IRCDM Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Assertion, Why Get So Angry?

External mecha control was a technology that had been eliminated decades ago. Although this technology doesn’t require high mental power, external control consumes more mental energy, and the trajectory error of the mecha is higher, which is extremely fatal on the battlefield. Now, it is only used in some niche and unpopular mecha events, and basically no one cares except for fervent mecha fans.

As luck would have it, Li Yao, as an avid mecha enthusiast, happened to have a brain with abundant mental power. When he was young and frivolous, he loved to show off his skills – niche, unpopular, high difficulty coefficient in operation, and suitable for showing off.

No man can resist standing on the shoulders of a large mecha and receiving cheers and admiration.

Li Yao opened the latest external control equipment that Liang Huan gave him. It was so lightweight and easy to use that he was a little surprised. This wasn’t something from the military, but he couldn’t figure out Liang Huan’s purpose in researching this thing. After all, this technology isn’t suitable for actual combat, and few people in the military are interested in it.

A faint guess emerged in his mind, but it was too narcissistic. He threw the messy thoughts out of his head and synchronously linked up the mental networks of Black Emperor and Red Queen.

The dizziness and nausea of mismatched mental power surged in, and the veins on his forehead bulged. He habitually reached for a mental power enhancer, but the next second, a familiar mental link came, and a powerful mental force wrapped his collapsing mental source, helping him successfully link to the two large mechas.

“Liang Huan?” He opened the private channel.

“It’s the long-distance mental link project you were researching before you joined the Dawn Project. Two years ago, I found someone to buy the patent and had someone make a link converter.” Liang Huan’s voice paused, “It’s only good for one use and can only last for three hours at most. It’s very impractical.”

Li Yao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Nonsense, otherwise the military would have bought it and mass-produced it long ago. The cost of making such a one-time thing is almost equal to a mecha. What are you researching this for?”

“If the cost can be reduced and the time limit increased, the threshold for piloting mechas can be greatly reduced in the future. This means that the available force of the entire base can be increased by five to seven times. In two-person combat, the battle line can be extended to the maximum extent, and the mobility of team mecha operations will be greatly improved.” Liang Huan’s calm voice rang in his ear.

“That’s what you say, but the high cost is a fatal flaw.” Li Yao finished putting on the equipment and punched his fist, “Let’s make it clear in advance, if you suddenly withdraw your mental power, I’m doomed.”

Liang Huan chuckled on the other end.

Li Yao’s ears tingled from his laughter, and he cleared his throat and said, “Be careful, don’t really get caught by the military and treated as a Heteromorph.”

“With you here, I am very relieved.” Liang Huan said.

Li Yao cut off the private channel, flicked Liang Huan’s avatar on the light screen, and then led the two large mechas into the dense jungle.

—

Lu Lian was looking at a holographic map of the Western Heteromorph Forest.

“Commander, we are currently unable to track the locations of Lin Chen and Li Yao.” Pu Lan reported from behind him, “Moreover, the members of the Eastern Third District exploration team are very scattered. If we want to annihilate them all, I’m afraid it will be difficult.”

Lu Lian zoomed in on the map in front of him: “We have fifteen S-grade mechas and seventy special operations department soldiers. How difficult can it be to deal with a rabble?”

Pu Lan hesitated to speak, but under Lu Lian’s indifferent gaze, he had no choice but to open his mouth: “Lin Chen was originally from the Special Operations Department, and now there’s Li Yao. I’m afraid…”

“There’s no need to have so many concerns.” Lu Lian raised his head, “Not only Lin Chen and Li Yao, but also the supplies they seized must be brought back to the military. As for the others, if anyone is foolish enough to resist, eliminate them directly.”

Pu Lan was stunned: “They are all ordinary citizens. Wouldn’t that be bad?”

“Once you leave the Eastern District Base, there is no such thing as ordinary citizens.” Lu Lian turned the map over, his eyes gloomy, “Understand?”

Pu Lan swallowed: “…Understood.”

“Let the mecha troops disperse and surround this canyon, activate the ultra-large mental interference device, and find Lin Chen for me even if we have to dig three feet into the ground—”

Bang!

