NOVEL NEXT Chapter 180 Escape
"Escape the encirclement as fast as possible, and once we've shaken off our pursuers, immediately get out of the mecha," Yang Qinglan reminded Li Changzhou on his leg.
The reasons for driving the mecha, even at the expense of looking at the manual, were twofold.
One, to avoid immediate exposure of identity:
Two, to protect the princess' safety—as safe as possible—while breaking out of the encirclement.
As soon as they got out and lost the pursuers, the mecha would naturally become useless, actually turning into a giant locator, and would definitely have to be discarded.
"Hm." Li Changzhou pushed the right control stick and simultaneously pressed the firing buttons with both hands.
The mecha immediately turned left, and the 20mm autocannon mounted on its right arm fired.
Bang!
A cloud of smoke, flames, and a shock wave erupted from the muzzle, and a bullet tore through the smoke, flames, and shock wave.
The next second.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Rapid-fire.
Flames exploded in bursts at the muzzle, the gunfire roared furiously, and the soldiers running out of the building were instantly bathed in a heavy rain of bullets.
The bullets couldn't pierce the soldiers' power armor, but the potent kinetic energy still knocked them back and down.
Li Changzhou pressed the yellow button on the left control stick, and the ammo hatch on the mecha's left shoulder opened.
Whiz—
A small interference smoke grenade exploded amidst the group of soldiers.
After completing all this, Li Changzhou pulled both hands back, and the mecha adjusted its stance accordingly.
Then, gripping the control sticks on both sides, he pressed the "hand-leg" switch button with his index fingers and pushed forward fiercely while simultaneously stepping on the power furnace.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The eight-meter-tall mecha took long strides, sprinting through the streets in the early morning, facing the dawn light, shaking the houses along the way.
"Bro, you're playing this well!" Li Qianxia exclaimed excitedly.
This was a combination of moves Li Changzhou had thought up on the spot, with all the buttons set in the most convenient positions.
While running, he opened the manual to continue memorizing more controls.
A soldier with a gun cautiously emerged from the smoke.
The information equipment recovered instantly, and the radar immediately locked onto the mecha running in the distance.
"Auxiliary hunters, fire!" he ordered at once.
Six Scorpion-like mechas, with 76mm anti-mechanical rocket cannons on their backs, locked onto the eight-meter mecha.
"Target locked"
"Target locked"
The holographic display screen popped up, issuing a continuous red warning.
"Brother brother brother!" Li Qianxia pointed at an optical display, where in the footage, the anti-mechanical rocket cannons were trailing flames and exhaust, flying toward the mecha.
Li Changzhou's lips pressed tightly together, and his hands danced quickly over the keyboard.
The armor plates on the eight-meter mecha's back, arranged like fish scales, suddenly disassembled into drones piece by piece.
The drones buzzed as they flew into the sky, releasing signal interference waves.
Simultaneously, Li Changzhou's hands left the keyboard in a blur and he yanked the control sticks fiercely.
The mecha took a sliding step, changing direction almost in a falling pose, brushing past the corner of "Pella Grocery Building" and dashing down another street.
A cleaning mecha responsible for scrubbing the building's glass followed the departure of this big fellow with an 'uncomprehending' gaze from its sensors.
Boom!
Six anti-mechanical rocket cannons, interfered by drones, were unable to lock onto their target, heading straight for the other end of the street; one of them struck the "Pera Grocery Building".
In the midst of flames and glass, the cleaning mecha was thrown out, catching up to the eight-meter mecha fleeing far away, only to be instantly knocked away by it and fell into a flower bed, sparking a bonfire-sized blaze.
The gardener mecha, assigned to tidy up the flower beds, immediately aimed water at the burning cleaning mecha.
"C12-35 reports a fire, scale..."
Whoosh! A gust of wind sound swept through, the interference drone flew overhead, and the gardener mecha stilled as if put to sleep.
The eight-meter mecha ran in front, closely followed by the interference drone that disrupted all electronic equipment.
Soldiers and scorpion mechas were in relentless pursuit.
"C1, C2, take down the drone!"
Two three-meter mechas switched their firing mode to manual and poured out their firepower into the sky.
"B3, B4, flank from above!"
Two soldiers in power armor leaped onto the rooftops of high-rise buildings and ran across the top.
"B2, you take D1, 2, 3, 4, and push through on the ground!"
