101. Counter-Suppression
Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake
The grey mountains stretched endlessly, shrouded in an uncanny atmosphere of decay, fallen leaves covering the dried-up paths.
As the narrow mountain gorges extended, resounding Artillery fire swept across them. Zhao Lejie raised his shield in front of everyone, flying at high speeds while using the shield for protection. He pushed the mecha’s defence system to its limit, yet an endless stream of pollutants still emerged from multiple areas in the mountains.
“Damn it, why do they just keep coming?” Zhao Lejie landed behind the team but could still see pollutants continuously emerging from the surrounding environment.
The last time the Coria Contaminated Zone was opened was during the Star Domain Tournament. Now, there was an enormous amount of pollutants inside. Previously, when they were dealing with an S-class pollutant, Gale’s mecha team moved cautiously to avoid alarming other pollutants. They successfully eliminated the S-class pollutant. However, as they were about to proceed towards the second pollutant in the mountains, problems arose.
Pollutants throughout the entire mountain seemed to be influenced by an unknown force. They collectively surged towards the mecha team, almost blocking their path ahead. They had to take risks and traverse more dangerous terrain.
“This isn’t a normal pollutant outbreak.” said Qi Sicheng, flying and observing the surrounding situation.
“Normally, pollutants during an outbreak won’t just target a small group of mechas like ours. For pollutants, they are each other’s food. There’s no S-class pollutant in charge here, and Coria’s Management Bureau hasn’t issued any alerts to signal abnormalities. I can only assume that this situation is likely caused by human intervention.”
Qi Sicheng quickly adjusted his mecha’s detection system. Its propulsion output was reduced to the minimum limit for maintaining flight. There were no issues with his internal energy output, so the remaining problems could only be external factors.
“I just checked, there’s an unidentified liquid on our mechas. This liquid is leaking an extremely high amount of energy. Someone deliberately made us the target of these pollutants’ attacks.”
A mecha pilot suggested, “It must be when we passed through the forest just now! Our vision was limited there, and we might have collected it while passing through the bushes!”
“Should we deal with these pollutants?” another mecha pilot asked.
“You’re being foolish. If we stay here now to clean up these pollutants, we’ll truly be held back by a certain group.” Zhao Lejie exerted himself to block the pollutants.
“KID’s side has been silent this whole time, and where could the people from the Second Star Domain hide? They must be heading to the other S-class resource source in the mountains. Boss, let’s just drag all these pollutants to the second set of coordinates and confront GBK head-on.”
“Do you think GBK, who have already arranged to this extent, wouldn’t have anticipated our next operation?”
The expressions of the mecha pilots froze.
Having fought against GBK too many times to count, Qi Sicheng had been ambushed by the Second Star Domain’s people many times during their Star Alliance matches. He carefully reviewed the game where GBK ambushed Black Crow. GBK had a commander named Bai Xuyan, who was very good at calculating. Their most skilled offensive strategy was to encircle the enemy. In Star Alliance matches, they formed a siege with five mechas. Moreover, with so many pollutants present, their opponents would have no room left for escape, they would be completely trapped.
The location of the S-class resources was fixed, and the Second Star Domain must have speculated base stationd on their shortest route, hence the ambush along their path.
In the next moment, as they turned out of the gorge, they saw even more pollutants coming towards them. The pollutants, attacking from both their front and rear, formed an absolute encirclement and suppressed them.
Qi Sicheng’s gaze darkened slightly. Seeing more pollutants emerging from the next corner, his expression suddenly became serious.
“They’ll only attract more pollutants towards us, making us seem like turtles in a jar.”
Several mechas from the Second Star Domain hovered at a high altitude, observing Gale’s mechas being forced into a corner.
“Captain Bai, the pollutants on this side have all been drawn here. Don’t worry, we’ve used signal jammers, and Dawn Galaxy’s base station shouldn’t notice any issues.”
“But I don’t think Gale expected that KID’s method utilising energy fuel would backfire on them.”
Bai Xuyan faced the terrain in the mountains, watching Gale’s mechas flee awkwardly. The frustration in his heart eased slightly. Thanks to KID’s use of energy fuel, he thought of this plan. Originally, he just wanted to make some trouble for Gale. But now, it seemed more satisfying to retaliate in kind.
KID was just a pawn. Since they couldn’t obtain the spatial displacement anomalous crystal, they had to let the Dawn Galaxy reap what they had sown.
“I finalised all the coordinates I calculated previously. This terrain gives us the advantage. Now that Gale has entered this area, there’s no way out for them.”
Bai Xuyan lowered his gaze slightly.
“Their signals can’t be transmitted from this area, and those on the outside can only watch. Gale is Dawn Galaxy’s first base station. After using KID’s method to deal with Gale, when Gale’s mechas are damaged and need rescuing, it won’t just be a matter of a few mecha pilots losing face.”
“But, Captain Bai, how do we deal with that strange Female Mantis on KID’s side?”
Bai Xuyan replied, “Just let them come over here. They should’ve mastered a way to control and manipulate the pollutant. However, pollutants are still pollutants and have their own thoughts. Their method of displacement is chaotic, they might not be able to come over. If they can come over, bringing that pollutant over here would be perfect—it would be like them delivering the pollutant to us.”
KID only had two choices: Either they use that pollutant to come and rescue Gale, or they kill that pollutant and abandon rescuing Gale.
