Earn Big
On the sandy ruins, a group of golden scorpions chased after the mechas flying ahead.
Just as the mechas were about to pull away, the artillery mecha and the guardian mecha in front suddenly stopped at a certain moment. Huo Yan, positioned at the rear, immediately asked when he saw the guardian mecha slowing down, "What's wrong? Running out of energy?"
[Mecha KID-14258 invites you to join the team channel communication.]
Huo Yan quickly agreed, and as soon as he entered, he heard Ying Chenlin's concise request on the communication channel, "Huo Ge, lend a hand."
Lend a hand? In the urgent situation, there was no time for lengthy discussions among the team members. Lu Xi, who entered the channel without fully understanding the situation, only saw the guardian mecha firing a shot at the scorpions below in the next second. The continuous paralysis effect slowed down the movements of the scorpions.
Without hesitation, Huo Yan readily agreed, "Sure, what do you want us to do? Both of us have only 40% energy left, and there's no spare energy."
Ying Chenlin was about to explain but unexpectedly heard Huo Yan's response and changed his mind, saying, "Collect some materials from the scorpions."
Huo Yan immediately stopped the mecha, very cooperative, "How can I help?"
If they were going to lend a hand, they needed to do it promptly. Huo Yan quickly moved to the front of the artillery and guardian mechas without any hesitation.
After several mechas slowed down, the scorpions below gathered even more closely.
To deal with scorpions in an energy-depleted situation, they had to focus their energy on precision. Ying Chenlin was a solo mecha pilot, requiring versatility and omniscience in the solo field. In the arena without teammates, everything needed to be judged and solved by him alone.
Solo mechas, unlike mechas optimized for team battles, didn't intentionally enhance a specific performance while weakening defense. The basic attributes of solo mechas were evenly developed, with no excessively outstanding attack capabilities but the ability for sustained combat.
Transitioning from solo to team battles primarily involved changing perspectives and assigning tasks to multiple individuals.
Ying Chenlin calculated the speed of energy consumption, confirming the feasibility of the target method.
"Artillery, fly high at the designated coordinates, and tank, protect them." Ying Chenlin surveyed the surroundings, "Control mechas, follow me. We need to gather all the scorpions together first."
"No problem." Huo Yan promptly flew to the side of the artillery mecha, observing the situation below. "But there are too many scorpions. Do you have enough energy?"
Among the three mechas, the artillery mecha had the highest attack capability, but it faced a problem. The attack program of the artillery mecha concentrated energy at a specific point for shooting. Therefore, the attack range of the artillery was limited.
He had just noticed that the remaining energy of the artillery was only around 50%.
The method of individually breaking through was too wasteful of energy. They might not finish dealing with the scorpions before losing most of their energy.
Ying Chenlin: "Gathering them together is sufficient."
Huo Yan: "Gathering?"
Lu Xi followed behind Ying Chenlin, only to see him swiftly enter the pile of scorpions. With a single sweep of the light knife, he picked up a scorpion. "Set your weapon output to the lowest, increase the frequency, and you take over."
Take over? Lu Xi hadn't fully understood when, in the next moment, he saw Ying Chenlin pick up a scorpion to her position. She instinctively used a shot from the water cannon.
The bursting sticky water restrained the scorpion, and immediately afterward, another scorpion was picked up. The movements of the guardian mecha were very fluent. He only used the left-hand weapon, the light knife, but precisely controlled the facing of each scorpion.
Lu Xi was slightly surprised and immediately took over, "Come again!"
The so-called gathering meant utilizing the cooperation between mechas to concentrate scorpions at a fixed coordinate. The guardian mecha had to gather pollutants in a fixed position and calculate the hit range when the artillery mecha fired, ensuring that pollutants were all within the coordinates. This seemingly simple task required meticulous operation.
As for Huo Yan's perspective, he saw within his protective range, the artillery mecha's energy cannon had completed charging. When the scorpions controlled by the guardian and control mechas accumulated to a certain number, it precisely locked the heap of scorpions, and with a thunderous blast, all the scorpions within the range were hit at once.
"Interesting, you can play like this too!" Huo Yan suddenly brightened up.
Pollutants were attracted to mechas, but they didn't necessarily gather within the hit range. The task of the guardian and control mechas was to bring the scorpions together in the hit range of the artillery, enabling the artillery to hit the maximum number of scorpions without wasting excess energy.
