Chapter 223: Kings of Close and Long Range Combat I (1/2)

Chapter 223: Kings of Close and Long Range Combat I

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong was returning to his ship. Shang’s three shots were clean and fruitful, leaving him no chance to do anything at all. Just then, Ye Chong heard Shang through the comms channel, ”Ye, they just sent a distress signal over, what do you think?” Shang sounded eager, obviously still excited from his shots earlier.

Ye Chong replied flatly, ”Leave them, we have things to do.”

”Awh …” Shang groaned like a child denied of his favourite toy. ”Ah!” Shang suddenly gasped.

”What? Shang.” Ye Chong was surprised.

Shang spoke quickly, ”Ye, look at this.”

Through Puppet’s photon processor, Ye Chong saw a holographic image of one of the starships side, and through the windows, he could see the horrified expressions of the people inside. Ye Chong suddenly widened his eyes!

He stared for a full three seconds. Even though the image only caught the side profile of that person, Ye Chong was sure he recognized him.

It was Grandpa Qian! Leaning against the window was the face of an old man, one that Ye Chong was very familiar with. Ye Chong had spent a long time with Grandpa Qian, and was certain that he did not see it wrong.

Ye Chong quickly recovered himself and asked hurriedly, ”Shang, which starship is this?” Without further hesitation, he maneuvered his mech and Puppet turned back towards the battlefield, flying towards the chaos. No matter what, since Grandpa Qian was here, he would not just watch from the side. His time on Blue Ocean with Grandpa Qian was the happiest he had ever since Ye Chong left the trash planet. Besides, Grandpa Qian had loved him. Ye Chong could not just stand by and watch Grandpa Qian die in the battlefield.

As Puppet accelerated to its maximum speed, Ye Chong could only regret not using Han Jia in the first place. Puppet glided through the darkness of empty space like a king.

Another thin but straight blue beam shot past Ye Chong from behind, flashing into oblivion. Ye Chong caught where the beam was aiming for. Beyond him was a starship with a few mechs surrounding its hatch, and the blue beam had hit one of the pirate’s mechs nearest to the hatch. If he looked closely, the mech’s smooth pilot cabin was now punctured with a hole that could fit a finger. The mech immediately lost control.

Ye Chong understood that Shang was showing him the way. He adjusted his course and headed towards the starship.

Just then, a few more of the blue beams shot past him, barely touching Puppet. The rest of the mechs lost control just as suddenly. Ye Chong realized that Shang had killed the pilots in those mechs. He had no time to dwell further on the fact that the beams from Recursive could be so powerful. He could only wish that Puppet could move faster.

More blue beams came - the pirate mechs surrounding the starship had all become Shang’s targets. The mechs were hit at almost the same location and lost control in a similar way, though none of them exploded. To prevent explosions, Shang had chosen to shoot at the pirate mech’s pilot cabin. In truth, the finger-thick blue beam was too small compared to a ten-meter tall mech, much less to outer space. Many of the mech pilots fighting against the pirates realized in surprise that their enemies had suddenly lost control for no apparent reason.

Nonetheless, the pirate leader was watching the mysterious sniper mech pilot, and by now, he was frozen in shock! Heavens, why did such a terrifying sniper appear out of nowhere? Will the f*cker kill them all?

Ye Chong approached the starship without incident, since all the enemies nearby were destroyed by Shang. He was worried about Grandpa Qian, and headed straight towards the hatch. Even in this situation, Ye Chong kept his cool.

Puppet’s small and lithe figure now came into play. The mech entered the starship as silent and deft as a cat. Ye Chong silently flew and came to a junction in the corridors. He now realized what was happening. At the end of the corridor was a mech desperately defending its position. The mech was a classic battle mech, but truly deplorable in terms of the pilot’s skills. Given the circumstances, however, the desperation forced him to fight like never before, and the space pirate mechs around him could only huddle around in the corridor, unable to fire their laser guns for fear of exploding the starship, killing everyone in it, including themselves.

The narrow corridor could only fit one mech, and so the three pirate mechs found themselves trapped, unable to move forwards or backwards. Only the first mech could fight directly with the combat mech. All three mechs had their backs facing Ye Chong. They must have never imagined that their comrades outside would all be finished off.

Puppet still moved silently. Even in the narrow corridor, Puppet still moved easily.

