At this time, Ling Xiao, who was seated at the rostrum, had also found something familiar in Zhou Chao-Ling’s operation methods. A nostalgic smile appeared on his lips. He had not known that that rival who had been competing against him all this while had a descendant of his own now. Even more unexpected was the fact that their rivalry would actually reappear more than twenty years later.
Even though Ling Lan and Zhou Chao-Ling had not actually clashed personally yet, like him back then, Ling Lan had become the leader of the First Men’s Military Academy contingent, while Zhou Chao-Ling had also inherited his father’s role to become the leader of the Third Men’s Military Academy contingent, both of them fighting for the honour of their respective academies!
“Looks like Lan-er’s teammate is going to have some trouble,” thought Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao knew very well that no matter how many fancy advanced techniques a mecha operator used, the pressure heaped upon the opponent could never match the kind of pressure caused by simple movements that had been honed to such precision that they were impeccable. Both Zhou Yuan-qing and Zhou Chao-Ling were people with the latter operation style. In the past, Zhou Yuan-qing had really given Ling Xiao a lot of trouble — till today, Ling Xiao still did not want to ever fight Zhou Yuan-qing again.
In fact, Ling Xiao’s own operation style also fell into this category. It was just that Zhou Yuan-qing’s style was characterised by its simplicity and clean practicality, while Ling Xiao’s style leaned towards the graceful perfection of flowing water. Ling Lan had been influenced by Ling Xiao, so her operation style also had the same tendency.
On the field, Zhao Jun’s and Zhou Chao-Ling’s movements were extremely fast and fierce — in a very brief period of time, they had already exchanged another 6 blows. Zhao Jun still had not figured out how he could turn things around.
“How annoying!” It wasn’t that Zhao Jun did not want to change his movements and try something new, but the opponent was not giving him any chances to do so. Whenever he was about to try something, the opponent would leap forwards again. To avoid being pushed into a passive position, he had no choice but to dodge — even though he knew clashing against the other forcefully was a problem, he could only grit his teeth and surge forwards.
“Toot, toot, toot!” The A.I. of Zhao Jun’s mecha once again rang an alert. “Right shoulder joint damage increased by 0.7%! Accumulated damage at 5.6%!”
From the initial 0.3%, the damage to his mecha was increasing as the number of moves increased. He estimated that when the damage exceeded 10%, the rate of damage would accelerate further. He did not have much time left. Zhao Jun understood that if he continued to let the opponent drag things on like this, he was certain to lose.
“What should I do? What the hell should I do?” Zhao Jun’s mind was a muddled mess. The opponent was clearly not that strong, and his mecha operation was just steady and unassuming. Although the techniques the opponent was using were also some advanced techniques, those techniques were not special ace-class techniques like the ones Qiao Ting and Lin Xiao had used which dazzled the eyes and inspired envy. Some of the techniques used were even ones that were not as good as his own … but it was precisely these unassuming advanced techniques and unremarkable mecha operation which were slowly destroying his mecha bit by bit, pushing him into such a dire predicament.
“This situation … why does it feel a little familiar? Zhao Jun, don’t panic. Think slowly. You still have time!” Zhao Jun kept having the feeling that something was about to burst forth from his mind, but because he was just so anxious and tense, the thought was always just out of reach …
“Clang!” Weapons clashed once again. Perhaps because Zhao Jun was rather distracted, his reaction time was slower by a beat. The area where his weapon and the opponent’s met was not the position with the most of his force behind it. After the powerful collision, Zhao Jun was sent flying back 3 metres further than before …
“Zhao Jun, what are you thinking?” A cold huff roared through Zhao Jun’s mind.
Ling Xiao, who had initially been leaning easily against the back of his chair, suddenly sat up straight. He quickly sent out a burst of spiritual power and then retracted it just as swiftly. At this moment, his back was already drenched with cold sweat. Ling Xiao had never expected that Ling Lan would be so audacious — here in the tournament where countless masters were watching, she had actually dared to send a spiritual charge towards her currently fighting teammate …
Luckily, he seemed to be the only one who had sensed it, and he had also quickly sent out a surge of spiritual power of his own as cover-up. Even if anyone sensed anything, they would just think that he was the one behind the charge … although this would tarnish his image somewhat since this action could after all be mistakenly construed as cheating … Still, compared to his daughter being exposed, Ling Xiao would rather accept this kind of disreputable label.
Sure enough, his daughter was here to collect debts! Even as Ling Xiao sighed, he complied willingly.
Ling Xiao’s strange behaviour was noticed by Lan Luofeng sitting beside him; she turned her head to cast a questioning look at him. Seeing this, Ling Xiao pressed down gently on Lan Luofeng’s hand. Lan Luofeng understood implicitly that this was not the time to ask questions, so with a soft smile, she turned her head around to resume watching the match.
On this end, Ling Xiao was helping to wipe up after Ling Lan, while on another end, after Ling Lan had blasted out that spiritual charge, her complexion became very pale. To penetrate the defences of the cockpit, Ling Lan’s spiritual charge had used up almost nine layers of her spiritual power.
“Zhao Jun, the rest is up to you now!” thought Ling Lan.
Due to his operation error, Zhao Jun had been sent flying back much further than his opponent. With this, even the regular audience member could now tell that something was not right.
“Just now … I wasn’t mistaken, right? Zhao Jun is at a disadvantage now?” The audience members could not help but rub at their eyes. They were having trouble wrapping their minds around it — Zhao Jun was someone who had forced the ace operator Jiang Shaoyu to a draw! Someone able to force a draw with an ace actually not being able to beat a special-class operator? Perhaps this special-class operator was special?
