Legend Is The Supreme Soldier

by Stayrr

Ye Chong was a denizen of Trash Planet-12. On one fateful day, he discovered a treasure that would forever alter his destiny from a pile of junk – Mu Shang, an unknown machine with artificial intelligence and a lost memory. Together, they venture into the vast galaxy as the isolated “caveman” that was Ye Chong began absorbing all sorts of knowledge and meeting people from all walks

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Legend of the Supreme Soldier #Chapter 161 - Mu Fei - Read Legend of the Supreme Soldier Chapter 161 - Mu Fei Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 161: Mu Fei

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong's spacious room was now a glorious sight. It was filled with rows of neatly arranged bottles of chemical reagents in all colors, in which many types of skeletons were immersed in. Under the illumination of the room's lighting, his room looked like a world of crystals.

In the room were also many high precision apparatus used specifically by alchemists. This made Ye Chong's room looked more like a laboratory.

Ye Chong carefully observed the skeletons in the various chemical reagents. Today was the day he would test the skeletons for their properties. As for how many of them could be valuable, Ye Chong had no idea, and could only leave that to fate.

He removed the skeletons from the reagent bottles one by one. Most of the skeletons had already undergone drastic transformations, looking vastly different from when they were first immersed in the chemicals. It must be due to the immersion process.

How many of them were useful? Ye Chong had to experiment on each of them to find out.

Master Fan sat vexedly before his desk. He had just received orders from the Elder to stop the young skeleton carver from passing the Level Five Trial. This has happened every year, and Master Fan was not entirely surprised. There were many ways to stop the young skeleton carver to pass the Level Five Trial, the easiest way being to modify the trial. If the trial was made very difficult, then it would almost impossible for the candidate to pass.

These modifications were among the easiest to make before the Level Five Trial. Since the trials before Level Five were judged by only one Master, he would only need to assign a compliant Master to judge Ye Chong's test to ensure his failure. Level Five Trials were, however, judged by a panel of seven Masters. With him among them, and another Master under his control, he could only control two of the seven, and thus, would be unable to control the final result.

The Elder's instructions were for Ye Chong to fail his trial after Level Four. This was extremely troublesome for Master Fan. Master Xiao, who was in charge of Ye Chong, had always been at odds with him, and was a man with a temper. Men like him were all their own masters, basically unmoved by other people's opinions. When it came to their profession, they were all serious about it, and would not accept such interference.

Master Fan knew that, if not for the Sanctuary's control over the Level Five Trials, he would not have become a Master. With his true abilities, he was not on par with the standard requirements, and was one of the least capable of all the Masters. This had always put him in a difficult position - the other Masters were often condescending towards him and isolated him.

He did not even have influence over the other Masters. Those who reached this position by their own strength were often dedicated to their jobs, and found these unfair and manipulative methods repulsive. On the contrary, they mixed well among themselves, and Master Fan often felt that he was boycotted by them. Then came a day when he found blackmail material for one of the Masters, and after some persuasion and threatening, he had him under his control. However, the others quickly noticed that something was wrong. Very soon, both he and the other Master were isolated. On the other hand, these Masters were all honored guests of the Sanctuary. Not only could he not display any hostility towards them, he must also protect them against danger. This was a depressing situation for Master Fan.

All of a sudden, he found himself out of ideas, and could only hope that Ye Chong was incapable of passing the final two Trials. If not, his mission this time would only end in failure.

It was for the Heavens to decide!

Up till now, the Sanctuary could not completely control the five Trials. This was one of the reasons the Masters agreed to manage the Trials in the first place. The Sanctuary's Trials were first proposed by a Master who agreed to work for the Sanctuary. This suggestion was later supported by the other Masters, as they believed that the Orbits should offer a way for outsiders to leave this place. On the one hand, the Sanctuary was under pressure from the Masters, and on the other, they believed it was a good way to discover new talent. In the end, the Sanctuary agreed.

The Masters' professional attitude caused the Trials to be as difficult as they were.

"Huu …" Ye Chong let out a breath in relief. There were three skeletons with satisfying results after immersion. What excited him the most was the skeleton from an animal called Dopodo. The Dodopo's skeleton had the best results among the three immersed skeletons. Besides, Dopodo skeletons were quite common, unlike the other two rare skeletons. This meant that it could have wide applications!

"Shang, have you recorded the results for the Dopodo skeleton?" Ye Chong asked.

"Of course, how can I make those kind of mistakes that only you would?" Shang mocked.

Acknowledging Shang's words, Ye Chong put pressure into his hands and pressed on the Dopodo skeleton. The bones turned to dust in the blink of an eye, and fell to the ground from between Ye Chong's fingers. Ye Chong heard footsteps approaching him. He was very familiar with them by now, since Wei Xi came to visit every day, and Ye Chong could identify them easily by now.

Ye Chong shook his hands a little, and the skeleton dust came off his hands, spreading into the air like a mist. His hands were now clean.

Wei Xi pushed through the door right then. Ye Chong turned back to face her casually, but was startled!

Why was there another person with her?

Ye Chong immediately went into high alert. He had clearly heard only Wei Xi's footsteps earlier, but now there were two people entering his room. The other person's footsteps had obviously escaped him! On the trash planet, Ye Chong had developed good hearing. After some meditation training, he found his hearing improved even further, even though he did not gain anything in terms of mental abilities.

This was the first time he met someone who could approach him so closely without him hearing his footsteps!

Looking at the man with long hair standing beside Wei Xi, Ye Chong looked calm on the surface, but inside his emotions rolled like a tsunami!

What a terrifying man!

The other party's physique was well balanced, without any particularly bulging muscles, but Ye Chong did not underestimate him just because of this. From what he knew, among the mentalists in the Sanctuary, only the unpopular students would have obvious bulging muscles. The stronger one was, the more inconspicuous they seem from the outside. This man's eyes were calm and steady, and Ye Chong was sure that the man before him was already at a very high level in terms of his mental attainments, unlike what he could achieve with some simple meditations. Ye Chong could only just sense his breathing. If not for his eyes looking at the man before him, Ye Chong definitely could not have otherwise sense the man's presence!

Could the Sanctuary produce men of such caliber on a normal basis? The thought was terrifying!

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"Ye, be careful, this guy's good!" Shang seemed to noticed as well that the man was unusual.

Wei Xi smiled to Ye Chong and said, "Mr Ye, how are your experiments going? Do you have anything new? Oh, right, almost forgot to introduce you two!" Wei Xi stuck her tongue out in a cute way, and continued, "This is Sir Mu Fei, he will replace me as your guide. Sigh, I really hoped to learn more from you, but I have other tasks to attend to, so Sir Mu Fei will act as your guide, I hope you and him will get along together!"

Ye Chong started to think. With the man as guide, would that not mean that he would be nearby every day? Sir? It seemed that he had a high status! Ye Chong's expression did not change as he acknowledged, "Okay," and nodded at Mu Fei.

"Glad to be of service. I heard you have quite astonishing achievements in skeletons, please take care of me!" Mu Fei's delicate profile lacked the usual masculine roughness, and he smiled enigmatically as Wei Xi watched from aside, charmed.

"It's nothing." Ye Chong waved in polite dismissal.

Wei Xi noticed the two skeletons in Ye Chong's hands and asked curiously, "Mr Ye, are those skeletons from your successful experiment results?"

"Yes, only two of them barely make the cut!" Ye Chong affected a regretful expression.

Wei Xi quickly consoled him. "It's alright, even so, they are still Mr Ye's astonishing breakthroughs!"

Fei Mu suddenly approached from the side. "These must be the skeletons from the Rohin primate and the Blitzwing!"

Could he also be well versed with skeletons? Ye Chong was again startled, but he managed to take a casual glance at Mu Fei and asked in a calm but slightly surprised voice, "Is Mr Mu also experienced with skeletons?"

Mu Fei smiled modestly and said, "I don't know much about skeletons, but I've encountered with these two mutants before!"

Ye Chong was surprised once again. He knew these two life forms. The Rohin primate was alright, but the Blitzwing was terribly ferocious and aggressive. They always appeared in pairs, and their claws were sharp, capable of damaging mech armor. They moved agilely and were cunning creatures, difficult opponents to fight against! Mu Fei may have said that he encountered them before, and Ye Chong believed that it must not be some friendly encounter. It seemed that Mu Fei must be very strong!

Why did the Sanctuary assign Mu Fei to him? Ye Chong was perplexed.

However, Ye Chong quickly grew absorbed in his work for the Trial. No matter the circumstances, passing the Trial was still his utmost priority. What made Ye Chong uncomfortable was that Mu Fei never seemed to leave him alone. No matter what he was doing, the man would observe with interest from the side, and that made Ye Chong grew suspicious of him.

Nonetheless, there was not much time left. Ye Chong was too busy to mind having Mu Fei around him. He began to work in earnest towards building a full skeleton mech engine. Ye Chong, careful as he was, had thought it through. Since Master Xiao had said that any engine model would do, Ye Chong chose the simplest mech engine he knew of - the Raven model engine, which was the engine for the eponymous mech that Ye Chong was very familiar with.

Even so, the work took a lot of effort from Ye Chong, since this was his first time building such a thing, and he had no experience to draw from. Fortunately, however, Ye Chong finally completed his work within the designated time frame, building the world's first full skeleton mech engine!

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Chapter 162: Encounter I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"It's wonderful! Ye, I didn't think you could really do it, it's really astonishing!" Master Xiao caressed the full-skeleton Raven engine, praising in deep fervor! Beside him were a few other Masters, invited along by Master Xiao! They too had the expression of a child getting his favorite toy, standing around the world's first full-skeleton mech engine, watching in awe.

Mu Fei wore a thin and gentle smile on his face as he watched the elderlies' excitement. He had witnessed the birth of this full-skeleton mech engine first hand, but these Masters' excitement had far exceeded his expectations. "Perhaps I should reconsider the value of this engine," he thought as his eyes brightened momentarily before resuming his usual inconspicuousness.

Of course, Ye Chong passed his Level Four Trial without incident!

Ye Chong was observing Mu Fei discreetly, and Mu Fei's minute change in expression did not escape his eyes. "Hmph, whatever you're playing at, I won't make it easy!" Ye Chong smiled coldly inside.

"Mr Ye, this way please!" Mu Fei stretched his hand out courteously.

Ye Chong drew in a deep breath upon seeing the starship before him. He was finally leaving the Orbits! For a moment, he was overwhelmed with emotions!

Since the Level Four Trial with the full-skeleton engine, Ye Chong already guessed that the Level Five Trial would involve building a full-skeleton mech. Fortunately, he was ready for that. Ye Chong only built a Raven mech, since he did not want to truly benefit the Sanctuary. However, even with just a Raven, a beginner level mech, its performance was still enough to impress all the Masters. Of course, the success was also partly due to his previous work on the full-skeleton Raven engine.

As expected by Ye Chong, once the full-skeleton Raven was built successfully, it was taken in by the Sanctuary.

News of the year's first candidate to pass the Level Five Trial spread like wildfire across the city of Nine Gates! For the detainees in Nine Gates, their strongest wish was to leave the Orbits and return to the Five Galaxies. No one had passed the Level Five Trial in recent years, but there was finally one person who managed to do so. This brought life back to the slowly numbing lives of the detainees in Nine Gates, their grim hearts finally catching a glimpse of hope!

Soon, details of this candidate began to make their way into all corners of the city. He was apparently young but very talented! He was also a mysterious skeleton carver, and those trendy skeleton parts earlier were all his work. Additionally, he was also rumored to be an excellent alchemist.

Heavens, who was this guy? Everyone was amazed!

With his daily vigilance against Mu Fei, Ye Chong did not know that news of him passing the Level Five Trial had already reached the entirety of the Orbits, and that skeleton carving as an occupation was brought to everyone's attention for the first time ever.

Ye Chong was more focused on his current situation. He and Shang agreed that the Sanctuary would not make any move against him here, even if they wanted to stop him from leaving. If they forcefully make him stay, no one might dare to take the Trials again in the future.

As for whatever tricks the Sanctuary intended to pull, they would probably take place during Ye Chong's journey leaving the Orbits. However, hehe …

Unexpectedly, what Ye Chong found on the starship was the man who was always beside him as his guide, Mu Fei.

"Is your job as a guide not finished yet?" Ye Chong affected an innocent surprise.

"Yes, it's finished!" Mu Fei smiled warmly. "However, the Sanctuary considered my familiarity with your lifestyle, and thought it proper to assign me here to make sure you are well taken care of! Pleased to be of service!"

"I see!" Ye Chong nodded in fake casualness.

The Sanctuary had prepared a grand escort team for him, which consisted of four standard combat squads. Such a strong combat fleet was more than enough to keep him safe. However, it was also enough to keep him under their control. This must be how they saw it!

Ye Chong observed all this in detached coolness.

Mu Fei held a high status apparently, as Ye Chong noticed the mech pilots behaving respectfully towards him. What caught his attention was that their respect toward Mu Fei seemed to be sincere! Ye Chong understood that this kind of respect could only be borne towards a truly capable person! Mu Fei's words held great authority here, and even the starship's captain would take his advice seriously.

It seemed that Mu Fei was no ordinary person!

The ship flew steadily onwards, and Ye Chong would occasionally receive a call from one the Masters asking after him. Whenever this happened, the captain would report the starship's current location to the Masters in detail.

Within the Orbits, the starship did not encounter any security checks, and the journey was surprisingly smooth.

Soon, starship Glinton left the Orbits, its destination being a planet very close to the Orbits, called McCann. According to them, Ye Chong would transit to another long distance interstellar passenger starship to anywhere he pleased.

Once Ye Chong left McCann and reached a place he deemed safe, he would reach out to the Masters via a special communication device they gifted him to confirm his safe exit from the Orbits. It seemed that even the Masters did not trust the Sanctuary.

It was still possible, however, for the Sanctuary to make their move once he ended his communication with the Masters.

McCann was a transfer station, hosting many long distance interstellar passenger starships that would later travel to many different planets. It was also an important entrepot. There were three more days until they reach McCann. Once they left the Orbits, Ye Chong could sense that everyone onboard the Glinton, besides himself, turning more vigilant. It seemed that the Sanctuary did not entirely control this area!

Was it due to the Sanctuary's lack of power? Or were there other reasons? Ye Chong could not help but guess.

Ye Chong passed each day leisurely. Mu Fei no longer stuck around him every day like he did during the Trials, and Ye Chong found time to contemplate on his own problems. Fortunately, there were many problems that required Ye Chong's attention, and no matter which field it was, they would take him considerable time to go through!

In the captain's quarters onboard Glinton, a massive holographic screen in the center was displaying the starry skies outside. Without the atmosphere's interference, the stars sparkled like diamonds embedded on a boundless dark veil. The colorful nebulae were like an aristocrat lady's velvety skin covered with gorgeous satin, obscured but elegant.

Mu Fei was unmoved by the mesmerizing sight before him. He opened his eyes a little and found the target of his surveillance still in a daze, and closed his eyes to resume his meditation.

Suddenly, a panicky voice broke the silence in the captain's quarters!

"Captain! We have a situation!"

In the blink of an eye, everyone in the captain's quarters looked towards the voice. Mu Fei's eyes sprung open, his gleaming pupils surprising Ye Chong, who was keeping a discreet eye on him. However, Mu Fei immediately realized his error and quickly resumed his usual calmness. The transformation was so quick that, if Ye Chong was not so confident with his eyesight, he might have thought he saw wrong.

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"Speak!" The captain wore a steady expression, unruffled due to his mental fortitude and rich experience. Glinton's captain always had looked serious, with an expressionless face. He would only ever soften a little when speaking with Mu Fei. His sharp profile was masculine, and his demeanor spoke of vigor and great determination.

Mu Fei's attention was also drawn towards the captain, and did not notice that Ye Chong's mouth had momentarily curved upwards into a cold smile!

"26 degrees from the radius vector, there's an unidentified starship!" The crew member reported without delay in a clear cut manner.

"An unidentified starship?" The captain furrowed his brows slightly.

"Yes, our holographic scanners were ineffective against it!"

A flash of uncertainty swept past the captain's face as he looked towards Mu Fei, and Mu Fei replied with a slight nod. This moment was captured clearly by Ye Chong. Mu Fe was indeed someone important!

The captain immediately activated his communication device and spoke resolutely, "Lower the speed to Mach 4, all combatants prepare for battle! All non-combatants please go to the safety room!"

Shortly after, a sharp alarm began to ring, a shrill that reached a person's terrified heart. Everyone onboard the starship froze for a moment before quickly returning to their stations. The entire crew began to move in a frenzy. Of course, Ye Chong himself did not.

The opponent's starship was obviously slowing down too, but showed no signs of avoiding as it slowly approached the Glinton.

Mu Fei muttered to himself, "Our starship's scanning system is only ineffective against starships from Black Cove and the MPA. Who will it be this time?"

Upon hearing Mu Fei's words, the captain frowned deeper and asked carefully, "Sir, you think …"

Mu Fei smiled. His usually warm smile was now, however, filled with great confidence, and even Ye Chong felt that his usually soft expression was now filled with determination and strength.

"We move straight ahead!" Mu Fei spoke with unassailable confidence.

The crew inside the captain's quarters grew excited, affected by Mu Fei's charisma. Truly, what was there to fear? Even if the other party was the MPA or Black Cove, what was that to them? Their four standard combat squads would be enough to tear the enemy apart! Apart from that, Sir Mu Fei was with them!

While both parties lowered their flight speed, they still inched closer and closer towards each other.

As the distance between them grew shorter, the holographic scanner turned effective. On the holographic screen, the other party's starship gradually grew larger and clearer.

Everyone stared unblinkingly at the other party's starship on the holographic screen.

The starship was as black as night, with not even a glimpse of metallic luster. It moved silently like a ghost across the dark space of the universe.

Mu Fei kept his eyes on the screen, as a blurry leaf shaped emblem on the other party's starship began to take shape!

Mu Fei was relieved. "It's alright, it's Black Cove!" As he finished, everyone relaxed a little. They feared that it would be the MPA's starship. Since the MPA and the Sanctuary had just met in a conflict, an encounter with the MPA's ship would probably lead to war!

The Sanctuary and Black Cove had always been careful with each other, and were sometimes even on friendly terms.

The long, thin leaf shaped emblem looked like a half lidded eye, staring expressionlessly ahead.

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Chapter 163: Encounter II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Send out the exchange transmission!" The captain sounded more relieved.

Exchange transmissions were signals sent between starships upon encounter to exchange information and as an act of friendliness. Ships would send out information on their identities in plain code. In the vast universe, the probability of encountering another starship was very low, even in densely traveled flight paths. However, when two starships encountered each other, experienced captains would send out an exchange transmission!

After the exchange transmission was sent out, the captain was obviously relieved, apparently believing that nothing could go wrong from now on. He had sent out the exchange transmission to prevent any unwanted conflict with Black Cove, since they had a guest on the ship that absolutely cannot be harmed. The captain recalled the situation clearly when he received his orders from the Elder, who spoke with severity and placed great importance on his current mission. He was surprised, but quickly realized the importance of the guest.

On the other hand, an open war with Black Cove was undesirable in all respects. As for the relationship and situation between the Sanctuary, Black Cove and the MPA, none of the Sanctuary's members were oblivious to them. If he caused an open war between the Sanctuary and Black Cove, the captain could never bear the consequences! Fortunately, there was Sir Mu on the ship, a great relief for the captain!

Mu Fei's expression was less tense now. Usually, both parties would pass by each other with great restraint. However, even if they were to engage in battle, Mu Fei was not worried, since the ship had four standard combat squads onboard, a powerful combat force. Besides, he was there himself. There should be no problems.

Nonetheless, this was not a good time for war. He did not wish for the young talent that the Sanctuary highly desired to be involved in any accident. During his time as his guide, he understood better than anyone the extent of the young man's abilities! Furthermore, the young man must be hiding his true strength! Mu Fei's instinct told him that Ye Chong's full-skeleton Raven was not his best work yet. He fully supported the Sanctuary's decision to keep Ye Chong with them at all costs. To prevent any accidents, Mu Fei had even volunteered for this mission.

Everyone on the ship relaxed. They believed that it was ultimately nothing to worry about, and some even teased the officer who reported the other starship earlier, saying that he was only trying to get on their nerves.

A dark sense of humor seemed to flash past in Ye Chong's half lidded eyes, and his eyes smiled momentarily like the thin leaf emblem on the front of the Black Cove ship.

"Ah!" The officer who reported the starship just now suddenly gasped!

"Hah, Ah Da, are you still trying to scare us?"

"Yeah, Ah Da, you're too bold! Look at my weak heart, it's still thumping non-stop from your trick earlier …"

The round of laughter drowned away any sound from the office.

Mu Fei closed his eyes, thinking it comedic.

"Look, guys! I'm not lying! Look!" That officer tried hard to explain, his face red. When the crowd recognized the fear in his words, they immediately realized that something was not right. All the officers on the ship had good discipline, and would not joke on such matters.

Mu Fei felt the change, and opened his eyes wide.

Tens of black mechs in standard battle formation were closing in on them. The captain's expression twisted as the photon processor returned a mech count of 50. They were all Cosmic Flares, Black Cove's war mechs. Mu Fei was very familiar with them. Johansson, who died in Ye Chong's hands, also used a Cosmic Flare.

50 Cosmic Flares! Why would Black Cove send out such a strong force? Mu Fei was baffled.

"We received the other party's reply!" One of the ship officers reported.

"Forward it here!" The captain spoke chillingly. Since the other party had showed hostility, he had no need to hold back. While he was cautious against Black Cove, he was not afraid of them. The other members of the Sanctuary shared the same attitude as their captain!

"We suspect your ship has one of our members, please open your hatch for our inspection!" The words were direct, and typical of Black Cove.

For a moment, with the exception of Ye Chong, everyone in the captain's quarters were enraged! The other party's high and mighty tone was a blow to the pride of the Sanctuary's members! Even the usually calm and collected Mu Fei felt his facial muscles twitch!

What an insult! Since when would the Sanctuary allow such humiliation?

The other party had approached fully armed, and a few laser beams were already shooting their starship. If they do not retaliate soon, the situation would turn dangerous for them!

While they knew that this was the time for retaliation, it was potentially a move that would lead to an open war with Black Cove. This long term consequence was what made the captain hesitate!

"Attack!" Mu Fei shouted. He understood better than the captain that if the enemy kept closing in, they would be severely disadvantaged! While he did now know why the other party would choose such an irrational action, the situation did not allow for further contemplation!

The Sanctuary's honour must not be trampled upon!

Mu Fei's orders had the same effect as the captain's. None of the mech pilots objected to his words, not even hesitating at them! The four standard combat squads moved out swiftly to meet the enemy!

Thus, a full scale battle between the Sanctuary and Black Cove began!

Everyone found their eyes glued to the live feed on the holographic screen, including Ye Chong. Ye Chong had seen the Cosmic Flare, but Johansson had not managed to attack him before dying from his ambush attack. Hence, Ye Chong was very curious about this mech model!

Close range battle with Black Cove mechs was a foolish act! The Sanctuary and the MPA both agreed on this!

Hence, as the Black Cove Cosmic Flares came into range, all the Dawns immediately opened fire!

Numerous laser beams were shot from both sides across the space between them! However, in a long range battle, Black Cove was definitely at a disadvantage!

Unlike the MPA's accurate shooting, the Sanctuary fought with their unique group battle strategy. Usually a few Dawns would focus on attacking the same Cosmic Flare, but the way they weaved around each other and cooperate was an astonishing sight to Ye Chong. The laser beams from the Dawns were directed towards the few potential defensive positions for the other mech!

Ye Chong was equally amazed by Black Cove's evasion skills! Ye Chong's most familiar Non-orderly Wave Leap was used throughout the battlefield, alongside other stranger, varied and unexpected evasion techniques! Ye Chong watched in suspense, his eyes shining brightly!

At the same time, Shang reported to Ye Chong on important details of the battle!

The Sanctuary's battle strategy had delivered a heavy blow to Black Cove. In the span of less than half a minute, 15 Cosmic Flares were destroyed, the result of the Sanctuary's effective strategy.

However, Mu Fei did not look happy at all, since he knew that the real battle was only just beginning!

Cosmic Flares were small mechs, and this significantly reduced the probability of being hit! While 15 Cosmic Flares were destroyed, the remaining 35 Cosmic Flares had managed to close in on the Dawn mechs!

The Dawns suddenly broke formation, and gathered in groups of three before they charged ahead fearlessly.

Once approached by Black Cove mechs, the nightmare began! This was another fact proven by the Sanctuary!

The Cosmic Flares showed their fangs for the first time before Ye Chong!

Black Cove mech pilots expertly flew, their wild and bloody techniques made Ye Chong realize the true horrifying potential from these Black Cove war mechs!

As three Dawn mechs moved to cover each other, their excellent cooperation and battle skills still failed to prevent themselves from being smashed into pieces by this Black Cove model's brute force impact!

Black Cove battle strategies were chilling to watch! They accelerated to high velocities and ran into the Dawn mechs with all the momentum they gathered, the barbs in their joints enough to inflict fatal damage to the Dawn mechs, while the curved blade on the outside of the right arm would amputate the Dawn mech into pieces! Blood sprayed out from the pilot inside, the red mist quickly crystallizing, suspended in space, no longer as vivid as before! Their long chains moved in unpredictable ways, strangling and wrapping around the enemy, or even lending momentum from their targets. The weapon was used well, and the chain itself was made with a very strong material!

The Sanctuary's group strategy also caused Black Cove heavy casualties!

The battle between the two sides happened quickly, with no room to breathe! Both sides fought with excellent strategies, and fought cruelly. If one was hit, there was basically no chance for survival! Damaged mechs had no chance of leaving the battlefield, and would run straight into the enemy's mech for a suicide attack!

The battle was fierce and merciless!

In the span of just under 10 minutes, only about 17 to 18 Cosmic Flares were left. The Dawn mechs were even fewer, with only 12 of them left! The situation was not against the Sanctuary, since close range battle was Black Cove's specialty. Additionally, they were outnumbered. As the number of Dawn mechs decreased, the remaining Cosmic Flares survived without any damages.

As the battle reached this stage, with heavy casualties on both sides, none of the mechs backed down. The mech pilots from both sides were equally steadfast in battle!

However, the overall situation was slowly siding with Black Cove, as the remaining Dawn mechs continued to struggle!

Inside the captain's quarters, all the crew members paled in fear. Even the hardened captain wore a terrible expression. This was the first time they had encountered such a terrifying battle!

Mu Fei could stand it any longer. He stood up abruptly and said, "I'm assisting them!" before turning to exit the captain's quarters!

Upon hearing his words, everyone in there with the exception of Ye Chong felt invigorated. It seemed they were very confident in Mu Fei's abilities!

Mu Fei exited the captain's quarters. Behind him, the cabin door to the captain's quarters automatically slid close, quick as usual.

He could never have imagined what happened next in the captain's quarters!

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Chapter 164: Hunter in the Darkness

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Just as the cabin door to the captain's quarters closed behind Mu Fei, the room was suddenly plunged into darkness, and astonished cries were heard! However, the cabin door was sound proof. Even with the short distance between them, Mu Fei could not sense anything amiss!

In the sudden darkness, everyone in the captain's quarters were thrown into a state of terror!

Ye Chong quietly deployed Guardian in the darkness. He was now used to Guardian's unique black and white vision, and 3D image sketched out by numerous white lines were familiar to him. Additionally, he already noted down everyone's position in the room. Not to mention, Shang was with him!

Ye Chong moved lightly as a shadow, unnoticed in the darkness.

Ye Chong's unreasonable strength, amplified by Guardian, resulted in terrifying efficiency. This also allowed Ye Chong to move faster. Ye Chong acted more efficiently than he could ever imagine with Guardian's accurate scans!

The gasping voices were almost simultaneously cut off by the clear sound of broken bones!

Ye Chong landed softly before the cabin door. In the brief moment earlier, Ye Chong attacked a total of 16 times without missing even once, crushing their necks. Since Ye Chong moved very quickly, the sound of bones breaking almost all overlapped with each other! Without Guardian's amplification effect, Ye Chong could not have achieved such a difficult feat. However, with Guardian's assistance, Ye Chong easily managed this impossible task!

Just as Ye Chong landed, the cabin door opened without the slightest delay! Mu and Shang were never one for wasting time!

The truth was, just as Ye Chong boarded the starship, Shang had secretly gained control over the entire ship. While the starship was better in terms of armory and automotive power compared to his last experience with Nast, its anti hacking system was far inferior. Shang managed to hack in with his first try, and obtained the highest access rights for Glinton!

From that moment on, Ye Chong waited for the perfect moment, the moment to deliver the fatal blow to his enemy, so that he could escape the Sanctuary's grasp! The one he was most cautious of was Mu Fei. As for the other mech pilots, Ye Chong believed that, given the environment they were in, Guardian was more effective than their mechs. Besides, he had Shang's help!

Black Cove's appearance was a surprise to Ye Chong, but he quickly realized that this was a golden opportunity! However, just as he noticed his improvement in strategizing and adapting, a detailed plan of action was already presented to him. He finally understood one thing - Shang's evil nature made him a better choice than Mu to plan battle strategies!

The plan was comprised mainly of ambushing, faking and similarly cunning moves, almost as if they were made just for Ye Chong, the natural hunter!

The entire plan was truly insidious! Unexpectedly, the captain was unknowingly cooperative. As the exchange transmission was sent, Shang immediately made some appropriate changes to their plan! For Shang, who had the entire Glinton system under control, modifying the exchange transmission was a piece of cake! That was how a patronizing and insulting message was sent out by Shang instead!

The effect was marvelous! Black Cove's commander in chief was obviously infuriated. Of course, it was partly because they were confident of their strength, since they had 50 Cosmic Flares!

They also did not expect the inconspicuous Glinton to harbor such a powerful combat force, and the result was a terrifying battle! Whether it was Black Cove or the Sanctuary, neither of them was the winner of the battle!

Shang's plan extended even further! He had predicted that Black Cove would ultimately prevail, and that Mu Fei would head out by then! The entire plan depended on the time when Fei Mu left the captain's quarters to the combat preparation room.

There were no more combatants in the captain's quarters by then. Using the immediate darkness to his advantage, Ye Chong maneuvered Guardian and easily ended the bloodbath in the captain's quarters! Gone were the dangerous threats before him!

What Ye Chong had to do now was stop Mu Fei before he reached the combat preparation room! Without entering the combat preparation room, Mu Fei could not deploy his mech! Without a mech's protection, no matter how good Mu Fei was as a mentalist pilot, he would definitely not stand a chance against Guardian!

"Attack the enemy at his weakest when you are at your strongest!" Shang crowed, pleased with himself, and Ye Chong felt like hitting the mech in the face!

Guardian landed with slightly bent knees and pushed forward, and Ye Chong shot past the cabin door like a furious golden arrow!

Ye Chong's legs were powerful, and made even more so through Guardian's amplification! Ye Chong stepped onto the ground and pushed, and flew a dozen meters ahead, giving the illusion of Ye Chong running with a long stride!

Ye Chong was highly focused. He dared not be careless as he moved rapidly through the narrow corridors!

Mu Fei suddenly stopped in his tracks. He could hear a faint buzzing sound approaching him, and it was moving fast! He stood on alert and listened carefully. What speed! It must be above Mach 6! It if was outside, Mach 6 may not be particularly surprising, but if there was anything moving faster than Mach 6 in the ship, it was a terrifying prospect!

Mu Fei's face turned grim!

Suddenly, Mu Fei's vision turned into blackness, and entire corridor's lights all went out!

Enemy ambush!

All of a sudden, he shouted loudly. His usually gentle eyes were now sharp as an unsheathed blade. He turned quickly and pushed to the side with both his hands while his waist bent unnaturally like a boneless muscle, effectively moving himself forcibly to the side by 30 centimetres!

His hands came into contact with something cold - it was metal! What was this thing? Mu Fei was shocked and furious! The airstream that came from the high velocity brushed painfully across Mu Fei's face!

Mu Fei felt his hands burned.While he had deftly pushed away the unknown object, his hands were significantly wounded! However, if not for his perfectly timed movement, his hands would have been gone for good! Besides, he could still feel the ghost of a sharp fin of some sort from the unknown object barely grazing past his neck, the chilling danger spread goosebumps all over his body!

In the darkness, blind to his surroundings, Mu Fei waited in anticipation. At the moment, he could only rely on his ears and instinct!

Could someone have infiltrated the ship?

Before he could consider any further, he felt another gust coming towards him threateningly. The strong sense of danger came from deep within him, and almost reflexively, he evaded to the left! At the same time, his hands pushed downwards! No mentalist pilot would ignore his instincts, and Mu Fei as an excellent one himself strongly believed in his instincts!

Another chilling gust swept past his neck, the attack missing by millimeters! Mu Fei finally knew what was constantly threatening him with a beheading! With his rich experience, he immediately realized that it must be some kind of dagger-like weapon!

Before he could analyse any further, he heard a thump! His hands, pressing downwards, felt like they had came into contact with a mech charging straight at him!

"Ah!" He yelled from the unbearable pain! "It was metal!" This was the only thought that flashed in his mind before the pain came! Bones were exposed on his arms as the flesh came off! His hands did not seem to do anything to hinder the attack that came from beneath, because the opponent was too powerful! The other party's attack had hit his abdomen!

He felt pain in the abdomen, and Mu Fei could not help but bend forward. His mind was empty, and he could no longer think! In the confusion that followed, Mu Fei, who had never experienced such a heavy blow, suddenly felt an irrational sense of joy!

Before he could recover from the confusion, he felt a chill in his nape and warm fluid spraying onto his legs. His vision grew darker!

With his body bent forward, Mu Fei fell to the ground!

The attack he received came from Ye Chong's right knee!

In the darkness, Ye Chong could not help but be surprised. Mu Fei was truly a remarkable character. Given the dire situation, he still managed to react as he did. Without Guardian, he was probably not a match against this man! Ye Chong believed that he himself could not react against such an ambush!

The lights in the corridor suddenly came on! The corridors were illuminated brightly, with both ends of the corridor sealed shut!

Shang hasted Ye Chong, "Ye, quick, those guys can't hang on much longer!"

Ye Chong quickly withdrew Guardian and ran to Mu Fei's corpse. Mu Fei died with his body bent forward, his arms bloody, and his neck marked with the fatal wound 10 centimeters long from a dagger. Blood was still streaming out from the wound.

Ye Chong ignored the strong scent of blood as he crouched down and began to search Mu Fei's body. Ye Chong moved quickly. In 12 seconds, he removed everything Mu Fei had on his body!

A string with a spindle-shaped pendant caught Ye Chong's attention.

"Yes, that's the one! Ye, quickly, to the combat prep room!" Shang spoke urgently, for time was crucial.

Ye Chong heard mechs approaching and threw all the other things in his bag without going through them. His hand grasped onto the pendant as he ran towards the combat preparation room. Up until this moment, everything was going as planned! Ye Chong was also confident toward Shang's plan!

The combat preparation room was where mech pilots go to before combat. The area was spacious, and pilots can deploy their mechs here and slip into their mechs. There were also plenty of supplies at hand.

In the combat preparation room, Ye Chong held onto the spindle shaped pendant and studied it for a moment before pressing gently on its tip!

All mechs that utilized brainwave controlled dimension keystones had a unique feature - whenever their user was certified as brain dead, all previous information would be wiped clean, and the mech would become a white mech!

In that moment, a light green mech appeared before Ye Chong!

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Chapter 165: Bluff

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

This mech was most definitely modelled after a bird. As for what kind of bird it was, Ye Chong had no idea! The murky green surface was covered with a layer of light green glimmer, the result of photon excitement. Only advanced level mechs with enough energy stored would have such an appearance, just like when Ye Chong saw a similar glimmer on Mu and Shang.

Its long and thin body shape was in contrast with the usual bulky build of average mechs, and this mech appeared to be as agile as a bird.

The Sanctuary's mechs were different from the various mech models that Ye Chong was familiar with, so Ye Chong could not tell their performance, but he could still identify some features that mark the quality of a Sanctuary's mech.

For example, their mechs were always on the same level as their owners. Another example would be that their advanced level mechs were usually modelled after birds. While Ye Chong did not recognize the various types of birds, he could still identify this similarity.

The mech before him was definitely an advanced level mech from the Sanctuary, because of its wings! Ye Chong had seen those wings before, on the purple mech that appeared when he was surrounded by the MPA.

Like the purple mech, this mech had a very lifelike pair of wings! Ye Chong was not sure if they were more like lateral wings or folding wings. Like wings on actual birds, they too had many feather-like small metallic plates. Ye Chong believed that this type of wings must offer some special moves. The strong defensive abilities of the purple mech's wings from last time left a deep impression with Ye Chong!

Now that a mech like this had fallen into his hands, he would definitely have to study it closely! Ye Chong laughed to himself at the thought.

The only regrettable fact was that now was obviously not the time to study the mech! For the moment, every second was precious and must not be wasted!

Ye Chong slipped into the mech's cabin quickly. To fly this mech, there was another issue that needed attention, and that was the initial configurations! Every white mech must undergo initial configuration before usage. It was not a step that could be skipped, or some functionalities would be barred from the user! Fortunately, this was not Ye Chong's first time doing this. He hands moved across the controls effortlessly.

The name of this mech was Overwing. Of course, Shang could not help but sneer at the odd and plain name, mocking its lack of style!

His eyes swept across the controls, and Ye Chong got a rough overview of the mech's available functions. He was very grateful, however, he had kill Mu Fei before the man himself could deploy his mech, or he might not have been able to finish him off.

Compared to other mechs, Overwing was similar to them in terms of basic maneuvering, so that would not be a problem.

The hatch that led outside opened, and Ye Chong took off with Overwing out and into space.

Just as Ye Chong left the ship, the Sanctuary had only four mechs left struggling to survive. However, none of them were retreating, a testimony to their discipline.

Overwing's appearance, however, brought a change to the battlefield!

Overwing shone with a light green glimmer all over its surface, its shiny wings spread out at the back, an eye-catching sight in the darkness of space. As the remaining four Dawn mechs saw Overwing, they immediately felt encouraged, and managed to slightly recover their defenses against the enemy!

The Black Cove mechs saw Overwing as well, and as Ye Chong was troubling over how to deal with them, he was surprised to find the remaining 10 Black Cove mechs escaping, leaving the four heavily damaged Dawn mechs, retreating as though they had seen the Devil!

It was strange, too peculiar! Ye Chong stared at their retreating backs!

Ye Chong did not know the reputation that came with the mech he was flying, the Overwing, amongst the Three Forces! Mu Fei's Overwing was one of the Sanctuary's trump cards. Mu Fei was a modest person, and the most popular of the Sanctuary's trump cards. He was equally known for his excellent combat skills, on par with the other trump cards!

Trump cards play a very important role amongst the Three Forces! Outstanding combat skills and powerful mechs were a combination that could often decide the outcome of a battle! The Three Forces spared no effort in promoting the strength of their trump cards. Besides making them role models for others, it was also an intimidation strategy for their enemies. Legends involving these trump cards were similarly spread far and wide.

As the 10 Black Cove mechs saw Overwing, they were immediately horrified. They did not expect to see a trump card on the ship, and this was not an opponent that average mechs could hope to defeat. To stop a trump card, only another trump card would do!

Black Cove's commander in chief was also shocked with Overwing's appereance, and immediately ordered his squad's retreat. If not for his orders, they would never have escaped, an embodiment of Black Cove's strong discipline!

What was this starship up to? The commander in chief was curious. With four of the Sanctuary's standard combat squad and a trump card, he did not believe that they were only out on a routine flight! This was obviously beyond the Sanctuary's borders, and usually they would not send such a strong battle force beyond the Orbits if not for some mission! He was also certain that they were not out for Black Cove, since his mission this time was definitely top secret. What baffled him was also the other party's active provocation. With a trump card on their side, Mu Fei in particular, how could he have waited the near annihilation of his own forces before coming out? Word was that Mu Fei was always leading the charge, showing care for his subordinates and highly looked up upon! Were the stories only fiction?

For the moment, he was occupied with many questions, but he still gave the order he thought was best, which was to retreat the ship.

The remaining four Dawn mechs all looked to Overwing, but Overwing did not move, so they could only watch as the enemy escaped! However, they could not help but feel that if they were to pursue, the enemy would be vanquished! Nonetheless, the Sanctuary's trump card had absolute authority over the mech pilots - there must be a reason for his decision! That was the conclusion of the four mech pilots.

Sir Mu Fei's mech waved, a signal to return to their ship.

They paused. Why would Sir not used the comms? However, the signal was clear, and while they were confused, the four mech pilots still flew to Ye Chong's side. They could never know that while the mech was Overwing, the pilot inside was not their respected Sir Mu Fei, but the seemingly weak young boy! It would be a crazy fact for them to take in!

The five mechs flew to the nearby ship, and as the hatch opened up, the five mechs drifted in one by one through the hatch!

The four Dawn mechs were heavily damaged, and as they landed, the pilots immediately slipped out. The battle was intense, and they were all strung up, but now they could finally relax. While they were all highly trained, all of them now wore a tired expression! Now out of their mechs, they waited for Sir Mu Fei to come out too.

After a while, Sir still did not come out.

The four men looked towards the Overwing in confusion. As they marveled at the elegance and might of Overwing, one question still bothered them - what's with Sir?

They were still confused when four laser beams abruptly shot towards them.

On each of their foreheads was a thumb-sized hole of blood. Before the four pairs of confused and now dead eyes, Ye Chong leaped out of the pilot cabin. He stepped onto the deck as the four men fell backwards lifelessly!

At such a short distance, with so much time, even if Ye Chong's shooting skills were deplorable, and Overwing's auto shooting was far from the MPA's level, those four shots still managed to accurately hit their targets. Ye Chong even imagined that it could be due to his improving shooting skills!

The final group of people who could be a threat to him was finally dealt with.

Ye Chong exhaled deeply in relief!

The most successful part of the plan was that no one onboard the ship had time to report to the Sanctuary of what had transpired. This meant that the Sanctuary knew nothing of what happened on Glinton! This was very important to Ye Chong, since if he next meet with the Sanctuary's people, his skills as a skeleton carver could still be useful! However, he must first come up with a reasonable story of what happened!

While he believed it was unlikely for him to have anything to do with the Sanctuary in future, it was still best to prepare for it!

Glinton flew onwards in space.

In the large space of the captain's quarters was Ye Chong, alone. Of course, Shang also came out for a breather. The room was large enough for him! Ye Chong had cleared out the bodies, and after days of internal cleansing, the scent of blood was no longer present.

The entire Glinton had only Ye Chong and Shang as its passengers. Shang controlled the entire starship, since if the ship was given to Ye Chong, he would not be able to fly it!

"What's our next step?" Ye Chong asked.

"Look for Lu Caite's teacher, cure your illness. However, we must find a planet quickly to access the virtual world, and find out where the teacher is! According to Lu Caite, his teacher seemed capable enough," Shang replied.

Ye Chong disagreed. "No, we're too close to the Orbits here, it's going to be easy for the Sanctuary to sense us, then we'll be in trouble!"

"Hmm, that's true, it's really troublesome! Looks like it's better if we go as far as possible away from this place!" Shang agreed.

"That's right! But Shang, do you have a star chart?" Ye Chong asked.

