For the second match, both mecha which took to the field were balanced special-class mecha. The two contestants had also participated previously in the single mecha combat event, both having managed to make their way into the top 16 there. With roughly equivalent strength levels, it was possible for either side to win.
The First Men’s Military Academy attached great importance to this match. If they lost another match, the situation would be grim for them; there would be no room at all for error in the following three matches. On their end, the Third Men’s Military Academy viewed this match with even more importance. If they managed to win this match as well, their chances of advancing to the finals would be significantly increased … as long as there was a chance, no one would be willing to give up, and the Third Men’s Military Academy was no exception.
As both contestants were balanced mecha operators, the audience began guessing before the match began — what mode of attack would the two choose? Would it be long range or close combat? Or perhaps first close combat then long range?
At the instant the referee swung his green flag, the two mecha leapt out like tigers out of cages, charging ferociously at the opponent.
In unplanned unison, both fighters had chosen close combat!
With a clang, the weapons in their hands clashed.
There were two major types of attack weapons — one was energy-type weapons like beam sabers, while the other was traditional cold weapons. When both combatants chose to engage in close range, the weapons they chose was also exactly the same: traditional cold weapons.
As soon as the match began, the series of movements both mecha made — from drawing the cold weapons from their backs to clashing violently against each other — were a blur in the eyes of the audience. Many of the spectators were yelling in excitement, awed at the shocking speed of both fighters’ operations.
Of course, these only applied to the average audience members; those truly top-class operators were completely calm in comparison. Although the operations of both the fighters on the field were a little better than the average mecha operator, this display was still not enough to amaze them. Only something like Ling Lan’s on-the-line operation could move them.
“Clang! Clang! Clang! …”
On the field, the two combatants were attacking each other fervently. The noise of clashing cold weapons rang out again and again — this intense scene left the audience staring with wide eyes, afraid that they might miss the definitive moment when the outcome would be determined if they even blinked.
Backstage, Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, and Zhao Jun stood to the right of the large screen, opposite the Third Men’s Military Academy members who were standing to the left of the screen. They were staring intently at the video feed being played on the screen, mentally analysing the winning chances of both sides.
After staring at the screen for a long time, Zhao Jun felt that his eyes were a little dry and aching. He reeled in his gaze, planning to take a break, and this was when he saw that Ling Lan actually had her eyes closed. He instantly blurted out in surprise, “Boss Lan, you aren’t watching?”
Zhao Jun’s question drew Qiao Ting’s attention and made him turn his gaze around to look at Ling Lan as well. His eyes were questioning too.
Ling Lan replied evenly, “It’s nothing much. I just feel that Regiment Commander Mu will win and so did not continue to watch.”
Ling Lan’s words made the members of the Third Men’s Military Academy across from them glare angrily at her. The fighting on the field was clearly on equal ground right now, and that punk actually dared to conclude that they would lose just like that … this was really testing their tolerance! If not for the fact that they were not allowed to fight backstage, they would definitely have charged over to teach that punk with that irresponsible mouth a hard lesson.
The members of the Third Men’s Military Academy fumed to themselves. They did not know that this rather cold-looking and somewhat unremarkable ‘punk’ was actually a super strong fighter with physical skills already at the Domain level. If they knew, they probably would not have dared to have such thoughts — it could only be said that ignorance breeds fearlessness.
Ling Lan’s words made Zhao Jun’s eyes light up. In the Lingtian Battle Clan, Ling Lan had never ever said anything useless. Since Boss Lan said Regiment Commander Mu would win, then he was certain to win. (Here was yet another person who had been successfully hoodwinked by Ling Lan …)
In contrast, Ling Lan’s explanation left Qiao Ting blinking blankly. He peered dubiously at Ling Lan, unsure whether Ling Lan was just saying this to deal a mental blow to their opponents backstage, or if she truly felt that Mu Shaoyu would win.
Qiao Ting looked back at the large screen sceptically. On the field, the two contestants were still fighting on equal ground — anyone could win, anyone could lose … he really could not see any sign that Mu Shaoyu was going to win yet.
Qiao Ting carried this sense of uncertainty as he continued to watch the fight unfold. Fifty moves went by, then 100 moves … when the fight was close to 150 moves, finally, the opponent made a mistake. Mu Shaoyu did not let this opportunity slip by — a round of forceful attacks instantly beat the opponent into a defensive position with no more room to fight back.
