Chapter 37: Camouflage
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Camouflage – an unique ability possessed by the Sand Scorpio, by making use of the uneven lumps on the surface, it hides itself from enemy detection pretending to be piece of rock. But this ability is hard to utilize, as the activation of it has a harsh requirement where the user has to shut down the power first, while rebooting the system from utter inactivity to mobility would also require massive inputs. In other words, right when you use this ability, you have completely given up your mobility. You could only pray that you won’t be detected by enemies; if you were, unfortunately, you’ll be skewed!
Unquestionably, the overwhelming requirement on the precision of piloting is one of the main reasons that prevented this technique to be commonly used.
In the meantime, concealed in the shadows of the vessels, Ye Chong’s Sand Scorpio crept by.
If one were to take a closer look, one would notice how this piece of rock was always either travelling right beneath every vessel or sliding through by its side. There was merely a gap between each slide-through! Oh the risk!
Everytime when Ye Chong was moving by a vessel, he would utilize the cover of the shadows to perform a sequence of inputs involving the reboot of his engine, adjusting his aspect and coordinates, and turning off the engine again.
As he passed by the last vessel, he finally could have a sigh of relief.
The inertia of the Sand Scorpio glided it diagonally towards the floating rocks faraway. In the middle of the silent and dark sky of the night, the gliding rock didn’t get anybody’s attention.
It was then Ye Chong realized how truly soaked he was, as if he had just gotten out of water. His hands were in spasms, the aches were coming through. It seemed like the series of inputs just now had gone beyond the capacity in his usual training. The discomfort he had, it was from overusing his hands. His right hand was the worst as it was wounded by the punch breaking into the storage area. Under normal circumstances, the injury was nothing in his eyes, but considering it was an injury over another, he begged his right hand to not go haywire at the moment.
Sweat blended with blood. The saltiness of the sweat scorched the right hand of his. A constant stimulation that kept his hand from feeling worn out.
At this speed, it would take about 5 more minutes to get to the group of rocks there.
The lights were turned off in the cabin, with the hologram illuminating Ye Chong, it blinked in a dreamy nature – an illusionary to behold.
Ye Chong couldn’t be bothered by the other kinds of beauty taking place in his cabin. He had more concern on the ongoing information in the hologram, as he adjusted his breathing pattern to slightly reduce consumption of stamina while his hands were gently fluttering to resolve their fatigue.
How the situation of the battlefield had turned out, he would not dare see.
5 minutes passed. Ye Chong stared at the approaching rocks as he inched towards. A never-before-felt sensation of anticipation raided his mind. The very first step had been completed flawlessly, what’s next?
It’s coming! Closer… Closer! Closer! Now!
The Sand Scorpio got to the shades of the rocks and … full force! Booming, the engine had been turned on and all supportive engines on the side-wings engaged! The supportive engines took on different angles and directions from time to time while the Sand Scorpio, like it was attracted by the rocks, performed a 120 degree curve, sliding into one side of a rock and smoothly exiting out from another. The process was without interruption, executed intuitively.
The rocks were distant from the battlefield, making them less noticable, which was why Ye Chong chose the rocks in this area instead.
And he would be using these rocks to complete his direction change!
And without doubt, he did it well. He was sure that if Mu was there, Mu would be giving his rare compliments on his perfect curve as well.
The Sand Scorpio had its engine switched off right after coming out from the rock cluster.
The direction of its travel – To the Pirate Craft!
By then, no one had noticed this very piece of rock that would change the outcome of this war entirely as it flew towards the pirate ships.
Seeing the pirate ship approaching, he was getting nervous.
The approach was impeccably accurate!
His Sand Scorpio had just travelled by the first outermost pirate craft. It was only a close shave, which gave Ye Chong cold sweat throughout his body. If anything was inaccurate in his prediction before, there’s no turning back. There’s no recalculating or readjusting the mech’s angle. If he were to switch on the Sand Scorpio, even just one engine, the camouflage would be busted right away. And he could imagine how he would be bombarded into oblivion by the firearms of the battling armies on the spot.
The Sand Scorpio justified his calculating ability. There had yet to be even a slight scratch with any pirate ship and the Sand Scorpio was steadily sliding towards the deep abdomen of the pirate craft.
He soon arrived at his destination – a pirate craft of an outstanding design!
He dare he was sure that the craft was not an ordinary pirate ship! Between every other pirate crews, this one would become his prey in no time. He felt an intensity he never felt before, which surged throughout his body like electricity and excited him till he shuddered!
Ye Chong’s red bleary eyes, the tiredness, the aches from his wound, the spasms on both his hands were long gone by then. He was injected with a new form of energy, charging him up so much that he had never felt being this good in condition!
Different from being the maniac in his mind, his hands were still performing inputs tidily and not thrashing about!
As the Sand Scorpio hovered underneath the vessel, the tail was sprung open. Clink! A gentle screech came from the alloy rope. The bottom of the Sand Scorpio was a giant trochal disc, which usually was kept conical. When the Sand Scorpio’s tail sprang upon the bottom of the ship, it transformed into the circular trochal disc which had itself fixed tightly underneath the ship.
The ever-sliding Sand Scorpio had eventually stopped itself. Ye Chong calmed down.
Ye Chong couldn’t help but to start checking out the bottom of the ship right before him.
At the center of it, there was a circular lid dented in the bottom. Judging by that, the lid could be possibly opened from the inside of it.
Any mech modelled for space-travelling would have an escape suit for the pilot, which not only was able to provide oxygen supply up to 10 hours, but also had the ability to fly. Well, of course, the so-called flying was only of range brief enough for one to reach the nearest spacecraft in space.
Ye Chong put on the escape suit and kept the dagger that Gu Shaoze gifted him at his waist, the toolkit in hand; he scurried out of the cabin in a flip and did not immediately follow the alloy rope attached upwards, rather he hovered towards the abdomen of the Sand Scorpio and got to its weapon storage.
He cautiously used the toolkit in his hand and removed the laser sword installed on the Sand Scorpio. Well for cannons… those were too much… considering how these would expose him anytime alright, Ye Chong wouldn’t want to bet his life on these.
So he grabbed the 3 meter long laser sword. It looked a bit absurd for a laser sword.
He then clung onto the alloy rope and made his way up to the bottom of the pirate ship. He observed the embedded lid and confirmed it had to be open from the inside. Too bad. By then he instantly dropped the idea of using the toolkit to open the lid. He put the toolkit aside and raised the laser sword with both hands.
To die in space or to take another chance to another frontier? This shall be taken!
Ye Chong impaled the laser sword in his hands right onto the lid without hesitation!