A huge explosion interrupted his words, and the mecha alarm that followed instantly resounded throughout the valley.

“Lin Chen” himself was overlooking the smoke billowing from the jungle on the top of the mountain.

“Li Yao, well done.” He praised his Dawn Star without reservation on the public channel, and then issued an order, “Lu Lian didn’t leave many people for himself. Lu Biao, take your people and trap him.”

“Roger that!” Lu Biao’s voice sounded very excited.

Before Lu Lian could react, dense gunfire rang out around him. Lu Biao led nearly a hundred mercenaries suddenly out of the jungle. They were carrying all kinds of weapons, firing a shot and running away. Moreover, each mercenary had their own way of fighting and personality. They were like monkeys jumping up and down in the jungle, slippery and hard to catch. The ten or so special operations team members Lu Lian left behind were very annoyed.

“Don’t get too scattered!” Lu Lian urgently issued an order, “Leave here first!”

The special operations team members retreated urgently, but a small team of mercenaries suddenly popped out from the mountain peaks on the left rear. Ning Qiang and his men dragged heavy light cannons and smashed them down on their heads as if they were free. They had no choice but to activate the protective light spheres.

Lu Lian was annoyed by this undisciplined fighting style. He said in a deep voice: “Send a mecha to eliminate them.”

The heavy mecha closest to them received the order and acted very quickly, flattening a large area of jungle with absolute crushing power, and directly attacked Lu Biao and Ning Qiang’s direction.

“Lu Biao, take your people and attract firepower and retreat to the southwest. Jiang Chuxia, support Ning Qiang on the opposite side to return to the top of the mountain.” Liang Huan looked at the devastating mecha, “Ai Li, a gap has appeared in the northeast direction. Let the patrol team take the wounded and sick to evacuate first, and you take the supplies to the southeast direction.”

After receiving the orders, everyone acted urgently. Lu Biao led the mercenary team to attract Lu Lian’s main firepower. Jiang Chuxia and Ning Qiang led a small group of mercenaries and harassed Lu Lian’s rear constantly, successfully buying time for Ai Li to evacuate with the supplies.

“Brother Liang, they have transferred three mechas!” Lu Biao’s voice rang out in the channel in a hurry.

“Don’t worry, we also have mechas.” Liang Huan said calmly.

“But the only S-grade Shenfeng is with Ai Li, and the remaining two A-grades—” Before Lu Biao could finish speaking, he saw the two A-grade Black Emperor and Red Queen slowly running down from the valley. Then, three strange S-grade mechas appeared out of nowhere and blocked the mechas that were attacking them. The military logo on their backs was arrogantly painted with a ball of… yarn in bright yellow graffiti?

“Fuck yarn, that’s a dragon painted by yours truly! A majestic dragon!” Li Yao cursed in the channel and turned on the microphone.

He stood on the shoulders of the Black Emperor, using Liang Huan’s abundant mental power to simultaneously externally control five large mechas, completely cutting off Lu Lian’s firepower advantage.

Lu Lian looked at him in shock: “Impossible, your mental power is only D- now, how did you do it?!”

Although he wasn’t really at a disadvantage now, he was even more angered by the fact that Li Yao, a competitor he no longer cared about, was driving a mecha again—even externally controlling five mechas with high difficulty.

Li Yao folded his arms and stood on the Black Emperor’s shoulders, smiling very obnoxiously: “Of course it’s marriage, tsk, it looks like you haven’t carefully studied the Eastern District Base’s marriage policy.”

Lu Lian’s face turned green with anger, and he gritted his teeth and issued an order: “Capture Li Yao alive, the others’ lives are irrelevant!”

Li Yao patted his headset: “Did you hear that, brothers? They want our lives. Follow me and fight them!”

The collision of the S-grade mechas overturned large tracts of land. The single-soldier combat power of the Special Heteromorph Operations Department was outstanding. Lu Biao’s mercenary team was barely a match at ten-to-one. Li Yao was a little struggling to control the five mechas, but he still didn’t lose out.

Lu Lian directly logged into a mecha and rushed towards the Black Emperor where Li Yao was without hesitation.

