Chapter 461: Ling Lan’s Operation Type?
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
The two fighters on the filed were completely oblivious to the situation involving the audience and the referee panel. This impressive bit of operation by Ling Lan had left her opponent, the Tongli mecha operator, scrambling. His first reflex was to chase after his opponent — he could not let his opponent pull away till the optimum distance for long-range attacks.
However, he was already a step late. Even though he tried his hardest to make up for it, he found that no matter how hard he tried, the distance between them just kept growing. The inherent difference between the speeds of their mecha gave him no chance at all …
The Tongli mecha operator only chased for a few seconds before he realised this. He immediately slowed down and began to think about how he could deal with the opponent’s long-range attacks.
In truth, in a mecha competition, the chances would always be equal regardless of whether one excelled in close combat or long-range combat. For a long-range attacker to obtain a safe distance within a match to conduct long-range attacks, they would need to find opportunities to pull away from their opponent and extend the distance between them. On the other hand, if a close-combat mecha operator did not want to passively react to long-range attacks, they would have to try their best to prevent the opponent from pulling away right from the start.
And now, in this current situation, the Tongli mecha operator had lost the first opportunity to do so. He could only hope that the Tongli strategists were correct in their speculations that the opponent’s skills were just average — then, he might still be able to salvage the situation and turn things around, otherwise … the outcome would be unpredictable.
Ling Lan finally pulled away till the optimum distance for long-range shooting. Without any hesitation, she drew a giant gun from her back — it was a long-range long-barrelled beam gun.
Without any special weapons, such as Qiao Ting’s ballistic sniper rifle, the standard equipped weapon of long-range mecha would be the long-barrelled beam gun. It was characterized by its long range, but its weakness was that its firepower was a little weak. To break through the beam shield of a mecha at the same level, it would need at least 5 seconds of shooting time … and this was a difficult thing to achieve. Normally, those who could become special-class mecha operators all had very good operation abilities — they would not so easily let someone else shoot at them for five seconds or more.
However, Ling Lan was not at all concerned about this. If she had wanted to use a long-range gun with greater firepower, she had plenty of ways to obtain one. Her greatest objective in using this gun was to train her long-range skills further. Even if firepower was a problem that would stop her from defeating the opponent quickly, she was not bothered by it.
Ling Lan decisively steadied the long-barrelled beam gun in her mecha’s hands and aimed at the opponent who was currently trying to use irregular movements to try and disrupt her shooting.
Judging by the speed of the opponent’s mecha, she only had a chance for three shots before the opponent would pass over into close range and the target-locking function of this long-barrelled beam gun would be rendered useless. At that time, if she still wanted to shoot, she could only rely on pure instinct.
A ‘beep’ indicated that the long-barrelled gun had locked onto the target successfully. Ling Lan did not hesitate to pull the trigger, and a powerful beam shot out of the muzzle of her gun towards the opponent.
“Fixed-point shooting?” This motion of Ling Lan’s made everyone exclaim. Fixed-point shooting was not any advanced shooting technique; it was a basic technique that every mecha operator would know. The more advanced a mecha was, the harder it was to see these kinds of basic techniques being used. The average mecha operator believed that these basic techniques were no longer enough to cope with the more difficult mecha combats.
Just before the beam was about to hit the opponent, as if being refracted, it suddenly grazed by the mecha’s side. Anyone could have predicted this outcome — as expected, basic techniques were completely useless in a battle between special-class operators. The audience could not understand why a student participant from the First Men’s Military Academy would use such a technique … could it really be that he had just paid lip service and was here to get a share of the glory 1 ? Was the remarkable operation previously just a misperception on their end? Or was it just a flash in the pan?
‘This … it’s not just Irregular Dash. Instead, it’s more like Irregular Flicker.’ Ling Lan was not at all anxious at her missed shot. She calmly analysed the situation and instantly saw that the opponent’s footwork was not what it seemed. ‘Tsk, well, it can’t be considered a true Irregular Flicker either. I can only say that it’s something in between the two. This Tongli student is no slouch either, eh? Actually already beginning to learn the advanced footwork that initially only ace operators can learn. Unfortunately, the lock-on function is already useless against this kind of footwork which is bordering on Irregular Flicker.’
“Beep beep beep …” Sure enough, the lock-on alert of the gun kept ringing to signal that the long-barrelled gun could not lock onto the opponent. It would probably be pointless to shoot again this way.
Ling Lan hesitated for a moment, and the opponent took this chance to once again draw even closer. Ling Lan was rather chagrined by this — she had initially had the opportunity for two more shots, but now, due to her hesitation, she had only one shot left. If she hesitated any further, the chance to take this last shot may be lost as well.
Ling Lan was the type of person to become even more focused and settled the more critical a situation became. Having just one final shot left, she entered into a state with no distractions whatsoever. Fully focused, she stared at the opponent — the target-lock was now useless, so she needed to rely on her own judgment to decide when to shoot …
Ling Lan began calculating frantically inside — the opponent’s speed, possible flight paths, as well as his operation habits … only by factoring in all of this would she be able to predict the opponent’s potential landing point, and that would be the spot she would shoot at.
There!
While Ling Lan was still calculating, she suddenly felt as if she could see a target point. Without conscious thought, she instantly pulled her trigger …
“Boom!” The beam hit the opponent accurately. The powerful suction force of the beam made it hard for the opponent to move for some time 2 . However, how could a special-class operator be stuck for long by this? At the fourth second, the opponent managed to operate his mecha free of the attack radius of the beam. Although he had broken free of the beam, his initially bright outer shell had already become somewhat dull and dark due to the steep drain on his beam shield’s power to deal with the attack.
