Mecha Chapter 280: Decision

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Zeya and others looked over with complicated eyes. Yuan Xi had been invited to the command room by the commander and senior officers. So the eyes of those who knew, and those who didn’t know, all fell on Luo XiaoLou, along with many people who had hesitation in their eyes.

Within a few seconds, Zhuang Yi walked over with a smile, stopped directly in front of Luo XiaoLou, and said, “Your Highness. Prince Consort. Do you remember me?” When he saw Luo XiaoLou was looking at him quizzically, Zhuang Yi scratched his head and added, “I am Zhuang Yi from the Mecha Department Class A. Before the field training, we were assigned to a group to practice, and I had a chance to invite you to be my mecha maker.”

Before Luo XiaoLou could say anything, Tian Li cut in, “If Yuan Xi hadn’t grabbed him so fast, it would’ve been Yates’ turn!” Now he was a mecha warrior too. A mecha warrior!

Yates nodded heroically, and stroked Luo XiaoLou’s head. How good an exclusive mecha maker he would’ve been, if only he hadn’t been captive to His Highness the Prince from the beginning.

Luo XiaoLou also smiled. “I remember. That time you also took me over to the training room.”

Zhuang Yi’s smile widened, and his eyes took on a look of excitement. “Yeah, that was a nostalgic and regrettable time. I’ve heard, even now in the military, that your mecha making skills are unique. Hehehe.” He was already thinking about how he could ask the Prince Consort to help him modify his mecha. Now the war was in a place where there was no turning back. The better a mecha’s performance, the higher the overall stats, and the greater his combat power, and of course, the chances of surviving increased as well.

Some of the soldiers from the military’s mecha R&D department who remained in the hall glanced at each other, all with hopeless smiles. It might be a bit exaggerated to compare Luo XiaoLou’s technology to that of a master, but the designs of the bio-mecha were indeed unique. That ingenious conception, and the original designs were admired by all of them.

In the middle of the hall, a few people chatted about what had happened since they were separated. Luo XiaoLou was still caught up in the excitement of meeting his best friends again.  No one noticed the cold light that flashed through the crowd, and got within a few people of Luo XiaoLou before a hoarse shout erupted, “You monster, go to hell!”

Everyone froze. Yates reacted half a beat faster than the others, and pulled Luo XiaoLou toward himself. Since they’d just experienced a life-and-death situation, people’s tense nerves had barely relaxed. No one expected this to happen.

Just as Yates raised his arm to block the blow, the figure suddenly stopped.

Many people were relieved the man stopped. A young man had hooked his arm around the man’s neck in a deadly manner, and in the next instant, he held back the dagger-wielding arm.

The man who had rushed forward was a middle-aged man. He struggled frantically, but to no avail. His twisted face was full of resentment, as his red eyes stared dead at Luo XiaoLou. “You disgusting, cruel monsters! You all deserve to die! Don’t think we can forget the blood feud, you bunch of executioners! You should never have existed!”

Tian Li and Yates’ faces darkened. Zhuang Yi’s face also sank. The smile on Luo XiaoLou’s face was gone, and he looked at the man expressionlessly.

The young man frowned, and easily snatched the dagger away, then handed the man to a soldier who rushed over.

All the voices around were gone. Everyone was quietly watching them. The young man walked towards Luo XiaoLou and then calmly said, “Hello, Your Highness Prince Consort. I am Roland, a student from Orwell Academy.”

After he said that, he glanced at the pale Luo XiaoLou and asked, “Are you okay?”

Luo XiaoLou shook his head. He looked at the man caught by the soldiers, then in the unusual silence around him, he said, “If you want to target the exotic beasts as a race, I have to say that humans and the exotic beast are both the victims, and both sides have paid an immeasurable price. But I am also a victim. You’ve probably forgotten, I am also a person. I didn’t apply to become exotic beast, it was human experimentation that made me have to accept the exotic beast genes. If you’re targeting me personally, I’m sorry, I haven’t had time for anything to do with your blood feud.”

