In the twinkling of an eye, the peaceful Aslan Star City fell into chaos!
Inside the Golden Sun Wheel’s building, Lieutenant General Luther’s roar echoed throughout the entire floor. “All officers and soldiers of Golden Sun Wheel, immediately protect and evacuate the people!”
Soon, chaotic footsteps and shouts echoed one after another.
“Lock the enemy’s escape route, mecha soldiers emergency deploy!”
“What is the enemy model? Why is its movement speed so fast…”
“The inspector is chasing him now personally!?”
A map of the star city was projected in front of a big screen, and the red dots that symbolized the enemy’s situation were flickering and moving rapidly. A Golden Sun Wheel officer stood up suddenly and exclaimed in surprise. “Not good, two mechas are about to rush into the city!!”
In the sky above the first district of Aslan, the A-level mecha spread its ferocious wings. The two cannon muzzles extended, continuing firing creating firelight, with the sound of breaking wind.
“Damn it……”
There was a large amount of blood in the cockpit, Duke’s crystal bones were attached to the control screen, and his hands were pressing against his injured leg with a beam therapy device, while the corners of his eyes throbbed wildly.
When he saw the small white mecha at the rear side, he couldn’t help cursing a bunch of obscenities……S-Snow Dove spun in the air to avoid the gunfire, firmly following from behind and was steadily pulling in the distance.
Seth Henry’s electronic voice resounded in Snow Dove’s cockpit. Jiang Jianming, who was manipulating the mecha with both hands, panted slightly, with cold sweat slipping from his black hair.
The lingering pain from the crystal bone shock just now still tormented the bottom of his heart, he pursed his lips and concentrated, “Good job…..give me half a shot of tranquilizer.”
The “haven’t done for a long time” cold needle pierced the back of the neck, relieving the uncomfortable feeling. Jiang Jianming breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know how many times he felt that the tranquilizer was really a life-saving good thing.
His eyes were steady, and his fingers slid rapidly on the control screen.
Snow Dove obliquely brushed past a gray tall building, then rotated and climbed even higher. While maintaining high-speed flight, three mecha cannons were fully open, and then gunfire poured out!
Two similarly modified A-level mechas chased and shot at each other in the sky above the star city just like this.
On the street, shouts, screams of fear and loud curses were mixed together.
Glass shattered, pedestrians fell, and children cried loudly… Whether it were the colorful flags hung up to celebrate the emperor’s birthday, or the artificial flower bed that had just been decorated, they were all torn apart at this point and trampled to pieces, everywhere was chaos and in disorder.
All patrol officers were running, directing the panicked residents to evacuate and take shelter, even if they themselves were blue in color. (TL: panicked and scared)
The peace of the empire had lasted too long, with the Silver Big Dipper outside and the Golden Sun Wheel inside. Such things as flames of war, it had been decades since it touched the heads of the civilians.
“Don’t come over! It is a residential area ahead!!”
A sharp and piercing roar came from the cockpit of the modified mecha Black Star, “If you further give chase, if you further chase me, I will shoot at the residential building! I will shoot!!”
It was the rebellious Staff Officer Duke who hissed loudly, and he frantically waved the crystal bone. “Do you hear me, further chase me and I’ll shoot—”
The built-in loudspeaker of the mecha transmitted his voice far away, and in the echo, the L-Black Star’s muzzle turned and aimed at the continuous building complex not far away.
Urban area. In an ordinary residential building.
The little girl who was only three or four years old was wearing a flower crown, she held a plate of cake, and stood by the window of her home. Her face was filled with a flower-like smile. “Mom and Dad, take a photo—”
The little girl’s parents squatted on the other side, sweetly holding the professional camera aloft. Just as the finger was about to press the shutter, the face filled with laughter was suddenly shrouded in the shadow of fear.
At the window, the fiery cannon light of the mecha shone behind the girl who still didn’t know what was happening yet.
“Lily-!!!”
The camera fell to the ground, and the couple screamed and rushed towards their daughter, but it was already too late.
Boom!!
Accompanied by the loud noise of the wall cracking, the cannon light took away the vision for a moment. There was turbulent airflow, and the couple fell to the ground with a mournful groan.
The smoke then gradually dissipated.
