Chapter 374: He’s Still Alive!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Witnessing his teammate die via self-destruction, the remaining special-class mecha finally went berserk. His eyes turned crimson as he stared at the three advanced mecha in front of him who had prevented him from going to the aid of his friend. The killing intent in his heart rose to an apex — he must definitely kill this rabble and avenge his comrade!
Anger could produce two different effects in humans. One was the loss of rationality due to extreme rage, causing an inability to fully utilise one's true combat power. This type of rage effect was a negative influence and was something mecha operators should strive to avoid. Meanwhile, the other effect was a manifold increase in one's combat power, and this type of effect was called outburst. When a mecha operator achieved special-class operator status, they would definitely go through the cultivation of this type of outburst ...
Thus, this special-class operator's combat power grew exponentially under the force of his rage. This caused the already struggling Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing to be dragged into an even more dangerous situation ...
"Be careful, Li Shiyu ..." Seeing Han Jijyun get thrown aside by the opponent's attack, Li Shiyu was just about to step in when he heard Lin Zhong-qing yell from one side.
Only then did Li Shiyu notice that the special-class mecha had at sometime, somehow, appeared right before his face. Perhaps his attention had been on Han Jijyun, distracting him from noticing the opponent's movements in time. In spite of Lin Zhong-qing's loud warning, he found that he already had no time to evade ...
Li Shiyu gritted his teeth and turned his beam shield's defence to its maximum value, preparing himself to take the opponent's attack by force ...
With a "bang", Li Shiyu felt his mecha being struck by a tremendous force. His entire person was sent flying out to the side — the juddering mecha which had completely lost its balance due to the collision made Li Shiyu's vision black out for a brief moment.
However, Li Shiyu had been secretly injecting himself with modified gene agent these past few years, so though his physical constitution was still incomparable to the odd child Qi Long's, it was still better than average. He recovered after just half a second. Off-balance, Li Shiyu did not panic. He calmly moved his fingers, operating his mecha, attempting to regain control of his mecha as fast as possible.
Li Shiyu knew well that only if he managed to regain control of his mecha would he have any chance of counterattacking. As Li Shiyu calmly focused on his controls, he did not forget to glance every so often at the situation outside of his mecha. He needed to know what was going on — was the enemy planning to follow up with more attacks?
During one glance, his hand abruptly stuttered. His initially calm eyes turned red in an instant, and he actually felt his eyes grow wet. A mecha was fending off the special-class mecha with a beam saber ...
Li Lanfeng! He was still alive! This was great! For the first time, Li Shiyu felt that happiness was such a simple thing!
Right then, on the ground, the ace operator who had received a heavy blow to his back heard his mecha's A.I. emit another loud warning. "Warning! Damage to mecha's main drive systems at 60%. Danger, danger! Please retreat immediately, please retreat immediately!"
When the ace operator heard the A.I.'s warning, he pounded the control panel before him in frustration. Just then, his heart clenched violently as an unprecedented sense of danger settled over him. Cold sweat poured from his forehead instantly. Perhaps due to the pressure of this life-or-death situation, the rate of his fingers dancing over the controls exceeded his initial limits in that instant ...
The ace mecha lying on the ground suddenly rolled away, causing Ling Lan's forceful stab with her giant sword to miss. The giant sword easily pierced up to two metres deep into the ground. And this was still after Ling Lan had pulled back her strength, otherwise the sword might have gone in all the way to the hilt.
Having narrowly escaped, the ace operator looked up at the only special-class mecha remaining in the sky and knew that the other mecha had most likely met an unfortunate end. He smiled wryly and said, "You've long known that those two shots did not hit your student." Otherwise, the opponent could not have been so calm and collected. In contrast, he had relaxed too soon at that moment. This was one of the reasons behind his failure. At the thought, the ace operator's heart was filled with regret — if only he had been able to keep calm and focused back then as well, the outcome might have been very different.
Right up till this point, the ace operator still believed that his opponent was the Federation's elite ace Tang Yu, while the one piloting that advanced mecha which had fallen was Qiao Ting.
Ling Lan did not reply, merely pulling the giant sword out from the ground. As she did this, her icy gaze did not shift at all from the ace mecha lying on the ground. Before utterly destroying the other, Ling Lan would not let down her guard; Ling Lan would not commit such a rookie mistake.
"Your students are really good. Who'd have guessed that the three of them could work so well together that they managed to take down one of my men? That's a special-class operator, you know, a whole level higher than your students ... and I too have lost at your hands. You are truly an elite ace of your Federation. I have lost." The ace operator was not at all bothered by Ling Lan's cold indifference. He continued to blather on, appearing as if he had already given up and was planning to surrender without putting up a fight.
Seeing this, a thought flashed through Ling Lan's mind. She rested the giant sword in her right hand on the ground and put her left hand on the hilt as well, as if using it as a crutch, seemingly announcing that she no longer planned to fight ...
The initially tense atmosphere disappeared all at once due to Ling Lan's actions. Unexpectedly, it was at this moment that the ace mecha suddenly leapt up to lunge fiercely at Ling Lan ... it turned out that everything he had just said and his entire demeanour had all been an act to get Ling Lan to lower her guard. Since they had come to participate in the invasion of planet Newline, they had already been prepared to sacrifice their lives in service of their country. Even if he failed, he would aim for mutual destruction instead of just surrendering meekly.
