Genius Mechanic: Chapter 196

Slared Contaminated Zone(Star Alliance Mission)

196. Snow-Capped Mountain

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake and An Zheee 

The moment the defense line closed, KID’s entire team arrived at the Slared Defense Line.

“Wow, we almost didn’t make it!” Ji Qingfeng sighed in relief, “Good thing Chenlin set the target to me.”

Zhao Lejie grumbled, “Did you even consider my feelings? You hid behind my shield the whole time!”

In the distance, the blue defense line closed, with a special light barrier extending from the edge of the line. It fully closed before disappearing without a trace.

At the abandoned docking platform of Slared’s Management Bureau, the attention of the hovering mechas was entirely focused on the twelve new mechas that had just entered. These twelve mechas were all different colors—red, black, blue… It was clear they weren’t from the same mecha base.

They weren’t from the same mecha base, and their mecha insignias weren’t familiar either.

Yet, this team, pieced together like this, actually managed to time it right and enter Slared’s Defense Line.

Not only that… the method they used wasn’t direct entry, they instead used displacement weapons to reach the hovering platform. There were many spatial-type weapons, but spatial displacement weapons were extremely rare. Such a randomly assembled team, yet they managed to bring out such a high-quality spatial displacement weapon?

The KID team? In just a moment, several mecha teams had already analyzed the information displayed by the system about Dawn’s group, discovering that KID was a mecha base that had never participated in a Star Domain Competition, with the latest news being that they won the Dawn Galaxy’s championship competition.

The Star Alliance had so many galaxies, many teams didn’t deliberately pay attention to the news from other galaxies, let alone a galaxy ranked low in the weakest First Star Domain. The chances of encountering such a team are extremely low, and no one would deliberately learn about such a team.

Around the abandoned Management Bureau, each team had its own thoughts.

Ying Chenlin put away his Spatial Displacement Staff and, after landing, habitually observed the surrounding environment, noticing the various mechas hovering inside and outside. He knew that through the mechas’ exteriors, many mecha pilots were watching them.

The Dawn team breathed a sigh of relief upon squeezing into the defense line, but their joking quickly subsided.

Wen Yi squinted and looked up, “Quite a few teams have arrived, and they’re all strong ones.”

Dawn’s mecha pilots were positioned at the hovering platform, and besides seeing the surrounding mechas, they also noticed the dense shadows behind those mechas.

When dividing into two teams, Ying Chenlin had considered the distance caused by the disparity with Qi Sicheng’s weapon speed. If they were lucky, they could make it into Slared right before the defense line closed. If not, they could still close the gap and enter through the displacement weapon’s targeting. However, all of this depended on Qi Sicheng’s team successfully squeezing into the defense line.

These mechas had entered Slared long before them. Compared to their frantic dash, these mecha pilots seemed at ease.

“KID, huh?” Suddenly, a frivolous male voice sounded over the public channel of all the mechas.

When Ying Chenlin heard the voice, he immediately checked the communication source’s mecha ID and saw the PJT insignia.

Among the floating mechas, twelve golden mechas had prominently landed at the front of the hovering platform. The captain of the second-ranked Star Alliance mecha base, PJT’s Norbert, whistled. “Long time no see. You guys came to play too?”

With such an enthusiastic yet flippant tone, Ying Chenlin instantly recalled the blond man he had met before at the Star Assembly in Silver Moon Galaxy. Norbert, captain of PJT, ranked second among the strong teams of the Star Alliance.

“Norbert from PJT.” Ji Qingfeng recognized him. “Oh right, all the strong teams are here this time!”

“Hello,” Huo Yan proactively switched to the public channel to greet them.

As soon as PJT’s captain spoke, the gazes directed at Dawn shifted slightly.

Wen Yi’s attention was drawn to the mechas around PJT. “GBK is here too.”

GBK was a team familiar to the Dawn Galaxy. They had clashed before in the Coria Contaminated Zone, but at that time, GBK only had three team mecha pilots. Now, among the deep purple mechas hovering before them, besides GBK’s vice-captain’s mecha, Bai Xuyan, there were eleven other mechas.

