Genius Mechanic: Chapter 200

Slared Contaminated Zone(Star Alliance Mission)

200. Shadow Fox? Giant Bird? Plant-Type?

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake and An Zheee 

The pressure on his ankle was immense. Ying Chenlin’s view was fully obstructed by the red-eyed pollutant before him. As half of his body sank into the snow, he swiftly switched the Energy Cannon in his hands for the Spatial Displacement Staff. He quickly maneuvered the staff horizontally, buying time before the entire mecha was dragged down.

The Spatial Displacement Staff plunged into the snow. Ying Chenlin’s gaze turned cold as he felt pain in his right shoulder.

The pollutant on top of him was actually gnawing at the right shoulder of his mecha!?

Meanwhile, You Su rapidly approached from the side, his Sniper Cannon aimed directly at Ying Chenlin at close range. The barrel was pointed at the pollutant clinging to Ying Chenlin, and with a loud boom, the red-eyed pollutant was hit at close range. After letting out a roar, the pollutant turned its blood-red eyes towards You Su.

As the gnawing continued, Yuan’s voice kept reporting, “The outer layer of the mecha is being damaged. The external defense system is under increasing pressure.”

“Analysis indicates that the outer defense will collapse in 20 seconds.”

20 seconds!? Such destructive power?

You Su grabbed Ying Chenlin’s free hand, kicked the pollutant clinging to Ying Chenlin away, and said, “Left side!”

Ying Chenlin didn’t hesitate and leaned to the left. Positioned above the snow, You Su swiftly fired a shot at the shadow beneath them. Seizing the opportunity, You Su flew upward with Ying Chenlin, escaping the ambush of the pollutant hidden in the snow.

The two mechas broke free from the snow-covered ambush, and the pollutant within the snow vanished without a trace. The red-eyed pollutant, however, hovered diagonally in front of them.

At that moment, they finally saw the pollutant clearly. Its body was entirely snow-white, with blood-red pupils, and it resembled a Snow Fox… The only difference was in its limbs. Unlike the sleek, strong, and agile legs of a Snow Fox, this pollutant had thick and massive limbs, making its entire body elongated and swollen, giving it a strange and discordant appearance.

This eerie feeling persisted until Ying Chenlin noticed the fox’s claws. The edges of its sharp claws seemed to be shrouded in a layer of shadows, allowing its entire body to blend seamlessly into the snowy landscape.

In the cockpit, Theo observed the strange-looking fox and said, “You Su, my detection system is affected by the special magnetic field, and I can’t analyze it. But the magnetic field around this pollutant is peculiar, weaker than that of many other pollutants I’ve encountered.”

The fox also seemed to notice them, its jaws wide open, with drool constantly dripping out.

It stared at Ying Chenlin and You Su as if they were its prey.

Then, the fox hovering above the snow moved again. Its body was as free as the wind, and in an instant, it disappeared from their view. The snowy landscape made it difficult to detect anything unusual, but You Su kept his eyes on the direction from which the fox had disappeared. The next second, the snow seemed to stir slightly, and before You Su could fully grasp the change, the fox reappeared in front of them, multiplying into three!

This fox could actually transform into three identical foxes!?

The gravity of the Snowy Mountains region seemed to have no effect on it. The moment the three foxes appeared, they charged at Ying Chenlin and You Su with a speed that was almost impossible to track with the naked eye.

The two of them instinctively switched to their Energy Cannon, and the projectiles from the close-range scatter fire covered the direction of the foxes. The scatter shots passed through two of the Shadow Foxes, allowing Ying Chenlin to quickly identify the real one. Just as he was about to fire the Energy Cannon at the fox, he saw the fox multiply from three to six, and from six to nine.

You Su shouted coldly, “Ying Chenlin, retreat!”

The projectiles from the Energy Cannon shots passed through the ‘real’ fox. After missing the shot, Ying Chenlin quickly retreated. The next second, three foxes pounced on the spot where he had just hovered, creating a large crater in the snow. Had he been a second late, he would have been the one hit.

This fox could freely switch between its shadows during combat, making it nearly impossible to distinguish the real pollutant from the shadows, let alone attack it.

“The previous Snow Foxes were its shadows,” Ying Chenlin frowned.

This fox’s ability likely wasn’t limited to creating shadows of itself. It could also create shadows of other pollutants. Out of the hundreds or thousands of Snow Foxes they saw, perhaps only a few dozen were real, while the rest were mere illusions created by this Shadow Fox, designed to create an overwhelming sense of ambush.

