Chapter 704: Attack!
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After the order was given, all the mecha clans under the Three Sun fleet, especially those who were nearer to the location of the ambush, started acting immediately. All the other commander-in-chief also gave a similar order. They were not from the same division as Bing Ge but all of them were from the Federation. All the soldiers in the Federation were their comrades. They would not abandon their comrades.
No.03 was agitated. Ever since he sent a request for help to 250 Mecha Clan, they had been waiting. 404 said that he had reported the situation to the higher authorities. They had to stay at the same place and wait for the command from the higher authorities.
The five mecha operators from Bing Ge were unhappy that 404 and the other nine operators were watching over them. If they had more people on their side, they might have left this place and would immediately go to the base of 250 Mecha Clan to seek help.
After 20 minutes of waiting, 404 still hadn’t given them any concrete answer. The five mecha operators from Bing Ge couldn’t stand it anymore. They decided to go to the base of 250 Mecha Clan and look for the regiment commander themselves.
The moment they moved, 404 noticed them. The 10 mechas surrounded them with their beam guns aimed at them.
“What is the meaning of this? How dare you point your guns at your comrades!” No.03 shouted.
404 replied calmly, “Please wait over here.” He must follow his regiment commander’s order.
“You asked us to wait? Do you know that our regiment commander and our team leader is still fighting? We don’t even know if they are still alive. They are waiting for us to save them but you asking me to wait? Bastard! If 250 Mecha Clan doesn’t want to help, you can just tell us. We will not trouble you. However, you do not have to prevent us from seeking help from mecha clans, right?” No.03 shouted furiously.
“Our regiment commander has given his order. Your SOS has been sent to the higher authorities. We are still preparing. Please wait patiently.” 404 continued to repeat what Ling Lan told him.
He understood why they were so anxious but being anxious would not save their comrades. They need to make ample preparations before going on the rescue mission. If they act rashly, not only would they be unable to save their comrades, they might endanger their own life.
“Prepare, prepare. That’s what you said 20 minutes ago, you have been preparing. Are you done preparing yet? Is the life of the mecha operators from Bing Ge not worthy enough for you to save? Is that why you keep dragging the time? This is murder! Murder!” Another mecha operator from Bing Ge started crying. The longer they wait, the more danger their comrades were in. How could they wait patiently?
“Your comrades’ lives are worthy but so are ours!” 404 glared at the other party with bloodshot eyes. He finally got triggered. He couldn’t maintain his composure anymore.
“From the video you gave me, we know that the creatures are frightening. If we make a small mistake, our entire mecha clan would be annihilated. However, even though this is the case, the mecha operators from 250 Mecha Clan still took on the challenge and gathered everyone available in the base for this rescue mission.” 404 shouted furiously, “Our regiment commander treats our mecha operators very well. He would never act rashly. He only attacks when he has the confidence that we will succeed. Our regiment commander will not let anyone sacrifice themselves unnecessarily in this mission.”
If his regiment commander last time was as decisive and placed as much importance on the lives of his mecha operators like Ling Lan, he might not have felt so much disappointment and despair and in the end becoming a despondent person… 404 blinked and removed the sorrow from his eyes.
“Bullshit, Bing Ge…”
No.03 wanted to refute but 404 interrupted him. “Your regiment commander made four mistakes. First, when you first entered the base of those creatures, he should have ordered an immediate retreat as you weren’t able to accurately judge how powerful those creatures were.”
“Second, when you realized that only beam guns can kill those creatures, he should have gauge whether you all were able to kill all the creatures before the energy in your beam guns ran out. Hence, even if you couldn’t determine how strong your opponents were and wasn’t sure whether you should retreat or not, your regiment commander should have ordered a retreat at that moment.”
“Our regiment commander did calculate this. He felt that we didn’t need to retreat. However, he didn’t expect more and more creatures to come as we started fighting…” No.03 tried to explain himself.
404 scoffed, “These two mistakes are not fatal. Normal commanding officers might make the same mistakes. However, the worst mistake your regiment commander made was this. When he realized the energy in the beam guns couldn’t last till all the enemies are destroyed, he still stayed there. He chose to request the starship to give him more energy storage units This decision placed the entire mecha clan at unnecessary risk.”
“We have been fighting constantly for three days and three nights. Even if the regiment commander asked us to retreat, we could not do it. It is the fault of the commander of the Aoxi fleet. If he had agreed to provide us more energy storage units, we would not be in such a position.” No.03 was indignant. In his heart, he pushed all the blame on the commander of Aoxi fleet.
“Stupid! How can you hand over your life to a commander you can’t trust? I must say that your regiment commander was blinded by interest.” 404 sneered. He recalled what Ling Lan told them when they pleaded with him to let them off from the harsh training. He said that it was extremely stupid of them to put their lives in the hands of other people.
“Our regiment commander did this for us.” No.03 remembered the resource they found and felt bitter. The resource might be the reason why their regiment commander decided to take the risk. Unfortunately, the resource wouldn’t belong to Bing Ge anymore.
“Although the third point is the worst mistake your regiment commander made, he is still the cause of the annihilation of your mecha clan.” 404 remembered what happened to his mecha clan many years ago. The situation was similar. That year, because of a mistake of their regiment commander, the entire mecha clan died.