Li Yao stood on the Black Emperor, not dodging or avoiding. The next second, the Red Queen leaped down from the top of the mountain and blocked Lu Lian’s attack.

Li Yao smiled and made a garbage gesture to Lu Lian.

Lu Lian sneered: “Just an A-grade mecha.”

“You can try.” Li Yao raised his chin contemptuously, “Do you believe you can’t even beat one-fifth of my mental power?”

Lu Lian stared at him with a gloomy look, and attacked again without hesitation. The Red Queen deftly blocked the attack, threw out a heavy light sniper rifle, and agilely climbed to the cliff wall next to him. He fired a shot at Lu Lian’s mecha, missing his Rhine engine box by a hair’s breadth. Lu Lian didn’t hesitate and went up against the light cannon bullet, punching the Red Queen’s neck. The sparks ignited a part of the outer shell of the mecha, and the Red Queen retreated urgently.

Li Yao closed his eyes, manipulated the five large mechas to unfold in a line, and hooked his fingers at Lu Lian and the three S-grade mechas behind him: “Come on, all of you.”

The sound of explosions roared, the earth shook, and the mutated trees that were tens of meters high were cut off at the waist by a mecha punch, uprooted. The sound of mecha collisions was deafening. The Heteromorphs hiding in the jungle sensed the abundant mental source of the humans and woke up from their nests. The other mechas of the Special Operations Department began to quickly return to support.

“Director Liang, the patrol team has successfully evacuated the wounded and sick to the edge of the Western Heteromorph Forest.”

“Team Leader Liang, all supplies have been evacuated to the highway entrance.”

Liang Huan squinted his eyes and watched the battlefield in the distance, appreciating the terrifying and perfect combat of his Dawn Star. He regretted a little: “Li Yao, take your people and retreat to the east. Ning Qiang and Jiang Chuxia, provide cover.”

Li Yao frowned: “Now?”

“Lu Lian’s reinforcements have arrived.” Liang Huan’s voice was calm, “If there are more than five S-grade mechas on the other side, it will still be a bit difficult for your current body.”

“Okay.” Although Li Yao was arrogant, he wasn’t conceited. He quickly manipulated the Black Emperor to break out of a gap and let Lu Biao evacuate with his people.

Lu Lian sneered: “You still want to run?”

More than a dozen large mechas formed an impeccable encirclement from far to near. Li Yao smiled and snapped his fingers at Lu Lian.

The next second, the dozen or so mechas that were approaching seemed to suddenly lose their signals, and their movements began to gradually become slow and stiff.

Lu Lian’s face changed.

Li Yao shook the mecha external control device in his hand at him: “The Rhine engine boxes of the Special Heteromorph Operation mechas are all connected. If I can control three, I can control fifteen. Secretary Lu, next time you use a mecha, please study the basic operation manual carefully.”

After saying that, he quickly retreated from the gap while controlling the mecha.

Lu Lian shouted: “Everyone, switch to the spare Rhine engine box, chase!”

At the moment of running out of the breakthrough, Li Yao jumped off the Black Emperor. Liang Huan raised his hand and caught him: “You take your people to evacuate, I’ll hold them back.”

Li Yao nodded, got into the driver’s seat of the first vehicle, and drove away with the four mechas and Lu Biao and others.

The ten military mechas that had regained their agility were approaching.

Lu Lian looked at him coldly: “You dare to show up?”

Liang Huan smiled indifferently: “How can I count the spoils of war if I don’t show up?”

“What—” Lu Lian’s pupils shrank suddenly, and he saw the dense red warning markers emerging on the holographic map.

“The military conducts exercises in the external district. Mental shielding devices must be installed for mecha battles to avoid causing a Heteromorph swarm to riot.” Liang Huan looked at the Heteromorph swarm that was surging like a tide behind them, and turned sideways to reveal the large mental shielding device that had been destroyed behind him. He said with some regret, “Secretary Lu, I hope your mecha driving skills aren’t as bad as your commanding skills.”

After saying that, his mental power directly forcibly linked the ten mechas behind Lu Lian, forcibly logging out the internal combatants, and manipulated the military mechas to directly kill into the crazy Heteromorph swarm.

