The Legendary Mechanic, page 24
Han Xiao gave him a weird look. His injuries were so serious, if he really fell, he must have done the ‘fall a hundred times if you’re a man’ challenge.
“Let me introduce myself,” interrupted the leader.
“I am the team’s leader, Zhang Wei,” he introduced, shocking Han Xiao a third time.
“How casual is your parents’ naming sense‽ I think only Ye Qiu or Ye Fan could be worse!”
Han Xiao’s response, for some reason, caused Zhang Wei to look confused.
“You know Ye Fan from Hai Xia’s military affairs? Middle—cough—I mean, I worked with him a few times back in the hostel.”
Heavens! There really exists someone with such a godly name? That guy’s rank must be S+!
“Anyway,” continued Zhang Wei sternly. “With your inclusion, our team is back to being a five man cell. Although your position is in the backline, I still have to say this: as your background is a complete mystery, and I don’t trust your ability yet, I will continue to observe you for now. I don’t care if it’s some high-level agent who assigned you here. If you fail to meet my expectations, I will kick you out of the squad.”
Chapter 50. Rescue Mission (part 1) |
Han Xiao’s eyelid twitched.
Trust did indeed take time to be established—Zhang Wei might have been blunt, but he was, without a doubt, simply acting the part of a responsible leader. Naturally, Han Xiao was not offended at all.
However, the chances of him being kicked out were nonexistent—after all, the top brass had decided things.
Zhang Wei himself understood this fact, but, as the leader of a squad, he could not just instantly accept someone whose background was a complete mystery—the higher-ups had not provided him with any information regarding Han Xiao.
Furthermore, in his eyes, Han Xiao was still new, and it remained to be seen if he was truly capable. In their field of work, the slightest mistake could result in the gravest of consequences, so being assigned a new guy all of a sudden was not a laughing matter.
Of course, it was not that Zhang Wei looked down on newbies. However, he believed that any new agent should have to go through two or three years of training before earning the right to even be considered for secret ops.
Who the hell threw this guy to us? Do they think that we’re babysitters‽
They’re taking this far too lightly! Damn you all!
As Zhang Wei continued to examine Han Xiao, he made up his mind to ignore the repercussions and kick Han Xiao to another team if he proved unable to gel with the squad.
Meanwhile, Han Xiao did not know what was going through his mind, but he found that Zhang Wei’s eyes were slowly filling up with animosity.
Suddenly, Li Yao’s laptop flashed, prompting him to turn his neck around with much effort. His expression changed as he yelled, “There’s an urgent mission! They want us to depart now!”
“Details?” asked Zhang Wei sternly.
“Ma Qing Yang’s team was ambushed during their mission to assault a Germinal base. The higher-ups want us to provide assistance immediately. They’ll fill us in on the plane.”
“Assaulting a Germinal base?” wondered Han Xiao. He could guess roughly what had occurred, having previously given Division 13 info on three of their bases.
All three bases were situated within Stardragon territory, which was why Stardragon had been able to immediately mobilize its troops to destroy two of them. The destruction of these two bases had increased Han Xiao’s achievement progress rate to 2.0%. However, the Germinal were no fools and had clearly anticipated that the third base would be attacked as well. They had clearly set up a trap.
Zhang Wei promptly headed for the door. When he passed Han Xiao, he paused for a moment and frowned before instructing, “Li Yao, you will stay behind to provide support. Han Xiao, you are new, so this is a good chance for you. Stay with Li Yao and learn well if you want to become useful.”
Li Yao was about to say something, but he hesitated. Han Xiao smiled and simply replied, “Fine.”
As Zhang Wei did not participate in the Black Spider mission and had only received a flowery description of events from Li Ya Lin; he did not trust in Han Xiao’s ability yet. Han Xiao sighed inwardly. He understood this well.
Han Xiao pondered for a moment before holding Li Ya Lin back to pass her four magazines of High-explosive ammo.
“Consider it a gift from a friend.”
Li Ya Lin’s eyes lit up upon seeing them.
“Is this your new invention?”
Han Xiao chuckled.
“Don’t squander them—they can start quite a fire.”
