49 4.11

Chen Yu and Hou Yi continued on toward the assembly point, systematically plundering several other groups along the way. They didn't bother detouring to round up every single team, since those who had been pushed off the path were by definition weaker and therefore had probably been looted already. The pair strolled along in this way for several hours, and, having collected more than a third of the total mecha ignition keys by the time the sun rose, they decided to rest in a new trench.

Seeing them bury into the ground, the instructors at the monitoring station couldn't stop their mouths from twitching. These unscientific brats were finally done, but couldn't they have left some keys for their peers? How was the academy supposed to fail so many of their twelfth-graders? Nevertheless, a corner of their hearts were very satisfied, these two had been raised quite well.

As the hottest part of the day passed, most of the students copied Jin Yongguang, leaving the network viewers with nothing to watch but mounds of sand. For the bored audience, Chen Yu threw out a question that was like tossing a pebble into a pond. "Am I the only one who remembered that comment about the military cheating Jin Yongguang?"

The people who had become ardent admirers of the boy buzzed, they'd forgotten about that! Still, many negated the possibility: how could the military be so stupid as to lose such a talented mecha operator? Furthermore, while repeatedly witnessing Jin Yongguang's brilliance did make them waver, everyone tacitly understood that some covert means were necessary to defend the Federation, many inquired if there was any evidence for either side.

Chen Yu smiled and obliged, posting, "You have to see this, I have a friend who can access court records so I asked him to check on Jin Yongguang's history. But I don't even know what the results mean!" Along with this message was a copy of the Jin Jia family register that showed that Jin Yongguang had been removed, as well as an official acknowledgment by the Federation of Jin Yongguang's disinheritance.

The original owner's family was, after all, one of the most powerful in political circles, Jin Yongguang's grandfather had eventually heard some rumors about his son's activities several months before the military's announcement. Just when he'd been investigating Jin Zhong and why he was suddenly behaving so suspiciously, his grandson explained what had happened, how a captain had talked to him, that he'd been pretending to help Jin Zhong for some time now. Apparently, Guang'er had been struggling on whether to tell him the truth for a few weeks, but, aware of his grandfather's health and extreme dedication to the Federation, he'd ultimately decided that he should warn him.

Once the old man had recovered from his shock, he put aside his disappointment in his son and began to appraise the situation. The military already knew about his son, and since he had to be eliminated, the whole family wouldn't be let off in order to cut the grass at the roots. Perhaps the sole person in their family who could survive was this grandson of his, who had proved his allegiance to the Federation.

For this faint possibility, Jin Jia was demolished, Jin Yongguang severed off, all the liabilities, debts, stains his parents had incurred could no longer be transferred to him. Furthermore, doubtful that the military would protect Guang'er despite the fact that he was assisting them, Elder Jin had carefully kept the documentation secret so that the child would have at least one hidden card.

Actually, Chen Yu hadn't intended to get this patriotic old man involved, because there was some risk that he would do something crazy, like attempt a mass suicide or such. He had been forced to pull him in, however, because the Federation's regulations required the head of the household's cooperation to legally change the family register, and he didn't want to stand out too much by hacking in.

But the old man had surprisingly taken the news rather well, quickly analyzing the best route to take. Chen Yu quite liked this kind of sensible person, he genuinely felt it was a pity that in the end, Elder Jin had killed himself on the day of General Hou's broadcast. At that time, Jin Yongguang, having already become someone unrelated to Jin Jia, had merely visited the funeral then returned to the academy, but this had called down a great deal of public criticism on him for his lack of filial piety, his heartlessness at abandoning his family as soon as scandal broke. Meanwhile, the body's younger brother, who generally appeared somewhat weak and undependable, had gained some favor for his heartfelt grief.

Although the boy had ended up replacing the original owner in the plot, Chen Yu sensed that he was merely a pliable tool, at the funeral he had foolishly even tried to convince Jin Yongguang to stay and support his parents. Once Jin Jia fell, the younger brother would have nothing to rely on, nor would the original owner, who had spent most of his life in the academy's dorms instead of with his sibling, have supported him unconditionally. Since Chen Yu would be going OOC by targeting the boy or helping him, he wouldn't interfere whether or not the child was able to support himself.

Spreading the documents now, when Jin Yongguang's image was neutral at worst, caused the public to doubt the military.

Jin Jia's heir had been cut off so early, what did that mean? It implied that Elder Jin had found out about his son's betrayal and, hoping to protect his grandson, had isolated Jin Yongguang, but the timing of his actions, which indicated that he had discovered General Hou's intention to prosecute Jin Zhong, in turn suggested that someone close to him had been allied with the military. Wouldn't the most likely person then be...Jin Yongguang? So it was true that the boy had been used and discarded?

The viewers exploded.

"What a poor kid! And even when everyone was so mean to him, he didn't even defend himself, he must have been so sad."

"The military really did make a mistake this time. He's such a good talent, but no one would have wanted him in their division if we hadn't discovered that he was innocent."

"Pei, even if they step forward to clarify now, I say Yongguang shouldn't agree to work with them! Yongguang's too simple to deal with such sneaky, backstabbing people."

In the face of such overwhelming criticism, the loyalists couldn't say anything without being bombarded on all sides.

Laughing, Chen Yu closed the message board. Although this conversation was amusing, there wouldn't be much progress with it alone.

