Chapter 125: The Guardian Ring

e Chong’s mind was racing, recalling every single moment of that incident.

It had all happened after he infiltrated the enemy’s warship. In those moments, what could have happened that led the MPA to want him so badly? In the warship … Ye Chong abruptly recalled the person on the bridge, Gu Shaoze! That’s right! It must be him! He had given him a ring before he died, and there was a password for it. If not for the protection afforded by the ring, he would have died. Why would the MPA want to capture him? Could it be …

Ye Chong quickly went through his bag. He exhaled in relief, finding the ring. He carefully took out the ring given to him by Gu Shaoze and examined it closely. Whether by its design or material, the ring was unremarkable. However, he remembered how Gu Shaoze had hidden the ring on him to protect it, and Ye Chong felt that there must be more to the ring than he thought.

To say that this object was a ring might not be entirely accurate. It was only made up of two metallic wires intertwined with each other. The only interesting thing about the ring was that there were no welding marks – each metallic wire must have been welded at their ends to form the ring, but Ye Chong could not find any signs of the welding marks on the wires.

“What could this ring be? Maybe this is what the MPA is looking for!” Ye Chong immediately realized the truth of things, and knew where his worth lay with the enemy.

Ye Chong remembered that Gu Shaoze had told him a password, but how did the code actually work? Ye Chong spent long moments finding ways to activate the ring using the password, without success. The ring was like a unified entity, without anything spectacular to it. Ye Chong caressed the surface of the ring repeatedly to no effect.

He tried putting the ring on each of his fingers. When the ring was fitted into his right ring finger, the stubbornly inert ring finally reacted!

“Thank you for using Guardian. Since your brain wave is not recognised as a superuser, please provide your access level password!” The bright and sweet voice was tinged with a little bashfulness, and Ye Chong thought it sounded familiar. It did not take him long to realize that it was the voice of the golden haired escort of Gu Shaoze. From the way it sounded, it did not take a genius to notice that she must have felt blissful when recording it!

For some reason, the word “blissful” triggered a strong reaction in Ye Chong. He thought of his papa, Grandpa Qian, little Nan Nan, Hei Zi … The images of these people flashed through his mind. Ye Chong was struck with a deep melancholy, as though he was bound to leave them all behind, wandering about the universe like a rootless duckweed.

The sensitive Mu noticed Ye Chong’s emotional changes and asked, “Ye, what’s wrong?”

Ye Chong abruptly broke his chain of thoughts and could not help but gave a soundless laugh. How could he have such weird thoughts in this difficult situation? Beside, weren’t Mu and Shang always with him? Their company was absolute, no matter where and when!

Ye Chong spoke softly, “It’s nothing, Mu, I was just distracted!”

“Please provide your access level password!” Number Two’s sweet voice rang again.

Ye Chong gathered himself and spoke out loud, “Number Two!”

Puff, a soft ring, and Ye Chong’s vision shifted! A three-dimensional image, composed of numerous invisibly tiny grids, spun about in his vision, as a massive volume of analytic information had burst through like a waterfall! Ye Chong’s pupils dilated in response to the stimulation, as he desperately absorbed the incoming information. As though sensing Ye Chong’s efforts, the information came in faster as the spinning 3D grid showed new changes on its scanning results. Some points of interest were zoomed in or out and locked on, and the analysis results for these points were presented.

Everything was too fast! In less than ten seconds, Ye Chong already felt his eyes slightly fatigued! Being used to colourful holographic displays, the black-and-white 3D grid was a little uncomfortable to Ye Chong.

Ye Chong’s vision could only recognize two colors – black and white!

Halting his efforts in absorbing the new information, Ye Chong looked around him to see where he was. However, as soon as he turned his head, his vision changed abruptly, and the analysed targets from earlier were replaced with new images! Ye Chong’s sharp mind noticed immediately that the image was now displaying Yu Di’s pilot cabin!

Could it be that he was still in the cabin?

“Mu, what’s happening?” Ye Chong’s vision was still in black and white, devoid of any other colours!

Fortunately, Ye Chong and Mu’s brainwave link was unaffected. Mu’s usually plain voice was now with a touch of awe, “Ye, you’re now in a miniature mech. It’s really unexpected, that someone could build a miniature mech of this level! It’s incredible!”

“Miniature mech?” Ye Chong remembered putting a dent in Number Two’s miniature mech. It left a deep impression on him.

“Yes. This mech has tight security, and I can’t scan it. You’ll have to figure it out yourself. Hmm, based on the rate at which the firepower are closing in, you have about 2 minutes. I will control Yu Di!” Mu suggested reasonably.

“What?” Feng Su was flabbergasted with the news!

“Hmm, yes, based on our information, they’re having a special operation. They have sent out 25 mechs, all one class above the Messengers! Who’d have thought they would be so reckless! News of their warship was just only exposed, and now they are bringing so many of them to the Orbits! This person must be very important to them. This is the video we have just received!” These words came from an old man with a face full of wrinkles, donning a green robe.

In the video were the 25 mechs surrounding Doctor Lu’s treatment room in ambush, their positions boldly highlighted!

“What are your orders?” Feng Su’s eyes shone with uncertainty.

“Your mission this time is divided into 2 parts. Firstly, we must have this person, and secondly, we’ll demonstrate our strength to the MPA! This is our territory, and we will not allow such arrogance!” The green-robed elder humphed coldly, as a chilling gleam flashed in his eyes.

Feng Su felt her chest tighten, and asked cautiously, “How far should we go?”

“That’s up to you. All in all, we must demonstrate our strength without straining our relationship with the MPA too much. Most importantly, we must get this person in our hands! They have acted so insolently and freely on the Orbits, and must be taught a lesson! The opponent is stronger this time, the higher-ups have decided to send you 30 Dawn mechs. Any questions?” The green-robed elder spoke with great dignity.

Feng Su was startled. It seemed that the higher-ups were keen this time. With 30 Dawns, it must be the largest operation in these past few years! With 30 Dawns under her lead, Feng Su believed that she could definitely defeat her opponents. However, with this, the peace between them would be disrupted!

Only someone in direct contact with the higher-ups like her would understand the power of the three forces, and the formidable supporters they have behind them! Feng Su had come from them, and no one knew more than she did of the dangerous undercurrent under the apparent peace!

All this time, the three forces had restrained themselves. Now, MPA’s operation was no different than a declaration of war!

Who was their target? Who could make the MPA send out their squads in large numbers and risk war with the Orbits? As far as she knew, the three forces had always kept their calm. Even the battle-hungry Black Cove would not act so freely! This only showed that their target must be worth the risk! The higher-ups must have reached the same conclusion, and decided to get this person at all costs, even using a trump card like her!

Dawn models were the lowest level mechs in Orbits’ main force, on the same level with the MPA’s Messengers and Black Cove’s Cosmic Flare. The tripedal beast had a unique sense of balance, with speed and firepower between that of Black Cove and the MPA. However, when paired with the sanctuary’s pilots, it would be as powerful as the Messenger or the Cosmic Flare. Its green exterior made the mech, with an animal facade, looked more like a real beast. However, unlike the menace of Black Cove and the elegance of the MPA, Dawn had a touch of nature to it.

