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 193 - Brewing Storm IX - Read Legend of the Supreme Soldier Chapter 193 - Brewing Storm IX Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 193: Brewing Storm IX

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Ye, someone's investigating you! And he's good at what he does." Shang's sinister voice was very different from usual.

What was with Shang? Ye Chong asked carefully, "Shang, what's with you?"

"Humph, that d*mned b*stard, to play his tricks when I'm around. He's too arrogant, does he think I'm so easy to bully?" Shang's cold voice quickly turned exasperated.

So that was it! This tone was more like Shang's. Ye Chong continued on with what he was doing and said casually, "Shang, then you should take care of him!"

"Hehe, you know me best, Ye!" Shang was pleased. "Humph, while my computations are not as good as Mu's, but in other aspects, hehe … If this guy wants to show off in front of me, then he's found the wrong target!" Shang spoke his last sentence haughtily.

Ye Chong did not feel like pitying the guy. It was just his bad luck! Shang was usually happy-go-lucky, and may seem careless, but Ye Chong never doubted his abilities. While he may not be as powerful as Mu in terms of computations, Shang was a master in the art non-physical sciences such as psychology. The methods of threatening that he shared with Ye Chong and that entire scheme with the Sanctuary's starship were all meticulously woven plans.

Mu behaved like a typical PSI, but was more powerful than others. He possessed the trademark rationality and computation-heavy mindset typical of PSIs. Shang, however, completely overhauled Ye Chong's concept of PSIs. He was irrational, less competent in computations, but extremely well versed in non-logical areas like emotions and psychology. It was definitely an odd PSI.

In any case, one could be sure that Mu and Shang were both very powerful.

Powerful characters typically could not stand having their authority challenged. This behavior was clearly present in Mu and Shang.

"Just be mindful of what you're doing!" Ye Chong said impartially, and continued with his practice.

Zuo Ling looked at Rui Bing openly with fiery eyes.

To think that this ice-cold lady was actually a Jie expert like himself! A Jie expert at such a young age was incredible. He had received strict training from the Zuo family since young, and his natural physique allowed him to attain Jie at such a young age. If not for the Zuo family's resources, his achievements would only be just a dream. For a 26-year-old to attain Jie was a remarkable feat, even back in the old days when combat was popular.

Today, however, he had seen someone even younger than him, a Jie expert that came from an unheard of family. The Rui family? He was certain that it was not any one of the combat based aristocratic families with long histories; he had never even heard of this family before. What surprised him the most was that this Jie expert was actually a woman!

The female body was relatively limited compared to a man's in terms of combat, and this limitation could only ever be removed by attaining Jie, since Jie experts no longer rely solely on physical strength in combat. However, without years of efforts, it was difficult to attain Jie. Based on the existing records of combat history, female Jie experts were few and far in between.

Her icy smooth charm and dignified manner was wrapped up in a white training garb that fluttered slightly in the wind. Her snow white skin was flawless, and her long, dark hair flowed down smoothly like a waterfall. Her faint red lips hid a certain warmth beneath. Her calm gaze was like a creek flowing through the glaciers, silent and chillingly unapproachable.

Zuo Ling was certain that he had never felt such desire, a desire to wrap her in his arms and melt her with his burning embrace! Zuo Ling was not a stranger to women; on the contrary, he had met and reciprocated countless of them. However, the icy woman before him was the first who had ever let him feel this way.

Zuo Ling's open stare was vexing for Rui Bing. She humped coldly, pouring cold water on Zuo Ling's feelings. He immediately gathered himself, and when he looked at Rui Bing's leaving figure, the only thought that crossed his mind was this - Rui Bing, you must be mine! Zuo Ling fisted his hands tightly.

Hua Shangmei, Deng Chong and Zheng Zhongxing stared in stupefaction. They never imagined that the fragile looking Senior Sister Bing would be so powerful! Perhaps even their master would not be a match against her. In the friendly match earlier, Rui Bing had tied with Zuo Ling.

Hua Tiankai looked at Rui Bing's retreating figure and felt happy for his friend who had passed away, but also felt shame when he thought of how his three students had performed.

Rui Bing sat alone in her room, her eyes on the clear water in her glass, but her heart was elsewhere. She could see his figure reflected in the water, looking calmly at her. For a moment, she felt lost in her feelings.

"Where are you?" Rui Bing murmured ever so softly to herself.

Ye Chong continued his practice, going through his dull routines every day. Shang, on the other hand, looked like he was up to something, busying himself with things.

Abruptly, Shang spoke to Ye Chong, "Ye, go to the virtual world!"

"Virtual world? What happened?" Ye Chong was baffled. Besides, where could he find a hyperlink helmet?

Shang continued to hasten him, and Ye Chong could only deploy Shang in the room. The room was small, and Shang could only curl into himself into an odd position.

"Strange, what's with Shang today?" Ye Chong could not understand him. Usually, he would never submit to curling himself up like this. Why was he asking for it this time?

Ye Chong wandered as he opened Shang's pilot cabin and entered. On the trash planet, Ye Chong had used Mu and Shang's piloting helmet as a virtual world hyperlink. While it was nothing fancy, its functionalities were enough to make anyone envious.

Long deprived of the virtual world, Ye Chong felt a little excited.

His vision transformed, and Ye Chong found himself staring at a holographic feed. It showed a very thin black worm moving very quickly. At the side were a few other inset images of the black thread from multiple angles.

Shang laughed. "Hehe, Ye, that's the guy investigating you!"

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"Him?" Ye Chong pointed at the moving black thread, flabbergasted.

Shang was obviously satisfied with Ye Chong's expression. "Yes, him!" He explained, "This guy used a unique way of calculation that made his appearance turn into a black threadworm."

Seeing Ye Chong's confused expression, Shang could not help but chastise, "Sigh, how could I forget that you know nothing about photon processors, that I would explain to you in those terms? This is surely my biggest mistake of the day!" Shang's exaggerating manner made Ye Chong smile.

"What's the use of this appearance?" Ye Chong had always asked when he could not understand something.

"It allows the worm to pass through most passcode protected doors, and avoids attention. Tsk tsk, the guy's a genius, I'll give him that, this degree of creativity must have been hard for him. Hmm, the calculations are carefully made, and the improvements are good. Unfortunately, he has met me!" Shang's haughty tone made him sound like a villain.

It would definitely be very difficult to explain to Ye Chong what it meant to be a villain. However, Shang's compliments to the guy made Ye Chong become wary of him. After all, he knew that it was not easy to squeeze out any good words out of Shang. This, he knew from experience.

Shang continued laughing connivingly. "Hehe, I found him just a few days ago, however, I don't want to alert him. This guy must have sensed something, as he's more vigilant recently. Hehe, while it's easy to destroy his appearance there and then, but such an interesting fellow is hard to find, it'll be such a shame to finish him off so fast!

"So, I followed him, and just now, it's that door over there, you see? I placed some tracking larvae on it, hehe, those things are much smaller than him, and very hard to detect. It's something Mu came up with …" Here, Shang seemed to realize that he had misspoke, and laughed it off before continuing, "Anyway, I can now follow his every movement. You see, he's heading back right now!"

As expected, in the holographic feed, the black thread was heading towards the dark opening of a very large door.

"Tsk tsk, I don't know who created this door, but it is sure amazing. If not for this guy leading us through, it will be hard for us to enter without alerting them." Shang offered another round of compliments.

"It seemed that the other party is really strong," Ye Chong thought to himself. He stared at the holographic feed, the image suddenly morphing as they went through the door. Unexpectedly, what was beyond was a jungle, an endless stretch of greenery. In truth, it was almost refreshing to see something that could only be found on some untouched planets.

"A multiarray matrix firewall?" Shang gasped in surprise.

"What's this thing?" Ye Chong could not understand at all. However, based on Shang's tone, he figured that this must be something incredible.

"It's good stuff, rarely do people use this kind of calculation. It's very complicated, even Mu might have a hard time if we want to break through it with brute force!" Shang grew excited. "Ye, looks like we've got ourselves a big one!"

The black threadworm was apparently very familiar with the territory, making its way through the forest without hesitation.

"Hehe, Ye, do you see that? That green-black grass, yes, the one with serrated edges, if anyone touched it, it will immediately activate at least 20 levels of authentication verification. If you're determined to be an enemy, then you're done for!" Shang then pointed to the numerous red fruits hanging from the trees in the holographic feed, vivid and enticing.

"Ye, these may look very appealing, but they're nasty stuff. These torrent soursops are linked to each other. If you activated one of them, the rest of the fruits will all explode. Hehe, the torrents of signal pulses that follow will be so painful it will scar you for life. But that's not the scariest of all, no, you see those thin vines? Yes, the ones with many tentacles on it. The pulse torrents would affect your real body by stimulating your brain, and these olfactory vines would then use those pulses to find you in the real world, which is where you are right now. Hehe, as for the consequences, I'll leave that to your imagination!" Shang pointed out each of those threats to Ye Chong.

Ye Chong could feel a chill running down his spine.

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Chapter 194: Brewing Storm X

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The black threadworm's body was malleable and surprisingly agile, and it moved very quickly. It was obvious that he moved more boldly once he passed the black door. He never would have guessed that his every move was monitored by someone else. He was familiar with the territory here, and believed that there would be no more than three Mavericks who could find their way through the traps without tripping any of them.

"Hehe, it's good that we have him as a guide, or we'll never pass through here safely. I can't imagine anyone but Mu achieving just that. The inside man is always the hardest to defend against. This guy is most certainly involved with the designs of the trap algorithms around here. Hehe, that's quite fortunate for us!" Shang said, pleased.

The myriads of trap algorithms involved were enough to puzzle Ye Chong. They were all hidden under beautiful exteriors, and by using these traps in creative combinations, their effectiveness was greatly increased. The more they looked harmless in the background, the more likely they were to be triggered by the enemy. Who would have thought that such a beautiful scenery was a cover for all sorts of fatal threats?

"What is this place? The security is so tight!" Shang's words betrayed his curiosity towards this mysterious place. Even Ye Chong, who usually thought it dull to uncover other people's secrets, was eager to find out the story behind this place.

Beyond the beautiful forest, the scenery expanded into a wide plain. A stream zigzagged across the plain, but what flowed was not water - it was a silver, viscous liquid with suspended particles twinkling like stars as the river flowed slowly along its path.

"Di micropulses?" Shang could not help another gasp.

What was this thing? Without any knowledge in photon processors, Ye Chong could only listen in puzzlement. The black threadworm plunged headfirst into the river without hesitation.

Knowing Ye Chong's ignorance, Shang explained patiently, "Di micropulses are a kind of very mild flow of pulses, harmless to the human body, and any character in the virtual world. However, it can assimilate a wide spectrum of pulsed signals." Shang could not resist expressing his admiration. "To think that someone would use Di micropulses in this way, genius! In the virtual world, almost all tracking devices rely on weak but continuous pulse signals to determine the target's location. Di micropulses can not only assimilate these tracking signals, but also interrupt and damage the structure of the tracking device. It's very much like a sterilizer, only it's not for germs, but for tracking devices."

"Oh, I see!"

"It's too bad that you don't understand these things. Sigh, to have you as a witness to all these good stuff, the designer must be disappointed." Shang mocked Ye Chong before continuing "The designer is a genius! To use Di micropulses in this way, it's incredible!"

However, Shang immediately affected a sinister smile. "Hehe, it's really too bad, Mu's tracking larvae are not your usual trackers! The probability of getting rid of those larvae is too small!"

As Shang predicted, when the black threadworm plunged into the river, the holographic feed shook violently, but resumed to normal after three seconds.

Shang said, "Looks like Mu's work is always the best!"

Beneath the surface, the view was entirely different. The opaque silver was now a semi-transparent gray, clear as crystal. The twinkling particles moved like they were alive, chasing after each other, vanishing and appearing again, clustering and spreading out, bringing life to the quiet silver river.

The black threadworm swam in the river without hindrance, moving quickly through the liquid.

It did not surface, but continued along the edge of the river. After some time, the threadworm stopped abruptly and began to dive. The river did not seem very wide, but it went down deep, as they did not reach the riverbed for a long time. The view in the river, however, changed little by little. The tiny grain-sized particles were now as large as a thumb, and did not seem as lively as their smaller counterparts.

The black threadworm stopped again. He paused for a moment before swimming towards the edge of the river. As they approached the wall that contained the river, Ye Chong saw a tiny crack in the wall. The black threadworm wriggled into the crack without hesitation.

"Sigh, nothing in this world is perfect!" Looking at the crack, Shang seemed to deeply moved.

The crack did not extend much further. Soon, they reached the end, and saw light ahead of them.

The holographic feed suddenly opened up to the insides of a room. This crack seemed to connect the room and the river they saw earlier.

Once in the room, the black threadworm's body began to transform, quickly expanding from its thread-like thinness into the size of an adult human. The effect was much like an elastic straw suddenly filled with air. In any case, it was an odd process.

Just then, the black object suddenly twisted and began to change its colors. When Ye Chong could finally see it clearly, the holographic feed was already showing a man in a black outfit.

Ye Chong gaped at the transformation.

"This expansion calculation is child's play, nothing to boast about, unlike those calculations earlier, this is just embarrassing!" Shang spoke with disdain.

The man looked around him and muttered to himself, "Was it just my imagination? No one's following? Sigh, I must be getting paranoid."

Mu's larvae were very useful, channeling even the slightest voices clearly.

The man in black began walking to his desk.

"Huh, that guy can actually sense that someone is following him, not bad!" Shang seemed to be surprised with the man's vigilance.

"As I expected, inner security is lax compared to the outer security measures. Compared to the outside, this place is totally undefended. Sigh, such is human psychology!" Shang shook his head.

"Shouldn't security be tighter on the inside than outside?" Ye Chong asked.

Shang explained, "It's actually quite easy to understand. Their setup outside is actually quite advanced. Normally, if someone can break through the security outside, then it only makes sense that they can also plough through the security inside. After all, the probability of someone hitching a ride in like us is very small. Besides, there must be many people working here. Without those trap algorithms, the workers here could be more at ease. Ye, in this world, if you can break the strongest point of something, then that thing would be yours!"

"I see!" Ye Chong nodded, understanding him.

"Hehe, let's check out what's in this place!" Shang was back to his old carefree self, and Ye Chong could not help but smile at Shang's enthusiasm.

The larvae silently left the man in black. Shang was now more interested in the place than the man himself.

"This is probably a top secret data center in the virtual world, most likely the database center for some organization. From the set up outside, those obstacles were designed not only to prevent outsiders from entering, but also to stop any internal signals from leaking out. If that guy had not found the crack in the river, the probability of someone discovering this place was close to nil. Usually, a place like this would have classified information!" Shang's calmness made Ye Chong feel as though it was Mu he was talking to.

Ye Chong suddenly thought of something. "Then why do they want to use the virtual world?"

Shang explained, "Well, if the head of the organisation does not want to reveal his true identity to his employees, but must personally direct the inner workings, this would be an excellent option."

The holographic feed changed again. Shang had already hacked their system, and right now, it was like an undefended city. Soon, he acquired the highest access rights to the place.

"I see!" Shang muttered to himself.

"What is it?" Ye Chong asked keenly, trying to keep up with situation.

"They're secretly building warships!" Shang explained casually.

"Oh, warships, no wonder they're so secretive," Ye Chong replied with similar lightness. For the average person, this was definitely news of earth-shattering importance. To both of them, however, with their experience in dealing with a warship themselves, the news was not much of a surprise.

"Officially, they're a massive group that produce mechs, the Prometheus Group, which also produces the Matte mech series. Ye, you must be familiar with this series. The main purpose of this place is as an information center, and the people here are mainly responsible for its security. Tsk tsk, the warship plans are deplorable, compared to the MPA's Twin Moon Corvette, theirs suck. Er, there are also some classified documents here. Sigh, as expected, I say, the manager here is too reckless, murdering the person that was the backbone of their organization, it's no wonder their technical expertise is so inadequate right now. Poor man, that Gao Shichang, to be set up and murdered like that!" Shang shook his head.

"Gao Shichang?" Ye Chong jerked like he was struck by lightning, and felt blood rushing to his head. "What did you say? Shang, say that again!" Ye Chong hoarse and low voice was overwhelmed with emotions.

Shang was obviously shocked. "Ye, what's with you? Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere? Is it another episode?"

"Shang, say that again!" Ye Chong growled lowly like a beast cornering his prey.

Shang could not understand, and could only do as he was told. "They're cover is Prometheus …"

"Not that, what you said later!" Ye Chong cut Shang off rudely.

"The one about Gao Shichang being set up?" Shang asked Ye Chong, perplexed.

"Gao Shichang … Gao Shichang … Gao Shichang …" Ye Chong muttered quietly to himself, his eyes glowing with reminiscence as bits and pieces of his life on the trash planet became clearer and clearer in his mind, the clearest of which was the thin, gentle figure who liked to see him smile.

"You know Gao Shichang?" Shang asked, surprised.

"Gao Shichang … Gao Shichang …" Ye Chong muttered, "Papa is called Gao Shichang …"

"Ah!" It was Shang's turn to gasp in surprise. When he and Mu got to know Ye Chong, he was already living by himself. They only knew that Ye Chong had a father, but did not know that his name was Gao Shichang.

"Papa was set up and murdered! Papa was set up and murdered!"

That phrase repeated itself over and over in Ye Chong's mind. His usually rock solid heart was now throbbing with pain.

"Ah, Ye, get out right now, someone's coming!" Shang urged.

Ye Chong was lost in his thoughts, and did not seem to hear the mech.

Shang panicked. "Ye, get out of there now! Or you'll be found out!" Seeing Ye Chong still in a trance, Shang slowed down and said, "Ye, don't think too much about it, didn't Papa and you lived together for years? His death was something you witnessed, maybe it's just a coincidence!"

Shang's words brought Ye Chong out of his trance. Indeed, he had lived with Papa for years and years, and had buried the man himself. Perhaps it was just a case of two people sharing the same name.

Shang hastened him. "Ye, get out right now, if you're discovered, all our efforts will be wasted. I will find out everything about your Papa, so don't worry, Mu will also help out. Besides, even if you want revenge for your Papa, let's first deal with the current situation!"

Ye Chong had already mostly recovered from his initial shock. As he calmed down and began to think, he found himself agreeing with Shang. Whatever the truth was, he should first deal with the current ordeal.

Once he decided, Ye Chong hesitated no further. He pushed himself up and out of his seat, and bounced off his seat like a monkey. At the same time, the pilot's cabin door opened up, Mu and Shang cooperating with him seamlessly. The ceiling grew nearer and nearer and, just as he was about to hit the ceiling, Ye Chong gave a gentle push with his hands against the ceiling. His arms bent at the elbows like springs, and straightened again!

Ye Chong rode with the momentum and landed at an even higher speed. He withdrew Shang even before his feet touched the ground. Just as he landed, Ye Chong contracted his abdominal muscles and bent down, landing on all fours like a cat, and just as silently.

Ye Chong stood up just when the door to his room opened.

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Chapter 195: Brewing Storm XI

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The one who entered was Lan Yixing. Lan Yixing took a look at Ye Chong and said, "Mo Fei, come with me." He then left the room.

"Okay." Ye Chong replied and followed. Ye Chong was still distracted by the information he just found out. Lan Yixing noticed his usually steady apprentice's demeanor and was quite surprised.

"What happened?" Lan Yixing may have asked calmly, but one could read the concern in his tone. In truth, Lan Yixing was satisfied with this student of his - hardworking without complaint, and diligent in his training. While his innate talent was lacking, quite a ways from Lan Yixing's ideal student, he understood that talent was not something one could control.

If he continued training like this, his effort would make up for it. Lan Yixing believed that this student of his would succeed him and pass down his skills. As for whether he could attain Jie, that was up to faith. After all, the path towards attaining Jie depended not only on effort, but also on luck and innate talent.

"Nothing." Ye Chong replied dismissively, still occupied with his thoughts. His mind was still in a whirl. The new information had delivered a heavy blow to him. Compared to his new discovery, the MPA and Black Cove had nothing on it!

Fortunately, Ye Chong had good self control, and managed to maintain his basic rationale despite the situation.

Lan Yixing saw that Ye Chong did not wish to share his thoughts, and did not pursue further, only adding, "If you have any issues that you can't solve alone, let me know."

Ye Chong nodded, and felt his heart warmed up. Based on Shang and Mu's investigation, Lan Yixing had a good relationship with the local authorities, so he could actually do something for Ye Chong if needed. However, Ye Chong's problem was one that he could not help with. Besides, if Papa was really framed and murdered, Ye Chong would take care of it himself. He was confident in his abilities to do at least that much.

Lan Yixing headed outwards without a word, and Ye Chong did not question him, the two men occupied with their own thoughts.

When Ye Chong came to, he found himself out in the open on the streets, amongst pedestrians. Ye Chong paused, startled. Heavens, how did he arrive here on the streets?

The streets was not a good place for Ye Chong at the moment. From his last encounter with Black Cove's Cosmic Flare, he understood that Black Cove was determined to get him this time. To think that Black Cove would openly search the streets for him against their usual secretive nature. It was a real possibility for him to see Black Cove mechs on the streets at any time.

Shang's warning had him drenched in cold sweat.

"Ye, careful, 45 degrees from the radius vector, 20 kilometers from here, there are two MPA mechs, Messengers."

Ye Chong felt his muscles tensed up. If anything went wrong, he would deploy Guardian and get the hell out of there.

However, Shang's next warning made Ye Chong pale. "Ye, careful, 77 degrees from the radius vector, 23 kilometers from here, there are two Sanctuary mechs, Dawns."

Ye Chong nearly stumbled. Heavens, he was running out of luck today.

Shang reminded him, "Ye, relax, you'll get noticed if you're too nervous. They probably haven't found you yet."

Ye Chong heaved a breath of relief at Shang's words.

However, Shang immediately followed up urgently with words that filled Ye Chong with a sense of foreboding, "Ye, careful 35 kilometers straight head, two of Black Cove's Cosmic Flares are coming this way."

Ye Chong was ready to deploy Han Jia now. Now that the threat was well defined, Ye Chong became calmer somehow. His face betrayed no fear or uncertainty, only his pulse quickened slightly, not out of fear, but of excitement at the imminent battle!

"Hmph, these mechs are not enough to contain me!" He thought. However, he also knew that once he engaged with these mechs, he would also be the target of the formidable backup force that came with them. As for whether the mechs from the Three Forces would take turns or work together in engaging him, that was no longer an important concern.

He knew that if he could not even handle these mechs, he would not stand a chance.

Shang suddenly spoke up, "Ye, calm down."

"What?" Ye Chong asked, but he was already relaxing inside. Even if Shang was usually a barrel of laughs, he would never joke in these situations.

Shang spoke with some uncertainty, "Ye, they are probably not working together." Then, as though he figured out something, Shang continued excitedly, "Yes, they are not working together. I say, they all seem to be on high alert. Hehe, Ye, they must have noticed each other hehe, get ready for showtime. We might be able to see a battle between the Three Forces."

A battle between the Three Forces was filled with uncertainties. None of the mech pilots would act hastily to trigger it. Their understanding of every other party's skills and weaknesses were enough to make them wary of each other.

The command section from each of the three parties received their reports at roughly the same time, and issued the same command to retreat.

This was the first time the Three Forces encountered each other directly on Windstar.

Of the three commanding officers, the one who was most troubled was Hak. They had lost one mech without knowing who the culprit was. With two of the Cosmic Flares safely returned, he felt consoled slightly. The situation on Windstar was turning complicated quickly. Maintaining the strength of his forces was the only way to secure his power on the planet, and not be the first of the Three Forces to retreat.

Just then, the holographic news flash on his desk reported, "At 9 o'clock this morning, we will witness the opening of the largest martial arts tournament in the history of Windstar. What you're watching now is a traditional martial art performance. This classical demonstration reminds us of the glorious days past when traditional martial art flourished …"

"Martial arts?" Hak twisted his lip in disdain. How could those flowery moves be considered as combat moves? It was his belief that Black Cove was the only true combat expert. The skills he picked up in the past at that place were enough to make anyone in the Five Galaxies envious! Perhaps, that was the only place that could give birth to real combat experts! While he was only allowed three weeks of training there, it was now difficult to find any opponents worthy of his attention. Hak felt a sudden wave of emotions - how could these people understand the true strength of Black Cove?

Looking at the performances in the holographic feed, Hak felt like he was only watching a bunch of clowns on stage, and turned off the holographic news flash out of disgust. The media only knew to exaggerate, and was not worthy of his time. He should focus on planning for the situation at hand, and not watching a bunch of clowns.

The martial arts tournament was only briefly covered in the holographic news flash, an indication of just how removed martial arts was from society. "Combat expert" was an unfamiliar term to most people, an almost archaic occupation. Compared to the annual mech pilot tournament, this was barely worth mentioning.

However, in the world of combat, the event was momentous.

Most of the older generation in the world of combat could not remember the last time such a grand tournament was held. The organizer this time was the Tian Hua dojo. Invitation was delivered not only to almost all dojos on Windstar, but also to famous combat experts on other planets. The tournament was organized with unprecedented splendor, but it still could not hide the awkward fact of the art's decline.

Ye Chong sighed in relief as the mechs from the Three Forces retreated. Lan Yixing continued forward without stopping.

Ye Chong could only follow him and hope that they would reach their destination quickly, finish their business and return to the dojo as soon as possible. Wandering outside made him nervous. He tried to guess Lan Yixing's intentions in bringing him outdoors, but could not make neither head nor tail of it. In the end, he gave up and settled on simply following Lan Yixing.

"Huh, is this not the way to Tian Hua dojo?"

He went there with Hua Shangmei last time, and now Ye Chong's excellent sense of direction reminded him of the fact.

"Shang, why do you think he's going to the Tian Hua dojo?" Ye Chong chatted with Shang, unwilling to dwell on the issue regarding Papa. This was not the time to be distracted, and Ye Chong must be prepared for any eventuality.

"Hehe, I know why, but I'm not telling!" Shang laughed cunningly, filling Ye Chong with dread.

Ye Chong kept quiet. Usually, Shang would give in to temptation and tell in the end. This time, however, Shang seemed quite determined and said nothing more, laughing devilishly all the while Ye Chong felt increasingly nervous. Nonetheless, Shang's antic successfully distracted Ye Chong away from thoughts of his Papa.

Tian Hua dojo looked very different now. It was redecorated with vintage motives, bringing its visitors one large step back in time. A large holographic screen was affixed on top of the main entrance, showing a youth in white demonstrating a series of combat moves, his movements natural like flowing water, a harmonious blend of ying and yang, incorporating beauty and strength.

Wasn't that Hua Shangmei? Ye Chong recognized the man in white garb instantly.

Hua Shangmei was a handsome man, and now looked even more elegant and dashing. In the holographic display were also a crowd of ladies watching Hua Shangmei with mesmerized eyes, occasionally squealing in excitement.

The students of Tian Hua dojo stood in two lines before the main entrance with discipline, all dressed in white. Hua Tiankai's eldest student, Zheng Zhongxing stood by the door and smiled as he greeted the visiting combat experts. There was another door at the side for the audience. Anyone would enter and watch the performances and matches for free.

Ye Chong was developing a headache just by watching the large crowd. It was not that he never encountered grand events like this, but this was the worst possible moment to get involved.

Somehow, Shang's devilish laughter seemed to suggest something else beyond that crowd. The mech only laughed, pleased with himself.

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Chapter 196: Brewing Storm XII

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The saving grace was how Lan Yixing was a mere owner of a mere dojo to the eyes of the public. His title of "Lan family of September" would only be effective to one who was well-aware of its existence like Rui Bing. The hospitality Lan Yixing received was not as great, and could be said was a total mismatch to his strength. He was naturally a person of low-profile however and that would be helpful for he was very much prepared this time, striving to bombard the crowd towards the end of the tournament to grab their attention, the later the stronger the effect.

As the participation was overwhelming and had gone beyond Hua Tiankai's expectation, helplessly he also opened up the training room right next to the reception hall to accommodate the guests. Lan Yixing on the other hand, led Ye Chong to sat at one quiet corner of the hall.

"Shang, so this is the tournament between martial artists?" asked Ye Chong as he was left with an impression that Shang had somehow mentioned something like a fighting tournament on Windstar before.

"Mhm," replied Shang.

Frankly speaking, Ye Chong was still a little intrigued of this mentioned tournament. After witnessing the capabilities of Lan Yixing, Ye Chong no longer held even a bit of disdain towards the martial arts practitioners from the 5 major galaxies. Imagining the fearsome dragons and tigers lurking in this hall, Ye Chong could tell some of them could be potentially on par with the experts at Black Coves.

Ye Chong was also highly confident of his learning ability, considering that with the involvement at the tournament this time, one could tell the speeding up benefits for his skills.

There were uninvited guests from the other planets, the dojo owner realized that and would like to express his respect towards them, as he called over one man to break the wall between the reception hall and the temporary hall. One buffed man with a tanned face offered his help proactively, one fist landed to the wall and it began cracking like a spider web, which soon collapsed into countless specks, piling a tiny ruin.

The punch had won over the thunderous applause of the entire hall.

"Such an attention seeker," disdained Shang. "You even want to flaunt wall-breaking? Ye, his punch is even worse than the one you did last time. Man, talking about beginners, they have seen nothing." That punch Shang quoted was from the time when Ye Chong broke the metallic gate in a spaceship barehanded. With his current strength, he was hardly interested in such a performer's kind of behavior. Similarly, Lan Yixing who shared the same impression, carried on sipping that cup of tea he had been sipping since forever.

Well, that very punch made by that tanned face man obviously had stirred the emotion of the crowds, giving them expectation towards the tournament this time.

Both Lan Yixing and Ye Chong sat at the corner. They recognized nobody from the crowd. They put up their ultimate straight face. No doubt, nobody would bother to take the initiative to talk to them. Meanwhile, Hua Tiankai, being the host of the tournament, had become busier than the bees, more occupied than the waiter at the restaurant where Ye Chong was in, of course he would not remember Lan Yixing being there.

"Hah!" Shang shrieked excitingly, "I knew it!"

"What?" asked Ye Chong in confusion.

"What else? It's Bing! Bing! Your Bing Bing yeah! Ye, move your eyes to the table at the center, what did you see over there? Did you see it? Wow, B-i-n-g-B-i-n-g…" The flooding excitement seemed to have jammed his audio-producing system… Ye Chong seriously hoped that.

His heart pumped hard once, as the silhouette of her wavy white garb flashed in his head. Well that was just one hard pump. Shang had already informed him the name of the girl being Rui Bing. What has Rui Bing to do with me though? That was the first thought sprouting in his head.

Nonetheless, the admiration lingered. Her standard of combats, her spirit of perseverance, and her demureness of posture, in that grace of eternity, those had left impressions in him.

He glanced at the direction of Rui Bing. That girl in her white garb was still her old self. Her posture on the seat did not even change, although that Wei Yuan by her side was a tiny surprise to him.

Speaking of Wei Yuan, he had been a headache to Hua Tiankai and his apprentices, for he had been somehow glued to Rui Bing since ages. It was Rui Bing who accepted his entry out of sympathy for his young age and pitiful look. She took good care of him. Wei Yuan had been staying with his father back when he was much younger, certainly he would have never experienced that nurturing aspect of a family. Towards Rui Bing's motherly care, he was touched, thus his obedience day by day. They gradually grew on each other and Wei Yuan even requested Rui Bing to be his sister at one point, well, she nodded her head happily.

Rui Bing immediately discovered his role in this brother-and-sister relationship for somehow Wei Yuan detected her distastefulness towards those guys under Hua Tiankai. As soon as Hua Shangmei and his brothers in apprenticeship came to Rui Bing, Wei Yuan would jump into action and disrupt the entire scene, which was driving these boys crazy yet they were incapable of doing anything in the situation. And Rui Bing's residence was enjoying better serenity than before.

The reality was, Wei Yuan identified Sister Bing surely being someone related to YC. Furthermore, those pretentious behavior of the boys were disgusting him. He feared Sister Bing losing something in the end, thus his disruption, joining the fun. It was partially out of his sense of protectiveness towards Sister Bing and the other half being the exaltation towards YC.

Thanks to Sister Bing, he managed to become the guest at the centermost table.

"Oh, Bing Bing, Ye… It's *your* Bing Bing…" Shang sounded like he was moaning.

That was peculiar to Ye Chong's ears, for he wondered what had made the artificial indulgence even more indulgent today, "Shang, according to the all the information I had been given at the moment, she does not seem to share any kind of relationship with me, but why do you keep saying that she's mine the whole time?"

"Hah!" Chuckled Shang, "Ye, you would not have understood. It's a woman after all, a deep study of life. She had already made her statement remember? She would marry no other man than you! Do you really think our Bing Bing would be telling a lie?"

"*Our* Bing Bing? Shang, your statement is contradicting!" reminded Ye Chong.

"Kek! Ye, aren't what yours ours as well?" rebutted Shang.

Ye Chong agreed, "If she is truly mine, then your statement would make sense." And he tried his very best to find the tape of that very moment of his life and replay it to see if he missed any- "But she does not seem to have mentioned something like marrying no other man than me. She only said she wanted me to marry her."

Oh the pride in Shang's laugh, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ye, you seriously need to study more romance movies. Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is an effective rite of passage of humanity, the path to the colorful life. Once you got to my place, heh! With my level, clearly you would understand what '*our* Bing Bing' mean… Hehehehehe!"

"I see." Ye Chong could not comprehend a word Shang said as usual. Even though he was speaking English, it unavoidably gave him headache in the end. To retain his sanity, he chose to end the topic.

Since he had been sitting at the corner and Rui Bing never had the habit of looking around, absolutely not once she would notice that cold man. Surprisingly Wei Yuan had the habit, as he set his eyes upon everything around, they were so exciting! "I mean, look at those colorful mechs!" It was a shame for he only recognized mechs and not… humans.

Soon, the tournament commenced!

There were several sections in this tournament. It would begin with a group performance of trainees from Tianhua dojo, then the competition itself, followed by the exchange of the latest mech combats and lastly the explanation from the Master, being the drum-roll of the show.

The group performance was not impressive in the eyes of the experts. It was as if they were watching a bunch of dolls waving their limbs with the unnecessary heyhoos. The outsiders were enjoying every bit of the show however, it was lively and able to capture their interests on martial arts.

The first section was unquestionably successful, judging by the thrilled applause from the audience, with ear-piercing whistle and scream. The experts at the seat felt proud of the reaction as they straightened their back and set off an expression of their prime.

Ye Chong at the corner was enjoying his corner, not the show at all. He was in dead serious wonders on why it took forever for Lan Yixing to finish his tea. Shang in his head was laughing in an odd mechanical utterance. Sounds like a short-circuit or Shang was literally laughing blankly in his head he thought.

The competition part was the main event, the eye-catcher of them all. The participants were of great amount, considering how this would be the one-and-only golden opportunity for them to experience the kicks and punches pulled by the others. There were even a handful of fighters coming across the galaxies just to attend the tournament today.

The training room was renovated for the competition purposes and was furnished with a number of devices of advanced technology to allow the audience to view the field from all sorts of angles in clarity throughout the event. It seemed like Tianhua dojo had dumped in a large portion of their savings in this, with those hologramic projectors of the latest models in all sizes scattered at every corner of the stage. Every spectator was also given a helmet at their seat to choose the match they desired via signal transmittance.

The tournament this time was also the pioneer to martial arts streaming on the Virtual World network, though there were only 3 channels, Hua Tiankai tried his best.

An exciting teaser of martial arts was played and everyone had their blood boiling.

The sharp chimes of the copper bells clouded the galaxy with a sense of the ancient, informing the crowd that the match commencing.

The seniority at the seat were nodding their heads in the dark, as fascinated by the capabilities of this master in producing the right atmosphere.

The panel of judges of the tournament this time consisted of the few celebs or true experts among the martial artists, and here Rui Bing was, sitting by the table, being the only female at the panel. One could tell the inferiority of females in the field.

That was none of Ye Chong's concern however, as his eyes fixed upon the matching participants. These participants were quite peculiar, with drastically different age groups and color of their apparels. Their movements were the most peculiar in his eyes, with most of them being never-before-seen to him.

Ye Chong in his helmet was selecting the match he found interests in. He had to admit that the latest model was the latest after all, for it could capture the frames at the highest definition possible, expressing details at its finest.

Like that rather underweight man for instance, his movement was inspiring. His body moved like a spinning top in the air of a great velocity, which formed an reinforcing airflow on his kick, moving like a whip. Once he hit the opponent he would grab that inertia to turn the tide of his.

His opponent was a tall, bulky man, who backed off consecutively as hit by his kick.

Such movement was the eye-opener to Ye Chong, as he complimented in his thoughts to express his amazement. This was a prime example of employing all the strength throughout his body to fight the foe while utilizing inertias in brilliance to make motions and changes in his moves. He would then become unpredictable to the foes. Brilliant!

Of course, such move was hardly a threat to Ye Chong, as he could simply think of more than 10 methods to solve this puzzle. But that did not necessarily kill his admiration towards it.

There were too many matches going on simultaneously with dazzling techniques being never-before-seen. He eventually requested Shang to record everything at once and intended to check them out after the match ended.

Ye Chong was fully occupied to the match as he disregarded the flow of time. Out of sudden, a tap on his shoulder woke him.

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Chapter 197: Brewing Storm XIII

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Follow me," Lan Yixing's voice rang before his ears.

Ye Chong removed his helmet hurriedly. The helmet was indeed a product of the advanced technology, such astonishing capability of dissociating the viewer's senses from the outside world.

Before both of them came to a realization, the tournament had already arrived at the final match of the day. Every final match of the day would be considered as the show of the day, where Tianhua dojo would arrange two ace martial artists fighting against each other, which one of them happened to be Lan Yixing for today.

For the sense of majesty, the match would be carried out at the enormous colosseum which was usually used for major mech combats. This colosseum also happened to be the grandest field of Tinahua dojo, which its length and width both happened to be 3km respectively and the field was bounded by the spectator area. That sounded dangerous indeed. To cope with the possibilities of how the parts of exploded mechs would be flying at the spectators, the whole battleground was capsuled inside a protective field. The colosseum was another huge investment by Hua Tiankai even way before mech combats became a thing in his field. People would truly compliment his prescience and daring decision.

The spectator area was empty however. Considering how the schedule was a pretty tight one for the day and how it would cost some time for the audience to shift themselves between venues, eventually everyone succumbed to viewing the match via the projector or the helmet, including those judges at the table. It was inevitable keeping in mind that the colosseum was pretty distant from their seat. Tianhua dojo had taken that into account, no worries. Hundreds of sets of cameras were installed at every corner inside the colosseum. The audience could just feel the match right on their seat. If this was not a grand setting, what would be?

Lan Yixing, with his boy Ye Chong had entered the preparation room. Every participant would do their stretching or warming up here. There was a long narrow corridor which would lead them to the field directly.

"I'm going," stated the master.

"Alright," replied Ye Chong nonchalantly.

Lan Yixing glanced at Ye Chong, "You are the most diligent among all the apprentices I had so far. You are here to witness what true martial arts is." The tone was indifferent as usual, but Ye Chong could discern the underlying passion. Lan Yixing was like a legendary dragon long sealed underground, and at that moment he would erupt and show them what tyranny truly was!

Ye Chong, in response, did not say a word. He only nodded his head, expressing curiosity towards the level of his master. He had yet seen his master in actual action other than teaching him a few tricks. His master had always been keeping everything under his sleeves.

"Ye." Shang spoke, "His opponent is one by the name of Zuo Ling." Zuo Ling? That's a new name. It was not surprising to see Ye Chong responding so, since he was a newbie in the field. He barely knew anything about the artists. His mind could go blank if he were asked to name a few martial artists. Mu had once searched for information on close-combats in Virtual World yet similarly he had hardly any knowledge. Shang? Nevermind.

Coincidentally, a trainee from Tianhua dojo came into the scene, "Master Lan," courteously he spoke, "You are the 77th seeded player in this match. According to the outcome of randomized matchup performed by our processor, your opponent would be the 1st seeded player, namely Zuo Ling."

"Zuo? That's his surname? Zuo Ling?" asked Lan Yixing. His soulless, dark eyes were suddenly lit by something as lustrous they grew. The wrinkles on his forehead twitched a little. Such detail did not escape Ye Chong's eyes, as he wondered if Lan Yixing had something to do with Zuo Ling.

"Zuo family of Tian Luo?" The corners of his eyes twitched.

The trainee reacted in shock, "You knew the family too? I thought my brothers were pulling my legs when I heard it. So the family does exist? Are they really that great?"

"Yes," expressionlessly he replied.

"So they are truly great…" The trainee's face was filled with astonishment, "Well, you could prepare yourself at the moment. You may enter the field once prompted by the tune and announcement. Good luck." He left the room afterwards.

"Zuo family! It really is the Zuo family… is this what they called 'fate'?" Lan Yixing raised his head upon the ceiling, muttered, with a droplet of tear rolling from the eyes' corners. Ye Chong of course was astounded by the act.

He regained his calmness very soon after. He turned to Ye Chong, his eyes were grim. A moment lapsed and he finally spoke, "Go to my room, on the second drawer from your left, there would be a red microchip inside, which contains all techniques from the Lan family. You get it right after the match begins and leave Windstar the quickest as possible, the farthest as possible! Never be caught by the Zuo family. Never." His tone was flat, as if it had nothing to do with himself.

"He's making a will," reminded Shang, as he immediately deciphered the underlying meaning.

"Why?" Ye Chong agreed to Shang's judgement as he asked quickly.

"Merely because he's one of the Zuo family." The words came calmly. Ding! Dong! An electronic tune played, "Mr. Lan Yixing, Mr. Lan Yixing, No.77, please enter the field right away."

He turned away, headed to the corridor, "Make sure the Lan family techniques remain till the end of time." And he disappeared at the glaring end of the corridor.

"This old guy probably has some issues with Zuo family. And the issues must be really, really bad." Mumbled Shang and he became excited out of sudden, "Ye, let's head back and grab the chip! Hehehehe, that's an excellent item you know what!"

"No," he disagreed as he shook his head. "We will go, after the match."

"Oh, fine. This is in fact a match between the real deals. Would be a waste if we just miss it."

"Shang…"

"Yes, Ye?"

"Could you control all the cameras in the dojo?"

"I could… but why? Do you have the need to do so?"

"Yes, just seize the control for now…"

The spacious ground glistered by the spotlight at every corner. The two participants stood face to face. That well-trained body of theirs suddenly felt so tiny on the field. The field was for mech combats after all, the spectator's area was a little far away from the field. If anyone were to watch the match at the seat, he or she would probably only see two dots jumping around. This was also why Hua Tiankai decided to use the eyes of the cameras instead, which gave a much better view.

