Legend of the Supreme Soldier - Chapter 461

t had been surrounded, a more precise word would be “besieged”, by 30 metallic figures that looked rather similar to the one which broke its cradle in the first place. The sight was growing hopeless to the beast. The situation already felt hellish when it encountered the one knife-wielding machinery at first, now there were more, 30 of them.

Had the creator of this world decided to end its life there?

The beast regained its serenity. Knowing its fate, its arms crossed over its shoulders, as soundlessly it hovered in the space, at center of the siege formed by the 30 machineries. Its expression was undisturbed, yet its shaking tail with a raised tip and its quivering pupils had exposed the fear of death as well as the desperation for an escape within itself.

The beast intended a gush from the fishnet!

Because of its worsening condition and that metallic figure who stood in the dark with the deadly weapons, a gush did sound far-fetched at the moment.

It was indeed not an easy job to do.

Sneered the beast which had given up the thought of escaping alive. Its tail glowed redder than ever, in desolate vain to flaunt its one-of-a-kind beauty, as if recognizing the moment being the last of its life.

Yet strangely, the expected crowd attack did not happen.

Did the machineries aim to capture me alive?

Thought the red-tailed beast, as its eyes grew colder.

Hidden within the shards of asteroid, Ye Chong was finding the scene odd.

There were… actually mechs here? Not only a single mech too… a school of 30 mechs… in Calamitous Asteroid Belt, the deadliest place of the universe?

It was really strange. Yes, there would be squads who came for space-expedition to grab some loots for the moneybags but no squad should be insane enough to venture into the depth. Ye Chong knew the depth well enough after spending the last few days wandering here. The depth was far more dangerous than what he heard from the people outside. If it was because of Mu’s guidance or the red-tailed beast’s sense of danger, Ye Chong probably had lost his lives countless times.

He took a look at the mechs, which their models appeared to be model to him. These mechs resembled nothing of the 3 aristocrats.

He then sank within the shade of one giant rock, as he watched the situation.

Certainly Ye Chong did not expect the mechs to be capable of eliminating the beast. He piloted Han Jia to sneak towards the crowd.

“Mu, any info on those mechs?” muttered Ye Chong.

“No,” replied Mu.

So from where these mechs came from? Ye Chong was feeling odd. It was the calamitous space zone after all, only the real pilots would risk their lives coming in as if cake walk. But these pilots did not appear to be under the aristocrats, while their mechs had a rather bizarre design. That aside, he should be figuring out a way to eliminate the red-tailed beast before things became handful.

Under the cover of the giant rock, Han Jia arrived behind the beast with stealth. It was not the time to strike yet. It simply was not. Ye Chong knew it after days of hunting the beast, which appeared to be the one of few most alert creatures he had ever encountered.

Behind the rock, Ye Chong took a better look at these mechs.

… (Meanwhile) …

Scholes was the leader of the scouting group under Arwa. And Arwa had been leading the entire second army consisted of different trained groups ever since he took over the commandership. Reformation had been done with Arwa’s leadership, with extra attention on the scouting team which only members of no more than 9 remained after the massive dismissal conducted. Scholes was fortunate enough to be the one of the only few “survivals” from the waves of reformation who managed to even grab the flag. He did not hold spite towards the changes however.

The reason was simple.

Who exactly was Arwa you ask?

He’s the strategist! The most talented one at Gray Valley!

It felt like a dream when people heard him in the army as the leader. His charisma would convince even the greatest man to be his little serviceman. But well, if one were to mention about the real dignified figure in the troop, the figure would not be Arwa, but the mistress herself.

Regarding Arwa’s motive of joining Xiao Wan’s alliance, lots of theories had been heard among the people. Some claimed that Arwa fancied the beauty of the mistress, while the others stated that Arwa coveted the heavenly offer made by the mistress of Xiao family. It was indeed the hottest topic at that period whether it was true or not.

The members of the family army were very clear of the truth however. There was no love, no greed involved between them, only one simple loss to a gamble. Arwa had technically lost his bet and agreed to stay back to take over the second army. The leader of the first army remained as Bei Guang, certainly.

The moment Arwa was announced to be the commander of the second Xiao family army, the whole Gray Valley almost crumbled.

And now they were on an operation, with Scholes leading the intelligences. Scholes had a rather hefty body, looking more sizable with his 180 centimeter height. His eyes expressed an unperturbed solemnity. He had never failed an operation ever since he was given the leading flag.

The current situation was a little handful for him however. “Are there actually enemies here?” he frowned. The unknown creatures had been a pain in their eyes since these monstrosities had showed up disrupting the harmony after eradicating seven forces in Gray Valley. The catch was, the monsters had only gotten more handful ever since.

Fortunately the research team had formed a massive group in alliance with all talents from the forces around, dedicated to eliminating the unidentifiable creature. The group had also received a substantial fund from the research team of Xiao family itself.

Arwa was afraid of raids occurring at the side wings of the alliance army so he allocated a large flock of scouting units at both wings. And definitely he was right at his worries, the unknown threat indeed existed.

“Any other enemies?” asked Scholes profoundly with fret tumbling inside him.

“No sir. Within the proximity of 150 kilometers, no other enemies had been detected.”

Then… is this beast a lone entity?

“All units take caution, into battle station!” Even though Arwa was not aware of how a creature that travelled in packs ended up alone being surrounded, he made his combat order. It would not be easy to take out this red-tailed monstrosity. But Scholes believed that they should have a better time as the beast was clearly outnumbered, a 30 vs 1. The research team had also discovered that the beast was not 100% invulnerable towards energy-based firing, as there was actually a limit to its energy absorption ability, once the limit was reached, any extra energy-based firing would deal solid damage.

Apparently, people outside the Gray Valley had named the monster as the red-tailed beast. It did not sound like a proper name but it did come from somewhere called Planet Yi Ju which was the only place where such beast had been exterminated, under the attack of a really… strange army called the Collision army… The world wanted to know what happened behind that fortress but it was too hard to overcome the defense so there was little to none information regarding them. There were all kinds of stories regarding the army, but that was not the main point. In short, people had accepted such plain name.

Red-tailed beast.

According to his previous experiences with the beast, under normal circumstances, a firepower formed by all 10 ranged units should be able to take the beast out, let alone 30 of them. “All units fire!” Scholes launched his attack.

Hundred beams showered upon the red-tailed beast, like a spotlight for its death. Glaring the dark space turned as flares blinded the place.

Scholes sighed in relief. He witnessed the scene, with clarity that the red-tailed beast did not dodge. It should not survive.

Wait, what?

Scholes’s pupils enlarged as popped at the projection.

How in the Gray Valley…

After the beams faded out, the red-tailed beast was at the previous position, hovering, unharmed.

Chills ran down the neck of Scholes as magic somehow had occurred.

The red-tailed beast, hovering at the center of the siege a moment ago, had vanished, right in front of everybody.

“Ah!” A shriek was heard in the channel.

“Vegan!” The eyes of Scholes twitched in anger.

The young folk in his early 20s, his smile was friendly and bashful, had become a no-more.

“All units change your weapons, a 3×3 now!” rampaged Scholes.

The mechs had switched their weapons, going for a close-ranged formation. With the melee weaponry, triangular formations were spotted, with three mechs at a unit each.

The parry, the cover and the guard, in a formation of three musketeers the mechs charged.

And there Ye Chong was, all dazzled by the quick switch of armory by the little squad as he watched them behind the rock. He was surprised by how the squad coped with the situation so promptly. The switch of weapon was truly a game changer. The attack type switch from ranged to melee perplexed Ye Chong however. Clearly those mechs were ranged units by default, but why? Why would the leader think of using melee weapons?

After a moment of observation, Ye Chong finally knew why. The switch of weapon that became the salvation to their losing fight highly relied on their one-of-a-kind formation. The triangle would form an active circulation, where one unit would perform contact with the red-tailed beast while the other two would deliver extra hits from the sides. When one poked and retreated, the other would make a strike, the cycle continued.

The amazing part was how these mechs fought the red-tailed beast so fearlessly that it almost felt like a suicidal fight. They were willing to poke the beast and initiate a new cycle to gain more time for their mates to ready the following attacks.

The other triangles would also give a brief assistance or two if the musketeers faced issues during the process.

They might not be the greatest pilots, but they did have the bravery of the greatest. Ye Chong could not help but to compliment their ferocious formation.

Well, the red-tailed beast was going to lose. Ye Chong could see that. The red-tailed beast had stuck itself inside the triangle. The red-tailed beast was strong enough to wound the three units, in which one had lost its arm because of the tail attack and the others were heavily damaged. The mech that lost its arm was under a very dangerous situation as the circuits had been exposed to the space, an explosion could occur at any second. The pilot did not seem bothered however, as the pilot carried on punching the red-tailed beast with the last arm.

The other triangles appreciated the sacrificial strikes from their mate. They had completed another formation at all four directions.

Boom!

One of the heavily damaged units had blown up.

The shockwave produced was able to shake the red-tailed beast as it rolled into the new formation. That was also when the other two damaged allies joined the stars in a consequent explosion.

That was ferocious.

Ye Chong was shocked. It was rare to see someone being so ferocious in achieving goals, and everyone seemed the same ferocious throughout the squad.

The red-tailed beast shall be doomed.

It could no longer make any move. It got stuck. The close-combat units would have destroyed it within seconds if it was not the fact that the beast tried struggling, fully utilizing its agility and iron tail.

And the other mechs had freed from the triangle formation as they got into their battle position, transforming into a cage of firepower, enveloping the beast, shrinking.

A few seconds later, the red-tailed beast had new scratches over its body.

Ye Chong felt sentimental of the situation, not because of the fate of the beast but how a group attack would work wonders nevertheless. It took Ye Chong forever to make a single slash on the red-tailed beast with his pair of super daggers made out of probably the strongest mineral in the galaxy, yet it only took the squad seconds.

And the situation changed, before Ye Chong finished sighing.

he crimson tip of the tail slashed through the void, like a strike of bloody lightning, right onto the waist of a mech. The metallic coating was not able to provide the mech the necessarily robust to take the strike well. A quick flick by the tail and the mech had shattered, with its remnants splashing onto its allies nearby.

That was the 9th mech the beast had destroyed.