“Who’s that over there? SLY! Fourth in the Star Alliance!”

“Wow, everyone’s here!”

“Both the second and fifth teams in the Star Alliance have shown up.”

Chi Lizi added, “I’d wager all the top ten teams in the Star Alliance are around here.”

Qi Sicheng looked into the distance. Besides the Star Alliance’s strong teams, the top team of their own Star Domain, Aegis, had also arrived.

Amid these teams, their temporary team couldn’t even rank.

As his teammates discussed, Ying Chenlin observed the strong teams surrounding them. After scanning the area, he suddenly noticed that behind the golden mechas, twelve gray-green mechas stood side by side. No other mechas hovered around them, creating a vacuum zone.

They were from the Fifth Star Domain’s E.M. team, ranked first in the Star Alliance.

While Ying Chenlin was looking at E.M., a man inside the cockpit of one of the gray-green mechas in the center was also locking onto his area. His visual screen was focused on two mechas, and the corresponding analysis data had already been transmitted through E.M.’s vast database. The data that popped up showed—Sink, Trace.

The man’s expression remained unchanged, only pausing for a few seconds longer on the portraits displayed in the data.

At that moment, the Star Alliance’s Special Mission System lit up again. The virtual screen appeared in front of every mecha pilot’s cockpit console, instantly breaking the tense atmosphere amid the mutual confrontations—

【Current Team Arrivals: 70/354】

Ying Chenlin’s gaze froze slightly. With so many teams, only 70 had made it through.

Were they now going to compete with these 69 teams for the mission’s execution?

The entirety of the Star Alliance’s mission system functioned like a step-by-step tool, where all teams registered to participate were forced to compete to enter Slared’s Defense Line. Only the mechas that enter the defense line are granted execution rights. This area was an abandoned Contaminated Zone without support from a Management Bureau, and the challenges they’d face upon entering the Contaminated Zone would only grow more severe hereon.

[Congratulations on entering the Slared Contaminated Zone. You have obtained execution rights for the Star Alliance’s Special Mission. The special mission will now be announced.] [The Slared Contaminated Zone is open. Please choose your missions freely.]

Before the rest of Dawn could analyze the current situation, the Star Alliance’s system had already disclosed certain information—the special mission was only now truly beginning. At the center of their virtual screens, all mechas received access to the mission board, and upon entering, they saw a plethora of missions, each with corresponding point values.

“So many missions?” Zhao Lejie remarked in surprise. “Does that mean there’s no need to fight over them?”

Ke Lin frowned, “There’s still competition. Most of these are low-point missions, while high-point missions are scarce…”

The lowest score was 1 point, for missions like eliminating A-Level mutant pollutants.

The highest score was 150 points, for solving severe over-pollution issues in certain areas.

Different missions had different point values…

Suddenly, noise erupted from the surroundings. Ying Chenlin, still scanning the mission details, noticed the gray-green mechas from behind had already activated their mechas. With thrusters at full capacity, they turned and flew toward a part of the Contaminated Zone diagonally below the abandoned hovering platform.

Following E.M.’s activation, Norbert’s PTJ team also mobilized, heading in the Contaminated Zone direction opposite to E.M.

The previously hovering mechas were activated in succession, deciding on their directions within seconds.

Zhao Lejie exclaimed, “Do these people always move so fast?”

Ji Qingfeng started his mecha, “Should we follow them?”

Having suffered from the Slared Defense Line earlier, they now felt an urge to follow whenever others moved.

However, just as they were about to act, Wen Yi’s voice interrupted their plans, “No need to follow. The priority is to determine our own direction; Slared is an unregulated area.”

“Strong teams don’t need to consider directions; they’re targeting high-point missions.”

Wen Yi continued, “Other teams are well aware of their information and will avoid their mission areas to reduce unnecessary conflict.”

Strong teams wouldn’t waste time browsing rules—they weren’t waiting for the mission announcement but for the Star Alliance system’s notification. Dawn remained stationary, watching the departing mechas and clearly seeing their paths from behind.

