Chapter 507: Crisis!

Translator:

Henyee Translations

Editor:

Henyee Translations

Qiao Ting and the others were resting at the temporary camp. During this time, they had pretty much cleared out most of the headquarters in Area P. The ones that were left were some of the military academies that were their subordinates. Although the three academies had formed an alliance, in reality, the alliance was most likely made up of 15 to 16 military academies. This was also the reason why they could so easily clear out the two areas.

Qiao Ting was leaning on his control panel with his eyes closed. He was considering whether to go take a look in Area M now that Area P was stable. At that moment, he suddenly heard a beeping alert coming from his c.o.c.kpit. He opened his eyes and looked. It seemed that his mecha had received a request for a call.

Qiao Ting glanced at the screen. This signal was the emergency signal of the three academies that they had previously agreed upon. He slightly raised his brows at this. What had happened to make them this anxious? He didn’t hesitate and pressed down the b.u.t.ton to receive the call.

“Qiao Ting, we need back up here. Please send a few battle teams to come help me.” The mecha’s screen showed a familiar figure. It was none other than the allied Third Men’s Military Academy’s commander, Yuan Su.

“What happened?” Yuan Su’s anxiousness surprised Qiao Ting. He immediately sat up straight.

“The members who were defending Area M just sent a report. The allied forces of Area Q and M sent 14 battle teams to attack us in the Third Men’s Military Academy’s headquarters. If we only relied on our own defensive power, it’s possible that we won’t be able to hold.” Yuan Su smiled bitterly as he said this. Although he knew the Second Men’s Military Academy would not let go of their Area P and S, he hadn’t thought that the opposition would do something so grand and so fast, pretty much catching them with their pants down. Also, with the opposition doing something like this, they were clearly not going to be cat-fighting like children. Rather, they were truly intent on taking down their headquarters and acquiring the victories the First Men’s Military Academy’s men had worked for.

Although they were compet.i.tors, Yuan Su didn’t really harbor too much malice towards the Second Men’s Military Academy. The only reason he had allied with the First Men’s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy was to gain points and put an end to their curse of getting fourth place in the tournament every time. He didn’t really want to make an enemy of the Second Men’s Military Academy. However, he was fully angered by what the Second Men’s Military Academy was doing.

“Okay, I understand. Have you contacted anyone from the First Co-ed Military Academy?” Qiao Ting asked with a serious face.

“I’ve contacted them, but in order to defend Area P, Lin Xiao can’t lead a team himself. He did, however, inform two battle teams from Area S to change course and defend with us.” Yuan Su informed Qiao Ting of Lin Xiao’s arrangements.

“Understood.” Qiao Ting hung up the video call, then pressed the team channel b.u.t.ton and ordered, “All members, a.s.semble!”

With this order, all of the members of Qiao Ting’s battle team immediately turned on their engines and operated their mecha to where Qiao Ting was. His team was still composed of 24 people because all of them were special-cla.s.s operators, and they had enough supplies and medicinal agents ready. Not one of them had been eliminated.

“Captain, are we going out to attack a headquarters?” the vice-captain asked excitedly. He had originally thought that there wouldn’t be anything for them to do.

“No, we’re going to Area S33,” Qiao Ting replied as he turned on his engine.

The vice-captain was surprised. Wasn’t that the headquarters of the Third Men’s Military Academy? Was the captain preparing to attack an ally?

As though he had sensed his vice-captain’s surprise, Qiao Ting glanced at him with a half-smile and said, “Yuan Su sent a call for help. The Second Men’s Military Academy gathered up 14 battle teams to attack them. We’re going there to help.”

The vice-captain instantly had a head of cold sweat and said, “I see, I see!” How could he suspect that the captain would attack allies? The captain was an honest person… Of course, leading them to do sneak attacks on the battle teams in this area didn’t count.

When all the members got ready to leave, the vice-captain looked at the encampment they had stayed in for almost two days. He couldn’t help but ask, “If we’re leaving, what are we doing about this temporary camp?”

Qiao Ting said indifferently, “It’s only a temporary gathering stop. Whoever wants it, they can take it.”

“Didn’t Commander Ling tell us to create a fake headquarters to fool the other military academies? This…” The vice-captain was a bit hesitant.