The other mecha pilots exchanged glances.
Bai Xuyan wasn’t afraid of KID coming over, in fact, he hoped KID would come, saving him some trouble.
“If I were KID, I wouldn’t come to rescue them. With Gale’s strength, they won’t be defeated here. At most, they’ll lose a bit of face.”
Bai Xuyan originally wanted to leave some face for the Dawn Galaxy, but now it seemed unnecessary.
“Let’s go. We’ll get the second S-class and then deal with Black Crow and YDS on the next planet.”
As several mechas passed by the mountains, the Gale mecha pilots below caught sight of some of their mechas’ figures.
Zhao Lejie said, “It’s indeed GBK! Aren’t they afraid of being discovered by the Management Bureau while doing this?”
“They can do this because they probably brought a signal jammer.” Qi Sicheng said, “Signal jammers aren’t allowed in the arena, but now we’re on a mission. The bureau’s staff won’t check for small jammers. They used pollutants, so probably, aside from us, they also want to plot against KID.”
Zhao Lejie heard this and asked, “… They can plot against KID?”
Qi Sicheng calmly analyzed, “Have you heard of the saying ‘luring the tiger away from the mountain’? They’re testing whether KID will come to rescue us. Not long ago, KID just encountered another pollutant. If KID comes to rescue us now, it means they’ll have to abandon that pollutant.”
“Boss, what you said is all well and good, but Bai Xuyan’s plan assumes that KID will come to rescue us.”
Zhao Lejie carefully answered a multiple-choice question, “KID is located between the pollutant and us. Will they choose us?”
Qi Sicheng: “…”
“That would be ideal.”
Inside Coria’s Management Bureau, a group of people contacted KID as a last resort. Although the environment in the greyish mountainous region was slightly better than in the swamp forest, when they detected a large number of pollutants surrounding Gale, the communication between them and Gale’s mecha pilots had already been intermittent, and now it had finally disconnected.
“The Management Bureau didn’t detect any anomalies beforehand, and the pollutant outbreak’s cause is unknown.”
In such a situation, their first move was to investigate the circumstances. After multiple in-depth analyses through the system, they determined that the reason Gale was embroiled in this pollutant outbreak and encirclement wasn’t straightforward. The most likely culprits were the mecha pilots from the Second Star Domain, who had remained silent this whole time.
KID and the others hadn’t anticipated that Gale would encounter such a scenario. Upon hearing Shen Xingtang’s words, Huo Yan asked her directly, “Boss, what’s your plan?”
“Contacting you is solely to inform you of our next arrangements.”
Shen Xingtang listened to the crackling sound of electricity and briefly spoke, “Previously, Qi Sicheng discussed prioritising resources with us. I’ve discussed this with Gale’s base station, and at this time, we won’t rescue Gale. Instead, we’ll seize this opportunity to grab other resources.”
Shen Xingtang looked at Zhang Ge, who remained silent beside her. Regardless of which base station encountered a predicament like this, it didn’t leave a good feeling behind. The scale of pollutants Gale now faced was far larger than those in the swamp forest. If they delayed too much, most of their mechas would suffer damage.
“Gale can hold on.” She said seriously, “Over here, we plan to abandon the remaining resources in the mountains. Zhang Ge, the person in charge of Gale’s base station, suggests that after you grab the resources, you should abandon the main planet and go assist on other planet.”
This was also the best solution they could come up with after discussing it. Just like with their initial choice to not rescue KID, where Qi Sicheng had said they should carry on collecting resources till the end, abandoning Gale was the best choice.
This approach was indeed the best choice. Ying Chenlin understood Gale’s considerations. Just like the plan they discussed at the start, only recovering resources and not teammates was ‘the more sensible’ approach.
Although Zhang Ge wanted to save his own base station, he also knew about the bigger picture.
“Then, after you finish dealing with the pollutants on your side, go to YDS’s side—”
Lin Yao interrupted, “But we’ve already dealt with the pollutants here!”
Dawn Galaxy’s team was puzzled. Clearly, they had seen KID arrive at the new S-class resource source less than two hours ago. How did they manage to deal with it so quickly?
Zhang Ge said, “That’s great. Go now.”
The others were already calculating the fastest route to YDS’s location for KID, while there was a chaotic discussion on KID’s side.
You Su suddenly asked, “How’s the situation for YDS?”
Shen Xingtang replied, “YDS and Black Crow are having a scuffle on the next planets with those from the Second Star Domain. Currently, both sides are evenly matched. If you go over, you should be able to help them gain the upper hand.”
The other two teams weren’t as fortunate as KID, always managing to evade the Second Star Domain’s pursuit. Their situation was at a stalemate. The Second Star Domain had left their main force, besides GBK, on the two sub-planets, making it an inevitable victory for their side in collecting resources on the sub-planets.
After hearing Shen Xingtang’s words, Ying Chenlin quickly adjusted the radar map she sent over, pollutants were scattered all over, affecting the signal. Gale’s mecha signal was also deactivated for now.
Lin Yao asked, “Do we really have to go to the next planet? Ignoring Gale?”
“Gale has helped us a lot, and it’s a bit of a waste to abandon the resources here.” Huo Yan pondered, “Since GBK is trying to mess with Gale, they probably have a follow-up plan for dealing with us. Their boss’ plan must have been well thought out.”
