Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake
The sudden change caught everyone off guard. Seeing the two mechas being pulled into the forest, every mecha pilot immediately activated their thrusters and pursued. However, the tentacle had a strong grip. Despite the other mecha pilots’ attacks, it still maintained a steady retreat.
Ji Qingfeng and Zhao Lejie’s reversed thrusters were like a drop in the ocean, utterly unable to resist.
Once the other mecha pilots caught up with the tentacle’s retreat. Attack after attack landed on it barely slowing it down.
At this rate, the mantis and the mechas would be directly pulled to their demise by this pollutant!
“We can’t let it drag them in,” Huo Yan urgently said, “This thing’s main body is even harder to deal with!”
Just one tentacle was already giving them so much trouble. If it were this thing’s main body, could they still handle it?
Ying Chenlin’s peripheral vision fell to the ground. The trench created by this thing was very deep, and the depth of the depression almost matched the tentacle, as if it hadn’t approached them recently but had been crawling on the ground’s surface for a long time, concealed by the fallen branches and leaves of the scorched forest. His gaze swept across to their radar positions, the mantis’ signal was still there, but this thing showed no response on the radar.
“No!” A Gale mecha pilot shouted, “We can’t damage this thing at all!”
Qi Sicheng’s face looked a bit serious. Their control weapons had almost zero control over this thing.
“Our control’s ineffective.”
Ji Qingfeng didn’t dare to pull on the binding lock too hard, as such force would only cause it to break. He changed his grip and jumped down from the mantis, pulling Zhao Lejie alongside him—one on each side.
“F*ck, what kind of body structure does this thing have? I’ve never seen anything so fierce!”
Seeing them being dragged along faster, You Su’s gaze fell on the end of the scorched forest, and he frowned.
“Ji Qingfeng, keep your direction steady.”
Ji Qingfeng: “?”
You Su quickly switched to the Sniper Cannon, pushed to full charge, and aimed at the entangled mantis’ hind legs in the scope. When the charge was complete, he launched a sudden attack.
Before Ji Qingfeng could react, the mantis was suddenly under fire, and its entire body tilted in a certain direction. As the aftershock stabilized, You Su’s second shot was ready, hitting the mantis again!
Ying Chenlin shouted, “Move your aim higher, its joints are the most vulnerable.”
You Su adjusted the Sniper Cannon upwards a bit, and a 100% charged sniper shot flew out again. The consecutive attacks completely blasted off the legs entangled by the tentacle, and out of the broken body dropped several iron wireworm-like insects. The tentacle quickly dragged the severed parts of the mantis away, and Ji Qingfeng and Zhao Lejie’s two mechas alongside the mantis, fell to the ground.
Everyone immediately halted their flights, watching the tentacle disappear at the edge of the scorched forest, leaving no traces behind.
Qi Sicheng said in a deep voice, “It escaped.”
Huo Yan was a bit surprised, “This thing doesn’t seem to have high intelligence.”
Ji Qingfeng looked at it, “My poor daughter lost a leg.”
“It’s better than your daughter being dragged and eaten, right?”
Zhao Lejie looked at the broken legs of the mantis, and seeing larva-like creatures fall out of it made his scalp tingle.
“Your daughter’s offspring can really eat, they’ve emptied this mantis.”
It was fortunate that it was empty, otherwise breaking off the limbs of an S-class pollutant in a fully parasitized state would be a difficult task.
“What was that thing?”
“It doesn’t look like a pollutant, there’s no pollutant signal.”
“Doesn’t its appearance still classify it as a pollutant?”
The surrounding mecha pilots discussed, with lingering fear left by that creature. In a situation where both offensive and control measures were almost ineffective, that thing possessed overwhelming intimidation.
“Luckily, it grabbed Da Feng’s daughter.” Lin Yao faced the forest.
“If it had grabbed a mecha, what would we do?”
If it bound whatever it attacked, a mecha would lose its ability to resist, especially since they didn’t know what the thing’s main body was. Qi Sicheng and Huo Yan’s expressions became somewhat serious. They had been unaware of the danger in the Restricted Zone while staying on its outskirts. Still, if something like that existed in the scorched forest, their situation could indeed become dangerous.
“We can’t deal with this thing.” Qi Sicheng looked at You Su. “How far is the exit from here?”
