Chapter 268

Chapter 268

After reaching a consensus with Ye Mo, Baide satisfiedly hoisted the flag and said to Ye Mo, "Let's go."

He completely ignored Leisa and the others present.

Ye Mo glanced at Leisa, then at Baide, who had already started walking, and grabbed Baide's cloak. "I haven't said goodbye to my friends yet."

Baide tilted his head and looked at Zener.

Zener, inside his mecha, drew in a sharp breath and immediately said, "It's all right, please don't mind me. I've already bid farewell to Ye Mo in my heart."

Baide turned to look at Ye Mo. "See, baby? He says it's fine."

Ye Mo didn't let go, speaking seriously. "Baide, Sylvia said that when we're out here, you need to be polite. You can't act like this."

Baide sighed, turned to Leisa, and thought helplessly, Cyril really does love to act spoiled.

Leisa deactivated his mecha first, and the others followed suit. Zener landed and immediately stood behind Leisa.

Leisa placed his hand diagonally across his chest and bowed solemnly to Baide. "On behalf of Kaelnan, I extend our sincere gratitude for the help from both of you."

Zener and the others also bowed along with Leisa.

Baide slung the flag over his shoulder at an angle. The flag of Grindon hung down, its pattern of fire and sword interwoven still intact—Ye Mo had kept it well protected and clean.

He looked lazy, like a big cat, with none of the sharpness he had shown earlier. "I'm just an old man looking for his child."

Leisa turned to Ye Mo and also bowed. "I am deeply grateful for your help."

Ye Mo returned the bow earnestly. "Anyone would have done the same. This is a competition, not a slaughterhouse, right, Baide?"

No, not everyone would dare to face Xiboen alone. To be precise, only you.

Everyone present—Leisa, his team, and even Lakeley and his audience watching from outside—shared the same thought in that moment.

That was a rather naive statement.

But Baide simply replied as if it were obvious, "Of course, my Cyril."

If Old Glendon were here, he would surely say that Baide was spoiling Ye Mo too much. But what couldn't the little lion of Grindon do? Even if he didn't hunt, he still had so many sons and daughters to keep Cyril well-fed and round.

Leisa said nothing. Someone Ye Mo's age with such strength and such a powerful guardian, ensuring he wouldn't die prematurely, made his future already foreseeable.

He continued, "As a small token of gratitude, please accept our points."

"I'm not interested. I still have—"

Ye Mo grabbed Baide's belt from behind, interrupting him. Baide straightened up reluctantly and waved his hand casually. "No need. We're in a hurry to get to the flag defense zone, so we'll be going now."

Leisa detached his mecha button. "If you don't mind, please take this."

He noticed that Baide didn't have a mecha button either.

"As a means of travel, mechas are quite adequate."

Baide finally looked at him. "I have no interest in something more cumbersome than a King Insect."

He had tried mechas before, though perhaps not as advanced, but they were all the same—wearing them felt awkward and even slowed down his sword draw.

"But since you mention it, I do have a good idea."

Far away in the Grindon palace, Sylvia rolled her eyes, while Herbert remained silent beside her.

"He's being serious, but not by much. Wake up, Baide! You were once the Emperor of Grindon!"

"Does anyone remember that the year Baide ruled as Emperor of Grindon was the busiest year for officials? It's said that half of the Interior Ministry's workload came from Baide, so when he washed his hands of it, even Old Glendon didn't come to persuade him. And that was the most traditional Glendon, who had been diligently cleaning up after Grindon."

"Thank goodness Prince Cyril is keeping an eye on him. (Though that seems a bit off.)"

"Good work, Cyril. Thank goodness the only reliable child in the family is trustworthy."

"Baide doesn't want to delay the flag defense. No, I can't keep making excuses. He probably just finds it troublesome."

...

Several mechas bearing the Kaelnan insignia transformed into vehicle mode, rose slightly off the ground, and sped along the road.

Occasionally, mechas approached, but they were shot down by Baide on top before they could get close.

Mechas in vehicle mode could travel several times faster than hovercars, but apart from Leisa, no one in Kaelnan could achieve this. It required high-level mecha and mental strength.

So they rarely used mechas for travel, as it attracted attention and pursuit. But now, with Ye Mo and Baide present, although mecha vehicle mode wasn't designed for carrying passengers, both of them seemed accustomed to riding such high-speed vehicles.

Ye Mo crouched on top of Zener's mecha. The wind was strong, so he quietly turned around, facing his back to the front. The cloak Baide had draped over him earlier billowed up and covered his head.

Lakeley, who had been following Ye Mo for a while, had developed a habit of worrying about him from afar, like a mother hen. He instinctively reached out to pull the cloak off, only to grab at empty air before realizing his mistake.

"Haha, what's wrong with Lakeley, making such a mistake?"

