The Silly Prince Successfully Cancels the Engagement, But the Fiancée is His Childhood Sweetheart - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: He Jie

He Jie had long, fiery red, wavy curly hair, like a burning flame, passionate and scorching, making her difficult to approach.

She wore a vintage leather jacket, tight black pants, and a pair of leather boots, which accentuated her well-proportioned and slender figure. As if the leather jacket and boots weren’t enough to show her uniqueness, she hung silver crucifixes around her neck, waist, and wrists. To express her individuality, she wore a labret piercing, which was also a delicate, small crucifix.

She arrived early, leaning listlessly against the wall of the waiting area. She had maintained this bored posture for almost an hour.

He Jie seemed to find this Mecha Battle Competition meaningless. The upcoming match was even less tension-inducing than the sight of a beautiful Omega occasionally passing by her.

Until Bai Qing arrived at the waiting area.

Bai Qing did not arrive late, but someone arriving earlier than him was genuinely unexpected.

Bai Qing couldn’t help but take an extra look at He Jie.

Upon seeing Bai Qing clearly, He Jie’s eyes instantly brightened. She generously allowed Bai Qing to size her up. Only after those beautiful lake-blue eyes moved away from her did she blow a frivolous whistle: “You’re my opponent? A bit beyond my expectation.”

Bai Qing glanced sideways faintly: “You are He Jie? You also exceed my expectation.”

He Jie chuckled. She sat on the seat next to Bai Qing, crossing one leg over the other, resting her chin on one hand: “Don’t be so hostile towards me, little dear. I didn’t mean to offend you. I just didn’t expect an Omega to participate in this kind of competition.”

Bai Qing’s gaze instantly locked onto He Jie, his eyes cold and somewhat dangerous.

He Jie wasn’t afraid. She laughed out loud: “Little beauty, don’t be angry. You’ve sprayed so many layers of suppressant that what you’re trying to hide is obvious at a glance. But, others don’t have a nose as keen as mine.”

Rest assured, others can’t tell.

He Jie’s gaze was very direct and revealing, and her demeanor was extremely relaxed—a clear sign that she wasn’t taking this match seriously.

Bai Qing didn’t want to get further entangled with He Jie. He leaned back toward the other side, resting his hand on his forehead, and began to close his eyes to rest.

He had actually formulated tactics against the three people he was most wary of even before the official start of the Mecha Battle Competition.

He reviewed the strategy for He Jie in his mind. He Jie’s combat style was extremely similar to his own, but she was even more casual and relaxed than he had imagined, acting more willfully.

This meant that during the match, he could easily be drawn off his own rhythm by He Jie if he was even slightly careless.

Bai Qing pressed the corner of his brow, feeling a slight headache.

“Why the headache? Did you train too hard last night and didn’t rest well? Is an opponent like me really worth treating so cautiously?”

He Jie’s teasing voice rang in his ear. Bai Qing opened his eyes and immediately saw the mischievous smile in He Jie’s eyes.

“I did go to sleep a bit late last night, thinking about what exactly I should request His Majesty the King to promise me in the end,” the whistle conveniently sounded. Bai Qing slowly unbuttoned his outer jacket while signaling to He Jie, “The whistle has blown. Time to enter the arena.”

Bai Qing spoke while looking at He Jie.

He Jie froze for a moment, finally realizing that she couldn’t gain any verbal advantage over Bai Qing. She curled her lips into a smile: “Then you better put in some effort, my little beauty. I hope the strength you show today won’t disappoint your nervous sleeplessness from last night.”

He Jie took off her leather jacket, revealing a plain white T-shirt underneath. One could see a fiery red giant dragon tattoo that started from the back of her left hand and spread all the way to her collarbone, coiled around her arm.

She blew a kiss towards Bai Qing, smiling broadly and uninhibitedly, and strode into the changing room.

…

The Organizing Committee was also busy commissioning the live streaming equipment. This Mecha Battle Competition was an annual inter-galactic carnival. Citizens in every corner of the Empire, as long as they could connect to the StarNet, could watch this large-scale live broadcast.

Although the live broadcast had not officially started yet, a large number of loyal fans of the Mecha Battle Competition had already poured into the live stream room, nervously and excitedly anticipating the start of the match.

Viewers could select the match they wanted to watch on the platform, speak in the sub-channel they were watching, or speak on the main channel.

The main channel was connected to the Organizing Committee’s main screen and the commentator’s channel. However, this year was different from previous years: a viewer voting channel had been added.

Some guessed that whoever had the most votes that day would get a chance to be resurrected.

Others guessed that this was a talent screening channel for the military. If someone had sufficient strength but was not suited for immediate combat or had bad luck and lost a match, the military would directly select this both unlucky and lucky player for military training based on the number of votes.

For a time, there were many different opinions, but the Organizing Committee did not explicitly state the purpose of the vote. However, the enthusiasm of the public kept growing higher.

There were four types of mecha attributes available for selection in the Mecha Battle Competition:

Melee Offensive, Ranged Offensive, Defensive, and Balanced Offensive/Defensive.