"I do, quite a few of them for beyond the Orbits!" Shang spoke proudly.

"Then we can do a warp jump?" Ye Chong asked with faint anticipation.

"Yes!" Shang replied briskly!

Chapter 166: A Slip of the Hand

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Shang, have we arrived yet?" asked Ye Chong in his Captain's seat.

According to what Lu Caite had stated, his teacher Mr. Wang Weixing could very likely be at a medical institute on Windstar. Based on the galactic layout stored inside Mu Shang's databank, Windstar should be located in the galaxy of Csebesini and it was a planet well-known for its tourism. The globe mainly consisted of attractive and poetic sceneries, frequented with intergalactic tourists who adored and appreciated the unique view of its flora and fauna.

Hence, the final destination both Ye Chong and Shang had agreed on turned out to be outer space which was three days away from the Windstar. Ye Chong would leave and trigger the self-destruct system on the ship, just to make sure that no trace would remain to guide those fearsome ones from the Sanctuary there. The location of Windstar might be extremely distant from the Orbits, but Ye Chong did not intend to let his guard down yet, as he was very much aware of the strength of the Sanctuary, their armed forces, their psychic abilities. He might not be that vulnerable to their strike, still he felt that such kind of mistake was never necessary to begin with.

"Uh… Bad news, Ye. I'm sorry to inform you that…" Shang's tone was blatantly awkward.

"What bad news? Are you going to say that the Sanctuary actually had made it here and they are just behind? No way! They can't be finding me out this quickly! Don't tell me my luck is so terrible that we bumped into one of their men in our course!" Ye Chong's expression was spelling astonishment.

"Not… Not that bad, Ye." Shang sounded like a shrinking violet, "It's just that we met a tiny… issue." Somehow the words kept clogging at his audio system.

"Tiny problem you mean?" Ye Chong raised his brows and asked in bewilderment. "What kind of problem was it?"

"Umm… Ye. So, my calculation was a little, a little off from the actuality. Just a little." Shang sounded like a boy who tried covering up for his mistake in front of his mother after he accidentally spilled ice cream on his younger sister.

"Off? Mistake?" Ye Chong looked at Shang in disbelief, "Shang, you actually make mistakes? Stop pulling my leg!" Shang, an advanced Photon-Stimulated Intelligence, the lecturer of life, the computerized interrogator of torment, told me that he made a mistake? This is too much. Shang's calculation might not be as powerful as Mu, but it was still quite groundbreaking for Ye Chong to hear from this robotic genius admitting, declaring his mistake.

"Ahem… Ye, stop looking at me like that… I'm feeling shy you know…" The bleeping mechanical eyes of Shang blinking in blue hues with that somehow eerie tone of his, was goosebumps-inducing to Ye Chong.

"So now what are we gonna do?" The outcome was always Ye Chong's priority.

"We are currently at a course named the 'Solrivia'," stated Shang.

"How far is that from the Windstar?" This was more of his concern than the name of the orbit they were traveling on.

"Ummm…" Shang halted, "Not too far… But we can't do a direct flight there, somehow."

Ugh.

The veins bloated on Ye Chong's forehead, tried his best inhibiting his fury, he asked, "Then how long are we going to take to the Windstar on this space-jump?"

"Uhh, Ye, the issue was not the duration, rather… well, the remaining energy on this ship was insufficient to perform the following space-jump." Shang turned back to his usual self again, not the slightest shame was felt in his words, "The distance of the space-warp this time is a bit too far. Great amount of energy would be needed for consumption!"

The bloated veins on Ye Chong's forehead pumped harshly a few times, "Shang…" Biting his teeth, "Have you ever considered confessing your so-called 'mistake' to me? Like sincerely apologetically?"

"Aw c'mon Ye, don't be so grim. You can't say no to Angela's latest photo collection. Ye, let me clarify something for you… Angela's body has got to be the best among all stars I had seen before. The curve was superb, mhmm, magnefique! Seniorita, you are the God's gift I could ever have," exclaimed Shang, like a poet by the beach, acted very much indulged in his joy, "I was calculating her figures, you know, the golden proportion of her 'curves' that makes her so flawless, so adorable, so alluring? Ye, do you know what I had gotten in the end?"

"Oh…" Ye Chong replied uninterestedly, "What you got?"

"Holy Matrimony, her body was the exact tangent and proportion of what the public considered as perfection, both theoretically and practically. It was too dramatic the moment I discovered this very truth of my life. It was shocking, as much as how the humanity reacted the moment they discovered space-travels." Shang was worked up.

"More importantly, you mean you missed on the calculation of our space-jump course just because of how astounded you were over her figures?" inquired Ye Chong calmly.

"That aside! That aside! It's just a tiny, little, minuscule problem. A very small issue," Shang's expression was lustrous to Ye Chong's eyes somehow.

"If there's a black hole here now, I would not hesitate to lob you there," Ye Chong's wrath erupted as he sprung from his seat and made a few violent kicks at Shang.

"Ouch… Aw… Ow… the pain. The agony." Shang pulled off his cheap acting skills and whimpered along. But then he realized that would make him less assertive, "Ye, frankly speaking…" reminded Shang, "You lack an effective method of striking…"

"I … Ugh! Don't! Ugh! Care! Ugh!" He exerted heavier force on his kick.

The weirdest moment in galactic history of a man messing with a mech ended eventually. Panting, he sat down, yes, technically, Ye Chong was the only panting one in the "fight", Shang on the other hand had his face pretty much adorned by a new set of footprints and looked like a beggar at the street.

Despite all that, Ye Chong somehow felt as if he had turned the time back when he was still on Trash Planet-12, spending his days messing with Mu, having fun.

"Shang…" Catching his breath, Ye Chong further inquired, "What's the nearest planet… now…"

"An isolated planet," replied Shang, "It is uninhabited as what I see. There's nothing on it, not even resources. So people were not even interested to develop the place."

"So are you saying that we got to wait here for another spaceship passerby?" Ye Chong sounded dejected.

"Mhm, technically. But don't worry, Ye. This course is very much populated. It has the greatest chance of encountering another spaceship. Moreover, this spaceship has a rich supply of food. So you don't have to worry about being starved to death." Ye Chong could feel his pupils rolling in the quantum singularity within his skull.

And he finally experienced what Shang meant by "very much populated" this time, by waiting… for 7 days… That was really populated, Shang. A ship was detected on the scanner, heading towards them.

Of course Ye Chong did not spend the past 7 days having a talk with Shang, the Master of Primal Philosophy. He was performing a thorough inspection on Overwing.

Ye Chong was not aware of the fact that Mu Fei was the ace of the Sanctuary and apparently he did not seem to recognize the actual standard of this mech called Overwing he was piloting on. Other than the wings that were giving him weird vibes, the mech was full of surprises.

Ye Chong had also been spending the week getting familiar with the execution. The Overwing was certainly an excellent mech from various aspects. Ye Chong was confident to state that this could be the best mech he had ever spotted thus far, other than Mu Shang and the Guardian. Not even the extraordinary craft of skeletons like Han Jia could compete with Overwing. It even started to make Ye Chong wonder if this was the greatest invention hidden inside the Sanctuary.

The design of Overwing appeared to be rather plain from different angles. However the design seemed to be as fit as a fiddle after a bit of deduction on the figures. Ye Chong with his sharp eyes could tell the amount of efforts, the bleeding sweat of the designer imbue within this craft.

Well, Ye Chong did not perform an ultimate analysis over every inch of the mech. He just took a glance at the hologram. Time was still the obstacle to kill his leisure of doing it. Overwing was also the kind of mech forbidden from being seen by the public. That would alert the Sanctuary for sure if they were ever noticed by the people around. Ye Chong shuddered as he imagined the swarm of psychic-armed pilots chasing after him if they knew what in the world had he done. As a result, in spite of the supreme quality of Overwing, Ye Chong could barely lay a finger on the steed. No doubt, it was torturing to a mech maniac like him. It would be a far better choice to do something else more meaningful than piloting Overwing on a big scale at the moment.

After the runaway, there remained 4 wounded Dawn mechs on the ship. Well, the saving grace was Glinton was well-supplied with tools to do pretty much anything on a mech. So Ye Chong began running his little workshop once more, repairing the 4 mechs since 7 days ago. The Dawn mechs could have been some cheapskate model after seeing Overwing the Empowered, but then a backup mech could still work very well as a backup mech. No waste, Ye Chong felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

The 4 Dawn mechs were glossing in the pink of health after Ye Chong's skillful repair.

Ye Chong's list of loots from his run did not end here. He had also acquired quite a number of precious-looking items from Mu Fei, like this strange plate for example - it was a name plate crafted with an unknown plant, filled with peculiar twirls and waves and was pierced with a silver thread. The plant must have undergone some kind of unusual finishing, as Ye Chong actually felt it warm and tender on touch! If it was not Shang who informed him that it was made out of a plant, Ye Chong would never believe that a plant could act in such odd texture, though Shang did not have any idea what kind of plant it was.

The next thing which caught his attention was a few tubes about breadth of his index finger. These tubes had one end sealed and the other opened. Some of them were packed with spherical pills, about 10 of them, while some were powder and … sticky liquids. These were like treasure to someone who had spent his or her days on Trash Planet like Ye Chong, as he knew their value and significance, especially when this was the master medication for the Sanctuary insiders.

He kept the 5 tubes carefully within him. The tubes could be the holy light to his survival! The name plates and the other pointless-looking things were stuffed into his waist bag instead.

The entire database of Glinton had been absorbed by Shang. The best part was the database actually contained a map of the Orbits. Although it defined a tiny scope of the Orbits, Shang treasured it as much as Ye Chong treasured the tubes, as he copied it happily into his system.

The detection system of Glinton was considered to be very developed, as the detection system specialized for the spaceship did not limit its capabilities on the size of the traveling items in the scope. Hence, it was way more powerful than the detection system on most mechs.

As stated by the outcome of the detection, a long-term intergalactic travel spaceship was heading towards them sluggishly. There was still a bit of a distance so far and the spaceship did not seem to have noticed Glinton in the dark.

"What a waste of Glinton, Ye. You know, this lassie could easily sell for a gorgeous price in whichever market," Shang was remorseful as he muttered.

Ye Chong did not have the intention to comment on this money enslaved machinery though as he tapped the few switches by his side. The cabin was opened promptly. Towards the boundless space, Ye Chong, in his Han Jia, flew out. The self-destruct system had already been activated on Glinton. In 3 minutes, this spaceship would become debris scattered over the galaxy after a flare blinding the space. The Sanctuary shall never be able to find the remnants of their craft and they would never discover anything happened on it before.

The debris would be the wanderers, spreading witness of their demise!

Han Jia's speed was high by nature, so the 3 minutes were a graceful ride of Ye Chong leaving the cabin, flying far away enough to avoid the explosion. As he travelled rapidly away from the spot, his eyes discerned the glaring light behind and he knew that Glinton had gone down. A stage increased on his velocity, Han Jia sped up once more. He would not want to be hit by the specks from the explosion.

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Chapter 167: Ye Chong the Bumpkin

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Bumpkin

"Captain! Look over there!" One of the crew members on S.S. Luminosity pointed at one portion of the interface as he boomed.

At one moment everyone's sight conglomerated at that particular spot on the screen.

A cluster of flare bloomed like an enchanted lotus on fire, in the midst of darkness soundlessly.

"It's an explosion… by a ship!"

"Yes sir!"

"Sigh, the members of that cruise are such a pity."

The crew members rumbled in the Captain's Room.

The captain was obviously not expecting an explosion by a spaceship on a course that had been secure the whole time. He flinched at first, but he snapped out of his astonishment quickly as he shouted, "What are all of you waiting for? Go and save the ship!" The crew members' confusion was dispelled as they hurried outside, "Look out for those pieces!" the captain added briefly.

All spaceships like Luminosity were readied with escape pods, which their outside was layered with a special kind of reinforced metal that could repel almost all sorts of rays in the space while the inside contained 30-day supply of oxygen, energy refill and water. The escape pod also had an in-built signal transmitter, which would spread SOS signals to the surrounding at all times. The escape pods were to provide an emergency exit for crew members under severe conditions. The actual function turned out to be not as great as its psychological function though, other than the sense of security exerted by this extra pathway to the outside safely, every experienced crew member is very much aware of the vastness of the space, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime miracle if one could ever be found and rescued in the escape pod within 30 days.

Despite all that, the escape pod was still the essential facility on the space ship back then. And every spaceship crew who received the SOS signal nearby would initiate the rescue process proactively.

Within twinkling of eyes, few tens of mechs zoomed out of the cabin of Luminosity. None of those few tens mechs were combat models however.

Ye Chong had already noticed these mechs much earlier before. He avoided these mechs flawlessly. Well, Han Jia was certainly not the kind of mech that could be detected by these low-end detection system by some sailor mechs.

He came to one gate at the bottom of the ship. While standing by, Shang had already hacked into the control panel of Luminosity, since it was simply hacking elementary for Shang to get into a commercial computer system in a service ship. He did not perform anything dramatic in particular, he only unlocked the gate right before Ye Chong.

And that was how Ye Chong sneaked into Luminosity, without making a sound. Under Shang's guidance, Ye Chong successfully dodged all the crew members on the ship and directly gained access to one of the resting rooms fro passengers with suave. Shang generated a new entry for Ye Chong on the passenger list in the processor of Luminosity. In a few seconds, Ye Chong had officially become the passenger on this intergalactic service craft. And Shang took a peek at their course, apparently Luminosity was not heading anywhere near Windstar. Hence, Ye Chong had to get off at a planet called Liche and took an alternate transit to Windstar.

Ye Chong found his room.

He slipped into the room instantly. Shut the door tight, he let off a sigh of relief and started taking a look around. The room was well-facilitated from both the aspects of entertainment and living. It was quite spacious too. There were even clothing for changing readily in the wardrobe. And Ye Chong picked and changed into one of them without hesitation. The fashion style in the Orbits was utterly bizarre by nature and he did not intend to be discriminated for appearing like a weirdo from some space jail or something.

The crew members returned to their mothership after they discovered no escape pod from the debris. Doubts lingered in the captain as he wondered why a spaceship would explode on its own without any forewarning. He could not find any sound reason to rationale it either. But well if there was not a single escape pod, he let go of that thought and decisively commanded to carry on their course.

It was dinner time a moment later. Although there was no concept that would define day and night in space of ever-darkness, the habit remained rooted among most of the people, where they would head out for meals during these periods.

Frankly speaking, the taste of the food on Glinton was something to be shunned away from. Since Glinton was mostly boarded with disciplined combat members in their trainings, they would only care about the calorie of the food, never the taste.

On the contrary, Luminosity, being a service flight, did cookery so much better than Glinton. Not only they served a variety of cuisines, the food generally tasted fine too, which was such a mouth-watering experience to Ye Chong who had been taking inhumane edibles in the past as he could not hold but to chomp the scrumptious food before him. Most of the passengers on-board would prefer having their meals at the restaurant, since an intergalactic travel was known to be distant and seemingly endless and helplessly people would feel alone at times, they would adore interactions with people, which justified the populated restaurant and bars. Those were the hit places for passengers.

Ye Chong occupied the entire table alone. Towards the people around, he was not as tensed as before. He at the moment had understood a lot of stuffs, for example the concept of the so-called "law" mentioned by people in the 5 major galaxies was apparently very effectively restrictive towards most of the folks. Unlike the Orbits, residents in the 5 major galaxies were more peace-loving. So it would be a rare sight to see something like a sudden raid or an offensive dispute between people.

Ye Chong had dipped himself in the delicious meals, showing no concern towards the people around.

His action caught the attention of the people in the surrounding. They had been having similar meals for past few weeks, even the best table of gourmet experience would feel like a stew in a canteen. And that was when they saw someone eating them in immense enjoyment. "So weird…," whispered the people. But then, soon the people shifted their focus back onto their own table, as they carried chatting with the others right next to them.

An aroma wafted through the breeze. Ye Chong lifted his face from the bowl of rice. To his surprise, a lady sat right opposite him.

Ye Chong was slightly alarmed, though he did not express it on his face.

And he heard a whistle from his head, "Wow, such a lass. Ye, how much donkey luck do you have? Why are you always bumping into beauties?" howled Shang.

Shang was not exaggerating. The lady before Ye Chong was in fact a beauty. Her face was round yet her features were distinctive; the pair of eyes were large and looked watery; her dark hair glossed like a veil of aurora on a winter's night; the curves, no doubt were eye-catching and certainly a magnet to people in sight. The critical blow she delivered was none other than the unbuttoned shirt of hers. The bustiness could be felt squeezing through the gap of that two undone buttons anytime soon. You could somehow see it, but somehow you could not, which by then you would forget the fact that you had been staring at them the whole time.

As usual, Ye Chong did not feel anything particular about this lass. Shang had always been howling at almost every lady came into his sight. His "standards" were dubious but judging by the constant stares from the people around, he decided to take in that quality assured judgment of Shang.

He stared on, with one or two rice lumps stuck on his face. It was a little amusing.

Psh!

"Hahahahahahaha!" The lass could act in grace no longer as she burst out laughing seeing that face of Ye Chong. Ye Chong's sensitive hearing had already perceived the consecutive gasps coming from his surrounding, including Shang's, only that his expressive gasp rang in his head.

"What's the matter?" asked Ye Chong calmly. He had tried his best toning down the coldness of his tone, yet that innate coldness of his dawdled. Ye Chong did not want to attract attention and he had experienced enough to understand that his indifference had always been the culprit. To remain low-profiled, he succumbed to act normal like the other folks he had seen before.

"Ye, your muscles, the muscles of your face, too stiff. Tsk, tsk, tsk." Shang could not resist firing his sarcasm.

The veins on Ye Chong's forehead puffed up and were forced back under his skin. Act normal, he got to act normal. Damn you Shang! Cursed Ye Chong countless times.

The lady stayed silent however. Oh well, Ye Chong was not in a mood of staging himself either so he completely neglected her as he carried on gashing his bowl.

"Was it that good?" The beauty initiated. Her voice rang like the chirp of the nightingale… And it had just caused another round of barrel gasping from the surrounding. Ye Chong lifted his face again and the beauty looked at him gleefully. Her eyes expressed curiosity and humor.

"Oh. Yes. Not bad. You could try." His face did look stiff, which caused the way he talked appeared to be awkward.

"Ye, please. Your face is cramping soon. I can see it!" Shang fearlessly continued his live commentary in Ye Chong's head.

"Why you Shang!" Roared Ye Chong in his head, which only led to a madder laugh from the artificial indulgence. Somehow he did feel his face twitching, especially after Shang had mentioned it, wondering if it was just his overthinking.

"Hahaha~"the lady giggled while covering her mouth. Her charm was such a natural captivation and Ye Chong could already speculate the next wave of gasps incoming. And as he expected, the gasps resounded tidily. Their breather intensified, with some sound of people crashing onto the floor this time.

"You are so interesting." The lady smiled joyfully and she reached out her slender arms, with a glow of a refined jade. She grabbed one stem of turnip and put into her mouth, "Hmm…" muffled, "Let me try."

D-Did she literally try it? Ye Chong went speechless as he watched the so-called beauty before her.

"Shang, did you not mention that lines like those were just out of courtesy and not reality? Why the heck did she really taste it?" inquired Ye Chong.

"She is a true beauty, even the way she eats was cute as hell, alluring as heaven! Sigh, Ye, save your words, it's just a turnip. When there's a beauty who went ahead and took the food you had bitten before, that is the moment you should be glad." The artificial indulgence was enjoying the scene.

"Glad?" snickered Ye Chong and he went quiet, eating on.

Looked at how frantically Ye Chong dined, the lady was further intrigued as she licked her fingers and giggled sweetly, "It looks really good… for some reason…" And she reached out her hands again. "Oh?" Right at that moment Ye Chong lifted his face the third time and the lady realized the entire bowl had been cleaned up. It was spotless, as if fresh from the washing machine. She flinched and exploded, "Hahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!" Bowed, she held her stomach.

The other passengers who saw the sight went dumbfounded as well. Then an outbreak of laughter occurred, "Bumpkin! What a donkey!" And Ye Chong heard it from the crowd.

Ye Chong was insensible towards these reactions. What have these to do with myself? My food are mine and it should not be invaded. It was the common characteristic among all species on Trash Planet. Don't tell me people at this place are doing it differently? Bewildered, he inquired, "Shang did I do something wrong again?"

"Haha… Oh… Hahaha… Ahahahaha… Ye… That… That was … That was a killer move… You know, you are a real assassin… Ahahahahaha…" The mechanical voice box seemed to be broken soon from the laughter.

Killer move it would be. I had already done it. Ye Chong reacted with honesty. I don't know her anyway, why am I sharing my own food with her?

"Kiddo! Get lost!" And that was when a fierce voice rushed in.

He turned his face over and found a few beefy guys standing at the side, staring him with a bloodthirsty look. The body was inflated with muscles and they looked threatening. There was even a guy with a large cut on the face, which made him more menacing than ever. Their eyes were filled with blatant hostility, while the so-called beauty was… acting… very… uhh… Ye Chong ran out of words suddenly. Technically, the guys came for the beauty.

The other passengers scurried out of the restaurant as they noticed the stern change of atmosphere. Only some daring ones remained to watch the show.

"Are you talking to me?" Indifferently Ye Chong said, as inside he was impressed of how calm the beauty remained despite the existence of the few hulks before her.

"Of course we are talking to you! Do you f*cking want to die so hard? Playing the dumb out of me? F*cking hell!" The leader of the hulks was enraged. Ye Chong's words failed clearly as he went on grabbing Ye Chong's collars.

The beauty who witnessed all these shrieked!

Ye Chong lowered his head and tilted his body slightly. The grab was missed. The remaining people did not notice that chilliness hidden under the lids of his eyes.

"So you are somebody who knew something eh?" The leader of the hulk was surprised while his grunts reacted alarmingly as they circled around Ye Chong.

"That would be your last meal, Mr."

"You think you're tough eh?"

Right when they were going to launch a full whirlwind combo at Ye Chong, "Nobody moves!" A chain of stampeding came behind them with a bold voice boomed.

The beauty was much relaxed upon seeing this. The security had finally arrived. The chaos ended here!

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Chapter 168: We Meet Again

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Ye…," sighed Shang in his head. "What a waste of a wonderful opportunity, when you could have been the prince to save the princess from the evil brothers. Sigh, well, that was it. The golden opportunity, once-in-a-lifetime of the debut you could ever have, gone. Sigh, sigh, sigh." The cheesy words from Shang sure were sufficient material to make Ye Chong rolling his eyes like a working slot machine while lowering his head.

Let aside the debate on whether the female before her was considered a "beauty", Ye Chong had the intention to be the prince on the whitehorse to kill some possessed three-headed hulk to save a moaning princess.

Consecutive chains of footsteps came towards them. A crowd of security guards surrounded the scene, looking all eager to begin their routine execution with some of them also having a heat ray gun in each of their hands pointing at the hulks.

The gang feared of moving even a bit of their muscle. They could have been the muscular gang with outstanding fighting moves but they would never have the bravery to mess around when multiple heat ray guns were aiming.

The captain of the security team was a man in his forties. His thick pair of brows highlighted his dignified appearance, while every one of his gestures felt righteous and just. "Who are the troublemakers here?" His eyes skimmed through the folks and eventually paused at the group of beefy men.

"Hahahahahahaha!" The leader of the hulk was very much aware of the situation so he acted generously as he shrugged his shoulders in innocence, "We were just joking. We never expected the overreaction. Aw, we are so sorry!" The gang behind him was smiling gleefully along.

Karton the captain had his stern stare fixed on them. The awkward laughter ceased completely the moment they were given the silent treatment. His sight then shifted to the only lady at the place, "Is he saying the truth?"

Twitched the faces of the gang, their expression grew nervous as they looked at the lady, anticipating. The lady hesitated for a second, "Yes." She did not seem to intend causing more unnecessary issues so she nodded her head and gave her answer.

Upon receiving her response, Karton moved his eyes back onto the gang, his voice rang profoundly, "Well if that's the case, alright, we would let it slip. But I do hope that jokes of such kind would never appear again."

"True. I do agree," the leader hurriedly approved his statement.

The storm had somehow settled while it was still a breeze, with Karton leading his men away from the scene, remaining the two person at the restaurant. While leaving the place, Karton continuously shot his sight at the gang. Ye Chong on the other hand had long disappeared before they realized. It was a happy ending, except for the gang whose faces kept twitching in dissatisfaction and unwillingness and their mouths firing rounds of vulgarities, obviously being salty over the embarrassment they brought upon themselves.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was lively again like before as soon as the gang exited the place. And Ms. Shang-Said-She-Was-A-Beauty had become the center of attention as people crowded around her, trying to please her. The lady casually greeted them while her eyes were searching for that one particular silhouette, Ye Chong. And of course he was not in the crowd, which was slightly somber to her. "Thank you. Good night," she forced a smile and scrammed back to her room.

"Well, your own blockbuster of heroic tales had gone. Ye, are you really that unfortunate with beauties? That you always missed the chance of dating them? But why do you keep bumping in to beauties?" Shang's tone sounded confused.

Before Ye Chong could make a reply to shut him up, "Oh! It's already time to change!" Shang screamed gracelessly out of sudden, "God, what have I done to get such treatment? For you to force me out of the scene right after I encountered a charming lassie, this is the cruelest thing you could have ever done to humanity! Ye, let me tell yo-" The last syllable trailed off.

"Ye," the flat voice returned. It was Mu. Ye Chong could tell by one syllable.

"Yes, Mu. You are here, finally!" Ye Chong felt very much relieved. Shang could have been a mastermind at sometimes but he was never as reliable as Mu, like that space-jump mistake before for example. No way it would go wrong at Mu's hands! In addition, Shang's words were hardly as concise as Mu's, which was a constant headache to Ye Chong, including his anomalous approach in clarifying the problems. Those barely clarified the issues, rather it confused Ye Chong even more.

Ye Chong had a much simpler life with Mu, he was more accustomed to it. Nonetheless, Ye Chong recognized his weakness. He admitted that he would blunder in socialization, which Shang would come in handy at times. Well, the catch was, despite Shang's passionate lectures on his humanity, he probably would not have significant progression of any kind at the moment.

"It seems like Shang had given you quite some displeasure," stated Mu.

"Yeah, but he's always like that. At least he would be quieter when no lassie was around," Ye Chong confessed his belief.

"Well, he is considered the expert in this," concisely Mu concluded Shang's exceptional characteristic.

"True, true! We still need 10 more days till Rique. Then we would change to the other ship to get to Windstar. There seems to be a ride heading to Windstar there," briefed Ye Chong the situation, though chances were Mu had already known every bit of detail he was required to know.

"Mhm, the better efficiency could be achieved by hijacking this ship and forcing them to redirect the course to Windstar instead. As stated by my analysis, the destination would be reached in only 12 days if that is the case. Furthermore, after my calculation, the success rate of hijacking the ship is above 95%!" suggested Mu a brilliant plan.

Mu and Shang are totally 2 different kinds of species!

Hijacking? That could work but then… Ye Chong scrapped the idea after pondering a little. It would be disadvantageous for him to grab all the unnecessary attention if he were to hijack. His sole purpose of boarding this ship was to get to Windstar, silently, without alarming anybody and find that teacher of Dr. Lu, known as Dr. Wang Weixing to cure this haunting disease in him, so that he could settle down at a place anonymously and spend the rest of his life being a nobody. Only if he could get back the tranquil life he once had on Trash Planet-12…

Speaking of this haunting disease, Ye Chong was being skeptical of its activity. Wondering if it was because of the progression he made in his meditation or was it the nature of the disease itself, the time frame of inactivity between each cycle had been increasing each time somehow. It had been quite a while since Ye Chong's last acting-up. He was also wondering if he had already gotten used to the pain that he could standing strong against it when it happened or the pain was in fact diminishing over the time. Sometimes Ye Chong even speculated that the syndrome could disappear all by itself as time passed.

!

He opened his eyes and woke from the trance state of his meditation. Somehow the progression this time was pretty significant compared to before, maybe Ye Chong had not been doing it lately, so he could clearly feel that mental senses of his vibrating during meditation. Based on what that old Yin man had spat before, this should be counted as completion of the introductory level of meditation.

… which was utterly startling to Ye Chong as he truly thought he would take forever to even complete the introductory level of training with that snail development of his. And he ceased the training entirely after getting to Nine Gates City, as the mentalist and mentalist-pilot were everywhere, he dared not to perform meditation and was expecting to begin his training all over again. The reality was quite the contrary however, the progress was great. At first session after leaving Nine Gates City, he had achieved the elementary level. How could that not be startling to our Ye Chong?

He gave up figuring after a while of attempting a sound deduction for this.

Nevertheless, the benefits he got from meditating were absolutely heartfelt for him. His sight and hearing were naturally transcendent. Then the training this time had brought their capabilities up to the next level. The joyous part to Ye Chong was, his mind was clear, crystal-clear. It felt as if he was dipped in the water, chilling to the core and his dexterity improved.

Ye Chong felt the ringing coming from his stomach after waking up. A glance at the clock suggested that he had long passed the usual schedule for dining. The restaurant should be quite empty at that moment. And he headed out for food.

The restaurant on Luminosity operated all day, so you could go and have your meals any time of the day. Inside the enormous restaurant, Ye Chong stood alone. The so-called beauty was not there. What a relief. Sighed Ye Chong.

There were numerous food-supply machines at the place, which their main body being the long rectangular metallic cabinet resting on the ground with one end as the output. A processor stood right above the output slot.

He walked towards one of the supply machines and randomly tapped a few dishes on the processor. Most of the food was never-before-tasted to Ye Chong, so why not? Beep! Soon, a tray of those food he ordered got out to the ground. He grabbed it at once and shifted to one random spot. Thup. He placed down the tray and began digging in. There was nobody else and he decided to cut those restrictive table manners and gobbled.

Right when he was enjoying the food, muffles were heard. He lifted his head and discerned a gang of men entering the restaurant, with their words shamelessly echoing within the space as they disregarded everything else than themselves. Damn. Ye Chong knotted his brows. Aren't those the gangs he faced yesterday?

It was a fateful stare he made as the gang of men was looking right into his eyes. Their eyes lustered and sprang up from the chairs they had just sat on. Snickered, they walked towards Ye Chong and covered him up partially.

Ye Chong in response only took a glance and carried on his meal as if nothing had happened before.

"Kiddo. Heh! You are all alone this time. I'll see how you're gonna escape," sneered the leader as he inched towards Ye Chong, cracking his fingers loudly with his men sneering alone.

The strange part on their script was, the boy before them had hardly shown a hint of fear as his chopsticks never stopped moving even after they had made a debut and thrown their lines. No word was heard from the boy while the tingling sound of the bowl rang. Was this kiddo freed from hunger game recently? The leader found the reaction ridiculous.

He reminisced the embarrassment he bore when he and his men were engulfed by the security. Wrath began brewing inside him again, like a lighted match falling onto a pit of machine oil.

Hehehehe…

Hehehehehe…

The bulky men surrounded Ye Chong and could not stop sneering. Apparently they did not notice that condensed bloodthirstiness rolling inside his shrinking pupils.

"Kiddo, what a fateful encounter. You and I meet again, at the same place, right here. Hehehe!" A faked smile from the leader as his giant hands tapped the shoulder of Ye Chong. The remaining men stepped aside and anticipated the great show to begin. The puny boy was fragile by his look, slender and papery, which was perfect to be toyed and expressed dissatisfaction upon. A few of the men seemed eager to try too, obviously they wanted to join the show.

"Good bye, kiddo." The leader's hand reached for his shirt.

And their eyes blinded by a whirlwind. Before they could identify the situation, they heard an ear-piercing shriek shattering the peace in the restaurant.

Wait… Is-Isn't this voice… leader's? The men shuddered.

Simultaneously their sights converged on their leader, gasped together, their faces were drained!

To their horror, the right arm of their leader had been distorted, literally distorted, like a cinnamon roll badly fried with horrifying bones spurting from the elbow. The muscles were torn. As the blood capillaries were not harmed, only faint stains of blood tainted the bones. Nauseating it was, disgusting it looked.

The hulk miraculously was able to take the immense pain. He did not pass out right away, which was impressive for his endurance. That was also his misfortune however, as the pain seized his body, making him bow his back and grabbing his twisted arm, whimpering with his face squeezing awfully. It was petrifying.

People were dumbfounded, completely dumbfounded!

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Chapter 169: An Old Friend

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The harsh scream resounded in the empty restaurant.

Plain he had looked, shocking whenever he acted - this was the principle of Ye Chong's combats, though he would prefer not slaughtering anyone for real this time. It was the moment when he would be better off staying in the dark, who knows if the eyes of the Sanctuary happened to be wondering in the craft. If he were to further dramatize the entire incident, he would be very much exposed to their discovery.

Well, Ye Chong did not hesitate making them to pay a bit of price for misbehaving however. He even made up his mind, assuming they showed stubbornness and unreasonable resistance, he would not keep his slaughter knife. At most he would just go with Mu's hijacking plan instead. Of course, that plan would not happen till the very crucial moment where he was forced to.

The men of the wounded leader finally understood the whole situation as they reacted with anger, yelling and jumping on Ye Chong. Some of them even withdrew their dagger to avenge their leader.

The cold gaze blinked within his eyes. A tip to his toes and he weaved through the crowd like a shadow. Series of audible sounds of fisting and slapping followed. Men fell all over the place like cheap sandbags.

Below average! Rated Ye Chong quickly in his mind. For someone who had witnessed the masterly barehanded combats between the Black Covers, certainly these men had terrible skills.

Everyone else than Ye Chong were curling while wailing on the ground. Ye Chong did not harm them technically like what he did to their leader. To shock the enemies, you only have to do it once. So these men were just given a touch by his fist or kick. The technique was from his stay in Black Coves back then. The signature characteristic of Black Covers' technique was its ability to disable the mobility of enemies temporarily by deactivating certain spots of human bodies. No doubt, Ye Chong had defined the characteristic perfectly.

They were wailing on the ground, but none of them could move as part of their muscles had lost the dynamics for the moment.

Ow… Aw…

Man… Aww…

Save me…

Ye Chong sat back to his table and disregarded those annoying screams. He grabbed his chopsticks and went on taking his time finishing his meal. He had understood the fact of how each meal hardly came by back when he was on Trash Planet. No way he would prematurely end his meal because of these silly bullies, especially when wasting good food was an unforgivable sin to him.

He pushed the empty plate away from him and got up. Ignoring the wailing annoyance, he walked away.

A girl entered after that and…

Ellen covered her mouth, desperately forcing herself to not make any noises. Gosh, what the hell had happened in the restaurant just now? Why were there so many people lying on the ground? The shrill scream echoed inside her head and it was disturbing. Wait… She took a better look. Those men on the ground happened to be those malicious bullies she encountered the day before… what? Why are they lying here? And why are some of them wounded?

She observed the whining men on the ground. The first conclusion came across in her mind was shocking to her. They were hit… Yes they were hit by people, they were attacked. Such horrifying skill… The men were in total immobility… the attack even disabled their mobility… This is … eerie…

Ellen had been quite a stunning beauty since young. And her parents employed a few combat instructors for her safety, not to protect her, but to teach her the martial arts. Throughout the years, she practiced non-stop and had changed one teacher after another. Regarding the expertise of combating, she knew it much more than the usual folks. Seizing the opponent's control by simply hitting a particular part of the body… that would be considered a rather advanced technique of combats.

And who did this? Who was the expert? Ellen's shock uncontrollably overflowed.

Coincidentally, the body of the beefy men regained the senses while she was making her deduction. One of them lifting the head spotted Ellen. Shuddered, their eyes expressed strong fear towards Ellen after regaining mobility and standing up.

Well, it was a sense of fear out of misunderstanding. They assumed both Ellen and Ye Chong were acquainted to each other, seeing how they sat together at the restaurant the day before. So, like a connected circuit, a classical conditioning, they were reminded of Ye Chong who nearly murdered them all upon seeing Ellen, which explained the shudder.

Ellen who saw them recovering gradually shut the gate of the restaurant and walked away promptly. Those might be the good fighters, but they aren't the good guys. Ellen would lose her appetite with those men inside. Though she was confused, wondering why the men expressed some kind of fear towards her.

Could the one teaching them a lesson be a friend of mine? Ellen the sensible one guessed the possibility right away. Wait… no… Nobody else had known of my whereabouts on this trip. And I had yet to bump into any acquaintances on this ship… Ellen cracked her head thinking, searching for the endless possibilities. But well, even if she dipped into the pool of probability, she would never think of how it could have been that rice-digging guy she met before.

"Mu, watch this ship properly," stated Ye Chong as soon as he got back to his room, "If you find anything, tell me right away." A plan in Ye Chong's mind, as assuming the men would not behave themselves that easily, especially after the humiliation they had experienced today. Ye Chong did not want any more incidents to happen. Well, if things had gone rough, he would go and grab the steer of this ship instantly and fly all the way to Windstar.

Providing that, he would be left with only one way to keep everyone muted of his presence in the ship. Ye Chong's eyes looked intense. Yes… that was why he refused to do the hijacking plan from the beginning, since whatever the premises were, these men were still his compatriots, his kind and Ye Chong were not the bloodthirsty kind to begin with. As long as they did not express hostility or maliciousness, he would not kill them for no reason. He did not fear murders but he disliked murders.

He took a chip from his bag and inserted it into the processor. The chip contained the entire combat sequence between the two experts he had witnessed before. Yes, the experts who got neutralized by the squad. Ye Chong and Mu had performed a series of analysis and reorganizing of movements in the visual, which eventually boiled down to this very chip, the most useful data to Ye Chong at the moment.

And Ye Chong began his training in the room. Combating was similar to piloting. One would not only be required the expertise behind the working, but also the formation of muscle memory to produce the flow of the sequences, thus an actual body training would be inseparable.

Ye Chong honed his stance when he pulled off his moves by following the analyzed data appeared in the processor. It did not take long before Ye Chong had gone fully enthralled by it, as he felt the every single change on his movement as according to the strands of data.

"Ye!" Right when Ye Chong was enjoying the process, Mu boomed in his head.

Ye Chong flinched as he ceased his movement, "Mu, what's wrong? Did anything happen?" Mu had been monitoring the whole craft soundlessly over the course, none of the corners was missed under his mechanical eyes.

"Look. I had sent it to the processor," answered Mu.

Ye Chong shifted his sight back onto the processor, the illustrated data was replaced by a group of hologram features, playing a tape, which Mu also recorded every word uttered by the people in the feature.

"Eh? What?" Even Ye Chong the calmest guy in the galaxy could not help but to nearly shriek. He swallowed his shriek and smiled slightly, "I really did not expect him to be here. This is really unbelievable…" His thoughts wandered off with sentiments.

"Mathematically, yes. The probability is indeed extremely small," added Mu.

Settled his thoughts, Ye Chong spoke on, "Looks like they would come for us." Ye Chong was excited to be facing some sandbags soon.

"Chances are high," affirmed Mu, as he elaborated, "I did not block their access to your forged profile on the ship. They could arrive at this room effortlessly." Every passenger on the intergalactic cruise would be handed with profiles of every other passengers and Ye Chong was an "addition" to the database by Mu when he sneaked in.

Thup.

As expected, Ye Chong heard the knocks coming at the door not too long after.

Tick.

Ye Chong gave a gentle tap on the processor's interface. The door was opened in a hush.

A group of fearsome-looking men in black suits fled into Ye Chong's room and had occupied all the potential advantageous location. The suited men stood still and no sound was heard from them. Same goes with Ye Chong, solemnly he stood there in calmness, the men were disregarded like the chilly air surrounding them.

Cough.

A moment later, a light cough came from the outside. A man taking his time made his entry to the room.

"So you were…" The man in the middle of the crowd lifted his head, with his eyes shining… glaring?

Ye Chong's expression remained unchanged, his eyes were conveying a certain degree of gleefulness.

Cough!

The head in the middle reacted quickly, as he cleared his throat again, turned to his men, "Well, head out you all. Guard for me. I have some business to discuss with this mister in front."

"Master." His men were in overwhelming bewilderment, aren't we supposed to come and mess with this dude? Why out of the sudden master changed his mind? We get out? Then what about our master's safety? The men were well-aware the fact that their master was utterly harmless. Upon the command, his men looked lost.

"Ahem!" The head acted displeasedly, "I said, get out! Just get out already! I don't have time to do all the mumbo-jumbo to cast you all out."

"Yes sir!" The men hurriedly exited Ye Chong's room upon the reinforced command from their leader. Tick! The door closed in a hush after their leaving. They were astonished and almost had the urge to bang the door open again. "Shhh!" The leader of the underlings had his ear stuck on the door… There was no noise or whatsoever… It seemed fine. The leader shrugged, along with the other men, as they continued waiting by the door in wonders.

"Master!" Right after the door was shut, the head of those men approached Ye Chong femininely, "It was you! It really is you! Gosh, I did not expect to see you here! Like really I did not…," in thrill, he spoke confusingly.

It was whom Ye Chong had met before. Yes, Bai Linan.

Ye Chong took a glance over Bai Linan. The suit was a perfect fit on him, though he was still willow as before, the suit made him looked like a skeleton with a head popped out of the collar. His face was rosier however, obviously he had a much better life than before.

Meeting an old friend was also a thrill to Ye Chong too. They lost each other after the visit at the Black Coves. Too many incidents had happened after that. It felt like a travel across the dimension to Ye Chong out of the blue.

Bai Linan was stimulated to see Ye Chong, as he was the first one who truly cared about him. He actually had the intention to follow Ye Chong for the rest of his life, but he lost him on the Black Coves. He thought Ye Chong was a gone-case considering how Ye Chong was a hot-headed man. It was very likely to see him getting into a fight with one of the residents there, which caused his remorse for the following time of wondering why in the world he suggested to separate in the first place. If it was not for his brilliant idea, Master Ye Chong would have been there.

But they met again.

"Master… My Lord…," Bai Linan was choked with tears.

Ye Chong's expression remained calm, though it was causing a fissure in his mind.

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Chapter 170: Accompaniment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Bai Linan had been patiently waiting for Ye Chong's reappearance on the Black Coves back then. He spent every single coin Ye Chong had left in his pocket soon after and inevitably he had to find a living on his own somewhere in this black market. Fortunately many of the wealthy merchants frequented the exterior of the Black Coves and Bai Linan, as quick-witted as he was, got the heart of the merchants. Well, he was eventually a strategist, one who was familiar with buttering-up and providing services to the superiors. It did not take long before Bai Linan won over the head of the Sylvia Group, Mr. Robert. He gained Mr. Robert's trust gradually and became the butler at his place. He aimed the right merchant since Sylvia Group was a major spaceship production group.

Mr. Robert fancied the entertainment on the Black Coves a lot and Bai Linan, being his man, had been visiting the place regularly.

Well, he met his lord, the meaning of his soul after much detour, once again.

"My lord, so you're heading…," inquired Bai Linan.

"Windstar," concisely Ye Chong replied.

"Ah? Really? Great! Wise people sure think alike, my lord! We are heading the same way!" Bai Linan was surprised. "My men and I do intend to go Windstar from the beginning!" Although having no idea why Ye Chong wanted to go to Windstar, the witty willow guy did not ask. At least he was very sure that Ye Chong could never be going there for sightseeing, even if Windstar was known for its tourism.

