Chapter 203 - 402 - 407

Chapter 402 - Mecha Modification!

Looking at the confident and composed Qin Yi, it was as if he were not at all concerned about the fight with Leiting in three days' time ... this person talking to Qin Yi was not a member of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, and he suddenly had the urge to join. Although everyone believed that the Lingtian Mecha Clan was sure to lose and that they would soon become a joke of a mecha clan — being the clan with the shortest lifespan in the whole of academy history — when this youth saw the calm and unruffled demeanour of the Lingtian Mecha Clan members, he felt that the outcome might not be as horrible for Lingtian as everyone was imagining.

However, this was just a momentary impulse — very quickly, he had calmed down again. He smiled at Qin Yi, then moved back to his own seat. Still, he had mentally made a decision — if the Lingtian Mecha Clan really managed to overcome this crisis brought on by Leiting, he would join the Lingtian Mecha Clan without any hesitation. No matter how badly he would be oppressed by Leiting in future because of this, he would still persist in following the Lingtian Mecha Clan.

********

After leaving the classroom with Chang Xinyuan, Ling Lan did not know about these things that happened behind them, not to mention that there would be people who would choose to join the Lingtian Mecha Clan over this.

Right then, Ling Lan's group was rushing to the large canteen for lunch. Along the way, she was finding out what Chang Xinyuan had sought her out for.

The canteen had a mass eating area, and it also provided several private rooms for capable students who wanted a quiet area to isolate themselves and rest. For ease of communication, Ling Lan naturally chose a private room. Everyone in their group had just sat down when the other members of the team arrived one after another. It turned out that, along the way, Luo Lang had already informed the other team members to hurry over for a group meal.

Of course, Luo Lang had taken the effort to do so because he needed to inform Lin Zhong-qing about the gathering. As the head of support for the Lingtian Battle Clan, he managed all of the credits the team owned. If they wanted to enjoy a good meal, how could they exclude Lin Zhong-qing?

In less than five minutes, everyone had arrived. Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, and Zhao Jun were the quickest to arrive — as fifth-years, they did not have many classes to begin with, and they had only been preparing some documents for their applications for enlistment in their respective dorms.

Seeing that everyone was here, after asking what everyone wanted to eat, Lin Zhong-qing dragged Xie Yi and Luo Lang along with him to place the group's orders. The private rooms of the military academy did not have any service staff — the students needed to go out and order whatever they wanted to eat and carry it in themselves.

Fortunately, tea and water were provided in the room. Li Lanfeng did not dare to put on any airs of being a fifth-year senior — he diligently stood up and poured tea for everyone. For the sake of the rabbit, he would make nice and curry favour with the rabbit's team members ...

Chang Xinyuan picked up his teacup and took a sip, settling his mind before saying to Ling Lan, "Boss Lan, do you still remember that ace mecha you passed to me six months ago?"

Ling Lan, who had just raised her own teacup, paused abruptly and then nodded in sudden realisation.

On a particular day six months ago, Ling Lan had just advanced to ace operator status when Chang Xinyuan had suddenly contacted Ling Lan to tell her that he was studying the composition of ace mecha. Although he had already grasped everything in theory, without a physical mecha for him to take apart and analyse, there were some things he just could not figure out. Hearing that, Ling Lan instantly lent the ace mecha she had just received from the mainframe for her successful advancement to Chang Xinyuan for his research.

Ling Lan knew very well that only by combining theory and practice could one truly master the knowledge one learns. Chang Xinyuan, who had been stuck at the peak stage of intermediate mecha for all this time, would never have had the chance to obtain an ace mecha with his own power.

The conditions for redeeming an ace mecha were extremely strict — only those who had achieved an equivalent rank or above could redeem one. Oftentimes, a mecha mechanic would have extremely weak mecha piloting abilities, and thus would not be able to obtain the mecha they needed to tinker with on their own. This was also why a mecha mechanic would join a powerful battle clan — if they wanted to progress further, without a battle clan to help them obtain higher-level mecha, their modification skill development could only stagnate.

Of course, Ling Lan was so generous in lending Chang Xinyuan her mecha because she had enough confidence in herself. Taking part in cross-level challenges all the way, she had managed to earn a very large amount of points, enough to let her redeem yet another ace mecha. So, even if Chang Xinyuan was unable to put the mecha he borrowed back together after taking it apart, it would not influence Ling Lan's subsequent plans.

Just like that, that ace mecha was loaned out for over half a year. It had been so long that Ling Lan had already forgotten about it. Now, when Chang Xinyuan brought it up again, she was finally reminded of the matter. Ling Lan quickly asked, "You've already gotten a thorough comprehension of the internal structures of ace mecha?"

Chang Xinyuan nodded emphatically and said excitedly, "Yes, that mecha was right by my side every day. If I were not able to master its composition like this, that would truly be a shame." Saying this, Chang Xinyuan once again marvelled at his great luck in meeting such a good leader as Ling Lan. Just think, which battle clan leader would be so generous as to outright give a support mechanic an ace mecha just for research purposes? It was already not bad if a leader would even give you the time of day!

"Honestly, I was already pretty much done studying it about three months ago. For these last three months, I've been researching how I could make necessary modifications to an ace mecha ..." Chang Xinyuan pushed aside his feelings to say.

These words shocked the other team members who were drinking tea. Qi Long, in particular, could not stop himself from spewing out the tea in his mouth he had yet to swallow ...

Han Jijyun levelled a vicious glare at Qi Long — seated right across from Qi Long, he was unfortunately sprayed with a faceful of tea ...

Qi Long quickly put down his teacup and pulled some tissue paper from the table top, offering it with an apologetic smile to Han Jijyun, mouth spouting a continuous stream of apologies. It couldn't be helped. At this time, he could only humble himself and beg for his sworn brother's forgiveness.

In the midst of pouring tea, when Li Lanfeng heard Chang Xinyuan's words, he quickly set down the teapot, plopped himself down beside Chang Xinyuan, and asked with surprise, "For real? I've never heard that an ace mecha could be modified. Aren't mecha mechanics only able to modify mecha of special-class and below?"

Chang Xinyuan was originally a mild-mannered and reserved person, but when a professional problem was posed, he was extremely solemn. Li Lanfeng's words were obviously tinged with doubt — this offended him, and his expression darkened as he retorted, "According to whom? In theory, as long as a mechanic's modification skills continue to develop, even a god-class mecha is not beyond the scope of modification."

"But there has never been any cases of a modified ace mecha before in the Federation." In the face of Chang Xinyuan's anger, Li Lanfeng acted guilelessly — he was merely stating the truth. It was still possible to see some partial modifications on special-class mecha, but ace mecha had always been limited to the five great unified models of the Federation. At most, individual ace mecha only differed in colour, and there might be some changes to the weapons equipped on them ...

"Truth is, when it comes to mecha at ace level, it is indeed already very difficult to make any modifications. Having been thoroughly researched and experimented on by countless generations of Federation people, these mecha are already pretty much perfect. Any unwise alterations would instead decrease the functional capacity of the mecha, and so it's not really worth the trouble." Li Lanfeng's innocent-looking face and his very realistic words swiftly calmed Chang Xinyuan down.

"But in Mecha World, the possibilities are endless. There are some materials and weapons we would never dream of which can be found in Mecha World, and these can allow mechanics to break free from reality to conduct modifications on even higher level mecha." Chang Xinyuan finally revealed the reason why he was able to modify ace mecha.

It should be said that Chang Xinyuan was truly very, very lucky. After completing a triple-S modification assignment, he had received a very generous reward from the mainframe. The reward included materials which only existed in legend in the real world and were extremely precious. It was all due to these materials that he was able to satisfy all the requirements needed to modify ace mecha.

Chang Xinyuan's words made everyone fall into silent contemplation. Indeed, Mecha World was a virtual world. For example, even when it came to mecha operation, many ultra-difficult flying manoeuvres that were likely to result in a crash in the real world enjoyed a certain success rate inside Mecha World. Because there was no need to fear death, every mecha operator dared to attempt it. Even if they failed, they would at most lose a significant number of points — they just needed to start over again. It was also the existence of Mecha World which allowed mecha controls in the real world to diversify. Many moves which had been tried and tested in Mecha World by operators until their success rate achieved a certain guarantee would slowly surface in reality ...

