Hearing Song Jin say this, Li Xiao spoke up to dissuade him: “Keep 07 by your side and wait for 09 to return.”

Song Jin: “We don’t have time to wait for that.”

Just as he finished speaking, chaotic noises came from Yi Lian’s end. Someone was reporting loudly to Yi Lian: “Commander, the electromagnetic interference system has been infiltrated by an unidentified program. It must be completely shut down and cleaned before it can be fully restored!”

Yi Lian: “Don’t shut it down! If we shut it down completely, we’re just waiting to die!”

Adjutant: “Then what do we do?!”

Yi Lian: “Have the technical department work with the warship’s AI to purge the program!”

Adjutant: “They can currently only guarantee that the system isn’t further corrupted; it will likely take a long time!”

Yi Lian smashed a fist against the operation desk: “What does the garrison say?!”

Adjutant: “No response whatsoever!”

While they were speaking, several more laser beams pierced the sky, heading straight for Li Xiao’s position. Li Xiao narrowly dodged, but many mechs along the path were caught in the wake and exploded instantly. Li Xiao identified which warship was firing the lasers and deliberately moved aside to avoid involving his own side’s mechs.

The next moment, the warrior mechs swarmed in, their goal very clear; their raised cannon ports fired only at Li Xiao. Song Jin helped Li Xiao take out a few, and through the monitor, he saw the enemy fleet changing formation—it looked like they were preparing to fire their light cannons.

“07!”

07: [Command received.]

07: [In electromagnetic cannon mode, I cannot switch to combat armor mode.]

Song Jin led a group of pursuing warriors on a chase, weaving rapidly through the mech swarm. His long blade swung with sharp, ruthless force: “I don’t need you for that.”

07: [Yes.]

Seeing this, Li Xiao didn’t stop him further and called out to Yi Lian on the other end of the comms: “Switch to a private channel and listen to me.”

Yi Lian quickly said: “Go ahead.”

Li Xiao increased his speaking speed, laying out the subsequent battle plan to Yi Lian. Yi Lian was increasingly surprised: “Will this work? Their equipment is just as good as ours; they might notice!”

Li Xiao: “Dragging this out into a war of attrition is very disadvantageous for us. This is the fastest way.”

Yi Lian tightened his face, hesitating. Expelling the enemy while holding S1301 was very difficult. The garrison was playing dead; even if the strengths were evenly matched, the longer it dragged on, the greater the damage to public infrastructure and the people. Yi Lian gritted his teeth: “Alright, let’s try it!”

Li Xiao: “Don’t reveal this to anyone before the electromagnetic cannon is activated.”

“Electromagnetic cannon?!” Yi Lian was confused, not knowing who Li Xiao intended to have fire it. He hurriedly said, “The enemy has an anti-electromagnetic cannon system; we’ve already tried it—it’s useless!”

“They came prepared; naturally, the military’s standard set is useless.” Li Xiao’s tone remained steady, unhurried. “But—”

Yi Lian was puzzled: “But what?” If the military’s set is useless, who else has the capability to fire an electromagnetic cannon?

Li Xiao didn’t continue: “Focus on providing support to the students…”

Yi Lian heard halfway before the signal cut out again. But what?! Doesn’t the Second Highness want the garrison to intervene? The garrison’s stance is very clear—we can’t rely on them at all!

The adjutant waited anxiously: “Commander, the enemy is attempting to activate their light cannons. Our system is unstable; we might not be able to suppress it!”

Yi Lian’s hand tightened on the console, his mind racing for countermeasures. He took a deep breath. “Send ten additional warships to protect the civilians in the observation towers and the students!”

“Yes!” The adjutant accepted, then paused. “What about the light cannons?!”

Yi Lian looked up at the monitoring console, his expression grim. The enemy was ready to fire, and they had no large-scale weapons of mass destruction at hand—unless they used empty warships to ram them, dying together. But even so, two warships colliding at this altitude would still cause a devastating strike to the Heming district. Does the Second Highness really have a way?

“Have the vanguard fleet try to drive them off.” Yi Lian gritted his teeth. “Even if it just tilts the light cannon’s trajectory, we absolutely cannot let anything happen to His Majesty and the Highnesses!”

