lan glanced coldly at Mu Shaoyu, scorn in their eyes. With that standard of his, actually thinking to fan the flames between them and benefit from their discord?

Mu Shaoyu was an old rival of Qiao Ting's, so Qiao Ting was naturally well aware of Mu Shaoyu's strengths and weaknesses. As for Ling Lan, after this period of observation combined with the data Little Four had gathered, she too had learned of Mu Shaoyu's characteristics. Qiao Ting and Ling Lan both knew very well that, among the three of them, the easiest person to handle would be Mu Shaoyu. If the two of them really went after each other, it would definitely end with an internecine outcome, which would just ultimately benefit Mu Shaoyu.

The two of them were intelligent people — of course they would not give Mu Shaoyu the chance to profit from their discord. When the two of them had locked gazes, they had already come to a mutual agreement to work together and trick Mu Shaoyu.

Reeling back their disdainful gazes, their eyes met once more as they focused on the final battle between themselves.

Qiao Ting and Ling Lan were completely ignoring him now. Knowing that the outcome had already been set in stone, Mu Shaoyu mournfully squatted in a corner in the backstage area, comforting his poor little wounded soul. He silently bit on his little handkerchief, poking at the ground grumpily, thinking: Villains, villains, they're both villains ...

Ling Lan and Qiao Ting's contest proceeded in a tense silence. Together, they threw out their hands and both of them played rock ...

Ling Lan raised her head and said, "Senior Qiao should play paper!"

Qiao Ting's eyebrows lifted — when did this Junior Ling become so kind, willing to let him win?

And then Ling Lan continued to say, "I'm very interested in scissors!"

D*mn you and your scissors — aren't you just trying to beat me? Qiao Ting replied with a stony expression, "Well, I like to play rock!" Got you! Punk!

Ling Lan raised her head to look calmly at Qiao Ting, her eyes so bright that Qiao Ting's heart was already shouting that things were not good ...

"Senior Qiao is too kind. Actually, I like playing paper!" And with that, Ling Lan did not wait for Qiao Ting to respond, immediately walking over to the staff member to report their line-up for this round.

"This punk!" Qiao Ting's teeth were aching from his frustration. He was so bloody irritating! Actually setting up a verbal trap ... just a moment of inattention and the other had taken advantage of it. Still, he was still part of the first three to fight, so Qiao Ting wasn't all that displeased. He just felt that it was a shame that he had not managed to suppress Ling Lan a little.

Seeing that Ling Lan had gone up to submit their line-up, Han Yu, who was already tired from fighting, finally stopped, and Mu Shaoyu had also recovered from the mental blow he had received to stand up once again. The two of them shared a commiserating look, mourning their misfortune together. They knew very well that they would not have any screen time again this round. The three people before them ... leaving aside Qiao Ting, who needed no mention, even if they did not want to admit it in their hearts, they had no choice but to acknowledge that the other two were indeed stronger than they were by a little. It was a very remote possibility for them to make a mistake and lose ...

Just like that, amidst the sorrows of Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu, the curtains rose on the matches between the First Men's Military Academy and the Jingan Military Academy ...

On the large screen, the names of the first pair to fight appeared. When they saw Zhao Jun's name, the Jingan Military Academy could not help but curse mentally. What in the world was up with the First Men's Military Academy's line-up? Sending their second strongest to fight right off the bat?

In the audience's eyes, Ling Lan, who had been hiding her true strength all this while, ranked third or fourth among the five representatives of the First Men's Military Academy for this group mecha combat event. They believed that she was only a little stronger than Han Yu, at about the same level as Mu Shaoyu but weaker than Zhao Jun by a little. And of course, she could not be compared at all with the ace operator Qiao Ting.

This misperception of the audience was due to Zhao Jun performing so well in the single mecha combat event, forcing a draw with an ace operator at just special-class operator level himself. This result was just too shocking, leading everyone there to believe that Zhao Jun as a special-class operator was an existence who had no rival below ace level. As such, it made complete sense for Zhao Jun to be considered the second strongest in the First Men's Military Academy after Qiao Ting.

Zhao Jun's appearance crushed the hopes of the Jingan contingent for the first match. How could they compete against someone who could force a draw with an ace operator? With this fearful mentality before the fight had even begun, the Jingan mecha operator behaved extremely cautiously from the very beginning of the match. Initially quite strong, he actually only managed to display 70 to 80 percent of his true strength due to this negative mindset.

This caused the difference between Zhao Jun and him to be highlighted even more starkly. Zhao Jun, who had initially intended to have a grand all-out fight, efficiently struck the opponent's cold weapon from his mecha's hands after only 20 moves, easily obtaining the first victory of the round.

Having lost the first match, the Jingan Military Academy could only place their hopes on the second match. For this match, they hoped that Qiao Ting would be the one to appear because they had placed their second weakest member there in hopes of wasting the strength of the strongest mecha operator of the First Men's Military Academy. Then again, they also hoped that the First Men's Military Academy would send out someone of average strength so they could win a match first ...

After a 15-minute recess, the dark large screen finally lit up again to display the following words: "The First Men's VS Jingan — 2nd match: Ling Lan VS Zhu Jing."

"It's Ling Lan! That super newbie who created a new technique!" The appearance of Ling Lan's name caused a commotion among the audience. The response of the audience was even more passionate than when Zhao Jun had taken the field — it looked like the appearance of a new technique had indeed earned Ling Lan some degree of fame within the Federation.

The Jingan Military Academy saw who the First Men's Military Academy had sent and their hearts sank. Compared to Ling Lan, they really wished that it could have been Han Yu or Mu Shaoyu instead, because they were very familiar with those two, having studied their operation style and attack methods very thoroughly, even having conducted targeted training with them in mind. Up against them, Jingan was confident that there was the possibility of victory ...

But this Ling Lan was very mysterious — he had not participated in the single mecha combat event, and in the group mecha combat event, he had only come out to fight two times thus far. These two times had shown Jingan his excellent long-range skills as well as his perfect foundational attacks ... but that was all!

Everyone knew that a special-class operator could not only have mastered some basic attacks; they must have some sure-kill special techniques which were a mark of being a special-class operator ... this was undoubtedly a dangerous thing. If they did not know what special moves the opponent was proficient in, they would not be able to prepare any special defences. Therefore, it would be very easy for the opponent to flip the tables on them at a critical moment. This was another reason why Jingan was so apprehensive of Ling Lan.

"I hope Zhu Jing can perform well and win us this match!" Jingan's strongest mecha operator, who was also their representative team leader, finally placed their hopes on Zhu Jing. If Zhu Jing could successfully take this match, then they would have hopes of obtaining the final victory.火中取栗: Cutely enough, the original phrase here is 'to steal chestnuts from within a fire'.T/C: Oh dear, I sense a flag here. The flag of misfortune. Prepare yourself, Mu Shaoyu ...渔翁得利: The original phrase here is from a short parable. The full phrase being 鹬蚌相争,渔翁得利. Literally translated, the full phrase goes 'when the snipe and mussel fight, the fisherman profits'. In the parable, a snipe and a mussel were fighting, because the snipe wanted to eat the mussel and the mussel naturally did not want to die. Neither wanted to give way, so they were locked in battle together when a passing fisherman came by and caught them both.

Mu Shaoyu was planning to be the fisherman in the story, but snipe Ling and mussel Qiao were just too smart for him. Lol.Please refer to chapter 446 for a review of this saying. It was used in relation to Li Shiyu there.

Chapter 467 The Incident of the Yang Chun Noodles!

Zhu Jing was a long-range attacker. Because he was familiar with all methods of long-range operation, he was even more aware of how impressive Ling Lan was. Although Ling Lan had shown very little in her two matches, Zhu Jing could already tell that Ling Lan was definitely a formidable opponent.

However, despite taking Ling Lan very seriously, Zhu Jing did not think he had no chance of winning. No matter how perfect the other's basic controls were, that did not mean that they would be able to seriously contend with advanced techniques.

