This is probably the most thrilling night of the current league season – even Mr. Luo, who is always composed, couldn’t help the corners of his face twitching.
He was about to speak when his wrist was suddenly gripped firmly by someone. The host’s eyes were blazing, her mouth agape in a lapse of composure, her expression slightly stiff from shock, as she asked in a suppressed voice, “I hear that most military students dream of joining the Expeditionary Force?”
“No need to just ‘hear’ about it.” Mr. Luo broke into a smile. “Every student who gets into a top-tier military university is set on the Expeditionary Force.”
Only the most outstanding graduates are recruited for trials, followed by observation, assessments, and real-world operations over an indefinite period…
The extremely rigorous selection standards represent absolute capability and status. The most dangerous war zones and the most remarkable achievements have also firmly linked the name “Expeditionary Force” with “honor.”
Mr. Luo’s voice was taut, and he couldn’t help but carry a slight tremor from excitement as he said, “To the Expeditionary Force, these are new recruits. But to the students, these men are already veterans. This is an unprecedented wave of powerful reinforcement!”
The host was so excited that she couldn’t find a topic to talk about, and since she didn’t know much about the Expeditionary Force, she didn’t dare to make any casual comments. Glancing at the comment section out of the corner of her eye, she thought about reading a few netizen messages to interact with the audience – but was immediately dazzled by the messages streaking across the text box like shooting stars.
For nearly seven hours, there had been no major match updates, and on top of that, it was late at night. The number of viewers in the livestream had already dropped to less than a tenth of what it was during the daytime, and most of those still online were simply idling on auto-play.
Five minutes ago, the page had still been fairly quiet, but now it was like a fire had been thrown into a gasoline barrel – blazing hot and surging fiercely. The donation meter was also skyrocketing along with this sudden wave of fervor.
“San Yao! This is the true depth of your legacy!”
“San Yao, exactly how much money did you stuff into the military’s pockets?”
“Why does this year’s cohort have Expeditionary Force members?! Why?! [jealous rage]”
“Totally worth staying up all night for this! I’m going to wake up all my roommates -they’ll thank me for the rest of their lives!”
“Fighting alongside the Expeditionary Force so soon – whether the candidates on the red or white side win or lose, they’ll all go down in history.”
Inside the office, Mr. Kong – who had first been pacing restlessly around the room, then pressed himself against the back wall, standing as far from the screen as possible while watching the match with a bitter, conflicted heart – suddenly strode forward in big steps.
If a colleague hadn’t been quick enough to grab him by the arm, the 1.9-meter-tall burly man might have charged straight into the virtual screen to embrace his students.
He grinned from ear to ear and boasted heartily to the other instructors who were also staying up late. “Thank you, Tao Rui! If it weren’t for their five-school alliance, we probably wouldn’t have been able to force this team out! Hahaha Tao Rui has done a great service to UFU!”
The younger instructor smiled as well, but was much more restrained than Mr. Kong. He pressed him down into a chair by the shoulders, signaling him to calm down a bit. Then he picked up the still-warm late-night snack from the table and brought it to Mr. Kong’s mouth, urging him to eat something.
“You have been watching the match without even tasting your food – don’t starve yourself thin,” another instructor teased. “You’ve got your appetite back now, right? Hurry up and eat.”
Mr. Kong let out a couple of good-natured chuckles and waved his hand dismissively, not minding the teasing at all.
As the initial rush of excitement began to fade, a few voices of doubt started to emerge in the comment section – some people quietly questioning whether this wave of support was a bit too powerful. Releasing the Expeditionary Force into a military academy competition – what difference was that from letting the referees step onto the field?
The general public had some understanding of San Yao’s balancing mechanism, but not much – the evaluation system had always been kept confidential.
Usually, as long as the targeting wasn’t too excessive, San Yao wouldn’t implement any biased countermeasures.
Besides, the NPCs controlled by AI were inherently weak, and most attempts to rely on them ended up backfiring – like trying to skin a tiger – doing more harm than good. In previous competitions, the chances of candidates seeking help from NPCs were next to zero.
