Encircling the Giant Bear
Offstage, after witnessing KID Lin Yao's decisive and ruthless encirclement and killing, the expressions of several mecha base leaders didn't look too good.
In the rest area, the Black Crow and the personnel from the BZZL1 base shifted their focus to the KID's rest area in the distance, especially the Black Crow. They had conducted a comprehensive investigation file on KID's mecha pilots during the pre-match preparation.
In the knockout stage to the top 32, KID's strategy was consistently similar to the Black Crow's, focusing on multiple long-range cooperative operations. The Black Crow's strategic emphasis was specifically against KID's three long-range strategies. Regarding KID's frontline, they were more vigilant against the stealthy Ji Qingfeng than Lin Yao. They never expected KID to use such a weapon.
"Leave the space to the Guardian for use. This completely enclosed space approach shows KID's excessive confidence in the Guardian's combat capabilities." The coach of the Black Crow frowned, looking at it. A completely enclosed space was not an advantageous tactic.
That special spatial staff, aside from sealing off space, had no other control effects.
Creating a 1v1 combat space, if they sealed an opponent with stronger combat abilities than their own, Lin Yao would find it challenging, and he might even face counterattacks.
But KID not only designed such an unimaginable weapon but also entrusted the weapon to the Guardian for use. This showed their high level of trust in the Guardian. The Black Crow's operational system leaned towards flexibility and freedom. If their long-range mechas were sealed by Lin Yao's space, they would easily fall into a passive situation.
Most importantly, inside the polluted zone, apart from the Giant Bear team, the other two teams had no idea that KID's Guardian had such a weapon.
.....
Inside the polluted zone, the Giant Bear's medic mecha didn't stay in one place. When he realized that his teammates were beyond salvation, he had already predicted the retreat route and immediately evacuated. While evacuating, he contacted the Giant Bear's command.
Damn, it was unbelievable. KID gave such a rare ability crystal to a Guardian equipped with a weapon. Not only that, the crystal was mounted on a staff. Who could predict that this staff had spatial attributes, and to make matters worse, they foresaw it so early on? They shouldn't have rushed over to collect KID's Guardian's heads with their teammates.
"Why are you running!" Lin Yao had just retracted his staff and saw the Giant Bear's medic mecha fleeing in the opposite direction.
[Giant Bear Medic is running.]
[Can he not run? Teammates are done, and he's sure to run if he realizes there's no hope for his teammates.]
[Stay and get beaten up? KID's Guardian is simply a freak. Unless it's a 1v1 against the Guardian, I don't think anyone can sanction him in that space.]
Everyone in the live broadcast room witnessed KID's Guardian violently eliminate the Giant Bear's artillery. Now, everyone looking at the face of that Guardian mecha felt something was off. Previously, they only knew that KID's Guardian didn't have a high presence, and they knew he had a title of a "real man," but they didn't expect him to have such a violent and decisive operation in a 1v1 against other mechas.
[Damn, Yao is too strong.]
[He's like killing whoever stands in his way. Even facing two opponents, he doesn't seem afraid at all.]
"KID's little guy is too strong." The Gale's artillery mecha saw the oppressive operation just now and felt his scalp go numb from a personal perspective. "If I were trapped in that space, even if no one assisted, I'd probably be killed too. This thing even has an anti-control. This kind of space can't be considered a controlled weapon."
"This is a tailor-made weapon..." Zhao Lejie thought of his own shield. "Before this, who knew that Lin Yao's staff could be handled as smoothly as a knife, and he was using staff techniques just now? The operation was clearly not random; being able to chain attacks is impressive."
Qi Sicheng said, "Lin Yao has an S-class physique. Don't underestimate his stamina."
Moreover, it wasn't entirely a weapon designed by Yuan. He knew that the crystal on the sand lizard was a dual-attribute crystal with wind and earth attributes, meaning that the enhanced attribute of that spatial weapon leaned towards the wind attribute. It wasn't a sturdy and sharp melee weapon with a metallic property.
In Qi Sicheng's perception, only You Su in KID could push the wind attribute attack gun to its extreme.