Feng Su’s purple mech stood out amongst the green Dawns. This was the elite mech famous amongst the three forces – Wings of Nirvana. Like a work of art, the mech shone with a purple, metallic gleam. Its 72 tiny lateral fins could arrange themselves flexibly like the layers of feathers on a bird’s wings. This allowed more freedom in movement for Wings of Nirvana, but demanded equally high maneuvering skills from its pilot. The elegant design had a natural quality to it, with a combination of short and long range weapons for a balanced performance. With a mentalist like Feng Su, an ace to pilot the mech, Wings of Nirvana was now a formidable opponent with unimaginable potential.

Feng Su arranged the 30 Dawns to be in teams, and surrounded the area. They were grouped into three squads, hiding in obscure corners, waiting for the perfect time for an ambush. Feng Su knew that, for the elders, the MPA’s target was their main priority. It was not particularly important to launch a crackdown on the MPA. Beside, if they could get their hands on the MPA’s target, it would already be a severe blow to their opponent!

Feng Su’s decision was unquestionable. With the legendary Wings of Nirvana as their leader, who would dare to voice an objection?

They were like a pack of hunters, furtively observing the situation!

Chapter 126: Fish and Net I

he attacks outside were closing in, slowly but surely.

Inside the almost-crumbling building, things were not as calm as it seemed. Like its heavily bruised exterior, the inside was littered with holes. A thoroughly golden colored humanoid was constantly moving around in the building; the walls were like paper-thin barriers, never hindering the humanoid’s movement. The astonishing fact was that, despite the heavy damage inflicted, the half-building structure was still standing, and one could not help but applaud the brick structure’s admirable stability.

However, if an architect were to witness this, they would have been flabbergasted. The damages were all inflicted at places that would not affect the half-building’s main structure, as though they were all the result of stringent calculations. What was left of the building had a shifted center of gravity, and its support structure was heavily vandalized, but just as the building’s collapse seemed imminent, the golden humanoid’s “renovations” greatly reduced the probability of collapse!

That golden humanoid was Ye Chong.

One could not help but commend Gu Shaoze’s ingenuity! The miniature mech was spectacularly designed, and even Mu could not deduce much of the mech’s functioning principles.

Miniature mechs were a branch of mech design, unappreciated throughout its existence, researched by only a few aristocratic families; and Gu Shaoze’s miniature mech, Guardian, was entirely different from the average miniature mech.

Guardian looked like a space suit. The metallic faceplate pressed against Ye Chong’s face, with an odd pair of eyes in alternating silver and black. His head was fitted with a cover of the same metallic make, and the insides were fitted with an advanced scanning system. The shoulders armors were tough, and Ye Chong could only regret on the lack of barbs on the armors. The main engine was spread across his lower back; the engine’s power surprised Ye Chong when he first activated it.

The most inexplicable feature was that every joint of the Guardian was equipped with auxiliary engines. These auxiliary engines were not used for direction maneuvering, but to amplify the mech’s strength. With Guardian, Ye Chong’s strength was now nothing short of astounding. With a short burst, Ye Chong could accelerate to an astonishing Mach 10! Even Harmony of the Winter Aria could only reach a maximum of Mach 7, and the average starship could only fly at Mach 3 or 4.

With Guardian on him, Ye Chong could now attack with the force of an average mech! One should know that an average mech was about 10 meters tall, and giants like Yu Di could even reach to an astonishing 20 meters. Guardian, however, was only slightly less than 2 meters tall. With such a large difference in size, the chances of Guardian being locked on and hit decreased greatly.

While offering such outstanding physical abilities, the mech also required good piloting skills. Perhaps only someone like Ye Chong, with nearly inhuman abilities and an incredulously robust physique could pilot this superior mech. Due to spatial constraint, besides the inherent cushioning property of the unknown metal that made up Guardian’s main body, there virtually were no suspension systems for the mech! With an acceleration from at rest to Mach 10 in 1.2 seconds, the force due to the abrupt change in velocity would have squeezed the guts out of a normal person!

Weaponry was Guardian’s weakness. The 2 daggers by its thighs left Ye Chong a little disappointed. The daggers were sized like the ones used by humans in combat; can such tiny weapons pierce through mech armor? The brass knuckles also seemed suitable only for human combat, and not one between mechs! It seemed that Gu Shaoze had only designed the mech for his skillful combatant of an escort, the golden haired Number Two, and did not emphasize much on weaponry.

Guardian – the name was fitting for the mech!

Ye Chong was completely covered in the luster of golden metal, in a mech with a modern design. If not for the luster unique to metals, Ye Chong would have suspected the mech to be made of something non-metallic. Ye Chong could even feel the softness of the metallic faceplate; pressed against his face, the faceplate changed according to his facial expressions. Could this malleable metal be any good for defense? Ye Chong was highly suspicious!

There were too many things that perplexed Ye Chong, but he did not have the time just now to explore them. The sounds of explosions were approaching, and the blast waves shook the vulnerably swaying building, with small rocks and dust falling from above!

Time was too short! If he had more time, Ye Chong believed that he could, with the help of Guardian and Mu, break through the opponent’s surrounding formation. It was a pity that he remembered too late about the inconspicuous ring that Gu Shaoze handed to him before he died! Nonetheless, regret was not a good habit. Ye Chong pulled himself together and meticulously went through his experience in controlling Guardian.

Abruptly, Ye Chong stopped, and listened. “Huh?” The enemy’s attacks now felt different to Ye Chong; they were more disorganized and not rhythmic as before. What happened?

Just then, Mu spoke urgently, “Ye, something’s happened, get ready to move!”

“There was only one small area left, the enemy’s target must be inside! Hmm, their shooting rhythm has slowed down!” As she noticed some of the enemy’s mechs had stopped shooting, Feng Su knew that it was now time to move!

10 Dawn mechs broke through the enemy’s formation under Feng Su’s order!

The sudden intrusion broke the rhythm of the MPA mechs, but they reacted swiftly – almost immediately, 10 Messengers flew in to engage. Without any unnecessary forewarnings, tens of nanowave beams were shot towards the Dawn mechs! Another 10 of the MPA’s mechs rushed towards the last piece of standing structure in the area!

The two sides were obviously familiar with each other, and fought without hesitation. Then 10 Dawn mechs flew like butterflies amongst the flowers, flying forwards, backwards, or crossing with each other. The nanowave beams shot through the spaces between the Dawn mechs as they flew about in a seemingly irregular pattern, but completely avoiding the attack.

The round of fire left the enemy unscatched, and the MPA’s arrogant Messengers were shocked!

MPA was equally informed of the Orbits, but there had been no violent exchanges between them all these years, and a battle of this scale with more than a dozen mechs was unprecedented. Almost everything the MPA pilots knew about mechs from the Orbits came only from their intel.

