Ms. Su suddenly understood. “So Cheng Feng’s mech configuration was designed from the start to come apart.”
“Yes.” Mr. Luo turned his light-brain interface toward his co-commentator.
Even after a manual operated mech lost several specific components, its overall operation wasn’t critically affected.
Cheng Feng had concentrated the mech’s primary functions – reconnaissance, acceleration, offense, and defense – into the central core module. Of course, that amounted to a stripped-down version of the mech. If it really fell apart to that extent, it would have almost no ability to withstand Breaking Army’s attacks.
“What a bold approach,” Ms. Su said, momentarily at a loss. “But… this can’t be used more than once, can it? This should be Cheng Feng’s trump card.”
Creative as this method was, it clearly wasn’t a path others could easily replicate.
Manual operation pilots already struggle to operate even a single mech perfectly – how could anyone possibly manage multiple detached components at the same time? Piloting one mech already requires processing an overwhelming amount of information, especially for manual pilots.
Could their fingers even handle that level of strain? Could their brain process everything in time?
Not to mention, splitting a mech into separate parts was essentially a form of self-crippling. It might look more flexible on the surface, but in reality it sacrificed many crucial functions.
It was a case of “2 – 1 < 1.”
It had to be said – the special setup of the jamming zone had indeed disrupted Cheng Feng’s plan.
Otherwise, with multiple red dots circling around Breaking Army, she could have effectively disabled Xiang Yunjian’s radar detection unilaterally. It would’ve been highly effective for confusing the enemy. Unfortunately, that advantage was gone now.
Ms. Su shook her head, clearly pessimistic. “Cheng Feng revealed her trump card this early because all of her earlier attempts at probing failed. So what does she do after this?”
Mr. Luo smiled. “A trump card… well, until the match is truly over, you never really know whether someone has played all of theirs.”
…
Xiang Yunjian checked the condition of every part of his mech. It was slightly worse than he had expected.
When a manually operated mech’s defensive shell or firing rails are damaged, those flaws can often be concealed through transformation. So although Cheng Feng’s 42% damage level looked severe, most of its critical functions were actually still intact.
But Breaking Army’s left arm was genuinely half-disabled, with only close-combat capability and some support for weapon switching remaining.
Still, it wasn’t too serious.
Xiang Yunjian mounted the cannon onto his other arm and, without pausing, immediately pursued Cheng Feng toward the area she had just retreated from.
On the map from the god’s-eye view, three separate markers moved erratically around the moderately sized battlefield.
Since neither side could rely on radar to pinpoint the other’s location, the battle once again fell into a situation similar to before – they simply couldn’t find each other for the time being.
And yet, every so often, the two would narrowly pass by each other.
That hair-trigger tension – where a clash could erupt at any second – left the audience unable to fully breathe out or relax.
Five minutes later, subtle changes began to appear in the flow of the match.
Cheng Feng understood the terrain far better than Xiang Yunjian did.
She also had a little scout helping her gather information and infer Xiang Yunjian’s position.
On top of that, with part of its weight-bearing structure removed, the manually controlled mech was now clearly moving faster than before.
At the same time, because Xiang Yunjian needed to conserve firepower and couldn’t recklessly destroy the map environment, another almost cheat-like function of manual-operated mechs came into play.
As long as Cheng Feng ran through the same route once, confirmed the details and exact distances in the control system, and then entered the relevant code, she could directly set up a program and switch the mech to automatic movement.
Her main mech began effectively avoiding Xiang Yunjian while repeatedly predicting Breaking Army’s location, using the separated mini weapons cache to launch ambushes.
With a more complete grasp of the battlefield information, the initiative gradually began shifting in Cheng Feng’s favor.
The audience, however, failed to appreciate these subtle shifts. All they could see was the manual-operated mech tearing through the streets at breakneck speed.
Despite its massive frame, it was boldly drifting around corners. Even with Breaking Army nowhere behind in pursuit, it maintained blistering speed, occasionally throwing in transformation maneuvers to stabilize its center of gravity.
The sheer skill on display made it feel as though Cheng Feng wasn’t here for a mech battle at all, but for some life-or-death racing competition.
At a time like this, Cheng Feng was still showing off her technique?
Had the hands of manual-operated mech pilots really become that expendable?
Zhong Yijie silently summed it up in his head: reckless, arrogant, and shortsighted.
The three cardinal sins for military university students – and the exact three things instructors always wanted to hammer into his skull every time they saw him.
As for recklessness… when had he, Zhong Yijie, ever been able to compare to Cheng Feng?
Zhong Yijie glanced at the person beside him but didn’t dare say anything. The other person remained focused on the screen, ignoring his look.
But a spectator behind him voiced exactly what he was thinking.
