Chapter 370: The Team Members Arrive!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
In the meantime, Gao Jinyun had led his team swiftly towards the spot Ling Lan had pointed out to him and met up with another team from the New Cadet Regiment making their final adjustments before battle. The two teams combined, and when the team leader of the other team heard that Ling Lan had instructed them to leave this area quickly, he did not dare to tarry. The two teams swiftly packed up and sprinted off in the opposite direction of where Ling Lan had been.
The two team leaders knew very well that their regiment commander's fight was not something they could get involved with. In order to not create trouble for their regiment commander, it was better for them to stay farther away. Of course, they were also afraid that they might bump into some formidable foe who had gotten slightly lost if they stayed too close to their regiment commander's location. That would be a terrible tragedy.
Just like that, the two teams rushed away, pulling a greater distance away from Ling Lan. Only when they felt a little safer did they slow their steps and prepare to take a breather and gather themselves. Just then, they noticed altogether at the same time that there was an energy reaction marking unidentified mecha on the radar. The two teams immediately shifted into battle mode, prepared to fight tenaciously against this unidentified mecha squad when they found that it was a false alarm.
Apparently, this mecha team that had shown up out of the blue was Qi Long's group. They had just finished fighting with two advanced mecha that had gotten stranded off on their own and were cleaning up when they had abruptly stumbled upon more than ten mecha behind them. They too had received a bit of a fright, thinking that they had been surrounded by the enemy.
When the two sides discovered that it was just others from their own faction, they relaxed. Gao Jinyun saw that Qi Long's team consisted entirely of advanced mecha, and he also saw how they had swiftly and efficiently defeated two enemy advanced mecha. This sparked an idea in his mind. Gao Jinyun thought, though their teams' levels were overall too low to be of any help to Boss Lan, Qi Long's team was a completely different matter. A team of advanced mecha warriors should be able to help Boss Lan out.
Thus, Gao Jinyun quickly relayed Boss Lan's situation to Qi Long's team, pointing out as well that Boss Lan could be in danger and may have been surrounded by the enemy.
This news shocked Qi Long's team and they unanimously decided to rush over to their boss's location. All the members believed that since they were members of Ling Lan's battle clan, of course they had to brave danger and death alongside their clan leader.
Just like that, Qi Long's team hurriedly bid farewell to the two teams there and began rushing towards Ling Lan's location ...
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Right at that moment, the ace mecha squad that had charged over after receiving their orders finally arrived at the coordinates team M had reported.
"This should be the spot." Three mecha came to an abrupt stop in the air above the given coordinates. One of the special-class mecha in the group commented as he scanned the still and silent circular area below.
"It looks like team M has been completely wiped out. We've come too late." The other special-class mecha quickly zoomed in on the empty area below. On his mecha's screen, the condition of the ground below was now clearly displayed. There were several dull-coloured mecha down on the ground, as well as cockpits spattered with blood, a sign that these mecha had all met a bad end.
The moment their squad had received their orders from central command, they had immediately altered their route to head here instead of towards the dormitory district. It had only taken them a short two minutes or so, but they were still too late.
"Could it be that the enemy has already run away?" The special-class mecha who had first spoken looked at his unresponsive radar and suggested this possibility.
"No, the enemy should still be nearby," said the thus far silent ace mecha right at the front.
"Sir, how can you tell?" The special-class mecha who was wondering whether the enemy had run away could not help but ask curiously in response to his team leader's statement.
"Because all the way here, I had opened my mecha's radar scanner to its maximum range. During this time, there has been no sign of any energy leaving the area. So the only remaining possibility is that the opponent is still here," the ace operator analysed calmly. "For the enemy to be bold enough to stay back, he must have something up his sleeve. Be on your guard."
The ace operator's words caused his two secondaries to become wary, and they quickly replied, "Understood, sir!"
"This present situation confirms that the other is skilled in concealment and assassination. He probably intends to separate us and kill us off one by one ..." the ace operator added after a brief pause. "That being the case, you two remain in the air and maintain full scene comprehensive monitoring. I'll go down on my own to check things out."
"Yes, sir!" The two secondary mecha operators knew that they had no place to intervene in a battle between battle-experienced ace operators. Therefore, rather than getting in the way down below, they might as well stay up here to monitor the situation — if anything unexpected happened, they would be able to alert their team leader in time.
After arranging all this, the ace operator piloted his mecha to descend slowly onto the circular open space below. As soon as he landed, the ace operator understood why team M had been completely wiped out in such a short duration of time. This terrain was just too suitable for concealed attacks. The surrounding circle of tall and dense forestry allowed mecha to lurk among the trees easily. As long as the enemy turned off their mecha, another mecha's radar would not be able to pick up its energy output. On top of that, team M's combat power was just too weak compared to that of the opponent's. For an enemy familiar with this terrain, capitalising on it to conduct ambushes and finish off team M would be way too easy.
