Little Four's words made Ling Lan frown. Indeed, in the virtual world, when they had been doing the clan-formation mission, she had also noticed this weakness of the leopard's. The leopard's physical constitution seemed to be even weaker than the average person's — what exactly was the reason for this?
It should be known that in the current Federation, even for those with the most average constitution, if they received gene agent of grade C and above, they would be able to fight for at worst half an hour using normal standard mecha in an intense battle. However, from start till now, the leopard had only been fighting for at most 10 minutes or so ...
Furthermore, the leopard was only piloting an advanced mecha at present. The feedback force of standard mecha of advanced level and below (this included advanced mecha) had very little impact on a trained operator's body. It was not like with a mecha of special-class and above — because of the introduction of an operator's unique combat style, the feedback force would fluctuate depending on the power of the combat mode ... this was why the higher the level of a mecha operator, the greater the demand upon the operator's physical constitution.
If they did not resolve this issue, even if the leopard possessed the control prowess of an ace operator, he would still be unable to pilot an ace mecha ... considering this possibility, the furrow in Ling Lan's brow deepened.
Right then, in his cockpit, Li Lanfeng was already drenched in sweat. His body was soaked as if he had just stepped out of a bath. As the cockpit had the function of automatically regulating the humidity and temperature within the cockpit, even as Li Lanfeng sweated, his sweat was evaporating, causing the entire cockpit to become muggy with steam. He was panting heavily, his mind and spirit beginning to tire. Not just that, even his body was becoming weak and fatigued. The last few minutes of high-intensity operation and combat had drained his stamina rapidly, even exceeding his initial expectations."Damm*t!" Li Lanfeng could not help but curse. Having fought till this extent, he really did not want to lose now due to a lack of stamina. He was never more resentful of this broken body of his. If he had the choice, he definitely would not have chosen to be a spectre. He would rather have possessed a healthy body and become an exceptional mecha operator. That way, he could have become a free warrior, forever standing by the rabbit's side to follow him and protect him ...
"Is this the end?" Li Lanfeng began to feel his hands losing control. There were several moves he tried to execute, but his fingers just would not listen to him any longer and had gone on strike. He reflexively looked towards the bottom of his screen. In a window there, a mecha was silently watching his fight right now.
Li Lanfeng knew that that was the mecha being piloted by the rabbit. The outer appearance of the mecha was so familiar that he could recite all its inner components and equipment and all the applicable accessories for it. This was because that mecha was one of the ace mecha types he desired the most —— the ! Who would have expected his rabbit to already be at this level ...
A trace of bitterness coursed through Li Lanfeng's heart. It made sense when he thought about it though. Seven years time ... with the rabbit's unique heaven-given talent in mecha piloting, how could the other just be as he appeared in Mecha World, just a low-level intermediate mecha warrior?
"The rabbit is getting further and further away from me ..." Li Lanfeng was suddenly and fiercely crestfallen. Did he really have the right to stand by the rabbit's side? Perhaps this was all just a fanciful fantasy of his, perhaps he was just indulging in daydreams, when in fact, he was not at all worthy ...
Just as Li Lanfeng was about to despair and give up, the rabbit's cool voice suddenly rang out from his mecha's commlink. "Don't lose to yourself."
Don't lose to yourself ... this phrase reverberated like thunder in Li Lanfeng's ears. He was transported back to when he and the rabbit had first met — back then, they had been training every day in their dry and boring basic control drills, forever running, dodging, flying ... even the most tenacious person would have times when they would falter and become frustrated. Even someone as calm as the rabbit had at times descended into an irritable funk, and at those times, the rabbit would let out a great roar, "Damm*t, don't lose to yourself, you weakling!"After that, the rabbit would train even harder to carry out those basic drills, and he in turn would be inspired by the rabbit's actions to persevere, continuing to train alongside the rabbit. Perhaps that phrase was what the rabbit used to motivate himself, but Li Lanfeng took those words as a warning from the rabbit for him. Over these past few years, whenever he found himself restless and impatient and about to give up, this phrase would naturally come to the forefront of his mind. This phrase spurred him to continue pushing forwards, causing him to never dare give up no matter how difficult the situation was.
Seven years later, hearing this phrase straight from the rabbit's mouth once again, Li Lanfeng's heart pounded violently. Warmth surged across his body, and he felt the fatigue he had been shoving aside being chased away by this wave of warmth, his entire body filling up with energy ...
"Yes, how can I lose to myself? If I myself admit defeat, what right do I have to speak of changing my destiny to stand proudly by the rabbit's side?" Li Lanfeng spurned his own weakness. His initially dazed eyes instantly became focused once more, and his slowed fingers picked up their pace once again, becoming even faster than before. In the end, they moved so quickly that they could not be seen clearly — only layer after layer of afterimages could be seen, like illusionary flowers slowly blooming.
