Chapter 101: Tour

What is it?” Ye Chong was alerted.

“Someone sent out an encrypted message, and I’ve intercepted it!” Ye Chong knew from the tone of voice that it was not Mu, but Shang! Mu would never speak in such a carefree manner, as his tone was always flat and calm. Ye Chong was deeply influenced by Mu in this respect.

“Shang, is it your turn to come out now?” Ye Chong said, by way of greeting Shang.

Shang laughed, pleased. “I didn’t expect such fun just when I came out! Ye, tsk tsk, don’t be like Mu, you gotta have some fun in life! Hehe, that missy in the training garb is quite a lady, what powerful legs! I sure miss her! Tsk tsk! Ye, you’re still alright down there right? I remember her kicking you there! Let’s talk about your feelings back then. That was such a wasted opportunity!”

Rui Bing’s figure, clad in white training garb came unbidden to Ye Chong’s mind. He could not help but recall the strange fragrance and smooth touch from deep within his mind.

What a strange feeling!

Ye Chong knew that if he did not cut off the bastard right now, he would continue on forever with the topic. Hence, Ye Chong quickly interrupted, “Shang, you said that someone just sent out a message?”

Shang replied, “Mm, to be precise, someone had set a timed algorithm, such that a message would be sent out periodically to a specified destination!”

“Oh, what’s it say?”

“The ship’s current location!” Shang replied.

“Will this affect us?” Ye Chong asked.

“Information is insufficient, the results are incalculable. Sigh, Mu’s slogan tastes horrible in my mouth!” Shang muttered, and continued flashily, “Ye, this must be the work of someone with ill designs towards this ship! Heavens, do you not have any sense of knightliness in you? Based on this year’s online survey, this is one of the most appreciated qualities by the ladies in their dream partner! Ye …”

Against Shang’s chattering, Ye Chong became vexed. His expression turned loose, and he felt like he would faint at any moment!

After a full twenty minutes, Shang finally ended his grand speech on the topic.

Ye Chong was already withering, a body without a soul!

Shang spoke expectantly, “Ye, what do you think? Let’s expose the impostor in the name of justice! Haha!”

“No!” Ye Chong resolutely ignored the crazy mech and left.

He soaked quietly in a jacuzzi, complete with rotating micro-jets. The numerous little whirlpools caressed every corner of his body, and the slight tickling sensation was wonderfully comfortable. However, Ye Chong’s expression was not one of indulgence, but of one lost in thought.

Mu was absent, and Shang did not make him feel safe at all! When he was with Mu, the mech was like an invincible leader. When with Shang, Ye Chong found himself being the leader instead. However, the thought of Shang brought a smile to his face. Shang was discretely in control of the starship’s photon processor, monitoring everyone on board! Regarding Brent and his uncle, Fred, Ye Chong dared not underestimate them. It was safer to be in control of his own destiny than letting others decide it for him, and also less worrisome for him! While they seemed close to each other, who was to say what the future holds? It was better to play it safe!

Ye Chong was also perturbed by Shang’s report of the outgoing message. While he did not understand what it was about, Ye Chong thought nothing would come of it. It was best if he did not expose himself at the moment. Besides, close to Blue Ocean as they were now, any complications would spell trouble!

With his eyes half closed, Ye Chong sprawled lazily in the jacuzzi. “Now that feels much better!” Ye Chong’s skin was extra sensitive. The little micro-whirlpools felt like animals moving in the water. Ye Chong was suddenly overcome by a playful mood. He closed his eyes and submerged his hands completely in the water, trying hard to feel the subtle motions of the water around his hands. His hands moved swiftly like fishes, avoiding the chaotic whirlpools in the water. When a whirlpool became unavoidable, he would disrupt the whirlpool with the tip of a finger. However, this introduced more irregularity into the water flow in the jacuzzi, making them harder to anticipate.

Alone in the micro-jets jacuzzi, Ye Chong thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Water in the micro-jet jacuzzi were mixed in with many rejuvenating ingredients that could reduce fatigue. Ye Chong now felt refreshed, as though he had lost some weight! However, if Ye Chong knew the amount of gold zuan charged for his bathing session could easily afford him a mech, what would his thoughts be then?

Only a Slan graded luxurious starship would have something like the micro-jet jacuzzi as a standard facility! For those who could afford the starship, how would they mind the relatively insignificant expenses involved?

Refreshed from his session, Ye Chong left the bathing room only to meet Brent. Brent reached for his arm and said smilingly, “Kun Ting, I’ve been looking all over for you, so this is where you’ve been hiding!”

Ye Chong reflexively shifted his posture, and Brent missed his arm. He was surprised, and laughed a little in the ensuing awkwardness.

Ye Chong asked plainly, “What’s the matter?”

Seeing Ye Chong’s apathetic and calm expression, Brent could not help but sighed inside as he continued with a smile, “I’ve been staying in my room these few days, and it’s been a bore. Uncle was really obsessive about that mech of yours, I’ve never seen him so impressed with a mech like that! I don’t think he’ll pay much attention to us now, so I thought I’d bring you on a tour of this ship. Honestly, there are places here that even I haven’t been to before! Why not take this opportunity to explore the ship together!”

Ye Chong pondered over the suggestion, thinking that it would be a good chance to familiarize himself with the ship. Even though Shang already knew its every corner, it would be better if he knew the ship’s layouts too. With that, Ye Chong agreed to the tour.

Since most of the ship’s crew were new, and the ship was a gift from someone else, Brent was not too familiar with the ship. Brent had high hopes for Ye Chong, a potential student of his. He had the idea that this future student of his must have been deprived of human interaction to behave so coldly towards other people.

Hence, he came with this idea.

Together with them was Captain Hatik, as he would of course oblige his master’s requests. Hatik was still professional in this respect!

The starship Sabre was a ten kilometers long, looking very much like an island. It was a luxury starship model, and so boasted full range facilities with much extravagance! During his introductions, Captain Hatik was felt swept away by the starship. He had served as captain for many years, and been in command of a great many starships. However, a ship like Sabre was a first for him.

The three men entered a wide hall, filled with dozens of game rooms and a bar counter in the far off corner. There were many chairs and tables in the hall, most of them made of wood, and the elegant motives on them were carved by hand. This made the furniture look like works of art instead of a furniture of resting oneself.

Moreover, every corner of the hall was equipped with holographic screens at various angles.

The wide hall was filled to the brim and very noisy. The seats were all taken, and some were even standing. People drank and conversed, or sang loudly without a care in the world, or walking around the hall. However, most of them stared at the holographic screens unblinkingly!

Ye Chong frowned slightly, bothered by the noise. His expression did not slip past Brent, who smiled a little, apparently impressed with the hall.

Captain Hatik began, “This is the entertainment hall, undoubtedly the most luxurious I’ve ever seen. When they’re otherwise unoccupied, folks like to spend their time here. The drinks are free-flowing, and free of charge. For those who drink like the fish but without the money to support their enjoyment, this place is heaven!”

“Luxury gaming booths are rare, and now that they can get a taste of it themselves, the idle folks here are helplessly enticed! The gaming booths are occupied every day, since everyone wants to try them out. Hehe, fortunately, there have been no accidents here throughout the trip, or I would have to invoke my rights as Captain to shut the place down, for fear of the situation getting out of hand!”

Ye Chong lifted his head to watch one of the holographic screens in mid air. A red mech was right in a battle against a green mech. Ye Chong whistled softly, obviously surprised by the content of the game. The two mechs on the holographic screens were well rendered, the red mech was a cunning match against the steady green opponent. With his rich experience, Ye Chong could now identify the likely winner with just a glance. While the two mechs were seemingly tied in battle, Ye Chong noticed that the green mech still had some potential in it. If the red mech did not have any killer moves, then the green mech would most probably emerge as the winner.

Captain Hatik noticed Ye Chong’s interest in the battle on the holographic screen, and introduced, “Fred the Great is a man of high status, and his safety is important. This time, our hired bodyguards are mostly well known in the field, all of them fully capable! Here on the screen, the green mech is Yu Jie, and the red mech is Douglas. They both enjoy prestigious reputations, excelling in both mech piloting and bodyguard services. Amongst all the bodyguards, many of them are on the same level of these two! However, hehe, the real masters usually do not show themselves easily.” Captain Hatik spoke with an eloquent undertone.

As the captain finished, the battle was also over. As Ye Chong expected, the green mech, or Yu Jie, claimed victory. The spectators below roared in dissatisfaction, but some of them were also laughing loudly, pleased with themselves. Their investment in the outcome of the battle surprised Ye Chong.

Brent was also baffled, as the sight was a first for him too. He looked to Captain Hatik for an explanation.

Captain Hatik looked a little embarrassed, but obligingly explained, “It is customary for the battling opponents to bet for themselves, and the spectators will usually bet for their favored ones. The winner will not only gain all the bet money for his opponent, he’ll also take a cut of ten percent from the winnings of all the spectators who bet for him. That is the custom!”

Seeing Brent’s disapproval, Captain Hatik shrugged a little. “While this is a form of gambling, it’s actually a good way to amuse people like ourselves, who spent much time floating around in space! It’s also a way to de-stress ourselves!”

Brent replied with an “Oh,” indicating his understanding. Ye Chong’s expression did not change, as he was not focused on the conversation, but meticulously going through every corner of the hall. It was second nature for Ye Chong to familiarize himself with his surroundings at the first opportunity.

The three made their way to the bar counter. As they passed by, people greeted Captain Hatik warmly, and Captain Hatik returned the gesture with equal enthusiasm. One can thus see that these people sincerely respect Captain Hatik. That fact made Ye Chong and Brent think twice on their thoughts about the Captain.

“Hi! Boss! What brings you all the way here?” The chubby bartender greeted Captain Hatik.

The captain laughed. “I’m just bringing these two gentlemen for a walk. You, Sir, are the person standing nearest to the alcohol!” He turned to the two and introduced. “This fat chump here is Gino, drinks like a fish, but mixes drinks like a master. What’d you like to have? Just name the order! The man claims to know every drink known to the world! Haha, Gino, give me a Fruit Basket!”

“Righto!” The chubby man cried in reply, and his hands began to move in a blur. After a moment, a yellowish white drink with some flowing patterns on it was presented to Captain Hatik. A strong and heavy smell, with a stinging quality to it, emanated from the cocktail.

Brent, with years of following Fred around, socializing with members of the upper class society, was also an expert in drinks. He ordered an Ignaz, and the chubby man could not help but notice Brent’s peculiarity.

A green and violet cocktail, looking a little opaque, was brought to him. Brent sipped a little, and could not help but applaud, “Excellent! A master indeed! The taste is authentic!” He even gave a thumbs-up to the bartender! The chubby man instantly brightened up, pleased with the compliment!

Ye Chong had no experience with drinks, and copied Brent’s order. He took a little sip, just like Brent, and a weird taste exploded in his mouth. Ye Chong quickly put down the drink, and knitted his brows.

The chubby man’s attitude towards Ye Chong was now tinged with disdain!

Brent finished his glass of Ignaz in one gulp, his expression one of great satisfaction and indulgence.

By then, two people had left their gaming booths. Brent smiled a little and nodded towards the booths, as he cocked his eyebrow and said, “Well, Kun Ting? Let’s go for a round!”

Chapter 102: Game

rent could not, for the life of him, figure out how Ye Chong managed to slip into Sabre without being noticed. Sabre was not a run-of-the-mill starship, and those who could afford this type of starships were not only extremely wealthy, but also very conscious of their own safety. Even an idiot would realize this. Slan-grade starships were all equipped with the most advanced technologies, and the unthinkable thick hull armor made it impossible to breach from the outside!

Despite the odds, Ye Chong still managed to enter the starship without being noticed. How could Brent not be curious, and even a little frightened of him? While no starship was impenetrable, an undetected entry into the ship brought a chill down his spine!

Brent was no fool, and he was vigilant against Kun Ting’s unknown history. However, based on his current observations, the mysterious man before him probably did not belong to the group. In any case, offending a person he knew nothing about would be an irrational move. Besides, ever since Kun Ting slipped into the starship and won against him, he and Uncle Fred were no longer in control of their own destinies!