Thus, if the possibility for breakthroughs existed for mecha controls, then it of course made sense that other specializations also shared this feature. Seated at one side, Li Shiyu began pondering deeply. Perhaps he should shift his medical research into Mecha World too; there were all sorts of miraculous agents in Mecha World which might help him find a cure for his eldest cousin brother's constitution problem faster ...

Right then, Han Jijyun finally finished wiping away all traces of the tea Qi Long had spit all over his face. Only then did he have the heart to ask a question that had been bothering him. "But why have we never seen modifications of ace mecha in Mecha World before this?"

Everyone else agreed with his point, because regardless of whether it was in reality or the virtual world, they had really never seen any modified ace mecha before.

Chang Xinyuan was stunned at his words. Thinking about it now, he too had never seen a modified ace mecha before in the virtual world ... did that mean that none of the other mechanics had ever discovered that ace mecha could actually be modified?

"Could it be because of fixed thinking? No, no ..." Chang Xinyuan shook his head sharply. As a brilliant mechanic, one would never set restrictions on one's imagination. A mechanic's thoughts must be free to wander — this was the firm tenet of mechanics. Then, how could so many mechanics and those grand masters involved in more advanced research have overlooked this point? At this time, Chang Xinyuan suddenly thought of the outer appearance of the ace mecha he had modified, and in a flash of insight, he figured it out ...

"Is it because when we see modified mecha in Mecha World, we subconsciously believe that those cannot be ace mecha, and so take them to be mecha of other levels?" asked Chang Xinyuan, beside himself at the epiphany.

Chang Xinyuan's words were like a bolt of lightning, blowing apart the constrained mindset of all the others there. Yes, ace mecha which had been modified were sure to look different from the initial ace mecha. At one glance, there would be no way at all for them to know if they were ace mecha, so they might have directly assumed those mecha were special-class mecha or even mecha below that ...

Everyone was stunned by the possibility. Ling Lan had noticed the shift in Chang Xinyuan's expression throughout, and a thought tumbled through her mind. She asked, "Chang Xinyuan, have you succeeded in your ace mecha modification?"

Ling Lan's self-assured and composed demeanour astounded Chang Xinyuan. In shock, he said, "Boss Lan, how did you know?"

Chapter 403 - Black!

"Only if your modification was successful would you know that the outer appearance of a modified ace mecha is different from that of official ace mecha. Only then would you realise this issue," explained Ling Lan indifferently. This kind of demeanour where it seemed like everything was according to plan received the deep admiration of the battle clan members — as expected of their Boss Lan; nothing could be hidden from him.

Chang Xinyuan nodded, thoroughly convinced. "Boss Lan, you're completely right. I have indeed finished modifying the ace mecha successfully. Today, I'm just here to tell you this news. I would like for you to go online to test it out so I can conduct a data assessment and make some final adjustments to the mecha." At this point, Chang Xinyuan scratched his head bashfully, becoming somewhat embarrassed. "Although I think that I've modified it successfully, without feedback from an operator, I can't be sure whether my modification is truly successful."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's all go take a look!" Qi Long was the first to leap up in excitement. This was the first time he would see a modified ace mecha! It was truly too exciting!

Qi Long's words received hearty approval from everyone. At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing, Xie Yi, and Luo Lang had finally brought all their food over. Before they could even set down the dishes, everyone was rushing at them like hungry wolves.

The three of them did not have enough time to react before the dishes had been snatched away, leaving them with only the large empty trays in their hands. They stared at each other in bewilderment, eyes filled with incomprehension. It had only been several minutes and their companions had become so hungry to this extent?

Frankly, after learning the truth, the members did not wish to waste time eating here. If they hadn't had to eat lunch to replenish their strength, they would have long left the canteen to return to their respective dorms and logged in to the virtual world ...

Even though he was eating rapidly, Han Jijyun still maintained his usual graceful air. Catching sight of the dumbstruck three at the door, he sighed softly inside his heart and said, "Eat quickly. Later, log onto the virtual world. There'll be a great surprise."

Beside Han Jijyun, Qi Long raised his head at Han Jijyun's words to nod emphatically at Lin Zhong-qing, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi, confirming that his sworn brother was telling the truth. His gaze was obviously telling them that they would regret it if they missed out.

Although Lin Zhong-qing was unsure what the so-called surprise Han Jijyun had said could be, he also knew that for their companions to be so worked up, the surprise must not be some trivial thing. And so, he threw Xie Yi and Luo Lang a pointed look, and then turned into a ravenous wolf like the others to join in the scramble for the food.

In less than three minutes, they had finished off the meal. In contrast to the others' messiness, Ling Lan was the most composed, but moving the swiftest, she had certainly been the one to eat the most ... this caused the team members' eyes to express an extremely mournful sort of gaze. Boss, when can you share this ultimate skill with us? Speaking of which, they still were not full yet ...

Soon, the battle clan members assembled at top speed in the large main base camp of the Lingtian Battle Clan in Mecha World. As they had accomplished an SSS-rank mission, the Lingtian Battle Clan possessed their own camp grounds. And in order to support the intensive cultivation of Chang Xinyuan, Ling Lan had spent an exorbitant amount of financial and materials resources to build a mecha modification research centre for him in the camp.

As soon as everyone entered the research centre, they were automatically discharged from their respective mecha. In the spacious and empty research centre, there was no sense of crowding even though there was suddenly ten more people within it. The crowd had yet to get over their shock at how vast the research centre was when their attention was drawn to the grand and mighty-looking mecha standing tall in the centre of the space.

This mecha was currently still in the original steely-grey colour of mecha steel, and because Ling Lan's original choice was a close-combat mecha, Chang Xinyuan's modification direction was also heavily focused on close combat. The whole mecha's appearance had become extremely ferocious — in contrast to the typically graceful long lines of ace mecha, this mecha had veered away from this characteristic to pursue a sort of ultimate barbarism. In particular, the mecha's arms and legs were obviously much thicker.

"Holy sh*t, this form, so powerful, I like!" The moment Qi Long set eyes on it, he was utterly besotted by the mecha. Red hearts bloomed in his eyes as he rushed forwards uncontrollably to stroke the mecha carefully, as if he were caressing the body of the woman he loved. That intoxicated expression on his face prompted goosebumps all over the others' bodies.

Qi Long, who had been chasing in Ling Lan's footsteps all this time, had also inherited Ling Lan's style when it came to mecha combat and operation. He preferred thrilling and dangerous close-combat attacks, so he had no defence at all against this type of powerful close-combat oriented mecha.

Zhao Jun and Qi Long's feelings for the mecha were almost identical. If not for the fact that he had only joined the clan not too long ago, Zhao Jun most probably would have added one to the number of people molesting the mecha. Luckily, in order to retain his good impression in his clan leader's eyes, he managed to restrain himself. Of course, it was worth mentioning here that the primary hero which had enlightened Zhao Jun in time to stop him from committing such a mistake was Li Lanfeng's unmerciful stomp from beside him. It had almost fractured the bones in the back of Zhao Jun's foot.

The others, such as Luo Lang, also revealed envious looks. However, though Luo Lang was envious, he was not as worked up as Qi Long and Zhao Jun. This was because he knew that close-combat mecha had nothing much to do with him. He knew his own body well — although it looked like it was similar to Boss Ling Lan's body type, slender and lean, in terms of strength, his body was considerably weaker than his boss's. If not for Li Lanfeng still being worse off than him, Luo Lang would have even suspected whether being part of a pair of twins had affected his constitution ...

Seeing how fascinated everyone was with his modification, Chang Xinyuan was unbelievably excited. He said to Ling Lan, "Boss Lan, because I didn't know what colour you like, I haven't painted the outer armour of the mecha yet. Now you just need to say the word. What colour would you like it to be? Or perhaps you would like a combination of colours?"

Ling Lan had been studying the outer appearance of the mecha. Sure enough, the modified mecha looked very different on the outside from normal ace mecha. If Chang Xinyuan had not said that this mecha had been modified from her ace mecha, she would probably have been unable to determine the level of this mecha at short notice. When she heard Chang Xinyuan's question, an idea sparked in her mind and she said, "Black will do."