And now, there was another Guardian mecha proficient in wind attributes. Relying solely on brute force and staff techniques, Lin Yao maximized the effectiveness of the weapon to 100%.
When the Giant Bear's medic mecha ran in the opposite direction, Lin Yao immediately rushed after him.
His aggressive combat style stirred up the entire live broadcast room. They watched excitedly as he chased the Giant Bear's medic mecha. However, when they saw the Giant Bear's medic mecha turn off its searchlight and crawl towards the cave above, they were puzzled.
"Giant Bear Medic went up, but the Guardian's movement speed is very fast. As long as Yao can catch up to him, he can—" The commentator's words weren't finished when they saw, in the live broadcast perspective, Yao followed the Giant Bear's medic mecha, circled around twice, and finally walked in the opposite direction from where the Giant Bear's medic mecha fled???
The commentator said, "KID's Guardian seems to have gone the wrong way."
[??? The medic facility is in the cave diagonally above him!]
[Went the wrong way!]
KID's Guardian seemed to have not anticipated that he went the wrong way. He flew around the cave for a long time, only to return to the original position. The Giant Bear's medic mecha had already taken this opportunity to escape without even leaving a trace.
[I suddenly remembered that Yao didn't seem to move much from the beginning...]
[I've observed it; he seems to be a road idiot...?]
The live broadcast room was filled with question marks.
Gu Xiaotian looked at the live broadcast room and curiously asked, "Jiang Ge, was Lin Yao also a road idiot before?"
Shen Xingtang said bluntly, "I don't know. He has never been lost while navigating before."
Jiāng Sīmiǎo fell silent. "..."
If he had known that Lin Yao was a road idiot, he should have given Lin Yao devilish training before the competition began.
The excitement of the audience was instantly dampened, and the commentator awkwardly said, "It seems that KID's Guardian couldn't seize the opportunity. The Giant Bear Medic has already escaped the danger zone, and now he is moving towards the positions of other mechas in the Giant Bear team."
The Giant Bear Medic didn't expect to escape KID's Guardian pursuit so easily. He immediately regrouped with other mechas from his team.
Inside KID's internal communication, Lin Yao couldn't find anyone. After circling around, he found himself lost again and exclaimed, "I lost track of that medic mecha!"
"No problem! I'm here to help!" Ji Qingfeng jumped down from a cave without hesitation and moved in a certain direction.
While Ji Qingfeng was changing direction, the directions of the other KID mechas also changed simultaneously. Their general direction was towards Lin Yao's location, but each mecha had a different path.
You Su, who was furthest from Lin Yao's location, said, "Is the plan ready?"
"Ready," Ying Chenlin responded, "I've marked the routes for you; you can block them now."
In KID's internal communication, a three-dimensional map of the lower half of the maze, including its complex terrain, was successfully drawn. Most of the maze's intricate paths within the area where KID was located were marked, utilizing the pollutants.
Ying Chenlin focused on the coordinates of the other KID mechas, connected them to Lin Yao using their coordinates, and marked the correct paths in green. There were multiple routes to prevent the medic mecha from escaping.
The Giant Bear's two mechas ambushing KID thought it would be easy to retreat, but Ying Chenlin observed the areas on the map with frequent energy signals after layering them. After confirming several paths, he said, "Huo Ge, take Route A, Qingfeng, maintain your current path, Lu Xi, switch to the third line, You Ge, take Route B."
After confirming the positions, he began to move. "The Giant Bear's medic mecha probably wants to find teammates. Let's not let him escape."
Huo Yan said, "The other mechas from the Giant Bear should be vigilant about us. They will try to protect the medic mecha."
Upon hearing Ying Chenlin's words, You Su changed direction, lowered the output frequency of the thrusters, and said, "Then block them all and dismantle them one by one."
In the darkness, mechas from various squads were in action.
The audience in the live broadcast room initially thought that the Giant Bear Medic had been let go. However, after a while, they suddenly noticed that KID's other mechas were all moving towards the Giant Bear Medic. This included Sink, who had been at the bottom of the maze all this time, and was now also in action.
