After saying goodbye to Qiao Ting, Zhao Jun hurriedly made his way to the backstage conveyor belt, which would bring him directly to the exit. As soon as Zhao Jun arrived outside, he found Li Lanfeng waiting for him, seemingly completely at ease.

"Lanfeng, why is the team leader looking for me? Why did he ask me to come out from backstage? I was thinking to finish watching Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu's fight." Before Li Lanfeng could speak, Zhao Jun had already blurted all the questions that had been running through his head ever since he had seen the message.

A slight smile appeared on Li Lanfeng's lips and he said, "The team leader wants you to sit beside him to watch the fight together. He might have something to say to you." Regarding why Ling Lan was calling Zhao Jun over, Li Lanfeng had some idea. It would be a good chance for Zhao Jun to improve his strength.

Li Lanfeng was well aware of Ling Lan's control skills — an ace would have much to impart. On top of that, Ling Lan also had an imperial instructor (Li Lanfeng still did not know Ling Lan's real ident.i.ty) — Zhao Jun would definitely be able to save himself from many detours if he received some guidance from Ling Lan.

Li Lanfeng's words made Zhao Jun's eyes light up. As familiar with Li Lanfeng as he was, he could glean something from his friend's demeanour — something good would definitely come out from this trip.

Thus, he happily followed Li Lanfeng to the exclusive viewing area of the First Men's Military Academy. When she saw Zhao Jun arrive, Ling Lan motioned for Zhao Jun to come sit beside her.

As soon as Zhao Jun sat down, he saw many team members looking at him in envy. He was completely nonplussed by this, wondering what in the world was going on. Right at this moment, his team leader beside him prompted, "Senior Zhao, please watch the fight closely!"

This cry made Zhao Jun's heart jolt, and he faintly felt cold sweat breaking out on his back. Of course, Zhao Jun was feeling somewhat guilty because he had indeed been distracted and had not seen what was happening on the field. He had not expected that brief loss of attention to have been caught by his keen-eyed team leader.

Zhao Jun quickly turned his eyes back onto the field, showing that he was already fully focused on the mecha fight between Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu now. Only after sensing his team leader's cold gaze turn away from him did he surrept.i.tiously wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, sighing internally. No wonder Qi Long and the others said that Boss Lan's force of presence was very powerful — one cold stare was enough to give them s.h.i.+vers. So it was really true. What's funny was that he had actually not taken it seriously when he had first heard about this. He had thought that Qi Long and the others were exaggerating, but now it looked like they were completely right. Their team leader's force of presence and the blade of his gaze was truly formidable. He reckoned that his team leader must have been showing him some face previously by not presenting his force of presence so aggressively ... at this thought, Zhao Jun was instantly crying inside — was it too late for him to withdraw now?

Ling Lan did not know that her special effort to convert her force of presence into sound to make sure Zhao Jun watched the fight properly would make him come to such a realisation. This was also a result of Ling Lan's increasing comfort with using her force of presence. Compared to how her force of presence had been constantly leaking before, her force of presence now was extremely reserved. But as soon as it was presented, the pressure it exerted would be several times greater than how it was originally. Even Zhao Jun who did not feel that pressured before could now feel the powerful pressure of Ling Lan's force of presence.

The moment he focused, Zhao Jun was pulled fully into Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu's mecha fight.

Lin Xiao's ace mecha was a winged transformer mecha, an improved mecha based off a balanced fixed-type mecha. However, it was not like a fixed-type mecha, which had absolute balance in both long-range and close-range attacks. Instead, it leaned towards long-range attacks, but unlike mecha exclusively specializing in long-range attacks, close combat was not a significant weakness. The close-combat ability of this type of mecha was undoubtedly much stronger than long-range mecha, but it was still weaker than a true balanced mecha.

In contrast, Jiang Shaoyu's mecha surprised everyone. He was operating the mecha with the highest death rate, a close-combat mecha. Although the mecha's long-range abilities were weak, it was the indisputable king of close combat.

Two such distinctly different mecha led to the current deadlock on the field. Lin Xiao was extremely cautious — seeing that the other was piloting a close-combat mecha, he had instantly kept a distance from the start. The hands of his mecha each held a long-range beam gun, and he used a continuous stream of firepower to keep Jiang Shaoyu suppressed below, keeping him from moving forwards and freezing up his opponent's advantage completely.

This situation greatly frustrated the ill-prepared Jiang Shaoyu. Opportunity was fleeting — having already been pushed into a pa.s.sive situation, it was now very difficult for him to turn things around. If he wanted to obtain victory, he needed to get close to the other; otherwise, under the suppression of his opponent's firepower, he would probably be stuck in this situation till the end of the match. Although he was still dodging beautifully at present so Lin Xiao's beam attacks had not given him any injury whatsoever, the opponent had also completed his ideal setup, perfectly keeping him suppressed within the range of his beam attacks, rendering him effectively immobile.

Following the pa.s.sage of time, perhaps Jiang Shaoyu had become impatient — a control error caused his mecha's evasion movements to slow for a beat, and a spot on his mecha's thigh was actually hit twice in a row ... if Lin Xiao managed to hit the same spot another two times, that thigh would definitely be blasted off, deducting the opponent's score by a large half and bringing victory within grasping distance.

Seeing this chance as well, the audience instantly perked up, beginning to feel nervous. They looked at Lin Xiao of the First Co-ed Military Academy, silently wondering if he could grasp this opportunity.

Lin Xiao too saw this opportunity — his mind stirred, but he instantly repressed his eager heart, steadily maintaining the frequency of his beam attacks. His shots formed a perfect circle, completely trapping Jiang Shaoyu's mecha but not specifically attacking any part.