The Shadow Fox seemed adept at this kind of attack, using its subordinates to gather a large number of pollutants and then utilizing these shadows for its own hunting.

…Clever and cunning.

Its special ability involved shadows, and its attack methods relied on its claws and fangs.

Ying Chenlin assessed the pollutant’s attack capabilities from the bite marks on his right shoulder. It was crucial to avoid close combat; once it got close, it could easily drag him down. To deal with this pollutant, they needed to identify its real body; attacking the shadows was futile—only the real entity could be destroyed.

…The Shadow Fox was difficult to deal with, but that was only part of the problem. They also needed to resolve the issue of this strange magnetic field; without neutralizing it, the out-of-control mecha systems couldn’t provide any assistance.

With that thought, Ying Chenlin’s attention turned to the ground beneath him.

Since he hovered at a certain height, the pollutant lurking underground hadn’t attacked again. If shadows were this pollutant’s special ability, then what about the magnetic disruption? Was it caused by the range of the Shadow Fox’s shadow, or was it due to the pollutant underground?

With this in mind, Ying Chenlin suddenly descended, landing on the snow.

You Su noticed the movements of the white mecha not far away. “Ying Chenlin?”

“We need to lure it out.” Ying Chenlin dodged several Shadow Fox attacks, his gaze fixed on the snowy ground. He observed the subtle tremors beneath the snow, as if something was moving rapidly underground.

Their conversation didn’t continue. As You Su’s Sniper Cannon passed through the Shadow Fox’s illusions, something from beneath the ground broke through the snow layer, lunging toward Ying Chenlin.

This was the moment Ying Chenlin had been waiting for. He fired his Energy Cannon at the ground. Amidst the billowing smoke, something moved even faster—root-like structures burst through the smoke, wrapping around Ying Chenlin’s feet.

“Eight o’clock!” Yuan’s voice rang out again.

Ying Chenlin adjusted his Energy Cannon’s position and fired, breaking apart the advancing roots. Yet the roots wrapped around his legs tried to pull him down. Staying calm, Ying Chenlin blasted the roots binding his legs. When the pollutant’s grip weakened slightly, he turned the tables, gripping the roots and slamming the mecha against the ground.

He had caught it—

Ying Chenlin’s gaze turned cold. Holding onto the pollutant, he continued firing the Energy Cannon into the hole where the roots emerged. The roots seemed to be provoked by his actions, and more of them sprouted from the ground.

As the pollutant’s attacks intensified, Ying Chenlin handled the encroaching roots with composure. He noticed the commotion nearby dwindling—the foxes weren’t approaching anymore. His gaze settled on a subtle, darting figure within the white snow. Without needing to ask, Ying Chenlin knew the reason; You Su had lured the Shadow Fox away.

It was always like this.

When cooperating with You Su, he didn’t need to explain much; the other person knew exactly what he intended to do.

Yuan noticed Ying Chenlin’s hesitation. “Chenlin?”

“It’s fine.” Ying Chenlin blasted away another root trying to reach him. The snowfield had been carved out into a massive pit by his attacks. He pushed aside any other thoughts.

He couldn’t waste the time You Su had fought for. He had to figure out what this creature really was.

The snow veil shrouded the two mechas, with the increasingly dense ice fog completely separating them. The Artillery mecha’s Energy Cannon scattered several illusions, drawing the Shadow Fox’s full attention onto him.

“The underground entity seems to be a plant-type pollutant!”

Theo reacted quickly, saying, “You Su, shouldn’t we help him? He looks like he’s about to be dragged under.”

Inside the cockpit, the man’s expression remained unchanged at Theo’s words. As the Medical mecha vanished from his sight, the surrounding sounds seemed to fade until he could no longer hear the Medical mecha. “Shut up.”

Theo had barely started up when his owner snapped at him, “You’re so mean, You Su. You’ve been getting harsher lately!”

Switching its tone, Theo continued, “Are you going through menopause or something?”

“Is this also a pollutant from the frontier?” Theo continued, “Such a powerful ability, yet it’s not using it well—it’s much weaker than the shadow from back then.”

Mentioning the shadow from before, You Su’s expression darkened. “Is it still not fixed?”

Theo kept on complaining, but its systems were running at full capacity. As You Su’s formidable mental power surged, the mecha’s operations peaked, shutting down numerous special systems. Only the sound detection system remained active.

You Su: “Precision: 5 meters.”

Theo: “It’s open!”

The propulsion system of the Artillery mecha was pushed to its limit, and the unique gravitational environment of the Snowy Mountains seemed to have no effect on him. Every time the mecha landed, it pinpointed a location with extreme precision. The sound of the propulsion system was almost entirely deafened after the Medical mecha left his side.

