Ambush of Pollutants
Hu Luobu flew to a high place before remembering something, "Wait! Is Old Zhao still below?"
Everyone looked down and noticed a lively blue figure in the vast white mist.
"You only realize I'm left behind when you hear my voice?! Do you have no conscience?" Zhao Lejie roared as he flew up in his mecha. However, as soon as his propulsion system started, the group of red-eyed pollutants rushed towards him. He didn't even have time to see what the pollutants looked like. While ascending, he collided with the barrier Lin Yao had sealed.
"I forgot to retract my space." Lin Yao said, "No problem, it can help block them for a while."
Zhao Lejie's voice carried a crackling electric sound, "Thanks, thank you."
But now was not the time for chit-chat. As the attention just shifted away from Zhao Lejie, what everyone saw in the white mist was a group of red-eyed creatures with invisible figures. Hastily, he switched to the pollution detection system built into the mecha. Surprisingly, the usually sensitive detection system malfunctioned at this moment, affecting even the communication system.
Wen Yi adjusted the scope to the closest distance and finally saw what the pollutant creatures looked like in the snowy white mist.
Contaminants covered in white fur, with fur and claws all over the body being a nearly transparent white. Only their eyes were a vivid crimson. From the vague outlines, it was barely possible to judge their appearance resembling foxes.
"Snow foxes?" Wen Yi wondered.
And at that moment, You Su had already fired a shot towards the group of snow foxes. The powerful energy beam pierced through layers of snow fog. When it was about to hit the snow foxes, it suddenly passed through their bodies and crashed heavily onto the snowy ground.
"It went through!?" Chi Lizi exclaimed.
Several mechas in the distance witnessed this scene simultaneously.
They all witnessed You Su's accuracy; it couldn't be a mistake or misjudgment. There was only one possibility left.
Wen Yi asked, "Illusion?"
You Su frowned, "No, more like shadows."
The severity of the situation exceeded their expectations. Huo Yan, alertly watching the group of pollutants, urgently shouted, "Old Zhao, come up quickly!"
Hu Luobu blasted a gap in Lin Yao's space, clearing the way for Zhao Lejie. "What kind of pollutants are these? Any information on them?"
There was no information in the database. Ke Lin, upon seeing the appearance of the pollutants, immediately used the database for retrieval. However, the database provided by Slareed did not describe these pollutants. The snowy mountain area indeed had snow foxes, but the eyes of snow foxes were not purely crimson, let alone having nearly transparent claws. "Like snow foxes, but not snow foxes."
Snow foxes were A-level pollutants, and the database mentioned that they were rare A-level pollutants in Slareed's snowy mountains.
But now, a large number of pollutants with appearances similar to snow foxes had appeared.
Transparent snow foxes nearby did not hesitate at all. It seemed that after You Su's shot, they locked onto the mechas flying high. The pollutants that were originally lying on Lin Yao's space leaped upward, their powerful jumping force causing them to directly pounce on the mechas at a high place. Seeing this situation, the mechas gathered together quickly dispersed, each picking up weapons to attack these unknown pollutants.
Hu Luobu's tracking cannon passed through the body of a snow fox. He cursed, "Could these things be fake?"
But this thought was quickly shattered because the group of snow foxes broke the space that Lin Yao had originally covered on the pit. If they were fake pollutants, they couldn't have such attack power.
Ying Chenlin's gaze fell below. "Zhao Lejie, hurry up!"
Zhao Lejie was about to exit Lin Yao's space, but the group of snow foxes quickly rushed over. Soon, they surrounded the gap that Hu Luobu had opened for him. "Damn, the exit is blocked."
While the snow foxes jumped into the pit, they also pounced on the pollutants in the pit, grabbing the bodies of pollutants and biting them.
Wen Yi and Ke Lin were experienced commanders. When they saw the actions of the snow foxes, they instantly understood that these pollutants were attracted by the smell of other dead pollutants. They wanted to remind everyone to stay away from the pit. However, Ying Chenlin's voice came faster.