If one were to compare the three forces, the MPA had a closer relationship with the Five Galaxies, and was more in touch with normal society. Black Cove and the Orbits were very different; they were practically two independent communities. MPA’s elite pilots also interacted more with regular people, compared to the other two forces. From those regular people, they derived a greater sense of superiority, and all those years of smooth victories left most of the elite pilots arrogant!

The exposure of their warship last time, with their main force mechs utterly defeated, was an unprecedented humiliation!

Moreover, the 4 mechs that perpetrated that humiliating incident was not even part of the Three Forces! How could this not infuriate them? If not for the location in the Orbits, where infiltration was harder, and MPA’s reservation against the mentalist sanctuary, they would not have sent a mere 25 mechs! However, given the swift response to their intel, where the MPA had prepared such a formidable force, one could see that they knew much about the Orbits! However, if Ye Chong knew that the MPA had deployed the largest possible offense they could gather on the Orbits against him, might he be flattered?

Feng Su charged fearlessly towards the 25 enemy mechs! Her goal was to stall the 3 main force mechs of the enemy – Mermaid’s Curse! Mermaid’s Curse was one of the MPA’s 3 main force mechs. Their defining features were their sharp offensive weapons, accurate targeting and powerful automotives. If Ye Chong were here, he would have noticed that this mech model was identical to the one that tried relentlessly to kill to him some time ago.

The mechs were in an elegant white, with protective fins that curled slightly upwards, giving an air of aristocracy. Besides the usual accessories like lasers and heat ray guns, they also came with the enormously destructive nanowave guns; and unlike the Messengers, the nanowave gun was their main weapon. Their propulsion system was also a notch above the Messengers. The lock-on mechanism was manual, which depended heavily on the pilot’s capabilities. This was why pilots of main force mechs were very few in numbers compared to pilots of the Messengers!

These 3 Mermaid’s Curse mechs were Feng Su’s main targets. With the Dawns against the Messengers, and an advantage in numbers, the Messengers will not stand a chance! The only mechs that could be a threat to them were these 3 Mermaid’s Curses!

Mechs from the Orbits’ sanctuary had peculiar battle strategies. They always battle in groups! One on one, a Messenger was more powerful than a Dawn. However, in the case of 5 against 5, both stood an equal chance of winning; in the case of 10 against 10, Dawns would hold the advantage. Hence, Dawn mechs always operated in groups of 10! This unique battle strategy was enough to confound the MPA and Black Cove!

The 10 Dawns behind Feng Su flew in a swish towards the only standing building in the area! They had formed a circular formation; they believed that, even with 10 Messengers within their circle, breaking through would not be easy!

MPA’s mechs had their hands full defending themselves – the enemy was not looking to destroy them all, but merely keeping them occupied, unable to attend to their mission! The purple Wings of Nirvana shone the brightest on the battlefield! The legendary trump card was true to her reputation – she was single handedly keeping 5 mechs occupied, including 3 of the Mermaid’s Curse mechs, and she seemed to accomplish this with ease!

In this massive operation, success seemed close at hand, and the pilots tightening the circular formation could not help but felt slightly excited.

All of a sudden, a golden figure flashed by!

Chapter 127: Fish and Net II

ne Dawn mech the nearest to the ruins of the building was shot by this golden light! There was no forewarning. The beam was fast. It was faster than these pilots could have expected. Their trusty intuition and prediction of movements gained from their training became nothing when facing the velocity of the beam.

They wanted to fight back, they raised the crosshair and shifted it around frantically. However the golden beam had already disappeared into the half-demolished building after giving a nice gentle touch to their ally before they could react.

The remaining pilots on the 9 mechs spent the next few moments taking a careful look on their fallen ally. To found the rapport between themselves, they had started their training together way back. They were highly synchronized, they felt for each other, they were intimate like brothers. And one of their beloved brothers had fallen by then. The pilots certainly were troubled.

If they were in a battlefield, they would never have been this reckless. But hell, this was not a battlefield to begin with! They were informed that there was only 1 person opposing them. Yes, only 1 person, a single man against the 10 Dawn mechs – if that would not spell “immediate successful capture”, what else would be? The sudden change in the situation was a little unsettling for them. They had yet to become panicked however. They were rather more confused as they failed to identify what that golden light was.

What was that?

???

Confusion filled their mind.

And there was no response from their ally since then!

Zzzt! Zzzt!

They took a look at the mech, which looked really like a cheap fragile mode. It looked as if it could not survive a stronger impact, a cut was clearly discerned at the point of collision. No, there were multiple cuts! How could that happen? It was just like a touch-and-go! Those clean cuts revealed a pale greenish glow. The glow was familiar to the pilots. Hey wasn’t that the glow from the energy inside the engine during operation? Why did the glow appear there?

The pale greenish glow was calm at first and then, as if reacting to the air it was exposed to, it began acting up as it quivered violently in toppled stability! It appeared like a man’s heart pumping vigorously! Pump! Thup! Pump! … Boom! They were blinded by the glaring light.

That mech blew up, right in front of everybody! The explosion of high density of energy was overwhelming in such a small area! The pilots did not manage to activate their protective shields. The mechs were blown away by the energy leakage! Their covers were scrapped.

At once, the half-demolished building was completely wrecked as it collapsed with a blast!

The building crashed down with its bricks and aged cements wielding a dusty storm!

In limited sight they saw through the flying dirt, a number of fine dark spots landed right on the shaking mechs after the impulse stealthily.

Ye Chong stood within the ruins, holding his breath in his miniature mech by Yu Di. The body size of Yu Di sufficiently provided a small space to fit Ye Chong within its shadow.

Yup. That beam of golden light was Ye Chong’s assassination!

Ye Chong did not expect such speed from a miniature mech like Guardian when it was fully activated! Similarly, Gu Shaoze probably did not foresee the miniature mech he created to be this powerful. Initially the Guardian was meant for Number 2. All the designs revolved about every aspect of hers to assist her in achieving a Mach 4.0 in her speed. They aimed for a Mach 4.0, that was it… till Ye Chong came and put it on… and he started blasting off into the field… he actually hit a Mach 10.0. Shocking! This was nothing Gu Shaoze would have imagined!

Ye Chong only wanted to try it out in his daily charity chores of saving the world before bedtime. He withdrew the daggers installed on the mech and gave a few slashes so they would learn their lesson. But then, the few slashes turned out to do way more than he intended! That capacity! These daggers were just like Ye Chong – a beast!

Right at that split second when Ye Chong’s dagger touched the mech, the interface fluttered in his sight and a notification flashed within the numbers in black and white, “Dagger for No.2: Activated. Initiation: Completed!” The tiny words literally flashed so fast, they vanished that Ye Chong almost missed it if his eyes were not sharp enough.

Dagger for No.2! Number 2? Ye Chong could not help but to snicker a little, though he was in a battlefield and it would be a bad timing for chuckles. Well, Gu Shaoze could have changed the names when he knew Number 2 was not going to use it anytime soon. However, the name on the screen simply showed that he did not even bother to try.