“It’s alright. The headquarters in the surrounding areas have already been pretty much all cleared out. Area P also has Lin Xiao defending it. He will defend against those military academies who are trying their best to defend their own headquarters. No one will attack our camp and they don’t have the strength to do that either,” Qiao Ting explained plainly. “On the other hand, if Area S33 is taken by the Second Men’s Military Academy, not only would it hurt our alliance, it would also officially allow the Second Men’s Military Academy to come into Area S and P. That would be a huge problem for us. I will definitely not let that happen.”

If they won, the battle royale’s final outcome would be pretty much set in stone. If the Second Men’s Military Academy won, then it was possible that the entire situation of the battle royale would change and everything would be difficult to tell.

The vice-captain understood Qiao Ting’s explanation. Qiao Ting had to go to Area S33. He needed to make sure the Third Men’s Military Academy didn’t fall, or else their First Men’s Military Academy would become pa.s.sive. The advantage that they had built up in the beginning could be all for naught and the result would become unpredictable.

And at this moment, while everyone in Area S and P were focused on Area S33, Jiang Shaoyu silently led six 12-man battle teams through Area S into Area P. They went around the furthest border and rapidly flew towards Area G.

In the monitoring room, starting from the noisy discussions to total silence, they were all making predictions. The First Men’s Military Academy, the Second Men’s Military Academy, the Third Men’s Military Academy—which one of them would be the first to be dealt a crippling blow? On the surface it looked like the Third Men’s Military Academy was in the most danger, but everyone knew that the First Men’s Military Academy and the Second Men’s Military Academy were the ones who were in real danger.

Right then, Ling Xiao frowned a bit. He knew very clearly that the battle strength of the defending forces for the First Men’s Military Academy wasn’t enough. Six battle teams were enough for the Second Men’s Military Academy to take their headquarters down.

He glanced at Jianqiao Military Academy in Area Q. Now the only hope was for Ling Lan to be one step ahead of Jiang Shaoyu, take down their headquarters and eliminate the Second Men’s Military Academy. Perhaps this was the way to avert this crisis. Of course, they had to hope that Jiang Shaoyu’s battle team didn’t have allied forces, or everything would be unpredictable…

“Qiao Ting has moved out. The direction he’s heading towards… is the Third Men’s Military Academy. Not good. Looks like the First Men’s Military Academy is in danger.” The people in the monitoring room had all been waiting for Qiao Ting to make a move. They wanted to see if he was going to return to the First Men’s Military Academy. When they saw that the direction Qiao Ting was moving towards was Area S33, their expressions all changed instantly.

At this moment, the people in the monitoring room was no longer able to predict the final outcome. The future of the First Men’s Military Academy, who were originally leading and looking to be in great shape, became murky and unknown because of the sneak attack plan of the Second Men’s Military Academy that had come out of nowhere. It was possible that if they were unlucky, they would be eliminated before the end.

“This time, the First Men’s Military Academy made a mistake. How are they so confident that their headquarters wouldn’t be known by anyone? There was a huge possibility of exposing the territory of their real headquarters during the one minute memorization time on the day of drawing lots,” someone said regrettably.

“The First Men’s Military Academy was too confident and reckless.”

“Their commander is still too young and naive. If Qiao Ting had taken up that mantle, something like this wouldn’t have happened.” Many were criticizing Ling Lan as the commander and believed that her arrangements had many flaws.

Ling Xiao’s finger drummed on the table. He didn’t believe that his daughter would be so daring and not think that someone may have memorized the real location of their headquarters. Nevertheless, his daughter had still done she did. What was the reason that made her so daring?

Was there a secret in that headquarters and was impossible to breakthrough? That was the only thing that could explain his daughter’s arrangements… For the first time, Ling Xiao felt that he actually couldn’t see through what Ling Lan was thinking.

He Xuyang’s expression was very serious. He thoughts about all the details, but still felt that the First Men’s Military Academy was fraught with grim possibilities.

“A battle has begun in Area S33.” While they were worrying about the outcome of the First Men’s Military Academy, on the other side of things, the 14 battle teams of the Area Q and M alliance had gone against the border defenders of Area S33. They pulled up the screen of the battle.

Yuan Su was angry and frustrated after seeing the border defense battle team being pushed back one by one. The opposition was slowly closing in on the center location of their headquarters. Although he had found many helpers, they were still a little far away and wouldn’t be able to arrive in a short time.

He knew that he couldn’t let them just do what they want; thus, he led all the battle teams that were defending the headquarters to meet with the opposition. With that, the sky above Area S33 had engines sputtering, countless beams of light flying around. Mecha were being hit one by one, falling down from the sky. There were ones from the Third Men’s Military Academy and also the Area Q and M alliance.