An instructor stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, “The five-school alliance was a key factor – it was far too unfair to UFU. But that wasn’t the decisive reason. At the start of the match, that NPC’s attitude was extremely firm and refused to accept Cheng Feng’s request for help.”
After the initial losses, UFU made timely adjustments, responded swiftly, and made precise judgments – without a single misstep, or rather, their performance was commendable throughout. Yet their situation remained unfavorable. This clearly contradicted the assessment objectives of the main battlefield, which was when the NPC finally began to relent.
And as for the four conditions the NPC laid out – they dared say that no commander-in-chief other than Cheng Feng would have agreed to them.
Big risks were the only way to reap big rewards.
Mr. Kong smiled so hard his facial muscles went stiff. He raised a hand to rub his face and agreed, “Right – the Expeditionary Force, as a rescue unit, actually has more of an impact on morale.”
They didn’t count toward kill points, didn’t count toward elimination points – but they did reduce death penalties. They didn’t take orders from UFU’s command and were only stationed at the equipment depot.
Under all these restrictions, the biggest and only real role of this rescue team was to protect the remaining UFU candidates, in the hopes of keeping more than 100 survivors by the time the match ended.
This exactly made up for the heavy casualties UFU suffered at the start due to the unfair circumstances. Upon closer consideration, this arrangement was quite appropriate.
Mr. Luo was also explaining this to the netizens at the same time. San Yao had given some internal feedback, which was largely consistent with their own assessment.
In addition, how the reinforcements were to be deployed was ultimately decided by the Expeditionary Force members themselves, who were in charge of the evaluation.
When Mr. Kong heard this, he chimed in from the side with a gleeful, animated expression. “What does this tell you? It means that if UFU doesn’t walk away with the MVP, even the Expeditionary Force can’t stand to watch!”
The leading Expeditionary Force soldier had indeed long been unable to stand it. He was looking down, picking at his fingernails, and let out a weary sigh. “The Expeditionary Force isn’t worth much these days, huh – even coming to the military university league for a side gig gets you looked down on.”
In the course of this one large-scale battle, he’d been talked back to by these people more times than he could count. Was this really the treatment he deserved when coming back home in glory?
“Really?” Jiang Linxia glanced left and right, then turned back with an indignant look and said, “Who was it? Who’s that shameless?”
The young man laughed in spite of himself. “Is ‘shamelessness’ a required major at your university or something?”
Jiang Linxia gave a shy smile and gave him a light tap on the chest with his fist. “It runs in the family.”
The young man got goosebumps all over, took two steps back to put some distance between himself and this bunch, his look of disdain unmistakable.
Seeing the atmosphere ease up a little, Cheng Feng let out a long breath and finally said, “The real battle starts now, comrades…”
The reinforcements had given them a 10% baseline hope; the remaining 90% still had to be won by their own efforts.
For UFU to claim victory, the only way was still to stack up kills.
With the fewest people, wielding the most fearless momentum, and charging straight into the most dangerous fire.
In the darkness, something seemed to be pulsing.
Under the pitch-black sky, voices chanted in unison from all directions.
“Charge!”
The sound came from every side. Surging emotions spread rapidly through the rippling echoes.
In quiet alleys, on empty rooftops.
Under dim light, beside the fallen bodies of their comrades.
More than three hundred people cradled their weapons and chanted the motto of UFU with solemn reverence. “Steady and far-reaching, resilient and courageous!”
UFU will surely win!
At the same time, the white side also received a system notification that the red team had claimed a mech.
“Manual operation? Could it be Cheng Feng? How is that possible!” The young man beside Tao Rui exclaimed in surprise. “The one in front is being piloted by Xin Kuang, right? Why does UFU get to operate two mechs? And their allies actually agreed to this?”
A flicker of hesitation crossed Tao Rui’s face.
Another person said, “Maybe it’s not Cheng Feng? Are there any other manual operation experts in UMU or the Second Military?”