The processor was otherworldly on the other hand. The monochromatic three-dimensional visual was illustrated right before Ye Chong’s eyes. It was as if the processor was rattling with information as the illustration enlarged, twisted, panned over an angle, then to another in terrifying speed. Countless spots of the perceived surrounding were analyzed and visualized simultaneously. The strings of data came showering like a waterfall. Ye Chong gave up counting as his eyes kept missing the fast-forwarding information strands. Before Ye Chong actually hit the mech, he could only discern the 8 overlapping lines with 7 dots over the mech’s body.

There was no time for Ye Chong to figure out on what basis the lines and dots were drawn on the mech. Intuitively he just followed the 8 lines that appeared as he slashed the mech. The speed of his hand-movement was further enhanced by the Guardian, allowing him to complete such a set-up in one fine touch with his daggers.

He was not in the leisure to fulfill every procedure in a standard experiment from problem statement to hypothesis to inference and observation. The conclusion simply put was Ye Chong did not expect that much from a touch of a pair of pocket knives. The daggers might have been too mighty to be called pocket knives, but that was the truth. Using daggers usually equipped in a one-on-one on a mech was just like firing a heat-ray gun to a spaceship. Imagine what a mosquito’s bite felt like on a whale. Ye Chong retreated in the speed of lightning! The guard of these 10 men were dense and impeccable. Hopefully Mu inside Yu Di could make a miracle somewhere, or he would be serving the men from the day onwards…

Ye Chong laughed bitterly in his mind. The Guardian was powerful… only on the armor itself. The weapon on the other hand was a joke… If he possessed a weapon fearsome enough to threaten the 10 men to back off and minimize the siege area, he might have a bit of opportunity.

“Ye.” That voice! “Get over here quick!” Mu’s voice came sounding in his ears.

Did something happen? Ye Chong’s heart twitched but then he became relieved after. Is there any kind of situation that could be worse than this? After being sieged by 10 killing machines out there, everything else seemed like a pinch of salt, though Ye Chong jumped to Mu’s side right away. “Mu?” He landed and was going to ask Mu what happened, “So-” Boom! An impulse came gushing into his body. Ye Chong nearly tripped on his feet. He pulled his body back into the stance laboriously as he saw the grid-shaped boulders raining down the place. New data to the vicinity? Yes. The processor started rattling again as it began analyzing every single boulder passing by the camera. The information flushed Ye Chong’s eyes. It was overwhelmingly fast that Ye Chong felt dizzy seeing them.

Ye Chong was pleading inside the miniature mech. The analysis was initiated automatically and it could not be turned off apparently. It would look fine in a simulation room; an empty simulation room. If one were to wear this in a place with lots of information like this for instance, where the visual zone was filled with numerous objects, one would be drowned by these analyzed data! Ye Chong had not gotten used to the speed of these incoming streams of data so he had to shift his attention to the three-dimensional illustration instead! Technically, what Ye Chong did was absolutely right. During the production stage of this mech, striving to speed up the processing speed of the in-built, Gu Shaoze actually changed the widely-used hologram projection in the visuals to the antique simplistic monochrome, which hence produced an amazingly efficient three-dimensional images. The flooding data were actually going to have some sort of bug-fix in the upcoming maintenance but he was struck down by MPA before he could perform the new coding. Eventually, the maintenance did not happen!

The Guardian in use was unquestionably an unfinished product in actuality. Well, practically, the “to-be-finished” part of the product was merely the additional filtering on the data stream to provide a sleeker interface. The other aspects of the mech were good enough of his expectation.

Under the protection of Yu Di, Ye Chong was safely shielded away from the collapse, though he did not seem to be aware of the fact that he was the ultimate culprit behind this demolition! Ye Chong, confused as he watched Mu piloting Yu Di to pick up the bottle of cartridge and launch every single projectile inside!

At the very moment when Mu lifted the cartridge, Ye Chong already knew what to do next. It was the time to battle! The rapport between Ye Chong and Mu was justified.

As mentioned, right when the final projectile was launched from the cartridge, both Yu Di and Ye Chong commenced their movements! The sense of timing for Mu was literally flawless, not a single second was gone to waste.

As if synchronized, Yu Di and Ye Chong began concurrently!

The difference between each other grew prominent as they moved. In short-term dashing, Guardian was at upper hand. Ye Chong was leading Yu Di by few meters ahead right when they left the ruins. Then Ye Chong saw the shattered siege by the foes and the cluster of dusts in the air.

The monochromatic scope of Guardian was unaffected by the dust. Ye Chong found the 9 mechs very soon. Wait! Wow? Where’s the other one? Did I break it? Ye Chong never imagined his little attack could annihilate a mech!

The landing point of the missiles Mu launched was of great accuracy – none of them missed! The dusty atmosphere provided the best camouflage to the missiles.

These projectiles sneaked their debut. The 9 pilots were alarmed by the sudden strike! A number of them was struck right on the head. Fred the Great was a genius! His crafts were reliable after all! Ye Chong adored the missiles.

“Over here!” hurried Mu.

Ye Chong had rushed to the front of a mech and was brandishing his dagger. Like a braking car, he ceased his attack and retracted his weapon. A tip to the toe on the opponent’s mech, he flung himself all the way to Mu hastily! The tip of his toe was enhanced by his strength through Guardian. It was so strong that the Dawn mech could not handle the inertia as it backed a few steps away.

He looked at where Mu was and went astonished. Wow Mu was still Mu! Even if he was in a mech like Yu Di, every ounce of potential inside the mech had probably been excavated thoroughly! It utterly felt like two different mechs compared to Ye Chong’s own piloting when he was on Yu Di. Whether in regards of the speed or other aspects, Yu Di was lively!

Since Yu Di had lost an arm, it could only wield a magnetic blade. A leap by Yu Di and it came to the middle of two Dawn mechs. Before he launched the missiles, Mu had calculated the breaking point being between these two Dawn mechs. Thus, unfortunately these mechs received most of his bombardment.

!

Ye Chong was astounded.

A simple Thomas’ Spin! It was perfect! The magnetic blade hid behind the buzzing plasma shield of Yu Di as swung robustly, giving occasional stabs right at the critical point!

Within a blink of an eye, the Dawn mechs did not expect to be this weak in front of an expert killer like Mu! A solo fight was never the arsenal of Dawn mechs. They would require assistance from their allies. Thus, being weakened and unable to provide help to each other while facing the mighty Mu, these mechs eventually became a pile of metal on the ground without much resistance.

Ye Chong had arrived, after the epic blade wielding!

The siege had lost its effect! There stood nobody before Ye Chong and Mu.

It’s now or never!

The chance to escape the net was right before them!

Chapter 128: Fish and Net III

ut of the blue, a stream of purple outline slitted through the sky. Cutting through the air, overcoming the inertia, the object showed up right before Ye Chong and Mu, like a purple line drawn all the way from the sky to the ground.