“But I feel like since they’re doing this, their forces must be pretty scattered, so if we really go on to snatch resources from them, we might not necessarily lose.”
“It would take about 25 minutes from our location to get to the pollutants’ gathering point,” Lu Xi quickly calculated and whispered, “If we go to YDS, it’ll take at least 40 minutes. In terms of providing support, it’ll be faster if we go to Gale.”
Several people looked at the Female Mantis lying beside them. As long as they had this creature, they could travel even faster, so it didn’t seem difficult to go over and save Gale.
Ying Chenlin observed the radar map provided for the mountains. The pollutants’ gathering had a certain tendency. To some extent, in such an environment, pollutants had already disrupted their signalling. This was probably the reason why the Second Star Domain was so fearless.
“It’s hard to distinguish between mechas and pollutants over there because there are too many of them, and all the signals are jumbled.”
You Su looked at the others. “There’s no need to consider it so much. If you want to save them, just save them. Are you afraid of a fight?”
“Since YDS’s situation is at a stalemate, the worst-case scenario is a draw. As long as we delay the enemy here, the situation will still be in our favour.”
From a strategic perspective, the risks when saving the others were too high. Shen Xingtang’s considerations were valid, and they had already slipped past the Second Star Domain once using the mantis. GBK wouldn’t be so naive, they should’ve anticipated the mantis’ presence as a variable, and perhaps they’ve already prepared for their arrival.
Simply put, their quick and decisive way of fighting is feasible, but it’s too impulsive and prone to rebounding back onto them.
“If we had fought before, in such an environment, we wouldn’t have been discovered.”
Ying Chenlin said, “The problem is that an S-class pollution source’s signal is too conspicuous. If we go straight there, the other side will notice us. In other words, as long as we move in that direction, they’ll definitely take notice.”
Mecha signals could be concealed, but the S-class signal of the Female Mantis couldn’t be hidden. Even before their multiple displacements bring them near Gale, their opponent would’ve already discovered them.
While Ying Chenlin was contemplating, Ji Qingfeng suddenly asked, “So you mean if we can get close without being detected, we can engage in a fight, right?”
“Yes,” Ying Chenlin replied.
Ji Qingfeng continued, “I have a method, one Old Huo and I used before. Remember?”
Huo Yan recalled, “That one! We should see if it still works.”
Ying Chenlin paused for a moment, looking at them with curiosity. “Is there a way to deceive the radar?”
“You don’t know about this!”
Ji Qingfeng noticed the puzzlement in Ying Chenlin’s tone and laughed, “But that’s understandable, you guys who play as Individual Soldier pilots might not be familiar with this. This is a trick only Stealth mechas and Tank mechas can use.”
KID’s group remained silent. In Coria’s lounge, Dawn’s team had already calculated and sent out the shortest route to YDS for KID. Shen Xingtang paused slightly, noticing that the other side hadn’t received the information. Just as she was about to inquire, she suddenly observed a subtle change on the radar.
“Wait a minute!? Zhang Ge!”
“The signal for the pollution source at KID’s location disappeared from the radar.”
“Did they kill that mantis?”
Shen Xingtang hesitated, before quickly searching for their coordinates.
Ji Qingfeng’s voice followed, “Tang Jie, we’re going to save Gale. If you can contact Gale, remember to have them find a place with water and wait for us—”
Before he could finish his sentence, they realized the signal had been cut off when they tried to contact KID again.
Jiang Simiao fell silent for a moment.
“It seems like they went to save Gale.”
Everyone knew that saving Gale in the current situation wasn’t the best choice. Considering their interest in resources, it would be better to abandon Gale. Gale’s situation was much more complicated than KID’s previous one. Even if they endured the damage done to their mechas from the pursuit of so many pollutants, it wouldn’t be sustainable for their subsequent operations. However, upon hearing that KID intended to save Gale, the members of Dawn’s team, inexplicably, breathed a sigh of relief.
However, in the next moment, everyone became tense again, rushing to recalculate the most effective route to rescue Gale. With the plan’s reconfiguration, all coaches needed to recalculate the possible losses. The staff responsible for communication persistently sent signals, “It seems like Captain Qi’s team often carries signal devices. If they get close to the base station, we should be able to contact them!”
He paused halfway through, “What did Ji Qingfeng say in the second half of the communication just now?”
“It seems like he asked us to tell Gale to find a place with water and wait there.”
The Dawn’s team immediately paused.
Someone cautiously asked, “Water… Could they be planning to blast open a path to rescue them?”
Zhang Ge, who was on the verge of crying emotionally: “?”
When the pollution source’s signal disappeared from the swamp forest, Bai Xuyan was also notified. He looked at the radar map sent over, and when he saw the signal representing the Female Mantis disappear, his expression became slightly subdued.
“Seems like KID’s quite clever.”
Such a choice was to be expected, and KID’s decision was indeed wise.
For them, their plan wasn’t a complete failure, at least, the threat of that unknown pollutant had disappeared.
GBK’s mecha pilots had already locked onto the S-class pollutant’s location. Bai Xuyan turned off the radar map.
“Keep an eye on it. We can’t be too overbearing. Dawn’s border forces are still outside. Do it well, don’t let anyone find out.”
A mecha pilot said, “Their signals are affected by the pollutants, I haven’t been able to contact them since before.”