Lan Yixing shot cold stares at the man before him. Zuo Ling was still he himself, with that apparel of his, exposing half of his chest, flashing that iron hard muscles along with that easy smile on his face. The female spectators were screaming in their helmets.

Compared to Zuo Ling the macho guy, Lan Yixing was just a normal middle-aged man one could see every dusk on the street.

"Zuo family from Tian Luo galaxy?" Initiated Lan Yixing.

"Yes," flinched slightly Zuo Ling, for the foe before him actually being able to identify his background at first glance. "And you are…?" He would not want to be reckless on this middle-aged man, in delay he asked.

"Hehe, Zuo family from Tian Luo galaxy, I had heard of names of your family. What a grand family back then." His laugh was more terrifying than crying, as his expressionless face being squeezed into something a monster would shriek upon.

Zuo Ling captured the meaning right away. This man before him must have had bad blood with his family before. He took a careful glance at the man yet his mind could not get him a name. He did remember the trainee informing him that his foe happened to be Mr. Lan… something Lan…

Wait, Lan? Astounded Zuo Ling, "You are the Lan family of September?"

"Such memory for the family who actually remembers a nobody like ours. Hehe, it took me forever to hide from the family yet here I am today, right in front of another Zuo. Fate is capricious indeed," Lan Yixing stared as he spoke word by word.

Zuo Ling's heart pumping hard, since he was very much knowledgeable of the history of his family. Of course he was informed about the case with Lan family. Back during the prime time of Zuo family, in motivation of expanding the forces of his family, the members started plundering upon the other families in the dark, including the Lan family of September, which their muscle control techniques were the killer moves on their list. Zuo family did attempt a variety of test in imitating the technique but the development turned out to be rather insignificant. In the end, they took action, a radical action.

The Lan family was not the grand kind of family one would expect from movies, although they held members of an amount of hundred. Wait… based on the records of our family, under the magnificent plan of the operation, the family was plundered, members had been completely annihilated. There should not have survivors. Did my ancestors miss someone out? The operation was not a total success in fact, since the ultimate technique of the Lan family never came into their hands. They left the scene with a tiny clusters of microchips eventually. Nevertheless, those were more than enough for the family to make significant development in muscle control.

The irony was, when Zuo family expected the next era being theirs, the field of martial arts started degrading during the continuous raise of pilots in the galaxy, which lastly conquered the galaxy in absolution. The Zuos realized how the techniques were kept deep inside their zipped mouth. The techniques were locked up and never taught to the following generation. The microchips became the junk piling on the ground. Most of their own techniques had been lost from generation to generation. The family had broken down.

Zuo Ling could not really feel the tension from the record. He could feel the imperialism behind the plunder and conquer of his family however. He saw the need in it judging by the era in the past. The only confusing part was the man before him still had that hatred from generations before. Those plunder-and-conquer, bloodshed and murder were none other than historical incident to him, something already far and incomprehensible.

Well, no matter what, he was born under the Zuo family and he shouldered the honor of his family. Since he had come across a nemesis on such a formal occasion, alright then, he should be speaking with his strength, which he had great confidence of. The Lan family shall once again lose against the Zuo family, thought the man proudly.

Lan Yixing's face returned to its calmer state as he took off the shirt he had been wearing all day long. And that was the moment of silence where everyone shut their mouth, including the judge, who were exchanging whispers vigorously at their table. Gasps were heard.

They simply did not expect Lan Yixing's physique to be such a view… Not the slightest sight of the normal bits of muscle was seen on his body. His body was connected with bundles of strands of tendons about the width of thumb. It looked like countless yellowish brown snakes slithering over his body at one glance. The shape of the bundles was clear and obviously strong, that no one would doubt the strength within.

Even Ye Chong dropped his jaws. It was the first time he saw such abnormal form of muscles on a living man. He got to admit, such an appearance could provide actual visual impact to humanity.

Zuo Ling on the other hand lost the color of his face. Among every witness to such anomaly, he was probably the only one who recognized the threat those bundles could pull off. Most importantly, the muscles presented the man's identity being the Jie expert, one who stood on top of his own field, the Jie expert of the Lan family… such appearance. Zuo Ling suffered the loss of confidence this drastically the first time.

Lan Yixing stood there. His expression stayed still. He had hidden his capabilities for long enough and today would be the day where he would disregard everything else and solve this resentment once and for all.

Both of them got into position. Not a single word was spoken.

The copper bell chimed long and gracefully. That clear sound resounded at the spacious field.

Almost simultaneously, both of them acted like two strikes of lightning as they crashed into each other. Wham! One thunderous roar, both of them switched positions right away, as if they had read moves of each other.

Both of their moves went so rapid that the audience could not capture the frames with their eyes. Gasps were even heard from the panel.

Ye Chong right at the side of the field had witnessed everything clearly. Both of them had exchanged fists and kicks 22 times upon contact. As they went so fast, audience could only capture that one wham, which in actuality was a heavy stack of 22 whams.

Zuo Ling was put into such disadvantage on the first match. One could tell that from that shaking left arm of his. With that master control of Lan Yixing over his own muscles, a crash would be the best way to begin the match, even Ye Chong could know a few methods to magnify the strength in seconds by times. Utilizing the knowledge with that bundles of alien flesh of his, Ye Chong would also be in slight fear.

Zuo Ling did not panic however. His expression was calmer than water as he lifted his right arm and formed a blade. His left arm rested behind his back, his leg slightly crossed… yes, it was a strange posture indeed.

Lan Yixing treated the action with nonchalance as the muscles on his shoulders wriggled disturbingly. Underneath the tight pants of his, the muscles were expanding. The audience could see the frightening strength in the muscles. Lan Yixing looked as if he had redistributed muscles of his entire body over the limbs. That lost in proportion was bizarre to Ye Chong as he turned deaf over Shang's commentary.

A true fearsome manipulation over muscles! Fiasco brewed at the seats right when such a groundbreaking phenomenon happened, which science was disobeyed, burnt and tossed away.

The fighters on their seat were holding their breath in tension, as they anticipated the next move.

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Chapter 198: Brewing Storm XIV

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Jie expert!" a shriek escaped from one of the handsome fighters at the seat, shattering the dead silent of the spectator area.

Jie expert, the advanced form of the one in combats, possesses a kind of unique ability, like that attack from Rui Bing on Ye Chong back then, where he could feel being constricted by something. That was none other than a type of pressure exerted on his mentality, his body was as sound as one could imagine.

Jie experts were uncommon. And according to records, their abilities were even more uncommon, bizarre one could comment as.

Jie expert? Jie expert! They really exist! Every fighter on the ground stood up. Ever since the fall of their era, Jie expert had become the myth of their field. One mere fighter from a mere dojo could never have a chance to see a Jie expert in his or her entire life, although most likely they were just unaware of their existence. The population of Jie experts was far more motivating than they imagined. It was not surprising since this was an era where pilots flew in flocks on their mechs at the sky. The number had grown scarce, especially when their martial art techniques could be put hardly in other purposes than fighting itself. In the end martial arts practitioners would only be the bodyguards of some public figures. Moreover, these experts were isolated by nature, they would hide their abilities from people. So folks like spectators there might spend their entire life of not seeing the true practitioner like the Jie expert.

A battle between the Jie experts was already not something common one could see even during the prime time of martial artists. Such occasion on the stage currently was something once a hundred years probably.

The right palm of Zuo Ling transformed into a peculiar dark green which began spreading to his arms at a discernible rate.

Lan Yixing lowered his legs, squatted slightly, with his eyes on Zuo Ling.

He screamed! The air vibrated in waves, rolling over the surrounding. The definition of the cameras was great enough to capture the details of the waves.

The practitioners in their helmet were breathing in fear for one scream from a Jie expert could be this earth shattering.

The folks on the spectator's area was stupefied as if they were viewing an action film made out of CGI.

Ye Chong's pupils shrunk drastically, as his eyes could discern that wriggling movement of Lan Yixing's muscles on his thigh even underneath the tightened pants.

Lan Yixing's legs charged up.

W-

It's too fast! It was astonishing even for a running man like Ye Chong as he realized with his speed he could at most touch the afterimages of Lan Yixing.

Lan Yixing launched himself like a cannonball and came before Zuo Ling in split seconds. That dark greenness of his palm had only grown over his elbow.

One violent punch! No technique, merely strength and velocity, coming from Lan Yixing under that enlarged arm of his wobbling vigorously. Ye Chong wondered if he could even take that punch in whole piece.

Zuo Ling clearly did not reckon such velocity from a middle aged man like Lan Yixing.

In panic his right palm slashed nothing as his body backed off swiftly.

Clink! A sound of hitting the metal resounded in the place, in the heart of the people.

Zuo Ling clumsily backed off. His face completely drained. That punch did not land with no harm. Ye Chong was in disbelief however, as that very punch Lan Yixing had pulled, judging by its impulsive force, could shatter even a door of titanium, let alone a fleshy arm. But… But Zuo Ling's right arm was still intact. Ye Chong raised his brows.

Lan Yixing did not perform his next move immediately as he stood still before Zuo Ling, staring at that greenish right arm of his, "So this is one of the techniques your family has developed from Lan family's muscle control I supposed. Such a shame that your family had never obtained the complete text, what they have speculated was a total mess."

His voice trailed off as he jumped forward, although he did not reuse that peculiar technique of his just now. Ye Chong supposed that technique to be rather consuming to Lan Yixing.

Well, the master was in fact a master, afterall. He did a few normal moves, of masterly execution. Every move was performed flawlessly on spot, with that muscles of his waving in minuscule scope. Producing an explosive strength even on the micro level, it wowed Ye Chong.

Zuo Ling only regained his consciousness by then. He wielded that eerie looking arm of his glowing in dark green, the left arm at his back to be ready for any cheating move coming from the back. His style was as hard as Lan Yixing, as his knuckle was launched. The exchange of fists and kicks started once more, a satisfying sight to the practitioners on their seat. Those advanced practitioners however were in worry as the competition had become a competition of blood in their eyes. They feared the match would not end till one of them had their blood spilling on the ground and collapsed. If there was casualty right on the first day of the tournament, the tournament would be impacted negatively.

Hua Tiankai got up from his seat first off. Being the host of the tournament this time, he shall never allow casualty to happen. He walked to Rui Bing, who felt his movement from the back as she sprang up from her seat upon realizing it was her uncle.

"Bing my girl, they are going to hurt themselves if this goes on. I want them to stop the match right now, but I think they would not be convinced so easily, so I would like you to give this uncle of yours a little help," stated Hua Tiankai.

"Okay," she nodded her head.

"Hey, Sister Bing…" Wei Yuan snugged upon her at the side, "Tag me along." Of course he would not miss the opportunity to watch the martial arts exchange in closeup, especially when he could watch his runner-up idol, Sister Bing (of course the first would be always YC) in action. He would kill just to get there.

The field had transformed into something else right at the moment.

Lan Yixing's knuckles had the velocity increased strenuously, that it felt like a carbon copy of his ultimate before, only it behaved more partially and abruptly in silence.

The afterimages, in Ye Chong's eyes, had reappeared. He anticipated the acceleration this time. As he was watching the match from a unique angle, he could clearly discern the fists of Lan Yixing, which the bundles of muscles squirmed like a group of snakes on his shoulder, all towards his arm. They squirmed so quickly that it felt like speed of lightning compared to the obvious charging-up action Lan Yixing performed before.

The fist directly hit on Zuo Ling's chest as he failed to dodge. Crack. Ye Chong could hear the bones breaking.

The applause at the spectator's area had transfigured into uncontrollable shrieks of fear. Right when they assumed Zuo Ling to be a gone case of the match, that left arm hidden behind his back finally came into action. That hammer-fist Lan Yixing landed on his chest, his eyes lustered as his chest softened dramatically like bog. Lan Yixing was confused by that sensation, it was as if he was smashing on a knead of dough.

Lan Yixing's punch was still mightier, even if Zuo Ling had relaxed his muscles significantly. He whimpered in pain as he held his left arm wrapped upon Lan Yixing's right hand like a strap of vines.

Such reflexivity. He broke the laws of anatomy and had somehow transformed into a mollusk.

The green color on his face flashed as his left arm of constriction also turned as dark green as the right arm. Snap! The right hand of Lan Yixing had been distorted. Ye Chong who knew something about the human anatomy could tell, the bones underneath the bundles of his muscle had been splintered.

Lan Yixing whimpered as his left hand launched upon Zuo Ling's throat.

Zuo Ling also performed the same trick this old fox used. Wham, both of their palms struck together. Their bodies backed off in whimpers. Zuo Ling's left arm which constricted Lan Yixing had literally impaired his right arm. They were close.

And then, they demonstrated a classic example of close-combats with bare hands, except it was bare hand, rather than bare hands.

"Hah! What's up with Lan family? What's up with the technique being a mess? The Zuos aren't something you pesky little family could comprehend!" Zuo Ling's hands moved rapidly as he teased in pride, although he did in fact have that price to flaunt. Jie experts were scarce by nature and for one Jie expert of his age while possessing more than one ability, he was probably the only one. As Lan Yixing had mentioned before, that hardening technique performed by Zuo Ling was in fact a technique coming from the Lan family's microchips his ancestor has plundered. It was a definition of their deduction over the information they snatched. And the head of the Zuos was well-aware of the issue behind the technique. So the head eventually invented a softening technique as a counter to cover up the holes. Zuo Ling was undoubtedly the genius of it for he blended both the abilities in one.

The combination of muscular hardness and tenderness was the killer move for him. But he was still too young for he lacked understanding on the overall process of combats, as well as his control over it. He was incompetent to an experienced fighter like Lan Yixing who had spent the past decades on muscle controls, which led to such situation where both of them were wounded by each other in the end.

Well, technically, Lan Yixing had a worse injury. Zuo Ling was unharmed other than that fractured his rib while maintaining the upper hand in the match. Lan Yixing… technically had lost his right arm, which harshly halved his forces. And his right arm was still under the constriction by the foe. Bone-piercing pain could be felt even at the slightest movement he made, which caused him unable to formulate any kind of moves effectively.

The words from Zuo Ling were painful to his ears as they struck to the depth of his heart. His eyes clouded by wrath out of sudden. He was not a talker to begin with so he responded with silence, however his eyes had convinced Zuo Ling that he would not stay on the upper hand for long.

Ye Chong also captured that expression in his eyes, "Shang!" Screamed Ye Chong frantically in his head.

His body shrouded away like an arrow launched from the bow, all the way towards Lan Yixing and Zuo Ling. Shang who had been his most impeccable partner the whole time had interrupted every transmission of signal at the place.

"Let's go!" Rui Bing shouted as he grabbed Wei Yuan in her hands and ran all the way down the field with Huan Tiankai who also reacted promptly behind.

It was almost when Rui Bing and Hua tiankai made their moves, the signal was cut off and the screen on every projector, every helmet went blank. The spectators at the intensity went silent. The staff who were in charge of the streaming on the Virtual world confusingly noticed their screen being blank as well.

It took a few seconds for those practitioners to react on the happening as one of them somehow shouted, "We are going there to watch!" And people started rumbling off their seats and ran all the way to the field.

A strange kind of feeling reverberated in Ye Chong for some reason.

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Chapter 199: Brewing Storm XV

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong's speed was amazing. He moved like a column of smoke. If anyone was there to witness such happening, one would be dropping the jaws on spot. "Is this the speed of a human at the greatest?" They would wonder.

Lan Yixing howled once, deep agony he was in, with a hint of feeling released.

The mist of blood clouded both men, with the sound of strings breaking rang within. No one could tell what had occurred inside, as they heard the whimpers coming from both of them simultaneously.

The fire in Ye Chong was extinguished. He retrieved his calmness in battle, where he felt like he had jumped off an erupting volcano right into the freezing lava, his eyes were tainted by the true desire to kill.

His velocity lifted countless afterimages, the tips of his toes exerted forces nonstop as he accelerated. His godliness speed was none of his business, as his eyes were all onto that cloud of blood at the center of the field.

Shush! A man flew out of the mist.

Ye Chong recognized that man at first glance. It was actually Lan Yixing, who no longer had that vitality before. His body was fully covered in blood. The bundles on his body were nearly all torn as they hung over his body, with blood dripping off the endings of those torn bundles to the ground.

Standing at the tip of his toes, Ye Chong readjusted the direction and grabbed Lan Yixing, whose eyes were dull and lifeless. The respiration and heartbeat ceased permanently.

Ye Chong took a drastic brake and put down Lan Yixing gently. In silence he stood.

The other man had rushed out of the mist and obviously it was Zuo Ling. Without hesitation, Ye Chong made his move.

Ye Chong never had the habits of explaining or talking big about his motive of pulling his punches. Getting into a fight suddenly was the bread and butter of his life. Zuo Ling might have appeared to be in a fluster, with most of his strength lost and being unable to hurt Ye Chong a little, Ye Chong still did not intend to forsake that good habit of his.

The last blow delivered by Lan Yixing was effective as ever. The bleeding pores over Zuo Ling body were of thumb sizes, 7 to 8 of them, which dyed Zuo Ling in flowing crimson. It could be Lan Yixing's blood though.

Without a sound, Ye Chong shifted before Zuo Ling, his right hand stung upon Zuo Ling's throat like a serpent.

Zuo Ling simply did not expect to be raided by some outsiders at such a nick of time. All he could do was to lift his head and go backwards while firing his hands, striving to hold that blow from Ye Chong.

Wham! That actual pressure in his hand! Zuo Ling was overjoyed as he caught it! He thought he had made that necessary move to turn the tide. Something was turned indeed, but not the tide. Crack! Crack crack crack crack! The force was exerted onto his arm. The sound of bones-cracking echoed in his ears and before he realized, an overwhelming pain seized his body.

Did that old fox Lan return? I could not name any other person who could wield such strength…

That was his last thought before he fainted.

"Stop it!" A profound voice of a man roared throughout the place.

Ye Chong did not plan to stop it. There would be no better chance for him to slaughter this weakened tiger. Literally any tiger that lost its fangs might as well be dead! His right hand sped up, lifted countless copies of itself, all onto the throat of Zuo Ling.

Ye Chong's inhuman speed was once again demonstrated in front of people.

Without further ado, the throat of Zuo Ling obediently lied within his hands. A little bit of force on the neck. Crack. The bones shattered. The fainted man had become the fainted corpse. Ye Chong made a shake on his hand. Zuo Ling was lobbed in a fine curve and landed next to Lan Yixing.

In one day, two Jie experts had deceased right here.

Ye Chong turned to the running crowd towards him. His eyes were cold.

Rui Bing's head exploded. Her steps withdrew abruptly, as she looked at that face countless times she had dreamed of… the same exact cold indifference remained with the same lonesomeness.

Rui Bing was ahead of the crowd but as soon as she held her steps, the crowds passed her by, where a majority of the practitioners turned their heads back, wondering why the judge had stopped moving out of the blue.

"Sister? Sister! Sister Bing!" Wei Yuan panicked, as he saw his Sister Bing acting all weird.

Rui Bing appeared as if bewitched by something, as his words never reached her, her eyes fixed upon Ye Chong.

The shout was from Hua Tiankai, the only person with the same position as Rui Bing. He shouted as soon as he saw Ye Chong, who was going to murder Zuo Ling. His voice failed to stop the tragedy from happening however. And he stumbled upon the speed of Ye Chong's hands.

Horrifying… This is too much. Is he also a Jie expert? Wondered the master, as also a Jie expert himself. He did not have that frightening speed, but he was not convinced at the fact that a man could achieve such speed merely by his body. Truth was cruel however, as it smashed whatever he knew, convincing him that it was not a dream.

Zuo Ling's fate had been set. Not even his scream could change a thing. He could tell that Zuo Ling was dead obviously, he was not even confident enough to survive under that kind of blow.

The fear was not felt for a long time since years back. And that fear was brought to him by none other than this young man standing right before him.

This young man, he is fatality itself! Commented Hua Tiankai right away! And what disturbed him more was the indifference on his face despite what he had done. Hua Tiankai was not the person who had not seen enough of the darkness yet that indifference of the young man was not something he had ever seen on those brutal murderers.

But, would I be backing off and let the boy do what he want? Casualty during a match could be negative but it was not that bad for one's reputation in the field, but murder committed by a total outsider, and was performed in the dark, that was an absolute shame rubbed right on his face.

Still! He could not do a thing to the boy at the front!

Hua Tiankai remembered the face of this boy. He seemed to be the youngest under Lan Yixing's apprenticeship. I think Shangmei had told me once that this boy was just a part timer… A part timer? Don't be silly! Tell me which part timer could wield such strength? Judging from merely those moves this "part-timer" had performed, he was sure that the boy was not much weaker than his own master Lan Yixing. Or this so-called part-timer was an apprentice raised by Lan Yixing all this while in dark? That makes sense!

The practitioners took a cold breath the moment they witnessed Ye Chong's moves when they arrived. Amazement was there, as they wondered if the person was a human.

Hua Tiankai did not wish to gamble with his move. If he were to make a talking-to at this moment, he could not guarantee that it would work. Losing reputation was something minor when one were to face such a killing machine. Keeping oneself alive would be the priority…

Ye Chong's strength was imprinted in everyone.

Practically, he sort of over-imagined it. Ye Chong was powerful, Ye Chong seemed powerful but if they were to have a duel, the outcome would not be as predictable as one could assume. Ye Chong's body was excellent, yet he lacked the skills, although the strike was so brilliant that people were immediately convinced by his inhuman speed of his hands.

Hua Tiankai could not help but to look for Rui Bing among the people. He planned to have a joint attack with Rui Bing, well the boy could be really great but under an actual aid, he should not be able to escape the dojo.

And there Rui Bing was, who stood at the crowd with a strange expression, after Lan Yixing took the effort to look hard. Hua Tiankai could tell from her expression, that she was too distracted to even hurt a fly. What happened to Bing? Hua Tiankai cracked his head to find no explanation for this. A Jie expert was usually unshakable at his or her will, unless a strong force was put onto. Very well, Bing must have been shocked by that monster. Relating to the fear he received before, Lan Yixing got a sound explanation for the phenomenon.

That did not solve his problem though. Providing that he could not even guarantee the safety of the participants outside the match, the tournament would never continue.

The chains of thoughts looked long-winded in text, but it was just a lightning connection in Hua Tiankai's head.

Wait, his eyes went wide. He found a solution as he took out the communicator and whispered.

He glanced at the crowd, standing at the dead silent colosseum, where Ye Chong was leaving from soon. Ye Chong had completely lost interests on martial arts.

He took a look at Lan Yixing already lying on the ground dead. Although he did not assume taking out Zuo Ling as part of his responsibility, he did it anyway. The two Jie experts crashed the worlds of each other, depicting their strong characters and now they died, soundlessly they slept together.

"Ye! Stop daydreaming! A mech is heading towards here!" Shang suddenly boomed.

Ye Chong got down from the castle in the air as his thoughts ran rapidly, formulating a plan. Even if he left right away, he would not make it before the mech arrived. So almost immediately after, he called Han Jia out.

Han Jia landed before him, like the god from heaven as solemnly it stood before him.

Wait, a mech? The practitioners were confused by the scene, since a mech was like something from the alternate dimension to those who wielded fists and kicks as tradition.

"Ah!"

"Ahhh!"

Both Rui Bing and Wei Yuan screamed.

"YC!" Wei Yuan jumped, "He's actually YC!"

The plot twist shocked Rui Bing awake and she instantly understood the entire situation. Worry grew in her over the emergence of YC. That mech of Ye Chong was familiar to her eyes, not till Wei Yuan's scream she could never remember that it was the mech who tossed Wei Yuan to her.

So that was him!

Rui Bing's heart shuddered.

He remembers me! He still remembers me!! Joy overflowed deepest inside her heart.

In the midst of gasp and glare, Ye Chong climbed into the cabin of Han Jia like a mutated ape, which was again amazing to the spectators. Wei Yuan's eyes were lustrous. YC it is! Even the way he got onto the cabin was different than the others!

Is he running away? Hua Tiankai panicked, as he knew, if he was given 10 more, no, probably 8 more seconds, his eldest apprentice, Zheng Zhongxing would come with his mech zooming! That was the masterplan he had.

A practitioner could be great but not great as the metals. No way the boy would win as he stood against the mighty mech. So that was his plot, of taking a mech to smack upon the boy, although the stinky irony was, as a practitioner himself, he eventually relied on a mech, a machine to do the fighting for him. It was painful to his heart… well, maybe… it was the time for martial arts to fade out of history.

He was confident over the plan however. Zheng Zhongxing might be the weakest fighter among his apprentices, but he was one pilot with an advanced title before he came to join the dojo. The mech combats of Tianhua dojo would never develop if without his assistance.

His heart ran cold the moment he spotted that mech the boy summoned, fearing that the boy would truly run away with the mech. It would be too late by then.

Right when Ye Chong got onto Han Jia, a mech zoomed to the colosseum.

And that was when Ye Chong, to his astonishment, found out the mech being a similar close-ranged models like his Han Jia.

It is clearly a modified mech. The body should be of Judgement: Peace, well Peace was a rarely used model among the others in the Judgement series. Engines… Ye Chong could not tell so he could not make a comment, although he speculated them being the Hurricane series. A bright red main body of the mech, adorned by silvery stripes, eye-catching it was.

A shield with the shape of a burning flame, where the tips were glowing of cold sharpness. The arms, elbows and the knees of the mech were distinctly strengthened in terms of thickness. The thorns on the joints of the fingers were of mere darkness. Ye Chong did not show disdain over them as he too favored these tiny accessories to be added on his own mech, since these accessories would come in handy in all sorts of situations naturally.

The parts of the mech were premium in any sense.

But… strangely it was not armed in any ways. Ye Chong could not see any weapon there.

A close-combat model? Ye Chong wondered. Well, close-combat among mechs was a thing on the Virtual World as loved by numerous fans, but nobody really tried it in reality. That was the first close-combat model Ye Chong saw outside the virtual reality.

The mech took a perfect brake and stopped 300 meters away from Han Jia. Ye Chong could affirm to his speculation since a distance of 300 meters would be too close for a ranged model while being absolutely sound for a close-combat model to launch a blow.

Ye Chong's expression was firm. There was no ripple on his water.

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Chapter 200: As You Are Human

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Two mechs stood against each other.

Wei Yuan's eyes shone like a pair of diamonds. The person who saved his life before could probably be YC but as said, it was merely a slight probability. Well, as long as he was indeed YC, Wei Yuan was confident enough to identify the typical YC style in the movements.

So he was really an expert in mechs… Rui Bing was mesmerized as she watched the man climbed into the Han Jia's cabin. Rui Su, her sister once told her that Ye Chong was a professional in mech modification. She was not convinced by that overstatement since Ye Chong could not possibly be wielding an iron fist and an iron wrench at the same time.

Perhaps… mech could be fun… Rui Bing wondered.

The practitioners had their eyes wide open, "This is the real deal guys, not those flashy, overdone mech dancing with kicks you would see on Virtual World." This colosseum was intended for mech combat training. One could say there was never any other better place for mech combats to take place.

The staring contest lasted for 5 seconds and Ye Chong launched an attack, with an aim of annihilating the foe and leaving this place as soon as possible. Lan Yixing, the master of September Dojo had died and probably in the following months, even years people would have their attention on the dojo itself. Ye Chong did not desire being under the spotlight. It was no longer the place he could stay. Hence, his next move would be finding a new spot to hide while waiting for Wang Weixing to return.

First things first, to finish this mech in front of him.

Ye Chong used Double Curved Steps! Two converging curves of different sizes formed a peculiar track! Ye Chong had became unpredictable.

Wei Yuan screamed as he recognized that strange step from the mech. He tried mimicking the movements before and exercise of that steps had just determined the fact that this man, slightly older than Wei Yuan, was YC himself. He pulled his eyes open, dreadfully fearing that he would miss out any epic part of the show.

Such a ghostly step was absolutely foreign to Zheng Zhongxing, that he was forced to readjust his direction from time to time while maintaining a tiny distance away, backing off slowly with the arms at the chest - the standard posture for combats.

More like the standard posture for combats to death, Ye Chong commented. Combats are naturally different between mechs and between men. One does not simply incorporated tricks from one to another. Unlike Zheng Zhongxing who committed such mistake, Ye Chong's techniques were all from practices, sharpened by his battle experience, which he believed to be slightly inferior to the aces at Black Coves, well he could still be considered as a master in combats in this field.

Han Jia confronted the foe, as it inched forward. Ye Chong got to eliminate the issue as soon as possible. He did not have the leisure to "compete" with Zheng Zhongxing to find out who the master truly was between them. Time was money. Plus that set of steps he performed was enough to disrupt the balance of the foe, though only for a second, which was negligible to normal expert yet sufficiently fatal to the expert of experts like Ye Chong.

Whenever a balance is disrupted, it always takes time to recover. And in that brief time frame, in the eyes of the experts, it would be the golden opportunity.

Ye Chong charged towards the foe right when the balance was lost. A distance of 300 meters was a joke to mechs, especially exceptionally mobile models like Han Jia with superior engines. And that was not in Zheng Zhongxing's script apparently.

Zheng Zhongxing responded hectically towards Ye Chong's odd piloting and Han Jia's capabilities, as he finally came to understand that, he encountered the real deal this time.

30 meters away, now! A Thomas's Spin from Ye Chong, as he span like a whirlwind all the way to Zheng Zhongxing's side.

The foe was in absolute confusion. Such speed, in such short frame of time, while being so careful, I still could not react in time. That had to be at least Mach 8. He could not name anyone who could perform a Thomas's Spin while doing a Double Step in split seconds. That was inhuman! Zheng Zhongxing could feel his chest freezing. He did not recognize the sophisticated Double Curved Step, he thought it was a mere Double Step.

Ye Chong's calmness during battle always gave him a feeling of being dipped in the water of thoughts, chilly, glassy, no ripple, no fear.

His cold eyes reflected the panicked foe, he placed his hands over the control panel then a stack of afterimages covered the interface. Without hesitation, he inputted a set of command in the first second. Execution! Han Jia lowered its feet, dented to the ground and flung itself towards Zheng Zhongxing at a frightening speed, above the ground by 10 centimeters or less.

Zheng Zhongxing reacted like a scalded cat as his eyes, cloaked with disbelief when he saw that mech coming like a bullet. The sudden direction change this close was something he could do nothing on. And only Wei Yuan could identity that fearsomeness of the move among the crowd, "Wicked cool," he praised.

The silhouette of Han Jia enlarged drastically in his eyes. Ye Chong could also see the name branded on the main body of his foe. The balance had been utterly disrupted.

Han Jia was at extremespeed in a split of a second and one could only see Han Jia raising its body, crushing the waist of Zheng Zhongxing's mech with its flying knee.

Thump! A roaring blow. Zheng Zhongxing was sent flying like a whammed dummy at the gymnasium, all the way out with its left waist dented completely in a spreading spiral caused by Ye Chong's vicious blow.

What an unfair battle, where both parties were at the different tangents. Ye Chong remained calm and cautious, no careless mistake from him.

Han Jia was set into motion once again, its engines were fully activated, as it rushed towards the jammed machine before it even hit the ground, with the cold dark dagger in the hand. One final blow.

Hua Tiankai's face looked bleached afar. Although he had no idea how the gears and nuts moved together in a machine, at he least knew the basics of combats - obviously his apprentice, Zheng Zhongxing had been the sandbag since the beginning. From the aspect of martial artists, the boy seized every opportunity before it even appeared in his eyes, unlike Zhongxing who was slapped in the face repetitively. Hua Tiankai's face was crazing the moment he witnessed his apprentice being smashed to the air.

Most of the practitioners did not understand mechs, but they did understand combats and they could tell that in less than a minute, the winning guy would be dealing the last blow.

Ye Chong sprung and was giving a final slash, "Ye," Shang's voice intruded, "Black Covers. In 3 mechs, coming here."

He flinched and held his steps, he shot a glance at the tumbling mech. A few taps on the interface, Han Jia's engines maximized! In the speed of light, Ye Chong blasted off Tianhua dojo. The whole movement was ghostly in the naked eyes.

The audience was confused of the premature ending, the sudden exit of the winning man, likewise to Wei Yuan. Rui Bing on the other hand, sighed in relief. Yes she hated the apprentice but Zheng Zhongxing was still Uncle Hua's eldest apprentice, she seriously hoped that there would not be an awkward conflict between both her uncle and Ye Chong.

And that was when she came to the realization that… Ye Chong finally made a return and she did not manage to have a word with him, not even one…

Wait! She remembered the relationship between Ye Chong and Lan Yixing, she grabbed Wei Yuan, "Yuan, where's dojo? The one Lan Yixing ran!"

"Lan Yixing? Uhhhh… September Dojo…? If I remembered correctly… Oh wait, I think I remember where it is." Wei Yuan was the local and he knew his home at the back of his hands. Intelligently, he read Sister Bing's plan from her line, well Sister Bing is Sister Bing, smart.

This had just proven another face - Sister Bing did have something with that YC guy. Don't tell me! Were they a couple? Mhm… right, that made a lot sense. Only the strong ones like Sister Bing could be suited to a godly man like YC. Feeling proud, Wei Yuan's confidence over his untainted eyes grew.

Rui Bing lifted Wei Yuan, without any more words, they zoomed towards the entrance of Tianhua dojo. Tournament? I'm the panel judge? I don't care! I just want to see Ye Chong again! Nothing else was her concern any longer.

Her agitation seared her with blazing passion.

Wei Yuan was lifted like a sack of potato in her hand. As expected from Sister Bing, very strong! Wei Yuan was wowed while being carried to the destination, seeing the scenery melting away like a zoetrope. He got dizzy and he thought he would only see such visual effect when he piloted a mech and there was Sister Bing, recreating the effect without any tool. Godly…

I wondered what would happen if Sister Bing had a race with YC? The crazy thoughts went in his mind.

"Direction?" Rui Bing gave him a pinch and Wei Yuan woke up from his daydreaming, "Uhhhhh…" he rubbed his neck and muttered, "Pain… Sister Bing, be gentle. Ouch." A glare from the unsettled feline, "Oh! Oh! I remember now! Left! To the left!"

A rough sweep from Rui Bing through the street on her left.

Sigh… I miss the chair of my mech… Exclaimed Wei Yuan after getting RB-sickness for being lifted so long.

…

3 black mechs flew over the sky above Tianhua dojo, in gorgeous curve they headed to the northwest.

Ye Chong was relieved as that direction had indicated the fact that he was not the target this time, the mechs were just passersby.

"Sighhh… Ye. You made it, and you did not even talk to our Bing Bing. Tsk, tsk tsk…" Shang openly expressed his dissatisfaction, "You did not see how our Bing Bing reacted upon seeing you. That was… Holy Matrimony… Do you know how angel looks when her heart skipped a beat for a man on the ground? Sigh, never mind, it would be a bit challenging for you to figure such philosophical inquiry I forgot…"

Ye Chong was silent, seemed to be in deep thinking.

"Sigh, Ye, our Bing Bing…"

"Shang!" Interrupted Ye Chong, "Tell me, why can I not be absolutely calm like Mu? Like for today, I could have left without doing anything but somehow… I just did it."

"Ye… I never knew…" Shang was rolling his mechanical eyes, "I never expect you to be this dumb, because you are human, duh?"

"Because I'm a human?"

"Yeah, how could human like you be all calm and logical 24/7? Ye, please do not be like Mu that boring, monotonous, monochrome Mu. Not everything could be put into a formula, not everything could be reasoned with logic and not everything was done merely because there was a need to do so." The words came like a long-winded lecture from a nagging old lady… or maybe an old man, the meaning was quite deep…

"Oh I see," Ye Chong became his usual self.

…

One could hear the sparks in Shang's head.

"Ye, there, the drawer."

Ye Chong pulled the drawer open and found the red chip sitting there quietly, demanding to be taken. He sighed and gently picked up the microchip and put it into his bag…

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Chapter 201: We Meet Again

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

September dojo was now even more desolated. News of Lan Yixing's death had not reached the place, and the dojo was peacefully quiet as usual.

The main door was open, but no sound was heard from within.

Looking at the September dojo right in front of her, Rui Bing's even breathing despite her hurried journey to the place now began to shorten. A faint blush colored her snow white cheeks.

Rui Bing breathed in deeply and ran, her figure almost like a gigantic bird, entering the dojo.

The dojo was silent, and without a single occupant. Rui Bing was unfazed, and continued inwards. Wei Yuan, however, looked around anxiously in her arms. Under Rui Bing's care, he was now livelier than before.

Ye Chong was about to leave the September dojo when Shang spoke up, "Ye, wait, let's go to the front."

"What's up?" Ye Chong asked, curious.

"You'll see!" Shang's tone was odd.

"Okay!" Ye Chong could not reckon what Shang was planning, but he knew that the mech would not harm him. For Ye Chong, the mech was his most trusted companion besides Mu. Shang may be up to some playful tricks once in awhile, but he would never do anything beyond that.

Ye Chong heard footsteps just as he stepped out of the room.

"An expert!" Ye Chong realized. Usually, people walked by landing the heel of their feet first, but Ye Chong could tell from the sound that this person moved with the tips of the feet. Ye Chong was similar in this regard, since the tips of the feet were more agile, and allowed for faster and more abrupt movements. However, this was an expert technique, since the skill required strength in the tips of the feet.

The footsteps were coming closer to him.

Ye Chong stood before Lan Yixing's room, waiting for the visitor. Lan Yixing's two students were not here today, and the dojo was empty, so there was no worry of involving the others. Besides, Ye Chong believed he still had some time left before Hua Tiankai and his company reached September dojo. There was still enough time left.

Moreover, Shang had wanted him here. There must be something to it.

The footsteps came closer and closer.

Their eyes met.

"Hey, isn't that the lady in the training garb?" Ye Chong asked Shang inside.

"Lady in the training garb? Haha, what a nickname! Ye, you still have some imagination in you! Much better than that dull Mu! Lady in the training garb … Tsk tsk …" Shang was doubled down in laughter.

Looking at him with his typical coldness, but with a greater sense of maturity, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words. Rui Bing stared blankly at Ye Chong.

Ye Chong did not avoid her gaze. To him, the lady in the training garb had made a strange request, but he still quite admired her.

"You, how are you?" Rui Bing asked softly.

Ye Chong was speechless for a moment before nodding, and said, "Still alive!"

"Hah!" Wei Yuan could not help but laugh in Rui Bing's arms. Rui Bing frowned, and let go of Wei Yuan. However, Wei Yuan's outburst had removed the awkwardness between the two, or more precisely, Rui Bing's awkwardness. Ye Chong did not feel a thing.

Being alive was not bad, according to Ye Chong.

"You're YC?" Wei Yuan looked at Ye Chong with glowing eyes.

"Yes," was Ye Chong's brick reply.

"What an ignorant d*mned fool, interfering at this moment. Ye, you can get rid of him!" Shang spoke through gritted teeth, obviously dissatisfied with his presence between Ye Chong and Rui Bing.

Ye Chong automatically ignored Shang.

However, Rui Bing seemed unhappy with his interruption, and grabbed Wei Yuan by the collar. Wei Yuan followed like a tame little lamb as she dragged him to stand behind her. Wei Yuan looked at the back of Sister Bing with pitiful eyes, but sensibly kept his mouth shut. He already had the answer he was searching for.

"I've been looking for you all this while." Rui Bing said calmly, but the faint emotions behind her words were noticeable even to someone as insensitive as Wei Yuan. However, Wei Yuan did not expect his idol to be more insensitive than him.

"Looking for me? For what?" Ye Chong asked with surprised.

Wei Yuan could not help roll his eyes behind Rui Bing.

Rui Bing felt her heart twisted, but her expression betrayed nothing as she continued plainly, "I want you to marry me!"

Wei Yuan almost dropped his jaw to the ground. Heavens, what was with these two oddballs in front of him? What a peculiar way to confess, it was so cool!

Rui Bing's words reminded Ye Chong of his life on Blue Ocean. The times he spent with Grandpa Qian was his happiest ever since he left the trash planet.

Rui Bing watched Ye Chong without a word.

Ye Chong gathered himself and looked to Rui Bing. "I understand the concept of marriage, but no matter how I look at it, this is not a good time to discuss it." Ye Chong knew from the chip that almost everyone in the world would choose to live their lives with someone of the opposite sex. While he did not see the necessity of it, Ye Chong was no longer dead set against the idea as he was before.

If he had to choose someone to live with, the lady in the white training garb did not seem like a bad choice. At least they could do combat training together. Ye Chong thought as much.

"Why?" Rui Bing's expression finally cracked a little, but quickly resumed her calmness.

"I have some things to do." Ye Chong's eyes flashed with killing intention as he thought of Papa.

"When will you be done?" Rui Bing asked.

"The situation is unclear, I don't know that yet." Ye Chong replied.

"I'll go with you." Rui Bing spoke with resolution.

Wei Yuan was staring bug-eyed. Were these two humans actually PSIs?

Ye Chong shook his head. "You're not skilled enough!"

Rui Bing was about to protest, so Ye Chong continued, "You can't pilot a mech."

Rui Bing went silent.

"Ye, there's a group of people heading this way." Shang did not wish to interrupt, but the situation demanded it.

"Someone's coming, I've got to go." Ye Chong nodded towards Rui Bing and turned to Han Jia, climbing into the pilot's cabin.

"Wait …" Rui Bing gasped in panic.

Night descended, and Han Jia vanished like a ghost into the darkness.

In Windstar Hospital's main building.

Inside the building's spacious photon processor control room stood a single man. The photon processor control room was the hospital's core, and had the strictest security. The control room's entrance was guarded outside, and anyone who wished to enter the room must know the layers of passcodes. Only a few of the highest authorities had access to this room. Fortunately, the photon processor control room had mostly automated functionalities, and rarely required human maintenance.

The hospital building's highest floor was entirely occupied by the photon processor control room, and was mostly empty inside, except for the five advanced control photon processors.

Ye Chong found a chair and sat idly inside, with Shang by his side. The mech had demanded to come out, seeing as the room was large enough for him.

Since Wang Weixing was soon returning to the hospital, Ye Chong and Shang had planned and decided to stay at the hospital's main building, and they had picked the photon processor control room. Ye Chong even bought enough nutrient pills on the way to the hospital, enough to keep him going until Wang Weixing's return. Han Jia was also packed with these nutrient pills, in case he needed to spend a few days in outer space.

Windstar Hospital had unknowingly fallen into both his and Shang's grasp.

Using a backup control photon processor, Ye Chong accessed the chip left by Lan Yixing. As he browsed through the content, Ye Chong could not help but felt deep admiration for the man. Lan Yixing may look like a slow character, but he was actually very careful in nature. The chip explained the basics in great detail, leading up to the most advanced techniques, forming a complete teaching system. Even for someone without any basic knowledge in combat, that person could learn step by step from the chip. There were also many of Lan Yixing's personal insights inside. Lan Yixing demonstrated every move himself in the holographic recordings, and every move was explained clearly, a marked disparity from the way he taught Ye Chong before.

