471-476

Chapter 471 Zhao Jun's Predicament!

For the second match, both mecha which took to the field were balanced special-class mecha. The two contestants had also participated previously in the single mecha combat event, both having managed to make their way into the top 16 there. With roughly equivalent strength levels, it was possible for either side to win.

The First Men's Military Academy attached great importance to this match. If they lost another match, the situation would be grim for them; there would be no room at all for error in the following three matches. On their end, the Third Men's Military Academy viewed this match with even more importance. If they managed to win this match as well, their chances of advancing to the finals would be significantly increased ... as long as there was a chance, no one would be willing to give up, and the Third Men's Military Academy was no exception.

As both contestants were balanced mecha operators, the audience began guessing before the match began — what mode of attack would the two choose? Would it be long range or close combat? Or perhaps first close combat then long range?

At the instant the referee swung his green flag, the two mecha leapt out like tigers out of cages, charging ferociously at the opponent.

In unplanned unison, both fighters had chosen close combat!

With a clang, the weapons in their hands clashed.

There were two major types of attack weapons — one was energy-type weapons like beam sabers, while the other was traditional cold weapons. When both combatants chose to engage in close range, the weapons they chose was also exactly the same: traditional cold weapons.

As soon as the match began, the series of movements both mecha made — from drawing the cold weapons from their backs to clashing violently against each other — were a blur in the eyes of the audience. Many of the spectators were yelling in excitement, awed at the shocking speed of both fighters' operations.

Of course, these only applied to the average audience members; those truly top-class operators were completely calm in comparison. Although the operations of both the fighters on the field were a little better than the average mecha operator, this display was still not enough to amaze them. Only something like Ling Lan's on-the-line operation could move them.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! ..."

On the field, the two combatants were attacking each other fervently. The noise of clashing cold weapons rang out again and again — this intense scene left the audience staring with wide eyes, afraid that they might miss the definitive moment when the outcome would be determined if they even blinked.

Backstage, Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, and Zhao Jun stood to the right of the large screen, opposite the Third Men's Military Academy members who were standing to the left of the screen. They were staring intently at the video feed being played on the screen, mentally analysing the winning chances of both sides.

After staring at the screen for a long time, Zhao Jun felt that his eyes were a little dry and aching. He reeled in his gaze, planning to take a break, and this was when he saw that Ling Lan actually had her eyes closed. He instantly blurted out in surprise, "Boss Lan, you aren't watching?"

Zhao Jun's question drew Qiao Ting's attention and made him turn his gaze around to look at Ling Lan as well. His eyes were questioning too.

Ling Lan replied evenly, "It's nothing much. I just feel that Regiment Commander Mu will win and so did not continue to watch."

Ling Lan's words made the members of the Third Men's Military Academy across from them glare angrily at her. The fighting on the field was clearly on equal ground right now, and that punk actually dared to conclude that they would lose just like that ... this was really testing their tolerance! If not for the fact that they were not allowed to fight backstage, they would definitely have charged over to teach that punk with that irresponsible mouth a hard lesson.

The members of the Third Men's Military Academy fumed to themselves. They did not know that this rather cold-looking and somewhat unremarkable 'punk' was actually a super strong fighter with physical skills already at the Domain level. If they knew, they probably would not have dared to have such thoughts — it could only be said that ignorance breeds fearlessness.

Ling Lan's words made Zhao Jun's eyes light up. In the Lingtian Battle Clan, Ling Lan had never ever said anything useless. Since Boss Lan said Regiment Commander Mu would win, then he was certain to win. (Here was yet another person who had been successfully hoodwinked by Ling Lan ...)

In contrast, Ling Lan's explanation left Qiao Ting blinking blankly. He peered dubiously at Ling Lan, unsure whether Ling Lan was just saying this to deal a mental blow to their opponents backstage, or if she truly felt that Mu Shaoyu would win.

Qiao Ting looked back at the large screen sceptically. On the field, the two contestants were still fighting on equal ground — anyone could win, anyone could lose ... he really could not see any sign that Mu Shaoyu was going to win yet.

Qiao Ting carried this sense of uncertainty as he continued to watch the fight unfold. Fifty moves went by, then 100 moves ... when the fight was close to 150 moves, finally, the opponent made a mistake. Mu Shaoyu did not let this opportunity slip by — a round of forceful attacks instantly beat the opponent into a defensive position with no more room to fight back.

This scene left Qiao Ting gaping in astonishment as he turned to look at Ling Lan. "You really saw this coming?"

Ling Lan glanced at Qiao Ting and said calmly, "How could that be possible? It was just a random comment."

No matter how heaven-defying her innate talent of Profound Insight was, it still could not help her see the outcome of a close fight like this more than 100 moves before the deciding moment. She had only felt that Mu Shaoyu had been radiating an extremely tenacious fighting spirit when he had left for the field. With that attitude, it would be hard for him to lose!

A random comment? Boss Lan, that's too irresponsible of you! Zhao Jun was crying inside when he heard these words. Mind you, when he had first heard what Ling Lan had said, he had really believed in it!!

"Even being so accurate with just a random comment?" Qiao Ting did not believe it.

Ling Lan glanced coldly at Qiao Ting and said sarcastically, "Could it be that you want Regiment Commander Mu to lose?"

This question stabbed deep into Qiao Ting, leaving him speechless. That was true ... they couldn't very well disparage themselves and say one of their own would lose, right? Annoyed, Qiao Ting turned back to look at the large screen, mentally berating himself for being so careless that he was fooled by Ling Lan!

Even as they were talking, the fight on the field was reaching its end. Mu Shaoyu launched into another round of powerful attacks, striking the body of the opponent's mecha repeatedly, instantly reducing the opponent's points to zero.

When the field referee received the judgment of the referee panel, he decisively stopped the match. Mu Shaoyu obtained the victory for this match, and the overall score was now 1 to 1.

The leading team leader of the Third Men's Military Academy — that is, the strongest of the five representing members — could only shake his head at the outcome. It was a pity his teammate had made some mistakes that he shouldn't have, allowing the opponent to grab hold of the opening to win the match. If not for that, the outcome of this match would probably only have been decided when the time ran out.

He glanced over at the three representatives of the First Men's Military Academy who had yet to fight and clenched his teeth. He would be the one to fight in the next match, and he hoped that the First Men's Military Academy would not be sending out Qiao Ting ...

As the line-up of the First Men's Military Academy was extremely bizarre with no logic to be found behind its arrangement, it was impossible to deduce what the opponent's final line-up would be. He had decided to place himself for the third match largely because he was betting that the opponent would not send Qiao Ting out to fight among the first three. That way, they would be able to directly win three matches to advance to the finals.

At this thought, the team leader once again thought to himself what a pity it was. If they had only won the second match, then he would have the confidence to win the third match as long as his opponent was not Qiao Ting!

"Leader, the contestant for the third match from the First Men's Military Academy has come out. It's Zhao Jun!" The super substitute on the Third Men's Military Academy side who would likely have no chance to fight had been observing the First Men's Military Academy all this while. When he saw Zhao Jun board his mecha in the final 10 minutes before the fight to calibrate his mecha, his expression shifted and he immediately alerted his team leader.

"So it's him!" The leader's face turned serious. Even though he was confident that he could win against any of the others aside from Qiao Ting, among the remaining four, Zhao Jun was the one he was most wary of. He had not forgotten how Zhao Jun had succeeded in forcing a draw with the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu in the single mecha combat event. Although there had been an element of luck involved there, Zhao Jun's own solid mecha control skills were also one of the reasons for his success.

Perhaps that Ling Lan would have been easier to deal with! The team leader thought to himself with some regret. However, his morose mood soon shifted into happiness — his match-up against Zhao Jun was actually very advantageous to their Third Men's Military Academy. As long as he defeated Zhao Jun, no matter which of his two remaining teammates was matched against Ling Lan later, there would be hope of victory.

Though that Ling Lan had been able to successfully add some flair to the basic techniques, successfully defeating opponent after opponent, those victories had all been achieved through some element of surprise — his opponents had only lost due to being caught off-guard. If one was on guard against them, could these basic techniques triumph over advanced techniques? Especially if it came to those special-class techniques which were even one level higher than that?

At this thought, a smile appeared on the team leader's face. He could almost see the scene where they successfully advanced to the finals ... with regards to the line-up arrangement this time, the heavens were undoubtedly on their side.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Qiao Ting saw the team leader of the Third Men's Military Academy boarding his mecha and his expression shifted. "Who'd have expected it to be him —— Zhou Chao-Ling!"

Qiao Ting had a very deep impression of Zhou Chao-Ling — the First Men's Military Academy had once had a practice spar with the Third Men's Military Academy, and back then, Qiao Ting had led the Leiting Mecha Clan against the mecha clan led by the other in a team battle. At that time, he had already been a special-class operator for quite a long time, while Zhou Chao-Ling had only just advanced to special-class operator level.

By all accounts, a special-class operator who had just advanced should show some signs of instability every so often while operating his special-class mecha. However, the other had not seemed to have this problem — his controls were so stable that he did not seem like a newly advanced special-class operator, instead appearing extremely solid and reliable. What was even more memorable for Qiao Ting was Zhou Chao-Ling's composure and self-assuredness. Even though he had clearly known back then that he was no match for Qiao Ting, he had not lost his mental balance. Throughout the entire fight, his calm heart had allowed him to make almost no mistakes. In the end, if not for Zhou Chao-Ling's realm being a little lacking, leaving him unable to accurately determine the exact target-point of Qiao Ting's sure-kill technique, Qiao Ting was unsure whether he would have been able to win that spar.

