Legend of the Supreme Soldier - Chapter 241

n Planet Rainbow, a dark red spaceship was laying alongside the docking zone. The spaceship, of its 3km length, was not attracting that much of attention among the other spaceships.

Although galaxies other than Csebesini were in hot water, the 4 forces had been performing all sorts of reorganization to restore the security of their territories. The pirates plundering everything had been knocked into oblivion, and soon intergalactic trades started once again. As affected by this incident, the figures of both incoming and outgoing spaceships at Rainbow had been increasing these days.

The docking zone, isolated by war, had regained its activity.

The dark red spaceship laid at one quiet corner.

Well, if anyone noticed the ship they would have been wondering why no one had left the spaceship for so long it had been parked. But who would really notice a normal spaceship at the pier anyway?

The spaceship was the Coxcomb, by the way.

Well, the process starting from the time the crew spotted two Dawn mechs chasing the powership, then suicidally heading towards the Coxcomb and being shot down by Ye Chong was merely a matter of few minutes. The Beauty’s Secretion had always been the best assassin in the dark, with its corrosiveness melting the armors of the mechs and soon penetrating them, leakage happened and they were history before they knew it.

Under Shang’s kindest “invitation” Little Rock boarded the Coxcomb. Of course, within the few brief exchanges of Shang and him, Shang’s cunningly experienced talking style had gotten all the information he needed from Little Rock.

First off, Luo Wei had died, which matched what Zhu Ling had stated. And the potency of Feng Su had once again be reinforced in Ye Chong’s mind. And Little Rock managed to escape when Luo Wei gave a final struggle before his death.

Little Rock was a non-combat members in the Black Coves, so never once he was dipped in the silver liquid. Judging by Little Rock’s description, one could determine that the silver liquid was something rather precious among the Black Covers. It was known scientifically as the “Muscular Texturizing Solution” and only the selected combat squad members would be dipped in the liquid.

Non-combat members, being the entities in a fighting organization, were of a rather low position, so Little Rock had always been the bullies’ target back then. But ever since Commander Qiu Lie recognized his capabilities, he was shifted to the strategy department, which since then his life improved. Nevertheless, he still received discriminative behaviors from the pilots of the frontline from time to time, even under a commander’s protection, which led to his shrinking personality. And Luo Wei was one of the only few pilots who treated the non-combat members with friendliness.

Shang, the psychological expert had millions of ways to win over Little Rock’s heart in his mind. And they had formed a decent relationship from the beginning, which soon Little Rock grew fonder on Shang.

Towards Shang’s superior performance, Ye Chong did not say a word, even though he was showing high respect towards his capabilities. He knew he was not an expert on this, even though he was confident to assume he would not worse than Shang when it came to talking appropriately.

Luckily I’m not the leader of the team, I’m seriously weak at this man… Laughed Ye Chong at himself in his mind.

Lian Yue, who only had his eyes on the pretties and the handsomes, was directly scorning at that mere average boy who in fact was certainly underwhelming compared to Lian Yue himself. His body was short, he was underweight, one could say he was a puny coal coming out of nowhere, although his lustrous eyes were rather intelligibly expressive.

“Meh,” snorted the vain man.

The happening after that was astonishing to him however, as the artificial indulgence and the little boy started playing tremendously complicated games, with tremendously overwhelming amount of calculations in a tremendously ingenious manner. Lian Yue had already been stunned to the alternate dimension as the game progressed, upon realizing the fact that he could not understand anything on the screen.

“I have to admit… he is a genius! No doubt!” he muttered as he failed miserably associating this easily overlooked puny underweight boy with the word “genius” gloriously shining in his mind. Aren’t geniuses supposed to be worldly gorgeous like me? But the happening before him was irrefutable.

Zhu Ling on the other hand remained silent upon Little Rock’s arrival, as she was well-aware of her position in the ship. She was rather surprised of this little boy with a similar age as hers, however. With his professional calculations, the boy would have been greatly regarded by the authority in the Sanctuary. She could not imagine how the Black Covers could ill-treat such a contributing genius.

After a wave of shock and amazement, the peace on the Coxcomb was restored, since everyone had their own tasks to do. Ye Chong had to perform his alchemy experiments, while having the responsibility to produce Beauty’s Secretion; Zhu Ling needed those time to carry out her meditation trainings; Lian Yue had always been running between the metallurgy lab and Zhu Ling, while Little Rock had been competing Shang on some extremely complicated mathematics.

Little Rock, as easily overlooked as the pebbles at the roadside, had somehow made tremendous development under Shang’s training, as his standard skyrocketed to a whole new level, which he got to switch opponent by then. Yes he was facing Mu instead. And Mu, with his godlike ability, was actually feeling a little troubled in defeating Little Rock, since unlike the artificial intelligence, Little Rock had the creativity to make some interesting detours.

Creativity of humanity would be something that a PSI like Mu could never imitate.

Everyday Mu Shang would report Ye Chong the progress of everybody else, although Ye Chong did not see the need in doing so, Mu Shang showed persistence in it.

And that oversized illustration of the gorgeous, under Ye Chong’s continuous demand, Shang eventually took it down, with a heavy heart. Well, Ye Chong would not want to be suddenly bombarded by someone just because of the unnecessary attention the illustration had attracted.

“Done,” Mu’s voice remained flat as usual. The word signified Ye Chong’s ability to get off the ship and wander at free will.

The Coxcomb – as it was parked at the docking zone – had completed scouting and mapping the landscape of the entire area. It would be rather essential to have planned a few sets of escape paths beforehand, especially when they were in the land of the Freedom Alliance, which none of them had any idea how the organization operated. Be cautious, that was what they thought.

The unknown always holds the greatest danger.

The monitoring was successful under the assistance of Little Rock, who had drastically improved the calculation the processor of the Coxcomb had to perform. This was also the very first collaboration between Little Rock and Mu. The outcome, as far as one concerned, could be considered satisfactory for Mu was able to hack into the Virtual Connection Central Point at the docking zone effortlessly with the help of Little Rock.

Virtual Connection Central Point, as the name had defined itself, was a point where all the transmitting signals conglomerated in an area, which connected all users in the area at once.

After hacking into the central point, Mu and Little Rock began sneaking upon the other central points nearby. It did not take long before they successfully hacked into up to 13 points of virtual connection access.

Very quickly after, both of them started to create a new connection between these 13 central points, in a way the points would be connected in a completed crossing structure, which expanded the useable virtual resources as well as promoted its stability. The idea was brought up by Little Rock and was formed into a final plan after Mu’s verification.

They reinforced the crossing structure afterwards. Mu first extracted all sorts of trapping program from the databank and laid them across the structure afterwards. Ye Chong was seeing Mu being so intense the first time near the control panel.

Well, Ye Chong could understand the artificial intelligence’s intensive expression, he was being alert over someone, someone who was able to wipe a celeb completely from the Virtual World 20 years ago. How horribly strong that person could be! And Ye Chong had Mu’s words, where he stated that he was not confident to carry out the same task as flawless as the person now. And that was the person’s standard twenty years ago. Assuming the person was still living, within 20 years, the person could have become a sky-walking hacker, no, sky-flipping hacker perhaps.

One could not imagine the potency such person could have demonstrated using the Virtual world. Ye Chong also knew the whole point of Mu being so participative in the preparation was to ensure their safety, since this would be a duel across sections, where two persons from two different worlds hacking into each other.

Preparation had been completed. And Ye Chong got off the Coxcomb, alone. Mu needed to watch over the entire warship while trying his best to handle that super Maverick from the Freedom Alliance. Zhu Ling, well she could be helpful in battles but Ye Chong had not grown comfortable enough to bring her out as working partner. His sole partner would be none other than Mu Shang.

Ye Chong brought a modified communicator with him, which he would use to keep in touch with the Coxcomb. As he was walking around, Mu and Little Rock had began engulfing the Virtual World of Rainbow gradually.