And that was not game-changing enough for the beast as one could discern all the bleeding scratches over its shrunken epidermis and dull fleshes. The only recognizable part of its former glory was probably the glowing tail which somehow shone brighter after tasting the demise of the others.

The fight had intensified since then, as people apparently had lost their mind trying to take that beast down. The situation somehow had lost control, that even Ye Chong decided to stay at stealth.

This little group of mechs were all ranged units by default, yes, their unique formation might be capable of providing the versatility in the field but they still were not born to do close-combats. It took them real blood and sweat to corner the beast.

It was literally a life for a life!

Ye Chong could not help but to exclaim at their brutality.

The beast had been driven up the wall in fact, as it no longer took the attacks with dodges but thrashes. Wielding its indestructible tail, at every thrash the beast made, a new scratch would appear over its body while one more mech would blow up immediately.

The fight seemed ever-ending. Scratches were increasing, whereas the foes were decreasing in number. It was no more a fight of offense but pure endurance.

Ugh. The eyes of the red-tailed beast twitched, as it felt a drastic pain sliding over its abdomen. The beast did not back off as it held the mech forcibly with its tail raised and stung the foe. Like a spear, the tail pierced the mech’s body and unexpectedly the mech dropped its weapon and clasped the beast promptly. Both of them tumbled and the mechanical hands were grabbing the two hands of the beast. The scene looked odd, as if it seemed to be about love and war between the machine and the beast. But nobody at the scene was amused by it.

Scholes and his teammates were having their eyes peeled, as they backed away from the center of the battle and chained up to form a circle.

The red-tailed beast kept struggling, but it had long lost the strength to fight back with its body, eventually its tail was stinging randomly, piercing the iron threat again and again, which every sting carried a few gears and nuts away. The mech was as if one from Trash Planet, technically a trash itself, yet its mechanical arms remained gripped over the beast tightly.

Ye Chong was impressed by the bravery of the pilot. The cabin had been penetrated by the beast at least thrice and probably the pilot would survive with a likelihood of less than 1% inside. Nevertheless, he fought not for his life but for a greater likelihood of his teammates.

Ye Chong’s pupils shrunk as his hands slowly reached the control panel.

Phew…

He started adjusting his respiration. He took a deep breath and he felt ready to jump into action. His eyes gradually opened as he captured every bit of the happening in the projection.

He was anticipating, the chance to make that one deadly kill!

Certainly he had no idea what upcoming plans these suicidal units had but he was pretty sure that these members of the ferocious squad would not forsake the opportunity seized by their dying teammate.

The red-tailed beast started to feel the weight lifting from the grip, as its tail searched the inside of the mech. The beast was very confident that once enough drilling had been made, the metallic threat would be exiled, permanently.

But Scholes did not want that to happen.

“Charge!” shouted Scholes manically, as he was no more the less-talker, the one bound by discipline. Veins were bloating over his body, as he pulled his throat, screaming on top of his lungs, leading his members, charging forward.

The mech flexed, armed with a melee weapon, zooming towards the red-tailed beast.

“Charge!!!” The other members had joined the spiritual scream of their leader in the communication channel.

The remaining mechs fell upon the red-tailed beast one after another like a meteor shower.

The red-tailed beast mustered all its strength to escape the attack, yet the piece of junk had hold it back from moving an inch. The mech had only half of its body left but was managed to clench onto the beast till the end. It was then Scholes’s alloy sword passed the abdomen of the beast.

The beast felt the rush of heat surging through its opened abdomen, as blood squirted like the pain. The cut was deeper than the previous, which it would hit the intestines another 5 centimeters deeper.

Somehow, perhaps because of the intensity facing death, the red-tailed beast had unleashed its maximum once again.

Its red eyes had gone bloody while its crimson tail had glowed hotter, as its body ballooned dramatically with its muscles pumped vigorously. The blood capillaries had broadened, the face had been squeezed into something unrecognizable other than agony.

Snap.

Its shoulders withdrew as the remaining body of the mech snapped with a crisp.

The beast twisted its body and dodged the mech speeding towards it, with its tail ready for action again.

Thump! A dent was seen on the passing mech.

The red-tailed beast gently broke the two remaining arms over its body.

The following sequence gave a shock to Ye Chong. The red-tailed beast acted rapidly, other than the first mech that gave its abdomen a slash, the remaining units could not even scratch it.

Oh no…

Ye Chong was going to launch itself, but he did not, upon the change of events.

These mechs could put up with the beast only because of their strange tactics which put the beast within their siege in the first place. With their impeccable formation, the speed and dexterity of the beast could not be seen. And they had discarded their formation a long time ago. A beast in a free space was not something they could handle with mere force, especially when they had lost half of their units.

The situation had changed and surely the outcome was undeterminable.

Ye Chong stayed calm and remained seated as he viewed the wild match. The outcome of the squad was none of his concern, despite the little admiration he had in them. He had seen countless deaths all the years and no doubt dying with glory would be the best bet for most losing fights.

He had his focus on the red-tailed beat, as looking for that opportunity to interrupt the match.

The red-tailed beast might be at an upper hand in this but Ye Chong could see the possibility of this inflated animal rupturing!

The red-tailed beast was not at full health at the beginning of this fight. Ye Chong had been hunting it down for the past few days. It would be solely unnatural if the beast could remain kicking alive.

The beast was fighting with maximum aggression as it broke through the 3×3 triangular formations effortlessly with its speed. And in a second it had penetrated 6 units in the space.

The beast did learn from its mistake as it would make its runaway after every touch on the foe, which failed the suicidal attempt of those pilots.

But was it true that the beast would win?

Maybe not.

Thought Ye Chong, who observed the scene as if the hunter watching the hare hunting the fox.

As expected, the beast was slowing down. Scholes and his team might not discern the change in speed but certainly Ye Chong felt the strength ebbing away from the beast.

Another 6 units, destroyed.

The beast decelerated drastically, with each turn it made becoming more and more lethargic, that Scholes could now see the beast weakening, yet unfortunately he was remained with only the last 3 units.

They were almost there… Just a little bit more and they would win, yet their defense was thin as paper…

After so much sacrifice, so much agony, Scholes clenched his fist, unwilling to accept defeat.

e set his eyes upon the beast which had been going after the last two members in his squad. An overwhelming grief had emerged in him. For this fight, a majority of his army had been wiped out after giving their very best shot, they had been sacrificed, for safety of their homeland.

Yet…

Their goal…

Was so near… yet so far…

The leader glanced upon the scraps hovering in the space, containing with the broken limbs and what not. He almost could hear the final shout of his soldiers before they joined the stars. It was the place where his allies rested and probably it would be the same for he himself.

It was fate, that he would be welcomed with a premature demise to his glory.

Soundlessly a mech traveled to the back of Scholes. Scholes on his mech was unaware of the uninvited guest, likewise the remaining allies were.

Looking at how the beast was having a fun time playing with his mates, Scholes was enraged as it was none other than pure blasphemy to the military. He gave a tap on the interface and launched the energy shooter!

The beam landed upon the dark shell of red-tailed beast accurately, causing little flash in the void which later revealed the unhurt beast after fading away. The strike did not cause damage but unnecessary attention as a result.

The beast was alerted of Scholes’s existence and it seemed displeased with its large bloodshot eyes.

Scholes maintained his position and let the beast charge towards him. His hands were away from the handle, unintended to make a move.

The red tail was shining brightly in the dark like the sun.

The distance between them was decreasing rapidly as the silhouette of the beast grew clearer on Scholes’s projection. For some reason, he felt inner peace upon the scene.

Perhaps, he would be joining the stars with his allies here.

He thought with a weak smile on his face.

But he would not want to make a pointless sacrifice. It might be a meaningless attack on the beast with his firepower alone but he was a pilot and as a pilot, one would fight till the end.

The report regarding the beast had been successfully sent to their base. Arwa the commander should have received it at this moment. And this was a little relief for Scholes.

At least he had done something. He had fulfilled the last few responsibilities being the leader of the scouting team. And now, he would fight till the end, to die in glory as what true pilots would do.

His eyes were glowing with spirit as he looked at the charging beast. His fingers landed upon the interface as his nose formed frost on the visual. He was waiting, waiting for that very second the beast made contact with his mech. Some may ask why he did not try to evade, it was simple – one did not evade oneself from a strike coming with a supreme speed like this.

But little did Scholes know, there was one mech right behind him, firmly attached like a remora with the same exact posture as his mech.

It was Ye Chong.

Ye Chong stared at the approaching beast calmly. His former plan was to wait behind this mech for the moment the beast attacked it, but miraculously the pilot of the mech somehow read his mind and had lured the beast to himself.

Would that mean Ye Chong had been discovered?

That did not matter. He wanted a hunt and he was there to get it.

He looked at the beast that seemed to be decelerating drastically as losing its glow. Its muscles were also deflating, looking feeble than before.

“That should be a side effect of its biological behavior,” Mu stated, which fit Ye Chong’s speculation, “Under normal circumstances, an overly excited organism would suffer from a rather undesirable side effect after the end of the strong energy influx.”

“Mhm, all its attributes are dropping.” Ye Chong seemed rather agreeable in this, “Too bad, we would have a better chance if the beast took out the two mechs first.”

“Your proposition is grasping,” stated Mu indifferently.

Well as grasping as it may sound, it was just a proposition, which came out of Ye Chong’s mouth randomly. The war field was always ever-changing to him, he could not make a bargain when there was an opportunity fair enough.

Ye Chong’s pupils shrunk as he anticipated the arrival. He was well-prepared for an assassination.

Scholes’s eyes were soulless. His heart was pumping slow. His mech was in a typical battle stance, where it had shield on the left and sword on the right while making a slight bow on its body.

The beast was too fast! It was at least a few times faster than Scholes. He did prepare himself to embrace the attack but the speed was still a shocker to his eyes. The beast was so fast that its silhouette had lost its shape, turning blurry like an illusion.

It is time!

“Hah!” Scholes shouted as he pulled the trigger. All the trainings he had undergone years before were meant for this moment!

The cabin was roaring with the alarms, the flashing red lights were intensifying the atmosphere.

His mech had been penetrated, as expected from the tail. But Scholes did not bother his leaking air as he punched in the following command smoothly.

