Chapter 201: As You Are Human

Two mechs stood against each other.

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

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

Perhaps… mech could be fun… Rui Bing wondered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her agitation seared her with blazing passion.

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

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

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

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

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

…

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

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

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

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

“Sigh, Ye, our Bing Bing…”

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

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

“Because I’m a human?”

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

“Oh I see,” Ye Chong became his usual self.

…

One could hear the sparks in Shang’s head.

“Ye, there, the drawer.”

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

Chapter 202: We Meet Again

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What’s up?” Ye Chong asked, curious.

“You’ll see!” Shang’s tone was odd.

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

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

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

The footsteps were coming closer to him.

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

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

The footsteps came closer and closer.

Their eyes met.

“Hey, isn’t that the lady in the training garb?” Ye Chong asked Shang inside.

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

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

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

“You, how are you?” Rui Bing asked softly.

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

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

Being alive was not bad, according to Ye Chong.

“You’re YC?” Wei Yuan looked at Ye Chong with glowing eyes.

“Yes,” was Ye Chong’s brick reply.

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

Ye Chong automatically ignored Shang.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rui Bing watched Ye Chong without a word.

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

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

“Why?” Rui Bing’s expression finally cracked a little, but quickly resumed her calmness.

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

“When will you be done?” Rui Bing asked.

“The situation is unclear, I don’t know that yet.” Ye Chong replied.

“I’ll go with you.” Rui Bing spoke with resolution.

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

Ye Chong shook his head. “You’re not skilled enough!”

Rui Bing was about to protest, so Ye Chong continued, “You can’t pilot a mech.”

Rui Bing went silent.

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

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

“Wait …” Rui Bing gasped in panic.

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

In Windstar Hospital’s main building.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No wonder it was the last technique.

“Ye,” Shang suddenly spoke up, “I have a plan, have a look.” His sinister voice caught Ye Chong’s attention.

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

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

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

Chapter 203: Director of Chaos I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shang’s plan was merciless.

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

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

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

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

On the contrary, Shang went behind the scenes.

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

“Begin!” Mu’s typical calm voice reverberated throughout the highest floor of the hospital.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Han Jia moved soundlessly like a ghost through the night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“This … Isn’t this the full-skeleton mech everyone is looking for?”

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

Chapter 204: Director of Chaos II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The effect was shocking.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“How was it?” Ye Chong asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The place was now a living hell!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 205: Director of Chaos III

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hak was also getting anxious.

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

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

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

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

The MPA?

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

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

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

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

Han Jia slammed to a halt firmly on the ground.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Target locked.” Mu’s calm voice gave him courage, and Ye Chong pulled the trigger without hesitation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Black and White locked gaze at a distance.

Ye Chong hid himself amongst the other mechs and watched.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 206: Change

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Things began to get back on track.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who were these people?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“So many people!” Shang sighed.

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

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

Ye Chong burst his bubble. “Don’t pretend, you’re the main culprit!”

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

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

“It’s a mythical God with wings, one with a pure and kind heart.”

“Oh, a birdman!”

“Cough, cough …”

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

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

Ye Chong found a seat and sat down without hesitation.

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

Ye Chong asked, “How long?”

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

Ye Chong nodded. “Alright, then I’ll come back in four days.”

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

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

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

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

Chapter 207: Physique

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then the doctor exclaimed, “How horrifying…”

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

Ye Chong was expressionless the whole time.

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

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

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

“What is it?” Ye Chong remained calm.

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

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

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

Nodded Ye Chong.

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

“What was unique?” asked Ye Chong.

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

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

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

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

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 208: My Life as a Spaceship Owner I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ye!” Shouted Shang during Ye Chong’s practice.

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

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

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

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

“I see,” responded Ye Chong, who too held zero interest towards money, “So where’s the ship?”