Some of the more anxious among the audience struggled with this point and so they immediately began looking up information on Zhou Chao-Ling. They found that he was actually the fifth rank holder of the single mecha combat event, just one rank behind Zhao Jun 1 …
Dearie, just how low-key and unassuming were you that even your excellent results in ranking fifth were overlooked by the audience? The audience’s faces were filled with disbelief as they looked over this information. They had not expected that such a top master had been hiding right under their noses, stronger than even Zhao Jun whom they had assumed was the strongest special-class operator in this tournament.
They then found the details on Zhou Chao-Ling’s performance during the single mecha combat event. When they learned that he had lost to the number one Qiao Ting, which was why he had not been able to advance into the top 4, they could only sigh at his bad luck. If he had been as lucky as Zhao Jun and had been arranged into that segment with no ace operators, perhaps the outcome would have been different. Whether or not Zhao Jun could have nabbed third place in that situation was questionable.
Zhao Jun’s error in the fight caused two distinctly different atmospheres to appear among the two military academies backstage. The Third Men’s Military Academy was naturally overjoyed — if their team leader defeated Zhao Jun, they would only have to defeat that Ling Lan as well to advance to the finals. Who said that their Third Men’s Military Academy was just an accessory? As long as they had equivalent strength among their members, so what if their opponent had an ace operator? So what if the opponent had the number one strongest in their ranks?
The three people on the First Men’s Military Academy side were also watching the fight closely. Other than Ling Lan being cold-faced as usual, Qiao Ting and Mu Shaoyu’s expressions had turned extremely grim when they witnessed Zhao Jun’s error. Mu Shaoyu was even wringing his hands in agitation, and then he turned to ask Qiao Ting uneasily, “Is Zhao Jun really out of options?”
Qiao Ting did not reply, but his tightly knitted eyebrows were proof that he was not optimistic about Zhao Jun’s chances. Zhou Chao-Ling was a very cautious and meticulous person. It was practically impossible to hope for him to make a mistake … but for Zhao Jun to wrest free of this predicament on his own — Qiao Ting felt that it would be very difficult.
Not receiving an answer from Qiao Ting, Mu Shaoyu found his gaze involuntarily drifting towards Ling Lan, in hopes that Ling Lan would be able to give him some confidence. After all, Zhao Jun was a member of Lingtian now. Fully preoccupied with seeking comfort, Mu Shaoyu did not notice Ling Lan’s unusual pallor, which made the latter seem even colder than usual.
Sensing Mu Shaoyu’s gaze, Ling Lan opened her initially closed eyes and said calmly, “Zhao Jun still has a chance!”
She had already done what she could — the seed was already planted. Whether or not it would sprout smoothly in this match would all depend on Zhao Jun’s comprehension.
Ling Lan’s words made Mu Shaoyu’s heart settle, and he turned back to continue watching the match on the screen intently. Right then, Mu Shaoyu was not aware of how Ling Lan had been able to calm him with just one simple declaration. Unconsciously, he had already acknowledged Ling Lan’s status and had given the other his trust.
********
At this moment, after hearing that cold huff, Zhao Jun’s vision turned blurry and when he could see clearly again, he had already arrived at a sealed mecha combat room …
“What’s going on?” Zhao Jun was stunned. “Wasn’t I fighting in a mecha combat competition? Why am I here? Also, that voice just now really sounded like Boss Lan.”
Just when Zhao Jun thought of Boss Lan, an extremely familiar mecha appeared in the combat room. It was precisely that close-combat ace mecha which Ling Lan operated.
“Boss Lan, what are you doing here? And why are you using an ace mecha? Didn’t you say that you wanted to hide properly?” asked Zhao Jun, concerned.
He was in full agreement with Ling Lan’s decision to conceal her full strength. He really could not imagine what kind of uproar it would cause if the world knew that there was someone who had broken Ling Xiao’s record and had become an ace operator in their second year. (With the exception of those little companions of hers who had grown up alongside her, Ling Lan had told all the other friends who had joined them afterwards that she had only advanced to ace level in her second year 2 .) He could even predict that an incident like the air invasion of the military academy would happen once again, not to mention all the assassins that would be sent over from the various nations.
Unfortunately, Ling Lan did not react or respond to Zhao Jun’s questions. Instead, she charged at Zhao Jun ferociously, slashing at Zhao Jun with her sword.
Zhao Jun hurriedly operated his mecha to dodge the attack, but how could he move faster than Ling Lan? The sword struck the body of his mecha forcefully, and the massive force behind the blow sent his mecha hurtling back to crash heavily against the hard walls of the combat room, which he then bounced off to slam into the ground. Zhao Jun felt pain throughout his whole body and nausea churned in his chest. There was also a bloody taste in his mouth, making him feel rather ill.
Before Zhao Jun could pry himself off the ground, a forceful swirl of wind came rushing at him. With a rapid flying side kick, Ling Lan sent Zhao Jun flying through the air once again …
“Chain combo!” Zhao Jun was thrown into the air, and Ling Lan piloted her mecha close after him. The cold weapon in her hands struck Zhao Jun’s mecha without any hesitation. “1, 2, 3, 4 …”
The powerful impact made Zhao Jun spit out a mouthful of blood, and he pressed down desperately on the call button to shout, “Boss Lan, it’s me! I’m Zhao Jun!”
This strength of Boss Lan was definitely not at the level of an ordinary spar — Boss Lan was completely coming at him with true force. If things continued this way, he would definitely die at Boss Lan’s hands. This was not an outcome he could accept — dying this way would be too worthless and a terrible shame. He would not accept it!
“Zhao Jun, what are you thinking? Don’t you know that, once we enter battle mode, no matter where or when, we are archenemies!” Ling Lan’s icy voice rang out by Zhao Jun’s ear once more, filled with fierce killing intent. Zhao Jun knew that Boss Lan was speaking from the heart at that moment!