Chapter 113: Traps in the Ruins

Blue and green data streams flickered across the screen.

Janice's fingers danced over a virtual keyboard, her silver-gray mechanical pupils pulsing faintly with each breath.

She pressed the confirm key with trembling hands.

Buzz—

A strange hum echoed deep in her mind. Her inexplicable twitching ceased, though tiny beads of sweat still dotted her forehead.

"Repairs… incomplete," Janice said, wincing as if in pain. "Logical errors from database changes have been corrected, but the core system's operation remains unstable…"

Ya Ning was speechless. She sounded like she was fixing a broken appliance.

Zhou Ying, packing his tools and mech, glanced back with a cold expression. "You can't even fix your own system, let alone us. Report the error to the higher-ups. Linger here, and who knows what 'malfunction' your body might hit?"

Janice inhaled softly, reclaiming her icy, hyper-rational demeanor. "I can't leave. The team match isn't over."

"Your mech's already scrapped," Zhou Ying sneered. "What's the plan? I can't conjure you a new one."

"It was the Empire's Cen Yuehuai," Janice said, eyes closing. "Somehow, her mental strength surged briefly, and its ripple affected me…"

"One mental spike short-circuited you?" Zhou Ying asked. "Your system designers didn't account for facing opponents with mental surges?"

Janice looked up, her voice frail. "They did, but the military only collected data on Federal mental surges. Imperial data is blank. And… I must admit, my system has flaws…"

"When Cen Yuehuai's mental strength spiked, my system took a massive hit. I can no longer use mental strength in combat. But my computational power remains—I can assist, offering tactical suggestions."

"You're sounding humbler now," Zhou Ying said with a grin. "No more grabbing for command?"

Janice fell silent.

She was the one begging to stay in the match.

"…I've lost my mech, and our combat strength lags behind theirs. It's a tough fight, but we still have a shot," Janice said firmly.

Zhou Ying raised an eyebrow, kneeling to meet her gaze. "Why not use your mighty computing to calculate our odds of winning this match?"

A glint flashed in Janice's silver eyes. "Zero point seven percent."

Ya Ning: "…" Wasn't that basically zero?!

Zhou Ying said dryly, "Zero point seven. Knowing that, you still want to keep going?"

"That's not final," Janice said, each word crisp. "Based on the system's map analysis, the buildings will shift further. If we exploit this, our odds will climb…"

Janice stood, bracing against the wall.

Her eyes sparked with stormy flecks, wires trailing from her, electronic patterns glowing faintly at her neck. Her port—also a wound—oozed red blood with her movements.

"A warrior's code has no room for 'surrender.'"

"Well said," Zhou Ying clapped twice, then added sardonically, "But tell the military something—can they fix your buggy system? Otherwise, we're just humiliating ourselves."

Janice frowned, warning, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. You're a Federal Central Military Academy cadet and part of the military."

Zhou Ying ignored her, glancing outside. "Two Imperials are still watching. Your plan?"

Janice's silver irises flicked. "Lure them to the right spot."

She shared several coordinates.

"Per the system's analysis, these buildings likely hide mechanisms."

Before the match, a note on the map had mentioned that buildings might randomly shift or invert.

There was a trick to it.

They'd seen similar transforming arenas in academy training—some shifts relied on hidden mechanisms, waiting to be triggered.

For optimal terrain shifts, these mechanisms required precise design. Mastering their patterns could turn the tables on enemies.

For Janice, decoding these patterns was child's play—

If they could just activate them!

"We can't match them head-on. Ambush tactics won't work either—they cover each other too well. We need to split them… We can't outgun them, so we must bait them."

"I'll try."

Zhou Ye's voice cut through the comms.

He'd been on lookout, comms open, silently absorbing Zhou Ying's situation.

"I'm with you," Ya Ning said, climbing into his cockpit. "Bait needs a lure, right?"

…

While Zhou Ye plotted the bait, Ji Ya and Xino weren't rushing to chase.