“At our speed without using thrusters, it would take at least an hour to return to the edge of the shielding system,” You Su looked at their position.
“If you want to be faster, I suggest going straight through the forest.”
“The risk of traversing the forest is too great,” Qi Sicheng said, “That thing’s main body is in the forest.”
The scorched forest was also very quiet. After the tentacle left, the forest returned to tranquillity.
So quiet that there were no traces of wind. If it wasn’t for the long groove marks on the ground left by the dragging, the other mecha pilots couldn’t imagine that such a thing lurked on the ground.
“It should be partially buried in the ground, always lurking,” Ying Chenlin focused on the traces on the ground.
“Apart from some newly agitated topsoil and the cracked land, it indicates that it’s been staying in this trench without moving until we passed by. It only rose to attack the mantis when we were near it.”
This trench wasn’t formed recently, and even if they had passed by it, they might not have been able to detect it.
“I think traversing the forest would be faster,” Ying Chenlin said. “That thing should return to this trench again. Until it comes out, this place should be safe temporarily.”
After listening to Ying Chenlin, Qi Sicheng also checked the surroundings of the trench.
“Can you calculate the shortest distance?”
You Su half-raised his eyes, speaking casually, “It’s been a long time since I came to this place, I can’t remember well.”
Qi Sicheng noticed the underlying meaning in You Su’s words, “What do you mean?”
You Su said, “There is a way, but I can’t guarantee our safety.”
“This everywhere here is unsafe. Does it really matter which way we go?” Zhao Lejie remarked.
Ying Chenlin turned slightly and looked thoughtfully at You Su.
“We’re already in the forest, so let’s go,” Huo Yan said.
“There haven’t been any new orders from the Management Bureau, so we might encounter frontier troops on our way.”
With that said, Qi Sicheng carefully considered it and then conveyed a few words to his mecha pilots.
The Stealth mecha of Gale’s team was seen moving along the position of the trench, and Qi Sicheng said, “This method may not be entirely safe. Our stealth pilot is experienced with reconnaissance, so he’ll be over there helping us keep an eye on that thing.”
“You’re not going?”
Ying Chenlin was originally thinking about something else when he suddenly heard You Su’s voice in their established private channel.
He snapped out of his thoughts and noticed that You Su had already moved a distance away, with his mecha facing them.
You Su: “Keep up.”
Ying Chenlin regained his focus and immediately followed suit.
At the entrance of the Restricted Zone, the frontier mecha pilots who had just arrived nearby were guided into the Restricted Zone’s temporarily activated internal system. With the special detection system coordinating with the overall monitoring control of the Restricted Zone, they could capture KID and Gale’s mecha signals clearly.
When they noticed several mecha signals moving towards the center, the brows of several mecha pilots furrowed.
“Their positions have changed.”
“Their speed went from fast to slow, they must have encountered an attack.”
“Their mechas aren’t equipped with special systems, they might get lost inside.”
“Captain, why not ask them to stand by in place?”
In the communication channel of the five men, a man was looking at the radar system, his gaze falling on the KID mecha in the radar system taking point. When he was in the control room of the Management Bureau, he noticed that while this group of mecha pilots seemed to be searching for an exit along the edge, in reality, their destination was obvious.
The entrance to the Restricted Zone was hidden, like a concealed door.
Normally, they should stop and confirm with the shielding system several times while searching for the exit, but mecha pilots’ movements were generally steady, without pause, as if they knew the entrance wasn’t there. So, he didn’t ask those mecha pilots to stand by, intending to confirm the authenticity of his conjecture.
Obviously, someone in their group knew where the entrance was.
“They’re not moving towards the centre, they’re heading towards the exit,” the man observed, focusing on the ID named ‘Trace’. “Do we have data on these mecha pilots?”
The frontier mecha pilots quickly contacted the control room to request data, and the information was swiftly transmitted through the special channel for the frontier mecha pilots and the Restricted Zone. As the data came in, the man first opened the automatic matching feature, and a new update appeared on the radar’s information with an additional mecha identifier behind Trace’s ID.
When the mecha identifier named ‘Theo’ appeared, the man’s pupils contracted slightly, and he said in a low voice, “Theo.”
“Captain?”