Bai Xuyan didn’t pay any more attention to this matter but instead focused on the pollutant in front of them.
“It’s a bit lacking, but it’s still an S-class.”
Gale had experienced battles against many pollutants, and after a brief assessment, Qi Sicheng led his team to withdraw from the encirclement. With too many pollutants around, they couldn’t compete for resources with the opposing side. Minimizing their own losses was their top priority.
“There’s a base station on this side of the mountain range. We’ll try to enter the base station and use its defence system to block these pollutants.”
The mecha pilot responsible for communications said, “Our signals should be able to transmit through once we get close to the base station.”
However, when they approached the base station and just managed to transmit their signals, they unexpectedly received a message from Coria’s Management Bureau 15 minutes ago. The mecha pilot who received the message paused for a moment.
“Captain Qi, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?”
Zhao Lejie, “There’s still good news!?”
“The good news is that KID seems to have chosen us between the pollutants and our team.”
Mecha pilot added, “The bad news is that KID has already been lured away from the mountains to come and rescue us, and we’d better find a place with water to stay—”
The mecha pilots of Gale looked towards a nearby small lake. They had just arrived here a moment ago, intending to use the water to clear off some pollutant remains from their mechas. However, they didn’t understand why they were advised to find a place with water.
On the other side of the mountains, three mechas from the Second Star Domain were observing Gale’s situation.
They avoided the coverage area of the base station near the mountains and carefully monitored the Gale’s situation beneath the narrow gorge. With too many pollutants around, they couldn’t see Gale’s mechas anymore.
The map only showed densely packed pollutants below, and the pollution source in the swamp forest had also disappeared. Letting the Dawn Galaxy take away an anomalous ability from the swamp forest truly made them unhappy, especially when they were played by the opposition. This made the Second Star Domain lose face.
“Isn’t this going too far?”
“What’s there to fear? We can rescue them when the time comes. The base station is nearby, and at most, Gale’s mechas would have suffered some wear and tear on their way back.”
At this moment, a red dot representing a new pollutant was approaching. The pollution value of the newly appeared red dot was somewhat high, mixed in with the scattered pollutant information. Several mecha pilots noticed it, assuming it was a pollutant coming out from the surrounding area, they didn’t pay much attention to it.
However, in the next moment, they were stunned when they noticed the disappearance of the red dot representing the pollutant.
“Wait a minute, I seem to have seen a pollutant disappear just now.”
“You must have seen it wrong, there are so many pollutants around here.”
Before they could finish their conversation, the mecha pilots were suddenly stunned. Without waiting for them to react, they saw a mecha suddenly appearing beside them. The mecha, with red and white patterns, had some black traces. The Guardian mecha held a Long Blade and followed up with a swift horizontal swing.
The strike was fast and fierce, striking the mecha pilots before they could react.
The two mecha pilots, still in shock, looked up and realized it was a KID mecha that had appeared before them.
“Wait!?! What’s going on!?”
“Why did KID come over so quickly!?”
The Second Star Domain’s mecha pilots hovering in the air immediately noticed the situation and rushed over to support their teammates. However, when they were just three steps away, two consecutive shots from the Guardian mecha’s Thunder-Magnetic Cannon suddenly flew diagonally towards them. The Thunder-Magnetic Cannon’s shots hit instantly, resulting in momentary paralysis.
This unexpected change caught the three mecha pilots from the Second Star Domain off guard. It seemed like they didn’t expect a mecha pilot to boldly attack them.
They suddenly looked in a certain direction—another mecha!?
At the same time, in another part of the mountains, a pre-positioned Artillery mecha had locked onto the mechas from a high position. When the targets appeared in the scope, he immediately pressed the already-charged Sniper Cannon’s trigger.
At the same time, the lurking Control mecha on the side also fired an energy-enhanced cannon shot. Both the Sniper Cannon and the enhanced cannon shot hit the two mechas from the Second Star Domain, creating a huge and explosive shockwave!
The commotion at a high altitude caught the attention of Gale’s team from below. When they looked up, they saw several mechas falling from the sky, crashing through several pollutants and landing right in front of Gale’s team. Immediately after, there was a series of explosions in the air, as if something had triggered an explosion in the sky, and pollutants dropped like rain from above.
Qi Sicheng paused, raising his eyes to take a look.
At this moment, there was movement on the side. A colossal figure suddenly appeared around them. Its massive forelimbs stomped down into the pile of pollutants, creating a powerful vibration that stopped the surrounding pollutants from attacking.
Zhao Lejie immediately activated his protective shield, positioning himself in front of his teammates.
At this moment, he heard a familiar voice.
“Old Zhao!”
Standing on the enormous mantis were two mechas, one on each side. A Tank mecha, with its shield up, prominently radiated white light covering the entire pollutant. Next to it was a Stealth mecha.
The Stealth mecha activated its special anti-stealth magnetic field at its highest output. Holding onto the pollutant with one hand, it landed steadily in front of Gale’s team.
Ji Qingfeng’s loud voice echoed through external speakers as he lifted the mantis’s head up high and spoke cooly, “Brothers, get on board. Let’s go and snatch GBK’s pollutants.”
Zhao Lejie: “???”
What the hell is this!?
TN:
This isn’t even walking a dog! They’re using an S-class as a donkey and offering people free rides?!