Not only had visibility dropped, but even sound disappeared once out of a certain range.

As You Su’s mecha landed, the Shadow Foxes moved in from all directions, darting through the snow curtain. He didn’t immediately open fire with the Energy Cannon’s scattershot, but waited for the foxes to get closer. When the Shadow Fox was only three meters away, You Su heard something amidst the silence. The next moment, he adjusted his Energy Cannon and fired, hitting the fox.

The hit was followed by a loud howl, and the surrounding shadows instantly vanished.

The Shadow Fox lay on the ground, seemingly shocked that this mecha pilot could actually hit it.

You Su charged the Cannon again, aiming it at the Shadow Fox.

Seeing this, the Shadow Fox created more and more shadows around itself. You Su remained indifferent. He detested being led on by something acting clever, especially when a pollutant tried to outsmart him. How could an underdeveloped creature think it could control humans?

A pollutant was still a pollutant. Humans learn to restrain their actions, but pollutants don’t.

The shadows made no sound, but the fox did. The sound was faint, and it believed that having intelligence allowed it to control its prey. It didn’t restrain its attack movements whatsoever. The shadows may be silent, but when the fox used its claws to attack, the noise of its leap and the direction of its strike exposed weaknesses in this otherwise silent space.

In just a few seconds, You Su heard a slight change in the sound. He fired the Energy Cannon again, striking the Shadow Fox and sending it flying even further away.

—

In the snow-covered mountains engulfed by a blizzard, several mechas were caught in the mountainous terrain, with flight becoming increasingly difficult.

Lu Xi’s spider silk came in handy at a critical moment. As she was blown away by the blizzard, she managed to shoot out a few shots of spider silk toward her teammates, barely grabbing hold of Chi Lizi, preventing him from being blown away to a farther location.

Wen Yi reacted even faster. His Sniper Cannon had a freezing effect, and in the blinding snow, he used it to slow down the speed at which those around him were being blown away.

Luckily, they were blown against a nearby snow-covered mountain. The five of them were scattered around, but after regrouping, they realized that the blizzard above them showed no signs of abating.

Hu Luobu: “Lao Zhao and the others are still in the pit. Ying Chenlin and You Su might have been blown in another direction.”

Aside from Qi Sicheng and Ji Qingfeng, who were several kilometers away in the snow-covered mountains, their group of ten mechas had been completely split up. Four mechas, from Black Crow and YDS, were with them along with KID’s Lu Xi—five people in total, none left behind.

However, the mechas’ communications and radars had completely crashed, leaving them unable to locate their teammates.

After regrouping, Hu Luobu suggested returning to the big pit to join Zhao Lejie and the others.

The snowstorm intensified, leaving everyone’s vision blank. A thick layer of snow covered every crevice of their mechas. The distant snow-covered mountains seemed to vanish entirely, and they could only see each other’s mechas, barely visible within three meters.

“I’m afraid we won’t be able to move anytime soon,” Ke Lin looked around at the swirling blizzard, “It’s like the snow is circling around us.”

These were all battle-hardened mecha pilots, so when Ke Lin said this, they quickly understood the situation.

At that moment, they noticed a slight change in the blizzard. Ke Lin was the first to throw out his Conduction Chain Spheres. In close combat, his chain spheres were almost invincible, able to expand and contract. As soon as the chain spheres were released, they were instantly swept up by the blizzard, and the next second, a flash of lightning flickered through the snow.

Hu Luobu then raised his Tracking Cannon and fired in the direction of the lightning, immediately hitting a massive creature.

The creature let out a howl when struck, and they heard the sound of wings flapping in the blizzard. The next moment, the blizzard intensified, blowing the five mechas against the mountainside.

Lu Xi quickly used her spider silk to bind everyone together, preventing them from being separated in the swirling snow. She looked up to see an all-white snowbird hovering above, with small whirlwinds forming around its wings.

As the Dawn members locked onto it, the snowbird immediately flapped its wings, sending a massive gust of wind and snow toward the five mechas!

The gravity and snowstorm had already taken a toll on them. Wen Yi, Hu Luobu, and Chi Lizi were all long-range mechas, making combat in the blizzard exceedingly difficult. Without a Tank mecha among them, only Lu Xi and Ke Lin were left to control the situation.

With their systems malfunctioning, they had to rely entirely on their experience in battle.

“At this rate, we’ll be worn down to death here,” Hu Luobu quickly said, “The mechas can only take so much. If this continues, our defenses might collapse first.”