Each shot was utilized to the extreme, without the slightest waste of energy.
This kind of operation required collaboration from multiple parties. If only the artillery and guardian mechas were involved, the loop operation of control + output was easily broken in a fast-paced situation. The artillery might not accurately shoot amidst the siege of so many scorpions, and the guardian couldn't gather so many pollutants in one go.
That's why they needed to lend a hand.
But this challenge was a bit high. Firstly, the guardian mecha had to gather pollutants at fixed coordinates and calculate the hit range when the artillery mecha's energy cannon struck, ensuring that pollutants were within the coordinates. This apparently simple task required meticulous operation.
The two mecha pilots who had recently joined their base weren't bad!
Ying Chenlin couldn't use his right hand conveniently. Originally, he and You Su were the only ones without much confidence. He wasn't sure if he could maintain his state until later.
But with Huo Yan and Lu Xi, it was different.
Tank mechas naturally had the ability to protect the back row, providing a stable shooting environment for the artillery mecha and protecting them from threats.
And control mechas were the most complete in terms of control among the five types of mechas in team battles. These mechas typically carried two types of control weapons because of their basic characteristics. Although the attack capability of control mechas was generally lower, their high energy consumption and rapid attack frequency allowed them to seamlessly connect control within 3 seconds in a fast-paced situation.
Lu Xi carried water cannons and electromagnetic guns as weapons.
One was for group deceleration and immobilization, and the other caused a range paralysis, perfectly compensating for his lack of control.
"We've been annoyed by these scorpions for a long time. But both Lu Xi and I don't have much combat power. When we went out to search for mechas these days, we were always entangled by them. It takes some effort to get rid of them," Huo Yan protected You Su while casually picking up a few scorpions, "It would be great if we could solve them. This group always moves together."
"The area near the tall tower is quite strange. The pollutants that were originally lurking seem to be stimulated by something, going crazy and constantly attacking the mecha pilots," Lu Xi's voice was somewhat weak, unlike Huo Yan's loud voice. "Their movements are peculiar, and some non-colonial pollutants have also gathered together."
"Subordination." You Su explained at this moment, "There is also a hierarchical stratification among pollutants. Advanced pollutants can interfere with the actions of lower-level pollutants. In this pollution zone with a pollution value above 5000, situations where pollutants drive lower-level pollutants often occur."
But being able to control all the pollutants in this entire nearby area at once is rare. The pollutants at this level probably have a pollution value of more than 6800.
Ying Chenlin suddenly thought of something and asked, "Since you can be near the tall tower, why not go in and restore the base station program?"
At this point, Huo Yan and Lu Xi fell silent and explained after a while.
"It's not that we don't want to go in; it's that we simply can't get in," Huo Yan said. "Haven't you noticed there are many low-level pollutants around here? There are even more outside the tower. As soon as they detect our traces, they immediately chase after us, and the tower is almost surrounded by them."
Huo Yan's guardian mecha squad entered base station C after restoring two base stations. When they were about to approach the base station tower, they were attacked by pollutants, and the strange environment caused them to lose contact with the outside world. Strong winds and quicksand dispersed multiple mecha pilots.
The base station tower was protected by defense systems, and the periphery was full of low-level pollutants. After losing contact with the core output mecha pilots, they attempted to break through the defense of the tower but found that the magnetic field around the base station tower was very strange. It even affected some of the mecha functions.
In addition, some mecha pilots had become separated. Among the few mecha pilots, there were mainly tank and control mechas. With their current lineup, the core output positions were insufficient for a forced breakthrough. While these pollutants were not difficult to deal with individually, their large numbers and group actions posed a challenge. Without finding a suitable solution, rash action would only deplete the energy of their own mechas, making the situation more difficult.
That's why they came out to search for other missing mecha pilots and, incidentally, try to find the missing rescue team that had been silent for a long time.
"Base station C is the core facility of pollutants on Tianyu Star. Several secondary defense zones are set up from near to far around it. Our mecha squad can only rest in the defense zone closest to the base station after the last restoration." Huo Yan continued, "But we recently received news that some mecha pilots seem to be in another secondary defense zone. So Yu Li and I came out to find them."
Compared to Huo Yan, Lu Xi's voice was slightly weaker. "We just found out that the quicksand seems to have disappeared. The situation now is a bit better than before, and finding people might be smoother."
