Shan Yuantao, Commander-in-Chief of the First Military Region, hadn't gone to the camp to watch the live broadcast with the others today. Just after finishing his morning meeting, he opened his optical computer only to find his inbox completely blown up...
The messages were all urging him to immediately tune into the live broadcast and look into ordering transforming mechas.
He picked the most recent message and replied, "What is a transforming mecha?"
"Commander! What are you doing? The live broadcast! Hurry and watch the Military Academy League broadcast! Look at the mechas of the Qilin Fourth Squad!"
Opening the live stream and pulling up the replay, Shan Yuantao could no longer sit still!
He immediately messaged his former subordinate, "Chao Hao, you little punk, you sure know how to keep your mouth shut! I can't believe you held it in! Why didn't you just wait until I was dead before letting them pull this move!?"
Things weren't much better over at the Ninth Military Region. Commander-in-Chief Lei Deming's office door was kicked open by his Chief of Staff, Fan Weize.
"Commander! You need to see this!"
"What is it? Did star beasts appear somewhere again?"
"Not star beasts, look at the live broadcast!"
"... A live broadcast is worth you kicking my door down? What even is this? ... Hold on, I'm going to give Gui Sizhe a video call."
Back at the camp, under the amazed, envious, and wary gazes of the instructors, mecha engineers, and leaders, Chao Hao and Fu Manli stood with their arms crossed. They looked calmer than anyone else, but in reality, they were both internally panicking.
"Do you know what's going on with Wang Tianwei's 'fighter jet'?"
Chao Hao asked Fu Manli beside him, keeping his gaze fixed forward and his voice low enough for only the two of them to hear.
"No idea at all... Did you forget that we only looked at Zhang Lyra and Huang Yan's new mechas that day?"
Chao Hao kept racking his brain, wondering if he had missed something.
"She did mention making some minor adjustments to her and Jian Jingyu's mechas..."
"You call this a minor adjustment!?"
Fu Manli couldn't help but raise her voice a bit, but the surrounding chatter was even louder, and everyone's attention was glued to the broadcast.
Her optical computer buzzed incessantly. Glancing at it, she muttered, "... Commander Shan is asking why you aren't replying to his messages."
"I don't know anything, how am I supposed to reply!?"
"Sigh... The principal, Eugene, and Jin Xi have also sent messages. They said the people from the Ninth Military Region are asking about the mechas."
"Let's just wait until they finish fighting off those sandworms before we say anything..."
In the live broadcast, Wu Cong, the captain of the Santorini Second Squad, still hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing the Qilin squad's transforming mechas!
In the blink of an eye, he realized those four were already luring the mutated sandworms right toward them!
"Damn it, fall back!"
Only seven of the original eight sandworms remained! Baited by the four uniquely shaped mechas, they scurried rapidly, in pain and absolutely furious!
The venom they continuously spewed didn't even graze the four mechas. Wang Tianwei piloted the "fighter jet" at the very front of the formation.
"I see them, it's the Santorini team."
"Sister Ma, fire at the center to force them to spread out."
Huang Yan issued the command to Wang Tianwei. She was the fastest on the field, making her the perfect person for the job.
"You got it!"
"Why is her A-rank mecha faster than our S-rank ones!?"
The Santorini team was forced to scatter, and Matt had already pushed his thrusters to the maximum!
"Are you an idiot? She's a literal fighter jet right now! Of course she's faster than us! Argh!"
Ruby felt a sudden dull ache in her head; her mental barrier was under attack!
"Their commander is attacking me!"
Huang Yan concentrated her mental energy into a single point, launching surprise attacks on the four Santorini members one by one!
She made sure to evade Wu Cong's mental grasp, forcing them to split their focus to reinforce their barriers, while she turned her attention back to provoking the seven sandworms below.
One of the sandworms burrowed underground, its thick tentacles creeping closer and closer to the last Santorini member!
"This is bad, the sandworms are targeting us!"
Left with no choice, Ruby opened fire, blasting apart the tentacles behind her.
The black appendages that had nearly reached her mecha were blown away by the shots, only to be replaced by a fresh wave in the blink of an eye.
Wu Cong simply activated his thrusters and took to the sky, unleashing maximum firepower to indiscriminately bombard the sandworms!
Through her infrared scope, Zhang Lyra locked onto the sandworm's injured spot, swapping her individual missiles for the pulse electromagnetic cannon. This would be enough!
"Boom!"
Only six sandworms remained.
Wang Tianwei piloted her fighter jet up from a low altitude, turned on her external speakers, and broadcasted,
"Thanks for the assist, Santorini comrades!"
"Damn it!"
Several tentacles wrapped around Asayama Ryota's mecha legs, forcing him to draw his dual blades to slash them away. Seeing that his entire team was now engaged in the fight, heavy gunner Matt had no choice but to deploy his cannons...
They had originally just planned to swoop in and steal some kills, yet somehow Qilin had dragged them right into the middle of the battle!
At some point, Santorini had inexplicably become the main force attacking the sandworms!
The four Qilin members were as slippery as eels in mid-air!
The moment Santorini's cannons aimed at their mechas, they would immediately evade or take cover behind the massive bodies of the sandworms!
Even if they managed to seize a perfect opportunity where the Qilin members couldn't dodge in time, the incoming attacks would be intercepted by shells fired from that fighter jet, exploding harmlessly in mid-air!
Huang Yan's mental power shielded her teammates flawlessly... Wu Cong tried for ages but still couldn't break through Wang Tianwei's mental barrier!
The most infuriating part was that whenever they were on the verge of killing a sandworm, a Qilin shell would always swoop in at the last second to steal the kill!
Seven star beasts had chased them over, and despite expending the majority of their firepower, Santorini had only officially taken down one! And Wu Cong could even sense the opposing team's palpable annoyance at losing out on that single point!
That "fighter jet" even fired an electromagnetic pulse at the sandworm corpse as if venting its frustration!
"Zzzap!!"
Heavy gunner Matt's mecha accidentally got completely drenched in sandworm venom, but he couldn't afford to stop his continuously firing cannons!
Before long, he was entangled by a sandworm's tentacles! His cannons were also corroded and jammed by the venom!
Another sandworm burst from the ground, wrapping around Matt and squeezing tighter and tighter! The serrations on the worm's body scraped against the dark blue mecha. The moment the energy shield shattered, several deep gashes were instantly torn into the mecha's exterior!
"Matt!!!"
Wu Cong shouted frantically. At this rate, Matt was going to be crushed to death by the sandworm!
Jian Jingyu and the escorting soldiers from the Third Military Region attacked simultaneously, aiming their fire at the sandworm constricting Matt!
The sandworm shuddered in pain, its grip loosening slightly!
Wang Tianwei piloted her fighter jet into a dive, snagging a gap in Matt's mecha with a tow hook, hoisting him out, and carrying him several kilometers away!
"You're out now! Leave your energy, food, and water for us! And if you happen to have any pretty flowers or balloons in your spatial ring, you can leave those too!"
Matt, still reeling from his narrow escape from death, was completely blindsided by this string of utterly unreasonable demands!
"Huh!?"
Flowers and balloons!? Who would bring stuff like that into the competition arena? Was she planning to confess her love to someone out here?
"I don't have any..."
Wang Tianwei flew off the moment she finished speaking! She didn't even hear his reply.
A safety officer approached in his own mecha.
"Student, your mecha is totaled. You are automatically eliminated."
