Pelican Dunk

Even Lu Xun, a rich kid, couldn’t help but marvel: “Impressive. One sentence made a sponsor drop 200 million for you!”

But this slogan… isn’t it a bit too politically correct?

Perhaps the sponsor is a fan of Emperor Kaide and wanted to take this chance to show their loyalty?

As Lu Xun speculated wildly, a light pat landed on his shoulder. He recoiled, spinning around ready to snap, only to meet the smiling face of his cousin, Lu Hang.

Lu Xun was surprised and delighted. “Ge! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be out on a mission?”

Lu Hang laughed. “I am on a mission. It just happens that the mission is protecting the audience and maintaining order at the tournament.”

As it turns out, the pre-match accident alarmed the government. The higher-ups had dispatched a peacekeeping mecha squad with extensive experience to station here. They did this for two reasons: first, to prevent a repeat of the incident; and second, to send a message to the international delegations that the New Empire took the matter seriously—preventing the Interstellar Alliance media from criticizing them and tarnishing Kaide’s reputation.

Lu Xun thought that made sense. Furthermore, though it might be his imaginations, accidents seemed to be happening frequently lately. First, the Monarch’s tentacle was burned off, then a tournament contestant was poisoned.

It felt like a streak of bad luck and national instability.

Tsk, maybe Kaide didn’t check the lunar calendar before heading out and collided with his unluck star.

Since Lu Hang was on duty and needed to patrol, he greeted his brother and left. When he reunited with his teammates, he found them all engrossed in the match.

Getting paid to slack off.

“Last year’s tournament was mediocre. By the end, the only one I remembered was the champion, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl. I didn’t expect this year’s group stages to be so eye-catching.”

“Especially that white-haired pilot, his fundamentals are excellent. That flip, the maneuver, the double-jump combo… he’s fighting with such ease. Even our Captain Lu wouldn’t be much better, right?”

Someone noticed Lu Hang approaching and quickly tried to smooth things over: “Hey, hey, watch your mouths! Captain Lu is a soldier. That white-haired bird is an amateur enthusiast at best. There’s no comparison, okay?”

The others spotted Lu Hang too, hurriedly tucking away their terminals and calling out in a ragged chorus, “Captain Lu, you’re here.”

Lu Hang gave a casual nod. He was used to his subordinates’ loose lips and had no intention of pressing the matter. Instead, that white-haired pilot seemed like a promising talent worth cultivating.

Besides, the military had a long tradition of scouting talent from the civilian sector…

Thinking deeply, Lu Hang asked the vice-captain in charge of affairs, “Does our regiment still have a recommendation quota for the Emperor’s Imperial Guard this year?”

The vice-captain didn’t understand the sudden question. “We do. Why? Do you have someone in mind?”

Lu Hang smiled. “No, just asking.”

Best to recruit them first before taking any further action.

They were standing near the breakroom, and with pilots coming and going, it was inevitable that their conversation was overheard. Lu Hang was always cautious in public, yet he felt a gaze of unmistakable hostility sweep over him.

He looked over and saw only a man in a black face mask.

The masked man walked over holding a paper cup. As he brushed past Lu Hang, he suddenly crushed the cup with a sharp crunch and whispered a threatening warning:

“Keep your hands off. He’s mine.”

Lu Hang was stunned for a moment, then his pupils constricted. A surge of aggressive, offensive alpha pheromones slammed into him, nearly forcing him into a combat state. The stranger leaked his pheromones for only a second before instantly reeling it back in.

Lu Hang could sense that the other’s strength was on par with his own: both were high-offense alphas. Like poles repel; Lu Hang frowned.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Masked Man: “The aristocracy is top-tier at playing dumb.”

Turning his mask, he seemed to glimpse the rank insignia on Lu Hang’s chest and added with a hint of contempt, “Then again, you’re just a lowly Baron.”

If that had been said to any other alpha, they would have started a brawl on the spot. But Lu Hang had become a captain because of his good temper and steady mind. To him, this was just an alpha obsessed with the match, someone prone to throwing around pheromones for petty provocation. These eccentric types weren’t uncommon in the military; he didn’t think it was worth his attention.

Lu Hang thought for a moment and handed over a business card. “This is a referral for a free mental health consultation. You should check it out when you have time.”