101. Counter-Suppression
Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake
The grey mountains stretched endlessly, shrouded in an uncanny atmosphere of decay, fallen leaves covering the dried-up paths.
As the narrow mountain gorges extended, resounding Artillery fire swept across them. Zhao Lejie raised his shield in front of everyone, flying at high speeds while using the shield for protection. He pushed the mecha’s defence system to its limit, yet an endless stream of pollutants still emerged from multiple areas in the mountains.
“Damn it, why do they just keep coming?” Zhao Lejie landed behind the team but could still see pollutants continuously emerging from the surrounding environment.
The last time the Coria Contaminated Zone was opened was during the Star Domain Tournament. Now, there was an enormous amount of pollutants inside. Previously, when they were dealing with an S-class pollutant, Gale’s mecha team moved cautiously to avoid alarming other pollutants. They successfully eliminated the S-class pollutant. However, as they were about to proceed towards the second pollutant in the mountains, problems arose.
Pollutants throughout the entire mountain seemed to be influenced by an unknown force. They collectively surged towards the mecha team, almost blocking their path ahead. They had to take risks and traverse more dangerous terrain.
“This isn’t a normal pollutant outbreak.” said Qi Sicheng, flying and observing the surrounding situation.
“Normally, pollutants during an outbreak won’t just target a small group of mechas like ours. For pollutants, they are each other’s food. There’s no S-class pollutant in charge here, and Coria’s Management Bureau hasn’t issued any alerts to signal abnormalities. I can only assume that this situation is likely caused by human intervention.”
Qi Sicheng quickly adjusted his mecha’s detection system. Its propulsion output was reduced to the minimum limit for maintaining flight. There were no issues with his internal energy output, so the remaining problems could only be external factors.
“I just checked, there’s an unidentified liquid on our mechas. This liquid is leaking an extremely high amount of energy. Someone deliberately made us the target of these pollutants’ attacks.”
A mecha pilot suggested, “It must be when we passed through the forest just now! Our vision was limited there, and we might have collected it while passing through the bushes!”
“Should we deal with these pollutants?” another mecha pilot asked.
“You’re being foolish. If we stay here now to clean up these pollutants, we’ll truly be held back by a certain group.” Zhao Lejie exerted himself to block the pollutants.
“KID’s side has been silent this whole time, and where could the people from the Second Star Domain hide? They must be heading to the other S-class resource source in the mountains. Boss, let’s just drag all these pollutants to the second set of coordinates and confront GBK head-on.”
“Do you think GBK, who have already arranged to this extent, wouldn’t have anticipated our next operation?”
The expressions of the mecha pilots froze.
Having fought against GBK too many times to count, Qi Sicheng had been ambushed by the Second Star Domain’s people many times during their Star Alliance matches. He carefully reviewed the game where GBK ambushed Black Crow. GBK had a commander named Bai Xuyan, who was very good at calculating. Their most skilled offensive strategy was to encircle the enemy. In Star Alliance matches, they formed a siege with five mechas. Moreover, with so many pollutants present, their opponents would have no room left for escape, they would be completely trapped.
The location of the S-class resources was fixed, and the Second Star Domain must have speculated base stationd on their shortest route, hence the ambush along their path.
In the next moment, as they turned out of the gorge, they saw even more pollutants coming towards them. The pollutants, attacking from both their front and rear, formed an absolute encirclement and suppressed them.
Qi Sicheng’s gaze darkened slightly. Seeing more pollutants emerging from the next corner, his expression suddenly became serious.
“They’ll only attract more pollutants towards us, making us seem like turtles in a jar.”
Several mechas from the Second Star Domain hovered at a high altitude, observing Gale’s mechas being forced into a corner.
“Captain Bai, the pollutants on this side have all been drawn here. Don’t worry, we’ve used signal jammers, and Dawn Galaxy’s base station shouldn’t notice any issues.”
“But I don’t think Gale expected that KID’s method utilising energy fuel would backfire on them.”
Bai Xuyan faced the terrain in the mountains, watching Gale’s mechas flee awkwardly. The frustration in his heart eased slightly. Thanks to KID’s use of energy fuel, he thought of this plan. Originally, he just wanted to make some trouble for Gale. But now, it seemed more satisfying to retaliate in kind.
KID was just a pawn. Since they couldn’t obtain the spatial displacement anomalous crystal, they had to let the Dawn Galaxy reap what they had sown.
“I finalised all the coordinates I calculated previously. This terrain gives us the advantage. Now that Gale has entered this area, there’s no way out for them.”
Bai Xuyan lowered his gaze slightly.
“Their signals can’t be transmitted from this area, and those on the outside can only watch. Gale is Dawn Galaxy’s first base station. After using KID’s method to deal with Gale, when Gale’s mechas are damaged and need rescuing, it won’t just be a matter of a few mecha pilots losing face.”
“But, Captain Bai, how do we deal with that strange Female Mantis on KID’s side?”
Bai Xuyan replied, “Just let them come over here. They should’ve mastered a way to control and manipulate the pollutant. However, pollutants are still pollutants and have their own thoughts. Their method of displacement is chaotic, they might not be able to come over. If they can come over, bringing that pollutant over here would be perfect—it would be like them delivering the pollutant to us.”
KID only had two choices: Either they use that pollutant to come and rescue Gale, or they kill that pollutant and abandon rescuing Gale.