Faced with the enemy's sudden attack, Ling Lan was not at all flustered or taken by surprise. Her seemingly relaxed actions were actually just to play along with the opponent's act — from the very beginning, she had never intended to let any of these enemies go ... she would never show mercy to anyone who tried to harm her companions.
Already gripping the hilt of her giant sword, her two hands abruptly lifted and the giant sword sprang up to clash violently with the opponent mecha once more. After staying locked together for several seconds, the two fighters sprang apart again ...
No, it should be said that the opponent mecha was flung back by the giant sword. Meanwhile, Ling Lan's mecha backed off rapidly under the force of her thrusters, pulling over 10 metres away from the enemy in an instant ...
"Boom!" A massive blast rang out. The ace mecha Ling Lan had flung away from her exploded, breaking into countless pieces flying through the air.
It turned out that the opponent knew very well that he no longer had any chance of victory. However, he also did not want to simply be killed by the opponent, so he had chosen to self-destruct, intending to take Ling Lan along with him. Fortunately, Ling Lan had sensed the danger right away and even as she flung the opponent away from her, she had engaged her thrusters to send her mecha flying back swiftly, thus evading this crisis.
Still, the concussive force of an ace mecha's self-destruct was incomparable to that of a normal mecha. Despite retreating swiftly to pull a distance away at first notice, escaping the most dangerous blast zone, Ling Lan still had not been able to completely escape the explosion. The blast had still injured Ling Lan. She felt as if her chest had been struck by a heavy boulder, the coppery taste of blood rising up at the back of her throat. Involuntarily, Ling Lan opened her mouth and blood spurted out, staining the bright screen before her red ...
"Boss, are you alright?!" Seeing Ling Lan injured, Little Four cried out in panic.
Ling Lan immediately circulated her qi and ran through the qi exercises, and soon, the heavy feeling in her chest and sense of nausea faded. Her whole body relaxed and she could tell that it had only been a minor internal injury, nothing serious, so she reassured Little Four by saying, "I'm fine. It was just some residual blast force. I actually feel much better after throwing up some blood."
Little Four instantly calmed down after hearing Ling Lan's answer. Having caught her breath, Ling Lan looked up into the sky once more ...
"Are Qi Long and the others alright?" Ling Lan naturally knew that Qi Long's group of three had been sent flying by the blast of the special-class mecha's self-destruct. Although Little Four had already reported back then that Qi Long and the others were fine, Ling Lan was still rather worried. However, back then she had been in the midst of fighting with the ace operator and had not had the time to ask Little Four for details. Now, she finally had the time to spare.
"They're fine. They've only been dazed by the blast ..." Little Four had already entered their mecha's systems to examine the condition of Qi Long's group. Xie Yi was in the worst condition, but it was all just external injuries so there was no risk of death. As such, Little Four did not pay any more mind to the three boys. Instead, what Little Four was more interested in now was Li Lanfeng who was currently fighting in the air. "Boss, your leopard seems to have advanced a level."
What is this 'your leopard'? Ling Lan threw a cool glance over at Little Four, warning him to watch his words, but unfortunately Little Four could be rather slow on the uptake sometimes ... he did not notice Ling Lan's cold and cutting gaze at all, still continuing to say with a dumb and innocent expression, "His control skills are now much more impressive than before. Looks like the life-or-death situation earlier has triggered his latent potential, spurring an advancement. As expected, he is just like you, Boss, a freak. If he weren't family, he wouldn't have entered through the same door 1 , eh?" mused Little Four.
Those people who could successfully bring out their latent potential and advance in a life-or-death situation would undoubtedly all become aberrant talents. This kind of advancement was much rarer than normal advancement — the insight Li Lanfeng would gain from this experience would be much greater and much deeper than if he had advanced normally. It could be said that for anyone who advanced from insights gained during a life-or-death situation, advancing to the next level after this was pretty much guaranteed. In other words, as long as he gained enough experience, Li Lanfeng was sure to at least become an ace mecha master in future. Oh, how much envy did this bring to those mecha operators who found themselves stuck all their lives at special-class ...
Originally, when Ling Lan heard that Li Lanfeng had advanced, she was very happy, but that final phrase of Little Four's made her somewhat annoyed. Ling Lan unceremoniously flicked a forceful finger at Little Four's forehead and said scornfully, "Where did you learn such inappropriate words?" Did this little fellow not know that that saying originally referred to husband and wife?
Being flicked out of the blue, Little Four guilelessly rubbed his forehead. He blinked his big eyes mournfully, unsure why his boss was abusing him again now.
This pitiful appearance of Little Four's made Ling Lan rather speechless. Fine, getting angry at this fellow was a waste of energy. He must have just picked up the phrase from some random ancient text and started using it without fully understanding it ...
Ling Lan decided not to argue any further with Little Four. She peered intently at the mecha's screen, which was focused on Li Lanfeng and the special-class mecha's fight. After observing several exchanges between the fighters, she said approvingly, "You're right, Little Four. In that life-or-death situation earlier, he really managed to advance. Perhaps this was why he managed to escape those two shots ... what a shame that he's piloting an advanced mecha. If he were piloting a special-class mecha now, this would not be the current situation." Although Li Lanfeng was keeping up with the special-class mecha's attacks, the gap between the two mecha had still put Li Lanfeng at a disadvantage so he could only defend passively.