Finding people is not that simple... Even if there is no quicksand, there is still occasional strong winds.
Many mecha pilots have entered, but so far, Ying Chenlin has only encountered Zhao Lejie and Huo Yan's group.
The really powerful ones are the mecha pilots of Gale and YDS, but until now, they haven't encountered anyone. It seems that the environment of the pollution zone has scattered many mechas. It's estimated that the personnel are scattered in the endless sandy area around the base station tower. Adding the lurking S-level Century Orchid and another unknown pollutant...
Ying Chenlin: "It seems like they consider this area as their hunting ground."
The pollutants dispersed the incoming mecha pilots and then broke through one by one.
"About right," Huo Yan said. "But the situation is too difficult to handle, and the energy is not enough."
Energy? Ying Chenlin suddenly thought of something, and his gaze shifted to the internal data of the pollution zone.
Several people were skillfully dealing with the remaining scorpions, becoming more proficient after several rounds of cooperation.
"These things are useless to us," Theo complained. "My metal nerves don't need this enhancement."
You Su locked onto the coordinates through the targeting scope and fired a shot, saying, "Oh? Don't want precision?"
Theo felt that there was no need to enhance the poison resistance of artillery mechas. Instead of increasing this load on metal nerves, it would be better to use it to enhance functionality. "But if you can enhance precision, it's not bad."
"But do we have enough energy?" Theo reminded, "You Su, if you blast them, your energy will be reduced to only 30%."
You Su said, "If it's not enough, there's still you, right?"
"I can't start... Wait a minute!" Theo exclaimed, "I've worked hard to accumulate energy, and you want to take it away to use for this A-level mecha?"
At this moment, Huo Yan asked on the channel, "Artillery, do you have enough energy?"
You Su glanced at the virtual instrument panel. The accuracy was controlled well, and it didn't require too much energy. He was about to reply when he suddenly heard a sizzling sound on the communication channel, followed by a sporadic and familiar voice.
Ji Qingfeng's voice fluctuated between high and low: "Brother Yu... Chenlin!... Can you hear me!?"
"This voice?" Huo Yan recognized it, "Da Feng!"
As the distance shortened, Ji Qingfeng's voice became clear: "Damn, isn't this Old Huo's voice! We're coming over right away."
Huo Yan enthusiastically said, "Sure, where are you?"
Suddenly, Lu Xi said, "Look at the 9 o'clock direction."
Ying Chenlin lifted the scorpions, looked in the direction indicated by Lu Xi, and vaguely saw the figures of several mechas.
But besides the mechas, there was also a dense black shadow behind the mechas, as if something was surging.
Ji Qingfeng's voice became clear: "Great, save us quickly."
Three mechas flew ahead, followed by a large group of scorpions, an endless number.
The people who were dealing with scorpions saw the endless number of scorpions behind Ji Qingfeng's three people. The movements of dealing with materials stopped for a moment.
Lu Xi: "So many."
Huo Yan looked up: "Indeed."
Ying Chenlin pondered: "It seems that there are more materials again."
Looking at this situation, Theo, inside the cockpit, guarded his energy bar a bit fearfully: "You Su, you can't draw energy from me!"
Two groups of scorpions were about to meet again, with three more mechas added to the numbers.
Zhao Lejie thought he was about to be rescued, but when he arrived, he saw a large group of scorpions in front, immediately stopping his mecha, "Damn, are we being ambushed from front and rear!? Did you guys also poke the scorpion's nest!?"
"Scorpion's nest?" Ying Chenlin was puzzled.
Lin Yao honestly said, "When Da Feng and I were digging for materials, we accidentally disturbed them, and they started chasing us."
Zhao Lejie's head was spinning; he thought he would lose his life only to be saved by KID. After being scattered by the strong winds, they crawled out of the sand, barely escaping danger. However, KID and the others insisted on harvesting A-level materials on the side of the road. When they tried to collect, a swarm of scorpions emerged after a single stroke.
Not only did they run all the way, but they also ran into another group of scorpions when they arrived. Their luck was extremely bad.
"Why stop here?" Ji Qingfeng's heart was still pounding. "Why didn't you run?"
Huo Yan then lifted one, saying, "Not running. The new brother said he wanted to collect some scorpion materials."