"Black?" The other members of the battle clan could not help but exclaim at Ling Lan's choice. Even Chang Xinyuan was gobsmacked — the Federation military had regulated that black was the specified colour for special-class mecha. Generally, modified mecha, unless they were special-class mecha, would avoid this colour and choose some other hue.

"Won't that be interesting? Since no one believes that ace mecha can be modified, then let's just use the colour set for special-class mecha and fool Leiting into thinking that it's a special-class mecha," said Ling Lan coldly. Her composed demeanour belied how cunning and sneaky her words were; this was obviously a scam ...

"What a great idea." Li Lanfeng was the first to step up and express approval for the plan. The fellow was a black-bellied sort to begin with, liking to snare and set up others, and this decision of Ling Lan's was obviously meant to trick Qiao Ting, so of course he would approve with his entire being.

Frankly, Ling Lan's meaning was already very clear — all those who were not the slightest bit slow-witted in the team quickly picked up on the subtext, and their eyes began to shine. Although Chang Xinyuan was focused on research so he was much more naive than the others, he had also picked up on Ling Lan's obvious connotation. Additionally, he had suffered so much at the Thunder King's hands, so now that he found that his modified mecha could be used to trick the Thunder King, he was instantly pumped up. Loudly, he replied, "Understood, Boss Lan, leave it to me. I definitely won't let the other suspect that this mecha isn't a special-class mecha." Thrumming with excitement, he immediately went to his experiment panel and began to mix and test colours ...

The others surrounded him with interest, putting forth suggestions to Chang Xinyuan to try and make this mecha look as much like a special-class mecha as possible, with no care about whether the nonsense they were spouting would bother Chang Xinyuan.

Ling Lan saw the excitement and enthusiasm in everyone's faces and once again found herself astonished at how unpopular the Thunder King was. There were so many people here who wanted to see him stumble — being too arrogant truly resulted in bad outcomes ...

Only Zhao Jun did not join the crowd surrounding Chang Xinyuan. He glanced at the calm and composed Boss Lan, and then turned his gaze towards Li Lanfeng who was busy helping Chang Xinyuan with a face full of scheming intent. He finally understood why Li Lanfeng had wanted him to join Boss Lan's battle clan. Hells, these two were birds of a feather! In contrast to Li Lanfeng's obvious surface cunning and sneakiness, Boss Lan was the true master of black-bellied masters ... right then, Zhao Jun profoundly realised that this seemingly cool and aloof Boss Lan was someone he absolutely could not offend.

Chang Xinyuan had a thorough understanding of all aspects of knowledge with regards to mecha — even with so many inept advisers 1 interfering with his work, it took less than 20 minutes for him to finish formulating that black dye used for special-class mecha; all that was left was the actual production.

Setting down the work in his hands, Chang Xinyuan asked Ling Lan to board the mecha and test it out for fine-tuning adjustments. Over the course of half a day, Ling Lan basically obtained a preliminary understanding of this modified mecha.

This mecha almost abandoned all long-range power — only the most basic long-range weapons were retained. However, its close-combat capabilities were much enhanced. The strength of its arms was now 1.5 times stronger than before. Do not underestimate this tiny 0.5 increment — the moment mecha clashed in actual battle, if the opponent really believed this mecha was a special-class mecha, or even if they knew the truth but was unprepared for this extra 0.5, this additional strength would be enough to strike the opponent's weapon from their hands. At that time, how could a weaponless mecha still be taken as a serious opponent? This would pretty much decide the final victory.

Not just that, the mecha's mobility had also seen a breakthrough improvement. Although its outer form was savage and fierce, the mecha's mobility and adaptive ability had become nimbler than other ace mecha, perhaps even exceeding that of the most agile speed-type ace mecha. Ling Lan found that other than the requisite main engine and two secondary engines, Chang Xinyuan had added an additional row of miniature auxiliary engines at the back of the mecha. Though the thrust of these engines was very small, they could still assist the mecha in making fine adjustments during high-speed movement.

In the past, there had been others who had suggested similar designs, but the research had ground to a halt due to the lack of appropriate miniature auxiliary engines. After Chang Xinyuan had completed that triple-S modification mission, the most valuable among the miscellaneous rewards were these legendary miniature auxiliary engines. They had allowed him to successfully upgrade the close-combat ace mecha's mobility and made it even more responsive. This would undoubtedly allow Ling Lan to design and execute countless super challenging combination moves other mecha could not, perhaps even producing more powerful combo attacks.

1. 狗头军师: Literally 'dog-headed advisers'. All I could find was that the saying is drawn from old literature, with no explanation for why a dog's head is equated with giving bad advice.

Chapter 404 - Betrayal!

Overall, Chang Xinyuan's modification was successful. However, to truly dig out the full potential of this mecha, one day was not enough. Ling Lan knew that she had to take some leave now even if she did not want to. In order to complete the final adjustments on the mecha as soon as possible, she would need to hole up with Chang Xinyuan in their battle clan's mecha modification research centre for these last three days.

In this manner, aside from Ling Lan, who took a sudden leave of absence, the other members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan continued to attend classes as usual. Of course, Li Lanfeng bravely volunteered to be Ling Lan's sparring opponent. And so, every day, he was abused so terribly one could hardly bear the sight of it, and yet, he took joy in it and showed no intentions of retreating. This resilience caused Qi Long and the others to be profoundly awed — they who had been tormented by Boss Lan all this way knew very well how gruelling it was on both mind and body to be Boss Lan's opponent ...

On the last day before the great fight, the thus far calm Lingtian Mecha Clan finally stirred. All of the regiment commanders and the various team leaders requested leave from their respective instructors. As the mecha battle between Lingtian and Leiting had already been set as an open fight, the administrators of the academy gave the green light to both mecha clans, requesting the instructors to cooperate fully. Thus, the instructors gave them no trouble; everyone had their leave requests approved.

Right then, Qiao Ting, who was in the mecha training hall in Mecha World training on his own, suddenly received an emergency call from outside. With a flicker of his mind, Qiao Ting logged off.

Outside the virtual login pod, his confidant was already waiting. The hatch to his pod had just opened when his confidant attentively offered him a towel.

"Have you received proper news?" Qiao Ting accepted the towel and asked lowly.

"Yes, Regiment Commander, we have obtained the actual participant list of the Lingtian Mecha Clan." The confidant's expression was rather grim. They had always thought that the representatives of the Lingtian Mecha Clan would consist of only the regiment commanders and some of the team leaders, but unexpectedly, the other side had successfully accepted two fifth-year cadets into their fold with none the wiser. And one of them was ranked within the top five of the campus-wide combat power ranking. This made his heart feel somewhat heavy.

"Anyone we did not expect?" Qiao Ting walked into the washroom, and seeing his confidant's complicated expression in the reflection of the mirror, he knew that something had come up.

"Yes, I've already sent the detailed name list to your communicator, Regiment Commander. Take a look later and you'll understand," said the confidant.

Qiao Ting nodded in response. Washing his face, he sobered up a little more, and he then turned on his communicator and clicked on the Lingtian Mecha Clan name list his confidant had sent to him.

The first on the list was, without question, the number one regiment commander of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, Ling Lan. He would also be the leader of the battle team this time.

The second was Qi Long. This was also someone they had managed to predict. Since the other was strong enough to be the second regiment commander of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, he must certainly be the second strongest under Ling Lan.

The third and the fourth also did not deviate from their predictions, being the third regiment commander Wu Jiong and the fourth regiment commander Li Yingjie. All four main regiment commanders of the Lingtian Mecha Clan would be participating in this mecha fight. It looked like the other side was going to give their all in this challenge and was not at all planning to just submit and admit defeat.

At this point, Qiao Ting was smirking in his mind. This was the best — for the Lingtian Mecha Clan to try their hardest only to be crushed easily by his hand ... only this way could his strength be proven!

However, the subsequent names on the list made Qiao Ting frown. They were not the team leaders Leiting had expected. Other than Luo Lang whom he had some memory of due to his involvement in the previous New Cadet Regiment fight, the other names were all rather unfamiliar to him. Qiao Ting very quickly realised that these people should be members from Ling Lan's battle clan.

