e Chong regained his calm. He was not so moralistic as to be worried for other people’s safety - this was war!
The plan was mainly executed by Ye Chong and Mu. While Shang wanted to direct the action himself, his computational skills were insufficient for the situation. Should they be engaged with any Mavericks along the way, even Mu could not ensure certain victory. The plan was of course reviewed by Mu, and Mu was equally excited by this challenge. Ye Chong could hear the unusual excitement in Mu’s words.
On the contrary, Shang went behind the scenes.
Besides, Mu had another task, which was to find out more about Ye Chong’s Papa.
"Begin!" Mu’s typical calm voice reverberated throughout the highest floor of the hospital.
The 15th of July, 7 o’clock sharp in the evening was a time that everyone on Windstar would come to remember. This was the day that the most powerful virus spread violently throughout the virtual world. It was chaos, a sudden catastrophe. People found themselves living in the ways of old, where communications and traffic were a mess, and where even shopping required one to step out of their houses. This was when they found that they did not know the addresses of those familiar stores online in the real world.
The entire society descended into panic and fear. Communications were down, and local authorities had no effective measures against it. Even the governments from other planets could not afford to assist them. It was chaos! The people felt as though the apocalypse was nigh, and began to appreciate the normalcy of their previous lives. Social security took a nosedive for the worse. Without the assistance of city surveillance systems, the police found themselves lacking in manpower to face this unprecedented crisis.
In the blink of an eye, heaven turned into hell!
The world watched in fear at this concentrated region, where 23 planets abruptly descended into chaos. However, the monstrous beast seemed to have swallowed a huge prey, for the virus suddenly stopped spreading after that, providing a much needed reprieve. Almost all the other areas that were once in touch with these 23 planets severed their connections, for fear of meeting the same fate. Similarly, various rescue organisations were deployed to assist. Even so, they came from far away, and would need time to travel through the interstellar space between them.
At 7.05, Ye Chong quickly entered Han Jia and began hunting.
He was trying to find small squads of mechs from any one of the Three Forces. Communications were paralyzed, and even Shang and Mu would not be able to transmit long distance messages. All of Windstar’s pulse signal generator towers were down. The goal was to cut off communications between the mechs of the Three Forces and reduce the advantage they had by their numbers. As long Ye Chong kept away from larger mech squads, he would have nothing to fear. Nonetheless, should he meet any of their mechs, he must not leave any of them alive, or his efforts would all be for nothing.
At 7.05, night descended upon the entire Thousand Birds zone. Han Jia’s anti detection feature now allowed it to become an assassin hidden in the darkness, waiting to deliver the killer blow to its enemy. Whether it was Han Jia or Guardian, they were both real threats to the scattered enemy mechs.
Mu still stayed beside Ye Chong, for he needed Mu’s excellent scanning system to locate the mechs from the Three Forces. Ye Chong did not have much time. Without Mu’s active direction, the virus would quickly be overcome by any powerful Maverick. Without Mu controlling the virus, it would become but a fangless mutant.
Ye Chong had only one hour. After one hour, Mu must return to the hospital building and control the situation in the virtual world.
Numerous mechs flew across the skies, and traffic was a mess. People realized for the first time that the cute floating beacons were becoming a nuisance. The virus had just began to act, and the virtual world nearly plunged into chaos. Many did not realize what was happening, only that the traffic had worsened. Violence on the streets had yet to begin.
Ye Chong was lucky. He found a Black Cove Cosmic Flare right after he left the hospital building. The sudden break in communications had obviously surprised the mech pilot, anxious to return.
Ye Chong’s mouth arched into a cold smile. He was annoyed with Black Cove’s pursuit, and it was only the fact that he realized the disparity in their strengths that Ye Chong chose to act defensively. If he did not act now, however, he would be a fool.
In terms of strength, Ye Chong believed that as long as he did not meet any Instructor level crazy experts, he would have no problems against the average Black Cove mech pilot. Besides, Han Jia’s anti detection feature and Mu’s excellent scanning system was enough to give him a good advantage in the battlefield.
Han Jia moved soundlessly like a ghost through the night.
Han Jia’s engine was taken from Yu Di, the work of Fred the Great himself. Its performance was impeccable, and together with Han Jia’s ultralight skeleton build, the resulting automotive performance was enough to satisfy even Ye Chong. Mach 9 was a terrifying figure.
Ye Chong felt like he had returned to his hunting days on the trash planet, only now he was no longer piloting old Winnie, but an enviable full-skeleton mech. His prey were also not mutants, but strong and intelligent mech pilots.
Han Jia closed in rapidly towards the Cosmic Flare, and the other party did not notice. The skies of Windstar was already in a mess, filled with mechs that flew in confusion. The disorder had hindered the Cosmic Flare’s advance.
Ye Chong followed closely from behind, the distance between them no more than 300 meters.
Ye Chong moved his hands over the controls. Two auto lock-on double-edged shurikens swished outwards, shrieking from the friction with the air, and traced out two large arcs in the sky before appearing before the Cosmic Flare!
These two shurikens were taken from the Harmony of the Winter Aria, and Ye Chong rarely used them. The Ji family had designed these two ancillary weapons with great care, their similarity to the UF magnetic sword greatly increased their effectiveness. For physical weapons moving at Mach 10, they were formidable.
Black Cove mech pilots were all competent, and as this one noticed two unidentified objects flying towards him in surprise, he managed to respond rationally. While Cosmic Flare had given concealed shooting chambers, shooting was not its forte. In that short span of time, the pilot decided to do what he did best. The shield on his left arm swung out laterally, blocking one of the shurikens. The curved blade on his right arm blocked the other shuriken easily as well.
In that instant, his ability to block both shurikens flying towards him at high speed was enough to convince anyone on the excellent combat capabilities of Black Cove mech pilots.
However, Ye Chong did not expect to kill his enemy with those two shurikens in the first place. Of all the mech pilots from the Three Forces, he understood Black Cove mech pilots the most. Just as the Black Cove mech pilot deflected those two shurikens, Ye Chong had already crept up silently behind the Cosmic Flare.
Two pitch black daggers traced out two elegant arcs as they striked towards the Cosmic Flare fast as lightning.
The mech pilot realized then that someone was behind him, and even managed to defend himself. Ye Chong believed that this mech pilot must be from one of the elite squads.
The Cosmic Flare inclined its body slightly, and Han Jia’s direct attack was blocked by the two UF magnetic swords on its back!
Ding! A loud metallic clang sounded, and the two UF magnetic swords broke into halves. Unactivated UF magnetic swords were most fragile.
However, the mech pilot had successfully evaded the killer blow.
He turned himself with the momentum of the blow and finally saw the mech that attacked him. Despite his steadiness, he still could not help but gasped as he saw the mech clearly.
"This … Isn’t this the full-skeleton mech everyone is looking for?"
F-58! The designation came to his mind. He began to feel a deep sense of terror at this unexpected encounter.