Genius Mechanic: Chapter 181

Agaman Sea Star Contaminated Zone (Galactic Ranking Competition)

181. Fifth Day

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake and An Zheee 

This was the first time the live broadcast audience saw KID in a solo PK against a strong team. YDS’s strength is among the top in the Dawn Alliance, and with Ke Lin’s solid command, YDS had always been neck and neck with Black Crow under the old competition system. In the past two years, YDS has even been on the verge of surpassing Black Crow.

KID almost made it to the top 8 in the old system. In the new system, they’ve risen swiftly and are regarded as the most promising dark horse team in the Dawn Galaxy. They managed to hold out for an hour in the three-way battle in Kemu Cave, but they’d never had a chance to go 6v6 against a strong team.

Until now. They successfully pushed back YDS, one of the top three teams, confirming their victory in this confrontation.

Only then did the audience realize that KID wasn’t just relying on opportunistic tactics. In a 6v6 match with both teams fully prepared, they had an absolute strength that wasn’t inferior to a top three team!

【I thought KID was at a disadvantage in terms of gear, at the time, I never thought they could counterattack.】

【Lucy was already amazing when setting up the web, and later Sink and Trace held down the front line.】

Everyone in the live broadcast watched the few mechas above the surging sea. In the sea-level ambush battle, aside from Lucy and Qingf, the other KID mechas provided support immediately. The audience’s emotions were stirred by KID pushing back YDS, and the commentators replayed the few minutes of the sea battle repeatedly.

Outside the rest area, Jiang Simiao, who had been holding his breath, finally sighed in relief. Looking at the KID mechas competing inside, he spoke with a hint of pride, “They really did it.”

Honestly, he had been incredibly nervous ever since YDS identified the web and surfaced. This battle was extremely intense. The window of opportunity for forcing YDS’ mechas to surface using the web was very short. Exploiting this gap to break through YDS’s tactics required immense skill. Huo Yan and Lin Yao had to keep up with the control and block follow up support, while You Su and Ying Chenlin needed to achieve perfect coordination.

Even a second’s delay would have resulted in a completely different outcome.

“Who would have thought that Lu Xi could utilize the conductive spider silk from Coria’s symbiotic spider to such an extent,” Grandpa Gu said. “And You Su, his ability to control the cannon is extraordinary. He has truly mastered the Compressed Windstorm ability.”

Jiang Simiao looked at the mechas in the field, “They’re already very strong.”

Discussions about KID’s battle with YDS were still rising. At this moment, Ji Qingfeng, who had dived into the deep sea alone, captured the flag point in the area surrounded by pollutants. This flag point became the first red dot to light up in the sea’s region.

As the flag point lit up, the other teams on the battlefield paused briefly. Qi Sicheng, looking in the direction of the flag point, said in a deep voice, “I remember YDS went to that place too.”

“YDS hasn’t captured it yet.” Zhao Lejie said in surprise, “Did KID push YDS back?”

Qi Sicheng’s gaze fell into the distance, “It’s very likely.”

The live broadcast’s commentators excitedly reported on the point, and the camera switched to the deep sea, showing KID’s Stealth mecha capturing the flag point. The entire seabed was illuminated by the unique light of the flag point’s base station.

In KID’s live broadcast, KID fans were ecstatic over this victory. They were too excited to order seafood and instead eagerly anticipated KID versing stronger teams. If KID could push YDS back, they could also compete with Gale and Black Crow.

【Pushing back YDS! This is more than them just holding out in the Kemu Cave melee.】

【YDS retreated to protect their Stealth mecha, but if KID had continued to fight YDS to the end, losing one mecha first would have put YDS at an absolute disadvantage.】

【So strong! They were clearly being suppressed underwater, but as soon as they surfaced, they immediately counterattacked.】

【KID was forcing YDS into a situation where they had no choice but to fall into their trap.】

【With this strength, they can make it into the new top four, right?】

In the KID communication channel, none of them knew they’d already become a hot topic.

As the sky gradually brightened and the strong sea winds subsided. KID’s mechas were also severely damaged in this confrontation. Huo Yan and Ji Qingfeng’s damage levels were very high, with Huo Yan at 35% and Ji Qingfeng soaring to 40%, of which 20% was caused by electrocution.

Lin Yao said, “They retreated so quickly!”

“They had to retreat. YDS needs to maintain their ranking. If we had eliminated their Stealth mecha, the following days would be very difficult for them,” Huo Yan replied, putting away his Counter-Damage Shield while hovering over the sea, his gaze fixed in the distance. “They must have gone further out to capture more points.”