They were clear-headed.

Four Federal cadets were holed up here. Watch closely, strike when they peeked, and the match was over.

"Cen Yuehuai and Yu Yan are taking forever to down Yan Jingyi," Ji Ya said, curious. "Is she that strong?"

"She's likely the top solo fighter among this Federal batch," Xino said, adjusting his gun, eyes fixed—he wasn't a great sniper and needed focus to keep his target.

Ji Ya: "Even Her Highness joined, and it's still not over?"

Xino paused, recounting their Unbounded City encounter. "Long story short, Her Highness goes easy on Yan Jingyi, and vice versa. Last time they fought, it was like a waltz. This might just be a rerun—hey, they're out!"

Ji Ya raised an eyebrow, following Xino's gaze.

A silver mech slid from a high perch, not landing on exposed ledges but darting forward in an erratic, reckless trajectory. Its thrusters vibrated at high frequency, trailing black sparks.

Xino tried aiming, giving up in a second.

"Are they nuts? Can their thrusters handle that abuse?"

"Hope not," Ji Ya chuckled, her right hand morphing into a rotating electromagnetic cannon. She activated auto-tracking, pulling the heavy trigger.

The black cannon muzzle glowed with converging blue light.

Bang, bang, bang—three piercing blue beams shot toward Zhou Ye's mech, trailing like comet tails.

Zhou Ye's silver mech leaped, flipping midair. The beams curved after him, but his wild zigzags tangled them together.

Shing! A blinding blade flashed!

Zhou Ye accelerated, leaving a chain of afterimages.

A boom—three beams exploded on his blade.

His slash left a smoky arc in the air.

"Not bad," Xino grinned, a spark of battlelust in his tone. "Last time on the barren star, we barely clashed, didn't get his measure…"

"Go fight if you want," Ji Ya said, half-exasperated. "Your sniping's mediocre anyway—wasted here. I've got this."

Xino: "Thanks!"

His golden wings flared, gleaming regally under the lights. He charged Zhou Ye like a wild stallion, and they clashed in a blur.

Ji Ya spared some focus for Zhou Ye's thrusters.

They hadn't failed yet.

What if she took a shot now…?

Before she could act, another mech slipped from the ruins.

Federal's Ya Ning.

What was he doing?

Where were Zhou Ying and Janice?

Ji Ya peered into the ruin's hollow—no one followed him.

Ya Ning, mimicking Zhou Ye, cranked his thrusters to max, sprinting across ruin slabs and walls.

In Ji Ya's sniper scope, he was a rat scurrying through a dump, vanishing in a blink.

Ji Ya frowned instinctively—

Chase or bombard?

Zhou Ye was tied up with Xino, Ya Ning was fleeing, possibly to aid Yan Jingyi.

That left only Zhou Ying, the engineer, and the powerless Janice in the ruins.

"Luring the tiger, huh?" Ji Ya smiled faintly. "I'm not biting."

She leaped from her perch, hands shifting to rapid-fire mode. Shells rained on the ruins, booming as the structure began to crumble.

Come out or get buried—your choice.

As for Ya Ning… would he abandon his helpless teammates for a slim chance, or turn back to stop her? Didn't matter.

She was confident she could handle anything.

Surprisingly, Ya Ning's figure paused briefly, then charged straight at her, dual guns blazing.

Ji Ya fired two tracking shells.

Ya Ning didn't falter, flipping backward with crisp precision to dodge.

Ji Ya blinked, stunned.

In close combat, Ya Ning's skill was barely below Zhou Ye's—his moves were stunningly fluid!

They tangled briefly before Ya Ning bolted back toward their hideout. Ji Ya, unhesitating, pursued, diving deeper into the layered ruins.

In a shadowed ruin corner…

Zhou Ying stood guard, rifle ready, while Janice sat, a massive holographic screen before her. Data cascaded like a waterfall, the ruin's layout spinning and forming.

Two dots—one blue, one red—flickered like fish through the maze.