Ying Chenlin: "Pit!"
Huo Yan closed the propulsion and jumped down.
Lin Yao, seeing this situation, didn't care about anything else. He rushed into the pile of snow foxes, sweeping away the snow foxes on the space gap with a long stick, and jumping into the big pit while setting up a space to block the pollutants pouncing over.
Zhao Lejie, seeing Lin Yao sealing the space again, wondered, "What's going on?"
Brother, aren't you escaping? You've sealed the way.
Lin Yao protected the bodies of the pollutants with a stick. "Excessive! They even stole our pollutants!"
Hu Luobu: "..."
Is this the point? Don't you want to escape? Are you blocking the pit and setting up an ambush?
Two mechas were added to the pit, and Zhao Lejie, who was about to escape, was blocked by his teammates and forced to join the defense to protect the bodies of the pollutants.
The actions of the snow foxes did not stop because of this sudden change. Instead, their predatory behavior, hindered by KID, became more frantic. Their movements towards the mechas and the pit of pollutants became more agile. The mecha pilots at a high place could not care about anything else, and could only use shells to force the snow fox pollutants to retreat.
The shells hit the snow foxes, but more passed through their bodies and smashed into the snowy ground. After a few minutes, not only did they fail to stop the frontline, but the number of these fox-like creatures increased. Their attacks on the mechas of the Dawn were becoming more agile.
Ke Lin realized that things were getting bad. In Slareed's database, the rare snow foxes evolved with abilities, mostly speed-based abilities, fast movement speed, and strong jumping power. These were just superficial things. The most crucial information stated that these snow foxes had high intelligence, especially cunning. The population was small, but their survival ability was extremely strong.
Dealing with A-level pollutants was not difficult for them. The difficulty lay in the fact that the previously gathered pollutants would be affected by the pit in the middle, facilitating a one-net-sweep. However, the actions of the snow foxes blocking them did not seem like the described cunning caution but more like a commanding blockade. It seemed as if there was a leader among these snow foxes with leadership ability, guiding them in an organized attack.
Ke Lin subconsciously looked towards the location of Ying Chenlin not far away.
The pit was piled with a large number of pollutant bodies, and three mechas were working hard to maintain the operation of the space. Above the pit, the scene was all white. The red-eyed snow foxes had different actions, and the mechas were floating in the air. When the snow foxes pounced forward, it seemed as if the layer of snow curtain was moving forward, carrying a faint Gale.
Just as everyone's attention focused on the group of snow foxes at the edge of the pit, a mecha, which had been hovering in high altitude monitoring other situations, Chi Lizi, sensed a subtle anomaly.
"Is wind getting a bit strong?" Chi Lizi, a stealth mecha and Black Crow's mobile reconnaissance mecha, noticed that the Gale speed had changed.
"The visibility has been decreasing since the beginning," Chi Lizi said with a crackling electric sound. "Now, the wind speed is changing too."
The low visibility snow curtain, changing wind speed...
Ying Chenlin's gaze fell into the distance. So many changes, it seemed like it wasn't just because of the group of snow foxes.
The team's concerns about this strange environment grew, and while avoiding the snow foxes, they also paid attention to the surroundings. However, the changes in the environment were much faster than their thinking.
Huo Yan, staying in the pit, did not notice the changes. When he heard the sound and looked into the sky, everything was white, and he couldn't even see the mechas of his teammates clearly. "Be careful, it seems like..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the howling wind suddenly appeared in everyone's ears, from far to near, as fast as thunder.
In the distance, a violent storm suddenly attacked the mechas flying in the air. The area they were in was wide, with no obstructing mountains, and coupled with the peculiar gravity environment, the unleashed snowstorm directly affected all mechas flying in the air.
Ying Chenlin urgently shouted, "Dodge!"
The fierce snowstorm came suddenly, fast and fierce. In the blink of an eye, it swept over from the pit.
