Chapter 286 – The Teleportation Platform
“Do you know where Tu Ran is?” Ding Naiqing couldn’t help but ask.
“No idea,” Qi Tongda replied, shaking his head. “They haven’t told us anything about her.”
Ding Naiqing lowered his head. “Do you think Tu Ran knows we’re here too?”
Zhou Ming tilted his head with a smirk. “What, hoping she’ll come rescue you?”
Ding Naiqing shot him a glare. Because they were in neighboring cells, he could only see half of Zhou Ming’s face, but that was enough. “Shut up. I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Tch.” Zhou Ming rolled his eyes. He didn’t care to talk to Ding Naiqing anyway. He returned to his bed, leaned back against his pillow, crossed his legs, and lazily swung his foot, feeling unbothered. With so many people around him, he was in no hurry.
For a moment, they all fell silent, each retreating to their own beds, either sitting or lying down.
For them, it was destined to be a sleepless night.
…
The next day, at dawn, Tang Ying woke Tu Ran up.
Tu Ran quickly got herself ready, still drowsy, and followed Tang Ying toward the helicopter parked on the training field.
Ye Hongci was already waiting for them inside the cabin.
It was just the three of them along with the pilot. The helicopter took off smoothly, flying towards their destination under the morning sun.
“How did you sleep last night?” Ye Hongci set aside a stack of papers and looked up at Tu Ran.
“Not bad,” Tu Ran replied with a yawn. She wouldn’t have minded a bit more sleep, even though she had already slept plenty.
“There’ll be less time for sleep from now on. Be prepared,” Ye Hongci reminded her gently.
Tu Ran nodded. “I understand.”
Ye Hongci said nothing more, leaning back slightly in her seat and closing her eyes to rest.
The helicopter landed.
Fully armed soldiers stood guard around the helipad, maintaining strict security.
Ye Hongci jumped out of the helicopter, with Tu Ran and Tang Ying following closely behind.
“Good morning, General!” the soldiers saluted Ye Hongci in unison, their voices loud and strong.
Ye Hongci gave a slight nod in response.
Tu Ran followed closely behind Ye Hongci toward a designated vehicle parked nearby. On either side of the path stood soldiers with rigid postures and solemn expressions, their gazes following Ye Hongci, filled with undisguised respect and admiration.
The golden light of the morning sun cast a long shadow behind Ye Hongci, and for the first time, Tu Ran truly felt the presence of a commander—one capable of leading thousands into battle.
After they got into the car, they drove for over half an hour with the windows tightly shut, preventing Tu Ran from seeing the surroundings.
When they finally got out, a massive human-made structure loomed before them. Against the backdrop of an endless plain, this steel and iron building stood like a mighty iron lion resting on the wildlands, exuding an aura of majesty.
In the face of this structure, every building Tu Ran had seen before paled in comparison. Despite having journeyed through two worlds, she had never encountered a building that evoked such awe.
A group of soldiers who had been waiting took Ye Hongci elsewhere, while Tang Ying led Tu Ran to select the mecha she would use on the battlefield.
Inside the mecha hangar, Tu Ran stood amidst a collection of towering mechas, staring up at the massive machines, unable to pull her gaze away.
These mechas were several times larger than the ones used in training, towering as high as a hundred-meter skyscraper.
Thinking of the mental energy required for a small human to operate such enormous machines, battling equally massive beasts, was daunting for Tu Ran.
“This mecha is a light model,” Tang Ying explained, pointing to the sleek, white mecha before them. “It’s easier to control, more agile, and responds quickly, but its attack power is limited and can’t compare to a heavy model.”
Tu Ran thought to herself, ‘So even a mecha this size is considered light.’
They moved on to another, even larger mecha. “This is a heavy mecha,” Tang Ying explained. “It’s twice as strong as the light model, capable of tearing through beasts with sheer force, and its defense is excellent, but it lacks agility.”
Tu Ran walked around the mecha, examining it. Tang Ying stopped and said, “All the mechas here are these two types. The stats may vary slightly between each model, but the overall experience remains consistent. Are you choosing heavy or light?”
Without hesitation, Tu Ran chose the light model.