In Qiao Ting's opinion, if Zhou Chao-Ling had been able to advance to ace level before the Grand Mecha Tournament, the opponent he most worried about in this tournament would probably not be Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy but this Zhou Chao-Ling instead.

The change in Qiao Ting's complexion was noticed by Ling Lan. A thought stirred, and she quietly instructed Little Four to look up the detailed data on Zhao Jun's opponent. She swiftly browsed through it and, seeing his achievements all these years, her countenance slowly turned grim ... what a truly troublesome opponent!

Mu Shaoyu, who had been in a state of excitement ever since the end of his fight, also saw Zhou Chao-Ling boarding his mecha in the opponent's area. Without a doubt, he would be the third person to fight. Mu Shaoyu's heart sank and his mood instantly fell. Moodily, he said, "F*ck, why is it him? Zhao Jun's luck is really too horrible."

Some information appeared in Mu Shaoyu's mind: Zhou Chao-Ling, special-class operator (peak); 5th rank in single mecha combat; team leader of the Third Men's Military Academy!

"Zhao Jun is not necessarily going to lose." As Qiao Ting said this, he sent a pointed look at Ling Lan. His gaze was clearly telling Ling Lan that one should leave some wiggle room when speaking and not act as if one knew everything with full confidence and mislead others. It looked like he still could not let go of how he had been fooled by Ling Lan during Mu Shaoyu's match.

Ling Lan's lips quirked up almost imperceptibly, and with a lift of her brow, a powerful surge of domineering presence swept towards Qiao Ting. With conviction, she said, "Zhao Jun will win!" As Zhao Jun's boss, even if the final outcome was a complete and utter mess of a defeat, at this moment, she would still firmly support her follower.

As soon as Ling Lan's force of presence spread out, Qiao Ting's force of presence was triggered as well. The two powerful forces pushed against each other between the two of them. Mu Shaoyu, who was standing in that vicinity, quickly stepped away, face paling slightly.

He stared at the two equally powerful people before him and felt a little crestfallen. He had initially thought that one Qiao Ting was already a rare one-in-a-century prodigy — who could have guessed that a junior three years younger than him would be able to match Qiao Ting so closely ... Mu Shaoyu believed that, based on Ling Lan's outstanding control skills, he would have no trouble at all advancing to ace level while he was still in the academy. The only question was whether he would advance in his fourth year like Qiao Ting, or would it happen in his fifth year?

Mu Shaoyu never even considered whether it could be in his third year because he did not think someone could do what even General Ling Xiao had not been able to achieve. This once again proved that Ling Xiao had already become a legend under the Federation military's purposeful branding and promotion.

Qiao Ting and Ling Lan were still very rational and knew how to restrain themselves. After a brief clash, their forces of presences were swiftly reeled back and tucked away. Meanwhile, at this time, Zhao Jun's fight was about to kick off.

From his mecha's viewing screen, Zhao Jun saw that his opponent was Zhou Chao-Ling and he was thoroughly excited. What this fellow Zhao Jun loved most was to fight against expert fighters. He felt that only by fighting against other experts would he be able to more quickly raise his own strength. He was also not afraid of losing, believing that failure was the mother of success — as long as he learned from the cumulative experiences of these failures, he would one day win everything back. Therefore, he was not at all afraid of fighting with an ace operator. Even though he knew that he was sure to lose, he would still fight a great and vigorous battle — even if he lost, he still wanted to leave some mark on his opponent. This was another reason why he had managed to force a draw with Jiang Shaoyu.

Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling were both close-combat type special-class operators who operated close-combat mecha. Everyone knew that this match was sure to be like the second match, an intense close-combat match. Compared to long-range combat which really tested the operators' skills and tactics, close combat was undoubtedly much more straightforward and exciting to watch, better able to work up the audience. Therefore, even before the match had begun, the audience was already getting pumped up in their seats.

Immediately after the referee swung his green flag down, Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling instantly clashed. Right at this moment, the calmer members of the audience could see the difference between this match and Mu Shaoyu's. Both matches had been close-combat matches, and the fighters in both matches had also started right off by drawing the cold weapons from the secured docks at their backs to clash with each other. However, the time Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling used was even shorter — some of the audience with weaker vision did not even manage to catch when they had moved.

"Clang!" The collision of the cold weapons caused a loud noise, sending out countless sparks at the same time. The sheer volume of the sound almost deafened the audience sitting right at the front. The fearsome power clash in a true close-combat match was not something balanced mecha could truly demonstrate. Only close-combat mecha could truly reach this level of ferocity — just this one clash had shown everyone the clear difference.

"Boom!" Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling's fearsome power which could rip each other apart worked up the already immensely excited audience even further — no longer able to control themselves, they shouted loudly, cheering for both mecha operators on the field.

"Equally matched!" Backstage, Mu Shaoyu was staring intently at the large screen. When he saw this scene, he could not help but yell excitedly. In terms of power, Zhao Jun had not lost to the opponent.

"Both of them have displayed the greatest power value of close-combat mecha. In terms of operation, Zhao Jun has not lost!" The austerity in Qiao Ting's face eased slightly — initially, he had been worrying that Zhao Jun would lose out to the opponent by a hair in terms of operation, but now from the looks of it, he had been worrying too much.

Ling Lan, however, was frowning. This frown was extremely subtle, so subtle that no one had noticed it, thinking that Ling Lan was just wearing her typical ice-block face.

"Boss, you've noticed it too? The power Zhao Jun is pulling out from his mecha is 30kN less than his opponent." On the mecha combat field, there were all sorts of high-tech instruments which would collect data on every move of the two mecha on the field and send it over to the referee panel to be used as evidence for their judgements. Little Four had hidden a clone of himself there so that as soon as any new information appeared, he would be able to receive it at first notice.

"How high have they reached in terms of power?" asked Ling Lan.

"Zhou Chao-Ling: 1857kN, Zhao Jun: 1827kN. After calculating based on the power formula conversion ... after 37 moves, the arms of Zhao Jun's mecha will be afflicted with some wear and tear issues due to this power difference. With further clashes, the abrasion will become worse and may damage the body of the mecha ..." Little Four was very responsible — not only did he tell Ling Lan the gap between the two fighters power output, but he had also calculated the problem that would eventually arise from it.

"Before his mecha's body is ruined, how many moves can he hold out for, approximately?" asked Ling Lan.

"In theory, at most 93 moves, but in reality, this number might be reduced by about 10 moves," said Little Four somewhat uncertainly after some calculations.

"In other words, Zhao Jun only has 83 moves to find an opening." Ling Lan's expression turned solemn. She had not expected this Zhou Chao-Ling to have concealed his strength so well, thus being overlooked by everyone. In fact, the level of his mecha operation was just a line away from that of an ace operator's. If Zhao Jun wanted to win, he would have to do so before his mecha was destroyed. That meant that he would need to find an opening to KO his opponent within 83 moves.

Only by KO-ing the opponent would he be able to win — gaining the upper hand in 83 moves would not be of any use. Once Zhao Jun's mecha started malfunctioning, an experienced special-class operator like Zhou Chao-Ling would never let this kind of opportunity slip by. Of course, this also required Zhao Jun to notice the problem before his mecha actually began to malfunction. Otherwise, if he waited till the time his mecha blared an alarm, the damage would have already become fact — Zhao Jun would have no way to do anything about the situation.

On the field, Zhao Jun was still clashing violently with the opponent. At first, he did not notice anything amiss, thinking that he was fighting on even ground with the opponent, but with each succeeding collision, Zhao Jun slowly began to sense that something was not right. After each collision, the two fighters would always be repelled back by the resulting concussive force generated between them. At first, Zhao Jun had been sent back about the same distance as the opponent, but this distance slowly grew. After about 50 moves, the distance Zhao Jun was repelled back each time had exceeded his opponent's by over 2 to 3 metres.

At this time, how could Zhao Jun still not realise? In this clash of sheer power, he had lost to the opponent. At this moment, he suddenly recalled something that had happened when he had been sparring with Boss Lan.

A jolt of fear coursed through his heart and cold sweat immediately sprang out on his forehead. He immediately commanded his A.I., saying, "Dawn Light, conduct a quick check on the mecha's condition."

"Clang!" The two fighters once again clashed in mid-air and this time, Zhao Jun was pushed back even further. The cold sweat on Zhao Jun's forehead pooled together to flow down his face in rivulets. He anxiously waited for his A.I. to respond while preparing himself for the next confrontation.

"Beep, check complete. Varying degrees of damage detected at the mecha's right shoulder, elbow, and wrist. The same areas on the left arm are also beginning to show similar signs of damage." Finally, after 5 seconds, his A.I. provided an answer. Just as he had predicted, the joint areas of his mecha's upper limbs were starting to show signs of wear and tear.

Zhao Jun's heart sank and he asked, "How many more moves can the mecha sustain?"

Dawn Light continued to calculate and was faster to respond this time, only taking 3 seconds. "The theoretical estimate is approximately another 50 moves!"

"50 moves, eh? There's still time." After hearing his A.I.'s answer, Zhao Jun's heart settled. Even though he was already stuck in this predicament, the situation was not so terrible yet that he had no recourse. As long as he could keep a level head, he would still have a chance.

