Chapter 168 - Li Ling Knew It Already

Rei, "..."

Li Ling smiled as he saw this speechless reaction, "There. The thing you both needed is now nothing more than dust.

Leyah scoffed and rolled her eyes as she let go of Rei's hair and looked at Li Ling and Zhihao before ordering her men, "Take them!" 

The white mecha-suited men rushed forward to arrest them once again but this time, Li Ling smirked as he tapped Zhihao's head, "Crush them." 

Zhihao was more than happy to listen to Li Ling. 

"Hold on tight," Zhihao warned out before punching the first soldier that had arrived. The Punch was not in any manner light, it was strong enough to send the men flying a few meters back and hitting other white-suited mecha soldiers in the process. 

Leyah gritted her teeth as she saw this. 

She already knew that it was easy for Captain Burn to take down her men. With just one punch alone, he could send at least five white soldiers flying. 

Li Ling sat on Zhihao's shoulder and watched the fight with amusement evident in his eyes. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying this. 

Zhihao opened his inventory and equipped the earth-shattering hammer. A transferable in-game item. The hammer was huge with a little more than ten feet of height. It was a weapon that Zhihao would hardly ever use because of its size, but it was a perfect weapon at this moment. 

Zhihao didn't really need to use it since his suit also came with weapons and explosives loaded, however, he wanted to try out this earth-shattering hammer. When would he get such a golden opportunity to use it again? 

He lifted his left leg and stepped back, making his dominant leg be the one at the front as he raised the hammer, and with a single swing, he killed a lot of the white-suited mecha soldiers. 

This swing was powerful enough to do a lot of damage and Zhihao couldn't help but be surprised at how effective it was. The hammer was pretty light and easy to control, the speed and strength could be adjusted according to the player's needs and wants. 

Zhihao was ready to swing once again, but he stopped immediately when he heard Leyah calling out. 

"Stop!!" She ordered her men. 

The white mech-suited soldiers no longer attacked Zhihao and Zhihao who still had his hammer raised, didn't attack them either. 

Leyah stepped forward and snapped her head to the right and left, giving out a crisp cracking sound of bones. She took out a type of switch from her pocket and when she pressed it once, the switch became a sort of metallic liquid that quickly covered her whole body. Once it had covered her whole body, it started to form a shape and hardened, making it look like some sort of metal suit. 

"Captain Burn," Leyah sighed as she looked at Zhihao, "We have been preparing this plan for months now and you just blew up our key ingredient. Do you really think I'll let you go just like that? Don't blame me for being rude, it was you who started it first." 

Zhihao smiled as he heard this, but said nothing. He was confident in himself and knew that even if Leyah were to enter the fight, they would still be able to beat her. 

Li Ling suddenly chuckled as he heard this, "We were the rude ones? Leader of the rebellion, Leyah, you weren't planning on letting go of us before this, were you? You were planning on silently killing us off. Wasn't it you who was rude to us first?" 

Both Zhihao and Leyah's eyes widened for a mere second. 

Zhihao hadn't noticed this at all. He thought Rei was the one trying to hit them on the head... No? 

Leyah smirked in amusement as she heard this, "What gave me off?" 

Li Ling stopped smiling as he tilted his head and looked at her from head to toe, "Everything actually." 

"..." 

Li Ling, "We were the leaders of the rebellion before this. The reason why you have that position right now is because we suddenly went missing. It doesn't take a genius to put the two pieces together. If we were to suddenly return, it would threaten your position as the leader hence, you would try to kill us off so as to assure your title, wouldn't you?" 

Leyah was silent before breaking out laughing as she nodded, "Captain Liv is so smart. He saw right through me!" She stepped closer to them as she twisted her fist in a stretching manner, "The fake captains would be easier to control than the real ones. Don't take it personally, it's just what I need to do. You already failed at leading the rebellion so let me now show you how it's really done." 

Li Ling equipped his own mecha suit as he jumped down from Zhihao's shoulder with a proud smile on his face, "If you want to waste your time and fight with us, we would naturally be interested in entertaining you. However, I think you're smart enough to see a way that profits both our sides?" 

Leyah smirked as she asked, "Profit both sides? What could you be suggesting?" 

"We'll follow your orders." 

Leyah suddenly stopped in her tracks as she heard this, a look of disbelief and shock flashing through her facial expression, "What?" 

Li Ling smiled as he added, "You heard that right. We have no interest in that title anymore. We can work with hidden identities. All we are asking from you is your cooperation. Just let us fight in the war. May it be in the front lines or from behind the scenes. Just let us join you and fight against the army of Ribix." 

A number of emotions flashed through her face as she stood there and simply looked at them, "What are you trying to play at?" 

Li Ling, "Not much. It's not a trick. We just want to prove to ourselves that we still have it in us to fight against that godforsaken creature." 

Zhihao gulped as he heard this. At this moment, he could clearly understand what Li Ling was planning. He was trying to trick Leyah into letting them join the war along with her. With all her soldiers, finding the other Ribots could be done in a flash and since their mission in this level was to simply fight and win the Ribix war, it wouldn't matter if they were the ones leading the war or not. 

Leyah scoffed, "You think I believe that?" 

"I'm just stating the truth," Li Ling spoke in all honesty, "You can either have us fight under you or fight against us and be crushed before you even see the face of the Ribix army." 

The veins on Leyah's head seemed to be popping in anger as she heard this but she could do nothing about it. Even she knew that this man wasn't lying. If he wanted to crush her, he could very well do so. 

Leyah was silent for a minute and suddenly the ground started trembling once again. 

Since they were all wearing their suits, they could stand and not be thrown off their feet. 

This time, the earthquake was short and when it stopped, Leyah breathed out, "Okay..." 

Li Ling smirked proudly as he heard this. He already knew that she was going to say yes.

Li Ling, "Then leader Leyah, we are looking forward to fighting by your side, however, I would first like to ask you for two favors." 

"I don't think you'll give me a chance to say 'no' to them, would you?" 

Li Ling chuckled, "You already know it. There's no such option to say no." 

"..." Leyah rolled her eyes as she asked, "What may these two favors be?" 

"First favor, help us find all the 2X and 3X Ribots." 

"You're going to regroup your Ribot army?" 

Zhihao suddenly felt that his on-the-spot choice to make Li Ling the leader of their group in this level was genius. Maybe he should try to put the leadership tag on Li Ling in every other level! Mastermo was already tired of being the leader in every game, it was kinda refreshing following someone else's order. 

Li Ling nodded as he answered, "The Ribot army will follow our commands, but they'll only be helping you." 

"And what if you two decide to go back on your word?" 

"We won't," It was Zhihao who reassured her, "We might as well die before we go back on our words. You can trust us." 

"Let's not talk about trust right now, Captain Burn," Leyah uttered bitterly, "Let me hear your second request." 

"Favor," Li Ling corrected before looking over at Rei who was still restrained by the soldiers on Leyah's orders, "My second favor is to let Leader Rei go." 

"..." Leyah glared back at him before shouting, "Ridiculous!" 

Even Zhihao felt that this was a bit ridiculous. He didn't even know what relationship there was between these two women but he could still feel that it wasn't a friendly one. There was really no need for Li Ling to ask this request and there was naturally no way Leyah would go along with this 'favor'.