Chapter 81: Chapter 81: That Mecha Is Cheating
Editor: Noodletown Translations
Sitting in the cockpit, Mu Fan had no idea that the military personnel were already saluting him. Similarly, the military had no idea that the real Marcus was still unconscious in the escape pod.
“Enemy mechas approaching,” Black accurately alerted him, marking the four Reapers on the screen. Mu Fan looked over; the combination of a single-barrel shoulder cannon and a magnetic vibration blade on the right hand belonged to the four identical mechas that broke away from the chaotic area and were heading toward him.
Engage! Mu Fan directly controlled the RX-16 to assume an offensive stance; the current goal was to head to No.1 City Zone, not get held up here, and preserve the mecha’s energy reserves as much as possible.
“Reapers, adventure-level mechas, close combat power rated A, agility rated A. Be careful of their magnetic vibration blades, it’s their signature weapon capable of effectively damaging mecha energy systems,” Black introduced the enemy mechas’ information as Mu Fan dashed forward.
Getting closer. These were four adventure-level mechas, incomparable to the four travel-level mechas from before. Mu Fan’s eyes fixed on the positions of the four mechas on the screen, while his brain worked at high speed, calculating the evasive routes he should take. His fingers danced on the control panel, and the mecha took its first chaotic step.
...
Already within effective range of the shoulder cannon, Mu Fan saw the closest Reaper light up with a white glow at the shoulder, but his RX-16 was already executing a five-key chaotic move. Mu Fan unknowingly compressed the 1-second charge command into 0.85 seconds, resulting in an explosion behind him—a successful dodge!
“Wolf, you basket case, missed the first shot with that shoulder cannon, couldn’t even hit a military tortoise!” a mocking voice came through the Reaper’s channel. In the mouths of the Star Thieves, the RX-16 was just a tortoise. Whenever the Federation military brought it out, it was essentially used as cannon fodder to attract fire. These Star Thieves, who battled year-round, loved targeting these tortoises; however, when the Federation had the upper hand, they hated these tortoises the most.
But now, a solitary mecha had actually charged over, and at such close range, it was missed; they might as well crash into something! The Reaper pilot who had just fired a shot, called “Wolf” among the Star Thieves, had a flushed face. He fired again, trying to cut down the charge, but in his view, the heavy mecha once again twisted bizarrely, dodging the shot.
Wolf’s tone was filled with disbelief: “Damn, can’t even hit it!”
“Ah hahaha!”
“Wolf, just quit piloting, this isn’t for you.”
“Can’t even hit a target when firing, you should just leave the group and turn over a new leaf.”
Sarcastic voices rang out; the Star Thieves never spared face when mocking. Wolf’s poor performance today gave everyone ample opportunity to ridicule.
Wolf glared sharply, wondering if he’d really lost his edge these past two days. This was definitely below his usual standard.
“Closing in, 800 meters,” Black reported the distance to the first Reaper to Mu Fan. This mecha lacked long-range firepower and was so cumbersome that Mu Fan had to get close to it.
Seeing the mecha fire two more shoulder cannon shots, Wolf felt embarrassed and immediately yelled in the channel: “Damn it, the opponent has no long-range firepower, hurry up and whittle it down! If you’re so great, you do it!”
“Hahaha!”
“Too angry to think straight.”
“Brothers, it’s our turn.”
The voices of the other three Star Thieves burst into laughter in the audio channel. Shortly after, a second mecha not far behind Wolf also entered the effective range of the shoulder cannon.
“Watch me, Cai Lang.”
“Boom boom!” A two-shot burst from the shoulder cannon entered a fifteen-second cooldown period. That Star Thief immediately activated combo mode, and two spinning white glows shot toward Mu Fan.
“Mu Fan, the control area from E1 to J6 on the left side of the control panel controls the left arm. Now you need to use your left hand to specifically control this. Use the shield for effective defense. The remaining key area will have chaotic actions controlled entirely by your right hand! Start trying asynchronous control!” Black suddenly made a request, and although Mu Fan hadn’t comprehended it, his hands instinctively followed!
