One moment, they were watching a mech competition; the next, they were surrounded by mechs filling the sky.

At first, the audience in the observation towers assumed this was a performance specifically prepared for the King. After all, this was a first-class residential planet, not some chaotic border zone. The garrison’s defense measures were incredibly strict, and with the King personally present, it was impossible for enemy forces to infiltrate.

“Over there! Fighting has broken out!” someone in the crowd shouted loudly.

Another large wave of mechs passed over the observation towers and immediately engaged with the previous group, sparking flashes of light and small explosions. Mechs fell one after another, and the life pods that ejected were frantically strafed by the mechs chasing them.

“Wow, oh my god! So exciting! It’s my first time watching a mech fleet battle this close up; everyone seems to have high-level skills!”

“…Is this performance a bit too realistic?”

“It’s making me a little scared!”

“With such an exciting battle overhead, who’s still watching the match? It’s weird!”

Most of the audience was confused, but the more perceptive ones already sensed something was wrong, though they were too nervous to speak out. If this was truly an enemy attack, they were trapped between two armies; it was unlikely any of them would make it out alive.

Suddenly, a mech with an exploded left arm plummeted straight from the high altitude toward an observation tower. Every audience member suddenly realized the truth. This wasn’t a performance at all—it was a real enemy attack!

“Aaaahhhhh—!”

“Help—!”

“Where’s the army?! Where’s the garrison?!”

The damaged mech struck the tip of the observation tower; just before crushing the top, it shifted direction, traced an arc in the air, and rejoined the battle. The intense vibration triggered a piercing chorus of screams. Audience members in the upper levels of the towers frantically scrambled toward the bottom, but since the towers were suspended on all four sides with nothing but a hundred-meter drop below, they had nowhere to go without the organizer’s transport shuttles.

“Contact the organizers! I have no signal here!”

“Even the emergency signal won’t go through!”

“Don’t push! The King is here! The military will protect us!”

“That’s easy for you to say! If they drop one bomb, we’re finished!”

“So many mechs are approaching from this side!”

On the main observation deck, the guard detachment received orders and rushed to the observation area to search, but they couldn’t find Li Ji. The officials were bewildered, wanting to ask what the previous screaming was about, but seeing the aggressive stance of the guards, they were too intimidated to speak.

The Yi family troops, temporarily integrated into the Imperial Guard, quickly realized something was wrong. Deputy Captain Zhou asked several officials about the King’s whereabouts when the entire observation deck suddenly shook violently; gale-force winds raged outside the floor-to-ceiling glass.

Deputy Captain Zhou immediately recognized the blast wave from an explosion. He led his troops rushing toward the lounge and found the wounded assistant, Old Liu, and the Household Department staff in the corridor. He realized things were bad.

“Where is His Majesty?!” Deputy Captain Zhou asked anxiously.

“I called for help for so long, where did you all go?!” Old Liu, typically reserved, snapped, his hoarse voice choking with sobs. “His Majesty was pushed out the window by an assassin. Search the area around the observation deck immediately—see, see if there is any hope left!”

Deputy Captain Zhou’s pupils dilated; he turned and ran with his men: “The Imperial Guard Captain is a traitor! We’ve all been played by him!”

Old Liu could hardly believe it. To ensure this royal tour went smoothly, the Imperial Guard Captain selected had been hand-raised by the King himself; even he had been compromised. Darcy, seeing Old Liu’s tear-filled, grief-stricken face, patted him. “We’ve done our best; there’s still much to do. Pull yourself together.”

Old Liu: “What else is there?”

Darcy’s expression was stern: “The Second Highness is still on the competition field!”

Old Liu’s spirit jolted; only then did he realize the Second Highness might also be under attack. He wiped his face with his uninjured hand: “Quick! Find someone to protect the Second Highness and restore the communication signals as soon as possible!”

Outside the observation deck, after Li Ji saw the situation, he didn’t stop for a moment, trying to move along the chains toward the observation tower. He was currently in the middle of the chain, a long distance from either end. With the front line continuing to press downward, staying here was too dangerous.

But as feared, less than two meters after moving, Li Ji noticed out of the corner of his eye a warrior-type mech swooping down. Sixteen cannon ports on its shoulders opened, aimed directly at him. Li Ji abruptly released the rope and slid down the chain, barely dodging a wave of bullets.

In the nearest observation tower, all the audience members were watching the battle above, their hearts in their throats. Hearing the commotion, many looked over instinctively. The chain swayed in the wind, and the row of copper bells beneath it chimed with a dull, resonant sound. A man in court dress was in the middle of the chain, being bombarded by a warrior-type mech.