Advanced techniques were developed from basic techniques — birthed from basic techniques, their power was several, perhaps even several multiples of ten, times stronger than that of the basic techniques. This was also why mecha operators would often abandon basic techniques in the later stages to focus on studying advanced techniques to form their sure-kill techniques.

In mecha combat, the ones who most often survived were those who had more advanced techniques under their belt. From this, it could be seen how important advanced techniques were to mecha operators.

Zhu Jing felt that those advanced techniques he knew would be enough for him to contend with his opponent.

Under the guidance of the staff, the two contestants walked out onto the field from two separate passages.

Seeing the two mecha appear on the field, the audience broke out into raucous cheers. After checking to see that both contestants were ready, the referee swung his green flag, signalling the official start of the match.

As soon as the green flag moved, the two mecha zoomed backwards almost simultaneously. Zhu Jing was piloting a long-range mecha, so he naturally wanted to attack from long range. Meanwhile, although Ling Lan was piloting a balanced mecha, she intended to hone her long-range operation, and so ended up sharing a common goal with Zhu Jing to bring the fight into long range. This made the atmosphere less tense than it had been in Zhao Jun's match.

Right then, the top-class mecha masters watching the fight could not help but frown as they observed Ling Lan's operation. They found that Ling Lan had not displayed that wonderful on-the-line operation she had performed yesterday. Even though her speed was still very fast, those with keen eyes could still see the difference.

Ling Xiao had been watching the field all this while with a slight smile, and at this moment, his smile became even more noticeable ...

Last night, after the matches for the day had ended, as soon as the joyful Lan Luofeng had returned to their living quarters, she had stared mournfully at Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao very resolutely turned to leave. As a general and a god-class operator, how could he lose to his wife's harmless gaze?

"Hubby~!" The undulating tones of this cry made Ling Xiao's body shudder uncontrollably. The gaze on his back was searing, causing cold sweat to break out all over his body, but he was still determined to pretend he had not heard anything.

Knowing Lan Luofeng well, Ling Xiao knew what would be waiting for him if he turned his head. Lan Luofeng would definitely make an extremely difficult request that he just could not refuse ... experience told him that he must muddle through this somehow!

"Ling Xiao!" Seeing that being sweet and petulant was not working, Lan Luofeng instantly morphed into an angry lioness and roared angrily. Hells, so brave now, eh? Daring to ignore me?!

Ling Xiao rubbed his forehead helplessly. After a brief hesitation, he finally turned around and asked with a wry smile, "Luofeng, did you want something?"

"I want to see Lan-er!" Hands on her hips, Lan Luofeng put forward her request imperiously like a queen.

As expected! Expression gentle, Ling Xiao coaxed softly, "Okay, okay. Wait till after the battle royal and I'll find a chance for you two to meet."

"I mean that I want to see her right now!" How could Lan Luofeng let Ling Xiao muddle his way through this? Just as Ling Xiao knew her well, she too knew what Ling Xiao was plotting under that gentle smiling face of his.

"Lan-er must be tired after today's fights. Let's not disturb her and let her rest ..." Ling Xiao's face was a picture of concern as he attempted to shake Lan Luofeng's resolve.

"That's why I want to see Lan-er. Every time Lan-er is tired, she will always want to eat the Yang Chun noodles I make!" Lan Luofeng secretly crossed her fingers in her heart — please forgive her for stealing Auntie Nan's credit, but she was the one who had instructed Auntie Nan to cook it anyway, so it was not too much to ask for some of the credit, right?

Cook Yang Chun noodles?? When he heard this, Ling Xiao almost did not manage to keep the smile on his face ... thinking about the n-times Lan Luofeng almost burned the kitchen down ... Ling Xiao thought to himself, 'Wife, could you be any more fake?'

Knowing that her excuse was untenable, Lan Luofeng decided she might as well go for broke. "In any case, I want to give our daughter a bowl of Yang Chun noodles no matter what! If you can't get it done, then don't even think about stepping one foot into the bedroom!"

This move again? Godd*mmit, this was the move he was afraid of! Resigned and helpless, Ling Xiao could only agree!

Of course, Ling Xiao also believed that, with his skills, smuggling a person over was still doable.

However, in truth, Ling Xiao was not only smuggling a person over, but he was also bringing along a bowl of Yang Chun noodles which Lan Luofeng claimed to have made. As for who was the one who had truly made the bowl of Yang Chun noodles ... erm, the truth of the matter was only known by the Ling Xiao couple themselves!

********

Ling Lan took a soothing shower and loosened her joints, and then she finally laid down on her bed to rest. But only several minutes later, Ling Lan suddenly sprang nimbly off the bed and with a quick dash, she was standing behind the door ...

"It's me!" Her father Ling Xiao's voice rang by her ear, and Ling Lan instantly relaxed. She quickly opened the door and after a streak of shadow dashed past her, she immediately shut the door after it.

"This late, father, why are you ... mum!" Ling Lan's initially calm voice turned into a cry when she saw the woman inside Ling Xiao's arms. She was startled!

"Hi, Lan-er!" In Ling Xiao's embrace, Lan Luofeng lazily lifted the bag in her hands, shaking it softly in Ling Lan's direction. A smug smile hung on her lips as she said happily, "I've brought you Yang Chun noodles!"

Yang Chun noodles?? Wasn't that the noodle dish that her mum just could not learn no matter how hard she tried to teach her which had become a specialty of the housekeeper Ling Nanyi in the end?

"I made it, you know!" Lan Luofeng jumped out of Ling Xiao's arms and pulled Ling Lan by the hand to sit down on the sofa. She carefully opened the bag to reveal a piping hot bowl of Yang Chun noodles ...

Ling Lan cast a critical eye over the bowl of Yang Chun noodles — it really looked pretty good. However, her mum was a culinary killer — even pigs would turn their snouts up at the things she made ... with a solemn expression, Ling Lan accepted the chopsticks Lan Luofeng passed over, and under Lan Luofeng's enthusiastic urging, she finally gathered her courage enough to pick up a strand of noodle and then, with the determination of staring death in the face, she took a bite.

Eh? Ling Lan's eyes lit up and she looked down at the Yang Chun noodles before her with astonishment. It tasted very good! Even better than the noodles housekeeper Ling Nanyi made. There was a unique flavour to it — so warm, like rippling sunlight, making her feel completely relaxed.

"Mummy, you made this?" Ling Lan could not help but be suspicious. When had her mum transformed from a culinary killer to a master chef of an imperial kitchen?

At this time, Lan Luofeng's eyes had narrowed into a single line. When she heard Ling Lan's question, she nodded excitedly once more. "Yes! Isn't it very delicious? I tasted it too and was very surprised. For the first time mak- ... er, making such a delicious taste!"

First time making it? Ling Lan had caught Lan Luofeng's slip. She was sure that this bowl of Yang Chun noodles had not been made by her mum. Even if her mum had been sent back to the forge to be remade, she would not have been able to turn into a culinary master — she just was not born with any talent in cooking. Ling Lan involuntarily turned her gaze to Ling Xiao — perhaps her father could give her some hint.

Ling Xiao shiftily avoided Ling Lan's searching gaze, the fingers of his right hand unconsciously rubbing against each other ...

Ling Lan noticed that the pads of Ling Xiao's shifting fingers were somewhat red, as if they had been scalded ... Ling Lan decisively turned her head to place her attention back on Lan Luofeng. She did not dare to confirm her suspicions. If it ever got out that a god-class operator's precious hands which were used to operate a god-class mecha were scalded while cooking noodle for his wife and child, would she and her mother become the public enemies of the entire Federation?

Contemplating the possibility, Ling Lan shuddered. Once again, she was sure that she really did not know anything at all ... yup, and as for this bowl of Yang Chun noodles before her which was the evidence, she would demolish it with relish.

Ling Lan suddenly lifted the large bowl and the chopsticks in her right hand flew. Within the span of several seconds, the Yang Chun noodles had been completely gobbled down, with not even a single drop of soup remaining. She burped loudly before setting down the large bowl in her hands.

