Genius Mechanic: Chapter 161

Kemu Cave Contaminated Zone(Galactic Promotion Competition)

161. Three Teams

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake

The Rapid-Fire Cannon’s spotlight carried a subtle sense of oppression. Giant Bear’s Guardian was about to unleash his control cannon in the next second, but before he could fire, Sink’s Rapid-Fire Cannon was faster, and a powerful blaze surged towards him, forcing him to step several paces back, comparable to the pressure of a frontal Assault Cannon.

Ying Chenlin continued accumulating power after several shots, the Rapid-Fire Cannon in his hands showed no signs of halting its charge. Coupled with the excellent endurance of a Medical mecha, the Rapid-Fire Cannon achieved fully consecutive firing. Dodging the control cannon shot fired by Giant Bear’s Guardian, he moved back a few steps with his thrusters, continuing to bombard the Guardian’s face.

【That shot by Sink was crushing!!!】

【Is the Rapid-Fire Cannon so terrifying with consecutive firing?】

【The Rapid-Fire Cannon was originally an offensive weapon. Sink may not have the power of an Artillery, but an Artillery can’t achieve consecutive firing like the kind he does!】

Melee Assault Cannons and long-range Rapid-Fire Cannons.

The two fastest-firing types among all cannon weapons, which originally only played a powerful role in suppression by Guardian/Artillery mechas, were now on Sink’s Medical mecha, becoming another kind of weapon with high-frequency suppression.

Giant Bear’s Guardian didn’t give up completely; instead, he endured Sink’s bombardment and retaliated with consecutive cannon fire. His control cannon hit Sink.

While controlling his mecha, Ying Chenlin noticed the weapon used by Giant Bear’s Guardian. He deliberately took a hit from the Guardian’s control cannon and found that this control cannon could cause the thrusters of the mecha to malfunction for a short time, immobilizing the mecha—

Is that control weapon a melee Immobilizing Cannon?

Their other weapon is a sword, an Enhanced Sword?

Seizing the opportunity, Giant Bear’s Guardian immediately closed in on Sink and swung his sword. However, just as his sword was about to hit, Sink took advantage of the moment the Immobilizing Cannon’s control released, took the hit from the sword, and flipped over from above, landing behind him.

The Medical mecha was exceptionally agile. After the flip, the Rapid-Fire Cannon was aimed at Giant Bear’s Guardian again, and the Rapid-Fire Cannon bombarded the Guardian’s back at close range.

Inside the mecha’s cockpit connected to his back, Giant Bear’s Guardian immediately felt the threat from behind and urgently tried to dodge the attack. However, the propelling force from the Rapid-Fire Cannon pushed his entire mecha forward, creating some distance between them.

Ying Chenlin lowered his gaze, the blue light from the screen reflecting in his pupils.

The maze route map, the internal data of the mecha, the parameters of the Rapid-Fire Cannon… All the densely packed data overlay in front of him, yet his movements showed no pause, adjusting the firing distance of the Rapid-Fire Cannon, tweaking the parameters continuously—

The glow of the thrusters stretched out into a long line in the darkness, and Sink landed at a safe distance, once again using the Rapid-Fire Cannon to unleash its firepower against Giant Bear’s Guardian.

【…This pressure, it’s making my scalp numb.】

【Sink is too awesome. A Rapid-Fire Cannon can achieve such accuracy; even I wouldn’t be able to evade it.】

【Isn’t Giant Bear just handing them victory? For the sake of a Medical mecha, both teams are being sent to KID.】

“What’s going on!? Where’s the Stealth?” Giant Bear’s Guardian’s control cannon had failed twice consecutively, wholly unable to control Sink, so he could only shout out to his teammates.

Giant Bear’s Stealth: “I can’t get away! KID’s Guardian is too persistent!”

On the next level of the maze, Giant Bear’s Stealth mecha, which was hit down, was entangled with KID’s Guardian Lin Yao. After fighting Lin Yao for a while, he found that KID’s Spatial Staff wasn’t as terrifying as he thought. Such a special spatial attack might be fatal to Artillery, but for them, a melee mecha, the likelihood of them breaking out of the space was higher.

KID’s Guardian was too fierce in combat. He had failed to withstand the opponent’s pressure twice already. That staff didn’t seem threatening, but the damage it caused was too intense.

