Ling Xiao's words made the monitoring room quiet down, and the person who had disdained Qiao Ting's behavior suddenly felt awkward. Since this was the Federal Military Academy's battle royale, these people had not been regarding the battle royale as a real war. That was why they paid attention to these subtleties and forgot the cruelty of real war.
Ling Xiao saw that everyone had understood this point, and once again smiled warmly and looked at the big screen. This allowed the officers in the monitoring room to breathe a sigh of relief, and they were grateful that General Ling Xiao left them with some dignity.
At this time, Ling Xiao was thinking about where his baby girl was. He didn't believe that his valiant daughter would stay in the base camp… This was why parents were the ones who understood their children best!
Now that Qiao Ting had won his first battle, the next step was to lead his team to go around to the other side of Area P. They used the same method to finish the other military academies' assault teams on that side…
The actions Qiao Ting took caused those in Area P and S to become scared by the sigh of the wind. The rumor that there was a covert operations team lurking around the borders of Area S and P had quickly spread through the base camps within these two areas. In order to make sure their borders were safe, some military academies sent out battle teams to begin to form teams and carry out a search. Qiao Ting saw that the situation had become difficult for them, thus he retreated with his team back to Area S9. He planned to move out after the rumors dissipated.A 24-man mecha team was slowly flying above in the air; they were the patrol team from the nearby headquarters. They knew that there were attackers in the area, thus they were carefully patrolling around the perimeter of the headquarters to try and find some sort of clue. However, after searching for around one hour, they didn't really find anything odd.
Upon seeing the circular field below them, surrounded by towering trees, one of the leaders of the patrol battle teams used their radar to carefully search around the perimeter. Finding that everything was normal, he said to another battle team's team leader, "Brother Luo, why don't we rest up a bit here?" Nervous and high-focused patrol work made mechas use up a lot of energy. They had to replenish their energy all the time and eat every 2 to 3 hours.
The one called Captain Luo seemed to have the same idea and said, "Sure, Brother Hu." He then immediately landed his mecha slowly on that circular field.
The circular field was very large. It didn't feel crowded even after the 24 mecha had landed. The two teams formed two obvious square formations with one on each side, and the two team leaders were at the front of their teams, creating a pointed corner, taking over the center of the circle. This kind of formation was both for defensive positioning and easier communication.
Although the two teams that were from different military academies had temporarily formed an alliance to find the mysterious assassins, they were still wary of each other. No one knew if the other side would suddenly betray and attack them.
After the two teams landed and rested up, their members all used their time to eat in order to replenish their expended energy. The battle royale had already begun. No one knew what could happen the next second, thus they needed to take breaks when they could.
"Brother Luo, who do you think attacked the assault teams of those military academies?" Captain Hu chewed on his food as he asked Captain Luo, who was in front of him.Captain Luo replied, "I've looked at the area where Qiulin Military academy was ambushed. That area is an uninhabited area. There aren't any military academy headquarters there…" He faltered for a moment and his expression became slightly serious as he continued, "My guess is that the ones ambushing people are also an assault team."
"Man!" Captain Hu inhaled a breath of cold air, finding it unbelievable. "That's impossible. Who would have the audacity to do that? It would make everyone angry."
Captain Luo's expression darkened a bit and he said, "I hope that's the case. However, I don't think that, aside from assault teams, other battle teams would be so far away from their headquarters."
Captain Hu moved his lips and began to calm down from his previous surprise. He felt that Captain Luo's logic made sense about the ambushing team being able to quickly and successfully perform an attack while not giving any chances for the other battle teams to react. Perhaps they took advantage of the fixed mindset that assault teams would not attack other assault teams, successfully ambushing them when they had their guard down.
"If that's the case, then we have to find the culprits quickly. Otherwise, with them hiding around nearby, the next victims could very well be us." After saying that, however, Captain Hu suddenly became frightened. He looked at Captain Luo, who was in front of him, and thought, "Are they that team?"
Captain Hu secretly put his guard up. He couldn't have expected that after saying what he said, Captain Luo also became alert and put his guard up at the same time. It was just as Captain Hu said; no one knew who the culprits were. As such, there was a possibility that the temporary allied battle team could be the culprits.
His guard up, Captain Hu carefully asked, "Brother Luo, which academy's assault battle team do you think is capable of doing this?"
Captain Hu words made Captain Luo stare blankly into space for just a moment and lifted his worry. The members of Wufeng Military Academy who were standing before him had a ranking that was over 200, similar to their own Zheli Military Academy. They would definitely not be bold enough to do something like attacking assault teams. He also felt the distrust from the other side, thus he had a thought and said, "Even if it was a sneak attack, an assault team able to bring down Qiulin Military Academy, whose ranking is within 100, is definitely not weak. It would be impossible unless they were from the top 50 academies."
Upon hearing Captain Luo's words, Captain Hu came to a sudden realization and immediately dropped his guard significantly. He quickly expressed his agreement, "That's what I was thinking."
