What Should I Do If My Ex-Girlfriend's Pheromones Smell Too Good? - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Tactics

Chang Xichun successfully grabbed the crate, reported her coordinates in the channel, and met back up with Shu Qiong.

Inside the supply crate were mecha energy blocks and ammunition, as usual, but this time there were no laser barrels like the one Shu Qiong had seen before. Instead, it contained high-performance auxiliary thrusters—the plug-and-play kind.

Shu Qiong realized that the randomly distributed crates throughout the arena contained different mecha parts, all of which performed significantly better than their original equipment. The two of them quickly split the new supplies and, without delay, headed straight for the central zone.

At the summit, the drone remained hovering in the air. The countdown on the light screen showed only ten minutes remaining. While passing another skirmish, Shu Qiong caught a glimpse of a familiar figure and paused slightly.

“Whoa, isn’t that our Yu?” Chang Xichun also spotted the familiar mecha and stopped to watch.

Shu Qiong looked around but didn’t see Lin Mi, guessing that the two had likely called it quits. This development was entirely expected. If it were her, she wouldn’t bother teaming up with someone if their chemistry was zero; it would only be a headache.

Shu Qiong dropped into a half-kneel. Though she hadn’t planned on joining the melee, she propped up her cannon and aimed at a guy who was about to ambush Yan Xiangyu from behind, firing two consecutive shots.

Amidst the unmistakable boom-boom, one shot hit the ambushing mecha’s wrist, the shockwave blowing the sword right out of its hand. The second shot directly extinguished the person’s energy light, leaving their chest scorched and dented.

Yan Xiangyu’s movements lagged for a split second. After knocking down her current enemy with a punch, she looked sharply toward Shu Qiong’s direction, but only caught the tail end of a disappearing silhouette.

As they sped away, Chang Xichun teased, “Quite high-profile, aren’t we?”

The spot where they had just stood was already being riddled with bullets from multiple directions. Shu Qiong had anticipated this before firing, so she didn’t linger.

“Gotta pick up points. Besides, she’s one of our own; just helping out,” Shu Qiong answered solemnly once they were out of the danger zone. “If it were the Captain, wouldn’t you help?”

“Nope,” Chang Xichun said with a grin. “I’d probably snipe her once just to cause trouble. Don’t you think that’s more interesting?”

“…’Interesting’?” Shu Qiong offered a silent prayer for He Xuchou.

At the center of the summit, the countdown on the floating light screen skipped through striking red numbers.

Countdown: Five Minutes.

By now, the small-scale brawls had mostly subsided as those lurking nearby prepared for the main event. Chang Xichun sounded worried: “It’s going to be chaos. If we keep sniping from a distance, we’ll get points, but we won’t get any food.”

Shu Qiong considered this. If they charged into the crowd for food and water, she and Chang Xichun would be easy pickings. They’d likely get nothing and be eliminated in the massive fray.

Suddenly, an idea struck Shu Qiong. She pondered for a moment before asking, “Do you think we can shoot down that drone?”

Chang Xichun was startled by the thought. “A preemptive strike?”

The more Shu Qiong thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. “If we can, we seize the initiative and create a time gap. If it doesn’t work… well, it’s not like it’ll cost us anything. Worst case, we just don’t get the food.”

Chang Xichun actually found this logical. Regardless, it was better than waiting to die.

Shu Qiong activated her mecha’s long-range sensors to observe the large crate hanging from the drone. “The material is similar to the crates found on the field—Type III-2 memory alloy. High toughness, high melting point. But look, like the crates, it has a simple latch on the side that opens when pressed…”

A spark of inspiration hit her. She checked the countdown and spoke rapidly to Chang Xichun: “Maybe we don’t need to shoot down the whole drone. Can you hit that latch? Use a small-caliber, long-range shot to precisely destroy it.”

Chang Xichun calculated the distance. “I mean, I could…”

“Then let’s try,” Shu Qiong laughed.

Chang Xichun nodded, raising her muzzle in a half-squat, various cannons and barrels ready. “Alright.”

Shu Qiong took a deep breath and lowered her center of gravity.

“BOOM!”

Xinghai’s starting position was gouged by two deep furrows from the recoil. She intentionally kicked up a cloud of choking dust along her path. This time, she didn’t care about being stealthy. She leaped out from behind cover, pushing her upgraded thrusters to the limit, moving like a bolt of lightning that caught everyone off guard.

“What the hell was that flash!”

The public channel fell silent for a second before exploding. Everyone watched in disbelief as a mecha ran with a weird posture toward the vertical drop point directly under the drone. Confusion and shock mixed—with two minutes left on the clock, running out now was just making yourself a sitting duck.

Someone immediately fired at Shu Qiong. Xinghai fired air cannons at the ground as it ran; the dust it kicked up was so thick that the accuracy of the stray bullets was pathetic. Xinghai leaned forward, charging ahead with no intention of dodging. Shu Qiong didn’t care about small-caliber bullets; they’d only leave minor scratches. She only watched out for high-power artillery and lasers.

Some did try to fire heavy shells, but Chang Xichun, covering her from behind, blasted them back. Fortunately, most participants took a “wait and see” approach, unwilling to reveal their positions too early.

The speed-enhanced Xinghai was impressive, reaching the destination in seconds. Shu Qiong timed her movements, keeping a close eye on the drone above.

Countdown: 1 Minute 40 Seconds. She was the center of attention.

Click.

Chang Xichun pulled the trigger. The sound of the rifled barrel was buried in a corner, unnoticed. Shu Qiong saw the crate hanging under the drone wobble; the latch had been scorched into a tiny, inconspicuous pile of ash. The lid loosened.

