Chapter 318 - Entering the Mainship!
"Because I am a hacker." Li Lanfeng did not hesitate to reveal his other identity to the crowd.
Hearing this, Ling Lan's hands paused for a moment, but she soon continued chopping away determinedly. During this time, she had already destroyed almost half of the joint of the doors now, though Regretless' condition was also becoming extremely bad. Still, Ling Lan could not afford the time to wince and worry about it — after all, when their lives hung in the balance, all else was immaterial.
"If you all do not believe us, you can ask the control room of this transport ship," suggested Li Lanfeng calmly, seeing that everyone was still sceptical.
Quite a few mecha operators stopped moving and began to contact the control room of the transport ship for confirmation. Once they received confirmation, everyone began to panic.
While the others were communicating with the control room, the special-class operator asked Li Lanfeng, "Even if a magnetic storm forms, a mecha would not be able to fly out of range based on its own power alone anyway. We might as well stay in the transport ship. It'll be safer that way."
"Sadly, the transport ship's speed is too slow ..." Li Lanfeng only responded briefly to these words. As if thinking of something, the special-class operator kept away the high-frequency blade in his hands and said to Ling Lan who was still busily destroying the door joint, "I have a special-class beam gun here. Perhaps that might help."
Ling Lan decisively stepped away from the door, signalling for the special-class operator to come forth. Every second saved would mean an extra measure of safety.
The special-class operator decisively unhooked the special-class beam gun from his back and aimed for the joint which had already been half destroyed by Ling Lan. He shot a powerful blast at it, not at all stingy with the energy of the beam gun. In just a short 10 seconds, he had completely unloaded all of the beam gun's power.
At this time, the joint was already quite beaten up. Ling Lan was just about to move forward to resume her destruction when [No Mecha Unrepaired] suddenly said, "Let me try."
Ling Lan was taken aback — this [No Mecha Unrepaired] still had a card up his sleeve? Looks like a mechanical genius truly could not be underestimated.
Two missiles suddenly shot out from the head of [No Mecha Unrepaired]'s mecha — these were the anti-air interference missiles all mecha were equipped with. Their attack power was the worst among all of a mecha's weapons and equipment, so mecha operators generally very rarely ever thought about using them. These missiles were absolutely one of those things that had little value and yet was kept just in case 1 . It was very unexpected for [No Mecha Unrepaired] to choose to use them and attack.
A trace of disappointment was revealed in the special-class operator's eyes. Only Ling Lan's brow lifted, because she had seen very clearly that the missiles fired from [No Mecha Unrepaired]'s head were absolutely not that regular type of interference missile. Despite appearing somewhat similar, Ling Lan's keen and discerning eyes had nevertheless instantly registered the difference.
Sure enough, when the missiles hit the door joint, a tremendous blast rang out once more, completely drowning out the screams of those mecha operators who had already learned the truth.
With this violent explosion, the hold doors finally broke apart with a cracking sound. Seeing this, Ling Lan resolutely kicked out a foot to send the hold doors flying.
The air within the hold rushed out — quite a few mecha who were out of their secured seats were sent flying due to the loss of gravity, slamming heavily into the roof of the hold. Unprepared, those mecha operators who had been standing near the doors were thrown out of the transport hold entirely, ending up in outer space.
Ling Lan's group of nine had long been prepared. The moment the hold doors opened, they leapt out into space themselves. Witnessing that lovely violet ring of light that was becoming increasingly vivid in colour, they knew that that was the magnetic storm that could reap all life within this area.
"Activate all engines to their maximum. Move forwards at your mecha's fastest speed." Following this order, everyone on the team flew forwards at full speed, overtaking one transport ship after another.
"That special-class operator is following us," Xie Yi, who was bringing up the rear, alerted everyone on the team.
"Don't mind him," Ling Lan said curtly. Seeing [No Mecha Unrepaired] gradually slowing down, she instructed Qi Long, "Combat, remember to help out [No Mecha Unrepaired]." Meanwhile, the others seemed to be doing fine on their own for now.
"Little Four, how far away is the command mainship from us?" Ling Lan asked Little Four.
Little Four answered, "Moving at full speed like this, we can catch up in 19 minutes and 47 seconds. However, let me remind you, Boss, that the magnetic storm might erupt prematurely."
"What is your earliest estimation for that to happen?" Ling Lan's brow was deeply furrowed.
"It's very likely to happen in only 18 minutes." Little Four directly revealed his latest estimated time to Ling Lan. As this was the virtual world, Little Four was not overly anxious.
What bloody rotten luck! Ling Lan could not help but swear when she heard Little Four's reply. Even though dying within the virtual world did not seem like a big deal — it would only cause them to drop some level points and at worst they would simply have to start over — Ling Lan did not want to give up just like that. In her mind, she was treating everything here as if it were real, just as she did with her assignments in the learning space. Only by using this sort of mindset to put pressure on herself could she find that single slim thread of survival in her missions and complete those seemingly impossible missions.
One more point — Ling Lan also did not wish for her companions to get into the habit of taking death lightly in the virtual world. Once they returned to reality and entered a real battlefield, this kind of mentality might carry over and bring them great disaster. Only by constantly being aware that they only had one life would they be able to maintain their vigilance on the battlefield and keep on living well.
Ling Lan believed that the reason why Mecha World was constructed so realistically and had such harsh punishments for death was in large part in hopes that the mecha operators would cherish their lives in Mecha World. In truth, Mecha World had indeed succeeded on this point. Unless absolutely unavoidable, no one in the game was willing to give up on their lives easily. This was also one of the reasons why Ling Lan had drawn the ire of the other mecha operators when she had been destroying the hold doors.
"Right now, push all of your mecha into overdrive and activate the fastest theoretical speed of your mecha." Ling Lan decisively issued her newest order. Even if their mecha were utterly ruined by this, as long as they lived, all these losses would be worth it.
"Yes, Boss!" No one raised any objections. They all carried out the order simultaneously, increasing the speed of their mecha.
Meanwhile, Qi Long and Luo Lang did not require Ling Lan to remind them — one on the right and one on the left, they grabbed [No Mecha Unrepaired]. Revving their engines at the same time, they shot deeper into space like they were flying.
Seeing this, Li Lanfeng's gaze flashed. He was quietly amazed at the great rapport between the rabbit's team members. This rapport was something he was incapable of at the moment, but he was not discouraged. One day, he would be able to do this too.
Before Ling Lan had given her order, she had asked Little Four to send the flight path to the command mainship to everyone in the team. As long as they were not directionally challenged, they would not fly the wrong way.
The special-class operator following closely behind them saw Ling Lan's team speed up once more and could not help but curse silently. Without even having to think about it, he too accelerated after them. Although Ling Lan's team had already been moving at full speed before this, for the special-class mecha, keeping up with them had not pushed him to his limits yet then. But now, he could feel the strain, and there were even times when he was left behind by a significant margin when he could not react in time. He rejoiced internally over the fact that he was a special-class operator — if he had still been an advanced mecha warrior, he might have already lost sight of the other side a long time ago.
After flying at overcapacity for about 15 minutes, the whole team's mecha were all displaying damage levels between 15% to 20%, but their speed was showing effect — they could already see the silhouette of the command mainship. The group could not help but become infused with joy. As long as they could get on board the command mainship, they would be out of danger.
At the 17th minute, they arrived close to the command mainship. At this time, a mecha launch port on the tail piece of the ship silently opened up. If Ling Lan had not sent over the landing point on the command mainship, they would never have discovered it.
"[Priceless Kinship], go in first." According to the team's flight position, Ling Lan called [Priceless Kinship] who was closer to the front to enter first.