Seeing that his point of view was approved and agreed upon, Captain Luo wanted to say more. He continued and said, "Actually, I'm leaning more towards the top 10 military academies. No, no, it should be the top 4. During each year's battle royale, weren't the top 4 military academies the ones who fought the most competitively?"
"Yeah, but I didn't hear about anything like this happening before." Captain Hu wasn't convinced.
"If they were pushed to the extreme, they might take that risk," Captain Luo said coldly.
Captain Hu's eyes suddenly lit up. "You have an idea on who the suspect is?"
"Which one of the top 4 academies is the closest to here?" Captain Luo asked instead of answering.
"Area P47 has been confirmed to be the First Co-ed Military Academy's headquarters. Area S9 is suspected to be the First Men's Military Academy's headquarters. Area S33 has already been confirmed to be the Third Men's Military Academy's headquarters. The Second Men's Military Academy's headquarters has yet to be known. It's likely that they are not within Area P and S." Captain Hu spoke to him with familiarity.
"Who would have known that 3 out of the top 4 were squished together. Our luck really sucks. We actually picked out the most intense and competitive battlefield." Captain Luo heaved a long sigh. Right now, he just wanted for these three military academies to not form alliances and first take out military academies like his own…
After thinking about it, Captain Luo gave his answer, "The sneak attack was definitely from one of these three military academies. I believe that the First Men's Military Academy and the Third Men's Military Academy are most likely to be the culprits."
"How so?"
"The First Men's Military Academy was pushed into second place by the Second Men's Military Academy 7 times in a row. They definitely want to retake their previous glory. With this much pressure, doing something like this isn't impossible," Captain Luo explained his thoughts. "The Third Men's Military Academy is the same. Having held 4th place since the beginning of time, they definitely want to change it up. And if they were to do something like this, then the first suspects would be the First Men's Military Academy. The First Men's Military Academy's location makes it easier for them compared to the Third Men's Military Academy's."
"So what you're saying is that the First Men's Military Academy is more likely to have carried out the sneak attack?" Captain Hu asked with surprise.
"Not necessarily. It's possible that the Third Men's Military Academy will frame the First Men's Military Academy." Captain Luo smiled ambiguously. "It's also possible that the First Co-ed Military Academy secretly sent out one team."
"I have to return soon and relay this to the commander." Captain Hu made a decision right then. No matter which military academy had done it, it wasn't good news for the military academies which were lower in rank like themselves. They needed to find a solution as soon as possible.
"Yes, I have to inform my commander of this as well. If we want to defend ourselves against these top 3 military academies, military academies like our own must stick together and cooperate," Captain Luo reminded.
Captain Hu's expression showed a hint of deep thought. It was possible that this idea was the best solution for going against the top military academies. Captain Hu's train of thought began aligning with Captain Luo's without him realizing it. Captain Luo's smile grew bigger upon seeing that Captain Hu didn't say anything.
The two captains who wanted to report to their respective commanders as soon as possible could no longer calmly eat their food. They quickly led their team members to leave this area and moved towards their headquarters.
Once they left the boundary of the area, they saw a huge sand mound behind a particular towering tree. It suddenly moved as the thick layer of snow instantly cracked open and revealed the dark metallic surface inside.
The dark metal suddenly stood up and the snow all fell to the ground. It revealed its actual appearance—it was a special-class mecha.
Once there was movement here, the other quiet and secluded areas began to show activity as well. The six mecha that had been separated quickly rallied towards the mecha which had stood up first.
"Boss, are we moving out?" Qi Long asked excitedly. He had already been laying there for almost 2 hours. He was going mad from having just lain there.
"Yes!" Ling Lan's right thumb and index finger quickly rubbed together. This was a small movement she made when she was deep in thought. "Li Lanfeng, Qiao Ting is probably going to be exposed. Can you think of some solution to this?" Being exposed too early on would affect Ling Lan's upcoming plans. She was not going to allow that.
Li Lanfeng became surprised at her words and he asked, "What's wrong?"
Ling Lan informed Li Lanfeng of the conversation between the two team leaders which Little Four had recorded.
Li Lanfeng eyes suddenly flashed and he decisively said, "Move our misfortune onto others!"
"The Third Men's Military Academy!" Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng simultaneously spoke the answer out loud. Ling Lan's lips perked up slightly. Li Lanfeng had had the same thought as she did.
"You make the plan!" Since Li Lanfeng wanted the strategist position, she was giving him that chance.
"Yes, Captain!" Li Lanfeng happily replied. This was the first time during an operation that Ling Lan had asked him to form a plan. Normally, Ling Lan would always decide on her own plan of action and then let him and Han Jijyun add in the details.
Li Lanfeng knew that this was Ling Lan giving him a chance. Feeling grateful, he silently clenched his fists—he had to perform well and absolutely not tarnish the trust and support Rabbit had for him. Let's go Li Lanfeng!
