Ling Lan's curiosity was piqued because, thus far, she had yet to come across a single person (or group) who had hit upon the same idea as she had but acted before she did. She did not notice any human figures within the storehouse, and neither was there any sign of mecha having been flown out. Thus, Ling Lan concluded that the other party was very likely still inside the secret room.
Ling Lan wondered why the other party had disregarded the advanced mecha all around them, instead choosing to enter that secret space. Was it that the secret space had some secret stashed within it? Could it be that it contained a special-class mecha or something even superior to that?
Even though Ling Lan felt that it was impossible for the military academy to possess combat mecha as terrifying as ace mecha, Ling Lan's curiosity could not be satisfied without taking a peek at what could be inside.
Since she was alone, Ling Lan unsealed all restrictions on her speed. If anyone had been next to her, they would have sensed that Ling Lan's movements were as fast as the wind. There was no way an average person's vision could keep up with her speed; all they might have sensed would have been a shadow flickering before their eyes, but in the next second, she would have disappeared without a trace.
Very soon, Ling Lan arrived at the end of the mecha hold, and the sight that greeted her was that of a broad wall. The average person arriving at this point would conclude that this was the end of the line and turn back. Ling Lan, however, strode forward and put her hands on the wall. Then, she bent her legs into a half-squat and, locking herself firmly into a horse stance while sinking her qi into her core, she forcefully moved both hands towards the right. On the petite forearm that peeked out of her sleeve, there appeared, shockingly, several bulging veins, a testament to the degree of force that Ling Lan was applying.The 'ga-ga-ga' of gears locking teeth could be heard as the whole expanse of white wall was unbelievably shifted over a metre by Ling Lan through brute force, revealing a tunnel into which Ling Lan immediately darted. With a clap, the white wall returned to its original position, looking once more like the unremarkable, seamless white wall it had appeared to be at the start.
"How dare they break the electric motorization systems inside!" Ling Lan exhaled as she darted into the tunnel. She only had to exert that much force because whoever had entered before her had dared to sabotage the electric motorization systems, probably to avoid detection. This had left Little Four no opportunity to put his skills to use, so relying on Ling Lan's brute force had been the only way to enter. If not for the fact that she had achieved half step to Domain, attempting to displace this entire stone wall weighing over 100,000 catties would have really been a tall order.
However, after entering the tunnel, Ling Lan's progress was exceptionally smooth, as the sabotage of the electric motorization systems had left the few other traps useless. After a minute and a half of quick running, Ling Lan came to the end of the tunnel where she was greeted by the sight of a tall, wide, thick and heavy steel slab of a door. Just as Ling Lan picked up her pace to get to it ...
"Regiment Commander, are we really going to activate these mecha? If we're discovered by the military academy surveillance team, we're gonna get severely punished, possibly even expelled from the academy!" A shrill, panicky voice coming from the other side of the door was clearly projected into Ling Lan's ears.
Owing to the extreme destructive power of mecha, the military academy had always regulated them strictly. Unless a situation called for the need to pilot one, students were normally forbidden from interacting with the mecha freely. Now that the other side obviously intended to seize the opportunity amidst the chaos to take possession of mecha, the timid among them would inevitably be on tenterhooks.
Ling Lan instantly stalled her footsteps upon hearing this, her expression becoming wary. It looked like it was not going to be one person or even a few, as she had imagined, but a whole crowd to match her group in numbers.
"The military academy sounding the emergency alarm signalling an attack with no warning, that's not normal. To get a handle on the situation, I sent Xiao Yan to steal the ground troops' intelligence ... you've all seen the information, it's grim out there. It could well be that a huge fight is about to go down. If we can't pilot the strongest mecha here, what's likely is that we will become the enemy's cannon fodder and I absolutely will not stand for it," said a cold, self-important voice. It was evident from the speaker's steely tone that they felt extremely pessimistic that the outcome of this battle would favour the ground troops."When that happens, let alone the academy surveillance team, not even the military academy is guaranteed to survive," the frigid voice continued to explain.
The others fell silent at this speech, neither denying nor affirming it. It seemed like the military academy's strict rules still filled many of them with dread.
Just then, a boorish voice complained, "The regiment commander brought us here because he trusted us, and what he's saying is the plain truth. Don't you get it? If things go south, the regiment commander will bear even greater responsibility. If the regiment commander's not even scared, what are you all afraid of? Anyways, I don't want to die, nor do I want to become a captive of the enemy. Regiment Commander, I'm right behind you."
At the end of these words, many of them cheered loudly, quickly raising the morale and quashing the others' doubts. Ling Lan wondered, was the speaker just a mouthpiece for that regiment commander? Or did they truly put that much faith in their regiment commander?
"Since no one has any further objections, let's get into the mecha right away. We leave from this launch port in three minutes," the cold voice ordered without giving the others another chance to voice their opinions.
"Yes, Regiment Commander ..." they responded in chorus, but then one voice abruptly raised a question. "Regiment Commander, aren't you going to inform Boss Huo and the others to join us?"