There was actually danger involved in being the first to enter, because no one could tell what the situation was like inside. However, when Li Shiyu received Ling Lan's order, without having to think about it, he instantly controlled his mecha to aim at the launch port and slid in like a cannonball. Sparks flew when both legs of his mecha made contact with the rails of the launch port. Apparently, in order to decelerate, Li Shiyu had used the bottoms of his legs to produce friction. However, they had initially been travelling over their limits so their speed was really just too high — even by doing so, Li Shiyu's speed was not decreased by much.
Watching helplessly as his mecha was about to slam into the second guard door, as if sensing danger, the guard door suddenly sprang apart. Li Shiyu slid in smoothly, and though his own condition was not that optimistic, he still paid attention to the situation behind him. He heard Ling Lan order [Lingtian Parcel] to prepare to jump in next.
Very quickly, Li Shiyu had arrived at the third guard door. Just as if their entry was being observed closely, right as he was about to slam into the third guard door, it once again sprang open.
At this moment, Li Shiyu no longer had any way of keeping track of what was happening behind him. After the third door, they were in fact already in the inner section of the starship, which was where mecha were housed and also where they were prepped for launching.
Sure enough, when he had zoomed past the third door, on his mecha's screen, he saw the flabbergasted expressions of the staff members on both sides of the launch rails. Having received no notice about any of this, it was clear to see that the workers were extremely shocked by the sudden appearance of mecha sliding in from the other end of the launch tracks.
Very soon, a great commotion broke out on the scene. Many staff even leapt down from the mecha they were working on to rush over and try to see what was happening.
At the end of the tracks was a protective air cushion and many cords of bungee rope to prevent mecha from being damaged. Li Shiyu crashed heavily into them but did not receive much shock from the impact.
Without hesitation, Li Shiyu borrowed the rebound force of the bungee ropes to spring out from the cushion and swiftly dashed to an empty space on the right. He had not forgotten that [Lingtian Parcel] was right behind him — he had no intention of becoming the other's 'meat cushion' and end up with an internecine outcome.
At this time, the JMC in charge of the command mainship had connected to the public comms and was asking loudly, "Who are you? Where have you come from?" At the same time, Li Shiyu saw many of the staff members lifting the weapons in their hands, directing them nervously at Li Shiyu.
"Not good, there are still more mecha coming! Run!" Before Li Shiyu could reply, a horrible screeching noise could be heard coming from the launch port. These staff members were quick on the uptake, figuring out that this mecha was not alone in stealing aboard their ship.
The staff members knew very well that a mecha sliding through the launch port at high speeds could not be controlled. If they were not careful, it might simply crush them workers to death. To ensure their lives and safety, they had no more mind to bother with Li Shiyu. They all scattered to escape to safer territory.
1. 鸡肋: Odd as it may seem, the literal phrase in Chinese here is 'chicken ribs'. The origin of the phrase is from a dialogue between two characters in classical literature. One of the characters was drawing a metaphor about how a situation was like chicken ribs -- a shame to just throw away, yet eating it does not provide any nutritional value.
Chapter 319 - Secret Weapon!
The next second, Lin Zhong-qing's mecha also crashed into the air cushion, and he reacted just as quickly as Li Shiyu to shift his mecha to one side because there were still 7 companions waiting to enter behind him.
As one mecha after another slid into the military vessel, with even [No Mecha Unrepaired] sliding in easily with Qi Long's assistance, Ling Lan's worry eased. As long as the military vessel flew for another few minutes, they would escape the danger zone Little Four had calculated.
Seeing that her mecha's power was almost running dry, Ling Lan said to the final person by her side, [Self-Defined Destiny], "Leopard, you go first." Perhaps out of trust in the leopard's ability, Ling Lan had left [Self-Defined Destiny] for last.
[Self-Defined Destiny] answered, "Okay." But before he could control his mecha to descend into the port, that special-class operator which had tailed them all this way suddenly accelerated wildly to overtake them and shoot into the launch port.
"That special-class operator is too godd*mn shameless." Seeing this, Li Lanfeng could not help but curse. Leaving alone the matter of following them here, the other should still have known to be courteous and stay in line. How could he be so shameless as to cut their line?
Ling Lan frowned at this. That special-class operator had unexpectedly snatched the perfect time to cut in — that was truly a perfect 10-second cut. What a shame, it looked like the leopard would have to wait a while now. Each mecha needed to take a 10-second delay from the previous one before sliding in, otherwise it would be too easy for a collision to occur. If unlucky, the operators involved could be heavily injured and may even die. Although Ling Lan too was extremely annoyed that the other mecha had done such a thing, she could not let the leopard do anything rash.
So, Ling Lan said, "Leopard, wait another 10 seconds."
The two of them continued flying at high speeds to keep up with the mainship, patiently waiting for the 10 seconds to pass. Seeing that the timing was almost right, Ling Lan was about to speak up to let [Self-Defined Destiny] slide into the port when Little Four suddenly cried out in the mindspace, "Boss, not good! The magnetic storm is about to blow!"
"What?! Didn't you say it was 18 minutes? There's still several seconds on the clock!" Ling Lan's expression changed drastically at these words. She had never considered the possibility that Little Four's estimations would be off by a few seconds.
Before Little Four could respond, a cacophony of the crackling sounds of magnetic disturbance could be heard within the cockpit. Sure enough, the magnetic storm had broken out, otherwise they would not have felt such a strong disturbance so far away from the centre of the magnetic storm.
Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng turned their heads together to look, and they saw the deep purple ring-shaped haze in the distance bloom like fireworks. It exploded powerfully, spreading out into its surroundings like a purple sea of flowers, so lovely that it dazzled the eyes. It was hard to believe that such a beautiful scene existed in outer space.
However, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng could not appreciate any of its beauty, filled instead with fear. They could see the places where the purple sea engulfed had become barren — it was spreading at a rapid pace and had already begun consuming the transport ship which had fallen behind the most. The ship was turned into dust particles in the starry skies, leaving no other trace of its existence.
"Rabbit, you go first." Ling Lan had yet to ask the leopard to go first when Li Lanfeng beat her to the punch. He shoved Ling Lan beside him with all his might towards the launch port of the starship.
The power levels of their mecha were already at a critical red level — whether it was the magnetic tsunami coming from behind them or the power levels of their mecha themselves, neither allowed them to continue flying in space.
Li Lanfeng believed that with the rabbit's control skills, even if the other was unprepared, the other would still be able to safely slide into the launch port. Li Lanfeng only had one thought in his mind at that moment. Even if he met his end here today, he could not let all the rabbit's previous efforts go to waste.
Unprepared, Ling Lan had been sent hurtling towards the launch port of the mainship by Li Lanfeng's shove, but how agile were Ling Lan's reflexes? As she descended, she abruptly stretched out a hand and grabbed Li Lanfeng. Then, flipping through the air, she flew to the space above Li Lanfeng and lifted both legs to stomp forcefully on Li Lanfeng's mecha ...
This was the rabbit's ultimate move Li Lanfeng was most familiar with, the stomp technique, which was a refined version of Rabbit Sky Leap. Due to this stomp, Li Lanfeng's mecha flew like a cannonball towards the launch port. He looked at the rabbit using the remaining thread of power he had to fly after his mecha, and his eyes could not help but become damp.
Once again he had troubled the rabbit; once again, he was experiencing the pain of being weak.
There was a type of despair in Li Lanfeng's heart. All these years, he had pushed himself desperately, tormenting himself to become stronger — although a part of it was because he wanted to overturn his fate, he knew that the true reason he wanted to become strong was so that he could one day stand confidently by the rabbit's side and become the rabbit's best partner. But now, from the looks of it, this was all just a joke. He was still all too weak — he still did not have the right to fight alongside the rabbit. The rabbit would probably disdain to even use him as a shield to deflect arrows ...
