As Tang Yu"s group, which had been providing support to the frontlines from the back via long-range attacks all this while, consisted of either ace or special-cla.s.s mecha, they received news of the new batch of incoming enemy mecha a step earlier than the other regular mecha.

Tang Yu swiftly locked onto an enemy mecha and zoomed in onto its image on his screens. When he saw the familiar outer forms of the mecha, Tang Yu"s face paled involuntarily. He then quickly chose another few mecha from the incoming enemy team at random, zooming in on them in succession, and found that a majority of these enemy mecha were ace mecha and special-cla.s.s mecha, at a ratio of 1 ace to 4 special-cla.s.s mecha ... their numbers were as high as 500 mecha!

Tang Yu knew that this was likely the enemy"s last resort, a signal that the final showdown of this battle was about to begin!

"Instructors of the academy at special-cla.s.s operator status and above, draw in towards my location immediately ..." As the instructor with the highest military rank, Tang Yu was decisive, instantly connecting to the internal commlink of the military academy instructors to issue this order.

The instructors, who had initially been scattered around the campus, heard Tang Yu"s command and quickly stopped shooting, operating their mecha in Tang Yu"s direction. In less than a minute, these experienced instructors had all a.s.sembled by Tang Yu"s side.

Tang Yu shared the news he had received with all the instructors, splitting the instructors into several teams at the same time. He also told them that as soon as these enemy mecha entered the lower air range of planet Newline, they needed to surge forth and meet the enemy.

On the ground, the ones defending the dormitory district were all the armoured ground forces of the Federation. As soon as the flames of battle spread out to scorch the ground, the first ones to suffer would be these warriors. This was why Tang Yu had decided to bring the battlefield into the air. Moreover, the dormitory district was right behind the armoured forces — inside were all those defenceless academy cadets. For the sake of the students" safety, Tang Yu would not allow a mecha fight to break out there.

All the instructors knew that this was an extremely unfavourable battle for them, because the number of ace operators among the ground forces defending planet Newline was just too low. Even if they counted themselves in as well, their numbers were still a tad weaker than that of the invading enemy.

Right at this moment, Qiao Ting, who had also rushed over and was now aware of the situation, asked anxiously, "Instructor Tang Yu, what should we do?"

"Continue to work with the ground forces and provide long-range a.s.sistance!" Tang Yu did not dare to let Qiao Ting fight with them — once they went up against the enemy crowd of ace mecha, even he would not be able to guarantee his own safety, much less Qiao Ting"s. For the students" safety, he felt that it would be better to keep them behind the lines of the ground forces.

Tang Yu"s order was not received well by Qiao Ting. He was an ace operator himself! He should be a bit stronger than the instructors who were still special-cla.s.s operators, right? If they could fight, then why couldn"t he go too? He was about to argue his case when Tang Yu barked, "Qiao Ting, obey my orders!"

Familiar with Tang Yu"s character, Qiao Ting knew that Tang Yu had already made up his mind not to let him onto the battlefield. Continuing to plead was pointless, so he gritted his teeth and said sulkily, "Roger that, Instructor Tang Yu!"

The enemy"s descent was not fast but it was not slow either — five minutes later, the first of the enemies officially entered the lower airs.p.a.ce of the planet. Seeing this, Tang Yu ordered, "Attack!"

Command issued, Tang Yu was the first to charge into the fray. He revved his main engine and piloted his mecha to soar into the sky. Behind him, the instructors all swooped towards the descending enemies under his lead. Two batches of mecha — one from above, one from below — finally met in the air, 100 metres off the ground, and began their fight ...

"Regiment Commander, what should we do now?" Seeing that Qiao Ting had not followed his instructor"s orders to retreat to the backline of the ground forces, still standing rooted in place, a member by his side could not help but ask.

"At this kind of dangerous moment, how can we hide behind our instructors?" said Qiao Ting, pumped up. "I want to fight! I want to protect our academy! Those who want to fight, follow me. Those who want to obey the instructors and stay here can stay. I will not force anyone!"

Qiao Ting"s words caused his team members around him to fall silent. At this time, Qiao Ting"s most loyal defender stood out once more in support to say, "The regiment commander is right. Now is the most critical moment for our military academy. How can we be cowards and hide behind the instructors? I will go with the regiment commander."

Seeing the other members continue to remain silent, his tone was scornful as he said, "Have you all forgotten the oath you swore before the military flag when you first entered the military academy? Those who don"t even have the guts to protect their own academy are not worthy of piloting mecha!"

Many of the members were unable to accept this accusation; provoked, they all spoke up, "I"ll go!" "Me too!" "And me!" Eleven members shouted in near unison.

In the end, there were only three left who still remained silent. Qiao Ting asked them coldly, "You all plan to stay behind?"

After another beat of silence, one of the three finally opened his mouth. "Instructor Tang Yu told us to stay here. I think we should listen to the instructor. The first lesson we learned was to obey orders from our superiors and not to act on our own impulses."

