Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Translator: H2dH2mr Editor: H2dH2mr Qiao Ting could sense the anger in Zhao Jun's heart, and he knew why. At the start of the competition, anyone could have found out that Luo Lang had been taken advantage of. What Qiao Ting had not expected was that Zhao Jun, who had only joined Lingtian for a few short months, would actually take his teammate to heart. Was this another of Ling Lan's unknown abilities?
Qiao Ting glanced at Zhao Jun with a complicated expression, his emotions conflicted. An indescribable feeling of envy and jealousy rose up in him towards Ling Lan …
At this time, Jiang Shaoyu had already chosen a small ball. Holding the small ball, he did not look at it for long before turning to walk back to his original position. Before he had even reached his position, the referee announced the second person to go onstage — it was Zhao Jun!
Zhao Jun took a deep breath and stepped forward. As he brushed past Jiang Shaoyu, he glared fiercely at him. Jiang Shaoyu saw Zhao Jun's hostile gaze and was instantly provoked. He had not forgotten that when he had been in such a sorry state, this person had been present.
A wave of hostility rushed to his chest, and Jiang Shaoyu almost could not hold back the surging killing intent … his fists clenched so tightly that his fingers almost dug into his flesh, but the sharp pain calmed him down.
At this moment, Zhao Jun turned his gaze away and huffed coldly. He walked right past Jiang Shaoyu to come to the selection table and chose the small ball he wanted. Jiang Shaoyu slowly turned his head to look at Zhao Jun's back, and a flash of killing intent passed through his eyes.
He actually hoped that the small ball Zhao Jun chose would have the same number as the one he had chosen. He would be very happy to be able to go up against the other in the semi-finals, not only because Zhao Jun was the weakest, but also because he wanted to get rid of this despicable person first to collect some interest for the humiliation he had suffered back then.
After Zhao Jun made his choice, the third to go onstage was Lin Xiao. The last to go onstage was, as expected, Qiao Ting. After the four of them made their choices, the referee asked them to press the power switch for the small balls together.
Just as the four of them pressed the button, a large opening suddenly appeared on top of the small ball. A beam of light shot out from within, condensing into a virtual screen. The four virtual screens weren't blank. There was a number appearing on each of them. The audience could tell at a glance who the final four would be facing.
Amidst everyone's exclamations, Jiang Shaoyu's face darkened slightly. He glanced darkly at Zhao Jun, who was standing in a row with him. He was depressed that Zhao Jun's luck was pretty good. He actually managed to escape this calamity.
As for Zhao Jun, he felt a little regretful that his opponent was not Jiang Shaoyu. He looked at his opponent and sighed. If he wanted to fight with Jiang Shaoyu, he could only hope that Jiang Shaoyu would be defeated. Because the person he was fighting against was an old opponent he was extremely familiar with — Qiao Ting! He knew very well that he was definitely no match for Qiao Ting.
That's right, in the semifinals, the First Men's Military Academy was the first to engage in internal strife, killing each other.
In response to the crowd's surprise and regret, the spectating Ling Lan felt that this arrangement was extremely reasonable. Among the four of them, Zhao Jun's strength was one level lower than theirs. No matter which of the three of them went up against him, they would almost certainly win. And now, in this kind of match between the strongest and the weakest, where two people of similar strength would fight to the death, no one would complain about their bad luck … it would all depend on strength to speak. Whoever was stronger would be able to go further.
Because the numbers on the small balls that Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting had touched were both 1, it was only natural that they would be the first to fight. The four of them went backstage. Qiao Ting and Zhao Jun boarded their mecha and then operated their mecha to arrive at the competition venue.
Qiao Ting's mecha was an ace mecha for long-range attacks. The mecha's shape had long been engraved in the hearts of the Federation members. The moment it appeared, the entire venue cheered enthusiastically. Everyone knew that Qiao Ting of the First Men's Military Academy had successfully advanced to ace level in his fourth year, becoming the second peerless prodigy after General Ling Xiao to advance to ace level in his fourth year. However, no one knew which mecha the other had mastered. And now, this answer had finally appeared in front of the public. Compared to the balanced mecha that General Ling Xiao had chosen, although Qiao Ting's choice was different, this did not stop the crowd from liking and anticipating him.
Meanwhile, on the other end, Zhao Jun operated his own special-class mecha onto the stage. Seeing that everyone's cheers were directed towards Qiao Ting, he could only smile helplessly. However, it was also at this moment that he could better understand why Ling Lan did not participate in single mecha combat. A fourth year ace level was already enough to make people go crazy. If the world knew that there was another person who had broken General Ling Xiao's advancement record, successfully advancing to ace level in his second year, it would definitely shock the entire Federation, and perhaps even the entire human world …
At this thought, Zhao Jun could not help but shudder, fear rising in his heart. In order to prevent the Federation from gaining another ultimate weapon, the enemy nations would definitely send countless assassins to stop them. Meanwhile, in order to protect Ling Lan's safety, the Federation would probably directly recruit him into the military and protect him in secret. At that time, his team leader would definitely not have any freedom. Only when he became the new ultimate weapon of his nation would he be able to regain his freedom. And this was still the best case scenario. If his team leader was unable to advance to god-class operator for the rest of his life, wouldn't he be locked up in some base for the rest of his life until he died? This was probably not the outcome his team leader wanted.