Ji Qingfeng said, “It’s a good thing they retreated first; otherwise, their Stealth mecha still wouldn’t have been eliminated, and I would’ve been electrocuted to death by Ke Lin.”

Lin Yao said, “It’s no big deal to get shocked a few times.”

“Try getting shocked by Ke Lin’s weapon. It’s too insane,” Ji Qingfeng’s scalp was numbed by the electricity and he couldn’t help but complain. “I tried to find dead angles to dodge it several times, yet he could still split the Conduction Chain Spheres and block most of my path. If Xi Mei hadn’t worked so fast, I might’ve been the first mecha to be eliminated by electricity in the ranking matches.”

As KID’s mecha pilots chatted, You Su’s gaze fell into the distance. He noticed Ying Chenlin still hovering over the sea, not immediately flying over. His mecha’s right hand was hanging limp, clearly indicating the mecha’s neural connection was severed.

In the cockpit, Ying Chenlin disconnected the sympathetic nerve in his right arm and took out the medicine prepared by Dr. Eric from the medical kit for injection. The liquid was pushed into his skin, then, he skillfully removed the needle, cleaned the area, and disinfected it. Finally, he leaned back against the cockpit, feeling slightly fatigued.

The fatigue in his right arm wasn’t too heavy, but his overall physical stamina was starting to wane.

He had been engaged in a fast-paced battle underwater for a long time, and the pinpoint attacks after surfacing had drained his mental power. As he relaxed, his mind felt a bit weary, and the excessive physical exertion took its toll on his muscles. He thought to himself about how YDS had retreated, if YDS hadn’t retreated and had instead fought them head-on, their deteriorating combat performance would have forced them to be the ones to retreat.

“Chenlin? Come over quickly!” He heard one of his teammates calling him from a distance.

Flying at a slow speed, Ying Chenlin raised his head slightly at the sound and suddenly noticed a nearby mecha. The red Artillery mecha was still on the outskirts of KID’s formation, with its Sniper Cannon hanging down, indicating a state of habitual vigilance.

During the long-range firefight, Ying Chenlin hadn’t been confident about achieving a 100% hit rate. He noticed that Lucy was entangled with YDS’s Control mecha, making it difficult for Lu Xi and You Su to achieve double the effect. YDS would’ve undoubtedly tried to counter their ultimate move, so he chose to increase the distance.

Before making this maneuver, he didn’t even have time to inform his teammate of his intentions. The man then adjusted the Sniper Cannon’s aim.

The best way for a Sniper Cannon to attack is by directly targeting the opponent. YDS’s Stealth mecha had the highest damage rate among all of YDS mechas. At that moment, You Su had the opportunity to directly hit the Stealth mecha but chose not to. Instead, he lowered the cannon’s muzzle, maximizing the environmental impact of Compressed Windstorm.

This resulted in an unprecedentedly large waterspout. The two YDS mechas, trying to stabilize themselves in the strong winds, provided Ying Chenlin with a perfect opportunity for aiming during those few seconds of stability.

Ying Chenlin increased his speed slightly and flew to his teammates’ side. As his mecha hovered, he suddenly noticed the movements of the mecha beside him.

He tilted his head slightly, noticing that the Artillery mecha was facing his direction.

In the KID channel, everyone was discussing.

“I just dived underground and saw many pollutants we hadn’t noticed before.”

Ji Qingfeng said, “Yao Bao, do you have any more space? Squeeze some in.”

“There’s no more space! All the cuttlefish you killed before are piled up here,” Lin Yao replied, rummaging around. “There’s no room for anything big!”

Hearing his teammates’ discussion, Ying Chenlin spoke up, “If we plan the placement a bit, we should be able to fit a bit more.”

As soon as he spoke, You Su frowned slightly, his gaze falling on the Medical mecha.

Huo Yan asked, “Chenlin, why is your voice hoarse?”

Lu Xi inquired, “Are you very tired? How about taking a break?”

Ji Qingfeng: “Commanding is exhausting. Why don’t you close your eyes and rest for a while?”

“We need to find a place to rest,” Huo Yan said, his gaze in the distance, where the wind was whipping up waves. “The water here seems deep. It’s hard to find a place to land; we’ll have to rest while floating on the surface.”

Ying Chenlin paused, realizing that his voice did sound different. “I’ll help you guys repair your mechas first, then I’ll rest.”

Huo Yan wanted to stop him but understood Ying Chenlin’s concerns. If they didn’t repair them now and were suddenly attacked, it would be troublesome.

The damage levels of the other mechas were manageable. As all the mechas rested on the water’s surface, Ying Chenlin began repairing them. It was only the third day, yet the competition was already intense, having battled a strong team. In the days to come, they would only encounter more teams while trying to capture points, so they needed to conserve their strength as much as possible.