[Wait a minute? Didn't Sink draw routes using energy signals before?]
[Could they be planning to block people based on the maze route?]
[It's difficult to block. There are so many paths in the maze, and with five mechas, they can cover at most five directions. Blocking the Giant Bear's mechas won't be easy.]
People familiar with the maze knew that to chase someone in the maze, you first needed to determine the position of the moving target. This required two conditions: a map of the maze routes and the coordinates of the Giant Bear Medic's movement.
They knew KID might have summarized the route map, but how could they determine the coordinates of the Giant Bear Medic!?
People from all mecha bases were also paying attention to this match. If KID wanted to block someone, how would they do it?
While the live broadcast audience was conducting theoretical analysis, KID's actions inside the arena were faster than their theories.
Because they saw that the coordinates of the Giant Bear Medic coincided with Ji Qingfeng's coordinates.
[Can they block this way?]
[It seems possible?]
[Damn, how did Qingfeng get to that position!?]
In the darkness, sounds and light sources are more easily amplified.
The Giant Bear Medic, after escaping a dangerous situation, initially moved forward based on the positions of his teammates. Before he could find his teammates, he unexpectedly entered KID's encirclement.
He spotted Ji Qingfeng immediately and changed direction, "Damn, I encountered other KID mechas."
"Is it just one mecha?" The Giant Bear team commander frowned slightly and calmly said, "You're in the maze; change direction and engage him. We'll come over to support you immediately."
Ji Qingfeng couldn't let someone run away after coming all this way. He immediately increased the thruster output. "Brother, since you're here, why run!"
Hearing the horn behind him, the Giant Bear Medic shivered, seemingly not expecting someone to use a horn in the maze.
"People following me should be KID's stealth." The Giant Bear Medic ran while assessing the situation, reporting intelligence to his team, "His movement speed is fast, and currently, it seems like there's only one mecha."
Stealth is the mecha with the highest win rate in single-person PK. With no attack power, it is easy to fall into the opponent's rhythm.
The maze cave is complex, with several forks at each entrance.
As long as he takes enough paths, he can shake off the mecha behind him, just like Lin Yao did with KID's Guardian. However, the Giant Bear Medic thought so, but the stealth mecha behind him stuck to him like glue. The mecha was openly using its searchlight, fearing that the whole world wouldn't know it was chasing someone. While running, it even held a restraining lock in hand, clearly aiming to attach it to him.
The Giant Bear Medic circled around, and the mecha followed him in circles.
The Giant Bear Medic Mecha pilot was sweating. It seemed like the mecha was equipped with a radar targeting system, sticking to him wherever he went. "Captain, I can't shake him off."
The Giant Bear Commander said, "Hold on, we're coming soon."
Is that a matter of holding on!? The Giant Bear Medic had already pushed the thrusters to the maximum. As he was about to turn into the next fork, KID's stealth mecha suddenly disappeared from behind him. He was slightly stunned, "It seems like he's gone—"
[Why does this scene feel so familiar?]
[Damn, Qingfeng's restraining lock... it seems to be very accurate.]
"Chasing battle between Giant Bear Medic and KID has occurred—" The commentator's voice excitedly said, but at the moment when Ji Qingfeng disappeared, he suddenly froze, "The medic mecha entered a fork, and the stealth mecha disappeared!?"
Just as the words were not finished, a dazzling light suddenly appeared in the live broadcast room and in front of everyone in the Giant Bear Medic team. In the midst of the glaring searchlights, the restraining lock from KID's stealth mecha pierced through the white light and firmly latched onto the Giant Bear Medic, pulling the mecha in front of it with force.
Everyone in the live broadcast room was stunned to see this scene. They thought the Giant Bear Medic was about to escape, but unexpectedly, KID's stealth mecha had taken a detour and ambushed the Giant Bear Medic!
"Why bother, brother? This cave is only this big, no matter where you run, you'll end up in my hands." Ji Qingfeng, sounding like a simple fisherman casting a net, chuckled as he pulled the restrained Giant Bear Medic in front of him. "Just don't run away."