…
_____________
You have triggered the E-class mission: [Rescue!]
Mission Description: Provide assistance to the secret-ops team being chased by the enemy. Your role is to assist your teammates in completing this mission.
Mission Requirement: Successfully rescue Ma Qing Yang’s squad.
Mission Rewards: 8,000 experience
Bonus Rewards: None
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8,000 experience only, lamented Han Xiao. Fitting for a backline support I guess.
“Brother Han…” said Li Yao. “Leader isn’t particularly against you or anything like that, so don’t worry about it.”
“I know,” replied Han Xiao casually, which eased Li Yao’s worries.
He then swiftly popped up three laptops and worked away at them to adjust the video and audio feeds. From the first-person footage on the screen, they could see that the trio had already boarded the aircraft.
Beneath HQ was a special railway used to quickly transport agents and staff to a landing site.
On the jet followed another team of twelve secret-ops agents, and on the way, Han Xiao, Li Ya Lin, and Li Yao made small talk, while Zhang Wei and Lambert closed their eyes in rest.
An hour later, the jet arrived at their destination.
It was a cold desert filled with long stretches of dunes, and a bright, scorching sun was hanging in the azure sky, the intense heat of which caused the air to shimmer and the ground to simmer. Upon contact with the sand, the agents’ boots instantly gave off a burnt smell.
“We have arrived,” reported Zhang Wei in a deep voice.
The trio were fully-equipped. Li Ya Lin, still with that yellow hoodie and black bodysuit, had a retractable knife by her waist, and a black bag over her back that contained the Lightweight Mecha Arm; Lambert carried ten modified Retractable Daggers and a huge, large caliber rifle; and Zhang Wei, whose equipment gave even Han Xiao a shock.
It was a powered armor suit!
Zhang Wei’s entire body was covered inside a sturdy, grayish suit of armor that spotted a few scars of battle. The helmet would have fit right in with the Middle Ages, and only had openings for vision, but the arms were modified and fitted two thick-barreled machine guns. The ammo belt was concealed within the amour, but the reload chamber was located near the thighs. On the back of the suit hung a hexagon shield of steel, reminiscent of a tortoise, and overall, the suit made Zhang Wei look like an incomparably heavy, giant clunk of iron that was designed for show.
It spurred Han Xiao’s interest.
This is the prototype for the [Combatant Armored Suit], one of the few suits available back in Version 1.0.
As the Six Nations each possessed different kinds of advanced knowledge, the suits that they engineered differed from one another.
Theseus was the nation that initiated development of the armored suit, and, sometime after the game’s launch, they made the [Combatant Armored Suit], a mini modular mobile suit—the first of its kind on Planet Aquamarine. At present, it was probably still under development, but although what Zhang Wei was wearing was just a prototype, Han Xiao wondered how Division 13 were able to acquire Theseusian technology.
In Galaxy, players who were ‘Exalted’ with Theseus could purchase the [Combatant Armored Suit] from them. They were extremely pricey, and even routine maintenance and repairs cost well over tens of thousands. It was not something that most players could afford.
As a back-line support, Han Xiao’s duty included maintenance of equipment, so Zhang Wei’s armored suit would probably fall into his charge as well.
Without encryption measures in place, Technicians were able to reverse engineer blueprints.
If the Technician already possessed the required knowledge, it would make the process faster, but even without any, it was still possible to reverse engineer a piece of machinery or technology—just that it would take much more time and require astronomically larger amounts of experience. Furthermore, the results would often come out as ‘Incomplete’.
The required knowledge for crafting the [Combatant Armored Suit] was an advanced weaponry knowledge possessed by Theseus.
Han Xiao bit his finger. If he could reverse-engineer the blueprints of the armored suit, then even if incomplete, they would still provide him with a new means of combat and boost his combat power. However, when he thought of how he could better spend the experience on the other more valuable and useful blueprints in his memory, he gave up the idea.