"But it's dangerous too. After all, a mecha isn't meant to carry people. Falling off would be bad."

Then they heard Baide's loud laughter. He even took a photo. "When I get home, I'll have to show Arnold that the dumbest child in our family is no longer him."

Ye Mo reached for the cloak, but just then the mecha turned, and the cloak smothered his face again.

Baide called out, "Come on, my dear Cyril! I believe you can defeat that cloak!"

Ye Mo didn't get angry. He quietly adjusted the cloak.

But suddenly the wind stopped, and the cloak slowly slid to the ground.

Ye Mo turned his head.

It was Leisa. He had maneuvered his mecha to a position in front of Ye Mo and raised the weapon mounted on the mecha, cleverly blocking the wind.

Ye Mo waved at him and shouted, "Thank you!"

Leisa shifted the weapon on top of the vehicle in response.

Baide's laughter abruptly stopped. He rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

The viewers in Lakeley's livestream had been watching Ye Mo for a long time and had grown fond of him.

"See? Look how someone else takes care of a child. Pointing fingers."

"But Grandpa is really strong. Seeing him in action makes me forgive half of his flaws."

Good thing Cyril's got a good temper. If I were Cyril, I'd have already taken off overnight. Baide needs to do some self-reflection.

Leisa's known as a great team leader, really good at looking after people. If he doesn't treat Cyril better, he's gonna run off. Kids that obedient are hard to come by these days.

Then Baide jumped from the side mech onto Ye Mo's mech.

Ye Mo, good-natured, scooted over, making half the room for him.

Baide crouched beside Ye Mo, felt the air. "No wind, huh."

Then he sat down without a shred of guilt. "Cyril, keep an eye out for anyone tailing us. I'm old, not as energetic as you youngsters."

"Okay, I'll keep a good watch."

Ye Mo nodded seriously, then swiveled his head like a little owl, scanning three hundred and sixty degrees.

"Cyril, don't be such a pushover!"

Now Zener's mech was carrying two people, one of whom was Baide. He immediately perked up and found Leisa on the channel.

"Captain, I'm so nervous. Is this speed okay? Too fast? Not too slow?"

"It's fine, just follow me and stay steady. I'll let you know if there's a problem."

Zener said cautiously, "Okay, Captain, but I'm showing 0.9 points on my score for some reason. Could it be a system glitch?"

"No, earlier Cyril's guardian shot down three mechs. The system registered it as cooperation."

Cooperation gives points too.

As expected, the channel blew up with exclamations and chatter from Zener and a few other young men.

Leisa smiled. Before coming, he had played out the possible outcomes of this resource battle many times.

With good luck, they'd be eliminated a bit later, get enough attention to offset the resources they gave up, and take everyone home.

That was the best-case scenario he'd imagined.

These kids were way too young. If something like that happened again, he wouldn't be able to look their parents in the eye.

But he never imagined it would turn out like this.

The current situation exceeded his wildest dreams.

Zener gradually relaxed. "Earlier, Ye Mo said I was his friend."

Leisa hummed in acknowledgment.

"I actually have such an amazing friend. Those nutrient fluids I gave him came in pretty handy, right, Captain?"

Zener grew more proud, "So, Captain, stop saying I have no sense of caution."

Leisa was levelheaded, "Well, you still need to be careful about that."

Zener had been swindled by all sorts of scammers many times.

...

Keller had also split into two teams: the vice-captain and the main team operated separately.

The vice-captain glanced at a team member.

"Are they still arguing?"

—meaning Herli and Deenlie.

After getting a solemn nod from the team member.

The vice-captain took a deep breath, then glanced at the score. Hmm, not bad.

He said indulgently to the team member, "Let them argue, it doesn't matter."

Even if they said they wanted steak right now, he'd build a cattle farm on the spot, raise the cows until they became steak, and serve it to them himself.

Keller's vice-captain had been specifically assigned to babysit Herli and Deenlie. Originally, the plan was to have Herli and Deenlie follow the main team.

At first, most team members were welcoming toward Herli and Deenlie—at worst, indifferent—since the aid spots didn't count against their own team's slots, giving them two extra helpers for free.

But as soon as they joined, they started making demands: they didn't want people staring at them.

Herli immediately argued, "Those gazes are so annoying."

Deenlie, who rarely agreed with Herli, said, "Only a disgusting creep like Baide would like them."

From then on, the team resented the two who demanded changes to their original arrangements. But since Herli and Deenlie were assigned by Major General Gu Chuan, when they reported to him, they didn't get a reassignment—instead, they were told to cooperate as much as possible.

So I, as a non-star player, was pushed forward as the vice-captain.

The issue was resolved, but the team members—including the vice-captain—remained hostile toward them.

At the time, I never would have imagined it would turn out like this.

If I had known what would happen later, I would have slapped myself twice and personally put them on a pedestal, okay?