A few seconds later, a girl’s wailing loudly sounded.
“Lily…Lily!!”
The young parents frantically got up from the ground and rushed into the thick smoke, but were shocked by the scene in front of them in the next second.
The girl was seen slumped on the ground, crying loudly, while her cake fell on the white dress. Besides that, she was unharmed.
Pieces of broken window glass were scattered on the floor behind her, shimmering with dreamy light, reflecting the exquisite figure of the snow-white mecha above.
S-Snow Dove charged forward in the nick of time, and stuck itself between the wall and the window at a perfect angle. A pair of pure white shields spread out, like the compassionate wings of a divine messenger protecting the girl below.
It used the other half of the fuselage to resist the cannon hard, and at this moment, a quarter of the fuselage was scorched black, and the damaged parts sizzled, jumping with electric lights.
The couple who survived the catastrophe knelt on the ground, hugging their daughter tightly in their arms, and raised their heads almost piously with tears in their eyes——
Through the alloy glass in front of the cockpit, they vaguely saw the handsome and calm profile of a black-haired young man.
As they blinked in a trance, the S-Snow Dove had pulled up again. The gust of wind poured into the broken window, and the mecha rushed into the sky!
Jiang Jianming took a deep breath suppressing the pulsating blood in his heart, and he glanced at the damage rate of the mecha reported by Seth, 17%…
He nodded. “Not a big problem.”
As long as it didn’t fall to “unable to turn on”, he can still give chase!
The red light of the alarm interweaved in this airspace, pedestrians took refuge in all directions, people in the high-rise buildings ran down one after another, and those who lived in the lower floors hid under the table with their heads covered.
Everyone turned their trembling eyes to the two steel giants fighting in the sky.
The wind howled over the scorched wings of Snow Dove, and the damage to the fuselage did not affect the speed of the mecha.
Jiang Jianming fixed his eyes on the mecha L-Black Star flying through the high-rise buildings in front of him, and gritted his teeth lightly.
“Seth, if I can destroy the engine and the energy tank at the same time, the probability that the enemy mecha can still fire is…”
Halfway through the speech, he first cast his eyes down and shook his head, “…forget it.”
In the present moment, human life should not be used as a probability to look at the problem.
But now things are troublesome. Surrounded by residential buildings, it means that the citizens of the empire in Aslan Star City have been taken as hostages by Duke…
It may take some time for the Gold Sun Wheel army to catch up…..What to do?
“Do you still dare to give chase, don’t you want the lives of these civilians anymore!?”
Duke was still roaring over his shoulder inside the cockpit. A crack had spread across his lens, and a desperate wild laugh hung on his face.
“Turn off the mecha cannon and land, otherwise I will shoot!! At that time, the entire empire will know that the Golden Sun Wheel is a dictator who disregards the lives of civilians. Disarm—”
But at this moment, the communication beside Jiang Jianming lit up, and the face of Old Marshal Chen Hanke appeared in the small window.
“Little Excellency, I already know of the situation.”
The old marshal’s brows were stretched out, his expression was very amiable , and those wrinkles even appeared somewhat kind.
However, there was no smile in the eyes of the old man, only something as hard as iron, and slowly said, “Well…..under special circumstances, paying a small price is also inevitable. If it causes personnel expense, I will take full responsibility.”
Jiang Jianming’s heart sank, as he read two meanings from these words.
The first meaning was that the old marshal was making it clear that under the current situation, he could sacrifice the lives of some civilians in order to control Staff Officer Duke.
The second meaning was that, according to the judgment of the old marshal, the current situation was so serious that some civilians could be sacrificed during the operation.
“…….” Jiang Jianming’s palm holding the lever tightened suddenly, his knuckles turned blue.
Duke yelled, “I’ll say it one last time: retract your mecha canon and then land!!”
Jiang Jianming pursed his lips, and he raised his hand…to let Snow Dove retract the mecha cannon.
Countless bright lights exploded in front of him, and it was L-Black Star who turned its head and fired at the moment Snow Dove put away its cannon!
However, Snow Dove’s reaction was quick, it violently shifted down and dived, and the flames of the strafing fire only brushed the fuselage and was avoided.