At this point, Qiao Ting found his estimation of Ling Lan rising considerably. Knowing to set aside the stronger team leaders in favour of his own battle clan members with better internal rapport — this would undoubtedly let the battle team learn how to work together within the shortest amount of time, and would also increase the combat power of the battle team. It was a masterful decision.

Even though, other than the five or six names they had managed to guess, the other names within the first ten names on the list had surprised them, Qiao Ting still did not feel pressured. Even if the opponent's battle team had better rapport because of this, these people were after all still freshmen. Their mecha control skills and experience were totally incomparable to that of the members representing Leiting. Qiao Ting could not comprehend why his confidant would reveal such a grave expression.

However, Qiao Ting soon learned the reason. Seeing the final two names on the list, even someone as composed and confident as Qiao Ting could not help but be shaken.

"Zhao Jun, Li Lanfeng!" Qiao Ting shouted. "Aren't they part of Wuji? Why have they gone to Lingtian now?"

Although Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun had already refused Han Yu's invitation at the start of the academic year, this news had been kept under wraps by Han Yu all this while. Despite his anger and hatred of the two, Han Yu also did not want his rivals to find out about this news and somehow manage to recruit those two into their ranks. This was also why Leiting had remained completely oblivious about this.

In the military academy, even though there was the possibility of members switching factions, this mostly occurred among the lower ranks. The true upper ranks of the factions would never have cases where members transitioned to other factions. Furthermore, Zhao Jun was a primary combat force of Wuji, while Li Lanfeng was the head adviser of Wuji — in Wuji, they held absolutely key positions. Normal people would never willingly let go of the power they wielded, and even if the conflict they had with the faction was too deep and they really wanted to leave, the faction would also use any means at their disposal to stop it from happening.

It should be said that the true details behind Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun's collaboration with Wuji were unknown by the other factions, which was why such a misunderstanding could occur. From the start, Li Lanfeng had taken advantage of Wuji's desperation to retrieve its position as the number three faction. In negotiations with Wuji, he had ensured that the conditions set were advantageous to himself. Therefore, there was nothing at all within their contract which Wuji could use to restrict Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun from leaving. This was also why although Han Yu was filled with rage and frustration, he could only watch helplessly as the two left.

"Who'd have expected them to actually have something like this up their sleeves?" Qiao Ting frowned slightly. It looked like his plan to finish off the Lingtian Mecha Clan in a split second had been foiled. With Zhao Jun there, he would certainly have to put in some actual effort. And with the addition of that wily and resourceful Li Lanfeng, who liked to scheme and set up traps in secret, this fight would probably not be as simple as he had imagined it to be.

"Call all the members to assemble. We need to make some arrangements," ordered Qiao Ting decisively.

Although the Lingtian Mecha Clan had managed to get Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng, making this fight a little more difficult, so what? With him, Qiao Ting, around, victory was certain to belong to Leiting, certain to belong to him, Qiao Ting!

Still, he wanted to accomplish a beautiful win. He wanted to win cleanly and efficiently, and as such, he needed to make some preparations. Qiao Ting had chosen this time to challenge the Lingtian Mecha Clan because he wanted to use his strength to shock all the factions in the academy into submission — he would tell them with his victory that the king of the military academy had appeared.

"Yes, Regiment Commander!" Seeing the bright gleam in Qiao Ting's eyes as well as the unrestrained ambition within them, the confidant was once again deeply moved by his regiment commander. This was the strong person he had chosen to follow — only someone like this had the right to his submission.

"Also, get someone to notify the person who leaked this name list to us. As soon as the battle ends, give him the elevated position of first line team leader!" Qiao Ting did not mind giving the person who betrayed their original leader what they wanted. He was even more unafraid that this kind of person would do the same to him in future, because he believed that as long as he was strong enough, no one would ever dare to betray him.

"Yes, Regiment Commander. I will notify him," replied the confidant, head bowed. A swift flash of envy passed through his gaze — he had not expected just the simple leak of a name list like this could net a first line team leader position in the Leiting Mecha Clan. That person who had betrayed his mecha clan was truly wise. Instead of staying put in the Lingtian Mecha Clan with its uncertain future, he might as well take a gamble — now, his gamble had paid off in the form of a meteoric rise.

********

On Ling Lan's end, after leading away the 11 people participating in the fight, they entered a combat training hall in Mecha World, heading straight for a pre-booked private room to conduct some final adjustments. Meanwhile, the other team leaders opened another private training room under Ling Lan's instructions and held a practice session of their own.

Over the course of the day, all 11 participants finally understood Ling Lan's instructions thoroughly. Only then did Ling Lan dismiss everyone, and the next time they gathered would be at the life-or-death fight against the Leiting Mecha Clan tomorrow.

After watching the other team leaders leave Mecha World one after another, Ling Lan led the 11 participants to leave as well, returning to the real world.

By the time she opened her virtual login pod, the other five in her villa had already sat up. Qi Long was the first to jump out of his pod to say, "Wu Jiong just told me that he'll be coming over here soon with Li Yingjie."

Ling Lan's eyes flickered at these words, but she only nodded and said, "Understood." That said, she walked out of the virtual login pod room to return to her own bedroom and took a good shower. Refreshed, only then did she go down to the hall below.

Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had already arrived; they must have sprinted straight for Ling Lan's place immediately after logging off. Li Yingjie brought over some freshly-brewed coffee and poured each of them a cup. Then, again from the kitchen, he brought out a cup of plain water for Ling Lan.

Wu Jiong lifted his coffee cup and took a sip. The bitter flavour quickly spread across his tongue, as bitter as his current mood.

"Coming here so urgently, has something happened?" Ling Lan drank a sip of her water, placed her cup down, and then asked with a calm expression.

"Our name list has been leaked," said Wu Jiong bitterly, a trace of pain flashing through his eyes.

Ling Lan interlaced her fingers and, after a few beats of silence, she asked, "Who is the traitor?"

Wu Jiong reflexively looked towards Li Yingjie. At this moment, Li Yingjie still had not touched his cup of coffee — his face was dark, hands clasped tightly. His long and slender fingers were almost digging into the back of his hands, his entire person trembling uncontrollably.

"It's one of Li Yingjie's." It was clear with one look — what else was there for Ling Lan to figure out? She had initially thought that those who might waver would be those not from the Central Scout Academy, but unexpectedly, it was one of their own who had stepped wrongly.

"I did not think he would do something like this ..." Li Yingjie suddenly lowered his head. Even though they could not see his expression, they could hear the pain in his voice, like that of a cornered animal. Even the most arrogant and overbearing person would be gravely hurt when they were betrayed by someone they trusted; they may even be unable to bear it.

Chapter 405 - The Battle Begins!

Li Yingjie's dispirited appearance caused the hall to fall silent again. In contrast to Wu Jiong's concern, Ling Lan's expression was indifferent. She only tapped on the cup in her hands, as if considering something.

Not long after, Lin Zhong-qing reappeared from the kitchen where he had been clearing things up. He came to stand before Li Yingjie and placed a cup of ice water which was still radiating cold air onto the tea table. Compared to before, Lin Zhong-qing seemed to set the cup down rather heavily — the sound of the cup slamming onto the tea table was loud and jarring.

"You too are laughing at me, aren't you?" Li Yingjie was startled by this noise. He jerked his head up and glared at Lin Zhong-qing with red-rimmed eyes, expression stubborn as he snapped this question at the other.

With a tray in his hands, Lin Zhong-qing placidly leaned over to collect that cup of hot coffee in front of Li Yingjie. He did not get angry, only tossing out the following statement. "What is there to laugh at? Judging by your previous methods, I'm not surprised that someone would betray you."

These words of Lin Zhong-qing's hit Li Yingjie right where it hurts; Li Yingjie became livid, the sadness and frustration shrouding his heart being chased away in an instant. Pointing indignantly at the coffee in Lin Zhong-qing's hands, he yelled, "Even though I used some bad methods in the past to bully you, you can't take my coffee away! Also, you are actually giving me ice water on such a cold day? Are you abusing your position to take revenge 1 ?"