Ye Chong felt as calm as an iron lizard hunting its prey.

In a single step, Puppet closed in on the last mech closest to him. The mech seemed to feel something and made to turn to inspect, but Puppet moved!

Puppet’s left hand clasped tightly on the mech’s neck as the parrying spear sprang out from the right arm like a poisonous serpent, snaking itself into the mech. Ye Chong also chose to attack the pilot’s cabin. With black gold mixed into its material, the spear performed excellently, puncturing right through the mech. Ye Chong could even hear the sound of bone breaking as the spear went through, and the horrifying shriek from the pitiful mech pilot.

At the same time, Puppet kicked the mech’s knees hard with its right leg, and the other mech gave. Puppet’s left hand pushed at the same time, and the mech bent down further.

The attack had shocked the other two mechs in front. The one confronting the battle mech panicked, while the defending battle mech was greatly encouraged by this unexpected backup.

The second mech turned around to stop the ambusher.

Ye Chong did not give the mech a chance. The battleground was advantageous for Ye Chong’s battle mech. Puppet’s left hand pushed downwards and pressed forward with its legs, pulling out the parrying spear in the same move as it jumped across the mech it had dealt with. Now, Ye Chong was twenty meters away from the second mech.

Puppet’s agile response made the second mech even more alarmed.

Before Puppet landed from his jump to clear the first mech, it kicked against the walls of the corridor and directed itself straight towards the second mech like a cannonball.

Puppet came fiercely fast. The narrow corridor and its fast approach was daunting. As Puppet flew past the second mech, its right hand aimed the parrying spear straight at the enemy’s throat and drew blood. However, the attack left Puppet flying off course. Just when it was about to hit the corridor’s wall, Puppet braced itself with another kick against the wall, and did not look back at the helpless second mech.

The first mech Ye Chong attacked was now only crashing to the ground with a crackle.

The throat was a mech’s most vulnerable part, where its photon circuits were all centered about. Once the throat was damaged, the mech was also useless.

The last remaining mech found itself surrounded back and front, and was terrified. Ye Chong acted without mercy, burying the parrying spear deep into the mech’s body. However, Ye Chong still attacked carefully, avoiding an explosion.

Puppet’s entire attack was executed smoothly, and its swift footwork made its movements unpredictable. Besides, it was able to use some strange moves, even in the narrow corridor. These unusual moves could only be done by a very competent mech pilot.

The battle mech before Ye Chong may not exactly be a battle expert, but Ye Chong saw that he could avoid attacks quite deftly, which was why the mech survived the pirate mechs for so long, stalling them here.

Swish! The alloy door behind the battle mech opened, and the battle mech signalled for Ye Chong to enter. That was his intention anyway, and so Ye Chong entered together with the other mech. Once inside, the alloy door sealed shut. The airlock was then pressurized, and the room was quickly filled with air. As the air pressure stabilized, another alloy door opened up, where a large group of people rushed out and surrounded the battle mech, cheering with joy.

Ye Chong quickly found Grandpa Qian amidst the crowd. He looked just as before, only wearier and older. The two people beside him, however, surprised Ye Chong. Supporting Grandpa Qian was Rui Su, while the person on the other side of Grandpa Qian was Rui Bing in her white training garb, looking steadfast. Beside Rui Bing was a beautiful middle aged woman, who looked a lot like Rui Bing and Rui Su. Ye Chong guessed that she must be their mother.

As for why they were with Grandpa Qian, that was his main question.

The pilot cabin of the battle mech opened and out came a young man, to which everyone cheered even louder. It was this young man’s incredible feat that kept them safe until backup arrived, or they would all had been captured by the space pirates.

The young man was none other than Wei Yuan, whom Ye Chong was acquainted with. Wei Yuan was excited from his success, and ran to Rui Bing as he yelled, ”Sister Bing, Sister Bing, I did it, hah!” Rui Bing’s icy face thawed slightly with joy.

Rui Su continued from the side, ”Little Yuan, you don’t know how sorry you looked like just now, tsk tsk, jumping up and down like that, it’s horrendous.” Wei Yuan’s expression soured as he said, ”Sister Su, don’t mock me like that.” His face made everyone laugh out loud. Grandpa Qian laughed heartily, and even Rui Bing gave a little smile.

Ye Chong felt at a loss. Why were they all people he knew?