The average audience member still had not noticed that the situation was already unfavourable for Zhao Jun now. They still believed that the two fighters were tied in terms of strength, and that a proper final outcome would only be determined at the end of the match via referee panel decision.

Some of the top-class mecha masters in the venue could see a little clearer, however. Notably, those of imperial operator level and above already had a pretty good grasp of the overall situation at this point. The imperial operator from the Lawless Lands hovering at high-altitude airspace to monitor the matches could not help but praise, "I had originally thought that the one with the best basic controls is that Ling Lan, but that Zhou Chao-Ling is surprisingly as good. His foundations are really solid. As long as nothing goes wrong, he's sure to win this match."

His companion, however, was silent. The imperial operator was rather surprised by this and could not help calling out to him, "Tian Xuan, Tian Xuan, what's wrong?"

The imperial operator called Tian Xuan heard his companion's call and immediately replied, "Ren Ji, I just feel that Zhou Chao-Ling's operation methods seem very familiar. I'm trying to recall where I've seen it before." He had barely finished speaking when he suddenly seemed to have remembered. "Ah, it's him!"

"Who?" asked the imperial operator called Ren Ji.

"You've never met him before, but you should have heard of him. The Bull, Zhou Yuan-qing!"

Ren Ji's eyes lit up. "One of the 28 Constellations of the Federation imperial operators."

With a wistful expression, Tian Xuan said, "20 years ago, I heard he adopted a baby with extremely good talent potential. Looks like it's probably this Zhou Chao-Ling. Zhou Chao-Ling, Zhou Chao-Ling ... pfft!" After repeating Zhou Chao-Ling's name a few times, Tian Xuan burst out laughing.

"What? Is there something wrong with this name? I think it's pretty nice." Ren Ji was left completely bewildered by his companion's sudden fit of laughter. He really could not see what was so funny about this name.

"Ha, the Bull really knows how to hold a grudge. Even when naming his child, he did not forget to include a reminder to surpass General Ling Xiao!" The imperial operator called Tian Xuan finally explained his fit of laughter. Zhou Yuan-qing was from the same generation as Ling Xiao. Incredibly talented, and extremely outstanding, he should have been the focus of everyone's attention — but as luck would have it, there was Ling Xiao. All the talents of that generation had been overshadowed by the unbelievably aberrant talent of General Ling Xiao and so were never able to receive the fame they would have received otherwise!周超凌: This fellow's name is rather interesting. 周 (Zhou) is the surname, so let's just leave that aside. But his given name 超凌 (Chao-Ling) can mean 'to overcome/surpass Ling', with the 'Ling' character being the same one as our main character's surname. I wonder if there's some story behind this name ...The author uses 'KN' in the raws as a unit of energy here, but when I looked energy units up, what came up as a possible reference is kilonewton, which is represented as 'kN'.晨光: A really sweet name for his mecha's A.I. IMO.T/C: Lol. I called it. Totally felt Zhou Chao-Ling's name was strange.

Chapter 472 Seed?

At this time, Ling Xiao, who was seated at the rostrum, had also found something familiar in Zhou Chao-Ling's operation methods. A nostalgic smile appeared on his lips. He had not known that that rival who had been competing against him all this while had a descendant of his own now. Even more unexpected was the fact that their rivalry would actually reappear more than twenty years later.

Even though Ling Lan and Zhou Chao-Ling had not actually clashed personally yet, like him back then, Ling Lan had become the leader of the First Men's Military Academy contingent, while Zhou Chao-Ling had also inherited his father's role to become the leader of the Third Men's Military Academy contingent, both of them fighting for the honour of their respective academies!

"Looks like Lan-er's teammate is going to have some trouble," thought Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao knew very well that no matter how many fancy advanced techniques a mecha operator used, the pressure heaped upon the opponent could never match the kind of pressure caused by simple movements that had been honed to such precision that they were impeccable. Both Zhou Yuan-qing and Zhou Chao-Ling were people with the latter operation style. In the past, Zhou Yuan-qing had really given Ling Xiao a lot of trouble — till today, Ling Xiao still did not want to ever fight Zhou Yuan-qing again.

In fact, Ling Xiao's own operation style also fell into this category. It was just that Zhou Yuan-qing's style was characterised by its simplicity and clean practicality, while Ling Xiao's style leaned towards the graceful perfection of flowing water. Ling Lan had been influenced by Ling Xiao, so her operation style also had the same tendency.

On the field, Zhao Jun's and Zhou Chao-Ling's movements were extremely fast and fierce — in a very brief period of time, they had already exchanged another 6 blows. Zhao Jun still had not figured out how he could turn things around.

"How annoying!" It wasn't that Zhao Jun did not want to change his movements and try something new, but the opponent was not giving him any chances to do so. Whenever he was about to try something, the opponent would leap forwards again. To avoid being pushed into a passive position, he had no choice but to dodge — even though he knew clashing against the other forcefully was a problem, he could only grit his teeth and surge forwards.

"Toot, toot, toot!" The A.I. of Zhao Jun's mecha once again rang an alert. "Right shoulder joint damage increased by 0.7%! Accumulated damage at 5.6%!"

From the initial 0.3%, the damage to his mecha was increasing as the number of moves increased. He estimated that when the damage exceeded 10%, the rate of damage would accelerate further. He did not have much time left. Zhao Jun understood that if he continued to let the opponent drag things on like this, he was certain to lose.

"What should I do? What the hell should I do?" Zhao Jun's mind was a muddled mess. The opponent was clearly not that strong, and his mecha operation was just steady and unassuming. Although the techniques the opponent was using were also some advanced techniques, those techniques were not special ace-class techniques like the ones Qiao Ting and Lin Xiao had used which dazzled the eyes and inspired envy. Some of the techniques used were even ones that were not as good as his own ... but it was precisely these unassuming advanced techniques and unremarkable mecha operation which were slowly destroying his mecha bit by bit, pushing him into such a dire predicament.

"This situation ... why does it feel a little familiar? Zhao Jun, don't panic. Think slowly. You still have time!" Zhao Jun kept having the feeling that something was about to burst forth from his mind, but because he was just so anxious and tense, the thought was always just out of reach ...

"Clang!" Weapons clashed once again. Perhaps because Zhao Jun was rather distracted, his reaction time was slower by a beat. The area where his weapon and the opponent's met was not the position with the most of his force behind it. After the powerful collision, Zhao Jun was sent flying back 3 metres further than before ...

"Zhao Jun, what are you thinking?" A cold huff roared through Zhao Jun's mind.

Ling Xiao, who had initially been leaning easily against the back of his chair, suddenly sat up straight. He quickly sent out a burst of spiritual power and then retracted it just as swiftly. At this moment, his back was already drenched with cold sweat. Ling Xiao had never expected that Ling Lan would be so audacious — here in the tournament where countless masters were watching, she had actually dared to send a spiritual charge towards her currently fighting teammate ...

Luckily, he seemed to be the only one who had sensed it, and he had also quickly sent out a surge of spiritual power of his own as cover-up. Even if anyone sensed anything, they would just think that he was the one behind the charge ... although this would tarnish his image somewhat since this action could after all be mistakenly construed as cheating ... Still, compared to his daughter being exposed, Ling Xiao would rather accept this kind of disreputable label.

Sure enough, his daughter was here to collect debts! Even as Ling Xiao sighed, he complied willingly.

Ling Xiao's strange behaviour was noticed by Lan Luofeng sitting beside him; she turned her head to cast a questioning look at him. Seeing this, Ling Xiao pressed down gently on Lan Luofeng's hand. Lan Luofeng understood implicitly that this was not the time to ask questions, so with a soft smile, she turned her head around to resume watching the match.

On this end, Ling Xiao was helping to wipe up after Ling Lan, while on another end, after Ling Lan had blasted out that spiritual charge, her complexion became very pale. To penetrate the defences of the cockpit, Ling Lan's spiritual charge had used up almost nine layers of her spiritual power.

"Zhao Jun, the rest is up to you now!" thought Ling Lan.

Due to his operation error, Zhao Jun had been sent flying back much further than his opponent. With this, even the regular audience member could now tell that something was not right.

"Just now ... I wasn't mistaken, right? Zhao Jun is at a disadvantage now?" The audience members could not help but rub at their eyes. They were having trouble wrapping their minds around it — Zhao Jun was someone who had forced the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu to a draw! Someone able to force a draw with an ace actually not being able to beat a special-class operator? Perhaps this special-class operator was special?

Some of the more anxious among the audience struggled with this point and so they immediately began looking up information on Zhou Chao-Ling. They found that he was actually the fifth rank holder of the single mecha combat event, just one rank behind Zhao Jun ...

Dearie, just how low-key and unassuming were you that even your excellent results in ranking fifth were overlooked by the audience? The audience's faces were filled with disbelief as they looked over this information. They had not expected that such a top master had been hiding right under their noses, stronger than even Zhao Jun whom they had assumed was the strongest special-class operator in this tournament.

They then found the details on Zhou Chao-Ling's performance during the single mecha combat event. When they learned that he had lost to the number one Qiao Ting, which was why he had not been able to advance into the top 4, they could only sigh at his bad luck. If he had been as lucky as Zhao Jun and had been arranged into that segment with no ace operators, perhaps the outcome would have been different. Whether or not Zhao Jun could have nabbed third place in that situation was questionable.

