Qiao Ting took in a deep breath and looked searchingly at Ling Lan on the field. He then said in a low voice, “You’re not dreaming. That technique …” It should count as a new technique. Qiao Ting did not voice it. He was afraid that if he did, he would not be able to maintain his nature.
That was personal-name naming! It was something all mecha masters dreamed of obtaining, but how many people would ever truly earn this honour? Throughout human history, techniques that fell under personal-name naming numbered less than sixty, and most of them were from the early days of mecha development …
Excluding those people, in the past thousand years, only a small number of 12 people have attained this honour successfully … how lucky was Ling Lan? Having done what countless people could not, even if that technique could not be widely promoted, it was still envy-jealousy-hate inducing for Ling Lan to have an exclusive technique belonging to him! Qiao Ting could not suppress the tendril of bitterness that welled up in his heart. This era should have been his, but Ling Lan’s performance today was enough to put them equal ground. Profoundly, he wondered why fate had chosen to give birth to both of them in the same time frame 1 .
Meanwhile, on the field, the referee saw the Tongli mecha being destroyed in one shot by Ling Lan and his expression changed greatly. He quickly waved his red flag vigorously, suspending the fight, and then piloted his mecha over quickly to check on the condition of the Tongli mecha.
Stunned, Ling Lan lowered the gun in her hands. If a quick flash of thought had not struck her at that instant when she had taken the shot, making her subconsciously raise her gun’s muzzle by a few inches, she would absolutely have hit the opponent’s cockpit directly. That shooting trajectory she had visualized was not merely an effective path to hit the opponent — it was a fearsome trajectory which would have resulted in a one-hit kill.
Ling Lan was instantly gripped by a pang of belated fear; the sweat on her back felt cold. If she had not had that flash of insight and made some minor adjustments at the instant, perhaps her opponent might be dead right now.
“Profound Insight is one of the top-class innate talents in the Mandora star system. It is the best innate talent for mecha piloting. Cherish it, and use it well.” The words Instructor Number One had said to her that year once again rang out by Ling Lan’s ear.
“Instructor Number One, before this, I have probably disappointed you!” thought Ling Lan with a dry mental chuckle. She had never really paid much attention to this innate talent of hers, thinking that it only provided a little more accuracy to her piloting through its predictive ability. This lackadaisical attitude towards it had made her neglect Profound Insight, thus wasting a lot of time … still, Ling Lan’s frustration only lasted for an instant. She very quickly rallied herself, thinking, “Luckily, it’s not too late. I will definitely master all of the abilities of Profound Insight.”
Just solely excavating that little bit of its abilities had already proven to be so heaven-defying … Ling Lan had the feeling that perhaps this Profound Insight innate talent was the true cheat she had been given in her transmigration, the true foundation which would allow her to stand at the pinnacle of strength in this world.
When the referee came up to the Tongli mecha, he found that the upper half of the mecha had already been battered by the beam shot, becoming extremely dilapidated, but the cockpit area was perfectly untouched. This meant that the situation was not too terrible; the referee’s heart settled. That scene just now had caught everyone off guard — even if someone had had the heart to help and save the Tongli contestant, they would not have made it in time.
The referee instantly made contact with the mecha operator inside the cockpit, and when he heard the other respond back that he only had some minor injuries and that everything else was fine, the referee instantly let out a sigh of relief. Only then did he announce the end of this mecha fight, with the winner being Ling Lan of the First Men’s Military Academy. Leaving aside the fact that the Tongli mecha was no longer fit for battle, even if the mecha had been completely undamaged after that last encounter, that shot of Ling Lan’s alone was enough to reduce the opponent’s points to zero.
After his initial surge of emotion, Ling Xiao calmed down, and confusion settled in. That shot of Ling Lan’s … the execution of it was incongruent with her actual age and experience. Logically, Ling Lan should not have been able to make such an accurate prediction — it should have been impossible for that sure-kill trajectory to be discovered by anyone below imperial level …
Predictive judgement was a skill which mecha masters had to learn, but the extent to which the ability can stretch completely depends on the mecha master’s own strength and experience, and of course a keen intuition was also indispensable. Ling Xiao believed his daughter’s intuition was not weak — he had already known this from when he had sparred with her before — but Ling Lan logically should not have been able to achieve such a step at her current level of strength and experience.