The other mecha pilots exchanged glances.
Bai Xuyan wasn’t afraid of KID coming over, in fact, he hoped KID would come, saving him some trouble.
“If I were KID, I wouldn’t come to rescue them. With Gale’s strength, they won’t be defeated here. At most, they’ll lose a bit of face.”
Bai Xuyan originally wanted to leave some face for the Dawn Galaxy, but now it seemed unnecessary.
“Let’s go. We’ll get the second S-class and then deal with Black Crow and YDS on the next planet.”
As several mechas passed by the mountains, the Gale mecha pilots below caught sight of some of their mechas’ figures.
Zhao Lejie said, “It’s indeed GBK! Aren’t they afraid of being discovered by the Management Bureau while doing this?”
“They can do this because they probably brought a signal jammer.” Qi Sicheng said, “Signal jammers aren’t allowed in the arena, but now we’re on a mission. The bureau’s staff won’t check for small jammers. They used pollutants, so probably, aside from us, they also want to plot against KID.”
Zhao Lejie heard this and asked, “… They can plot against KID?”
Qi Sicheng calmly analyzed, “Have you heard of the saying ‘luring the tiger away from the mountain’? They’re testing whether KID will come to rescue us. Not long ago, KID just encountered another pollutant. If KID comes to rescue us now, it means they’ll have to abandon that pollutant.”
“Boss, what you said is all well and good, but Bai Xuyan’s plan assumes that KID will come to rescue us.”
Zhao Lejie carefully answered a multiple-choice question, “KID is located between the pollutant and us. Will they choose us?”
Qi Sicheng: “…”
“That would be ideal.”
Inside Coria’s Management Bureau, a group of people contacted KID as a last resort. Although the environment in the greyish mountainous region was slightly better than in the swamp forest, when they detected a large number of pollutants surrounding Gale, the communication between them and Gale’s mecha pilots had already been intermittent, and now it had finally disconnected.
“The Management Bureau didn’t detect any anomalies beforehand, and the pollutant outbreak’s cause is unknown.”
In such a situation, their first move was to investigate the circumstances. After multiple in-depth analyses through the system, they determined that the reason Gale was embroiled in this pollutant outbreak and encirclement wasn’t straightforward. The most likely culprits were the mecha pilots from the Second Star Domain, who had remained silent this whole time.
KID and the others hadn’t anticipated that Gale would encounter such a scenario. Upon hearing Shen Xingtang’s words, Huo Yan asked her directly, “Boss, what’s your plan?”
“Contacting you is solely to inform you of our next arrangements.”
Shen Xingtang listened to the crackling sound of electricity and briefly spoke, “Previously, Qi Sicheng discussed prioritising resources with us. I’ve discussed this with Gale’s base station, and at this time, we won’t rescue Gale. Instead, we’ll seize this opportunity to grab other resources.”
Shen Xingtang looked at Zhang Ge, who remained silent beside her. Regardless of which base station encountered a predicament like this, it didn’t leave a good feeling behind. The scale of pollutants Gale now faced was far larger than those in the swamp forest. If they delayed too much, most of their mechas would suffer damage.
“Gale can hold on.” She said seriously, “Over here, we plan to abandon the remaining resources in the mountains. Zhang Ge, the person in charge of Gale’s base station, suggests that after you grab the resources, you should abandon the main planet and go assist on other planet.”
This was also the best solution they could come up with after discussing it. Just like with their initial choice to not rescue KID, where Qi Sicheng had said they should carry on collecting resources till the end, abandoning Gale was the best choice.
This approach was indeed the best choice. Ying Chenlin understood Gale’s considerations. Just like the plan they discussed at the start, only recovering resources and not teammates was ‘the more sensible’ approach.
Although Zhang Ge wanted to save his own base station, he also knew about the bigger picture.
“Then, after you finish dealing with the pollutants on your side, go to YDS’s side—”
Lin Yao interrupted, “But we’ve already dealt with the pollutants here!”
Dawn Galaxy’s team was puzzled. Clearly, they had seen KID arrive at the new S-class resource source less than two hours ago. How did they manage to deal with it so quickly?
Zhang Ge said, “That’s great. Go now.”
The others were already calculating the fastest route to YDS’s location for KID, while there was a chaotic discussion on KID’s side.
You Su suddenly asked, “How’s the situation for YDS?”
Shen Xingtang replied, “YDS and Black Crow are having a scuffle on the next planets with those from the Second Star Domain. Currently, both sides are evenly matched. If you go over, you should be able to help them gain the upper hand.”
The other two teams weren’t as fortunate as KID, always managing to evade the Second Star Domain’s pursuit. Their situation was at a stalemate. The Second Star Domain had left their main force, besides GBK, on the two sub-planets, making it an inevitable victory for their side in collecting resources on the sub-planets.
After hearing Shen Xingtang’s words, Ying Chenlin quickly adjusted the radar map she sent over, pollutants were scattered all over, affecting the signal. Gale’s mecha signal was also deactivated for now.
Lin Yao asked, “Do we really have to go to the next planet? Ignoring Gale?”
“Gale has helped us a lot, and it’s a bit of a waste to abandon the resources here.” Huo Yan pondered, “Since GBK is trying to mess with Gale, they probably have a follow-up plan for dealing with us. Their boss’ plan must have been well thought out.”