“Bullshit. Our regiment commander fought till the end so that we could escape. What did he do wrong?” No.03 shouted. They were still alive because his regiment commander protected them. His regiment commander would die to make sure that his mecha operators would survive. There was nothing wrong with his decision.
“Can you say that he made the right decision just because he fought till the end?” 404 didn’t have any relation with the regiment commander of Bing Ge. He was just furious because the regiment commander made an extremely wrong decision and basically killed his entire team.
“Actually, he should have been more decisive and sacrificed some of the mecha operators by letting them self-destruct. That way, you five will not be the only survivors. Most of your mecha clan members would be still alive,” 404 shouted angrily.
This decision seemed cruel but an outstanding commander should know when to make a sacrifice. If not, most of the mecha operators would have to die. The entire mecha clan might even be annihilated. Bing Ge was a perfect example. If their regiment commander was just more decisive and gave up those mecha operators that had lost their ability to fight, majority of his mecha operators would still be alive. Those mecha operators would be willing to sacrifice for their comrades too.
That time, if his regiment commander had ordered him to fight in order to buy some time for his comrades to retreat, he would have done it without any hesitation. Yet, their regiment commander got nervous and made a wrong decision. In the end, all his comrades died. He was able to survive because his team leader protected him with his own body.
No.03 felt cold sweats on his forehead when he heard what 404 said. If 404 didn’t say all the mistake their regiment commander made, No.03 would not think so deeply. However, after 404 exposed the truth, No.03 started thinking back and realized 404 was right. If their regiment commander was more decisive, their team leader might have been able to escape…
He shook his head furiously. He couldn’t think about their regiment commander like this. Their regiment commander had risked his life for their safety. How could he question his regiment commander’s decision?
No.03 froze on the spot. 404 vented his anger out. However, he still felt sad because he was not joining the rescue mission…
Just as he was feeling sad, he heard a sound. There were mechas near him. 404 saw a group of mechas appearing in the sky above them. The mecha in front was very familiar to him as it was the second most used mecha of their regiment commander. During their harsh training, their regiment commander liked to use this mecha to fire long-range attacks at them.
However, the most hated long-range mecha during that time looked very amiable at this moment. 404 sighed. Why couldn’t he participate in the rescue mission?
“Our regiment commander is here,” 404 said before welcoming Ling Lan.
“Bing Ge?” Ling Lan looked at the five mechas who seemed to be hesitating whether they should come over or not.
“Yes,” 404 replied. He thought for a while and decided to make a request. “Regiment commander, our team just reached this area. We didn’t do much today. I would like to request to join the rescue mission.”
Ling Lan felt that since the five people from Bing Ge had been interacting with 404’s team for a while now, they might feel more comfortable with them and might provide more information because of this. Hence, she agreed to 404’s request. 404’s team were elated.
Time was tight so 404 informed the five people from Bing Ge and they joined the main rescue team. There was close to 100 mechas flying towards the spot where Bing Ge was attacked. Four teams were taking part in this rescue mission. They were Qi Long’s team, Li Lanfeng’s team, Luo Lang’s team, and Liu Furong’s team.
Soon, they arrived at the edge of a dense forest.
“Boss, this should be the place where Bing Ge met the monsters.” Qi Long and his team reported their findings after they scouted the area.
“Did you see the video Bing Ge sent over?” Ling Lan frowned. It was another one of the three most dangerous locations in the land clearing mission: The forest. This was where Bing Ge went missing.
“Yes, we saw it. Those ant-like creatures are weak alone but when they attack together, they are frightening.” They all saw how the creatures bit through the mecha’s outer shell. A chill ran down their spines. Luckily, they saw that when there was a beam shield, the creatures were not able to penetrate it. Hence, they managed to calm down a little.
Why was it only a little? It was because the energy in the beam shield was not limitless. After those ant-like creatures exhausted the energy in the beam shield, the mechas would become their food.
“Cold weapons can’t harm them much. All mecha operators, check your weapons. Change them to firearms and make sure that there are enough energy in them.” Ling Lan would not allow her mecha clan to be in the same situation as Bing Ge. Once everyone was prepared, Ling Lan entered the forest.
The forest was quiet. It seemed to be safe. Many people would think that the Federation’s mecha were large and powerful but on this planet, they were just like a speck of dust.
The trees were huge and tall. They couldn’t see the top of the tree. Even the tree branches were taller than the mechas.The mecha operators felt like they were walking in a normal-sized forest with their own bodies.
Ling Lan’s heart stopped. She remembered her new subordinate which was still hiding at the bottom of the lake. The circular creature was able to use its spiritual power to attack people. She suspected that the creatures on this planet all had this ability. It should be known that no matter how vast this forest was, these experienced mecha operators should never such an illusion. Without a doubt, this was a form of spiritual attack. It was to lower the mecha operators’ guards.
“Be careful, everyone.” Ling Lan’s cold voice sounded on the team channel. The mecha operators who started relaxing due to the peaceful environment started turning vigilant again.
“Have the five mecha operators from Bing Ge lead the way.” Although they knew Bing Ge went missing in this area, they didn’t know exactly where they disappeared. The five mecha operators from Bing Ge would know their coordinates better since they had escaped from this area.
Ling Lan decided to let the mecha operators from Bing Ge lead the way so that they didn’t have to waste time locating the main army of Bing Ge. She knew that time was tight. She couldn’t waste any more time.
The five mecha operators from Bing Ge heard the order. They hastened their pace and came to the front of the group.