Zhao Jun had wanted to repeat the seventh combo strike he had managed in his mindspace, but unfortunately his finger shook and slowed down after inputting half of the commands. The fluid feeling he felt vanished instantly and the seventh combo strike failed.
Although Zhao Jun felt that it was a pity, at the same time he didn't have any regrets. He was already very satisfied that he was able to perform a six-hit combo attack, as this meant the barrier blocking him from reaching the title of ace operator had been broken. If he could stabilize his performance of the six-hit combo attack, he would be able to become an official ace operator after returning to the military academy.
The seven-hit combo was not successful and did not manage to deal the opponent a heavy blow before he plummeted to the ground. This did not discourage Zhao Jun, however; he quickly operated his mecha to dive down at top speed, pointing his weapon at Zhou Chao-Ling who was on the ground, stabbing straight down.
Zhou Chao-Ling's fall had made him dizzy, making him unable to grasp the current situation in the arena. However, his subconscious sensed danger, and without thinking he performed a barrel roll. With this, he managed to dodge Zhao Jun's attack from above.
Although Zhou Chao-Ling was able to dodge fast, Zhao Jun was also able to change his moves quickly—he instantly went from a stabbing motion to a slashing motion, slashing violently towards the mecha rolling away."Clang!" Zhao Jun's sword slashed the opponent, the force so great it caused Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha to be flung up into the air.
Zhao Jun's assault did not end there, but further continued. One quick step and he had arrived below Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha. Zhao Jun operated his mecha to fly upwards and once he was close enough, his two legs began spinning like a whirlwind, aiming towards Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha and kicking repeatedly with great force...
"Advanced skill—Whirlwind Kick!" Audience members familiar with mecha skills screamed, unable to contain their excitement.
This kick not only stunned Zhou Chao-Ling who was in the mecha, but also caused his mecha to be kicked into the air. Zhao Jun's mecha quickly rotated and flew upwards. At the same time, both of its arms instantly reversed the grip on the sword, changing its direction.
"Special technique—Twisting Strike!"
Zhao Jun's mecha began to spin around Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha at high speed. The ear-piercing, wailing screech of metal rang throughout the whole arena. Those who had poor physical abilities could not handle this noise, all of them plugging their ears and making a grimace.
Right then, the barrier around the arena shone brightly. Those who paid attention saw that there was a new barrier that was formed in front of the original barrier. It was because of this new barrier that the ear-piercing screech suddenly seemed to sound very far away—it was no longer ear-piercingly painful.Twisting Strike was a special technique. Its destructive power was clearly greater than high-level techniques. When Zhao Jun finished the technique, everyone could see that the outer shell of Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha had become battered, electrical sparks sputtering from some of its parts. It appeared that the mecha's circuitry had already been damaged by Zhao Jun's Twisting Strike...
Just when Zhao Jun was about to mount his next attack to increase his odds of winning and to knock out Zhou Chao-Ling for good, the main referee, who realized Zhou Chao-Ling's situation, raised up a red flag to indicate a time-out.
Zhao Jun thought it was a shame. It was obvious that victory was at hand, yet it was ruined by the main referee. He angrily put away his cold weapon, hovering in the air and quietly looking at Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha fall from the sky; it fell to the ground once again, creating a cloud of dust.
The main referee made a quick dash and appeared beside Zhou Chao-Ling's mecha. He attempted to contact the operator inside, but there was no response, which startled him.
He immediately told both the technical team and medical team outside of the arena to move in for rescue. This made the crowd restless. Was it going be another case like Zhang Jing-an's?
Technical hackers quickly broke the passcode lock to the operator cockpit and opened it, after which the army physician jumped straight inside. Thirty seconds later, the army physician stuck his head out and informed the others that the operator inside was not badly hurt. The reason they had not been getting a response from him was that the large vibrations from the last strike had unfortunately made him lose consciousness.
After hearing the news, everyone was relieved. Although everyone knew that anything could happen during the competition, they hoped everything could still be safe, the reason being that all of the cadets attending the competition were geniuses chosen by the Federation government—losing a single one of them would be cause for dismay.
However, Zhou Chao-Ling was not capable of continuing to battle in his current state, and thus victor of this battle had to be Zhao Jun. Starting from the beating drums and waving flags from the beginning of the battle, to Zhao Jun's major disadvantage in the later clashes, and then to the sudden explosiveness and successful display of a six-hit combo attack, and finally to the huge turnaround—Zhao Jun performance was undoubtedly brilliant.
Zhao Jun made his way to the backstage of the arena, full of excitement. His victory against Zhou Chao-Ling definitely made him happy, but what made him even happier was that he had successfully advanced to the level of ace operators.
"Congratulations!"
"Congratulations!"
Qiao Ting and Ling Lan spoke one after the other with congratulatory tones. Qiao Ting spoke just like anyone else would, while Ling Lan was very indifferent. Both of their attitudes made Zhao Jun's excited mood evaporate into thin air... Hmph, the feeling of success from advancing to ace operator didn't seem like much with these two geniuses around him.
Fortunately, there was still Mu Shaoyu; he was able to bring up the saddened mood. "Zhao Jun, you slimy bastard, you managed to soar up to ace operator level. Your luck defies the laws of nature!" Mu Shaoyu's face was full of admiration and envy.