As two groups of scorpions gathered, Huo Yan deployed a protective shield to shield everyone. Ying Chenlin and Lu Xi's control chains did not stop; they just had more scorpions to deal with. While operating, they also needed to avoid the attacks of the golden scorpions.
"There are more people, and we only have one artillery mecha." Ying Chenlin reassessed the situation. "Zhao Lejie, help out."
Ji Qingfeng, both hesitant and eager to play, said, "Play something so exciting?"
Zhao Lejie was bewildered, "What? Seriously, you guys want to deal with all these scorpions!?"
Before he could finish speaking, an energy cannon from above passed over Zhao Lejie and blasted the sand. It killed a large number of scorpions.
Zhao Lejie then noticed that the sand around them had accumulated the corpses of some scorpions. It seemed like there had been a fierce battle here before.
The scorpions were not difficult to deal with, but their large numbers made it unnecessary to use energy on them.
Zhao Lejie, struggling to resist the scorpions, supporting the protective shield with his meager energy, said, "Are you guys crazy? With so many scorpions, wasting energy on them is not necessary. Moreover, there's an S-level pollutant staring at us. If our energy is exhausted, we'll be lying here waiting to die, and we might not last until rescue arrives."
Lu Xi meekly agreed, "I also think so."
Zhao Lejie, as if finding a lifeline, said, "Look, even the lady thinks so."
Lu Xi added, "But can the energy last a bit longer?"
Zhao Lejie: "?"
If it were the initial group of scorpions, they would have dealt with them effortlessly. However, the group Ji Qingfeng brought over was obviously larger than before. The two groups of scorpions combined had a greater number, making it more challenging to precisely control the output and energy cannon coordinates. Dealing with the scorpions in the usual way was no problem, but accounting for energy became the biggest issue.
After contemplating for a while, Huo Yan said, "Clear these scorpions, and our energy might drop to below 20%."
Zhao Lejie, working hard to withstand the scorpions, supporting the heavily burdened protective shield with his meager energy, argued, "We can't contact the outside world, and there's no rescue team bringing new backup energy or mechas. I have a spare energy source on me, but when this energy is used up, we'll really be lying here waiting for death."
Ji Qingfeng asked, "You have a spare energy source; why didn't you use it earlier?"
"Who knew the shield would crack halfway!" Zhao Lejie explained, "Besides, the spare energy is the last supply. Every bit of it cannot be wasted!"
"Backup mechas are available," Lin Yao said at this moment. "Sister Tang instructed us to bring your two mechas over."
Ji Qingfeng added, "Oh right, I still have Old Huo and Xi Mei's S-class mechas here."
The S-class mechas of Huo Yan and Lu Xi were brought over by them.
Zhao Lejie, not understanding KID's thought process, said, "After we exhaust our energy, do you want them to drag us while running? It's not safe to change mechas in the wilderness. Changing mechas means transferring energy!"
Before dealing with the urgent situation, they were equipped with basic supplies. Although there was still one spare energy source, no one anticipated that things would develop to this extent. With the loss of external support, remote control by the management bureau was almost impossible. Losing contact was like losing support, making it impossible to set up temporary supply points.
Continuing, Ying Chenlin said, "I have tools. If I find the energy warehouse, I can operate it."
Zhao Lejie: "!"
Others: "!!!"
Zhao Lejie was shocked, "You can do this!?"
Where did KID find such a skilled person?
Suddenly, You Su remembered that when he pulled the child out, Ying Chenlin still carried a repairman's toolkit. Dealing with energy, a fundamental aspect, was the daily work of repairmen who dealt with mechas.
Lin Yao, concerned, asked, "Can we steal energy from the secondary defense zone?"
The secondary defense zone's energy was enough for them to take?
Ji Qingfeng: "Of course, it's enough for us to recharge ten times."
"To take without asking is called stealing." Zhao Lejie shamelessly pondered and said, "We are here on behalf of the management bureau to carry out a mission; this is called requisition."
After the discussion, everyone looked at the scorpions nearby, and their concerns vanished.
Lin Yao rolled up his sleeves eagerly, "Da Feng, I'll handle the group on the left."
Ji Qingfeng said, "The wind is too strong; even the crystal stones are about to fly away."
Huo Yan cheerfully said, "There's another secondary defense zone over there. If it's not enough here, we can go there and face another group."
Ying Chenlin looked at the strong wind around and then glanced at Zhao Lejie, who was the least busy.
