Under the full-force resistance of the First Military Academy's Second Squad, they finally managed to keep the mutated squids from capsizing their boat.
By the time they were only two nautical miles from land, they had already disposed of quite a few mutated beasts!
But all anyone could think about was getting ashore quickly to wipe these things out completely, repair their boat and mechas along the way, and ideally get a good night's sleep in a place that wasn't rocking back and forth!
All these beautiful wishes came to an abrupt halt when they saw another boat sailing toward them from ahead...
Ye Yingxuan could hardly believe her eyes! How did it appear?
She ran back to the cabin to check the radar and then scanned the area with her mental power, but there was still absolutely nothing!
Yet the outline of the boat was distinct and clear. It couldn't possibly be a hallucination, right?
So she asked her teammates in the squad channel,
"Do you guys see it?"
Lucas feigned composure,
"We aren't blind, Captain..."
"But I didn't detect it!"
"...!?"
They thought they just hadn't noticed it because they lacked training in that area, but what did the Captain mean when she said she hadn't detected it either?
Wang Kaiyu gripped his short sword, trying to observe who the newcomers were.
Could it be Fu Xingyuan and the others from the First Squad? If so, that would be great! The two strong teams could join forces!
But why didn't the other side even turn on a light? Was there really anyone on board?
Before they could figure anything out, they realized their own small boat was gradually tilting.
Oh no, their boat must be taking on water!
Lucas quickly looked around. There shouldn't be enough mutated cuttlefish to crush the boat, so why was it tilting!?
Underwater, Wang Tianwei piloted her mecha to retract its impact drill. Carrying a large net full of fresh seafood, she distanced herself a bit from the gradually sinking boat.
"Thank you for the ocean's bounty, we can have boiled cuttlefish tomorrow..."
"It's from below!"
Lucas finally reacted,
"Captain, the bottom of our boat is leaking!"
"On guard!"
Ye Yingxuan's right eyelid twitched as she stared at the approaching boat, and she simply unleashed all her mental power.
Instantly, half of the surviving mutated cuttlefish on the boat went limp, losing their ability to attack. At the same time, however, Ye Yingxuan's face turned pale.
"Prepare to commandeer the ship."
Their own vehicle was done for, but that was fine. Wasn't the opposing boat still in perfectly good condition?
Taking care of the mutated cuttlefish first was to prevent them from causing trouble mid-battle, or from setting their sights on the other boat.
Xu Mo, Wang Kaiyu, and Lucas all stood ready in full battle array.
Ye Yingxuan adjusted her breathing, trying to recover her mental power as quickly as possible. This was a last resort; as long as the opposing commander wasn't Elizabeth...
Wang Kaiyu and Xu Mo were just planning to transform their mechas if push came to shove, when they suddenly felt something hook their feet. They looked down, and before they could react, they were dragged into the water!
Ye Yingxuan and Lucas were just about to rescue them.
"Yo! Acquaintances?"
Lucas felt himself enveloped by a powerful mental force. Upon hearing the voice, his hand controlling the mecha couldn't help but tremble. Qilin... Huang Yan!?
Ye Yingxuan didn't hesitate anymore, making her mecha transform and take to the sky.
"All team members, there's a change of plans!"
Commandeering the ship might not be the best option anymore.
"Attack Qilin with full force, regardless of the boat's condition!"
None of the other four teams in the semi-finals were to be trifled with!
Her biggest fear originally was running into Santorini's Elizabeth in this situation, but the moment she heard Huang Yan's voice, her mood plummeted straight to rock bottom...
It would have been better to encounter Elizabeth! Going all out against her, or having Xu Mo and Wang Kaiyu get close and knock her out, would have been a viable solution.
Qilin was just too sinister... Everyone on their team was full of uncertainties.
They should still be two nautical miles from the shore. Now was not the time to fixate on capturing the boat; they had to eliminate them first!
Wang Kaiyu and Xu Mo quickly shivered from the freezing seawater!
When they got a clear look at the several black mechas opposite them, their chests tightened. Hearing the squad captain's orders in the comms channel, tsk... this was going to be tough!
The moment Wang Kaiyu saw that one of the mechas was dragging a net full of mutated cuttlefish underneath it, his brain stopped working...
That looked like his sister's mecha, didn't it? Was his sister here to catch cuttlefish?
Could Qilin be here to help them? Would Huang Yan be that kind-hearted?
But upon turning back, he discovered a massive hole had been drilled into the bottom of their own boat.
Heh... he was overthinking it. They were absolutely here to mess with them! That hole was definitely his sister's handiwork! She had an impact drill!
He and Xu Mo simultaneously set up their thermal weapons and fired, but the three opposing mechas dodged nimbly like fish. The underwater mines didn't even hit the net of cuttlefish beneath Wang Tianwei's mecha!
"You dare fire at your big sister? You've grown up!"
Wang Tianwei couldn't help but retort.
The opponent's mechas had also been somewhat waterproofed. It seemed that kid Lucas had improved quite a bit recently, huh?
However, they clearly still hadn't broken out of their rigid mindset. Many of the accessories on Xu Mo's mecha were still exclusively for aerial combat. It seemed they had decided the main battlefield would be in the air. Well then, very good.
"Little Bear, Goldfish, make sure they can't leave the water."
"Copy that."
This was the first time Wang Tianwei had seen her little brother show his full strength.
There was a lot of resistance underwater, so logically, all mecha operations should be restricted.
But even as he was pursued closely by Zhang Lyra, his counterattacks were not sluggish in the slightest, showing just how solid his foundation was!
However, with such wide, sweeping movements, and without his mecha being properly sealed like hers, barring any surprises, the cockpit would start leaking in a minute at most.
Xu Mo and Wang Kaiyu both wanted to attack Wang Tianwei, who was hiding behind the two foot soldiers! In this match, as long as they took out the mecha mechanic and the commander, Qilin definitely wouldn't make it to the end!
But Wang Tianwei's mecha was shaped like a small submarine, slippery as a loach, and it would even fire off a couple of shells every now and then!
Swimming around with a net full of fish underneath, strolling as casually as if she were browsing a wet market, it made them furious just watching it...
The two men's attacks were either neutralized by shells fired by the two foot soldiers or dodged. Even when they were fighting ten or twenty meters underwater, that submarine still dared to dive even deeper!
Most importantly... their tracking weapons couldn't lock onto those three people, so they had to rely on standard manual aiming to fire!
She was really showing off just because she had a good mecha!
Wang Kaiyu was incredibly jealous. If his sister went to the same school as him, they absolutely would have been on the same squad, no matter what!
"Pfft!"
Xu Mo was slammed hard by Zhang Lyra's spiked submarine, and he instantly felt as if all his internal organs had shifted...
Before he could even recover, the first thing he saw was a red warning on the cockpit screen:
"Warning! Power system damaged, cockpit taking on water, danger! Please exit the mecha as soon as possible.
Warning! Power system damaged, cockpit taking on water, danger! Please exit the mecha as soon as possible."
Freezing seawater had already soaked half of Xu Mo's foot.
"Damn it!"
Like he didn't know it was dangerous!?
