Chapter 96: Survival
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There were 3 engines located within Samuel in total - one of them was placed beneath the abdomen along with the others at the outer thighs being the supportive engines. This is one distinct design that made the Samuel style mechs identifiable.
Ye Chong was bothered however. While the Blue Winter turned out to be quite a remarkable ranged weapon and the "marksmanship" of lances taught by the great Mu was impeccable on both paper and performance, Ye Chong felt uneasy conducting his fight in this way. It did not feel as comfortable as brandishing cutters like the magnetic blade or the flaming sword. He was fond of the close-combats as if he was born for them.
Despite all that, Blue Winter the lance remained glued in his hands. It was a good weapon anyway, that Ye Chong would not let go this quickly. The uneasiness holding a foreign weapon had disintegrated into a mere preference of weaponry the moment he witnessed the capability of Blue Winter in that fight with 6 men before. Its offenses were of a perfect score. Even if it were to impale Hak’s mech, it would an effortless attempt to inflict actual damage. Other than the Blue Winter, there were a few other weapons in Harmony, but Ye Chong had yet to test their capabilities.
He clenched his teeth as he launched the mech to propel. Harmony of the Winter Aria skipped its way like a bird with a broken wing - clumsily and tactlessly.
Kai stomped onto the ground as it bent its body like a drastically pressed spring under Hak’s command.
The energy accumulated over time was unleashed, as Kai blasted off like an unstoppable bullet right towards Ye Chong.
Kai zoomed past Ye Chong. "That was very fast!" Ye Chong exclaimed that there was hardly time for him to react! Hak picked such a precise timing to strike back right when Ye Chong was withdrawing the lance. As long as Kai got close enough to this nuisance before him, he would be able to taste victory fairly soon.
Wham!
Ye Chong felt as if he would spit splats of blood in no time at this rate. Hak’s timing manipulation was flawless, and that was discomforting to Ye Chong.
One of the pair of wings on Harmony was truly broken and it had negatively affected the overall balance in travels. Not only that, the aerodynamic of the mech had been disrupted, making it difficult to control! That was why Ye Chong hated unnecessary spreading wings on a mech.
Droplets of sweat rolled over his forehead one after another. He had achieved the maximum speed of his hands on the control panel!
Ye Chong’s Harmony grabbed the lance in the right and backed off speedily, at an attempt to keep a distance from the terrorizing enemy. Ye Chong was too occupied to pull off a fight. A large amount of input was allocated on the balancing of the mech by making tiny adjustments in its positioning using the supportive engines.
Even though Ye Chong tried to maintain a distance between them, Hak had already been absolutely enraged by that moment. Till the final blow he made, his mind was engrossed by the rages after what Ye Chong had done on his mech, while the clear order of bringing Ye Chong in one piece by Black Cove authority echoed.
Providing Ye Chong was still breathing after the fight, with the help of current medical technology, it would not be challenging to make Ye Chong return in whole piece, no matter how injured he was. Hak trashed his concern away as he made up his mind to give this kiddo a "proper lesson"... of life, of course.
This was the moment when Instructor Hak demonstrated his unrivaled skills. Kai moved energetically like an actual living thing in spite of the major injury under his control. Ye Chong was utterly cornered!
Instructor Hak snickered as his eyes glowed coldly at the ancient lance which started to wield slower. If it was not this spear which made him to act cautiously, the kiddo would have been lying on the ground way back! The Ji family was potent enough to produce such a high-leveled craft even at this decade. Hak was stupefied at first glance. That mech would be some juicy details to be included in his report when he went back... with Ye Chong, needless to say!
Although Kai was made out of the classic Samuel’s design in the past, it had undergone several rounds of heavy modification accomplished by the ace technicians at Black Cove. Practically speaking, other than the appearance and placement of the main components being similar to the old-fashioned Samuel style, it was literally a brand new mech inside the body. These upgrades were made compatible with Hak’s powerful unarmed combat skills.
Harmony was immediately in grave danger as Kai inched forward.
With such a fearsome velocity, Ye Chong’s new toy had somehow become a burden to his fight. The Blue Winter, a compelling lance it might be, was still a slow weapon in comparison to such a mighty opponent.
The instructor sneered slightly as he knew what Ye Chong would do. Most of the kiddo’s attacks, counterattacks were from the his lecture back at the Black Cove and those were nothing against his techniques. Hiya! A left crush from Kai’s left shoulder, the Harmony’s balance went crumpled as its body swung consecutively. Ye Chong’s hands hurriedly stormed upon the control panel again as he inputted the command, hoping to regain balance in time. Seeing Ye Chong acting in such a panic, the instructor was joyful. Hak watched his opponent carefully. "There!" Kai’s left arm was raised a little, putting itself into a stance. Shush! Bang! The Blue Winter came piercing underneath of Kai’s left arm, tightly like a sword back into its sheath. As if he was prepared for the incoming attack the whole time, Hak predicted the attack and obviously he did not give the kiddo a chance to land a counterattack. Klink! Kai’s left arm gripped the lance tightly and the right fist struck upon the Harmony right after.
The metallic fist glossed in the dark with the spikes spreading out.
The punch was unavoidable even with Ye Chong’s hacking speed of his hand movements. It would be impossible to dodge the punch fully, considering how the major parts of Harmony were within its range of attack. Even if he turned his engines to the maximum, it would be too late for him to dodge.
It was probably the end of Ye Chong’s adventure.
He lost.
...as if.
