Very soon, the two mecha had pulled the required distance away for long-range combat. The seemingly relaxed atmosphere at the start vanished completely at this moment. Everyone sat up straight in their seats, waiting for the first attack from either one of the combatants!
Zhu Jing abruptly raised the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle in his hands — this was an extremely special long-range sniper rifle which was capable of instant kills. The weight of the gun was three times heavier than that of the average long-range long-barrelled beam gun. Any long-range mecha operator with a slightly weaker physique would not be able to use this heavy fellow.
The M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle’s bullets were made with concentrated Ng gunpowder 1 , and its firing mode was set to a double-shot setting. As long as the bullets managed to make contact with a mecha, they would explode violently. The shock wave generated by the explosion of just one bullet was enough to destroy the defence of a beam shield. The double-shot setting was just so the mecha master using an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle could achieve a one-trigger kill.
Of course, at present, the bullets in the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle had already been substituted with extremely low power hollow bullets which would not cause any dangerous damage. However, as soon as the opponent was successfully hit, the referee would not hesitate to declare an end to the match.
Ever since Zhu Jing had advanced to special-class operator, when he had chosen the long-range weapon he wanted to specialize in, he had chosen this extraordinarily heavy and powerful M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle which also had an extraordinarily powerful recoil as well. He had dared to select this weapon because he was confident that his built physique would be able to fully withstand the M9 sniper rifle’s kickback when it was fired.
In reality, Zhu Jing’s body was extremely strong and tough. When he had first been assessed, his physical constitution had been graded as an S+, so he was naturally suited to be a close-combat operator. In the end, when it had come time for him to decide his future path, he had chosen long-range mecha. His instructor had been unable to understand until he had chosen the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle as his specialized long-range weapon. Only then did his mentor discover that Zhu Jing had not wasted his exceptional physical constitution. Instead, with this constitution, he was better able to bring out the potential power of the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle.
Under the careful guidance of his mentor, Zhu Jing had gained a profound understanding of how to use the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle. His mentor had once asserted that as long as he continued to work hard, Zhu Jing could certainly become the most outstanding assassin in future!
And right now, this future assassin had finally spread his fangs in an attempt to devour his opponent in his first fight …
“Boss, this is an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle!” At this point, Ling Lan’s initially silent and seemingly standardized mecha A.I. suddenly spoke with Little Four’s voice.
Ling Lan had just lifted her long-range long-barrelled beam gun to take aim — Little Four’s sudden interjection caused her actions to slow for a moment, and so her gun did not stop at the most optimum position. Ling Lan quickly rushed to remedy that, even as she asked, “Little Four, why are you here?”
“It’s an M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle!” Little Four had no mind to answer Ling Lan’s question right now, merely repeating his warning shout at her. Little Four could not be blamed for worrying — that was a horrifying sniper rifle notorious within the Federation for its ability to instantly destroy mecha.
“I know!” replied Ling Lan calmly.
“One shot can kill us!” Little Four was very nervous, afraid that his boss did not know how scary that weapon was. One moment of distraction and it would be ‘Game Over’.
“I know!” Ling Lan repeated calmly once again.
Ling Lan’s composed behaviour calmed Little Four down. “Boss, you’re not nervous?”
“Nervous about what? The Grand Mecha Tournament would never allow an overly powerful weapon to appear on the field. Since this weapon is here, then the bullets inside must have already been adapted …” explained Ling Lan.
“Oh, that’s true!” Little Four was enlightened.
“Besides, even if it’s real, so what? You should know that we’ll one day go onto a real battlefield. There, there’ll be all kinds of things, quite a number of them even more frightening than this weapon. If we’re afraid now, then how can we survive the battlefields then?” asked Ling Lan. “So, we’re fortunate to be able to encounter these kinds of weapons beforehand!”
As Ling Lan spoke, she continued moving her fingers unhurriedly, carrying out a whole series of operations. She adjusted her long-range beam gun to aim straight for the opponent …
In this match, Ling Lan decided that she would listen to her dad and restrain herself a little. She no longer took the initiative, choosing to defend passively instead even though this mode was unlike her usual personality.
When Little Four heard what Ling Lan said, he instantly fell silent. At this time, the A.I. began reporting the numerical data after Ling Lan had applied her adjustments. The moment Ling Lan heard the mechanical tone of voice, she knew Little Four was not in control of the mecha anymore. Ling Lan did not stop to worry about Little Four sudden appearance and disappearance, and this nonchalance was also what caused her to overlook the changes in Little Four. Little Four was acting less and less like an intelligence entity, and more like a real growing child. He was now showing signs of possessing the seven emotions and six desires, as well as personal thinking and judgment …
Zhu Jing spent some time calibrating his M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle — this was yet another flaw of this weapon other than its clunky weight. The time needed to calibrate it was longer than that which was required for the average long-range gun. This also proved that the M9 long-range projectile sniper rifle was more suited for covert assassinations and not open upfront battle.
“That Ling Lan of the First Men’s Military Academy is just waiting for the Jingan mecha operator to attack. Isn’t he being too overconfident?” The audience saw that the already prepared Ling Lan was not taking the initiative to shoot, instead choosing to wait patiently for her opponent. This rather contrary behaviour made the audience break out into murmured discussion.