They couldn’t afford to keep fighting like this.

Giant Bear’s Stealth had high attack, and he hadn’t encountered the same predicament as the Artillery mecha before him. He was about to break through the space to leave when he suddenly found KID’s Guardian switch the weapon in front of him from the Spatial Staff to a standard attack Long Blade.

【Damn! Yao brought two melee weapons, and he didn’t bring a shield.】

【KID’s weapons are too random. The Medical mecha carries a Rapid-Fire Cannon and Energy Gun, and the Guardian carries two pure melee weapons???】

【You haven’t counted the others yet. Trace carries two highly-offensive cannons.】

The Spatial Staff took 30 seconds to form the space. If the space was broken, it couldn’t be formed again in a short time. Lin Yao wouldn’t let go of the opportunity his opponent presented. He switched to a more agile and faster standard attack Long Blade and pressed down on the Giant Bear’s Stealth mecha that was about to fly upward again.

While KID’s Guardian and Giant Bear’s Stealth were engaged in melee combat, KID’s Medical mecha kept pressing Giant Bear’s Guardian using its advantage.

His top-notch individual strength was fully displayed at this moment. His excellent control kept him at the attack range from Giant Bear’s Guardian mecha. Without control weapons, he only had a Rapid-Fire Cannon in his hands, but even with just this Rapid-Fire Cannon, he managed to achieve a suppressing effect with his super-fast charged attacks.

Giant Bear’s Guardian felt quite suffocated. He tried to evade Sink’s attacks using the maze’s terrain, but the next moment, Sink used the maze’s terrain to dodge his control shot. In terms of familiarity with the terrain, he was totally inferior to the Medical mecha in front of him.

Watching his matches from the sidelines didn’t have much impact, but when facing Sink in real combat, he realized the pressure.

Facing such a special mecha pilot, the gap in strength was evident. He couldn’t suppress or deal with him alone.

It was as if every move was anticipated by the opponent, every shot felt like a blank, and the only thing that remained constant was the increasing damage he suffered under such continuous bombardment.

Run? Every time he ran, Sink chased after him. Even if he moved faster, as long as the opponent locked onto him, the long-range Rapid-Fire Cannon would still bombard him.

Shake off the opponent?! That’s completely impossible; Sink was more familiar with this area of the maze than he was.

In the darkness, two mechas chased each other. The agile Medical mecha swiftly traversed the maze’s terrain, and every shot from its Rapid-Fire Cannon hit Giant Bear’s Guardian. The muzzle of the Rapid-Fire Cannon emitted a faint cold light, demonstrating its significant advantage in the pursuit.

【Sink only has a Rapid-Fire Cannon…】

【That’s the champion of the Star Alliance Individual Soldier tournament!!】

【Damn it, KID is too overpowered!】

【I’m starting to feel sorry for Giant Bear; encountering KID is too frustrating.】

The battlefields of the three groups were in progress simultaneously. The captain of Giant Bear’s team faced pressure from three KID mechas. When Trace’s firepower rained down on him, he had already realized he couldn’t escape.

In their initial investigation, among the four teams in this match, KID’s strength was the closest to theirs.

Moreover, KID’s team was notorious for being reckless and chaotic, but they didn’t expect KID to use the maze’s terrain to encircle them this time. This wasn’t the recklessness that KID usually showed in front of outsiders; it was a calculated ambush attack.

They knew how chaotic the maze’s terrain was better than anyone.

In a frontal confrontation, their Giant Bear team could definitely hold its own against KID. Even if they couldn’t hold on, they could retreat in time.

But now they had fallen into the current situation. If Trace in front of him were replaced by another mecha from KID, he and their Tank would have a chance to escape… But KID’s commander placed Trace here, using firepower to firmly suppress their chances of escape.

To completely ambush their five Giant Bear mechas in such terrain, what kind of brain did the commander behind KID have? Adjusting KID’s previously reckless mecha lineup for operations, having the Stealth deal with the Medical mecha, the Artillery, Control and Tank to surround their two mechas, and the Guardian and Medical mechas obstructing rescue from behind…

Strategically, they had already lost to KID.

You Su’s Sniper Cannon once again targeted Giant Bear’s Control mecha and eliminated it directly.