The metallic gloss on the purple armor must be due to an inclusion of a kind of unique metal in the alloy during production. The body of mech was slender, exerting grace and sophistication, which appeared to be fragile at first glance. There was a pair of wings folded right at the back. It looked odd but it seemed to be of great craftsmanship. It was the first time Ye Chong spotted such finely made wings. The texture, the detail, the glow of it, every side of it felt like the actual wings of a bird. Wouldn’t such overdone wings be hardly a tool in flight? Wouldn’t it be a mere vase for predicament rather than adornment? Could such wings even withstand the coefficient of drag in flights of high velocity? Ye Chong was occupied with doubts as his belief always laid on the simplicity and conciseness of practicality. This mech before him had a rather conspicuous design. It looked like a bird but Ye Chong could not name what kind of a bird. Well, if Fred the Great was here, he must be waddling towards this beauty, giving careful caress as calling it the model made after the avifauna from the legend, the Phoenix itself.

Nevertheless, our Ye Chong was not the cosmopolitan man like Fred the Great. His scope had yet to be expanded despite all the adventures he had been through. All his eyes discerned was the three-dimensional illustration which kept rotating in the interface!

Ye Chong might not be able to judge the situation by the species of the mech but he was still the man of combats. He wielded his own strength as he was able to conclude this very particular purple mech having superiority in terms of mobility from that single landing made. He even speculated that it should be also nearly as competent as Mu in terms of speed.

As much as he speculated, “Ye, be careful. This mech is good,” notified Mu. “Good” was the killing term for Mu’s comment. This mech must not be any fraud from the street market!

This mech was known as Feng Su’s “Wings of Nirvana”. The leader predicted, there were 25 mechs opposing them. And 20 of them had been held up by the 20 Dawn mechs sent. The situation was under control, both parties were well-behaved. The usual explosion and hell firings were not unleashed. The remaining 5 mechs, including the leading mech, the Mermaid’s Curse were occupied by my own men as well. Well, there were 10 Dawn mechs left on my side. It would be more than enough to take that man! Wouldn’t it?

But I never knew the one being caught up in my siege could be this strong!

Though Feng Su was against 5 mechs at once, the fight was done effortlessly. It was a piece of cake and not much of her concern. Her major concern sat on those mechs she sent to capture the target, especially after “that” happened unexpectedly.

The golden light came and left within twinkling of eyes. People could hardly see it, except for Feng Su.

Was that a miniature mech? Feng Su, also being the expert of the mechs, identified what that moving thing was. The amazing capability demonstrated by the Guardian was shocking to her mind. Nobody else could understand better what could this possibly mean than herself.

A miniature mech was nothing new in the industry. However, the issue always lies in the balance of minimizing the size while maximizing the strength, which was indirectly proportional to each other from the beginning.

The contradictory relationship between the miniaturization of mechs and building of strength did not seem to exist on this mech. If she were to get this technique in hand, she believed that a technological breakthrough could be made with the techniques in her upper authority! No, it would be a leap in humanity, right away! The current style of battling could be changed and unquestionably, the Orbits would raise and become the leader of the 3 major forces in the galaxies!

The 3 major forces in mech development had set off for many years as they parted ways at one point. Nonetheless, all of them hit the neck-bottle of times in their development. Only such a revolutionary technique that toppled the law of size-strength relationship could bring this mech world to a new stage! And this stage, certainly would be a great leap in the years! Whoever made the leap first would be at absolute advantage!

Despite of that, if either one of the other two forces had obtained such technique ahead, the outcome was starkly blatant.

The moment when Feng Su saw how Ye Chong used that ordinary looking dagger to slice through the armor of the Dawn mech, she was literally stupefied!

This… this was against the law of nature! No it was against the law of physics! Everything that I know of!

Even a laser sword could not slice the armor of Dawn mech open this easily, what trickery was this? What were those daggers?

Imagine if the Black Covers ever acquired this skill… with the horrifying close-combat techniques they aced at… Feng Su trembled helplessly.

Any mistake in the information given would cause fatality in this moment. And there was. No one had ever thought that there was one more mech in the field!

The reaction speed and the calculation skills were too terrorizing! It was a moment of silence then a chain of back-to-back sequence of actions came accurately. The foe seemed to have made great use of the situation and had shattered the flawless defense she presumed into a million pieces. And that happened in a few seconds. The big mech leading the smaller mech rushed out of the siege! Feng Su no longer had the leisure to play with the 5 mechs haunting her as she jumped out and tried to hold the pair back!

The Wings of Nirvana was surely the top mech from the Orbits, as it moved against the law of space it seemed. Traveling at immense momentum, it jumped across the sky, hopped right in front of Ye Chong and Mu to stop them!

While Ye Chong had his eyes glued on this purple mech, Feng Su also had her full attention on this strange golden man.

Ye Chong did not seem to be aware of who was piloting this purple mech however, despite the suffering he had been through because of this terrifying mentalist in purple cloak. Ironically, Feng Su had yet to notice this target she was going to capture was actually the fighter she misunderstood being one part of the Black Coves.

Both of them had another fateful encounter under this peculiar setting where they did not recognize each other.

The 5 mechs from MPA who lost the target seemed to be informed about Feng Su’s strength as they did not inch towards her.

“Ready? Aim! Full power!” The leader of the group bit his teeth as he ordered in the Mermaid’s Curse. He seemed determined as the order roared rashly.

The target he mentioned was actually Ye Chong and Yu Di with Mu inside!

“Um…” the few men hesitated. Aren’t we supposed to bring them alive? The order said so… Why the attack?”

Full power literally meant firing with all weapons available, which was hardly used in actual war field. It was much potent yet also crippled. After the firing was done, the mobility would be disabled for the next 15 seconds and it could simply mean death in the war field!

“I’m not letting the foe go and get that strange mech! I rather lose it! I rather have nobody getting that in the end than giving it away!” The words rang coldly, with the tone highlighted by determination and ferocity, which frightened the men a little.

If they were to return right now, being all defeated, a complete failure to the mission, they would be ultimately punished. The leader was right on his words, they would rather die in the field than being punished for giving the target away to the enemy.

The 4 men obeyed the leader’s order together almost immediately after. The 5 mechs stood still in the air as they set their gaze off the 3 mechs on the ground. All the cartridges, the guns on the body were launched in a blast. The main weapon was also fearsomely pointed right at Yu Di and Ye Chong.

“Fire!!” The leader screamed on top of his lungs. A never-before-seen desperation filled his piercing voice.

Almost simultaneously, Feng Su standing right in front of Ye Chong and Yu Di felt a sense of eeriness somehow. Mentalist at development of mentality bestowed her the bizarre sixth sense, which caused her to react at the first moment!

A tip to the ground, she jumped up high and blocked the sight between the 5 mechs and Ye Chong.

Her purple wings were spread open. It was then when they realized how gigantic the Wings of Nirvana were! It was literally 15 meter long, which made the main body appear much smaller than before. A wave of purple glimmer hovered from the wings through the air and coagulated at 30 centimeters away from the wings. A plasma bubble of pale purple transformed into a giant plasma shield and covered the Wings of Nirvana entirely. Under Feng Su’s wings, Ye Chong was also within the proximity of protection.

Well, of course, such scenery came out in black and white at Ye Chong’s interface.

