Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

The mecha operators from Bing Ge were very efficient. They took some time to confirm the direction and soon, they got to the location where they met the monsters accurately.

When they reached their destination, everyone turned silent.

The scene was tragic. Many mecha operators chose to self-destruct with the creatures that were crawling over them, leaving many burned mecha parts scattered around the area. Broken branches and leaves were all over. There was smoke everywhere. Many trees were still burning and you could hear the sound of fire crackling.

There were some mecha operators who didn't choose to self-destruct. These mecha operators limply sat in their c.o.c.kpits which had been bitten through. They were covered in blood. The ground was stained with the red blood as well as the purplish-blue blood.

Ling Lan frowned. From the looks of it, the mecha operators from Bing Ge didn't manage to survive until rescue came. Most of them died in the battle.

"Regiment commander…" "Team leader…" "Little Tiger…" "Old Duan…" "Dragon…"

Screams of anguish came from the five mecha operators. They started crying uncontrollably. However, their comrades would never be able to come back alive.

The fallen mechas proved that the battle with the creatures was a hard-fought battle. The mecha operators from 250 Mecha Clan saw the traces of the creatures on the corpses of the mecha operator. They could determine the creatures bit through the c.o.c.kpit of the mechas and slowly devoured the mecha operators' whole body only leaving some bits of flesh and bone…

Ling Lan frowned. She controlled her emotions and immediately ordered, "Qi Long, Luo Lang, have your team guard this area. The rest will search the area and look for survivors."

Ling Lan always knew the death rate of land clearing missions were extremely high. However, before this, all she saw were numbers. Now, she saw how cruel land clearing missions could be personally. The resources gained from land clearing missions were built on the lives of many mecha operators. At that moment, Ling Lan finally understood what land clearing missions really represented.

"Yes, regiment commander!" Everyone started moving.

Although the 250 Mecha Clan were made up mostly of experienced mecha operators, they still felt uncomfortable as they searched through the debris. Usually in a war with enemy countries, although there were cases where an entire mecha clan got annihilated, the mecha operators that sacrificed themselves normally have a clean death. However here, the mecha operators either self-destruct, were bitten to death by the creatures or watched themselves dying from blood loss. These were all painful ways of dying.

The efforts of 250 Mecha Clan paid off. After some time, one of the mecha operators shouted, "The person in this c.o.c.kpit seems to be alive."

Everyone rushed over when they heard this. They realized that this mecha operator managed to survive because two mechas had fallen on top of him. The protection of these two mechas prevented his c.o.c.kpit from being bitten by the creatures.

Everyone carefully took the c.o.c.kpit out of the mecha. One of the mecha carried the c.o.c.kpit carefully. No one dared to open the c.o.c.kpit now. The air on this planet was not suitable for humans. Additionally, no one knew what the situation inside the c.o.c.kpit was. They could only tell the person inside was still alive from the information shown on their screen. If they wanted to save this person, they needed to go to a safe location first.

After they found the first survivor, everyone got motivated and started hastening their pace.

Qi Long and Luo Lang's team were nervous. They carefully surveyed their surroundings in fear that the creatures would suddenly appear and interrupt their rescue mission.

Qi Long and Luo Lang were not afraid of fighting. However, the main aim for this mission was to rescue the survivors. Hence, the lives of Bing Ge's mecha operators were the most important. If the creatures came and interrupt them now, all their efforts would be in vain.

Luckily, the creatures didn't appear and attack them. They searched through all the debris and found 19 survivors. They even had the time to count the number of c.o.c.kpits that were still intact.

Although they managed to save 19 mecha operators, the five people from Bing Ge stated that there were close to 800 mecha operators from their clan who partic.i.p.ated in this mission. Adding the five people who came to seek help, only 24 mecha operators from Bing Ge survived. This number was only accurate if they managed to rescue all the 19 mecha operators from the brink of death.

After searching through the debris a few times and confirming that there were no more survivors, Ling Lan decisively gave an order. "Retreat!" She glanced at a direction coldly before retracting her gaze indifferently.

"No, I want to look for the creatures and take revenge for my comrades!" One of the mecha operators from Bing Ge shouted in agitation. The death of his comrades incensed him. He operated his mecha and rushed towards the other end of the forest.

A figure flashed pa.s.sed him.

The limbs of the mecha were amputated. The mecha's body fell to the ground helplessly.

Behind this mecha was a balanced mecha. The mecha placed its cold weapon behind its back. It was Li Lanfeng.

Ling Lan turned around and spoke to 404 calmly, "You will be in charge of bringing the operators from Bing Ge back."

All the mecha operators from 250 Mecha Clan looked at the mecha operator from Bing Ge with pity. How dare he disobeyed their regiment commander. If Li Lanfeng didn't act, this mecha operator might only have his c.o.c.kpit left. Although the situation didn't seem much better now, at least he still had his engine so he was able to at least fly his way back.

"Yes, regiment commander!" 404 immediately went to help the mecha body up. He hoped the mecha operator would not provoke his regiment commander further. If not, his c.o.c.kpit might be blasted out of his mecha body.

He remembered Ling Lan did this before, when someone performed too badly during their training. Everyone had chills when they saw what it happening. It was too shocking. They didn't want their regiment commander to gain a cruel reputation.