[KID-Trace has eliminated Giant Bear-Kzn]

Shortly after Trace’s elimination, Sink, in the maze chase, single-handedly suppressed Giant Bear’s Guardian until elimination with just a Rapid-Fire Cannon… 

[KID-Sink has eliminated Giant Bear-Juy]

Outside the arena, the spectators who had witnessed KID’s entire encirclement became increasingly excited.

【KID is just too amazing.】

【My scalp is tingling. Before, when I chased after them in matches, I thought KID was just being reckless.】

【It’s obvious that KID’s combat tempo has increased by far; their reaction speeds are much faster now.】

【Sink is too fierce. KID can perform well in both individual and team battles. Maybe they can even surpass BZZL1!】

However, the faces of other mecha base managers observing the match didn’t look too good.

“KID’s commander isn’t simple…” the leader of Black Crow’s team frowned. “He’s calculated the route completely. Ever since Giant Bear went to rescue the Medical mecha, there’s been no way back.”

The other mecha bases –

“Who’s commanding KID?”

“Based on the current situation, Sink is more likely.”

“But isn’t Sink supposed to be transitioning from being an Individual Soldier to team battles?”

“An Individual Soldier as the commander? Isn’t that too much?”

Black Crow’s manager locked his gaze on the Medical mecha on the field. From drawing routes with the Night Bats at the bottom of the maze, to KID’s three mechas surrounding Giant Bear, in the vanguard of KID’s operations, Sink hardly participated in the encirclement. He seemed more like a behind-the-scenes commander observing the entire battle during flight, seeing Giant Bear’s every move clearly.

This included the last moment, when Sink’s mecha intercepted the two Giant Bear mechas, he used the smoke caused by the Rapid-Fire Cannon and radar misjudgment to lure the two Giant Bear mechas to Lin Yao’s position.

He was the mastermind behind this encirclement.

“KID has dug up someone extraordinary,” Black Crow’s leader frowned.

“We had no idea Sink had such abilities,” Black Crow’s coach added. “An Individual Soldier taking on the main command of the team just after transitioning fields, who would believe that? Or let’s say Sink came to Black Crow, would you let Sink take on the main command?”

No.

Black Crow’s leader had this answer in his heart. “That’s why KID kept him.”

Sink was a very skilled Individual Soldier, but whether a mecha pilot with such outstanding skills could integrate into the team system was unknown. Black Crow was a team with its own combat system, and each mecha pilot had formed their own cooperative habits. If Sink joined Black Crow, it would mean changing the entire team’s combat system.

In this encirclement, if any of KID’s mecha pilots failed to trap the Giant Bear mechas, then they would have been caught off guard by Giant Bear’s rhythm… The Spatial Staff was indeed a refreshing weapon, but it also depended on who was using it.

Looking at today’s encirclement plan, it wasn’t just Sink who was strong, but the entire KID team.

The coach continued, “I noticed in the previous matches that the other KID mecha pilots are also excellent, but they didn’t show much of their advantages in the matches in the past two years.”

KID used to be a veteran team, and they were also a regular top 8 team in Dawn Galaxy’s Team Battle League.

The change began when the management led players to leave. The team’s management fell into Shen Xingtang’s hands, and the current KID, including Huo Yan, and others, were also a team that had reorganized after the initial turmoil. The team’s performance on the field after the reorganization wasn’t excellent; it was messy, with an unbalanced rhythm from front to back. It looked like a team without coordination and in disarray.

But since Trace joined KID, this team seemed to undergo changes quietly.

This seemingly disorganized team actually harbored many outstanding mecha pilots.

The leader of Black Crow thought to himself and looked towards KID’s resting place in the distance.

The entire resting place only had three people, with no established coaching staff. The boss occasionally had to double as a maintenance worker, doing the job of three people alone, and managed to keep this team, which was on the verge of dissolution, afloat.

Noticing their leader’s gaze, Black Crow’s coach also looked in that direction. “We noticed it before when we were in Coria. KID’s coach, Jiang Simiao, is very sensitive to data. At that time, in the Coria Contaminated Zone, most of KID’s mobile data was handled by him.”

Such a talented data expert would have shone brightly in other fields. But unexpectedly, he retreated to KID’s small base and switched to coaching.

