Halfway through their journey, three Federation-standard mechs suddenly descended from the sky.
Their boosters were pushed to the maximum, roaring loudly.
The rapidly falling mechs seemed to be caught by an invisible hand about 60 meters above the ground, then landed gently.
“Hey, Xiao He, we meet again.”
Allen’s voice came through the communicator. Lin Xiaohe was surprised, “Allen, what are you doing here?”
“Haha, Darcy was worried about you, so he had the Logistics Department send three people to assist you. I was the first to sign up!”
Allen was piloting a seventh-generation “Marauder” single-soldier mech, known for its high mobility and defensive capabilities. It was the main combat mech of the Special Reconnaissance Battalion.
Allen had also used his connections as a logistics personnel to professionally modify his mech, adding many personalized configurations.
The two who came with him were piloting a medium quadruped beast-type mech, primarily used for maintaining contact with the rear, with its main function being electromagnetic interference.
The soldier piloting this mech was very quiet and hadn’t spoken a word.
The other was a heavy fire-support mech, equipped with a howitzer, two energy gatling guns, and a missile launcher.
In principle, this heavy firepower mech could carry 3 to 5 people, but due to a shortage of personnel, only one person was operating it: “Hello, I’m Bara.”
Bara Bara Little Magic Fairy? (Note: This appears to be an internal, possibly humorous or cultural reference thought by Lin Xiaohe upon hearing the name “Bara”. The original text shows her making this mental association.)
Lin Xiaohe greeted the three of them and then explained her plan: “Little Bug is relatively slow, so we’ll head straight to the Black Sea Desert to ambush them.”
Allen didn’t ask any further questions.
The three followed silently behind the pink Beetle as it headed towards the Black Sea Desert.
Lin Xiaohe’s plan was solid, but she seemed to have overestimated Little Bug’s speed.
By the time Xin Bao intercepted the enemy’s internal network communications, they had already entered a base within the Black Sea Desert.
Lin Xiaohe blinked. “The Empire has a base in the Black Sea Desert?”
Allen replied without thinking, “Impossible! Our Reconnaissance Battalion sends patrols to scout the Black Sea Desert every month. They couldn’t have hidden it from us.”
Lin Xiaohe, half-convinced and half-doubting, increased their marching speed, rushing towards the location shown on the network.
Whether it was the Federation or the space pirates, no one was going to snatch her prize from right under her nose!
At a distance of about 5 kilometers from the location, Allen and the other two fell silent.
The detection radar showed absolutely nothing, but with their own eyes they could see the massive base and the Empire’s flag flying above it.
“Alright, friends, buck up. This is actually good news. At the very least, we can confirm the target is inside the base.” Lin Xiaohe instructed everyone to activate stealth mode and follow her.
Allen executed the order without hesitation. The other two, after hesitating for a few seconds, also chose to trust Lin Xiaohe.
Five kilometers—this was the distance within which Xin Bao could infiltrate the base’s network.
Xin Bao projected the base’s radar detection status and the Empire’s base defense network onto Little Bug’s display screen.
To Lin Xiaohe, it looked like a rather realistic shooting game.
The moving red dots on the screen were the enemy’s hidden sentries.
“Dou Dou, watch me go biubiu.”
After the upgrade, with its 400 attack power, Dou Dou could effortlessly pierce bulletproof vests with a single bean, silently eliminating these hidden sentries.
Allen, following behind her, thought their path had been remarkably smooth, attributing it to the favor of Lady Luck. It was only when they discovered the bodies of the dead sentries that they realized Lin Xiaohe had been clearing the way for them all along.
Bara lowered his gaze, thinking to himself that this specially admitted student wasn’t the useless waste everyone made her out to be.
Lin Xiaohe: “Alert!”
The four mechs silently buried themselves in the sand.
The sand of the Black Sea Desert had certain anti-magnetic properties. While it could damage mechs, it could also somewhat block radar detection to a certain degree.
Lin Xiaohe activated Tian Tian’s Basic Barrier.
Little Bug’s metal shell wasn’t as sturdy as other mechs’. She didn’t dare gamble on whether it would hold up or fail if buried in the sand sea.
The enemy was an Empire mech patrol.
Two humanoid medium mechs, accompanied by five off-road vehicles, were racing across the desert, kicking up clouds of yellow dust.
Lin Xiaohe’s heart skipped a beat. One of those overconfident medium mechs had stopped right above her position.
Lin Xiaohe lightened her breathing. Her heart was pounding wildly. Suddenly, she really wanted a drink of water.
The scorching sun hung high in the sky.
The heat waves seemed to warp the very air.
Even with the mech’s internal temperature regulation system, Lin Xiaohe still felt uncomfortably hot.
They were now only about 2 kilometers from the base.
The base was quiet. No aircraft taking off, no unmanned reconnaissance drones—just the radar sweeping round and round.
Lin Xiaohe hoped this quiet would last until night.
Suddenly, the mech standing right above her moved.
It suddenly shot into the air, shouldered its energy gatling gun, aimed at the spot where it had just been standing, and forcefully pressed the firing button!
——-
“Thank you for the support.” Wan Tianming expressed his gratitude to Darcy.
Just moments ago, they had been ambushed by an Empire reconnaissance team and nearly met their heroic end on Miluo Star.
Darcy frowned. “Don’t mention it.”
“What’s causing your concern?”
Darcy didn’t really want to bring up Lin Xiaohe in front of them, but the question came from Wan Tianming, a Lieutenant Colonel.
“Lin Xiaohe reported she found traces of the target. I sent a logistics squad to assist her. But… it seems they’ve lost contact.”
Pfft. Zhou Fei couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter. “Lost contact? More like they were exposed and are too embarrassed to show their faces now.”
The image of Lin Xiaohe’s weak physique was deeply ingrained. To many, she was just a specially admitted student who got in through connections.
“Haha, Commander Darcy, you’ve been on Miluo Star too long. You don’t know the lengths young people today will go to for attention.”
“Exactly. That young good-for-nothing Master Dong from the Dong family actually claimed he apprenticed himself to a Star-Dust Plant Manipulator!”
“Sigh, when will they understand that to earn respect and attention, you need real ability, not shortcuts and tricks.”
Wan Tianming also felt Lin Xiaohe was just trying to show off. “Alright, Darcy, I think we should focus our attention on more meaningful matters, not play along with a child’s game of make-believe.”
Suppressing the unease in his heart, Darcy continued searching for traces of the Iron Meteorite Marauders with Wan Tianming.
Just moments ago, headquarters confirmed that it was indeed the Iron Meteorite Marauders who had abducted the military journalist team.
These space pirates operated between the Federation and the Empire, loyal only to star credits. Whoever paid more got their services.
Clearly, this time the Iron Meteorite Marauders had accepted a commission from the Empire.
“Disgusting vermin, rats in the sewers!” Darcy cursed under his breath, all the while still worrying about the troublesome special admission student.
With a single-soldier mech, a communications mech, and a heavy fire-support mech… they should be able to protect her, right?