Chang Xichun’s timing was perfect, leaving Shu Qiong plenty of room. The large crate tilted sharply, making the drone’s body sway visibly. Then, small packages packed with shock-absorbing material came raining down like a localized hailstorm right around Shu Qiong.

Having prepared for this, she slowed down, ducked, and scooped up the closest packages. Relying purely on feel, she didn’t even know how many she had grabbed before fleeing the scene without looking back.

Chang Xichun increased her firepower to suppress the area. Guns and cannons on her shoulders, back, and arms were all active, the air thick with the smell of gunpowder. Chang Xichun’s excited shouting echoed in their channel: “Nice one, Junior! Man, mechas are great—as long as your brain is fast enough, you can fire as many weapons as you want without worrying about not having enough hands!”

After a brief stun, a mecha nearby was the first to react. Its speed was even faster than Xinghai’s, whistling past Shu Qiong. While the others were still processing, it copied Shu Qiong, scooped up a few packages, and sprinted away, leaving only a trail of dust.

As it passed, it gave a distant hand gesture and even had the spare energy to connect to Shu Qiong’s channel.

“I knew you’d have ideas,” came Yan Xiangyu’s unmistakable voice.

Shu Qiong’s mouth twitched. “Fast reflexes.”

As she spoke, Yan Xiangyu performed two consecutive rolls, dodging two mechas trying to snatch her items. Her voice remained steady, not even slightly out of breath. “How much longer until your team-up ends?”

Shu Qiong knew she was asking about her and Chang Xichun. She estimated, “Two hours?”

“Good.” Yan Xiangyu laughed on the other end, kicking over an ambusher and expertly wrapping her long whip around two enemies, binding them tight before unhurriedly striking their energy lights out.

Shu Qiong and her only exchanged a few words before the distance grew too great and the channel disconnected.

“Who were you talking to?” Chang Xichun’s voice popped in. “It’s too noisy here, I can’t hear anything!”

“Nothing,” Shu Qiong shouted. “Let’s move! Retreat, retreat, retreat!”

They fought as they retreated, but they didn’t go down the mountain. Taking advantage of the chaos, they farmed points to their heart’s content. By Shu Qiong’s estimate, there were at most 150 portions of food and water in that crate; more than half the participants would either go hungry or be eliminated. And if you missed this chance, when would you ever get another opportunity for such a massive brawl?

It wasn’t until their ammunition was nearly depleted that they reluctantly left the combat zone. Chang Xichun stowed most of her weapons and took the pile of items Shu Qiong had snatched.

Hiding behind cover, Shu Qiong stuffed half the food and water into her cockpit. She unscrewed a water bottle and took two gulps, feeling refreshed. “We got four portions. We don’t have to worry if we miss the one tonight.” Each small package contained water, energy bars, compressed biscuits, and nutrient solutions.

Shu Qiong unwrapped a brick-like compressed biscuit and wolfed it down with some water. She watched as Chang Xichun opened a crack in her cockpit and a hand reached out, groping to pull her two packages inside. Soon, the sound of tiny munching filled the channel.

Shu Qiong suddenly got a visual of a hamster on the other side and took up the guard duty with a smile.

Inside the base, in a room filled with monitoring screens, a dozen instructors stood or sat in silence. After a long while, one of them cleared their throat. “This student… uh, her tactical thinking is quite active. Which school is she from? Who wants to claim her?”

Chu Yimeng crossed her arms. “Actually, Student Shu was quite considerate of the base. At least she didn’t shoot the whole drone down, just destroyed a tiny latch. Besides, this happened because the rules weren’t clearly defined.”

“…”

Instructor A stroked his chin. “Are rules really such inconvenient things? Ah, the world always opens an extra window for the clever ones. I wonder which military academy she’s from; she really has the flair of our Comprehensive University.”

“Starting the headhunting already?” Instructor B glanced at him.

Instructor A chuckled. “You misunderstand. We must respect a talent’s autonomous thoughts. How can that be called headhunting?”

As they spoke, a small battle broke out on the screens in an area outside the summit. A pair of mechas that had managed to snag two packages were cautiously exiting the summit zone. Just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, they were blocked by two mechas that looked like highway bandits.

These two mechas were decked out in luxurious equipment—everything from shields to anti-aircraft guns. They exuded a sense of overwhelming firepower from head to toe.

It was Jin Yan and Qin Liang, who hadn’t gone to the summit to fight for food. They had thoroughly scavenged the base of the mountain where almost no one else was, finding numerous crates. They had already “traded their bird guns for cannons.”

The best part was that since everyone else was rushing to the summit, no one was competing with them for crates, to the point where they could now afford to waste ammunition as they pleased. Jin Yan could practically shoot with her eyes closed, unleashing a barrage of fire without worrying about the cost. Even with poor aim, the sheer volume of fire was bound to hit something.

The two unlucky souls, who hadn’t even had time to celebrate their food, watched in shock as various high-performance cannon barrels extended from the mechas blocking their path, like two humanoid turrets.

“Xiao Qin,” Jin Yan said smugly as she listened to the pleasant pings of her score increasing, “This… is tactics.”

Qin Liang, piloting her mecha—which was already heavy-duty and was now a luxury turret—nodded in bright-eyed agreement. The feeling of equipment suppression was indescribable.

Instructor A let out a small gasp: “Oh! And which school are these from? I think they have the flair of our Comprehensive University too!”

Chu Yimeng: “…”