“They’ve chosen the shortest route,” the man frowned, looking back at their radar coordinates. Indeed, Trace’s coordinates were moving towards the exit, but the route they chose would pass through the center, which meant it would pass through that location.
On their system, there was a purple dot located at the centre of the Restricted Zone.
“Go directly to the station,” the man’s tone became slightly heavier. “The route they’re taking will pass through the abandoned station.”
The forest was very quiet, save for the rustling sound of the mechas passing over the fallen leaves on the ground. Having been attacked by the tentacle just now, the mecha pilots paid extra attention to the ground as they moved.
Ying Chenlin followed behind You Su, his gaze fixed on the direction of his movements.
Although it was a route that You Su claimed to not remember clearly, he led the way more naturally than before.
You Su didn’t say a word, and Ying Chenlin didn’t ask.
Ying Chenlin gently grasped the warm keychain and used his mental power to calm the heat emanating from the mecha.
The two walked ahead, leaving a distance between them and the mechas trailing them.
Zhao Lejie couldn’t help but glance ahead a few times, then looked at Ji Qingfeng beside him, whose attention was wholly on his daughter. Helplessly, he could only ponder to himself.
Ji Qingfeng: “Be careful, don’t let the mecha touch my daughter’s wound.”
Zhao Lejie: “That mantis is already dead. Your daughter probably didn’t even feel it when her leg was broken. What are you afraid of?”
As they spoke, Ji Qingfeng, who was standing in a slightly elevated position, suddenly saw something.
“Hey, wait a minute! Look at 11 o’clock, there seems to be a building.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xi immediately adjusted her scope towards the location mentioned by Ji Qingfeng. When a certain building appeared in her field of view, she was slightly taken aback.
In the direction of 11 o’clock, on the other side of the scorched forest, a light purple defensive shield was shining. Inside that defensive shield was a well-equipped Contaminated Zone base station.
As soon as they saw the station, all the mecha pilots froze in their steps.
Qi Sicheng frowned, “How could there be a station here?”
Huo Yan also expressed surprise, “I’ve never heard of a station around here.”
Ying Chenlin paused for a moment and turned his head towards You Su.
“It seems we’re lucky,” You Su said lazily. “We’ve encountered an operational abandoned station.”
Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake
The sudden change caught everyone off guard. Seeing the two mechas being pulled into the forest, every mecha pilot immediately activated their thrusters and pursued. However, the tentacle had a strong grip. Despite the other mecha pilots’ attacks, it still maintained a steady retreat.
Ji Qingfeng and Zhao Lejie’s reversed thrusters were like a drop in the ocean, utterly unable to resist.
Once the other mecha pilots caught up with the tentacle’s retreat. Attack after attack landed on it barely slowing it down.
At this rate, the mantis and the mechas would be directly pulled to their demise by this pollutant!
“We can’t let it drag them in,” Huo Yan urgently said, “This thing’s main body is even harder to deal with!”
Just one tentacle was already giving them so much trouble. If it were this thing’s main body, could they still handle it?
Ying Chenlin’s peripheral vision fell to the ground. The trench created by this thing was very deep, and the depth of the depression almost matched the tentacle, as if it hadn’t approached them recently but had been crawling on the ground’s surface for a long time, concealed by the fallen branches and leaves of the scorched forest. His gaze swept across to their radar positions, the mantis’ signal was still there, but this thing showed no response on the radar.
“No!” A Gale mecha pilot shouted, “We can’t damage this thing at all!”
Qi Sicheng’s face looked a bit serious. Their control weapons had almost zero control over this thing.
“Our control’s ineffective.”
Ji Qingfeng didn’t dare to pull on the binding lock too hard, as such force would only cause it to break. He changed his grip and jumped down from the mantis, pulling Zhao Lejie alongside him—one on each side.
“F*ck, what kind of body structure does this thing have? I’ve never seen anything so fierce!”
Seeing them being dragged along faster, You Su’s gaze fell on the end of the scorched forest, and he frowned.
“Ji Qingfeng, keep your direction steady.”
Ji Qingfeng: “?”
You Su quickly switched to the Sniper Cannon, pushed to full charge, and aimed at the entangled mantis’ hind legs in the scope. When the charge was complete, he launched a sudden attack.
Before Ji Qingfeng could react, the mantis was suddenly under fire, and its entire body tilted in a certain direction. As the aftershock stabilized, You Su’s second shot was ready, hitting the mantis again!