He walked down the stairs and realized he was actually at lost, having zero idea on where to start, as people were walking on the street tranquilly. It felt like he had got out of a fictional world and had returned to the humanity.

He made a new ID card, more precisely, “recover” his ID card on a little “help” from Mu. Ye Chong had already gotten use to this “recovery” process since this had been like the thousandth time he had done it. And this time, his pseudonym was Takano.

He went to one of the self-serving hotels, got himself a room.

Prometheus Group seemed to be rather well-known among the residents on Rainbow. The group was the leading financial group on the planet. They had numerous branches beneath them and every zone of Rainbow was occupied by companies of their subsidiaries, which was puzzling to Ye Chong as he had no idea which department that Gao Shichang, who happened to have the same name as his papa, was belonged to.

And it was a fruitless outcome when Mu carried out his research on Gao Shichang back then.

At least they saw a consistency within the fragmented information, which pointed towards Prometheus Group. It could have been a search of a needle in a haystack, which could take years, but Ye Chong did not bother. He had plenty of time to find out what had actually happened behind the scene. He would not mind spending the next one or two years staying on Rainbow to be a detective. And for those on the Coxcomb, he believed they would not care where they actually were.

Nevertheless, it felt a little strange for Ye Chong, since he could not tell if this was the first time he was on a mission alone. It was foreign to head out without Mu Shang by his side, even though he could have made contacts via the communicator. Mu had once advised him to avoid contact as much as possible unless on an emergency, too. It would be risky if Ye Chong contacted Mu, since it would be a piece of cake for that super Maverick to monitor the streaming over the communication process. Mu would in fact encrypt the entire chain of signal but he could not guarantee if it would be impossible for the foe to decode it.

Everyone was fearing that super Maverick from the Freedom Alliance.

As he wandered on the streets, Ye Chong saw the scattered pedestrians moving, with a depressing frown on their faces, under the tall buildings which part of them had turned into debris at some corners. The damage caused by war to the people, was not something that could be simply undone by time. The place was once a developed and lively place and now, it was devastating and lifeless.

Sometimes there would be flocks of mechs zooming by in the sky, which the piercing sound the air friction caused was still alarming to the residents. Something was clogging their heart, some sort of gloominess had clouded their mind. The residents never could imagine the days in devastation and now here they were, walking on the street as if it was a norm. Human was one kind with great adaptability to their surrounding after all.

Ye Chong stopped. It was the arrival, Prometheus Group : Mech Research Center 76.

The center was a tall building, about 500 floors height, with a particular modern design. The walking staff seemed to be extremely engaged in their ongoing works, unlike the other places. The name of the company stood blatantly on top of the sign, which one could not miss.

Ye Chong lifted his head as he set his eyes upon the hologram projection at the outer wall of the building rolling all sorts of information about the center.

That was one notice which caught Ye Chong’s attention. It was written in a rather desperate tone, where they were looking for all kinds of mech experts in the industry and they would pay handsomely for the expertise. And a large page of introduction on their facilities and hardwares followed. Ye Chong felt the urge to compliment the designer of this notice, it was too tempting! Even an indifferent person like him could not resist but to have slight fond over working here for the rest of his life.

He took a look at the date, it was published 10 days ago, with a duration of a year.

People were walking in and out of the building while he was reading the notice, where most of them were expressing deeper depression with their sighs and whines. There are hardly any person leaving the building with a smile.

Ye Chong, with his eyes, could tell the information those little gestures had suggested. These people must be the candidates for this job of the fantasy. The sorrow faced must have failed their selection while the smiley one must have been employed.

30 : 1. Okay that was a slight shocker to Ye Chong, never would he expected the rate of employment to be this low.

He stayed in one corner at the outside for a moment and to his surprise, the number of candidates grew over the time, and he could feel the lobby exploding. He frowned upon the phenomena, I know it is a really amazing job but I seriously do not see the need of this craze.

Oh wait, could there be something unknown to the outsiders?

And for some reason, Ye Chong uncontrollably headed towards the crowded gate.

e Chong did not expect to see even more people inside. Even with his skills, moving through the crowd was difficult. The main hall was packed with people, and one could hear the occasional greeting between the candidates.

“Old Zhao, you’re here too. So?”

“Sigh, yeah, the world is so messed up now, it’s hard to find a safe place to live. I didn’t want to come, but Mei wouldn’t have it. Besides, if we’re hired, our families will be safer, so I decided to come give it a try. Gotta think about the children,” the man said with a wry smile.

“Sigh, that’s right, this world, how did it become such a mess?”

“I know …”

From the people speaking around him, Ye Chong quickly realized the reason the place was packed. Anyone hired by the Prometheus Group would have his or her family protected. This was more attractive a benefit than anything else.

Surviving was the most important thing in a chaotic world.

Ye Chong unknowingly drifted to the front along with the crowd.

“Please show your identity card.” A soft voice came from a beautiful lady, giving a slight nod at Ye Chong. The lady wore a working uniform in a neat and simple fashion, with a natural smile on her face that was warm and contagious.

Ye Chong was surprised to find himself at the front of the line.

“Please show your identity card,” the lady repeated, this time a little louder. This caught the attention of the surrounding people, who quickly turned to look at Ye Chong. The ones lining up behind him were glaring at his hesitation. If not for their generally refined manners, someone would have started shouting at him by now.

As the people all stared at Ye Chong, he could not help but feel embarrassed.

“Oh.” Ye Chong could only acknowledge awkwardly, and produced his identity card for the lady.

The lady received Ye Chong’s identity card with both hands and gently swiped the card on a reader.

An intermediate level modification technician.

The lady paused upon knowing this. This was the lowest qualification she had seen so far. In the eyes of others, an intermediate level modification technician might be high up, but here among professionals, it was only an entry level qualification.

Most of the candidates here had quality expertise in mech related subjects. Besides, even with their industry standard high qualifications, they could not guarantee their entry into Prometheus Group. They must still go through the Group’s special screening process.

Ye Chong had no industry standard qualifications of any kind. The intermediate modification technician status was only something Shang conjured up for him. Having a proper job would keep him inconspicuous. The job was also not too lowly or prestigious, suitable for Ye Chong to remain in the background.

The hiring process this time did not have a restriction on the allowed lowest qualifications. The lady disapproved, but her face did not betray her thoughts, a result of her extreme professionalism.

“Please head towards room 303. If you pass the test, please accept my sincerest congratulations.” The lady smiled warmly at him.

Ye Chong ignored her completely, only thanking her flatly and turning to leave.

The lady was always confident of her smile – few could maintain their composure when she smiled at them. However, this man was completely unmoved, behaving coldly throughout. She had met all kinds of people due to her profession, and was experienced in reading people. She knew that one should get to know a person by the eyes and not the face – expressions could lie, but the eyes could not.

This young man’s eyes were cold and apathetic. She felt a shudder and quickly bowed her head to mask the unexpected jolt of emotions.

When she lifted her head, the cold figure had already vanished.

Room 303.

The room had only a single photon processor. Ye Chong had a profound moment of realization. So this was it. It reminded him of the time he accepted Yang An’s invitation to compete at Blue Ocean Academy. What a familiar sight!

Could these people not think of more creative ways to test? Why were they all the same?

As expected, the photon processor was the first round of tests. Of course, it was much harder than the one at Blue Ocean Academy. Time flew, and Ye Chong suddenly felt like he was worlds away from his troubles.

He was now better than he was at Blue Ocean, and the test was not too hard for him.

However, Ye Chong did not want to stand out. He waited until the last moment before filling out the answers. The time allocated was also enough for him to think through his problems.

The quest to find out more about Gao Shichang, who could be Papa, was difficult and risky. Ye Chong did not expect to succeed in a day or two – that would be unrealistic. The other party had been very thorough, and it would not be easy to uncover the truth in a short time.

The situation was such that he had nowhere to begin with. Perhaps entering this research center would be a good idea. Working from the inside should be easier than breaking through from the outside. This would put himself at risk, but Ye Chong could not think of a better idea.

