"Ye Ying, are you still not feeling well? I'm a long-range firepower mecha, how could I possibly approach enemy mechs actively?" Qiao Weiwei said with a wry smile, her tone full of disbelief. "Do you even know how to command?"
"Qiao Weiwei!" Ye Ying's voice, filled with authority, could have been a blade if her tone had the power. "I'll cut you into a thousand pieces!"
Muttering a curse, Qiao Weiwei reluctantly obeyed. She pushed the control stick forward and flew head-on.
"Taoxi, you're responsible for guarding the Red Beast. Black Hell, you handle close-quarters defense," Ye Ying calmly laid out the tactics, then piloted her mecha to follow Hong Jiban Zhi Hong.
Tens of kilometers away, a mecha squadron of fifty enemy mechs was approaching Ao Ying Team Three from three directions.
One path was directly in the center, bearing down on Wu Jiban Zhi Hong and Ye Ying. The other two flanked from above and the left, advancing with incredible speed.
The moment they engaged, Wu Jiban Zhi Hong unleashed its ultimate skill, [Hong Ran Zhi Feng]. A wave of immense heat seemed to distort space, and the scorching flames were enough to annihilate any living being.
As the fiery phoenix flew towards the enemy mechs, countless red projectiles shot out from the flames, like thousands of sharp needles with white trails piercing the enemy machines.
A barrage of explosions lit up the sky. Before the enemy mechs could escape the blast radius, Wu Jiban Zhi Hong plunged into the inferno.
The intense heat quickly dispersed the thick smoke. Wu Jiban Zhi Hong used its massive body to repeatedly ram the approaching enemies. Mechs exploded beside it, some instantly turning into fireballs!
"Hahaha! How did I not think of this move?" Qiao Weiwei roared with laughter. "Missiles can't break their shields, but high temperatures can!"
"Watch the left flank!" Ye Ying's calm voice was like ice, instantly dousing Qiao Weiwei's enthusiasm.
The Ye Ying mecha swiftly ascended from Wu Jiban Zhi Hong's left, activating "Offensive Synchronization." It grabbed the black beam swords of two enemy mechs with both hands.
Before the enemy mechs could counter, Ye Ying quickly released them. A fierce white beam sword suddenly illuminated from her hands, and a striking white diagonal cross slash cut open the left and right sides of the enemy mechs.
Then, Ye Ying soared into the sky, scattering white smoke that rapidly enveloped the two enemy mechs. Within the smoke, Ye Ying moved like an elusive assassin, quickly eliminating both mechs.
"Hold off the enemy mechs, I'm going for the flagship," Ye Ying darted out from beneath the white smoke, using the cover to transform into a gray-blue streak of light, charging directly behind the enemy formation.
Meanwhile, Shen Jingming's expression was calm. Facing twenty enemy mechs from above and the left, he didn't change his posture, his one hand playing a game while the other controlled the mecha's console.
The Black Hell mecha's body was suddenly shrouded in black smoke, gradually engulfing it. It was as if a spherical area in the sky had instantly vanished, revealing a dark void.
The approaching enemies seemed to recognize the mecha of this Xian Xia war god. As they hesitated whether to continue their attack, a mechanical severed arm suddenly shot out from the spherical dark domain, piercing firmly into the body of an enemy mech. Following the severed arm, black current currents pulled the dark sphere, flying towards the enemy ranks at an unfathomable speed.
When they were less than dozens of meters from the enemy formation, the dark sphere suddenly expanded! It directly enveloped all the enemy mechs.
Moments later, explosions echoed from the darkness, and fragments of mechs, destroyed with extreme thoroughness, fell from the black sphere.
When Black Hell reappeared in the sky, a total of ten enemy mechs had been reduced to wreckage, scattered across the Xian Xia land.
"What... what is the deal with this mecha?" Liu Feng stared at the battlefield ahead, dumbfounded, and said blankly.
"Take care of yourself, the enemy is here!" Taoxi's words jolted Liu Feng back to reality.
The ten enemy mechs flying from above had already reached them!
Liu Feng raised both arms. "Oh-yo-yo-yo!" The severed arm suddenly throbbed with a grating pain, but he endured it, still controlling his mecha.
The Red Beast swung its war hammer fiercely, charging headfirst towards the enemy mechs.
With a deafening "Boom!" the war hammer struck an enemy mech, causing it to explode instantly.
Taoxi followed swiftly, using dozens of metal chains from its body to entangle a Black Star mecha. Its pink broadswords swung forcefully, splitting the enemy mech's head into three pieces.