Ying Chenlin shouted, “Move your aim higher, its joints are the most vulnerable.”
You Su adjusted the Sniper Cannon upwards a bit, and a 100% charged sniper shot flew out again. The consecutive attacks completely blasted off the legs entangled by the tentacle, and out of the broken body dropped several iron wireworm-like insects. The tentacle quickly dragged the severed parts of the mantis away, and Ji Qingfeng and Zhao Lejie’s two mechas alongside the mantis, fell to the ground.
Everyone immediately halted their flights, watching the tentacle disappear at the edge of the scorched forest, leaving no traces behind.
Qi Sicheng said in a deep voice, “It escaped.”
Huo Yan was a bit surprised, “This thing doesn’t seem to have high intelligence.”
Ji Qingfeng looked at it, “My poor daughter lost a leg.”
“It’s better than your daughter being dragged and eaten, right?”
Zhao Lejie looked at the broken legs of the mantis, and seeing larva-like creatures fall out of it made his scalp tingle.
“Your daughter’s offspring can really eat, they’ve emptied this mantis.”
It was fortunate that it was empty, otherwise breaking off the limbs of an S-class pollutant in a fully parasitized state would be a difficult task.
“What was that thing?”
“It doesn’t look like a pollutant, there’s no pollutant signal.”
“Doesn’t its appearance still classify it as a pollutant?”
The surrounding mecha pilots discussed, with lingering fear left by that creature. In a situation where both offensive and control measures were almost ineffective, that thing possessed overwhelming intimidation.
“Luckily, it grabbed Da Feng’s daughter.” Lin Yao faced the forest.
“If it had grabbed a mecha, what would we do?”
If it bound whatever it attacked, a mecha would lose its ability to resist, especially since they didn’t know what the thing’s main body was. Qi Sicheng and Huo Yan’s expressions became somewhat serious. They had been unaware of the danger in the Restricted Zone while staying on its outskirts. Still, if something like that existed in the scorched forest, their situation could indeed become dangerous.
“We can’t deal with this thing.” Qi Sicheng looked at You Su. “How far is the exit from here?”
“At our speed without using thrusters, it would take at least an hour to return to the edge of the shielding system,” You Su looked at their position.
“If you want to be faster, I suggest going straight through the forest.”
“The risk of traversing the forest is too great,” Qi Sicheng said, “That thing’s main body is in the forest.”
The scorched forest was also very quiet. After the tentacle left, the forest returned to tranquillity.
So quiet that there were no traces of wind. If it wasn’t for the long groove marks on the ground left by the dragging, the other mecha pilots couldn’t imagine that such a thing lurked on the ground.
“It should be partially buried in the ground, always lurking,” Ying Chenlin focused on the traces on the ground.
“Apart from some newly agitated topsoil and the cracked land, it indicates that it’s been staying in this trench without moving until we passed by. It only rose to attack the mantis when we were near it.”
This trench wasn’t formed recently, and even if they had passed by it, they might not have been able to detect it.
“I think traversing the forest would be faster,” Ying Chenlin said. “That thing should return to this trench again. Until it comes out, this place should be safe temporarily.”
After listening to Ying Chenlin, Qi Sicheng also checked the surroundings of the trench.
“Can you calculate the shortest distance?”
You Su half-raised his eyes, speaking casually, “It’s been a long time since I came to this place, I can’t remember well.”
Qi Sicheng noticed the underlying meaning in You Su’s words, “What do you mean?”
You Su said, “There is a way, but I can’t guarantee our safety.”
“This everywhere here is unsafe. Does it really matter which way we go?” Zhao Lejie remarked.
Ying Chenlin turned slightly and looked thoughtfully at You Su.
“We’re already in the forest, so let’s go,” Huo Yan said.
“There haven’t been any new orders from the Management Bureau, so we might encounter frontier troops on our way.”
With that said, Qi Sicheng carefully considered it and then conveyed a few words to his mecha pilots.
The Stealth mecha of Gale’s team was seen moving along the position of the trench, and Qi Sicheng said, “This method may not be entirely safe. Our stealth pilot is experienced with reconnaissance, so he’ll be over there helping us keep an eye on that thing.”
“You’re not going?”