The middle-aged man froze, but when he thought of his lost loved ones and the blood-stained colors of that year, the resentment in his eyes hadn’t faded by half. He stared hatefully at Luo XiaoLou, but couldn’t refute any of his words. Finally, he spat out a sentence, “Your bloodline was the original sin, you–“

The people at the entrance of the passage suddenly retreated to both sides, and opened up a passage down the middle. A group of people approached. Yuan Xi, stone-faced, walked in front.

At that moment, even the middle-aged man who was screaming hatred shut his mouth. The respect and admiration people had always had for the royal family, as well as the fact that this outstanding heir had just saved them, made him unable to say anything else.

Yuan Xi ignored everyone, and walked straight up to Luo XiaoLou. He frowned, then reached out and pulled Luo XiaoLou over to stand alongside him before he raised his head to look at the people around him.

Some people were frankly relieved, while more, with mixed emotions, averted their eyes. Yuan Xi was silent for a few seconds, then said, “I just learned about the recent events of the war. Compared to a month and a half ago, the front line has completely collapsed, and many planets are in crisis, just like Planet Anse.”

Although they didn’t know why Yuan Xi said this at such a time, a deep hurt, panic and resignation surfaced on almost everyone’s face. The experience they just had, made them clearly understand pain and despair, and that they were lucky that at least His Highness the Prince arrived in time to solve the crisis for them.

No one made a sound, and Yuan Xi continued, “Even so, our soldiers held on until everyone left before they finally evacuated. Because of them, the history of many years ago did not repeat itself. But there was another thing you may not know. The octopus people’s bodies and mecha are constantly evolving. Without the new bio-mecha researched by the military department, the war would have ended half a year ago. Our nation would have been in a complete crisis, with a death toll that possibly could have exceeded half of the Empire.”

The hall remained surprisingly quiet. Everyone knew that Yuan Xi’s words weren’t in any way exaggerated, and some doubted that there would be any humans left to survive if that situation really came true.

“The design of the bio-mecha was taken out by Luo XiaoLou. He saved countless people before you ever accused him. The mecha that I piloted was also made by his own hands. It can be said that just now, he also saved you together with me.”

With Yuan Xi’s words, more people lowered their heads. Others had tears of gratitude welling up in their eyes. Perhaps the history of blood had not yet faded, but the emotion of the moment was being seen more clearly. After the despair, all their families, loves, and friendships, hadn’t yet been lost.

“I, like all warriors of the empire, am willing to give my strength, or my life, for the Empire and its people. It is my duty and responsibility. And most mecha warriors know the saying that all we are stronger because of the people we want to protect. It is my instinct to protect my beloved, and I will not allow anyone to hurt him.”

Yuan Xi finished and looked at the middle-aged man who had already hung his head. “This was the first time. I won’t sentence you for the crime of attempted assassination of a royal family member, but from now on, guards from the royal family will follow you until you no longer have those kind of thoughts, or until you die.”

After Yuan Xi finished speaking, no one said anything for a while, but the dull and tense atmosphere became fainter and fainter.

The soldiers and officers in the military department were quite fond of Luo XiaoLou themselves, because of the newly developed bio-mecha, and what they had heard about him from others.

The others, as they knew about Luo XiaoLou’s life, were sympathetic, understanding, and grateful.

At this time, the young man from Orwell Academy who was beside Luo XiaoLou spoke up, “Your Highness, I agree with you. If I want revenge, I will look for those monsters who were experimenting on humans, the octopus people who are attacking us now, and also the people behind them.”

Roland’s words made many people start expressing their thoughts. A young girl in the crowd even shouted, “Your Highness the Prince. I support you!”

“Of course, I always support the Prince, and His Highness the Prince Consort!”

With these words, more people began to bless their future King and Queen.