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

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

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

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

“Oh, I see,” Ye Chong expressed comprehension.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Well then, ‘The One’. There, done.” Ye found the name to be the most easiest to remember.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ye Chong’s eyes were stuck on the blueprint.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 209: My Life as a Spaceship Owner II

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

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

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

The alchemy room, also a laboratory precisely speaking, was fully designed by Ye Chong himself. He had been learning the theoretical aspect of the study but never once he had been exposed to hand-on experience. Now with this new alchemist lab, he could perform all sorts of alchemy experiments. And well, those apparatuses inside the lab would be driving any alchemist mad on first sight. Self-controlled cultivation machine, thermostatic plasma room, duo enzymic mixer… all these luxuries that could only be found in the top laboratories were sitting right inside Ye Chong’s lab.

The modification room was the largest among them, which did not only contain a range of devices for mech modification, but also had a set of equipment for skeleton parts production. That was the tricky part however as there was no equipment dedicated for skeleton parts production in the market. Most of the time Ye Chong had to make them from scratch. Thankfully the devices sold in the market were of extreme variety that the mod room Ye Chong owned was way better than the top mod room he used to have at Blue Ocean Academy. As most devices were solely available on pre-order basis, he had to bear with the standard procedure of pre-ordering and waiting. The arrival was still pretty far away from him.

Finally, the 3 essential rooms were formed. A sigh of relief from Ye Chong, although he was probably a million light years away from completion. These apparatuses he purchased from the market were not perfect in Mu’s eyes, as he provided a list of suggestion on modification to each apparatus. No doubt the list took a moment of discussion between Mu and Ye Chong and Ye Chong learned something from it.

Apparatus modification was way more than a simple change of nut to bolt, as these machines were already densely circuited in the beginning. A slight inaccuracy, a slip of the hand could permanently damage the machine. The demand of cautious accuracy was not something Ye Chong used to. But his learning capabilities helped him out. After destroying a few apparatuses, he mastered the unconventional method of operating them. Ye Chong was expected to have much refined technique in handling these machines compared to the times before. Of course, to make this kind of operation a habitual one, the cost he had to bear was unimaginable for most men.

Okay… Phase 1 completed. The 3 rooms were furnished. Then… the mech training room, that would be easier. Ye Chong picked the largest storage and placed the training equipments in. Done. Ye Chong could no longer improve his piloting skills by merely striving for mastery. He got to take accuracy.

Ye Chong proceeded to Phase 2.

Phase 1 felt so angelic and harmless the moment he began the Phase 2 of the modification. It involved modification on the weaponry itself, as Ye Chong stood before the offensive system of the spaceship. He staggered. Those matrixes were just the few of the simpler types of simulation of the offenses for ships Mu claimed he could find inside the databank. He was obliged to build it since the Coxcomb would be naturally a giant bee comb if they were to encounter any foes who would fire at them. Ye Chong would have to succumb to piloting his mech to try fighting back, abandoning the spaceship in the end.

Even though the 5 major galaxies had clearly prohibited the research and development of space warship, Ye Chong did not seem to be bounded by the terms at all. MPA owned a Double Moon Corvette while Black Coves and Sanctuary also had their own warships. Probably even the Prometheus Group owned a handful of warships as well.

Ye Chong would absolutely agree to any kind of modification as long as it would increase the chances of safety. I guard my own safety! And my safety guards my own fate!

And then there Ye Chong was, stumbled upon the modification process, as he realized the process turned out to be the hardest part of the entire plan.

This was the first time Ye Chong was exposed to the firepower aspect of the system, and he realized that he could not understand the simulation at all. He was familiar with the firepower, of the mech that is. The weaponry of a spaceship was grander and more complicated than the one on mech. It would be unrealistic for Ye Chong to master the working behind spaceship weaponry. The vastness of knowledge behind the simple-looking system would be something one would take forever to capture and be unable to see the end.

But, one does not understand the weaponry would not mean one is unable to make it, especially when one has Mu by the side.

The whole operation was broken down into several hundred steps by Mu, in which the detailed instructions were specified. Ye Chong only had to follow the steps exactly the way they were written. Mu would be supervising at the side. So for the completion of this phase, Ye Chong was totally confident.

