Arena Eve
The night before the mech arena competition, Instructor Kai Ang treated all the Moye students to dinner at the most expensive restaurant on Yuheng Star, footing the bill himself.
Moye Military Academy's championship in the league's team competition—those twelve characters were echoing across the galaxy that night. Deep in his cups, he dropped his stoic facade before the students, wiping tears as he sobbed to everyone.
"You little brats, I've waited so long for this day. Why did you come to Moye so late? I've been waiting for you all so painfully." Instructor Kai Ang had completely shed the imposing demeanor of the chief instructor from their first meeting. He embraced every Moye student in turn. When it came to Xu Lingqu, Instructor Chen held back the drunken man.
Vice Principal Su Li shot him a look of disdain. "You still have the arena tomorrow. I'll take them back."
Xu Lingqu, Shen Shouli, Liu Zheng, Jin, and Xu Xiqin still had to compete in tomorrow's mech dueling arena, so it wasn't appropriate for them to stay out too late. Su Li took them back to base early in a separate aircraft.
When they arrived, Su Li called Xu Lingqu aside.
"Tomorrow, you..." She still remembered the confusion she'd felt in the vice principal's office at Moye Military Academy when Xu Lingqu had insisted on participating in the mech arena. Back then, Xu Lingqu's answer had been:
"I'm going to lead them to victory."
At the time, Su Li hadn't understood how Xu Lingqu, with only a B-level rating, could have the confidence to say such a thing. But as she watched one team match after another, those words had grown heavier and heavier in her heart.
Su Li had a premonition that something significant would happen to Xu Lingqu tomorrow, but she couldn't articulate what it might be. So she could only say vaguely to Xu Lingqu, "I wish you all the best tomorrow."
The evening breeze stirred Xu Lingqu's hair. She nodded. "I will."
On the official opening day of the mech dueling arena, the Empire's hundred participating students arrived at the venue early in the morning, led by Yun Zhongxiao.
The competition was still held in the arena, but no tickets were sold to the public. The seats were reserved for the non-participating cadets from the Empire's eight military academies.
Sky Network hadn't suddenly grown a conscience and stopped selling tickets, though. They'd simply shifted to selling virtual auditorium seats inside the arena instead—there were far more of those than in the real venue, letting them rake in even more money.
There was also a special reason for today: three Imperial generals would be in attendance—General Wan, General Xu, and General Shen—along with several lieutenant generals. Given their identities, the Imperial Military had directly instructed Sky Network not to let ordinary spectators into the venue.
Inside the arena, a hundred competition cocoons awaited the participating students to link in. Yun Zhongxiao looked at the hundred students of the Empire before her and repeated her instructions: "The arena uses replicated mechs, which require extremely high mental connection, so the pain feedback is set to one hundred percent. Don't try to overstep your mech's rank here. Also, remember the unwritten rules of the arena: don't attack your opponent's cockpit, and protect your own."
Natata had mentioned the matter of mech cockpits to Xu Lingqu before. In a real interstellar battlefield, attacking the cockpit for a one-hit kill was certainly the preferred approach, but in a sparring-focused arena, everyone tacitly agreed not to target the cockpit.
Because under Sky Network's mech arena rules, when two mechs fight, a win is determined once the opponent's mech sustains a certain level of damage—it doesn't have to go to the death.
Moreover, with pain feedback at one hundred percent, destroying someone's cockpit would inflict pain equivalent to a real death, and the victim would even risk mental damage in reality.
"The arena isn't the Federation's strong suit. Last year, we won with three students remaining. But this year, we have fewer S-level students than the Federation—we have twelve, they have fifteen. Oh, no." Yun Zhongxiao paused mid-sentence, her expression turning strange. "The Federation just notified us that Tansen Meilin withdrew, and an A+ student was brought in as a substitute. So it's twelve of us against fourteen of the Federation."
Tansen Meilin's withdrawal was sudden, catching not only the Empire off guard but also the Merlin Family back in the Federation.
They had originally planned to deal with him after he finished the arena and the final eight-school battle. These past few days, Tansen Meilin had been "resting" at the Merlin estate on a planet owned exclusively by the Merlin Family in the Federation.
A servant of the Merlin Family had gone to fetch him at dawn to set off for the Federation's competition venue, only to find Tansen Meilin's corpse.
He had killed himself. After watching the final match between Moye and Qingjun, he had dismantled parts from a household robot and used them to end his own life.
The vast Merlin estate, yet the room belonging to Tansen Meilin was very small—barely enough to fit a bed and a desk. And so, the final lament he left for this world sat on that desk.
"My life has been that of a gaudily dressed sewer rat. There were so few things I could decide, but at least I could decide my own death."
When Linsuo Meilin heard the servant's report, he merely furrowed his brows slightly. "Tch. Now I have to file a leave request for him for the arena and the final eight-school battle. What a hassle."
The last rebellion of Tansen Meilin's life ultimately bought him nothing more than having Linsuo Meilin file his withdrawal from the arena and the eight-school battle, forcing a Lianda instructor to find a substitute at the last minute.
In the end, he was nothing but a defective consumable who destroyed himself, and his master swept away his corpse like trash. Tomorrow, a new consumable would be born in the household.
The only place "mourning" his absence was, ironically, inside the Imperial arena venue right now.
Ye Yu was a little disappointed. "I wanted to face him and take revenge for the dirty tricks he pulled in the Lianda and Cimei team matches."
The grudge between Cimei Academy and Tansen Meilin should have been settled by Cimei's own students. Ye Yu had been waiting for this day for a long time, but Tansen Meilin hadn't shown up.
For her, it was a real pity.
"Regardless, having one fewer S-level opponent is good news." Yun Zhongxiao ended the topic. "Everyone, enter your cocoons. The competition is about to begin."
The students of the Imperial academies all linked into their competition cocoons simultaneously.
What appeared before their eyes was a colossal arena like an ancient Roman Colosseum. The venue was more than ten times larger than the league's arena. On such a vast fighting stage, a person looked like a green bean. This was a battlefield for mechs.
As soon as the Imperial students entered, they were greeted by deafening cheers from the spectator stands on the Empire's side. The number of spectators was also more than ten times what the real venue held. Sky Network was raking in money on league tickets.
But even so, someone had managed to squeeze some money back out of that black-hearted merchant's pockets.
Xu Lingqu had come in wearing her ring, and Liu Ming, linked in alongside her, successfully sneaked through without paying and blended into the crowd.
Gatu, the CEO of Sky Network, was hosting this arena. He appeared on the fighting stage first and bowed to the audience.
Sky Network's traffic had exploded this season, and many uninformed people credited Gatu for the success. He had taken the opportunity to raise the issue of shares with the board multiple times, and the board's answer was to give unified rewards after the league ended.
Jia Xianglan's loss in the team finals hadn't discouraged Gatu. He'd always had Jia Xianglan focus his efforts on the mech arena.
He believed that as long as Jia Xianglan performed well in the arena, all previous mistakes could be wiped clean.