“Awesome!” The audience clapped and cheered — how contemptuous they were at the start was precisely how thrilled they were now.
Being able to land a successful hit on an opponent with the basic technique fixed-point shooting … this completely overturned the people’s general knowledge! Mind you, in all of the previous mecha combat competitions, no one would use fixed-point shooting. Even if someone had used it, no one had succeeded before.
In general, in order to maintain their distance from a close-combat mecha, long-range mecha operators would always utilise the tactic of shooting while moving. And while they were moving around, it was impossible to shoot accurately, so the mecha operators would use ranged attacks to intercept their opponent. Or they might do as Qiao Ting had and use advanced shooting techniques to seal off their opponent’s paths of escape, leaving their opponent with no place to hide. The audience was used to seeing advanced techniques being used this way, so when they suddenly saw a basic technique being effective on the combat field instead, everyone’s interest was raised …
Ling Lan’s success in using a basic technique to strike the opponent with one shot caused the two imperial operators monitoring the field to nod silently, becoming very interested in Ling Lan. This achievement proved that Ling Lan had already attained a pinnacle in her foundational controls. Oftentimes, only when one arrived at the late stages of ace level did one learn of the importance of the basics. Unfortunately, at that time, it was already futile to consider starting over. Without solid foundations, their futures were limited, and even if they managed to advance to imperial level, they would still be the worst among the imperials.
Ling Xiao felt pride spring up within him at this scene. His daughter truly did not disappoint him. The essence of his legacy had been completely mastered by her — only flawless foundations could support the construction of towers reaching up to the skies …
This scene also made Lan Luofeng very excited. She did not know anything about foundations or no foundations — no matter what, her precious daughter had managed to hit the opponent. That was the most important thing!
She tugged on Ling Xiao’s hand and asked somewhat incomprehensibly in her excitement, “Lan-Lan has hit the opponent! Why hasn’t the opponent been declared the loser? Why does the fight have to continue?”
“This one shot is not enough to deduct the opponent’s points to zero,” explained Ling Xiao, feeling rather regretful. If the shot had been able to hold the opponent down for just one more second, this match would have been over.
After her hit landed, and once Ling Lan saw the opponent escaping from the attack range of her beam shot, she did not even keep her gun, instantly piloting her mecha to dash backwards.
“Good timing!” One of the imperial operators in the air above who had still been able to maintain his composure could not help but exclaim in surprise when he saw Ling Lan’s move.
“And it’s also seamless control. The shift between the two actions has almost zero excess,” added another imperial operator with an equally amazed tone. This unknown boy below from the First Men’s Military Academy was impeccable both in terms of timing and operation — he was even more precise in his movements than the widely-known Qiao Ting. Right then, the imperial operators were somewhat envious of this mecha operator’s instructor … that person must be very proud to have such a student.
They did not know that this aberrant Ling Lan was not the product of one person. She was the oddball result of the combination of the rich experience of Ling Xiao’s legacy, the Divine Command techniques from the Divine Command Sect, and the prolonged and extensive training of the learning space.
At this moment, at the rostrum, even the outwardly composed Ling Xiao could not help but cheer loudly in his heart. Ling Lan’s operations were even more refined that they had been a year ago, already showing signs of her own operation style. This style was still in its embryonic stages though, not yet matured. Once it fully matured, perhaps his daughter would truly have the chance to touch upon the realm of imperial level.
Sensing Ling Xiao’s excitement, Lan Luofeng shot a puzzled look at him. In Lan Luofeng’s eyes, Ling Lan’s motions to escape were not as dashing and beautiful as her shot which had hit the opponent. She had no clue that that series of actions was an embodiment of perfection in the eyes of a top-notch mecha master.
The situation on the field also began to worry the Tongli students backstage. They found that the person they had targeted as a soft persimmon was in fact not soft at all and was in fact rather prickly and hard to handle. Right then, they could only hope that their companion on the field would do a little better and chase up to the opponent to drag him into a close-range fight, and thus win the match.
They never imagined that Ling Lan could also be a close-combat expert. He was already so amazing at long range, if he was also amazing at close combat … even though the opponent was operating a balanced mecha, Tongli vehemently refused to entertain this conjecture in a very ostrich-like manner 3 .
Qiao Ting too witnessed Ling Lan’s series of actions and his expression became shadowed. He found that Ling Lan existed to rain blows on his self-esteem. This long-range basic attack was even more solid than his own … godd*mn, was this still a close-combat operator?
He could not help but turn his head around to look at Zhao Jun and ask, “Your regiment commander … is he really operating a close-combat mecha?” They must have been lying to him, right? In truth, Ling Lan was actually a long-range expert?
Zhao Jun stared blankly at the large screen — Boss Lan’s series of long-range operations had also deeply shaken him. When he heard Qiao Ting’s inquiry, he nodded after some hesitation, saying uncertainly, “He should be. I’ve never seen him operate any other mecha other than close-combat mecha before.”
Zhao Jun was rather confused himself. He really did not know anymore what type of operator his Boss Lan was. Could it be that Boss Lan was in fact a comprehensive operator? He had just hidden this fact all this time? Just considering the possibility sent chills running down his back and Zhao Jun shivered. Hells, this was too terrifying! The close combat skills of a balanced operator actually being stronger than them pure close-combat operators … how were they supposed to continue living?