Normal mecha operators who reached the next level usually would choose a quiet place to continue exploring the sensation of having advanced. Breaking through to the next level during combat was extremely dangerous. Usually, at the moment of the breakthrough, mecha operators who were in the state would be unable to feel the outside environment—this would allow an opponent a chance to land a decisive death blow. Even if they did not die, they would be stopped by their opponent, and they would then be brought out of that state of ascension and would never have the chance to advance to the next level.
Zhao Jun began to feel pleased with himself, scratching his head and laughing like an idiot. As expected, advancing to ace level was a feat that would make others envious.
However, if someone knew Zhao Jun well, they would know that he had some hidden suspicions masked by his idiotic laugh. He had a feeling that the death match between him and Boss Lan in the secret room was an imagination formed by his own mind. Only, why would he have been imagining a fight with Boss Lan? Shouldn't it be his old opponent Qiao Ting?
Furthermore, his way of advancing to ace level was different from the way the instructors had taught. Leveling up during battle was only because of the opponent's relentlessness, bringing about a life-or-death situation to trigger the advancement. It was impossible that there would be an imaginary battle in his mind to cause the level up... This was also why he was able to successfully advance. Since he did not have a breakthrough during the battle in the real world, the loss of senses of the environment around him was also not in the real world. It was possible that he had felt the power for a very long time, but in the real world it could have been only a tenth of a second. Or maybe he had never stopped at all?
This was very odd. Zhao Jun could not make heads or tails of it. He subconsciously glanced towards the indifferent Boss Lan who was standing beside him. He suspected whether it was Boss Lan who had a hand in all this. He didn't know why, but he still felt that Boss Lan had something to do with it. During the battle with Zhou Chao-Ling, he heard a cold groan. No matter how many times he thought about it, it was for sure Boss Lan's voice...
Zhao Jun was full of suspicion, wanting to ask Ling Lan for answers; however, he knew that right now was not the time for seeking answers. Zhao Jun was very sure that if people knew Ling Lan had the ability to help others advance to the ace level, this news would be even worse than Ling Lan becoming an ace operator during her second year. It would definitely be very troublesome.
Producing ace operators was something the Federation government had never achieved in the last thousands of years. If Boss Lan really had this ability, the military would take control of him even if he was a monster of a genius operator. For the Federation, the value of an imperial class operator or a god class operator couldn't be compared to millions of ace class operators. Ace operators were the soul of the battlefield.
Although Zhao Jun looked like a boorish fellow, his thoughts were very detailed and careful, not careless and impulsive. Letting go of his suspicions, he intended to find a safe time and place to ask about this in private.
Zhao Jun's victory brought the score of the round to 2-1, with the First Men's Military Academy in the lead. The faces of those from the Third Men's Military Academy turned green as they felt depressed from Zhao Jun's good luck. He was certain to have lost, yet he unexpectedly advanced to ace level and performed a six-hit combo—this negated the advantage Zhou Chao-Ling had and thus enabled him to successfully make a comeback.
"Even though we lost, we must still do well in the next two matches!" The members of the Third Men's Military Academy encouraged each other. Even though they knew they were not a match for Qiao Ting, they still wanted to finish all five matches with the First Men's Military Academy to not soil the Third Men's Military Academy's name.
However, when they saw Qiao Ting walk towards the mecha holding area and prepare to board his mecha into battle, the expressions on the faces of the Third Men's Military Academy dropped. The First Men's Military Academy wasn't even going to give them the chance at a fifth match. Once Qiao Ting came out, who could go against him?
As expected, Qiao Ting easily defeated his opponent with three rifle shots in the fourth match and won the round. The First Men's Military Academy advanced to the finals with a 3-1 score. They still had to wait for a winner to be decided between the First Co-ed Military Academy and the Second Men's Military Academy, after which they would begin the finals for first and second place.
The First Co-ed Military Academy and the Second Men's Military Academy quickly finished their round. Compared to the First Men's Military Academy's oddball rankings and battle formation set up, these two military academies were much more organized.
As trump cards, Lin Xiao and Jiang Shaoyu were scheduled for the fifth match. The arrogance of being ace operators made them unable to go into battle first and what's more, Jiang Shaoyu wanted to carry out his revenge. The four matches before theirs were evenly matched, pretty much organized by strength levels, other than a few changes.
It should be said that these two military academies were not much different in strength levels. The first four matches ended with two wins and two losses to each side respectively, reaching a draw. In the end, it would be the two ace mecha operators battling for the win. Both Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao, after facing each other in the single mecha battle semi-finals, faced each other again in the group mecha battle semi-finals. This time, however, the outcome of their battle would not only decide their fate, but also which of their military academies would come out on top.
This time, Jiang Shaoyu was determined to not be bewitched by Lin Xiao like he was in the previous match. The thought that his opponent's close-combat abilities were not strong had made him careless and this had given his opponent an opportunity which lead to his defeat.
At the same time, Lin Xiao was not naive enough to use the same trick to confuse his opponent. Since everyone's close-combat ability was the strongest, there was no need to be secretive about it. Once the match started, he would simply take a close-combat stance and fight like they had never fought before.