This scene left Qiao Ting gaping in astonishment as he turned to look at Ling Lan. “You really saw this coming?”
Ling Lan glanced at Qiao Ting and said calmly, “How could that be possible? It was just a random comment.”
No matter how heaven-defying her innate talent of Profound Insight was, it still could not help her see the outcome of a close fight like this more than 100 moves before the deciding moment. She had only felt that Mu Shaoyu had been radiating an extremely tenacious fighting spirit when he had left for the field. With that attitude, it would be hard for him to lose!
A random comment? Boss Lan, that’s too irresponsible of you! Zhao Jun was crying inside when he heard these words. Mind you, when he had first heard what Ling Lan had said, he had really believed in it!!
“Even being so accurate with just a random comment?” Qiao Ting did not believe it.
Ling Lan glanced coldly at Qiao Ting and said sarcastically, “Could it be that you want Regiment Commander Mu to lose?”
This question stabbed deep into Qiao Ting, leaving him speechless. That was true … they couldn’t very well disparage themselves and say one of their own would lose, right? Annoyed, Qiao Ting turned back to look at the large screen, mentally berating himself for being so careless that he was fooled by Ling Lan!
Even as they were talking, the fight on the field was reaching its end. Mu Shaoyu launched into another round of powerful attacks, striking the body of the opponent’s mecha repeatedly, instantly reducing the opponent’s points to zero.
When the field referee received the judgment of the referee panel, he decisively stopped the match. Mu Shaoyu obtained the victory for this match, and the overall score was now 1 to 1.
The leading team leader of the Third Men’s Military Academy — that is, the strongest of the five representing members — could only shake his head at the outcome. It was a pity his teammate had made some mistakes that he shouldn’t have, allowing the opponent to grab hold of the opening to win the match. If not for that, the outcome of this match would probably only have been decided when the time ran out.
He glanced over at the three representatives of the First Men’s Military Academy who had yet to fight and clenched his teeth. He would be the one to fight in the next match, and he hoped that the First Men’s Military Academy would not be sending out Qiao Ting …
As the line-up of the First Men’s Military Academy was extremely bizarre with no logic to be found behind its arrangement, it was impossible to deduce what the opponent’s final line-up would be. He had decided to place himself for the third match largely because he was betting that the opponent would not send Qiao Ting out to fight among the first three. That way, they would be able to directly win three matches to advance to the finals.
At this thought, the team leader once again thought to himself what a pity it was. If they had only won the second match, then he would have the confidence to win the third match as long as his opponent was not Qiao Ting!
“Leader, the contestant for the third match from the First Men’s Military Academy has come out. It’s Zhao Jun!” The super substitute on the Third Men’s Military Academy side who would likely have no chance to fight had been observing the First Men’s Military Academy all this while. When he saw Zhao Jun board his mecha in the final 10 minutes before the fight to calibrate his mecha, his expression shifted and he immediately alerted his team leader.
“So it’s him!” The leader’s face turned serious. Even though he was confident that he could win against any of the others aside from Qiao Ting, among the remaining four, Zhao Jun was the one he was most wary of. He had not forgotten how Zhao Jun had succeeded in forcing a draw with the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu in the single mecha combat event. Although there had been an element of luck involved there, Zhao Jun’s own solid mecha control skills were also one of the reasons for his success.
Perhaps that Ling Lan would have been easier to deal with! The team leader thought to himself with some regret. However, his morose mood soon shifted into happiness — his match-up against Zhao Jun was actually very advantageous to their Third Men’s Military Academy. As long as he defeated Zhao Jun, no matter which of his two remaining teammates was matched against Ling Lan later, there would be hope of victory.
Though that Ling Lan had been able to successfully add some flair to the basic techniques, successfully defeating opponent after opponent, those victories had all been achieved through some element of surprise — his opponents had only lost due to being caught off-guard. If one was on guard against them, could these basic techniques triumph over advanced techniques? Especially if it came to those special-class techniques which were even one level higher than that?
At this thought, a smile appeared on the team leader’s face. He could almost see the scene where they successfully advanced to the finals … with regards to the line-up arrangement this time, the heavens were undoubtedly on their side.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Qiao Ting saw the team leader of the Third Men’s Military Academy boarding his mecha and his expression shifted. “Who’d have expected it to be him —— Zhou Chao-Ling 1 !”