The left arm first withdrew itself, while the shield sprung upon the face of the beast. Under the shield, the mech’s sword awaited.

Thup! The shield slammed the beast right in the face. Scholes was feeling joyful of the first step succeeding. It took him a while to plan this. The shield would be an undercover for his lethal attack!

He made a swing.

It’s the end! The end!

His sword was feeling light however. The expected blow was not there. His mind blanked the moment he realized he missed.

That was his only opportunity to save his mates.

And he failed.

He tried everything yet it turned out to be pointless. The beast was too fast. He was very sure that the sword was right on the waist of the beast, nevertheless he missed. The beast could doge his attack despite the injury.

Scholes could hardly say a thing, as his swollen eyes looked at the screen in disbelief. His hands were gripping the control panel, so tight that the blood flow had been held, paling.

“No way…” he muttered, his head was wailing like the alarm in the cabin. “Impossible…” He could not figure how it happened.

He wanted to run for his mates but that beast… was there, not too far ahead, hovering… in pieces… with its head facing right at Scholes. The reddish eyes had dimmed out. The pieces seemed to be made by a highly sharp blade.

What had happened?

What had happened in the world?

Scholes looked at the surrounding in bewilderment. Nothing alive was around.

Then… how… how di-

“Leader! L-leader! Take a look! Radius vector at 44 degrees, photon mode!” The surviving mate shouted in excitement.

Vector to 44 degrees…

Turn on photon visualization…

Scholes made the adjustment accordingly, ignoring the wailing alarm.

And there he saw a strange-looking mech zooming away from the scene. Because of the limited resolution of photon mode projection, he could not make out the exact appearance of the mech, all he saw, was its tiny back of various colors.

…(Meanwhile)…

“Well, Mu, we finally got food.” It was not a wild goose chase after all. Han Jia was indeed given a large food supply in the beginning but most of them had been consumed during the course in the last few days. Ye Chong probably would be starved till death if he did not get himself supplied soon enough.

The run was successful and he got what he wanted. He managed to discover one storing unit of nutrient capsules among the scraps before he left the field. And sure he was feeling great.

“Mhm, still, Ye, we need to find a place with actual supply. Furthermore, we need to obtain a reliable reference on our current coordination,” said Mu.

“So… you need this you say?” Ye Chong pointed at the few pieces of mech entangled in thorns. These almost disposable components seemed to contain the important information both Mu and Ye Chong needed. Apparently they were once a part inside the processor.

“Yes, Ye. But first we have to remove the microchip inside.”

“Remove?” Ye Chong looked at the giant piece and wanted a confirmation, “Mu, you mean, you need me to take the tiny piece out of this giant metallic object?” He could do any parts without problem, except for the processor, which was known to be the most complicated component in a mech. Removal of certain components would require extreme care and skills.

“You are correct.”

“There is no facility specialized for this. There is no tool and all I have is a pair of giant mechanical arms and you want me to take the piece out? It’s like asking me to make a club sandwich with Han Jia’s daggers. The piece will shatter before I even placed a finger on it.”

“I know it is challenging, but Ye, we have no other option,” stated Mu calmly, indirectly highlighting the fact that ranting would not help the situation. “To increase the success rate, I suggest you to take a few more pieces. If it breaks, it would be a practice for a better chance on the next. You did take my suggestion without consideration, it is motivating.”

Ye Chong looked at the floating pieces resting in Han Jia’s giant hand. He could not help but to sweat.

“Oh, by the way, Ye, I have a good news for you.”

“What kind?” All Ye Chong had in mind was a feasible method to remove a tiny piece out of the broken component. His reply was half-baked just to keep the conversation going.

“Shang’s reorganization seemed to be completing and according to our agreement, we would be having a switch. He would be by your side for the next Hundred And Fifty Three days. Enjoy while it lasts.”

“Which part of that equals to good news!?” muttered Ye Chong. Shang was so influential that mentioning his name alone could give Ye Chong headache.

hang’s recalibration was not done yet. Ye Chong did not have to handle that problem. What he needed to do now was solve another particularly difficult and technical problem – given that he was without any tools, how should he remove a photon processor chip without damaging it?

This was a very hard problem. However, technical problems would hardly trouble Ye Chong for long. What could really stump him were problems that involved people.

This time was no exception.

After destroying two remnant pieces, Ye Chong finally succeeded in extracting the photon processor chip from the third piece of remnant. Ye Chong had used the skeleton tips from the tentacles on Han Jia’s back in the process. They were his indispensable tools.

It took Ye Chong quite some time to figure out how to maneuver the flexible tentacles precisely. After days of practicing with the mechanism, he finally got used to maneuvering the tentacles with ease. Ye Chong had a habit – he would always relate anything he knew about with combat.

After extracting the chip, he considered about ways to improve the variety of attacks using the tentacles.

Mu was busy with hacking past a security algorithm that protected the chip. They needed information from this chip. In fact, the best way to get information was to capture the three survivors. However, Ye Chong did not do so, for reasons he did not know himself.

Mu’s hacking smoothly progressed. The algorithm was hardly challenging with his superior calculation skills. He was soon able to make a copy of all the information contained in the chip.

“Ye, I know where we are now,” Mu interrupted Ye Chong’s train of thought.

Ye Chong turned his attention to the mech. “Where? Did you find a star chart?”

“Yes, have a look yourself.” Right then, a star chart was projected onto the holographic screen, which showed various planetary objects of different sizes.

“The terrain here is very unique,” Ye Chong commented after studying it for quite awhile. The environment displayed in this star chart was unlike any he had seen before.

Planets with a faint red glow in the star chart were inhabited. These planets were surrounded by a dense cloud of gray colored dots. Ye Chong recognized it immediately as the Calamitous Asteroid Belt.

The inhabited planets were all located in the center of the asteroid belt, completely surrounded by asteroids. Ye Chong was intrigued by whoever first discovered the place, to be able to find a place for live to flourish within a place that was known to invite death.

“We are right here.” At the edge of the region where the inhabited planets were all gathered, a blue spot glowed, indicating their location.

“How far are we from the nearest planet?” Ye Chong asked. For the moment, their highest priority was to replenish their supplies. Han Jia had no issues, since it was powered by teardrop mineralite. Mu and Shang, however, needed to recharge. Ye Chong also had to perform extensive maintenance work on Han Jia. After so many days of flying in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, Han Jia was damaged in many places. The asteroid belt was truly as dangerous as its name suggested. Han Jia was an excellent mech, and Ye Chong a competent mech pilot. Mu was also instrumental in warning them of imminent danger. That was they all survived the asteroid belt. Now, however, Han Jia’s damages needed to be mended.

“About 18 days of flight,” Mu answered after doing his calculations. Han Jia was not equipped to make warp jumps, so they could only stick to normal space flight.

“Anything else?” Ye Chong asked. Any and all information regarding this unfamiliar place would be invaluable.

“Yes. Based on the information in the chip, it seems that the 19 planets and 15 star clusters that were all inhabited and gathered in the center of the asteroid belt is Gray Valley,” Mu provided this shocking revelation.

“Gray Valley …’ Ye Chong muttered to himself. He had heard of this place since he first found his way to the He Yue Galaxy, but he never expected to arrive in Gray Valley in this manner.

Gray Valley, a symbol of mystery to the most of He Yue Galaxy’s inhabitants. Aristocrats were feared everywhere in the galaxy, but here they were miscreants to be punished. Gray Valley residents rarely head out, hence the outside world did not know much about them. If He Yue Galaxy’s inhabitants knew so little about them, it was only natural that Ye Chong, the isolated persona that he was, barely knew about them too. The only thing he remembered about Gray Valley was their appearance during the virus disaster, the strong and capable Guang Bei and that underground base of operations.

To think that he was once again thrown into unfamiliar territory! Ye Chong was speechless. After all these years, it looked like he was still wandering from place to place.

“Mu, what’s our probability of success in returning the way we came from?” Ye Chong asked.

“According to calculations, less than 3.2 percent.” Mu’s reply ruled out Ye Chong’s plan of going back the way they came from. “There’s also something else that’s important.”

“What is it?”

“Gray Valley is now in a state of emergency, ready for war. They were also attacked by the red-tailed beasts. Therefore, Ye, we must be careful.” Mu’s warning gave Ye Chong pause.

“They were also attacked by the red-tailed beasts?” Ye Chong asked quickly.

Mu replied, “Yes. The mech squad we encountered earlier is the scouting team from the Xiao Family’s 2nd Platoon. Their mission was to search the area for the possibility of small groups of red-tailed beasts infiltrating the place.”

“What a mess.” Ye Chong was getting a headache. Now that they were in a state of war, it would become difficult for him. Besides, there were the red-tailed beasts to worry about. If the Sang Tribe’s Collision mechs were here, he would not be so troubled. However, now that he had lost contact with Sang Pu and the others, he had no choice but to run should he encounter a group of red-tailed beasts.

Long distance travelling in outer space was dull business, but Ye Chong was used to it. He spent time considering his obstacles in the pilot cabin throughout the flight, as per usual.

Ye Chong and Mu’s destination was a planet called Henna. This was the closest inhabited planet to them. During the 18 days of flight, Ye Chong encountered a few scouting troops. Fortunately, Mu’s holographic scanning system and Han Jia’s excellent anti-scanning system allowed them to avoid detection.

The scouting mechs were mostly in squads of 30. Based on the frequency of their encounters with these mechs, Ye Chong and Mu discussed and concluded that planet Henna was probably not in a dire situation, and unlikely to be the frontlines of their battle.

Ye Chong would not wish to rush to the frontlines. All frontlines of any kind of war promised to be life threatening. No matter how strong he was, he would be helpless against the kind of massive death machine that was war.

“Han Jia needs maintenance.” Ye Chong inspected Han Jia and arrived at this conclusion. Many of Han Jia’s joints showed minute cracks that would not hamper its performance just yet, but were still nuisances that could lead to disasters. Any strong collisions could make the cracks grow larger.

For now, Ye Chong had no skeletal material at hand, and no maintenance tools. This was an issue for him.

They were now in an abandoned factory on planet Henna. The owner had left the factory, perhaps due to the war. The equipment here were mostly destroyed. There was nothing useful around here.

