First Battlefield Commander! - Chapter 68
Chapter 68: Match
No matter how chaotic the outside world was, Lian Sheng was currently catching up on sleep. She wasn't the type to visit the official Sanyao website, let alone pay attention to some minor celebrity's personal manifesto.
Though she was absent, legends of her lingered everywhere in Sanyao. The Hundred Meter Flying Dagger hadn't brought her many fans, but he had provided her with countless haters.
Fans of various mech pilots formed a united front, firing indiscriminate verbal attacks to disparage their target and flaunt their superiority. The civilians who frequented District 12 were no pushovers either. The two sides engaged in bare-handed verbal combat, creating quite a spectacular scene.
Countless people looked forward to the arena match at seven o'clock that evening. Both slaps and faces were ready—it remained to be seen which would be offered.
Approaching seven, Lian Sheng had rested enough and was awakened by her alarm. She got up, washed her face, stretched outside, and after preparing leisurely, finally logged in.
Her previous logout location had been the arena, so logically she should have appeared at the arena's edge upon logging in. But due to the overwhelming crowd, there was no space for her to land, so the system pushed her position further back.
Cheers and shouts surrounded her, too chaotic to make out clearly. The sea of people directly demonstrated how popular this arena match was.
Lian Sheng was quite surprised by the spectacle. She didn't think there was anything particularly exciting here—could it be that people had guessed she might end the arena challenge today?
How was that possible? Who would pay attention to something so boring?
Someone at the back of the crowd spotted Lian Sheng, and the mass began shifting toward her. Lian Sheng immediately clicked to start the challenge, leaping onto the arena first.
Standing at the center of the crowd, the surrounding noise seemed even louder. She couldn't make out individual faces, but voices from every direction reached her ears.
The crowd noticed her arrival and began applauding enthusiastically in welcome. Her self-proclaimed fan club still stood below, waving their arms wildly.
Lian Sheng noticed that tonight's spectators seemed divided. Those on her right were clearly more enthusiastic, with many familiar faces. The crowd on her left, however, stood with arms crossed, watching her silently with an air of profound mystery.
Lian Sheng paid it no mind and withdrew her gaze.
Her first opponent of the evening was also teleported onto the arena, currently selecting mech configurations on the opposite side.
Lian Sheng piloted her starter mech around the field randomly, waiting for the first match to begin.
She calculated mentally—with this mech, she'd probably only make it this far. The question was whether she could reach a hundred matches in the end.
After careful consideration, her opponent still chose the Fengyi. According to Lian Sheng's defeat records, this was the mech type she lost to most often.
The attributes of this mech were indeed the most troublesome for her. If she couldn't suppress it early, turning the tide later would be extremely difficult.
Encountering three Fengyi matches in a row tonight struck Lian Sheng as somewhat novel.
Due to a momentary lapse, she lost one match.
The audience immediately erupted in boos. The previously silent left-side crowd began making meaningless gestures at her and shouting provocatively after the result was announced. The District 12 crowd jumped in anger, pointing and cursing at them. The two sides began an off-field battle.
Lian Sheng glanced down, rubbed her wrists, and said nothing.
Current win count: ninety-nine. Hopefully she could make it an even hundred.
She clicked for the next match, and her opponent was immediately teleported to the arena.
As the figure materialized, the arguing below paused for a second before the right-side crowd gave up and devoted themselves to screaming.
The cheers shook the heavens, far louder than when they'd welcomed Lian Sheng.
Lian Sheng chuckled lightly—apparently most people hadn't come to see her tonight.
"Been waiting for you," said the person opposite, hands on hips as they approached with an ambiguous smile that could be either mocking or something else. "I've heard so much about you."
Lian Sheng said mildly, "Have you?"
Jiang Feng Yuhuo said, "If I let you end the arena challenge tonight, that would really be a shame."
Lian Sheng lowered her head and ground her heel slightly: "You should apologize for your insincere attitude instead. I don't need pre-match victory declarations. Many people have said similar things to me—they all ended up dead."