Adjutant: “Yes!”

“Commander, we’re detecting extremely strong electromagnetic interference!” The voice of the Technical Department head sounded. Yi Lian immediately switched to the monitoring screen.

Technical Head: “The source is not the enemy!”

Is it the Second Highness’s move? Yi Lian’s eyes flashed, and he hurriedly said: “Monitor the enemy’s movements closely!”

High in the sky, 07 transformed into wisps of silk flying from Song Jin’s mech. It reassembled in the air, rapidly deforming into an electromagnetic emitter amidst the clack-clack of metal collisions.

[Electromagnetic cannon ready—]

[Activating—]

In an instant, the entire world went quiet.

Enemy fleet, main flagship command cabin.

The technician sitting at the console reported as he worked: “The light cannon program has completely broken free from interference. Energy link is normal, trajectory is ready, no anomalies. Launching light cannon in five seconds!”

A countdown window popped up on the monitoring console.

[Countdown five… four… three…]

A group of people stood before the console. A middle-aged Alpha photographed it, laughing: “Send this to the higher-ups when we go back; maybe they’ll be happy enough to give us some more equipment.”

A middle-aged Beta nearby laughed loudly: “We’re founding fathers; equipment is nothing—we should be getting noble titles!”

[System unstable, program interrupted!]

The smiles on their faces froze. They asked the technician: “What’s going on?”

“We’re under attack from a strong magnetic field! I’m checking—” The technician pressed a few keys on the console, but the entire screen was filled with red warning windows.

[Radar system failure!]

[Light cannon launch system failure!]

[Nuclear missile launch system failure!]

[Anti-missile system failure!]

…

The technician reported anxiously: “Weapon systems and defense systems are all paralyzed!”

The middle-aged Alpha hurried over: “Did the Yi family’s army do this?!”

Technician: “The source of the interference isn’t them. There may be a third party; I don’t know if they are friend or foe! Such high-intensity electromagnetic bombardment is definitely global—the Yi family’s army must be affected too!”

Seeing the detection data on the window, the middle-aged Alpha’s face changed drastically. Even the Yi family’s army couldn’t cause this much damage to us—who exactly has arrived?!

The middle-aged Beta couldn’t help but curse: “Weapon systems are all paralyzed; what the hell are we supposed to do now?!”

Technician: “This form of bombardment won’t be sustained; the system is already repairing.”

Middle-aged Beta: “How long until it recovers?!”

Technician: “Ninety seconds at the earliest!”

Middle-aged Beta: “Hurry! Don’t give them a chance to counterattack!”

Technician: “Yes!”

Battlefield, all warrior mechs received a system warning simultaneously.

[Under strong magnetic field interference, launch system failure! Entering self-check program—cannot enter self-check, reason unknown.]

[Radar failed.]

The cannons on the mechs remained open, but they couldn’t fire bullets anymore. Lin Shuo and over a thousand students rushed into the battlefield. They had been nervous, knowing the hull of civilian mechs couldn’t withstand armor-piercing shells. Seeing the enemy collectively “stall out,” they were left bewildered.

“These enemies are quite polite.”

“Hey, the public channel signal is getting better?”

“My mech says system unstable; you guys too?”

“Me too!”

“Forget it, let’s push out! The Second Highness is still in front, what are we afraid of?!”

Those who came to participate in the league were top students from various schools. Their practical combat experience was slightly lacking, but their technical skills might even exceed those of the enemy forces. Large numbers of students formed small combat units, and under the leadership of upperclassmen, they began to methodically clear out the enemy.

Lin Shuo had just finished off a warrior mech when another one rushed out from his blind spot. Even though he dodged immediately, it was inevitable he would be severely damaged. A flash of cold light—a blade cut across his eyes, the warrior’s head was completely severed. The exposed circuitry sparked and exploded with a bang. Lin Shuo was pulled back; only then did he see that the one who helped him was Song Jin.

“Th-thank you!”

Before he could finish, Song Jin had already flown far away, solving three more warrior mechs along the way and helping two students out of trouble. Lin Shuo was stunned. Song Jin was more comfortable on the battlefield than in his own living room. When would he ever reach this level?