Yuan Xi’s face didn’t look any better. In fact, he had to work hard to suppress the anger and anxiety in his heart. The egg in Luo XiaoLou’s body was like the fuse of an unstable calcium bomb, and he didn’t know when he might lose him completely. The possibility greatly angered him, but he wasn’t willing to express that in front of Luo XiaoLou.

He needed Luo XiaoLou to see his strength and conviction when he said that they could always be together.

Amidst the blessings of the people around him, Yuan Xi looked down and asked Luo XiaoLou if he wanted to go over to the command room with him. Luo XiaoLou’s face was a little flushed, and their hands locked together made him feel warm and comfortable from the bottom of his heart. As he looked at the people around him, Luo XiaoLou shook his head. “No. I still have something to do. ” Yuan Xi’s side would be even busier. They would surely have enough time when they return from Protura.

While Zhuang Yi and Roland were still considering how to phrase their words so that they could ask Luo XiaoLou for help, a man approached from outside the crowd.

Luo XiaoLou turned his head, and surprise swept through his heart. “Brother Shen. It’s great to see you here.”

Shen Yuan looked Luo XiaoLou up and down, and said gratefully, “I have to say this. Before Master Yan left, he kept asking me to keep an eye out for you, and I’ve been worried about how to find you.” He was really happy for Master Yan. If it hadn’t been for the discouragement of Master Hebrew and the military hierarchy, that old man would have gone looking for his disciple himself.

Luo XiaoLou froze, and his face soon showed embarrassment and uncontrollable excitement. After his identity was exposed, he hadn’t dared contact people close to him. The more he cared, the more he didn’t want to take that step. Now that he knew the old man and his friends would still treat him the same as before, Luo XiaoLou felt that the ghosts of all those days, when he had been hard pressed emotionally had disappeared. His whole person was a lot more relaxed. “Let the master worry for now. Wait for me to go back, so I can personally explain to the old man.”

As they were surrounded by more and more people, Shen Yuan judged the situation and simply took Luo XiaoLou, Tian Li and the others to his lounge. Roland and another young man from Orwell Academy, lent a hand to help Luo XiaoLou and ensure he was hard to follow.

Luo XiaoLou first inquired about what he was most concerned about. Tian Li looked at him suspiciously. “Luo ShaoTian? Did something happen to him?”

Yates froze as he turned his gaze to Ling Xu in the corner. If they were talking about military matters, no one here probably knew more than he did, though no one knew why he was here and not at Yuan Xi’s side.

Ling Xu’s eyes darkened for a moment, then landed on Luo XiaoLou. He thought back for two seconds, then said, “Last month, Luo ShaoTian followed the army to the front line for a special mission. If you want to find him, you can probably only ask Yuan Xi to contact him for you.”

Luo XiaoLou’s brow furrowed. Early last month. That was when he left. Luo ShaoTian had been seriously injured during that time, so he should be in the hospital. What kind of mission was it that even a patient needed to be on the front line?

Then he thought about the situation on Planet Anse when he and Yuan Xi had just arrived. Luo XiaoLou sighed again. The war was already raging here, how much better could it be anywhere else?

Ling Xu glanced at Luo XiaoLou and then at the pale Shen Yuan who was leaning on the sofa, and after a moment of silence, he turned around and walked out.

After that, Zhuang Yi hesitantly brought up his mecha, so Roland also found an opportunity to stealthily squeeze aside Tian Li, who was being impassioned, and handed over space buttons for himself and his companion beside him.

Roland eagerly stared at Luo XiaoLou. “Dear Prince Consort. Your Highness. San Miro Military Academy and Orwell Academy are neighboring sister schools, and we have heard a lot about your technology. Can you also help us to modify our mecha this way?”

Luo XiaoLou looked at Roland in surprise, while Tian Li laughed out loud. “Sister schools? The sister schools that fight the most every year? I think our two principals will be surprised by your sense of humor.”

In order to compete for more outstanding students, every new school year was the time when several famous military schools competed the most.

And every time the ranking of major universities in friendly competition came out, the top two were always San Miro Military Academy and Orwell Military Academy. They were simply born enemies, neither of whom wanted to give up the throne of the champion.