"My lord, my master, my…" Bai Linan haltered out a few words, "How about…" Ye Chong's gaze intensified, "Hahahaha…" As forced by the terrifying gaze, he spat everything, "My lord, what I mean is… how about we… we walk together?" He regretted his words the very second he uttered them. Droplets of sweats rolled down his back for some reason. Why am I this nervous? I am this nervous only when I'm meeting authorities like Mr. Robert…

He had witnessed Ye Chong's mighty capability in combats before. So his safety would be absolutely guaranteed as long as he walked with Ye Chong by his side. Well, if it was not some accidents before, his safety would be extra guaranteed by taking private transport.

He was well-aware that his lord Ye Chong was not fond of the buzzes around him. So he was not confident of his suggestion of accompaniment.

The catch was, Ye Chong nodded his head, "Okay," calmly his word went.

"So you agreed, my lord?" Bai Linan's eyes enlarged, as if he misheard something.

"Yeah," Ye Chong nodded once again.

The next few minutes, Bai Linan was still under the stunning spell of Ye Chong's reply. He could not believe his ears as he did expect Ye Chong reacting coldly and turning down his offer. That would be more of a Ye Chong behavior.

Ye Chong did not simply accept the offer, he had his own thoughts too. Staying with Bai Linan meant a kind of camouflage to his identity. He seriously needed camouflages these days especially after the raid of the Black Coves on Blue Ocean planet back then where they made a total seize of transpiration through medias and laws. The way of how effortlessly Black Coves took over the entire governmental system with one move convinced Ye Chong the lesson that any man, even with the mightiest strength, would become minuscule and helpless in front of the majority.

Ye Chong followed Bai Linan.

"My lord, please stay here for the moment. This is my room. No worries, no one would disturb you." Bai Linan escorted Ye Chong to his room.

Ye Chong viewed the room. It was a pretty majestic room. The floor carpeted with the skin of the organic lifeforms in scarlet, dimly lit by the yellowish lamp. The extravagant style made Ye Chong frowned and glanced at Bai Linan. How I never knew Bai Linan was such a … "Uh!" Blushed Bai Linan upon Ye Chong's glance, as he coughed briefly and spoke, "This was just some acting, basic acting, camouflage you know? Can't help it."

Ye Chong did not comment on his reasoning as he shifted his stare away. Bai Linan was a bit embarrassed.

"My lord, you would be addressed as my bodyguard, is that fine?" asked Bai Linan carefully.

Ye Chong signaled approvingly. It did not matter to him. Bodyguard… the title reminded him of Gu Shaoze and his blonde bodyguard Number 2. He knew that Bai Linan could never treat him as a real bodyguard, though he would most likely take action if he saw Bai Linan in danger.

Bai Linan was relieved seeing how Ye Chong did not seem to have an objection. He did have a tiny scheme in mind but he could not inform his head regarding Ye Chong's existence. He understood their personalities. His head would never let go of a talent like Ye Chong while Ye Chong was never the kind who would bow before someone. Oh the contrast… it was frightening for him to imagine both parties having conflict.

"Take a seat, my lord, take a seat," pleaded Bai Linan. Ye Chong sat. The fluffy couch nearly engulfed him, which was a bit distressing to his unfamiliarity. Such fluffiness he could not exert force on would easily lead him to a helpless situation on an emergency for not being able to react quickly and properly.

"Ah Duan, go bring Tie Wu," grabbed a communicator, Bai Linan ordered.

Not too long later, the screen at the side of the door displayed visual of a man who spoke courteously, "Boss, I had brought you Tie Wu." Soon after the last syllable he spoke, the door opened automatically.

Two suited bulky men stepped into the room together.

Ye Chong raised his brows slightly, he recognized one man with his right arm bandaged, that was actually the man he nearly crippled at the restaurant, yes, the leader of the hulks.

"Boss, I present you, Tie Wu," spoke Ah Duan politely.

"Oh," responded Bai Linan, his expression was indiscernible under the dim yellow light. Ye Chong on the other hand was watching Bai Linan to put up his show.

"Tie Wu…," flatly Bai Linan spoke.

"Boss!" The fearsome-looking Tie Wu was acting like a sweet little lamb in front of Bai Linan.

"Umm, Tie Wu my man, this guy beside me, is actually a friend of mine. It's just some misunderstanding… Well, why don't we let this go? How do you think?" Bai Linan's tone was more like a discussion than an order.

Tie Wu raised his eyes at Bai Linan and glanced through his eyes' corner at that soundless Ye Chong at his side. He quivered as he lowered his head, "Tie Wu shall obey the order without doubts!"

"Hah… Well then, we shall forget about this. We should be friends than foes. We would have plenty of times working together in future. We should celebrate, especially when it was hard to see a forgiving Tie Wu. Ah Duan… Oh Ah Duan…" Bai Linan looked very satisfied.

Ah Duan hurried to the front and bowed. Bai Linan then stated serenely, "Tie Wu sure took some venom this time… very well, Tie Wu shall take over the transportation task next month. Go and do the necessary changes for me, would you?"

"Yes sir!" Ah Duan's tone was serious.

Tie Wu was madly joyful, "Thank you my boss, thank you for your recognition! Tie Wu shall perform your order flawlessly!"

Bai Linan was delighted seeing how Tie Wu was being so understanding, "Hahaha, Tie Wu, just remember to not make any troubles there. Well, it's time for both of you to go," waved Bai Linan, gesturing them to head out.

The two men bowed in courtesy and they left. Ye Chong witnessed the entire scene of Bai Linan acting like a boss. It looked like Bai Linan was in fact having a good time under Mr. Robert. Ye Chong was intrigued as he fixed his eyes on Bai Linan.

Bai Linan's face blushed again upon the door closing, seeing how odd Ye Chong's gaze was, "Heh… That was just acting, yes, just acting!"

Bai Linan came into the industry as a space pirate so he habitually kept the preference of employing those fearsome-looking kinds to be his underlings even after becoming Mr. Robert's butler. It was rather fortunate that Bai Linan was wise in controlling these beasts to listen to his words, while Mr. Robert gave him ample trust. So his men would obey his orders wholeheartedly.

So, Ye Chong nominally became Bai Linan's bodyguard and spent the days mostly in the room. Bai Linan was also a great planner, so he knew what to do on whatever occasion by nature.

Ye Chong was using a pseudonym, Wang Xing in the ship. Technically he removed the Wei from Wang Weixing in the database, which was why Bai Linan did not recognize Ye Chong in the first place.

Ye Chong observed his men daily. Bai Linan did have an actual gang under his command and he was confident to say that they had seen more blood than sweat. Ah Duan was probably the one who left the deepest impression in him. He was young but he did his work steadily and very maturely. He was considerate in all aspects, that even Ye Chong the one who lacked the society common sense pinpointed his talents in this. Well, Ah Duan also happened to be Bai Linan's most trustworthy man.

Throughout the observation these days, Ye Chong realized the authority in the hand of Bai Linan. It was very great. And regarding that head of his, Mr. Robert, he had never seen him in person. Ye Chong did not have interest on him however. He solely wanted to head to Windstar silently.

Nothing happened throughout the journey.

The underlings of Bai Linan were all aware of the existence of a master martial arts by their boss's side, who also happened to be an old friend of his. And he had become the personal bodyguard. They did not really see the power of Ye Chong, but the injury he caused to their leader was truly horrifying, despite how they had seen more deaths than injuries. Such a cruel person, and he was a good friend of the boss, staying in his room day by day… no one would dare enough to knock on the door to mess with Ye Chong and get into trouble, seeing how closely Ye Chong and their boss were related.

Today they had arrived by Rique the planet. And they heard of someone visiting Mr. Robert.

Ye Chong in his black suit was feeling awkward of his unfamiliar apparel. Such kind of clothing was not appropriate for movements… Ye Chong carefully tried doing a few moves he usually performed. It looked ridiculous as hell. In the timeframe of less than half an hour, he had already torn like 10 suits. He would destroy a suit averagely every 3 minutes, and it shocked Ah Duan who witnessed everything to death. Ye Chong's strength was too overwhelming for the clothing. Accidentally he would wave his limbs too much and the clothes would tear like a shredded paper, with a huge gap in between.

At least Ye Chong started to get familiar with this absolutely inconvenient clothing, as his action grew more natural.

Ye Chong in his suit had discarded the restrictiveness before, which was amazing to Ah Duan.

Ye Chong was born with a outstanding physique, with the suit he would appear more classy. Well that would only be applicable if one were to watch it from the back. Shifting the camera to the front would make anyone disregard the statement before, Ye Chong would be impossibly equalized to classiness. Ye Chong's face was not handsome to begin with. Still, that calmness of his, with that coldness from the inside was a killer charm to the ladies. His arms were odd too, they were slender, the training before still did not give him any bulges he was supposed to get. Perfectly sculptured, like a masterpiece.

Absolutely, a sophisticated prince from the aristocrats!

Ah Duan looked in disbelief at Ye Chong who somehow had undergone some sort of witchcraft and transformed completely.

Beep! Beep!

Ah Duan quickly connected the ringing communicator, the screen projected the visual of Bai Linan, "Boss!" bowed Ah Duan rushingly.

"Yes, Ah Duan, are those men ready?" asked Bai Linan.

"Yes, all ready," hurriedly he replied.

"Mhm, alright. We are stopping by soon. Call them to prepare the things. We can't get it wrong this time. Our head's security is the priority and it should be impeccable. Understand?" grimly Bai Linan gave his order.

"Yes sir!" Ah Duan's expression turned grim too.

"Also, how was Wang Xing's preparation?" inquired Bai Linan.

"I think…" He took a look at Ye Chong who was walking in his suit around in the room, "He should be almost ready."

"Mhm, okay. He is not experienced in this, please give him some attention, okay?" stated Bai Linan.

"Yes sir!" replied Ah Duan.

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Chapter 171: The Beauty, Shang Xin

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The long distance passenger starship Luminosity entered the docking zone of planet Richie, and landed smoothly. Hatch 29 opened, and out came a large troop of well built men in black suits. Once they left the hatch, the men immediately secured strategic locations around the area. Their overbearing look drew more than a flew glances from the other passengers exiting through the other hatches.

There were already some people waiting outside, and they seemed to be very concerned of Robert's safety. The area was crowded, and Ye Chong even noticed a few discreet guards in the shadows.

Duan brought Ye Chong along to meet the other party. Bai Linan had asked for Duan to take care of Ye Chong, and Duan decided that bringing Ye Chong along by his side was a better option.

The other party was here for a woman. The woman was around 25 years of age, her beautiful countenance was matched with a cold expression, and her chilling eyes looked as though they could see through anyone. She was tall and slender, her combat uniform wrapping fittingly around her hot and voluptuous body. This combination of fire and ice made one's heart throb!

Duan and Ye Chong approached.

"Good day, I'm Duan, person in charge for Mr Robert's safety!" Duan extended his right hand.

"Good day, I'm Shang Xin, person in charge for Mr Robert's arrival here and his safety on Richie! Welcome to planet Richie! I hope that you will cooperate with us for this mission to ensure Mr Robert's safety!" The voice was clear and soothing, but tinged with a condescending undercurrent that made one uncomfortable!

Duan's expression changed a little. "I believed Ms Shang must have misunderstood, Mr Robert's safety is our responsibility!"

Shang Xin's cool countenance turned slightly cynical. "Oh, is Mr Duan not confident of our abilities? We're familiar with the ins and outs of planet Richie, my subordinates are all elites, so Mr Duan, please rest assured, that incident with Robert a few days ago will never repeat itself!"

Duan's expression immediately turned grim. Shang Xin was referring to the attempt on Robert's life last time. An assassin had managed to slip through the guards outside, but fortunately was discovered by their employer's bodyguards. A tragedy was avoided! The incident was a humiliating one for Duan, and now that someone in the same profession had spoke of it right in his face, Duan was inevitably affected!

Shang Xin ignored Duan and activated her comms. "All units in your position, report any abnormalities to me!" She gave no attention to Duan.

Duan activated his comms grimly. "Everyone ready!"

Ye Chong observed the two with interest.

Duan's subordinates quickly moved to their positions, but their choice of locations often overlapped with that of Shang Xin's subordinates, and the bodyguards from both two sides could only stare at one another in contempt.

Some of them had already deployed their mechs and slipped into the pilot cabins, examining the surroundings carefully. Nearby tourists noticed their demonstrations and quickly scrambled away.

Ye Chong trailed behind Duan. These men may normally look like the average gangsters, but they now performed like professionals. Their choice of locations and the cooperation between them were of high standards.

However, after witnessing the Sanctuary's astonishing cooperation and unmatched teamwork, this standard of performance was not enough to impress Ye Chong anymore! Besides, Ye Chong already noticed two openings, and could not help but begin to consider the ways he could avoid these men and reach his target.

Shang Xin's fair countenance betrayed nothing, but she was secretly surprised to find that the other party was as capable as her own team in their profession. Could the assassin really be that good? She was beginning to feel curious about it.

Through it all, Shang Xin did not even acknowledge Ye Chong.

Ye Chong was actually Bai Linan's bodyguard, and should be by Bai Linan's side now. However, since Bai Linan was accompanying Robert at the moment, Ye Chong had followed Duan and disembarked from the Luminosity.

Soon, the security teams were in their positions, and did not observe any abnormalities. Duan immediately reported to Bai Linan.

It was only then that Robert emerged from the hatch.

Four bodyguards wearing miniature mechs surrounded Robert, and Bai Linan followed from behind.

Ye Chong noticed the four miniature mechs, and was startled!

The four miniature mechs did not stand out in particular, but what grabbed Ye Chong's attention was the way these four men moved in their miniature mechs! Ye Chong could not see the pilots themselves, but he could make out their steps! These miniature mechs were not much taller than the average human height, so they looked more like four armored bodyguards!

That was precisely why Ye Chong could see the way they march forward clearly!

Double Curved Steps!

Curved Steps were common. It was a basic footwork technique for mech pilots, and an evasion measure! However, Double Curved Steps were entirely different Curved Steps! Double Curved Steps was a type of footwork meant for combat. Since it was usually comprised of two oppositely directed Curved Steps, it was called Double Curved Steps, and was known for its unpredictability!

Ye Chong did not know if other schools of battle techniques taught this footwork, but he knew one of them definitely did - Black Cove! Ye Chong had learnt this footwork from Black Cove himself! Till this day, Ye Chong had never seen anyone aside from Black Cove's men using this kind of footwork.

Ye Chong suspected that these four bodyguards in miniature mechs were from Black Cove! He thought of escaping immediately, since if they were indeed from Black Cove, he would done for!

Just then, one of the bodyguard's vision swept past Ye Chong, and he detected it immediately with his sharp senses. He groaned on the inside. If the other party reacted, he would deploy Guardian and flee!

However, as the bodyguard saw Ye Chong, he did not have any noticeable reaction. From his discreet observation, Ye Chong also believed that the person did not recognize him! At the same time, Mu's words affirmed his suspicions. "Ye, that person doesn't know you. When he saw you, his pulse and breathing were normal!" Mu's conclusion was very trustworthy!

Could they not be from Black Cove?

It was possible. Black Cove's instructors did not say that Double Curved Steps was unique to Black Cove. Who knew if other schools had it. "I'm probably just being paranoid," Ye Chong mocked himself. The other party's eyes did not fix onto him, and Ye Chong sighed in relief. However, he still maintained a state of high alert. If anything happened, he was getting out of there!

Another thing that surprised Ye Chong was the way the imaginative way in which the four bodyguards executed the Double Curved Steps!

The two bodyguards flanking on each side stepped in different directions, but with some form of rhythm. The distance between the two of them closed in and widened in a seemingly irregular way, but with some hidden rhythm behind it. This made Robert's exposed location difficult to predict. Besides, the bodyguards would make small movements like raising their hands or leaning their bodies to interfere with potential shooting attacks! For the shooter, this would interrupt with their timing and greatly decrease the accuracy!

WIth this, Ye Chong believed that these four bodyguards could still be from Black Cove, since their abilities were too similar to that of Black Cove! Such capable people reminded Ye Chong immediately of Black Cove! However, if they were from that place, why did they not recognize him? Perhaps they were really from somewhere else.

Ye Chong became undecided about the origin of these four bodyguards!

Duan brought Ye Chong along to approach them, with Shang Xin following behind.

Robert was in his forties, his skin well cared for, but strands of white hair marred his image of youth. He wore a long brown windbreaker, and looked like an ordinary man.

Duan bowed to Robert, and Ye Chong could only follow suit. With such a close distance between them, Ye Chong still did not recognize any peculiar movements from those four bodyguards.

It was Robert who actually gave Ye Chong some attention. "This one looks like a stranger to me, I don't think we've met." At the back, Shang Xin heard those words and was mildly alarmed.

Bai Linan immediately interrupted from the side, "This is a friend of mine, we used to work together. I was afraid he might not know the rules here, so I let Duan here be in charge of him." Bai Linan did not anticipate that by asking Duan to take care of Ye Chong, Duan would actually bring Ye Chong by his side. This was the thing that Bai Linan was trying to avoid at all costs. If his employer got interested in his Master for some reason, attracted by his talent, and wished to keep Ye Chong with him, it would be disastrous!

While he did know Ye Chong for quite some time, Bai Linan was aware that Ye Chong was the kind of person that would never yield. Asking Ye Chong to work for someone else was impossible! Besides, as he recalled how Ye Chong liked to use violence to solve all manners of problems, it would raise havoc if he ever came into conflict with someone like his current employer!

Bai Linan groaned inside. He could only pray that something like that did not happen, or else, the result would be unimaginably catastrophic!

"I see!" Robert nodded inconsequentially, and Duan immediately pulled Ye Chong with him and stepped to one side.

"Shang Xin is here by the orders of Lord Zhang Ming to welcome Mr Robert. Lord Zhang Ming is currently unavailable due to unexpected circumstances, and had asked me to express his sincere apologies!" Shang Xin bowed to Robert.

"Haha," Robert laughed heartily, "To see a beauty such as Ms Shang makes one happier than seeing Zhang Ming himself! I've heard that Ms Shang is a famous beauty on Richie!"

"You're too kind!" Shang Xin smiled plainly, as if she did not notice the teasing words. She slightly inclined and stretched her hand out. "This way please, Mr Robert!"

Robert was not offended by Shang Xin's lack of response, and laughed again as he stepped forward.

Suddenly, Ye Chong's face twitched.

Something unusual happened!

Chapter 172: At the Edge of Life and Death

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A loud explosion was heard, mixed with countless screams of terror. There was an explosion somewhere ahead, where Shang Xin's subordinates were covering. Ye Chong could feel the ground shake.

Shang Xin's face ashened!

The men around Robert were all veterans, and did not express any fear. They knew that it was important to stay calm for the moment, as to not provide an opening for the enemy!

Robert only reacted minutely, his pupils contracting slightly!

The bodyguards reacted instantly. When the explosion happened, they immediately moved closer to Robert for additional protection. The two mechs in front of Robert stood shoulder-to-shoulder, blocking off the debris that flew away from the explosion.

Shang Xin and Duan deployed their mechs almost simultaneously.

Shang Xin's was a Shadow Phoenix-III. Unlike the Shadow Phoenix-II, SP-III was a battle mech in the SP model series. This meant that its long range attacks were not particularly spectacular, but it excelled at close range combat. With a parrying spear made of a special alloy and two laser daggers, coupled with a higher speed compared to the SP-II, the SP-III had a unique battle strategy. It would retreat whenever an attack missed and wait for the next opportunity. It also inherited the unique exterior from the SP series. With a small and agile body, incredible speed, and close range battle specs, the SP-III was a mech assassin!

Duan's mech was the complete opposite. His mech was in alternating shades of red and black. This classic color combination made it more like a display mech, and not a battle mech. However, Ye Chong could still identify the impressive aspects of this mech! It was definitely a modified mech. Its equipped weapons were strange - besides the abnormally large modified laser sniper rifle in its hands, there were no other guns or close range weapons! Ye Chong had never seen such an extreme way of equipping a mech. Even the MPA's mechs would have weapons such as daggers in hand. Ye Chong could not make anything of the rifle, but the engine was at least recognizable. It was a Split Wave - a photon driven engine, one of the best engine models available in the market, though it came with a hefty price tag!

These two mechs immediately sheltered the rest of the people! They were now the perfect cover against the blast.

Duan and Shang Xin immediately gave the order to lower the rope ladder, but as the ladder slowly unfurled itself downwards, they grew anxious. They could not climb into the mech's pilot cabin by hand like Ye Chong.

Mech pilots were strong, but before they entered the pilot's cabin, even a ray gun of the smallest caliber could end their lives!

Just then, Mu suddenly spoke up, "Ye, be careful! Someone used an electro-interference grenade!"

An electro-interference grenade? Ye Chong was alarmed! He did not always know about weapons like these, but after having Yu Di with its assortment of weird but powerful ancillary weapons, the unexpected effects of using these weapons piqued Ye Chong's interest in them.

Electro-interference grenades were used for magneto-interference within a small effective perimeter. It could render all electronic communications within the perimeter ineffective, but it had a few weaknesses, such as its discriminatory effect, short effective time and small range. These three weaknesses limited the weapon's applications in the field.

Shang Xin and Duan noticed the weapon as well, and exchanged an uneasy look. However, the rope ladder was moving too slowly, and they could only wait anxiously.

The haze from the explosion engulfed the area. Dust and debris was everywhere, and no one could see anything!

Mu suddenly shouted, "Ye, careful, 20 high explosive grenades!"

The miniature mechs' scanning systems also picked up the 20 high explosive grenades that came crashing down like rain! If any of the 20 grenades exploded, no one but the four bodyguards in miniature mechs could hope to survive!

In dire situation, the four bodyguards around Robert suddenly leaped up and out of the haze at incredible speed, like four launched cannonballs. They pushed downwards and jumped high up into the air.

Everyone was focused on the four of them! However, their confused expression showed that they did not understand what was happening!

Right then, as Ye Chong stared at the four figures above, Mu suddenly spoke urgently, "Ye, 72 degrees from the radius vector!"

Ye Chong reacted immediately, absolutely trusting Mu . Just as Mu finished, Ye Chong turned and suddenly found a bone-chilling light flashing into non-existence on the top of a tall building, some 60 meters away!

Ye Chong immediately felt goosebumps all over him, sensing something, but the intense feeling of danger did not make him lose his calm! Without identifying what it was, Ye Chong reached for the exterior of his thigh!

Swish! Ye Chong put all his strength into the throw of his dagger from his thigh!

At the same time, the four bodyguards in the air demonstrated their magnificent prowess, kicking or slamming away the grenades, and none of the 20 high explosive grenades met their intended target, all flung off into the distance!

Boom! Boom! Boom! A series of explosions were heard. The shock waves from the 20 high explosive grenades pushed from all directions, and people stumbled in confusion and fear. If the explosion had happened where they were, all of them would have burned into dust!

Ye Chong's expression was unaffected. The violent explosions did not perturb him. When the explosions went off, he could see clearly a flash on the building from something that was cracked!

"Threat neutralized!" Mu's voice was heavenly, and Ye Chong relaxed!

Shang Xin's face was pale!

The problem had arisen from her side. Three of her subordinates were replaced with enemy personnel! From when she first took up her current position, her perfect record of service was finally broken, and the enemy had nearly succeeded! What bothered her the most was that the ones who managed to diffuse the situation were all Robert's own men! Now, whenever her eyes met Duan's, she could almost feel some unvoiced repeating ridicule towards her!

The target of the attack, Robert himself, looked calm. He was speaking to Bai Linan casually, his composed demeanor bespoke his status as a person of power.

Robert studied Ye Chong for a moment and smiled. "I didn't expect this young man to be so skilled. If not for your actions, this aging life of mine would have ended today!" These words brought a violent tic to Shang Xin's face, but as she recalled her own failure this time that almost led to the loss of everyone's lives, her expression darkened further!

For the moment, Ye Chong looked comedic. A large patch of cloth was missing from his suit pants on the outer part of his right thigh, and a dagger's sheath was visible through the hole. His suit was ripped open on both sides beneath his armpits, exposing his white shirt underneath. If he were on the streets, his look would invite roaring laughter from spectators. Now, however, everyone was looking at Ye Chong with great respect!

Ye Chong's calm, unperturbed expression combined with his damaged outfit made him distinctly stand out!

"You're too kind, sir!" Ye Chong still remembered that he was supposed to be Bai Linan's bodyguard, and did not break his cover. Seeing Ye Chong's plain demeanor, devoid of any excitement due to his achievement made Robert even more impressed! Bai Linan, however, was writhing inside. He was always good in reading people, and knew exactly what that look in his employer's eyes meant! It seemed that what he was trying his best to avoid what was happening!

"Brother Wang, your dagger!" A guard handed over Ye Chong's dagger back to him reverently, his expression full of respect!

Strong people were always respected, no matter the place! In that moment, without time to deploy Guardian, Ye Chong had threw out his dagger with all his might! When the explosion stopped, Ye Chong called for one of the guards to search the enemy hiding on top of the building he aimed at. More accurately speaking, he was to search for the enemy's body! The dagger was embedded deep into the enemy's forehead, a high accuracy laser sniper rifle on the ground before him with its smart targeting device shattered into pieces!

An image came to everyone's mind - a dagger swishing into the air, accurately finding the laser sniper rifle's smart targeting device. In that instant, the smart targeting device scattered into pieces, its fragments falling to the ground like heavenly petals. Nonetheless, the device did nothing to reduce the dagger's speed, as it struck mercilessly into the forehead of the enemy sniper, granting instant death!

Someone had secretly measured the distance between the enemy sniper and Ye Chong, and reported a whole 68 meters!

With a distance of 68 meters, how could one throw a weapon with just his right hand and hit a target dead-on, killing the enemy? The amount of strength and accuracy required was shocking! Physical training was essential for most mech pilots, but no one had imagined that someone could reach such a staggering level of ability!

As for Duan and Shang Xin, who were both present at the scene, they knew even more!

Only both of them knew how powerful Ye Chong's attack actually was! The parietal bone at the forehead was very hard, penetrating this was itself an astonishing achievement! Moreover, they found another neglected detail, which was that the enemy sniper was actually found a whole meter away from his actual hiding spot, in the direction of the attack. There were obvious scuffing marks on the ground!

Duan and Shang Xin came to the same conclusion at almost the same time - the dagger had plunged into the enemy's forehead and, with the excess momentum, pushed the enemy's body backwards for a whole meter!

Duan and Shang Xin both noticed this detail at the same time, and arrived at the same conclusion almost simultaneously. They looked to each other, and found the same horrified look in the each other's eyes!

With that, both of them left the scene wisely!

The enemy's plan was almost perfect. They already had the bombs in place before Shang Xin's subordinates moved into position at the docking zone. The bombs were not meant to kill Robert, but only to create confusion! At the same time, the ambushers used their electro-interference grenades under the cover of the bombs, hence Shang Xin and Duan were plunged into confusion due to the communication block. One of the ambushers then threw out 20 high explosive grenades amidst the chaos. These grenades were also not their final attack, and were only used to move the four bodyguards in miniature mechs away from Robert. The real killing strike was supposed to come from the now lifeless sniper, lying on the ground!

They still could not figure out how Ye Chong found him out. Was it by chance? Or did he have some special methods? Everything happened in a very short time, and the act of discovering the enemy and retaliating was too unlikely to happen without earlier preparation! Could this be a trick by the enemy? Duan lifted his head abruptly at the thought, but found his eyes meeting Shang Xin's!

However, Wang Xing was an old friend of the manager, and had saved their employer's life this time. Whatever suspicions he had, Duan decided to keep it to himself.

In the end, the enemy's assassination plot was perfect, but without a perfect ending! The timing and cooperation were well executed, and if not for the monster that was Wang Xing, the ending would have been very different!

What disturbed them both deeply was the enemy's preparatory works. How did they find out Robert's schedule? How did they infiltrate as Shang Xin's subordinates? From the enemy's movements, it seemed that they had strong control over the events, and seemed to understand who they were against. However, Shang Xin's and Duan's side knew nothing about the enemy. Their identity and the reason for the attacks were still unknown! None of the three ambushers in this attack survived!

Shang Xin's dignity had received an unprecedented blow. Her subordinates were compromised, and she herself was not aware of it. As for the rest of her team, she could not guarantee their loyalties! It was terrifying!

There were heavy casualties from the encounter this time, mostly due to the 20 high explosive grenades! The scene before them was a hopeless mess!

Both of them kept their silence, deep in their own thoughts!

"Young man, since you're an old friend of Nan, you're one of our own. From now on, you'll be the team leader for all the guards!" Robert announced suddenly with a warm smile. His gentle tone, however, did not allow for objections, and his eyes were looking straight at Ye Chong.

Shang Xin and Duan were both surprised. They did not expect Robert to make such a decision.

Bai Linan felt like fainting. Heavens, they're all done for!

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Chapter 173: First Visit to the Shang Family

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Thank you for the offer, Sir, but I'm only travelling with Nan because it's on the way to Windstar, I will be departing once we reach there!" Ye Chong explained frankly. While he thought it too much of a hassle, Ye Chong still made the effort for Bai Linan.

Robert looked at Ye Chong, more impressed than ever. The young man was calm and modest, humble despite his achievement - he was definitely full of potential!

"Windstar? So you actually have business in Windstar, what could it be? If you have any problems, don't hesitate to let Nan know, I have some influence on that planet!" Robert said smilingly.

"Thank you for your concern, Sir!" Ye Chong thought these social etiquettes were a bore, but unfortunately, they were a cultural norm.

"Haha, you're part of the family, don't worry about it!" Robert laughed heartily. Only Bai Linan, who knew his employer well, understood that his employer had no intention of giving up on Ye Chong. Based on his experience, his employer would probably come up with something else later. That thought was enough to make him groan inside. He could only hope that his employer's tricks do not offend Ye Chong, or Ye Chong would probably kill again, as he was inclined to!

Due to heavy casualties suffered by the security team, Shang Xin's requested backup arrived in just a few minutes. The grand formation of mechs garnered the attention of passersby's, looking up towards the sky. Other mechs in the air gave a wide berth to the mechs, and were very much surprised. Were these not mechs from the Shang family? They were all battle mechs! What made this aggressive defense necessary? How could anyone on planet Richie still dare to meddle with the Shang family?

The people in the city gossiped about the possibilities, and insiders who recognized that the mechs were all elite guards of the Shang family concluded that something serious must have happened! Intel was sought and shared throughout the city!

The mech security team of the Shang family came faster than the police. The violent battle had terrified all the passengers who were disembarking from other hatches, and most of them had called for the police!

Once they arrived, the mech security team of the Shang family brought the situation under control. Shang Xin also performed capably, and Duan was impressed by these members of the same profession.

Shang family's security team took charge of the docking zone, and began to assert authority over the people present. This exercise, however, was repulsive to everyone not of the Shang family. Robert shook his head as he observed the security team's arrogance. While the Shang family was now a wealthy entity, it was still far from being an aristocratic family. The subordinates were all behaving like upstarts, very different compared to even some wealthy families with some history!

The police finally arrived and, after some discussion with the Shang family, agreed to let the Shang family continue on. This made Robert realize the profound influence of the Shang family on Richie!

Soon, under the escort and protection of a large team of mechs, Robert and his company arrived safely at the Shang family. However, Robert's intention for a low-profile visit was now turned into a huge affair.

Shang Zhangming, the current head of the Shang family, greeted Robert in person at the entrance! Such a grand ceremony at the Shang family was unprecedented!

Shang Zhangming was a large man with an athletic build. Under his fringe were sharp eyes that looked as though they could see through anyone. His black windbreaker matched an elusive and cold smile, his aquiline nose and slightly arched brows framed by freshly shaved cheeks. While he was not particularly handsome, he was definitely charismatic and made a deep impression in all who met him!

Robert left the ship and immediately approached Shang Zhangming with a smile. "To think that Lord Zhangming would personally be here to greet me, you are too kind!" While Zhangming looked younger than Robert, Robert still spoke with deference.

"Brother Robert, don't say that, it is an honor to welcome you here!" Shang Zhangming stepped forward as well, smiling as he spoke with a distinct metallic voice that was surprisingly pleasant.

Ye Chong looked from behind Robert at Shang Zhangming, but almost immediately, his attention shifted to a few bodyguards standing behind Shang Zhangming. Their posture and formation all showed high professionalism, and their eyes spoke of long experience in the field. Ye Chong would not underestimate them.

Robert and Shang Zhangming exchanged some quiet pleasantries before moving inside with interlocked arms.

The setup in the main hall was enough to surprise even Robert, as he was used to extravagance. At the center of the main hall was an extremely precious imperial jade sculpture of a Double Step Grass Dragon's skeleton, shining with a crystalline luster. Its eyes were sapphire gems, glowing with life under the illumination. Imperial jade was rare, and a large bulk like this one was one in a million. Molded by the unrivaled craftsmanship of this skeleton sculpture, the work looked almost alive, and was definitely a priceless treasure!

Draperies spun from Aroma beast's gold fur that almost reached the floor, emitting a faint and pleasant scent. Aroma beasts were endemic to Richie, fist-sized animals that were rarely found in the wild, and one of Richie's protected species. Its fur was soft to the touch and in elegant gold, naturally emitting a strange fragrance.

These two things were very, very expensive. The subordinates who came with Robert were all astounded and mystified by the scene.

Shang Zhangming swept a seemingly innocent look across the people following behind Robert.

These people all responded differently as they entered the main hall.

Robert betrayed only a slight surprised before resuming his usual demeanor.

Bai Linan and Duan were quick as well, only showing their surprise for about 5 or 6 seconds. The remaining guards, however, were still wearing greedy looks.

What interested Shang Zhangming the most was the young man standing behind Bai Linan. The young man's expression had not changed ever since he entered the main hall, maintaining his cool exterior throughout, as if unaffected by his surroundings.

Who was this young man? That was what Shang Zhangming would like to find out.

Of course, Robert noticed the expressions of everyone else as well. He was satisfied with Bai Linan's and Duan's tight self control. However, when his eyes reached Ye Chong, they gleamed at Wang Xing's expression! He was still looking steady as usual. To have him as one of his own would be a most wonderful prospect! At that moment, Robert's desire to recruit Ye Chong was stronger than ever! However, on the surface, Robert betrayed nothing on his face.

Shang Zhangming and Robert chatted heartily as they moved into the inner rooms. Arrangements for Robert's security team were swiftly dealt with by Shang Zhangming's subordinates.

Robert's security team was ushered to a separate wing of the building. As Duan entered the wing, he immediately arranged for his subordinates to position themselves at strategic locations. Of course, Ye Chong was now unoccupied, and since his relationship with Bai Linan was exposed, no one treated him as a security guard anymore, but as an honored guest. Ye Chong even got his own room.

The room was fitted with various facilities, such as the helmet and photon processor required to access the virtual world. After Mu's inspection, the photon processor was found to be hyperlinked to the virtual world. The Shang family had installed some restrictive mechanisms, but that was easy enough for Mu to deal with.

Soon, Mu had laid down a series of feints and hidden traps. When Mu gave the green light, Ye Chong immediately hyperlinked to the virtual world. He and Mu had two main goals. Firstly, Wang Xing's fabricated background must be more extensive to avoid suspicion if he was ever investigated. Secondly, they must find Wang Weixing. While Lu Caite had said that Wang Weixing was most likely at Windstar Hospital, that was before Lu Caite entered the Orbits, which was a long time ago. Wang Weixing's current location should be further investigated. Besides, Lu Caite mentioned that his teacher was very famous, and should be easy to look up in the virtual world.

The fabrication task was left to Mu, as Ye Chong could not help with that. However, confirming whether Wang Weixing was still at Windstar Hospital was something that Ye Chong could handle.

Ye Chong entered the virtual world, and was welcomed by the ever present dazzling bright screen. For some reason, Ye Chong was reminded of his first time entering the virtual world, which was also his first time meeting the outside world! He thought of the content life he had training at the NR Training Center! If not for the stellar flare, he would probably continue his innocent way of life!

All of a sudden, he felt a yearning towards his old life on the trash planet. What a carefree life!

Ye Chong shook his head, trying to refocus himself. He stepped forward, and remembered the way he entered the virtual world for the first time, like facing a powerful enemy. Ye Chong smiled at the memory. He could hide his feelings much better now.

If Bai Linan could see Ye Chong now, he would probably thought it was a ghost instead! Ye Chong could smile? Why would such an expression appear on Ye Chong's face? He would never believe it!

Now was not a good time for reminiscing. There were far more important things at hand. Ye Chong began to search for the community of Windstar Hospital. For such a big medical institution like Windstar Hospital, it must have its own community. If he could find it, he would be able to gather news of Wang Weixing. Of course, it would only work if Wang Weixing was as famous as Lu Caite claimed.

Soon, Ye Chong found the hospital's community. Windstar Hospital was a large medical institution comprised of medical treatment and research components. The community was large, its members mostly medical practitioners and patients. Most doctors were here for collaborations. Every day, there would be volunteer doctors to help the public. Of course, to seek proper diagnosis, patients would still have to visit the hospital.

Once he entered the main hall, he saw a self-service inquiry server system. Ye Chong approached the inquiry server and activated it.

"Good day, how may I assist you?" A holographic projection of a beautiful young lady in white medical uniform came out. She smiled kindly and spoke with a sweet voice.

"Is Mr Wang Weixing in the hospital?" Ye Chong asked.

"I'm sorry, Professor Wang Weixing has left to join this year's medical volunteer program last month. According to schedule, he should be returning in 83 days. If you want to, I can arrange for an appointment with another doctor!" The lady's words were like a bomb exploding in Ye Chong's head. This was very bad news to him.

"Please tell me Professor Wang Weixing's exact schedule!" Ye Chong asked, unwilling to back down.

"I'm sorry, since Professor Wang Weixing had attended the program in a private capacity, we do not know of the Professor's exact schedule!" This was another blow to Ye Chong.

"Ye, this does not look good!" In the virtual world, Mu materialized out of thin air.

"Yes, 83 days, it's not too long, we can go to planet Windstar first, and try with other doctors first. Besides, I think my episodes are getting less intense!" In truth, the odd condition was not a huge danger to Ye Chong. The episodes were getting less frequent, and the symptoms were less violent. However, Ye Chong dared not relax himself. Who knew what was really going on? If he actually died from this condition, it would be such a shame!

Ye Chong had high hopes for Wang Weixing, whom he had never met, hoping to cure his condition once and for all. However, it seemed that Wang Weixing was not in the hospital. It was truly disappointing for Ye Chong!

Mu left silently like the way he first appeared.

Ye Chong left the Windstar community in a bad mood. He cruised aimlessly in the virtual world. There was nothing for him in the real way at the moment, and the thought of mixing with those hypocritical people out there was unappealing to Ye Chong.

The virtual world was now more prosperous than ever. Ye Chong felt that the crowd was larger everywhere he went!

Everything was dazzling and sparkling. The market oozed a sense of modernity, and even those smaller shops lacking in grandeur had their own unique quaintness.

Suddenly, Ye Chong saw a flash of light and narrowed his eyes reflexively as his pupils contracted. He looked closely, and found that it was but a holographic broadcast suspended in the air.

Ye Chong laughed. Since when had he become so sensitive as he was before? He was about to take a step forward when something caught his attention.

Ye Chong stopped mid stride, lifted his head, and looked!

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Chapter 174: A Light Bulb Moment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Two mechs were engaged in a tight battle. Red and green chased after each other like shadows, the sound of metal against metal occasionally heard as they came into contact. The spectators were all excited by the battle.

Ye Chong was shocked. He had spent some time in the virtual world, and was familiar with the close range combat level here. It was only a year or two since he last visited, but the mechs were now much better in close range combat! The two mechs he was seeing now were quite capable, much better than the so called aces he fought against in the NR Training Center. They were also not too far from his level!

Ye Chong did not know that during his time in the Orbits in the last year or two, close range combat between mechs had improved sharply in the virtual world! This was all initiated by him. He had once won against many aces under the name YC, and his many battle recordings went viral. From then on, people began to realize the potential of close range mechs, and the excitement that came with battle at close quarters, something that long range bullet exchanges could never match. Young people grew to love close range combat, since the virtual world was not all about winning or losing, but the exhilaration it could bring. That was how, in the virtual world, close range battles between mechs improved so much. However, in the real world, long range mechs were still the preferred choice.

Ye Chong noticed immediately with his keen eyes that the red mech was attacking in a way that was similar to bare handed fights.

Why had he never thought of that before? Ye Chong slowly grew convinced. Indeed, two mechs engaged in close range combat was similar in principle to two humans in a fight. What if he could apply combat skills in close range battles between mechs? It was worth a shot! On the other hand, if he could apply combat skills to a battle between mechs, could he also apply some skills in mech battles to human combat?

Suddenly, it was like a large door opened wide before Ye Chong, and on the other side was a whole new world!

Ye Chong stood in a daze under the floating holographic broadcast. In the broadcast, the two mechs fought aggressively, throwing sparks as metal met metal. It was an intense battle, but Ye Chong was frowning in thought, in his own world.

Spacing off in the virtual world? Passersby's gave Ye Chong a few odd looks.

After half an hour, Ye Chong finally took a long exhale. His mind back in the virtual world, Ye Chong rushed to the nearest NR Training Center he could find.

Ye Chong had always wondered if all NR Training Centers look the same. Up till now, his experience told him it was affirmative. This made it easy for him.

Ye Chong entered the NR Training Center with his old name - YC. With Mu's protection, Ye Chong believed that no one would know who he really was.

The NR Training Center was crowded as usual. Ye Chong's last mech, Dark Shadow was already obliterated by Invincible Firepower. Now, he had no mechs under his name, and would have to buy a new one. Fortunately, his points were enough to buy a few advanced level mechs.

Ye Chong followed the familiar route to the maintenance hub. While every NR Training Center was similar in terms of their structure, the mechs available were different. The advanced level mechs here could no longer excite Ye Chong, but for now, he needed a humanoid mech for training.

Ye Chong found a blue-black humanoid mech. It was about 10 meters tall, its dark blue body not as bulky as mechs usually were, and its well proportioned build was something Ye Chong appreciated. Its four limbs were black, its surface covered with a matte polish that made it look cold and sturdy. More importantly, its surface would not be reflective. The mech had a cool looking profile, the hard lines matching the blue and black, making it almost as cold as Ye Chong himself! Its forehead had a bright red diamond, burning angrily against the blue and black, a bewitching touch to the mech!

This mech with the name Tissot immediately caught Ye Chong's attention.

Tissot had no supporting fins, its arm devoid of any shields, and it was poorly armed. The two handles by the waist must be the handles of two laser swords. There were also the two parrying spears fitted closely to the arms! These two weapons were the only ones it had.

This was a model that was launched two years ago, but the points required to redeem it was a bit surprising to Ye Chong, as it was worth three times more than his old Dark Shadow.

Once he entered the mech, Ye Chong could understand what made this mech special!

Maneuvering was a smooth affair, and the mech's engines were impressive, capable of powerful short bursts. The mech also had incredibly tough armor, almost like a lesser copy of Black Cove's war mech! However, its choice of weapons were even more extreme than Black Cove's - two laser swords and two parrying spears were too little for a mech! Without any long range weapons, Tissot's range would be severely limited.

