CH 52

Brawl (2)

Rumble……

The speeding mecha’s feet stepped on the frozen soil, and the gravel along the way vibrated.

The mecha troops galloped across the mountains, and the blue-black IP’s and a dark blue Evil Shark formed an advancing formation, raising a trail of smoke and dust.

“———all, stop marching!!”

Without warning, Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin’s roar suddenly came from the communication channels of each mecha, echoing like thunder.

The soldiers of Silver Big Dipper didn’t know what happened, they only knew that this time was a dangerous and urgent mission, also, they were still far away from the target location, thus logically they wouldn’t stop so abruptly.

However, this did not prevent them from obeying orders.

Clatter!

A total of 500 mechas stopped within three seconds.

In the cockpit of the mecha L-Evil Shark, cold sweat rolled down the bridge of Huo Lin’s nose.

The message from the fortress flickered on the screen, icing him from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

The lieutenant colonel raised his head stiffly, in front of him were two high and steep cliffs…..At this moment, when the major general’s instructions arrived, the front team of the 500-men rescue team had entered the valley, while the rear team was affixed outside.

–One of their feet has already stepped into the enemy’s trap, it’s a close call!

The next second, Huo Lin yelled sharply, “Fortress order: Urgent military situation, whole team, withdraw!”

“Listen to my instructions now, all the mechas turn around, the rear team will become the front team, withdraw from the valley at full speed according to the original route, and form a team outside the valley!!”

In the valley, the air suddenly became tense.

Clatter…..creak…..

A large number of mechas turned around upon the command, the soldiers heard a hint of ominousness from the tone of the commanding officer, and their breaths gradually shortened. The rear team first started to run at full speed, followed by hundreds of mechas, and retreated to the open area outside the valley!

“Lieutenant Colonel, look at the sky!” Raymond suddenly shouted in surprise.

Huo Lin turned his head to look, and cursed a dirty word on the spot.

At the other end of the thick sky, dense black spots were faintly enlarging, what else if not the mecha of the Lava Space Pirates?

Silver Big Dipper had already noticed their ambush. When placed on an ordinary person, after finding out that the plan had failed, he may give up. However, this group of space pirates were undoubtedly desperate lunatics, and dared to rush straight down in this manner, preparing to fight a tough battle!

“Lava-who doesn’t learn their lessons-petty thieves!”

Raymond hammered the console bitterly, “Lieutenant Colonel, the number of enemy troops is not much larger than ours, let’s fight.”

“Shut up,” Huo Lin steered the mecha Evil Shark to turn, and roared into the channel, “Retreat while fighting, retreat out of the valley! If you want to fight, retreat out!!”

Before the words fell, a strange sound came from the exit of the valley.

Roar……

Immediately afterwards, roars of beasts resounded through the sky and the earth, deafening!

“Alien…..alien creatures!?”

Someone exclaimed, “How is it possible, where did they come from, why didn’t the mecha detection system respond?”

Unexpectedly, several black shadows climbed down from the cliffs on both sides of the valley’s mouth. They turned out to be a black-haired apes taller than a large mecha, with ferocious fangs growing in its mouth, and thick arms that were almost completely covered by crystals.

Their eyes were bright, they first leaped off the cliff, clenched their fists like humans and swung at the mechas of the Silver Big Dipper. A power of one punch was enough to send an IP flying.

“Front, front confirmation! A-level alien creature, iron-armed mountain climbing ape, quantity… six——ugh ah ah !!”

All of a sudden, the wreckage of a mecha and flesh and blood of human beings flew into the sky, the field of vision was covered with a blood color, and exclamations and screams sounded one after another!

The retreating mecha troops were cut off by these black apes, about two-thirds were outside the valley, while one-third were still inside.

“Damn it.” Huo Lin stood up suddenly from the cockpit, with eyes that bulged out of rage, and trembling teeth.

A total of six A-level alien creatures were enough to make people fall into despair for ordinary Silver Big Dipper soldiers.

Not to mention, the mechas of Lava were already in sight. The space pirates began to fire and bombarded indiscriminately, forcing the soldiers of the Silver Big Dipper to fight back, and the valley suddenly turned into a melee.

The 500 men he brought this time were all elite soldiers from Silver Big Dipper. They could fight space pirates, and they could also fight alien creatures, however……

However no one had ever faced the combination of space pirate mechas and highly intelligent alien creatures at the same time!