Even outside of school, students from the two academies would rather walk around each other unless they planned to fight.

Roland’s violet-blue eyes blinked as if he couldn’t hear Tian Li’s mockery in the slightest. He continued, “Of course, I have another ungrateful request. If it’s convenient for you, can you let my mecha maker observe from the sidelines? After all, he is the one who will be doing all the overhaul work in the future.”

Luo XiaoLou pocketed the space buttons he had handed to him and smiled. “Okay. I’ll do it as soon as possible. You can have him come over tomorrow. As for the effect, I don’t dare to give you a guarantee right now.”

Luo XiaoLou was happy to see that Roland couldn’t care less about the feud between the two schools at this moment, and since his mecha maker was not untrained, there was no reason for him to refuse.

With an unmistakable excitement in his eyes, Roland said at once, “Of course, we all want to hurry up. Tomorrow, I will ask my dear Lin Jie to bring the materials over. I have searched for a lot of rare materials for the modification. Of course, if you have your eye on one, your fee can be counted there.”

That handsome young man was obviously not as cheeky as he was, and stood quietly by, and didn’t try to get close. But after he saw Luo XiaoLou take the space button, a hint of joy finally flashed across his face.

Luo XiaoLou might be a student like them, and even inferior to them in many ways, but a mecha maker who could design a bio-mecha for the military, and be unanimously praised by the upper echelons of the military was, in the minds of the mecha warriors, as unattainable as a master.

Finally Shen Yuan, Tian Li and the others told Luo XiaoLou to rest, and made an appointment to come back tomorrow, then also left the room.

Luo XiaoLou put aside the space buttons of Zhuang Yi and the others, and took out from his pocket a space button with silver patterns that flowed on white, which he had asked Yuan Xi for when he came in.

In that moment, with his back to Luo XiaoLou as he drew a serious face online, 125 stiffened. HIs claw tip trembled, his heart was sour and bitter. Luo XiaoLou…he, he, he really moved on!

Luo XiaoLou said with some excitement, ” Cloudy Sky?”

The room was silent for a while. Luo XiaoLou and 125 who had their ears held erect for so long couldn’t help but jump in disbelief as a voice came out of the white space button, “Yes.”

125’s face instantly turned black. Luo XiaoLou was smiling, and sighing in his heart. This was simply as cold, and cool, and dazzling as Yuan Xi at first sight, ah.

After he glanced at the dark green figure not far away, Luo XiaoLou asked again, “Cloudy Sky, do you have other forms? For example, 125 and Maxim both have a second form.”

There was another eerie silence from the white space button, longer than the last wait. Just when Luo XiaoLou couldn’t resist urging him again, there was a flash of white light, and a huge white animal stood silently in front of Luo XiaoLou.

I do not know where to stand. 125’s mouth was open as he looked up, and muttered, “This, this can’t be…”

Luo XiaoLou’s eyes lit up with surprise and said, “Wow, a wolf?! So cool!”

Cloudy Sky gave him a faint look, and said briefly, “Dog.”

“That’s not scientific…” Luo XiaoLou thought it was himself who was responding, but immediately realized it was 125, only to hear him then exclaim incredulously, “There’s no way that he could turn out to be a stupid animal that’s cooler than I am!”

Cloudy Sky looked down at 125 and didn’t say anything. Apparently he was too lazy to pay attention to such boring concerns.

Luo XiaoLou couldn’t say anything for a long time. He didn’t know what the dog breed that was bigger and cooler than that Alaskan breed was called. Was it the exotic beast side of the species?

Under 125’s acid flooded eyes, Luo XiaoLou couldn’t help but reach out to touch that fur and excellent tall white body, but there was a flash of white light, and all his hand touched was empty air. There was no longer the big white dog in front of him, only the space button on the bed that was flashing.