Her strength lay in speed, and if the mecha couldn’t match her pace, it would only hold her back and weaken her combat performance.
“The light mechas are further divided into two types,” Tang Ying continued. “One type has wings for flying, like the red model used by your instructor, which is suited for aerial battles, mainly to counter flying beasts. The other type is the ground-based combat mecha you’ve trained with. It can’t fly but is more powerful in ground combat.”
“I haven’t trained with flight mechas,” Tu Ran replied, “so let’s go with a ground combat model.”
“Alright. In that case, here are the models that meet your criteria.” Tang Ying summoned a holographic display showing an array of mechas in various colors and designs for Tu Ran to choose from.
Tu Ran scrolled through, feeling slightly overwhelmed, until she returned to the sleek white model they’d first seen. Pointing at it, she said, “I’ll go with this one.”
Tang Ying glanced up briefly. “This model is indeed agile and fast, but it has weak defense and can’t withstand much damage. It’s been sent back for adjustments several times, yet its stats remain unimpressive. Are you sure about this one?”
Tu Ran hesitated, then quickly picked another option—a gleaming, gold-plated mecha that looked incredibly luxurious.
“This mecha has excellent stats across the board,” Tang Ying noted, “but it consumes 1.5 times the mental energy of other models.”
Tu Ran thought for a moment. Anything but high mental energy costs, she decided.
She switched to another mecha, this time in a subdued shade of purple and gold, exuding a touch of luxury.
Tang Ying glanced over it and said, “This mecha has no obvious flaws.”
Tu Ran felt a surge of relief, finally finding one that seemed suitable. “Then I’ll take thi—”
“But it has no exceptional qualities either,” Tang Ying interrupted, “It’s very average. In terms of speed and agility, it’s not as good as the first one you picked. Its defense isn’t as strong as the second, and while it consumes less mental energy than the second model, it’s only a slight improvement.”
Tu Ran scanned the entire mecha storage area again. “So, there isn’t a single mecha here that performs well in every aspect and doesn’t consume too much mental energy?”
Tang Ying lifted her head from the screen, her expression blank. “No.”
Tu Ran sighed. Guess I’m too broke to be so picky.
“I’ll go with the white one, then,” Tu Ran said, returning to her first choice. At least it had one clear advantage—speed.
If she could maximize her speed, she’d aim to avoid any contact with the beasts. And one day, when she had more mental energy to spare, she would love to try out that gleaming gold mecha to see just how energy-hungry it really was.
With her selection made, Tang Ying led her to the departure site.
They arrived at a large, open-air teleportation platform.
From afar, a massive blue ring rose from the ground, its radiant light screen enveloping the platform. Streams of silver light pulsed and darted across the field.
Tu Ran stood by the perimeter in her chosen mecha, and beside her stood Tang Ying.
Tang Ying’s mecha was a fiery red light model, customized specifically to complement her years of combat experience. Unlike the standard stock mechas Tu Ran had chosen from, Tang Ying’s was tailored to her abilities, accentuating her strengths while compensating for her weaknesses, and its design was notably more refined.
“Which planet are we headed to?” Tu Ran asked from within her mecha’s cockpit, linking up with Tang Ying’s mecha.
“Star 4344,” Tang Ying replied.
The Haenden Star System was not limited to just six stars. The main star and its five auxiliary stars had extensive landmass, making them more suitable for human habitation and thus becoming densely populated major stars.
In addition to these, the Haenden Star System contained hundreds, even thousands, of minor stars. Most of these small stars were less than a tenth of the size of the major stars. Some had harsh environments unfit for human settlement and lacked any real value for development. Even those with human inhabitants had sparse populations and very low population density.
These minor stars were scattered randomly between the major stars and were named based on numerical designations.
The so-called battlefront lay on these minor stars.
The true conflict between humans and the beasts took place in the struggle for control over these small stars.
Each time the beasts took over a minor star, they established it as a base, expanding outward from there.
If they were to seize one of the minor stars near a major star, the beasts’ next target would likely be the densely populated main star. This was how Wasteland Star No.2 and Wasteland Star No.3 fell to them.