Catching sight of the still smugly smiling Lan Luofeng, Ling Lan was crying in her heart. Oh mum, this time, your daughter was perceptive and caught this early, completely destroying all the evidence. Next time, you must definitely remember to never let dad cook. That's just asking for some major trouble!!!

How could Lan Luofeng know about the mental anguish Ling Lan was going through inside? When she saw that her daughter had finished all of the noodles, she threw a smug look at Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao saw it and a fond and deeply affectionate smile spread all the way to his eyes. There was also a trace of satisfaction in his eyes so subtle that it was almost imperceptible.

Since Ling Lan was done eating, Lan Luofeng clasped Ling Lan's hands and began nattering on — of course, everything she said was centred around her care and concern for Ling Lan. She told Ling Lan not to be reckless in the tournament and to be careful and so on. Ling Lan listened to it all patiently, assuring her mum every once in a while that she would do as she said.

Ling Xiao looked at the mother-daughter pair before him and his smile deepened even further. He wished dearly that he could move forwards to envelop these two people he loved most in a hug, to convey his happiness and contentment. Ling Xiao had never ever been disappointed that Ling Lan was not a boy — even if he had no other children in this life, he would never regret it.

In the end, Lan Luofeng was finally satisfied with her nagging. Before saying goodbye, Ling Xiao said seriously to Ling Lan, "In a battle not involving life-or-death, there is no need to push things to the limit. Leave yourself some hidden trumps. That is what a mecha master should do! Today, you shone too much."

Ling Xiao's words made a jolt run through Ling Lan's heart. She thought about how she had indeed kept nothing back in her efforts to prove the limits of her long-range capabilities. With a serious expression, Ling Lan said, "Father, don't worry. I will take care!"

When he heard this, Ling Xiao was reassured. He brought Lan Luofeng away again with him from Ling Lan's accommodations. No one knew that General Ling Xiao had ever visited the accommodation area of the First Men's Military Academy more than once.

The noise of the audience brought Ling Xiao out from his memories of last night ...

"Lan-er, looks like you've already figured things out!"

Ling Xiao looked down with satisfaction at the two mecha dashing in two opposite directions at roughly equal speeds. In this match, Ling Lan had remembered what he said and held back!

Ling Lan's restraint also gave the audience the mistaken impression that the standards of the two mecha operators on the field were similar. Some of the special-class operators and ace operators were even beginning to suspect that Ling Lan's brilliant on-the-line operation yesterday was just a lucky fluke. Of course, there were also those with keen perception who would not underestimate Ling Lan just because she had shown some restraint ...阳春面: Yang Chun noodles is basically plain noodle soup. It is a basic soy sauce and chicken broth based noodle dish, and was traditionally served without any toppings at all.This is referring to Ling Nanyi, the chamberlain's wife.T/C: I bet all my spirit stones on Ling Xiao being the one who made it.T/C: Lessons on being low-key from Daddy Ling. Please note. :3

Chapter 468 Miscalculation!

Very soon, the two mecha had pulled the required distance away for long-range combat. The seemingly relaxed atmosphere at the start vanished completely at this moment. Everyone sat up straight in their seats, waiting for the first attack from either one of the combatants!

Zhu Jing abruptly raised the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle in his hands — this was an extremely special long-range sniper rifle which was capable of instant kills. The weight of the gun was three times heavier than that of the average long-range long-barrelled beam gun. Any long-range mecha operator with a slightly weaker physique would not be able to use this heavy fellow.

The M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle's bullets were made with concentrated Ng gunpowder, and its firing mode was set to a double-shot setting. As long as the bullets managed to make contact with a mecha, they would explode violently. The shock wave generated by the explosion of just one bullet was enough to destroy the defence of a beam shield. The double-shot setting was just so the mecha master using an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle could achieve a one-trigger kill.

Of course, at present, the bullets in the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle had already been substituted with extremely low power hollow bullets which would not cause any dangerous damage. However, as soon as the opponent was successfully hit, the referee would not hesitate to declare an end to the match.

Ever since Zhu Jing had advanced to special-class operator, when he had chosen the long-range weapon he wanted to specialize in, he had chosen this extraordinarily heavy and powerful M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle which also had an extraordinarily powerful recoil as well. He had dared to select this weapon because he was confident that his built physique would be able to fully withstand the M9 sniper rifle's kickback when it was fired.

In reality, Zhu Jing's body was extremely strong and tough. When he had first been assessed, his physical constitution had been graded as an S+, so he was naturally suited to be a close-combat operator. In the end, when it had come time for him to decide his future path, he had chosen long-range mecha. His instructor had been unable to understand until he had chosen the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle as his specialized long-range weapon. Only then did his mentor discover that Zhu Jing had not wasted his exceptional physical constitution. Instead, with this constitution, he was better able to bring out the potential power of the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle.

Under the careful guidance of his mentor, Zhu Jing had gained a profound understanding of how to use the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle. His mentor had once asserted that as long as he continued to work hard, Zhu Jing could certainly become the most outstanding assassin in future!

And right now, this future assassin had finally spread his fangs in an attempt to devour his opponent in his first fight ...

"Boss, this is an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle!" At this point, Ling Lan's initially silent and seemingly standardized mecha A.I. suddenly spoke with Little Four's voice.

Ling Lan had just lifted her long-range long-barrelled beam gun to take aim — Little Four's sudden interjection caused her actions to slow for a moment, and so her gun did not stop at the most optimum position. Ling Lan quickly rushed to remedy that, even as she asked, "Little Four, why are you here?"

"It's an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle!" Little Four had no mind to answer Ling Lan's question right now, merely repeating his warning shout at her. Little Four could not be blamed for worrying — that was a horrifying sniper rifle notorious within the Federation for its ability to instantly destroy mecha.

"I know!" replied Ling Lan calmly.

"One shot can kill us!" Little Four was very nervous, afraid that his boss did not know how scary that weapon was. One moment of distraction and it would be 'Game Over'.

"I know!" Ling Lan repeated calmly once again.

Ling Lan's composed behaviour calmed Little Four down. "Boss, you're not nervous?"

"Nervous about what? The Grand Mecha Tournament would never allow an overly powerful weapon to appear on the field. Since this weapon is here, then the bullets inside must have already been adapted ..." explained Ling Lan.

"Oh, that's true!" Little Four was enlightened.

"Besides, even if it's real, so what? You should know that we'll one day go onto a real battlefield. There, there'll be all kinds of things, quite a number of them even more frightening than this weapon. If we're afraid now, then how can we survive the battlefields then?" asked Ling Lan. "So, we're fortunate to be able to encounter these kinds of weapons beforehand!"

As Ling Lan spoke, she continued moving her fingers unhurriedly, carrying out a whole series of operations. She adjusted her long-range beam gun to aim straight for the opponent ...

In this match, Ling Lan decided that she would listen to her dad and restrain herself a little. She no longer took the initiative, choosing to defend passively instead even though this mode was unlike her usual personality.

When Little Four heard what Ling Lan said, he instantly fell silent. At this time, the A.I. began reporting the numerical data after Ling Lan had applied her adjustments. The moment Ling Lan heard the mechanical tone of voice, she knew Little Four was not in control of the mecha anymore. Ling Lan did not stop to worry about Little Four sudden appearance and disappearance, and this nonchalance was also what caused her to overlook the changes in Little Four. Little Four was acting less and less like an intelligence entity, and more like a real growing child. He was now showing signs of possessing the seven emotions and six desires, as well as personal thinking and judgment ...

Zhu Jing spent some time calibrating his M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle — this was yet another flaw of this weapon other than its clunky weight. The time needed to calibrate it was longer than that which was required for the average long-range gun. This also proved that the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle was more suited for covert assassinations and not open upfront battle.

"That Ling Lan of the First Men's Military Academy is just waiting for the Jingan mecha operator to attack. Isn't he being too overconfident?" The audience saw that the already prepared Ling Lan was not taking the initiative to shoot, instead choosing to wait patiently for her opponent. This rather contrary behaviour made the audience break out into murmured discussion.

