Chapter 28 - Sun Tzu’s Art of War: To Catch a Thief, One Must First Catch the Leader!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Looking at the approaching interstellar pirates, Qin Yue made a decisive decision.

“This time, we won’t fight them in close combat. We’ll use ranged firepower to strafe the area and stall for time!”

It was impossible to defeat them in close combat.

What Qin Yue needed now was time. He needed to think of a way to deal with them.

“Understood. We will try our best to stall them.” Ling Ru took a deep breath and replied.

Tang Lin lightly bit her lips and said, “Little Brother Qin Yue, I might not be able to hold on for long if you let me fight them in close combat. However, when it comes to long-range firepower, I won’t lose to those pirates!”

The few of them immediately activated their ranged weapon systems and bombarded the pirates without hesitation.

Boom!

Boom!

In an instant, the five intergalactic pirates were stopped in their tracks.

The flames that spread to the sky had completely drowned them in the black smoke.

“F*ck, we’ve unloaded all our heavy weapons chasing the spaceship. Otherwise, I would have rushed over long ago and killed this bunch of rookies!”

Faced with overwhelming firepower, the interstellar pirates had no choice but to temporarily retreat.

Although the Bodyguard-class mecha body could not cause heavy damage to their mecha in a short time, their mecha would still be in trouble if they took constant fire.

If their mecha were seriously damaged, they would have to pay a large sum of money to repair it. The money was enough for them to enjoy their lives for a while so how could they bear to spend it all on mecha repair instead?!

At that moment, the leader of the five pirates, Yuri, suddenly spoke.

“Spread out and make it impossible for them to focus their firepower! Find an opportunity to get in close and make them panic.”

It was obvious that that leader called Yuri was very experienced in battle and quickly thought of a countermeasure to deal with this situation.

The other four pirates heard the order and responded. They immediately began to spread out.

Seeing that the few of them had split up, Qin Yue could not help but raise his eyebrows.

After the pirates split up, the firepower of his squad could not be concentrated since Ling Ru, Li Yanyan, and Wang Jun piloted non-Devastator-type mechas.

“If you can still stall them, then do it. Otherwise, just fight them head-on! Who knows, this battle may transform all of you. You must persevere. Believe in me, I will find a way out of this.”

In truth, Qin Yue did not have any good ideas for the time being.

Having no plan was one thing, facing a battle with such a huge disparity in strength was another.

He definitely could not let Ling Ru and the others lose their confidence. If they lost the will to keep up the fight, then they might as well have just surrendered.

As expected, after Ling Ru and the others heard Qin Yue’s words, their fighting spirit was rekindled. 

Qin Yue, who had brought so much shock and surprise to them, was still someone they chose to trust completely.

The battle raged on but soon after, Ling Ru and the others were forced into a close combat situation.

Just like that, Qin Yue’s squad had their first real taste of a clash between mecha and between the pilot’s Mental Strengths.

One move…

Three moves…

As the attacks came one after another, the members of the squad quickly grew exhausted.

The battle experience of that group of interstellar pirates was clearly far above that of the members of the squad.

Among them, the one with the most outstanding battle experience was the pilot of the Military class mecha.

Whether it was in terms of proficiency in operating the mecha or their ferocious strength, they had completely crushed the members of the team.

For a moment, the members of the small team were being beaten back one by one by their opponent.

During the battle, if not for Tang Lin shifting her fire support, Li Yanyan, and the others might have already been killed by their opponent.

To Qin Yue, this kind of protracted battle was very disadvantageous.

Sky Hunter, as well as Qin Yue’s Mental Strength, would suffer if he were careless.

If Qin Yue was piloting another mecha, he would probably have been destroyed long ago!

At the same time, while Yuri was in his battle stance.

‘Hmm, this symbol?’

Looking at the symbol on Qin Yue’s mecha, Yuri immediately recognized it. This was a rookie from the Mecha Academy under the Mukda Federation government.

“Managing to hold us off for so long, I thought it was an elite force, but it turned out to be just a group of students.

“Jie Jie Jie, but to be able to fight with me for such a long time, you must be the Mukda Federation government’s genius recruit.

“I, Yuri, love killing geniuses!”

Yuri’s mouth corner slightly upward. In his eyes, Qin Yue was another lamb waiting to be slaughtered by his hand.

“All of you, be careful when you attack. Be careful not to cripple the important parts of these mecha. Although their strength is very weak, they are still considered geniuses. Genius pilots meant specially customized mecha parts. Those are worth a lot!”

When the four interstellar pirates heard the words ‘worth a lot’, they instantly perked up.

After all, money was their favorite thing besides power!

“Haha, Boss! Don’t worry!”

“We will definitely show mercy! To the mecha parts that is!”

“Boss, how can we say no to more money?! Don’t worry, I will be very accurate. I guarantee that I won’t hurt the core components!”

The intergalactic pirates, other than plundering transport ships, liked to encounter those low-level mecha to salvage and sell the valuable parts of the mecha’s core after killing their pilots.

They also use the stolen parts to modify and upgrade their own mecha!

Therefore, when the few of them saw that the ship they chased had lost its ability to fly and could no longer escape, they attacked Qin Yue and the others without hesitation.

When Qin Yue and the rest of the squad realized the pirates were holding back to avoid damaging their core components, they finally had a chance to catch their breath.

Qin Yue finally calmed down and began to think of a plan.

After a few moments, Qin Yue finally thought of one of Sun Tzu’s military tactics that he had read of before.

To catch a thief, one must first catch the leader!

“End the formation rotation. We’ll execute a cross attack. Try to stall your opponent as much as possible. Don’t let him drag you down!”

As the sound of his voice faded, Ling Ru and the others immediately dropped their earlier strategy. Each of them now chose an opponent to focus on.

It was also at that moment that Qin Yue drew the Scarlet Pike. Ignoring the other four interstellar pirates, he charged straight toward the Military-class mecha.

‘Fuuuu, Tai Chi. Whether this spear technique succeeds or not, it’s up to you!’

With that, for the first time in his history, Qin Yue unleashed all of his Mental Strength.

He combined the Swimming Dragon Step and the Unpredictable Spearpoint Tai Chi techniques.

At that moment, Qin Yue’s speed had reached unprecedented heights. He was so fast that it was hard for the naked eye to notice.

Yuri revealed a ferocious expression when faced with Qin Yue’s explosive power.

He gathered his strength and threw a punch at Qin Yue.

“Newbie, feel the crushing power of a superior mecha! I will torture you until you collapse.”

Facing Yuri’s punch, Qin Yue did not dodge. If he dodged, his attack would definitely miss.

In the next second!

Bang!

Boom!

An intense sound of a two-mecha collision and an ear-piercing sound rang out at the same time.

A huge fist print appeared in front of Sky Hunter’s right chest that Qin Yue while in Yuri’s mecha cockpit, the pike had been completely embedded in it, but it was stuck and could not go any further.

The moment Sky Hunter received that attack head-on, the pilot’s cabin shook so violently that Qin Yue thought his brain would be rattled from his skull.

Although Yuri’s mecha was damaged, it was still functional.

Yuri gave a sinister laugh and immediately wanted to wrest control of the Scarlet Pike from the mecha in front of him..