It would be suicidal to show any hostility at this point! Kun Ting’s eyes shone cold as ice, preventing him from making any hasty decisions. No one knew what the future held!

Some time ago, a few good friends of Uncle Fred mysteriously disappeared, and were unheard of since then. The police did not uncover anything useful, and could only deduce from the way they vanished that it must be the work of a group. Fred’s friends were all experts in mechs with their own specializations, and were famous in their respective fields. Now that they have disappeared one by one, how could they not be terrified?

Not long after that, Fred heard from somewhere that he was the group’s next target.

After receiving news that someone had ill designs for Uncle Fred, Brent and his uncle began planning for the current space cruise. From the beginning, they acted out of character and spread news of the cruise far and wide, making a big hoo-hah out of it, such that everyone knew about their plans. They exposed themselves to the public, hoping that their publicity will prevent any actions from the enemy. However, now that Kun Ting had taken over the ship, they had unexpectedly changed course, and all for the better. This sudden change must have surprised their enemy in the darkness.

As for the idea of introducing Ye Chong to his own master, that was a sudden thought that occurred to him. With his master’s crazy character, he would probably not mind Ye Chong’s past. His deliberate actions these few days had finally paid off. When he mentioned about introducing Kun Ting to his master, he saw an uncharacteristic flash of eagerness in Kun Ting’s eyes, a contrast to his cool expression. Brent was pleased. With this, even if something happened in the future, Kun Ting would at least not side with his enemy.

A verbal promise in exchange for potential alliance – this was in all ways a worthwhile exchange. While it made Brent feel a little guilty, what would his feelings matter if it was for his Uncle Fred? Besides, if they survived this ordeal, he would introduce Kun Ting to his master, just as he promised.

Bren watched with mixed feelings as Kun Ting made his way towards another gaming booth, his expression unreadable.

Ever since he finished his apprenticeship, Brent had never lost to anyone before. His loss against Kun Ting was something he took to heart! However, real life combat was gradually fading, and the true forces that dominated the current landscape were mechs and their pilots!

Brent’s challenge this time was in part to compare their strengths, but mostly, he wanted to know more about the mysterious enigma that was Kun Ting. Brent rarely used mechs to battle against others, but did not mean that his skills were unremarkable. On the contrary, he was the student of a reputable teacher, though few knew about it. After all, his uncle was Fred the Great, and his friends include many legendary mech pilots.

As he caressed the hypersimulator console in the gaming booth, the usually gentlemanly and courteous Brent could not help but grow excited and exuberant!

Ye Chong calmly sat inside the gaming booth. After his long experience with mechs, he could now control his emotions better. After all, any hasty movements would often lead to death! However, a little excitement could make a mech pilot’s reactions quicker.

A calmness lightly tinged with excitement was the best state of mind for a mech pilot to perform his or her best!

An important difference between amateur pilots and senior pilots was that the seniors could often enter this state very quickly!

It seemed that Ye Chong was born for mechs. Whenever he was dealing with mechs, he would subconsciously enter this state of mind, a state that made him obsessed with mechs!

The arena before him was very familiar. Ye Chong was reminded of his time back on the trash planet, accessing the virtual world and challenging others in the pilot training center every day.

The confusing array of mechs consisting different models kindled a warm feeling in Ye Chong. The mechs were not impressive to Ye Chong. Compared to the Harmony of the Winter Aria, these so-called top class mechs were nothing to boast about. However, even if they were not particularly powerful mechs, Ye Chong was still excited. A surge of desire for battle surfaced from the very depths of his heart!

“Hu …” Ye Chong let out a long exhale, his eyes suddenly flared up like fire, even as his heart maintained his usual calm composure.

Ye Chong chose Lra as his mech. The Lra mech was the latest model launched by Pruist this year, and it was the only mech of its level by the company this year that was a close range mech. Its uniqueness lay in its powerful movement. Equipped with the year’s new product, the Warhead-IV engine, the mech performed splendidly in terms of motion.

Its weapons were also specially designed. Instead of the standard Flaming Sword, the mech was given a blunt instrument. This may be confusing to most, but the design of the weapon was nothing short of spectacular. Three metal cylinders littered with tiny holes circled around the mech under the guidance of a magnetic field, rotating at high speeds. Upon entering the range of the magnetic field, the enemy would be instantly killed! Moreover, the mech’s powerful photon processor could identify the object that entered its magnetic field range. The cylinders were also packed with another feature – once the kill command was verified, the tiny holes on the cylinder’s surface would emit high powered laser beams. The seemingly harmless cylinders instantly turned into a lethal claw hammer. Under the deadly attacks of 3 such cylinders, the enemy’s mech would not be able to avoid the fate of being cut into pieces.

Lra mechs were also special in that they were neither humanoid nor shaped like any animal. The mech was oval-ish, with sixteen rings circling about the mech’s body. Besides, the sixteen rings did not share the same center of rotation. The rapidly circling rings orbited about the mech in a dense network of trajectories, enveloping the mech in a shroud of shadows. These rapidly orbiting rings could effectively absorb and block any attacks from energy based weapons.

In truth, Lra mechs were not actually close range mechs, but a long range mech with a reduced attack range.

Lra also had a nickname – the Meat Grinder.

Brent chose outer space as the battleground, and used Stellar Dream as his mech, a product of the East Moon Group. Stellar Dream was a classic long range mech, popular due to the dominant trend of long range battle styles. Besides, its exterior was classy and elegant, favored by many mech pilots. Stellar Dream had clear contours along its profile, its expression solemn, looking mighty and out of this world. The silver-white colour of the mech shone brightly, adding to its touch of elegance.

Overly splendid things had always stirred caution and distaste in Ye Chong.

However, Stellar Dream was not all looks and no substance. Advanced shooting systems were a must for long rang mechs, and Stellar Dream’s did well in auto shooting and lock-on targeting. Unlike other mechs, Stellar Dream offered a precision higher than that of the auto lock-on system’s, achieved through manual lock-on. However, this depended heavily on the mech pilot’s skills. On the other hand, Stellar Dream was also excellent in other aspects such as movement and balance.

In outer space, Stellar Dream held an advantage over Lra. More accurately speaking, long range mechs were more practical than short range mechs in outer space, since the former had a wider range of action. Brent was not deliberately bullying Ye Chong, but he did not expect Kun Ting to choose Lra. The choice greatly surprised him, and Kun Ting became more and more of a mystery to him. Brent had trained under an expert, and did not hold a condescending opinion on close range mechs. However, the choice of a close range mech in an environment as homogenous as outer space seemed like a foolish decision to him!

“But Kun Ting doesn’t seem to be someone foolish,” thought Brent, baffled.

Ye Chong also frowned a little as he noticed the outer space battleground. The environment was a huge disadvantage for the Lra, but he had raised no objections. He understood clearly that in most cases, the battleground was not for him to decide. Instead of blaming the unfairness of the battleground to him, his time was better spent on strategizing!

A distance away, separated by the transparent walls of the gaming booth, Brent noticed Kun Ting’s calm expression and muttered to himself, “Does he have a plan, or does he not care about the battle outcome?”

The game was about to start, and Brent quickly gathered his thoughts and put on his helmet.

Once in the game, Brent’s Stellar Dream raised its arm and fired once, but Ye Chong was already prepared and evaded the attack easily. Brent was not aiming to hit his opponent. Instead, he used the opportunity to widen the distance between him and Kun Ting. With the wider distance, he believed that he could secure victory with his shooting skills. With this, Brent was confident.

Without any suspense, Brent achieved his goal and managed to widen the distance between him and Kun Ting!

Brent instantly felt himself calming down. He went through a few scenarios in his head, but could not imagine how Kun Ting could turn things around.

Ye Chong, however, was now moving in a way that was beyond all of Brent’s expectations!

Chapter 103: Old Pang

lose range mechs were only effective in close quarters due to their short ranged attacks. A close range mech must first close in on their enemy such that the enemy was within their attack range, so that their weapons could be effectively used. If not, the mech will only serve as target practice for its opponent!

Hence, the first step in a close range mech’s strategy was to desperately approach the enemy, closing the distance between itself and its opponent.

However, Ye Chong did the exact opposite. After he evaded Brent’s attack, he immediately ran away. Brent was left behind, stupefied, as watched Ye Chong become smaller and smaller in the distance, quickly becoming only a tiny black dot.

“Escaping without attacking?” Brent thought, stunned. “Does he not care about being laughed at? It’s only a game! Kun Ting doesn’t look like a coward!”

Ye Chong’s escape ignited a commotion amongst the spectators of their game in the hall. They booed at his apparent cowardice, and while it was not a loud protest, their reaction attracted the attention of the people viewing other games in the hall. Everyone could not help but shift their attention to the holographic screen featuring the battle between Ye Chong and Brent.

Ye Chong was focusing on controlling his mech in the gaming booth, undistracted!

For Ye Chong, this was a battle! Not a game! If it was a battle, Ye Chong will give it his all! A battle was a matter of life and death! There was no room for doubt!

From Brent’s attack with his gun, he knew that his opponent was an excellent shooter. If Ye Chong was not prepared in the short span of time, , the attack would have definitely hit him!

The time that it would take him to close in on Brent was enough for his enemy to take another 3 shots. With Brent’s skills, he would not even need all 3 shots to finish him off!

If that was the case, then widening the distance between him and his enemy would be a wise choice.

Ye Chong did not feel that his escape was something to be ashamed of. He did not take any damage, and that meant he still stood a chance of winning against his opponent! When the situation was mostly to his opponent’s advantage, choosing to battle would be foolish indeed! Unless he was desperate, it was still best to battle only when the environment was in his favor. This was Ye Chong’s insight after his countless battle experiences!

Ye Chong maneuvered his mech and flew swiftly ahead. He enlarged the mech’s scanning radius, and found nothing! After further enlargement, there was still nothing! Another enlargement, and still, there was nothing! Ye Chong was not dispirited. He continued increasing the scanning radius. This repetitive task was not new to him! Finally, when the scanning radius was at its maximum, he found a large asteroid belt at 9 degrees from the radius vector. It was quite far, and would take around 12 hours to reach there by flight.

With a larger scanning radius, the scanning accuracy will drop. More energy would be exhausted, and the time taken for a full scanning cycle would also increase. Hence,one would rarely increase the scanning radius to an unnecessarily large range, due to its risky nature!

Brent was far behind Ye Chong. After being stunned for a moment, the distance between them had increased. With the long distance between them, shooting accuracy would be affected. Brent tried shooting a few times, and could not hit his target. He ceased fire, saving his energy.

“What is Kun Ting trying to do?” Brent thought in his confusion. “There’s nothing ahead. If he just flew ahead like that, it would be just a waste of time!” Brent increased his scanning radius and found nothing ahead!

Kun Ting showed no signs of stopping, still flying straight ahead.

Brent was feeling more uncertain. During his days with Kun Ting, he did not seem like a person who would do something in vain! “There must be something ahead,” thought Brent, as he further increased his scanning radius. However, the results still showed nothing!

With his current scanning radius, Brent estimated with Kun Ting’s speed of flight that he would need at least 5 hours to reach the edges of his scan!

“Could there be something even further away?” Bren shook his head. Would anyone be foolish enough to spend more than 5 hours to win in something as trivial as a game?

“Impossible!” Brent dismissed the idea! “Would anyone be so foolish?” The thought made Brent shake his head and laugh a little. The thought was too ridiculous!

The spectators shook their heads and left, leaving only a few behind to watch the game.

A burly man with a red face and bushy eyebrows was frowning hard, confused by what he was seeing. He could not help but asked softly, “Big bro, what’s the boy’s tricks, you think? I don’t understand him at all, but there’s something wrong here! He looks like he’s running away, but he’s not exactly speeding away. He may have some tricks up his sleeves, but there’s nothing ahead of him. Besides, this battleground is not good for the Meat Grinder. Unless his opponent made a blunder, I don’t see any way out of his situation! Though, the guy back there sure shoots well, I don’t think he’s going to miss much!”