Opportunity was fleeting — Jiang Shaoyu's mecha once again regained his evasion momentum, and many in the audience found themselves lamenting the missed opportunity. At this moment, Ling Lan suddenly asked, "Senior Zhao, if you encountered this opportunity, what would you do?"

Those Lingtian members who overheard this question instantly perked up their ears to hear Zhao Jun's answer. While Zhao Jun had still been on the field, they had already heard Boss Lan ask Li Lanfeng to call Zhao Jun over in order to study the methods of the two combatants on the field in this match, in preparation for tomorrow's fight.

They naturally did not want to miss this chance to learn as, after all, this was a fight between two ace operators — if they could hear something from Boss Lan's and Zhao Jun's discussion, they would benefit greatly.

After some serious thought, Zhao Jun replied, "I would do as Lin Xiao did. Choose to give it up!"

At his reply, Ling Lan's lips quirked up slightly. She was very pleased with Zhao Jun's response — just as Leopard had said, Zhao Jun may look like a rough brute, brash, straightforward, and impulsive, but his mind was actually very meticulous and he would not make decisions lightly.

"That weakness appeared too abruptly. Anyone who can keep calm will not fall for it." Ling Lan revealed what she thought. Many who had been fooled by Jiang Shaoyu's ploy only now realised that that opening was actually just a lure.

"But this does not exclude the possibility that it is a ploy within a ploy ..." Zhao Jun did not echo agreement with Ling Lan's judgment, however. The opening was very sudden, true, thus making it very suspicious ... but what if the opponent had truly made a mistake and had simply decided not to hide it out of fear that his opponent might jump on it? He shook his head and added, "It cannot be determined. More observation is necessary."

"Yes, whether it is true or false, to be safe, it is better to be patient. Judging by the situation on the field, the advantage is already on Lin Xiao's side. Giving up on this opportunity will not make Lin Xiao lose his upper hand, so it is right for him to be patient and not charge in blindly. If he falls for a trap, his advantage would be completely lost. Jiang Shaoyu can afford to gamble, but Lin Xiao cannot." Ling Lan did not object to Zhao Jun's judgment; this caused the Lingtian members to feel like they were listening to all this while blinded by fog. Until now, there were still some who just could not figure out whether this opportunity was fake or real.

Qi Long was also watching the fight intently at this time. There was no confusion at all on his face because his Animal Instinct had not given him a strong urge to attack. This meant that that opportunity was not trustworthy.

Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were calm as well. As strategists, they were originally the suspicious sort. Before they could confirm things 100%, they absolutely would not make any decisions lightly. Like Lin Xiao, they would choose to ignore the opening and maintain the current advantage to wait for a better opportunity.

Luo Lang was the complete opposite of them. His expressions varied greatly — one moment he'd be calm, then he'd be excited, then impatient, then contemplative ... everyone in Ling Lan's battle clan knew that this fellow had most likely activated his innate talent inside, arbitrarily switching between his various personalities to try and come to a cohesive judgment on the situation on the field. As long as this innate talent of Luo Lang's was utilized well, not only would his combat power during battle be explosively increased, during normal times like this, it could also help with battle a.n.a.lysis. Using the different perspectives of the various personalities to dissect a situation would give one a fuller picture with little chance of error.

The others all had their own opinions to varying extents. True battle between aces was not so easy to decipher — anyone who had the chance to view one would certainly gain something from it.

Jiang Shaoyu saw that the weakness he exposed did not work, and he could not help but curse within his c.o.c.kpit. After a bout of venting, Jiang Shaoyu calmed down. He knew that he had been a little too obvious with that opening — anyone who was cautious would not have acted lightly. And this Lin Xiao just so happened to be a cautious person ...

Jiang Shaoyu's eyes turned in his sockets, and an idea sprouted in his mind. Initially, his right hand had been holding a beam saber, while his left hand held a beam handgun often used by close-combat mecha. The shooting range of a close-combat mecha's beam handgun was no match for the range of a long-range mecha's beam gun. This was the main reason why Jiang Shaoyu had been totally suppressed in terms of range in this battle with Lin Xiao.

Jiang Shaoyu knew he could not continue being pa.s.sive like this. With a sudden twist of his body, he unleashed a wild flurry of shots from the beam handgun in his left hand. This time, he was no longer aiming for accuracy, chasing speed instead. A continuous stream of beams poured out, and though a portion flew wide, a majority of the shots met the beams coming from Lin Xiao and neutralized them. This gave Jiang Shaoyu a chance to breathe, and then with a great swing, the beam saber in his right hand was sent flying out of his hand.

The beam saber cut through the air, hurtling at Lin Xiao at an incredible speed.

Lin Xiao's mecha was more of a long-range type to begin with, so its speed was among the fastest among ace mecha. He easily avoided the beam saber and the frequency of the attacks coming from both his hands was not interrupted at all.

The beam saber brushed by Lin Xiao's mecha to land heavily on the ground, sending up some dust and dirt. Just as everyone was astounded at this move by Jiang Shaoyu, many of the spectating First Men's Military Academy students sat up straight, eyes s.h.i.+ning, Ling Yu and Zhao Jun not excluded. They all knew that Jiang Shaoyu was probably about to launch his counterattack.

Sure enough, Jiang Shaoyu was finally doing something different. This new action caused astonished cries to ring out across the audience seats. It turned out that after discarding his beam saber, Jiang Shaoyu had drawn a backup beam gun from the secured dock on his back. The counterattack method he had chosen was his weakness —— long-range attack!At first, I was confused about who Li Lanfeng is referring to here, but then I recalled how Li Lanfeng was reunited with his rabbit. Here's a refresher: Ling Lan was sparring with her dad when LLF and ZJ stumbled into their room. Ling Xiao was in an imperial mecha then, so it makes sense for Lanfeng to a.s.sume Ling Lan is getting pointers from an imperial instructor.