"Is that so? Then you can look forward to it too." Jiang Feng Yuhuo clicked to begin preparations.
The two were teleported to the battle map.
Seeing the two mechs at the start, Cheng Ze in the audience frowned and turned to ask, "Old Bu, what do you think?"
Ye Buqing shook his head: "Not optimistic."
For Lian Sheng to win, she relied on speed and close combat.
Jiang Feng Yuhuo was piloting a Leibao—a high-spec close-combat mech. This was the first high-spec mech Lian Sheng had encountered in her matches. It was fast, energy-efficient, and heavily armored. The technological gap between the two was at least a hundred years—they weren't even comparable. For the starter mech to sever even one of its arms would require tremendous effort.
The biggest difference between them now wasn't skill, but point disparity. A veteran like Jiang Feng Yuhuo with fifty thousand points hadn't touched a starter mech in years—of course he could talk big.
In his eyes, Lian Sheng's mech moved sluggishly, with too many unnecessary actions. Its kamikaze-style combat methods seemed insane and stupid—nothing short of sacrilege against mech pilots. This couldn't even be called a real battle.
If Hundred Meter Flying Dagger were to comment, any analysis that ignored mech specs was just cheating. True experts should adapt their strategies to their mech's performance to maximize victory chances, but most people couldn't understand mech parameters as deeply as they did. After piloting a mech for a while and adjusting to its operations, one would forget the original feel and develop biases when looking back.
At the match's start, Jiang Feng Yuhuo immediately discarded his equipped cannon and pressed his arm: "For fairness, I'll fight you in close combat. No electric currents."
The Leibao's signature feature was that even normal attacks could carry high-voltage currents through arm equipment. Just breaking through the opponent's outer shell to connect with internal circuits could instantly disable their entire mech.
Zhao Zhuoluo said flatly, "What kind of fairness is that? Real fairness would be using a starter mech too."
Fans were already applauding Jiang Feng Yuhuo's magnanimity and integrity. Cheng Ze and the others found themselves in an awkward position amidst them.
On stage, Jiang Feng Yuhuo assumed a combat stance. He stepped back with his left foot, lowered his torso, gathered momentum, then charged forward directly.
Lian Sheng stood far on the other side when she suddenly saw him approaching like lightning—her eyelids twitched.
So fast! This was her first time seeing such speed.
In barely the blink of an eye, he was already upon her. The sheer momentum of his charge created immense pressure—with her current mech, retreating was useless.
This was Lian Sheng's first clear experience of the disparity between mechs. It wasn't just a matter of numerical differences, but tangible, visceral—
Now she had only one choice: all-out attack.
Lian Sheng raised her cannon and fired a clean shot at her opponent.
The cannon's firing speed also seemed too slow. From the barrel glowing red to the actual shot, there was nearly a full second's delay. This was enough time for the Leibao to notice and evade. Lian Sheng had previously compensated for this gap by adjusting the cannon's angle—effective against novices, but Jiang Feng Yuhuo had complete mastery over his mech's applications. How could he fail to dodge such unstable attacks?
As expected, the shot missed.
Lian Sheng discarded the cannon, raised her arm, and fired energy shots using her mech's power. The Leibao used thrusters to dash sideways through the air—two consecutive shots from Lian Sheng both missed.
Her speed control was inadequate, and her opponent's mech speed varied too drastically—another first for Lian Sheng. But her starter mech's performance didn't even give her a chance to probe.
Lian Sheng's vision tilted as she fell to the ground, then the screen displayed her defeat before teleporting her out of the arena.
[Announcement] System: Piaoqi Great General's arena challenge has ended. Welcome to participate next time.
From start to finish, less than a minute had passed. Before close combat could even occur, the Yuanrui had collapsed from energy depletion.
"Hey." Jiang Feng Yuhuo walked up to her, looking down with a click of his tongue. "Boring."
Just suicidal tactics after all? He was disappointed.
The audience's mood turned completely one-sided. Jiang Feng Yuhuo's fans cheered excitedly while the District 12 crowd felt humiliated, frustration stuck in their chests.