Masked Man: “?”

He took the card, ripped it to shreds on the spot, and tossed it into the trash.

As the masked man walked away with a chilling aura, Lu Hang asked his vice-captain, “Was that guy a contestant too?”

The vice-captain checked the internal data. “Yes. His mental stability rate is 90%, the highest in this tournament.”

Lu Hang chuckled softly. “I feel like those numbers are inflated.”

He doesn’t look stable at all.

The vice-captain took it as a matter of course. “Of course you’d think that. Your stability rate is 98%. No one in the entire Outer Space Mecha Regiment is higher than you.”

Elsewhere, the masked man arrived at the edge of the field to watch Bai Ling’s match.

In accordance with the principle of protecting young adult birds, the association had requested privacy protection from the committee, so the center of the monitor was a blur of digital mosaic.

The masked man opened his terminal and re-examined an old file.

Name: Bai Ling

Rank: Outer Space Mecha Regiment, Team A, Super-Tier Combatant

Verdict: Attacking a superior and destroying the base. Sentence: Immediate Execution.

The face in the ID photo was very young, likely taken when he was sixteen or seventeen. He looked solemn and cold, appearing very much a by-the-book soldier.

The masked man turned off the terminal and sighed.

…Why aren’t you wearing the combat suit I sent you?

The group matches averaged fifteen minutes each, emphasizing quick resolutions, much like a game of blitz chess.

Bai Ling adapted to this frantic pace with ease. After defeating two opponents in a row, he had consumed less than a tenth of his stamina.

The next match was the Betting Match.

The giant screen suspended in the air displayed the match info: [Ad Space For Rent] vs. [Pelican Dunk]

The former was Bai Ling’s stage name. As for the latter…

Rattlesnake automatically provided intel: “Master, your opponent this round is of Pelican descent, the largest waterfowl in the world.”

Pelicans were rare in the mecha circle. Bai Ling’s impression of them was limited to: hard wings, great at fishing, and a mouth that could eat the world. For these kinds of waterfowl, Bai Ling had a simple, collective name:

Big Goose.

Rattlesnake: “The opponent is highly experienced with over 35 years of piloting. His mecha has undergone multiple modifications. You should be aware that his mecha is equipped with a mimetic gular pouch, shaped like a closed fishing net. Once caught, the escape rate is only 10%.”

Bai Ling: “Got it. Big-mouthed goose.”

The second the match started, Hu Ti indeed peeled back his mecha’s headpiece, revealing a steel-jawed maw of a blood-red mouth, lunging at him with overwhelming momentum. He intended to use the fact that his mecha was 50% larger than Rattlesnake to chew it to pieces in one bite!

Bai Ling didn’t retreat. Instead, he sprinted forward, stepped off the ground, and leapt upward, slamming his cannon down from an angle so awkward it was impossible to dodge.

Yes, slamming it down.

The audience was about to cheer, then froze. Wait… cannons are for shooting. Why is this guy using it as a blunt weapon?

Do you even know how to fight?!

Just as they were about to complain, the cannon landed squarely inside the Pelican’s “big mouth,” crashing through and shredding the net-like pouch.

The specialized pouch was highly elastic and tough; a simple blast would be hard to tear it. But with the hardness of the cannon combined with a SSS-tier dive speed, the combined force was enough to open a breach.

Audience: “Whoa! A real curveball. What an unusual move.”

Inside the cockpit, Hu Ti sneered, remaining as steady as an old dog. He had encountered situations like this plenty of times in his long history of combat, and he had already prepared a countermeasure.

The audience was shocked: “[Pelican Dunk] automatically replaced the pouch and swallowed the cannon! It’s over—[Ad Space For Rent] only had that one heavy weapon. Can he keep fighting?”

Bai Ling soon showed them what it meant to start with one Rattlesnake and loot all your gear from the enemy.

In the instant Hu Ti grew arrogant, the giant hammer in his hand was snatched away and swung back toward his own knees. The strike missed, but Bai Ling pursued him relentlessly.

Compared to the veteran, Bai Ling’s stamina and recovery were much better. After several exchanges, he caught a slight hint of a weird vibration as the opponent’s mecha began to slow down.

Something’s wrong.

That eerie trembling during the deceleration… Bai Ling narrowed his eyes and zoomed in on the display.