“Ah—! Is that the King on the chain?!” a scream erupted in the crowd.

Everyone else looked up. The King’s ceremonial robes were vastly different from ordinary clothing, not to mention the rare gems on them. Having just seen him on the screen, everyone recognized him instantly. The crowd fell into an even greater panic, screams and cries melding together, drowning out even the roar of the mech bombardment.

“They’re attacking the King! Find someone to save him!”

“Why is the King on the chain?! He’ll die if he falls!”

“Careful! My God, what is the military doing?!”

“Contact the garrison! Hurry!”

“There’s no signal at all!”

“Is the voice-control system still working?! Let’s shout loudly to tell the army across from us to save him!”

The stands were in chaos; everyone began screaming for help frantically. As if they had heard the cries, three duty fighter jets actually appeared. The crowd erupted in cheers. High above, the warrior mech rapidly turned to fire armor-piercing shells at Li Ji again, only to be furiously bombarded by the three chasing duty fighters.

In the lead fighter, Deputy Captain Zhou noticed Li Ji hanging from the chain. His spirit jolted; he pushed the throttle to the max and shot toward the warrior mech’s cockpit, firing wildly. With a loud boom, the warrior mech short-circuited and ignited, the life pod flying out in thick smoke, only to be shattered by the duty fighter in the next moment.

More and more warrior mechs broke through the defenses, rushing straight toward the main observation deck. Soon, they were embroiled in a chaotic battle with the duty troops, and the sound of explosions was constant. Deputy Captain Zhou frantically tried to call his men, only to find the signal was terrible.

In the blink of an eye, five more warrior mechs flew over, accurately targeting Li Ji for bombardment. Deputy Captain Zhou took his men to deal with three of the remaining warriors, while the other two warrior-type mechs rammed the rider-type mechs nearby. Three more warrior mechs grazed past the riders and charged toward Li Ji. The three duty fighters shifted directions, chasing after the warriors.

Amidst the hail of bullets, Li Ji observed the situation high above, noted the movement of the mechs, and abruptly stopped, crouching low. Bullets whizzed past his body, and the metallic clanking of hits rang in his ears. After a violent shake, the chain made a sudden click. Li Ji looked instinctively—the bullets had hit the chain, causing the lock to break; it was about to snap!

Li Ji’s expression changed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two warrior mechs break through the defense, diving toward him from left and right, opening fire simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, Li Ji judged the area that would be hit based on their cannon angles, flight altitude, and dive angle, and decisively ran forward along the chain.

But just as he took a step, the chain swayed violently again, the broken lock pulling upward rapidly; it was about to detach. The momentary pause cost Li Ji the chance to dodge. An armor-piercing shell flew past his eyes, and the next one struck his calf directly.

The audience in the tower felt their hearts stop.

“Dodge, Your Majesty—!”

Snap.

It sounded like a bullet hitting metal. Li Ji looked up, shocked to see a piece of floating metal appear before him, precisely blocking the trajectory of the bullet. What is this?!

Before Li Ji could figure it out, the warrior on the left reached him. A white shadow flashed in his peripheral vision; in the next moment, the warrior on the left was completely pierced from behind by a long blade, sparks flying. Another white shadow flew over Li Ji’s head, performed a beautiful side-spin in the air, and stabbed its long blade in a reverse grip into the back of the warrior. When the warrior sensed the movement and tried to retreat, the white shadow predicted its path; the blade pierced straight through the cockpit, skewering the mech. The pilot was crushed by the blade tip, instantly turning into a pulp of flesh and blood.

The white shadows on both the left and right pulled out their blades simultaneously, forcefully guarding Li Ji’s side. The warrior mechs lost support and fell in free fall from high altitude. After clearly seeing the white shadows, a flash appeared in Li Ji’s eyes. From the moment the incident began until now, he finally regained his senses. It was Xiaoxiao and his pampered little wife—his knights had come to save him.

When Deputy Captain Zhou discovered the situation on Li Ji’s side, he turned back immediately, not expecting someone to be faster than him. Seeing the names “Li Xiao” and “Song Jin” displayed above the two white mechs, Deputy Captain Zhou felt a wave of relief, his nose aching. Thank goodness! His Majesty is safe, and the Second Highness is safe too!

The audience in the observation towers went crazy, shouting the names of Li Xiao and Song Jin.

“Second Highness! Song Jin!”

“The Second Highness is here, we’re safe!”

“Great! I almost watched the King get blown to bits, wuwu.”

“Get the King back quickly, watching him crouch up there is giving me a heart attack!”