Li Lanfeng hated how useless he was. He could only stare with wide eyes as the rabbit, who was getting further and further away from him, was chased by the purple wave, which kept getting closer and closer. It seemed as if the rabbit would be completely consumed in the very next second ...
Right then, Li Lanfeng's initially wide teary eyes abruptly grew as large as dinner plates, his entire expression screaming disbelief.
That intermediate mecha of the rabbit had suddenly changed into a beautiful and eye-catching mecha in an instant. Even the mesmerising purple sea of flowers behind it could not conceal the radiance of this mecha.
Li Lanfeng was all too familiar with this mecha. It was precisely that imperial mecha that had been giving the rabbit an instructional fight back when he had first recognised the rabbit again. It was the only redeemable imperial mecha among the six models available in Mecha World ——
After switching her mecha, Ling Lan instantly activated all engines on her new mecha. For an intermediate mecha, the distance between her and Li Lanfeng would need 5 to 6 seconds to cover, but for the imperial mecha, just 1 second was enough to bring Ling Lan to Li Lanfeng's side.
Ling Lan grabbed hold of Li Lanfeng's mecha and said exasperatedly, "Bastard leopard, you've bloody gotten worse than before. Are you trying to commit suicide?" She had only kicked the leopard ahead of her because she had the secret weapon her dad had passed to her to rely on, but this fellow actually did not understand the pains she had taken to save them both. That self-sacrificing behaviour of his almost infuriated her to death.
Smiling, Li Lanfeng was just about to return a quip when he saw the purple flower tide looming above Ling Lan. He quickly shouted out, "Rabbit, be careful!"
Ling Lan abruptly turned around and plugged in that precious power source they had obtained on planet X192 at the same time. The fingers on both hands flew across her mecha controls. Under this type of emergency situation, Ling Lan's hand speed once again broke through her initial speed limits.
It should be said that due to controlling lower mecha, Ling Lan's hand speed had always maintained its original standards. Despite knowing herself that she had improved over these past few years, due to the constraints of the situation, Ling Lan had not known precisely how much she had improved. And now, on this imperial mecha, Ling Lan's restrained hand speed was finally fully unleashed.
"Pulsing King Shield." Ling Lan chose to use an equipped ability exclusive to imperial mecha even as she shouted, "Leopard, hold on to me tightly!"
Ever since Ling Lan had obtained
Pulsing King Shield was a powerful defensive equipment. Although it was incomparable to the god-class IN mecha's Divine Shield series, it was still a top-class shield among all of the defensive equipment of the Federation. It was a great deal stronger than the typical protective multi-particle beam shields most military vessels were equipped with. Furthermore, the Pulsing King Shield was a defensive shield whose range could be freely modified under a mecha master's 1 control.
Ling Lan not only wanted to protect herself and the leopard, she also wanted to protect her companions who were already within the hold of the mainship. In reality, if this military vessel was consumed by this magnetic tsunami, even if Ling Lan possessed an imperial mecha, she would have no way of holding out till she arrived at the Swift Dragon base camp. This was the limitation of mecha — unable to fly for long distances.
In front of the imperial mecha, a beam of white light rose into the sky, instantly forming a large barrier with a radius of several kilometres. Even though the Pulsing King Shield seemed extremely large, it could still only cover the tail end of the mainship. This was already the extent of Ling Lan's control; the scale of the Pulsing King Shield depended primarily on the operator's level. Ling Lan's true control skill level was not yet at imperial level; she was currently pushing herself to execute cross-level control. Therefore, some of the special functions of the imperial mecha were beyond her, unable to be performed — some elements of the Pulsing King Shield fell into this category.
Honestly, for Ling Lan to be able to bring out a Pulsing King Shield with such a range was already extremely remarkable. Her control panel was already spattered with droplets of blood. Cross-level operation was not without its consequences. Ling Lan registered none of the tearing pain from her fingers — there was only one thought in her mind ... and that was that no one in their team could die here under this magnetic tsunami.
A loud 'boom' rang out as the Pulsing King Shield and the purple wave collided heavily. With a jerk, Ling Lan could not stop herself from spewing out a mouthful of blood, and the initially radiant Pulsing King Shield dimmed.
Ling Lan bit down on her lips, using the intense pain to keep herself from fainting. She knew that every additional second she kept the Pulsing King Shield up for meant an additional guarantee for the lives of her companions.
At the moment Ling Lan had brought out the Pulsing King Shield, Li Lanfeng had obeyed Ling Lan's instruction to hold on tightly to Ling Lan's mecha. When the Pulsing King Shield and the magnetic tsunami collided forcefully, their two mecha had been swept back by the fearsome power of the magnetic tsunami to hurtle towards the tail end of the mainship.
At that moment, Li Lanfeng was extremely calm. He only continued to keep a steady hold on his rabbit. Even if he would die like this with his rabbit in this magnetic tsunami, he still would not let go of his rabbit. Yes, he had already let go once on the friendship between him and the rabbit, so this time he would absolutely never let go again ...
"Bang bang bang ..." Their mecha crashed right into the tail end of the mainship. As the primary point of the crash, Li Lanfeng spewed out a mouthful of blood right after the first collision. The violent crash had caused him to be severely injured, but still he clung tightly to the rabbit before him, tenaciously using his mecha as the rabbit's 'meat cushion'.
The magnetic tsunami still came into contact with the tail end of the command mainship in the end, and the tail of the mainship began to emit violent sounds of explosion. Under the horrific power of the magnetic tsunami, even though Ling Lan had used all her strength in the Pulsing King Shield to counteract the force of the magnetic tsunami, it had still not been enough to prevent the ultimate fate of the mainship. The tail of the mainship was unable to escape wholly unscathed; over one-fourth of the ship was torn to pieces by the magnetic tsunami ...
1. Remember, this shield is a high-level equipment only mecha masters can use.
Chapter 320 - Awakening!
After who knows how long, Ling Lan muzzily woke up and was greeted to the sight of dim darkness. Ling Lan could not help but be taken aback — if not for the fact that she could feel the seatbelt strapping her in, Ling Lan might have thought that she was no longer in the cockpit of her mecha.
Mind you, as long as there was someone in it, the cockpit of a mecha would always maintain a certain level of illumination unless something was wrong with the mecha; only then would this kind of situation occur.
Ling Lan had just thought to move when she found her entire body beginning to ache terribly. With that, she knew that she had already been determined to be in a severely injured state by the mainframe of Mecha World. It made sense when she thought about it. Going up against a magnetic tsunami which was capable of swallowing everything in its path, being able to live was already a great blessing. Of course, this outcome was also thanks to the impressive performance of the imperial mecha's defensive equipment.
Forcefully suppressing the pain, Ling Lan reached out to press the activation button of the mecha based on memory.
The resulting 'beep' made Ling Lan's heart ease. This sound was like music from the heavens, for it meant that her mecha could still be used normally. Very soon, her screen had lit up, and she entered the mecha piloting system. At the same time, the cockpit became bright again, everything in perfect order. Apparently, the mecha had just entered standby mode because no one was piloting it to save energy. The moment the activation button was pressed, it had started up again instantly.
Ling Lan did not concern herself with the situation outside. The first thing she did was to take out a tube of healing agent and slap it onto her body. Only then did she feel her condition improving. This was the virtual world, so recovering was as simple and speedy as that. If this were the real world, based on the extent of Ling Lan's injuries, recovery would not be as simple.
After sorting out her own body, only then did Ling Lan have any mind to spare to investigate her surroundings. She found that the surroundings of her mecha were just as dark as the inside of her cockpit before. She decisively turned on the external lights of the mecha. With that, she found that her mecha was currently floating in mid-air, and there were countless metallic scraps bobbing around her.
Seeing this, Ling Lan was quite baffled. Where in the world was she? The last thing she could remember was using the imperial mecha to block the magnetic tsunami and finally falling to crash into the mainship before falling unconscious. Could it be that the mainship had not escaped disaster in the end and had become debris in space? But if they were truly in outer space, it still would not be this dark!