Everyone below was cursing and arguing.
"Is this kamikaze tactics? Just randomly firing like an idiot? Who couldn't do that?"
"Keep bragging, District 12. Any random nobody gets called a god now."
"This was just your District 12 circlejerk—we wouldn't have cared if you hadn't talked so big. Don't blame others for slapping you down!"
"How could she lose so badly?"
"Mech disadvantage."
"Stop with the mech disadvantage crap! My Jiang Feng didn't even attack, okay? She panicked and wasted all her energy—whose fault is that?"
"Three shots drained her energy and you still deny mech disadvantage? What more do you want?"
"Jiang Feng said he'd fight fair, but she tried cheap long-range tactics first. We didn't even complain and you're already jumping?"
"Stop being bullies! How can you fight close combat with that speed gap? The specs aren't even comparable!"
"Oho, typical District 12—always making excuses when you can't win, hahaha!"
Fang Jianchen covered his ears and moved closer to his friends amid the arguments: "What's going on? Why so intense? Doesn't feel like an arena at all."
Cheng Ze looked at him and smiled: "Oh? I thought you weren't coming?"
Fang Jianchen snorted: "Why wouldn't I come to see her lose so satisfyingly?"
Cheng Ze: "She really lost."
"No way! Seriously?" Fang Jianchen exclaimed. "That fast?"
Cheng Ze: "Not that fast. Yuanrui versus Leibao. The starter mech's energy reserves leak like a sieve—a couple shots or laps and it's done. First time Lian Sheng faced this—she fired three shots straight on and missed, then ran out of energy."
Fang Jianchen fell silent briefly before exclaiming in wonder: "I actually found someone more shameless than Lian Sheng? The world really is vast when you get out more!"
Cheng Ze: "..."
On the arena, Piaoqi Great General stood up and said to Jiang Feng Yuhuo, who was about to leave: "Wait right there."
Jiang Feng Yuhuo raised a brow as the Great General said: "I need to buy a mech first."
"What are you planning?" Jiang Feng Yuhuo lifted his chin. "The skill gap can't be bridged in minutes."
Great General: "True, I agree. But that was just about mech capability. Let's go again."
"Again? Another arena challenge?" Jiang Feng Yuhuo said. "Don't be impulsive. You must have over a thousand points by now—as a newbie, you can hold your head high and laugh. No need to challenge me."
Piaoqi Great General said calmly: "Not impulsive. I've deeply reflected on my shortcomings and devised countermeasures."
Jiang Feng Yuhuo laughed: "Oh? And what are your shortcomings?"
Piaoqi Great General: "My mech sucks."
Lian Sheng's tone remained composed throughout, as if the loss hadn't affected her at all. But only she knew how excited she really was. Mechs were fascinating—after seeing such equipment, she wanted a high-end mech too.
Piaoqi Great General repeated: "Wait two minutes. Don't move."
Lian Sheng had planned to log out and find someone, but noticed Fang Jianchen had come online at some point, so she called him to private chat: "Fang Jianchen."
Fang Jianchen, also preparing to leave this unpleasant scene, paused at the summons: "Who are you?"
After a pause, the other side said: "It's Lian Sheng."
A tingling sensation ran from Fang Jianchen's crown to his soles. Keeping a straight face, he said: "I don't know you. Wrong person."
Lian Sheng asked: "What mech do you usually use? A sniper-type. I have 1,693 points—what can I buy?"
Hearing "mech," Fang Jianchen's pitch rose: "You're buying a mech? Over a thousand points won't get you much. Either get a low-spec one and upgrade as you earn points, but low-spec functions aren't great—limited projectile options."
Lian Sheng: "I want one with enough energy."
She'd had enough—it was like wearing underwear that could blow away in the wind. Very unpleasant.
"Then pick Qixing!" Fang Jianchen said. "I use Qixing—my beloved!"
Want to dive deeper into the story? You can request bonus chapters or grab the complete Part 1 (147 chapters) as an EPUB from my Ko-fi shop!
Seriously shameless
ReplyDelete