Ling Xiao helplessly put his palm to his forehead, feeling that things were not good. Wasn't his daughter holding back too much now?

Right at that moment, the situation abruptly changed. Just when everyone believed that Ling Lan would wait for her opponent to start shooting first, Ling Lan, who had been still all this while, suddenly pulled her trigger. A beam of light shot straight at the opponent — it was Ling Lan's memorable fixed-point shooting.

This attack came on too suddenly — everyone looked towards Zhu Jing, waiting to see what he would do. Would he be hit or would he dodge the attack successfully?

Zhu Jing's mecha suddenly shifted to one side, instantly drawing out a stack of afterimages!

"Light-and-Shadow Skim!" Those in the audience who knew their mecha techniques could not help but cry out. This was an advanced technique that only advanced mecha warriors could learn. It and Irregular Dash were the two top-tier footwork operators below ace level could learn.

The evolved version of Irregular Dash was the Irregular Flicker that only ace operators could learn, and likewise, the Light-and-Shadow Skim also had its ultimate version —— Unshakable Shadow. This version was said to have even higher requirements — one had to at least be at elite ace realm to learn it.

In short, this Light-and-Shadow Skim was an extremely remarkable evasion footwork. Zhu Jing performed it perfectly, allowing him to easily escape Ling Lan's shot.

Zhu Jing did not just end things by defending. When his mecha's figure was finally restored from the countless stacked shadow images, he pulled the trigger on his gun.

"Bang, bang!" Two shots rang out. Due to the M9 projectile sniper rifle's powerful recoil, Zhu Jing's mecha was sent tilting back beyond his control, and the muzzle of his gun was also driven up a little as well.

The entire audience held their breath as they stared at the field, wanting to know the outcome of this shot. Had the shots hit the opponent, or had they been dodged?

Ling Lan calmly observed the opponent's movements, and at the very instant the opponent made his shot, Ling Lan once again entered that mysterious world where she could see the two bullets suddenly slow down, allowing her to clearly see their trajectories ...

"Right there!" Ling Lan saw a way to handle them, a chance to evade. She quickly pulled her trigger!

A "bang" rang out, and Ling Lan returned from the mysterious world back to reality. The bullets regained their regular speed, and at the same time, the beam gun in Ling Lan's hands fired a dazzling beam of light, which met one of the bullets head-on.

Amidst the energy of the beam, the bullet melted swiftly, finally ending up as a drop of liquid metal to dissipate into the air without a trace. Meanwhile, the other bullet brushed past the range of the beam shot to fly straight at the chest area of Ling Lan's mecha.

Ling Lan's eyes were as calm as water. Her fingers danced, becoming countless blooming flowers on her control panel. Under her control, her mecha swiftly dragged out a streak of residual shadow towards the right ...

"Boom!" A loud explosion rang out as Ling Lan successfully evaded that bullet. The bullet had exploded after striking the earth below, sending up a large spray of dust and dirt, blocking the audience's view for a time.

When the dust settled, the audience could see that where Ling Lan had been standing initially, there was now a deep pit. It was obvious how powerful the bullet was still despite having been adapted for the tournament.

"After testing, that explosive power reaches up to 30 TNT. If we're hit by two consecutive bullets, the mecha's beam shield will be on the brink of collapse." Little Four's voice rang out from the A.I. once more.

"Understood!" Ling Lan replied calmly.

"Boss, that explosion has caused your points to be deducted by 20." Little Four immediately alerted Ling Lan after secretly stealing the latest intel on the referee panel's ruling.

Ling Lan was at first taken aback, but she immediately realised the reason for this penalty. The bullets had been adapted to lower their power, so her mecha had not been affected by the explosion at all. However, in reality, the bullets would generate an explosive force of 60-70 TNT, so her mecha had not dodged far enough to escape the blast radius.

If the explosion was judged according to real-world standards, her mecha would definitely have been damaged severely. Even if the defensive power of her mecha's beam shield was not destroyed, it would still probably be on the verge of collapsing. Thus, the referees all agreed that that bullet of Zhu Jing was considered an effective attack, so it was reasonable for Ling Lan to have points deducted for it. She had forgotten to take that into account.

Ling Lan felt somewhat regretful — she had initially planned to win the match without losing any points at all, but now it looked like there was no hope of that anymore. She once again lifted her beam gun and aimed at Zhu Jing. Although Zhu Jing's gun was n-times more powerful than her own, the time needed for her to calibrate her gun was significantly shorter. This was her advantage.

Ling Lan had taken so long to prep her first shot only because she was trying to show restraint, and at the same time, she had also thought to catch Zhu Jing off guard with an unexpected attack. That was why she had waited so long, only to shoot right before the opponent himself was about to shoot.

However, the outcome was not perfect. The opponent was someone who was well-prepared — even as he had been calibrating his gun, he had been keeping his guard up against her. In that case, Ling Lan might as well dispense with these pointless psychological tactics. She had decided to attack with full force!Ng火药: Still no idea what Ng stands for. This is the second time we've seen it in conjunction with weapons, the other time being the name of the modified missiles Chang Xinyuan made. 'Nitro-glycerine' perhaps? Hmm ... but then again, nitro-glycerine gunpowder? *headdesks*

Chapter 469 52 Shots?

It was not difficult to defeat an opponent ... the difficult thing was how one could do so inconspicuously. Her dad's warning had been on point — before she had grown up enough to deal with all schemes and plots, she needed to conceal herself appropriately.

Even though she had already had a turn in the limelight due to the matter with the new technique, the fame gained from having a skill named after her would not harm her much, because that technique of hers had only been a minor adaptation on top of a foundational skill. This was just a manifestation of proficiency through practice — not enough to prove that she was remarkable enough that others needed to be apprehensive of her. Compared to Qiao Ting's advancement to ace level in his fourth year, that was just a minor thing.

Of course, if someone found out that she had advanced to ace level in her second year, the countries that were eyeing the Federation predatorily would most certainly send out countless killers after her to snuff out this future star in the cradle.

Ling Lan was lucky — right now, she could still mingle around freely within her military academy without anyone the wiser. This was completely thanks to Ling Xiao — Ling Xiao had protected her very well so that no one knew she was his child. This proved that Ling Xiao had not suffered for no reason eighteen years ago. While she had been growing up, Ling Xiao had already become strong enough to protect both his wife and daughter.

With such a large and towering tree to shield her from the elements, Ling Lan would be able to live freely and vivaciously. Even if there were some slip-ups every once in a while, Ling Xiao would be there to help her smooth things over. In fact, if Ling Xiao had not intervened, she would have long been exposed before the masses. How could such impactful news as hijacking a military vessel be so easily suppressed? All of this had been settled by Ling Xiao, allowing her to remain concealed among the crowd ...

Although Ling Lan was unclear on the details, unsure what Ling Xiao had done behind the scenes, she could still fully appreciate the love Ling Xiao had towards her and the pains he had taken to keep her safe. And so, she naturally had to listen to Ling Xiao — even as she won, she needed to make it so that others would not be able to distinguish anything from her victory.

Having made her decision, Ling Lan resolutely pulled the trigger of the long-barrelled beam gun in her hands. Beam after beam of light was sent shooting out at very clever timings, forcing Zhu Jing to run about desperately. Although he had trained how to adjust and calibrate his gun while moving, Ling Lan's shots were even quicker, interrupting him every single time.

"Crap!" Zhu Jing once again gave up on fixing the aim of his gun, evading yet another shot by the opponent. He knew that he could not continue on like this — he did not want to be chased all around the field by the opponent until the end of the match. Even if his first shot had been judged effective, he could not be certain that the referee panel would award the victory to him in the end. In order to be certain of victory, he needed to hit the opponent one more time.

"Tess, calculate the opponent's gun's power usage!" After evading the shot, Zhu Jing calmly ordered his mecha's A.I..