The two mechas crouched in the pit quickly opened their shields. Huo Yan grabbed Lin Yao, opened the shield to the fullest, and shouted, "What's going on!?"
Teammates' confused voices were instantly cut off. The entire communication channel was covered with a crackling electric sound. After a while, the electric sound disappeared and turned into a continuous whining sound.
The snowstorm covered all colors in their field of vision, and after the continuous whining sound, it deprived everyone of their vision.
Ying Chenlin couldn't distinguish whether it was his tinnitus or a problem with the communication system. At the moment he was blown away, he instinctively looked for a landing point. However, there were mechas around him that reacted faster than him. One of them grabbed his hand and pulled him down. In the snowstorm, he heard the sound of mechas sliding on the snowy ground. The thoughts in his mind were instantly corrected. He shouted, "Is it you, You Su?"
You Su did not respond to him. Ying Chenlin caught the outline of a mecha in the white expanse and quickly switched to the radar's teammate positioning system. However, all he saw was a blank radar interface.
Even You Su, the closest to him... there was no signal on the radar.
Their communication system and radar system all failed.
---
Slareed defense line, everyone in the entire Dawn Star System was also paying attention to the situation of their own team. At the first moment when the radar disappeared, they noticed the problem.
"The signal disappeared."
Since they speculated KID's tactic of attracting monsters with teleportation not long ago, they now had no confidence in blindly guessing KID's actions. Zhang Ge looked directly at Jiang Simiao, who was adjusting the system, "This stealth tactic is impressive. The radar system can't detect it. Doesn't that mean other teams don't know what we are doing?"
The leader of Black Crow said, "Indeed, coupled with their teleportation strategy, maybe they can steal some strong team's pollutants without others knowing?"
KID·Coach·Jiang Simiao: "..."
He was quickly checking the system for issues, unfortunately interrupting the fantasies of other teams: "...I really hope it's a tactic, but our current technological level is not capable of avoiding the Alliance's positioning system."
Zhang Ge: "?"
"Not a tactic?"
Jiang Simiao: "If we had such a powerful tactic, would our interstellar competition be so miserable?"
Silence surrounded them.
The praising smile on Zhang Ge's face faded.
The positioning system built into the Alliance's system was the most advanced technology, and the fact that signals that even this technology couldn't capture indicated that something must have gone wrong in the Slareed pollution zone.
"How could the signal disappear for no reason?"
"Did something happen?"
"What's going on!? Can we immediately determine their safety?"
"Qi Sicheng and Ji Qingfeng's signals are still there, and their coordinates haven't changed significantly."
Zhang Ge: "Hurry up! Find out the reason!"
All the staff did not slack off, assisting Jiang Simiao in investigating the cause.
However, halfway through their investigation, they suddenly noticed that several teams' mechas were approaching the snowy mountain area.
"Not good, Zhang Ge..." Another staff member, who was tracking the signals of strong teams, turned around stiffly, "It seems like the fourth-strongest team in the Alliance, SLY, is heading towards the direction where our mechas disappeared—"
Outside the Slareed defense line, the attention of the logistics coaching team of various starships was focused on the Alliance system. Information from various areas of Slareed was gathered at the information processing centers of major strong teams. When the radar signal of KID team's 10 mechas disappeared from a fixed position, teams that had initially targeted KID began discussing.
"That small star system's signal has disappeared."
"What method did they use?"
"Is there a problem in the snowy mountain area?"
The coach of the Gaia team had an unpleasant expression. After the Snow Wolf mission was stolen, they targeted KID. Originally, they planned to report KID's situation to the team through the base station, but unexpectedly, this small team disappeared directly from the snowy mountain area. In the entire radar range, only signals from two mechas remained.
They came to complete a point mission, and there was no need to delay their original purpose for a small star system.
"No need—" The coach of the Gaia team's words were cut off as he noticed some changes in the field.
Mecha units that were originally in other areas changed direction one after another. The directions they had locked onto all changed to the snowy mountain.
"PJT is changing direction, and now they are heading towards the junction of the forest and snowy mountain."