This was not a problem for Ye Chong though. Having grown up on a trash planet, he had plenty of experience in similar situations. Ye Chong assembled a solar energy converter, after rummaging through the stuff lying around and patching them together. It could convert solar power into a conventional form of energy for charging.

Ye Chong connected the solar energy converter to Mu, and heaved a sigh of relief.

Here in the messy, abandoned factory, Mu stood still as he recharged. The solar energy converter was not very efficient, and Mu would need 36 hours to fully recharge himself. In these 3 hours, Mu would remain quiet and stationary.

Mu and Han Jia stood side by side, while Ye Chong sat on the floor and looked up at the two mechs, and for the moment, was lost in thought.

The rays of sunset reached through the windows into the factory, reflecting off Han Jia’s colorful exterior into a dazzling lightshow. Mu’s body was almost imperceptibly glowing . The orange sunset dyed the mech into a charismatic palette of orange and yellow. The mech’s amputated arm stood out palpably.

Seeing Mu’s lost arm reminded Ye Chong of the good amount of coraplatinum he left in that starship in the free space zone. Back then, he had risked himself obtaining the metal, thinking about using it to rebuild Mu’s arm. In the end, however, he lost the starship. Perhaps the young boy had taken the ore, or maybe it was still left in the depths of the sea on planet Dankwood. There was now only one Gateway left open to the free space zone, the one controlled by the Xue Lai Clan. The other two Gateways were destroyed.

Ye Chong did not imagine himself having any leverage to ask for the Clan’s permission to use the Gateway. He connected with the young boy, but it would be foolish to think that a child could play any part in helping him in this matter. Besides, he had kidnapped the young boy in the first place.

After sorting out his thoughts, Ye Chong felt that the idea was unrealistic and abandoned it.

He stood up to stretch his limbs. Mu would need 30 over hours to finish recharging. Han Jia’s maintenance work would have to be delayed for the moment. Without any suitable material or equipment, all the maintenance work he had in mind could not be carried out.

Just then, he heard a noise from outside.

e Chong hid behind a damaged part of the wall and peeked out from behind to look outside.

About a dozen golden colored mechs whizzed past the sky. The sound was from their speedy flight across the air. Their velocity slightly surprised Ye Chong. The mechs must be flying at no less than Mach 17 or 18. After all, they were now within the atmosphere. It it was in outer space, even reaching up to Mach 20 was not particularly difficult.

To think that he was lucky enough to see their advanced mechs just as he arrived in Gray Valley! They mechs were now vanishing dots in the sky. Ye Chong watched them in a daze. It was a pity that they flew so fast that he could not make out what they looked like. However, their dazzling gold left a deep impression in him.

Ye Chong returned to Mu and Han Jia’s side still thinking about the golden mechs. However, he quickly composed himself and began to work on the technical issues that he was facing.

The atmosphere in the control room was tense. They had just received news from Scholes, informing them of a very powerful red-tailed beast in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. The situation was dangerous for them.

After receiving the report, Arwa sent out a squad of 300 mechs as reinforcement.

However, they received no word from them until now. Arwa had a bad feeling about it, and he began to feel nervous.

The red-tailed beast had appeared at the border between the asteroids and Gray Valley. What would this mean for them? All this while, he was worried that the creatures would manage to go around their defenses and attack them. That would be a problem. Now that all the powers within Gray Valley were coordinated by the Research Consortium, they had managed to set up an effective defense. Recently, the attacks from the red-tailed beasts were beginning to falter.

Even though they had not begun to launch their attacks into the purple gas cloud that first appeared and started it all, people were beginning to feel hope. Indeed, what was there to worry about? Morale was high; resources were stocked up; the military was sufficiently manned; the Research Consortium was offering all kinds of technical support. The combatants were also the best of their community. So far, they were doing quite well.

The situation had been quiet so far, except for the daily mech troops deployed by the United Army to engage the legion of mysterious creatures.

Despite all this, Arwa sensed a dangerous undercurrent through it all. He would mention it occasionally during meetings with the commanding officers, but helpless against the indifference that he would receive. In fact, he lacked evidence to prove his suspicions. As the war progressed, the red-tailed beasts received substantial damage. That was certain. They were not like humans, who could resupply themselves almost indefinitely. It was only natural that they were faltering now.

Still, Arwa had sent many scouting squads at their flanks out of wariness. To think that he would receive news of a red-tailed beast sighting today!

What surprised him more was the fact that the scouting squad had been greatly overwhelmed by the creature! Scholes was one of the better mech pilots under him, and his abilities were undoubted. Arwa was very surprised to learn that the scouting squad led by the man would be forced into a desperate situation.

“Sir, reinforcements have reached the 13th scouting squad. They will be back to base in five hours,” the operator’s report interrupted Arwa’s thoughts.

“However …” The operator hesitated.

Arwa knitted his brows together. “What is it?”

“According to reports from our reinforcement troops, only three mechs survived,” the operator forced the words out of his mouth.

Suddenly, the control room went silent.

Only three survived out of the 30 mechs. It was a fatality rate of 90 percent! What in the world happened?

Everyone in the control room exchanged looks of fear and distress.

Five hours later, the reinforcement troops were back. When the three surviving mechs landed in the base, people finally realized how devastating the fight had been!

Scholes and his two surviving comrades were called to the Commander’s Office immediately after they exited their mechs.

Arwa was shaken by the tired, pitiful and scared looks of the three faces he greeted.

“You must be tired! Please have a seat,” Arwa spoke gently to the three subordinates. According to protocol, they should have reported to their superiors while standing. Arwa activated his comms and said, “Bring three meals in here. Make sure they’re warm.” After that, he returned to his own seat.

The three mech pilots looked gratefully at their superior. Half a minute later, food arrived.

Arwa made a gesture. “Please eat first. Your reports can wait.”

The trio was ravenous, and ate quickly. Soon, nothing was left on their plates, and they looked much better. The three of them abandoned their empty plates and waited for Arwa to ask his questions.

“Alright, now tell me exactly what happened.” Arwa nodded towards Scholes, signaling for him to speak.

“Ye, it’s been too long! I have missed you,” Shang declared without meaning it at all.

Ye Chong did not expect the one to emerge after recharging to be Shang. This was to be a problem.

“Where are we heading now?” Ye Chong asked, straight to the point.

“Oh, Ye, you’re still so boring. Sigh, it’s been a long time since we last saw each other, and you don’t even try to do some catching up with me, tsk tsk …” Shang affected a mood of complaint.

Ye Chong was speechless. He decided to ignore the mech. He was thankful that at least he could control whether the mech was out here or not. The alternative was unbearable.

Ye Chong withdrew Shang into his dimension keystone without hesitation.

“Ye, you’re too cruel! How dare you put me back into this empty space of nothingness?” Shang sounded resentful.

Ye Chong ignored him completely and went into Han Jia. He activated the holographic scanning system and began to search for the nearest city. Shang continued to mutter constantly to himself, but Ye Chong was determined to ignore him.

Soon, Ye Chong found a city 320 kilometers northwest of their location. He flew Han Jia out and away from the factory without delay and headed in that direction.

Shang seemed to know that his behavior would do him no good, and so he switched tactics. “Ye, what do you think is the first thing we should do when we arrive at the city?”

“Study its surroundings.” Ye Chong’s answer was brief and to the point.

“Oh, righto! Ye, I agree with your assessment.” Shang sounded exaggerated. He continued asking, “Then how do you think we should go about doing this?”

Ye Chong was confused by why Shang would start asking about these things, but they were practical matters, and so he answered readily, “Take in the landmarks, memorize the landscape of the place.” This was a method that Ye Chong has used plenty of times when he first arrived in a new area. History had proven that is was very effective, and Ye Chong had managed to escape from danger many times because of his familiarization with the area early on.

“That’s right, that’s exactly right. This method will help you tremendously. But, Ye, is that all you can think of?” Shang was now like a cunning man with a bait.

“Oh, what else is there?” Shang’s way of asking had hooked Ye Chong’s interest.

“When you arrive in a new and unfamiliar place, there are many things to do. Getting familiar with the surroundings, as you say, is one of them. However, there are other important matters that cannot be ignored. For example, getting to know the local forces at play, the relationship between these forces and so on. This will help you avoid getting involved in local power plays, which can be very dangerous. Another example will be the local culture. After all, some local cultures can be dangerous to outsiders. I suggest that you first make a few escape plans, so that when any unexpected incident occurs, you can make better decisions,” Shang spoke eloquently.

Ye Chong considered his suggestion and thought they sounded reasonable. “Do continue.”

Shang was secretly pleased at Ye Chong’s reaction. He was afraid that Ye Chong would ignore him, and that would be just too dull.

“All of that’s not enough. Ye, a lion will stand out when it is within a herd of sheep. People will be able tell that you’re different from the others very easily. That will invite trouble to you. Wary people will try to probe you, to see if you’re dangerous. I must say, Ye, that that will be the beginning of your troubles!” Shang sounded helpless as he came to this conclusion. To him, Ye Chong and Mu were too straightforward and rigid, both in behavior and action. They did not seem to understand the idea of indirect approaches with their confined minds!

“You’re right.” Ye Chong agreed with Shang. Many times he had gotten into trouble just like that.

“Hehe, Ye, don’t panic. There are many solutions aside from calculations to solve these problems. Err, perhaps you can think of it as a situational calculation.” Shang sounded pleased with himself.

“A situational calculation?” Ye Chong muttered to himself in thought.

Shang continued, “So, when you first arrive in a new area, it’s very important to blend in with the surroundings. A lion will of course stand out within a herd of sheep. But if you can disguise yourself as sheep, wouldn’t that make you safer?”

“Yes, you’re right.” Ye Chong gave it some thought and agreed with him.

Shang suddenly changed his tone. “Of course, there are many other way of self defense. If a lion found itself within a herd of sheep, it can demonstrate its prowess to the sheep so that they would not mess with him. This is what we called intimidation, as discussed before.” His tone changed again. “However, I must say, Ye, there are not many sheep here, as most of them are wolves. One wolf might not win against one lion, but a pack of wolves can. Besides, in this time and place, it’s very difficult to determine if you’re facing sheep or wolves.”

Shang’s metaphor was simple, but Ye Chong could grasp the idea behind it.