Giant Bear Medic: "..."
Live broadcast room: "..."
[Isn't it??? Didn't they say there were no coordinates for the medic mecha's movement?]
[I don't understand!? How did Qingfeng get in front of the medic mecha?]
Outside the arena, the Gale team stopped when they saw this.
If KID's stealth accidentally encountered the Giant Bear Medic, then ambushing and capturing him like this would require determining the medic mecha's coordinates, right? KID at most has the route; how did they determine the direction in which the Giant Bear Medic would run!?
Qi Sicheng, while looking at the map constructed by the coaching team on the side, said, "KID indeed doesn't have the movement coordinates of the Giant Bear Medic mecha, but they are judging the direction of the Giant Bear Medic's movement."
"Movement direction!?" Zhao Lejie asked puzzled, "Can that be judged!?"
"It can. Sink is still using the Night Bats." Qi Sicheng looked at the positions of the other KID mechas, saying with admiration, "And KID is not just blocking the Giant Bear Medic; they are using the medic mecha as bait to lure out the other mechas of the Giant Bear team."
Night Bats, in addition to being able to draw routes, also have another use. The energy reactions from the energy guns on the Night Bats can last for several hours at least, and now these bats, scattered around, all have energy reactions.
Night Bats, a form of pollution, use ultrasonic echoes to determine the positions of prey and obstacles. Obstacles like caves have no attraction for them, but the movement and noise brought by a moving mecha would cause these bats to react to some extent.
In other words, by combining Lin Yao's position with the possible escape routes of the Giant Bear Medic, the locations where Night Bats gather more energy reactions are likely to have traces of mechas with searchlights or thruster marks.
Based on the coverage area of these Night Bats, it is possible to determine which areas have mecha traces.
They couldn't determine the coordinates, but they could determine the direction in which the Giant Bear Medic was moving. For KID, which had mastered the maze routes, knowing the direction of the Giant Bear Medic's escape, surrounding it with multiple mechas, and the Giant Bear Medic being unaware of this fact, the more he increased his energy to escape, the more obvious he became in KID's field of vision.
Qi Sicheng became more and more alarmed as he watched, then looked at the moving medic mecha in the live broadcast's perspective, becoming more vigilant.
The Giant Bear team would definitely come to rescue the medic mecha. Once they arrived, they would fall completely into KID's trap.
In the live broadcast room, everyone saw the Giant Bear Medic being pulled into a dead end by Ji Qingfeng.
In the gap where Ji Qingfeng restrained him again, the Giant Bear Medic immediately activated his protective shield to defend himself. The protective shield had anti-control effects, and once activated, it could resist the control of Ji Qingfeng's restraining lock.
[Giant Bear Medic is really good!]
[His reaction is extraordinary, but he can't escape!]
The Giant Bear Medic immediately called out, "Captain, I'm currently barely holding out against KID's stealth."
The Giant Bear team commander said, "Hold on, we're coming to rescue you."
Ji Qingfeng's restraining lock was resisted for a moment, but he also blocked the Giant Bear Medic in front of him, trapping the medic mecha in a dead end. "No problem, brother. I can't control you, and with your shield up, you can't run away from me."
"But you can't move me either." The Giant Bear Medic, pulled close by the stealth mecha, faced the opponent carrying a restraining lock for control and a short-bladed weapon for close-range attacks. Even if he had a shield and wind vortex bullets to resist Ji Qingfeng's control, he couldn't escape.
Ji Qingfeng smiled, "I never intended to control you. If you get eliminated by me, what will happen if your teammates don't come to rescue you?"
He noticed the silence of the Giant Bear Medic and continued, "Do you think I'm the only one blocking you?"
Giant Bear Medic was stunned, "What do you mean!?"
[What do you mean!?]
[Damn, look at the positions of the other KID mechas.]
At this moment, several flying KID mechas in the dark cave suddenly changed direction. Following the path the Giant Bear Medic had taken, they quickly locked onto other movements in the darkness, descending and circling around. The instructions were very clear: "Huo Ge, go down!"
