Chapter 153: Goddess of Luck?
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Subsequently, they saw sparks shooting out from the Twilight mecha's right shoulder joint. A high-frequency blade was embedded in it up to the hilt. The small group immediately understood what the previous flash of white light was. Apparently, the Federation mecha had hurled the high-frequency blade in its hands at the crucial moment, aiming for the weakest defensive spot of a mecha, its joints, and had succeeded in one go!
The Federation mecha operator's distinctive combat style undoubtedly expanded the group's horizons. This would also influence them in future when they learned how to operate mecha — they would not be limited by the doctrine of previous operators. Daring in both thought and action, they would create countless miraculous combat moves in mecha control in their respective domains ...
At present, the Federation mecha had successfully gotten close to the Twilight mecha, but having no more weapons, it could only rely on its remaining mechanical arms to hug the enemy mecha tight, and then the cockpit was seen to be ejected ...
With the exception of Lin Zhong-qing, Qi Long and the others were all from a federal military system background. Although they had not operated a mecha yet, they were still very familiar with mecha. From this scene alone, they could tell that the Federation mecha operator had chosen to self-destruct to finish off this final opponent.
But was the 30 seconds before the explosion initiated enough for the ejected cockpit to safely escape the blast radius? Normally, the mecha's self-destruct mechanism was meant for the operator to die along with the enemy ...
"Boom!" "Crack!" "Kaboom!"
The first sound was the Federation mecha self-destructing, and then, perhaps the explosion sparked something, for the beam cannon on Twilight mecha's right arm suddenly split open, causing the Twilight mecha to blow up as well in a large blast.
Of course, before the big explosion, the opponent's cockpit had also been ejected, but the following second and third blasts undoubtedly intensified the concussive force — the opponent just did not have the time to escape the blast radius. He was instantly blown sky high right at the heart of the explosion, plummeting to the ground in blackened crisps and thick smoke.
Without even having to check, Qi Long and the others knew that that mecha operator was definitely dead. Just looking at the mass that was left — already a whole half size smaller than the cockpit was at the start — it was certain that the person inside could not have survived.
Fortunately, the Federation mecha's cockpit had been ejected much earlier and had been flying at a faster speed. It had shot away from the blast centre by almost 500 metres, just escaping the most dangerous zone. But even so, it was still thrown further away by the blast by about 100 metres before it began to descend in a natural curve, heading swiftly towards the ground.
Qi Long and the others were extremely anxious, hearts lodged high in their throats. Deep down, they prayed that the concussive force of the explosion had not destroyed the A.I. inside the cockpit ...
Their prayers were effective — when the cockpit reached a particular altitude, the cockpit's reactive thrust powered on, slowing the cockpit's descent.
After self-destructing, ejecting the cockpit had a 9 in 10 chance of ending in death; it was basically just there for self-reassurance. Not only did the cockpit have to get out of the blast range, it had to be ejected high enough, and the reactive thrust must activate accurately. Every single item on that list had to be met, otherwise ejection would still result in death.
Luckily, the cockpit was being controlled by Little Four. Otherwise, relying on the Federation's current A.I.s, who knew what the outcome would be? The Federation's A.I.s could only mechanically remember some data sets, and execute operations based on regulated settings — it would not consider other variable factors.
Seeing the cockpit land safely under the application of reactive thrust, Qi Long and the others instantly let out a sigh of relief. They hurriedly made their way over to the landing spot of the cockpit to check on the pilot. If they could help out somehow, then them rushing here would be so worth it.
"Boss, Boss, we're safe now." Little Four's calculations were accurate, letting the cockpit land safely. He called out in excitement to Ling Lan, wanting her to praise him.
However, the inside of the cockpit was still and silent. Only then did Little Four notice the blood still dripping continuously from his boss's lips. "Boss, stop scaring me, wake up! Wake up!" he shouted desperately, but Ling Lan remained silent. Thinking of something, Little Four quickly detached from the mecha's A.I. to look for Ling Lan in the learning space. However, inside, he still found no sign of Ling Lan. Instantly, he panicked, knowing that things were not good.
"Boss must have taken a great deal of damage and lost consciousness. At this time, I must let her eat some healing medical agents ..." Little Four figured it out, but he was just a formless intelligence entity, and so had no limbs to use to feed Ling Lan. At this moment, Little Four hated the fact that he was an intelligence bio-entity.
Right then, Little Four suddenly sensed people approaching! Anxiously, he scanned the surroundings, and when he saw those few familiar figures, he was instantly overcome with joy. Boss was saved! Qi Long and the others had arrived.
From a distance, Qi Long could see the cockpit lying silently on the ground. He signalled for Han Jijyun and the other two behind him to wait while he carefully crept closer to the cockpit, wanting to observe the situation.
He had just gotten within 100 metres of the cockpit when the doors to the cockpit suddenly swung open, startling Qi Long. But he was soon taken with joy — the fact that the cockpit was opened from within meant that the person inside was still alive, otherwise the doors would not open on their own. Of course, Qi Long did not know that this world had such a miraculous existence as Little Four.