This gave Ling Lan a surprise; it seemed that these people were very likely of the Leiting Mecha Clan, which would make their regiment commander none other than the infamous Thunder King.
If it turned out to be that Thunder King ... Ling Lan's gaze cooled slightly. It looked like she would have to be more cautious when she fought Leiting in the future. This Thunder King was an astute judge of circumstances. She had only dared to act because she had confirmation from Little Four. However, the Thunder King could only have acted after the alarm had sounded, boldly ordering his subordinates to steal the ground troops' intelligence, and then using extremely sparse information to determine the possible outcomes and taking the appropriate course of action ... even Ling Lan would hardly dare to be as decisive as the Thunder King without Little Four's help, possibly needing to ponder it a little more first. Ling Lan sensed the difference between herself and the Thunder King in terms of judging circumstances, acknowledging her inexperience.
As expected, one who could dominate the First Men's Military Academy was no fool! Ling Lan's gaze took on a sombre cast. The Thunder King, whom she had not thought much of previously, was now firmly noted by her.
"What we're doing now violates school regulations, so naturally the fewer who know about it the better. We're all people most trusted by Boss ... If anyone else is informed about this, if news of it leaks by accident and the academy surveillance team finds out, they will come and stop us. When that happens, not a single one of us will get mecha." This answer to the earlier question did not come from the cold voice, but the boorish one which had first supported that leader.
The Thunder King did not explain anything, appearing to tacitly agree with what the boorish voice had said ... Ling Lan could not help but furrow her brow briefly, disapproving of the Thunder King's response. Ling Lan believed that if a team was unable to endure through thick and thin together, it would only breed distrust and envy amongst themselves — by then there would be no need for such a team. If it couldn't be helped, one could take the blunt approach, and take those who were deemed unfit to be in the team and expel them ... A leader allowing such distrust and envy to develop within his team, in Ling Lan's eyes, was a failure.
The explanation given by the boorish voice must have been accepted by the rest since no more talk was heard after that. Very soon, Ling Lan heard the sound of several mecha activating. Ling Lan listened closely for a while, then cross-checked Little Four's notes on the mecha and largely concluded that the mecha activated by these people were all special-class mecha.
Special-class mecha, despite being only half a level above advanced mecha in name, were as different as the sky from earth compared to advanced mecha due to this simple half-level. Operators of special-class mecha were already at the level of mecha master, whereas operators of advanced mecha could only be mecha warriors. If they were to enter a squad, an advanced mecha warrior's highest military rank would be senior captain while a special-class mecha master's rank would at least be major.
The knowledge that there were actually special-class mecha behind the metal door made Ling Lan secretly happy. Being able to operate a slightly better mecha would allow her to more fully realize her combat ability, which was undoubtedly the best for her.
Even in her delight, Ling Lan did not forget to count the number of mecha that had been activated, eventually discovering that there were, in fact, no small number of men inside; fifteen by her estimates. Yet Ling Lan could not be certain if the Thunder King was among them. After all, it was rumoured that the Thunder King was already at ace level ... Ling Lan was unsure if this military academy's storehouse contained the battlefield's Kings of Massacre — ace mecha.
Just then, a mecha that sounded different from the rest was suddenly activated. Hearing that, Ling Lan's expression was initially of surprise, followed quickly by joy, because she could tell that this new mecha activation sound most likely belonged to an ace mecha.
Could it be that, inside this military academy's storehouse, there really were ace mecha, the battlefield's Kings of Massacre? At this thought, Ling Lan's heart surged. Even Ling Lan could not resist the temptation of a chance to operate the battlefield's Kings of Massacre.
Ling Lan's flare of excitement lasted for only a moment. She quickly calmed down and began withdrawing her presence, even activating her innate talent to cause her body to become as cold as ice, practically wiping out her original body heat.
Ling Lan had not forgotten that there were many kinds of automatic scanning features equipped on an ace mecha, one of which was thermal scanning. Once anything was discovered by the mecha, it would proactively warn the operator. This was also one of the reasons why ace mecha could become the kings of the battlefield.
Of course, the various fittings on imperial mecha and god-class mecha were definitely more powerful than those on an ace mecha, but it was precisely because they were too powerful, their destructive power too terrifying — it was said that even one attack by an imperial mecha would be able to turn an area several hundred li in circumference into a wasteland, not to mention the capabilities of god-class mecha which represented the ultimate might of a nation — that unless it was a matter that shook the very foundations of the country, they could only be used as a force for deterrence and would not really be deployed as the main force in a battle ...
All this was because even though humans had built weapons with such terrifying destructive power, they were also frightened of the weapons' might at the same time. In order to restrict other nations from deploying these terrifying weapons, all galactic nations in the human world entered into an agreement that, on the battlefield, it was absolutely forbidden to allow those ultimate weapons above the level of ace mecha to show up ...
This was why ace mecha were known as the Kings of Massacre — they were the most powerful weapons allowed on the battlefield. It could be said that the number of ace operators and the extent of their abilities would determine the final victor or loser in a war.