"Yes! Captain!" replied the A.I. icily. Very soon, several seconds later, after Zhu Jing had evaded yet another shot, his A.I. reported back. "Till present, the opponent has fired 27 shots. Calculating based on a rate of 8 calories per shot, in theory, the opponent can still fire another 22 to 23 shots ..."

"Theoretically close to 50 shots?" Zhu Jing frowned. He was not pleased with the numbers reported by the A.I.. The opponent had only used about half of his power thus far — he would still have to dodge for a good long while to exhaust the opponent's remaining power reserves. Was there no better way?

After some careful thought, Zhu Jing found that there really was no other way. The opponent's speed was very fast, and his operations were pretty much perfect as well, with almost no flaw to be found. Shot followed shot, connecting almost seamlessly ... right then, Zhu Jing was silently admiring of how the opponent's basic controls were honed to the extreme, endlessly close to perfection. There was practically no hope for him to find an opening there.

In that case, then let him try his best to exhaust the opponent! Zhu Jing was confident that with his control skills, he would be able to exhaust the power of the opponent's gun. At that time, it would be his turn to counterattack.

After shooting four or five consecutive shots, Ling Lan noticed Zhu Jing's strange behaviour. The opponent was no longer trying to adjust his gun, putting his full focus into dodging instead. A spark of insight flashed through Ling Lan's mind, and she instantly knew what Zhu Jing was planning.

A slight smile appeared on Ling Lan's lips — perhaps this would be her chance to defeat the opponent!

"Little Four, how many more shots can the energy storage unit inside the gun support?" Compared to the mecha's A.I., Ling Lan trusted Little Four's judgment more.

"Approximately another 25 shots!" Little Four's spirits rallied when he heard Ling Lan's question. Ever since Boss had said that she wanted to get used to the mecha A.I.'s of this time period, she normally did not let him take over for the mecha A.I. to work with her. This left Little Four sad and bored — he actually wanted to do something practical to help his boss too!

"How many shots in total?" Ling Lan continued to ask.

Little Four replied gleefully, "After my optimizations, the time needed for the A.I. program for hand-area sensing has reached optimum levels. Each shot would only consume 7.27272727272727 ..."

"Stop. Just tell me how many shots I can fire altogether." Ling Lan sweatdropped. She had not asked for such a detailed breakdown, right?

"... you can go up to 55 shots!" Little Four said petulantly to his fingers. He had said so much all because he wanted to show off a little in front of Boss, to let her know that that rubbish mecha A.I. was no match for him, this clever intelligence entity. With such an excellent him, Little Four, around, what use was that rigid program?

Fine, Little Four was actually filled with resentment towards Ling Lan's decision to use A.I. instead of him — this was obviously depriving him of his joy of living!

"A typical mecha master can only fire 46 shots. These extra 9 shots are enough!" Ling Lan did not know what Little Four was thinking; when she learned that her long-barrelled beam gun could shoot an extra 9 shots compared to others, her mind instantly hatched a plot.

There was no change in the situation on the field — Ling Lan continued to fire shot after shot at the opponent, while Zhu Jing continued to concentrate on dodging ...

"How many shots have been fired?" Quite a few top-class mecha masters had already realised Zhu Jing's objective. They were keeping count of Ling Lan's shots, knowing that the moment Ling Lan's beam gun ran out of power would be the moment Zhu Jing launched his counterattack. Many believed that that would be the critical moment when the outcome of the match would be decided.

"46 now. It looks like the energy block in the gun of this mecha operator from the First Men's Military Academy is about to run out soon!" The mecha masters all had excellent memories — they very quickly came up with the detailed numbers. Everyone's spirits rallied and they focused even more intently on the match. This was because the energy block of Ling Lan's gun might be completely drained right the very next second.

Mind you, the energy storage unit of a standard long-barrelled beam gun equipped on special-class mecha was not constant in the number of bullets it could support. There was a certain degree of variance involved, typically between 46 to 54 shots.

This difference of 8 shots was influenced by many factors, such as the quality of the energy storage unit itself. The better the quality of the energy storage unit, the more likely the energy it stored would reach the upper limits. The basic amount a standard energy storage unit could store was 400 calories, but in reality, energy storage units could never hit this number. Even the most perfect top-quality energy storage unit could only store between 380-390 calories.

Aside from this, a mecha operator's control standards and the programming of a mecha's A.I. would also affect the energy consumption of an energy storage unit. Imprecise controls would cause each shot to drain even more energy than usual. And then, there were the issues with the A.I.'s system responsiveness to account for. No matter how good your operations were, if your A.I. was unreliable ... that would also result in a certain amount of power drain to the beam gun.

A qualified special-class mecha master could fire 46 beam shots as a basic standard. Beyond that, whether an operator could use the power in an energy storage unit to fire more beam shots would depend on how skilled the operator was, as well as how well-maintained their mecha was.

Of course, the theoretical maximum of 54 shots was almost impossible for anyone to achieve ... perhaps the 12 god-class operators could do it, but they would never lower themselves to operate a special-class mecha.

"Clack!" On the field, Ling Lan's long-barrelled gun suddenly jammed. This sound made everyone sit up straight and exclaim, even as they peered eagerly towards Zhu Jing on the other end of the field. Everyone knew that the opportunity Zhu Jing had been waiting for was here!

This sound also made the expressions of the members of the First Men's Military Academy waiting backstage change. Even though Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu were lined up behind their comrades, waiting for their chance to take the field, they did not really wish for their comrades before them to fail ...

On the rostrum, Ling Xiao's brows raised at the sound. He did not believe that Ling Lan would commit such a low-level mistake and lose track of the power consumption of the gun in her hands. Therefore, the greatest possibility here was that his daughter was plotting something ... Ling Xiao cast a sympathetic glance at Ling Lan's opponent.

Zhu Jing had been waiting for this chance all this while — when he heard this sound, his eyes shone with fervent joy! His fingers danced, and his mecha which had been evading at high speed all this time suddenly jerked to a stop, and his initially low-hanging M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle was raised up once more to aim at Ling Lan.

Meanwhile, at that moment, the arm of Ling Lan's mecha slapped down sharply at its waist and a new energy block sprang out from the secured dock there!

"Emergency Wartime Power Replacement Technique!" Seeing Ling Lan use this move, everyone became worked up. Every second counted now — if Ling Lan could replace her energy storage unit a step ahead of Zhu Jing, then the outcome would still be unpredictable, but if Zhu Jing was a step quicker, then this match would end with Ling Lan's defeat.

The energy storage unit bounced out of the secured dock, and the left hand of Ling Lan's mecha swept downwards to grab it. Right at this moment, perhaps out of nervousness or perhaps just due to a control error, Ling Lan actually missed the grab — the energy storage unit slipped through the gaps between the mecha's left hand to fall towards the ground.

"Ah!" Witnessing this, everyone cried out in shock. Meanwhile, when Zhu Jing saw this, his heart settled — he put his entire focus on adjusting his gun, prepared to give Ling Lan one final attack.

There was a loud "boom"! Zhu Jing, who had just finished calibrating his gun and was about to shoot, had yet to pull the trigger when the screen of his mecha turned black. Immediately after, he felt a tremendous explosion rock the outside of his mecha, and his entire mecha spun out of his control.

His mecha's A.I. was instantly blaring with loud alarms, prompting him to swiftly eject himself from his cockpit ...

Zhu Jing slammed a hand onto his control panel in anger. Extremely unwillingly, he pressed the button to eject himself from the cockpit. Even now, he still had no idea why his mecha had suddenly exploded. Could it be that his mecha had malfunctioned? He recalled the Zhang Jing-an incident a few days earlier and the little bit of news that had been revealed after that. Everyone was wondering if some problem had been found with this batch of mecha with regards to safety.

Meanwhile, on the field, Ling Lan calmly lowered the long-barrelled gun in her hands. Right as Zhu Jing had been focused on adjusting his aim, she had already been prepared to launch her sure-kill technique — One-Point Sustained Shooting. One-Point Sustained Shooting could barely be considered an advanced technique. It was extremely common, a relatively low-difficulty technique that almost all advanced mecha warriors knew. But at this moment, before the completely unguarded Zhu Jing, it had worked perfectly, instantly destroying Zhu Jing's mecha.