Qi Long did not choose to go closer, patiently waiting for the mecha operator inside to come out. A stranger approaching without reason would be easily misunderstood, especially when on a battlefield. Warriors were extremely sensitive after fighting — any strange movements would just prompt a counterattack. Although Qi Long wanted to help their saviour, he did not want to randomly lose his life here, so he retained the necessary caution. Of course, Ling Lan's subtle training all these years was also a reason.
Qi Long waited patiently for a few minutes, but did not see anyone coming out. In fact, Little Four was already anxiously jumping up and down in the cockpit — if not for the fact that he had no voice, he would have otherwise long called Qi Long and the others over.
Qi Long's pause puzzled Han Jijyun and the others, so Han Jijyun led Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing over as well, coming to stand beside Qi Long. At this moment, they too saw the opened cockpit.
"Qi Long, could it be that the person inside is injured and can't get out?" Han Jijyun thought of this possibility.
Qi Long's eyes brightened, thinking to himself that what Han Jijyun said made sense. He decided to go forward on his own and see, and let Han Jijyun and the others continue to wait here. He got closer and closer, and when he saw the blood within the cockpit, all wariness he still had fled instantly. He hurriedly quickened his pace to rush to the door of the cockpit and looked inside.
"Jijyun, it's not good, come over quickly!" Qi Long's voice actually held true grief.
Han Jijyun's heart skipped a beat — could the mecha operator inside be one of Qi Long's relatives? He hurriedly ran over with Luo Lang and Lin Zhong-qing. When he saw the unconscious small figure inside who was still bleeding from the mouth, his expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Boss Lan! This cannot be, how can it be him ..." Those were ace mecha operators he was fighting! Boss Lan was only 10 years old — there was no way he could control mecha ... Han Jijyun felt everything he thought he knew about mecha completely collapse at this moment.
"Will Boss Lan die ...?" Seeing the terrible state Ling Lan was in, Luo Lang felt a chill spread throughout his entire body, and his body began shivering uncontrollably. Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing was even more stunned, unable to form a coherent thought for a long moment.
"Quick, feed him some healing agents!" Han Jijyun saw that the others were panicking, and so quickly collected his emotions to order calmly.
"Oh, oh!" Qi Long and the others hurriedly pulled out the medicinal agents they had in their backpacks and tried feeding them to Ling Lan. However, because their hands were shaking, the agents spilled, missing their mark to slide off Ling Lan's lips.
"Let me!" Han Jijyun quickly pushed away the typically bold and brash idiots who were currently flailing in their panic. He took one pack of agent from Luo Lang's hands, and using his left hand to pry open Ling Lan's mouth, he poured the agent in.
"Another!" Han Jijyun indicated for them to pass him more and continued to pour, only stopping after five full packs were gone.
The effect of five packs of medicinal agents were pretty good. The initially pale-white complexion of Ling Lan started to warm, and the blood flowing from her mouth started to slow. Three minutes later, Ling Lan was no longer spewing blood.
"We have to return to the camp site immediately, otherwise Boss's injuries will not be able to be healed. If any aftereffects are left, this might destroy Boss's future!" Seeing Ling Lan no longer at the brink of death, Qi Long's rationality returned.
Qi Long's words naturally obtained everyone's agreement. They carefully lifted Ling Lan out from the cockpit, and then looked for materials in the surroundings to make a simple stretcher to carry Ling Lan in. After all, it was better for Ling Lan to lie down and be still in his current condition.
While searching for materials, they actually stumbled upon the beam cannon discarded by the Twilight Empire's squad leader previously. The beam cannon was very large and heavy. It was impossible for the four of them to carry it with them.
After some thought, Han Jijyun asked Qi Long and the others carry Ling Lan's cockpit over to the beam cannon. Under Qi Long and the others' confused gazes, Han Jijyun positioned the cockpit within the line of attack of the beam cannon and triggered the cannon. The shot utterly destroyed Ling Lan's cockpit, melting it down, leaving no trace.
At this moment, Qi Long and the others finally realised why Han Jijyun did this. Destroying the cockpit would also destroy the black box within it. Consequently, no one would be able to find out about Ling Lan's battle and defeat of the three Twilight ace mecha. (They did not know that Little Four had long wiped the data files within the black box.) Then, Ling Lan's true capabilities could be concealed and remain undiscovered. Mind you, if someone else were to find out about this, Ling Lan would definitely be embroiled in much trouble in the near future, and her life may even be threatened. They all understood the theory of the wind toppling the tree above the treeline.
In this manner, the four of them destroyed anything that could expose Ling Lan's capabilities, and then began to trek back to the camp site carrying the still unconscious Ling Lan.
This journey was very difficult — many times, they almost ended up becoming a meal for the F-class savage beasts. However, each time they were in a tight spot, those savage beasts would suddenly get spooked and turn tail and run away desperately, disappearing into the forest ... Even as this puzzled them, they couldn't help but be thankful for the blessing of the goddess of luck, letting this miraculous thing happen again and again.
Little Four pursed his lips, pouting, displeased with this so-called 'goddess of luck' who was claiming the credit for his work. Dammit, if I hadn't released the blood-tinged killing intent concealed within Boss's body to scare off those small fry, you would all be the excrement of those savage beasts by now ... Hmph, goddess of luck, my foot!