This was the most important material on combat that Ye Chong had found so far. Ye Chong never learned in a systematic way, and all his techniques were only poor mimics from others. It was only due to his excellent physical abilities that he could make use of those techniques effectively, and could handle common experts with no problem. However, if he were to meet with any more advanced opponents like those from Black Cove, Ye Chong would find himself in a bind.

The chip was a priceless treasure for someone as experienced in real combat as Ye Chong. Just a brief glance through the contents was enough to help clear some of Ye Chong's long standing problems in combat.

Besides Lan Yixing's weird muscle composition, which required a long period of special training, other things were easy for Ye Chong to pick up. Ye Chong had no intention of achieving that weird muscle composition; he was strong enough himself, and could control his physical movements almost as good as Lan Yixing. However, Ye Chong found some of the methods of movement control very useful.

In just one night, Ye Chong's combat skills improved by leaps and bounds.

Of course, Ye Chong was not aware of this, as he was still deeply immersed in this extraordinary world. The chip's description of Jie experts was also intriguing. However, despite being as capable as he was now, Ye Chong did not feel anything similar to the experience of someone attaining Jie.

Nonetheless, Ye Chong did not mind it much. In the chip, Lan Yixing explained that Jie experts were not absolute in power, and this was something Ye Chong could understand. Ye Chong had seen all kinds of capable people; whether it was Black Cove's combat skills, MPA's terrifying shooting accuracy of the mysteriousness of the mentalists and mentalist pilots of the Sanctuary, there was no way to decide which one of them was the strongest.

Even Lunatic Guan's discreet alchemy skills were enough to escape his notice. Ye Chong believed that, should Lunatic Guan wished for his death, she would have many ways to choose from to achieve it. The more he learned for the chip Lunatic Guan left for him, the more Ye Chong grew wary of the alchemists. They were a scary bunch!

How many more fields were out there that were as secretive as alchemy? Who knew? The world was not short of capable people.

Strength was something to be wielded, this was something Ye Chong realized early on. A physically weak alchemist could just as easily be killed by a Jie expert.

Night was deep, and Windstar was illuminated by colorful lights. Windstar had three administrative centers, and Ye Chong's Thousand Birds zone was one of it. In autumn, flocks of these flying creatures would migrate, passing by the area. The view was magnificent.

However, it was now summer, and birdwatchers would be greeted with disappointment. Thousand Birds zone was Windstar's most economically thriving administrative center. The nightlights were also a local tourist attraction. At night, the sky would be filled with many blinking lights of all colors that came from specially crafted floating beacons. When tens of thousands of these floating beacons rose to the sky, the aerial view glistened splendidly. These floating beacons were mostly handmade by the locals, and had their own automotive systems; some beacons could last for years in the sky at a time.

To avoid interfering with daytime traffic, these floating beacons were set with timers to rest on the roofs of residential buildings in the day. Due to their love of these beacons, most of the locals would reserve a spot on the roof for them.

Of course, traffic at night would be negatively impacted. The floating beacons made for a wonderful view, but they were also flying hazards. While the beacons were easy to spot at night, the thought of having these playthings everywhere in the air was a little unsettling.

Nonetheless, for those who could fly their mechs at night, it would imply that they were at least skilled in piloting.

Through the glass ceiling of the hospital building, the sea of blinking lights was mesmerizing.

Ye Chong pulled himself away from the chip's content, because that last technique was the one Lan Yixing used in his suicidal move. The thought of that mist of blood that day made Ye Chong dread continuing with the chip contents, but he quickly suppressed the feeling and finished examining every detail of this last move.

He finally understood what the mist of blood was all about. One could harness the energy stored in the muscles up to a point beyond the limits of the human body, and the muscles would tear. The torn muscles hardened with the energy stored inside, enough to penetrate 5 centimeters of alloy metal. However, what followed was the death of its user.

No wonder it was the last technique.

"Ye," Shang suddenly spoke up, "I have a plan, have a look." His sinister voice caught Ye Chong's attention.

"What plan?" Ye Chong asked as he stored the chip back into his bag.

"Here." The control photon processor before Ye Chong transformed, and displayed a set of detailed plans.

Ye Chong browsed through the plan. He could not suppress the rising chill within him that followed.

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Chapter 202: Director of Chaos I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Unlike Mu's accurate and detailed plans, Shang's were usually very simple, but with undeniable power. Mu would take the straight and courageous road of winning by his own strength, backed by an enormous amount of precise calculations. On the contrary, Shang would choose the cunning path of unpredictability, even though his logic was infallible, and often based on extensive research in human nature.

The plan before Ye Chong was just one like that. In truth, Ye Chong had no qualms with Shang's style, and was quite taken aback by them. Every time, Ye Chong would find himself gaining insights into things that he did not understand. However, Shang's style was one he could not imitate, since he did not understand worldly perspectives and humans that well.

Even so, he had something neither Mu nor Shang had, such as his fighting spirit and learning skills. Even in the harsh environment like the trash planet, Ye Chong was able to survive on his own due to those two attributes.

Ye Chong's learning aptitude was something that Shang and Mu would commend on. Every battle served to make Ye Chong even stronger and more mature. As he learned more about the world, Ye Chong transformed into a more mature person. Of course, compared to the average person, Ye Chong still had to catch up in this respect.

For someone so long removed from normal life, he often felt disdain towards the norm and societal laws when he first entered society due to his ignorance. Once he gradually assimilated into society, he found himself slowly restricted by these laws. At this point, breaking these laws required not only courage, but also wisdom.

Shang was a peculiar teacher for Ye Chong, always armed with such devilish wisdom.

That was how Ye Chong felt a chill down his spine as he read the plan.

The entire plan was simple, based on an analysis of the stalemate between Black Cove, the MPA and the Sanctuary on Windstar. It was this situation that gave Ye Chong a chance. If Ye Chong could stoke the fire and provoke a war between the Three Forces, their pressure on Ye Chong would be significantly reduced.

In Shang's words, to distract their attention away from him, he should find something more worthy of their attention.

Ye Chong agreed. This proactive initiative was what Ye Chong liked best - to control his own fate - a principle of his ever since his life on the trash planet.

However, the crux of the plan was creating a chaotic situation, and that was what made him chilled to the bone.

Shang's plan made use of the virtual world, and in an extensive way. It would involve Mu sabotaging the virtual worlds of 23 planets in total, including Windstar, plunging them into a chaos and paralysing the system into a state that was irrecoverable for at least five days. In five days, Wang Weixing would also be back to the hospital.

Ye Chong was no longer the ignorant young man he was before. He understood from Mu and Shang's attack of the Luo family of the importance of the virtual world. In every galaxy, the virtual world played an integral role in many aspects such as transportation, communication, economy and so on. The virtual world's paralysis would make the real world descend into chaos.

Of course, maintaining this state of chaos on 23 planets would only not only allow them better control of the virtual world, but also avoid suspicion of the Three Forces, since Windstar was only one of planets involved.

Shang's plan was merciless.

Five days of chaos on 23 planets was a disaster of unimaginable scale. It would be impossible to maintain order in that situation, and easy to escape through the mess.

Even someone as cold as Ye Chong found himself shaken reading the plan. Ye Chong breathed in deeply a few times, and could not help but felt deep admiration for it.

"It's our first time on the offensive, gotta make it stylish!" Shang joked as Ye Chong regained his calm. He was not so moralistic as to be worried for other people's safety - this was war!

The plan was mainly executed by Ye Chong and Mu. While Shang wanted to direct the action himself, his computational skills were insufficient for the situation. Should they be engaged with any Mavericks along the way, even Mu could not ensure certain victory. The plan was of course reviewed by Mu, and Mu was equally excited by this challenge. Ye Chong could hear the unusual excitement in Mu's words.

On the contrary, Shang went behind the scenes.

Besides, Mu had another task, which was to find out more about Ye Chong's Papa.

"Begin!" Mu's typical calm voice reverberated throughout the highest floor of the hospital.

The 15th of July, 7 o'clock sharp in the evening was a time that everyone on Windstar would come to remember. This was the day that the most powerful virus spread violently throughout the virtual world. It was chaos, a sudden catastrophe. People found themselves living in the ways of old, where communications and traffic were a mess, and where even shopping required one to step out of their houses. This was when they found that they did not know the addresses of those familiar stores online in the real world.

The entire society descended into panic and fear. Communications were down, and local authorities had no effective measures against it. Even the governments from other planets could not afford to assist them. It was chaos! The people felt as though the apocalypse was nigh, and began to appreciate the normalcy of their previous lives. Social security took a nosedive for the worse. Without the assistance of city surveillance systems, the police found themselves lacking in manpower to face this unprecedented crisis.

In the blink of an eye, heaven turned into hell!

The world watched in fear at this concentrated region, where 23 planets abruptly descended into chaos. However, the monstrous beast seemed to have swallowed a huge prey, for the virus suddenly stopped spreading after that, providing a much needed reprieve. Almost all the other areas that were once in touch with these 23 planets severed their connections, for fear of meeting the same fate. Similarly, various rescue organisations were deployed to assist. Even so, they came from far away, and would need time to travel through the interstellar space between them.

At 7.05, Ye Chong quickly entered Han Jia and began hunting.

He was trying to find small squads of mechs from any one of the Three Forces. Communications were paralyzed, and even Shang and Mu would not be able to transmit long distance messages. All of Windstar's pulse signal generator towers were down. The goal was to cut off communications between the mechs of the Three Forces and reduce the advantage they had by their numbers. As long Ye Chong kept away from larger mech squads, he would have nothing to fear. Nonetheless, should he meet any of their mechs, he must not leave any of them alive, or his efforts would all be for nothing.

At 7.05, night descended upon the entire Thousand Birds zone. Han Jia's anti detection feature now allowed it to become an assassin hidden in the darkness, waiting to deliver the killer blow to its enemy. Whether it was Han Jia or Guardian, they were both real threats to the scattered enemy mechs.

Mu still stayed beside Ye Chong, for he needed Mu's excellent scanning system to locate the mechs from the Three Forces. Ye Chong did not have much time. Without Mu's active direction, the virus would quickly be overcome by any powerful Maverick. Without Mu controlling the virus, it would become but a fangless mutant.

Ye Chong had only one hour. After one hour, Mu must return to the hospital building and control the situation in the virtual world.

Numerous mechs flew across the skies, and traffic was a mess. People realized for the first time that the cute floating beacons were becoming a nuisance. The virus had just began to act, and the virtual world nearly plunged into chaos. Many did not realize what was happening, only that the traffic had worsened. Violence on the streets had yet to begin.

Ye Chong was lucky. He found a Black Cove Cosmic Flare right after he left the hospital building. The sudden break in communications had obviously surprised the mech pilot, anxious to return.

Ye Chong's mouth arched into a cold smile. He was annoyed with Black Cove's pursuit, and it was only the fact that he realized the disparity in their strengths that Ye Chong chose to act defensively. If he did not act now, however, he would be a fool.

In terms of strength, Ye Chong believed that as long as he did not meet any Instructor level crazy experts, he would have no problems against the average Black Cove mech pilot. Besides, Han Jia's anti detection feature and Mu's excellent scanning system was enough to give him a good advantage in the battlefield.

Han Jia moved soundlessly like a ghost through the night.

Han Jia's engine was taken from Yu Di, the work of Fred the Great himself. Its performance was impeccable, and together with Han Jia's ultralight skeleton build, the resulting automotive performance was enough to satisfy even Ye Chong. Mach 9 was a terrifying figure.

Ye Chong felt like he had returned to his hunting days on the trash planet, only now he was no longer piloting old Winnie, but an enviable full-skeleton mech. His prey were also not mutants, but strong and intelligent mech pilots.

Han Jia closed in rapidly towards the Cosmic Flare, and the other party did not notice. The skies of Windstar was already in a mess, filled with mechs that flew in confusion. The disorder had hindered the Cosmic Flare's advance.

Ye Chong followed closely from behind, the distance between them no more than 300 meters.

Ye Chong moved his hands over the controls. Two auto lock-on double-edged shurikens swished outwards, shrieking from the friction with the air, and traced out two large arcs in the sky before appearing before the Cosmic Flare!

These two shurikens were taken from the Harmony of the Winter Aria, and Ye Chong rarely used them. The Ji family had designed these two ancillary weapons with great care, their similarity to the UF magnetic sword greatly increased their effectiveness. For physical weapons moving at Mach 10, they were formidable.

Black Cove mech pilots were all competent, and as this one noticed two unidentified objects flying towards him in surprise, he managed to respond rationally. While Cosmic Flare had given concealed shooting chambers, shooting was not its forte. In that short span of time, the pilot decided to do what he did best. The shield on his left arm swung out laterally, blocking one of the shurikens. The curved blade on his right arm blocked the other shuriken easily as well.

In that instant, his ability to block both shurikens flying towards him at high speed was enough to convince anyone on the excellent combat capabilities of Black Cove mech pilots.

However, Ye Chong did not expect to kill his enemy with those two shurikens in the first place. Of all the mech pilots from the Three Forces, he understood Black Cove mech pilots the most. Just as the Black Cove mech pilot deflected those two shurikens, Ye Chong had already crept up silently behind the Cosmic Flare.

Two pitch black daggers traced out two elegant arcs as they striked towards the Cosmic Flare fast as lightning.

The mech pilot realized then that someone was behind him, and even managed to defend himself. Ye Chong believed that this mech pilot must be from one of the elite squads.

The Cosmic Flare inclined its body slightly, and Han Jia's direct attack was blocked by the two UF magnetic swords on its back!

Ding! A loud metallic clang sounded, and the two UF magnetic swords broke into halves. Unactivated UF magnetic swords were most fragile.

However, the mech pilot had successfully evaded the killer blow.

He turned himself with the momentum of the blow and finally saw the mech that attacked him. Despite his steadiness, he still could not help but gasped as he saw the mech clearly.

"This … Isn't this the full-skeleton mech everyone is looking for?"

F-58! The designation came to his mind. He began to feel a deep sense of terror at this unexpected encounter.

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Chapter 203: Director of Chaos II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

However, he had no time to consider if this was actually a trap. Suddenly, the world spinned around him dizzily as he suddenly lost control of his mech!

This was Han Jia planting a knee kick into the mech! The heavy blow made Ye Chong regret not adding some barbs on the knees, or he would have put the other party out of commission permanently.

The Black Cove mech pilot was experienced, and knew that this was a normal effect from a heavy blow. There would be a short instance where he would lose control if the mech received a heavy blow, and it was important to remain calm right then, for the following attack would be the fatal blow. The faster he could regain control of his mech, the more likely he was to survive the attack.

Thoughts were idealistic, but reality was cruel. Under Mu and Shang's training, Ye Chong now rarely committed any mistakes. Given this opportunity, how could Ye Chong waste it?

Just when Ye Chong struck the other party, Han Jia's engine was already set to full blast mode, and as the mech accelerated to Mach 9 in that short distance, the result was devastating!

The Black Cove mech pilot watched in horror as a shadow fled past before his eyes, his calmness finally giving way to the fear of death.

Clang! Han Jia's shield, with its knife-sharp edge, cut towards the Cosmic Flare's throat. The iron-lizard made shield was solid and tough, its edges honed to perfection by Ye Chong.

Han Jia swept past the Black Cove mech in its attack, much like an assassin.

Just when the mech pilot in the pilot cabin was rejoicing over his escape from death, he suddenly heard a deadly shriek. Despite the circumstances, he still felt intrigued - wasn't this from the two unidentified objects that attacked him earlier?

The two auto lock-on shurikens closed in on him from the front and back while he was still trying to regain control of his mech! The throat was the most protected part of a humanoid mech, the center node of a mech's inner photon circuity. Once it was hit, the mech would be useless. Any slightly knowledgeable mech pilot would avoid getting hit in this vulnerable and important spot.

Now, however, the mech pilot could only watch as these two shurikens came closer and closer towards him!

Auto lock-on shurikens were, as their name suggested, fitted with auto lock-on features.

Bang! The first shuriken hit spot on the Cosmic Flare's throat, where Han Jia's shield had just damaged! Mach 10 was packed with formidable power, and the shuriken moved like a comet. The loud bang was followed by the decapitation of the Cosmic Flare, its head completely lopped off afar. The high frequency vibrations of the shuriken produced a jagged edge on the severed neck, as fragments flew out in all directions.

The effect was shocking.

The second shuriken seemed to sense the change, and made a small correction in its trajectory, humming as it flew towards the Cosmic Flare.

By now, the mech pilot in the Cosmic Flare was already drained of color. He watched in a daze as the second shuriken came in from the neck! There was a constant metallic buzz of impact between metals, accompanied by a howling shriek of pain, as silenced followed a few moments later. A few seconds later, something came out of the Cosmic Flare's neck - it was the second shuriken, exiting the mech.

The two shurikens flew back obediently to Han Jia like birds returning to their nests. In the next moment, a loud explosion was heard as the Cosmic Flare blasted into pieces! It seemed that the second shuriken had destroyed the mech's power systems.

An hour was not a long time, but Ye Chong was extremely lucky. He managed to meet mechs from all of the Three Forces. It was apparent then that the Three Forces were amassing their strengths on Windstar, just to capture Ye Chong.

Ambushing in darkness required the element of surprise. Ye Chong would not attempt to deal with these scattered mechs had communications not been cut off. Ye Chong switched between Han Jia and Guardian, and found it quite effective. At least, he had not missed a single target so far.

Of all the mechs from the Three Forces, the Sanctuary's were the hardest to deal with, followed by Black Cove's, and finally, the MPA's.

This was undeniably a night of slaughter. Ye Chong had already finished off 13 mechs, of which three were the Sanctuary's Dawns, four of Black Cove's Cosmic Flares, and six of the MPA's Messengers. It was a productive night.

The hour was almost up, and Ye Chong had returned to the hospital building. Here, Mu would have to fight against powerful Mavericks in another battlefield. Ye Chong had wanted to observe from the side, since this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that he would not want to miss. However, Mu had rejected his request, saying that he could not guarantee Ye Chong's safety.

It was apparent that Mu was very wary of the Mavericks. Beside Mu was a large stack of backup energy cells.

In the end, Ye Chong obliged and waited for Mu. The wait was painful, but fortunately, his life on the trash planet had made Ye Chong far more patient than his peers.

Ye Chong rested to recover his strength from his earlier battles. Even if he was only ambushing, he found himself quickly exhausted. However, he could not sleep just yet, for there was work to do.

Mu's computations consumed a large amount of energy, and Ye Chong had to replace his energy cells along the way. In the following hour, Ye Chong had switched 16 energy cells for Mu. One could only imagine the ferocity of the battle!

"Alright!" Mu heaved a long sigh, declaring the end of his side of the battle, and Ye Chong finally relaxed.

"How was it?" Ye Chong asked.

Mu said calmly, "The situation has stabilized. Until tomorrow morning at 8, unless there are more powerful opponents, the people I have met earlier will not be able to break through."

Ye Chong didn't know squat about photon processors, but he could still understand Mu's words.

Of course, Ye Chong could not know the severity of the battle between Mu and those Mavericks. Mu's opponents were nine elite Mavericks. These Mavericks were legendary, and given the chaos at hand, they had decided to assist without hesitation. Fortunately, none of them had decided to work together; some did not even realize that they had comrades, as their solitary nature was already deeply embedded within them. Mavericks were often equated to being loners.

The battle was one that would prove unforgettable for everyone involved. Of the nine Mavericks, one had died on the spot, and another two had fallen into a vegetative state. Actual murder achieved through the virtual world was only a legend told among Mavericks, and now they were repeatedly realized.

Ye Chong was not interested in matters of the virtual world. As long as Mu was alright, he was fine with it. Mu and Shang were irreplaceable to him.

23 planets had lost contact with the outside world, and everyone could only watch in horror. It was already four hours after the virtual world was first attacked. By now, everyone had realized what was going on.

The residents on Windstar panicked, and found their world rapidly decaying into a mess. Public order was declining rapidly, and the skies were filled with mechs flown by horrified pilots. Violence sprouted on the streets.

The place was now a living hell!

Hak felt his head throbbed in pain. He never expected to meet with such a crisis. They had lost all communications with Black Cove, and his underlings had reported that four Cosmic Flares had failed to return to base. This was a bad omen.

Windstar was now in a mess. It was impossible to conduct a search, and difficult even to return to Black Cove. Who knew when the virtual world could be restored!

However, the news of the four Cosmic Flares failing to return made him uneasy. Cosmic Flares were powerful mechs, and he could not think of any other opponent that could destroy them besides the Sanctuary and the MPA. Perhaps the F-58 might be capable enough, but these were four Cosmic Flares - how could he destroy four Cosmic Flares single handedly? He would not believe it. Even if he had a full-skeleton mech, it was still impossible.

On Windstar, the only ones powerful enough to destroy four Cosmic Flares were the Sanctuary and the MPA.

Could this be premeditated? Hak felt his heart skipped a beat. Indeed, it was quite a coincidence to lose four Cosmic Flares just when the virtual world went down. Hak felt that something was amiss.

Could this be a trap? Hak's expression twisted.

With such a large scale catastrophe, Hak believed that only one of the Three Forces could be responsible for it. Of course, it was not Black Cove, he knew that. Then, was it the Sanctuary or the MPA? What was their objective?

Hak could feel a headache coming. He may be an instructor, but strategizing was not his forte. He felt that it was already an improvement for him to deduce this much.

In any case, they should first search for those four Cosmic Flares, dead or alive. "Humph, even if it is the Sanctuary or the MPA, I have nothing to fear," Hak thought to himself. The thing he was most worried about was F-58. There was still no sign of him. His orders had come from the top; should he fail … Hak shuddered at the consequences.

He decided to lead a squad and head outside to investigate.

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Chapter 204: Director of Chaos III

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong watched speechlessly at the chaos outside. This was a war between him and the Three Forces. Ye Chong did not exactly feel regret, but anyone watching the events unfolding would be affected. Shang was ruthless - no, whether it was Shang, Mu or himself, they all had their ruthless sides.

"Ye, a large squad of Black Cove mechs are heading this way." With the timely warning, Ye Chong quickly flew Han Jia into the darkness for cover. The Black Cove mechs swished past him, and Ye Chong spotted Instructor Hak amongst them.

35 mechs in total! Ye Chong was shocked by their numbers! Cosmic Flares were designed to be menacingly eye-catching, and a full squad of them made for a terrifying sight. This large squad of mechs charged through the road, unimpeded by other mechs at the sides. Ye Chong trailed behind them silently, eager to find out what they were up to.

The sky was full of mechs, and Han Jia was effectively hidden despite its odd appearance. However, there were more than a few mechs that wanted to jump on him along the way, and Ye Chong had to deal with them swiftly in order to catch up with Black Cove.

Ye Chong finished off at least 7 or 8 mechs along the way. The skies were littered with bouts, as more people began to unleash their vicious nature, no longer restrained by the laws of old. Fragments of mechs could be seen scattered about the grounds. In the end, Ye Chong decided to fly close to the ground. There were indeed fewer mechs at this height, and Ye Chong followed the Black Cove mechs at a distance.

In this chaotic mess, holographic scans were mostly useless. Hak found the situation outside more severe than he expected, and most of the Black Cove mech pilots could only stare in stupefaction!

The people here were mad! Everyone felt like they were sitting on an unstable energy cell that could explode at any moment. The dense flock of mechs in the skies was the result of overwhelming panic, and every member of Black Cove could only move forward carefully. If they got themselves involved in the mess, they would only become a small part of the larger scene of chaos.

Hak was also getting anxious.

Ye Chong moved like a fish, slipping easily between the mechs and buildings, dealing with any hostile mechs that came his way as he followed the Black Cove squad at a distance.

Fortunately, Mu's scanning system was not significantly affected, a testimony to Mu's strength. Mu was strong in all aspects. Back when Ye Chong began to study Mu's engine, he could not understand a thing about it, as the engine was more advanced than seemingly possible. Who could possibly have designed Mu? This was one of very few questions that Ye Chong continued to take interest in.

However, the thought was quickly dismissed as he regained his focus, following the Black Cove squad from behind. Even if the probability of being detected was very small, it was still sensible to be cautious.

"Ye, 30 degrees from the radius vector, there are MPA's mechs, 22 of them." Mu's cold and flat announcement came through in his clear electronic voice.

The MPA?

Ye Chong suddenly had an idea, and Han Jia immediately ramped up its speed. Night was the perfect cover for Han Jia, and since Ye Chong stuck close to the ground, it was impossible to spot him. As for the other average mechs that were targeting him, Ye Chong ignored them and escaped by sheer speed.

Ye Chong's mind was racing - he had no time to consult Mu. He was evaluating the feasibility of his idea. On the trash planet, Ye Chong had developed a keen hunting intuition. However, his time spent relying on Mu and Shang had made him out of practice. In this moment, Ye Chong felt like he had returned to the trash planet, and his intuition came back to life.

Han Jia moved quickly, and swept like a gust below the Black Cove mechs, heading straight towards the MPA mechs.

Ye Chong felt particularly excited, and his hands moved faster. Han Jia's astonishing speed made it effectively like a ghost moving through the night, and the chaotic situation made it almost unnoticeable; what few people who saw it would only thought it was a trick of the eye.

Han Jia slammed to a halt firmly on the ground.

Ye Chong's face betrayed no expression. From his extensive experience in hunting, he knew that now was the time to keep his calm in order to gather his prize.

Ye Chong had took a huge detour, beginning from behind the Black Cove mechs and ending up behind the MPA mechs.

The MPA and Black Cove were outright enemies. Ye Chong's mind was spinning furiously, and he finally decided to execute his plan, as there was not enough time to evaluate it any further. The window of opportunity was very small. Looking at these two mech squads, they would probably pass by each other without noticing.

Beneath Han Jia's feet were all sorts of mech fragments, left behind by the ones who lost in whatever bouts they were involved in.

Han Jia quickly picked up a heat ray gun, still attached to a severed mech arm.

Ye Chong's plan was simple - he wanted the mechs from Black Cove and the MPA to notice each other.

Han Jia was behind and beneath the MPA mechs, and could see the Black Cove mechs at a distance from where he stood. Even though it was nighttime, and Black Cove's mechs were all in black, the thirty over Cosmic Flares were still very conspicuous. These were powerful mechs lined up in tight formation, and the result was staggering. Other mechs quickly made way for this obviously hostile squad of mechs. The clear perimeter around the Black Cove mechs made them even more obvious.

However, there was still a hoard of mechs engaged in battle, right between the Black Cove and MPA squads.

Looking at the heat ray gun in his hand and the messy hoard of mech in front, Ye Chong could not help but sigh. Why was his shooting skills so horrible? Besides, he would have to shoot while moving with the MPA mechs, and his targets were also constantly in motion.

Ye Chong had no confidence in his shooting skills. In his hands, the gun was as effective as a metal stick.

Ye Chong was vexed, when suddenly, a wide opening appeared in the mech hoard between the Black Cove and the MPA.

Ye Chong was overjoyed, and aimed the heat ray gun through Han Jia.

"Target locked." Mu's calm voice gave him courage, and Ye Chong pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The faint light beams appeared weak against the dark background of the night. The sky was filled with beams aiming at various direction, and it was only natural for the heat ray beams to blend in with the others.

Immediately after it fired, Han Jia slipped into the hoard of mechs for cover.

Ye Chong's shooting skills were deplorable, and even with Mu's help, most of the heat rays missed their targets. Fortunately, however, some of them still hit the Black Cove mechs.

The Cosmic Flares that were hit paused and looked towards the source of the attack. Almost immediately after that, the Black Cove squad shifted their formation in anticipation - they had spotted the MPA's mech squad.

Ever since holographic scanning systems were invented, people had come to rely heavily on them. The system allowed for further and clearer lines of sight, with a larger scanning perimeter. The combination of photon processors and holographic scanning had also reduced the stress on the mech pilot in monitoring the scans.

However, as holographic scanning systems improved generation after generation, they still had their flaws. In a chaotic situation like this one, holographic scanning accuracy dropped significantly.

Both the MPA and Black Cove mech pilots relied heavily on holographic scans. As for Ye Chong, his time spent in the complicated territory on the trash planet had taught him better to use his eyes instead.

The MPA's mech squad was even more obvious. They were all white, arranged in battle formation. Any mech that entered their security perimeter would be greeted with a dazzling beam of light and a violent explosion.

After eliminating a few mechs this way, no more mechs dared to get close to them.

It was eerie to see both mech squads having a clear perimeter around them.

The Black Cove mech squad switched directions upon noticing the MPA mechs.

As the Black Cove mech squad reorganized themselves, the hoard of mechs between them and the MPA began to feel the building pressure of the threat. They quickly cleared the grounds to avoid getting involved.

In the span of a few seconds, the hoard of mechs between the two mech squads had cleared out. Against the backdrop of chaos in the skies, here was a clear flying pathway.

If the MPA still did not notice their enemy by now, they should really just shoot themselves.

Almost instantly, the MPA's mech squad shifted their formation in anticipation too.

The growing tension between the two mech squads was so thick that even breathing became difficult.

Mech squabbles were not rare, but a battle between proper mech formations was. It was also obvious that the two sides were not made up of average mechs; any mech amateur could tell that.

Many of the mechs battling nearby had stopped by now, watching the two mech squads.

Black and White locked gaze at a distance.

Ye Chong hid himself amongst the other mechs and watched.

Compared to the newly formed grudge between the Sanctuary and Black Cove, the MPA and Black Cove were old enemies, and a meeting between the two would often end up as a fight to the death. Ye Chong had experienced this hostility first hand on Blue Ocean in his F-58. If he had not acted quickly then, he would have died many times over.

Abruptly, both sides attacked almost simultaneously! No words were exchanged.

The MPA mechs fired with all they had, moving backwards at the same time. They needed to widen the distance to gain the upper hand with their long range expertise. Even while moving backwards, their formation remained in shape.

The Black Cove mechs, however, quickly formed smaller squads and charged ahead like black vipers.

Distance was key in a battle between Black Cove and the MPA. As someone who was familiar with the battle strategies of both sides, Ye Chong understood this well enough.

With the short distance between them, and the advantage in numbers of the Black Cove mechs led by an instructor, the MPA would lose. That was Ye Chong's deduction.

"The MPA will probably lose this time." Ye Chong said to Mu.

"Yes, based on my information, the probability is above 80 percent." Mu analyzed calmly.

"Looks like our plan is a success." Ye Chong was feeling good.

"Based on the current situation, if everything goes a planned, it will be successful." Mu was still replying in his cold manner.

The MPA seemed to realize that escape was impossible, and acted as much.

Ye Chong had seen the mechs of the Sanctuary and Black Cove battle in formation, but that was in space, and Ye Chong was not particularly awed by it. Here, however, the battle was within the atmosphere, right above the city, and Ye Chong could finally realize the horror of it all.

Both sides were nemesis, and knew each other well. From the beginning, they were no fancy moves. All strived to draw blood.

The spectating mech pilots all stared in shock! Compared to the battle they were seeing, their own bouts seemed like child's play.

The astonishing speed at which the battle progressed was also startling.

However, they did not expect the spillover effects of the battle to affect them.

As the battleground expanded, the two sides began to invade the space of the spectating mechs.

One particular mech was blocking the way of a Cosmic Flare in pursuit of a Messenger, and was instantly dismembered into a thousand pieces. The Cosmic Flare was undeterred and continued its pursuit.

The most terrifying was the Messenger's light beams. Normal laser beams were enough to penetrate two mechs, but the Javelin Angel's nanowaves were even more powerful - one shot was enough to sear out a clear spot.

"Heavens, are they still human?" All the mech pilots were horrified! Whatever courage they had was now diminished to nothingness.

When ruthlessness was met against more extreme ruthlessness, the result was horror and despair.

Almost all the surrounding mechs had stopped fighting and escaped as fast as they could. They could only blame their engines for not flying fast enough to clear the area. A few mechs were still deeply engrossed in their fight. Bang! A huge explosion wiped them out.

With this live example, the surrounding people picked up their pace in escaping.

While he was eager to find out the outcome of the battle, he would stick out like a sore thumb by staying behind. Ye Chong reluctantly left with the retreating swarm of mechs.

All in all, the plan was successful. As for the results, time would tell. Ye Chong returned to the hospital building in good spirits, while Mu worked on controlling events in the virtual world.

Nonetheless, ever since the great battle between Black Cove and the MPA, public order had surprisingly improved. At least, there were no longer any mech squabbles in the skies.

Ye Chong never suspected the long terms consequences the plan he, Mu and Shang had put in motion for the state of the world. Perhaps, even if he knew, Ye Chong, Mu and Shang would probably feel indifferent about it.

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Chapter 205: Change

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Five days went by quickly. With the exception of the initial chaos, followed by the open war between Black Cove and the MPA, it seemed as though all other criminal activity had ceased. After the initial confusion, governments reacted swiftly and organized police mech patrols all over the skies. Daily goods were delivered door to door.

However, the destruction left from the war was difficult to recover from. Even though it was only a war that involved over 50 mechs, their scientific advances far exceeded anything the Five Galaxies had ever seen before. It was a traumatic experience for Windstar. Thousand Birds zone received the heaviest damage. The prosperous area was now littered with ruins, and the casualties came in staggering numbers. War was cruel, and everyone could feel the cold atmosphere spreading from it.

This was a one-in-a-century kind of disaster! These five days felt like centuries to the residents of these 23 planets. The most discouraging thought was, no one knew how long it would go on. Would it be a month? A whole year? None could answer this question.

Just when everyone was quietly enduring the disaster, the virus in the virtual world seemed to have vanished unexpectedly. People discovered to their surprise that all systems were beginning to function again.

Communications were up, traffic was organized … It seemed everything had returned to normal. People went to the streets to celebrate the end of the disaster.

"Hah, you wouldn't know it, let me tell you, this time it's thanks to the alliance of the governments of the Five Galaxies that killed that d*mned virus. I heard there are also some experts from the military …"

This seemed to be the most reasonable explanation, and people accepted it quickly. They fully relaxed and cheered jubilantly. After the disaster, the joy of rebuilding was accompanied by the sorrow that came from the disaster.

Things began to get back on track.

Soon, a massive influx of aid agencies arrived at Windstar, bringing with them a large amount of various direly needed resources. Together with them was also a good amount of reporters.

Of the 23 planets, Windstar received the worst of it all.

The diligent reporters amassed a great amount of information, such as recordings of the fights on Windstar. The most precious one was of a courageous citizen, who recorded a holographic video of the war between the MPA and Black Cove.

This recording caused a huge uproar. All the mech designers realized that their so-called advanced mechs were useless against these black and white mechs. The advanced level mech pilots were shocked by the piloting standard demonstrated by those mech pilots. Unbelievable mech maneuvering, extraordinary shooting skills - in their mind, most of the skills demonstrated in the video was impossible for any human. Mech combat experts in the virtual world recognized that the black mechs were actually using close range battle techniques. Close range mech models rapidly gained popularity.

For the average people, they were horrified by the cruelty of those mech pilots.

No one knew who they were, where they came from, or the name of their mech models. Everything was shrouded in mystery. However, one thing was clear - no one in the Five Galaxies had such power in their hands. People began to realize that the world was not as peaceful as it seemed to be, and that not all forces were governed by their laws.

War had been such an unfamiliar term to them. This holographic recording, however, seemed to suggest the advent of one. Windstar's Thousand Birds zone beared witness to it. The spillover effects from more than 50 mechs had nearly destroyed the entire administrative zone. The thought was chilling.

Just as terrifying were the curved guns held in the hands of the white mechs, as beautiful as they were dangerous!

Only experts specialized in nanowaves would realize that the guns had actually shot out nanowaves. In the Five Galaxies, nanowaves were only at an experimental stage, and far from any real application.

The nanowave experts were not the only ones to feel dejected. The scientific technology demonstrated by both sides in this holographic recording made all scientists realize the difference in their abilities. The difference was not negligible, but a truly huge disparity.

Who were these people?

It was not that the world had never heard of the Three Forces - Black Cove, the Sanctuary and the MPA. The Three Forces were deeply entangled with many local governments around the world, but the magnitude of this war was enough to overcome the suppressive forces of these governments.

Information about the Three Forces began to leak, little by little in the virtual world. The Sanctuary was never heard of by the public, and were now a deep mystery to the people. The benevolent MPA now inspired fear.

For anyone with a little common sense, it was easy to realize that the former peace was over.

Together with the Sanctuary that had not been openly exposed thus far, the Three Forces had enough power to rival that of the Five Galaxies, governor of their worlds. This meant that the Three Forces were not ruled by the laws of the Five Galaxies. With the authorities at war, how could the people live peacefully?

All these matter were, of course, ignored by Ye Chong.

Ye Chong waited for Wang Weixing's return, the only thing that mattered to him. According to Wang Weixing's schedule in the hospital building's control photon processor, this was the day Wang Weixing would come back. Ye Chong was afraid that the chaos on Windstar would delay his return.

However, Ye Chong did not expect Wang Weixing to not only reach Windstar on time, but head straight towards the hospital from his flight without returning home to rest. A doctor's heart was still difficult for Ye Chong to understand. Windstar had too many casualties that swarmed the hospital, and the medical team was overwhelmed. That was why Wang Weixing had rushed to the hospital.

With his part of the plan perfectly executed, Mu retired to give way to Shang. Shang took the schedule between them seriously, and would not allow himself to have less surfacing time. As for Mu, he was uninterested in "surfacing", and seldom argued with Shang. Fortunately, Shang had not developed the habit of taking advantage of Mu.

"So many people!" Shang sighed.

"Yeah, it's a lot of them!" The large hospital building was swarming with people, and the wounded could be seen everywhere. Windstar Hospital was not only a medical facility, but also a research center. However, due to the enormous volume of casualties, all medical staff had been called to service. Looking at the situation before him, Ye Chong began to have doubts on his decision in executing this plan.

Shang affected a sympathetic tone as he said, "Sigh, war, such a horrible thing!"

Ye Chong burst his bubble. "Don't pretend, you're the main culprit!"

"Cough, cough, Ye, don't simply say these things, I'm as pure as an angel!" Shang lied outright.

"What's an angel?" Ye Chong's many adventures in the outside world had obviously not touched on old legends and myths.

"It's a mythical God with wings, one with a pure and kind heart."

"Oh, a birdman!"

"Cough, cough …"

Ye Chong finally saw Wang Weixing, and immediately find him looking very familiar. When Ye Chong had just escaped from Black Cove and boarded a starship, he had encountered one old Mr Wang, and he looked just like Wang Weixing. Was this really a coincidence? Nonetheless, aside from a tiny sigh on how small the world was, Ye Chong had no other concerns. He was wearing a mask back then, and Wang Weixing would probably not recognize him.

Wang Weixing looked weary from his long interstellar travel, and the fact that he had not rested since he stepped into the hospital only made him look even more tired. Wang Weixing smiled and said, "Young man, have a sit."

Ye Chong found a seat and sat down without hesitation.

After Ye Chong finished explaining his situation, Wang Weixing spoke after a moment's thought, "Alright, why don't I perform a full examination on you first. Your issue might be more complicated, and I'll need time to do some research. Besides, as you can see, there's a lot of people out there who needs immediate medical attention, so I'll need longer."

Ye Chong asked, "How long?"

Wang Weixing gave it a thought and said, "Hmm about four days."

Ye Chong nodded. "Alright, then I'll come back in four days."

Wang Weixing gave a small laugh. "Thank you for your understanding."

Ye Chong replied calmly, "It's alright." While he really hoped for Wang Weixing to examine him immediately, Ye Chong understood that it was not an option. Ever since he stepped into the hospital, he had seen many casualties, and he could do nothing to ease the situation.

He quietly returned to the main hospital building's photon processor control room. Four days was not too long for Ye Chong. He had plenty of things to keep him occupied in the meantime. Alchemy, for example, or that chip left by Lan Yixing, or meditation. The control room was spacious enough for him to even practice piloting Guardian. As for Mu and Shang, they would help him find out more about the man called Gao Shichang.

Ye Chong did not know that the investigation on Gao Shichang was going to be a lot harder than expected.

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Chapter 206: Physique

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Prometheus Group was a classic, established, time-honored brand for mech manufacturing. Their Matte series were once a hot-selling classic among the pilots, which later became the backbone of the entire infantry of later mech productions. "The Father of all Mechs", the prime designer of Matte series, Gao Shichang was called.

For a series that retained its influence in the market today despite being 2 decades old, one could tell the capability of this series and that justified how Prometheus Group established their place in the field today. Easily anyone could claim that, without Matte series, there would be no Prometheus Group. According to these premises, Gao Shichang, a significant figure of the whole group, who also happened to be the one who stirred up a storm in the designing industry for being the best mech designer among the 5 galaxies back then, should not be a challenging topic to research on…

Or so Ye Chong thought… The reality was against his presumption however. Gao Shichang's information was not as easy as having his name suggested right after the letter "G" being typed on the search engine he thought. Ye Chong could not tell if his long-lost papa could have been that Gao Shichang. Only if he could find a clear hologram visual of Gao Shichang right now… he believed he could get the answer right away.

But the catch, the very strange catch was, there had hardly been any information about Gao Shichang on the virtual world networking system. He did discover a few entries, which only contained a few brief lines of description. Hologram visuals were nothing new in this galaxy where people travelled in the sky as routine, machines did most of the work and people read on hologramic interfaces, there should have been a visual of Gao Shichang, yet to Ye Chong's confusion, there was barely any, not even a silhouette.

Mu was handling the searching currently and it was an astonishment to the artificial intelligence as well. The sound explanation would be, Ye Chong believed, the records about Gao Shichang were deliberately erased from the system, obviously by some really advanced Mavericks like Mu.

Unfortunately it had been so long that any sign of blatant deletion had already disappeared way before Ye Chong's inspection.That was already the case in reality, not to mention the Virtual World which had a tremendously rapid updating system flow.

Mu even hacked into the demographic information center as an attempt to retrieve potentially overlooked information. Nevertheless, "Gao Shichang" returned a negative result. The information center had stricter administration however, as Mu discovered something… "Yes, there were signs of deliberate deletion." The journals were kept perfectly too, there were some clues but it would be way too far-fetched if one were to find out a man who disappeared 20 years ago with solely clues this little.

The conclusion? Ye Chong could confirm something with Mu Shang in the end - someone or something had destroyed all sorts of information attached to Gao Shichang.

And that someone or something must be a super Maverick because it would be considerably difficult to wipe out someone on the net completely without alarming people, even for Mu.