“Okay, I’m no expert, but even I can say this: the kid’s still too young.”
“Why does Cheng Feng keep running? Isn’t she going to take a break? Even if Breaking Army just stands there doing nothing, won’t she exhaust herself at this rate?”
“Since Cheng Feng’s going for sneak attacks, can’t she pull off something big like before? The weapons on those smaller detached parts must be limited, right? And they’re all low-damage weapons. At this rate, two more shots and she’ll probably run dry. How is this split-up strategy any different from cutting off your own flesh to feed the eagle?”
“Mortals wouldn’t understand, so stop talking. Do you have any idea how important style points are to military university students?”
The audience could practically picture Cheng Feng sitting in the cockpit, pretending to stay cool, her fingers moving so fast they blurred as she typed steering commands one after another – waiting for San Yao to give her a composed, cinematic close-up.
As expected, the San Yao stream admin understood exactly what the audience wanted. The very next second, the feed switched straight to Cheng Feng’s cockpit.
Inside the cramped cabin, Cheng Feng had her head lowered, absentmindedly stroking her chin with one hand as she frowned at the data on the control panel in deep thought. She looked tired. She raised a hand to rub her face, then let out a long yawn. When she opened her eyes again, there was even a trace of moisture squeezed out from the corners.
After that, she returned to her usual air of laziness mixed with a strangely performative kind of effort.
“I got careless…”
“That was sloppy.”
“Can you pull yourself together? Your opponent is Xiang Yunjian!”
“Cut her some slack – this kid’s overworked her brain.”
The screen abruptly switched to Xiang Yunjian’s side.
During his pursuit, he had been ambushed three times. Each time, the one causing trouble was that small detached mech component.
Because of its light weight and thrusters pushed to maximum output, that black-box-like mech “clone” could move through narrow paths that normal mechs couldn’t pass through.
Xiang Yunjian knew his position had already been exposed. Even though he kept moving, his routes still left patterns that could be tracked.
Whether Cheng Feng was trying to disrupt his mentality or hoping to land another lucky hit with low odds, Xiang Yunjian had no intention of continuing to waste effort on that little nuisance.
So he simply stopped moving and returned to the very center of the battlefield.
“Did you learn this tactic from mosquitoes?” Xiang Yunjian stood there in a relaxed posture, stretching as he scanned his surroundings. With a mocking laugh, he said, “Buzz buzz buzz – annoying as hell, but completely useless. Come out already. I’ll go easy on you. I’ll stand right here and let you hit me.”
Cheng Feng found a safe position and stopped. She entered a new string of code to trigger a second transformation, then split two more small components off from the mech. Controlling them as they sped toward the central zone, she replied in an equally arrogant tone, “I’ll go easy on you too. One against three.”
For a moment, Xiang Yunjian almost felt like the language he’d spent over a decade learning had gone to waste.
How was he supposed to make sense of that sentence?
He asked seriously, “Have you been training with Jiang Linxia lately?”
Cheng Feng replied, “No.”
“Oh…” Xiang Yunjian continued, “Then who have you been spending the most time with recently?”
At that moment, Cheng Feng’s control panel displayed four separate viewpoints. She was busy piloting the mech, and with her brain already running at overload, even sparing the effort to answer his question slowed her down.
“I’ve mostly been studying by myself lately. This technique takes some getting used to.”
Xiang Yunjian nodded thoughtfully. “Mm. I see.”
Parents always think someone else corrupted their child, when in reality, most of the time it’s just their natural talent awakening.
Cheng Feng’s potential for shamelessness might not be any less than Jiang Linxia’s.
Xiang Yunjian muttered under his breath, “Must be because machines all have really thick skin.”
Cheng Feng shouted, “Huh? What did you say?”
“I said – exactly when are you going to…” While speaking, Xiang Yunjian had been keeping a close eye on his surroundings. Sure enough, he caught sight of a dark shadow flashing through his rear view.
He immediately turned and counterattacked, the rest of his sentence disappearing into a cold laugh.
But that damned thing fired one shot and bolted.
Xiang Yunjian dodged the shot easily, but failed to hit it in return.
Just as he was about to give chase, another one popped out behind him.
Thinking back to Cheng Feng’s “one against three,” he realized she had probably released three of those little things.
They really were like venomous mosquitoes.
Impossible to hit. Impossible to catch.
Compared to a towering mech, they were tiny – blink once and they vanished from sight.
Strangely weak, yet strangely powerful.
Xiang Yunjian was led in circles by those things. The veins on his forehead began to twitch. He felt that the crawling, black objects were even more infuriating than Yan Shen’s “just a moment” delay.