Ying Chenlin looked at the damage data imported into the mecha. During the repairs, he focused on specific areas. The Medical mecha’s repair system was an intelligent repair system, providing significant assistance and enabling a Medical mecha pilot with limited repair knowledge to perform temporary fixes.

While repairing, he mainly channeled his mental power through the Medical mecha’s main port and didn’t follow the repair plan suggested by the intelligent system. Instead, he proceeded according to his own repair habits.

The Medical’s system evaluated the mecha’s damage through overall data, recommending full-body repairs as the optimal solution. However, Ying Chenlin preferred partial repairs, which were faster. Each mecha pilot’s combat habits were different, and the severity of the damage varied among mechas. Partial repairs allowed him to address specific problem areas more quickly, minimizing the impact of damage and extending the mecha’s combat time.

Once he had completed the basic repairs, his teammates urged him to rest.

Ying Chenlin knew he needed to rest. After informing the others, he cut off the additional mental power supply and activated the mecha’s automatic hovering function.

The wind on the sea was strong, and the mecha’s large size made it more susceptible to the sea breeze. He had to focus on stabilizing the mecha, which swayed back and forth. As he listened to his teammates discussing going back into the sea, he closed his eyes briefly.

“Damn, there’s really something else here!” Lin Yao shouted. “Xi Mei, do you want to come down and have a look? It’s beautiful!”

Ji Qingfeng said, “Empty out the storage compartment and pack in more sea goods.”

The three KID mecha pilots quickly found a new objective. Huo Yan flew a bit farther out to monitor the sea surface and help check for other marine pollutants.

In the cockpit, You Su didn’t join the others in their scavenging. He hovered on the surface, keeping an eye on the surroundings to ensure no other teams entered the area. He retracted his weapon and turned, noticing a mecha at an angle ahead.

The mecha, with its automatic hovering system on, swayed slightly with the sea breeze, and there was no activity inside the cockpit.

You Su remained still for a while, then repositioned the mecha slightly to the side.

While he was really smart during repairs, he didn’t hide behind another mecha to block the wind during his rest.

The mecha’s swaying changed patterns, and Ying Chenlin suddenly opened his eyes, focusing on the wind direction indicator on the dashboard, noticing a nearby mecha.

In the live stream, excited viewers saw KID’s actions and went from being thrilled that KID could still take on another team to finding it amusing that they were back to scavenging. Not only were they collecting sea goods, but they also retrieved and reorganized previously gathered pollutants, carefully arranging their storage compartments.

【Aren’t they staying true to their original intentions!? How come they don’t seem excited at all!? They’ve just defeated YDS!】

【Really?! Why do I feel like they’re never going to finish dealing with the pollutants?】

【How big are their storage capacities!? It seems like they could keep going for days and still not fill them up!】

【Finish up and rest—I’m really impressed by them.】

While they were busy scavenging, other mechas were focused on studying the nearby terrain after capturing flag points. The three KID mechas were floating in the seawater, with two of them still hovering on the surface, motionless and with their hovering systems active.

【Is Sink asleep again?】

【Not just Sink, even Trace is motionless.】

【Did they both fall asleep together???】

【This scene looks familiar.】

【F*ck! In Keze when the others were raiding, Sink and Trace were also offline then!】

The audience was left speechless, but KID’s fans were accustomed to it.

Jiang Simiao looked at the situation and sighed, “Fortunately, Huo Yan is reliable; he’s still keeping an eye on the situation outside.”

Gu Xiaotian nodded in agreement, Huo Dage ¹ was indeed reliable.

On the third day of the competition, battles in other locations were also intense. After YDS retreated from the battlefield with KID, they had their Medical mecha repair their mechas and then moved on to another flag point to compete with the Empty Cicada team. Empty Cicada had avoided KID and successfully captured the flag point, expecting to enjoy their advantage until the end of the day. However, YDS turned around and attacked them.

As one of the top three teams, YDS was a significant threat. Empty Cicada, already heavily damaged, faced YDS without gaining any benefits and were instead pressured by YDS. They lost two mechas straight away and had their flag point taken right in front of them.

The Empty Cicada mecha pilots were cursing in frustration. They had hoped that YDS would take care of the KID team, but instead, they found themselves stuck in a brutal battlefield. They managed to avoid one team, only to run into YDS.

By the end of the third day of the competition, the five advancing teams were Gale, Black Crow, YDS, KID, and Magician.

If Empty Cicada’s luck had been the worst, then the new dark horse team, Magician, had incredibly good fortune. On the third day, they didn’t encounter any other teams during their flag captures. One of their mechas carried a special detection weapon that had a wider range than a mecha’s radar system, helping them avoid strong teams and smoothly capture the flag point furthest away.