The dazzling white flare blinded the place! Everyone could not help but to stop. The firepower from the 5 mechs converged into a broad beam of light. Nano waves, laser waves, heat ray waves, all sorts of beams came together at the same exact timing and frequency onto the same target!

The extreme amount of energy inside that beam set the alarm off wailing inside the hologram scanning system in all mechs. At one moment, every pilot in their mechs had their face drained, except for Ye Chong and Feng Su.

The light beam struck right onto the plasma shield of the Wings of Nirvana.

People on the ground were blinded by another even more dazzling shroud of light. They could see nothing else than complete whiteness, except for Ye Chong in his miniature mech.

The unique monochromatic view inside the Guardian had produced a memorable scene to Ye Chong.

Thup!

A faint sound of a crash, felt like the egg shell was smashed. The white light beam collided into the plasma shield which appeared to be glowing white in Ye Chong’s visual. The light overflowed the space. The beam became splinters of fireworks and splashed all over the place. They then disintegrated in air quickly.

The collision of energy particles, with the point of collision being the center, caused a major impulse spreading throughout the place!

Yu Di was not as fortunate as Ye Chong. Mu did react in time to have his shield right before the chest. But Yu Di had been damaged before, which weakened the shield, making it like a slab of ice. It did not last for even a split second as it turned to ashes by the light beams.

Mu’s irreproachable control was manifested at this moment. Of course, if anyone could witness such miracle by then! Within that brief and easily-overlooked second, Mu had warped into the proximity of the plasma shield produced by the Wings of Nirvana. Even so, Yu Di suffered a severe loss, where 2 of its arms were gone. Only one was retained and it was the one with the cartridge. The other 2 vaporized because of that beam. The cartridge was empty. No ammo remained, which meant Yu Di was officially deemed as useless in battle.

The collision of energy had produced tremendous strength, which even the Wings of Nirvana with immense capabilities backed off uncontrollably.

Other than Mu, Ye Chong who still possessed a clear view of the happening saw the Wings of Nirvana approaching him helplessly. His eyes glowed cold.

Exerted strength to the tip of his toes, the Guardian’s bursting capability had accelerated Ye Chong to a whole new level. The daggers were ready in his hands!

The three-dimensional illustration rotated endlessly in the interface. The information came crashing like waterfall. The white dots and crossing lines became lesser and brighter at the same time! It became clearer!

Locked on!

Ye Chong’s pupils shrunk drastically!

Chapter 129: Not the End, but the Beginning?

e Chong had a plan in his mind. Without hesitation he climbed upwards and made a quick slash on the purple mech with his daggers.

The mech might have acted heroically and saved his day, but Ye Chong was not foolish enough to have faith on a stranger, believing that the act was for his own good. If he did not give hindrance of some sort, especially to the foe before him, with its capabilities Mu would have probably gave a depressing figure on the possibility of their escape again. Such a golden opportunity for a golden man, how could he let it slip?

Like a tinted bullet, Ye Chong launched himself all the way to this mech in rage!

Feng Su was startled as she piloted the Wings of Nirvana all the way to the side. A sharp turn on her steer. The extensive wings folded softly like an actual pair of wings of a bird as it covered up the critical spot of the mech. The whole sequence of inputs was executed right at a whim.

Trust your intuition! It was the unmovable belief in every mentalist, the source of their forces. It had also become a habit, the basis of Feng Su’s life.

Feng Su’s action was rapid! But Ye Chong in his Guardian was faster!

A brandish from his twin daggers flashing the unique, cold gaze of cruelty, the blade-wielding was indiscernible by naked eyes, the blades seemed to have turned invisible in Ye Chong’s hands. The air was waving in ripples as Ye Chong cut through the air. It was fast, too fast!

But he felt nothing during the slash!

That was surprising to Ye Chong as he believed that his sudden attack could have been effective, till the opponent dodged most of his strikes, as if the opponent saw it on a script and was ready the whole time.

Due to the higher standing in sensory development, mentalists often possessed great premonition, which would be strengthened when more training were accomplished! No doubt that such characteristic was extremely useful in combats. It allowed one to foresee the movements, the happening a moment later which gave you the leading position in fights, hence dramatically improved the likelihood of your victory!

Well, with that said, the process of a battle was never as straightforward as it was always illustrated in the novel. Even if you were aware of the intended upcoming behavior of the foes, it did not necessarily mean that you have the control of the entire scene. While mentality played a role in contributing to the likelihood of your victory, the standard of piloting a mech, your own strength etc. had far greater contribution. Conclusively, what determines the outcome of a battle is always plural and one should not presume it as a factor of singularity.

As mentioned before, there were 3 major forces in the galaxies – the Black Covers were great with their arms and legs; the Orbits were great with their senses… well, if that was the case, MPA should have the weakest pilots of them all. The catch was, however, the pilots of MPA had better mechs. Eventually, every faction of them shared a kind of perk. They were closely related and certainly they were equal.

Feng Su was the ace among the pilots of the Orbits. She had a well-developed mentality as well as impeccable piloting skills. She might not be recognized as the strongest pilot in the Orbits, but surely she was the pilot with the strongest extrasensory intuition and the fastest in reaction to it.

Hence, even under the hacking speed of Ye Chong, she dodged most of them solely because of her overwhelming intuition!

What?

No… It can’t be. Ye Chong was dumbstruck. With his speed, it should not be strange that even Mu would fail to avoid the attacks…

However the reality was in fact… the foe dodged it!

Quite a number of the slashes he made were missed. The few slashes struck were also way off the tangent sketched by the Guardian in the interface.

Luck? Coincidence? Or the foe had something in the back? Ye Chong was skeptical.

“Ye! Go! Now!” Mu’s tone sounded intensely hurried. If Mu said so… Ye Chong could not afford to disobey the instruction as he laid the tip of his toes at the foe and launched himself away to Yu Di like a golden arrow. The rapport between the best combination was shown again, as Mu sped up Yu Di, rushing his way to Ye Chong, opened his one remaining arm. Thup! Ye Chong clang on the single arm like an ape.

Undoubtedly, because of the enhanced strength by the Guardian, the Wings of Nirvana was forced away the moment Ye Chong made the leap.

Under Mu’s flawless calculation, he sped up Yu Di in the shortest time possible and grabbed Ye Chong and they disappeared!

The glaring light faded away at last. People on the ground looked at each other in bewilderment.

“What … happened…?”

“I don’t know…”

“Are we abducted?”
”Hey! What are these?”

“The Messengers? Why are they…Ah!!”

…

!

The people realized they were surrounded by enemies. The scene turned chaotic after. The mechs from both sides, the MPA and the Orbits went after each other. Nonetheless, the Orbits outnumbered the MPA and they were better supports in a team fight. They covered each other up and lastly they surrounded the Messengers instead.

The Dawn mechs’ eyes lustered upon their prey as the Messengers backed off carefully. Although the pilots from MPA did not fear death as their destiny, they were horrified by the intensity. They held their guards high, their weapons were charged, anticipating the final moment.