Ye Chong had already studied every inch of the room when he first entered, ensuring that there was no danger. The room was not spacious. Aside from the photon processor, there was nothing else, also making it impossible to conceal any other people inside.

Making a solitary venture into the other party’s territory was a dangerous move. Ye Chong had no plans of dying from this. The way he saw it, he would not mind spending years to investigate the matter about Papa, but if he were to die from it, then the costs outweighed the benefits. If Papa was still alive, he would not have approved of it too.

If everything he did could revive his Papa, then even his life would be worth it. However, try as he may, Papa would never come back. The thought saddened him.

Surviving was top priority. Dying in the quest for revenge was a foolish thing for him.

His mind was as calm and cold as ice. He understood the risks and benefits of this mission. Everything depended on the combined skills and abilities from him, Mu and Shang. With Guardian and Han Jia with him, he should be able to defend himself. Mu and Shang had also prepared an escape plan. As for the others, Ye Chong could not hope for them to achieve anything, only that they would stay out of trouble.

“Switch the display to room 303.” A sweet and lazy voice from a woman resonated in the surveillance room.

An intermediate modification technician?” The candidate’s background surprised her. Her hair was tied up in a high bun, and the hair ends quivered as she lifted her chin, exposing her snow white neck.

“To think that an intermediate modification technician would come! Interesting!” Her sultry voice was sweet as honey. One could hear the sound of the others gulping in the surveillance room.

Half lying on a deep crimson sofa was a woman of unrivaled beauty, and she was the one who had spoken. Behind her stood a middle-aged man in a black suit. His profile was steely, and his muscles bulged under his suit. He looked expressionless, with his hands crossed at his back. From the beginning, his expression had not changed one bit.

The lady sat up slightly and lightly tapped on the photon processor on her desk with a slender white finger. The photon processor’s holographic screen image immediately switched to room 303.

In the holographic feed was a young man, deep in thought.

Dark red irises framed by thin, long eyebrows, under which was a smooth, aquiline nose. Her moist, lustrous lips drew up into an alluring smile. The unreadable smile made her look even more seductive. This was seduction at its finest, blooming like a flower.

One could hear simultaneous gasps in the surveillance room. Only the man in a suit behind her maintained a cold expression.

Ye Chong was now using the ample time allocated to think. Back from when he first saw the research center, he had received plenty of information, and now he was attempting to organize them in his mind.

She watched the young man thinking. No, perhaps the man was no longer so young. He was obviously over 20. This was the youngest candidate Qiu Man had seen so far. Knowledge was accumulated across time – while a 20-year-old man was considered an adult, he would still be considered a beginner only no matter which field he specialized in.

However, a talented young man would still be a good choice. Qiu Man looked at the man meaningfully, now realizing that his calm expression was contradicting too much with his age. The naive expression he wore earlier was probably only a trick of the eye. What she was seeing now was a steady, cold man.

Qiu Man’s eyes gleamed as she noticed this sudden transformation.

In the holographic feed, the man was calmly entering his answers in the photon processor, lacking the joy that most candidates would have when they solved a problem. This was a maturity that belied his age.

“Indeed, this is an interesting man,” Qiu Man thought to herself as her eyes narrowed, her right hand clasping lightly on the armrest with slender fingers. Behind her, the middle-aged man stood like a wooden pole.

Next, the man’s performance surprised her. Even the one who marked his work, old Donald praised him highly, believing him to be a promising mech modification technician. Old Donald was a practical man. His stubbornness was found offensive by many, but his capabilities and insights were never doubted.

The candidate must be a genius.

However, the candidate was being too calm about it, such that even Qiu Man herself thought that something was off.

When she met the young man face-to-face, Qiu Man’s heart was already in a turmoil. The sensitive Qiu Man could sense the sharpness in the man’s calm eyes. His cold demeanor towards his surroundings reminded her of those people known as elites – their eyes were almost identical to this man’s. The thought of those inhuman personalities made Qiu Man very uncomfortable.

Swish! Suddenly the wooden middle-aged man behind Qiu Man stepped in front of her. His hollow eyes were suddenly bright as fire, glaring at Ye Chong.

This abrupt turn of events startled everyone around. Even Ye Chong was slightly surprised. The hostility in the other party’s eyes was confounding. Was his cover broken?

Qiu Man was also just as shocked, as seen from her surprised expression. Even so, she still looked just as beautiful. This was the first time Qiu Guang had moved without her orders. All this while, she had thought Qiu Guang as a puppet, lifeless, and only kept him around because of his strict obedience. However, what happened now baffled her.

Ye Chong noticed from his movements that the middle-aged man had nifty footwork.

He was a combat expert, and a highly skilled one! It was apparent from the way the man moved with his speed and accuracy.

In that instant, Ye Chong’s muscles tensed. While his feet never left the ground, he was already full of energy, ready to defend himself.

It would be suicidal to be relaxed when within 10 meters of a skilled combat expert. Ye Chong understood the potential damage that could be incurred within this radius more than anyone.

Fortunately, Ye Chong himself was not too shabby as well as a combat expert.

Ye Chong’s minute physical responses were not unnoticed by the middle-aged man. His elbows lifted a little, his body inclined slightly, and his feet moved apart. To the average person, these seemed like normal movements, but Ye Chong could sense the danger behind them. This further convinced him that the combat expert before him must be very capable.

Had the other realized his intentions?

The middle-aged man’s eyes shone brightly with ferventness.

It was a pity that Qiu Man, shielded behind him, could not see it. She asked curiously, “Guang, what is it?”

Those words seemed to cool the middle-aged man almost instantly. The ferventness in the eyes of the man called Guang vanished without a trace. His eyes resumed their earlier hollow, lifeless look.

Guang returned to stand behind Qiu Man without a word, moving like a puppet.

Qiu Man took a curious glance towards Guang, but did not see anything amiss. She decided to focus her attention back on the young man before her. His appearance had provoked that strange response from the usually passive Guang. Besides, this young man called Takano was a strange character as he was.

Almost everyone knew the identity of the one who supported Prometheus Group from behind the scenes. It would only be more unusual if none of the other powers send their spies here.

However, Qiu Man believed that this young man was a spy. The training for spies was different from the training given to combatants. Moreover, spies and combatants gave off very different vibes.

All of a sudden, Qiu Man felt that the situation had gotten much more complicated.

onald stared fixedly at Ye Chong, and the latter felt like something weird must have grown on his face. Qiu Man was still all smiles, and the middle-aged man behind her that she called Guang was still wearing a stale expression.

Ye Chong did not know that this beautiful, sophisticated woman was actually feeling very conflicted. It was obvious from Old Donald’s face that the man was a genius, and not a talent to be missed. However, the young man did not seem like any ordinary person. Somehow, she was wary of this man whom she could not read clearly.

Ye Chong seemed unaffected as he stood silently at his place, looking very calm.

Qiu Man took another glance at him, and could not help laugh on the inside. Why was she so troubled all of a sudden? Even if this man had his own hidden agenda, wasn’t the situation still under her control? As long as she increased surveillance on him, there would be many ways for her to deal with his movements. It was safer to keep this kind of people under her watch.

Was she really getting old now? She was growing timid! The woman absently traced her smooth profile.

This feminine gesture attracted the attention of almost everyone in the room. Even the aging Donald stared at Qiu Man. When he came to himself, the old man blushed.

Only two people kept their expressions unchanged. One was Ye Chong, and the other was the middle-aged man standing behind Qiu Man, Guang.

Qiu Man knew how much her actions could influence the people around her. Her looks were her most dependable weapon. That gesture just now may not be entirely done consciously, but she knew that it was this kind of careless show of emotions that really moved others.

“When had men ever been able to defend themselves against lust?” She laughed in her own mind.

When she saw that even someone as old as Donald would blush, she could not help but chuckle. This made Donald feel like burying his head in the ground. However, when her glance swept across the young man’s face, she paused.

What she saw was a calm and expressionless mask, the kind that made people feel uncomfortable.