“Other than Cheng Feng, there isn’t a single manual-operated mech pilot among the top hundred in the individual assessments! Who would risk piloting a manual mech in a large-scale battlefield?”
Any unexpected variable easily breeds unease. Tao Rui immediately cut off their discussion and said, “It doesn’t matter much – don’t let it affect you. Even if it’s Xiang Yunjian and Cheng Feng on the other side, we’ll still fight them head-on. Let’s go claim our mechs first.”
Mechs don’t play a major role in large-scale battles.
If engaged at full power, the remaining battery on a mech wouldn’t even last half an hour of piloting. Randomly firing cannons to destroy buildings would incur heavy point penalties, so no one dares act recklessly. And the thermal weapons are allocated less than a quarter of the storage capacity – barely enough to be called adequate.
The gap in skill among top students from various military universities isn’t significant, and no one can guarantee dealing damage within a ten-minute window without suffering losses themselves.
Tao Rui drew in a sharp breath and bellowed, “All hands! Assemble, form up!”
…
The calm ended at 1:30 in the morning.
Three mechs led the way straight ahead, with orderly infantry lined up on both sides, ready to advance at any moment.
The rumbling sound of mech treads rolling over the pavement thundered through the dead of night. The heavy behemoths approached from afar, thoroughly dispelling the last traces of drowsiness from every candidate.
On the white side, aside from the heavy unit, they had finally claimed a Breaking Army mech, as well as a Thunderstorm mech suited for close combat. The pilots responsible for operating them were also candidates ranked in the top fifteen in overall individual combat scores.
Cheng Feng sat inside an armored vehicle, temporarily delegating command authority to Chen Huayue.
Shen Dan stayed on board with her, just in case the NPC turned out to be unreliable and Cheng Feng needed an extra hand when the time came. Chen Huayue, meanwhile, remained at the weapons depot.
After making the arrangements, Cheng Feng called out over comms, “Xin Kuang, Heavy Armor handles the heavy stuff. Push the enemy back a bit further – they’re too big for us to maneuver around.”
Xin Kuang replied, “Got it.”
Cheng Feng said, “Xiang Yunjian, we move together.”
Xiang Yunjian was already standing at the street ahead, awaiting orders, his gaze fixed on the two mechs within his field of vision. He gave a faint response, “Mm.”
The two had never piloted a two-person mech together before, nor had they discussed any specific tactics – mainly because they’d never expected to have such an opportunity. And cramming at the last minute wouldn’t be much use in actual combat anyway.
They could only rely on their Schrödinger’s rapport.
Sitting before the cockpit console, before she’d even started operating, Cheng Feng could already feel a slight physiological twitching in the muscles of her arms – almost like excitement.
She raised a hand to pat her own shoulder, loosening up her overworked neck and shoulders.
The manual-operated mech slowly rolled up beside Xiang Yunjian and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
All of UFU’s candidates lined up along the central street, ready to sweep away any enemy forces entering the city at a moment’s notice.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Cheng Feng’s voice was low. “Command is here to fire the first shot of your charge.”
Beneath her voice, emotions were barely contained – almost surging. A rush of exhilaration flooded her brain the moment her hand touched the manual-operated mech’s activation lever.
Xiang Yunjian let out a soft chuckle. He turned his head and drew a long-bladed weapon from behind the mech’s shoulder, sweeping it through the air in a cold arc of light, pointing it straight at the enemy.
Let’s see if two consecutive infantry MVPs can create a new miracle.
Under countless watchful eyes, Xin Kuang was the first to move – he charged straight into the opposing heavy unit.
Cheng Feng and Xiang Yunjian launched almost simultaneously. With the screeching roar of thrusters at full power, they tore through the air, kicking up a gust of hot wind.
The manual-operated mech had a slightly faster takeoff speed than the sensor-operated mech. Xiang Yunjian immediately decelerated, voluntarily falling in behind the manual unit.
Cheng Feng tapped in her code commands, and during acceleration, she deployed the two cannon barrels mounted on the mech’s back – firing directly.