The more peculiar part was this was done by a Maverick. Twenty years ago. If that Maverick lingered, hell knows how potent he or she had become. Although one could argue that a Maverick was not a profession which the skill was determined by age, so far not a single one Maverick was known to lose their skills gradually as they aged. Perhaps it could be the imaginative nature or the creativity that one elderly could lose against the youngster. Nonetheless, the elderly always held the calmness brewed by the years he gained immense experience from, which eventually his calculation would turn be more acute and cautious, with mistakes little to none. A senior Maverick's calculation would be more of a hard nut to crack.

Mu tirelessly was still on the net, looking for any tiny bit of information related to Gao Shichang. Regarding this, both Mu and Shang possessed something that most humanity did not - they did not recognize fatigue, they did not recognize dejection. They were immensely patient.

Ye Chong could not meddle with this search, not the slightest. He might be the first person in the entire galaxy who wanted to find out the visual of Gao Shichang, but if it turned out to be a random guy with the same name as his father, an amusing coincidence, he was not that kind of caring person who would get involved with a total stranger. If that was indeed his father, no way he would be watching everything by the side.

So, to do or not to do, the key lay within the visual of his "papa".

Ye Chong had some great self-control, for he did not waste the next 4 days doing nothing, despite having losing his head over the search. Lunatic Guan had given him a very detailed course to study. That little chip was consuming to read, unlike Lan Yixing's martial arts guide which he had rich experience in, making it relatable. Moreover, Ye Chong had some basics on muscle manipulation that he could learn the Lan family of the September effortlessly, he just lacked the guidance after all, which Lan Yixing's chip would suffice. Alchemy however, was something new. He did learn a few tricks from Lunatic Guan, but the following syllabus was so deep, he literally knocked the way out with his cracked head.

At least he had good understanding and memory so it was not that torturous after all.

For meditation, Ye Chong kept it up the whole while. Even though the way of living of a mentalist was felt to be not his thing, he could feel the benefits from doing basic meditation.

Yes, the calmness during battle, which reasoned the fearsomeness of mentalist for Ye Chong. That eternal serenity, combined with the mysterious forces and average martial archery, Ye Chong would say the real threat would be those from the Sanctuary, rather than the Black Covers or MPAs.

4 days passed like a day. Whenever Ye Chong got his head into knowledge, time sure flew.

Ye Chong came to the clinic of Wang Weixing, who never had an idea that Ye Chong had been causing little bit of havoc at the outside with his identity.

The clinic was still busy as ever. Well, it felt more of a medical center, a hospital, as the wounded whined and whimpered. The wailing rang throughout the corridor, at least there were much lesser injuries compared to his visit 4 days ago.

Wang Weixing had his hair tussled, messed, ruffled, any way one could describe a total mess in fatigue, blatantly telling Ye Chong that he did not spend the past 4 days well. The tasks could be fatal to an elderly like him. There was too much to do and too little workforce to help, although he did not even have the leisure to think of the fatality of taking one patient or another, as he screamed "Next!", every few minutes.

"Here's my boy," said Wang Weixing with a smile upon seeing Ye Chong, whom he believed to be the one who understood the reality of being a doc.

"Mhm," Ye Chong sat right in front of Wang Weixing.

The moment the doctor took his seat along, the expression turned stern. The fatigue on the face vaporized and was replaced with solemnity.

"Mhmmmm…" Pondered the elderly, "My boy, I had performed a detailed research on the outcome of your body inspection. As you have mentioned that you had certain kinds of symptoms, I would say you could have consumed some kind of steroids before, by mistake."

Ye Chong did not interrupt the doctor as his expression demanded his elaboration.

"Such steroid… a very tyrannic kind. Or precisely, dominating. This is the first steroid being so dominating in reaction I had encountered after all these years in my research. It was also the first strange kind too." The doctor took a breath.

"Normally, as long as it is a steroid, or even artificial hormone, there would be side effects inevitably, which would be reflected on your body directly, like the pattern of your body changes for example, be it rashes or disarmed immunity. But the one you have taken by mistake… there is in fact a side effect, but not on simple things like these, rather it would make you depend upon it. The dependency grew so overwhelmingly that the mentioned symptoms would return as long as you do not take them regularly."

Then the doctor exclaimed, "How horrifying…"

"The steroid could vastly improve your body mechanism. It performs modification on your muscular structure. In this case, it would not burden your body. Yes, yes, yes, as long as you take them regularly that is. On the contrary, it had modified your body, an overhaul I must say and an alarming ones that is. I seriously have no idea who made this but it's genius! It took me quite a while but I still could not find out its exact chemical composition."

Ye Chong was expressionless the whole time.

"Hah! My boy, do not worry, if this steroid has given me enough shock you thought, then you are wrong, you had given me a greater shock," gleefully the doctor replied.

"What?" Ye Chong frowned. "Me?" Clearly, he did not comprehend.

The elderly grinned, "I had performed a full inspection on your body remember? The outcome was truly a shocker to me. Most of the mechanism of your body turns out to be way above average, including the strength of your muscular structure, the density of your skeleton system and even the capacity of your cardiovascular system. Physique-wise, your body is hitting perfection. And from your bloodstream I had retrieved some residue of a kind of steroid and then there's this thing, flowing in your blood, an unknown chemical substance…"

"What is it?" Ye Chong remained calm.

The calmness of the boy was something Wang Weixing found to be eccentric. Normally any youngster of Ye Chong's age would be jumping from the chair and demanding an immediate response, but Ye Chong was there sitting, all wordless and wise, even when the topic was something regarding his life.

"It's a factor. A very different factor," he smiled. "I had never come across such factor before in my life and I could not find any information on it. But I could be confident to say that, this is the factor which keeps improving your body."

"Well, you probably were the kind of kid with a well-built body compared to your classmates back then I suppose?"

Nodded Ye Chong.

"Then that's it. I had attempted to extract the factor from your sample, but never knew I would fail miserably in the end in spite of all methods I have tried. Shame…" Wang Weixing's expression grew regretful, "Although I had failed miserably, I still managed to find something unique."

"What was unique?" asked Ye Chong.

Wang Weixing was a medical doctor, but he also was a researcher. And that moment his seriousness of being a researcher was depicted.

"The factor happened to be very similar with the steroid you have mis-swallowed. But the composition of the factor was much more facilitated than the steroid I must say, that I even started to suspect if the steroid was a copycat trying to mimic the composition of the factor instead. It turned out to be a failed carbon copy. The factor mixes with the blood way better than the steroid. Let me guess, you did not have any of those symptoms before you consumed this steroid, am I right?"

"Nope," he shook his head, even though the conference in his head was about to get chaotic. When the hell did I even have a factor running in my blood and I did not know?

The response was expected, "That would be it. The superior physique you possess shares a correlation with the factor inside you, like the structure of your muscles for example, according to exercise physiology, your structure must be colossal great to supply the strength you wield for now. However, because of the factor inside you or in simpler terms, the strange physique of yours, your structure would not gain its mass while your strength grew over the time. That steroid was a glaring copy of the factor, trying to get a similar effect on your body, but it was half-baked so it returned a number of side effects in the end."

…

Ye Chong was silent. His inside was grumbling in chaos. Mu Shang were also wondering the same conundrum, his physique had always been a mystery.

"The physique you have… should be of inheritance, as such factor has a strong resistance to foreign matters so you could not obtain it by a simple injection or whatsoever. The steroid you possibly have injected was pre-dominating since the dosage was high, which resulted those symptoms you have mentioned for the next long period of time. But slowly, gradually, as time goes, that factor of yours took back its place as it engulfed and destroyed the steroid particles inside you. The amount of steroid inside you remained at a negligible amount now. So not much to worry… Those symptoms should never occur again." The doctor seemed very pleased for the youngster freed from disease.

"Woohoo, you heard that? Ye? You are actually alright!" Shang who had listened to the exchange the entire time was grooving joyfully inside Ye Chong.

"The warning…" Wang Weixing withdrew his smile, "My boy, please, listen, on my plead, please, never ever consume any more of those steroids. The side effects are too great and the effects are subpar compared to the factor inside you. You seriously could have ditched this business failure, it was a bad trade. And one more thing, all of the current unique physique or bloodline we have discovered so far in Science are known to suffer from a particular type of weakening, which we would name it as 'Relativity Diminish Syndrome", you've got to ask your family, the immediate members of yours, like your parents for example, to know if they suffer from any kind of disease. Or else… if one day you suffer from the syndrome and you are not ready for it, that… that would be horrible I would say. You could die from it."

Immediate members… family? Those words rang bitterly in Ye Chong's ears. Those were some really foreign terminologies he had heard.

"Alright… I had covered most of the things… I think." He checked the list in his hand, "Mhm, the conclusion, all is well and your body is much healthier than most people out there. If it was not the happening this time, I would really love to take a careful research on the factor inside you. Mhm, right, good, good, well I have some other patients to diagnose, if you would excuse me," summoned Wang Weixing, for the next patient!

"Thank you," bowed Ye Chong slightly, the line came off wholly from his heart.

Wang Weixing did not look at Ye Chong. He waved his hands, signaling him to go, as his eyes were fully focused on the statistic, the diagrams on the hologram appeared on his table.

Ye Chong felt much more relieved as he left the hospital. The syndrome actually cured itself and the mystery of his physique had been revealed.

Family members? Well that was nothing to concern about. He grew up on Trash Planet, so where the hell could he find a family member? There was one and only one member, papa… And papa was … well, perhaps he would be alone for the rest of his life. Thought Ye Chong as he looked at the sky.

The last mystery of his life could just be whether papa was Gao Shichang, the designer of mechs after all. If that was done, he would find a planet and spend his remaining life in tranquility with his best buddies, Mu and Shang, just like Grandpa Qian at Blue Ocean, doing the things he liked, caring for the people he truly cared.

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Chapter 207: My Life as a Spaceship Owner I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Rainbow planet, was a residential planet in the Fal galaxy, where there would be an arch of rainbow after every rainfall in the sky. Sometimes the arch was brightly colorful. Sometimes it was a little pale, with a beautiful translucency which people adored as much as its starkness on occasions. The name of the planet was from this arch of course. The HQ of Prometheus was also located there.

Ye Chong was an action-oriented person. He would not want to waste his youth on Windstar. He planned to leave the planet after discovering the syndrome to be null the whole time. The MPA had some issues with Black Coves back then but Ye Chong had never seen the fireworks in the sky with them flying against each other ever since. Ye Chong would not buy the fact that the forces had forgotten his existence nonetheless.

Windstar had been obliterated generally, like the remnants of the planet were only there to denounce its death, as various organizations came to rescue. The number of spaceships grew dramatically ever since. Ye Chong could not find a spaceship which would directly head to Rainbow however.

"Ye! Ye!" Shang on the other hand kept suggesting him to get a spaceship, as the artificial indulgence named the advantages, "Well, it's cool. Chick digs it." Those so-called advantages did not pique Mu and Ye Chong's interest. The suggestion itself did get his interest nonetheless.

If I own a spaceship myself, the advantages are there. I no longer have to do spaceship-pooling and I could significantly lower the chances of being discovered by the forces in the galaxy. With the spaceship, I would gain direct mobility and I could perform the necessary action if anything bad happens…

The catch would be the identification procedure whenever they landed a planet. Well that was not an issue to Mu, since he could work on something in the databank of the Virtual World. Getting a legitimate identity for Ye Chong was a piece of cake.

"Very well…" As a consensus was achieved, the next step would be getting a spaceship itself.

The price of a spaceship was utterly of a different level compared to mechs. The manufacturers of spaceships were none other than those major companies, superior groups with vast resources and networking. It was not something those average companies could handle.

Plan A would be to steal the ship from someone else. That was the only plan in Ye Chong's mind. "No." Both Mu and Shang disagreed, with the reasons being, "The situation of Windstar is currently at a highly alarmed state, any deviance would immediately gain attention from every other individuals," by Mu; "No civilized man would use such a low and crude method just to obtain a ride," by Shang.

If both Mu and Shang disagreed to that, then it must be because they had gotten a better plan. Ye Chong kept his mouth shut. He had better things to do. Time was never a thing Ye Chong believed to be ample of, same goes with tasks. The learning tasks had always been there and those were the things that formulated growth in his capabilities. Strength, capabilities were his everything.

And Ye Chong was in an abandoned underground storage at the moment. Whether how and why Mu found out, that was not his concern. He realized how perfect the place was for his piloting practice. "Let's see…" Ye Chong began listing the mechs he had. There were Han Jia and the Guardian, both the most trustworthy arsenals in his team. Then there was one mech he got from the Sanctuary after plotting against them. And Overwing from Mu Fei… 4 Dawn mechs… then a few non-combat models he bought from Nine Gates City.

Han Jia and the Guardian were the mechs he grew most familiar with. Overwing was excellent but Ye Chong had never used it before, it also required the pilot to coordinate using some Mentalist attributes… then Ye Chong could never excavate its potential with his limited capacity. The original design was outstanding to Ye Chong however, which broadened his horizon on mech designs. Overwing was more of a research sample than a war machine.

Same goes with the 4 Dawn mechs he plundered before, it was research more than an application purpose, especially when Dawn mechs were way inferior than Overwing. Ye Chong took a few glances before he left them at the corner. His eyes could hardly have them after encountering so many masterpieces on his journey.

The problem was there. He needed something to pilot but none of the mechs could not be put under the sun, be it Han Jia or the Guardian, even Overwing. He would be busted even before the battery hit the 75% mark. Han Jia could not be camouflaged, as its surface was made out of unique materials where any finish would go off by the slightest blow of the wind. That was also the case for the Guardian but the miniature design was more of the eye-catching headache. Overwing… that would be just a bloody shoutout to Sanctuary that he killed Mu Fei right in their face. Ye Chong was not that dumb to do a shoutout to enemies. Dawn mechs could be used as a camouflage, he could pretend as a rookie Sanctuary pilot and fly but the camouflage would only work once or twice.

It was a plight Ye Chong had discovered, that nothing in his armory was useable. It felt like floating on the seawater while being thirsty.

Sigh… I'll figure this out some other time. Ye Chong discarded the thoughts.

Ye Chong's understanding towards the martial arts had ascended to a whole new level after learning from Lan Yixing's microchip.Ye Chong himself felt his skills had improved substantially. It just felt like someone who had been learning things himself was suddenly thrown to a class of systematic tutorials, which deepened his understanding and did not bind him with the theories the class taught.

Applicability-wise, the techniques were very much limited in an unarmed fight, thus the mech combats Ye Chong was practicing at the moment. Inside Han Jia he imagined the possible manner to perform those moves, attempting to pull them off to refine his skills on fighting in a mech.

His moves were more simplified compared to his experience. They were less dazzling and less confusing, where each move was well-flowed with the other and the power had been increased slightly.

Han Jia remained as the best choice for mech combat practices. For the Guardian, it was the practical mech to fully exert the potency of unarmed combats.

"Ye!" Shouted Shang during Ye Chong's practice.

He held his fist, assuming that Mu and Shang had solved the problem of getting a spaceship, "What is it?"

As expected, "Kekeke, Ye, we got our ship! We bought it," said Shang.

"You… bought it?" The verb was the whole point he captured right away, "What did both of you pay with? If it's money, how?"

And Ye Chong's question got an eyeball from Shang, "Money is merely a set of figures to both Mu and I, it was nothing major, we have tons of methods to achieve this."

"I see," responded Ye Chong, who too held zero interest towards money, "So where's the ship?"

"Keke, we would need you for that. But well, before that, you need to get an identity card," Stated Shang.

Getting an identity card was not something new to Ye Chong. He was so used to it that it did not take him long before the card just popped out of the kiosk machine. The name on the card this time was "Gu Wei", being one insignificant member from the enormous family tree of the aristocratic Gus in Tian Luo galaxy. "Gu family" from Tian Luo reminded Ye Chong of Gu Shaoze, who was from the same family of course, a significant one too… probably, speculated Ye Chong.

"Shang, of all families, why the Gus?" asked Ye Chong

"Well, it is rare for anyone to have a spaceship under private ownership. Only those wealthy aristocrats or administrative group, the executives could normally own it. If you have it under the name of the Gus, it could reduce the amount of hows and whys you get from the people around, plus you won't be getting that much of attention. The planet we are heading this time, is located at Fal galaxy. That is far, far away from Tian Luo galaxy so we probably won't be bumping into any real member of the Gus. Well, even if we were so unfortunate to encounter one of them, it would not be surprising if we did not recognize each other, considering how huge an aristocratic family like the Gus is, you could not count the branches extended from each family. The probability of them recognizing each other is too low to be discovered. Anybody would stumble upon the tree and give up checking you out."

"Oh, I see," Ye Chong expressed comprehension.

So, Ye Chong, in accordance with Shang's instruction, travelled through the access zone and passed countless spaceships parking by the side. He arrived by one blind corner.

A gigantic spaceship parked there quietly. The body was dark, flat and smoothly curved, with an appearance like a whale. There was no lump, the back was streamlined, unlike those squares and pointed spaceships he usually saw.

The first thing Ye Chong noticed was the size, where the spaceships nearby were like its little brothers in comparison, despite being much smaller than Fred the Great's Sabre which had the length of 10 km. The spaceship before him was not that outrageously long, but it still had a length of about 5km.

"How was it, Ye?" asked Shang, satisfied of Ye Chong's reaction, "Fascinating isn't it? Sadly it is not Slan graded, that is what defines a cool spaceship."

A young man waited near the ship walked towards him upon his arrival, "Excuse me…" Courteously he asked, "Are you Mr. Gu Wei?"

"Yes I am," flatly Ye Chong replied, nodding his head.

"Oh, greetings, Mr. Gu Wei, I am a staff from Windy Sail Group. This is the Zika graded spaceship you have ordered. In accordance with your requirement, we have not named the ship and have officially transferred the naming rights to you. Do you find the ship satisfactory? If you are, kindly enter the ship to acknowledge us your acceptance and provide your signature after. You are also entitled to our maintenance service across the galaxies, regarding that please refer to the terms and conditions stored in the processor of your spaceship." Briefed the young man politely.

"Mhm." Nodded Ye Chong, as he boarded the spaceship under young man's lead. At the main processor Ye Chong took out his identity card to activate anti-theft verification system. He inserted the card to the system and then he was prompted by the processor, stating that the scan had been completed.

The young man took a silvery tablet with a size of a palm out of his shirt. Within a few taps he made, the tablet enlarged to a size of a table, floating before Ye Chong. Beep! Red light flashed and words appeared on the screen gradually. It turned out to be a trade contract. The young man then passed Ye Chong a laser stylus. He signed gracefully, the pseudonym of his, Gu Wei and gained the ownership officially.

"Good bye, have a nice trip." The young man then bade him farewell and left.

Ye Chong looked at this giant spaceship. He began weaving around the rooms, it had been quite some time since he got this excited. This was in fact his very own spaceship, his first spaceship! Zika graded spaceships were not that colossal kind but its length of 5km still sufficed to considered as the larger one among the spaceships.

"So Ye, what do you think we should call this spaceship?" Shang was joyful, seeing how thrilled Ye Chong was.

"We need a name for a spaceship?" Ye Chong was bewildered.

"Of course, don't you remember how Fred that old bum also named his beauty as 'The Sabre'?" Illustrated a real example, Shang stated.

"Well then, 'The One'. There, done." Ye found the name to be the most easiest to remember.

Certainly Shang the poet would strongly refuse his suggestion, "Ye, how could you give such a senseless name to this baby? No, no, no, absolutely no. I won't allow this name."

"Well, take that task for me," he waved his hands. Ye Chong did not care. Naming was a silly thing to him anyway.

The spaceship was too spacious inside, even Mu Shang could fly freely, let alone for Ye Chong to walk.

"Ye, head to the main processor at the Captain's room. There's a blueprint for the modification. Mu made it. Mhm, the operating system of this spaceship has been changed by Mu. So, don't worry about the security issues, hehehe." Said Shang.

Modification? That word struck a glow of fire inside Ye Chong, and it was a plan made by Mu! He ran to the Captain's room straightaway.

The Captain's room was expected to accommodate 80 men under normal circumstance. It felt empty with only Ye Chong standing there.

Ye Chong walked to the main processor again. Tick! A blueprint sprang out of the processor. That justified the fact that Mu and Shang had taken full control of the ship. Without both of them, Ye Chong believed it would be hard for him to even turn on the engine. Well normally, to pilot a Zika spaceship, one would require a team of 20 to perform simultaneous coordination of the entire ship.

Ye Chong's eyes were stuck on the blueprint.

The design was truly amazing, as expected from Mu! Exclaimed Ye Chong.

The first stark difference was the addition of a few new rooms, being a mini metal research laboratory, a mini alchemy room, a mini modification room and a mech training field. And that was only the first.

The super intensive, insane, impeccable shopping festival for Ye Chong commenced! Mu had charged his identity card with a huge amount of money, which Ye Chong had zero concern on its source and the way it got to his card. And that was when Shang announced the name of this ship, "The Coxcomb!" He sounded rather animated when he mentioned it, although both Mu and Ye Chong did not really care. Their attitude was neutral and of total indifference. "Dang…" And Shang was depressed for once.

Okay… so on "The Coxcomb", the space was facilitated with advanced communicative devices which allowed access to the Virtual World. Mu guided Ye Chong to log into the network system and they purchased boxes after boxes of apparatus and materials, along with some daily life necessities.

The figure was ticking fast on Ye Chong's "own" bank account, even though he did not feel anything in particular. He only saw the piles in his ship increased day by day. The engineering mech he purchased was finally put into good use. He had spent the next few days being a porter with the machines. Of course, Shang could not get away from this tedious task, though both Mu and he had lost an arm on their actual body, which resulted a much lower efficiency compared to Ye Chong.

The "festival" lasted for literally 5 days. And Ye Chong could stop at last after purchasing everything on the list. Luckily the Coxcomb had a storage sufficient to accommodate all these, since the things he bought were already giving him headache in the first place.

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Chapter 208: My Life as a Spaceship Owner II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong began his tough task of handling these mountains of items he had purchased. Mu took over control as Shang could be killed by the boredom of the task.

The 3 largest rooms were made into metal research lab, alchemy room and mod room respectively and the surrounding rooms around the main control room had been made as the storage, where the mountains of things had been transferred to.

The metal research lab was not huge but was luxuriously facilitated. Ye Chong was not familiar with metallurgy. Mu made the choices of facilities, which all of them happened to be the most avant-garde models in the market. Well that came with a price, which remained unknown to Ye Chong as all he did was tap his identity card on the paying machine. Frankly speaking, he never checked out the price tag when he took them to the counter. He would be learning metallurgy here, since Mu was quite the expert in it.

The alchemy room, also a laboratory precisely speaking, was fully designed by Ye Chong himself. He had been learning the theoretical aspect of the study but never once he had been exposed to hand-on experience. Now with this new alchemist lab, he could perform all sorts of alchemy experiments. And well, those apparatuses inside the lab would be driving any alchemist mad on first sight. Self-controlled cultivation machine, thermostatic plasma room, duo enzymic mixer… all these luxuries that could only be found in the top laboratories were sitting right inside Ye Chong's lab.

The modification room was the largest among them, which did not only contain a range of devices for mech modification, but also had a set of equipment for skeleton parts production. That was the tricky part however as there was no equipment dedicated for skeleton parts production in the market. Most of the time Ye Chong had to make them from scratch. Thankfully the devices sold in the market were of extreme variety that the mod room Ye Chong owned was way better than the top mod room he used to have at Blue Ocean Academy. As most devices were solely available on pre-order basis, he had to bear with the standard procedure of pre-ordering and waiting. The arrival was still pretty far away from him.

Finally, the 3 essential rooms were formed. A sigh of relief from Ye Chong, although he was probably a million light years away from completion. These apparatuses he purchased from the market were not perfect in Mu's eyes, as he provided a list of suggestion on modification to each apparatus. No doubt the list took a moment of discussion between Mu and Ye Chong and Ye Chong learned something from it.

Apparatus modification was way more than a simple change of nut to bolt, as these machines were already densely circuited in the beginning. A slight inaccuracy, a slip of the hand could permanently damage the machine. The demand of cautious accuracy was not something Ye Chong used to. But his learning capabilities helped him out. After destroying a few apparatuses, he mastered the unconventional method of operating them. Ye Chong was expected to have much refined technique in handling these machines compared to the times before. Of course, to make this kind of operation a habitual one, the cost he had to bear was unimaginable for most men.

Okay… Phase 1 completed. The 3 rooms were furnished. Then… the mech training room, that would be easier. Ye Chong picked the largest storage and placed the training equipments in. Done. Ye Chong could no longer improve his piloting skills by merely striving for mastery. He got to take accuracy.

Ye Chong proceeded to Phase 2.

Phase 1 felt so angelic and harmless the moment he began the Phase 2 of the modification. It involved modification on the weaponry itself, as Ye Chong stood before the offensive system of the spaceship. He staggered. Those matrixes were just the few of the simpler types of simulation of the offenses for ships Mu claimed he could find inside the databank. He was obliged to build it since the Coxcomb would be naturally a giant bee comb if they were to encounter any foes who would fire at them. Ye Chong would have to succumb to piloting his mech to try fighting back, abandoning the spaceship in the end.

Even though the 5 major galaxies had clearly prohibited the research and development of space warship, Ye Chong did not seem to be bounded by the terms at all. MPA owned a Double Moon Corvette while Black Coves and Sanctuary also had their own warships. Probably even the Prometheus Group owned a handful of warships as well.

Ye Chong would absolutely agree to any kind of modification as long as it would increase the chances of safety. I guard my own safety! And my safety guards my own fate!

And then there Ye Chong was, stumbled upon the modification process, as he realized the process turned out to be the hardest part of the entire plan.

This was the first time Ye Chong was exposed to the firepower aspect of the system, and he realized that he could not understand the simulation at all. He was familiar with the firepower, of the mech that is. The weaponry of a spaceship was grander and more complicated than the one on mech. It would be unrealistic for Ye Chong to master the working behind spaceship weaponry. The vastness of knowledge behind the simple-looking system would be something one would take forever to capture and be unable to see the end.

But, one does not understand the weaponry would not mean one is unable to make it, especially when one has Mu by the side.

The whole operation was broken down into several hundred steps by Mu, in which the detailed instructions were specified. Ye Chong only had to follow the steps exactly the way they were written. Mu would be supervising at the side. So for the completion of this phase, Ye Chong was totally confident.

The vital component of the entire system would be the installation of electromagnetic cannon, specifically the tubes. Electromagnetic cannons would fire up after a very brief moment of charging immense energy. So the tubes would be essential for they must be able to withstand the density of the forces without transmutation occurring during the process. Any ordinary metal would have melted before the ammo got fired.

The metal lab had a storage which kept countless premium ores and Ye Chong suddenly remembered that, Mu seemed to know formula of multiple kinds of strange alloys. As expected, Mu took out a piece of black gold ore, with a diameter about half a meter. Ye Chong had once collected a massive amount of black gold ores at the asteroid belt surrounding the Black Coves, since those ores were the specialty of the planet, with excellent stats and were used in the masks of the Black Covers and their mechs.

The ores were convincingly heavy. It took a moment for Ye Chong to lift it up, carried it a few steps unsteadily and tossed it into the Magnetron-based metal separator that he had bought. He turned back and looked at Mu, who was standing there and did not intend to take out another piece apparently.

"Mu, that's it?" Asked Ye Chong in peculiarity, "Is one piece enough?"

"Mhm, it's more than sufficient. Producing tubes for an electromagnetic cannon using black gold is already considered as a form of resources wastage itself. It is a shame that we do not have lightning stone or extracted crystal reactance in possession, while we would run out of material assuming we are making tubes for nanowave cannon instead." Mu seemed rather helpless when he was unable to carry out the optimal route available.

Ye Chong simply did not recognize the rarity of black gold to understand the context. The war machine of the Black Coves, like Cosmic Flare for example, contained only a little amount of black gold. Similarly the amount of black gold in the masks was hardly noticeable. If it was not that strange space whirlpool which dragged Ye Chong to the depth of the asteroid belt, he would never be able to collect black gold this much.

Zink! Zink! Zink! Ye Chong could feel the slight vibration from the little window on the separating machine. Shush! And there he saw the piece of black gold being fully transformed into a pile of black powder, which veiled the inside of the machine in black mist. Very quickly after droplets of black liquid splashed over the window and flowed downwards to form a black glossy stream. The inside of the machine was rather bizarre for it was hardly tainted by the liquid.

The liquid flowed smoothly over the surface and collected at one point, eventually condensed into a piece of metallic cube. Ye Chong opened the window and held it in his hand. It was hefty… strangely hefty, glossing in dark.

Ye Chong, under the further instruction of Mu, placed the crystallized black gold into the other alloys he bought from the market. The lab was of minimalist design, so he had to make the tubes one by one. He was a little clumsy at first but he managed to keep up several tubes later and he started to feel really easy with the apparatuses in the lab. Although he had no idea how most of them worked theoretically, at least he knew how to operate them.

52 electromagnetic tubes piled at one corner. Their darkness would chill one from both the outside and the inside. The polished body felt cold in the hands. Compared to those tubes popping out from the factory every few seconds, these tubes were the handmade superior products from the lab. Inevitably, the cost would also be a few times of the mass-manufactured products. That was never the 3 musketeers' concern however.

Next up, the launcher production, then the platter for electromagnetic system, the connection of the circuits… Pant… Ye Chong was half dead. Those tasks were not for humans! Really! One could tell the tediousness of the tasks seeing how a superman like Ye Chong collapsed.

Pant… Pant… Relieved Ye Chong. Now, one last step. The installation. Mu had already set up an installation plan for this as well. According to his calculation, the 52 tubes could cover up the entire body of the ship. There would not be blind spot opened for vulnerabilities. Mu could not be one strength to lift the tubes this time. Ye Chong hopped onto an engineering mech and set his work running. Installing the tubes was nothing after all the things he had been through producing the tubes.

He ran through the locations marked by Mu. Those placements were all designed as a concealed gun chamber by nature, so Coxcomb did not look particularly different post installation. Any passerby would have assumed this being an ordinary, harmless Zika spaceship upon first glance.

The electromagnetic cannons were the important component, one of the important components that is. What scattered throughout the corners of the warship was the 180 laser firing devices, which operated at a high reaction speed, with agile movements, forming a large coverage of Coxcomb's firepower about 50 km. This design was aimed to attack any approaching mech detected. At least the lasers were easily available in the market, as most mechs would use them. When Ye Chong placed the order at the counter in his usual nonchalance, the shopkeeper really assumed him being a staff of some major mech manufacturer.

If Shang was known for his creativity, Mu would be known for his great attention to details. His plans were well connected, with one point supporting the other, like a net that would raid anybody in his aim. It would be horrible if Mu ever turned his firearm over you. Mu's characteristic was demonstrated clearly over his design on the offenses of the ship.

There were also countless grenade launchers paired with the laser firing devices, as inspired by the vase-shaped grenade launcher of Yu Di. Those waves of supplementary explosives were exceptionally helpful in a battle. Combining with the laser firers, It would surely be a deadly pool if any mech were to approach the Coxcomb.

The process of installing the firearms was rather boring, since most of the things did not make sense to Ye Chong. The one joy he got to experience was to prepare these colorful supplementary explosives. Fred was great. He saluted. Despite his age, he was still that resourceful and creative.

So, we finally finished the offensive system! The interior of the Coxcomb had undergone an overhaul, transforming into a real warship, a fearsome warship! Ye Chong spent literally a month on the building, which was beyond his estimation. He looked at the pile of junks, the remnants from his renovation. It was a headache as those were an absolute failure. He then tossed all of them into the crucible and made them into alloy cubes. That would be easier for storage. He had to keep the place clean since Shang had been nagging at it.

He once commented that, "The Coxcomb is the butcher disguised in his handsome look!"

Phase 3 of the modification… well Ye Chong felt the need to take a break temporarily. Coxcomb was too strong at his offenses while having nearly zero defenses, as his armor was never meant for warring, one could imagine the ship sinking in a few bombardments. But Zika spaceship was known for its size, changing the armor of the ship would be a astronomical operation to work on. Ye Chong could never complete it only by himself. The second astronomical thing would be amount of rare materials Mu required to match the standard. Ye Chong was not a member of the three forces, he did have a storage of them but those were not going to be sufficient to even plate the tip of the ship. Most of the materials were non-existent in the market as well, even though these materials were considered the lettuce and cucumbers if Ye Chong was still at Nine Gates City.

Regarding the possession of resources, Ye Chong was a beggar compared to those forces in 5 major galaxies.

But whether the three forces being filthy richer than him in resources, why would he care? Not like he would get a share.

Anyway, save the talking, the ship was finally done. For the engines of the Coxcombs, they were not that bad, even though Mu had several plans on modification, it would be unrealistic to perform it right now. So Mu, the rational one who foresaw the unequal cost and effect behind this, scrapped the plan.

Ye Chong planned to leave Windstar and make a direct travel to Rainbow after this. It took him way too long to do the basic modification on his giant whale. He felt the time was well spent nevertheless, since being well prepared would mean being likelier to succeed. And he believed that Coxcomb was no longer a warship, it had evolved into a space base. Ye Chong even imagined his life wandering on the warship if he never could find a planet that was good enough to stay. It was not that bad.

Based on the galactic map… Oh! Ye Chong surprisingly found out the Rainbow planet being rather close to the Trash Planet, which further convinced him the fact that this Gao Shichang from Prometheus Group could truly be his papa. He was excited. Well, it is natural for humans to lose their calmness and rationality over their beloved.

And he remembered the fact that his papa was also quite a prodigy in mechs. Then probably Gao Shichang from the corp could very much be his papa.

Well, those were just speculations. If he wanted to verify his speculation, he had to pursue it.

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Chapter 209: I Came to Rescue

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After they had stocked a variety of supplies, the Coxcomb finally departed from Windstar. Coxcomb was not that prominent in the midst of the busy flock of spaceships landing and departing. Zika graded spaceships could be gigantic, but every organization who came to aid the pitiful residents on Windstar had much greater budget than Ye Chong, as shown by their even more gigantic rides; gigantic spaceships could be a rare sight on the street, as one would not see them running day by day like the mechs, still it was not *that* rare.

That would be it. The premises were in the favor of Ye Chong. He had never disliked neglects by the others, well, only Shang would love being all cool and showered by attention, "The Coxcomb is the coolest spaceship, everyone should see and appreciate it!"

Anyway, the Coxcomb travelled smoothly off the pier. They left Windstar silently.

In the boundless space, the Coxcomb floated like a soundless whale.

Ye Chong was overjoyed as there were so many things to do. Intergalactic travel could be something really time-consuming and mundane, especially when the journey between Windstar and Rainbow was exceedingly long. Even if Ye Chong owned the Coxcomb and had installed it with the best engines he got, it still was going to take some time.

It came a long way and it would be considered agonizing to most people, except for Ye Chong, who found this being quite normal. After the phases of the major warship transformation he performed not too long ago, he had gotten pretty much used to the apparatuses in the metallurgy laboratory. And he realized he was in dire need to get an useable mech, in public of course, that could provide camouflage to his identity. So he got to create a mech as well. The tools and the materials he had in the room were more than sufficient to make a mech.

Since the mech was merely made for camouflage purpose, he did not need to invest too much on it. He then took inspirations from all sorts of models, a little here and there, which formed a rather odd design plan in the end. The body was given a striped finish with colored patches. It looked like a pierrot, or in layman's terms, a clown. Ye Chong believed it would be a very good camouflage, since the accessories were all from the market, nobody would have suspected it being a specialty from the three forces or the unknown.

The mech, despite its design being jumbled up from everything in the storage, had its essential parts improvised. Those parts were the only parts Ye Chong needed to touch. The remaining mixture of design was just something he could disregard.

"The Puppet", named by Ye Chong. And no doubt, the name was given a roaring laugh at. "You sure, Ye? Hahahahahahaha…" Shang had been ridiculing the name for the following hour. Ye Chong found the name to be quite befitting to the mech though. The parts of the Puppet were common enough, yet it was something truly from the experiment, for the experiment, by the experiment.

Ye Chong was having so much fun at the metallurgy lab. It was practically useful. The processor was amazing, that he just had to give a few tap on the screen to provide the visuals of every part and designate the sizing, then he would add in the ingredients. Pop! The part would come out in no time. Ye Chong was astounded as the capability of the processor had indicated that his thoughts could come into reality right away. He had ample alloys in his storage so he began messing with them, creating parts of all kinds. The Puppet would take everything in the end, it would be the conglomeration, a representation of Ye Chong's storage.

The colorful mech did in fact look like a clown, but Ye Chong would not mind. If anyone were to look down upon the mech, that person would be making a deadly mistake. Ye Chong had installed miniature engines at every joint of the Puppet, to ensure it could set motion in minimal range to provide better offenses. Of course the shooting chambers were in the body as well, to cover the ground. Technically, the chambers were only a backup addition, since who knows when would Ye Chong ever really need to use the chambers to save himself?

The Puppet wielded a pair of parrying spears. It was a strange sight to see such a petite figure waving two oversized spears, although one must admit that it looked pretty disturbing. The two spears were the true killing weapons for Ye Chong. As long as the foes he encountered were from neither of the three forces, with his skills, the pair of spears would be more than enough to keep him alive. If anything would go wrong, Ye Chong would not hesitate to activate Han Jia or the Guardian right away.

The excess nuts and bolts were sent back to the crucible to be made into alloy cubes. And once again, the advantage of using metals as material was demonstrated, its recyclability of course, which was something skeleton materials could hardly compete with. But, one must bear in mind that not every single piece of metal was fine to be recycled, the scrapped metals on Trash Planet for example, the cost to recycle them was too high, which gave a discouraging return, so nobody would recycle them.

From this point, one could tell the standing of skeleton and metallic materials. Metallic materials were more common in application but skeleton materials possessed an extremely unique characteristic which metallic material could never imitate. The catch was, to produce a skeleton part, one would be required a long chain of procedures, longer than any layman would have imagined, which had determined the fate that skeleton mechs could never become common among the pilots.

If the metallurgy experts ever came to Ye Chong's lab and saw how he used those apparatuses as if he was baking a cake, they would go nuts on spot for those apparatuses were something they would drool upon. Those apparatuses, for any metallurgy researcher or organization, were some of the most advanced kinds.

Ye Chong indulged himself in researches, as he moved around daily like a researcher. He spent the following days at the 3 research rooms he owned. Other than metallurgy, the alchemy was getting his attention as well. As he learned more stuffs from the microchip, he started to get a hold of the way to make offenses using alchemy. And Ye Chong could relate it to how Lunatic Guan treated him at the last occasion they met, it was still fresh in his mind, the sorcery. It was common for alchemists to venture into the woods, so they must have a few tricks in the sleeves to warrant their safety.

Ye Chong always caught the keys very quickly the moment the research involved offenses, for some reason. It was as if Ye Chong was born to war.

Since he owned an alchemy lab, he could perform some experiments. Unfortunately, those precious plants were not something he could purchase straight from the market. Ye Chong would have to head into woods to pluck them himself. The system designed by Lunatic Guan was noticeably different from the mainstream studies in the institutes today, on the choice of materials especially. A few of the ingredients were not that precious but it would require Ye Chong to perform additional procedures to fit them into the formation. In other words, the alchemists would have to do everything on their own, rather than being 11=2, the alchemist would need to build that 1, that , that = and that 2 from scratch in exchange of being able to use a different, more common material.

Luckily Ye Chong had grown on this study, so he did not find the procedures troublesome or whatsoever. Compared to the hassles he had to deal with whenever he made a skeleton part, these procedures were fine.

"Ye!" Mu's voice rang at the communicator.

Ye Chong placed down the tubes, "Mu, what's wrong?" he lifted his bed and asked, anticipating something as Mu would never interrupt him if nothing had happened.

Ye Chong after experiencing different kinds of apocalypses repetitively, had gained the serenity in any situation.

"We had just received a SOS signal from somewhere. Someone is being attacked by the pirates apparently. The location happened to be on our course." Mu had planned a direct course to Rainbow in the first place, since they were in a kind of hurry. Well it was a path known to be lurked by something but Ye Chong never feared them judging by the capabilities of the Coxcomb.

"Mhm," pondered Ye Chong.

"And they are already within our detected proximity. This is the visual the camera had obtained," added Mu, then a visual was prompted in front of Ye Chong, via the processor.

Two mechs were shielding for the few engineering models behind. They seemed to be suffering. Ye Chong could tell the two mechs being some above-average pilots in the galaxies.

The pirates on the other hand… were unexpectedly small numbered, only 15 of them. It was literally child's play compared to the time he fought with the whole gang of Red Beard's Owl.

The 15 mechs were obviously not greenhorns. They recognized the potency of the two mechs holding their invasion, so they did not fight on full force. They wandered instead, like a pack of hungry wolves, surrounding the lambs. The two mechs knew the pirates' blatant aim but all they could do was to constantly fire their lasers to keep the pirates away. It turned out to be a sticky situation, as one was struggling without plan, another was grumbling with plan. The gang would only have to wait, till the moment the lambs ran out of energy to fight back, they would gash upon them, a feast they called.

And as the Coxcomb approached the group, they immediately caught on the situation.

The pirates flinched, as they knew that a spaceship was not something owned by the nobody, there had to be at least 150 sailors in the ship. They would be severely outnumbered! So without an order, they already had their own consensus, they would raid, seize and run! They launched attacks frantically on their preys, striving to capture them before the pilots on the spaceship arrived at the scene. Once they could run, they would succeed, since a tortoise like the spaceship shall never be able to catch up with them.

The speed of a spaceship was much slower compared to the mech. Coxcomb for example, only ran at a pitiful speed of Mach 3, compared to those mechs that went easily Mach 5 or 6, Coxcomb was indeed a tortoise. By the way, the Guardian could hit Mach 10 in burst running mode while Han Jia could go Mach 9.

The two mechs panicked, as they knew if it was not the pirates wanted their mechs as part of the loots, they would have become the beehives.

"Eh?" Mu seemed to have discovered something.

"What was it, Mu?" asked Ye Chong hurriedly, to make a cry for a fully logical, non-expressive AI like Mu, it must be some major discovery.

"Go save them, Ye. They have something good on them." The slight excitement between the words had explained Ye Chong a thousand words, that "something good" would mean something really good. It had to be rare for it could excite Mu.

"Mhm," responded Ye Chong, as he immediately deployed the Puppet. He rolled into the cabin. The spaceship was spacious enough to accommodate the entire deployment. Well, naturally that would also mean the immense requirement on the piloting skill, to be able to fly out without hitting on anything.

Tai Zuo, one pilot of the two mechs, were tightened at their nerves. They were hitting their limits to stay this long. A little bit of distraction would have broken their protection. And then they heard their mate claiming to see a Zika spaceship flying towards them. Overjoyed he was, but… "Where're the backups? Why aren't the spaceship sending any help?"