Lin Zhong-qing's lips quirked at these words. He pointed at the cup of ice-cold water and said coolly, "I think, that it's best for you to use this to cool down a little right now. So there's been a traitor. Is that worth becoming so melancholic 1 ? Seeing you like this ... you're really not at all like the Li Yingjie who only knows how to bully me and push me down."

That said, he did not even turn his head back to look at the other as he stormed back to the kitchen with a stony expression. That manner showed clearly that he was not at all taking the now furious Li Yingjie seriously.

Li Yingjie had always been arrogant — even though the traitor had appeared from his team, indeed dealing him a heavy blow, and from young, he had eaten crow many times by Ling Lan's hand ... overall, his life had been smooth sailing. He was loved by his family and constantly praised by his subordinates — this had cultivated his haughty and arrogant temperament. Now, actually being mocked by someone he used to look down on, he felt greatly insulted and could not stand it.

Therefore, he actually ignored Wu Jiong and Ling Lan, charging after Lin Zhong-qing impulsively into the kitchen, thinking to argue with Lin Zhong-qing until he saw reason. Did this godd*mn Lin Zhong-qing not have any bit of comrade-like compassion? Striking a man when he's down 1 ... that, that, that's just too bloody despicable!

Wu Jiong stared in astonishment at Li Yingjie who had still been moping in self-recrimination and frustration a while ago. Now, he was actually spiritedly chasing after someone else into the kitchen and had begun an intense debate with Lin Zhong-qing. He looked towards Ling Lan who was sitting on the sofa, his expression completely nonplussed. He had just been thinking how he could console that punk just a moment ago!

Ling Lan narrowed her eyes slightly, set down the cup in her hands, and said calmly, "Li Yingjie's matter, let's not bother with it. I believe he knows where his problem lies." Otherwise, Li Yingjie would not have been so shaken. He actually knew very well where his problem lay; he just did not want to admit it.

Wu Jiong had also calmed down now. He nodded and said, "Makes sense. I just don't know whether this incident will affect tomorrow's battle." Wu Jiong could not help but worry.

"No matter. The reason why I did not want the name list exposed before the fight was to avoid complications. Frankly, even if Leiting knows now, it won't be an issue." The true killing blow had never been the name list to begin with. Ling Lan had only been misleading the opponent with a smokescreen of carefully cultivated truth and omissions, letting Leiting truly believe that Lingtian's trump card was the two unexpected additions on the name list.

After hearing what Ling Lan had to say, Wu Jiong's heart finally settled. Boss Lan would not make a promise unless everything was within his control.

Wu Jiong and Ling Lan continued to discuss things they had to note for tomorrow's battle. When they suddenly noticed that Li Yingjie's initially loud and energetic voice in the kitchen had gone silent, the two of them turned with surprise to look in the direction of the kitchen. Then, they saw Li Yingjie huffily scrubbing a cup in his hands with a clean rag, the force with which he was doing so making it seem as if the cup was his archenemy.

Wu Jiong felt that that cup seemed extremely familiar. He reflexively looked down at the coffee cup in his hands and immediately realised what it was.

"Wu Jiong, do you still want more coffee?" Lin Zhong-qing noticed Wu Jiong's glance at his cup and briskly walked out of the kitchen with the coffee pot to ask seriously.

"Uh, uh, um, okay ... er, that, just a little." Lin Zhong-qing's sudden question made Wu Jiong respond reflexively. He thrust out the coffee cup in his hands only to find that he had barely taken two sips from his cup. It was still almost full, and so, he could only quickly amend his answer.

Lin Zhong-qing did not seem to notice Wu Jiong's embarrassment. He very carefully poured a little more coffee into Wu Jiong's cup and then carried the coffee pot back to the kitchen ...

"I'm done cleaning this. Like this, you can finally give me coffee now, right?" Li Yingjie saw Lin Zhong-qing return and quickly raised the spotless cup he had wiped, showing Lin Zhong-qing that he could pour him some coffee now.

Lin Zhong-qing cast a cold glance at him and put the coffee pot back on the shelf, saying coldly, "If you want to drink, pour it yourself!"

"Why? Wu Jiong is a regiment commander, and I'm also a regiment commander. Why can you pour for him but not for me?" Li Yingjie was enraged once more.

"You were the one who made a mistake. Do you still have the right to get others to pour coffee for you?" Lin Zhong-qing calmly dropped this sentence and then stopped paying any more attention to Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie was flushed to his roots with anger; his hands were balled up into fists and he looked like he was on the verge of punching Lin Zhong-qing.

"This logistics head of yours has finally gotten his revenge." At this point, Wu Jiong could not help but shake his head and comment with a wry smile, feeling somewhat speechless at how Li Yingjie was mindlessly serving himself up for this abuse.

Ling Lan raised her head to look at Wu Jiong and said evenly, "Zhong-qing is not taking revenge."

Wu Jiong was bewildered. Ling Lan said with a half-smile, "What? Don't you feel how Li Yingjie has turned back into the Li Yingjie of before? Arrogant, overbearing, somewhat unreasonable?"

Wu Jiong was enlightened. He cast a searching look at Lin Zhong-qing who was still ignoring Li Yingjie in the kitchen. Once again, he found that, in terms of understanding people, he was truly no match for Boss Lan. In his eyes, Lin Zhong-qing's behaviour had obviously been meant to taunt and mock Li Yingjie, revenge for Li Yingjie's oppression of him in the past. However, after Boss Lan's hinting, he realised that Lin Zhong-qing was just goading Li Yingjie to motivate and encourage him so that the disheartened and lost Li Yingjie could be revived.

It made sense when he thought about it. If Lin Zhong-qing were really so petty and short-sighted, how could he be worthy of following Boss Lan till now? He had still underestimated Lin Zhong-qing.

Leaving aside the sense of failure in Wu Jiong's heart, Li Yingjie was feeling as if he and Lin Zhong-qing were truly archenemies in their past life. Their enmity must have carried over into this life, dictating that they could not coexist peacefully for even one day. Worked up by Lin Zhong-qing almost to the point of exploding, it was lucky that he still remembered that he was in Boss Lan's territory. He finally managed to control his anger with much effort, and only then did he leave Ling Lan's villa with Wu Jiong, expression still indignant.

Right then, Li Yingjie could only think that he absolutely could not let Lin Zhong-qing look down on him. He, Li Yingjie, was naturally born as an arrogant person — hells, wasn't it just one traitor? He would let the other know that betraying him, Li Yingjie, would result in no so-called future.

Thus, he must win in the big mecha fight with Leiting tomorrow. He would let the other know that, if they wanted to make the Lingtian Mecha Clan disappear, if they wanted to see Li Yingjie out of sorts and miserable ... there was absolutely no way!

Li Yingjie, who had always been somewhat breathless from the oppression of Thunder King Qiao Ting, actually managed to sweep away the burden in his heart due to this betrayal and Lin Zhong-qing's goading. Right now, Li Yingjie had once again reverted to that fearless and arrogant 'I'm number one' mode — the Li Yingjie now would be able to rip a chunk of flesh off even someone as powerful as Thunder King Qiao Ting out of sheer fearlessness.

A night passed in silence. The time soon arrived at one in the afternoon. The military academy made the unprecedented decision of declaring the day a school holiday, allowing all the students to spectate the mecha fight between Lingtian and Leiting. The instructors of each class even set an assignment for the students to write a reflection after viewing the fight ...

The mecha fight between Lingtian and Leiting was a virtual battle. As such, the venue was in Mecha World. However, this match was set as an internal event by the mainframe, which only allowed people coming from login points in the First Men's Military Academy to enter and spectate.

In Mecha World, both Leiting and Lingtian were already primed and ready. They were only waiting on the mainframe's notification to enter the map of the mecha fight.

In order to ensure fairness, the mecha fight's battlefield map would be randomly selected by the mainframe. Therefore, neither team knew which map they would be fighting in. Compared to the Lingtian Mecha Clan, Leiting was obviously more confident in this regard. After all, having been through countless virtual mecha fights, they had a pretty decent understanding of all the various maps of Mecha World. It could be said that, from the very start when both teams entered the map, they would definitely have an advantage over the Lingtian Mecha Clan in deciding how to adapt and handle the situation.