In endless space, there was actually a certain amount of light. This sort of pitch darkness would not happen, so Ling Lan decisively threw out this possibility.
Just as Ling Lan was pondering this mystery, a voice choked with tears suddenly rang out in her mindspace, "Boss, you've finally woken up! Boo hoo hoo, that's really great!"
"Little Four ..." Ling Lan's forehead twitched involuntarily. She had only been unconscious and not about to die — now what reason was there for this behaviour of Little Four's?
As if sensing Boss's displeasure, Little Four sniffled and said, "Boss, you've already been unconscious for a whole night. No one was paying any attention to me. I was so scared!" For that night, it was like Little Four had been shut into an enclosed little black room. The soundless world had almost driven him insane — it had reminded him of his time in Ling Lan's previous world. He had constantly been alone by himself waiting for Ling Lan to notice him, but unfortunately Ling Lan had only heard his voice right at the very end of her life there, making him wait for a whole 21 years.
Little Four was afraid that things had returned to how it was before. Having gotten used to acting spoilt and fooling around with Ling Lan, Little Four could no longer bear to experience that loneliness of before. He believed that if something had truly happened to Ling Lan, his processing chip would certainly choose to self-destruct.
"Don't be scared. Haven't I woken up now? You need to have faith in me, your boss!" Seeing this, Ling Lan's heart softened. Inside the mindspace, she lightly petted the emotionally wounded Little Four, comforting him to ease his fears.
"Yup yup yup, Boss is the bestest!" Little Four's tears had yet to dry and he was already smiling again. That appearance of his was simultaneously adorable and pitiful.
At the sight, Ling Lan could not help but fall silent. She suddenly realised that Little Four was not an omnipotent intelligence entity. He was just like a real living person with his own emotions — joy, anger, sadness, likes and dislikes, and things that made him sad or afraid ...
Ling Lan silently caressed Little Four for a while, finally getting him to calm down. After that, she tried to pilot her mecha to investigate the surrounding environment but found that her mecha was tied down by something. Ling Lan zoomed in on the image of where she was tied down, and only then did she discover that she was being held down by the tight embrace of the leopard's mecha. It was clear to see that the leopard had not eased up on his grip at all.
Seeing the leopard's mecha currently completely still and silent, Ling Lan's heart stuttered and she shouted frantically, "Leopard, leopard ..."
"He's fine, just unconscious." Having calmed down, Little Four saw Ling Lan's anxious demeanour and so told her about the other's condition.
Ling Lan thought back to when the two of them had been thrown at the military vessel by the magnetic storm at the end — the force of their impact had been fully borne by the leopard — and she could not help but feel guilty. "He is only so terribly injured because he was protecting me ..."
"If you hadn't blocked the magnetic tsunami before that, he would not have just ended up terribly injured but completely destroyed. He should instead be grateful to you," responded Little Four, baffled at Ling Lan's reaction. In Little Four's eyes, [Self-Defined Destiny] playing the role as a cushion was the requisite cost for his survival. Why would Boss feel guilty and even feel grateful towards the other?
Little Four's words rendered Ling Lan speechless. She did not know how to explain to Little Four that his perspective was not quite right ... knowing that Little Four was someone who only looked at pure cold logic, Ling Lan wisely did not continue discussing the issue. Instead, she connected to [Self-Defined Destiny]'s comms channel and began calling out to the leopard again and again.
Ling Lan was well aware that she needed to wake the leopard up as quickly as possible, or else the other might die from his injuries due to not applying treatment in time.
Perhaps her cries were effective, for not too long later, Ling Lan heard a slight groan coming through the comms. Ling Lan was overjoyed and quickly shouted loudly, "Leopard, leopard, are you alright?"
"Cough cough, I'm fine. Rabbit, it's fine as long as you're fine," the leopard finally replied. His voice sounded very weak — it looked like his injuries were extremely severe, probably even heavier than Ling Lan's had been. It made sense. Even though Ling Lan had received heavy damage when blocking the magnetic tsunami, she had been using an imperial mecha. The protection afforded to a mecha operator by an imperial mecha just could not be matched by an advanced mecha.
In just a few moments, the leopard's voice began sounding more spirited. He too seemed to have picked up on the surrounding situation, and he asked Ling Lan, "Where are we right now?"
"I'm not sure either," said Ling Lan with a wry smile as she looked out at the pitch-black space they were floating in.
"I only know that we were hit into the inside of the mainship at the end. Who knows if we're still inside it now ..." said Li Lanfeng after briefly rallying his spirits.
His words had barely faded when a corpse floated by the front of their mecha. It was dressed in the uniform of a mecha support staff of the mainship — they could clearly see the insignia pinned on his shoulder. It looked like they were indeed still inside the mainship. However, this also proved that this military vessel had already been pretty thoroughly broken.
Seeing this, Ling Lan's heart sank. If the military vessel had truly been completely destroyed, just based on their mecha alone, it was impossible to fly to the base camp of the Swift Dragons. Could it be that after striving for so long, she would still end up with the outcome of failing the mission with all of her companions dead?
"It's alright. Although the command mainship's condition is really terrible, its basic mobility is not broken. It is still in motion." Little Four could sense Ling Lan's worries and quickly rushed to reassure her, "However, Boss, you are now in the tail end of the ship which was utterly destroyed. They have already sealed off the doors of the airlock on this end, which is why this area is in this anti-gravity state."
"Then, do you know the situation with Qi Long and the others?" Ling Lan began to worry about her other companions who had entered first.
"I'm not very sure. Everything in the tail end has been destroyed, so I also have no way of using the mainship's surveillance system to find them," said Little Four regretfully.
"Since we're fine, I believe they'll be fine too." Ling Lan still had a lot of faith in her companions. In fact, that explosion at the tail end of the ship in those final moments was a death blow to those support staff members without the protection of mecha. They were basically all wiped out in that final explosion — the only ones who could survive were the mecha operators protected by the defensive power of their mecha.
"Rabbit, I seem to feel like our position is shifting. Maybe that magnetic tsunami did not cause fatal damage to the mainship." Li Lanfeng seemed to have sensed something of the situation, and he quickly communicated his findings to Ling Lan.
"Yes. Let's figure out the situation first then find Combat and the others. After that we can arrange our next plan of action." Ling Lan instantly made her decision. They would first look for their team members in this heap of ruins.
The two of them operated their mecha to weave among the debris. Countless corpses floated by them — it looked like all these staff without any protective measures had been sacrificed during that magnetic tsunami. Despite knowing that all these staff members were just NPCs, Ling Lan could not help but have a heavy heart in the face of all this death. Still, Ling Lan very quickly rallied her spirits. She began to think about how this was perhaps even more advantageous for her team because everyone who knew they had stolen aboard the ship was now dead. Perhaps they could change their identities and stealthily infiltrate the ship as official mecha troops of the mainship.
After a round of searching, they found no sign of Qi Long and the others. Ling Lan would rather guess that they had already entered the safe areas of the military vessel. What was more surprising to them was that when they happened to touch some standard Federation advanced mecha which were still functionally intact overall floating through the air, the system actually prompted them with a pop-up notification asking them whether they wanted to retrieve the mecha. This meant that these intact mecha could be freely taken by players.
Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng naturally would not let such an advantage pass by. It should be known it would require an extremely high amount of points at the redemption centre to redeem these mecha. Moreover, Li Lanfeng's mecha was already running on empty — obtaining an advanced mecha with abundant power right now was undoubtedly a stroke of timely luck 1 for Li Lanfeng. Mind you, once one's mecha's power ran out, not only would the mecha be unable to move, the oxygen levels in the mecha's cockpit would not be able to be sustained for long either.
