It's Not Easy to Be a Man After Travelling to the Future - Chapter 191

Chapter 191: The Fearsome Combat Ability of a God-Class Operator!

However, what he discovered next filled 8102 with great pleasant surprise — the mysterious mecha’s left arm was currently holding onto a mecha with a broken arm. That mecha was precisely 8217 who had just chopped off part of his arm and had been swallowed by the black hole.

“Look at the left hand of that mecha … isn’t that 8217?” 8102 could not help but ask joyfully. Even though he was sure his eyes were not mistaken, this pleasant surprise made him somewhat doubtful — could the comrade he thought for sure was dead return once more to their side?

8102’s question was like a shot of adrenaline to 8207[1]. His spirits rallied and he hurriedly operated his mecha’s screen to zoom in on the heart of the black hole and immediately shouted, “It’s him! It’s him! It’s 8217!”

“That mecha … don’t you all think it looks somewhat familiar?” 8102’s number one wingman 8112 had also seen the mecha, but his focus was on the other mecha’s form.

“It’s a mecha from our Federation. I see the golden five-pointed star on his right arm! That’s the exclusive symbol of our Federation!” shouted 8122 as well.

Meanwhile, the mecha at the heart of the black hole continued to fight with all its might against the pull of the black hole. After a period of movement, that mysterious mecha finally moved out of the innermost circle of the black hole’s centre. There, perhaps due to the weakened suction, the mysterious mecha began to speed up, its appearance becoming increasingly clearer to the crowd.

The body of the mysterious mecha was larger than ace mecha by a ring, and could even be considered a giant mecha. This type of mecha asked a lot from its operator. The mecha’s design was rather simple and unsophisticated, and the scars all over its body only added a sense of weariness to it. All of this proved that this mecha had been through great trials and had suffered great hardship.

Still, despite the mysterious mecha’s beat-up body, the personal totem at its chest was surprisingly vibrant. A fiery red phoenix being reborn from the blazing flames beneath it, the fire phoenix about to take flight as if drawing from the energy fed to it by the flames … this totem was extremely familiar to all mecha operators of the Federation at the scene, and this familiarity seemed to come from deep within them …

“Fire phoenix! That’s the fire phoenix rising from the ashes!” Someone yelled out within the public military channel.

“It’s Ling Xiao — it’s Major General Ling Xiao!” As if being woken from a trance, everyone began to shout and exclaim. The totem of the fire phoenix rising from the ashes — only one person in the Federation had that mark. And that was the god-class operator Major General Ling Xiao! Just like the fire phoenix in his totem, Major General Ling Xiao had risen from the ashes of death to return to the Federation!

“That’s right, it’s Major General Ling Xiao! I’ve seen that mecha in my textbooks before. It’s <Belief> — that is the god-class mecha <Belief>!” There were also some who had recognised that simplistic giant mecha as the legendary god-class mecha <Belief>.

This also explained why this mecha could resist the powerful suction of the black hole at its heart — only a god-class mecha would be capable of such a feat.

On the other side, the Twilight Empire had also identified that giant mecha trying to escape from the heart of the black hole as the god-class machine <Belief> of Ling Xiao who was rumoured to have already been killed by them.

At this sight, within the command ship of the Twilight Empire, Staff Officer Aoki, who had been closely observing the black hole, was stupefied. “How can this be? How can this be? Hasn’t Ling Xiao already been killed by our brave warriors? Why is he still alive, suddenly emerging from inside the black hole?” Aoki could feel his pride crumbling, suddenly being informed that the source of his confidence was all a lie. Right then, he just could not accept it. “No, this definitely cannot be real. I must be seeing an illusion, an illusion!”

“Slap!” Aoki’s face was whipped to the side by a forceful slap. The general standing beside him had thrown a slap at him to wake him up. “So what if he is alive? It’s very easy to let him die!”

The general was a decisive person. He knew that once Ling Xiao returned to the Huaxia Federation, the Huaxia Federation’s combat power would reach a new unimaginable height. This was something their Twilight Empire could not tolerate.

The general’s eyes turned fierce. He swiftly connected to the military-wide channel and gave his orders. “No matter what the cost, kill god-class operator Ling Xiao!”

Following this order, the mecha operators who were still dubious received an answer — that mysterious mecha coming out from the heart of the black hole was indeed Ling Xiao’s <Belief>.

“Kill Ling Xiao! Kill Ling Xiao! Kill Ling Xiao! Kill Ling Xiao!” The troops of the Twilight Empire had been educated via brainwashing[2]. The killing of god-class operator Ling Xiao was one of the great exploits of their country that had been established 16 years ago — they definitely would not allow this honour to be overturned. All the Twilight Empire mecha operators piloted their mecha to approach the black hole. They raised the beam guns in their hands, shooting fervently towards the heart of the black hole.

“D*mmit, they’re trying to kill our Major General Ling Xiao!” The despicable actions[3] of the Twilight Empire infuriated the Federation soldiers who were anxiously waiting for Ling Xiao to escape from danger.

“Protect Major General Ling Xiao!” When Major General Tang Xu saw this, he could not help but bellow into the communications channel.

Ling Xiao was their Federation’s ultimate weapon, one of their guardian deities — they definitely could not let any harm come to him here.

“Protect Major General Ling Xiao!”

Following roar after angry roar, all the Federation soldiers raised the weapons in their hands and began to intercept the enemy’s attacks. Many of the mecha operators even leapt to the fringes of the black hole, to form a tight mecha defensive wall, using the bodies of their own mecha to bear the brunt of the enemy’s beam fire.