The Giant Bear team's control mecha and tank mecha, advancing toward the Giant Bear Medic's position, suddenly received an impact from the front. KID's tank mecha, which they didn't know when had appeared in front of them, swung an empty vibration blade towards the two Giant Bear mechas.
The Giant Bear control mecha in front of Huo Yan was knocked away by Huo Yan, and the Giant Bear tank reacted quickly, quickly raising its shield to block in front of its teammate. "What's going on!?"
How could KID's mecha be here!?
The leader of the Giant Bear team, who was in the control mecha, calmly said, "There's only one tank. We don't have time to waste here. Let's go save the person."
Seeing the tank raising its shield, Huo Yan also raised his shield in front of them, boldly indicating that this path was impassable.
The Giant Bear team leader, seeing this without panic, immediately led his teammates to retreat. In the next second, a control mecha from the fork position flew out. KID's control mecha, Lu Xi, fired the water cannon several times at the shield of the Giant Bear tank. She didn't control the Giant Bear mecha but blocked their path to rescue the medic mecha.
Two against two, both control and tank mechas, such a confrontation was too consuming for both sides.
"KID's tank and control."
The Giant Bear team leader had to give up this route and said, "Withdraw! Find another way."
Ying Chenlin, still in flight, freely maneuvered the entire mecha in the cave. He noticed the coordinates of Huo Yan and Lu Xi's stay, locked onto the positions of the two Giant Bear mechas, and calmly said, "Lu Xi, find a way to force them toward the left upper corner fork."
Lu Xi replied, "Understood."
Just a moment ago in the live broadcast room, they saw that KID's stealth had blocked the Giant Bear's medic mecha, and the next moment, they witnessed a narrow encounter between KID's two mechas and the mechas coming to rescue from the Giant Bear. While other teams had yet to engage in battle, Black Crow was the first to find a searchlight point, and the battle between KID and the Giant Bear unfolded instantly.
Lu Xi saw the direction of the retreat and said, "They're gone, upper left corner."
Ying Chenlin: "Continue to force them back."
[My God, KID is blocking the Giant Bear's mechas!]
[Damn, they're not trying to wipe out all three Giant Bear mechas at once, are they?!]
The Giant Bear team was naturally not afraid of being surrounded by KID's two mechas. The maze had many cave passages, and while KID's two mechas could block two positions, they couldn't block other exits. Seeing KID's control mecha approaching with a water cannon, they immediately chose a different path and retreated to the safe rear upper area.
Everyone in the live broadcast room watched as KID and the Giant Bear's mechas chased each other in the cave. At this moment, they suddenly noticed a coordinate that had always been the farthest from the battle circle had appeared.
[Wait a minute!]
[Trace!]
In the chaotic screen, the special three-dimensional map marked the direction of teammates. It indicated that Lu Xi and Huo Yan's coordinates were approaching a certain path. They saw the two people's positions leap into the spacious straight cave. Ying Chenlin's gaze locked onto the coordinates at the other end of the straight path and said, "The person has been sent to your location."
Ying Chenlin: "Brother You?"
The man grunted, "Got it."
The red-and-white artillery mecha entered the clear cave passage in the darkness. His sniper cannon quickly charged as he advanced. The distant light got closer and closer. Just as a searchlight swept by and spoke, his sniper cannon aimed at the control mecha of the Giant Bear.
The Giant Bear team leader had just escaped to the clear passage. Seeing that Lu Xi didn't follow, he retracted the protective shield. "Don't be held back by KID's people."
However, when their two mechas thought they had escaped from KID's encirclement, they lifted their heads and were met with a sniper cannon right in front of them. The red-and-white mecha was right above them, and the powerful sniper cannon was aimed at them.
Thinking of escaping? Since you've come, don't think about leaving.
The Giant Bear team leader was startled, "Raise the shield!"
In the cockpit, You Su had an expressionless face. The sniper cannon in his hand suddenly fired.
The close-range bombardment illuminated the cave with flames, and the two mechas of the Giant Bear team were blasted down.