A team couldn’t be supported simply by a few mecha pilots. Team operation, resource allocation, match scheduling, and so on… All these things piled up and added to each other. But in just two years, KID managed to emerge from such a predicament and achieve their current team results.

The leader of Black Crow looked at Shen Xingtang with admiration in his eyes. “Boss Shen is impressive.”

KID’s team in the distance didn’t know that all their actions were already under the scrutiny of other teams.

Ignoring the gazes from afar, Shen Xingtang glanced at Jiang Simiao and noticed that he had stopped recording data. Her gaze sharpened. “Simiao, do you have more white hair?”

Jiang Simiao paused at the question and touched his head. “Do I? My shampoo is supposed to have a dark tint. How could I have white hair? Are the StarNet reviews deceiving me?”

Shen Xingtang: “…”

In the increasingly crowded live broadcast room, after Sink eliminated Giant Bear’s Guardian, the entirety of Giant Bear’s team was left with only one, the only child Stealth. Giant Bear’s only child Stealth was in a tight spot. Even if he wanted to ask for help, his eliminated teammates couldn’t come to his aid. Moreover, he was about to face a joint attack by Sink and Yao.

At this point, there was no chance of turning things around. Everyone in the live broadcast room saw Sink turning to assist Yao, and the two mechas teamed up to eliminate Giant Bear’s only child Stealth. The competition hadn’t even lasted a day yet, and one team had already been eliminated, and it was within the maze of the Contaminated Zone.

The atmosphere in the live broadcast room was ignited by KID’s actions, and the commentator’s excited voice was almost hoarse.

When they turned to look at the internal records, everyone found that KID was in the lead, followed by Black Crow, and lastly BZZL1.

The elimination information was announced throughout the battlefield, and all mecha pilots in the Contaminated Zone noticed Giant Bear’s elimination.

Black Crow’s team had already found the third exploration point and activated it. However, upon seeing the consecutive emergence of combat information, the captain of Black Crow’s team, Wen Yi, furrowed his brow. “Giant Bear lost to KID in a team battle.”

From the very beginning, Wen Yi had been observing KID.

“So the whole spatial disturbance just now was caused by their battle?” Chi Lizi, located in another part of the maze, said, “But this is a maze. How did these two teams end up in the same place?”

Regardless of whether they collided or not, the consecutive elimination of Giant Bear’s mecha pilots was suspicious.

Wen Yi surveyed the situation in the field. It was easy to eliminate one mecha, but to continuously eliminate multiple mechas from one team had only two possible explanations: either there were internal decision-making errors within Giant Bear, or KID used the maze to lure and besiege them. Such tactical strategies were all the responsibility of the commanders on both sides, and it was clear that in this game of strategy, Giant Bear was completely defeated.

“KID’s commander isn’t simple,” Wen Yi continued to search for exploration points, saying, “There is a sequence to the eliminations. I’m afraid KID’s commander took advantage of Giant Bear’s psychological support, implementing a split siege in the maze.”

The other Black Crow mecha pilots were stunned. “Does KID have such a strategy?”

“The records speak for themselves,” Wen Yi didn’t underestimate them. “KID is different from before. We should consider them to be opponents like YDS.”

Black Crow had already established part of the maze map based on their advantage, and found three exploration points, but KID, by eliminating the six Giant Bear mechas, jumped to the top of the internal records.

During the conversation, BZZL1 found another exploration point.

There were only five exploration points left in the field.

【Sh*t, the pace of several teams is really fast!】

【KID was busy fighting, both Black Crow and BZZL1 have almost figured out the upper layers of the maze.】

【KID indeed fights fiercely, but they’re mostly in the middle and lower layers of the maze… the exploration points are all on the upper layers.】

The maze terrain of Kemu Cave is special. It’s said that the exploration points are evenly distributed throughout the maze, but in reality, the positions of the exploration points are mostly in the upper middle layers. Black Crow and BZZL1 didn’t stay in the middle and lower layers like KID. The captains of both sides held the advantage in these observations. After discovering the characteristics of the first exploration point, the speed of their search for exploration points also increased.

In KID’s live broadcast room, the original six mechas were now in three positions, with the Stealth alone, the Medical and Guardian together, and the remaining three mechas together. After annihilating Giant Bear’s team, they didn’t regroup immediately but instead split up to search for exploration points.