The aftermath swept across a tall building in the distance, countless glass shards fell from the sky, and the crowd kept crying out in alarm!
Jiang Jianming said in a deep voice, “Staff Officer Duke, calm down. The empire’s territory covers three entire galaxies, and there are the Silver Big Dipper troops stationed in the Far Interstellar Space outside the galaxy. Where can you escape to?”
“Stop talking nonsense, and land!!” Duke was still roaring with red eyes.
“Landing is possible, but even if I land now, what can you do? When you rush out of the city, the Golden Sun Wheel’s mecha formation will immediately blast you to nothing.”
Another barrage of strafing came. Snow Dove raised its shield to protect the cockpit, and flew forward amidst the gunfire, while several oblique black smoke rose from its wings.
“But thanks to me, you don’t have any lives in your hands yet.”
Jiang Jianming continued on his own. “Staff Officer Duke. The matter has not yet reached an irreversible point.”
“………”
Duke’s heavy breathing echoed in mid air.
On the street, the people hiding under the shelter nervously looked up from afar.
The two mechas were still flying at a relative distance, the muzzle of the mecha Black Star was pointing at the building below and the Snow Dove behind it, and the Snow Dove was only using its shield to take a defensive posture.
“It’s not you who embezzled the real crystal ores, you are an accomplice, not the mastermind.”
Neither of the two mechas fired any more, and only the faint voice of a young man was speaking in mid air.
“As long as you land now and tell everything you know, not only will you not be sentenced to death, instead you will be able to make up for your mistakes. Perhaps you will be out of prison after three or five years…”
As the mecha moved at full speed, there were two dark golden tall buildings ahead. This was the landmark Gemini Building in the first district, and was also the tallest building in Aslan Star City.
“It’s never too late to mend, Staff Officer Duke. You are also aware that my statement of shooting you at the beginning was false. We still have some unknown information.The empire needs you…”
Then the accident happened at this time.
Just when L-Black Star was about to pass through the center of the Gemini Building, two unfamiliar mechas rushed out from both sides. Taking advantage of the blind spot provided by the building, the muzzles of the two mechas gathered light!
Duke’s pupils shrank suddenly, and he opened his mouth to shout…
A loud and resounding sound echoed in the sky, and drowned out his voice.
“!?” Jiang Jianming held his breath, he abruptly tightened the control, and Snow Dove made an upward arc and barely stopped.
Is it a Golden Sun Wheel mecha?
No, there is no military insignia on the fuselage——
He saw the flames exploding on the L-Black Star in front of him, and the huge mecha overturned with thick smoke, and fell towards the ground at an accelerated pace. The two mechas that fired the shot also rushed up, one on the left and one on the right against the scrapped fuselage of L-Black Star, slowing it down to prevent the mecha from falling and injuring people.
The three mechas made a muffled sound and landed on the open square in front of the Gemini Building. The front end of the L-Black Star was deformed, the steel was twisted into a ball, and was billowing thick smoke.
Two mecha pilots jumped out of the two mechas respectively, they were two men.
Regardless of how hot L-Black Star was, they smashed open the cockpit hatch with crystal bones and dragged Duke out.
Duke’s body was badly mutated, as if his bones had been pulled out. The two mecha pilots looked at each other, and one of them said, “Not breathing.”
The other turned on his wrist device, and using the correct tone of a subordinate reporting to his superior, he spoke to the other end of the wrist device,
“Your Excellency, the villain who disturbed the star city was killed on the spot. The mecha landed in front of the Gemini Building and there were no casualties at the scene.”
In the distance, the sound of people cheering could be heard vaguely.
Jiang Jianming unsteadily gasped. He manipulated Snow Dove to the ground, wiped the sweat from his brow, pushed open the cockpit and jumped down.
He stepped forward, glanced at Duke’s body with complicated eyes, and said in a faint hoarse voice, “Thank you for your help, you are…”
The two men saluted at the same time, obviously well-trained. “We are the private mecha operators hired by Prime Minister Laurent, and we are here to help capture the villain under the order of the Prime Minister!”
His Excellency Laurent?
Jiang Jianming was slightly startled, and then suddenly, as if perceiving something, raised his head.
Two rows of aircraft approaching from far away could be seen. They passed through the high and low building complex, and surrounded a high-end aircraft in the middle like guards and then landed.
