Jiang Shaoyu did not want to lose face. He desperately wanted to use his greatest strength to defeat his opponent. Even if he could not do it in one move, he also hoped to strike his opponent so that even as the opponent’s points were deducted, he would be able to prove to the audience that he was still stronger in terms of close combat.
Perhaps due to the pressure or perhaps due to Jiang Shaoyu’s desperation to obtain results, this mentality made Jiang Shaoyu lose his cool. His movements turned rough and choppy, no longer as fine and rhythmical as before. Anyone with eyes could see that his operation was starting to veer out of control, no longer as perfect as it had been at the start …
Lin Xiao observed the changes in Jiang Shaoyu and his gaze flickered. He knew that his opportunity would come soon. Lin Xiao did not move immediately — he only had one chance. He needed to act at the moment he had the best shot; otherwise, he would rather wait than be as impulsive as Jiang Shaoyu.
“Hehe, Jiang Shaoyu is probably going to lose now.” Zhao Jun could also see the signs now and he could not but break out into a wide grin.
“Hn, from the looks of it now, out of the three ace operators, Jiang Shaoyu is the weakest. That Lin Xiao is very strong and he also knows how to hold back … he will probably give Qiao Ting a lot of trouble.” Ling Lan really quite admired this cadet who had a name which sounded so similar to her dad’s — his skills were great both in long range and close range. A balanced mecha was truly most suitable for him.
Moreover, he did not lack cunning either. He had intentionally disguised the outer shell of his mecha to give others the mistaken impression that his strong suit was long-range offense and that his close combat was slightly weaker. This had lured the opponent in to attack his perceived ‘weak point’ —— close combat. Now, this arrangement of his was indeed proving wondrously effective — well, at least, Jiang Shaoyu had tragically fallen for it. Without these elements of disguise, Jiang Shaoyu would certainly have been warier; he was not that easy to fool.
On the field, the two fighters exchanged several more blows in mid-air, their mecha trading positions several times. Following the passing of time, Jiang Shaoyu, unable to find any opportunity to attack, became even more restless and agitated. His brain ran hot, and he actually abandoned defence to attack with full force. Every swing of his mecha’s arms with his cold weapon became heavy and powerful, but his speed dropped noticeably. In aiming for a one-hit kill, he caused his mecha to lose its agility. At this moment, Lin Xiao, who had been waiting all this time, knew that his true opportunity had arrived. He finally made his move!
Jiang Shaoyu’s ended his latest round of ferocious attacks, and just as he was about to start the next round, Lin Xiao, who had been on full-defence all this while, actually disappeared from sight while Jiang Shaoyu was distracted preparing his attack. Jiang Shaoyu was first startled and paused for a beat, but immediately after, alarms blared loudly in his mind. He silently knew that things were not good — without conscious thought, his fingers flew reflexively over his mecha’s controls, instantly bringing his hand speed to its limits. He needed to pilot his mecha away from here, or else he would be in danger.
Jiang Shaoyu’s intuition was not wrong, but though he tried his hardest to escape the crisis, Lin Xiao had already waited so long for this opportunity, so how could he let Jiang Shaoyu escape so easily?
“Boom boom boom boom …”
The engines of Jiang Shaoyu’s mecha had just begun to flare, his mecha’s body yet to escape from range, when Lin Xiao suddenly descended from above, his attack already a step ahead …
“Was that space flicker just now?” The spectators cried out in shock. They had seen Lin Xiao’s actions clearly — at the moments Jiang Shaoyu’s attack had slowed, he had suddenly dashed to the area above Jiang Shaoyu’s head. This flicker movement was a technique that only ace operators could perform. It was called ‘space flicker’, a weaker version of teleportation. As the technical skill required to perform it was very high, many operators who had just advanced to ace level could not learn this technique.
However, these were not the only exclamations. Closely following that, the voices rose once more, “Ah, it’s a mecha chain combo!”