Ying Chenlin was originally thinking about something else when he suddenly heard You Su’s voice in their established private channel.
He snapped out of his thoughts and noticed that You Su had already moved a distance away, with his mecha facing them.
You Su: “Keep up.”
Ying Chenlin regained his focus and immediately followed suit.
At the entrance of the Restricted Zone, the frontier mecha pilots who had just arrived nearby were guided into the Restricted Zone’s temporarily activated internal system. With the special detection system coordinating with the overall monitoring control of the Restricted Zone, they could capture KID and Gale’s mecha signals clearly.
When they noticed several mecha signals moving towards the center, the brows of several mecha pilots furrowed.
“Their positions have changed.”
“Their speed went from fast to slow, they must have encountered an attack.”
“Their mechas aren’t equipped with special systems, they might get lost inside.”
“Captain, why not ask them to stand by in place?”
In the communication channel of the five men, a man was looking at the radar system, his gaze falling on the KID mecha in the radar system taking point. When he was in the control room of the Management Bureau, he noticed that while this group of mecha pilots seemed to be searching for an exit along the edge, in reality, their destination was obvious.
The entrance to the Restricted Zone was hidden, like a concealed door.
Normally, they should stop and confirm with the shielding system several times while searching for the exit, but mecha pilots’ movements were generally steady, without pause, as if they knew the entrance wasn’t there. So, he didn’t ask those mecha pilots to stand by, intending to confirm the authenticity of his conjecture.
Obviously, someone in their group knew where the entrance was.
“They’re not moving towards the centre, they’re heading towards the exit,” the man observed, focusing on the ID named ‘Trace’. “Do we have data on these mecha pilots?”
The frontier mecha pilots quickly contacted the control room to request data, and the information was swiftly transmitted through the special channel for the frontier mecha pilots and the Restricted Zone. As the data came in, the man first opened the automatic matching feature, and a new update appeared on the radar’s information with an additional mecha identifier behind Trace’s ID.
When the mecha identifier named ‘Theo’ appeared, the man’s pupils contracted slightly, and he said in a low voice, “Theo.”
“Captain?”
“They’ve chosen the shortest route,” the man frowned, looking back at their radar coordinates. Indeed, Trace’s coordinates were moving towards the exit, but the route they chose would pass through the center, which meant it would pass through that location.
On their system, there was a purple dot located at the centre of the Restricted Zone.
“Go directly to the station,” the man’s tone became slightly heavier. “The route they’re taking will pass through the abandoned station.”
The forest was very quiet, save for the rustling sound of the mechas passing over the fallen leaves on the ground. Having been attacked by the tentacle just now, the mecha pilots paid extra attention to the ground as they moved.
Ying Chenlin followed behind You Su, his gaze fixed on the direction of his movements.
Although it was a route that You Su claimed to not remember clearly, he led the way more naturally than before.
You Su didn’t say a word, and Ying Chenlin didn’t ask.
Ying Chenlin gently grasped the warm keychain and used his mental power to calm the heat emanating from the mecha.
The two walked ahead, leaving a distance between them and the mechas trailing them.
Zhao Lejie couldn’t help but glance ahead a few times, then looked at Ji Qingfeng beside him, whose attention was wholly on his daughter. Helplessly, he could only ponder to himself.
Ji Qingfeng: “Be careful, don’t let the mecha touch my daughter’s wound.”
Zhao Lejie: “That mantis is already dead. Your daughter probably didn’t even feel it when her leg was broken. What are you afraid of?”
As they spoke, Ji Qingfeng, who was standing in a slightly elevated position, suddenly saw something.
“Hey, wait a minute! Look at 11 o’clock, there seems to be a building.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xi immediately adjusted her scope towards the location mentioned by Ji Qingfeng. When a certain building appeared in her field of view, she was slightly taken aback.
In the direction of 11 o’clock, on the other side of the scorched forest, a light purple defensive shield was shining. Inside that defensive shield was a well-equipped Contaminated Zone base station.
As soon as they saw the station, all the mecha pilots froze in their steps.
Qi Sicheng frowned, “How could there be a station here?”
Huo Yan also expressed surprise, “I’ve never heard of a station around here.”
Ying Chenlin paused for a moment and turned his head towards You Su.
“It seems we’re lucky,” You Su said lazily. “We’ve encountered an operational abandoned station.”