“Uh…” Ms. Su struggled to find the right words, then said with a headache, “This just proves there’s a reason people hate mosquitoes. I think a sneaky, stealth-style approach for manual-operated mechs is about to emerge.”
Mr. Luo adjusted his glasses and said rather half-heartedly, “Congratulations, I suppose.”
In general, stealth-style tactics demand higher requirements for positioning. At most, manual-operated mechs could use this kind of approach to kite opponents.
Nothing as aggressive as this “mosquito tactic” had ever been seen before – it was already unsettling just to watch.
If it really became widespread, it wouldn’t be something worth celebrating at all. It would be a nightmare for all mech pilots.
Ms. Su added, “But it’s also easy to backfire. Ordinary students can’t handle four viewpoints. They need to be careful. Against opponents like Xiang Yunjian, I don’t think it’s very practical either.”
Xiang Yunjian didn’t actually care how many parts Cheng Feng could split into. In the end, there was only one pilot – one mind, two hands. Under multi-view control, simple movement and attack might still be manageable, but anything more complex would quickly fall apart.
So she could only rely on speed to circle around the battlefield.
A manually operated mech split into three parts would inevitably have weak defenses at that moment. If he could catch her, even a medium-sized cannon shot would deal significant damage. Destroying the core area of a manual-operated mech would end the match.
Xiang Yunjian looked as though he was growing impatient while entangling himself with those three small decoy units, then, once he had drawn enough attention, suddenly focused on one of them and charged toward the western street.
Halfway through his movement, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of the other two components emerging from narrow paths in different directions behind him. Without hesitation, he raised his weapon and fired a shot into the side of a building, causing it to collapse in a roaring crash and block the space behind him.
The sudden change caused all three mech components to pause for a brief moment.
Faced with such an abrupt development, Cheng Feng reacted as quickly as she could, but it still wasn’t enough. She had clearly forgotten that driving requires maintaining a safe distance.
Just as she was about to turn and escape, Xiang Yunjian had already switched his weapon system and aimed at the position directly ahead.
The targeted mech component was blasted away in the shockwave.
“Too flashy,” Xiang Yunjian said calmly while swapping weapons. “Next time, don’t expose your weaknesses so clearly.”
Cheng Feng clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Combined with the damage from earlier being blown back by the explosion, that distorted, blast-deformed component was probably no longer fit to be reattached to the main body.
Her beloved mech was no longer whole.
So Cheng Feng clicked her tongue again.
She wanted to say something to disrupt Xiang Yunjian’s rhythm, but while she was busy directing the other two components to split and escape, she realized he had already reversed direction and was coming straight toward her.
Her vision lost track of him, and once she confirmed he was moving toward her position, she immediately abandoned the other two decoys and retreated first.
The sound of the mech’s movement gave her away.
Xiang Yunjian smiled. “Found you.”
“No need to think about me. No need to rush to find me,” Cheng Feng said, slamming the acceleration controls. “You can’t catch me.”
Cheng Feng’s thrusters were mounted in a distributed configuration. When the mech was fully assembled, all components could activate together, allowing it to reach a considerable top speed.
The first detached component had been installed in a relatively unsuitable position, so its removal didn’t significantly affect the mech’s performance. But after two more components were separated later, its overall power output dropped sharply.
Xiang Yunjian pushed forward at full speed and realized that the once unstoppable, lightning-fast manual-operated mech was no longer able to pull away. Its speed was now roughly the same as his – and in fact, slightly slower than Breaking Army.
“Run, then – run a little faster,” Xiang Yunjian said with a laugh. “Weren’t you talking big just now?”
Cheng Feng replied, “I am running.”
She glanced at her mech’s damage status.
After one component had been destroyed, the damage level had already risen to 49%.
She remotely tested that component’s functions. Although it could no longer be reattached, part of its thruster system was still operational, and even half of its weapons bay could still be used.
The double-layer reinforced metal shell wasn’t the strongest, but it could still barely withstand hits from a medium-sized cannon.
Cheng Feng controlled the other two mech components to regroup, preparing to reattach them so she could accelerate and escape.
Xiang Yunjian saw through her intention and decisively fired a high-damage cannon at the adjacent district. Using the surrounding terrain created by Cheng Feng’s own positioning, he slowed her movement.
In less than two kilometers of distance, he had already managed to shrink the gap between them, staying tightly on her tail.
Cheng Feng’s plan was disrupted, and now that the distance between them had become dangerously small, her movements turned chaotic. She had to defend against Xiang Yunjian’s relentless ambushes while constantly checking the positions of her detached components and recalculating her route.
Just as she was about to turn to regroup, another heavy cannon shot from Xiang Yunjian came in.
The timing of both attacks was extremely precise – they interrupted Cheng Feng’s rhythm at critical moments and also placed immense psychological pressure on her.