The vital component of the entire system would be the installation of electromagnetic cannon, specifically the tubes. Electromagnetic cannons would fire up after a very brief moment of charging immense energy. So the tubes would be essential for they must be able to withstand the density of the forces without transmutation occurring during the process. Any ordinary metal would have melted before the ammo got fired.

The metal lab had a storage which kept countless premium ores and Ye Chong suddenly remembered that, Mu seemed to know formula of multiple kinds of strange alloys. As expected, Mu took out a piece of black gold ore, with a diameter about half a meter. Ye Chong had once collected a massive amount of black gold ores at the asteroid belt surrounding the Black Coves, since those ores were the specialty of the planet, with excellent stats and were used in the masks of the Black Covers and their mechs.

The ores were convincingly heavy. It took a moment for Ye Chong to lift it up, carried it a few steps unsteadily and tossed it into the Magnetron-based metal separator that he had bought. He turned back and looked at Mu, who was standing there and did not intend to take out another piece apparently.

“Mu, that’s it?” Asked Ye Chong in peculiarity, “Is one piece enough?”

“Mhm, it’s more than sufficient. Producing tubes for an electromagnetic cannon using black gold is already considered as a form of resources wastage itself. It is a shame that we do not have lightning stone or extracted crystal reactance in possession, while we would run out of material assuming we are making tubes for nanowave cannon instead.” Mu seemed rather helpless when he was unable to carry out the optimal route available.

Ye Chong simply did not recognize the rarity of black gold to understand the context. The war machine of the Black Coves, like Cosmic Flare for example, contained only a little amount of black gold. Similarly the amount of black gold in the masks was hardly noticeable. If it was not that strange space whirlpool which dragged Ye Chong to the depth of the asteroid belt, he would never be able to collect black gold this much.

Zink! Zink! Zink! Ye Chong could feel the slight vibration from the little window on the separating machine. Shush! And there he saw the piece of black gold being fully transformed into a pile of black powder, which veiled the inside of the machine in black mist. Very quickly after droplets of black liquid splashed over the window and flowed downwards to form a black glossy stream. The inside of the machine was rather bizarre for it was hardly tainted by the liquid.

The liquid flowed smoothly over the surface and collected at one point, eventually condensed into a piece of metallic cube. Ye Chong opened the window and held it in his hand. It was hefty… strangely hefty, glossing in dark.

Ye Chong, under the further instruction of Mu, placed the crystallized black gold into the other alloys he bought from the market. The lab was of minimalist design, so he had to make the tubes one by one. He was a little clumsy at first but he managed to keep up several tubes later and he started to feel really easy with the apparatuses in the lab. Although he had no idea how most of them worked theoretically, at least he knew how to operate them.

52 electromagnetic tubes piled at one corner. Their darkness would chill one from both the outside and the inside. The polished body felt cold in the hands. Compared to those tubes popping out from the factory every few seconds, these tubes were the handmade superior products from the lab. Inevitably, the cost would also be a few times of the mass-manufactured products. That was never the 3 musketeers’ concern however.

Next up, the launcher production, then the platter for electromagnetic system, the connection of the circuits… Pant… Ye Chong was half dead. Those tasks were not for humans! Really! One could tell the tediousness of the tasks seeing how a superman like Ye Chong collapsed.

Pant… Pant… Relieved Ye Chong. Now, one last step. The installation. Mu had already set up an installation plan for this as well. According to his calculation, the 52 tubes could cover up the entire body of the ship. There would not be blind spot opened for vulnerabilities. Mu could not be one strength to lift the tubes this time. Ye Chong hopped onto an engineering mech and set his work running. Installing the tubes was nothing after all the things he had been through producing the tubes.

He ran through the locations marked by Mu. Those placements were all designed as a concealed gun chamber by nature, so Coxcomb did not look particularly different post installation. Any passerby would have assumed this being an ordinary, harmless Zika spaceship upon first glance.