Qiao Ting"s gaze narrowed at these words, his entire aura turning frigid. The other regiment members sensed something strange in the air; just as one of the other members were about to try and counsel those three, Qiao Ting said, "In that case, you three can stay here." That said, he turned and said to the twelve members who wanted to go with him and said, "The rest of you, follow me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qiao Ting was the first to pilot his mecha in a sprint towards the inner regions of the military academy. The twelve members dared not say anything, immediately controlling their mecha in pursuit. Very soon, Qiao Ting"s group of 13 had been swallowed by the night, leaving the range of the dormitory district.

The three people left behind watched as Qiao Ting"s figure disappeared. The mecha who had responded to Qiao Ting suddenly slumped as tension bled out of its frame, almost losing his footing. The other two reflexively tugged on his arms to support him, thus preventing the other from falling down.

"Just now, I really thought the regiment commander would fly off the handle," said the unsteady member with a wry smile.

"Me too!" The two mecha supporting him had felt the same.

"I"m worried whether the regiment commander is just biding his time to deal with us later 1 ?" asked one of the mecha worriedly.

"If we are all still alive then, definitely. The regiment commander will never let us go for defying him. However, if we are lucky enough to survive, I plan to quit Leiting." That member who had spoken up against Qiao Ting said determinedly.

His words shocked the other two mecha beside him. Mind you, once someone quit from Leiting, they would be viewed by the whole Leiting Mecha Clan as deserters. They would definitely find their every step constricted within the military academy.

"The exams that need to be taken have all been taken anyhow. At that time, I"ll just request to be sent to some unexplored territory for practical training. By the time I return, it would already be time to enlist ..." That person was not making this decision blindly. He had long prepared for this eventuality; this was also what had given him the courage to defy Qiao Ting"s order.

"The regiment commander will go to the Third Division. This is already something that has been finalised. He"s entering directly, exempt from being a.s.sessed. I heard this was approved personally by the Third Marshal," exclaimed another regiment member enviously. This was definitely a glorious matter. It was said that only General Ling Xiao had ever enjoyed such a distinction back in the past. Back then, it had been the Second Marshal, now the First Marshal, who had taken a shine to General Ling Xiao and personally appointed and approved his enlistment into his own army division without going through the regular a.s.sessments.

"You can"t enlist with the Third Division anymore. You might not even be able to enlist with any of the divisions on friendly terms with the Third." Even as cadets, they knew that the army divisions had their respective factions. Once Qiao Ting established himself in the Third Division, if they enlisted with any other divisions within the same faction, their lives would not be easy.

"I will enlist with the 23rd Division," declared that person with conviction. "I"m uncertain about the other divisions, but the 23rd Division, General Ling Xiao"s division, will definitely have nothing to do with the Third Division. Besides, Boss Huo and his gang are also at the 23rd Division. Perhaps the regiment commander might become the second General Ling Xiao in future, a true elite among elites, but I still think following Boss Huo is a much more rea.s.suring and secure decision."

Regiment Commander Qiao Ting was just too proud — once he had made a decision, he was not able to accept any advice or dissent from others. Even though this could be taken as the confidence a successful person needed to have, he felt that Qiao Ting was overconfident. This meant nothing good for the future development of the regiment commander, and this was also why he had used Instructor Tang Yu"s orders as a legitimate excuse to refuse to follow Qiao Ting.

His words made the other two fall into silent contemplation. A few seconds later, one of them said with a wry smile, "Let me see for a while longer. After all, that"s all things that haven"t happened yet. Let"s just focus on how to survive right now."

His words were extremely reasonable. The three of them no longer had any mood to chat. If they did not manage to survive this battle, all talk of the future was moot. Very soon, they had piloted their mecha back to the rear of the ground forces. They began to carry out their previous duty — shooting their beam guns from far away, helping to keep the enemies attacking the forces at the front at bay.

As they fought, the other member who had not uttered a peep all this while secretly connected to the commlink of the member who had said he wanted to enlist with the 23rd Division and said, "When you apply for enlistment with the 23rd Division, let me know."

Hearing this, the member who had argued back against Qiao Ting smiled. It looked like he was not the only one who saw the problem with Qiao Ting ...

Right then, on Qiao Ting"s end, he was swiftly leading his twelve members in a sprint away from the dormitory district. Qiao Ting was confident, but he also knew that they were surrounded by enemy mecha. For them inexperienced cadets to find a lucky break in the chaos was impossible. If they wanted to make any impact with their combat power and have a fighting chance as cadets, they would need to get further away from the main battlefield.

Qiao Ting believed that there were sure to be scattered enemy mecha at the other areas of the military academy. And Qiao Ting"s target was precisely these isolated enemy mecha — this was also why he wanted to bring his twelve members away for a change of battlefield.

Unknowingly, the mecha team Qiao Ting was leading and the mecha team Ling Lan was leading in retreat right at that moment were actually travelling on the same route. However, one was moving closer to the dormitory district in order to ensure their safety, while the other had chosen to distance themselves from the dormitory district in order to gain battle merits ...

The battle continued to rage on, and seemed to be intensifying as the fighting progressed. Both the warriors of the Federation and the instructors of the academy were completely embroiled in the whirlwind of battle. Other than fighting, they could only fight and fight and fight some more. As long as they did not die, they continued to fight without stopping. No one could tell when this battle would end ...