Zhao Jun's error in the fight caused two distinctly different atmospheres to appear among the two military academies backstage. The Third Men's Military Academy was naturally overjoyed — if their team leader defeated Zhao Jun, they would only have to defeat that Ling Lan as well to advance to the finals. Who said that their Third Men's Military Academy was just an accessory? As long as they had equivalent strength among their members, so what if their opponent had an ace operator? So what if the opponent had the number one strongest in their ranks?

The three people on the First Men's Military Academy side were also watching the fight closely. Other than Ling Lan being cold-faced as usual, Qiao Ting and Mu Shaoyu's expressions had turned extremely grim when they witnessed Zhao Jun's error. Mu Shaoyu was even wringing his hands in agitation, and then he turned to ask Qiao Ting uneasily, "Is Zhao Jun really out of options?"

Qiao Ting did not reply, but his tightly knitted eyebrows were proof that he was not optimistic about Zhao Jun's chances. Zhou Chao-Ling was a very cautious and meticulous person. It was practically impossible to hope for him to make a mistake ... but for Zhao Jun to wrest free of this predicament on his own — Qiao Ting felt that it would be very difficult.

Not receiving an answer from Qiao Ting, Mu Shaoyu found his gaze involuntarily drifting towards Ling Lan, in hopes that Ling Lan would be able to give him some confidence. After all, Zhao Jun was a member of Lingtian now. Fully preoccupied with seeking comfort, Mu Shaoyu did not notice Ling Lan's unusual pallor, which made the latter seem even colder than usual.

Sensing Mu Shaoyu's gaze, Ling Lan opened her initially closed eyes and said calmly, "Zhao Jun still has a chance!"

She had already done what she could — the seed was already planted. Whether or not it would sprout smoothly in this match would all depend on Zhao Jun's comprehension.

Ling Lan's words made Mu Shaoyu's heart settle, and he turned back to continue watching the match on the screen intently. Right then, Mu Shaoyu was not aware of how Ling Lan had been able to calm him with just one simple declaration. Unconsciously, he had already acknowledged Ling Lan's status and had given the other his trust.

********

At this moment, after hearing that cold huff, Zhao Jun's vision turned blurry and when he could see clearly again, he had already arrived at a sealed mecha combat room ...

"What's going on?" Zhao Jun was stunned. "Wasn't I fighting in a mecha combat competition? Why am I here? Also, that voice just now really sounded like Boss Lan."

Just when Zhao Jun thought of Boss Lan, an extremely familiar mecha appeared in the combat room. It was precisely that close-combat ace mecha which Ling Lan operated.

"Boss Lan, what are you doing here? And why are you using an ace mecha? Didn't you say that you wanted to hide properly?" asked Zhao Jun, concerned.

He was in full agreement with Ling Lan's decision to conceal her full strength. He really could not imagine what kind of uproar it would cause if the world knew that there was someone who had broken Ling Xiao's record and had become an ace operator in their second year. (With the exception of those little companions of hers who had grown up alongside her, Ling Lan had told all the other friends who had joined them afterwards that she had only advanced to ace level in her second year.) He could even predict that an incident like the air invasion of the military academy would happen once again, not to mention all the assassins that would be sent over from the various nations.

Unfortunately, Ling Lan did not react or respond to Zhao Jun's questions. Instead, she charged at Zhao Jun ferociously, slashing at Zhao Jun with her sword.

Zhao Jun hurriedly operated his mecha to dodge the attack, but how could he move faster than Ling Lan? The sword struck the body of his mecha forcefully, and the massive force behind the blow sent his mecha hurtling back to crash heavily against the hard walls of the combat room, which he then bounced off to slam into the ground. Zhao Jun felt pain throughout his whole body and nausea churned in his chest. There was also a bloody taste in his mouth, making him feel rather ill.

Before Zhao Jun could pry himself off the ground, a forceful swirl of wind came rushing at him. With a rapid flying side kick, Ling Lan sent Zhao Jun flying through the air once again ...

"Chain combo!" Zhao Jun was thrown into the air, and Ling Lan piloted her mecha close after him. The cold weapon in her hands struck Zhao Jun's mecha without any hesitation. "1, 2, 3, 4 ..."

The powerful impact made Zhao Jun spit out a mouthful of blood, and he pressed down desperately on the call button to shout, "Boss Lan, it's me! I'm Zhao Jun!"

This strength of Boss Lan was definitely not at the level of an ordinary spar — Boss Lan was completely coming at him with true force. If things continued this way, he would definitely die at Boss Lan's hands. This was not an outcome he could accept — dying this way would be too worthless and a terrible shame. He would not accept it!

"Zhao Jun, what are you thinking? Don't you know that, once we enter battle mode, no matter where or when, we are archenemies!" Ling Lan's icy voice rang out by Zhao Jun's ear once more, filled with fierce killing intent. Zhao Jun knew that Boss Lan was speaking from the heart at that moment!Excluding the empty 4th rank.Note: The truth is that she was already an ace in her first year.

Chapter 473 Six-Chain Combo

"Five, six!" When Ling Lan counted to six, the combo had finally ended!

After taking Ling Lan's final hit, Zhao Jun's mecha plummeted into the ground as he spat out another mouthful of blood. He felt like he was going to die. He had always known that Boss Lan's combo could go on for more than five hits, but no one really knew how many exactly, the reason being that Boss Lan would never show it to her companions during bouts among themselves. He didn't understand why at the time; instead, he believed that she was keeping it as a trump card, without wanting to reveal it. Now he understood that the reason why Boss Lan did not use it was because somebody would die the moment it was used.

Zhao Jun thought he was going to draw his last breath, but unexpectedly his vitality was very strong; despite being so close to death and in so much pain, he didn't faint and was able to survive.

When Zhao Jun regained consciousness, he saw Ling Lan's figure, so tall and domineering as if looking down on the world. This made him feel like an insignificant ant ready for Ling Lan's executioner's blade.

This feeling pained Zhao Jun's heart deeply and a strong sense of humiliation rushed to his head! He suddenly had an epiphany. It seemed like his abilities didn't even enter Boss Lan's eyes. He was probably only compelled to accept Zhao Jun into his battalion because of his old friend Li Lanfeng! He hadn't thought that he would one day need connections to get into a battalion because of his inadequate abilities! This humiliation made Zhao Jun almost bite off his tongue.

"Ohhh!" Zhao Jun screamed angrily.

No, I will not allow anyone to look down on me. Even if I'm from a third-rate planet and not as talented as Qi Long, I will use my abilities to let Boss Lan know that other than him, I am the second strongest in the squadron. I will not lose to Qi Long!

Zhao Jun's unwillingness to give up made him forget the immense pain. Piloting his mecha, he quickly sprang up to his feet. His left hand suddenly gripped his sword which was previously only held with his right. Wielding the sword with both hands, he abruptly directed it straight towards Ling Lan.

Ling Lan had stopped attacking entirely after the six combo attack, merely watching coldly from the distance. Perhaps Ling Lan was being generous. It was because she thought that after the fifth hit, Zhao Jun would no longer be able to fight.

When she saw Zhao Jun clenching his weapon readying for more, she swung the large sword in her right hand and said coldly, "Not going to give up? You want to fight back? That's too bad. You will never be on par with me!"

Zhao Jun didn't really hear what Ling Lan said. He just silently looked at his opponent, gripping his cold weapon. It seemed that after a single second, his flickering emotions became calm and at peace.

Maybe Ling Lan was in his line of sight or maybe she wasn't. He didn't hear, see or feel anything, as if he had lost his five senses and turned into a statue—he began to forget who he was. His entire body and mind became unreactive, his mind finally going completely blank.

Zhao Jun had entered a mysterious world of his own and this seemed to only last for an instant, but also felt like thousands of years.

Zhao Jun, who had gone into a meditative state, did not realize that the intensity of his aura was rising boundlessly. He moved, his fingers suddenly beginning to dance about. In the beginning, he could still see his fingers turning into afterimages, but afterwards even those afterimages had disappeared. Yes, that's right—Zhao Jun's fingers had vanished. It seemed that his fingers' speed had surpassed the limit of special-class mecha operators, the level of "Shadow", and reached the level of "Void" which only ace operators could achieve.

Zhao Jun's mecha shot towards Ling Lan like a cannonball! He yelled, "Chain combo!"

Only chain combos could spell trouble for the formidable Boss Lan; though, his chain combo could only go up to four hits. Whether he could manage the fifth hit depended on his condition, but this couldn't compare to Boss Lan's six-chain combo. However, this was his strongest attack!

Zhao Jun knew very well that other high-level skills and special techniques would not affect Boss Lan. Having battled with Boss Lan so many times, what hadn't he used before? He still got beaten in the end, didn't he?

"Come, let's go!" called out Ling Lan upon seeing Zhao Jun executing his chain combo, and she operated her mecha to engage using a chain combo.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!" Five consecutive and loud sounds of cold weapons clashing rang out. Without thinking, Zhao Jun was even able to easily perform a five-hit combo. He felt that this wasn't his limit and continued to move his fingers, and he managed to perform an unprecedented sixth strike.

"Clang!" The sixth hit was successfully performed. Ling Lan also used her own sixth hit to block!

But no, this wasn't his limit—Zhao Jun's fingers continued to operate without hindrance, as he performed his seventh combo hit!