The electromagnetic cannons were the important component, one of the important components that is. What scattered throughout the corners of the warship was the 180 laser firing devices, which operated at a high reaction speed, with agile movements, forming a large coverage of Coxcomb’s firepower about 50 km. This design was aimed to attack any approaching mech detected. At least the lasers were easily available in the market, as most mechs would use them. When Ye Chong placed the order at the counter in his usual nonchalance, the shopkeeper really assumed him being a staff of some major mech manufacturer.

If Shang was known for his creativity, Mu would be known for his great attention to details. His plans were well connected, with one point supporting the other, like a net that would raid anybody in his aim. It would be horrible if Mu ever turned his firearm over you. Mu’s characteristic was demonstrated clearly over his design on the offenses of the ship.

There were also countless grenade launchers paired with the laser firing devices, as inspired by the vase-shaped grenade launcher of Yu Di. Those waves of supplementary explosives were exceptionally helpful in a battle. Combining with the laser firers, It would surely be a deadly pool if any mech were to approach the Coxcomb.

The process of installing the firearms was rather boring, since most of the things did not make sense to Ye Chong. The one joy he got to experience was to prepare these colorful supplementary explosives. Fred was great. He saluted. Despite his age, he was still that resourceful and creative.

So, we finally finished the offensive system! The interior of the Coxcomb had undergone an overhaul, transforming into a real warship, a fearsome warship! Ye Chong spent literally a month on the building, which was beyond his estimation. He looked at the pile of junks, the remnants from his renovation. It was a headache as those were an absolute failure. He then tossed all of them into the crucible and made them into alloy cubes. That would be easier for storage. He had to keep the place clean since Shang had been nagging at it.

He once commented that, “The Coxcomb is the butcher disguised in his handsome look!”

Phase 3 of the modification… well Ye Chong felt the need to take a break temporarily. Coxcomb was too strong at his offenses while having nearly zero defenses, as his armor was never meant for warring, one could imagine the ship sinking in a few bombardments. But Zika spaceship was known for its size, changing the armor of the ship would be a astronomical operation to work on. Ye Chong could never complete it only by himself. The second astronomical thing would be amount of rare materials Mu required to match the standard. Ye Chong was not a member of the three forces, he did have a storage of them but those were not going to be sufficient to even plate the tip of the ship. Most of the materials were non-existent in the market as well, even though these materials were considered the lettuce and cucumbers if Ye Chong was still at Nine Gates City.

Regarding the possession of resources, Ye Chong was a beggar compared to those forces in 5 major galaxies.

But whether the three forces being filthy richer than him in resources, why would he care? Not like he would get a share.

Anyway, save the talking, the ship was finally done. For the engines of the Coxcombs, they were not that bad, even though Mu had several plans on modification, it would be unrealistic to perform it right now. So Mu, the rational one who foresaw the unequal cost and effect behind this, scrapped the plan.

Ye Chong planned to leave Windstar and make a direct travel to Rainbow after this. It took him way too long to do the basic modification on his giant whale. He felt the time was well spent nevertheless, since being well prepared would mean being likelier to succeed. And he believed that Coxcomb was no longer a warship, it had evolved into a space base. Ye Chong even imagined his life wandering on the warship if he never could find a planet that was good enough to stay. It was not that bad.

Based on the galactic map… Oh! Ye Chong surprisingly found out the Rainbow planet being rather close to the Trash Planet, which further convinced him the fact that this Gao Shichang from Prometheus Group could truly be his papa. He was excited. Well, it is natural for humans to lose their calmness and rationality over their beloved.

And he remembered the fact that his papa was also quite a prodigy in mechs. Then probably Gao Shichang from the corp could very much be his papa.

Well, those were just speculations. If he wanted to verify his speculation, he had to pursue it.

Chapter 210: I Came to Rescue

After they had stocked a variety of supplies, the Coxcomb finally departed from Windstar. Coxcomb was not that prominent in the midst of the busy flock of spaceships landing and departing. Zika graded spaceships could be gigantic, but every organization who came to aid the pitiful residents on Windstar had much greater budget than Ye Chong, as shown by their even more gigantic rides; gigantic spaceships could be a rare sight on the street, as one would not see them running day by day like the mechs, still it was not that rare.