Standing by his side was a bearded, middle-aged man. His eyes glowed a little at the comment, but he replied solemnly, “You’re wrong, second little bro! Hmm hmm, the guy in front is the one you should look out for! Guy’s determined, must be a ruthless character! As for the guy at the back, he may shoot just fine, but it’s obvious that he’s never been in a real battle in his life!” He spoke the last sentence with faint but clear condescension!

Redface was surprised, as he had never heard his big brother praise someone so highly. If he did not already know that his big brother would never speak lightly, he would have thought that the man was sick in the head! He asked carefully, “Big bro, you say he’s determined, but I don’t see how! He’s just flying straight ahead! It’s all in vain!”

Beardman laughed, his glistening white teeth showing, with an expression of reminiscence. “If not for my experience with this battleground, I’d have thought the same as you! There’s this one time, with another guy, we fought for twenty rounds straight, and the results were tied! And so, we decided that the next game would decide the winner!” Beardman wore a relaxed expression, cherishing his past. On his side, Redface looked eager, learning that someone could battle against his big brother for twenty rounds straight and ending with a tie! That person must be very capable!

“What happened in the twenty first round is like this – he suddenly chose a close range mech, hehe, just like the young man here, and immediately ran off at the start! I didn’t think much of it back then, and chased after him! Hehe, it took twelve hours, the chasing, and I was young and all, only thinking of winning! I didn’t expect to be chasing for so long, and after 7 hours of chasing, I finally figured out the bstard’s goal! I always thought that my mech’s scanning radius was large enough, but that bstard did me one better! From our initial positions, there’s a huge asteroid belt at 9 degrees from the radius vector. However, hehe, it’ll take a full twelve-hours to reach it!”

Redface gasped in astonishment, the answer clearly not what he expected! He could not imagine two people chasing around for twelve hours to battle in a game!

“Anyway, I lost that match! But I lost fair and square! You must have heard of him, he’s called the Son of Light!” Breadman continued lightly.

“Son of Light? That legendary Son of Light?” This was obviously surprising for Redface. He looked shocked, mouth gaping wide!

Beardman did not explain any further, but watched with interest at Ye Chong on the holographic screen. “Hehe, who’d have thought I’d meet a guy like this again! If that b*stard Son of Light is still here, he would have found a kindred spirit!” He bowed his head, deep in thought.

“These – these men, are they all crazy?” thought Redface, astonished. “Chasing around for twelve hours in a game? I didn’t think someone as calm as big bro would have done that!”

Beardman pondered for a long moment before lifting his head again. He looked eloquently at the holographic screen, showing a Lra mech, still flying straight ahead.

Beardman thought for a moment, and warned, “Second little bro, our job this time is to return Fred the Great’s favor. Beyond that, it’s not for us to interfere. We only need to keep a discreet eye on this guy!”

“Keep an eye on him? Isn’t he with Brent? He should be fine!” Redface was baffled.

Seeing his baffled expression, Beardman sighed a little inside, but still tried to explain, “You have to look at the eyes to know someone. You may not have noticed, but when Brent and the guy arrived just now, I saw that they were still on guard against each other. Hehe, they’re still too young! Can’t hide their thoughts! Besides, though they may walk side by side, they still keep a curious distance between them. Also, if I remember correctly, the guy was not on this ship in the beginning!” While his words were speculative, his tone was decisive, and his eyes shone brightly.

Redface was surprised. “You mean he infiltrated midway? That’s impossible! You can’t just infiltrate Sabre like nobody’s business!”

Beardman shook his head. “I’m not sure about that, however, we just have to keep an eye on him! Hehe, the ship’s full of complicated characters, and anything can happen. We just have to do our best!”

“Alright!” Redface nodded, not entirely understanding.

“Ah, Ke Sang, Old Pang, you’re still watching it? Those two fellows sure are boring, running around for who knows what?” A pugnacious looking man approached the two, a drink in his hand.

Beardman, or Old Pang, gave a little smile. “It’s not like we have anything else to do. You must be here to ask Ka Sang for a drink! Ka Sang, go have fun with Leopard and the other men, shake off some boredom!” He hinted with his eyes at Redface.

Ka Sang acknowledged, not entirely sure of himself.

Leopard instantly brightened up, and rubbed his hands together in excitement. “Yea, that’s right, it’s just dull sitting around here! Old Pang, wanna have some fun?”

Old Pang smiled reservedly and declined. “I’d better not go, I’m not as much of a drinker like you all. Ka Sang will join you!”

Leopard did not insist, and dragged a confused Ka Sang along with him towards the bar counter.

Brent was growing restless. It had been more than half an hour, but Kun Ting was showing no signs of stopping. What was he trying to achieve?

Brent tried to suppress his agitation and forced himself to continue on.

Just when Brent was starting to feel impatient, his vision suddenly turned black. He felt the gaming booth automatically open, and before he could remove his helmet, he heard the mad shrieking of the alarm that was blaring deafeningly!

Somehow, although Brent’s immediate reaction was shock, his next reaction was one of relief!

Chapter 104: Enter the Warship

e Chong came out of the gaming booth, and found that Brent was the only other person left in the hall. Brent was staring fixedly at the holographic screen, not even noticing when Ye Chong came to his side.

The holographic screen showed the image of a white starship ahead of them. The white starship looked like two pure white crescents crossing each other, elegant and exquisite. Ye Chong knew almost nothing about starships, but felt that the design looked familiar, as though he had seen it before, but could not recall when.

It was like a massive, elegant beast, approaching their starship with apparent ease.

Everyone held their breaths, staring unblinkingly at the holographic screen.

Suddenly, something changed with the white starship on the holographic screen. Dozens of armour plates slid open, revealing numerous dark cavities. Just when everyone was confused, long cylinders extended from those cavities, a threatening sight!

“Laser cannons? A warship?” Brent, who always looked calm, now had a twisted expression! “How is this possible? A warship? Haven’t the Five Galaxies forbidden their manufacturing? How can anyone still make warships?” Brent was getting repetitive.

On the other hand, Ye Chong was watching Brent in confusion, thinking, “Are they really that scary?”

Captain Hatik’s commands reverberated throughout the entire starship. His voice was hoarse and low, unlike when he was with Ye Chong and Brent earlier. “Attention to all crew members! Attention to all crew members! All hands on deck! All hands on deck! Combatants, prepare for battle! Combatants, prepare for battle!”

The entire bridge was swarming with activity. While the threat before them was unprecedented, they were all experienced crew members and did not panic, but did their duties in an orderly manner.

“Captain, the enemy’s deployed interference measures. Our signals are severely disrupted, we can’t request for assistance from nearby planets!” The officer in charge of communications reported.

Captain Hatik wore a heavy expression. He was troubled by the report, but commanded in his deep voice, “Keep at it, don’t stop trying!”

“Yes sir!”

“Quick! Come with me!” Brent ran ahead without explaining further!

Ye Chong responded quickly as he was told, and trailed behind Brent.

The two went straight to the room where Fred was. The man was staring at the white warship on his holographic screen, muttering to himself, “Ah, the world’s heading towards chaos again!”

Brent noticed Shang, standing by the side, and saw the mech’s missing arm. He frowned and asked, “Do you have a functioning mech?”

Ye Chong thought it over. Harmony of the Winter Aria was heavily damaged, and probably could do nothing in a battle. That left him with the F-58, but the F-58 was only a training mech, unfit for combat. Ye Chong shook his head reluctantly, “No!”

Brent grabbed hold of his Uncle Fred, who was still in a daze. “Uncle, do we still have any functioning mechs?”

Fred seemed to recover himself then. “Oh, we do, we do!” He went to a corner and groped about for a moment, and Swish, a door opened where the wall once was. After a round of identity authentication, the three entered the secret room.

Ye Chong was surprised, learning that the secret room had evaded even Mu’s scans. It was truly incredible!

The secret room was not large, storing about 8 mechs in it, all unknown to Ye Chong. Their colours intertwined, and the twinkling metallic lustre made the room like a tiny, mesmerising world of metallic mechs.

Fred pointed towards the mechs and said, “These are all my proud creations, pick one!” He knew that in their desperate situation, if he was captured, these mechs would no longer be his. It would be better to use the mechs to bolster firepower, and increase his chances of survival.

Ye Chong may have seen his fair share of mechs, but these were all uniquely designed and confusing to him. For the moment, he was at a loss as to pick which one!

Brent noticed Ye Chong’s quandary and asked, “What’s your preferred type of mech? Close or long range?”

Ye Chong replied without hesitation, “Close range!”

Brent looked to Uncle Fred, who continued quickly, “This is the only close range mech!” He pointed towards a black, menacing mech. “Its design is inspired by an ancient totem from a remote tribal village! Its original form is one of the Gods of the tribe …”

The mech was undoubtedly the most attractive of all the other mechs. While it was not the most exquisite, its height was nearly twice that of any common mech, towering over the others. The design was also odd – 2 faces and 4 hands, where each hand held a weapon or a shield; one face was smiling pleasantly, another was staring furiously, full of intimidation! The joints, such as the elbows and knees, were wrapped with old-style armour plates, covered with barbs.

“A God? This is no God, this is a murder weapon in the mortal world!” This was Ye Chong’s first impression of it, but that was also how he came to like the mech.

Ye Chong did not waste time listening to Fred’s long winded explanation. He asked, “Where’s the dimension keystone?”

Fred hit his own head and exclaimed, “Oh, how could I have forgotten about that, let me find it!” He began rummaging about the room. Brent could only look on helplessly, unsure if he should laugh or cry out loud.

Ye Chong did not mind them. He climbed onto the mech with bare hands like a mutant monkey, and slipped into the pilot’s cabin. He put on the battle helmet and began to configure the initial settings.

Brent waited anxiously as Ye Chong did the initial configurations.

Suddenly, a dull thump was heard, and the entire starship shook slightly! Brent’s expression twisted! The enemy had fired their cannons! Fred paled as well, but he maintained his calm composure and recovered from the shock, continuing his search for the mech’s dimension keystone.

Ye Chong was fully focused, undistracted by anything around him!

Captain Hatik’s hoarse voice was trembling faintly as he announced, “Fleet One combatants, attack!”

Brent could not wait for Ye Chong any further. He quickly switched on the secret room’s holographic screen, and Fred, who had just found the keystone, was also diverted to the holographic display.

About a hundred mechs flew towards the white warship, a black swarm, like hornets leaving their nest. The mech pilots personally chosen by Captain Hatik’s were all experienced combatants. Their formation and defense was solid.

The enemy seemed to realize the swarm, and directed some of the cannons towards it.

Ye Chong was finished with the initial configurations. He slipped out of the mech and asked Fred, “Have you found the keystone?”

Fred shifted his attention from the holographic screen to him, and handed over the dimension keystone to Ye Chong. “Here, this is it. Don’t forget, the mech’s name is Yu Di [1], which is also the name of the God! It’s yours now, take care of it!” Fred spoke like a father placing his son in another’s care, and he looked a little saddened.

“Yes!” Ye Chong nodded resolutely, and took Yu Di’s dimension keystone from Fred.

“Are there backup energy cells?” Ye Chong asked.

“Oh, there!” Fred pointed towards a corner, thinking nothing of it. Ye Chong swiftly made for the energy cells and moved them into Yu Di. Energy cells were the driving force of all mechs, it would do no harm to have a few as backup!

Ye Chong moved the energy cells until he deemed them enough, and withdrew Yu Di into its alternate dimension.

The starship was occasionally shaking , Sabre’s massive hull unable to evade any of the enemy’s cannon attacks. Fortunately, its armor was as thick as the ship was massive, and its armor would not falter in the short term. However, if the situation continued, destruction was only a matter of time.

The warship’s cannon attacks were not effective against the quick movements of the mechs, much like shooting mosquitoes with cannon balls. The warship’s weapons were designed to increase their firepower and maximize damage on starships, but this required some compromise on the weapons’ flexibility and accuracy, making them less effective against mechs.

