Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Horus had originally planned that if Fu Han refused, he would use the Bluestars' absolute obedience law to make trouble, but he didn't expect the other party to be so careful with his words and even shift all the blame onto Lanxiu.

A mere breeder naturally had no right to refuse him, but if these were Lanxiu's demands, then it was perfectly reasonable, and he couldn't openly defy Lanxiu's face, so he had to back off with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Lanxiu grinned, slinging an arm around Fu Han's shoulders. "Leave the rest to me. You go up first."

After Fu Han took the lift into the mecha's inner cabin, Lanxiu walked step by step to Horus and suddenly reached out and placed his hand on the other's shoulder.

Horus was taken aback by the sudden move, feeling like a heavy weight was crushing his shoulder, and his knees buckled. He winced, frowning, and his partner, Via, quickly stepped in to break them up.

"Commander Lanxiu, what are you doing?"

Lanxiu looked directly into Horus's eyes, gradually easing the pressure of his hand, and patted him casually: "That desperate to take me down?"

Horus's face went stiff, and he immediately played dumb: "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do I mean? This matching result must have been bought by you, right? Although the arena's matching method is random, it also uses the number of wins and participation as parameters. You've been in the arena for less than a year and you can match with me? I can't think of any other possibility except rigging. Don't forget, I'm also one of the founders of the arena, and I eyeball every single account here."

This time, Horus couldn't keep his cool anymore.

Lanxiu guessed correctly; this matching result was indeed bought for a hefty price, because he had to defeat Lanxiu at all costs, to prove to his family and all of Baiyao Capital that he was the First War God of Baiyao Star!

Originally, he disdained obtaining matching results through such rigging, but as Lanxiu said, he had participated in too few matches, and it was impossible to randomly match with Lanxiu in a short time, so he had to spend a hefty price to buy the chance to match with Lanxiu.

If this got out, not only he but also his entire family would be disgraced.

"Commander Lanxiu, I just..."

Just as Horus was about to say something in defense, Lanxiu put his index finger to his lips and made a "shush" sound, cutting off Horus's unspoken words.

"It's okay. It's not a bad thing for young people to be competitive. I was young once, and I can understand that." At this, Lanxiu suddenly narrowed his eyes, his bright green eyes emitting a faint cold light. "However, you were just rude to my partner, and that's a bit too much."

Lanxiu did not lower his voice when he said this, so Via, standing nearby, heard it clearly.

He actually called Fu Han his partner, not a breeder!

The status of a partner is vastly different from that of a breeder. As the commander of the 16th Military Region, Lanxiu actually chose a lowly and despicable Bluestar as his partner! In the eyes of Baiyao Star people, especially the nobles, this was no different from a human marrying an animal—a joke of the century.

But Lanxiu's gaze was unwavering, like a biting wind blowing on hard iron plates, condensing into a thick layer of frost.

Horus felt a chill down his spine under that cold gaze, but he still kept his cool and said, "I just wanted to meet Mr. Fu. If I have offended him, I will personally visit Mr. Fu another day to offer a sincere apology."

"Don't bother with an apology. You say sorry, he says it's okay—it's pointless and bad for business. We businessmen like keeping things smooth. Otherwise..." At this, Lanxiu's eyes suddenly lit up. "If you lose this match, how about you hand over the command of the 4th Military Region to me?"

Horus stared at Lanxiu in shock, his jaw hanging open, lost for words. Losing a match and having to give up command of the 4th Military Region was ridiculous.

But even more absurd was Lanxiu continuing: "If I lose, I'll hand over the 16th Military Region's command and the research institute. How about it, young man? You got the guts to bet with an old timer like me?"

Via stood by, noticing his hands shaking without his control.

He'd heard that Commander Lanxiu of the 16th Military Region was a gorgeous lunatic, but he didn't think he'd take it this far. The looks and the madness were way more than he'd bargained for.

He'd only agreed to the match with Horus just to grab some spotlight. After all, being able to fight against Lanxiu, even losing would be an honor. But he never expected Lanxiu to go so big right from the start, betting the command of the 16th Military Region against Horus.

Technically, the first fifteen regions on Baiyao were all managed and controlled by the Federation. Only the 16th Military Region was special—it was completely founded and operated by Lanxiu alone, and it had the fewest soldiers but packed the biggest punch.

The key thing was that Lanxiu had absolute command and ownership of the 16th Military Region, outside Federation control. But Horus did not have such authority over the 4th Military Region he currently managed.

To put it bluntly, what Lanxiu was putting on the line in this bet was something Horus couldn't even come close to matching.