That would be it. The premises were in the favor of Ye Chong. He had never disliked neglects by the others, well, only Shang would love being all cool and showered by attention, “The Coxcomb is the coolest spaceship, everyone should see and appreciate it!”

Anyway, the Coxcomb travelled smoothly off the pier. They left Windstar silently.

In the boundless space, the Coxcomb floated like a soundless whale.

Ye Chong was overjoyed as there were so many things to do. Intergalactic travel could be something really time-consuming and mundane, especially when the journey between Windstar and Rainbow was exceedingly long. Even if Ye Chong owned the Coxcomb and had installed it with the best engines he got, it still was going to take some time.

It came a long way and it would be considered agonizing to most people, except for Ye Chong, who found this being quite normal. After the phases of the major warship transformation he performed not too long ago, he had gotten pretty much used to the apparatuses in the metallurgy laboratory. And he realized he was in dire need to get an useable mech, in public of course, that could provide camouflage to his identity. So he got to create a mech as well. The tools and the materials he had in the room were more than sufficient to make a mech.

Since the mech was merely made for camouflage purpose, he did not need to invest too much on it. He then took inspirations from all sorts of models, a little here and there, which formed a rather odd design plan in the end. The body was given a striped finish with colored patches. It looked like a pierrot, or in layman’s terms, a clown. Ye Chong believed it would be a very good camouflage, since the accessories were all from the market, nobody would have suspected it being a specialty from the three forces or the unknown.

The mech, despite its design being jumbled up from everything in the storage, had its essential parts improvised. Those parts were the only parts Ye Chong needed to touch. The remaining mixture of design was just something he could disregard.

“The Puppet”, named by Ye Chong. And no doubt, the name was given a roaring laugh at. “You sure, Ye? Hahahahahahaha…” Shang had been ridiculing the name for the following hour. Ye Chong found the name to be quite befitting to the mech though. The parts of the Puppet were common enough, yet it was something truly from the experiment, for the experiment, by the experiment.

Ye Chong was having so much fun at the metallurgy lab. It was practically useful. The processor was amazing, that he just had to give a few tap on the screen to provide the visuals of every part and designate the sizing, then he would add in the ingredients. Pop! The part would come out in no time. Ye Chong was astounded as the capability of the processor had indicated that his thoughts could come into reality right away. He had ample alloys in his storage so he began messing with them, creating parts of all kinds. The Puppet would take everything in the end, it would be the conglomeration, a representation of Ye Chong’s storage.

The colorful mech did in fact look like a clown, but Ye Chong would not mind. If anyone were to look down upon the mech, that person would be making a deadly mistake. Ye Chong had installed miniature engines at every joint of the Puppet, to ensure it could set motion in minimal range to provide better offenses. Of course the shooting chambers were in the body as well, to cover the ground. Technically, the chambers were only a backup addition, since who knows when would Ye Chong ever really need to use the chambers to save himself?

The Puppet wielded a pair of parrying spears. It was a strange sight to see such a petite figure waving two oversized spears, although one must admit that it looked pretty disturbing. The two spears were the true killing weapons for Ye Chong. As long as the foes he encountered were from neither of the three forces, with his skills, the pair of spears would be more than enough to keep him alive. If anything would go wrong, Ye Chong would not hesitate to activate Han Jia or the Guardian right away.

The excess nuts and bolts were sent back to the crucible to be made into alloy cubes. And once again, the advantage of using metals as material was demonstrated, its recyclability of course, which was something skeleton materials could hardly compete with. But, one must bear in mind that not every single piece of metal was fine to be recycled, the scrapped metals on Trash Planet for example, the cost to recycle them was too high, which gave a discouraging return, so nobody would recycle them.