Tai Zuo's heart was aching. If they were not going to send men anytime soon, he would be collapsing with Han Ben. Assuming there were only he and Han Ben, they were confident enough to break through this pack of wolves, but they also had a few non-combat members at their backs, so they could not take any reckless action that could hurt their mates. They could only guard, till death.

Ugghhhhh……

Out of sudden, the pressure reduced. The force shield he and Han Ben was holding had turned lighter. He knew, with a smile, that the backups were already there.

There were only 10 mechs left before them. 5 for each of them. That was a significant reduction on workload. He was grinning, till he saw the screen.

He simply did not expect, of an army of a spaceship, only one mech was sent!

One mech? Why? Confused Tai Zuo. What for sending one mech when that one mech was likely to be slaughtered by the pirates? The pirates were more potent than he expected. As a lecturer of the pilot study from one of the top universities of the 5 major galaxies, he had the right to give these pirates a subjective rating - the pirates might had not undergone appropriate education, but they were very, very experienced in actual fights. And their rapports were great, making them really a problem to deal with.

A 5 versus 1, even if that 1 was Tai Zuo himself, he would not dare to gamble.

The 5 mechs were approaching Ye Chong. He was calm. The Puppet was inexperienced of an outnumbered fight, but the pilot was fearless.

The 5 mechs spread towards Ye Chong like the edge of fan. In their eyes, this colored mech was as ridiculous as a clown, fluttering there, awaiting them to trample on it! "Gosh, did you see that mech?" "Kekekekekekekeke!" The pilots were exchanging laughter through the intercom of their mechs, as they also discussed on how they should dismantle the mech to demonstrate their fearsomeness towards the remaining crew on the spaceship.

As everyone was wondering why there was only a mech from the spaceship, the situation had gone mutation!

As soon as the clown entered the range of their firearms, it began accelerating, under the eyes of astonishment of the 5. The speed of the mech was … was…

Too fast!

Exclaimed by the 5.

The sudden change was not something they could cope with in time. They were experienced at least, so they did not panic, even though they were shocked. One button, the shooting chamber bombarded at the mech. Well, that simple. 5 of them would work together and fire everything at once, it would cover everything. Moreover their laser beams were never aimed at the clown mech entirely, rather they focused on the gaps around it - to kill even the escape route they thought. It was a known technique among them, they had killed countless experts with this trick all these years.

Hahahahaha!

Everyone could imagine the frail clown mech being shot into a million pieces in an explosion, a firework to behold! Feeble armor, no shield, and they could not even see the clown mech holding any kind of weaponry. The barehanded clown was the scapegoat to be slaughtered in seconds!

Till then…

Chapter 210: Puppet

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

An odd twist! Dodged the beams, the clown mech easily span out of the way.

Eerie it was, as the 5 men rubbed their eyes in skepticism. How could that be possible?

How in the world did the mech curve away from the beams? They were all firing at once, trapping the clown in the area. It was not even the case of aiming once at a time. The clown mech should have failed to make an escape, yet the clown just twisted out of the area - a stark truth scorching their eyes, shattering their sense of reality.

This is against the law!

Tai Zuo was in dismay. He thought he had great eyes to help him comprehend the situation but his eyes merely captured the deceitful moment when the clown mech made a misleading gesture before the twist, it happened so fast he could not see clearly. He just understood the fact that the clown mech turned out to be a success, and such level of skill was giving the teacher of pilots cold sweat.

And the next movement of the clown mech was spine-freezing!

The clown mech used to ridicule them because of its amusing finish. Then this twist happened, the 5 men no longer felt amused. The clown mech made the second twist. A shake and the 5 men rotated along, repositioning themselves to keep the clown mech surrounded.

A rapid spin from the clown mech, as it effortlessly escaped from their grip. Leaped the clown mech, it pounced upon one mech at the edge. "Holy!" Tai Zuo's stare intensified. That twisted turn was superb! A standard Thomas' Spin, just as illustrated in my textbook! Be it the moves, the timing, the pilot had performed it perfectly!

Tai Zuo was not even confident enough to claim that he was able to do the same.

The movement went so habitually in his eyes, yet the perfection was the horror in the eyes of the 5 men.

Unpredictable, petrifying, the movement tinted the atmosphere with terror, as the clown mech glided like a phantom. The colorful clown mech looked like vengeful spirit by then, grooving its strange anatomy in their circle.

The Puppet traveled fast like a fired arrow towards the mech. Ye Chong knew the importance of motion to a mech, so even if the Puppet was a random toy he made, he provided it with the best engine.

It was boring. Ye Chong's face was straight. Battles like this no longer piqued his excitement. These were utter noobs compared to the Black Coves and the Sanctuary, even though he retained his caution, since it was not his habit to be reckless even if the foes were clearly inferior to his strength. Unlike the battle with the Black Coves, he was cautious but he was not disturbed.

The dodging style he adopted was a combination of Non-orderly Wavy Leap and Condensed Multiple Turnings. The Puppet might not be as frail as it appeared, still Ye Chong did not want to be shot as those mechs were fearsomely ranged attacking models.

The 5 pirates had their faces drained as they attempted to lock on the target. They realized they never managed to place their crosshairs right. The clown mech was behaving too confusingly. They fired a few times and they missed. It was depressing. No way, my aiming should not be this bad, what happened to me today? What is this bad luck haunting me? How could I not even land a single shot?

Tai Zuo was more alarmed than the pirates. He was the professor for pilot studies, no one understood better the proficiency within that set of movements the clown mech performed, other than himself.

Terrible! This is too terrifying! Even he was terrified by the clown mech. He finally came to the understanding of the reason that from an entire gigantic Zika craft, only one mech was sent.

The answer is obvious. One mech was more than enough.

Well, the professor would never have imagined that there only Ye Chong himself on the Coxcomb, that was why only one mech was sent.

It was not the end of the show yet.

Ye Chong remained as calm as ever, despite getting closer to his foe.

Right before contact, Ye Chong's hands moved fast and bright. He did not feel anything particular with his speed since it had been quite sometime since he broke the cap of his hand movement speed.

The spears within the arms of the Puppet sprang into action upon contact. Sparked, the spears smooched the the machinery. A slide to the side, the clown mech swung like a breeze away from the mech.

Like who exactly is this person? Tai Zuo was dumbfounded and forgot the fact that he was also involved in the battlefield. The pirates were also shocked. The ever-moving flock of mechs eventually paused awkwardly.

Ye Chong disregarded the awkwardness and moved on. Once you are in the battlefield, you are supposed to stay 100% focus, no matter how weak the foes might have appeared. That was the rule to his fight.

Boom! An explosion occurred, as the mech which came in contact became a fireball. The glaring light illuminated the space, highlighting the horrified expression of the men.

One more twist, the clown danced with its spears. The petite clown mech had taken the role of an assassin in darkness, where the patches of the greens reflected his amusement.

There was no plot twist to save those 4 mechs, as even the ability of running away had turned into a unreachable luxury. Tai Zuo saw 2 mechs, trying to run away, being skewed by the clown's spears. The spears oozed out of the murdered machineries. There was no glow on the cruel spears, even though they were made out of black gold alloys, the same one used for electromagnetic tubes production. Ye Chong was not happy with the eye-catching glow, so he exfoliated the surface.

No flashy move, only the most painful, brutal ones from the clown mech. The kind that would murder men in one blow, cutting away all the unnecessary struggles.

Cold sweat dripped off his face, as Tai Zuo heard the wavering whispers from Han Ben, "Zuo… this guy, he's spooky…" Even an iron man like Han Ben was frightened like a scalded cat.

It was a relief however, since the person had proven his or her expertise in handling this alone. Tai Zuo and his team could have their life guaranteed. Although he had not the slightest idea of the identity of the man leading this capable pilot on his throne at the Captain's room, at least it was better than getting engulfed by the pirates. He would rather end up with a potential savior than a pack of wild wolves.

The clown mech was quick as he finished off the remaining members in a matter of seconds. It went so smoothly and naturally that it almost felt like the pilot's routine. The pirates were utterly terrified by the clown mech's brutality. Their faces were screaming before they exploded and ended up as the one being dismantled instead.

The parrying spears waving in the hands were as if invisible, like the scythe of the deadly reaper. Tai Zuo found the spears unusual however, as the mechs were immediately dismembered upon contact, despite their sturdy appearance. Why?

Basically it was the result of Ye Chong's in-depth understanding of anatomy of mechs combining with his accurate cleaving.

The clown mechs who had finished the remaining mechs, without hesitation, jumped at the deadlocked group. The turn still went like a twist, with indecipherable orbit. The clown mech behaved like a killing machine, frightening everyone in sight.

The 10 mechs ran away like animals on a forest fire however. A plot twist to Ye Chong it was. It was as if, they were being chased a demon clawing from hell.

The scene, where the clown stared coldly at the running pirates, felt like a disdainful look upon the insect on the ground in Tai Zuo's eyes.

The pirates dismissed themselves after seeing their partners being ruthlessly murdered by a clean killer. The clown mech stared on and did not intend to chase them after. Well Tai Zuo was not the kind of demanding person who would request the clown mech to hunt them down.

Very quickly after the clown mech approached the team and it came so naturally that it lifted its arm, signifying a welcoming attitude to board on the ship. They accepted the offer with pleasure of course, not like they had other choice. And that was when everyone stumbled upon the number of staff in the Zika graded ship the moment they got out of the cabins - there was one, and only one, being the owner of the corvette. His actual appearance was seen when he hopped out of the deadly clown, it was one man who expressed cold unfeelingness.

And who that man exactly was? For he owned a humongous spaceship all himself. No folk could have done that. Tai Zuo's ponder was swirling in his head.

"Follow me," the man spoke coldly as he began walking, without even taking a look at them. Well, as he had said, the team only could follow the lead hurriedly. Tai Zuo, being acutely observant, immediately noticed the fact that the man was indeed different from folks. His steps were of the same exact width, as if he had measured the distance he should walk. The top body was firm, there was no swing of his shoulders. Tai Zuo had a friend who also happened to be a practitioner, and surprisingly his friend walked the way this man lifted his steps. Don't tell me… he is also a practitioner…

"Oh my! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" As they passed one room, Phal shrieked upon discerning something really familiar to his eyes in the room, "Magnetron separator! See that?!" Phal looked exhilarated, as if he had landed on treasure island. He stormed into the room and hugged on that strange machine Tai Zuo had never seen before. A gentle touch on the surface, a tap on the handle, like a child of exploding curiosity, Phal was stuck. "Oh Phal…" Tai Zuo was having a headache. There's always time and place for this but not now! We are at somebody else's place! If the owner of the place doesn't like us, we are going to be skewed! Thought Tai Zuo. But well, Phal was the kind of researcher who behaved on pure innocence and curiosity, he only lacked the exposure to mannerism of the society. He glanced at Ye Chong, who seemed to be not reacting to his mate's misbehavior. What a relief… he thought.

Tai Zuo was not very much into the natural science but given that he had been spending at the academy for long enough, he could tell the room being a research laboratory. In addition, from that shocking reaction of Phal, this should be a very advanced laboratory. Phal the old guy was not that pleasing to the eyes but his standard was recognized by the institute, for he was the authority in the field of metallurgy and mineralogy.

And the mystery of this owner grew in the mind of Tai Zuo. The fact that the man owned a giant spaceship showed that he should be from a rather strong family background, with feasible wealth. The truth that he won in a 1 on 5 fight against the pirates demonstrated his excellence in piloting. He swore that he would never find an expert like the man even from his own institute, the Mid-Alliance University, the known "cradle" for most pilots. And then there was the point that the person seemed to be a practitioner… "Well, maybe…" That was a wild guess from him. Moreover, he should be well-established in metallurgy and mineralogy. The lab gave him away. Lastly… he was calm throughout the event, even when Phal was acting like a fool in his lab filled with expensive devices. That just depicted his good-natured personality. He could control his temper like the back of his hands… Everything was terrifying for his age.

Provided that these characteristic were seen on an elderly, Tai Zuo would respond with respect. But no, it was on a young man, at most at his twenties. Now that is incomprehensible, he thought. Is there really, really… a genius this fearsome?

Ye Chong was not angered particularly. The elderly who ran into his lab abruptly could look a little shabby on his appearance but he seemed to be the same passionate kind towards his own research. If that was the case, Ye Chong would not dislike such person. Instead, he would portray admiration. He reminded him of the days he spent at Aurora, with the elderlies behaving the way this old man was in his lab.

Ye Chong held his steps and waited for Phal patiently.

Phal seemed to have lost himself over the marvelous technologies sitting in the lab, as he span and danced around the separator.

Tai Zuo signaled Han Ben and Han Ben got it right away. He went to Phal. "Excuse me!" Boomed Han Ben, alerted Phal.

Everyone was watching Phal, whose face reddened out of embarrassment. He then waddled back to his mates. Ye Chong started walking again after seeing the old man joined back to his teammates. They walked on. And Phal… constantly turning back to take one last glance at that separator, as if parting with his beloved.

Meng Fei'er, the second teammate of Tai Zuo, staggered when she passed the alchemy lab. The same emotional reaction as Phal, she was stupefied, excited but she was more well-behaved than Phal, even though she almost drooled on the sight. That thermostatic plasma room, that self-controlled cultivation machine, there was also a duo enzymic mixer?! She wondered if she was visiting the central alchemy research institute by mistake. Seriously, other than the institute, she could not imagine any other place having these precious.

She controlled her behavior. She held her excitement, although that flinch she made had already gotten Tai Zuo's attention. Tai Zuo slowed his steps and joined Meng Fei'er at the end of the walking team. Her sight rose over Ye Chong at the front, her head lowered, whispered, "He could be a chemist." Tai Zuo was the leader of the entire team. He was very experienced so everyone would give their feedback directly with dignity.

Tai Zuo's heart skipped a beat. A skinny young man owning all these while holding possibly a long list of profession on his resume… the mystery deepened, where the darkness looked back into Tai Zuo's eyes.

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Chapter 211: Teardrop Mineralite

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong brought them to the bridge.

Ye Chong spoke plainly, "Everyone, you're safe now."

The people exhaled in relief, as tension finally drained out of them. Qin Zuo bowed to Ye Chong and thanked him profusely, "Thank you for your help, if not for you, we would all have …" Qin Zuo shuddered at the thought, and was very grateful, but revealed nothing more, a testimony of his discretion.

In fact, Ye Chong had wanted to use violence - it was the simplest and most direct way to end things in the way he saw it. Even if it would sometimes worsen the situation, it was still mostly a reliable method. However, his considerable amount of time spent with Shang made Ye Chong understand that violence was not the only answer, and that there were far more craftier solutions.

Of course, even if he understood this, practicing it was an entirely different matter. Till today, Ye Chong still preferred direct means to achieve his goals.

"Alright, I'll not mince words here, I offered help only because I'm interested in your research. I think you must all be open to sharing your findings with me." Ye Chong still spoke casually, as if he was only commenting on the weather.

Indeed, Shang was slowly changing Ye Chong. In a certain corner, a devil was flicking away its forked tail, howling in excitement, while Mu provided commentary on the side, "Vocal tone has exacerbated the situation, effectiveness has dropped by 0.37 percent."

The difference between Mu and Shang was that Mu would focus on the precision and angle of a weapon in hand, while Shang preferred the cunningness of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Ye Chong's words were as chilling as an autumn breeze, and everyone instantly fell silent. They never expected to escape from certain danger, only to be greeted with another. It was their first time hearing a threat delivered so plainly.

Besides, how did the other party get his information? They had kept their movements inconspicuous, certain that no one had found them out. The fact was shocking. Phal's face was red with anger, his eyes spitting fire. Qin Zuo groaned inside. Now that the other party had so clearly stated his intention, he must know all about them. Could this mysterious person be targeting them from the start?

However, Qin Zuo did not have the luxury to consider any further. Since the other party had been so frank, he must be prepared for them.

Besides, the young man was very calm when he dealt with those five mechs earlier. Qin Zuo believed that the young man was not a stranger to murder. They must surely look like five little lambs ready for slaughter to him.

Qin Zuo considered all these quickly, and understood the situation they were in. He sighed. Under the circumstances, their lives were more important than anything else.

Zuo Qin looked to Meng Fei'er, who was watching him, and shook his head in defeat.

Meng Fei'er tightened her lips and looked towards Ye Chong with angry and unwilling eyes, but her right arm moved to remove her backpack, and she emptied her bag onto the floor. Pa'er gritted his teeth in anger, but Vicente seemed to be unaffected.

Ye Chong ignored their fury with ease. He bent over and inspected the rocks and tools emptied by Meng Fei'er from her backpack on the floor.

Ye Chong sorted through the things on the floor quickly, grouping them by category. His actions surprised Qin Zuo and his team - could this young man recognize all those things?

They exchanged glances, and Qin Zuo signalled to Meng Fei'er.

Meng Fei'er hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "Do you know these things?" Meng Fei'er spoke with a sweet, clear voice. Meng Fei'er was the team's medic, and a teacher from the Unity Academy. Her specialty was alchemy, but she also studied botany on the side. Meng Fei'er was about 25, at an age where a woman was in her prime. Her natural charisma and her feminine and sympathetic nature made her well liked in the academy by students and teachers alike. When dealing with strangers, Meng Fei'er was good at winning their hearts.

Qin Zuo knew this, for many people would unconsciously be less defensive against women. While he could not hope for the young man to release them all, he would still try his best to lower the other party's guard by any means. The more unguarded the other party was, the more likely they were to escape.

Nonetheless, Ye Chong was not listening to Meng Fei'er. He was having a lively discussion with Mu.

"This is carmine, a rare mineral, able to amplify energy, commonly used in large energy based weapons as firing parts.

"This is a nimbus rock. It looks attractive, though not quite useful for our purposes, but it's excellent material for construction.

"This green one is an emerald crystallite, mainly used for jewellery and decorations. It's a kind of gemstone, rarely found in the Five Galaxies. I've never seen any reports of this. Cutting this kind of gemstone requires high craftsmanship."

Ye Chong organized the rocks on the floor based on Mu's comments into two heaps, one useful for him, and the other irrelevant. In the end, he arrived at a rubbery piece that looked much like a water droplet. If not for his sharp eyes, Ye Chong would probably have missed it.

The object emanated warmth in his hands! Ye Chong was deeply surprised.

Ye Chong asked, "Mu, what's this?"

Mu was quiet for awhile before replying, "It's a teardrop mineralite, formally known as high energy compound colloid."

From Mu's voice, Ye Chong could sense the unusualness of this teardrop-sized mineral. "Is this useful?"

Mu reverted to his usual composure. "It is. It is a material with the highest known energy density, and scarcer than even the Do Kun stone. Energy cells made of this material could store a lot more energy than usual. Besides, it has its own energy. Upon depletion, the material will become a good energy storage medium. Starships fitted with these energy cells of this can undertake very long voyages. Equipping a mech with this kind of energy cell can increase its combat strength by at least five times. Unfortunately, a small part of my database is damaged, and there is a gap in my knowledge on building energy cells from teardrop mineralite. If you're interested, you can try to complete this knowledge. Of course, we still lack some other materials required to build this energy cell, but as an important high grade mineral, this material is still worth keeping. We must also try to find our best to find more teardrop mineralite.

"In any case, it's better if this material is safely in our hands." Mu declared his conclusion with dominating prowess.

"Is that necessary?" Ye Chong asked, curious. He had never seen Mu placing as much importance on anything as this teardrop mineralite, even more than he did on Do Kun stone. The way Ye Chong saw it, it was an impossible feat. He might believe it possible for one of the Three Forces, but how could he alone own all the teardrop mineralite in the world?

"It's very necessary." Mu paused for a moment before continuing, "My database still has some information on the usage of teardrop mineralite energy cells. Based on this information, I conclude that mechs or warships fitted with this teardrop mineralite energy cell are terrifyingly powerful. Be it Black Cove, the Sanctuary or the MPA, obtaining the teardrop mineralite would allow them to expand their powers rapidly. The balance between the Three Forces will be disrupted, and that would be not favorable for you."

"But this is obviously an operation beyond our means. We don't have enough manpower, and we lack the experience in mining for minerals." Ye Chong could not understand why Mu would propose such an impossible mission.

Mu explained, "Unlike other minerals, teardrop mineralite is an aggregating mineral. Usually, it is found localized in a small area. If we locate where this team found this teardrop mineralite, the probability of finding more of it in the area is very high. Based on available information, planets mined for feardrop mineralite are all exhausted today, so these people must have found it on an untouched planet. With so many rare minerals, it's undeniable that this planet must have escaped the attention of Black Cove and the Three Forces till today, or the planet would have been seized. We must mine all the teardrop mineralite before any of them realize this. Teardrop mineralite is a resource like no other for war." Mu emphasized again at the end.

Ye Chong quickly grasped his logic, and agreed that no matter which of the Three Forces came out the winner, it would not help his situation. While Ye Chong believed that he would settle himself on some planet after investigating the Prometheus Group, and that the chances of meeting the Three Forces again was low, but what if it happened anyway? This was a probabilistic event, and not entirely impossible. Instead of allowing this threat to exist, better to nip it in the bud.

Ye Chong quickly agreed with Mu's suggestion.

Meng Fei'er was surprised to find the young man ignoring her, fully occupied in organizing the things on the floor. All the minerals were grouped into different heaps, and now he was starting to sort the plants that she had gathered. Meng Fei'er grew more and more intrigued by the young man. She had collected all those plants herself. As a botanist, it was imperative to study these previously unknown organisms. The young man before her, however, seemed to be familiar with these plants that were not recorded in any available illustrations of plants, and was now quickly sorting them based on their type.

Meng Fei'er now recalled that this young man seemed to be an alchemist, and as an alchemist, it was not uncommon for them to also be botanists.

Once he was done, Ye Chong finally straightened himself. From the beginning, Ye Chong had kept himself vigilant. It was already instinct for him to always prepare himself for any eventualities. Fortunately, the other party did not do anything unusual.

He was not aware of how much these people feared him, especially Qin Zuo. Qin Zuo was the most insightful of the team, and that was why he dreaded Ye Chong even more than the others.

Ye Chong gathered all the materials that were useless to him and pushed them towards Meng Fei'er as he said plainly, "These are not useful to me, you can take them back." Ye Chong did not seem embarrassed at all, as though everything was his in the first place.

The team largely ignored his demeanor, and Pa'er finally could not resist asking him loudly with bulging eyes, "Young man, do you know these minerals?" Seeing Pa'er making his move, everyone else kept silent and looked towards Ye Chong.

Ye Chong was calm as ever as he replied, "I do."

The team stared in disbelief. Pa'er picked up one of the minerals from the heap he returned to them, a light grey rock, and asked urgently, "What is this?"

"That's a nimbus rock, good for construction. It's a strong material, suitable to be mixed in with a wide range of binding materials. It has particularly good performance in structure and strength."

Pa'er immediately opened his auto-recording system. Ye Chong's confidence as he spoke had already mostly convinced Pa'er. As an eminent mineralogist, he could tell that Ye Chong was probably right, even though Pa'er had only seen this material for the first time.

Pa'er now acted like an enthusiastic student, listening intently, only that his teacher was a young man at least a decade younger than him.

Pa'er picked up another mineral and asked eagerly, "What about this?"

Ye Chong did not answer this time, but looked at the team and said calmly, "I think I'll be able to tell you all more about these minerals, but I believe you should all share your information with me too." Qin Zuo felt growing doubt on his earlier conclusion. He had thought that the young man was a genius in the natural sciences and mech maneuvering, but now he looked more like a young heir to a large business conglomerate, all hypocritical without shame, but still acting naturally throughout.

In any case, Ye Chong seemed even more powerful to him. He still could not make much of the 20-odd young man, but from what little he could gleam. Qin Zuo knew that his team was disproportionately at a disadvantage.

Even so, a certain devil with his flickering tail grew even more delighted with Ye Chong, while Mu still maintained his calm observer stance.

Ye Chong finally got to know who these five people were.

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Chapter 212: Alliance

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The team of five were all teachers from Unity Academy. Qin Zuo and Han Ben were from the mech faculty, responsible for their safety. The quiet Vicente was a geography lecturer, Phal was a lecturer in mineralogy and metals, while Meng Fei'er was a lecturer in alchemy.

Unity Academy was a reputable tertiary education institution in the Five Galaxies, and most people revered its high standing. Unity Academy's teachers were also widely respected.

The young man before them, however, seemed unmoved. This calm composure seen in an adolescent only alerted Qin Zuo even more.

The young man's calm gaze seemed to penetrate their hearts, as though no lies could ever escape him.

Everyone was wondering if this calm youngster was actually the same person as that shameless young man earlier.

In truth, they had misjudged Ye Chong. Ye Chong was only imitating Shang's way of speaking. In Ye Chong's mind, there was no such thing as honour or shame. The way he saw it, he was the stronger of them both, and it was only natural if he took everything the team had. The laws of the Five Galaxies did not play a role in his actions.

Under Ye Chong's scrutiny, Meng Fei'er explained everything.

Vicente had a student who was an explorer. In truth, the number of explorers were always increasing. In the age of peace, people needed heroes, and in the age without heroes, these explorers were modeled by the media as heroes. The potential profits in this occupation made it even more attractive. Once anyone found a primary planet never before explored, then by law, he or she was entitled to own a tenth of the planet's resources. While people nowadays did not lack for basic necessities, the quest for wealth and power never ceased.

When this student brought his findings to Vicente, Vicente was shocked. As a geographer, he found geographical features that he had never seen before in his student's holographic recording. Hence, he organised this expedition.

Ye Chong was surprised to find that their expedition was actually initiated by the quiet, old man. Phal was a prominent specialist in mineralogy and metals, while Meng Fei'er was not as famous, her track record as a competent botanist who once studied under well known experts and her medical expertise made her a part of the team. Qin Zuo and Han Ben were partners. They worked well together and had much experience in explorations. Thus, they became in charge of protecting and guiding the team in their expedition.

The exploration team was reasonably prepared. Since primary planets usually have wild animals, Qin Zuo and Han Ben could keep them safe.

Everything was arranged in secret. Vicente's student never contacted him since, but considering that if news leaked out, Vicente's student would lose everything, everyone kept their silence.

Their meticulous planning resulted in a smooth expedition. The primary planet was much larger than they had ever imagined, and was significantly evolved. For safety reasons, they only did a surface inspection of the planet. Even so, they found minerals that they had never seen before. With the exception of Qin Zuo and Han Ben, everyone gained much from the expedition. They hoped to return to the academy as soon as possible, where they had their own laboratories to process their findings.

Everything went smoothly, and just when they thought things were going perfectly, the space pirates arrived.

And they were saved by Ye Chong.

Meng Fei'er finished her narration and looked silently at Ye Chong. In fact, all five members kept their eyes fixed on Ye Chong. This young man held their lives in his hands. They could disregard wealth and fame, but would never give up their lives so easily.

Ye Chong was quiet, obviously still processing the information he got from Meng Fei'er.

As expected, they had discovered a primary planet, just as Mu predicted. Everything seemed logical, and Ye Chong could find nothing amiss. Besides, Mu reported that Meng Fei'er's heartbeat was normal when she was speaking. Ye Chong could be assured that Meng Fei'er was not lying.

Perhaps to encourage independence, Mu did not lend much assistance to Ye Chong this time.

Ye Chong had two choices now. He could either investigate the Prometheus Group and Gao Shichang, or solve this problem of the teardrop mineralite. This was a difficult decision, and personally, Ye Chong would prefer to deal with the issue of his Papa first.

Ye Chong asked abruptly to Vicente, "You said your student never contacted you again?"

Vicented was startled, and nodded. "Yes, that's right. I waited, but he never got in touch."

"I see." Ye Chong nodded with a measure of resolution.

Vicente seemed to realize something, and his expression turned worse. "You mean …"

Ye Chong only nodded and said, "It's only my conjecture." Ye Chong suspected that Vicente's student must have been targeted. If that was the case, he must move fast. It would not do to let others be ahead of him. Since Mu was so focused on this teardrop mineralite, Ye Chong could not afford to treat it lightly as well. As for the matter with his Papa, it was not as urgent. In that instant, Ye Chong made his choice. Here, one could notice the influence of Mu's rational nature on Ye Chong. Even when it came to his beloved Papa, Ye Chong could still make the accurate and wiser choice.

Everyone else seemed confused, but Vicente was now looking very pale. Suddenly, tears ran down silently along his cheeks, and Vicente seemed to have aged a decade instantly.

Everyone was shocked, and gathered around Vicente, asking him what was the matter.

Qin Zuo was the second of the five to realize what Vicente was thinking. Qin Zuo looked at the steady young man with disbelief and asked, "You mean he's dead?"

As he said those words, everyone else finally understood, and were shocked to the core.

Ye Chong shook his head. "It's only a conjecture, and there's no way to confirm it at the moment. Besides, even if he was captured, chances are he's still alive. The one who captured him must have preferred him alive rather than dead. Of course, your student must be smart enough in the first place, then his chances of survival will be above 60 percent." Ye Chong was now speaking like Mu.

Vicente was moved, and his eyes glowed with renewed hope. Phal yelled, "We'll save him, we'll save him!"

Meng Fei'er quickly held him back and shook her head, signalling him to be quiet.

Qin Zuo could feel a headache coming. These people were in danger themselves, but still worried about the safety of someone else. He laughed mockingly at himself. However, he was the kind of person who would rise against a challenge, and the situation now only aroused his fighting spirit. Even so, a rescue operation was a fool's errand. They did not even know who was responsible, and out of the five, only he and Han Ben had any combat capabilities. The other party, on the other hand, was probably an entire group. With only himself and Han Ben, Qin Zuo could not help his pessimism.

"They'll bring him to the primary planet. If we're lucky, we might meet them." Ye Chong said calmly.

Everyone looked towards Qin Zuo, the decision maker for the team all this while. Vicente did not speak up to disturb Qin Zuo's thoughts even though his student's life at stake. He understood that they were only his teammates, and were not obliged to be further involved.

Qin Zuo smiled wryly inside - what other choice did they have? He understood that the young man had led them to this conclusion, probably because he wanted to visit the primary planet himself. This young man might not be better than the ones who captured Vicente's student.

Qin Zuo considered for a moment before speaking seriously, "You want to visit the primary planet yourself, yes? I think you'll find no better guide than us. Even if we meet the other party, I hope you could lend your assistance and keep us safe." Qin Zuo had explained the importance of his team to Ye Chong, hinting that if Ye Chong could not keep them safe, he would never get anything more out of them about the primary planet. He chose to be frank instead, against this young man who thoughts he could not penetrate.

Ye Chong answered straightforwardly, "Alright."

In truth, Ye Chong had many other ways to get information out of them, such as Shang's interrogation methods. Even if a mentalist could not withstand it, Ye Chong believed that they would yield too.

However, Ye Chong was beginning to understand that direct methods were not always the simplest, and indirect methods were not always more troublesome. In terms of effectiveness, these indirect methods were actually quite useful. In Ye Chong's mind, effectiveness and efficiency mattered the most, and methods were only a means to an end.

In any case, having the stronger position allowed him to be proactive. Ye Chong understood this deeply. Strength was the basis of everything.

WIth this temporary alliance established, everyone relaxed a little. At least they were safe now. The way the clown mech clashed against the five space pirates coldly was constantly on their minds.

After entering the location of the primary planet, Mu charted the fastest course towards the planet.

Ye Chong began to explain more about those minerals, imitating Mu.

Vicente and Phal listened closely, and interjected with questions. At the side was Meng Fei'er, waiting patiently for Ye Chong to finish explaining the minerals. She was more interested in the plant specimens she had collected.

Qin Zuo and Han Ben wandered around the starship.

Qin Zuo and Han Ben exchanged glances, and both could the read the shock in each other's eyes. They had went through the captain's cabin in detail, and found no one other than Ye Chong and their team of five. The starship looked just like any other Zika class starship.

This was why they were so surprised. Starships and mechs were entirely different constructs. Mechs moved much faster than starships, but fared a lot worse in terms of long distance flight. Starships also had a feature that no mech ever had, which was warp jumping. Starships usually had this feature, which greatly shortened the travel time across space and made interstellar travel possible.

Without warp jumps, travelling between planets would take longer than a person's entire lifetime.

Starships may have features that mechs could never have, but it was proportionately more complicated to maneuver. A Zika class starship like this, for example, would need at least a crew of 20. Now, however, he and Han Ben saw no one steering the starship, and the starship was apparently flying on autopilot.

A starship with autopilot features! Qin Zuo was vexed. Who was this young man? How did he come to own such an advanced starship? Starship maneuvering required strict training, and the maneuvering itself was daunting to most people. Up until now, Qin Zuo had never heard of anything like starship auto piloting functions.

Who did he have as his backing? To own such advanced technology? It was terrifying!

Qin Zuo could not help but feel anxious again. Plenty of things in this starship could be considered classified material in any organization. Now that they had boarded the ship, perhaps …

Qin Zuo did not like where his thoughts were leading to. He forcefully stopped himself from thinking about it any further, and quickly signaled to Han Ben. They settled in with the other three members of the team, sitting around the young man.

The actions of Qin Zuo and Han Ben did not escape Ye Chong's attention, but he kept silent about it, continuing on his explanation of the minerals to Phal and the others. Ye Chong could at least keep his promise to them, provided, of course, that he was not harmed in the process. Ye Chong was not yet willing to devote himself to that extent yet.

"This green one is an emerald crystallite, mainly used for jewellery and decorations. It's a kind of gemstone, rarely found in the Five Galaxies. I've never seen any reports of this. Cutting this kind of gemstone required high craftsmanship." Ye Chong explained exactly as Mu worded it.

Meng Fei'er was growing bored, but immediately brightened at this, grabbing the green gem away from Ye Chong's hands. Women were naturally attracted to gems and the like, even though this particular one was still uncut, without the typical luster of gems.

Qin Zuo's eyes brightened as well. "Rarely found in the Five Galaxies? Are you telling me there are people beyond the Five Galaxies?" His questions gained the attention of everyone around him.

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Chapter 213: Landing

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The five of them were deeply affected by this new piece of information. Any resident of the Five Galaxies would be. This young man had just divulged something truly unexpected.

Ye Chong did not care to explain further to them, and continued talking about the minerals. These minerals were all precious items, but to Ye Chong, they were not useful, and so Ye Chong returned them all to the team.

Qin Zuo was feeling a little fazed, shocked by the news from Ye Chong. The lack of further elaboration from Ye Chong convinced him more of the truth of this news.

What if, beyond the Five Galaxies, a society was thriving, and this society dominated over them without ever being discovered …

Ye Chong ignored their reactions. The Five Galaxies were nothing special to him. While the Orbits and Black Cove did not spread as far and wide as the Five Galaxies, their technological achievements and overall strength were superior to that of the Five Galaxies. Perhaps the MPA would have a similar base. Ye Chong thought is plausible.

Besides, based on his experience, it was not as though the higher ups of the Five Galaxies did not know of the Three Forces. Every time the any of the Three Forces had a major operation, Ye Chong could see that the various authorities of the Five Galaxies cooperated without much fuss.

The only person who was truly pondering this issue was Qin Zuo. Phal and Vicente were focused on digesting whatever information Ye Chong had provided on the minerals. Meng Fei'er, on the other hand, was watching Ye Chong with her large, mesmerizing eyes, listening to his words with an air of worship as he talked about the plant specimens. To Meng Fei'er, this cold young man was a highly educated academic, and while she was bored by the entire session on minerals earlier, she believed that he was probably even more learned in botany than her own teachers.

Ye Chong's knowledge came from the chip that Lunatic Guan left for him. Alchemy aristocrats with their long histories had a store of knowledge that no academy could ever hope to achieve.

Han Ben in his straightforward nature would never stop to consider this issue. Once he was permitted to use the mech training room, he spent most of his time there. Vicente and Phal were permitted to use the metals laboratory, and they were overjoyed with the opportunity to use all the available top class apparatus. They immersed themselves completely in their work. As for Meng Fei'er, she mostly stayed in the alchemy laboratory. Ye Chong allowed them to use the labs to use how they would use them. While he was not watching in person, Mu had recording of what they did for Ye Chong.

Qin Zuo looked at the four of them helplessly. How could the four of them not feel threatened? Qin Zuo suspected that they may even have forgotten the whole point of this operation. Looking at the back of the young man's thin figure, Qin Zuo had the impression that he could successfully ambush him. However, he recalled the young man's calm gaze, and Qin Zuo could not suppress the shudder that followed and reconsidered his thoughts on ambushing.

Once, he saw the young man breaking a stuck metal alloy cylinder in half. Qin Zuo gulped heavily, thankful that he did not attack the young man. As expected, the young man had the power to suppress a few people himself, and Qin Zuo grew confident that the young man must have a background in combat. In the days that followed, Qin Zuo avoided looking at Ye Chong directly.

Coxcomb enjoyed a smooth journey ahead, with no space pirates in sight. The large starship could only be targeted by large pirate crews, not a suitable target for smaller crews. Mu's plotted trajectory was the shortest distance, so when Ye Chong announced that they had reached Tappero Galaxy, everyone looked a little confused. They did not expect the journey to be so swift.

The Five Galaxies were all near to one another - Fal and Cyana formed a straight line that was perpendicular to the line formed by Tian Luo and Tappero, while Csebesini was in the middle of these four galaxies. The Five Galaxies were surrounded by the vast space of the universe, populated by numerous uncharted worlds.

As they left Tappero Galaxy, the space around them became emptier. There were no starship fleets, no space outposts, no space stations. It was rare for them to chance upon one or two small explorer starships along the way.

As the explorers ventured further out, more and more planets were ascertained, but with the exception of those with valuable resources, most planets were still mostly untouched. Vicente's student was most daring - the planet he discovered was very far away from the nearest inhabited planet at the edge of Tappero Galaxy.

Space was not always quiet and peaceful. On the contrary, it was full of unpredictable dangers. The further away one explored, the more difficult it was to resupply, and any hopes for assistance in the face of danger would be dismal. However, in this world, risk was accompanied proportionately by profit. Every year, many explorers ventured away from the Five Galaxies into the vast, unknown territory beyond. Of course, most of them never returned.

Without the star chart provided by Vicente's student, it would be most difficult to find the primary planet of interest. Mu's star chart extended only up to the edge of Tappero Galaxy. Even so, it took plenty of effort for the team to find the primary planet. Ye Chong was surprised that Vicente's student could find it in the first place. Perhaps it was attributable to his luck.

"Is it that one right ahead?" Ye Chong pointed at a large, green planet displayed on the holographic screen. The planet was larger than he expected.

Vicente nodded as Phal agreed loudly, "That's the one. Hah, I didn't think we'd be back so soon!" Qin Zuo buried his face in his hands and sighed inside. Heavens, did these people not understand what they were getting into?

Due to atmospheric turbulence, the starship trembled slightly as they descended through the atmosphere. Ye Chong did not land immediately, but orbited the planet once beforehand. The team did not study the planet extensively last time either, and it was best to be cautious against any possible dangers.

The primary planet was mostly covered with forests unspoiled by any human activities, stretching endlessly to the horizon. Through scanning, they found the forest to be dense and full of life. Herds of wild animals could be seen between the trees as they swooped past. Unfortunately, interference was heavy in the area, and even Mu's holographic scanning accuracy suffered. Nevertheless, it was clear from Mu's scanning results that the place was full of natural resources. The value of timber from the trees alone was unimaginable.

Oceans covered about a fifth of the planet's surface, not as large as the forest coverage, but they glimmered with an odd light purple, unlike the natural blue found on most planets. Mountain ranges soared, their peaks covered with snow. The ocean shined in light purple, while the forest sprawled densely across the lands. The view was magnificently scenic. Like the trash planet, this place was uninhabited, but it was teeming with life, unlike the desolation on the trash planet.

After orbiting one round about the planet, Ye Chong determined the precaution to be mostly useless. Interference from the geomagnetic fields was strong, and scanning was useless. Even Mu's holographic scan could only extend to a much shortened range of about three kilometers. Ye Chong believed that other models of holographic scanning would be useless here.

Ye Chong arrived at the landing spot used by Qin Zuo last time. His main goal was the teardrop mineralite, everything else was secondary, even though there were many other useful things around here. Ye Chong said nothing, unwilling to expose his true intentions to the team.

From high above in the air, one could see that the land was covered by dense forests, but the leaves were too thick to see through.

"You're sure it's here?" Ye Chong repeated his question. Ye Chong needed them to be exactly where they were last time. Unlike from outer space, Mu's scanning perimeter here was only three kilometers. If they could not find their last landing spot, finding the teardrop mineralist on this massive planet would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

The five of them nodded in unison as Qin Zuo said, "Yes, right here. You see those two rivers joining over here, making a fork, I'm sure it's here. Last time, we walked along the wider of the two rivers towards that direction." Qin Zuo pointed.

Seeing their unanimous agreement, Ye Chong decided to land there.

Zika class starships were not comparable to the small starship that Qin Zuo and his team used. The noise from their landing was staggering. The Zika class starship was five kilometers in length, and Coxcomb flattened all the trees that lay beneath it. Nearby, wild animals scattered in fear. The sight of those animals escaping in hordes was magnificent.

The five of them watched sadly. Those timber could be sold at a high price in the Five Galaxies, but they were now all destroyed. Many other plants were destroyed in their landing, and the one who was affected the most was Meng Fei'er.

Coxcomb landed on the forest, forcing a clearing out of the trees.

When the five of them disembarked from the Coxcomb, they felt refreshed by the moist air outside. Air produced by starships was still incomparable to natural, fresh air born out of the forests. No matter how much technology had advanced, some things were still irreplaceable with human effort.

The team left the starship cautiously. The forest terrain was complicated, holographic scanning was ineffective, and travelling with mechs was inadvisable. Hence, all of them could only wear their protective suits as they left the ship. Unfortunately, the starship was not equipped with weapons like heat ray guns, and this bothered all of them, aside from Ye Chong. While they did not meet any vicious wild animals the last time they were here, but it was still better to be prepared for the possibility. The five of them could only pray that their protective suits were solid enough to keep them safe. These protective suits came from Coxcomb; if it were up to Ye Chong, he would not have bought them.

Ye Chong noticed then that the scenery was completely different than what he saw from above.

Flowers bloomed in all colours, and the moist, warm climate nurtured the rich life on this planet. For a short moment, Ye Chong took in the view in a daze.

Light gold branches were traced with a network of gold colored lines, and crimson palm-shaped leaves also had gold colored veins on them. Many small, black-gray fruits hung from the trees. Ye Chong immediately recognized that those were golden tilia - he had seen them before in the chip given to him by Lunatic Guan. These plants were ornamental, their fruits edible, but these did not mean that the plants were suitable for planting indoors. Sap from the plants would turn poisonous upon contact with blood, and could kill a human within seven seconds. In the chip's records, there was once an ancient tribe that liked to cover their weapons with this horrible tree sap. However, the tribe was eventually wiped out by the human race.