Was being extreme a popular trend nowadays? Ye Chong thought of Duan's mech, similar in concept to Tissot, only that one of them was suited for close range battles, and the other for long range ones!

Ye Chong tried a few maneuvers and loved the feel of i! The mech's practicality may be suspect, but it was perfect as a training mech for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong did not intend to use any weapons, since he wanted to try out the idea he had in that light bulb moment. He was best in short range combat, and having no hindering equipment actually worked well for him.

The idea of applying combat skills in mech battles was not original, and there were already many existing techniques. Many combat enthusiasts fell in love with mech battles, since they were often more skilled than lesser mech pilots. In the last two years, many new names rose to fame due to their close range combat skills, and they were known as combat mech pilots. These combat mech pilots had their own fan base, and some even opened their own dojo in the virtual world to teach not combat skills, but mech combat skills.

Of course, becoming a combat mech pilot was not easy. Battles between mechs was still different than between humans. Besides battle moves, there was still the overly clunky mech maneuvering to consider. It was rare for one to conquer both. While combat experts were skilled in their field, mech piloting was still best learned from a young age. As for mech pilots, while many of them have superb mech piloting skills, few had ever formally learned the dying skill of actual combat.

Hence, the so called combat mech pilots today were not up to par. However, it was undeniable that mech battles were heading towards uncharted waters, and the fading world of combat was beginning to gain some life.

Ye Chong found a basic training room. The room still looked the same as before, and visitors were scarce as usual.

Ye Chong found an empty spot, but did not began training immediately. He was trying to analyse the differences between mech combat and normal combat.

Normal combat was driven by muscle power, while mech combat was driven by engines. This was the fundamental difference. WIth the help of engines, mechs can stay in midair longer, something that the human body could not allow. The body's soft elasticity was also something mechs could not achieve.

Ye Chong tried some simple combat moves. Initially, he could not get the hang of it, but very soon he began to understand the tricks behind it. This was because of his superb mech maneuvering skills. It was because of his skillful maneuvering that he could perform the moves that his mind conjured.

Of course, he was far from achieving the ideal results. Even if he could perform the moves, it did not mean that the moves were practical. He still needed to improve, step by step, to make the moves more reasonable and suitable for mechs.

In the end, however, Ye Chong had finally taken his first step forward. This was the first time he created something by himself without Mu's instructions. Mu seemed to understand him, and did not appear to intrude.

As for his second idea of applying mech battle skills into actual combat, it would have to wait until he was done with his first idea.

Ye Chong trained in full concentration, repeatedly practicing some basic moves patiently. Mu had said that the basics were the most important, and Ye Chong kept his words at heart. Gradually, Ye Chong could move more smoothly, and Tissot's attacks grew faster. Soon, Ye Chong reached the limits of what Tissot's mechanical parts could allow.

Tissot seemed like a mech specially designed for mech combat. Ye Chong maneuvered smoothly, and found that the mech's joints had engines designed to strengthen its attacks. He also noticed many of Tissot's less obvious design features.

Tissot's external equipments were only a front; its true weapon was its body. All potential attacking parts of the mech were specially designed. For example, Tissot's two palms had edges that cut like knifes, and its knuckles were just as sharp. When its elbow was bent, it became a sharp awl that could punch a dent into its enemy. The knees had auxiliary engine that were thrice as powerful as for normal mechs.

Ye Chong finally understood why the mech was so extreme in its design - it was a mech made for close range combat.

Time flew past unnoticed as Ye Chong trained, and he found himself growing proficient with those basic moves.

Mu suddenly materialized like a ghost and said, "Ye, there might be a place just for you!"

"Where?" Ye Chong knew that Mu would never speak carelessly.

"Here?" Ye Chong asked curiously. The room was pitch black.

"Yes, here. This is a room used for reaction practice, but it's perfect for your training! There will be many glowing spheres shot towards you, and you'll have to either hit or avoid those spheres. This is a pointless training for you, so what you have to do now is to not avoid the spheres, and try to keep attacking the spheres for as long as possible. Are you ready?" Mu asked.

Ye Chong drew in a deep breathe. "Alright! Let's get started!"

As he finished speaking, numerous glowing spheres appeared on a holographic screen, shooting towards him. Tissot moved into a horse stance as a calm combat expert would.

At the beginning, Ye Chong felt it was still manageable, and even had time to appreciate the sparkles that came from the destroyed glowing spheres that he hit.

As the spheres grew in numbers and came in faster, Ye Chong began to feel pressured, and no longer as relaxed. His precise attacks were now desperate, clumsy movements.

Tissot's arms, legs, knees, elbows and shoulders were all utilized, but Ye Chong was finally hit by a glowing sphere after enduring for about one minute.

Giving up halfway was not Ye Chong's style, and he could also feel the benefits of this training.

As he tried again and again, Ye Chong began to enjoy the process and gained new insights. He could hold against the spheres longer and longer, and slowly began to realize the subtleties involved. He found that as his attacks became more concise, the effectiveness increases. Controlled breathing was important, and any slight hiccups in that would almost certainly lead to the end of another practice round.

Ye Chong found a mysterious phenomenon - whenever his speed reached a threshold, Ye Chong could feel himself entering a strange state, as if his body could move by itself without conscious thoughts, while his mind became an observer at the side, incapable of any clear thoughts.

In this state, his movements were curiously sharp, but it was not often for him to reach this state. Ye Chong trained for more than 30 rounds, and only reached this state twice. Each time, it lasted for only a few seconds, after which Ye Chong would wake up, as if from a dream, and would inevitably be hit by a glowing sphere.

Was is a hallucination? Ye Chong did not mind it so much.

"Hmm, Ye, it's about time for you to leave!" Mu saw that Ye Chong was deeply absorbed in his training, and reminded him.

"Okay, one last time!" Ye Chong replied after a moment's thought.

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Chapter 175: Banquet

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the pilot's cabin, looking at the holographic screen before him, his hands resting easily on the controls, Ye Chong breathed in deep and closed his eyes, his chest expanding and contracting vigorously like a wind box. After a few seconds, Ye Chong's chest movements began to lessen, and his breathing slowed. He ran through the last thirty or so rounds of training in his head repeatedly, analyzing his mistakes.

Ye Chong abruptly opened his eyes and yelled, "Begin!"

Tissot stood silently like a black warrior, moving only when the first glowing sphere was almost touching it, its right arm hitting the sphere dead center. The glowing sphere immediately fragmented into a thousand pieces, fading into the darkness. At the same time, the mech angled to the right, its left elbow hitting another glowing sphere with uncanny accuracy, and the sphere fragmented and vanished like before.

Its movements grew faster and faster, every joint deftly utilized as a weapon to attack the spheres!

If anyone were witnessing this, they would be mesmerized by the beautiful sight. Around Tissot was a circle of light, and one could roughly make out Tissot's figure in the center. Numerous glowing spheres flew towards the glowing circle around Tissot like moth to fire, and immediately scattered silently into sparkling fragments, fluttering into nonexistence from the circle of light. The scene was beautiful as a dream.

Ye Chong still could not endure past the five-minute mark. After three minutes, the difficulty level increased drastically. If he could avoid the glowing spheres instead of hitting them all, Ye Chong believed that he could endure for at least 10 minutes.

Returning back to the real world, Ye Chong finally felt the lethargy hit him. More accurately, it was mental lethargy due to long periods of high concentration. After leaving the virtual world, Ye Chong felt a little dizzy, and breathed deeply for a few times before recovering himself.

Soon, someone came to invite Ye Chong for dinner.

Robert and Shang Zhangming discussed for a few hours in the inner halls. No one knew what they were discussing, only that they were both looking pleasant after the meeting, marking a smooth discussion.

The dinner crowd was large. Or rather, that was what Ye Chong thought, attending a banquet like this for the first time.

On Robert's side were Robert himself, Bai Linan, Duan and Ye Chong. Behind him were his four bodyguards, and Ye Chong could now finally see the faces of these four mysterious bodyguards.

They were all very pale, wearing cold expressions, much like Ye Chong himself. They look better in suits, compared to Ye Chong. They stood unmoving with their hands on the sides behind Robert.

Ye Chong felt a tic in the corner of his eyes.

By the ear of the nearest bodyguard to him, Ye Chong noticed an inconspicuous impression of a line. This impression extended all the way from the ear to the collar, marking the boundary between two very different skin colors. The side towards the nape was in normal skin color, unlike the unnatural paleness of the face due to prolonged lack of stellar radiation.

Ye Chong noticed similar impressions on the other three bodyguards, and he was inwardly shocked! He immediately thought of the masks! Only putting on masks for long periods would cause such a disparity in skin colour! Their Double Curved Steps already made him suspicious of them being from Black Cove, and now, he was almost sure of it! Only Black Cove people would wear masks, and since he had seen those masks before, he knew that the mask matched the impressions on the skin perfectly! Wearing the masks for a long time would naturally lead to this kind of pallor.

If these four men were from Black Cove, then how was Robert connected to Black Cove? If Black Cove would send four soldiers to him as bodyguards, he must be very important to them!

It looked like Robert was more than he seemed to be!

Ye Chong tried desperately to maintain his normal expression, and luckily, no one was noticing him at the moment. After taking in the shocking fact, Ye Chong quickly calmed down. Why did they not make any moves against him? Black Cove was out for him, and would not give up easily as was their usual style.

Could the opponents be faking their ignorance, and secretly sending for backup?

Shang Zhangming had many of his own people attending the banquet. Besides Shang Zhangming himself and Zhang Xin, there were also other important members of the Shang family. Shang Zhangming was a little surprised to find Ye Chong at the dinner table, but he swiftly accepted the fact and became at ease.

The banquet began with a joyful atmosphere. Ye Chong, occupied with his problems, could barely taste what he was eating.

"Mu, I think we're gonna have to leave soon!" Ye Chong spoke to Mu in his mind.

"Yes, but we must pick a more suitable time, or it will attract unwanted attention! This advice is from Shang, but I agree!" Mu and Shang communicated in a way that Ye Chong could not understand, but Mu would always relay Shang's thoughts whenever he was in unfamiliar territory. This was not a courtesy that Shang would ever extend!

Shang's words were reasonable, and Ye Chong understood that if he moved too hastily, it would only attract unwanted attention. What he needed now was to be left alone!

After experiencing so much, Ye Chong had grown more mature! If it was his earlier self, Ye Chong would immediately deploy his mech and escape!

Since it was decided that they would find a suitable time to make their move, Ye Chong could finally notice the delicious food in his mouth. Since he did not want attention, he continued to eat without looking up. He had never attended such an event, and did not know that his actions were out of the ordinary. Everyone else was only delicately sampling their dishes, but only he was eating by the mouthful! In a banquet like this, everyone would try to demonstrate their refinement. The meal was only an ends to a mean, as everyone actually hoping to bond with each other in the setting.

The rest of the table looked at Ye Chong strangely, most of them being members of the Shang family, looking at Ye Chong with aloofness and contempt.

Mu relayed Shang's words dutifully to Ye Chong, "Ye, you idiot, you're destroying your reputation. Heavens, how did I got to know someone like you?" Mu imitated Shang's tone to a T. Of course, he did not forget to add, "Ye, that was Shang. You know, I'm not familiar with this! Shang may be more reliable in this matter!"

"Did I do anything wrong?" Ye Chong was baffled.

"Ye, I think Shang should be the one to handle this!" Mu was just like that, always choosing the best solution to the problem.

"Haha, I thought I'd still need to wait a few days to come out, but now here I am! It's only for three hours, but it's so much better than being stuffed in there! All thanks to our most adorable Ye!" Shang laughed like a maniac.

Ye Chong groaned inside. The fellow was obviously bored to death inside! He could only hope that the mech would not suggest any crazy ideas!

"Okay, Ye, now do as I say!" Shang spoke complacently, like a child who found himself an interesting toy.

Shang's tone immediately triggered a sense of foreboding in Ye Chong, but he had no choice but to acquiesce. "Alright!, But, Shang, don't push it!"

"Sure, I would never!" Shang's tone gave Ye Chong a very good idea of what the mech thought of his warning.

"Alright, let's begin!" Shang spoke excitedly.

"Ye, you've managed to make yourself the center of everyone's attention, even if in an absolutely gross way. But don't worry, hehe, this problem is a piece of cake for me! However, to avoid your repeating the same mistake, allow me to explain!" Shang was obviously very confident of himself.

"Oh, what did I do?" Ye Chong was also curious about what went wrong.

Noting Ye Chong's interest, Shang was even more encouraged. "Ye, socializing is a very difficult skill, looks like you'll have to be formally coached in social etiquette. Take this banquet, for example. For aristocrats, it's not an occasion to fill their stomachs. They will usually eat a little something before attending the banquet, since they can then focus on socializing with other people, instead of eating! Don't underestimate the power of dining etiquette; it's the most important way for the upper class to socialize, and a very effective strategy to bring people together."

"I see!" Ye Chong said unsurely.

"You've made five mistakes just now. One, you should eat the dessert laid before you first, and not the main dish in your plate. Two, you're using your cutleries wrong. Three, usually, you should take a sip of the wine on your left after a few bites of food. Four, ignoring other people while you eat is very rude. Five, the way you eat is criminally offensive."

"Heavens, do you still call that dining?" Ye Chong was vexed, and groaned inside.

"Ye, this is a very elegant field of knowledge!" Shang spoke eagerly.

"Hmph, I don't see what's so elegant about it!" Ye Chong could not agree. To him, all these difficult rules only served to complicate what was originally a very simple affair of eating. Besides, it was very inefficient.

"Sigh, I know you can't understand everything right now, just do as I say!" Shang gave up on convincing Ye Chong for the moment.

"Hmm, alright!" Ye Chong had no qualms with that. After all, he understood his current situation. Since he was not powerful enough to break the rule, he could only protect himself by following them.

"Ye, see that third cutlery from the left?"

"This one?" Ye Chong picked up a table knife with a serrated edge and a hook on the other side.

"Yes! This one. Now hold another table knife in your left hand, the one with the metallic handle! Hehe, using two table knives is a very ancient way of dining for aristocrats. Since it's difficult, not many people eat like this anymore, but it'll make you look like an aristocrat yourself, surely someone will recognize this posture. All we have to do is to convince them of this! Hehe …" Shang gave an evil laugh.

"Move your hands slowly, always cut your food into thumb sized pieces. Keep your elbows slightly open to the side. Control your expression, make sure you look calm. Sigh, I suppose that last thing is your forte!"

Ye Chong did exactly as told. His accurate control of his strength allowed for easy handling of the knives.

Most of the people at the table were chatting enthusiastically, and did not notice Ye Chong's change in demeanor. However, a few of the Shang family's older members exchanged looks of surprise, obviously noticing Ye Chong's "uniqueness". However, most of them still looked at Ye Chong with condescension.

"Ye, you can resume your normal way of eating now!" Shang laughed like a knave.

"Why is that?" Ye Chong felt lost.

Shang explained carefully, "Don't worry, these people here are all very cunning. They'll definitely notice your short demonstration. If they recognize this ancient and difficult way of eating, they'll definitely change their minds about you! Ye, remember, never let your opponent guess your next move! Sudden actions like this will make them think that you're unpredictable, and not some ignorant peasant. They might think that you did it unintentionally, and even believe that you're actually the descendant of some long forgotten ancient aristocratic family! Haha, of course, they'd never guess what you're hiding. However, that's all none of your business! Isn't that right?"

"Yes!" These were definitely not complications that he needed to know.

Food was excellent, the best that Ye Chong had ever had. Since Shang assured him it was alright, Ye Chong ate to his heart's content. This attracted curious glances from everyone on the table, and the few older members of the Shang family exchanged some meaningful looks. Something unintelligible flashed past Robert's eyes, but he quickly resumed his conversation with Shang Zhangming.

Dinner ended, and Ye Chong did not do anything strange again. Shang managed to keep silent throughout the affair, which surprised him! Just when Ye Chong thought it was all over, Shang finally broke his silence, announcing excitedly, "Ye, it's finally time for the main event!"

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Chapter 176: Ye Chong's First Soirée

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"The what?" Ye Chong did not seem to compute it, "The main event?" In his perspective, when a meal had ended, it meant everything had ended, a finale where people should leave, the place should be cleaned.

"Yes, the main event, habitually there would be Soirée after dinner - a social event exclusively for the gentries of course. Technically members of the upper social class would take the opportunity to interact with each other. But well, in comparison to a table dining course, Soirée is freer in the methodologies, also much more colorful. You would not be sealed on the dining table and restricted by table mannerism." And Ye Chong thought he had mastered the worst kind of jargons in his mech studies. Apparently, "Soirée" was a suave, fancy term to call a private social function held between the men and women in wealth.

"At this place…," continued Shang, signaling Ye Chong to take a look, "they usually would exchange certain information of their backgrounds. Most of them would not converse with each other about serious businesses on this occasion. Precisely saying, this is known as a kind of recreation, solely for enjoyment. To some youngsters however, such function appeared to be an important stage to spotlight their appeal. And… this is also the social circle for the Madame, you know, the ladies, the dowager. Sigh, I don't think you understand a word I've said! But just watch and learn, you'll know soon enough!" sounded like an expert from the Great Britain, Shang gave a lengthy lecture about life.

"Whatever…" Ye Chong responded uninterestedly, as he clearly knew such lifestyle was not what he desired. Thus his current objective would be listening to Shang's advice so that he could stay low in this party, especially when he knew nothing about the lethargic mannerism of this alien society. It would not be good if he made a joke out of himself, though he was pretty curious the fact that Shang actually had interests in these meretricious things.

The dining tables were soon removed by the butlers. A few coffee tables with sliced fruits, wines and sweets were placed instead. The center of the hall was emptied and couches rested at the corners. The servants hurried their works like a fast-forwarded renovation. The premium hologram music player formed the classy atmosphere with the quality music the whole time.

The relaxing music wafted through the hall, as everyone entered the hall one after another.

"Ye, don't just stand there! Go grab yourself a glass of wine. Hold it in your hand, even if you don't feel like drinking," reminded Shang.

And Ye Chong reached one of the glasses of red wine on the table nearby. "Now…," added Shang, "you shall walk slowly around the hall. Gently lift your glass whenever you bump into people. If they lifted their glasses before you, you lift your glasses too to signal your friendliness. The whole point is to act naturally and good-natured."

"B-o-r-i-n-g!" Muttered Ye Chong in his head, "You mean we are doing this for the whole night?"

"Heh!" Laughed Shang, "Ye, you call this 'boring'? Don't be such a hasty man, the more boring part comes after this." His laugh sounded more like a steady snicker.

A small crowd flooded into the hall after that, with each man having a lady by his side. Shang Zhangming was obviously occupied at the moment, as he walked around to send his loving greetings to acquaintances with glass in his hand.

Mr. Robert walked to Ye Chong, also with a glass in his hand, "Wang my brother, what's up with that Pokerface? There will be beauties coming to us after this! You can't be spending your youth without some spices of lovemaking! Too bad the beauties missed the chance to witness your strength or you would be drowned by their cuddles and smooches. Hahaha!" he chuckled as he lifted his glass.

"It's nothing, really," flatly he replied, as Ye Chong was never reactive towards such kind of comments, he just mimicked Mr. Robert's gesture as he briefly lifted his glass.

"Good," complimented Shang in his head. "That action you took was great!"

"Really?" Seeing through the expression of Ye Chong, he laughed his way out.

The hall was getting more crowded over the night. To make this function much fulfilling, Shang Zhangming actually invited almost every public figure on Rique planet.

Ye Chong walked around aimlessly with that glass of wine wrinkling his fingers. Hardly there was anybody lifting their glasses for him. Pleasing it was to our hero, although he kept sensing strange stares coming from the females around him… "Ugh." It was discomforting. He wanted to know why but he failed to, as suddenly the flock of females would evacuate themselves the moment he turned his head over them. "Ugh!" Ye Chong was not delighted.

I give up. Stares won't kill me anyway!

"Isn't this lonely man Mr. Wang?" The sweet voice rang from his back. Ye Chong turned to his back and he saw Shang Xin, holding her glass of wine, walked towards him fashionably with a man in white suit. One of the young man's eyes were veiled by that silvery white hair of his, which gave off a kind of obscurity to his expression. The corners of his lips were hazily raised and lowered, on that fair smooth face of his. He was truly handsome. And that was when Ye Chong felt the sights he collected were suddenly all shifted to that man in split seconds.

It was relieving to Hermit Ye Chong.

The young man bowed, expressing courtesy towards Ye Chong, in grace and humbleness.

"Ugh! Ye! This kiddo is more striking than you! Dammit!" Shang sounded bad-tempered.

"Striking? What you mean?" It was the first time he heard of such adjective.

"Yes, a man is called 'striking' when he's good-looking," Shang gave a concise explanation.

"Good-looking? The heck I could do with being 'good-looking'? Not like I could get a meal with it. If this is also an advantage, it is an empty advantage!" indifferently he replied.

Ye Chong returned a bow at the young man, "Yes, Ms. Shang, what do you want from me?" and he spoke to Shang Xin.

?

Both of their expressions turned stale right before Ye Chong.

"Wrong! Wrooong!" Shang sounded absolutely annoyed, "Ye, don't you use that Mu style here! It's only a recreational activity! You know? Leisure? Relax? I can't believe there would be someone asking what the counterpart wanted him to do upon the first greeting on a Soirée! Oh my Rique! Save me! This is too much!"

"What in Rique do I say then?" asked Ye Chong.

"Say anything! Like a simple 'hello, Ms. Shang. Nice weather tonight isn't it?" Or an expressive 'Ms. Shang you look gorgeous tonight.' There's nothing you can't say, except for something like that Mu's signature 'what do you want from me?'!"

"Nonsense. Aren't those gibberish?" muttered Ye Chong.

"This *is* a place for people to spit gibberish!" accurately Shang concluded.

Even for an adaptive lady like Shang Xin was shut down for a moment by that striking line she heard for the first time of her life on a Soirée from Ye Chong. She was muted. The atmosphere got awkward. Ye Chong feared delivering a critical blow without notice again, so he shut up completely. The silence lasted till that young man came to break the stunning spell, "I heard from Sister Xi that you were actually able to snipe an enemy 60 meters away with a dagger. This is seriously amazing to me!" A charming smile he lobbed as he spoke.

"Oh! This is Shang Ling!" Shang Xi introduced hastily, "He had heard of your stories and became really determined of seeing you to express his admiration."

"Oh, thank you. But that was mere luck," another flat response from Ye Chong. Frankly speaking, that blow was indeed with a little factor of luck. He was not confident to say that he would be able to produce the same satisfying result as before.

Hmm?

Shang Ling drew a lifting curve on his face, "You can't gamble if you don't have the strength to begin with! Mr. Wang, stop being so humble! You deserve it!" Somehow there was some underlying meaning heard from his words.

"Mr. Shang you don't have to butter me up…" Ye Chong's expression remained as indifferent.

Shrugged the young man gracefully, "It'll be an enjoyable experience if I was ever able to have a competition with Mr. Wang! I'm sure!" A brief second later, somehow he sensed his misconduct, he ceased the conversation, "Joking! Joking! I was just joking! How could I ever be even your opponent? Mr. Wang. Although I wonder if Mr. Wang has an interest in piloting mechs…"

"Just normal," alarmed Ye Chong inside as he simply worded his response.

"I seriously would love to witness Mr. Wang's technique in piloting the mechs." The eyes of Shang Ling was of expectation, strong expectation.

"I see," Ye Chong gave a random response. Why the heck did he suddenly mention about mech-piloting? Does he know something? Does his offer mean something else? Ye Chong decided to not send off responses on a whim, considering how he barely knew the capability of the man.

As conveyed Ye Chong's interest on the conversation, both Shang Ling and Shang Xin excused themselves. They waltzed to the other guests instead.

Ye Chong decided to stay at one corner and sipped the wine in his glass. He refused to head back to the center of the hall in spite of Shang's nag.

"Ling, how do you find the guy?" asked Shang Xin as she walked by Shang Ling's side.

"It's a strange yet interesting guy. Very cold too.," he seemed intrigued.

"Right. He's really strange and seemed to be completely unaware of the mannerism of society. Although my uncle did mention about that to me, he saw Wang Xing using some weird double knife ceremony during the course randomly. It was very briefly done however. My uncle was suspecting if Wang Xing is actually a nobleman of some kind," added Shang Xi. "I seriously do not buy his suspect nevertheless, he doesn't look like a nobleman at all. But assuming if he did receive education of nobility before, what's up with all these camouflages he'd been putting up then?" Shang Xin's expression was filled with perplexity.

"D-Double Knife Ceremony?" shocked Shang Ling.

"Ling, you know this double knife trick too?" asked Shang Xi in curiosity.

"Yes. The Double Knife Ceremony is a primeval table mannerism which only was handed down among the nobility of the upperclass, yes, the nobility of the nobilities. Different from the modern table mannerism we do today, they wield two knifes at once. It is very challenging to dine like this because you could not wield them by your will and you could easily hurt your mouth without being properly trained on this, which was also why we eventually use fork and knife instead. One who is able to perform the Double Knife Ceremony is very likely to be the descendant of the nobility, especially when it is also an extremely rare sight to see one who wields such way in the aristocrat or families of the wealth today," explained Shang Ling in detail.

"Judging by what you've mentioned, he should have received very superior education. Then why was he acting such gracelessly? Is it an act? What's the purpose then?" Shang Xin began pondering.

"Well, seems like we had gotten into a very interesting person." The excitement grew on Shang Ling's face, as peculiar glows flashed in his eyes.

…

Ye Chong sipped the wine in his hand mechanically in repetition. The alcohol by volume of this red wine was exceptionally low. It tasted slightly sweet, like some sort of fruit juice. It was the first time he tasted red wine, so it left him a good impression on the taste. Nonetheless, the imagery of Lunatic Guan being drunk and claiming that she was all conscious and sound came haunting him, reminding him to never turn into that uncontrollable sight.

Ye Chong at the corner alone was not feeling lonely at all, as he chatted with Shang on and off.

The music had changed into a dance before he noticed it. Out of the blue, people gathered at the empty ground in the middle. And they tended to enter in pairs - one man and one woman - fluttering into the crowd as they grooved along the tune.

Ye Chong seemed a little interested at first, but it did not take long before he started yawning at the slow and hypnotizing music to his ears.

Of course, Shang had to take a part of the credits to that. He did not stop the paradigm transformation inside Ye Chong's head since the beginning. Anyone could inevitably be murdered by the information overload, the jargon bombardments by an artificial indulgence.

"Ye, you must learn how to get the indulgence of your life!" stated the A.I. "The world is still relatively at peace and harmony! It's not all about killing-and-surviving!" Halted Shang abruptly as he realized his ongoing lecture did not seem to match Ye Chong's experience, so he discarded his peace ideology and went on with something else, "I mean, combats undeniably shared an importance of you. But having life is equally important! If there was no fun in life, you are no different from a killing machine! Ye, I knew the enjoyment of life well enough despite being an artificial intelligence, what about you…"

Why Shang stopped?

Ye Chong knew the answer well, if there was nothing unexpected happening, he would not stop his thesis anytime soon.

"Would you like a dance with me?" A voice of a girl came shyly into his ears.

Ye Chong lifted his head. It was a girl in a faint beige one-piece. Her long hair stranded over her shoulders as her head lowered in some degree of shyness. Her hands crossed in front of her body and through his sharp eyes Ye Chong could discern her hands twiddling the dress of hers.

"Are you talking to me?" said Ye Chong as he took a look around.

"Mhm," reddened the face of the girl, tomato-red it was, "C-Could you dance with me?" muttered her.

"Holy Matrimony! Such a beauty! So naive, yet so charming! Ye, say yes. Go! Go! Go! Say the Y-word! You insensitive boy! How could you be so fortunate! You always get the nice girls! Holy Molly! This is too unreasonable! Boy you are sure lucky! Hahahahaha! You actually bumped into a beauty within the first 3 hours here!" Shang's excitement roared within his head.

I knew it… Sobbed Ye Chong. Shang always managed to lose control of himself whenever he saw a female, especially if the female turned out to be the so-called beauty by his standards. He would go malfunctioned, short-circuit. Well at least that was what Ye Chong saw.

"Why must I dance with her?" asked Ye Chong in a laid-back tone. Listening to Shang's lecture was a torture, but then, crashing down Shang's lecture would be a joy instead.

"Ye, you inhuman ignorant bull! You beast! There's a pure-looking lady came inviting you for a dance after mustering her whole night of courage and you ask me why you must? I-Is this even a question coming from a man?" scolded Shang madly.

The girl lifted her head too as she saw no response from the man before her.

That was when Ye Chong had a better look on her face. The skin was fair as the snow, fragile yet tickling, the face of hers depicted some naivety of her character, the tiny nose of hers, the pouted lips of hers, that one-piece with laces at the edge of hers, an exact setting of a princess in fairytales… Gorgeous.

The big expressive eyes of hers stared at Ye Chong carefully. The eyes of avoidant somehow expressed bit of expectation, which reminded Ye Chong of Nan Nan he had not seen in the past few months for some reason.

He remembered how Nan Nan also came approaching him with a fearful eyes, being all cautious and frightened. Her eyes and her expression, they looked very identical! Ye Chong's mind wandered off…

"Ye! What in the Rique you are waiting for! Say yes! Hurry up!" rushed Shang in his head. The tone sounded as if he was going to do the dance for Ye Chong instead.

"But Shang, you obviously know I don't know how to dance!" Ye Chong disapproved it.

"Heh!" Shang actually pinpointed the shaking will in between the lines, "No problem, Ye, I have a plan!" He carried on convincing the robotic boy to do a dance.

"You sure?" Ye Chong was skeptical about it.

"Heh! Sure! No worries!" guaranteed Shang, even though the laugh he made afterwards felt sort of proud.

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Chapter 177: Sway, Swirl and Sensation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Bai Linan was wandering in the hall. He would greet with a nod at anybody coming to him, be the person an acquaintance or a total stranger. He would even have a brief conversation with them. He would say he did not waste the time he spent with his boss, as he got very familiar with such lifestyle and understood deep down inside the meaning behind each gesture at a ballroom.

His sight drifted through the crowd as he was identifying the potential guest worthy for interaction. If he lacked such skill, the efficiency of his effort would be halved. He had been taking all sorts of jobs way before his ballroom career. Being extra cautious had always been his personality, or chances were he might never be able to stand out among the pirates that well and survive till now.

The music rolled on as people scurried to find a partner to dance with so that they could join the dancing crew at the center.

The guests flashed quickly before Bai Linan, which made him wondered if he should get into dancing as well.

Let's see…

!

Bai Linan zoned out suddenly. His willow expression went hollow. It was somehow strange as he stared on for the next few seconds. He then rubbed his eyes in strong disbelief. Am I seeing things?

Oh my Robert Sir… What had happened? T-This is too creepy… What sorcery is this?

Bai Linan could conclude that he had never been into such witchcraft before in his entire life, for he actually witnessed Ye Chong leading a lady into a dance! Honestly, it would be less shocking for him to witness a mutated gorilla grabbing a lady and having a Samba at the center with spotlight on. Dancing was nothing amazing, especially when he was an expert himself. Dancing with a woman was absolutely child's play, of course he would not do a dance with a man to impress anyone as much as Ye Chong did. These premises were so normal, till they were applied on Ye Chong. Creepy! Creepy indeed! The creepiness was unable to be worded!

Did a big bang just occur? Or was there a super nova he was unaware of?

Ye Chong had his hand holding the tender, smooth hand of this unknown lady, which he would have to put a majority of his attention on, since he feared the God-given hand (as stated by Shang) snapping and shattering into a paste of screamer if he would apply slight strength on the grip. Furthermore he was not used to holding people's hands, there were literally a few instances where he nearly tossed the girl he was holding like a sandbag subconsciously. Fortunately, miraculously he was quick in reaction, as he ceased his muscle movement swiftly… or the music might stop, people might shriek and the center might get evacuated.

"Ye, c'mon, relax a little. Just listen to my instruction. Heh! First, your body must be flexible, not brittle!" Shang's tone grew prouder somehow.

"Shang, I just hope that your 'instruction' would not get any messier! And please don't ask me to do some weird screwed up stuffs!" The last line of Ye Chong came out quite like a warning.

"Heh! No worries," the devilish sneer gave Ye Chong a shudder. But well, since Ye Chong had already made his first step onto the dance floor, guess he could only make his following steps.

The sole relief to Ye Chong's situation was this scaredy cat lady acting more nervous than he himself. Ye Chong could even hear her throbbing heart and feel the quivering hand in his grip. For Ye Chong himself, he did not see the point of being nervous at this, since he did not care whatever that could happen on the dance floor. If anything would go wrong, he believed no one could stop him once he hopped into the Guardian. The one, single fear was… probably Shang, who liked to play with fire and he played with it too much! But it seemed more like his usual style… and unavoidable.

Ye Chong was not the foolish kind. He fully observed that one pair of guest already dancing at the center in one glance. The posture of the gent and the placement of his hand over his partner's body, he mimicked them all, flawlessly.

"Keep your top still, look after the direction of your feet, yes, do it slow. Left feet, radius vector : 6 degree, 40 centimeters away!" Hurrahed the devil.

Ye Chong accurately landed his step at the location stated by Shang.

"Now, right leg of yours, radius vector: 42 degree, 40 centimeters away too!"

Ye Chong again, accurately trod according to the coordinate.

"Great. Now, also your right leg, radius vector: 72 degree, 50 centimeters away this time!"

Ye Chong did as he was exactly told.

…

"Relax, muscle relax. Your action must not be awkward. Be with the music. When you shift your direction, you exert a little force to your female counterpart. How was it? Not hard as you've assumed, isn't it?" The devil sounded more thrilled than before.

The sweat of his back had already wetted every single corner of the shirt, since he was literally performing every instruction given by Shang via the control over his muscle. It was torturing! He had invested all his focus on controlling his body, he did not have the grace to take a look at the stare coming from the lady.

"Doronath Step this is called. It's a dance step of middle difficulty, which fits perfectly to the music right now. Isn't it interesting?"

Ye Chong after regaining his inertia could not help but to spit, "Doronath step? You call this a step? This is terrible and lack practical purposes! It's nothing compared to the T-step, the Curved Step and the Cross Step! This is silly!" Those steps Ye Chong mentioned were steps frequently used in combats.

The devil's eyes rolled like a slot machine. He almost passed out from Ye Chong's comment. The vein bloated on his head after stabilizing his fall, "Y-You combat maniac!"

Meanwhile Shang Ling who had been all gentle and kind, greeting the guest around, froze his smile entirely the moment he turned.

"Sister, have you heard of things like your young sister Lan dancing with an actual man?" His whisper trailed off. "Yes what?" she nodded her head, Shang Xin did not turn to check it out, "No way." A conclusion of absolution from her, "How could that ever happen? I was the one who taught her dancing. Other than being under me and my sister's lead, no way she would know how to dance with others," her judgement sounded highly confident. She was utterly sure.

"I think I'm seeing things," mumbled Shang Ling.

"Yikes! Things you've been thinking of. My sister would touch nothing else other than the corner of the room." She turned her head to Shang Ling, who was staring at one specific direction in blank dismay.

"What again?" Shang Xin was confused as she looked at Shang Ling's direction. In almost a second, Shang Xin's eyes enlarged like saucers, as her face froze along.

"W-Was this an illusion?" Shang Ling was wondering if he was daydreaming.

"Yes. It is. It has to be!" Shang Xin was definitely daydreaming.

They looked at each other as they had come into agreement, shouting simultaneously, "It's an illusion!"

Seeing that bright smile of Shang Lan, both of the bystanders could hardly believe the fact that the shrinking violet Younger Sister Lan was the girl dancing joyfully with a man on the dance floor.

"What enchantment of this Wang Xing?" Shang Ling was very intrigued of the working behind this.

"What intention of this Wang Xing?" This was what Shang Xin truly cared.

Of course, Ye Chong was unaware of these comments at all. He remained attentive at Shang's instruction as he treated the whole session as a kind of body reaction training instead.

Shang Lan looked into the eyes of this man with a frozen heart before him. Her lips shaking, as they were lifted into jolly curves. Back on the dining table she had noticed such an extraordinary man who would chomp throughout his course. She was amused by it for she had never seen a grown man eating in such a manner, he must be an interesting kind! If she could have ever tried it once… sadly the education she had been receiving was against it. He then spent the night of soirée all alone at the corner, not talking to anybody - just like how she had always been. Somehow, an urge to invite him for a dance seized her mind. She was actually body-and-soul ready for a rejection from this cold man. He was too cold, freezing cold, that he even disregarded the greetings from Sister Xin and Brother Ling occasionally. He seemed totally unapproachable! B-But! I did not expect him to accept my offer right after a moment of silence!

Their faces were very close to each other, that she could discern every single detail of his face. The indifference of his, the dignity in him and those marks after struggles of survivals… His expression was all solemn and stern by then, which looked like… the face of Brother Ling when he piloted his mech.

You could get this serious when dancing? Such an odd man!

She realized how the man had never noticed her observation, her heart raced as her eyes went larger in caution… uncontrollably, the hint of smile tinted her face.

Shang Zhangming who had long perceived the strange behavior of his daughter after the kind reminder of his servants, had his eyes wet and filled with strong protectiveness as his body shuddered seeing the expression of her daughter while dancing.

And that was when Mr. Robert got enraged witnessing Ye Chong, the boy he had been attentive of, being with the daughter of Shang Zhangming. What a cunning merchant! For he actually could use her daughter to seduce my Wang Xing! Such charisma! Not! His blood boiled but with admiration.

"Well, Ye. Time for your last pose. When I said 'go', you toss her out. And you let go of your hand immediately once you tossed her out. Wait her to make a flip in the air. She would reach her hands for you when she is landing. You grab her hand and get her in your embrace. She would fall naturally into it, don't worry. You just lift her waist with your right hand. And remember! Do it gently! You are not kneading noodles! Don't exert brute force on a lady!" Shang simply did not want a romance to turn into a horror of a lass being torn apart by a monster called Ye Chong, considering the horrifying strength of his.

"Ok," responded Ye Chong. Phew, finally, it's ending. It felt more tiring than marble training.

"Go!" boomed Shang.

Ye Chong was ready for it! His left arm shook, from shoulder to the arm to the elbow to the wrist, like a wave rolling from the sea to the shore!

Shang Lan could feel a potent yet gentle force pushing her upwards. She was lifted into the air as her hand felt a loss in weight. A never-before-felt excitement stimulated her soul. She was all exhilarated as she heard the sound her dress made as the inflowing air breathing through her. It felt refreshing!

The split second she was landing, she reached out her fair slender arms. Before she could ponder of how to land, an arm grabbed her and a whirlwind dragged her down. Soon her nose was poked with a scent of masculinity. She knew, she knew! She had melted into the embrace of this man.

At that moment, a breath of soul raided the neck of the naive girl.

The last move was an unblemished record to Ye Chong's dancing, even Shang could not get a flaw to criticize with, though it had certainly frightened the spirit out of the Shangs. They feared to see the doll to fall into a million pieces. If that were to happen, Wang Xing this damned man must be thrown into a shredder!

The current posture between two of them was rather suggestive. Shang Lan collapsed in his embrace, with the right hand holding her waist. Her face was only 2 to 3 centimeters away from… from…

Shang Lan's brain was partially jammed.

Ye Chong had his eyes fixed on the lady in his embrace. That creamy neck of hers, that rolling eyes of hers in lingering stimulation, bewitching… he could feel a kind of heat rumbling in his stomach… The white garb, the smooth skin flashed in his head… The fist, of utter force… The girl he was holding somehow was emanating the identical, peculiar scent from the girl he had been with before…

For some reason, he lowered his head intuitively as he gently gave a lick on her neck!

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Chapter 178: Undercurrent I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

When Ye Chong got back to his room he could already feel his bones crumbling, as he had been applying full force over his body muscles to perform that freaking Doronath Step instructed by Shang the love tutor. The main issue of the performance was to inhibit the force of his hand. Shang demanded gentleness and elegance in every movement he made, which put him under obligation to remind himself to not exert his inhuman strength from time to time. And that was literally new to him. To top all that, Shang just had to repetitively nag in his head to retain the flexibility of his body in the postures. It took countless of times with the artificial indulgence's harassment before Ye Chong acquired the sense of flexibility in his body, which was exactly the split second of relaxation of his muscle right before he sprang into action every time. Well that was undeniably a torment to Ye Chong, as maintaining the posture of anticipation was bringing an overwhelming amount of burden to his body and mind, which unavoidably boiled down as the main cause to his fatigue at the moment.

Regarding to that final blow he delivered… Ye Chong had yet gotten any idea what the heck happened in his head that time. He did not foresee what the lick of his would have caused which led to an uncontrollable development of his story.

The two major spectators of the entire show in the dark, in their finest suit and dress, had their faces dramatically bloomed into something unrecognizable. Too bad Ye Chong missed their epic reaction, as he only heard the sound of glasses shattering upon falling onto the ground, which shocked Ye Chong awake from the strange condition of his after that lick. He was surprised of seeing himself acting so, as he quickly retreated his hands upon seeing the reddish face of the lady in his embrace. Shang Lan had lost control of her body by then. However, as she could not stand properly with the sloppy feet of hers, she fell into the embrace of Ye Chong again. The man in confusion could only helplessly reach his hands out to hold the poor lady once more.

Right when Ye Chong was figuring an appropriate solution for this mishap of his day, Shang Xin and Shang Ling were already racing towards him. Shang Xin lifted the melted sister of hers and fired a glare at Ye Chong, while Shang Ling… he was giving a very strange gaze at Ye Chong for some reason. As usual, Ye Chong wasn't concern about the thoughts of others, as he expressed ignorance. The arrival of the two spectators resolved his issue of carrying this melted girl perfectly. The girl as lifted by her sister, gave a quick glance at Ye Chong before she left. Her watery eyes flowed a sign which Ye Chong could not comprehend. It was the first time he saw it, was it anger? Or was it something else?

Well. No use crying over spilled milk. What happens, happens. Ye Chong was too lazy to give more thoughts to the accident. But it was weird, somehow, that white garb flashed in his head during the dance… Ye Chong laughed bitterly.

The artificial indulgence had gone full rampage with his laughter ever since that historical lick Ye Chong made on the girl.

"Shang, why could I not resist doing that back then?" Ye Chong could not understand the working of this back when he was shocked awake.

"Mhm, biologically speaking, it is a kind of intuition. A kind of built-in ability." Shang sounded serious when he spoke… for the first 2 seconds, "Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" And he burst out laughing once more, "Ye, you are too strong! You are a potent beast! Yes you are! The intuition of the beast! The definition of nature! Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Shang's mechanical laughter roared in his head.

Towards this artificial indulgence, despite the annoyance, Ye Chong could do nothing about him. The saving grace to his misfortune was that Shang's personal 3 hours ended pretty soon after. Mu's silence of rationality sent Ye Chong to a peaceful sleep quickly afterwards.

Oh hell he knows… that the outside had gone hectic, chaotic.