However, this luck ran out on the fourth day when Magician encountered a strong team, Gale. Within three hours of fighting, they lost three mechas.

As the competition progressed, the number of flag points decreased, and encounters between teams increased.

The battles became increasingly fierce, and Agaman Sea Star Contaminated Zone had been tumultuous with storms and frequent tsunamis over the past few days. The staff managing the competition had their hands full just maintaining the system amidst the weather, their eyes glued to the monitors.

The bureau leader was also on-site, but these minor tsunamis were nothing compared to the bizarre submarine landslides that had occurred earlier.

“How has KID been these past two days?” asked the bureau leader.

The staff switched the view to KID’s location, revealing a sunny beach with all six KID mechas lined up on the sand, as if they were enjoying a special sunbath. “…They seem to be on vacation.”

This sunny beach was a stark contrast to the dark, stormy weather elsewhere.

【Who can tell me!? How is there a beach in Agaman!!!?】

【There is, actually. 1% of the land area is covered by several small islands scattered across the sea.】

It seemed like KID’s bizarre luck radar had activated again. This time, they didn’t have to fight for it; a new flag point appeared near them when refreshed. They quickly captured the point and discovered this beach, which could be considered a vacation paradise in the Contaminated Zone.

“Let them enjoy their vacation,” the bureau leader said. But as soon as he turned around, he saw various pollutant corpses scattered on the beach. Just as he was about to relax, he tensed up again, “What are these things…?”

The staff, having monitored KID for several days, had a clear understanding: “It’s like this; their storages are full.”

The leader: “?”

“So they’re decluttering, choosing better items to store,” the staff explained. “The pollutants left on the beach are what they don’t want.”

The leader glanced at the pollutant corpses on the beach and, from their fragmented bodies, could barely discern their original species… Clearly, these were all low-market-value items.

The staff: “They’re working hard to clear the pollutants in Agaman.”

The leader: “…Are they experts at killing rare items?”

The staff felt awkward and didn’t know how to respond. The leader, not wanting to see KID any longer to avoid raising his blood pressure, switched to a different area and asked, “How are things in other areas? No special issues?”

“Currently, no special issues. Just some increased geological activity on the seabed,” the staff explained. “This could be related to the mecha battles and the earlier submarine landslides.”

The leader nodded, his gaze falling on the virtual screen monitoring the distant environment. The seabed was indeed an uncertain factor. Agaman was a high-risk Contaminated Zone, and although mecha pilots usually didn’t venture too deep due to limited oxygen storage, the deep sea remained a dangerous place. They needed to ensure the safety of the mecha pilots.

In the competition area, the rankings were still ongoing.

By the end of the fourth day, the new top four teams had emerged. Apart from the three major teams, KID had also advanced.

The announcement of the new top four was a thrilling moment. The official broadcast cameras had cycled through the three teams, and when it landed on KID, they were still on their vacation island. The beach scene with a campfire and mechas gathered around it was so surreal that even the official commentators were unsure how to announce the results.

【I want to say they’re strong, but looking at this scene, I really can’t.】

【Forget it, don’t force it!】

【Congratulations to KID for making the top four!!!】

【This congratulations feels so powerless, brothers!】

Outside the venue, Jiang Simiao, who was experiencing being a top four team’s coach for the first time, felt equally helpless and could only awkwardly accept the congratulations from other teams.

“It seems our KID is quite at ease; they’ve even started celebrating with a campfire.”

The commentator continued, “The competition is still ongoing. As we enter the fifth day, only three flag points remain in the entire competition area. Let’s check out the latest flag point refresh locations.”

In the competition area, the flag point system’s information appeared before everyone. The three flag points were located in three positions within Agaman Sea Star.

“The three flag points are somewhat distant for all four teams. They’ve already started preparing to head towards the flag points. Let’s look at the one closest to KID.”

The commentator switched to the flag point radar coordinates, “Currently, the closest flag point to KID is 41 kilometers—”

Before he could finish, the location of the flag point shifted, changing before everyone’s eyes from 41 kilometers to 40.9 kilometers, and then to 40.5 kilometers…

At the same time, an alarm sounded in the Agaman Management Bureau’s monitoring system. The staff, panicked, shouted back, “Director! The flag point has moved! The entire flag point is sinking!!”

TN:

Jiang Simiao right now: Heart break is one thing, my ego’s another. I beg you don’t embarrass me motherf*ckers!!! 

Applause for KID making it into the top 4~🎊

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Translator Notes

1. Eldest brother[↩]