Rest

The mech was quickly repaired, and Reno and Antonia returned to their respective mechs.

The shoulder-to-shoulder moment just now didn't create any sense of super friendship between the two, but it couldn't be denied that their relationship took a significant step forward.

There were natural factors at play, as well as mutual needs and intentional actions—after experiencing this mission, both Reno and Antonia felt the importance of each other's presence.

Without Antonia, Reno would have lost to the ambush just now. And Antonia also realized that she needed Reno's excellent overall view of the situation, now coupled with his repair skills.

Friendship is the lubricant of cooperation.

The warming of emotions made Reno and Antonia's cooperation suddenly smooth. Antonia no longer opposed Reno on everything, and Reno started to pay attention to his tone and tried to respect Antonia's playing style characteristics.

If it wasn't for the hurried combat earlier, he would consult Antonia about tactics. And if the situation was urgent, Antonia would choose to fully listen to Reno.

Putting aside their guard and cooperating well, the two truly brought out the effect where one plus one is greater than two. The result was that they were unbeatable all the way, defeating anyone who dared to stand against them.

An hour later, Reno and Antonia arrived at the designated mission location without encountering another ambush.

After handing over the toy bear, Reno's score immediately increased by thirty points on the display panel.

Reno now had twelve points in his hands, plus these thirty, making forty-two in total.

Seeing these points, Reno said, "Requesting to transfer points."

"Request received. To prevent team cheating, point transfers require submission of an application, and each person can only transfer and be transferred once, and the transferred points cannot exceed half of their own points. Do you confirm the application?"

"Confirmed. Transfer ten points."

"Ten points?" Antonia was surprised. "Wasn't it agreed on five points?"

"This is what you deserve." Reno smiled in response.

Since they wanted to cooperate well, they shouldn't take advantage of each other. With Antonia's contribution in the mission, receiving ten points wasn't excessive. And since Antonia wanted to be first, while Reno didn't have much pursuit for the first place, in fact, quite the opposite, as being the champion would expose him too much in the eyes of others.

Since that's the case, it's better to give more points to Antonia.

As Antonia currently had fewer total points than Reno, it meant that she needed to surpass Reno first if she wanted to get first place. So in the upcoming battles, she would have to work harder and take on more risks.

This was also a good thing for Reno because he knew that if he wanted to go far, he would probably have to rely on Antonia.

Without any surprises, Antonia finally showed a satisfied look in her eyes when she looked at Reno. Their already good relationship took another step forward.

"What's next?" Antonia asked Reno.

Reno thought for a moment and replied, "It's getting late. I think we should find a place to rest properly, stock up on ammunition and energy as much as possible, and prepare for tomorrow's battle."

The mission was over, and Reno returned to his original rhythm, continuing to lay low. With a night's time, he could produce enough energy ammunition. As long as the organizers didn't go crazy, they shouldn't give him another mandatory mission.

This disappointed Antonia a bit because she wanted to earn more points.

Reno noticed her thoughts and took out a map, circling a location on it, and said, "There's a place suitable for ambush. We can go there to rest and recuperate. While recovering our strength, we can also produce more, preparing for tomorrow's big battle. Of course, we can't just sit still. If you feel you've recovered enough, you can actively lure some people over. I'll stay behind and specifically ambush them. What do you think?"

"So I'll be the bait, and you'll reap the benefits?" Antonia raised an eyebrow.

"If they're easy to deal with, you can handle it yourself and don't need to bring them here. If you encounter tough opponents, then come find me." Reno replied, his words profound, "This time, I'll be your insurance."

Antonia's eyes lit up. If that was the case, the situation would be completely different. This meant that she could earn more points than Reno. For Antonia, who was eager for points, she couldn't let this opportunity slip by.

As for Reno, just ambushing wouldn't consume much ammunition or energy, making it an excellent choice.

The plan was set, and the two went to the valley together.

Reno found a high point and watched over from above, while Antonia took the initiative to attack.

Usually, she wouldn't stray too far from the valley, always staying in touch with Reno. Once encountering tough opponents or team combinations, she would lure them deeper.

As the competition progressed, participants forming small team alliances had become more and more common. Typically, they formed groups of two to three people. Any more than that, and it would be hard to coordinate internally, leading to potential problems.

This made Antonia's hunting plan less than ideal.

From five in the afternoon until ten at night, Antonia launched twelve attacks in total. Out of these, seven encounters involved small team combinations. She had to call for Reno's support, and after fighting for five hours, she only gained five points, but expended a considerable amount of energy and ammunition.

This left Antonia feeling

 a bit discouraged. Looking at the four-point difference between them, Antonia said, "We still need four more points. It looks like we'll have to work hard for at least another four hours."

As she was about to go again, Reno stopped her. "You don't need to rush like this. Sometimes, the more anxious you are, the less you'll get. Why not take a good rest? You're not made of iron. Rest well, be in the best condition to face tomorrow's big battle—that's the most reasonable choice."

Antonia was about to say something when Reno grabbed her and said, "Do you trust me?"

Uh... This question was a bit ambiguous.

Antonia hesitated for a moment and replied with a "Hmm," which was considered acceptable.

Reno continued, "Then go get some good rest. Leave everything else to me. I promise you'll have a thrilling battle tomorrow and surpass my score."

"...Okay," Antonia finally agreed, shrugging her shoulders.

She lay down in a spot, turned her head, and saw Reno's cockpit half-opened. Reno was half leaning out, holding a map and studying something.

She didn't know what Reno was studying, nor could she see his face, but she could feel Reno's seriousness. So lost in thought, Antonia seemed to see a young and handsome face, strategizing with the map.

The scene was so beautiful that Antonia, lost in her thoughts, blushed slightly.

She just stared blankly at Reno. Gradually, she fell asleep.

This was the soundest sleep Antonia had had since entering the competition. In her dreams, she faintly heard the sounds of guns and explosions, but she didn't wake up because Reno had said to leave everything to him. She chose to trust Reno and fell into a deep sleep.

A good sleep washed away Antonia's fatigue from the past two days and nights. She almost didn't want to wake up, if it weren't for a sudden violent shake.

"Hey, hey, wake up! What happened to not wanting to sleep? You're sleeping like a log, even more so than a pig."

After who knows how long she slept, Reno's voice finally came.

"You're the pig!" Antonia rolled over and sat up, but she forgot that she was sleeping in the cockpit and banged her head on the canopy.

"Ow!" Antonia groaned, holding her head in pain. She opened her eyes and saw Reno's masked face outside the porthole.

Rubbing her eyes, Antonia, still a bit dazed, said, "What happened? I seem to have heard gunfire. Did some guy attack you, and you couldn't handle it?"

"The gunfire was two and four hours ago. The good news is I've taken care of the attackers. The bad news is our score difference has widened to six points again."

"Oh, damn it, I knew you letting me sleep wasn't a good sign." Antonia said in anguish, slapping her forehead.

Reno tapped on the canopy, "I gave you six hours of sleep, and this is the evaluation I get? You're a petty girl."

"Six hours?" Antonia was stunned, looking at the sky above again.

Above was a dazzling starry sky.

Antonia blurted out, "What time is it now? Why is it still dark?"

"It's four in the morning," Reno replied.

"Damn, why are you waking me up so early?"

"We have to leave," Reno said.

"Leave?" Antonia exclaimed in surprise, her mouth wide open.

"Yes, right now."

"Where to?"

"The ruins on the island."

"Why are we going there?"

"That's the main battlefield for the third day. We need to get there as soon as possible... to prepare for the battle. From now on, we won't have any more sleep."