It's Not Easy to Be a Man After Travelling to the Future - Chapter 411

Chapter 411: Inscrutable!

Qiao Ting immediately refuted his own speculation. As he had been tracking the data produced by his mecha’s A.I. all this way, he was sure the distance between his mecha and Zhao Jun’s had not ever fallen below the 4-kilometre limit keeping him out of the range of detection of Zhao Jun’s mecha. In real life, perhaps due to various reasons, the data collected by mecha fluctuated erratically, so there was the possibility of an error leading to exposure. But in Mecha World, the data was set to be dead-accurate. As long as one did not go against the data given, there should be absolutely no chance of being discovered.

Qiao Ting made a decision instantly. He quickly sped up to follow them, wanting to see what exactly had made Zhao Jun change directions so abruptly. At the same time, he had already made up his mind to eliminate Zhao Jun — he did not plan to wait any longer.

Even though Zhao Jun’s group of three had pushed their mecha’s engines to their respective limits, the two advanced mecha had still dragged down Zhao Jun’s speed. Qiao Ting quickly caught up to them in his ace mecha. If not for the fact that Qiao Ting wanted to find out what Zhao Jun was doing and so was still keeping 4 kilometres away for now, at this time, Zhao Jun’s group might have already been facing Qiao Ting’s mecha.

Not too long after, Qiao Ting discovered the reason why Zhao Jun had suddenly changed directions. Ahead of Zhao Jun, that is, within the 5-kilometre range of detection of Qiao Ting’s mecha, the A.I. once again sounded an alert, notifying him that there was an unidentified flying object there.

Qiao Ting immediately zoomed in and saw that this mecha which had just appeared was actually from Leiting’s battle team. It looked like Zhao Jun had discovered the other’s presence and so had changed course in preparation to attack this mecha.

Qiao Ting was just thinking to speed up and rescue his team member when an idea flashed through his mind. He gave up on accelerating, choosing to maintain his speed instead as he moved forwards. He continued to maintain 4 kilometres between himself and the three mecha of Zhao Jun’s group, trailing them as they sprinted towards that team member of his. Because he knew who the other was, Qiao Ting did not hesitate to send a heads up to that team member.

That member of Leiting had actually noticed Zhao Jun and the others coming for him as well by this time. When he saw that the one in the lead was a special-class operator, he knew that he was no match for the group and had quickly turned tail to run. This was also why Zhao Jun’s group was pushing their engines so far in pursuit. Since they had found prey, they naturally could not let their prey escape from right under their noses.

As he was running, the Leiting member suddenly received an alert from his mecha’s A.I., conveying a message from a teammate. His heart leapt in joy, and even as he continued running at top speed, he rapidly skimmed the message. When he saw its contents, his heart settled and he abruptly stopped running to turn around, calmly waiting for the three mecha of Zhao Jun’s group to catch up to him.

As Leiting’s member had stopped running, Zhao Jun’s group managed to catch up to the other a few seconds later.

“D*mn, you run fast!” Zhao Jun’s group surrounded the Leiting member immediately. At the same time, Zhao Jun’s loud voice rang out from his mecha’s loudspeakers, his tone mocking as he said, “Why don’t you continue running? You really think I can’t overtake you?” If not out of consideration for the two fellows behind him, he would have long caught up to the other.

“I’m too unlucky today, actually bumping into you. However, Zhao Jun, aren’t you stooping too low? Actually joining a tiny, insignificant freshmen mecha clan. Isn’t this a waste of your talent? If you just don’t have a good place to go, as long as you quit this battle, I can recommend for our regiment commander to take you in as a member of Leiting. How’s that?” The Leiting member was not flustered, actually speaking up to negotiate with Zhao Jun.

“Don’t. This lord[1] is very happy throwing my weight around in this freshmen clan. I’m provided with good food and drink and treated well. Since I can be a lord, why should I make myself suffer by submitting myself to become Qiao Ting’s underling?” Even though Zhao Jun’s expression was not visible, the smugness in his tone caused the other two Lingtian members with him to sweatdrop endlessly.