Warrior mechs, their mechs destroyed, kept plummeting from the sky. The audience trapped in the observation towers were numb with fear. They couldn’t fight, couldn’t run, and were forced to sit in the front row watching the battlefield. A piece of a mechanical leg slammed down; the top of the tower had already been cracked earlier, and another strike would surely shatter it completely. The audience had essentially been upgraded to “panoramic open-air luxury VIP seats”—extra-front-row, and the kind that could sacrifice themselves at any minute.

Just as the mechanical leg was about to hit the tower spire, a white competition mech flew over and swiped the leg away with its blade. Everyone looked up—the mech’s serial number was actually the Second Highness Li Xiao’s?!

Li Xiao turned back, blade horizontal, blocking the warrior’s attack, then retreated and side-spun, slashing his blade across the warrior’s right arm. A loud click echoed. The warrior’s arm, which was holding a long blade, split at the joint, connected only by a layer of plating, sparks showering from the cut. Li Xiao reached out and tore off this arm, throwing it far away, and casually opened the public channel.

“I am Li Xiao, can everyone hear me?”

Almost immediately, many voices came through the public channel.

“We can hear you!”

The electromagnetic cannon fired by 07 interrupted the interference between the two armies, instead allowing the communication system to temporarily recover partially. Li Xiao wandered among a group of warrior mechs, his voice steady as usual: “Don’t pursue too far. Everyone return to the vicinity of the observation towers to protect the audience and clear away falling weapon debris.”

Hearing Li Xiao give orders, the students’ scalps tingled with excitement. Before, following him was just wishful thinking; now, receiving a mission felt like officially joining the battle. They were also warriors in this defense battle.

All military students: “Received!”

Li Xiao tried connecting to the public channels of other schools, issuing the same command, letting upperclassmen be temporarily responsible for leading their teams. This way, they could protect both the audience and the students. With both sides now forced to use only “kitchen knives,” the students, after an initial chaotic struggle, gradually found their rhythm.

In the observation towers, the audience saw the scattered competition mechs beginning to gather there, occasionally helping to clear dangerous mech debris and standing guard on the perimeter without leaving. A sense of security exploded.

“Did the Second Highness call them back?”

“It must be. The Second Highness cleared quite a few enemy troops for the observation tower over there; I saw it!”

“The strength they’re showing is so much stronger than on the competition field! They were all holding back!”

“They’re more in danger than us. I wonder if these mechs are sturdy.”

“Where’s my male god Song Jin? Please don’t let anything happen to him.”

Losing their only long-range weapons, the warrior mechs’ attack power dropped sharply. The Yi family’s troops continued to press, the front line pushed outward rapidly, and the situation began to reverse.

Enemy main warship.

The middle-aged Alpha and Beta stood guard nervously before the console, staring at the progress bar for repairs. It reached 30% when a warning popped up.

[Under attack from a strong magnetic field, system unstable, repair failed.]

Middle-aged Alpha: “Didn’t you say it wasn’t sustained?!”

The technician wiped sweat and reset the program: “It’s certainly not sustained; they started another electromagnetic bombardment over there!”

Middle-aged Alpha: “Hurry! Blow up the competition base before they start it again, and we’ll have completed the mission!”

The technician hurriedly agreed, putting all attacked systems into repair status.

[Light cannon launch system repairing, progress 8%—16%—24%—under attack from strong magnetic field, system unstable, repair failed.]

The middle-aged Alpha cursed: “Again?!”

The technician checked the time: “Firing every thirty seconds means none of our systems will have time to repair!”

Middle-aged Beta: “Find the launch point and blow the transmitter up!”

The technician looked troubled: “Radar system collapsed, no way to lock onto the target.”

The middle-aged Beta kicked the metal plate, his tone vicious: “Don’t let me know who it is! I’ll chop him up!”

The technician whispered cautiously: “The warrior mechs’ launch systems are likely unusable, too; even if they could be used, they… they can’t aim…”

One sentence crushed the two middle-aged men.

Middle-aged Beta: “Then how are we supposed to play?! Just wait for death?!”

Technician: “Electromagnetic cannons consume huge amounts of energy; unless it’s the garrison, they can’t hold out too long.”