The Slared area was vast, and from the Management Bureau’s vantage point, the whole zone was covered in a gray haze. Ying Chenlin observed the paths of the teams, noticing that many mechas deliberately avoided E.M., PJT, and other top ten Star Alliance teams.

Ke Lin calmly noted, “They’re marking territory, acting first to signal which areas they’ve claimed.”

Ying Chenlin glanced sideways, looking at the black mecha standing diagonally in front. KID had rarely collaborated with Black Crow.

He had faced Chi Lizi in the virtual battlefield, but cooperation with Wen Yi was minimal.

Wen Yi, Black Crow’s Artillery mecha, was also their commanding captain.

It wasn’t just Wen Yi; Ke Lin and Qi Sicheng were also capable commanders, each with their own expertise.

Before Ying Chenlin could finish reviewing all the mission details, Wen Yi had already extracted key information nodes from the mission data.

“I didn’t look at the missions; I focused on the distribution of missions in the Slared Contaminated Zone,” Wen Yi shared the extracted information on the team channel. “Based on the intelligence we had before coming here, the missions are mainly concentrated in four areas. Our consideration should be on selecting the right area.”

Slared was a very unique Contaminated Zone, with a vast area that strangely exhibited four distinct climate features.

These climate features didn’t shift over time but were instead caused by Slared’s peculiar planetary environment. Without diving into the details of how these climates are formed, the bizarre terrain could be simply divided into four regions: Forest, Volcano Cluster, Decayed Plains, and Perpetual Snowy Mountains.

To earn high points, the best approach was to find the region where you’ll be most adept at fighting in.

Other teams might have already made their decisions before the mission based on their strengths, but Dawn hadn’t. They were originally formed by four different teams, each with its own preferred combat zone and weapon combinations. Although they had coordinated weapons and tactics before the match, the complex mission format they encountered after entering the arena made it more important to determine their combat direction rather than just following the others to claim territory.

Should they methodically take on low-point missions, or take the risk of competing for high-point ones? Which region should they choose? What tactical arrangements should they adopt?

These questions all piled up, essentially determining the team’s course of action. Wen Yi pointed out this issue, and both Qi Sicheng and Ke Lin were waiting for Ying Chenlin’s response. Since they had handed over command to KID, how to proceed would be KID’s decision.

They were also curious about the strategy KID would choose. They had faced KID in several matches, having been both pitted against and utilized by KID. Willingly handing over command to KID was an acknowledgment of their strength.

You Su, who rarely concerned himself with tactical arrangements, spoke up: “Ying Chenlin.”

Ying Chenlin was still reviewing the mission list and only realized that everyone was waiting for him when he heard You Su’s voice.

The other teams had already entered the Contaminated Zone, leaving only them hovering in the area, undecided.

“Tactical arrangements aren’t the main point. The key is how to maximize the benefits of our actions,” Ying Chenlin’s attention fell on the area map Wen Yi had organized. “Spending a lot of time on a high-point mission is less profitable than completing multiple low-point ones.”

Wen Yi hesitated and asked, “Are you suggesting we look for a region with a high mission density?”

Ying Chenlin highlighted the region with the highest mission density among the four zones and paused before saying, “Let’s head to the Snowy Mountains first.”

“The Forest region also has a high mission density, right?” Hu Luobu, who had finished looking at the map, asked, “Why choose the Snowy Mountains?”

Everyone from KID fell into an odd silence for a moment. Noticing the quiet atmosphere, Hu Luobu asked in confusion, “Huh?”

“We’re talking about maximizing benefits,” Ji Qingfeng glanced at Hu Luobu with a look that seemed to question his intelligence. “If you’re going to kill pollutants, wouldn’t you pick the ones that yield more points? Snowy Mountains pollutants, eh? We don’t get to deal with snow-covered Contaminated Zones that often in Dawn.”

Zhao Lejie chimed in, “How do you not get that?”