“Do you think what I said make sense?” Shang asked.

“Yes,” Ye Chong replied in the affirmative.

“Then, I suggest we use the first method to enter the city. What do you think?” Shang sounded weird.

e Chong looked up at the city, and felt a sense of familiarity. This was practically a modernized version of a city from the Five Galaxies. Buildings soared into the skies. Mechs of all kinds tore through the air above. It was the exact opposite of the He Yue Galaxy. As he walked into the city, the feeling grew stronger. There were holographic ad projections everywhere. Countless mechs flew between the metallic buildings. Even the pedestrians on the streets walked with hurried steps. It was very much a city in the Five Galaxies.

“This is Gray Valley?” Shang sounded unbelieving.

Ye Chong shrugged. “I think it’s weird too.”

Ye Chong was wearing a combat uniform, and did not stand out in the crowd. Along the way to the city, he and Shang had discussed about psychology. Of course, it was only to be expected that Ye Chong failed marvelously to understand it. Suddenly, Ye Chong realized that he was infinitely pathetic when it came to this area of expertise. Right now, he was competent in combat, mech piloting, alchemy and even mech maintenance. However, when it came to psychology and sociology, he could only draw a blank.

Shang had explained with long paragraphs of theories about how important psychology was in combat. Of course, Ye Chong was convinced by him. Convincing Ye Chong can be a simple but challenging task. As long as your arguments were convincing, Ye Chong would agree with them. However, if the arguments were hollow, he would not accept them no matter who they came from.

Ye Chong was not walking on the streets like an inconspicuous commoner, and no one looked twice at him. The holographic screen at the exposed public square was showing the news. Aside from the constant mentions of the war in the news, there were almost no signs of the war here in the city.

“Ye, this looks like a good place,” Shang proclaimed excitedly.

Ye Chong looked around his surroundings and said, “The situation’s not clear yet, we need to do more research.”

Ye Chong walked the streets casually, seemingly without purpose, but he was in fact memorizing all the streets.

However, they quickly faced an urgent problem – they had no money! Earning money had always been one of the more difficult problems for Ye Chong, and also one of his weaknesses. Fortunately, he had Shang with him now, and there should be nothing to worry about. Back in the Five Galaxies, Mu could provide an almost endless supply of currency, which Ye Chong remembered clearly. Shang must be able to do something similar!

“Well, if I can hack into the virtual world, money will not be a problem,” Shang said, but his next words dashed any hope Ye Chong had of this option, “However, Ye, regretfully we do not have that ability as of yet. I tried to hack into their virtual word just now, but failed.”

“Failed? Why?” Ye Chong was surprised. Shang’s calculation skills were slightly inferior to Mu’s, but he was still very good at it. In the past, Shang had always did it with ease. Why would he fail this time?

Shang sounded surprised as well when he replied, “The virtual world here is a bit weird. Their calculations are completely different from what we know, and that means I have nowhere to work with. What a strange place. Oh, forgot to mention one thing. When I entered the virtual world just now, I’ve triggered their alarm. We need to leave here ASAP.”

Ye Chong wanted to roll his eyes. This bstard … He was about to pick up his pace and leave the place when Shang’s dmned voice came again, “Ye, don’t do anything unnatural. You should walk at a natural pace, wear a normal expression, and walk away from here casually. That way, you won’t attract suspicion. Do you want everyone who see you to suspect that you’re a bad guy?”

Ye Chong forced down whatever explosive motion he was about to do with his legs. Despite his masterful control of muscular power, the effort still left him a little uneven.

He stepped out with his right leg and resumed his normal walking pace. His expression did not change, not because he was a master of disguise, but because his face was naturally inexpressive.

“The more natural you behave, the easier people are going to ignore you. You may exist here and now, but you are effectively in a blind spot,” Shang philosophized.

Just then, a group of men in yellow uniform walked in their direction.

“So strange, there really was an alarm just now. Isn’t it from here? I don’t see anyone suspicious,” one of them said.

One of his companions shrugged and said, “I don’t see anyone suspicious too. Maybe he left already.”

“So soon? Impossible,” one of them said, unconvinced. “When the alarm rang, we were just around the corner, and didn’t see anyone suspicious. I say, the alarm is probably from a technical error.”

“Right, right, I think so to, it’s happened before …”

The group of men walked past Ye Chong just like that. One of them took a glance at Ye Chong, and his eyes did not linger.

Shang’s theory was effective! If it was his earlier self, he would have ran away right then, attracted attention, and disaster would surely have followed.

Shang seemed to know what Ye Chong was thinking, and said, pleased, “Hehe, Ye, told you so. Nothing in this world is more effective and mystifying as psychology.”

Ye Chong did not care for Shang’s claim, but he was beginning to be convinced of the importance of psychology.

“Ye, your disguise just now has plenty of room for improvement. Your walking posture, for example. You should step more firmly on the heel than on the toes. And your pulse, breathing frequency, etc etc. If they had a professional spy with them just now, you would have been spotted. A successful disguise involves many aspects, and at its core is psychology.” Shang had a particular enjoyment in stepping on Ye Chong’s self esteem.

“Alright,” Ye Chong replied and began to make adjustments. Soon, he had resumed his natural walking manner.

“Hehe, good, good. Ye, you learn fast. However, when anyone looks at you now, they’ll be able to tell that you’re someone who’s capable in combat.”

Ye Chong tilted his head and asked, “Why?”

“Your pace and breathing are very precise. You should know that the average person’s pace and breathing fluctuate in some broad range. The truth is, Ye, you are born with traits ideal for disguise. Your body is not particularly muscular, which gives an impression of vulnerability. Your hands show no signs of training, and while they are not as smooth compared to the beautiful ladies, they’re still on the fairer side. After all, these are the hardest parts to fake.”

Shang was now plenty excited, to discover this interesting puzzle. What joy! Once, Mu had given Ye Chong all kinds of training routines, and he could only watch from the side while Ye went through all of them with rigid commitment. Now he knew how wonderful it felt like! He almost suspected that Mu was secretly enjoying it as well, to come up with so many training routines.

Hmm, perhaps he should start preparing richer content and organized training for Ye Chong. The thought of the wide variety of training routines that Mu introduced to Ye Chong inspired Shang to prepare an even larger scaled training schedule.

Hence, Ye Chong’s suffering began.

Stance, breaching, pace, gaze, and even the muscles underneath his clothing – Ye Chong had never experienced a training routine harder than this. Repeating the same combat move for a hundred times was easy for Ye Chong, but how could he maintain a lax gaze for 10 minutes? Ye Chong felt like a tiny drum was constantly playing in his heart. Even five seconds was too long endure, much less 10 minutes.

Five seconds of distraction was enough for him to die half a dozen times! The thought spontaneously came to him every time.

On the contrary, the harder routines that came late were easier for Ye Chong. This include making his eyes look uninterested, but still keeping a high vigilance of his surroundings.

Ye Chong felt like slamming his head against the wall. He had never imagined that it would be so difficult to disguise as someone ordinary. He had very quick reactions, and this sensitivity was his largest obstacle when in disguise. For example, whenever he heard light footsteps behind him, he would automatically prepare himself physically to engage. This combat instinct was already deeply entrenched in him that it was almost second nature.

After a long struggle, his stamina was depleted more than he expected. More importantly, he was mentally exhausted. This training was unlike anything he had done before.

As he walked on the streets, Ye Chong practiced different training routines. In Shang’s words, these exercises did not involve any huge movements, and can be done even while walking. The advantages of disguising as an ordinary person were so obvious that it needed neither Shang’s explaining nor Ye Chong’s figuring out. Hence, Ye Chong practiced disguising as hard as he could. He had a virtue, which was to give his all in learning something once he decided that it would be useful to him.

So far, however, he realized that he did not have much talent in this field.

Ye Chong abruptly stopped in his tracks and looked up at the huge holographic screen in the public square.

“Urgent hire for close range mech combat instructors – Research Consortium.” It was a large block of sentence, with no dazzling light and sound effects. Underneath it in smaller size was an address. The ad stayed on the screen for a whole five minutes.

“Hmm, looks like a good way to earn some money,” Shang spoke up in Ye Chong’s mind.

“I agree,” Ye Chong nodded and said. They had no money at all, and the problem was a significant one. He could only rely on his own since Shang could not enter the virtual world. Ye Chong had actually planned to find a mech maintenance shop and assembly shop to earn some cash.

However, this job as a close range mech combat instructor might be worth a shot.

e Chong stared at the ad on the holographic screen, lost in thought.

He remembered when he first escaped from the trash planet. In the past, mechs were still new to him. Back then, long range mechs were mainstream in the Five Galaxies, and few people would choose to use close range mechs. Now, he actually saw an ad for hiring close range mech instructors.

He gathered his thoughts and decided to try it out.

Ye Chong never had much luck in asking for the directions in the past. However, under Shang’s guidance, he found that everything went smoothly this time. With a polite tone, mellow voice, and a relaxed stance, the passerby that he stopped to ask for directions quickly pointed to him in the right way. Moreover, the person even offered to bring him there.

After accomplishing this, Shang said happily, “Ye, this is the power of socializing. Often, it is more useful than brute force.”

Ye Chong silently agreed. Shang was right. Compared to grabbing someone by the throat and demanding for directions, this method was a lot more effective.

Ye Chong began to train even more earnestly. This caused him to arrive at the hiring location in a deep state of fatigue.

It was all too tiring! Shang had required that his disguise looked as natural as possible. This was not a problem for ordinary people, but a huge problem for Ye Chong! He was already used to being calculative and precise, and could control his breathing to be rhythmic with less than a 0.01 second difference between breaths. However, this so-called natural behavior that Shang described, with natural pulse, natural breathing, natural pace, natural muscular state, natural stance, natural gaze …

The training did not require him to move so much, but it was extremely tiring! Besides, Ye Chong had given his all into this training. Soon, undesirable side effects began to kick in.

Brahm studied the lifeless young man before him, and frowned.

How could people like this come to try out for the position as instructor? He smiled coldly inside. No one had tried to make trouble with the Research Consortium’s hiring process so far, but this young man must be quite daring. Given the currently urgent situation, close range mech pilots were one of the highly demanded occupations. Frontline battles did not cease, but the higher-ups had still ordered for them to hire a new batch of close range mech pilots.