How had Ling Lan, his baby daughter, discovered this trajectory? Was it luck? Or had she really seen it? For some unknown reason, Ling Xiao believed deep down that his daughter must surely have seen it. It looked like his daughter still had secrets unknown to him …
A subtle smile appeared on Ling Xiao’s lips — he was not planning to delve any further into the matter. No matter what secrets his daughter was keeping, he did not care, unless his daughter herself was willing to tell him. The parenting bible had clearly stated that one of the taboos was trying to dig into all the secrets of one’s child and trying to control them. This would make a child very resentful, angry, and unhappy — the child may even become hateful of the parent, affecting the relationship between father and son (father and daughter).
As a wise and intelligent father, he would never make such a low-level mistake! Ling Xiao thought proudly.
Ling Lan returned victorious and was welcomed back by four gazes filled with envy-jealousy-hate from the other contestants of the First Men’s Military Academy. Ling Lan smiled bashfully and alighted using the elevator platform.
Striding up to the four people, Ling Lan looked at Qiao Ting and said calmly, “To complete the mission, it all depends on you now, Senior Qiao.”
Qiao Ting stared at her meaningfully and said in a tone steeped in connotation, “I will not lose!” He moved past Ling Lan to the area below his ace mecha and stepped onto the elevator platform before finally walking into his cockpit.
Right then, Qiao Ting already knew that Lin Xiao or Jiang Shaoyu or whomever were all not the people he needed to watch — his greatest rival in this life was this currently still inconspicuous Ling Lan, whose name would spread far and wide later on following the creation of this shooting art. Actually, from the start, from the moment Ling Lan had turned Leiting on its head, they were destined to be lifelong rivals.
As soon as Qiao Ting left, Mu Shaoyu smiled, raised a big thumbs up, and said in a low voice, “Regiment Commander Ling, awesome 2 !”
Mu Shaoyu’s words made Han Yu beside him harrumph coldly before turning to walk away. Mu Shaoyu could not help but smirk coldly and say, “Don’t worry about him. This fellow’s pettiness is acting up again.” As a long-time rival, Mu Shaoyu knew Han Yu too well — Han Yu had always thought that his mecha control was better than Ling Lan’s, but reality had just slapped him in the face. Among the six people who were participating in the group mecha combat event, other than Zhang Jing-an, Han Yu had proven to be weakest of the bunch. He found this hard to swallow right at that moment.
“It’s fine. I’ve only defeated a top 32 opponent. It’s nothing worth mentioning,” replied Ling Lan nonchalantly. Ever since she had stolen Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun from Wuji, her relationship with Han Yu could not be described as friendly. If her own regiment members had been stolen away by another regiment commander, Ling Lan believed that she too would not be big-hearted enough to still play nice with the other.
“Not worth mentioning?” Mu Shaoyu gaped. “Regiment Commander Ling, you are the first to have created a mecha technique in over 50 years. I believe that from tomorrow onwards, no no, maybe from now onwards, you will be renowned throughout all of human society.”
“Created a technique? Renowned throughout all of human society? What does this have to do with me?” Ling Lan frowned and cast a cold glance at Zhao Jun, asking him what Mu Shaoyu really meant. Was he actually mocking her?
Zhao Jun quickly explained, “As long as a heretofore unseen technique appears, if it was created by an individual, the technique would be named after the individual. Boss Lan, that shot you sent at the opponent as you were flying will be named after you, Boss …”
In the mindspace, Little Four abruptly clapped a hand to his head. He seemed to have, probably … forgotten to tell his boss about this.
As Zhao Jun explained, his entire face was filled with envy and respect. Them cadets were at most fighting to be the number one within their respective academies. Creating a new technique? That was not something they even dared to think of. In their minds, this was something much too distant from them and so had nothing to do with them. Who could have guessed that his clan leader Ling Lan would actually manage to do this right before their eyes? And so easily too!
“Ah, is that a new technique?” Zhao Jun’s words surprised Ling Lan.
“Isn’t it?” Zhao Jun was dumbfounded. It was obviously a new technique, right? He had not seen wrong, Qiao Ting had not seen wrong, none of the others had seen wrong.
“What do you say?” Ling Lan cast a cold glance at him. This Senior Zhao … did he not learn his basic controls properly? She had obviously just used the fixed-point shooting technique in basic controls, so what did this have to do with a new technique?