Qiao Ting had a very deep impression of Zhou Chao-Ling — the First Men’s Military Academy had once had a practice spar with the Third Men’s Military Academy, and back then, Qiao Ting had led the Leiting Mecha Clan against the mecha clan led by the other in a team battle. At that time, he had already been a special-class operator for quite a long time, while Zhou Chao-Ling had only just advanced to special-class operator level.
By all accounts, a special-class operator who had just advanced should show some signs of instability every so often while operating his special-class mecha. However, the other had not seemed to have this problem — his controls were so stable that he did not seem like a newly advanced special-class operator, instead appearing extremely solid and reliable. What was even more memorable for Qiao Ting was Zhou Chao-Ling’s composure and self-assuredness. Even though he had clearly known back then that he was no match for Qiao Ting, he had not lost his mental balance. Throughout the entire fight, his calm heart had allowed him to make almost no mistakes. In the end, if not for Zhou Chao-Ling’s realm being a little lacking, leaving him unable to accurately determine the exact target-point of Qiao Ting’s sure-kill technique, Qiao Ting was unsure whether he would have been able to win that spar.
In Qiao Ting’s opinion, if Zhou Chao-Ling had been able to advance to ace level before the Grand Mecha Tournament, the opponent he most worried about in this tournament would probably not be Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy but this Zhou Chao-Ling instead.
The change in Qiao Ting’s complexion was noticed by Ling Lan. A thought stirred, and she quietly instructed Little Four to look up the detailed data on Zhao Jun’s opponent. She swiftly browsed through it and, seeing his achievements all these years, her countenance slowly turned grim … what a truly troublesome opponent!
Mu Shaoyu, who had been in a state of excitement ever since the end of his fight, also saw Zhou Chao-Ling boarding his mecha in the opponent’s area. Without a doubt, he would be the third person to fight. Mu Shaoyu’s heart sank and his mood instantly fell. Moodily, he said, “F*ck, why is it him? Zhao Jun’s luck is really too horrible.”
Some information appeared in Mu Shaoyu’s mind: Zhou Chao-Ling, special-class operator (peak); 5th rank in single mecha combat; team leader of the Third Men’s Military Academy!
“Zhao Jun is not necessarily going to lose.” As Qiao Ting said this, he sent a pointed look at Ling Lan. His gaze was clearly telling Ling Lan that one should leave some wiggle room when speaking and not act as if one knew everything with full confidence and mislead others. It looked like he still could not let go of how he had been fooled by Ling Lan during Mu Shaoyu’s match.
Ling Lan’s lips quirked up almost imperceptibly, and with a lift of her brow, a powerful surge of domineering presence swept towards Qiao Ting. With conviction, she said, “Zhao Jun will win!” As Zhao Jun’s boss, even if the final outcome was a complete and utter mess of a defeat, at this moment, she would still firmly support her follower.
As soon as Ling Lan’s force of presence spread out, Qiao Ting’s force of presence was triggered as well. The two powerful forces pushed against each other between the two of them. Mu Shaoyu, who was standing in that vicinity, quickly stepped away, face paling slightly.
He stared at the two equally powerful people before him and felt a little crestfallen. He had initially thought that one Qiao Ting was already a rare one-in-a-century prodigy — who could have guessed that a junior three years younger than him would be able to match Qiao Ting so closely … Mu Shaoyu believed that, based on Ling Lan’s outstanding control skills, he would have no trouble at all advancing to ace level while he was still in the academy. The only question was whether he would advance in his fourth year like Qiao Ting, or would it happen in his fifth year?
Mu Shaoyu never even considered whether it could be in his third year because he did not think someone could do what even General Ling Xiao had not been able to achieve. This once again proved that Ling Xiao had already become a legend under the Federation military’s purposeful branding and promotion.
Qiao Ting and Ling Lan were still very rational and knew how to restrain themselves. After a brief clash, their forces of presences were swiftly reeled back and tucked away. Meanwhile, at this time, Zhao Jun’s fight was about to kick off.
From his mecha’s viewing screen, Zhao Jun saw that his opponent was Zhou Chao-Ling and he was thoroughly excited. What this fellow Zhao Jun loved most was to fight against expert fighters. He felt that only by fighting against other experts would he be able to more quickly raise his own strength. He was also not afraid of losing, believing that failure was the mother of success — as long as he learned from the cumulative experiences of these failures, he would one day win everything back. Therefore, he was not at all afraid of fighting with an ace operator. Even though he knew that he was sure to lose, he would still fight a great and vigorous battle — even if he lost, he still wanted to leave some mark on his opponent. This was another reason why he had managed to force a draw with Jiang Shaoyu.
Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling were both close-combat type special-class operators who operated close-combat mecha. Everyone knew that this match was sure to be like the second match, an intense close-combat match. Compared to long-range combat which really tested the operators’ skills and tactics, close combat was undoubtedly much more straightforward and exciting to watch, better able to work up the audience. Therefore, even before the match had begun, the audience was already getting pumped up in their seats.
Immediately after the referee swung his green flag down, Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling instantly clashed. Right at this moment, the calmer members of the audience could see the difference between this match and Mu Shaoyu’s. Both matches had been close-combat matches, and the fighters in both matches had also started right off by drawing the cold weapons from the secured docks at their backs to clash with each other. However, the time Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling used was even shorter — some of the audience with weaker vision did not even manage to catch when they had moved.
“Clang!” The collision of the cold weapons caused a loud noise, sending out countless sparks at the same time. The sheer volume of the sound almost deafened the audience sitting right at the front. The fearsome power clash in a true close-combat match was not something balanced mecha could truly demonstrate. Only close-combat mecha could truly reach this level of ferocity — just this one clash had shown everyone the clear difference.
“Boom!” Zhao Jun and Zhou Chao-Ling’s fearsome power which could rip each other apart worked up the already immensely excited audience even further — no longer able to control themselves, they shouted loudly, cheering for both mecha operators on the field.
“Equally matched!” Backstage, Mu Shaoyu was staring intently at the large screen. When he saw this scene, he could not help but yell excitedly. In terms of power, Zhao Jun had not lost to the opponent.
“Both of them have displayed the greatest power value of close-combat mecha. In terms of operation, Zhao Jun has not lost!” The austerity in Qiao Ting’s face eased slightly — initially, he had been worrying that Zhao Jun would lose out to the opponent by a hair in terms of operation, but now from the looks of it, he had been worrying too much.
Ling Lan, however, was frowning. This frown was extremely subtle, so subtle that no one had noticed it, thinking that Ling Lan was just wearing her typical ice-block face.
“Boss, you’ve noticed it too? The power Zhao Jun is pulling out from his mecha is 30kN 2 less than his opponent.” On the mecha combat field, there were all sorts of high-tech instruments which would collect data on every move of the two mecha on the field and send it over to the referee panel to be used as evidence for their judgements. Little Four had hidden a clone of himself there so that as soon as any new information appeared, he would be able to receive it at first notice.
“How high have they reached in terms of power?” asked Ling Lan.
“Zhou Chao-Ling: 1857kN, Zhao Jun: 1827kN. After calculating based on the power formula conversion … after 37 moves, the arms of Zhao Jun’s mecha will be afflicted with some wear and tear issues due to this power difference. With further clashes, the abrasion will become worse and may damage the body of the mecha …” Little Four was very responsible — not only did he tell Ling Lan the gap between the two fighters power output, but he had also calculated the problem that would eventually arise from it.
“Before his mecha’s body is ruined, how many moves can he hold out for, approximately?” asked Ling Lan.
“In theory, at most 93 moves, but in reality, this number might be reduced by about 10 moves,” said Little Four somewhat uncertainly after some calculations.
“In other words, Zhao Jun only has 83 moves to find an opening.” Ling Lan’s expression turned solemn. She had not expected this Zhou Chao-Ling to have concealed his strength so well, thus being overlooked by everyone. In fact, the level of his mecha operation was just a line away from that of an ace operator’s. If Zhao Jun wanted to win, he would have to do so before his mecha was destroyed. That meant that he would need to find an opening to KO his opponent within 83 moves.
Only by KO-ing the opponent would he be able to win — gaining the upper hand in 83 moves would not be of any use. Once Zhao Jun’s mecha started malfunctioning, an experienced special-class operator like Zhou Chao-Ling would never let this kind of opportunity slip by. Of course, this also required Zhao Jun to notice the problem before his mecha actually began to malfunction. Otherwise, if he waited till the time his mecha blared an alarm, the damage would have already become fact — Zhao Jun would have no way to do anything about the situation.