Brahm immediately categorized Ye Chong as one of the troublesome youngsters in the neighborhood. He had never heard of any instructors at such a young age, with the exception of a few proteges. As for this particular young man, he looked skinny and sluggish, with eyes that stared blankly and a wooden expression. If this young man can become an instructor, then Brahm himself could very well be promoted to Commander.

Brahm’s voice was strict. “We’re hiring close range combat instructors here. Unrelated personnel are advised to leave.”

The young man seemed unfazed, and did not prepare to leave, while still looking weary and tired.

Ye Chong was feeling extremely exhausted! This exhaustion was unlike the physical kind, but of the mental kind. It was as if there were two personalities inside him, one destroying the other. No wonder Shang had said that physical pain was nothing compared to mental pain. Shang had even given him examples, like interrogations. Only by finding a psychological weakness in the interrogated could one be able to extract the necessary information.

So it was like this! Ye Chong could feel a headache beginning inside his head. His whole body felt heavy and weak, and his condition deteriorated.

There were only six people in the waiting room.

Ye Chong was not in his best condition, but he still managed to take note of his surroundings. He heard the hiring officer’s words, but did not think that it was directed to him. Ye Chong found his mental focus becoming more and more hazy.

Unrelated personnel? He was here to be interviewed, and therefore not an unrelated person. Hence, Ye Chong filtered away the words coming from Brahm.

“Are you here for the interview?”

Ye Chong could not understand the hostility in the officer’s voice, but he was not offended. Not that he had the energy to get worked up anyway.

“Yes,” Ye Chong replied weakly, and resumed his silence. His training required a lot of mental concentration, and his mind was beginning to have a splitting headache. His mental condition was worsening, and his thought process was heavily compromised.

Brahm was furious seeing the young man replying without even looking him in the eye. He wasted no more words and passed a card with the number 231 on it to Ye Chong.

“This is your number. You’ll only need to go through a test in actual combat. If you pass, you’ll be hired,” Brahm explained coldly.

“Okay,” the young man acknowledged him and took the card, then entered the waiting room.

Noticing so many people lining up in front of him as he entered the combat test arena, Ye Chong decided to find a spot in a corner and rest. He was too tired, and desperately needed to rest. Shang had not expected the huge strain his training routines had created for Ye Chong, and was not quickly modifying his training plan accordingly.

The fact Ye Chong had gone to sleep right before facing the test was a deplorable action that the all the hiring staff observed with contempt. Since when was the Research Consortium underestimated like this?

There were many forces at play in Gray Valley, but only the Research Consortium held the highest power. They controlled all the latest tech, and had it not stood up when the red-tailed beasts appeared, the current alliance would never have been formed. So far, every round of recruitment by the Research Consortium was attended by capable men and women in Gray Valley, but even the most arrogant of them would not behave in a challenging manner.

If the Research Consortium’s own guards were here, they would surely have chased out this young man. Anyone who could join the Research Consortium would be talented, capable, and vain. These days, as the power of the Consortium expanded in Gray Valley, they became even more conceited.

There were many within the Consortium who were against the recruitment this time. However, since demands from the frontlines were urgent, they had to lower their standards and hire close range combatants in large numbers. They had so few close range combatants that it was hard to even allocate some of them as instructors. Hence, right now they needed to hire a group of instructors to train new mech pilots, as preparation for the war at hand.

It was generally believed by the Research Consortium and the Alliance higher-ups that the war would continue on in the near future, and this belief continued to strengthen day by day. It was because of this that the Research Consortium decided to organize close range combat training. Gray Valley did not lack talents, but, just like most other places, long range mech pilots were more prevalent. Fortunately, most of the locals here have good fundamentals. Almost anyone can become qualified as combatants with the right training. Since close range mech pilots who fought at the frontlines were precious manpower that each force and organization would prefer to keep to themselves, it would be almost impossible to ask for them to become instructors.

Hence, the current hiring round was established.

The staff decided that although they could not outright throw the young man out of the room, there were other ways to teach the arrogant man a lesson.

Ye Chong never imagined that he had unwittingly offended all the hiring staff.

Even if he knew, however, he had better things to worry about. His situation was dire. As he had no experience in his kind of training, it had obviously overwhelmed him. This caused a series of undesirable side effects.

Ye Chong found to his despair that he could not quite focus his thoughts. It was like having worms crawling around inside his head. Even with his eyes closed, he could not rest. It was torturing, not being able to rest despite being so very tired.

If anyone were to attack him right now, Ye Chong was not sure if he could avoid it.

“Who’d have imagined that this training in disguise has such annoying side effects?” Ye Chong thought to himself bitterly. It was fortunate that Shang was with him, or he would have been entirely defenseless.

With his distracted eyes and rigid facial muscles, Ye Chong looked like a century-old zombie. Everyone who walked passed him looked at him with disdain.

“Number 231! Number 231! Please report immediately to the combat zone for your test!” A hiring staff yelled loudly.

Shang spoke up, “Ye, it’s your turn.”

“Oh,” Ye Chong replied weakly, and stood up with shaky legs.

The hiring staff yelled again, “Number 231? Where are you?”

“Here, ” a tired voice replied from a corner of the room.

Sweep! Everyone in the room turned to look at the source of the voice. It came from a lazy, weary looking young man half slumped against the wall, with his right hand lifted up shakily.

“Bravo, Ye, bravo!” Shang sounded most excited. “You’re now definitely qualified to be the Most Depressed Youngster of the Year!”

Most depressed youngster? What kind of d*mned award was that? Ye Chong did not even have the mood to laugh mockingly to himself. He mind drew a blank. Everything he saw looked like an illusion. The effects of overusing his brain were dead serious!

No matter the time and place, Ye Chong’s aura of intensity was hard to disguise, but now he looked like an entirely different person.

Shang was positively exhilarated. “Ye, your disguise now is superb! Tsk tsk, I didn’t expect you to learn so quickly. Changing your whole aura is the hardest trick! Hehe, Ye, if some beauty happened to see you now, she’d fall head over heels for you …”

Ye Chong decided not to reply to Shang. Even keeping his eyes open was a chore right now.

The people around him were giving him glances that spelled condescension, disdain, confusion …

“What’re you standing there for? Hurry up!” The hiring staff looked annoyed.

Ye Chong felt like he was walking in a daydream. The people around him shook like apparitions. Every step felt like a walk on clouds, as though he could stumble at any time.

To the rest of the people, this obvious depressed and tired young man was walking lazily, with his eyes barely open. The rest of the people who came for the interview shook their heads. How can someone like him be here? It was a joke! Combat skills were necessary for every close range combat mech pilot. Hence, these mech pilots were expected to walk steadily with a focused gaze. This young man was obviously not fit for the task.

The rest of the interviewees looked insulted. To them, the presence of this young man was a humiliation to them all!

The distance from his corner to the combat test arena was only a mere 50 meters, but Ye Chong thought it felt like a mile away.

Phew, finally there! Ye Chong never expected to be weakened to this extent. Just 50 meters had cost him dearly. In fact, Ye Chong could hardly think clearly right now. Had he been more sensible, he would have given up on the job.

Ye Chong stood rigidly in the test arena with his mind blank.

aylor looked at the spiritless young man in front of him. He was an experienced close range mech pilot, and could of course read his opponents well. What he saw was baffling – what was a man like this doing participating in this test?

There were two parts to the combat test. The first was in hand-to-hand combat, and the other mech combat. Both components were dangerous in their own ways. The hand-to-hand combat test right now could result in minor injuries, or even death.

“Are you sure you want to participate in this test?” Taylor asked the young man out of concern. Taylor was strong and looked brutish, but he was not unkind.

The other man did not react, his eyes half closed. It looked like he was sleeping.

Taylor knitted his brows together, offended. He had warned him out of kindness, but was completely ignored in turn.

With that, Taylor humped coldly, stepped forward and reached out with his right hand towards Ye Chong’s shoulder. As the other man did not respond, Taylor decided to just fling him out of the arena.

Taylor’s move won the admiration of the hiring staff who were watching. His move was clear cut and fast, as a professional would have done.

Taylor was an examiner, and it was only that he was capable. He had been conducting a few rounds of these combat tests earlier, and the audience had witnessed his moves. Everyone there believed that the young man was about to be thrown out of the arena. However, some of the hiring staff thought that they were too easy on the young man. However, knowing that Taylor was in charge of the test, they kept their thoughts to themselves.

What happened next in the arena was completely unexpected!

Ye Chong’s condition did not improve. Shang’s training conflicted heavily with his natural instincts. The mental strain on him caused his mind to simply blank out.

However, despite his terrible condition, there was one thing that he had yet to lose!

Instinct! Honed by thousands and millions of training sessions, forged in the crucible of repeated encounters with life threatening battles – his instinct!

Ever since his life began on the trash planet, Ye Chong had grown up with combat as an integral part of his life. After all these years, combat was already second nature to him.

Hence, when he detected the danger that was coming, Ye Chong’s body moved on its own.

The rest of his body remained still while his right shoulder pulled back, and his hanging right arm reached up smoothly like a snake, striking towards Taylor’s right hand like a thunderbolt. The power of the September Lan Family’s secret technique – its second-to-none ability in muscle control was unleashed in all its glory.

If Taylor’s right arm was caught by Ye Chong’s right arm, the former’s arm would surely be broken in several parts.

The unexpected turn of events shocked everyone outside the arena!

Taylor’s eyes turned cold. He flipped his right wrist and met Ye Chong’s right hand with his.

Slam!

The clear sound of forceful contact reverberated in the entire arena. It was not the sound of punching or blocking, but more like a the crack of a whip.

The clear sound was like the opening note of a melody.

Slam slam slam slam …

Without warning, a series of thunderclaps sounded rapidly, one after another.

Those who were watching stared in astonishment. They were thoroughly surprised. What was happening now was completely different from what they expected. The two men traded blows in moves so quick that it was hard to make them out individually.

Taylor’s attack seemed to have triggered some part of Ye Chong. With the external stimulus, Ye Chong’s body reacted in the most natural way – it retaliated!