“The King is so pitiful! Give him a good meal when he gets back!”

Against the backdrop of the two steel giants, Li Ji looked exceptionally small, fragile, and covered in blood, frantically inciting a protective instinct in the crowd. Li Xiao heard the shouting from the voice-control system, his mood subtle. He quickly scanned the surroundings to observe the battle, using his mech’s mechanical fingers to give an “OK” gesture toward the observation tower behind him.

In the observation tower—

“OK, the Second Highness heard us.”

“As expected, in critical moments, it all depends on how loud you can scream.”

“Great, he-he-he—wait, no, save us too!”

“Help, I forgot I’m about to die too, wuwuwuwu.”

There were too many warrior mechs that had broken through the defenses. Li Xiao and Song Jin each handled a direction, their combat movements concise, sharp, and every move lethal. Song Jin locked his gaze on a wave of warrior mechs that had just rushed over, pushed the thrusters to the max, and charged like lightning, his long blade flashing. In the blink of an eye, he chopped off the heads of five warrior mechs.

This vicious and sharp combat style scared the nearby warrior mechs into a quick retreat, assuming it was the Yi family troops. It wasn’t until the surveillance screen froze that they realized they were actually competition mechs. Amidst the gunfire, Li Xiao’s speed never faltered, becoming nothing more than a blur. By the time the warriors realized and tried to dodge, they had already been cut apart by Li Xiao.

In a one-versus-many situation, Song Jin still had the leisure to peek at Li Xiao. It was rare to see Li Xiao fight so ruthlessly, and this combat posture was truly to his aesthetic.

“Focus, your movements are drifting,” Li Xiao’s voice sounded in his ear. The communication between 07 and 09 was immune to electromagnetic interference.

Song Jin lopped off a warrior mech’s head: “But you look good.”

Li Xiao: “When we go back, you can look however you want.”

Song Jin: “Stripped naked and lying flat?”

Li Xiao: “That won’t do.”

Song Jin: “…”

Seeing the two young cubs so capable, Li Ji finally managed to take a breath. A gust of wind blew, and the broken lock completely detached.

“…?!” Li Ji’s feet felt empty, forced once again to experience the joy of free fall, though this time it ended very quickly.

[Performing body scan—found twenty-three injuries including head, palm, abdomen, back, etc.; no life-threatening wounds; preparing emergency hemostasis—]

Hearing the slightly hoarse voice of a young boy, Li Ji thought he was hallucinating. His body began to uncontrollably fly in mid-air.

“Brother?”

Li Xiao’s voice came to his ears. Li Ji snapped back to reality: “Xiaoxiao?”

Li Xiao: “Let 09 take you to a safe place to hide first.”

09? Li Ji noticed out of the corner of his eye that he was wrapped in that strange metal. He temporarily suppressed the questions in his heart, raised his head to look at the battle situation in the air, and asked Li Xiao: “Is there any way to get me onto a warship? I need to find Yi Lian.”

Li Xiao said indifferently: “The warship might not be safe.”

Li Ji immediately thought of the Alpha who had attacked him and asked in a deep voice: “Have you ever encountered an Alpha who can control others with pheromones?”

Li Xiao retorted: “You ran into one?”

Li Ji hadn’t even started to speak when 09’s voice suddenly sounded.

[The enemy noticed me in my stealth state! They’re chasing me!]

Li Xiao was tangled up with a group of warriors.

“Shake them off and get brother out of the battle zone first.”

Inside the competition field, Jiang Hao and the others watched as Li Xiao and Song Jin crossed the electromagnetic field, sweeping through the battlefield with the force of thunder. Wherever the two competition-grade mechs passed, warrior mechs exploded and fell.

The competition mechs were merely civilian-grade, impossible to compare with the performance of military mechs, yet in the hands of Li Xiao and the other, they exerted even greater advantages than military mechs, leaving those warrior mechs in the dust. Many upperclassmen hovered at the edge of the no-fly altitude, watching the battle in the high sky, hesitating.

Public channel across schools—

“The Second Highness has made his move! So fast!”

“Can the Second Highness actually keep up with Song Jin’s combat rhythm?!”

“His fighting style is very seasoned; steady but with astonishing lethality.”

“Song Jin is already perverted-level strong, but the Second Highness is even more—and we dared to chase him for half the map knowing nothing?!”

“They don’t seem to be getting returned by the system, so we—”

The channel fell subtly silent. With the enemy literally in their faces, not fighting would be too cowardly, but were they strong enough? This wasn’t a competition; the enemy wouldn’t show mercy—if you died, you were truly dead.