Ye Chong really wanted to pluck a few of those leaves for research, but he restrained himself. Now was not the time for this, he should focus on the teardrop mineralite instead. Based on Mu's feedback, there were no teardrop mineralite deposits within a three-kilometer range.

Not many inhabited planets could offer this wonderful sight. While Qin Zuo and his team had came here before, they were still deeply entranced by the area in their second visit.

"Alright, let's move." Ye Chong's plain but firm voice brought them back to reality.

"Do we follow our tracks from last time?" Qin Zuo asked.

"Yes."

The team marched ahead in a line along the river. Leading the team was Qin Zuo, while Han Ben guarded the rear. Since the protective suits had propulsion systems, they could fly slowly along the way. This allowed Phal and Vicente to keep up despite their age. Ye Chong wondered how far both of them could go without those suits.

The forest flourished. Humongous trees reached for the skies, covering the ground with their dense canopies. Only an occasional break in the leaves allowed for some stellar light to pass through.

Vines sprawled out in a frenzy between the ground and the large trees, a hindrance to their way forward. Fortunately, it was much cooler beside the river. Ye Chong examined the plants as he passed by them, surprise growing beneath his calm expression. The plant life here was extensive, and it was not 20 minutes into their journey that Ye Chong had already recognized 22 of the rare plant species recorded in Lunatic Guan's chip. Moreover, these plants seemed to be growing quite healthily.

This was undeniably heaven for all alchemists.

A plant with a massive flower in fiery red caught Meng Fei'er's attention. The flower was vivid red, and its petals were oddly shaped, like two human face contours stuck together back-to-back. The stem was thick. This was probably the first time Meng Fei'er had ever seen this kind of plant, and as she wondered at why she had never seen it before, as her body was moving closer and closer towards the plant.

Ye Chong looked back unintentionally, and saw what was happening. His eyes widened immediately!

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Chapter 214: Twin Sisters

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There was no time to warn her. Ye Chong whipped out the dagger from his thigh and flung it towards her. A silver glimmer flickered across the air.

In that moment, Meng Fei'er realized that the red wormlike creature in the fiery red flower was aiming towards her, moving so fast that she could only see a flash of red. "Ah!" Meng Fei'er gasped in shock, and saw the red worm coming closer and closer to her. She wanted to step back and avoid the attack, but could not react in time. Her heart sank as she realized that she was done for!

Her eyes widened in horror. When a shiny glimmer swept past her, she did not react still.

What broke her out of her trance was a thumping sound. Meng Fei'er looked towards the source, and found on her left a dagger embedded to its hilt on a tree. The force of the attack was enough to make the tree shake violently. Leaves scattered in the wind, creating a beautiful sight.

The group finally noticed something was wrong. Just beside Meng Fei'er's feet was a 15-centimeter long scarlet red vine, coated in a layer of sticky slime. The slime was corrosive, burning holes in the ground as they dripped from the vine. A thin green smoke curled upwards as the slime did its work,and the sharp corrosive smell made everyone else back off.

Lying silently in the scorched pit was a finger-thick scarlet object, with a thin smoke curling upwards from it. It was an eerie sight.

Meng Fei'er was already plunged into a daze, looking confused at everyone.

Ye Chong could not help but frowned - she was obviously in a state of shock. As the rest of them watched, Ye Chong moved towards Meng Fei'er. He moved so quickly that the rest of the team were startled, and looked towards Ye Chong with respect.

Seeing Meng Fei'er not even wearing a mask, Ye Chong believed that she might even thought of this expedition as a sightseeing trip! If she was not his comrade for the moment, Ye Chong would have just ignored her.

There were many ways to treat shock, and Ye Chong chose the simplest way.

Slap! Slap! Ye Chong slapped her twice in the face. To Ye Chong, someone as weak as her should not have joined an expedition like this. Ye Chong did not pity her just because she was a woman - the enemy would never do so anyway.

The rest of the team stared in shock at Ye Chong, their mouths gaping wide open. They never thought anyone capable of hurting Meng Fei'er like that.

Meng Fei'er was a beauty by all respects. She was sympathetic, tactful and understanding. To many, she was the perfect image of a modern woman. In every annual appraisal of the Unity Academy, no other woman was her match. Meng Fei'er was undisputedly the most popular member of her sex.

Meng Fei'er had a special quality to her. Standing before her, anyone would feel self conscious, and no one had ever spoken roughly to her. With her, one could not help but be mellow. Even Qin Zuo with his excellent self control was affected by Meng Fei'er. On the other hand, Meng Fei'er had never been conceited because of this, but continued to be modest, gentle and understanding.

Now, someone had dared to slap her! How could anyone do that expressionlessly? The four them had just seen something almost unimaginable. If word of this reached the Unity Academy's teachers and students, they would probably overcome this cold young man by sheer numbers. The four of them exchanged horrified glances.

Meng Fei'er's snow white cheeks were now imprinted with two red, symmetrical palm prints, almost like the fiery red flower with its back-to-back petals.

Ye Chong's method was, if anything, effective. Meng Fei'er was startled, but quickly felt the full wave of terror overcoming her. Meng Fei'er finally burst into tears, and threw herself into Ye Chong. Even though Meng Fei'er was usually calm and composed, she was still a woman, and her first reaction to this unprecedented terror was to look for protection.

Ye Chong could not help but frown again.

Seeing Meng Fei'er embracing Ye Chong was enough to make Qin Zuo feel envious. No normal man would reject the embrace of a beautiful woman, especially a flawless beauty like this one.

Ye Chong was not used to being physically close with anyone, and keeping people at a distance was second nature to him. However, he did not avoid the embrace, since Meng Fei'er would then fall to the ground, and their expedition would be further delayed. Too much time was already wasted.

Ye Chong noticed Qin Zuo looking towards him from the corner of his eye, and knew what to do.

His left hand pressed gently on Meng Fei'er's shoulder, while his right reached for her waist and pushed. Meng Fei'er was sent like a sandbag towards Qin Zuo.

Qin Zuo was watching everything, but did not anticipate what Ye Chong had just done. He reacted quickly enough, though, and opened up his arms to catch Men Fei'er. The moment he caught her, he took a few steps back to absorb the momentum, afraid to hurt Meng Fei'er.

Qin Zuo did not expect fortune to smile upon him. He only caught Meng Fei'er out of reflex, and when the fact that Meng Fei'er was in his embrace was fully registered, he was thoroughly overjoyed.

Ye Chong ignored them all as he quietly retrieved his dagger from the tree. Gu Shaoze's gift had helped him many times in the past. Ye Chong wiped the blade with great care.

Then, he moved towards the fiery red and apparently dangerous plant to inspect it.

The two faces were actually its petals, and it was hollow inside. Ye Chong moved closer, the other end of the vine that he severed with his dagger was now lying quietly within. The severed end was oozing a bright red slime, looking a little like blood.

Even though the plant was obviously not threatening now, Ye Chong still acted carefully. The strong corrosive nature of the sticky slime filled him with apprehension. It looked like the chip was right. However, the corrosive slime seemed to be ineffective against the petals. It was truly an impressively adapted organism. This plant's most terrifying part was the tip of its scarlet red vine. That was the core of its attack. Without it, the flower was harmless.

Ye Chong's left hand carefully held the two face-like petals, while his right hand wielded the dagger and cut the stem that supported the flower. The petals were now the perfect container for the scarlet red slime within. Ye Chong moved his shoulders, and his backpack slithered down unnaturally to his right hand.

Studying Lan Yixing's chip, Ye Cong could now control his muscles to an unusual extent. His way of retrieving his backpack just now was a good example, though it went by unnoticed. If Ye Chong was naked waist up, they would have noticed the way Ye Chong's muscles rippled from the shoulder down like waves, passing the backpack to Ye Chong's right arm.

Lan Yixing's chip did not teach this technique; it was a trick that Ye Chong came up with himself. This was also a way to train his muscles. Ye Chong could only do this with his shoulders and arms for now, still quite aways from controlling his entire body in this way.

Fortunately, everyone was looking at Meng Fei'er at the moment, and did not notice this tiny detail.

Ye Chong opened the backpack with his right hand and took out a rectangular metallic container. He opened the container, and cold air slowly wafted out from within. One could see rows of spheres lined through the cold air. Ye Chong took one of those fist-sized spheres from inside the container. It had a peculiar texture - the surface shined with a metallic luster, but through the semi-transparent shell, one could see inside the sphere. This one was empty. Since it was stored at a constant cold temperature, the sphere was cold to the touch.

Ye Chong pressed on a protrusion beneath the sphere, and the sphere buzzed as its upper half opened up, leaving a hemispherical bowl in his hand. Ye Chong carefully placed the fiery red petals inside. He pressed the protrusion again, and the sphere closed up into its initial spherical semi-transparent form. From the outside, one could see the flower within. Ye Chong kept the sphere with its new content back inside the container.

The container was a special specimen container used by alchemists. It kept its contents fresh by maintaining a cold temperature within, and once the container was sealed, the spheres within would become suspended in a zero-gravity vacuum. Such a cutting edge specimen container was like a dream toolkit for every alchemist.

"What was that?" Meng Fei'er spoke. Her voice was still tinged with fear. It took only a moment for Meng Fei'er to compose herself again after she landed into Qin Zuo's embrace. Qin Zuo could only regret that the moment passed by too soon. Meng Fei'er watched Ye Chong's every move, and she finally understood what had happened. The young man who was currently looking very focused was the one who saved her.

Ye Chong relaxed at last. He had to be very careful handling such a dangerous sticky slime. The petals were worthless for him, but he wanted the vine with its sticky slime. In Lunatic Guan's chip, there were quite a few concoctions that called for this ingredient. Since Twin Sisters was a rare plant, who knew when he would see one again?

Ye Chong put the specimen container back inside his backpack and turned to her. "This is Twin Sisters. Its known for its ability prey on other organisms. Inside the petals is a red vine, like a snake. This vine secretes an extremely corrosive slime. The slime also has paralytic properties. Please wear your mask, your carelessness will delay us. Also, please don't approach unfamiliar plants without thought. The forest is more dangerous than you think." Ye Chong lectured coldly.

He ignored Meng Fei'er after that.

They were very much delayed, and Ye Chong did not intend to waste any more time. Meng Fei'er knew that she had acted too recklessly. As the young man turned his back to her, Meng Fei'er quietly put on the mask from her protective suit.

The group advanced.

Ye Chong grew more and more anxious. He could not understand how this team had managed to venture so deep into the forest and return unscathed.

Many of the plants here were recorded in Lunatic Guan's chip. Looking at the easy expression on the four members of the team, aside from Meng Fei'er, Ye Chong marvelled on how the ignorant could afford to be fearless.

Less than half a meter from Phal was a dark brown vine, from the infamous Blood Sucking Vines. These vines were covered entirely with thorns. Any animal that was pricked would be injected with a very powerful anaesthetic. The poison from 25 thorns was enough to make an adult lion defenseless. Once a prey was anaesthetised, it would be drained of all its blood until only a dry corpse remained.

Three meters above Ye Chong was an egg-shaped fruit, from the honey juniper tree. Honey juniper fruits were sweet and fragrant, and rich in nutrients. One could smell its scent from a long distance away. However, the fragrance was equally terrifying.

Honey juniper fruits were natural nests for the black-winged hornets. One would almost never see one without the other. Ye Chong noticed with his sharp eyes that a few black-winged hornets had just burrowed into one of the fruits. Black-winged hornets were horrible beings, and if you accidentally touched their nests, you would have sealed your deadly fate.

These insects were very aggressive, and even vengeful. A healthy member of the black-winged hornets would penetrate a centimeter-thick alloy board with the stinger on its tail. Besides, the stinger was packed with enough poison to kill a person very quickly. Ye Chong had no confidence of their protective suits against these insects.

The were too many dangerous plants around here! Moreover, Ye Chong did not recognize many of them, and did not know if they were harmful. Of course, he would not care to experiment now.

Fortunately, the incident with Meng Fei'er had made everyone more vigilant. The corrosive slime had left a deep impression in them.

If the walk along the river was this hard, trekking through the forest would be even more so.

The river water was clear, and the sound of flowing water helped create a peaceful atmosphere unique to the forests.

Up until now, they had not encountered anything like vicious wild animals. Ye Chong was disturbed by the fact. If even the plants were so dangerous here, Ye Chong would not believe that the animals here would fare any better.

Coxcomb's landing may have scared off plenty of the animals, but Ye Chong still understood the territorial nature of the more intelligent animals. On the trash planet, Ye Chong had fought against various mutants, and he had grown familiar with the ways of these animals, especially the fiercer ones.

Ye Chong would never underestimate the strength of wild animals. Take the iron lizard on the trash planet for example. Ye Chong believed that if all the mech pilots from the Five Galaxies tried to take on the iron lizard one-on-one, most of them would never survive. This dangerous forest, on the other hand, was home to hundreds and thousands of creatures undisturbed by mankind. Ye Chong could not begin to imagine what they would be like.

However, with a water source like this, it must be where animals nearby quench their thirst.

Why have they not encountered a single animal? This baffled Ye Chong. After all, they were quite a distance from the Coxcomb already.

Could it be …

Ye Chong had an ill premonition. Behind him, the river flowed, and many silver lines flickered into existence.

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Chapter 215: Creature

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Most of the more vicious wild animals were territorial, and other animals would avoid entering their territories. Of course, usually only the scarier wild animals were like this. The iron lizard on the trash planet, for example, was the strongest animal on the planet, and no other animal would dare to trespass its home.

This was what Ye Chong was most worried about. No matter how he looked at it, the environment was suitable. Ye Chong had even passed by and seen creatures such as the black-winged hornet not too long ago. Here, however, he could see no signs of other animals, not even some animal feces. This was odd.

It also made him more alert, and even increasingly wary.

"Careful, from the back!" Mu's warning was always so timely.

Ye Chong leapt forward like an arrow released.

Bangbangbang!

He could hear a series of blasts, followed by a few horrified screams. Qin Zuo and the rest could not move as fast as Ye Chong. They were all more relaxed and did not expect an attack, since the last time they were here, things were peaceful.

Ye Chong saw that there were no threatening plants ahead, so he continued running forward as he looked back to see what it was.

On the river, tens of pipes, thick as a thumb, broke the water's surface. The pipes were directed towards them. Ye Chong was alarmed. What was that?

He swept a glance behind him. Qin Zuo and the rest were all on the ground, wailing. Many arrow-like things were stuck on their bodies, as thick as the pipes. The protective suits were useless against those weapons. The areas where the needles went in them were now bloody, and the five of them were obviously in pain.

Ye Chong was shocked. Anything that could penetrate these protective suits was no joke. What was that?

Suddenly, the river splashed into waves. Ye Chong watched an unfamiliar creature emerge from the waters.

The creature looked very odd. A flat disc supported the animal as it floated on the waters, and from the edges of the disc, numerous silver tentacles extended outwards. These tentacles were hollow, and looked like straws when they straightened. These were the pipes that Ye Chong saw earlier above the river surface. The disc itself was covered with thorns. From afar, it looked like a circular archery target completely covered with arrows. At the center of the disc was a thick, meaty cylinder that went upwards and ended in a black globular sac. On the sac, a pair of scarlet red eyes seemed to cry for blood, and they were looking straight at Ye Chong.

What was that? Ye Chong was baffled. He was sure that he had never seen anything like it. He took a quick glance at the five on the ground again. They did not look good. In truth, when encountering an unfamiliar animal like this, the best course of action would be to escape. Now, however, Ye Chong had to face it head on. If he did not rescue them, the chances of him finding the teardrop mineralite on this vast planet would be worse than him killing this creature.

Ye Chong deployed Guardian without a moment's hesitation.

A few rays of light broke through the leaves and shone on Guardian, and the dazzling gold reminded one of the mythical warriors that once fought for the Gods. It was a pity that Ye Chong could not see it himself, but he probably would have complained that the gold was too eye-catching. Ye Chong was not adjusting himself. It had been awhile since he used Guardian for battle, and he needed time to get used to the black and white vision.

The sudden transformation in Ye Chong's exterior apparently surprised the creature.

Suddenly, the globular sac expanded like an inflating balloon. At the same time, the disc expanded quickly as well, and those thorns mysteriously disappeared into the creature's body. All the tentacles aimed at Ye Chong.

Swish swish swish!

The sound was most familiar to Ye Chong - it was the sound of objects travelling very fast through the air. His vision immediately filled up with dozens of white spots, and the information window at the side of his vision refreshed quickly, responding to the attack.

Ye Chong whipped out his dagger, fast as lightning. Ye Chong could do this inhumanly fast in person; with Guardian, his speed was beyond what the human eye could perceive.

Guardian did not retreat, but charged forward like a golden streak of lightning towards the creature. Z-steps, curved steps … Ye Chong used everything he had, treating the creature as a most formidable enemy.

As he avoided some of the needles, Ye Chong used his dagger to block the ones that he could not avoid. The flying needles were packed with power, and came at a very dangerous speed. Even with Guardian, Ye Chong dared not let down his guard.

That thing could attack continuously! Ye Chong focused hard in the fight.

The creature's tentacles spit out the needles, again and again. The silver needles looked like waves of silver rays under the sunlight, flying towards Ye Chong.

Guardian was successfully approaching the creature. In his vision, Ye Chong could see Guardian beginning to analyze the creature. A fatal white line marked the spot between its eyes! Ye Chong understood that the white line indicated the weakest spot of the creature.

There was no time to think any further. Ye Chong focused on the white line.

Behind Ye Chong, the trees and the ground were full of silver needles, glimmering like exquisite artefacts under the sun. These needles were all aimed at Ye Chong, so the wounded five were not attacked instead.

The creature was finally out of needles! Ye Chong felt calm as usual. The white line between the creature's scarlet red eyes was growing larger and larger in sight.

The creature was finally showing some fear in its eyes. It had always reigned supreme in this forest, and now it was facing something even stronger than itself.

Guardian's Mach 10 sprint was unleashed in all its glory. When something came at you with the speed of Mach 10, the impact was devastating.

The creature thought to escape and quickly began to submerge. It believed that it would have the advantage underwater.

Before it could submerge its round disc beneath the waters, all of a sudden, it felt a chill between its eyes.

Ye Chong saw that it was trying to escape, and flung out his dagger in his right hand. The throw was flawless, both in accuracy and strength.

Ye Chong stopped by the riverside, watching the creature's corpse floating on the water. He dragged the corpse to shore, and retrieved his dagger. Ye Chong withdrew Guardian and did not waste time studying the creature as he rushed back towards the rest of the team.

He quickly checked their injuries, and found them to be non-fatal. Meng Fei'er was the medic, and the one with the medical supplies. Ye Chong took the medical kit off her. Meng Fei'er had never experienced such terrible injuries in her life, and had already blacked out from the pain.

Ye Chong removed the needles from them all, and treated their wounds. Phal and Vicente were too old, and they too had fainted. Hen Ben and Qin Zuo were both athletic - while they were both pale, they remained conscious.

Their expressions betrayed shock and horror. The creature was the most fearsome they had ever seen. Its needles could go through the protective suits, which could withstand an attack from normal heat ray guns. That ugly creature was too horrifying! If not for the young man with them, they would probably have ended up as sustenance for the creature.

Qin Zuo's fear, however, was not reserved only for the creature. To him, the creature was horrifying, but compared to this seemingly weak young man before him, it was only an annoyance.

That golden armor that suddenly appeared was mostly likely a miniature mech model. As a teacher of the Unity Academy, if he could even recognize that, he should probably shoot himself. Of course, that was his first impression upon seeing Guardian.

In the next moment, he almost overturned his previous thought. "Heavens! Was that really a miniature mech?" Qin Zuo was stupefied. He could barely register the pain from his wounds. "What speed! Definitely above Mach 7!" He thought to himself as he made a conservative estimation.

How could there be a miniature mech that could go up to Mach 7? The fact could turn his world upside down.

As he saw the way the miniature mech avoided all those needles, switching directions at will, Qin Zuo could feel his mind coming to a halt.

"Was that even human?"

Qin Zuo was speechless. He realized now that the young man before him had exceeded all the standards of a normal human being.

Switching directions so quickly would produce a burden so heavy on the human body that survival was almost impossible. Qin Zuo was certain of it, as he saw what had happened. Even for the legendary character, YC that rose to fame so quickly in the virtual world, this was an entirely different level. Long ago, he had once watched a recording of YC's battle, making eight consecutive acute angle movements in three seconds. Before he met this young men before him, he had thought that that was the limit of the human body.

He never would have guessed that this young man was actually YC himself. To him, they were at two very different levels.

Ye Chong ignored the way Qin Zuo and Hen Ben were looking at him, as they thought he was a creature himself. He picked up a needle and inspected it closely. From its texture, it seemed to be a skeleton. That was Ye Chong's conclusion, thanks to his rich knowledge in skeletons. The needle was light, but strong, with a very sharp tip. It was silver and about 15 centimeters long. The tail end was flattened for easy flight. This was a natural skeleton arrow. Ye Chong began to collect all the skeleton arrows on the ground.

Ye Chong bundled up the 200 odd skeleton arrows together with a strong vein, and kept it in his backpack. He walked back to the creature's corpse and looked it over. It seemed that the creature had no more bones other than its skeleton arrows. It was no longer useful to Ye Chong.

Walking back to the rest of the team, Ye Chong found himself in a difficult situation. Of the five, three were unconscious, and the remaining two were heavily injured and could not walk. Without a guide, Ye Chong would never be able to find the teardrop mineralite.

Qin Zuo was sharp, and seemed to realize what Ye Chong was troubling about. He smiled wryly and said, "While I don't know what you are looking for, you should know that the last time we were here, we basically just walked along the river and kept going. We didn't go very far, at most five kilometers from where we are now. You can find the way yourself." Qin Zuo knew that, with the young man's abilities and their current situation, the young man could finish them all off quickly and easily. There was no one to stop him.

Qin Zuo knew people. The stronger ones usually had a touch of arrogance in them, and would not easily accept favors from others. Hence, he offered it instead, hoping to at least get on the young man's good side, and increase their chances of survival.

Qin Zuo's cooperation obviously came as a surprise to Ye Chong. He looked at the five of them, and knew that they would be defenseless without him. As long as they stayed where they were, the risk was not too great. Considering the strength and aggressiveness of that creature, Ye Chong believed that there would be no other animals in the area. Mu's scanning results confirmed Ye Chong's suspicion.

Ye Chong nodded and said, "You all stay here. There are no wild animals around. I'll be back."

With that, Ye Chong turned his back and began to run along the river. Without the rest of the team slowing him down, Ye Chong ran fast, like an energetic leopard running through the forest.

Along the way, Ye Chong did not encounter any other wild animals, but saw a few dangerous plants. It looked like the creature back there held great power in this area.

Five kilometers was a piece of cake for Ye Chong.

"Stop! Ye." Mu suddenly spoke up. Even with his calm composure, Ye Chong could not help but feel overjoyed. If Mu had asked him to stop for no apparent reason, he must have found something.

As expected, Mu said, "Ye, to the left."

Ye Chong followed Mu's instructions as he moved. Foliage was thick here, and a big hindrance to Ye Chong. Seeing the numerous intertwining vines that stretched above him, Ye Chong gave up on the idea of flying.

Ye Chong deployed Guardian instead, thinking that no plant should be able to break through Guardian's armor. WIth that, he advanced faster ahead. However, using an advanced mech like Guardian just to open a path was probably something only Ye Chong would do.

"Alright, it's here." Despite Mu's usual calmness, his voice betrayed a trace of nervousness. This made Ye Chong realize once again the importance of this teardrop mineralite.

There was a clearing. Strangely, no plants were growing within a 50-meter radius. This was a perfectly circular area of bare earth, and in the center of this clearing was a dark hole.

The perfectly circular clearing, with nothing growing in it amidst the dense forest, was eerie and unsettling.

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Chapter 216: The Cave Underground

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The forest was vast and dense, yet there was this particular area, barren, without any sprout of plant in sight, forming a perfect circle, giving off a peculiar feeling.

Ye Chong got out of the Guardian. It was a relief to his eyes when he returned to the normal, colorful vision after remaining in the monochrome sight for quite some time. The Guardian was amazing indeed, but he had identified one blatant weakness in it, which was exceptionally prominent in areas with complicated landscape like this forest. The Guardian had a full run on its visual analysis when Ye Chong came to this forest. The lines and dots were increased by a gazillion times as they stranded over each other, becoming nearly indistinguishable visual in Ye Chong's eyes. That was why he got out of the Guardian instead.

According to Mu's detection, there was no threat within their proximity.

The abyssal opening looked real deep, or even bottomless Ye Chong wondered, as he tossed one pebble into the nothingness. He then heard the sound of pebble bouncing a few times, "Mhm… the opening was not a straight one… apparently…"

Ye Chong, from the bag on his waist, withdrew a dimensional keystone which took a lifelike appearance of an insect. This was one of the mechs Ye Chong bought in a batch during his visit at Nine Gates City, an engineering model, mainly for the purpose of excavation and ore-extraction, which seemed to be a suitable arsenal to travel through the cave.

The mech carried the name, "Multipede", which took the form of a mutated insect obviously, with dark-brown segmented body, allowing agile movements deep in the cave, especially with the miniature engines installed at every segment in addition to the pseudo-antenna mechanical legs of passive-activation

Deployed the mech, he hopped into the cabin, took a firm seat and he launched the mech.

Multipede crawled into the opening within a few hushes nimbly. The mechanical legs were on passive-activation, which turned out to be an ease to Ye Chong's piloting. The terrain within the cave was unexpectedly in various winding shapes, with limited lighting that the night vision on Multipede was proven to be ineffective. Fortunately Multipede was pre-installed with a set of bursting plasma lighting. The ride was not as bumpy as Ye Chong thought. It was a smooth sail for him, which he complimented the designer of this mech a little.

Multipede travelled quite quickly. The tunnel was becoming more winding than he presumed. Mu had detected the location of the teardrop mineralite, which was about 3 kilometers away from their current location, although Ye Chong already felt that they had travelled more than 3 kilometers.

Tick!

Phew… finally. They made it to the end, his sight brightened as they arrived at a large flat ground at the bottommost of the cave, with the sound of water dripping through his ears.

Multipede was parked on the ground carefully. Ye Chong then flipped out of the cabin.

Gasp… Ye Chong inhaled intensely upon seeing the sight before him.

The deep cave was dark at first and now it was glowing in all kinds of lights into Ye Chong's eyes.

A stream across the ground, sinking right at the ankle of Ye Chong, flowing to the other side with discernible hushes in the deserted underground. And that was when Ye Chong realized, the stream was not wholly a stream after all, the glow came from the stream, where the ores were shining in dazzles brighter than the stars in the sky, lighting up the darkness of the menacing cave.

Ye Chong had seen quite a variety of ores before, but never ever he had seen ores which could produce such glow alone and now he was standing in a stream of them, with all types of colors he could imagined, in all kinds of shapes which were staggering for him to name.

"Transmutated Energy Ore!" Mu's voice was too filled with fascination.

"Transmutated energy ore? Mu, what's that? Is it anything useful?" asked Ye Chong in bewilderment.

"Yes! Useful! Of course it is useful!" Mu's tone was firm, "Mhm, and the teardrop mineralite has to be somewhere nearby, which explains the energy transmutation occurred in these ores… So…" Mu sounded as if he was talking to himself.

Ye Chong was confused. Energy transmutation? What is that?

"Ye." And apparently Mu was not in the favor of giving an explanation, rushed he, "Quickly gather these transmutated ores. All of them. They are very useful."

"All… of them…?" Gulped Ye Chong, as his eyes set upon this milky way of glowing ores.

He reached his hands to the ore, "Ye." Said Mu again, "Get the teardrop instead, it should be just around here, no more than 300 meters away from here, while I do the collection of these ores."

"Okay," responded Ye Chong as he began searching the Teardrop within this flock of transmutated energy ores. Mu on the other hand began piloting Multipede to perform the extraction. Well, Multipede was born for tasks of such kind, so the efficiency was satisfactory. The ores extracted were kept inside the storage of Multipede. There were 13 segments on its body, where only the first segment was used as a cabin and the remaining 12 segments were used as the storage for ores collected.

Ye Chong followed the winding streams, yet he did not find a single sight of the Teardrop throughout his way.

At the very end of the cave, Ye Chong discovered a few teardrop mineralites scattered on the ground in a gentle glow.

Phew… at least it was not a wild goose chase after all.

Ye Chong was going to advance forward, but the sudden rush of goosebumps stormed upon his body. A strong sense of danger roared in his instinct, "Ye. Stay still." Mu's words echoed almost immediately after. His words were fearful, which was the first time Ye Chong perceived, from such a fearful Mu.

What was the danger that caused such fear even in this artificial intelligence? The thought flashed in his mind.

He took a careful look around. Nothing strange in particular, even though that strong sense of danger lingered in his mind.

"What exactly is wrong?" Inquired Ye Chong, "Mu, I just feel something wrong…"

"Ye, deploy me now." Hurried Mu, "Take a look beyond the Teardrops."

Beyond…? Ye Chong had only been looking at the Teardrops, he had hardly looked beyond th… He lifted his head, the darkness stared back at him. Ye Chong flinched, as he pinpointed the source of his sense instantly. His sight was great, despite in the faint glow of the Teardrops, as he could discern the silhouettes of objects around. But there was one spot, 5 meters beyond the Teardrops, which formed an absolute darkness, where the lights were engulfed and failed to shine upon. Since the cave was already dark by nature, one would easily overlook that one darker area.

It was a blatant twist in the plot, where Mu even demanded to deploy himself right away. It was the first time Ye Chong faced such a grave danger after they left Trash Planet.

"What, is this?" Ye Chong's gaze intensified, as he asked Mu.

"Currently unidentifiable. Calculating…" Replied Mu, as his mechanical eyes flickered drastically, apparently running a rapid calculation in the background.

Ye Chong pondered slightly, he began sprinting! He sprinted over the stream, through the tunnel and jumped into Multipede, which had completed its extraction and was resting at the other end. The stream had been dried out, as the ores were cleared out, "Then…" He remembered the bursting plasma lighting installed at the head of Multipede, a few taps on the control panel he shifted the lighting to the darkness.

…

… …

!

!!!

"What… is this…?" Exclamation escaped from Ye Chong's mouth widely opened.

The brightness of the plasma lighting shone throughout the area in the cave. The ground was white, the walls were white, the tunnel was wide, except that one corner, beyond the Teardrops, a dark circle about 3 meters in diameter hovered over the distance 5 meters away from the Teardrops. The bright light was fully engulfed by this circle.

The circle was as if a masterpiece illustrated by the best architecture tools, in a darkness which gave fright to anybody.

It was strange, really strange, that even a fearless boy like Ye Chong began to quiver.

What, exactly, is this?

The Teardrops were only a stone's thrown away from him, yet Ye Chong was too feared to even lift a step. The peculiarity was incomprehensible…

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 71%." Mu's voice rang cold.

…

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 75%." Mu's voice was shaking.

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 78%." Mu's voice sounded agitated, "Ye, quick! Pick up the Teardrops!" Alarmingly he shouted, "But do not be within 10 meters of the Space Distorting Disc's proximity!"

Space Distorting Disc? Is it the dark circle?

But providing that I do not approach the Teardrops, how would I collect them? He looked at the Teardrops, which had a size, at the maximum, of a thumb… the mechanical legs of Multipede could never pick them up.

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 82%." Mu's voice grew louder.

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 87%." Mu screamed, "Ye! Fast! Now!"

Ye Chong understood he did not have the time to waste. As soon as Mu hurried, he got an idea, he jumped off the cabin and picked one rock of size of his fist.

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 90%." Mu seemed calmer now…

Once he picked the rock, a force exerted at tip of his toes, flipped in a large curve he reached the side of the Distorting Disc, which looked like a fine lining in his eyes by then, as if the width was non-existent.

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 93%." The strange form of Mu's countdown haunted Ye Chong.

A shake on his arm, the rock was flung towards the Teardrops. In another large curve, he shifted to the other side of the disc, no time for him to see if his plan worked.

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 95%."

Thump! The rock he flung accurately landed at the densest point of the Teardrops, where they had flown up high as conservation of momentum occurred, all the way towards Ye Chong.

The Teardrops travelled in different heights, forming an irregular shape of a fan. Ye Chong breathed in deeply, as he became countless afterimages, grabbing the Teardrops flawlessly. It was not that challenging to grab falling things with his sight and hand speed.

"Spatial Distortion Rate: 99%."

Mu's voice rang calmly. Ye Chong made a flip and got back to Mu.

Phew… He regained his stance. As long as he stood by Mu, he would be in good hands, although the disc was bizarre, his confidence towards Mu had grown deep inside himself. Mu was unbeatable, the ideology stood like a flag in Ye Chong's subconsciousness.

He then put the Teardrops into his bag. He took a look at that disc.

Wait… Ye Chong realized he missed one little Teardrop which was lying right before the disc. His strike did not work fully just now it seemed. But he did not mind, since he was considered rather lucky for he was able to retrieve stones of irregular shapes this many within such a brief timeframe.

"Spatial Distortion Rate…

…

100%."

Mu's voice came like the vaporization of dry ice.

Ye Chong glared upon the disc. Even though he did not understand the phrase "Spatial Distortion Rate", he at least understood what 100% could mean - it meant a completion, which would be proceeded by a change, a metamorphosis.

What kind of change, that's the question. Speculated Ye Chong in his mind.

5 seconds lapsed. The disc remained hovered in the air. Nothing happened.

10 seconds lapsed. Nothing.

Mu wh-

Right when Ye Chong lifted his lips and was going to ask, that disc which seemed to be at its eternity had an unexpected development.

It was… a hand.

A strange hand of an unknown creature crawled out of the darkness. The dark skin was coated with dense linings in crimson, like checkers all over the hand. Ye Chong had never seen such skin before, which its glow was of metals and was glaring under the plasma lighting. The hand had 8 fingers, with noticeable hardness on its bones. The tip of the fingers… was made out of metal, if Ye Chong was right, as it glowed coldly. The fingers were connected with a layer of flesh, a strangeness Ye Chong could hardly word into.

Ye Chong did not see the elbow of the hand. The hand was reaching out to its everywhere, literally everywhere, once it got out of the disc, as if it had no bone, hitting any direction of any angle.

And that hand stopped abruptly. Ye Chong took a careful look. Wait… what… isn't that the Teardrop I missed in its hand?

The hand, as soon as it seized the Teardrop, retreated back into the disc.

Ye Chong was stoned upon the sight. Hell knows what that thing was. Mu did not speak either. The man and his mech just looked at this phenomena occurring.

After the hand completely sank into the disc, "Mu, what is this?" Asked Ye Chong, gulping.

"Unidentifiable," stated Mu, with also a confused tone, "No match was found in my databank."

"What that dark disc is then?"

Shook the artificial intelligence, "Negative. Only distortion of space was detected."

What do you mean by…

"Mu what d-"

Ye Chong was going to ask, but something happened!

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Chapter 217: Hypersonic

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A shrill in the cave!

Ye Chong could feel his head pounding. Boom! A force came after, breaking his shaking stance. Thup! He was lifted by the violent wind and slammed upon the rocky wall behind. He could hear his backbones cracking and his insides were rumbling. Splash! He spat a pool of blood as he landed on the ground.

That slam had woken Ye Chong, as he discovered the waves coming from the dark disc. He looked at Mu, whose legs were dragged behind, forming a trail. The artificial intelligence had its eyes frantically flickering which meant he was clearly fighting against this force.

Ye Chong stumbled upon the sight, where Mu was at the edge of defeat, the first time it was. And the foe was merely using sound to fight…

The strong sonic waves wrecked the surrounding atmosphere. The fright and its overwhelming strength put upon Ye Chong was no longer imaginable.

The sound did not seem to be stopping anytime soon, as its pitch grew higher, the pressure intensified within Ye Chong's body, a stream of blood dripped off the corner of his lips. The droplet of blood did not survive the waves as well, as it shattered into vapors, flying away.

A shockwave of high frequency could be fatal to human anatomy, even for sturdy ones like Ye Chong's, as discomfort drained his face pale.

Ye Chong knew it well that he could be dead right there if he did not take any action. It was the biggest danger he had ever faced. His muscles were forced to vibrate along, as the atmosphere was shaking drastically. The fatigue stung his body, dizziness clouded his head.

He took a deep breath and tried to regain his calmness. As he understood, the way to deal with death was to grab the lining of life within it.

He tried his best to disregard these influences. Ye Chong's cold gazes set upon the ripping dark disc. He readjusted his respiration with his chest pulled forcefully like an accordion and slowly it regained the inner peace.

His mind flowed through the cold water, as Ye Chong felt withdrawn from his physical body slightly. It felt like his usual meditation, other than the fact that he was doing it consciously as the pain still lingered in his body. He felt like an audience to his own agony, standing at the edge of his body.

He looked at the dark disc, his arms somehow mustered a bit of strength. His right hand drew the dagger out and with all that bit of strength he mustered, he tossed it right into the dark disc.

He had no idea what the dark disc was. He had no idea what the owner of that frightening arm was. But he knew he had to attack and that was the only way he could think of.

The dagger zoomed into the dark disc.

Ye Chong could feel his senses returning almost simultaneously after, when a wave of pain surged in him. Oww… He could no longer hold his whimper.

The deadly shrill ceased…

Ye Chong was already half-fainted. Mu, at his quickest speed, grabbed Ye Chong up right after the shrill stopped. He opened up his cabin and placed Ye Chong gently inside. He then turned away to the tunnel and began running, with Multipede following like a pet behind.

Mu would not let go of the ores even under such devastated circumstance. Poor Multipede, being the engineering model, had barely any appropriate armor on its body. That demolishing shockwave dealt great damage on it. Sluggishly it dragged its shattered body. Fortunately, the processor remained intact, so Mu could remotely control its movement.

The winding tunnel to the outside was troublesome for Mu to travel but that was not the time for him to calculate. He would most likely bombard the underground to create a pathway directly to the surface, if he had the right weapon for it.

Ye Chong remained unconscious. If he had woken up at any point he would probably be ranting about how long the tunnel was.

Mu still travelled faster than Multipede as it only caught up 2 seconds after Mu hit the opening.

Mu used his only hand to grab Multipede and blasted off into the sky.

An infuriated shrill roared violently from the underground.

The ground was shattering the second after Mu flew off. The opening collapsed under the hypersonic of the unknown. Half a meter of the barren circular ground crumbled, forming a large rift.

Mu did not look down, he flew on, as long as he reached the sky, he would get back to Coxcomb.

Halfway through their journey, Ye Chong regained his consciousness. Thanks to his well-built body, he got back to his usual condition. That shock caused only an emergency shutdown to his system as a form of defense.

"M-Mu…" His words rang softly, "What was that…"

"Unidentifiable. Object: Unknown according to database," Mu replied.

"It is horrible…" Even an in-human like Ye Chong was exclaiming at the frightening event before. And that was also his first time seeing Mu behaving so gracelessly, he did not even have the energy to fight back. What kind of living thing could produce such scream…?

Soundwave-based weaponry was not something foreign to Ye Chong. Well, its development was rather primitive in the 5 major galaxies. It was a kind of area-of-effect attack, which disregarded friends or foes. In other words, if you wanted a stronger sound wave attack, you would have to be much stronger to withstand it. Also its effective areas were of limited choices, as it required a medium like the air in the atmosphere to travel. But most of humanity spent their lives in the airless space now, which justified the underdevelopment of soundwave-based weaponry.

Despite all that, Ye Chong experienced the potency of sound-waves, and there was this particular living thing that was capable of producing them. How horrible… The three forces, be it the MPA, the Sanctuary or even the Black Coves, might be nothing compared to its power. Obviously one could say the attacker was no way a human.

And, under such existence, there were humans who always assumed themselves to be the ruler of the galaxy. What was the truth, the very truth of the rulership in the end, anyway?

The sight before Ye Chong widened, Mu had left the forest completely and reached the sky. Ye Chong sat steadily inside Mu. A sense of nostalgia struck, as he remembered the days back on Trash Planet when he had to log into the Virtual World almost everyday inside Mu. Well, that was no longer the case ever since they left Trash Planet. He hardly had the chance to board Mu. It felt warm… the memories, as the stiffened expression of Ye Chong melted.

!

"Mu!" Ye Chong yelled as he saw something approaching, "Look out! The mech behind!"

Mu's detection was based on hologramic scanning and on this planet, Mu's detection only was capable of proximity about 3 kilometers, and 3 kilometers to a mech were hardly a distance, not even the distance of safety. So Ye Chong's naked eyes could do better than the mechanical eyes under such condition, especially when they were in the sky, away from the blockage of the woods.

A few mechs were flying towards them, in spread.

Ye Chong modified the setting as he switched Mu's camera to photographic mode, to have a better look at the mechs. They were of the same models, which Ye Chong could not recognize. A total 5 of them. Ye Chong directly related them to the case of the student of Vicente. The flock underneath could possibly be the organization who abducted that student.

The 5 mechs were pretty strange to him. He looked at the screen and made a few estimations. The height of the mechs were about 15 meters, which were much taller than most mechs; their body size were much larger than most mechs as well - a little bulky in design.

Those were not strange enough to Ye Chong, as he realized the mechs of such model were somehow a conglomeration, with the energy shooter in the hand, of a large musket, which made those energy shooters from MPA look like a toy pistol of a kid, at most an art piece rather than a real killing weapon. From the weapon they were holding, it obviously labeled them as a ranged model, and their shooting chamber further supported Ye Chong's assumption.

But, the catch was, there was an ancient lance made out of alloy at their back, along with a pair of laser swords installed on their body. They were not activated yet but Ye Chong could see the handle flashing at their sides. They were even armed with parrying spears, and a shield on the left arm, which its size was above average as well.

Ye Chong's eyes widened. What is this? Did a rack turn alive from someone's armory?

Judging from the enemies he had encountered before, be it the Black Covers or those from the MPA, they all had very distinctive characteristics, either identifying them as the close-attackers or ranged attackers. This was applicable even for the Sanctuary, the one who struck the balance between yet they picked the other path as they collaborated a unique skill of theirs into the combats.

Closed-ranged and ranged attacking were two different concepts, that a single pilot could hardly wield both. This was exceptionally true as a pilot further honed his or her skills, usually they would prefer to have one of the paths fully improvised, since the saying of "when you are good at everything, you are good at nothing."

Frankly speaking, despite Ye Chong's comment of labelling them as the walking rack from someone's armory, they did not look that bad. It felt like an ancient coat of arms. With that ancient lance on the back, it looked pretty chivalrous. The edge of the shield was coated with sky blue, capsuling the golden brand in the center, giving off the vibes of the nobility.