The woman’s sudden chuckle had startle Ye Chong a bit. Ye Chong was now better at reading people than before. He could see that this woman was not easy to handle, and she was far better at controlling emotions than him.

However, Ye Chong faced his adversary calmly. He was confident of his own strengths. The current circumstances were advantageous to him. If the other party balked, he was sure that he could escape unscathed. Even if the middle-aged man, Guang was a skilled combat expert, he was not afraid of him.

In terms of combat, Ye Chong believed that even if Lan Yixing were alive right now, the man would not be a match against him.

The woman quickly resumed her peaceful composure, still smiling cheerfully. However, Shang had once told him not to let his guard down, even when the other person was smiling at him. Ye Chong could not agree more.

Seeing that Ye Chong had no intention of speaking, Qiu Man gave another laugh and said, “Welcome to Prometheus Group!”

Donald was overjoyed. This beautiful and fatal woman was a mystery to everyone in the research center. Everyone was aware that she had a complicated background, but no one knew of the details. However, none dared to disobey her. Experience showed that those who did all ended up with horrible consequences. Since Qiu Man had decided, it meant that this young man that she had his eyes on was definitely hired.

Donald’s overjoyed expression was a deep contrast to Ye Chong’s calm face, as if Donald was the one hired, and not Ye Chong.

Before Ye Chong could react any further, Donald grabbed his arm and ushered him towards his laboratory.

Qiu Man watched the backs of the two figures as they left, her mouth arching up meaningfully as her large, pearly eyes gleamed. Her mind was still occupied with the reflexive movement of that young man earlier.

Just when Donald reached for the man, she saw his right hand jerking away in reflex, but the young man quickly reacted and pulled his hand back and towards Donald’s. The movements were so fast that she almost thought it was a trick of the eye, and Donald himself did not seem to even notice.

“Takano,” Qiu Man muttered, looking at the information in her hands.

It was a pity that she did not see how the eyes of the motionless middle-aged man behind her glowed with ferventness when Ye Chong’s right hand jerked.

When she turned back, Guang’s eyes had already resumed its typical hollowness.

The events today seemed to be out of her control, and that made her feel uncomfortable. Even the usually obedient Guang had acted strangely today, and that surprised her more than anything.

Seeing Guang now as his usual self, Qiu Man’s delicate eyebrows knitted together.

“Guang, do you understand me?” Qiu Man probed carefully.

Guang stood unmoving.

“Strange, what’s with Guang today?” Seeing Guang looking like his usual self, Qiu Man muttered to herself, but her eyes were discreetly looking for Guang’s reaction.

Guang did not move, his eyes hollow as always.

Qiu Man gave up, and went to the door. Guang immediately followed closely behind her.

Donald’s laboratory was so messy that Ye Chong found himself surprised. It felt like returning to the trash planet.

All sorts of mech parts were scattered across the floor, and moving around proved difficult. Some of the parts were even rusted. Ye Chong even suspected that the living conditions here may be even worse than on the trash planet.

Donald was obviously used to the place, and did not seem embarrassed.

“Get familiar with this place. From today onwards, you’ll be my assistant. Hmm, don’t simply move the things around here. If you questions, feel free to ask me. Remember, don’t disturb me when I’m working,” Donald explained.

Nonetheless, Ye Chong was currently focused on a light purple ongoing project on one of the laboratory workbenches.

his must be an unfinished mech engine. It had a light purple alloy shell, with a complex mesh of intricate photon circuits inside. The light flowing within the circuits looked like something from another world. All the parts seemed exquisite. While it was still unfinished, Ye Chong could already sense the power it would one day be capable of.

Ye Chong was not proficient with engines; that was up to Lian Yue, the real expert. However, before Lian Yue had joined Coxcomb, Ye Chong did his own studies in mech engines. His earliest experience was with Black Cove’s mech engines, and later the ones from the Sanctuary. He had dismantled the Dawn mechs a few times himself. However, the one he was most familiar with was the MPA’s mech engines. In Mu and Shang’s database were plenty of mech schematics of MPA’s, including their mech engines.

In terms of knowledge in engines, Ye Chong had much to catch up with Lian Yue, but when it came to exposure to different mech engine models, Ye Chong held the advantage.

The mech engines from the Three Forces all had their own unique characteristics, and were based on vastly different principles. However, their performance were about the same. Ye Chong at least noticed that mech models of the same level from the Three Forces moved at about the same speed. On the other hand, for mech engines of different levels in the same organization, the engine designs did not differ in design principle, but only in the quality of building material and detailed structure.

Ye Chong had thought that these three mech engine principles were the foremost in the world today.

However, looking at this unfinished engine, Ye Chong felt like he had just been struck in the head, and felt a little dazed. This was a completely new design, completely different from the three principles he knew of!

At a certain level, Ye Chong was similar to academics. When he saw this original mech design, his rational mind took a back seat momentarily, astonished as he was.

Four support chambers stretched out from the engine body like legs, an odd sight. Mech engines with support chambers were not unheard of, but usually only one or two were used. This was the first time Ye Chong saw a mech engine with four support chambers. He was getting a little too eager to see what was inside the engine.

However, he did nothing, and his expression remained unchanged. He did not even give another glance at the workbench. After Donald finished with the induction, his back was to Ye Chong as he worked, so Ye Chong’s minute changes in expression went by unnoticed.

Everything was just beginning.

Ye Chong began to tidy up the laboratory. This was a difficult task, but one that Ye Chong was most familiar with. On the trash planet, Ye Chong was solely responsible for the cleanliness of his home, so the routine was natural for him.

Donald was definitely a workaholic, oblivious to the world once he started working. When he was done, he was surprised to find the laboratory looking very different. All his stuff was arranged in categories around the room, and the lab now looked neat and tidy.

Donald did not think much of these things. He took a glance at Ye Chong and said, “You should be spending your time on work, and not waste it on cleaning up the lab. You have talent, but this doesn’t mean you have time to waste. Workbench 2 has a modification outline, go and calculate the grinding value.”

Ye Chong acknowledged. He was not discouraged with how Donald ignored his labor, since he knew that researchers like him often do not place importance in things over than research work.

Of course, Ye Chong did not reorganize the lab for cleanliness, or for comfort. To him, an organized place would make work more efficient. However, he had no intention of explaining himself to Donald.

Ye Chong was always decisive in his actions. He immediately turned towards Workbench 2. Behind him, Donald’s eyes flashed with approval, but he quickly returned to his own work.

The grinding value was a troublesome calculation. While it was not difficult, the nitty-gritty details involved were often enough to drive someone crazy. This was also one of those calculations that demanded a good fundamental base of knowledge, since the steps of calculations were too detailed, encompassing almost 80 percent of all basic calculations related to mechs.

To Ye Chong, however, it was not too difficult a task. He had patience, and his foundation was solid, to a level that even Donald would not have expected. Back in the days, he studied mech foundations intensively at Aurora, and the elderlies’ unceasing attention to him made him very knowledgeable in mech principles. These days, the younger generation would never spend time on something like this.

Ye Chong could even identify places where the mech modification schematics seemed unreasonable. Mech modification was his specialty. With his rich combat experience, he knew better than most mod technicians on ways to better improve combat performance. The schematics he was studying now had a balanced design, but there were many details that Ye Chong thought could be improved. Whichever mod technician drew up this mech modification schematics must be quite capable. There were a few new ideas in there that inspired Ye Chong.

Nevertheless, Ye Chong had no time to study it closely. He dived right into the work of calculating the grinding value.

“Hmm, not bad, it’s close to what I expected. Err, let me see, this is Rigg’s modification schematics, not bad at all. Hmm, you’ve learned about mech modification before, right?” Donald suddenly turned to Ye Chong and asked.

“Yes.” Ye Chong replied.

“Your foundations are not bad, quite solid, it’s rare to see that in young people nowadays.” Donald continued, “Hmm, try to improve his schematics and reduce the grinding value by 0.05.”