The battle was unusually fierce. Within the arena, the two men moved quickly, leaving afterimages that blurred out the original fighters. The viewers could only see human-shaped shadows moving about.

However, the unceasing sounds of attacking and blocking one another made the fight even more exciting to watch. Such an awesome battle could hardly be found anywhere. The spectators leaned forward as much as they could, opening their eyes wide, for fear of missing a single detail.

From the looks of it, the two men fought with equal prowess. However, the level of ability that they showed was shocking. How good was Taylor? When he was testing the other interviewees, the people had roughly guessed his worth. However, from this current test, it seemed that the man had hidden most of his full potential. Even the few people who had passed the test earlier paled right now, grateful that they were not tested like this.

Taylor’s true strength was impressive, but understandable. After all, how could a person become an examiner without the ability to back him up?

More shocking was the man fighting against Taylor right now – Number 231! From the beginning, everyone had thought that he was probably some useless hoodlum, but now it seemed that he was actually very strong. Of the few hundred people watching, none could tell that he was faking it. This skill that he demonstrated was an unpleasant surprise to many, and one of them was Brahm. He recalled the way he spoke to the young man earlier and felt a chill ran up his spine.

Finger, wrist, elbow, shoulder, knee, leg – there was no body part that this young man could not twist to his own will. The usual physical logic that bound the average human body did not seem to apply to him.

Close range combat was Taylor’s specialty. He never expected to be suppressed by someone else using the same technique!

Suppressed – that was the word. To outsiders, both of them seemed to be equally strong. However, Taylor knew that he was actually completely under the control of his opponent!

The other man could attack in physically impossible ways, his attacks coming from the most unimaginable angles. Moreover, the man had enough power behind his punches. Fighting in this small arena, Taylor could feel that the strength in his opponent’s attacks never faltered, while his own hands were growing numb.

A strange body, making strange attacks, but stranger still was the expression on the man’s face. It was wooden and inexpressive. The transparent gray eyes looked unfocused. Every time he met the man’s eyes, Taylor felt a chill crawling up his spine.

Ye Chong’s mind was blank. He did not know what he was doing. His mind was overly exhausted that he succumbed to a state of unawareness. Everything he did was not the product of prolonged combat training.

His condition was a very unusual state. Everything he did was out of instinct. If his body sensed danger, it would immediately react. The reaction was quick, requiring no explicit thought to execute it. That was why, driven by instinct, Ye Chong was able to move so quickly, and his reactions were more straightforward and sensitive. It was in this state that Ye Chong finally reached a whole new level in terms of the speed of his hands.

Ye Chong’s hands could already move at a speed that would astound most people, and now, he was even faster. Taylor could only hold them off with no room to do anything more against his continuous attacks. However, little did he know that, due to lesser attacks from him, the degree of retaliation that he received from Ye Chong decreased as well.

Ye Chong’s every reaction was in response to threatening external stimuli. When Taylor could not afford to make any attack moves, Ye Chong fought back less as a result of instinct.

While Taylor could not understand the reason for it, he did notice the pattern, and it was a huge relief. Once he stopped initiating attacks, the opponent would also fight back less.

A couple of times he slowed down in his moves, and as expected, the other man did not attack back as much. Once, he tried to first hold back his attacks, then suddenly strike out!

The strike nearly cost him his life.

Before he could even reach the corner of the other man’s sleeve, his opponent seemed to have foreseen his attack, and suddenly hit back with an abrupt increase in intensity. Had he not been prepared for it, Taylor would have died right then. However, a few punches barely grazed past his face, and the pain and shock from it was enough to make him sweat.

This strange young man was like a hedgehog, not to be touched. If you leave it alone, it would be no danger. If you accidentally touched it, the sharp spikes would definitely prick you.

Taylor had the feeling that this strange young man was a little off in the head, but he was also grateful of it. Had his opponent been normal, this fight would have turned out differently.

Now, his highest priority was to make the strange young man stop fighting. As he tried desperately to block his opponent’s attacks, Taylor thought hard. He dared to speak up and leave an opening. It would be fatally dangerous to present an opening when fighting against someone so strong.

Suddenly, an idea came to him.

Hence, the audience watched something weird happened.

Both men began to slow down their movements. The afterimages disappeared. It became easier and easier to follow their every move.

Both men traded blows in slower and slower rhythm. In the next moment, it was like watching two elderlies trade punches.

This was puzzling to the audience. What kind of fight was this?

Taylor slowly relaxed himself, moving his around softly like waving off mosquitoes, afraid to trigger any crazy reaction from the young man again.

It worked, to his surprise. He made himself move even more slowly and non-threateningly, and his opponent’s attacks immediately lessened drastically.

When the time came, Taylor stepped back abruptly like a startled rabbit. Just as he was out of range of the young man, the latter immediately froze on the spot.

Taylor stared at the rigidly standing young man before him, making sure that he would not fight back again, and heaved a long sigh of relief. He wiped off the cold sweat gathering on his forehead, saw the people who were watching them with astonishment, and blushed.

Fortunately, he was as skilled in combat as he was in formalities. He cleared his throat and announced, “Number 231 has passed the test. The next test is mech combat.”

Good thing he was only in charge of hand-to-hand combat. If this was an actual fight … Taylor shuddered at the thought.

e Chong eventually regained himself, though not really in his prime at the moment. There was a drought happening in his throat, an earthquake in his head. His focus was everywhere that he could only let off a bitter laugh.

How did I get to the field? What had just happened? Oh my Fal galaxy, is this the execution?

He somehow knew something but he could not recall.

“Number 231, Number 231, please proceed to the mech practical test area.”

Number 231, that’s me. But…

Ye Chong was confused as he looked at the strange and frightful gazes from the surrounding. He felt respect but it was a different kind of respect, not the one he got when he was with the Sangs, there was… something else?

“Mu, what just happened?” asked Ye Chong.

“Oh nothing,” said Shang briefly. “You passed the test.”

“Mhm,” muttered Ye Chong as he forsook the question. Passing the test was part of his expectation, if that was the case, nothing should be wrong. Well, if Ye Chong could not pass the test, something must be wrong.

But then…

Ugh! For Fal’s sake, my head is pounding again!

“Shang, my head,” said Ye Chong firmly.

“It’s typical. You just need a short rest. The pain would fade away a moment later. No aftereffect. Hahaha, Ye, relax~ It’s not like you’ll be on the wheelchair after this. No permanent damage I promise. Mhm, I indeed had improvised the training course. So, you are fine, just give your body some time…”

It did not sound all fine from Shang’s tone. Ye Chong knew this partner notorious of the abominable conduct of his. He began wondering of what reason in Fal he even nodded to this training course in the first place. He missed Mu, at least Mu was constructively helpful, unlike somebody.

Nevertheless, despite the despicable tone, Shang was apparently speaking the truth, as Ye Chong could feel the pain lifting, although his focus was scattered as before, at least the cloud of agony was parting away in his head. He had always been highly confident of his will and tolerance towards pain, but such kind of headache was something too much to be part of the training. It was simply too dangerous,Ye Chong literally lost control of his body the moment he went out of focus.

So, he must never be back to that condition anymore.

And Ye Chong was pretty certain that Shang the genius did not foresee such horrible consequence of his “impeccable” training, or Shang would never allow Ye Chong to try it at the beginning.

Dragged the steps which felt boulders, Ye Chong could hear his mind giggling pitifully. It was as if his legs were made out of tentacles, he could not feel his thighs.

The bit of warmup did act like a form of basic recovery to his strength, which was relieving. Seriously he would not want to encounter anything at the moment, he would be passive at the situation if something happened.

The mech practical test area and the combat test area were in two different venues. Under the escort of the staff, he made his way to the mech test area. He can hear the passionate clinking of two machines brawling the moment he stepped into the zone.

It felt like not Brahm’s day today, he thought he had met a weakling, during which he took the encounter roughly and did not watch his language. Who knows he was then assigned to escort Number 231, the “weakling” he presumed, to the mech brawling zone. The dried tears over his face… he felt he would need to make a dive to a black hole at the moment, so he could just vanish for good. He was just an ordinary working staff after all and he had just messed with the wrong person.

Please, god, hear me out. Save me from this barbarian!

The way to the next area was torturing to him as he guided Ye Chong. He imagined his every step being the last on the way.

It felt heavenly the moment they arrived by the gate. “Thank you, sir, good bye!” And Ye Chong could no longer find Brahm in the next second.

“Ye, can you still fight?” asked Shang in concern.

“Uhh…” Ye Chong could feel his body recovering, he tried lifting his limbs, “No problem. I guess.” Well, what defined as “problem” to Ye Chong was probably the problem of self-security, which technically translated as whether Ye Chong could guard himself from attacks. But he was still far from what he usually was. The fainting effect was something he still shunned.

He was not in his prime but he would not want to miss the only opportunity to make a fortune. He would kill for a piece of gold or two right now, as he had nothing in his purse, unless he decided to live the following days with nutrition capsules which tasted like dirt, or he would need real cash for real edibles. To leave Gray Valley, he also needed some information, what kept the broker talking was also the pile of real cold cash.

He gazed into the area as he observed the mech of the examiner, which was a traditional humanoid unit that wielded a sword and shield, nothing particularly strange, although he must admit that the examiner was a good pilot. The mech moved steadily as waving forcibly upon its opponent, threatening it certainly looked. The opposing pilot was tasting every slash and dash the examiner made, with no chance to fight back.

The tight chain of attacks was truly a puzzlement, especially when the examiner did not seem to be holding back even under a winning fight, at all.

He had experience, a strong mentality.

Judged Ye Chong in his mind.

There would be a handful of counters to take such type of pilot out. It should be cake-walk except Ye Chong was half-drunk at the moment. He was not sure how far he could fight on the field. Technically no miracle would happen when you fought a pilot like the examiner, he was not the kind who would make silly mistakes and giveaways. It was justifiable as Ye Chong observed no opening on the mech’s defense.

At the spectators’ area, the youngsters were watching the fight excitingly as their loud conversation was able to reach Ye Chong.

“That slash. Such an examiner. The opponent could not even fight back. Man, only if he’s our instructor, we would not need to recruit these clowns, I mean, look at these people who came for the audition, not even 10 out of the hundreds could have a chance fighting the examiner.” Said the black-haired boy.