In close-range mecha combat, a mecha chain combo was the technique that could best showcase an operator’s control skills and explosive power. The more skilful the operator was, the higher the combo chain they could perform — rumour had it that a god-class operator had once managed a combo chain of 128 hits, instantly defeating his opponent who was also a god-class operator.
“Three hits … five hits!” By the time Lin Xiao reached five hits, everyone was on their feet in excitement. For the average mecha warrior, a 3-hit chain was already the limit, while a mecha master might be able to do another one or two hits more. Still, five hits was a tipping point — there were very few normal mecha masters who could go beyond five hits. Once someone went over the five-hit mark, that meant that that person’s future was limitless.
Under the anticipatory gazes of everyone in the audience, Lin Xiao finally completed the sixth hit in his chain. When the loud ‘bang’ rang out once more, everyone could not hold back their cheers. Meanwhile, Lin Xiao reached his limit at this time and his combo chain finally ended. After taking Lin Xiao’s 6-hit combo, Jiang Shaoyu not only did not manage to escape Lin Xiao’s attacks, he was defeated instantly by this combo chain. Six effective attacks instantly reduced Jiang Shaoyu’s points to zero — even though Jiang Shaoyu still had the ability to fight, the referee would not give him the chance to do so anymore.
Sure enough, when the referee saw that Jiang Shaoyu’s points had been reduced to zero, he decisively raised his red flag and announced the end of the match. On the screens on all four sides of the combat field, Lin Xiao’s victory was announced.
With regards to this result, no one had any objections. Although both combatants had been ace operators, Lin Xiao’s control skills and mentality had been shown to be better than Jiang Shaoyu’s.
After completing his 6-hit combo chain, Lin Xiao sat panting in his cockpit. His initially serious face was now adorned with a wide smile. He wasn’t just glad that he had obtained the victory in this match — because victory was already within his expectations — what truly pleased him was that he had actually managed to break through his limits in this fight. For the first time ever, he had managed to up his combo chain to six hits. Undoubtedly, he had once again achieved a breakthrough while putting his all into the fight.
Ling Lan saw the final outcome, and it was as she had expected. She turned to look at Zhao Jun and asked, “Senior Zhao, what do you think of your opponent now?”
Zhao Jun’s mouth split into a grin. “Jiang Shaoyu’s heart will have an opening remaining. I’ll be able to use that in the afternoon.”
Ling Lan nodded, but then shook her head. “It’s true that there will be an opening, but you are not Lin Xiao, so you won’t be able to use it.”
“Why?” Zhao Jun frowned, somewhat puzzled.
“Because you are still a special-class operator,” answered Ling Lan levelly.
Zhao Jun fell into a thoughtful silence, head bowed. Then, as if figuring something out, he raised his head and asked, “Is this because he has a psychological advantage? So he won’t be as caught up in insecurities as he was during his fight with Lin Xiao, making it hard to pick on this weak point of his?”
“Not only does he have a psychological advantage, but he also has the strength to back it up. Even though Jiang Shaoyu will be off his game due to this loss here, it is still very easy for him to defeat you,” added Ling Lan.
Ling Lan’s words deepened the furrow between Zhao Jun’s eyebrows. Well, that was true — although special-class operators and ace operators were both operators, the distance between the two was like heaven and earth; this gap was not so easily bridged.
“Is there no way at all?” mused Zhao Jun regretfully.
“To win will be difficult, but to achieve an internecine outcome is not impossible …” Ling Lan gave Zhao Jun a great surprise.
As soon as Zhao Jun heard this, he was invigorated. He quickly said, “Leader, tell me quickly … uh, no, it’s Boss, Boss! Tell me quickly!” In order to obtain Ling Lan’s battle sutra, Zhao Jun’s expression was sycophantic, and he had even shamelessly begun calling Ling Lan ‘boss’.