When Qian Can and Qin Le arrived from the starting point, the warrior mechs had already started bombing the competition field in groups. The students fled in all directions; the field was in chaos. Competition mechs had no long-range lethal weapons, only a top-spec kitchen knife. If they didn’t dare to charge, they could only hide.

“Is this too much?!” Qian Can cursed while dodging ammunition. “They’re really playing for keeps, just crashing in like this?!”

Qin Le: “The garrison has had no countermeasures this whole time; they’re all in on it.”

In the team channel, Lin Shuo heard their conversation and, watching his own army being suppressed, cursed in frustration: “What’s the background of these people? These mechs don’t look military-grade; how can our legion be so weak against them?!”

Qian Can: “Is it really okay for the boss to just charge in like that? These crappy mechs can’t take much damage; it’s too dangerous!”

Hearing this, Jiang Hao tightened his grip on the control stick, pushed the thrusters to the max, crossed the electromagnetic field, and chased after Li Xiao and the others. Seeing this on the monitor, Qian Can hurriedly tried to stop Jiang Hao: “Little Jiang, aren’t you being too hard-headed?!”

Jiang Hao: “I can’t watch my big brother take risks.”

Once he left, Qin Le followed: “I’ll go help too.”

Qian Can gritted his teeth and followed: “Where did this last-place coward get the courage to enter the battlefield? Everyone’s gone crazy.”

With the three of them leaving, the subtle atmosphere in the field was broken. Lin Shuo was the first to follow.

“Captain, where are you going?!” someone shouted anxiously on the public channel.

Lin Shuo: “Even the Shengya exchange students are helping; as a Dansi Military Academy student, what reason do I have not to participate?!”

The public channel was silent for a moment. Soon, the second mech followed, then the third, then the fourth…

Students from other schools, seeing the military academy students rushing out of the competition field one after another, followed suit.

“Cover the Second Highness; don’t let him charge to the very front!”

“There’s no reason the military students can do it and we can’t.”

“Even a fly’s leg has meat; even if we can’t help much, disrupting the enemy’s formation is good enough.”

“Seniors in front, bring me with you, team up!”

“You’re going? Then I’m going too.”

By the time Li Xiao finished off one wave, he discovered nearly a thousand competition mechs following behind him—almost every student had come. Over 90% of this group would eventually enter the military, and some would even be future generals. Spirit was a good thing, but the current situation was very disadvantageous for them.

The electromagnetic interference activated by both armies directly disabled large-scale weapons, but small-scale ammunition could still be used. This group of students only had kitchen knives, and the armor of the competition mechs was far less defensive than military mechs.

Just as this thought flashed through his mind, a laser beam cut through the surveillance screen, hitting a competition mech in the rear, instantly blowing its legs off. If the student hadn’t dodged fast, the whole mech would have been pulverized.

“What is the Yi family playing at? They actually let the enemy break the electromagnetic interference.” Song Jin’s tone was very cold, controlling his mech to roll through the dense bullet fire. He swept his long blade horizontally, decapitating an onrushing warrior, his actions becoming increasingly violent.

A few more laser beams radiated over. Li Xiao glanced at them: “Not completely broken.” If it were fully unlocked, it wouldn’t be just these sparse few. High in the sky, a flash of white light suddenly appeared, like lightning rolling through the “thunderstorm.”

“The light cannons are unlocked too.” Song Jin’s voice was very deep, his mood worsening: “One shot of this, and not even our dust will be left.”

Li Xiao frowned, checking the terminal signal. It had been completely dead just a moment ago; now it was intermittent. He tried to contact the Third Legion commander, Yi Lian, and the connection was quickly established.

Yi Lian’s voice was urgent: “Highness, where are you? Are you okay?!”

Li Xiao: “My brother and I are both fine. What happened on your end? Why can’t you interfere with the enemy suddenly?”

Yi Lian articulated heavily: “Someone shut down the electromagnetic interference without authorization! Fortunately, it was discovered in time; we are already in the process of restoring it!”

Li Xiao: “Assign Betas to monitor all key positions.”

Yi Lian paused: “Yes!”

Through the connection between 07 and 09, Song Jin could also hear their conversation and couldn’t help but look up at the high sky. Both sides possessed means to prevent electromagnetic interference and means to interfere with the other side; it just depended on who was cleverer and whose equipment was more advanced. Once one side’s large-scale weapons broke the restrictions, one strike would be enough to cause a devastating blow. Thinking of this, Song Jin spoke coldly: “07, prepare the electromagnetic cannon—”