However, the heavy round of cannonfire earlier still resulted in the loss of quite a few mechs. The mechs that were hit ended tragically. Most of them were vapourized instantly, and even those that were only slightly grazed exploded almost instantly. The pilots in the mechs stood no chance of surviving the attacks.

Brent’s face was white as paper, witnessing a spectacle as cruel as it was for the very first time. Ye Chong, however, kept his cool demeanor, his expression unchanged, for the sight was not as impressive to him!

The enemy seemed to realize then that cannon fire was ineffective against the mechs!

The best weapon against mechs would be mechs! This was a widely circulated saying amongst mech pilots.

About thirty to forty white mechs flew out from the enemy’s warship. Seeing the obvious advantage in numbers on his own side, Brent could not help but exhale in relief!

However, when Ye Chong could see the mechs more clearly, his calm composure was disrupted, and Ye Chong’s expression twisted!

The MPA!

These white mechs were all the same model as the one that Johansson attacked that day. While he did not know its name, Ye Chong was certain that he did not remember it wrong! During his time on Blue Ocean, he was attacked a few times by the white mech for no apparent reason.

It was no wonder that Ye Chong felt that the white warship looked familiar. The ship’s design was very similar to the strange looking gun that the white mechs held in their hands!

These people will not stand a chance! While the enemy was severely outnumbered, Ye Chong knew from the white mech’s strength that their smaller squad had terrifying potential!

Ye Chong spoke without explaining his thought, “Come, let’s back them up!”

Brent paused. “Do they still need backing up? We’re twice in numbers!”

Ye Chong ignored him, and mentally reached for Shang, “We’re backing them up!”

“I agree with your decision!” From his light tone, Ye Chong knew immediately that it was Mu!

Ye Chong was overjoyed. “Mu, it’s you! I was expecting Shang!”

Mu explained calmly, “The threat level is too high. For safety reasons, Shang had asked for me!”

“Hmm, it’s good to have you!” Ye Chong felt himself feeling calmer, and immediately rushed for the flight runways.

That was how Fred and Brent witnessed the extraordinary moment where the one-armed mech, inert since a few days ago, moved and trailed behind Ye Chong, following him closely.

Fred, who had been studying the mech for the past few days, could only look on in astonishment!

Translator’s note:

[1] Yu Di: Translated from 鱼的, the name of the mech given to Ye Chong by Fred.

Chapter 105: The Insidious Yu Di

e Chong and Mu did not meet anyone idling around along the way. Everyone stood at their appointed stations dutifully. All non-combatants were sent to the safe room to avoid harm.

There were many flight runways available on Sabre, and that was convenient for Ye Chong.

As the mechs from both sides engaged, Sabre’s mechs immediately took heavy damage. The enemy’s mechs Nanowaves fired from their flexible ivory-white Javelin Angel-Vs, coupled with an impressive auto lock-on system that even Black Cove mechs found difficult to evade unleashed its full destructive powers on the enemy. The forty two Messengers all fired once, and forty mechs from the other side perished as a result, leaving only two mechs that escaped their assault.

Such terrifying aim and powerful guns caused instant turmoil amongst the mechs from Sabre.

At the bridge onboard Sabre, everyone stared in shocked, their faces paled as though the world was ending before their eyes. Captain Hatik’s pained expression was twisted horribly, but he quickly gave the order in his hoarse voice. “Squads Two, Three and Four combatants, initiate attack!”

If they ceased to attack now, the remaining mechs would quickly be overwhelmed. Captain Hatik could only hope to use their numbers to his advantage, and so he put all his hopes on this last gamble!

Everyone onboard the ship understood their fates. When the enemy used a warship against them, it implied that they had no intention of leaving anyone alive. If news of their warship was leaked, the enemy would have to face the united forces of the Five Galaxies. No matter how powerful the enemy was, the result was definitely fatal. Surely the enemy would think the same!

Captain Hatik turned to his communications officer and asked, “Well? Any signals yet?”

The officer was on the verge of crying, looking hopeless. “None! Captain, I believe we’re done for!”

Captain Hatik felt his chest tighten, but he maintained his calm expression and patted the officer on the back and said determinedly, “Don’t give up, continue reaching out! We will prevail! Don’t worry! I will bring you all home!”

The officer pulled himself together and nodded clearly, “Yes! Captain!” and continued on with his work, repeating his efforts of trying to communicate with the outside world.

Captain Hatik, however, was feeling a little dismal! Can one truly control one’s own fate?

Ye Chong had just exited the flight runway when Captain Hatik gave the order for the supporting forces!

The first squad of combatants knew that they were no match for the opponent, and could only desperately buy time for support. Hence, an array of impressive evading skills were continuously employed in the small battlefield, and the battle was turned into a mass demonstration of evasion tricks!

However, the results were apparent, as the rate of mechs lost was reducing quickly.

The sight of three hundred over mechs launching together was an incredible sight! Even the ever steadfast Ye Chong could not help but feel a rush of excitement! Yu Di and Mu flew amongst the three hundred over mechs, inconspicuous to the ignorant!

However, this was obviously not the time for Ye Chong to be overexcited. He must familiarize himself with Yu Di, a gift from Fred, before he entered the range of the enemy’s attacks!

Yu Di’s every component was designed and made by Fred the Great himself, most of them very different from the component models found commonly in the market. Fortunately, Ye Chong was knowledgeable in mech modifications, and even if he did not know the exact models used, a few trials and errors was enough for him to have a rough understanding of the mech!

The mech’s engines were definitely top of the line. Sitting in the mech, Ye Chong could feel the powerful surge from the mech’s engines, surpassing even the capabilities of Harmony of the Winter Aria. “As expected of a master,” thought Ye Chong respectfully. One should understand that the most difficult component to modify in a mech was its engines, since technology in engine designs were already mature. To modify even a small part of an engine was an incredible feat, much less redesigning an entirely new model! Besides, this engine model performed wonderfully!

Yu Di’s most eye-catching feature was definitely its four hands. These four mechanical hands were well designed, with a range of motion that surprised even Ye Chong. The hands moved like the tentacles of an octopus, and even the weapons equipped for them were thoughtful.

One hand held a shield, and without any experience with it, Ye Chong did not know its capabilities, as he dared not attempt to test it in the current battle. Another hand clutched a spear, its head made of laser beams. The laser spearhead could even be launched as a weapon, but as for its effectiveness, Ye Chong was equally ignorant.

The weapon held by the third hand was one that Ye Chong was familiar with – a UF magnetic sword. This was one of Ye Chong’s favourite weapons, and this particular sword’s vibrating frequency was three times higher than the top grade UF magnetic swords found in the market. “Heavens, how did he solve the vibration frequency threshold problem? That’s a world-class problem!” thought Ye Chong.

The weapon on the fourth and final hand was a bit odd. It was a vase shaped ammunitions launcher. “The old fool, did he really think this is a God?” The thought of the vase shaped design made Ye Chong want to cry, or laugh, or both. However, once he examined the contents of the launcher, Ye Chong felt a chill run down his spine! Electro-interference grenades, high compression explosive grenades, metal degradation agents … All sorts of insidious auxiliary grenades were found, and in great variety. Ye Chong even found a small gravity grenade. “The man can fit a gravity matrix into such a small grenade! How terrifying!” Ye Chong finally understood that the mech was no God, but an honest-to-God devil of extreme insidiousness! Perhaps the trump card of this mech lay in these weapons!

“What a crafty old man!”

However, Ye Chong was not extremely gratified by the old man, Fred. These weapons, if used appropriately, would have devastating power! That meant that Ye Chong’s chances of survival had increased!

Without time for further contemplation, Mu reminded Ye Chong that he was close to the enemy’s firing range. Ye Chong immediately gathered his thoughts and examined the situation before him carefully. If he took a hit, even Mu with all his ingenuity could not save him! Fortunately, his hands moved quickly enough to make up for his unfamiliarity with Yu Di.

The MPA warship’s commander was obviously confident of the forty two Messengers, and did not direct any of the warship’s cannons to provide support. Instead, the cannons continued to fired at Sabre at a steady pace, hoping to breach the starship’s seemingly impregnable armor!

Since Ye Chong was still adjusting himself to Yu Di, he was no longer in the middle of the swarm of mechs, but had dropped behind, with Mu flying steadily by his side.

However, with this, he would only need to concentrate on avoiding any stray bullets. He was not foolish enough to rush to the front lines!

Over three hundred mechs of all colours surrounded the forty two Messengers and fired their long range weapons, the canopy of laser beams and heat rays formed a dazzling web of light. No matter how powerful the Messengers were, they could not overcome the force of so many others! The forty two Messengers took their first hit, five of them destroyed by the first round of attacks, and a few of them were damaged!

The pilots were encouraged, as the white mechs image of invincibility was finally shattered!

The remaining Messengers did not stay put, but whizzed away in all directions, flying into the swarm of mechs. The pilots ceased fire for fear of shooting their comrades but the Messengers did not share the same concern; almost everyone around them were their enemies, and they could fire as they please! However, they also lost their long range advantage earlier. However, while their numbers were decreasing, the enemy’s numbers were also decreasing, but at a much higher rate, tenfold or more!

Ye Chong carefully avoided the stray bullets. He did fully understand Yu Di’s armor and defense capabilities, and this was not the place to experiment on them.

Some distance away, a Messenger was pursued by a few mechs, and was now heading towards him.

Ye Chong laughed coldly inside, his hands moving across the controls in a blur, initiating a sequence of maneuvers. Yu Di lifted its vase-shaped grenade launcher, and a gravity grenade was launched towards the Messenger.

Ye Chong noticed then that his scanning system did not register any trace of the gravity grenade. “Was the grenade shell made of anti-detection material? It must be so! What a sly old man!” Ye Chong was sincerely impressed!

The Messenger was obviously faster than the mechs pursuing it. With just a few minor evasive motions, it could avoid the laser beam attacks from behind.

The pilot of this Messenger also noticed an oddly designed mech some distance away, floating around idly. “What a fool, to space off on the battleground, just asking for trouble. As expected, this is just an assorted crew! The pilot in the mech smiled condescendingly, his Javelin Angel-V already pointed towards the odd looking mech. “Four arms? Does he think he’s an octopus? Hehe, I’ll show you the taste of some good grilled octopus!”

With just a move of his finger, the idiot would turn into ashes! The pilot’s mouth formed a cruel smile!

Suddenly, without any warning, his whole body was heavily weighed down , as though he was falling. In that moment, he felt as though he was bundled together with some iron beams, his body unwilling to move as he wished it to, and any movement became extremely difficult! Before he could react any further, laser beams came from behind towards him.

His face was drained of color, and his eyes widened, panic-stricken; sweat along his forehead rolled downwards like a stream due to the gravitational pull!

BANG He knew his Messenger had been hit! Based on his experience, it should be the left shoulder!

A few other laser beams shot towards him, and while evasion was easy before, he could no longer react to anything. He watched hopelessly at the odd mech, and, just before he was completely engulfed in the explosion, he noticed that the thin smile on the mech’s face was suddenly the very image of cruelty!

Chapter 106: Warship Infiltration

he Messenger exploded into a brilliant cluster of fireworks. Zoom! Ye Chong was not in the mood to behold such dazzle! He quickly steered Yu Di away from the incoming mechs. If it was not for the impromptu steering, he would have joined the fireworks too! Those mechs on the other hand also found the happening recklessly preposterous, but being an old hand on the steer in the war field, they understood that it simply was not the time to ponder on these nonsensical issues as they repositioned themselves to cover up for each other, searching for the next target to fire!

The war field was chaotic and congested with speeding mechs. The laser beams crossed over each other, blooming in clusters like grand fireworks. The deafening explosion resounded sometimes, marking the tiny conclusion of each overlapping battle in the boundless space.

Not only the enemies had to watch themselves for the bullets, the member of the same team was also defenseless as they could helplessly get hit from this massive shower of firings.

“Ye, tsk.” Mu commented, “Marksmanship, Ye. Marksmanship. You do need additional classes on shooting skills. Blades do not work in a war field like this; shooting works much better.”