“…” Zhao Jun became rather flustered by Ling Lan’s oppressive gaze. Could it be that he had really made a mistake? He asked carefully, “That … ah, Boss Lan, may I ask, what technique did you use earlier?” Feeling tentative and unsure, Zhao Jun actually began speaking more formally.
“Fixed-point shooting. You really couldn’t tell?” Ling Lan was even more worried now, which made the chill surrounding her body become even colder. It looked like Senior Zhao Jun’s basic controls were really not solid enough. She needed to think of a way to help him fix that as quickly as possible.
The higher her level, the more Ling Lan understood the deeper meaning behind her dad’s legacy which had emphasized the importance of the basic controls. This was because once one had entered ace level, the basics were the key to advance to the next realm. And yet, after one had entered ace level, one’s personal operation style would gradually begin to form. By the time they reached the late stages of ace realm and wanted to advance to the next realm, the mecha master would find that this problem was an obstacle restricting their advancement. At that time, it would already be too late to turn back and train up their basic controls. Having already formed their own operation style, they would not be able to develop their basic controls any further. Only if their brains were switched so they would forget their own style, then perhaps there would still be a chance to do so.
Ling Lan had already come to a decision in her mind — before Senior Zhao Jun left the academy, she would use basic controls to have a few good spars with him. She had to make sure his foundations became a little more solid.
Zhao Jun could not know that just by asking such a simple question, he had signed himself up for a great amount of torment under Ling Lan’s hands before he would enlist into an army division. He would be tortured so badly that he would almost lose all confidence to even board a mecha to fight ever again …
Right then, still blissfully ignorant, Zhao Jun once again asked tentatively, “But fixed-point shooting can only be used in a stationary state. Fixed-point shooting while running, is it still fixed-point shooting?”
“Isn’t it essentially still the same? I merely applied it more flexibly,” answered Ling Lan blithely. “It really isn’t a new technique!”
When Instructor Number Three had been teaching her, he had said so very clearly — there was no technique which would never change. Only by incorporating techniques into real battle would techniques become truly useful. She had merely adapted a stationary fixed-point technique for use during motion — there was no difference in the nature of the technique.
If this counted as a new technique, Ling Lan really did not know how many new techniques she had then. Basically, with the guidance and assistance of Instructor Number Three, she was now able to make some changes to every single basic technique.
Sensing that his boss was speaking the truth as Ling Lan was so calm and indifferent towards the whole new technique naming business, Zhao Jun found himself awed and speechless. The great and supreme honour of having a technique named after him was actually unable to move Boss Lan … he really did not know what else could successfully crack Boss Lan’s ice-block face.
In truth, all of the members of the clan secretly wished to see this happen. They were even betting with each other, betting to see who would be the first to see Boss Lan’s expression change. Just now, he had really thought he was about to win … but reality proved that he had still underestimated Boss Lan and had been gleeful for nothing.
On this end, Ling Lan and Zhao Jun were discussing about whether the technique was or was not a new technique, while on the other end, Qiao Ting was already operating his mecha onto the field as prompted by the staff.
Ling Lan and the rest saw this and turned their attention to the combat field. As for whether that move of Ling Lan was considered a new technique, there was actually no need to argue over it — in the end, the final decision would depend on the military. If the military felt that it was, then it was; if they felt it wasn’t, then it wasn’t.
In reality, among the general public, there were many extremely unique and dangerous mecha techniques spread around in secret. Due to some problems and flaws here and there, or perhaps some doubts with regards to their safety, these mecha techniques had all been unable to receive official military recognition in the end and had been relegated to pseudo-techniques.
Qiao Ting’s opponent was the weakest of the Tongli mecha operators — the outcome of this match was already clear even before it started. If not for the fact that giving up without a fight would disgrace their military academy, the Tongli mecha operators might have just chosen to raise their hands up and surrender right at the start.
The match officially began with the downward swing of the referee’s green flag. Qiao Ting instantly pulled away from the opponent — his speed was comparable to Ling Lan’s, leaving the audience exclaiming in awe. Only some top-class operators noticed that there was still some gap between the reaction speed of the two.