"His limit was not 46 shots. How many shots were in that final One-Point Sustained Shooting?" Everyone was exclaiming in shock — had there been 5 shots or 6 shots in that string of shots? If there had been 6 shots, then Ling Lan would have made 52 shots in total. Even though it was not the theoretical maximum of 54 shots, this was still not a number the average mecha operator could achieve ...

The two imperial operators monitoring the match from the air hesitated. One of them asked, "There were 6 shots, right? Why do I feel as if something is off ..."

The other imperial operator re-watched Ling Lan's final attack again and again on his screen and finally confirmed, "There were 6 shots. Maybe there was just a problem with the lighting. That final shot wavered a little, so many people did not manage to catch it." He had only managed to confirm it after lowering the brightness on his screen.

"Then there's no mistaking it. 52 shots! This number is truly astounding. It should be almost close to perfect!" exclaimed that first imperial operator in awe.

"Yes, according to the top-secret files of the Federation military, only General Ling Xiao has managed to get so close to the perfect number with 53 shots. There are a few others more who managed 52 shots, but they are all extremely exceptional mecha prodigies!"

"In fact, from the perfect operation of that kid from the First Men's Military Academy, we should have known that he absolutely would not have only been capable of 46 shots. We were all fooled by him! What a sneaky fellow!" said the other imperial operator gruffly. When Ling Lan had failed to catch hold of the energy storage unit earlier, he had really been shocked. After all, having seen Ling Lan perform so well just yesterday, he did not wish to see him lose.特斯: I can't figure out what this could be referring to, so I just took it to be the name Zhu Jing gave to his mecha's A.I.

Chapter 470 Ling Xiao's Pride and Troubles!

The imperial operator's words received his partner's approval. Ling Lan's amazing performance had moved the two initially unperturbed and indifferent imperial operators, making them reconsider taking in students themselves. Yes, maybe next time, when the First Men's Military Academy took in new students, they could go over there to see if there were any good seedlings ...

In the meantime, a heated debate of whether 51 shots or 52 shots had been fired had broken out among the audience. Ling Xiao, who had been quietly seated at the rostrum, showed no change in his expression, but those familiar with him realised that the corner of his lip was slowly but surely tilting upwards, the smile on his lips becoming increasingly tangible. This meant that he was in an extremely good mood ...

Of course Ling Xiao would feel good, because he had seen — and he was the only one who had seen — that there was a trick behind Ling Lan's last shot. Using a special-class mecha, she had successfully gone beyond the boundaries of her level to pull off a skill that could only have been executed by an ace mecha — Synchronous Shooting!

Synchronous Shooting was a skill that allowed an operator to shoot two beam shots at the same time. Besides the muzzle of the gun being lighted up just that little bit more while shooting, the posture and shooting frequency looked exactly as when shooting an ordinary single beam shot. As such, Synchronous Shooting was one of the hardest long-range offensive skills to detect. It was just so stealthy that even the most experienced mecha masters could not confirm for sure whether someone was actually performing Synchronous Shooting or just shooting a single shot. This was also one of the reasons why Synchronous Shooting managed to become an ace level top-class skill. It was just too hard to deal with — truly a technique that just could not be effectively defended against.

Another reason Synchronous Shooting managed to become a top-class ace level skill was that it was very difficult to execute. To successfully use Synchronous Shooting, a mecha master's hand speed needed to be at the peak of ace level. Without that level of hand speed, the mecha master would not be able to perform Synchronous Shooting even if he wanted to. Of course, even with the required hand speed, the skill might still fail. The mecha's A.I. must also be reliable — even a delay of 0.01 second could cause an attempted synchronous shot to end up as two ordinary beam shots.

Ling Lan's success made Ling Xiao feel both proud and a little helpless at the same time. His daughter seemed to have already entered the rebellious phase his parenting book had mentioned.

Ling Xiao had long known that Ling Lan had already advanced into ace level. Still, executing Synchronous Shooting with an ace mecha versus executing it with a special-class mecha were two completely different concepts. With a special-class mecha, the demands on Ling Lan's finger speed was much more stringent, because the A.I. of a special-class mecha was a hair weaker than the A.I. of an ace mecha. Do not underestimate this thin hairs-breadth of difference — it required an operator to pay several magnitudes the cost to execute an ace technique.

Since Ling Lan managed to successfully execute Synchronous Shooting, in the end, her One-Point Sustained Shooting had successfully fired 7 beam shots. In other words, Ling Lan had fired 53 shots in total and not the 52 or 51 shots as everyone else believed. This number had drawn even with the record set by Ling Xiao in the past. How could Ling Xiao not be proud? This amazing genius mecha operator was none other than his very own daughter! Who said girls could not match up to boys? Ling Xiao believed that his daughter would definitely create a miracle!

However, after the pride he felt subsided, Ling Xiao began to fret. For his daughter's own safety, he had advised her to show a little restraint. On the surface, Ling Lan had indeed seemed to have listened, but in actual fact, this move had displayed her rebellious streak — even if she had to show restraint, she would show it in her own domineering way!

Right then, Ling Xiao's thoughts could not help but stray. Was his daughter trying to prove to him that she was no longer the child that needed him to protect her from the winds and rains? That she had grown up enough to independently face the storms of the outside world?

Thinking of this possibility, Ling Xiao suddenly felt a little crestfallen. The absence of 16 years was not that easy to make up for, especially now when he had come to the realisation that his daughter increasingly did not need him anymore. This fuelled his fury against the people that sabotaged him, for making him miss the most precious childhood period of his daughter.

"It's about time to collect some of the interest on the grudges of that time!" A cold glint shone in Ling Xiao's eyes. There was a brief trace of killing intent, but between blinks of an eye, Ling Xiao had returned to his usual kindly demeanour, still as mellow as jade and as smiley-faced as ever.

Ling Lan saw the opponent eject successfully out of his cockpit and instantly relaxed. That final Synchronous Shot had been unintentional. At that time, while she had been focusing on the operations for One-Point Sustained Shooting, she had actually entered a rare state of harmony between man and nature — this state had reached a peak during her sixth shot, blasting through the bottleneck on her finger speed that had already been stalled for a full half a year to enter a whole new stage.

And it was at precisely that moment when she had naturally performed Synchronous Shooting ... in the end, she had succeeded — that extra beam shot had been like the final straw that had broken the camel's back, causing the opponent's mecha, which should only have been half-destroyed in the attack, to be completely destroyed.

Fortunately, she had been shooting at the upper half of the mecha then, giving the opponent time to eject out of his mecha. It was a truly a great blessing that tragedy had been avoided!

Seeing that the other was alright, Ling Lan calmly instructed Little Four to handle any evidence which could easily expose her secret and her strength. For instance, her long-barrelled beam gun and her energy storage unit had to be destroyed — if it was ever discovered that there was still enough calories inside for two more beam shots, she would definitely be pushed to the forefront of danger. At that time, even her father Ling Xiao would probably be unable to ensure her safety.

Little Four was very efficient, instantly destroying the electrical circuits of the energy storage unit. He also applied a little cover-up to make the energy storage unit look like it had shorted due to having been overdrawn on calories. At the same time, he also modified the saved records on the A.I.. Data on Ling Lan's operations would be saved on the A.I. — this was initially a function meant to help mecha operators review their own operations to identify their shortcomings and fix them, but it was now a potential source which could expose Ling Lan's true strength. Little Four naturally would not overlook it.

Little Four only needed one or two minutes to deal with all of these things. The reason why he even needed that much time was that it was a little more troublesome to edit the saved records on the A.I. and still keep things reasonable. If he could have just formatted it to wipe everything, he would have been done in just one second. However, if he really did that, it would be too conspicuous and would have certainly aroused suspicion even if there had not been any suspicion to begin with.