Out of a sudden, a glaring white light flashed before him. Without forewarning, Hak's eyes squinted due to the scorching light. A rumble resounded right after the punch landed as the mech shook a little by the recoil. The processor of his mech then started wailing its alarm menacingly.
Boom! A loud explosion followed at the end of rumble.
When Hak’s sight had recovered from the glaring light after a moment, he could only see a huge dent on the wall before him. The target was nowhere to be seen!
The alarm was still ringing in the cabin madly. Hak had no idea what had just happened. He tried moving his mech but he failed! For some reasons, Kai could not move! He looked at the interface as the processor prompted, "System Failure - Main Engine Severely Damaged - Inspecting - Mobility: Negative! Mobility: Negative!" The bloody red wording peered into his eyes.
In the meantime, Ye Chong had escaped. Yes, like a coward, he ran away gracelessly.
Ye Chong let off a bitter laugh as he stared upon the torn Harmony of the Winter Aria. After all those efforts he put in renovating this beauty, the former elegance was utterly wiped. It looked like trash that could go straight to the recycling center!
The last blow was delivered successfully. The armor of Harmony took the spikes of Kai’s fist like how Kai chewed on the Blue Winter’s impale. It landed a critical hit. There was no plot twist to save Ye Chong. If it was not under an order to bring Ye Chong back alive, the fist would have hit right into the cabin and even a titan like Ye Chong would die in a whimper.
Ye Chong’s mood was brightened knowing how he was still alive. And thinking back how he was still able to make a comeback so gorgeously - the usual indifferent he could not help but to smile slightly.
After Ye Chong had planned to escape, he rushed towards Kai's engines. No matter how much the Samuel mechs were overhauled, the placement of the engines would never be changed. Ye Chong, the mod expert pinpointed such flaw at first look.
Back when Harmony was still under the modification process, Ye Chong had sneaked the laser sword within its right hand. The laser sword would not reveal its blade when unactivated. So anyone would hardly notice the remaining handle inside the palm. It was an exceptional stealth and quite a dirty trick too! Ye Chong did not use this killer-move right away simply because he could not foresee whether a laser-based cutter could deal with such fatal damage to a mech from Black Cove. He gambled once and of course he won. Apparently, laser swords worked on Black Covers’ mechs like wonders. He was not sure how much damage he had inflicted exactly, but seemingly Hak did not come after him straightaway. That would be more than enough to justify the significant damage he had done. Well, he speculated so.
Back at the climax of their battle, Ye Chong decided to drop the lance and activated the laser sword. Harmony lifted the sword and made an upper slash - a seamless chain of action, so fast it even shocked an experienced killer like Hak, all thanks to Ye Chong’s amazing speed. That glaring light that blinded Hak was actually the beam of Ye Chong’s laser sword upon its activation!
Nonetheless, the Harmony had been torn into junks, while the Blue Winter had gone into the enemy’s hands. It was another horror story for Ye Chong to imagine if he could escape Black Cove’s hunting. Hak was not the first one who came after him, and certainly he would not be the last. The Black Cove seemed to be very keen in taking Ye Chong down. Hence, anyone could guess the fight had not ended yet.
Sigh…
"Ye, that was rather incredible!" Mu’s voice rang suddenly.
"Incredible? I almost got myself killed!" replied Ye Chong and he laughed bitterly.
"It is incredible!" Mu explained, "The probability of your victory would be a measly 8%, whereas the probability of a successful escape would be 33%. In the end, you went after that 33% chance instead."
Ye Chong’s lips twitched as he spoke, "Mu, if you did try to be helpful just now, taking down that guy would have been a piece of cake. For real. I was almost pounded into a pancake and yet Mu, you actually sat back and did nothing?"
"You are right," replied Mu. "However the catch is, I would provide my assistance only when the probability of your survival goes below 15%."
"And why is that so?" Ye Chong snorted.
"Based on the reading I had obtained from previous researches, under such circumstance humans would most likely unleash their potential. Moreover, a pilot would be required to take on countless occasions of such kind to become the true pilot! Since you happened to be the owner of both Shang and I, it is essential to make you the strongest pilot!" Though Mu’s reasoning went flat and calm as if describing something trivial, there was a hint of dignity in his speech which made Ye Chong lowered his eyes in disgrace.
Anyone would have assumed that Mu was being harsh and unsympathetic, but this was reasonable to Ye Chong. Mu shared some points and he deeply understood every bit of it. It was his own life, of course he would be the one to fight for it. Back at Trash Planet-12, Ye Chong spent his life growing on the belief that one would always be the one to manipulate one’s own fate. The relationship between Mu and Ye Chong might be of a brotherly love and a mutual trust, yet Ye Chong never expected Mu’s protection as a form of duty or responsibility. If Mu helped out, without a doubt Ye Chong would express gratitude. If Mu decided not to however, Ye Chong would not whine about Mu’s "irresponsibility". It was not his responsibility to protect, nevertheless, it was his responsibility to train! Ye Chong knew Mu well enough that he knew whatever Mu did was for his own good. Only one would become a true warrior after countless dead-or-alive battles.
Was there nothing Ye Chong could rely on?
No, there wasn't.
To Ye Chong, he knew he could best rely on his own strength.
"Also, I was recording the opponent’s data during the battle. His battle style was rather intriguing. The final result would be released after some data analysis," Mu carried on his speech.
"Right," Ye Chong nodded in strong approval from his experience. "Not only it is intriguing, but also strong. Very strong! But hey, Mu, don’t you think our first priority for now is to plan a runaway from the Blue Ocean?"
"Correct," Mu agreed. "We would need a spaceship."