"Have you found anything on Wang Xing?" Shang Zhangming's face was of a fearsome black hole, as his voice rumbled profoundly, since he was also one of the witnesses to one of the best moments in the history of humankind. He could reminisce how his head had blanked out completely, his thoughts jammed into BSOD. He was sentimental thinking of how his younger daughter was behaving lonesome during the days before. It was heart-wrenching to see the blossom all alone at the corner. Still! The moment he recalled the night that jerk Wang Xing who actually was daring enough to do such a preposterous action over his precious Lan in public. Oh the temper erupted in his mind. "What the hell all of you are waiting for? Get to work!" Under his rage, the homicide could be smelled even under each word of his lines. His subordinates were threatened, trembling and acted cautiously with their work, as they feared of becoming one of the scapegoats to the incident.

"Y-yes, we got it sir. Wang Xing, 21, a native from planet Fedar. Parents were both deceased. No relative was found. Other information, unknown; examination, qualification of any level, any kind, negative!" The man reported in carefully.

"You took this long and this was all you could get?" Knotting his brows, looking slightly unsatisfied.

"As apparently this man is not in list of Mr. Robert's men and this information was obtained from the investigation under the demand of Ms. Shang Xin. We have just started it. Also, we were informed that only the butler of Mr. Robert, Bai Linan was aware of Wang Xing's background. Even Mr. Robert himself was unaware of the identity. Wang Xing got Ms. Shang Xin's attention on his prompt rescue during the raid at Mr. Robert. In addition, it seemed like he wields great skills," the man sounded fearful, but his words remained concise and clear.

"Mhm." Shang Zhangming's tone sounded less threatening, as he understood how difficult the investigation was for his men, "Alright. All of you can excuse yourself. You have done well. But I would like all of you to keep an eye on this Wang Xing."

"Yes sir!" The man nodded his head immediately. He was supposed to leave yet his steps moved with hesitation. "What else?" Shang Zhangming understood the gesture, it was a sign that his men had something else to report, frowning, he asked.

"Reporting in. It is a piece of information we obtained from the virtual world," courteously the man started reporting. "The man whose I.D. was known as 'YC' had suddenly reappeared in the virtual world. And he was actually at the NR Training base on planet Rique. And according to the confirmation of our mavericks, this YC should be residing right on our planet. Well, sir, since you had ordered us to watch on this person, so…" The voice of the man sounded shaky.

And that was when Shang Zhangming remembered the fact that he did ask his men to follow up on this YC guy… that was something centuries ago however. "I see. I remembered it. Just keep watching." He tried to not sound irritated, since those were his trustworthy men, though he was literally suffocated by his daughter's misfortune, wondering how in the Rique he would have the mood to take care of this random player online.

The reemergence of YC the legend had once again brought up a storm in the virtual world.

Ye Chong was too focused on his training, that he again did not realize how the base on Rique also contained an automatic full-recording system, which he did not opt-out before logging in. Hence, every frame of his performance was recorded wholly. Even though Mu had already launched the anti-detection program on the merchants around, he did not take any further action, since the merchants did not impose actual threat on Ye Chong.

There would be tons of void hologram visuals from the NR training base daily. Void as in, uninteresting, random and trivial. There would be workers specially selecting the masterpieces hidden within the trash, considering the chances of discovering visuals of some real deals in training. The visuals and the analyzed information on it would be most valuable to everybody else.

At the first second when the worker spotted the I.D. on the screen being YC, he knew he had hit the jackpot of the day.

As expected from YC, even his training course was a total shocker, for he actually thought of using the avoidable training room to master his stance and offenses. The worker was stupefied seeing the scene produced on the last training session of YC of the day.

He uploaded the visual to the public right away and had landed a bomb to the netizens in the virtual world.

Ye Chong might not be considered as the founder of mech close-combats, but he was certainly related to the rise of close-combats in the virtual world. Watching YC's visuals was known as a must-do to every mech combat enthusiast, especially when the techniques used inside could be deemed as the textbook for mech combats. One could almost be certain to state that, the reputation possessed by this YC guy was much greater than those ridiculous top ranked fighters in the virtual world. The sudden disappearance of YC two years before had always been a major mystery in the heart of the people.

The last match he had was against Invincible Firepower. Even though he lost the last match, people benefited from his experience as they absorbed the various techniques he used against ranged attackers.

Quitting because of losing? That came first as a speculation in the mind of most people, though it was debunked by some fans, taking into account that it was not the YC's first losing match. He did not simply look like a coward who would retire because of losing.

There were a variety of versions for the ending of this legend, regarding on the hows and whys of his abrupt retirement. None of them was convincing to the people though, which eventually gave him a stronger vibe of mystery. And because of such vibe of mystery, YC became more charming to the people as he ascended to become the idol of many youngsters out there.

Majestic! A majestic performance it was absolutely! The majestic yet mysterious YC came in a flash, with visuals of his training open to the public and immediately was chased upon in madness. The streaming signal within Rique was about to be permanently interrupted by this immense amount of population surging the transmitter. Phew, what a horror to the department of signal transmitting maintenance.

Amazement! The lingering sensation of every viewer of the visual! The scenic sequence coming up like a dream had transformed into an unforgettable memory inside almost all witnesses.

The white veil shrouded like the silhouette of a phantom, with the photospheres conglomerating from all angles slowly to quickly, forming few times of slashes of white beams imprinting the corneas of the audience, as they were smashed upon the veil, shattering into countless specks of beam scattered all over the place.

People were astounded. YC had once again given every believer a taste of miracle after being cloistered away for 2 years.

Quite a number of pilots who held great confidence in their skills rushed upon the NR training base, as they inputted the exact room number, with the exact setting. They were confident, but none of them lasted more than 3 minutes inside. The strength of YC had been justified to the people, including the skeptical witnesses. And there was one, wow, YC lasted 5 minutes in this room of terror? What a quick response he gave. Spectacular! Anyone who had tried the training room with their own bodies could understand by heart. When the timer hit the 3rd minute, the velocity of the photosphere and the number of them would be increased tremendously. So far only YC was able to surpass the cursed 3rd minute mark as proven by his visual.

YC and his new unique trading course had become the hottest topic on the network for some time.

Ugh! Looked at the paused timer at 3:59, the man sighed. He had tried his very best. It was depressing as he was also using a Polysky, but he just could not make it past the 4th minute mark. He seriously could not imagine how there would be one man who could last 5 minute in this room. If it was not the visual he would never buy that statement. Pathetically he had witnessed the miracle and his experience had verified the validity of the visual.

The name of YC, he had perceived it before. The visuals of YC, he had watched some of them before. Yes, a few moments of YC was an eye-opener, but YC was still weaker, considerably. He was positive to state that YC in the past might be identified as an expert in combat between mechs by the public, but never YC was once in his eyes. Nonetheless, the current standard of YC's skills were shocking to him. With his sight, naturally he would never be mesmerized by the majestic performance of YC like the others, what mattered to him was the extraordinary reaction speed, that exceptionally firm fundamentality as well as the skillfulness in combats of his expressed in this show.

He could say that, compared to YC two years before, it was of a total different tangent.

Never expected this YC guy could accelerate to such standard after hiding for 2 years.

Interesting. He smiled. Even though he failed to hit the 5th minute mark in the room, he was not disappointed at all. Everyone has their own perks. He understood such principle of life way back. Reaction speed was never his perk, although the principle did not reduce his amazement over YC, since even No. A-6 whose reaction speed was known to be the highest was having issues to remain in the room past the 5th minute.

Nevertheless, Black Coves shall always be the strongest in combats. That was the very essence of mech combating. And he was the arsenal of the Black Coves, he would fear no one! This was his faith, his most potent faith. Being a man in pride absolutely had something in hand to be in pride of.

If I was ever able to fight with this YC guy, it has got to be an interesting chore to do. His interest towards YC grew.

The spread of news went outrageously rapid around the people. Soon, everybody else from outer space knew it, that there was this recording from Rique of YC's performance at the training base. No actual geographical boundary existed in the vast virtual world, even though signal would inevitably suffer from loss over long distance transmission disregarding the type or the power of it. So a highly demanded virtual facility like the NR training base would be set up on every planet. Thus, the netizens' habit of lingering at their own training base, instead of checking out on others, since obviously the delay would be much lesser.

Despite all that, innumerable amount of people flooded the NR training base, with the hope of encountering the legendary YC in person. The NR training base for the pilots was crowded for the following days, as people including his worshippers, the challengers and spectators, grabbed that one in a million chance of seeing YC. One could easily find a thread talking about this mysterious YC on the network daily. The different analysis based on his latest visual were especially massive of them.

…

Zzzz

And that was when Ye Chong, who had already submerged into his slumber out of the fatigue from grooves, was literally unaware of anything that happened outside.

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Chapter 179: Undercurrent II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

People were everywhere inside the training base. Sadly there were hardly any of them in the actual training room. Countless pillars stood at the lobby of the NR training base, with countless people surrounding them. Everyone left and returned, as they tapped to activate the partially transparent interface again and again. A swift glance over the list and disappointment stormed upon their faces.

…

"Excuse me, De Gong, if it was not for your harmless act of submitting the visual of that ludicrous YC guy online, we wouldn't have to suffer like this now," ranted one of the members of the maintenance department at the NR training base.

The staff whose name was addressed as De Gong laughed bitterly as he replied, "How would I think this much ahead? I got so hyped up that I just clicked the "submit" button on a whim. I seriously did not reckon these maniacs going this mad, riding their spaceships and traveling all the way here! If I would have foreseen such insanity, I would have clicked to cancel. Just to save the trouble for us." Well, that was what he said, though his expression contained a dash of honor.

"Sigh, that aside, what on Rique do you think these people were doing?" inquired another member from the side.

"I know right! No one would know who the heck that YC guy truly is as long as he stayed quiet about it!" agreed one of the members to that statement.

In the virtual world, the appearance of the character would have about 80 to 90% similarity to the actual person in reality by default. That was not applicable however, since people could always modify their appearance after logging into the virtual world. So the definite appearance of the person online holds no direct relation to the appearance offline. As the staff had mentioned, it would be indeed a difficulty to determine one's identity online.

That was why the conversation happened.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" De Gong snatched the spotlight as he spoke, "Both of you are quite new here I supposed. Of course you wouldn't know this place well enough! Heh! Regarding your issue of identification, our center, this very base, has its own perks you know," the answer came off flaunting.

"Oh really?"

"How?" both of them hurriedly asked.

"Hehe, well, all users must have a name registered at the MPA before using the NR facilities, like 'YC' for instance. Hell knows what his real name is, but as long as he is in the facility, he would be known as 'YC'. As you are aware of, every NR training base is interconnected with MPA. To even own the rights to use the NR facilities, one must have their names registered," while jiggling his head, he said playfully.

"That was why we could not tell who he really is!" one staff replied.

"Yeah, it's not like there would be a nameplate written 'YC' floating on top of his head," added the other staff.

"Well, looks like both of you aren't aware of it. If this YC guy logged in and only took a stroll at the facility, no one would recognize him, even if he spent a week loitering at the lobby. The catch is, the moment he picked a room and accessed it, disregarding what training he was going to participate, he would be exposed! Anyone who have spent long enough at the training base would know, that very second you made your entry, you would be found on the terminal at the lobby. This is why all of you have never heard of people impersonating this YC, since no matter how hard the person claimed to be YC, his or her identity would be uncovered when the access was done, which justified the crowd at the lobby all day long. Didn't you see them refreshing the data on the terminal constantly? Yes, they are trying to find YC out using such a way," De Gong explained patiently.

"Well, aren't they stupid? For they are blind-waiting."

"If you say so, so be it. They are blind-waiting, they only wanted to test out their luck," shrugged De Gong as he spoke.

…

The moment when Ye Chong woke up was the morning after that. He had already recovered from the fatigue last night after a whole night of sufficient sleep. The unaware boy never expected the chaos occurring at the Shang family currently after that historical lick he committed last night.

The family meeting among the Shangs ended at 3 o' clock… in the morning! And the attendants were none other than Shang Zhangming and his wife, Shang Ling and Shang Xin. For Shang Lan, she did not participate the meeting this time for some reason.

That knotted brows of Shang Zhangming had hardly loosened since then. He glanced upon his wife, "Xin, how do you see this Wang Xing?"

His wife was in her fifties, a well-maintained fifties specifically, as she looked like in her thirties - poised, grand and amiable - which gave off a friendly vibes to people around. They were a loving husband-and-wife.

"What's the worry, my Ming?" chuckled the lady.

Shang Zhangming forced a smile, "The happening tonight is terrible. I no longer know how to deal with it!" Shang Zhangming had always been pampering his youngest daughter, Shang Lan. Regretfully, Shang Lan had always been extremely introverted. Other than the brothers and sisters in her family, she had barely interacted with the outside world. The two heads of the family were wondering if she had psychological disorder of some kind at the beginning, they had sought consultations from numerous psychologists. She had undergone various treatments, counseling sessions… none of them worked. Shang Lan remained her withdrawn self, which explained how the entire family spoiled this little princess a lot.

Shang Zhangming's descendants, there were 5 of them. The eldest son died after contracting a strange disease at the age of 1. The second eldest being his daughter, Shang Yue; the third being Shang Xin, the fourth would be his son, Shang Ling. And Shang Lan was clearly the youngest among them.

Shang Zhangming was rather satisfied of his children. Shang Yue was calm and resourceful, wise and capable; Shang Xin was strong and dignified, tenacious the whole time; Shang Ling was talented, a gentleman of nobility with a sensitive mind; Shang Lan, however… was the most of his worry. She often was in a stance of melancholy, a heart-wrenching sight to behold.

"Apparently, Sister Lan was the one who initiated the dance." It took a moment of hesitation of Shang Xin to spit out the truth.

"Oh? Lan, my daughter actually invited someone else for a dance?" the lady of the family was shocked, while her husband was in utter disbelief the first time he heard the news. Throughout the aftermath, he had been assuming that Wang Xing was the wolf who proactively spoke to his daughter, which gave off a dubious vibe of his motive to Shang Zhangming… but then if it was initiated by his daughter, the whole dance should not be part of some diabolical master plan.

Still… Lan my beloved invited someone for a dance… and it's a man? A man she never came across before in her entire life? Shang Zhangming could feel his nerves getting a short-circuit.

"I had seen that Wang Xing before during our course. What a way he ate…," spoke his wife, in bit of interests. Both Shang Ling and Shang Xin put up a grin upon hearing their mother said so. Shang Zhangming was having an awkward expression at the side.

"Wang Xing's appearance, I must say, is merely average. I have no idea which part of his attracted my Lan…," his wife sounded curious as she spoke.

"Me neither. Supposedly our daughter should have never met the man before… but why this now…?" Shang Zhangming could not get it despite all these while he had been thinking.

"Background of this man… may I ask?" His wife shifted her focus to Shang Xin, as her eyes expressed inquiries. Shang Xin was technically in charge of the security and information management in the family.

"It's unknown they say!" Shang Zhangming seized the mic, "I had asked our men. They only managed to find out the fact that he's from Fedar, Fal. The odd thing about this man is he did not have any record of assessment on his skills. No other information was found other than these."

"Impossible!" Shang Xin was not convinced. She and her brother Shang Ling were busy dragging their younger sister Shang Lan back to her room right after the event. The mistress of the family rushed to the place and began inquiring them. So they never had the chance to check out details about this Wang Xing.

"Why? What's the matter?" hurried the mistress.

"Wang Xing is exceptionally skillful in combats. How could there not be records of any form of assessment before?" Shang Xin could still reminisced that epic toss by Wang Xing. Conquering a distance of 68 meters by a simple throw of dagger while retaining the strength and accuracy, a man capable of this had no record of assessment? The society was well-facilitated with assessments suitable for all sorts of expertise from all walks of life, which was the essential requirement for any occupation in the market. And an oddity like Wang Xing who lacked record of assessments would be a creepy sight frankly…

"Not a problem." Shang Zhangming did not find it as weird, "A lot of the descendants of aristocrats hadn't ever taken part in those assessments. Even families that lasted ages would not be surprising to have such a tradition. It's just that you had not seen enough, my daughter," he waved his hands as he stated.

"Ah." Shang Ling somehow recalled something of that night, "Assuming that he is truly a descendant of the aristocrats… or even someone from an ancient family, it is actually not far-fetched. I have seen him using the Double Knife Ceremony back on that night during the course. Such ceremony is only used among some of the truly ancient families," stated his judgement.

Shang Zhangming turned his head to Shang Xin, "Ask the men to inquire about the aristocrats on Fedar, Fal, including families which had existed a long time ago, especially those with the surname Wang." He literally never thought of the possibility that Wang Xing could have been a result of modification of personal information…

Shang Xin responded with a nod, keeping that in her mind.

"Excuse me…" A key question suddenly came into the mistress's mind, "Have any of you asked Lan her thoughts on this?"

Shang Xin and Shang Ling looked at each other, they expressed peculiarity towards the question. It took them a while before Shang Xin decided to reply, "After that jerk Wang Xing kissed Sister Lan, she collapsed in his hold! We were so afraid that this terrible beast would do something more outrageous on our sister so we rushed to the scene and grabbed her away. On the way back to her room, she did not say a word." Since they were farther away from the scene, the licking of Ye Chong looked more like kissing.

"What was her expression?" asked the mother in panic.

"Hmm…" Both of them pondered a little, Shang Ling was trying to put his thoughts into words, "It seemed like… she was not really angry…?" He turned his face to Shang Xin, awaiting confirmation from his sister. "Mhm…" Shang Xin tried recalling it as well, showing approval, "Sister Lan did not look really angry in fact…"

"Hmph!" Her father seemed angry though, as his face tightened. Anyone could tell how exceedingly angry the man could be upon seeing his precious being kissed by a stranger like Wang Xing.

"Don't do anything funny, honey." His wife gave him a stare. The atmosphere brightened somehow, as the wrath on his face faded away. Shang Xin was smirking along with her brother, thinking of how amusing it was to see their father behaving like the hero at the public, but was well-trained by his delicate wife at home. "Lan is a headstrong girl. If she really has something to that man, whatever all of you did to him would only hurt Lan eventually."

"As expected from my lovely Xing, thoughtful and kind!" Grinned Shang Zhangming, that brave and bold self of his was nowhere to be seen…

"Sighs, we've got to wait for Yue first. Lan had only been talking to Yue by heart slightly… Fortunately she's coming back in two days." The mistress then lifted her slender arms, as she pointed to everyone in the room, "Before Lan's thoughts on this get unfolded, none of you are allowed to make a move. Watch that man carefully and make sure he is in one piece instead!" She looked a little naive as she spoke.

"Xing my dear, no worries! I shall guard that man till the end!" Shang Zhangming made his promise right away. He did it so fast that it made both Ling and Xin smiled smugly again.

If Shang Zhangming's men ever saw their leader being so underwhelmed, imagine their reaction…

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Chapter 180: Undercurrent III

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Everything looked normal from the outside, as if nothing had happened the night before, even though the men of the Shang family appeared to be vigorously engaged as they went in and out of the house. That was because of Mr. Robert's fresh arrival with his crew the day before. Considering how tiresome the travel Mr. Robert had, these men at home had their tasks reallocated, rescheduled to accommodate Mr. Robert's visit. No other task was arranged on the list for the day.

Early in the morning, Bai Linan was summoned by his boss, Mr. Robert.

Ye Chong on the other hand, as informed by Ah Duan that he was free to go anywhere, he alone left the hectic house. What he needed to do was to collect his identity card. Although Mu hacked into the system and had fabricated an entry of Wang Xing in the resident list, he did not have a physical card to prove and reassure his identity. So he left, hurriedly, and certainly he was followed. Luckily it was nothing new to our sky-walking Ye Chong, he was well-aware of the routes, the turnings to take to get rid of the followers. There were few tiny flocks of them but all of them were magically slung away.

There was not much of a hassle when Ye Chong got his card and got back to the Shang family. He hid himself in his room right after that, which left the watchdogs of the Shang family in blank dismay, looking at each other as they lost Ye Chong in the dark.

Ye Chong logged into the virtual world after getting into his room. Certainly he was not caught red-handed. The mavericks employed by the Shang family to watch the action of this man were utterly cloaked by Mu's hacking to the gate. They were completely unaware of Ye Chong's activity online.

Logging in…

Success.

Ye Chong came straight to the NR training center. The sight before him was bewildering.

The lobby was full of people, where every pillar was surrounded by them.

"Mu, do you know what had happened?" inquired Ye Chong.

"I need 20 seconds." He seriously had no idea what in the virtual world Mu had been busy with these days, obviously his attention was never on Ye Chong.

It was not hard to tell from the crowd that their behavior consisted of a strong objectivity, as Ye Chong observed curiously. Their expression explained it all, even though Ye Chong could not pinpoint what their objective was.

20 seconds lapsed quickly. "Ye." Mu's emergence equals to an answer, "They are waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?" Ye Chong went speechless, as he simply did not expect the crowd having anything to do with he himself, especially when he recognized none of them…

"Yes. Precisely… they are waiting for YC," stated Mu.

"YC? Isn't YC me?" Ye Chong sounded confused, showing difficulty in comprehending Mu's words.

"Thus, they are looking for you," explained Mu.

Mu's explanation did not seem helpful to Ye Chong in any way. The mechanical partner eventually had to explain everything from the very beginning. He got it. But then again, he did not. He got the working behind this but he did not get what the people were thinking. To him, these behaviors looked inconceivable. The more unexplainable thing was, never once he imagined that people, of such amount, would succumb to such method of zero efficiency and measly probability.

Leaving this training center immediately became the wisest choice to Ye Chong at that mpment.

He moved onto the other training bases after that but… there were all as crowded… which made him wondered if there was actually anybody still doing their training there.

Thanks to Mu's hacking, Ye Chong was led to the training center with the least amount of people.

As guaranteed by Mu, the place was absolutely deserted. The lobby was empty. It was the first time Ye Chong saw such isolated training center online.

"Eh, Mu, what's with this place? It's all empty and such?" asked Ye Chong. He had been through training bases of a variety of places, but he had never come across one that was so empty.

"This place was formerly known as planet Haberda. As the environment of the planet worsened over the years, a massive evacuation of residents was performed 15 years ago. This should be one transmitting station that got abandoned abruptly, as the processor was still running and the local NR training center has yet to be demolished. The actual reason behind this : unknown," stated Mu. This place happened to be the NR training center for pilots with the least amount of population.

"Oh I see." Ye Chong did not inquire further. Regarding why the residents were evacuated and where the heck they had migrated to, Ye Chong's curiosity was not that great to ask those yet.

Ye Chong first walked to one of the pillars and tapped gently with his finger. A partially transparent interface emerged before him. Ye Chong took a brief browse on the population. There was no one else but him at the center.

Mu went silent after the last explanation he made. Ye Chong could tell Mu was no longer right by his side. Whenever Mu laid his hands on the virtual world, somehow he just vanished, vaporized into the thin air. No one knew what he was doing the whole time. Ye Chong even inquired Shang regarding this, though Shang could not give him a satisfying response.

Ye Chong randomly entered one of the photosphere avoidability training room. The training before was pretty entertaining to him, although he only lasted for 5 minutes at most.

The room was completely dark, the photospheres utterly innumerable, they danced in an increasing speed, like a moth towards the flame, heading towards Ye Chong rapidly.

…

Dammit! Dammit!!!

Wei Yuan cursed numerous times at his instructor in his mind. That old crap! That old tard from nowhere! That erotic eyes of his should have rotten in hell! I could see his pig eyes glowing in dark the moment a female trainee passed by. What a shame among the instructors! A total rubbish of humanity!

Wei Yuan's instructor was an odd-tempered elderly with a lonesome personality… only to the male trainees of course. Towards the female trainees, he would regain his function in society, he would suddenly become the best teacher in the entire galaxy, which turned every other male trainees into a green-eyed monster, wondering why they were not an XY species when they were born. The pilot profession had a trend of growing population of females, even though males stood an absolute advantage in population. Sadly, the class where Wei Yuan was in had literally a majority of female pilots-to-be. Sim that old bum was well-accorded by the ladies, like every single batch of female seniors would compliment his passion and kindness, which eventually caused this class conducted by the old man himself to be overpopulated by the females from pilot profession.

Wei Yuan was agonized the moment he stepped into the class. He had always been remorseful over his silly choice of registering this class. Wei Yuan's uncle was also a teacher in this academy, he was from the same profession too. But he insisted recommending Sim that old bum to Wei Yuan's parents, claiming that Mr. Sim was the expert of the experts in the academy, an experienced teacher.

Expert of the experts? Puh-lease! Wei Yuan had criticized that blurb of that old bum for countless times. I could only see inexpert of the inexperts, someone just missed out the "in-" prefixes when they spoke! He had spent quite some time attending his classes, yet never once he saw his instructor actually in action. Most of his classes were on theory; when it came to practical there had to be one pilot he got from nowhere to do the demonstration for him. The only satisfaction was, these pilots he got turned out to be some real deals, where quite a few of them were actually an ace pilot.

Wait! Stop! I'm not going to think about that old bum anymore! What for I'm thinking those nonsense? Only to spoil my mood! And Wei Yuan tossed Sim old crap directly out of his brain.

Coming home, I'm coming home~ His home was rather distant from the academy, yet he was able to make it home within a very short amount of time, all thanks to his exceptional piloting skills. He might be a mere trainee studying the pilot profession but he was still superior in his piloting. Piloting was generally about the flight ability of one pilot on a mech, which was vital to every pilot out there.

Wei Yuan was somehow born with a unique understanding towards piloting. Whenever he saw the objects flying by hurriedly on the screen as he travelled in an overwhelming speed, he felt an unexplainable excitement growing in him, that it bit onto his nerves! Those namely No.1 speed-pilots in his academy were a total joke in his eyes.

Unfortunately, his talent was limited to solely piloting. None of the other aspects was an eye-opener, with shooting being chiefly a major headache to him. He somehow was cursed into a slowpoke in this. No matter how hard he worked, he only could pass at most. He never aced the subject, which was depressing!

Not to mention how that old bum never gave him meaningful instructions, he would, at most, say things like "Take it slow. Take it easy." Not helpful at all! Wei Yuan even felt like giving that old bum a punch right on his donkey face!

…

"I'm home," Wei Yuan greeted at the doorstep slothfully.

"Oh," a man's voice rang from the house. Wei Yuan had been living with his father since his mother passed away not too long after his birth. He had been relying on his father deeply. His father was an engineer, also a work maniac. Once he turned on his engine, one did not expect him turning it off so soon. He would ignore the time, the days and nights, the rise of the sun, the fall of the moon. So there were times where Wei Yuan felt miraculous of himself, for he was never starved to death.

He got back to his room, collapsed on his fluffy bed. He looked at the ceiling, reflecting that face of his advanced in years ahead of his age.

His mind wandered off…

If mommy was still alive… Only if she was still alive, it would be good… isn't it? He had viewed the visuals of his mother many times. And he got to admit that no one else was as beautiful as his mother. The fair white ceiling somehow formulated the visual of his mother again… Zzz… His sight grew blurry, sleepy he had gotten.

Sighhh… Right before he fell asleep, he gave off a long sigh. He then lost consciousness as fallen to slumber.

When Wei Yuan woke up, it was already midnight. He scurried to the kitchen and grabbed a quick bite. He peeked at his father's room. The light was still on. Wei Yuan with a slice of vanilla cake in his mouth, dragging his steps in slippers, headed back to his room.

He prompted the program and logged into the virtual world after that.

What he intended to go was a long-abandoned training center for pilots. It was an accident when he discovered such a place. He found it peculiar as there was nobody back then. Skeptically he tested out the facilities inside and to his surprise, they all worked! The place had become his private training ground ever since. He spent his days doing tough trainings there. None of his mates would know the fact that bottomline shooting grade of his was a result of his tremendous handwork at this private training ground.

To his mates, he was just another lazy, laid-back person in the class, especially with his extreme low-profiled behavior in the academy. Nobody seemed to know his skillfulness of piloting. His appearance was average. An ordinary head, an ordinary shape of face, an ordinary physique, you wanted to know his charm? Hah! What a joke, his charm was ordinary too. No matter what angle you took to see him, he was easily overlooked as he truly was. Never once he had gotten a proposal or love letter from the girls, despite his age.

Living in his own world, he pursued his own dream.

And that isolated training center, was his very own world, his own kingdom!

He got to the lobby. It was empty as usual. Well, my own kingdom is claimed as my own for a reason. Forever alone, sigh! He shook his head, wondering what had gotten to his sentiments. Chuckled, he settled his thoughts and was going to start his training course.

He remembered that he saw some amazing visuals by YC lately. It was yesterday when he watched YC's spectacular performance at the photosphere room. He never imagined one to be this potent.

Wei Yuan recognized his own strength in mech-combats that he barely practiced before. He never had the idea of trying it once. Being a trainee to the pilot academy, he was well aware the difference between reality and virtual world. Yes, close-ranged attackers were mushrooming on the virtual world, they were expanding their forces. Still, in reality, ranged attackers were at an absolute upper hand in a fight, since you only have one life there… No one would really gamble that one life using those suicidal techniques in the virtual world. You guard your own life, if you don't, you die! Moreover, ranged attacking had undergone years of development and had matured during the process; unlike close-combats, the efficiency, the outcome of it still remained questionable to the public.

Nonetheless, Wei Yuan wanted to try the photosphere room once. Yes, those glowing spheres some people called it, would be something great to try out. Of course, he would not be doing the stance training like YC, he was going to train his avoidability.

The glowing sphere room was never a thing to him before. At the training center, he frequented the basic training room the most. The piloting of his was the outcome of the training. He believed, as long as he redid his basics again and again, they would never fail him in the future.

It was his first time using the glowing sphere room… Wei Yuan actually had no idea of its location. In the end he returned to the lobby and picked one of the interfaces at the pillars. Launching the terminal, activating the self-inquiry system to resolve his issues.

He booted the guide program, as names of several training rooms were listed. W-wait, what? Wei Yuan went astounded.

Occupied? There's someone here? How?

He could not believe his eyes. Did I see it right? He rubbed his eyes and went to check it out again. Yes, there was someone! And that someone was occupying the glowing sphere room!

What's the ID? How comes, I don't even-

YC?

YC? … YC? Where have I heard this before? Wei Yuan had a gut feeling that he must have heard of this name before but he could not recall… wait… glowing sphere room? YC?

Ah! YC? Isn't that YC the YC I saw?

He remembered!

Didn't I just watch his visual last night? What a pig I am! He scolded for his silliness.

For one who logged on to the virtual world daily like him, no way he could not recognize YC. He might not be a mech combating maniac, he had at least witnessed some of the well-known battles YC did online.

The training center here, despite being completely abandoned, remained connected to the MPA. So if one would like to use the facilities inside, one got to perform registration. So Wei Yuan was not skeptical over the validity of this "YC" popped on the screen.

He was only intrigued that… how YC found this place? Was it also a coincidence like how I did?

More likely excitement brewed inside him though. It's YC! YC you know! He's the big shot of the virtual world! And is an assured ace of the mech combats! While the outside went bananas in search of YC the mystery, he was just right here, right in front of me!

Hahahaha! Today is my lucky day!

Without further ado, without hesitating, he clicked ENTER and prompted himself access to the glowing sphere room.

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Chapter 181: Undercurrent IV

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Even though he had seen the holographic recording last night, Wei Yuan was still deeply moved when he saw it in person!

He stood dumbstruck, without moving a muscle!

Marvel! An absolute marvel! He watched in enchantment, his mind empty except for the bright glowing circle, the glowing spheres and its vanishing fragments, and the barely visible shadows of the mech.

Training rooms could be secured with a password to avoid disturbing the user. Ye Chong had never made it a habit to do so, and that was why Wei Yuan could enter easily! Ye Chong did not notice him, since his training required intense concentration, and he could not afford distractions.

While he still could not break through the five minute mark, Ye Chong could feel that he was gradually improving. People had tried to incorporate normal combat skills into mech battles, and he was but only one of them. Besides, now that he thought about it, when he got into a fight with Instructor Hak, the instructor had used similar moves, which he did not notice then. Ye Chong was almost certain that Black Cove was miles beyond everyone else in this field.

Ye Chong knew his own strength. With his level, he was nothing compared to Black Cove, and that was why he was very vigilant against them. Nonetheless, he did not give up because of this. Even if he was meager in skills compared to Black Cove's mech pilots, he could still feel himself improving bit by bit.

Mu's suggestion to train this way, for example, had helped him tremendously.

Ye Chong no longer fought mechanically. The recording of the two combat experts on the Nast had helped him greatly. The moves demonstrated and the strategizing involved had deeply influenced Ye Chong.

Tissot's battle moves were based on from the recording of the two combat experts. They were basic moves that those two experts used most frequently in their battle, and suitable for easy learning.

However, Ye Chong was not entirely unadaptable. Normal battles and mech battles were different, so he did not imitate the moves exactly, but modify them incrementally to make them suitable for mechs. As for whether these modifications could work, he would only know in actual combat!

Ye Chong could not control his body very well, and imitating the moves was not too difficult. However, maneuvering the mech to reproduce those moves was a different story. A slight change in movement could lead to a disproportionate increase in difficulty in maneuvering. Ye Chong finally understood why the basic moves for mech battles that he learned earlier were all so simple.

Fortunately, Ye Chong could move his hands very fast, allowing him to make Tissot execute the moves!

Ye Chong trained diligently. As he grew used to the maneuverings, his quick hand speed could finally be put to good use. The more he practiced on each move, the faster he could execute them. This was reflected by the longer and longer time Ye Chong spent for each training round in the room.

"I'm new to this, so plenty of training is necessary! Sigh, if only I can cure this strange illness in me, then I can find a planet to stay where no one knew me. As long as I'm careful, the chances of Black Cove, the Sanctuary or the MPA finding me will be very small!

"Then I'll be able to do all the things I'm interested in, researching in mechs, practicing mech combat, normal combat, alchemy, make some skeleton mechs, I can even practice meditation …"

Lost in his thoughts, Ye Chong suddenly found that he had plenty of things of he wanted to do, though he did not have the time, and found himself travelling often. Life was a mystery, it was like an invisible hand was controlling him, ushering him from one place to another. In truth, after the initial excitement, Ye Chong was getting tired of this kind of irregular lifestyle, and even grew to detest it a little. However, he must always stay alert, since any misstep could lead to disaster! Compared to this exciting life, he preferred and even yearned the simple and innocent life on the trash planet!

Ye Chong got distracted and was immediately hit by countless glowing spheres. The round was over!

"How could I be distracted during practice?" Ye Chong mocked himself, but quickly gathered his thoughts to resume his training.

Wei Yuan was shocked!

Heavens! Was this guy human? All those so-called elites at school were trash compared to this guy! This YC's mech piloting skills had reached the level of a professional.

Slowly, Wei Yuan began to notice something.

The almost solid looking glowing circle around the mech was gradually expanding outwards!

Yes, it was really expanding! Wei Yuan was afraid he saw wrong, and quickly called out his personal aide system and took a photo. About 10 seconds later, he took another shot. He used his personal aide system to calculate, and found that the glowing circle was indeed expanding outwards! Personal aide systems were automatically provided for each citizen in the virtual world, used mainly to assist in solving common problems in the place. It could also perform simple photon processor operations.

Wei Yuan could not help but grew excited!

For the whole duration he was watching YC, the glowing circle formed by the glowing spheres was limited to a very small perimeter.

Now, however, this perimeter was gradually increasing. This also meant that YC's attack range was increasing! Wei Yuan was not YC's fan; he was not excited because YC managed to achieve this! Wei Yuan was excited because he knew that, with the increasing range of attack, YC would have to cover a larger area with his movements. This was what he was most interested in!

Since Wei Yuan was most confident with his mech piloting skills, he also wished to see what YC could do with his mech! Perhaps he can even learn a few tricks from him!

Wei Yuan watched with his eyes wide, unwilling to miss a single detail.

The glowing circle was slowly but surely expanding outwards!

The glowing circle expanded, as it also grew dimmer and more transparent. Wei Yuan could now see Tissot's figure more clearly beyond the glow.

As Wei Yuan suspected, when Tissot's attack range grew larger, Ye Chong had to make larger movements to cover the perimeter!

Wei Yuan stared at Tissot, noting every detail he could find!

As Wei Yuan watched on, his face turned a few shades paler! If anyone were in the room with Wei Yuan, they would clearly see his clothes turning moist; after a few minutes, it was thoroughly drenched, as though he was scooped out of the water. Large pearls of sweat rolled down from his face along the neck, now gathering together and forming rivulets!

In the virtual world, Wei Yuan did not exactly feel hopeless, but he was definitely very much affected!

Now, he had only one question on his mind - who was this YC, a monster like this?

Wei Yuan did not miss any of Tissot's movements, and that was why he was utterly shocked! With YC under the hood, Tissot moved like a spirit, like a machine come to life!

That was Wei Yuan's first impression!

As someone skilled in mech piloting, he was of course aware of the illusion!

The longer he watched, however, the more he sweated, and soon he could feel the damp chill on his spine!

The mech moved so quickly, as if impact mitigation was not a problem! Wei Yuan had seen Tissot stepped back quickly a few times, like breaking the laws of physics. The effect was almost supernatural!

Impossible! He almost jumped at the shock of realization!

Backward movements were a taboo for mech pilots! The movement was damaging to the mech, and a great burden for the pilot! Mech pilots could die from the maneuver!

What exasperated Wei Yuan the most was that YC had not only done it, but had did it repeatedly!

Was this guy really human? Wei Yuan groaned inside him! While no person could actually die in the virtual world, the environment was still modeled based on reality. Any moves that could be achieved here was very likely achievable in the real world!

With that, another thought came to him. No mech pilot would execute this move that could damage his mech, unless the situation demanded it. YC, however, had made this move during training. Strange indeed!

Wei Yuan believed that YC was not a mech pilot that did not take care of his mechs - there must be some reason for his actions! Since Wei Yuan could not understand this, he filed it away for the moment.

Fortunately, he had already activated his holographic recorder, else he would not be able to study it later!

Wei Yuan continued observing!

He was more and more horrified. That guy had maintained his speed even as the glowing circle expanded! The faster a mech moved, the harder it is to control it. Wei Yuan would not have believed it was possible to move a mech at such a high speed in a restricted area if he had not seen it first hand!

Wei Yuan made a back of the envelope calculation of YC's turning frequency, and the result was enough to make him even paler!

It was terrifying!

So this was the meaning of true strength! Wei Yuan's attitude gradually changed throughout his observation. He now understood that, compared to YC, he still had a long way to go!

This change in attitude made him more humble, and now he was eager to learn!

With this change in attitude, Wei Yuan noticed more problems. Logically speaking, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. However, YC had moved mainly with curved steps, and rarely did he take straight line steps. If he had not seen YC made a straight step backwards, Wei Yuan might have guessed that it was because YC could not handle the force that came with this change in momentum, and chose to take curved steps instead. However, since YC had taken straight steps backwards before, this was obviously not the reason, since that kind of motion produced that largest burden on the pilot.

Another problem to solve then. Wei Yuan reluctantly filed away this question as well for another time.

As he watched on, Wei Yuan began to move out of his dispirited state, and slowly felt encouraged again.

This was because he saw that there was still hope left for him through YC. Throughout his training, YC had only used basic mech footwork, simple but executed quickly. The mech's footwork was also comprised of only common techniques, only executed faster and more abruptly! There were no so called advanced level techniques!

Was this not the same for him? Wei Yuan found that he was actually very similar to YC in this respect! He felt like he could see himself in YC. He was not exactly interested in mech combat skills, but if he could learn to pilot his mech like that, that would be awesome!

While Wei Yuan grew absorbed in himself, Ye Chong had left the virtual world!

He was significantly less fatigued than last time. It seemed that Ye Chong was now stronger mentally! Due to his relationship with Robert, Ye Chong was treated as an honoured guest. Hence, Ye Chong did not hesitate to ask for servants of the Shang family to send him lunch.

"Ye, someone was watching when you were training!" Mu would only ever use neutral terms. If it was Shang, he would probably describe the act as peeping!

"Oh, who was it?" Ye Chong asked.

"Wei Yuan, male, 17 years old, current student of planet Richie's Wei Lan Academy in Year One, Class 107 …" Mu had discreetly looked up Wei Yuan.

"Richie?" Ye Chong was a little sensitive to the place. Was that not his destination? What troubled him was that Wang Weixing would only return to the planet after about two months. As for the observer of his training, Ye Chong did not mind him so much.

"Hmm, the Shang family is a little weird. I must not stay for too long, best to leave soon!"

Ye Chong did not know that the Shang family's weirdness was related to him! Of course, he was also not aware that the girl he licked that day was the daughter of the head of the Shang family. While Shang Lan was also there during that banquet, Ye Chong was busy keeping his head down and eating.

"You're back!" Looking at the thin figure of his second daughter and her tired eyes, Shang Zhangming felt agony in the heart. Of all his children, his second daughter was the most reliable. Demure but intelligent, and a keen sense of people, she was the most authoritative figure in the Shang family, second only to her parents.

Combing her fringe to the side, Shang Yue smiled and said, "Yes, I'm back. The negotiations were successful! Nothing uneventful happened!" Shang Yue and Shang Lan looked very much like each other, but Shang Yue's face was more balanced, with a tiny mole above an eyebrow, adding a charming touch that differentiated the two sisters. Shang Lan was like a fairytale princess, adorable and fragile looking. Shang Yue, however, was like an attentive elder sister, a mature lady that could read one's heart.

"I see, go see your mother now!" Shang Yue was the most diligent in managing their family's affairs, and that was why Shang Zhangming felt most regretful for her.

However, the thought of the incident with Feng'er made his brows knit tightly together.

Shang Zhangming's expression did not escape Shang Yue's notice, but she did not ask about it, merely dutifully acknowledging her father's suggestion and headed towards her mother's room.

"What?" Calm as Shang Ye usually was, she still gasped in shock when her mother told her about that incident with her younger sister, Lan!

Mrs Shang also wore a troubled expression. She had worried over this for the past two days. The rest of the Shang family were also tormented by the incident. Lan'er was everyone's beloved little princess, so her uncles were all up in arms about Ye Chong's behaviour, and would have gone to confront him directly if not for Shang Zhangming and his wife restraining them.

Shang Yue pondered over the issue before asking carefully, "What does Lan Lan think?"

Mrs Shang's expression soured even further. "Sigh, it's because we don't know what Lan're is thinking that we're all troubled! We asked, but she never answered!" This was the root of the problem. No one knew what Lan'er thought of the matter, so none of them dared to make any moves against the cursed Wang Xing! What if, even in the slightest chance, that their princess took a liking towards this Wang Xing?

Mrs Shang's troubled expression was mostly an act. She knew that her youngest daughter was always solitary and disliked socializing. As she aged day by day, this nature of hers did not change. Under the doting love of her elder relatives and her elder cousins' care, she maintained an innocent heart. However, that was what worried Mrs Shang. Lan knew nothing of how the real world worked, and her solitary behavior had always made Mrs Shang worried for her future!

Mrs Shang had secretly arranged for many young and handsome men to introduce themselves to her youngest daughter, but every time without fail, her daughter would be scared as a rabbit, her fearful eyes a soft spot for all the older members of the family. This made Mrs Shang fret even more. All her attempts had met with failure, and Shang Lan expressed no interest in getting to know any of them. This was a constant worry for Mrs Shang!

However, that odd Wang Xing was now a sign of hope for Mrs Shang!