In the waiting room of the 12 participating members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, when Ling Lan operated the mecha Chang Xinyuan had modified to appear before the group, those who did not know the full story were filled with awe. Just as Ling Lan and her team expected, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the others all thought that Ling Lan's mecha was a special-class mecha. Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the rest were both admiring and in awe that Ling Lan was the first to become a special-class mecha master in the Lingtian Mecha Clan. As expected, Boss Lan was the strongest of them all.

As the Lingtian Mecha Clan now had three special-class operators on the roster, Wu Jiong and the rest found themselves a lot calmer. Although Ling Lan had always stressed that Lingtian was not certain to lose in the fight against Leiting, they had still been uneasy deep inside. Now, they finally felt a little more confident.

The only one who was calm was instead Li Yingjie. Lin Zhong-qing's goading might have worked too well — Li Yingjie's eyes were filled with fighting spirit, as if planning to use strength to prove that he, Li Yingjie, would never be beaten down.

Very soon, everyone received the alert from the mainframe. Three minutes later, they would be automatically pulled into the battlefield by the mainframe.

Ling Lan swept a cold gaze around at the 11 people in the room and said, "Later once we get in, if everyone is together, split up into the teams as we arranged previously before acting. If we're split up, the first thing is to hide yourselves well. I'll find a way to contact you all. At that time, it's highly likely that you all will have to team up with the three people closest to you. Team coordination might not be as good, so be mentally prepared, everyone."

Ling Lan's warning made everyone's heart clench, but they immediately replied, "Roger, Boss Lan."

1. 公报私仇: This is a beautiful phrase in Chinese that really doesn't have a neat English equivalent. (Beautiful in terms of structure and parallelism, not meaning, okay? :p) To explain it as literally as I can, it's 'publicly taking private revenge', but the meaning is only clear if it's elaborated into 'abusing official power to take personal revenge'. Here, Li Yingjie is accusing Lin Zhong-qing of abusing his clan position as main logistician to mistreat him as revenge for his prior bullying.

2. 伤春悲秋: Original phrase here being 'aggrieved over the passing of spring and mournful at the advent of autumn'. As the change of the seasons is an inevitable thing, someone who does as this phrase says is someone who is prone to brooding and fits of moodiness. Here, it is used in the context of being sad over something unnecessary.

3. 落井下石: The literal phrase here is '(to) drop rocks on a person who had already fallen into a well'.

Chapter 406 - Hidden Machinations?

Three minutes passed swiftly. Everyone felt themselves being tugged by a powerful force into a black hole — the power behind the pull made everyone groggy, unable to maintain their clarity of mind for a beat.

Only Ling Lan was an exception. She had long gotten used to this sort of pulling force and so still retained her mental awareness. Compared to the brute pulling force of the learning space, this tug by the Mecha World mainframe was clearly much gentler.

As soon as Ling Lan entered the battle map, without any delay, she was conscious and aware.

Every mecha which entered the map had 10 seconds of protection time — the entire mecha would shine with a white light, marking its invincibility. This was also an example of Mecha World's fairness mechanisms. After all, the time everyone needed to adjust to this pulling force varied — some only needed two to three seconds to adjust, while others might need seven or eight seconds. Perhaps some might even need over ten seconds to regain their consciousness, but for those people, the mainframe would judge them as unworthy to operate mecha. For them to be killed in a sneak attack after ten seconds were up was perfectly acceptable.

Because the moment one's mecha operation level entered lower mecha operator tier, one would require the support of the minimum level of spiritual power. Those who regained their clarity of mind slower were typically the type to have extremely low spiritual talent. With little potential to develop, it was pretty much a declaration that your future in mecha operation was unpromising.

Taking advantage of her mecha's invincible state, Ling Lan quickly scanned her surroundings. This was a large map combining both a desert and an oasis — other than some small shrubs, there were no so-called majestic trees or mountain rocks for mecha to hide.

With unhindered yellow and green as far as the eye could see, as soon as a mecha approached, it would be very easily discovered. It should be said that there was very little chance of a mecha executing a successful sneak attack. Thus, to a large extent, this map was more suited for those mecha with vast experience and adequate strength.

"This map ... is advantageous for the Leiting Mecha Clan." The cadets spectating the fight saw the map displayed before their eyes, and all of them came to the same conclusion. Anyone who understood the Leiting Mecha Clan knew that this time, Qiao Ting had brought experienced senior cadets with two or three years' worth of mecha battle experience with him. As such, how could the Lingtian members who had just started using mecha for not too long compare?

Even those who mentally supported Lingtian could not help but swear and be alarmed when they saw this map. Lingtian was just too unlucky for the mainframe to actually draw this map.

At this time, in one of the VIP rooms inside the military academy, a large screen was broadcasting the fight. Inside the room, there were about 20 people watching the screen avidly. When this map appeared, quite a few of them smiled, but there was also a small number who frowned.

"Tang Yu, what do you think?" asked an old man sitting beside Tang Yu. He was the principal of the First Men's Military Academy, and was presently attending this viewing arranged for the administrators and the mecha instructors.

"Principal ... this map ... did the academy really not have a hand in this?" asked Tang Yu with a grim expression.

"I only set it so that this match is an open fight," replied the principal calmly. "But you know that the authority to designate the battle map does not lie solely with me."

Tang Yu did not answer, but a trace of disgust flashed through his eyes. Hidden machinations ... regardless of the outcome, this was a disgrace to them mecha operators.

"Are you not happy about this? Leiting's regiment commander, the team leader of his side in this match, Qiao Ting, is the student you are so proud of, isn't he?" said the principal jokingly.

"Ling Lan, Qi Long, Luo Lang, Wu Jiong, and Li Yingjie will likewise be my students starting next month. I believe that three years later, they too will be students I will be proud of ..." Tang Yu suddenly turned his head, quirked an eyebrow, and said, "Besides, this time, all the students I've accepted are from the Lingtian Mecha Clan, unlike the previous batch where, out of the five students I took in, only Qiao Ting was from the Leiting Mecha Clan. Five versus one, don't you think I should stand on the side of the Lingtian Mecha Clan more?"

"Are you trying to protest the injustice being done to your students now?" The principal's lips curved into a smile. This was why he admired Tang Yu the most. Qiao Ting had been with him for three years — undoubtedly, Tang Yu should favour Qiao Ting more — but this did not mean that he could accept this sort of secret manipulation. It was unconscionable even if his student would be the one to benefit.

"I just want to see a fair and exciting match," answered Tang Yu. "However, I don't think the Lingtian Mecha Clan will really be so helpless." Thinking back to one year ago, in order to obtain victory, these children had managed to stand their ground on the arena stage with their steadfast determination despite the multiple wounds they received. Their tenacious spirit had earned Tang Yu's approval and respect, which was why he had ignored the objections of the school administrators and broken the faction balance by insisting on accepting five students from the same clan.

"I also do not think that Lingtian will lose just because of a map." The principal surprisingly agreed with Tang Yu's words, shocking Tang Yu into whipping his head around to stare at him.

The principal smiled meaningfully, a subtle gleam in his eyes. Tang Yu's heart clenched; it looked like the principal was planning to use this match to do something ... he turned his gaze back to the large screen in front, his heart heavy.

Ling Lan waited as her ten seconds of invincibility passed by. During this time, within the range of her radar, Ling Lan did not pick up anyone other than herself. It was as Ling Lan expected; she and Little Four had guessed correctly. This mecha fight which the academy attached such great importance to was indeed unlike previous mecha fights where both teams were given time to assemble and prepare before hashing it out in proper teams. It would not be so simple.

"Little Four, can you find the coordinates of the other members? And contact them as well?" Seeing this, Ling Lan immediately asked Little Four.

This map which seemed disadvantageous to the Lingtian Mecha Clan was instead most advantageous for them with the omnipotent cheating device Little Four on their side. In contrast to Leiting's true situation of fighting blind and solo, with Little Four's help, the Lingtian Mecha Clan could locate their own companions within the shortest amount of time.

"No problem!" responded Little Four. Once they entered a virtual world, he would become an omnipotent god with everything under his control. This was also why he especially loved virtual worlds.

"Also, get me the enemies' coordinates as well," added Ling Lan.

Ling Lan stood in place as she calmly waited for Little Four to find what she asked for.