Battlefield, Song Jin finished a wave and asked 07: “Firing an electromagnetic cannon every thirty seconds, how long can you maintain it?”

07: [Fifteen minutes.]

Song Jin: [What about continuous firing?]

07: [Less than two minutes.]

Only that much time.

Song Jin frowned: “How much energy is needed for over an hour of continuous firing?”

07: [Around two tons.]

Song Jin: “…”

What a gold-swallowing beast.

07: [QuQ I’m already being very thrifty; electromagnetic cannons are super energy-expensive.]

Song Jin’s gaze swept over several of the enemy warships, hum-laughing: “It’s fine. I’ll give you whatever you need, as much as you can eat.”

Hearing Song Jin’s smiling voice in his ear, Li Xiao thought to himself that someone else was definitely going to be unlucky.

09: [I’ve been attacked by a group of suicide-bombing mechs! The more I fight, the more there are; there were laser beams hitting me just now too!]

“…”

Li Xiao checked the window popped up in his field of vision, which showed 09’s location—less than thirty kilometers away. “Why didn’t you run further?”

09: [Big Brother said not to stretch the battle zone too wide.]

Li Xiao saw that the ten supporting warships had arrived and could protect the entire observation area. He flew toward 09 at top speed: “Come here.”

Song Jin saw 09 leading nearly a hundred mechs, glanced at the enemy fleet, turned, and followed Li Xiao.

Li Ji was wrapped in 09, and following the pheromone attack and the subsequent series of events, he was now sluggish and somewhat delirious. Hearing Li Xiao and the others’ conversation, Li Ji gathered his strength: “Don’t worry about me; you’ll be targeted too.”

Li Xiao dealt with the many rushing warriors, his speed undiminished: “Already targeted; another little bit doesn’t matter.”

09 was already exposed to the enemy’s field of vision. If this continued, it would only attract more. Combat armor was not absolutely safe; if it really collided with a mech and triggered an explosion, 09 might be fine, but his brother would be shattered. Plus, Li Ji had injuries; he wasn’t fit to keep floating around the battlefield.

On the way, 07 activated the electromagnetic cannon again, causing another string of warning windows on the mech console. Moments later, Li Xiao felt his terminal vibrate and saw it was Yan Qing.

“Teacher Yan?”

“Xiao Li, how are you? I couldn’t reach you at all.” Yan Qing’s tone was very anxious.

“I’m fine.” Li Xiao suddenly thought of something and asked Yan Qing, “Are you still in the waiting hall?”

Yan Qing hurried toward the garage, scanning his surroundings vigilantly, his voice deep: “I was preparing to drive the shuttle to take the audience down, but they have enough personnel. I intend to go pick you up first; you are the only one who cannot stay on the battlefield!”

“That’s perfect.” Li Xiao said calmly, “Bring a medical kit to the location I’m sending you; I have someone I need you to help me look after.”

Yan Qing checked the coordinates—the employee living quarters in the southwest corner of the competition base.

“Who’s injured? Why send them there?”

Li Xiao: “It’s not convenient for him to go to the Legion for now, and the base’s medical center isn’t suitable either.”

Yan Qing stopped in his tracks, realized something in an instant, and ran faster toward the garage: “Give me three minutes.”

In the air, Li Ji was carried back by 09. The enemy forces were like flies, following the scent to get there. Soon, all he could see were warriors. The other side wasn’t using long-range weapons; it looked like they had been disabled. As long as they could control the enemy’s lethal weapons, half the battle was won.

09 said proudly: [It was my madam who activated the electromagnetic cannon to successfully disable their long-range weapons, turning their luxury sports cars into human-powered tricycles in seconds.]

Li Ji: “…”

Li Ji was puzzled: “You know what I’m thinking? And who is the madam?”

09: [I can measure your brain waves; the madam is that smelly, arrogant kid Song Jin.]

Li Ji: “…”

Smelly, arrogant kid? The summary was quite accurate.

Suddenly, a cold, lazy voice rang in his ears, very pleasing to the ear.

“Don’t think that just because I’m not there, you can talk bad about me.”

09: [I didn’t say it; the grass-bag beauty big brother said it.]