To think that Lan'er would invite him to dance by her own initiative! When Mrs Shang first heard of it, she thought she heard wrong! However, when she found out that Wang Xing had kissed Lan'er, she almost fainted. She rushed to her daughter's room, for fear of Lan'er doing anything unexpected! However, when she arrived, Lan'er was pressing her face into her blanket, unwilling to talk, only moaning through the blanket. She had no idea whether Lan'er was really crying!

However, seeing that Lan'er was not doing anything dangerous, Mrs Shang relaxed, and could finally dedicate her mind to thinking about the incident. Her youngest daughter's future worried her most. If Lan'er can find a man of her choosing, Mrs Shang would accept him as he was. For a wealthy family like hers, political marriages were almost obligatory! Mrs Shang knew this, and so had asked for Shang Zhangming to swear before their wedding that their children would have the right to decide their own marriage partners, free of interference from anyone in the Shang family!

For Lan'er to react so violently against this man, how could Mrs Shang not detect the cracks in her emotions?

This desire was also noticed by Shang Yue.

Shang Yue and Shang Lan were very close to each other, and Shang Lan would ever share her thoughts with her second elder sister.

After absorbing the news, Shang Yue's heart finally calmed down. She swept her fringe and spoke steadily, "Alright, it looks like what's most important now is Lan Lan's thoughts on the matter. If we know that, the next step will be obvious!" Shang Yue had never felt so curious about a man like this. It was interesting that he could make Sister Lan react like that. If she was not about to visit Sister Lan now, Shang Yue would have headed straight to Wang Xing and see if he was actually born with three heads and six limbs!

Shang Yue came to Shang Lan's room and knocked twice lightly as she spoke softly, "Lan Lan, it's me!"

"Ah!" A tender voice came from within, and then some clunking sounds. Shang Yue could not help but smiled. The door opened into a tiny slit, revealing a pair of bashful eyes, looking carefully outside.

As expected, it was Shang Yue, alone. The door opened wide. "Second elder sis!" She exclaimed with a pleasant surprise, and leapt forward to embrace Shang Yue. Shang Yue held the little princess lightly in her arms, patting Shang Lan's back softly.

After the initial surprise, Shang Lan's glowing eyes began to mist.

"Second elder sis!" Her voice this time was closer to a sob, filled with unspoken grievance.

"Don't cry, don't cry, my good Lan'er!" Shang Yue's motions became even gentler as she consoled Shang Lan. "Let us go inside and talk!"

…

"You don't know how silly he looked like when he's eating! Like he's been starving for ages! I've never seen anyone eat like that in front of Daddy, not even Brother Ling!"

…

"It's even funnier at the ball! When Third Elder Sis and Brother Ling, and Third Elder Sis greeted him, do you know what he said? Heehee, he said, what do you want from me! Heehee, I've never seen anyone so dumb!"

…

"He stood alone in the corner, bored, like everyone around him was from a different world than him, what a lonely person! For some reason he reminded me of myself, and I almost cried! Second elder sis, don't you dare laugh at me! I was really sad back then, I don't know, and I thought of asking him for a dance! I said don't laugh!"

…

"His dancing is quite peculiar, looking so serious all the time, heehee, but he's no good at it, he's so rigid, like a rock! But his steps were all so precise!"

…

"At the end he threw me high up, and it felt wonderful, it's like I was flying! His eyes were still so serious!"

…

"But in the end, he … He …"

…

After a long session with her sister, Shang Yue finally understood the entire incident!

Right now, all she wanted was to know more about Wang Xing. She believed she knew what Younger Sister Lan was thinking now; after meeting Wang Xing, she and her mother can then discuss on how to proceed.

Ye Chong was practicing meditation in his room. Mu had ascertained that the room had no surveillance in place - the Shang family probably would not dare to offend their honored guests!

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Mu warned, "It's a woman!"

Ye Chong opened the door and saw a woman he had never met before! Ye Chong suddenly felt a wave of gratitude - luckily it was Mu right now and not Shang!

The woman spoke first, "Hi there, you must be Mr Wang Xing!"

"I am!" Ye Chong studied the woman casually. He quickly decided that the other party could not harm him physically.

The woman smiled and spoke warmly, "I'm Shang Yue, hmm, the elder sister of that girl you danced with that day, may I come in?"

"The girl I danced with?" Ye Chong thought in surprise. This woman had a completely different aura than that princess! The woman before him now had a calm steadiness, a quality Ye Chong had never seen before in a member of the opposite sex. While Ye Chong knew he was not good at faces, he was still quite confident with his intuition.

Ye Chong did not know why she was here, but he still stepped to the side and replied plainly, "Please!"

They stood face to face, close to each other. This suited Ye Chong - at this distance, if the other party did any sudden movements, she would not be able to avoid his attack.

Ye Chong looked straight into her eyes, and Shang Yue also did not avert her gaze. They looked at each other calmly. Shang Yue's mouth slowly arched into a smile, and her tiny lips looked incredibly sensuous. However, Ye Chong was obviously unaffected, his expression unchanged since he first set eyes on Shang Yue.

Ye Chong felt that the staring was getting pointless, and looking at the other party's expression, she did not seem likely to back down first. He decided to initiate the conversation. "Why are you here?"

Shang Yue swept her fringe lightly to the side. She knew that it was better to be straightforward with a person like him. "I'd like to know what you feel about my younger sister!"

"Your younger sister?" Ye Chong looked at the woman before him in bafflement.

"Yes! The one you danced with last night!" Shang Yue's eyes shone with determination.

"What I feel?" Ye Chong confusion did not subside.

"Yes! What you feel!" Shang Yue repeated.

"Why should I answer that?" Ye Chong looked coldly at the woman. The unexpected question made him wary.

Shang Yue found herself speechless. While her expression was still calm, Ye Chong could still see from the way she swept her fringe that she was a little startled. This further convinced him that the other party was up to no good. However, he could not understand how it was related to his dancing with the girl last night.

Could it be because he danced with her? It could not be, she had initiated the dance.

Or could it be because he licked her? That was not very plausible either. Ye Chong remembered that the girl's neck was completely undamaged! This was too strange!

Ye Chong was not aware of the severity of things.

Ye Chong's rudeness offended Shang Yue, but her smile only grew sweeter. The mole above her brow looked enticing, and her exquisite profile was suddenly looking very attractive! Her eyes sparkled alluringly like stars through a mist.

Shang Yue stepped closer.

Ye Chong looked coldly at Shang Yue, waiting for her next move.

Shang Yue closed in on Ye Chong, looking up at him with bewitching eyes and spoke demurely, "Mr Wang, why don't you tell me! I really want to know!" Her voice was soft and husky.

Shang Yue had never failed with this method. With her usual decorous demeanor, her transformation in character always managed to bewitch her targets. Shang Yue was intelligent, and rarely encountered situations that she could not overcome; she had only used this method twice so far.

When she saw Wang Xing at the door, she knew instantly that he would not be easy to handle. She opted for a straightforward approach, since she believed that she would quickly be ushered out otherwise. The other party was obviously not a patient man!

She did not expect him to face ignorance! That was what infuriated her.

With this method, she could still continue pursuing the question while checking if the man was susceptible to such approaches.

She was not without preparation. On her left wrist was an emergency beeper. Once she pressed on its button, the guards outside would come to her. After all, she was not inclined to be taken advantage of!

Their faces nearly touched, and Shang Yue's breath kissed on Ye Chong's face.

Her snow white skin and red lips were accentuated by a faint fragrant scent and that enticing little mole!

Ye Chong suddenly felt his chest burn inside, like something was stoked to life within.

Shang Yue's vaguely parting lips were beckoning to him!

Without realizing it, Ye Chong moved forward and kissed!

Shang Yue was shocked! She did not expect him to really make a move! She suddenly felt a strong sense of abhorrence for him. To think that he was actually such a lewd person!

While she was shocked, she still maintained some composure. Her right hand reached towards her left wrist. Once she activated her beeper, she would be safe!

However, even in a daze, Ye Chong's body still reacted quickly. He grabbed onto Shang Yue's hands, his right hand quickly searching and obtaining the beeper. Ye Chong threw the item without looking towards the bed! The bedding was soft as feathers, and the emergency beeper sank into it!

He was still kissing her!

Wang Xing's hands grabbed hold of her like steel roots, and Shang Yue could not escape!

With the tightly closed door and excellent soundproofing, she could not be heard even if she screamed with all she had!

"I'm done for!" That was Shang Yue's last thoughts!

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Chapter 182: Undercurrent V

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

This was Ye Chong's second time in two days experiencing this chaotic sense of losing control! Last night he had licked the girl, and he could not understand why he had done that! It was like his body was moving on its own!

Ye Chong was heavily influenced by Mu, preferring to have everything under his control, especially himself!

Shang may have said that this was a natural response, but Ye Chong still could not let it go. Even if it was a natural response, he should still be able to overcome it, much like he did with negative emotions such as fear.

Last night's state of mind made him feel like he lost control of himself, and that was unacceptable! Besides, he did not feel that that state would be beneficial to him, since it was obvious that his senses and response time were significantly impeded in that state! That was dangerous!

He stared at the moist, red lips before him, fatally alluring! Shang Yue's face was as flawless as a jade sculpture, blushing lightly in a blossom pink. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with her breathing. Their faces were only centimeters apart, and Ye Chong could even feel the heat emanating from her face, and that mysterious fragrant scent!

A voice in his head urged him, "Kiss her! Kiss her!"

Ye Chong suddenly felt his mouth dried up. The moist red lips looked like an irrefutable invitation!

"No! I cannot give in like that!" The thought flashed past Ye Chong's mind!

"Humph!" Ye Chong humphed coldly, his hands moved quicker than he could think, releasing the woman's hands and pushed her at the waist!

"Ah!" Shang Yue gasped in fright as she was thrown precisely on the bed like a sandbag!

Ye Chong's eyes were now crystal clear, but cold as ice!

Ye Chong was dejected inside, knowing that if he did not push the other party away, he would not be able to escape that state of mind! Ye Chong wished that he could suppress this natural response, like he did with fear. If anything frightening happened before him, he could still brave the fear and deal with the situation. This encounter, however, made him felt like he was avoiding the situation! Nonetheless, he still lacked the knowledge about this natural response!

Ye Chong was not inflexible though, and he did what he could to handle the current situation!

Noticing Ye Chong's emotional imbalance, Mu console, "Ye, looks like you need to pick up some physiology!"

"Looks like it!" Ye Chong spoke with a wry smile. Ye Chong found that he was too susceptible to this form of seduction. If the enemy used this weapon against him, he would probably fall for it!

"That's right, it's only a weapon!" Ye Chong brightened up, and began to calm down!

While the down bedding was soft, Shang Yue still fell without anticipation into a confused heap. However, she immediately realized that it was a bed, and her expression twisted as her pulse raced. "Could he be thinking of …" Shang Yue's expression became unreadable!

She began to feel regret. To think that she fell prey to her own devices! All her past successes had made her too arrogant! She was the real fool!

Shang Yue mourned inside, but recovered her usual easy composure after the initial fright!

Suddenly, Shang Yue noticed her emergency beeper just a small distance away from her on the bed!

Abruptly, Shang Yue felt her heart race again. Shang Yue repeatedly warned herself to stay calm! She must wait for the right time! This was her only chance of escape!

Shang Yue did not move, for fear of attracting unwanted attention from the other party. Wang Xing was now not only a lecherous person to her, but also a daring man! Did he not think of the consequences of his actions? Shang Yue had decided that if Wang Xing did anything improper to her, she would make him suffer!

She peeked at Wang Xing, but the diabolic guy was bowing his head as if in deep thought.

Shang Yue was overjoyed, but she still acted carefully, only barely moving herself towards the beeper. Wang Xing was still in thinking posture, and that made Shang Yue curious. From their earlier struggle, Wang Xing seemed to be a hasty person, why would he act so restrained now?

Was he finally beginning to feel afraid?

Shang Yue grew even more disdainful of Wang Xing. She had thought that he was a calm and talented person, but found him to be a terribly impulsive man! This was his true face!

However, Shang Yue also believed that as long as she could reach for the emergency beeper, she would be safe! "Hmph, I'll show him then!" she thought.

Seeing Wang Xing ignoring her, Shang Yue was secretly pleased, and reached slowly for the emergency beeper close by! She dared not move too abruptly, for fear of inviting Wang Xing's attention.

It's close! Getting closer!

Shang Yue exhaled in relief as her fingers touched the emergency beeper's wristlet, her fingertips feeling the soft quality of the wristlet!

Just when she thought the situation was finally under her control, her fingers suddenly spasmed! This was immediately followed by a thumping sound from her right.

Feathers flew up in an instant, falling back down like snow. Amongst the feathers, Shang Yue's confused expression showed that she did not realize what had happened!

Her first reaction was to look towards Wang Xing, but there she found Wang Xing staring coldly at her with clear and chilling eyes. Shang Yue could not help but shudder!

When she finally came to her senses, she immediately reached out with fingers to search, but could find nothing but feathers from the bedding, her emergency beeper gone without a trace! A crimson droplet gathered into shape on her thin finger and dyed the white feathers red.

Shang Yue panicked, her face no longer composed, and quickly looked to her right.

A dagger went through the wristlet of her emergency beeper and held it firmly on the wall! The beeper dangled mid-air, but Shang Yue's heart had reached the depths of despair!

Shang Yue felt an extreme sense of dread, and her face paled!

"I think, it's better to speak like this!" Shang Yue lifted her head to his plain voice. Wang Xing was still standing where he was without moving, but his stare had turned colder!

Shang Yue could feel Wang Xing's stare piercing through her like the edge of a blade!

However, cunning as she was, she sensed hope in the situation! She waited. Now that all her cards were on the table, it was the other party's turn to make his move!

As expected, Wang Xing did not disappoint as he spoke plainly, "Let's talk about why you're here!" His tone allowed no disobedience. Shang Yue had also used that same tone before when she ordered her servants around!

She understood her situation, however, and replied crisply, "I'm here to find out what you feel about my younger sister!"

"Your younger sister?"

"Yes, my younger sister!" Shang Yue did not back down from her intention.

"Why?" Ye Chong's voice was as plain as water.

Shang Yue briefly described Shang Lan's situation.

Ye Chong may not be worldly, but he was sharp enough to understand the other party's intentions!

"Are you all trying to keep me here?" Ye Chong asked calmly.

While she did not feel comfortable about it, Shang Yue braced herself and said, "Mr Wang, why don't you stay with the Shang family for a while? We'll do anything we can for you! I've heard that you have business at planet Windstar. The Shang family has some influence in that planet. If Mr Wang would allow, the Shang family would do our best to assist you in your business!" Shang Yue tried her best to make herself sound tactful.

"Oh, is that right?" Ye Chong swept an indifferent glance at Shang Yue.

Shang Yue braced herself. She sensed arrogance and a certain chilling effect from Wang Xing's tone!

She understood now that this Wang Xing before her was no aristocrat, but more likely, an assassin! His strong murderous aura made Shang Yue shudder inside! Besides, she could sense that the other party was not intimidated by her or the Shang family. Could he have someone else backing him?

However, was he really more powerful than the Shang family? Of course, the thought only barely registered. She knew more than anyone of the Shang family's true power! It was much more than what could be seen from the surface!

She thought that Wang Xing would be infuriated, but instead, Wang Xing merely humped coldly and spoke casually, "Whatever!" With that, he opened the door and left the room!

Shang Yue was left alone on the bed in a daze! What did Wang Xing mean by "whatever"? It was all too confusing!

Ye Chong wanted to leave the Shang family there and then. With the exception of Robert's four bodyguards, he believed that no one could stop him! However, once Mu informed him of the sheer number of spies the Shang family had in the area, Ye Chong immediately dismissed his plan.

While it was not a certainty yet that the other party could keep him here, his abrupt leaving would definitely lead to an intense battle! Ye Chong had no intentions of attracting attention, but the only mech he dared to use now was Han Jia. If he used Guardian or Overwing, it would probably alert the Sanctuary and the MPA! These two forces were not what Ye Chong could deal with as he was now! Besides, Han Jie had never been tested in actual combat. Ye Chong had no idea how it would perform!

Hence, Mu's suggestion to make his move at night was better! Ye Chong agreed. Han Jia was a full-skeleton mech; with its excellent anti-detection properties and the cover of darkness, leaving the Shang family secretly would not be a difficult task!

Once Ye Chong made up his mind as he wandered around aimlessly in the Shang family's house. When he went back to his room, Shang Yue was already gone!

Wei Yuan sat before his desk with bloodshot eyes. He stared unblinkingly at the holographic recording on the photon processor, the recording of YC that he captured himself! He had not slept for an entire day, but he was feeling unusually excited!

Abruptly, he stood up excitedly, nearly slipping due to exhaustion! However, that did not dampen his mood!

He finally had a breakthrough studying his recording of YC!

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Chapter 183: Shock

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Wei Yuan sat before his desk, staring unblinkingly at the holographic recording on the photon processor with bloodshot eyes. This was the recording he made of YC! He had not slept an entire day, but he was still feeling very excited!

He stood up abruptly, and nearly fell from exhaustion! However, that did not dim his enthusiasm!

Just now, he finally had a breakthrough studying his recording of YC!

Wei Yuan had natural talent in this field, often gaining unique insights from the mech trajectories he had seen. This helped him immensely with his understanding of piloting techniques. Even so, his innate talent did not seem to help much this time. This made him feel very impatient and exasperated!

Fortunately, he realized that those emotions did not help. Soon, he vanquished those emotions and went to work!

YC's holographic recording was like an epic teaching material for mech piloting!

That inhumanly difficult straight line step backwards, for example, was executed expertly. Whenever the mech stepped backwards, Tissot would bend its upper body forward at a large angle like a bent spring, greatly reducing the burden due to the abrupt change in direction to be manageable for the mech pilot. However, Wei Yuan's calculations revealed that the resultant momentum still placed a heavy burden on the pilot. Without a strong body, one cannot use this technique!

This was not difficult to realize for Wei Yuan. What bothered him the most was why YC did not preferentially use straight line steps, but opted for curved steps instead! Over the past 24 hours, he pondered on the question. Finally, his efforts were rewarded, and he finally understood!

From the beginning, Wei Yuan had made a mistake. He had chosen only YC's footwork for analysis, and did not realize that YC's steps were all made to coordinate his combat moves.

When Wei Yuan saw YC using curved steps to match his striking attack from a difficult angle, Wei Yuan finally understood! YC had sacrificed the distance in his steps for the movements of his upper body arms!

He grew more and more obsessed with the recording!

Soon, he began to develop a strong interest in this peculiar way of combat. With his solid mech piloting background, the battle moves he was learning now could not compare with YC's way of fighting in terms of unleashing his full potential.

With his full attention on the holographic recording, Wei Yuan did not realize the extent in which the recording had changed him!

Night came, but Ye Chong received bad news. Mu had discreetly hacked in the Shang family's systems, and was aware of their every movement. From Mu's analysis, it seemed that the Shang family was about to do something with Ye Chong! For some reason, the Shang family did not send out their orders through the usual communication systems, and so Mu did not know the details. However, Ye Chong believed that the Shang family was definitely up to no good!

Ye Chong was not afraid of the Shang family; he was more vigilant against the four Black Coe bodyguards around Robert. As long as they did not interfere, he should have no problems. This was his initial thought, but what happened later proved just how wrong he was!

Ye Chong quickly deployed Han Jia. It was the only mech he could use for now. He did not let Mu out just yet. In truth, Mu would only make his move if Ye Chong was in a desperate situation.

Fortunately, Mu was not against helping in other matters. Ye Chong received the scanning results from Mu through Han Jia's photon processor!

A dense network of red dots appeared around him, and Ye Chong took a deep breath! Really now, he was just one person! Besides, Ye Chong noticed that no one else was around, and even Robert and his group were all gone. He was the only person around in a 100-meter radius!

The mechs laying in ambush around almost made Ye Chong thought that someone else was coming! The squads of mechs patrolling above in the air drew intertwining lines of trajectories! The entire area was lit up bright as day with high intensity plasma lights that not even a mosquito could escape attention!

The Shang family was fast! Ye Chong realized that he had underestimated the Shang family! It was shocking to find that they could arrange something like this without any warning!

It seemed that a battle was inevitable! Ye Chong's eyes grew colder as he gave a soft pat on the arm rest inside Han Jia's pilot cabin!

Shang Yue watched the white-lit area with a complicated expression. This was the best vantage point, allowing her to see everything clearly. She was thinking about what Wang Xing meant by "whatever", when she suddenly had a hunch that Wang Xing was leaving. His last word was spoken with great confidence, showing his lack of fear towards the Shang family.

She reported her suspicions to her father, but kept what happened to her in Wang Xing's room a secret! All of the Shang family were infuriated. To think that the guy wanted to leave, just when Lan'er seemed to be harbouring feelings for him. For the Shang family, as long as there was a nonzero possibility of Lan'er liking him, they would not let Wang Xing leave! Wang Xing's feelings were not an issue for them. "He must stay, even if only as a plaything for Lan'er," Shang Zhangming had said. The head of the family even discussed the issue at length with Robert.

The entire setup was planned by Shang Yue alone! The Shang family was surprised at her large scale preparation. After all, he was only one person, how strong could he be? Fortunately, the Shang family had always trusted Shang Yue, and agreed to her plan!

As for Shang Yue, she still acted very carefully even though she did not know who had Wang Xing's back. Her eyebrows knitted lightly, her expression unreadable in the darkness. Only her mutterings could be heard, "You can't win, just back down!"

Robert was also looking towards that area with a quiet sigh, his four bodyguards standing like statues behind him! Beside Robert, Bai Linan's expression twisted horribly. He bit down on his lower lip until it bled! He was forced by Robert to come here. Even as he wanted to warn Ye Chong, Robert's presence did not allow it!

"Sigh, he's a real talent, it's just too bad …" Robert sighed again.

Ye Chong closed his eyes and placed his hands gently on the controls. His chest rose and fell quickly like a wind box as he breathed deeply. After a while, his chest's movements began to steady, and Ye Chong's eyes opened abruptly! His eyes scanned calmly around him!

It was as though Ye Chong was back on the trash planet, fighting for his life. The hunting game was a familiar one to him, only this time, he was the hunted!

He had entered into battle mode, feeling calm but a little excited! This was the perfect state of mind to be for battle!

The enemy may look like an insurmountable force, but that did not mean it was hopeless for him. Ye Chong realized that the other party was only trying to intimidate. They did not know of Mu, and would not know that Han Jia was a full-skeleton mech. Besides, this small battle range was the best kind for Ye Chong, and most suitable for a close range mech like Han Jia! How could Ye Chong not stand a chance?

Ye Chong did not like the Shang family. With the exception of the girl he danced with, he detested the others! That girl's elder sister in particular made him wary. Ye Chong suspected that this plan by the Shang family was most likely due to her!

He will not make it easy for them!

Han Jia stood valiantly like a giant clad in silver armor! Ye Chong regretted painting Han Jia with this shiny silver coating, as it was simply to glaring under the illumination!

Ye Chong exhaled softly and made his move! Han Jia burst forward like a cannonball!

The Shang family did not expect Ye Chong to actually try to escape. To them, only someone crazy would do this! If he was planning to attack them as he escaped, that would be even crazier!

The orderly formation around him plunged into chaos in an instant!

Han Jia was a full-skeleton mech, with astonishing speed. If it could break through the formation, chasing after it would not be an easy task!

Looking at the scene, Shang Yue paled instantly! Even Robert and Bai Linan froze in stupefaction!

Ye Chong sneaked up on one of the mechs with its back facing him. This was a Kamenrache, an advanced level mech, one that he knew quite well. Han Jia moved like the wind. The others did not receive any warning signal, oblivious to the ambush!

What happened next was enough to chill any witnesses' heart to the core - the mech was obliterated into pieces! Fragments and parts of the mech flew outwards in all directions, and at the center, a horrifying shriek came from a bloody mass of flesh! The black canine-tooth dagger held in Han Jia's glimmering silver hand was like a sinister omen! The sharpness of the weapon surprised Ye Chong as well. It was truly the perfect weapon for assassination!

Chunks of flesh and blood stuck to the mech fragments flying outwards. The mech pilot stood no chance!

Ye Chong had stirred the hornet's nest!

The communication channels were flooded with confusion. Everyone was looking on their photon processor for signs of the enemy!

How was this possible? The mech pilots of the Shang family were flabbergasted! If they could not pinpoint the enemy's whereabouts, how could they continue fighting? Fear began to spread within their hearts!

"Do it manually!" Someone shouted in the comms, and the mech pilots gathered themselves. Yes, they were many, and the enemy but one, there was nothing to be afraid of! The thought of their overwhelming fear earlier made them feel embarrassed, but this feeling quickly turned to anger. It was all the damn mech's fault! Everyone charged towards the mech!

Han Jia stood out like a sore thumb under the lighting, and they could find him easily!

Just when they were about to fire, however, they realized that it was easy to hit one of their own. The thought made them hesitated!

There were only three of them before him! If he finished off these three, there would be no one else to stop him! This was his and Mu's calculation results. This direction seemed heavily defended, but was in reality the weakest part of the formation. There was a route about four meters wide for him to escape in front. Besides, the territory beyond this point was the most complicated, and most suitable for his escape!

However, he must first deal with the three mechs standing in the way. The faster he could achieve this, the better his chances were to escape!

Ye Chong could now feel the difference between Mu and Shang in their strategizing! Mu looked for weaknesses in the enemy through meticulous calculations, while Shang preferred to play with psychology. They were both effective measures!

Ye Chong ambushed the mech to create confusion, and so he chose the most terrifying method of wrecking the mech into pieces! Anyone would be severely affected by the sight of a mech being disembodied like that. If the mech pilot was a comrade, the effect would be even deeper!

Ye Chong's strategy worked. Almost all the mechs were riled up!

Ye Chong kept his calm. He found that his meditation training had helped with his mental calmness. No wonder the Sanctuary's mech pilots rarely made mistakes! It seemed that meditation was really useful!

Han Jia had no intention of evading the fragments from the mech. The silver glittering mech charged onwards through the fragments like a brave warrior! With its speed, battling with the mechs in front was inevitable! The enemy mechs readied themselves. They would have shot him if not for the fear of shooting one of their own!

Most of the mechs instinctively charged towards the silver mech! With the mech's speed, it was nearly impossible to change its direction. Besides, the mech was almost surrounded in all directions!

Just when everyone thought that the mech could not escape, a most shocking turn of events occurred!

The silver mech bent forward like spring and moved backwards in a logic defying step! This surreal move was enough to make everyone freeze in shock!

If Wei Yuan were to witness this scene, he would definitely leap in excitement - it was exactly the same as YC's straight line retreat in his recording!

Ye Chong was now moving towards the narrow area! He was delighted to find that the situation was better than he expected - of the three mechs situated at the area, two of them were heading towards him now, leaving only one behind! It seemed that he succeeded in moving those two to action too!

Han Jia's sudden change in direction surprised the two mechs! Ye Chong's eyes gleamed coldly, his hands now moving faster than before, looking like a shroud above the controls!

Everyone at the scene could never forget what they saw - the silver mech was charging straight ahead when it suddenly retreated backwards in a straight line, a movement that seemed to defy the laws of physics. The silver armor of the mech shone eerily - Han Jia was not quite done yet. Two mechs charged towards it at the front lines, and the silver mech swept past them like a shadow. Before anyone could understand what happened, the two mechs lost control and continued moving forward, carrying their momentum. Before they covered 10 meters, a huge explosion was heard, and two dazzling fireballs burned under the intense plasma illumination!

Ye Chong had stepped in an S shape, but the hardest part was when he attacked! The two mechs were very close to each other, and even with Ye Chong's hand speed, maneuvering Han Jia to attack twice in a row had pushed him to his limit! Fortunately, his two daggers were sharp, or those two attacks would have injured him as well!

His extraordinary piloting skills and battle moves had shocked everyone at the scene, and even Robert's four bodyguards had their emotions written on their faces!

Only one mech left!

Ye Chong looked coldly at the mech before him. This was a model he had never seen before, but it did not affect Ye Chong's confidence! No matter what mech it was, he had to finish it off, or he would never be able to escape!

Han Jia moved so quickly that Ye Chong reached the last mech in the blink of an eye. His attack on the two mechs earlier had also caused this mech to freeze in shock! It was now in a exposed position!

It was as though Heavens was on Ye Chong's side. The explosion from the two mechs he attacked had created a heat shock wave that pursued Han Jia like a fiery beast, swallowing Han Jia and the last mech both!

Everyone felt their visions blurred as the ground shook. They could see two mechs through the dust, but that shiny, silver mech was nowhere to be seen! When they looked closer, they saw that one of the mechs had bits of silver flecks on it. The sharper minds immediately realized that the silver mech was actually disguised. They could only guess which master had designed such a colorful mech that did not look quite metallic!

Beside Robert, the four bodyguards took on the entire scene, and one of them spoke up despite himself, "A full-skeleton mech!" His surprised voice made even Robert more interested in the mech!

The four bodyguards were extremely startled! However, they were Black Cove elites, and quickly recovered and exchanged glances. One of them vanished, while another two deployed their mechs and slipped into the pilot's cabin, leaving only one of them carefully on guard beside Robert! Robert did not interfere with their actions, his eyes only on Han Jia!

Full-skeleton mechs were famed amongst the Three Forces! They did their own research into these type of mechs, but none had never successfully made one. Full-skeleton mechs were only a theoretical hypothesis, although each of the Three Forces believed that they could be built! However, it was exceedingly difficult, as shown by the thus far fruitless efforts of the Three Forces!

Full-skeleton mechs were easily recognizable due to their unique building material. This was why these four Black Cove men recognized Han Jia as one in an instant.

"I didn't think this last mech would be so hard to deal with! If I don't hurry up and finish it off, it's going to be too late when other people joined in to stop me!"

Ye Chong grew nervous, and unknowingly began to use the moves that he practiced in the virtual world!

Han Jia began to move differently, the black dagger in its left hand aiming straight at the other party's magnetic sword as its huge body twisted quickly like a spinning top, it's right hand with the other dagger reaching for the mech's neck like a poisonous serpent! The other mech's pilot was apparently competent as well. Even though it was now in a passive position, the mech was determined, and shielded its neck with the shield on its left hand!

Ding! A clear ringing sound reverberated outwards!

Ye Chong rode on the momentum and spinned even faster, its left arm bent to slice the enemy with the sharp edges of its shield. It was a vicious attack - a direct hit would lead to severe consequences!

The mech pilot also moved decisively. The mech inclined its body and received the blow from Han Jia with its left shoulder!

A sharp metallic slicing sound was heard, and Han Jia's shield, made of iron lizard scales, amputated the mech's left arm, exposing the network of photon circuits within!

Just when the mech pilot thought that it had escaped death, he saw four tentacle-like things coming towards him fast as lightning, the sharp ends of the tentacles chilled him to the bone! The maneuver just now had pushed him to his limits, and his fingers now spasmed in protest!

Was he going to die here? He watched as the sharp tips grew larger and larger in sight, and he closed his eyes out of instinct. He held his breath, awaiting that final moment with a bleak heart!

A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes in surprise, but saw that the other party was now fleeing ahead, slowly fading out of view! He did not understand this last act of mercy!

Did he not enjoy killing? The thought was preposterous - three of their own had died horribly!

He could not figure it out!

Ye Chong was about to kill the other party with his four thousand-segment-worm whips. This stubborn opponent was the enemy, so mercy was not necessary. Reducing the enemy's forces was definitely advantageous for him - this was a principle of Ye Chong! However, it was not meant to be. Just when the sharp ends of the thousand-segment worms were about to reach the mech, Ye Chong heard Mu yelling, "Ye, run, the Black Cove people are moving!"

Robert's four bodyguards were Ye Chong's largest concern. Now that Mu said they were making their move, Ye Chong ran without looking back! If they caught on to him, he would definitely be delayed; once the other mech pilots recovered and joined in, even with Mu, he would be finished!

The four thousand-segment-worm whips returned to their concealed shooting chambers like four venomous snakes!

Ye Chong ran! He peeked backwards, and as expected, he saw two of Black Cove's Cosmic Flares in pursuit. Ye Chong's chest tightened, and ramped up Han Jia's speed forward! If it was a usual encounter, Ye Chong would not be afraid of two Cosmic Lares. However, under the circumstances, even if there was only one of them, Ye Chong could not afford the delay in engaging it!

Han Jia and the Cosmic Flares were quick, vanishing in an instant. Just then, the Shang family's mech pilots broke out of their trance and took to the air, following the three mechs!

As for the mech pilot who barely escaped from Ye Chong, he slipped out of his mech, revealing himself to the usually courteous and gentle Shang Ling! His face was now drained of blood!

Shang Zhangming was enraged! Even with so many of them as part of this setup, his single target had managed to escape, leaving three of his own dead. If not for Robert's bodyguards, his son would have died! Robert and his men had seen everything, and this incident had proven to be a humiliation to the Shang family! Shang Zhangming was infuriated by the thought! Most importantly, if their deplorable performance this time made an ally like Robert lose faith in the Shang family, it would be a double tragedy!

Shang Zhangming could not help a rising sense of regret! Unfortunately, there was never a cure for regret!

In the darkness, Shang Yue's expression was unreadable. It looked like one of joy, or anger, and but her tiny mole looked even more bewitching!

Ye Chong dared not break his concentration, focusing only on flying!

Han Jia was a lot faster than Cosmic Flare, and the complicated territory was very advantageous to Ye Chong due to his many experiences of escaping!

The two Black Cove mechs in pursuit were obviously new to task of chasing after a target. More importantly, they could not lock on Han Jia! Cosmic Flare's holographic scanning system was useless against full-skeleton mechs!

Soon, they lost sight of Han Jia. The search around the area turned out fruitless, and they returned resentfully!

Ye Chong finally relaxed a little. While the thought of dealing with these two mechs had occurred to him repeatedly along the way, he had to quickly dispose of them for fear of the other mechs catching up to him. He would then be in a vurnerable position!

The two Black Cove mech pilots had no idea that they had narrowly escaped death!

Ye Chong could not rest now. He must quickly leave Richie. He had witnessed the Shang family's influence on Richie when he first arrived!

The Shang family had kept Ye Chong's connection to the virtual world in his room alive to avoid alerting him. They never imagined that this was an opportunity for Ye Chong to leave Richie.

Mu hacked the docking zone's system through the virtual world and took over a starship with no one onboard. It was now docked behind a hill not far ahead! All Ye Chong had to do now was to reach that starship and head for planet Windstar!

With its location marked, Ye Chong quickly found the starship. This was a medium sized starship with complete facilities. It was also sufficiently fuelled to complete a few round trips to and from Windstar.

Once inside the starship, Mu took charge of the flying, and Ye Chong could finally fully relax!

Ye Chong slipped out of Han Jia, and before he could steady himself, the starship was airborne.

Less than five minutes after Ye Chong's starship left Richie, all starships were banned from leaving the docking zone! The Shang family did not expect Ye Chong to be able to leave Richie so quickly as they organized their men for a wide scale search.

"F-58, how I'd like to meet with you!" A middle-aged man murmured behind a mask, looking at the holographic image on his desk. It was an image of Ye Chong.

Ye Chong's holographic image and news of his full-skeleton mech had soon reached Black Cove. With Instructor Hak's confirmation, it was determined that Wang Xing was F-58 that Black Cove was searching for. Intel also revealed that Wang Xing's destination was Windstar, and so, a large squad of Black Cove mech pilots were ordered to head towards that planet. Their orders were to capture F-58 alive at all costs, and bring him back to Black Cove!

Of course, Ye Chong was unaware of any of this. He was now on his way to Windstar. He was the only person on the starship. They met with many starships along the way, and Mu had played the part of a trading ship from Richie to perfection. No one would have imagined that the massive starship had only one passenger onboard!

When Ye Chong saw Han Jia's exterior, he finally understood why the Black Cove people made their move too! The heat from the explosion that came from the two mechs he attacked had melted the layer of silver paint on Han Jia. The shock wave that followed brushed off the paint from Han Jia, leaving only flecks of silver on it, the only evidence of its initial layer of paint!

Full-skeleton mechs were made of unique materials, and Ye Chong had used the best skeletons he could find to build Han Jia. It was no wonder that the four Black Cove mech pilots recognized it immediately. After all, full-skeleton mechs were what mech pilots had always dreamed for!

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Chapter 184: September

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There was a dojo called September on Windstar. From the outside, the buildings and walls looked aged, and its old-style architecture made it look like some tourist attraction or historical heritage. There was the occasional person entering or leaving the building, bringing life to the place. However, one could still feel the declined state of the dojo, like an aging beauty of old!

A young, thin man was standing before this dojo, looking upwards to the calligraphic dance of the words "September" on the building. This youth was Ye Chong. He understood the words, but he could not possibly gauge whether the name was a good one.

"Ye, this is the September Dojo!" Mu said.

"Hmm, it looks abandoned! Not many people go in and out of the place, must be a quiet dojo, just like what our information said." Ye Chong said as he looked towards the main entrance of the September dojo.

"According to the virtual net, this dojo's master refused to incorporate new elements such as the now popular mech battles. It was criticized by young people, saying it is too conservative, and could not keep up with the times. That's probably why the number of dojo's apprentices have decreased sharply!" Mu always did his investigations thoroughly.

"I see." Ye Chong seemed to realize something from this.

"Hmm, this dojo does not interact with the outside world very much, and the dojo master is very close to the local governor, always under the care of the local authorities! Hence, I believe this is a good place to take cover!"

This was the result of a discussion between Ye Chong and Mu. Ever since Ye Chong realized that Black Cove had seen Han Jia, he knew that they would not let him go easily. Besides, he had told Robert that he was heading to Windstar with the four bodyguards present. If they could not find him on Richie, they would continue their search on Windstar.

The safest way forward now would be to leave Windstar for now and wait for the heat to die down before coming back. Ye Chong knew he stood no chance against Black Cove in a direct encounter. However, Ye Chong did not want to leave Windstar. The illness he had was the only thing restraining him now; only by eliminating this problem could he feel safe! Even though the episodes were getting minor, Ye Chong dared to be careless. Dying from this illness would be such a shame!

Ye Chong decided to wait for Wang Weixing to return to Windstar. Who knew when the doctor would be on the planet again? After some consideration, Ye Chong decided on the matter. As long as he hid at a suitable location and moved with care, Ye Chong was confident of evading Black Cove for at least the next two months. The next problem was finding such a place for him to lay low. The September dojo was the hiding location that Ye Chong and Mu decided on in the end.

"You want to learn combat skills from me?" Lan Yixing looked at the frail young man before him, feeling a little disappointed. From his physique, this young man did not seem suitable for combat. However, he did not want to reject him, as it had been long since anyone had asked to be admitted as an apprentice!

"Yes!" Ye Chong replied calmly.

"As an apprentice, the first year will be spent on menial tasks like scrubbing the floor, it's hard work. This is to train the apprentice's mental fortitude! All of these tasks must be done by hand, and not with any cleaning machines! You must do this for one year!" Lan Yixing reminded him. "It's not too late to back out now!" Many apprentice wannabes backed off after this. With their current technology, cleaning tasks were all delegated to smart cleaning machines. Who would want to do the cleaning themselves? Besides, it was a full year of performing these menial tasks. The thought was daunting enough.

"Okay!" The young man answered crisply without hesitation. Temporary apprentices need not perform these tasks, since they were only here for short term training, and mostly for fun. Apprentices were different, and were the dojo's true students. They were the ones who would learn the most! However, it was not easy to become one. An apprentice must go through one year or more of training and be approved by their masters before receiving actual classes.

Lan Yixing looked at the few temporary apprentices in the dojo, their dwindling numbers casting a gloomy mood over him. It was an undeniable truth that combat expertise was declining! He was deeply worried about passing down his skills. If this expertise was to be lost in history in his generation, he would never forgive himself.

"Alright! Let's have you try it out first!" Lan Yixing said. He liked the down-to-earth feeling emanating from the young man before him. The only regret was his build. It seemed to him that the young man lacked the strength and stamina to reach the peak of this field.

A thought occurred to him, and Lan Yixing asked, "What's your name?"

"Mo Fei." Ye Chong answered succinctly.

That was how Ye Chong landed himself a place in the September dojo. He chose to be an apprentice and not a temporary one, mostly because apprentices must stay at the dojo. For Ye Chong, a suitable place to stay was key to avoiding detection. After all, he needed to stay here until Wang Weixing returned. Fortunately, Black Cove was not aware of his goal, or Wang Weixing would probably be captured and brought to Black Cove. In that case, his situation would be hopeless.

Ye Chong obtained an identity card once he reached Windstar. Information in the card on his identity was modified by Mu. While Ye Chong looked very similar to his image on the identity card, Mu had actually did some minor modifications on 13 important but inconspicuous parts. These modifications were small, but the effect was apparent. Even if another party had Ye Chong's holographic image and access to the local population's information database, they would not be able to find Ye Chong through an automatic query. Besides, Wang Xing's identity information was left untouched by Mu.

No one would have guessed that Ye Chong could change his identity whenever he wanted!

If he could survive these two months, he would be able to meet Wang Weixing. That was Ye Chong's only objective!

Lan Yixing was extremely satisfied with his new apprentice, Mo Fei. He worked hard with a serious attitude and never lazed around, unlike his other senior brothers who would leave whenever they were free. In fact, Lan Yixing had never seen him leave the dojo. He usually spent his time in his room when unoccupied, and did not seem to be indulging in any negative activities. With the exception of his overly cold demeanor, Lan Yixing had no qualms with his new student.

Lan Yixing's knew that his other apprentices were no longer interested in combat skills, and he was helpless against this. Everyone knew that combat experts had no bright future, and he could only be thankful that they were still here with him! There was a time when potential apprentices came in hoards, which filled him with hope, thinking that combat experts were finally gathering interest again. Later, he realized that these people were only here because of mech combat. The realization was dispiriting. Apart from that, he found that most of the apprentices had no foundation in the area, even though they all wanted to shortcut their way to success, wanting to learn some cool looking but impractical moves. He was vexed. After much thought, he decided to ignore mech battle techniques, which caused most of his temporary apprentices to leave. Fortunately, he had enough savings to avoid financial difficulty.

Mo Fei was an inconspicuous character in the September dojo. He was always quiet, his cold stare giving off an unapproachable feeling. Besides, he never took the initiative to greet anyone, so none of them really noticed him. Nonetheless, they were pleased to see the silent fellow taking care of all the menial chores, relieving their burdens.

Ye Chong did not mind it. To him, this was only a temporary accommodation. Once his business was finished here, he would be free to go wherever he wanted. Besides, these menial tasks were nothing for someone like him, who grew up on a trash planet. He enjoyed this seemingly dull lifestyle, which offered him plenty of free time every day to learn whatever he was interested in.

The only regret was that the dojo had no virtual world access.

Wei Yuan waited every day, alone, in the NR Training Center, hoping to YC gain, but to no avail. YC never visited again. He was disappointed, and regretted being too absorbed watching his recordings that he did not realize YC had left.

The holographic recording was good teaching material, especially for people who could pick up things quickly. Besides, YC's holographic recording had given him a direction to focus on, and with that basic training!

Wei Yuan panted heavily. While panting was impossible in the virtual world, the strain from his training still made him pant instinctively. He had improved, but was still a long way behind YC! He had used his photon processor to calculate the parameters of YC's performance, and found them to be quite shocking numbers!

Wei Yuan did not give up then. As long as he worked hard, he would surely reach these new heights one day.

