"They know! The kids discovered the Zerg long ago, oh my god!"
"Qilin for the win! Sister Zebra is a boss!"
"Wahhhh, the kids are amazing!"
"Even though it's tense, Lyra is so cool!"
"...Don't celebrate too early. There are too many enemies."
"How are they supposed to get back? I'm so worried..."
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! Walker's team just went underground!"
"Hiranuma Yusho smashed his camera too! They've got a plan!"
All the major livestreams of the military academy league finally went black, but hope was rekindled in the hearts of the Federation people.
Threads on the forums piled up higher and higher,
"They're the three best teams left in the league. If they unite, they can get through this!"
"I was nervous watching the livestream, but now that there's no livestream, I'm even more nervous..."
"Qilin is awesome! First Military Academy is awesome! Walker is awesome!"
"There's bound to be good news!"
The four students from Walker pulled off a miracle maneuver, steering their mechs the moment they crashed through the ice sheet, landing steadily before sprinting off in a known direction.
Behind them, the starbeasts that hadn't reacted plummeted straight down—some died on impact, some fell into the icy pools, and others were impaled on ice pillars.
When starbeasts and mutant beasts died, the parasitic Zerg in their brains didn't die so easily. They struggled to find new hosts nearby and continued chasing after the Walker team.
A portion of the low-tier Zerg fell easily into the mental illusion Hiranuma Yusho had constructed, losing their sense of direction and turning on each other.
But the rest were mostly high-tier. Hiranuma Yusho quickly realized his mental attacks were being suppressed—and worse, they could counterattack... He just wasn't strong enough yet.
"Chief Safety Officer, the Walker team has gone underground. The flyers can't scan them."
"Switch to mechs and chase them down."
"Yes, sir!"
The communication between the safety officers was heard in full by both military academies. The Walker members could only grit their teeth and race through the underground at full speed, while carefully dodging protruding rocks and mutated plants on both sides.
Qilin naturally didn't want to linger, but in that moment, the flyer carrying Kes had already touched down.
"You want to play? Then let's all have some fun!"
Several more mechs were deployed.
The First Military Academy couldn't hear the rescue flyer's internal comms, but they could hear the relay from Qilin's side. The situation wasn't looking good either...
Huang Yan spoke up as a reminder,
"It's time to go."
They needed to rendezvous with Walker as soon as possible.
"Got it."
He Siyu replied immediately.
Wu Pingzhuo finally caught up to Lyra,
"Lyra, I swear I'll never blow up your cannon barrel again!"
"..."
Jian Jingyu was the first to notice more mechs pursuing from behind,
"Wait—why are the Zerg driving mechs!?"
"You're just now realizing? They can't—but the safety officer instructors can!"
Wang Tianwei fired off shots in the gaps between her teammates.
If they could mimic human speech and behavior, spend time racking up points just to mess with them, was replicating mech piloting really that surprising? The high-tier zombies back in the day were indistinguishable from humans too...
When the First Military Academy members heard the definitive answer from Qilin, their hearts grew heavy,
"So right now, on all of Bliza... besides us, is there anyone still human?"
"What about us in Walker? Damn it! Barry, hurry up, they're about to catch us!"
Wu Fangyu's excitable voice came through on Qilin's contact pin,
"Sister Zebra! We're underground now, running south from the coordinates we mentioned! Don't get the location wrong!"
"Copy that."
Huang Yan recalibrated the coordinates in his head,
"How's it going on your end?"
Hiranuma Yusho's head throbbed with sharp pain from overusing his mental power,
"We've dealt with half... only the high-tier ones are left. If you guys don't show up soon, we might be turning into gold-eyed monsters ourselves."
Hearing that, everyone immediately grasped the urgency,
"Speed up—full speed ahead! Even Hiranuma Yusho isn't pretending to be tough anymore. They really can't hold out much longer!"
"Hang in there a little longer. We're on our way, just around the corner!"
Jian Jingyu held his breath, trading blows with the "safety officer" mechs behind him, all while saying the exact opposite of what was actually true.
Taylor felt like his shooting had improved dramatically in the crisis. Before, headshots were hit or miss. Now it was almost muscle memory,
"Ah! The safety officers on our side are coming down in mechs. Are you guys really almost here!?"
Wang Tianwei suddenly realized almost no one was attacking her direction.
She didn't know why, but it let her zip all over the field sending assists. The only thing bothering her was her right eyelid twitching like it was about to cramp,
"Almost there! For real this time. Hold on!"
Lyra added,
"Don't make us arrive and then have to clean up your mess!"
"..."
Some people just know how to say the most gut-punching things with a straight face at the most critical moments.
"Damn it!"
Barry was close to his limit, but hearing that, he inexplicably found a second wind.
Dying to the Zerg would be humiliating enough—dying and still not escaping Qilin's judgment afterward would be even worse...
Following the method Elizabeth had taught him, he condensed his mental power into something razor-sharp and stabbed it at the Zerg behind them in one massive burst. It actually slowed a few of them for a moment.
Taylor seized the opportunity and picked them off with follow-up shots.
Hiranuma Yusho couldn't help but glance at his teammate. Barry's mental power had gotten stronger after that head injury!?
"Keep going—don't anyone stop."
"Yes, sir!"
On the First Military Academy's side, the moment Kes caught up, both commanders noticed something different. This one's mental power was stronger than any Zerg they'd encountered so far!
Both his attack methods and his application of mental power were far more refined, and he was a real pain to deal with.
"Sister Zebra, fall back!"
Huang Yan warned anxiously, but Kes didn't even spare Wang Tianwei, who was closer, a single glance. He accelerated straight toward He Siyu instead.
All four infantry were tied up. If he couldn't take out the mech commander first, then taking out any one of the two commanders would be half the battle won! Kes smirked inside his cockpit. You're the one.
Watching the enemy just breeze right past her, Wang Tianwei's eyelid twitched even harder.
Seriously!? Even if I'm the only A-rank on the field, you could at least show me some respect!?
She fired her grappling hook at the enemy mech. Something was wrong—these Zerg definitely had a big problem!
The moment Kes felt himself get hooked, he turned and shot at the cable. A grappling hook, nothing more. Then he ignored it and started accelerating again—only to find himself still stuck a second later.
He took a closer look. Ah... the cable was coated with that liquid gold, and it had already wrapped around his legs.
Fu Xingyuan had just finished off another "safety officer" right above and slightly off to the side. Taking advantage of the opening, he swung down a heavy kick.
Lyra locked on from long range,
"Boom!"
Kes flared his golden pupils. The shell halted in midair for a moment—but only for a moment—before slamming into him again.
"Impossible!"