In the KID communication channel, upon seeing other teams consecutively finding exploration points, the minds of several KID mecha pilots were confused.

“No, how did they find so many exploration points?” Ji Qingfeng puzzled, “Why haven’t we found a single one?”

Ying Chenlin looked at the map, still searching while accompanied by Lin Yao.

The officials didn’t provide any description of the exploration points’s characteristics. Attempting to take shortcuts to find the exploration points wasn’t feasible. While they wasted time during the battle, other teams had already begun to adapt to the maze, and their speed in finding exploration points had increased.

Although they were currently ranked first, five out of the ten exploration points in the area had been found.

Black Crow found three and BZZL1 found two, leaving only five remaining.

This indicated that the other two teams’ familiarity with the maze map had changed, which wasn’t good news for them.

Night Bats could find enemies, find paths, but they couldn’t find exploration points.

Originally, drawing the map would have been more efficient, but now, to find exploration points, they could only conduct a carpet search.

You Su stayed behind the team, walking and observing the shape of the surrounding caves. In Contaminated Zones, caves like this were rare, especially underground ones. “This place doesn’t seem to be artificially excavated.”

Huo Yan said, “Kemu Cave was naturally formed underground. It’s said that the Alliance spent a lot of effort installing the competition system back then.”

Ying Chenlin said, “The tunnels inside Kemu Cave are covered with special ores. These ores can mitigate energy attacks.”

“Hmm,” You Su’s eyes glanced lightly, looking at the cave wall, and said, “Even cannons can’t penetrate them.”

Huo Yan chuckled, “Haha, if they could penetrate them, it would be great. We wouldn’t have to find our way, just blast our way up.”

Directionally challenged Lin Yao was fortunate to have Ying Chenlin leading the way this time, so he didn’t have to study the route map himself.

But when he saw Ying Chenlin stop at a position along the cave wall, he asked in confusion, “Chenlin, what are you doing?”

“It’s a bit of a pity, but it’s a good thing,” Ying Chenlin looked somewhat regretfully at the nearby cave wall. The rock layers of the cave wall were damaged, revealing the ores inside. This kind of ore, which can mitigate attacks, would be a very good choice if used on the outer armor of a mecha. It could enhance the defense of high-defense mechas, making them more resistant to cannon-type energy attacks. “I’ll collect data from the exploration point.”

If cannons couldn’t destroy them, then there was no way to bring back a large amount of ore for research.

You Su paused at his words, his gaze once again falling on the cave wall beside him.

*You Su is probably still pissed he couldn’t blast through to save Chenlin☠️

At that moment, Ying Chenlin suddenly heard a loud noise beside him, only to see Lin Yao taking out the Spatial Staff and forcefully striking the cave wall. The staff struck the cave wall’s rock grotto, and after a few strikes, it directly smashed a small piece of the cave wall.

Ying Chenlin: “?”

Lin Yao picked up the fallen ores on the ground, shook his numbed hand, and said, “It seems I can only knock down a little bit. I thought I could break it open.”

Ji Qingfeng laughed, “How much can physical destruction really achieve! It’s good if it can give you some ores.”

【What’s KID Yao doing?】

【Haha, I’m laughing at the physical destruction.】

Ying Chenlin didn’t disappoint Lin Yao’s kindness and stored several small pieces of ore that had fallen to the ground in the storage compartment.

However, just as he picked up the ores, he suddenly noticed a slight vibration on the ground, and a few small pieces of debris shook apart, accompanied by a dull sound. He thought Lin Yao was digging into the wall, but when he looked up, he saw Lin Yao standing next to him, holding the staff without moving.

Ying Chenlin paused slightly, “Didn’t you just knock on the wall?”

Lin Yao: “No?”

You Su noticed the hesitation in Ying Chenlin’s tone and asked, “What’s going on with you guys?”

“The ground is shaking,” Ying Chenlin said with his head lowered.

Huo Yan asked, “Are the others fighting?”

You Su frowned, “There’s no sound of cannon fire.”

Just then, the manifestation of the ground shaking seemed to become more apparent. Ying Chenlin suddenly looked at the signals on the radar and saw a large red dot approaching their direction in the pollution value analysis.

Ying Chenlin paused, “It’s not a mecha, it seems to be—”

“A Pollutant.”

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