"Boom!" Zhao Jun's huge sword struck Ling Lan's mecha, sending it flying with a tumultuous force. Just when Zhao Jun wanted to follow up with an attack, his vision blurred and he returned back to the arena.

That mysterious room disappeared along with Boss Lan who he was in battle with. He only saw Zhou Chao-Ling on the opposite side who was preparing for the next round of attacks.

"Beep, beep, beep!" The A.I. of Zhao Jun's mecha alerted him of the condition of the mecha, "Damage to the joint on the right arm has increased by 1.6%! Now at a total of 11.3%!"

"I see, the damage to the joint has already passed 10%. I can't waste anymore time." Although Zhao Jun didn't really understand what had happened just now, he knew that he had achieved a breakthrough in that mindspace. However, he didn't know whether it could be used in real combat.

Zhao Jun's fingers moved similarly to how they did in the mindspace, dancing around rapidly, changing from fingers clearly visible to afterimages, then from afterimages to complete disappearance.

His mecha was previously holding the sword with both hands at the hilt, but suddenly its left hand moved up one meter; this stance resembled how Japanese samurai would hold their swords. However, the left hand of Zhao Jun's mecha was not holding the sword, but was making a fist to lock it in place.

This change made the audience scream excitedly, "Zhao Jun is going to make a move!"

At that moment, almost every audience member knew that Zhao Jun was in trouble. If he wanted to change his fate, he needed to change. They were all waiting for Zhao Jun to change the pace and now, their wait had paid off.

Zhao Jun's odd way of handling the sword made Zhou Chao-Ling freeze in place. He had initially wanted to go up to him and attack, but he suddenly slowed his advance. Being very careful, he decided to see how the situation played out and then decide how he would continue to fight. He already had the advantage. Zhou Chao-Ling didn't want his opponent to get the upper hand because of his own carelessness.

Just then, Zhao Jun's mecha suddenly began to charge forward. At maximum speed, his mecha appeared as though it was a beam of light, arriving before Zhou Chao-Ling in an instant. That speed had reached the highest speed limit of a special-class mecha and this made Zhou Chao-Ling fail to react in time.

Zhou Chao-Ling was not worried; he led his fingers into a swift dance, making his mecha dart around. His opponent was quick, not giving him enough time to accumulate power into his mecha—if he was to fight in this moment, he would be the one disadvantaged. Zhou Chao-Ling wouldn't make the mistake of taking his opponent head-on.

The two looked as though they were going to pass by each other after Zhou Chao-Ling evaded Zhao Jun's sudden attack, but the left wrist of Zhao Jun's mecha suddenly twisted. The cold weapon of his mecha suddenly shifted from a slashing stance to a horizontal stabbing stance.

"Ah!" This unforeseen change made the audience gasp.

Just as Zhou Chao-Ling was about to be struck by the large sword, he lived up to his name by easily operating his mecha despite the danger hanging over his head. While his fingers danced, the cold weapon in his mecha's hand blocked!

"Clang!" There was a resonant clash. Zhou Chao-Ling had managed to use the bottom of his sword to block the sudden stabbing attack from Zhao Jun.

However, it was still blocked in a hurry and so he could not neutralize the full force of Zhao Jun's attack—his mecha was sent flying by the stab, flying backwards at great speed. Because of this, however, Zhou Chao-Ling was able to leave Zhao Jun's close combat range. This gave a Zhou Chao-Ling a short breather.

However, it was too early for Zhou Chao-Ling to feel relieved. As he started to think about balancing his mecha, he saw Zhao Jun's mecha turn ominously. It was able to neutralize the inertia, turning ninety-degrees and heading directly for him!

This made the audience cry out, many among them looking at Zhao Jun in shock. What was that move? How could he almost completely offset the inertia? Was this an invention of Zhao Jun? Could it be that another personal-name technique had appeared?

This also caused a brilliant gleam to flash in the eyes of Ling Xiao who was sitting on the chairman's podium. He had already tried his best to develop this type of mecha movements which ignored inertia. Although he had made some progress, it had not become a systematic program. He hadn't thought that a cadet would make his theories into reality...

Ling Xiao began to analyze Zhao Jun's movements mentally where countless detailed data and information went through his mind. The gift of Duplication was quite an anomaly. He only had to take one look and he would then be able to find the underlying key points.

No longer troubled by inertia, Zhao Jun did not need time to recover anymore. Zhao Jun's next attack had already arrived before Zhou Chao-Ling could balance his mecha.

"Mecha chain combo!" Everyone all began cheering once Zhao Jun's attack began. They all knew that in one-versus-one battles, Lin Xiao from the First Co-ed Military Academy was able to successfully perform a six-chain combo. How many hits, then, would this special-class operator, Zhao Jun, be able to achieve? Three, four or five hits?

No one thought he could manage to reach six hits because anything above the five-hit chain combo technique could only be performed by ace operators.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!" Four consecutive sounds of cold weapons striking one another rang out. Zhou Chao-Ling's ability to adapt was very strong—he had blocked Zhao Jun's four-hit combo attack. He hoped that the combo would stop there because he knew he was already at his limit.

Unfortunately, his hopes were shattered as Zhao Jun moved on to the fifth strike of his combo! Zhou Chao-Ling bit down hard and wielded his weapon with difficulty.

"Clang!" Following a loud clash, Zhou Chao-Ling's large sword was flung away. Although he had lost his weapon, Zhou Chao-Ling was still able to block Zhao Jun's fifth consecutive strike.

Zhou Chao-Ling took a breather, thinking to himself, 'A five-hit combo is the limit for a special-class operator. There's no way he can manage a sixth strike.'

Right at that moment, Zhao Jun performed the sixth combo hit that no one expected. The entire audience stood up at the sight of this, wearing faces of astonishment, looking at the arena. Zhao Jun and a six-chain combo? Was this real?

The reality of it was as they saw—Zhao Jun had indeed performed a sixth combo hit. At that moment, Zhou Chao-Ling was helpless as Zhao Jun struck him with great force, sending his entire mecha straight down to crash against the ground with great impact.

Chapter 474 Advancement Into the Finals

Zhao Jun had wanted to repeat the seventh combo strike he had managed in his mindspace, but unfortunately his finger shook and slowed down after inputting half of the commands. The fluid feeling he felt vanished instantly and the seventh combo strike failed.

Although Zhao Jun felt that it was a pity, at the same time he didn't have any regrets. He was already very satisfied that he was able to perform a six-hit combo attack, as this meant the barrier blocking him from reaching the title of ace operator had been broken. If he could stabilize his performance of the six-hit combo attack, he would be able to become an official ace operator after returning to the military academy.

The seven-hit combo was not successful and did not manage to deal the opponent a heavy blow before he plummeted to the ground. This did not discourage Zhao Jun, however; he quickly operated his mecha to dive down at top speed, pointing his weapon at Zhou Chao-Ling who was on the ground, stabbing straight down.

Zhou Chao-Ling's fall had made him dizzy, making him unable to grasp the current situation in the arena. However, his subconscious sensed danger, and without thinking he performed a barrel roll. With this, he managed to dodge Zhao Jun's attack from above.

Although Zhou Chao-Ling was able to dodge fast, Zhao Jun was also able to change his moves quickly—he instantly went from a stabbing motion to a slashing motion, slashing violently towards the mecha rolling away.

"Clang!" Zhao Jun's sword slashed the opponent, the force so great it caused Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha to be flung up into the air.

Zhao Jun's assault did not end there, but further continued. One quick step and he had arrived below Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha. Zhao Jun operated his mecha to fly upwards and once he was close enough, his two legs began spinning like a whirlwind, aiming towards Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha and kicking repeatedly with great force...

"Advanced skill—Whirlwind Kick!" Audience members familiar with mecha skills screamed, unable to contain their excitement.

This kick not only stunned Zhou Chao-Ling who was in the mecha, but also caused his mecha to be kicked into the air. Zhao Jun's mecha quickly rotated and flew upwards. At the same time, both of its arms instantly reversed the grip on the sword, changing its direction.

"Special technique—Twisting Strike!"

Zhao Jun's mecha began to spin around Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha at high speed. The ear-piercing, wailing screech of metal rang throughout the whole arena. Those who had poor physical abilities could not handle this noise, all of them plugging their ears and making a grimace.

Right then, the barrier around the arena shone brightly. Those who paid attention saw that there was a new barrier that was formed in front of the original barrier. It was because of this new barrier that the ear-piercing screech suddenly seemed to sound very far away—it was no longer ear-piercingly painful.

Twisting Strike was a special technique. Its destructive power was clearly greater than high-level techniques. When Zhao Jun finished the technique, everyone could see that the outer shell of Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha had become battered, electrical sparks sputtering from some of its parts. It appeared that the mecha's circuitry had already been damaged by Zhao Jun's Twisting Strike...

Just when Zhao Jun was about to mount his next attack to increase his odds of winning and to knock out Zhou Chao-Ling for good, the main referee, who realized Zhou Chao-Ling's situation, raised up a red flag to indicate a time-out.

Zhao Jun thought it was a shame. It was obvious that victory was at hand, yet it was ruined by the main referee. He angrily put away his cold weapon, hovering in the air and quietly looking at Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha fall from the sky; it fell to the ground once again, creating a cloud of dust.

The main referee made a quick dash and appeared beside Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha. He attempted to contact the operator inside, but there was no response, which startled him.

He immediately told both the technical team and medical team outside of the arena to move in for rescue. This made the crowd restless. Was it going be another case like Zhang Jing-an's?

