Being locked onto meant that Leiting No.9"s mecha had already been fixed as a target for Lingtian No.7"s long-range weapon. If he could not break free of the opponent"s target-lock before the other fired, Leiting No.9"s mecha was sure to be hit. And with the 17% power he had left, even if Leiting No.9 activated his mecha"s beam shield, it would not be enough to withstand one long-range attack from a mecha of the same level.

Right then, Leiting No.9 realised that he had been set up by the opponent from the start. Even his desperate retreat had been calculated — it was not that the opponent could not chase after him; the opponent had long decided how he would deal with him next.

"Boom!" Lingtian No.7 calmly pulled the trigger. The beam gun in his hand released a powerful beam of energy in Leiting No.9"s direction.

Leiting No.9"s eyes bulged, perhaps out of anger, and there was actually a trace of redness in them. He yelled, "Dodge, d*mmit!"

The battle had just begun — he did not want to be the first person to fail and leave the scene. Furthermore, he could not accept leaving after being completely dominated by the opponent. When he had first seen Lingtian No.7, he had thought that he would be able to finish the other off easily. The opponent"s reckless manner in charging at him drew his contempt, leading him to believe that this operator who was an advanced mecha warrior like him was just an impulsive boor. How could this kind of simple-minded mecha operator be his opponent?

Yes, from the beginning, he had underestimated his opponent. He had loosened his guard, and so had not taken time to seriously plan and strategize during the fight, only blindly attacking from long-range. Even when his first shot had struck air, he had just a.s.sumed that the opponent had gotten lucky, and he had not chosen to pull away as soon as he could. This was his greatest failing, and his subsequent attacks had been an even greater display of idiocy. His foolishness had given the opponent the opportunity to draw in close ... all the advantage he had at the start was lost in one go, and he was thrust into a dire situation in the blink of an eye.

Leiting No.9 was filled with regrets — if he could do it all again, he definitely would not let the opponent draw so close, because he was a long-range attacker ...

A loud "Kaboom!" rang out. Lingtian No.7"s beam shot unerringly struck Leiting No.9. Despite his desperate struggles, Leiting No.9 had not been able to salvage the situation. His entire mecha exploded instantly, becoming countless flaming parts in the air, scattering in different directions.

At the moment his mecha exploded, Leiting No.9 was declared dead by the mainframe and chased out of Mecha World. He needed to wait for the penalty for death to pa.s.s before he could log into Mecha World again and choose a new mecha and start over.

"F*ck, from discovery to the end of the fight, it only took a little more than a minute? Isn"t that way too fast?" The spectating cadets were all gobsmacked. For context, it should be known that a fight between mecha of the same level was unlikely to be ended without at least 10 minutes to half an hour. After all, both sides were of about roughly equal strength, it was very difficult for either side to defeat the other.

Of course, if the winner of this fight had been Leiting No.9, the cadets might still have been able to justify it. Lingtian No.7 was a junior after all, without much battle experience. If he had panicked, it would have been no surprise for him to be killed in a split second. However, it was precisely the newly established Lingtian Mecha Clan which had won this first encounter ... the cadets really could not find any reason which could help them make sense of this reality.

Just as the cadets were mired in confusion, seated in the VIP viewing room, Tang Yu"s eyes held a trace of a smile. He could see things very clearly — Lingtian No.7 had been able to finish this match so swiftly because he had utilised the opponent"s psychology well. It should be said that, from the very moment the two sides had met, Lingtian No.7 had already been laying his trap.

"This fight was well done." The experienced princ.i.p.al naturally could see the intricacy of this fight as well. A gratified smile appeared on his face — he was extremely pleased that such an outstanding student with both brains and brawn had emerged from the academy.

"Yes. Almost taking all of the opponent"s possible reactions into consideration ... Leiting No.9 underestimated his opponent from the very start. Of course, this effect was partly encouraged by Lingtian No.7 on purpose. Lingtian No.7 ... truly a mecha operator with a tactical mind," said Tang Yu, smiling as well.

At this time, he had already decided that regardless of whether Lingtian No.7 could transfer to the Mecha Piloting specialization in the end, he would still train this talented youth. The other"s combat style was really very similar to his; for the first time, the notion of taking in a disciple stirred in Tang Yu"s heart. Yes, the present Tang Yu not only wanted to take Lin Zhong-qing in as a student, but even wanted to make the other his true disciple so he could eventually inherit his mantle.

"You"ve really been tempted." Tang Yu"s expression caused the princ.i.p.al to chuckle knowingly. Ever since Tang Yu had transferred to the First Men"s Military Academy to be an instructor, even though he had taken countless gifted students under his tutelage, he had never ever considered taking in a true disciple. And now, the other had obviously been tempted. This made the princ.i.p.al extremely happy. It should be known that it was extremely difficult to find a true disciple that one found suitable. Not only did the candidate have to be talented, they had to catch the instructor"s fancy, and there was also an element of serendipity to it all.

Even if Tang Yu had felt that Qiao Ting, Ling Lan, Qi Long, and the rest were all abnormally gifted prodigy mecha operators, because he had not felt a sense of affinity with any of them, he had not been moved to take them in as true disciples. Only Lin Zhong-qing had caught Tang Yu"s eyes, prompting him to start thinking about taking the other in under his sect for focused cultivation.

