Chapter 246

Chapter 246

The raters in the monitoring room fell silent: "..."

Didn’t anyone tell Bai Xingshu that this surveillance feed was shared with them?

They quickly switched to footage from B11 squad and immediately received a message from the United Command Center.

"The target has detected us—engage now! He's from Shoujun!!" Two fragmented but concise sentences delivered all the critical information.

Honestly, they didn't even need the command center’s call. They were already on combat alert. The moment they saw the enemy mech move, they had already focused their fire on the target.

Individually, they weren’t as strong as the S-class cadets, but after two and a half years of intensive training, they had developed tight combat coordination.

Five mechs attacked from different angles, cutting off every escape!

No way out!

Watching this coordinated assault, the raters’ eyes lit up. They gave a solid score and turned their attention back to Bai Xingshu.

Outnumbered five to one—what could he do?

Bai Xingshu didn’t flinch. To him, this situation was hardly a challenge.

Yes, without his abilities, escaping the five mechs unharmed would be impossible.

But…

He was piloting an enemy mech. Why bother staying unharmed?

[Warning: Mech durability at 89%] The system routinely reported the damage.

—Of that 11% damage, 7% came from when Bai Xingshu pierced the cockpit door.

Swerve!

Avoiding all fatal zones, Bai Xingshu ignored the additional 4% damage and blitzed toward B11 squad.

His insane speed startled the squad, making them scramble to keep up—but Bai Xingshu was far faster than all five combined!

A split-second adjustment!

The Loader Gun shifted to the optimal firing angle.

He fired.

One of B11 squad’s mech cockpits went dark.

The blitzkrieg move—minimum cost, piercing through heavy fire, pinpointing the enemy’s weakest, most vulnerable spot…

A feeling they knew too well.

"It's Xing Ze Jiang Zhi!!!" The B11 squad leader gritted his teeth and yelled over comms.

One glance was enough. They were all survivors of Xing Ze Jiang Zhi’s wrath.

Some things might fade from memory, but the instincts forged by trauma left no room for doubt.

Upon hearing the roar, the people in the command center were stunned once again.

What? The Journey Begins?

That attractive Omega from Shoujun is The Journey Begins??

Then who is the "The Journey Begins" in the southwest?

The United Commander quickly realized.

Holy shit, that’s Lin Lie!

Before, he had only thought the enemy deployed The Journey Begins in the first wave of attacks, with Lin Lie as the main force for the next round.

But now...

That explains it.

So that’s how it is!

As the United Commander and also the representative who drew the battlefield earlier, he recalled what he had accidentally overheard the Omega say hours ago when he went to greet Shoujun.

—"Alright, I’ll go. Just make sure you come pick me up later."

So that was The Journey Begins telegraphing this exact move!

After piecing everything together, the Commander immediately made a judgment.

The Journey Begins was making a break for it, and an extraction team would be waiting once they left United territory—B11 stood little chance of stopping them.

"All remote units, fire at will! Six Engineer Base, target coordinates (107.21.93)!" After issuing the order, it hit him.

Damn, so that’s why The Journey Begins targeted the engineer positions first after infiltrating!

In one-on-one combat, no one was a match for The Journey Begins. Squad-level takedowns were dicey given their agility—there was even a risk of taking casualties. Only the engineer positions were the best countermeasure against The Journey Begins.

The better they look, the more dangerous they turn out to be!

Meanwhile, on the frontlines, Bai Xingshu was indeed bugging out, just as the United Commander predicted.

The remaining four enemy mechs had already hunkered down.

—This was the standard counter used by squads when facing The Journey Begins’ forces.

B11 wasn’t anything special in terms of individual strength. If Bai Xingshu went all out, he could probably take down one or two more despite their defense.

But...

No point.

Bai Xingshu’s ability had already detected that the intact engineer position in the distance was coming online—and its target was unmistakable.

Tsk, they reacted fast.

Though not tempted by the low-hanging fruit before him, Bai Xingshu didn’t choose to leave immediately. Instead, he bluffed an assault, charging toward the four mechs before suddenly nose-diving as they unleashed countermeasures.

The ground was...

The mecha Bai Xingshu one-shot!

With expert precision, he instantly ripped the cockpit off the machine with one hand and hurled the half-wrecked mecha toward the four machines of B11 Squad with the other.

Countless parts flew everywhere, blanketing the area like shrapnel.

B11 Squad’s faces went white.

They all remembered the brutal chicken-wing-style weapon Bai Xingshu used back on the combat platform.

In real life, getting hit in the cockpit with that kind of hail of deadly shrapnel would kill you for real!!

And this kind of physical attack couldn’t be blocked by energy weapons. B11 Squad scrambled to retreat and dodge—but it was too late.

They could only watch helplessly as the debris pierced their machines, and then...

Clang! Clatter!—the sound was just like rain hitting metal, barely scratching their paint.

—Of course, Bai Xingshu had controlled the force; no way he'd actually hurt anyone.

Only now did B11 Squad realize: "..."

They could only watch as Bai Xingshu, seizing the moment they were dodging, was already out of reach.

The next second, a barrage of energy fire came raining down from above.

The long-range artillery support from United’s positions had arrived.

He’d deliberately taken a little extra time before leaving—part of his plan was to lure United into firing, timing their salvo perfectly so it went off first.

That way, even if they tried to chase him down with long-range fire after he left, they wouldn’t be able to.

United’s positions needed 20 seconds to recharge—that gave him plenty of time to escape their bombardment zone.

Watching Bai Xingshu slip away almost the instant United fired, they weren’t sure if it was intentional—but they knew they’d been totally baited.

"We can't let Bai Xingshu come and go like this is his personal playground! Mobilize every available unit—we need to capture him at all costs!!"

And so, everyone from Shoujun turned their eyes toward United’s position, where explosions lit up the sky and smoke filled the air.

The frontline troops of Shoujun: "..."

Unlike the previous mission with Changying, where only a few were aware of the operation codenamed "Ghost," this time, everyone knew.

No words were needed—they all understood exactly what had caused United's forces to fall into disarray.

"Deputy Squad Leader… will he make it back?" someone finally asked in their squad channel.

The answer, of course, was yes.

Absolutely yes.

With his powers maxed out, Bai Xingshu’s sensory range was massive—he could read every move of those chasing him and their equipment.

In this high-tech world, all powerful weapons were made of metal—which worked to his advantage.

Knowing all that, avoiding threats with slick maneuvers wasn’t too hard.

Just some finger fatigue, and...

A bunch of mechs were tailing them.

Ten minutes later, Shoujun’s squad caught sight of a mech barreling toward them from afar.

The moment the mech spotted them, its two weapon bays popped open and two drones shot out, snapping onto the mech’s head. Their spidery legs skittered across the head before…

…forming a heart shape.

The Shoujun squad: “…the hell?”

Well, during prep, Bai Xingshu had suggested a signal to avoid getting shot by their own side when he returned. He said he’d do something only *he* would do—something they’d instantly recognize.

At the time, they wondered what that could be.

Maybe chuck knives at them?

Turns out…

…it was *this*.

Totally Bai Xingshu, no doubt about it.

It’s just…

Seeing that mech sporting a giant drone heart on its head, bouncing along like it was yelling “Luv ya! Luv ya! Luv ya!” while charging straight at them…

Even though it was Bai Xingshu making the move, why did *they* want to crawl into a hole?!

Every Shoujun fighter who saw this just… shut down.