Hu Luobu thought to himself, “…” I don’t understand shit, you’re the most understanding.

While KID was still discussing the best spots to hunt Snowy Mountains pollutants, other teams had already entered various parts of the Slared Contaminated Zone. Aegis moved quickly, choosing the Volcano Cluster region. The First Star Domain’s performance in Star Alliance missions wasn’t particularly outstanding; the teams participating were mainly from the First Star Domain’s top-ranked mecha bases. This time, five teams had registered, but one had already been eliminated during the rush to enter the defense line.

Surprisingly, the Dawn team, which had a rather mismatched composition, also entered the zone.

Recently, Aegis had been paying close attention to Dawn. When they noticed that KID had entered, all the mecha pilots looked to their captain, Wu Qingshuang, for guidance.

“Captain Wu, something seems off with KID’s movements,” one mecha pilot asked. “Should we keep a close eye on them?”

“No need,” Wu Qingshuang replied, still scanning through the mission list. Her focus wasn’t on their opponents but on the Slared Contaminated Zone itself.

Slared had been opened once before for a Star Alliance mission. This Contaminated Zone ranked among the most difficult of all the out-of-control zones. The higher the difficulty of the zone, the more cautious the Star Alliance Headquarters would be in making it accessible for missions. For example, the Slared defensive line was usually open for 15 minutes, but this time, it was closed 5 minutes early.

The screening for participating teams had also become stricter.

“I paid extra attention to the other teams just now. Most of the top ten teams in the Star Alliance are here,” one Aegis mecha pilot remarked. “It seems the information we got earlier was true; there’s something else in Slared.”

While the Star Alliance missions are certainly attractive, the fact that all the top mecha pilots from these bases are present shows how seriously they were taking this.

Aegis had broader information channels than other bases. Before participating in this mission, Wu Qingshuang had already received some intel. More strong teams than usual were participating this time, partly because of the new competition format, but there was another reason: there was something in the Slared Contaminated Zone that certain top teams were particularly eager to obtain.

Wu Qingshuang said, “Keep an eye on E.M.’s movements. They must know something in advance.”

Meanwhile, outside Slared’s defensive line, the Gale spaceship was establishing a remote connection to the interior of the Slared Contaminated Zone. Although the zone’s systems were almost unusable, the Star Alliance had set up several special facilities to monitor the area. Ordinary methods couldn’t connect to the Contaminated Zone, but the Star Alliance’s special system could barely maintain basic location information.

Shen Xingtang and her group had followed E.M. to secure a position, discovering that although it seemed distant, it was actually very close to the old system of the Slared Contaminated Zone’s Management Bureau, making it the area with the best signal.

“In a zone like this, does that mean we won’t be able to contact them?” Zhang Ge asked.

“Not necessarily,” Shen Xingtang replied, examining the system’s various programs. “Even though the Contaminated Zone is abandoned, its foundational infrastructure remains. The abandoned base stations should still be powered, so if they go to one of those, they should be able to communicate with the outside world through the base station’s communication system.”

However, regular communication wouldn’t work; they wouldn’t be able to communicate with the team inside.

Black Crow’s leader commented, “I’ve already discussed this with them before. Wen Yi should seek out a base station to gather information.”

Shen Xingtang walked over to the cockpit window, gazing out at the starships docked nearby. At first glance, it seemed like none of the bases were taking any special measures, but she couldn’t shake a growing sense of unease. This feeling intensified after the defensive line closed.

“Lao Zhang, does your base have a complete Slared database?” Shen Xingtang asked.

Zhang Ge: “We do, but we’ve already organized all the useful information for you.”

Shen Xingtang asked, “Do you have broader data, like the reasons why Slared originally went out of control, and where the border Contaminated Zones adjacent to its upheaval are located?”

Hearing this, Zhang Ge immediately instructed Gale’s crew to retrieve the Slared data. “We’ve collected everything we could. We went through it once but didn’t find anything useful. I’ll have them pull it up for you.”

He then asked, “What are you worried about?”