There were shrills from the ground. Ye Chong could hear it clearly even above the sky. But the shrill had transformed into a mere sound traveling through air, since the shockwave had been fully absorbed by the ground.

"The mechs were probably attracted by the sound waves," speculated Ye Chong.

Mu was obviously not in the mood of having any duel with the mechs. His goal had been achieved while there was this unidentifiable monster rampaging underground. The sanest choice would be to get back to their warship.

Ye Chong was confident of Mu's velocity as he still travelled faster than most of the mechs even with Multipede in his grip.

At first he thought Mu would lose the 5 mechs in a matter of seconds. However so far, the only change was the distance between him and the 5 mechs. Yes, Mu was gaining distance from the 5 mechs, nevertheless it should not be the case since Mu had such an insane speed.

Ye Chong had the thought and was shocked, as the speed of the 5 mechs could compete with the unmodified war machines of the three forces… with such bulky body, yet they had such velocity which Mu could not zap away from right away. It was shocking indeed. They were also flying in perfect position, their rapports were trained.

So which of the three forces were the mechs from?

This was the biggest mystery to Ye Chong currently.

Mu's speed also seemed to surprise the 5 mechs, as Ye Chong could occasionally see tiny flinches from them.

"Mu, be careful. They are shooting," warned Ye Chong as he saw two of the mechs charging energy at their muskets. Compared to Javelin Wing of the MPA, the charging action was too blatant in the eyes. He recalled the time he fought Javelin Wing, which the energy shooter did not even seem to be charging before it fired an explosion. That would be the ideal way of fighting, Ye Chong supposed.

"Understood," Mu replied flatly.

Ye Chong felt his head falling. He understood that it was Mu, doing the standard dodging procedure by disrupting the foes' shooting in unpredictable rhythm. This was Ye Chong's first time sitting right inside Mu experiencing the shaking of standard dodge.

Mu was still Mu, the skillful artificial intelligence, as his debut was a series of super duper advanced rapid disorderly turnings, which gave the sturdy man Ye Chong a lingering dizziness in his head. Ye Chong could not imagine doing the same turnings by himself.

Mu's moves were effective, as they confused the foes successfully. The light beams traveled right by Mu's side. Boom! The forest was seared into two baldy zones. "Man!" exclaimed Ye Chong in his mind. The energy shooter was not the random shooter from the market!

The firings from the foes came off as a warning. Well they intended give a warning, till Mu's dramatic spin made them missed their shoot, reminding them that they had messed with the wrong guy.

One of the mechs fired a signal into the sky right after that. The bombardment occurred as a flash of red signal covering the sky. It might be a primitive methodology, but anyone would have used such a primitive technology, since the magnetic interferences were so strong that any communicative device would fail.

Mu's orbit was still confusing as hell. But Ye Chong could see their destination being not too far away - the Coxcombs, resting at the corner silently.

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Chapter 218: The Foxes and the Hare

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The gigantic Coxcomb was more eye-catching than anything else when Mu flew towards it without hesitation. Hm? Ye Chong took a light breath, as through the photon camera of Mu he saw Tai Zuo and his gang sitting by the opened gate.

Tai Zuo was the first who discerned the incoming "intruder", as he hurried the other folks to get up and hide under the shadow of Coxcomb. Wow, that's actually pretty smart. Complimented Ye Chong in his mind.

What actually happened was, everyone regained consciousness after Ye Chong left the ship, especially after being given expert care from Meng Fei'er, where their condition had improved a lot. Tai Zuo's reaction towards the incoming object was justified, the fact that he had taken the personality of the distant young man into consideration and had identified that if any incident were to happen, they would be the last few persons on ship to be directly involved. Thus, he ran away with the remaining members to the shadow. At least there were engines installed on their protective suits. It felt miraculous when they actually made it back to the Coxcomb despite their laid-back hovering. But the gate was already closed by then. So they only managed to sneak into the shadow of Coxcomb and wait for Ye Chong's return.

"Ah!" And Mu opened the gate right before he arrived by Coxcomb, which left the 5 men in dismay upon seeing this never-before-seen mech flying towards them. "What are you waiting for?" shouted Ye Chong, hustling the gang in their daydreams.

They might have never seen that mech before, but they heard Ye Chong's voice, and started space-swimming towards the opened Coxcomb.

The hunting mechs behind Mu ceased their acceleration upon seeing the Coxcomb. Anyone of them could imagine the size of an army inside a spaceship of such hugeness. They might have strong rapports with each other and also armed with something, but they would not dare to infuriate the hundreds, no, the thousands inside the ship.

"Well, Mu," stated Ye Chong, "It looks like there is a need to equip you with some weaponry, or you would be too passive in the situation."

"Agreed," said Mu, "Our achievement this time is great. The loots are sufficient to produce a few weapons."

"What kind of weapons would you like, Mu?" Ye Chong asked with full of interest, since Mu was never armed with a gun or a blade from the very beginning he picked the machine from the trash, and Mu had always been fighting with weapons "borrowed" from the opponents, which were discarded right after the duel ended. Ye Chong did recognize that bit of pride in Mu, where probably he disdained those substandard weapons so much that he would never keep them as his toys for long-term.

"Regarding that… Ye, you would know when time arrives." And the artificial intelligence returned with a brief statement imbued with slight mystery, which further intrigued the young man inside the cabin.

The 5 mechs remained afar. Apparently they had never made a wild guess that the ship could also be literally empty. They fired a yellow signal next.

Mu soared in after seeing the running men having made back inside Coxcomb. The gate was closed right after.

Ye Chong gave a sigh of relief after Mu had landed safely. Their safety would be at better guarantee as long as they were inside Coxcomb.

"Oh how glad am I to-" Ye Chong was welcomed by the gang when he left the cabin, but the corner of his lips caused an astonishment, as stained by blood. What kind of danger had this young man faced that he was actually wounded while being inside a mech? The mystery lingered within the mind of the gang. And he survived? Wow. The capabilities of the indifferent young man had convinced the gang.

"Are you alright?" asked Meng Fei'er, being the medical staff of the team, "Do you need help?"

The indifferent young man shook his head, as he took a glance at the members, who looked to be in the pink of health, well, at least their expression did not seem agonized, even though it looked a little pale. Ye Chong could have provided some help since whatever Lunatic Guan had taught him before could be used for medication as well, but he was still a novice compared to Meng Fei'er the trained.

Ye Chong's body had also recovered from the fatigue, as he felt the strength in his muscles.

The first thing on his priority list was to change the detection mode of the Coxcomb to Photon Mode, instead of Hologramic Mode which had proven its helplessness under such strong magnetic interference. The Hologramic System had been jammed, so it would be a sane choice to use the traditional Photon Mode instead to retain the visibility of the surrounding.

Of course Ye Chong had made up his mind to depart. The planet nearby had given him ample horror, which that unidentifiable lifeform underground was the most threatening. He had fulfilled his mission here, "Time to move."

Ye Chong was going to pull the lever and blast off to infinity and beyond, but then… There seemed to be a white spaceship traveling towards them, if what he saw on the photon display was right.

Oh no… Ye Chong's hope sank.

It could be the first time Ye Chong saw such model of spaceship, but he could tell, that obviously it was a corvette from the MPA. There was a distinctive style on all MPA ships, from the aspect of weaponry that is. To someone who had been through the weaponry production like Ye Chong, no doubt that would be the first thing crossing in his mind. Whether the ship was a warship or an ordinary spaceship, well, a ship that was sent to a dangerous zone like this, it had to be a warship. Thought Ye Chong.

So the MPA came to join the party? Even the indifferent young man could not help but to frown upon the situation, as he reminisced the times he fought an actual corvette from the MPA. It was not a good experience. And the Coxcomb had zero experience in the warfield, his potential remained something to gamble with.

Ye Chong had automatically identified the incoming warship as being hostile. But how did the MPA get here? It was puzzling to Ye Chong since Vicente had only one student but there were already two organizations hovering around. Had the whole world found out the news?

The corvette of MPA travelled quickly. It was much quicker compared to the Coxcomb.

As they inched towards the Coxcomb, Ye Chong could finally see the exact appearance of the ship. Unlike the Twin Moon he had encountered before, this corvette had merely a curved body painted completely in white. And compared to the Coxcomb which had a length of 5km, this corvette was much smaller. Probably a mere 2 kilometers, Ye Chong supposed, although that huge pipe on top of the corvette was a gasp-worthy surprise.

Gradually Ye Chong could see the weaponry on that approaching corvette. He flinched. Wasn't that an electromagnetic cannon? Ye Chong who had produced few of his own immediately pinpointed that firepower setting. The tubes were plain white. Nevertheless they looked exactly like the tubes Ye Chong made.

"Ye, this is the Eclipse. Unlike Twin Moon, this is a warship of single-moon, a conquering model, where its main firepowers are scattered into 22 electromagnetic firings. The main cannon

Is great but only suitable for passive-aggressive position, like on a galactic stronghold for example. The Eclipse is chiefly used for its reflexibility, its petite size and mobility while retaining a certain level of firepower," introduced Mu and he sounded as if he was reciting from a textbook.

"Mu, you know this warship?" asked Ye Chong. There had been occasions where Mu showed unreasonable amount of knowledge on the working of MPA, although he was not that shocked by the detail.

…

The artificial intelligence went silent for a moment. "Mhm, it seemed like there is a massive amount of information regarding various aspects of Mech-Pilot Association inside my databank, where part of them has been destroyed. Ye, I might have an undeniable association with the MPA, although I have yet discovered any information to justify that hypothesis."

"Mu…" Ye Chong could not help but to ask, "Do you want to know your past?"

"Not really." Flatly Mu replied, "My past self has nothing much to do with my current self. It was solely for formation of a much logical relationship. Ye, you are the only person both of us would approve. At least on this extent, both Shang and I would mutually agree."

"Oh no…"

"Ah… i-i-i-i-i-is this the warship?" Tai Zuo's face was pale as he stood by the horrified team of his, while watching the the visual of the Eclipse becoming bigger and clearer on the projection. This was probably the exact expression from anyone of the 5 major galaxies upon a warship's arrival, since the warship had become a pronoun, a term of the history the moment the governments of the 5 major galaxies forbade the research and development of war units like the warship. They had gone extinct after the production was ceased, which their former glory as once a jaw-opener to everyone was fading into a discolored scenery.

But there Tai Zuo and his team were, seeing an actual warship heading towards them.

The arrival of the MPA seemed to have alarmed that 5 mechs watching at the corner. Well that was what Ye Chong speculated, since they should at least recognize that incoming warship being the MPA's.

"Hey!" Shouted Meng Fei'er, pointing at the other side of the projection, "Look! What is this?"

There was clearly a black dot at the corner, which seemed to be enlarging over time.

Ye Chong's expression melted…

The black dot approached them quickly, it did not take long before everyone recognized what it was.

"A-a-a-another warship?!" screamed Han Ben, as he looked at his mates in graceless manner.

Ye Chong was more silent than ever, as he knew.

It was a warship.

From the Black Coves.

The ships of the Black Coves always had a badge in the shape of a long, narrow leaf. It was really obvious, as the war units of Black Coves were thoroughly black. A glowing kind of black, probably they had infused the armor with their specialty, the black gold.

It was a major plot twist in Ye Chong's script. There were already the MPA and the Black Coves. It would not be far-fetched if a Sanctuary warship came nonchalantly into the scene soon, supposed Ye Chong.

"Look at that!"

Right after his speculation went wild in his mind, he saw the third warship… in a shape of some kind of unnamed bird in the projection. Wait. A. Minute! Don't tell me… is it a reunion day for the three forces? Ye Chong could no longer word his feelings.

Well, the 5 mechs watching at the corner seemed to be more panicked than Ye Chong himself, as they continuously cursed the pilot of the warship from their side, "Where the hell are they? We need backups!" The sudden participation of the other 3 uninvited guests was pressuring them to death.

They probably had never thought that it was the signals they sent off that attracted the guests.

"Leader!" shouted one man. It was a relieving sight as the leader turned back, as the warship had finally arrived. The 5 mechs were calmer the moment an antique-looking warship flew into the scene. No more delay! The 5 mechs flew to their mothership like a group of lost children, being chased by the darkest nightmare in their dream.

Ye Chong … He was at utter loss of words. The namely secret he had been holding had all gone into the light, it was as if the whole galaxy had known it. At least he made his travel fast or he would have to snatch the ores with the forces.

The reality? The planet was not wholly discovered by Vicente's student alone. There were 4 of them, where one turned out to be a big mouth. Seemingly unable to watch his mouth, he leaked the information which then everybody else knew their discovery. Then the 4 organizations around Ye Chong now. No doubt, no organization would go uninterested on a planet like this. Not only the inhabited planet would signify a free base, but also there would be resources, countless of them, thus the income, the rolling cash into their base.

The moment they knew the pioneering folks of the inhabited planet, they raided upon them, almost simultaneously. It was such painful coincidence that they had to bump into each other every time they wanted to work something on the project. Inevitably, they had to fight for the 4 members and they realized none of them would overcome the other at this rate. So they shared the members. A member for each organization. And this particular 4th force joining the Battle Royale, had their first time banging their head against the 3 forces, and the funny thing was, they did not lose badly apparently.

After the 4 members had been escorted to each organization, their information extracted, the organization was well-aware of how their counterparts would have the same amount of information and how they would likely to lose anything if they never acted fast. So immediately after they sent off their ships to the planet, trying to get a share of the pie on the table.

It was surprising that the planet was capsuled in the magnetic force, that all their hologramic detection system had gone offline and in the end, they had never come across each other, nor they had seen the planet.

Fortunately, thanks to the 5 meddling mechs for sending off a signal, they had been guided and thus, reunited at this place. Wonder how the pilots on those 5 mechs would react if they knew themselves being the cause of the scene…

And this scene, this grand scene of a brewing storm was something not on everyone's script as well. None of them took action. The space was boundless and dark, where 4 warships and 1 spaceships were standing against each other, freezing. The 4 warships were familiar of existence of each other, nothing surprising. But the Coxcomb, the 5th ship that should not be here, was appearing odd in between them.

Everyone's eyes went upon the Coxcomb, as they wondered where the warship belonged to. The Coxcomb was humongous, which was a perfect walking bullseye.

They were eager… very eager.

The team at the Coxcomb had their faces distorted into something indistinguishable. It was fear, but more than fear; it was hopeless, but more than hopeless. Meng Fei'er even covered her eyes, her body quivering. It was a pitiful sight.

Ye Chong remained calm.

Tai Zuo marveled at the calmness of this young man.

The 4 warships had the same thought - one side less meant one less share, one less share meant one more loot. Simple math, simple logic. Obviously neither of the side could no longer dominate the entire planet on its own. They got to share and if that was the case, lesser the share the merrier.

The armor of a Zika spaceship could be all sturdy and mighty but would be feeble when being gashed upon by the other warships. Mech? It would be a joke, all of the forces were the expert of mech-piloting.

The forces thirsted the loot, as they approached the spaceship together, like the 4 foxes eyeing a wild hare.

Just when everyone was going to flaunt their offenses, the harmless-looking rabbit raised its fang out of sudden!

It was a plot twist. It was not in the script. And everyone was gasping, heavily.

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Chapter 219: Shockwave

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The length of a Zika-graded spaceship would be about 5 kilometers. A whale in the space one could call. The warships, for they sought dexterity and momentum, would be designed petite and light. The difference in size was blatant as they flew towards the Coxcomb.

In visuals of every ship, the Coxcomb suddenly rose its bars, and within the opening, countless pipes were raised towards them. The laser firing devices were filled between the remaining gaps.

And they thought they were the foxes, hunting for the hare, which turned out to be quite the opposite. The dark tubes were exerting fearsome brutality. The laser firing devices were quiet, inactive but one could imagine the density of the firing with that amount on a giant ship.

The change in the script was unacceptable to the forces, where most of them dazed upon. That expression of theirs would make people wonder if they were really the elites in combat.

"Hey! Aren't those electromagnetic cannons?" The scream of one man from the Eclipse caught the attention of everybody else. They knew their cannons and a glance was more than enough for them to verify the validity of the object before them. They crowded upon the visuals and got into a noisy discussion. The leader of the ship however, was pale.

"Oh my MPA, that's really an electromagnetic cannon."

"Stop messing around, the cannon is our secret weapon, how would that warship have it?"

"Beats me. Someone has probably leaked it."

"The confidentiality department should be executed, like right now."

…

The captain was at loss of idea too. He had been the captain for years and there had been cases where he led the entire crew on the Eclipse successfully. No one had known the ship much better than himself. The main firepower of the Eclipse, the electromagnetic cannons, their properties were something he knew like the back of his hands. The weapon could give a large area a heavy blow, in spite of its deadly weakness, the high energy consumption, which eventually limited the performance of the Eclipse in offenses since they lacked the space to install more batteries.

And there was this Zika graded spaceship precisely, the warship holding an outrageous amount of electromagnetic cannons, that had outnumbered those on the captain's ship. The captain was overwhelmed that he corrected his perception of this warship before him, that it was clearly no longer an ordinary spaceship, rather it was a killing warship. Although he could not give the exact figure on the number of tubes at that ship, he was well-aware that he and his crew would be the one sinking under the foe's bombardment instead. Being an experienced captain, his comment did stand a certain extent of credibility. Of course, if the foe wanted to launch the cannon and initiate the war, he as the captain himself would not hold back but to send off his elites and demonstrate what true rapports between the captain and his crew were. His crew was not something to be defeated by some random warships. With his expertise, it should be a 50:50 in the end.

Furthermore, the outnumbering electromagnetic cannons would also suggest that the foe depleted the energy of the ship much faster. Zika-graded warship might be giant in size to be convincing enough to have tons of batteries, but one must know that it would also require a major crew to fully pilot the entire ship. Thus, there would not be a sustainable amount of batteries for multiple electromagnetic blows, since this ship was not for warring purposes in the first place, as justified by the sturdiness of its armor, which was something never competent compared to the real warship. It also would sail sluggishly and make turnings much later than the others. These would inevitably be the lethal weaknesses of the ship.

The SWOT analysis ran rapidly in the mind of the captain.

His expression would be priceless if he were to be informed that there were no more than 6 persons on that ship.

!

"Observers!" The eyes of the captain froze the moment they lay on a specific spot of the ship, as if they made a major discovery, "Enlarge the visual! Now!" The voice roared throughout the room, as the face of the captain tightened. Temper, agony resounded and silenced the remaining crew as their eyes set upon the enraged captain, wondering what had gotten into their wise and usually undisturbed leader.

The observers on duty who had been adjusting the Photon Visual System shuddered. Their experience and knowledge saved them for they managed to perform what the captain asked within milliseconds although being extremely panicked.

"Enlarge the cannons." The voice was profound.

The electromagnetic cannons of the Coxcombs were immediately enlarged, to a point where everyone in the room could see the details, how dark the tubes were.

And the face of captain ran as cold as the tubes in the visuals.

What … is this? How would the captain not immediately identify it as being made out of something he recognized, after all these years he had been warring with the Black Coves? Black gold was the metal exclusive to the Black Covers and any metal coated by the black gold would exert a kind of strange glow, just like this. It was something impossible to be imitated by the other alloys, which the members of the MPA authority would resentfully covet upon. These were only extractable deep inside the Black Coves, they were likely going to stay as a green-eyed monster for all eternity, although their research on a replacement, a replica never stopped once. Their research had shown that the black gold had much stronger expression in energy-based weaponry compared to physical weaponry for its energy activity was very high, which would be perfect for energy-based weaponry production.

The details of the research were not something open to the public, not even a frontline member like the captain himself, but he was once informed the information on the black gold accidentally during an occasion. It was irony although Black Coves had such a god's gift, they were lagging way behind in development of energy-based weaponry. It would be considered as a miracle despite all the overpowered effects of black gold, they remained at a similar standard of capabilities.

And there he was, with his eyes wavering at a thing he was confused of. The tubes were obviously made out of black gold, which were installed on electromagnetic cannons, something that should be exclusive to the MPA. The foe was one with the technological standard of MPA and the amazing metallurgical development on the black gold application, who also built an actual set of electromagnetic cannons. The firepower… the firepower… It would be something the captain too feared to predict. The MPA never once had the opportunity to perform sufficient experiments on the black gold infusion as the ores were very scarce.

Assuming only the captain understood such fact on the MPA's Eclipse, the Black Covers should be well-aware of the situation as well. They knew their black gold better than the MPA, even though their focus on close-combats had led them an underdeveloped weaponry. It was a known fact among the Black Covers on the application of black gold on energy-based weaponry, while also the electromagnetic cannons were something they long coveted. No matter how hard they had tried in the past, they never got their hands on the actual print of electromagnetic cannon.

Now, after that round of astounding discovery, there was one question in all of them.

Where did he get this much of black gold?

Black gold was in fact exclusive to the Black Covers but it was uncommon. Quite the contrary to the captain's assumption, being naturally a strategical material as well as an expensive metal ore, its transport was carefully watched the whole time. It would be impossible for it to accidentally leak to someone out there to be made into tubes of electromagnetic cannon.

Also, not only the Black Coves and the MPA were at confusion, the Sanctuary and that mysterious organization seemed to have noticed the same.

And everyone was there, speculating, wondering, hypothesizing, inferring the identity of the leading one in the Zika ship.

The hare had transformed into something beyond their control. The supposedly weakest one had ascended and outraced them to be one with the strongest firepower, which made everybody else hold their fire. The weaponry on that ship was one to be feared of. No one was confident enough to assure their victory upon fighting against the ship officially, since it was simple - the moment they were damaged, they would be weakened and very likely they would lose their former share of the loots in the end as they would be forced out of the race prematurely. Moreover, it had been a bloodshed known fact that each force had bad blood with each other, written in countless bleeding histories one would gash upon, given one of the forces were weakened, how would they miss the golden opportunity to deliver the necessary final blow?

A new rule, in the form of a new balance was set upon the playing teams.

…

Out of sudden, the shrill came after. Everyone was shocked. Ye Chong frowned, his men were astounded, as never they would expect an undisturbed young man like Ye Chong having such a disturbed expression. What kind of monster would make such sound? The question sprouted in their heads.

It was merely a frown, which Ye Chong withdrew from soon after.

"Mu, let's leave this place now," Ye Chong first contacted Mu.

"Yes. Logical suggestion accepted. Execute promptly," Mu acknowledged.

The combat squads of the 4 warships looked at their mates, especially after seeing how that largest warship was backing away upon hearing that strange shrill.

Did the ship… chicken out?

The Coxcomb might seemed to chicken out and backed away, but his cannons were still pointing right at those 4 warships around, so the warships around did not take any action, although their leaders were dissatisfied of their helplessness. On a second thought, that would be good, one less member to the game, one less share to be given away. The captains snickered, as experience had reasoned the Coxcomb as the foolish one who seemed to be assuming a war was happening between them. "Well, not today." They would not be warring each other and this foolish ship would not stand a chance to steal the loots from them in the midst of chaos. If the ship still insisted his uninvited participation, no doubt the 4 ships would join forces and get rid of him.

The strange shrill did slip through their ears. It was never part of their attention. It would be a joke if a warship powerful like theirs to be defeated by a mere living thing.

Ye Chong was relieved. His exit was a peaceful one, as he saw the remaining warships shrinking in his visuals. He wondered how the warships would handle the monster if the monster ever got out of the ground. But he already speculated a painful fight if he were the one involved. Regarding what could happen to the 4 warships, "None of my business."

Ye Chong felt safer. There was no medium for the hypersonic to travel in the space, so he would not be wounded. That hypersonic was not something to mess with.

Ye Chong was at peace, especially after he confirmed to have left out the proximity of that peculiar planet.

The other members on his team, well, were at horror. Their injuries remained and now they were shocked almost to their death.

"Was…w-was that a warship?" asked Meng Fei'er, biting her lips, never wanting to believe what she saw and what she was going to say, but she said it anyway. Their eyes set upon Ye Chong, who were nonchalantly on his seat. Obviously the young man had known more darkness in the background than the team.

"Yes." Ye Chong found her question a little strange so he took a glance at her and nodded, "Those were the warships." Well it was because the Coxcomb was also a warship in disguise, just that the members never got to see his true appearance.

"No…No…" Out of the blue, teardrops rolled off the maiden's cheek, "Is there going to be a war soon?" Her expression was not agitated, softly her question went.

The question was probably what everybody else was thinking. The impression upon seeing a warship appearing out of nowhere, they would associate its appearance with war itself. Fear filled the men's eyes the moment Meng Fei'er voiced her doubts. They were not the young folks, they had experienced, and had understood the brutality of war.

"We would know after we got into Tappero galaxy." Ye Chong's voice was low, "But, whether there would be a war, it would be only a matter of time." He was surprised that the 3 forces could retain their balance and relationship for so long. But there was already a plot twist in their book, the emergence of the 4th force would no doubt lead to a transition period, the balance had already been broken, and to build a new balance to accommodate the 4th force, they would have to do it the painful way.

"Ha… H…" Her voice was shaky, her tears were streaming, her mates were escaping the reality. No way Ye Chong would comprehend her feelings, the feeling of a resident re-experiencing the war itself after years of peace being in the 5 major galaxies.

Even if Ye Chong could compute her feelings, he would only think of ways to improve his strength, rather than being somber over what already happened, to give better chance of his survival if a war were to happen.

Ye Chong got to a single room, where Multipede was placed. It was an isolated room for Ye Chong believed, the lesser people knew the source of his strength, the better it was to himself.

And it was Ye Chong's favorite past time - counting the loots.

He took out the Teardrops from his bag. One… Two… Oh he had seven of them. The Teardrops were indeed a marvel but similar to Do-Kun stone, they were something unusable at the moment, unlike those ores inside Multipede, practical and immediately useable.

Speaking of Multipede, it was terrorizing to look at its appearance. The hypersonic attack nearly murdered the machine. The armors were either cracked or shattered. Most of its mechanical legs were broken. And Mu forced Multipede to travel through the winding tunnels, one could say it was close to malfunction.

The transmutated energy ores on the other hand, were doing good

And after Mu's explanation, Ye Chong finally understood what exactly the ores were.

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Chapter 220: Chaos Has Arrived

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Energy ores, the mineralites imbued with a kind of energy, either by nature or by artificial means and here they were, lying within the hands of Ye Chong, exerting an amazing glow. They were formerly uncommon ores of metals which never contained any energy activity. It was then the exposure to the Teardrops they transmutated, as they gained the energy and began giving off that beautiful glow.

It was as if a metamorphosis for the ores, a transformation that lifeforms would have undergone, a mutation in their state, thus the name, Transmutated Energy Ore.

It was Mu's speculation that these energy ores were transmutated due to the influence of the Teardrops, which sounded really stunning to Ye Chong for it was his first time of hearing such strange theory, where the ores were glowing merely over the effects of those specks of Teardrops.

And Ye Chong's curiosity was one again rose by these seven little stones of tears.

He felt the Teardrops within his palm carefully. They were warm, giving off faint glow in pale green. They were not really sizable, with the largest being slightly bigger than his thumb. And the one which Ye Chong snatched from Tai Zuo was the smallest among them, while having the closest shape to a teardrop.

He rolled the seven stones between his palms. He took a glance, he took a second glance… Nothing was coming out in his head. Eventually he surrendered to the mystery and gave up observing, declaring the stones were useable but, "Not yet… not yet…" Bitterly he smiled.

The lower-graded transmutated energy ores were of much better use to Ye Chong currently. And he had a fruitful excavation of them, where ores of the entire cave were picked up by Multipede. If what Mu had stated was true, those ores were rare mineralites before. That was truly unbelievable for a small cave underground containing that many variety.

Ye Chong poured the piles of ores over the floor.

Within twinkling of eyes, colorful glows illuminated the room, dazzling as before to Ye Chong's eyes. There was one untold fact from Mu, the energy ores, despite being a slightly lower grade than the Teardrops, they were also extremely precious kind of gems, while Ye Chong were fortunate enough to have a mini mountain of them. Imagine if Ye Chong were to auction these ores, he would be richer than the billionaires in the 5 major galaxies.

Well, Mu knew his information choice well. Even if he told Ye Chong so, Ye Chong would not be reacting much as he lacked the interest towards wealth acquisition, till maybe at some point where he needed that money to make the necessary purchases then perhaps he would realize.

Contrary to the tinkling coins, the strategic resources, the necessity of life were something he would go strongly possessive of. Trash Planet was known as a planet which severely lacked useable resources, where one could take months or even years to ever dig out anything useable. No one else in the galaxy recognized the importance of consumables than he himself. As he was raised in a place where the strong lingered, the weak be eradicated, every second could lead to a different outcome standing in between the dead or alive.

Ye Chong took a look at the pile of ores and he began sorting them. One could say it would be an entertainment to view the glow of the pile of ores, but one could also say sorting that pile of ores could be potentially a maltreatment.

No doubt, the sorting process was carried out under the guidance of Mu, since technically Ye Chong was "ore-blind". But it was not as smooth-sailing as one would imagine even under Mu's valuable tips and assistance, Ye Chong - for he lacked the basic understanding of these ores - was having a headache 10 minutes after the commencement, since technically Mu had never stopped his explanation for one second. Ye Chong could have a superior memory, but anyone could have gone mad under this constantly goose-feeding like lecture.

Ye Chong truly felt that it would be a much more brilliant idea to have Mu sorting the ores himself. Nevertheless, he knew the artificial intelligence's purpose of doing this. It was, like always, for his own good, as through this he would not only gain experience but also knowledge. Well, it would be a different story if Shang was standing there. "That Shang would do it out of plain laziness." Ye Chong swore, the corners of his lips were slightly raised. Shang should be coming in a few days.

"Ye, focus. Focus," reminded Mu the very second he noticed the boy before him was thinking of something nonsensical. Ye Chong hurriedly carried on sorting, as he was all ears of the lecture on the composition, as well as the reactivity of the ores.

The colorful ores were sorted into different piles. The smallest pile before Ye Chong was the one that would come in handy immediately. There were actually varieties in these ores, and they were sorted quite equally in amount. But the number was discouraging, it would not be sufficient for basic mass-production.

The uncommon ore of the highest amount in Ye Chong's inventory was surprisingly the black gold.

And according to the information obtained from Mu's databank, these ores apparently were obliged to fuse with other uncommon metals to maximize their capabilities. And judging by the number of other uncommon minerals Ye Chong had, the tiny pile of transmutated energy ores would do him the greatest favor in long run. Well, he could have also used the other piles of energy ores but he would have to discard the few types of energy ores in that tiny pile before him to fit into the formula instead.

Ye Chong's current supply of resources could be said as vast, although the utilization was a joke. That tiny pile before him for example, to even begin using them Ye Chong would need to first arrive at Tappero galaxy to make purchases of the minerals not inside his inventory.

Regarding the happening at the cave underground that day, despite long exchanges between Mu and Ye Chong, there was yet a definite conclusion, even though Ye Chong had made sense of parts of the phenomena. The disc for example, was a result of intensive spatial distortion, which then formed some kind of a portal.

The study of space science had matured and was well facilitated by today's standard, the dimensional keystone for mech-deployment for example was the masterpiece of space science application. Then there was also space-warp which could also be considered as an impeccable technique developed by space scientists. And within the 5 major galaxies, space physics were the compulsory introductory course among the trainees. Well the study was not all that fancy like its name, for it had already become the part and parcel of our daily lives.

Except for Ye Chong probably… who had never participated in the education system once before. The dimensional keystone for mechs was one of the few parts he could not craft from scratch, reason being, no one had ever mentioned the working of it before, not even the Aurora or Mu. Among the few expertise in the hands of Ye Chong, alchemy and combats were currently at their greatest, while mech-production and piloting were at a very strange stage. Regarding mech-production and piloting, Ye Chong probably knew what an advanced senior pilot would know, but he would know nothing of a pilot on his first week would have been taught.

For space physics, he practically believed that he already had the best teacher in the entire galaxy, Mu. But Mu still was unable to calculate the exact figures of the spatial distortion that day. Man… what lies beyond that dark disc of distortion? What kind of lifeforms lingered within the world beyond, being all mighty and horrifying? Who or what had created such distortion? Was it a part of natural phenomena? Or the lifeforms were the culprit of this mischief? Or… Ummm…

There were so many mysteries unsolved to quench Ye Chong's thirst for the truth. There were hardly anything intriguing to Ye Chong currently and he bit the bait on this case was due to his experience and recognition of the strength of this mysterious living thing.

This was probably the strongest organism he had ever seen.

The strength was not considered negligible for Mu, which probably triggered Mu's motivation to fix himself. Ye Chong could feel that but he was also helpless, as it was truthfully impossible to fix Mu. There were too many obstacles to overcome. Yes, Mu's databank did consist of detailed information on formation of his components, there were even the methodology to extract certain ores. The catch was, it would include about 52 types of metals of various colors and 17 non-metals in a formula, which none of those were found in Ye Chong's inventory. Furthermore, among those materials, 11 of them turned out to be materials as rare as the Do-Kun stone. One could state that Mu was a conglomeration of uncommon materials. And that. That was only the first obstacle standing in their way. The second… well… Mu's damaged components included the engines, the cabin and the left arm. Cabin was not much of an issue, unlike engines… Ye Chong remained puzzled looking at the blueprint of the engine. Arm? With his skill, it would be a miracle if he could finish building an arm before the next nova happened.

The journey to fully repair Mu was far and nearly unreachable. But building weapons for him was quite a practical goal at the moment. Mu lost most of his firepower for being unarmed the whole time but it was no longer the same because they had collected quite an amount of energy ores, whereby it would not be far-fetched to at least build a weapon for the artificial intelligence.

But this rose Ye Chong's curiosity again. What kind of weapon would Mu use? The anticipation…

Other than that, they had also obtained the fluid of Twin Sisters, which was safely kept inside the alchemy lab. And he had a collection of the best bones he could think of. The only pity in his inventory could probably be that dagger, it was a gift from Gu Shaoze and he had spent all these years having it as his life savior, his loyal partner. But then… mhm… maybe it was time to build a new dagger. Thought Ye Chong as his eyes rolled over the ores.

Ye Chong spent the whole day in his room and never entertained the 5 guests on his ship. Well, not like they could do anything to the ship. They seemed to have transformed into the scaredy cats since the moment war was mentioned. It had been rooted in their conversations whenever they grouped together at one table, where Meng Fei'er would lose control of her tears without fail.

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It was soon when the Coxcomb hit the edge of Tappero galaxy. The folks were feeling great, they seemed to have the look of lost souls finding the way back home, except for Ye Chong, as usual.

Getting back into the 5 major galaxies signified that they could obtain signal, they were connected to the world once again. Under the demand of the 5 frightened cats and Ye Chong's curiosity over the status, Mu turned on the signal transmitter.

"This is Tappero daily. We are sorry to inform you that…"

Ye Chong was right.

The war had already happened.

It was chaotic inside the 5 major galaxies. The one who initiated the war… contrary to Ye Chong's prediction, was none of the 3 forces, rather it was the Freedom alliance, a group he had never heard before. It was probably the organization those 5 mechs and that ancient-looking warship were from. It had to be them. They should be avenging the insults they had been getting all these years while being in the dark.

They were the first alliance to declare ownership of the Fal. Then Black Coves declared their ownership over Tappero. Almost immediately after, MPA also declared their influence over Tappero. Of course the Sanctuary would not sit back and watch their territories disappearing, they stood up and also declared their ownership over Cyana. Csebesini, strangely, retained its unowned status, even though being surrounded by the 4 major galaxies.

And the galaxies were at a fiasco.

Very soon after their declaration, the 4 forces began cleansing their territories to strengthen their rulership. The trainees, the members of the foreign forces in the territory shall be wiped away from history. It began with the Freedom alliance, where they brutally murdered the other forces in their territory, like eliminating the cockroaches in the kitchen. It happened too abruptly that none of them could make it out. And the Freedom alliance took a smart turn for they had already withdrawn all members lurking at the other galaxies to minimize their loss.

The residents were stupefied by the chaos. It was a mutation in their residence. Within a night, the peace, the harmony were no longer a fact, but a history.

The war was gruesome.

The Freedom alliance gained the most from the plot twist this time, while the other 3 forces, as much as the foreign forces had implanted their influences within the territory, it was challenging for them to eliminate the "others" in their place. The cleansing was hindered. One could already imagine the situation seeing how a handful of mechs could already cause such devastation back on Windstar. And the 3 forces were obviously holding a vaster amount than that.

The galaxies which their ownership were declared had been turned into ruins of flames and screams. Csebesini was surprisingly looking like a heaven among the hells, where flocks and flocks of residents hurried their way moving there.

As the war went on, major inflation happened in the market. Shortage was everywhere when the residents thought it happened once and only once hundred years ago. Resources like the metals were a goner in the market. The safety control was horrible, where pirates rampaged throughout the area. They filled the place as they plundered. Pilots were at high demands, for they wielded the strength to protect people. Everyone would need a pilot at their home and companies began employing the pilots batches after batches.

Warships were no longer a rare and frightening sight to behold as the 4 forces started sending out their armies in ships. Residents were horrified at first, then they grew numb of them.

Listening to the transmission… the folks were on the ground, except for Ye Chong. The hologram of the planets was then projected, where craters and flare could be clearly seen.

"No…No…" The tears of Meng Fei'er fell off her cheeks.

And that… was when chaos has arrived.

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Chapter 221: Mu's Weapon

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Everyone, I think it's time for you all to leave." Ye Chong declared plainly.

With the exception of Meng Fei'er, wearing a complicated expression, the rest of them all felt relieved. All this while, they were afraid that this cold young man would kill them all in the end, since he never did seem particularly merciful. Tying up loose ends like that was a sure way to keep things a secret, and Ye Chong certainly knew that. However, even though Ye Chong was not one to squirm when it came to killing, this did not mean that he enjoyed doing it. He still remembered how much he yearned to meet another human being back on the trash planet.

Besides, he was slowly realizing that there were many other methods that were as effective as killing.

As an example, Shang had demonstrated this method called "threatening" on planet Blue Ocean. Ye Chong thought it was a very creative way of doing things. Little did he know that Shang was only imitating what he saw in the movies.

Ye Chong stuck to this method. A good method did not depend on how often he used it, but on whether the all the conditions required were met.

Ye Chong asked Mu to search the virtual world for any information related to these five people. The report was filled with so many details that perhaps even they themselves were not aware of it all. Hence, when Ye Chong went through them in his steady and cold demeanor, the five of them all paled until their faces were all drained of blood.

Ye Chong never imagined that his expression and intonation, together with what he was doing right then, would make such a perfect match. The five of them stared at Ye Chong with fearful eyes, as though they were facing the Devil that came straight from the Underworld.

The five of them had already decided that this young man came from some aristocratic family. To them, only an aristocrat could gather so much intel. The power of aristocratic families was not one they could stand against. Before Ye Chong had finished, the five of them had decided to forever keep secret everything that had happened. The consequences of doing otherwise were devastating. They shuddered at the thought of their loved ones suffering due to their indiscretion.

When Coxcomb landed on an inhabited planet at the far edges of Tappero Galaxy, Ye Chong had decided to let them leave.

This was, after all, right at the edges of the Tappero Galaxy. The war had not reached here, the locals still living a normal life. Only the occasional expression of fear on their faces betrayed any traces of the war.

As the hatch opened, all of them could not wait to leave. However, in order not to offend the young man, they still walked slowly to the hatch. Meng Fei'er looked back at Ye Chong, her eyes filled with emotions as she bit her tender lips. Her eyes were unreadable to Ye Chong.

"Fei'er!" This came from Vicente, who loved her as much as his own daughter. He shook his head and sighed softly.

Vicente shook Meng Fei'er out of her reverie. She gathered herself and returned to her team. Pa Er also looked back occasionally, but his eyes were directed at Ye Chong's metal laboratory, obviously reluctant to leave that world class laboratory.

After the five of them left, Ye Chong could finally do as he wished in the starship. In truth, Coxcomb had too many things unsuited for public knowledge. However, after the five of them left, Ye Chong's work could finally begin.

Ye Chong had too many things to do. Mu was able to procure a good amount of rare metals through some his crafty ways. Today, these metals were all strictly controlled materials. Ye Chong could only marvel at Mu's resourcefulness.

At the same time, Ye Chong also received some of the Five Galaxies' most advanced laboratory equipment. These equipment were all very costly, and were only built upon request. They had only completed them days ago, and delivered them to Ye Chong after contacting Mu. More than a hundred mech pilots had escorted the goods to them. When Ye Chong saw their grand entourage, he thought he was seeing space pirates!

With these equipment, Ye Chong could do even more.

Mu finally took out his weapon schematics. His excitement from receiving those new equipment was quickly replaced by deep vexation. Ye Chong had never seen Mu produce any simple schematics - all of them were unthinkably dense. This time was no exception.

Ye Chong could only determine from its profile that it was probably an energy gun. However, the insides were filled with photon circuits so complicated that Ye Chong could only wonder - was it really just an energy gun?

Fortunately, Ye Chong did not lack the eagerness to study. Besides, mechs were always something he was interested in, and mech weapons were important components to a mech. Whatever schematic Mu produced would definitely be nothing ordinary, and if Mu would use the weapon himself, then it must be something extraordinary.

Ye Chong could not remember how many days had passed since he began to study the schematics. He did not mind it at all. Ye Chong was obsessed with his studies now, the way the Aurora's elders could be. Once he understood it, Ye Chong began to build the weapon.

Ye Chong's recent mastery of minute motor control now came in handy. The energy gun's inner photon circuits were intricate and complicated, and Ye Chong felt like he was treading on ice as he put the circuit together, slowly and carefully. Any mistakes, and he would have to start all over again. Fortunately, the process went quite smoothly, thanks to Ye Chong's inhumanly steady hands.

Nonetheless, the immense pressure was suffocating. When Ye Chong was finished with the main parts of the photon circuits, he felt much relieved. However, he made some errors in smelting the energy ores, since it was his first time handling them.

From trans-mutated energy ores, one could synthesize high quality metals. Some had surfaces like ocean waves, gleaming in a metallic blue luster. This was an energized blue zinc. The emery gold looked just as impressive. The metallic ingot was interspersed with gold glitter, and shone with a surprisingly sharp dazzle. All the metals purified from these trans-mutated energy ores were beautiful. Ye Chong kept them everywhere in the laboratory, and the laboratory now looked like a jewelry shop, and was probably the most dazzling laboratory in the world.

According to Mu, after these metals undergone an energy transmutation, their properties could become the very difference. Of course, Ye Chong was not aware of the rarity of energy ores. In truth, energy ores were rarer than he thought. The conditions for ores to undergo an energy transmutation process were highly coincidental. Ye Chong was simply very lucky this time.

No matter how attractive something was, it was simply human nature to gradually get used to it. Ye Chong did not pay further attention to those aesthetically impressive metal ingots, and continued with his work.