Yuan Su took care of one mecha. Before he could take a breather, two more mecha pounced on him. The number of mecha in the Area Q and M alliance’s battle team was one third more than the defending mecha of Third Men’s Military Academy. This made the Third Men’s Military Academy instantly fall into a hard battle. If it wasn’t for the fact that offensive battle teams who were on the offensive joining in one by one, it was possible their situation would have been worse.

“Another mecha team is here.” The Third Men’s Military Academy discovered countless mecha approaching their position on the radar.

“It’s… a battle team from the QM alliance!” Seeing that it wasn’t their own reinforcements, the faces of everyone in the Third Men’s Military Academy turned pale. Another five to six battle teams were more than enough to fully break the thought of fighting back for the Third Men’s Military Academy’s mecha operators.

“Our reinforcements are almost here. Everyone, don’t give up,” Yuan Su yelled and woke up his shaken teammates.

“Attack faster. Take down the Third Men’s Military Academy’s headquarters before their reinforcements arrive.” The Q and M alliance commander gave a new order.

Although the Third Men’s Military Academy used all their strength to fight back, they were still short on half the number of people compared to their enemy. This made them slowly retreat. With the reinforcements of the opposition joining in, the mecha operators from the Third Men’s Military Academy had more and more ‘die’. The capabilities of the mecha operators in the Third Men’s Military Academy were solid. Even if they ‘died’, they would also take one foe with them, or they would cause extreme harm to an opponent, making the QM alliance’s battle team lose many mecha operators as well.

However, these losses were worth it for the QM alliance’s battle team. It was because they saw the hope of victory. Right when they were preparing to continue attacking, 5 beams of light suddenly shot towards them from afar. These beams came to them without a sound. Other than one missing, the other four accurately hit 4 mecha. The mecha were instantly hit and fell towards the ground.

And at this time, a sparkling mecha appeared in front of everyone. The mecha operators from the Third Men’s Military Academy, who were still alive, instantly changed from their originally low and stagnant states to excitement after seeing this mecha.

“It’s Qiao Ting. Captain Qiao Ting is here,” the Third Men’s Military Academy’s men yelled out happily. Hope suddenly emerged in their hearts, making their strength increase ten-fold. Fighting back in this state, they injured and destroyed some of the mecha from the QM alliance that weren’t prepared.

“I’m sorry, Commander Yuan, I’m late.” The air was filled with Qiao Ting’s deep voice, and closely following his words was the uniform sound of mecha engines roaring from afar. 23 mecha were quickly flying towards them. This was probably the reinforcement battle team Qiao Ting had brought.

“No, you’re right on time.” Yuan Su smiled coolly. He hadn’t thought that Qiao Ting would personally lead the team to come aid them. He couldn’t help but be very grateful.

Qiao Ting’s 24 mecha joined in. Although the defending mecha still had a disadvantage, the only ace mecha in the entire battle was more than enough to compensate for that disadvantage.

Right when the commander of the QM alliance was hesitating whether to keep on attacking or not, the roaring of mecha engines sounded from afar. It was another 24-man battle team that appeared before everyone. The leader saw the confrontation between the two sides and said, “Commander Yuan. After receiving our commander’s order, I, Ai Song, have led my team here to report in.”

“That’s great! Please thank Commander Lin for me!” Yuan Su immediately smiled upon seeing that their battle strength was increased again. At this moment, he felt that allying with the First Men’s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy had been a great choice. They were friends who were worth trusting. In their most dire time, they didn’t abandon them. Furthermore, Qiao Ting had left the First Men’s Military Academy’s headquarters and personally led a team here. He would remember this act of kindness in his heart.

The QM alliance saw that the First Co-ed Military Academy had also sent a battle team here, and knew that they had lost their opportunity. He quickly yelled, “Retreat!”

“You want to leave? No way!” How could Yuan Su be someone that was willing to be taken advantage of? Seeing that the QM alliance wanted to escape, he immediately ordered every member to chase them. Seeing this, Qiao Ting and Ai Song followed as well.

After chasing for a few kilometers, Qiao Ting stopped Yuan Su. They were too far away from the headquarters. It wouldn’t be good if the QM alliance went past their defenses.

Having already let out his anger and frustration, Yuan Su calmed down as well. He knew that Qiao Ting’s worry was correct, and thus he led his members and the allied battle teams and returned to his headquarters.