“Him as our instructor? In your dreams! The examiner had just returned from the frontline, he kills the red-tailed beasts like slicing salmons. Did you know? He had killed over 10 of those horrors. So, don’t even think about him instructing us. I had heard rumors that it took the authority countless attempts to even get him to the field. Rather than making such stupid daydream, why don’t you think about the right class to attend later?”

The black-haired boy was aware of his sleep-talk so he just proceeded with the next topic, “So Xi Qing, which instructor’s class are you joining?”

Xi Qing was a young man with golden hair and a rather mature feature for his age, though his expression seemed to retain the youth’s naivety, “Number 79 seems alright, I mean, his attacks are pretty outstanding. The only problem is whether if he would teach us seriously. Number 140… hmm, seems fine as well. White, how about you?”

The black-haired boy scratched his head, “I dunno. I still find the examiner the best.”

“White, please.” Shook Xi Qing, “Please have your attention back onto the participants, or you would be getting nothing in the end.” Apparently, his advice had fallen upon deaf ears, White was having his eyes glued on the examiner still.

The Research Consortium had invested a lot in conducting the training class this time. Almost every city with fine infrastructure would have a training class itself, to which the consortium had provided bountiful rewards, like an advanced mech model for example. Anyone who could pass the training as well as the final examination would be rewarded handsomely.

The consortium had made consecutive efforts in promoting the class. They had slogans like, “Protect Yourself, Your Family, the Gray Valley” and produced heroic imagery of those pilots from the frontline, which had attracted enough attentions from the youngsters who wanted to join the tower defense of Gray Valley. Well the Research Consortium was influential to an extent indeed.

Among the youngsters, some did strive for protection, some however wanted the rewards and the pride. They were hitting the same path anyway – they would be giving their future to the war field.

“Yes? You don’t have a mech?” The staff was perplexed by Ye Chong’s statement.

“Mhm,” muttered Ye Chong expressionlessly. He must be the pilot with no mech, since any mech of his collection was clearly a thing that would hoard attention. No Han Jia, the wings were large enough to be on the news. Skeleton Mechs? The whole galaxy would know by then. Shang? Hah. He never appeared in Ye Chong’s mind, not even once. He did have Valiance but that mech clearly defined itself from the outside with He Yue designs.

Hmm. It looks like he had to do something else.

Ye Chong was planning to leave.

I mean, a pilot with no mech? Even I myself find this ridiculous.

quot;Hold it right there.” A voice coming from a middle-aged plump man stopped Ye Chong, .

It was the top leader of the recruitment, Mr. Powell.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Powell, slightly displeased, when he apparently overheard the exchange between Number 231 and the staff, in which Number 231 was making his withdrawal from the recruitment drive.

If it was not of all timings, Powell just so happened to be walking by the test area while spotting that drowsy-looking boy making such comment he would not have run all his way to the boy. The boy had given him an epic fighting scene, nearly unforgettable in his mind, in which those afterimages danced to crosses as the sounds of raiding punches and kicks came raining like a storm. To be frank, Ye Chong had technically drained every last ounce of vitality of Taylor in that battle. So Taylor had to call it a day early, while requesting a new examiner to take over. Powell asked Taylor’s opinion in the following moves and Taylor’s replies were rather shocking. In his gasping words, Taylor illustrated his losing fight with this boy, on how he was just barely holding the giant’s step which he would never have a chance to overcome the whole time.

Well, Powell had zero knowledge on combats but he felt he had gotten a fish on the hook, a large one too!

So Powell came all the way to check Number 231 out, but never he once expected that this Number 231 was going to leave for good. He got to do something to stop Number 231.

He listened to his staff to get a grip on the situation.

“He has no mech?” Powell flinched, that was never part of his prediction. A pilot with no mech? It sounded as far-fetched as finding lights in black hole, or picking blues from the red-tailed beasts.

“Just a moment, young man.” He would not let Ye Chong go just yet, “We do… have a few new units in the storage… Mhm, and by that I meant the close-combat model,” he muttered, in suggestive tone to his staff.

“Yes sir but… the newest close-combat model contains only the experiment unit. Other than that we only had a few ranged models and a handful of abandoned units,” replied the staff.

“An experiment unit?” Powell frowned.

“Yes sir, it’s been there… for 5 to 6 years. Part of the failed experiment… I heard…,” replied the staff sluggishly.

A product of a failed experiment? Powell finally understood the situation, of how this experiment unit ended up at his storage. The consortium liked experimenting modification and creation of all sorts of mech, which resulted in an enormous amount of experiment failures that ended up in the storage for the rest of all eternity.

“Well, are you willing to try? We could only offer you this mech.” Said Powell, with little hesitation. That was the only thing he could say anyway, he had already lost faith in the situation, like which insane fellow would agree on piloting an failed produ-

“Okay.” Ye Chong actually nodded at the offer.

Ye Chong felt it was at least a mech to work things on. It was not like he would be lose anything for piloting a mech with issues. So, why not?

“Okay?” Powell was confused, but later his eyes lustered with impression, “Okay. He’ll lead you to the storage for the unit.”

And there Ye Chong was, at the storage which looked spacious with only a few mechs standing by the piles of parts.

“If you are wondering about the space, well, the storage used to be full. Thanks to the war, the frontline demands all sorts of resources they could use, so most of the mechs in the storage had been sent there and we are only left with these few experiment units,” said the staff, who led Ye Chong to the corner.

“And among them, this is the only close-combat model. You can try it now.” The staff pointed at one mech covered in dust.

The mech had been spending the last 5 years with the dust. It was at a horrible location to be noticed and nobody liked to have their duty roster at the storage. When Ye Chong first saw the mech, he had only perceived a giant lump of dust. The working staff did not intend to even approach the dusty history an inch closer.

Ye Chong did not mind however, as he had spent probably his younger days at the filthiest, terrifying entire globe of trash before. The dusty history was just something normal.

He placed his hand over the mech, as if giving a new life, he forcibly swiped over the surface, the dust of the ancient danced in the air under the dim lamp.

The working staff had already retreated himself. He needed not to watch the young man, not like there was anything worth to keep an eye on in the storage.

The identity of the mech had finally been restored as the dust took off.

It was a mech with black and white stripes, yet without the usual metallic glow of the mechs out there. It was something different from what Ye Chong had encountered in the past. It exuded some kind of classiness not very attention-seeking to his sense. Most humanoid units would have a balanced proportion across the limbs and the main body. However this mech was having an inflated set of limbs, just like someone who overtrained the arms and legs and missing out the body. There was a tiny V-shaped shield on the arm and that was the only thing considerably as “weapon” on its entire body.

Ye Chong, as a mech mod technician, was absolutely interested in freakish mechs like this.

He uncovered the cabin, in which he saw a triangular control panel – a design again different from what he used to see, likewise the button layout.

Ye Chong could not help but to boot the tutorial from the processor, so he could have an idea on how to move the limbs at least.

It took Ye Chong about an hour to have a rough idea on how to make the basic moves and also the reason why no one who would be interested of even touching this freak for the past 5 years.

It was a unique mech. Ye Chong had witnessed and also created countless strange mechs but this one was truly unique.

This mech was a close-combat model, precisely, a close-combat model on land*, purely for combats on land. Its lack of versatility had determined its doomed fate of being part of the storage since its creation.

There was only one thrusting engine for really basic aerial mobility. Again, it was a thrusting engine, so what it did best was probably only thrusting, it would not turn as flexibly as one imagined. So the aerial mobility was a jetpack mobility, which had determined the fact that it would never fight in the air since anyone even from the flea market knew an aerial battle required mobility and dexterity.

But well, this mech was not as useless in Ye Chong’s eyes.

As long as it was deployed at the right place, it would go well.

Ye Chong thought to himself.

The secondary engines were installed on the limbs of the mech, which gave horrendous strength to those arms and legs. Technically, Ye Chong imagined the mech to accelerate using the explosive sprinting ability. Those secondary engines were not for acceleration but a form of strength reinforcement. Unlike most mechs, this design was rather humane, to an extent that it also required a point to exert the momentum like how humans ran on ground for example, but that was a big no-no to most pilots who desired the elegant turns in the air.

So to accommodate such unique battle style, the designer also gave an overhaul to the control panel which turned out to be a horror to most pilots. It was so revolutionary that no pilot would stay upon opening the cabin.

That was why, the mech had been living with the dirt, at the darkest corner of the storage.

Nevertheless, Ye Chong saw that outstanding luster in this mech. The designer must be a great Maverick, Ye Chong could see this from the programming of the processor itself, especially when calculating the gravitational force balancing, in which Ye Chong believed to be the best he had seen so far. Generally, the processor would calculate the center of gravity of the mech on every action while producing the appropriate recalibration coping with the changes. This mech provided the most motion stability among all units Ye Chong had deployed so far.

The strength of the limbs was a plus when engaging a close-combat, which transformed the mech into a total nightmare since it could just strike like Hercules.

And Ye Chong then found a large inventory of gadgets in the storing unit of the mech. Apparently, to maintain its mobility on ground, the mech was not armed with heavy weaponry. Instead it went with the gadgets.

There were parrying spears, laser swords, shurikens, blade underfoot, arm guard, springing knife on knees, elbow thrust…

This mech was literally a humanoid weaponry. Ye Chong was amazed by the design, as all these gadgets were hidden perfectly across the entire body. The designer was a genius, or probably a lunatic, a super lunatic!

The pilot of this mech had to have a certain degree of foundation on martial arts, especially the appropriate method to exert strength so one could maximize the mech’s speed on foot. It sounded like Ye Chong, who was blessed with September Lan’s techniques and martial arts experience. To be honest, the mech looked like a larger version of the Guardian.

Well, the only problem left would be this odd control panel.

He had grown onto the traditional designs and it would take a considerable amount of time before he got familiar on this bizarre interface. And it would be horrible if he pressed the wrong button when he thought he knew what he was doing in combat.

Habit was something that killed adaptability and probably himself!

Ye Chong, who was left with no option, eventually started practicing on this mech. At least he was not resistant to the bizarreness of the mech since he had been piloting all kinds of mechs over the years.

The storage was shaking as there was a bulky mech jumping and skipping, crashing into racks around, like a newborn to his steps.