When Ye Chong was finally done, he took much pride in his work.

Recursion was a sniper rifle measuring six meters in length, its slender body looking quite fragile, lacking the menacing quality of a weapon. The gun was in alternating blues and whites, matching Mu's body, but the inside of the gun's barrel was lined with a thin layer of emery gold. The blue surface was covered in a natural wave texture, like the masterpiece of an art maestro. At the tip of the rifle was a large blue optical targeting scope, looking a little odd and out of place.

In general, however, the rifle had a simple appearance. Ye Chong included none of the ornamental designs in the schematics, since he could not be bothered with those useless features.

As the one who built the weapon, Ye Chong was confident of the power of this sniper rifle with the name Recursion. Its high accuracy was not due to the blue optical targeting scope on the rifle body. Recursion's targeting system and Mu's holographic scanning system were linked, enabling long distance shooting accuracy.

The optical targeting scope was an addition of Ye Chong's. From his experience on the primary planet, Ye Chong found the geomagnetic interference negatively affecting Mu's holographic scanning system, reducing its effective range greatly. It would be better to use the traditional way of optical targeting in similar situations. Ye Chong installed the scope for this purpose, and Mu agreed with his decision.

In truth, Ye Chong had another idea. He found that field interferences could be fatal in battles involving mechs or warships. The way most mech pilots were unfamiliar with optical systems was astonishing to Ye Chong. He thought back then that such interferences were advantageous for him, and creating this interference in an artificial way would be beneficial for him. Of course, realizing this idea was still quite difficult.

Recursion did not fire heat rays or laser beams, but a beam composed of recursive particle waves. Of course, Ye Chong had never heard of it. The most powerful wave he knew of was the nanowaves. In truth, if the rifle shot out nanowaves, Ye Chong was prepared to believe that the weapon was designed by the MPA. The style was too similar to theirs. Even now, Ye Chong suspected that this weapon was actually an advanced mech weapon of the MPA. However, when it came to the complicated relationship between Mu and the MPA, if Ye Chong asked Mu about it, the mech would probably reply with, "Based on available information, the origin is unknown!"

Recursion could also fire recursive particle cannon shots. Should he call it a cannon instead? Ye Chong imagined Mu with Recursion in hand, a massive beam exiting the rifle's barrel towards a vulnerable part of the enemy's warship with incredible accuracy, destroying the warship with one hit. Ye Chong mourned for whatever enemy that would cross Mu's path in the future.

In addition to Recursion, Ye Chong also made a close range rapid fire device for Mu. Ye Chong knew from watching Mu's fight with the iron lizard that he could definitely use a close range weapon like a lance, but Mu seemed to prefer shooting more, and so Ye Chong's suggestion was rejected.

According to Mu's suggestion, Ye Chong also chose red titanium, an especially strong material to make a dagger. This dagger looked exactly like the one Gu Shaoze gifted to Ye Chong, but with much better properties. Red titanium was red in color; after energy transmutation, it turned into a darker shade of red, like blood. Ye Chong's dagger looked marvelous - from its red luster and blood-red handle, one could tell that it was no ordinary weapon. However, Ye Chong was vexed by it. While the energy transmutation greatly enhanced the metal's properties, the polished luster was too eye-catching.

With all of his work completed, Ye Chong finally relaxed.

Mu was happy with Recursion, seeing that he quickly slung it onto his back. After Mu was completely charged, he would be covered with a layer of mysterious luster. With the blue-white Recursion on his back, Ye Chong believed that Mu would make a formidable entrance.

While Ye Chong encountered a few space pirates along the way, none of them dared to challenge the massive Coxcomb. The journey went smoothly. The MPA was apparently still occupied with controlling Tappero. Ye Chong had came by a few of the MPA's warships, but they had all flew past Coxcomb hastily without paying him attention.

Since Mu had spent a lot of time instructing Ye Chong to build Recursion, using up even Shang's time, Shang would spend more time outside in his next turn. This was the result of a discussion between Mu and Shang. Shang was positively intoxicated when he described his victory.

According to their plan, they were now heading towards Fal Galaxy to investigate matters concerning his Papa, which had troubled Ye Chong ever since he found out. Ye Chong was determined to get to the bottom of it. Shang, on the other hand, waved Recursion wildly and clamored about bulldozing over anyone who stood in their way. Ye Chong could only smile helplessly at him.

Mu had already set the flight course for Ye Chong. While Ye Chong was busy with building Recursion, Coxcomb was following its planned trajectory. Now, they had reached the midpoint between Tappero and Fal.

Tappero and Fal were not joined. Between them was a wide gap of no man's territory, a vast, empty space without even a single planet in it. They could only reach Fal with a warp jump, and Mu had already calculated where they should do this.

Fal Galaxy was the one galaxy Ye Chong was most familiar with. They were close now. Ye Chong looked out towards the stars through the window, falling into a reverie.

"Here we go!" Shang yelled enthusiastically as he initiated the warp jump.

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Chapter 222: An Unexpected Battlefield

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong did not expect to be hit even before Coxcomb could stabilize itself after the warp jump. He shook his head to clear his mind, and looked outside.

Here, in outer space, were numerous starships. Mechs were flying everywhere. Laser beams were shot, creating silent but bright and violent explosions in the skies.

Ye Chong was startled. Was he really at Fal Galaxy?

"Shang, what's happening?" Ye Chong asked Shang for guidance.

"It looks like a fleet of ships were attacked by space pirates." Shang was also uncertain. It was chaos out there. They could see damaged starships and mechs engaged in battle everywhere.

Ye Chong studied the scene, and agreed with Shang's deductions. None of the starships here appeared to be warships, and that was a relief to Ye Chong. As long as they did not meet the Freedom Alliance, Ye Chong was not too worried.

What was odd, however, was how this starship fleet was composed of starships of all kinds of models. Usually, a starship fleet would be made up of ships of the same model for convenient resupply. The fleet he was seeing now was of the extreme opposite. Besides, there was only one large ship, a Zika class starship. It was designed very differently from Coxcomb, its angular body made it look more agile than Coxcomb.

Fid looked calm on the surface, but was growing anxious inside. The battle was stretching on, and the pirates more than he expected.

The entire fleet was mostly made up of civilians, hoping to escape the war by moving to the Csebesini Galaxy. Due to the high risk of encountering space pirates in their route, they had hired three mech squads for security.

In truth, they were already targeted by the space pirates right from the beginning. This mostly civilian starship fleet was a ripe target for the space pirates. Hence, the surrounding space pirates had came together to plan this assault.

The situation would not have been so damning, had not one of hired mech squads actually ran off out of fear of the large crew of space pirates. Now, it was only Fid's Oak Leaves and another mech squad called Red Lion fighting against the attack. Many of the civilians had also took to their mechs and joined the fray, battling against the space pirates to save their loved ones. It was because of them that the battle had not ended swiftly against their favor.

The battle was more vicious than the space pirates expected. They did not expect the mellow civilians to actually fight with their lives. These civilians had fought without regard of their own safety, coming in droves like moths into the fire, hoping to end spread of danger in exchange for their lives.

They all knew that their loved ones were right behind them. From here on out, they could only move forwards! Everyone was emboldened by desperation. Strong men led the battle, followed by the young, then the women. It all happened silently, without any screaming or moaning. No one hoped to survive the fight, only wishing that their lives were enough to save the elderly and the children in the starships. For this meager possibility, they entered the battlefield.

The battlefield was silent, even as mechs clashed in sparks, metal against metal, ending in fire, light, blood and flesh splattering into outer space. In their suicidal attack, they only hoped to die with the enemy. As the explosion engulfed them, they looked back at their starships with a soft gaze while the fire consumed their bodies and reduced them into ashes.

The space pirates paid their price heavily for every starship they won.

Fid understood the severity of the situation, but there was nothing he could do. Just then, his second suddenly pointed towards the holographic screen and said, "Squad Captain, look!"

Fid raised his eyes to the screen, and saw a massive starship slowly heading towards them.

The sudden appearance of such a massive starship had gained the attention of the commanding station from both sides. However, the head of the space pirates found that it was only one starship, and felt relieved. Under the circumstances, no one would possibly volunteer to get involved in the mess. Since the other party was only a single ship, they would simply finish it off as well if it decided to interfere. The head of the space pirate crew watched the bulky starship with a cold smile. So what if it was a Zika class starship? His men were now all hungry for a fight, and he still had control over his crew, so he was not afraid of any surprises coming from them.

Ye Chong studied the battlefield on his holographic screen with a cool look. Those people charged towards their enemies without hesitation, even knowing that their lives were forsaken. Behind them was an alloy door. Without any sound, the holographic screen illuminated Ye Chong's face, hiding his expression.

When Ye Chong saw the children through the window behind the alloy door, he finally understood. One of the space pirates had finally cleared the last line of hurdle. The fight he went through with the suicidal opponents had also left him with a deep thirst for blood. The floor was littered with broken mech fragments. The children behind the alloy door were all crying in fear as he smiled menacingly with greed. In a moment, once he destroyed the alloy door, all the treasures within would be his! If all those civilians were stopping him so earnestly, there must be something very precious within!

"Disparity in strength could not be overcome by courage alone," thought Ye Chong. This strengthened his resolution to become stronger. Only then could be truly be in control of his own destiny.

Suddenly, one of the heavily damaged mechs on the floor rose and pulled the space pirate into an embrace. The mech activated its engines and went straight against the ship's wall. They broke through the already damaged hull of the starship, flying into outer space.

This sudden turn of events caught the space pirate off guard.

Ye Chong could see that the damaged mech had a broken pilot cabin. As they flew into outer space, the mech pilot's face immediately ashen, the result of cyanosis. His face, however, was traced with a smile, and the result was eerie. In the next moment, both mechs exploded into flames, engulfing both the owner of the eerie smile and the space pirate.

Ye Chong looked at the smiling face in a trance. He felt like he was hit at a vulnerable spot deep within him.

Under the glowing fire of the explosion, Ye Chong's expression was unreadable.

Ye Chong looked on desolately. Those civilians had fought so desperately, probably to protect the ones they love. He, on the other hand, did not even know who his parents were. His Papa was dead, and he was left all alone. No, there was still Mu and Shang, but did they need his protection? Ye Chong felt a certain bitterness rise within him.

The holographic screen flickered in a multitude of colours, reflecting off Ye Chong's face. The changing colors, however, only made him look even more desolate. In the next moment, however, Ye Chong quickly returned to his usual indifferent manner.

Shang kept his silence throughout.

"Shang, let's go." Ye Chong spoke up plainly. The battle was too complicated, like a full scale war. Unless he revealed the full extent of Coxcomb's firepower, he could not tip the scales of the battle by himself. Besides, Ye Chong could find no reason to interfere. On the trash planet, once a hunter overcome its prey, it would never leave the prey's offspring alone too. Such was the law of nature.

While Ye Chong was not afraid of these space pirates, it would still be a terrible annoyance if they took him on. At the very minimum, his travel would be delayed, and there were too many things that he needed to do right now. He must hurry to planet Rainbow, which had a mystery related to his Papa. What Ye Chong needed to do right now was to solve this mystery.

Nevertheless, just because Ye Chong ignored them did not mean that the space pirates would return the favor. A few space pirate mechs flew towards him, blasting their laser guns against Coxcomb. In truth, the leader of the space pirates did not want to be involved with this massive starship. However, his underlings were now all excited from their raid, and were no longer under his control.

After a few rounds of laser beams, the Coxcomb was left with only a few tiny dents. Their level of attack was only barely worth mentioning against Coxcomb's thick hull armor. However, Ye Chong raised his brows at their attack. He was not in a good mood since he came here, and now that the other party came to provoke, Ye Chong could not help the anger slowly rising within him.

It was not in his nature to not retaliate. In truth, if not for the entirely different level of power of the Three Forces, Ye Chong had never stopped himself from retaliating against any attack. Besides, these mechs here were just like clowns to him. With mechs and mech pilots of this level, they were a piece of cake to him.

Ye Chong deployed Puppet and slipped into the pilot cabin of the clown mech.

"Ye, leave some for me!" Shang shouted as he waved Recursion at him.

When Coxcomb's hatch opened, the few space pirate mechs retreated a little. To them, a massive starship like this often came with more than a hundred mechs for security. At the moment, these space pirates could still think rationally. If the mech that came out were too many to handle, they would simply retreat. After all, they still had plenty of backup behind them.

After a long while, a single mech flew out, and a thin, ugly one at that. The pirates gave a good look at the mech, and could not help but laugh out loud, momentarily forgetting about the battlefield.

Ye Chong was used to the opponent's reaction when they saw Puppet. In any case, that was his intention. Even if his enemy was weaker, why not make it easier by lowering their guard?

Ye Chong looked at the enemy. The scene was only too familiar, almost an exact copy of what happened when he rescued the team of five earlier. Just when Ye Chong was about to move, a thin blue beam shot across the sky, and Ye Chong watched as one of the mechs before him exploded into a fireball.

Ye Chong started. Before he could recover, another two blue beams shot past him, and the remaining two mechs went into flames as well.

The three mechs exploded into fragments, raining onto Puppet.

"Hehe." Shang's laughter came from Puppet's photon processor. Ye Chong looked back helplessly towards the ship, and saw Shang behind the hatch, waving Recursion frantically as though he knew Ye Chong would be watching. Those three blue beams must be his work. Shang must have aimed for the enemy's energy cells to make them explode. Given that he hit on target for all three beams, Shang must be as good a shot as Mu. Ye Chong was impressed. If Ye Chong found that Mu's three shots had hit at the exact same location, perhaps he would be even more impressed.

The leader of the space pirates saw everything, and his face twisted. "M*therf*cker, who asked them to go near that ship? You, you and you, pass it down, no one is cleared to go near that ship, or I'll make them regret it." The pirate leader jabbed his finger at his underlings in panic. He was deeply terrified on the inside. "F*ck, so there's a super sniper mech pilot with the ship, no wonder they sent out only one mech. That super sniper pilot was terrifying, to hit the energy cells with all three shots! And it's weird, that sniper rifle, it fires blue beams, and the sniper didn't even pause between shots. F*ck, is that really a sniper rifle?"

He knew exactly how terrifying a sniper mech pilot equipped with such a dangerous sniper rifle could be!

Sniping was a relatively unpopular specialty for mech pilots, but also a powerful skill. Sniper mech pilots were the top of the cream in shooting skills, and unlike other mech pilots, they focused their training only in shooting, and were less competent in close combat. They usually used sniper rifles as their main weapons, and aimed for single killshots. These mech pilots were particular in choosing their weapons. In general, they were all very powerful characters, and with their almost flawless shooting skills, even a normal heat ray gun would be formidable in their hands. Any enemy caught in their sights could perish at any time.

However, even though sniper mech pilots were powerful, it was difficult to earn the title due to the high level of skills that came with it. Sniper mech pilots were coveted by all forces and organizations.

To think that there would be one here! The pirate leader cursed again at the idiocy of those three fools, not acknowledging how he had implicitly allowed them to go near the massive starship earlier.

Like the pirate leader, Fid was shocked, but was immediately overjoyed. If the crew of this starship could help him, then they might stand a chance. If the ship had a capable sniper mech pilot, even if the other mechs had only average battle capacity, they would still amount to a formidable force. He did not know that the entire Zika class starship had only one passenger.

A sniper mech pilot could change the course of the battle!

"Quick, send a distress signal to the ship. Let them know we have only civilians here, and hope that they would assist us!" Fid commanded in haste. Given the situation, every minute was precious.

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Chapter 223: Kings of Close and Long Range Combat I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong was returning to his ship. Shang's three shots were clean and fruitful, leaving him no chance to do anything at all. Just then, Ye Chong heard Shang through the comms channel, "Ye, they just sent a distress signal over, what do you think?" Shang sounded eager, obviously still excited from his shots earlier.

Ye Chong replied flatly, "Leave them, we have things to do."

"Awh …" Shang groaned like a child denied of his favourite toy. "Ah!" Shang suddenly gasped.

"What? Shang." Ye Chong was surprised.

Shang spoke quickly, "Ye, look at this."

Through Puppet's photon processor, Ye Chong saw a holographic image of one of the starships side, and through the windows, he could see the horrified expressions of the people inside. Ye Chong suddenly widened his eyes!

He stared for a full three seconds. Even though the image only caught the side profile of that person, Ye Chong was sure he recognized him.

It was Grandpa Qian! Leaning against the window was the face of an old man, one that Ye Chong was very familiar with. Ye Chong had spent a long time with Grandpa Qian, and was certain that he did not see it wrong.

Ye Chong quickly recovered himself and asked hurriedly, "Shang, which starship is this?" Without further hesitation, he maneuvered his mech and Puppet turned back towards the battlefield, flying towards the chaos. No matter what, since Grandpa Qian was here, he would not just watch from the side. His time on Blue Ocean with Grandpa Qian was the happiest he had ever since Ye Chong left the trash planet. Besides, Grandpa Qian had loved him. Ye Chong could not just stand by and watch Grandpa Qian die in the battlefield.

As Puppet accelerated to its maximum speed, Ye Chong could only regret not using Han Jia in the first place. Puppet glided through the darkness of empty space like a king.

Another thin but straight blue beam shot past Ye Chong from behind, flashing into oblivion. Ye Chong caught where the beam was aiming for. Beyond him was a starship with a few mechs surrounding its hatch, and the blue beam had hit one of the pirate's mechs nearest to the hatch. If he looked closely, the mech's smooth pilot cabin was now punctured with a hole that could fit a finger. The mech immediately lost control.

Ye Chong understood that Shang was showing him the way. He adjusted his course and headed towards the starship.

Just then, a few more of the blue beams shot past him, barely touching Puppet. The rest of the mechs lost control just as suddenly. Ye Chong realized that Shang had killed the pilots in those mechs. He had no time to dwell further on the fact that the beams from Recursive could be so powerful. He could only wish that Puppet could move faster.

More blue beams came - the pirate mechs surrounding the starship had all become Shang's targets. The mechs were hit at almost the same location and lost control in a similar way, though none of them exploded. To prevent explosions, Shang had chosen to shoot at the pirate mech's pilot cabin. In truth, the finger-thick blue beam was too small compared to a ten-meter tall mech, much less to outer space. Many of the mech pilots fighting against the pirates realized in surprise that their enemies had suddenly lost control for no apparent reason.

Nonetheless, the pirate leader was watching the mysterious sniper mech pilot, and by now, he was frozen in shock! Heavens, why did such a terrifying sniper appear out of nowhere? Will the f*cker kill them all?

Ye Chong approached the starship without incident, since all the enemies nearby were destroyed by Shang. He was worried about Grandpa Qian, and headed straight towards the hatch. Even in this situation, Ye Chong kept his cool.

Puppet's small and lithe figure now came into play. The mech entered the starship as silent and deft as a cat. Ye Chong silently flew and came to a junction in the corridors. He now realized what was happening. At the end of the corridor was a mech desperately defending its position. The mech was a classic battle mech, but truly deplorable in terms of the pilot's skills. Given the circumstances, however, the desperation forced him to fight like never before, and the space pirate mechs around him could only huddle around in the corridor, unable to fire their laser guns for fear of exploding the starship, killing everyone in it, including themselves.

The narrow corridor could only fit one mech, and so the three pirate mechs found themselves trapped, unable to move forwards or backwards. Only the first mech could fight directly with the combat mech. All three mechs had their backs facing Ye Chong. They must have never imagined that their comrades outside would all be finished off.

Puppet still moved silently. Even in the narrow corridor, Puppet still moved easily.

Ye Chong felt as calm as an iron lizard hunting its prey.

In a single step, Puppet closed in on the last mech closest to him. The mech seemed to feel something and made to turn to inspect, but Puppet moved!

Puppet's left hand clasped tightly on the mech's neck as the parrying spear sprang out from the right arm like a poisonous serpent, snaking itself into the mech. Ye Chong also chose to attack the pilot's cabin. With black gold mixed into its material, the spear performed excellently, puncturing right through the mech. Ye Chong could even hear the sound of bone breaking as the spear went through, and the horrifying shriek from the pitiful mech pilot.

At the same time, Puppet kicked the mech's knees hard with its right leg, and the other mech gave. Puppet's left hand pushed at the same time, and the mech bent down further.

The attack had shocked the other two mechs in front. The one confronting the battle mech panicked, while the defending battle mech was greatly encouraged by this unexpected backup.

The second mech turned around to stop the ambusher.

Ye Chong did not give the mech a chance. The battleground was advantageous for Ye Chong's battle mech. Puppet's left hand pushed downwards and pressed forward with its legs, pulling out the parrying spear in the same move as it jumped across the mech it had dealt with. Now, Ye Chong was twenty meters away from the second mech.

Puppet's agile response made the second mech even more alarmed.

Before Puppet landed from his jump to clear the first mech, it kicked against the walls of the corridor and directed itself straight towards the second mech like a cannonball.

Puppet came fiercely fast. The narrow corridor and its fast approach was daunting. As Puppet flew past the second mech, its right hand aimed the parrying spear straight at the enemy's throat and drew blood. However, the attack left Puppet flying off course. Just when it was about to hit the corridor's wall, Puppet braced itself with another kick against the wall, and did not look back at the helpless second mech.

The first mech Ye Chong attacked was now only crashing to the ground with a crackle.

The throat was a mech's most vulnerable part, where its photon circuits were all centered about. Once the throat was damaged, the mech was also useless.

The last remaining mech found itself surrounded back and front, and was terrified. Ye Chong acted without mercy, burying the parrying spear deep into the mech's body. However, Ye Chong still attacked carefully, avoiding an explosion.

Puppet's entire attack was executed smoothly, and its swift footwork made its movements unpredictable. Besides, it was able to use some strange moves, even in the narrow corridor. These unusual moves could only be done by a very competent mech pilot.

The battle mech before Ye Chong may not exactly be a battle expert, but Ye Chong saw that he could avoid attacks quite deftly, which was why the mech survived the pirate mechs for so long, stalling them here.

Swish! The alloy door behind the battle mech opened, and the battle mech signalled for Ye Chong to enter. That was his intention anyway, and so Ye Chong entered together with the other mech. Once inside, the alloy door sealed shut. The airlock was then pressurized, and the room was quickly filled with air. As the air pressure stabilized, another alloy door opened up, where a large group of people rushed out and surrounded the battle mech, cheering with joy.

Ye Chong quickly found Grandpa Qian amidst the crowd. He looked just as before, only wearier and older. The two people beside him, however, surprised Ye Chong. Supporting Grandpa Qian was Rui Su, while the person on the other side of Grandpa Qian was Rui Bing in her white training garb, looking steadfast. Beside Rui Bing was a beautiful middle aged woman, who looked a lot like Rui Bing and Rui Su. Ye Chong guessed that she must be their mother.

As for why they were with Grandpa Qian, that was his main question.

The pilot cabin of the battle mech opened and out came a young man, to which everyone cheered even louder. It was this young man's incredible feat that kept them safe until backup arrived, or they would all had been captured by the space pirates.

The young man was none other than Wei Yuan, whom Ye Chong was acquainted with. Wei Yuan was excited from his success, and ran to Rui Bing as he yelled, "Sister Bing, Sister Bing, I did it, hah!" Rui Bing's icy face thawed slightly with joy.

Rui Su continued from the side, "Little Yuan, you don't know how sorry you looked like just now, tsk tsk, jumping up and down like that, it's horrendous." Wei Yuan's expression soured as he said, "Sister Su, don't mock me like that." His face made everyone laugh out loud. Grandpa Qian laughed heartily, and even Rui Bing gave a little smile.

Ye Chong felt at a loss. Why were they all people he knew?

Rui Bing looked towards the clown-like mech. Its performance was seen by everyone here through the holographic camera in the corridor. Out of all of them, perhaps only Wei Yuan and herself realize the power of this clown mech's three attacks.

Rui Bing was certain that the clown mech's pilot must be an expert in combat, and excellent in mech piloting. This advanced level of piloting was nothing like what Wei Yuan boasted himself to have.

Ye Chong watched Grandpa Qian laughing, and was reminded of his earlier days with Grandpa Qian. He felt a little dazed.

"Hey, Master, why don't you come out?" Wei Yuan cupped his hands like an amplifier and shouted. Wei Yuan was absolutely impressed with this master. The pilot must be an expert in mech combat. Wei Yuan believed that, in terms of close range combat, there were probably not many who could defeat this person outside of his idol and Sister Bing's future husband, YC. In his mind, Ye Chong was already destined to marry Sister Bing.

Everyone looked expectantly at the pilot cabin of the clown mech, hoping to see the hero that had saved them all.

Wei Yuan's voice broke Ye Chong reverie. He looked downwards at Grandpa Qian and Rui Bing, and for some reason decided then not to go out.

"Shang, think you can find out why this fleet is here?" Ye Chong communicated to Shang.

"On it!" Shang began working as he replied.

Fid could only stare in stupefaction at the massive starship, and the half-concealed mech from its one opened hatch. He was feeling a little out of depth, and was shocked beyond words. In fact, it was not just him - everyone in the starship's bridge was gaping widely, staring blankly at the holographic screen with the semi-concealed mech.

Was this even humanly possible?

That was the million zuan question in everyone's hearts.

Right from the beginning, the impossibly powerful sniper mech pilot had never stopped. He shot like a tireless machine. The fatal blue beams were not entirely noticeable, but everyone on the bridge had already decided that those were beams of death. Every beam signaled the loss of a life, and every mech was destroyed in the exact same manner - exploding into a ball of flames.

This accuracy did not seem to decrease. From the beginning, the mech pilot had never missed a shot.

A clear electronic beep startled them all out of their trance. Fid's second rushed to the command console and issues some controls. Suddenly, he gasped, "Squad Captain, look at this, they're asking where we're heading, and the nature of this starship fleet."

Fid gestured with a wave and said, "Tell them! Our only hope is their assistance!" Fid could only bet everything on this starship.

"Ye, they're a fleet heading towards Csebesini Galaxy, the fleet is mostly made up of civilians," Shang quickly relayed the information to Ye Chong.

"Csebesini Galaxy …" Ye Chong finally understood that they were escaping from the war. The only thing he could not understand now was how Grandpa Qian would be with Rui Bing and company.

The Rui family had only begun connecting with Grandpa Qian not long after Ye Chong left Blue Ocean. Rui Bing was always trying to find out where Ye Chong went, and Rui Su was also regretful of what she had done, as she tried her best to help her sister. Ye Chong had stayed with Grandpa Qian when was with Blue Ocean Academy, and most everyone knew that he was very close with Grandpa Qian.

Perhaps it was a matter of loving anything to do with Ye Chong, or perhaps it was for some other reason, but Rui Bing began to visit Grandpa Qian frequently. Grandpa Qian also grew fond of the young lady with a cold exterior but a warm heart. Rui Bing would sometimes help Grandpa Qian to make noodles, while asking him about matters related to Ye Chong. Of course Grandpa Qian understood her feelings, and would answer all her questions happily. Rui Su would sometimes go with her sister, and her smart way around things was something Grandpa Qian especially appreciated. Rui Su, on the other hand, came to act like an obedient daughter whenever she was with Grandpa Qian, something Rui Bing could not understand. As time passed, the two girls grew closer with Grandpa Qian.

The current migration to Csebesini was not something Grandpa Qian wanted. To him, he was an old man, and would not mind dying at his home. Travelling at his age to such a faraway place, where the road was rumored to be quite dangerous, and was too much of a hassle. In the end, however, he gave in to the insistence of Rui Bing and her mother, together with Rui Su and Wei Yuan.

Ye Chong knew nothing of this, and did not intend to pry. To him, it was fine as long as Grandpa Qian was happy.

Ye Chong could not help but took a glance at the woman in white training garb too, her intimidating charisma standing out amidst the crowd.

"Ah! Isn't that our Bing Bing? Heavens! Ye, it's the season of peach blossoms for you [1]! To meet our beloved Bing Bing here … What? Peach blossom? You don't know what's peach blossom? That's probably because you're not reading that chip Lunatic Guan gave you right, isn't there an illustration for plants or something in there …" Shang observed as he shot effortlessly on.

"Master, come out! Everyone's waiting for you!" Wei Yuan was still shouting from below. Everyone was curious - why was the hero still not coming out?

Just when everyone was confused, the clown mech pointed outside. The crowd realized then that the battle outside was not yet finished while they were celebrating inside. The euphoria from surviving vanished in an instant. If they lost the battle outside, their fates would remain unchanged.

Wei Yuan no longer smiled, but looked focused. He quickly went to his mech. In fact, Ye Chong believed that Wei Yuan's help would not tip the balance of the battle. If the young man died, however, Grandpa Qian and the lady in white training garb would probably grieve.

With that thought in mind, Ye Chong rummaged in his bag and produced a dimension keystone. He opened the pilot cabin slightly and threw it towards Wei Yuan.

Rui Bing was watching him closely, and was therefore quick to move a good three meters across to Wei Yuan, catching the keystone with only two fingers. It was a ring-shaped dimension keystone. Wei Yuan recovered himself and took the dimension keystone from Rui Bing as he shouted happily towards the clown mech, "Master, is this for me?"

The clown mech nodded and turned to leave.

"Shang, we might have to fight." Ye Chong said plainly. Puppet was still not out of the starship yet.

"Hahaha, Ye, I knew it, hehe, must be because you saw our beloved Bing Bing'er. Tsk tsk, heroes never could stand against beautiful women, even a wild animal like you, Ye could not avoid this fate …" Shang blabbered on.

Ye Chong could only cringe inside. He could remain calm in battle, but never could stand against Shang's words.

When Ye Chong flew out of the starship, he immediately saw the word "Coxcomb" that plastered on the front of his starship. Ye Chong nearly lost control of Puppet. Shang had actually took the starship to him.

Both the pirate leader and Squad Captain Fid were confounded by the name of the ship. How could such a massive starship be named so crudely as Coxcomb? Everyone was feeling a little sorry for the Zika class starship.

Shang had, until then, destroyed dozens of mechs. Since the blue beam from Recursion was very tiny and almost unnoticeable in space, it went mostly undetected, and many space pirates found their comrades suddenly exploding into flames.

The empty space of darkness was lit up like a dazzling banquet.

Squad Captain Fid's side could finally breathe under the enemy's pressure. The surviving mech pilots were enough to at least evenly match the space pirates.

The pirate leader, on the other hand, was furious. Victory was almost certain for him, until this horrendously capable sniper mech pilot came into the scene. He knew that if he did not do anything, the situation would turn against him soon. The sniper mech pilot was good, never resting between shots, as if he did not need time to aim. In the short time span since the beginning, he had lost dozens of mechs on his side. If things continued like this, he would never be able to recover.

"Blade, take Black team with you and finish off that b*stard," the pirate leader could no longer do nothing about it.

Note:

[1] Peach blossom is closely associated with love in Chinese culture.

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Chapter 224: Kings of Close and Long Range Combat II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Blade was the crew's most menacing fellow. He was bold and fearless in the face of death. The pirate crew had always relied on him when the situation turned sour. He was the leader's right hand man.

Blade never liked talking. He nodded grimly at the leader's command and turned to leave. Black team was the pirate leader's security retinue, and the strongest force in the entire crew. These men were all expert mech pilots, and were numbered to be 300. They were all well trained and skilled in combat. The pirate leader decided to use his trump card, signalling the climax of this battle.

A large swarm of mechs headed towards the massive starship. Shang noticed them as soon as they were deployed. He realized their plans immediately.

"Hehe, Ye, I'll leave this place to you," Shang said and went back into Coxcomb.

"Alright," Ye Chong replied plainly.

The pirate leader saw the sniper mech pilot returning into the starship, and felt much relieved. As expected, the enemy had squirmed. However, before he could fully appreciate the moment, he saw the sniper came back out from his holographic screen.

Was the enemy really so confident? The pirate leader did not what else they had in their sleeves.

Shang gave an evil laugh, but the electronic sound was a little creepy to hear. Not that there was anyone around to hear it. Shang's battle lust was now fully unleashed. If the pirate leader saw what Shang had by his side now, he would probably faint.

Right next to Shang was a stack of energy cells that went up to half the mech's height. This was what he went to retrieve. While Recursion was a powerful weapon, it consumed energy very quickly. It was a pity that the teardrop mineralite could not be used yet, else Recursion could continue shooting for a very long time.

Even so, these energy cells here should be enough.

Ye Chong wandered around the starship fleet. The starship which held Grandpa Qian was Shang's main objective, and the pirates around the ship were all dealt with. Ye Chong had to sweep out further to find the other pirates.

Ye Chong moved across the battlefield carefully. He dared to be hasty. Puppet had exchanged its defense for better agility, so its armor was not as reliable. If an enemy hit him with a laser beam, he would not fare very well. Death by carelessness was not part of his plan.

This was a huge and chaotic hunting range, and Ye Chong was like a cunning and graceful hunter.

Ye Chong saw two mechs ahead of him, shooting at each other as they took evasive measures. It was easy to differentiate between the mechs of the pirates and the hired mech squads. The pirates' mechs were colourful and came in all kinds of models, some even made up of parts that did not work well together. The mech squad's mechs look more uniform, and were models that could be found in the market.

Ye Chong could tell at once the next step those two mechs would take. His rich experience in battle allowed him to do so.

Puppet moved like an assassin, quietly hiding behind the starship. It kept its body close to the hull, less than five meters away from the tip of the starship.

Puppet waited intently, like a lizard waiting to make its killer strike.

Ye Chong counted the seconds as the pirate's mech slowly emerged above the ship. Inside the pilot cabin, Ye Chong moved abruptly, his hands flying across the controls in a blur of a shadow. It was a pity that no one was watching him.

Puppet was like a lizard clinging closely to the starship's armor, but now it sprang up, drawing an arch in space. In the next moment, Puppet crashed into the pirate's mech. At this close distance, Ye Chong could see all the details of the other party's mech.

Puppet was lying in ambush behind the starship, and its silent attack came as a surprise, coming from below. As Puppet's clown-like face appeared to the pirate in the mech, the mech pilot was momentarily stunned.

The parrying spear from Puppet's right arm launched, driving straight through the other mech's pilot cabin. Out of all of Puppet's installed parts, the spear was the most valuable. The spear, mixed in with black gold, was perfectly suited for penetrating its victims.

Puppet pushed against the now useless mech in its hands and swept back into darkness.

The Oak Leaves mech pilot who was just now engaged with the pirate mech only saw a slim figure bouncing off his opponent and disappearing into thin air. After long moments of waiting in anticipation, he finally noticed that the pirate's mech was already damaged, the pilot dead inside. He thought back to the figure that appeared and disappeared so quickly into the darkness.

Ye Chong felt like he was back on the trash planet, and the starships around were the mountains of trash. Ye Chong maneuvered Puppet around the starships, hiding in their shadows, the way he flew Winnie between the trash mountains.

Ye Chong's attacks were all meant to kill. He did not squander any movements, and would only choose the most opportune moment to deliver the fatal blow from the darkness to his unaware enemy. His pair of parrying spears had pierced through the armor of numerous mechs, and Ye Chong did not give mercy to any of the pirates inside them. This was war, and mercy was a luxury. Ye Chong had no habit of practicing mercy.

In truth, if not for Grandpa Qian, Ye Chong would never have gotten involved. Since he had decided to step in now, though, he would do his best and leave no loose ends, giving no chance to his enemy.

Burning in Ye Chong's cold eyes was the flame of battle.

Puppet jumped from starship to starship without slowing down. Ye Chong was already immersed in the mood for battle, a state of mind meshed from calmness and excitement. Ye Chong's hands no longer moved quickly for his own sake, but moved more easily, slowing down or speeding up according to need. He would stay motionless for one moment, but move so quickly it was hard to see his hands in the next. This transition between moving very quickly and not moving at all was strange, but Ye Chong did not notice it. In fact, he felt it come naturally. The mech was like an extension of his body, and his every thought was translated into the mech's movements.

Under Ye Chong's maneuvering, Puppet moved erratically in sudden jerks of speed, or rising and falling abruptly. It flew unpredictably like a ghost, or as deftly as a monkey.

The skill of battle could only be honed on the battleground.

Shang was also in the state of mind for combat. In truth, Mu had always taken charge in battles, but even Mu had never did it more than a few times. According to Mu, only when Ye had truly matured that he would be allowed to maneuver them. Hence, unless the situation was desperate, Mu would not reveal himself directly. Shang was born even earlier than Mu, and no one would believe that he was not actually experienced in battle.

What a joke! Was a mech made of so much rare metal used just for decoration? Besides, the injury on Mu and Shang's left arm was the perfect evidence of their history. If Shang was a conscious being, then he must have some inborn fighting instinct. However, the topic of consciousness in PSI's was a little weird.

Now, Shang looked cold and emotionless, Recursion held steadily in his right hand. If he was performing at the mech pilot's NR Training Center, he would earn full marks for this.

Despite his usual blabbering, Shang was now the perfect killing machine.

To Blade and his three-hundred strong advanced mech squad, it was a disaster of devastating proportions. The blue beam came as a harbinger of death, each shot answered by a loss of one of their mechs.

What terrifying accuracy! The sniper had never missed. Even someone as capable as Blade could not help but feel hopeless. Could there really be such a crazy sniper mech pilot? With his long experience walking the edges between life and death, Blade knew that no matter how strong a person was, anyone, even himself, would commit a mistake at some point. His experience had validated this belief of his time and again, but this half-concealed sniper mech pilot had yet committed any fault.

The constant explosions of mechs illuminated the swarm of mechs. An observer could easily mistook that the mechs were facing the full force of another mech squad. In truth, their enemy was only a single person.

Long distance sniping, the most difficult part of shooting training, was now performed flawlessly by this unknown mech pilot. It was a divine performance. The further the target, the harder it was to shoot accurately. At their current distance, any slight error in shooting angle would be greatly amplified. No sniper mech pilot could maintain a perfect shooting record at long distances.

There was once a famous sniper mech pilot who said, "In long distance sniping, you need luck more than half the time." This was the perfect testimony on how difficult long distance sniping could be.

What vexed Blade now was how very lucky his enemy was at the moment.

On normal days, the time it would take for him to reach the Zika class starship would be but the blink of an eye; now, however, it felt like forever. His comrades were thinning out. Blade knew that retreat was not possible at this point. Even if they turned back, they would still be within range of the enemy, and it would only make it easier for the enemy to finish them off.

Blade was not the only who understood their situation. Black team's members were all veterans of battle, who came to the same conclusion. They braced themselves and charged forward. Once the sniper was within their attack range, they would be able to fire back.

Without the need for orders, they flew in a scattered formation, and deployed evasive measures. While these evasive measures could not prevent the death of the sniper's targets, it was obvious that the frequency at which the blue beam appeared had decreased.

Shang continued to shoot steadily, unperturbed.

Ye Chong could not remember how many times he had attacked, but the number of mech pilots he had rescued from battle was increasing. For the first time, the mech pilots in the two mech squads outnumbered the pirates, if but slightly.

In the control room of Red Lion's mech squad captain, everyone gaped at the holographic screen. After a long moment, the beautiful redhead sitting on the captain's seat muttered, "Heavens, is that guy human?" This beautiful redhead was Red Lion's squad captain, Claudia. With her fiery red hair, she was one of the very few female mech pilots who attained the title of advanced mech pilot.

At twenty five, Claudia was at the prime of her beauty. Her mature and hot personality was attractive, and made her the center of attention anywhere she went. Her snow white skin, aquiline nose and sapphire eyes were assets that she took pride in.

She was also a good leader. Red Lion mech squad was only a group of twenty when she took over, and now it had expanded into a massive five-hundred strong mech squad.

Now, Claudia was wearing a dazed expression, tinged with awe born out of ignorance. However, this beautiful sight was lost to the people around her, for everyone was as shocked as she was now. The skinny mech figure on the holographic screen did not seem remotely strong or valiant, but perhaps a little comedic, its colorful exterior making it look much like a clown. However, this clown-like mech had evoked a chilling sense of foreboding in their hearts.

This was a master of ambush, and an expert in mech combat and mech maneuvering!

The clown mech's colorful face was silly looking, but no one in the control room was laughing. To them, the silly face was a cover for whatever chilling fear it could evoke. They can all imagine the mech pilot sitting in the pilot cabin watching those pirate mechs with arrogant eyes!

Claudia was also thoroughly convinced of the clown mech's pilot's strength. The pilot was a master in all respects, be it in strategizing, timing, combat skills and mech maneuvering. What surprised Claudia the most was the pilot's calm steadiness - the clown mech had dealt with dozens of pirate mechs, but he still continued to fight as systematically as when he had first started.

Such an inhuman calmness! Claudia could almost believe that this mech pilot was a top class assassin from a professional killer's guild.

He did not like flying, but preferred to leap, or move on all fours. He kept to the darkness, and stuck to ambushing, using the rarely preferred parrying spear. All these signs showed that the mech pilot was someone rather peculiar.

She could not help but steal another glance at the starship named Coxcomb. She could not understand how an ill-named starship could have such an expert.

Was this an unconventional master of battle?

Coxcomb also had another equally intimidating sniper mech pilot, and he was now single-handedly and successfully dealing with over 300 mechs! Claudia looked at the other holographic screen. The swarm of mechs was now left with only a few dozen of them, engaged in shooting with the sniper. She felt reluctant to continue watching. These were all advanced mech pilot veterans, and a formidable power when they were deployed. Nonetheless, they were now undeniably being broken apart by a single mech with a weird energy gun.

What was Coxcomb's story? What was its owner like? What did its two masters of combat look like? How were they related to the owner of Coxcomb?

This was all very curious!

If Shang were to find out that a beautiful woman was calling him a master of combat, perhaps he might lose a bit of his current fighting composure. Of course, that was another story.

Fortunately, Claudia understood her situation. These two masters of combat could never be hers to command. She would not try to pull them in to her mech squad.

The battle was nearing its end, as the pirates mech numbers dwindled. Ye Chong had scoured the entire fleet of starships, and killed all of the pirate mechs who wished to board the starships.

"Shang, how's your side?" Ye Chong asked.

"Hehe, Ye, this is too much fun! Sigh, too bad there's not enough of them going, if they only have a hundred more mechs." Shang's excited reply made Ye Chong relax. "Shang must be in a really good mood," thought Ye Chong. In fact, Shang was not only that, but nearly mad from exhilaration. If not for the diminishing number of energy cells by his side, Shang would even try shooting with the recursive particle cannon shots.

A huge rock of ore was flying slowly past Ye Chong. Ye Chong looked towards the pirate ships far away, tightly protected, and was struck with a crazy idea. Immediately, Puppet leapt to the ore and grabbed onto it like an insect, securing itself on one side of the ore. Then, the mech fired its engines at full blast, and the ore drew an arch in space with Puppet and Ye Chong on it, headed towards the pirate ships.

Claudia took everything in and could not help but gasped, "What is he thinking?"

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