On the field, Zhao Jun was still clashing violently with the opponent. At first, he did not notice anything amiss, thinking that he was fighting on even ground with the opponent, but with each succeeding collision, Zhao Jun slowly began to sense that something was not right. After each collision, the two fighters would always be repelled back by the resulting concussive force generated between them. At first, Zhao Jun had been sent back about the same distance as the opponent, but this distance slowly grew. After about 50 moves, the distance Zhao Jun was repelled back each time had exceeded his opponent’s by over 2 to 3 metres.
At this time, how could Zhao Jun still not realise? In this clash of sheer power, he had lost to the opponent. At this moment, he suddenly recalled something that had happened when he had been sparring with Boss Lan.
A jolt of fear coursed through his heart and cold sweat immediately sprang out on his forehead. He immediately commanded his A.I., saying, ” Dawn Light 3 , conduct a quick check on the mecha’s condition.”
“Clang!” The two fighters once again clashed in mid-air and this time, Zhao Jun was pushed back even further. The cold sweat on Zhao Jun’s forehead pooled together to flow down his face in rivulets. He anxiously waited for his A.I. to respond while preparing himself for the next confrontation.
“Beep, check complete. Varying degrees of damage detected at the mecha’s right shoulder, elbow, and wrist. The same areas on the left arm are also beginning to show similar signs of damage.” Finally, after 5 seconds, his A.I. provided an answer. Just as he had predicted, the joint areas of his mecha’s upper limbs were starting to show signs of wear and tear.
Zhao Jun’s heart sank and he asked, “How many more moves can the mecha sustain?”
Dawn Light continued to calculate and was faster to respond this time, only taking 3 seconds. “The theoretical estimate is approximately another 50 moves!”
“50 moves, eh? There’s still time.” After hearing his A.I.’s answer, Zhao Jun’s heart settled. Even though he was already stuck in this predicament, the situation was not so terrible yet that he had no recourse. As long as he could keep a level head, he would still have a chance.
The average audience member still had not noticed that the situation was already unfavourable for Zhao Jun now. They still believed that the two fighters were tied in terms of strength, and that a proper final outcome would only be determined at the end of the match via referee panel decision.
Some of the top-class mecha masters in the venue could see a little clearer, however. Notably, those of imperial operator level and above already had a pretty good grasp of the overall situation at this point. The imperial operator from the Lawless Lands hovering at high-altitude airspace to monitor the matches could not help but praise, “I had originally thought that the one with the best basic controls is that Ling Lan, but that Zhou Chao-Ling is surprisingly as good. His foundations are really solid. As long as nothing goes wrong, he’s sure to win this match.”
His companion, however, was silent. The imperial operator was rather surprised by this and could not help calling out to him, “Tian Xuan, Tian Xuan, what’s wrong?”
The imperial operator called Tian Xuan heard his companion’s call and immediately replied, “Ren Ji, I just feel that Zhou Chao-Ling’s operation methods seem very familiar. I’m trying to recall where I’ve seen it before.” He had barely finished speaking when he suddenly seemed to have remembered. “Ah, it’s him!”
“Who?” asked the imperial operator called Ren Ji.
“You’ve never met him before, but you should have heard of him. The Bull, Zhou Yuan-qing!”
Ren Ji’s eyes lit up. “One of the 28 Constellations of the Federation imperial operators.”
With a wistful expression, Tian Xuan said, “20 years ago, I heard he adopted a baby with extremely good talent potential. Looks like it’s probably this Zhou Chao-Ling. Zhou Chao-Ling, Zhou Chao-Ling … pfft!” After repeating Zhou Chao-Ling’s name a few times, Tian Xuan burst out laughing.
“What? Is there something wrong with this name? I think it’s pretty nice.” Ren Ji was left completely bewildered by his companion’s sudden fit of laughter. He really could not see what was so funny about this name.
“Ha, the Bull really knows how to hold a grudge. Even when naming his child, he did not forget to include a reminder to surpass General Ling Xiao 4 !” The imperial operator called Tian Xuan finally explained his fit of laughter. Zhou Yuan-qing was from the same generation as Ling Xiao. Incredibly talented, and extremely outstanding, he should have been the focus of everyone’s attention — but as luck would have it, there was Ling Xiao. All the talents of that generation had been overshadowed by the unbelievably aberrant talent of General Ling Xiao and so were never able to receive the fame they would have received otherwise!