What Should I Do If My Ex-Girlfriend's Pheromones Smell Too Good? - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Ambush

The training camp lasted for two weeks.

Aside from the first few days where the base instructors issued a series of body-crushing physical crash courses, the intensity of the following days remained high, but at least there was room to breathe.

That was Shu Qiong’s summary, anyway.

However, the group’s mood didn’t relax in the slightest. Everyone suspected that the end of the training camp would involve something big. This was the tradition of past training camps: a ten-day-plus regimen required a final competition for assessment. The instructors would give comprehensive scores based on their performance, and these scores would be recorded in each cadet’s permanent file.

Chang Xichun shared her experience as a veteran: “Anyway, that’s how it was last year. It was a massive mecha camp war. Old He, Qin Liang, and I were on different sides, and those two ruthlessly took me out.” Recalling her sorrowful past, she hooked her arm around He Xuchou’s shoulder and shook her vigorously.

He Xuchou, the only veteran in the team to have attended three training camps, smiled without any annoyance: “The year before that was mecha extreme off-roading in a desert zone—a high-temperature speed race.”

In short, regardless of the format, none of it sounded particularly pleasant.

On the morning of the penultimate day of training, everyone woke up early as usual. The cafeteria was filled with cadets who were just as anxious as they were. Despite the crowd, the atmosphere was eerily silent; everyone was rapidly shoveling food into their mouths and chewing quietly with practiced efficiency. There was little conversation.

Shu Qiong was struck by the atmosphere as she took her tray to the window.

“Whoa—” Jin Yan, who had reached the window a step ahead of her, stood frozen. “Is this a ‘last meal’? I’m getting a little scared.”

Shu Qiong stepped past the young miss and found that today’s breakfast was exceptionally lavish. Various high-calorie foods and exquisite small pastries were gathered together—a sharp contrast to the “edible is enough” and “fullness is priority” meals of the previous days.

“I’m a bit scared now too,” Shu Qiong rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. “When things are this abnormal, a fierce battle is surely coming.” With that, she quickly picked out some food, grabbed a glass of milk, and joined the ranks of the silently eating cadets.

At 7:00 AM, the instructors organized everyone for assembly. They inspected everyone’s gear and temporarily confiscated communication wristbands, food, and other items.

Four identical hover transport vehicles were already parked above the base. Being mecha transports, the interior space was massive—more like small floating frigates than simple hovercars.

The instructor explained the rules: “This time it’s an individual points race. The rules are simple. The energy light on the mecha’s chest is your indicator; if the light goes out, you are ‘dead.’ Each kill is worth one point, and the victor claims half of the victim’s total points.”

“A quick reminder: we don’t encourage teaming up, but we don’t strictly forbid it either. Temporary teams can have a maximum of two people and a time limit of three hours, otherwise, you’ll get a red light warning.”

Shu Qiong realized the situation, feeling both thoughtful and somewhat lucky. Through her deliberate observations over the past few days, she had gained an understanding of Base Star’s climate. She had been using her spare time to modify her and her teammates’ mechas to handle the predicted final assessment.

Unfortunately, materials were limited, so she could only perform simple modifications to adapt to the frequent high winds and large day-night temperature fluctuations of Base Star. Even the simplest modification—a tiny difference in precision—could provide a different experience for the pilots. As the only mecha engineer in the group, Shu Qiong didn’t dare be careless; being over-prepared was never a mistake.

Among her teammates’ mechas, Shu Qiong focused her modifications on her own, Yan Xiangyu’s, and Jin Yan’s. Since all three currently only possessed standard-issue models, there was a lot of room for improvement. For example, Shu Qiong’s own “Xinghai” had mediocre performance in everything except speed.

Thus, adhering to the principle of “using the best steel for the blade’s edge,” she stretched the few good materials she had to their limits—wishing she could turn one plate into two—giving each of their mechas a targeted upgrade.

For her own Xinghai, she added a shield and some miscellaneous small gadgets, and expanded the thermal weapon arsenal. She removed all cold weapons except for the initial-config thermal blade to reduce weight and carry more ammunition.

For Yan Xiangyu’s unit, Shu Qiong expanded the variety of melee weapons based on the other’s preferences and performed a major upgrade on the joints to make its movements smoother and more versatile.

As for Jin Yan, the Commander confidently stated that her style was “ever-changing” and told Shu Qiong to take creative liberties. So, Shu Qiong quite shamelessly took the leftover scraps and filings from Yan Xiangyu’s upgrade, melted them down, and used them for the young miss’s mecha—patching a bit here and fixing a bit there. Jin Yan, unaware of the truth, was quite satisfied after inspecting it, patting Shu Qiong’s shoulder and saying they should stick together next time. Shu Qiong nodded repeatedly, saying it was a must.

After the rules were explained, Shu Qiong and the others boarded their respective mechas. Before entering the cockpit, Shu Qiong saw Yan Xiangyu wave at her and mouth the words “See you later.” She gave a “Go for it” gesture and a distant smile.

Everyone had drawn lots and were divided into four groups, required to take different transport vehicles to the assessment grounds. Each transport had a different but overlapping flight path and would drop students off one by one at irregular intervals. Shu Qiong quietly piloted her mecha onto her vehicle, thinking to herself that this opening was quite a test of luck.

On the vehicle, she saw a familiar mecha—Chang Xichun’s Lianzhu.