Technical hackers quickly broke the passcode lock to the operator cockpit and opened it, after which the army physician jumped straight inside. Thirty seconds later, the army physician stuck his head out and informed the others that the operator inside was not badly hurt. The reason they had not been getting a response from him was that the large vibrations from the last strike had unfortunately made him lose consciousness.

After hearing the news, everyone was relieved. Although everyone knew that anything could happen during the competition, they hoped everything could still be safe, the reason being that all of the cadets attending the competition were geniuses chosen by the Federation government—losing a single one of them would be cause for dismay.

However, Zhou Chao-Ling was not capable of continuing to battle in his current state, and thus victor of this battle had to be Zhao Jun. Starting from the beating drums and waving flags from the beginning of the battle, to Zhao Jun's major disadvantage in the later clashes, and then to the sudden explosiveness and successful display of a six-hit combo attack, and finally to the huge turnaround—Zhao Jun performance was undoubtedly brilliant.

Zhao Jun made his way to the backstage of the arena, full of excitement. His victory against Zhou Chao-Ling definitely made him happy, but what made him even happier was that he had successfully advanced to the level of ace operators.

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!"

Qiao Ting and Ling Lan spoke one after the other with congratulatory tones. Qiao Ting spoke just like anyone else would, while Ling Lan was very indifferent. Both of their attitudes made Zhao Jun's excited mood evaporate into thin air... Hmph, the feeling of success from advancing to ace operator didn't seem like much with these two geniuses around him.

Fortunately, there was still Mu Shaoyu; he was able to bring up the saddened mood. "Zhao Jun, you slimy bastard, you managed to soar up to ace operator level. Your luck defies the laws of nature!" Mu Shaoyu's face was full of admiration and envy.

Normal mecha operators who reached the next level usually would choose a quiet place to continue exploring the sensation of having advanced. Breaking through to the next level during combat was extremely dangerous. Usually, at the moment of the breakthrough, mecha operators who were in the state would be unable to feel the outside environment—this would allow an opponent a chance to land a decisive death blow. Even if they did not die, they would be stopped by their opponent, and they would then be brought out of that state of ascension and would never have the chance to advance to the next level.

Zhao Jun began to feel pleased with himself, scratching his head and laughing like an idiot. As expected, advancing to ace level was a feat that would make others envious.

However, if someone knew Zhao Jun well, they would know that he had some hidden suspicions masked by his idiotic laugh. He had a feeling that the death match between him and Boss Lan in the secret room was an imagination formed by his own mind. Only, why would he have been imagining a fight with Boss Lan? Shouldn't it be his old opponent Qiao Ting?

Furthermore, his way of advancing to ace level was different from the way the instructors had taught. Leveling up during battle was only because of the opponent's relentlessness, bringing about a life-or-death situation to trigger the advancement. It was impossible that there would be an imaginary battle in his mind to cause the level up... This was also why he was able to successfully advance. Since he did not have a breakthrough during the battle in the real world, the loss of senses of the environment around him was also not in the real world. It was possible that he had felt the power for a very long time, but in the real world it could have been only a tenth of a second. Or maybe he had never stopped at all?

This was very odd. Zhao Jun could not make heads or tails of it. He subconsciously glanced towards the indifferent Boss Lan who was standing beside him. He suspected whether it was Boss Lan who had a hand in all this. He didn't know why, but he still felt that Boss Lan had something to do with it. During the battle with Zhou Chao-Ling, he heard a cold groan. No matter how many times he thought about it, it was for sure Boss Lan's voice...

Zhao Jun was full of suspicion, wanting to ask Ling Lan for answers; however, he knew that right now was not the time for seeking answers. Zhao Jun was very sure that if people knew Ling Lan had the ability to help others advance to the ace level, this news would be even worse than Ling Lan becoming an ace operator during her second year. It would definitely be very troublesome.

Producing ace operators was something the Federation government had never achieved in the last thousands of years. If Boss Lan really had this ability, the military would take control of him even if he was a monster of a genius operator. For the Federation, the value of an imperial class operator or a god class operator couldn't be compared to millions of ace class operators. Ace operators were the soul of the battlefield.

Although Zhao Jun looked like a boorish fellow, his thoughts were very detailed and careful, not careless and impulsive. Letting go of his suspicions, he intended to find a safe time and place to ask about this in private.

Zhao Jun's victory brought the score of the round to 2-1, with the First Men's Military Academy in the lead. The faces of those from the Third Men's Military Academy turned green as they felt depressed from Zhao Jun's good luck. He was certain to have lost, yet he unexpectedly advanced to ace level and performed a six-hit combo—this negated the advantage Zhou Chao-Ling had and thus enabled him to successfully make a comeback.

"Even though we lost, we must still do well in the next two matches!" The members of the Third Men's Military Academy encouraged each other. Even though they knew they were not a match for Qiao Ting, they still wanted to finish all five matches with the First Men's Military Academy to not soil the Third Men's Military Academy's name.

However, when they saw Qiao Ting walk towards the mecha holding area and prepare to board his mecha into battle, the expressions on the faces of the Third Men's Military Academy dropped. The First Men's Military Academy wasn't even going to give them the chance at a fifth match. Once Qiao Ting came out, who could go against him?

As expected, Qiao Ting easily defeated his opponent with three rifle shots in the fourth match and won the round. The First Men's Military Academy advanced to the finals with a 3-1 score. They still had to wait for a winner to be decided between the First Co-ed Military Academy and the Second Men's Military Academy, after which they would begin the finals for first and second place.

The First Co-ed Military Academy and the Second Men's Military Academy quickly finished their round. Compared to the First Men's Military Academy's oddball rankings and battle formation set up, these two military academies were much more organized.

As trump cards, Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu were scheduled for the fifth match. The arrogance of being ace operators made them unable to go into battle first and what's more, Jiang Shaoyu wanted to carry out his revenge. The four matches before theirs were evenly matched, pretty much organized by strength levels, other than a few changes.

It should be said that these two military academies were not much different in strength levels. The first four matches ended with two wins and two losses to each side respectively, reaching a draw. In the end, it would be the two ace mecha operators battling for the win. Both Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao, after facing each other in the single mecha battle semi-finals, faced each other again in the group mecha battle semi-finals. This time, however, the outcome of their battle would not only decide their fate, but also which of their military academies would come out on top.

This time, Jiang Shaoyu was determined to not be bewitched by Lin Xiao like he was in the previous match. The thought that his opponent's close-combat abilities were not strong had made him careless and this had given his opponent an opportunity which lead to his defeat.

At the same time, Lin Xiao was not naive enough to use the same trick to confuse his opponent. Since everyone's close-combat ability was the strongest, there was no need to be secretive about it. Once the match started, he would simply take a close-combat stance and fight like they had never fought before.

Chapter 475 The Third Match!

The both of them were ace operators, equally matched in skill, but they still needed to determine a winner in the end. After battling hard for many rounds, both of them wanted to end it. In unplanned unison, they both used their most powerful offensive skill.

"Whirlwind Strike!" This was Jiang Shaoyu's ace sure-kill technique.

"Rippling Strike!" This was the ace top-class skill Lin Xiao had been keeping as a trump card.

A mecha could be seen beginning to rapidly spin while holding its weapon, while the cold weapon held by the other mecha began spinning furiously. One used their entire body with mountainous force, while the other's terrifying destructive force was derived from rapid rotations, aiming to scratch the surface and create an opening—both weapons finally struck each other!

"Bang!" A large shockwave shook the arena, ripples even forming on the transparent barrier surrounding it. From this, it was apparent that the impact was truly powerful.

In the space above the arena, however, the two cold weapons respectively wielded by their owners withstood each other. The two mecha looked as though they were frozen in time, neither of them moving an inch!

Boom! A large shattering sound erupted in the arena. The audience was surprised, not knowing where that sound had come from. Just as they were all still making guesses about it, a series of shattering sounds erupted in the stadium. This time, somebody suddenly shouted out in shock, "Quick, look at their cold weapons!"

That shout drew the audience's attention to focus on the cold weapons of the two mecha. Those with keen observation immediately figured out where the shattering sound had come from—it was from where their cold weapons had clashed. Cracks actually appeared on the blades and following the sharp shattering sounds, more and more cracks formed... The great force born from ace level techniques had utterly shattered both mecha's cold weapons.

After a "Crack!", both mecha's cold weapons could not hold their original shape and shattered into pieces, and not only that, the arms of their mecha also fell apart simultaneously.

The two arms of Jiang Shaoyu's mecha holding his sword began to crumble. While the same was happening to Lin Xiao, his situation was a bit better compared to Jiang Shaoyu, the reason being that he was wielding his sword with one hand; thus, only his right arm was breaking apart.

This basically determined the final winner. After both launched strikes at one another, the resulting great force destroyed both arms of Jiang Shaoyu's mecha, whereas Lin Xiao was lucky enough to still have his left hand intact. Without both arms, Jiang Shaoyu could no longer use his left hand to hold a gun and match Lin Xiao in a long-range battle. Although Jiang Shaoyu had tried his best to delay the match until the end of the time limit, he would ultimately still lose to Lin Xiao due to the scoring.

Jiang Shaoyu lost to Lin Xiao again. This meant that in terms of mecha piloting, Lin Xiao was indeed more capable than Jiang Shaoyu, and that was why he was able to defeat his opponent twice and win.