A soldier with four scorpion mechas ducked into an alley.
"Emergency call to A, this is B1! Suspicious individual spotted, target has stolen a Cangqiong Company eight-meter civilian mecha, model 1677 Champion Deluxe Burning Edition."
"Headcount unclear, estimated two persons, requesting backup!"
An estimate of two persons, because only two guest rooms in Wen Carol's house were used.
Moreover, the Cangqiong Company model 1677 Champion Deluxe Burning Edition eight-meter civilian mecha has a cramped cockpit that barely fits two grown soldiers.
"Brother, you're so cool!" Li Qianxia hugged Li Changzhou's neck from behind.
Yang Qinglan snickered while nestled in Li Changzhou's embrace.
"..." Li Qianxia retracted her hand with a chuckle.
At this moment, not only was what Li Qianxia said unheard, even the passage of time was unnoticed by Li Changzhou, who was fully absorbed in "MH-60LK User and Basic Repair Manual".
"Concentration"
{Secondary Weapon: Hold down the red button on the right joystick, rotate the joystick to shoot, pull the joystick to adjust direction}
{Shoulder cannon...}
{Palm cannon.....}
{Roll...}
{Short-range jet deceleration/acceleration...}
{Enemy aircraft lock-on...}
Li Changzhou pressed keys continuously, locking onto the soldiers and scorpion mechas on the display, and set all similar power armors and mechas as enemy aircraft for the system to automatically lock on.
"Detected enemy aircraft: designated as B1, B2...B12"
"Can official mecha be designated as enemy aircraft?" Beia Triss, her chest pressed and deformed, spoke to herself feeling stifled.
"What's wrong?" Li Qianxia, less burdened, asked curiously.
"Normally, civilian mech systems do not allow official mechas to be tagged as enemy aircraft."
"Perhaps it's because it's on the edge of a battlefield, and the war has only just ended not long ago," speculated Yang Qinglan.
"Can you hurry up? I'm so uncomfortable," Turquoise Pool could hardly bear it any longer.
In fact, her feet never touched the ground, as she was squeezed in the air by Li Qianxia and Beia Triss, but she would never admit the awkwardness akin to being packed in a subway.
The four of them had the leisure to chat, while Li Changzhou remained silent, still reading the manual and tapping on the keyboard.
He had initially remembered only a few basic operations, but now he was learning things that were relatively more complicated, while also setting these into handy operating procedures.
"Big brother! Here they come!"
"Enemy aircraft detected, B7, B8"
"Equipped with weapons... 7.62mm anti-personnel machine gun*4"
Two Scorpion Mechas, scuttled with the speed of cockroaches, charging from both the left and right sides.
Li Changzhou's fingers were still frantically tapping on the keyboard, inputting lines of instructions that sought simplicity and clarity.
The Scorpion Mechas drew close, appearing so large on the optical sensors as if they were plastered on the face.
"Brother!"
The mechanical legs bent slightly, and the Scorpion Mechas leaped, landing on the eight-meter-tall Mech's cockpit.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Four 7.62mm anti-personnel machine guns aimed at the cockpit hatch, spewing sparks wildly.
The girls instinctively flinched, but the cockpit was unscathed.
Bullets danced overhead, flames and gun smoke spread, hiding inside the cockpit felt like sheltering from a storm under a thin, tattered tin roof— the sound was deafening, as if the whole world contained only the sound of raining bullets.
Bathed in the machine gun fire, Beia Triss clung tightly to Li Qianxia's arm.
Yang Qinglan, Li Qianxia, and Turquoise Pool were also extremely anxious.
If the cockpit were breached, they would have no other choice but to be torn into a pile of flesh by the bullets.
The Mech, carrying two Scorpion Mechas, continued to race straight down the wide road.
Li Changzhou's fingers tapped faster and faster.
"Enemy Mechs detected, B9, B10"
Two more Scorpion Mechas jumped on top.
B7, B8 ceased fire while B9, B10 lifted their front legs, revealing high-frequency blades, aiming for the cockpit.
"Brother!" Li Qianxia couldn't help but shout loudly.
Finally, Li Changzhou's hands left the keyboard and yanked the control sticks on both sides, causing the Mech to brake urgently.
B7, B8, B9, B10 wobbled atop the Mech, but their centipede-like mechanical legs clung to the Mech like facehuggers, unwavering.
This moment was enough.