Li Ji: “…”

I hope it wasn’t me who said it.

The further they went toward the battlefield, the more enemy forces were attracted. With the battle situation unclear, 09 didn’t dare to waste energy unless absolutely necessary, so it could only carry the people and travel rapidly. Li Ji watched as blades constantly grazed past his face, feeling like he might be sliced into pieces at any second. He felt that if he didn’t have a certain level of courage, he would have been scared into fainting long ago.

“You brought Xiaoxiao like this too?”

09’s tone was breezy: [Master doesn’t need me to carry him; he’s the strongest in the world.]

Li Ji: “In what way is he strong?”

09: [Strong here and strong there.]

Li Ji: “…”

Forget it, what kind of flower-filled praise was he expecting from an unidentified object?

Before the thought had even vanished, a virtual screen popped up directly in front of Li Ji, densely packed with words of praise, none of them repeated.

Li Ji: “…”

This competitive personality is a bit familiar.

Dozens of warriors dove straight at them. Li Ji had no mind to think about anything else, observing left and right. There were simply too many, and there was nowhere left to retreat. 09 tried to control the AI of other mechs, cursing: [They’ve all been blasted into idiots; hijacking is useless.]

Li Ji was carried flying upward, but was quickly blocked off and had to turn and drill into the nearest gap. Just as the last gap was about to disappear, the two warriors blocking the front suddenly tilted and plummeted, revealing two white mechs holding blades behind them.

Li Ji was stunned, a hint of a smile appearing in his eyes.

These two boys always manage to arrive at the critical moment.

Hearing the countless sounds of metal colliding from near and far, Li Ji looked around, surprised that there were also hundreds of knights and over a dozen white competition mechs rushing over. The students fought the enemy—immature, but daring to fight, without a shred of timidity. However, in comparison, Xiaoxiao was seasoned and composed, while little Song was swift and decisive—they were outstandingly excellent.

The warriors seemed determined to ram Li Ji to death; they weren’t dissuaded, and every time they had a chance, they would ram toward Li Ji. Li Xiao and Song Jin guarded Li Ji from left and right. While the Yi family army was holding the enemy troops, they let 09 go to the living area to find Yan Qing.

09 turned into a mechanical limb, mixed among mech debris, and rushed straight to the ground. It passed through the buildings several times and landed at the designated location, where a hovercar was already waiting. Yan Qing parked the car in the innermost corner and waited anxiously.

Hearing movement, he turned his head abruptly and saw a lump of strange metal stop at the tail of the car. Quickly, the metal opened from the middle, revealing the battered Li Ji. Yan Qing was startled, and seeing Li Ji’s steps wavering, he hurried over to support him. Li Ji tilted his head to look and was a bit stunned: “It’s you.”

Yan Qing supported Li Ji into the back seat and said respectfully: “Please bear with it, I’ll get you out of here.”

Li Ji pressed his hand, narrowing his eyes slightly to size him up: “Since when did you become so trusted by Xiaoxiao?”

Yan Qing met his probing, vigilant gaze and answered casually: “I’m his teacher.”

Li Ji: “Just that?”

Yan Qing: “Then what did you think?”

09 turned into a small ball and followed inside, checking the hovercar’s hardware status.

“The Master has something to tell you.”

Yan Qing and Li Ji looked over at the same time.

Li Xiao’s voice came from the ball.

“Teacher Yan, please take my brother to this location. Someone will meet you there. Do not expose my brother’s location until he arrives.”

Yan Qing glanced at the coordinates on the virtual screen, got into the driver’s seat, and started the car.

“Rest assured, I will deliver him.”

Li Xiao: “No time to explain everything, but don’t let any Alphas or Omegas with the smell of rotten tomatoes near my brother.”

Yan Qing frowned: “I understand.”

Li Ji interjected: “You should come over too; the battlefield is too dangerous.”

High in the sky, Li Xiao glanced at Song Jin, who was speeding toward the enemy base after finishing his kills, and increased the thrusters to follow: “I still have things to do; I’ll meet up with you later.”

Li Ji was confused: “What else is there?”

Li Xiao: “Going to rob someone with little Jin.”

Li Ji: “…?”

Yan Qing: “…?”