Chapter 313: Precious Power Source!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
"Boss, what should we do? Should we wait or circle around them?" Luo Lang observed the happenings from a distance, making contact with the team at the same time.
Ling Lan did not make a decision immediately, instead asking Qi Long, "Combat, what do you think?"
The battle maniac Qi Long had long been driven stir-crazy by these past calm and uneventful days. The moment he heard Boss's question, he quickly replied, "Let's go straight through. If any among them are blind enough to dare rob us, let's just end them." These words were said with a great thuggish air, but it was also Qi Long's true opinion.
"I think it is very necessary for us to hone our blades 1 beforehand." As his sworn brother, Han Jijyun naturally had to show his utmost support for Qi Long's stand. Besides, he too felt that going through a battle would allow their team to become closer. After all, they had just added three additional people, so they had to adapt to the new additions' skills and work on their teamwork. Han Jijyun liked to have everything in hand.
[No Mecha Unrepaired] had no opinion on this matter, while Li Lanfeng's thoughts ran parallel to Han Jijyun's without any prior discussion. So, Li Lanfeng piped up in support, "Abacus speaks truly. We're working together as a team for the first time after all. There is indeed a need for a chance for a real battle. If there are any problems, we can then take some time to adjust before we get too deep into the mission. This will also be extremely beneficial to the future of our clan."
Lin Zhong-qing did not say outright whether he agreed or disagreed — he only told his boss that he had enough power blocks saved up to support this battle. Indirectly, he was also conveying that he too approved of this fight.
Since everyone had the desire to fight, Ling Lan of course would not refuse. Thus, she ordered Luo Lang's team of three which was a distance away observing to stay put, saying, "Razor, wait till we get there, then we will move together."
Ling Lan was afraid Luo Lang would act impulsively — even though the other side's combat power was just at the level of a typical civilian expedition team, their numbers were not few. For Luo Lang's team of only three people to go up against them was still rather dangerous.
"Understood, Boss," responded Luo Lang firmly. He took Ling Lan's orders even more seriously than Qi Long did — Qi Long might still nod on the surface but disobey secretly, while Luo Lang would never disobey something he had promised his boss.
Very soon, Ling Lan had led the rest of the team to Luo Lang's side. Then, she indicated for everyone to move forwards in their original formation, acting as if they knew nothing as they approached the heart of the combat. But secretly, everyone was already mentally prepared for battle. The moment they found the others' arrows pointed at them, they would swoop down upon them at lightning speed and destroy the other side.
"Leader, there's a mecha squad incoming." A sentry member noticed Luo Lang's 3-man team, and he quickly reported the sighting to his team leader at the heart of the fight.
"How many people?" The team leader, who was currently using firepower to suppress their opponents, could not help but frown and ask.
The opposing 5-man team, which was currently being pummelled by them and could only resist futilely, had long been their target. They had discovered them when the other side had managed to collect a rare and precious power source. The team leader knew very well what power sources represented. As long as they could possess this power source and hand it over to the military, they would become filthy rich overnight. Therefore, they had long lain in ambush here, planning to kill the other party to snatch this rare and precious power source.
Initially, they had thought that by surrounding the other side with 15 people, the other 5 would definitely meekly hand over the power source. Unexpectedly, these five people were all a bunch of tough customers, actually choosing mutual destruction and taking the initiative to use firearms. If not for their bad luck in failing to ignite the hydrogen and chlorine in the air, his team might probably have been completely wiped out.
But other than the first person among them who had to retreat away from the fight after receiving heavy damage at the start, the other team members had reacted speedily. Now, under their frenzied attacks, they had very quickly finished off three of the five people, and the remaining two people would probably just take them another 2 to 3 minutes to handle ...
Who could have expected that, just as they were about to reap the fruits of victory, some unforeseen guests would arrive. This spoiled the mood of this team leader considerably — he even felt rather vindictive, thinking to just annihilate this troublesome mecha squad directly.
"It's a 3-man formation." For some reason, the sentry seemed to have not seen the other six mecha on both flanks behind Luo Lang, so he only reported Luo Lang's team of three.
"Hmph, three people? They're bloody seeking death! How long before they run into us?" With a cold sniff, the team leader decided in his mind to stop these three impudent mecha. Perhaps they would be able to obtain some extra resources from the three.
"I reckon there's still about a minute." The sentry gave a rough estimate based on his gauge of the speed of Luo Lang's team.
"Okay. Don't stop them. Just let them through just like that ..." instructed the team leader through gritted teeth. He then turned to the attacking team members and ordered, "Everyone, beat them hard. Try your best to finish them off in one minute, our new prey is coming."
"Yeah!" "Roger that!" "Awesome!" "Watch me ..." Raucous hollers rang out from the team comms; it was clear to see that this was not a bunch of orderly civilised people.