The QM alliance’s battle team was chased to the border of Area S that was closest to Area M. They stopped moving after they discovered the opposition didn’t keep chasing. The commander of the alliance ordered everyone to rest up. As for himself, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket. He opened it and took a look. His expression showed a hint of a smile. The situation they were in right now was all predicted by their head strategist, Zhuge. Now their objective wasn’t to take down the headquarters of the Third Men’s Military Academy. Instead, they were supposed to drag on the fight with the reinforcements at this location in order to cover Alliance Chief Jiang’s movements.

“Now it looks like the crisis of the Third Men’s Military Academy has been temporarily resolved.” The people in the monitoring room saw this and knew that the Third Men’s Military Academy, who seemed to be in the most danger, had now turned into the one in the least danger. Instead, it was the First Men’s Military Academy and the Second Men’s Military Academy whose situations were unclear and unpredictable.

Yuan Su, Ai Song, Qiao Ting and the others had quickly gotten reports of the surrounding areas from other team members while they were temporarily resting in the headquarters. Yuan Su instantly became angry. “Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds just won’t let go.” It seemed that in Area S, near the border of Area M, the QM alliance’s battle team was gathering and resting up. They were undoubtedly going to continue attacking.

Yuan Su swore furiously to let out his anger. Then he respectfully said to Qiao Ting, “Captain Qiao, it seems that I will have to delay you for a bit. Will it affect your duties at your headquarters?” As long as Qiao Ting defended with them, no matter how many people the opponent gathered up, he had the confidence that they would be able to hold their headquarters.

“You guys are in the territory in Area S that’s closest to Area M. If your location is lost, then it’s possible that it will become hard for us to defend as well. Instead, it’s better that we work together and block off the QM alliance right here with our cooperation.” Qiao Ting stated his stance on this. He was, of course, not going to tell Yuan Su the real truth that his headquarters was actually not in Area S.

“Looks like this QM alliance’s battle’s biggest objective is to keep Qiao Ting on a leash and help Jiang Shaoyu in the meantime. Killing two birds with one stone; doing two things at once. The little guy who made this plan is pretty amazing.” The people in the monitoring room began to a.n.a.lyze the deeper meaning of the Second Men’s Military Academy’s decisions and complimented them on it. They were gradually come to look down upon the First Men’s Military Academy, even though their performance in the beginning was very outstanding. Now, however, they had already forgotten that they had also praised the surprising strategy used by the First Men’s Military Academy.

Time was slowly running out. By the time Jiang Shaoyu had led his team to appear in Area G, Jianqiao Military Academy’s headquarters was still oddly silent. It was as though that mysterious team didn’t have the interest in continuing to battle and was waiting for the end of the battle royale.

“You have entered our skies. Please leave immediately or we will fire.” Right when they entered Area G7, they heard the mecha patrolling this area give them a warning.

“Alliance Chief Jiang, what should be done?” Of these 6 battle teams, two were battle teams from the alliance. Seeing they were discovered, they were a bit uneasy.

“Forge onwards!” Jiang Shaoyu’s eyes burned with pa.s.sion. Since they had already gotten into Area G, he didn’t think of hiding from the First Men’s Military Academy’s patrol search. Jiang Shaoyu’s order prompted the six battle teams to pounce onto the patrol battle team. Long range personnel did long range and close combat personnel did close combat.

The patrol team discovered that the people who were coming towards them were not friendly. Additionally, their number of mecha was far greater than their own. They quickly turned around to run, but because the opponent had so much firepower, they instantly lost 3 to 4 mecha. However, the captain wasn’t bad. At the same time as he was dodging the beam attacks, he was sending out the information about being under attack to the rear lines.

“Beep, beep, beep!” Wu Jiong was in his mecha, monitoring the whole situation of Area G17. Suddenly, he received a message. He opened it and his expression instantly changed. He immediately pushed own the b.u.t.ton for the entire team and ordered, “All battle teams, prepare for battle!”

After that, he operated his mecha and came to the headquarters. He jumped out the moment the c.o.c.kpit opened and with a flash of light, he dashed into the tent.

Han Jijyun was studying a map. Hearing someone come in, he asked without raising his head, “What is it?”

“Enemies are attacking us,” Wu Jiong answered anxiously.

“They’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for so long already.” Han Jijyun raised his head, his lips showing a hint of a cold smile.