And Horus started wondering if his first move had been too rash. He had only wanted to take a gamble—if he could defeat Lanxiu and become famous overnight, that would be the best outcome, but if he lost, it wouldn't be shameful.

After all, he'd topped the military rankings for over sixty years. His age was there, and he outranked Horus by a mile. If Horus lost, people would just call him green and not skilled enough.

But what was happening now? The guy was dead serious about betting military command.

The final preparation bell for the match rang. Lanxiu and Horus each selected the allocation of attacker and defender on the selection interface, then entered their mechas for final preparations.

When Lanxiu entered the mecha, he found that Fu Han hadn't even sat down yet. He was just standing there, staring at the controls without moving. He looked like he was studying a painting rather than preparing to pilot a mecha.

"It's about to start. Sit here."

Fu Han was inevitably excited about piloting a mecha for the first time. He plopped down eagerly like Lanxiu told him, but then it hit him that something was off. This seemed to be the main control seat—that's usually for the attacker.

While Lanxiu clicked the harness into place at his waist, back, and shoulders, Fu Han suddenly exclaimed, "You're making me the attacker?"

Lanxiu: "What's wrong? Being the attacker is fun. You can fire all kinds of rays and shells as you like."

Fun? Watching the ascent start device on the control panel light up bit by bit, Fu Han went pale. It wasn't that he was scared, but he had never piloted a real mecha before.

Although he'd taken some classes in Noah City, they were just textbook stuff—sketchy and outdated by decades, incomparable to the new mechas in Baiyao Capital.

Although he was nervous, Fu Han didn't want to appear too cowardly, especially in front of Lanxiu.

"This... there won't be any life-threatening danger, right?"

Lanxiu looked at Fu Han, whose breathing was becoming rapid, and felt like laughing, but he held it in.

Lanxiu: "No. The mecha has a risk assessment device. Once the opponent's attack exceeds the risk prediction value, both mechas will be forcibly shut down by the main system and enter passive hibernation, ending the match."

Fu Han nervously watched the progress bar on the control panel that was about to reach 100%, and his hand gripping the control stick was sweating.

Although he thought the match environment should be absolutely safe, it was his first time in such a public and unfamiliar setting, his first time playing this kind of real-person battle game, and his first time piloting a mecha. Especially seeing all the complex program commands on the control panel, he felt his heart about to jump out of his throat.

Fu Han also felt that his reaction was a bit embarrassing.

Lanxiu sat in the co-pilot area and suddenly reached out and placed his hand on Fu Han's hand that was gripping the control stick. He could feel the other's hand trembling slightly.

So this little brat could also be scared?

"You're already scared to play? When I shot at you in the alley, you didn't even blink. It's just piloting a mecha—what's there to be afraid of? Have you ever played bumper cars at the amusement park when you were a kid?"

Lanxiu activated the mecha's ascent device and guided Fu Han's hand on the control stick to move up, down, left, and right. "Push it up and it flies forward and up; push it down and it goes backward. Same for left and right. If you want to go higher, increase the fuel output; to descend, decrease it. Is this really that hard?"

The final tone was clearly somewhat mocking, and Fu Han's competitive spirit was instantly ignited. His previous anxiety was thrown to the winds.

He shook off Lanxiu's hand and frowned, "Just make sure you do a good job on defense and don't hold me back."

Previously, when he teamed up with Zhou Yunxuan to play battle games, Zhou Yunxuan could anticipate his movement route just from a small gesture. The two cooperated very smoothly, a perfect match.

This was his first time teaming up with Lanxiu. He didn't expect much chemistry, just hoped he wouldn't be a bad teammate.

The mecha of Horus on the opposite side gradually ascended into the sky. But before it even finished taking off, he fired three quantum bullets in succession at Fu Han and Lanxiu's "Hera No. 1."

At that moment, Fu Han didn't react at all. It was Lanxiu in the co-pilot area who acted quickly, swiftly activating the defense device, maneuvering the mecha to quickly fly away from the attack zone while activating the magnetic field protective net.

Although the attack damage had been minimized, the mecha still suffered 2% heavy damage.

Fu Han stared at the various commands on the control panel. Although he had not yet encountered some of the complex compound commands, he had taught himself the code structure of the attack system, so he was quite familiar with the meanings of most symbols.

As Lanxiu maneuvered the mecha to evade, Fu Han quickly combined two highly offensive commands and launched an attack on Horus’s "Eden."

A violent explosion thundered in midair, followed by a massive black dahlia unfolding between the two mechas.

Thick smoke billowed, blocking their view completely, and both Fu Han and Lanxiu felt a violent tremor.

Author’s note:

Thank you all so much for your support! I'll keep working hard!