With that, Donald turned back to his work and ignored Ye Chong.

“This is information on Takano?” Qiu Man looked at the brief and simple information in her hands. Her brows knitted together, her alluring profile turned dignified.

he underling was terrified, and quickly replied respectfully, “Yes, this just came in from the Intelligence Division.”

The Intelligence Division was a reliable source of information. Had she not been very familiar with someone on the inside, it would have been impossible to obtain this dossier. The Intelligence Division would not have wasted their efforts on something so trivial.

Takano was not a fake identity – this was apparent from the dossier. The Intelligence Division had one of the longest histories of existence, having been set up over two decades ago. Besides, she knew the boss of the division, and what that boss specialized in.

On the surface, this person’s background was sparkling clean. However, Qiu Man thought otherwise. The content of the dossier was too simple, not enough to even derive anything useful out of it.

For the moment, however, she had run out of moves. Behind her, Guang still stood with a wooden expression. Due to his odd reaction that day, Qiu Man had gone out of the way to bring him to that mysterious laboratory, but the man did not behave any different than usual, which made Qiu Man gave up in the end.

Ye Chong did not know that he had caught Qiu Man’s attention. Everyday, he worked in Old Donald’s laboratory, from early morning till late at night, without much rest. He was beginning to think that he would begin to forget why he was there in the first place.

Ye Chong had always yearned for this kind of plain but fulfilling life. He was no longer as curious of the world as he was when on the trash planet.

Old Donald would always come up with all sorts of crazy ideas. When he saw Ye Chong successfully reducing the grinding value of the mech modification schematics by 0.05, he began to delegate much harder tasks to Ye Chong. This was exasperating to Ye Chong, but he could not help but also felt intrigued by those new ideas.

He was not aware, of course, of how surprised Old Donald was at this stage. Some of the problems he had delegated to Ye Chong involved some relatively unknown fields of knowledge. He was sure that even those so-called advanced mod technicians would not be able to solve them. However, this young man with the title of intermediate mod technician had surprised him again and again to his delight. Moreover, his ingenuity also impressed him.

As expected, he was not wrong! Donald felt thankful that he insisted back then, or he would have missed his chance with this genius. All this while, he had always been lonely. Now that he was growing old, he wished to find a capable student, but did not want to start teaching from the basics.

In this hiring session, Qiu Man may have been the decision maker, but anything related to his field of knowledge would be left to him. Ye Chong was such an example. His solutions were different from the ones stored in the photon processor, so they were sent to Donald himself. Ye Chong’s demonstration of his talent made Donald so excited that he immediately rushed to see the young man.

The hiring session was still going on for now, but none of the candidates’ responses had required his attention anymore.

By the time the hiring session ended, Ye Chong had already been working there for close to half a month.

In this half a month, Ye Chong had also began to have a rough understand of the organization. Mech Research Center 76 was a subsidiary mech research center of the Prometheus Group. There were many research centers like this under the Group. From the products of these centers, it was clear that they were not involved with the core products of Prometheus Group.

What Ye Chong thought was strange was that a subsidiary organization like this would have someone as good as Donald. Donald was a master of his field, and should not be here. He should be at the core of the research work. Ye Chong believed that the Freedom Alliance would not make such a careless mistake.

After spending time so much time with Donald, Ye Chong believed that he could judge his abilities quite well. The man was another master level mech expert that he had met, the second he had met in the Five Galaxies, with the other being Fred the Great. Fred’s Yu Di was an excellent mech with crafty designs, limited in power only by the materials available to him.

In terms of mech knowledge, these masters from the Five Galaxies were not so far off from the masters of the Sanctuary or Black Cove. It was a pity that the Five Galaxies were lacking by a wide margin in terms of fundamental research compared to the Three Forces, such as in metal alloys.

Ye Chong did not know how the Freedom Alliance fared in terms of research, but he believed that no organization would leave such a master level expert outside of their core research team. Besides, the research center’s director was the woman he met that day. From the gossip flowing around him, Ye Chong came to know that the woman had a complicated background. Everyone in the research center was wary of her. Even Donald, who acted arrogantly in front of others, would behave himself before this woman.

While the woman had always smiled at him whenever they met, Ye Chong always felt a chill inside him. The puppet-like middle-aged man behind her was also someone to watch out for – the man was no amateur!

This seemingly ordinary subsidiary center was not as innocent as it seemed to be. However, Ye Chong did not wish to look further into it. He was here because of the man who shared his Papa’s name; there was no need to complicate things.

However, Ye Chong was disappointed to find that he had found out nothing about Gao Shichang so far. Fortunately, Ye Chong was not in a hurry. He knew exactly how difficult this operation was going to be, and his disappointment was only to be expected.

During his time here, Ye Chong had contacted Mu, but only through the comms device. Ye Chong described his situation briefly. Mu had no issues on his side. Careful as he was in his disguise, he had not invited the attention of that super hacker yet.

Coxcomb still operated as normal, and the people onboard all behaved themselves, staying out of trouble. Without Mu’s permission, no one was allowed to open the hatch. However, Mu reported that Zhu Ling seemed to have reached a bottleneck in her training. Mu asked Ye Chong if he should pass over the information about mentalist training extorted from Mr Yin last time to her. According to Mu, this could increase the chances of her breaking through her bottleneck by 53 to 60 percent.

Ye Chong gave it a moment’s thought, and agreed with Mu’s suggestion. After all, he had given Overwing to her anyway, and the information about mentalists was useless to him. Ye Chong knew that he was not suited at all for mentalist training. If he could not even get pass the most basic meditation training, then the rest of the training would be wasted on him. Giving the information to Zhu Ling, who had a solid training foundation, was the wiser choice.

With this, however, the gap between Ye Chong and Zhu Ling would grow even larger. He was no match against Zhu Ling with her Overwing. Now that he passed the mentalist training information to her, the disparity in their abilities would further widen.

When would he finally be able to own a mech that was on the same level as Overwing, but more suited for himself?

That day seemed so very far away! Ye Chong looked at the mech parts in his hands. The designs were exquisite, but the thought of Overwing dampened his mood.

“Takano, come with me for a moment,” Donald interrupted Ye Chong’s musings.

ian was surprised to see Ye Chong following behind Donald. She remembered well the intermediate modification technician that she had ushered that day when she was on duty. These days, she was busy with the hiring session and was not aware that the young man was already recruited. It was no wonder that she was surprised to find him trailing behind Donald.

Ye Chong did not notice Lian. On the day of his interview, his attention was focused on all the other candidates. Lian may be a pretty woman, but for someone as obtuse as Ye Chong, it was not enough. Ye Chong only saw the crowd behind the woman. They were all above 40 years of age, and their hands seemed to be heavily calloused. Ye Chong realised then that they were all candidates who had been hired.

Lian bowed slightly to Donald and said, “Chief, they’re all here.” When she lifted her head, she was surprised to see the young man standing just beside Chief Donald. Experienced workers would know to never stand beside their superior during a lecture session. It was more appropriate to stand a half step behind their superior.

This young man was obviously inexperienced. Thus was Lian’s conclusion, but Chief Donald did not seem to be offended.

Donald nodded expressionlessly and looked around. “Is Ms Qiu not here?”

Lian replied respectfully, “Ms Qiu is currently occupied with other matters. She said that you will be in charge here.”

Donald grunted in acknowledgement and faced the crowd. “Since you’re all hired, that means you must be at least somewhat capable. As long as you work hard, I believe you will be properly rewarded. As for the general scope of your work, I believe you must have received it. All in all, here in the center, it’s all about walking the talk.”

All the new recruits listened quietly with respect. After all, this was Donald, the only Great Master on planet Rainbow! Most of the recruits here were his fans. Only Ye Chong’s unmoved expression as he stood right beside Donald was a little odd.

“I think you’re all familiar with your job scopes. I don’t have time to follow up with all of you individually. This is my assistant, Takano. If you have any questions, find him. He will also be responsible for inspecting your work.”

His words were met with an outburst from the crowd.