Very few players chose Ranged Offensive or Defensive mechas, as these two attributes were not conducive to performance in one-on-one battles like the Mecha Battle Competition.

Unsurprisingly, Bai Qing chose a Melee Offensive mecha.

He Jie chose a Balanced Offensive/Defensive mecha.

Before the official start, both players had 30 seconds to activate and familiarize themselves with the mecha.

Bai Qing took a deep breath, concentrated his mental power, and linked with the mecha.

Although warm-up allowed the mental link, mental power was not allowed to flow into the command channel. This meant that within these 30 seconds, although mental power could link with the mecha, it could not enter the command channel and thus could not control the mecha’s movement.

Suddenly, the slumbering giant beast’s crimson eyes snapped open, and the progress bar displayed on the main screen representing the player’s mental power strength quickly filled up, eventually breaking the bar. A dazzling golden letter representing the mental power rank violently dropped onto the right end of the progress bar.

“SSS+”

Inside the mecha cockpit, He Jie saw the real-time situation on the Organizing Committee’s main screen and whistled flippantly.

In an instant, every viewer, both in the live stream and on-site, who noticed Bai Qing’s mental power strength suddenly gasped in shock.

The live stream comments surged like a tide. Sub-channel 107, broadcasting the match between Bai Qing and He Jie, was instantly jammed by netizens flooding in from all sides. The Eternal Empire’s most advanced server surprisingly couldn’t handle it, and the massive influx of users caused sub-channel 107 to freeze for a full five seconds.

The Mecha Battle Competition Organizing Committee, which always prided itself on having the Empire’s most advanced server, also wiped sweat from its brow.

【Mental Power SSS+, what kind of monster is this? Must be fake!】

【Doesn’t the Eternal Empire’s rating for mental power top out at SSS? How did an SSS+ appear?】

【With such powerful mental power, wouldn’t he completely demolish everyone else?】

【This guy’s name is Bai Qing, and he’s a rookie. He’s never participated in a competition before.】

【A rookie, huh? Then the outcome is anyone’s guess.】

…

The audience’s enthusiasm for discussing mental power strength was ignited. But Bai Qing was unaware of this. His attention was completely focused on He Jie’s mental power strength.

Grade A.

In the rules of mecha piloting, stronger mental power doesn’t necessarily mean a stronger mecha warrior combat ability.

However, generally, these two relations are positively correlated.

Because the higher the mental power strength, the higher the integration with a mecha of the same level, and the greater the probability of unleashing the mecha’s true potential.

Similarly, higher mental power is more suitable for piloting powerful mechas, which leads to a higher probability of winning.

Yet, He Jie, whose mental power rank was only A, had been a favorite to win the Mecha Battle Competition for years.

Bai Qing’s eyes sharpened, ready to dedicate one hundred percent of his strength to the engagement.

This proved that the opponent was definitely not to be taken lightly.

…

The 30-second preparation time was up. As soon as the warning bell rang, Bai Qing began his move almost at zero-frame, immediately firing a cannon shot towards He Jie’s mecha power source.

He knew that He Jie was skilled at setting the combat rhythm. Therefore, he needed to make it impossible for He Jie to even grasp the rhythm.

He Jie knew she could not underestimate her opponent and quickly shed her casual expression, committing to full effort.

Both of them knew that although the cannon shot Bai Qing fired at the start was not very powerful, He Jie would definitely move to block it.

Consequently, He Jie was already forced into a passive position.

The heat of sub-channel 107 was already high due to Bai Qing’s SSS+ mental power level. Seeing Bai Qing’s zero-frame starting shot, the screen was instantly filled with question marks.

【Is this really possible for a human?】

【From the bell ringing to his start, did that take 0.1 seconds? In 0.1 seconds, his mental power flowed into the command channel, then the action code was inputted, and then the shot fired. I can’t understand, I really can’t understand. This has to be a monster.】

【What’s the use of his action being so fast? Did that shot have any power? Could it even knock down a bowling pin?】

【The commenter above knows everything again. You look down on him, but can you fire a shot in 0.1 seconds?】

Xiang Zhuo sat in the audience section, his face not looking good.

He had searched through the schedule but couldn’t find Bai Yu’s name. His own match was scheduled for the second match of the morning. He had intended to watch Bai Yu’s match during this time, but after checking the schedule back and forth three or four times, he still couldn’t find Bai Yu’s name.

His heart began to pound uneasily.

But even so, he only tactfully sent Bai Yu a message asking: “Is your match today scheduled for the morning or the afternoon?”

Xiang Zhuo was walking and texting, not noticing that he had reached the audience section of sub-arena 107.

Thunderous cheers suddenly erupted from the originally quiet audience section. He subconsciously looked up.

He instantly saw the cannon shot Bai Qing fired like lightning in an attempt to seize the match rhythm.

Xiang Zhuo froze instantly.

This kind of opening shot—the “Head Cannon”—he had been hit by it countless times in the underground arena.

A creeping, ominous premonition slowly rose in his heart.