Chapter 148: Number X ...
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Ling Lan resolutely ignored her discomfort; she gritted her teeth and controlled the cha to pull out its beam saber from the Twilight cha’s cockpit.
Ling Lan’s discomfort was not because this was her first kill in real life, but because her current small body found it a little hard to bear the reaction force from operating cha.
Little Four noticed Ling Lan’s condition and understanding the reason behind it, he asked her anxiously, "Boss, are you alright?"
Little Four knew that operating cha would definitely cause reaction force to reflect back on the operator’s body. He had already done his best to lower the reaction force incurred to the minimum, hoping that his boss would not be hard by it.
However, Little Four never expected that Ling Lan would perform so outstandingly for her very first ti operating real cha. In particular, those final movents to evade the artillery had been beyond her usual standards — evolving the irregular dash of advanced cha operators straight to the irregular flicker only ace operators were capable of.
The irregular dash and the irregular flicker were actually the sa skill. The reason there were two nas for it, was that depending on the operator’s skill proficiency, the resulting effect was visibly different.
The irregular dash was an advanced cha control technique, one of the compulsory techniques advanced cha warriors and special-class cha operators must learn. On the other hand, irregular flicker was a skill exclusive to ace operators. In other words, only an ace operator would be able to execute irregular flicker perfectly.
This was also why Qi Long and Wu Jiong would mistake Ling Lan for an ace operator. Frankly, Ling Lan’s current control capabilities were only at the level of an advanced cha warrior. At most, she could be said to have stepped half a foot into the ranks of special-class cha operators.
Without a doubt, the appearance of the irregular flicker was the result of an accidental cross-limits burst of skill.
Of course, this cross-stage display of skill had also dealt heavy damage to Ling Lan’s body. Although Little Four had already tried his best to minimize the damage, Ling Lan’s body had still incurred a certain degree of damage.
"I’m fine. I’ve been through worse pain than this. This is nothing," Ling Lan reassured Little Four. Even though her complexion was so pale that it was worrying, her spirits were still at regular levels; it was as if the pain of her body did not exist.
Honestly, from the mont she had decided to pilot the cha, she was already ntally prepared to get hurt. Mind you, for a child not yet 13 years old, no matter how solidly built the child was, their bones just could not handle the feedback force from operating cha. This was also one of the reasons why the Federation banned children below 13 years old from learning how to operate cha.
Of course, Ling Lan’s reassurance to Little Four was also the truth. This little bit of pain she felt now was nothing compared to the excruciating pain of her illness from her previous life. In comparison, the pain she felt now was not even worth ntioning.
"Besides, Little Four, you’ve already helped neutralize most of the reaction force, protecting well. So I’m fine. Thank you, Little Four!" Ling Lan thanked Little Four sincerely for his hard work. If not for him, her body might be in even worse condition.
"Boss, I definitely won’t fall for your candy-wrapped missiles ..." Little Four was beaming, a smile blooming on his face, stretching from ear to ear. Still, he did not forget to clarify his stance. As a principled intelligent entity, how could he be so easily bought?
Ling Lan ignored the currently tsundere Little Four, quickly scanning her surroundings instead. Very quickly, she had found Qi Long and the others’ hiding place. Seeing the lot of them unhard, she instantly relaxed.
Ling Lan efficiently hung the cha’s beam saber back on its back and slipped the high-frequency blade back into its place at the cha’s outer thigh. Just as she was thinking to go greet Qi Long and the others, Little Four’s expression suddenly tightened and he warned, "Boss, the two Twilight cha who left earlier are coming back. They’re about 2 kilotres away from us."
Ling Lan felt a weight settle in her heart at these words. Although she already knew this was a possibility, finding out that the opponent was really coming still made her a little nervous.
"Hide properly. Don’t co out!" Ling Lan threw down these words and purposefully flew the cha in another direction, preparing to distance herself from this area. Ling Lan did not want the following battle to hurt Qi Long and the others, otherwise her coming here to aid them would be aningless.
Qi Long and the others hiding in the dense forest heard a cold voice ring out by their ears. They were startled, and dispelled all thoughts of climbing out from their hiding place. They laid flat in their respective hiding places, not daring to make any movent.
"It’s the Twilight cha. The two cha who left earlier have returned. Everyone make sure to stay hidden!" Wu Jiong’s hiding spot happened to allow him to see the cha flying swiftly by in the skies above. He imdiately hissed out a warning. Qi Long and the others now knew why the Federation cha had warned them not to move before flying off.
"He’s trying to save us by drawing those two cha away?" There was a complicated expression on Lin Zhong-qing’s face; it was a combination of gratitude and respect, and also a trace of bewildernt.
"He’s an ace cha operator, he’ll definitely be able to defeat those two cha." Luo Lang clenched his fists, trying to convince himself while convincing Lin Zhong-qing at the sa ti.
"Will he? Don’t tell you didn’t see the numbers on the arms of those three cha." Ye Xu’s spirits were low. As children within a militant system, they were well-inford about their own nation’s and their enemy nations’ cha details. (At least, they knew more than the ti-travelling outsider Ling Lan.)