All of them, besides Lian, had thought that Ye Chong was Donald the Great’s student. While there were many academic institutions available these days, some still preferred the traditional way of teaching. However, this young man looked like he had just passed his 20th birthday, how could he take on such an important duty?

Lian also let out a soft gasp despite herself, but quickly covered her mouth. However, her eyes still shone strongly with disbelief. The research center never had such a young researcher, much less allow him to do work inspection. It was usually the more experienced and reputable old researchers who were given this role. They were more persuasive both in terms of their abilities and their reputation. However, this young man was only an intermediate mod technician, and he was so young. What was Chief Donald thinking?

Ye Chong was also shocked, and groaned inside. He had joined this center to infiltrate further into Prometheus Group, and find out more about Gao Shichang. Laying low was his priority, but now Donald’s order had pushed him to the forefront of attention.

Fortunately, he was able to keep his cool, at least maintaining his calm exterior.

Donald was satisfied with everyone’s reaction, and even more impressed with Ye Chong’s composure. From the work he had delegated to Ye Chong recently, he could tell that this intermediate mod technician was actually far more capable than the average advanced mod technician. Besides, his creativity was a rare quality for most mod technicians.

This talent should be nurtured. Hence, Donald made his decision. Besides, he understood the real intention behind the research here. To the higher-ups, the projects given to these new recruits were only a cover for the outsiders to see. He still had his own experiments to do, and did not want to waste time on these meaningless chores. Even if Ye Chong were to blunder up, it would not matter. Donald hoped that the work would be good training for Ye Chong. To him, that was what most young people lacked.

Ye Chong said nothing. Donald was happy to see him so steady, and so declared that the meeting was over.

“Assistant Gao, please have a look at this matrix arrangement.”

“Assistant Gao, can you please look at this new photon circuit schematics? I can’t seem to find out where the problem is.”

There were too many requests like these coming in, and Ye Chong soon earned their respect. Qiu Man did not object to Donald’s decision after her return. Besides, Ye Chong’s performance surprised them all.

Even Donald, who gave the role to Ye Chong, was also surprised. He did not expect Ye Chong to do his job so well. To him, the young man may be a genius, but he was only a 20-year-old teen, and knowledge took time to accumulate.

However, Ye Chong’s performance was too impressive.

Ye Chong had a solid foundation, and was familiar with a wide range of subjects that people began to wonder is he was actually a Great Master in mechs in his previous life! Almost all problems presented to him were easily solved, and while they may be very difficult, some of them involved some relatively unknown mech subjects.

Who was his teacher? What would it take to produce such an exemplary student?

In particular, his creativity and flexibility were astonishing. His creative solutions were all easy to realise, and mose people began to wonder if he was actually an old veteran in mech modifications. Young people may be bursting with creativity, but most of them were unrealistic ideas, impossible to translate into actual products.

This was the difference between reality and ideas.

Only a truly experienced mech modification technician could handle the delicate balance between the two. Soon, the researchers found that the young assistant called Takano was able to translate his creativity into practical solutions. This ability that did not match his age won the approval of the other researchers.

The atmosphere in the research center was cheerful, and Ye Chong’s performance won respect and approval. No one doubted the appropriateness of Donald’s decision.

In fact, Ye Chong was quite taken aback by the atmosphere around him. Fortunately, he still remembered his original mission. His keen sense told him that the woman called Qiu Man was watching him. Many a time did he find that woman’s smiling eyes flash meaningfully at him.

The woman was an annoyance to Ye Chong. Her smile was always faint and unreadable. Ye Chong found that no one could stand against her. Even Old Donald, with his skin all wrinkled up from age, would blush at the sight of her.

This made Ye Chong wary. He dared not relax whenever the woman was around. Fortunately, nothing strange had happened so far. The woman’s influence was so strong that it surprised Ye Chong. Just a glance, and Ye Chong could feel his heart racing for no reason.

When it had happened the first time, Ye Chong was almost scared out of his wits, thinking that he was attacked by an unknown force. Was it an infrasound wave attack? Fortunately, he quickly caught up to what was really happening.

“Biology class really does come in handy.” Such was Ye Chong’s first thought upon his realisation.

Ye Chong never thought that a person’s glance could be so powerful. Fortunately, he was also very good at controlling himself. Even as he trembled inside, his face betrayed nothing. This became something of a legend in the research center, as Ye Chong was the only man who could stay composed before Qiu Man.

Ever since that last incident, Ye Chong was very conscious of his own reactions. It was not that he thought badly of this natural response, but he felt that it would put him in danger.

Ye Chong remembered someone saying that the difference between humans and animals is that humans could control their natural instincts.

Besides, the expressionless man standing behind the woman was also someone he should be careful of. While Ye Chong could not see any reason for that man to attack him, the situation was still unclear. If he grew careless before a combat expert and made a mistake, he would be so dead.

Qiu Man smiled enticingly and called, “Takano.”

It was like a flower had bloomed in full glory, and everyone in the entire room except Ye Chong experienced a lapse in attention. Ye Chong acknowledged with a wooden expression, but inside he was tormented. This was not the first time for him, but Ye Chong had no choice. His reaction was also the center of attention. If he ignored the woman any further, he would create further problems for himself.

For the time being, Ye Chong did not want to stir things up, but this did not mean that he was averse to it. Ye Chong lowered his head, and the flash in his eyes went unnoticed.

iu Man was unable to see through the man standing before her, as the man had always been displaying a kind of indifference while retaining the same expressionless features whenever she saw him. Even his eyes were not wavering at the slightest bit. Qiu Man was not the pompous and conceited kind of woman, but at least she knew herself well enough to tell where to stop and which part of her would work most likely. The man was never moved by her words and gestures however, as he stood there, immobile like a sculpture. It was certainly demotivating for her.

That was the first time she actually doubted her own charm as her curiosity over this very man named Takeno grew. She could tell from her observation that he must have some kind of unspeakable motive to be here, although Takano had yet taken any unusual action to justify her intuition. It could be her overthinking, but she trusted her intuition deeply.

Very well, it’s not like we have the super top-secret here. It could be interesting, Takano. Thought Qiu Man, intrigued.

“Takano, I have been hearing compliments from the colleagues on your works recently,” she let off a brief smile, as the fleshy cheeks of her formed two sweet-looking dimples, her alluring stare suggested otherwise. The air in the room felt a little sugary out of sudden. It was refreshing and warm, except for that Guang who was exerting his iciness through his lack of expression and soulless eyes.

Ye Chong felt nothing towards her tease. He had been through the same situation for countless times, that he was able to fully control himself from reacting over such level of teasing. He did not let out a word as in his eyes, the woman in front seemed to be emanating a kind of danger, which kept him alert all the time.

Qiu Man, as if expected Ye Chong to stay muted, chuckled briefly as she got up from her seat and did an outrageous stretch on her back. The perfect curve of blood-surging proportion was waving before him. If there were other men in the room, they would probably be dead by now, due to the excessive loss of blood through the nose.

Ye Chong did not see the curve as he had shifted his entire attention to the surrounding instead. He looked at Guang, the lamp, the window, this was one of the ways Ye Chong could think of. His brain had identified Qiu Man to be none other than a mere humanoid mutated species, like which man would be aroused by a mutated lifeform?

She skipped her step, a swing as she moved to Ye Chong’s side. Her enchanting smile was magnetic, her eyes were electrifying, every part of her body was speaking.

Her expressive eyes stared right into Ye Chong’s eyes, her body tilted forward, with the deep fissure over the hills sneaking through her buttons.

Ye Chong still remained unmoved. His expression was frozen, as if he was staring the air. His damned eyes were unwavering as before.

Dammit! Ughhh! This little… Qiu Man started to get agitated, although her smile grew far more gorgeous than before. “Hmm~?” She raised her chin slightly, exposing her neck, the gesture held the same effect towards the opposite gender. Qiu Man was very much convinced that this could be her best performance ever since she was born.