"Taona, help me!" Liu Feng shouted.
Taona understood instantly, her hands rapidly tapping on the console. She shouted, "Ultimate skill! [Vine Lotus]!"
Innumerable black metal tentacles shot out from Taoxi's armor, firmly restraining five enemy mechs ahead.
The Red Beast swung its two red light war hammers, transforming into two red compasses, and ferociously hammered left and right amidst the enemy formation!
Huge fiery explosions erupted on both sides of the Red Beast. The armor of the struck enemy mechs all displayed terrifying tear marks, with flames spewing out from the wounds.
"Haha! This is so exciting! Oh-yo-yo-yo..." Liu Feng shouted excitedly, though his severed arm felt as if it were being cut.
At this moment, the Ye Ying mecha flew to the rear of the enemy formation like an unstoppable laser.
Behind two enemy mechs, Ye Ying spotted the flagship of this enemy squadron and, without hesitation, launched the first attack.
The two escort mechs reacted swiftly, attempting to intercept. Ten missiles were launched from their bodies, and four black beam swords thrust forward, but it was all in vain. The Ye Ying mecha left behind was merely a blur.
The real Ye Ying had already charged behind the flagship from the blind spot of the two escort mechs. Her dual beam swords appeared at the enemy's neck. With a cold glint, the enemy's head was severed.
While the enemy's head was still in the air, Ye Ying's dual swords slashed simultaneously, coordinating with "Offensive Synchronization," carving countless cracks into the flagship's body. Like a master butcher, only the round cockpit remained, which Ye Ying lifted in her hand.
Seeing their flagship destroyed, the remaining enemy mechs no longer fought and turned their bodies, attempting to escape.
"Hey, go back and tell your Black Star higher-ups that Ao Ying Team Three is waiting for you," Shen Jingming's lazy voice appeared on the display screens of the fleeing Black Star mechs.
Every fleeing Black Star pilot felt an indescribable fear and sped up their escape.
Twenty minutes later, the group worked together to open the Black Star flagship's cockpit. Unfortunately, the pilot had already committed suicide.
"Ah, all that effort for nothing," Liu Feng said regretfully, holding his severed arm and tilting his head.
Shen Jingming kicked the Black Star pilot aside and sat in the cockpit. He had a metal instrument the size of a baseball in his hand. With a light touch of the casing, a columnar rod with the same interface as a mecha starter appeared.
He inserted the spherical instrument into the starter's socket, and the Black Star cockpit's system miraculously activated.
"It seems this person was quite high-ranking," Shen Jingming said, tilting his head as he browsed the information on the mecha's display screen.
Qiao Weiwei tilted her head, looking at the display screen, and said, "It shows the locations of all Black Star camps within thousands of kilometers! This is great!"
Taona tilted her head and said, "Are we going to raid enemy camps? That sounds pretty good."
Half an hour later, as everyone climbed out of the tilted cockpit, they began to stretch their necks. Looking at the display screen with their necks bent was very uncomfortable, making their heads and eyes dizzy.
Ye Ying, dizzy from looking at the display screen with her head tilted, climbed out of the cockpit early. She vomited once, and now everything she saw was tilted.
"Captain..." Taona twisted her neck and said, "What do we do next?"
Ye Ying rubbed her stomach, closed her eyes to steady herself, then opened them and said, "Everyone has been quite tired these past few days. Today has yielded some results. Let's rest for tonight first."
With that, Ye Ying's vision went black, her consciousness instantly blurred, her legs went weak, and she fell backward.
When Ye Ying opened her eyes again, it was already night.
Looking at the flickering bonfire, Ye Ying slowly got up, steadied herself, glanced at the sleeping companions, and softly asked, "What time is it? How long was I unconscious?"
Shen Jingming, who didn't need sleep, was on guard duty. He chewed on dried sweet potato and played his game, casually saying, "Seven or eight hours."
Ye Ying nodded. This coma was strange, happening without any warning, and she could clearly feel a sense of inexplicable panic.
This panic felt like an intangible thread, connecting to her heart. She could sense the direction of this nameless thread, pointing towards the distant southeast.
Pointing towards the southeastern night sky, Ye Ying softly asked, "What is that place beyond the sea?"
Shen Jingming didn't even look up and replied, "The Black Star Empire."
"Is that so..." Ye Ying slowly stood up, walked a few steps towards the southeast, out of the bonfire's light, and looked up at the starry sky in that direction.
The dazzling "starry sky" slowly moved westward. Gazing at the brightest, unmoving star in the southeastern sky, Ye Ying softly murmured, "Gu Ya, wait for me..."