The two mecha had been fighting on even ground, but from the moment Li Lanfeng considered giving up, Li Lanfeng's mecha had become passive in comparison, no longer putting up a good fight. Instead, he had slowly been pushed to a disadvantage, soon only able to defend on all sides without being able to return any attacks of his own.
Although Li Shiyu, Han Jijyun, and Lin Zhong-qing did not know why Li Lanfeng had flagged all of a sudden, becoming so flustered in battle, they could tell from the situation that Li Lanfeng was probably in trouble. Their hearts sank, and their initially rather ordered shooting also started to become rushed and disorganised.
The special-class mecha fighting against Li Lanfeng was an experienced mecha master. When he saw his opponent suddenly stop attacking, he quickly realised that the other might be running low on stamina. Although this situation was rather abrupt so he was somewhat unprepared, he trusted in his own judgment. He did not lose this chance to intensify his attacks.
Despite going fully on the defensive, after resisting against the special-class operator's frenzied attacks for over ten seconds, Li Lanfeng's mecha finally could not hold out any longer. His entire mecha was shuddering from the opponent's attacks, looking as if it were on the verge of collapsing soon. Li Shiyu and the other two watching from the side-lines were anxious but could not think of any way to help Li Lanfeng in his predicament. They could only shoot desperately in an attempt to pull Li Lanfeng back from the brink of defeat ...
"This ends here!" Under the opponent's frenzied attacks, Li Lanfeng's mecha finally exposed a fatal opening under duress. The special-class operator had been waiting for this moment — seeing the opening, a cruel sneer appeared on his lips. He raised his beam saber mercilessly and slashed down viciously at Li Lanfeng's mecha.
"Watch out!" The other team members could only cry out in warning. Meanwhile, Li Shiyu was so horrified that he could not help but close his eyes. He could not bear to see Li Lanfeng — a teammate, his friend, also a descendant from the same Li family — die here in front of his eyes ...
"Bang!" Two beam sabers collided forcefully, sending countless sparks into the air. The initially flagging advanced mecha had managed to react swiftly in this most critical juncture. His speed had certainly exceeded his previous top speed by at least twofold — it was due to this that Li Lanfeng had managed to block that dangerous blow to save himself.
"That's amazing, Senior Lanfeng!" Qi Long and the others watching the fight instantly cheered in excitement at the sight.
Hearing everyone's cheers, Li Shiyu quickly opened his eyes. Seeing Li Lanfeng unharmed, he instantly let out a sigh of relief. For that split second earlier, Li Shiyu had truly been overcome by despair.
"Even if I run out of stamina and become unable to continue fighting, I must defeat the opponent. I will use facts to tell the rabbit that I, Li Lanfeng, am no weakling." Boundless fighting spirit blazed in Li Lanfeng's eyes — the hesitation and discouraged emotions he felt previously had disappeared. With a loud shout, he pushed his engines to their maximum power and charged right at the opponent with the intent to ram into the other ...
"Goddamm*t," the opponent could not help but curse, seeing this reckless attack of Li Lanfeng's. At the same time, he controlled his mecha to dodge — he had no intentions of dying along with the enemy while he still held the upper hand.
If possible, he hoped to swiftly escape after successfully killing the other ... he had not forgotten that there was still an ace mecha watching hungrily below; his team leader had died at the other's hand. Now, he only hoped that that close combat ace mecha did not have enough power to fly into the sky.
The special-class mecha's ideas were solid. He planned to evade Li Lanfeng's reckless charge and then counterattack, but he did not expect that after he chose to evade, all the advantage he held previously was gone in a flash.
Li Lanfeng watched as his opponent dodged and his eyes flashed with a cold glint. He revved his engines and changed directions abruptly, sticking close to the opponent mecha like a shadow — there was no sign of his previous stiff and mindless charge. With that, the special-class operator realised that he had been tricked. The other's fierce and seemingly mindless attack was just a feint — the other's true goal was to use it to regain the initiative in this battle.
In this manner, Li Lanfeng successfully stuck close to the special-class mecha and began to rain down blows with his beam saber on his opponent. Perhaps it was because his hand speed had increased via a breakthrough, pushing his mecha's attack pace much higher than his previous top speed — right then, the special-class mecha was taken off guard, flustered at the sudden change. All the special-class operator could see at that moment were the shadows of beam sabers, and he could only block and defend with all his might.
Although the special-class mecha was in a tough spot right then, he had a wealth of battle experience to fall back on. He knew that he was in great danger at the moment, so even as he dealt with the rain of attacks, he turned the power on his mecha's beam shield to the maximum setting. That way, even if he missed any of the opponent's attacks, the heightened defence value of the beam shield would still be able to easily withstand the attack.
With a loud 'bang', the special-class operator felt a tremendous force strike his cockpit. The resulting violent vibrations felt like a boulder crushing his chest, and the operator's vision turned black as a surge of blood rose from the back of his throat ...
With an audible cry, the special-class operator threw up the blood in his mouth forcefully, staining the control panel before him red.