Shen Xingtang replied, “Just waiting here won’t solve anything. I’m checking to see if there’s any useful information.”

“Can we see which region they’ve reached now?” the leader of YDS asked as he approached.

Jiang Simiao had just pulled up the location data: “—Wait, what? They went to Slared’s Snowy Mountains???”

—

Slared’s Snowy Mountains region was located in the northern part of the Slared Contaminated Zone, covered in perpetual snow.

Without a direct jump point, the Dawn team decided to enter Slared from the side after some discussion. The flight was smooth at first, but as soon as they fully entered the gravitational zone of the planet where Slared is located, they were immediately met with an intense gravitational force pressing in from all directions.

Transitioning from space to the Contaminated Zone required adjusting to the gravity difference, but upon entering, they realized that the strange gravitational field in the northern region of Slared was even more complex than the data they had.

The reason for Slared’s out-of-control state wasn’t just due to pollution; its unique environment played a significant role.

As soon as they entered the Snowy Mountains, everyone felt the heavy gravitational environment. The pressure on their mechas had increased by several levels, forcing them to readjust their flight’s energy output. The gravity here was ten times that of the Contaminated Zones they were used to. Almost as soon as they entered the area, they were crushed by gravity, unable to continue high-altitude flight, and had to quickly search for a landing spot.

Eventually, the Dawn team landed on a mountainside of the Snowy Mountains, overlooking an endless expanse of snow-covered landscape.

“This damned place! No wonder we didn’t see any mechas when we got here—the flight difficulty is insane!” Ji Qingfeng knew the gravity here was different, but only after entering the region did he realize how overwhelming it was. “Flying here consumes way more energy than before.”

Lu Xi: “I noticed earlier that few teams came this way.”

The Snowy Mountains’s area was too vast, and having all 12 mechas move together would be a waste of resources.

Ying Chenlin quickly organized the team, splitting them into three groups, each with four mechas.

Qi Sicheng, equipped with a spatial movement weapon that could accelerate displacement over short periods, was best suited for rapid movement in this gravity-heavy environment. Meanwhile, Black Crow specialized in ice-based weapons, and both Wen Yi and Chi Lizi had extensive combat experience in snowy terrain. Considering the team composition, dividing into three squads for the mission was the most efficient strategy.

Team 1, led by Qi Sicheng, included Huo Yan, Hu Luobu, and Lu Xi.

Team 2, led by Wen Yi, included Ke Lin, Lin Yao, and Ji Qingfeng.

Team 3, led by Ying Chenlin, included You Su, Zhao Lejie, and Chi Lizi.

“Does this team division work?” Ying Chenlin asked.

No one had any objections; they all followed the command, with the setup including both close-range and long-range mechas, making combat more convenient.

Ying Chenlin brought a displacement weapon this time, allowing him to teleport once every 10 minutes. In case of an incident, he could quickly lead his team to support the other two positions. Therefore, the distance between the three teams should ideally not exceed the maximum range of his displacement weapon, allowing them to rapidly gather all 12 mechas within half an hour in the fastest scenario.

Qi Sicheng was responsible for scouting and completing missions further away, Wen Yi was to check on the Snowy Mountains base station recorded on the map, and Ying Chenlin stayed in the middle to facilitate support for both sides.

Without support from a Management Bureau, they also had to consider communication range once they split up; they couldn’t separate too far.

Amid the Snowy Mountains’s terrain, finding each other would become incredibly difficult if they dispersed too much.

Once the others had departed, Zhao Lejie asked, “So which mission are we mainly focusing on?”

The Star Alliance’s mission system had many missions, and at Ying Chenlin’s current position on the mountainside, there happened to be a mission with a score of 10 points.

—[Slared Snowy Mountains Rat Infestation]

Ying Chenlin sent the mission details to the squad channel. As he was about to confirm the location coordinates, he suddenly noticed a mission right below the rat infestation one, which he hadn’t seen earlier when sorting by points.

Curiously, he clicked on it and instinctively looked at the mission’s score.

[Reward Points: ?]

This was a mission without a specified point value.

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