Ye Chong agreed with Mu deep in his heart, as it seemed to him that any melee attacker could suffer worse fate than slavery in a war field like this.

Ye Chong loitered in the field. He fired a few additional shots with the bullets in his cartridge from time to time. However obviously Ye Chong lacked the talent for ranged shooting as he was still able to bloodily miss the shot on the enemy and land it on his ally instead… despite all the modification of simplifying the set-up for the firing on his cartridge.

The number of the Messengers decreased drastically. Only less than half of them remained 5 minutes after the beginning of this free-for-all fight. The Sabre was not at an easier place however, as they suffered worse loss – averagely 7 to 8 mechs had to go sacrificed to take out a single Messenger, and that was under the circumstance of a besieging strike.

Hence, the offensive force of a Messenger was justifiable. The strength of FMPA was fearsome enough to make Ye Chong to have cold feet.

That was especially when most of his allies consisted of well-known ace pilots. Imagine if he was allied with ordinary pilots instead; it would be a massacre!

“Ye, follow my lead!” Mu’s voice rang out of the blue.

“Mhm!” Ye Chong replied without hesitation and tailed Mu for a moment. “Wait!” He realized the direction they were heading to and he was surprised, “Mu, aren’t we committing suicide if we head this way?”

“Very strangely, there happened to be information on this model of warship in one of the damaged folders in my databank.” Flatly Mu stated.

“What?” Ye Chong was stupefied, “You actually have details on this warship?”

“Correct. However as mentioned, part of it was damaged, so it was not a complete information to begin with. If my analysis has no inaccuracies, the raid by 42 of these white mechs was only the first wave. Going by the standard set-up there should be 42 more unmodified mechs and 6 more advanced mechs being the main defense,” elaborated Mu indifferently.

“There’re 6 more advanced mechs?” Ye Chong frowned as he asked on while dodging the bombardment around, “Why didn’t they send the advanced mechs first? They could have won right away if they did.”

“Negative. According to my information, the answer remained unknown. Nevertheless, as illustrated by the damaged information in the database, the so-called warship was not actually made for warring purposes.”

“What is it made for then?” asked Ye Chong in curiosity.

“The name is ‘Twin Moon Corvette’, a ship for escorting important items or personnels, normally travels in 7 as a fleet. Sometimes a single of them is used for conducting offensive missions, though its firepower was unknown as displayed being a damaged portion of the data. I had intercepted the signals and I had found out that the encryption methodology used in the signal from this corvette was the exact signal we got back in the ship. Technically, the signals should come from the same group of people,” explained Mu.

“Also the signal verification system of the corvette acts passively. Additional information regarding their encryption and the exact frequency had been transferred to your processor. By setting up the frequency in the processor, we could avoid their tracking system as being identified as an ally rather than foes in the field.”

“Oh… I… I see…” Ye Chong nodded as he somehow had gotten the idea… but… “So what do we do next? Raid the warship?”

“Based on my calculations…” Mu began. “My plan would be ambushing one of the many walkways for their outgoing mechs to catch them off guard while heading in. Then we destroy the entire commanding center of this corvette and turn it into our main war field. We can hold better advantages hitting from the inside,” added Mu.

“What if there was no any outgoing mechs at the walkway as we ambush?” inquired Ye Chong.

Mu answered nonchalantly, “Based on the information obtained, mechs of the main offense and unmodified forces share an entirely different walkway, with 6 of them being the frequently used entrances and 2 of them being a backup doorway, the odds are great in this! Well, if the odds were against us, we would have to blow the gate open, though I would not recommend this as this would alarm the foes and time would be constrained.”

“Mu, can’t you hack into the ship?” an idea flashed in Ye Chong’s mind. “It would work on this ship, wouldn’t it? Or can’t we enter under the disguise as allies with the frequency you have given ?”

“Negative, our time is sufficient,” Mu concluded concisely. “And that signal is solely for external verification, unlike the internal system of the warship, which contains a more complicated set of signals for recognition. Even if we have that said signals, we could not pass the hologram scanning checkpoint. The appearance of our mechs differ from the foes’ too much.”

While they discussed on their plan, they have arrived meters away from the corvette. There were actually 2 mechs that came from nowhere. They were not the Messengers apparently yet they flew towards the corvette recklessly. It seemed like they had the same infiltration plan as Ye Chong but they were much ignorant. Since they do not have the matching signal to the ship, they were assailed right when they moved forward, forcing them to run away clumsily.

Clumsily they might have dodged the shots yet Ye Chong’s eyes lustered. “Those were the experts!” commented Ye Chong upon witnessing the scene.

“Follow my lead,” Mu’s voice rang again.

Ye Chong shifted his eyes away from the experts and hurriedly hovered to a spot near the sides of a walkway allocated by Mu.

Gasp…

He took a deep breath as he watched the gate carefully. No more time for nonsense, he thought as he laid his hands on the control panel, relaxed and was ready to launch anytime.

He had not gotten used to Yu Di yet. If only he was piloting the Harmony… he would have better confidence.

The seconds lapsed sluggishly in his head, while the 2 mechs were still dodging the shells from the warship. The warship did not show full hostility however, as seemingly they presumed these 2 mechs were no more than just annoying flies on the screen. As insignificant as the mechs were, it was impossible to capture a warship with only two of them, although to Ye Chong and Mu, these mechs had became their allies in this operation.

“Ye, ready!” Mu’s voice came abruptly.

With full focus, his body tightened slightly as his palms were placed right above the panel, waiting for that initiating keyword from Mu.

The gate opened slowly.

“Do it!”

Zap! Both hands of Ye Chong transformed into shrouds of overlapping imageries, as Yu Di accelerated all the way to the top of the gate and aimed the laser lance right at the entrance!

“How com-” The opponent was covered in darkness. They tried to react with maximum speed on their mechs with further speed-up from the firing system, yet they failed!

The moment Ye Chong got to the spot, wham! A brutal force came into his way!

Yu Di was sent flying, like it was crashed by a shooting star.

The momentum was so great; greater than expected. Ye Chong felt like his body was hammered violently at the time of crash, with splashes of blood squirted from his mouth. Nonetheless, he could not stop just yet! His hands were inputting command back at the time of contact. His speed allowed him to make a slash at the foe with his magnetic blade. Before he was sent flying he also tossed the laser lance to the foe. It should not miss at a distance this short… Thought Ye Chong.

On the other hand, Mu zapped into the walkway the second the foe exited from the warship. He had to, since the gate would close immediately after the mech left.

The mech launched itself from the gate and crashed into Yu Di with full speed. A major comeback from the foe!

Mu was a much more tactical fighter than Ye Chong. He turned his side towards the gate and cannoned into the gate from inside, like a meteorite. The dividing gate was smashed and the air inside the warship leaked wildly like a hurricane. The gate had became a vent!

The remaining 5 mechs of the main force were discharged from the walkway! Obviously Ye Chong had noticed something amiss as he zoomed into the walkway, disregarding his wounds and Yu Di’s damage. At least the gravity system of the warship remained intact. Imagine if the place had gone weightless and those fragments of the gate were dispersed like flying spikes. It could be fatal.

The dodging mechs also followed Ye Chong into the warship right after!

The walkway was not as long as he imagined. Within twinkling of eyes he arrived at a dead end. The white mech floated at the gate. It was all distorted on the outside. There was a huge hole right at the chest where the sides were charred thoroughly. Its left shoulder was broken, probably because of that slash made by Ye Chong’s magnetic blade. The body was pressed by the remnants of the gate. It looked like only miracle could save the pilot inside from being dead.

The interior of the warship was covered by thin walls. Certainly they were foolish to let this potential security breach go unnoticed, since the thickness and hardness of the walls could not even hold any mech from entering, let alone the super mechs like Mu and Yu Di.

The mechs exited in flocks instantly when they realized something was wrong as they flew towards the mothership. Mu did not have the leisure to hack the whole system of the warship. He only had the time to destroy the control room before these men arrived. If not, “We would be watched and soon we would be destroyed, like a honeypot,” Ye Chong said although he had never seen an actual honeypot before.

After the 2 mechs stormed inside the warship and they whizzed before Ye Chong, he ran away right after he catapulted an explosive to the walkway. The 2 mechs were not that ignorant towards this blatant forewarning coming from Ye Chong as they chased after his lead with the highest velocity.

2 to 3 seconds later, the sound of the explosion roared behind them.

Anyone could have guessed what a pain it would be if they were boomed in such a narrow space.

The remaining mechs followed Mu, making a few sharp turns to the left, sometimes to the right, all the way to the main control room!

Chapter 107: Ye Chong’s Demonstration

ld Pang never expected the enemies to be this skillful, more like, the enemies’ mechs were too overpowered. Old Pang and Ka Sang were both in the first group during the first wave of the attack and they were also the remaining mechs after the enemies’ overwhelming strike. As the situation of the war field grew beyond control, Old Pang decided to go by his experience to plan a raid against the mothership of the opponent instead. So as he led Ka Sang the way to the warship, surprisingly he spotted another pair of mechs somewhere near the entrance. Those were surely his allies. It was simple – the ally contained mechs of all sorts of color while the foe wholly consisted of white mechs. Old Pang found these additional allies peculiar however, as they were unaffected by the enemies’ firing. It was as if they were invisible.

Wait no! Are they undercover? This was the first speculation that flashed in his mind as he wondered if he should diverge his firearm at any of these strange fellas. And he held his fire eventually as what happened next had cleared his doubts. The oddly designed mech was crashed away by the mech flying out from the corvette at lightning speed. Direct and violent, obviously that was too impulsive for a reunion hug between allies.

Old Pang’s heart nearly failed to take the intensity, he almost felt his heart jumping right out of his mouth.

Did the guy want to die? He never thought this pilot of the foe was such a bold person that he would sacrifice himself to eliminate the potential threat outside to create an opening for his teammates. Collision this intense could break through any advanced pressure buffering system inside the cabin and without a doubt it could break a human body of such fragility. The Old Pang saluted with respect in his heart. And then he shrunk in slight worry – the opponent turned out to be this devastating… he should not have brought his partner here! He took a glance at Ka Sang, restlessly he held the panel.

He watched on and as he saw that handicapped blue-white mech acting in such agility that he nailed his timing perfectly to make his entry to the warship, the Old Pang exclaimed, “Such an expert!”

To his horror he saw that black mechs with four arms hovering back to his former position. “Am… I seeing things?” he asked as he could not believe his eyes as he rubbed. That black mech was sent flying like a falling star… and he actually came back?

No way! How could any human survive a collision that intense?

He flinched for a moment, however fortunately as perceptive as he was, he got the odd mech’s motive upon seeing it sneaking into the walkway. Mumbled some compliments in joy, he hurried Ka Sang to go after the two mechs right when he saw the mechs of the foes elevating.

Judging by how the two mechs behaved, they seemed to be aware that both Ka Sang and himself were allies rather than foes.

After the explosion, they arrived before the main control room, where the alloy gate blocked their entry. Mu disengaged from the signal before and switched back to the open channel, “The main control room uses an independent defense system. It would be quite difficult if we were to enter by brutal force. I would need 3 minutes to work on something,” Ye Chong and the two partners received an order from him.

“Mhm,” promptly Ye Chong responded.

“Understood,” Old Pang was mindful of the situation as he responded with approval immediately, though he was a little skeptical about it… only 3 minutes to break a door open this thick that was clearly made out of alloy from Blanc Alloys Corp.? He knew it at first sight… but he did not have a better tactic in mind so he stayed quiet and prayed that the pilot of the handicapped mech really did have a master plan in mind.

The interior of the warship was overly crammed for a walkway, which limited the room for avoiding shots. If the foes were given the opportunity to shoot, Ye Chong predicted that it would not be a waste as every shot would count. Nevertheless, the topography of this area looked relatively complex, which was an aid to Ye Chong’s dexterity. Moreover, as the walkway was narrow, they would not be this rash to use an area-blowing weapon like the nano wave cannon they used before. If they did, everyone would die altogether.

“Oh?” Almost immediately after the order was given, the enemies came.

