Chapter Ninety-Three: The Gun in the Dark

Seven combat frames were hiding in every corner of the workshop. The instant he stepped inside, he would become a bird in a cage, with no chance of escape. If not for Mu, he would probably be finished this time. But luckily, Mu was at his side. Ye Chong stared coldly at the positions of the seven combat frames on the holographic image transmitted from Mu.

This made the difference between Frost Ode and Mu painfully clear. Ye Chong’s Frost Ode had not detected a single enemy presence at all. The workshop had been built with special materials, some of which were designed to suppress signals, completely blocking holographic scans. After all, this was one of the finest workshops on Blue Sea Planet, and such measures were meant to ensure both security and secrecy.

Who knew how Mu had discovered them?

Mu really was too formidable. Ye Chong could not help but sigh, and with that sigh came a trace of yearning. If some day he could pilot a combat frame on Mu’s level, that would be the greatest joy of his life. As for Mu itself, Ye Chong did not even want to think about it. Although Mu had once said that as long as Ye Chong’s skill surpassed its own, it would let him pilot it, Ye Chong regarded that as an impossibly difficult task. And, most importantly, he had never treated Mu Sheng as merely a combat frame.

Mu was undeniably powerful, but he, the owner of Frost Ode, was no longer as weak and easy to bully as he had once been. A fierce spirit welled up in Ye Chong.

Since the other side had come with ill intent, there was no need for courtesy.

Frost Ode gently drew out the long spear Blue Frost, which had been folded away along its back. With both hands, Ye Chong twisted and flipped it; the antique spear locked into place automatically and resumed its usual form.

Ye Chong did not attack immediately. Instead, he released five mechanical hummingbirds. The scout drones, looking like five little blue birds, vanished silently into the night. Ye Chong waited patiently for the information they brought back. First he needed to determine whether there were more ambushers outside. If there were, then slipping away without making a sound would be the best choice. He had no chance of taking out everyone without Mu’s help, and trying would only waste his time escaping.

Once the five hummingbirds were sent out, the images that had been badly interfered with immediately became clear, and the range expanded dramatically. These scout drones really were good things.

According to the information from the hummingbirds, there were no ambushers nearby. Although the hummingbirds’ sensitivity and precision in the atmosphere could not compare with what they achieved in space, their scan radius still reached fifty kilometers.

So the enemy must have discovered the workshop’s special properties and feared that people outside might instead expose their position and alert him.

If he left quietly now, there would certainly be no problem. But Ye Chong wanted to see exactly who these people were. If he could learn their background, it would be enormously useful to him in the future. Otherwise, one day he might unknowingly walk into their trap without realizing it. And Ye Chong believed that even if he could not wipe them all out, retreating unscathed should not be a problem.

There was another thought in Ye Chong’s mind as well. He wanted to test the true power of Frost Ode, and measure how much he had improved over all this time.

Now painted in a blue-gray tone, Frost Ode looked utterly unremarkable. Even its metallic sheen had been dulled by Ye Chong, so it appeared weathered and worn to the point of shabbiness. Yet in the darkness, this lack of reflection made Frost Ode even more concealed, even harder to detect.

Like a blue-gray bat, Frost Ode silently swooped toward the workshop.

Ye Chong did not choose the main entrance. That place was absolutely where the fiercest firepower would be concentrated. If he went in there, he feared he would be greeted by a storm of cannon fire, and there would not even be ashes left of him.

Carefully, Ye Chong circled to the south side of the workshop. On the holographic display, a combat frame was hiding there close against the wall.

Blue Frost was fifteen meters long, while the wall was two and a half meters thick. Its material was mainly composite high-strength plastic, mixed with substances that blocked all kinds of signal pulses, but such materials did nothing to increase the wall’s structural strength.

Ye Chong flew to a point eight hundred meters from the workshop. That distance was fully enough for him to bring Frost Ode up to maximum speed.

Engines at full throttle. The once inconspicuous Frost Ode now bared its sharp claws and fangs. Blue Frost, fifteen meters in length, even surpassed Frost Ode’s own height, making it look more like an arrow loosed from a bow. The composite folding wings on its back were fully retracted.

The full force of Frost Ode’s maximum speed, seven times the speed of sound, now burst forth in all its brilliance.

Yet Ye Chong remained astonishingly calm as he watched the scenery flash by at extreme speed.

Blue Frost, held in both hands, was steadier than a mountain, not the slightest tremor in sight. The workshop wall was pierced in an instant; the advanced force-feedback system let Ye Chong sense every tiny change transmitted through the spear shaft.