With a bang, a shell detonated on the shield, halting the RX-16’s attack.
“See that, Cai Lang! Ah hahaha.” The arrogant laughter from the audio made Wolf’s face drop further, not understanding why the mecha didn’t dodge strangely this time.
“Why?” Although the shield had defended successfully, the kinetic energy of the shell had been entirely absorbed due to the straight charge and shield raise. Mu Fan felt the tremendous impact transmitted into the cockpit. Seeing the energy shield drop by another 3%, Mu Fan complained to Black with heartache.
“Close combat mecha teaching action number ninety-seven—Shield Defense. Real combat is the best training, and the shield that Sword and Shield Mecha rely on for survival is the defensive core. Training your grasp of the shield can improve survival rates. The above is excerpted from the ‘Dingchuan Academy Mecha Textbook Teaching Content Practice’,” Black recited a passage that nearly broke Mu Fan’s Dark Breath state.
“Does this kind of defense really increase survival rates? Look at the rate the energy is dropping,” Mu Fan painstakingly used his right hand to complete a three-key chaotic sequence, maneuvering the mecha to dodge another shell before pressing forward.
“In ten seconds, three mechas will fire simultaneously, and in seventeen seconds, four shoulder cannons will fire simultaneously,” Black declared, making Mu Fan fall silent. With increased long-range firepower, the difficulty of evasion would multiply.
Both were adventure-level mechas, and Mu Fan couldn’t make this mecha perform actions far beyond specifications.
“Try adjusting the angle; adjust the angle of the shell and shield contact. At 90 degrees, damage is maximized; theoretically, as close to 0 degrees as possible minimizes damage. Just now, your contact angle was ninety degrees, so energy consumption was high,” Black presented precise theoretical data. Recalling the moment just before impact, Mu Fan realized the shield was directly facing the shell; he committed Black’s words to memory.
Indeed, real combat is the best training; perhaps no school has ever had a precedent for directly teaching students courses in a life-or-death context. In this regard, the great Lord Black surpassed the Federation’s current level of mecha education.
Can’t dodge properly? Then truly the end.
Black still held a card, ready to forcibly take over the operating system and execute an escape with chaotic steps generated by an intelligent life form, should Mu Fan truly no longer hold out.
Under Black’s sudden pressure, Mu Fan surprisingly began to experiment with shield defense.
Wolf saw the cooldown end and fired a shoulder cannon shot; now at five hundred meters, the system successfully locked on, and fired!
Mu Fan seemed to be multitasking, operating left and right hands differently. The left hand controlled shield defense, while the right controlled the legs for evasive maneuvers.
Probably due to his earlier attempts, to the four Reapers, the military RX-16’s movements suddenly seemed erratic compared to its previously smooth and continuous actions.
“What’s with Marcus? Did he decide to give up?” A large group inside the mountains watched the heroic and tragic mecha. Seeing the shoulder cannon flash white again, they were deeply worried.
But soon, an astonishing scene unfolded—an RX-16 casually swatted, managing to flick a spinning incoming shell away.
Yes, that’s right, flicked it away!
Mu Fan was meticulously adjusting the angle. If not for being in the Dark Breath state, he probably couldn’t have managed asynchronous operations with both hands. As he controlled the mecha during the charge, his left hand quickly completed six groups of four-key commands.
“65 degrees,” Black reported a number.
So the RX-16 extended its left arm, constantly adjusting the shield to a small direction, finally colliding with the shell at a 65-degree angle. When the oblique angle hit the shield, the shell deformed, but due to the force angle issues, that shell just… ricocheted.
“Wolf, you could go into acting; seeing a mecha bat away a shell, I can’t believe I fell for it!” A companion’s voice echoed in the channel.
“Bullshit! That… that mecha must be cheating!” Wolf was stumbling over his words; it was either he was an actor or the opponent was the director.
“You could cheat too. Are we playing a duel here? Idiot Wolf! You’ll explain to the leader yourself.”
“Damn!”
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PS: Many thanks to reader “DGcyc” for the 100 coin reward! Thanks to reader “Soviet Armored Infantry” for the 10 coin reward!