The pilots from the Orbits awaited the ultimate order from their leader. As soon as Feng Su uttered the keyword, these filthy intruders from MPA would have their remnants here. They held no fond towards intruders, only pure hostility, especially when they actually lost a brother in this intrusion! The golden man might have been the culprit, but obviously he had got something to do with these intruders!

And that was how the pilots from MPA became the scapegoat of the day!

Both parties were unexpectedly calm, as one identified one’s own inferiority in the situation while the other awaited the order from Feng Su!

In sheer silence, they glared at each other. Eerie it was to see about 50 mechs hovering in the sky, one flock towards the other, yet not a sound was heard. It was too quiet that it felt like a static scene from horror movies.

Feng Su’s heart rumbled with shock. The flocks by her side were not her concern at all, but the golden man was. The fact that he was not affected by the blazing light was more than surprising to Feng Su. The alarm had been raised to Level : Yellow. Feng Su was enraged upon seeing Wings of Nirvana in scratches. Her trusty steed was never hurt! She took it as a sign of pride being an ace in the team, for no one including the mech itself would be hurt under her leadership! Nevertheless, it was history.

Scratches of a depth of roughly 30 centimeters was nothing to a mech of10 few meters tall. But the shocker was that these scratches happened to be at the weaker area of the armor! Feng Su was horrified as she imagined what could happen if she failed to dodge in time, with the slashes on the few weaker spots on her armor. She would… She would not have survived…

Shuddered, Feng Su held back her thought. In a brief second, the man actually found the weak spots on my mech? How horrible!

Was it because of the sharp eyes of that man? Or was it because of that amazing gadget on the mech?

The cuts were smooth? How come? My Wings of Nirvana is the highest ranked mech in the Orbits! The armor of the main body is sturdier than ever! It should have been at least a strong mech even at the origin of this stranger! Feng Su had confidence to declare her mech being at least solid enough to take attacks even from the Black Covers, those known for their top close-combat skills.

That miniature mech could not stop giving me surprise, couldn’t it? No wonder the MPA went so far for this! If I were to report this to the authority, I assume that they would take some sort of action!

And the information was absolutely wrong! There were two people here? The pilot in the other mech was someone not to be ignorant of. Such an expert! That accuracy, that flawlessness in his piloting, there was no ineffectiveness! With the calculation and foresight of his, he should be far more potent that the pilot in the gold miniature mech! The design of the mech was one-of-a-kind and the cartridge was well-placed! I wonder which genius put up such design?

These anomalies! Feng Su was amazed. Her will to conquer burnt up high. If I ever met them again…

Feng Su could not help but felt excitement rolling in her heart.

Out of ponder, she took a look around and soon she got hold of the situation.

The mission was not completed, but it did not mean that Feng Su was out of luck! Firstly, the infiltration of MPA pilots in the Orbits had been exposed. Secondly, in spite of the fact that the target had escaped, as long as they were in the vicinity of the Orbits, Feng Su’s men would stand far better chance than the other forces, simply because they could call all men to retrieve the target, which was something incomparable to the intruding foes who shared a much more pitiful amount. Well, it had caused enough fiasco to alarm the Black Covers at the very least.

Still…

Feng Su knew it well that it was not easy for someone to exit the Orbits.

Most importantly, the value of this miniature mech had been blatantly justified, along with precious first-hand information about it!

Regarding these men from MPA… Feng Su was a little puzzled. It would be bad to just let them go… But if she were to kill them… they were not going to sit still and let the beams hit them, then she would lose more men in the end and it only signified an obvious taunt to MPA, leading a galactic war some time in the future… That would be bad too…

A bloodshed should not be what the authority desired…

While being puzzled by the dilemma, a flock of mechs flew to the place. They were all Dawn mechs, densely connected. There should be at least 100 of them by a glance as they traveled in a perfect formation speedily towards her.

The 25 mechs from MPA started acting in panic!

The new batch of Dawn mechs splat into 10 smaller teams as they went into their position like 10 winding snakes, further enforcing the siege!

The 29 Dawn mechs by Feng Su were excited by the participation of their allies! This was because it certainly showed a difference in strength with these additional men! And it only would take a word from Feng Su to officially sear these intruders into ashes! Stimulated, the radical fighters had their blood boiling, trembling.

Beep.

Feng Su received an order from the authority.

She headed into the sieged area, with 20 Dawn mechs surrounding her, covering the Wings of Nirvana straight away!

Her soft voice echoed throughout the field via the loudspeaker.

“To the intruders, I believe you should have received a word from our supreme authority on allowing all of you to surrender. To refrain from unnecessary conflict, for the sake of our Orbits, please deactivate your weaponry, get grounded immediately and deploy all your mechs and gadgets. The mechs would be under our safekeeping for security purposes. Rest assured that they would be returned once you are exiled from the Orbits. I request your constant cooperation!” and she retreated to the outside.

The pilots from the MPA were biting their lips. Their expression was grim as they passed their mechs, the meaning of their life, the enlightenment of their soul, the exit of their passion to an insignificant other. Some pilots of an younger age could not control but to shed a tear. The warriors who have never feared the demise to their role, had submitted their identity as an inevitable fate. The pain, the agony… a fate worse than death, the men from the Orbits could not have their eyes on such demolition.

Feng Su watched on in silence. She was aware… that the authority must have made some kind of agreement with the MPA. Something was planned… or how would these pilots lower their pride as they hand over their precious that easily?

Sigh, probably this was not the end. This was just the beginning.

Thought Feng Su as her mind wandered off to somewhere else in the future.

Chapter 130: Loss and Gain

ob.

Ye Chong gave a stare of a husband looking at a dying wife at Yu Di. It was harshly devastated by the air raid, like Harmony back then. And this one could be better off at the dump. How fateful he met Yu Di, such fitting mech to his personality with such striking gadgets in-built and he lost it. The cool appearance, the cartridge, the four arms, everything had become the lump of iron on the ground. It was heartbreaking to Ye Chong as not only Yu Di was a rare all-rounder, the four arms on it allowed his overwhelming hand movement speed to exert the maximum output. After pairing with various models of mechs, Yu Di was undeniably the perfect consort!

And… the former glory was gone! He took a good look at it, his hands caressing it in sympathy. Nothing like Yu Di before was remained. It was fully charred. The body was cracked from the impulse caused by the energy collision. The arms… It was a pain in Ye Chong’s heart to even mention it. Only the arm with the cartridge was intact, the rest had probably raised upon the heaven, with a tiny bit of them stuck at the body. The state was hopeless, as the missiles were specially tailored by Fred the Great, those were unique and non-renewable, except if they encountered Fred the Great again… Wonder how many light years it would take if they were going to meet again.

Other than the engine, none of the other parts were functional…

Hei Zi felt the cracks and scratches on Yu Di with his hands, “Gosh! Did they cause these? But I must say you are fortunate to make it out alive!” exclaimed Hei Zi. Though the fact that he abandoned Ye Chong was haunting them. It could be for Nan Nan’s safety, still… Hei Zi couldn’t forgive himself!