Meanwhile, all the cadets spectating the fight had already chosen the viewing perspective they wanted to view this sensational battle from.

There were three viewing angles to choose from — Challenger view, Defender view, and God view.

Viewing from Challenger view was, indeed, choosing to watch from the challenger's perspective. In this fight, that would be Leiting's battle team. Those who selected that viewing angle would be offered the selection of Leiting's 12 mecha. They could then freely choose whichever they liked and view the battle from that mecha operator's perspective, and could even experience the coping ability and mecha control ability of the operator second-hand.

Almost more than half of the cadets chose Challenger view, and 70% among these chose the ace mecha Thunder King Qiao Ting was piloting. To the cadets, this was a rare opportunity for them to experience the control methods of an ace operator and learn from it. They just could not resist this temptation.

Meanwhile, those who chose Defender view, that is to view the battle from the Lingtian Mecha Clan's perspective, similarly had 12 mecha to choose from. However, those who chose the Lingtian Mecha Clan were very few. Other than those members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan who were not participating and those other freshmen factions who were supporting the Lingtian Mecha Clan in secret, there were not many others.

Those who chose to view from Lingtian's perspective were also not as concentrated under one operator. Instead, the viewing distribution was quite spread out, but overall, those who chose to view from the team leader Ling Lan's perspective was still the majority. After all, the team leader should be the strongest one in the battle team, and the Federation had always taught the students to honour the strong.

Aside from that, those who chose God view, which was in fact the full map perspective, could choose any of the 24 mecha to zoom in on. Of course, even after zooming in, their viewing angle would still be that of an outside observer, able to take in the entire scene as well as the distribution of the other mecha on the map. That said, it would not shift automatically like the other viewing angles, but relied on the viewer to search and adjust on their own.

All of the cadets entered the match under their respective viewing angles ...

"Boss, I've found it!" Little Four projected the locations of the members he had gathered into Ling Lan's mindspace. Twelve green dots appeared, the one marking her position closer to the right side of the map. Of course, Little Four did not forget to mark down Leiting's coordinates as well with red dots.

This time, the mainframe had scattered the members of both teams as expected. From the distribution of green and red dots, the two sides were interspersed all over the map. Each member not only had comrades by their sides, they also had enemies around them. This also showed that, if Little Four did not exist, whether the members of either team would encounter friend or foe would have depended solely on luck.

"Little Four, send all members the coordinates of our members and our opponents, and choose an assembly point nearest to the members and tell them to focus in on it at the same time," ordered Ling Lan. Being able to gather before the opponent could would give Lingtian a huge advantage. "Also, help me find Qiao Ting's position."

Right now, the most important thing was to isolate and neutralize Qiao Ting. As long as Qiao Ting did not have the chance to attack her members, Ling Lan believed that even if they met the other members of Leiting, it was not impossible for her members to win.

"Found it, Boss." Little Four quickly highlighted Qiao Ting's position. Ling Lan's forehead scrunched up — it turned out that she was very far away from Qiao Ting's position; they were almost on completely opposite ends. If she wanted to meet Qiao Ting, she would need to cut through many other members of Leiting first. Similarly, for Qiao Ting to fight her, he would have to go through some trouble as well.

It looked like the mainframe did not want the two team leaders to meet so quickly, and so had positioned the both of them so far from each other ...

"Is this so that Qiao Ting has more chances to show off?" sneered Ling Lan. It looked like the mainframe was still biased towards Leiting. Lingtian's three special-class operators were all very far away from Qiao Ting and were spread out at three distant points. Judging by the distance, by the time they rushed over to Qiao Ting's area, Qiao Ting would have had more than enough time to defeat the other members of Lingtian.

"In that case, let's see who'll remain till the very end." Ling Lan decisively scrapped her initial plans. Since the mainframe intended for Qiao Ting to shine, then she would just let Qiao Ting show off a little. Besides, Ling Lan also hoped that her team members could go up against an ace operator once. This was also a type of experience — even if they would be badly defeated in Mecha World, it would still be worth it.

Chapter 407 - Lingtian No.7!

Having obtained the coordinates from Little Four, the Lingtian members changed their initial cautiousness and all began to move. This made those cadets who had chosen Defender view and God view to cry out in surprise.

"Unexpectedly, the Lingtian Mecha Clan has actually started to move." The first-years who had just entered the school and the second-years were all exhilarated at this development. Compared to the Leiting Mecha Clan, the first and second years liked the New Cadet Regiment turned Lingtian Mecha Clan better. The deeds of the New Cadet Regiment motivated these juniors to a large degree. So juniors too could fight back when they were oppressed and even obtain success.

In contrast to those joyful first and second years who were unable to control their emotions, the third-, fourth-, and fifth-year senior cadets were silently shaking their heads. They all felt that the members of Lingtian were still a little too inexperienced, actually acting blindly before figuring out the true situation.

Those cadets who had chosen God view were well aware that there were one or two Leiting members around the locations of the Lingtian members. If the Lingtian members accidentally entered the range of Leiting, they might really be taken by surprise and be attacked by the opponent. This scenario was extremely disadvantageous to the Lingtian people.

However, the performance of the Lingtian members after that left the senior cadets flabbergasted, because they found that the two or three mecha closest to one another were actually sprinting in unplanned unison towards the same spot. Of course, those who could notice this were all those who had chosen God view. Using their bird's eye view to analyse the situation, they knew that as long as these Lingtian members did not change course, they were sure to bump into each other eventually ...

Of course, as there were Leiting mecha around their meeting point as well, Lingtian might already encounter these opponent mecha even before they met up with their teammates. After all, no one could be certain whether the Leiting people would unintentionally move to the spot they were converging towards.

"D*mn, is Lingtian cheating?" Those who witnessed this scene all exclaimed. They could not comprehend the situation — if they weren't cheating, how could the Lingtian Mecha Clan head in the same direction so accurately, two to three of them simultaneously at that?

Those cadets quickly submitted their suspicions to the mainframe, and the mainframe rapidly returned with a response. It turned out that the Lingtian battle team possessed a powerful piece of equipment which could pinpoint the coordinates of their own members and display it to all the members. This was why the Lingtian mecha battle team could respond so swiftly and move unerringly in the same direction.

Of course, this was the answer Little Four had supplied to the mainframe. After all, this was an open fight — some things needed to be given a proper explanation. Fortunately, Chang Xinyuan had already modified Ling Lan's mecha in advance, so Little Four used his own simulation methods to add this legendary heaven-defying equipment of Mecha World to this modified mecha. It was a member-locator that only powerful clans of star-rank 1 and above could equip.

"F*ck, the Lingtian Mecha Clan has prepared really well for this showdown!" Many old players of Mecha World had heard rumours of this equipment before, a legendary clan equipment that only super strong clans of star-rank and above had the right to equip. Rumour had it that it was extremely difficult to get one — not only were the tasks that needed to be done extremely complicated, it was impossible to complete this mission without a certain level of strength.

Who would have expected the newly established Lingtian Mecha Clan to be so lucky? Actually possessing such a nature-defying treasure. The senior cadets did not believe that Lingtian was capable of earning this equipment from a direct mission. It was far more likely for them to have obtained it by sheer overwhelming luck during a reward lottery draw for some random mission.

After completing a Mecha World mission, the methods of choosing a reward were all kinds of strange — it was not unheard of for some super lucky people to receive legendary equipment or weapons. Thus, the cadets did not suspect anything, only envious of Lingtian's tremendously great luck.

It looked like this match would not be the one-sided fight they imagined! Right then, all the spectators changed their original opinion in silent unison. This shift in attitude stirred up the excitement of the senior cadets who had initially been forced into coming to spectate despite their lack of interest. They liked watching suspenseful fights, and not those kinds of boring fights where the outcome was already known before the fight even began.

Soon, the silence of the venue was broken by some of the spectating students. They actually could not help but cry out — it turned out that, on the way to its destination, the number seven mecha of the Lingtian battle team had very unfortunately stumbled upon the number nine Leiting mecha. However, as the distance between the two mecha was more than 3 kilometres (the maximum range of an advanced mecha's radar was 3 kilometres), they were both oblivious to the presence of the other.