Li Yao spoke into the intercom. “Ma Qing Yang’s squad is about 13km away. There are 15 armored cars and one Black Harrier helicopter in pursuit. The meeting point is set on a hill 3km away. The objective will be to slow down the enemy and link up with the Ma Qing Yang’s squad. Do not engage the enemy excessively. I have already sent them the coordinates. Now, get ready.”
His instructions were clear, as befitting of a back-line supporter, functioning as a third eye to provide precise coordination and tactical advice.
The trio and the field team swiftly arrived at the hill, where they lay in wait for the enemy.
Soon after, the sound of engines began to approach, and on the vast desert plains appeared a single vehicle being chased by over a dozen others. The sound of gunfire was incessant, and behind the fleeing car was a continuous trail of smoke and blasts.
Aboard were none other than Ma Qing Yang’s squad.
“Ready!” ordered Zhang Wei sternly as he closely waited for the Germinal vehicles to come in range. “Fire!”
Suddenly, from behind the hill, a rain of metal dense enough to cover the sky descended upon the surprised Germinal agents. Bullets rang and clattered non-stop as they hit the armored vehicles.
Upon the sudden ambush, the leading Germinal vehicle immediately spun around to avoid direct hits, almost overturning as it skidded.
Chapter 51. escue Mission (part 2) |
Zhang Wei’s twin guns roared like fire-spewing dragons as they unleashed an endless stream of large-caliber bullets onto the nearest two all-terrain cars. Within the space of a few seconds, the two cars exploded into balls of flames.
Meanwhile, Lambert was showcasing his skill with the rifle. He remained still as he fired shot after shot of steel core bullets with 100% accuracy to halt the enemy’s advance.
“The reinforcements are here!”
Aboard the fleeing car, Ma Qing Yang and his teammates rejoiced. Almost the entire team had sustained injuries and were lying down.
As they neared the hill, Ma Qing Yang stuck his head out from the window of the driver seat and yelled, “Old Zhang, there’s too many of them! Quickly flee!”
Right at this moment, a strange gale of wind suddenly descended upon the rescue team’s location. The dancing sand began to form the image of a ghostly face. The sight of it was both unnerving and ominous.
“Duck!” bellowed Zhang Wei as he hurriedly dropped to the ground to roll away. As the armored suit was too heavy, he did not have many other choices of movement. Li Ya Lin and Lambert were the quickest to react, and they managed to duck to a side.
As the gale crashed onto the ground, the blast sent a number of field agents flying.
Zhang Wei suddenly felt a sharp pain throughout his mind, and his nose started to bleed. As he looked around, to his horror, the other field agents who had not been able to run away in time were all bleeding profusely from their orifices as they twitched uncontrollably.
“Mental attack!” yelled a shocked Zhang Wei. “The enemy is a superhuman!”
As he looked towards the enemy fleet to find the source of the attack, he noticed the hood of one of the cars open up, and a slender woman in a jet-black leather suit jumped out and started running towards them at an incredible speed. Her headful of red hair floated behind her, making her seem like some kind of red and black flash of lightning.
Hila’s eyes were emotionless. With a wave of a hand, another ghostly face appeared in mid-air in front of Zhang Wei. The wind wailed horrifyingly.
No, that’s not the wind!
That is the screaming of souls!
Necromastery! This was indeed Hila’s ability.
Zhang Wei’s consciousness began to grow blurry, causing him to crumple to the ground. If it were not for his strong physique, he would probably have died on the spot.
Back at Division 13, Han Xiao furrowed his brows. Pushing Li Yao to take command, he barked, “She is the Germinal’s combat commander! Quickly flee!”
Zhang Wei was about to reprimand Han Xiao for snatching command when, to his surprise, he discovered that Li Ya Lin and Lambert were unhesitatingly retreating. It appeared as though they fully trusted in Han Xiao’s judgement!
‘Is the new guy that reliable?’
Suppressing his shock, Zhang Wei gritted his teeth and stood up to activate the thrusters by his legs, allowing him to jump 5 to 6 meters a leap. As he bounded after the pair, he continued to fire cover shots towards Hila to slow her down.
Hila reached the hilltop in no time, and with another wave of her hand, a gray light flashed across the entire area. The remaining field agents instantly collapsed to the ground. There was no apparent injury on their bodies, yet all of them had ceased breathing.