Although their regiment commander was violent, they didn't want other people to know about it. Why? You don't wash your dirty linen in public.

Ling Lan made some arrangements. She asked Liu Furong's team and 404's temporary team to send the mecha operators from Bing Ge back to 250 Mecha Clan's base. After they left, she called Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Li Lanfeng. "Let's go further in and investigate this place."

Ling Lan made this decision after much thought. Qi Long had a strong intuition. He could sense any threats around them. Luo Lang had many personalities so his spiritual power was stronger compared to normal mecha operators. This was why he wasn't affected by the circular creature. As for Li Lanfeng, he had spectre abilities. Ling Lan felt that his spiritual power was as strong as her.

It would be safer to explore this area with three mecha operators with strong spiritual power and their teams.

When Ling Lan ordered Liu Furong and 404 to bring the mecha operators from Bing Ge back, these three people already knew that their boss wanted to explore the area. Their Boss was not someone who was afraid of risk.

Ling Lan brought three teams with her as she went to the direction where she sensed something. After flying for a certain distance, Ling Lan's gaze turned cold. She controlled her mecha and shot a beam.

A flash of white light was seen. The creature was. .h.i.t and fell on the ground.

Qi Long immediately went to the creature and inspected it carefully. After a while, he said, "Boss, this should be the creature Bing Ge met in the video." This creature looked like an ant but it was 100 times bigger than an ant. The sharp teeth in its mouth told everyone why it could bite through the mechas easily.

"This creature had been present ever since we arrived. I thought that it wanted to attack us while we were searching for survivors but surprisingly, it didn't," Ling Lan replied calmly. She had blanketed the entire area with her spiritual power so she was able to detect things that other people couldn't. This creature was an instance of something she was able to detect .

Ling Lan thought that since this creature didn't attack them at the start, it would just continue to watch over them all the way. However, it attacked when they moved deeper into the forest.

"This creature probably attacked us because it didn't want us to go further in." Ling Lan was curious. Were these creatures protecting something and they didn't want them to disturb them? This might be the reason why they didn't attack them while they were searching for survivors.

"If the 7th division reacted quickly, help should have arrived," Li Lanfeng reminded Ling Lan.

"True. I almost forgot about this. We informed the Rising Sun fleet instantly after we got the news so they must have informed the 7th division immediately too. Based on the timing, help from the 7th division should have arrived." Ling Lan nodded her head.

"However, there seems to be a communication error between the mecha clan and the stars.h.i.+p." Luo Lang couldn't forget the tragic scene of what happened to Bing Ge. The stars.h.i.+p was one of the reasons why this tragedy happened. He felt that if they went for a mission in the future, they must find a stars.h.i.+p that would collaborate well with them. If they board a stars.h.i.+p like Bing Ge's stars.h.i.+p, Luo Lang couldn't confirm if their mecha clan would be able to persevere until help arrives.

"Stars.h.i.+p…" Ling Lan's heart started to beat faster. She was someone who liked to control her own life. Now, she realized that there was still another uncertain factor that could affect her life. This made her unhappy.

"It would be great if we can have our own stars.h.i.+p," Ling Lan muttered. This was the only way to make sure that something like this would not happen to them.

"Mecha clans do not have the rights to owe a stars.h.i.+p." Ling Xiao couldn't help it and cough. He reminded Ling Lan that she shouldn't be too greedy. It was impossible. The only thing he could do was to get trustworthy captains to cooperate with Ling Lan.

"I don't believe it. There must be a way," Ling Lan replied angrily.

Li Lanfeng got enlightened by what Ling Lan said. He recalled the rules the Federation created for owning a stars.h.i.+p and tried to find a loophole in it. It had to be said that Li Lanfeng's memory was really good. He actually managed to find a way around it. He smiled slightly and said, "Actually, there is kinda a way. Mecha clans are able to register a personal transportation vehicle. A stars.h.i.+p is a kind of transportation vehicle. There is no rule stating the transportation vehicle can't be a stars.h.i.+p…"

Ling Lan's lit up. "Lanfeng, we can exploit this loophole." Since there was no rule stating that a stars.h.i.+p couldn't be registered as a transportation vehicle, their 250 Mecha Clan would get one.

"When I go back, I'll talk to the chief of staff and ask him to give me the funds to buy a transportation vehicle. We will buy the stars.h.i.+p on our own."

"Even if you get the funds, the amount will only be enough for you to get a normal transportation vehicle. You will be unable to afford a stars.h.i.+p," Ling Xiao remained Ling Lan weakly.

How could you say such things in front of me? Daughter, aren't you being too arrogant?

"No worries. After this land clearing mission, there should be enough money given to us so we will be able to buy a stars.h.i.+p. Also, I believe that there are other ways of buying a stars.h.i.+p." Ling Lan glanced at her father. She didn't have any worries at all. She didn't believe that her father would be fair and just, especially about a matter that concerned her safety.

Actually, as long as Ling Xiao closed one eye, Ling Lan would be able to get a stars.h.i.+p. Little Four had many ways of getting a stars.h.i.+p through the black market. The gene agents that Ling Lan had over these years were all bought from the black market with the help of Little Four. Little Four was a master at this area. He had even become the diamond-level VIP member of the black market. It was easy for him to get his hands on a stars.h.i.+p.