The two of them chose two of the mecha in the best condition to keep in their inventories. It wasn't that they did not want to collect even more, but they would not be able to support the mecha even if they took more.
Within a player's inventory, each mecha would exhaust a set amount of power calories every hour. If a mecha was left unused in an inventory for a long time, it would still become a powerless empty shell of a mecha in the end. After that, it would merely be dead weight in a player's inventory and increase a player's fatigue level. This was also one of the methods Mecha World employed to prevent players from accumulating too many mecha so that the players would not end up unable to focus on training properly with one mecha.
1. 及时雨: Literal phrase here is 'timely rain'. Think a bout of rain after a long drought, just in time to save the crops of desperate farmers.
Chapter 321 - Comradery?
Looking at the standard military-use advanced mecha they had obtained, the vague idea swirling in Ling Lan's mind abruptly came into focus. She quickly contacted Leopard and communicated her idea to him.
The moment Li Lanfeng heard her idea, his gaze lit up. He felt that it was an excellent plan. Even as he signalled his agreement, he could not help but be secretly proud. See, this was his friend. What a bright and intelligent rabbit!
The two of them instantly changed their mecha into the standard advanced mecha they had obtained from the ship. Only then did they operate their mecha to move to the airlock's doors and make preparations to sneak inside the mainship proper ...
Just as Ling Lan was about to instruct Little Four to observe the surroundings near the doors of the airlock, to see whether there was anyone out and about, they suddenly sensed the travel speed of the military vessel slowing down. They could also hear the faint sounds of alarms blaring from the mainship proper.
"What's going on, Little Four?" Ling Lan quickly turned to ask Little Four in the mindspace. Right now, Ling Lan was like a blind person — she was solely reliant on Little Four to obtain information on the outside world.
Little Four answered immediately, "Boss, the radar has picked up the appearance of an unidentified flying object about 10 kilometres ahead of the command mainship. The entire ship is now in emergency mode. It isn't suitable for us to act at this time."
Having heard what Little Four had to say, Ling Lan settled down to wait for a while. Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng too had figured out that something seemed to be happening inside the ship, so when Ling Lan suggested they wait, he was in full agreement, curious to see what exactly was happening ...
********
At the distant base of the Swift Dragons, right after the eruption of the magnetic tsunami, an urgent notification came, requesting the Swift Dragon fleet to send a search and rescue team immediately to the surrounding districts of planet X192 to help the surviving soldiers and adventurers.
In one of the rooms in the command centre at the Swift Dragon base, a man shrouded in shadows sat on a sofa. In a hoarse voice which sounded grating to the ears, he said to another man equally obscured by shadows, "D9, do you think this notification is fishy?"
"D1, on the surface, this notification is exceedingly normal. Whenever an incident with great casualties occur, the mecha mainframe will definitely inform the closest fleet to send assistance. As far as I know, the magnetic tsunami of X191 is a natural phenomenon ..." Any natural disasters that happened in Mecha World was actually a realistic copy of natural disasters in the real world. In reality, on the fringes of the Chinese Federation in the real world, there had indeed been an eruption of a magnetic tsunami on one of the planets. It was just that it had not been as violent and destructive as the one in Mecha World.
At this point of the conversation, D9 paused, then continued in a dark tone, "That reclamation fleet should also be carrying out their mission right about now ..."
"What you're saying is, it won't be a big problem?" Within the shadows where expressions could not be seen clearly, D1 asked in return with his usual emotionless voice.
"Not quite. It's precisely because there's no problem at all that it is problematic ..." A mocking smirk appeared on D9's lips. "We're infiltrators. We cannot let down our guard. No one can tell whether the mecha mainframe has discovered something."
"Then, pretend we did not receive the notification?" D1 followed up with this question.
"Of course that won't work. At the very least we must act normal and send a search and rescue team over, otherwise the mecha mainframe will definitely become suspicious. We still need a little time before Project T can be completed," refuted D9 directly, "The magnetic tsunami was so strong ... according to the information we received, that reclamation fleet basically had no way of surviving ... Even if there are any lucky survivors, having them be under our guard will be more reassuring for us."
That said, D9 added proudly, "The Swift Dragon base is already fully under our control. No one can carry off any petty tricks under our watch. If the mecha mainframe really tries anything and sends some people over, we will definitely discover them at soonest notice."
"In that case, let's send a search and rescue team! I too do not want there to be any disruptions before Project T is completed." In response to D9's words, D1 gave this order.
On that very day, a patrol ship departed from the Swift Dragon base towards planet X192. Half a day and one night later, when there was still two-fifths of the journey left to planetary sector X192, the ship encountered the sole remaining command ship from the reclamation fleet.
The command mainship no longer had any strength to fight, so they instantly sent out a questioning signal through the public comms. The other side did not delay in responding with their identity. When the mainship found that the other ship was a rescue team from the Swift Dragon base, all of the surviving mecha operators and staff members could not stop from tearing up. Over this past half a day and one night, their minds had constantly tormented by worry — they did not know just how much longer the battered mainship they were on could hold out for, and none of them wished to end up as debris in outer space like the other ships had.
The commander of the mainship and his adjutant looked at one another, their gazes a complicated mix of excitement and nervousness, and also a sort of stoicism. Still, very quickly, both their expressions turned as joyful as the other NPC soldiers below them.
However, the adjutant was still young after all. His hand could not help but clench in nervousness — entering the Swift Dragon base meant their mission was about to officially begin.
As the mainship really had no way of guaranteeing anyone's safety, after making contact with the base, the Swift Dragon fleet's rescue team began moving the people on the mainship to their military vessel.
Meanwhile, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng took the chance while everyone's attention was drawn to the moving process to let Little Four silently open the airlock doors and snuck into the mainship. Using the route indicators Little Four gave, they very quickly arrived at the central mecha hall.
Right then, the attention of everyone in the hall was gathered on the two launch ports in the hall. The surviving 50 to 60 mecha operators were currently lining up to exit from those two ports and move to the rescue ship. Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng quietly sauntered up to join one of the lines.
The mecha operator who was originally the last in that line was startled by the sudden appearance of two new mecha and turned to give them a curious look. He was not suspicious, however — after all, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were currently operating the standard advanced mecha exclusive to this mainship (the identifying logo of the ship the mecha belonged to was displayed on the mecha's chests). At most, he was only wondering why these two had been so slow. Still, this was their own personal business, so the mecha operator did not pay much mind to it.
Seeing that this mecha operator was only looking at them but not asking any questions, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng breathed out a great silent sigh of relief. They knew their plan to infiltrate had succeeded. Very soon, they had been ejected from the mainship and were flying towards one of the launch ports of the Swift Dragon's patrol ship. Once they had safely landed in the other ship's mecha hall, under the instructions of the staff member there, they operated their mecha adeptly to enter the secured seat arranged for them. After that, they chose to remain in their mecha, silent, making no move to leave their mecha.
The mecha operators of the Swift Dragon ship did not think much about the sight, because many of the mecha operators who had been transferred over were doing the exact same thing. The experience of escaping with their lives had tired out these mecha operators, and now they were safe, their high-strung emotions eased. Thus, after entering their secured seats, many of the mecha operators had instantly fallen asleep. Only a few mecha operators with bolder nerves had the mood to climb out of their mecha to interact with the staff members or mecha operators of the Swift Dragon ship.
Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng both just seemed like another member of the sleeping group, so the staff of the Swift Dragon ship considerately left them alone. In truth, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were actually having an intense conversation within their mecha.
Initially, with Ling Lan's and Li Lanfeng's change in mecha, their original team comms had become unusable. But who was Little Four? He had instantly helped Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng to secretly establish a private comms channel for just the two of them.
