After sailing their small boat on the sea for half a day, the squads finally realized there was a problem.
"Where are the mutant beasts? The star beasts? How are we supposed to get bonus points if there's nothing out here?"
Jian Jingyu stood at the bow, looking around. He released his spiritual power to perceive and explore the surroundings, but after a long while, he still found nothing.
Zhang Lyra gripped the railing.
"The fog seems to be getting thicker."
When the group first arrived in the morning, they thought the fog was normal.
But half a day had passed, and the fog showed no signs of dissipating. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse...
If it weren't for Sir Huang, the radar, and the gyrocompass constantly calibrating their direction, they probably would have been lost on the vast ocean by now.
"We haven't heard any point-scoring announcements from any military academy yet. Even the First Military Academy is quiet."
Wang Tianwei sat on the deck, using her spiritual power to re-smelt the large net she had used on Planet Kashgar, making the mesh finer so it would be better for catching fish.
Just as they were discussing the topic of "Could it be that only the academy bonus buttons give points this time?", a huge wave crashed over the bow, soaking the three people on deck to the bone.
"!!!"
Wang Tianwei shivered from head to toe.
"Ugh, it's freezing!"
Seeing this, Huang Yan opened the cabin door.
"Don't stay out there anymore, come inside. The waves are getting rough."
Jian Jingyu wiped his face.
"Sir Huang, it would have been nice if you said that a little earlier..."
After entering the cabin and taking off her wet coat, Wang Tianwei tested the brooch on her clothes.
"Hello, hello, can everyone hear me? Is it waterlogged?"
The brooches on the other three simultaneously broadcasted her voice.
"Yeah, the waterproofing is pretty good."
This was her newly made communication device. It even had a camera for recording video. Wearing this, it wouldn't affect their communication regardless of whether they were in their mechas or how far apart they were.
In case of an emergency, there was also an alarm button, and personnel could be located through its GPS. It was an absolute must-have for going out to sea!
Huang Yan returned to the pilot's seat.
"Since we have nothing to do right now and are just sitting around, let's practice our spiritual power attacks."
"..."
"Do you remember the method I taught you last time? Sister Zebra, try attacking Goldfish. Goldfish, deploy your spiritual barrier."
"Oh."
They had forgotten that he was also a ruthless taskmaster... But the Qilin Squad firmly believed that there was absolutely no harm in extra practice. Thus, a mecha mechanic and an assault soldier both mobilized their spiritual power.
"How does it feel?"
"Hmm... It feels like someone is slapping my barrier."
"Slapping? Sister Zebra, you can't use the same method you use to smelt parts. You have to pierce! Pierce, you know?"
The live stream comments went completely quiet, with only the occasional ellipsis drifting across the screen.
In the camp observation room, the teachers from various military academies couldn't even be bothered to complain anymore. After all, they had long since put Qilin on their list of the most difficult opponents to deal with. They simply focused on recording the squad's training methods on their optical computers.
What else could they do? Just watch for now, review it later, extract the essence, and learn from it!
After so many years since the academies were founded, they never expected to be dragged into such fierce competition by a veteran team like Qilin...
Many military academies had already integrated this league's live broadcast into their daily curriculum, just so their students could learn how to better handle various emergencies.
Of course, it was hard to say whether they also just wanted their students to see how "other people's children" did things.
And just as Wang Tianwei was struggling against Jian Jingyu's spiritual barrier, an ethereal song pierced through the thick fog and struck straight into their souls.
The first to react was Zhang Lyra. A pair of bear ears stood up alertly as she stared intently at the sea surface through the cabin glass.
"Something's not right outside."
"On guard!"
Huang Yan probed his spiritual power deeper underwater. Wang Tianwei finally remembered to turn her head and look at the radar, just in time to see a cluster of red dots flanking them from all directions, entering the radar's detection zone.
That's right... a whole cluster of them!!!
The group no longer cared whether the wind and waves outside were rough; they all rushed out onto the deck, standing in battle formation.