“But I feel like since they’re doing this, their forces must be pretty scattered, so if we really go on to snatch resources from them, we might not necessarily lose.”
“It would take about 25 minutes from our location to get to the pollutants’ gathering point,” Lu Xi quickly calculated and whispered, “If we go to YDS, it’ll take at least 40 minutes. In terms of providing support, it’ll be faster if we go to Gale.”
Several people looked at the Female Mantis lying beside them. As long as they had this creature, they could travel even faster, so it didn’t seem difficult to go over and save Gale.
Ying Chenlin observed the radar map provided for the mountains. The pollutants’ gathering had a certain tendency. To some extent, in such an environment, pollutants had already disrupted their signalling. This was probably the reason why the Second Star Domain was so fearless.
“It’s hard to distinguish between mechas and pollutants over there because there are too many of them, and all the signals are jumbled.”
You Su looked at the others. “There’s no need to consider it so much. If you want to save them, just save them. Are you afraid of a fight?”
“Since YDS’s situation is at a stalemate, the worst-case scenario is a draw. As long as we delay the enemy here, the situation will still be in our favour.”
From a strategic perspective, the risks when saving the others were too high. Shen Xingtang’s considerations were valid, and they had already slipped past the Second Star Domain once using the mantis. GBK wouldn’t be so naive, they should’ve anticipated the mantis’ presence as a variable, and perhaps they’ve already prepared for their arrival.
Simply put, their quick and decisive way of fighting is feasible, but it’s too impulsive and prone to rebounding back onto them.
“If we had fought before, in such an environment, we wouldn’t have been discovered.”
Ying Chenlin said, “The problem is that an S-class pollution source’s signal is too conspicuous. If we go straight there, the other side will notice us. In other words, as long as we move in that direction, they’ll definitely take notice.”
Mecha signals could be concealed, but the S-class signal of the Female Mantis couldn’t be hidden. Even before their multiple displacements bring them near Gale, their opponent would’ve already discovered them.
While Ying Chenlin was contemplating, Ji Qingfeng suddenly asked, “So you mean if we can get close without being detected, we can engage in a fight, right?”
“Yes,” Ying Chenlin replied.
Ji Qingfeng continued, “I have a method, one Old Huo and I used before. Remember?”
Huo Yan recalled, “That one! We should see if it still works.”
Ying Chenlin paused for a moment, looking at them with curiosity. “Is there a way to deceive the radar?”
“You don’t know about this!”
Ji Qingfeng noticed the puzzlement in Ying Chenlin’s tone and laughed, “But that’s understandable, you guys who play as Individual Soldier pilots might not be familiar with this. This is a trick only Stealth mechas and Tank mechas can use.”
KID’s group remained silent. In Coria’s lounge, Dawn’s team had already calculated and sent out the shortest route to YDS for KID. Shen Xingtang paused slightly, noticing that the other side hadn’t received the information. Just as she was about to inquire, she suddenly observed a subtle change on the radar.
“Wait a minute!? Zhang Ge!”
“The signal for the pollution source at KID’s location disappeared from the radar.”
“Did they kill that mantis?”
Shen Xingtang hesitated, before quickly searching for their coordinates.
Ji Qingfeng’s voice followed, “Tang Jie, we’re going to save Gale. If you can contact Gale, remember to have them find a place with water and wait for us—”
Before he could finish his sentence, they realized the signal had been cut off when they tried to contact KID again.
Jiang Simiao fell silent for a moment.
“It seems like they went to save Gale.”
Everyone knew that saving Gale in the current situation wasn’t the best choice. Considering their interest in resources, it would be better to abandon Gale. Gale’s situation was much more complicated than KID’s previous one. Even if they endured the damage done to their mechas from the pursuit of so many pollutants, it wouldn’t be sustainable for their subsequent operations. However, upon hearing that KID intended to save Gale, the members of Dawn’s team, inexplicably, breathed a sigh of relief.
However, in the next moment, everyone became tense again, rushing to recalculate the most effective route to rescue Gale. With the plan’s reconfiguration, all coaches needed to recalculate the possible losses. The staff responsible for communication persistently sent signals, “It seems like Captain Qi’s team often carries signal devices. If they get close to the base station, we should be able to contact them!”
He paused halfway through, “What did Ji Qingfeng say in the second half of the communication just now?”
“It seems like he asked us to tell Gale to find a place with water and wait there.”
The Dawn’s team immediately paused.
Someone cautiously asked, “Water… Could they be planning to blast open a path to rescue them?”
Zhang Ge, who was on the verge of crying emotionally: “?”
When the pollution source’s signal disappeared from the swamp forest, Bai Xuyan was also notified. He looked at the radar map sent over, and when he saw the signal representing the Female Mantis disappear, his expression became slightly subdued.
“Seems like KID’s quite clever.”
Such a choice was to be expected, and KID’s decision was indeed wise.
For them, their plan wasn’t a complete failure, at least, the threat of that unknown pollutant had disappeared.
GBK’s mecha pilots had already locked onto the S-class pollutant’s location. Bai Xuyan turned off the radar map.
“Keep an eye on it. We can’t be too overbearing. Dawn’s border forces are still outside. Do it well, don’t let anyone find out.”
A mecha pilot said, “Their signals are affected by the pollutants, I haven’t been able to contact them since before.”