"Who knows if Combat and the others have also gotten aboard this ship? Would they also be here in this mecha hall?" Li Lanfeng swept one look around at the mecha which all looked the same and could not help but shake his head. He really had no way of finding the other members of their team from all these similar-looking mecha.
"As long as they still live, we'll find them. There is no need to worry." On the other hand, Ling Lan was extremely composed. She had great trust in Qi Long and the others. Having participated in an expedition team before, this kind of trivial matter would not trouble them too much. Besides, this was also a test for them — without her full protection, could they survive based on their own capabilities?
********
Right then, in another mecha hall of the Swift Dragon ship, Xie Yi had already struck up a good relationship with the staff members. All smiles, he rejoined his teammates and shared what news he had learned with them.
Qi Long and the other six had not remained in their mecha, because they were currently dressed in the exact same piloting suit as the Federation NPC soldiers and not their own individualistic clothes.
Fortunately enough, when the magnetic tsunami had caught up to the tail of the mainship and the explosion had broken out, with great teamwork and rapport, Qi Long and Luo Lang had grabbed hold of the special-class mecha who had abruptly rushed in and put him right in front of their team to be their shield. The other had taken the majority of the force from the magnetic tsunami, allowing them to safely tide over this crisis. (Of course, Qi Long and the others did not know that the reason they managed to survive was also because Ling Lan had blocked off a large portion of the magnetic tsunami on the outside, otherwise just one special-class mecha alone would not have been able to keep all of them alive ...)
Of course, the end of the special-class mecha was most tragic. He had been instantly destroyed by the force of the magnetic tsunami. This was still the result of the other not reacting in time, activating his defensive measures half a second late. It was this half-second delay that had caused the mecha operator inside the special-class mecha to be unable to endure the force of the magnetic tsunami, hence dying instantly.
The ruthlessness of Qi Long and Luo Lang's decisive action caused the two new members, [No Mecha Unrepaired] and Li Shiyu, to quiver involuntarily in their hearts. In particular, Li Shiyu finally realised that this team he had joined not only had a shameless and black-bellied team leader, even the team members were not very nice people ... if he had been in their shoes, he would never have been able to use an innocent person as a shield ...
Still, Li Shiyu's rational mind acknowledged the fact that Qi Long and Luo Lang's decision had been correct, because their choice had allowed everyone in their team to survive. Li Shiyu did not forget that even as they had grabbed hold of the special-class mecha, Qi Long had pushed him and [No Mecha Unrepaired] to the back of the pack, while the other three members had worked seamlessly with Qi Long and Luo Lang to shield the two of them. In other words, only after the five of them were dead would he and [No Mecha Unrepaired] have met any danger.
After the fact, Li Shiyu's emotions were extremely complicated. He was stunned and confused but also ashamed and guilty for the special-class mecha, yet overall, he was mostly moved. At that moment, he really just could not berate Qi Long and Luo Lang for their ruthless decision ... perhaps this was what comradery meant! Li Shiyu's heart throbbed powerfully, and he found that he rather liked the feeling.
Chapter 322 - Anxiety!
For these reasons, Qi Long and the other six managed to survive. Even if they had been afraid, they had been thrown by the explosion right into the middle-back part of the mainship. Of course, they had been severely injured in the process. Here, the benefits of having Li Shiyu had to be mentioned — he had instantly brought out the special medical agents he had developed. Their wounds which would normally have needed one or two days to recover were all mostly healed after several minutes.
Initially, Qi Long and the others had considered going to the tail-most end to look for Boss Ling Lan and [Self-Defined Destiny], but the remnant force of the magnetic storm and the low power of their mecha made it impossible for them to get close to the tail. Just as they were feeling helpless, [No Mecha Unrepaired] discovered a secret. The pilotless mecha around them could be claimed by players as long as the damage levels of the mecha did not exceed 40%.
After discovering this secret, Qi Long's group of seven was both surprised and pleased. This discovery meant that they would be able to find a way to go to the tail end of the mainship to find Boss Lan. They looked around and found that there were ten or so mecha they could collect. Those mecha had not been damaged too badly by the magnetic turbulence. The seven of them picked the best seven mecha and changed into them. Then just as they were about to go to the tail, they heard a mecha operator who had come to check on the situation appear in the middle-back area of the starship.
The magnetic tsunami had caused significant damage to the entire mainship. Not only were all of the staff members in the tail end dead, even some of the defenceless staff members and mecha operators outside of their mecha in the central areas of the ship had been killed by the explosive force of the large explosion. It could be said that the casualties were high.
Although the control centre of the mainship believed that there were basically no survivors in the tail end, they still sent a small mecha squad to go investigate. When Qi Long's group had first sensed the appearance of the mecha squad, their first reflex was to hide. However, Han Jijyun had an idea — he instructed the team to go up and greet the mecha squad.
Sure enough, when the mecha squad saw them, the other side was not at all suspicious. Instead, they almost cried out in relief and excitement. They had initially thought that the all their comrades in the tail end had died. They really did not expect to find any survivors ... this made them so ecstatic that they had no mind at all to bother asking for the survivors' team numbers or any other personal information.
Just like that, Qi Long and the others were taken into the safe area of the mainship. When the staff there discovered that they were heavily bruised and injured, they were settled into healing pods for the night.
Frankly, there was a fatal flaw in Qi Long's team's cover story. Their mecha control suits were not the formal military-use control suits. Instead, they were using civilian control suits that Mecha World had produced in the fashion of those military suits, so their suits were still somewhat different from the official mecha suits used by soldiers. However, they were very clever — they tore up the most questionable spots on their control suits. Qi Long in particular had almost overdone it to the extent that he was almost naked. At the same time, they were also ruthless enough to hurt themselves on purpose, staining whatever remained of their own control suits red. Their bleeding wounds caused the rescuers to pay no attention to their control suits, placing all their attention on the group's injuries. This allowed the group to safely overcome this most difficult hurdle.
After a night of rest, they put on the military uniforms that had been specially brought over for them. As the living quarters of the soldiers had been at the tail end and so had also been blown up, all of their clothes and daily necessities were sure to be gone as well. The support staff of the mainship naturally had to think for their sakes. Not only did the staff provide them with military uniforms, they were also each given a standard official military-use mecha control suit. This made Qi Long and the others laugh silently to themselves, glad that they were finally safe.
Of course, there was one other reason why the mainship rescue logistics team was so quick to believe that they were mecha operators of the ship itself. The ship's JMC and the other staff members of the ship who were familiar with the operations of the tail end had all been killed in the explosion, every single one of them. This had contributed to the ease with which Qi Long's group of seven had infiltrated the mainship. The staff members instinctively believed that any mecha operators who were piloting mecha of their mainship must of course be one of their own.
They truly did not believe that someone could sneak in without a trace. Therefore, no one doubted the origins of Qi Long's group. They were all just sincerely glad that their comrades in the tail end had not been completely wiped out. The fact that there were survivors was a comfort to them as well.
There was one more reason they had processed Qi Long and the others so hastily. The staff did not dare to meet the pleading and questioning eyes of Qi Long's team. After the rescue team had found Qi Long's group of seven, they had discovered that the air of the mainship was surging out at a dangerous rate. The mainship did not have enough power left to maintain the atmospheric balance of the air within the ship. In order to ensure the safety of the people in the middle and front sections of the ship, the commander had no choice but to stop the search and rescue efforts and close the airlock gate in the back half of the ship to prevent the air from continuing to leak out.
Although Qi Long's group of seven had pleaded repeatedly for the search and rescue efforts to continue, insisting that there must still be other mecha operators alive in the tail end, the staff still did not manage to enter the tail end again in the end. Time waits for no man — they needed to do their duty by the remaining people. Thus, the airlock gates had to be sealed once more and the search and rescue efforts concluded prematurely.
