Ling Xiao"s gentle smile slowly disappeared as she was explaining her presumptions. That gentle dad-like aura disappeared from his body and instead, the aura he was exuding was regal and serious, very fitting for someone of such a high caliber. At first, he thought that the mineral veins were already troublesome enough. He didn"t expect his daughter to get involved in another even more troublesome matter. Compared to this matter, the mineral veins were nothing.

Ling Xiao looked at the cold-looking Ling Lan and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was convinced that his daughter was a magnet to troublesome matters. No matter where she went, she would always meet some sort of trouble.

He needed to become stronger. If not, he wouldn"t be able to handle all the problems his daughter threw at him. He didn"t want his image as an omnipotent father to crash and burn.

"My words are still the same. Leave Mai"er Fa to me. If you can, leave Mai"er Fa and come back home." Ling Xiao believed that his daughter wouldn"t act rashly but her attractiveness towards troubles might cause them to look for her. It was safer for her to just stay at home.

He glanced coldly at Li Lanfeng who was wearing a mask and standing beside his daughter. He was the culprit. He was the one who led his precious daughter his astray. His instincts were right. This person was "dangerous" for his daughter.

Ling Xiao"s impression of Li Lanfeng dropped drastically. He never interfered with his daughter"s life but if he could, he wanted to force him away from Ling Lan. Ling Xiao ascertained the fact that he didn"t like Li Lanfeng once again.

Ling Lan shook her head decisively. "Father, I"ll not go back before the mecha tournament ends. However, I"ve asked Lanfeng to give up his mission. We won"t interfere with this matter voluntarily. We"ll wait for your notice."

Ling Xiao understood what Ling Lan wanted to say. If they continued provoking their opponent, they might attack them.

Ling Xiao saw the firm look in Ling Lan"s eyes and knew that he couldn"t force her on the matter. This was Ling Lan"s belief. If he stopped her, she might get affected mentally. It would also affect her growth in the future.

"Be careful then." Ling Xiao could only end their conversation with this sentence.

After her daughter"s face disappeared on his screen, Ling Xiao continued staring at the black virtual screen for a moment before he released a long drawn-out sigh.

"It looked like I have to hasten my pace." Ling Xiao"s gaze turned ruthless. He wanted to do things slowly but the information Ling Lan brought back again and again allowed him to understand that he didn"t have the time anymore.

He knew that one of the reasons why Ling Lan didn"t want to come back was because she didn"t want to affect his plan. Most people already knew that Ling Lan went out of the Federation. Once she returned, a lot of attention would be placed on them again, increasing the pressure on his shoulders, making him not be able to carry out his plan.

Ten days pa.s.sed. Within these ten days, the normal ace mecha masters who partic.i.p.ated in this tournament got gradually eliminated. Besides some extremely lucky ace mecha operators, most of those that remained were mecha operators who were close to becoming an imperial operator.

In one of the matches, two ace mecha masters got worked up and started attacking each other"s vital points without caring about the rules of the tournament. In the end, one was seriously injured while the other died in battle. The mecha tournament turned b.l.o.o.d.y all of a sudden.

However, this was what attracted gamblers. The wagers and stakes started increasing. To them, only life-or-death battles were exciting enough to battle high.

In a special room, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran laid on their beds opposite each other. Compared to ten days ago, they seemed even more tired.

"Our opponents are getting stronger," Mu Chaoran said indifferently.

"Yes. After those normal ace operators left, only the elites remained. Every single match is hard." Tang Ningyu relaxed his fingers. During one of his match today, he fell into the trap of his sly opponent. Fortunately, his hand speed was above the normal ace operator"s level so he managed to dodge a lethal attack due to his extreme hand speed. If not, he might have lost.

He would not only lose, but he might also die. That attack was aimed at his vital point. If it hit him, he would be seriously injured.

Tang Ningyu managed to survive but he was injured too. The nerves on his fingers got hurt. When he moved his fingers, he would feel a stinging pain on fingers.

There were still many matches to fight tomorrow so he must recover tonight. If not, he would be in a dire state tomorrow. Fortunately, Mai"er Fa didn"t take away their belongings. They restricted their actions and locked them up in a special room where they couldn"t escape using their domain energy. However, they still have their recovery agents. They managed to survive until now due to these recovery agents from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.

But, the recovery agent supply was limited. Tang Ningyu appeared agitated and confused. They had lost contact with the Flying Dragon Special Forces for ten days. By right, the Flying Dragon Special Forces should have sent people to rescue them. Why didn"t they receive any news from the Flying Dragon Special Forces yet?

Tang Ningyu knew the capabilities of the hackers from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. If they wanted to send any information out, they would and could find a way. The only possibility was, Chief Lin, who helped them with their fake ident.i.ty, didn"t know that they had disappeared. Hence, the Flying Dragon Special Forces didn"t know that something had happened to them.

However, was this even possible? Based on what their superiors told them, Chief Lin was the most trustworthy person among all the people that worked with the Flying Dragon Special Forces. If such a trustworthy person betrayed the Flying Dragon Special Forces…

Tang Ningyu"s heart turned cold. Mu Chaoran had also thought about the same thing. He had this thought much earlier than Tang Ningyu.

"We can"t wait for death." Tang Ningyu understood the hand gestures Mu Chaoran was doing secretly. This was a game they invented when they were bored. However, it was put to use now.

"But, there are enemies all around us. We have no chance." Tang Ningyu used hand gestures to reply to him. At the same time, he talked about the brutal fight that he had today. They started exchanging experiences just like last time.

"Can"t you tell that our opponents had gotten more ruthless?" Mu Chaoran continued chatting with Tang Ningyu but his hand gestures showed how he truly felt. "They wanted to kill us now. They hope that we will die in the arena."