"Hn. I think, if I have such a disciple, my master will also be happy for me." The princ.i.p.al"s words made Tang Yu"s expression even warmer. Since he had been moved, then he should immediately take action. Otherwise, this disciple he had decided on might be s.n.a.t.c.hed away by someone else if he delayed. Tang Yu had noticed that Lingtian No.7"s exceptional performance had already drawn out admiring gazes from quite a number of the instructors around him ...

"Haha, then I should congratulate you." Seeing that Tang Yu was about to obtain a satisfactory disciple, the princ.i.p.al was also very happy for this disciple of his old friend. Frankly, for a period of time, the princ.i.p.al had been very worried for Tang Yu. He was afraid that the knowledge and techniques of Tang Yu"s sect would be lost due to Tang Yu"s high standards. Mind you, someone as exceptional as Qiao Ting had still been unable to move Tang Yu. The princ.i.p.al had even believed at one point that there would never be a child who would move Tang Yu in this world. Unexpectedly, several years after that, this person had still finally appeared, and his appearance was so sudden but also so matter of fact.

Lingtian No.7 finished off Leiting No.9 so simply, and then, amidst the audience"s exclamations, he continued to pilot his mecha to head towards his original intended destination. Very soon, he met up with two other members of Lingtian. Unlike Lin Zhong-qing"s misfortune, the other two Lingtian Mecha Clan members had come here unhindered, without encountering anyone from Leiting. After the three of them met up, they seemed to have a brief discussion, and after another minute of rest, the three mecha arranged themselves in a triangular formation, chose a direction, and departed swiftly.

This purposeful a.s.sembly of Lingtian was occurring at the other places as well. Due to the actions of Lingtian, there was now a higher chance of them encountering Leiting mecha on this large composite map of desert area and oasis land. In the next ten minutes or so, several clashes between Lingtian and Leiting broke out all across the map.

Both teams incurred losses in these clashes, but overall, Leiting"s losses were a little greater. In these fights, they lost five members while Lingtian only lost three.

"I didn"t expect the fighting to be so intense right from the start." The spectating cadets felt their blood begin to boil with excitement. Originally, a majority of students had favoured the Leiting Mecha Clan, but now they also began taking a shine to the Lingtian Mecha Clan. There were even many people who changed their minds and began hoping that the ultimate victors of this match would be the Lingtian Mecha Clan.

Of course, they knew that this was just wishful thinking. With the ace operator Qiao Ting in their ranks, Leiting would be able to turn things around even if Qiao Ting was the only one left on their side in the end. There was still no one in Lingtian capable of contending with Qiao Ting"s strength — even their three special-cla.s.s operators would not be able to change this outcome.

Despite knowing that Leiting was certain to win, what could have changed the minds of the spectating cadets so drastically within these ten minutes? This was because in the fights within these ten minutes, the Lingtian Mecha Clan"s members performed much better than the members of Leiting. The three members of Lingtian who had been defeated and forced to leave had thoroughly convinced the spectating cadets with their indomitable spirit.

These three members who had been "sacrificed" could not actually be said to be defeated. Two of the three had taken down their opponent with them under disadvantaged conditions, so Leiting had not gained anything from their defeat. What was even more surprising was that, though the partic.i.p.ants were all advanced mecha warriors, anyone who paid attention could tell that this third member of Lingtian was clearly the weakest of the 24 people on the field. And his luck was even worse — the Leiting member he encountered was very experienced; among the 12 members of Leiting on the field, his strength ranked in the top 5. With such a large gap between the two, everyone thought that the Leiting mecha would defeat this member easily.

However, under this sort of obvious disadvantage, the Lingtian member had actually fought till the opponent"s mecha had been half-damaged. Although he was still defeated in the end and had been unable to take the Leiting member down with him, all the spectators knew that the opponent was no longer able to continue fighting. A half-damaged mecha would be easily eradicated by any single member of Lingtian on the field. In other words, although Leiting officially only lost five members on the scoreboard, in reality, they had lost six members. That one lucky survivor was actually just a partic.i.p.ant in name now, unable to contribute anything for his team, and he may even become a burden on his team.

"The members of Lingtian are too savage." The spectating cadets were thrilled by Lingtian"s methods and tenacity in taking their opponents down with them even if they perished, but at the same time, they also viewed it with trepidation. On the battlefield, this kind of opponent was the worst kind to encounter — even if one"s strength was a hair better than the opponent, there was no guarantee of winning unscathed.

In the meantime, the moment he had entered the map, Leiting"s team leader Qiao Ting had done exactly as Ling Lan had, carefully observing the terrain around him. When he found that it was an endless desert plain interspersed with gra.s.sland, he felt a thrill of joy pa.s.s through his heart. He was well aware how advantageous this map was to them seniors. It could be said that they had used this map many times before and basically knew which areas had traps, which spots would prompt accidental situations, and which areas made good hiding places ... this made him even more confident of victory.

However, his good mood was quickly interrupted. One minute later, he was notified by the mainframe that the Leiting Mecha Clan had already lost one member, dropping their member count from 12 to 11.