At this observation, the ace operator could not help but sigh under his breath. If he had been team M's leader, he would never have landed straightaway. Instead, he would have hovered in the air and destroyed the dense forest in the surroundings first — no matter what, it was necessary to ruin this disadvantageous terrain.
Having looked over the terrain, the ace operator roughly knew how team M had been killed, but he still did not jump to any conclusions, carefully checking the conditions of all the mecha remnants of team M. When he saw that all signs of severe damage were on the mecha cockpits, his heart clenched.
It looked like the enemy was an extremely level-headed person and was ruthless in his attacks — almost every mecha he examined had been killed in one hit. Also, the weapon the enemy used was a giant cold weapon. This type of weapon was extremely overbearing — ace operators generally could not use this type of weapon with ease, but this person obviously could. The other's attacks had been extremely precise, clean and efficient — he was certain to be someone who had mastered this type of weapon ...
The ace operator began to rifle through his mind, searching through all the information he had on the Huaxian ace operators staying on planet Newline. However, he could not find any ace operator that truly fit these conditions ... after turning it over in his mind, only the elite ace Tang Yu known as the 'Versatile Ace Master' could possibly do such a thing. It looked like the intelligence team M had obtained right before they perished had been accurate. Other than Tang Yu, there really was no one else here who could utilise a giant cold weapon with such proficiency.
"Sir, mecha energy detected about 10 kilometres away. Numbers at 1, 2, 3 ... 7. There are 7 mecha in total." Right then, one of the secondary mecha responsible for wide-range scanning reported loudly in the team commlink.
"Enemy mecha? Allied mecha?" In order to prevent an ambush from the lurking enemy mecha here, the ace operator had narrowed his radar's range to its smallest and most accurate range. Hence, he had not noticed this situation which had popped up 10 kilometres away. At his subordinate's words, his brow furrowed. Could it be that central command had sent another squad here to investigate? This displeased him. Did central command think he alone was no match for Tang Yu? As an ace operator, he had his pride. He did not want other people to interfere when he fought with an opponent of equal strength.
"They're enemy mecha coming from within the military academy." At his leader's question, the secondary knew he had not explained clearly enough. They had not received any news that any of their comrades had gone that deep into the enemy territory in that direction, so for so many mecha to appear all at once from that end, it was very unlikely that they were allied mecha.
"Prepare for battle!" Receiving this answer, the ace mecha commanded with a sneer.
With that many mecha coming over, it was almost certain that it would be a team of small fry. They definitely could not be an ace mecha squad, because ace mecha squads were always set with an ace mecha as primary and two special-class mecha as secondaries. Of course, every army had its own trump card — the strongest ace mecha squad would have ace mecha as both its main and secondaries. Whenever this type of squad was dispatched, it would mean the battle had reached the most critical point, where victory and defeat were about to be determined ...
Moreover, from the intelligence reports he had received, there was no such ace mecha squad on planet Newline, whether it was in the ground forces or within the school's ranks. Therefore, for so many mecha to come at once, it was likely that these were all advanced mecha, or perhaps mostly advanced mecha with a few special-class operators among them. This was the situation at best. With regards to this kind of enemy, no matter how many came, he was not at all concerned. On the battlefield, an ace mecha was definitely a top-level existence which could stand a head above the crowd.
"Boss, Qi Long and the rest of the team are coming." Little Four had also picked up the voices of Qi Long and the other team members. He could not help but holler in excitement in Ling Lan's mindspace, but then, his face fell and his little brow scrunched up in a frown.
These underlings were disobeying orders to come here ... wasn't this just ruining his and the Boss's plans? This was so unreasonable! Little Four puffed up his cheeks in exasperation.
Little Four's alert made Ling Lan rub her forehead in consternation. It went without saying that Qi Long and the team must have met up with Gao Jinyun and found out about her situation here. Although she felt that she would not be able to fight as freely as she would have liked with Qi Long and the others here, it could not be denied that she was actually quite happy deep inside. The actions of her team meant that they really valued her — regardless of the danger, they wanted to fight by her side. Having such loyal and steadfast companions willing to brave thick and thin, life and death, together ... what did she have to complain about?
"Boss, what now? Should I send them a text telling them to turn back?" Little Four was actually very glad that Qi Long and the others were coming, but thinking that this development could spoil his boss's plans, he could not help but feel a little down.
"No need. Let them come. They can help me handle those two troublesome special-class mecha in the air." Ling Lan quickly made her decision.
Perhaps, this was a chance for Qi Long and the others to grow. Mind you, fighting against special-class mecha would not give Ling Lan much experience, but it would be a rare opportunity for Qi Long and the others to gain practical experience. Although it would be a little risky, danger often went hand in hand with opportunity as it was able to force out the latent potential hiding within a person. Besides, Ling Lan was extremely confident that Qi Long and the others would grasp this opportunity well.