The Mech swung its arms, grabbing B9 and B10 like a cat, and fired stun grenades at close range to the face.
"Fizz··· Fizz···"
The high-frequency blades stopped their high-speed vibration first.
The red lights in B9 and B10's eyes went out immediately afterward.
"Enemy Mechs B9, B10, eliminated"
The mechanical legs firmly clamped to the Mech's body became weak and powerless, like crabs that had been steamed soft.
Flipping the two dead carcasses aside, the Mech let out a screech as it twisted and its right arm aimed at an alleyway, the 20mm autocannon firing.
A soldier in power armor, as if preordained to catch these bullets, leaped out from the mouth of the alley.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sound of the explosive strikes like artillery fire.
The soldier was blasted away, crashing into an unopened Mecha toy model store, miniature versions of Mechas flying all over.
Li Changzhou pushed the left control stick while slightly pulling the right stick, turning the Mech thirty degrees to the left.
The right arm's 20mm autocannon swept fiercely.
B3 and B4 at the top of a building, were running at high speed irregularly, firing at the joints of the eight-meter-tall Mech.
The Mech staggered slightly, the autocannon missing fire, but B3 and B4 closed the distance quickly.
Li Changzhou slightly twisted the right control stick.
Bang!
He twisted it ever so slightly again.
Boom!
Boom!
After a three-round burst.
Boom!
A power armor was directly hit by a 20mm bullet and sent flying.
Boom! Another shot!
As soon as the gunshots ended, another power armor fell to the ground like a sparrow on a tree trunk hit by an airgun.
He stowed the gun, pushed the control sticks fiercely with both hands again, stepped on the power furnace, and the mecha took large strides toward the distance.
B7 and B8, clinging tightly to the mecha, continued to shoot at the cockpit.
"Brother, you're so cool—"
Li Qianxia didn't finish her sentence when Li Changzhou suddenly pulled the control stick.
Boom! The mecha turned to the right and fired a shot, and a Scorpion Mecha was sent tumbling away with a roar.
Li Changzhou's gaze moved calmly and swiftly, and the optical sensor followed his gaze, swiftly presenting the angle and image he wanted to see.
Bang!
A shell suddenly hit the mecha.
The strong thrust of the mecha was slightly repelled, followed by an incredibly powerful barrage from behind.
The bulky three-meter mecha, one in front of the other, cleared away drones.
The 40mm machine gun with a zing was succeeded by a blast like heavenly thunder exploding on an eight-meter mecha.
The street surface, the walls of shops, and the steel street lamps were instantly shattered by the bullets, leaving debris scattered everywhere.
"Ah!" The tremendous impact force almost made the mecha fall over, and the cockpit was filled with cries of shock.
Li Changzhou gripped the control sticks tight like a wild buffalo, making his mecha stand under the artillery fire like a squad of daredevils, resisting the huge thrust and shooting coolly.
The mecha raised both hands, each aiming in a different direction.
Boom! Boom!
Two rounds of high-explosive ammunition burst fire, with precise prediction, hit the leg joints of B5 and B6 which had already left their original position, and the powerful shock wave directly destroyed the mecha's balance, tipping them over.
The pilot flipped open the hatch, ready to escape.
The eight-meter mecha's right shoulder missile hatch opened, and the high-speed armor-piercing shells with their trailing flames flew through the streets, directly hitting the two three-meter mechas.
The warhead penetrated the mecha, followed by an explosion triggered by the flames inside.
Boom!
Two balls of high-temperature fire roared, warping the air.
The pilots formed two dark silhouettes in the flames, and the next moment, the shadow of the legs disappeared, then the entire figure gently fell to the ground like dust.
Squeak—, the eight-meter mecha lowered its arms, and the empty right shoulder missile hatch closed.
As the flames died out, the spot where the three-meter mechas had been now bore a shallow crater, emitting a dull orange glow.
"Enemy mechas B5 and B6, eliminated."
"Boom!"
A sudden and unexpected artillery strike.
In the nick of time, Li Changzhou stepped on the power furnace and pulled on the control stick, causing the mecha to accelerate and jet to the side, narrowly dodging the sneak attack high-explosive armor-piercing shell.
"Discovering enemy mechas, B1, B2, B3, B4, B7, B8, B11, B12."
All the enemies gathered around, and on the radar display, the mecha was surrounded by numerous red dots.