With a thunderous explosion, the workshop wall burst apart like shredded paper flying in all directions. Ye Chong felt the combat frame give a slight jolt, and he knew the spear had struck its target exactly. Ye Chong knew this place inside and out; there was nothing stored here at all. Then it must have been the combat frame standing flush against the wall.

And Ye Chong’s prediction was perfectly correct.

The spear, carrying the tremendous force of a high-speed impact, was terrifyingly powerful. Blue Frost, which could even pierce the combat frames of the Black Corner, gave this combat frame no chance whatsoever. In an instant, the unlucky machine was torn apart. Bang. Countless black fragments flew past Ye Chong’s eyes.

Ye Chong’s heart gave a sudden leap. It was actually a Black Corner combat frame.

He was all too familiar with those black combat frames.

How had they found him?

But now was clearly not the time to think about that. Ye Chong had no leisure for such questions. With a nimble twist of his body, he shook off the components still hooked to the spear tip.

The sudden turn of events clearly left the other side flustered. Ye Chong’s ambush had achieved its goal.

The workshop’s interior was vast, packed with combat frames, combat frame parts, and modification equipment.

The enormous Frost Ode prowled stealthily through the workshop like a lithe cat.

Then, suddenly, every light in the workshop went out, plunging everything into pitch-black darkness.

Ye Chong gave a cold smile. Inside the workshop, every pulse signal was blocked; they could not communicate with one another at all. Heh. This cluttered workshop was without question the best battlefield for Ye Chong. It had been he who destroyed the lighting system just now.

And with Mu present, Ye Chong held the absolute initiative. More than that, in these past days he had practically made the workshop his home, and knew the environment here like the back of his hand.

Looking at the holographic map transmitted by Mu, the noise just now had drawn three combat frames toward this direction.

One combat frame moved slowly this way. All pulse signals were completely useless here, and everyone had lost contact with one another. The frame’s operator actually felt a trace of tension. For an elite of the Black Corner, such an emotion had not appeared in a very long time.

That damned bastard had actually destroyed the lighting system; he cursed inwardly without pause. But despite his training, he did not panic. Instead he cautiously inched toward the direction from which the huge noise had come.

Without a holographic scanning system, and with the lights out, he felt like a blind man, groping his way through the darkness, repeatedly stumbling and bumping into things. If not for his skill, he would probably have fallen several times already. Although there was a laser lamp on the combat frame, he dared not turn it on. That would be a joke. If he turned it on, he would undoubtedly become the most conspicuous target, and by then the first one to die would certainly be himself.

He was terribly vexed, but the one thing that comforted him was that Black Corner combat frames were indeed strong enough. This spared him much worry, allowing him to advance boldly. So far, apart from the fellows from the Combat Pilot Association, he had never found any weapon capable of posing a fatal threat to his frame. That gave him considerable peace of mind.

Suddenly, there was a noise ahead.

Could it be that one of his companions had already engaged the enemy?

That must be it. Having made this judgment, he immediately flew at full speed toward the sound. He could no longer afford to care about preserving the combat frame. After all, ordinary things like this could not harm a Black Corner frame anyway. He was already prepared to crash his way through.

At last, he was almost out of this damned hellhole.

He wished he could accelerate even more, go faster still. As long as two combat frames cooperated, he believed no one could possibly withstand them.

Bang.

His first reaction was that he had collided with something. Before he could respond further, the holographic screen before his eyes shattered, fragments flying in all directions, and a huge conical mass of metal appeared right in front of him. He did not even have time to cry out before the sharp tip drove into his body. Bang. A colossal force surged through him, and he became a rain of flesh and gore mixed with combat frame fragments, exploding outward in all directions amid a series of dense crashing sounds.

He died without ever understanding how he had died.

Ye Chong’s cold gaze did not flicker at all. When he saw that combat frame flying toward him at such speed, inspiration struck him. Holding Blue Frost, he stood in the path it was bound to take. Seeing that it was still coming at that speed, Ye Chong casually picked up a combat frame part from the ground and tossed it behind him.

As expected, the combat frame heard the noise and immediately threw itself this way with all its strength, crashing headlong into the Blue Frost Ye Chong had already prepared. And Blue Frost, worthy of a super-strong weapon mixed with multiraw stone, pierced the Black Corner combat frame again without the slightest suspense.

Ye Chong knew very well how fanatically people from the Black Corner believed in the invincibility of their combat frames. In the old days, if he had not had Mu Sheng, he would probably have been the same.

Five left.

Ye Chong silently counted in his heart, then slipped away from his present position.