Ye Xu’s words caused everyone to fall silent. Only Lin Zhong-qing remained confused; he looked at Qi Long and then Han Jijyun, hoping that they would explain things for him. As a poor commoner, he did not really know much about this military information.
However, the typically talkative and outgoing Qi Long was uncharacteristically pensive and uncommunicative. His face revealed his puzzlent as he thought deeply about sothing. Han Jijyun cast a confused look at him, but found that Qi Long’s attention wasn’t here at all. So, he took over to explain, "The Twilight cha operators’ levels can be determined by the serial number on their arms. Those few cha earlier all had an ’X’ at the beginning of their serial numbers. That ans they’re from an ace cha team!"
"Ace?" Lin Zhong-qing caught hold of the key point.
Han Jijyun smiled bitterly and nodded. With that, Lin Zhong-qing understood, and his face drained of all colour ...
Would their saviour lose his wings 1 here? The children’s hearts grew heavy with worry.
********
"Squad leader, I’ve found Kotou-kun’s cha. There’s a large hole in Kotou-kun’s cockpit. Looks like it’s been shattered. From my observations, this should be the result of a stab by a cha’s beam saber ..." cha operator Shikamaru discovered the area Kotou-kun had perished on his scanner. The zood-in pictures his cara picked up was very clear; it was very obvious how his teammate had died.
" Baka-yarou 2 !" A vein popped out on the squad leader’s forehead as he gritted his teeth and cursed. He was irritated that soone had actually managed to kill his subordinate right under his nose. This made him feel extrely humiliated.
"Squad leader, there’s a cha over there ... it’s Federation." cha operator Shikamaru had already widened his search range, and soon picked up the low-flying Ling Lan on his radar.
"That fellow must be the one who killed Kotou-kun. We must kill him to wash away our disgrace. After him!" Livid, the squad leader imdiately turned and set his cha on the path towards that cha. Behind him, Shikamaru reacted swiftly, hurriedly following with his cha.
Ling Lan’s cha was not flying in a concealed manner, and its speed was not very fast either. She was doing this intentionally so those two cha would chase her and get further away from the hiding place of Qi Long and the others. Ling Lan knew very well that she would have to risk her life to fight against two ace cha. During that ti, she wouldn’t be able to spare any mind for the surrounding situation. To avoid harming Qi Long and the others by accident, the further she could get away from them, the better.
The image Little Four transmitted to her let Ling Lan know that the two cha were following her as she had hoped. Then, Ling Lan abruptly increased her speed by many tis. The two main engines of the cha roared in unison, and the cha drew a lightning-quick line through the air, flying over 1000 tres in an instant.
"Shikamaru-kun, speed up. The opponent has noticed us." The squad leader saw the Federation cha trying to escape and knew that the other had noticed them on his tail.
"Hai!" The two Twilight cha increased their speed at the sa ti, and like two feral dogs locked on Ling Lan’s scent, they chased after her.
As Ling Lan was controlling her movent speed, not pushing her cha to its limits, after around 10 seconds, the enemy had already caught up to her.
"Shikamaru-kun, high altitude snipe." Once Ling Lan entered sniping range, the squad leader imdiately gave the order. He dearly wished that his subordinate would be able to destroy that hateful cha operator with one shot.
"Hai!" The cha operator Shikamaru was a sniping expert to begin with. He controlled his cha to fly steadily and lifted the sniping rifle in his cha’s hands. The mont he managed to lock onto Ling Lan flying in front of him, he pressed the firing button.
"Boss, we’ve been targeted." The opponent had just locked onto Ling Lan’s cha when Little Four issued a warning.
Ling Lan’s fingers danced frenetically — very quickly, sweat began to bead up on her forehead and the tip of her nose, condensing to slide down her face and drop ...
Her cha was suddenly seen to wriggle like a fish in water, drawing a strange curve, allowing it to dodge Shikamaru’s shot by a narrow margin!
"Irregular flight! Damn it!" cha operator Shikamaru was extrely put out for missing his target. He also knew how to execute irregular flight, but to be able to calculate the trajectory of a shot so accurately ... this was the first ti he was seeing this.
What Shikamaru did not know was that it wasn’t the cha operator who managed this feat, but Little Four substituting for the cha’s A.I.. Of course, this was also only possible due to Ling Lan and Little Four’s close rapport. Otherwise, if they were unlucky, they might very well have been hit and perished along with the cha.
Although Ling Lan managed to evade multiple snipes by the cha operator Shikamaru, she was held back at the sa ti. When the squad leader chasing them got within 100 tres of Ling Lan, he sneakily raised the beam cannon in his hands to aim at Ling Lan who was still busily dodging Shikamaru’s attacks, prepared to lock onto her and shoot.
"Boss, the other cha is also about to attack," cautioned Little Four anxiously.
"Troubleso!" Ling Lan was confident that she could successfully dodge all the snipe attacks of one cha, but if two cha attacked at the sa ti, Ling Lan wasn’t sure if she could remain unhard.
That said, Ling Lan’s control hand speed actually increased by one level. Right then, the outlines of Ling Lan’s fingers were no longer visible, nor was it possible to see which buttons were being pressed. At most, on the control panel, one could only see the countless afterimages of her fingers, just like blossom after blossom of flowers blooming, beautiful and epheral ...
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