“Xiao Shu!” Chang Xichun said enthusiastically as soon as she connected to Shu Qiong’s channel. “Fate, this is pure fate! If we land near each other later, let’s team up! With our cooperation, we can definitely harvest eight or nine points within three hours!”

Shu Qiong agreed: “Sure.”

The order and location of drops for the cadets on the transport were completely random. Shu Qiong waited patiently for a while until she finally heard the broadcast call her number and name. She piloted Xinghai to stand up, gave two small hops to stretch the machine’s limbs, and then walked toward the exit to take a resource pack from the instructor.

Before jumping, Chang Xichun made a finger-gun gesture at her. Shu Qiong instinctively smiled, then quickly remembered the mecha had no facial expression, so she made Xinghai do a peace sign instead. She then turned, bent her knees, and leaped down.

The massive, heavy mecha body fell vertically with staggering potential energy. Shu Qiong engaged the thrusters at the right moment, allowing Xinghai to land on the ground in a nimble, steady posture.

However, the moment her feet hit the ground—before she could even observe the surroundings—she heard a rustling sound like wind blowing through leaves.

There was no wind right now!

Shu Qiong keenly sensed danger and her body responded instantly. She performed a sharp roll to the side, ducking behind cover. The mecha’s body was too large; hiding wasn’t a long-term solution. In front of her was only a haystack that barely offered cover. If the opponent was ruthless enough to gamble at the start, a single high-power artillery shot could blow the haystack to smithereens.

Shu Qiong looked around. It seemed she was in a mountain forest with sparse vegetation; the terrain was quite complex. The only good news was that the shooter didn’t waste more ammunition, silently waiting for Shu Qiong’s mecha to lose patience and show its head.

What bad luck, she sighed lightly. Ambushed right at the start by a contestant from a different route. But she also understood that a transport vehicle flying low and dropping people off one by one was far too conspicuous; the probability of being ambushed was not low.

Shu Qiong quickly calmed her emotions and counted her ammunition, while simultaneously opening the resource pack the instructor had given her before the drop.

Great—only a palm-sized mecha energy block.

Thermal ammunition was sufficient, but energy was definitely lacking; it was only enough to last half a day, and that was assuming she didn’t engage in high-energy behaviors like emergency landings, flying, or high-speed chases.

Shu Qiong suppressed the urge to complain. She controlled Xinghai’s right hand to pick up a heavy rock—the size of a human head—and hurled it violently to the right. Simultaneously, her mecha lunged out, diving toward the left and rolling twice to move behind another piece of cover.

The rapid, fierce rat-ta-tat of gunfire erupted instantly, firing three consecutive shots to the right of her original hiding spot, kicking up a spray of debris and leaves.

Shu Qiong estimated the distance and twisted her right palm. A small probe she had pre-installed popped out. She extended her hand slightly, scanning the external terrain. Ahead was a small depression, and within a 200-meter range, there were various mountain rocks offering cover; she couldn’t see further.

Shu Qiong scanned the area, quickly marking the most suitable sniper points in her mind. Considering the opponent was using a small-caliber gun with a maximum range of 100 meters, and combined with the bullet trajectory from just now, she could rule out most options.

Shu Qiong retracted the probe and had Xinghai touch its own left arm. The hand there contracted and transformed, instantly turning into a dark cannon muzzle. She braced her left arm, aimed, and without hesitation sent out a large-caliber shell with shotgun properties.

BOOM—

Multiple pellets radiated out in a honeycomb pattern. Some slammed into the distant rock wall with a bone-chilling screech, but the majority peppered a dense tree canopy.

The moment it hit, a mecha lunged out from above. Realizing it had been discovered, it didn’t even bother with a cushioned landing; it twisted its body mid-air and fired a shot at Shu Qiong’s position.

However, Shu Qiong was faster. After her first shot, she didn’t even stop to confirm the hit; she had already switched the cannon to a beam muzzle. With a speed that left the opponent no room to dodge, she aimed precisely at the ambusher’s chest.

Silently, the energy light on the ambusher’s mecha went out. Simultaneously, Shu Qiong heard the point-notification in her channel.

“Damn it!” the voice of the unlucky soul who was forced to be eliminated and fall over came through a nearby private channel. “You could even see me there?”

Shu Qiong warily confirmed there were no other ambushers before boldly stepping forward to “loot the body.” She hauled the pilot and the energy block out together: “Is this all the supplies you have?”

Hearing her dissatisfied mumble, the “corpse” hanging halfway out of the cockpit let out a voice of grief and indignation: “I died right after landing, sister! What kind of gear were you expecting!”

Shu Qiong figured that made sense. She commanded: “Crawl out yourself.”

Once the person was out, Xinghai dragged the opponent’s mecha to a hidden spot and began to dismantle it.

“…This is really going too far.”

The “deceased” player, ordered by the instructor to stay put and wait for transport, could only watch helplessly as their beloved machine was torn into pieces. Then, they watched as Shu Qiong, like a harvesting farmer, stripped off all the useful components, guns, and weapons, gathering them together.

Anything that could be fitted was attached to Xinghai; for parts that couldn’t be mounted yet but were useful, Shu Qiong packed them up and dug a hole to bury them on the spot.

Just because she didn’t need them now didn’t mean she wouldn’t need them later. Shu Qiong thought with great planning. When she needed replacements, she’d come back for them.

See, this is what you call foresight.

“It’s called ‘plucking hair from a passing goose’!” the “corpse” lying on the ground wailed.

This was too terrifying—this was what you called “desecrating the body”!