"GBK is also on the move; they are not following the planned route."
...
At the same time, in the gaps between the snowy mountains.
The 35th attempt to connect with the team's communication system by Ji Qingfeng failed. Ten minutes ago, they lost contact with the team, and the last thing they heard was Zhao Lejie shouting to run. After that, they didn't receive any communication signals. If it weren't for all their external systems responding normally, they almost thought there was a problem on their end. "Old Zhao said to run at the end. Can they disappear from the radar after running away like this?"
Qi Sicheng looked at the disappearing signals of teammates on the radar, and his expression became serious. "There's a problem."
Not long ago, it was just a failure to connect to communication, and now even the radar signal disappeared.
Ji Qingfeng's expression changed slightly. "What should we do? Should we go back now?"
Scattered information could deduce a sudden attack. The disappearance of mecha signals might be due to mechas being damaged, but at the same time, with so many signals lost, it was not a simple damage issue. It was very likely that their signals were isolated.
In the pollution zone, apart from special reasons, the only possibility of signal isolation was encountering pollutants.
Qi Sicheng was about to change direction to retreat when Ji Qingfeng suddenly stopped him.
Ji Qingfeng's gaze fell into the distance and immediately activated the stealth field to cover himself and Qi Sicheng, saying, "There are mechas over there. These people seem to be acting purposefully. Several mechas are moving together, and they seem to be coming towards us—"
While Qi Sicheng was looking in the direction indicated by Ji Qingfeng, he saw the signals of the Alliance's fourth team, SLY. His expression changed, and he thought of a possibility, immediately telling Ji Qingfeng, "No, we are lagging behind in information."
"We can't go back to find people." Qi Sicheng quickly pulled up the map of Slareed's snowy mountains, searching for the nearest base station. "Find the base station. We must go to the base station."
.....
In the midst of the wind and snow, the vast field of vision obscured everyone's judgment, causing confusion in direction.
The communication and radar systems collapsed, and all sensory perceptions were limited to a certain mecha firmly holding onto his left hand. Two mechas quickly retreated in the sweeping Gale and snow until they collided with a huge rock, leaving marks on the ground. The traces were made by the retracing weapons on the snowy ground.
Ying Chenlin quickly accessed the weapon in his hand. The basic use of the spatial displacement weapon relied on the mecha's radar. Without obtaining the coordinates of his teammates, he couldn't lock onto a target for spatial displacement, rendering the displacement weapon ineffective.
"Ying Chenlin."
In the midst of his thoughts, Ying Chenlin heard a voice. He slightly paused, noticing that the retracing was being communicated through external speakers, the voice carrying the wind and snow.
The communication system collapsed, and only the simplest voice transmission could be used.
The cold voice of You Su came through the external speaker, "We have been ambushed by pollutants."
Ying Chenlin switched to the external speaker, "Not just one."
Organized attack by Snow Foxes, decreasing visibility in the snow curtain, and a sudden snowstorm.
They were unlucky again, not only encountering pollutants, but also being attacked by a snowstorm at the same time. Moreover, the weather in this area was relatively stable not long ago, and it exceeded their expectations that pollutants could launch such an attack. The level would not be lower than A, and the only possibility was an S-level pollutant.
You Su pulled the mecha closer to him, and their visibility was only 5 meters. In the wind and snow, this was almost impossible to move, but he affirmed, "S-level."
"Qi Sicheng hasn't contacted us after he noticed the abnormal environment." Ying Chenlin tried to move towards the direction pointed out by You Su, hiding behind a large rock with him. He said, "Maybe at that time, our external communication had already been cut off, and in a situation where we didn't notice, that pollutant surrounded us."
Moreover, the pollutant that blocked them was very clever, clever enough to use Snow Foxes as a cover and smart enough to know when to take advantage of an opening.
Moreover, the pollutant that blocked them was very clever, clever enough to use Snow Foxes as a cover and smart enough to know when to take advantage of an opening.
