Chapter 96: Survival (2/2)

Out of a sudden, a glaring white light flashed before him. Without forewarning, Hak's eyes squinted due to the scorching light. A rumble resounded right after the punch landed as the mech shook a little by the recoil. The processor of his mech then started wailing its alarm menacingly.

Boom! A loud explosion followed at the end of rumble.

When Hak’s sight had recovered from the glaring light after a moment, he could only see a huge dent on the wall before him. The target was nowhere to be seen!

The alarm was still ringing in the cabin madly. Hak had no idea what had just happened. He tried moving his mech but he failed! For some reasons, Kai could not move! He looked at the interface as the processor prompted, ”System Failure - Main Engine Severely Damaged - Inspecting - Mobility: Negative! Mobility: Negative!” The bloody red wording peered into his eyes.

In the meantime, Ye Chong had escaped. Yes, like a coward, he ran away gracelessly.

Ye Chong let off a bitter laugh as he stared upon the torn Harmony of the Winter Aria. After all those efforts he put in renovating this beauty, the former elegance was utterly wiped. It looked like trash that could go straight to the recycling center!

The last blow was delivered successfully. The armor of Harmony took the spikes of Kai’s fist like how Kai chewed on the Blue Winter’s impale. It landed a critical hit. There was no plot twist to save Ye Chong. If it was not under an order to bring Ye Chong back alive, the fist would have hit right into the cabin and even a titan like Ye Chong would die in a whimper.

Ye Chong’s mood was brightened knowing how he was still alive. And thinking back how he was still able to make a comeback so gorgeously - the usual indifferent he could not help but to smile slightly.

After Ye Chong had planned to escape, he rushed towards Kai's engines. No matter how much the Samuel mechs were overhauled, the placement of the engines would never be changed. Ye Chong, the mod expert pinpointed such flaw at first look.

Back when Harmony was still under the modification process, Ye Chong had sneaked the laser sword within its right hand. The laser sword would not reveal its blade when unactivated. So anyone would hardly notice the remaining handle inside the palm. It was an exceptional stealth and quite a dirty trick too! Ye Chong did not use this killer-move right away simply because he could not foresee whether a laser-based cutter could deal with such fatal damage to a mech from Black Cove. He gambled once and of course he won. Apparently, laser swords worked on Black Covers’ mechs like wonders. He was not sure how much damage he had inflicted exactly, but seemingly Hak did not come after him straightaway. That would be more than enough to justify the significant damage he had done. Well, he speculated so.

Back at the climax of their battle, Ye Chong decided to drop the lance and activated the laser sword. Harmony lifted the sword and made an upper slash - a seamless chain of action, so fast it even shocked an experienced killer like Hak, all thanks to Ye Chong’s amazing speed. That glaring light that blinded Hak was actually the beam of Ye Chong’s laser sword upon its activation!

Nonetheless, the Harmony had been torn into junks, while the Blue Winter had gone into the enemy’s hands. It was another horror story for Ye Chong to imagine if he could escape Black Cove’s hunting. Hak was not the first one who came after him, and certainly he would not be the last. The Black Cove seemed to be very keen in taking Ye Chong down. Hence, anyone could guess the fight had not ended yet.

Sigh…

”Ye, that was rather incredible!” Mu’s voice rang suddenly.

”Incredible? I almost got myself killed!” replied Ye Chong and he laughed bitterly.

”It is incredible!” Mu explained, ”The probability of your victory would be a measly 8%, whereas the probability of a successful escape would be 33%. In the end, you went after that 33% chance instead.”

Ye Chong’s lips twitched as he spoke, ”Mu, if you did try to be helpful just now, taking down that guy would have been a piece of cake. For real. I was almost pounded into a pancake and yet Mu, you actually sat back and did nothing?”

”You are right,” replied Mu. ”However the catch is, I would provide my assistance only when the probability of your survival goes below 15%.”

”And why is that so?” Ye Chong snorted.

”Based on the reading I had obtained from previous researches, under such circumstance humans would most likely unleash their potential. Moreover, a pilot would be required to take on countless occasions of such kind to become the true pilot! Since you happened to be the owner of both Shang and I, it is essential to make you the strongest pilot!” Though Mu’s reasoning went flat and calm as if describing something trivial, there was a hint of dignity in his speech which made Ye Chong lowered his eyes in disgrace.

Anyone would have assumed that Mu was being harsh and unsympathetic, but this was reasonable to Ye Chong. Mu shared some points and he deeply understood every bit of it. It was his own life, of course he would be the one to fight for it. Back at Trash Planet-12, Ye Chong spent his life growing on the belief that one would always be the one to manipulate one’s own fate. The relationship between Mu and Ye Chong might be of a brotherly love and a mutual trust, yet Ye Chong never expected Mu’s protection as a form of duty or responsibility. If Mu helped out, without a doubt Ye Chong would express gratitude. If Mu decided not to however, Ye Chong would not whine about Mu’s ”irresponsibility”. It was not his responsibility to protect, nevertheless, it was his responsibility to train! Ye Chong knew Mu well enough that he knew whatever Mu did was for his own good. Only one would become a true warrior after countless dead-or-alive battles.

Was there nothing Ye Chong could rely on?

No, there wasn't.

To Ye Chong, he knew he could best rely on his own strength.

”Also, I was recording the opponent’s data during the battle. His battle style was rather intriguing. The final result would be released after some data analysis,” Mu carried on his speech.

”Right,” Ye Chong nodded in strong approval from his experience. ”Not only it is intriguing, but also strong. Very strong! But hey, Mu, don’t you think our first priority for now is to plan a runaway from the Blue Ocean?”

”Correct,” Mu agreed. ”We would need a spaceship.”