“We can’t regroup with them first; we have to deal with this thing,” Wen Yi said, looking at Ke Lin. “Can your Conduction Chain Spheres and Lu Xi’s silk work together to create the largest possible control area?”

Lu Xi nodded. “I’ll follow the orders, but weaving the web takes time, and it won’t last long in this snowstorm.”

“Use the method you used against us underwater,” Wen Yi suggested.

Ke Lin retracted all his chain spheres. “You weave the web, and I’ll release the chain spheres.”

They couldn’t fly, so they could only rely on weaving a giant web to catch the giant bird in the air.

Moreover, this control chain couldn’t be destroyed. They didn’t need to hold it for long; they just needed to capture the bird’s position in the snowstorm, leaving the rest to the other three long-range mechas.

Wen Yi fired several sniper shots at their feet, creating icy spikes that anchored their long-range mechas in place. “We’ll buy time.”

If they didn’t deal with this pollutant, they wouldn’t be able to move.

This applied not only to them but also to their teammates whose locations were unknown.

Lu Xi expressed concern, “Will Huo Ge and the others be okay?”

“Don’t worry,” Hu Luobu said, adjusting the precision of his Tracking Cannon. “They’ve got two shields and Lin Yao over there. Even if they can’t win, they’ll hold on until we get there. Instead of worrying about them, we should worry about ourselves.”

Ke Lin and Wen Yi felt the urgency. This pollutant was capable of such a wide-ranging attack, indicating a high level… This Contaminated Zone was filled with strong teams, and there were quite a few in the Snowy Mountains region. If they couldn’t quickly eliminate this pollutant, their situation would become even more difficult.

Being scattered, if they encountered a strong team’s encirclement, it wouldn’t be favorable at this stage.

There was only one thing to do now: take down this bird and regroup with their teammates before others noticed something was amiss.

—

Outside the Slared Defense Line, inside the Dawn spaceship.

When they noticed the major teams’ movements, they also spotted their two mechas advancing towards the nearest base station in the Snowy Mountains. Everyone inside Dawn’s spaceship was on high alert.

The pressure from the coordinates of the moving mechas belonging to strong teams was growing. They had no way to inform Dawn’s mecha pilots or pinpoint their exact coordinates.

Black Crow’s representative said, “Is it just a coincidence? They were so far from us; how could they have noticed us?”

Besides, the external information they have didn’t match the internal conditions. It’s impossible for the mechas inside to catch on to Dawn’s signal disappearance this quickly, let alone move towards them so soon… Could it be due to Dawn’s mechas, or is there something else happening quietly?

“It’s not a coincidence,” said Shen Xingtang, who was reviewing the data with a frown. “Their information speed is faster than ours.”

Zhang Ge turned and asked, “How did they get the information?”

Shen Xingtang filtered out the excess signals on the radar system, focusing on the rapidly moving mechas. She noticed that as these mechas moved toward the Snowy Mountains, their response’s speed was faster than theirs. Upon investigating further, she found that these mechas had all, at some point recently, passed by a base station.

Base stations have the strongest signals, allowing contact with external support teams.

These strong teams hadn’t entered the base stations but had passed close enough within a certain time.

“They didn’t enter the base stations, but they probably placed signal boosters near them,” Shen Xingtang speculated. “This isn’t a Competition-Level Contaminated Zone; no one considers combat fairness here. Strong teams are strong not only because their mecha pilots are skilled, but also because their equipment is superior.”

“The Star Alliance’s system provides limited information, and all external support teams start on the same footing as us,” Jiang Simiao said, retrieving data. “What we can’t achieve, strong teams have, with better information support—superior weapons, radar systems, detection systems… the gap will only widen.”

With Dawn’s mecha signals gone, the strong teams weren’t blind; they’d surely notice the issue.

The logistics team outside the Slared Defense Line noticed the disappearance of mecha signals and relayed this information to the strong teams inside through some means or technology. The strong teams immediately moved towards the coordinates where Dawn’s members had vanished upon receiving the information.

Dawn was at a complete disadvantage. Although their actions seemed free, they were actually under the surveillance of the strong teams.

A staff member asked, “Could it be that Captain Qi went to the base station because he noticed the information disparity?”

Even Gale had signal boosters with them.

“Qi Sicheng is very smart. With the accelerated pace of the strong teams, he would notice something amiss,” Shen Xingtang pondered. “It’s fortunate that Qi Sicheng and Ji Qingfeng are outside, so not all of our mechas have lost contact; otherwise, we would be entirely on the defensive.”