Likewise, Qiao Ting himself noticed it too. After he pulled away, the corners of his lips tilted downwards in disappointment. At the instant when he had moved his fingers to control his mecha, Qiao Ting already knew he had still been a beat slower than Ling Lan. It was not that he did not want to start piloting from the very moment the flag swung down, but his fingers had still slowed a little beyond his control in the instant that he had intended to move. And this brief pause had made him slower than Ling Lan by 0.1 seconds.
With regards to mecha piloting, even the difference of 0.01 seconds was enough to change the tide of a battle. What more this delay of 0.1 seconds? This amount of difference in their reaction times was enough for him to die more than a dozen of times.
At this moment, Qiao Ting deeply admired the strength of Ling Lan’s heart — how bold did this person have to be to dare to execute such seamless operation right on the line? Was he not afraid of committing a foul?
Qiao Ting’s opponent did not hurry to chase after him when Qiao Ting pulled away. Instead, he stood his ground, calmly waiting for Qiao Ting to pull away till the optimum long-range attack distance for him, looking for all the world like he was resigned to his fate.
No one boo-ed him for his decision, because the audience was well aware that up against an ace operator several times stronger than him, even if he chased after the other with all of his might, he would not be able to close the distance. At most, he would only be able to buy himself some time; the outcome would not change. In that case, he might as well wait calmly and use these brief few seconds to properly think about how he would handle what comes next.
As soon as he achieved the distance he needed for his long-range attack, Qiao Ting drew a long-barrelled gun from his back. This gun was not Qiao Ting’s favoured weapon, the ballistic sniper rifle, but the same weapon Ling Lan had used, the standard equipment of long-range mecha: a long-range long-barrelled beam gun.
With a snap, the long-barrelled gun arced through the air to hitch securely on his shoulder, held up by his left hand, sight aimed at the opponent.
A “bang”, and a beam shot out from the muzzle. From setting the gun into place and aiming to pulling the trigger, the entire series of actions had been completed in just two seconds. Qiao Ting almost gave his gun no time to lock onto the target …
This time frame startled cheers out of the audience. Compared to Ling Lan, Qiao Ting’s actions had been even more well-practiced and compact, his posture was more elegant and natural, and the time he used was so short that it made the people’s eyes bulge.
With a boom, the beam accurately landed where the Tongli mecha had been standing, instantly creating a shallow pit. As with Ling Lan’s first shot, the Tongli mecha master accurately dodged this shot.
When Zhao Jun saw this, his expression shifted and he whispered to Ling Lan, “Boss Lan, Qiao Ting seems to be replicating your movements.”
Right then, Ling Lan was standing before the large screen and watching the match with her arms folded across her chest. When she heard what Zhao Jun said, she nodded calmly and said, “Hn. The same fixed-point shooting, from taking aim to shooting, this shot of his took at least one second less than mine did. In terms of long-range, he is indeed better than me.” Ling Lan was not afraid to face the truth. If her innate talent Profound Insight had not been so nature-defying, she would still be unable to compete against these aberrant prodigies with long-range innate talents at long range.
Zhao Jun chuckled, not at all taking Ling Lan’s words seriously. Frankly, Zhao Jun did not think Ling Lan was weaker than Qiao Ting by much. Speed did not mean anything — managing to hit the target was what really mattered.
After evading this first shot, the Tongli mecha operator did not act like his teammate had and try to close the distance between him and the opponent. Instead, he continued to stay in place, cautious, waiting for Qiao Ting’s next attack.
He knew very well that even if Qiao Ting’s close-combat abilities were very bad, with the distance between their mecha now, he had no chance at all of winning. In that case, he might as well maintain this distance and carefully deal with the opponent’s long-range attacks. Perhaps that way, he might still be able to hold out for some time.
The Tongli mecha master’s thoughts were quickly seen through by Qiao Ting. He frowned lightly and shook his gun’s muzzle, and then … “Bang! Bang! Bang!” Three shots rang out.
These three consecutive shots of Qiao Ting’s landed in sequence at different positions. The first shot landed where the Tongli mecha operator had been standing at the start, and the subsequent two shots landed where the Tongli mecha operator had moved to after he had dodged that first shot.
The Tongli mecha operator could only keep dodging, dodging, dodging. His figure flashed three times in quick succession, but he was unknowingly moving forwards as he dodged.