Nan Nan sat across Ye Chong’s shoulders with her hands clipped on Ye Chong’s collar to prevent falling as she began her commentary, “Poor… poor big, big mech!” Yu Di was about 20 meters tall, which was twice the length of an ordinary mech, hence the “big, big” statement from Nan Nan.

“Sigh,” Hei Zi took a moment to inspect the mech, his face looked depressed, his head shaking. “There’s nothing we can do. What a waste to a good mech.”

Ye Chong stood before Yu Di, his hands stuck on its body, hoping that a miracle could happen. Maybe he could still feel the heartbeat somewhere! Maybe he could ask Hei Zi’s master to try fixing it! Yes! “Ye.” Mu’s voice came ringing in his head, “According to the outcome of my analysis, the probability of reversing the damage done to Yu Di is below 5%.” An official declaration of death from the expert.

“Big brother…” Nan Nan’s words came weakly.

Ye Chong was calm on the outside but he was wailing on the inside! Although he had Guardian, which by any chance would perform way better than Yu Di in his hand, its attacking range was much smaller than Yu Di. It was also a typical model for usage within the atmosphere, which raised another issue of whether the miniature mech could travel in space like Yu Di before. And then capability of combating in space… you’ve got to be joking! Chances were Gu Shaoze never thought about using this suit to fight in space! The mobility of the Guardian was granted by Ye Chong’s own explosive capacity of muscles plus the magnification by the miniature engines. You could not find anything to exert forces on to produce movement! Ye Chong might have ended up in space and got stuck in the weightless state. There could be meteorites for him to step on but meteorites do not come every minute! Without the amazing burst of speed in short distance for survivability, the Guardian was merely a bullseye for the other pilots to aim on!

Frankly speaking, Yu Di was more balanced in all aspects. It was a brawling model but with the addition of the cartridge, the aspect of being able to do ranged attack was fulfilled. And it would still be a good model for brawling in space!

Ye Chong was in the Orbits – most likely he would encounter battles in space and fortunately he got the Guardian – the finest weapon on the ground, which had zero capacity in space. Ye Chong tried to be optimistic but he could not! How could Ye Chong not be sorrow about this? Moreover, thanks to the grand debut by his Guardian, the entire infantry of the Orbits should be coveting the miniature amazement. He could imagine how thousands of Dawn mechs would eat him up the moment he appeared in a golden suit, glaring at the pedestrian like the LED of the street!

You had finally found the Excalibur somewhere in the world, but you must hide it or you’ll die, you could not wield it in front of people, you could not even use it to chop trees because the people would come like a nest of bees hunting you down and for all the trouble you broke the chopping knife of your house – this probably summed up Ye Chong’s gloomy salad days.

“Don’t be sad, pal!” By looking at how grievous Ye Chong was, Hei Zi smiled with his teeth shining brighter on his tanned skin, “The new does not come without the old leaving.” There was some mystery running on his face. It was weird to see a sincere man like him to put up such a mischievous face.

Ye Chong stared at Hei Zi skeptically. Hei Zi quickly lowered his head. Huh… Ye Chong could see somehow Hei Zi was trying to hold his laugh the whole time. What was so funny?

It was dinner and Ye Chong had it with Nan Nan and Hei Zi as usual. The mentioned grandfather had never appeared before the dining table. Sometimes Ye Chong wondered if the sincere brother and sister were having a fictional grandfather who was in pink of health in spite of an old age.

Hei Zi was happily having his meal though. Back then, Nan Nan was a monster to tame during dinner time. It took him wrestling effort to get the girl sitting still to finish her food. Things had changed ever since Ye Chong arrived. Nan Nan was tamed by herself, where every dinner ran smoothly. The first time it was Hei Zi that could feel the family life was such wonder.

Ye Chong lay on the bed after dinner. Little Nan Nan was sleeping on her bed nearby. Soundly Nan Nan slept, anyone could have told the little girl had a great time in the day. Nan Nan did have her own room but… when Ye Chong decided to move in, she showed persistence of moving in along as she rampaged in the living room, demanding Hei Zi to take action. In the end, the kind Brother Hei Zi lifted her bed all the way to Ye Chong’s room.

Ye Chong was researching about mentalist. The training was sadly not as effective as he expected. Probably as the databank had mentioned, his talent was terribly inadequate in this. He was not going to give up however. He might had an inadequate mana to do mentalist efficiently but he knew his ability was being enhanced, just that the rate was too measly he could not tell. He needed it anyway. Every bit of improvement meant something!

He started communicating with Mu after researching for quite some time.

“Hey Mu, say if we were still at home, what would have happened?” asked Ye Chong, feeling nostalgic of Trash Planet-12. The world outside was more than entertaining yet it was bewildering to Ye Chong sometimes. It felt like Ye Chong started off like a blinded rat in a maze, heading into nothing, having no plan about his next move, hitting into walls and breaking them from time to time. He had nothing in mind and only acted upon the situation coming to him, only acted based on the surroundings.

What should he do the day after? Ye Chong did not hold a kind of concept for this. It was solely a matter of survival – it was not about what to do the day after, it was about whether if he could live till the day after. The outside world was known to be dangerous and Ye Chong was taking extreme care of himself the whole time but slowly he realized that, unlike the Trash Planet, the outside world did not seem to have a sense of alert all the time, since… most people were safe most of the time!

On the Trash Planet, Ye Chong’s sole purpose was to stay alive. However after leaving the planet, the purpose was no longer a thing in his mind, which confused him a little. After interacting with ordinary citizens from the other planets – getting into knowing them, talking to them, understanding their jokes, getting involved in their lives, somehow the nature’s law of survival he had strong faith on was cloaked by modernity and had transformed into something foreign there to him. Without the stress on survivability, with the new set of law so strange, his life felt relaxing yet unreal…

Sensed the paradigm shift in Ye Chong, Mu wanted to comment something sensible, but he was not Shang, his mood matrix was unable to compute the changes, “Based on the information obtained, possibly you are still fighting with mutated lifeforms and you should be 40% behind your training progress compared to you here.” That was Mu’s answer towards Ye Chong’s odd inquiry as he tried imagining life lingering on Trash Planet-12.

“Mhm. But that sort of life was boring anyway! Mu, do you have an ambition?” asked Ye Chong.

“Ambition?” Mu tried processing the term perceived but the definition puzzled him. Well if it was Shang, he probably should have a motivational talk an hour long with Ye Chong by then!

“Umm… Ambition is something like what you would want to do the most in the future!” Ye Chong tried explaining with the limited knowledge in his head.

“If that is the case, my ambition would be staying by Ye’s side,” flatly his answer came.

It was a little touching to Ye Chong though!

“Hey.”

?!

Out of sudden, Ye Chong was alarmed by the whisper, he heard the footsteps approaching him.

The door was knocked and was opened, oh it was Hei Zi. Ye Chong was relieved. “Ye, I-” Hei Zi shut his mouth abruptly upon seeing Nan Nan sleeping soundly in the bed. He then gestured Ye Chong to come out in excitement.

Ye Chong tiptoed to the outside of the room. Once he was out, Hei Zi came right to his face, whispering in leaking joy, “Come with me. My master wants to see you!”