The hopeful expressions on the faces of Qi Long's team had made the search and rescue soldiers feel extremely guilty; they felt as if they had done wrong by their comrades in the tail end. So after putting them into recovery pods, the staff subconsciously began avoiding them. No one was willing to go verify their identity, because they were afraid that the other party would ask about the final outcome of the search and rescue effort ... just like that, Qi Long's group once again evaded another possibility of being exposed.
It had to be said that Qi Long and the others were very lucky. All of the surviving soldiers on the ship were grieving over the loss of about half of their comrades. Thus, they were exceedingly kind to the survivors, skipping over some of the typically necessary confirmation procedures. Meanwhile, when the commander received the report regarding the surviving mecha operators of the tail end, he too did not think much about it. He only gave word for the staff to take extra care of them and that was it. This was because at that time, the commander had been consumed with anxiety. How could he bring this battered mainship on its last legs to the Swift Dragon base? Who knew how much longer this ship would hold out for?
"The other party is indeed a rescue ship from the Swift Dragon base. We should be able to successfully enter the Swift Dragon base now ... I just don't know how Boss and [Self-Defined Destiny] are doing right now. I wonder if they're safe ..." Xie Yi whispered, finding it difficult to keep his worry from showing on his brow. Who knew if Boss Lan had managed to survive that magnetic tsunami?
"Don't worry. Who do you take Boss for? Since we all managed to survive, Boss most definitely survived as well," Luo Lang whispered back, his gaze filled with steel-like conviction. Luo Lang was the one with the greatest faith in Ling Lan. In Luo Lang's eyes, his boss would never be defeated, not even by such a horrific thing like the magnetic tsunami.
Han Jijyun nodded and said, "Luo Lang is right. Boss will definitely be fine. Worrying about Boss's condition is not what we should be doing now. Rather, we need to figure out how to infiltrate the Swift Dragon base seamlessly before Boss finds us." Han Jijyun believed that the true challenge lay ahead of them. They needed to begin preparations early. "Once we settle down at the Swift Dragon base, I'm sure that there will inevitably be a registration of the survivors of the mainship. Since we do not know the information of any members of the mainship we can use, at that time, we will definitely be exposed."
"If only Boss were here. He is a hacker, so he would definitely be able to obtain the information of those mecha operators in the tail end and give us some suitable identities." A trace of regret flashed through Lin Zhong-qing's eyes. He too had thought of this problem. As the mainship had been greatly damaged, most of the common soldiers had passed away in this magnetic tsunami. The staff on the ship had been so busy cleaning things up and keeping things together that they had not had the spare energy to properly vet the survivors. However, once everything had settled, both the commander of the mainship and the leader of the Swift Dragon base would be sure to insist for proper checks to be carried out. As Han Jijyun said, their exposure was imminent.
At this point, Lin Zhong-qing could not help but smile bitterly. Once again, he found that Boss Lan was truly an omnipotent existence for them. As long as he was around, any problem would no longer be a problem, able to be solved easily.
"Speaking of hackers, I seem to have heard [Self-Defined Destiny] say before that he too is a hacker. If he were around, perhaps we could also have obtained that information ..." Xie Yi recalled what [Self-Defined Destiny] had said on the transport ship and remarked with some regret.
"That's true! How unlucky. If he were here, we would be much safer ..." said Qi Long in frustration at those words, "If I had known earlier, I would have let [Self-Defined Destiny] enter the mainship first back then."
"It's too late to say all this now. We might as well brainstorm and think about how we should deal with the situation." Li Shiyu interrupted Qi Long's tangent and reminded everyone to stop thinking about useless things.
Han Jijyun nodded and said, "Dux Li is right. The two hackers of our team are not here, so it's pointless to think about ways to get the information via hacker abilities. Let's think of some other way."
The group began to think hard, but unfortunately they could not come up with a good method. Then, Xie Yi saw [No Mecha Unrepaired] staring blankly at a corner. The other was still a second year student in the military academy now due to being held back two years. He was Chang Xinyuan who had been forced into dire straits because he had caught the eye of the Thunder King.
Xie Yi followed his line of sight but saw nothing there except a spider spinning a web ... he stared dubiously at [No Mecha Unrepaired] a.k.a. Chang Xinyuan and wondered — had the other thought of something?
Chang Xinyuan seemed to feel the heat of Xie Yi's gaze, and he slowly came back to himself. He smiled embarrassedly and asked, "Xie Yi, you ... what's up?"
"You were staring off into space. Have you thought of something?" asked Xie Yi curiously.
Chang Xinyuan rubbed his head in embarrassment. "I just never expected that [Lingtian First-String] was actually that Boss Lan who defeated the Leiting Mecha Clan. And it's even more unexpected that I would join your battle clan ... this makes me feel as if I am dreaming ..."
Xie Yi was speechless. When they had first gotten out of their mecha, Chang Xinyuan's expression had been calm and composed. Xie Yi had thought the other had not recognised them and so they had not paid any mind to it. Unexpectedly, Chang Xinyuan knew all about their backgrounds but was only showing signs of it now. Had he just pretended too well ... or was his reflex arc just abnormally slow for him to only react now?
Chang Xinyuan's words made the other people look at each other speechlessly as well. It had already been a full night since then! Friend, for you to exclaim about it now — isn't it a little too late?
The penetrating gazes of the other six made [No Mecha Unrepaired] rather flustered. He once again rubbed his head and said, "Actually, I was just thinking about those words Boss Lan had said to us when we had departed." Unconsciously, Chang Xinyuan had adopted the address of Boss Lan from Qi Long and the others.
Chapter 323 - Clearing a Hurdle!
"What are you saying?" Qi Long rubbed his face roughly, suddenly finding that for someone with an impetuous nature like him, dealing with someone with such a slow reflex arc like [No Mecha Unrepaired] was really a kind of torture.
"Boss Lan said that, if by any chance we got split up, we should use pre-arranged aliases to find one another ..." replied Chang Xinyuan.
"So you're saying that Boss Lan will use an alias? Impossible. If Boss Lan really managed to infiltrate the Swift Dragon base, he would definitely use an identity of one of the fallen soldiers, otherwise the other side will see through him." Qi Long was the first to express disbelief. An alias would be easily exposed once the other side checked their databases.
"But you all said that Boss Lan is a powerful hacker. Couldn't he have changed the database?" Chang Xinyuan did not know much about hackers, so he just shared what he believed.
"How could a database be so easily changed?" Qi Long could not help but burst out into snickers. Even the strongest hacker would never dare to do any hanky-panky in the mainframe.
"No, perhaps [No Mecha Unrepaired] is right ..." said Han Jijyun, interrupting Qi Long.
Han Jijyun's words instantly shut Qi Long up. When it came to his sworn brother's judgment, Qi Long had full faith. Therefore, he could only rub his nose helplessly and say nothing more.
"Boss Lan's hacking skills are very formidable. I believe that anyone who knows about Boss Lan's ability knows this." Han Jijyun's words received emphatic nods from Qi Long and the other three of Ling Lan's original team. In contrast to Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan who only knew Ling Lan for a short time, the four of them who had grown up beside Ling Lan were well aware of Ling Lan's exploits in terms of hacking.
"Thus, who can say that Boss Lan really can't change the database of the command mainship?" At this point, Han Jijyun's eyes were shining, "I believe that Boss Lan would have already predicted our current circumstances. He will definitely add the aliases we agreed to in advance into the database, along with all the other relevant info."
"Once we're at the Swift Dragon base, if someone actually comes to check our identity, we just need to report the fake identity that has been arranged for us," Han Jijyun stated his decision.
"What if team leader Ling did not manage to change it in time ..." Li Shiyu, who was not very clear on Ling Lan's abilities, was still rather worried. He felt it was somewhat inappropriate to use this kind of gambling-like method.
"Since there is the possibility of exposure no matter what we do, we might as well take the gamble. I believe in Boss Lan," replied Han Jijyun with determination.