Lu Lian was about to drive the mecha to pursue, but when he turned his head, he saw everyone without mechas deeply trapped in the Heteromorph swarm, so he had to grit his teeth and return to help his own people escape first.

When the Special Heteromorph Operations Department was deeply trapped in the Heteromorph swarm, all members of the Eastern Third District exploration team had already embarked on their return journey. In addition to the 30 billion worth of supplies they had harvested, they were also “gifted” three military mechas.

“Brother Li, it’s not good, the military mecha team is chasing from behind!” Lu Biao discovered the abnormality at the end of the convoy and roared in horror.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and ordered in a cold voice: “The others go first, I’ll hold them back.”

Lu Biao looked at him with a complex expression and gritted his teeth: “I’ll go with you!”

“And us!” Ning Qiang jumped out of the car with a few mercenaries.

Li Yao was about to open his mouth when Liang Huan’s voice suddenly came from the headset: “Why did you stop?”

“?” Li Yao slowly raised his head and looked at the “military” mecha team that stopped with them in the distance, his Adam’s apple slightly rolling, “Are you controlling these ten mechas?”

“Yes.” Liang Huan’s pleasant voice rang out, “It’s a pity that there’s still one left for Lu Lian.”

Li Yao almost couldn’t find his voice back. He looked at the mechas that were walking towards the convoy, and cursed with a mix of anger and laughter: “Your Majesty, don’t you know to tell me in advance?”

Liang Huan said calmly: “It’s tiring to control ten mechas, I don’t want to talk.”

The tall and slender Black Emperor mecha stopped in front of Li Yao. It knelt down and took out a huge, crystal-clear special Heteromorph brain core from behind and placed it at Li Yao’s feet.

The giant mecha looked at him expressionlessly and pushed the brain core towards his feet: “I specially picked it for you, is it good-looking?”

The translucent sphere shone with tiny golden light in the sun. Li Yao stood in front of the Heteromorph brain core that was taller than him, wiped his face vigorously, and said tiredly, “It’s good-looking, you come down first.”

Liang Huan was silent for two seconds: “It’s not too late when we get to the West Gate of the base.”

Li Yao raised his head and stared at the Black Emperor’s cockpit with a smile that wasn’t a smile: “There are still ten minutes before the external control device expires. I’ll count to three.”

Liang Huan frowned. Li Yao’s aggressive tone made him very displeased. He lowered his eyes to look at the person standing next to the “gift.” After much consideration, he still logged out of the mecha.

A strong smell of blood rushed over. Lu Biao, who was still confused about the situation, exclaimed, “Brother Liang?!”

Someone moved faster than him. Li Yao rushed up and caught the person directly: “Enhancer!”

Lu Biao quickly handed him a concentrated liquid mental enhancer. Li Yao pried open Liang Huan’s mouth and poured it into his mouth, regardless of his resistance. Liang Huan was almost choked to death, and said with a dark face: “I’m fine, I don’t need these things.”

In front of so many people, Li Yao squeezed out a smile and said to Lu Biao, “Clean up the spoils, continue forward!”

A group of people hurriedly and excitedly cleaned up the mechas and Heteromorph brain cores. The entire exploration team was almost driven crazy with joy—this time they not only harvested 30 billion worth of supplies, but also got a whole fourteen S-grade mechas! This is more valuable than Heteromorph supplies!!!

Li Yao rudely pressed Liang Huan into the first vehicle, and laughed angrily: “These ten mechas were not in the plan.”

Before, he controlled most of the five mechas by “borrowing” Liang Huan’s mental power. Although Liang Huan’s mental power was much stronger than his, he had just recovered from a serious injury after all, and Liang Huan himself also had high mental power dysfunction. Even with the blessing of his experimental special physique, it was still an extremely dangerous thing to simultaneously control more than a dozen mechas.

“A chance not to be missed, there’s no reason not to take the fat meat that’s sent to your mouth. What’s more, the Eastern Third District has developed to the point where it needs these mechas as combat support.” Liang Huan picked up a handkerchief and slowly wiped the blood off his face, and smiled: “We have gained a lot in this battle, so why are you so angry?”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes dangerously.