However, their pace was still very passive. The strong teams had a vast information network, and relying solely on the booster Qi Sicheng carried, it was difficult for them to construct an information network equivalent to the strong teams’ battle readiness. They could only mitigate some of the passivity and buy more time for their side.

But besides this, there were still many things that seemed odd to them.

It was within their expectations that the strong teams would monitor the changes in information. However, what puzzled Shen Xingtang was the strong teams’ movements. They had indeed used displacement to lure pollutants earlier, which was a risky move and would naturally draw attention from the strong teams. But why did the strong teams immediately change their courses to head toward the Snowy Mountains?

“They’re also after the S-Level pollutant, aren’t they?” one of the staff members suggested. “Special pollutants are highly attractive. Didn’t GBK also once try to trick us to grab special pollutants?”

Did the strong teams lack pollutant anomalous crystals?

They didn’t; they were likely more interested in special pollutant anomalous crystals.

“No, something still feels off,” the Black Crow representative said. “We came to Slared, a region with many high-score missions yet to be completed, which isn’t lacking in S-Level pollutants. If they wanted special S-Level pollutants, the mission list is full of them.”

With just one missing coordinate, even they almost assumed it was a strategy by their own mecha pilots. So how could the strong teams be so sure it was a special pollutant?

What if it was really just a strategy by Dawn? Wouldn’t the strong teams have made a wasted trip, incurring a significant time cost for the journey? They might as well have used that time to clear the special pollutants listed among the missions… Unless there was something else, something far more valuable than those special pollutants, that would make them willing to spend the travel time to head to the Snowy Mountains.

Shen Xingtang watched as Qi Sicheng’s coordinates got closer to the base station. Qi Sicheng likely noticed the other strong teams’ movements. The mecha pilots, who were more familiar with the situation in the Contaminated Zone, would have surely noticed the issues that they could analyze.

“It’s not good, Boss Shen,” a staff member suddenly reported. “The team ranked fourth in the Star Alliance, SLY, originally in the Snowy Mountains, has already reached the vicinity of the vanished coordinates. They are only 3 kilometers away!”

Zhang Ge was stunned. “So fast!?”

“SLY,” Shen Xingtang said urgently. “Is it their main squad, or—?”

The staff member checked the radar and identified the special symbol representing an S-Class mecha, belonging to the mecha pilot ID [Alice]. 

“It’s their main squad; the lead mecha is SLY’s captain, Alice.”

In the white snow-covered mountains, several mechas moved through the gravitational environment and finally stopped right above a certain flat area. The silent snowfield showed no signs of activity, as if nothing had happened, and there were no traces of battle.

The light red mechas hovered, staying above the snowfield.

A snowy white covered the entire mountain range. The few light red mechas suspended high up showed no signs of action. They observed the empty plains; there were no KID mechas, nor any other pollutants.

Among the light red mechas, a Guardian mecha was positioned at the forefront.

Inside the cockpit, a stylishly dressed woman looked at the white snowfield and raised her eyebrows with mild interest.

In the channel, a mecha pilot asked, “Captain? There are no clues here.”

“No clues? Not necessarily.”

The woman leaned back slightly and marked a location on the coordinates. “Cannons, fire a shot.”

As soon as the woman finished speaking, one of the armed mechas aimed at the snowfield and fired an Energy Cannon that blasted into the snowfield.

After penetrating the layers of white snow, the sound vanished without a trace, with no echo.

The woman clicked her tongue, “Interesting.”

If you're enjoying the story don't forget to support the author! You can also support me on KOFI for site maintenance, raws purchase or as an energy boost~ 

 

AFFILIATE AD

Want to develop your career or work on a new hobby but don't have the financial resources? Check out these courses encompassing all aspects and topics. Want to build your own website or app, but don't even know what <!DOCTYPE> is, how about these IT Courses. Don't want to keep waiting for slow translators to update? 别担心！中文课程来拯救你了! Did you just become a Teacher and have NO idea what the f*ck you're doing? Early Childhood Education For Dummies 101 is in session! Lied on your CV that you can work under pressure but are now hiding in the bathroom playing ostrich? You still have to come up for air anyways so how about taking a Self Development course to manage stress and improve mental health. Whatever you're interested in, at the click of a button. And the best thing it's all for free! And...you can get an accredited certificate! START LEARNING BEFORE YOU'RE TOO OLD TO RETAIN ANYTHING OR GET FIRED FROM YOUR JOB! Or if you are fired, Build A New Resume to reel in the next one~