Before leaving the cabin, Huang Yan didn't forget to drop the anchor, conveniently casting a spiritual barrier over his teammates as well.
The singing drew closer, growing increasingly mournful, and a layer of goosebumps erupted on everyone's arms.
"Is-is-is-is it a ghost or a beast!?"
Jian Jingyu was so scared that he bit his tongue while speaking!
It was his first time hearing such a whimpering, drawn-out sound. Why did it feel so much like the opening of a horror movie he'd watched as a kid?
Hearing Goldfish's words, Wang Tianwei also felt creeped out... What kind of mutant beast was this? Did it really have to make such a ghastly noise?
Zhang Lyra held her machine gun, looking highly alert.
"They're here."
The sniper rifle in Huang Yan's hands aimed at a spot on the water's surface. Right there.
This boat couldn't support the weight of all four of their mechas appearing at the same time. If they did that, the boat would definitely sink...
So right now, everyone planned to assess the situation first. If they could fight in hand-to-hand combat, that would be for the best.
Jian Jingyu didn't see a terrifying ghost or an ugly mutant beast. Instead, a human figure slowly rose from underwater, looking perfectly normal with a nose and eyes.
"A human?"
The whimpering song became clearer.
In Wang Tianwei and Zhang Lyra's line of sight, a handsome man with blonde hair, blue eyes, and deep facial features also appeared!
The "handsome man" had a hint of sorrow between his brows. His azure eyes looked affectionately at Wang Tianwei, as if he had so much he wanted to tell her.
The lines of his shoulders and chest muscles above the water were distinct. His hands were clasped together, and his deep voice seemed to be harmonizing with the initial female voice, enticing people to step closer and listen.
Various beautiful women and handsome men surfaced one after another. Huang Yan felt a mountain of pressure.
As more and more "heads" popped up, he clearly felt the attacks on his spiritual barrier becoming increasingly severe. Crap, these things primarily attacked with spiritual power!
After practicing with Hiranuma Yusho recently, he was now beginning to doubt whether the things he was seeing with his own eyes were real or just hallucinations.
He turned his head to look at Wang Tianwei and Zhang Lyra on the other side of the boat. The two of them seemed completely defenseless as they took two steps outward...
"Sister Zebra! Watch..."
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"
Wang Tianwei spread her legs half a step apart and lowered her center of gravity to maintain her balance on the boat.
Then, she raised her rifle, aimed at the blonde-haired, blue-eyed "handsome man," and fired in bursts! The little bear beside her did the same. Before the two boys could even react, the girls had already started blasting!
Mermaids? No, Sirens!?
Didn't these things only appear in storybooks? How could they exist in the interstellar era!?
While observing whether the rifle could cause substantial damage to the sirens, Wang Tianwei's mind raced with wild thoughts.
Singing to seduce them right off the bat—how could they be anything good? Don't think that just because her spiritual power was low, she wouldn't notice something was wrong!
The Little Mermaid at least saved people! These things clearly looked at them as rations!
"It works! The rifles are effective!"
The sea surface near the ship's hull was quickly dyed bright red, and the deep male singing was interrupted by the gunfire.
The "handsome men and beautiful women" who were just striking poses in the water finally revealed their true colors...
What handsome men and beautiful women? They could barely be described as having a humanoid shape!
Their actual skin color was a dark, bruised blue-black, and everything below their chests was covered in scales. They looked as if they had been poisoned!
Wet hair plastered to its skull, it had a sinister glare and bared a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. Just one look was enough to tell that its bite force must be absolutely terrifying!
No wonder that merman from a moment ago was able to clasp his hands together—it turned out he had four arms! There were two more hidden underwater!
"Hold on tight, everyone!"
Wang Tianwei shouted, hurling a depth charge right into the thickest swarm of star beasts. Standing by the edge of the boat, Jian Jingyu gripped the railing tightly as the small vessel was soon sent pitching violently up and down by the explosion's shockwave.