Some of the top-class mecha masters could already see the real purpose behind Qiao Ting’s three shots at this time. They felt speechlessly amused at Qiao Ting’s youthful competitiveness, and some were shaking their heads, thinking silently that he was still too young, not able to keep himself grounded.
On the rostrum, Ling Xiao saw this and quirked an eyebrow. Was this a challenge towards his daughter? He looked at Qiao Ting’s mecha with interest and wondered how exactly this youth who was known as the second Ling Xiao would perform.
After the Tongli mecha operator evaded those three shots, before he had a chance to stop to catch his breath, Qiao Ting had followed up with another three shots, forcing the Tongli mecha operator to dodge once again.
These three shots of Qiao Ting still did not manage to hit the opponent, but the Tongli mecha operator was again forced to fly forwards because of the three shots. Unconsciously, he had already moved forwards by 300 metres.
After once again safely dodging the three shots, the Tongli mecha operator had already sensed that these last six shots of Qiao Ting’s were different from his first shot.
That first shot had obviously been intended to hit the opponent, and so it was outstanding in terms of both speed and accuracy. However, the subsequent six shots after that were not intended to hit the opponent — they were meant to force the opponent to a specific target point. The Tongli mecha operator was not stupid — how could he miss the meaning of these six shots of Qiao Ting?
A strong sense of humiliation jabbed at his heart. The Tongli mecha operator was infuriated and also extremely aggrieved. The power difference between them left him no choice but to move according to the opponent’s plans …
Fine, since you want to do things this way, then let me see if you, Qiao Ting, can also carry off an attack like the one your teammate had. The Tongli mecha operator no longer wanted to be forced by Qiao Ting. He decided to go for broke and, as Qiao Ting wished, he piloted his mecha to fly forwards at a frenzied pace. Perhaps his fury had reached its limits because, despite operating his mecha in a rage, his mecha’s speed did not decrease but seemed instead to be even a level higher than before.
Seeing this, a satisfied smile appeared on Qiao Ting’s lips — this was what he wanted.
Yes, Qiao Ting wanted to reproduce the move Ling Lan had used to defeat her opponent. He wanted to tell Ling Lan that, whatever the other could do, he could it too.
Just when the opponent was about to enter close range, at that final shooting point within long range for fixed-point shooting, Qiao Ting finally fired that shot he had long had ready.
With a boom, a bright beam of light leapt at the opponent. The Tongli mecha dodged with all its might, but the beam still managed to hit it … however, the opponent soon broke free, though the power of his mecha’s beam shield had been drained considerably, the shield becoming dull and lightless.
“Sure enough, Qiao Ting is trying to completely reproduce your attack methods. After this, it should be that running fixed-point shooting of yours, Boss Lan. I wonder if he’ll succeed.” Zhao Jun’s expression was rather grim — regardless of whether Qiao Ting’s running shot worked or not, his behaviour could be labelled as provocation.
“This shot … Qiao Ting held back.” Ling Lan saw things differently than everyone else. Her eyes were telling her that Qiao Ting had not gone all out. Perhaps Qiao Ting did not want to end the match like this — like Zhao Jun said, Qiao Ting wanted to try that in-motion fixed-point shooting of hers.
When she was done speaking, Ling Lan turned back to look intently at the screen. Zhao Jun did not dare to say anything more, afraid to disturb Ling Lan. Zhao Jun did not know that Ling Lan seemed very focused on the match, but she was actually analysing everything she had just seen in her mind. Were all these information also given to her by her innate talent Profound Insight?
As soon as Qiao Ting’s shot ended, as expected, he did exactly as Ling Lan had, turning around to fly swiftly forwards. This obvious movement clued the audience in as to what Qiao Ting was planning to do. In the resulting commotion, they eagerly anticipated the outcome — could this number one of the military academies replicate his teammate’s attack?
Was it coming now? When the Tongli mecha operator saw the opponent turning to glide swiftly away, he clenched his teeth and slowed down. Even though he was very angry, he still remembered what his teammate had said after his match. He had said that the reason he had been hit by that shot was that he had been flying too fast. By the time he noticed he had flown into the range of the beam shot, there was already no more time for him to change his motions. If he had been a little slower, perhaps the outcome would have been different.
He would learn from this lesson of his teammate. Since the opponent wanted to try that move, then he might as well slow down his speed. He too wanted to know whether Qiao Ting could still hit him after he slowed down.