The Merlin Expendables

"I still can't believe Lianda actually lost to Moye, and in space combat of all things," Li Muyi said, shaking his head. "Why do I get the feeling that for Moye, beating Lianda was even easier than beating Shaji?"

Tansen Meilin was, after all, one of the top cadets in the Federation's latest batch, yet he had made a complete fool of himself in today's match. It was hard to know what to say.

"This Moye is no longer the Moye I led my people against back then," Guan Chuanjun said, resigning himself to being dragged through the mud again with a self-deprecating chuckle. "They've been evolving continuously, growing at an astonishing rate. We were just the first minor monster they fought in the newbie village—hard only relative to the Moye of that time..."

"The way we see the Federation this year is exactly how the Federation saw us in previous years," Yun Yao added. "During the three years Qi Ke Meilin dominated, weren't our seniors and juniors just background props for him? I still remember Gu Tingzhi being called a spineless turtle by Federation media last year."

The right to speak always belongs to the winner. Besides, everyone here was a relentless competitor; the hostility between the Empire and the Federation was obvious, and no one wanted to lose gracefully. To them, being praised as a gracious opponent was practically an insult.

"I'm suddenly curious what it would look like if Qi Ke Meilin went up against Xu Lingqu..." Jinfang Taibai mused. "Speaking of which, did Qi Ke Meilin join the Federation Military Department? I haven't seen any news about him for a long time."

"I'd like to see those two clash too, or maybe this year Gu Tingzhi can take care of Jia Xianglan and get Moye matched against Longyuan." Hei Yingzhi waved a hand. "As for Qi Ke Meilin, he's vanished for a year now. The Merlin family announced he's undergoing secret training."

"Secret training?" Jiang You scoffed. "The truth is just that Qi Ke Meilin's psychic power is only A-rank. Once the league ended, he lost his use and was thrown away like expendable material."

Over the past few decades, almost every year a young Merlin appeared in the public eye, all with high-level psychic powers. The Merlin family's excellent education and packaging produced them one after another like products off an assembly line. And in the end, how many of them actually left a name and a trace of existence?

If Qi Ke Meilin hadn't possessed astonishing command talent, he wouldn't even have qualified to be an assembly-line product. It was only because the younger generation of Merlins had been getting more useless year after year that the Merlin family used him to prop up their image for three years.

This year, with apparently no one else available, they'd forcibly shoved out a mediocrity like Tansen Meilin. Once this year's league finished, Tansen Meilin's fate probably wasn't going to be good...

He knew it himself.

His collapse in the competition pod wasn't just because of the devastating blow Xu Lingqu had dealt him—it was because he was afraid.

Tansen Meilin knew exactly what he would face once he left this competition pod, so no matter what, he couldn't muster the strength to walk out. But this place could never be his sanctuary forever.

The Merlin family's servants, dressed in butler attire, swaggered straight into the arena, and no one dared stop them. They watched as they escorted Tansen Meilin out of the pod and away from the venue.

They arrived at the central star of the Federation's A-sector. The aircraft flew into the Federal government building, and the Merlin family's servants led Tansen Meilin up to the top floor with practiced ease, as if returning to the Merlin estate.

The heavy doors swung open. Tansen Meilin didn't dare raise his head, dropping straight to his knees and whispering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

The man seated in the main position was already white-haired and frail; even the star system's advanced medical technology couldn't hide his age. Yude Meilin—the elder brother of the Federation's legendary General Merlin—was a hundred and forty-two years old now.

General Merlin was dead, but her brother had lived to this day and single-handedly built the Merlin family into what it was, becoming its true power behind the throne.

The man standing to his right, wearing a Federation general's uniform, was Lin Suo Merlin, the Federation's youngest general. Handsome, he smiled at the sight of Tansen Meilin's miserable state.

Tansen Meilin didn't dare look directly at either of them.

"Actually, I wasn't going to have you come here today," Lin Suo Merlin spoke first, his eyes full of mockery. "But you're so mind-numbingly stupid, it's just—"

He drew the sword at his waist and stabbed it straight through Tansen Meilin's palm.

Agonizing pain shot through him, but Tansen Meilin didn't dare even cry out. He only trembled, prostrate on the ground, displaying his harmlessness to the two men.

"The military academy league—a game you youngsters like to play." Yude Meilin, seated in the main position, finally spoke. His voice was deep and imposing without needing to raise it. "I normally don't watch, but I heard you drew that route map today, so I took a look out of curiosity."

His eyes weren't clouded like those of ordinary old men; they were clear and sharp.

"From the very start, you never intended to win in the team battle, did you."

Given the strength of Tansen Meilin and the Lianda students, even with Xu Lingqu, Shen Shouli, and Jin on Moye's side, the team battle shouldn't have ended like that. At the very least, it should have been evenly matched—not a desperate rout that left only Tansen Meilin alive.

The root cause was that Tansen Meilin hadn't actually been commanding seriously. His head had been full of schemes to play hero in the race map, so how could he have possibly commanded the team battle well?

His little scheme was called out directly by Yude Meilin, frightening him so much he couldn't even speak.

"But I have you to thank," Yude Meilin changed tack. "Xu Lingqu, this girl—she has..."

He lowered his gaze, as if recalling some past event. His words trailed off mid-sentence, and in the end he only shook his head, then turned to ask Lin Suo Merlin, "She's Xu Chengbi's daughter?"

Tansen Meilin was dragged away by the servants, leaving only a pool of blood on the floor. A cleaning robot dutifully came up to wipe it away, erasing the only trace he'd left behind.

He still had to participate in the mech arena and the final Federation-Empire eight-academy competition, so they wouldn't let him die just yet—but it would only be a matter of days.

"An adopted daughter, according to Xu Chengbi, the child of his old subordinate," Lin Suo Merlin replied. "But a man full of lies like him can't be trusted entirely. Should we investigate Xu Lingqu thoroughly?"

"No." Yude Meilin waved a hand. "Xu Chengbi has already been targeted by the mad dog Ulifes keeps. At a time like this, our people can't make a move, or we'll be caught in the crossfire when they purge Xu Chengbi."