A middle-aged man quickly stepped down from the aircraft in the middle. He had a serious face and was wearing a low-key and reserved dark blue aristocratic outfit. He first said to the two mecha pilots, “Well done, you’ve worked hard.”
As soon as the nobleman appeared, the people in the distance suddenly became excited and rose to their feet.
“It’s His Excellency Laurent!!”
“Long live His Excellency the Prime Minister!!”
They shouted with joy, and some even rushed forward with tears in their eyes, waving their hands to the nobleman.
Jiang Jianming was almost not hit by the flow of people, thus he quickly put away the Snow Dove and dodged to the side, heaving a sigh of relief from a distance.
He turned his attention back to the middle-aged noble who was appeasing the people. His Excellency the Prime Minister should be already quite old. The gentle appearance of this middle-aged man was the result of cell repair surgery just like Her Majesty the Emperor.
Gerhard Laurent…old noble by birth and a staunch civilian faction. In recent years, he had finally secured the position of prime minister, with a diligent, thrifty, and upright style, and a high reputation among the middle and lower classes of the people.
As what was mentioned by Teacher Luo Hai during their night talk, that’s the other strong contender besides Audrey in the battle for the crown prince position.
However, for Jiang Jianming, because Prime Minister Laurent and Commander-in-Chief Chen often had frictions on opinions about state affairs, and the old marshal was the teacher of His Royal Highness Ryann, he did not have many opportunities to have direct contact with Laurent back then.
The last conversation seemed to be at the funeral of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
His face was covered with a black veil, and held the coffin in silence, while being surrounded by all kinds of strange and complicated gazes. His Excellency Laurent stepped forward, and politely consoled that his person had passed away, and to suppress his grief and adapt to the situation.
In other words, the relationship between the two could be summed up in three words——
Not too familiar.
There were black spots in mid-air that quickly enlarged, it was the Golden Sun Wheel mechas who caught up.
Jiang Jianming knew that there was nothing left for him to do next. He looked at Duke’s body again regretfully, in the end he still couldn’t catch him alive…
Laurent ordered his own guards to hurry and the patrol officers to escort the excited people away from the scene. Then separated from the crowd and walked towards Jiang Jianming not far away.
Jiang Jianming hesitated for a while, but still gave a military salute.
Laurent looked surprised, looked at Jiang Jianming carefully several times, and said in disbelief, “Your Excellency the Crown Princess?……How could it be you?”
Before he could finish speaking, the noble middle-aged man took two steps forward, respectfully held up the right hand of the young officer in front of him, and bowed his head. “You’re frightened.”
——This was the most obvious etiquette for treating royal family members. Obviously, the next move was to kiss the hand.
Whizz……
Suddenly, the wind picked up, and a slender silver-black mecha flew past from behind.
Mecha M-Slash Comet cast a shadow on the head of the “Crown Princess” whose hand was being held by someone, while at a loss and unresponsive.
“……..”
Jiang Jianming’s eyes froze.
Goosebumps burst on his back. In a daze, it seemed as if a pair of cold emerald eyes stared straight at him with a gloomy gaze——
Jiang Jianming woke up instantly, his right hand shifted and held Laurent’s left hand instead, waved it twice vigorously, and said with a slight smile, “Thank you, Your Excellency Laurent, for your righteous action. On behalf of all the officers and soldiers of Golden Sun Wheel, I would like to express my high respect to you.”
Without waiting for Laurent to speak, he gestured to the mecha above his head, then took the opportunity to release his hand and keep it back behind him. “Someone came to pick me up, please excuse me for now. The remaining miscellaneous affairs will be handled by professional Golden Sun Wheel soldiers, thus I won’t bother You Excellency anymore.”
Laurent was bewildered, but after all, the noble qualities of many years were there. He simply bowed gracefully and raised his hand, watching Jiang Jianming turn around and run away.
The mecha Slash Comet landed at this moment, and the baffle plate in front of the cockpit prevented the outside world from seeing who was sitting inside, and only a slender, powerful hand with well-defined joints could be seen stretching out.
That hand grasped Jiang Jianming’s hand, easily carried him into the cockpit, and then slammed the door shut.