He instead turned to confirm that the Imperial fleet that had coordinated with Murong Wen were on their way, it looked like it would arrive soon after night fell. Yes, the protagonist's grand plan of revenge had in fact been to use Jin Zhong's secretary to negotiate with the Empire.

His bargaining chip was that as a former student of the academy, he was familiar with the standardized mecha's critical weaknesses: that it was barely equipped with weapons, that the defense systems could be taken down with just ten shock beams, and so on. Additionally, Hou Yi's status as General Hou's son and his famous prospects as a tactician and a mecha operator made him a priority target for the Empire.

Satisfied with their progress, Chen Yu, who hadn't even considered warning the academy—he had neither the ability nor the interest to explain his source of information—rolled over to sleep.

Once the sun had set and the temperatures had dropped, Chen Yu woke Hou Yi up, his plans required that they start moving so that they would be within a few hours' walk of the assembly point when the Empire attacked. By his count, this planet had a slightly longer day than he was used to, with nineteen hours of daylight and twelve hours of nighttime, so there were only eleven hours until the deadline.

As he'd expected, within the next hour, the military noticed approaching starships that hadn't been cleared, but they didn't immediately notify the teachers, unwilling to cause a panic until they had confirmed that it was a hostile force. Thus, the academy only grew aware of the problem once the starships were visible to the naked eye, so that the emergency notification they sent through the communication channels in the students' mecha was far too late.

Glancing at the Imperial insignia on the incoming fleet that the faculty was warning about, Hou Yi didn't panic, he quickly looked around for the most defensible location. A quick calculation later, he decided that they could reach the assembly point in three hours, that would be the safest place since there were academy instructors with fortified mecha there. Having decided, he controlled his mecha to stand behind Ah Guang's in case some other student tried to take this chance to hurt him, then, opening a private communication channel with Ah Guang, he soothed, "Don't be scared, I can protect you. Let's head to the coordinates for now, okay?"

Chen Yu agreed, but he corrected, "Ah Yi, I'll be the one to protect you!" Although Hou Yi chuckled inside, secretly wondering how Ah Guang could be so cute, he didn't refute the other boy, hastening to get him to shelter.

Behind them, a mass of frightened teenagers sprinted toward them, while from above, the Imperial captain in charge of this mission locked in on the movements. After zooming in, it could be discerned that two figures were leading the rest, so, guessing their identities from what Murong Wen had told him, he dispatched several of his mecha operators to bring up both of them. The people in the Federation military headquarters building were so stunned by the fact that the enemy's movements were aiming at the students instead of their soldiers that they gaped at the monitoring screens for a whole minute, during which time Jin Yongguang and Hou Yi were surrounded by a dozen sleek black mecha.

Inside his cockpit, Hou Yi furrowed his brow. It seemed that things wouldn't be so simple to get away, they seemed to be the main objectives of the Empire's mission. Which one of them was the Empire aiming for?

One of the mecha in front of him stepped forward, the operator's voice booming out through its speakers. "Cadet Hou Yi, Cadet Jin Yongguang, you are both invited to meet with our captain, please do not resist."

Chen Yu studied the pilot who'd spoken, sneering. The Empire must place quite a bit of importance on decorum, even hostages had to be 'invited.' Before either he or Hou Yi could react, however, they were directly seized on both sides and dragged toward where the Imperial starships had landed.

Hou Yi assessed the situation and, finding that there was almost no possibility for both of them to escape, he urgently murmured, "Ah Guang, I can hold them off for a while, you run and get help."

Chen Yu paused, gazing at the boy with complex eyes, he simply counted down. "Ah Yi, in three, two, one, go!"

Instinctively, Hou Yi understood what Ah Guang wanted, so despite his reluctance, they acted at the same time, throwing off their captors.

The Imperial soldiers were caught off guard, but they swiftly recovered, drawing out their large laser guns from the holsters on their backs. Chen Yu smiled, those seemed much more interesting than his weapons, he'd take them gladly.

Having swept a glance around to grasp the distribution of his opponents, he seized one of the hands that held the laser gun on him and twisted it behind the soldier's back, spinning so that he was protected by the other's mecha, then stuck his mecha's palm onto the other's vulnerable charging port. While the standardized mecha's shock beams wouldn't cause much damage to a mecha protected by a beam shield elsewhere, this spot would conduct electricity very well. Just a few moments later, the pilot had been electrocuted thoroughly, only able to save his life at the last second by removing his fingers from the metal controls. Due to not knowing whether their colleague was unconscious or dead, the other Imperial mecha operators hesitated, during which time Chen Yu forced the jerky mecha's arm to hold its laser gun up and accurately shot down the pilots around him.

On the other side, Hou Yi had also managed to capture an Imperial mecha, but he hadn't disabled it, instead shooting his plasma gun to bore a small hole into the cockpit then climbing in to fight bare-handed against the soldier inside. By the time the Federation soldiers arrived, Hou Yi had taken over one of the Imperial mecha, while Jin Yongguang was in his standardized mecha finishing his last electrocution of an Imperial soldier.

The audience who had been frozen staring at their screens in horror finally breathed again at the sight, prouder than ever of Jin Yongguang and Hou Yi. Look, two teenage Federation cadets had been enough to defeat so many of the Empire's experienced soldiers!

Just when Federation reinforcements were flying in and everything seemed to be settled, however, the Empire's fleet, which had been trying to shoot down the two boys since the beginning of the skirmish, finally had a clear line of fire once their compatriots had collapsed.

They directly raised their plasma cannons and shot at Hou Yi.