With nothing to do and Huo Yan's tank mecha enough to protect the artillery mecha, Zhao Lejie had no specific role and could only help pick off monsters. Suddenly, he noticed that the nearby guard mecha seemed to have been looking in his direction from the scorpion pile. Perplexed, he asked, "Guard brother, what's wrong?"
"Do you want to find something to do?" Ying Chenlin asked.
Zhao Lejie hesitated. He would have to go with KID's group to steal energy later, so he asked, "What do you need me to do?"
Ying Chenlin responded with an "oh," seemingly waiting for this question. "Help pick up materials."
Zhao Lejie had no choice but to join them. "What materials do you need to deal with? It's better to pick them all up."
"You're silly," Ji Qingfeng said. "With so many scorpions, the mecha storage space won't be enough!"
Zhao Lejie: "?"
Apparently, he was right.
Soon, voices of disdain echoed around them.
"Why, Old Zhao, why are you still picking leftovers?"
"The shell of the scorpion, pick the hardest one. I heard it's valuable."
"Crystals, don't just pick the mutated ones."
Ying Chenlin reminded gently, "Don't forget the poison sacs of the pincers."
"I know." Zhao Lejie mechanically operated. Was he going crazy, or were KID and his group crazy?
---
The sandstorm raged on. Qi Sicheng led the mecha squad to the specific coordinates of the pollutant Hundred-Year Orchid, only to find mostly withered pollutant corpses.
"The Ability Crystals have been taken," YDS's Hu Luobu said, looking at the partially covered traces of the sand, "It seems Vice Captain Zhao has already dealt with Hundred-Year Orchid and left this place."
"There are other mechas with him."
Qi Sicheng observed the surroundings, vaguely able to see the bullet marks of the artillery mecha.
"Captain Qi Sicheng, we searched nearby but didn't find the vice captain!"
The quicksand had disappeared, Hundred-Year Orchid was dead, and the environmental degradation of the pollution zone had not improved.
"Let's go!" Qi Sicheng didn't hesitate, continuing towards the C Tower of the base station.
Before long, a new broadcast appeared on the communication channel.
The mecha pilot reported, "Bad news, Captain Qi Sicheng. We found a large number of dead pollutants!"
In the strong wind, the sand was littered with the bodies of pollutants, each with an unknown cause of death. Half of their bodies were buried in the sand, indicating that they had died some time ago.
Qi Sicheng also flew to the side, frowning deeply. "It's B-grade pollutants, scorpions. How come there are so many?"
"Captain Qi Sicheng, there's more ahead!"
"There's more over here!"
"Captain Qi Sicheng, there's more here!"
With so many dead and everywhere, this situation didn't seem too artificial.
Hu Luobu's expression changed upon hearing this, "Could it be the work of that mysterious pollutant in the pollution zone? I heard our captain say that advanced pollutants hunt for food... with this combat power, it seems very dangerous."
"It seems we need to make a few more preparations. Before we can be sure of the support from the management bureau, our trial and error opportunities are limited, and we shouldn't take too many risks."
Qi Sicheng felt uneasy. "If that's the case, we have to find a way to contact the management bureau."
The situation was still within control for now, but it might not be the case later.
Seeing the multitude of scorpion pollutant bodies scattered around, like locusts passing through, leaving nothing behind, even the crystals at their cores were dug out completely.
Hu Luobu analyzed the situation, "This S-grade guy is too knowledgeable. Even the valuable parts of the scorpions have been cleaned out."
Qi Sicheng flipped the body of a scorpion with his weapon, carrying a bit of suspicion. "The poison sacs of the scorpions are gone too."
"Captain Qi Sicheng, there's another pile of dead pollutants over there."
Upon hearing this, Qi Sicheng and Hu Luobu quickly walked over, only to see a small mountain of scorpion bodies.
Piled up with corpses, some blown away by the wind, the entire scene looked exceptionally messy.
Hu Luobu was secretly shocked. Was this advanced pollutant so ferocious?
And what's with this morbid fascination???
This situation made the surrounding mecha pilots tense. The pollution zone on Tianyu Star was ten times worse than described in the mission. The planned scenario and reality differed too much, and at this rate, their energy would become a problem.
A mecha pilot walked over with concern, "Captain Qi Sicheng, we also detected energy traces of mechas around here... Could Vice Captain be in trouble!"