The screen showed Ya Ning's piloting speed surpassing his usual records.

On the hologram, blue and red dots chased each other. As they passed a coordinate—

Boom!

The ruin quaked.

Zhou Ying swayed, crouching to stay balanced.

Within his view, walls inverted, shifted, morphed. The once-ordinary ruin turned chaotic, defying logic.

Janice doused her screen.

"Move." She stood, reaching for Zhou Ying. "I need to scan these preset coordinates. Once done, I'll crack this ruin's transformation pattern!"

Zhou Ying eyed her hand silently, then opened his cockpit after a second.

The hologram showed Ji Ya nearly catching Ya Ning—shifting spaces sometimes favored her, sometimes hindered. Their deadly chase-and-hide played out.

After an agonizing three minutes, Zhou Ying ferried Janice through all coordinates. Her screen's analysis bar ticked up.

Ninety percent, ninety-six, ninety-nine… one hundred.

Analysis complete!

Janice swiped her screen, a bold green escape route appearing before Ya Ning's blue dot.

"I've synced the optimal escape path—run! I'll show you how to trap her!" Janice said.

The ruin's tremors didn't escape Xino and Zhou Ye, locked in combat nearby.

Xino glanced at the shifting ruins, noticing Ji Ya's absence, and realized he'd been played.

His gaze hardened on Zhou Ye.

Zhou Ye's thrusters teetered on collapse.

Xino hadn't targeted them, enjoying their evenly matched duel, thinking he'd found a worthy foe.

Now, he felt naive.

"Time to end this and crush your extra hopes."

"…Try it," Zhou Ye said, voice tired but steady. "You'll have to get through me first."

Their mechs collided again, clashing with near-savage ferocity.

Zhou Ye's lightsword pierced Xino's arm. Xino, nearly face-to-face, twisted, slashing without hesitation. His icy blade carved a gash in Zhou Ye's waist, shattering armor, parts raining down.

"Your mech's like this, and you're still fighting?" Xino pinned Zhou Ye down, chuckling. "Your mental strength and mech don't sync. With this half-baked skill, you think you can beat me?"

Zhou Ye, silent, grabbed Xino's blade, yanking it. His other hand hooked Xino's neck, knee slamming toward his abdomen.

Xino broke free, dodging with a lean. Ready to throw punches, he heard a clattering from Zhou Ye's struggling mech—vibrating violently, its already-gutted frame took more damage, parts flying.

Zzt, zzt…

The silver mech staggered two steps, then clunk—collapsed.

Xino, who'd done nothing: …?

He stared, cautiously stepping forward, nudging it. "Hey? Hey!"

No response.

Xino's mouth twitched, trying to pry his blade from Zhou Ye's grip. It wouldn't budge!

"What the hell, man!" Xino fumed, absurdly angry. "Your mech falls apart for no reason, and it's got a death grip? You planned this, didn't you?"

The more he thought, the madder he got, tempted to smash Zhou Ye's mech. But it was down, and wrecking it further risked hurting Zhou Ye or looking petty.

He'd love to dismantle it—but he didn't know how!

Xino rolled his eyes, reported to the channel, and checked on Ji Ya.

"I'm stuck in these ruins," Ji Ya said calmly. "No danger yet, but I lost my target."

Who was left in the ruins?

Zhou Ying, Janice, Ya Ning Kelly.

Even with shifting terrain, those three together likely couldn't beat Ji Ya.

Ji Ya was offensive-light, defensive-strong—not critical yet.

Xino felt his weaponless state was more dire.

He glanced at the silver mech, took a deep breath, and asked for Bai Sha's coordinates over comms.

Then, Xino bent down, hoisted the wrecked silver mech, tied it with steel cables, and sprinted off, engines roaring.

Spectators: ???

They didn't know Xino had asked for Bai Sha's location.

All they saw was Xino trashing Zhou Ye's mech, then hauling it—and Zhou Ye—away.

What was this?

Taking Zhou Ye hostage?!