Ling Xiao helplessly put his palm to his forehead, feeling that things were not good. Wasn’t his daughter holding back too much now?
Right at that moment, the situation abruptly changed. Just when everyone believed that Ling Lan would wait for her opponent to start shooting first, Ling Lan, who had been still all this while, suddenly pulled her trigger. A beam of light shot straight at the opponent — it was Ling Lan’s memorable fixed-point shooting.
This attack came on too suddenly — everyone looked towards Zhu Jing, waiting to see what he would do. Would he be hit or would he dodge the attack successfully?
Zhu Jing’s mecha suddenly shifted to one side, instantly drawing out a stack of afterimages!
“Light-and-Shadow Skim!” Those in the audience who knew their mecha techniques could not help but cry out. This was an advanced technique that only advanced mecha warriors could learn. It and Irregular Dash were the two top-tier footwork operators below ace level could learn.
The evolved version of Irregular Dash was the Irregular Flicker that only ace operators could learn, and likewise, the Light-and-Shadow Skim also had its ultimate version —— Unshakable Shadow. This version was said to have even higher requirements — one had to at least be at elite ace realm to learn it.
In short, this Light-and-Shadow Skim was an extremely remarkable evasion footwork. Zhu Jing performed it perfectly, allowing him to easily escape Ling Lan’s shot.
Zhu Jing did not just end things by defending. When his mecha’s figure was finally restored from the countless stacked shadow images, he pulled the trigger on his gun.
“Bang, bang!” Two shots rang out. Due to the M9 projectile sniper rifle’s powerful recoil, Zhu Jing’s mecha was sent tilting back beyond his control, and the muzzle of his gun was also driven up a little as well.
The entire audience held their breath as they stared at the field, wanting to know the outcome of this shot. Had the shots hit the opponent, or had they been dodged?
Ling Lan calmly observed the opponent’s movements, and at the very instant the opponent made his shot, Ling Lan once again entered that mysterious world where she could see the two bullets suddenly slow down, allowing her to clearly see their trajectories …
“Right there!” Ling Lan saw a way to handle them, a chance to evade. She quickly pulled her trigger!
A “bang” rang out, and Ling Lan returned from the mysterious world back to reality. The bullets regained their regular speed, and at the same time, the beam gun in Ling Lan’s hands fired a dazzling beam of light, which met one of the bullets head-on.
Amidst the energy of the beam, the bullet melted swiftly, finally ending up as a drop of liquid metal to dissipate into the air without a trace. Meanwhile, the other bullet brushed past the range of the beam shot to fly straight at the chest area of Ling Lan’s mecha.
Ling Lan’s eyes were as calm as water. Her fingers danced, becoming countless blooming flowers on her control panel. Under her control, her mecha swiftly dragged out a streak of residual shadow towards the right …
“Boom!” A loud explosion rang out as Ling Lan successfully evaded that bullet. The bullet had exploded after striking the earth below, sending up a large spray of dust and dirt, blocking the audience’s view for a time.
When the dust settled, the audience could see that where Ling Lan had been standing initially, there was now a deep pit. It was obvious how powerful the bullet was still despite having been adapted for the tournament.
“After testing, that explosive power reaches up to 30 TNT. If we’re hit by two consecutive bullets, the mecha’s beam shield will be on the brink of collapse.” Little Four’s voice rang out from the A.I. once more.
“Understood!” Ling Lan replied calmly.
“Boss, that explosion has caused your points to be deducted by 20.” Little Four immediately alerted Ling Lan after secretly stealing the latest intel on the referee panel’s ruling.
Ling Lan was at first taken aback, but she immediately realised the reason for this penalty. The bullets had been adapted to lower their power, so her mecha had not been affected by the explosion at all. However, in reality, the bullets would generate an explosive force of 60-70 TNT, so her mecha had not dodged far enough to escape the blast radius.
If the explosion was judged according to real-world standards, her mecha would definitely have been damaged severely. Even if the defensive power of her mecha’s beam shield was not destroyed, it would still probably be on the verge of collapsing. Thus, the referees all agreed that that bullet of Zhu Jing was considered an effective attack, so it was reasonable for Ling Lan to have points deducted for it. She had forgotten to take that into account.
Ling Lan felt somewhat regretful — she had initially planned to win the match without losing any points at all, but now it looked like there was no hope of that anymore. She once again lifted her beam gun and aimed at Zhu Jing. Although Zhu Jing’s gun was n-times more powerful than her own, the time needed for her to calibrate her gun was significantly shorter. This was her advantage.
Ling Lan had taken so long to prep her first shot only because she was trying to show restraint, and at the same time, she had also thought to catch Zhu Jing off guard with an unexpected attack. That was why she had waited so long, only to shoot right before the opponent himself was about to shoot.
However, the outcome was not perfect. The opponent was someone who was well-prepared — even as he had been calibrating his gun, he had been keeping his guard up against her. In that case, Ling Lan might as well dispense with these pointless psychological tactics. She had decided to attack with full force!