The 3 mechs looked certainly graceless as they reached the scene. Apparently the grenade Ye Chong tossed had dealt quite some damage on them… well at least crispy on the outside. Being set up in such a dirty trick, the white mechs were acting aggressively as they arrived with their lasers shooting.

As Ye Chong said earlier, there was no space to hide. He could only shield himself from the incoming beams. He had yet to test the durability of his shield so he hoped that it would take the test.

Thup! Thup!

It somehow took the lasers flawlessly as its black body expanded out of a sudden. Zztt! The edges of the shield broke away like scattered building blocks. Before he noticed, the shield had already enlarged to twice the area before. Its appearance had changed drastically, with a sculpture of a fearsome beast standing in the middle of the shield ferociously, its eyes shone like a pair of red stars in the dark night on the shield. Creepy! And the surface of the shield flickered like the waving water. He had seen it on Johansson’s protection system before!

The laser beam landed on the shield like raindrops on a crystal lake surface. They became ripples on the plasma area of the shield. The eyes of the beast grew brighter!

Ye Chong was relieved. The shield did a pretty impressive job. These ordinary weaponries were no longer his concern.

They formed an “A” shape surrounding Mu in the middle to cover him up as he cracked something.

Old Pang owned a brownish humanoid mech… well it was a little plain in appearance, the shield was small and he required Ka Sang’s constant assistance for additional covers. His position was weird nonetheless as he could cover up Mu while standing within the proximity of Ka Sang’s large shield. He would exchange fires with the enemies and his fierce attack did not miss unexpectedly! Ye Chong was impressed. But he had to admit that these foes were not weak either. Their defense was so superior that Old Pang’s modified laser firearm could only hit dents on the surface.

Ka Sang’s mech was rowdy by design. The face of the humanoid mech was expressionless. Ye Chong wondered which lazy company actually manufactured this – such laziness! The mech’s shield too was unadorned and looked like a giant metal plate, though it did possess edges sharp like the blades, a good killing weapon it could be.

Seemingly the foes were informed of what Ye Chong and his gang were planning to do. They panicked as the frontmost mech lifted his nano wave cannon.

“Oh no!” Ye Chong feared as he was not sure if his shield could take nano wave attack!

His hands started moving on the control panel and Yu Di was launched like an arrow off the bow right into the 3 white mechs!

Old Pang was shocked by the sudden movement and he shifted to Yu Di’s position before to fill in the gap of defense before Mu.

The foes were astonished by Ye Chong’s abrupt launch too as they diverged all their firepower right onto him!

Yu Di jumped from side to side on the walls of the walkway, zigzagging his way to the white mechs, speedily it changed course again and again, which confused the white mechs.

Ye Chong was so engaged in his leaps that he did not realize what a shocking performance he was having that left Old Pang and Ka Sang dumbfounded at the side. Being able to perform such a fast turning in spite of limited space, is this guy still a human? Old Pang was daringly sure that such sharp turning would absolutely cause pressure beyond the tolerance of the human body.

Horrifying!

Everyone thought so.

Well it was not solely Ye Chong’s amazing performance, Yu Di took some credits too. Its mobility was greater than Ye Chong expected. The zigzagging turnings were seamlessly done! Of course the environment was also a factor in this. If there was no wall at both sides, he could not make the leaps with a single-direction engine.

Still, it was astounding.

The speedy turnings exerted an inaudible pressure upon the foes.

Being close with a melee foes would be the worst nightmare for ranged attackers like them.

Alarmingly they launched all their firearms, including the nano waves! They were not holding back!

And that was when Ye Chong’s hand movement speed came in handy. He could still perform other commands while leaping and keeping the shield right in front of him.

The laser beams, the heat rays of high intensity, the nano waves and the other form of beams came showering at Ye Chong!

Ye Chong’s plasma shield shook viciously, the eyes of the beast turned even brighter! Klink! The entire shield glowed in red and a trace of serrated laser beams surrounded the edges. It looked as if the shield was blazing!

The nano wave that missed Ye Chong caused a monstrous explosion! The whole warship was shaking forcefully! Old Pang and Ka Sang almost lost their stance and fell, while Mu was still cracking, which impressed Old Pang. The blue-white mech might be handicapped but he was uninterrupted by the quake at all! Such a calm guy! An extraordinary person the blue-white mech was!

Ye Chong had come before the 3 mechs. The pilots on the white mechs were well-trained to know that evidently ranged weapons would not work effectively in such a close range. They drew their laser swords and strived to take this petrifying creature together.

Ye Chong was calm – calm as the ice – while the pupils of his eyes seared with the passion of battle, expressing the truest form of his soul!

Yu Di nimbly twisted through the brandishing laser swords as the shield slashed through the waist of one mech, the lance in his arm impaled the ribs and that magnetic blade in the other arm cut through the neck of the foe.

Old Pang wanted to provide help to Ye Chong who was cornered, but the moment he saw Ye Chong wielding 3 weapons at once, he groaned, “Oh my Fal Galaxy, what monster is this! He was able to use that 1 second of opening to plan such a complicated command and execute them flawlessly, all by instincts!”

The model of these mechs from the FMPA was not sophisticated enough for close-combats which was totally unmatched for their powerful ranged attacks, thought Ye Chong.

The mech was assaulted almost instantly. Despite having such a great defense, it could not hold Yu Di’s barbarous attacks!

The slash of the magnetic blade left the mech spluttered in pieces. The remaining two mechs were afraid to fight on and they bleed the scene.

Ye Chong was planning for a pursuit but Mu’s voice rang, “Got it!”

He turned his head and saw the control room open!

Chapter 108: Fall of a Brilliance

u initiated the exploration first. As he entered, he saw the mess inside the main control room – the light was dim and sometimes flashed while shards of something were everywhere on the ground; the apparatuses beeped weakly as they occasionally crackled with sparks. There was nobody inside the room and patches of dried blood coated the ground.

Old Pang might be old and had seen enough horror like this yet his heart skipped a beat, thinking of how destructive nano waves could be. While Ye Chong dodged the beams safely when the 3 mechs fired their ultimate weapon at their greatest fear, the beams eventually resulted in several consecutive explosions in the warship. The aftermath was the quake and the shockwave which inevitably murdered all these staff who were unprotected and unarmed. They all died; brutally.

Mu did not bother with the emotional moments as he proceeded connecting the processor of the warship and booted the self-inspection program on the ship.

Ye Chong, Old Pang and his partner decided to perform a search in the room for survivors.

While they were flipping through the remnants, Ye Chong’s eyes discerned something flailing in one of the piles. He zoomed in the visual on his screen and found out it was someone within the fragments. And the person looked familiar… Who was this again…

Gu Shaoze? Isn’t this Gu Shaoze? Ye Chong was shocked! What the heck he was doing here?

He was a genius, a young talented man, whom Ye Chong admired. Gu Shaoze held a certain standard of brilliance in mechs which utterly exceeded the expected expertise for a man of his age. And without a doubt, Ye Chong learned a lot from him. Most importantly, he was truly young, so young that his future could be bright, brighter than ever!

What happened to that blonde bodyguard he had?

Ye Chong raised the gate of his cabin and hopped off from Yu Di, which frightened Old Pang as he peeked at the side. He was not expecting a mere man like Ye Chong to jump directly from a mech this tall… And remained intact? He had lost count the number of times his eyes nearly popped out for the day.

It’s him! Old Pang finally understood what had been going on, as he had a clear look of the pilot in this strange mech! It was the one who left him a deep impression. He was as good as before! Then what about the pilot inside that crippled mech? Old Pang was intrigued, very intrigued.

Since the main control room was an independent cubicle from the outside, the oxygen supply system was not severely damaged. What a luck especially after such a wreck outside!

Ye Chong quickly ran to Gu Shaoze to have a closer look. There were tons of specks sitting right beneath his body and a large splash of oddly-odored liquid. A bit of inference ran in Ye Chong’s head. He speculated that Gu Shaoze injected some sort of sleep-inducing chemical and was confined in a preserving device, which was why the nano waves did not kill him immediately. It looked like the members of FMPA were still concerned about talents! The device might have protected Gu Shaoze from the immediate fatality yet the quake shattered it completely in the end.

Carefully Ye Chong lifted Gu Shaoze. He did not look alright. There was blood at corner of his lips. His face was drained and there were scratches on his body.

Somehow Gu Shaoze felt heaved by someone as his eyes quivered, attempting to open his eyes. “Ow…” He mumbled, his eyes opened, “Ye…Ch…?” He was surprised to see Ye Chong. He grew agitated and his face turned reddish as blood surged through his body rapidly. “Ech! Ugh!” He coughed and spat out quite some blood. Ye Chong was startled as apparently his inner organs were injured!

Ye Chong who originated from the have-everything-but-nothing Trash Planet knew well by heart that such injury would be a hassle to cure. He was not sure how advanced the medical facilities the outside world would be but he could be sure that it was impossible to find an appropriate cure at a place like this! Sighed Ye Chong in his heart.

Gu Shaoze’s lips trembled, as if trying to utter something. Ye Chong hurriedly moved his ears by his lips.

“My…My left arm…” Gu Shaoze’s weak voice rang a clear order, “Cut it open… Password… Number 2…”

?!

Ye Chong stared at Gu Shaoze in disturbance. His sight turned frail, his body was shuddering uncontrollably, yet his expression was calm, as if he had no more regret in this world. Forced a smile, he looked into his eyes, before Ye Chong could say something, his eyes zoomed out and coughed the last splash of blood on Ye Chong. He collapsed and stopped moving, like a puppet cut off the strings.

Ye Chong understood what had happened. Gu Shaoze was dead!

Biting his teeth, he drew the dagger from his waist. What an irony it was when the dagger was a gift from the person before him and he had to use it to fulfill the last wish of the dead. The sharp edge of the dagger sliced Gu Shaoze’s left arm open effortlessly. Blood overflowed on the floor beneath and Ye Chong dug through the fleshes without hesitation, looking for something as blood streamed through his fingers with the tender remaining.

Old Pang and Ka Sang could no longer compute the situation.

They witnessed the whole scene of Ye Chong committing murder on a murdered. Their faces were paler than a paper.

A moment later, Ye Chong felt something hard within the flesh. He pulled it out gently. It was dipped in blood and covered in bit of fleshes. It was quite difficult to identify what it was. Ye Chong wiped everything off the piece.

Old Pang and Ka Sang realized what Ye Chong was doing at last – he was retrieving something from the body, though that was still weird as hell, considering how the boy on the ground looked so gentle and sophisticated. They never expected that he would stuff something inside his arm. What a pain it would be and how many ounces of courage he would have needed! They stared at the dead body in fright.

They had enough of the day… especially seeing how Ye Chong just dug through the fleshes like picking vegetables from the stew. His face was indifferent – he had to be someone who had gotten use to these dead-or-alive scenarios.

Ye Chong did not have time to have a look on what he had obtained from Gu Shaoze’s body. He sank it into the pack on his waist as he knew everyone else was waiting for him.

“I had fully inspected the warship,” commented Mu after seeing Ye Chong having his own business settled. “The warship was severely damaged. The energy system was unstable, which would lead to an explosion in 10 minutes. Not possible to attempt any method of prevention.”

Somehow based on Mu’s comment, it seemed like things were much easier to destroy from the inside than the outside.

Old Pang was frightened by the news. An explosion in split seconds yet this guy stated it as if he was not involved in the explosion at all.

Ye Chong rolled into the cabin and asked, “What do we do now?”

“We run. This is the only probable solution after my calculation,” suggested Mu calmly.

“Right, let’s go then,” mumbled Ye Chong as he flew out right away.

They were welcomed by continuous beam and nano wave attacks as soon as they got out. Fortunately they expected the attack so they avoided them lastly. As predicted, right after the main forces from the corvette joined the field, they took over the place almost instantly. The mechs from Sabre were witty however as they retreated back to their mothership the moment they saw the warship stopped firing and a few mechs exited from it, though some of them did not make it and had become one of the meteorites.

There were 400 of them and 10 minutes after the debut of the main forces, only 37 of them made it back to the mothership in one piece. This was the cruelest war to the fighters back then. They were still haunted by the war in their dreams years after.