You Su's voice was slightly cold, "The Snow Foxes are A-level mutations, with both real and false, and there may be a larger one behind them." You Su quickly operated the internal systems of the mecha, injecting mental power to activate Theo in his neck. "The Snow Foxes that appeared just now are numerous, but the noise they bring is very small."
Ying Chenlin frowned slightly, "Noise?"
You Su observed their surroundings, "Sound." The wind and snow affected the sound, making it almost negligible. "What you see with your eyes may not be accurate, especially in a situation where the mecha's system is interfered with by the magnetic field."
With limited visibility and malfunctioning pollutant detection, all they saw were densely packed pollutants.
But no matter how many pollutants, the sounds they brought with their movements were different. Despite having so many pollutants, the noise they brought with their movements was very small.
"Shadows, false bodies." Ying Chenlin retrieved the mission system of the Alliance. Apart from the loaded information, they couldn't refresh the internal situation of the Alliance system, and it was clear that the Alliance system was also blocked by this special magnetic field.
The blizzard scattered all of them. Without leaving this special magnetic field, they had no way to regroup with their teammates.
He wasn't worried about Wen Yi and the others. The abilities of Black Crow and YDS were not weak; they should have also noticed the anomalies. What he should worry about is how to deal with these pollutants in a short time – shadow fake pollutants, magnetic fields, blizzards... In the worst case, there might be three S-level pollutants in this area.
While Ying Chenlin was contemplating, You Su had already taken action. His energy cannon pressed against the snowy ground, leaving behind an exceptionally deep groove.
That was the path You Su had scraped out with the cannon in the blizzard. Unable to determine the positions of others, but the positions of Huo Yan, Lin Hao, and Zhao Lejie were fixed. The three of them should still be in the pit.
Ying Chenlin took out the space staff as a probing weapon. The staff was inserted into the ground. Just when he stood firm, he suddenly thought of something and reached out to the mecha beside him, saying, "You ge, your hand."
You Su was originally adjusting the energy cannon, but he stopped for a moment when he heard the voice.
Ying Chenlin grabbed You Su's hand, "Let's not separate."
The two of them didn't waste time and immediately moved forward along the trail You Su created as the blizzard subsided.
However, as they gradually moved inward, the whistling of the wind and snow decreased, leaving only the footsteps of the two mechas moving forward.
The time from the occurrence of the blizzard to landing was only a few seconds. Thanks to the trail You Su created, this provided significant help in determining the direction of the big pit.
Soon, they reached the end of the groove. After walking a distance without finding the location of the big pit, Ying Chenlin looked towards the slightly forward direction. When the blizzard subsided, he switched to the long-range energy cannon and aimed at the front, intending to use it to determine Lin Hao's spatial location.
However, after he fired the shot, he didn't hear an echo for several seconds.
Ying Chenlin and You Su's expressions changed suddenly. Lin Hao's spatial location was gone.
Just at this moment, something in the quiet snow curtain came rushing in. You Su suddenly raised the cannon to resist the damage. The powerful impact directly sent You Su's entire mecha flying backward.
The two mechas were immediately separated by the impact force. Ying Chenlin caught a subtle change in his field of vision – on the left!
He fired a shot towards the left, but his shot didn't hit.
Through the sniper scope, You Su captured a glimpse of a phantom. At this moment, the phantom solidified. The snow-white and ugly monster, with sharp teeth dripping saliva, rode on the medical mecha. You Su's expression changed slightly, "Ying Chenlin!"
Ying Chenlin felt a weight on his shoulder, and then a pair of huge bloody red eyes directly occupied his entire field of vision. His expression changed slightly, and he turned the energy cannon towards himself.
At this moment, the voice of Yuan in his mind suddenly sounded, "Chenlin, right below."
Ying Chenlin's expression slightly changed, and he quickly looked down. Something broke through the snow layer and grabbed his foot. The next second, a huge force came from the bottom, violently pulling his entire mecha into the snow layer.
(Chapter Limit move into new book : [2] Genius Mechanic)