They knew very well that doing so may cost them their lives, but they were unafraid. This was because they were doing this to protect their national military idol, the god-class operator —— Major General Ling Xiao[4].

And so, after every beam attack, there would always be a mecha or two from the Federation mecha defensive wall which exploded as it went beyond its damage threshold. At that time, a new mecha would step up to take its place, once again blocking off the beam fire.

Of course, the Twilight Empire’s mecha operators were not having a good time of it either. The Federation mecha operators fought back just as fiercely, beam fire roaring out from both sides at about the same intensity. This battle had become a standing showdown. The mecha operators were no longer mecha operators — they no longer flew around nimbly, and there were no more complex attack manoeuvres. The two sides just shot at each other mechanically like fixed wooden puppets.

It should be said that this battle was a mecha fight without any strategy. Countless mecha operator lives were lost on both sides, and it was all for the sake of one person — the one currently struggling to get away from the suction of the black hole, Ling Xiao.

The Federation mecha operators did not know how many attacks they blocked off, nor did they know how much time had passed. But finally, they heard a cheer ring out in the general comms channel, “Major General Ling Xiao has successfully escaped the black hole!”

When they heard this news, all the Federation mecha operators swelled with joy and triumph, feeling that it would have been worth it even if they had died.

Subsequently, an extremely gentle voice rang out across the channel, “Many thanks for your protection, brothers.” This voice made everyone unbelievably emotional, also bringing tears to Major General Tang Xu’s eyes. This familiar voice was precisely that of Ling Xiao who had ‘died’ 17 years ago.

Ling Xiao handed over 8217 to a mecha operator of the Federation, then controlled <Belief> to fly upwards to hover above the Federation mecha.

“Activate Divine Punishment system!” said Ling Xiao calmly.

“Command received by <Belief>, Divine Punishment activated!” <Belief> and Ling Xiao’s rapport was already at an extreme — not even a second later, twelve wings suddenly sprouted from <Belief>’s back, and then, the wings began to absorb energy rapidly till a pinnacle of potential.

Next, Ling Xiao controlled <Belief> to aim the twelve wings in twelve directions, pointing at the Twilight mecha horde in the distance.

Ling Xiao decisively pressed his trigger, and twelve powerful beams swept out at the Twilight mecha horde ahead, causing the entire starry sky to become a sheet of light in an instant. The Federation mecha operators found themselves temporarily blinded by the intense light.

When the twelve beams faded away and the crowd’s vision was restored, they found to their shock that twelve empty lines had been carved into the Twilight mecha horde. The mecha which had been in those lines previously had all vanished, and even more terrifying was the fact that there was no remaining trace of any of them.

What attack was this? It was way too horrifying! Everyone’s gazes were drawn towards Ling Xiao’s mecha. Only then did they notice that Ling Xiao’s <Belief> had already shifted in appearance. On the mecha’s back were twelve wings, so perfect that they enchanted the hearts of all observers, giving others the impression that an angel had descended.

Pure white light was currently accumulating at the tip of each wing, which slowly grew brighter and brighter, almost searing the eyes of anyone who stared at them. Additionally, an immense energy was beginning to emanate from those wing-tips …

Right then, the twelve wings changed directions simultaneously, still pointed at the Twilight mecha horde, but in twelve new directions this time.

Soon, twelve beams fired out once more, and when the light faded, twelve new vacant rows were left among the enemy horde.

Just two simple beam attacks had obliterated approximately 2000 mecha of the Twilight Empire. Although the majority of these had been intermediate to advanced mecha, there had still been quite a few ace mecha among them. Regardless of mecha type, against this fearsome attack, they were all completely helpless.

“Baka, Ling Xiao must die!” Seeing the horrific results of Ling Xiao’s blasts, the general was reinforced in his belief that Ling Xiao could not be allowed to live. Otherwise, it would be a devastating blow to their Twilight Empire. “All starship cannons to aim at Ling Xiao! Fire, fire with all you have! We must kill off Ling Xiao!”

The general knew well that even if all of them died here today, as long as they succeeded in killing off Ling Xiao, everything would be worth it. For the Empire, all sacrifices were worth it.

“Not good, the enemy is planning to go for broke[5].” The enemy starship fleet’s strange movements were naturally picked up by the Federation’s command centre. They were somewhat flustered — it should be known that the power of a starship’s main cannon was extremely horrifying. Even the sturdiest interstellar mothership would not be able to withstand more than 3 to 5 attacks from a starship’s main cannons.

[1] 打鸡血: Interestingly enough, in Chinese, the phrase here is ‘like injecting 8207 with chicken blood’. Apparently, chicken-blood therapy was popular in China among village doctors in the 1960s. The therapy consisted mainly of simply drawing blood from a rooster and injecting into the patients. Claimed benefits included making the patient highly aggressive and strong. (sourced from Wikipedia).

[2] T/C: Pot, meet kettle. Almost every country has their own brand of propaganda.

[3] T/C: Despicable, eh? All’s fair in war, people. Of course the enemy is going to shoot at a threat to them. =.=

[4] T/C: Yep, sounds like brainwashing to me.

[5] 破釜沉舟: literal translation of this idiom is actually ‘break the cauldrons and sink the ships’, which basically means the Twilight Empire here is cutting off all their own means of retreat. It’s do or die time.