From this point, one could tell the standing of skeleton and metallic materials. Metallic materials were more common in application but skeleton materials possessed an extremely unique characteristic which metallic material could never imitate. The catch was, to produce a skeleton part, one would be required a long chain of procedures, longer than any layman would have imagined, which had determined the fate that skeleton mechs could never become common among the pilots.

If the metallurgy experts ever came to Ye Chong’s lab and saw how he used those apparatuses as if he was baking a cake, they would go nuts on spot for those apparatuses were something they would drool upon. Those apparatuses, for any metallurgy researcher or organization, were some of the most advanced kinds.

Ye Chong indulged himself in researches, as he moved around daily like a researcher. He spent the following days at the 3 research rooms he owned. Other than metallurgy, the alchemy was getting his attention as well. As he learned more stuffs from the microchip, he started to get a hold of the way to make offenses using alchemy. And Ye Chong could relate it to how Lunatic Guan treated him at the last occasion they met, it was still fresh in his mind, the sorcery. It was common for alchemists to venture into the woods, so they must have a few tricks in the sleeves to warrant their safety.

Ye Chong always caught the keys very quickly the moment the research involved offenses, for some reason. It was as if Ye Chong was born to war.

Since he owned an alchemy lab, he could perform some experiments. Unfortunately, those precious plants were not something he could purchase straight from the market. Ye Chong would have to head into woods to pluck them himself. The system designed by Lunatic Guan was noticeably different from the mainstream studies in the institutes today, on the choice of materials especially. A few of the ingredients were not that precious but it would require Ye Chong to perform additional procedures to fit them into the formation. In other words, the alchemists would have to do everything on their own, rather than being 1+1=2, the alchemist would need to build that 1, that + , that = and that 2 from scratch in exchange of being able to use a different, more common material.

Luckily Ye Chong had grown on this study, so he did not find the procedures troublesome or whatsoever. Compared to the hassles he had to deal with whenever he made a skeleton part, these procedures were fine.

“Ye!” Mu’s voice rang at the communicator.

Ye Chong placed down the tubes, “Mu, what’s wrong?” he lifted his bed and asked, anticipating something as Mu would never interrupt him if nothing had happened.

Ye Chong after experiencing different kinds of apocalypses repetitively, had gained the serenity in any situation.

“We had just received a SOS signal from somewhere. Someone is being attacked by the pirates apparently. The location happened to be on our course.” Mu had planned a direct course to Rainbow in the first place, since they were in a kind of hurry. Well it was a path known to be lurked by something but Ye Chong never feared them judging by the capabilities of the Coxcomb.

“Mhm,” pondered Ye Chong.

“And they are already within our detected proximity. This is the visual the camera had obtained,” added Mu, then a visual was prompted in front of Ye Chong, via the processor.

Two mechs were shielding for the few engineering models behind. They seemed to be suffering. Ye Chong could tell the two mechs being some above-average pilots in the galaxies.

The pirates on the other hand… were unexpectedly small numbered, only 15 of them. It was literally child’s play compared to the time he fought with the whole gang of Red Beard’s Owl.

The 15 mechs were obviously not greenhorns. They recognized the potency of the two mechs holding their invasion, so they did not fight on full force. They wandered instead, like a pack of hungry wolves, surrounding the lambs. The two mechs knew the pirates’ blatant aim but all they could do was to constantly fire their lasers to keep the pirates away. It turned out to be a sticky situation, as one was struggling without plan, another was grumbling with plan. The gang would only have to wait, till the moment the lambs ran out of energy to fight back, they would gash upon them, a feast they called.

And as the Coxcomb approached the group, they immediately caught on the situation.

The pirates flinched, as they knew that a spaceship was not something owned by the nobody, there had to be at least 150 sailors in the ship. They would be severely outnumbered! So without an order, they already had their own consensus, they would raid, seize and run! They launched attacks frantically on their preys, striving to capture them before the pilots on the spaceship arrived at the scene. Once they could run, they would succeed, since a tortoise like the spaceship shall never be able to catch up with them.