Just like that, the finals opponent for the First Men's Military Academy became the First Co-ed Military Academy. This result made the two girls, Luo Chao and Han Xuya, feel conflicted regarding the two academies—they didn't know if they should be cheering for their own military academy or cheer for Boss Lan. In the end, Luo Chao decided to be a bit selfish and cheered for her Boss Lan! It was a pity for those seniors, who were just heartlessly abandoned by their two juniors, Luo Chao and Han Xuya.

However, before the finals, the battle for the third and fourth place had to be fought. This battle was between the two schools with no chance or luck in getting into the finals, the Second and Third Men's Military Academy. Since their strength levels was on par with each other, they also fought hard for five matches, and because of the destruction of his mecha's arms from the previous fight, Jiang Shaoyu had to use the reserve mecha. Zhou Chao-Ling managed to only keep the match at a draw, most likely because the lack of time had led to the reserve model not being calibrated to the best possible condition. It could also be that after losing to Lin Xiao, his mentality was wavering, in addition to his careful and solid control of the mecha. This had resulted in the match remaining at a draw until the end of the match.

Neither of them landed a decisive blow. No points were deducted as both their mecha operation had been near perfect. Their scores were the same at the end; however, military academy rankings were unlike single battles, as they could not end with a draw. In the very end, the official could only ask the teams to draw numbers out of a bag to determine the winner.

It should be known that Jiang Shaoyu was extremely unlucky in this tournament—he picked a number first, yet he managed to pick out the smallest number. Just like that, the Third Men's Military Academy was deemed victorious for this match, taking third place, while the Second Men's Military Academy unexpectedly fell to fourth place, reaching an all-time low compared to the last 30 years. It had to be noted that in many of the previous years, the Second Men's Military Academy had always placed in second place in the group tournament.

After losing the group matches, the Second Men's Military Academy's overall score dropped to fourth place. If they did not manage to turn things around in the next day's battle royale, the Second Men's Military Academy may again produce the lowest overall score ever. This made both instructors and cadets of the Second Men's Military Academy feel suffocated—mind you, they had been planning on taking first place.

After the matches determining the third and fourth place came to an end, the backstage began to become busy. After 30 minutes, the final group matches for the title of first and second place that everyone was awaiting would begin.

But a new round of battles for who goes in which match ensued in the First Men's Military Academy's group.

"Let's use the same tactic?" Mu Shaoyu said while readying his fists.

Han Yu, who had already woken up from his meditative state, said, "Of course!" The good luck they had was not easy to come by. They must seize the moment and use it to their advantage.

Zhao Jun was also full of confidence. He hadn't missed out on any matches since they started using rock-paper-scissors to determine the match lineup. He had a feeling that his luck would be very good this time as well.

Qiao Ting glanced at Ling Lan and softly asked, "How about it?"

"Sure!" Ling Lan said indifferently.

The five of them formed a circle once again and began to play rock-paper-scissors to see who would win.

"Hahaha, like I said, my luck is overflowing in this tournament! Thanks guys, looks like I have taken the first match!" Zhao Jun laughed hysterically, his eyes full of pride. He had once again taken down four people with a single rock.

"Mother, your luck is f***ing off the charts today. " Mu Shaoyu angrily bumped Zhao Jun with his shoulder. Zhao Jun didn't react in time and was bumped out of the circle. He wanted to stand firm right after, but suddenly his knees felt weak, causing him to kneel down and drop heavily to the ground. He began to curse loudly, gritting his teeth from the pain.

Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu began to laugh hysterically after seeing Zhao Jun's situation, pointing and screaming out that he was getting what he deserved for his prideful behavior.

Ling Lan flicked the lowered finger on her right hand and coldly looked towards Qiao Ting who was beside her. Qiao Ting coolly turned his head away but, unfortunately, the red spot behind his ear had exposed his embarrassment—not only had Ling Lan secretly done something, even the proud Qiao Ting had not managed to reign in his depressed feeling, which was why he had also quietly punished the overly prideful and arrogant Zhao Jun.

Of course, he had faced the consequences of his actions. Ling Lan glanced disdainfully at Zhao Jun who had already gotten up and begun to rub his knees—to think he had the audacity to show off in front of her.

The four of them ignored Zhao Jun and started the next round of rock-paper-scissors. This time, Mu Shaoyu was tossed out.

Mu Shaoyu crouched down and held his head in frustration in the face of this result. 'Why did I use paper? If I had used rock, then wouldn't the second round have been mine for the taking?' This time, he had ended up the one to hold the line in the fifth match. Just the three of them, Ling Lan, Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting, would be able to savagely acquire three wins even without Han Yu. What would he be doing if he went after them?

While Mu Shaoyu was flooded with regret, the others had determined a winner after starting a new round. Qiao Ting calmly took back his fist, but revealed a bit of joy between his brows. "Thank you for giving me the second match!"

Han Yu angrily took back his scissors and faced Ling Lan who had also lost from using scissors.

After a few seconds, the match was decided—Han Yu looked at his palm as if he was about to gobble it up. Ling Lan said coldly, "Captain Han, thank you for your generosity."

Just like that, the order in which the contestants from First Men's Military Academy would be going into battle was established. First match: Zhao Jun; Second match: Qiao Ting; Third match: Ling Lan; Fourth match: Han Yu; Fifth match: Mu Shaoyu!

Time passed by very quickly and the half hour quickly passed. The matches between the First Men's Military Academy versus the First Co-ed Military Academy had begun.

It was the first match; Zhao Jun was up. Whether it was the audience or their opponents, they had all given up on trying to figure out what order they would send out their members into battle. Who knows who they'll be sending out, so they thought. Even Qiao Ting could appear in battle in any of the first three positions. Anything can happen right?

Although Zhao Jun had advanced to ace operator level, the mecha he brought was a special-class mecha and that being the case, he could only use the special-class mecha. However, a special-class operator operating a special-class mecha and an ace operator operating a special-class mecha were two completely different concepts. No matter if it was speed or power, ace operators could operate the special-class mechas to their limit.

The First Co-ed Military Academy sent out their fourth strongest member for the first round, a special-class top-level operator with capabilities similar to that of Zhao Jun. He didn't really inconvenience Zhao Jun that much and was easily defeated. Zhao Jun took the first match without any issues.

The First Co-ed Military Academy wasn't ready to give up just yet because, in reality, they were more happy than regretful. Although they did think that it was a pity that their fourth strongest had become a sacrifice for Zhao Jun, the result of having used a somewhat weaker member to make the First Men's Military Academy expend their second strongest player was doubtlessly a good one.

After ten minutes of intermission, the second match of the finals began. Qiao Ting went out onto the arena which made everyone restless again. Although the audience didn't care about what order the First Men's Military Academy had set up, was it really wise to send out their strongest member into the second match?

For the First Co-ed Military Academy, this was like being wild with joy after striking gold, the reason being that they sent out their weakest member for the second match. Using their weakest member to expend the opposing side's strongest ace operator was a wonderful thing for them. Even if they had gone to great pains to formulate a plan, the result may not have been as good as this. There was even a member who slapped himself hard in the face to see if he was dreaming.

Naturally, no issues cropped up in the ensuing fight—Qiao Ting easily defeated his opponent and took the second match!

The First Men's Military Academy had taken the first two matches. Now they would be able to be the crowned champions of the group tournament after winning the next match, but the audience didn't couldn't see it happening. Some people even frowned at the result, as the First Academy's two strongest ace operators were already expended. There was still three matches left—could the other members of the First Men's Military Academy really be able to take one of the remaining three matches?

It should be known that among the three people left from the First Co-ed Military Academy, there was not only an ace operator, but also two other similarly capable special-class peak-level operators. By contrast, the three members left in the First Men's Military Academy were the weakest three. If the order of the next three matches was weakest versus strongest... then the situation would not look well for the First Men's Military Academy.

"The third match is the most important one!" Everyone held the same thought in mind.

Chapter 476 The Secret of Rock-Paper-Scissors?

If the First Men's Military Academy followed through to win this third match, then first place would belong to the First Men's Military Academy; however... if they suffered a setback instead, the morale of the First Men's Military Academy would be affected. The result was hard to determine.

In the First Men's Military Academy's audience area, Qi Long and the others were waiting for the third match to begin. Seeing how everyone was growing somewhat bored, Lin Zhong-qing took out a bag of goodies from his backpack and handed it to Xie Yi who was sitting beside him.

Xie Yi opened the bag and saw that it contained sunflower seeds to help pass the time; these were great for keeping one occupied during these dull moments. Very quickly, the members of the Lingtian Battle Clan divided a large portion of those seeds amongst each other. Lin Zhong-qing also didn't forget the other teams and handed out another three to four bags.

While everyone was munching on sunflower seeds, they began to discuss who would be the next one from their academy to come out onto the arena.

"Boss said it before, they determine the order by rock-paper-scissors. Since luck is the main factor, you really can't predict the outcome," Luo Lang said amongst all the discussion.

Li Lanfeng's hands, which were peeling sunflower seeds, slightly shuddered—is it really just luck? He wondered, his mouth revealing a small smirk. If Rabbit did something, it couldn't be so simple, right?

Sitting beside Li Lanfeng, Han Jijyun noticed the former's odd behavior. He quickly shot a glance towards Li Lanfeng, knowing fully well that Li Lanfeng had also realized the secret behind the ordering after having watched many matches. Other than the fixed sequence in the beginning, the ordering through pure luck using rock-paper-scissors still followed a certain pattern.