The FMPA lost badly, where 42 of their unmodified mechs returned with only 11 of them left. And they lost 1 major mech. The most fatal part was… the corvette was a secret to the public and now the cat had gotten out of the bag and had gone out of hand! Everyone in the authority would notice the existence of the warships. They might not know to whom the warship belonged but much chaos it could cause.

Without the warship, no matter how strong the Messengers were, they would never break into the Sabre, since its armor was too thick.

As everybody else had retreated back into the mothership, Ye Chong and his allies became the remaining bullseyes in the field.

They agreed something bad would happen as they ran as fast as they could. No way they could return to Sabre like the others as the mechs chased after them fiercely, not giving them a moment of breather.

A few Messengers went back into the corvette and seconds later, as if the honeycomb was alarmed, the entire flock of white mechs rushed out and went after Ye Chong and his companions. The Sabre was no longer their concern!

Probably they had realized something was stolen from Gu Shaoze. And it had to be something rather important. It stood clear to Ye Chong and his friends. Of course they would run! Which dumbo would stand there and become the honeycomb instead?

Those Messengers that entered the corvette just now must be striving to bring the warship back online. Of course it would not work! Ye Chong recalled the explosion in 10 minutes stated by Mu, he snickered.

They flew on for the next 2 hours and none of the Messengers seemed to be giving up yet. The Sabre was lost in their eyes and the 4 mechs fled like a homeless pack of wolves being chased by 4 main force giants and 6 white Messengers. Fast and furiously they ran, the energy depletion was no longer an issue. They had to turn their engines up, all the way to the maximum!

And this was the moment where the capacity of one’s mech could be clearly seen.

Mu had always been flying as fast as Ye Chong. He had tried maximizing the resources on Yu Di yet Mu leisurely stayed by his side. That engine of Mu…

While Old Pang was much slower than Yu Di, Ka Sang’s mech was the last in the queue.

And the contrast existed in the foes too. The 4 giant mechs were the leading group and the 6 Messengers spread nicely in one row.

Ye Chong and Mu began exchanging conversation.

“Where are we, Mu?” Ye Chong asked.

“Based on the galactic area map, we are probably inside the Orbits, but I do not have a detailed map of the said area!”

“Oh no,” Ye Chong’s face tightened. “We are being chased by a bunch of homing beacons. We could die together at this rate!” Ye Chong did not fear the death though.

The space was known to be boundless and fearfully vast. Without performing space-warp, it would be impossible for one to reach from one point to another merely by flights. It took too long that one could actually die before hitting the destination!

Especially when no one had heard of galactic travel on a mech before! Everyone does it on a ship!

Beep!

Ye Chong turned on the multi-channel communication system, “Do any of you happen to be familiar with this place?”

“It’s the Orbits!” Old Pang quickly replied. “I have came here a few times before, although I must admit that was quite some time ago.”

“What is the closest place for us to hide around here?”

“Uhhh…,” Old Pang cracked his head thinking. “I do remember there was a place somewhere here…” His tone was unsure…

The fall of one brilliance on the ship, probably was not the last…

Thought Ye Chong.

Chapter 109: The Orbits

he flock of angry mechs from FMPA eventually stopped chasing… but that only happened 3 days later… Ye Chong was thanking god that he brought supplementary batteries sufficient to sustain him for the last 3 days, or he would have drained his battery and got stuck in the space like those FMPA mechs. Meanwhile, Mu seemed to hardly have the issue of energy depletion. He somehow had a much longer battery lifespan. Whoever created Mu must be some genius for being able to produce such a large battery capacity in limited space.

He did expect Old Pang and Ka Sang to stop at some point.

However both of them actually brought some batteries too, which was surprising to Ye Chong.

If you were to lose your battery, you would have gotten stuck and died. Only that would happen if you were in the space with such misfortune.

Nonetheless Old Pang had already become confused because of the continuous chase running around the Orbits, his atrocious memory could not pinpoint where he was.

At least they had gotten rid of those irritating mechs. They could look for a spot in leisure. No one cared what would happen to those mechs that had drained all their batteries. They were helpless. The ending for them was clear.

They flew on under energy-saving mode.

“30 years ago…,” muttered Old Pang. “I came to the Orbits but I wasn’t alone. My brother came along back then. I was 17… I wonder how much had changed here…if those people I once knew lingered?” His words were filled with sentiments.

Mu’s voice came abruptly, “The galactic map of the Orbits in detail was nowhere to be found. It does not exist even in the Fal main databank!”

“Those civil servants… Kek…” Old Pang sneered, “I was not really sure of the landscape here too. I only remembered this place being a very complicated terrain, with lots of places perfect for hide-and-seek. Most criminals, the fearsome ones came here to conceal themselves. You guys better be careful. No word could reach them. Everyone here speaks with their fists and no one would care if you were killed. Especially those Mentalists, get away from them, never talk to them, they can be a nuisance.”

“Mentalist?” asked Ka Sang curiously. “What the heck is a mentalist? Why have I never heard about it from you?”

A mentalist? Ye Chong was intrigued as he too had hardly heard a title like that before.

“Ka Sang, my boy Ka Sang, you better be staying low once we got there,” Old Pang’s tone was grim. “The Mentalists are at a high position in the Orbits. They don’t get into fights but they have the rights of being an arbitrator in one. Thanks to their protection, those watchdogs of the government were never brave enough to disturb folks at the Orbits. Back when I was 17, I witnessed a slaughter between a mentalist and a fighter when I visited this place with my brother. The mentalist was around 40 years old, looked all weak but the fighter just dropped dead before him. It was spooky because the mentalist did not even lift his hand.”

“That spooky?” Ka Sang screamed.

Ye Chong was spooked out too as he could not figure out a way of committing murder without moving anything.

“So yeah, you’ve got to stay low, don’t do anything funny with them. They are easy to recognize though. Most of them wear blouses in pale green and they hardly leave their residences, so don’t worry. Instead we should be cautious with the folks outside… many of them come from a hideous background and they are bloodthirsty and inhumane. They adore fighting and the fight won’t end till one of them collapsed. If your fists do not match theirs, you are only there for humiliation and tortures.”

“Fighting? I love fighting more than anything!” chuckled Ka Sang, acting like a big boy.

A hint of frigidity flashed in Ye Chong’s gaze.

“There it is!” Old Pang shouted out of sudden. “That red planet ahead of us! Yes, that’s it! The Red Giant!” His tone turned much relaxed and started to get excited, “I was so worried wondering if I missed it! This is the easiest planet to recognize, the vegetation is all red, which is quite extraordinary. The residents on the planet are also the friendliest in the Orbits! I had spent most of my time here in the past! So I knew this place better than any other!”

Some uncertainty had been brewing inside Ye Chong, as their next move became clearer he finally had the leisure to ask, “The Orbits share only a few days of flight away from the actual course for main cruises. But why haven’t we run into a spaceship yet?”

Old Pang was astounded by Ye Chong’s question at first, he giggled as he replied, “Course? You mean that course that Sabre adopted? Hah! That route was abandoned for years! It was just so happened that Fred the Great demanded a change of course to Morienste all of sudden. Yeah, a great man Captain Hatik is indeed, for he actually remembered that this route existed! The course was absolutely the very shortcut to Morienste and people hardly use it now, it is supposed to be rather safe… But sighs… nobody had thought that we would come across these punks!”

Ye Chong was speechless after hearing such an ordinary explanation. He was expecting something greater. He was well-aware of why the great master demanded a change in the course but of course he had to keep it to himself, though he did not really have the feeling to confess everything to Old Pang.

The conversation went lighthearted at first, then suddenly the smile on Old Pang vanished, “Just some heads up – after we got into the Orbits, we can’t simply get out. The Orbits behave like the other world of the galaxy and is completely shut off from the outside world. You could get in but not out. People rarely manage to leave the place. My elder brother was only able to leave after fulfilling some tasks given by some sort of Elder at the place back then; for me, I was sent along with my brother. And I had never seen him since then…,” sentiment filled his words again.

Ye Chong did not comfort the good Old Pang like his partner did.

The setting of the place was something new to Ye Chong. He hastily communicated with Mu in his head, “What’s your take on this, Mu?”

“Based on the information received, we do not have many options here,” his tone was flat as usual.

Ye Chong took a glance around the endless space and darkness, his smile was bitter, “Right… This is like the only living route we could get. Guess we have to act as we move then.”

“Agreed,” concisely Mu replied.

Ye Chong sat inside his Yu Di and his thoughts wandered…

Mu was turning much different than before. Ever since Shang emerged in the interface, their personalities somehow started growing towards the polarities – Mu became more unfeeling while Shang turned more emotional as time passed. He preferred the old Mu… who was mischievous at times yet so educational and would provide solutions on the needs of understanding… whereas Shang… man, it would be a miracle if his interface could blink one time less whenever a lass walked by.

What is the FMPA up to? They actually had their own warship? Why did they catch Gu Shaoze, the good-boy genius? Is it because of that thing in his arm? Ye Chong’s thoughts were everywhere as his hand sneaked into his bag. It would be a good time to check what the thing in the flesh was. He took a look… It was… some kind of ring – a heart-shaped ring. The craft was not pretty well-done. There was nothing special about it. And that password Gu Shaoze mumbled before he died… Was it a password for the keystone? Ye Chong was intrigued and almost wanted to try warping a possibly gigantic mech into his cabin where he could barely stretch his body. And luckily he realized where he was as he put the ring back to his bag. “I’ll try it some other time. I’m not in a hurry,” he muttered.

Gu Shaoze’s death was heart-shattering, even to an indifferent boy like Ye Chong. He was not in sorrow, rather he was agitated. What a waste of a talent to die in such a manner – thought so, his heart twitched. Being dead or alive was not a major concern to Ye Chong, even though he struggled for one side he desired. Death was an old friend of his and somehow he would not cry whenever they encountered each other.

Fred the Great was also the target to the FMPA apparently. And it seemed like they were not aware of the fact that the one who raided the Sabre was the men from FMPA. Could this be a kind of an unknown force hidden behind this organization?

What is their ultimate goal? For real…

Oh wait, wait, wait, wait…

The thought merely blinked in his head. “Duh, what does the motive of an obedient group of pilots have to do with me?” The previous fights with the FMPA always occurred in an awkward ambiguity. It looked like he was the wrong bullseye to shoot, somehow they did not show blatant hostility to him, which was why Ye Chong did not bother much.

On the other hand, the Black Cove… His eyes were clouded gravely. He could not predict the next moment that killing syndrome would occur. It had been… about… a month or so, since the last occurrence? When would the next round occur? Instructor Hak did mention something about it becoming more intense over time. That indescribable pain, intolerable ache… Ye Chong’s heart twitched again.

Well! It seemed like I could only act as I move! Planning did not work!

He exhaled deeply and discarded those annoying worries as he shifted his attention back to the talkshow in their communication channel between the two folks behind.

“Did you see that silver asteroid belt that goes in circle? That would be the orbit of the Orbits – the largest one too. In that belt there is a kind of material called the Flintstone ore where you can extract the Flintstone, which is a valuable metal in the Orbits. The extraction was rather difficult however… only the mentalist could do it properly. There are a lot of these circles in the Orbits, as the way it was named, orbits in the Orbits, where each and every one of them hold a unique shape and different output.”

“What’s a Flintstone?”

“Uh… I don’t really know what it exactly is. I only know that it’s bloody expensive.”

“Oh… Just so I heard, you are a money grubber, eh, brother? Wink wink nudge nudge.”

…

The Old Pang was silent till they arrived the place.

Ye Chong set foot on this vast piece of land in complete scarlet.

Ye Chong looked at the man in his uniform. So he heard from Old Pang that these men were the patrols. They were the grass roots of the administration on Red Giant. Ye Chong and the two folks stood before the patrols. Mu was kept back into the dimension. The faces when Old Pang and Ka Sang were informed of the pilot of that blue-white mech being non-existent was totally priceless. Ye Chong was quite entertained.