Still, the spectators quickly found out under the mainframe's hinting that it would only take a few seconds for the two to get within 3 kilometres of each other. At that time, they would inevitably discover each other's presence.

'It looks like the exciting first match is about to come.' Those who had selected God view clenched their fists in excitement, thinking to themselves.

Sure enough, several seconds later, almost simultaneously, both mecha received warning alerts from their respective mecha's radars that an unidentified mecha had appeared around 3 kilometres from where they were.

Both operators chose to zoom in on the captured image of the other mecha, and when they saw that the other mecha was emitting the light sheen marking a different faction, they knew for certain that the other mecha was an enemy.

Lingtian No.7 did not decrease his speed — still travelling at high speed, he controlled the hands of his mecha to pull a quick draw from behind the mecha's shoulders. Then, with a beam gun in his left hand and a beam saber in his right, he was prepared for battle. Likewise, on the other end, Leiting mecha No.9 had also discovered the enemy and was making battle preparations of his own. Other than one standing still in place while the other was moving at high speed, both mecha's battle prep actions did not differ by much.

"Who'd have expected that the Lingtian Mecha Clan members could also react so quickly ..." From the time they each registered the presence of an unidentified mecha, to the time they confirmed whether the other was friend or foe, both combatants' reaction time was almost the same. This drew shocked exclamations from the spectating cadets once more — it was very unexpected that these relatively green Lingtian members were performing much better than they had imagined.

********

In one of the VIP rooms of the military academy, Tang Yu saw this scene and the light in his eyes brightened. He could not stop himself from turning on the communicator on his wrist to begin searching for the information on this Lingtian Mecha Clan number seven member.

The students might mistakenly believe that the reaction times of the two were roughly the same, but as an instructor, Tang Yu could see things much clearer. The Lingtian member was able to execute the same battle prep as the Leiting member who had been standing still while moving at high speed, and his actions were clean and efficient, with no sign at all of any delay and stiffness. Undoubtedly, the control skills of the Lingtian No.7 was definitely a bracket higher than that mecha operator of Leiting's. For a junior student to carry off this series of movements much more perfectly and swiftly than a senior, the mecha operation talent of this Lingtian No.7 was most certain to be at the level of a prodigy. Tang Yu could not help but be interested at the prospect of a promising student.

"Lingtian No.7; Name: Lin Zhong-qing. Status: Free Commoner. Age: 17. Physical skills: Advanced level Refinement stage 1 . Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced; Intermediate to Advanced advancement results, excellent!" Frankly, there was not a lot of info that could be obtained using this type of simple search — for truly detailed information, one would need to receive clearance to browse the restricted files of the military academy.

However, this simple information was already enough for Tang Yu. He could barely restrain his excitement as he commented, "It is really unexpected that, other than those five in the Lingtian Mecha Clan, there is still such an excellent member." Able to level up to advanced-class operator at age 17 and have his advancement results judged as 'excellent' by the Mecha World mainframe, this meant that the other's basic controls must be extremely solid. This would definitely be a great advantage to his future development. What surprised him the most was the other's status as free commoner. The average commoner's mecha piloting talent would not be that good — it looked like this was probably some form of genetic mutation.

This reminded Tang Yu of himself. Even though he was not a commoner but a citizen, which was a rank higher than commoner 1 , his success at becoming an elite ace could also be ascribed to genetic mutation. He had the sudden impulse to take Lin Zhong-qing as a student as well — he wanted to see if Lin Zhong-qing could become an ace operator like he had, perhaps even surpass him.

"You are willing to give up one of the other five?" asked the principal.

At his words, Tang Yu smiled wryly and sighed. Although he really wanted to, he could not give up any of those five he had chosen from the start. Those five children who were about to become his students were all very gifted in mecha piloting, not at all weaker than this Lin Zhong-qing and perhaps even better. "There are just too many prodigies with mecha piloting talent in this year. I wonder which mecha mentor he will choose?"

Tang Yu felt that such an excellent prodigy must be from the Mecha Piloting specialization. Furthermore, only those from the Mecha Piloting specialization could choose a mecha mentor at the start of their second year. The other specializations had to wait till the second semester of the academic year to begin their mecha study, and then, it would only be an elective for them. Thus, mecha mentors did not pay much attention to these students.

Curious, Tang Yu typed in the query to search for Lin Zhong-qing's mecha mentor on his communicator, but he received an unexpected response — unable to find any relevant answers. This shocked him, because he knew that all of the mentors for the students of the Mecha Piloting specialization had already been confirmed. He had originally wanted to find out who was the mentor of Lin Zhong-qing so he could advise that instructor to properly cultivate Lin Zhong-qing. After all, even he was tempted to teach this kind of prodigy; he would not want to see such a gifted child be ruined from a mentor's neglect.

"How can this be?" Tang Yu could not help doubting this answer. The principal suddenly thought of something and prompted Tang Yu, "Try checking what specialization the other is in."

The principal's suggestion made Tang Yu pause in mute shock for a moment, but he soon began to search for Lin Zhong-qing's specialization. The answer was revealed very quickly, and this answer left Tang Yu instantly dumbfounded as he stared blankly in disbelief at the words —— Mecha Logistics! This specialization which everyone thought only rubbish students would take up was an absolutely rubbish specialization on the outermost fringes of the First Men's Military Academy 1 .

The principal saw Tang Yu's stunned reaction and was instantly curious as well. He took a peek and was instantly dumbfounded as well. Such a talented genius in mecha piloting was actually a student specializing in Mecha Logistics ... this could not be true, right?! This made even the generally composed principal feel unsettled.

"I think, our First Men's Military Academy's method of assigning specializations is very flawed. Principal, you should really think of a good way to solve this issue," said Tang Yu, looking up with a grim expression.

Mind you, the application requirements for the Mecha Logistics specialization in terms of results and physical fitness had always been very low. Perhaps, this Lin Zhong-qing had been assigned to Mecha Logistics by the mainframe due to a problem with his results (because Mecha Logistics was really too horrible an option, almost no one would select it by choice, so the academy mainframe had no choice but to forcefully assign it to students based on results).

Furthermore, the Mecha Logistics specialization had very low requirements on mecha control skills as well; students need only pass. All of the mecha instructors were completely perfunctory in their teaching when it came to the Mecha Logistics students. It could be predicted that, if Lin Zhong-qing continued to remain in Mecha Logistics, his mecha piloting talent would definitely go to waste, and this was something he could not allow.

The principal nodded in agreement. He too was deeply grieved that such a prodigy of mecha piloting had been shunted into Mecha Logistics by mistake. "When this match ends, let's look for him and ask him about this. If he agrees, we can make an exception for him to transfer into the Mecha Piloting specialization ..." Since the administrators had collectively pleaded with him to make an exception previously to use his authority as principal to set this mecha fight as an open fight, then those people should have no reason to object if he used his power now to let one student transfer to a specialization better suited for him.

"If possible, I would like you, sir, to allow another exception. I want an additional student slot." Tang Yu was very satisfied with the principal's decision, and at this time, he also put forward this request earnestly.

The principal smiled wryly. "Even you cannot bear to see such talent go to waste and are willing to break convention, how can I refuse your request?"

With the principal's promise, Tang Yu could finally put aside his worries to focus his full attention on the incipient battle between Lingtian No.7 and Leiting No.9.

1. I'm unsure whether a number is missing from the raws here. 4-star, 5-star, 6-star? As it is, I can only translate it like this. Who knows? Star-rank could be a legit thing, above comet-rank and asteroid-rank. :p

2. Oh geez, it's been so long since these physical skills stages have been brought up. Quick recap from chapter 137: "The development of physical skills was expressed by six major stages — Foundational, Manifestation, Refinement, Qi-Expression, Domain, and God-Realm." For more info, please go reread that chapter.

3. The words the author uses actually both just mean 'common/public citizen', so it's so damn hard to differentiate. Kind of like that whole 'mecha warrior/mecha master' debacle previously. Grrrr. In any case, please note that the terms 'commoner' and 'citizen' are not interchangeable in this novel. (I really hope I have not used them that way in previous chapters. />.<\\ Please let me know if any of you re-readers catch anything. Much obliged. :3)

4. T/C: That's some strange mentality for the so-called best military school in the nation. Logistics are actually really, really, really important in war.