"First Military Academy's First Squad, plus twenty-three points."
On Valk's side, Barry couldn't help but laugh out loud at the steady stream of point announcements.
"Haha, looks like Kirin and First Military Academy are having some pretty bad luck too!"
At the start of the competition, he'd cared about who got the first points, and whenever another school's announcement came through, he'd want to close the gap right away.
But now he just thought their luck was terrible! How long had they even been at the spot? Had they even scouted the terrain before running into star beasts or mutant beasts?
Just from the number alone, they had to be pack creatures—First Military Academy must have put in a lot of effort.
The conditions on Blizzard Star for the finals were so harsh that a few more encounters like that could mean they'd lose a competitor before ever even meeting face to face.
"This godforsaken place—just traveling through it is exhausting enough…"
Taylor felt a pang of irritation looking at the endless expanse of white, and had long since switched his mech's anti-blind mode on.
The screen inside the cockpit turned amber, but his mood didn't improve. He'd always hated winter back on Kallen Star!
Not a single other color anywhere, completely dull.
"How do star beasts and mutant beasts even survive in this kind of temperature? Their adaptability is insane, right?"
Wu Fangyu couldn't help but marvel.
If he were thrown out there alone without a mech, he'd be frozen solid in under fifteen minutes!
And those star beasts actually managed to thrive on Blizzard Star? Their vitality was tenacious, no doubt…
Hiranuma Yusho kept an eye on their surroundings. Their route seemed relatively safe compared to the other two military academies.
So far, neither radar nor his psychic senses had picked up anything coming their way. The only thing to consider was whether to set up camp during their midday break.
If they didn't camp, everyone would be cramped inside their mechs without proper rest. But setting up camp meant going in and out, which carried its own risks…
Still, if they pitched the tents during the day, they could just move straight in at night, and if any problems came up, they'd be prepared early.
As he was thinking, a faint tremor suddenly ran through the ground beneath his feet.
"Scatter!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a torrent of ice slurry mixed with ice spikes and rubble burst up from beneath the earth, instantly sending Hiranuma Yusho and the others' mechs flying!
Because the blast radius was huge, by the time they stopped, they were frozen solid inside it.
Barry and Wu Fangyu were in the same boat—only Taylor, who'd been in the back, managed to dodge it…
"Whoa! The three of you look like museum exhibits now!?"
Sure enough, the three mechs were each in different poses, but all of them froze mid-run, and in no time at all, they'd become a perfect ice wall. He was sure he'd seen something similar at an art exhibit before…
"Seriously! We hit an ice volcano?! Barry, you jinx!"
Wu Fangyu tried to work the controls to break through the ice wall, but the eruption had been on a massive scale, and the ice sealed the mechs was way too thick. There was no way they'd break free easily.
And they certainly didn't dare fire their weapons! They'd blow out their own cannon barrels before even doing anything—now that would really be something to cry about.
"No good—if I push harder, the hydraulic lines are gonna burst… everyone, turn on all heating systems. Once the ice pillar melts, we'll be able to get out."
Taylor looked at his teammates and broke into a mischievous grin inside his cockpit. He shouldn't, but he really couldn't pass up a screenshot of a moment this iconic!
So, right under the eyes of countless netizens and teachers, Taylor circled around from behind to the front, saying all the right concerned words out loud while silently using his mech's built-in capture function to snap photos of the other three from every possible angle.
Wu Fangyu, seeing how relaxed he was, fumed.
"Taylor! Don't just stand there—come over here with your fire gun and roast us, speed up the melting!"
"Alright, alright, I'm coming, I'm coming!"
Taylor scurried over happily, his mech's palms shooting out high-temperature flames.
"Am I good standing here? It's not gonna shoot up again and freeze me in too, right?"
"…Stop saying things like that! An ice volcano isn't going to erupt twice in that short a time. Ow! Watch it! Don't just focus the heat on one spot!"
"Got it, quit yelling."
The ice slurry beneath the surface was freezing cold, and the flash-freeze left it thick and hard, tough to melt. It took the four mechs a full half hour to break free.
Wu Fangyu checked the scratches on each mech with a pained expression.
"Ugh, it's only the first day… Well, at least everyone's poses back there were fine. The ice spikes didn't pierce any energy pipes. It's just the optical sensors that got scratched. Captain, should we swap them now or wait?"
Hiranuma Yusho glanced at the screen in his cockpit.
"Mine's just a bit scratched around the edges, not affecting visibility. You guys?"
Barry, still staring at the spot they'd been trapped in, felt a lingering chill.
"…Mine's not too bad either. Good enough to see where I'm going."
Wu Fangyu ran a few more tests.
"Mine's fine too."
"Then let's keep moving. Radar and psychic senses can't detect natural phenomena like this in time… We'll leave this area first, then figure things out once we're somewhere safe."
"Got it!"
"Agreed."
Taylor, completely unnoticed by his teammates, saved the screenshots and gave a sly thumbs-up to the cockpit camera. Job well done, no one the wiser.
As they walked, Barry let out another sigh.
"It's not the luck of our squads, man—this place just has bad feng shui!"
Kirin and First Military Academy run into pack beasts or mutant beasts right off the bat, and we get frozen straight into an ice volcano?
One person being unlucky is just bad luck. But everyone's being cursed? Then this place definitely has something going on!
In the livestream room, Valk's team advisor, Lin Youfu, felt a chill run down his spine at his student's summary. He covered his face with one hand and turned his back to the host, just like Chao Hao had done earlier.
…Eventually, he'd finally experienced that feeling of wanting to crawl into a hole and disappear.
This was the finals, and he was talking about feng shui!? Barry, come back and handwrite "Believe in Science" a hundred times!
Chao Hao and Fu Manli, on the other hand, nodded approvingly. Now that was what students should look like… At least their academy's squad wasn't the only unreliable one anymore.
On the forum, the images of the three frozen into ice pillars blew up fast, quickly overshadowing Kirin's "cold smile" squad's moment in the spotlight.
"It's so tragic… but also SO funny!"
"Wu Fangyu's pose is so dynamic!?"
"Does anyone else get how hilarious Hiranuma Yusho looks just lying flat inside an ice pillar?"
"I think the funniest part is Taylor taking three-sixty degree screenshots. This kid's following Kirin's bad example!"
"Going off what the person above said—'bad example'? What did Kirin even do?"
"Check out this pic [image]: Roasting Teammates!"
"Extra spicy, extra seasoning, hold the scallions, thanks."
"Give me one Hiranuma Yusho on a stick!"