Two consecutive unexpected failures can easily trigger an instinctive sense of avoidance in an opponent, and for mech pilots, such a deteriorating mental state can even reverse the course of the battle entirely.
Seeing this, Ms. Su couldn’t help but sigh. “Xiang Yunjian really is very decisive. Not just in judging the situation, but also in how he commits to action. Manual-operated mechs don’t have subtle turning movements – he’s responding entirely based on Cheng Feng’s speed and the terrain layout. He’s probably even relying a bit on instinct.”
Mr. Luo nodded. “Rich experience can turn into instant instinct – far faster than conscious thought. That’s the value of experience. However, even without noticing Cheng Feng’s finer details, I think Xiang Yunjian would still seize the opportunity to fire a couple of shots. It’s a risk worth taking.”
On the map, a collapsed building happened to block the front path of the manual-operated mech. As Cheng Feng crossed over the gap in the ruins, Xiang Yunjian caught up.
He emerged from the previous intersection. If Cheng Feng wanted to reassemble the mech’s detached parts, she would have to split her focus.
With a sharp gaze, Xiang Yunjian quickly scanned the area and immediately located the black metal object hidden in a corner. He raised his arm and fired directly at the target.
The manual-operated mech didn’t even look back, continuing to run toward another concealed location, clearly prepared to sacrifice part of its body in exchange for safety.
Xiang Yunjian’s eyes shifted. After firing a shot, he immediately turned away without even checking whether he had hit his target.
In the zoomed-in feed, it seemed Cheng Feng had managed to input a movement code at the last moment. The part might not have been completely destroyed, but it was definitely affected by the blast.
The detached component, powered by its own thrusters and extremely light in weight, moved incredibly fast. Xiang Yunjian simply gave up on it and focused entirely on Cheng Feng.
When there’s a big fish in front of you, who cares about the small ones?
At the corner, Cheng Feng rapidly completed another transformation, leaving an opening on the lower left side of her mech body, preparing for reassembly.
Just as she was about to make contact, her heart gave a sudden jolt. She caught sight of that “shadow” behind her attacking again and immediately dodged to both sides.
Cannon fire roared past, sweeping up debris across the ground.
Cheng Feng said nothing, but both the audience and commentators let out a collective, tightly held breath that turned into a sharp, frustrated sigh.
“Ah! What a pity! Just one second short!” Ms. Su slapped the table. “If Xiang Yunjian had hesitated even slightly just now, or gone after the small components first, it would have worked!”
The water in Mr. Luo’s cup swayed from the table’s vibration. He calmly said, “Stay calm.”
Ms. Su said excitedly, “This is your student, Mr. Luo! Cheng Feng is in a bad situation right now!”
If it were her, watching her own prized student in a match like this, “calmness” would have already run away from home.
Mr. Luo said calmly, as someone who had recently focused on health and self-cultivation, “Is Cheng Feng’s situation really good? Since she chose such an unorthodox, high-risk style of play, she naturally has to bear the consequences herself.”
Ms. Su said admiringly, “As expected of someone from the command department.”
Mr. Luo nodded, casually tucking his clenched, slightly pale hand into his pocket.
Ms. Su continued nervously, “Cheng Feng’s mech damage is now at 52%. Let’s see whether she can properly handle this split-form mech next. Whether this breakthrough tactic is brilliant or a mistake will depend entirely on her performance from here on.”
After successfully interrupting Cheng Feng’s reassembly, Xiang Yunjian was in a very good mood. He chased after her retreating figure and teased, “You think I’d let you leave so easily? Since you’re already here, why not stay and talk a bit more?”
“Not even offering me a meal,” Cheng Feng said lightly, counting, “Five high-damage cannon shots.”
Xiang Yunjian replied calmly, “Guess how many I still have left.”
High-damage cannons were large and heavy, taking up a lot of weapon capacity. Most mechs wouldn’t carry too many. And since Xiang Yunjian also carried a full load of wind cannons and medium artillery, the number he had left shouldn’t be high.
Cheng Feng ignored him, glancing at the partition control system on her panel. She licked her dry, peeling lips, and the expression that surfaced next was neither frustration nor anger – but something more like restrained excitement.
She muttered strangely, “Guess.”
Xiang Yunjian said, “Guess what?”
Ahead was an empty plaza. Cheng Feng, who had been running just moments ago, suddenly stopped.
Xiang Yunjian thought she would split up and retreat, but instead she gathered the other two weapon-carrying components toward her. When he checked his full-view display, she had already formed a pincer formation, surrounding him from three directions.
A sense of absurdity rose in Xiang Yunjian’s mind.
He couldn’t tell whether it came from Cheng Feng’s reckless arrogance – or from a faint, instinctive unease.