Zhao Jun was obviously on the brink of advancement, so the continuous fighting was benefiting him and thus, Zhao Jun always came out in the third match. This was the work of both Qiao Ting and their boss.

Han Yu was not very capable; therefore, they cut down his appearance in the matches. Mu Shaoyu's strength wasn't bad, so he would have more of a chance to be in the first three matches than Han Yu. The three that had gone a long way since the beginning of the finals, Zhao Jun, Ling Lan and Qiao Ting were the three strongest individuals from the First Men's Military Academy. Their chances to come out and do battle were the highest. It was obvious that the order decided by the rock-paper-scissors arrangement was, in reality, not really determined by luck.

Han Jijyun was very impressed with Li Lanfeng right now. He had known since he was very young that his Boss Lan would not do something so immature—there had to be a hidden meaning to all this—so when the Boss had said they would decide using rock-paper-scissors, he had thought long about this decision, as to why he would be use this method.

Every time they finished determining the order, he had always carefully examined it and now he was finally able to understand something. He hadn't thought that someone like Li Lanfeng, who joined them afterwards, also knew so much about the Boss... He really was looking out for the Boss if he could come to such a conclusion as well.

Han Jijyun would not exclude anyone who looked out for the Boss. A thought flashed in Han Jijyun's mind, and he said, "Senior Li Lanfeng definitely knows who will be the next person on the lineup."

Han Jijyun's words made everyone quickly direct their eyes towards Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng turned his head towards Han Jijyun, his hands shaking. Han Jijyun's eyes were bright as day, his pupils dilated, almost separating them from his sockets. This wasn't the expression of a prankster, but one of sincerity...

Li Lanfeng immediately knew of Han Jijyun's intentions—the latter wanted to give him a chance to prove himself in order to improve his standing with the other teammates, to prove that he was a competent strategist.

Li Lanfeng smiled. Only he knew of the excited expression he had under his masked expression. He calmed himself down with great effort. He couldn't waste the chance that Han Jijyun had given him. He pulled himself together, pumping his fists together and coughing once. This made those who were waiting for the answer to shoot a bunch of cold, sharp glances at him.

Li Lanfeng did not dare to hesitate any longer, otherwise he would be making everyone angry. He said, "If my guess is correct, Boss Lan will be the one coming out to fight."

"Why is it Boss?" Luo Lang, unlike the others who were deep in thought, asked in confusion.

Seeing this, Xie Yi held his forehead and laughed bitterly. Compared to those intelligent individuals from the other teams, Luo Lang, being in this team, was really a newbie at this.

Li Lanfeng looked towards Han Jijyun and smiled. "Junior Jijyun understands this as well." Since Han Jijyun gave him a chance to show off, he had to return the favor and give Han Jijyun a chance as well.

And of course, Han Jijyun understood Li Lanfeng's intentions. He didn't object to it and began to explain, "In this match-up, Boss Lan and the others probably want to show how domineering the First Men's Military Academy is, and take first place by defeating the opponent in the first three rounds. Therefore, the order in which they appear will definitely be the strongest individuals from our military academy. Since both Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting have been sent out, then the third match will definitely be our boss."

After hearing this, Luo Lang was still quite perplexed. He asked, "Didn't they say they would decide by rock-paper-scissors? Then why is it definitely going to be Boss coming out for the third match? The other two have a chance too." After saying that, he whispered, "Luck isn't something that you can determine."

Xie Yi could no longer stand Luo Lang's newbie remarks and quickly added, "We are probably basing it off luck, but with Boss's capabilities, luck is not even in the equation."

Right then, Luo Lang had a realization. This was true. For monsters like their boss, whether they came out to fight or not, luck would not be an issue—it was up to whether their boss wanted to or not.

Seeing that Luo Lang had come to an understanding, Xie Yi silently wiped away a streak of cold sweat. Luo Lang finally stopped his continued humiliation of the team and Xie Yi... 'Ugh? What just happened?'

The First Men's Military Academy predicted that the next to come out would be Ling Lan. Shortly after, the third match was about to begin.

The large screen showed a few large characters. "First Men's VS First Co-ed, Third Match: Ling Lan VS Ye Feiyang!"

Seeing those words, Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun both smiled, now knowing that their predictions had been accurate.

The crowd in the bleachers once again erupted into heated discussion after the information of the players who would be in the third match was announced.

"Ye Feiyang is the second strongest special-class top-level operator in the First Co-ed Military Academy, only weaker by a bit compared to Lin Xiao. Looks like the First Co-ed Military Academy made a good choice!" said those who were in favor of the First Co-ed Military Academy.

"Ling Lan should be considered the third strongest in the First Men's Military Academy, only behind Qiao Ting and Zhao Jun. This match still has something going for it." Due to Ling Lan's previous performances, many members of the audience were looking forward to how she would do.

"Although that Ling Lan's basic training is perfect, looking at his previous opponents, they were comparatively weaker. This time he probably won't be as lucky with this opponent!" There were some who looked down upon Ling Lan.

In the First Co-ed Military Academy's side of the bleachers, Luo Chao's face suddenly turned bright red after seeing the names on the big screen; she was unable to contain her admiration.

Han Xuya made a face upon hearing the seniors sitting around her saying that there was a chance they would be able to take this match. She lightly nudged Luo Chao and whispered, "Hey, Senior Ye doesn't stand a chance right?"

Although Han Xuya wasn't completely certain of Ling Lan's mecha operating capabilities, like everyone else, she believed that Ling Lan was a special-class operator. However, from her childhood, her image of how Ling Lan was invincible was etched in stone for her. She had always believed that Boss Lan was invincible amongst those of the same level.

Luo Chao carefully glanced at the seniors around her and upon seeing that their attention was not on her, she quickly nodded her head. Truthfully, from how Luo Chao saw it, Boss Lan would not lose even if Senior Lin Xiao went up to fight, and the one currently on the field was Senior Ye—he was pretty much just delivering himself on a platter for Ling Lan.

Luo Chao began to feel pity for Senior Ye who was amiable and caring to them. Boss Lan would hopefully go easy on him since he was their senior.

Luo Chao suddenly felt sorry towards her own military academy and seniors for having such thoughts. She felt guilty, which made her already red face turn even redder, and she subconsciously began to play with her fingers. She would rather have her senior lose and not Boss Lan who took care of her when she was little.

Luo Chao bit her lip and decided she was going to be selfish this time. She... would only cheer for Boss Lan.

Right then, the two mechas of the contestants entered the arena. They were none other than Ling Lan and her opponent Ye Feiyang.

Ye Feiyang's mecha was the same as Ling Lan's—both were balanced-type mecha! Following Ling Xiao's advancement to god-class, there had been an exponential increase in mecha operators choosing balanced-type mecha for use. This made the not so valued balanced-type mecha instantly become the Federation's most popular type.

After the main referee in the center of the arena made sure the two competitors were ready, he waved the green flag in his hand and then the match officially began.

Ling Lan didn't really change her battle strategy, still going with her choice of long-range attacks. After the green flag was waved, she flicked her fingers a few times, then began to quickly operate her mecha. From the perspective of the normal audience members, it felt as if Ling Lan's mecha had rapidly flown backwards at the same time the green flag was waved.

In the eyes of top-level operators however, Ling Lan had taken a delay of milliseconds to move after the flag was waved and thus hadn't performed a good flag-speed control. Going by this, it seemed that her flag-speed control from before was only by pure luck; the top-level operators all made this conclusion. Only Ling Xiao's face had a smile growing.

Ling Lan's opponent, Ye Feiyang, also made a similar display. Once Ling Lan moved, he moved as well, operating virtually at the same time Ling Lan did, minimizing his starting movement delay as much as possible, and this made the eyes of those top-level operators light up. They guessed there were many talented individuals in this year's tournament.

Ye Feiyang didn't choose to move back like Ling Lan, but instead closely followed after Ling Lan in the same direction. He wanted engage in close combat with Ling Lan.

Ye Feiyang was someone who always came prepared—other than Qiao Ting, Ye Feiyang had studied the battle recordings of the other four contestants because those four were likely to be his opponent.

Among those four, Ling Lan was the one whom he had paid most attention to as she operated a balanced-type mecha just like he did. After careful study, he couldn't deny that Ling Lan was pretty much invulnerable when it came to long range combat. He wasn't confident that he would be able to take the win if they fought a long-range battle.

When he was forming his battle strategy, Ye Feiyang decided to try to stay as close as possible. Although using balanced-type mecha required strong skills in close combat and long-range combat, people would always have their own preferences. Lin Xiao, for example, favored close combat more and was weaker in long-range combat. Similar to Lin Xiao, Ye Feiyang was also slightly better at close combat than long-range combat... Since Ling Lan's long range abilities were that strong, it wouldn't make sense if his close range combat was even stronger. Ye Feiyang didn't believe that Ling Lan could be such a monster and firmly believed that Ling Lan's skill in close combat was weaker than his own. He hoped to use his strong suit instead of his weaker side, not giving the opposition any chance at long-range combat.

In the bleachers of the First Men's Military Academy, Qi Long watched the two mecha, one running and one chasing. He nudged Han Jijyun who was beside him with his elbow. "Jijyun, I'm seeing correctly right? That guy from the First Co-ed Military Academy wants to engage in close combat with Boss Lan?"