"Mo Fei!" Lan Yixing called Ye Chong, who was just done with mopping the floor. It was already nighttime, and most of the temporary apprentices had gone home, leaving only Ye Chong in the massive building!

Ye Chong stopped in his tracks and turned back to face Lan Yixing, waiting for his next words.

Lan Yixing knew that Mo Fei disliked talking, and so he continued, "Hmm, I've been watching you all this time. Usually apprentices need to perform these menial tasks for a full year before qualifying for instructions, but since you've done well in this period, I'll make an exception and teach you some basic moves!"

"Okay." Ye Chong replied. Ye Chong had never seen Lan Yixing perform any moves himself. Usually, it was a few of his so called senior brothers who did the teaching in the dojo. These senior brothers seemed to only have the looks but not the substance. If they met with a slightly capable opponent, they would definitely be defeated.

Lan Yixing spoke lowly, "Look carefully!" Just as he finished, Lan Yixing moved into position and began to perform his moves, one by one!

Ye Chong watched with growing amazement. He had seen many combat experts, and knew some moves himself, so he could tell a person's expertise in an instant. This Lan Yixin was at least as good as the two combat experts he saw on the Nast!

Ye Chong watched with focus and startled to the core. The moves were very similar to many that he saw in the recording of the fight between those two combat experts.

Lan Yixing repeated the moves a few times, and sighed a little inside when he saw Mo Fei's dazed expression. However, he still explained the key points and tricks to each move patiently to Mo Fei. Now, it was up to him to absorb and digest what he was taught. Lan Yixing did not expect much from him.

Ye Chong benefited greatly from this session. All this time, he did not have anyone to teach him, and could only figure things out himself. Lan Yixing was well learned, and had a solid foundation in combat. He explained each move with simple words that managed to touch the core of the subject, allowing Ye Chong to finally make sense of much of his earlier musings. Aside from that, Ye Chong learned many new techniques that he never thought of before.

Ye Chong's experience in the field was immense, and he had always spent time analyzing combat moves. That was why he gained much from this session.

Lan Yixing repeated his moves three times before finally stopping.

"Alright, now you try them!" Lan Yixing said to Ye Chong.

Ye Chong moved slowly, attempting to mimic what he had just witnessed. However, old habits did not change easily. Despite his newfound understanding of all his combat moves, he still performed each move like he always did, barely replicating Lan Yixing's moves.

Lan Yixing sighed inside, finding Mo Fei to be just as he expected - innately unsuited to the art of combat. The moves he demonstrated earlier were all basic moves, and the simplest ones. Most temporary apprentices could reproduce them to a certain degree after just watching him demonstrate once. Mo Fei, however, had distorted all his moves, even when he had demonstrated three times.

However, Lan Yixing was a responsible teacher. He stopped Ye Chong and pointed out all his mistakes, explaining the details of each one of them.

After that, Lan Yixing advised Ye Chong to practice often before leaving him be. Now, Ye Chong was left all alone in the training ground.

In the training ground, Ye Chong practiced those basic moves again and again, quickly losing himself in the training.

If Lan Yixing were to see Ye Chong's performance, he would most definitely be stupefied!

Ye Chong moved swiftly, his fists a blur of movement across the air. Ye Chong was a strong fighter, and Lan Yixing's instructions had allowed him to significantly enhance his punching speed and energy. Ye Chong found that his punching moves had reached a new level of speed! This was the first breakthrough for Ye Chong ever since he reached a bottleneck with his hand speed!

Speed was not related only to strength, but also technique!

This set of basic combat moves had now become a seamless combination of both speed and strength in Ye Chong's hands! He now had a better understanding of how these two qualities complemented each other!

Unlike other people, Ye Chong realized that these seemingly basic move were the most effective for killing! He must be proficient with them as soon as possible!

Ye Chong continued on with his training relentlessly. Under the artificial illumination, his shadow flickered into and out of existence due to his quick movements like a dream!

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Chapter 185: Brewing Storm I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Rui Bing sat in the starship, looking out from the window to the starry skies, lost in thought! Even here, she sat up with her back straight in her white training garb, her long and dark flowing hair itself a beautiful sight in the starship. With the combination of a combat expert's typical martial bearing and Rui Bing's heavenly beauty, the effect was stunning. She had already dismissed at least seven groups of friendly strangers. Of course, a few of them were quite insistent, and Rui Bing did not hesitate to offer them a little warning!

These men, however, reminded her of a certain someone. A man that was as cold and composed as herself! Where was he right now? As she reminisced, Rui Bing's ice cold expression finally transformed - her lips hooked upwards at the ends and her eyes softened, delivering a heavy blow to all the people who were discreetly watching her! They never realized that this beautiful sight would forever be engraved in their hearts!

They were close to Windstar now. Rui Bing was ready to disembark. She was invited to the planet. Planet Windstar was home to a few dojos, and the master of one of them was close to her father. She would not refuse his invitation to be a referee. Besides, she was curious. She knew that such matches between schools were common, but these events were usually on a very small scale. Even on Blue Ocean, where Rui Bing's dojo was, there were not many dojos around, and the numbers of students were pitiful. Hence, it had been long since such a friendly match event was organized. Moreover, she had never took part in this kind of event since young, and so was understandably curious about it.

On the other hand, ever since her meeting with Ye Chong two years ago, she had not met a match. During her fight with Ye Chong, she had only discovered the tricks to her family's more advanced techniques, and so she was defeated by Ye Chong. Now, she was no longer her previous self. The fight with Ye Chong had heavily injured her, but it had also pushed her to new heights. After two years of unrelenting training, she had now reached a new level, one that perhaps surpassed even her father's!

She looked forward to seeing the professionals on Windstar, perhaps they would turn out to be a pleasant surprise!

WIndstar was a tourist planet. Thus, she was surprised to find so many dojos on the planet! Besides, she heard that there were efforts poured into developing mech battling techniques, something she was interested in. This seemed to attract more apprentices into the local dojos. As for the dojos that did not incorporate this recent trend, they mostly fell into decline.

Most combat experts were conservative to a certain degree, and Rui Bing was no exception. However, she knew that unless the field extended its scope to new areas, the end of combat dojos would be near in sight!

She did not have any huge ambitions like promoting combat expertise to society; she only hoped that her father's dojo would not close down by her own hands!

Perhaps, she could find a way to keep her dojo alive! She mused. However, the thought of Rui Su's worried expressions and her mother when she was leaving brought a warm sensation to her heart.

The ship entered the docking zone shortly after. She stood up and began to gather her things.

She took her luggage to the ship's passenger lounge, and waited for the ship to dock. Suddenly, a pair not too far away caught her attention. They were a man and a woman, both wearing cold expressions. The man had a fierce aura, his body as athletic as a leopard. The woman beside him was tall with a similar build, her muscular body apparent under her tight-fitting outfit.

They were both dressed in black, and the people around them somehow kept their distance from them. This made them both stood out even more. However, what Rui Bing noticed was not that, but the aura they were both emanating. The aura made her uncomfortable. Rui Bing was an experienced combat expert, and was now even more sensitive due to her improved skills. It was not uncommon for her to have these explainable feelings.

Those two seemed to notice Rui Bing's attention on them. The man in black glanced briefly at Rui Bing and ignored her. The woman, however, studied Rui Bing thoroughly, her icy gaze bearing a look of contempt.

Rui Bing did not like it, but kept herself composed. For someone at a level like hers, one was judged not only by skills, but also by one's demeanor.

The ship docked, and the passengers disembarked. However, those two in black stood where they were, right where Rui Bing must pass to leave the ship. Rui Bing lifted her luggage and advanced. When she passed by them, all of a sudden, the woman shot her right elbow outwards!

Rui Bing's eyes chillingly gleamed. Ever since she glimpsed the profound wonders of advanced combat moves two years ago, her six senses had greatly improved to a degree that even she could not fully understand. The sudden attack was no different than a direct frontal attack to her. Rui Bing's naturally hanging left hand responded just as quickly, coming into a bend and greeted the opponent!

Thak! A soft impact was heard. In that instant, their elbows collided. The woman in black gasped softly and stepped backwards. Rui Bing, however, held her position. The man at the side stepped minutely to the right and reached for the woman's waist. The woman landed safely in her partner's embrace.

The encounter was subtle, and was not noticed by anyone nearby. The woman in black looked surprised, while the man stared coldly at Rui Bing. Rui Bing was undeterred, and stared right back at him. The man suddenly humphed coldly and supported his partner as they left the starship.

Rui Bing kept her features composed, but she was just as surprised inside. Her attack may seem like a careless attack to the other party's elbow, but she had actually aimed for a spot that would numb that other party's hand. However, while she managed to hit the woman's elbow, the woman managed to make her miss her targeted spot. Besides, the woman in black was strong, almost as strong as herself. If she had not used a unique technique to direct internal energy, she would have stepped backwards just like the woman.

What surprised Rui Bing the most was the woman's pure physical strength! Women were generally physically inferior than men, but the woman in black almost made Rui Bing doubt her gender! What power!

When Rui Bing came out of the ship, the two were nowhere in sight. In the docking area, Rui Bing quickly found her welcoming party.

Rui Bing dragged her luggage along to a middle-aged man with a heavily mustached face, wearing a brown jacket. She bowed slightly and greeted,"Uncle Hua!". Uncle Hua was her father's best friend who frequently visited her home, and Rui Bing recognized him instantly!

Uncle Hua spoke joyfully, "Bing'er is all grown up now! Uncle Hua nearly couldn't recognize you! How is your mother?"

"She's doing well!" Rui Bing bowed slightly and replied in return.

Uncle Hua laughed. "Bing'er is still the same as before!" He turned back to his apprentices as said, "This is your senior sister, Rui Bing, please greet her well!"

The apprentices behind him were all surprised to find Senior Sister Rui Bing that their master always lauded to be such a beauty. Their eyes glowed as they greeted in sync, "Senior Sister!" Their loud voices drew the attention of the people nearby.

Rui Bing bowed slightly and returned the greeting. "Junior brothers!" Her voice was as clear as before.

Uncle Hua's dojo was the largest on Windstar, called the Tian Hua dojo. It was full of apprentices due to the dojo's incorporation of mech battle techniques. There was even a mech battleground available. However, since mech battle was not a well developed field, this area was only open to apprentices with higher attainments. The weekly mech battle performances were a popular attraction, more exciting than what one could get from the virtual world. It was well received by the younger people, and many of them had joined the dojo after watching these performances!

Tian Hua dojo had flourished under Uncle Hua's leadership. His apprentices did not disappoint - they were all skilled in combat, most of them could also pilot mechs, becoming Uncle Hua's trusted assistants.

Tian Hua dojo provided ample facilities, and housed many apprentices. When they saw the dojo master accompanying a most beautiful lady into the dojo, followed by some rarely seen senior brothers, they all turned to have a good look. However, with the admonishments from their senior brothers, none of them dared to stop their practice, even when their hearts were no longer in it.

News of the arrival of a beauty in the dojo spread quickly. Soon, all of the apprentices were aware of it.

As for Rui Bing, Uncle Hua treated her warmly, and his apprentices all flattered her. However, Rui Bing's cold expression never changed, like nevermelting ice. While Rui Bing did not express herself much, she still held herself with refinement, and never did anything excessive. This won the approval of the fellow apprentices.

Ye Chong continued his simple daily routine. Lan Yixing saw him as inherently untalented, but since he was willing to work hard, the apprentice was able to perform newly taught moves well enough the day after Lan Yixing introduced them to him. Hence, Lan Yixing would teach Ye Chong a few moves and techniques every day, and leave him be.

By now, Ye Chong had learned much from his daily instructions. His mistakes done before Lan Yixing were only for cover. Leaving the trash planet behind, he was no longer the naive young man that he was before. He always drew attention no matter what he did, and right now, that was exactly what he was trying to avoid. He could only hope that nothing went wrong until Wang Weixing's return.

As he gained more insights into combat day by day, his mech battle skills had also improved. This was something he did not expect.

Nonetheless, Black Cove's men must have arrived on Windstar by now. Ye Chong looked through the window at the drizzling rain outside, lost in his thoughts!

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Chapter 186: Brewing Storm II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Martial Arts Tournament", written on the invitation Lan Yixing received, of a paper-made traditional design looking all classy and sophisticated, exuding a hint of aroma which was calming to the nerves, though Lan Yixing was not as calm in his mind. He was the first to hear about this tournament, yet he was the last to be invited by the host. One could already imagine the amount of disdain exerted on this late invitation by Hua Tiankai himself. Well, can't help it I guess. Lan Yixing might be an expert but he had rarely demonstrated his strength fighting with others. Basically, not many of the people were aware of his skills, especially after his September Dojo went permanently closed. It would be a miracle for those in the martial arts to remember his name in their mind.

The discomfort remained in his mind, as the pathetic appearance of his September Dojo lingered in his mind along with the glorious imagery of Tian Hua Dojo. He sighed, helplessly. The so-called tournament this time likely would only have the apprentices fighting instead of those masters of the dojo to prove their values. Naturally, the masters or the heads would sit back and watch, they would not put their fists and kicks into the scene. Well, that would be another gloomy news to Lan Yixing with those impotent apprentices of his. Of course he recognized their impotency and he feared it would be a mere embarrassment to have them there. "I'm turning this down." Thought so, Lan Yixing made up his mind that he must reject this offer.

"I'm very sorry," said Lan Yixing as he cupped one hand in the other, that etiquette of his from the ancient fighters was still a thing. "That I have a few personal matters to settle on that day and might not be able to attend the tournament. Brother, I am truly regretful to not be able to join the festival this time around. Please inform Mr. Hua on my behalf to express the admiration towards his determination as well as my sincerest apology."

Ye Chong was engaged in the important task of wiping the floor clean behind Lan Yixing and his companion.

The person who sent the invitation this time was known as Hua Shangmei, the third apprentice of Hua Tiankai. His feature was demure, handsomely expressive. His nature was docile as respectfully he dealt with the people. A balanced proportion of body, with flexible limbs, both could clearly tell he was a potential material for combat-training. And his fame roared throughout the Windstar in between the few dojos he attended, which was not something to be overlooked of. Lan Yixing took a look at this fine man before him and he thought of his own apprentices… It was discouraging. And when he finally got a good material whose tenacity could withstand tough training, that material turned out to be rather mediocre. Extinguished, his burning passion. So he made up his mind, he would like to decline the offer to the tournament this time.

Hua Shangmei seemed to be not expecting rejection from Lan Yixing. He might have claimed to be occupied by some personal matters, but anyone could tell the mere sense of rejection between the words, especially a talent like Hua Shangmei. Well if the matters were personal to begin with, naturally it would be better for Hua Shangmei to not further question the person.

His tone was a bit grim, "It would be such regret to not have your appearance at our tournament this time. Well, it can't be helped, if Master Lan is preoccupied. However if there were instances where our Tianhua dojo could provide assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. We shall never reject your request!" Sincerity was filled in his expression. It was pleasing to the eyes.

Although it sounded like a work of tongue, Lan Yixing still complimented the person in his mind, he must admit that Hua Tiankai had gotten a great apprentice!

Lan Yixing walked Hua Shangmei to the gate. He seemed troubled the moment he returned. He got back to his room after giving few brief instructions on Ye Chong's training.

Under the light, Ye Chong trained hard as sweat formed like downpour on his body. Under surveillance of Mu Shang, it would be impossible for one to have a peek on his training, which was relieving to Ye Chong as he trained harder.

It was Shang's turn to take over the reception in his head. Fortunately, Ye Chong was the kind who would be extremely focused on his training or Shang's motivational talk could become one of the world's worst torments to mankind ever.

Ye Chong felt inspired ever since he did his training. Everything that had hardly made sense to him before cleared up for him out of sudden. He was naturally an expert in manipulating his muscle. However, with the better understanding towards combats he got from the training daily, his skills grew stronger! Ye Chong wielded the strength of a bull and he had mastered the technique to exert it efficiently, he himself too could not imagine how massive his strength had grown.

With the development in his strength, speed and skillfulness, he felt he had been reborn.

Regarding strength, Ye Chong held his own set of beliefs. The whole point of strength was always about timing. Applying one kind of strength at one kind of time, that was his knowledge about strength. Close-combats might be great, but it was a mere force in front of a mech, a machinery. A pilot could be regarded as mighty, yet the time he took to roll into his cabin was sufficient for a fighter to slaughter him a few times! If they were armed with weaponry like the heat ray guns, that would be even more offensive to make the pilot die a hundred times, although heat ray guns were not the ideal weapon to be armed with, considering its disadvantages like the problem carrying it and the attention it attracted before one even approached the target.

Then there was this part of fighting called "shooting", his nemesis, a headache giving aspect of training. It was not like he was unaware of the efficiency of heat ray guns among the other ranged weapons, it was just … somehow he was born defected in this. He had tried practicing, the efficiency just would not go up in the end. At least he was fast, so it would still be challenging for one to lock on him with a ray-based gun.

He had overheard the exchange between Lan Yixing and Hua Shangmei, clearly. Despite that, he did not seem to intend to grab the spotlight of the tournament. This place was merely an accommodation for him at the moment. He simply did not compute the necessity in those apparent recognition since they would bring him no good than tons of unwanted inconveniences while alarming the foes. Hiding under the skin of a lamb, becoming the lamb in spite of those fangs, that would be the efficiency in life he sought after. Surprisingly, both Mu and Shang agreed on this!

Geez, how many light years must I wait before Wang Weixing came back here? Such a hassle!

…

"Anything?" A middle-aged man asked in his deep voice. Only if Ye Chong was here, he would be raising his brows as recognizing this menacing man being… Instructor Hak. He still was the ultimate leader in the case of retrieving F-58. The new order he got from the authority was to capture F-58 and have him back to the Black Coves. The catch was, the target must be unharmed, not even a scratch, by hook or by crook, which was indeed puzzling to the instructor. Even if F-58 turned out to be a skeleton artisan, he did not see the need of preserving him to an extent where he must be unwounded. As far as he knew, that would further hinder the capturing process.

The improvement this time was the kindness of the authority, as they allocated the instructor additional members in his team. Well, obviously they really wanted this traitor of Black Coves to return in one piece.

"Nothing," one man in black coat replied coldly. He was the man Rui Bing encountered on the ship that day, the one with a female.

The mentioned female who fought Rui Bing before added, "We had skimmed through the residence record. There was no man called 'Wang Xing' discovered. We had also checked out the hologramic visual search engine and the result was negative. Windstar is a planet for tourism, traffics are heavy daily, which has brought us immense difficulties in identifying F-58."

Instructor Hak was more troubled than before. This was because it would be far-fetched for him to perform a major search all over the place since that would alert the MPA as well as the Sanctuary. And the situation would go beyond his control he feared. Nevertheless, digging out a particular man from a vast planet, that felt like finding a needle in the haystack.

The instructor could not see the progress in this search. His headache intensified!

Instructor was not the only person irritated. Rui Bing too had a headache. The apprentices of Hua Tiankai had been outrageously attentive to Rui Bing and their master seemed to be closing one eye over their misbehavior. Ugh! And Rui Bing could not get worked up, she could not toss them into fracture, since Uncle Hua was there. She treated these apprentices like flies after the flood. In the end she shut herself completely in the room as she sat quietly with hands on her lap day by day. It was relieving that those apprentices were sensible enough to not act more intrusive than they had been. They withdrew themselves and Rui Bing was more than happy to see that.

And every time in that silence she dipped herself into, she would be reminded of that man, that feeble-looking yet wielding great strength man in an unexplainable chillness… And that lick, that moment when they exchanged strange gazes. Recalling that very scene, once again her face reddened on its own. A seizing embarrassment struck upon her. Imagine any of her acquaintance seeing her expression at the moment, they would be dropping their jaws, wondering if that was the icy cold lady Rui Bing they had been dealing with.

Luckily she could still have her meals in peace. When they gathered at one table with Hua Tiankai, the apprentices would behave themselves. Like on one lunch, every boy on the table acted like a little lamb from the pen. "Oh, by the way…" Hua Shanghai remembered something to tell from the morning, as he lifted his head and looked at Hua Tiankai, "Master, I had gone to Mr. Lan Yixing's dojo to send the invitation."

"What took you this long?" The master held his chopstick and looked displeased.

"Haha…" Hua Shangmei gave an awkward laugh, "I forgot… the September Dojo was a little inactive these few years that I could hardly remember if it was not of your kindest reminder."

"Right. Has Lan Yixing accepted it?" asked Hua Tiankai, without a sense of blaming his apprentice's forgetfulness. He himself too had vaguely remembered the existence of September dojo, though he had heard of Lan Yixing frequently before.

"Nope," he shook his head. "He said he had some personal matters that day. I would not wish to impose on him."

"Hmph!" Deng Chong at the side forced into the conversation, "Never mind if he did not want to come! Not like he is the only dojo in the town! His dojo was almost non-existent, no point even if he was here!" Hua Tiankai had 3 apprentices, the first being Zheng Zhongxing, the calm kind; the second being Hua Shangmei, the sensible kind; the third was none other than Zheng Chong, the hot-tempered kind, although he was the greatest fighter among them all.

"September dojo?" Rui Bing in her seat joined the conversation, "Could Lan Yixing a native from the September planet?"

The beauty had spoken! She had stated her inquiry! A perfect timing to flaunt your proactiveness! Hua Shangmei snatched the red button, "As expected from my senior Bing, you are also knowledgeable! Lan Yixing was indeed from September planet!" Hua Shangmei could be young at his age but he was experienced in this that he had already performed his own research before heading to September dojo. Regrets filled mind of the other two as seeing how their mate stole the attention.

"Well…" Rui Bing did not seem impressed as she had hardly laid her eyes on Hua Shangmei, facing Hua Tiankai she spoke on, "Then he must be from the Lan family of September, Mr. Lan Yixing my senior. I had heard from my father before, the uniqueness in control of muscles among members of this family. And this very senior of mine is the expert in this."

"Oh…" Rui Bing's statement was not within Hua Tiankai's expectation. He hmmed. The meal ended in silence.

Hua Shangmei was summoned to his master's room after the meal. He was in there for quite some time.

Hua Shangmei paid his second visit to September dojo. The September Lan family huh… he recalled the compliment Senior Bing made on the family. Thrilled, he would love to see the uniqueness in their skills. Well that was not his main purpose here though. There was something else in hand.

Hua Shangmei stood courteously below the platform. He did have the eagerness to test out this frail-looking Master Lan on his capabilities, but judging from Bing's words, he should be an adept in the dark, a senior unknown to the people. Well, if that was the case, it would not be wrong to express some courtesy.

Lan Yixing was watching the message recorded by Hua Tiankai. And there Ye Chong was behind, being dead serious wiping the floor clean again.

Hua Tiankai expressed immense persistence in having Lan Yixing on the tournament this time, his hologram had addressed his formal invitation politely with all the buttering up words and admiration, which were totally incomputable to Lan Yixing.

He would like to turn this down too but… he could not, as there was one particular reason hidden in the recording he could not say no to.

Hua Tiankai stated in his message, that the tournament was not only an opportunity for exchange between apprentices of various styles, but also a competition between the masters. Of course that was not the point. The main point was there would be a huge amount of spectators that day and a majority of them were the trainees. The winners could have the chance to choose their own apprentices from the trainees! Certainly solely if consensus was made beforehand. And it was turn-by-turn basis, meaning the following winners could hit the ground picking their future apprentices only after the winner before had done it.

How could such condition not be attractive to Lan Yixing and making his heart race? Getting the right apprentice had always been the prime issue in his mind. And he could solve it once and for all if he won this tournament and picked the best ones in his eyes before the others. He would stand a better chance in obtaining actual talents to be under his supervision. There should be a few of them among spectators that many. Thinking about his problem in finding a successor, he accepted the invitation without hesitation. He was absolutely confident of his own skills.

Hua Shangmei peeked at Ye Chong on the floor. Wow, there are humans who still wipe their floors literally on the ground? That explains a lot. No wonder September dojo had been declining. The cleaners at Tianhua dojo had been long replaced by automatic cleaning machines, although Hua Shangmei was impressed to see Ye Chong being this calm and concentrated despite how trivial and annoying the job was.

Lan Yixing requested a few minutes from Hua Shangmei. He walked into the room after, leaving Hua Shangmei having his eyes focused on this floor-wiping boy, intrigued. Ye Chong, as usual did not give his attention to this visitor, he wiped on as if it would be the last thing he would do.

Few minutes lapsed and Lan Yixing left the room, he had few words with Hua Shangmei and, "Mo Fei!" he boomed.

Ye Chong flinched, wait, isn't Mo Fei me?

He placed down the cloth and walked to Lan Yixing.

Lan Yixing passed him a piece of microchip, "Mo Fei, follow this senior to Tianhua and pass this chip to Master Hua, understand?"

Ye Chong shuddered, the worst thing he thought he could do currently was to head out, since that would put him under the risk of being exposed. But then, that was not the timing to refuse the order. He grabbed the chip unwillingly and mumbled, "Okay."

On the way to Tianhua dojo, Hua Shangmei seemed highly interested in Ye Chong somehow, as he tried setting off a conversation. Nonetheless, Mr. Monosyllabic was monosyllabic than ever. He was not in the mood for idle chatters, he was all heedful of the surrounding. If anyone would go wrong, he would go first.

Seeing how indifferent Ye Chong was reminded Hua Shangmei of his senior, his respected Bing. They were so similar!

Ye Chong had been cautious throughout the way to the dojo. Nothing alarming had happened however, as he made to Tianhua dojo safely.

Hua Shangmei led the way for him and patiently introduced every part in the dojo. They passed the training field and arrived at the accommodation.

Hua Shangmei brought Ye Chong to the room and a strong wind blew!

"Look out!" screamed Hua Shangmei.

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Chapter 187: Brewing Storm III

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A piece of shield of a mech zoomed towards both of them. It was rapid, it was stunning. Although the shield piece would be considered small for a mech, it had a diameter about 2 meters and it was wholly made out of alloy, which one could imagine its weight! One could tell the forcefulness in its motion by that piercing sound it made when slicing through the air. The piece could easily harm anyone in contact, be it a cut or a touch.

Judging by its direction, obviously it was aiming directly at the two men who just entered the accommodation!

Hua Shangmei was not known as a martial art expert with nothing, he reacted in extreme speed as he subconsciously exerted force on both his waist and feet, launching himself to the other side of the room, with the shield piece sliding through! The powerful air flow scratched his face. Holding the pain, he was not able to celebrate that close shave he dodged as his heart crashed down to the ground while he was in the air. "Damn!" His face was drained!

I'm done. That was the remaining thought in his head. Although he only took a glance, he estimated the weight of the piece quickly. An object with such mass traveling at such horrifying speed, its force was not something controllable with man force. If one ever got smashed by the shield, man, that would be like a pounder on a splat of meat. Hua Shangmei's face turned paler in a whole new degree the moment he imagined how he could possibly be smashed with limbs jumping all around.

An expert like him too suffered a close shave, that janitor new apprentice from September dojo was probably going to survive at a chance less than zero.

The sound of the piece crashing roared throughout the ground. Veil of dust cloaked the entire place.

Hua Shangmei twitched as he feared the orientation becoming a goner in his hands… Now how was he going to explain this to September dojo?

He was still able to demonstrate his dexterity under such a drastic fall. If there were commentators, they were so going to compliment out loud. Hua Shangmei did not care if he was going to be rated 10 upon 10 for his spin, he landed with tip on the ground and twisted his body, setting off a gaze at Ye Chong.

The apprentice of September dojo with his name Mo Fei was intact! And the piece was struck into the ground nearby!

Hua Shangmei was relieved, his face regained vitality, although it was still paler than his usual look. At least it was not dead pale like the moment the crash happened. Doubts filled his head when he saw Mo Fei being alive, he was skeptical, "No way." He couldn't believe his eyes. No way he would have made an inaccuracy in that quick calculation of his. That piece should have hit where Mo Fei was judging by the trail it travelled.

But, but… why did it change?

Don't tell me… it was him? He looked at Mo Fei escaping the mortal fate. The disbelief intensified. Did he do something to the armor? No! No. Impossible! The thought was declined straight away. Even if the strongest apprentice, the 3rd member of their brotherhood, the hot-tempered man could never shift the armor piece away without getting hurt!

Well, then what happened?

He wanted to confirm his speculation but that frightened face of Mo Fei reminded him how ridiculous his speculation was.

Technically, no one saw Ye Chong moving between the frames. He tipped the ground and dodged to the side a few degrees away. That blink Ye Chong made was so fast that it was indistinguishable, literally a column of afterimages! Ye Chong shifted to the outer layer of the shield, with his arms crossed and exercised his strength which pushed the shield tilting away from its former direction. He took that split second to return to the previous position of his and acted frightened. Well, it was all thanks to the techniques of execution of strength he learned from Lan Yixing or he would not be able to do it in such leisure even if he managed to push the shield away.

The frightened act though, was an addition out of a reminder from Shang. Ye Chong was not sure if his act was convincing to the only audience in the room though… Well, no time to care, he was more worried if that the crash would attract the Black Covers.

Hua Shangmei was not able to figure things out as everyone in the accommodation came flooding the place before he realized.

"You two donkeys!" He heard the third apprentice shouting on top of his lungs, "I did forbid both of you to do mech combating here! And both of you are here, training in the dark huh! Think we wouldn't know? Now see what both of you have done! If anything goes wrong, you are so going to get sliced and diced by master!"

Oh, so there were two kiddos having combats on mech here? Really? Hua Shangmei, despite his good-natured personality, also had that desire to smack the two kiddos in the heads since their immature act almost costed his life!

Hua Tiankai, the owner of Tianhua dojo had showed up and he was all solemn and calm as Ye Chong saw him. Despite that, he seemed to be shocked by the crash too. If people would die in his dojo, one could imagine the impact to the image of the dojo. Well the two donkeys were imaginably skewed somewhere soon.

Hua Tiankai could be mad but he did not forsake his courtesy, as he folded his hands, expressing his apology, "It was my lack of discipline in educating my men that caused you such fear."

"It's okay," flatly Ye Chong replied. Mo Few seemed to have recovered quite well from the impact before, which was impressive to Hua Shangmei.

Ye Chong passed Lan Yixing the microchip. "Now if you would excuse me…" He excused himself and headed back to his room to check out the content of the chip.

"Where's…" Hua Shangmei saw everyone at the scene, except for Rui Bing, "Where's Sister Bing? Have anyone seen her? How could she not come out even when a crash happen?"

"Sister Bing went out. She is not here," explained Zhen Zhongxing.

Sister Bing…

Never would Ye Chong imagine that that Sister Bing mentioned by these men was that lass in white garb.

It was not long before Hua Tiankai came out of his room. "Thank you so much." After making sure that his mission had been accomplished, Ye Chong Kindly refused the master's lunch offer and walked home alone.

…

"Xuelin… Xuelin…" Xiu was at the outside of the room, her usually fickle voice was ringing excitingly at that moment. Xuelin was surprised.

The sound of furnitures consecutively falling alerted Xuelin. What happened? What if Xiu hurt herself? Did she fall from her chair? Xuelin got up immediately and opened the door to check her cousin out.

Xiu was by her doorstep, breathing heavily apparently. Her fair cheek was reddened by her intense movement. It took Xuelin a while to react towards this unusual Xiu's expression, "Xiu…? Could you tell me what…happened?"

Xiu was still catching her breath. The running before had consumed too much of her stamina.

"Did uncle come back?" Xiu's parents were transferred to somewhere far, far away for work and she was left at Xuelin's home al these years.

"No!" she replied. Her eyes darkened and then was flaring of some kind of peculiar excitement.

"What is it then?" Scratching her head, Xuelin was wondering if this Xiu was an alien in disguise as she could not guess what she was proposing.

"Come!" she grabbed her cousin's hand, Xiu led Xuelin all the way to the processor in her room. Where did the Xiu I know go? What happened to her today? Where's that lady-like, suave Xiu? Xuelin was dumbfounded as being dragged.

Xiu took out a piece of chip.

"So, what is that?" Pointed at the thing in Xiu's hand, that was probably the reason of her excitement.

"You will know once I play it," Xiu turned over as she smiled sweetly in mystery.

She inserted the chip and the processor was prompted to project a visual. Xuelin turned stoned upon seeing the screen.

YC…? YC! This is a visual of YC! I had never seen the recording before! This had to be something new from YC! I remembered it! Xiu and I had bookmarked every visual available! This had to be the new visual! Did YC resurface this time?

It's been two years! Xuelin's mind wandered off to her past while her eyes stared at the mech dancing in the visual. After that earth shattering shock she received just now, she no longer felt any stimulation from her idol's return, which she found surprise of herself on.

Two years were a duration to be considered long of, long enough to change lots of stuffs.

Well, how about myself? Her eyes turned dazed as her mind blanked. Somehow she heard somebody letting off a sigh in her heart. Reminiscing the times when she and her cousin got all hyped up over the mysterious YC, that bitter experience emerged form the bottom of her heart.

YC… that mystifying title countless times she had thought of. Maybe it was less unreal than the mystery of the whereabout of that cousin of Grandpa Qian namely Ye.

The corner of her lips raised into a wry smile. She shook her head slightly and shifted her sight onto Xiu who was all focused on the visual. That expressive eyes of hers somehow was depicting tenacity!

Sigh, did Xiu not yet realize that it was all nothing but a dream? Xuelin who had woken up from the dream was actually troubled from that bitter sensation of her past, even though she felt much more relieved.

Xuelin who was pondering did not notice how Xiu had already laid her glance on her through the eyes' corner. She blinked a few times, there was something forming in her pupils which grew steadier.

…

Rui Bing was on the street. That signature white garb of hers was an eye-catcher, especially with her absolute beauty and her unapproachable charm. The passersby turned their heads almost at a rate of 100% on every occurrence. Rui Bing was not disturbed by that as the sight she gathered from the passersby was no discomfort, unlike the constant attention given by those hooligans of Uncle Hua, a total headache. She utterly despised their behavior. And she could not express her disgust as she concerned the pride of Uncle Hua, so she could only keep her fists and let the hooligans act on their will.

To spend her life better, she decided to leave Tianhua dojo with an excuse for the day. She strolled on the street. Windstar planet was a planet for tourism, the scenery was gorgeous, the landscape was unique and there were a variety of tiny stores at both sides of the streets selling fancy things. Rui Bing was entertained throughout the walk.

…

"No!! No! No!" Wei Yuan piloting his mech traveling at full speed to his school. He overslept this morning! All because of the training! He did it too much that he forgot the hours. The mech flew low as the mech was not really outstanding at its capacity. It was a really normal mech, of course it would be a losing match if Wei Yuan were to set off into the sky high to squeeze into the flock of other mechs. So he succumbed to flying low since one would be affected by the difficulties of complicated landscapes and be distracted by the buildings, which justified the drastically lower amount of mechs flying nearer to the ground.

That was not an issue to Wei Yuan with his superior piloting skill so generally flying low resulted in faster travel for him. Oh and there he was, at one road with form of 6 consecutive turnings, the most thrilling path ever of his day!

He did not decelerate. The mech advanced forward in high speed.

Oh wait! He remembered how YC performed consecutive curvy turns in his visuals. Such an opportunity to use it! Wei Yuan's heart boiled in eagerness. That was actually the Black Covers' Double Curved Steps, inspired by the 4 bodyguards of Mr. Robert. Ye Chong put it into the movement of mechs, though it was unexpected that Wei Yuan picked it up from his visuals. Wei Yuan was certainly a genius of some sort.

Wei Yuan however was not aware what laid ahead of him for his eager attempt of performance!

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Chapter 188: Brewing Storm IV

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Sen Hai carefully observed the surrounding. He was piloting a Cosmic Flare but he remained cautious as ever. The MPA, the nemesis should have noticed their whereabouts after such major activity from the Black Coves. No way the Black Covers could remain invisible after making such a huge move. So every Black Covers flew out with vigilance as they headed for their mission, fearing to be snuck upon by the MPA.

This was exceptionally true since there had been rumors that their group stirred up members of the Sanctuary a while ago. Sadly he was not in the position to demand that bit of information, the hows and whys were nothing he could know.

The movement was so massive that both MPA and the Sanctuary would be utter fools if they never noticed it. I seriously do not get what this Instructor Hak from Group F had in his mind when he launched this. Sen Hai was from Group B, naturally he was not under Hak's administration. He was transferred since there was an insufficiency in the work force.

Sen Hai would never know the pain Instructor Hak had to bear. It was challenging and stressful for Hak to find that needle from that haystack namely the galaxy, especially when the needle could hide and squeeze into other haystacks. If without the cooperation of local governments, finding F-58 would stay difficult as ever. Certainly Black Coves were influential enough to convince the government into assistance, the catch was however, if he were to seek assistance from them, he would have to hand them the visuals of F-58 to be publicized everywhere - that would obviously alert the MPA and the Sanctuary, which further escalated the complexity of the situation.

It would be less hassling if there was only the MPA, but there was the Sanctuary too, where their relationship started to worsen at an alarming rate. He knew the situation much better than Sen Hai, the so-called "conflict" between the Black Coves and the Sanctuary was not a mere scratch on the surface. The counterpart lost 4 of their combat squads, it had been rumored that they even lost an ace from the fight while the Black Coves suffered the first ever dead serious fatalities all these years! Such fight had never been the case when they fought the MPA. The Sanctuary would not be resting just yet obviously.

The leader is a f*cking donkey isn't he? Did his brain shrink that day?

And now Hak is stuck in a sticky situation where he could not even reach out his limbs. Dammit, of all men, of all tasks, they picked this and they picked me! And this very task required tons of work forces, I did bring tons of work forces as mentioned but seriously they could not even get a change from the price.

The biggest bewilderment was the identity of this F-58 he used to instruct. He was actually a skeleton artisan? Well maybe he snatched a skeleton mech somewhere on the road but no matter what it was in reality, this F-58 would be the sole source of information on skeleton mechs and we got to get him.

Hak had been rather dreadful of F-58 due to his outstanding performance back in Black Coves, which made the instructor fascinated enough to presume him as the strongest pilot ever in his group, especially that extreme speed of his hands, impressive and terrifying! And that capture he attempted after that… It was a few seconds where they both exchanged moves but the fear was never-before-felt. The accurate calculation, the reasonable utilization of the situation, the potent capability in combats and the fearless decisiveness, combining these elements would make F-58 the greatest pilot ever!

Hak had been replaying the scene that night numerous times afterwards and there were quite a few parts which he could never comprehend. He tried imagining putting himself in the shoes of those men but the conclusion he obtained was depressing. If he was there, it was in fact, either captured or slaughtered. There was nothing better he could have acted.

Terrifying… Such a terrifying monster!

…

Sen Hai was still in the sky piloting Cosmic Flare. He could be pissed by Instructor Hak's arrangement, Instructor Hak could have zero involvement to his career in the Black Coves, he still tried his very best to execute the orders. The discipline in Black Coves was something to be drilled in the heads of the men, so stern that it was unimaginable for people outside, which justified his curiosity over F-58's sudden betrayal. How could he ever survive without the Texturizing Solution? Sen Hai's heart felt all heated up the moment he reminisced that odd sensation where the solution covered every inch of his skin, opening up the pores . Texturizing solution, the silver liquid would strengthen his body by maintaining the balance between strength and flexibility of muscles, allowing them to have parallel growth without breaking the balance.

After he had assassinated the target of his greatest spite 3 years ago, he offered himself to Black Coves, body and soul as it was Black Coves that gave him every of these. Each day he grew stronger but also more in daze? Sigh, what am I thinking? Such boring thought, like stop it! Criticized himself, his focus went back to the surrounding.

Wait… His eyes went large as they glared at the space-warping mech on the screen.

Double Curved Steps?

Of course he recognized the step after all these years in the Black Coves! Ye Chong never expected that that application of the step in mech was not the creativity of those bodyguards under Mr. Robert, it was in fact a common technique among the Black Covers! It was merely that he stayed at the Black Coves so briefly that he never was exposed to these techniques.

Yes, that's right! It had to be Double Curved Steps!

Sen Hai affirmed to what he saw. Double Curved Steps do not restrict on the size of the curves, but it had demands on the pace as well as the rhythmic sense of it which differ from the usual turning he saw on other mechs!

And he had pinpointed one more fact, where Double Curved Steps were the combat technique exclusive to the Black Covers. It was not really difficult but no way one could imitate the steps without proper tutorial.

F-58? Was that you?

The code sprung in his head. Uncontrollably his heart raced!

Did I hit the jackpot today? Did the lady luck smile at me?

Is that you? F-58! Is that you!? He would not want to spend more time on figuring things out. For someone who knew Double Curved Steps, other than our men, it had to be that F-58!

0.1 second lapsed and he made up his mind - to capture, alone!

Being inside the circle, he knew the rules well enough - if he were to ever inform the authority, he would not be sharing any credit of it. The inhuman competition between the groups was also something unimaginable to folks out there. The time when he and Instructor Hak headed out with other mates, all of them came back either wounded or killed and everyone from the Black Coves knew it. So, no reason he should inform the authorities! If such merit ever laid onto his hands, he would be flourished! More advanced techniques, more advanced mech, more advanced position! His eyes tightened.

The most important motivation to his one selfish attempt of taking this slice of credit was the mech. Clearly one could say that F-58 picked an extremely substandard, cheap mech to avoid the attention, namely Volt mech.

The logic behind this decisive factor was how F-58 would be a fish in the net disregarding his amazing skills, as long as he piloted that cheap mech, he would be no match to the Cosmic Flare. Sen Hai could also imagine a similar situation if Instructor Hak were to pilot this metal piece and failed to escape the grasp of his. The capabilities of a pilot in the field would be determined by the capabilities of the mech other than his own skills! Although he was aware that F-58 might possessed a skeleton mech, well, would he have the time to switch into that then?

No!

The idea flashed in his head as quickly as he flew towards the Volt mech like a shooting star, striking the name of his mech - the flare in the cosmos.

…

Ye was returning to the dojo. He was walking on the street under the invigilation of Shang who continuously provided feedbacks of the surrounding. As being well-aware of the situation, Shang who had been the talker behaved himself.

At least there was nothing strange going on. Once he stepped into September dojo, he would be alright!

"Ye!" Shang's voice came abruptly, "There's a Black Cover's mech ahead, seemed to be engaged."

Engaged? In fight?!

Ye Chong's heart skipped a beat. He recovered fast. If it was one single mech, he would be fine. Do we fight? Do I call Han Jia? Ye Chong was stimulated. Wait, they are fighting? If the Black Covers made it here, they must be here for me. Then why are they fighting? Were they warring with the MPA? His speculation was turned down by Shang immediately. It was not a MPA mech, rather it was a Volt mech.

Volt mech? That was just some junkish mech… Ye Chong was feeling odd.

The time taken for Ye Chong to get into the cabin of his mech was magically shorter compared to the other pilots. Whether there was the rope ladder to the cabin was not his concern, he climbed all the way up like a mutated ape. He rolled into Han Jia.

…

Weeeeee…

Wei Yuan was having fun making the acrobatic performance. Boom! He lost control as he began spinning.

He was not clear about the situation but he could deduce that his mech was crashed by some nonsensical driver! Utterly angered, he cursed, who the hell forgot his eyes when he piloted the mech? How the hell he got his license? He swiftly tapped a few switches, the engines were on. Volt jerked clumsily after a few tumbling in the air. The dizziness from the intense flipping lingered in his head.

