Mech Arena Roster

Xu Lingqu pushed open the door to Moye's Chief Commander lounge, only to find someone already waiting inside. She locked the door behind her to keep anyone from barging in and discovering who was there.

You Sun stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, watching her. "Who were you talking to at the door just now?"

Xu Lingqu sat down and looked up. "A person."

A person who had just evolved from a wild animal into a human being.

You Sun: ...

"What do you have to report this time?" Xu Lingqu asked.

"Report..." No, she wasn't his superior, so why had he put it that way? You Sun corrected himself. "I'm here to let you know the last operation went off without a hitch. Xu Chengbi practically believes you've developed an addiction to the substance."

That General Xu had used addictive substances to control quite a few imperial nobles, as well as high-ranking figures in the Military Department and political circles on Capital Star. With such rare goods, he still remembered to send a share to Xu Lingqu, showing just how much he valued her now.

Now that the media had officially broken the news that Xu Lingqu—the one making waves in the league—was the adopted daughter of Xu Chengbi's deceased subordinate, it had earned him a huge boost in goodwill. She was no longer just the sickly adopted daughter who served as his puppet for a reasonable pivot toward the peace faction; she had become his ultimate weapon for winning public sympathy.

In short, he had never treated Xu Lingqu like a human being, but he was cunning enough to slip her addictive substances.

"So far, everything is under control. But there's one thing that might be a bit troublesome for you..." You Sun trailed off, hoping Xu Lingqu would ask, but she didn't take the bait. He had to continue on his own.

"The time he comes looking for you—hypothetically, the moment your first withdrawal would hit after you got hooked—could very well fall on the same day as the mech arena event in this military academy league." You Sun shrugged. "I saw the roster. You're on it. By the way, why would a B-rank psychic join this?"

The mech arena was the grand finale of the entire league, with the Empire and the Federation each sending a hundred fighters to battle in mechs. The mechs used were all replicas of current models from the Sky Network. Sure, B-rank psychics could now pilot A- replicas through the Sky Network, but Xu Lingqu mixed in with a bunch of S-ranks and A-ranks was way too conspicuous.

"You can even see rosters like that?" Xu Lingqu countered. Feng Hui was at least somewhat reliable—he had actually gotten her squeezed into the mech arena roster.

"Of course," You Sun replied. "The former Deputy Minister of the Military Department, the one named Hardy, apparently had the biggest grudge against Moye. A lot of the trouble you faced was on his orders. He's been taken down now."

It had happened just a few days ago. It was tangentially related to the Xu Chengbi line but not much—purely a power struggle between the Empire's peace and war factions. That Deputy Minister had crossed plenty of red lines in his authority, and he was currently in Ares' dungeon, confessing everything he needed to confess.

The hundred-person roster for the Sky Network mech arena should have come out long ago. It was just that he'd taken a dislike to Xu Lingqu being on it and was preparing to kick her out for being a B-rank psychic who had no business joining when Ares knocked on his door first.

That matter was handled by his colleague and that colleague's superior, and since the hundred-person roster mentioned Xu Lingqu, You Sun couldn't help but ask a few extra questions.

"Good riddance," Xu Lingqu nodded.

"...You changed the subject. What are you planning to do by joining this?" You Sun realized he'd been sidetracked again and pulled the conversation back on track.

"I want to pilot a mech. No other reason." Xu Lingqu told a selective truth.

You Sun shot her a skeptical look, but her demeanor clearly said she didn't want to talk. No one could pry something out of Xu Lingqu that she didn't want to say.

"Fine." This wasn't his line of work anyway. If she wouldn't say, she wouldn't say. You Sun steered things back to his own jurisdiction. "Whether it's the day of the mech arena or the blank days before and after, we'll have different wrap-up operations for different locations. You don't need to worry—just act normally and do what you want."

"I don't need to act out a withdrawal episode for Xu Chengbi to see?" Xu Lingqu asked.

"No need. As soon as he sets foot on Yuheng Star, the net will close. All you have to do is stay on Yuheng and get him to take the bait." You Sun finished and left. He must have had a secret door installed in the venue's Moye Chief Commander lounge at some point.

The moment You Sun was out the door, the hundred-person roster was officially released by the Sky Network, hitting like a thunderbolt and blowing up the Sky Network forums.

"Why is Xu Lingqu on the hundred-person mech arena roster?"

[Don't you guys think it's weird that a B-rank Xu Lingqu is mixed in with S-ranks and A+ ranks? And right after her is Shen Shouli at S+.]

[Some media outlet covered Xu Lingqu's family background, right? General Xu fell out with his wife just to adopt her... It's not impossible he forced her into the roster.]

[How can the person above talk so disgustingly? Anyone with eyes can see that General Xu is exploiting the orphan of his dead subordinate.]

[Anyone with basic information-searching skills would know Xu Lingqu lived alone on a border planet for over a decade. If that General Xu really cared about his subordinate's orphan, how could he just watch her live there for so long and only have a change of heart now?]

[So? Isn't this roster reviewed by the Military Department? Some of you are already judging Xu Lingqu before anything's even happened—what's the matter?]

[Here we go again, same script. Forget the legendary thread from before? Before the league started, a bunch of idiots were attacking Xu Lingqu out of nowhere, and look how swollen their faces are now.]

[This time I won't be wrong. This is mech piloting—it's all about psychic power. There's no way you can pull off another weak-beats-strong. No matter how good Xu Lingqu is, she can't pilot an A- mech against Chen Dao and Chi Ren, can she?]

[Before the team competition, you all insisted the S-rank commander was definitely the strongest...]

[If you're all so confident, let's just wait for the day of the mech arena. The fact that you're rushing out to scream at Xu Lingqu now says everything about what you are.]

"What Chen Dao and Chi Ren! She has the most powerful, most handsome mech in this star system! Luminous! She's a double S-rank psychic!" Luminous was so angry it spun around the room, turning itself into a spinning cotton candy.

Xu Lingqu came back and saw it in such a rage. "What's wrong?"

Luminous told her what had happened since the hundred-person mech arena roster came out.

"Let them talk. In a way, they're right." Xu Lingqu had indeed used a little trick to get herself on that roster, and she had never cared what people thought of her. But Luminous couldn't stand it.

"I don't care! The mech arena—you have to take me. You can't leave me at home again." After being angry, Luminous started acting cute. "I promise I won't let anyone notice me."

"No need to promise. I planned to take you anyway," Xu Lingqu said.

Luminous was shocked. "Why? Why?"

"I'm planning to reveal my true psychic power by summoning and piloting Chen Dao or Chi Ren in the mech arena." There was no need to keep up this lie about her psychic power anymore. This was the perfect chance to announce her real strength.

Announcing it that way, before the eyes of millions, no one would dare think of grabbing her for experiments at that moment. And if Xu Lingqu so much as disappeared for one day afterward, it would stir up enormous public outrage across this interstellar world.

And by then, she would have to make a trip to the imperial palace anyway. Wasn't the S-rank mech Chi Ren in the palace? Xu Lingqu might as well bring Luminous along to meet its old acquaintance.

"Huh? You're going to reveal your psychic power that way?" Luminous gulped. Xu Lingqu's seemingly stable mental state could go wilder than anyone when it came down to it. Like today's match—all they had to do was hold out to the end and they'd win, but she refused. She insisted on winning in the most arrogant, domineering way possible.

A master like this...

Luminous loved it!!!