The speed of a spaceship was much slower compared to the mech. Coxcomb for example, only ran at a pitiful speed of Mach 3, compared to those mechs that went easily Mach 5 or 6, Coxcomb was indeed a tortoise. By the way, the Guardian could hit Mach 10 in burst running mode while Han Jia could go Mach 9.

The two mechs panicked, as they knew if it was not the pirates wanted their mechs as part of the loots, they would have become the beehives.

“Eh?” Mu seemed to have discovered something.

“What was it, Mu?” asked Ye Chong hurriedly, to make a cry for a fully logical, non-expressive AI like Mu, it must be some major discovery.

“Go save them, Ye. They have something good on them.” The slight excitement between the words had explained Ye Chong a thousand words, that “something good” would mean something really good. It had to be rare for it could excite Mu.

“Mhm,” responded Ye Chong, as he immediately deployed the Puppet. He rolled into the cabin. The spaceship was spacious enough to accommodate the entire deployment. Well, naturally that would also mean the immense requirement on the piloting skill, to be able to fly out without hitting on anything.

Tai Zuo, one pilot of the two mechs, were tightened at their nerves. They were hitting their limits to stay this long. A little bit of distraction would have broken their protection. And then they heard their mate claiming to see a Zika spaceship flying towards them. Overjoyed he was, but… “Where’re the backups? Why aren’t the spaceship sending any help?”

Tai Zuo’s heart was aching. If they were not going to send men anytime soon, he would be collapsing with Han Ben. Assuming there were only he and Han Ben, they were confident enough to break through this pack of wolves, but they also had a few non-combat members at their backs, so they could not take any reckless action that could hurt their mates. They could only guard, till death.

Ugghhhhh…..

?

Out of sudden, the pressure reduced. The force shield he and Han Ben was holding had turned lighter. He knew, with a smile, that the backups were already there.

There were only 10 mechs left before them. 5 for each of them. That was a significant reduction on workload. He was grinning, till he saw the screen.

He simply did not expect, of an army of a spaceship, only one mech was sent!

One mech? Why? Confused Tai Zuo. What for sending one mech when that one mech was likely to be slaughtered by the pirates? The pirates were more potent than he expected. As a lecturer of the pilot study from one of the top universities of the 5 major galaxies, he had the right to give these pirates a subjective rating – the pirates might had not undergone appropriate education, but they were very, very experienced in actual fights. And their rapports were great, making them really a problem to deal with.

A 5 versus 1, even if that 1 was Tai Zuo himself, he would not dare to gamble.

The 5 mechs were approaching Ye Chong. He was calm. The Puppet was inexperienced of an outnumbered fight, but the pilot was fearless.

The 5 mechs spread towards Ye Chong like the edge of fan. In their eyes, this colored mech was as ridiculous as a clown, fluttering there, awaiting them to trample on it! “Gosh, did you see that mech?” “Kekekekekekekeke!” The pilots were exchanging laughter through the intercom of their mechs, as they also discussed on how they should dismantle the mech to demonstrate their fearsomeness towards the remaining crew on the spaceship.

As everyone was wondering why there was only a mech from the spaceship, the situation had gone mutation!

As soon as the clown entered the range of their firearms, it began accelerating, under the eyes of astonishment of the 5. The speed of the mech was … was…

Too fast!

Exclaimed by the 5.

The sudden change was not something they could cope with in time. They were experienced at least, so they did not panic, even though they were shocked. One button, the shooting chamber bombarded at the mech. Well, that simple. 5 of them would work together and fire everything at once, it would cover everything. Moreover their laser beams were never aimed at the clown mech entirely, rather they focused on the gaps around it – to kill even the escape route they thought. It was a known technique among them, they had killed countless experts with this trick all these years.

Hahahahaha!

Everyone could imagine the frail clown mech being shot into a million pieces in an explosion, a firework to behold! Feeble armor, no shield, and they could not even see the clown mech holding any kind of weaponry. The barehanded clown was the scapegoat to be slaughtered in seconds!

Till then…