Being so close, she could discern every detail on Ye Chong’s face. Other than the occasional muscle contraction due to his profound respiration, she saw nothing else. His eyes, contrary to her expectation, were not reacting to anything she did.

Qiu Man did not intend to give up just yet, as she further reduced the distance between them, with her tender lips almost onto Ye Chong’s cheek while her lifted arm gently approached the man’s cheek. The scene was suggestive at all angles. The only thing that felt off was Qiu Man’s loyal Guang who stood there like a lamp stand.

Ye Chong was not sparing attention at the inching lust, as his eyes were on Guang who began approaching towards him. This man, he is very dangerous. Commented Ye Chong.

A moist, warm breath of the wild sprayed upon his face.

Ye Chong flinched.

Teehehee… it’s working! Qiu Man was excited over her first achievement on this man for she finally broke the petrifying spell of the man.

Ye Chong had always been maintaining a certain distance away from people. He would react even on a man’s approach, let alone a mutated lifeform. He would not be Ye Chong if he did not take any action.

His pupils shrunk drastically. “Ouch!” Ye Chong’s curved left arm rocketed high, seizing that strange thing invading his proximity.

“Ow Ow Ow!” Qiu Man could not help but to wail pitifully, which did not seem appealing to Ye Chong at all. Never once he would have a soft spot for a mutated lifeform in a disguise of human. The seize was a really forceful one. “Owww!” Qiu Man could feel her wrist shattering, as her beautiful face squeezed into something indiscernible.

Crack. The sound of bones cracking rang throughout theroom.

The attack, habitually by Ye Chong, also came in a set. Once the first blow was successfully delivered, the second would follow. His eyes had spotted all the critical points on this mutated puppet which had lost her balance. And of course, he aimed the throat of Qiu Man, as his right hands, having its fingers slightly curled, zapped towards the target!

“No. No… No…” Qiu Man’s expressive eyes were dramatically expressing her bottomless fear and astonishment. “No!”

Wham. A hand blocked Ye Chong’s launching hand.

The strength was so much greater than Ye Chong’s expectation. He then felt a gale swaying his left hand, which he immediately loosened as he backed off.

He raised his eyes and saw a pair of eyes with luster of war. Guang made a fancy turn on his arms and held the falling lady.

Wait what? Ye Chong only realized by then, that he had been facing Qiu Man and not some humanoid mutated lifeform.

Guang remained in his stance and had not taken any action.

“My hand… Ow…” Ye Chong gave a glance at the tearing lady, “Please do not get too close,” he said and left.

Guang did not hold Ye Chong back, as his searing eyes were cooling down, soon returning their usual soulless expression.

Great. The moment Ye Chong left the room, he felt bitter of himself. I had gone too far… I was not sure who Qiu Man actually was in the company but she led the tasks of the entire research unit, that even Donald the elderly had to listen to her opinions before every move. She seemed to have a strong background, which could have been having millions of instances with the authority. And here I am, breaking her hand. No way I would ever be infiltrating the core of the company…

The situation was bad, really bad, as Ye Chong wondered if Qiu Man would be enraged and the security would be called. Once he left Qiu Man’s room, he started sprinting, like a falling meteorite. He ran against the inertia and tried getting away with his misconduct. Running away would be the best option.

Ye Chong had always depicted an indifferent character to the other researchers in the center. But that very scene where he sprinted like an animal in a forest fire had attracted the surprised look of his colleagues. They tried greeting him, sometimes asking him what had happened. There was no answer from him, only ignorance and an increasing velocity of his steps.

People were astounded, as they never expected the assistant to be such a runner. A really fast one too.

e Chong tried collecting his thoughts afterwards. He must admit that it would be too far-fetched for one to infiltrate the insides of the company. He knew himself well, that he would be the last person on Rainbow to be assigned with this task. And among Mu, Shang and he himself, probably only Shang could do it well. But it certainly was not the right time to contact Shang, he was unavailable at the moment. And they could not switch just yet, Mu had an important task on the table. If without Mu’s guard, fearing the super Maverick in the dark, Ye Chong would not be able to conduct anything.

It was clear that an assassin who could deliver a deadly blow upon you would be a nuisance to deal alone. It felt as if he was in the dark, with his eyes coveting the time to make the strike. You would be fully exposed, head to toes, the pressure would be something unimaginable.

Ye Chong had never worried about this before, since he was given Mu Shang’s assistance, which happened to be the trump on his deck. Ye Chong could now feel the potency of Mu Shang as the actual fearsomeness of a super Maverick was defined in his mind. He was glad that Mu was there, along with Little Rock. He could at least ensure his own safety even though they might be underwhelmed in front of a sky walker. He was confident over Mu, as always. No way he would dare to travel to Planet Rainbow if Mu was not there.

Planet Rainbow was the lair of the foe, which was reinforced throughout the years the foe had been running on the planet itself. It would be ridiculous if the foe claimed to not have infiltrated every corner on the planet.

It was not a wild goose chase for Ye Chong over the past few days anyway. He managed to take a good look at every spot in the research center. There were occasions where he even paid a night visit, rummaging every drawer and folder, even though he ended up discovering nothing. As far as Ye Chong had observed thus far, the only valuable thing would be that developing new engine model of Donald the elderly.

Donald the aged was facing problem making a breakthrough on his development apparently.

At Ye Chong’s current level he could not really tell the meaning behind each detail of the engine’s design, but that would not prevent him from appraising it. Just like most thefts happening out there, the thief might not be able to perceive the beauty of a well-known masterpiece, but he knew the fact that a drawing would not be called “masterpiece” for no reason, his senses were great enough to justify his judgement.

The security of the research unit was nearly non-existent. It was as effortless as sneaking into your own house as Ye Chong made it through. Obviously the company showed little concern towards Donald’s research, judging by the lack of proper security facilities, which was a nice setting for Ye Chong. He eventually copied down every information related to the engine. He knew, if he passed this plan to Lian Yue, it would not take long before the newest engine model had officially showed up in this world. Ye Chong would be ridiculed if he never fully utilized the master craftsman on his ship.

Well, the unfortunate part was, Ye Chong did not take the hassle to travel for this uncompleted engine or he would have been calling everyone in the ship to prepare for departure and leave this menacing planet already.

There had yet clues on papa this far, while the plan for infiltration did seem unpractical. Did someone say invasion? Are you joking?

There was no clue. And it was something that happened 20 years ago. Thinking of the possibility to actually acquire something, Ye Chong was in a blank dismay.

Wait!

Ye Chong sprung up from his seat, his eyes grew intense, as he listened to the surrounding carefully. Now that Mu was not by his side, without those fancy super detection he had to rely on his senses in order to survive. Fortunately, his senses did not weaken throughout the journey.

Ye Chong was currently at a residential area. Technically, whichever planet it was, the residential area always seemed to be the most chaotic area in the place. The people might have gained their happiness living on the planet, while being provided free residences by the government as part of their citizenship. However, anyone would have moved away from the area the moment they had gained additional disposable income, since in reality… this was the place with the worst safety and outdated facilities while illustrating the lowest standard of living on the planet.

Everyone here had one simple wish, that is, to leave this damned place as soon as possible.

Nonetheless, such place would be perfect as Ye Chong’s hideout. No way that Qiu Man would take no action after today’s incident where Ye Chong snapped her hand. So he remained highly alert for the time being.

What’s coming will come.

Ye Chong did not have any form of regret over what he had done. Even though he had degraded his position in the situation through that unthoughtful behavior of his, regrets would not do any help. What he could do was to figure out a way to overcome this issue and have a good session of repentance so that he would not repeat the same mistake in future. But… will the same thing not happen again? Will I be able to prevent myself from doing that? Ye Chong gave a bitter laugh.

He deployed the Guardian in stealth.

The Guardian would perform better than Han Jia in the concrete jungle. He went into the cabin, with the welcoming vision of monochrome.

Boom! The walls fell into debris, the dust flew up high.

The materials used to build these residences were of rather tedious quality. At least the dusty scene gave Ye Chong the best camouflage he needed.