“Luo Lang, has this person always been this arrogant?” Throwing his weight around? Hells, what did he take the Lingtian Mecha Clan for? Li Yingjie was very dissatisfied with the other’s words[2].

Luo Lang pursed his lips in thought, silent for a moment before replying, “Leave it. This person is especially stupid. He speaks without the words going through his mind. If you take him seriously, you’re just torturing yourself.” The connotation being that Li Yingjie should just let the words pass and not take it to heart.

Zhao Jun was a member of the Lingtian Battle Clan, a comrade of Luo Lang’s, so Luo Lang could not sell him out and tell Li Yingjie the truth. In fact, in the team, before Boss Lan, Zhao Jun was as obedient as a harmless cat … how could he be arrogant?

Leiting’s member still seemed to have more to say, but Zhao Jun had no interest in blathering on with him any further. With a cold huff, he said, “Stop your chattering. Young Brother Li, Young Brother Luo, why aren’t you all attacking? Do you still want such a master as myself to take action for this kind of minor character?”

Zhao Jun’s apparent tone of ordering underlings around made Li Yingjie’s chest feel stuffed up with annoyance. Luo Lang too was extremely speechless. Could it be that, out of Boss Lan’s sphere of influence, this Zhao Jun was finally exposing his true nature?

“You …” Li Yingjie only submitted to Ling Lan. Even though he knew Zhao Jun was a special-class operator, this fact could not make him lower his head to the other. He could not suppress a sound of indignation, but he was stopped by Luo Lang before he could say anything more. “Li Yingjie, leave it. Let’s go!” After saying that, Luo Lang drew the beam saber from his back and operated his mecha to leap at the opponent.

Li Yingjie saw that Luo Lang had already begun to move — in order to work together with Luo Lang, he suppressed the rage in his heart, merely throwing a fierce glare at Zhao Jun before pulling the beam saber from behind him and charging out as well.

This advanced mecha warrior of Leiting seemed to be very strong; Li Yingjie and Luo Lang actually were not able to gain the upper hand with their joint attack. Instead, there were even times when the two of them fell out of sync and disrupted the other’s attack, leading to several occasions where they ended up attacking each other, giving the opponent a chance to turn around and beat them back. For a while, both sides were actually evenly matched in a tough battle.

“F*ck, how stupid, Little Li, what are you hacking at? Are you trying to cut the enemy or your ally? Little Luo, can’t you see where your teammate is? Actually blocking your own teammate’s attack, are you a spy sent by the enemy?” Watching the terrible rapport between his two comrades, Zhao Jun’s anger was stoked and he began muttering out loud, pointing out their mistakes.

The cadets who witnessed this scene could not help but break out into an uproar. The Lingtian battle team had undoubtedly performed extremely well in the past ten minutes — whether it was the members who had died or those who had won, their skills in mecha control had been vividly displayed, almost indistinguishable from that of old veterans. Those members’ excellent performances had increased the anticipation of the spectating cadets towards the other members of the Lingtian battle team. But now, the terrible performance of these two members greatly disappointed the audience.

“So not all of the Lingtian Mecha Clan members are good. Some are just here to make up the numbers.” The disappointed cadets began to criticize the Lingtian Mecha Clan harshly. It could not be helped — when expectations soared too high and were crushed, the sudden drop from that height would always seek an outlet to regain psychological equilibrium.

“That’s strange. Why are Lingtian No.4 and Lingtian No.5 performing so badly?” Likewise, the school administrators and instructors were also shaking their heads, finding both these participants’ performance lacklustre. In contrast, Instructor Tang Yu frowned, puzzled. After some thought, he searched for information on the two, and when he saw their details, he was even more bewildered.

Lingtian No.4; Name: Li Yingjie. Status: Elite family descendant. Age: 17. Physical skills: intermediate level Qi-Jin stage. Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced; Intermediate to Advanced advancement results, excellent!”

