Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

After Han Jijyun and his team disappeared from his sight, Yang Mingzhi sighed. "Leader Han has finally learned to be vicious."

Gu Dongyang looked at the ruins and said calmly, "Our regiment commander brought him out so that he can understand this point. In a battle, being soft-hearted is equivalent to harming yourself. Plus, being a soft-hearted advisor, would mean innocent soldiers would have to die needlessly."

"Killing prisoners of war is the first step to being someone brutal. He still has a long path ahead of him to be someone like that." Yang Mingzhi was someone who watched these new soldiers grew slowly. He felt that letting them become team leaders was not a good decision but from the looks of it now, the person who understood them the most was their Boss. Ling Lan understood her friends well. She knew how well they could handle stress. Han Jijyun always felt that he was weak but to Yang Mingzhi, he was already good enough. However, after knowing when to be vicious, Han Jijyun became an even better soldier.

He said this because when Han Jijyun was searching for survivors, he found imperial operators from Hailiya who were still alive. Based on his past actions, he would treat them fairly and bring them back to the base for treatment. But, after this battle, he understood the pain of losing his comrades and finally understood that some people just couldn't exist together.

He hesitated when he found these people but in the end, he still hardened his heart and killed these people. He tried to conceal his actions but it couldn't escape Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang's eyes as they were very experienced soldiers. Many veteran mecha operators noticed this too but they kept quiet and pretended they didn't see anything, as they wanted Han Jijyun to get used to this brutal battlefield. They hoped that he would have a stronger heart and become a vicious person when needed.

Every good soldier started from the bottom by killing prisoners of war. This was how other countries trained their soldiers too. Compared to the battles thousands of years ago, the probability of prisoners of war surviving became almost nil.

After moving for some distance, Han Jijyun met Zhao Jun's team. Zhao Jun saw the badly damaged mechas from team 02 and team 08 and frowned, as he knew he was too late.

"Where's Boss?" When he scanned the crowd but didn't see Ling Lan, he got agitated.

"Boss and Qi Long's team 03 stayed back at Base Ailan to hold back the enemy. They're coming back soon. You will be able to fetch him if you go now." Han Jijyun calmly told Zhao Jun his thoughts. He stopped using words such as 'maybe', 'probably', 'should be'. If an adviser didn't even believe in what he had said, how could his men believe in the advisor?

"I understand." Zhao Jun quickly led his team and rushed forward. Fortunately, he wasn't too late.

The moment Zhao Jun reached the boundary of Base 013 and Base Yaqi, he saw Gu Dongyang's team 09 waiting there, but Yang Mingzhi's team was nowhere in sight.

Gu Dongyang saw Zhao Jun too. Before he could greet Zhao Jun, his radar's alarm rang. After some time, numerous mechas suddenly appeared in the air above Base Yaqi. They filled up the entire sky like dark clouds and moved towards them.

Gu Dongyang knew that their teams wouldn't be able to handle all these mechas so he quickly shouted, "Retreat!"

Zhao Jun's team didn't even have the time to recover their breaths before they had to immediately leave. They immediately followed Gu Dongyang's team and retreated with them. Zhao Jun's goal of joining this war was to find a way to break through his mecha piloting stage. He was not here to look for death. In the face of so many enemies, staying behind would mean sure death. Hence, he didn't hesitate when he heard Gu Dongyang's command and retreated with his team. However, he was still frustrated. If he had a chance, he would definitely fight with his enemies.

Zhao Jun and Gu Dongyang quickly reported this situation back to Base 013 using radio waves. Base 013 reacted quickly and immediately sent out full-sized mecha teams.

Just as the soldiers from Yaqi were about to catch up with the transport team, the reinforcements from Base 013 had arrived. The soldiers from Yaqi collided with the mecha operators from Base 013 and a fierce fight ensued. One side was protecting their chance of survival while the other was trying to destroy it.

This was the moment Zhao Jun had been waiting for. When he saw the reinforcements, he instantly changed the direction of his mecha. He had already set his eyes on his target for a long time. It was the regiment commander of Base Yaqi's Ace Mecha Clan.

Gu Dongyang wanted to attack the regiment commander too but when he saw Zhao Jun rus.h.i.+ng at the regiment commander like a dog rus.h.i.+ng forward to its favorite treat, he smiled and turned his mecha to face another regiment commander. As a veteran, he was happy when new soldiers had the courage and determination to improve.

This was the first huge battle Base 013 would experience after all the bases got attacked by Haliya. While they were fighting, Yang Mingzhi and his team concealed themselves along the border of Base 013 using the chameleon system. They watched indifferently as Gu Dongyang and Zhao Jun's team retreated to the base. They also ignored the huge army from Haliya when they flew above them. They wanted to fight too but they knew that they had a much more important mission, fetching their regiment commander.

Before Zhao Jun had reached the ruins, Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang had already formed an agreement beforehand. Yang Mingzhi's team would conceal themselves and reinforce their regiment commander while Gu Dongyang's team would help them to attract the attention of Yaqi's soldiers away from this place.

Batches of mechas flew pa.s.sed them. Yang Mingzhi waited for a while then confirmed that there were no more enemies coming their way. After that, he ordered his team members to turn off their chameleon system and wait patiently for Ling Lan's arrival.

"Beep beep beep…" An alarm rang in all the 24 mechas.

"Leader, mechas appeared in Base Yaqi's direction again." One of the mecha operators looked at the red dots on his radar and got nervous.

Just as Yang Mingzhi was about to ask his team members to activate their chameleon system again, he noticed that the red dots didn't move in a straight path. They moved to the right for a while before changing directions to the left.

He tried to zoom in on the mechas that appeared in his screen. The distance was too far so the image was quite blurry. However, he still managed to see the first three mechas moving in a zigzag, dodging the beams behind them.

"Those are our people." Yang Mingzhi shouted immediately, "Follow me." If he was right, these mechas belonged to his regiment commander and Qi Long's team.

Yang Mingzhi and his team members operated their mechas and dashed forward. After a few seconds, they could finally see the three mechas clearly. It was the mecha of team 03's leader, the mecha of team 03's deputy, and the modified mecha of their regiment commander.

Yang Mingzhi was elated and sad at the same time. He was happy that Ling Lan was fine. However, he could tell that only the team leader and one member of team 03 managed to stay alive. This meant that almost the entire team 03 got annihilated. Actually, he already predicted that team 03 would be annihilated when he heard Han Jijyun saying that their regiment commander kept team 03 with him. This was why he got angry and kicked Liu Furong.

This was a suicide mission with almost no hope of survival. Luckily, their regiment commander was a creator of miracles. He managed to come back alive.