125 gulped and added fuel to the fire, “Look. What kind of upbringing is this? I think it needs a dog tag or leash or something. I see all the other dogs with–“

“Yuan Xi said the next time we train, to let you come with us. You can cooperate and do the exercises too.” A cold voice rang in 125’s ears. 125 winced, now deeply aware that it wasn’t wise to speak ill of Cloudy Sky in front of him.

 

In the command room, Yuan Xi looked at the panoramic map, while all the senior generals looked at him, and waited for his decision.

On the panorama, smoke was rising from many parts of the Empire. More disturbingly, it was clear from the map that the invasion route of the octopi wasn’t aimless.

It was only a matter of time before the encroached areas became a straight line across the Empire, and if no action was taken, it was only a matter of time before the encircled planets fell.

Colonel Hatu looked at Yuan Xi. “Your Highness. The mission we were given was to protect everyone and evacuate to the rear.”

That was the last side. Yuan Xi looked towards the edge of the panorama. It was true that there was no war there, but it also wasn’t within the range of the Empire anymore.

Yuan Xi glanced back at Colonel Hatu, who immediately said, “We would like to see your plan first.” In fact, if they encountered another siege wave just now, they would definitely not be so lucky again. Even to break out of an encirclement would be a problem.

Yuan Xi suddenly asked, “I read the recent battle plan. Where did the First and Seventh Battle Groups go?” This was the Empire’s most elite army, and the highest tier bio-mecha were in their hands.

Colonel Hatu froze, then quickly said, “They went on a special mission. I heard it was in Federation territory, on an abandoned asteroid called Stua.”

Yuan Xi’s expression moved, and he immediately said, “Pull up the interstellar map. I’ll take a look.”

After he discovered that the asteroid was indeed the base of the Protea, and where he intended to take Luo XiaoLou, Yuan Xi looked up at Colonel Hatu. “I’m going there. It’s not safe for you to go alone. If you guys want to continue the evacuation mission, you can follow me first to break out horizontally. When the time comes, I will send you to the vicinity of the K7 space point. Although the walk through the breakout zone is going to be longer, after passing through these places, the army will definitely grow quite a lot. Then you can bring others to the rear to break out much easier and safer.”

All senior officers looked seriously at the interstellar map, and their current position. If they went to the K7 space point, they would need to break through five sieges. If they were lucky, they would need to break through at least four if they went directly to the rear. However, if Yuan Xi wasn’t there, their chances of success were pitifully low. The K7 space point, on the other hand, looked far from the rear, but most of the route could be taken with the help of space jumps, and the probability of encountering the octopus people’s army was much lower.

Soon, the officers made the decision to follow Yuan Xi, and wait for the army to grow a bit more before they made a move to break out to the rear.

Yuan Xi nodded and calmly said, “Now leave. In the next three days, have the entire army practice breaking through encirclements.”

That night, Luo XiaoLou waited for Yuan Xi before he went to sleep. He pulled on Yuan Xi, who wanted to go to the bathroom, and asked, “Do you know Cloudy Sky’s second form?”

Yuan Xi looked at him and shook his head.

Luo XiaoLou was excited, and said, “Come on, let it out and see.”

Yuan Xi simply sat down on the bed and communicated with the mecha inside the space button. Before long, a handsome white dog was standing next to the bed.

Luo XiaoLou’s heart was sour. He was Cloudy Sky’s modifier, but the guy didn’t let him touch him at all, while he didn’t move under Yuan Xi’s hand.

As he watched Yuan Xi’s hand touch the white dog’s back, Luo XiaoLou couldn’t help but touch it too, and twice he stroked the white dog’s soft and smooth fur.

When he couldn’t control his inner excitement and wanted to jump on it, Yuan Xi suddenly held him and put him inside the bed. Then he stood up and went to the bathroom.

Luo XiaoLou looked at Yuan Xi suspiciously, then laughed and drooled as he pounced on the big dog.

 

Two seconds later, Luo XiaoLou furiously climbed out from under the bed. As soon as Yuan Xi wasn’t in front of him, Cloudy Sky disappeared again!