Bai Xuyan didn’t pay any more attention to this matter but instead focused on the pollutant in front of them.
“It’s a bit lacking, but it’s still an S-class.”
Gale had experienced battles against many pollutants, and after a brief assessment, Qi Sicheng led his team to withdraw from the encirclement. With too many pollutants around, they couldn’t compete for resources with the opposing side. Minimizing their own losses was their top priority.
“There’s a base station on this side of the mountain range. We’ll try to enter the base station and use its defence system to block these pollutants.”
The mecha pilot responsible for communications said, “Our signals should be able to transmit through once we get close to the base station.”
However, when they approached the base station and just managed to transmit their signals, they unexpectedly received a message from Coria’s Management Bureau 15 minutes ago. The mecha pilot who received the message paused for a moment.
“Captain Qi, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?”
Zhao Lejie, “There’s still good news!?”
“The good news is that KID seems to have chosen us between the pollutants and our team.”
Mecha pilot added, “The bad news is that KID has already been lured away from the mountains to come and rescue us, and we’d better find a place with water to stay—”
The mecha pilots of Gale looked towards a nearby small lake. They had just arrived here a moment ago, intending to use the water to clear off some pollutant remains from their mechas. However, they didn’t understand why they were advised to find a place with water.
On the other side of the mountains, three mechas from the Second Star Domain were observing Gale’s situation.
They avoided the coverage area of the base station near the mountains and carefully monitored the Gale’s situation beneath the narrow gorge. With too many pollutants around, they couldn’t see Gale’s mechas anymore.
The map only showed densely packed pollutants below, and the pollution source in the swamp forest had also disappeared. Letting the Dawn Galaxy take away an anomalous ability from the swamp forest truly made them unhappy, especially when they were played by the opposition. This made the Second Star Domain lose face.
“Isn’t this going too far?”
“What’s there to fear? We can rescue them when the time comes. The base station is nearby, and at most, Gale’s mechas would have suffered some wear and tear on their way back.”
At this moment, a red dot representing a new pollutant was approaching. The pollution value of the newly appeared red dot was somewhat high, mixed in with the scattered pollutant information. Several mecha pilots noticed it, assuming it was a pollutant coming out from the surrounding area, they didn’t pay much attention to it.
However, in the next moment, they were stunned when they noticed the disappearance of the red dot representing the pollutant.
“Wait a minute, I seem to have seen a pollutant disappear just now.”
“You must have seen it wrong, there are so many pollutants around here.”
Before they could finish their conversation, the mecha pilots were suddenly stunned. Without waiting for them to react, they saw a mecha suddenly appearing beside them. The mecha, with red and white patterns, had some black traces. The Guardian mecha held a Long Blade and followed up with a swift horizontal swing.
The strike was fast and fierce, striking the mecha pilots before they could react.
The two mecha pilots, still in shock, looked up and realized it was a KID mecha that had appeared before them.
“Wait!?! What’s going on!?”
“Why did KID come over so quickly!?”
The Second Star Domain’s mecha pilots hovering in the air immediately noticed the situation and rushed over to support their teammates. However, when they were just three steps away, two consecutive shots from the Guardian mecha’s Thunder-Magnetic Cannon suddenly flew diagonally towards them. The Thunder-Magnetic Cannon’s shots hit instantly, resulting in momentary paralysis.
This unexpected change caught the three mecha pilots from the Second Star Domain off guard. It seemed like they didn’t expect a mecha pilot to boldly attack them.
They suddenly looked in a certain direction—another mecha!?
At the same time, in another part of the mountains, a pre-positioned Artillery mecha had locked onto the mechas from a high position. When the targets appeared in the scope, he immediately pressed the already-charged Sniper Cannon’s trigger.
At the same time, the lurking Control mecha on the side also fired an energy-enhanced cannon shot. Both the Sniper Cannon and the enhanced cannon shot hit the two mechas from the Second Star Domain, creating a huge and explosive shockwave!
The commotion at a high altitude caught the attention of Gale’s team from below. When they looked up, they saw several mechas falling from the sky, crashing through several pollutants and landing right in front of Gale’s team. Immediately after, there was a series of explosions in the air, as if something had triggered an explosion in the sky, and pollutants dropped like rain from above.
Qi Sicheng paused, raising his eyes to take a look.
At this moment, there was movement on the side. A colossal figure suddenly appeared around them. Its massive forelimbs stomped down into the pile of pollutants, creating a powerful vibration that stopped the surrounding pollutants from attacking.
Zhao Lejie immediately activated his protective shield, positioning himself in front of his teammates.
At this moment, he heard a familiar voice.
“Old Zhao!”
Standing on the enormous mantis were two mechas, one on each side. A Tank mecha, with its shield up, prominently radiated white light covering the entire pollutant. Next to it was a Stealth mecha.
The Stealth mecha activated its special anti-stealth magnetic field at its highest output. Holding onto the pollutant with one hand, it landed steadily in front of Gale’s team.
Ji Qingfeng’s loud voice echoed through external speakers as he lifted the mantis’s head up high and spoke cooly, “Brothers, get on board. Let’s go and snatch GBK’s pollutants.”
Zhao Lejie: “???”
What the hell is this!?
TN:
This isn’t even walking a dog! They’re using an S-class as a donkey and offering people free rides?!