“Haleyson. All of you would be going to Haleyson planet. Spaceship No.12, arriving in 2 hours. Good luck,” the patrol spoke expressionlessly.

His stare was cold and his hands were full of calluses. Anyone could tell this patrol was not the normal patrol you would see at the train station, while at his back there laid a number of never-before-seen mechs glaring at Ye Chong, where their muzzles hovered around them from time to time.

“Haleyson? That Haleyson?” Old Pang’s face went pale.

Judging from Old Pang’s expression, Ye Chong could tell that something bad was going to happen. That Haleyson must be a good-for-nothing place… As he expected, he understood after Old Pang whispered him the explanation.

Haleyson was the most chaotic planet in the Orbits. The mortality was extremely high. And his brother had mentioned him the thumb-rule of staying in the Orbits before – one could change the residing planet only after residence of at least 3 months.

Glimpsing that colorless face of Old Pang, the patrol expressed disdain in his eyes as he passed a red card to each of them, “This is your identity card for your residence in the Orbits. You are allowed to apply for a new residing planet after 3 months at the local patrolling office.”

He walked to the side afterwards, showing zero concern to the stumbled men.

2 hours lapsed like seconds. A spaceship with an appearance of a light green eagle made its arrival to the port promptly. A huge number “13” was painted on the body.

“Please get on-board, sire,” the patrol walked before them as his voice went coldly.

Chapter 110: First Day in Haleyson

he moment they boarded the ship, everyone’s eyes went upon them.

There were whispers, moans and hideous stares sometimes.

Clearly the other passengers were not the good guys, their faces were either unsmiling or down-right harsh; their eyes were all dreadfully fierce. It was as if the lair of the tigers was intruded.

Ye Chong and his folks reacted towards the hostility fearlessly however. There was supposed to be a fight as no bad guy liked to be picked on and Ye Chong’s attitude was enraging enough. Fortunately, the three musketeers did not appear angelic either. Ye Chong expressed his indifference and his all-alarmed stance exerted a certain level of caution to the people around; Old Pang did not have a threatening appearance, but age had sculptured his face, rugged and tough; Ka Sang stood still like a tower of iron, his body of steel drove people away, especially when he was smiling too, exposing that sharp teeth of his.

They picked a corner of the area and settled down quietly.

“Psst,” Old Pang whispered. “Never expected to have this many gangsters, act with extra care, okay?”

Ka Sang nodded his head quickly while Ye Chong agreed after taking a glance around.

The other passengers were smart enough to realize it would not be good to pick on anybody in the cabin. They were calm but not serene, as the atmosphere of the entire spaceship was so tensed that it felt like time had frozen.

Old Pang would take a glimpse at the surrounding occasionally in heed. “Oh?” Ye Chong’s expression remained as untroubled as ever, which was impressive to Old Pang. In comparison to… Ka Sang behaved like the big boy of the team as he sat on the floor and yawned in boredom. A moment later while Old Pang turned to his pal, Ka Sang was dead asleep with his head titled and the corners of his mouth was gapped as streams of saliva dripped onto the deck.

The place was silent. Nothing had happened but no one seemed to be daring enough to raise their voices to speak jollily like how most rocky men were expected to be.

“Attention, passenger, we would be arriving soon at Haleyson. Please make sure you did not leave any of your belongings or your friends. Have a nice day,” the voice was flat in the announcement.

We are finally here…

This was probably what everyone was having in mind.

The passengers got off the spaceship naturally in queue. No one was talking. Ye Chong relaxingly walked towards the gate while Old Pang dragged the drowsy boy Ka Sang behind. Sleepy-head Ka Sang was like a sack of potato, being hauled against his will to sleep as his body hit the edges on the deck. “Ow…”

As soon as they exited the gate, the air felt much fresher. They felt charged but the full-metal flight area was glaring to the eyes as their eyes squinted in fatigue.

The area outside the port was beyond their expectation. It was lush green, the street was glowing like emeralds as the tall trees by the sides of the street emanated a scent of nature, which was something long lost in most of the planets inhabited with human beings since metals had replaced every aspect of their daily lives.

A patrol came welcoming them. Unlike that patrol on Red Giant which had an attitude, the patrol on Haleyson smiled sweetly, though within that crossed eyes of his Ye Chong could see that hint of bloodthirstiness.

“Hello passengers! Welcome to Haleyson! This is the Hoth zone, where all of you would be residing! I believe you had heard enough stories regarding this place, so I would be saving those. But I would like to highlight one thing – please do not misbehave in front of the Mentalist, for the sake of your own safety! Also, your accommodation had been arranged. Well, certainly, if you happened to be dissatisfied with our services, you could always leave. But! Starting from today onwards, you could only leave after spending the next 90 days here. Then you can apply to reside at the Mentalist Sanctuary. Moreover, all of your contribution and kindest effort would be recorded on your identity card. Kindly be informed that there would not be any form of replacement if the card was lost. And we, the administration, only identify you, the residences and your contribution with the card, not the person him or herself. Please take very good care of it!” The patrol’s very last line was sort of oddly spoken. It felt like there was something amiss.

Ye Chong and Old Pang exchanged glances as they heard the “keywords”. What the patrol probably meant was… if one had ample strength, one could simply snatch the cards away and gain the whole credits from people. They were not the only smart guys. Right after the patrol ended his announcement, the crowd started hustling. The men looked eager to try something naughty.

How could one behave when such announcement has been made? Is this Hunger Game?

The patrol did not talk further, instead he led the crowd to their residence. As expected from a bunch of stern-looking dudes, walking in a gang was eye-catching to the public. The pedestrians at the street could not help but to take a peek sometimes. The residence was less than 100 meters away yet Ye Chong had already felt his body violated by the countless sights of the people.

It was uncomfortable to be watched like animals in the zoo, or like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

They made it to the destination and they sighed in relief together. They were startled by how synchronized they acted but soon the shock became a mere laughter. As they grew fond on each other, the atmosphere became much relaxed.

“This is a temporary accommodation for all of you. It is free so you could leave on a whim, though I am certain that many of you would do so in the end. The currency inside the zone does not share with the outside world. If you do not want to have organic fluid for your meals, please put your thinking caps on and find a living outside,” he spoke slowly as he kept his signature smile.

He left after the explanation.

Ye Chong took a look at the building. It felt antique with the red bricks around, which was quite refreshing to Ye Chong who had gotten used looking at the metallic constructions back in the other planets he stayed. The most comforting was none other than the trees around. Mother nature was healing to his spirit.

They picked a room and decided to stay together. Of course, in a dangerous planet like this, any sane man would make the choice of staying with his companions. Ye Chong was convinced that he could be well off on his own but with additional partners, his safety was more guaranteed. Mu also showed approval towards the decision too.

“Time is up, Ye. Shang demanded an entry now. As we have promised to each other, he would be staying much longer this time. Take care and good luck with him, Ye.” Did Mu just humor Ye Chong?

“Shang is coming?” This was bad… Ye Chong was getting a headache. Hell knows what this artificial intelligence could do.

“Ye!!!!!” He did not hear the calm response from Mu. As Shang squeezed into the interface, his tone felt like he had been put under hardship, “Do you really hate me this much? You should at least show appreciation for my enlightenment on the best part of your life! I was the one who let you experience the very first excitement of being a man! Tsk, tsk, tsk! That should be an unforgettable gourmet experience to you. Didn’t you like it? That kick hit hard yo! Ye is your part fine afterwards? By the way, both of you were such a perfect fit, like the jigsaw puzzles, a rare fit, ohhh, magnefique!”

Oh the eyes of Ye Chong, rolling into the abyss of his head. His heart was urging him to pass out right away. Old Pang was a little shocked when he saw Ye Chong putting off such a humanized expression. What kind of a cold man would do an eye-roll out of sudden?

Meanwhile, Ka Sang was getting a heart attack seeing the design of the room. The style was classy, gorgeously classy. There was a wooden seat in the room. Ka Sang was tired but he dared not lay his butt on the chair, as he was well aware of how expensive that full-wooden chair could be in the outside world. Thought so, he landed his backside all onto the ground. “What a waste it would be if I broke the chair by sitting on it for too long…,” thought the big boy of the group.

In the middle of the room, there was an organic fluid maker. The fluid might tasted all bland and disgusting like excretion but it did perform decently in supplying energy which gave the basic guarantee to one’s survival even without a proper income.

Beep. ZZzzzzzt.

Old Pang made a bowl and passed to Ka Sang; Ka Sang took a look and spat out his tongue as he passed to Ye Chong. Ye Chong looked at the bowl wondering what was in the bowl.

They were poor as dirt. Being penniless they had no other choice but to have fluid for meals at the moment. While they were troubled figuring a way to swallow this bowl of mess, someone knocked on the door.

They were alarmed and immediately sprung up from the ground. They looked at each other. Ye Chong sneaked into the shadow of the corner of the room, while Ka Sang stood like a mountain behind Old Pang. Old Pang tidied up himself as he headed to the door.

Of course Old Pang was old for a reason. He was all experienced in this kind of interaction between gangsters. So Ye Chong genuinely handed the role to Old Pang.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Here.”

“Oh…”

The door was opened and closed in seconds. He turned back to his friends, looked all surprised with pile of stuffs in his hand.

Rustle… Rustle…

Ye Chong exited from the shadow.

Old Pang laid the piles of pamphlets on the table. Those were paper pamphlets! It was the first time Ye Chong saw pamphlets made out of paper. With curiosity he picked one up and observed carefully. No wonder it was replaced by electronic chips in the end! This floppy thin piece of rough layer could barely contain data!

“Do you want to bid a permanent farewell to your daily fluid meals? Do you want to leave the ugly free rooms once and never return? Would you love the money constantly appearing in your pocket somehow? Please dial xxx-xxxx-xxxx”

“Life is priceless! So are our fees, but as it’s priceless, it is free! The association promises to protect anyone who joined today! Only today!”

“Become the storm! Become the center of the city! Build your career and raise once and more! The turning point of your life is right here! And right now! Join us and let’s set our souls blazing!”

…

The heck are these lines?

They looked at each other, confused and speechless. “Jajajajajaja!” Shang laughed madly in Ye Chong’s mind. “I like this! Ye, why don’t we just step into one of these institutes? This is more entertaining than that Dorky pixelated game parody I found on the virtual web! My life is completed! I am no longer bored! I love this place!”

Ye Chong ignored as he was not in the mood to entertain a mech on drugs. Instead, he put up a discussion with Old Pang.

“Any idea?” asked Ye Chong.

“Just… let them go.” His face was all awkward… whether he was laughing or crying, it was indistinguishable, “These should be some kiddos’ trick for cheap labor. We ain’t doing this. You’ve got to hook the bigger fish. Just wait.” Old Pang had been in the society for long, he could tell if it was the real deal or a mere trick by the advertising department and his prediction was right!

A moment later, someone actually knocked the door again.

This time, it was a different guy. The leading person at the door did not look ordinary. He was steady and cool. His words sounded confident and he was skillful in negotiations.

Ye Chong stayed quiet the whole time. Let the big guy do the talking, he thought.

Old Pang was also a professional in this. He acted ambiguously throughout the conversation. His desire was hidden, only to keep a back-way out if the conversation went wrong. Most importantly, he respected Ye Chong’s opinion as he did not dare to even nod once since he could not see Ye Chong at the back. Briefly he responded the man.

Why would an old man respect a mere boy like Ye Chong?

In Old Pang’s eyes, this cold boy was unidentifiable. His experience told him the lurking danger of the extreme in Ye Chong. So he would not recklessly make any kind of decision without Ye Chong’s approval, especially when they were in a new foreign world and everything felt like a gamble of life. He was still sane to not commit suicide.

The best stance is always being the observer!

Eventually the man left their residence.

They decided to scout the place first.

They walked in the street. To face a foreign surrounding, no doubt the first thing to do is always to identify and familiarize with it! No one showed disagreement on the decision!

Ye Chong was leading the group while Old Pang was on the left with Ka Sang the great wall on the right.

A group of buffed men in shirts of the same color came towards them in chuckles.