Still, a minute or two was not very long — by the time Ling Lan's mecha was descending slowly towards the ground, Little Four had already reported back to Ling Lan that everything was OK.

When Ling Lan alighted from her mecha, Zhao Jun raised two thumbs up high, cheering for her. Fifty-two shots! That was the number which almost every special-class long-range operator aimed for. Unfortunately, this number was not so easily achieved. Those who managed it and survived till now were all imperial operators of the Federation without any exceptions, and some had even achieved god-class status ...

Qiao Ting looked at Ling Lan striding over to them and his fists clenched so tightly that his fingernails were practically digging into his flesh. Despite that, Qiao Ting felt no pain, only a powerful sense of danger creeping over his heart. He even wondered if such an outstanding person would enter ace level earlier than he had ...

Thinking of the possibility, it was like a fire was burning in his chest, leaving him feeling extremely uncomfortable. He took in a deep breath to suppress the agitation within him ... perhaps after he returned from this tournament, he should really contemplate how he could best conserve his power calories while shooting so he could increase his number of shots to the utmost limits!

"I will not lose!" Qiao Ting once again threw down these words like a promise to himself before boarding his mecha and preparing for his match. This left Ling Lan quite speechless. It seemed as if every time she returned victorious, Qiao Ting would come and throw this phrase at her. How proud did this Qiao Ting have to be to be so tenacious in his desire to beat her? Even willing to go to the extent of replicating her attack methods to compete against her? Should they not walk their own paths like the saying 'let the four winds blow as they will, I will remain standing steadfast still'?

The Jingan Military Academy had lost the second match as well now, and in such a miserable way to boot. Even though Zhu Jing had not been injured because he had ejected himself in time, after a staff member had examined Zhu Jing's mecha and declared that there was nothing wrong with it, the expressions of the Jingan contingent turned sour. They felt as if they had been given a big hard slap ...

In particular, after seeing how he had been defeated from a replay, Zhu Jing found himself gnashing his teeth in anger towards Ling Lan. He felt that he had lost too pathetically — it had just been an oversight which had led to him falling for the opponent's plot. He had not been on guard, which was why he had been defeated by the opponent's sneak attack.

"Although our defeat is already a foregone conclusion, we cannot let the First Men's Military Academy defeat us in straight matches. No matter what, we need to at least win one match!" encouraged the team leader of the Jingan Military Academy.

Since they had already lost two matches before Qiao Ting had appeared to represent the First Men's Military Academy, this meant that they no longer had any chance of winning the round. This was because they had no one capable of contending with Qiao Ting, so their only wish now was to win a match or two before being defeated to save some face as the 6th rank. Otherwise, if they were defeated in straight matches, then they would be no different from those other military academies who had been defeated by the First Men's Military Academy prior to this. Those schools had just been unlucky enough to meet the First Men's Military Academy a little earlier ...

However, this wish of theirs was instantly crushed when they saw that Qiao Ting was the third contestant. As the third member of Jingan walked onto the field, his complexion was green. If at all possible, he really did not want to take the field just to be tormented by Qiao Ting. The gap between their levels gave him no room to put up a fight ... he could only hope that Qiao Ting's fighting spirit was not too intense so that he would be able to last a little longer and not lose too much face.

Perhaps triggered by Ling Lan's 52 shots (Because no one had even considered the possibility of someone using a special-class mecha to execute the top-class ace level technique Synchronous Shooting, and after factoring in the judgment of the two imperial operators monitoring the match, the referee panel had determined that Ling Lan had fired a total of 52 shots in the end.), Qiao Ting's desire to attack was overwhelming. As soon as the match began, he pulled away at top speed, and when he had gained enough distance, he immediately used two advanced techniques to finish off his opponent.

This match broke the record for the shortest time taken by a long-range operator to end a fight. Long-range operators were unlike close-combat operators who could clash at the first instant to decide the outcome. They needed to first pull a certain distance away before they could carry out their attacks. This also resulted in the time needed for a long-range operator to finish a match being longer than that needed by a close-combat operator. Even such an outstanding long-range ace operator as Qiao Ting who was a head above most others would never be able to compete against the record time of a close-combat operator in defeating an opponent.

However, all of this was not enough to affect Qiao Ting from being the most popular contestant in this tournament. Even though Ling Lan had managed to obtain the excellent results of 52 shots, she was outshined instantly by this new time record of Qiao Ting's.

Ling Lan was extremely pleased by this outcome. She suddenly found that this serious competitiveness of Qiao Ting was actually pretty good for her. At critical moments, he could totally become her shield to deflect attention, allowing her to hide behind him.

"Perhaps, I can try provoking Qiao Ting a bit more? And let him perform a little better?" Ling Lan stroked her jaw as she thought to herself.

The First Men's Military Academy defeated Jingan in three straight matches, letting them move on into the tentative top 4. Meanwhile, at the same time, the three other mecha fights to determine the top 4 were being held at three other mecha combat fields. After Ling Lan and the others had stared for a period of time at the large screen backstage, they received news on it that the First Co-ed Military Academy had also defeated their opponent to become the second to enter the tentative top 4. This was closely followed by the Third Men's Military Academy's advancement. The difference between the two academies' victories was only about 2 to 3 minutes.

The battle for the final slot into the tentative top 4 was rather intense. Since the Second Men's Military Academy had lost prematurely and was not part of the top 8 this year, this had caused the initial solid past rankings of the top 4 to lose one of its corners. This also pitted the original number 5, Qiguang, and number 7, Yaohuang, against each other. Neither side was willing to give up on this chance to progress; the round was fought till the final fifth match. In the end, the 5th-ranking Qiguang won by a slim margin by the referee panel's ruling to advance into the tentative top 4.

After the top 8 military academies had fought, the two resurrected academies, the Second Men's Military Academy and the Federal Defence Military Academy, respectively challenged the initially 9th and 8th rank schools. Having already lost one round previously, the Second Men's Military Academy was no longer as arrogant and conceited as it had been at the start. In order to guarantee their victory, they had cautiously chosen to challenge the weakest academy among their available opponents, the ranked 9th military academy which they had the most confidence to defeat.

It should be said that Jiang Shaoyu's re-entry had caused the Second Men's Military Academy's strength to rise on a vertical axis. Fighting as a resurrected wildcard, they quickly defeated the 9th-ranking military academy in three straight matches to replace the other in the top 8. Meanwhile, the Federal Defence Military Academy clashed with the original 8th-ranking academy, but they were not as lucky — after five tough matches, they had still been defeated in the end.

And so, the defeated Federal Defence Military Academy and the initial 9th-ranking academy that had been defeated by the Second Men's Military Academy would be fighting next for the 9th and 10th position in the rankings of this tournament. If there were no surprises, these two schools which were ranked 9th and 10th in previous tournaments as well would retain their original rankings. This was still an acceptable outcome for both military academies.

Meanwhile, at this time, the Second Men's Military Academy which had been resurrected joined the other 3 schools which had lost to the tentative top 4 academies. Just as with those other academies, they now had a chance to challenge one of the top 4.

The former 8th-ranking school which had been defeated by the First Co-ed Military Academy naturally chose to challenge the 5th-ranking academy. Among the tentative top 4, they were the comparatively weakest one.

However, even though the 5th rank's strength was weaker than that of the First Men's Military Academy, the Third Men's Military Academy, and the First Co-ed Military Academy, the academy was still not weak enough for the 8th-rank to overcome. After fighting 4 matches, the 5th-rank had already managed to win 3 matches, securing their position in the top 4.

Immediately after was the 7th-rank's challenge. Aside from being unable to challenge the opponent which had already defeated them, the 5th-ranking military academy, all the other military academies in the top 4 were viable options. After some consideration, the 7th-rank chose to challenge the Third Men's Military Academy. Of the remaining three academies they could pick, the Third Men's Military Academy was undoubtedly the weakest one — one should always choose the softest bone to chew on.