Hmph. Sen Hai sneered. F-58 was weaker than I thought. He actually kept his position instead of taking the flow to dodge the attack, aren't you a walking bullseye or something?

At this rate, it would be only a matter of one shoot to finish the foe off. But the authority ordered to capture this F-58 alive… and I should not be wounding him, well that was not much of a problem either.

The Cosmic Flare zapped to the back of Wei Yuan like a phantom. Wei Yuan remained dizzy and his outdated detection system could not detect the existence of this Black Cove mech in the dark. Wham! One more blow! The elbows of Cosmic Flare struck upon the back of Volt, causing Volt to land onto the ground harsh like a meteorite. Boom! The ground was hollowed.

The pedestrians on the ground scurried away like animals of a forest fire, only few fearless kinds lingered at the corner, wanting to witness the very scene. Fearless they might be, they still feared to head to the frontline.

Sen Hai landed by the hollow. He snorted, with this level of crash and that cheap buffering system of Volt, the pilot would not be protected into safety. The pilot must have fainted. Out of his carefulness, Sen Hai also destroyed Volt's engines right before it crashed to the ground.

Volt was stuck into the ground, not moving in a bit. Sen Hai snickered in his Cosmic Flare. Of course he would not just be snickering, he flipped Volt over and withdrew the dagger, a few hushes the chest of Volt was scratched a square. The tip of the dagger locked at the center, one pick and the sliced armor went tossed away like a giant coin to the side.

Han Jia hid itself in the crowd of mechs at the side. He was confident to tell that the Cosmic Flare must be from the Black Coves, which was weird… A Black Cover usually would keep his or her firepower before the target was confirmed. They should not be launching attacks randomly. So who is that person in the mech? Why would the Black Cover aim him?

Wait.

"Shang, is there any other Black Covers around here?" Ye Chong got something in his mind.

"Nope, no other Black Covers were detected in the proximity of 50 kilometers," asserted Shang.

"Good." His tone was cold as blizzard as his hands started shrouding into stacks of afterimages.

The recovery rate of Wei Yuan was clearly beyond Sen Hai's expectation. Wei Yuan was proud of his piloting skills the most, which justified the endurance of his body being stronger than most men. Moreover to protect himself better, he had already requested his father to modify the buffering system inside the cabin, well since he feared some accidents like these could happen.

Wei Yuan opened his eyes to see a giant mechanical arm reaching him gradually and was making a grasp round him!

Wei Yuan's face was paler than a paper.

He might be a mentally stable boy but a boy he was in fact, being in his early adolescencee, how in the world would he have experience with being treated like a puppet in a crane machine?

Oh no! I'm doomed! His eyes enlarged. The world suddenly became slow in his eyes, as the palm came towards him slowly like the slow motion in movies. Right at that second when the gigantic hand touched him, he could hear a profound sound of crash coming from the outside. The hand was then withdrawn in shock like a serpent being stabbed.

Ah! Wei Yuan shrieked. The mechanical hand swept his left arm when it was taken back! He could hear the cracking sound of his bones! His face went distorted as droplets of sweat gushed over his head like lava into water.

Wei Yuan's face had lost its colors.

Enduring the pain, Wei Yuan was more than convinced that he would be real done for if he did not make his move. He was not aware of the happening outside, but he knew this would be his only opportunity to survival! That owner of the mechanical hand who nearly captured him had to be some evil-natured kind. Anyone could tell from that huge gap he cut open on the mech!

Wei Yuan struggled his way out of the gap.

And he saw a scene where he believed he would remember for the rest of his life!

A mech which both the texture and color were ominous as hell was smashing that mech whose nearly caught him. And the techniques were obviously the type visible in Virtual World. His eyes went fully focused on the fight, burning with passion as he forgot the pain on his arm.

…

Rui Bing knotted her brows as she saw the two mechs fighting in front.

Well it was nothing to see two mechs competing for their silly pride from time to time, but it would be something if they were doing it on the street, in public! She despised that since such an unprofessional fight of dead-or-alive would easily hurt any innocents nearby!

Wait a second… That movement of the mech was very orderly… Interesting…

It was the first time in her life she saw a mech fighting in such style, which intrigued her to keep watching along.

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Chapter 189: Brewing Storm V

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The scene was all theatrical and majestic yet the audience turned out to be not as grand in number, as hardly few of them truly stayed back and spectated the entire sequence. The pace of the daily life had always been a race of time which would only keep accelerating. This is exceptionally relatable on a working morning where workers and students would head over their respective places in a rush - the peak hour of the traffic and people would mostly zoom above the sky right past the scene. There were few pilots at the lower altitude and negligible number of pedestrians on the street. With this much of action going on their working morning, anyone would shake their head muttering how this was too much for their Mondays and walk away.

Well, it was not stone age where a mech would be a luxury. Everyone could own a mech, even those armed with regular weaponries which were actually allowed by the government, till that line was crossed, where these weaponries were not used for self-defense, but to harm people. Government would severely punish anyone who abused the weaponry yet it had been an issue for them to do so. Performing weapon control was a hassle to begin with. Nonetheless as the government enforced the control sternly over the years, a pedestrian versus pedestrian with open fires like this was already halted quite effectively, compared to those chaotic years in the 5 major galaxies. It was a relief to the older generation as they reminisced those dark ages.

No doubt, the enforcement had something to do with the surveillance cameras they set at every corner of the city. The hologramic camera could monitor and record the happenings at the corners to assist the forces.

And due to this, it had become a habit for Mu and Shang to get into the surveillance system for Ye Chong, to wipe every frame containing him off the record.

It was beyond Shang's expectation to see Ye Chong getting into action this quickly.

The pair of daggers in dark emanated the smell of death as they swung into two images striking onto that Cosmic Flare without a sound! Klink! The fist fell, then the elbow, the knees, everything collapsed like a rain of gears, as the loud rushes of clinking roared throughout the place.

Han Jia's anti detection system cloaked itself in Cosmic Flare's radar, which made Cosmic Flare a blind man being quietly slaughtered by an assassin from the back. The result? It was obvious.

Klank! Within twinkling of eyes, Cosmic Flare had fully transformed into a pile of junk with countless cuts on it. The fleshes oozed out of the wounds were a disgusting sight. Ye Chong never intended to spare anyone in battle, especially when the one was from Black Coves!

"Ye, why did you move? Don't you think this is a bad idea? Don't you?" Shang's tone was inflated with disbelief when he thought Ye Chong would be the last person in the galaxy to commit such a novice mistake. All this while, Ye Chong's behavior had been greatly influenced by Mu, being totally logical and analytical in the situation and that did not translate into such a reckless act from him today. This was never-before-seen.

"Oh? So my modification on you had started to work finally?" Shang's pride in the words was awkward to Ye Chong.

"Mhm, maybe I was a bit reckless today." Ye Chong regretted slightly himself the moment he withdrew that pair of daggers, since likely he was going to be revealed after the move. Could it be the spite accumulated over the endless time he was hunted by the Black Covers? However, this was a single player fight so Ye Chong was confident to finish him before the Black Covers could even notice. Then, that was not a painful mistake after all.

"So Shang…" As he thought of his unusual recklessness today, puzzled he asked, "What happened to me?"

"To be or not to be, that's the question. But to finish the problem before you, that's a better question!" Shang's words were more puzzling to Ye Chong, it felt as if they had both switched places.

Well if he had done it, he should not be wasting time resenting it. The best solution would always be figuring on how to get to the optimal path of the situation. Shang was right, finish the problem before me, that'd be first. Hmph, seems like we could not spare the remnants either! He took a glance at the cluster of spectators far away, who were dumbfounded or even stoned. Ye Chong calculated his next move, he got to finish whatever he had to before they realized the situation.

If it was the Ye Chong years back, he probably would have annihilated the audience as well. But that was in the past, the present him would never do that.

At that moment of repentance where he could not believe how Shang could be more logical than himself, "Ye! Look at the back of your mech!" Shang shrieked.

Ye Chong was struck by his shriek. Am I getting snuck upon? Did the Black Cover call for backups?

He changed the camera to his back hurriedly. He took a glance. He took the second glance. He took the- "I saw nobody?" In the midst of confusion, Shang made a literal earth-obliterating statement in the history of Ye Chong, he howled, "Ye, look over there! It's your Bing Bing!" The tone was dramatically excited and intensified!

Judging by the tone, Shang probably had detected some proclaimed "beauty" again, I guess? Sighed Ye Chong, though he had never seen Shang being so intense before. Then it should not be a beauty which he would be complimented on every female he came across in focus… Well, he only got this intense when he saw a Do-Kun stone?

Wait.

Bing Bing? And my Bing Bing?

"What Bing Bing?" asked Ye Chong, bewildered. Could it be also the name of ultra rare ore like Do-Kun stone? No, judging by his tone, it could be rarer! That has to be it, or why was Shang jumping up and down in the screen claiming that Bing Bing was there and Bing Bing was mine? Such weird wording…

The artificial indulgence shut himself up. A moment of silence and then he somehow rebooted himself to respond with an increase pitch, "Ye! Don't tell me!" He could not be convinced, "Don't tell me you even forgot who Bing Bing was!" Ye Chong could hear the clogging tears in the tone.

"Bing… as in… the outdated search engine? I think I had seen them on Trash Planet before. Or you meant 'Bing, bing, bong, bong, bing, bing, bing'? You know I really hated politician speech, especially that one you forced me to watch right?" Ye Chong was figuring out as his mind launched a dedicated search program to find out the items related to 'Bing Bing', his eyes rolled over the scanning zone behind him. There was nothing interesting in particular other than those few spectators…

"Holy! Matrimony! My Fal! Galaxy!" Shang sounded like he was crying now… "Ye, how can you be reckless on things like this? You are missing out the best part of your life! And, man, I never knew you could be this heartless, Ye, that you could not remember the very first vict- I mean partner you licked, that girl in the white garb, remember? Did you forget it? Tsk, tsk, tsk, you are indeed a potential candidate to be the bad boy who played dope on girls. I could still recall the time when she asked for your eternal loyalty in marriage…"

Garb? The girl in her fair white garb flashed in his head. Her face was fuzzy but her garbs remained clear as yesterday, with that formal posture of her, sitting down. It was permanent in his head, a sealed memory in the drive!

White garb… white garb… The search program rebooted as Ye Chong mumbled the new keyword, his eyes wondered upon the crowd.

!

His pupils enlarged. I saw it! White garb!

Out of the blue, a strong sense of familiarity rose in his heart. It really was her! The fuzzy imagery of her regained its clarity in his head, with the charm, the sense. Ye Chong's finger gave a tap on the control panel, the visual of Rui Bing was quickly enlarged before him.

She was still the same demure and nonchalant self. Her dark hair was long and smooth, her white garb was untainted as her personality. Her knotted brows… they seemed to be displeased.

Ye Chong carefully looked at this girl who remained in his thoughts for so long. It felt like time had turned back to two years ago where she asked him for marriage and he was innocent or more like… lack of awareness. His heart felt warm for some reason…

A while back Ye Chong took up an emergency Biology course conducted by Shang. After consecutive bombardment of information, at last, he came into senses of the workaround of this feeling and relationship. "Shall we move onto the other chapters?" It was fun while it was lasted, Ye Chong declared to shift his attention onto the more interesting aspects of biology such as the anatomy of human body as well as myology to study the dynamic of how his muscles could work better. And certainly it was silencing to Shang.

And it was this tuition class which allowed Ye Chong to understand how that lick he made was nothing but an act upon instinct of humanity, well, although he strongly believed that it would be essential to control and inhibit such intuitive act in his career.

Subconsciously, that peculiar aroma came into his nose again as the sight of her fairness reflected in his eyes. The tingling feeling of his tongue… Ye Chong's heart raced, an urge to jump to her rose!

…

Ugh… Ugh…

Wei Yuan who was biting his teeth climbed out of the cabin. For a 14-year-old boy like him, it was quite rare to see such tenacity.

Mech combats? The intensive battle caught his eyes immediately. No, that felt more like a mismatch… One mech bashing up the other… That evil mech was now thrashed like a sandbag.

Ah! Screamed Wei Yuan.

Those steps! The steps he had learned through these days… That unique offenses… They were before him. Really? His eyes grew in size, fearing he was at illusion.

No! It is him! Muttered Wei Yuan, Oh my gosh! I finally met this guy!

YC! That strange-looking mech must be YC!

"YC!" Boomed Wei Yuan, worked up, "I knew it's you! YC!" He waved his hands excitingly, Owwwwww… He somehow had forgotten the wound on his left hand.

Ah! I could not voice it… Ow ow ow ow! The piercing pain came form his arm. A slide on his feet and he rolled off the mech.

!

Ye Chong snapped out of his confusion as he regained control of the mech, even though he was finding the experience to be truly eerie. Such a potent instinct… that I lost control of myself so easily.

Ye Chong shrouded to Wei Yuan upon seeing him falling. He reached out his hands and grabbed Wei Yuan.

The boy had already fainted by then. The excitement triggered the pain in his fractured arm which sent his mind away as being torturing it was.

"Oh? Isn't this the fella who peeked at you?" Mu and Shang shared the same databank, it would be natural for Shang to be aware of Mu's investigation over Wei Yuan back then.

"Peek", of all verbs, Shang chose "peek", as expected from the artificial indulgence. So Shang-ish.

"Why did the Black Cover attack him? The member seemed to be striving to capture him alive," asked Ye Chong.

"How the heck would I know?" Shang's tone was carefree as usual.

Ye Chong took a look at Wei Yuan in his embrace but the observation could not give him a proper explanation.

"Ye, are we moving? Or are you planning to have a nice reunion with your Bing Bing?" teased Shang.

"Not mine," rebutted Ye Chong. He glanced at Wei Yuan and almost dropped him to the ground. He got an idea. He tossed the boy to the back.

Wow. The pilot of this mech is crude… Frowned Rui Bing. He literally murdered the opponent in seconds. When did the security of Windstar turn this bad? People actually fight and commit murder on the street whenever they like now?

And she saw that boy from the rescued mech flying towards her.

What does he want? Rui Bing went alert. She saw the tumbling boy being unconscious. He would be the mud on the ground if she did nothing.

Coincidence? Or was it on purpose?

The boy inched towards in the air. Curses! Rui Bing scolded at the pilot in her mind as she positioned herself. If that jerk got out of the cabin, I am so going to toast him! The boy came quickly and she got to make her move. She spread her legs slightly and lifted both her hands at the height of her chests back and front. Till the moment her hands touched the body of the boy, she muttered and exhaled slowly as she exerted slight forces on her palms. Her top body remained still, her legs were backing off rapidly.

7 to 8 steps back, she awaited that timing where the inertia vanished, Rui Bing slammed the ground with her heels and ceased moving.

Boom!

Rui Bing was shocked by the explosion. She caught the boy yet her hands were shaking for once. That horrible mech had disappeared and the remnants of the black mech… all turned into flares…

What a plan. He actually remembered to destroy the evidence. Thought Rui Bing as she dodged the pieces with agility.

Han Jia performed the sequence in a whirlwind that it came so suddenly everyone was still in shock. Right when they got the situation, this happened. Those in the mechs were fine at least, but the pedestrians? They could not find any shelter technically. Most of them were wounded by the specks of the mech as well as the explosion.

"The hell is going on!"

"How could he do that!"

"This is satanic!"

Curses echoed within the street.

Rui Bing on the other hand, was holding the fainted boy, wondering what she was supposed to do next.

Ye Chong sneaked to the the far corner. Only after Shang confirmed the course being clear, he kept Han Jia away at a deserted place. With a thumping heart, he returned to September dojo.

What a relief. At least he would be safe for now.

"Ahem, Ye, you should learn from your mistakes as this is utterly irresponsible," Shang sounded serious.

"But kekekekekekekeke… I thought of forgiving you since the fact that we saw your lovely Bing Bing today." Laughed Shang naughtily, "A more important issue! Come, shall we gents talk about our Bing Bing? Hmm, tell me, Ye, what was your feelings back there? Were you excited? Or…"

Wow, Shang, could you leave me to "learn from my mistakes" now? I could be repenting wholeheartedly… like really…

Whimpered Ye Chong.

Chapter 190: Brewing Storm VI

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Brother, does master really intend to join that tournament?" The second apprentice of Lan Yixing whispered to his senior.

"Don't ask me. I have no idea what master is thinking. We can't be avoiding the stage once we get there, I just fear if we did, we would…" The eldest apprentice lost his prudent nature the moment he mentioned this, as he sighed, his sight was fickle.

"Master is such a… sigh… whatever. Just leave me here. I can't be gambling my pride. Frankly speaking I am not that into the martial arts, exchanging fists whatsoever. I had been following his teaching all these years and… sigh! Also, brother, I wanted to tell you something…" He turned down his volume, carefully he spoke, "I wanted to learn Circuit Engineering."

"Circuit Engineering?" The brother frowned. He was aware of the fact that this younger brother in apprenticeship of his was not interested in the combats although he invested almost half of his youth on this collapsing dojo. Both of them joined Lan Yixing under a debt of gratitude. They begged to become his apprentices to return the favor. Lan Yixing accepted both of them as seeing their sincerity while he was actually looking for successors to his fists.

Who knows… both of them were never the candidates to begin with. They worked hard yet the progression was insignificant. They lost their passion after some time and grew lazier. It was a disappointment, a moment of sighing for Lan Yixing. He realized it would be fruitless even if he forced them so he stopped lecturing them.

They might not be talented but they were hardworking since the beginning. Their basics were great so the daily introductory courses were conducted by them at the dojo. Lan Yixing was troubled by his succession being unable to work out on his will, while seeing the two apprentices of his being fruitless as ever. He was muted and had become more withdrawn over time. He did not know how he should talk this out. He became less approachable in the end.

"Yes…" The volume was lower.

"Then are you heading to school?" The frown tightened, since that would mean this brother of his would be staying at school for the rest of his life.

"Yes." It was nearly inaudible.

The brother sighed, "Have you told this to master?"

"Nope," he shook his head as he replied. "I have a proposition for you! Could you please tell Master this for me?" His eyes were pleading.

"Ugh…" He looked at the puppy eyes, his heart softened, "Alright. I'll help you. I'll try. But you can't go if master disallows." The last line went stern, which was a rare nature for him.

\u2028"Of course."

Lan Yixing who happened to pass by overheard their exchange. He lifted his hand and he put it down. A moment of silence lapsed as his eyes lost the luster. He wavered back to his room soundlessly.

…

Ye Chong required a huge portion of his day to work on his alchemy and that was not the only thing on his priority list.

With the Biology course conducted by Shang these days, he understood the human anatomy much better and came to the realization of how amazing the Black Covers' technique was as some of them aim the particular spot of human body to achieve desired effects such as to strike an instant death and to disable their mobility. The more bizarre part was Ye Chong could not find any proper reference to support these details, which obviously defined the Black Covers' vaster understanding of human anatomy compared to the 5 major galaxies.

What Ye Chong had learned from the Black Coves were the basics, they were more sophisticated than most of the combats he had witnessed before however.

He had been convinced to the fact that Black Coves had the most sophisticated techniques of combat ever, till he came to the understanding of the fact that there would always be a hidden dragon in the valley, his perception got to change.

For instance, those techniques Lan Yixing taught to him hand by hand were discovered to be not as underwhelmed as he had assumed to be compared with Black Coves style, especially in the aspect of muscle-motor control, Lan Yixing had the upper hand of the show. The catch was these techniques also required a high level of execution, a demand on the strength of the motor, the reaction speed, the flexibility and so on.

Nonetheless, these did not form a challenge to Ye Chong. He could feel the potency of martial arts gradually as he mastered the gist of it.

The burst strength he could execute was 1.5 times of his past. He was the kind who wielded monstrous strength and now he had become the one fist killer. He could break an alloy gate with a mere punch like before. What differed was he believed that he could do it without shattering his fist this time. He could already manipulate his muscle to perform a drastic vibration to buffer the shock from breaking through the door. And that would be how his fist was going to be protected, a result of his tenacious research these days.

Lan Yixing only taught Ye Chong the basics too but it was that curiosity in Ye Chong to be able to further expand the basics into something astonishing as he discovered some intriguing yet practical techniques within.

Of course it was all thanks to Ye Chong's inhuman physique. If it was not for body, Ye Chong would have not been able to experiment those basics enough to pick them up.

As much as he recognized his body, he took even more effort to practice these basics seemingly exclusive for him. He wondered, how strong could Lan Yixing be? If compared to those of the Black Coves, who would be stronger?

Lan Yixing in reality was totally unaware of Ye Chong's ninja improvements. He was depressed. Lan family of the September was the well-known martial artists and now… they were heading to their demise, with no successor to bring the techniques to the next century. The conversation between his apprentices was heartbreaking indeed, yet he could not express his anger on them. He might be a reserved person but he was not unreasonable. Keeping the apprentices stuck with him would only put their youth into waste while hindering their path in the end.

He had made up his mind, to let them go, break free and do whatever they wanted, disregarding a wilting tree like him. Sigh… the combats, the martial artists… are they going to be extinct one day?

No! I can't be letting the Lan family martial arts end here! Tenacity came in his eyes. Clenched his fists, making the cracking sounds loud, determination boiled in is blood. By hook or by crook, he had to make something happen during the tournament. It was the golden opportunity to make a turnabout!

But…

That was another headache. None of his apprentices seemed keen to join the show while he was also aware of their standards. Teaching newbies was not an issue, but… staging their skills was… embarrassing I guess.

Well I can't be heading there all by myself.

Hua Tiankai was so great… His dojo was running well, with every of his apprentices being both talented and young. Look at me…

Sigh, what a puzzle.

Wait!

He remembered he had a new boy in his dojo. Yes! How could I forget that? He was just a new boy, a part timer! Unlike an official apprentice, even if he was underwhelming, people would not judge! "He is just a part time student who came to my dojo less than a month ago." That was more than enough to decline the staging offer.

Yes, yes, yes. Lan Yixing fancied the idea. Right, that would be it! He spat his breath and confirmed bringing Ye Chong to the tournament. Well then, I should be investing sometimes to teach him a few new tricks. Although Lan Yixing did not believe Ye Chong to have the mastery to learn all these, well somehow it would comfort him better doing so.

Ye Chong who was indulged in his research had no idea that his fate had been decided by Lan Yixing without a word.

"Ye! Ye! Hah! I got it!" Shang was excited as ever.

"What did you get?" asked Ye Chong, his action remained as he felt the rhythm and changes in his flipping arms.

"I got you some Bing Bing news. I know why she came here for. Hah, Ye, interested? Intrigued? Wink wink, nudge, nudge." Shang seriously sounded like a kid working up over an extra candy in front of his friends.

He could feel his hands weakened but he forced it up, "Not interested," he replied expressionlessly.

"Ha~ Ye, stop lying, you can't lie to me. Your heartbeat sped up just now. Hehehehe…" Ridiculed Shang.

Ye Chong was too busy to entertain as he knew his further responses would only get the artificial indulgence more excited. He concluded from his journey, the best method to deal with Shang was to shut up and show ignorance.

"Tsk…" Muttered Shang, "Ye, you are a boring person you know what. How could you ignore your beloved Bing Bing? Gosh, it would be a life misfortune for any woman to marry you! Yikes, such a senseless boy. Bing Bing came here for the tournament this time you know?"

"Tournament?" That was the keyword Ye Chong perceived from the line.

"Yeah, there would be lots of professional fighters I heard. Ye, this is a real life combating you know? One on one, man to man, flesh to flesh. Hehehehe, our Bing Bing is the VIP for the show. Tsk, tsk, tsk, as expected from her, all great and grace…," complimented Shang.

"So…" He changed his tone, "Ye, how about we join this tournament?"

"No!" The answer was firm. That rush in his head had convinced Ye Chong the fact that he could never be eternally calm as Mu. Only the alertness from time to time could effectively reduce mistakes like this. Despite the fact that he was really interested to witness the real deals fighting, he still wished to reduce his exposure to the public.

"Ye… You really wanted to see your lovely Bing Bing all alone at the seat, watching those men fighting in blood and sweat without anyone to share her inner thoughts to? Ye, don't you have a soft spot for ladies, a loving and gentle nature to humanity?"

"Mo Fei!" The scream interrupted Shang's motivational talk.

Thank God! Ye Chong was appreciating the scream, he ran out of the gate and saw Lan Yixing at the outside.

"Follow me," concisely Lan Yixing spoke, less talk more work as usual.

They got to his room. It was a spacious room but it was rather simple… or even crude. There was no adornment, although there was one practice room inside separated by one wall with his bedroom.

Lan Yixing led Ye Chong to his practice room.

"Show me what I have taught you before," he spoke flatly.

As he said, Ye Chong performed everything he taught before. He tried controlling himself during the process. He did not want to frighten the master by showing some odd moves.

"Fair," concisely the man commented. His expression unchanged, although it was an earthquake in his head. Did he miss out a lot on this boy? The basics might look simple but they were not simple to grab the gist within! Mo Fei somehow wielded the gist…

He calmed himself as he spoke slowly, "Today onwards, I would teach you a few new moves. Please learn them with determination."

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Chapter 191: Brewing Storm VII

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As he exited from Lan Yixing's room, Ye Chong's mind was filled with Lan Yixing's demonstration. Powerful! It was too powerful! Ye Chong was stupefied. He walked quickly and silently back to his room. What he wanted to do now was to imitate Lan Yixing's demonstration earlier and identify the key to those moves. While Lan Yixing had already pointed out the places where he should take note of, achieving true mastery was not a simple process.

He closed the doors carefully but did not begin immediately. Instead, he began to rewind Lan Yixing's words in his head. Ye Chong sat still like an old monk, and Shang sensibly left him alone.

Ye Chong sat like that for an entire 30 minutes.

Abruptly, Ye Chong's eyes opened, and began to move!

…

Ye Chong inhaled deeply. He was too absorbed earlier to notice, but now he could feel the soreness all over his body. These two moves were very demanding; even with his body, just a few rounds of practice was enough to exhaust him.

However, Ye Chong was satisfied with the power of these two moves. He believed that, even against Black Cove mech pilots, he would be able deal with them with these two strange techniques.

However, there were always pros and cons to every technique. These two moves were powerful, but placed a heavy burden on his body. In this respect, combat and mech piloting were similar to each other.

No wonder Lan Yixing was worried for his apprentice. From his tone, these moves did not seem to be any advanced combat moves; even so, they were impossible for regular people. Just how powerful was Lan Yixing, and what did the real advanced combat moves look like? Ye Chong was beginning to look forward to them.

However, Ye Chong could not ponder at those questions just yet. He was now fully occupied with the two moves that Lan Yixing had just taught him. Ye Chong seemed to be deep in thought. As he grew more proficient with these two moves, he seemed to realize something amusing.

"Black Cove was not the only school of combat experts." Such was Ye Chong's realization.

Lan Yixing did not fully understand why he would indulge in Ye Chong's interests. He thought of those instructions as consolatory since he had tried to teach them before to two other students, and neither of them had managed to master them. How could a new apprentice like Mo Fei be able to learn something so complicated?

Ths thought brought a mocking smile to his lips - to think that his gains and losses would affect him so much. Lan Yixing could not help but heave a long sigh.

Rui Bing sat beside Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan was mostly healed now. With current technology, as long as it was not instant death, injuries could usually be managed. Wei Yuan said nothing after he woke up, but insisted on staying beside Rui Bing at all times. Rui Bing was annoyed, but she was also moved inside. Wei Yuan's pitiful look was endearing, and so she let him be. She also thought it odd - why would that mech leave Wei Yuan with her that day?

Could that mech's pilot knew her? Impossible! The thought was quickly dismissed. Since young, her social ties were fairly simple and limited. She could not recall knowing anyone who could pilot a mech.

Suddenly, it was as if she was struck by lightning! A person's figure began to emerge clearly in her mind!

Could it be him?

Rui Bing fell into a daze.

After a long moment, she recovered and laughed quietly at herself. What was with her? How could it be him? Such a coincidence was highly unlikely! Besides, the other party may just be simply getting rid of Wei Yuan, but happened to toss him in her direction.

Wei Yuan watched as Rui Bing's icy profile changed into a myriad of expressions. He was curious, but kept his thoughts to himself. He already found out what happened that day from this seemingly cold lady. As for the details, Wei Yuan was always very careful with them, or he would not have recognized YC from his footwork. After some detailed questioning, he immediately realized that all was not what it seemed to be.

He would never believe that YC would rescue him, only to toss him aside. If that was the case, then YC would never have saved him in the first place. There must be a reason behind this. Wei Yuan's first thought was that YC knew the beautiful and cold lady, and knew that she would be able to catch him too. Else, the whole exercise of rescuing him and tossing him aside, only for him to die from the throw, was a pointless one that YC would never do based on his personality that valued efficiency.

While he did not know YC, and had never had any direct contact with him, he still believed that he could understand YC to a certain degree.

On the other hand, who was the one who ambushed him? Why would YC save him?

Numerous questions nagged at him, but he could not make heads nor tails out of them. However, he was certain that this icy beauty was definitely related to YC, and the only link he had to YC.

While this may all just be a result of his imagination, he was unwilling to let go of this possibility, which may be his final hope. That was why he insisted on sticking around this beautiful and cold lady. He had spoke to his father and came up with an excuse. Fortunately, his track record of honesty helped in convincing his father that nothing was amiss. He then contacted the school and offered another excuse to apply an extended period of leave.

He must find YC, no matter what!

There was light knocking on the door, and Wei Yuan took a glance at the cold beauty sitting upright beside him. Rui Bing knitted her brow slightly, but did not move from her position. The knocking continued, and still Rui Bing did not move, but her displeasure was now apparent. No matter how obtuse Wei Yuan was, he could still recognize the icy beauty's expression.

The visitor was was determined, and the knocking did not cease.

Wei Yuan took another glance at the icy beauty before going to the door himself and opening it.

Outside was a young man with delicate features and an easy expression. He held himself with great refinement, and smiled gently when he saw Wei Yuan behind the door. "You're up now, Junior Brother? How's your hand?" His gentle expression of care was refreshing.

"Yes." Wei Yuan answered, and stood to the side for him to enter.

"Ah, Senior Sister Bing is also here." The young man greeted Rui Bing with a smile. "So the beauty's name is Bing. Her name is true to her nature," thought Wei Yuan.

"Junior Brother Hua, is something the matter?" Rui Bing wore her usual icy expression, but one could read a certain dismissive tone in her words.

"There's a fair on chemist spices, first of the year in the Bekaert township this afternoon. Shangmei would appreciate your company, if you are willing?" Hua Shangmei still wore a gentle expression with a charming smile, and he was looking very confident of himself.

It seemed that there was nothing in particular about this undeniably handsome young man that was offensive to Wei Yuan. However, when he noticed the fiery enthusiasm in his eyes, Wei Yuan still felt an unexplainable discomfort. In the end, Wei Yuan was only a 14-year-old. He worshipped YC, and had decided that this icy beauty who had saved his life definitely had a deep relationship with YC.

Seeing Hua Shangmei's advance made Wei Yuan uncomfortable. He had unconsciously decided that Rui Bing was a lady friend of YC, and should not be tainted.

Rui Bing's expression turned even colder, and spoke with some displeasure, "Junior Brother Hua, please mind yourself!"

For some reason, hearing those words made Wei Yuan, observing silently from the side, relax a little.

Hua Shangmei maintained his composure and apologized, "My apologies if I had offended you, Senior Sister. It's just that Shangmei noticed that Senior Sister has been staying in your room every day, and wanted to relieve your boredom by inviting you for an excursion. Please do not be offended." Even when apologizing, Hua Shangmei still behaved courteously without any awkwardness, making him difficult to dislike.

Rui Bing may not like him, but seeing his easy demeanor and refined ways made her pleased on Uncle Hua's behalf, to have such a good student. However, Rui Bing had no intention of giving him hope, merely replying with her usual coldness, "Thank you for consideration, Junior Brother Hua. I understand. However, please do not bother me with such trivialities!" Rui Bing spoke ruthlessly, her firm attitude allowing for no misunderstanding.

Hua Shangmei's expression immediately turned unpleasant!

Wei Yuan watched satisfyingly from the side. He did not like the fellow, and now that Sister Bing had spoke so mercilessly, Wei Yuan felt an irrational sense of joy. "Hmph, for someone like Sister Bing, YC is of course the only suitor!" he thought.

The room was plunged into an awkward atmosphere. Just then, Deng Chong rushed into the room and yelled loudly, "Second Senior Brother, Senior Sister Bing, we have visitors! We have visitors!"

By then, Hua Shangmei had already gathered himself. Seeing Deng Chong all excited, he took the chance to change topic, "By your looks, I'd say they must be someone interesting!" Deng Chong was a combat enthusiast, and had always wanted to fight against other experts. His excited look was enough to let Hua Shangmei understand the situation.

"Hehe, you know me best, Second Senior Brother!" Deng Chong grinned, and said something else that brought new gravity to the situation, "The Zuo family from Tian Luo is also here!"

"What?" Hua Shangmei gasped. Rui Bing's eyes gleamed with sharp hostility!

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Chapter 192: Brewing Storm VIII

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The Zuo family of the Tian Luo galaxy was lesser known compared to the other aristocratic families of the same origin. However, when it came to their histories, the Zuo family had existed for about as long as the more famous aristocratic families. Besides, the Zuo family's reputation in the field of combat was unmatched by other aristocratic families. In the age where combat skills could determine the balance of power, the Zuo family had made their mark in history.

The most astounding fact was that, in every generation, the Zuo family would produce one or several talented characters, and never suffered from the problem of succession. This was envied by may other combat related aristocratic families. The Zuo family gradually became more and more mysterious in the eyes of society.

As the social status of combat slowly faded towards oblivion, the Zuo family became less of a presence in modern society. Soon, many had come to forget this mysterious aristocratic family.

That was why when Hua Shangmei and Rui Bing heard that the Zuo family of Tian Luo were here, they were very much surprised. Whether it was the Rui family or the Tian Hua dojo, both were mere infants compared to the long history of the Zuo family. Even the Lan family of September could not be compared to the Zuo family.

The Zuo family's unique combat techniques were difficult to determine, since every generation's representative offered his or her own unique combat styles.

What could the Zuo family of Tian Luo offer to this dying field of combat?

For some reason, the cold face of that young man who defeated her came to Rui Bing's mind. What level of attainment has he achieved now? Rui Bing wondered to herself.

Ye Chong's life could be said to be almost happy and peaceful, or at least, he felt that it was actually not bad. Besides the strange illness he had, he had nothing to complain of. Lan Yixing had not taught any new moves to him ever since that day, and only reminded Ye Chong to practice diligently whenever he met him. Ye Chong had no regrets. His combat skills had always been acceptable, and his rich experience in actual combat was unrivaled by the likes of Lan Yixing. Besides, most of his battles were to the death, and that had made him even stronger. In the end, combat was still a way of attacking and defending oneself. Now, Lan Yixing had opened the doors to a whole new world for him to discover.

On the one hand, Ye Chong was amazed by this new world, and on the other hand, he was eager to investigate and study this world with his own ideas. Of course, this was largely due to his habit of figuring things out by himself. Ye Chong now wanted for Lan Yixing to accept him as a student. He saw Lan Yixing as a part of this unknown and mysterious world. Besides, from Lan Yixing's demonstrations all this while, Ye Chong believed that he must have other powerful and secretive techniques. It was enough to hook his interest.

However, despite his interest, Ye Chong had no plans to put this into motion. Right now, he must lay low and avoid attention. After all, Black Cove must be waiting for him outside. Besides, his impulsive decision to finish off that mech last time must have attracted Black Cove's attention.

Ye Chong was not wrong. His actions had caused tension amongst Black Cove's men. This tension was noticed by the MPA and the Sanctuary, already aware of Black Cove's unusual movements recently. The Three Forces had, for some reason, unanimously decided not to alert the local authorities. Life on Windstar went on as usual, the tourists excited for their travels, unaware of that hidden tension beneath.

When Rui Bing set her eyes on the people from the Zuo family, it was already lunch time.

Zuo Ling was a large man, his athletic body was matched with keen eyes that look as though they could penetrate anyone he set his eyes on. His half exposed chest showed solid muscles. His palm was wide and strong, framed with an edge of calluses. The wild and confident expression on his face, coupled with a half-smile, was sure to attract many a good beautiful ladies.

On his chest hung a black pendant, and Hua Shangmei recognized from his familiarity in mech combat that it was a dimension keystone. In the dining hall, Rui Bing was the only who did not realize this. Combat experts rarely had a dimension keystone with them, and since Tian Hua dojo was currently putting efforts into developing mech combat techniques, Hua Shangmei and others were exposed to these modern elements.

Could this Zuo Ling also be skilled in mech combat?

Wei Yuan did not think much of them. To him, no one was a match for YC in mech combat. Wei Yuan managed to secure a place at the dining table due to Rui Bing. He had decided to stay near Sister Bing at all times, as she was his only link to YC. Unless the situation demanded it, he would never give up. Fortunately, Sister Bing was willing to indulge him, or he would have to return home.

Zuo Ling's arrival was treated with wariness by Hua Tiankai and others. An uninvited guest, and one from the Zuo family at that - how could done not feel wary? However, Hua Tiankai and his students were not just your average people, and welcomed the visitor with extended courtesies.

Zuo Ling may look arrogant, but his demeanor suggested an open mind and forthrightness.

"As expected, Mr Zuo is an expert!" Deng Zhong bowed to Zou Ling. He had lost uneventfully against the oppressive combat style of Zuo Ling. Deng Chong was straightforward in nature, and showed fine sportsmanship despite his loss.

"You're too kind!" Deng Chong's demeanor also won Zuo Ling's approval.

Hua Shangmei and Zheng Zhongxing could only stare in disbelief. Deng Chong's lost was acceptable for them, but they could not accept how Deng Chong was completely overwhelmed in his defeat, without even a chance for retaliation. They exchanged a horrified glance. Deng Chong was the best of the three of them, and if his match ended like this, it would be in vain for them to take up the challenge.

Was the Zuo family really that powerful?

Rui Bing still wore her cold expression, but her eyes were now glowing brightly. She was of course far more skilled than the three students of Hua Tiankai. She was certain that this man, Zuo Ling had attained "Jie". He was the youngest she had ever met to have reached this level besides herself.

"Jie" was attained when a combat expert had surpassed the traditional boundaries of combat. These Jie experts had skills unrivalled by average combat experts, and they no longer rely solely on physical strength. Jie masters were the true experts amongst combat experts.

Jie experts were a mystery in the world of combat. As the field slowly faded into history, fewer and fewer combat experts reached this level of attainment. The power of Jie experts was also exaggerated by the public as almost invincible characters. However, Rui Bing dismissed those rumors. When she first met Ye Chong, she had just only attained "Jie", but was still beaten by Ye Chong. Of course, that was mainly because she was new to this mysterious world, and her unfamiliarity with what her body was truly capable of.

Strength was not absolute! She realized this from experience. From then on, she improved herself even faster.

Similarly unfazed was Hua Tiankai. His constant expression betrayed none of his thoughts.

A thin, black threadworm wandered around in the virtual world. Passcode protected doors did nothing to stop its advance, since it could easily wriggle through the locks and enter the photon processor hyperlinked to the virtual world.

It browsed casually through the photon processor records, and suddenly gasped in surprise. The holographic recording before it was of Ye Chong's training. If Wei Yuan was here, he would have found that the photon processor was actually his!

YC was a name that went viral recently, and anyone who had spent some time in the virtual world would quickly become aware of the name. He was no exception. As an elite Maverick, he was more familiar with the virtual world than the average person. However, he was not interested in mechs, and so was never interested in this character.

The recording before him, however, seemed to have renewed his interest. There was only one latest holographic recording of YC, the one that was on Richie. Here was another recording that was never leaked out. Could the owner of this photon processor be YC?

YC was very much a legend in the virtual world, rising into fame in just a few years, and recently, becoming even more popular. This was a rarity. The virtual world changed at a rapid pace, and new personalities were often quickly forgotten over time. Sustaining a reputation for more than two or three years was more than uncommon.

He was quickly disappointed by his findings. The owner of the photon processor was only a fan of YC. Nonetheless, finding the real identity of a virtual world user was not too hard for him. Besides, it was made easier by the fact that the probability of YC being a Maverick was very small.

It was undeniable that mech piloting and photon processors were entirely different fields. In today's world, the depths of every field was enough to occupy a lifetime, and few would ever wanted to study in two completely unrelated fields. Even if such a person existed, the probability of this person mastering both fields was as unlikely as a planet being hit by a deadly asteroid. Since YC was an outstanding mech pilot, it was almost a certainty that he was not a Maverick.

First, he thought of going through the MPA's database.

The MPA's passcodes were ineffective against him, and he accessed their systems without difficulty. Such ease of access was still enough to make him, after all his trials and tribulations, pleased with himself. The MPA's seemingly impenetrable fortress was just like home to him.

His success was mainly due to his unique calculations. His creative calculations allowed him to change his body size. From his initial appearance a hairy caterpillar, years of careful considerations and calculations finally allowed him to compress his appearance into an impossibly thin black threadworm. This was also the best result he obtained after numerous calculations. While it was not the ideal invisible presence he had expected, it was enough to satisfy him.

This state of presence of allowed him great freedom in the virtual world. No one could detect his presence, and the apparently watertight passcode protected doors were nothing to him. He had used his calculations to benefit from the virtual world, such as serving the group that he was a part of now. If not for his powerful skills as a Maverick, he would never be able to join the group, or even obtain the position that he had now.

However, he was greatly surprised to find that the MPA had no information on YC.

He was now feeling exceptionally nervous.

What did this mean? It meant that YC was very possibly a Maverick, or a friend of one. No matter the possibility, it was bad news for him. Besides, the other party could use an NR Training Center without registering. He was almost certain that he was looking at a very powerful Maverick.

In the virtual world, investigating a person's identity in the real world was taboo, and among the Mavericks, it was a sure sign of provocation. As an experienced Maverick, he was familiar with all these unwritten rules.

However, he was not exactly afraid. He was at least confident of his own powers. It was just that the matter was becoming complicated, since his sudden curiosity had now caused hostility between him and another powerful Maverick. It was not a pleasant business.

Nonetheless, the events had progressed to this point, and he could only let it go and discontinue his probing.

Ye Chong was practicing in his room. His daily routine had become fixed, with time allocated for meditation and combat practice, followed by cleaning the training grounds, and then returning to his room for some alchemy. It was too bad that the room was a little too small for him to practice mech maneuvering.

Shang's silence was welcomed by Ye Chong. Ever since Ye Chong installed a miniature pulsed signal device under Shang's instructions one night in one of the houses near the dojo, Shang had spent of his much in the virtual world. This resulted in a peaceful environment for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong was counting the days until when Wang Weixing returned. Once he was back, he would find the doctor and cure his sickness, then he would travel to a planet where no one knew him and live a careful life, doing things that interested him. It would be such a carefree life.

Not daring to head outside, Ye Chong knew nothing of what was happening out there. He believed that staying in his room was the best option for the moment.

"Hmph!" Suddenly, the long silent Shang humphed coldly with a deadly undertone, enough to startle even Ye Chong. Ye Chong stopped what he was doing and asked, "What is it? Shang!"

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