To one side, Li Lanfeng had been listening to their conversation silently, and now he could not help but cover his face in shame, almost hoping he could dig a hole to bury himself in it. Sob, sob, sob, this shameless Zhao Jun … I really don’t know him …
Meanwhile, the other Lingtian members were instantly left dumbstruck in the face of such shameless behaviour from Zhao Jun. Some members who still retained some degree of rationality, like Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi, swiftly bounced at least three metres away from Zhao Jun, looking for all the world like he was a stranger to them.
This behaviour of Zhao Jun likewise hit Ling Lan like a lightning bolt. The plan she had thought of had already been by her lips, about to be spoken, but now it slid back down her throat. She decided that she would not say anything for now and let Senior Zhao stew for a while to console her poor frightened little soul.
Zhao Jun was completely oblivious to the disdain and avoidance of his companions in reaction to his behaviour. Yup, well, even if he had sensed some of it, his heart right now was filled with that method Ling Lan had mentioned; he had no mind at all the care about teaching those disrespectful juniors a lesson. He ignored the increasingly cold aura emanating from Ling Lan, happily circling around her and calling her ‘Boss, Boss’ over and over again. He was completely clueless to the fact that the more ingratiating he was with his behaviour, the more unlikely he was to get what he wanted.
Meanwhile, at this time, in the VIP room of the combat stadium, all of the special guests attending the Grand Mecha Tournament were pretty much watching the fight inside.
Seated beside Ling Xiao was the vice president of the Federation. He looked at the winner’s name displayed on the large screen and could not help but laugh and say teasingly, “Oh, Ling Xiao, do you have any thoughts about this person’s name?”
Ling Xiao and the vice president held the highest status in the military and the government respectively among all the special guests. Though all the other guests appeared to be watching the match intently or conversing in low voices with the people next to them, in truth, they were constantly observing the actions of the two men. When they heard the vice president’s teasing remark, their ears instantly perked up — they wanted to know whether this cadet would be especially valued or disliked by General Ling Xiao due to his similar sounding name. Ling Xiao’s attitude would determine how they would treat this cadet in the future.
“He’s not bad!” Ling Xiao said with a smile. “The name Ling Xiao really is very popular in the Federation, I see. Vice President, in this regard, you can’t match me …”
Ling Xiao’s smug boasting made everyone there smile knowingly. Several high-ranking officers of various army divisions now viewed the outstanding Lin Xiao with greedy eyes, planning to report this person to their commanders immediately after the tournament ended so that the officers sent to assess cadets would work hard to secure Lin Xiao for their respective divisions when they went to the First Co-ed Military Academy.
After Ling Xiao finished speaking, he turned his attention back to the field. Everyone assumed that he was watching the two fighters on the field — only he himself knew that he was looking for his daughter. Unfortunately, there were hundreds of thousands of people in the audience — it really was not that easy to find his daughter in the crowd.
The end of Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu’s match signalled the end of the single mecha combat matches in the morning. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the rest of the matches would be held to determine the final placings of the four combatants.
The audience in the combat stadium began to exit in an orderly manner. They needed to take the time for lunch before returning to watch the afternoon matches. The afternoon matches were sure to be even more exciting than the morning matches — after all, the coming matches would decide the first and second place, and even the match to determine third and fourth promised to be a view-worthy fight.
Seeing this, Ling Lan stood up. Meanwhile, Zhao Jun still had not been able to receive the answer he wanted from Ling Lan. He saw Ling Lan stand up and quickly hurried to follow suit … when the other members saw this, they could only smile wryly and stand up as well. Li Lanfeng’s feet were a little unsteady — standing on swaying feet, he felt deep regret for the first time for knowing such a shameless person like Zhao Jun.
Ling Lan did not know that when she stood up, Ling Xiao who was still in the VIP room suddenly turned to look in her direction as if guided by some supernatural sense. When he saw that familiar silhouette, the smile playing at the corners of Ling Xiao’s lips deepened, and only then did he stand up to say goodbye to the other special guests. Ling Xiao had honestly sat around here idly for half a day all for the sake of this one glimpse of his daughter.