However, the 7th-rank still lost their challenge. The Third Men's Military Academy may not have an ace operator holding the fort like with the First Men's Military Academy, the Second Men's Military Academy, and the First Co-ed Military Academy, but their five representative mecha operators were all equally powerful, all of them at the peak of special-class. The 7th-rank still was not strong enough to snatch three matches from these five opponent members.

Next, the 6th-ranking Jingan Military Academy which had been defeated by the First Men's Military Academy chose to challenge the 5th-ranking academy. The two schools were very close in ranking, and their strength levels were extremely similar as well. Perhaps feeling repressed from being bullied by the First Men's Military Academy earlier, the Jingan Military Academy exploded with great ferocity, struggling against the opponent for all five matches to finally wrest victory from the jaws of the opponent. They won their third match by a narrow margin and successfully replaced their opponent in the tentative top 4.

However, their luck ended there. The resurrected Second Men's Military Academy chose to challenge them immediately after. Perhaps Jingan had used up all their strength in the previous challenge round, or perhaps they lost confidence at the thought of facing the Second Men's Military Academy which had the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu leading them — in this match-up, Jingan lost to the Second Men's Military Academy in three straight matches. The Second Men's Military Academy efficiently dispatched the Jingan Military Academy and took their place in the tentative top 4.

With that, all the matches in the morning were done. The official top 4 had been decided. They were still the same few schools who had dominated the past tournaments, unshakeable by thunder or lightning. They were respectively the First Men's Military Academy, the Second Men's Military Academy, the Third Men's Military Academy, and the First Co-ed Military Academy.

After a short break at noon, the matches resumed in the afternoon. At this time, whether it was the live audience on planet Qiming or the rest of the Federation public who were at home watching the live broadcast, all of their attention was on the combat field. They were all eagerly anticipating the upcoming semi-finals and finals.

The feelings of the four academies waiting backstage for the final match-up list to be revealed were all different. The five members of the First Men's Military Academy were as steady as Mount Tai, extremely at ease. No matter which opponent they drew, they had the confidence to defeat them and advance to the finals.

As for the other three academies, they were all plagued with worry at the moment. Their greatest concern was, of course, meeting the First Men's Military Academy early. Leaving aside the fact that the First Academy had the publicly acknowledged number one of all the military academies, the ace operator Qiao Ting — below him, there was still Zhao Jun, who had managed to force a draw against the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu; Ling Lan, who had perfect basic controls, created a new personal-name technique, and achieved an almost perfect shot-count; Mu Shaoyu, who had already achieved the peak of special class; as well as Han Yu, who was still able to overpower 80% of the special-class operators in this tournament despite being slightly weaker than his teammates. Not a single one of them would be easy to handle.

All three schools knew that if they were to encounter the First Men's Military Academy in the semi-finals, that would certainly spell tragedy for them. And even if they managed to crunch down this hard rock by some lucky fluke and advance to the finals, they would definitely be too exhausted to compete with their opponent in the finals. Some members of these respective academies even began praying silently that any passing gods or spirits would help them out — please, please, please do not let them meet the First Men's Military Academy in the semi-finals ...

No matter how worried they were, the destined time would come eventually — one academy was destined to become the sacrifice on the First Academy's altar this round ...

When the final match-up listings appeared on the large screen, the Third Men's Military Academy could only bemoan their horrible luck this year. Actually already matched up against the killer First Men's Military Academy in the semi-finals!

Ling Lan and her team continued to use the same method, playing 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide their line-up. This time, Han Yu finally achieved a revolution and snatched up the right to fight first. Mu Shaoyu also performed well, nabbing the second slot following Han Yu, while Zhao Jun would be fighting third. In the final showdown between Qiao Ting and Ling Lan, Qiao Ting managed to narrowly beat out Ling Lan to obtain the rights to fight fourth. Hence, Ling Lan could only resign herself to being the last to fight, holding the fort for her team.

In reality, Ling Lan and the rest all knew that Han Yu's chances were not good in the first fight. After all, his opponent was also a long-range fighter who was already at the peak of special class, which was a small rank higher than Han Yu's own realm. Unless Han Yu managed a sudden breakthrough during the fight, there was almost no chance of him winning the match.

In spite of this, Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, and the rest of the team still entrusted their hopes to Han Yu, wishing he would perform well in his fight. However, hopes were just hopes in the end — reality was harsh and cruel. Han Yu was suppressed by his opponent from the very start of the match. Both combatants being long-range fighters, Han Yu was so outclassed that he could only exhaust himself running around the field with no way of even fighting back. Still, this was also the match that showed the audience how skilful Han Yu was in evasion manoeuvres. Despite being chased around so badly by the opponent, the opponent only managed to land a handful of effective attacks on him.

One attacking while the other dodged, the two fighters eventually used up all of the time allocated for the match. Unsurprisingly, Han Yu lost due to a lower points total than his opponent at the end. Han Yu knew very well what the outcome would be even before the referee panel made their call — after greeting Ling Lan and the others when he returned, he shuffled off to sit in a corner, staring soullessly into the distance.

Even though Han Yu's personality was a little irritating, Qiao Ting and the others could see that, other than those first few matches where he had performed badly due to looking down on his opponent, he had always tried his best after that whenever it was his turn to fight. This included this last match. Although he had still been defeated in the end, Han Yu had still managed to last till the time limit ran out with a handicap of being one rank weaker than his opponent. It was clear to see how resilient he was and how hard he was trying.

Thus, when Han Yu behaved oddly after returning, Zhao Jun and Mu Shaoyu were rather worried. As Mu Shaoyu had to prepare to fight next, he could only push aside his concern for the moment, boarding his mecha to make some final adjustments.

Zhao Jun hesitated for a moment, but then walked over to Han Yu's side. He wanted to ask him how he was doing. After all, he had worked under Han Yu for four years before this — even though their relationship had been more one of mutually using one another, they had still been working together for a long time. There was some bond there, so he should still check in on the other for a bit.

Zhao Jun had just reached out to shake the other when another hand acted faster than his. Before he could even touch Han Yu, that hand grabbed hold of Zhao Jun's wrist.

Zhao Jun felt his hand go numb, and his hand was rendered immobile. He turned his head in shock, only to see that the one who had stopped him was in fact Boss Lan.

"That fight just now has inspired Regiment Commander Han," said Ling Lan as she released Zhao Jun's hand.

Zhao Jun was astonished. "Boss Lan, are you saying that Han Yu ... has received some insight?" Even though Zhao Jun asked this question, he did not expect to receive an answer. This was because he knew that Ling Lan would never lie. If Boss Lan said Han Yu was processing some insight, then Han Yu was most certainly in the process of enlightenment.

Right then, Zhao Jun could not help but feel envy-jealousy-hate stir in his heart towards Han Yu. How blessed was he to gain this opportunity for insight? Zhao Jun thought of himself and was instantly tearing up inside ... why couldn't he be that lucky? Everyday yearning for an epiphany yet never ever receiving one — that solid barrier blocking him from advancing to ace level all this time ... when would it loosen up?

Knowing now that Han Yu was busy with his insights, Zhao Jun did not try to disturb him anymore. Fifteen minutes later, it was Mu Shaoyu's turn to take the field!任尔东西南北风. 我自岿然不动: This phrase is a combination of lines from two separate Chinese poems "题竹石" by 郑燮 and "西江月.井冈山" by 毛泽东. I will not go into those two poems here as that would end up as a whole essay. The original Chinese actually names the four winds — East, West, South, North — but IMO it flows better in English to condense them into 'the four winds'.

As for the meaning, it refers to how people should keep to their own principles regardless of the pressures exerted by the outside world. Here, Ling Lan is saying that they should just walk their own paths without worrying about each other. She is boggled at why Qiao Ting is so persistent in their rivalry.Fun fact: The Chinese way of saying this is 'to shave (someone) bald'. Leave them no face! Take all of their hair!i.e. very secure in their positions.翻身农奴把歌唱: Literally 'break free from serfdom to sing songs (of freedom)'. Han Yu managed to overcome his fate of being oppressed thus far. :p