His words drew the agreement of Qi Long and the other three original members. Seeing the determination in their eyes, Li Shiyu could only tuck away his doubts, sigh, and consent. Chang Xinyuan had no objections. As a mechanic who was focused on researching and modifying mecha, as long as the team has made a final decision, he would not have any opposing opinions.
Just like that, another day and half a night later, at 3 o' clock in the morning, the patrol ship safely arrived at the Swift Dragon base.
The Swift Dragon base, which had long been informed, systematically placed all the personnel from the mainship in a large battalion. Qi Long and the others entered the base calmly under the direction of the military personnel of the Swift Dragon Base.
They only took a few casual glances at the situation around them and then they stopped looking around. But those few glances were enough to shock them, because there was an on-duty soldier every one hundred steps within the Swift Dragon base. It looked like the Swift Dragon base was extremely strict in terms of manning the defences.
This was extremely rare among the Federation forces that were highly reliant on technology. It should be known that military bases generally relied on hidden monitors with three hundred and sixty degrees of coverage as the main means of monitoring, and rarely employed so much manpower for defence.
Qi Long and the others appeared unchanged on the surface, but they already had their guards up mentally. It would definitely not be easy to find their boss and complete the final mission under such strict defence. They were well aware that under the close supervision of these people, there were still countless invisible electronic monitoring devices watching them. If they showed any little flaw, they would be uncovered by the surveillance personnel of the Swift Dragon base, and the consequences would be unthinkable.
Due to the impromptu arrangement, the base was unable to provide excellent accommodation for the survivors of the mainship. Regardless of military rank, all of the survivors were assigned ten to a room. Of course, for those top-ranking officers like the commander of the mainship, the conditions were not as bad.
Qi Long's group of seven was assigned along with three other strangers to a room to rest. They had only rested for a few hours, not fully recovered yet, when they were woken up by a knock on the door. It turned out that the Swift Dragon base's support staff were already here to register their information.
Qi Long and the others shared a look. Han Jijyun signalled for them to continue faking sleep. One of the other three in the room opened the door, muttering angrily, and Han Jijyun perked his ears to listen carefully to their conversation.
Hearing that it was someone here to register their information, the attitude of the person who opened the door was tempered. He stated his information — the logistics head of the Leiguang mecha squad of the Jinglong mainship from the Dragon River transport fleet, Yang Yilong!
After the support staff of the Swift Dragon base keyed in his information, he smiled and said with a salute, "Hello, Second Lieutenant Yang, I'm really sorry for disturbing your rest."
Only then did Han Jijyun open his eyes to peek at the other's epaulette. It turned out the other was just a corporal — no wonder his attitude became so respectful. The status of a support soldier on a base was obviously incomparable to the status of a support staff on a military ship. This was also why all soldiers yearned to serve on a ship, because the starting point of those who obtained a position on a ship was much better than those serving on the ground.
At this time, the other people in the room had all been awakened as well. They rubbed at their eyes, yawning. Seeing this, the support staff walked over the closest bed from the door. Chang Xinyuan was the one lying there and he was currently rubbing his eyes. Seeing the staff approach him, Chang Xinyuan's palms could not help but sweat, and the hand rubbing at his eyes faltered for a moment.
Noticing this, Han Jijyun, who was lying one bed behind Chang Xinyuan, quickly yawned and said, "Why don't you register me first? The quicker I'm done, the quicker I can rest."
The support staff of the Swift Dragon base quickly stepped forward in response to approach Han Jijyun.
"I'm Ji Yinglong, mecha member #5 of the Cheetah mecha squad of the Jinglong mainship from the Dragon River transport fleet," Han Jijyun calmly stated the alias they had set up. The reason he had pretended to be asleep at first was so that one of the other three strangers would register first. That way, he would be able to know the name of that mainship. Though this was not any great secret among the official soldiers of the mainship, as outsiders, they really did not know that information. Besides, he also wanted to know what the standard format of responding was.
With Yang Yilong's answer as a template, Han Jijyun knew how he was supposed to answer.
Han Jijyun's reply caused Yang Yilong from the same ship to do a double take. He stared in surprise at Han Jijyun, but out of propriety, he did not speak up to question the other. He too could not be certain whether his own mainship had such a mecha battle clan with such an unfamiliar sounding name.
After obtaining Han Jijyun's response, the support staff of the Swift Dragon base entered the information into the query system of the base. Then, he saluted and said, "First Lieutenant Ji, hello."
Han Jijyun merely saluted back calmly, but he was mentally shouting 'YES' in his heart. As expected, Boss Lan had modified the database. Otherwise, the other would not have responded this way. With that, he was even more certain that Boss Lan had survived the magnetic tsunami and had safely made his way to the Swift Dragon base.
Seeing Han Jijyun pass through successfully, the others' hearts settled. Moreover, Han Jijyun's answer also showed them what they should say.
Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan saw that Han Jijyun really managed to pass through the registration check and could not help but be greatly astonished. They now had a brand new understanding of Ling Lan's hacker abilities.
Chang Xinyuan had originally already been extremely admiring of Ling Lan's mecha control skills. Now, he was even more awed by Ling Lan's hacker abilities. He, who had originally held out very little hope for the outcome of this mission, now began to have some confidence. Perhaps they would really be able to complete this SSS-level mission no one else had ever accomplished before throughout history ... At this thought, Chang Xinyuan's heart pounded, but he very soon pushed down this notion.
Chang Xinyuan smiled wryly to himself. Hanging out with Qi Long and these other youths who were like young calves unafraid of tigers, he had unconsciously begun to lose his rationality, actually beginning to also have such unrealistic thoughts ... but, what if, really, by any chance, they really ... Chang Xinyuan took in a deep breath and firmly pushed all these distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. He knew very well that their mission had just begun — the hardest parts were still yet to come.
Meanwhile, this was the first time Li Shiyu was seeing Ling Lan in a positive light. That initially thick-skinned and shameless Ling Lan in his mind, who loved to manipulate others with petty tricks, began to have a positive image. Sure enough, to become an acknowledged boss, he must have his unique charm and capabilities ...
After checking the information of everyone in the room and determining that there was no problem, the Swift Dragon support staff left the room. At this time, Yang Yilong loudly asked Qi Long, "Captain Luo (Qi Long's alias was Luo Ying), who'd expect that you're actually member #2 of the Cheetah mecha team. That's the position of the team ace, you know!"
Typically, #1 was the team leader, #2 was the main ace of the team, #3 was the secondary ace, #4 was a primary fighter, while #5 and beyond were indefinite. Those numbers could be support and logistics members, or they could also be primary fighters. Although Yang Yilong felt that the name of the Cheetah mecha team sounded very unfamiliar, he still expressed his admiration for Qi Long's position.
Qi Long scratched his head in embarrassment and said with a smile, "I'm no ace, our team leader is ..."
His earnest face and this smile made him appear somewhat dopey, but gave others a feeling of extreme sincerity and trustworthiness. Yang Yilong could not help but find himself liking Qi Long.
Yang Yilong exchanged a few more words with Qi Long. When he heard that they still did not know whether their team leader and their #7 member was dead or alive, he was instantly filled with pity. Seeing this, Qi Long angrily said that he believed that his team leader still lived. This heartfelt display of Qi Long's absolute trust made Yang Yilong admire Qi Long even more. That little bit of doubt initially still present in his heart vanished without a trace at this performance of Qi Long's.
When Han Jijyun saw this, he let out a quiet sigh of relief. When he had responded earlier, he had already been worried that the unfamiliar name of the mecha team would arouse suspicion in the minds of the mainship's members. Luckily, Qi Long's appearance was very handy for deceiving others. At the very least, judging from Yang Yilong's present expression, he had not become suspicious of them.