Chapter 38: Who Fired the Shot?

Battle Space, Ruined City.

As the final whistle suddenly echoed, everyone watching before the giant screen fell into silence. The entire first-floor lobby of the club became deathly quiet in that instant.

"What the hell was that?"
"She lost! The Blood-Flame Gun Maiden actually lost!"
"A frequent national top-four contender has fallen!"

The crowd stared at the headless blue mecha. After several seconds of stunned silence, a wave of cheers erupted, so loud that it spilled out of the club and startled the passersby on the street.

"Captain Li is a beast!"
"As expected of the man who defeated the Blood-Flame Gun Maiden in the individual tour, who would dare look down on our Storm Shadow squad in the national tournament now?"
"That teammate piloting the long-range mecha is incredible too. To land a triple-micro maneuver shot with such precision from five kilometers away..."

The members of Storm Shadow were ecstatic, their eyes filled with worship and excitement as they looked at the two red mechas on the giant screen. As a perennial top-four team in the national tournament, there were only three other teams capable of defeating Blue Enchantress, but as of today, that number would increase by one. Although this was only a simulation match and would not be recorded in the official league standings, it was a moment that would go down in the history of the Storm Shadow Club.

"Beautifully done!"
"Their coordination was simply perfect."
"Hahaha, this national tournament is finally going to be Storm Shadow's time to shine."
"Ranxing is a truly excellent captain. I wonder where he found this newcomer. Triple-micro maneuvering, such marksmanship, and that bizarre movement style—this level of skill likely rivals Ranxing's own. In that case, our Storm Shadow Club will be a dual-star powerhouse from now on!"

The coaching staff watched as Blue Enchantress signaled their surrender. They stood taller, already planning to have a few extra drinks to celebrate when they got home.

Meanwhile, inside the battle space, Li Ranxing was utterly bewildered.

"Dead? What on earth just happened?"

Li Ranxing watched as the blue mecha dissipated, his mind filled with confusion. He and Chen Ya had been evenly matched, but for some unknown reason, three bullets suddenly assaulted Chen Ya, forcing her to unleash her ultimate skill, the Eight-Leaf Single-Blade Slash. Yet, Chen Ya failed to block them, was struck by a shot, and their team had won in the most inexplicable fashion. The result far exceeded his expectations.

In the club's first-floor lobby:

"Which one of you fired those shots during the fight?" Chen Ya demanded, jumping out of her virtual gaming pod. Her star-like eyes were burning with rage as she glared at the six members of Blue Enchantress. "Speak up! If you admit it, I promise I'll only beat you half to death!"

She was not joking. She had persuaded the club to hold this simulation match against Storm Shadow specifically to defeat Li Ranxing and wash away her previous humiliation, only to be taken out by a sneak attack. That triple-micro maneuver had been executed so smoothly! She had no idea there was such a "sly fox" among her teammates, one who had single-handedly ruined all her plans.

"Captain, is it possible that those three shots were fired by the opposing side?" Wang Yidao raised his hand. "It wasn't any of us."

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Could anyone from Storm Shadow possibly pull off a triple-micro maneuver?" Chen Ya retorted sharply.

Triple-micro maneuvering required extremely rigorous physical reaction and control; those who could master it were almost universally captain-level experts from the national top sixteen. How could an expert of that caliber join the Storm Shadow Club? If such a player had joined, the news would have spread throughout the industry long ago. While it wasn't impossible for a newcomer to use triple-micro, Chen Ya, as the person on the receiving end, could clearly sense how cunning that player was. The timing had been flawless, and the angle of the shots came from directly behind Li Ranxing, making the muzzle flash impossible to see. Someone that devious could not possibly be a green newcomer.

"Captain, I can attest to that," Zilan stepped forward. "While you were fighting, I was working with Yidao to take down the expert piloting the long-range mecha. That person was using triple-micro maneuvers the entire time, and that’s how Yidao and I were taken out."

"You two teamed up and still lost?" Chen Ya was stunned.

Wang Yidao and Zilan were top-tier experts in the industry, only a hair's breadth away from mastering triple-micro maneuvers themselves—with another year of practice, they would likely reach that level. With their combined long-range and close-quarters coordination, they should have been able to force a draw even against an expert using triple-micro.

"Yes. I don't know how he did it, but he piloted that long-range mecha as fast as a close-quarters unit," Wang Yidao explained. "I barely got close before he created distance. Then, to gain speed, I dropped my shield, but in that split second, he performed a mid-air jump combined with a triple-micro maneuver. I couldn't react in time."

"An expert above the first-tier?" Chen Ya pondered, her gaze locking onto Li Ranxing, who had just stepped out of his pod. She shouted, "Captain Li, quite the talent you have there. You gave me a huge surprise. Might you let me meet this expert?"

"Expert? We have an expert on our team?" Li Ranxing looked at Chen Ya, baffled.

Those three bullets had been inexplicable, but Li Ranxing knew full well that the triple-micro technique was something the members of Storm Shadow couldn't possibly master; only members of Blue Enchantress should have been capable of it.

"Ranxing, there's no need to hide it. Which newcomer in your club is it?" The coaches were equally curious.

"I really don't know," Li Ranxing said, speechless.

"You won't say?" Chen Ya frowned and walked directly toward the only remaining Storm Shadow gaming pod that hadn't opened. "Come out and let me see. You were quite slick with that gun, weren't you?"

The pod slowly opened, and everyone present stared, eager to see which rising star had just emerged.

"Fang Zhen?"
"How could it be you?"
"Where is that newcomer?"

The members of Storm Shadow stared at the scruffy, middle-aged man stepping out of the pod. Their jaws dropped, and the regular team members who knew Fang Zhen well looked as if they had seen a ghost.

Triple-micro maneuvers! That bizarre acceleration technique! And the feat of taking out four members of Blue Enchantress—including the Blood-Flame Gun Maiden, Chen Ya herself! Such a glorious achievement would be recorded as a classic case in the annals of the Mecha Continent's national tournament. No matter how one looked at it, this was not something Fang Zhen, a man nearing retirement, should have been able to pull off.