If one wanted to deal effective damage to alien creatures, one had to rush out of the cockpit to fight with crystal bones, but Lava’s mechas hovered at high altitudes, ready to aim and shoot at any time; if one wanted to fight the Lava, the fists of these group of black apes were also enough to smash their mechas…  

Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin’s eyes were red, and finally made a decision within a few seconds.

“Don’t be obsessed with fighting, rush over at full speed! No matter what, get out of the valley alive. The major general’s support army is already on the way, as long as you rush out, you can live!!”

“Those who have already evacuated, don’t fucking turn back, run forward!–Run!!”

Run! 

At the command of the commanding officer, countless blue-black IP’s soared into the sky, charged towards the tall alien creatures under the bombardment of the Lava.

The mechas carrying soldiers took off at full speed, from the armpits and crotches of the black apes, from their raised arms, from their raised thighs, and even from their ferocious fangs……….brushing past between the spaces of life and death!

“Wahhahaha, don’t be a deserter, weaklings of the empire! Come on, and fight with your grandpa!”

At high altitude, the space pirates burst into a wild laughter while firing at the same time, baring their gold-encrusted teeth.

Some even opened their cockpits, stood on the fuselage of their mecha, and danced with joy, making provocative and insulting gestures in succession.

“Boss, look quickly, they are scared out of their wits, they are running away before the fight! Hahahaha……”

Inside the bright red L-Hephaestus, Chilong snorted proudly, and lazily snapped his fingers, “It seems that the Silver Big Dipper is nothing more than this, what strongest army of the Empire……Hey, bunch of cowards, aren’t you only simply best at escaping?”

Countless Silver Big Dipper soldiers blushed with anger and glared wide-eyed. However, at the moment of the commander’s retreat order, no one paid attention to the aggressive tactics of the space pirates.

As time went by, as far as the eye could see, the mechas of the Silver Big Dipper had gradually decreased. Most of them successfully evacuated from this valley of death, while a few turned into scrap metal.

The sky brightened completely amidst the chaos, the shadows on the stone walls changed from long to short, and the valley was already a mess.

On this devastated battlefield, Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin was still manipulating the mecha.

Raymond had already been driven away by him in the name of military orders, while the lieutenant colonel was covering the rear, sheltering the last Silver Big Dipper soldiers that evacuated from the valley.

When he opened the cockpit and jumped out, he roared and received the heavy blow from the black ape with his crystal bone. The fishy wind from the valley blew on the lieutenant colonel’s Silver Big Dipper military uniform.

The wind brought the smell of blood, which was the smell of the battlefield.

How long has he not smelled this smell?

It seems that it has been many, many years, and it seems that everything was just yesterday.

At that time, he was also known as an elite, a promising officer of the Silver Big Dipper, who took on the most dangerous advance mission. At that time, he was full of the smell of this battlefield, and he regarded it as his glory…..until that day.

Boom! 

Huo Lin’s body hit the ground heavily, and he quickly got up after rolling twice to release his strength, turning his head with blood on his face.

Next to him was a young man with brown hair who collapsed to the ground in despair after his mecha was damaged.

“Com……commander!” The brown-haired young man had tears in his eyes.

Huo Lin recognized that he was the little guy he had brought three years ago, then he grinned with blood between his teeth.

Immediately afterwards, he came straight to his face and yelled, “White has taught you things for a year, you blockhead! Get up, go and drive my mecha!”

The young man quickly got up and rushed towards the mecha. Huo Lin didn’t look back, he stared straight at the huge black ape in front of him, and sweat mixed with blood, dripped down from his temples.

The black ape had a pair of sunken eye sockets. It turned its huge body, and the eyeballs in the eye sockets seemed to be condescendingly staring at the lieutenant colonel, this tiny, stupid, human being who was courting death.

The sunlight was blocked for a moment.

The black ape raised its arms high, and the crystal bones on his arms flickered.

Huo Lin squinted his eyes in the harsh reflection of the crystal bone, and suddenly remembered that day of that year again.

The day when all his advance troops were wiped out except him.

In the already mottled memories, when it was time to eat lunch, a long-haired girl in the team once smiled heartily and praised the rare good weather.

On that day, the cruel sky was as clean and blue as freshly washed glass.

Just like today.

Crystal bone climbed up the lieutenant colonel’s face, Huo Lin gave a loud shout, and released a long knife-like crystal bone from behind.

With an indomitable momentum, he rushed towards the huge black ape that was several times taller than himself.

****

From the sky and earth, there came a loud noise and a few drops of blood flew up to the white clouds.

In the sky, Mecha S-Snow Dove flew across this piece of blue.

