Chapter 34: A Daring Dance Above the Battlefield

[7 kilometers ahead, 3 degrees to the left, depression angle 17 degrees.]

[There are 78 usable celestial bodies in range. Three provide the optimal debris scatter effect.]

[Beginning simulation… 18 runs in total. Plan confirmed feasible.]

[Initiating execution.]

Only a single second passed.

Lin Yu had already finalized his entire battle plan in his mind, simulating it eighteen times to guarantee its success.

If anyone else saw what he was doing, they’d probably consider him a monster.

But this was the special ability Lin Yu was gradually awakening—his innate brain capacity had already exceeded 30%.

Even though he wasn’t fully awakened, it was already frightening enough.

The next moment, Lin Yu piloted his mech, cutting through the front lines at top speed and weaving right past the 17 fighters of the 77th Fighter Squadron.

It really happened in a flash. Both sides were moving fast.

By the time Si Rong and the others tried to circle back in their fighters using a curved flight path,

their target had already vanished without a trace.

But Lin Yu wasn’t running. He dove straight into a dense asteroid belt.

Two seconds later, he burst out, raised the Electromagnetic Rapid-Fire Cannon, and unleashed a spray of projectiles—more than ten rounds in one go.

Then, as quickly as he’d appeared, he ducked back into the asteroid field and vanished from every radar screen.

At first, when the enemy suddenly showed up and opened fire,

Si Rong panicked, shouting for everyone to evade.

But soon he realized the shots had missed—all those rounds zipped by over three hundred meters away. They didn’t even need to dodge.

Instead, the rounds hit a small ten-meter-long asteroid, sending fragments flying.

Debris scattered in all directions.

Si Rong kept the remaining 16 fighters on high alert.

And just a second later, the enemy appeared again, bursting from a different spot in the asteroid belt.

All 17 fighters rushed to engage, trying to lock onto their target.

But…

“Squadron Leader, look out!”

“Huh? What the—?!”

Si Rong was confused at first—he was in the middle of trying to lock onto the target, so why was everyone telling him to be careful?

Was there another enemy?

Then a glance at his radar made his blood run cold.

Hundreds of blips were heading straight for him. He jerked his fighter away just in time, barely dodging disaster.

Then it hit him—these weren’t new bullets. They were debris created when the enemy’s stray shots struck that asteroid moments ago.

That was close!

If he’d kept going forward instead of swerving in time, he would’ve crashed into it for sure.

It wouldn’t have killed him—the debris was pretty small and the space fighters were armored—but still…

Taking that much debris could easily damage the fighter.

Worse, if something crucial got hit, he’d be out of commission instantly.

Thankfully there was a warning, and he got out of the way in time.

Si Rong let out a deep breath.

Then the combat channel burst with shouts again.

“Squadron Leader, wa—”

But this time, the warning came too late. Before the sentence finished, a hulking steel mech loomed right in front of Si Rong, blotting out his entire cockpit view.

The very next second…

Red lights flashed inside the cockpit and the fighter went dead—no controls, nothing.

A message popped up on his control panel.

[You have been eliminated. As per exercise protocols, all systems except life support are locked until the exercise ends.]

Exercise…?

Si Rong was momentarily stunned.

Then it clicked.

The enemy had an Electromagnetic Rapid-Fire Cannon. And wasn’t that a mech?

Both the materials and the tech he saw were clearly human—not at all like Klein technology.

Had he really missed something so obvious?

Of course. All his focus had been on the fight.

He simply didn’t have time to analyze anything else.

Besides, this exercise had been planned perfectly—even Qin Chong personally ordered the ammunition restrictions lifted.

Who’d guess this was just a training exercise?

What if Blue Team actually wiped out the enemy fleet?

Si Rong was dying to know—who was gutsy enough to take on 17 live-ammo fighters head-on?

Was he really that confident in his skills?

Si Rong had never heard of anyone like that in the Fifth Fleet.

Without Si Rong, the rest of the pilots were still elite, but a step below him.

After all, Si Rong was only second to Bai Jun and Andrei—a top-tier pilot.

As for everyone else…

Not even Ziming, the Second Squadron leader, was a match for Lin Yu in the Bai Ze Mech. Not one of them could stand up to him.

A gleaming silver-white mech danced through 16 fighters and a storm of projectiles.

Every time, it dodged enemy fire with the barest margin.

Most of the time, the mech was purely evading—but every now and then, it struck back.

Even those occasional shots landed perfectly—one shot, one kill.

No one knew what weapon Lin Yu was actually using.

Any fighter that was hit didn’t take physical damage, but shut down on the spot—immediately losing combat capability.

Inside those disabled cockpits…

Pilots who were usually brimming with pride now sat slumped and dejected.

All of them wondered—Who exactly was this Blue Team ace?

——

Onboard the spaceport of the Zhulong.

Three mechs touched down gently on the deck.

All around, forty-eight fighters had landed already. The moment their pilots climbed down, they surged across the deck.

They all wanted to see who was behind the controls.

Who had the guts to keep it secret they were Blue Team—and let everyone use live ammunition?

Unbelievable.

But a full minute passed, and still the cockpit remained sealed.

Not that Lin Yu and his team were trying to show off—it just wasn’t possible to open up yet.

Before opening the cockpit, they needed to drain the life support fluid, a process that took about three minutes.

Soon, two more minutes went by. At last, the three mechs’ cockpits slowly opened.

Three pilots emerged, clad in brand new flight suits.

They took the lift down from the cockpit access, descending slowly to the deck.

Si Rong’s eyes widened instantly.

He recognized one of them.

After all, as the squadron leader, he’d met the Zhulong’s captain before boarding.

Wasn’t that Captain Lin Yu among them?

And as for that mech…

Wasn’t that the same one that had just defeated all seventeen of them?

Damn…

Was the captain really this skilled?