Lingtian No.5; Name: Luo Lang. Status: Military family descendant. Age: 17. Physical skills: intermediate level Qi-Jin stage. Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced; Intermediate to Advanced advancement results, excellent!”

These two boys had not performed like this last year! Tang Yu had a very deep impression of these two, especially Luo Lang. That ruthlessness that he had turned on himself had sent chills into Tang Yu’s heart — how could this kind of person allow himself to perform so badly …?

Tang Yu’s gaze turned to several hundred metres behind Zhao Jun. An idea flashed across his mind, and his expression could not help but shift slightly.

The change in Tang Yu’s complexion was noticed by the principal beside him, who then asked curiously, “Tang Yu, what have you discovered?”

“I’m wondering whether those boys are plotting something!” Tang Yu pointed with a wry smile at the mecha only they could see, which was hiding about 100 metres behind Zhao Jun. It was Qiao Ting who was quickly slinking forward.

“These boys look like trash at a glance. What could they possibly be plotting? Qiao Ting’s performance this time can pretty much be called perfect — while the attention of the Lingtian members is all on this other Leiting member, he fired some radar interference missiles and has silently snuck up to lurk behind Lingtian. I think that these three members of Lingtian will soon become battle points for Qiao Ting. It can be predicted that the upper hand Lingtian has established since the beginning will all be gone after this encounter.” One of the administrators to one side had overheard the conversation between Tang Yu and the principal, and was extremely dismissive of the idea. Qiao Ting’s current performance pleased them greatly — the candidate they had chosen for their God-building project was truly exceptional.

After saying all this, the administrator smiled ingratiatingly and said, “A renowned teacher produces accomplished students! The student Qiao Ting whom Instructor Tang Yu has raised is indeed impressive!” At the end of his speech, he did not forget to give a big thumbs up, and then turned to flatter the principal, saying, “Principal, this is all the result of your sagacious guidance.”

While the principal only nodded and smiled, making it hard to tell his true thoughts, Tang Yu was obviously less experienced in dealing with this type of situation. At the administrator’s words, his brows knitted together and he rebutted immediately, “Qiao Ting is still very young and inexperienced. Faculty Head Lin, you think too highly of him.”

As intelligent as Tang Yu was, he already had a vague sense of what the administrators were aiming to do. With regards to that, he did not approve. Knowing Qiao Ting well, he truly believed he had to take responsibility for Qiao Ting’s future; he needed to let the confident and somewhat domineering Qiao Ting experience more setbacks for his sake.

Trying to show favour but receiving a cold reception in return, this Faculty Head Lin was rather upset. His smile faded and he harrumphed softly before turning away to speak with the other administrators instead. Even half a phrase is too much when two people don’t see eye to eye[3] — this Faculty Head Lin no longer had any interest in talking with Tang Yu.

“You don’t think Qiao Ting will do well in this encounter?” asked the principal with a kindly smile.

“I have full confidence in Qiao Ting’s capabilities, and also think that Zhao Jun, Lingtian No.4, and Lingtian No.5 cannot handle him on their own. However, I do not believe that Lingtian No.4 and Lingtian No.5’s strength is as terrible as they are portraying right now … If Qiao Ting truly underestimates these two because of this, I think that Qiao Ting may not get what he wants. It’s hard for me to foresee clearly.” Tang Yu frowned. Just as he said, he really could not figure out what the three members of Lingtian were trying to do.

“Since you can’t foresee it, then just continue watching …” Unlike Tang Yu, whose attention was all on Qiao Ting, the principal’s gaze drifted towards the opposite direction of Qiao Ting’s position, his lips slightly turned up in a knowing smile.

[1] Yes, Zhao Jun is referring to himself in third-person here, and calling himself ‘lord’.

[2] T/C: Lol! Of all people on the team, Li Yingjie would be the one most likely to take offence.

[3] 话不投机半句多: The more literal version would be ‘when the conversation doesn’t click, half a sentence is too much’.