Zhao Jun's heart stiffened. The fact that Ling Lan had already successfully advanced to ace level was something he needed to suppress in his heart. He could not reveal it to anyone …
The referee in charge of this match, after receiving the answers that both of them had prepared, raised the green flag in his right hand high up. Once it was waved down, the match would officially begin.
Everyone looked at the referee's green flag. Finally, when the flag was waved down, Qiao Ting was just about to charge over to attack when Zhao Jun opposite him did something that caught everyone off guard. He cleanly and efficiently operated his mecha to raise both hands to the front of his mecha …
The referee had just waved down the green flag in his right hand when he saw Zhao Jun's action. The red flag in his left hand was quickly raised and waved violently. This was an announcement that the battle between Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting needed to be paused for a short while.
It turned out that the action Zhao Jun had taken was a move exclusive to conceding defeat according to the rules of the mecha combat tournament. In a battle, if anyone did this, whether intentionally or not, the referee would wave the red flag and announce the pause of the match. Then, the referee would ask the mecha operator if this action meant that he was admitting defeat. If not, the mecha operator who did this action would have points deducted. This point deduction was very severe, directly taking away about a third of the total points.
Mecha combat was won by knocking down the opponent, but sometimes, because both sides were evenly matched in strength, they could be caught in a prolonged stalemate. If one wanted to decide the victor in a short period of time, one would have to risk their life for the other. Although the official slogan of the Mecha Grand Tournament was true combat, this was still just a domestic competition. The Federation military did not want the Federation's outstanding talents to wither away in this place, so they had set up this method of deducting points to determine the final victor.
This was a deduction of points, not a competition rule. Every mecha that entered the field had a starting point of 100 points, and if they were attacked effectively by the opponent, a corresponding amount of points would be deducted … whoever had their points deducted to zero first would lose, and the referee would stop the match and announce the result.
Thus, when Zhao Jun took this pose, although the referee was taken aback, he still reacted quickly and waved the red flag in his left hand. Seeing the signal from the referee's red flag, Qiao Ting immediately stopped his attack and waited for the referee's next arrangement.
The referee quickly connected to Zhao Jun's comms channel, and after confirming that Zhao Jun had indeed admitted defeat, he immediately announced the end of the match. With Zhao Jun admitting defeat, Qiao Ting won without a fight and successfully entered the finals.
Returning to the backfield, Qiao Ting operated his mecha with a gloomy expression to the fixed mecha seat designated by the JMC. After locking it up, he walked out of the cockpit and climbed onto the landing cable to land on the ground.
On the other side, Zhao Jun had also descended from the cockpit. Qiao Ting took off his safety helmet and frowned as he waited for Zhao Jun to come over. When Zhao Jun came to his side, he asked with a dark expression, "Why didn't you fight?" Even though he was extremely confident in himself, winning without a fight still made Qiao Ting feel uncomfortable, as if he had been given a handicap.
Zhao Jun heard Qiao Ting's grumbling and secretly rolled his eyes. Who would have thought that the outwardly domineering and unreasonable Qiao Ting would actually be so upright on the inside? Even winning without a fight made him feel humiliated … he could not help but think of his own team leader, that style of only looking at the results and not the process. Yes, his boss still had a bright future ahead of him.
Zhao Jun was now even more impressed with his good friend. His eye for choosing a team leader was very sharp. Having not known that Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan had a relationship in their early years, he was once again tricked by Li Lanfeng, believing that the latter had truly wanted him to join Lingtian for his own good … although that was the truth, it could not be denied that Li Lanfeng still had his own selfish motives. He wanted to increase the strength of his rabbit battle clan, but his arrangements had benefited both sides.
Qiao Ting's aggressive gaze made Zhao Jun know that it was impossible for him not to answer. He replied helplessly, "Knowing that I can't beat you, why would I expose my trump card to others?" Zhao Jun shrugged. He looked at Jiang Shaoyu and Lin Xiao, who were currently walking into the backstage tunnel to enter the field for battle, and continued, "In truth, I wanted to leave a little surprise for one of them, so I didn't want to expose too much."
"Jiang Shaoyu?" Zhao Jun's explanation made Qiao Ting's dissatisfaction disappear. He thought of what Zhao Jun had said at the start and said with sudden realisation, "That's right.
Now, I really hope that Lin Xiao from the First Co-ed Military Academy will put in a bit more effort and defeat Jiang Shaoyu, giving me a chance to fight him. " Zhao Jun's eyes narrowed slightly. Facing Jiang Shaoyu, he was full of fighting spirit. Perhaps he also wanted to tell his teammates that he was already one of them, which was why he could not accept his teammates being humiliated …
Right then, the communicator on Zhao Jun's wrist began to vibrate violently. He raised his hand to take a look and instantly smiled. It was a message from Li Lanfeng.
"What's the matter?" asked Qiao Ting.
"Yeah, the regiment commander is looking for me. Qiao Ting, I'll be leaving first." Outside, Zhao Jun had always referred to Ling Lan as' regiment commander '.
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