The Snow Dove was already covered in blood everywhere. Garcia half-kneeled on one knee on the fuselage, panting lightly, the crystal bone trailing behind was also dripping with blood.

They forcibly broke through the encirclement from that snow-capped mountain all the way, basically relying on His Royal Highness alone to defend and kill all sides in the battle, while Jiang Jianming was in charge of the mecha and support.

Fortunately, most of Lava’s mechas had been withdrawn, and the highly intelligent alien creatures were nowhere to be seen. What needed to be dealt with was only ordinary wild alien creatures, therefore the pressure had been greatly relieved.

Jiang Jianming, who was nestled in the driver’s seat, pressed his hands on the console, and asked the mechanical claw to hold the energy water for him to drink.

After feeling that his physical strength had recovered a little, he turned his face to the outside and asked, “Your Highness? Can you still hold on?”

Garcia raised his head, and said indifferently, “I should be the one asking you this question.”

Even after the continuous fierce battle from yesterday to this morning, there was no sign of tiredness on his brows.

“No, I feel much better compared to yesterday.” Jiang Jianming sat up straight and looked at Garcia suspiciously, “Your Highness, last night…did you give me more than one shot of tranquilizers?”

Garcia was silent for a moment, and said nonchalantly, “How much do you know about Lava Space Pirates?”

—This man changed the subject!

Jiang Jianming’s heart trembled, and thought in despair: How many tranquilizers does he have left? 

But now was really not the time to pursue this matter, therefore he could only swallow his anxiety and answer Garcia’s question.

“Probably…a little bit more knowledge than the textbooks of the military academy and the knowledge that can be read in the books on the surface of the Empire.”

Garcia: “Their mecha configuration, combat style?!”

Jiang Jianming: “There are a few, you don’t have to worry.”

In that few words, the valley was already in sight.

Jiang Jianming stared intently at the screen of the mecha, zoomed in on the image, and scanned it quickly………….

There were collapsed rocks, smoking scorched earth, remains of mechas and even human limbs and pools of blood, but there were no people.

Jiang Jianming adjusted his breathing and summed up succinctly, “There was a scuffle, but now everyone seems to have evacuated. There is no trace of a crystal disorder outbreak, the worst situation should have been at least avoided.”

Garcia: “Follow ahead for a while.”

Needless to say, Jiang Jianming had already pushed the lever forward. Snow Dove kept flying straight at full speed, and the rock walls on both sides of the valley turned into afterimages and were thrown behind the mecha.

Until the scenery in front changed.

First, Lava’s eye-catching mecha group appeared at low altitude; then, the figures of black apes on the ground, unexpectedly not much slower than the mecha. The last ones to be recognized were the Silver Big Dipper mechas flying further ahead in flight mode.

Sure enough, this battle is not over yet!

Jiang Jianming’s expression froze, and he said quickly, “The battle is still going on ahead, and Silver Big Dipper is retreating while fighting…..Confirmed, they are the Lava’s mecha and ape-like alien star creatures, there are six. If I remember correctly, it should be A-level iron-armed mountain climbing ape.”

“Very good, land the mecha.”

Garcia stood up unhurriedly, raised his hand and tightened the hair band that bound his long hair, then stretched the red gold crystal bone behind his back again.

He said in a deep voice, “I’ll solve it.”

****

The taste of blood…….

The smell of the battlefield that lingers in the nose.

“Sir…..”

“Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin…!”

At the same time, there was a dimly discernable voice ringing in his ears.

With a hoarse cry, as if mourning, and was extremely noisy.

Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin opened his eyes with difficulty, and he saw white clouds floating above his head in a leisurely manner.

Moving his eyes down, he saw the mecha’s mechanical arm holding him, and the brown-haired young man in the cockpit with snot and tears all over his face.

Oh, the culprit of that loud noise just now.

This silly boy actually tried his best to bring him out.

Huo Lin sneered from the bottom of his heart. For many years, his iron-hard gaze continued to look down, looking down on his own broken body. Blood and flesh were indistinct on his chest and abdomen…

Obviously, anyone who was not blind could see that this kind of injury was beyond recovery.

“Little brat, don’t cry.”

Then the lieutenant colonel sighed hoarsely.

Huo Lin’s expression and tone of voice were unusually peaceful, and even had a gentle taste.

He just murmured quietly, “In Silver Big Dipper……on the battlefield……people always have to go through this.”

Either witness death, or welcome death.

Either become the person who paid homage to the heroic souls, or become the one whose incarnation was sacrificed, and leave his name on the Stele of Heroes in the underground of the fortress.