Subsequently, they no longer worried about limiting their power use. The cold beam guns in their hands rattled as cold beams poured out in a torrent, raining down in a sheet towards the heads of the surviving two opponents. Out of fear of igniting the elemental energy in the air, they had all chosen weapons using cold beams. This crazy wave of attack gave the remaining two mecha no chance to fight back; they could only turn their beam shields up to the max to try and hold off these attacks.
The two of them knew what the final outcome awaiting them was — once their mecha ran out of power, the beam shields would stop working. They would definitely be shredded by those cold beams and die here. The penalty for death in Mecha World was extremely brutal. Restarting not only wiped out the mecha you possessed, but the deduction of points was also astronomical. Lacking points after restarting, many mecha operators were even reduced to becoming a lower mecha operator again ...
"Big Brother, let me hold them off. Go find those newcomers quick and ask for help." These two had found out about the impending arrival of an unexpected team of mecha from the alerts of their mecha, so one of the mecha immediately shouted out a suggestion to the other mecha.
"They're surrounding us on all sides. They have no intention at all of letting us run away. Second Brother, even if we die, we must die together, along with the rest of our brothers." said Big Brother with a tortured smile. Then, his face twisted into a scowl as he said, "However, I will not let them win." He rubbed a hand over the rare power source they had found inside his bag, a wild idea rising up in his mind.
Big Brother abruptly spat out a mouthful of spit and said fiercely, "Second Brother, take a gamble with me. We must hold out until those people arrive ..." Big Brother's eyes were shadowed, a sort of savage wildness within them.
Right then, the silhouettes of Luo Lang's team could already be seen. By the time both sides could see each other, the two trapped people were on the brink of running out of power.
"Just a little short. Just 10 more seconds would do!" Big Brother yelled shrilly. He was not content to just die here like this.
At that moment, Second Brother who had been shielding against the cold beams by his side suddenly opened his mecha's limbs and hugged Big Brother's mecha beside him tightly, covering the other's entire mecha beneath his own. All the cold beams focused on Second Brother's mecha, and 2 seconds later, his flickering beam shield shattered, letting all the beams through to rain on the body of his mecha.
"Big Brother, you must avenge us!" Amidst a tragic howl, Second Brother held on for another 10 seconds or so by relying purely on the inherent defence of his mecha's body. Finally, his mecha too broke down into countless fragments under the bombardment of cold beams.
Big Brother's mecha was finally revealed. At the same time, the beam shield he had deactivated reappeared once more — he was preparing for his final stand.
"Godd*mmit, actually letting him drag things out by 11 seconds." The team leader could not help but swear. Meanwhile, Luo Lang's team of 3 mecha was about to enter his team's shooting range in the very next second.
"Old Lu, take two teams to deal with those three mecha. It's fine to just leave me four mecha." The team leader knew he could not delay any longer. If the newcomers initiated attack, even if they managed to take down the other's three mecha, they would still suffer losses. And he did not just plan to rob these two batches of mecha; he wanted to gain even more.
Old Lu had just pulled away two smaller teams of mecha from the main team when the staunchly defending Big Brother suddenly revved his engines. The loud roar of the engines caused everyone's face to change. And then, Big Brother operated his mecha to leap out, pushing the speed of his mecha to the max, flying swiftly towards Luo Lang's team.
This unexpected scene stunned the team who was trying to rob him. By the time they came to their senses, the other had actually charged out of their barrier circle.
"Godd*mmit, take him down!" The team leader bellowed furiously. This behaviour of the other had undoubtedly enraged him; right now, all he wanted was to finish off this detestable mecha before his eyes.
The escaping mecha did not activate his beam shield and waste that last bit of resources he had. He only pushed the engines of his mecha to the max, flying forwards desperately. This type of action was undoubtedly a form of suicide because the heat from the engines could very well ignite the energies in the air. If that happened, the final outcome would be the self-destruction of his own mecha, and he would die at the scene. However, in Big Brother's heart, this kind of death was still much better than dying at the opponent's hands.
Perhaps the Heavens took pity on him — his engine did not explode all the way through. Still, the cold beam guns chasing behind him had struck his mecha, causing his mecha to be riddled with holes from the shoulder down to his entire right arm. Luckily, these attacks had not struck his cockpit, otherwise he would have already been dead.
Still, even so, Big Brother's mecha had still successfully gotten close to Luo Lang's team.
"Take this. This is the precious power source we found. Please help us take our revenge," shouted Big Brother loudly through his mecha's public comms. Using only the left hand of his mecha, he drew out something from his bag and tossed it at Luo Lang with all his might.
The item flew like a cannonball towards Luo Lang, who reflexively caught it. Before he could even look at it, cold beams once again struck Big Brother's mecha from behind. This time, he could not escape — his cockpit was directly hit.
The entire mecha blew apart with a loud boom, becoming a pile of scrap metal to fall before Luo Lang, causing Luo Lang's brow to scrunch up tightly.