Han Xiao’s expression was extremely grave. He had known all along of Hila’s true strength. It was a thing of fortune that he had not needed to face her during his escape. In Galaxy, her powers were classified as having the exceedingly rare potential of S-Class, surpassing the Heavenly level.
At present, Hila’s power was still but a fraction of what she would eventually become capable of, yet even this bit was still too overwhelming.
“She’s too fast! Li Ya Lin, it’s up to you!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Li Ya Lin turned around to face the incoming Hila. As she kicked towards her direction, a yellow burst of energy shot out that managed to push Hila back a few steps.
“Pugilist?” Hila squinted at Li Ya Lin as she clasped both hands together, conjuring an even larger ghostly face that smashed towards her.
Maintaining her composure, Li Ya Lin ducked underneath the ghostly face with a slide and managed to avoid a direct hit. As she approached Hila, she whipped out the Retractable Knife by her waist and gave a mighty cleave.
Hila’s eyes widened at the suddenness of her blow, and she did a tumble on the ground to evade.
Seizing the initiative, Li Ya Lin followed up with a series of powerful strikes with her legs: a stamp, a smash, a sweep, and a kick – the string of attacks flowing beautifully like a dancing swallow. Fast enough to create afterimages, but Li Ya Lin was certainly not just about speed. The force of her blows backed her killing intent.
Swallow Style!
On the receiving end, Hila wrapped her arms with a gray aura to strengthen them, allowing her to block each blow with them. The fact that Hila did not seem to be receiving any damage at all only went to show how far apart they were in terms of strength – Li Ya Lin specialized in close combat yet could not overwhelm her.
The exchange lasted for only a few seconds, but anything could have happened in that short span of time.
“Use the mecha arm! It’ll let you help Lambert get a chance to snipe her!”
Biting her lip, Li Ya Lin quickly inserted her left arm into the bag and pulled it out with the Lightweight Mechanical Arm equipped. With a powerful strike combining her own power with that of the mecha arm, she finally managed to break through Hila’s defenses by blowing her arms away, leaving her chest exposed.
The mecha arm followed through into her flesh!
A direct hit!
Hila’s face flashed red momentarily, and with a low harrumph brought her palms together and rubbed them slowly, and as soon as she did so, the gray aura wrapping her arms began to revolve faster and faster. Next, she threw down both arms – palms facing the ground – and, from where she stood, powerful winds began to arise, assaulting the entire surrounding!
Li Ya Lin hastily retreated backwards, but even so, her mind was still struck by the mental attack, causing her soul to feel like it was being torn apart. The pain was indescribable, and two streams of blood trickled down from Li Ya Lin’s nose as her vision seemed to turn upside-down, causing her to nearly lose her balance and fall over.
As Hila examined the familiar visage of the Lightweight Mecha Arm, she yelled in rage and shock, “How are you related to Zero‽”
‘Zero? Who?’ Li Ya Lin was bewildered.
Right at this moment, Lambert saw his opportunity and fired a shot! Hila’s expression changed at the sound of the sniper rifle, and she immediately lunged sideways to dodge while enveloping her entire body with her gray aura. The large caliber sniper rifle bullet hit her on the shoulder, sending her spinning backwards in the air – as though hit by a train at full speed.
“Zhang Wei, quickly take Li Ya Lin and run!”
Zhang Wei did not take offense at being directly called by name. It was with Han Xiao’s direction that Li Ya Lin and Lambert had managed to injure the scary woman, and he now had some trust in Han Xiao’s judgement. He hurriedly lifted Li Ya Lin in his hands and turned around to leap towards Ma Qing Yang’s vehicle.
As they retreated, the remainder of the Germinal fleet arrived at the foot of the hill, and they began to open fire. Sparks flew as the bullets deflected off Zhang Wei’s armored suit, only leaving dents and marks. Zhang Wei did not even bother to take a look behind him. All that was going through his head was that the armored suit was truly his lucky charm this day. In the past, he had always had grievances over it being too heavy, but now, it was proving to be extremely reliable.