The recoil from the cannon fire momentarily stalled the manual mech’s forward momentum. In that instant, Xiang Yunjian surged past from the flank, sweeping his longblade in a slash toward the opposing Breaking Army.
The enemy mech pilot saw two black mechs shrouded in faint light barreling toward them at full speed. Overwhelmed by the crushing pressure, he raised his cannon barrels to intercept on instinct while simultaneously crossing his longblade in defense.
His limb movements weren’t fluid enough, and on top of that, the blinding flash from the colliding cannon fire obscured his vision.
He blocked Xiang Yunjian’s first slash, but Xiang Yunjian withstood the residual blast, twisted his wrist, and struck again from a diagonal downward angle.
The high-pressure metal blade scraped across the enemy mech’s frame, sending sparks of blue and violet flying. A dark gash was left behind, stretching from the left shoulder all the way down to the waist.
The Breaking Army was forced to retreat – and was about to crash into the infantry formation behind it. The nearby Thunderstorm pilot saw this and quickly moved forward to brace and support.
The two weren’t from the same military university, nor did they know each other well.
Thunderstorm successfully halted Breaking Army‘s backward momentum, but its position also restricted Breaking Army‘s next move.
The white side’s infantry quickly adjusted their positions, evacuating the danger zone. As the situation descended into chaos, Xiang Yunjian had already pulled back and withdrawn.
Everything happened in an extremely brief span of time.
Tao Rui’s heart leaped into his throat, but before it could even settle, the manual-operated mech lurking in the rear seized the perfect moment to strike again.
Cheng Feng’s slender fingers hovered over the control panel, rapidly tapping a row of keys from left to right, then jerking the control stick upward and to the right with force.
All six cannon barrels activated simultaneously, their red muzzle flashes aimed straight at the main force of the white side.
Only a manual-operated mech could fire six shells in a single volley.
The Breaking Army and Thunderstorm pilots, relying on instinct and experience, took on the task of intercepting three shells each – left and right. In a panic, they hastily swung out their weapons, locked onto the shell trajectories, and narrowly shot down Cheng Feng’s wave of area attack.
The firelight nearly illuminated the entire sky.
That murky, ash-veiled dome seemed to grow even heavier and thicker beneath the billowing smoke.
Just that one strike sent chills down both their spines. It felt like they were treading along the razor’s edge of life and death, scraping by with sheer desperation.
The overwhelming force was too much.
Before the two could even relax their nerves, Xiang Yunjian – who had just feigned a retreat – had already changed direction and was charging straight toward the infantry formation.
At such close range, thermal weapons were unusable, but a mech weighing dozens of tons was itself a high-damage weapon.
In the midst of his thrust, Xiang Yunjian stomped down with one foot, then leveraged the momentum to swing his longblade, crouching low and slamming it into the ground.
Any soldiers nearby who couldn’t dodge in time were all crushed to death under the immense pressure.
Tao Rui could hear his own blood accelerating through his veins with each contraction of his heart – like the roar of a river rushing past his ears. At the same time, an unnatural twitch began in the eyelid of his left eye.
This wave of maneuvers was so fast it caught everyone off guard, and the synergy between the two left no opening to exploit.
One contained, the other assaulted. Their rhythm was flawlessly precise – a moment too slow or too fast, and the enemy would have had a chance to break free of their defense.
“FUCK!”
The Thunderstorm pilot finally found his voice and cursed loudly.
Tao Rui also heard someone shout. “It’s definitely Xiang Yunjian and Cheng Feng!”
Who it was didn’t even matter – what was truly terrifying was a pair of powerful individual combatants who could coordinate.
Tao Rui’s mind felt somewhat dazed.
Were two consecutive infantry MVPs really that strong together?
He shifted his gaze toward the city gate.
Although the artillery fire had been intercepted, the residual shockwaves not fully neutralized had already blasted the buildings near the gate beyond recognition. The two of them clearly didn’t care at all about the deduction of building points.
Utterly unrestrained.
