The King of Black Fog

Many things in life begin in silence, and it takes us years to understand the importance of those moments.

...

Beia Triss opened the cabin door.

Boom!

In an instant, everyone except Beia Triss and Li Qianxia, who were sitting in the front and had something blocking them, were violently jerked backward.

The cool breeze of early summer, under the high speed of the mecha, transformed into a terrifying wave of air that pummeled everyone.

Clothes whipped around, wrapping around Li Changzhou like a flag; he stood amidst the gale, his legs rooted like they were made of steel, unmoving.

"The Chaser has stopped decelerating and opened the cockpit. What is it planning to do?"

"Rather than waiting for the wind, better to chase it. Nice name." Li Changzhou, bracing himself against the edge of the cockpit, jumped out and landed on the roof of the SUV.

"Wait, what is that person doing!"

Amid such a blast of wind, a human was no different from a plastic bag. The reason the commentator felt only surprise and not suspicion was because he assumed Li Changzhou was wearing power armor.

The Emerald Bee Sword slid into his palm, slicing the wind into strands.

The tip of the sword was thrust into the SUV's cockpit.

"Ah!!!" The model sitting next to Aznavour screamed shrilly as the sword almost stabbed her arm.

Focused on piloting his mecha, Aznavour only realized Li Changzhou was atop him when he heard her scream.

After cutting a hole, Li Changzhou stowed away the Emerald Bee Sword and jumped in.

Aznavour grabbed the assault rifle he always kept in the cockpit, but the next second, his vision blurred.

The gun in his hand had disappeared, and turning instinctively towards the uninvited guest, he saw Li Changzhou disassembling the magazine, examining a bullet with interest.

A bullet capable of shattering power armor, armor-piercing at the tip and filled with high-explosive ammunition inside.

Aznavour, not frightened in the least, said, "Freedom isn't true freedom, and no rules aren't truly no rules. Are you trying to break the regulations?"

"No." Li Changzhou, holding the gun, extended it out of the hole carved by the Emerald Bee Sword.

"I'm here to tell you," he loosened his grip, and the wind carried the gun away, shrinking to a small black dot in the sky, "forget the orders the Empire gave you, forget your mission, follow the competition's rules, and play to your heart's content."

Aznavour was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter. "You sure?"

"Positive."

"For first place, I'll do anything. You really think I'd crash into you— are you sure?"

"Positive. If you don't fight for that first place, I will kill you."

Aznavour laughed wildly, yanking the steering stick to the right, and the massive SUV charged straight at the Chaser.

Boom!

"Ah!!!" The model screamed in terror.

Aznavour, one hand on the steering stick, laughed loudly.

"You see, I didn't do it on purpose. I was forced into action!" He was talking to nobody in particular.

"Baron Aznavour, I will—"

Aznavour gave Li Changzhou a look, and Li Changzhou shut off the communication.

Hehe, Aznavour sneered, "Kid, what's your name? After the war, I will let you join my sister's unit!"

"Thanks. If you don't get first place, I'll use you to threaten your sister."

◇

Li Changzhou jumped back into the Chaser's cockpit, and the cockpit door closed.

"Brother, what's going on? Didn't kill that guy, and even let him crash into us?" Li Qianxia asked immediately with concern.

"I told him to go all out for first place."

"What?" Except for Yang Qinglan who seemed thoughtful, the other three were shocked.

"Beia Triss," Li Changzhou looked towards the princess, "on this track, no one is going to go easy on you because of who you are. What do you plan to do? Take first place fair and square, or give up?"

"I..."

"There are three fundamental rights of humanity," Yang Qinglan suddenly spoke up, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

"Among these rights, liberty is the most costly; it's not given at birth, and sometimes it must be bought at the price of life and happiness. To gain liberty for a nation requires patriots to exchange their own lives and happiness.

"Princess Beia, it's clear you're not afraid of dying, but have you fought for your freedom? Have you fought for your nation's freedom?"

"First, you need to be alive," Turquoise Pool reacted to what they were trying to do, "What use is freedom if you're dead?"

"A life lived under someone's thumb, like a dog, what's the point of being alive?" Yang Qinglan said.

"Being alive, there's still hope. Death is truly having nothing."

"Turquoise Pool!" Li Qianxia couldn't stand it any longer.

Turquoise Pool looked towards the silent Beia Triss, "If there were even a sliver of Rebellion in her, I would not say this, but does she have it? There are no wrong paths in this world, just people who choose the wrong paths."

Beia Triss said nothing.

"Don't think that far ahead," Li Changzhou said.

Yang Qinglan wanted to stay with him, Li Qianxia wanted both to accompany him and help Beia Triss, hence she encouraged Beia Triss to resist.

And Turquoise Pool only wanted to complete this mission immediately and return to her original world, thus advising Beia Triss to focus on the greater good and compromise.

Li Changzhou was different; whether the mission ended or not was irrelevant to him, so he advised Beia Triss not to think that far ahead.

"Right now, on this race track, what is it that you most want to do?"

"….To compete with all my heart." Beia Triss replied with courage.

"Then compete with all your heart."

"But," Beia Triss immediately said, "if the power furnace explodes, you will also...."

"This little bit of freedom, along with this small pursuit of happiness, no one has the right to deprive!" Li Qianxia spoke up for the first time.

Beia Triss looked at her.

"Beia," Li Qianxia showed a bright smile, her voice cheerful and lively, "we'll be fine, don't worry! Explosions and flames to my brother, they're just like a book in his palm, turning the pages as he wishes."

"Don't spread rumors, I don't control explosions."