The brown-haired young man howled even harder, muttering a series of words, but Huo Lin’s ears were buzzing, and he couldn’t hear a word clearly.

“Death is not terrible, little bastard…..” The lieutenant colonel wearily looked away, then sighed, “Don’t learn from me…..be so cowardly.”

After that incident, because he no longer wanted to be the only survivor, he turned away from the cruel battlefield and became an instructor for the officers in adaptation period. Year after year, he taught those little guys the knowledge on how to survive in the distant interstellar, hoping that there would be fewer names engraved on the Stele of Heroes in the future.

He thought that he would work like this until his hair turned gray, and decades later, he would be on crutches and still be yelling at a group of recruits. Unexpectedly, fate likes to play jokes, and in the end he would die on the real battlefield as a commanding officer leading the troops.

The lieutenant colonel raised his head peacefully, feeling the passing of life.

Suddenly, something white seemed to bloom out of his dim eyes. There was a touch of whiteness reflected in the blue sky, and it was getting closer and closer.

Is it snow?

No, the snowstorm has stopped.

Is it a white dove?

No, there would not be such a weak and beautiful existence in the war-filled interstellar world.

Mecha S-Snow Dove flew across the sky full of gunfire, it flew so high and so fast; it was like a sharp sword piercing the clouds and wind, as its beautiful fuselage was bathed under light of the dawn.

Lieutenant Colonel Huo Lin’s eyes widened slightly.

……….Later, he led year after year of officers in adaptation period, those childish, ignorant little bastards, those young students who were only empty talk…

With a glance, he could see what kind of height each person could reach in the future.

Only this little bastard, he couldn’t see through.

He didn’t know how high this disabled human being could fly, how far he could go, and whether the final ending would be a dismal end, or would open up a new glory for the Empire. But now, the kid had flown higher than him, and his path would be longer than his.

The brown-haired young man in the mecha who hadn’t cried enough, was interrupted by Huo Lin impatiently, “Alright, wipe away your tears.”

“You…cough, come and see.”

The lieutenant colonel raised his arm, blood flowed from the rough palm, and pointed his index finger at the rapidly approaching mecha in the sky. The lieutenant colonel narrowed his eyes, the corners of his eyes seemed to be bent, and said in a hoarse voice, “You……look, that’s the little bastard I brought…………”

Then he kept on flying, the colonel thought.

Going higher than this cruel sky.

“He’s a………very talented….disabled human being.”

Huo Lin slowly closed his eyes, let out a breath, and muttered, “Let the fortress…take care of him.”

Then the sound dissipated in the wind.

Huo Lin closed his eyes, his bloody chest stopped heaving.

In the distance, Raymond, who was manipulating a mecha, roared and rushed over.

“Lieutenant Colonel!!!”

Raymond burst into tears, but in the next second he hit the Evil Shark with the mechanical arm of the mecha.

He shouted hoarsely at the young man in the cockpit who had ashen complexion and dull eyes, “Wake up, don’t cry—the battle is not over yet!”

In the next second, a shadow above the head shrouded them……

With the mechanical arm protecting one more person, and the driver’s emotional breakdown, the mecha inevitably slowed down, and it fell at the end of the queue. A black ape had already chased after it, and raised its arms covered with crystal bones towards the two mechas of Raymond and the brown-haired young man!

The direction of the wind changed subtly at this moment.

High in the sky, mecha S-Snow Dove flashed past. The wings of the mecha reflected the sun’s rays, casting a momentary white light on the upturned faces of Raymond and the brown-haired young man.

A slender figure stood at the front of the mecha.

In an instant, the figure jumped down from this small and exquisite mecha, and fell towards the top of the black ape’s head. His platinum curly hair was more dazzling than the light.

Raymond exclaimed, “Your Royal Highness!?”

Garcia, who was falling rapidly, looked like ice, and there was no emotion at the bottom of his emerald eyes.

He stretched his arms against the strong wind and opened his right hand. Each finger was slender and white, like a work of art displayed in the palace.

However, when huge crystal bones grew from the shoulders and covered the fingers layer by layer, the artwork became the most powerful weapon in the world, which should be indestructible and invincible.

When the black ape raised its head and roared, the prince also coldly swung his fist. The crystal bone on his arm suddenly stretched to the height of a person, and the human crystal bone and the arm of the A-level alien creature rolled down a strong wind, and punched each other head-on!

Boom——!! 

The earth trembled and blood rained violently.

The black ape screamed and fell backwards. It raised its right arm that burst from the punch, as it exploded a series of brilliant red fireworks.