The daggers had already been withdrawn. Ye Chong sometimes wondered what mechanism formed these daggers. The twin daggers of the Guardian remained as a mystery to him. The Guardian – the result of Gu Shaoze’s brilliance – had never failed to surprise him again and again.

And the twin daggers were displaying a sharpness that Ye Chong believed to be the strongest among all weapons he had seen before.

Ye Chong made his move before the dust subsided!

Whichever brand the hologram detection system was, its accuracy would always decrease with the complication of the area.

And within such a crammed area, the jumbling system did not seem to be more reliable than the primitive senses of humanity, especially for Ye Chong who possessed an astonishingly sensibility.

A tip to his toes, Ye Chong did a gesture to initiate his run, as he fired himself off like a golden cannon ball, dashing right into the endless sandstorm.

The information was overloading the visual system of the Guardian, as the projection was utterly disordered. The refreshing data was flooding the intercourse, which refreshed at a speed that Ye Chong could no longer distinguish. It just looked like a plain white milky way with intensive motion.

He decided to close his eyes instead. There was no panic as he remained as calm as the falling snow. His breath was inaudible as he set his focus upon his hearing.

Ye Chong was naturally acquainted with amazing hearing, which was further developed ever since he began meditating. The chip given by Lan Yixing also included a very detailed guide on the application of the sense of hearing in combats. Legend said there were practitioners whose hearings were so great that they could literally fight with their eyes closed, as they could hear the flow of the wind to help them make the judgement.

Well, that would be something Ye Chong could only be envious of. He relied on his hearing anyway. It seemed reckless yet he had already sorted it out in his mind – his hearing might not be as great as the legendary practitioners, but he did not fight unarmed, he was in a mech where people could hear the clearer happening inside. That would be more than sufficient for me to make an accurate judgement.

Klink, klank, thump. The falling of the debris…

Hoo… Ha… Hoo… The sound of my own breath…

Hush… Hush… The sound of the wind…

Wham! It was not loud but Ye Chong could hear that sonorous sound coming at the front off is left. 12 meters away!

Ye Chong’s hands which had been laying over the control panel began to move!

he Guardian launched itself forward soundlessly. The sound of striking of where it landed, as its right arm tightened, the strength mustered, began stirring a storm while it waved heavily. Ye Chong put his ounces of strength in it, hush… the air around started streaming towards the center of the gale he stirred, which then transformed into a high spinning cut. Shush… The sudden pull coming from his spin defogged a tiny area around him, a blanked zone in the dusty storm, The scenery near Ye Chong had been cleared up temporarily.

The monochrome vision became much clearer as few crossing white lines had defined Ye Chong’s view.

His left arm moved once more, with neither hesitation nor distraction, without either inaccuracy or unnecessary gestures, he smashed upon the hurricane he formed, before the dust had fallen. The violently torn air splashed upon the area, as dust once again camouflaged Ye Chong.

The technique he used was part of the inspiration he got during his practice of unarmed combats, as he realized such movement could produce a powerful conglomerating effect upon the air in the surrounding. Well, he did not expect it to be this effective when he carried it out on the Guardian.

The loud sound was obviously from a mech. No time to waste, as Ye Chong tipped the mech on his toes and fired himself backwards. He did not care if he was heading into a wall or whatever, as he knew the foe was a done for within a glance, since he had destroyed the engine of the foe just now with his blow.

He sprinted again, desperately running towards the outside. The landscape had always provided him additional aid when he needed it, ironically the current landscape was nothing more than an obstacle course for Ye Chong’s runaway. He would need to get as far as possible before…

Boom! The thunderous explosion occurred behind Ye Chong, as the strong momentum raided the place in waves. Ye Chong, not managed to get into a safe zone, was lifted by the shockwave caused by the explosion. The Guardians body was petite and light, Ye Chong inside it only felt a brutal force tossing him to the far corner.

Fortunately his fleshes were coated by the Guardian, he remained intact despite the heavy fall. But the explosion gave him a shocker. Man… this guy’s explosion was a little bit more than I expected…

Ye Chong got up from the ground, feeling a little disappointed of the long-anticipated first battle he had with the mech. It seemed like the mechs from Freedom Alliance weren’t something compared to the 3 forces, the energy stability was poorly developed. From my experience, there won’t be such dramatic explosion even if the engine of the mechs of the 3 forces were shot. Commented Ye Chong in his mind, being a mech expert himself.

???

Ye Chong had his mouth open when he saw the huge dentation on the ground. The explosion had wiped out the surrounding residence. That was not the reason for his opened mouth, rather it was the mechs that appeared right next to the dentation, around …

Nineteen?! There were 19 mechs? Including the one I smashed, there would be 20 of them.

They actually sent 20 mechs to finish me? This is too much… Or did they discover my true identity, that’s why the hassle? Or mechs on this planet were actually this cheap?

He had seen this model on primary planet. Those broad muzzles and combative weapons over the body, there were even ancient lances, magnetic blades… some were too weird to be recognized by Ye Chong.

They were cool on designs but they seemed rather graceless at the moment as being alarmed by the unforeseen explosion, which they remained confused of what had happened. The Guardian’s anti-detection system had done a brilliant job in this situation. Judging by their reaction, those men were unaware of Ye Chong’s existence, yet.

This was the first encounter with the Freedom Alliance and within the first 5 minutes Ye Chong could already see the lack of experience of fight against an actual mech as well as the necessary anti-detection mechanism. Those were the basics and if it was one of the three forces they would have changed to Photon Mode and seen Ye Chong immediately.

With its barely 2 meter height, being in an area with such complicated landscape while utilizing its superior anti-detection mechanism, the chance of it being discovered would be drastically low.

And Ye Chong did not intend to remind them of his existence. This is obviously a good chance to run. I would be a fool if I stayed here and waved at them, saying “Hello I’m here!”.

What he had done was evidently horrible. It felt like he had poked the wrong beehive as he saw the alarming situation after he scurried out of the residence zone, with flocks and flocks of their mechs flying in the sky. The mech seemed to be the unmodified, standard model for Freedom Alliance. The number though, it gave Ye Chong another shock, which convinced him why the Freedom Alliance, despite its lack of experience and technology, would not shun the war with the 3 forces. Are they playing the number game? But from where they could get pilots this many? Mechs are a mere issue to be resolved by manufacturing, but you can’t manufacture pilots! Ye Chong understood the fact well.

So who Qiu Man really is in the Freedom Alliance? I’m not buying the fact that the hassle they took was merely because of a random employee’s broken hand.

There were always time and place for this but not now.

Ye Chong, after observing the situation, deduced his defeat if he were to run to the opening now, as being swarmed upon by the mechs. He would be so dead even if the Guardian was godly.

Beep…

Ye Chong quickly dialed the modified communicator.

“Ye. It seemed like you have caused something?” Mu’s flat voice sounded a little teasing for some reason but Ye Chong felt very much relaxed as judging by his tone, Ye Chong was not at a dead end yet.

“Yeah, I must admit, that woman is a nasty one to handle,” confessed Ye Chong, with his expression illustrating helplessness. “I swear Shang would enjoy doing this if he was there.” Thought Ye Chong to himself so suddenly for some reason.

“As statistics had shown, women have a significantly higher pointer of danger than men. Probably only Shang would be very interested in this. Mhm, Ye, this would be the optimum escape path I planned based on the situation just now. You only have 10 minutes at most. The probability of our communication being decoded by the enemies is very high,” reminded Mu.

Ye Chong quickly memorized his escape path. It took him 10 seconds to do so, well the scouting he made in the city for the past few days was not for nothing, as every street and alley had already been imprinted in his mind. Since he was informed of the threatening existence of a super Maverick, he was pressure to be very, very well-prepared, although he did not really expect all these preparatory works would come in handy this soon. Even though…

Runaway? I’m running again? Am I going to run for the rest of my life? Sighed Ye Chong, as he leaped his steps, going for another runaway.