◇

After Li Changzhou had left, Aznavour's smile faded, and with just one change of expression, his still fierce face suddenly appeared at least seven or eight years younger.

"Lord Aznavour," the woman co-pilot looked at Aznavour.

"Oh, sorry, I got carried away and just put it on," Aznavour withdrew his hand.

The woman no longer had the frivolous air of a model, and her clothes, which accentuated her figure, were worn with a composed elite poise.

"Lord Aznavour, what do you think his purpose is? To use the explosion to fake the princess's death?"

"How should I know? That hit just now almost scared the pee out of me, how could I still care about his purpose?"

"Lord Aznavour, you did not win His Majesty's favor and become the pilot of the 'Burning' because you are too cowardly."

"Can we not talk about the past? What's next? Pretend to steer seriously?"

"No, please exert your full strength and vie for first place."

"Are you sure I was grabbing a breast just now and not your head? Those three power furnaces are really going to explode!"

"Compared to worrying about the potential explosion of the power furnaces—" the woman's gaze fell on the side of Aznavour's face.

Aznavour instinctively touched it and his fingertips came away covered in fresh red blood.

A minor cut that had gone unnoticed by him was oozing beads of blood.

When did this happen?

Aznavour, who had been piloting mecha without taking guns seriously and thus didn't fuss when it was snatched from him, looked at his own blood, and a cold chill finally crept up his spine.

"Aznavour, did the Chaser coerce you with violence, using irregular means?" the official message came through.

Aznavour looked at the blood in his hand and was taken back to that day.

Among tens of thousands of elite mecha pilots trained from childhood, he and his sister entered the final selection tied for first place.

They walked into His Majesty's palace, where the previous pilot of 'Burning,' Zhan Jinsi, was. The man had always been his idol.

As the siblings saluted, Zhan Jinsi suddenly fired at them.

He reflexively dodged the bullet, pulling the only weapon on him, a sharp but purely decorative sword, and his cheek was grazed, leaving a bloody mark.

His sister remained kneeling on one knee, her brown hair cut by the bullet, leaving a black bullet mark on the red carpet.

"You, Aznavour, are not qualified," Zhan Jinsi told him.

"Wen Carol," the authoritative voice of Her Majesty, Margaret III, came from the high throne.

"Present!"

"I, Margaret III, appoint you as the new pilot of 'Burning.' The Empire is with you."

"I am with the Empire!"

Something ran down his face, and he instinctively touched it, realizing he was injured.

Aznavour couldn't understand why he, full of ambition and ready for the final trial, had lost?

Was it because he recognized that the bullet was meant to really kill them, or that it was a feigned attempt?

After arguments, disruptions, and periods of despondency, one day upon his return, his sister told him an even more absurd reason that he found even harder to accept—mecha lack a part that needs to be filled by a person, 'Burning' needs a calm and composed pilot to unleash its volcanic strength.

Mecha lack a part that needs to be filled by a person?

Heh.

Aznavour smeared the blood on his fingertip: "He told me to go all out for first place, can that be considered a threat?"

"Ah, that..."

Aznavour turned off the radio and gripped the control sticks with both hands.

"Sister, I still don't understand, does mecha truly need humanity?"

Boom!

The off-road vehicle shook violently.

"What's happening?" the woman clung tightly to the armrest.

Aznavour was also startled and turned to look; the Chaser, fearless in death, had not only rammed him but was now targeting the 'Tyrant β'.

'Tyrant β,' frightened, hastily dodged aside.

The Chaser took the opportunity, the whining noise of its three power furnaces growing sharper until eventually fading away.

With a loud bang, the Chaser instantly created distance between itself and the other two mechs.

If he didn't know who the driver of the Chaser was, Aznavour would have assumed it was a reckless pilot, but he knew.

Sitting atop was Beia Triss, a princess as elegant and beautiful as Lank Lake.

She actually initiated the collision?

The Chaser, with its elegant appearance like the breeze, equipped with the Imperial Mecha 'Moonlight' named power furnace, was also renowned for being serene, swift, and graceful.

But now the Chaser before him, while still aesthetically elegant, had its power furnaces replaced with those from the 'Judgement,' 'Burning,' and 'Red Lotus' series.

A Chaser always on the verge of exploding.

Either slow down and take it silently, bullied by others, or step on the power pedal, reckless and ready to take everyone out with you.

At the start of the race, when he knew Beia Triss had forsaken the Empire's pre-arranged 'Speedster' and chosen this mecha, Aznavour was surprised, but for a moment, it also seemed fitting; the pilot and the mecha were well-matched.

Now, on the track, he even saw the mech as if it were Beia Triss herself.

"So that's how it is," Aznavour grinned.

He recalled his sister suddenly seeking him out, ordering him to undertake this mission, for a reason—once the Duchy's Guardian Divine Machine was captured, it would be modified into an Imperial Mecha, and the new Imperial Mecha would require a new pilot.

The woman in the co-pilot seat was taken aback by the smile on Aznavour's face, reminiscent of his demeanor before he failed to qualify for 'Burning.'

"Sister, I'll catch up soon, wait for me!"

Aznavour pressed the power pedal.

The off-road vehicle violently collided with the 'Tyrant β,' gearing up to accelerate.

The two gigantic mechs crashed together with a burst of sparks.

They went back and forth, jostling each other, nearly flying off the track a few times, until the 'Tyrant β' gave up and slowed down to shake off the maniac.

"You, are not qualified," Aznavour sneered, pulling on the control stick and stepping on the power furnace, sending the off-road vehicle roaring forward.